Musicmen's MacKinnon Visits Youth Hockey Team in Portland

Nate MacKinnon knows the CCHL season is a long one and his trips back home to Nova Scotia will be very few.

With Dayton in Portland, ME for a game tonight against the owls, MacKinnon had most of Sunday to himself. He decided to visit the Portland Ice Arena and spend some time with the kids practising for their upcoming 2017 Turkey Shootout, scheduled for the Thanksgiving Holiday.

"I actually spent a lot of time playing in Portland as a kid growing up. The competition was pretty good here and it added to what I was able to play against at home. That was a lot of fun and I learned a ton from my coaches and by playing against some really talented kids." said, MacKinnon.

MacKinnon's career has been an outstanding one, with being selected 1st overall in the 2013 NHL Entry draft by the Colorado Avalanche. He is also an alternating captain of the Musicmen in the CCHL.

"The coach was very nice to me and invited me to do some drills with the kids, we worked on skating a lot. The 3 on 3 time was pretty cool, too. They're small, but they have a lot of energy, that's for sure."

"After practice, Coach asked me to talk to the team about balancing school work and hockey, which I was happy to do. It was hard to focus on my studies while I was at Shattuck St. Mary's in Minnesota, but the team was very supportive and I got through it ok. I want to start working on my college degree. I'd like to study political science and maybe focus on international relations. I think with the way things are going in the States right now, that should be an area that'll be interesting for a long time."

One of the kids, "Jimmy" commented, "He's pretty cool and wow can he skate! He's sick, totally!"

Notes: 

Brian Elliott received further rehab on his groin yesterday and said, "Look, I could play if I had to. Jeremy is doing just fine and if he can handle things until we get home, I think I should be able to jump back in the nets. We know he has a game limit we'll need to keep track of and we don't want to use him up this early unless we have no options. I know the GM is looking at signing a third goalie to split the backup duties this season, so who knows?" said Elliott.