Evans ‘an absolute warrior,’ nothing new on Allard
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Natalie Shaver (OHLImages)
There’s no way to prove it.
But it sure seems as if Spencer Evans mouth is connected to his great big heart.
How else to explain the way in which the second-year defenceman overcame two injuries, involving several teeth, required 12 stitches in three separate areas, and still kept playing?
“All I could think about was getting back into the lineup and helping my team by contributing on the ice,” said Evans.
“He’s an absolute warrior,” added head coach John Dean, when asked to discuss the 18-year-old (2006 birth year) as the Hounds prepare to visit the Sudbury Wolves (7:05 p.m.) on Wednesday.
The Soo returns home to play Flint on Friday (7:07 p.m.) and Sarnia on Sunday (2:07 p.m.).
The Hounds (3-4-0-0) have won three of their last four while the Wolves enter the clash with a 4-3-0-0 mark.
The trouble for Evans began on Oct. 3 in Windsor.
While retrieving a puck, he took an elbow to the face from the Spits A.J. Spellacy.
“His elbow caught me in the chin and his stick swung back and chipped my front tooth,” explained Evans, who joined with the rest of the Hounds in believing Spellacy should have been penalized.
He lost three-quarters of the tooth with “just the base of it left,” added the Stittsville, Ont., native, who also required four stitches to his chin.
The six-foot, 190-pounder, played the next night in Guelph, but was hit again in the mouth late in the first period on Oct. 6 in Sarnia.
While killing a penalty, a shot deflected off of the edge of Andrew Gibson’s shin pad before striking Evans in the jaw, cutting his lower lip.
The six-foot, 190-pounder, needed four stitches outside of his mouth and four more inside.
He described how four of his bottom teeth “were completely bent back and pushed out of the gum.”
As well, two of his molars shifted.
“The only reason I didn’t lose my bottom teeth is because of the metal bar I still have behind them from previously having braces,” Evans added.
Asked about the pain he experienced, he spoke of how there was a lot of adrenaline in his system.
“So I was more disappointed that I couldn’t go back in the game and contribute as much as I wanted to.”
Evans also talked of how “as soon as I got out of the hospital in Sarnia, I started thinking about how I was going to get back into the lineup on Friday (against Kitchener).”
Returning to the Sault after the Sunday afternoon clash, Evans saw local oral surgeon Guy Barzan Monday morning.
Barzan attempted to put the lower teeth back into place. There are now three metal bars holding them in position, Evans said.
Two days later, he saw Barzan’s brother, Anthony, the Hounds team dentist.
Evans said he had a root canal performed on the chipped front tooth and Barzan “put a post in and built the tooth back up. I’ll have something permanent done once my hockey career is over.”
When asked about the care he received, he called the Barzans “awesome. They’re super professional and super nice guys. They did a phenomenal job.”
Evans, who has two assists and a plus-minus of plus-3 in the Hounds first seven games, took painkillers throughout the week leading up to last Friday’s 5-4 shootout victory over Kitchener and Sunday’s 3-2 win over Saginaw.
He also used them before and during the recent games, explaining how he’s “on a bunch of different medications. Hopefully that ends soon.”
Nothing, he said, was going to keep him out of the lineup.
While the injuries are “pretty painful. They were a punch in the gut,” Evans also spoke of how he’ll do everything in his power to play the sport he loves.
“My team is my No. 1 priority,” he added. “I’ll go to war for every one of the guys and coaches in our locker room.”
Dean, who’s been most impressed by Evans’ physical toughness and strong defensive game, told a story about an incident which occurred following the Sarnia game.
While players were loading their equipment onto the bus, the coaches told Evans he’d been through a lot on the road trip, didn’t need to load his own equipment and should get on the bus and try to rest.
“He said to us: ‘Well, my arms aren’t broken,’ and proceeded to load his gear,” Dean said. “We’re trying to create players who force other guys to go to bat for them. And how can guys not work their hardest when they see Spencer Evans?”
The Soo coach also explained how Evans, taken in the sixth round (118th overall) of the 2022 OHL draft, makes him want to coach harder.
“He’s motivated me to give more several times this year,” Dean added. “And he’s also motivated his teammates to give more.”
Notes:
Asked about the status of potential overage Owen Allard, general manager Kyle Raftis said on Tuesday little has changed.
“He’s injured right now,” added Raftis, who said he had no further information about Allard’s condition. “He remains in Tucson.”
The Tucson Roadrunners are the American Hockey League affiliate of the Utah Hockey club, which selected Allard in the fifth round of the 2024 NHL draft.
Marco Mignosa (illness), Brodie McConnell-Barker (lower body injury) and Brady Smith (upper body) are out for Wednesday’s game in Sudbury. Dean said both McConnell-Barker and Smith are “getting closer” to returning.
Forward Sam Bowness suffered a lower-body injury on Sunday in Sarnia and is listed as doubtful for Wednesday game.
Wolves centre Quentin Musty is at home in Hamburg, N.Y., after requesting the Wolves trade him.
