Lightning rookie has Quebec roots
MARK BARBERIo credits his grandfather and his childhood in Quebec City with making it to the NHL
Tampa Bay Lightning rookie defenceman Mark Barberio said his passion for hockey — and soccer, for that matter — was partly sparked by his grandfather, Angelo. Angelo and his wife, Lidia, were Italian immigrants who helped raise Barberio in Quebec City while his parents worked. “We were really close,” Barberio said. That’s what made it so tough for Barberio, 23, last fall. He felt so close to realizing his National Hockey League dream when Angelo died just before the start of the American Hockey League season. Angelo, who had diabetes and pancreatic cancer, got to watch a few of Barberio’s AHL games on television. Barberio made his NHL debut last week with the Lightning and is still looking for his first point after playing two games. “He had a big part in me making it here for sure,” Barberio said of his grandfather. “I’m just hoping he’s watching me now, because I know he’d be proud.” It’s been a long journey for Barberio, the team’s sixthround draft pick in 2008. The Lightning hopes the 6-foot-1, 185-pounder can grow into the kind of poised, puck-moving defenceman and powerplay point man it has sought since trading Dan Boyle in 2008. Barberio has the flair and offensive ability, as seen by his 61 points in becoming the AHL’s top defenceman in 2011-12 and 40 points in becoming a second-team all-star selection this year. “There’s a dynamic piece to him, and he’s just that guy if you’re down a goal, ‘Barbs’ somehow finds a way,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “He’ll end up on the score sheet at some point with the tying goal.” The Lightning has taken a patient approach with Barberio, slowly bringing him along in nearly two full seasons in the AHL. Cooper, who coached Barberio at AHL Norfolk and Syracuse, said Barberio wasn’t put on the power play right away and wasn’t used on the penalty kill until this season. Barberio understood the slow process, which made him the team’s seventh rookie call-up this year. He said that in his first AHL season, he’d “almost run around like a chicken with its head cut off.” But he believes his defence is much improved and he learned to be more relaxed and calm in the defensive zone, letting plays come to him rather than forcing things. “You’re talking about being spoon-fed,” Cooper said. “He Calder Cup last season with Norfolk) and shows little fear in big moments. Flynn will never forget the “Peter Forsberg-type move” Barberio made for the winning goal in a shootout against Patrick Roy’s junior team, the Quebec Remparts, in front of 14,000 fans in Quebec City. “You don’t see a defenceman try something as slick as that,” Flynn said. “But he walked in cool as a cucumber.”