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Downie Tries To Toe The Line

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON

eerlendsson@tampatrib.com

Published: December 2, 2008

PHILADELPHIA - Before Steve Downie ever suited up for a regular-season NHL game, the 22-year-old winger from Newmarket, Ontario, carried with him a nasty reputation.

Downie missed the first 20 games last season after a vicious hit on Ottawa's Dean McAmmond during the preseason, the fifth-longest suspension handed down by the league after Downie left his feet to deliver the hit.

Throughout his life it seems Downie has been the victim of tragedy and a lynchpin for controversy.

When Downie was 7, his father was killed driving Downie to hockey practice, although Downie was unharmed. Before he was a teenager, he began to lose the hearing in his right ear, which requires a hearing aid he uses off the ice.

But since his days in junior hockey, Downie has been at the center of some controversial moments, including jumping then-teammate Akim Aliu while the two were with the Windsor Spitfires during a practice in 2005, knocking out three of Aliu's teeth. An investigation later revealed Downie exacted revenge for Aliu not participating in a rookie hazing incident.

Shortly after being acquired by Tampa Bay from Philadelphia - tonight's opponent - he was hit with a three-game suspension while playing for Norfolk in the AHL for a hit from behind on Worcester's Kyle McLaren.

Yet as he has done throughout most of his life, Downie doesn't like to dwell on the past and doesn't worry whether he's developed any kind of a reputation, other than knowing he has to learn from his past while maintaining his physical presence.

"I do think that's what got me here and if I stop I might not be here," Downie said. "I've got to continue my physical play. I'm not saying I should make those hits. I definitely shouldn't be doing hits like that, but, I can't let that affect my physical game and I just have to keep going.

"The fine line, what I play, it's a hard line, especially for younger players. Slowly, I'm finding it. I'm learning every day and trying to get better."

But Downie is more than a pepper pot, as interim coach Rick Tocchet calls him. The 5-foot-11, 200-pounder is a two-time gold medalist with Team Canada at the World Junior Championships and is a former first-round pick by the Flyers in 2005 who has offensive talent, as long as he tempers his hits.

"He's got no more get out of jail free cards, so he's got to be careful. But we can't take his aggressiveness away, if the hit is there he has to take it," Tocchet said. "He's had two good chances getting five to seven minutes a game. Some guys are playing 17 or 18 minutes and not getting chances. So we got to get this kid a little more ice time. He's got some game there."

Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be reached at (813) 259-7835.

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