Rosehill’s goon days (almost) gone
British elite league offers ex-Leafs’ enforcer a chance to do more than just fight
It’s a mid-week afternoon and former Toronto Maple Leafs tough guy Jay Rosehill is at home in Renfrew, Scotland, looking after his two young boys, three-yearold Ryatt and baby Rigden, who is four months.
As Rosehill chats on the phone about his new life in bonny Scotland, Ryatt cranks up the rambunctious level.
“My three year old’s about to have a meltdown,” said Rosehill, laughing.
He’s gone for a second, but can be heard in the background saying: “OK, I’ll put on PAW Patrol.”
Apparently, Ryatt loves PAW Patrol — what little guy doesn’t? Rosehill may have been one of the NHL’s most feared enforcers, but at home, he’s dad, the guy who turns on PAW Patrol. It’s been three months since Rosehill’s family — his two boys and wife Dale — joined him in Scotland.
Everything so far is going — with respect to Rosehill’s specialty — smashingly. The Rosehill clan is enjoying its adventure overseas and the big winger is digging his time playing for the Braehead Clan of the Elite Ice Hockey League, the top professional hockey league in Great Britain.
At 31, Rosehill certainly isn’t over the hill, but there were times playing in North America the last few seasons when the native of Olds, Alta., felt that his career was going nowhere. He was pigeonholed as a fight-only player with fighting on a downward trend. After talking to a couple of buddies who played overseas, Rosehill made some inquiries about playing in the EIHL and was soon talking to Clan head coach Ryan Finnerty, a fellow Albertan.
“The biggest thing with me being here is Ryan Finnerty,” said Rosehill. “He kind of told me everything I wanted to hear. Said he’d give me the opportunity to be one of the ‘go-to’ guys, which sounded appealing at the point I was at in my career.”
Finnerty said he didn’t expect Rosehill to fight all the time and he was going to give him the chance to take a regular shift and actually play hockey. For Rosehill, a breath of fresh air.
“It just seemed like something that fit after a few sh-tty coaches I’ve had, guys who didn’t put any stock in me. And I was kind of tired of it,” said Rosehill.
“(Finnerty) said he could see from looking at my rap sheet that when I am able to play, I have put up some points. And he said, ‘You can skate and I think this big ice is going to be the biggest help for you.’ Because that’s always been my thing, I can skate as good as anybody.”
And for the first time since his second year as a pro, Rosehill is playing some defence (he was drafted in the seventh round in 2003 by the Tampa Bay Lightning out of the Olds Grizzlys as a defenceman). In 18 games with Braehead (heading into a Saturday night game against Dundee), Rosehill has scored a game winner and collected four assists to go along with his 57 penalty minutes (third most in the EIHL), so he’s not exactly turned the other cheek.
Rosehill has a couple of tussles since joining the EIHL, but he’s playing regular shifts and gets the chance to make plays and contribute regularly on defence. He also wears the A as one of the team’s assistant captains.
During his time with the Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers, and with a slew of clubs in the AHL and ECHL, Rosehill dropped the gloves (according to HockeyFights.com) 146 times. He also delivered some bone-jarring hits. But the personable skater also collected (often with limited ice time) 34 goals (two with the Leafs) and 43 assists. The son of a cattle auctioneer, Rosehill always figured he had more to give. In the EIHL, he’s getting that chance.
“This big ice for me is unreal,” he said. “You can play that puck possession game, which in my opinion is so much more fun because you don’t have to take a few strides in a straight line and then dump it and chase it. You can make plays.”
Rosehill said he’s been surprised at the calibre of play in the EIHL and said the atmosphere at most arenas in the 10-team league is outstanding.
“Guys have said, ‘You played in the NHL in front of 18,000, what’s it like coming here and playing in front of 4,000?’ And it’s not a big let down,” said Rosehill. “It’s exciting. They’re banging their drums, (at home) everyone’s in purple, they’re on their feet. And it’s more a North American-style hockey, there’s scrums after whistles, you can lay big hits and not get penalties. It’s fun to play. We’ve got great fans over here. We’re in a full building every night and they got their drums going and their chants, different chants for every player”.
The 6-3, 215-pound bruiser laughed thinking back to a recent game in Fife, when he was tossed after some rough stuff in front of the net and was spat on by a Fife Flyers’ fan as he walked to the dressing room.
“It’s hilarious,” he said. “There’s some buildings where there’s no glass behind (the bench) and you can just get laid on (with vocal abuse). And if you get pissed off, you give it back to them. Honestly, it’s fun.”
Rosehill has already become a bit of a legend with the Braehead fan base for his all-out play and toughness. In only his second game with the Clan, he took a puck to the mouth and lost three teeth and suffered a broken palate and cuts that required 30 stitches to close. There’s gory pictures of his messed-up mush all over the Internet. Fans in Braehead love that Rosehill popped right up, skated to the bench and was back for the next game.
“I guess they’re used to footballers laying down and milking every injury, so they took affection for me because of that,” he said.
Even the local media has taken notice of his arrival in Braehead. Talking about the injury, Rosehill told the Glasgow Evening Times: “I’ve been pretty lucky. I’ve been pretty good with my face, just a few cuts and bruises. I’ve torn my knee, separated my shoulder, broken my leg. I’ve only ever really broken my thumbs when fighting, I hope that continues.”
To which the reporter wrote: ‘Get your lucky white heather here, then.’
A line you don’t see in The Hockey News every day.
Part of the reason why Rosehill and his family have adjusted well to Scotland is that unlike other destinations in European hockey, there’s no major culture or language barrier ... ‘major’ being the operative word.
“Sometimes the Scottish accent can be so thick, it’s hard to understand, especially if they’re talking to each other, and especially if they’ve had a few beers,” said Rosehill with a laugh. “I was at the gym the other day and these old boys were talking to each other, I think, about a football game. I couldn’t understand a word, the (brogue) was so thick.”
Rosehill said he felt at home right away in the dressing room, which is understandable given that 12 of the Clan are Canadians, with some English, Scottish and Welsh players as well. And one Swede and one American.
“The bulls — t is the same in any locker-room,” he said. “Guys are hacking on each other and making fun of each other. They’re just hockey players. You hang out with the British guys, it’s like hanging out with any Canadian pretty much.”
Rosehill acknowledged that he’s “on the back nine” of his career but believes he has a few years left, probably on the big ice in Europe — it’s funny, a former NHL enforcer longing for larger ice. And even though he wished he had played longer in the NHL (he played 117 games, 72 with the Leafs between 2009-2012), Rosehill is grateful that he did play in the best league in the world, though he wishes he had a different role, perhaps as a hard-working third liner instead of a fourth-line policeman. As for his time with the Leafs, he has a great many fond memories.
“I just wish we would have won more when I was there,” he said. “You go through little periods when you’re winning there, you can see the city start buzzing. It’s just like nothing else. It was awesome. A wicked, wicked hockey city.”
Rosehill said he checks the box scores regularly to see how the Leafs are doing and stays in touch with former teammates Luke Schenn, Keith Aulie, Tyler Bozak and a few others. It isn’t easy playing overseas with a young family, but Rosehill said as long as they’re happy, he’ll keep playing.
“There hasn’t been a second where I’ve regretted coming over here,” he said. “Not that I wasn’t enjoying playing back (in North America) the last couple of years, but I wanted to get into the game a little bit more and feel like I’m more a part of it.”
“I just wish we would have won more when I was there.” — JAY ROSEHILL FORMER MAPLE LEAF NOW IN SCOTLAND