Rookies provide offensive support
BRAMPTON, Ont. – Rookies Adam Lloyd and Jamie Lewis provided the Brampton Battalion with an offensive jolt on the weekend, each scoring his first Ontario Hockey League goals to help the Troops to three straight victories.
“We’re getting secondary scoring from different guys now,” said coach Stan Butler. “Like Lloyd and Lewis, who both had three goals this weekend, these are kids that we’re counting on to score goals for us. They’ve come into the lineup and need to play well for us to be successful.”
The Battalion, which extended a winning streak to four games, improved its won-lost-extended record to 18-10-4 for 40 points, first in the Central Division and tied with the Ottawa 67’s atop the Eastern Conference.
Lloyd, a fifth-round pick in the 2010 OHL Priority Selection, collected two goals in a 7-4 win Friday night over the host Kingston Frontenacs.
“It was definitely a breakout weekend for Lewis and me,” said left winger Lloyd. “We got going on our first goal. I know mine wasn’t the nicest one of them all, but it was definitely a big confidence boost for us, and it carried on throughout the weekend.”
A 17-year-old resident of Orleans, Ont., Lloyd contributed one goal and one assist in a 4-1 road win Saturday night over the Barrie Colts.
“The two older guys, Sam Carrick and Barclay Goodrow, really took me under their wing,” noted Lloyd. “Especially in that Barrie game, they were kind of motivating and gave me a little talk about what to do and what not to do, and then we just kind of exploded early in that third period.”
Lloyd has three goals and three assists for six points in 26 games. He earned his first OHL point, an assist on a goal by Zach Bell, in a 3-2 loss via shootout to the host Belleville Bulls on Oct. 15.
“It took me a while to get going. Stan kicked me in the butt a couple of times throughout the beginning of the year, and it kind of just clicked in this weekend that I really have to step my game up and that I can contribute on the board.
“Coach Butler tells us you practise how you play so, when you start working your hardest in practice, you definitely do get what you put into it.”
Centre Lewis, who scored his first OHL goal at Barrie, netted two more in a 5-2 home-ice win Sunday over Kingston.
“It was a great confidence-booster,” said Lewis, also 17. “We both are working really hard, and things haven’t been going our way, so it’s really good to see our work paying off.”
A third-round choice by the Niagara IceDogs in the 2010 OHL Priority Selection who was playing with the junior A North York Rangers, Lewis was acquired by the Battalion on Oct. 7 for a conditional fourth-round pick in 2012 and a fifth-rounder in 2013. The Troops received an 11th-rounder in 2013 in the deal.
“I feel like a bigger part of the team now that I’m helping out, and it’s great we could get our fourth consecutive win,” said Lewis.
A Richmond Hill, Ont., resident, Lewis has three goals and four assists for seven points in 28 games. He made his OHL debut Oct. 7 in a 4-3 overtime victory over the host Guelph Storm, registering two assists.
“It’s great playing with older guys who have been in the league a while,” noted Lewis. “They have that seniority and they know what to do in certain situations.
“They help me in certain areas. They’ll tell me when I’m doing something wrong or right, so it’s really helped my game.”
