BOLZANO. The HCB Alto Adige Alperia goal remains in good hands. In fact, it will still be Sam Harvey to defend it, also in the 2024/25 season, the third in the red and white jersey.
The company has formalized the agreement for the renewal of the contract of the 26-year-old Canadian who, after coming close to the title with the Foxes in 2022/23, had moved to the Liiga, with the Lukko Rauma shirt, before returning to the South Tyrolean capital at the beginning of January 2024.
In his first season with Bolzano he recorded a 92.2% save percentage (second best percentage in the league) and three shutouts in the regular season, with 28 wins and 6 losses to his credit. In the playoffs his numbers had risen further (93.6% and 2 shutouts in 19 games).
After the Finnish experience, since his return to Alto Adige he has played 11 regular season games (89.2%, 2 shutouts) and then 12 playoffs, repeating the percentage of 92.2% and achieving a shutout.
The carreer
Harvey began to make a name for himself in the QMJHL, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, where he wore the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies jersey and won the championship and the CHL Memorial Cup twice, with save percentages up to 94.6%. After a year in USports with the University of New Brunswick, where he returned to the All-Rookie Team (shooting 91.2% in the regular season and 94.6% in the playoffs, for a total of 18 wins and 3 losses) , the spotlight of the Sharks organization falls on him: he lands in the San Jose Barracuda farm team, in the AHL, where he records his first seven appearances in the second best North American league (90.4%, 2 wins, 4 losses , 2 OT).
The following year he played another 7 games for the Barracudas, but spent most of the season as a starting goalie for the Fort Wayne Komets, in the ECHL: for him 41 games between the regular season (91.6%) and the playoffs (91, 3%), with a record of 26 wins, 11 losses and 4 OTs. Then the move to Europe, to Bolzano. “Returning to Bolzano is a bit like returning home, not only for me, but also for my wife and my family – says Harvey -. On my first day here, in January after my experience in Finland, I felt part of the team after 30 minutes of training and it felt like I had never left. Every year HCB is able to field a team capable of doing great things and I expect the same from next season. In the last season we had some bad luck in the playoffs with some episodes and many injuries, but I think we could have made it all the way: that’s exactly what we want to do starting from August, when the new season starts.”
