TRURO - Zach Evans-Renaud will remain with the Truro Bearcats junior A hockey team.
Evans-Renaud, 19, was sentenced on Friday to serve four months in P.E.I.'s provincial correctional centre for leaving the scene of an accident last year in which he struck and injured a pedestrian.
Evans-Renaud was to begin serving his sentence yesterday, but his defence counsel, Mitchell MacLeod, immediately filed notice of his intention to appeal that sentence to the Court of Appeal.
Late Friday afternoon Supreme Court Justice Michelle Murphy granted leave to appeal, and then released Evans-Renaud pending the outcome of that appeal.
"He will be back in Truro (today) and he will be moving on with his life, and that includes in Truro here with our team," Bearcats coach Shawn Evans said Friday.
Evans-Renaud, a native of St. Peter's Bay, P.E.I., had earlier pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident at UPEI last year where a pedestrian was struck by car.
Chief Provincial Court Judge John Douglas said he felt it was necessary to sentence the accused to a term of incarceration.
Crown Counsel Gerald Quinn had called for a sentence in the range of six months. MacLeod had asked Douglas to grant his client a conditional discharge.
In addition to the jail time imposed, Douglas ordered Evans-Renaud to pay a $100 victims of crime surcharge. He must also provide a DNA sample for the national DNA Databank.
Evans-Renaud joined the Bearcats in November after starting the season in the Quebec major junior league with the Gatineau Olympiques.
He has two goals and eight assists in 21 games and is regarded as one of the Bearcats top defencemen. Evans said the blueliner is a "good dude who made a mistake."
"We don't have a complaint about him," Evans said. "He's been exemplary for us, he's been exemplary around this community and I know that his billet family thinks the world of him.
"I'm proud to coach the guy and I'm proud to be his friend."
Evans-Renaud is expected to be in the lineup tonight when the Bearcats (21-13-1-2) host the first-place Metro Marauders (23-12-1-3) at 7:30 p.m. On Sunday, the Bearcats visit Summerside.
- With files from The Guardian
