THE LURE OF THE BEAST
Ottawa hopefuls take one step up
Hockey types from Ottawa don’t generally feel comfortable in a Greater Toronto Area hockey rink. It’s enemy territory. But they might in Brampton this winter. A team called the Brampton Beast has no fewer than 10 training camp roster players with Ottawa connections.
So, what is the Brampton Beast and why does it have a pipeline to the nation’s capital?
The Beast is a team in the ECHL, an introductory pro league. One of their former assistant coaches, Peter Goulet, coached for many years with the Nepean Raiders of the CCHL and the Kingston Voyageurs of the OJHL. Goulet recruited several Ottawa-area players for Brampton and the link was forged.
The latest twist has players from the Ottawa Senators organization drifting down to the Beast. Though it hasn’t been officially announced, the Senators are no longer affiliated with the ECHL Wichita Thunder. Instead, they have a secondary affiliation with Brampton, with the Montreal Canadiens as the primary Brampton affiliation.
For the first time in their history, the Senators have gone allOntario with their farm teams. The Senators’ top farm team, in the American Hockey League, has moved to Belleville from Binghamton, N.Y. Now, Ottawa has the luxury of two developmental clubs along the Highway 401 corridor, an immense logistical improvement whether players or organizational staff are shuttling along the pathway.
Gone are the border crossings and four-and-a-half-hour drives to Binghamton. Belleville is about two-and-a-half hours and border-free. Gone are the flights to Wichita, Kan., Ottawa’s previous ECHL affiliate.
“It’s so much easier with Brampton just two-and-a-half hours up the road (from Belleville),” says Randy Lee, the Senators’ assistant general manager and GM of the new Belleville Senators. “We used to have to send players to Wichita.”
The Senators currently have three players in Brampton: forward Daniel Cianfini, and defencemen Cody Donaghey and Macoy Erkamps.
Seven others on the camp roster have Ottawa roots or ties, including four Carleton Ravens graduates: Corey Durocher, Mitch Zion, Brandon MacLean and Mike Folkes.
Luc Oliver Blain was captain of the University of Ottawa GeeGees. Drew Fielding was born in Ottawa and Cam Bakker, who played minor and junior hockey in Gloucester and Metcalfe, is with the Beast on a tryout.
“Last year the running joke was that we were the Brampton Ravens,” Zion says. “We had five or six guys from Carleton by the time Corey came up at the end of the year.”
Hockey is a global game with seven degrees of separation. By the time a player reaches the pro ranks, he has played with and against hundreds of players and keeps tabs on many of them, especially those from the same age group.
Durocher and Zion grew up on Ottawa rinks and first faced each other in novice hockey, Durocher with Ottawa West and then the Sting and Zion with Nepean and the Ottawa Valley. They were rivals in minor midget AAA and Junior A and then teammates with the Carleton Ravens.
It was in a handshake line after a CCHL series between Durocher’s Nepean Raiders and Zion’s Cornwall Colts that Durocher asked Zion what his plans were. This was late winter 2013.
“I’m going to go to Carleton. You should, too,” Zion said. “I think I might,” Durocher said. Now they are a couple of Beasts. They room together, and could play on the same line, depending on how things shake out. Durocher is a centre; Zion, left wing.
After three years at Carleton, Zion joined the Beast in the spring of 2016 to play nine games, right after the Ravens’ trip to the national championships. Durocher spent another year at Carleton and signed with Brampton last spring to play five regular-season games and another three in the playoffs.
The Ottawa guys in Brampton can be heard sharing stories of places to eat and drink in the capital. They have to be prudent with spending, wherever they are. ECHL players earn US$500 per week plus a small per diem for meals on the road. Their accommodation is provided.
The aim, of course, is to move on to a higher league. Brampton is frequented by scouts, due to its proximity to the NHL Leafs, AHL Marlies and OHL clubs.
“My goal is to try to catch the eye of AHL scouts who are watching their guys with contracts,” says Durocher, a skilled 6-3 centre who was drafted by the Florida Panthers in 2010 (sixth round). “And if I’m able to move up there in the next year or two, that’s cool. If not, maybe go over to Europe and play in a higher league over there.”
Zion, a smaller forward with speed, has plans to stay healthier