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Friday, September 10, 1999
Begin's not finished yet
So where else to send the boy for counselling but Turku?
"Twelve days, on the ice two times a day, working on nothing but stickhandling," sighed Steve Begin of his summer, all-expenses-paid, working vacation to Finland. "I'm not kidding. Nothing but stickhandling."
Help out?
"Oh yeah. I look like Mario Lemieux now. I'm ready to score three or four goals a game."
Yeah. Uh, huh. But seriously, folks. "Well, it helped a little.
"I'm a defensive centreman, but I think I can help offensively every once in a while, too."
In Saint John last year, Begin managed just 11 goals and 20 points in 73 games. He also racked up 156 PIM.
Begin's certainly hoping all that sleight-of-hand he was put through overseas --along with fellow prospects Rico Fata, Daniel Tkaczuk, Travis Brigley and Sergei Varlamov -- pays off. After auditions with the big club in Calgary, he's looking to stick around this year.
"It's a business thing for me," says the 21-year-old from Trois Rivieres. "I want to stay here. So I have no friends. I want to make my place."
Despite being a shade under 6-ft. and well under 200 lbs., Begin picks no spots, shows no favourites, holds no one in awe. He's irritating, exasperating, fearless and, at times, downright underhanded. When coach Brian Sutter talks (continually) about "being a team that's tough to play against," he means recruiting footsoldiers in the Begin mold.
Just four days into training camp, the kid's left eye is already a rainbow of muted yellows, blues and blacks.
"There's always room for a player like Begin," says assistant coach Al MacNeil. "So dedicated. So intense. Balls-to-the-wall. He's knocking on the door, that's for sure. You can win in any building with him. He thinks no one can get the better of him. He's an indomitable guy."
Among those listed as centres, Marc Savard, Jeff Shantz and Jason Wiemer should be considered locks. Which means incumbent Clarke Wilm and fellow rooks Tkaczuk and Brigley are likely in his path to gainful employment here. So there are openings.
"I can't look at the sheet, concern myself about who's been moved to where or how many guys I have to beat to win a job," says Begin. "I just have to go out and do it. Any way possible."
The best way is by just being himself on the ice, a royal pain in the caboose to play against.
"The next 10 days to two weeks will determine where he winds up," says MacNeil. "We'd like him to have a bit better finish around the net, but you lose Wiemer," -- out indefinitely due to a knee injury --"and Bassen and Eddie Ward, and someone like Begin can fill one of those slots.
"He'll play in the league. Whether it's now or in the future, I couldn't predict at the moment. Let's just say we hope it's now."
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