Advertisement 1

Wolf Tracks: Chenier wearing hometown jersey well

Article content

If you’re only looking at the stats page, you’re not getting the full picture.

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content

That’s not to say the numbers look bad for Hanmer native Brad Chenier — they don’t. It’s just that the eye test is more flattering and his impact tends to be felt all over the ice, not just in the offensive zone.

The now-21-year-old Chenier, acquired at the trade deadline from the North Bay Battalion, is now a teammate of fellow overager and captain Macauley Carson. Together, they give the Wolves a veterans tandem with a wealth of experience and many of those intangibles that seem to get celebrated when the puck is dropped come playoff time.

Article content

If the Sudbury Wolves are going anywhere in the 2020 post-season, it’s a guarantee these two guys will be key contributors.

The 2020 OHL Coaches Poll will be released soon enough, and it would be a shock if Chenier and Carson were not represented. Chenier was third in voting for the Eastern Conference’s best bodychecker in 2019, while Carson was second in the best shot blocker and best penalty killer categories. It was also Chenier’s best season in terms of putting up offensive numbers, finishing with 30 goals and 65 points. He needs just one point in the Wolves’ final five games to make this his best season.

Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

While coaches appreciate attributes like bodychecking and shot blocking, you won’t find them on the stats page on the OHL website. About the closest category under leaders would be short-handed goals, but as hockey fans know, sniping the odd shorty doesn’t necessarily make you an accomplished penalty killer.

Often it’s the goal that doesn’t get scored that matters the most.

After three and a half seasons in North Bay, Chenier came home to ride out his final year of junior hockey — leaving a rebuilding team that still has an outside shot at making the playoffs, to join a Sudbury squad that will most likely end up as the second seed in the Eastern Conference. He was often a Wolves killer who seemed to love sending the crowd at the Sudbury Community Arena home disappointed while a member of the Battalion.

Advertisement 4
Story continues below
Article content

For whatever reason, it took the former NOJHL rookie of the year a bit of time to adjust once he started suiting up on the opposite side of the rink as a member of the Wolves. Lately, though, Chenier has been lights out.

The 6-foot, 186-pound winger has 20 points in his last 13 games and is a plus-11 during that stretch. And remember, that only scratches the surface of the impact Chenier can have. He’s the type of player who not only likely to be on the ice in the last minute of a game where the Wolves are trying to bury the equalizer, but also when they’re clinging to a one-goal lead.

In the two months since Chenier and Matej Pekar were acquired at the deadline, the Wolves have only recently come close to having a full and healthy lineup. Monster wins over Barrie and Kingston on the weekend demonstrated what they might be capable of with everyone in the lineup, but an ugly loss to the Soo Greyhounds was sandwiched in between to remind them that consistency is still an elusive target.

Chenier is one player who has been very consistent ever since he found his groove with the Wolves. With just five games to go before the playoffs begin, it’s an excellent path to be on.

While Chenier hasn’t eclipsed the 300-game mark like Carson, he has played in more than 260 regular-season games along the way.

He also has 19 playoff games under his belt, a number he and the Wolves would love to expand on in the coming weeks.

Jeff Giffen’s column, Wolf Tracks, runs regularly during the hockey season.

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

Latest National Stories
    News Near Tillsonburg
      This Week in Flyers