Waterloo Minor Midget Alumnis Kyle Wood returns to line up for North Bay Battalion after a lengthy time on IR with injury. Read Article Below by Jordan Ercit.
Sometimes it is hard to remember how young Kyle Wood is and just how far along he's come in the major junior hockey game.At six-foot-five, the 17-year-old defenceman is the tallest player on the ice for the North Bay Battalion. At 229 pounds, he's also a massive blue-line presence, right behind the just-as-solid Marcus McIvor.
Surprise considering his mom, a Manulife Financial employee in Waterloo, is six-feet even and his dad, a warehouse manager at Krug, is a shade under 72 inches tall.
"My mom's dad was about six-five at one point," Wood said. "But I was about six-two my minor midget year and then last year I grew a couple inches, and added about another inch this summer.
"I think my parents were shocked how I kept growing, sprouting up and stuff, but it's good for my hockey career -- how I got bigger and stronger -- and it's worked out so far."
Yet as the new year begins, Wood is still finding his stride in the OHL.
Last weekend, the former third round priority selection pick made his 2013-14 season debut against the Sudbury Wolves, showing decent hands and offensive ability for a young man his size, and is already picking up time on the Battalion power play after suiting up in 21 regular season and playoff games as a rookie.
Not bad for a kid who missed the entire pre-season and 35 games of regular season action to start his sophomore year in the OHL.
But big things are expected of Wood, a right-handed shot who also spent 46 games with the Tier 2 Orangeville Flyers of the Ontario Junior Hockey League last season and five games of playoff action with the Jr. B Waterloo Siskins as a 15-year-old affiliate in 2011-12.
There will be a grace period as he gets back into game shape, but "once he gets going, he'll be a big addition to our hockey team," head coach and director of hockey operations Stan Butler said. "By the time he's 18, 19, he'll be one of the top defencemen in our league. I don't think there's any doubt about that, just as long as he stays healthy."
Wood said that hasn't been an issue up until this year, when he stumbled in Battalion training camp, hit his leg awkwardly on the ice and dislocated his knee cap, which also damaged the bones around his meniscus. It didn't feel too bad at first, he said, but the injury ended up costing Wood 35 games of OHL action after undergoing surgery.
"It was kind of weird," Wood said. "I was going up the ice, I think I was making a play or something, and I just lost an edge -- or stepped on a stick, or a puck or something -- and my leg gave out.
"I think I've missed a couple of game my whole career, just from being sick or a hurt wrist or a bruised bone or something, but that was my major injury."
The wait was tough to handle, Wood said, but his return this week coincides with the lone visit of the season from the Kitchener Rangers -- Wood's hometown team from the Waterloo Region -- who visit Memorial Gardens Sunday at 2 p.m.
Despite growing up in Waterloo and wearing the city's traditional black-and-gold colours -- synonymous with the city's annual Gold Puck minor hockey tournament -- Wood grew up a Rangers fan and attended games with his dad and brother. His grandfather owned season tickets at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex, the home of the Rangers, too.
So Sunday's game will have some extra meaning for Wood, even though he's played the Rangers before as a rookie in exhibition action.
"It's going to be weird playing against them and looking at the jersey that you've been growing up with," Wood said. "But I've kind of moved past that now and I'm trying to focus on the future. Take things game by game."