#CanadaWestCreated: WHL Alumni Bourhis pursuing path to police force

 

It makes sense that Austin Bourhis is pursuing a career in policing. After all, he always was kind of the cop on his hockey teams.

“That’s a great way to look at it,” says the University of Regina alumnus. “That’s definitely a perspective that I take out of it.

After graduating from Police Studies at the U of R last year, the former Cougars defenceman is preparing to apply for city police services in his native Saskatchewan. The 26-year-old’s chosen career dovetails with the role he played over five years on the Cougars’ blueline after parts of four seasons in the Western Hockey League, with Medicine Hat, Moose Jaw and Prince Albert.

“Team sports and policing are very closely related,” Bourhis points out. “Hockey players seem to make very good cops.”

Bourhis is building his resume by working security patrol full-time on the Regina campus, as a well as a part-time facility youth worker for the provincial government.

“They’re both different, unique types of experiences – it’s good to get the best of both of them,” he says.

“I take them as, ‘How can I get the best experience out of it and help better myself and get to the point where I want to be’, which is being a police officer.”

As part of a hockey-mad family in Kipling, Sask., a young Bourhis followed his older brothers to the rink. Once he started playing the game, his essential traits began to take shape.

“I wasn’t a great hockey player growing up, there were always kids better than me, but that was just (motivation) to be as good as the next guy or better that kept me going,” says the six-foot-one Bourhis.

“I had one coach who always said having intensity – just playing intense – could branch out into making your game that much better, and that stuck with me for all of my playing career. I just took on the role of a grinder and a hard guy to play against.”

As his junior hockey career was winding down in 2012-13, Bourhis found himself looking to the future. He was able to take advantage of the WHL Scholarship program, for which every season played in the WHL, a player is entitled to a minimum of tuition, books and compulsory fees at any post-secondary institution.

But while he knew he wanted to go to university, Bourhis wasn’t sure what he wanted to study. A heart-to-heart with his older brother, a police officer in Saskatoon, set Bourhis upon his path.

“He said, ‘You should look seriously into policing, you have the right characteristics for it and it’s a great career,” recalls Bourhis, who did some research and found the perfect fit in Police Studies at the U of R.

“It gave me the opportunity to play hockey as well for another five years and get an education while I was doing it, and it was close to my home. I was very familiar with the city, so it was a no-brainer at that point.”

It had already been a few years since he’d finished high school when Bourhis began attending Regina, in 2013. When he initially struggled in the classroom, hockey helped him through. Veteran teammates assured Bourhis that was ordinary, and he would become much more adept with his studies. Being a Cougar meant too much to him to do anything other than stick with it.

“I don’t think I would have been able to play one year of hockey and not come back to the team, to the friends I made and the coaches,” he says. “It definitely helps having a little bit of maturity and having a goal in mind and wanting to accomplish it and learning stuff that interests you.”

Bourhis played over 100 Canada West games in Cougars silks, as he was honed some of the skills he hopes translates into a long career on the force.

“As an individual on a team, you’re striving to make the team better,” he says. “We’re all working together towards a common goal – winning games, winning championships – so in policing I relate that to police officers working together to keep the public safe and keeping the community safe. The team aspect is spot-on with hockey and policing.”

About #CanadaWestCreated
The #CanadaWestCreated series features stories of former Canada West student-athletes who have moved on to excel in their careers and communities. The individuals profiled in the #CanadaWestCreated series exemplify how student-athletes build the skills and connections needed to succeed following the completion of their time in university.