Earlier this winter, during a break in the action at the Calgary Flames charity poker tournament, the conversation turned from hold ’em to chucking ’em.
A few of the card sharks had gathered around retired enforcer Tim Hunter and current fan favourite Ryan Lomberg. In a light-hearted back-and-forth, they were debating the outcome if these two ever dropped their gloves for a dance.
“Everyone had a couple of drinks in them, so they thought me and Hunter were going to throw down,” Lomberg quipped.
Which begs the question: Would he dare?
Hunter is one of the toughest hombres in hockey history and would have a significant advantage in height, weight and reach. Then again, that seldom seems to sway Lomberg’s thinking.
“I don’t know man, that guy is tough,” Lomberg protested. “But I mean, if he came back and hit Naz (Nazem Kadri) from behind, then maybe … ”
Ah, there it is, that anything-for-the-team mindset.
That’s the reason Lomberg will receive a hero’s welcome Saturday as he returns to his old stomping grounds in Florida, where he was a fourth-line sparkplug for a Stanley Cup-winning squad last June.
As he told Postmedia prior to departing on this six-game sojourn: “It’s going to be wicked. Obviously, I have some tremendous memories in that arena and I’m just excited to look up and see the banner. That’s something I’ve been envisioning for a little while.”
Lomberg’s selfless style is also the reason the 30-year-old winger has earned the admiration of some of the most popular pugilists in Flames franchise lore.
“How do you not cheer for him?” said Hunter, who was in the middle of so many Battle of Alberta brouhahas and was seated in the sin-bin so often that he ranks eighth among the NHL’s all-time penalty minute leaders.
“He fought (Mathieu) Olivier in Columbus and, you know, that’s a big hill to climb,” added Hunter, who was so well-respected in the locker room that he wore a letter for Calgary’s championship crew in 1989.. Olivier is a very good fighter, and Lombo did really well. He hung in there. He got whacked a couple times, but …
“I told a couple of guys that were on that trip, ’Tell him that I’m proud of him for sticking up for his teammates and taking on somebody like that.’ You know, he doesn’t embarrass his team. He’s not a sideshow guy. He does that role the way it’s supposed to be — with integrity.”
During Lomberg’s first stint with the organization, which started with an opportunity to prove himself in the ECHL, Brian McGrattan was working with the Flames development staff.
When he heard that the feisty forward was returning as an unrestricted free agent, McGrattan may have offered that same salute that followed one of his more famous scraps.
“When I saw that the team brought him back, I thought, ‘What a fantastic signing,’” said McGrattan, a feared fighter who could always crank the volume at the Saddledome. “The city of Calgary, the fanbase, they love players like that, right?
“You just appreciate the energy he brings, man. You appreciate the heart and the passion that he brings. He’s not a big guy, but that doesn’t mean everything. The guy won a Stanley Cup last year, so he knows what it takes. A fantastic human and individual. My time working here, I got pretty tight with him. I can remember his first NHL call-up — I was down in Stockton when he got called up and he ran across the room and gave me a hug.
“And now look at him. He’s made the most of every opportunity he has had. And I think he represents that jersey as well as anybody. Because the guys in that role, we take a lot of pride in that jersey.”
Lomberg also is taking a ton of pride in providing fuel for the Flames’ bid for a wild-card berth.
In interviews, you’ll notice that he doesn’t talk about the playoffs as an ‘if.’ It’s always ‘when,’ and that sort of confidence can go a long way for an underdog team.
Lomberg isn’t a regular factor on the score-sheet — he picked up his seventh point of the season by assisting on Kevin Rooney’s rebound marker in Sunday’s victory over the San Jose Sharks — but this 5-foot-9, 184-pound buzzsaw can shift momentum in other ways. He knows that his line, with Rooney at centre and Martin Pospisil on the opposite wing, needs to set a fast and physical tone.
While times have changed since Hunter and McGrattan were in their haymaker heydays, those retired heavyweights appreciate the way that Lomberg handles his business. That goes far beyond his seven fights so far this season.
“He’s the perennial lead-by-example guy and that’s perfect,” Hunter said. “You look around the room and if this guy is doing it, and he’s half the size of those other guys, and the rest of us haven’t broken a sweat tonight or got involved physically and we’re big guys, then oooh, it doesn’t show very well.
“Ryan (Huska) is trying to create a culture of we never give up and we compete all night long — and that’s Lombo. They wanted someone to set the tone in the work area, be a hard worker, be a guy who was not going to take no for an answer. And I think he’s delivered, and then some.”