Tim Daly is the latest Maple Ridge hockey player to be competing at or near the highest levels of the sport.
The Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League signed the defenseman Daly to a professional tryout agreement. The Moose are the farm team for the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets.
Daly, 25, is in his second season of professional hockey after a fine college career. He had nine goals and 35 points in 54 games with the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies this season to lead the team’s blueline corps in scoring.
Daly played his first AHL game on Friday and said afterward that it was a big adjustment from the ECHL.
“Obviously, it’s definitely a big change of pace, but once I got the first couple of shifts under me, got settled into the game, it wasn’t too bad,” he said.
“Guys are a little bigger, the physicality, and there’s not a lot of room out there either – that’s the biggest difference. There’s not a lot of time to make plays.”
In the 3-1 loss to the Milwaukee Admirals he was up against the likes of former NHL all-star Mike Ribeiro, who has played over 1,000 games over 18 seasons.
“That was pretty special to see a guy like him out there. That’s definitely a guy you keep your eye on.”
Daly describes himself as a puck-moving, skating defenceman.
He was with his hometown Junior B team, the Ridge Meadows Flames in 2008-2009, where he had 11 goals and 24 points in 48 games. He went on to play two seasons in the BCHL, with campaigns of 54 and 30 points, then to St. Cloud University of the NCAA for four seasons.
