Risk to greatness: Ryan Callahan
Once the final pick in the 2001 OHL Priority Selection, Ryan Callahan would go on to become one of the greatest in Guelph Storm history, and a National Hockey League star.
Steph Coratti, GuelphStorm.com —
A lot of things are used to define Ryan Callahan, but perhaps nothing is more fitting than the label of a self-made star.
Originally from Greece, New York – Rochester’s largest suburb – Callahan was just a kid who really wanted to play in the Ontario Hockey League.
With that, a phone call from Callahan’s agent was made to Jeff Jackson, the Guelph Storm’s coach at the time. Jackson was told of a player who didn’t have the hardest shot, wasn’t any where near the biggest player on the ice, and probably wouldn’t be the most talented.
But, Callahan was going to be a favour, a favour that Jackson was reassured he wouldn’t regret.
There wasn’t a single player that would do more to help the team win, was the promise.
Taking a chance, the Storm drafted the five-foot-eleven, 185-pound winger in the 15th and final round of the 2001 OHL Priority Selection.
At the time, the 16-year-old Callahan was coming off a 13-goal season with the Buffalo Lightning of the Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey League – certainly not numbers that would predict the 1985-born forward to become the top goal scorer in Storm history with a total of 130.
As a rookie in the 2002-03 season, Callahan would register 31 points (14 goals, 17 assists) in 59 games played, a credible start for a once labeled risk on the verge of becoming a star.
The following season as a sophomore, Callahan would have a breakout season, recording 68 points (36 goals, 32 assists), the second highest point total of his major junior career.
The Storm would go on to earn their second OHL Championship of the organization’s tenure, with Callahan a significant contributor to the playoff run, pocketing 13 goals for a total of 21 points through 22 postseason games. Moving to the Memorial Cup tournament, Callahan continued his efforts, tallying one goal and one assist in three games.
Moving into the 2004-05 season, Callahan was now a notable veteran – a small winger, still without the hardest shot, or even the most skill, but always the hardest working, one of the toughest in the corners, and what he was originally never doubted to be: the guy who would do anything to help his team win.
Becoming one of the greatest leaders the Storm has ever seen, Callahan’s point total of 54 (28 goals, 26 assists) wasn’t what led to team MVP honours to conclude the 2004-05 campaign – it was everything else the numbers couldn’t say.
Capping off an already memorable major junior career, Callahan would conclude his fourth and final season in the OHL with an incredible 52 goals, becoming one of three Storm players to record 50 goals in a season, while posting a career-high 84 points. The dominant offensive production continued into the 2006 Playoffs, seeing Callahan put up 24 points (seven goals, 17 assists) in 13 postseason games.
Moving on to captain the New York Rangers, only to be followed up with becoming one of the strong veteran presences of a young and surging Tampa Bay Lightning line up, Callahan presently stands with 164 goals for 323 points through 553 career games.
Numbers that are nothing but remarkable for a once teenaged kid who was just given a chance as a fifteenth round pick in the OHL Priority Selection.
With the numbers now backing him, however, Callahan has never wavered from the kind of play that got him that chance.
Looking back to the 2010-11 season, Callahan as captain of the Rangers, it was game number 80 out of the total 82. New York was just grasping onto a postseason position, marching back from a 3-0 deficit to the eventual Stanley Cup champion, the Boston Bruins, tying up the game in the final 3:48 on the clock to go up 4-3.
Cue Zdeno Chara.
Callahan didn’t hesitate, blocking the shot, and breaking his ankle.
True to the very player the Royal City remembers, Callahan finished the shift, closed out the game, and even hobbled around for the post-win crowd salute.
Always doing whatever it takes to win, as once promised of a 16-year-old winger, Ryan Callahan is the definition of a self-made star, remembered as one of the greatest the Royal City has ever seen – the ultimate testament for the teenaged kid who had just 13 goals heading into a four year career with the Guelph Storm.
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Ryan Callahan
- Guelph Storm, 2002-2006
- OHL Totals: 249 games played, 130 goals, 107 assists, 237 points
- Playoffs: 50 games played, 21 goals, 29 assists, 50 points
- OHL Champion, 2004
- Guelph Storm MVP, 2004-2005
- Awarded as the OHL Player of the Year, 2005-06
- One of three Storm players to score 50 goals
- Top goal scorer in team history
- Named fourth all-time forward in Guelph Storm history
- Selected in the fourth round (127th overall) by the New York Rangers in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft
- 11 NHL seasons (still active)
- NHL Totals: 553 games played, 164 goals, 159 assists, 323 points
- NHL Teams: New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning (present)
- Represented the United States four times; 2005 World Junior Championship (seven games played, one goal, three points), 2007 World Championship, 2010 Winter Olympics (six games played, one assist), 2014 Winter Olympics (six games played, one assist)
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