Tag: connor mackey

STOCKTON, CA – The American Hockey League announced today that Stockton Heat defenseman Connor Mackey has been selected as the AHL Player of the Week for the period ending December 5, 2021.

In two games last week, Mackey recorded three goals – two of them shorthanded – and two assists to help the Pacific Division-leading Heat to a pair of victories.

Mackey scored his first two goals of the 2021-22 season on Friday, one shorthanded and one on the power play, as part of a three-point night to lift Stockton to a 4-1 victory over San Diego. And in Saturday’s rematch with the Gulls, Mackey earned an assist before giving the Heat the lead for good with another shorthanded marker en route to a 3-2 win.

A second-year pro, Mackey has totaled three goals and six assists in 17 games for Stockton this season after garnering Canadian Division All-Star honors as a rookie in 2020-21, when he posted three goals and 13 assists in 27 contests. Mackey also made his NHL debut with Calgary last season, recording one goal and two assists in six games, and earned a bronze medal with the United States at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Mackey, a native of Tower Lakes, Ill., originally signed with Calgary on Mar. 20, 2020, following three seasons at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

CALGARY, AB – When you start with dessert, vegetables don’t sound so appealing.

CALGARY, AB – This was not ‘just another game.’

Maybe it’s easier to admit that when you’re not on the ice.

In this case, Calgary Flames defence prospect Connor Mackey — the rookie pro has three NHL appearances on his resume and is currently logging major minutes with the American Hockey League’s Stockton Heat — had just finished a day’s work and was nervously tracking his alma mater as the Minnesota State (Mankato) Mavericks quested to make school history and ultimately advance through the regional round to the NCAA’s Frozen Four.

Mackey was a workhorse for the Mavericks for three seasons before signing with the Flames last spring.

CALGARY, AB – It certainly made for a late night in the American Midwest, but Dave Mackey wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

CALGARY, AB – As a youngster, Connor Mackey received some advice from one of the original leaders of the Calgary Flames.

Connor’s father, Dave, reached the big leagues as a tough-as-nails forward and is a proud member of the Chicago Blackhawks alumni. When the old-timers in the Windy City would congregate for family-friendly holiday scrimmages, Dave would often bring his twin boys along.

“Here’s a story for you … Do you remember Phil Russell, the old captain of the Flames? I think he was No. 5,” Dave said over the phone from Tower Lakes, Ill. “I remember one time our alumni was skating, and he and Connor were D partners. I think Connor was, like, eight years old at the time. They came off and Phil gave him heck. He was like, ‘Hey, you’ve gotta move that puck to me a little quicker.’ ”

Dave chuckles.

“I always tell Phil, ‘I actually think he was looking you off,’ ” he continued. “But Connor goes, ‘Jeez Dad, I guess I have to move the puck a little quicker.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, you might want to listen to that guy.’ ”

Indeed, Russell was a pretty good resource for an up-and-coming rearguard. He belongs to the NHL’s silver-stick club and played a five-season chunk of his 1,000-plus games with the Atlanta/Calgary Flames, serving as alternate captain when the franchise moved north and then having the ‘C’ stitched on his jersey from 1981-83.

Now 24, freshly signed out of the collegiate ranks and hoping to be tapped for his own NHL debut sometime soon, Connor is these days trying to learn as much he can from the current leader of the Flames. In a nice bit of symmetry, Mark Giordano wears No. 5, too.

Giordano, apparently, has been impressed. At the outset of training camp, based on what he’d witnessed in small-group skates, he singled out the rookie pro as a guy who “looks like he’s pretty close to being ready to play.”

When a not-long-ago Norris Trophy winner makes a comment like that, it gets back to the newcomer pretty quick.

“That was cool to hear, for sure,” Connor said.

The Flames’ coaching staff must be impressed, too, with what their prized college free-agent signing has shown since the team opened camp last weekend.

They’ve now rearranged their groups, with all of the everyday NHLers lumped together in the morning wave. Mackey is the only guy in those star-studded sessions who has yet to log action at the highest level. It is, he admitted, “definitely a confidence-booster” to be keeping that sort of company.