Blazers liking Calla

From The Daily News of Friday, Nov. 23, 2007. . . .

The Kamloops Blazers have won six of seven games since making a coaching
change and a trade.
So, inquiring minds want to know, what has made the difference?
The players will tell you a lot of the reason for the team’s recent success
has to do with the arrival of right-winger Brady Calla. And who would have
thought that a 19-year-old from, yes, Kelowna would have a whole lot to do
with resuscitating the Blazers?
Acquired from the Moose Jaw Warriors for defenceman Keaton Ellerby, 19 — if
either player returns as a 20-year-old a fourth-round bantam draft pick also
will change hands — Calla has played a pivotal role in getting the Blazers’
train back on track.
“Brady has brought everything,” offers veteran defenceman Victor Bartley.
“He brings leadership, work ethic and the greatest attitude. He’s just one
of those guys who loves to be at the rink every day. He comes here at 10
o’clock and he stays here. Most guys go for lunch, he stays here and
stretches . . . goes in the cold tub. He just loves to be here.
“And he’s a great team guy.”
Colin (Toledo) Robinson, who as the club’s trainer has his thumb on the
team’s pulse, just nods his head.
“He’s a professional,” Robinson says of Calla. “He takes such a professional
approach to preparing.”
“He is (a professional),” Bartley agrees. “He gets ready like a
professional. He’s usually one of the first guys here. He stretches every
day. He’s icing his groins. He’s on the bike. He’s always trying to get
better.”
For that, Calla says he can thank Kevin Constantine and the Everett
Silvertips. An expansion team in 2003-04, they selected Calla in the fourth
round, 61st overall, of the 2003 bantam draft, the first one in which they
participated. He went on to play 166 regular-season and 22 playoff games
with Everett before general manager Doug Soetaert dealt him to the Warriors.
A source has said that Calla was traded to free him from then-head coach
Kevin Constantine, something Calla denies.
“He was hard on all players,” Calla says. “It just came down to numbers and
I wasn’t playing the amount I wanted to and I asked for a trade. But that’s
a great organization and I’ve got nothing but good things to say about them.
It just worked out that I couldn’t get the amount of ice time I needed to
give myself a chance to be in the NHL one day.
“Kevin Constantine . . . he was another person who helped me get drafted by
the NHL.”
Calla was selected 73rd overall by the Florida Panthers in the NHL’s 2006
draft. Yes, those same Panthers used the 10th pick of the 2007 draft on
Ellerby. So the two may end up as teammates at some point down the road.
It was on Dec. 12 when Soetaert sent Calla, defenceman Cody Thoring and a
2008 sixth-round bantam pick to Moose Jaw for defenceman Jesse Zetariuk and
right-winger Carter Smith.
The Warriors, who had reached the WHL final the previous spring, were
struggling.
“It’s the same situation here as when I was in Moose Jaw,” Calla says. “They
were struggling, same as here. The difference is that the Kamloops Blazers
have a winning tradition.”
Combine that with what Calla feels he can bring to the dance and, well,
you’ve got what fans have witnessed of late.
“I feel as a player I know how to win,” Calla explains. “I learned from all
those years I played under Kevin Constantine. I know I can bring a winning
attitude and leadership to this team in Kamloops.
“But it’s not just me . . . it’s all 23 guys in the dressing room.”
The Blazers, who are at home to the Prince George Cougars tonight, with the
Kootenay Ice here Saturday night, won for the sixth time in seven games
Tuesday as they dumped the Silvertips 6-4 in a rousing game.
And when it was over Calla, who drew three power-play assists, couldn’t stop
smiling.
“That was my first time playing them since I got traded from Everett,” he
explains. “So it was pretty special for me and kind of emotional at the same
time.”
Then, stopping to greet injured Everett centre Zack Dailey, Calla adds:
“I’ve got a lot of great friends over there. That’s a great organization
over there . . . but it was real cool . . . real nice to beat them.
“You can joke and laugh and hug and stuff off the ice. On the ice it’s no
different than any other game. You still play tough. You still hit. You have
to use aggression.
“If a guy wants to fight, you fight your friend. That’s how the game of
hockey works.”
And that’s how Calla plays the game.
p p p
JUST NOTES: Alan Caldwell at smallatlarge.blogspot.com points out that since
changing coaches and acquiring Calla for Ellerby, “the Blazers are 6-1
(.857); they were 6-9-1-1 (.412) before. They are averaging 3.57 goals for
per game and 2.25 goals against per game; they were at 2.18 goals for and
2.88 goals against before the changes. Meanwhile, Moose Jaw is 1-4-1 (.250)
since the trade and was 9-5-3-1 (.611) before it.” . . . The Blazers will be
without D Mike Gauthier, 20, for games tonight and Saturday. He has been
suspended by the WHL for two games for an unpenalized hit on Everett
Silvertips D Dane Crowley, 20, in the second period of Tuesday’s game.
Crowley dumped the puck into the Kamloops zone and cut into the middle of
the ice, where he was met by Gauthier. Crowley left with a concussion and
didn’t return. The Silvertips sent video of the hit to the WHL office and
asked for supplemental discipline, which they got yesterday.