Long road back to the ice for MacLeod
SCENE & HEARD: His mother and stepfather will have trouble believing their own eyes when they watch Wade MacLeod skate onto the ice at Ricoh Coliseum Saturday afternoon for the home opener of the Toronto Marlies’ American Hockey League season.
Seven months ago, the 26- year- old from Coquitlam lay motionless at ice level after being checked into the boards and taking a hit on the right side of his head. He suffered a seizure that led to the discovery of a benign brain tumour. It happened on Feb. 17 in Springfield, Mass., while MacLeod was playing for the Falcons, the Columbus Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate.
His parents — Colleen and Garth Essery — were in attendance that unforgettable Sunday afternoon and watched in horror as he was carried from the ice by stretcher. The scene was so grim that officials ruled the game be postponed. “Time stood still,” Colleen, a Vancouver Tech grad, would say later.
After seeing three neurosurgeons and four neurologists, MacLeod — the son of onetime New Westminster Bruins scoring star Scott MacLeod — opted to have the tumour removed in late March. He vowed at the time he would one day resume his hockey career.
True to his word, he will be wearing Marlies jersey No. 7 after signing a one- year AHL contract earlier this week.
“Once I was cleared to resume training,” MacLeod says, “I started with light workouts and my personal trainer of seven years, Kai Heinonen, began pushing me to the point where I was working out in the gym five days a week. By mid- May I was skating three hours a day with Cliff Ronning at the Burnaby Winter Club.”
MacLeod’s agent, Scott Norgon, contacted Toronto Maple Leafs assistant coach Greg Cronin, who tutored MacLeod at Northeastern University, to arrange for a tryout with the Marlies. In his first two preseason games, both against the Hamilton Bulldogs, MacLeod scored in a 5- 3 win one night and popped home the winner in a 2- 1 win the next.
“The last six to seven months have been surreal,” MacLeod says. “Words can’t describe how thrilled I am to be back playing hockey. I couldn’t have come this far without the support of everyone close to me.”
MacLeod played two seasons in the BCHL with the Merritt Centennials ( 2005- 07) before heading for Northeastern University in Boston where he collected 61 goals and 76 assists in four seasons with the Huskies.
If everything goes according to plan, MacLeod will be in Abbotsford when the Marlies play the Heat, Nov. 9 and 10.
“Those dates were circled on my calendar the moment after I signed my contract,” he says. “It will be my homecoming.” END ZONE: The BCHL’s annual governors’ meetings kick off Monday at River Rock Casino Resort with a dinner to celebrate a scholarship program that began 25 years ago with the Canucks Alumni and BC Hockey Benevolent Association. Almost half a million dollars in athletic scholarships have been awarded to BCHL graduates since 1987.