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Battalion leader Goodrow bundling up for the north

Brampton Battalion captain Barclay Goodrow talks with the referee (in front of him) with the Sudbury Wolves bench looking on during their OHL tilt November 14, 2011.


Brampton Battalion captain Barclay Goodrow talks with the referee (in front of him) with the Sudbury Wolves bench looking on during their OHL tilt November 14, 2011. Photo by Mark Pare

A true leader on a young team can lead a team to great heights and luckily for the Brampton Battalion, they have Barclay Goodrow.

Goodrow was drafted by the Battalion with the 17th overall pick in the 2009 OHL Priority Selection. He played hockey in his hometown of Aurora, ON, before moving to the York-Simcoe AAA program in 2004, where he scored 67 goals in 71 games in his draft eligibility year.

It’s also not the first time Goodrow’s had an extended stay in Northeastern Ontario, as he played on the Team Ontario roster that won silver at the 2010 World Under-17 Challenge, held in Timmins.

Knowing that he’s coming up north for the 2013-14 season in North Bay, he’s got a shopping list.

“The north is definitely a lot colder,” he said, “I definitely need to buy some more hats and mittens and bring them all up next year but the hockey support is great.”

The Troop captain is in his fourth season in the OHL, and is a solid 20-plus goal scorer. He has 24 goals and 34 points in 41 games thus far. He should easily set a new career high in goals—26 goals last season—and could break the 30-goal plateau.

Fans of North Bay have already taken notice of Goodrow and his team, with two multiple bus trips to Sudbury to see the Battalion in action against the Wolves.

“It’s an exciting time, seeing all the North Bay fans in Sudbury (January 4),” he said, “We still have a season to finish off in Brampton so for the most part, we should be focused on that and then once the season ends, then our focus will turn to North Bay and it’ll be pretty exciting after that.”

He walked the halls of Memorial Gardens with his teammates for that Jan. 5. practice.

“It’s a rink with a lot of character,” he said of the Gardens, “I’ve heard some stories of some past times here and it sounds pretty cool so the renovations should add some more character to it and it should be a great rink to play in.”

He was sidelined with a shoulder injury in late December but made his return to the line up in a 2-1 win over Sudbury on Jan. 13.

“It feels great to get back into the lineup,” Goodrow told BattalionHockey.com following the win over Sudbury.

“No hockey player will ever tell you that they like watching their team play, especially when we were going through some struggles. But it’s great to get back in there and get a big win.”

Goodrow seems to be getting back his goal scoring touch early, as he scored a power play goal in his third game back to propel the Battalion to a 2-1 win over Peterborough Sunday afternoon.

Goodrow, as well as many Battalion players, are on Twitter, and North Bay fans are getting ready for the new season.

“People here have been without a team for 10 years now so I see the support over Twitter,” he said, “Getting a lot of Twitter followers (@bgoodrow23) from North Bay so that’s good and the hype around next season is going to be huge.”

The Battalion continue their home stand against the Niagara IceDogs Friday night.

Notes
-You can also follow last week’s featured Battalion player Mark Raycroft on Twitter (@mraycroft2)

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Mark Pare

About the Author: Mark Pare

Originally from Timmins, ON, Mark is a longtime journalist and broadcaster, who has worked in several Ontario markets.
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