HUMBOLDT — Humboldt’s Jarrett Fontaine has helped the Trinity Western University (TWU) men’s hockey team make history.
The Langley, BC school squad won the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League finals this spring to repeat as champions.
The son of Robert and Yvonne Fontaine was named the BCIHL playoff MVP for both of those Spartans’ title teams.
“I think what was cool about it was that it was a completely different team than the year before and we were able to pull together and accomplish the same goal,” Fontaine said. “Another aspect that is unique I find is that Trinity had never won a championship before and now going back-to-back we have two in a row.”
In game one of the best-of-three BCIHL championship series, Fontaine roofed a backhanded shot to break a 2-2 tie with Vancouver Island University and give his squad the victory with just seven seconds left to play.
The Spartans wrapped up the title with a 9-1 game two romp that saw Fontaine record three assists.
TWU head coach Barret Kropf said that Fontaine is a “clutch player who never stops.”
As well as being named the league postseason MVP, Fontaine was selected to the BCIHL playoff all-star team.
Fontaine’s stellar playoff performance came after a strong regular season. The 5-foot-5, 162-pounder was third in the BCIHL with 28 points in 24 games. Fontaine was tied for second in the league with 14 goals. His four game-winning goals tied him for the BCIHL lead. Fontaine was selected to the league’s first all-star team.
As well as his on-ice talents, the Spartans look to Fontaine for leadership. He was the male recipient of TWU’s Murray Hall Leadership Legacy Award. Kropf described him as a “glue guy” and “our next captain.”
Fontaine has served as an assistant captain for the Spartans and said it is a lot of responsibility.
“For me, it is an opportunity to have influence in the lives of young men coming into the program,” he said. “On a daily basis, there are opportunities to love my teammates and really pour into them with athletic, social, academic and spiritual guidance, and see them grow in all those areas from the start of the year to end. That is where the true joy of playing the game is for me.”
TWU has been a good fit on and off the ice for the third-year student-athlete. He has enjoyed the success the Spartans hockey team has had. Academically the corporate communications major, who is interested in public relations and marketing, said “it has been awesome to discover a true passion for learning and growing as individual.”
“Socially, the community at Trinity is second to none,” Fontaine said. “I have developed many lifelong friendships on campus, which has been awesome. Without a doubt, above all else, the most enjoyable experience I have had at TWU is learning and growing in my faith in Jesus Christ.”
Fontaine headed to TWU after a successful five-year junior career. He played his first two seasons at the major junior level for the Western Hockey League’s Prince George Cougars. Fontaine returned home to play more than two and a half strong seasons for the Junior A Humboldt Broncos.
The best part of playing for his hometown team?
“I think aside from actually playing the games, it would be the free time that we would have after practice to hang out with the guys. That is where a lot of my relationships were developed – three hours of extra ice time you would get after practice to just hang out and play little mini competition games.
“We had a lot of free time and with that we made the most of it by just enjoying ourselves,” said Fontaine, who was traded in his 20-year-old season to the Weyburn Red Wings to cap his junior career.
Fontaine has been strongly supported on his hockey journey by his parents. When asked about their support, he said, “There is so much to say here, but all I will say is that they uprooted their lives to allow me and my brothers to pursue our dreams. They gave us every opportunity to succeed.”
