Author: Kevin Oklobuzia
Until Friday night, Dickson Ward was last seen in Rochester on June 15, 1996, the day he packed his bags for the hockey season and headed home for the summer.
Just 24 hours earlier, Ward, his Rochester USA teammates and thousands of his suddenly closest friends were celebrating the Calder Cup on the streets of downtown.
“I haven't been back since the day after the parade,” Ward said.
The cup games are not back either, at least not to celebrate with Amerkes. Not winning a title in 30 years makes the memories of the 1996 title all the more special.
Ward, the team's scoring star, and Wayne Primo, who began his 13-year career wearing a stars-and-stripes sweater that spring, returned to War Memorial Hall on Friday to help Team USA celebrate '90s Night.
“Driving back into the city, the city is much bigger than I remembered,” Ward said.
Neither man has been in the building since the night of June 13, 1996, when Team USA defeated the Portland Pirates 2-1 in Game 7. But thirty years later, the memories on the ice are still fresh.
“I loved my time in Rochester,” Ward said. “Winning the Calder Cup remains the most exciting moment of my career.”
For Ward, this season has revitalized his NHL career. In the 1992-93 season, he broke into the NHL with the Vancouver Canucks as a rookie, scoring 22 goals and 52 points in 70 games.
But when he impressed on the game's biggest stage, he quickly disappeared. He jumped from the Canucks to the Los Angeles Kings to the Toronto Maple Leafs before becoming a free agent and signing with the Buffalo Sabers in the summer of 1995.
He had a great training camp with the Sabers and led the team in preseason scoring, but that still didn't earn him a roster spot. He was assigned to Rochester to start the season.
When he realized his career was at a crossroads, he knew he had to make a change.
“You either figure it out or you never get it back,” Ward said. “So I sat down with Tortz (coach John Tortorella) and said, 'Obviously they're not going to use me as a top-six forward, can you teach me how to eliminate penalties and defend?' “
While learning his new role, he continued to score, led the team in assists (56), and finished one point behind Craig Charron for the team lead with 94 points.
He exploded even more in the playoffs, contributing 11 goals, 24 assists and 35 points in 19 games, winning the Jack Butterfield Trophy and becoming the league's playoff MVP.
But he was no one-man show and he quickly rattled off a myriad of names who contributed to the Cup team, including Brian Holzinger, Barry Moore, Steve Shields, Scott Metcalfe, Dan Frawley and Scott Nicholl.
“Really good teams have really strong character and skill sets,” said Ward, a partner at Okanagan Hockey Group.
While Ward was laying the groundwork for a more complete game that would lead him to a full-time NHL role for the next five seasons, Primo was just getting started in his career. When his junior season with the Oshawa Generals concluded, he joined the Amex staff for the final eight games of the regular season and then appeared in 17 of 19 playoff games (three goals, one assist).
He still remembers the embarrassment of joining the team two months before he turned 20.th birthday, knowing that him playing meant someone who had been a member of the team all season would be left out of the lineup.
But he earned ice time and played regularly during the Calder Cup finals. Although late in Game 7 he began to question why he was playing.
“I had just turned 20 and there was probably a minute and a half left in the game and Torts called me for a faceoff in the defensive zone,” Primo said. “I kept looking at the bench like, 'Are you serious, do you want me here?' “
Reason soon prevailed and Tortorella sent a veteran into the draw.
Primeau started the 1996-97 season with the Amerks, but by mid-season he was permanently drafted to the NHL. He still remembers getting the call — the U.S. team was competing in the Spengler Cup international tournament in Davos, Switzerland.
“This is probably one of the longest recalls ever, from Switzerland to Buffalo,” he said.
Ward and Primo wore signed replicas of their 1995-96 Stars and Stripes sweaters before and during the Calder Cup game.
“I think these jerseys,” Primeau said, “are some of the coolest jerseys in professional sports.”
It helps that they also evoke memories that never fade.
