Journeyman fights to keep dream alive
By Kevin Woodley Special for USA TODAY
VANCOUVER — John Craighead is having a beautiful dream, so don't even think about pinching him. Hit him. Elbow him. Punch him in the head as hard as you can. He won't mind. As a 30-year-old walk-on trying to land an enforcer job with the Vancouver Canucks, they're all part of the dream.
"I'm a Canucks fan and now I'm in the dressing room," says the Virginia-born Craighead, who moved to British Columbia with his mother and sister after his parents split up when he was 3. "So I'm living the dream of every kid that ever grew up loving the Canucks."
It's a dream he has chased up and down the wing for 11 years, in 12 uniforms and six leagues, on buses, trains and planes through three countries on two continents. He tasted it once, for five short games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but that was five years ago.
Since then he has nurtured it through the death of his sister to a drug overdose four years ago. He held it together when his best friend, the best man at his wedding and his biggest fan, died in an electrical accident this year. He kept it alive in Germany the last four years as his wife and two small children waited in North America.
Now Craighead is holding on to the dream with both fists.
In four preseason games, he has dropped the gloves six times and, at 6-1, 200 pounds, usually in front of a larger opponent. He has taken his fair share of punches, but Craighead, who arrived with top-of-the-charts conditioning scores, has hung on to score with late shots and the final takedown.
"Yeah, it's a tough role," says Craighead, who knocked Phoenix Coyotes winger Brad May out of Tuesday's game in a first-period fight. "But there's a lot of other tougher jobs in this world I'd rather not be doing, so I'll take this one."
Craighead began assembling his pro ré³µmé ±0 years ago in Florida's Sunshine Hockey League. He fought his way into the East Coast Hockey League, where he bounced through four teams in two years but still did enough to sign with Detroit of the now-defunct International Hockey League.
He racked up 653 penalty minutes in two seasons with Detroit, which helped him earn a contract with the Maple Leafs for 1996-97. But Toronto cut him adrift after one year, and he returned to the IHL.
That's also when he lost his sister, Margaret.
"They were just over one year apart and very close," says Craighead's mother, Rita. "When they were younger, it was like, 'Yeah, John, when you play for the Canucks,' so it was pretty tough. But he drew a lot of strength, too, and turned it around positively."
Instead of giving up, Craighead accepted an invitation from former Canuck Sergio Momesso to play in Germany, where he showed off a different kind of punch, scoring 31 goals in his final 148 games there.
"He's a much better player than he was four or five years ago," said Canucks assistant general manager Dave Nonis. "He finishes every check he possibly can, he gets in on the forecheck and his skating has improved dramatically from before he went over to Europe."
Craighead realizes he's a long shot to stick with a team that put up the best second-half record after trading tough guy Donald Brashear. He accepts this chance could end any day. He has started a hockey school for junior players.
He's just not ready to wake up.
"My sister said you can do whatever you want if you really want it bad enough and you believe it in your heart," Craighead says. "It takes a long time to build a dream, and if you hold that dream long enough, it's going to come true."
from:USATODAY
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