panoo

March 3, 2007
By John Tranchina

Take a quick glance at the Dallas Stars penalty minutes leaders and you might think that rookie winger Krys Barch has been with the club all season, seeing that he ranks fourth on the club with 68. A closer look shows that Barch has actually played just 15 games this year since his recall from the Stars' American Hockey League affiliate on Jan. 14. That tells you all you need to know about Barch's toughness and how well he is fulfilling his role of resident enforcer.

The fact that he has also chipped in with two goals and four points over that span, as well as a +3 plus/minus rating, fifth among Stars forwards, demonstrates that Barch can also play the game. Consider that this is the 26-year-old Barch's first taste of the NHL in his seventh season of professional hockey, and you get a sense of the character and determination that this hard-nosed, gritty player brings to the Stars. The last bit of relevant data, the Stars' stellar record of 10-3-2 with him in the lineup, is also hard to overlook.

"He's doing his job pretty good," said Stars center Mike Ribeiro, who spent some time on the same line as Barch and set up his first NHL goal on Feb. 1. "He's probably almost leading us in the penalty box, I think he's up there. He knows what his job is and a pretty hard job. The guys appreciate that and we're happy he's here."

With Stars forwards Matthew Barnaby and Steve Ott each sidelined with long-term injuries, not to mention feisty captain Brenden Morrow, the club was missing that heavy-hitting, physical element and the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Barch has stepped in admirably.

"He's done very well," Stars coach Dave Tippett said of Barch. "He's grasped an opportunity that's been available because of a couple of injuries and the injuries were to players that play a similar role that he plays and he's jumped in and played very well for us. He's endeared himself to his teammates through his play. He's a very good skater and he can arrive and finish on people, he's willing to get gritty if that's called for, and he's fit in very well with our team."

"The guys really like him," Ribeiro added. "He's a guy with a lot of speed, too. A tough player, he's been showing up and giving us energy, too, and protects the other players."

Barch has already piled up eight fighting majors, second on the club to Barnaby's 11, with seven of them coming in a five-game span from Jan. 28 to Feb. 10. He has also delivered 38 hits, an average of 2.53 per game, which is fourth-highest on the Stars. But he is more than just a fighter, although he acknowledges that is a major part of his role.

"Being Canadian, it's part of growing up," joked Barch, sporting a brilliant black eye received in battle last week. "You just do what you can to try and help the team get two points. If that means trying to change the momentum or sticking up for your brothers..."

He trailed off, implying the words, "by dropping the gloves, then I'll do that."

"Barchie, he's a very good skater, and that's half the battle," Tippett said. "To finish and hit guys, you have to get to them, and he has the ability to do that. He plays a smart enough game, he knows his role on the team, and he knows he's a chip-and-chase-it kind of guy, because that's the way he's going to have the most impact."

While he's logged just 5:49 of ice time per game overall, he has begun to gain the trust of the coaching staff with his skills a little more recently, averaging 7:56 in the past two outings.

That includes a season-high 8:51 in a recent 4-1 win over Anaheim, when Barch scored a goal and an assist, his first multi-point game in the NHL. Skating on a line with Jussi Jokinen and Antti Miettinen, Barch helped provide a scrappy complement to the skillful Finns. He even registered the game-winning goal, his first, when he deflected Sergei Zubov's slap shot past Ducks goaltender J.S. Giguere.

"Just going to the net, just keeping your stick on the ice and hoping the puck hits it," Barch said modestly of his goal. "Playing with two guys like that, I just try to get in there on the fore-check and try to be as good as I can, try to get pucks in the corner. They're the playmakers out there, I'm not going to be going end-to-end out there."

Barch is clearly making the most of his opportunity, his first chance to experience life in the NHL after five full seasons of riding the buses in the minors. Included in that span were three different stints in the ECHL, the league two rungs below the NHL, for a total of 94 games. He spent 14 games with Greenville of the ECHL last year, scoring 10 goals and 14 points, while also skating in 43 contests with the AHL Iowa Stars, including all seven playoff games. Impressed with what they saw down on the farm, Dallas signed him as a free agent on July 18.

He began this year back in Iowa, posting three goals and eight points in 31 games, in addition to a team-leading 110 penalty minutes, before being summoned to Dallas.

"You kind of wait for this moment," Barch said of finally arriving in the world's best league, "and prepare along the way and hopefully, the opportunity meets preparation. You try to put one foot in front of the other and just keep pounding away."

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