James Isaacs—Following Dreams, Seeing the World, and Taking Care of Business

James Isaacs attended GNS from 1994-06. During those years at school, James was always a strong student and athlete, keen to participate in all things and showing great effort and determination. With these qualities in place, he grew up playing hockey at the Victoria Racquet Club and baseball in Gordon Head Little League, being a member of the 2000 Gordon Head 10/11 year old team that won Regionals, Provincials and went on to the Canadian Championships, finishing third. 

James developed his love of ice hockey playing Junior ‘B’ Hockey with Sooke Stingers and Campbell River Storm in the Vancouver Island Hockey League before moving on  to Junior ‘A’ with the Fort McMurray Oil Barons in Alberta. But wishing to combine his further education studies with hockey, James received a scholarship to UBC and split a season at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University. 

In 2011 he signed his first professional contract with the Mississippi Surge of the Southern Professional Hockey League and another split season with the Idaho Steelheads and Greenville Road Warriors of the East Coast Hockey League. In 2014 he moved to the UK and played four years in the Elite Ice Hockey league with the Dundee Stars, Coventry Blaze and Fife Flyers, taking a summer break in 2016 to Melbourne with the Mustangs before returning to Scotland. As his hockey career kept progressing, he realised he was limited in what courses he could do through UBC. At that point, he discovered he was eligible for free university in Scotland. 

He eventually registered at Abertay University Law School in Dundee, while also re-signing with the Flyers of the Elite Ice Hockey league. “I spoke to my team before enrolling and told them the situation,” says James.  “They were happy to sign me for as long as I was in university. My first semester I was very lucky – I had no conflicts with my class schedule and practice schedule.  Word then got out I was playing at a professional level and I became quite close with the head of the law school. She told me to email in my hockey schedule every semester and she would make sure my class times didn’t conflict with hockey. Incredible luck and support!”

“Balancing the workload was tough some weeks and quite often I found myself submitting essays at the rink, writing essays on the bus, and so on.  But the university and team were both supportive. I was lucky to come into it as a mature student, too. I think I had a bit more focus and resilience to deal with the stress. The obvious sacrifice was my social life. Very rarely could I have drinks after games as they are Saturday and Sunday in the UK league.  Quite often, I would have class early Monday – so that was a big sacrifice.”

However, as if there wasn’t enough going on in James’ life, a highlight had to be his  summer selection to the Canadian team at the 2015 World In-line Hockey Championships in Finland where he won a gold medal. He has represented Canada a number of times since then, winning silver in 2021 and captaining the team in 2022.

Kirkcaldy would become home for five seasons from 2016-2022. In that spell, he became the top non-homegrown player to make the most EIHL appearances for the Flyers while also completing his Bachelor of Laws degree at Abertay with First Class Honours and transferring to Edinburgh University for post-graduate work.

Another short move in 2022-23, this time to Evansville, Indiana with the Thunderbolts before returning to Edinburgh with the Eagles of the British Universities Ice Hockey league and a contract with the Capitals of the Scottish National League. Here is part of a promo’ put out by the Capitals in 2023: 

Edinburgh Capitals are delighted to announce the new signing of highly experienced, Canadian import Defenceman, James Isaacs. James arrives at the club having played in just under 400 Elite League games in the UK. The 34-year-old blueliner will be working and attending school in Edinburgh as a lawyer and was asked what made him sign on at the Capitals: “The Caps were always going to be an easy choice. It’s great to have the opportunity to play competitive ice hockey in a world-class city whilst pursuing my legal career. It’s a unique opportunity that I am grateful for.”

The pursuit of that legal career has already achieved a Post Graduate Diploma with Distinction and a Master of Laws with Distinction and James is now on a two-year internship to complete his qualification as a lawyer in the field of Financial Services disputes.

I think it is fair to say that James has certainly followed his dreams, seen the world, and is taking care of business – Way to Go James!