Well fans you voted, and after a couple road trips it's finally here, the insideSTL.com spotlight on Cam Janssen. I got a chance to talk with Cam on Friday morning; here's what he had to say:
On being drafted in the fourth round:
“They thought I was supposed to go in the third round. So first day third round, New Jersey was up and they really wanted me, so they go ‘from the OHL Windsor Spitfires,’ and my dad and I stand up like yeah! And they say ‘Ahren Nittel’ who was my teammate and my dad and are like ‘ohh (in frustration)…ohh (excitedly)! Good job Nitts,’ cuz he was right next to us.”
On weird questions asked by potential teams at the draft:
“I was talking to the Rangers, and they said ‘if you played for our team and you could live with any girl in our city who would it be?’ And I’m thinking oh, ‘I saw a bunch of hot ones walking around Toronto today can I go pick one of those girls up?’ I didn’t get the gist of that, but that’s what I told them.”
On playing in the Memorial Cup:
“It was unbelievable. Getting traded from one of the worst teams in the league the Windsor Spitfires, which don’t get me wrong I cried for days about it, to Guelph who had absolutely no toughness, and we clicked right away, I got a hat trick, and did my physical game too. Scored some big points in the playoffs and we won the whole OHL championship against the London Knights a team that had Corey Perry, to Dave Bolland, to Wideman, to Rob Schremp… it was awesome.”
Describing jr hockey to St. Louisans:
“My close friends got it, but everyone else around me, no they didn’t. But they understood when I was a sophomore and junior at Eureka High School, I played for the St. Louis Sting (JR A), and I only went to four classes a day, cuz I had an excuse cuz I was playing for the Sting. Even my principal didn’t understand. They wanted me playing football. I was a good football player and I had to quit that to play for the Sting, and they didn’t understand that, they were saying ‘you should play football, you need to go to college, hockey’s not going to work for you.’ And don’t get me wrong, they were right because it’s one out of a billion (to play in the NHL) but it worked out, but they didn’t understand that.”
On getting out of class in High School:
“I got to wear a team pager in high school, and my pager would go off in class, and I’d be like ‘alright boys, I’ll talk to you later…I have to go to practice’ and I would just walk out of school, and it was legit.”
What positions did you play in football?
“I played inside linebacker, fullback. Sometimes safety, I was fast!”
On being up and down between the New Jersey Devils AHL team, and the NHL team:
“Playing in the American League during the lockout was awesome cuz all the NHL guys played in the American League, all the tough guys, so it was basically the best players in the AHL and half the NHL mixed together. So it was probably the best thing that could’ve happened to me for development reasons. But then the next year, I thought I was going to make the Devils. There were two other tough guys that they were trying to move, so I was up for all preseason and then I had to get sent down because of room issues and I was miserable because once you get a taste of the NHL and you get sent back down, it is the worst thing in the world. You do not want to be down there. You’re just so spoiled playing in the NHL playing in front of so many people and you get so much attention, then all of sudden you go to the AHL and you’re nobody again it seems. But I had to deal with it I sucked it up, I played my game, and finally they got rid of those guys and called me back up, and besides a few conditioning assignments for injuries, I’ve been up ever since.”
On leaving New Jersey:
“They treated me very well in New Jersey. It’s a different world there. You could get into some mischief there, and they love watching you play. It was awesome. The fans really liked my toughness. I did a lot of charity events, I did a lot of signings, and I really worked the fan base well and created my own rapport with the fans. And then getting traded here, I cried cuz I was so happy slash sad slash excited to come to my hometown. And it was cool, my phone pretty much blew up that day because of so many phone calls and text messages.”
On being the first born and bred St. Louisan to play in the NHL;
“Yeah, being the first born and raised in St. Louis and playing through the youth systems everybody knows where I went and what I did. And they know what I went through and how I played. The hockey world’s a small one in St. Louis everybody knows everybody and some people hated playing against me growing up, and some people loved it. But man this is coolest thing possible for me to play here in St. Louis…I mean just think about it, this is my home town, I love being a tough guy, I love being the protector, I think it’s the coolest job to have in all sports.”
Balancing local boy vs local celebrity:
“I try to be nice to everybody. If you ever saw me at home you’d think that I was just a typical nerd, which I am, you know playing video games and relaxing. Obviously I pretend to be cool at the bars, you know, but I stand in the corner and just say hey to everyone. I don’t pass up anything as far as pictures, you know I love it, and I love the attention so I try to be nice to anyone.”
