Playing in the Manitoba Junior

Hockey League didn’ t work out the way Gianluca Esteves had hoped.

Unlike players such as Brady Keeper at OCN, Tyler Jubinvill in Winkler, Zach Whitecloud in Virden and Brendan Harms and Brett Orr in Portage, NCAA Division 1 university hockey programs didn’ t seem to have the same interest in him. Winnipeg’ s Esteves decided to try the North American Hockey League and this past summer, after one year with the NAHL’ s Aston( Philadelphia) Rebels, his decision to go south turned out to be better than he ever could have imagined.

Gianluca( Geno) Esteves had to find a new route. At the time, he was 19-years-old and had just finished two solid seasons with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’ s Winnipeg Blues.

He had no bad feelings about the experience. After all, in 2014-15, he had 14 goals and 26 points in 52 games as a 17-year-old and 12 goals and 39 points in 56 games as an 18-year-old. He enjoyed playing for the Blues.

Still, he didn’ t feel as if anyone scouting at the next level was interested in what he had to offer. So, when he got an opportunity to take a chance with the Aston( now Philadelphia) Rebels of the North American Hockey League, he decided to give it a shot. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, he figured.

“ I had played for the Blues and things hadn’ t gone as well as I’ d hoped,” he conceded.“ I had an opportunity to go to Pennsylvania to play in the NAHL and I thought, well why not? I just didn’ t feel like I was getting any exposure in the

MJHL. Maybe it was just me, but the chance came up to play in Aston, so I thought I should give it a try.

“ The change of scenery was the right move for me at the right time. It was a great team with a great coach and a great group of guys.”

It’ s not a decision for everyone, although to be fair, it has worked for other players. Former Blues left winger Reid Stefanson from Winnipeg decided to leave the MJHL and play for the NAHL’ s Minot Minotauros last season and he received a scholarship to UMass-Lowell and Winnipegger Colin Burston,