By Aaron Bell
Erik Gudbranson may be an OHL rookie but it’s obvious that he has already made a favourable impression with new coach Doug Gilmour.
Gilmour has put the captain’s “C” on the front of Gudbranson’s Kingston Frontenacs’ jersey for the time being and although the team’s first round pick from last May hasn’t been named the permanent captain, Gilmour is anxious to see how the youngster adapts to the role.
“I’m not going to pick a captain for the rest of this year,” Gilmour told the Kingston Whig-Standard. “I’m going to implement a captain for seven-or 10-game segments, something like that. Some guys are going to have a chance to wear (the captain C) and we'll see how they react to it.”
Gilmour took over the coaching reigns two weeks ago and said then that he planned to name a captain soon. The team played the first half of the season without designating a captain.
Veterans Nathan Moon, Josh Brittain, Peter Stevens and Taylor Doherty have been wearing “A’s” and rotating the “C” throughout the season. Gilmour said that it’s important to have a good group of leaders for the hockey club and will use the captaincy to motivate players to perform their best.
“It’s going to be awarded on work ethic at practices and games, with your peers and stuff like that,” Gilmour said.
Hard work is paying off for former Plymouth Whalers’ forward Tim Sestito.
The 24-year-old from Rome, N.Y. made his National Hockey League debut with the Edmonton Oilers last week and said that it was his hard hat determination and effort that earned him his shot.
“In my second year of junior, my coach drilled it in my head that if I was going to make it as a pro, I had to be solid in my end and really bang bodies,” Sestito told The Edmonton Journal. “So I worked my way up.”
Sestito played four seasons with the Whalers, scoring 14 goals and 32 points to go along with 93 penalty minutes in 2004-05, his final season in the OHL. Since then, the six-foot, 195 pounder has played with two teams in the ECHL and three teams in the American Hockey League. He has a pair of goals and three points in 18 games with the Springfield Falcons in the AHL this season.
“I’ve been in the Coast, been in the American League – I’ve been up and down,” Sestito said. “To come here is just another step. Now that I’m here, I want to prove that I belong.”
Sudbury Wolves’ coaches Mike Foligno, Bryan Verreault and Wade Bartley spent some time last month mentoring minor hockey coaches.
The Wolves developed their “Coaches helping Coaches” in association with local sponsor Perkins Restaurant & Bakery and had their coaches on hand to teach minor hockey coaches about running effective team practice sessions through classroom and on-ice sessions. The Wolves coaches closed out the event by running a local peewee team through some of the drills that they taught earlier.
The coaches in attendance were welcomed to stick around and watch the Wolves practice that afternoon.
With the finishing touches being put on the brand new Windsor Family Credit Union Centre, the Spitfires are getting ready to take the ice for the final time at the historic Windsor Arena this Thursday against the Guelph Storm.
Windsor Arena was built in 1924 and is the oldest arena in the Canadian Hockey League.
The Spitfires are obviously looking forward to opening their new home, but will do so with mixed emotions. They are a perfect 11-0 on home ice so far this season.
“The old girl’s been good to us,” coach Bob Boughner told the Windsor Star.
