Mitchell Brings More than Scoring

At 21-years-old and only 5’9” it’s tough to crack any NHL roster.

It’s even tougher when Brian Burke is putting that roster together. Burke is man known for his go big or go home mentality.

Dale Mitchell will most likely end up with a spot on the Toronto Marlies. The former 2007 third-round pick is one of the 63 players invited to the Toronto Maple Leafs training camp this year. He’s coming off a nine game stint with the Marlies last season and a second MasterCard Memorial Cup championship with the Windsor Spitfires.

Mitchell has never shied away from the physical side of the game always going to the dirty areas. And, it showed on the score sheet with 136 goals and 334 points spread over 293 OHL games. It may have been Mitchell’s ability to score that got him drafted but it’s his knack for keeping his teammates loose that will get him to the NHL one day.

“He’s crazy,” said former Spitfires head coach Bob Boughner. “Mitchy’s one of those guys – our room before he came back from Toronto was a good room but it was a quiet room. He just brings that energy everyday. He changed our whole team when he came back. He made the room a fun place to be.”

Former Spitfire teammate and first-overall pick, Taylor Hall agrees with Boughner’s assessment of Mitchell.

“Dale is a pretty funny guy I don’t think he takes himself too seriously whatsoever,” explained Hall with a chuckle. “You need those guys in the lineup and he’s just someone who brought our team together.”

During the Windsor Spitfires run to the 2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup the team found themselves down 0-3 to the Kitchener Rangers in the Western Conference finals. It was Mitchell that lead the way before that pivotal game four.

“We weren’t upset about it we knew it was a do or die situation,” Mitchell says. “We had nothing to lose. We did some pranks before game four and stayed loose. We just had fun. Then we went out for game four and won.”

The Spitfires didn’t lose another game the rest of the way.

Even during the Memorial Cup championship, mired in a long scoreless drought, Mitchell found other ways to help his team. With all the attention focused squarely on Hall and the upcoming NHL Entry draft Hall’s face was constantly on the jumbotron. Every time Mitchell noticed this he would lean over and block out Hall’s face with the blade of his stick. Soon enough the rest of the team got involved and all of a sudden they started playing looser.

Mitchell laughs when recalling that event adding, “it’s just little things like that to keep the guys laughing and loose. At the same time it is all business on game day and when the puck drops there’s not much joking around. We’re all playing for the guy beside us.“

In a dressingroom that has so many reported “issues” the Leafs would be wise to bring in a player such as Mitchell.

“You can’t have enough of those guys,” says Boughner. “He’s definitely a character and a loved guy by all the rest of the players.”

“He’s that spark plug on the ice a shooter and a skater,” says Spitfires GM Warren Rychel. “Every team needs one of those guys. We were a good group and we have a lot of fun and Mitchy is definitely the center of attention.”