Game On Magazine - April 2017 Game on Preview Edition | Page 34

PROFILE
d av i d
macdonald
B y s c o t t tay l o r
Photos by James Carey Lauder and Dave Mahussier
one door
When
closes another
opens
David MacDonald was a great all-around
athlete who decided one day to concentrate
on baseball and, essentially, give up his
hockey dream. Then, almost 13 months
and two shoulder injuries later, MacDonald
was put into a strange position: Baseball
was now out, but hockey was still a pos-
sibility. Thanks to the help of Fort Garry/
Fort Rouge Twins coaches Cam Craig and
Carson Shields, MacDonald became a
hockey player again. And as things turned
out, it might have been the best decision he
was ever forced to make.
Last May, at the Manitoba Major Junior
Hockey League’s annual awards banquet,
the Dave Anderson Memorial Trophy was
awarded to David MacDonald of the Fort
Garry/For Rouge Twins.
It was a popular choice and
MacDonald’s brief but heartfelt acceptance
speech said a lot about his character.
Thrilled to accept the honor, he was also
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grateful for the opportunity to play. After
all, it had been a long, strange road to
the MMJHL and now, at the top of his
game, MacDonald was still having trouble
coming to grips with his success.
And was it ever successful. In his first
season in the MMJHL, he finished 14th in
league scoring – first on his team -- with
26 goals and 55 points in just 38 games.
He was No. 1 in rookie scoring and the
only rookie in the Top 20. In fact, the
next rookie on the list was MacDonald’s
teammate Cole Zadro at No. 24. These two
young players helped bring the Twins from
last place, with just 18 points in 2015-16,
to fifth with 52 points (just two points out
of third), in one season. For MacDonald,
it’s still a bit of a blur.
“When I played my first MMJHL
game, it was the first MMJHL game I
had ever seen,” MacDonald said. “I was
immediately surprised at the level of