Bulldogs’ Lemcke working on getting his leg up

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Back on October 4th, in his first game as captain of the Hamilton Bulldogs, Justin Lemcke got a bad break – literally. He broke his leg.

Lemcke is showing some dogged determination to get back on the ice, coming to the rink seven days a week, working just as hard as his teammates. But instead of fine-tuning his game, he’s trying to get back on the ice.

“It’s tough to watch… you want to be out there.”

Only a few hours after he was named the Bulldogs’ captain, tragedy struck. Lemcke fractured his fibula, and wasn’t able to put any weight on his right leg for a month and a half. He could have gone home to Whitby, but the 18 year old captain chose to do his rehab in Hamilton so he could continue to lead his team.

“It’s hard to be a leader in the room, but just showing the guys how hard I want to be back and how bad I want to be on the ice. You can take part in some of the things that go on in the dressing room and that’s special as well to be here for that.”

“They’ve helped me a lot too, being supportive; they’re all talking like ‘I can’t wait to have you back’ kind of thing so, that’s just more motivation to keep working hard and get back out there.”

“Originally I would have thought we weren’t going to see him until maybe playoff time. I’m not going to tell you we’re going to see him sooner, but I feel better that we have a chance.”

In his first two OHL seasons, Lemcke scored eleven goals and 27 assists. This could have been a draft year for him, but with two and a half years of OHL eligibility left, George Burnett says there’s plenty of time to draw the attention of NHL scouts.

The head coach reluctantly allows his captain to sit in a chair on the ice and shoot pucks — 100 at a time — getting closer everyday to his triumphant return.

“I think it tells you some of the determination that he has to not be that far behind when he does get a chance to get back in the game.”