OHL Notebook: Mental Health program initiated

In association with the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Ontario Hockey League has launched a new initiative called Talk Today.

The initiative is specifically designed for OHL players and team staff to assist in the identification of mental health issues and deal with them.

The Talk Today program comes after the tragic death of Saginaw Spirit forward Terry Trafford last season.

Shortly after Trafford’s death last March, the Peterborough Petes players and coaches participated in a workshop called safeTALK. The safeTALK program helps teach the importance of talking about mental health, how to acknowledge signs of suicide, seeking help when that person is in need of support and connecting others in need of support to suicide first aid resources.

“Mental illness directly or indirectly affects everyone at some point in their life,” OHL Commissioner David Branch said in a release.

Talk Today will become a part of the OHL’s “Players First” guide, which also includes areas such as drug awareness as well as health and safety education.

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PLAYERS RETURNED FROM NHL CAMPS

The past seven days has seen a number of players returned by their respective NHL teams to the OHL.

The list includes a number of high-profile players including Max Domi and Robby Fabbri.

Domi was a first round pick of the Arizona Coyotes in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and is coming off back-to-back 30-goal seasons with the London Knights. Domi scored 34 goals and 93 points in 61 games with the Knights during the 2013-14 season and has 94 goals and 231 points in 189 career OHL games.

Also returned to the OHL was Guelph Storm forward Robby Fabbri. Selected in the first round of the 2014 NHL draft by the St. Louis Blues, Fabbri missed part of the Blues main camp due to injury and is not expected to dress for the Storm this weekend.

The Oshawa Generals received a boost over the weekend as the New York Islanders returned 2014 first round pick Michael Dal Colle to the East Division team. In his first game with the Generals upon his return, Dal Colle had a goal and an assist as the Generals erased a 3-1 third-period deficit to beat the Kitchener Rangers 4-3 on Sunday.

On the same day the Islanders returned Dal Colle to the Generals they also announced the signing of Windsor Spitfires forward Josh Ho-Sang. Ho-Sang was subsequently returned to the Spitfires the same day.

One of the more interesting returns to the OHL was that of goaltender Jake Paterson. The Detroit Red Wings prospect was returned to the Spirit on Monday.

The Spirit began the regular season with returning netminder Nikita Serebryakov and rookie David Ovsjannikov. The return of Paterson has led to speculation that the Spirit may consider dealing the overage netminder.