Arsene is Mccambridge’s type of player, literally

Newly acquired veteran defenceman plays a game similar to the one the Icecaps’ coach played

Keith McCambridge’s appreciation for Dean Arsene is understandable. McCambridge is a hockey coach and Arsene is a hockey player who makes a coach’s lot a better one.

It probably goes a little bit beyond that, though. The St. John’s IceCaps’ bench boss is not a narcissist, but when McCambridge looks at Arsene — the 32-year-old defenceman signed to an American Hockey League contract by the IceCaps this week — it’s a bit like looking into a mirror with a 10-year-old reflection, an image that pleased a few coaches in the past.

The cause for that pleasure is — and was not — offence. In 461 AHL and IHL games, McCambridge totaled 12 goals and 42 points. In 512 AHL contests, Arsene has registered 12 goals and 79 points. In other words, Arsene will not be replacing Paul Postma. Heck, he won’t even make up for Arty Kulda on the offensive end.

But when it comes to minding the store, the six-foot-two, 210pound Arsene is as good as there is in the league. Just like McCambridge was when he toiled with the Saint John Flames and Providence Bruins.

“He’s an oldschool, physical, de fens ive defenceman,” said McCambridge, who first got a measure of Arsene when he was assistant coach with the Manitoba Moose and the rearguard was with the Peoria Rivermen.

“Even though he might not be the flashy type of player who jumps out at you right away if you are a fan watching from the stands, he is the type that when you are on the ice playing against him, you know that he’s there.”

Apparently that extends to non game-days as well.

“From what I’ve been told, he’s not only someone who gives everything he has during games, he brings that to practice, too,” said McCambridge. “He’s the kind of player who shows younger guys what they need to do to get better and to develop into real profession-

Dean Arsene als.”

There is a stat line on Arsene’s file that bulges more than others. That would be penalty minutes, with 1,110 in the AHL. And lot of that penance was done after he stood up for teammates. It says a lot that he was voted the Players’ Player Award by the rest of the Portland Pirates last season.

He was also the Pirates’ captain, just as he was in Peoria and with the Springfield Falcons and in Hershey, where he spent six seasons with the Bears — two as a Calder Cup-winner — and was so popular that he was known as the “Mayor of Chocolatetown”

“He was a warrior in every sense of the word,” Bears head coach Mark French told the Harrisburg Patriot News when Arsene left Hershey in 2009. “He carried that into the community and was a consummate professional. You hate to see a guy like that leave. He was a great person in the room. We’ll miss him, but we understand the circumstances both ways.”

The circumstances were that Arsene was looking for an National Hockey League contract that the Bears’ parent team, the Washington Capitals, weren’t prepared to give him. He did get one from the Edmonton Oilers, and while he spent most of the following season in Springfield, he did get into 13 (and his only) NHL games with the Oilers. That gives him the sort of minor-league cachet owned by Crash Davis, Kevin Costner’s character in Bull Durham. (You know the the scene on the bus, where Davis announces to wide-eyed, fuzzycheeked baseball players “Yeah, I was in The Show. I was in The Show for 21 days once.”)

Since leaving Hershey, Arsene has been an AHL nomad, first Springfield, then Peoria and Portland. He’s into the back end of his pro career and his chances of getting another shot at the NHL are dwindling away. He’s a fix and a stabilizer, but one McCambridge is delighted to have.

“Adding him is a real home run for us,” said McCambridge, using a metaphor to go with the Bull Durham/baseball theme.

Arsene is also a real good answer to those fans — and there have plenty of them — with questions about a St. John’s defence that had lost Kulda and Brett Festerling to European teams, Jason DeSantis to the Florida Panthers’ organization and, more than likely, Paul Postma to the parent Winnipeg Jets. With four of the IceCaps’ seven top blueliners from last season gone, the void on the roster — up until Thursday — was being filled by players who all qualify as AHL rookies this season. But with Arsene, Travis Ramsey and Derek Meech, you have veterans (along with fast-rising sophomore Zach Redmond) to combine with any of those youngsters.

He also fills another vacuum, one created by the likelihood that Garth Murray, who led the IceCaps in penalty minutes last season and was winner of the Fan’s Choice Award, won’t be back playing with St. John’s, or any other team, for that matter. Murray, who turns 30 next month, says he doesn’t see himself playing next season — giving up the grind, so to speak — and the Jets/IceCaps have proceeded this summer with that knowledge and the belief Murray is serious about the decision.