The young career of Florida Panthers' left wing Peter Worrell illustrates how difficult it is to play in the National Hockey League, where the world's best players engage in a grinding six-month, 82-game ordeal to qualify for two months more of intense playoff competition in hopes of hoisting sport's oldest and hardest-won trophy, the Stanley Cup.
Like many others who attracted attention with their offensive skills, Worrell was handed the role of defensive checker and intimidator upon breaking into the big time.
He wants to improve his scoring ability but he knows his team needs him to use his 6-foot 6-inch, 235-pound body to control the boards, win the battles in the corners, crash the net, and provide behavioral modification to opponents who take liberties with his teammates.
Worrell averaged 6.3 penalty minutes per game in three years with the Hull Olympics of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and he wracked up 580 penalty minutes in 129 games for the Panthers in his first three NHL seasons, nearly 4.5 minutes per game. He had seven goals and 11 assists and was a career minus-11 entering this season.
This year, Worrell has scored two goals and seven assists through 49 games, with 169 penalty minutes.
So, he's the Panthers' intimidator, the tough guy, the Equalizer, the Scowl with the Strength to back it up. Talk about jobs you have to work hard at: (Opposing NHLers, quick look over there, it's Gordie Howe and Claudia Schiffer!) Don't tell anyone but Peter Worrell is a sweetheart: An intelligent, funny guy; a locker-room tease who gives as good as he gets, a willing hard worker, and a coach's delight because he's a team-first type guy.
Worrell will continue to fill the role that got him into the League but he looks across the room at a veteran teammate whose career he would like to emulate.
"When Scott Mellanby broke into the League he was looked for the physical side of his game. He turned himself into a heck of a hockey player through hard work and a desire not to be pitted into one role," Worrell said. "I don't want to be known as someone who after 15 years was just known for fighting. Obviously, if that's what happens, I'll be happy to have had the opportunity and I don't slight anyone who has had that role, but I want to be more of an all-around player, like a Gary Roberts or a Scott Mellanby. They play physical, maybe have a couple of fights a year, but they are counted on in scoring opportunities, power-play opportunities and penalty killing. For me to do that, I have to improve on my skating and work on my puck handling a little more. I think everything else is there and it's like having a big block of coal: You just keep chipping away, hoping there is a diamond in there."
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Peter Worrell uses his size to an advantage in front of the opposition's net.
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Former Panthers coach Terry Murray sees it the same way.
"Peter Worrell adds a lot," Murray said. "He's a draft pick that has improved his game dramatically in the last four years. He brings size, he has a presence and he plays the game real hard. He's developing his game to a higher level where he's going to be someone who can contribute on a third-line basis and someday move to the second line because of his hockey sense and his ability to contribute on special teams in front of the net. He's got very good hands."
Murray said Worrell shouldn't be discouraged by his role, despite having been a scorer at lower levels.
"All the young players who come into the League have to continually work to improve their game," Murray said. "Peter, at 6-foot-6, needs to develop leg strength to improve on the skating and the agility side of it. Also, the puck skills, the pass receiving and making good tape-to-tape passes on a consistent basis is something that will come from experience and just playing the game. He will get better because we are playing him, he is in the League, and he has a big impact on our hockey club. He expands the confidence level of our skill players because they feel a little bit more secure. In the locker room, he's a great guy. He has a lot of fun. He comes to the game every day with a smile on his face and ready to get going."
Panthers' defenseman Lance Pitlick played against Worrell when he was a member of the Ottawa Senators. He wouldn't say it was a pleasure.
"He's very intimidating with his size and he has decent ability for a tough guy," Pitlick said. "He's a scoring threat when he's driving to the net. He's a tough player if you've got the puck down deep and he's breathing down your neck. You're thinking about other things than just moving the puck. He's a real threat when we dump the puck in or there's a battle in the corner. He comes out on top with the puck. That's a big part of the game now -- puck possession -- and if we can have the puck more than the other team, that's a big plus for us."
Worrell dresses between Pitlick and Rob Niedermayer, two world-class teasers who keep him from getting too confident.
Worrell said that he was always one of the biggest players and among the scoring leaders when he played youth hockey. In the long run, it wasn't to his benefit, he said.
"I've been about this size since about Grade 8," he said. "I think that was a disadvantage because I played a different type of game. I think it came to me a little bit later in life that just being bigger than everybody wasn't what was going to make a good hockey player. You have to work and you have to battle every day. It didn't really dawn on me until the year before I went into junior hockey that being able to score when you're bigger than everyone isn't going to get it when you move up and everyone is bigger and highly skilled."
Worrell found out how hard he'd have to work to make the NHL when he was in juniors.
"You always dream of being able to play in the NHL but to me it just seemed like that's all it was, a dream," he said. "At 15 or 16 it just seemed so far away. I was drafted by the Hull Olympics but I didn't think I'd make the team. I just went there to get a pair of skates.
"We had some speedsters on that team. I was lucky to play with them because it really lifted my game," he continued. "I realized if I want to play I have to be able to at least keep up with my teammates. I worked as hard as I could on that and I was very lucky that I had coaches that looked at me as a project. It wasn't fun every day. After practice, I was the guy out there for the extra hours, basically just getting tired every day. By midseason, I could see it was paying off and the next season, really paying off. Every subsequent season, it's something I feel is getting better and better. It' still not to the point that I want it to be, but it's getting there."
Worrell is grateful that people believed in him to the point where they also put in extra hours.
"There's a lot of people who have helped at every stage, too many to mention everyone," he said. "I have to thank my two coaches in juniors, Bob Mongrain and Claude Julien. In this organization, we have Billy Davidge who works hard on us young guys, the prospects, in the skating realm. I think those are the three guys that have helped me out the most with that aspect.
