Scoring leader Jones becomes an overager
BRAMPTON, Ont. – For the first time in his Ontario Hockey League career, Sean Jones was the offensive leader of his team.
In his first season with the Brampton Battalion in 2009-10, left winger Jones led the Troops in scoring with 32 goals and 17 assists for 49 points in 68 games. He also was the team’s top scorer in the playoffs, recording eight goals and four assists for 12 points in 11 games.
“We all had a job here, and providing offence was mine,” said Jones, who turned 20 on Monday.
“It was an unbelievable team, and I don’t think I would have been able to do this without the guys who played with me. We had a great group, and to be the guy the team looked at every night to provide offence was a great honour. Sometimes there was some pressure, but I dealt with it. The fact that all the guys were playing hard every night made it easier.”
Jones’s points total, a personal best in the OHL, was the lowest for a leading scorer in club history. But he made his goals count, leading the team with four game-winning scores in the regular season. He scored in overtime on the road in the fifth game of an Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the Kingston Frontenacs, then had two goals and one assist in a Game 7 victory at Kingston.
“It was a great season,” said Jones, who produced three goals in a four-game conference semifinal loss to the Barrie Colts. “From the first day here it’s been a lot of fun. I had some success, but as a team we had a lot of success and did more than a lot of people thought we would. That’s a great feeling.”
Jones, a second-round choice of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the 2006 OHL Priority Selection, played 71 games over two seasons before being traded to the Erie Otters. The Newmarket, Ont., resident saw action in 112 games with Erie before being acquired by the Battalion last August.
Jones, an overage candidate for 2010-11, said the Troops’ work ethic helped to overcome their offensive limitations after losing so much firepower from the conference championship roster of a year earlier.
“We weren’t supposed to make the playoffs, but we got to the second round because we battled every night. It was always in the back of our minds that people had doubted us from the start of the season. We proved people wrong.”
With captain Cody Hodgson sidelined for the first 50 games of the season, Jones relished the idea of assuming a leadership role with a forward unit that featured eight players in their first OHL seasons.
“We had a great group of leaders on this team, beginning at the back with overagers like Ken Peroff and Brad Albert. There weren’t many of us older guys up front, and it was our job to help all those young guys come along, and I think we did well at that. Once Cody came back, everything came together. He’s such a great leader, and everybody looks up to him.”
Jones said he improved as a player in his first Battalion season.
“I’ve learned that the defensive side of the game is just as important as the offensive side. I learned more offensively too, given the role that I had. I’ve never had the kind of success before that I had this season. I’m definitely a better player now.”
