What’s Cooking with Comets’ Forward Angus Crookshank
Dec 29, 2025Utica, NY – Angus Crookshank is in his first season as a Comet and last month, we caught up with the fifth-year pro.
Angus grew up in North Vancouver, BC with his parents, George and Sandy, and his younger brother, A.J. His name derives from Scotland and is a symbol of his family’s pride for its roots. One of the prized possessions in the Crookshank household is a book that traces their lineage all the way back to the motherland, and Angus’s chain with Scotland’s coat of arms further exemplifies his pride for his heritage.
Angus’s dad played hockey at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, a guy he was grateful to have as a role model to show him and his brother the ropes out on the ice. The presence of the Vancouver Canucks also fueled his love for the game. His favorite Canucks player growing up was Marcus Naslund, whom Crookshank described as dominant during his prime. He was also a big fan of Alex Ovechkin for his unique style of play.
As a late bloomer, Crookshank said that playing in the Western Hockey League (WHL), one of Canada’s highest tier junior leagues, wasn’t in the cards which led him to the Langley Rivermen of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) where he says he was able to mature physically while playing hockey at a high level. Moving an hour and a half away to Langley was just far enough to justify billeting and learning to become independent while still being relatively close to his family in North Vancouver.
In 2018, Crookshank made his way to the University of New Hampshire (UNH) for his first year of college. While he had received a few different offers, Angus said that UNH was one of the first schools that expressed interest in him and gave him the opportunity to play as a freshman, which made going there an easy decision.
Crookshank’s memories from UNH are plentiful. He still keeps in touch with his hockey classmates and takes a trip with them each summer. Scoring a game-winning goal in overtime was one of his favorite on-ice moments, but what made it even more special was that his dad was in town to witness it.
His career at UNH lasted three seasons and choosing to leave at the end of his junior year, he said, was hard. For Crookshank, it meant leaving behind his teammates and best friends with whom he had spent the previous three years. It was those same friends, however, who encouraged him to take the opportunity that was in front of him, a three-year entry-level contract with the Ottawa Senators that he signed in March of 2021.
Crookshank was signed to Ottawa’s AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, where he finished the 2020-21 season. It was nearly three years later, on December 17th, 2023, when he made his NHL debut with Ottawa. “It’s a moment I’ll never forget. It was in Vegas too, so a pretty cool spot to play your first game. We played in Vegas, Arizona, and then Colorado, and for my family to come out and be there through that whole experience was pretty damn cool.”
He’s played 21 NHL games with the Senators over the past two seasons, recording two goals and four points. While scoring those goals represents some of his favorite moments, he also cherished the opportunity to play with superstar forward Claude Giroux. “When I was growing up, he was and still is one of the best players in the league, and to hear him talk about the game and pick up a couple things from him meant a lot to me.”
Crookshank played three full seasons in Belleville. Reflecting on his experience there, he said it was where he developed into a pro, crediting his teammates and the coaching staff for his growth and for getting the opportunity to play in the NHL. He holds the all-time franchise record in goals and when asked what led to his success, he commented, “I just tried to find a way to improve myself every day. Everybody has their core DNA as a player and you don’t want to deviate from that, but for me, if I’m going to score, it’s normally going to be inside the house and around the net. I found skills and tools to build off that while scoring a few goals from outside the dots as well.”
This past July, Crookshank signed a two-year deal with the New Jersey Devils. After attending Devils training camp, he made his way to Utica, a city he was all too familiar with and a team whose number he always seemed to have during his time with the Senators, recording nine goals and 15 points in 21 total games against the Comets. When discussing the transition, he said, “It’s been great. The community is awesome and is really behind the team. The guys welcomed me with open arms. I joked with a few of them when I first came in; I don’t think there were many guys who liked me too much and I didn’t really like a lot of those guys much either, but once you’re on the ice and everyone is pulling the rope the same way, all that goes away.”
During the offseason, the British Columbia native makes his way back to western Canada to spend time with his family and partake in one of his favorite pastimes: surfing. He said some of the area’s best surf can be found on the west coast of Vancouver Island where on some days, he and his brother will be in the water from sunup to sundown, save for a quick lunch break.
Crookshank and the Comets will welcome the Springfield Thunderbirds to town next Wednesday, January 7th at 7 pm. For tickets, please visit uticacomets.com/tickets or call 315-790-9070.