The Stanley Cup was last lifted by a Canadian team in 1993 when current Islanders coach Patrick Roy backstopped the Montreal Canadiens to their 24th championship. That was the same year Joe Carter led the Toronto Blue Jays to their second straight World Series win.
So there was some desperation in the Islanders’ dressing room this week amid an event-filled 1-2-1 road trip for that Canadian World Series drought to end.
“Yeah, I was born in ’94 and I’m not a young guy,” said Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock, who grew up just outside Dauphin, Manitoba playing baseball in the summers and is still a serious fan of the sport. “It’s been a while. It’s fun to watch, it’s fun to follow. My buddies back home, when Canada (is in it), they’re all fired up.”
The riveting Blue Jays-Dodgers’ World Series, which fittingly went to a Game 7 on Saturday night, brought out the fan in the professional athletes. Conversations among players this week about the games and potential outcome was common.
“Every day, it was the topic of discussion,” said defenseman Adam Pelech, who grew up in Toronto.
And the discussion was united. Pelech said he didn’t know of a Dodgers’ supporter among the group.
Baseball – and the NBA, as evidenced when the Toronto Raptors won the NBA Finals in 2019 – are different from hockey when it comes to rooting interest in Canada. The Blue Jays, as the nation’s lone MLB team, are the country’s team, drawing fans both near and far in the provinces. With seven NHL Canadian teams, fan loyalties are much more geographic.
“If you’re from Montreal or Quebec, you’re not rooting for Toronto, you’re rooting for the Habs,” Pulock said.
“Just as a nation as a whole to get behind one team, it brings everybody together,” said Bo Horvat, who was born in London, Ontario and spent nine-plus seasons playing for the Vancouver Canucks before coming to the Islanders. “There’s only one NBA team in Canada and the whole country rallies behind you. The parade when the Raptors won was insane. When there’s only one specific team in Canada, everybody’s a die-hard.”
Pelech described it as “watching every pitch, dialed into every at-bat.”
“I’ve been able to really just be a fan of something and enjoy it,” Pelech said. “Myself being from Toronto, they’re obviously huge there, especially when they’re doing well. It seems like the city is always buzzing. But you see it across Canada. Guys like Pully, I know his family loves the Jays.”
Pulock said his mother, Tannis, told him she stayed up through the whole 18-inning Game 3 marathon that ended close to 3 a.m. in the East.
“You see it when the Jays play in Minnesota, it’s full of the prairie people traveling down and when they play in Seattle, it’s full of everyone out west,” Pulock said. “I was texting my mom when they won Game 4, she was like, ‘Well, that was worth it for staying up for all 18 innings the night before.’ It’s pretty cool to see.”
Schaefer honored
The NHL on Saturday named No. 1 overall pick Matthew Schaefer as October’s rookie of the month after the Islanders defenseman notched three goals and five assists in his first 11 games, including a six-game point streak to start the season.
Entering Saturday’s play, Schaefer was tied for second among all rookies with his eight points and leading all rookie defensemen in scoring.
It makes Schaefer an early candidate for the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie among a group that includes Canadiens right wing Ivan Demidov, Red Wings center Emmitt Finnie and Wild defenseman Zeev Buium.
What to do with Pageau
First-year general manager Mathieu Darche faces an interesting decision on third-line center Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s future with the Islanders as he plays on the last season of a six-year, $30 million deal and who turns 33 on Nov. 11.
Darche could certainly allocate that money elsewhere and seek some return for Pageau leading up to the March 26 trade deadline. But the versatile Pageau still fills a valuable role, particularly on the penalty kill and in the faceoff circle. He could be amenable to a shorter-term extension at a more team-friendly price.
It’s a little different than 2019-20 when Pageau was playing a top-line role for his hometown Ottawa Senators, who didn’t want to pay him top-line dollars. They swapped him to the Islanders, who promptly signed him to his current contract.
“I’ll be honest, it’s too long ago, I don’t really remember how I felt,” Pageau told Newsday. “I’m going through it (now). It’s something that is out of, really, my control. My main focus is to try to control what I can. That’s all that matters.
“My wife and my kids, we’ve been spending summers here (on Long Island) and we like it. It does feel like home.”
Pageau has three goals and three assists in 11 games, including a shorthanded goal and two shorthanded assists.
“We put a lot of emphasis on our forecheck to make sure we don’t let them come through the middle of the ice,” Pageau said.
Pageau also leads the Islanders’ centers winning 60.4% of his faceoffs
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.