Ottawa native Cory Cowick takes to the ice for the Ottawa 67’s.
Not too long ago, a nine-year-old Corey Cowick was spending his afternoons in the packed stands of the Civic Centre yelling at referees and watching his hometown Ottawa 67’s.
“Going back when I was a kid, the 67’s were pretty big for me,” says Cowick. “I was one of those kids with the striped toque on, playing mini-sticks in-between periods.”
The 20-year-old now finds himself on the other side of the glass.
After being traded to Ottawa from the Oshawa Generals last June, he has returned home to play for the same team he grew up watching.
“It’s a pretty unique experience I’ve got to say. You can’t really put words to it,” says the forward. “It’s a dream come true.”
Cowick says the dream first felt like reality when he stepped onto the ice for the 67’s home opener.
“Lights off, my picture up on the scoreboard. It gave me goosebumps and the shakes for sure,” Cowick says.
Since that first puck drop, he has been making full use of the term ‘home-ice advantage.’
Cowick is having a career year. Playing on the team’s top line with Logan Couture and Thomas Nesbitt, he had already netted 28 goals and racked up 44 points after the 67’s three-game weekend Jan. 16-18. This after he had only managed to cash in 33 points in the two previous seasons spent in Oshawa.
“It just started and it’s kind of snowballed. I’m not stopping that snowball now, it’s going right down the hill,” Cowick says.
Cowick, a first-year psychology student at Carleton University, says the comfort of home off the ice has contributed to his success on it.
“Everything’s familiar. It’s so much easier to come back home and have your parents there,” he says.
“I get to pass my old home arena and my old home ball diamond on the way to the rink. Just little things like that make you feel so much more at home and so much more at ease.”
67’s goaltender and Ottawa-native Adam Courchaine says he can see the positive impact home ice has had on Cowick.
“Being able to come home and play in Ottawa, it’s a big boost for his confidence,” says Courchaine.
The greater opportunity he’s had in Ottawa has also made a difference. Back in Oshawa, Cowick says he was more of a role player who often took it upon himself to fight opposition players.
Stuck on the fourth line and forced to play in the shadow of star forwards like John Tavares, he says he almost felt like quitting hockey.
But those feelings have subsided, Cowick says. A day after his trade to Ottawa, he fondly remembers the conversation he had with 67’s general manager and head coach Brian Kilrea.
“He saw me as a leader which is good and which is what I want to be,” says Cowick, who is one of the team’s alternate captains. “He’s just given me all the trust and all the confidence in the world since that day.”
And he hasn’t looked back.
67’s assistant coach Chris Byrne says Cowick isn’t taking the opportunity for granted.
“He’s taken full advantage of the increased minutes that he’s playing,” says Byrne. “He’s a good team player, so when he works hard and plays his style of game, it really helps our team and helps himself.”
Cowick says the self-assurance he’s developed this season in Ottawa has also allowed him to envision a career in professional hockey.
“I think that’s finally become my goal now. It’s not that I still dream or wish I can, now it’s a reality,” says Cowick.
But for the time being, Cowick often finds himself looking at a clean sheet of ice before practice, thinking about how his hockey career has come full circle.
It’s his turn to be in the skates of the 67’s players he used to watch as a kid – and he’s relishing the opportunity.
“I want to be that figure that kids can look up to 'cause I’ve been in their shoes,” he says. “I can definitely relate to them.”