Strathmore’s own wins Memorial Cup

By Laurence Heinen Times Contributor

As time ticked down on his junior hockey career, Austin Elliott couldn’t believe he was about to win a Memorial Cup title.

After making 31 saves to backstop the London Knights to a 4-1 win over the Medicine Hat Tigers in the Canadian Hockey League’s championship game in Rimouski, Que. on June 1, Elliott was immediately mobbed by his teammates and a frantic celebration ensued.

“It’s so hard to put into words,” recalled the 21-year-old netminder, who lives in Strathmore with his parents in the off-season. “At the start of the year, I never would have thought I would have been in that situation. It’s an unbelievable feeling coming out on top like that, finishing my junior career in that way. It’s all I could ask for.”

Elliott started the season with the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades and boasted a perfect 3-0 record before he was put on 20-year-old waivers.

“It really is a numbers game,” said Elliott of the harsh reality that Major Junior teams in the CHL are only allowed to carry three 20-year-old players and that the Blades didn’t have him in their plans for the 2024-25 season. “It was kind of hard to believe. Especially since I had two really strong years (in the WHL with the Blades), but I wasn’t worried. I sort of knew someone would grab me in the CHL.”

After all of the other 21 WHL teams passed on a chance to pick him up, Elliott wasn’t too worried that another team would end up with his rights, which is exactly what happened when the Ontario Hockey League’s Barrie Colts claimed him on waivers.

“I had faith in that, but I didn’t think London would come calling,” said Elliott of the fact that the Knights immediately acquired him in a trade with the Colts. “Things just didn’t work out in the Dub, I guess, but it worked out in the end.”

And work out they definitely did as Elliott compiled a remarkable 32-1-0 record in the regular season with the Knights to go with a sparkling 2.10 goals against average and an impressive .924 save percentage.

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound goalie then continued his stellar play by going 16-1 in the OHL playoffs and 4-1 at the Memorial Cup.

“It’s the biggest stage in junior hockey, but it wasn’t really anything too much,” said Elliott of playing at the CHL’s year-end tournament and ultimately backstopping the Knights to a championship victory over the Tigers. “I felt really good during the game. 

“Honestly, I think I’ve taken huge leaps on the mental side of the game, too, in the past couple years. I work with a mental coach and that’s really helped me out a lot especially in all those high-pressure situations. I didn’t feel too much pressure, but definitely a little bit of nerves.”

Although he was born in Calgary and lived there with his family until his early teens, Elliott has always had a connection to Strathmore. His dad Darwin and his uncles own a ranch just south of town.

“My dad’s brothers lived out here my whole life, so I’d always come out here on weekends to go to the ranch,” said Elliott, whose cousin Jack Elliott played for the Agra Risk Wheatland Kings in the Heritage Junior B Hockey League this past season. “It’s fun in the winter. The pond would freeze over, so we could skate out on the pond.”

His younger brother Dylan just wrapped up a stint playing quarterback for the Strathmore High School Spartans.

“He’s almost cooler than I was when I come back here,” said the elder sibling. “Everyone knows him more than they know me.”

Ever since he could skate, Elliott always wanted to be a goalie, much to the chagrin of his parents.

“I’ve got pictures of me dressed up in goalie gear and playing road hockey or mini sticks,” he said. “My parents have told me they didn’t really want to be a goalie, so I threw a threw a hissy fit pretty much, because I was mad that they didn’t want to let me be a goalie.”

Persistence has definitely paid off for Elliott, who accepted a scholarship earlier this year to attend UMass Lowell where he’ll suit up to play for the River Hawks at the NCAA level next fall.

“It’s really good hockey down there, too,” said Elliott, whose ultimate goal is to eventually play in the NHL. “I’ll get a little bit bigger and be playing against older guys and hopefully be able to earn a pro contract somewhere here shortly. 

“I’m definitely all for going to school for a couple years. If NHL teams want to see me for a couple more years that’s fine. Definitely the ultimate goal is to play pro hockey.”