July 19, 2011
Something from nothing
A second full-time NHL season wasn’t in the cards for Ryan Potulny, but a Calder Cup in Binghamton made year worthwhile
by Elliot Olshansky/Correspondent
Ryan Potulny was among those hoisting the Cup after Binghamton's historic championship run. (photo: Binghamton Senators)
Ryan Potulny started the 2010-11 season with hopes of helping the Chicago Blackhawks defend the Stanley Cup. Needless to say, the repeat plan in the Windy City didn’t quite work out, but the North Dakota native did finish the year raising a championship trophy above his head.
After being traded at the deadline to the Ottawa Senators for Chris Campoli, Potulny scored 14 goals and assisted on 12 more in the Calder Cup playoffs, leading the Binghamton Senators to the first championship in franchise history and the first Calder Cup in 29 years of AHL hockey in Binghamton.
It’s not the Cup he wanted, but it’s one he’s certainly glad to have.
“It’s kind of been a little bit of a whirlwind for me,” said Potulny. “You don’t want to get moved, but if you get put in a situation like I did, get to play some good NHL games and then come to Binghamton here and make a run at the playoffs and win a Calder Cup, it’s a pretty good season.”
For a player coming off a career-high 15 goals, 17 assists and 64 games in the NHL with Edmonton in 2009-10, going without a point and finishing minus-1 in 10 NHL games this season was tough to take. But when the former All-American at the University of Minnesota was assigned to Binghamton in mid-March, veteran winger Ryan Keller instantly recognized the boost that the one-time Hobey Baker Award finalist gave to the B-Sens.
“It was a great addition for us to have another veteran body,” Keller said. “He’s played in the NHL, been around the league a while, so he knows what it takes to win. Anytime you can get someone like that in your locker room, it helps.”
“Once I got here,” Potulny said, “just talking to the guys and seeing the standings, I realized that we had a good chance of making a push to get in the playoffs.”
The B-Sens did exactly that, finishing fifth in the East Division with 92 points, enough to qualify for the playoffs as the third seed in the Atlantic Division, which set up a first-round series against the Manchester Monarchs. With an infusion of players who had spent most of the season in the NHL with parent club Ottawa, the team was primed for a run.
“Right at the start of the playoffs,” Potulny said, “just looking at the roster, we knew that we had a pretty good team, and as long as we could play team hockey and come together and do the right things, then we had a chance.”
The B-Sens were severely tested in the first round by Manchester, but Potulny came up biggest when Binghamton needed him most, scoring a hat trick in the series’ fourth game, adding two more goals in Game 5 and assisting on four goals in Game 7 before scoring the overtime winner to send his team on to face Portland in the second round.
“Manchester played us hard,” Potulny said. “We were still trying to figure out lines, and how to play playoff hockey. Once we got that figured out, I think we were a tough team to beat.”
That certainly came out in the second round, where Potulny was not called on for any major heroics, but continued to chug along with solid play, scoring two goals and assisting on three more in a six-game series win over Portland. The B-Sens continued to pick up steam in the conference finals, sweeping Charlotte in four games as Potulny scored four goals and assisted on two more to help Binghamton earn its first-ever Eastern Conference championship.
“He scored big goals for us,” said Keller, who played on Potulny’s line. “He came up with big face-offs, all that kind of stuff. He was a really important addition for us on both sides of the puck.”
Potulny was less effective in the Cup final against the Houston Aeros – he was limited to a single assist and a minus-5 rating for the series – but with teammates like Keller, Bobby Butler and Smith stepping up, Potulny wasn’t needed as much, and he closed out the playoffs as the leading scorer in Binghamton’s run to the Calder Cup.
Having seen his older brother, Grant – himself a former B-Sens forward and an Ottawa draftee – deliver a long-awaited NCAA title in 2002 when his overtime goal gave Minnesota its first championship in 23 years, the younger Potulny can appreciate what it means to give Binghamton its first-ever Calder Cup, not to mention what it means to put the AHL’s championship in the Empire State for the first time since the Rochester Americans won it in 1996.
“It was pretty special to me, being on the team to bring the Calder Cup to Binghamton,” Potulny said. “We knew how bad the fans and the people here wanted it, but after the parade, I think we saw how much it meant to the city, and the special feeling that everyone has around here.”
It was announced late last month that the Senators would not make a qualifying offer to Potulny, a move that Ottawa general manager Bryan Murray described as a favor to the player, freeing him up to pursue a one-way contract with another NHL team. As he continues to seek his fortune in the NHL, however, Potulny is confident that the experience he gained in leading Binghamton to the Calder Cup will serve him well.
“I think everyone wants winners,” Potulny said. “When you put a Calder Cup on your résumé, that looks pretty good. I just take the experience, and the battle level of the playoffs, how hard the guys competed, and what we all went through. I think there’s a lot of experience, a lot of lessons to be learned.”
And while Potulny will most likely reap the benefits of those lessons outside the state of New York, he’ll always have a special place in Binghamton.
Elliot Olshansky can be reached at feedback@nyhockeyjournal.com.
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