Joining Islanders ‘pretty surreal’ for Chaddock
Chris Chaddock is looking forward to playing his first Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game tonight in Halifax.
The newest Charlottetown Islander said Tuesday it is “pretty surreal” to think about playing in the league he watched while growing up watching the Sea Dogs in Saint John, N.B.
“(I wanted) to play in the Q since I was a kid,” he said before practice.
His family moved to Montreal when he was 12 years old. He played against current Islanders rightwinger Daniel Sprong in peewee and bantam and the two were teammates with the Lax St-Louis Tigres in midget espoir in 2012-13. Chaddock played for Wyoming in the USHS last season, scoring 42 goals and 96 points in 35 games. The five-foot-seven, 146-pound centre began the season with the Ontario Hockey Academy (OHA).
“At the start, I was looking at U.S. college. Being a smaller guy I thought that was the best route to develop,” he said. “I looked at the Q, knew a lot of the players, and just felt like this was the right fit.”
Islanders head scout Gilles Tremblay saw him play and Islanders assistant coach Luke Beck, who used to coach at OHA, knows the academy’s coach.
Chaddock said he is a hard-working, two-way centre. Sprong said they played on separate lines with the Lions, but skated on the same power-play unit.
“He was a good guy on the power play, a puck-moving forward (who was) good at setting (guys) up,” he said. “I think he hasn’t changed any, still a quiet kid and still plays with skill and grit.”
Chaddock has skated the past few days with the team while Josh Shatford will join the club in Halifax, where the Islanders play the Mooseheads at 7 p.m.
The team announced the roster moves on Monday with Ross Johnston still out and youngsters Samuel Guilbault and Mitchell Balmas leaving today for the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
Dwyer said the team knows Shatford from his time last year with the club, but are still learning about Chaddock.
“It’s a great opportunity for him to kind of show us that he belongs at this level,” he said. “We’ll evaluate his play and kind of see where he fits as we move along."
Charlottetown is 7-7-1-1 while Halifax is 5-9-1-1. Both teams are 3-6-0-1 in their last 10 games.
“We can’t take them lightly,” Sprong said. “We have to play hard, play a full 60 (minutes) and see what happens.”
The Ises are aware of the Mooseheads’ star power and want to limit the topend talent’s opportunities.
Halifax native Mason McDonald gets the start in the Charlottetown crease.