SAIGEON BACK AS A GENERAL
Grimsby native is looking forward to playing former team in former home
For the players, one of the downsides of school day games is the early wake-up call. That, and the fact that it can take several days for your hearing to come back.
This time, though, Brandon Saigeon doesn’t mind.
“It will definitely be a little easier with it being a school day game, because obviously those games are different being full of kids,” he said. “You’re not seeing the same fans, so I think that will make it a little easier for me in terms of my emotions.
“And the kids just kind of love hockey. They don’t really know the storylines and stuff. They’re going to cheer no matter what,” he added.
Saigeon returns to Hamilton on Thursday when his new team, Oshawa, faces his old one in a rare 10:30 a.m. matchup.
Over the course of his OHL career, the Grimsby native has played more than 100 home games at FirstOntario Centre. This will be his first as a guest.
The 20-year-old centre, who was shipped to the Generals at the trade deadline in January, said he’s looking forward to it, “coming back and seeing everyone and competing against my old team. But it will definitely be a little emotional with everything that’s gone on and all the good memories I have of playing there.”
Saigeon, who was the local face of the Bulldogs, overcame slumps and a badly broken forearm in his early days in Hamilton before developing into one of the most prolific scorers in the team’s 3½-year history.
His work in the playoffs last spring, especially on the power play where he topped the league in scoring, was crucial to the success of the team’s OHL championship run.
On top of Saigeon, the Bulldogs also dealt veterans MacKenzie Entwistle and Nic Mattinen last month in a bid to restock their draft board.
The former went to Guelph and the latter, like Saigeon, went to Oshawa — which the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs graduate said has been a huge help.
“Being able to go to a new team with somebody you’re really familiar with, having gone through what we did together in Hamilton, definitely makes it a lot easier,” Saigeon added.
As far as his numbers go, the transition has been pretty much seamless for Saigeon. In his first 11 games with the Generals, he has eight goals, which means he’s scoring at an even higher clip than he was in Hamilton despite playing with a rotating cast of linemates. His 78 points are most on his team and sixth most in the league.
This could be a problem for the Bulldogs, who are 1-4 against Oshawa this season and on a three-game losing skid — a stretch in which they’ve allowed a whopping 22 goals.
They go into the game in a three-way tie for sixth place in the conference. The third-place Generals, meanwhile, are trending in the opposite direction.
Since acquiring Saigeon, Mattinen and others, including Anthony Salinitri and Brett Neumann, at the trade cut-off, they are 7-3-1-0 and have upped their offensive output dramatically.
In their past 11 outings, they’ve scored on average more than five goals per game. “It’s been a lot of fun playing for this team,” said Saigeon. “I obviously miss the boys in Hamilton, like, I miss it a lot, but it’s been nothing but positives so far.”
In addition to Saigeon, Mattinen will also make his first appearance against his former team Thursday, as will Eric Henderson, who came to Hamilton from Oshawa as part of the Mattinen deal.