Cody Hodgson learned to skate in front of his house on Lake Kashagawigamog. He was only four years old when he donned a Huskies jersey, just as his father and grandfather had done before him. That Tyke team boasted two players who would eventually play in the NHL, Cody and Matt Duchene.
Cody played minor hockey with the powerhouse Markham Waxer AAA team. He was a first-round draft pick to the Brampton Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) where he played for four seasons. Highlights during this time included winning the William Hanley Trophy (OHL’s most sportsmanlike player), the Red Tilson Trophy (OHL player of the year), and the CHL Player of the Year Award. He also led the Canadian Junior Hockey team to a gold medal win. All these successes led to Cody’s selection (tenth overall) in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft by the Vancouver Canucks.
In his first two years as a pro, Cody played for both the Manitoba Moose of the AHL and the Vancouver Canucks. In 2012, Cody was traded to the Buffalo Sabres, notching 44 goals and 55 assists over three years despite nagging injuries. In 2014 Cody was one of Canada’s top scorers in the World Hockey Championship with 6 goals in 8 games. Hodgson signed on with the Nashville Predators in 2015.
He announced his retirement in 2016 after he was diagnosed with malignant hyperthermia. In Cody’s trademark humble way, he summed up his playing career in this way: “I think being able to play in the NHL in any capacity is something I can look back at and be proud of.”
Cody’s playing days were over, but he stayed on in Nashville to work with the Predators Youth Hockey program.
Cody returns often to his home on Haliburton Lake, not far from the lumber operation his great -grandfather ran over a hundred years ago, and where the Hodgson clan has gathered for four generations.
