Canucks struggle with injuries
Injuries are an unfortunate byproduct of a bone-crunching sport played at breakneck speed with falls broken by unforgiving surfaces such as ice, boards, glass and elbows.
But what the Calgary Canucks have experienced of late defies description.
Within the span of a week, three members of the local junior A squad went down with long-term injuries that will keep them out until at least January. Derek Thorogood broke his collarbone and Willy Sakal badly dislocated his shoulder on Nov. 27 in a game against Brooks before Kirby Ruzesky also succumbed to a busted collarbone on Dec. 2 against Olds. Even worse, those are three of the teams key players.
And the list doesn’t stop there.
Gianni Mangone (hip/back) hasn’t played since Nov. 1, Devon Westby (knee) has been day-to-day since Nov. 30, Ty Morgan lost the last three games to a concussion, Joel Rogers (wrist) joined the IR on Dec. 6, Curtis Lewington caught mono and hasn’t played since last week, assistant captain Alex Marcinew hurt his elbow during last Saturday’s game vs. Bonnyville, and, to top it off, the club recently lost top-liner Gui Glasspoole, who has decided to go to school full-time.
“Oh man, it’s stupid right now,” said Canucks leading scorer Clayton Petrie, who has been left holding the mail without regular linemates, Ruzesky, Morgan and Glasspoole.
“It’s pretty hard right now with this many players (down). I don’t think it’s because we’re not working hard or anything. It’s just some of our better players are out right now and it’s costing us.” Indeed. With a devastating 13-1 loss in Brooks on Tuesday night, the Canucks have now dropped nine of their last 10 games (the lone win in that stretch coming last Wednesday at home against Camrose) and have fallen into seventh place in the AJHL’s South Division.
Overall, a rotten case of bad luck.
“Really freak injuries,” described head coach/GM Ryan Barrett. “The two broken collarbones weren’t really bad plays. One got smushed in the corner and he came out bad. The other one, he kind of got accordioned.
“You know, the boys are playing hard and they’re sacrificing themselves. And that’s kind of why there are some injuries, but I’ll be honest, it’s a fluke how bad the injuries are. You don’t see too many guys at this level snapping collarbones.”
If there is a positive in all of this, it’s the development of several younger players, who are being thrust into larger roles. Barrett singled out 17-year-old rookie Peter Plesa, who has stepped up his game, even if it hasn’t shown up on the scoresheet yet (just one assist in 20 games played).
“He’s just been getting better and better. At the beginning of the year, we were getting him into the lineup, but now it’s where in the beginnings of the game, if he’s going, he’s doing extremely well and he’s responding extremely well defensively.
“As far as I’m concerned, Peter Plesa’s one of the guys we’re really liking right now for sure.”
And, of course, they’ve still got veterans like Petrie, who centres the top line and leads by example with 11 goals and 32 points in 33 games.
“It boils down to guys like Clayton understanding the importance of making sure our team’s going the right way,” Barrett explained. “Because we don’t necessarily have a lot of energy to backcheck all night. Turnovers are a big thing when you’ve got men down and you want to make sure you keep that puck in front of you all night long.
“Even our guys that don’t play a lot have to do a lot more now — power play, penalty kill, stuff they haven’t seen much of. But that’s going to make us a better hockey team.”
Ice chips …
Calgary’s other AJHL team is also struggling mightily in the wins department. The Mustangs, who were at one time challenging for the South Division lead, have dropped off the map, winning just three of their last 20 games (including a 2-1 loss to Camrose on Tuesday) — enduring a stretch of 10 straight losses in November. Trying to shake things up, the club recently swapped goalies with Olds (sending Jake Tamagi for Talor Joseph), while also sending offensive forward Damien Kulynych and getting forward Mitch Owsley back. The Mustangs then turned right around and flipped Owsley to Bonnyville for defenceman Carson McCormick, a High River product … Brooks Bandits leading scorer Cam Maclise is the AJHL’s player of the week after netting three goals and six points in three games to continue a six-game point streak.