Owen Burnell is back in the Bulldogs lineup. Coach John Gruden thinks he can make a difference in Game 4. Spectator reporter Teri Pecoskie tells us why.
After missing the past three months and much of this season with a concussion, it is fitting that Owen Burnell returned to action against the Greyhounds.
If it weren’t for them, he would never have ended up in Hamilton.
Four years ago, the Soo drafted the Caledonia native alongside Boris Katchouk, Conor Timmins and Tim Gettinger. But he didn’t make the cut out of training camp, and then got lost in the shuffle when the team overhauled its coaching staff nine months down the road.
So he toiled in Jr. B until the Bulldogs invited him to a tryout last September. General manager Steve Staios liked what he saw and Burnell became the first free agent to crack the lineup since the franchise’s move from Belleville in 2015.
Then, this good-news story about a guy who was finally living his Ontario Hockey League dream took a bad turn.
The hit happened in Windsor in early November.
Burnell was carrying the puck, and as he cut across the blue line he decided to leave it for Isaac Nurse.
A Spitfires defenceman was in front of him and closing in.
“I knew he was there, so I dropped it and I braced myself for the hit,” he said at the time.
“But he was way bigger than me and he caught me with his shoulder right in the chin.
“I could tell something was wrong.”
It took weeks for his symptoms — headaches, nausea, an unshakable feeling that something just wasn’t right — to subside. And then months more after a brief 13-game return.
That’s why Monday’s game — a 6-5 win that gave the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead over the Soo in the OHL Final — was significant. It was his first game action since Feb. 8.
“It’s something every kid dreams of, honestly, to be in a situation like this and to be able to step into it especially after what’s gone on this year,” said the 19-year-old, who played alongside Ben Garagan and Arthur Kaliyev on Hamilton’s fourth line.
“It was definitely really special and really exciting.”
That Bulldogs coach John Gruden trusts Burnell enough to insert him into the lineup at this crucial point in the season speaks volumes about his player’s character and on-ice ability.
While he isn’t a big scorer and he doesn’t log a ton of minutes — he only played three shifts in Game 3 — Burnell is fast, smart and reliable defensively. He makes simple plays and he makes the team better. He is part of why the Bulldogs are still playing hockey in May.
“He’s the reason we’re in this position,” Gruden said of the five-foot-ten, 176-pound forward. “He just does everything right and you pull for kids like that.”
Burnell is expected to be in the mix again for Game 4 at First Ontario Centre Wednesday (7 p.m. on Sportsnet and TSN 1150). In fact, Gruden said he’d like to involve his line a little more.
Whatever that means, Burnell will take it.
“I don’t care how many shifts I get. I just want to win and whatever opportunity I get I’ll try to make the most of it and try to do what I can to help the team win,” he said.