Healthy and recharged, the Penticton Vees captain is making up for lost time.
By the way he’s been playing, nothing has been lost on Burnaby’s Massimo Rizzo.
The 17-year-old has been a big reason why the Vees have been ripping it up in the month of November, and is aiming to keep momentum heading into the coming weeks.
Considering he was sidelined for two months, missing the first seven weeks of the season due to a back injury, Rizzo is eager to be that impact player everyone expected him to be.
“I was not so much nervous as I was excited,” said Rizzo. “There were a bit of jitters, but once I got out there it went away.”
There was little rust in his offensive game, as over 13 games Rizzo has contributed three goals and 11 assists. Still, he admits the first few shifts in the first game back were less than perfect. It took a handful of games before he logged his first goal of the season.
“The first couple of games were frustrating but I was getting chances. Nothing was going in,” he recalled. “That first goal (two weeks ago) was like a monkey off my back.”
He’d follow that up with goals in his next two games, and has only two games where he hasn’t gotten on the scoresheet.
In his second season with the Vees, Rizzo was eager to embrace leadership responsibilities, and was honoured in the preseason when he was selected by the coaches to wear the team’s ‘C.’ And while he was an active presence when not rehabbing in Burnaby, being back with the club and his teammates has been a great relief.
“Our team is really strong and there are a lot of leaders here,” the Burnaby Central grad said. “Our assistant captains are really great and they were setting the (tone). Knowing that made it a lot easier.”
His injury also cost him a chance to attend the first Team Canada tryouts for the World Junior A Challenge, but this week Rizzo was among the 40 players extended an invite to the final tryout, which begins next week in Calgary.
Already with a taste of international hockey under his belt, as a member of last year’s Canada Black squad at the World under-17 Hockey Challenge, he’s itching for another opportunity.
“It would be amazing (to represent Canada). Anytime you can play for your country is a special honour.”
Already committed to a full-ride scholarship with Brock Boeser’s alma mater, the University of North Dakota, for 2019, Rizzo wants to help the Vees get back to the Royal Bank Cup national tournament after missing out last season.
As a call-up in 2017, he went to the national tourney and gained a lot of valuable experience.
His years in the Burnaby Winter Club, where he was part of the program’s midget AAA Western Canadian champions in 2015, have given him a solid foundation to skate on.
It’s also a foundation which has him listed by Central Scouting, which serves teams in the NHL, as a B-calibre prospect for the 2019 NHL Draft, which will be held in Vancouver next June.
He’s one of only a few junior A players from across Canada to earn such a ranking, which envisions him as a potential second- or third-round selection.
The lone junior A player ranked among the A grouping is BCHL scoring leader Alex Newhook with Victoria.
The two players paths crossed a few weeks ago, with Rizzo counting the game-winning goal.
“(Newhook’s) a great player and I’ve known him for a few years,” said the Penticton centre. “We were lined up opposite of each other a few times. We were able to shut him down most of the game and get the win.”
And in Penticton, which has consistently been among the BCHL’s best teams over the past dozen years, topping the Interior Division seven straight seasons, winning is key.
“We’re aiming for (a Royal Bank Cup berth),” said Rizzo. “The culture in Penticton is always about winning and it starts in August. We want to be the best.”
