The Newfoundland Growlers will have their leading scorer back in uniform as they begin a seven-game homestand against a familiar opponent tonight at Mile One Centre.
St. John’s native Zach O’Brien, who tops the ECHL Growlers with 50 points, was reassigned to Newfoundland Thursday by the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies, along with fellow forward Josh Kestner.
The return of O’Brien, whose 20 goals is tied for team lead with Scott Pooley, and Kestner (16-21-37 in 44 games with the Growlers) helps flesh out what suddenly had become a thinner roster for a Newfoundland team getting ready to take on the Brampton Beast tonight and Saturday.
Forwards Hudson Elynuik and Brady Ferguson, who were promoted to the Marlies along with O’Brien and Kestner earlier this week, remain with Toronto, as does winger Griffen Molino, recalled to the Marlies two weeks ago.
As for the back end, defenceman Sam Jardine looks like he will be staying with the AHL team for the foreseeable future, given the injury situation on the Toronto Maple Leafs blueline and the resulting trickle-down effect (Leafs’ rearguards Jake Gardiner and Travis Dermott are both sidelined long term) .
And the Growlers will be without captain and blueliner James Melindy for the first six games of this Mile One stay. He continues to serve a seven-game ECHL-imposed suspension for his off-ice fight with Beast defenceman Mike Folkes after the warm-up skate prior to the team’s game in Brampton, Ont., last Sunday. Folkes also was suspended for seven games.
So even with Ilya Nekolenko coming off the reserve list, it leaves Newfoundland with just six available rearguards — Kristians Rubins, Adam Pardy, Alex Gudbranson, Evan Neugold and Garrett Johnson being the others.
The return of O’Brien and Kestner, who both played in the Marlies’ 3-2 loss to the Manitoba Moose on Wednesday, means the situation is better when it comes to forwards, especially with Sam Babintsev coming off the reserve list and the team acquiring Malcolm Gould in a future considerations trade with the Worcester Railers earlier this week.
The 26-year-old Gould, a Vancouver native who spent four season playing in the NCAA Division 1 ranks with Michigan Tech, has been hurt most of the season and only got into two games with the Railers after being activated and before being dealt to Newfoundland.
Between his time at Michigan Tech and his signing with Worcester, the 5-11, 185-pound Gould spent two seasons playing in Europe, first in Strasbourg, France and then in Dundee, Scotland with the Stars of the British Elite League.
Gould joins a Newfoundland team that sports a 36-14-4 record, owns a nine-point first-place lead in the ECHL’s North Division and sits third overall in the league.
It's a position buoyed by a recent streak that has seen the team go unbeaten in regulation in eight games (6-0-2), including back-to-back wins in Brampton last weekend.
This weekend’s matchups at Mile One will close out the Growlers’ 13-game regular-season schedule against the Beast, Newfoundland’s most frequent opponent. Newfoundland has won eight of their 11 meetings to date.
Dog Bite
Here’s an interesting note, courtesy of Growlers’ play-by-play broadcaster Chris Ballard and revealed in an interview on the team’s Twitter site (@NLGrowlers): defenceman Evan Neugold has appeared in 68 ECHL games with the Growlers and Adirondack Thunder, scoring a total of five goals, including three with Newfoundland this season. All five have come against Brampton …
