Downey clears waivers, again
Aaron Downey was placed on waivers two days ago and cleared yesterday at noon. GM Ken Holland had to do so in case one of the goaltenders suffered an injury and Jimmy Howard needed to be quickly called up from Grand Rapids. Apparently, Holland will have to do this every 30 days or 10 games to make sure Howard has a spot on the 23 man roster if needed.
I must say that I have been really impressed with Downey. For a scrappy forward, he manages to play smart, but also dish out that big hit or step up for a teammate and fight an opponent when the team needs him. He may not get very much ice time as he only averages 4:08 minutes per game (the lowest average on the team), but he works hard and has a great attitude about it all. I think you’ll agree when you read these quotes from an article in the Detroit News.
“Nothing frustrates me,” Downey, a forward, said. “Why (be frustrated)? What does that have to do with anything? There are worse things in the world. There are people in a hospital right now. Children with leukemia. My brother had leukemia.
“I’m a happy guy. The more I can give to people, the better I feel.
“I can’t control whether it’s raining or snowing in the morning. If it’s cold I’ll put a nice jacket on, get a good cup of coffee, and enjoy nice music on the way to the rink.
“When I’m not at the rink I’m going to enjoy myself rain or shine. I’m 110-percent happy all the time.”
I think it’s great to have such a positive attitude when there is a chance another team could pick you off of waivers and this is his sixth team in the last 11 years. The entire team had to sign pucks for my department to send out for various charities to auction or raffle off at fundraisers last month. A few players would say hi or good bye to the three PR interns, including myself, who were working that day. Downey was the only player who came up to us, shook our hands, introduced himself, and talked to us for about five minutes. I realize that he isn’t a big name player, but I was really impressed by how nice he was to us.
Ansar Khan has another quote from Downey about his positive attitude:
“I’ve got a farmer’s attitude. He just takes the tractor, pulls the plow across the ground, sends up another prayer and says, ‘I never ask why, I never complain, please don’t let my dreams run dry.’”
Say what?
“I’ve been hanging out with (rapper) Eminem,” Downey said. “Life’s a garden, you got to dig it.”
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August 14th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
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