The US flag waves over Sherbrooke

Since the birth of the Sherbrooke Phoenix in 2012-13, Americans have been no strangers to their lineup. Geographically speaking, Sherbrooke has emerged a destination of choice for young Northeastern US-born players looking to continue their hockey development at a higher level. Chase Harwell is one such player, even though he had debated between the QMJHL and playing for a big US university.

“For a lot of Americans, there really is only one option and that’s to do all you can to get a scholarship to play at the university level. The system is built that way even though there are possibilities that exist like the QMJHL. I don’t regret my decision one single bit,” explained the 17-year-old native of Southburry, CT.

It was Phoenix GM Patrick Charbonneau himself who first discovered Harwell while the young player was with South Kent College, a US prep school. The previous season, Charbonneau along with his brother and Phoenix head scout Alain had picked one of Harwell’s teammates, Mitchell Lundholm. On a trip back to South Kent to try to convince the power forward to join their team the next season, the Charbonneau brothers also discovered a feisty forward in Harwell.

“I liked my first contact with Pat. He came to watch Mitch and that was when he started to talk to me,” said Harwell. “I had already committed to Quinnipiac University and that was the path I was on. It’s no secret I had heard all sorts of negative stories about the QMJHL, so I was a little hesitant at first, but Pat started to convince me bit by bit.”

To hear Harwell tell it, the QMJHL’s reputation south of the border isn’t the greatest.

“Americans in general think that QMJHL teams don’t take very good care of their players and that school is a joke. Some believe that players are just cut loose once they get injured, but it’s just the opposite. I have nothing but good things to say about the hockey model in Quebec. Those are absolutely false assumptions and I can’t say enough about all the support players receive in Sherbrooke and across the QMJHL. Sure the language barrier is there, but I adapted to that pretty easily. I think those perceptions are now changing in the US,” said Harwell.

As far as Harwell is concerned, playing in the QMJHL has helped him grow as a person as he has learned to become a man.

“I learned how to be more independent and handle my affairs. I’m doing my classes by correspondence and it’s going great. For me, school is important and I devote a lot of my time to it. I had to make sure that school would take up a lot of my time in Sherbrooke. The team showed me just how supported I would be. I feel honoured to play for the Phoenix. I really couldn’t ask for anything more,” said Harwell who is loving life in Sherbrooke and is even taking French classes to boot.

A sporting family

Chase Harwell is the second oldest of a four-boy family. His father, Earl, was a star football player growing up and his mom, Kathleen, is a former swimming state champion in her own right. The apple clearly never falls far from the tree.

“My parents always stressed healthy lifestyle in our family. They always sent us outside to play and we rarely played video games. They were really strict on that so we played a lot of street hockey. As of age 10, I regularly ran with my dad. They really passed on some good habits to us,” said Chase whose brothers Jake and Troy are also accomplished athletes. Troy may prove to be the best of the lot and the 14-year-old is still mulling over his options in either hockey or football.

It wasn’t an easy decision for the young Chase to pick a sport given he excelled at everything! He recalls his own beginnings with skates first on his feet.

“One of my uncles was an excellent hockey player who also played at a prep school in his younger days. He then became a big hockey fan. He was the one who introduced me to hockey and I got hooked pretty quickly. I did play a lot of different sports though from football, baseball, basketball, soccer and even lacrosse! I then settled on hockey in the winter and football in the summer until the point that I had to make a choice. I was miserable about it, but my dad helped me understand that I had to decide on one. I don’t regret my decision, but I think my dad will now do all he can to let my younger brothers play their sports as long they can,” said Harwell who takes his fitness very seriously.

So much so that he hopes to one day open his own fitness centre when his playing days are over.

Chase Harwell didn’t really set clear goals for himself before making the leap to the QMJHL. For him, success as a team is what matters above all. His dream? Pretty simple: to raise the Memorial Cup in Sherbrooke. And who knows maybe next year will be the year for the Phoenix who will be entering the two final years of their five-year plan that began in 2012…