By Ken Pagan
The 2019-20 Hamilton Kilty B’s will feature a fresh crop of skilled rookies, but they have a trio of experienced players in place to help lead the way.
Burlington native Jacob MacDonald will wear the ‘C’ as the team’s captain this season, while veteran forwards Fred Teeple and Andrew Salt will wear an ‘A’ as alternate captains.
MacDonald, 18, who spent last season with the Blyth Academy U18 ‘AAA’ program and also got into four games with the OJHL’s Burlington Cougars, is already focused on bringing the team together so they can have a successful GOJHL season. He’ll also be leaning on Teeple and Salt to help lead the way.
“Freddy was here last year, so he knows the drill and he can help us out,” MacDonald said after Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Elmira Sugar Kings. “And it’s the same with Salt, he played in the OJHL last year (with the Burlington Cougars) and he wore an ‘A’ there, so he knows a lot, too. They will be a big help for us.”
Teeple, who turns 19 next month, had four goals in 36 regular-season games with the Kilty B’s last season, before stepping up in the playoffs with four goals and six points in 10 games.
Salt, who also turns 19 in October, spent the past two seasons with the OJHL’s Cougars, putting up 46 points over 102 games.
Head coach John Barrett had the trio playing on a line together during the season-opening GOJHL Showcase and the formula helped the club to a pair of wins to open the season.
“We have a really young team and we’re expecting everybody to play hard every night,” Barrett said. “We’re going to be a hockey team that is going to outwork other teams to win games, and it’s going to start with our leadership group. Having a guy like Teeple coming back is going to really help, Salt’s experience from the OJHL helps us and MacDonald is just a born leader — everything he does on the ice, he has a lot of heart.”
The Kilty B’s will take their 2-0 record into Monday night’s home-opener at 7 p.m. atthe Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena against the rival St. Catharines Falcons.
