They are three goalies that cover a lot of room in the crease, all of them with their own unique connection to North Bay.
The best part is all three may one day play in the National Hockey League.
Two of them are from here, the other spent a year and a half playing junior A and major junior in the Gateway City before a trade sent him to Michigan.
They are Kenny Appleby, Colton Point and Evan Cormier. They are part of a unique North Bay NHL goalie triangle.
All three know each other well as the trio trains with goalie coach Mike Lawrence every summer in Oshawa.
Appleby, signed an entry level contract with the New Jersey Devils last summer.
“It is kind of a weird, funny triangle that we have,” said Appleby.
“We all ended up working together with the same goalie coach, we’ve skated together the past two or three years now or so.”
Colton Point, who was drafted by the Dallas Stars in the fifth round of the NHL Entry Draft on Saturday, grew up idolizing Appleby, who was his goalie coach in Peewee.
“I’ve modelled my game after Kenny for a long time,” stated Point on the podium at the NHL Entry Draft in Buffalo after being drafted by the Dallas Stars.
“He really deserved to be drafted those two years but it obviously turned out well for him that he didn’t and he signed a pro contract and played some games in the East Coast League and the American Hockey League,” added Point who will join Colgate University’s NCAA Division I squad next fall.
Appleby was pleased to see Point wasn’t overlooked despite playing at the Junior “A” level in Carleton Place (CCHL) last season; the only goalie drafted from that league in 2016.
“I am just really happy for Colton especially being a North Bay kid and I know how hard it is to get to where he is and all the work you have to do, maybe not getting as much recognition as being from down in Toronto so I understand the work he has put in and I’m proud of him,” Appleby said about the 2013 Erie Otters 14th round pick.
Evan Cormier had his NHL Draft dream come true this past weekend too. The former North Bay Jr. Trappers goalie was selected in the fourth round in the draft which was great news, however, he was selected by the same organization that his training partner plays for.
Cormier, the 2013 fifth round OHL Priority Selection of the North Bay Battalion, was traded from the Battalion to Saginaw in the Nick Moutrey trade in January of 2015.
“Kenny and I are good buddies, we train together every summer, I know it’s going to be tough competing against him because he’s such a great goalie and I am definitely going to be pushed a lot harder and compete with him for sure in the future,” said Cormier, who was an all-star with the Jr. Trappers in his first year of junior hockey in 2013-14.
Appleby is genuinely excited that he will have a familiar face at the New Jersey Devils Development Camp this summer.
“When I saw the Devils drafted him I was really happy and I texted the goalie development guy for New Jersey, Scott Clemmensen, I joked that they are picking up a lot of Mike Lawrence’s students and he just got a good laugh out of that but I was definitely happy to see him come to New Jersey,” said Appleby.
While Cormier’s ties are loose to North Bay now, they are very tight with the two local products Point and Appleby.
Appleby hopes the recent success of him signing a pro contract last summer and Point getting drafted in the NHL this summer breaking a 10-year North Bay NHL draft drought, helps put North Bay area player back on the hockey map.
“Hopefully it will bring more kids up that want to be goalie,” Appleby said a bit selfishly about the goaltending position.
“It doesn’t matter the position but maybe more of an interest in the sport and hopefully we will start producing even more top notch talent from this great hockey town.”
And perhaps show that those dreams can come true, even in North Bay.
“I think that will eventually happen and I hope a guy like Colton or maybe even myself serve as role models for those guys and you know for younger kids who want to make it far and make a career out of it.”
