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It's No Piece Of Cake

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 6, 2007

TAMPA - Mathieu Darche took plenty of ribbing from his friends back home in Montreal this past summer. Even his wife took part in the good-natured repartee.

"She would take a piece of cake and kind of put it under my nose and smile at me," Darche said. "But it was all in fun."

It was all for a purpose, too, as the 31-year-old winger used his new offseason regimen to help him break the label of career minor-leaguer. It has paid off as Darche has found a spot - for the time being - on a line with Brad Richards entering tonight's game against Carolina.

Following practice Wednesday, Darche admitted to having quite the sweet tooth, including a certain soft spot for anything chocolate. After signing a free-agent contract with Tampa Bay, however, he got together with a nutritionist and swore off the sweet stuff - at least most of it.

Changing his diet changed his fortune. Combined with a new workout program, it resulted in a loss of 22 pounds of fat while adding 11 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-1 frame. Darche wanted to make sure he was ready for a Lightning training camp he knew would be tough. And he wanted to make a strong impression as he entered training camp with his fourth different NHL organization.

"I knew I was probably coming in to training camp as 18th out of 18 forwards and I came in in good shape. You start off on the right foot, you do well in the testing then I took things one day at a time," he said. "And even when you enter a training camp even with the slimmest of hopes to make the team, you have to go in with the attitude that you have a chance to make the team because if you don't go in with that attitude, you won't have a chance."

With 28 games of NHL experience - and just five games in the past four NHL seasons - Darche wanted to give the coaching staff a reason not to send him to the minors where he has been a productive scorer with five 20-goal seasons. A good training camp, a good preseason and an opportunity because of injury opened the door for Darche and he has made the most of it.

Entering the season, Darche had one career goal in 28 NHL games. Entering tonight he carries a three-game goal scoring streak and has four goals in 20 games. Yet he knows every game or shift could be his last if he doesn't continue to do the right things on a nightly basis.

"I've never been in this position before where a team has told me to go get a place to live," Darche said. "But I'm not getting ahead of myself. Things are going well right now and with this team if you play a few good games you play.

"If I have a few bad games I'll be off that line pretty quick, so I have to keep doing what I'm doing."

What Darche does is play responsible defense in his own end, get in the offensive zone on the forecheck, finish his checks and get to the net. On his goal Tuesday against Ottawa, he took defenseman Joe Corvo into the boards and went straight to the net and was in position to tap in Jan Hlavac's pass from the slot. And later in the game he stood his ground when confronted by tough guy Chris Neil.

"He's learning that he has to do the little things," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "He did some really good things on the wall as far as getting pucks out and getting pucks in, has gone to the net and done some things there. He still has to stay consistent in the details - and he's gotten to the point where he comes to the bench and he tells me when he knows he has made a mistake before I can talk to him - and it has earned him some time in a top two-line role.

"But he's fighting for his life every day, and that will not change."

Even if his diet has.

Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be reached at (813) 259-7835 or eerlendsson@tampatrib.com.

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