April 20, 2005
By BRUCE BERLET, Courant Staff Writer
A year ago, Jozef Balej led Hamilton in every offensive category and was tied for third in the AHL in goals and fifth in points through two-thirds of the season.
A trade to the Rangers March 2 caught Balej off guard, but he was soon enjoying his first extended period in the NHL, often skating alongside future Hall of Famer Mark Messier.
After a return to Hartford, Balej had four points in four games and then led the Wolf Pack within a victory of a second Calder Cup final with a team-leading nine goals, including two winners, and seven assists. He had at least a point in the Pack's first nine postseason games, a franchise record, and a 13-game point streak going back to the regular season.
Then came the NHL lockout. Inconsistent play crept into Balej's game and even led to back-to-back scratches with linemate Jamie Lundmark in victories at Worcester and Manchester Dec. 4-5.
Balej and Lundmark ended the season on the upswing, but Balej was blunt about finishing fifth on the team in scoring (20 goals, 22 assists) and a plus-2.
"My performance was pretty weak this season, and I'm very disappointed," Balej said. "I think I can do way better than I played. Obviously I love to score, and sometimes it doesn't go your way. I'm the type of player that loves to hold on to the puck, make plays and score. If it's not going in, I'm obviously not going to be happy."
But Balej and his teammates and coaches were happy he was more torrid than tepid the last two weeks. After going pointless in seven games, Balej had three goals and three assists and was plus-5 in seven games as the Pack nearly caught Manchester for first place. Balej and the Pack hope the trend continues when they begin an eighth straight playoff appearance Thursday night at the Civic Center against Lowell.
"My game elevated, and that's good because it was right before the playoffs, so I'm definitely going to be ready," said Balej, who returned to practice Tuesday after missing the season finale with an undisclosed injury.
Balej didn't want to use playing with an ever-changing cast of linemates as an excuse for his decline in scoring.
"You have to be able to play with whomever they put you with, and that's what Coach [Ryan McGill] expects," Balej said. "No matter who I'm with, he expects me to play to my potential and help the other guys."
Getting a chance to play more on the Pack's penalty-killing unit that finished second in the league helped Balej's attitude.
"I figured if I wasn't going to start scoring, I'd get focused on the penalty-killing," he said. "I always was the guy who was offensive and played on the power play so I never killed penalties. But when I started doing it a lot this year, I think I improved and it helped me a lot. I even scored two short-handed goals."
McGill is a "look ahead, not back" kind of guy. He doesn't care what happened in the playoffs last year or in the regular season.
"He might have had a disappointing season by his and our standards, but everybody starts with a clean slate in the playoffs," McGill said. "He's a guy who could score a goal in the first game and get on a roll. He has shown in the last few weeks that he's getting that moxie back.
"So am I worried about it? No. The playoffs are a different time."
McGill also said this was an "abnormal" AHL season because of the NHL lockout.
"We don't understand what effect this season had on the players with no going up or down [to the NHL]," McGill said. "This was new, uncharted territory, and for us to analyze it now is crazy. Yesterday is yesterday. I've got a playoff game to worry about."
