Fashion Lighting Player Spotlight: Justin Auger
By Scott Tracey, Guelphstorm.com
Storm winger Justin Auger almost never became a hockey player at all.
Unlike many of his teammates, who were dragged to the rink by parents when they were hardly old enough to walk, Auger pestered his parents to put him on the ice.
Now 19, he recalls playing ball hockey with a close friend when he was about seven, using younger sister Beth as an unwitting goalie.
“He told me he played hockey and I wanted to as well,” Auger says. “Neither of my parents were involved with hockey so they never had any interest in putting me in it.”
He had missed the deadline for that season, so a year later he asked again.
“We thought he’d just forget about it, but a year later he came back and asked again so we signed him up,” mom Rose remembers. “He didn’t even know how to skate.
“Before long he got the hang of skating and started to score, but he still couldn’t stop so he would just fall down and crash into the end boards.”
He got better.
After a career-high 16 goals last season, Auger was poised for a break-out season this year.
But shortly after the Storm’s home opener, Auger began feeling ill. Blood tests confirmed he had mononucleosis, the same infection which took teammate Matt Finn of the ice for months last season.
Mono would sideline Auger for about five weeks.
“It was really tough not only watching the guys because they were doing so well and I wanted to be out there, but also because after working out all summer you just want to be out there,” Auger said recently.
“It was disappointing for sure,” Rose concedes. “He was in the best shape of his life heading into this season and then he got sick and couldn’t play.”
Auger rejoined the team in early November. Through 13 games he has four goals and two assists.
“I feel fine now,” he insists. “It’s going to take a bit to get the game legs back. It’s tough … because I know I’m not as strong as I could be.”
After growing up in Waterloo and cheering for the Rangers, Auger laughs when asked about joining the Highway 7 rivals.
“I never really had a hate for the Storm the way a lot of the Rangers fans do,” he says diplomatically. “I was just so happy on (OHL) draft day to be going anywhere.”
He had a repeat of that feeling this past summer. After being overlooked last year in his first eligible NHL draft, he was picked this year in the fourth round – 103rd overall — by the Los Angeles Kings, despite not making Central Scouting’s list of the top 210 North American skaters.
The Auger family was at the cottage on draft day, trying to update the Internet connection fast enough to follow along. Ultimately he learned he had been picked via a congratulatory text from Storm official.
“I was sitting out on the deck with the whole family when we heard about it, so everyone was really excited,” Justin says.
After last year’s draft, Rose said the family tried not to put too much emphasis on draft day “because you just don’t know what could happen.
“But it was so exciting,” she says. “His dad Marc was so proud he immediately went and told all the neighbours.”
Scott Tracey is a Guelph-based writer. He can be contacted at [email protected] or followed on Twitter @scottjtracey
