By: Jadon Frank

As a fourth year student-athlete, one of only two Briercrest men’s hockey players to be in their last two years of eligibility, Luke Robitaille will be looked upon for leadership on a very young 2012-13 Briercrest hockey team. Luke will be serving the team as an Assistant Captain for the 2012-13 season, and that word, “serving,” is one of the reasons that his coach, Dalton Stoltz, chose him as an Assistant Captain. Stoltz explained, “Luke is a servant.  The first time I met him, he was being a servant.  I’ve never forgotten that.  His work ethic and discipline are a great example for our whole team.  I am glad he is a member of our team.”

The six-foot-one left wing product of Moose Jaw minor hockey calls Caronport home and when asked what brought Robitaille to Briercrest he indicated that he came back from “being on the missions field for a year and was trying to determine what to do and people kept telling me how great of a place Briercrest was so I decided to give it a try and things fell into place from there.”

Robitaille describes his biggest strength as his “attitude. I don’t get rattled or shaken very easily. I’m good at staying focused and not getting discouraged when negative things happen.”

He continued by describing his goals, and what he wants to bring to the team this year. “I want to do everything I can to help the team, whether that is blocking shots or making hits. I will work to get into the greasy areas.”

Luke describes the unique atmosphere on the Briercrest hockey team this year as “a brotherhood. Even from the second practice you could feel it in the room. I never felt that until I came to play here. It is just a great group of guys every year.”

His favourite moment so far at Briercrest aligns well with how he describes the team atmosphere. He remembers the “first weekend home game I ever played. The atmosphere was amazing, all the fans with their faces painted and the horns going. It was a surreal moment!”

Robitaille is studying to obtain his Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, but plans to continue his education by obtaining a Master’s after his time at Briercrest ends. He isn’t just trying to do an average job academically but wants to do well. His career ambition is to be a part of the Canadian Department of Justice, so is when asked what kind of Master’s degree he is looking at obtaining he pointed towards attending Law school, or a more advanced Leadership program.

Like many people graduating from a Post-secondary institution, Robitaille would like to see more of the World, but he wants to use it to serve in orphanages and help children.  Luke says that one of his greatest moments non-athletically was traveling through North Africa, where he worked in missions before coming to Briercrest. If money wasn’t an issue he would go back to Africa and support the people there.

When asked the question of whom in history he would like to spend a day with, dead or alive, Robitaille gave an interesting list, beginning with three important authors in Christian literature in C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and G.K. Chesterton, revealing his love for literature. As a hockey fan his next two selections were no brainers; Maurice Richard for a variety of reasons and Luc Robitaille for not only his hockey ability but also so that Luke could finally say that, “Yes, I have met ‘the Luc Robitaille’ in real life!”