Bryan Muir - Manchester Monarchs - American Hockey League (AHL) - Human Seesaw (page 2)- On MLN Sports Zone- A Minor League Sports News Magazine™

Muir has been on the cusp of sticking in the NHL in the past. He played 53 games “in a great stop with Chicago,” in 1998-99 playing with the likes of Chris Chelios.

The next season he was traded to Tampa Bay and, “the first time I stepped on the ice (with Tampa) I broke my ankle and three surgeries after that, things just kind of snowballed after that with my ankle.”

After a year of rehab and 21 games in the IHL with the Detroit Vipers, the Colorado Avalanche acquired Muir.

Thanks to appearing in three playoff games in 2000-01, his name is now engraved on the Stanley Cup.

“Winning the Stanley Cup was an unbelievable experience that I don’t even know how to put into words when I look back on it,” Muir said. “To get to play with Ray Bourque, Rob Blake and Joe Sakic, to be part of that, to see Patrick Roy do what he did, being a kid and looking up at people hosting the Stanley Cup above their head, and actually being on the ice when I got to hoist it above my head, it was a surreal experience.”

Those are memories he occasionally shares with his younger teammates and also with one old friend who’s just a few stalls down in the Monarchs locker room. Steve Kelly, a center, and Muir have shared eerily parallel careers.

Both started in the Edmonton system. They played their first full professional season together in 1996-97, helping the Hamilton Bulldogs to the Calder Cup finals and then earning an NHL call-up. Kelly has played for 10 teams (four in the NHL) in eight pro seasons. He too has his name on the Stanley Cup, playing in 10 playoff games with the New Jersey Devils in their 2000 championship run.

Like Muir, Kelly was named to the Canadian All-Star team this season. Naturally, it was also his first all-star appearance. (He assisted on the first goal in a 9-5 Canadian win over PlanetUSA.) Kelly, too, had to find out that the Kings had called for a different forward on all-star day, though his disappointment was probably mitigated a bit because Los Angeles needed a right wing.

“As you get older, you see the business side of it more,” said Kelly, who has 13 goals and 35 assists in 42 games this season, his third with the Monarchs. “The NHL teams have more money invested in these younger guys and they want and need to see some of their draft picks play. That’s understandable. It’s not always about who’s playing best.”

While the all-star appearance didn’t pay immediate dividends for either player, Kelly said it does show the parent club that, “you’re still working hard, still playing hard, that you haven’t just dropped off the map. That you still have that desire and fun and that you still want to play the game.”

The veterans also believe that when it comes Stanley Cup playoff time, their experience will become more valued.

“When they signed me, I was a depth player. I’ve played in the NHL. I’ve got experience. They know that I can do it. They’ve seen me do it. I’ve played something like 180-odd games in the NHL,” Muir said. “Maybe they’re trying some guys out to see what they can do. If that’s the way the ball bounces, that’s the way the ball bounces, and I will be ready when I get the call, if I do.”

For now, the oldest Monarch is happy to be in Manchester, still with a reserved seat on the pro hockey teeter-totter. As Muir says, “I’m still young at heart.”

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