Olivier Hinse, the fifth-year captain of the Concordia Stingers men"s hockey team, will also serve as the leader of Canada"s entry at the 28th Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan that runs Jan. 29 through Feb. 8.
The Sherbrooke, Que. native is highly respected by his Concordia teammates and the university hockey community. Hinse was named captain of the U Sports all-stars for the two-games series with the Canadian national junior team prospects last December. He was an alternate captain in the same event in 2015.
In 2015, he won the national Dr. Randy Gregg Award recognizing his success in university men"s hockey, academics and community service.
In addition to his leadership skills, Hinse brings a nice scoring touch to the team. He has 17 goals and 11 assists for 28 points in 23 games with the Stingers. He is currently the leading goal scorer in the OUA and ranks third on the U Sports leaderboard.
"(Head coach Brett Gibson) called me about a week ago to give me the news," said Hinse. "I've been captain at Concordia for three years now but there's really nothing like being selected to captain your national team. It's such a great honour. There's so much leadership on this team, I already know my job will be very easy."
"I got the opportunity to coach Olivier at our all-star games against the Canadian world juniors each of the past two years," explained Gibson, head coach of Team Canada. "He's just a wonderful human being on and off the ice. He shows leadership beyond his years, and he's just a guy who commands respect when he walks into a room. He was an easy choice to captain our team here in Almaty."
For his first official duty Hinse and alternate captains will take part in an outdoor shinny game with local youth organized by the Embassy of Canada to Kazakhstan tomorrow.
MEN"S HOCKEY SCHEDULE (all times local/11 hours ahead of EST)
- Monday at 7:30 p.m. - Canada vs. USA (www.livefisu.tv)
- Wednesday at 4 p.m. - Canada vs. Great Britain
- Friday, Feb. 3 at 12:30 p.m. - Canada vs. Slovakia (www.livefisu.tv)
The playoffs begin on Saturday, Feb. 4. The medal games are scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 8.
