By Bruce Berlet
Most folks enjoy rooting for an underdog at some point.
There’s no bigger underdog or thoughtful individual for local hockey fans to pull for than the Hartford Wolf Pack’s second-smallest player, Kelsey Tessier.
The 5-foot-9, 177-pound Tessier has spent most of his hockey career trying to prove his lack of stature isn’t a detriment to success. Now, the 20-year-old from Fredericton, New Brunswick, is proving the so-called experts wrong again – while playing a new position and honoring a hometown 18-year-old battling cancer by wearing No. 90 for the second season in a row.
A center almost since he began skating under the tutelage of his father at 5 years old, Tessier gladly accepted a spot at right wing as a free-agent invitee for the New York Rangers for a prospects tournament in September in Traverse City, Mich.
Wolf Pack coach Ken Gernander and assistants J.J. Daigneault and Pat Boller guided the Rangers prospects to a 2-1 record, and Tessier immediately adapted to a new position with three points in three games.
“We already had three centers and few more invited in, so we put Kelsey at wing to give him a chance to play,” Gernander said.
“Whenever he (Gernander) wants to put me on the ice, I’ll take any position,” a beaming Tessier said.
Tessier should be enthused about his first two pro games in which he led the team in scoring with an assist in a 4-2 victory over Charlotte and two goals and an assist in a 4-3 loss to Worcester. He finally has a pro contract after making such an impression in the prospects tournament that he was invited to Rangers camp and earned a one-year AHL deal thanks to a continued mix of smarts, grit and determination. His lack of size might be a limitation he will have to work around for the remainder of his career, but his heart, character and a head for the game have always earned additional ice time.
It also earned Tessier an immediate upgrade from the Wolf Pack’s checking line to a more offensive line with center Evgeny Grachev and left wing Brodie Dupont.
“When a guy has a big night like Kelsey did (Sunday) and has been working hard all along, he should be rewarded,” Gernander said.
Tessier’s style makes him a right-handed clone of Gernander, who had a 14-year pro career thanks to similar traits that allowed him to play bigger than his size.
“When we shifted lines (in the second period) to try to spice things up, he was given more responsibility and obviously he made the most of it,” Gernander said after the loss to Worcester. “I think he has been a positive and excelled everywhere we’ve put him. He’s not treading water and biding time, he’s actually playing and performing wherever he has been placed.”
Gernander said Tessier “has been exceeding all expectations” since he first saw Tessier in Traverse City.
“He was one of a couple of free-agent invites that we were going to work through our lineup and give anyone an opportunity,” Gernander said. “He just kept battling and battling to the point where we couldn’t take him out. He was one of those guys that we should take another look at. He opened eyes and kept fighting.”
Tessier got his shot thanks to Rangers director of hockey operations Gordie Clarke, who also grew up in the Canadian Maritimes and was contacted by Quebec scout Daniel Dore and Tessier’s agent, Allain Roy.
“Gordie, he likes me,” Tessier said with a smile. “I met him for the first time when we talked at Traverse City, and he’s the one who gave me an opportunity to be here, so I think a lot of him. He was really the man. He brought me right in here, and I’m really happy.”
Clarke is happy, too, and thinks a lot of Tessier.
“We had been watching him for three years, and the Quebec league is full of skilled players who have to have something special,” Clarke said. “He has always had a great stick. He knows where to go, what to do and is opportunistic, just has a knack for getting his stick on the puck, like (Sunday) against Worcester.
“When Colorado didn’t sign him, Dore recommended him. He knew he was a great kid, a quality kid, and we all knew his ability. He got an AHL contract, and this is his chance to get a NHL contract. I just knew it was only a matter of time before he could be a good AHL player, and he has shown it so far.”
Tessier said he wasn’t nervous playing his first pro games because he had played in front of as many as 13,000 fans in junior hockey.
“Just having the experience from Traverse City to main (Rangers) camp to Wolf Pack camp and the AHL has got me comfortable a bit,” Tessier said. “And the boys really make everyone relaxed and get them ready before the game. I thought I was really ready (for the season), and every time I just wanted to give 100 percent with my linemates and just play it simple. I didn’t want to cause any problems. I didn’t want to bring the puck back in our zone or anything, I just wanted to forecheck hard and play my game.”
Tessier started the first two games on the Wolf Pack’s checking line with center Ryan Garlock and rookie left wing Chris McKelvie. But Gernander changed all his lines Sunday in an effort to find some kind of spark, so Tessier got to skate with several different linemates, notably with Grachev and captain Dane Byers.
“Team-wise, we didn’t come out as hard as we wanted (Sunday),” Tessier said, “but personally I’m just trying to be humble, not let my head get too high or too low. I just stay at that nice level and try to be comfortable. I’m starting to get comfortable each game and want to know my space on the ice and who’s coming.
“By playing with good players with experience like Byers and Grachev obviously has given me confidence. And coach putting me up there makes me have to perform. My name isn’t up there yet, so I’ve got to show who I am, how hard I work and try to contribute to the team.”
