loading...
Canwest News Service
PHOENIX – Craig Conroy remembers tuning in one night to watch the Calgary Flames play the Toronto Maple Leafs early in the 2006-07 NHL season.
One new face dazzled him.
"He scored two goals," recalled Conroy, who left the Flames after the 2004- 05 lockout season to sign as a free agent with the Kings. "I thought, `Wow. Who is this guy? Giordano? Never heard of him.'
"Now? Just to see how good he is on a daily basis . . . ."
Conroy, who returned to the Flames in a trade later that season, isn't the only person taking notice of the inspired play this season of Flames defenceman Mark Giordano.
The buzz is widespread.
When asked last week about the Flames defence, Columbus Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock singled out Giordano, calling him underrated.
Two weeks ago at Anaheim, Flames coach Brent Sutter, after fielding the obligatory queries regarding Dion Phaneuf, Robyn Regehr and Jay Bouwmeester, raved about Giordano.
"He's probably been one of our most steady guys, right from the get-go," Sutter said. "He can skate. He can move the puck. He's a battler. He gets into the areas you need a defenceman to go into. He wants to be the first guy on the puck when he's playing in his zone.
"He's been a real, real good player for us – very solid."
It's tough to argue.
In 26 games, Giordano has been on the minus side of the plus-minus rating only five times – and nothing worse than minus-1.
Talking about his fine play doesn't comes easily for Giordano.
"Once you start thinking like that, you get too comfortable where you are, " he said. "You hear a lot of positive talk. When you hear something good from your coach, it goes a long way."
Giordano has been solid sice the start of the season, something that can't be said for some of the Flames' higher-profile players, who struggled to adjust to Sutter's style.
That's saying something, considering missed the final weeks of last season because of a shoulder injury. He needed to prove himself – again – and to another new coach.
Giordano suffered the injury when he was checked by Minnesota forward Cal Clutterbuck. Mike Keenan, then the Flames' coach, publicly scolded Giordano for being unprepared for the lick.
"I don't blame myself – it was a hockey play," Giordano said. "I had the puck, I tried to make a play, he hit me."
"Everyone talks about (losing Rene Bourque and Regehr to injuries down the stretch) . . . but, to me, I think Gio was the key to the whole thing," Conroy said. "I said it last year and I'll say it again – he brings so much more than people give him credit for. He finds you, when you're open, in stride, on your tape. And he gets back to get the puck quick. As a centre, I'm coming back to support him and he beats a lot of guys on his own down low. That creates time and space for the rest of us to get out of the zone.
"Very underrated in my opinion."
Giordano's best asset is fearlessness – not in a brawling sort of way, although he has shucked his gloves twice this season, but in a gimme-the-puck sort of way.
"I have to want the puck. It's part of my game – I have to want to make plays," Giordano said. "When I'm not playing well, that's exactly what happens – you shy away from taking chances, you shy away from wanting to make plays. That's when you hesitate, and that's when guys in this league will jump all over you."
There is no substitute for poise, Giordano added.
"Confidence, that's the biggest thing. One year, a guy will be top of the league, the next year, he won't. Why is it? It's not because his skill's gone away. It's because his confidence has gone away, right?"
Calgary Herald
scruickshank@theherald.canwest.com
