CANADIAN PRESENCE STRONG IN FLAMES’ DRESSING ROOM
‘We have the nicest team and the most character, so it makes sense,’ Hamilton says
In a dressing room with more Canadians than almost any team in the NHL, it threatens to be as divisive an issue as the Calgary Flames have ever dealt with.
In what will surely spark national debate — and potentially a trade out of town — Swedishborn Mikael Backlund made a conscious decision to stir debate on Canadian coffee.
In particular, Tim Hortons’ sacred java.
“I don’t like it, it’s water,” said Backlund as a collective hush fell over the room.
“You guys can’t make coffee over here, sorry to say. We get Swedish coffee. People bring it over for us to our house. I’ll go there every once in a while to get a doughnut — they do a good job with that. But the coffee is a little watery here in North America.”
As if trying to save himself, he threw some love towards a token Canadian favourite.
“I like maple syrup,” smiled Backlund, who has lived in Calgary almost a decade.
“Canadians are nice people, I’ll give you guys that. But, oh yeah, if someone brings (in a) Tim Hortons, I give them a hard time.” Blasphemy. Let’s be clear, it’s not like the Calgary Flames dressing room is a constant collection of Coffee Crisps, Ketchup chips, Nanaimo Bars and Timbits.
However, it is a congregation of 17 Canadian-born players (Tanner Glass is no longer with the parent club), which lags only behind injury-ravaged Ottawa and Montreal in terms of the number of Hosers in the lineup so far this year.
While news of the inordinate number of lads born in our home and native land may surprise some, the man with the most Canadian name of all — Dougie Hamilton — shrugged it off.
“We have the nicest team and the most character, so it makes sense,” beamed one of nine Ontario products in the room.
Yet, minutes later, there was Michael Stone, in danger of having to surrender his passport when the Winnipeg native shared his thoughts on another uniquely Canadian product.
“I don’t like Smarties,” said Stone, unabashedly.
“They’re awful. I don’t understand the attraction. I would pick M & M peanuts over Smarties.”
The kid clearly spent too long in the Arizona sun. His head isn’t on straight.
Johnny Gaudreau wasn’t brazen enough to start attacking Canadian institutions or delicacies when told he was surrounded by more Canadians than almost any player in the league.
“I hadn’t really noticed that too much, but I do notice we don’t have many Americans,” said the New Jersey native.
“I’ll probably find out exactly how many there are a little more toward Christmas and the world juniors, that’s probably when I’m making five, six, seven bets with each player.”
Officially, Gaudreau is one of five Americans to play this year in Calgary, a number disputed by Stone.
“I consider Chucky (Matthew Tkachuk) a half Canadian,” he declared.
“He played junior in Canada and his mom is Canadian.”
Tkachuk wouldn’t argue. How very half-Canadian of him.
“My mom would probably say that as well, but my dad would definitely say that with my mom being born and growing up in Canada, I’m 51 per cent Canadian,” chuckled the St. Louis native, who also refused to buy into the magic of Timmy’s coffee.
“I like Starbucks. I’ve just had it since I lived in the U.S. forever.”
Any way to prove how Canadian he is?
“I like Booster Juice,” he smiled. Fair enough. Fifty-one per cent it is. Befitting his history as Canada’s captain at the 2015 world juniors, Curtis Lazar is heartened by his club’s northern population.
After all, some teams in the league have as few as five Canadians.
“I’m a proud Canadian, proud to be playing in a Canadian market so I probably overlook that stuff,” he said.
“But the subtleties of Tim Hortons — a true Canadian thing — is probably noticeable. With the language thing, Canadians are always known as being the thoughtful people, the nice people, and I think Europeans come over who don’t know English and it’s an opportunity to teach them and help them out. That’s the power of sport.”
Coach Glen Gulutzan, a good ol’ Western lad, wasn’t shocked to learn he was surrounded by compatriots.
“What struck me here a little bit is I never heard another language spoken in our room last season,” said Gulutzan, whose coaching staff is all-Canadian.
“With Eddie Lack and Backs and Rasmus Andersson here earlier I heard a little Swedish in the back. Then Jags (Jaromir Jagr) and Fro (Michael Frolik) were speaking Czech.
“It struck me, that’s the first time I’d heard another language here, compared to when I was in Vancouver where there were a lot of Swedish guys. In Dallas there were a few Finnish and Swedish guys.”
Not surprisingly, he said he hasn’t seen many doughnuts in the ’Dome’s dressing room.
“I will tell you this, when I was coaching in Dallas and you were in the U.S. for a prolonged period of time, whenever we came up to Canada, the first thing that all guys wanted to do — including the Euros — was hit Timmy’s,” he said, laughing.
“That was the big thing. That’s where maybe you’d see the odd doughnut in the dressing room because we’d passed the border and gone to Timmy’s.
“Caesars too. Most of the Canadian guys when they went out to dinner wanted a caesar.
“Actually, maybe it was just the coaches.”