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OHL’s Taylor Davis works to join cast of Jersey Boys in National Hockey League

08 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Jeremy Roenick, Johnny Gaurdreau, Ottawa 67's, Patrick Kane, T.R. Goodman, Taylor Davis, Toronto Maple Leafs, Truman Dumel

A bridge that connects Pennsylvania and New Jersey has the slogan “Trenton Makes The World Takes” in huge neon-lit letters posted across its span- a tribute to the Garden State capital’s manufacturing and industrial heritage.

Taylor Davis wants to be Trenton’s next big export, and he’s working far from the shadows of the Lower Trenton Toll Supported Bridge that carries his hometown’s motto in hopes of making his hockey dreams come true.

Hockey has taken Davis from N.J. capital to Canada's (Photo/Valerie Wutti/Blitzenphotography.com)

Hockey has taken Davis from N.J. capital to Canada’s (Photo/Valerie Wutti/Blitzenphotography.com)

Davis first put on a pair of skates at Mercer County’s Ice Land when he was three years old after he watched a hockey game on television and told his mother “Mommy, I want to do that.”

Today, Davis is a 19-year-old defenseman for the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s, and he’s on a mission to join fellow Jersey Boys like Calgary Flames left wing Johnny Gaudreau and Toronto Maple Leafs left wing James van Riemsdyk in the National Hockey League.

“That’s the goal,” Davis said.

Gaudreau was a fourth-round draft pick in 2011. Van Riemsdyk was the second overall pick in the 2007 draft, taken behind Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane.

While “Johnny Hockey” and JVR burst onto the hockey scene as heralded draft picks, Davis has had to barge his way into the consciousness of the hockey world.

Taylor Davis went from walk-on to defensive standout for the OHL's Ottawa 67's (Photo/Valerie Wutti/Blitzenphotography.com).

Taylor Davis went from walk-on to defensive standout for the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s (Photo/Valerie Wutti/Blitzenphotography.com).

He wasn’t drafted by any Canadian major junior hockey team despite helping Western New York’s Kenmore East High School win the New York State Division II (Small School) championship in 2012 and despite having a solid 2011-12 season with the Buffalo Blades, a Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League team that counts Patrick Kane and former NHLer Todd Marchant among its alums.

Davis joined 67’s basically as a walk-on after being recommended to team officials

Scout Truman Dumel recommended Davis to 67"s.

Scout Truman Dumel recommended Davis to 67″s.

by Truman Dumel, a bird-dog scout who never actually saw Davis play but knew of his hockey pedigree and commitment to the game.

“I kept in touch with their head scout, who was Joe Rowley at the time, and he asks me if I know of any guys,” Dumel recalled. “I go to him, ‘Yeah, I know this kid from New Jersey.'”

Dumel’s recommendation earned Davis an invite to Ottawa’s rookie camp. His performance there garnered an invitation to the 67’s main camp and a roster spot on the team in 2012-13.

He’s been a mainstay on the blue line ever since, though he admits it was a challenge in the beginning of his OHL career.

“I had ups and downs in my first year, going against guys in practice like (Sean)Monahan, who’s in the NHL with the Calgary Flames now,” Davis told me recently. “It was a total shock coming from where you were the man and now you’re a fish in the big sea. It was pretty tough, but it’s been a nice adjustment for me.”

Taylor Davis has skated his way from New Jersey's capital to Canada's capital (Photo/Valerie Wutti/Blitzenphotography.com).

Taylor Davis has skated his way from New Jersey’s capital to Canada’s capital (Photo/Valerie Wutti/Blitzenphotography.com).

Nice indeed. This season, the 5-foot-11, 216-pound Davis has 2 goals and 11 assists in 47 games for the 67’s. He’s turned around a rookie-year plus/minus of minus-10 to a plus-11 this season.

“He has all the talent,” Dumel said. “He’s determined. He knows he has to prove himself, which is what he’s doing. He’s been playing hockey since he was three. He’s trying to go as far as he can.”

Trying to get far in hockey has kept Davis far from home in the off-season. He spent last summer in Venice Beach, California, working out with fitness maven T.R. Goodman,  who’s trained Anaheim Ducks forward Emerson Etem and retired NHL stars Chris Chelios, Jeremy Roenick, and Alan May.

“He’s very good, definitely knows his stuff,” Davis said of Goodman. “When I was there, Emerson Etem was there. Mike Tyson was there in the mornings and you’d see Lou Ferrigno walking around Gold’s Gym all the time.”

When he wasn’t pumping iron, Davis would chat with actor Ray Liotta, another Jersey Boy and regular at Goodman’s gym.

“Ray Liotta was always in there,” Davis said. “I always talked to him – he’s a really funny guy.”

