Robby Fabbri-Slick centre is turning heads in first OHL season

Its 23 games into the season and somebody should probably remind Robby Fabbri that he’s a rookie, because you would never know it from watching him play.

The quick-footed centerman is in the midst of his first season with the Guelph Storm, currently tied for sixth in Storm scoring with 5 goals and 11 assists. With 16 points, Fabbri leads all Guelph rookies and has been an integral part of the Storm offense so far this season.

The Mississauga, Ontario native’s main weapons are his vision, hockey sense, and playmaking prowess. Scouts have labeled Fabbri as a shifty skater, noting his ability to make crisp, tape-to-tape passes at full speed and his pension to frustrate defenders with his slick stick handling skills.

And the right people have started to take notice.

This past week, Robby Fabbri had the distinction of being named to Team Ontario‘s Under-17 roster for the upcoming World Hockey Challenge. In December, Fabbri will join others named to Ontario’s roster when he travels to Quebec to take on the best the world has to offer in his age-group.

16 year old Fabbri is thrilled with the opportunity.

Said Fabbri: “It is a great honour to get to play for Team Ontario and I’m really happy that they chose me. It’ll be my first time doing this sort of thing so I’m really looking forward to it.”

While representing his province for the first time come December won’t be a familiar setting for Fabbri, he’ll certainly be among familiar faces.

“I know almost everybody on the team,” he says. “Growing up and playing in Mississauga I’ve been fortunate enough to play with or against most of these guys at some point. We should have a solid team.”

Some would think that the depth of talent in the OHL this season, largely attributed to the NHL lockout, would make it a tough go for Fabbri in his rookie year. But where others have struggled to compete with the Alex Galchenyuks and Boone Jenners of the world, Fabbri has thrived.

“I think that I’ve adjusted well,” Fabbri says. “I’ve competed hard and haven’t shied away from the physical part of the game, so I’ve been able to hold my own against those players.”

“Getting the chance to play against those guys has been great for my experience and just knowing that I can compete with them is a confidence booster for sure.”

When it comes to Fabbri’s hockey beginnings, Robby’s older brother Lenny definitely deserves some of the credit.

“Robby loved doing whatever his big brother Lenny did, so from a very young age you could always find Robby at the arena watching his big brother play hockey,” Robby’s mother Stef says. “When Robby was finally enrolled in a skating program, the instructor wanted all the kids to follow the leader and pick up the stuffed animals that had been placed on the ice.”

“That was short lived,” she adds. “Because all Robby wanted to do was pick up a plastic hockey stick and skate around pretending that he was playing hockey.”

By the time hockey season rolled around, Fabbri couldn’t wait to hit the ice.

“I would wake up really early back then,” Fabbri says. “I was always the first one up. I was too excited for those early practices to lie in bed, so I would wake up early, get ready, pack my bag, and wake up my parents to take me to practice.”

It was obvious right away that Robby Fabbri wasn’t an ordinary hockey player.

“We didn’t realize how much Robby loved the game until he was playing up one year with the Minor Atom Mississauga Senators,” Stef says. “We were enjoying the game when suddenly the coach calls out to us to come down and get Robby off the bench!”

“It wasn’t until we got down there that we realized that Robby had the stomach flu but didn’t say anything about it. He was throwing up on the bench in between shifts until someone finally noticed!”

“Needless to say, Robby didn’t leave the bench willingly. He contributed to the success of that team just as much as the older kids did.”

For those who know Fabbri, it’s clear that the talented playmaker was born to play the game. When asked what he would do outside of hockey at the age of 7, Fabbri simply said “I want to play hockey.”

Only a quarter of the way through his first season in the OHL, Fabbri is racking up points at an un-rookie like pace. With his best years still ahead, there’s no telling how far Fabbri will go in the game of hockey.

One would wager: as far as he wants to.

Storm Stories is a Guelph Storm original weekly feature for the 2012-13 season spotlighting current Storm Players and giving readers a behind-the-scenes look at the player’s lives on and off the ice.

Rich Davidson is a freelance hockey writer covering the Guelph Storm this season. Follow Rich’s work at:

www.rdsportswriter.com