Persistence pays off for speedy winger
Riley Sutherland admits there were more than a few times when he wondered if all the effort was worth it.
The 18-year-old Burlington native began the season on the injured list for the Thorold Blackhawks after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee last February.
What followed were months of gruelling physiotherapy and workouts in the gym and on the ice in attempt to get back into playing condition.
“It was tough, but I had a good trainer who helped me get my leg back,” Sutherland said. “It went through mind if it was worth working this hard but I reminded myself I worked my whole life for this so I had to keep working.
“It was very hard. You don’t realize how hard it is to gain muscle. It was a lot of long days in the gym and it was definitely mentally tiring. There were some days where you measure your quad and it hasn’t grown and you wonder why you are doing this.”
But Sutherland persisted and was finally cleared to play in late January after months of watching his teammates from the stands.
“It was definitely hard and it sucked just coming to watch every game, but I was happy to support the boys,” he said. “It was mentally hard to come and watch every game but I just kept going and the day I got cleared I was so happy. It was awesome.”
Sutherland, a 5-foot-7, 175-pound winger, went scoreless in his first three games before potting a pair of goals in an overtime loss to Niagara Falls.
“I’m feeling better the past few games,” Sutherland said. “The speed of the game is definitely hard to react to. Just reacting and reading plays is hard, but my skills are pretty good, almost up to par.”
Thorold coach Scott Barnes, who kept a roster spot open for Sutherland, is happy to have the speedster back in the lineup.
“He brings a lot to our team,” Barnes said. “He’s very fast. He has a ton of speed and he’s also skilled, but he is gritty player too.
“He’s a bundle of energy.”
Sutherland’s arrival comes at perfect time with forwards Carson Eden and Alex Mourani both out for the season with broken wrists.
“We think we’re a pretty deep team,” Barnes said. “We still have four lines and think we’re pretty deep up front.”
The Hawks are locked into fifth spot and will open the playoffs versus the Pelham Panthers.
“We still have five games left and I still think we have areas of our game we can clean up,” Barnes said. “It’s good we have these games to work on those things because we’re not getting a lot of practice the because of the schedule and the weather.
“We have a lot of work to do so I don’t mind having a couple of weeks.”
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