Globe-trotting goaltender sees OHL in future
BRAMPTON, Ont. – Emerson Verrier stayed up as late as he could to follow the Ontario Hockey League’s Priority Selection on the Internet.
Goaltender Verrier wasn’t at his Whitby, Ont., home for the 15-round process that started at 9 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Saturday. He was in his dormitory room at Pembroke School in Adelaide, Australia, where he’s an exchange student.
“I stayed up until 3 a.m. watching it online,” Verrier said Monday via telephone from Adelaide. “At that point the fourth round had just finished, and I knew I had to get to bed. My mother eventually called me to tell me I had been picked by the Battalion.”
Chosen in the seventh round, Verrier, the first of three goaltenders taken by the Battalion, played 37 games with the Whitby Wildcats minor midgets, recording a goals-against average of 1.37 and six shutouts.
A teammate of defenceman Marcus McIvor, the Troops’ first-round pick, Verrier said he hoped to be selected by the club after Stan Butler, Battalion director of hockey operations and head coach, ran a practice for the Wildcats.
“I wanted to go to a good organization like the Battalion. Stan made a pretty good impression on us at practice. He worked us hard and spoke to us about how he builds his team and what he’s looking for in his players.”
Verrier, who turned 16 on April 26, is in his third week at Pembroke. He returned home Tuesday to attend the Ontario Minor Hockey Association’s final regional camp for the provincial under-17 team at Guelph. The three-day camp wraps up Sunday.
“I have short legs but a long upper body, so I think I’m a butterfly goalie,” said Verrier, six feet and 190 pounds. “When I go down I can cover a lot of the net. I don’t get beat up high that often.”
A student at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ont., Verrier is to return to Australia to finish the school year. He said he may get in some hockey, among other athletic pursuits.
“There’s an amateur league here, and they’ve asked me to bring my gear here so I can play for the team in Adelaide. It would be interesting, because I’d be playing with and against men. I’m debating whether I should do it. It’s only two days a week, and you travel all over Australia for games. It looks like fun.”
Few of Verrier’s schoolmates are familiar with hockey, at least the version played on ice.
“It’s mostly kids from Australia and some parts of Asia here. I was pressured into being a field hockey goalie. That’s very big here. We lost 9-1 in the first game I played, so I’m still adjusting to it. I wanted to play Australian rules football, but I couldn’t kick the ball.”
The British-born Verrier already is well traveled. A native of London, he spent the first four years of his life in Ankara, Turkey, when his father, Hugh, practised law there. The family also lived in Moscow for several years.
Verrier, who speaks fluent Russian and French, played hockey in Moscow and, when he was 10, traveled with a team to the Bell Capital Cup at Ottawa.
“Playing in Russia was different. It was very intense. We practised before school at 6:15 in the morning. There were never any cuts. They just picked the players they wanted after practice.
“We had 32 kids on the team, including six goalies. I was fortunate enough to be the starter. That made me a lot more competitive. We were all fighting for spots. They played three 20-minute periods from the time we were eight. I became a very hard worker and never missed practice. I developed a lot of good habits over there that have helped me not only in hockey but in school.”
While at the Ottawa tournament, Verrier billeted at the home of left winger Adam Lloyd, a fifth-round Battalion selection Saturday.
“Adam was probably my first Canadian hockey friend,” said Verrier. “I knew him even before we moved to Whitby. It was great to see him picked by the Battalion. He’s a really good player.”
The Verriers moved to Whitby when Emerson was 13, and he played for the minor bantam Wildcats. In 2008-09 he played with the Mid Fairfield Blues major bantams of Darien, Conn.
“I had an offer to play down there. We lost in the quarterfinals of the United States nationals to (Detroit) Compuware. I knew, if I wanted a shot at getting picked by an OHL team, I had to move back to Whitby. So I tried out for the Wildcats, made it and had a good season.”
Verrier plans to play varsity hockey next season at Kent School in Kent, Conn.
“They have a really good hockey program. They wanted me to go there this season, but I told them I wanted a year to develop and they respected that. I think I’ll be the starter on the varsity team and it’ll be a good stepping stone to prepare me for the OHL. It’s always been my goal to play in this league.”
