The Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) has handed Drumheller Dragons forward Nick McLennan a three-game suspension for an infraction against the Lloydminster Bobcats in a game last Friday (Sept. 26) at Drumheller.
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McLennan was penalized for his check from behind that injured fellow 19-year-old Calgarian Quinn Keeler with five minutes left in regulation time.
Keeler was forced to leave the game, which Lloyd went on to win 2-1 in a shootout. He also sat out the remaining two games of the Bobcats’ weekend road trip and is expected to miss at least two more weeks, coach Eric Labrosse said Monday.
As for the McLennan suspension, Labrosse sounded satisfied that the AJHL ruled as it did.
“The league imposed the sanctions that were needed,” he said. “They did their part of the work.”
At the same time, the coach added, it’s tough to lose a defenceman of Keeler’s calibre. The newcomer has been solid since joining the Bobcats on the eve of their season-opener Sept. 19.
“It was an unfortunate hit,” Labrosse said. “It was a check-from-behind hit.
“It’s unfortunate for the team, because we did lose a defenceman that takes up a lot of minutes, on the first night of the road trip.
“He’s rehabbing. I don’t know how long we’re not going to have him for, yet, but he will probably most likely miss the next 10 to 14 days at least.”
INJURY ROUNDUP
An 18-year-old defenceman, Noah Smith, hasn’t played this season as he recuperates from surgery. The second-year Bobcat is likely a minimum of three weeks away from seeing action, Labrosse projected.
Elsewhere on the injury front, sophomore defenceman Dylan Deets was able to make his season debut Friday at Drumheller and also dress for games Saturday in Calgary and Sunday in Canmore.
Bobcats captain Kade Fendelet missed Sunday’s 6-4 loss with an injury, Labrosse said. “It’s too early to say yet” how long he might be sidelined.
VETERAN ARRIVES IN TRADE
New forward Jadon Iyogun, acquired in a trade last week, was a healthy scratch Sunday after playing in the other two weekend games.
Labrosse said the 20-year-old forward from Calgary was still settling in with the Bobcats after joining them just as the road trip began.
“It was probably a bit of a move for him, on a personal level, to basically get notified by his team in the BCHL that they were releasing him, and then the next day being on the road to come to us,” Labrosse said. “And within not even 24 hours of being with us, we’re already in the first game of a three-game road trip.
“There wasn’t much room for him to get to know the players, or the environment, so we kind of threw him into the thick of things to start off. But, that being said, he’s a fourth-year junior A veteran, having played one season with Olds (in the AJHL) and two in the SJHL with Melville.
“It’s just now about him getting comfortable in our locker-room and now getting to know the guys and, moving forward, hopefully helping us out offensively.”
The six-foot-one, 190-pound Iyogun came to Lloydminster in a three-team, multi-league trade that saw the Bonnyville Pontiacs acquire 20-year-old Ben Costantino from the Bobcats. As part of the same deal, Bonnyville sent Brayden Gourley — an 18-year-old forward from Calgary — to the Saskatchewan league’s Melville Millionaires.
Costantino, who hadn’t been in Lloydminster this season, scored 10 goals and 25 points in just 25 games with the Bobcats last winter.
After joining the Pontiacs last week, he scored three goals and four points in his first two games with his new team.
GOALIE LOANED FROM WHL
Matthew Kondro played net in two of the Bobcats’ three weekend games, after the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels loaned him to Lloydminster.
He got the win Friday as the Bobcats scored the shootout victory over his former team, Drumheller.
Kondro also played in Sunday’s loss at Canmore, before rejoining Red Deer as scheduled this week.
“He played really well for us, to give us a chance to win both games,” Labrosse said of Kondro. “That’s all you can ask for from a goalie, right. To make the timely saves when you’re under pressure and maybe steal a game here or there.”
Both the AJHL’s Bobcats and the WHL’s Rebels were still carrying three goaltenders each, so more roster shuffling was expected.
“We still haven’t made our full decisions on our goalie situation,” Labrosse said. “We’re still waiting to see what can come down to us maybe in the next days or maybe weeks.
“We’re still status quo with the three goalies that we have here.”
Those rookie netminders are Sam Madgett, Kannen Kirkwood and Malakai Zwiers. All three were born in 2007.
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