OKOTOKS, AB (March 25, 2025) – Huntington, New York, the hometown of six-time Grammy winner Mariah Carey, former NHL centreman Brandon Sutter (son of Brent Sutter) as well as Okotoks Oilers defenceman Luke Calabria.
The 2005-born rookie defenceman for the Oilers has earned the coaching staff’s trust. He has played 51 games so far during the 2024-2025 BCHL season.
“So Long Island has about, I would say, probably upwards of 50 towns. So, I’m on the north shore of it. There is a north and south shore, I’m right on the Long Island Sound, right in between Connecticut,” Calabria said about the location of his hometown. “It’s on the right side of New York City. There’s two bridges that go over to the city, and then one goes up to Connecticut, one goes down to Jersey, down into Delaware.”
With the New York Rangers, the Islanders, and the New Jersey Devils all close in the vicinity to his hometown, there were plenty of teams Calabria could choose to cheer for, including the Buffalo Sabres, which are also in the state of New York.
“My friends were pretty split up when I was younger; it’s either the Islanders or Rangers there. I was always Islanders from day one,” he said. “Nassau Coliseum was (the Islanders) older rink, and that was the earliest memories I have of hockey, going with my dad. It’s pretty old, and they say it’s got like asbestos and all that bad stuff. Something about the vibe, just old school, and then they went on that four cups in a row run there in the ’80s. So, it has that kind of old-school vibe in there from the winning days.”
The Islanders had moved from Nassau to the Barclay’s Centre, which is located in Brooklyn but moved back to Long Island in 2021 to the UBS Arena, where they still play.
While Calabria has always been an Islanders fan, his dad can’t say the same.
“My dad was a Rangers fan. So, we’re in Suffolk County, which is, if you look at Long Island and split it in two, it’s the right side. So I would say most of the people in Suffolk are Islanders fans, but a lot of people in Nassau which is a lot closer to the city, they’re naturally Rangers fans. So, he grew up in Nassau County, so he was a Rangers fan himself, but as I started liking the Islanders and we’ve been going to games, he definitely switched over to Islanders,” Calabria explained.
He joked saying that he switched over to being a Washington Capitals and Alexander Ovechkin fan for a couple of years after the Caps would consistently beat the Islanders. Calabria quickly changed back to an Islanders fan after he went to Nassau Coliseum to see the Isles host the Caps live while wearing a Washington jersey. New York would take the win over the Capitals in what he said: “felt like forever”. That’s when he decided he was meant to be an Islanders fan and never switched again.
“It’s definitely been growing,” he said about hockey’s popularity in the Empire State. “But, near me, there’s only three rinks in an hour’s radius. Surprisingly, there are a lot of kids who play, and I would say that there’s three or four AAA programs all on Long Island. Actually, the projected number one pick this coming year (for the NHL Entry Draft), is James Hagens; I grew up playing with him until 14U or 15U year”.
Calabria added that current Calgary Flames young gun Matt Coronato and Capitals forward Sonny Milano, who went viral a handful of years back when he was on the Ducks are from the area. The viral video that includes Milano saw Trevor Zegras fake a “Michigan,” flip the puck over Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (Sabres netminder) from behind the net, and Milano smacked the puck in mid-air from the front of the net.
Z’s got the ally if Sonny has the oop.
Goal of the year.
Call it now. #FlyTogether | @tzegras11 pic.twitter.com/tOj6oDyQzY— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) December 8, 2021
“For it not having many rinks, it’s got a lot of talent down there, so it’s pretty surreal,” Calabria added about his hometown.
“Actually, I remember in the fall, I wasn’t sure if Coronato got called up yet, and I remember going to the Flames game, it was the home opener and he was called up. So, it was pretty sick, like ‘Oh, I was skating with this guy a couple of weeks ago. Training and then watching him play games is pretty sick,” he explained.
As for how he started out in the sport of hockey, Calabria credits both his best friend since preschool and his dad Steve.
“So, my dad was a football guy and got drafted in the 1985 NFL draft. Came up here, played in the CFL in Montreal for a little bit. Went over to Italy for a bit. Everyone thought I was kind of going to play football, and I never ended up playing, not one minute of organized football,” Calabria said.
“My first ever best friend in preschool whom actually I’m still best friends with today he was my roommate at boarding school last year. He brought me to a skating lesson one day (when they were kids) and then from that I remember just falling in love with it.”
Calabria said that it wasn’t until he was about 15 or 16 when he started to think that he could make a career out of playing hockey. It came after talking to some boarding schools and then joining the NEPSAC New England Preparatory School Athletic Conference, a place where many east coast players go to take the next step in their hockey careers.
