By Matt Crossman
Photograph by Don Adams Jr.
Ryan Johnson is in the back of the bus on the way home from Fort Wayne, Ind., sipping beer with the boys. It’s a far cry from the chartered jet he was used to in the NHL with the Blues. But if he wants to play professional hockey, this will have to do, because there is no end in sight to the lockout that claimed the 2004-2005 NHL season without so much as a single practice. On the bright side, at least the Detroit Red Wings won’t be eliminating the Blues from the playoffs this season.
With the NHL season canceled, Johnson and Barrett Jackman are two Blues keeping their skills sharp close to home by playing for the Missouri River Otters, a United Hockey League team that plays its home games at The Family Arena in St. Charles.
While he doesn’t want to return full time to riding buses, the change has reminded Johnson how far he has come since he broke into the NHL in the 1997-98 season. “You forget how fun it is to sit in the back of the bus and swap stories and play cards,” Johnson says.
The United Hockey League has 14 teams, mostly in the Midwest. Johnson and Jackman aren’t exactly marked men in the UHL, but they definitely draw more attention from opponents. In the NHL, Johnson is a role player. On the River Otters, he’s a playmaker, one of the best and most skilled skaters on the ice. “[UHL players] don’t want to get beat by anybody, but especially by us,” he says. “Like anybody naturally would, they want to prove themselves.”
While Johnson and Jackman thrill crowds at The Family Arena, their Blues teammates are keeping lower profiles. Most are staying close to their respective homes. A few are playing in Europe. Neither Johnson nor the Blues public relations department knows of any other players in formal leagues. Several Blues players skate together in St. Louis to keep in shape, and a few were playing in local beer leagues. So if that ringer playing for Tom’s Pub looks like Doug Weight or Keith Tkachuk, it just might be.
