By Brian Rappleyea
The ’98 born Taylor Egan began his 2018-19 regular season with the Pembroke Lumber Kings, helping them get off to a good start by holding down the blue line while bagging four assists as the Lumber Kings opened their season with six wins in seven games for 12 points. The Lumber Kings would then struggle, losing their next twelve, gaining a single point in overtime, after what was a start that any team would have dreamt of.
Pembroke would go on to miss the playoffs, but Egan would not; he would find himself on the Yzerman Division winning Ottawa Junior Senators.
Egan on his expectations with Pembroke:
“We had a very good team to start the year in Pembroke, so my expectations were to have a winning squad, but obviously that didn’t pan out; we had a pretty good start, things started to fall off a little bit, and around the deadline was when I was traded to OJS.”
After arriving in Ottawa, Egan has put up 12 points (2G, 10A) in 32 games, to go with his 13 points (1G, 12A) in 29 matches with Pembroke. That was Egan’s second stint in Pembroke, his first stint was sandwiched between his time in the OHL with the Erie Otters (as a 17 year old), and a year in the QMJHL with the Charlottetown Islanders (at 19), playing in no fewer than 50 regular season games with each.
Egan arrived to Ottawa knowing he was on a championship contender, an opposite or seemingly opposite situation according to some when he was in Charlottetown, a season in which he fondly reflects:
“Charlottetown was another great team, actually. We were supposed to be finishing in last place that year, according to the people on social media, but we proved them wrong. We made it to the semifinals of the playoffs, that year was a lot of fun.”
The Islanders would fall one game short of an appearance in the Final, nearly shocking the top seeded Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.
A mobile big man at 6-0 and 195 pounds, the lefty shooting defenseman and Carp, ON native feels his skating is his biggest strength, but also has the vision to make a good first pass, bring offense, and read plays. “You don’t have to force something if it’s not there,” Egan remarked.
A student of the game, hockey has been in Egan’s blood for his whole life; his great grandfather is Hockey Hall of Famer Bill Cowley, who won two Stanley Cups with the Boston Bruins, while Jim Egan, Taylor’s father, played university hockey in Cape Breton. Egan also has a younger brother, Brady, who plays for the Pembroke Lumber Kings.
Egan is unsure of what is in store for him hockey-wise after OJS, but he has hopes of continuing at the next level; in the interim, he has done his part in helping his team during the playoffs with his defensive responsibilities and two assists, and has been another successful acquisition by GM/Head Coach Martin Dagenais.
OJS won their first round series over the Kanata Lasers four games to one, and are coming off a double overtime win over the Brockville Braves in game one of their semifinal series.
