End of the road for Essensa?
Former Canuck goalie not putting up big numbers in his final season
(by Brad Ziemer, Vancouver Sun, 1/8/02)

BUFFALO -- The date has been circled on his calendar for months. Bob Essensa looked at the Buffalo Sabres' schedule late last summer, saw that the Vancouver Canucks were paying a visit on Jan. 8 and remembers saying to himself, 'Now, there's a game I want to play in.'

Now he just wants to play a game. Any game.

Barring an injury to starter Martin Biron, Essensa won't be playing against his former teammates when the Canucks and Sabres meet today at the HSBC Arena. Some doubt Essensa will play another game for the Sabres this season. Backup Bob, who became a cult hero of sorts last season as a Canuck, has fallen on hard times.

This isn't the way Essensa, who turns 37 next week, envisioned finishing an NHL career that began back in 1988 with the Winnipeg Jets.

Essensa, like he did when the Canucks chose to discard him at the end of last season, is handling his current situation with considerable dignity, perspective and good humour.

"One of the pitfalls of changing teams every year, which I've managed to do for the last three seasons, is that you go into a new situation where the coaching staff doesn't have a real good feel for you," Essensa said after the Sabres' practice on Monday.

"If I had gone back to Vancouver this year I'm sure I would have got some starts early just based on my performance of last season.

"That wasn't the case here, with a young No. 1 netminder. We wanted to give Marty a real good start and feel for things and I was kind of put on the backburner for a while and the odd start I did get I wasn't able to pull out a win. My starts got kind of stretched. It certainly wasn't my goal at the start of the season to go 0-for-whatever by the new year."

For the record, Essensa is 0-4 and the rest of his numbers this season aren't any better. His goals-against average is an ugly 3.28 and his save percentage an abysmal .841.

"To be honest apart from my stats, it's been an enjoyable year," Essensa said with a smile. "We are in a struggle and we have to fight our way out of this hole but off the ice, stuff is great. With my family being in Toronto, it's been real nice. This was the first Christmas I've got to spend with my entire family in a long time. There are certain things I'm thankful for . . . But we still have half a season and I hope to be able to contribute. I'm just biding my time."

If you listen to Sabres' coach Lindy Ruff, Essensa could be biding his time for quite some time to come.

Ruff has openly acknowledged he has lost confidence in Essensa.

"His numbers speak for themselves," Ruff said of Essensa, who is now No. 3 in the Buffalo goaltending rotation. "I guess lack of confidence is what you'd have to call it in Bob. There's numbers there that are cause for concern."

They certainly aren't the type of numbers the Sabres were expecting when they signed Essensa last August to a one-year deal worth $600,000 US to back up Biron. Last season, Essensa was 18-12-3 for the Canucks with a goals-against average of 2.68. Essensa admitted Monday he has thought a lot about last season.

"Regardless of what happened in the off-season, I have nothing but fond memories of my time in Vancouver," Essensa said. "As a team we really came together and for the first time in four or five years got into the playoffs. It was a fun year. The fans were top-drawer and I was able to contribute so it was great on so many fronts. I'm not going to lie. I was disappointed and I would have loved to have gone back."

Essensa said he would have loved to play today against the Canucks, but knows that just isn't going to happen.

"Any time you are up against one of the teams that has let you go, especially when it's fresh in your memory, those games are easy motivational games and I would have loved to have an opportunity to play against them," he said.

His former coach said he hasn't forgotten about the contributions made by Essensa.

"We wouldn't have made the playoffs if not for Bob," Canuck coach Marc Crawford said Monday.

"He played some remarkably good games for us. But unfortunately with players, they get older and look at our club, we're a young club. We wanted to go with a younger group and allow Danny [Cloutier] to take over the reins so to speak."

Things are going considerably better off the ice than on for Essensa. His wife Jeanine is due to deliver their third child later this month. And when the season is over, Essensa will retire and return to Phoenix where he and his family own a home.

"I knew going into this season it was going to be my last and usually guys end on not so great a note," Essensa said. "I guess I'm just following that trend."

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