“I love it here,” said Boisvert, a native of Drummondville, Quebec. “Everyone’s treated me well. I came to camp and I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know if there was a spot for me.”
Head coach Brian Gratz knew he had a skilled player, but he’s been impressed with the first-year pro’s willingness to compete. Especially for a guy listed at 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds.
“I don’t hate on any little guys,” Gratz, not the tallest man in the world, said with a smile.
Gratz likes Boisvert’s hands, vision and speed, noting that his motor never stops during a shift. On his second goal in the Rush game, which made it 5-4 after Dayton trailed 3-0, Boisvert showed he could handle himself in tough areas.
“I looked at the video and you can see Erik is going to the net, gets an opportunity and gets knocked down,” said Gratz. “Then he gets up, sticks his nose in and is able to find the loose puck.”
For his part, Boisvert sees himself as much more than an offensive threat.
“I feel like I’m an all-around player,” he said. “I’m a grinder but I can shoot when the time comes.”
Boisvert’s father is Serge Boisvert, a center with the Montreal Canadiens during the 1985-86 season when the legendary National Hockey League franchise won the Stanley Cup. When his NHL career was done, Dad moved the family to Gothenburg, Sweden for five years and then to Oslo, Norway for 10. Boisvert, who completed high school in Oslo, is fluent in Norwegian, as well as Swedish, French and English.
“Norwegians are proud people,” he said of the home he left as an 18-year-old to play junior and then college hockey at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. “It’s more like the 1950s there. They’re old-fashioned.”
Boisvert’s early output in Dayton suggests he’s applying those traditional values of Norway’s hard-working people in his new life as a pro.
FILM SESSION: Gratz has spent a lot of time watching tape this week. Some good, some bad.
“The Evansville game, we were a little sloppy,” the coach said. “I can chalk it up to the situation (the game started more than two hours late because Evansville’s bus broke down), getting up and then having to cool off. It was tough. Both teams had to deal with it.
“The next day, it was a short turnaround but I think we outplayed Rapid City.”
What Gratz gladly concluded is that he can roll all of his lines and be comfortable.
“We have three pretty balanced lines,” he said. “To have that luxury is key for us.”
The units should stay intact for upcoming games with Quad City and Odessa. That will be Brett Lutes, Jonathan Ornelas and Chris Lipsett; Boisvert, Kyle Bochek and Tom Boudreau with Ernie Stewart seeing ice time on that line; and Corey Couturier, Tim Hartung and Mike Vaskivuo, who scored a beauty last week against Rapid City.
The defensemen pairings will have a different look after Friday’s addition of 22-year-old Nick Canzanello, a Rochester, N.Y., native.
Gratz will need the Gems to be sharp for the weekend games against the Mallards and Jackalopes. Both, he said, have good speed.
“Quad City likes to shoot the puck, especially on the power play,” said Gratz. “And Odessa will be set up a lot like Rapid City, but their defensemen are more active.”
“We’re going out to impose our will,” he added. “They’ll have to adjust to us.”
TEAM BUILDING: The Gems will be putting their muscles to work next week off the ice. All players and office staff are volunteering for the local Habitat for Humanity branch, building a home for a Sudanese refugee family in Kettering next Tuesday.
“This is a rare and unique opportunity for our team and we are honored to be a part of such an important organization within our community,” said President Joe Greene. “Dayton Habitat for Humanity is all about helping families improve their quality of life through homeownership and to know that we will have a hand in doing that is something all of these players and our staff will never forget being a part of.”
GEM OF THE WEEK: Many Dayton players looked good last weekend but Boisvert was the standout. He was noticeable on almost every shift en route to averaging two points and four shots a game in a win and a loss.
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