Blake Hall’s junior hockey career has come full circle.
The Fort Erie native suited up for his hometown Meteors as a rookie before heading off to the Central Canada Hockey League for a couple of seasons.
Now a 20-year-old veteran in his last season of junior eligibility, the big winger is back with the Meteors and loving every minute of it.
“It’s been awesome,” Hall said. “A lot of my family and friends have been able to come to every game. Playing here when I was 16 and then now, it’s a lot different. They’ve turned the organization right around and it’s a great team.”
Hall played for the Navan Grads the last two years and enjoyed the experience, but following his acceptance at Brock where he is a kinesiology major, decided the Meteors would be a perfect fit.
“It was something I had in the back of my mind at the end of last year and I applied to Brock and it worked out from there,” Hall said. “Talking to Nik (general manager/coach Nik Passero) and seeing what they’ve done the last few years here, I was really excited to come back. It was a really great opportunity for me.”
The Meteors were only too happy to have Hall return.
“It’s a player we got lucky on that we haven’t really hit on in the last 10 years,” Meteors assistant coach Anthony Passero said. “He saw what was going on here and was comfortable coming home and playing. That player in the past has gone to St. Catharines or Caledonia or stayed in the CCHL.”
Anthony Passero had no issues bringing Hall on board.
“We’ve known Blake since he was a kid. I’ve know his dad and played with his older brother when I was really young. They’re a Fort Erie family through and through so there was no concern there,” he said. “At the end of the day, we knew what we were getting out of him when he said he wanted to come back to Fort Erie. That’s comforting for Nik and for us because we know he’ll take care of what’s going on in the dressing room.”
Hall has been a solid contributor on the ice with 12 goals and 40 points in 36 games and is also a physical presence, never afraid to use his 6-foot-4, 205-pound frame.
“He does a bit of everything,” Anthony Passero said. “He’s really hard on the puck, he’s intimidating. He’s massive and he just cares all the time. He’s probably got the biggest leash on our team because he’s an older guy and he’s been there. We know when the going gets tough he’s going to get going even more.
“He brings guys with him. Even on his bad nights, he’s never bad. He has some off shifts — he’s a junior hockey player — but he definitely brings it. His biggest attribute is what he does for other guys.”
Hall enjoys his leadership role and is looking forward to a long playoff run in what may be his final season of competitive hockey.
“It would be good to go get a Sutherland Cup for sure,” he said. “That would be awesome.”
The Meteors, who sit one point back of Caledonia for first place and one point up on St. Catharines for second place with two games in hand, are in St. Thomas (14-22-2-1) of the Western Conference Friday and home to Caledon (4-16-0-1) of the Midwestern Conference Saturday.
Anthony Passero enjoys the inter-conference matchups.
“They’re fun because we play the same teams so much so now we can go in and watch these guys play and see how it’s different over there,” he said. “We can prepare, but at the end of the day you have to worry about yourself.”
Goaltender Charlie Burns is back with the club after being called up to the Erie Otters where he made 33 saves in a win over the London Knights last week.
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