Profile: From Alberta to the pros

Last season, Letourneau earned second team All-America honors and went undefeated in all team matches.

Fedun finished his career at Princeton with 68 points, which is the second-most ever earned by a Princeton defenseman. His class, the Class of 2011, is the winningest class in the history of Princeton hockey and has collected a total of 72 wins during the last four years. He has already been drafted by the Edmonton Oilers, an NHL team in Edmonton, Alberta.

The two met in their freshman year at the Princeton Albertans; welcome party.

“We didn’t talk much, but I remember thinking, ‘Man, that guy looks funny in a suit,’ ” Letourneau said jokingly.

“When we got to school, we already knew each other, and, lo and behold, we were both placed in Butler College’s Bloomberg Hall freshman year,” Fedun added.

Since the beginning of freshman year, they have been working together in MAE classes, and the decision to work on their theses together was an easy one, according to Letourneau. Seniors Adrien Porter and Jon Goh are also part of their senior thesis design group, and they are working to build a 4-foot by 2-and-a-half-foot hovercraft with improved control.

Although Letourneau and Fedun are extremely competitive athletically, they have a strong cooperative attitude off the rink and the court, as opposed to a rivalry.

Despite their substantial individual accomplishments, they are adamant about their reciprocal esteem for each other and joke about it often.

“I quickly realized in sophomore year that I was no match for Taylor academically,” Letourneau said. “But I take solace in the fact that I can find my way home on Thursday and Saturday nights — Taylor is known to wander in the wrong direction from time to time.”

“We have a lot of mutual respect for each other, and we try to help each other out as much as possible,” Fedun said.

Fedun noted that engineering can be a large time commitment for a varsity athlete, but the duo agreed that their MAE studies and athletics go well together.

“I would probably go crazy without squash from 4:30–7:00 [p.m.] every day, and MAE is fun and hands on,” Letourneau said. “Hanging out in the shop blasting Taylor Swift beats writing a paper any day.”

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They also share a strong sense of national identity that is sure to last long into their careers in professional athletics or engineering.

“On the hockey team, being Canadian is perfectly normal,” Fedun said. “In fact, for most of my time here, there have been more Canadians on the team than Americans.”

“Being able to play for Canada was my biggest motivation growing up, and I hope to one day compete with the Canadian National Team at the World Championships,” Letourneau said.

But before they get to represent their country on the professional or championship level, Letourneau said they still have one more thing to accomplish.

“I can’t wait to stick a massive ‘Princeton Canadians’ sticker on our hovercraft.”