Tyson's a knockout!
Enthusiastic forward's over-the-top antics a big hit at the 'Dome
By ERIC FRANCIS -- CALGARY SUN
Shortly after supper tonight, more than 14,000 Calgarians will head down to the 'Dome to see Tyson Leies.
Oh sure, they'll cheer heartily for Kaleb Toth, Tracey Kelusky and the rest of the Calgary Roughnecks as they take one last stab at a playoff spot.
But it's Leies who gives the masses what they crave:
A show.
On a team that urges players and fans to mingle on the playing surface after every game, Leies understands better than anybody the importance of giving the fans what they want -- a concept most pro athletes find as confusing as tax forms.
With every goal, the 33-year-old prison guard scores comes the Leies Leap -- a spidey-like jump that finds him gripping the top of the glass with one arm while hoisting the other triumphantly.
What follows is a frenzied exchange of hoots and hollers between Leies and the fans that quickly reverberates around the 'Dome.
"It was just something I started in 1994 in Victoria to try to get the fans back," said the former Shamrock.
"In football, you've got the Lambeau Leap and in hockey Tiger Williams would sometimes ride his slick when he scored -- the fans eat that up. It's not taunting the other team, it's saluting the fans. Because we're basically blue-collar guys who can't quit our jobs to play lacrosse, we need to be able to relate to fans and vice versa. If they can't do that, they're going to stop coming out, Sportsnet will stop showing games on TV and we can't play the game we love."
Acquired by the Roughnecks last fall for his defence, character and experience, the 6-ft. 2-in., 218-lb. forward has been the club's biggest surprise offensively, scoring 20 goals including two game-winners. However, none would be bigger than any he might score tonight against Buffalo, the league's best squad.
"This is probably the toughest game this franchise has ever played in its two-year existence," said the gap-toothed Leies, who flies in from the West Coast for games with his wife Toni and children Connor, 6, Megan, 5 and eight-month-old Amelia.
"We need to put everything together -- the fans, players and the coaching staff -- for tonight's game."
As a Roughneck, Leies knows without teamwork his club will lose.
That's because as a prison guard, he knows without teamwork, people die.
"We've had a couple small riots at the jail that have been in the papers but nothing catastrophic and that's the epitome of working as a team," said Leies, who has worked at the maximum security Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre for almost three-and-a-half years.
"Forty or 50 of us can be on one shift and when one of those incidents happen, you have to be a team player and work together or things fall apart. It's not just drunk drivers and people beating others up for pocket money outside a bar -- there are murderers, rapists and kidnappers in there."
If there was ever a place a man could learn about the importance of establishing a relationship of mutual respect like he's forged with Roughnecks fans, it's in a prison as a guard.
"You try to be friendly but you're not trying to be their friend -- you just have to be straightforward and gain their trust," said Leies, who often receives words of encouragement from inmates and staff members who are all aware of his success as a lacrosse player.
"I have inmates in there who cheer me on. They respect that I can do a day or night shift then fly across the country to play three hours of intense lacrosse. Some want to see the boss (as guards are often called in prison) get hurt but not many."
On the tail end of a season that has seen attendance increase (40%) to 11,233 from 8,040, Leies and the rest of his organization will be in its glory should the Roughnecks pull off the win tonight in front of what's expected to be a record crowd.
Combined with a loss by one of three other playoff hopefuls, the 'Necks would all but be assured of their first- ever playoff game.
Either way, despite two battered knees that make the Leies Leap harder and harder every night, you can bet lucky No. 13 will do whatever he can to ensure the fans are rewarded throughout the night.
Without them, he'd still be grounded.
