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~~KleslaR~~ · 03-16-2017, 02:39 PM

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2487 words. Doesn't include writer credit.

RYAN VAS' FIRST SEASON + CONCUSSION TALK

by Rusty Klesla / ********.com Staff Writer

FIRST SEASON THOUGHTS

Ryan Vas’ first season in the SHL was in one word, solid. He didn’t really excel at anything but he certainly held his ground, on average playing nearly 23 minutes per game as a rookie defenseman with one of the top teams in the league. The Edmonton Blizzard finished 3rd in the league standings for the regular season and while his contributions on the scoreboard were limited to just 5 goals and 11 assists, he certainly made an instant impact by providing extra depth on the Blizzard blue line.

Ryan Vas has certainly progressed during his first season but perhaps not enough. While he definitely showed development, he could have been better. But Ryan Vas isn’t worried. “I know I can be better and I’m going to focus more on scoring next season”, Vas said in an interview via a Skype video call. “Its just a matter of practice. I was more worried about being good defensively this season so that I wouldn’t be a liability in that sense. And I knew that Kane would lead us offensively so I wasn’t worried about that.”

And while Ryan Vas has certainly been defensively responsible it is to be noted that Toivo Kosonen, a member of Vas’ former team (although Vas never played a game for them) the New England Wolfpack, managed to crack the top 10 in rookie scoring despite the fact that he played less time per game. Vas however showed nothing but excitement over Kosonen’s endeavors. “I was happy for him, I knew he had it in him,” Vas said. “He has always had a knack for scoring goals and the fact that he scored himself into the top 10 in rookie scoring doesn’t surprise me one bit. That’s the type of player he just is.”

And it certainly seems that Ryan Vas is looking for a more grounded approach to the game although, as he previously stated, he has to score more in the future. “Its a part of hockey. I had a lot of time on the powerplay but I need to do more than just keep the puck in. I also need to work on my endurance and make sure I can skate faster and longer.”, Vas said. “I just need shoot more, shoot harder and just get the biscuit to the butter, right in front of the net. And that’s what I’m going to work on mostly in the offseason although the way things are looking, our offseason could end up being really short,” he finished with a smile that almost blinded me as the Retina display on my brand new Donglebook Pro lit up as Vas revealed his pearly white teeth that rival the sun in shine.

But it is quite clear that Ryan Vas is going to one day be an extremely important piece of the Edmonton Blizzard roster. Edmonton Blizzard GM Winston Windsor has said that there’s a reason they signed Vas to an extension so early in the season: They expect him to carry the team on his back in the future without breaking anything. “He’s 70% there I’d say,” Windsor commented. “He’s going to take his time and we’re going to give him time. Good things take time. Its a part of hockey. He’ll be ready when he needs to be.”

Ryan Vas has certainly impressed in his rookie season and he was 3rd among rookie defensemen in ice time, playing just under 23 minutes per game on average. And next season, he looks to play even more. “I know its unlikely that I’ll play more but I’m going to try and do my best to play as much as humanly possible,” Vas said. “I need to get used to the big minutes early and start producing more. Its going to take time but I’m ready, I’m so ready.”

The SHL is a fast league and so I asked Vas again just how fast the league is and he quickly (pun intended) had an answer ready. “Its really fast. I’d say its 2-3 times faster than the SMJHL,” Vas said. “I felt like preseason hockey was already fast but in the regular season, people just found a whole new gear that I didn’t know existed. And so far in the playoffs, its perhaps even a shade faster. It definitely is more physical and its so much fun but its a learning experience every game. I know a lot already but I learn every day still.” And it certainly is showing in the league with the league seemingly getting faster and faster. More and more star players are playing near 30 minutes per game or even more than that. Its just how much teams rely on their top talent to keep the scores up. Some teams simply don’t have the prospects to fill the lines as much so their top players have to play more but despite that, some players still play more so that they can produce more. Theo Kane scored a record breaking 72 points this season (33 goals and 39 assists) and its due to the fact that he had that extra ice time. The previous record was achieved with around 23 minutes of ice time at around 70 points but the fact that 5 minutes of extra ice time didn’t push Kane to 80 points just shows how hard the league is to play in. But despite the fact that the league is flowing with talent, also the second most scoring player this season came from Edmonton: Pedro Sarantez scored 32 goals and assisted on 37, putting him at 69 points at the end of the season, suprassing McZehrl’s 64 points. “I can’t believe I actually scored more than McJesus”, Sarantez said. “Its incredible and I’m so happy. I know I can score more and I’m going to score more next season.”

Both West Kendall and Seattle got swept by Toronto and New England respectively with Buffalo facing elimination in game 5 against New England. The only series that has been very even so far has been the series between Edmonton and Los Angeles, with the series being tied at 2-2 going into game 5. But Ryan Vas isn’t worried at all. “We’re gonna win the next 2 games,” Vas said confidently. “We’re going to destroy them so hard that they’re going to start drinking Powerade instead of Gatorade.” I quickly reminded Vas that last I checked, terrorism was still illegal and he apologized before continuing. “I know we can beat the Panthers,” Vas said. “No more of this OT clowning around, we need to finish them straight out. We’ve shown that in every game so far but its those minor mistakes that have cost us two games. I know we can beat them and its only a matter of time. We’re not looking for any quick exits here, we’re going in the for the cup.”

CONCUSSION PROTOCOLS NEED REFINING

Winston Windsor is always open to talking about player health as much as anyone within the SHL: In other words, questions about player health are almost always either blatantly ignored or non-answers are given if any answers are given at all.