The preseason camps and quick start to the season is a carryover from Tessier’s final season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League when he began his fourth go-round with the Quebec Remparts, coached by Hall of Fame goalie Patrick Roy, before being traded to the Moncton Wildcats.
“When I joined the Remparts, I did the same thing that I’m doing now, try to earn my ice time,” Tessier said. “I was committed and really wanted to go to the University of Wisconsin, but then the Remparts drafted me and told me to come visit for 48 hours because if you play a game you have to commit to them. I just wanted the 48 hours of practice, and it was such a clean-act organization, like an NHL team, that played in the 14,000-seat Pepsi Center. The whole environment was just so pro that I decided to stay there.”
After 31/2 seasons in that pro environment, Roy gave Tessier the chance to play for the Wildcats because he knew they had a good chance to go far, which proved prophetic.
Tessier finished the season with a combined 19 goals and 24 assists in 54 games and then took off in the playoffs. He was second overall in QMJHL playoff points (30) and scored the third-most goals (14) while leading Moncton to the league championship and a berth in the Memorial Cup, where he had a team high in points and finished second in goals and assists (16).
“I got a nice ring and a nice cup (for the QMJHL title),” Tessier said. “It was a good experience, especially since I was playing in Moncton. I was looking at the Wildcats for awhile, and it was like, ‘Oh, wow.’ It’s like a dream come true. Just being a leader and part of that organization was one of the best times of my life, for sure.”
Before that, Tessier had 23 goals and 27 assists in his rookie season (2006-07), then led the Remparts with 36 goals and 81 points a year later, finishing 15th in QMJHL scoring and among the league’s top 20 in plus minus (plus-19) and power-play goals (13) before excelling in the playoffs with a team-leading eight goals and 15 assists. He was an alternate captain for Team Canada in the 2007 Under-18 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka Tournament and participated in the 2008 Canadian Hockey League Top Prospects Game, getting an assist. In his third season with Quebec, he had 25 goals and 35 assists in 64 games, but the Remparts didn’t make the postseason for the first time since he joined the team.
But then came Tessier’s breakout season, culminating with his stellar showing in the playoffs.
“I tell the kids, ‘With success comes individual success,” Moncton coach and general manager Danny Flynn said at the time. “If the team that owns your rights is trying to decide whether to sign you or not, you still have a chance to make a pretty good impression on 29 others. The deeper you go (in the playoffs), the more you get a chance to showcase yourself to all 30 (NHL) teams.”
A talent analysis called Tessier “a diminutive offensive forward who makes up for his lack of size with pure determination. With patience and poise with the puck, Tessier’s heads-up play and on-ice awareness is top notch. He has the ability to set up and finish plays and also displays the enthusiasm to fight for positioning among larger players.
However, he’s not quick enough to get himself out of trouble, and as a result, he wore down as the season went on and the physical toll accumulated.”
Tessier had been projected to go as high as the second round in the 2006 NHL draft, but for unknown reasons, he slipped to the fourth round, where the Colorado Avalanche made him the 110th pick. Avalanche officials said his lack of size and inability to fight through checks wasn’t a major concern, calling him “the ultimate competitor.” And they liked his soft hands, scoring ability and desire to compete.
“He played a lot bigger than his stature, never stops and he’s a smart player,” Avalanche chief scout George Hampson said. “There’s always room for guys with his heart and character.”
Hampson fibbed because the Avalanche didn’t sign Tessier by the June 1 deadline, so he became a free agent. The Rangers stepped up, and Flynn was delighted.
“He came here in a trade midway through the season, and I thought played exceptionally well,” Flynn said after Tessier signed with the Rangers. “He was an important part of our team and gave us a consistent gritty effort, especially in the playoffs.
“I think his playoff experience, his competitive nature and his will to win rubbed off on others. It’s been his dream to play pro hockey, and he’s going to get a good opportunity with the New York Rangers organization. We’re proud of him and want to wish him the best of luck.”
Despite his strong showing the past few months, Tessier remains humble with a straight-shooting approach epitomized by his game.
“I just want to play simple,” he said. “It’s a hard game, and I just want to make my mark, prove myself, earn my ice time, do my role and don’t stop. Obviously the past is the past, and they don’t look at that anymore. They will with the big players and first-round picks, but I’ve got to prove myself, and coming in here, I just want to improve. How I did last season is going to give me confidence, but it’s a new season and I have to start fresh and just go out there strong.”
Tessier started his climb in Fredericton, where his parents wanted him to do skating lessons at 5 before playing hockey. Tessier wasn’t interested until his older brother, Zach, began taking the lessons and then played hockey.
“When I saw him start, I wanted to play hockey, too,” Tessier said.
Tessier began skating on a rink three houses away and later a rink that his father, Rick, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police office, built in the backyard every winter until Kelsey left home at 13.
“I always had a passion for hockey because my brother was in it, and my dad used to play goalie until I was juniors,” he said.
The Tessiers moved when Rick was transferred to Lameque, where Kelsey’s first team was the Lameque Lightning. Tessier credits his parents for having the biggest influence on his career for their support and the best advice he has received “to always give 100 percent and the rest will follow.”
In Tessier’s younger days, that included golf, which equaled hockey among his interests.
