Back for title push with Bearcats
After stint in major junior, McCluskey brings grit and skill to Truro
Welcome back, Carter McCluskey.
The Truro Bearcats didn’t make a major deal at the Maritime Hockey League trade deadline in January, but they still bolstered their lineup significantly with the return of McCluskey from a two-month stint in the QMJHL with the Cape Breton Eagles.
The 19-year-old forward from Grand Bay-Westfield, N.B., didn’t miss a beat in rejoining the junior A Bearcats for the second half of the season.
Including his two hat tricks, McCluskey picked up points in all seven of Truro’s games in January, scoring nine goals and 12 points in the process.
Overall this season, with 13 goals and 21 points, he collected points in all but one of his first 14 games as a Bearcat. That lone pointless game was way back in October, just prior to his promotion to Cape Breton.
After a rare three-game losing streak, the Bearcats regrouped to finish January on a winning note. McCluskey’s three-goal performance in Truro’s 6-3 victory over the visiting Pictou County Weeks Crushers was his second hat trick in nine days.
“The boys have been playing pretty well,” he said. “A couple of games got away from us, though. We can play with anyone in the league. I think we’re going to go all the way. It’s been good so far.”
McCluskey’s productive start with Truro last fall prompted his call-up to Cape Breton, which was reeling from injuries and losses at the time. He went on to score a goal and two points in 22 games before the Eagles made more changes at the QMJHL trade deadline and amplified their youth movement.
McCluskey wanted to rejoin the Bearcats as the new year began.
“I was actually pretty excited,” he said. “I wanted to be around a winning culture, so I just made the decision to come down here (to Truro) instead of staying in Cape Breton.
“It wasn’t great for me personally (in major junior), but it is what it is. I didn’t play a lot, but I learned a lot of stuff and had a lot of good friends there. I’m thankful for that.”
FULL Q SEASON
McCluskey spent all of last season in the Q, scoring 13 goals and 20 points in 55 games with Cape Breton and his hometown Saint John Sea Dogs, who traded him halfway through their Memorial Cup championship year. But he was cut from the Eagles this past pre-season.
“I was a little frustrated, just kind of confused by the whole situation, but I was happy to get called back later,” he said. “Last year, between Saint John and Cape Breton, I thought I had a pretty good year, so going into (the Eagles’) camp this past summer, I was pretty confident. But they decided to go with a young team.”
McCluskey then chose to return home rather than report to the Grand Falls Rapids, the MHL team with which he played during the 2020-21 season.
“I didn’t want to go back to Grand Falls because I wanted to go to more of a contender, so I got traded to Truro,” he said.
That trade came in mid-September on the opening day of the MHL season. The Bearcats sent sniper Ben Diamond, goaltender Frederic Plourde and a third-round draft choice to Grand Falls in exchange for McCluskey and since-departed goalie Isaac Sparrow, along with Dartmouth U18 major netminder Joey Hawco.
McCluskey learned about the deal in the morning and hurried off to Truro to catch the team bus that afternoon for an evening game at Bridgewater. Despite being off the ice for about three weeks beforehand, he scored a goal and two points as the Bearcats posted a 5-2 victory over the South Shore Lumberjacks, the MHL team that drafted him back in 2019.
As his 53 penalty minutes through 14 games this season would suggest, McCluskey doesn’t mind getting involved physically. Even if he’s just five-foot-10 and 165 pounds.
“He’s definitely an energy guy,” said Bearcats teammate Lucas Canning, who also played with McCluskey last season with Cape Breton. “Not a lot of guys in the league have what he has. He’s not very big, but he finds a way to use his size to his advantage. He definitely is good at getting in guys’ heads and he’s a strong little guy. He brings that edge that not a lot of guys have anymore.”
MARCHAND FAN
From his gritty and offensive ways to his animated goal celebrations, McCluskey’s style mirrors that of his NHL role model, Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins.
“I think I’m like a Brad Marchand, a guy that gets under the skin of other people and can score goals sometimes,” McCluskey said. “I was always a Boston Bruins fan, so I liked him a lot.”
From a support role in major junior to first-line minutes in junior A, McCluskey is on a mission in Truro, much like other Bearcats who have tasted the Q but didn’t necessarily get to stay for supper.
“It gives us some energy knowing that we’ve played at a higher level before, so we come back and we’re more comfortable and find it a little bit easier to play in this league,” he said.
“It definitely gives you a little fire in your stomach and you want to prove people wrong.”
It’s no wonder that Bearcats coach Shawn Evans has described McCluskey as a dangerous player whom opponents must respect every time he’s on the ice.
McCluskey has been particularly effective on a line with Tanner Humber-Dredge and Landon Miron.
After changing places — and billet families — multiple times the past few years, McCluskey has settled in nicely with a contending Truro team capable of making a championship run this spring.
“I’ve lived in about four different houses in the past couple of years,” he said. “It’s tough at the start, but you get used to them really fast, so it’s good.”
At his billet homes this season, McCluskey has lived with a teammate in both places — Josh Steele in Truro and Olivier Houde in Sydney.