TRURO, N.S. – Truro’s Tanner Greatorex is wearing the ‘C’ this season for the Weeks Major Midgets of the Nova Scotia Major Midget Hockey League.
Greatorex is a second-year defenceman with Weeks.
“The big reason we selected Tanner is just his maturity as a young man and as a player,” said Weeks coach Kyle MacLennan. “I find he doesn’t get too high when things are going his way and he doesn’t get too low in any setbacks that he has, so that’s the kind of leader we need – someone that can keep an even keel.
“His work ethic is great, he’s a great teammate and I think those are the elements that we want him to portray and also spread to other guys up and down our lineup.”
Greatorex went through the ups and downs last season with Weeks, who finished in last place with a 10-24-1 record. This season, Weeks is off to a strong start, winning their first game on Sept. 15 – a 7-3 victory over the Sydney Rush.
“Coming into the year, there are a lot of guys returning and that definitely helps us with the consistency,” said Greatorex, who scored three goals and added 11 assists in 32 games during his rookie season.
“The older guys know what they have to do, but with the younger guys, they have to not get too high or too low, so we try to reinforce that.”
This season marks the fourth straight year a Colchester County resident has been named captain of the club, following Ben Fraser (Pleasant Valley), Carson Lanceleve (Stewiacke) and G Blackmore (Millbrook), who are all current members of the Truro Bearcats junior A team.
MacLennan said it’s mere coincidence that his choices for captain in recent years hail from the other side of Mount Thom. His focus, he said, when handing out letters, is to simply pick the best players for the role.
“At the end of the day we just want to pick the best guy for the job,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter where they’re from, whether it’s Pictou County, Colchester or Cumberland, we want the best players and also the best kids for the job – that’s the most important thing. And in terms of leadership, those guys just happen to be from (Colchester County), but we have some local guys who are able to lead and are going to be real big pieces for us as well this year.”
Greatorex played for the Nova Scotia Canada Games team last February. He was drafted by the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in the Quebec major junior league draft this summer in the 12th round, 210th overall. A territorial selection of the Bearcats, Greatorex enjoyed a strong training camp with the junior A club before he was sent down to Weeks.
In total, six Colchester County players are members of Weeks this season – goaltender Oliver Arnfast (Truro), defencemen Greatorex and Brayden Schmitt (Bible Hill) and forwards Merle Putnam (Masstown), Sam Archibald (Debert) and Bryson Currie (Truro). Defenceman, Jeremiah Martin of Amherst, who played major bantam for the Truro Bearcats, is also a member of Weeks.
Weeks will have Matthew Hunter and Ryan Green as assistant captains for road games, while Putnam and Archibald will serve as assistants at home.