One year ago, Sean Day was the rare 15-year-old exceptional player granted the right to play in the Ontario Hockey League one year earlier than he would otherwise be eligible due to his exceptional talent, becoming only the fourth player to be given such an honor. The young defenceman joined the Mississauga Steelheads and had a solid rookie season, helping the team to the playoffs. That said, it was not without its ups and downs, and while the talent was clear for anyone to see, so was the fact that he was the youngest player in the league and there would be some lessons for Day to learn over the coming years.
Friday Night, Day began his second regular season in the league, and scored two goals in his first game, helping the Steelheads to a 5-4 overtime win over the Oshawa Generals. It wasn’t a textbook game for the Steelheads who built a 4-0 lead, before seeing Oshawa tie it with four goals in the last ten minutes but the young team go the two points, and an important lesson on never taking your foot off the gas even with a big lead.
On both goals Day showed the ability to walk the puck in from the blue line, and to unleash an excellent wrist shot with a very quick release. He beat goaltender Jeremy Brodeur high to the glove side on both goals, and I’m not sure if Brodeur had much of a chance to save either of them.
“The first two periods were exactly what we wanted. We had a good month of practice, and Boydy (coach James Boyd) showed a lot of confidence in us. We feel a lot better going into the year this year, and with a lot more confidence,” said Day. “We are only adding (Mike) Mcleod and (Brendan) Devlin to the team. If we can play the way we did in the first two periods we can be there with the top teams in the league.”
“I think we can take a step forward this season. Adding to the team with a guy like Devlin, and with Marty back in net (goalie Spencer Martin) he’s just a brick wall out there. All six of our defencemen are versatile and can kill penalties or play the powerplay, and our offence is just getting better and better. We have some really young and talented forwards and defencemen.”
Day played the game with a new partner, as overager Brendan Devlin played his first game for Mississauga after a mid-week trade from the Peterborough Petes. Devlin also had two goals in the game, including the overtime winner, as the new made quite on the first impression.
Day felt that he and his partner had instant chemistry, despite the fact that they only had one practice together prior to the game. “We are both good two-way defencemen. I was playing with Gravy before (Jacob Graves) and he is a really good stay at home defencemen, Devlin though adds a bit of offence to what I have. He’s always talking to me out there on the ice,” Day said. “He’s the oldest guy on the team now, and I’m the youngest guy on the team. He’s really adding to the offence of the team, and he’s teaching me along the way.”
Day also felt that getting his first goal of the season out of the way early was important for building confidence. “I came into this year looking to score 30 points, maybe 40. I still have another year before my NHL Draft year, and I also want to play a more defensive role. Boydy is letting us jump up more, and giving us more freedom and confidence than last year. He’s also playing me a lot, and getting those two out of the way, can add to that the rest of the year.”
Day stated that he worked on adding weight this summer, especially on adding muscle to his thighs. He worked on doing a lot of skating to even improve that. Day felt that he didn’t have enough endurance last season, and said, “I did a lot of bag skating, and a lot of running; so that would be a lot better in this new season.”
You can see the confidence that the coaches have in Day this season. Last year he spent very little time killing penalties, but on Friday he was with the first defensive pairing over the boards on nearly all of the Oshawa powerplays in the game.
“It feels good to know that Boydy has confidence in me to kill penalties. Coming into this year the coaches have told me that they want to play me more, and let me be more of a threat this year both defensively and offensively as well. Last year, I didn’t really play the penalty kill, only the powerplay. I got a bit of a taste of the penalty kill in preseason. Now that Devlin is here, I expect to see a lot of penalty kill minutes. He’s a good penalty killer and the coaches are throwing us both out there as a pair.”
He also stated that he feels more confident as he feels he is catching up to the speed of the OHL game.
“Last year, for the first half of the season, it was a pretty fast game for me. Coming in pre-season and this first game, I have more confidence and can slow the game down a lot more. I’m no longer afraid to make little mistakes. I want to get my game back to being an offensive defenceman. I’m going to try some things this year. I’m not going to be too risky as I need to keep earning the coach’s trust, but I’m ready to jump up more and be an offensive threat.”
Thanks again to Sean Day for taking the time to talk to me. Also thanks go out to the Steelheads organization for being accommodating with my media requests. The team plays in Niagara against the Ice Dogs on Thursday Night, and is back home on Friday, October 3rd, in the second half of the home and home with the Ice Dogs. Game time is 7:30 pm and you can get your tickets at MississaugaSteelheads.com. Follow Sean on twitter @SeanDay66, and the team – @OHLSteelheads.
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Main Photo by Aaron Bell/OHL Images
