Wolves’ McCallum treats NHL camp as learning experience
Sudbury forward hopes to dress for pre-season action Friday
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SUDBURY Having worked to boost his speed and strength ahead of an appearance at the St. Louis Blues’ rookie camp this month, Sudbury Wolves forward Landon McCallum returned to Sudbury this week with a boost of confidence.
The 18-year-old centre from Delhi attended the Blues’ development camp as an undrafted free agent and played for St. Louis in a prospect tournament before flying back on Tuesday evening. He hopes to dress for the Wolves’ next pre-season game, a visit by the Owen Sound Attack on Friday night.
“I didn’t want to leave St. Louis, of course,” said McCallum. “But, at the end, when I was told I was going back, I couldn’t wait to go back to Sudbury, to get back with the guys and to focus on one thing, and that’s winning as many games as we can and keeping a fresh mindset.”
That mindset includes not getting discouraged by losses.
“I think that’s when teams win a lot more, when instead of being discouraged with the loss, you find out what they did wrong and fix that.”
It’s one of several lessons from McCallum’s first big-league camp that should stand him in good stead during his long-awaited sophomore season in the OHL.
“It’s big for me, especially after missing that year,” he said, referring to the cancelled 2020-21 campaign that would have served as his second as a junior, if not for COVID-19. “To come in and see how those pro guys come into work every day, it creates good habits. I’m a lot more confident even now, coming back to Sudbury, than I was coming in, for sure.
“It’s so repetitive — for example, when you come of the ice, you immediately drink a protein shake. There’s a lot of little stuff like that I can take back to Sudbury and, down the road, will push me and help me to be a better player. If I hadn’t gone, I wouldn’t have picked up little stuff like that.”
Getting a good feel for the pace of the pro game ought to be beneficial, too.
“It’s one thing to know that the pace is going to be higher at that level, but when you actually experience it, you have to find different ways to play and stuff, so I’m really glad I got that chance.”
McCallum was pretty pleased with his performance in a pair of games during the NHL Prospects Tournament in Traverse City, Mich.
“In the first game, I thought I was really good, actually,” he said. “I was pretty clean in my D-zone, I was in good areas. I judge my game off of whether I compete hard and create stuff for my teammates. I ended up being a plus-1 in that game, we scored on our first shift and I was being physical in that game, because that’s how it’s played. I was doing what I was told by the coaches and I think they were happy with that, for sure.
“In the second game I was in, our team didn’t do so well, we lost 7-3 and I think I was about average. I would like to clean up a couple of things from that one and I had a couple of bounces that didn’t go my way, also, some pucks I could have gotten cleared that might have given me an odd-man rush or two, but that’s hockey. That’s how it goes.”
While concentrating on camp, he still kept an eye on the Wolves during their pre-season wins over the Soo Greyhounds, 8-4 back on Sept. 5, and the Peterborough Petes, 5-2 on the 17th.
“I have watched highlights of all the games, I have been looking at the stats, and I think the guys are playing really well right now,” McCallum said. “It’s kind of what I expected with the high offence we have this year and Weeksy (overage goalie Mitchell Weeks) has been really good so far. I have seen huge improvements in him, even just shooting on him in practice. You can he’s confident right now and we’re all confident in him, too, that he can have a big year for us.
“Coming back and practising with our young guys, now I can show them what I learned and hopefully, that can help take our team to the next level. We’ll see what’s to come, but I think we’re going to have a good year and I’m super excited.”
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