By Tim Morris
Ottawa Junior Senators forward Geoff Dempster has taken his skills from the baseball diamond with him to the ice rink.
“My hand-eye coordination is pretty good,” said the 20-year-old Junior Senator. Dempster remarked that the skills he developed as a shortstop/pitcher as well as hitting, have been very useful to him in hockey.
“I love both sports,” said the Ottawa native. “I made the decision to go with hockey. Junior hockey is pretty exciting.”
Dempster has a knack for tipping in rebounds and deflecting shots into the net which is a credit to his eye-hand coordination. At 6-3, 190, he is comfortable camping out in front of the net positioning himself for rebounds and tips.
“I’ve always been a net front guy,” said Dempster, who has been very valuable to the Junior Senators on the power play where he has been very productive at scoring goals. “I’m a physical player.”
That size and physicality explains why he is able to plant himself in front of the cage so often, he is difficult to move.
Since coming over to the Junior Senators from the Nepean Raiders, Dempster has scored 32 points (13 goals, 19 assists) in the 41 regular season games he has played.
It’s not only on the power play that Dempster has been effective. He’s also called on to help kill penalties, a testament to his ability to play both defense and offense.
Junior hockey wasn’t all that exciting for Dempster back in September when he was playing for the Raiders, who were rebuilding. With this being his last season in the CCHL he didn’t want to go another year without participating in the post-season.
“My team (Raiders) was struggling,” he recalled. “This was my last year and obviously I wanted to win something. I asked for a trade. The (Raiders) general manager was very understanding.”
So, as soon as a trade was negotiated, Dempster went from last place to first place.
“It’s really exciting, I have something to look forward to every day,” Dempster said of going to the Junior Senators.
Helping Dempster make a comfortable adjustment to his new team was knowing several of the players like Darcy Walsh and Noah Rowe. It didn’t take long, he pointed out, to be “comfortable with all the guys.”
Ottawa GM/Coach Martin Dagenais has been impressed by his newcomer.
“Geoff was a pleasant surprise when he arrived from Nepean,” said Dagenais. “He did struggle a bit before the Christmas break, but he has been one of our top forwards since the New Year. He is a versatile forward who can be useful in all three zones.”
Playing for the Junior Senators has improved Dempster’s game, he noted.
“We have a very knowledgeable coaching staff,” said the forward. “I’ve improved a lot all around. They’ve helped shape my game and bettered my strategic understanding of the game.”
Instead of counting down the days to the end of the season as he would be doing if he was still with Nepean, Dempster was looking forward to playoff hockey on a team that captured both the Bogart and Fred Page Cup championships in 2018.
“I think we finally got all the lines down,” said Dempster. “We’re pretty set for the playoffs.”
The defending champion Junior Senators wrapped up another Central Canada Hockey League Yzerman Division crown, their sixth straight, on March 10 when they defeated the Kanata Lasers, 3-1.
After what Dempster and the Junior Senators hope is another deep run in the spring, he is looking forward to paying college hockey next year.
