CCHL News

Colavecchia Commits to RIT for 2010

Date: Jan 12, 2010

Early on in his junior hockey career, Michael Colavecchia, a fourteenth round pick of the Oshawa Generals in the 2006 OHL Priority Selection, decided that playing NCAA Division I hockey was his ultimate goal. That led Colavecchia to a career in Junior A hockey that has spanned four years and four different teams but has finally resulted in the accomplishment that he was hoping for: a scholarship to attend Rochester Institute of Technology and play Division I hockey for the Tigers beginning in 2010.

"It feels great, it's been my goal since I've been playing minor hockey," said Colavecchia, a veteran forward with the Lindsay Muskies. "It was pretty much my choice to stay away from the OHL so that I could obtain a Division I scholarship and play hockey for the next four years after junior."

Nothing against the Ontario Hockey League, insisted Colavecchia, but he understood that his style of play was more suited to the NCAA style.

"I was told that my style of game really just fit into the NCAA type of hockey so it was a smart decision for me considering that everything worked out the way it did," said Colavecchia. "The OHL style is great for some players but then again, it's not the best route for everybody so I had to make the choice and I took a gamble at waiting and passing up the OHL for the NCAA but it seems like everything's worked out."

When watching Colavecchia play and hearing him describe himself as a player, his description matches very closely to the style of play that is seen at the NCAA level.

"I would say the number one part of my game is a lot of speed, my skating would be my strongest asset," said Colavecchia. "From there, I'd say playing making and passing abilities are strengths as well."

Starting out his Junior A career in 2006-2007 with the Markham Waxers, Colavecchia spent parts of two seasons in Markham before joining the Aurora Tigers early in the 2007-2008 season before finishing that year with a third team, the Dixie Beehives. Midway through the 2008-2009 campaign, Colavecchia was on the move once again, landing with his current team, the Lindsay Muskies. Despite an absence of consistency for much of his junior career in terms of where he played, Colavecchia said he never lost the hope of securing a Division I commitment.

"Not really actually, no," said Colavecchia, when asked if he ever lost hope of accomplishing his goal. "I've been told ever since I was sixteen years old that this was a smart decision for me and I've been talking to a lot of NCAA schools since I began playing Junior A, it was always just a matter of whether or not I would be getting commitments from these schools. It's one thing to have interest but it's another thing to actually have the schools come to the table and tell you they want you. It always feels good when they do that."

When RIT came to the table and made it clear that they wanted Colavecchia to join their program, the Maple, Ontario native had an easy time in making his decision. Impressed with commitment of the school to their hockey program, the quality of the facilities and the desire of the coaching staff to see him play for the Tigers, for Colavecchia, his acceptance of the offer was a no-brainer.

"From looking at some other schools as well and then going to visit RIT, hockey is the number one sport for Division I at RIT so that was exciting in that they put most of their efforts into the hockey program," said Colavecchia. "Also when they took me down to the school, when I was talking to the coaches, it seemed like they thought very highly of me and they thought I fit in perfectly with their style of play and the direction their program was going in. The facilities looked great and the team has been the number one team in the Atlantic Division for the last couple years so it's a great hockey program as well."

Colavecchia, who hopes to be studying either business or engineering while attending RIT, has only played in nine games this season with the Muskies but was tremendously productive during that time, notching six goals and eleven assists while recording a point in all nine games. Out since October 5^th recovering from an injury, Colavecchia said he hopes to be back in the line up in time for the Newmarket Showcase and failing that, early on in the new year.

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