Battalion defenders return to strength
BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Brampton Battalion welcomed two regulars back to its blue line ranks Sunday.
Zach Bell and rookie Marcus McIvor, each of whom missed the previous two games, returned in a 4-1 loss to the Owen Sound Attack. Bell had attended his grandfather’s funeral in Newfoundland, while McIvor was sidelined with flu.
“It was a tough assignment,” said Bell, a 17-year-old in his second Ontario Hockey League season who’s one of six defencemen on the Battalion roster. “They’re a really good team. It’s my job to try to shut down their better guys, and I thought I did a decent job even if I was a little out of gas after a week off the ice.”
Bell found himself in the central scouting department’s midseason rankings for the National Hockey League’s Entry Draft in June on Monday, the same day he left to pay his final respects to Gerald Crewe, his maternal grandfather and a resident of St. John’s who passed away the day before from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
“I really wanted to keep the momentum going after seeing my name on the draft list,” said Bell, ranked 118th among North American-based skaters. “My grandfather’s death was a real blow even though we knew it was coming. He was a good man, and I’ll miss him forever. It was a really busy time for me down there.”
McIvor, 16, also returned to action without any practice time.
“My energy level was down, but after a couple of shifts I felt fine. I made a couple of mental mistakes that I’ll be looking to correct.”
Owen Sound’s top three scorers, Joey Hishon, Garrett Wilson and Andrew Fritsch, combined for three goals and four assists for seven points.
“Those guys are all crafty,” said McIvor. “Wilson is a big guy who can score, and you never know what a guy like Hishon will do. That’s how good he is.”
McIvor said he started feeling bad last Monday.
“I was at school and had a pounding headache. By that night I could tell something was up, and my sides were aching. It was no different through the rest of the week, but it finally cleared up.”
Bell and McIvor missed a 4-0 home-ice loss Thursday night to the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors and a 3-2 road win Friday night over the Sudbury Wolves. The Battalion, which called up rearguards Jordan McNaughton and Michael Mastrangelo for the Mississauga game, dressed only five defencemen at Sudbury as Mastrangelo had commitments with his junior A team.
“The timing wasn’t great for me to be out, especially with Bell gone,” said McIvor. “I felt bad for the guys who were still here and especially for McNaughton and Mastrangelo, who had just been called up and probably didn’t have the time to be as mentally prepared as they wanted to be.”
Centre Sam Carrick also was in action against Owen Sound after leaving the Sudbury game to have a gash closed under his mouth. He received 20 stitches at hospital after being sliced by the skate of Wolves forward Michael MacDonald.
“I saw MacDonald had his head down,” said Carrick, who assisted on the Battalion’s goal against the Attack, a power-play score by Michael Santini in the first period. “I hit him, he went down and his skate came up and hit me in the face. It was very close to my neck, and you can see why the OHL makes us wear neck guards.”
Six of Carrick’s 20 stitches were internal.
“The doctor at the arena couldn’t do the internal stitches, so I had to go to the hospital. It was my first time in an ambulance.”
Carrick opted not to wear a facial cage in his return.
“I haven’t worn one since minor hockey. I think the chin guard would have irritated the cut. I figured it would be better to wear the visor, because I figured if I got hit I wouldn’t have the chin guard bothering the cut.”
Carrick, 18, will need more repairs after taking a stick to the face in the second period while scrumming along the boards in the Owen Sound zone.
“I’d never taken a high stick in the face in three seasons in the OHL, so it’s funny it would have happened here. It took out one of the stitches, so I need that fixed.”
