Junior A Crushers name captain, assistants

MHL club hosting Amherst on Thursday

The Junior A Crushers will have two captains for the season.

Veteran forwards Evan MacLennan and Jacob Hickey will share the captaincy this year, with MacLennan wearing the ‘C’ at home games during the first half of the Maritime Hockey League season, and Hickey wearing it on road games.

That will be reversed for the second half of the year, when MHL teams switch to wearing their white jerseys on the road.

Earlier in camp, head coach Doug Doull said it was “neckand-neck” between Hickey and MacLennan as the coaching staff tried to determine who would fill the captain’s role.

“It wasn’t a cop-out,” Doull said of using two captains this season. “Both guys showed at the end of last year, the intangibles – when things weren’t rosy, when things weren’t going great, both players elevated their play.”

Hickey, who led the team in goals last season with 28, will be out of action for another few weeks with an upper-body injury.

Jake Martin, Dylan Riley and Barrett Dachyshyn were named assistant captains as the Crushers unveiled their leadership group Tuesday at the Pictou County Wellness Centre (PCWC). Martin is out indefinitely but started skating this week, which Doull called a positive sign for the third-year forward.

“We’ll have leaders by committee. Hopefully, every night a new can guy step up for us.”

The Crushers (1-0) will be wearing their third jerseys (predominantly red) on Thursday when the Amherst Ramblers (1-0) visit the PCWC. The Ramblers are loading up to host the Fred Page Cup next April and beat the Valley Wildcats convincingly last Saturday, in a seasonopening 6-2 win. The Crushers picked up a 2-1 overtime win in their Sept. 13 season opener against Valley. “They have a lot of talent over there,” Doull said of the Ramblers. “This will be a good measuring stick for where we’re at.”