Caledon’s Jacome leading GeeGees to record season

Written By JAKE COURTEPATTE

OJHL graduate Brendan Jacome is used to finding success on the ice: his Georgetown Raiders made the junior playoffs all four seasons he suited up in the black and red, reaching the league championship series in his final year in 2015-16.

His success has continued into his collegiate career with the Ottawa GeeGees, though this time, it's often in front of thousands of fans.

The Caledon native and his GeeGees faced off against the rival Carleton Ravens for the first time last Friday in front of close to 3,000 fans. Ottawa came out on the surprise wrong end of a 4 -3 shootout, though it has been one of only a few blips on the GeeGees schedule so far this season.

“You get a couple thousand people there, it's obviously a lot of fun to play in front of that many fans,” said Jacome. “…this was a close game, it came down to the wire.”

Playing to a record of 11-1-0-2 through fourteen games so far this season, Jacome has led the GeeGees to one of their best starts in organization history.

As would be expected, Jacome said the mood in the dressing room is quite a positive one.

“It's been a fun season so far,” said Jacome. “We're hoping to keep it up.”

Setting the team pace with a stellar nine goals and seven assists so far this season, Jacome has been able to maintain the torrid scoring ability that has marked his young career, through the OJHL and the minor Brampton system.

However, Jacome still feels that his game this season has jumped to another level.

“It's just some good training in the offseason, and then I think just gelling well with the linemates…sometimes they do all the work, and you can just be the lucky recipient of some hard work by your linemates. It's a little bit of everything, it's just been a fun year.”

Brendan and brother Jack, now with Clarkson University of the NCAA, played a big role in the Raiders' handful of years dominating the minor junior circles. The 23-year old Brendan and 19-year old Jack from Caledon combined for one of the fiercest line combinations in the OJHL in 2015-16, the only year they both played a full schedule for the Raiders.

“It was definitely a fun year,” recalled the older Jacome. “He's a super skilled player, so he would do all the work and I would just stand in the spot and take passes from him all day. It was great, a lot of fun.”

“It was really nice that we got to play together for a year.”

With nine points in the first eleven games of the Clarkson season in his sophomore year, the younger Clarkson has also been able to continue the scoring pace that has defined his career.

“He's a super hardworking guy,” said Brendan. “I give him the edge in skill, he's got a pretty good set of hands on him. All you have to do is basically give him the puck, and he'll create space for himself….he just doesn't quit. It makes playing the game that much easier.”