Lowry debut packs ’em in

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This article was published 10/10/2014 (4322 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Among the healthy number of Winnipeg Jets supporters at Gila River Arena Thursday night for the season-opener against the Arizona Coyotes, a special group was watching a special occasion.

Adam Lowry, the 21-year-old left-winger and/or centre, was playing his first NHL game.

The third-round pick of the team’s first draft in 2011 was a steady, reliable performer during training camp and earned his spot to start the season on the left side of the third line.

“I’m pretty excited,” Lowry said after the game-day skate Thursday. “There are a lot of nerves going with it, but to get the chance to play your first NHL game, it’s pretty special. I think it’s something you work for your entire career, and to finally realize that dream, it’s pretty special.”

Lowry’s mom, sister, girlfriend, uncle, great-uncle, great-aunt and sister’s husband all came to the Phoenix area to watch the 6-5 forward launch his real NHL journey.

Lowry’s father, former NHLer Dave, was unable to attend. He’s the head coach of the WHL’s Victoria Royals and the team was travelling to start a long road trip.

“They play Calgary tomorrow night, so they’re on their way there,” Lowry said of his dad. “It’s unfortunate he can’t be here but I know he’ll be watching and I know he’s pretty excited.

“I got a text from him this morning. I talked to him when I found out I made the roster. That was exciting, to be able to share that moment with him.”

Lowry said that in Thursday’s text, “He just told me to go out and enjoy it. He said he’s real proud of me, and just to hear that from him was awesome.

“Growing up, I always envisioned following in my dad’s footsteps and being an NHL player. It’s a distant dream for a lot of people, but to be able to get here and play my first NHL game, it’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

He said he was concerned a little about nerves for the game.

“Any opening day it’s always exciting,” he said. “There’s a lot of buzz in the rink and I think once the first couple of shifts get going and the play and the intensity and adrenaline gets pumping, I think the nerves will go out the window.”

The player taken by the Jets in the first round of Lowry’s draft, Mark Scheifele, said he was thrilled for his good friend Thursday night.

“I think ever since I met him, I thought he was an unbelievable player,” Scheifele said. “When we came to that first training camp together, I thought he was a great player. He was big and strong and he had skill and he just did all the simple things really well. And he’s a good kid, I became good friends with him right off the bat.”

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Lowry’s first game wasn’t necessarily Thursday’s biggest story but it marks another step for the Jets organization — Kevin Cheveldayoff moving another of his own draft picks into the team.

“It is something that when we set out on this trek, this journey from Atlanta to Winnipeg, we knew this was the process and the painstaking way we were going to have to build the franchise,” the GM said Thursday. “One of the best long-term solutions is to draft and develop.

“So when you draft a player and he goes through the process, the gratifying thing to me personally is that you’re not really doing it, it’s the way the organization’s been set up… the people you’ve entrusted to do their jobs, Jimmy Roy on the development side or Keith (McCambridge, coach of the AHL’s IceCaps) and his staff. You see those things taking shape and the progression that’s there and you know that the rest of the prospects are in good hands.

“Let’s face it, at the end of the day, it’s up to the prospect. They have to take possession of their own career and Adam has certainly done that.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca