While the hockey club has been rather quiet since their last recruitment in goaltender Bailey Brkin, the Ryerson Rams were back at it on Monday with their eighth addition in right-winger Kevin Gursoy. This was first reported by Victor Findlay of Sauga 960 who said that the school and the overage winger had agreed to terms with a verbal commitment.
As Findlay goes on to mention, the deal in place allows the former Moosehead to join the Ryerson Rams for the upcoming season. Ryerson has been rather busy in terms of stocking up for the future as rumours have loomed for the past several weeks with now eight recruits to show for their work.
The deal between Gursoy and Ryerson was formally announced by the school on Monday. With this commitment now booked, the Halifax winger joins the OUA West, a compact division with the Queen’s Cup champions.
As Gursoy joins the OUA, he becomes the Rams’ eighth recruitment for next season. Looking at his time with the Sea Dogs where the 5’11 right-winger made his junior debut, the forward skated in 60 games played, this only being in regular season action. During this one-year time frame, the 20-year-old scored 11 goals and seven assists for 18 points. With a plus/minus rating of -36 over four full seasons, Gursoy racked up as well a whopping total of 86 penalty minutes.
In a statement from the right-handed shooter after committing to Ryerson on Monday, Gursoy said with regards to next season, “I chose Ryerson because they treat their players and program very similar to a professional team. I also value the opportunity to be brought in to a winning environment. On top of that, the facilities and resources are above and beyond the other schools and I have heard nothing but positive things about the school, city, and experience that comes with being a Ram.”
Gursoy, a QMJHL veteran, joined the Saint John Sea Dogs back in 2017, just five months after having been signed as a free agent winger from Southwestern Ontario. Looking at the numbers he amassed, the future Ram collected seven assists, this making for a total of 18 points.
Seen as a highly skilled player, Gursoy finished the season as alternate captain alongside Benoit-Olivier Groulx. Joining the Ryerson Rams hockey program, it’s worth noting that Gursoy becomes one of four forwards with major junior experience being added to the team’s roster.
Adding to his presence at Ryerson, Gursoy joins the Faculty of Business Management, following in the footsteps and career path of his father. Speaking of Gursoy’s commitment on Monday, head coach Johnny Duco said, “We are thrilled with the addition of Kevin Gursoy. Kevin is a highly skilled player that should compliment our group well. We look forward to working with Kevin both on and off the ice as he continues to develop and pursue his goals. We see him at right-wing and centre and love that he brings another right shot to our line up.”
When discussing the elimination process, trimming down choices and landing on Ryerson, Gursoy said, “Yeah, that’s a lot of what it is, I mean, talking with my parents, obviously I leaned on them a lot during this decision making, so talking with them a lot, again, the coach, some guys from both schools, I mean, I was talking to a handful of schools that were pretty close to going to and I knew players on all the teams, right, so I was just reaching out to those guys, kind of getting some feelers again and hearing from what I could do at their schools and how their programs are, and the internet helps a lot too, just looking up kind of rankings and what not of how some schools businesses programs are, so just things like that, nothing too crazy.”
Looking at his last QMJHL season, Gursoy scored 24 goals and 32 assists in 65 games played. This made for 56 points registered to go along with his 18 penalty minutes. Speaking of which, his 2019-20 campaign marked his second consecutive where he scored 30+ points. The first time he hit that plateau was in 2018-19, racking up 40 points.
As reported by Benjamin Steiner of 49-sport.com, two teams initially approached the right-handed shooter seeking interest in his services. One was in the AUS while the other was in the OUA. Sources indicated that the native of LaSalle was close to making a commitment to one of them. He also added that Ryerson was a late entry to the “Gursoy Sweepstakes,” but did just enough to reel him in and lock him up.
Gursoy won a pair of awards between Charlottetown and Halifax in his third and fourth seasons. He did so while taking the ice with Daniel Hardie and Hunter Drew. He was named Player of the Year with the Islanders while in the year prior, securing the Defensive Forward Award.
Gursoy will join the school’s veteran winger group alongside the likes of Adam Craievich, Patrick Fellows, Jacob Kamps and Holden Cook. Joining Kevin Gursoy going to Ryerson from the CHL are defensemen Elijah Roberts, goalie Bailey Brkin and left-winger Cole Resnick. Alongside the pair of recruits, Kyle Bollers, a former Spirit, has also committed to the Rams men’s hockey program.
Gursoy was originally signed by the Saint John Sea Dogs back in 2017 where he joined from the Chatham Maroons after just one season in the GOJHL. Named as an alternate captain in his overage season, Gursoy was placed sixth in points, behind five other teammates with a total of 30. Unfortunately, his second-best season to date had been suddenly stopped due to COVID-19. He finished the 2019-20 season with an overall rating for the year of -24.
At this time, it’s not totally clear if Ryerson is done adding players to their roster as Johnny Duco told The Puck Authority on July 2nd, “I don’t think we are ever done when it comes to recruiting but I could see a scenario where Gursoy is our last add this off-season.” With that all to be said, the Rams will not hit the ice as originally scheduled in the upcoming season. This comes after the OUA cancelled fall-term sports due to COVID-19.
In a final train of thought on Monday, Duco said in a statement to The Puck Authority, “I really like our group and look forward to 2021!”