On the inconsistencies of playing time in his role:
“It sucks man. They know I’m working hard, I’m busting my ass, and they know that they’re going to need me in certain games, but we’ve got a good lineup in and when they’re playing good hockey I understand. I just need to be patient. I know I’m not sitting out because I’m not good enough; I’m sitting out because our team’s good. But I know I’ll be fine, and I’m going to play for a long time. They need my role, they need me to do my job, to play extremely physical and fight and stick up for my teammates, and be good at it.”
On training for fighting:
“I work out with Jesse Finney, he’s got the MMA program out in Crestwood, and I work on my cardio and my punching power. I work on hockey fighting techniques, and we’ve got a good system that we do. But I’ve been fighting big 22-year-old men since I was 15 years old, and you learn from doing it. I lost a lot of fights when I was a kid but once I got bigger I started to know what I was doing.”
When are you going to be in a shootout?
“After Mason and Conklin both go, and then I’m up next.”
Favorite hockey moment:
“I’ve got a couple. My first NHL game in Madison Square Garden, my first shift I got nailed by Darius Kasparaitis, so the next shift I go out there and laid him out behind the net and my teammates went crazy. And then my first legit fight was against Darcy Tucker in Toronto. I hit Mats Sundin, and Darcy came over and grabbed me and we went for a long time, and he cut me open and got suspended because he had my helmet and was hitting me with my own helmet. But it was a good fight, made Sportscenter and everything.”
Most embarrassing moment:
“Anytime I lose a fight is embarrassing to me. Um, I fall a lot. Sometimes I’ll try to hit someone and I’ll trip and fall into the boards. I haven’t put one into my own net yet, knock on wood, it almost happened this year in Philly, but I consider it a pass to Mason.”
Favorite place to party in St. Louis:
“Harry’s in the summertime. I like Lucas Park, and then heading over to Lure. They treat me good over there. The best looking girls in St. Louis at those places.”
Favorite hockey movie:
“Slap Shot.”
Favorite song currently on the radio:
“I like Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance and I like the new Muse song.”
If you weren’t a hockey player:
“I’d be in the Marines or the Army.”
Have you ever considered wearing Hulk Hands instead of hockey gloves?
“Are you kidding me? My hands are Hulk Hands.”
Quick hits, news, and notes:
Following Friday night’s devastating loss, the Press as a group asked to see a captain talk about the game. Here’s what Barret Jackman had to say:
“We said all the right things between periods, when we got on the ice we didn’t do them. I think that’s been the theme all year. Whether it’s us being individuals or just when we get into plays we panic, or just maybe make the wrong plays. It’s something that’s been going on way to long, and if we don’t clean it up right now, it’s going to be a long season.”
“We can’t let each other off the hook. It’s gotta come within the room it’s gotta be guys holding each other accountable, and if one guy is not going to be buying into the system we have to give them a kick in the butt and get him going. We talk about it so much in the dressing room, and it’s just not translating to our game. If guys need to be sitting or guys need to be smacked upside the head by a teammate it’s going to have to happen.”
At practice when Coach Murray blows the whistle, the last two players to get to Murray have to skate an extra lap. It should be noted that Barret went out of his way to skate the extra lap at Saturday’s practice. Here’s what Coach Murray had to say about that.
“It did not go unnoticed at all. My job as a coach is to make the unnoticed noticed.”
Speaking of Coach Murray, Saturday and Sunday marked the most intense practices he’s held all season. Here’s what he took from this weekend:
“They did their work in practice, the most important thing is how they play Tuesday against Calgary and we’ll see if there’s a reciprocal effect from two quality practices.”
I talked with Mike Weaver and asked him how he felt about this weekend, he said:
“From time to time you need a big skate like that. Everybody is really pissed off and upset about what happened last game.”
While talking about Mike Weaver, if you’re a Blues fan who has ever had a discussion about the team, you no doubt have heard someone bashing Weaver’s play. It’s tough to be a guy like Mike who really does the intangible things well. I asked him what he thought about playing a role (i.e. penalty killing, and stay at home defense) that doesn’t have too many individual stats to help set a baseline for fans. He replied:
“I’m going to keep it simple and get the puck up to our forwards. A lot of our defensive defensemen it’s often not recognized. Look at a lot of the Stanley Cup Champions; they had the fighters, the puck movers, the goal scorers. You need a little bit of everything. Everybody has their role, and I know my role and I thrive on the tough situations out there.”
Finally the poll for next week’s insideSTL.com player spotlight is up.