By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
Until Friday night, Dixon Ward’s last appearance in Rochester was June 15, 1996, the day he packed up his hockey season and headed home for the summer.
Just 24 hours earlier, Ward, his Rochester Americans teammates and several thousand of their closest friends suddenly celebrated in the streets of the city with the Calder Cup.
“I haven’t been back since the day the show ended,” Ward said.
The cup is not back either, at least not for the celebration with the Americans. That’s 30 years without a tournament, making the memories of the 1996 tournament even more special.
Ward, the team’s leading scorer, and Wayne Primeau, who began his 13-year professional career this spring in the stars and stripes, returned to the War Memorial on Friday to help the Americans celebrate the night of the 90s.
“When we go back to the city, the city is a lot bigger than I remember,” Ward said.
It also hasn’t been in the building since the night of June 13, 1996, when the Americans beat the Portland Pirates 2-1 in Game 7 years ago. But thirty years later, the frozen memories are still vivid.
“I loved my time in Rochester,” Ward said. “Winning the Calder Cup is still the happiest moment of my career.”
For Ward, the season revived his NHL career. He entered the NHL as a rookie with the Vancouver Canucks in 1992-93, producing 22 goals and 52 points in 70 games.
But as soon as he appeared in the main stage of the game, he faded away. He moved from the Canucks to the Los Angeles Kings to the Toronto Maple Leafs and then to free agency, signing with the Buffalo Sabers in the summer of 1995.
He had a terrific training camp with the Sabers, leading the team in scoring in the preseason, but that didn’t earn him a roster spot. He was assigned to Rochester to start the season.
Realizing that his career was at a crossroads, he knew he had to make a change.
“You either get it or you never do,” Ward said. “So I sat down with Torts (coach John Tortorella) and said, ‘Obviously they’re not going to use me as a top-six forward, can you teach me to kill penalties and play defense?’ “
While learning new roles, he continued to score, leading the Amerks in assists (56) and finishing a point behind Craig Charron for the team lead with 94 points.
He exploded in the postseason, accumulating 11 goals, 24 assists and 35 points in 19 games to earn the Jack Butterfield Trophy as the league’s MVP.
But he was by no means a one-man show and quickly produced an endless list of contributors to that Cup team, including Brian Holzinger, Barrie Moore, Steve Shields, Scott Metcalfe, Dan Frawley and Scott Nichol.
“The best teams have a strong mix of character and skill,” said Ward, a partner in the Okanagan Hockey Group.
While Ward built the foundation of a well-rounded game that earned him a full-time NHL job over the next five seasons, Primeau was just beginning his professional career. When his junior season with the Oshawa Generals ended, he joined the Amerks for the final eight games of the regular season, then played in 17 of 19 games (3 goals, 1 assist).
He still remembers the difficulty of joining the team two months before his 20th birthdayth birthday, knowing that his performance means that someone who has been part of the team all season will not be on the roster.
But he found his ice time, and was playing a regular rotation until the Calder Cup final. Even though it was late in Game 7, he was wondering why he went on the ice.
“I had just turned 20, there was about a minute and a half left and Torts took me out there to take a defensive position,” Primeau said. “I kept looking at the bench like, ‘Are you serious, you want me out of here?’ “
The cleanup was quickly successful and Tortorella sent a veteran to take over.
Primeau started the 1996-97 season with the Amerks but midway through the season he got what would become a lasting memory in the NHL. He still remembers getting that call – it came while the Americans were playing in the Spengler Cup, an international tournament in Davos, Switzerland.
“It was probably one of the longest memorials ever seen, being called from Switzerland to Buffalo,” he said.
Ward and Primeau signed autographs before and during the Calder Cup game, wearing replicas of their 1995-96 stars and pinstripe jerseys.
“I think these jerseys,” Primeau said, “are some of the best sports.”
It helps to rekindle memories that will never fade.
