Justin McCrae heads to UBC

Press Release

VANCOUVER - For the second straight season, the UBC Thunderbirds men’s hockey team are adding a player to their roster that played in the 2008 Memorial Cup Final.

UBC head coach Milan Dragicevic announced today that Spokane Chiefs centreman Justin McCrae has committed to join the T-Birds for the 2009-10 season after a very successful five-year WHL career that included a Memorial Cup title with the Chiefs in 2008.

“Justin is exactly the type of player we like at UBC,” said Dragicevic of McCrae who was a fourth round selection (102nd overall) of the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2007 NHL Draft. “He works extremely hard at both ends of the ice. Justin has the offensive talent to produce at the CIS level but he also isn’t afraid of going into the corner and winning the tough battles.”

McCrae joins current T-Bird Matt Pepe from the ‘08 Memorial Cup final. Pepe, who was named a Canada West all-rookie team member this year, captained cup finalist Kitchener Rangers in 2008.

“That was definitely the highlight of my hockey career,” said McCrae of the Chiefs junior hockey triumph in 2008. “You play to win championships and it was such an awesome ride, I will remember it for the rest of my life. We had one series that went the full seven games with five overtime games and three of those went into double overtime. That was a series I’ll never forget.”

The 6-foot-0, 190 pound native of Cochrane, AB spent half of the 2007-08 season and the entire 2008-09 with Spokane after spending the first three and a half years of his WHL career with the Saskatoon Blades.

In 302 regular season games, McCrae tallied 67 goals and 97 assists for 164 points. He had a career-best 19 goals in 2007-08 when he split time between the Blades and the Chiefs while notching career highs in assists (33) and points (49) with the Blades in 2006-07. In 46 playoff games, he registered four goals and 11 assists.

This past season McCrae saw action in only 37 regular season games, but played in all 12 Chiefs playoff games, after suffering knee and foot injuries early in the season.

“This was the first time in my entire career that I had missed significant time with an injury and it was really frustrating,” said McCrae who had played a minimum of 61 regular season games over his first four WHL seasons. “I am completely healed and a had a good finish to the season. I want to contribute offensively this coming year but it’s also important to be responsible defensively and establish a solid two-way game. Winning is the most fun you can have in this game so I’m ready to do whatever it takes.”

(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)