Today Lightning Radio brings you another one-on-one interview with a Lightning player. Ever since being acquired in a trade with Philadelphia on November 7, 2008, Steve Downie has become a fan favorite in Tampa Bay with his physical play, willingness to drop the gloves, and a scoring touch that saw him put up 20 goals and 200 penalty minutes in the 2009-10 season. Downie sat down with Matt Sammon on February 6th for an interview you can listen to in its entirety here.
You expect it to happen one of these days.
A referee skates away from the penalty box, turns on his wireless microphone, and announces to the crowd, “Number nine, Tampa… two minutes for being Steve Downie.”
Such it is for Steve Downie, the 5-foot-11, 191-pound Lightning forward. For some people past transgressions melt away like ice on a summer day, for others they seem to linger like a spring storm cloud. Downie can’t say others won’t let the past go, but when asked about it following a Lightning practice at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, he flashes a grin and gives you an honest answer; “I just try to play the game as hard as I can. That’s the way I play, that’s the way I’ve always played it.” Downie added, “I base my game on going as hard as I can, and doing everything I can to win, and sometimes it’s wrong but I think as I get older I’m learning how to turn it on and off more so… (grinning and chuckling now) we’ll see.”
Lightning fans appreciate where Downie is coming from, and they are right to be upset at those who think of Downie as nothing but a thug because of his actions several years ago. Why so many others have not seen the brighter side of Downie is hard to fathom… perhaps some just like putting athletes in a paradigm and when they no longer fit clearly the athlete isn’t deserving of “athlete” status. Whatever it may be, it doesn’t take long to see it was hard work and hard play that got the Newmarket, Ontario, native not just to the NHL, but in the NHL as a first-round pick in the entry draft.
In the summer of 2005, the Philadelphia Flyers got lucky– twice. Thanks to the canceled 2004-05 season, and a weighted lottery depending on previous draft selections and playoff appearances the three prior seasons, the Flyers somehow landed the 20th overall pick. The Florida Panthers somehow ended up in 29th, and they were desperate to move up, so they moved their 1st round pick in 2005 and a 2nd round pick in 2006 to Philly for the chance to get a better pick in the draft remembered as “Sidney Crosby and everyone else”. The Panthers took Kenndal McArdle of the Moose Jaw Warriors. The Flyers took Downie from the Windsor Spitfires. It was an emotional day for Downie and his family, as he never expected to be a first-round selection, especially 10 years after his father John Downie died in a car accident while driving Steve to hockey practice.
As time went by Downie collected two gold medals with team Canada in the World Junior Classic, and 38 games with the Flyers at just 20 years of age, before getting traded to the Lightning at the start o f the 2008-09 season. The following season he would experience his breakout, becoming just the fourth player in NHL history to score 20 goals and rack up 200 penalty minutes. The first to do so was his head coach Rick Tocchet, and you didn’t have to squint your eyes too much to see the similarities in their style of play. Despite the individual accomplishment, Downie would rather have more. “I’d rather win than put numbers up, that’s the bottom line.”
And Downie doesn’t mind taking a “smaller” role, at least on the score sheet, as long as the team is winning. “The last couple of years we’ve brought some guys in here that have done great jobs, it helps the team. You don’t get the looks, you don’t get as much time, but it’s better for the team… that’s what it’s all about.” Downie then adds, and it shows a drive to win that has been with him ever since he first put on skates, “It’s not about individuals, and I think our team knows that.”
And the team has learned a few lessons this season, one being that last season’s success doesn’t guarantee anything this season. That’s something Downie acknowledged may have hampered the Lightning earlier this season. “We were a little overconfident with our game… we dug ourselves a hole early.” And while he knows the team’s playoff hopes will get a boost with more home games down the stretch, Downie points to the handful of road games left that will really turn things around if the Lightning can win on the road– something it did with regularity in the playoffs last season, and not consistently enough this season.
Still, despite a decent stretch of play the past few weeks (6-1-2 since January 17th as of this writing), Downie says the humility and adversity the team went through at the start of this season is keeping the guys balanced in the latter stages of the season. “We haven’t done anything yet. We’re still out looking in. We’ve made a push, we’ve put ourselves in a good position going down the stretch here, but we just gotta find wins and I think we’ll be fine.” It’s just another battle for Downie and his teammates to fight, and he’ll be the first to drop the gloves to prove the naysayers wrong.
Downie knows how lucky he is to be in the NHL, and in a good environment in Tampa Bay. “You got to come to work, and work as hard as you can every day. You can’t forget that, because there’s a lot worse things you could be doing. So you just gotta be happy and thankful for what you have and just keep working hard. Don’t take advantage of it.” It’s a reminder that has kept Downie grounded, and it’s advice that anyone can use to make the world a better place. But after that dive into the deep end of the philosophical pool we lighten things up… as only Downie can. We’re talking baseball (Dave Stieb’s mustache was nastier than his slider), wrapping up the interview, and then Downie implies I should accuse a local writer of stepping on the locker room logo (I swear I saw nothing).
Always causing trouble, that Steve Downie.
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