Martindale rebounds from disappointment
Oilers prospect earns berth with Barons to start AHL season
OKLAHOMA CITY – When Ryan Martindale found himself veering off to Stockton, Calif., rather than Oklahoma City last year, he realized he had some some work to do.
Work he did. He worked on his game during the ECHL season with the Thunder, then in the off-season found a new trainer and worked on his body.
The result? A shot at an opening day roster spot with the American Hockey League’s Oklahoma City Barons.
Martindale, a third-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2010, was one of the 16 forwards left when the Barons returned to the ice on Monday.
“I came into camp with the mindset that I was determined to make it. I wasn’t going to let anything stop me,” he said on Monday after skating with Tyler Pitlick and Josh Green.
“Last year my goal was to come in and play for Oklahoma. (Stockton) definitely wasn’t at the top of my list last year of places to play, but going down there really made me realize how much I wanted it. And I went into this summer determined to improve all aspects of my game.
“I just wanted to get to camp and make an impact, show them that I was able to play, that I was ready to play. I have a lot of energy now and I’m moving a lot faster.”
Martindale, who turns 21 on Oct. 27, spent four seasons with the Oshawa 67s in the Ontario Hockey League. In his final season, he was playing on a line with Tyler Toffoli (a second-round pick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2010) and Shane Prince (the Ottawa Senators’ second-rounder in 2011), and put up 83 points.
After signing his entry level deal with the Oilers, the sixfoot-three, 207-pound Martindale played 34 games with the Thunder, scoring 15 points. It was time well spent, said Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini.
“Ryan Martindale centred one of the top lines in junior hockey in his final year, came in and had a good training camp with the Oilers, and he had a good training camp with the Barons, but there wasn’t a spot for him,” said Tambellini.
“Now players can go two ways when that happens. They can sit there and sulk and say this isn’t working out, or they can get through the season and put the work in like he did. He basically changed his body. He looks more like a pro player. That’s as much focus as I’ve seen in his game than I’ve seen in a long time.
“That’s what you’re looking for,” Tambellini continued. “It’s hard. It’s emotionally hard for a player (to go down), but everybody goes through hard situations, but what are you going to do to get better?”
Oklahoma City head coach Todd Nelson agreed. He said Martindale arrived in training camp with a much leaner frame and a more determined mindset.
Kristians Pelss, like Martindale, did enough to stay with the Barons while Philippe Cornet was sent down to Stockton. The Latvian winger, a seventhround pick in 2010, spent two Western Hockey League seasons with the Edmonton Oil Kings, popping in 14 goals as a rookie and then 28 last season, when the team went to the Memorial Cup.
“I like that I’m going to stay here. I was a little worried about coming here. It’s professional. It’s a different league,” said Pelss, 20. “But I worked hard and everything is good. I do know everything is much faster, everyone is much stronger, but I just have to listen to the coach and work hard.”
“He earned the right to be here,” said Nelson. “Same thing for Martindale. He had a strong camp and you have to take care of those guys when they do well.”
OKLAHOMA CITY – What he had done lately just wasn’t enough to keep Philippe Cornet in the Oklahoma City Barons’ lineup.
A couple of games with the Edmonton Oilers in 2011-12? A team-high 24 goals in 67 regular-season games with the American Hockey League Barons plus another seven points in 14 playoff games? An AHL all-star berth?
All fine and dandy, but that was last season. That was before the NHL lockout.
Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are now in Barons jerseys and owners of firstline spots. Additionally, Teemu Hartikainen and Magnus Paajarvi are back with Oklahoma City while they wait for another shot at full-time work with the Oilers.
And with Ryan Martindale and Kristians Pelss standing out as they did through the Barons’ training camp, Cornet was the odd man out when the last of the training camp cuts were completed. He just didn’t do enough in the Barons’ two pre-season games to avoid Monday’s demotion.
Cornet and winger Toni Rajala were assigned to the Stockton Thunder while defenceman Teigan Zahn was loaned to the ECHL club, leaving the Barons with 16 forwards and seven defencemen.
“There were some young guys who outperformed him,” head coach Todd Nelson said of the decision to move Cornet down.
Nelson then sent NugentHopkins out between Eberle and Paajarvi when the team got on the ice Monday. It’s a trio that will surely stick together for the opening game Friday against the Lake Erie Monsters.
Martindale was skating with Tyler Pitlick and Josh Green while Pelss was with Tanner House and Cameron Abney. Pelss, the Edmonton Oil Kings product, might not be in the lineup on opening day, but he’s done enough to stay with the AHL club.
Antti Tyrvainen is being treated for a back injury and is doubtful for the weekend set in Cleveland.
“There were some tough decisions that had to be made,” Nelson said. “I thought (Pelss) played two very strong games and this is something we talked about at the start of camp, that it was going to be competitive. We have a lot of quality hockey players here.
“We challenged (Cornet) to be the best player in Stockton, the best player in the league.”
Cornet, a fifth-round pick in the 2008 draft, went from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League to the Barons in 2010-11, netting seven goals in his rookie season. He was on the bench for the playoffs, turning that message into a much stronger showing in 2011-12.
With 15 goals in his first 20 games, he was AHL’s scoring leader in the first half of the season. He then went from the all-star game to the Oilers’ lineup for a game against the Colorado Avalanche and picked up an assist on his second shift in his first NHL game.
“I don’t know how long he’s going to be there,” Nelson said. “It was just one of those things where it’s just really competitive with the lockout going on. Guys are fighting for jobs every night.”
“It’s going to be tough to get a spot on the team,” said Anton Lander, who was getting a test run with Hartikainen and Mark Arcobello on Monday.
“That makes the team better, so I’m excited for the season to start.
“We went to the conference final last year,” Lander continued. “We want to be better. We want to go further. This is a really talented group with really good lines, (so) you have to be good, you have to be ready for every game, every practice.”