Meteors add veteran centre
The newest member of the Fort Erie Meteors is expected to make an immediate impact.
The Meteors added centre Brendan Krawczyk at the trade deadline last month and head coach/general manager Nik Passero plans to use the 20-year-old Buffalo native in a key role.
“He’ll be in our top six, 100 per cent, and on the power play,” Passero said. “He practises like a college player which is something that we preach to our guys all the time. He’s seen it at that level what a huge difference is it. I think guys in our league don’t understand the jump to that level and practice is huge.”
Krawczyk isn’t a stranger to the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, suiting up for the Buffalo Regals in 2019/20.
“He scored 17 goals in this league as a 16-year-old,” Passero said. “That’s a lot of goals, and not on a successful team.”
Krawczyk, who is expected to pick up some of the offensive slack left when by Antonino Pugliese signed with the Kitchener Rangers, has moved around quite a bit in his young career.
After leading the Regals in scoring as a rookie, Krawczyk played in both the North American 3 Hockey League and Eastern Hockey League the following year. He began this season with Morrisville State College and then moved on to the Markham Royals of the Ontario Junior Hockey League for a brief stint.
Passero remembered Krawczyk from his time in Buffalo and quickly moved to see if her would be interested in finishing out the season with the Meteors.
“His name was on a roster and I saw if he was available and he was,” Passero’s said. “I had a couple of conversations with him and his advisor and a few hours later he wanted to come here.”
Krawczyk knows the Meteors will be his last stop at the junior level before hopefully giving college hockey another shot.
“It’s definitely not ideal,” he said of all the moving around. “They call it a suitcase but I this is where I will finish off the season. I’ve been in the league before and I’m looking to win.”
Krawczyk dressed for just two games for the Mustangs, who play in the Division III State University of New York Athletic Conference.
“I went in a year early and I thought I was going to jump right in and obviously it didn’t work out like that,” he said. “I figured I would come back and get bigger and stronger.
“I competed. That was my favourite part about it. I knew I could step in and compete. I made good friends there. They all want me to go back, that would be fun. I know I can play at that level so it wasn’t too disappointing.”
Krawczyk, who is a big Auston Matthews fan despite hailing from Buffalo, is expected to suit up for the Meteors for the first time Saturday when Fort Erie welcomes the St. Catharines Falcons in their first game back after a month off due to the provincial lockdown restrictions.
The Meteors, 13-12,0-1, can’t wait to get back to action.
“I think over the weekend the texts started ramping up and schedules were getting out and guys were just excited,” Passero said. “We went into the break with three wins in a row, things were good, acquisitions at the deadline, there was a good buzz.”
Passero isn’t expecting the Meteors to be in mid-season form after a month off.
“I’m happy we got our practices in before we play on the weekend. I still expect it to be ugly Saturday — I expect it to be ugly for a week — but the guys are excited, the parents are excited. It’s a good feeling for sure.
“I think the guys were expecting to come here and get skated for four days but that doesn’t help anything. You have to play the games. We’ll get the rust out a little bit but they’ll be tired Saturday. We have to use our deep bench and for the first time this year we’re 100 per cent healthy.”
The Meteors also play Sunday in Welland.
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