Battalion announces scouting changes

BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Battalion has added two newcomers to its scouting staff, Bob Wetick, the Ontario Hockey League club’s director of scouting, announced Monday.

Wetick said Errol Hook and Jason Day will replace Jim Cassidy and Andrew Shaw, who accepted positions with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors and Sarnia Sting respectively. Cassidy and Shaw will have increased responsibilities in their new posts.

Wetick said Hook will scout the Greater Toronto Area while Day, who lives in Windsor, will be responsible for southwestern Ontario and Michigan. The duo joins a scouting staff that includes Keith Blinn, Steve Blinn, John Evans and Dave Gray.

Hook brings plenty of OHL scouting experience to the Battalion. He spent eight years with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and was the club’s head scout from 2001 to 2003.

He’s been scouting for quite a few years,” said Wetick. He’ll be doing some cross-checking for us, too. He’s an experienced scout so he knows what we’re trying to accomplish here as far as watching players, not just in the Toronto area but throughout the province.”

Said Hook, who helped bring such stars as centre Jeff Carter, defenceman Trevor Daley and goaltender Ray Emery to the Greyhounds: Brampton is attractive to me. The team has a nice building, a great location and (head coach) Stan (Butler) really believes in education, which is important because parents will always ask about how a team deals with schooling.”

Day, who played hockey for four years at the University of Windsor, joins the Battalion after spending the last three seasons as a scout for the Windsor Spitfires.

I knew a little bit about Jason after meeting him last year,” Wetick said. He was in the right place at the right time, as the Spitfires were downsizing their scouting staff and we had just lost Andrew.”

Wetick said Day, who also spent four seasons as a coach with the Tecumseh Chiefs of the Western Junior B League, “has the scouting experience and background we’re looking for.”

“He knows the western Ontario area pretty well and, being based out of Windsor, he can help us check out the Michigan teams, which is important.”

Wetick said that Cassidy and Shaw, who had been with the Battalion since its first season, were major contributors to the team’s draft day success.

Jim’s record in Toronto speaks for itself. He was vital in a lot of our picks. I would say he was very instrumental in our pick of (left winger) Wojtek Wolski. He spent a lot of time watching him when he was playing junior A for St. Michael’s. But Jim wasn’t limited to just Toronto. He saw a lot of players outside of his area and was able to make recommendations on them too.

In Andrew’s case, we were very successful in drafting players from his area. He gave us a lot of help and excellent leads, particularly with goaltenders like Brad Topping and Daren Machesney.”