Some good news for Anthony Romani.
The Vancouver Canucks prospect is back on the ice this week in a non-contact sweater.
"I just started skating. I mean, no shooting or stickhandling, just skating right now so yeah, it was actually my first time on the ice," said Romani on Tuesday.
Romani has been on the mend since an October 11 injury against the Erie Otters that broke his clavicle.
"Obviously, being injured sucks, probably worst thing in hockey," he admitted during a Tim Horton's Smile Cookie event.
"So I think you always try to have to have a positive mindset of it. And I think everything happens for a reason. So I think just doing anything I can to recover and just work on different parts of my game that I can kind of work on now, getting bigger and stronger is kind of my goal."
Romani has spent most of his time after the injury getting treatment in southern Ontario and was not with the team.
"I think it's kind of just taking it day by day, not trying to look at the negative," he said.
"Being out for that long, and just kind of looking at the causes of it and how I can get better off the ice and just becoming a stronger player. So yeah, it's just trying to take it day by day."
Battalion head coach Ryan Oulahen would not give a timetable on when he expects Romani back in the lineup, but he is glad he is getting close.
"I know we feel for him," said Oulahen.
"It's really hard when you're limited to activity and being around the guys to see what they're doing. we're now at least, you know, him getting being able to skate and being able to do some of the workouts the guys are doing, just being around his teammates and he adds to the leadership in our team as well.
"He's in our meetings now. he's, you know, I can bounce things off of that brain of his, you know there's a lot of things that are real positive now that he's with our group and getting into that routine."
Battalion face Storm
The North Bay Battalion, coming off an up-and-down overtime win over the Sudbury Wolves, host the Guelph Storm in Ontario Hockey League action at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
It’s the first of three games on the week, which sees North Bay visit the Peterborough Petes on Saturday night and the Kingston Frontenacs on Sunday. The Battalion has played only two games in each of the last three weeks.
North Bay has a won-lost-extended record of 9-9-2 for 20 points, fourth in the Central Division, while Guelph is 6-11-2 for 14 points, fifth in the Midwest Division.
Ethan Procyszyn paces the Battalion offence with a team-leading 15 goals and nine assists for 24 points, while Andrew LeBlanc has four goals and a team-high 18 assists for 22 points, each in 20 games. Owen Van Steensel has scored nine goals and earned eight assists for 17 points in 20 games, and Shamar Moses has three goals and 14 assists for 17 points in 15 games since a trade from the Barrie Colts.
Cam Allen leads the Storm with five goals and a team-best 12 assists for 17 points in 19 games, while Max Namestnikov has a team-high seven goals and nine assists for 16 points in 18 games.
