HOME & AWAY SERIES: Lacrosse’s Pelliccione splits year between cities

The cancellation of fall varsity sports due to the coronavirus pandemic, has created an opportunity for?McGillAthletics.ca?to profile two student-athletes every week. In our "Home & Away Series" we rotate between individuals that have elected to take online courses from their family home, and others that are doing their online studies from their on-campus residence.?

Meet Steve Pelliccione, a third-year Toronto native and member of McGill's lacrosse team, who is majoring in economics and minoring in social entrepreneurship.

Originally Pelliccione had been considering attending a school in the States. After speaking with - now former – head coach Tim Murdoch, and on the advice of his brother, a fellow McGillian, he decided to head north. So far, so good.

"My brother was a real driving force to attend McGill - we do everything together. Obviously, the school's strong academic reputation played a role as well, and we have a great group here on the lacrosse team. Even during COVID-19, we all stay in contact with one another, we have a fantasy football league team and did some trivia earlier in the year to get the know the rookies. It's been a great experience."

One unforeseen benefit of the pandemic for Pelliccione has been a newfound motivation to get in the best shape of his life for next season. Though he's currently splitting his time between Toronto and Montreal, when at home he's fortunate to have a gym in the basement.

"I used to hate working out, but now with more free time, as well as the prospect of missing a season, I want to be 100% sure I'm the best player I can be next year."

While Pelliccione is taking advantage of the situation as best he can, there are times he laments the lost campaign.

"We were just listening to Nicolas Soubry (head coach) the other day, and he was saying this would have been our championship weekend. We really feel for the guys in their final year, but next season we'll be using that as fuel to motivate us. I'm lucky that I have another year, and hopefully we'll have an opportunity to play next season."

Outside of his studies and fitness, Pelliccione is the rare Toronto native who is a bigger (formerly) Vancouver Grizzlies fan than a Raptors fan. When we sat down over Zoom to talk, he had a Mike Bibby jersey in the background, and he's been a fan of the franchise since the early days.

"It's too bad they left Vancouver, if they had done a better job that franchise never would have left. I'm still a fan of them in Memphis and love Ja Morant, but it's really too bad that Canada has only one NBA team. Hopefully someday the get another chance."

He enjoyed the NBA Bubble – which all for basketball to successfully and safely return to play this year. Pelliccione hopes it's a good omen for sports in general, and the prospect of returning next year, better than ever.

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