Burke seeks payoff from AHL training
Gerry Burke is not the most accomplished player on the Quad-City Flames.
He might, though, be the smartest.
Armed with a degree in ecomomics from the Ivy League’s Brown, the Flames defenseman likely has a future in finance when he opts to hang up his skates.
That won’t happen anytime real soon.
At the moment, Burke is investing his time in a hockey career that he still allows himself to dream could lead to the National Hockey League.
A year ago, that dream was far-fetched, and Burke knows it remains a longshot.
But with nearly a full season of American Hockey League experience behind him, the former ECHL All-Star no longer is thinking this might be his last season as a pro.
“I think everyone should dream about it,” he said of a big-league career. “For me right now, though, I am just trying to take it shift by shift and not look too far into the future. To stay in the moment is hard to do sometimes, but you are most successful when you do that.”
Burke’s 2007-2008 season has been a success, even if he is not the most prominent player on the ice for the Flames.
Waived from a player tryout agreement in Q-C training camp, the 25-year-old from Milton, Mass., was recalled in late November after spending two months with the Flames’ ECHL affiliate, Las Vegas.
After playing a total of six games at the Triple-A level his first two seasons as a pro, Burke has seen action in 35 Flames games this season, and has been most notable for not being particularly noticeable.
A costly mistake in a game last week, when he failed to get back on defense after trying to pinch in the offensive zone, was a rare high-profile blunder for Burke, who has just a pair of assists but carries a plus-3 rating, the fourth-best plus/minus rating on the squad.
Burke would be the first to tell you the latter is owed in part to his limited role, but so might be his limited offensive numbers.
He scored eight goals apiece and had 25 or more points in each of his ECHL seasons, and had three goals and four assists in 20 games in Las Vegas this year.
“It is a bit of a change from going to playing a lot of minutes to mostly playing even strength,” he said. “But when you are a rookie in a higher league, you have got to take your lumps, watch and try to get better every day.”
Burke said the AHL is a different game from the ECHL.
“The guys are just so much more skilled, better players, more intelligent,” he said.
Burke has no doubt he is vastly improved over the player who was a Toledo Storm standout the previous two seasons.
“I wasn’t challenged like this in practice,” he noted. “I didn’t go against forwards like (Krys) Kolanos, (Grant) Stevenson and (Carsen) Germyn in the Coast.
“Not to take anything away from the guys I played against in the Coast — there were a lot of good players — but I didn’t go against guys who had NHL experience.”
Burke said he has benefited from improved coaching and training as well.
“From the time I got here, from camp to now, I feel I have improved,” he said. “Hopefully next year I can contribute more.”
Beyond that, a career in high finance might await the Ivy Leaguer. With a bit of luck and pluck, perhaps he will have some NHL salary to invest.
Craig DeVrieze can be contacted at (563) 333-2610 or cdevrieze@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.