Bourke Cazabon never thought he would ever line up at centre ice across from former NHL superstars when he decided to quit playing competitive hockey with the North Bay AAA Trappers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But fast forward to the late fall, or early winter of 2024 and Cazabon is living out his childhood dream.
The 21-year-old is an actor in the popular northern Ontario hockey-based series Shoresy, filmed in Sudbury.
Cazabon plays the role of "Cory," a high school hockey player who constantly argues and insults the lead character "Shoresy" played by Jared Keeso.
The hockey show, a spin-off from Letterkenny, took its show on the road as part of a recent Shoresy Classic Alumni Tour which pitted the stars from Shoresy against NHL alumni teams in Buffalo, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, and Toronto. Each event raised money for a local charity.
Cazabon says the nerves were getting to him before their first game in Detroit. However, former NHLer Darren McCarty's visit to their dressing room helped reduce the stress.
"I just remember being in the dressing room and Darren McCarty walked in and sat right beside us chatting with us," recalls Cazabon.
"He walked in with a red mohawk and a red goatee, he was a crazy player who won multiple Stanley Cups."
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Cazabon, who also manages the YTL night club in North Bay, also got a thrill by having his family watch the Shoresy squad face the Toronto Maple Leafs alumni at the legendary Maple Leaf Gardens building now called the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
"One pretty cool moment was lining up right beside Wendel Clark on the draw," he said.
"That was a pretty crazy moment for me. Wendel Clark is there with his handlebar beard right beside me and he gives me a little smirk and a tap on the shin pads.
"For my family, it was maybe more special to them than to me because these guys played before my time. I was learning about them through my hockey career but my Dad and my Papa watched them play their entire lives."
Cazabon also interacted with former NHL stars such as Dino Ciccarelli Rick Vaive, Joe Mullen, and Adrian Aucoin during the memorable games.
The alumni tour was an event he won't soon forget.
"Being able to play hockey again, and play against the legends of the game was something I would never have imagined happening," he said.
"We felt like we were playing real hockey again, flying around and going on buses. It just felt like one big hockey tournament. We were meeting thousands of fans and going out for great dinners at night. It was just an incredible opportunity and was really special for us."
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Cazabon, has been in about 13 episodes of three seasons of Shoresy - with season four coming out for release soon.
He recalls the crazy way he got involved in the show after initially sending in a short demo reel and photo for a background role in the show.
"So I signed up to be a background actor, sent in a picture, and filled out some information, and then a couple of days later, they emailed back and asked me to audition for an actual role," he said.
Cazabon feels his character on the show has parallels to his own style of play.
"I was skilled, but I was not the goal scorer or anything like that," he said.
"But I honestly led the AAA league in penalty minutes in my last year. So when I got sent the role and I read the script, it was basically me in the penalty box - about 90 per cent of it. So I thought it was kind of meant to be in that way, where I was just kind of being myself in a way. So it kind of came naturally when we were filming those scenes that I was chirping the officials and going in the box and telling off the referee."
Cazabon hopes to continue his role as Cory as long as he can.
However, he promises not to chirp any of the producers if he's asked to go on another Shoresy Alumni Classic Tour.
