VERETT – Dan Gendur is still speechless.
Ten days ago he was languishing in Prince George, stuck on the fourth line of an underachieving team and wondering just where his WHL future was headed.
Now he finds himself on one of the top lines of the top-ranked team in the entire Canadian Hockey League.
So when the horn sounded and the crowd erupted at the Everett Events Center on Tuesday for his first goal with the Everett Silvertips, the commotion served as fitting sound effects for someone who just hit the jackpot.
“Coming from Prince George to the top team in the country, I never really expected that,” Gendur said. “I thought maybe I’d be traded to a last-place team or someone in need. But I never dreamed of coming here to Everett.”
The Tips are hoping they’ve found a bit of a jackpot of their own in Gendur.
Everett acquired the 5-foot-11, 195-pound native of Victoria, B.C., on Nov. 28 in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft. A versatile forward who has good speed and a booming shot, Gendur has so far been slotted in at right wing on a line with Everett star center Zach Hamill.
And so far the Tips like what they’ve seen.
“I think he’s been really good,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “He has really good speed, pretty good hands, a good shot and good vision on the ice. And he’s been very interested in learning our system. He’s paying a little bit of a price right now to try to get caught up with the other guys, so he’s had a really good attitude, too.”
Gendur was always considered a prospect with Prince George, but often found his progress derailed by injury. After a promising rookie campaign in 2004-05, he played in just 19 games the following season because of a bruised thigh that eventually saw calcification of the muscle. Then at the beginning of this season he suffered a sprained ankle that forced him out of another 14 games.
Those injuries played their role in Gendur’s marginalization in Prince George. At the time of the deal Gendur had two goals and five assists in 13 games. However, he’d seen is role diminished and therefore requested a trade.
Imagine his surprise when his request was granted in less than two hours.
” (The Cougars) made a couple of deals and my spot on the depth chart kind of went down, so I requested a trade,” Gendur explained. “It was actually within two hours that (Everett general manager Doug) Soetaert called me and said I was coming to Everett. I was pretty excited.”
What’s been even more exciting for Gendur is the role he’s been given with the Tips. Everett’s had difficulty finding effective wingers for Hamill this season. So far the Tips have tried Brady Calla and Brandon Campos on the right, and Lukas Vartovnik and Ondrej Fiala on the left. But so far none of those combinations have come close to generating the type of chemistry Hamill had with John Lammers last season.
Hamill is currently in the top 10 in the league in scoring, but most of his points have come on the power play, where he has the talents of Peter Mueller, Kyle Beach and Moises Gutierrez at his disposal.
Constantine is hoping Gendur can be the finisher Hamill’s been missing.
“With Dan, we thought we’d just try him (with Hamill),” Constantine said. “We’ve had lots of different guys play with Zach and we just want to experiment a little and find some combination that will eventually click.”
The result of that decision is wrought with irony. Gendur, who could only get a handful of shifts per game with an average team, now finds himself playing full-time for the team with the best record in the league.
“I’ve been thinking about that a lot, actually,” Gendur said. “I don’t know what it is, but Kevin’s philosophy is to play four lines and that’s what makes the team successful.”
And the Tips are hoping a happy, healthy Gendur can make them even that much more successful.
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