“So, once I took that route and then had a pretty good first year. Then my second year in that league, I put up pretty good numbers and started gaining a lot of trust from the coach. Going into my senior year last year, I had another big year, started hearing from junior teams. Probably that first or second year in prep school was when I realized I really want to do this, go play high level juniors after this and see how far I could took this game,” he added.
While Calabria was born and raised south of the border, he has come up north multiple times before making his way to Okotoks. Before joining the Oilers, Calabria mentioned that he played in hockey tournaments in Ontario, even had billets during a tournament in Quebec. The furthest west he had been before the 2024-2025 BCHL was Winnipeg.
“Yeah, that was the the first thing me and my dad did. We came a couple of days early, drove over to Banff and it was beautiful,” he responded when asked about the mountains. “Then going on all those road trips to Penticton and out to Vancouver for our showcase, it was beautiful driving through all that.”
Calabria has enjoyed the scenic views outside of Okotoks but, has thoroughly enjoyed his time inside the town as well.
“It’s awesome. The town is definitely a switch from back home. Back home being 35-40 minutes from New York City, the crossroads of the world is very fast paced and stuff. But the lifestyle here, you have a big city 30 minutes north, but then also the country, just like open land. So, it’s really a balanced lifestyle that I’ve grown to love, and yeah, it’s been awesome,” Calabria mentioned.
The BCHL was on Calabria’s radar before joining the league as he watched some games online in the past and felt the style of game complimented how he plays the game of hockey. He added that his advisor got in touch with Oilers GM and head coach Tyler Deis. After Deis and the coaching staff watched some game footage of Calabria, they felt like he would be a good fit for the Oilers and brought him on the to the team this season. He said that he heard great things about Okotoks and how its a hockey town back in the east coast and said “it was a no doubter to come here.”
“Coming here with the coaching this year in general, it’s been awesome. Just very honest and making me a better player. I personally have felt tons of strides in my game. A goal for me personally is focusing on my defensive game a lot, cleaning that up, and I’ve taken a lot of strides this year in the defensive zone, so that’s something I’m happy with, too,” he said.
One thing he prides himself on in the defensive zone is blocking shots, he added that when he blocks a shot, it feels the same as getting a point in the game. Calabria describes his play as a 200 foot player who uses his speed and skill to help is two-way play style.
While Calabria is getting coaching in improving his game, he has returned the favour by helping his 12-year-old billet brother Tanner. Calabria said he has been going to Tanner’s practices to help out, playing many hours of mini sticks and just sharing his love for the game. He said Tanner’s team had a rough start to their year going 0-7 at the beginning of the season but then made it to the semi-finals in playoffs which he said was awesome to see them progress throughout the season.
As for Calabria’s dad Steve, mom Debbie, and sister Tess, all three have been big supporters of Calabria following his dreams.
“My mom and my dad have been there really through everything. I also have a twin sister who I have got my competitive side from. We’ve been competing over anything you could think of since we were as young as I could remember. She’s playing lacrosse right now in college in North Carolina. It’s her first year this year, so she’s having fun with that, With my parents, they have came up here and spent a couple weeks with me. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to be here, so it’s been awesome,” Calabria praised.
He joked that he and his twin sister had a love/hate relationship growing up. Calabria said that since they don’t see each other often living far apart and that it’s all love, but when they do get together they both are competitive and push each other to do their best. Whether that’s mini sticks as kids, playing lacrosse, or anything that was competitive, the Calabria twins would give it their all against each other.
When it comes to having telepathic twin thinking some siblings have, the Calabria’s make the list as they can tell what each other is thinking out in public.
Tess never played hockey, but they both did share the opportunity in playing lacrosse. Calabria said that his twin sister is better at lacrosse and joked that he helped her confidence with the sport by spending time in the net as Tess unloaded shots on him and scored many goals, which she is known for in the sport.
Not only would the twins be competitive in sports but even competed with academics which Calabria has said helped him grow as a person and continue to strive to get better.
While Calabria and Tess live far a part at the moment, they make sure to keep in touch with each other on a daily basis.
“Yeah, we text a lot and she tells me about school a lot. Yeah, just very two different lies right now. Like, its funny we are twins, and then she’s playing lacrosse in the southeast of the US and then I’m in the northwest of North America in Alberta playing hockey,” he said about his twin sister.
Calabria’s dad has made sure to visit him multiple times since he’s come to Okotoks and even made it out during the BCHL showcase. His parents have approved Calabria playing out in Okotoks, especially after visiting the area.
