Tag Archive for "Kesler"

Reading creates a ‘sanctuary’ for Ryan Kesler’s family; Canucks star shares the same classics with his daughter that his father read to him

Posted on September 28, 2011 by admin in Player profiles, Sun Hockey | No comments

Vancouver Canucks Ryan Kesler Raise-a-Reader

Yvonne Zacharias Vancouver Sun When Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler was growing up in Livonia, Mich., not far from Detroit, reading was a rich part of his childhood. His mother probably read to him the most, although his older sister Jenny did so as well. His favourite reader, however, was his father, who worked as a project manager for an insurance company and ran a hockey school in the summer that Kesler attended throughout his childhood. "He was probably the best at it," the 27-year-old recalled recently in the sunny Yaletown condo he shares with his wife, Andrea, and their children, Makayla, who is three and a half, and Ryker, nine months. "It was just the way he read stories. He would really get into them." Kesler grew up steeped in the antics of Curious George and the Berenstain Bears. But he had a particular fondness for Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?, a children's classic by Bill Martin Jr. and...

Canucks trio were bros before pros; Kesler, Bieksa and Burrows didn’t like each other at first in Manitoba, but now they’re like family

Posted on May 28, 2011 by admin in Player profiles, Sun Hockey | No comments

Canucks left wing Burrows celebrates scoring in the second period against the Predators with teammates Bieksa and Kesler during Game 2 of their NHL Western Conference semifinal hockey playoff in Vancouver

Brad Ziemer Vancouver Sun Ryan Kesler refers to teammates Kevin Bieksa and Alex Burrows as his brothers. "Not like Hank and Danny brothers," he says of the Sedin twins. "We're like brothers that fight. We get into our arguments." But they always settle them and have been now for about seven years, ever since that day the three of them, all greenas-grass pros, became teammates with the Manitoba Moose. Bieksa remembers it like it was yesterday. "I didn't like Burr at first, I know that," he says. "He didn't make a good first impression. I think the first time I met him was in an intra-squad scrimmage in tryouts for the Moose and he went into my goaltender and I tried to keep him in the netting and wouldn't let him out as the play went into the other zone. I was trying to fight him and that's kind of where it started." Little did he know that would mark the beginning of a special...

Kesler’s burning up glory road; And he believes the Canucks are set to do big things ‘in a mature way’

Posted on May 11, 2011 by admin in Player profiles, Province Hockey | No comments

Ben Kuzma The Province The magnitude of the moment is not lost on Alain Vigneault. Reminded by associate coach Rick Bowness that it took him 20 years to get back to the NHL's version of the Final Four, the Vancouver Canucks bench boss pledged that reaching the Western Conference championship plateau is not the zenith for the Presidents' Trophy winners. "Rick made it 20 years ago [as head coach of the Boston Bruins] and to get back is not easy," Vigneault said Tuesday. "When you're here, bust a gut, and that's what we're going to do. The accountability makes me a big believer that these guys aren't satisfied at all. We need people to step up and be counted on and I'm confident that's going to happen." Ryan Kesler has done all of the above. That last thing the NHL playoff scoring leader needs is a rallying cry from his coach or some inspirational message scribbled on the board. He is a Selke...

Kesler grows up, thrives in ‘middle age’; Former yapper letting his play as one of game’s great centres do the talking

Posted on December 17, 2010 by admin in Player profiles, Sun Hockey | No comments

Iain MacIntyre Vancouver Sun As messages go, it wasn't exactly: "Have a nice summer. Careful not to burn." When Ryan Kesler had his exit meetings last May with general manager Mike Gillis and coach Alain Vigneault, the combative forward was told, essentially, to stop being a jackass and grow up. Not only were Kesler's occasional acts of petulance and incessant yapping at opponents hurting the Canucks, it was colouring the reputation of a player who should be regarded simply as one of the best two-way centres in the National Hockey League. In truth, the bosses' opinions were no harsher than Kesler's self-assessment. It wasn't Gillis and Vigneault who gave him pause, it was Makayla, Kesler's two-year-old daughter who will soon be old enough to better understand what she sees when she watches daddy work. "That's what I thought about in the summer," Kesler admitted Thursday. "Me breaking my stick and getting pissed off, chirping on the ice, it was kind of: What would your...

A school of hard knocks; Ryan Kesler : He was passed over for teams, underestimated and misunderstood, but always proved his doubters wrong in the end

Posted on April 14, 2010 by admin in Player profiles, Province Hockey | No comments

Canucks center Kesler chews his mouth guard during their NHL ice hockey game against the Ducks in Anaheim

Ed Willes The Province The first time it happened -- and it would be far from the last -- the father sat the son down for a talk. He said, " You're down now, and I understand that. But you've got two choices here. You can quit, which will just prove all those coaches were right. Or you can work harder, get better and show them they made a mistake. I'll support you whatever you decide but this has to be your call." A couple of days later, the son returned to hockey. And a year later, those same coaches were admitting they made a mistake. It was a tough lesson for the son, but it's one he had to learn and one he's had to apply over and over again in his hockey career. There's just one thing. Ryan Kesler, the cute little tyke pictured here, was 13 when he first enrolled in the school of hard knocks. "I think that was a...

Father knows best when to keep mum

Posted on February 3, 2009 by admin in Player profiles, Province Hockey | No comments

Ben Kuzma The Province The toughest critique Ryan Kesler endures doesn't come from coach Alain Vigneault. It comes on the other end of the long-distance phone line. When Mike Kesler answers the call at his Michigan home, it's usually 1 or 2 a.m. and his son can expect some tough love from the former college player and long-time coach. With the elder Kesler visiting Vancouver for the past 10 days, what did he think of being at GM Place to witness his son's two-goal effort in a 4-3 OT loss to the Wild on Saturday? "I thought he was back to his total form -- skating, shooting, moving the puck and really in on the forecheck," said Kesler. "He was playing with a hurt shoulder in January and was trying to protect it and help the team get to the all-star break. I taught him that the team comes first and I'm also easier on him now. "I'm a lot more cautious and respectful...

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