MONTREAL – The train left the station on Terry Ryan’s NHL career faster than he could board it.
Ryan’s time with the Canadiens lasted as many games as the number Montreal used to select the forward in the 1995 Draft, as the once-promising eighth-overall pick saw the weight of big-picture expectations derail his potential before it had the time to flourish.
One game here and another there, but eventually the St. John’s, NL native was sent on a one-way ticket to the minors, before hanging up his skates on his professional career in 2004. Then, some 20 years later – on January 14 – it saw a shimmer of light again. This time, in the ECHL with the Newfoundland Growlers.
The Growlers, nursing a flu outbreak and needing reinforcements for their game on that Sunday in January, called Ryan into action.
“We didn’t really have many players to choose from on the island. Not sure exactly how they came to him, but it was a cool story,” said Brock Caufield, brother of Habs forward, Cole, and one of 14 healthy Growlers that day.
With no direct access by land, Newfoundland offered few other names for substitutes, so after exhausting all other options – and with a little convincing from his buddies on the team – the 46-going-on-47-year-old was the Growlers’ answer.