St. John’s native Zach O’Brien of the American Hockey League’s Bakersfield Condors was assessed his first penalty of the season March 6, picking up a hooking minor late in the third period of a loss to the Manitoba Moose in Winnipeg.
O’Brien has played 53 games this season, 41 with Bakersfield and a dozen with the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL.
The 25-year-old forward has just 14 PIMs in a five-year North American pro career, which has seen O’Brien play 217 games in the AHL and 49 in the ECHL.
He had a mere two penalty minutes in 192 games in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
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Our Newfoundlanders Away list is shrinking rapidly, what with the conclusion of the college/university seasons and the elimination of teams from playoffs.
The American Hockey League is the lone professional circuit with regular-season games remaining — its final games are this weekend.
And while Chris Terry does not qualify for our list, this might be a good spot to note that the former St. John’s IceCaps forward is contending for the AHL scoring championship heading into the final two games for the Laval Rocket, the Montreal Canadiens farm team that operated as the IceCaps last season.
Terry has 70 points, tying him with Phil Varone of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, but Terry (who has played 13 fewer games than Varone) was officially the league’s scoring leader heading into Friday because he had more goals than Varone (32 to 23).
Terry was the runner-up in the AHL scoring race last year, when he appeared in 58 games with St. John’s, having seen action in 14 contests for Montreal.
The 28-year-old Terry did not get a call-up to Montreal this season.
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The Charlottetown Islanders, with rookie Brett Budgell of St. John’s in the lineup, have advanced to the QMJHL semifinals after sweeping the Halifax Mooseheads. So have the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, who swept past the Sherbrooke Phoenix. The Titan have three Newfoundlanders who have been post-season stalwarts for the team — defenceman Adam Holwell of St. John’s, centre Jordan Maher of Gander and goaltender Evan Fitzpatrick, a native of St. John’s who was traded to Bathurst from Sherbrooke mid-season.
One other player from this province is still skating in the QMJHL playoffs — rookie forward Dawson Mercer of Bay Roberts, whose Drummondville Voltigeurs are still taking on the Victoriaville Tigres in a quarter-final series.
