Owen Headrick’s first full season as a professional hockey player has been productive. The Garden River First Nations man, who was selected 23rd overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft by the Detroit Red Wings, is averaging just over a point per game.
Don’t be surprised by his success, however; Headrick has long been considered a winner who makes teams better. Since he is now 25, let’s stop calling him a kid and start calling him a young man; he has been making top teams better for well over a decade. Think back to the 2013-14 season, when Headrick joined the Sault Ste. Marie Thunderbirds (Junior A team that plays in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League).
The 16-year-old made an immediate impact in a league filled with players up to five years older than him, earning the NOJHL’s top rookie award. He missed a lot of the next season due to injury, but upon his return late in the year, he picked up where he left off and led the Thunderbirds to the league championship.
Headrick was named Most Valuable Player of the playoffs, even though he was still one of Sault Ste. Marie’s youngest players. He accumulated 20 points, including 12 goals, in 14 games. For a defenseman, that was not too bad at all. But winners do things like that. Headrick then took his skills southward across the border where he received a scholarship for athletics at Lake Superior State University in Michigan.
Headrick played for Lake Superior State University in Michigan as a freshman and was one of the team’s youngest members. Despite his youth, Headrick fit in with his teammates and continued to excel. Headrick moved to the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters for the 2016–17 season.
He added depth to an already excellent team, winning the OHL title that spring. Headrick went back to school after his second year with the Otters. However, he had one more year of junior eligibility remaining. That’s why he decided to live on Prince Edward Island and join the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers for his final year of eligibility.
He had great success at the University of Prince Edward Island. In his second year, he was selected to the Atlantic conference’s first all-star team and the all-Canadian second team. At the end of that hockey season, he was named both the Panthers’ most valuable player and UPEI’s male athlete of the year. It makes sense that he’d pursue a career in professional hockey after graduating.
The COVID-19 pandemic, on the other hand, made it harder for Headrick to do well at Canada’s universities. The whole 2020-21 season for UPEI’s hockey team was canceled. And when a rise in COVID-19 cases made it unclear if college hockey would start again last year, Headrick decided to go pro. He joined the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League in January.
Before his season-ending injury, he only played in three games for the Crunch. Headrick has returned and is having a breakout season as a top forward with the Idaho Steelheads of the East Coast Hockey League. He played in 27 games for the Steelheads and scored 28 points.
The head coach of the team thinks Headrick can be a top player in the league if he works hard on his defensive game and consistency. At this point in the season, the Steelheads hold the best record out of the league’s 28 teams. If Headrick continues to develop, they will be a serious title contender by next year. This should be fun to watch!
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