"I got things to do," said a grinning Chris Maurer explaining why he won’t play varsity soccer next season.
"All of it has been fun," he continued. "I don’t even know where to begin."
Maurer, who is in his fourth year, is leaving the Dinos this season along with fifth-year player Craig White. Both enjoyed fine careers with the Dinos, terrorizing opposing defenders at will. Now when it’s time to move on, Maurer will join the business community armed with a BComm while White will try to put his engineering degree to good use. Dinos Head Coach Andy Gibbs fondly remembers both Mau-rer and White and their little quirks.
"He sits with his girlfriend on the road trips," said Gibbs when asked about Maurer. "[And I’ll remember his] ability to be ruthless at scoring goals and not so ruthless at heading the ball."
"His bird was heading the ball in the women’s game and he was not heading the ball in the men’s game," chuckled Gibbs.
White also gave his coach some ammo during his years with the team. With his varsity career at an end, Gibbs has a couple of "Craig White stories" to offer.
"Five minutes before a University of Alberta game, [White says] ‘sorry, me and Colin are late–some guy left his truck in front of the exit at work’," said Gibbs. "Or once, Craig [got] the then-U of C captain in a bar fight. Lothar could not play for three weeks–Craig was OK."
But despite the barbs, coach Gibbs will miss both his
departing players. They’ll miss him too, and they’ll miss the experience of playing varsity soccer.
"I’ll miss Andy yelling at me," said Maurer. "Although he doesn’t really yell at me anymore–he kind of yells in the general direction of the team. I’ll miss travelling [and] hanging out with the guys."
"I won’t miss doing laps though," he smiled. "But I’ll have to do them in Major League."
Where will the guys go now that their careers are over? Nothing’s for sure, but coach Gibbs offered some predictions.
"[In 10 years, I see Chris as a] VP of a business unit for a resource company in Calgary with his music headphones on constantly," he said. "[As for Craig, he’ll be an] owner of a small business engineering company and support his wife Missy in her endeavor to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for attending weddings and christenings."
Wherever these guys end up, we wish them the best of luck.