When the Gloves Come Off

Update: After the posting of this article, Jody scored his first NHL goal, Dec 15 vs the Kings!  Video Clip

 It appears we may have seen the last of Jody Shelley here in Syracuse.  His recent call up to the Columbus Blue Jackets seemed routine this week, until an article in the Columbus Dispatch which quoted president and general manager John MacLean as saying:

 “Jody Shelley will be with us for the road trip [through December 17], and he could very well be with us for the rest of the season…. I think we need that element he gives us.  We’ve needed it for a long time, actually.”

 I couldn’t agree with MacLean more.  If Shelley had been patrolling the ice from day one, the Blue Jackets would not be in the shape they are injury-wise right now; he would have protected their key players from the poundings they have endured this season.  Shelley’s contagious enthusiasm would also have been a huge benefit not only to the players themselves but also to the Blue Jacket fans.

 This article is not about Jody Shelley as a player.  Everyone knows about Jody Shelley as “the Enforcer,” but few know about Jody Shelley, the person.  A disclaimer first: I don’t “hang out” with Jody Shelley, and I don’t consider us personal friends.  The stories I have to tell about Jody come from my experiences with him at promotional events or in my role as webmaster of “Dave’s Unofficial Syracuse Crunch Page.”  Those stories alone give a great look into the classy guy Jody Shelley really is. 

First Impressions

 The first time I met Jody Shelley was at the Sports Page Bar & Grill, toward the end of the 2000-2001 season.  He and Jeremy Reich were there to promote the Budweiser table top hockey tournament, in which the players and “regular folks” like me were pitted against each other. 

 Several of Jody’s relatives had contacted me over the year about him, thanking me for keeping them updated on his progress (via my web site), and I went down to mention that to him and to pass on a “hi” from some of those relatives.  Now, bear in mind, I am a very shy person and it took a lot of guts for me to walk up to him and start a conversation – but I didn’t have to say much!

 “Hi, Jody,” I said.  “Several of your relatives have contacted me through my web site and they wanted me to say hello from them, and congratulate you on your fine season.”  His reply shocked me: “You are the guy who does that site?  I love that site!  My parents can’t stay off it and they really appreciate it!”  He then said, “I was hoping to get to meet you someday!”

 Wait a second… Jody Shelley, who had recently returned from a stint in the National Hockey League, was hoping to meet me?!  Wow!

 We talked hockey a bit, and then my partner and I defeated him and JR to advance to the finals.  The man who had once seemed larger than life had made me feel like an equal.

 The Photo CD

 One of the things that came out of my talk with Jody at the Sports Page was that the players were not given a lot of pictures from the Crunch for their families to have.  I told him I would put all the ones I had on a CD and give it to him at season’s end.  I burned a CD with over 400 pictures, a screensaver I had made of him, fight clips, and anything else I had that I thought would be of interest, and I had a friend toss it in his locker right before the end of the playoffs.

 A couple of weeks later, I came in to work and checked my voice mail.  “Hey Dave, Jody Shelley here… I am heading back home soon and I wanted to thank you for the CD.  My folks will love it!  Have a great summer and I will see you next year!”  Talk about class!

 The Locker Room

 As I mentioned earlier, I am a very shy person.  I get really nervous about just walking up to the players and saying hello or asking for an autograph, but when I was invited to a practice to meet the players, I drummed up the courage to go.  I was provided with one of J.F. Labbe’s goalie sticks for the players to sign and I was lead into the locker room to meet the guys after practice.

 I walked in and we went around the horn to meet the players.  Jody was still on the ice; he’s almost always the last one off.  In the meantime, I met about six of the guys as we walked around the benches; all of them were very cordial and said they enjoyed my web site.  I tried to make conversation as well as I could - I did not want to sound like a fanatic, or worse.

 I approached Matt Davidson and we were talking about his number change when I noticed Jody entering the locker room.  Though just off the ice, he crossed the locker room and I saw out of the corner of my eye that he was coming my way.  He yelled, “Dave, how’s it going!  Did you have a good summer?”

 With that one statement and a handshake, he turned me from just another fan brought into the locker room, to someone who was legitimate – “cool,” if you will.  It certainly made the rest of the visit with the Crunch a lot more comfortable for me as well as the players, kind of like, ”Hey, if Jody knows who this guy is, he must be OK.”

 I got everyone to sign Labbe’s stick and went back over to Jody and asked him to sign it as well.  He did, and then asked if I wanted one of his sticks (gee – let me think about that one for a minute)!  He took a stick from the rack and my Sharpie and said, “How do you spell your name?”  I was thinking, “OK, he forgot my name, no biggie, he talks to a million people,” so I said, “D-A-V-E.”  He looked at me with a “duh” look on his face and said, “I know, but how do you spell your last name?”  He then autographed the stick with my full name and a really nice personal message.

 Chris’ Flowers

 Recently Jody Shelley, Jeff Ware and Kent McDonell did an autograph session at a Liverpool flower shop.  My friends and I arrived before the players and thus got to see them enter the shop.  Jeff and Kent waded through the people, smiling politely, and went to the appointed table to set up and begin signing autographs. 

 When Jody entered the shop, he immediately went to the first child he saw and said hi and asked him how he was.  The child gave him a hockey card – not of Jody, of some random hockey player – and Jody asked, “Do you want me to sign it?”  The young boy said, “No, it is for you!”  Jody asked him, “Well, are you going to sign it for me?”  The boy shook his head shyly, and Jody made a big deal of thanking him and basically acting like he had been given a million dollars.  Jody also stopped and spoke to everyone personally along the way to the table, and acknowledged me by name.

 These are some of my experiences with Jody Shelley.  Others have told me similar stories, such as my friend whose son is autistic and was taken to meet Jody.  Jody now calls the boy by his name whenever he sees him, and the boy’s face lights up every time.   For that moment, maybe the challenges his parents face fade a bit too.

 I’m sure many of you out there have similar stories as well.

 Best of luck, Jody Shelley – no one deserves to be given this shot more than you do!