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 Crombeen making strides in Iowa

Sunday, January 13, 2008

By Kevin Wey

Just looking at the box score of the Iowa Stars’ 4-3 loss to the Manitoba Moose Friday night, December 4, 2007, B.J. Crombeen’s goal at 8:19 of the first period may not appear that important.  After all, the Iowa Stars lost that night even though Crombeen scored the first goal of the game. 

However, if one realizes it was Crombeen’s first goal of the season, after 21 games, it takes on a little more meaning.   

Then, if one looks in retrospect at how it was the first of six goals (and three assists) that Crombeen would score in 14 games in the month of December, it takes on even more meaning.  In fact, those six goals were more than Crombeen had scored in his previous 73 AHL regular season games, having played in 52 games for the Iowa Stars as a rookie in 2005-06. 

But, if one saw it, and coupled it with the expectations of Crombeen when the power forward was selected with the 54^th overall pick of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, even in that moment as the red light was swirling behind the net of Moose goaltender Drew MacIntyre and Crombeen and teammates Marius Holtet, Paul Szczechura, Bryce Lampman, and Chris Lee were celebrating, it assumed significance: it was the potential turning point of Crombeen’s season, and perhaps his career, given how confidence can snowball. 

It was the kind of goal that Dallas Stars Director of Amateur Scouting Tim Bernhardt, then Assistant General Manager Les Jackson, and then General Manager Doug Armstrong must have envisioned that June when they drafted Crombeen out of the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League. 

The play started when Manitoba defenseman Jimmy Sharrow picked up the puck down low and skated it behind his own net.  Crombeen was not far behind on the forecheck.  Before crossing the line for the trapezoid, Sharrow attempted to cut back and ditch the I-Star forward, but Crombeen stripped the skilled defenseman of the puck, skated it off the boards from behind the net, and slammed it low past MacIntyre for a wrap-around goal of sorts.   

It wasn’t that Crombeen scored on a wrap-around that was significant, it was that the goal came because the 6-foot-2, 210-pound right winger pressured the defenseman into a mistake and then capitalized on that mistake.   

It was, and is, precisely what the Iowa Stars and the Dallas Stars want and expect out of Crombeen. 

The momentum had been building for Crombeen up to that night.  It started when Loui Eriksson was re-assigned by Dallas Nov. 9 to Iowa.  When Eriksson was inserted into the line-up, Crombeen was taken out, a healthy scratch Nov. 10 and 13 against the San Antonio Rampage.  It was a blessing in disguise. 

“That was a bit of an eye-opener,” Crombeen said of being scratched two straight games in November.  “I realized I had to find a way to do something to make sure I was in the line-up.”

Eriksson was recalled by Dallas Nov. 16, and Crombeen was back in the line-up that evening against the Chicago Wolves.  Just over a week later, another blessing happened for Crombeen, Joel Lundqvist was recalled by Dallas Nov. 24 and center Aaron Gagnon was re-assigned from the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL to Iowa.  Head Coach Dave Allison put Crombeen, Gagnon, and James Neal together on a line shortly thereafter and created an effective energy/checking line.  The line didn’t rack up goals, but it did create chances and create pressure down low on the forecheck, as Crombeen himself had fired 15 shots in the four games previous to Dec. 4 and took 7 shots on goal that night. 

Prior to December 4, 2007, the last time Crombeen had scored a goal in the AHL was April 21, 2006, in Game 1 of the West Division Semifinals versus Milwaukee, in which Crombeen scored the only Iowa goal in a 3-1 loss.  In the 592 days between April 21, 2006, and December 4, 2007, Crombeen covered a lot of ground.  Literally. 

Crombeen finished out 2005-06 playing in Games 2, 5, 6, and 7 in the series against Milwaukee, in which the Admirals eliminated Iowa from the 2006 Calder Cup Playoffs.  During the summer that followed, Crombeen and the Dallas Stars made an interesting decision.  The Canadian would play in Finland. 

