Thursday, March 6, 2014

Battalion's Goodrow signs with Sharks

Press Release

NORTH BAY, Ont. – Right winger Barclay Goodrow of the North Bay Battalion has signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the National Hockey League’s San Jose Sharks, it was announced Thursday.

Goodrow leads the Battalion in scoring with 30 goals, 28 assists and 58 points in 57 games this season, his fifth with the Ontario Hockey League club since being a first-round pick, 17th overall, in the 2009 OHL Priority Selection from the York-Simcoe Express minor midgets.

“It’s a great organization, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it,” overager Goodrow, who was an undrafted NHL free agent, said of signing with San Jose.

“That was a big goal of mine coming into this season. I wanted to sign an NHL contract, and it feels great to accomplish that and be recognized for what I’ve done.”

Stan Butler, the Battalion’s director of hockey operations and head coach, said he was pleased for Goodrow.

“What it tells people is that you never give up. There’s opportunity out there if you perform, no matter when it is in your junior career.”

Butler called Goodrow, an Aurora, Ont., resident, “a good kid who’s done everything we’ve asked of him.”

“He’s got better every year he’s played for us and he made really good strides this year in his game, and San Jose has seen that.”

Goodrow, in his second season as captain, has played a franchise-record 307 games, scoring 124 goals and earning 96 assists for 220 points while accumulating 247 penalty minutes. He ranks second in goals in franchise history to Wojtek Wolski’s 130, is tied for 10th in assists and is fourth in points.

Goodrow has proved remarkably durable, never having played fewer than 60 games in a completed season. He scored a career-high 38 goals in leading the club in 2012-13, its last of 15 campaigns in Brampton, and has set career highs for assists and points this season.

A left shot who stands six-foot-two and weighs 214 pounds, Goodrow leads the Troops this season with 10 power-play goals, five shorthanded goals and seven game-winners. In terms of franchise totals, he’s fourth in power-play goals with 43, first in shorties with 10 and the leader in game-winners with 27.

Goodrow, who attended camp with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings last September and declined an invitation to the camp of their Grand Rapids Griffins affiliate in the American Hockey League, said he was confident he’d made the right choice.

“I knew it would be a lot better for my development if I came back. It’s been a memorable experience playing in North Bay.”

He suggested that knowing he’ll play professionally next season should make it easier to concentrate on the task immediately at hand.

“We have a special thing going on in North Bay, to go as far as we can in the playoffs and leave on a memorable note.”

Two former members of the Battalion, both of whom were selected in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft, are playing with San Jose this season. Left winger Raffi Torres went fifth overall to the New York Islanders in 2000 and right winger Brent Burns 20th overall to the Minnesota Wild in 2003.

(Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)

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