High-scoring Chris Terry isn’t looking to pick up points when he gets involved in the community. He just thinks it is the right thing to do.

Story and photo by Mark Newman

When Chris Terry signed a two-year deal with the Red Wings this past summer, he was thrilled for a number of reasons.

For several years now, he has made his offseason home in Northville as his wife Chelsey is from Canton. “My wife and her family grew up as Red Wings fans, so there was a lot of excitement when we found out the news that we were going to be back in the state of Michigan and close to home,” he said.

Terry was already a fan himself.

“I have Leaf blood in me, having grown up in Brampton, just outside Toronto. But I was always a fan of the Red Wings and, in particular, Steve Yzerman, especially during the late 1990s when I was about 10,” he said.

“When you’re a kid, you don’t appreciate leadership abilities, but he obviously could score and he could skate and he won those Stanley Cups,” he said. “I still have a vivid memory of the double-overtime goal he scored against St. Louis: a slapshot from the blue line, the camera behind the net, and then you see it go in and him jumping up and down in celebration. That’s probably my biggest memory of Stevie Y.”

Terry was already a hardcore hockey fan at that age, even though he had also played other sports while growing up.

His grandparents had served as president of the Chinguacousy Blues minor hockey association in Brampton, an area which had produced a number of future NHL stars, from Mike Cammalleri to Rick Nash. His father, a product of the same system, had played a year for the Kingston Canadians in the Ontario Hockey Association before becoming a coach.

“He coached me from age 7 to 10,” Terry said. “One-on-one he was extra hard on me, but I am where I am today because of it. We still talk about the game even though he lost his eyesight six or seven years ago. He can’t drive, only sees shadows, no color, so he struggles with it, but if I make a bad play, he still has no problem pinpointing it after the game. I’ll say, ‘I thought you can’t see,’ but he’ll say, ‘I can still see that.’”

Although Brampton still had an OHL team at the time, Terry was drafted to play for the Plymouth Whalers in 2005. “We had to consult a map to see where Plymouth was because we didn’t know,” he said. “We were excited, but I was only 16, so I think it hit my mom pretty hard when I left home. At the time I was ecstatic, but now looking back, it had to be tough to see her 16-year-old son move four hours away. My parents rarely missed a home game.”

Terry had a memorable four years in Plymouth, starting with a solid rookie season when his teammates included future NHLers James Neal and Jared Boll. The team’s leading scorer was the late John Vigilante, who would later play for the Griffins during the 2009-10 season.

“Vigilante was my captain when I was 16 and he was 20,” Terry said. “He told me to enjoy my four years in Plymouth because the time would be gone before you know it. It was the truth. My four years in juniors were awesome and his advice stuck with me.”

Terry tore his ACL at the end of his first season, but he was able to rehab himself back into playing form for the 2006-07 season, when the Whalers won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL champions. While the team finished in the middle of the pack his final two seasons, Terry excelled on a personal level.

He recorded an OHL career-high 101 points (44 goals, 57 assists) in 68 games during the 2007-08 campaign, when the Whalers named Terry as their captain for road games. He became the Whalers’ full-time captain for the 2008-09 season, when he finished second in league scoring with 94 points (39-55—94) in 53 games.

During his final junior season, Terry won the Mickey Renaud Captain’s Trophy as the OHL team captain that best exemplified leadership on and off the ice. He was also recognized with the Dan Snyder Trophy as the league’s humanitarian of the year.

Terry welcomed the opportunity to visit schools, but it was his involvement with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, often called Lou Gehrig’s disease after the famous baseball player who suffered from it) that defined his dedication to making a difference.

“I’ve always wanted to help people because my parents always made sure that I knew how fortunate I was to be playing hockey,” he said. “I think it’s imperative that when you’re part of a team, you’re also a part of the community. People spend money to watch us play and support our hockey team, so I think it’s great to be able to meet and interact with the people and then help out those who might be having a tough time.”

Meeting ALS patient Bobby Suvoy and his family for the first time was an experience he will never forget.

“We played a Friday game in Sault Ste. Marie, which was eight hours north, then had a Saturday home game against Sarnia,” he recalled. “Bobby’s family had rented a suite for the home game, but he had taken a turn for the worse that week and they asked me if I would come to the house for a visit before the game. I said, ’Sure, no problem.’”

Terry arrived at the Suvoy home before lunchtime. “I met Bobby, his two sisters, and his mom and dad, along with a lot of uncles and aunts,” he said. “It was almost a life-changing moment for me. ALS is a terrible, terrible disease, and to see what it was doing to a kid who was only three years younger than me at the time was tough.”

He quickly formed a bond and friendship with Suvoy and his family. “I wrote ‘Do it for Bobby’ on my stick that night and I told him that I was going to score a goal for him,” Terry said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t score, but I tried really hard.”

That was in March 2009. By May, Suvoy had died. He was buried in a Whalers jersey with Terry’s name on it. Terry still talks to the family and he continues to establish programs for ALS in every city that he plays.

During his last season in Plymouth, Terry got to play with Tyler Seguin, who would become the second overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Terry had been drafted himself three years earlier, having been selected in the fifth round (132nd overall pick) by the Carolina Hurricanes.

“It was pretty cool because at the time Peter Kamanos, Jr. owned both the Hurricanes and the Whalers,” he said. “I was at the draft in Columbus with my parents along with my uncle and aunt. I got to go on the draft floor and put on a jersey. It’s pretty cool to be drafted, regardless of the round. At that time, it was probably the biggest day of my life.”

