ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Miles Gendron didn’t get much of an opportunity to get used to being a Newfoundland Growler before the COVID-19 pandemic brought an end to the 2019-20 season.
However, he will get another chance.
The Growlers announced Thursday they have signed the 24-year-old defenceman to an ECHL contract for the 2020-21 campaign.
This will be playing in his second professional season for Gendron, who totalled 32 ECHL contests with the Brampton Beast, Reading Royals and Newfoundland as a rookie pro, scoring four goals and adding 11 assists. He also appeared in one game for the AHL’s Belleville Senators.
He came to the Growlers after being acquired in an American Hockey League trade between Brampton and the Toronto Marlies, Newfoundland’s AHL partner.
A dual Canadian/American citizen who calls both Shrewsbury, Mass., and Oakville, Ont., home, Gendron was particularly good with Growlers, averaging almost a point-per-game, with two goals, four assists and a plus-seven rating.
“I was really upset when the season ended. I felt like I was just starting to catch my stride with the Growlers (at the end of last season),” said Gendron in a team news release, adding he was “super excited” to be back with Newfoundland.
“It was such a great place to be. I really enjoyed it (in St. John’s). It really felt like you were in a big-time pro atmosphere. I just really loved that and watching the guys who came before me and seeing the guys who have moved up to the next level, that’s what I want to be a part of.
"Even when I was with road teams coming in, it was a place we always looked forward to going to. To be a part of the team is even better.”
Growlers Head Coach John Snowden believes Gendron’s strong finish to the 2019-20 campaign could lead to big returns for both Gendron and the Growlers in 2020-21.
“(Genfron) was a huge boost to our team last year. If you look at when we got him last year, we took off.” — Growlers head coach John Snowden
“When we got Miles last year, he was that player we were looking for,” Snowden said in the same release.
“He’s a left shot who can play the right side. He’s big. He can skate. He can move the puck. He plays the power play. He kills penalties.
“He was a huge boost to our team last year. If you look at when we got him last year, we took off.”
With Gendron on board, Newfoundland won its last five games of the season.
Snowden said the fact Gendron, a 2014 third-round draft pick of the Ottawa Senators, chose to return to the Growlers on an ECHL contract is telling.
“He was an AHL-contracted guy and to get him now on an ECHL-level contract speaks to his desire to come back here and to what we’re doing here as an organization,” said Snowden.
Prior to turning pro, the six-foot-two, 185-pounder played four years of college hockey with the University of Connecticut, where he served as captain in his senior year.
In 126 NCAA Division One contests with Connecticut, Gendron had 10 goals and 23 assists.
The ECHL says it is targeting a Dec. 4 start to the 2020-21 season.
Twitter: @telysports
