Pierson Sobush had no idea what to expect when he was selected by the Corpus Christi IceRays in the 2023 NAHL Draft following a successful two seasons competing for his hometown NOJHL team, the Greater Sudbury Cubs.

“Being from Northern Ontario, I didn’t really think about hockey in South Texas,” the 20-year-old forward joked in a phone call interview with Clean Sheet Hockey in late-February. “If I’m being honest, before they reached out, I had never heard of Corpus.”

Up until the 2023 NAHL Entry Draft, Sobush had competed his entire hockey career in Sudbury. Growing up in a hockey family and with a father who played in the OHL, the dream was originally to get to the CHL one day, but after learning more about the NCAA and talking with some coaches, he soon realized that Division I hockey would likely be the better path for him along with possibly making the change to a league in the U.S., such as the USHL or NAHL, to get more exposure to the collegiate scene.

Making the eventual move down to Corpus Christi (located on the Gulf coast of Texas and just over two hours north of the Mexico-U.S. border) wound up being the perfect fit for the Canadian forward. His first season with the squad in 2023-24 he made an immediate impact by leading the IceRays in goals (20), assists (21), overall points (41) and penalty minutes (201) through 55 games played. He says that the physical style of play in the NAHL wasn’t too different from what he was used to in the NOJHL, which made for an easy transition into the new league despite being so far away from home. The biggest difference moving from Ontario to Texas seemed to be the hot weather all year round, the culture, and of course - getting used to being surrounded by southern accents.

(Contributed / Corpus Christi IceRays / Rian Schultz)

His excellent stats in Corpus Christi didn’t go unnoticed. In the offseason following his first year in the NAHL, Sobush announced his commitment to play Division I hockey at Lake Superior State University. “I’m happy to announce my commitment to further my education and play NCAA D1 hockey at Lake Superior State University. Thank you everyone who helped along the way,” he posted to his Instagram page in August of 2024.

“Lake State, they had been watching me for a little bit. I know they were watching me a little bit when I was back home because they weren’t too far from where I was playing (in Sudbury). I was in contact with them quite a bit over the summer, then had a few phone call interviews and then they invited me for a visit and I loved what I saw, what I heard, and what they had to offer,” he said about choosing the Lakers.

The University, which is located in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, is the closest NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey program to Sobush’s hometown in Sudbury (about a four-hour drive), so the proximity to home was a large selling point for him. In addition to that, he is also already familiar with some of the guys who play there currently and a few more guys who are headed there this fall, which makes sense considering that LSSU recruits a lot of Canadian skaters (mostly from Ontario), and there are two other guys on the IceRays roster who will be freshman with the Lakers in 2025-26 in Swedish defender Max Ranstrom and Belarusian goalie Nikita Volsky.

Now in 2024-25, Sobush is once again impressing on the ice as the top scorer for the IceRays. It’s not surprising that in his final season of junior hockey hockey that the Ontario native is playing his best game yet. He’s got 20 goals and 44 total points through 46 games with Corpus Christi along with 137 penalty minutes and a +13 rating. Oh, and he wears the ‘C’ for the team, too.

Playoffs in the NAHL are approaching quickly and the IceRays currently sit in 3rd in the South Division standings, just two points behind Shreveport and 13 points behind the reigning Robertson Cup champion, the Lone Star Brahmas. In his age-out season, Sobush is determined to make his last year in South Texas the best it can be.

“The end goal has always been the Robbie Cup for us,” he said about the overall goal for him and his squad. “We knew we had a special team at the start of the season. I mean, like any other team, it’s a bumpy road and you have your ups and downs, but our end goal for sure is to make our way to Minnesota in May.”

“Obviously, we take it one game at a time and we’re just focused on making the playoffs, and we’ll see who we play and who we match up against, but this year we have a lot of over-agers on the team and I think all of us collectively have the same goal and we want to win a championship this year - no question about it,” he added.

The NAHL South Division has been extremely competitive at the Robertson Cup championships in Blaine, Minnesota, over the past few seasons. In fact, southern teams have won three of the last four titles, and five of the last seven (Lone Star in ‘17 and ‘24, Oklahoma in ‘23, and Shreveport in ‘18 and ‘21), so there has been some very good hockey played in the south over the past 10 years.

Sobush may have grown up primarily in Sudbury, but he was actually born in the Thunder Bay area of Ontario, which is where his father’s family is from. The 20-year-old is also First Nation and his reserve is near there, too. His father played hockey in both the USHL (Thunder Bay Flyers) and OHL (Sudbury Wolves) and naturally both Pierson and his younger brother eventually got into the sport as well.

Sobush is listed at 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds but is a self-described two-way forward who isn’t afraid to get physical out on the ice in addition to his scoring prowess. Out of all the points that he has racked up so far this season, he has tallied seven power-play goals, two shorthanded goals and three game-winners.

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes and I’m not afraid of the physicality of the game, I protect my teammates and protect myself,” he said about his style of play. “I’m an aggressive two-way player who plays with a little bit of edge. Even though I may be undersized compared to most hockey players I’ll still bring that edge and I hope to do whatever I can to help the team win with whatever role I get put in. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to bring home some wins at Lake State.”

The forward will finish out the season in Corpus Christi before heading off to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, to join the Lakers in the fall of 2025.

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SOBUSH LEADS THE CHARGE IN CORPUS CHRISTI

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