PITMAN

“It helps a lot, because your legs aren’t dead,” said Pitman, staying in Conquerall Bank with the family of former Mustangs defenceman Kyle Hopkins. “When you only live 10 to 15 minutes from a rink and you can actually go to the gym before practice or go for a run before practice, it really helps.”

While the move away from home was “pretty hard” initially, Pitman settled in as smoothly as he did on the ice.

“My family was all in for it and I see my family mostly every weekend anyways — they come to our games — so it wasn’t that big of a move this year.”

Next season, he hopes to step into the QMJHL with Bathurst or otherwise play in the Maritime Hockey League with his hometown Mariners.

Yarmouth, the top team in the MHL, is expected to add Pitman to its lineup as soon as his U18 playoffs are finished this season.

“I think I’ll be like the extra forward (with the Mariners),” said Pitman, who was called up earlier this season. “Just in case someone gets hurt, I’ll be jumping in their lineup once in a while in playoffs. It’ll be great if they go all the way. You never know, you could get a championship ring and only play with them in playoffs.”

With his return home, Pitman plans to transfer from Grade 11 at Park View to Yarmouth Consolidated Memorial High School. Previously a student at Ecole secondaire de Par-en-bas in Tusket, he can’t switch from an English school to a French school with a semester already in progress.