A great player with legendary references as Balmas & Allison give their sign of approval!
When a Grand Slammer from 2001 says “sign this guy” and that is backed up by a Grand Slammer of 2024, then you know we have signed a good one, as head coach Aaron Fox confirms the signing of Derek Gentile.
Gentile was first suggested to the Steelers by 2001 Grand Slammer Scott Allison as Gentile plays with his son Ben at St Mary’s University. Gentile is also very well known to 2024 Grand Slammer Mitchell Balmas, they have know each other and played alongside each other on and off for 20 years.
“Even before I had the chance to play for the Steelers Scott Allison would tell me incredible stories about this great organisation” said Gentile and then, as it happens one of my great friends, Mitchell Balmas signs there a couple of years ago and I come to visit.
“I remember thinking then “how good would it be to play pro here” so with Scott and then Mitchell just saying the best things about the team, the organisation, the city and the fans this was a no brainer for me”.
Head coach Aaron Fox added “Derek is coming in after a year of leading all of USports in scoring and winning the MVP (Kelly award).
“He’s an offensively gifted player that plays the game with a high hockey IQ and the puck seems to always be on his stick.
“Derek’s got a great release and should be a guy who helps our PP as well as he can play multiple spots. He’s excited to get in and help us compete for trophies”.
Gentile described his discussions with Foxy as “Super professional” continuing “at first it was the recommendations that got me interested but then speaking with Aaron I realised that this was the most proffessional organisation from top to bottom.
“Over the last 18 months I have fallen back in love with hockey and this lead me to have a break out season last year, when you have a year like that you fall even deeper in love with the game and I just wanted to progress that game onto the next level professionally”.
Asked about his style of play and what fans could expect, Gentile went on “I play more of a cerebral game, I think a lot as I make my way around the rink, I think I have a pro style hockey game and I have an eye for either scoring goals or setting up my team mates”.
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