Banffite finds his stride with SAIT Trojans
Posted By By Shawn Slaght, shawn@thecrag.ca
Posted 2 months ago
Mike Ullrich has come a long ways since his younger years of playing minor hockey in Banff.
The six-foot-two centre for the SAIT Trojans was born in Banff and played his minor hockey in the town until the Peewee AA level when his family moved to Calgary.
"I will always consider Banff my home and I have always loved living there," said Ullrich. "It was a big part of my minor hockey experience."
In the 2008-2009 Alberta College Athletics Conference (ACAC) men's hockey season, Ullrich showed that he could remain a dominant player. He led the team in scoring with 10 goals and 37 assists in 27 games, leading SAIT to an ACAC championship.
"Mike is a skilled players and one of our hardest working players," said SAIT men's hockey head coach Ken Babey.
Even with his huge offensive output, Babey said he builds a defense-first team and Ullrich is the definition of a defensive forward.
"He is good defensively and getting better with back checking," said Babey.
Ullrich played Midget AAA hockey with the Calgary Midget Flames and moved on to play with the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League. In his first year with Lethbridge in the 2004-2005 season, Ullrich had two goals and three assists in 27 games.
The Banffite played nine games with the Hurricanes in the 2005-2006 season Ullrich played nine games and tallied one assist before being called down to the Vernon Vipers of the British Columbia Hockey League.
He finished third is scoring with the Vipers with 13 goals and 41 assists in 45 games. Ullrich wore the "C" for the Vipers in the 2006-2007 season as he led the team in scoring with 26 goals and 51 assists.
"We were playing against a lot of good competition," said Ullrich.
Ullrich furthered his hockey career as he moved from the Vernon Vipers to play semi-pro hockey in the East Coast Hockey League with the Penacola Ice Pilots. He lasted one season with one goal and five assists in 11 games.
After his experience with the Ice Pilots, Ullrich decided it was time to further his education as well. He enrolled in the hospitality management course at SAIT and continued to play hockey.
