Lining up for the home team in his own home town
Dundas native Jankowski hasn’t played competitive game here in 12 years
When Mark Jankowski finally gets to see his hometown’s football field for the first time, it will be because he’s skating on it.
And, hopefully, the 27-year-old Buffalo Sabres forward will not only be practising at Tim Hortons Field with his teammates Saturday afternoon, but will also join them in the game lineup against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Sunday’s Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic.
“I’ve never been there but when I was growing up I was in old Ivor Wynne Stadium a few times to watch Tiger-Cats games,” says the Dundas native, who’s in his fifth NHL season. “And I was there for the flag football finals in elementary school, which were at Ivor Wynne every year, and that was always a very cool thing.”
It will be even cooler, metaphorically and in reality, this weekend.
After the Sabres pre-game practice on the outdoor rink Saturday, there is a skating party on the same ice for the players’ friends and families. It’s all part of the NHL’s mission of making the outdoor event a more special occasion than a normal regular-season game. Jankowski says his mother, Rose Mary; father, Len; and siblings David, Nicole and Natalie will be at Tim Hortons Field, as will his girlfriend and some of her family.
“That’ll be so great to have them experience that with me,” he told The Spectator on Wednesday. “To get my family skating around and seeing what that’s like on the big outdoor rink. My family has sacrificed so much and I would not be in this position without them. Not everyone will skate, but they’ll all be out there at the rink.”
Jankowski has diligently worked his way back to the NHL after accepting an American Hockey League contract in mid-October to play for the Sabres’ top farm team. Buffalo liked what it saw and signed him to an NHL contract in late November and he’s been with the Sabres ever since. He doesn’t play every game because the struggling team is trying a variety of roster combinations in a season that is the first step in another rebuild.
He was Calgary’s 2012 first-round draft choice, 21st overall, the highest selection ever out of a Canadian high school (Quebec’s Stanstead College) and was a full-time Flame by 2017. He had a solid 31 goals over his first two years in the NHL, but, after a pronounced production drop in 2019-20, Calgary released him and Jankowski spent last season in Pittsburgh where he scored the NHL’s first goal of the pandemic-delayed campaign.
His contract wasn’t renewed and he didn’t have a team until the Sabres signed him to add stability and experience and to provide an example to young players of how to conduct themselves as professional players.
“I’ve kind of seen it all in my time in professional hockey,” Jankowski says. “I’ve seen guys go up and down. I’ve been through a lot, so I take it day to day, and try to be a positive presence. I went to Rochester to prove I can get back to the NHL and I think that, with the help of their coaching staff, I did a good job of that.”
Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams concurs with that analysis.
“We’d heard great things about Mark as a person and obviously he’s been a good pro his whole career,” Adams told The Spectator. “He played really, really well in Rochester, so we decided to bring him up and he’s been really good for us. Mark’s been in and out of our lineup but when he’s been in he’s been good so there’s no hesitation on our part to use him. He’s strong on faceoffs, penalty kills and can add offence.”
He has played 19 games, scoring a pair of goals and adding three assists, and is a significant plus-two on a team that has given up 55 more goals than it’s scored.
Jankowski has a deep family hockey history. His father played college hockey at Cornell, his grandfather Lou played in the NHL, his brother is the captain of the NCAA’s St. Lawrence Saints and his grand uncle was Hall of Famer Red Kelly.
The last time he played a competitive game in Hamilton was 12 years ago against the Junior Bulldogs when he was with the St. Catharines AAA minor midget Falcons. He has followed the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs closely since general manager Steve Staios allowed him to practise for a week and a half with the major junior team while he waited for his U.S. work visa to be approved.
Jankowski won’t know until game day if he’ll be playing, but it’d be at least a mild surprise if he didn’t, because he’s the only hometown skater on either team’s roster and skaters returning to their roots usually bring a contagious energy to the entire lineup. The Sabres are the home team for the game and will be using the Tiger-Cats dressing room.
“It’s a coach’s decision and you’d honour it no matter what decision they make, so I’ll take it day by day,” Jankowski says. “But, it would be really special, being from the Hamilton area and having so many friends and relatives there. I’ve played in Toronto and Buffalo is not far from home, so they’ve got to see me play in the NHL before.
“But, in an outdoor classic in my actual hometown, with the whole experience of the outdoor game? That would be really cool.”