Tipped Off
02-02-2006, 04:03 PM
Fairbanks News Miner article on Zach Dailey
Article Published: Thursday, February 02, 2006
Healy has Denali and Dailey
By DANNY MARTIN, Staff Writer
Healy is known for natural re sources and being a gateway to Denali National Park and Preserve.
Add hockey players to this list of reputations, as the small Interior town also produced Zack Dailey, one of the youngest, smallest and fastest skaters this season in the major-junior Western Hockey League.
The 5-foot-8, 158-pound center is in his first full season with the Everett Silvertips of Everett, Wash. Silvertips head coach and hockey operations director Kevin Constantine knows about small, speedy players, as he was also a head coach for three National Hock ey League teams--San Jose Sharks (1993-96), Pittsburgh Penguins (1997-00) and New Jersey Devils (2001-02).
"Zack is similar to Theo Fleury (former Calgary Flames forward) and Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay Lightning forward), in that they're smaller players who have speed and cleverness that enable them to play in the National Hockey League," Constantine said on Monday from Everett.
Furthermore, the rules adopted by the NHL this season leading to less hooking, cross-checking and holding have opened up the ice to smaller players, allowing them to have more success.
"I think the speed and cleverness Zack shows would work in to day's professional hockey," Constantine said.
Seventy-two percent of the play ers in the NHL, said Constantine, came from major junior hockey. Major junior players are ages 16 to 20 and are eligible for the NHL Entry Draft when they turn 18. Delta Junction's Eli Grossmann, a defenseman for the Seattle Thunderbirds, Everett's Puget Sound rival, is eligible for this year's draft.
Dailey will be eligible for the draft in two years, and if he is sel ected in the 2008 NHL draft, it would put Healy on the hockey map.
"That would be incredible," Dailey said Monday from Everett. "I think the town would be really proud of me and I'd be happy to represent Healy, Alaska."
It works with Everett in the WHL. After 44 games, the 16-year-old has seven goals and five assists for 12 points and he leads the Silvertips with a plus-minus rating of +10.
"If you're a small player, you can't shy away from anything," Dailey said. "I try to get my body in front of the puck before it gets there. I'll absorb a hit if I have to, to get close to the puck and have it."
Dailey tends to get quickly to pucks, as his two goals in last Friday's 6-1 win over the Tri-City (Wash.) Americans included a shorthanded marker.
"He's more of a darter," Constantine said. "He can explode for six or seven strides or he can go from standing still to full speed. But he's really quick and he darts to spots on the ice."
A speedy player, though, would like to become faster as his major junior career continues.
"I'd definitely like to get my overall speed a lot better," said Dailey, who also skates on Ever ett's penalty-killing unit. "Even though I'm quick, I get caught sometimes in long races."
Dailey, who was born in San Diego but adopted at birth by John and Jenasy Dailey of Healy, caught on to hockey when he was 5 years old.
He later played with the Fairbanks Arctic Lions' pee wee team and moved to Edmonton, Alberta, when he was 13 to skate with the Sherwood Park J. Ennis Kings ban tams, finishing as their second-leading scorer last season with 9-16-25 totals in 35 games.
While he was with Sherwood Park, the Silvertips selected him 55th overall and in the third round of the 2004 WHL Bantam Draft.
Dailey practiced with Everett for one week last season, but he couldn't play then because he was 15. He turned 16 on Dec. 16.
"It was kind of shocking because I'd never seen a crowd that big," Dailey said of his first visit to the Everett Events Center, the home of the Silvertips. "All the players were great players and I was kind of intimidated. But I was also impressed with the coaching staff and how they prepared the players."
Constantine is impressed with Dailey, but he was initially concerned.
"Our concerns were about his size--whether he could handle the physical play and strength of other players in the league," Constantine said. "We knew he could make the team but we didn't know what his role would be."
Dailey surpassed the Silvertips' expectations.
"For two reasons," said Constantine. "One, he's incredibly strong on the puck, and two, he'll go into the corners or along the boards and protect the puck and not get knocked off his skates."
And Dailey has some quick skates.