 

 

 

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J.R. loves P.K., and thinks Brooklyn would’ve, too

16 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Jeremy Roenick, Joshua Ho-Sang, Kyle Okposo, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, P.K. Subban

When former National Hockey League star Jeremy Roenick watches Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban play, he sees himself.

“And it would have been a great image to have me go against P.K. Subban,” Roenick told Greg Wyshynski, editor of Yahoo’s excellent Puck Daddy blog, in a great interview earlier this week. “He resembles me. Reminds me of myself as a young player.”

Make no mistake, Roenick, now an NBC Sports hockey analyst, LOVES Subban –  his game, his attitude, and the entertainment value he brings to the NHL. Several hockey purists complain that Subban is too flashy, too front-and-center both on and off the ice. Roenick, one of hockey’s true characters and showmen, strongly disagrees.

NBC's Jeremy Roenick thinks the NHL needs more entertaining players like Montreal's P.K. Subban and Washington's Alex Ovechkin  (Photo/Chuck Myers).

NBC’s Jeremy Roenick thinks the NHL needs more entertaining players like Montreal’s P.K. Subban and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (Photo/Chuck Myers).

“The NHL does a lot of different things. You’re almost like connected to strings. They want you to act a certain way, they want you to play a certain way, they want you to say certain things,” Roenick told Wyshynski. “Which is good, because I think the NHL has one of the best reputations of any of the other sports.”

He added: “But you need characters. You need (Washington Capitals forward Alexander) Ovechkin, guys like P.K. They bring that out. We just need more of it. And you can be outlandish and still be respectful. The NHL doesn’t like when someone rises above the head count. And guys are really respectful, too. You just have idiots like myself, because we knew it’s an entertainment sport.”

Roenick chided the Canadiens for taking Subban to the brink of arbitration over the summer before signing him to an eight-year, $72 million contract.

“If I was (New York Islanders General Manager) Garth Snow, who had nothing to lose, I would have offered him $10 million and made Montreal match it,” Roenick told Wyshynski. “You’re going into a new building (Brooklyn’s Barclays Center next season). You’re bringing in an ethnic kid that has so much pizzazz. It would have been the greatest thing.”

“P.K. in a Brooklyn jersey!” Roenick added. “It would have sold tickets.”

Can you imagine Subban, Kyle Okposo, and Joshua Ho-Sang, the Islanders’ slick-handed 2014 first-round draft pick, skating on the same shift? Great interview, Greg.

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Forget the Ice Capades, get me Adrian Alvar Stein!

27 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Adrian Alvar Stein, Alex Ovechkin, Andre Dupont, Jeremy Roenick, Los Angeles Kings, Norway, Philadelphia Flyers, Swaziland, Washington Capitals

I’m a little late to the party on this one, but I still can’t resist.

Remember a few years back when hockey purists were appalled when Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin dropped his hockey stick like it was hot and danced around it to celebrate scoring his 50th goal of the season? Mr. Ovechkin, meet Adrian Alvar Stein, a forward for Norway’s second-division Narvick Arctic Eagles.

After his team defeated Norway’s Viking Hockey earlier this month, Alvar Stein felt the need to bust a move – or two, or three.  Norway may not be an international hockey power – though it’s in the running to host the 2022 Winter Olympics – but it sure is funky!

Alvar Stein’s dance was light-hearted but according to the Artic Eagles’ web site – with a rough translation via Google – how he wound up in Norway is a compelling story.

He’s 22 years old and was born in Swaziland, a landlocked country in southern Africa. He was abandoned on a church staircase moments after his birth, his umbilical cord still intact. He was adopted by a Norwegian family and moved to the Scandinavian country.

In 171 career games in Norway’s second division, Alvar Stein scored 43 goals and 63 assists. He collected 150 penalty minutes and had a plus/minus of -16.

As for his dancing, a story on the team’s web site said “Adrian danced in front of 1,000 crazy crowd as he usually does (in) the living room and locker room in front of teammates.”

Would Alvar Stein do his celebratory dance in the National Hockey League? I think not. But that’s not to say NHLers haven’t put on their boogie shoes – or skates – and done a little shake. Let’s moonwalk down memory lane and look at some of the league’s challengers to Fred Astaire, Patrick Swayze and John Travolta.

Disco’s long been dead, but not to the guy running the Los Angeles Kings public address system or then-King Jeremy Roenick. Nobody put JR in the corner.

Call this “The Ovechkin Games: Stick Catching Fire”:

Why should forwards have all the fun? Goalies like to groove:

Even old-school-era players liked to get down:

The older generation passed their Golden Slippers to the New Kids on the Block:

Hockey players are never too young to boogie:

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