Icedogs forwards getting skating legs back as Ontario rinks start to reopen
Butler and Uberti ranked 138th and 147th, respectively, are among North America prospects heading into NHL draft
Niagara Icedogs forwards Cameron Butler and Jake Uberti were far from being poster boys for what not to do on skates, when rinks shuttered by COVID-19 started reopening in Ontario this month.
Neither wobbled unsteadily on their ankles as if they had two left feet that veered off in a different direction. Nor did they need the added assurance of being within reach of the boards at all times.
Yet, for Butler, back in his hometown of Ottawa, and Uberti in his native Toronto, the return to the old normal of being back on the ice felt anything but normal at first.
“It was weird. It had been a while so I was little rusty, but it came back pretty quickly,” Butler recalled with a chuckle.
Uberti, who like his fellow sophomore is eligible to be selected in the 2020 National Hockey League Entry Draft, wholeheartedly agreed that what had been second nature only three months ago initially felt “so strange.”
“It felt like I had never skated before in my life,” he said with a laugh. “But, after the first skate, I got all the rust off.
“I’ve been on the ice three, four times a week, so it’s been working out for me.”
Butler also has been trying to get on the ice as much as he can as he prepares for his third season in the Ontario Hockey League and first full season with the Icedogs.
“I feel strength is something everyone wants to work on throughout every off-season, but I’m really focused on skating this summer. Get faster,” said the six-foot-four, 202-pound right-hand shot who came to Niagara in a trade-deadline deal that sent Icedogs captain Akil Thomas to the Peterborough Petes.
Both of the high school graduates have stayed busy since the OHL regular season was cancelled in mid-march. In addition to completing their Grade 12 studies online, Butler and Uberti have been following a training regimen out of their homes.
“I have a home gym here at my house. I’ve been trying to stay active that way by working out,” Butler said.
Before Uberti’s regular gym in Toronto closed due to the pandemic, it lent him equipment he was able to take home.
“I’ve been working out every day since I got back from the season being cancelled,” he said.
Butler and Uberti, both 18, are listed 138th and 147th, respectively, among North American skaters in the final NHL Central Scouting Bureau rankings heading into a draft that, like the rest of the hockey world, has been shrouded by so much uncertainty.
Originally set to take place June 26-27 at Bell Centre in Montreal, the draft has been postponed indefinitely.
While they don’t know when it will take place, or where it will be held, the players nonetheless are thinking about the milestone moment in a junior hockey player’s career.
“I think it’s in the back of a lot of people’s minds. It’s kind of hard not to think about the draft but, at the end of the day, you can’t control it,” Butler said.
“It’s up in the air, so you don’t know when it’s going to happen. All you can do right now is to keep working and wait for it.” Uberti feels the same way.
“I can’t control it at this point anymore. Obviously, you prepare yourself for the interviews with the teams, but the season is over,” he said. “I’m not worried about it. I’m more excited about it.
“At the end of the day, regardless of what happens, I’m going to work hard and have a great season next year,” Uberti added.
“I’m just excited to see what happens.”
Butler and Uberti felt ripped off that Niagara was denied the opportunity to battle for a playoff spot, missing the post-season for the first time in franchise history on a tiebreaker.
“It was tough to have the season cut short like that. We were battling with a few teams for that last spot in the playoffs, and I feel we had a chance of getting it,” Butler said. “We were starting to play better hockey and everyone really wanted it.
“It was tough to see it end that way, but that just gives us more motivation,” he added.
Uberti, who was taken by Niagara in the fourth round of the 2018 OHL Priority Selection with the 72nd pick overall, likewise is confident the Icedogs would have qualified for the playoffs.
“We had a pretty favourable schedule heading into the end of the season. If all the guys pulled together and we played the way we know we can, I think we would have been in the playoffs,” he said. “But the OHL came to a decision.
“At the end of the day, you just have to accept that and learn from what happened. Move on and take those experiences with us next year.”
Butler had six goals and seven assists in 27 games in the Niagara lineup. He had 12 goals and seven assists in 39 games for Peterborough when he was traded to the Icedogs.
Butler had 18 goals and eight assists in 64 games in his rookie season after being picked by the Petes in the second round of the 2018 draft with the 27th selection.
Uberti, a six-foot-one, 190-pound right-hand shot, increased his goal production to 17 from two and his point total to 33 from nine despite playing two fewer games, 57 compared to 59 as a rookie.
JAKE UBERTI NIAGARA ICEDOGS CENTRE “It felt like I had never skated before in my life. But, after the first skate, I got all the rust off.”