Familiar faces have been at the center of the Tucson Roadrunners’ strong start to the 2018-19 season.
That is, familiar facing doing unfamiliar things.
When the Roadrunners take the ice in Southern California this weekend to open the club’s second road trip of the season — it starts with Friday’s matchup with the Ontario Reign (1-3-2-1) — they’ll do so riding a 4-1-0-1 record thanks in large part to a stat sheet littered with a seemingly unconventional group of names.
That includes second-year Roadrunner Jens Looke, whose six goals in 59 regular-season games last year have made way for three through his first three games played in 2018-19.
“I’m playing a little bit more power play, and I think I had a really good summer, so I came (back) here with a lot of confidence,” Looke said of his quick start, despite missing three games while battling an upper body injury suffered in Tucson’s season opener.
Or the likes of former Phoenix-area minor hockey standout Trevor Cheek; He scored four goals in 50 combined games with Tucson over the last two seasons, yet already has a pair through the season’s first three weekends.
And there’s Dakota Mermis, whose goal and three assists through so far is well ahead of his career pace; he came into the season with seven career goals in 189 games, scoring twice to go along with 17 assists in 59 outings a year ago.
Maybe it was Mermis’ three goals and two assists in Tucson’s nine-game Calder Cup playoff run last spring that actually proved to be a sign of things to come.
Tucson head coach Jay Varady isn’t surprised by the hot start by some Roadrunners this year. “Guys that have been through situations know how to react to certain things,” Varady said. The Roadrunners visit Ontario on Friday.
“You never know what a player’s role is going to be to start a season,” said Roadrunners first-year head coach Jay Varady said, specifically referring to Looke and Mermis.
“Last year ‘this’ was a player’s role. Maybe he did everything in that job description, but had a skillset that grew in that period of time that he may be able to take on more now.
“I don’t think it matters where you’re at in life — sports, organizations, whatever it is. Leadership is key. Experience is key,” Varady added.
“Guys that have been through situations know how to react to certain things. … That’s what those guys are showing right now.”
That experience — both in the American Hockey League and in Tucson — is certainly something Mermis, in particular, has plenty of.
He’s second in games played in the Roadrunners three-year history, and current Roadrunners, Michael Bunting (first on that games played list), Laurent Dauphin and Mermis are holdovers in some form or another since the franchise’s days in Springfield, Mass, prior to moving to Tucson for the 2016-17 season.
“In a lot of ways my role on the ice hasn’t changed too much,” Mermis said. “But when I look back at other seasons, the opportunities have been there. I just haven’t been able to bear down and finish on them. So I think a lot of it is maybe some puck luck. A lot is playing in the system, and it’s just knowing that what you’re doing day-to-day is going to contribute.”
As much as anything, perhaps, it’s also been a balanced offensive attack that’s paced Tucson’s early surge. Led by five goals so far from newcomer Adam Helewka, eight different Roadrunners have at least four points so far through six games (and another four players have three points)
After tonight’s tilt at Ontario’s Citizens Business Bank Arena, the Roadrunners will head south about 90 minutes for another game Saturday with the San Diego Gulls (3-2-0-0). Opening faceoff at San Diego’s Valley View Casino Center is also set for 7 p.m.
