O'Marra Recalled To Oilers

Published on November 10, 2009 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release


The Springfield Falcons had their third player in four days called up to play for the NHL's Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday. Falcons Center Ryan O'Marra was recalled by the Oilers and flew out to Ottawa to join the Oilers on their four-game road trip as they take on the Senators tonight. O'Marra scored the game-tying goal in Sunday afternoon's 2-1 victory over the Portland Pirates. O'Marra has played in 15 games this season for Springfield, tallying four points (2 G, 2 A) and 16 PIM.

"He was really excited when he was told he was going," said Falcons Head Coach Rob Daum, "It's a dream come true for these guys to get a chance to play at the National Hockey League level and Ryan's going to experience that tonight."

O'Marra has played professional hockey for four years, dating back to 2005-06 when he played in eight games for the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers. This is O'Marra's third season with the Falcons, playing in 97 games recording 23 points (5 G, 18 A) and 96 PIM. O'Marra has also played for the Falcons ECHL affiliate, Stockton Thunder in the 2007-08 season playing in 24 games recording 20 points (11 G, 9 A) and 45 PIM. O'Marra was selected in the NHL's 2005 Entry Draft by the New York Islanders with the 15th overall pick in the first round. This is the first time O'Marra has been called up to the NHL and is expected to make his NHL debut tonight against the Ottawa Senators.

"He's played pretty well," said Coach Daum, "I thought he started the season well and then he went for a bit of a low for four or five games that wasn't at the same level. This weekend I thought he was good again. Hopefully this will be a chance for him to see how close he is to what it takes to play there...

"I'm hoping this chance, for as long as it is, will be something that will really have him focused and recognize what he has to do to get there, stay there, and play there."

O'Marra is the third player called up by the Oilers in the past four days after Saturday's call ups of Liam Reddox and Ryan Potulny. It is never easy to replace quality players, like O'Marra, Reddox, and Potulny, but that is what the Falcons must do heading into this weekend's games. Losing players to the NHL is part of being a part of an American Hockey League organization. This amount of player movement allows other players the opportunity to step up and play a larger role for the team.

"In this league you're always potentially losing your best players," said Coach Daum, "And the people you replace them with are not as good, because otherwise they'd be playing and that's not a knock on them, that's just the facts. What happens then is other players have to step up and do more...And we saw that out of [Ryan] O'Marra and [Colin] McDonald and [Geoff] Paukovich, they stepped up in Portland."

With O'Marra being recalled by Edmonton, the Falcons players have another chance to maximize their skill and help the team out in a larger role. Springfield played hard on Sunday in Portland, winning without Reddox (4 points on season), Potulny (8 points), and injured Chris Minard (13 points). This helps build the team's confidence, knowing that they can win without some of their key players.

"We're always striving to be better everyday and I think we've been doing that," said Coach Daum, "And we have to continue to do that. And danger is that you get complacent with that... And you set a standard as a coach, you have a standard that we expect in practice and if we reach it then that's great. If we don't reach then we're disappointed and we express that to the team and make them aware of what is an acceptable performance and hold them to that standard."

The players have bought into Coach Daum's system so far this season after a slow 1-3 start; the Falcons have gone 6-2-2-1 in the last 11 games, putting them in a tie for second place in the Atlantic Division with 17 points. One of the big reasons for the recent success for the Falcons has been starting goaltender Devan Dubnyk. Dubnyk has posted a 2.22 GAA and.940 save percentage in his last nine games, all during the 6-2-2-1 span. Dubnyk put up these numbers against an average of 36.66 shots against per game.

"I think the most important thing for a team as the season goes on is to get better," said Dubnyk on the key for the team's improvement since the 1-3 start, "We have to continue to get better and I think we've done that every game here...This weekend was a good start and we have another chance to do it here again this weekend."

Last weekend, Springfield took four points in two games, defeating the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, 5-2 at home before heading to Portland, ME, where they beat the Pirates in a gutsy 2-1 victory.

The past few years, the Falcons have not faired well missing the Calder Cup playoffs in each of the last six seasons, but Coach Daum is beginning to build a culture of winning in the locker room. In the past, Springfield seemed to lose the close games, but this season has been different so far. The Falcons are 4-1-2-1 in games decided two or less goals, compared to last year's 13-28-9-4 record in games decided by two or less goals.

"First of all you have to believe you can win," said Coach Daum after Tuesday's practice, "And once you can believe you can win, then losing is not acceptable. I think early in the year, we were finding ways to lose games, because I think there was a fatalistic view that the Falcons aren't any good and we're going to find a way to lose.

"Whereas, we've had a little bit of success, and I emphasize the word little, and now players believe that we can win. And once you believe you can win, you tend to find ways to make that happen."

Springfield will look to continue to find ways to win this weekend as they host two games against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Friday at 7:30pm and the Albany River Rats at 3pm on Sunday.

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American Hockey League Stories from November 10, 2009


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