Terry had a solid rookie season in the AHL with the Albany River Rats in 2009-10 when he tallied 17 goals and 30 assists in 80 games. When he doubled his goal production during his second season – scoring 34 goals in 80 games for the Charlotte Checkers – he thought he was ready to make the jump to the NHL. He would play another full season before he even got a look.

“At the end of the day, which round you’re drafted in means nothing,” he said. “There are plenty of guys never drafted who make the NHL. When I turned pro, I expected that I would need time to develop, but it was a longer road than I anticipated.

“I wasn’t a Top-3 pick so I wasn’t expected to make it right away, and yet I was outscoring the guys who were. So mentally I did my best to stay positive. It’s not fun and it’s not easy, but I never really changed my mindset. I figured that if I hadn’t played well enough yet, I would do better. I’d just score more.

“I can sit here now and tell you how it works, but back then I had no clue. I admit that I was frustrated at times, but once I got called up, all those thoughts went away.”

Terry made his NHL debut in a home game against the New Jersey Devils in March 2013. “My parents, sister and girlfriend-now-wife were all in Raleigh,” said Terry, who managed to score a goal in his first game.

“I scored in the second period after battling a guy in front of the net. There was a point shot and the puck squirted through. I went to my backhand and knocked the puck in past the five-hole of (Johan) Hedberg. The celebration was a bit of a blur, but I’ll always remember the feeling.”

Terry played two more games before he was sent back down, then saw action in 10 NHL games the next season. It would take Terry until his sixth pro season before he cemented his place in the Carolina lineup.

In 57 games with the Hurricanes during the 2014-15 season, Terry recorded 11 goals and nine assists. He had eight goals and three assists in 68 games during 2015-16, when his playing time was curtailed and he saw his scoring opportunities decrease.

“I learned a lot during those two years. I learned how quickly it can be taken from you,” he said. “I was playing primarily fourth line, 6-8 minutes a night, which wasn’t exactly my skillset or what I had done previously. At the same time, I wanted to stay in the NHL, so I wasn’t going to complain. I did my best to adapt to the role.”

Ultimately, Terry decided it was time for a change.

“I had spent seven years in the same organization and had a lot of close friends among management and players, so it was tough to walk away,” he said. “I was always very hesitant. Players seem to think the grass is always greener on the other side and I knew that it wasn’t.”

Terry signed a two-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens in 2016.

“I was really excited because I was a Canadian kid back in Canada with an Original Six team,” he said. “I had a good camp, but when I got sent down, I wasn’t mad. I had lost who I was as a player, so I decided I was going to make the most of playing prominent minutes and become the go-to guy.”

Terry appeared in 14 NHL games with Montreal during the 2016-17 season but spent most of the year with the St. John’s IceCaps. He was named a Second-Team AHL All-Star after registering an impressive 30 goals and 38 assists in 58 games with the Canadiens’ AHL affiliate.

“I had been called up and sent down enough that I knew it wouldn’t help to sit there and sulk or let my play drop off,” he said. “If some guy is going to pass you (in the pecking order), that’s life. What you can control is how you play. If you’re playing your best and you don’t get called up, well that’s just how it works here. It’s a business. The quicker you realize it, the more stress you take off yourself, honestly.”

Terry had a memorable 2017-18 season while spending the whole year in the AHL. Playing for the Laval Rocket, he led the league in scoring and earned First-Team AHL All-Star honors while being named the team’s AHL Man of the Year nominee for his charity and community involvement.

“I had a slow start personally, but then I found chemistry with Adam Cracknell,” he said. “A lot of things I shot either went in or led to a goal. When you find the right chemistry with players, it just makes everything easier. Whether I have the puck or they have the puck, when you know each other’s tendencies, you’re able to anticipate and the end result is you put up goals.”

Over the years, Terry has become more adept at how he thinks the game, to the point where he is able to mentally slow down the action in the offensive zone. It’s partly a result of his time playing roller hockey, a sport that he started playing in his preteen years.

“I fell in love with inline hockey when I was 11 or 12 and kept playing on and off until a couple of years ago,” he said. “There’s always been a knock that the game ruins your skating stride, but I don’t think it could be further from the truth.

“It’s a different game because there’s no icing and no offside. Dumping it in is basically frowned upon in inline hockey. You want possession of the puck the whole time even if you have to curl back. It’s more like European hockey where puck possession is stressed. If you want to learn patience with the puck, inline hockey is a good way to do it.

“For me, it’s all about clarity. When I can see everything ahead of me, the puck seems to follow me. When I can find a rhythm, I’m doing all the right things. I want to play a game every day. The more I play, the more things seem to come alive.”

After going scoreless in his first four games with the Griffins, Terry scored eight goals in his next nine contests.

“My role here is based on being an offensive threat, but I want to be reliable everywhere on the ice,” he said. “I want to play top line minutes, but at the same time I realize there are some high-value prospects here that will need the time to develop.”

Terry wants to set an example both on and off the ice. “I’m not the rah-rah, bark-at-guys type,” he said. “I’m more lead by example. I remember watching guys when I was younger and learning from them, from how they played in practice to what they did off the ice, even how they taped their stick. I’ve molded my career from bits and pieces that I’ve taken from other guys.”

And while scoring is nice, Terry has a bigger goal for this season.

“Grand Rapids has a history of winning,” he said. “I’m not getting any younger and I’ll never give up making the NHL, but I’m also old enough and mature enough to know that the NHL is becoming a lot younger and there aren’t many teams looking for 29-year-old veterans. I’m tired of first and second round exits in the playoffs.

“I want to win a Calder Cup.”