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Meet Gino Astrouski, the most interesting man at Raiders camp

Aug 28, 2015 | 8:15 PM

Gino Astrouski might just be the most interesting young man in hockey. He travelled halfway across the world to play Minor Midget AAA hockey in Edmonton, was picked in the WHL Entry Draft after his 15-year-old season and is known by at least three different names.

His journey to the Prince Albert Raiders rookie camp is quite a unique one. Astrouski moved with his family from his motherland of Belarus to Edmonton to play Minor Midget AAA hockey with the South Side Athletic Club Bulldogs. He scored 48 points in 37 games for the Bulldogs.

“I moved out here first to play in Canada, because I heard lots of good things about hockey in Canada,” said Astrouski, 16, after the second Friday scrimmage. “I love to play here, it’s a great hockey level. I know the Western Hockey League is one of the best junior hockey leagues in the world so I have my goal to play here and try to do my best.

“I’ll try to make the Prince Albert Raiders, one of the best in the Western Hockey League. I’m very excited to be here.”

Because of his year in Edmonton, that made Astrouski available for the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft to be drafted as a North American.

The Raiders scouting staff noticed him and decided to draft Astrouski, despite him being a year older than his 2015 WHL Bantam Draft counterparts. The Raiders took him with their final pick in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft, picking him in 10th round, 204th overall.

When asked how that felt when he found out he was drafted, Astrouski’s face lit up before the question was even half done.

“It was amazing actually. I was jumping in the school, I was so happy,” said Astrouski.

Although he goes by Gino and is listed as such in the Raiders rookie camp rosers, that isn’t actually his real name—it’s Yauheni (pronounced ‘yev-GENN-ee’). He’s tough to find on hockey database sites like Elite Prospects, as his official profile name is spelled ‘Yevgeni Ostrovsky.’  

He got the name ‘Gino’ from his Edmonton teammates as they had issues pronouncing the Belarusian’s true first name. ‘Gino’ is the well-known moniker of Pittsburgh Penguins Russian star Evgeni Malkin, who has a similar sounding name.

“On my last team, my teammates tried to call me my actual name, Yauheni, but it was so hard for them,” said Astrouski. “So they called me ‘Gino,’ like Malkin.”

He doesn’t always score goals, but when he does, they’re highlight reel material. He shelfed a beautiful backhand in the Friday morning scrimmage, easily the prettiest goal of the game, before claiming a goal in a mad scramble in front of the Team Green net.

Then in the opening moments of the afternoon contest, his shifty backhand-forehand deke attempt was turned aside by goaltender Tyler Myers. He hit the post on a similar move in the second period and took on three defenders with a dizzying, puckhandling display but again was denied by Myers.

“It was a good pickup for us,” said Dale Derkatch, Raiders director of player personnel. “Right from the get-go, you can see he’s a good skater, he’s got good hands and seems to have good skill. I was just waiting to see how he handled the physical play and the compete and he seems to do that.

“It’s hard to find players that have good skill and can move. It’s a nice pickup.”

Team Gold 5 Team Green 3

Team Gold goal scorers: Garrett Clegg (2, including empty netter), Josh Maser, Spencer Moe, Matthew Chekay.

Kayden Pickles: 25 saves on 28 shots

Team Green goal scorers: Brian Mentuck, Sean Thornton, Cole Fonstad.

Tyler Myers: 20 saves on 24 shots

The final rookie camp scrimmage is at 10 a.m., with player meetings following shortly afterwards. The main camp will start at 2 p.m., with registration and fitness testing. Practices are slated for 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

jdandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea