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This Dayton Gem can golf too

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By David DiCenzo, Contributing Writer 6:54 PM Thursday, April 8, 2010

TROTWOOD – The Dayton Gems are unfortunately going to get a jump on golf season. That’s bittersweet for rookie center Tim Hartung. While he would definitely rather spend his time prepping for postseason hockey, Hartung is a near-scratch golfer who loves his time on the links.

“I’ve been playing as long as I can remember,” said the Apple Valley, Minn., native, who is regularly about a 2-handicap though figures he’s playing at about a 5 these days.

Hartung played baseball as a youth but admits he “sucked’ at the sport. He got into golf and even played part time on his college team his senior year at Northern Michigan University.

Hartung has plenty of guys to play golf with in the Gems locker room, including regulars Nathan Oke and Jonathan Ornelas. Mike Vaskivuo, Corey Couturier and even head coach John Marks also get out there on occasion.

“Coach is good,” said Hartung. “You can tell he was an athlete.”

Hartung’s stiffest competition comes from Oke, despite their very opposite games. Hartung can crush the ball off the tee yet struggles more in the short game, whereas Oke has the touch but less length. He figures they would make a great team in a scramble.

Hartung’s also pumped because it’s Masters week. He dreams of going to Augusta some day to catch the world’s most popular golf tournament – like his dad once did 10 years ago – but will settle for watching the game’s best on television.

His prediction?

“You can’t go against Tiger,” Hartung said. “If anybody can come out of something like that, it’s him.”

The workhorse

Wednesday’s loss to Quad City marked the 20th consecutive game Derek MacIntyre has started between the pipes. That’s a big number, and really unfortunate for a good goaltender who’s had a trying season.

With Ryan Mior nursing a torn groin from his stint in AHL Albany, Mac will have to play out the string.

“I’ll have to battle through it,” MacIntyre said after Wednesday’s skate at Hara Arena.

The towering Stanwood, Mich., native leads the IHL in both games played (49) and minutes (2817:32, almost 400 more than the next closest goaltender). The fact that he’s kept his save percentage above .900 is downright amazing.

He’s let in his share of bad goals but Dayton’s loose play has been a major contributor to his low win total of 14. MacIntyre supports his guys entirely but admits that he has tried to “do too much” in recent months, and that’s cost him. He says it’s a matter of getting away from fundamentals and sometimes guessing in the crease, which can get him out of position, rather than doing the textbook thing.

“Lately, I’ve been trying to rein it in,” he says.

MacIntyre appears to be a mentally tough, positive kid and the rubber avalanche he’s faced should only serve him well down the road.

Tough guy Jonny O

Marks hasn’t had much to be pleased about for, oh, about the past three months. But one source of pride is the guts that rookie Jonathan Ornelas plays with night in, night out.

Listed at 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds, Ornelas, Marks believes, plays more like he’s 6-foot-3, 210.

“He has the heart of a giant,” the coach said. “He’s the smallest guy on the team and he plays the most physical.”

Marks openly stated that other players should be embarrassed if they don’t put forth the same type of effort as the recently turned 24-year-old from Mississauga, Ont.

It does raise the question as to why the Gems are collectively not a more physical team. They lack truculence, a term often used by Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke. The dictionary definition is “fierce; cruel; savagely brutal.”

In fact, that’s a quality some of the hardcore fans in the area are begging to see. Marks pointed out that grit was lacking Wednesday, citing his defense corps as prime culprits.

“We have seven defensemen over 200 pounds and they played soft,” he said. “You have to have the mentality, ‘I’m not going to let this guy beat me in front of the net.’

“It’s my piggy bank and I’m not going to let you take money from it.”

It’s a shame the smallest guy in the team is least likely to get robbed.

And in this corner...

Kudos to Russ Smith. While the Gems have been bad, they haven’t quit and Smith’s willingness to fight Quad City’s behemoth D-man Jason Goulet (6-foot-5, 245) minutes into the game is a testament to that fact. Goulet can throw them and though he quickly got the advantage on Smith, credit the big Gem for the effort.

With nothing to play for but pride, he didn’t have to do that.

Keepers

The Gems brass has until April 19 to submit their list of protected players to the league office. Marks and Guy Trottier had a pretty solid idea of who that would be, though a handful of players may have removed themselves from the list after Quad City game.

“They’re fighting for (expletive) jobs,” said Trottier. “Apparently, some of them don’t want it.”