Big Mac is back
Caleb MacLeish’s attitude during last year’s playoff series versus the St. Catharines Falcons told Pelham Panthers coach/assistant general manager Zac Rinaldo all he needed to know about the gritty forward.
MacLeish was suffering from a sprained ankle but begged Rinaldo to keep him in the lineup so he could be in the trenches with his teammates.
“He said, ‘I don’t care if you use me for two minutes. I just want to be on the bench.’ And I used him for penalty kill only. He had a sprained ankle and did not want to leave the bench, did not want to stop playing.
“He’s got the heart of the lion.”
That attitude didn’t surprise Rinaldo, who said the 19-year-old forward is a total team player.
“He is a player that will do anything to help the team win. So if I tell him I need a goal, he will go out and he’ll try his best to get a goal. If I need him to block a shot with his face, he’s going to go out there and block a shot with his face,” Rinaldo said.
Rinaldo also feels MacLeish is a natural leader.
“He’s just got that alpha vibe to him, but a respectful alpha vibe,” Rinaldo said. “He’s got confidence naturally and part of his aura is he leads by example, but also is very vocal on the bench. He kind of has it all. He’s always been a natural leader in our dressing room.”
Rinaldo figures MacLeish gets his leadership and attitude from his genes — his uncle, the late Rick MacLeish, is a former National Hockey League sniper known know mostly for his time with the Philadelphia Flyers.
“I know the family, and they’re great people. They’re just a hard, blue-collar working family and that’s what you’re going to get with Caleb every single night.”
Caleb MacLeish got off to a strong start in the first five games of the season before tearing part of his hip flexor which kept him out of the lineup until last weekend when he returned and had a goal and an assist in a win over Elmira.
“I healed and I’m back to square one now,” Caleb MacLeish said.
He admits he wasn’t sure if he would be able to return to action this season.
“That part definitely crossed my mind because I got told there’s a chance of surgery,” he said. “I never really wanted to give up. I just prayed for the best and just tried to keep going in a positive way and I got positive results.”
Caleb MacLeish put in his time rehabbing almost daily with a chiropractor or at physiotherapy.
“It was tough to battle through it, but I’m definitely glad I stuck with it because it paid off,” he said.
The native of Cannington (near Oshawa) said he wanted to heal and get back to war with his teammates.
“It’s the culture we have here. It’s so good I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. It drove me to get back, especially to watch my team being successful. I just wanted to help them so bad, that was just kind of my drive to get healthy and be an impactful team.”
Caleb MacLeish played two years in the Provincial Junior Hockey League before hooking on with the Panthers last year.
“I was just looking at camps to go to and I saw Zac took over the team. I knew he had a good career in the NHL so I signed up for it,” he said. “I knew I could make an impact on the team. I knew what their year stats were before. I was just looking for a good line up to crack and this one felt right.”
The Panthers are 3-3 in their last six games and are just one point out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.
“Honestly, I think it’s just the way we’ve come around as a team,” Caleb MacLeish said. “We’re all getting so tight. And the culture, the room is unreal. It’s a great thing to be a part of. Just the way Zac treats us and what he brings to the table is huge.”
Rinaldo feels two close games this weekend at the Showcase helped bond the team together.
“We played two very strong teams. We came out on top with the first game and the second game we definitely deserved to win, we battled through a lot of adversity during that game. There were fights and penalties and altercations after the game, it brought our team really really close.
“I’m more bonded with our group right now after that weekend, we all felt that way. So coming into this week and moving forward, we’re very, very connected right now.”
The Panthers are at Brantford Thursday, at Port Colborne Saturday and home to Fort Erie Sunday at 2:45 p.m.
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