INDEPENDENTSPORTS
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14-20, 2007 — PAGE 33
By Brian Callahan The Independent erry Ryan is nothing if not a realist. At age 30, and in arguably his best shape in a decade, he was offered a minor pro-hockey contract for this season, but turned it down. That’s ice hockey, by the way. Not ball hockey or in-line — not that there’s anything wrong with those sports. OK, so the contract was with the Dayton (Ohio) Bombers of the East Coast Hockey League and no, there were no guarantees of a callup to The Show with Columbus. But tempting? You better believe it. “Hey, it felt really, really good to be sought after again, ya know?” Ryan tells The Independent at his Mount Pearl home where there are two predominant shrines — one to the Montreal Canadiens and the other to The Beatles. “They can only take so many veterans … but they said they wanted to fax me the contract and sign it.” Common sense told Ryan — a sniper first, tough guy second — to ponder the fork in the road and take the one less travelled. And make no mistake: the 10kilometre dirt road to the First Nations reserve of Horse Lake in northern Alberta most certainly falls into the latter category. Ryan has agreed to play hockey this season with the Horse Lake Thunder, a team with a legitimate shot at an Allan Cup national senior hockey title. This also happens to be the 100th anniversary of the Allan Cup, with the champions moving on to the worlds in Europe. TSN is planning coverage of both. A myriad of issues factored into Ryan’s decision to go west — money, of course, being chief among them. He gave notice and quit his job recently as a local rep and distributor for the Red Bull energy drink, and flew to Calgary Sept. 12. “Hey, if I was 38 I’d be going to Alberta looking for a labour job like everybody else. But I’m going up to play hockey, to do what I love to do and make money at it,” says Ryan, adding he’s not permitted to divulge actual dollar figures. “But I can tell you I’ll be set up with a job making triple what I was making here … and I’ll also be doing what I really want to be doing — playing hockey again, in front of big crowds, and for money. “If I’m going to play, I want to have fun doing it. And playing for the (Mount Pearl) Blades the last two years didn’t do it. Don’t get me wrong — first and foremost, I want to play. I’ll play till my foot falls off. But with 40 fans in the stands, it was really hard to get into it. I know guys playing in Horse Lake, and I know we’ll be skating out to a packed rink — a $20-million rink. “It’ll be a rush.” Ryan, this province’s highest NHL draft pick (eighth overall to Montreal in 1995) was winning scoring titles in the Avalon East league, and always up for a good tilt. A three-minute bout between Ryan and former NHL enforcer and Deer Lake native Darren Langdon brought the house down in Corner Brook a few years ago. But questions persist about Ryan’s left ankle, which was also a key factor in choosing Horse Lake over Dayton. “You know, I could probably have done a full season (in the ECHL), but it’s a lot of games … 80 or something with playoffs,” he says, noting the ankle held
T
Terry Ryan with just some of his memorabilia at his home in Mount Pearl.
Paul Daly/The Independent
Defining Ryan Former NHLer Terry Ryan passes up minor-league contract to play for First Nations reserve in northern Alberta and shot at Allan Cup; will play till his foot ‘falls off’ up fine in local senior play. “The biggest thing in pro was three games in three nights. I did that in Orlando. Then I’d take a shot of cortisone and would almost be on crutches the next day.” The high ankle sprain doesn’t bother him in ball hockey or the in-line game, he says. “It’s only when I put on the skate. I’ve got to do a 90-minute prep on my ankle before a game. I’ve come to find out how to tape it … I use special pads, and the skate is altered, too.” That often means getting to the rink at about 3 p.m. for a seven o’clock game. “So I know how to prep it. But hey, if anything ever happens (in Alberta), too bad and I gotta come home.” Ryan says he expects to play a total of 50-60 games with Horse Lake, where the average age is 32 and there’s one trainer for every four players. That number of games includes Allan Cup playoffs, “and I’d be really disappointed if we didn’t get there (Brampton, Ont.).” Ryan says there’s a possibility the team won’t win, but he’s not secondguessing his decision. “I could go to Dayton instead, but what would I be doing it for? I know I couldn’t do a full year in the NHL, even if I got the call. The number of games, the every-day workouts; there’s not a day you’re not skating. I’m not sure my
ankle could take the wear and tear. So I had to be realistic and accept it … that it’s just a little too late to go back to pro.” There’s no mistaking the disappointment in Ryan’s voice; he lowers his gaze and wrings his hands as his own words sink in. The rare seconds of silence in the family living room, particularly in the presence of his ever-supportive, outgoing and often boisterous parents, is evidence they realize their son’s pro career is over, too. As always, the peace doesn’t last long. They’re quick to re-enforce their support for his decision, but are equally dismayed he can’t stay home and play for a Newfoundland entry in the Allan Cup. Ryan says he’d do that in a heartbeat, if only such a team existed. It doesn’t. “I still say we could’ve put a local allstar team together and probably won the whole thing, but all I’ve been told is the powers-that-be said no,” he says. “And I really don’t know why.” Instead, Ryan sent out a mass e-mail to past teammates, telling them Halifax was interested in putting together a team. What he got back was the proposal for Horse Lake. “My buddy, Zenith Komarniski, said, ‘If you’re serious, come up here’,” Ryan recalls, noting he’d already received the call from Dayton and was considering a move anyway.
