Joey Maziarz '17
Winner of the OJHL Defenseman of the Year award in 2018-19, Joey Maziarz '17 is following his dream to pursue athletics and academics at elite levels. Joey will be attending Mercyhurst University in Erie, PA and playing NCAA hockey.
At what age did you start playing hockey?
I started playing hockey on an outdoor rink when I was young; I was 2 or 3 years old when I started skating. My mom was a figure skater, and she used to get us out on the ice; whether it was for hockey or not, we were always skating. Both my uncles on my mom’s side played in the Junior leagues growing up, so they always put a stick in our hands! I would say for organized hockey; I was probably around five years old when I started to play.
Who has been your biggest inspiration?
In terms of NHL, I always used to watch so I could list off a thousand players, but these days, I take inspiration from players like Duncan Keith that have played for a while and have just stayed in the NHL, just because they love the game.
I was inspired being around my uncles and cousins because they always played. I’m the youngest cousin, so I admired the way they were always playing; family mostly inspired me. They were the people who were always speaking about hockey, the ones I went out in the backyard rinks with; they made it so easy for me to embrace it.
What steps did you take to get where you are now?
I played minor hockey in Waterloo until I was in Grade 7. I left to play in Toronto for a couple of years and signed Junior, and now I’ve finally signed to play college. Recently it’s been more about finding a route. Major Junior Hockey in Canada - the OHL and WHL - is a reliable route for players who are 16 to 21 years old, but I’m a late bloomer and I’m not a huge guy, so I looked towards the college route. I’m an academic person, so it’s a privilege to be able to continue my education at school while playing hockey, as my goal is to play pro by the age of 23.
What stage of your journey were you at when attending SJK?
I started at SJK in Grade 10 and was playing minor midget. That was the point when I was hoping to get drafted to the OHL and see where that would take me, but I ended up breaking my arm that year and not playing much of that season.
In Grade 11, I played Midget, which is not really where you want to be if you’re trying to make it to the next level; you want to play Junior right out of minor hockey, but I wasn’t able to. It was a blessing for me because that’s how I made my way to college. I pursued the NCAA route and signed to play Junior A in Grade 12. I played my first year with North York, which is where I am now. That’s where I started to get some attention from post-secondary schools.
When I was at SJK, I was decided which route to take as I planned my future. It was tremendous to have the support that students have there; Mr. Carswell was awesome. He played D1 and ran track, then he went to Harvard for track, so it was helpful to have someone that went that route and could tell me how to go about applying and garnering interest. I think that was formative.
If you could share one message with other athletes, what would it be?
Have patience. There’s no rush in achieving your goals. For me, it wasn’t necessarily taking the fastest route to play pro hockey and going to the OHL. I had an offer to sign with the OHL when I was 18 that I stipulated every year I played in the OHL; I would get a year of schooling. Obviously, it’s tempting to play in the OHL - it’s every kid’s dream - but it paid off for me to wait and pursue the route that works best for me.
It’s not necessarily about rushing; it’s about taking your time, developing, and having fun with it. Every day, my focus is on improving myself on the ice and learning more in school. I think that has helped me a lot is not rushing into something and getting into a position where I can’t succeed. It’s about waiting for the right opportunity.
Obviously the schooling aspect of your career is very important to you. What will you be studying during your time at Mercyhurst?
When I was at SJK, I thought for sure I would go into a science program in post-secondary school. In the IB Diploma Programme, I took high-level biology and chemistry and I thought I was going to do something in medicine, but I’ve been taking social sciences at Laurier the past year, and I think I’m going to go into political science. As of now, I’m planning on double majoring in political science and business.
If it’s not the case that I end up playing hockey after graduating, I’d like to go into law; it’s something I’m really interested in. Environmental law is a field that I think I would enjoy and that’s kind of where I’m aiming to go if the hockey side doesn’t pan out or if I’m unable to play for a while and can’t make a career out of hockey.
Are there any other thoughts you would like to share with the SJK community?
SJK was such a massive part of the process of me developing my timeline and discovering where I want to go. I think this environment was essential for me to step outside what I thought was the sphere of my social interactions.
I started in Grade 9 in Mississauga at a high school that had 4,000 students, and 2,000 of them were in Grade 9. I would go through the halls, and by the end of the year, I still didn’t even know half the people that were in my class. We had classes of about 40 people. So for me to go to SJK was a very big shift; it was such a polar opposite experience as I had about 35 students in my graduating class.
I always hung out with all the hockey kids. There were about 100 kids who either played AA, AAA, or single A. That was my group of friends that I always knew and it was always the same people. Then, coming to SJK, I was virtually the only guy who played hockey, and so it was nice to be able to meet new friends that I now have for life, and they aren’t necessarily a part of that whole hockey side of things. That was really significant for me in identifying who I am and finding different aspects of my life that I can entertain. There are characteristics about myself that I didn’t know existed.
SJK was impactful for me because it diversified my life so much with the student body and allowed me to focus on goals with people who have a diversified experience. I am so happy I came here!
St. John's Kilmarnock School
©2018 St John’s-Kilmarnock School. All Rights Reserved.
