The Olds Grizzlys have beefed up their defence for the future by signing defenceman Brendan McBride.
The Sundre-area (Westward Ho) resident is six feet tall and weighs about 185 pounds. He turns 18 next month.
McBride, who has played for the Red Deer Midget AAA Chiefs the last couple of seasons, says he was considering signing with a couple of other teams but settled on the Grizzlys for a couple of reasons.
"Olds was kind of close to home and I can live at home and play there next year. And I think the organization's on the trend upward in the standings next year and everything; the rebuild's going on. So yeah, I think it'll be a good place," he says.
"I think it's a good pit stop on where I'm planning to go. I have aspirations to make it to the NHL one day and I think they're a good step to help me do that; move on to maybe play college somewhere and just see how far I can go."
The left defenceman describes himself as a two-way player.
"I can move the puck well, make a first good pass out of the zone and be reliable in our own end; keep the puck out of our net," he says. "I can make some things happen on the blueline but also be good defensively."
This season, in 34 games with the Midget AAA Chiefs, McBride scored two goals and picked up nine assists for 11 points. He sat in the sin bin for 28 penalty minutes.
When asked if he has any players he'd like to emulate, McBride says, "there's a couple of kids who used to live in Sundre, Dom and Quinn Schmiemann, and they were my friends growing up and they've moved on to the WHL."
His hero in the NHL is Erik Karlsson of the San Jose Sharks.
"I really enjoy watching Erik Karlsson and what he does offensively," McBride says.
"He gets lots of points, plays both sides of the puck really well and when you see what he does on the offensive side he's just a really good all-around player."
Grizzlys head coach-GM Joe Murphy likes what he sees in McBride.
"Brendan is an all-around player; (has) good skill, skates well, solid understanding of his positioning, good passer, and can contribute offensively," Murphy says. "He is a big frame, which will be a big attribute defensively.
"Perhaps his biggest attribute is, he picks up things really quick, and wants to be a great player. We want to have as many guys as we can that want to be great."
There's another reason the club values McBride.
"(He's) a local athlete who wants to stay in Olds and sees value in what we are doing here," he says.
