Wind, Storm stars ready for reunion
BRAMPTON, Ont. – Cameron Wind has already seen plenty of Taylor Beck and Michael Latta this season.
Wind, a Brampton Battalion defenceman, and Latta and Beck, a right winger and centre respectively with the Guelph Storm, all attended the training camp of the National Hockey League’s Nashville Predators in September.
Beck and Latta were chosen three picks apart in the third round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, while Wind was a free-agent invitee to camp. The trio will meet up again at 2 p.m. Sunday when the Battalion hosts Guelph in Ontario Hockey League action.
“Those guys are both good players,” said Wind, 18. “The Storm is always a tough team to play against.”
Latta and Beck, both 19, are second and third respectively in Guelph scoring. Latta, who scored one goal and added one assist in a 4-3 win Friday night over the visiting Windsor Spitfires, has eight goals and six assists for 14 points, while Beck has six goals and six assists for 12 points. Centre Peter Holland, a first-round pick of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks in 2009, leads the Storm in scoring with 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points. He netted two goals against Windsor.
“Latta is a tough grinder who’s hard to play against,” said Wind. “Beck is a very skilled guy. I think he’s a very underrated player. I played against him a lot in Nashville. He’s fast, with quick hands and quick feet. We need to be ready for all those guys.”
In the win over Windsor, Guelph’s first in three games, former Battalion goaltender Brandon Foote turned in a 34-save effort.
“We’re in against a very good Guelph team, and we need to be ready for them,” said Battalion coach Stan Butler. “Holland, Beck and Latta are all big-time players, and we know how good Foote is. There’s no doubt they’ll be one of the better teams in the OHL as the season progresses.”
Butler said he thinks his charges are up to the task after holding an experienced Ottawa 67’s team to 18 shots in a 3-1 road win Friday night, avenging a 5-1 home-ice loss last Sunday.
“The key to our team this season is the amount of pressure we put on up the ice. We forechecked hard and competed hard, and that allowed us to play a lot of the game in their end, which made things tougher for them.
“Our defence was very good too. We allowed only 18 shots, and any time you hold a team in the OHL under 20 shots it’s a credit to your team defence. We played a complete game and were very smart. We knew that if they wanted to get scoring chances they had to create them. We didn’t want to create them for them.”
Wind earned an assist on Philip Lane’s goal midway in the second period, providing the Troops with a 3-0 lead.
“That was a completely different game from last Sunday’s,” said Wind, in his third season with the Battalion. “We did everything really well in Ottawa. We forechecked hard and had guys backchecking all night. We played well in our own end, too. We went back to working on shutting their guys down and making quick plays. We were playing smart and didn’t turn the puck over too much.
“The 67’s are a really deep team, and their forwards have a lot of great chemistry. It was a good challenge for us, and we’ve shown we can handle top forwards like that.”
Butler was happy to see the Troops race out to a 2-0 first-period lead while outshooting Ottawa 15-4.
“Given the trip we made, it was great to see our guys come out ready to play from the drop of the puck. We had a good week of preparation for that game. We were a little embarrassed in our own rink. We know the 67’s are a good team, and we wanted to show them we could play with them.”
Fans at the game Sunday are being asked to support the United Way, with donations to be accepted in the main concourse of the Powerade Centre. A shootout contest winner will receive a Colorado Avalanche sweater signed by former Battalion star Matt Duchene, who’s in his second season with the NHL club, and the use of a suite for the Troops’ New Year’s Eve game against the Kingston Frontenacs.
