Little a great team player
‘Dan has been everything we thought he would be for our hockey club’
It was Wednesday, the day following the Truro Bearcats 5-4 win over Miramichi Timberwolves in Game 2.
With the best-of-seven Maritime Junior Hockey League championship final series tied at one game apiece, it was good to talk with Bearcats Dan Little.
The 20-year-old Sackville native has good size, standing six feet and weighing 190 pounds; he’s a big physical presence on the Truro blueline. Bearcats coach and general manager Shawn Evans commented on the humble, personable player.
“We had tried to trade for Dan Little at an earlier date, we were in need of another defenceman last summer and Dan became available. We got him in a trade with Yarmouth. Dan has been everything we thought he would be for our hockey club. He’s a hard worker, he has a big heart, Dan is really good in the dressing room, he’s a real good team player.”
Little too revisited the trade. “It was August that I got a call from Shawn Evans. I remember I was on the way to Magic Mountain and it had taken Shawn a couple calls before he reached me. I was really shocked and really pleased when Shawn asked me ‘how would you like to play with Truro Bearcats?’ I was really pleased to be coming to Truro.”
Several months have passed by, seemingly quickly. There’s been lots of body checks thrown, shot blocking and chasing down loose pucks. In the process, Little and the Bearcats enjoyed a good regular season and then eliminated Yarmouth Mariners and Amherst Ramblers in playoff action. Many of us are now focused on the Maritime final.
“With the title on the line, it means a lot for our team to be where we are at,” said Little. “I think this series against Miramichi is going to be a real good battle. In playoff hockey and when you’ve come this far every player on both teams is putting his body on the line. Every player is going all out. I thought we played really well Tuesday night in pulling that win off in Truro. But we can’t afford to let up, we know we’re playing a really good hockey club. To get
the results we want, we’re going to have to dig deep, we’re going to have to play 60 full
minutes every game.”
Little shared an interesting outlook on the Bearcats coaching staff, consisting of former longtime professional hockey defenceman Evans and former junior standouts T.J. Smith, Joel Isenor and Jamie Barbour.
“Playing under the experience of this coaching staff means a lot to every player. All our coaches have gained a lot of experience over the years – they’ve been able to pass a lot of this
on to the players. We have really good team spirit on our hockey club, we’re excited about being in the league finals. We’re definitely a close group, it’s like 22 brothers.”
Little played his first minor hockey with the atom AAA Sackville Flyers. After playing AAA hockey all the way up through the ranks he played two seasons in major midget with Halifax
Titans and Halifax McDonalds. Advancing to the MHL he played first for South Shore Lumberjacks in 2014-15 and
then Yarmouth Mariners in 2015-16. His season with the Bearcats marks his third season of junior A; he has one season of junior A eligibility remaining.
Game 4 of the BearcatsTimberwolves Maritime Hockey League championship final series takes place tonight at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre. Opening faceoff is at 7 p.m.
While vacationing in Florida a few weeks ago, Barry Clark, Randy Crowell, Graham Geddes and Tom Townsend watched the Toronto Blue Jays edge the Boston Red Sox 3-2 in a Grapefruit League game.
“Another highlight was talking with Sportsnet Central’s Arash Madani,” Clark said. “Arash was doing interviews with players but when he realized we were from Truro, he was noticeably
friendly. We enjoyed spending some time with him.”
Madani, a former Truro Daily News reporter, has enjoyed an outstanding career with Rogers Sportsnet.
Highlights have included covering baseball’s World Series, football’s Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup playoffs in hockey and the Davis Cup tennis tournament. We occasionally run into sports fans who applaud Madani’s clear voice, his exceptional approach and his well thought-out questions for interviewees. Hats off to the Truro product.