TRURO, N.S. – Dylan Burton will be the first to admit he isn’t a rah rah-type player. Instead, he prefers to let his actions on the ice speak for themselves.
“I’m not one for big speeches, but I’ll say something if something’s needed to be said,” said Burton, this year’s captain of the Truro Bearcats junior A hockey team. “I’m more of a lead-by-example guy on the ice.”
Burton, a 19-year-old from Hammonds Plains, was an alternate captain last season. This year, as a third-year player, he takes great pride in leading a group of players during his final season of junior hockey.
“It’s a huge honour,” he said. “You take a look at the history of the Truro Bearcats team and even wearing the letter for them (last year) was such a huge honour and wearing the “C” means so much to me.”
Burton, five-foot-nine, 185 pounds, plays in all situations and can play all three forward positions. Last season, he was third in team scoring with 16 goals and 18 assists.
“He’s a 200-foot hockey player, so if he’s not producing at the offensive end of the rink he’s down blocking shots on the penalty kill. He’s always going to give you something positive every night,” said Bearcats coach Shawn Evans.
Burton, a 2016 first-round draft pick of the Bearcats, won a league title during his rookie season and also represented the MHL at the Eastern Canada Cup last year in Quinte West, Ont.
“I think as a hockey player he has respect across the league,” said Evans.
Forwards Ryan Porter and G Blackmore and defenceman Curtis Heffernan have been named alternate captains this season.
Porter, from Lower Onslow, is a third-year Bearcat, while Blackmore, of Millbrook, is playing his first full season in Truro after spending last year in the Quebec major junior league with the Moncton Wildcats. Heffernan, a second-year player from St. John’s, NL, was named to the MHL all-rookie team in 2017-18 and earned an invite to the Halifax Mooseheads training camp last month.
The Bearcats play their home opener on Saturday when they host the Valley Wildcats for a 7 p.m. start at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre.
