COMING UP ROSES
There’s good runs, then there’s great runs.
And right now for center Adam Ruzicka, everything is coming up roses.
“That’s the mandate for him,” said Heat head coach Cail MacLean about the second-year, forward’s play early on. “That’s what he expects of himself, is to assert himself on a nightly basis. He wants to be as good as he can be night-in and night-out.”
Early returns indicate Ruzicka is hitting the mark.
Sample size, sure, but Ruzicka’s three-game run of three points each isn’t just good or great. It’s never been done in Stockton. It was never done in Adirondack or Abbotsford, Quad City or Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben. If such an outburst has occurred with the Flames’ farm club, it would’ve been no more recent than the 2003-04 season.
“At the end of the season last year I felt good,” said Ruzicka about when the proverbial switch may have started getting flipped. “It’s not just goals. I think I was creating chances for my teammates and for myself. That’s the main thing, making sure I’m finding my teammates and making sure I’m in the right spot.”
Scoring so nice, @ARuzicka21 did it twice. pic.twitter.com/KbdI2zHFSA
— Stockton Heat (Now in Celsius) (@AHLHeat) February 26, 2021
The Slovakian centerman has been flanked by rookie Connor Zary, the Flames’ first-round selection in the 2020 draft, to his left and third-year pro Matthew Phillips, a sixth-round pick in 2016, to his right. The trio has been nearly unstoppable, paced by Ruzicka’s nine points and five goals over the last three games, with the line totaling a remarkable 20 points in the recent run.
“A big strength of ‘Rozy’ is the way he can protect the puck,” said Phillips when asked about a perk of playing with the big-bodied center. “Not only in the offensive zone but in the neutral zone, he can fend guys off and distribute it pretty well. He can protect the puck, draw guys to him and feed it out to me or Zary and we can make plays that way. He’s great at winning puck battles and putting us in a good position.”
While the chemistry between the three has been apparent, it’s nothing new for teammates and coaches to see. Stockton got a late jump on its season, but MacLean noticed early on in camp that No. 11 and No. 29 were vibing. Add talented winger Zary, whose Kamloops Blazers are set to begin play on March 26, and you have a defensive dilemma for opposing teams to match up against.
It was one play in particular where the instinctual connection between Phillips and Ruzicka showed, the clincher against the Toronto Marlies in Stockton’s first win of the season just over a week ago. Phillips gathered the puck on a power play and looked to break out of the defensive end. He slams the brakes at the blue line and sees a streaking Ruzicka up the left wing, fires the puck over for a partial breakaway. The 6-foot-4 center made no mistake.
This feed from @mattphillips_8 + finish from @ARuzicka21 last night 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/MY3OhZ6ewC
— Stockton Heat (Now in Celsius) (@AHLHeat) February 25, 2021
“I’ve been seeing it for a month now in practice,” said MacLean about the Phillips-Ruzicka connection. “They’ve been together for more than a month and you could see something building. They share the puck. When guys start to click together you can see that they’re looking to move the puck and change the picture. It’s not a total shock by any means to see it come to fruition.”
The biggest strides for Ruzicka in particular, note the forward and the coach, came over the offseason with a natural part of the growth process. He’s gained strength since the final horn sounded on 2019-20 and he’s learned how to weaponized his big frame. His instincts and timing have sharpened. He’s able to finish off opportunities now at a high rate when they present themselves, scoring at a 22.7-percent clip relative to pucks on net.
Perhaps the best part? He’s still on the upswing.
“He has a good skill level and he’s got a good feel, with the puck and without,” said MacLean. “As he gains his feel and his confidence at this level, he’ll keep making a lot of really good plays and I’m confident that he’ll do that.
“He’s got a pretty high ceiling in terms of what he can do.”