Skip to content

Nelson's Alex MacLeod gets ECHL call-up

Nelson’s Alex MacLeod got his first taste of East Coast Hockey League action over the weekend.
51670westernstar01_21AlexMacLeod
Nelson's Alex MacLeod takes the pre-game skate with the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays on Saturday night.

Nelson’s Alex MacLeod got his first taste of East Coast Hockey League action over the weekend.

The power forward signed a two-game contract with the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays last week and played in two games over the weekend.

The 25-year-old MacLeod headed south in the fall in an attempt to crack the Stingrays’ roster for the 2012-13 season. A glut of players in the minors due to the NHL lockout made competition stiff and MacLeod was sent down to the Southern Professional Hockey League’s Columbus Cottonmouths.

MacLeod scored six goals and added nine assists in his first 29 games in the American south prior to the call-up. His gritty play again caught the eye of the Stingrays who signed him last week when injuries hammered the team’s forward crew.

MacLeod played in his first ECHL game on Saturday night against the Florida Everblades at the Stingrays home arena in South Charleston before 4,057 fans in a game the home side lost 2-0. MacLeod and the Stingrays bounced back on Sunday with a 4-2 win.

MacLeod is in his first professional hockey season. He played four years at Michigan Tech where he skated in 144 games and was named to the WCHA all-academic team.

By Monday MacLeod was on the road back to Charlotte. MacLeod was replaced in the Cottonmouths’ line-up by army captain Biff McNally.

The Stingrays are affiliated with the NHL’s Boston Bruins.