HAMILTON, Ont–They were coming and going quickly in the Hamilton Bulldogs dressing room. Defenceman Ryan O’Byrne and forward Ben Maxwell arrived from the Montreal Canadiens in time to join the practice session at Copps Coliseum in preparation for a meeting with the Syracuse Crunch.
Marc Denis.
No sooner was that practice over when Yannick Weber, Max Pacioretty, captain Kyle Chipchura and goaltender Marc Denis were packing their gear and heading out to join the Habs in New Jersey for their National Hockey League game there. The American Hockey League club was also expecting the arrival of defenceman Frederic St. Denis, who they called up from Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. While the players going up were naturally excited about the possibility of getting a chance to suit up with the parent club, O’Byrne was pretty happy about getting to play with the Bulldogs tonight and tomorrow evening. The 6-foot-6, 228-pounder is here on a conditioning stint. It can’t be any longer than a couple of weeks and could be as little as a few days. He said all he was told was that he would play tonight and then again when Hamilton hosts Iowa and that Montreal general manager Bob Gainey would be here for both games and that they would reassess afterwards. “I haven’t played for about two and a half weeks,” O’Byrne said. “It does me no good just sitting there and watching. It’s good for me to come here and play some minutes and get my confidence back since I’ve gone through a rough couple of months there.”
Ryan O%27Byrne. Courtesy of Hamilton Bulldogs.
O’Byrne’s rough stretch in Montreal included scoring on his own net when he attempted to pass the puck to his own goaltender, not realizing that Carey Price had gone to the bench because of a delayed penalty. “It will be nice to get my legs back and get into game shape,” he added. “The three games that I played in the last month, I was getting nine minutes with no PK (penalty kill) or PP (power play). That’s tough. You’re not out there in meaningful minutes or pressure situations. “It will be nice to get into a game and play in those situations and kill penalties.” With Denis now gone and Desjardins injured (groin), it appears as though Loic Lacasse, who was just called up from Cincinnati last week, will get his first AHL start. Head coach Don Lever said they are hoping to sign someone to a PTO to act as backup to Lacasse or that Desjardins will have to dress as a backup despite his injury. Contact the author at:
andruw.bourgeois@prohockeynews.comRelated
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