Claimed:Landry Elevates Physical Play

[Doomsday 4,048]

Landry Elevates Physical Play

 

DAVOS - Two can be an awesome number in the proper context. Two strokes on a par three hole. Two minutes to midnight. Two tickets to paradise. Two For Tuesday on 99.9 the Hawk. But what about two hits? In one game, that could be considered sort of ok. But two hits is what Davos Dynamo winger Thomas Landry (then with the New York Americans) registered for an entire season. For a player that was highly expected to bring a tough, physical mentality to the ice like he had done while at Penn State, the passive play of Landry caught nearly everyone off guard except for himself.

 

"On paper, yeah, that looks horrible and it is," said Landry following a team practice. "But when you think about it, I had to be considered the weakness of that team. I did not want to do anything to hurt my teammates' chances at winning the Continental Cup, so I did everything as conservatively as possible. I managed to avoid taking a single penalty all season and a large part of that was the fact that I didn't have to do the dirty work at all. Playing with guys like Ryan Sullivan, David Smalling and Samu Heiskanen meant that I didn't have to make those hits and take the risk of being penalized."

 

 

But when Landry found himself in Davos after the Americans traded him to begin their rebuilding process, he no longer found himself surrounded by elite hitters. Recalling the degree of his physical play during his days as a Nittany Lion, Davos' general manager, Victor Alfredsson took Landry aside and asked him if he would be able to become the big hitter that the Dynamo were lacking. Through 41 games this season, Landry is currently fourth in the VHL with 178 hits, the most at his position and second only to Miles Larsson among forwards.

 

"Tom was absolutely dedicated to not letting Victor down," said Davos' head coach Terrence Fong. "Throughout the off-season, he was here, even on voluntarily workout days, just busting his ass to make sure he became exactly the kind of hitter the Dynamo needed. With all that hard work, he became an even more complete player and he went from being a liability on New York to becoming one of our best players. He absolutely earned that assistant captain-ship with all he did to get where he is today."

 

 

While finishing dead-last in the VHL last season, the Dynamo are currently second in the European Conference with 46 points, which would mark a tremendous difference for Davos' hometown boys. With prized goaltender Lennox Moher continuing to improve, the Dynamo's chances of winning a playoffs just a season removed from being the laughingstock of the VHL would be quite possibly just as surprising as Jardy simming a batch of games. However, miracles are bound to happen every now and then. The fact that Charlie Sheen is still alive and the Dynamo's success speak volumes towards that. But at what point does hard work cease to make the unlikely a miracle? For that, just watch Thomas Landry plowing over opposing skaters and you might just find it.

 

Jethro Novacek is a writer for the MSFL Times and despite having been dead the last ten years, remains in our mortal coil since Death is too afraid to take him on. He enjoys a nice, cold pink lemonade, rustling the jimmies of his uptight neighbors and making thinly veiled insults towards evildoers.

[Victor 10,571]

I like this.

[Baozi 1,638]

Name spelt wrong

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

Content: 3/3 - Jeez, I never realized how little I paid attention to the VHL after I retired my player. I didn't even realize that you were traded to Davos. Anyway, it seems like Landry is picking up his physical game and becoming a more complete player. I guess you could say increasing your hits by way over 100% is an improvement.

 

Grammar: 2/2 - Your own head coaches name. Tsk tsk.

 

Terrence Fong = Terence Fong

 

Appearance: 1/1 - Solid. I always love how you do the little blurb at the end.

 

Overall: 6/6

[eaglesfan036 4,585]

Content: 3/3 - I remember making fun of you last season for only having 2 hits last season, and both came in that one game. Good to see Landry is becoming a physical player and I think you'll become a very good player.

 

Grammar: 2/2 - I did this on my other account

 

Appearance: 1/1 - Looks good.

 

Overall: 6/6

 

Final: 6/6

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