Hockey is not an easy game, and the effort required to make it in the industry is both mentally and physically taxing. Just ask Brandon Bussi, a product of Sound Beach, N.Y., who persevered through years of obstacles at the junior and midget levels.
Bussi, 23, is a 1998-born goaltender who grew up playing on Long Island for the Royals, Gulls, and PAL Islanders. Now he's the newest member of the Boston Bruins franchise, after signing a one-year, entry-level deal Wednesday following his three-year career at Western Michigan University. He will join Providence for the rest of this season on an amateur tryout.
Bussi started playing junior hockey at age 18 and his career included stops with the New Jersey Titans and Amarillo Bulls in the NAHL, the PAL Islanders in the NCDC, and finally, the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL.
“I was excited to get my junior career going when I was 18, but to be honest, looking back, I probably wasn’t ready for it,” Bussi said. “I thought I was mature enough for the way of life, but it is a totally different structure of hockey. You’re living away from home and it took some time getting used to it.”
