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Gawanke, Batherson bring NHL camp experience back to Screaming Eagles roster
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It’s easy to forgive Leon Gawanke for being at least a little star struck at Winnipeg Jets training camp.
“If you’re sitting at breakfast and a guy like Dustin Byfuglien comes in, you just saw him on the PlayStation or TV and then you’re right next to him,” Gawanke said of the imposing 6-5, 260-pound fellow blue-liner. “On the ice, you can’t think about it. You have to think about your own game. But it was really impressive.”
Gawanke and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles teammate Drake Batherson impressed enough at their respective rookie camps to be invited to main camp. What made their invites even more impressive was that it was the first NHL training camps for both players.
“Rookie camp was fun and main camp was a really good experience to go on with the pro guys and learn from them,” said Gawanke, native of Berlin, Germany. “For the season, I’m really excited to be back.”
Batherson earned a spot at the Ottawa Senators main camp after putting in a good showing at the rookie tournament held in Toronto earlier this month.
“Everything happens so much faster up there,” said the forward from New Minas, N.S., son of North Sydney retired hockey pro Norm Batherson. “In junior, I think you have more time and space with the puck. Up there, you have to make a play quick and just being in the right spot all the time.
“I’ve been watching some of those guys since I was 10 years old. Bobby Ryan won a Stanley Cup, I remember watching that in Grade 8 or 9. It was pretty cool to be on the ice with those guys.”
Screaming Eagles head coach and general manager MarcAndré Dumont said the fact both Gawanke and Batherson earned spots at main camp is a testament to the work both players put in over the summer.
“I spend a lot of time with my returning NHL players because I want to know in detail and take note of everything they learned and everything they observed,” he said. “It can be details like Drake telling me NHLers before practice have a two-hour routine. They’re at the rink for two hours and they’ll go through their routine, whether it’s equipment checks, sticks, skates, activation, stretching. They see the athletic therapist if they need a taping. They’ll jump on the bike. They have a routine and the level of professionalism that NHL players have today is incredible.
“Drake and Leon fed off of that, but at the same time, they can share it with the group.”
Gawanke, Batherson and their Screaming Eagles teammates have turned their attention to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season, and are off to a promising start.
They kicked off the 2017-18 campaign with a pair of road wins: a 3-2 shootout victory over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, Sept. 22, and a 3-1 triumph over the defending league champion Saint John Sea Dogs a day later.
They face the same two opponents at home starting tonight with the Titan at 7 p.m. and the Sea Dogs Sunday at 4 p.m. at Centre 200.
“Home opener is always exciting, there’s no doubt,” said Dumont. “It’s something special because we always have a big crowd and a lot of the families of the players are coming, so there’s a lot of excitement. It’s a new start at home and we need to build our game off last weekend and the boys fought and found a way last weekend.
“I think it’s important to step up and continue improving and growing our game.”
Eagles forward Kyle McGrath (fractured collarbone) is out 8-12 weeks…the Titan roster includes rookie forward Logan Chisholm of Upper Pomquet, N.S., who scored the gamewinning goal in overtime to give the Cape Breton West Islanders a 5-4 win over the SaintFrançois Blizzard of Quebec in the final of the 2017 Telus Cup national major midget championship on April 30 in Prince George, B.C.