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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Bryan’s Flyin’ Chiefs Defenseman Mccabe Has Discovered Success

Bryan McCabe is slumped in a Coliseum seat in the dim light of the morning after.

The Spokane Chiefs had dropped a one-goal game at Tri-City barely 12 hours before and McCabe slept poorly in the aftermath.

He has run hard to keep pace with the last five months. There is money now, recognition and responsibility, which is why he was keeping an appointment in a deserted building instead of sleeping off some of his exhaustion.

Even fatigue is of a different source. It’s not just the accumulation of ice time here that has the captain of the Chiefs running on the fumes of his energy reserves. McCabe is still coming down from the World Junior Championships four weeks ago.

The rush is gone. The work continues.

McCabe was an overnight Canadian national sports celebrity after a key game at the WJC a month ago. Trailing the Czech Republic 5-4 with less than 5 minutes remaining, Canada rallied to win 7-5. The comeback before 19,465 delighted a nation that was preoccupied with the NHL lockout.

Here were young Canadians winning an unprecedented seven consecutive games at the world juniors with McCabe as the tournament’s fourth-leading scorer and its most valuable defenseman. His goal and an assist in the win over the Czechs registered on TVs throughout Canada.

Friends and family would have seen it had it been staged in Red Deer or Rumania. But it happened in Calgary, McCabe’s hometown. There’s an unreal fairy tale quality about that.

There’s no parallel experience here. Canada had riveting interest in no other event. The WJC was it.

McCabe is asked to explain the force of such a moving experience. No wonder sleep comes late, in unusual patterns. No dream could intrude on the wonder of the reality.

“I’m a little drained right now,” said McCabe, 19, who is back at it tonight when the Chiefs and the Kamloops Blazers meet in the sold-out Coliseum. “I’m trying to pick myself up. I get a break at the end of the month after the All-Star game so I’m just trying to go hard for the last few games here and then go home for a little rest.

“I’ll come back and go as hard as I went before.”

The promise to come back hard is Big Mac saying that neither his signing bonus with the NHL New York Islanders a reported $150,000 (U.S.) - nor the attention of the past month has dented his resolve to work hard here.

“I’m the same old Bryan McCabe,” he said. “No biggie. It (Canada’s medal) is just another dust collector. I still have the same old fun with same old guys. I still drive the same old crappy car.

“It’s just money. I haven’t done anything with it yet. It’s just sitting at home. I can buy that CD I want now instead of waiting until the next paycheck, but I’m the same old guy.”

Money can’t buy what happened at the World Juniors.

“I grew up watching (Calgary) Flames games,” he said. “The fans there don’t cheer that much, but they went berserk the night we were down 3-1 and won. We tied it, the Czechs went up 5-4 and we ended up winning 7-5 with an empty-netter.

“It was unreal; the best feeling. It was great to do it in my hometown. I always wanted to play in the Saddledome in front of my family. I guess I finally achieved that goal.

“My parents (Ralph and Barbara McCabe) loved it. It was great to give them that. They’ve helped me all the way through. It’s their medal as much as it is mine.”

McCabe, by the way, can laugh off his latest awards as “dust collectors,” but he’s aware of the importance.

“Fans appreciated what we did,” he said. “With the NHL lockout it was probably the biggest thing that could have happened to Canada. It was great for them, great for us and great for our country.”

Before he left for the World Juniors, McCabe was pulling extra duty here, with the Chiefs struggling with injuries and inexperience.

He tried to make up for it by jumping into the offensive rush. He was the key defenseman, the key on the power play, the key penalty killer and leading scorer. So what, he was asked, have you improved the most in a year?

“My cardio-vascular,” he said, laughing.

McCabe has run himself into the best condition of his life. When he came back from the World Juniors, the Chiefs took off on a club-record eight-game win streak.

The club was cooled off in Kennewick and the streak ended, but the question persists.

How good is this streaky team?

“We’re young,” McCabe began. Youth is rarely served in the WHL.

“But we’re one of the hardest-working teams in the WHL,” McCabe added. “When you work hard, things come to you.”

That they do. Eventually, and however gradually, even sleep.