Whitby natives Joe Nieuwendyk and Gary Roberts help each other on and off the ice.
The Calgary Flames players often rely on each other when one gets injured as was the case on Nov. 9 in Toronto.
Roberts was taken off the ice on a stretcher as a precautionary measure against major injury to the neck or spinal cord. After a series of x-rays showed nothing wrong, he returned to play a few days later.
“I remember when I was hurt in the Canada Cup in training camp, and Gary was right there helping me, and I was talking to him tonight (Nov.9)” he says.
“We got a really good friendship and it’s been that way for a long long time,” says Nieuwendyk.
The two Flames’ stars played together as minor hockey players in Whitby.
Nieuwendyk says they hang out together a lot in Calgary and on the road with the team.
“We give the guys here a hard time because we both grew up together in the same old town, and they’re sick of hearing about Whitby”, he says.
Nieuwendyk says their friendship dates back to their childhood days in Whitby.
The Flames’ captain and Roberts attended Henry Street High School in Whitby.
“We were always competitive when we were younger”, he says.
For years we played on the same teams since we were little guys,” says the N.H.L.’s 1988 rookie of the year.
Nieuwendyk laughs about Roberts’ scoring advantage on him so far this year.
“He’s enjoying his early lead on me this season”, he says.
“He also refers back to the times we were younger and he used to beat me,” says Nieuwendyk. Even if every hockey card has Oshawa as his birthplace, Nieuwendyk, a scoring star in U.S. college hockey, says “I was born in Oshawa only because there wasn’t a hospital in Whitby at the time.”
He says his parents and Roberts’ parents are good friends and watch some of the Flames’ games together.
“We keep in contact all the time with people back there,” says Nieuwendyk.
“We’re big fans of Whitby and we keep coming back every summer,” he says.
Nieuwendyk, who was also a superb lacrosse player in Whitby, says he enjoyed his minor career in Whitby.
He says there is too much pressure on young players from their parents. Hockey should be fun, he says.
“That was the biggest thing about growing up with us, we had fun,” he says.
Nieuwendyk may now have a different attitude toward summer hockey because of the knee injury he suffered a year ago and a torn cartilage this past summer, he says.“Look at what’s happened to me the last two summers I’ve played,” he laughs.
Nieuwendyk says his knee “feels pretty good now”.
“I’m pleased with it and I think I just need to build the strength up, and then the rest will be fine,” he says.
The two childhood friends got separated when Roberts left at age 16 to play in the juniors with the Ottawa 67s, he says.
They were reunited in 1985 when the Flames chose Nieuwendyk in the second round of the N.H.L. draft. Roberts had been chosen by Calgary a year earlier.
“The day I got drafted, he called me right away” he says.
“It’s one thing to be drafted but to be playing and being on the same line a few years later” was a pleasant surprise, he says.
During their minor league years, Nieuwendyk says they both played at centre “so we were always on different lines.”
“Gary and I are a classic case of one guy making it in the Ontario Hockey League route and one guy making it at the college route,” he says.Nieuwendyk said he made his decision to go to Cornell University for two reasons.
He says he believes education is important and “gives me something to fall back on.”
He says he also didn’t think he could succeed as well in junior hockey.
“I really wasn’t that big when I was in junior draft year,” says Nieuwendyk.
With at least 45 goals in each of his four seasons, Nieuwendyk hopes not only to catch up on Roberts in scoring, but help the Flames to perform better in the playoffs.
“I think our team is in really good shape right now,” he says.
“We’ve been really successful on the road lately and we have a lot of home games to look forward to,” he says.
Despite some contract problems with some of the players on the team, Nieuwendyk says “the guys are really pulling for each other.”
“We’re sticking together I think better than we ever have in a long time,” he says.
