Theoren Fleury> NHL Career > 1988/1989

On April 6, Fleury would score his first NHL playoff goal against the Vancouver Canucks in the first round.  He would go on to score four more, three game winners, in the playoffs, including the game winning goal in game two of the finals against Montreal.  On May 25, just five short months after being called up to the NHL, Fleury was crowned a Stanley Cup Champion with the Flames.
 

Season	Club	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	PP	SH	GW	GT	S	PCT	TF	F%	SB	PPG	MINS
Regular	Calgary	36	14	20	34	5	46	5	0	3	0	89	15.7	-	-	-	0.94	-
Playoffs	Calgary	22	5	6	11	4-	24	3	0	3	-	47	10.9	-	-	-	0.50	-

Excert from January 8, 1989 Calgary Herald Article by Ben Kuzima

"It was just a regular game" said Fleury.  "Thats' the way I took it.  The guys just told me don't get in a situation where somebody has to bail you out.  Just keep your cool."

And cool he was.  His first goal came at 10:13 of the second period, a perfect blast from the top of the circle which beat Grant Guhr on the short side.

"When you score your first NHL goal, it's right up there with everything you've accomplished over the years" said Fleury.

What can he do for an encore "Go with the flow" Fleury advised.  "Every night I have to show I belong on this team and in this league."

Tim Hunter, who lined up with Fleury and Jiri Hirdina on Saturday.  Is a believer.  "He plays well under pressure, here is no different than it was for him in Junior or Salt Lake."  Said Hunter "The goals he scored tonight he left George (Hirdina) and I just standing he did it himself".

Rookie Fleury makes his mark in a big hurry

He may be small, but Theoren Fleury has already made a big impression on his coach and Calgary Flames teammates.

Just listen to what they're saying about the 5-foot-5, 155-pound sparkplug.

"He's colorful, talented and isn't afraid to hit; it's nice for everyone on our club when someone comes up to the NHL and does
what he's doing," said Flames coach Terry Crisp, after Fleury helped Calgary destroy Edmonton 7-2 on Saturday night.

In his first three games with Calgary, the pint-sized centre from Oxbow, Sask., has tallied five points - two goals and three
assists.

"He's a good little player and he played well against us," said Edmonton coach Glen Sather, who took exception to Fleury
laying a cross-check on Jari Kurri. "He's got too much talent to be doing that sort of thing."

A big talent

Theoren Fleury was built to play peewee hockey.

On his tiptoes he may be 5 foot 7. He'd need to hoist a stack of hockey sticks to weigh in at more than 160 pounds. A lot of
13-year-olds are bigger than he is.

In short, he's a runt.

So what, one may ask, is this 20-year-old man-child doing playing in the NHL and with the Calgary Flames, one of hockey's
biggest teams?

Quite simply, no one could keep him out of the league.

"He is a very determined young man," says Calgary coach Terry Crisp.

To look at Fleury, there appears to be no reason for this undersized son of a Russell, Man., town worker to be so darn cocky
and arrogant.

But he is.

And, what's most annoying to opponents - and probably some teammates - is that the little waterbug is talented and tough
enough to back up his words and his actions.

He is, in the words of Crisp, "like a little Indian rubber ball - you throw it against the wall and it comes back at you twice as
hard."

Fleury's offensive talents and surprising toughness initially enticed the Flames to draft him out of Moose Jaw of the Western
Hockey League and last week prompted them to promote him to the NHL.

It was also getting difficult to rationalize keeping him in Salt Lake City of the International Hockey League. In 40 games there,
he was leading the league with 37 goals and as many assists.

In Fleury's first four NHL games - one in which the Flames were shut out - he had two goals and three assists.

"All the way through his career he's beaten the odds," Crisp said of Fleury.

He beat the odds when he played junior at 5 foot 3; he did it again when he led Canada, as team captain, to the world junior
championship in 1988 - "That was my door to the NHL" - and now he's trying to do it against the best players in the world.

"If a small guy is skilled and has speed, he can be effective at this level," the bushy-haired Fleury said after a Calgary practice
session. "Look at guys like Hakan Loob and Mats Naslund; they're making names for themselves and giving guys like myself
avenues into the NHL."

