By Kris Smith
Former Dundee Stars forward, Anthony Beauregard spent one season on Tayside and made a sizeable and lasting impression both on and off the ice, now he has reflected on last season.
Firstly, Beauregard explained what he has been doing over the unusually long offseason and he said: “I did a lot of off-ice training during the summer to keep myself in shape and I still have some to finish some online courses that I am taking but overall I have just been trying to prepare for my season as best as I can.”
The Canadian forward joined the Stars from East Coast Hockey League outfit, Brampton Beast and throughout his career, Beauregard has played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, USports League (College) and the American Hockey League.
However, he is now in his third ECHL season, as he made his professional debut with Indy Fuel in the 2016-2017 season, played in Brampton two years ago and now he ices with the Wichita Thunder in this shortened season.
Since the league’s resumption in December, the 24-year-old has scored 7 (1+6) points in 10 matches and speaking about how he is finding his time back in the ECHL, Anthony commented: “I feel that I gain some confidence in Dundee last year and when I came into Wichita, that helped me to come in with the mentality that I can be a key player here.
“The big difference right now is that we have a lot of players from the AHL playing in the ECHL.
“So, for sure the league is much better this season but at the end of the day, I just want to keep proving myself like I did last year in Dundee.”
The native of Saint-Damase, Quebec then shared his favourite memory from his time in Dundee and he said: “I think my favourite moment with the Stars was the last game we played against Manchester.”
The last meeting was in February and the Stars skated out at 3-1 home winners, after being 1-0 down in the second period.
However, Beauregard and his line-mate Kevin Dufour were involved in all of the goals that turned the tide, with Beauregard scoring the second and setting up Dufour for the first and third goals.
Anthony continued: “The emotion on and off the ice was unreal and I am always thinking about how the fans were there for us and for me!
“They are the best in the league, so every time I stepped on the ice at the beginning of the game, I was pumped up because of them.”
The centerman then shared more about what brought him to Dundee and how former Stars netminder-turned pro agent, Nicola Riopel, gave him a great reference of the city.
He said: “My agent played in Dundee and he said all good things about the city and the hockey club.
“My relationship with Pach showed me what I want and what I was looking for, which is I wanted to be trusted by my coach and this is something I will always keep in my head for the future.”
Finally, Anthony ended with a short message to all the Stars fans back in Dundee and he said: “I just wanted to say to the fans that they are the best, their support during the season helped us a lot to go through all the highs and lows.
“I can’t wait to see all of the fans again, take care and stay safe!”
Next time we will be bringing you another interview with a player from the 2019-2020 season and we will be releasing interviews every month up until the start of the next campaign.
If you want to play a special part in the historic 20th Dundee Stars season then you can sign up to join the Gold Club by contacting: [email protected]
All pictures by Derek Black.
