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By STEVE SEMBRAT steves@leader.net
Thursday, March 06, 2003 Page: 1B
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Jean-Sebastien Aubin knows he is going to get booed on
Saturday when he is announced as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s starting goalie.
What the 25-year-old native of Montreal hopes is that all will finally be
forgiven or forgotten once the playoffs roll around.
Coach Glenn Patrick feels that with Aubin in goal, the Penguins are capable
of winning the American Hockey League’s South Division and then putting
together a great run in the Calder Cup playoffs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s game
against Hershey at 7:05 p.m. Saturday at the First Union Arena is a key first
step toward those objectives, as the Bears are one of the teams ahead of the
Penguins in the division and a possible playoff opponent.
First, however, there is some bad blood to get out of the way.
“Honestly, I expect some boos,” Aubin said Wednesday after the Penguins
practiced at the First Union Arena. “That’s just the way it is. There’s
nothing you can do about it.”
That acrimony dates back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s inaugural season in
1999-2000. Aubin was 2-8 with a 4.35 goals-against average, but that isn’t
what angered local fans the most. When he was assigned here by Pittsburgh in
December, Aubin made less than complimentary comments about returning after
starting the season here, words that have come back to haunt him.
“I thought I had made the (NHL) team and I got sent down,” Aubin said.
“I was disappointed to go to the minors. It had nothing to do with where I
was going.”
Nearly two years later, it was obvious local fans hadn’t forgotten Aubin’s
words. In a preseason game in September 2001 between Pittsburgh and
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, local fans chanted Aubin’s name after he gave up a goal
to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. It is the kind of treatment the First Union Arena
faithful usually save for goalies playing for their team’s fiercest rivals.
“I hope fans remember that now he is a member of this team and they should
be rooting for him,” Penguins goalie Robbie Tallas, who at times was the
target of boo birds last season when the team struggled mightily, said of
Aubin. “He is a great goaltender. He can do nothing but positive things for
this team. Give him time. Once the fans watch him and watch how he plays the
game, they’ll be happy with him.”
Aubin hopes to please them the most during the playoffs. In five
professional seasons, he has played in just three playoff games.
“It’s been a while since I’ve played in the playoffs,” Aubin said. “I
kind of miss that. You don’t want to just play the year. You want to play in
the playoffs. You don’t want to play 80 games and then say, OK, we’re done.”
He has only appeared in one Stanley Cup playoff game and got on the ice for
just 54 seconds during Game 6 of a conference semifinal game against Buffalo
in 2001.
Pittsburgh missed the playoffs last spring, and Aubin missed the postseason
with an ankle injury in 2000. During the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs, Aubin
dressed for eight games as a backup but didn’t play.
His only playoff win came in 1998 as a member of Dayton in the East Coast
Hockey League.
“That’s where you make your name, whether it be in the NHL or the AHL,”
Aubin said. “You get your name from playing in the playoffs.”
Things could certainly change between now and the Calder Cup playoffs. An
injury or other circumstances could result in Aubin getting recalled to
Pittsburgh, where he was 6-13 this season with a 3.13 goals-against average
and a .900 save percentage. There is also the possibility of a trade involving
Aubin prior to the NHL deadline for deals on Tuesday, and the outlook in the
offseason is just as cloudy.
“I wish I could play my whole career in Pittsburgh, but it doesn’t seem
like that is going to happen,” Aubin said. “For a lot of guys that never
really happens. I love Pittsburgh, but hockey changes and you move around.
Sometimes that makes you play better.”
The one factor that Aubin can control is his play. As long as he keeps
playing well enough to justify Patrick’s lofty expectations, he can expect to
get the majority of the starts.
Toward that end, Aubin is off to a good start. He played well in his first
game with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, a 3-1 loss at Cincinnati on Saturday. He was
outstanding the next day as the Penguins scored a 3-1 victory over the Mighty
Ducks.
“The second game I was in kind of a zone,” Aubin said. “Everything hits
you. That’s the way you want to feel every game.
“You feel like the puck is big as a beach ball. It’s a great feeling.
That’s the way I saw the puck the last game. I just want to keep that
feeling.”
It is a feeling that Aubin had seldom felt during his final weeks with
Pittsburgh.
Sebastien Caron was called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton about two months
ago when Johan Hedberg went down with a shoulder injury. Aubin lost two starts
in a row after Hedberg was sidelined, then was pulled during a game against
the New York Rangers. Caron went in, got hot and the end result was that Aubin
was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last week.
“I couldn’t get it rolling,” Aubin said. “That was it. I played just one
game after that. I won that one game, so I was able to take something positive
out of that, but I think they just wanted some young blood in there. They
wanted to make a switch.”
That leaves Aubin here, but in a very different frame of mind than when he
was sent down three years ago.
“I feel good about being here,” Aubin said. “I know that sounds weird
because I should say I want to be in the NHL. I do want to be in the NHL, but
I also want to play, and this is the only place I can play right now.”