Cory Conacher

In early December 2012, I sat down with Syracuse Crunch (AHL) forward Cory Conacher for a feature I was writing on him. Now, a month and a half later, Conacher is playing in the newly returned NHL for the Tampa Bay Lightning. In his NHL debut, he scored a goal and an assist, and was +1 on the day. Below is the article I wrote about Conacher, which holds some more weight now that he has made the NHL.

Cory Conacher is a diabetic. Cory Conacher is 5-foot-8, and that's being generous. Cory Conacher is the reigning MVP of the most violent professional sports league in North America.

Cory Conacher also plays for the Syracuse Crunch a team composed of the reigning champions of the American Hockey League. The Crunch currently hold the No. 1 spot in the Eastern Conference. You may be asking yourself, How can this be? Because Cory Conacher is one of the fastest and most skilled hockey players in the United States today.

With the NHL lockout of the 2012 season, the best hockey league in the Western Hemisphere, and perhaps the world, is the AHL. Cory Conacher entered the league last year, and his rookie campaign was one of the best ever. In 75 games, Conacher tallied 39 goals and 41 assists, for 80 points overall. He led the league in goals, was second in points and had an impressive plus/minus of +19.

Conacher led his team, the Norfolk Admirals, on an impressive 28-game winning streak, the longest in North American history – on any professional level. Over the two months the streak spanned, Conacher scored 14 goals and dished out 12 assists for 26 points and held a plus/minus of +13.

But Conacher wasn't always the AHL star he is today. Conacher remembers when he was 14 and his coach sent him down to the AA team because of his diminutive size.

“Ever since that, I've learned to get motivated from stuff like that,” Conacher said. “If you are small, you can't play small. You see guys like [Martin] St. Louis, who has played so many years in the NHL, who's about the same size as me, and he goes into corners and battles hard and hits [people], and does the little things that big players do, and he's a small guy.”

“If you are small, you can't play small,” Conacher added. “Small players have to learn to play big, and that's how they become successful.”

Conacher's father was a hockey player, and he comes from a hockey family that includes former NHL-ers Roy, Charlie and Lionel Conacher. Cory began playing at age six.

“I started playing, and I have loved it ever since,” Conacher said. “I have it in my blood.”

Conacher was not a star throughout high school, and was not drafted. He attended Buffalo, NY's Canisius College, beginning in 2007.

“I wasn't looking to get drafted, I wasn't expecting to get drafted or anything. I just went to Canisius to work on my game,” Conacher said.

Conacher spent all four years at Canisius, where he broke 12 school records. While there, Conacher developed a strong relationship with head coach Dave Smith, who Conacher still keeps in touch with today.

“The coaching staff gave me an opportunity to play there, and since then it's worked out. I thank my coach at Canisius more than once or twice a month,” Conacher said. “I chat with him every once in a while, and I like to keep in touch with Canisius, see how they're doing.”

Smith could not say a negative thing about Canisius' most accomplished hockey alumni.

“I'm in awe of Cory,” Smith said. “He's such a humble kid; he recognizes the part small people have had in his development.”

Smith and the Canisius coaching staff were incredibly beneficial to Conacher's development as a player.

“We encourage [players] playing to their strengths,” Smith said. “We encouraged Cory to shoot and use his speed. He just needed the confidence to let it fly.”

Conacher graduated from Canisius in 2011, and tried out for the Rochester Americans, an AHL team. He played two games for Rochester, and bounced between the ECHL and AHL with two other teams for a total of 10 try-out contract games in 2011.

July 6, 2011, Conacher signed a free agent contract with the Norfolk Admirals. From there, he would bring the Admirals their first league championship, and bring in his own MVP award. The championship-winning team moved to Syracuse this summer, when the affiliation with the Tampa Bay Lightning switched from Norfolk to Syracuse.

“Last year he was just one of those kids that came out nowhere that nobody really knew anything about, and now he's got a target on his back,” Coach Jon Cooper, Conacher's coach in both Norfolk and Syracuse said. “He's really, really fast, but he's tenacious; he's fearless. And when you put a really fast, fearless player on the ice, paired with his skill, you've got a good player.”

J.T. Brown, a rookie who shares a line with Conacher has been quite impressed with his linemate.

“He's a very skilled player,” Brown said. “But at the same time, he's also one of those players to get to the hard areas, first to the puck; he's pretty much the total package.”

“He can make plays at high speeds, in unbelievably tough traffic areas,” Cooper said. “When you can do that you have a future in the league.”

With the NHL in a lockout, Conacher misses an opportunity to vie for a spot on the Lightning, at least for now. Conacher was his typical humble self when asked about NHL chances this year.

“If there was an NHL camp, I knew it would be a very competitive one, and there'd be spots open for us young guys to take,” Conacher said. “We have a lot of young, good players on this team this year. I didn't go into this year – if there was a camp this year – thinking I would be a guy making the [Lightning].”

“As long as I work hard, and do the right things, and show that I've improved and developed, I think that I'd have that chance to make the team,” he continued. “Last year is in the past, although they do have that in the back of their minds, want to see where you are now, show that you didn't take the summer off and that you kept developing and learning as a professional athlete.”

Cooper was not convinced that Conacher needed there to be an NHL season this year for Conacher to make it.

“There's no rush to the NHL, the NHL will come find him,” Cooper said. “It's just a matter of time.”

Conacher is currently second on the Syracuse Crunch in points with 19 points (in 20 games), behind Tyler Johnson's 23. Cooper attributed some of Johnson's success to Conacher's presence on a separate line.

“When we get the Cory Conacher line to wear them down, it kind of opens the door for the Tyler Johnson line, so it's kind of a 1-2 punch,” Cooper said.

Conacher continues to work to hard to reach the ultimate goal of making the NHL, staying late at practice, and working on the things he needs to improve.

“You need to show that you're getting better everyday, and that's what I do,” Conacher said. “I think about working on the things I need to work on, because there's no player in the world who's perfect; there's always something you could be better at.”

While we may sit on the brink of NHL teams opening up camps, ending the lockout, Cory Conacher continues to work hard, regardless of at what level.

“He gets better every single day. Everything he's getting, he's worked for,” Smith said. “I believe in Cory Conacher.”

“The only thing that's going to hold Cory Conacher back is Cory Conacher,” Cooper said.