In the fourth game of the playoffs for Edmonton, a game against the Los Angeles Panthers that the Blizzard lost 4-3 in overtime, Ryan Vas had perhaps… No, he definitely had the most scariest moment of his career so far: In the 2nd period while defending his goalie, Ryan Vas took a slapshot off the stick of Panthers defenseman Chris Crutchfield. Now it is commonplace for players to block shots but this shot was different. Standing around 25 feet away from Vas, Crutchfield unleashed a furious one time shot that elevated so much that instead of hitting Vas on the leg or even the shoulder, it smacked Vas right on the corner of his helmet, causing Vas to collapse on the ice momentarily. He only stayed down for a moment but there was a deafening silence at Rexall Place as Vas was laying down on the ice following the show. In a post game interview, I asked Edmonton GM Winston Windsor whether Vas had been tested.

“Many times,” Windsor said. “It was a tough game against a tough opponent and Vas did everything he could throughout the game.”

As I mentioned before, usually questions about player health are either blatantly ignored or you get a non-answer about them. This time it felt like both as I felt like Windsor purposely ignored the question and chose to take it the wrong way by commenting about the game instead.
The fact that the concussion protocol program’s observers didn’t pull Vas out of the game for a concussion test immediately is dumbfounding. The fact that he was allowed to stay in the game is just downright idiotic. It doesn’t matter that Vas appeared to be ok afterwards. He played well enough despite the fact that Edmonton ended up losing 4-3 in overtime. Yes, Vas was his normal quick witted self in the post-game interview as usual but that’s not the point. That’s not the point at all.

By now its obvious to anyone who follows hockey that the players are extremely competitive and the coaches are as well as the coaches are quite often former players themselves. And if you ask the players, they don’t ever want to leave a game for any reason. The coaches most certainly won’t pull anyone out of a game, especially if its someone who plays 20+ minutes per game. Its a part of hockey’s macho culture: It never hurts too much and the risk is never too big. If you can skate, you can play and that’s it, no other questions are even hypothesized. The player will continue to play. We’ve seen this same attitude with every single SHL team ever, including the Blizzard.

This isn’t the first time we have seen things like this either. In season 32 against the Calgary Dragons, Theo Kane lost a skateblade on his left skate without noticing and as he was (thankfully) slowly skating towards his own endboards to cause the Dragons to have an icing called against them. He ended up plummeting into the boards on the play. It took Kane more than a few seconds to get back up but he was on ice for the next faceoff. And the faceoff after that. And the faceoff after that.
“It was a rivalry game,” General Manager Winston Windsor said. “I wouldn’t have wanted to leave the game either. He’s a competitive guy. Really competitive.”
Absolutely, Theo Kane a competitive guy? One of the most competitive guys in the entire league in my opinion. It was only after Kane skated to the bench that anyone dared to suggest that Kane should skip the rest of the period to get tested for a concussion. Upon receiving the news, a resounding “This is bullshit!” echoed from the Edmonton bench as Kane made his way to the Edmonton locker room for concussion testing. It should have never have taken that long for Kane to be taken in for testing. He should have gone in right away.

Its not ok for it to take that long before Kane, Vas, OR ANYONE, gets pulled out of the game for concussion testing. Its almost understandable as everyone is so competitive and nobody wants for anyone to leave the game, least the players themselves. That’s the reason the league added its own spotters for games so that the teams themselves couldn’t do anything about, they’d just have to accept the fact that they would be a player short, maybe even for the rest of the game. It took extra long before Kane was pulled in for testing while Vas was never pulled in for testing. Yes the playoffs are important and yes, one game in the regular season win or loss can be the difference between making and not making the playoffs but that’s not the point. If Vas taking a slapshot right in the head isn’t enough reason to pull someone out of a playoff game, then what is? Does a player literally need to be decapitated before he leaves the game? There’s been a long standing attitude in the league that basically says that if you can stand without help, you’re playing. And its a dangerous attitude, yet nobody wants it to change. Least the players or the coaches themselves who dedicate their lives to the sport. The fact that Vas wasn’t pulled from the game is a joke and questions the entire process that is concussion testing.

The spotters have actually pulled players from games before, even this season. Jasper Clayton, Eduard Selich, Ben Waters and Brennan Kennedy for example were actually pulled for concussion tests. And it doesn’t surprise anyone that all four players absolutely blasted the process and complained that the league endangered their team’s chances of getting important points by pulling them out of the game. Ben Waters even said that if the league keeps pulling goalies out of games for testing, it’ll just give teams a reason to “accidentally on purpose” run into a team’s goalie so that the starter has to be pulled. I’d say that’s perhaps putting it a bit too boldly but when I asked a player, who wants to remain anonymous, about it, he agreed with Ben Waters. “Its not impossible,” the anonymous player said. “Sometimes you shoot a shot because you know the guy is going to block it and that its going to sting but if the conditions are right, you might want to look into that slapshot and see if it was all that accidental. Myself and everyone else, we know that if we get a chance for a shoot, we can hit a dime from center ice if we really want to. And hitting someone in the head with a slapshot? Its possible.” And it is this kind of thinking why the league took it out of the teams and players hands and put an independent party to the task, to save them all from themselves.

Ryan Vas for example, he appeared to be fine after taking Crutchfield’s shot off his helmet and as mentioned before, also appeared just fine in the post-game interview but that doesn’t mean anything as concussion symptoms don’t always appear immediately. It takes more than a glance at someone’s eyes and a “How many fingers am I holding up?” to determine if a player has a concussion. If there’s any doubt, a player should be forced to leave the game and head straight into the quiet room for evaluation. We all know that it can be that one point between you and a playoff spot but there are always more seasons but no one has an extra brain lying around. Lets do our best to protect those brains a bit more.