Fire on Ice

At first glance, a visitor might think that movie tough guy Jason Statham is visiting the Missouri Mavericks locker room.

But it’s not the star of the “Transporter” series and Sly Stallone’s latest celluloid adrenaline rush, “The Expendables.”

It’s a guy whose heroics are real.

They take place on the ice at the Independence Events Center or other rinks around the Central Hockey League. There are no special effects or Hollywood razzle dazzle – what Mavericks fans are witnessing from red-hot forward Mike Berry is the real deal.

“What can you say about a guy who scored a goal in the first six games we played this month?” team captain Carlyle Lewis asked. “He’s been amazing. We struggled all through January.

“During the course of a season, you’re going to have your ups and downs. But Mike has almost single-handedly helped us get our offense going, and now we’re back in the hunt for a top spot in the Turner Conference.”

The Mavericks head to Rapid City for two big games this weekend (please see sidebar), and they’re bringing one of the hottest skaters in the league.

Berry was named the Oakley CHL Player of the Week for the period ending Feb. 13.  

He helped the Mavericks claim seven of a possible eight points in a week that saw them go 3-0-1.

“Mike has been our difference maker,” Mavericks coach Scott Hillman said after the team’s last practice at the Events Center before the 12-hour bus ride to Rapid City.

“We were all excited when Mike joined the team late in training camp. We knew he was a proven goal scorer, but it took a while for him to really make a difference. We were looking at his stats, and he was only taking two or three shots a game.

“We told him to be more aggressive, to take more shots. We paired him up with Nick (Sirota) and Todd (Griffiths), and they have become one of our most productive lines.”

During the hottest week of his CHL career, the Kanata, Ontario, native scored goals in all four Missouri games and accounted for the game-winning goal in all three Missouri wins.

His second-period shorthanded goal was the lone score in a 1-0 win over Mississippi. In a 2-1 overtime win over Colorado, he scored two minutes into the overtime period.

In a dramatic 7-4 win over the Eagles, Berry scored the fifth goal of the game, which proved to be the eventual game winner.

“It’s a little more exciting to score in overtime or score the game-winning goal in a 2-1 game than a 7-4 game – but as long as we’re winning, I don’t care where or when I score the goal,” Berry said.

Berry is in second place in the CHL with seven game-winning goals (Colorado’s Kevin Ulanski is first with nine), and he ranks first on the Mavs with 21 goals and third with 39 points.

“We were struggling throughout the month of January, and we needed someone to step forward for this team,” Hillman said. “And Mike was the player who stepped forward and began scoring goals when we needed them at the most important time in a game.”

Berry refuses to believe all the hype surrounding his newfound success.

“I’m one of the boys,” he said. “We went through a lot of changes this season. I got here late, and then we lost a couple of key players (Walker Wintoneak, who left the team to attend college and Olivier Filion, who left for personal reasons), and we didn’t have any consistency with our lines.

“Then I got placed on a line with Sirota and Griffith and everything just kind of clicked. And Scott talked to me about shooting the puck more. I never really thought about it, but when you only take two or three shots a game, you’re not going to score as much as if you take five or six.”

While fans and teammates bring up his recent success in a daily basis, Berry cares about one thing – winning.

“It all starts with (president and general manager) Brent Thiessen. We have the best coach, the best arena and the best fans by far,” Berry said. “And all I want to do is help this team win. If I score, and we win the game, that’s great.

“If we win, and I don’t score, that’s OK with me. All I want to do is win, and we’ve been doing a lot of that lately, and it’s been a lot of fun.”

It’s also fun to bear a striking resemblance to a movie tough guy who always comes out on top.

“We have some fun with it,” Berry said. “But right now, all I’m thinking about hockey and how I can help this team win.”