Shipton jumped at chance to help Predators

When the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League’s Predators moved to Niagara-on-the-Lake from Toronto for the 2021-2022 season, they brought at least one holdover from the team’s days in the ‘Big Smoke’. 

Twenty-two-year-old Connor Shipton serves as assistant coach and assistant general manager for Robert Turnbull, the team owner who sits above Shipton in those roles. Turnbull is also joined behind the bench at each game by 21-year-old Samantha Marson, another assistant general manager and the team’s trainer.   

“I’m fortunate to have both of them,” Turnbull told The Local. “They both have the work ethic of a 30-year-old who has been in the hockey business for years. They’re great to be around. I believe either one could be a general manager of a hockey team down the road.”

Prior to stepping into his current role, Shipton was a presence on the blue line for a number of GMHL teams. He broke into the league in 2015 with the North York Renegades and was traded to Toronto shortly after the start of the 2016-2017 season. The following year he had short stints in the GOJHL with Chatham and in the PJHL with Blenheim, then closed out that season with the GMHL’s Windsor Aces. 

Shipton became disillusioned in 2018-2019 after playing six games for the PJHL’s Port Dover Sailors and decided to hang up his skates. The Stoney Creek resident had given up on hockey until Predators owner Robert Turnbull came calling late in the 2019-2020 season. Shipton helped the Preds close out their last few games and was part of their playoff run that year. 

“I had had enough, I was tired of it all,” Shipton says. “Then, right before Christmas in 2018, Rob sent me a message asking why I wasn’t playing. He asked me to come back, and I realised I missed it. Then, when he purchased St. George, I was going to go play there. But COVID cancelled the (2020-2021) season and I missed my last year (of junior eligibility).”

When Turnbull  told him he was moving the Predators down to Niagara this year, he jumped at the chance to help out. And with original Niagara coach Andrew Whalen leaving the team after only a handful of games, and then general manager Johan Eriksson departing for a full time role as an agent, Shipton began to take on added duties for the Predators as the season progressed. 

Despite being just a year older than many of the players he is coaching, Shipton has found his groove and is discovering a love for coaching far beyond any expectations he might have had. 

“I’m loving it,” he tells The Local. “It’s just as much fun as playing for me. I’m having the time of my life. It’s different, but I’m still really involved in the game, it’s more hands-on, and there’s the mental strategy too. I still get the same feelings before a game as I did when I was playing, the energy and thrill.”

Any onlooker can feel the passion Shipton has for the game and for his team. He eagerly watches every moment on the ice from his perch behind his skaters and has an easy rapport with each member of the Predators. Turnbull often turns over the responsibility for between-periods dressing room pep talks and post-game breakdowns to his young charge. 

Shipton enjoys lacing up his skates for practices at the Meridian Credit Union Arena, working mostly with the Predators defensemen, some of whom are the youngest players on the team at 16 to 18 years old. 

“We have four young defensemen, and I can see how I was at that age,” says Shipton. “I’ll jump into drills with them, and do the morning skates when I can. It keeps me in shape. There are still certain times where mentally I see myself as a player during practices.”

Over the Family Day long weekend, he and Marson had a chance to lead the team sans Turnbull for a 5-4 victory in Windsor. 

“It was different, a fun experience to be able to call the shots,” he says. “I usually let Rob handle the forwards and I deal with the defence. With Sam’s help up front, I felt pretty comfortable behind the bench. I can see myself doing this on a regular basis.”

Turnbull credited the work of both of his young charges for managing the team to that come-from-behind victory after a four hour bus trip and a Friday night win over the second place Renegades. In turn, Shipton credits Turnbull for the faith he shows in both of them. 

“He acquired me when I was 17,” remembers Shipton. “He’s the most honest guy I’ve ever met in hockey. He’s done more for me in my hockey career than anyone else other than my family. That’s why I came back to work for him. He’s a great mentor, with 50-plus years in hockey, and he’s advanced so many players onto the next level. He’s the perfect guy to learn from.”

Shipton’s parents are at nearly every home game in Virgil. His mother Ann, in particular, can be seen roaming along the boards with her DSLR camera, diligently snapping photos of the players that she posts to an online folder for the entire team to access. 

“I’m an only child, and they’ve done so much for me,” Connor says of his parents. “With my Dad driving me everywhere, my Mom getting the pictures. Even back during minor hockey, I’m so thankful to have those memories to look back on.”

“All the guys always ask about their pictures,” he adds. “She keeps in touch with all the parents from when I was with the Preds before. For the Europeans, their parents don’t get to see them play, so getting to see those pictures is a big thing for them.”

Shipton balances his duties with the Predators with his full time employment in the dairy, frozen foods and meat departments at Wal-Mart in Stoney Creek. He’s in his fourth year working there, and says his hours are flexible, allowing him to attend most practices and games this year. 

Like Marson, he is hoping his current involvement with the Predators is a first step in a continued career in hockey. Also like Marson, he is considering attending Niagara College in September, but he’ll be studying something very different from her Sports Management program. 

“I need to go back to school and get my life outside of hockey going,” Shipton says. “Sam has been telling me to join her in that program, but I’ve kind of gotten interested in the Brewmaster program they’ve got there. I’m thinking of signing up for that one and seeing how it goes.”

He admits that he at one time had aspirations to play the game either professionally in Europe or at a US college at one time, but this year has shifted his focus to coaching, and he seems to be a natural fit in the role. 

And, speaking of natural fits, is there  a better one than hockey and beer? Surely the players he coaches on his own one day will want to learn all about his future skills as a brewmaster if he does indeed pursue that vocation.