Alessio Tomassetti is the new record holder for the most goals scored by a CIHL player in league history. On Oct. 12 Tomassetti broke the 155-goal record set by Nathan Zurak who played for the Williams Lake Stampeders.
"It was a pretty good feeling to break it," Tomassetti told The Observer. "It was nice to get it done nice and early."
Tomassetti has been playing hockey since he was five years old. He grew up playing minor hockey in Quesnel before making the leap to Junior A hockey in the BCHL and then university hockey. He has since been with the Kangaroos in the CIHL for over a decade and is the team's captain.
"The biggest thing is just working hard as you come up. I tell kids all the time that you gotta put in 110 per cent effort, you can't just go out there and think you're gonna be good," he said. "You gotta work hard and that's the only way you move up."
Tomassetti tied the major record at the Roos' packed home-opener at the West Fraser Centre, where the team wore their third jerseys with Indigenous inspired art with the Roos' logo to symbolize the team's partnership with Lhtako Dene Nation.
He smashed the record in Smithers scoring four of the Roos' nine goals against the Steelers, taking a 9-5 win.
"You just kind of play and start having fun and (there are) a lot of great memories with a lot of great players," he said.
He said he's definitely had some memorable goals throughout his career.
"Scoring in overtime in game two up in Terrace, we were up 3-0 and they came back and tied it up, we went into overtime and I got the puck into the slot and buried the goal and we won the playoff championships which was a pretty big moment," he said saying it was another banner that was added to the rafters at the arena.
He also explained a big goal he got on home ice in Quesnel with only 20 seconds left the Roos pulled their goalie, "the puck just came to me and I popped it in and we tied it up and went into overtime. We won the championship at home," he said.
"The league is high tempo. There's a lot of great hockey players from the National Hockey League, junior hockey, to minor hockey. There's a variety but the league is fast paced, it's high tempo. You have to stay in shape is the biggest thing," he said.
Tomassetti said he's deeply committed to the game and stays in shape and keeps up to date with the the changes to the game. He said as the game changes, the best way to get the puck in the net changes.
He said he loves the competition of the league and engaging with the community in Quesnel.
"They can come up to you and chat with you and talk to you about the game and I feel that's pretty good for the community," he said. "The kids is one of the biggest things that I feel is awesome. You can see these kids that have big smiles on their face at every game."
The Roos also help the community and young hockey players. The team helped run the Barn Dance during Billy Barker Days, they run hockey schools for young players to teach them about the game, work with Quesnel Special Olympics and hold fundraisers to support local causes.
"We get quite a few people at our games, I feel if we didn't reach out to the community in ways like that we would not be getting that many people," he said.
"I don't think I'd be able to break that record without a lot of players that I've played with," he said. He added that he appreciates the hard work of his team and their support that has helped him break the record.
The Roos play their next games out of the West Fraser Centre Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. and Oct. 27 at 1:30 p.m.
