The arena clock inside the K-Rock Centre was down to two minutes in a tied third period, and the ice was chewed up along the boards.
Opposing defencemen had spent two periods keying on Sam Bennett, finishing checks after the whistle and crowding him in the neutral zone. Bennett absorbed the contact, stayed on his edges, and came out of a two-man scrum below the goal line with the puck on his tape.
Kingston Frontenacs head coach Todd Gill used him in those spots all winter. Bennett killed penalties, took defensive-zone draws in the final minute, and stayed out when the game was on the line.
“When the game is on the line in the third period, he’s the one who’s out there generating those opportunities,” NHL Central Scouting director Dan Marr said during Bennett’s draft year. “And I’ve seen him do that on multiple occasions”.
Bennett had built those habits before he ever played a shift in the Ontario Hockey League.
Minor Midget with the Marlboros
During the 2011–12 GTHL season, the Toronto Marlboros minor midget AAA team drew capacity crowds. Connor McDavid had received exceptional player status to enter the OHL early, and scouts packed community rinks across southern Ontario to watch him play alongside Roland McKeown and Joshua Ho-Sang.
Bennett spent four minor hockey seasons with York-Simcoe playing for Connor’s father, Brian McDavid, before moving to the Marlboros under head coach Ken Strong. While McDavid drove the rush in open ice, Bennett worked the net-front and the cycle.
“Bennett was overshadowed on the team by Connor McDavid as well as teammates Josh Ho-Sang and Roland McKeown,” Strong said.
Scouts tracking McDavid took note of how Bennett recovered pucks and drove straight lines into contact. In the OHL Priority Selection prospectus, OHL Central Scouting summarized him plainly: “Samuel is a player that does all the little things that most coaches love”.
Doug Gilmour and the Draft
In the spring of 2012, Kingston general manager Doug Gilmour held two first-round draft picks: the second overall selection, and a compensatory ninth overall pick awarded after 2011 first-rounder Max Domi chose not to report.
Gilmour took McKeown second. Then he watched the board. When Owen Sound chose defenceman Jacob Middleton at eighth, Bennett remained available.
“We were just crossing our fingers when Owen Sound took Middleton and he was still there for us,” Gilmour said.
When the Frontenacs reached out to confirm sweater numbers, Bennett asked for 93—the number Gilmour made famous in Toronto. Bennett’s father, Dave, drove a commercial truck out of Holland Landing and had followed Gilmour’s career closely.
“Dave, what number does he want?” Gilmour said. “He said, ‘He wants your number.’ I said, ‘That’s awesome... That’s his number. I never wore it here with this team. It’s part of their own identity and it’s pretty special for them’”.
4. Taking the Defensive Draw
In October 2012, as a 16-year-old rookie, Bennett laid out his goals to Gill.
“I do want to be a player who they can depend on,” Bennett said. “I want to be a player who they won’t be afraid to put on in the last 30 seconds to score a goal or to prevent a goal. I want to be that guy”.
Gill placed Bennett on a line with Finnish import Henri Ikonen and fellow rookie Spencer Watson. That October, Kingston beat the Kitchener Rangers, ending a 12-game losing streak against Kitchener that dated back to November 2006.
Bennett completed his freshman season with 18 goals, 40 points, and 87 penalty minutes in 60 games, earning a spot on the OHL second all-rookie team.
Gilmour recognized the speed of his progression that spring: “Bennett should be a terrific four-year player, but because he is that good, he could move on to pro hockey early. He could be a three-year player, we don’t know”.
5. International Gold and the 25-Game Streak
Bennett added 10 pounds of muscle heading into his second year.
In April 2013, he won gold with Canada at the IIHF world under-18 championship in Sochi, Russia. By August, he was an alternate captain under Dale Hunter at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament. In the semifinal against Russia, Bennett scored the game-winner, took four penalty minutes, and led Canada to a 3–1 win.
“The Russians can get under your skin, but you’ve just got to battle as hard as you can and you have to think about the team first,” Bennett said.
When he returned to Kingston for the 2013–14 season, his line with Ikonen and Watson drove the Frontenacs to No. 2 in the Canadian Hockey League rankings. From Nov. 8 through Jan. 26, Bennett put together a 25-game point streak, scoring 17 goals and 29 assists.
With key players injured or away at the world juniors, Gill leaned on him across all game states.
“He’s got the Dougie Gilmour attitude in the sense that he can beat you in a lot of different ways—kill penalties, play on your powerplay,” Gill said.
6. The 2014 Postseason and Philadelphia
Kingston entered the 2014 playoffs as the third seed in the Eastern Conference and went up 3–0 on the Peterborough Petes in the opening round. Peterborough clawed back, winning the next four games and taking Game 7 in overtime on Kingston’s home ice. The first-round exit led to Gill being dismissed as head coach that May.
Bennett finished the seven games with five goals, nine points, and 18 penalty minutes under heavy checking.
At the NHL scouting combine in Toronto that May, Bennett could not complete a pull-up during testing while dealing with an undisclosed shoulder injury that later required surgery. Media commentary immediately questioned his upper-body strength.
In Calgary, the Flames front office looked past the testing mat.
“This kid is a mean little cuss,” Calgary president of hockey operations Brian Burke said. “They’re making fun of him because he couldn’t do any pull-ups at the combine, I don’t give a hoot if he can do pull-ups”.
On June 27, 2014, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, the Flames selected Bennett fourth overall. He was the highest draft pick in Calgary franchise history at the time, leaving Kingston the same way he arrived: a forward who made his living inside the dots.
Photos: Aaron Bell/OHL Images