Blake Montgomery swears that Kasper Halttunen has the hardest shot he’s ever seen. And Kasper Halttunen describes Blake Montgomery as the fastest player he’s ever seen.
That combination seems like a pretty good problem for Belleville Senators coach Andrew Campbell to have.
“Well, Monty and Halty are roommates, so of course they're giving each other compliments like that,” said Campbell when he was informed of these claims, with a slight grin forming at the corner of his mouth.
Montgomery has evidence to back up his claim. He says while the pair were playing for the OHL’s London Knights two seasons ago, Halttunen broke his shinpad with a shot in practice.
On this particular afternoon, the B-Sens are coming off a 4-1 win over the defending Calder Cup champion Toronto Marlies in Belleville which offered some more support for Montgomery’s argument.
Halttunen had his second hat trick of the young season in the win, scoring three goals on the power play from his usual spot in the left circle. That pushed his season totals to nine goals in 12 games (he now has 10 in 15, heading into the weekend of Nov. 14–15).
If things continue going smoothly for Halttunen in his sophomore pro season, he should get a chance to prove his shooting prowess on a radar meter at the 2027 AHL All-Star Skills Competition in Cleveland this February.
“It’s evident that he can shoot the puck and he likes to score goals,” says Montgomery. “I’m glad to see success coming his way.”
The success isn’t coming by accident, either — this, Campbell can attest to. He says that Halttunen is always on the ice both before and after practice working on his boomer of a shot.
“He’s one of the guys that you have to be like, ‘Haltty, it’s time to go off, you’ve probably done enough work for the day,’” says Campbell.
“He has a hunger to get better. He's really coachable. He's got a bright future, and he's got that one thing that everyone wants: his goal-scoring ability. So yeah, he's a good player to have around here for us.”
