by Dave
Weissman,
Columbus Wired
Signed as a free agent on February 1, 2001 and
playing in 69 games with the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets' minor
league affiliate Syracuse Crunch, Jody Shelley accumulated one goal,
seven assists and a total of 357 penalty minutes.
That's right...three hundred, fifty-seven penalty
minutes, accounting for nineteen percent of the teams' penalties.
His NHL debut was short but very memorable. The official stats will show on that February 2001 night against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Shelley would tally fifteen- seconds of on-ice time and ten-minutes in penalties, all for fighting. He was brought up specifically to tangle with former Jacket Krzysztof Oliwa, who was making his first return visit to Nationwide since being traded.
"It was the highlight of my hockey career," he recently said. "That's something (the first NHL game) you talk about and wish would happen but you never really think it will and when it does your like 'wow'. It was a great feeling."
It was short lived as he was sent back down and would not appear in a Blue Jacket uniform again until this season.
He spent the off-season in his hometown in Canada working on his game with players from the Edmonton Oilers. The Blue Jacket coaching staff had told him to work on his skating and stick handling skills if he was to make it with the big club.
"His straight ahead skating is fine, his speed is fine when he gets going. It's his agility off of the straight line," said Blue Jacket head coach Dave King.
The new and improved Jody Shelley arrived on the first day of practice this year. He scored a goal during the first scrimmage and also had an assist. The coaching staff was noticing him.
"This guy works on everything," King said. "If you give him a task to work on part of his game, he'll absolutely do it. He is going to get a lot better just because he wants to get better."
Yes, he is a fighter, a big, towering presence of a man. As he will tell you, fighting is just part of the game. He, as all hockey players are taught at an early age, is from the old school. If the opponent is abusing your teammate, it is up to you to step up and provide a little protection. He has a job to do and knows what that job is. Create havoc, check hard and being on a fourth line, agitate the opponent. "As a fourth-line player you don't want to be a liability to your team," he said.
And boy does he supply the protection. In a recent game against the Dallas Stars, Blue Jackets All-Star Espen Knutsen was leveled at center ice by Dallas defender Derian Hatcher. Shelley was closest to him and the first to step up and get in his face.
"Guys like that (Hatcher) that are 6-4 can't be running around and think they can push our little guys," Shelley said. "It just happened that I was on the ice when that happened and I'm sure any one of the guys in this room that if that were to happen to Espen, probably Jean Luc (Grand-Pierre) would have stepped up or (Lyle) Odelein would have stepped up. It's just one of those things. All the way growing up, playing Junior hockey, you're taught that if you're a bigger guy and that skilled guy gets hit you step into it and (sometimes) it can turn into a fight."
But what stats don't show is the intensity and fire that is brought to a team after Shelley locks horns with an opponent. The skirmishes he gets into, the hard forechecking, it all adds up and fires up his teammates and it has shown in giving the team some spark.
Shelley is not a dummy by any stretch of the imagination, as one would assume. Most people perceive him as the Rocky Balboa of hockey, not all there.
He is a very intelligent hockey player with two years of college under his belt. He studies his opponents and listen openly to advice from established veterans such as captain Lyle Odelein (13 NHL seasons), Grant Marshall (402 NHL games) and 38-year-old Kevin Dineen (1,125 NHL games).
"I have tapes of people and there are things I'll do," Shelley would say. "I'll go over to Lyle (Odelein) and ask him what does he throw, what kind of fighter is so and so. I'll go to Grant Marshall, Kevin Dineen and those guys who have been in the League a long time."
And by understanding their tendencies, have the upper hand and sometimes get them with a good uppercut. The later was evidenced on a night against Chicago as he went toe-to-toe with Bob Probert not once, not twice, but three separate times. Probert would win the battles, but know he was in a war. It would carry over in the next game of the back-to-back series, as they would tangle once again.
Against Dallas on January 21st, he would brawl with Hatcher, but also show his offensive touch as well, tallying a goal in the loss.
He is what the Blue Jackets need on offense, a big physical presence in front of the net that can't easily be moved, like the smaller Ray Whitney's or Espen Knutsen's.
He scored the goal as he was rushing the net and got his stick on the rebound, slapping it past Dallas Stars goaltender Ed Belfour. It was his second NHL goal and coincidently was awarded the game's second-star. It was the first time in his NHL career he was awarded that honor. His first NHL goal came on the previous road trip against the L.A. Kings.
Head coach Dave King also wants it known that Shelley is not always going to be the first option for the tough guy role. "I think the one thing you have to be very careful of here is that the others think now that he (Shelley) has that designated role and that's strictly his role, that they're off the hook," King said. "We need other guys to step up sometimes when the game requires that and it's there and somebody's challenged you. We've got Jamie Pushor, (Lyle) Odelein and a lot of guys that can do it. It's really important that everybody understands though that it's not solely his responsibility now to play the tough role. I think other guys will still do it, we just don't want Jody being the only one that will ever to this for us."
Shelley was told a few weeks ago to move out of his hotel and find a real place to stay, indicating that he is here for the remainder of the year and longer.
The fans have really taken a liking to him and his physical style of play. During a recent game against San Jose, Sharks forward Mike Ricci took down Tyler Wright. The 18,136 fans in attendance at Nationwide started chanting, 'Shelley, Shelley, Shelley'. He was not even on the ice at the time. "That was fun," he said.
He is second on the team in the plus-minus category and already first in penalty minutes. He has scored more goals this year (2) than the last three combined.
His family recently made the to Columbus from their home in Edmonton to see Jody play in the NHL for the first time. They watch all of his games on television, but have not seen him play in person for over three years. It was an exciting game for Shelley he helped to lead the Blue Jackets to a 6-2 victory over visiting San Jose. "They haven't seen me play in about three years since St. John. They haven't (ever) seen me play professional," he said.
Coach King knows that he is young, just turning 25, and his skills are still developing. "By next season you'll be able to see him do more for us in different areas and that is going to be so important because now in the game it's fine to be a tough guy, but if you can play you get more minutes (on the ice). If a guy can't play the game it's a limited role," he said.
King also said that in addition to the intensity he brings, he also brings a sense of accomplishment in fulfilling a dream. "I think he is a guy that is so thrilled to be able to see his dream unfold in front of him, which is to be an NHL player. It provides us with a little bit of the thought that, 'hey we're so lucky to be a part of this game'."
Shelley takes nothing for granted, enjoying each and every day in the NHL and giving it his all every day. "I never want to plateau. I want to have fun, mature, build. I look at guys like Kevin Dineen. You've got to admire the guy. He's done a lot in his career and he's still not satisfied," he said. "And that (satisfied feeling) is something you never want to get. You just want things to be fun and refreshing every year."
