 Forward Ryan Stephenson is this week's player in “Breaking the Ice with…” The feature will be a season long series on plymouthwhalers.com and showcase a different Whaler each week so we can get to know them better.
Stephenson, who has been limited to just 2 games this season due to a broken ankle, is in his fourth season in the OHL. Selected by the Kingston Frontenacs in the 3rd round (42nd overall) in the 2002 OHL Draft, Stephenson was acquired from Kingston on November 23, 2004 for a 7th round draft pick in 2005. Stephenson took a few minutes out of his day to help us break the ice. » On the greatest lesson he has learned from hockey… “Probably don’t give up. Everyone always says that. You can come out of the blue from anywhere. You can be a nobody and turn into a somebody. Just don’t give up. There are different players that you thought growing up were nothing and then turned into drafted NHL picks or were low OHL picks and turned into high NHL draft picks.” » On how he started playing hockey… “To be honest my family wasn’t big hockey players like my relatives and stuff like that. It was just my neighbor, one of my good friends down the street, got into hockey and I said I’d try out and that’s basically how it happened.” » On his youth hockey highlight… “Probably getting drafted to the OHL would be my youth hockey highlight.”  » On his most memorable goal…
“Probably the game-winner in Peterborough my second year with Kingston (10/10/03). It was coast-to-coast.” » On what championships he has won… “I haven’t won many championships, so this goes back to minor hockey, probably when I was playing novice or atom in Belmont.” » On his best moment in a Whalers uniform… “In a Whalers uniform, my best moment, probably scoring my first goal. My first goal as a Whaler, I had a goal and an assist that game (12/10/04).” » On if he has ever played with any of the guys before… “No, I grew up playing against Justin Peters, though, but never played with or against anyone besides him on this team.” » On the Big Nickel Major "AAA" International Hockey Tournament… “The Big Nickel Tournament in 2001 that was my draft year and it was in Sudbury. I think we might have won that and I got a game star. I must have had a good tournament.” » On his most embarrassing hockey moment… “Probably one of my first games as a Whaler, I left my skate guards on and went on the ice because we didn’t have skate guards in Kingston. I wasn’t aware and I went on the ice and fell on my knees and couldn’t get up.” » On adjusting to billets… “My billets are good. I don’t know, it must be hard for them to take in a new kid, but they have been really open. They pretty much adapt to everything. They have been great with my injury about lying around the house and going to the hospital in and out, having crutches and stuff, so they have been really good. It is my first year with them, the Bloom family, and they have been nothing but supportive.” » On his typical day and pre-game routine… “My typical day, when I was in school, I’d get up, I went to the rink for 10 a.m. (workout) or I went to school, then I came back around 2 o’clock for practice, had practice, went home and had dinner. For my pre-game routine would be: wake up, have breakfast, probably play some video games, watch TV, have a pre-game meal and have a nap, wake up, put my suit on, and go to the rink.”  » On his injury…
“This was actually my first injury playing hockey and first broken bone. It was in practice, it was a fluke accident I guess. I went into the boards, snapped my ankle and my leg and that’s about it.” » On attending NHL camps… “It was definitely a good experience. I went to the Leafs' camp last year. I was able to attend Florida this year. It was a lot faster pace, but I find that you play better when you’re in NHL camps. You pick up your play and adapt to the faster speed and crisper passing, stuff like that. It’s like a different lifestyle almost. I wasn’t drafted or anything, so my agent got me in. I guess the teams were interested in having me attend their rookie camp and that’s basically how it goes.” » On the player he admires and tries to model his game after… “Well, I’m trying to be a bit of everything, but yeah, like I try to say Joe Thornton or Rick Nash, but I’m nowhere near that.” » On being traded… “The trade process was that I got called into my GM’s office in Kingston and (Mike) Vellucci was on the phone and said that he wanted to trade for me and if I’d accept it because I had a no-trade clause. I said sure because the situation in Kingston wasn’t working out, so I was glad to come to Plymouth.” » On if there is anything behind his jersey number… “Actually, the process was, on that same phone call that Vellucci was talking to me, he gave me all these numbers, like randomly almost, of the numbers that were open. He was going like 2, 7, 21, and the last number was 39, so I said 39 figuring I could change it when I came back, but when I came back they already had my jersey in my stall and everything. It doesn’t mean I don’t like it. It was just the only one I could remember. I didn’t want to go back and say, ‘Is 13 open?’ or something like that, so I accepted 39.” » On his nicknames… “I have Stevie from Stephenson, obviously. When I first came here it was ‘Sunshine’ because I had long hair, but I cut that quickly to lose that name.”  » On his superstitions…
“My superstitions tend to change whether it is my stick or other things. It usually is my stick, like if I tape it a certain way and have a good game, I usually tape it the same way. I don’t have one key superstition though that I won’t change or anything.” » On the toughest player he has played against… “Probably the scariest player was Cam Janssen. He just wasn’t human.” » On what he'd do if he didn't play hockey… “I would probably be going to school. I’m not sure what I’d be taking, but I’d be going to university somewhere.” » On his funniest teammate… “Probably (Ondrej) Otcenas, funny, or (Jake) Helmick, even funnier.” » On what he brings to the team… “Right now, all I can bring is probably to keep the guys going, I guess to be the motivational kind of person. I guess the same thing on the ice too.” » On the craziest thing that has happened on the road… “Actually, we were in Sault Ste. Marie and a guy on our team or a guy on Sault Ste. Marie got a hat trick, I can't remember. I was in the box and that’s where they throw all the hats after they pick them up. It was Mike Knight or me, one of us took a hat and hid it in our jersey because it was a nice hat and we wanted it. Then we were going across the border to go home and we still had the hat with us on the bus. We took it from the game. They ended up tracking us down and pulled the bus over so they could get their hat back that they threw on the ice.” » On his best prank… “Best prank, probably my first year, I didn’t know what a leaner was, where they put a bucket of water on your door and you open it and it just floods your room. It happened to me first, I didn’t know what it was. I wasn’t used to staying in hotels and stuff.” » On the person he would most like to meet… “Probably Wayne Gretzky.” » On his dream goal… “My dream goal, if it was this year, would probably be me coming back healthy, going to the Memorial Cup finals, just playing and scoring in the Memorial Cup.” » On his dream vacation… “Probably Hawaii. I’ve never been there and everyone wants to go.” » On what one thing he could not live without… “People, friends, I can’t be by myself.” » On the rule changes in hockey… “Actually I think the game from watching it has improved, you know what I mean. Anything I would change, maybe the sticks, they should make illegal curves and stuff like that. That’s about it.” » On what TV show he would be on… “Probably, the MTV show Real World, everyone says that and Survivor. I’d actually be good at Survivor, so I’ll say that.” » On what other five players he would want on the ice with him… “Probably (Joe) Thornton, oh, all-time, (Wayne) Gretzky, I’d put Thornton on there. Maybe I’d put Bobby Orr in the back and who else would I put back there, another d-man, Vellucci. (Greg) Stefan in net.” -Natalie Shaver, January 4th, 2006- -- Other Players' "Breaking the Ice" Features -- | 