The rest is history. Ryan also believes he’ll be treated with a little more respect in the North Peace Hockey League. “I can tell you now that I had guys comin’ at me (in Avalon East) with their elbows in my face in the first five minutes, knowing if I drop the gloves I’m gone for the game,” he says. “Up there (Alberta), it’s like the pros — three fights a game. And I definitely won’t get cheap-shotted up there, not like here. I have more chance of injury playing here than there.” Horse Lake, of course, is where former NHLer Theo Fleury ended up after being tossed for repeatedly breaking the league’s substance abuse policy. But other former NHLers like Gino Odjick are also there and making the most of their post-pro opportunity, Ryan notes. The plan, he says, is to live in Calgary with former Team Canada in-line teammate Mark Woolf, with whom Ryan won a silver medal. He’s also got a couple of day jobs lined up, when he’s not flying to Horse Lake in northwestern Alberta. Ryan makes it clear he’d be in no position to even consider making the move if it weren’t for two guys — Mike Wahl and Mike O’Neil — of Definitions gym in St. John’s. “I’ve got to give credit to those guys. It changed the way I eat, the way I work out, the way I live,” he says.
“I’m telling you, in Montreal they had the wrong people, wrong diets, they’d say eat less … all of that stuff. But with these guys, I eat more — almost every night a 16-oz steak, fish … “I don’t sleep on starch every night … and I feel guilty if I don’t go for a run every day. Back in the day, it was a drag to diet, it was a drag to work out. You just did it because you were a pro hockey player. But now, I couldn’t think of living any other way. I run, bike and swim, skate. Every day I do something. Cardio is huge for me now.” In many ways, the experience out west will also be nostalgic — an opportunity for Ryan to hook up, and play, with hockey buddies from his Tier II junior days with Quesnel Millionaires, as well as the WHL’s Tri-Cities Americans and Red Deer Rebels. Many of them still live and play in Alberta, where they grew up. “You know, there’s only so many years or days I have left to use hockey to my advantage … and to play it at this level, competitively. “But it’s bittersweet, too, I guess. But I know now my ultimate goal, as a senior hockey player, the highest I can go is an Allan Cup, and then the worlds, right? “I guess if you think about it, indirectly, there’s nothing else I can win at this point. It’s my Stanley Cup.” brian.callahan@theindependent.ca
that dream. “It’s not something I wanted to do,” Paiement the coach said after a recent practice as the team prepared for its season-opening, two-game road trip Sept. 15-16. “It wasn’t a dream of mine to coach my son, not at all. I still don’t think that it’s the healthiest situation for him, for me, or for his teammates.” But Paiement is also a realist. He watched his son captain the midget Maple Leafs last year. He drafted the boy prior to last season. If the kid could play at this level and help the team, then Paiement wanted him on his team. “I didn’t want him to be denied the opportunity if he deserved it,” he said.
“We drafted him because we felt he had some potential. We selected him to the team this year because he brings a lot of the things we’re looking for this year. He brings leadership, determination, some type of physical play. He’s got some definite points we have to work on, like a lot of other players.” It still is, however, a dicey situation. The dressing room is the players’ haven, their sanctuary, a place where they talk about the coach, positively and negatively. Now, with Vincent Paiement part of that dynamic, will the players feel comfortable in their discussions? Will the
Family affair For the first time, Real Paiement’s hockey bench will include his son rent Sutter just finished a celebrated junior hockey coaching career, leading Canada to two world championships and an astounding 7-0-1 record against Russia in the poorly named Super Series. But perhaps more than the great record (he never lost a game as the national junior coach), Sutter’s ability to coach his son in this most recent eightgame series drew plaudits from far and near. Coaching your son (or daughter) is one of the oldest traditions in sports. Usually it takes place at a level far from the international or national spotlight, such as novice hockey, or under-12 soc-
B
DON POWER
Power Point cer. I’m not sure if Real Paiement watched the Super Series very closely — he had his hands full preparing the St. John’s Fog Devils for the 2007-08 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season after all — but Paiement finds himself in a similar situation to Sutter. Earlier this week, Paiement named a 25-man Fog Devils roster to start the
year, and Vincent Paiement was on that list. So for the first time ever in his career (save for a half-season at AAA midget in Miramichi), Real Paiement will coach his son. “Unlike Sutter and (Guy) Chouinard (who coached his son in major junior),” Paiement cautions though, “those guys are first- or second-line players. Vincent is a role player, our 13th forward.” For some, coaching their son in this situation is a dream come true. In hockey, perhaps more than any other sport, dads have long harboured dreams of their kids reaching the big time thanks to their hard work. Paiement, pere et fils, did not share
See “The team,” page 34