A handful of hockey players from Wellington are making an early impact this season with their respective teams in the OHL, AHL and NHL.
Mapleton’s Brent Pedersen
Through 20 games with the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers this season, Pedersen, 19, has registered eight goals and seven assists for 15 points.
He also has 21 penalty minutes to go along with a plus-six rating.
The left winger, who was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in the fifth round (126th overall) of the 2013 National Hockey League draft, registered 31 points in 67 games last season.
Elora’s Owen MacDonald
In 17 games with the OHL’s London Knights, right winger Owen MacDonald, 18, has nine points (four goals, five assists) and 27 penalty minutes. He scored 14 points last season with the Knights.
(Owen’s brother, Shane MacDonald, 21, was selected fifth overall by the Minnesota Swarm in the National Lacrosse League draft in September. The forward signed a two-year contract with the Swarm last month).
Drayton’s Nick Spaling
Spaling, a winger/centre who was traded from the Nashville Predators to the Pittsburgh Penguins this summer, has seven points, eight penalty minutes and a plus-four rating in 19 games with his new team this season.
Recently, Spaling has served as a second-line winger alongside star Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist, with whom Spaling was traded from Nashville.
McGinn brothers of Fergus
Winger Jamie McGinn, 26, whose team the Colorado Avalanche has struggled early on this season after a remarkable 2013-14 campaign, has registered six points (four goals, two assists) in 19 games this season. McGinn is currently out with a back injury.
Tye McGinn, 24, was traded this summer from the Philadelphia Flyers to the San Jose Sharks, the team that drafted his older brother Jamie. Tye, a left winger, has registered two assists and two penalty minutes in 13 games with the Sharks.
Brock McGinn, 20, has six points (three goals, three assists) and 11 penalty minutes in 15 games with the Charlotte Checkers, the American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. The left winger was drafted by Carolina in 2012.
*All stats as of Nov. 24.
