If you ask Carsen Chubak, he’d tell you he was far from the most talented hockey player.  However, it was his commitment as an athlete to improving his craft and making the most of his opportunities that allowed him to turn the game he loved into a professional career.

Growing up in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan it wasn’t until his third year of midget hockey that he was playing at the AAA level.  But Chubak’s determination made that worth the wait, as he was one of the top goalies in the league that year – prompting his next opportunity in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey league (SJHL) with Flin Flon the following year.

After a year in the SJHL, Chubak was traded from Flin Flon to Powell River in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) where once again Chubak made the most of the opportunities afforded to him – a theme of Chubak’s hockey career.

“It was fantastic there,” Chubak recalled of his time with the Powell River Kings. “We lost to Vernon in six games in the finals, and I was a BCHL All-Star there.”

Then, Chubak got a phone call out of the blue that changed his life.

Drew Schoneck, who was the General Manager and Head Coach of the USHL’s Tri-City Storm at the time, reached out to Chubak with a proposition.

“He said that they’d be interested in drafting me if I was willing to come. And it was a really tough decision,” Chubak said, adding that after doing his research on the USHL and the benefit of potentially earning a Division I scholarship in the NCAA that it was the right move for him. “That kind of made my decision easier.”

After a year in the USHL, Chubak made Niagara University’s NCAA Division I Men’s hockey team as a 21-year-old freshman.

“That was a crazy ride as well, to be honest. I got to Niagara as a 21-year-old freshman, and actually earned the starting job,” Chubak explained. “I think I played like seven out of the first nine games.”

Chubak tore his ACL in the final game he played that season – prompting surgery and a long road to recovery. He returned for his sophomore season and started the team’s opening night game against Michigan.  But after allowing five goals through two periods he was pulled in favor of Chris Noonan – a senior on the team.

Noonan went on to take over the starting role and played extremely well, going 14-6-5 with a 1.61 goals-against average, a .944 save percentage and two shutouts.

Unfortunately for Chubak, he didn’t see game action the rest of the season – returning to the net the following year after Noonan graduated.

That’s when things all came together for Chubak, as he was dominant as a junior in 2012-13 – leading Niagara University with a record of 23-7-5 to go along with a 1.91 goals-against average, a .939 save percentage and six shutouts.

His strong play opened up the door for an American Hockey League (AHL) contract and a chance to turn pro with the Philadelphia Flyers’ affiliate at the time, the Adirondack Phantoms.

Chubak served primarily as the Phantoms’ backup goaltender in 2013-14, his lone year in the AHL, but performed admirably when called upon – going 4-2-0 in 11 appearances with a 2.33 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage, including a 50-save performance in a win over Albany on April 6th, 2014.

“My dream was always to play pro hockey. I absolutely love Niagara. It’s honestly my favorite place in the world,” Chubak said, speaking highly of his time at Niagara University. “I took that opportunity to pursue my professional career. And yeah, I mean, I was really grateful for the opportunity from Philadelphia and battled to make the most of that as well.”

Chubak extended his pro hockey career playing overseas in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), spending a year in Belfast plus a year in Edinburgh. He last played in 2019-20 in the SPHL with the Birmingham Bulls.

“It’s very difficult to transition out of playing your entire life, right?,” Chubak asked rhetorically. “It’s definitely a different world.”

Chubak stayed close to the game of hockey at first, helping in minor hockey and doing some goalie coaching with his old AAA midget team – the Prince Albert Mintos – before transitioning into sales jobs.

“I really learned a lot, actually, even though they kind of didn’t fit my personality very well,” Chubak said of working in various sales positions.

After working in sales, Chubak worked his way into hockey analytics and as they say – the rest is history.

About SportContract – Next Generation All-in-One Video Analytics & Scouting Solution

“That’s definitely the first thing I noticed when I got into sports analytics, kind of like Wow. I wish this existed while I played.” – Carsen Chubak

Chubak is currently working for SportContract, which aims to be one of the most versatile hockey analytics & scouting systems in the world.

“I think what we can offer is excellent opportunities for player development,” Chubak said, adding, “We can really save a lot of time with the needs of a coach to be able to find that video, or the needs of a player to be able to access his own video to work on things on his own.”

SportContract’s partners include six NHL teams, the AHL, and the Professional Hockey Players’ Association (PHPA) as well as teams and leagues across the hockey globe.

“With how much training everybody’s doing, in order to take your game to the next level, you have to have that extra training and that extra access to the video,” Chubak explained.

SportContract takes the video from games and makes it accessible so a player can just watch their shifts, or just watch their time in the offensive zone, or just watch their time in the defensive zone among other aspects of their game.

“Honestly, I love the position. I’m not just saying this, but I genuinely like making my customers happy, like giving them that response within five or 10 minutes, or being available to their timeframe, just helping them out,” Chubak explained about his duties at SportContract. “If they need me to jump on a call, I can jump on a call and physically show them something and have that more personal connection.”

SportContract’s versatility providing modules that reflect real-life organizational departments combined with a highly intuitive system are taking the hockey analytics world by storm.

“Obviously I’m a little bit biased in our product, but to be honest we have the best product in the market,” Chubak said proudly. “So I would just encourage people to check us out before they take other opportunities. Like, don’t take my word for it, but definitely check our product out.”

For those who want to learn more about SportContract and are interested in their services, reach out to Carsen Chubak via email at carsen.chubak@sportcontract.net.