Newest Ice Dog OHL’s top player
Sam Miletic may be a former Knight, but he still knows his way around the board.
In his case, the chosen field of battle is a hockey rink; specifically, ice surfaces of the 20 teams competing in the Ontario Hockey League.
More often than not, the newest member of the Niagara Ice-Dogs, or his passes to linemates Ben Jones and Kirill Maksimov, have been exactly where they needed to be on those boards.
Since being acquired from the London Knights at the trade deadline for over- age players, Miletic has failed to earn at least a point only twice. He didn’t make a name for himself on the scoresheet in a 6- 2 loss to the Barrie Colts and, along with everyone else in the Niagara lineup, in a 6- 0 setback to the Kitchener Rangers.
Miletic attributed an almost seamless transition to IceDog from Knight to the Niagara organization and his teammates, Jones and Maksimov in particular.
“The coaches are really great here, and they transitioned me really well,” he said before the IceDogs took the ice for a road game Friday night against the Ottawa 67’ s.
“My linemates helped me out a lot, they made it real easy.”
The line began clicking, and making life difficult for opposing defences, almost from their first time on the ice together.
“We all like to shoot the puck, we get a lot of shots on net,” Miletic said. “I think last game we had 25 to the line on net.
“When you’re shooting that much and getting pucks on net, good things are going to happen.”
The linemates, all team- first players, care more about the standings than their scoring stats. They don’t differentiate between goals and assists, Miletic, at 20 the elder skatesman of the trio, said.
“We don’t really care about who gets the shot on net, which as long as we get it and it goes in
As one of three over- agers on the IceDogs, along with captain Johnny Corneil and Adrian Carbonara, also formerly with London, Miletic is also being counted on to a mentor to the younger players on the team.
Far from being extra pressure, he considers the chance to “pay back” a privilege.
“I don’t know if it’s pressure, I think it’s mostly guys enjoy helping the young guys out,” Miletic said. “Obviously, if you’ve been in the league for a little longer, you’re older, you’re more of an adult and you know how things work and what not to do.”
He recalled that leaders on his first Knights team, including Mitch Marner, were “extremely helpful.”
“They kind of took me under their wing and showed my the ropes.”
The Pittsburgh Penguins prospect’s accomplishments in his first nine games with the IceDogs – eight goals and seven assists – and his overall offensive output last month – 12 goals, 13 assists – in 13 games have not gone unnoticed. He was named the league’s player of the month for January, the first IceDog to receive the honour this season.
The native of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., a Detroit suburb, came into weekend fourth in OHL scoring with 24 goals, 45 assists for 69 points in 44 games.
Miletic, selected 295th overall by the Knights in the 15th round of the 2013 OHL Priority Selection, has scored goals, collected 74 assists for 138 in 144 OHL career games.
Before coming to Niagara, he spent parts of three seasons in London.
During the off- season Miletic, a free agent, agreed to a three- year, entry- level NHL contract offered by the Penguins.
Last night’s game was the fourth meeting in league play between the Eastern Conference rivals since the beginning of the 2017- 18 season. Niagara rebounded from a 1- 0 overtime loss in the series opener at Meridian by taking the next two, 3- 2 at home and 3- 0 in Ottawa.
The IceDogs, who earned five of a possible six points in three games last week, returned to the ice as the hotter of the two clubs. They were 5- 3- 1- 1 in their last 10 games; the 67’ s, 3- 2- 4- 1.
Entering Friday action, Niagara was tops in the Central Division and second in the conference with a 2614- 4- 3 record, while Ottawa, 19- 215- 3, was fourth in the Eastern Division.
The IceDogs complete an eastern Ontario road trip Saturday night when they take on the Kingston Frontenacs.
Kingston, 25- 16- 4- 3, lead the season series with Niagara two wins to one. Both of the Frontenacs’ wins – 4- 2, 8- 3 – were in St. Catharines, with the IceDogs winning their game 3- 1 on the road.
Four games are on Niagara’s schedule in the coming week. After visiting Kitchener Tuesday, they host the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds two nights later before playing back- toback road games against the Sarnia Sting, Saturday; and Windsor Spitfires, Sunday.
’ Dog Biscuits: Left winger Oliver Castleman, 18, of Gloucester, now part of Ottawa, has eight goals and nine assists for 17 points in 46 games with the IceDogs ... Niagara sophomores Akil Thomas, right wing, and defenceman Justin MacPherson were ranked 10th and 163rd, respectively, in the NHL Central Scouting Services mid- term rankings of skaters eligible to be selected in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft June 22- 23 in Dallas.