Fleury's road to the NHL took a sharp detour this fall. After a brilliant training camp in 1987, he came to the Flames camp this
year 10 pounds heavier. "I thought I had to be bigger and stronger," he explained.

Fleury found himself being bashed around by the veteran Flames and eventually got a ticket to the minors.

"I was really cocky when I came in here and some of the veterans didn't take a liking to that," Fleury said of the reception he
got in September

Flames' Fleury: 'That little guy can scoot'
by Jim Proudfoot

CALGARY - At 5-foot-5 and 150 pounds, Theoren Fleury is the tiniest pest to irritate his National Hockey League opponents
since Bobby Lalonde called it a career in 1982. You must remember Lalonde. They used to say he was at his best in a short
series.

Indications are that Fleury can excel in the playoffs, too. He put in the winning goal last night as the Calgary Flames seized the
upper hand right at the start of the 1989 Stanley Cup final against the Montreal Canadiens. He centred Brian MacLellan and
Tim Hunter throughout the Flames' 3-2 victory and handled the left point on a power play that produced the first of two of
goals by Al MacInnis.

"The little guy can really scoot, you know, and he's got a lovely touch around the goal," Calgary coach Terry Crisp said
afterwards. "And he's a pesky little so-and-so. You can't underestimate that factor. He keeps the other side pretty well
off-balance."

Fleury, always talkative, has been driving the Flames' NHL adversaries to distraction since the first week of January when he
was summoned from Calgary's International League affiliate at Salt Lake City. Moving into the playoff tournament, he had
recorded 13 points in his last nine games and he has now totalled another 10 in the 16 matches it's taken the Flames to reach 
this point. Among them was a setup for the May 8 overtime goal - also on a MacInnis drive - that pretty well polished off the
Chicago Blackhawks. The Flames finished the job here 48 hours later, earning some extra recovery time before meeting the
Canadiens for the title.

166th choice

Fleury was the 166th player selected in the NHL's 1987 junior draft, Calgary's ninth pick. You can imagine why the scouts had
serious reservations. Guys as small as Fleury seldom survive in professional combat, no matter how talented they may be. But
the Flames began to revise their ratings when Fleury was such a standout for victorious Team Canada at the world junior 
championships in Moscow a year ago last January.

Jiri Hrdina, an import from Czechoslovakia, was Calgary's choice as a new centre after this season's training camp was over.
Fleury was sent out for further education. But once he had amassed 74 points midway through Salt Lake City's schedule and
had dominated the International League as though he'd suddenly grown 10 inches, the Flames lost no time in sending for him.
Hrdina became an extra body.

"It's no accident we gave Fleury two of our biggest people as wingers, MacLellan and Hunter," Crisp noted. 'You know, with
those snowplows rolling up and down the ice, clearing the way, he gets quite a bit of room to manoeuvre."

Tangles with Lemieux

In last night's contest, Fleury tangled frequently with the Canadiens' Claude Lemieux, who has been known to do a bit of
agitating himself.

Here was one vignette: Lemieux was horizontal, hoping to incriminate a Montreal player. Fleury stood over him, delivering a
lecture. Lemieux reached out and, grabbing him by the ankle, yanked him to the ice.

Another time, Fleury wriggled free from a Lemieux hug and then they stood face to face, exchanging unpleasant conversation.

Brian Skrudland, who plays centre beside Lemieux, had occasion to hit Fleury on top of the helmet. This wasn't difficult.
Skrudland is eight inches taller.

Finally, just past the game's halfway mark, Lemieux lost track of Fleury altogether. So did Skrudland.

Jamie Macoun timed a pass so that Fleury accepted it as he was gathering speed down the left flank. Mike McPhee had
crossed over, attempting to cover, but Fleury whizzed by like Gaetan Boucher in full flight. And he had space to tuck in a neat
shot because Patrick Roy, the Canadiens' netminder, needed to keep an eye on another Calgary attacker, who was closing in
up the middle.

That Fleury effort stood up the rest of the evening, mostly because Mike Vernon provided the Flames with the kind of
netminding that earns championships.

"It makes sense to give Fleury those big linemates," Crisp added, "but it's not necessary. He's not afraid. And he plays like he's
50 pounds heavier. Basically, he's another Kenny Linseman. That's who I'd liken him to."

A miniature Kenny Linseman, that is.