I've been a news contributor for ESPN.com since late 2010, and writing for them generally since 2009, after I didn't get an editor job. Lemonade, friends. I cover action sports--surf, skate, skow, motoX, etc. Now, while I'm a sports fan at large, my particular well of insight is filled with hockey. Learning to skate at age 5, I laced up the skates for my first team at age 6. Twenty-four years later, you'll still find me on the ice at an admittedly unimpressive caliber. So, I began writing about the NHL for a two tiny Web sites a few years ago, even hammering out a short piece about the shocking durability of the Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin for the Washington Post when I lived in DC. (Guy is consistently tops in offense and hits.)
So, when I got my first hockey assignment for the NY Times in March, after several rejected pitches, I was--albeit characteristically subdued--amped. (Future stories w/NYT likely, I think.) My editor did a solid job structuring my clearly non-newspaper style into something resembling a soundly reported Times story. But seeing as it's playoff season in these parts, figured I'd post the first take here.
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The American Hockey League is not where Jonathan Cheechoo was supposed to be. But the expectations that come with winning the Maurice Richard Trophy as the National Hockey League’s top goal scorer are not easy to meet.
Following the NHL lockout, and with several rule changes in place to boost offense, Cheechoo’s 56 goals for the San Jose Sharks in 2005-2006 was tops in the league and double his career-best.
But Cheechoo’s success was short-lived. He led San Jose in goals the next year, yet his production sank in each subsequent season. Injuries mounted, his 140-game streak ended, and Cheechoo’s scoring touch vanished. In summer of 2008, “he underwent a double sports hernia procedure,” said San Jose general manager Doug Wilson. “That takes a while to come back from. And that set him back.”
Cheechoo had trouble keeping up, Wilson said, and because the rehab slowed him, couldn’t match the performance that became expected of him.
Cheechoo’s body is frailer than his optimism. He came to the Worcester Sharks bent on an NHL comeback. “The last couple of years weren’t very fun,” Cheechoo said. In Worcester he’s regrouping and remembering to enjoy playing. “The game is still the game of hockey. I always want to play at a high level.”
At the start of the 2010-2011 campaign, only the Dallas Stars invited Cheechoo to training camp. He made it through two preseason games. “I was hoping someone would take a chance on me,” Cheechoo said. “It just didn’t work out.”
Word of Cheechoo’s availability moved quickly. Worcester head coach Roy Sommer called him. “With his talent, at this level, he should be able to get things done here,” said Sommer. “We got a hold of him. He was in here the next day.”
To each other, Cheechoo and Sommer were known entities. San Jose drafted Cheechoo 29th overall in 1998 as a teenager in the Ontario Hockey League. Two years later, he made his professional debut with the AHL’s Kentucky Thoroughblades under Sommer’s eye.
“I always respect what he did,” Cheechoo said. “He got me playing [in the NHL] and helped me make the transition to pro hockey.”
Cheechoo skated in 66 games for San Jose in 2002. The next season he remained for good, scoring 28 times. But Cheechoo and Sommer kept in touch and visited occasionally as their careers progressed. Seeing Cheechoo without an NHL deal, Sommer sought a mutually beneficial arrangement.
“He’s a special kid, when you look where he’s come from and the long road that he’s taken to get to the NHL. Then he kind of fell out of favor…had a rough year last year. I just thought this would be a good opportunity for him to get back in NHL if he did well here,” Sommer said.
Cheechoo currently leads Worcester in points (18 goals, 29 assists) despite missing over a week due to an upper body injury. The team sits one position away from a playoff spot and preserving Cheechoo is a priority down the stretch.
Cheechoo’s route back to the minors began last year, after San Jose traded him—along with Milan Michalek and a draft pick—to the Ottawa Senators for discontented winger Dany Heatley. Cheechoo only appeared in 61 games for Ottawa, amassing an non-prolific five goals, nine assists, and a -13 rating before being demoted to its AHL affiliate in Binghamton.
2009-2010 was by far Cheechoo’s worst in the NHL. Pucks stopped going in and he began second-guessing his decisions on the ice. “I hit a lot of posts. Goalies made some nice saves on me too. It’s one of those things where you’re gripping your stick a lot tighter. I wasn’t really relaxed and playing my type of game,” said Cheechoo.
At first, Cheechoo welcomed the change. “It was an exciting time in Ottawa, probably the closest place you’re going to get to my hometown,” said Cheechoo, whose family lives in Moose Factory, Ontario. “There were people at every game. It was nice to have that kind of support.”
He was unable to replicate his lone stellar season. “I lost a little confidence in myself,” said Cheechoo. “One or two stop going in, you start trying to get a little closer to the net, you’re easier to check and you take less shots. I think I tried to get too fine.”
The Senators released Cheechoo in the offseason. And as NHL training camps neared, uncertainty enveloped Cheechoo’s career. Then the chance to play hockey in Russia or Europe emerged—an option Cheechoo had no interest in pursuing. Playing in the NHL “was a goal of mine when I was a young kid and that hasn’t changed,” said Cheechoo.
Making it back to an NHL rink meant staying visible. “When you’re overseas you’re more out of sight. It’s harder for anyone to see you and pick you up. I wanted to take a chance here,” Cheechoo said.
Cheechoo is playing to be seen. During games he finds open ice with a composure not always found in the minors. Sommer praised Cheechoo’s experience of knowing how to position himself to score. “He just has a lot of poise when he gets the puck,” said Sommer. Adding that one problem is that teammates often aren’t ready for Cheechoo. “You think he’s going to shoot, he’ll pull the goalie, then he’ll slide it to a guy who has his hands up.”
Cheechoo has focused on improving what scouts have cited as is his primary weakness: speed. “He’s been working on foot explosiveness using ladders and hoops. Quick stop runs, with cones, for ten yards,” said Worcester head trainer Matt White, who’s monitored Cheechoo’s progress with strength and conditioning assistant Jaime Rodriguez. “His work ethic is second to none.”
Off the ice, Cheechoo provides valued experience to a team on the bubble. “He comes to the rink and if anything’s bothering him you’d never know it,” said Sommer. Cheechoo is “the first one here and last one to leave” the rink and the younger players notice that, Sommer added.
Cheechoo needs NHL scouts and general managers to notice too. “It takes a lot of work,” said Cheechoo. But, he said, “I know when I get the puck I can score.” Cheechoo and his agent are researching speed-training regimens for the off-season to help him return to NHL caliber.
For now, Cheechoo must settle for more sentimental honors. Cheechoo is from the Cree population in Ontario and will be inducted into the Little Native Hockey League’s hall of fame on March 12th. “[He] has the skill, competitiveness, and dedication. The kids look up to him as a hero,” said Lloyd McGregor of the LNHL.
Cheechoo can’t attend the ceremony. He’ll be shooting for the playoffs—and, he hopes, the NHL. If Cheechoo’s fitness level reaches its best, said San Jose’s Wilson, “I would not count Jonathan Cheechoo out from playing in the league again.”
Sommer agrees. “You don’t score 56 goals in the NHL and not know what you’re doing.”
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