Staff writer Danny Martin can be reached at dmartin@newsminer.com or 459-
Article Published: Thursday, February 02, 2006
Healy has Denali and Dailey
By DANNY MARTIN, Staff Writer
Healy is known for natural re sources and being a gateway to Denali National Park and Preserve.
Add hockey players to this list of reputations, as the small Interior town also produced Zack Dailey, one of the youngest, smallest and fastest skaters this season in the major-junior Western Hockey League.
The 5-foot-8, 158-pound center is in his first full season with the Everett Silvertips of Everett, Wash. Silvertips head coach and hockey operations director Kevin Constantine knows about small, speedy players, as he was also a head coach for three National Hock ey League teams--San Jose Sharks (1993-96), Pittsburgh Penguins (1997-00) and New Jersey Devils (2001-02).
"Zack is similar to Theo Fleury (former Calgary Flames forward) and Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay Lightning forward), in that they're smaller players who have speed and cleverness that enable them to play in the National Hockey League," Constantine said on Monday from Everett.
Furthermore, the rules adopted by the NHL this season leading to less hooking, cross-checking and holding have opened up the ice to smaller players, allowing them to have more success.
"I think the speed and cleverness Zack shows would work in to day's professional hockey," Constantine said.
Seventy-two percent of the play ers in the NHL, said Constantine, came from major junior hockey. Major junior players are ages 16 to 20 and are eligible for the NHL Entry Draft when they turn 18. Delta Junction's Eli Grossmann, a defenseman for the Seattle Thunderbirds, Everett's Puget Sound rival, is eligible for this year's draft.
Dailey will be eligible for the draft in two years, and if he is sel ected in the 2008 NHL draft, it would put Healy on the hockey map.
"That would be incredible," Dailey said Monday from Everett. "I think the town would be really proud of me and I'd be happy to represent Healy, Alaska."
It works with Everett in the WHL. After 44 games, the 16-year-old has seven goals and five assists for 12 points and he leads the Silvertips with a plus-minus rating of +10.
"If you're a small player, you can't shy away from anything," Dailey said. "I try to get my body in front of the puck before it gets there. I'll absorb a hit if I have to, to get close to the puck and have it."
Dailey tends to get quickly to pucks, as his two goals in last Friday's 6-1 win over the Tri-City (Wash.) Americans included a shorthanded marker.
"He's more of a darter," Constantine said. "He can explode for six or seven strides or he can go from standing still to full speed. But he's really quick and he darts to spots on the ice."
A speedy player, though, would like to become faster as his major junior career continues.
"I'd definitely like to get my overall speed a lot better," said Dailey, who also skates on Ever ett's penalty-killing unit. "Even though I'm quick, I get caught sometimes in long races."
Dailey, who was born in San Diego but adopted at birth by John and Jenasy Dailey of Healy, caught on to hockey when he was 5 years old.
He later played with the Fairbanks Arctic Lions' pee wee team and moved to Edmonton, Alberta, when he was 13 to skate with the Sherwood Park J. Ennis Kings ban tams, finishing as their second-leading scorer last season with 9-16-25 totals in 35 games.
While he was with Sherwood Park, the Silvertips selected him 55th overall and in the third round of the 2004 WHL Bantam Draft.
Dailey practiced with Everett for one week last season, but he couldn't play then because he was 15. He turned 16 on Dec. 16.
"It was kind of shocking because I'd never seen a crowd that big," Dailey said of his first visit to the Everett Events Center, the home of the Silvertips. "All the players were great players and I was kind of intimidated. But I was also impressed with the coaching staff and how they prepared the players."
Constantine is impressed with Dailey, but he was initially concerned.
"Our concerns were about his size--whether he could handle the physical play and strength of other players in the league," Constantine said. "We knew he could make the team but we didn't know what his role would be."
Dailey surpassed the Silvertips' expectations.
"For two reasons," said Constantine. "One, he's incredibly strong on the puck, and two, he'll go into the corners or along the boards and protect the puck and not get knocked off his skates."
And Dailey has some quick skates.
Staff writer Danny Martin can be reached at dmartin@newsminer.com or 459-