Gallant nursing swollen eye

PETES PIECES

The Petes are hopeful Zach Gallant didn’t sustain any damage to his eye from an errant high stick Wednesday in Ottawa that will sideline him this weekend.

Gallant required stitches for a cut under his eye which was swollen shut Thursday, said Petes GM Mike Oke.

Gallant was seen by an eye doctor at the rink in Ottawa but the swelling was too severe to get a good look, Oke said. While there is no reason at this point to suspect he’s suffered any eye damage, until the swelling goes down it’s hard to tell for sure, Oke said.

“We don’t know 100 per cent anything other than any time there is any injury like that it’s a cause for concern,” Oke said. “Once the swelling subsides they’ll be able to get us a better diagnosis.”

Gallant took a high stick on the follow through of an Ottawa shot. There was no penalty on the play and Oke said the Petes are satisfied there was no intent by the Ottawa player to injure Gallant.

Petes coach Jody Hull said Gallant will be missed.

“He’s been one of our most consistent players this year and plays a big role for us down the middle,” Hull said. “You’re not going to replace a guy like that with any one guy so everyone will have to chip in and hopefully he’s back sooner than later.”

Hull scratched Pavel Gogolev to get Declan Chisholm back in the lineup and moved Cole Fraser up to forward.

Nimmo top rookie

Petes prospect Jake Nimmo was named the Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) Bill Stobbs Division rookie of the year.

The 17-year-old forward scored 23 goals, 33 assists and 56 points in 39 games with the regular season champion Lakeshore Canadiens this season. Nimmo is playing in his first season with the junior C club based out of Belle River and was second on the team in regular season scoring.

Nimmo, a 5’11”, 170-pound forward from Lakeshore, was selected by the Petes in the 14th round, 269th overall in the 2016 OHL Priority Selection. He attended Petes 2016 development and training camps.

Game time change

The OHL announced this week that the time for the Petes’ March Break road game against the Ottawa 67’s on March 15 has been changed to 3 p.m. from its original 7 p.m. start time.