Alexander Colle | Sports Editor
Featured image: Derek Sheppard discusses his hockey life before York, his goals for the current season, and his view of the future. | Courtesy of York Lions
This week, Excalibur sat down with York Lions defenseman and Ajax native Derek Sheppard in a short Q&A about his time playing hockey before coming to York, his personal and team goals, and what he looks forward to after his time with the team. Sheppard plays for a Lions team that currently sits atop the OUA West division with a record of 10-4-1.
Describe your journey before reaching the York Lions. How did you get to York?
I played minor hockey in Ajax my entire life, split time in the Ontario Junior Hockey League between the Pickering Panthers and Aurora Tigers, and then ended up getting the opportunity to play in Quebec for the Gatineau Olympiques. After two years of playing there and realizing that the professional dream at that point might have started falling away from me, I decided to start looking into coming back to school. The coach at the time, Jim Wells, contacted me, and after coming to visit the school and considering the proximity to home among other things, that’s how I decided to come to school to York.
In the 2015-2016 season the Lions surprised a lot of people by finishing first in a division they finished last in a year before. The year after that, you guys ended up winning the OUA Championship. What is the team’s ultimate goal for this season?
Obviously, we would like to repeat as Queen’s Cup Champions and make our way back to UNB for the National Tournament. I’d say that’s definitely a goal for our team. But right now, we’re focusing on the process of getting there moreso than the end goal. If we don’t take care of what’s ahead of us in the near future, then we won’t be able to reach that goal. Currently, our goal is to take it week by week, team by team, and game by game. Hopefully, if we take care of that, it’ll encompass our end goal of repeating as the Queen’s Cup champions, as well as getting a berth at Nationals.
What are your personal goals for this current season with the Lions?
Personally, I would like to have another successful year. I like putting up points, and that’s something I need to do in order to help my team win. But the thing that makes us so successful with York’s hockey team is our teamwork and ability to play with each other, putting the team ahead of ourselves. As much as personal goals are important, I definitely think that it doesn’t really matter if your team doesn’t succeed. So, I would say my personal goal would be to do whatever I can to help our team reach our team goals with the Queen’s Cup and another berth at Nationals.
What do you look hope to see happen in your future after your time with the Lions?
Obviously, I still have some dreams of playing hockey after my university career, so we’ll see how that goes. I’ll need to have another good year to make that happen. So that’s one goal, but I also have realistic ideas of professional hockey. Not everybody gets that opportunity and makes a long career out of that, so with that being said, I do plan on trying to get into the police force upon my completion of playing hockey and my academic career.
Sheppard and the Lions look to keep their grasp on first place this week when they take on the Laurier Golden Hawks this Friday at Canlan Ice Sports. Puck drops at 7 p.m., so head onto www.yorkulions.ca for live online coverage.