“I was a big golfer, and my handicap was probably 5 at one time,” Tessier said. “I was playing a lot of golf and took a lot of lessons really specific for my game between 9 and 13. I never thought I was going to be pro golfer because it was my second sport that I loved after the season.
“But when you start working out, you don’t have as much time for golf, school and other things, so I started playing more hockey and training harder wherever my agent was, in St. Louis, in Austria last summer and in Montreal this summer with a lot of pros.”
Tessier also played lacrosse, soccer and basketball growing up, but Moncton is where he began to develop his hard-working style when he played a year up in atomA and helped win the championship. He also won Atlantics in peewee AAA and bantam AAA in 2003-04.
Tessier played his second bantam year (2004-05) at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault, Minn., whose alums include Jonathan Toews, captain of the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, Kyle Okposo, the New York Islanders’ first-round pick (seventh overall) in 2006, Edmonton Oilers defenseman Taylor Chorney and Tysen Dowzek, who was at Wolf Pack training camp before being assigned to Dayton of the Central Hockey League.
Tessier started thinking about playing hockey for a living when he went to Shattuck.
“It was school in the morning and hockey at night, so you had to have your grades up to be able to play hockey,” Tessier said. “I just fell in love with the game. It was more competitive. We traveled a lot. It was being the life of a hockey player. I knew that’s when I wanted to be a hockey player.”
In 2005-06, Tessier played for the Colorado Outlaws, a midget AAA team in the U.S. prep school league. Then in the 2007 Canadian Winter Games, Tessier played for his native New Brunswick and was the leading scoring even though future first-round picks Steven Stamkos (No. 1 by Tampa Bay in 2008) and Jordan Eberle (No. 22 by Edmonton in 2008) were in the tournament. Despite dropping to the fifth round in the QMJHL draft, Tessier made the Remparts out of camp and took off from there, even outscoring 2007 NHL first-rounder Angelo Esposito in the 2007-08 season.
“He’s the guy you want to get the puck to set up the play in the offensive zone,” Remparts assistant coach Martin Laperriere said at the time. “He has a decent shot, a quick release, especially his wrist shot, and he sees the play well. He can player in every aspect of the game, so guys like that, they’re good with the puck but also very good without the puck, so that’s a bit of an asset that he has.”
Laperriere also lauded the off-ice demeanor of Tessier, who patterns his game after Canadiens forward Mike Cammalleri, whom he calls “a two-way player with good vision and a warrior on the ice.”
“One of the things that I admire a lot about him is his leadership style,” Laperriere said. “Even at 16, he didn’t talk much, but you always saw that he had a presence in the room and then he imposed himself and the guys look up to him as a leader and was our captain. We didn’t put any pressure on him in regards to stats, but he’s a guy that challenges himself every game. You have to admire a guy that if you have a gym session, you don’t have a mandatory gym, you leave it open and he still shows up. On and off the ice, he’s very serious about his hockey career. He’s a class act. He knows both languages, which is a good thing to have in Quebec. He’s really well liked in the community also.”
Tessier also likes his new position.
“I love playing wing and have always wanted to be a strong, two-way, all-around player,” he said. “I just want to make sure I don’t put my team or teammates in a bad situation. I really like the wing because there’s a little more room and I see the ice more for some reason. There are a lot of good centers here (in Hartford), so I think to have my opportunity to play that they had to put me at wing. They did, and I’m not going to say no. I’ve actually played all the forward spots, and wherever (Gernander) wants to play me, I’ll play.”
Tessier has proven he can play and takes pride in what he has accomplished so far, especially since being let go by the Avalanche.
“I think I’ve proven a lot, and that’s why I’m here,” Tessier said. “Not every 20-year-old can stay and play in the AHL. I’m just trying to earn my ice time every game, and I’m not expecting to play first or second line. There are some good veterans here, so I just want to earn my ice time every day, come out playing hard and make sure me and the Wolf Pack have a good season.”
Continued success would be good medicine for 18-year-old cancer patient Mark Leblanc, one of Tessier’s biggest fans in Moncton. Tessier met Leblanc through Leblanc’s sister, Renelle, a longtime friend in high school. A year ago, Tessier asked Leblanc what number he wanted Tessier to wear. Tessier had always worn No. 9, but Leblanc requested a 0 be added, and Tessier was more than happy to oblige, especially since Mark loves to play NHL11 because it includes Tessier.
“He always loved hockey and always liked to watch me play,” Tessier said of Leblanc. “Last year, he said, ‘What number are you wearing?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. You tell me.’ He gave me a couple of numbers, and I chose 90. Then when I got here, I asked if I could wear it again. They said no problem, so I kept 90.”
Leblanc has chemotherapy once a month and keeps in constant contact with his favorite player.
“We’ve always talked on the Internet for years,” Tessier said. “He wanted to know news about me, and I wanted to know news about him. “He’s doing well and always has a smile and plays a lot of video games, so at least I help keep him going. He’s really active and loves to watch sports, so I’m really happy for him.”
You can count Kelsey Tessier as a leader among little men with a mighty big heart.
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