by Czechmate

Living in Ottawa, but not being a Senators' fan, it was rather amusing to read about the real-life soap opera that was taking place in our Nation's Capital last hockey season. The heir apparent to the starting goaltender's position, Ray Emery, made headlines on a frequent and regular basis, but it had little to do with hockey...

There was the tardiness for practice. There was the lack of work ethic. There were altercations with teammates. But people had to see this coming, right?

Let's go back even further...

Ray Emery was drafted by the Senators 99th overall in 2001, and went to Binghamton to play for three seasons, making occasional appearances with the big team during that time. While with the B-Sens, he put up solid, if unspectacular numbers. But, organizationally, he was deemed to be the eventual replacement to Patrick Lalime (or later, Dominik Hasek). The kid had it made!

Now, after an unceremonious farewell was bid to Hasek, who ceded his spot in goal to Emery after being injured at the 2006 Olympic games, Emery was on the fast-track to stardom. He became the team's starter, and helped lead the team to their first ever appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, where the Sens ran into a behemoth from Anaheim...

During the summer months, he was given his first big money contract, a three-year pact that would see him rake in a total of $9.5-million.

Then, the trouble started...

During training camp, Emery apparently cut off a senior citizen in his big white Hummer, and then proceeded to threaten the old man once he managed to pull up alongside him. The man, who was 65 years old, opted not to press charges on Emery for the incident.

Then, "Sugar" Ray injured his wrist, and it became clear he wouldn't be available to start the season, which gave the green light to Martin Gerber. Emery, unhappy with having to work his way back into the lineup after Gerber showed he was competent, began to be a distraction and nuissance.

He was late for practice on several occasions, including once on Long Island where he claimed to have gone to the wrong arena. John Paddock, who was coach at the time, sent him home.

Then, there were questions of his work ethic, as he would routinely mail it in at practices.

His act wore so thin that he even ended up fighting the team's tough guy, Brian McGrattan (now with Phoenix).

He reportedly also had scraps with Chris Neil and Wade Redden on other occasions.

Through all of this, the Senators finally began to unravel, and found themselves taking a nose-dive from the top of the Eastern Conferece to nearly missing the playoffs. Simply, Ray Emery had created a major rift in the locker-room. Heck, he even could be considered responsible for John Paddock's dismissal!

And what does all this piss and vinegar get you? A paid trip to Siberia.

I'm sure Emery will fit right in over there. Either that, or he'll continue his antics and find himself in some Gulag (I'm sure there's still a few operating secretly over there). I'm hoping for the latter.

Now, I started the article by suggesting we should all have seen this coming from Rayzor. Why?

Well, Emery, after getting the nod as the team's official number one goaltender, had a custom helmet made, as most goalies will do these days... Instead of something representing the team, or some heavy metal graphic, or even Patrick Lalime's "Marvin the Martian" design, Emery went with....


Mike freakin' Tyson!!! Now, I'm not saying Tyson wasn't a good boxer at the peak of his career, but really, what was Emery thinking? Oh, yeah - he was thinking "I'm Ray Emery, a bigshot".

Anyway, the minute I saw that helmet, I knew this kid would be trouble. Sure enough, only a couple years later and he's been bought out, received only 3 offers - which included two-way contract provisions, and is heading for the KHL!

His agent, JP Barry summed it up best:

"Unfortunately, it's only been a short time since the buyout and there isn't anybody willing to give (Emery) a second chance at this time," said Emery's agent J.P. Barry to the Sun Media. "I think if people knew the things that he's done over the last little while to turn the corner, there might be more interest out there."

According to Barry, Emery had hoped to play in the NHL next season, but received just three calls.

"Given his offer from Atlant, in Ray's circumstances, we feel the best thing for him to do is play as the No. 1 goalie with this club. Ray is excited about the opportunity and just wants to go back to focusing on being the best goalie that he can be. He knows there will be a lot of pressure, but he's ready for that and he's looking forward to moving on," Barry added.

"It is best for him to get away and to work hard on just being a goalie. He knows that the Russian teams practise very hard, and that is what he needs right now. It is a very competitive league with many talented offensive players. It will be the test that he needs right now to show everyone that he is still an elite goaltender."

Good riddance!

On another note, I wanted to point out an article from AOL Fanhouse, written by Jes, about the new Anaheim farm team. No, they're not the Mini-Ducks or anything waterfowl related at all in fact. Presenting: THE IOWA CHOPS! Check it out. It's pretty funny...

Labels: Anaheim Ducks, Ray Emery, Russian Hockey, senators