Ellerby ready for Russians

From The Daily News of Saturday, Aug. 18, 2007 . . .

About all Keaton Ellerby knows of Russia is what he has seen in James Bond movies.
So the Kamloops Blazers defenceman can hardly wait to get there and see what awaits on this adventure.
“I’m looking forward to everything,” said Ellerby, 18, from Calgary on Friday. “I’ve never been to Russia. I’ve been to Europe a couple of times but Russia will be a whole new experience.
“I’m looking forward to getting over there and playing with all these players and, hopefully, we’ll win some games and win the series.”
Ellerby, who has played three WHL seasons with the Blazers, is part of the Canadian team that will play a Russian side in an eight-game series that opens Aug. 27 in Ufa.
The teams will play two games in Ufa and two in Omsk before heading for Canada and games in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Red Deer and Vancouver.
Ellerby is to fly into Toronto on Monday, with the team leaving Tuesday for Moscow and a pre-series camp.
“I feel really good and I’m very pumped to go,” Ellerby said.
While in Kamloops recently, he skated every night and has resumed that routine since returning home to Calgary. His weight is back up to 195 pounds, which is where it was before he was hit by strep throat earlier in the summer.
He knows, too, that the Russians seem to be taking this series a lot more seriously than they do the ADT Challenge that takes place every November. Teams from the OHL, QMJHL and WHL have dominated that series since its inception.
This Russian team, however, includes the likes of centre Alexei Cherepanov, the New York Rangers’ first-round pick in the 2007 NHL draft, along with nine other NHL draft selections. The Russian roster also includes at least seven players off the country’s 2007 national junior team.
“In those ADT games they don’t usually send their best players,” said Ellerby, who played in one of those games — an 8-1 WHL victory in Kamloops on Nov. 30 — last season. “From what I’ve heard, they’re suiting up their best players and are taking this very seriously. We have to do the same.
“They will have had some time to practise and play a bit together. We don’t have that luxury but Canada has always been known to come together quickly so I think with the group of guys we have we’ll do well.”
Canada also has a head coach in Brent Sutter, now the head coach of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, who is rather demanding.
“If you’re not going to put in the time and effort then Mr. Sutter probably isn’t going to give you much opportunity,” Ellerby said, with a rueful chuckle.
Ellerby, who was selected by the Florida Panthers with the 10th pick of June’s NHL draft, expects to return to the Blazers for a fourth season. That will happen after a stint in the Panthers’ main camp and, perhaps, an exhibition game or two.
After the Canada-Russia series wraps up in Vancouver on Sept. 9, he will go to Calgary for a couple of days. Then it’s into Miami for the Panthers’ camp, which will shift to Colorado a couple of days later.
Ellerby said he has been told by Florida management that if he performs well in camp he could get into an exhibition game or two. That could happen Sept. 16 when the Panthers meet the Flames in Calgary or the next night against the Oilers in Edmonton.
“That would be great,” he said of the possibility of making his NHL debut in his home province.
For now, however, he’s thinking about packing and heading for Russia.
“(Hockey Canada) has a package that they give us with a bunch of clothes and shoes and what not,” Ellerby said. “You don’t really have to take much.”
He will make sure his lunch bucket is packed, though.