Sports tryouts invariably leave more athletes disappointed than satisfied when the final cuts are made, but it doesn’t always spell the end for those who don’t make the team.

Sean Andrus and his family were among those left questioning the process when he was cut from Oshawa’s bantam AAA hockey team last year, but rather than stew too much about it, they found a solution in an unexpected place.

Sean, a goalie, had played AAA in his hometown of Oshawa from novice through minor bantam, and had little interest in moving down to AA, so began looking for other options, but had trouble doing so because his release came after most other teams were set.

That’s when the family learned about the Blyth Bruins program in Toronto, which operates under-16 and under-18 teams out of Westwood Arena and plays in the Prep School Hockey Federation.

It proved to be more expensive than rep hockey — father Larry Andrus said they spent just over $8,000 this season — but well worth it, in the minds of both father and son.

“It has just been amazing. They run a team like an OHL team,” Larry Andrus explained. “It’s geared for kids that have a higher degree of talent and the drive to move to the next level.”

Although first and foremost an educational institution, not every player who plays hockey at Blyth attends the academy.

Sean, for example, attended Grade 9 at McLaughlin Collegiate in Oshawa and travelled to Westwood Arena three times a week for one-and-a-half hour practices followed by another hour-and-a-half in the gym.

Games are played primarily on weekends as part of tournaments that have become popular among scouts of junior and college hockey, Larry Andrus says.

Pointing out that some players come from overseas and that most were older than him this season, Sean said he was happy with the decision and looks forward to returning to play for Blyth again next season.

“At the start, I didn’t know how competitive it was really going to be, but when the season got going, I realized it was triple-A level,” he said. “At the start of last year, I really wasn’t enjoying hockey as much as I should have been, so when I found Blyth I was really happy.”

Set to turn 15 this summer, Sean will be eligible for next year’s Ontario Hockey League draft, which is where his preference still lies, despite a recent interest also being shown for NCAA hockey.

Michael Lawrence, a former goalie coach with the Oshawa Generals, has had Andrus at his goalie school the past few years, and says he noticed a marked improvement in the young keeper at the most recent sessions at the Campus Ice Centre in Oshawa.

“I noticed a huge difference in Sean now than just six months ago,” said Lawrence, who has been working the past few hockey seasons with a pro team in Switzerland. “He’s really become a way better puck-tracker and a stronger kid than he was. He still has a long, long way to go, but that’s a big credit to their program.”

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