It was a lively game for the St.John’s Juniors Caps that saw the team double up on their Renegade opponents by a score of 4-2. It was a sweet victory over a heated rival but came at the cost of losing valued over-age defenseman Declan Barron, who had to be slid off the ice on a stretcher during the third period.
During a fight with Renegade's forward Ethan Sampson, Barron fell awkwardly when Sampson landed on top of him, breaking Barron’s tibia and fibula bones in his right leg.
Steve Callahan said it was one of those moments that was tough to watch.
“When he went to get up, his foot was in the opposite direction, but he is in good spirits. I have been in touch with him a couple of times a day since he went to the hospital. It's his over-age year, so I'm sure he is feeling a little down. He will be off it for ten weeks but vows to return. We might see him sometime in the playoffs.
Callahan describes Barron as a warrior and a player who steps in and picks up for his teammates. He also believes the Renegades instigated the fight, which he stressed to the referees during the game.
“I let the referee know that you must make a choice and make that call clear, or it will become elevated. It was one of those things where players will take things into their own hands if you don't make those calls on an instigator.”
Having to battle through injuries is nothing unusual for most hockey teams. Callahan said his team suffered through it last season and still won the league championship, and it shouldn’t be any different in the regular season.
He said adding Charles Walsh, one of the team's top four defencemen, will significantly help the back end. Walsh is a MUN student returning to the Junior Caps after the Seahawks Rugby team finished their season. Callahan also said Colin Singleton will get some extra ice time.
“I love our defence. We had no turnover on defence from our championship season. Yes, we will lose a guy like Declan, and it's hard to replace a guy like that, but we had seven good defencemen, and now we are down to six. We will look to the guys who have carried that weight over last year.”
In the first period, it was a defensive game. The Junior Caps used their smooth skating to overwhelm the 11W-2L league-leading Renegades, who had lost a couple of players to injury, giving the Junior Caps an advantage. Andy Knight got the Caps on the board with a nice backhand shot of a sweet setup in the slot from Zack Hawko and Austin Bryan, giving the Junior Caps the lead with about three seconds left in the period.
During the second frame, there were plenty of opportunities for the caps. The Junior Caps Sheamus Best corralled the puck in the slot at the 8-minute mark and nearly snuck it past the right pad of the Renegades goaltender Joshua Hillier, who hugged his post tight to make the save. At the same time, Bryan almost had one of his own goals when he hit the centre crossbar, but again, in the dying seconds of the second, a little give-and-go play by Andrew Veitch with assists by Patrick Hurley and Jordan Winter increased their lead by two after 40 minutes.
In the third, Knight scored his second of the night to give the Caps a 3-0 lead, but the Renegades broke any chance of a shutout when Ryder Lewis blasted a shot from the blue line, which caught the high inside right post and put them on the board for the first time in the game. A little over four minutes later, on an odd-man rush, the Junior Caps Justin Hepditch was able to pad the score by adding a five-hole beauty to make the score 4-1. The Renegades got another one back when Chase Wellon banged one past Hurley's pads with less than three minutes in the game to end the scoring at 4-2.
Callahan said he was happy with his team's effort.
“They had marked this game on a short calendar because they had played it recently. The Renegades were in first place coming in so our guys were geared up for it. Nathan Hurley told me he wanted to be in the net to play the Renegades at home, so he was excited and up for it. He played very well. It was a 4-1 game until late in the game. We always aim to get three and keep it below three. I didn’t think there were any slow moments in the game, and we got contributions on all lines.”
The Junior Caps' next home game will be against the Mount Pearl Junior Blades at the Mary Brown’s Centre this Thursday. Then, they will be on the road to face the Breakers on November 22nd, the Stars on November 29th, the Renegades on November 30th, and the Warriors on December 14th, before returning to the Mary Brown’s Centre to face the Celtics on December 20th.
Comments