TRURO, N.S. – Spencer Blackwell has been a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy start for the Truro Bearcats.
Skating on the Bearcats’ top line, Blackwell leads his team in scoring with nine goals and nine assists for 18 points to rank 13th overall in scoring in the Maritime Junior Hockey League.
“We all see his speed, but his competitiveness is something we need more of from all players,” said Bearcats coach and GM Shawn Evans. “He’s not a big guy in stature and he can do a lot more little things correct out there on the ice, as well, but there’s no denying he’s a force out there and we’re lucky to have him.”
Blackwell, from Erin, Ont., played 42 games last season for the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec major junior league. The Bearcats selected him in the Q-league supplementary draft last spring.
“He was just a smart pick by (assistant coach) Jamie Barbour,” Evans said. “We scanned through things in June and Jamie said, ‘let’s take a flyer on this kid,’ and that’s proved to be a pretty good flyer to this point.”
Blackwell, five-foot-11, 175 pounds, plays the left side on Truro’s top-scoring unit with Ben Higgins and G Blackmore – both former Q-league players themselves. The trio developed instant chemistry and have combined for more than half of the Bearcats total goals this season (20 of 37).
“They’re the first two guys I met as soon as I landed in Nova Scotia; they drove me to Truro, so I’ve been really close to those guys and it’s been working really well on the ice together,” said Blackwell, an alternate captain of the Bearcats.
Blackwell, 19, played the 2017-18 season for the junior B Thorold Blackhawks of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, before signing as a free-agent with the Remparts last season as a fourth-line checker. He is thrilled to be playing top-line minutes with the Bearcats this season, producing at a 1.29 PPG clip.
“It’s been awesome; me and Shawn both see it the same way, I feel, and everything’s just been going really well, we’ve just got to start winning,” he said.
And while Blackwell has been on an offensive tear this season, Evans said he needs to become a more complete player away from the puck.
“He’s got more to give from that end and I won’t be satisfied for him until he provides that, and he can and he will.”
The Bearcats hit the road to New Brunswick this week for a pair of games. On Friday they visit the Campbellton Tigers before a Saturday game against the Miramichi Timberwolves. Truro enters the game with just two wins in 14 games this season. Despite a tough start, Blackwell says there have been positive signs and he’s confident the Bearcats can turn their fortunes around.
“I still have very high hopes for this team.”