“It was about halfway through the summer and Les Jackson had called me up and asked me if I would be interested in it,” Crombeen said of going to play for Ässät Pori of the Finnish Elite League (SM-Liiga). 

Crombeen talked to his agent and they agreed that it would be a good opportunity.  Both Dallas and Crombeen thought it would be a good chance for the then 21-year-old to work on his skills. 

“The pace of play over there and how they practice and train is all skills,” Crombeen said of Finnish professional hockey.  “They’re not as much systematic, and it’s not as physical of a game.” 

A physical forward who had never scored over 50 points in four seasons with the Barrie Colts in major juniors, and who had only put up 5 goals and 7 assists in 52 games during the regular season in 2005-06 for Iowa, Crombeen felt the assignment to Ässät had the desired effect.

“I think it helped me because you get more time with the puck, you get more comfortable with it, you can work on moving your feet down low or separating yourself from d-men down low and try to make plays like that,” Crombeen said.  “Any time you can get more confidence and feel more comfortable with the puck in the corners or along the boards, it’s going to help you.”

Playing in the skill-oriented SM-Liiga helped Crombeen develop some, but many of the highlights of his season actually came in playing European teams from outside of Finland.

“There’s some unbelievable hockey players over there that you’d never see over here that are just staying over there, they’re comfortable in their hometowns and stuff,” Crombeen said. “Even before the season, we played against some teams from the Russian Super League, the Swedish League, and the Swiss League, so it was neat to just go over there and play against some of those players that you never get a chance to see over here.”

With the SM-Liiga regular season starting in mid-September, Crombeen’s season in Finland was done in early March when Ässät finished last in the SM-Liiga standings and missed the playoffs.  But, while Ässät’s season was over, Crombeen’s was not.

“[Dallas] kind of called me up and said, ‘You have the option, you can either finish the year [in Idaho] or just go home and start getting ready for next year,’” Crombeen recalled.  “We finished March 3 and, with not playing a whole lot my first year, I thought that maybe the more games you can play, the better it’s going to be for you.”

Accordingly, Crombeen reported to the Idaho Steelheads, Dallas’ ECHL affiliate, and played his first ECHL game of the season in Stockton, California, March 14, in the Steelheads’ game against the Thunder.  He scored the first goal of the night and had an assist on the second goal as Idaho beat Stockton 4-3.  Twelve games later, the ECHL regular season was over and Crombeen had scored 7 goals and 4 assists in 13 games, helping Idaho win 9 of its final 13 games and finish second in the West Division, behind the Alaska Aces (the 2006 ECHL Kelly Cup champions), and fourth in the National Conference.

Fairly hot at the end of the regular season, the Steelheads eliminated Stockton in six games in the first round of the 2007 Kelly Cup Playoffs.  Then they defeated the number one-seeded Las Vegas Wranglers in the second round of the playoffs in six games.  Then Idaho dispatched of Alaska in five games.  Over two weeks later, on May 31, 2007, the Idaho Steelheads were hoisting the Kelly Cup after beating the Dayton Bombers in five games, winning the last four games of the series.  The championship experience proved valuable for Crombeen.

“When we got playing all the way through the playoffs and stuff, we were playing some good players and some good teams and there’s a lot of players that are now in the American League that we were playing against,” Crombeen said.  “In playoff hockey, the intensity always goes up another notch, so it was a good experience.”

Crombeen’s 5 goals and 5 assists in 22 playoff games were modest, but the most important aspect was getting a head start on 2007-08 by making the transition back from European hockey to North American hockey that much sooner.

“We though that would be a good idea, rather than waiting until the start of this year, because it’s not so systematic over there (in Finland),” Crombeen said.  “So, coming back here, where there’s a little more systems and stuff like that, it was a good adjustment for me.”

Plus, playing professional hockey from August through May allowed Crombeen to play 90 games in 2006-07, not counting exhibition matches that he played with Ässät.  That’s a full season.

However, playing in the ECHL at the end of the 2006-07 season did not solve every problem for Crombeen.  The Dallas Stars entered the 2007-08 season with considerable depth at forward, including on their AHL affiliate, which made it difficult for Crombeen to get ice time, and playing on the fourth line isn’t easy.

