BRUISING BATTLE
Essex falls 4-2 to Grimsby in Game 2 of semifinal.
Leamington’s Hayden Hodgson has shown he can have success in just about any sport he chooses.
Soon, the 16-year-old Hodgson will have decide on a sport for his future and it might come as early as Saturday when the Sun County Panthers minor midget forward is up for the Ontario Hockey League Draft.
“I knew it would come down to this, but I didn’t know when,” the six-foot-one, 185-pound Hodgson said. “It’s kind of hard to decide what you want to do.”
There was a time when Hodgson was one of the area’s top amateur golfers.
He was low medallist in qualifying for the 2009 Burger King Junior Golf Tour, among the leaders at the Essex-kent Golf Tournament while winning the bantam division at the Mic Mac Invitational in 2008.
“HE’S A VERY ATHLETIC KID.”
TERRY DORAN
But his golf swing messed up his batting swing in baseball, so he gave up the sport and stuck with hockey and baseball.
“I do miss it,” Hodgson said of golf. “I still play a little.”
On the ice, he helped the Panthers reach the OHL Showcase Cup Tournament in Mississauga while scoring 21 goals and finishing with 41 points in 28 league games.
“He’s a very athletic kid,” Windsor Spitfires head scout Terry Doran said.
“In hockey, he’s a power forward. He drives to the net.”
One OHL scouts thinks he would be the first player in the area taken Saturday, but he’s no lock to choose hockey as his future path.
“He’s probably one of the best left-handed pitchers in the province,” said Windsor Selects under-16 head coach Don Morris, who has coached Hodgson the past two years with the Woodslee bantam AAA team.
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“When he’s on, he can dominate and there’s no doubt he’ll play college ball if he wants.”
Aside from jumping to the area’s top under-16 team, Hodgson was picked up by Team Ontario for last year’s bantam national championship and was one of the provinces top 30 players selected for the Mizuno Camp in Toronto.
Doran said not knowing which way Hodgson will go would be a concern to OHL teams.
“Sure that would be a concern,” Doran said. “He has to make a decision.”
Morris knows it won’t be an easy decision for Hodgson to make.
“I’ve seen his games and he’s a very good hockey player,” Morris said. “He loves both and he’s torn right now.”
Hodgson has shown he can be a difference maker in either sport.
“Hockey’s definitely different than baseball and golf because of that competitive edge,” Hodgson said. “Baseball’s more a personal game.
“I started out playing first base and worked my up to being a pitcher. I love pitching because you’re in control. I always like the pressure on me and being able to take it into your hands.”
In 2008, the Barrie Colts drafted defenceman Evan Rutckyj, but the Windsor lefthanded pitcher opted to stay in baseball. He was drafted and signed a contract with the New York Yankees for more than $500,000.
“I don’t know him, but I have heard of him,” Hodgson said.
That might put the pressure on OHL teams to convince him he’s got a brighter future on the ice than on the mound.
“You always have to listen and hear what they have (OHL teams have) to say for sure,” Hodgson said.
“I love hockey and I couldn’t give it up, but I think I’ll go further in the future with baseball.”