Former Silvertip Dane Crowley is a travelin’ man

Published 9:35 pm Sunday, January 11, 2009

PHOENIX, Ariz. — If things didn’t keep changing in Dane Crowley’s hockey career, it wouldn’t be the same.

Crowley, a defenseman who played 11/2 seasons with the Everett Silvertips, is a 21-year-old professional now with the Phoenix Roadrunners of the ECHL, a mid-level pro hockey league a tier below the American Hockey League.

It’s the latest stop in an already well-traveled career for Crowley, who played with three teams in the Western Hockey League and is on his third pro team since the end of the Silvertips’ season last year.

Along the way, he experienced the high of being drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning, then the low of having them decide not to offer a contract.

It’s not the perfect path to Crowley’s dream of reaching the NHL, but it hasn’t diminished Crowley’s lifelong goal.

“It’s still there,” he said last week after a morning skate at U.S. Airways Center, where the Roadrunners play their home games. “You have to wait for your opportunity.”

Crowley, the third-youngest player on the Roadrunners, has four goals and three assists in 22 games, including the game-winner in overtime against Bakersfield early in the season.

Since he left Everett, there have been challenges, changes and even a little conflict.

After his final game with the Silvertips, Crowley played five games for the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL.

He played in Norfolk against the advice of his agent, who feared he might be overwhelmed at minor league hockey’s top level and hurt his chances of getting a contract from the Lightning, who drafted him in 2006.

“My agent was telling me not to go, but I felt in my heart that I should go and I told him that,” Crowley said. “I figured that if I don’t go and something goes wrong with the contract negotiations (with the Lightning), I would never forgive myself for making that decision.”

He played the final five games with Norfolk, finishing with one assist and the confidence that he could compete at that level.

“I don’t regret ever going,” he said. “I played as hard as I could and I played well. I think I made a very positive impression with Tampa Bay.”

The Lightning, however, didn’t offer Crowley a contract.

It sent him into this season looking for a team and he hooked up with someone who knew his game well, former Silvertips coach Kevin Constantine. Constantine was beginning his second season with the Houston Aeros, an AHL affiliate of the Minnesota Wild, and Crowley signed a two-way contract with Houston and Phoenix.

“I loved playing for Kevin,” Crowley said. “He’s one of my favorite coaches ever. If you don’t know his systems it’s very difficult because he yells and screams at you, but knowing his systems, which I have for the past 21/2 years, I loved it. I knew exactly where to go, where to be on the ice every time. It was really easy to go back to it.”

He played five games with Houston, getting two goals and an assist, before the Aeros sent him down to the Roadrunners with instructions to work on his one-on-one play.

“Everything is so much better in the pro leagues,” Crowley said. “Everything is quicker, everyone is bigger and stronger, and it just gets faster and faster from here. You’re not playing against boys anymore; you’re playing against men. There are a couple of guys on this team who are 32.”

Crowley has an apartment in Scottsdale and says he has continued his unique game-day tradition. He prepares and eats a gourmet salmon dinner before he leaves for the arena.

It’s something he’s done since he played on his first WHL team at Saskatoon, shopping for the ingredients himself, then spending much of the day preparing the meal.

“The nutritionist in Saskatoon told me that there are Omega 3s in salmon and it worked for me,” he said. “I felt good on the ice and I still do it. The salmon down here is not as good as Seattle salmon, that’s for sure. But every (game) day after the morning skate I’ll go home and get the salmon, broccoli and spinach going.”

There’s something else that’s not quite like playing hockey in the Northwest — the atmosphere in the arena and the fan support. He’ll always remember the energy of the crowds in Everett.

“We get about 2,500 people to a game here, and being in a 17,000-seat arena like this it’s like nobody is here,” Crowley said. “The fans are so much louder in Everett. That’s the one thing that stands out when I think about playing in Everett. They are the best fans I’ve ever seen in my life, better than any fans at any stop I’ve been to. I loved my time there.”

Crowley said he’s glad he played his 20-year-old season in Everett under coach John Becanic and assistants Jay Varady and Mark LeRose because they continued to teach Constantine’s NHL style that helped make him a better player.

Since then, Crowley has suffered through the Lightning’s decision not to offer a contract and, two months ago, being sent down to Phoenix from Houston.

None of that altered his dream of reaching the NHL or the work he knows it will take to get there.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I always wanted to make it to the NHL,” Crowley said. “Getting drafted was one step. I’ve obviously taken a step back, but I hope to get back there again. It’s always been my dream.”