“You try, even when you’re on the fourth line, you try not to think about that,” Crombeen said of the pressure that looms over fourth liners.  “You try to just relax and go out and play, but it’s a pretty tough thing to do.

“You know if you make a mistake, it could be your last shift of the game.”

Through November, Crombeen’s season was noteworthy because he had 8 of the Iowa Stars’ 10 fighting majors for the 2007-08 season, standing up for himself and his teammates.  Fourth liners do what they have to do, but hard work met opportunity in November when Crombeen started playing on the third line, and then on higher lines in December, with playmaking centers like Marty Sertich and Perttu Lindgren.  The changes in Crombeen’s game were pronounced.  Once showing little confidence with the puck, Crombeen’s hands were much softer with the puck as December closed.  Once struggling to separate from opponents when the puck came to him, he was holding his own and even beating opponents wide.  These were the reasons he was assigned to Finland in 2006-07, but only now were they starting emerge in Crombeen’s game in 2007-08.  A lot of that improvement has come from working with the Iowa Stars coaching staff and taking heed of sage advice.

And the most useful lesson?

“I think the biggest thing is how our defense leads to our offense, coming back and being sound defensively, and that will give us chances offensively,” Crombeen said of the most important piece of wisdom that he’s gleamed.

It was demonstrated no better than his first goal of the year, and playing an aggressive forechecking game and making board-rattling checks down low and in the corners are hallmarks of Crombeen’s game that he must not get too far away from if he’s to find success.

As for Crombeen’s newfound confidence with the puck, it came down less to improved hands as it did to, as Crombeen said, “always keeping my feet moving.”  Keeping in motion, Crombeen was able to utilize that momentum once he received an outlet pass from a defenseman or a pass in the neutral zone from a fellow forward.  Instead of standing still, or at a near standstill, and trying to accelerate away from opponents one step from skating in the National Hockey League, Crombeen already had some speed built up.

Another source of Crombeen’s improvement has been his effort to maintain a proper skating stride.

“The biggest thing is just always staying low,” Crombeen said of proper skating posture.  “I think I always had a tendency to kind of stand up and shorten up my stride.”

It isn’t easy though, as many players have a tendency to skate with an upright posture when they’re tired, no longer skating in a power position.

“It’s a tough thing, but if you’re staying low, you’re getting a lot more power, you’re getting a lot more strength,” Crombeen said.  “I think it’s just training yourself to try to know how to do it right and keeping engraining it in your head so you do it right all the time.”

That posture of power isn’t just important for skating, it’s important in allowing Crombeen to thrust upward when making a hit, and that’s a big part of Crombeen’s future.

The son of former NHL forward Mike Crombeen, who retired after the 1984-85 season with the Hartford Whalers (just before Brandon James Crombeen was born July 10, 1985, in Denver, Colorado, where the elder Crombeen was working at the time), B.J. knows exactly what kind of player he’ll need to be in the NHL.

“At that level, I’m going to have to play the same way that I’m going to play here (in Iowa), just try to do things simple, get pucks out, finish my checks, stand up for teammates, and just kind of play that simple third/fourth-line grinding type player,” Crombeen said.

Crombeen also thinks he can add a little offense, too, even if it may not make Sports Center.

“I think I can play as a third/fourth line player where I can be physical, but I can also try to bring some offense to the game,” Crombeen added.  “I mean, I’m not going to score too many pretty goals, but they all count the same.”

Perhaps Crombeen’s goals won’t rival some by Sidney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin, or Robin Figren’s goal for Sweden against Denmark in the World Junior Championships this year, but beauty is, after all, in the eye of the beholder.  It’s even true with goals.  From the eyes of the Dallas Stars organization, Crombeen’s December had to have looked gorgeous. 

In the final year of his three-year entry level contract, Crombeen will have strong odds not only to earn a qualifying offer from Dallas this summer, but to earn a long look in training camp next season if he can consistently duplicate this past December.