McIntosh coming back to start with Titans

Addison McIntosh is living out his childhood dream on a daily basis.

While most young kids in Manitoba growing up had their sights set on the pro leagues, the 18-year-old Neepawa product was content with just one thing: to play for his hometown team.

Now with his name on the back of the Titans jersey, he’s not afraid to soak it all in.

“It’s definitely special,” said McIntosh. “It was a dream of mine always with just going to the rink and watching the Natives play. I just wanted to work as hard as I can to play for them, and now I am. I’m just proud of myself and to be in this organization, with obviously Kenny (Ken Pearson) as my coach, makes it even more special.”

McIntosh has known Neepawa head coach and general manager Pearson — who recently coached this 1,500th game in the Canadian Junior Hockey League and in his 28th season coaching in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League — his entire life, since his father played minor hockey with him growing up. And once McIntosh was born he fell in love with the game very quickly, as his first time plomping on the ice at the age of four was the start of a healthy obsession.

With every passing day, his passion grew even stronger watching from the stands as he cheered on Neepawa at the Yellowhead Community Recreation Centre. He also watched his two older sisters Sadie and Erica, who both played together with the Assiniboine College Cougars in 2019. Erica played defence for the Cougars, while Sadie played between the pipes, and then finished off her playing career at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in 2022.

As McIntosh went through Neepawa’s development system he quickly established himself as a fast, heavy body that could also put the puck in the net. In his last season of U15, he collected 15 goals and 28 points in 31 games, and produced similar numbers at the U18 level, where he racked up 51 points across two seasons. The six-foot, 210-pound wrecking ball was auto protected prior to the 2023 MJHL Draft and ended up playing 15 games for the club last season and adding two goals.

His debut was on home turf, the same place he would watch from the stands when he was younger with a bucket of popcorn. It was without a doubt a full circle moment and one he still remembers like it was yesterday.

“It was in Neepawa which was even better, but it was against the Blues and I remember hopping out there on my first shift and just realizing how fast it was and how fast everyone was going, it was unbelievable,” said McIntosh. “Kenny had a chat before the game and said ‘Just play your game. You’re going to be nervous, but just play simple and work hard.’”

And that’s exactly the role he’s gelled into over the course of this season, as McIntosh has found his groove in a third-line checking role alongside rookies Tyler Wamboldt and Grayson Slaney. The trio has combined for 37 points in 34 games, with McIntosh racking up five goals and 13 points — totals fairly productive for a middle-six forward in his first full season of junior hockey. But, that’s not to say his journey hasn’t come any growing pains.

“My coaches have always been old school with the physical, but I was pretty offensive in AAA and obviously you got to change the role because you’re just not going to be that guy during the first two years, so I just had to change the role a little bit,” he said.

“You don’t really know exactly what that is until you get into the year, so in the off-season, you just work hard obviously on your weaknesses, strengths, whatever, but I just wanted to make the team better, and help fill the hole they need kind of thing. Whatever Kenny wants me to play I’ll go do that and whatever the team needs, go help with that.”

Over the offseason, McIntosh moved out to Winnipeg to work out at the Rink Hockey Academy for a different training regimen than what he’s typically used to in Neepawa. He trained around five times a week in the gym and then skated three times per week. In addition to the physical demands, McIntosh also worked on the mental side of his game, shifting his habits to stay positive and focus on building off the limited action he saw last year.

McIntosh entered camp this year with a fresh attitude and eventually landed the big opportunity he now holds with this Titans squad, which currently sits tied for second in the West Division standings alongside the Dauphin Kings with a 23-19-1 record through 43 games. While they still trail the division-leading Virden Oil Capitals by nine points with four more games played, they’ve still set themselves up in a solid position going into the playoffs, where they are almost guaranteed to be facing the Kings. At this point, it’s just a matter of who secures home-ice advantage.

“I was still a little nervous at the start of the year because it’s kind of still going into my rookie year in a way, but obviously I’ve grown since with the help of the captains, and the organization really helped me with my confidence, and bringing us up here with a good team,” McIntosh said.

“Everyone works so hard and we’re a deep team. Lots of 20 year olds that came back and they’re definitely hungry and obviously us returning guys that aren’t 20 quite yet, we’re hungry for whatever to come here in the playoffs and obviously that first round exit last year really bit us, so we’re looking at positives here and trying to get that home-ice advantage and bring the championship here to Neepawa.”

Neepawa will be in action next on Wednesday at home against the loaded Steinbach Pistons, who are second in the East Division with a 33-8-2 record.

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com