Hall of Fame Profile: Joey St. Aubin

Joey St. Aubin may not remember many particulars of his goal-scoring exploits on the ice wearing the Garnet and Grey now, thirty years after his final season at uOttawa. What he does feel acutely is the impact those years had on him, and he reflects fondly on the lessons he learned.

After being recruited heavily by head coach Mickey Goulet, Aubin remembers a bit of a reality check in 1991-92, his first year with the Gee-Gees. He was familiar with the city, having played for the 67s for his first year of a four-year OHL career, and comfortable on the bilingual campus, but he was a rookie again.

"You know, coming into university having played four years in the OHL there was a tendency of, you know, having that cocky attitude that you know it all," says St. Aubin, who also played for the Kitchener Rangers, reaching the Memorial Cup final in 1990, the same year he was second in league scoring. "And Mickey said, you know, you're no longer going there. So now you've got to learn to be, you know, a leader at this level with this group of guys."

"The one thing about Mickey is that he was always fair. He was fair to everybody and he was a coach that that was all about development. He wanted to make sure that everybody was not only there to develop as an athlete, but there to develop as a human being and as a good person."

In St. Aubin's first year, the Gee-Gees went 10-10-2 and he was second on the team in points with nine goals and 24 assists. "I was offensive minded and tried to lead by example, and you know very I can be gritty for sure." 

"And then I kind of got into a comfort zone and my second and third year taking a more leadership role and I felt empowered; I think it's just a natural progression as an athlete at any level. As you're coming up through the ranks, you gain confidence in yourself. You tend to take the bull by the horns and I think that that's probably something that happened with me."

St-Aubin describes himself as a playmaker, a goal scorer by trade. Indeed, he led the league in goal scoring in 1993-94, registering 21 goals alongside 21 assists in 24 regular season games. The team finished first in the regular season standings, and St. Aubin was named an All-Canadian.  

All told, St. Aubin recorded 39 goals and 64 assists for 103 regular season points in his three years as a Gee-Gee; his points total ranks ninth overall in program history. Using a player's best three seasons of production, he would rank fourth.   

Off-ice, St. Aubin was central to the team in another way. As he puts it, "Mickey was able to make me the master tenant at the Hockey Hut. I didn't realize it was going to become the hub for everybody, but in any event, I made the best of it and it was great experience."

"Throughout the course of my time there, we always gelled and the Hockey Hut was always kind of like the hub. Everybody hung out. 

"It was a busy time. Enjoyable, fun, but busy," sums up St. Aubin of his University of Ottawa career, which included a job as a parking enforcement officer on campus, operating his own draft beer equipment rental business, and managing the Hockey Hut parking space rentals and renovations.

"It was a brotherhood, right? As a family, you're surrounded by, you know, 20 guys that are like your brothers. And it was really a difficult transition for me when I graduated, because it all came to an end. My hockey career was done, schooling was done, and then you have to face the music."

"It was a tough transition for a while, but then I gave my head a shake and decided that I was going to hit the workforce and I finally landed into an area that I really enjoyed and I was able to flourish." 

St. Aubin started his own hockey tournament business, La connexion française, which is still in operation and geared towards French Canadians. It was while he was looking to book ice time for a 1997 tournament that he landed his first job at Canlan Sports, coincidentally at their Oshawa, Ont, location – his hometown. He is now the President and CEO. 

One business strategy he leans on today he had seen at the Gee-Gees with coach Goulet. "Mickey was big on visualization. He wanted us to visualize the game, close our eyes and do that kind of thing. And at the time I thought that that was kind of Mickey Mouse - it was not something that we had done as part of practice in the OHL."

"But now that I'm a CEO of a public company, I do that kind of exercise with my executives and my team of leaders so that they can see themselves in a position down the road or put the company in the position down the road, that we can actually get there, just by visualizing ourselves being there. It was quite astute that - well before his time." 

And still, St. Aubin often visualizes wins. "I just like the puck," he laughs. "I like to score goals. I'm still like that to this day. I like to win. I'm a very competitive person and I push myself probably harder than I should, but I think that's what sets the tone."