Captain:
"1. Abbr. Capt. One who commands, leads, or guides others"
For the last two years when the word "captain" is referred to in Wichita sports, Daniel Tetrault comes to mind. Perhaps it's his commanding slap shot, the leading body checks, or guiding his team to an 11-4 start this season. Regardless of the reasoning, Tetrault has proven to be the on ice leader that Wichita has needed. Last season when first year head coach Kevin McClelland named Tetrault captain, and seemingly without any questioning. There is a good reason for that. No matter where "Tetsy" has played he has proven to be a leader. Coming back to play for Wichita last season was a welcomed transaction for Thunder fans. One of the last memories of Tetrault for Wichita fans was the subject of a question I had been wanting to ask since December 26, 2007. Well I got my chance in this week's Chat from the bench.
1. This is your fifth year in Wichita, what's your opinion on the city, the arena, and fans? Where are your favorite spots?
Wichita is a terrific city to live in, the people are friendly and heartwarming. Every player that's ever played here have always enjoyed playing in front of the best fans in the C.H.L. As far as the arena, it's by far the nicest one in the league. My favorite spots would be the zoo, local pubs, and Red Rock Canyon Grill for the best restaurant.
2. Who influenced you most with your career?
My mom and dad, they're the one's that always supported me through the ups and downs of my career and life. I can't forget my 3 brothers and sister for all their support as well, especially all those street hockey games we played together outside in the freezing cold back home in La Broquerie, Manitoba.
3. Who was your favorite player growing up? And who do you model your playing style after?
Chris Chelios, he was a rock solid d-man that played a lot of minutes and had the skills and toughness required to enable him to have a long career. He was also a guy that led by example wich made him a great leader. That's also the reason why I switch my old #3 to #7. He wore #7 when he captained the Chicago Blackhawks.
4. Do you have any superstitions or rituals?
No I don't believe in that kind of stuff, but I do need the occasional nap on game day lol!
5. If you weren't playing hockey what would you be doing?
Probably coaching or bartending at a nice pub somewhere.
6. You've had quite a well traveled career, where was your favorite road trip throughout your career? And where was the worst place to play?
Best road trips would be Shreveport because I could hit the casino tables and triple my per diem. Worst place was Amarillo, TX bad motel and worst rink.
7. The WHL is a great Major Junior league in Western Canada and U.S. Tell me a little bit about your time with the Brandon Wheat Kings, and did you play with or against any current NHL guys?
I played 5 years in Brandon and won the league championship my 1st year in 1996. It was a fast and rough league back then with a lot of current and former NHL-ers. I played with Chris Dingman who has won 2 Stanley Cups with Tampa and Colorado, Wade Redden who played with the Ottawa Senators for years and also a bit with the New York Rangers, Peter Shaefer who has played with Ottawa and Vancouver Canucks, Mike Leclerc who played with the Anaheim Ducks. I played against Jerome Iginla, Zedeno Chara, Marian Hossa, Brenden Morrow, Chris Phillips just to name a few. Believe it or not i fought a lot of tough guys in the likes of Aaron Asham a few times, Erik Godard, Darcy Hordichuk all heavy's in the show. Got a lot of bruises and Barney Rubbles from those guys lol!
8. You've won the best/most outstanding defenseman twice in your career. What do you attribute to your success in your position?
You can only win awards if you have a great team full of leaders and talent. Team success always equals to personnal success no matter what sport you play. Some years you just play with great confidence and poise and those were some of those years. But definitely playing on 1st place teams helps tremendously.
9. Throughout your career, not only have you been a solid defenseman, but you've been known for two things, your huge slapshot, and your bone crushing hits. What would you rather do? Crush someone in an open ice hit or score on a rocket from the blue line? And why?
Both are great things to do anytime, I would say a crushing hit especially when you get a guy with his head down in the trolly tracks like Don Cherry would say. Can't complain on a rocket one timer goal either I guess.
10. And lastly, I will admit this question is a bit selfish, because I have wanted this answer straight from the source for four years now! On December 26th, 2007 you put a hit on then Oklahoma City Blazers forward Gordon Bell in overtime, which then led to a game winning goal. Talk me through the play and what happened? Was that the best hit you've had in your career? And lastly what kind of rush was it to make that hit, and then have the game winner scored less than 20 seconds later?
I wasn't even looking to deliver a hit on Bell, Travis Clayton was on him tight and he said he got out of the way because he saw a train coming ha ha or else he would of got K.O.d! I was flying around the net to join the rush and those 2 were heading the other way and it was just perfect timing and luckily Bell had his head down and Travis was a smarter player to get out of the way. I hip checked someone at centre ice my 1st year pro in Austin, TX and went low on him and he did a full revolution in the air and landed on his feet, he must of been 15 feet in the air, it was unreal. That was my best one.
If you have not seen the Gordon Bell hit, here it is. Please note the "pop" of the collision and as Daniel noted Travis Clayton's abrupt stop before the hit!
My thanks to Daniel for taking the time to answer a few questions.
This week the Thunder will see one new opponent and one not so new opponent. The good news is that both games are at home and there is a day in between games. Evansville who is currently first in the Turner conference will prove to be a daunting task for a Thunder team who has already faced a schedule packed with playoff teams from last season. Evansville has the second leading scorer in the league (Todd Robinson) and the third best goaltender (Pier-Olivier Pelletier) in the league. But past Robinson and Josh Beaulieu Evansville does not have any point a game skaters. In comparison Wichita has seven point a game forwards (This stat includes Matt Summers, eight points in six games). This game will come down to Evansville's goal-tending. Whether it be Pelletier or Bryan Gillis (4-0 2.17 GAA .935 save percentage) in between the pipes, one of these tenders has to shut down Wichita's offense. If this becomes a scoring contest Wichita has the upper hand.
Sunday brings the return of the Tulsa Oilers. Wichita has played Tulsa three times going 3-3 against the Oilers. After starting the season 1-3 against their Oklahoma based rivals, Wichita has recovered nicely going 2-0 against them last week out scoring the Oilers 8-4 over those two games. The question for Tulsa becomes, can Ian Keserich take on this big of a workload? Kollen Long pointed that out in his game recap from Saturday's contest, and it was a valid point. How much can one goaltender shoulder on his own? Keserich easily leads the league in minutes played, upping the next closest goalie by almost 230 minutes. Now I am no stranger to goalies carrying a workload. And before you all get hyped up about some great story of me carrying a team all year, slow down a second. I am referring to Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils. In a 14 year time span, Brodeur played in 70 or more games 12 times. In 2006-2007 Brodeur played in 78 of 82 games for the Devils. This is all good and well, but now your asking what my point is. My point is, this was normal for Brodeur, Keserich's career high (professionally) for games played in the regular season is 37. In the 17 games that Tulsa has played, Keserich has appeared in 16 of them. At some point during this season "Kez" will wear down. Thunder fans can only hope this happens in games in which Wichita and Tulsa meet. For the record, Wichita has five more regular season meetings with Tulsa.
Until next time.
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