Elite Performance’s O’Donnell
has a solid year in China
B Y S C O T T TAY L O R
Photo by James Carey Lauder
BRENDAN O’DONNELL, who just
finished his first season in the
Kontinental Hockey League
with Chinese-based Kunlun
Red Star, has worked out every
year at ELITE Performance
since he was 12-years-old.
It’s obviously paid off. This year,
thanks to his agent Darryl Wolski
at 2112 Hockey Agency, he signed
a deal to play with Kunlun and
while he spent part of the
season with the Red Star’s
affiliate, KRS Heilonjiang,
it was a great experience.
“When you grow up
and have aspirations to
play in the NHL and
you start out in the
East Coast Hockey
League, you start
to see the battle
and how difficult
it is to get to
the top,” he said.
“So I had some
success in the East
Coast League and
didn’t have much opportunity
to move up to the NHL, but
I got an opportunity to play
overseas. Going to China worked
out for me because they’re
trying to build hockey in China.
It was a good experience.”
O’Donnell, who now spends
his off-seasons in Flin Flon,
grew up in Fort Garry, played
Bantam with the Monarchs
and Triple A Midget with the
Winnipeg Wild, he went to play
a season with the Winnipeg
Blues in the MJHL and then,
after a year with Penticton in
the BCHL, O’Donnell spent four
seasons with the UND Fighting
Hawks before turning pro.
“Brendan is a great young
man and it’s been great having
him train here for the past 13
years,” said ELITE’s Jeff Fisher.
“He’s so polite, he still steps into
my office and says, ‘Thank you,’
for all the time we put in. It’s
really outstanding to have him
as part of the ELITE family.”