Vanstone: Rumsey ready to rumble, I'm not

[nivek_wahs]

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpo...d-745c6f7c7584

Rumsey ready to rumble, I'm not

Rob Vanstone, The Leader-Post
Published: Friday, March 30, 2007

The Swift Current Broncos were written off faster than Kevin Federline's career.

Their efforts were disparaged in this space after a 4-0 loss to the Regina Pats in the opener of a WHL Eastern Conference quarterfinal one week ago.

Swift Current's players were so moved that they affixed the front page of Saturday's Leader-Post sports section to a wall in the Broncos' dressing room before Game 2 at the Brandt Centre.

The Broncos responded by winning 4-3 in overtime. In the aftermath of victory, defenceman Myles Rumsey had a question for play-by-play man Jon Keen: "Where's Rob Vanstone?''

The record shows that I was in the vicinity. However, I never crossed paths with Rumsey. This, I concluded, was fortunate. Did he intend to inflict any damage? If so, I was doomed -- being that my history of combat includes a TKO loss in Grade 9 to a glowering intimidator by the name of, er, June.

With this in mind, I courageously left a telephone message for Rumsey. We chatted on Thursday. Nice guy.

"I was just wondering because there was a little blurb about me (in Saturday's column),'' Rumsey said from Swift Current. "I was just interested to see, because you always hear some random stories about media guys and some of them are real big homers and (have) some bones to pick with guys.

"I was just interested to see what the whole background check was. If you can't handle the media, you're in the wrong business.''

Was he planning to (gulp) manhandle the media?

"Oh, no,'' the Broncos' captain said with a laugh. "I've had worse things said about me before. The guys on the ice can say some pretty crazy things, so I wasn't too worried about that.

"You kind of build off that for motivation and try to prove people wrong.''

The Broncos did precisely that on Saturday. Regina responded by winning back-to-back games in Swift Current to assume a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 5 is today, 7 p.m., at the Brandt Centre. Once again, the Broncos are looking to rebut the dismissive skeptics.

"We know the team that we have, even though we haven't really shown it yet for a full 60 minutes,'' Rumsey said. "Just to have that feeling that people view us as washovers, it's not a very good feeling. We like to come out and prove them wrong and on that Saturday we did. Unfortunately, we kind of fell asleep here for a period or two and it came back to bite us.''

The Broncos must bare their teeth tonight if they are to extend the series -- and if the 20-year-old Rumsey is to prolong his major-junior career.

"We have to come out with the will and desire to win the game right off the bat,'' he said. "We have to come out physical, shooting the puck.

"We have to play a good, greasy road game. We have no one to impress here. If we play New Jersey Devils-style hockey like that, it's going to take the crowd out. It'll hopefully be a boring game for them.''

Pats fans are salivating at the notion of Regina winning a playoff series for the first time since 1998. Rumsey would like to snap a protracted drought of his own.

Rumsey has not scored a goal since Dec. 10, 2004, when he tallied against the host Spokane Chiefs. He had two goals that season, but has since gone 182 games (playoffs included) without scoring.

Surely, Rumsey's two WHL goals were reminiscent of Wayne Gretzky and Teemu Selanne ... right?

"Oh, absolutely,'' the fourth-year Bronco said with a chuckle. "Looking at the player that I am, those are dandies. The first one actually went off my shin pad when Tyler Redenbach went end-to-end. That one was all finesse. The other one was a lucky shot from the point, right along the ice. It was a howitzer.''

Rumsey is renowned for his ability to prevent goals. In Game 2, for example, his shot-blocking prowess was a major reason why the Broncos prevailed.

Now, can they do it again ... and again ... and again?

"A lot of people picked us from the start not to win the series,'' Rumsey said. "We are underdogs and Regina was the better team throughout the season, but by no means at all are we out. That's why it's a seven-game series. You're allowed to lose three games.

"We just have a mountain to climb now.''

© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2007

[ki17]

May I just say how childish for someone to write that in an article. They are missing the point of being professional in their career and doing their job. It sounds like, to me, he is trying to make himself be "involved" in the game when he isn't, he is just the media. Although the media plays an important part to any teams success in the public he handles it with disgrace. If I were in the media I would be embarassed to say that he is also part of the media.

**Currently disgusted with certain people in the media that don't know much about professionalism** :skeptical

[Bran]

Rob Vanstone doesn't write a lot of "serious" articles. They are mostly goofy columns that are meant to be entertaining. Because it's not a journalistic masterpiece, it's unprofessional? He had a light-hearted interview with the guy, and wrote a light-hearted article. It's not as though he was saying horrible things about him, or making him out to be a bad guy. What is the issue here? What, exactly, would you say his "job" is?

[smkdwn]

Rob Vanstone doesn't write a lot of "serious" articles. They are mostly goofy columns that are meant to be entertaining. Because it's not a journalistic masterpiece, it's unprofessional? He had a light-hearted interview with the guy, and wrote a light-hearted article. It's not as though he was saying horrible things about him, or making him out to be a bad guy. What is the issue here? What, exactly, would you say his "job" is?

Agreed, Vanstone is a columnist, not the Pats beat writer. That is Greg Harder's job.