DELTA, B.C. – The UBC Thunderbirds men's hockey team's leading scorer is joining the professional ranks by signing a contract with HC Asiago of the Alps Hockey League.
 
Anthony Bardaro is coming off a tremendous U SPORTS campaign where he dressed in all 28 regular season games and led the 'Birds in goals (14), assists (16), and points (30) while finishing fourth overall in the Canada West scoring race.
 
The 5-foot-10, 186-pound forward also added a goal and an assist in UBC's Canada West quarter-final playoff series with the Calgary Dinos.



"I'm extremely excited to begin my professional hockey career in Italy," said Bardaro. "My time at UBC has been amazing and I cannot thank all of my coaches and trainers, the university, and the athletics department enough for everything they have done to help me reach this point in my career. I look forward to being a part of this program's alumni in the future."
 
Through four seasons with the 'Birds, the Delta, B.C., native dressed in 110 U SPORTS regular season games finishing his career with 36 goals and 66 assists for 102 points while chipping in another 14 points in 14 playoff games.

"We're unbelievably excited for Bards," said UBC assistant coach Kelvin Cech. "Anthony is deserving of the opportunity to further his hockey career not only because he's skilled, determined, and relentless, but also because he's a good person."
 

Very excited to officially announce that I have signed my first professional hockey contract with HC Asiago in Italy. A huge thank you to @ubcmhky and everyone who has helped me get to this point in my hockey career! Can't wait to start this new adventure with @chelskerls10 !

A post shared by Anthony Bardaro (@bards21) on Jul 12, 2017 at 10:02am PDT

It's been a big off-season for the T-Birds as Bardaro becomes the third member of the men's hockey team to ink a professional contract with both goaltender Derek Dun and forward Luke Lockhart signing with the Kontinental Hockey League's HC Kunlun Red Star (Beijing).
 
"You can't replace a leader like Anthony," added Cech. "But as with Derek Dun and Luke Lockhart, it proves the strength of our program here at UBC and that's a big reason why we've got new recruits and returning players who are looking forward to the opportunity left by those guys."