ACAC Men's Hockey Championships
by ACAC Sports Writer Curtis J. Phillips
During his high school days at Half Moon Bay High School in El Granada, California, Brendan Jensen was, in his own words, "The kid that played hockey and was not at the beach surfing. I was the only kid in the school that could skate and everyone knew I played hockey."
Instead of carving the waves while looking for the Perfect 10 on the Pacific Ocean, he spent his youth perfecting the butterfly and closing out the five- hole on the ice hockey rinks.
Of his introduction to hockey by his father, the 24 year-old Jensen, now into his second years of goaltending for the NAIT Ooks, recalls: "My mom (Chanda Jensen) bought my dad (Lars Jensen) tickets to a San Jose Sharks game. I believe there was a couple of good fights at the game, as he tells us the story, and he enjoyed it, so he asked my uncle if he wanted to split a 10-game pack."
Lars interest in the physical tactics of professional hockey comes naturally as he and his twin brother Thor had attended the 1980 U.S. Olympics trials in wrestling.
Lars would go on to become wrestling head coach at San Francisco State University , where he still remains today nearly 35 years later, producing countless champions and has been recognized for his work with induction into the California Wrestling Hall of Fame and National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
But this story is not about Lars but his son Brendan, who has his own athletic resume, still growing, to be proud of.
"When I was growing up I played hockey and wrestled (until Grade 10)," said Jensen, who is enrolled in Business Administration at NAIT. "On our hockey team, one day the goalie did not show up and the coach asked who wanted to go in goal and I raised my hand. So they found some hand-me-downs someone left behind and that's how I started."
For the first few years of his youth hockey, "The closest rink was a 35-minute drive from our house and as I got older and playing for the Junior Sharks, the rink was an hour drive.'
For his Bantam and Midget years, Jensen would commute weekends to Los Angeles, California to be part of the Los Angeles Selects.
"It was pretty crazy," recalled Jensen. "You hear all the stories about traffic and everything and because I had different billets on the weekends, it could be a four-hour drive or a 30-minute drive to the rink. It was a great experience and all of our coaches were ex pros."
Drafted by the Western Hockey League (WHL) Vancouver Giants , he would suit up for them from 2009-2012 with cups of coffee for the WHL Edmonton Oil Kings and Portland Winterhawks, interspaced with stops and drops for the Wenatchee Wild (North American Hockey League) and the Spruce Grove Saints (Alberta Junior Hockey League).
He would later take his talents to the Fargo Force (United States Hockey League) from 2012-2014 before having a brief stint with the University of Manitoba Bison.
For the 2015-2016 season he headed west and enrolled at NAIT.
"They had contacted and showed interest in me when I was in Fargo," said Jensen. "I loved the idea that I could continue playing and with such a good program."
Jensen would suit up for only three games during a 32-win regular season followed by a four win post-season to claim the ACAC men's banner for the second year-in-a-row.
This year Jensen, who is owner and head instructor of Pure Goaltending, has upped his game to where he minded the net for 22 games and a conference best .930 save percentage, 2.19 goals against average and .842 win percentage.
Not bad for a kid who "lived one block away from the harbor and a mile from the beach."
NAIT Ooks will be playing in a best-of-three Alberta Colleges Athletic Association Men's Hockey Championship series starting Friday against the MacEwan University Griffins.
(From ACAC Website) The NAIT Ooks had advanced to the Championship defeating the Augustana Vikings (#4) 2 games to 1; 2-3 (OT), 4-1 and 3-1. In the other semi-final series the MacEwan Griffins won their series 2-0 against the SAIT Trojans (#3), 3-2 (OT) and 5-3.
NAIT Ooks 22 wins 6 losses 138 goals for 70 goals against
Goals per Game 4.93 Shots per Game 32.0 Power-play goals 30 Short-handed goals 3
Ooks Young Guns: Trace Elson 11 goals and 33 assists 44 points, Tanner Dunkle 24 goals 15 assists 39 points, Jake Mykitiuk 10 goals 21 assists 31 points
MacEwan University Griffins 21 wins 7 losses 123 goals for 69 goals against
Goals per Game 4.39 Shots per Game 30.5 Power-play goals 25 Short-handed goals 7
Griffins Young Guns: Brett Njaa 11 goals 20 assists 31 points, Ryan Benn 10 goals 16 assists 26 points, Tyler Morrison 8 goals 17 assists 25 points