The path to college hockey follows many different trajectories but for BCHL players, one destination has been a frequent landing place and it’s the one Surrey Eagles forward Desi Burgart has chosen as well.
The Penticton, B.C. native has accepted an offer and will play his NCAA hockey at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut.
Burgart is in his third BCHL season and his second with the Eagles after playing his rookie campaign with his hometown Vees. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound forward has 17 goals and 21 assists in 42 games this season. For his BCHL career, he’s recorded 40 goals and 49 assists in 131 career games.
At Quinnipiac, Bobcats head coach Rand Pecknold has recruited heavily from the BCHL during his tenure and achieved outstanding results by doing so. The Bobcats went to the NCAA title game in 2013 and 2016 with several BCHL players on the roster.
This season, the Bobcats feature 11 BCHL alums on the roster in Andrew Shortridge, Odeen Tufto, Landon Smith, captain Chase Priskie, Logan Mick, Bo Pieper, Scott Davidson, Craig Martin, Luke Shiplo, Nick Jermain and Matthew Creamer.
Quinnipiac competes in the NCAA’s ECAC Hockey conference along with Harvard, Clarkson, Yale, St. Lawrence, Princeton, RPI, Dartmouth, Colgate, Cornell, Union and Brown.