Official site of the AHL powered by SLAM! Sports

More articles in the AHL On-The-Beat Archive

Andy McDonald

By RENEE SEXTON
The Cincinnati Mighty Ducks media guide says Center Andy McDonald is 5-foot-10, 185 pounds. That's a generous descripton. But player biographies don't have any statistics measuring heart or intelligence. And McDonald has both, plus a college degree.

"He's a dedicated, hardworking guy," says Mighty Ducks coach Mike Babcock. "He's a very smart player. He's a very smart person. Andy is very committed."

McDonald's committment and hard work is paying off this season. In 46 games last year in Cincinnati, McDonald racked up 40 points and notched one goal in the NHL. In 21 games in Cincinnati this season, the Strathroy, Ontario native has 32 points, setting a Ducks record for the most points in one month and matched a team record for consecutive games with a point at 10.

Following a three-assist effort against Utah on November 30th, with Mighty Ducks General Manager David McNab at the Cincinnati Gardens, McDonald was called up to Anaheim.

"Andy's a very easy player to like," says McNab. "He's very fast, he's very dedicated, and he's got great skills. He will get to the NHL and eventually stay there. He just needs experience."

"The big difference between his game this year and last year is now he's way tougher on the puck," says Babcock. "He's stronger and more committed. Andy is the driving force on our hockey club. There's no question the reasion our team has done so well as of late is because of the way he's played."

But ask McDonald the reason for his success this year, and he tries to turn the attention away from himself.

"I have more confidence this year," he says. "But I also think the chemistry we have on my line with Travis Brigley and Timo Parssinen, we seem to complement each other well. The last couple of games we seem to gel well togehter."

Teammate Sean Averty explains it more bluntly:

"Andy is a lot less uptight than he was last year, and look how great he's playing. Our offensive leader, and the smallest guy on the team. He definitely had to lighten up a bit and get that chip on his shoulder and get more confident."

With McDonald, size does not matter.

"He works hard off the ice to get bigger and stronger," says Babcock. "He's never going to be tall, but he's getting thicker every day. He's a smart player. The game is way more tough mentally than it is physically. So if you're mentally tough, you find ways to make things happen for yourself."

"It's something I've always had to overcome," says McDonald. "I'm trying to get stronger in the off-season, that in turn helps me on the ice. I'm trying to be tough one on one with the puck. I work on balance so I don't get knocked off the puck."

"It's not so much lack of size as it's lack of height," says McNab. "He's got great leg strength so he's difficult to knock down, and when you're that fast, and you're that strong, size is not that much of a big deal."

McDonald is a locker room leader, but in a quiet way. He's not loud, mouthy or arrogant. He's the kind of guy you would want to be friends with or you would want to date your sister. Like Hobey Baker, for whose namesake award McDonald was a finalist.

Not only does McDonald have great heart, he's smart, too.

"Andy spends a lot of time studying opposing players," says McNab. "He's willing to work on the things he needs to get better at. He studies the game. As the game goes on, he gets better at faceoffs because he learns the opposing centerman very quickly, he studies what they're doing and he watches what the team is doing from the bench. He studies the opposition, which a lot of players don't do anymore. The more you see of him, the more coaches appreciate him."

McDonald is a graduate of Colgate University with a degree in International Realtions. But nothing McDonald learned in college could prepare him for the events of the world since September 11th.

"I took courses on terrorism, the Islamic Community and current events. I was always thinking in class 'this is never going to happen' and then September 11th and you realize that it can happen and it can happen anywhere. It's always something you see happening on television far away. It doesn't seem real then. But when it happens a state away from us, now it's real."

But like everyone else, McDonald has few solutions.

"This has been going on for a long time. And it's a problem that's going to take a long time to sort out. There are no short-term solutions. Every day I feel fortunate to be able to come to the rink and be with my friends and teammates and basically play a game. And that's all it is, a game. There's people out there with a lot more serious things on the go and it's a lot more real for them. It's always in the back of my mind. I'm just thankful that my family and friends aren't exposed to that kind of danger."