Prospect Spotlight: Spencer MacLean C Anchorage Armada
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It was just after noon on a brisk Sunday morning in Regina, Saskatchewan when Spencer MacLean walked in the door of the coffee shop for our scheduled meeting. Everything would’ve been fine except that our interview planned early in the week had been scheduled for 10am. He apologized profusely for his tardiness and although I usually don't tolerate getting stood up by relatively unknown SMJHL prospects something about his upbeat and charming demeanour made my anger wash away almost instantly. He was tall, dark and strikingly handsome, enough to make even the most heterosexual of sports columnists question their sexuality. After taking in his outward appearance I noticed the smell, stale cigarettes and what could only be compared to several small breweries. “I was out a bit late last night, he confided, actually if I’m honest, the boys and I have been on a bit of a bender since I got drafted” (4th round-Anchorage Armada). He immediately seemed embarrassed to have told me that and asked me to strike it from the record but then changed his mind. “F*** it actually I’m not going to pretend I’m someone I’m not” he said laughing. 

Spencer MacLean had always been cut from a different cloth, the teenage prospect began his career in Regina, where he immediately separated himself from his peers in the already fairly strong Regina minor hockey association. He had always been a big kid, using his size to dominate in all aspects all over the ice. He was basically unbeatable in the face-off circle, snapping the puck back with ease. He easily out muscled and out skated the competition on both ends of the ice, earning him the reputation around Saskatchewan as a rising 2 way star, and his shot.. oh the shot. It wasn’t uncommon for large crowds to gather before games to watch Spencer snipe water bottles off the top of the net. His release was so quick that goaltenders barely even had time to blink before the puck was in the back of the net. His mother always knew he was a special talent but it was when Spencer started bantam that she started to realize that he had a chance at pro hockey. When he was 14 he was scoring close to 9-10 goals a game in rep bantam, his mother said on the phone ( a lovely woman to talk to). Spencer was raised by his mother, Judy, a single mother and University of Regina student, who often had as many as 3 jobs at a time to support the family of 2. Yes it was extremely difficult, Judy told me. We could barely put gas in the tank at times, and without the help of friends and teammates parents Spencer wouldn’t have been able to play the game he loved.

It was becoming evident that Spencer was on a collision course with stardom. He had a gift and could do no wrong. He was checking all the boxes with all the right scouts and making a serious name for himself when, one snowy Saskatchewan night, it was all stolen from him. He was 16 and approaching his junior draft year when he attended a party late one weekend with some teammates. They partied late into the night and at 3am Spencer left the party alone to make the 10 km walk to his home in suburban Regina. Mere blocks from his house Spencer was struck by a drunk driver. The driver collided with Spencer and left him next to dead in a snow drift. It wasn’t until 6 am in the morning (2.5 hours later) that Spencer was found broken, hypothermic and near death by an elderly man shovelling his walk. Rushed to Queen Regina hospital Spencer had suffered grievous injuries. His arm broken in 6 places, severe concussion and worst of all and most threatening to his hockey career was his knee. Doctors were calling it the most severe knee injury they had ever seen. Knee cap shattered into a fine powder and both ACL and MCL’s destroyed. When pressed about the injury MacLean became visually emotional; “The doctor came in the room and as soon as I looked at him I just broke down. Balled like a f***in baby. I could see in his eyes what he was about to tell me. I knew I would never play again.” But Spencer was not the type to take no for an answer. Confined to a wheelchair for several months Spencer became consumed by a desire to play hockey. He began researching experimental procedures, both dangerous and risky. It wasn’t long until he made contact with an Argentinian doctor, Dr. Javier Francisco. Dr. Francisco made Spencer a promise that no other North American doctors were brazen enough to make. He promised he could rebuild Spencers knee, stronger than ever. 

It didn’t take long for Spencer to convince his mother to buy two tickets to Argentina. It broke her to see her son stripped of his dreams. She asked several Canadian doctors for second opinions on the procedure her son was about to undergo in a foreign country, and the responses were for the most part grim at best. They gave him a 50 50 shot at full recovery but warned that if the surgery was botched, Spencer could lose his leg entirely. “The coin flip paid off” Spencer told me, between sips of coffee; “Dr. Francisco lived up to his promise.” The surgery was touch and go but went without a hitch and it wasn’t long before Spencer began skating again. By this time most SMJHL scouts had given up on the once prized prospect and his career, and Spencer became obsessed with proving them wrong. Unfortunately most organizations knew his story all too well and were vary wary, worrying that his reconstructed knee could implode at any moment. The day of the draft came and Spencer, sitting in a living room surrounded by friends and family worried that his name would never be called. Then the phone rang. “It was the GM from Anchorage. He said they believed in me and that they were going to use their 4th round pick to give me my shot. I can’t describe how I felt, can’t even f***ing describe man.” With training camp beginning on Tuesday Spencer confided in me that he was feeling more and more nervous by the minute. “It’s a lot of pressure, I don’t want to let anyone down.” But as he finished his coffee and we stood up to say our goodbyes he looked me in the eye and laughed. “Who am I kidding” Spencer said with a wink and a smile, “I’m going to f***ing light it up”.

                                                   

                                                   

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                                                           SPENCER MACLEAN///C///ANCHORAGE ARMADA///350TPE

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nice post! let's light it up! 

thanks @Carpy48 and @frithjofr and @rum_ham and @Julio Tokolosh and @Briedaqueduc for the sigs