We’ve only been underway for a few days, but rookie camp has already been something of a roller coaster for Emil Andrae. Nowhere was this more clearly illustrated than in the run of events through Saturday’s second rookie game — the Flyers, struggling to string together much momentum, were given a golden chance to get rolling when, in the second period, a major and a game misconduct for spearing was levied on the Rangers, and they would be given a five-minute power play to work with. That power play, though, began just about as badly as one could imagine, as it saw a turnover by Andrae turn into a shorthanded goal for the Rangers, and a bit more air coming out of their sails.
But redemption came for Andrae in the end — he settled down through the end of regulation, and factored in nicely to the overtime heroics, as we saw him find a soft area of the ice to receive the quick-up pass from Jett Luchanko, show a bit of patience to slow the play down, the kick things back up again with a quick pass over to Samu Tuomaala by the crease for the game-winning goal.
And this, truly, was the Emil Andrae Experience for you. Ian Laperriere agreed. ”That’s Emil for you,” he said after the game. “He’ll make mistakes, but he’ll never stop trying, and that’s something I love about him. We just need to cut down on the mistakes a little bit. And again, it’s rookie camp, it’s just the first couple of games for him, he’ll get better for sure”
There seems an understanding that, with the type of game Andrae plays, there’s some inherent risk of puck mismanagement, but the number of mistakes he makes with the puck is something that can be developed and reduced. It’s a work in progress, but progress is being made, and Andrae’s mindset is making it all the easier. Laperriere went on, after that second game:
”He does shake off the mistakes that he makes. But that’s our job, my job as a coach, to make sure he cuts down on mistakes. Because if you make that many mistakes, you can’t play at the next level, that’s the honest truth. But we worked with him last year and he’s one hell of a kid. What I love about him is that his compete level is through the roof, I’ll work with guys like that any day of the week. I’m a big fan of his, he’ll be alright”
Andrae shows a real growing maturity not just in his game on the ice, but in how he evaluates it. He owns his mistakes without excuses, and is realistic about where he stands and where he still has to get to. The step he took from the beginning of last season to the end was pretty remarkable, but there’s still work to be done. His aims for this camp, and this season, by extension reflect that. The goal, he says, is ”just try to be better every day, and work at my bad things and my good things as a player. And I learned a lot last year and feel like I have a lot of experience coming into this year. And I’ll try to use that and hopefully it’s gonna be better this year.”
There seems to be a lot of belief in Andrae, not just from Laperriere, but from members of the front office as well. Andrae is working hard to justify that belief, to ”try to be the best player I can, try to be the guy that they want to bring up when there’s an opening.”
If he keeps building on his game at the rate he’s going, that opening might not be far away at all.
