By: Brayden Peters
BROCKPORT, NY - Brockport Golden Eagles freshman forward Livio Azevedo has always been on the move. From playing hockey throughout his home country of Switzerland to playing throughout the United States, he has traveled with numerous teams. Regardless of where he is or what team he’s with, hockey makes him feel at home and it binds him to his teammates.
Azevedo is now playing hockey at SUNY Brockport. He is the second European to join the Golden Eagles under head coach Brian Dickinson and could be potentially the first one to play a full season with Dickinson as the coach. The first European was Austrian Alex Quendler, who played for the first semester of the 2011-2012 season.
Azevedo was born into a hockey family. His father is Portuguese and his mother is Swiss. He and his older brother Silvan learned to love the game at a young age. Silvan now plays in the SwissDiv2 league in Switzerland for SC Weinfelden.
“That’s how I got into hockey,” Azevedo said. “I started playing when I was three and just kept going and it was fun. So, I started a career at the age of 13, when I left home.”
The style of hockey that Azevedo plays is different from what most European players play today.
“I’m a hard forward,” Azevedo said. “I love the presence I have in front of the net. Also, for checking, I play like I have a big body for my small body...I’m also, like, a little bit of a playmaker. Passing is my strength and shooting, so I can make some plays happen.”
By 2018, Azevedo was already playing on Switzerland’s U16 national team and played with the older age groups as the years went on. Playing on the U18 national team, though, was his most memorable season of his international playing career.
“It was a great experience overall because we played like Team USA,” Azevedo said. “I played against a couple guys who play in the NHL right now, Luke Hughes (starting defenseman and New Jersey Devils first round pick in 2021), huge name and we played in Russia. That was a great tournament actually. That was, like, one of my favorites.”
Azevedo entered the next major chapter of his life when he left his home country for the United States. Azevedo joined the Charlotte Rush in the USPHL Premier and played during the 2022-2023 season. Having to live in a different country wasn’t much of an adjustment for him.
After that season, a week before the 2023-2024 season started, he was dealt to the Tampa Bay Juniors which excited their head coach Garrett Strot. Azevedo made an immediate impact on the Juniors and it blew away Strot.
“To me, I’ve been coaching for over 30 years and he is probably one of the most complete 200-foot players I’ve ever coached," Strot said. "He is responsible on both ends of the ice. You can play him at any forward spot...he can play third or fourth line easy and be a penalty killer or he can step right in and play in the top six and play on the power play."
Azevedo was also a captain last year for the Juniors and it was clear as to why he was given the “C” patch on his jersey for the season.
“He is not the most vocal person in the locker room, but he leads by example,” Strot said. “He’s always at the rink early, he prepares the right way, before games he makes sure to prepare himself mentally...he is focused and he gets himself ready, and that includes practice.”
Before Dickinson heard about Azevedo’s play out on the ice with the Juniors, he got to meet him in person. Azevedo was part of an advising group two years ago with other players from Switzerland and Austria that met with Dickinson to learn about college and how things in college hockey operate.
“We kind of followed his progress a little bit a year ago,” Dickinson said. “My one assistant, Brian Fedele, went down to the USPHL Southeast Showcase in Tampa. We were just kind of like, ‘Hey, you know, watch this guy, Livio, he was here. Don’t know anything really about him, but why don’t you just watch him, since you’re going to be there.’ Fedele came back and raved about him.”
At the beginning of last season for Brockport, Azevedo wasn’t a player that Dickinson was very high on going after. With the injury problems, though, in Brockport’s forward room, Dickinson and the coaching staff refocused on trying to recruit Azevedo and successfully brought him onto the team.
When practice started up for Brockport, the players understood why Fedele raved about Azevedo to Dickinson.
“A lot of our returners were kind of like, ‘This is a guy we need to pay attention to, Coach, like he’s going to be in sooner rather than later,’” Dickinson said. “The goaltenders raved about how hard and accurate a shooter he is.”
Joining any new team with a bunch of players you do not even know isn’t always easy. Even though Azevedo has been around the block, some teammates of his have helped him get to know the rest of the squad.
“I had a couple guys actually, like, help me out with getting along,” Azevedo said. “Like Dom (Dominic Chirico), Mery, (Michael Meredith) for sure, he helped me a lot too with working on school and hockey. He set me up in the locker room...I got Higgy (Josh Higgins), he helped me in school because he’s a sports management major like me.”
Although he has been in the United States since 2022, there are some things with American culture and the English language that Azevedo is still learning. However, both his American and Canadian teammates have given him some help and he has learned new things from them.
“I’m connected well with the Canadians,” Azevedo said. “I love them, and the U.S. guys. They helped me out, even when I don’t understand something...I learned a lot of slang. I’m not proud of it, because I want to be proper and have good language. The Canadians helped me with that, because they also have a lot from the British and that’s what I can feel comfortable with because I learned British English in Switzerland first,” Azevedo said. “With the U.S., I just connect with them and ask, ‘Hey, if I don’t understand anything or slang words,’ I just got to say, ‘Hey, help me out.’”
Brockport recently completed exhibition play, going 2-0 against the EHL All Stars and Morrisville. Azevedo buried an empty net goal against the Mustangs to give him his first as a Golden Eagle.
The Golden Eagles currently sit at 0-0-2 after tying Saint Anslem 2-2 and Misericordia 4-4 in the Buffalo State Bengals Classic. Although Azevedo hasn't recorded a point yet, he is +1 so far. Brockport will have their home opener against Utica on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 5 p.m.
Although Azevedo is just beginning to settle in at Brockport, he already feels at home. His new teammates make him feel like he is part of a second family and that’s the beauty of the sport of hockey.
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