It’s a scenario Jacob Latrace never imagined he would be in months earlier: starting goalie for his hometown junior hockey team.
The 20-year-old believed his career was over thanks to a heavy course load as an engineering student at UBC. All that changed soon after Steve Robinson was named head coach of the Richmond Sockeyes last April.
“I actually thought I was done hockey,” recalled Latrace. “It was definitely with mixed emotions. I had heard rumours of him being here and sort of saw it coming, but that first talk we had was a good one. I told him ‘maybe’ then but I knew it was going to be a ‘yes’ in a day or so.”
Latrace will make his Sockeyes’ debut Thursday night for the club’s regular season opener against the North Vancouver Wolf Pack at Minoru Arenas (7 p.m.). It will be his first time in action since he was traded to Richmond from the Delta Ice Hawks last October.
After couple of solid seasons in Delta, the Seafair product was at a crossroads as he began his second-year at UBC. The Ice Hawks changing their practice times didn’t help either.
“I was talking seven courses, which is the same I did the first-year but the classes were harder and the Ice Hawks’ had new practice times which didn’t work for me. I just couldn’t do it and had to tell them,” he said.
After five games, Delta traded Latrace to the only team that might be able to accommodate his demanding university schedule. However, he realized even playing in his own backyard wasn’t going to work. His playing rights remained with Richmond for what would be his final year of junior eligibility but it didn’t mean a whole lot until his former minor hockey coach was hired.
Robinson had coached Latrace for a year at the Midget A1 level before he made the jump to junior. They also worked together for a couple seasons of spring hockey. If that wasn’t enough incentive for Latrace to return, the Sockeyes hosting the 2018 Cyclone Taylor Cup provincial junior “B” championship certainly was. He has eased his university course load until the hockey season is over by adding another year to his studies.
“That’s just a bonus on top of it,” Latrace continued. “We are going to have such an older and developed team with some real good young guys too. You just don’t get that without a team that is committed to going to Cyclone Taylor. I knew it was going to be a solid team.
“Steve is a great guy to play for. He is really down to earth with the boys. He is not above you in that sense and really wants to connect with you at that level of friendship too. I love him as a person and a coach.”
Latrace’s time in Delta included an outstanding run in the 2016 playoffs that saw him be the difference in the Ice Hawks’ opening round upset of the regular season champion Wolf Pack. Now he will be guarding the goal crease for the team that is Delta’s biggest rival.
“My first-ever junior tryout was with Richmond and that’s where I wanted to be at the start,” he added. “I got really lucky with (former Delta GM) Peter (Zerbinos) in going to the Ice Hawks. There maybe a rivalry but I have played with a lot of these guys before and we are friends off the ice. It’s made it a real easy transition, actually.”
