Success at all levels: Andre Hidi
Few people can say that they have won a national championship in university hockey, an OHL Championship, and participated in the Memorial Cup and the World Juniors; but Andre Hidi can.
In 1979, Hidi was invited to try out for the defending Memorial Cup Champion, the Peterborough Petes, by Head Coach Mike Keenan and made the cut.
The Petes were selected to represent Canada along with seven other OHL players at the 1980 World Junior Championship in Helsinki, Finland. Canada was upset by Finland after giving up 2 goals in 5 on 3 action to fall 2-1. They then lost their next game 8-5 to the top-ranked USSR squad. Canada went on to win their next three games and finished fifth overall in the tournament.
Hidi and the Petes returned to Peterborough where they won their third consecutive OHL Championship and had their third consecutive Memorial Cup Final game appearance where they fell 3-2 to the Cornwall Royals, in overtime.
“Great season, great teammates, great coach,” said Hidi. “If we could’ve done a little better in the World Juniors and won a medal at least and won that very last game in overtime against Cornwall it would’ve been closer to perfect, but it was a great season.”
Hidi was drafted by the NHL’s Colorado Rockies (now the New Jersey Devils) but when the team wanted him to play for the Fort Worth Texans, he decided to stay in Canada.
Hidi attended the University of Toronto for four years, studying Political Economy, and playing hockey for the Varsity Blues. Coached by Keenan again in his fourth year in 1983-84, the team went on to win a national championship with Hidi making that years’ USPORTS All-Canadian Team and winning the league’s MVP award.
This success made Hidi reconsider a career in hockey and he signed with the Washington Capitals as a free agent. Hidi played seven games for the Capitals on a line with Mike Gartner and Bobby Carpenter and scored two NHL goals.
“The first one I was in Philadelphia and I was on the powerplay getting cross-checked from behind by one of the Flyers defencemen and my partner wired a slapshot off my shin pad that went in,” said Hidi. “They said I should keep the sock instead of the puck. The second goal was scored in Vancouver and I had some friends and family there and I actually scored that with my stick so that was better.”
Hidi’s time with the Capitals organization was mainly spent with the Binghamton Whalers, who were a joint farm team for the Capitals and Hartford Whalers.
Hidi’s career in professional hockey was short-lived as he decided to go back to school and attended California’s prestigious Stanford University, where he acquired a Master of Business Administration.
Stanford prepared Hidi for a long career in investment banking specializing in mergers and acquisitions. He first started out in New York City on Wall Street with Morgan Stanley for six years before moving back to Canada and working with Citigroup for six years. Hidi currently works for BMO Capital Markets and has for the past eighteen years.
Hidi is the chair of a real estate company called RealServus, which was co-founded by his friend. He started out as a minority investor and took over as chair when his friend retired.
Hidi lived with Irene Vitarelli and her children Gary and Rosemary, as a billet and still keeps in close contact with them. He met his wife Jocelyn at a birthday party for teammate Larry Murphy, and the couple has been married for 36 years. They have three children together named Molly, Jack, and Georgia.
