Hodgson wants to be big hit at X
Published Saturday January 23rd, 2010
Chris Hodgson decided to trade his shot at another championship ring for one with an X on it instead.
The former University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds winger insists there are "no hard feelings" in his decision to leave the national championship UNB men's hockey team to go to school and play football at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S.
The X-ring is the one graduates of the university wear. It's considered one of the most recognizable rings in the world.
The six-foot-three, 255-pound Fredericton native earned a 2009 CIS championship ring for his contribution to the V-Reds' 2009 title run and the team looks on course to claim another one, with a perfect 20-0 record in Atlantic University Sport Men's Hockey Conference action entering tonight's 7 p.m. faceoff against the St. Thomas Tommies at the LBR.
But Hodgson, who actually leads the AUS in shooting percentage - he scored four goals on nine shots while appearing in nine games with the V-Reds in the first half - was unhappy with a limited role in the UNB lineup.
"Things weren't going right," he said. "It was either stick around and be unhappy there, or make a move and try to get things going for me again. Nothing against UNB. There are a lot of good players there. They're a good team, and they're probably going to win nationals again. I just had to try something else."
But football?
He hasn't played above the bantam level in Fredericton.
"I love doing the football training and the testing kind of stuff," he said. "I thought I'd take it to the next level. I like the physical play. The first option was to play defence, play defensive end and go after the quarterback. I played when I was younger and have basic knowledge of it. I'm a good size for this league and have the speed and all the athletic stuff down."
St. FX head coach Gary Waterman is intrigued by the prospect of working with Hodgson and turning him into a varsity football player. But he calls the 25-year-old "a project."
"That's why I made the decision to come down early, so I could take half a season to learn and get a head start before next season starts," said Hodgson, who is enrolled in three elective courses for this term at X, but will transfer his UNB credits in kinesiology to the Human Kinetics faculty at X and start fourth-year courses in that faculty next year.
Hodgson is a multi-talented athlete. He still holds Canadian speed skating records set in his youth - distances have changed at the competitive level since he competed - and he played senior baseball for the Fredericton Peterbilt DQ Royals last summer.
He played major junior hockey in the Quebec League and had brief professional stints in the ECHL before joining the Varsity Reds in 2007-08. He played nine games that season, but played all 28 in last year's championship march, scoring five goals and six assists.
However, he wasn't dressed for UNB's championship game win over the University of Western Ontario Mustangs last year in Thunder Bay, Ont.. last year.
He hasn't thought about the prospect of playing hockey for Brad Peddle's X-Men next season.
He wouldn't be eligible until after Christmas. He says he is "not too worried about the hockey right now. As of right now, I just want to take a break and get my school going again and just train for football. Next year, it might be a different story."
Hodgson said he and coach Gardiner MacDougall discussed his limited role with the V-Reds. "I asked him what he had planned for me and what was going to happen," he said. "Nobody was mad or anything like that. We just kind of agreed on some stuff, and I said 'Thank you very much, I had a good couple of years.' And that was it. I have no hard feelings with anyone there."
Hodgson was in and out of the lineup through the first half of the schedule, with four goals in nine games in a third and fourth line role with the AUS powerhouse.
"They had a limited role for me," he said. "I wanted to play more. I'm an older player and I was coming down to my last couple of years. I thought maybe I could get some more time. It really wasn't going to work out that way, so I decided to make the move."
He had sounded out both Acadia and X about joining their football programs. He said the presence of Don Davis on the X coaching staff - the former Fredericton resident is assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach on Waterman's staff - helped tilt things in favour of St. FX.
"When I was in high school, we used to play catch at lunchtime," said Hodgson. "Instead of just going and sitting around at lunch time, I was more into playing catch and doing something. His office door was always open. If I wanted to come in with a ball glove he would take an hour. He's all for helping guys out, so X was definitely my first choice when it came time to make a decision. If you want to get better and he knows that, he's going to help you."
He began inquiring about the plausibility of switching schools - and sports - a month ago. He wanted to make sure he would be eligible to make the move without penalty.
"I love working out and training," he said. "In football, eight months of the year you get to train and work out and get bigger. That's why I played hockey ... I'm a physical guy. I can do that here and I don't have to worry about getting goals or getting points or anything. My job is basically to hit people and that's what I like doing."
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