After missing 18 games with a draining illness, the 19-year-old’s return to the Soo lineup started with an unexpected jolt

Published Nov 05, 2025 • 3 minute read

Soo Greyhounds defenceman Brodie McConnell-Barker made his season debut on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025 against the Flint Firebirds. Photo by Natalie Shaver/OHL Images

The first thing that happened to Brodie McConnell-Barker in his long-awaited season debut?

Advertisement 2

Story continues below

Article content

He got flattened.

Article content

Article content

Midway through the first period of Wednesday’s game against the Flint Firebirds, the Soo Greyhounds defenceman was met squarely by a Firebirds forward who knocked his marbles.

“What a way to start a game after being out for 18 games,” Greyhounds head coach John Dean said. “It throws him for a loop at the start — very difficult on the young man. But once he started getting his feet going, you could see him get excited again.”

It was McConnell-Barker’s first game action in more than two months, his first real contact since coming down with mononucleosis around training camp in September — a brutal, energy-sapping infection that left him too tired to do much of anything, let alone skate.

“It’s definitely not fun,” McConnell-Barker said. “You’re tired all the time and there were some other side effects I’m not gonna get into, but yeah, it was just a long journey.”

By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.

Article content

Advertisement 3

Story continues below

Article content

It’s been a stop-and-start career for the 19-year-old rearguard. He played just 56 games last season, 41 the year before, and 13 before that, never able to string together a full year. Last fall, he missed the start of the season after getting injured in the pre-season. He ended the 2024-25 season with three goals and 16 points.

“Definitely not ideal for Brodes,” Brady Martin said. “He’s had a tough career so far. I don’t even know if he’s ever played a home opener.”

McConnell-Barker figures he caught mono sometime near the start of camp. The illness kept him out of the lineup for 18 games — a stretch that felt longer. After his brother Bryce McConnell-Barker, who now plays for the AHL’s Hartford Wolfpack, moved out of town, he’s also billeted by himself.

Advertisement 4

Story continues below

Article content

But he was at the rink as much as he could be, and teammates checked in on him when he wasn’t.

Eventually, once the fatigue began to ease, he turned to rebuilding what he’d lost.

“I took a couple weeks to get back into it, just doing cardio,” he said. “Obviously it’s a little bit different in a game to get used to the pace, but I did what I could with the weeks I had. A lot of practicing with the team and then doing some extra workouts as well away from the team.”

He’s not the first Greyhound to deal with it, either. Marco Mignosa missed time with mono last season, and he said the fatigue is like nothing else.

“I knew something was wrong right away,” Mignosa said. “I was sick for weeks straight. I wouldn’t want anybody going through it — it’s brutal. I was in the gym every day trying to get back into shape because you’ve just been lying down all day and you have no energy.”

Advertisement 5

Story continues below

Article content

When McConnell-Barker finally got cleared to play, the return wasn’t glamorous. He posted zero points, a minus-one rating, and three shots in a 3-2 loss to Flint.

But that hardly mattered.

“I’m just happy for him to get an opportunity to play,” Dean said. “He’s gonna need two, three, maybe four games to catch up to speed and feel good again, but we’re just happy to have him back.”

Inside the dressing room, his return was felt right away.

“He’s great to have in the locker room,” said teammate Chase Reid, who extended his goal streak to three games in the dying minutes of the third period. “Always positive, always feeding the mood. It’ll take him a little bit to get his cardio back, but I think he’ll be one of our strongest players.”

That optimism runs both ways.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” McConnell-Barker said. “But you start to realize there are more important things than hockey — like your health. So I just tried to keep a positive mindset.”

He’s still working on his conditioning — “My cardio needs to improve a little bit,” he said — but it’ll come. For now, after everything, he’s back.

The Hounds, who are now 4-4-1-0 at home and a glowing 7-3-0-0 on the road, are also back at GFL Memorial Gardens on Friday for a tilt against the Guelph Storm, followed by a visit from the Barrie Colts on Saturday.

Article content

Share this article in your social network