Toms training for next term


By
April 24, 2020

Plum, home grown prospect Connor Toms is running the local hub trails and working out in the basement gym of his family’s Sault Ste. Marie home as he preps for the next hockey season.

Toms, a medium-sized defenseman who was selected by the Soo Greyhounds in the third round, 44th overall, at the 2020 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft, told Hockey News North that he has a daily routine that he sticks to during these trying times of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I run every day and and work out in the gym that my dad built,” Toms relayed. “And I study a lot of film from the Greyhound games that my dad recorded during the season.

“Once (training) camp opens with the Greyhounds, I want to be as ready and prepared as I can be,” added the friendly, easy-to-talk-to Toms, who just turned 16 years of age on March 13 of this year.

Besides that, the grade 10 high school student is keeping up with his studies at home and isolating with his dad, Jeff; mom, Tasha; and siblings Skylar, Tru and Walker.

To be sure, Toms is not short on hockey bloodlines as the son of Jeff Toms, who as a hulking left winger, played three full seasons in the OHL with the Greyhounds after being a 13th-round draft pick.

A classic overachiever, the elder Toms was a member of the Greyhounds 1993 Memorial Cup championship team before ending his OHL career in superb style during the 1993-1994 season with 52 goals, 45 assists, 97 points.

He then became a ninth-round draft pick to the National Hockey League and went on to play in more than 230 NHL games before embarking on a lengthy pro career in the Swiss elite league.

As for Connor, who netted nine goals, 17 assists, 26 points in 38 regular season games for the Soo Jr. Greyhounds of the Great North Midget Hockey League in 2019-2020, his coach from the past season has plenty good to say about the young defender.

“Connor has put in a lot of time to develop his craft both on and off the ice since he was a young player. He is a real student of the game and his skill set should definitely flourish at the OHL level as his all around game continues to mature,” Jr. Greyhounds coach Jamie Henderson said of Toms.


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