AUGUST 24 • 2023 | 41

last few seasons. We look for-
ward to watching him develop 
at the professional level with 
our staffs in Vancouver and 
Abbotsford,” said Vancouver 
general manger Patrik Allvin.
Sasson played in seven 
regular-season and six playoff 
games for Abbotsford in a 
short stint last spring, and he 
had three goals and one assist.
Intensity of the professional 
game didn’t surprise him.
“Of course, every higher 
level you play is tougher,” he 
said. “Players are a lot smart-
er, tougher and stronger at 
this level. Every inch of the 
ice is contested.”
Sasson scored 15 goals 
(four game-winners) and 
had 27 assists for 42 points 
in 38 games last year in his 
sophomore season at Western 
Michigan, tying for 15th in 
the nation in points.
He was named the Broncos’ 
Rookie of the Year as a fresh-
man after scoring nine goals 
and dishing out 13 assists for 
22 points in 37 games. 
Outside of hockey, he was 
named twice to the National 
Collegiate Hockey Conference 
Academic All-Conference 
Team while he was at Western 
Michigan.
Western Michigan assistant 
coach JJ Crew said Sasson is 
more than ready to move on 
to the next level.
“I won’t lie. We’d love to 
have Max back next year to 
hone his craft, but I’m confi-
dent he’ll succeed in the pros,” 
Crew said. “He has a high 
hockey IQ. He can score, he 
can assist, and he’s strong in 
the faceoff circle.
“He moved up from our 
fourth line to earning a spot 
among our top six forwards 
when he was a freshman. 
That was impressive.”
Crew praised Sasson’s atti-
tude and character and called 
him a “team first” guy.
“Max was part of our lead-
ership group last season. He 
was always pushing guys to 
elevate their game,” he said.

Western Michigan placed 
second last year in the 
NCHC, its best finish since 
joining the conference in 
2013, and made its second 
straight NCAA tournament 
appearance.
Sasson played three seasons 
of junior hockey with the 
Cedar Rapids RoughRiders 
and Waterloo Blackhawks 
in the United States Hockey 
League before moving on to 
Western Michigan. 
He had 39 goals and 52 
assists for 91 points in 156 
career regular-season games 
in the USHL and two goals 
and three assists in six playoff 
games with Cedar Rapids in 
the 2018-19 season.
Why did he go into junior 
hockey and not directly to 
college hockey?
“I wasn’t good enough as 
an 18-year-old to play col-
lege hockey,” he said. “Few 
18-year-olds are.”
A 2018 Birmingham 
Seaholm High School gradu-
ate, Sasson celebrated his bar 
mitzvah at Temple Beth El. 
He’s the son of Alan and 
Ellen Sasson, and he has an 
older brother Joe, 24, a former 
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-
Kingswood High School 
hockey player who’s now a 
computer software engineer. 

Send sports news to 

stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

Max Sasson had 42 points (15 
goals, 27 assists) in 38 games 
last season for the Western 
Michigan University hockey 
team.

WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

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