ANAHEIM, Calif. – It was the spring of 2004. We’d heard of Ryan Kesler, but Kevin Bieksa?
Not so much.
Bieksa was an unknown fifth-round draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks who had just run out of eligibility at Bowling Green University. So he hopped on a plane bound for Winnipeg, and pulled on the hallowed jersey of the Manitoba Moose for the last four games of the American Hockey League season.
A few stalls down, just past Fedor Fedorov and across the room from defenceman Dallas Eakins, Ryan Kesler – a first-round pick who had played 28 games in The Show that season – was gearing up, finishing out his first pro season.
Bieksa: “Kes was 19, I was a couple of years older. We were roommates for the first six years of our careers. Everyday, every night. Every time we’d go out we’d be together. Whenever we’d come home, we’d watch movies together. … He’s my best friend in the game. Like a second brother to me.”
Kesler: “It’s true: we’re like brothers. He’s my much older brother, and I’m the more handsome younger brother.”
Bieksa: “Sometimes you want to kill him, and sometimes he wants to kill me.”
Kesler: “A couple times.”
Bieksa: “We butt heads in practice, and sometimes in the dressing room. But at the end of the day he’s like a second brother me.”
Kesler: “We’ve gone through, probably, everything a teammate can go through together. We enjoy our company, but if we spend too much time together, we definitely battle.”
Bieksa: “I’ll always have his back. He’s a guy you want on your side when you go to war, that’s for sure.”
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On Wednesday night in Anaheim, these two 30-somethings will see an Edmonton Oilers team that might not compute real well for a pair of former Canucks who have spent their entire careers in the Pacific Division, rolling over that Oil drop logo, shaking Edmonton down for the two points night after night.
Of all the bruises Bieksa has accrued in his career, few have come courtesy Edmonton, a soft, light team until GM Peter Chiarelli rode into town.
“That’s a big reason why they’re here,” said Bieksa. “They’ve added some big strong guys, some toughness, and I still think that has a place in the game.”
Kesler, 32, and Bieksa, 35, will always share the scars of 2011, when their Canucks made it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final and lost to Milan Lucic (now an Oiler) and the Boston Bruins. Today, the two have found their second chance on a Ducks team that is the highest seed to emerge from Round 1 out West.
And in the East, guess who is still alive with the Ottawa Senators?
That’s right – Kesler’s old partner in slime, Alex Burrows.
“Look at us three,” said Bieksa. “Kes was the first-rounder. Burr wasn’t drafted. I was drafted very, very low (151st overall). We worked our way up from just trying to stay in the lineup every night to being key players on a really good team. Now, we’re still trying to work hard to stay in the league and win games.”
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Kesler, of course, is less trying to “stay in the league” as a Selke Award finalist, than Bieksa and Burrows. But it’s not like Kesler doesn’t get his hands just as dirty today as he always did.
If this is another playoff series, then Kesler will draw another first-line centre in his 85th NHL post-season game Wednesday. He’s checked ‘em all in his day, though none faster than his newest client, Connor McDavid.
Step into my office, Connor…
“It’s not me against McDavid. It’s the Anaheim Ducks against the Edmonton Oilers,” said the prickly checker. It’s a toss-up who grates on whom more – the media on Kesler, or Kesler on the opponent’s best player, though Kesler did grace us with a lengthy interview on Monday.
How does a first-round pick end up becoming one of hockey’s best checkers? Somehow the role just found Kesler, who grew up in the Detroit suburb of Livonia.
“Back in the day, if I made a mistake defensively I wasn’t playing,” he said. “The way the game was coached back then, the way I came into the league, you had to worry about your own end first. It’s the only way I could stay in the lineup.
“My two-way game will always be there. Even when I had those couple of 70-point years (2009-11), I was still worrying about my own end, blocking shots night in night out.”
Teamed up with Burrows, they were Snap and Yap –two of the mouthiest players in the NHL. Today, Kesler’s play does the talking. He’s an Olympic-level centreman who, we’re betting, will be everything that McDavid can handle and more.
“You have this young, mild-mannered kid,” said Bieksa, “and you have this brash, tough veteran guy in your face every single shift. Cross-checking you. Slashing you. Telling you how he’s going to kick your butt. That’s Kes’ game.
“The trash talk? It’s kind of the icing on the cake,” Bieksa continued. “It’s the playing in your face, the constant checking, the giving you no time and space. Then you just throw in a little trash talk to top it off.
“I don’t think trash talk is going to stop Connor McDavid.”
It’s a classic matchup. The 20-year-old superstar and Kesler, who earned his chops checking Jarome Iginla back in the day.
And if Pat Maroon or Zack Kassian gets involved, then Bieksa will be there waiting for them. Just like back in Manitoba.