Other than their opponents in last season's PJHL Pollock Division Final, the Wingham Ironmen, perhaps no team was more robbed due to COVID-19 than the 3 time defending Mount Forest Patriots.
Looking for a dominating 4th straight win, the Patriots had to settle for a 1-1 series tie with Wingham because of the onset of the virus, in what was building up to being an all-time classic final series. Unfortunately, due to the recent dominance and the aging of key players, the Patriots have lost a huge chunk of their core group for a prospective season this year, but, they have retained enough high end weapons to allow them to continue challenging for 4 straight.
Up front, the losses of OHA Junior C Player of the Year Riley Cribbin will hurt, as his 86 points helped launch Mount Forest to a wild 214 goals for last season, a full 43 more than second place Wingham's 171. Captain Mike Stefanelli, one of the finest two-way players the league has maybe ever seen, is also gone due to age, and defender Colten Culbert is also too old to return, as well. But, young star centre and hometown boy Jack Birkett, who has 77 points and was extremely hot down the stretch, returns to lead the attack. He will be joined by the offensive wizardry of Blair Butchart, he rejoined the team after a stint in Jr. B St. Marys last year, and tossed up an astounding 40 points in just 23 games.
Butchart is an easy candidate to lead the league in scoring if we get hockey. The gritty Troy Weber will return as well to agitate opponents and lead the penalty kill. Veteran Hayden Coulter also brings much needed secondary scoring pop following a great 53 point breakout year. Some youngsters like Riley's brother Caleb Cribbin will crack the roster, too according to GM Rob Nixon, so the Pats are hopeful they still have plenty of firepower.
On defense, despite losing Culbert, the Pats will welcome back veteran and all around solid defender Chet Phillips, who had an excellent 33 points in 31 games, but is just as great in his own end and loves lowering his shoulders into opponents. He will be a massive part of the leadership core. Youngster Riley Torrie saw a ton of top pair minutes down the stretch, and he will be an even bigger cog in the top 4 machine. GM Rob Nixon says they have added some youth on the blue line and still need some more bodies there, but he has confidence they can replicate or even better the second best defense in the league last year after only allowing 109 goals, just shy of Wingham's 107.
In goal, the Patriots are completely set. Veteran Aidan Quish has moved on, but youngster Mason Kameka returns to take the lead job after splitting starts with Quish last year. Kameka was unreal in his 19 starts, going 17-2-0 with 3 shutouts, a crazy 1.76 GAA and a league leading .940 save percentage. What more needs said about that performance? Tim Thomas would blush. Joining later in the year and featuring in a ton of playoff contests, young Gleb Poliakov is back to push Kameka, and Poliakov had a pretty nice stat line himself in 5 starts. He went 2-3-0 with a 3.09 GAA and .910 save percentage, so if Kameka falters, Poliakov is more than capable of picking up some starts and running with the job, as he showed in the post season.
The Patriots are still a pretty stacked group with intentions on not letting go of the Pollock Division title just yet. For more on the hopefully upcoming Pats season, here is a full length interview with GM Rob Nixon:
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