CDS Alumnus Achieves Ultimate Hockey Dreams

Until three years ago, it had been a 12-year stretch since The Country Day School saw its first graduate join the NHL ranks. Mike Cammalleri ’99 played three years of D1 hockey for the University of Michigan before being drafted in 2002 by the Los Angeles Kings. Now in his 15th NHL season, Mike currently plays for the Edmonton Oilers. Over his 869 games played for five different teams, he has accumulated 291 goals and 626 points.

Since that time, three more CDS alumni have joined these hallowed ranks, including Barclay Goodrow ’11, who was drafted in 2014 and has spent the past four seasons with the San Jose Sharks and their American Hockey League farm team. As a student, Barclay attended CDS from Grades 7-10, and played for the school team in Grades 8, 9 and 10. Jakob Chychrun, who spent his Grade 10 year at CDS while playing for the Toronto Junior Canadiens Minor Midget AAA team, was drafted to the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes in 2016 and played all of last season with the Coyotes as an 18-year-old rookie.

This year, Victor Mete ’16, who played alongside Chychrun for the Toronto Canadiens attained two longtime dreams in quick succession: playing in the NHL and earning a spot on Team Canada’s World Junior Team. Having attended CDS for Grades 2-10, Mete played school hockey from Grades 5-8, until his outside hockey schedule no longer allowed. He went on to play three seasons for the OHL’s London Knights, and this year, the 19-year-old Woodbridge native got his first taste of the NHL as a Montreal Canadien.

The Canadiens have struggled this season, winning only one of their first eight games. However, Mete, a rookie defencemen, lent a much-needed burst of speed and energy to the roster with 4 assists in 27 games played so far.
Because he is still so young, Mete is now on loan for three weeks from Montreal to Team Canada’s World Junior Team. Mete wasn’t surprised by the news he had made the team, and is excited to fulfill a childhood dream he narrowly missed out on last year when he was cut in the final round.

Even on the Junior stage, representing Team Canada against the world’s best is wrought with a tremendous level of pressure and scrutiny. But Mete’s time with the Canadiens has steeled his resolve to perform at the highest level in the harshest environments.

In a recent TSN interview, Victor commented on how his time in the NHL would give him a potential edge in the World Juniors. “The speed, obviously, is way faster up there and the guys are way bigger and stronger, so I can use it to my advantage and try to be the best out there.”

Not to be understated in Victor Mete’s development as a player and person in the ranks of professional hockey is the foundation upon which his athletic career began. As a student at CDS for nine years, he was joined by former and fellow students who balanced their academics and athletics with their sights set on pursuing their passions.

Story by Justin Huckvale