‘I had to keep playing hockey’
Burt scores bigger role in trade to South Shore from Fredericton
Kobe Burt might have needed driving directions during his early days in Bridgewater, but he still knows where he’s going with the South Shore Lumberjacks.
The 18-year-old forward from Grand Falls-windsor, N.L., has skated into an increased role since the Lumberjacks acquired him in a January deadline trade with the Fredericton Red Wings.
When the Maritime Hockey League finally began its second-half schedule in midfebruary, Burt responded with four points, all of them assists, in his first four games with South Shore. What’s more, during that stint, the Lumberjacks won two straight games as they broke out of an 18game winless streak that dated back to October.
“They’re in last place in the league, but it doesn’t really matter,” Burt said about joining the Lumberjacks’ growing pains and gains. “They have a young team, so it means I have a bigger role on this team. It’s given me a lot of opportunity to play good and actually show myself more than what I was in Fredericton.
“Because I’m getting those power-play minutes and all the other things like first-line minutes that I wasn’t getting in Fredericton, I’m doing well for myself more so here.”
In departing the New Brunswick capital, Burt left what was his home for the first year and a half of his junior A career. Along with saying goodbye to his buddies from the Red Wings, he had to move far from his girlfriend, who plays AUS hockey at St. Thomas University.
As tough as all that was, the skilled Burt also knew that going to another team could help him find a top-six forward role that didn’t transpire with the contending Red Wings, with whom he scored two goals and five points in 22 games this season.
“They gave me a couple of opportunities to show them what I had, and I thought I had a good couple of games in Fredericton, but I couldn’t really stick as a top-six forward there this year,” said the fivefoot-11, 170-pound centre.
“As they said when they told me I got traded, ‘You weren’t getting the ice time that you wanted.’ It’s true. I felt that I wanted more ice time. The kind of player I am, I need ice time in order to do what I need to do, and that’s my style of hockey. They kind of helped me out with sending me to South Shore.”
Burt and one of his Fredericton buddies, 19-year-old forward Sam Campbell, were dealt to the Lumberjacks in exchange for the 19-year-old Reimer twins, Eli and Jadon.
In the same trade, the Red Wings gave South Shore the rights to Moncton Flyers U18 sniper Preston Lounsbury, along with a third-round pick in the 2022 draft and a conditional second- or fifth-round selection in the 2023 draft.
Burt and Campbell live together in Bridgewater at the same billet house as their former Red Wings teammate Colin Parker and Lumberjacks captain Matthew Helpard.
“It’s a good setup,” said Burt, now navigating well in the South Shore.
“I had to use the Google Maps for the first couple of days, but living with four guys, there was always someone in the car who knew where we were going, so it wasn’t too bad.
“Previously, I had never been down this way. Never played in that rink before. Never had a tournament here. I had been familiar with the Halifax area but not really the South Shore.”
After going home to Newfoundland for the Christmas holidays, Burt was back in Fredericton in early January when he learned he had been traded. But he ended up staying in New Brunswick longer because he tested positive for COVID-19, so he didn’t drive to Bridgewater until his quarantine was finished. The entire MHL was inactive at the time because of the pandemic.
While all of the change associated with his first junior trade was “definitely a new experience”
for Burt, the former Newfoundland major-midget standout didn’t consider packing up his hockey gear and heading home.
“No, I knew I had to keep playing hockey,” he said. “I want to take hockey as far as I possibly can, so I knew I had to take the opportunity with South Shore for at least the rest of this year, not knowing what’s going to happen next year.
“You never know what could happen over the summer break. I’m going into my third year of junior (next fall), so I’m really trying to make an impact wherever I am.
“After this year, I have two years left of junior, so hopefully I can get some university teams interested in me my 20-yearold season, hopefully schools around the Atlantic provinces.”
Burt already follows AUS hockey, and not only the men’s conference. His girlfriend, Aislynn Byers, plays defence with the St. Thomas Tommies women’s team.
“She’s had a great year for herself,” he said. “Third in defensive points in the AUS this year.”
A difficult season for the Lumberjacks took a turn for the better on Feb. 19 as they ended their lengthy losing streak. Lawson Cook’s overtime goal gave South Shore a 2-1 victory over the host Amherst Ramblers.
“The boys really grinded one out and took the monkey off the back, which was good in my first couple of games with the team,” Burt said. “Just to get the boys rolling again, which we did with a huge upset (win) against Amherst.”
Two nights later, the Lumberjacks defeated the Pictou County Weeks Crushers 3-2 as Burt assisted on each of Cook’s two goals.
Along with Campbell and Parker, Cole Young is among Burt’s former Fredericton teammates now with South Shore.
“I have mutual friends with some of the guys,” Burt said of the new-look Lumberjacks. “I played against some of the (2003-born players) who have played Canada Games, Atlantic Challenge Cups, Ice Jams and stuff like that. So, I knew a couple of guys just from growing up and playing hockey.
“They made a lot of moves over the Christmas break to try to make the team better, for not just this year but upcoming years, bringing a lot of 18-yearolds in.”