“They love it and they love my billets. They love the team. My dad on Friday night game days, he’s getting ready, his FloHockey loaded up and he’s ready to watch from the morning, he loves it,” Calabria mentioned.
As Okotoks and the Green Army, Calabria is grateful for all the fans who come out and the town for embracing him.
“It’s been unreal, just the fan support. Even from like from bagging groceries sometimes, people will take their time out of their day to have a 30 minute convo about us being on the road, how things have been going, and then just kind of getting involved, like with the billet brothers team, and it’s kind of just a really tight knit community where everyone’s supporting everyone. It’s meant the world to me so far, it’s been awesome. It’s been all year, coming out of the tunnel, all the fans in the stands, cheering and especially in some of those big games where every shot that misses by an inch, every hit, the place erupts,” he said.
10 questions with Luke Calabria
What is the most embarrassing song on your current playlist?
“That’s a tough one, I feel like there’s some Justin Bieber on there. Baby is on my playlist somewhere, it’s a classic.”
What is your go-to cheat meal?
“I would say here, like a nice burger. After a series is done for the weekend, Saturday night, like a McDonald’s quarter pounder. Then back in New York, pizza. New York pizza is unreal. I get a ravioli slice. They got some interesting slices back home, so definitely the ravioli slice and then I like the chicken cutlet slices.”
If you could meet anyone in the world, alive or dead, who would it be?
“I’m a pretty big soccer fan, so like the US Men’s National Team. So probably Christian Pulisic or Tyler Adams, Brenden Aaronson. Just anyone on the US Men’s National Team.”
Favourite player and team growing up?
“So, the Islanders, but my favourite, a lot of people would say Tavares as an Islanders fan, but I have always liked under the radar guys. Nick Leddy was a very smooth skating defenceman and I’m a D-man myself. Nick Leddy growing up was with the Islanders all my childhood year’s. So watching him and then guys like Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, I try to model my game after them, two-way guys. So, probably those three would be my favourite players.”
Favourite movie and TV show?
“I’m not really too much of a TV show watcher. I’m more of a movie guy. So movie, I would say the Goonies, I watched it many times. TV show, there’s Formula One on Netflix. I never really knew much at all about Formula One and watched it this summer and I’ve been watching periodically here, It’s really interesting and all that, Kind of the business side of thing and then the actual racers themselves. Just leaning about that through that series was good.”
Would you rather go to the past or the future?
“I feel like the past, like the 80’s and 90’s, pre-technology would be pretty sweet. Teenager in the 90’s or early 2000’s kind of seems cool.”
What song gets you pumped up?
“I listen to a lot of mixes, but I would say Empire Sate of Mind by Jay Z. I have that on my playlist and is get me going.”
Best chirp you have heard or said?
“I can’t think of one specific, but when my jaw was broken earlier this year, I had a bunch from other teams saying, I’ll break it again or take that fish bowl off so I can break it again. Things like that were pretty funny.”
Where in the world would you go if I could snap my fingers and get you there?
“Probably Australia. Just like one of those big cities like Sydney or something would seem pretty sick. Just hangout, chill, and go to the beach.”
Who on the team would you have as an emergency contact?
“Probably Brayden Duy. Him or Spencer (Rheaume). I don’t have a car here, so they’ve been there whenever I needed a ride to go to the rink. So, probably one of them, they’ve been there this year whenever I needed it for rides.”
Bonus
Favourite sport other than hockey?
“Playing, lacrosse. I played up until last year and definitely my favourite to play. But, to watch and I wish I was better at it, soccer. I don’t talk too much about it to other people, but if it’s a nice night and the US Men’s National Team is playing, I’ll be watching.”
If you could relive one day in your life, what day would you choose?
“Probably scoring my first ever goal as a mite. Reliving that or the first time I went to Europe.”
Best advice you have got from your parents?
“Everything happens for a reason. No matter what happens, keep going and everything will work out.”
What is your secret talent?
“I’m really good on a trick scooter. When I was like 13 or 14 I went to the skate park a lot, like during Covid times. I could do like a bunch of crazy tricks. Tail whips and over the head stuff. That’s probably my secret talent that not many people know besides a couple of my friends from home who came with me.”
Written by: Scott Savard
Photos: Chad Goddard
Graphics: Geyan Predas
About the Okotoks Oilers
The Okotoks Oilers are a not-for-profit, community-run junior hockey franchise competing in the BCHL and operating out of Viking Rentals Centre. The Oilers are currently in their 20th year of play and their first full season since officially joining the BCHL in January 2024. For more information, visit okotoksoilers.com or follow the Oilers on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram.
