Fronts: Rejected and vindicated all at once

There is more Doug -- uh, dough -- flying out the windows of the K-Rock Centre.

The Springer Frontenacs have lost out on local talent Brock Higgs, play college hockey at Canisius College, according to a reliable source, Chris Heisenberg. What happened to teenage players wanting to bask in the star power of the Manchurian Coach, Doug Gilmour? That is so mid-November 2008, apparently.

Higgs, a 16-year-old forward, has been lighting it up with the city's winning junior hockey team, the Provincial Junior A circuit's Kingston Voyageurs. Far be it to suggest, of course, that a player from the Limestone City would have ever seen or heard anything that would make him not want to lace up for the Frontenacs, who drafted him last spring, instead of working toward a degree at a respected American university. A mere three weeks ago, Nov. 25, he told the local paper, "I've got time to make that decision" whether to go the major junior or U.S. college hockey route.

Suffice to say, one could conclude past three weeks of the Dougie! Experiment have been enough for the Higgs camp to make up its mind. He was a fifth-round pick in the annual crapshoot known as the OHL priority selection, but as the same above-linked article noted, he was putting up numbers similar to what Jordan Mayer put up for the Vees last season. Mayer is now a contributor with the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors, who funny you should mention this, routed Kingston 7-4 on Sunday. Higgs wasn't going to be a superstar, but he certainly could have helped, and it never hurts to have a local player in the lineup.

Of course, pointing this out is just unfair to Doug Springer and GM-for-life Larry Mavety. Just because they drafted a local player and he's committing to a NCAA program at least a year before he has to is by no means a commentary on the way they're running the organization. It's all just a massive coincidence.

Sorry for the multiple posts on the Frontenacs brain trust. Seeing as Limestoners Jamie Arniel and Taylor Hall did not make the final cut for the Canadian world junior team, it seemed like everyone could use a laugh.