This fall, Calgary Flames prospect Jonathan Castagna is embarking upon a new challenge, a professional hockey career. But his third and final season with the Cornell University Big Red men’s hockey team was full of ups, downs, a mid-season trade – and a lengthy ice delay early in the season.

A product of the Toronto area, Castagna is a left shot forward who can play centre or the wing. He spent two seasons at St. Andrew’s College – a prep school in Aurora with a well-regarded hockey program – then was drafted in the 2023 NHL Draft by Arizona, and then moved onto Cornell, where he played three seasons and emerged as one of the top two-way centres in college hockey.

His rights shifted to Utah when the Coyotes relocated, and then shifted again when he was traded to the Flames in early March as part of the MacKenzie Weegar trade. After Cornell was eliminated from the NCAA playoff tournament near the end of March, then signed with the Flames a few days later. Castagna was reportedly a bit banged up at the end of his playoff run, so he opted to sign an NHL deal that wouldn’t begin this fall but still hung around the Flames and Wranglers to soak in the late stages of the NHL and AHL seasons.

“When I got the chance to come in, I basically met everyone,” said Castagna, during Flames training camp. “I met all the coaching staff, all the equipment guys, therapists. It was fantastic for me to be able to get that groundwork in before I come in this year and have to try to make a name for myself. So it helped me for sure, yeah.”

While Castagna wasn’t able to make his pro hockey debut at the end of last season, he still had a pretty full junior year – which was capped off by being named a first-team conference all-star and the conference’s top defensive forward. He looks back at the season as a positive experience.

“Yeah, I mean, funny you ask, because I would think that I didn’t have the best luck at the end of last season to not be able to get in any games,” said Castagna. “But I would also think of that as sort of a blessing, because, as I mentioned before, I got to experience everything and be around it before I kind of get thrown into the fire. So it helped to also be an older guy on a college team and have a little bit bigger of a role and play in all situations. Not that I’m going to be playing in all situations here, but just have that versatility to be able to hopefully take hold of an opportunity when I get one.”

One unique situation that Castagna got to experience was back on Nov. 15, when Cornell’s home game against Yale was delayed by an hour in-between the second and third periods due to ice issues at Cornell’s historic Lynah Rink.

Oddly enough, a few days after Castagna signed his entry-level deal with the Flames, they experienced a delay due to ice issues at Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.

“Yeah, it was interesting,” said Castagna. “We actually might have had a couple now that you mention it, and it was funny because when I was watching Calgary play Vegas last year, they actually had an ice delay as well, so I sent a video to my coach. I was like, don’t worry, it happens in the National League as well. But, yeah, it was kind of funny. You know, we had a rink guy out there with a fire extinguisher blowing it on the ice, and all the students were yelling, and everyone was getting rowdy. But it is tough to stay in the game at that point when you have an hour delay before you play again. But it was all good fun, yeah.”

Castagna finally suited up for his first pro game – albeit a pre-season NHL contest – on Sunday when the Flames hosted Seattle. He’s likely headed to the Wranglers to start the regular season, but we’ll see if he can leverage his unique skill-set – and experiences – to work his way up the Flames’ depth chart.

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