Sniping first goal a sign Chiarot has arrived

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This article was published 05/01/2015 (3906 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THEY are the most important monuments of arrival, one’s first NHL game and one’s first NHL goal.

In Ben Chiarot’s suddenly promising career, they are very much opposites and certainly a measurement of how far the 23-year-old from Hamilton, Ont., has come in a very short time.

With an injury dilemma ahead of their Nov. 2, 2013 home game vs. the Chicago Blackhawks, the 2009 fourth-round draft pick of the Atlanta Thrashers was summoned to Winnipeg.

No doubt it was exciting, as any first game is for a prospect, but Chiarot was a classic deer in headlights that day, playing 10:47 and looking pretty much as lost as the Jets — 5-1 on the wrong side of the score — that day.

“That was a tough go, eyes wide open and caught standing around and watching a little bit,” said Jets assistant coach Charlie Huddy on Sunday when asked to recall the game. “At the end of the day, you probably look back and it was a good learning experience for him.

“When he went back down he probably realized what he needed to improve on and things he needed to get better at. And credit to him, he’s gone and done that.”

Chiarot did indeed go right back to the St. John’s IceCaps of the AHL, where revelations and discoveries and determination eventually made him a rock on The Rock as the Jets’ farm team went all the way to the AHL’s championship series.

The chatter in June, as well as at training camp, was Chiarot would eventually be noticed as a solid and strong, but not flashy defender.

When the Jets emerged healthy from camp, he was again sent back to the IceCaps, but this time was put on notice.

“They weren’t unhappy, but the way contracts were lined up, that’s not the only reason, but I’m sure it does (have something to do with it), but they said when you come up and get your chance, just be ready to make the most of it,” Chiarot reported on Sunday, the morning after his first NHL goal Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It’s now 14 games into this season’s recall, also made necessary because of injuries.

One game after his early December summons this time, the injuries got worse and suddenly, he was paired with redeployed Dustin Byfuglien and very much in the spotlight.

So much so that Chiarot has already seen more than 20 minutes of ice time in a game five times and is averaging nearly 19 minutes per game.

The work hasn’t been flawless but he has clearly assimilated so well and handled the major minutes to the point where it would today seem ludicrous he’d ever clear waivers to be returned to the IceCaps.

“You never know,” Chiarot said Sunday. “I can’t speculate on things like that, but it’s obviously a nice confidence-booster that people would say that… but I can’t focus on that. I have to focus on doing my job. Every guy’s the same way here. Everybody has to compete every day and you have to earn your job every day.

“There are always guys working for your spot. I’m at the very beginning here, have nowhere to go but up.”

It’s an unusual graduation to the front lines, Huddy admitted, but it involves more than just the last four weeks.

‘I’m at the very beginning here, have nowhere to go but up’

— the Jets’ latest surprise, defenceman Ben Chiarot

“I think the big thing is that he’s had the time in the minors to learn the game,” said Huddy, noting Chiarot turned pro in 2011 and like his equally surprising teammate Michael Hutchinson, has spent time in the ECHL. “It’s hard for young D; there aren’t that many that just step right in and play in the NHL.

“It’s a bit of a process for those guys and I think when he was down in St. John’s, he used his time wisely and figured out what he needed to do to improve his game.

“When he got called up, he seemed to fit right in.”

Huddy said Byfuglien was not an additional problem in this equation, but a big part of Chiarot’s solution.

“Give some credit to Buff there,” Huddy said. “Buff has played a real solid game and really helped him out. He’s talked to him a lot on the ice and I’ve tried to show him some video about the basic things that he’s done well or things he can improve on. He’s taken it and taken that out onto the ice and used it out there.

“And as you go through it, the more games you get, the more confidence you get when things are going good and that just helps the whole process for him.”

Chiarot is all in on the Byfuglien fan club.

“I was saying it last night, that since my short time up here, he’s been the best player I’ve seen playing for us or against us,” Chiarot said. “He dominates the game defensively and physically. Offensively, he dominates whenever he wants. He’s been really impressive and he makes my job a lot easier.

“I think we both understand what we’re doing. Buff knows I’ll be back there for him and he knows what he’s doing out there, obviously. I just try to back him up and play it safe. He’s been a real calming influence for me, especially those first few games. And I just try to learn from him, hear what he has to say. We’ve got a nice chemistry going.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca

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