Elliott: Flames' Jankowski the little centre fielder who grew and grew

Calgary Flames centreman Mark Jankowski, centre, visited his old Georgetown Eagles coach Bob Elliott and all-star registered nurse Zarah Munar Sunday afternoon at Foothills hospital in Calgary.

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

CALGARY - The walls of the eighth floor cardio unit at Foothills Hospital are narrow.

Especially when you have rehabbing heart patients walking with their pals -- an IV with five wheels on the bottom spinning every which way -- plus beds and a mobile nurse’s station against the wall.

It was an easy trip for Calgary Flames centreman Mark Jankowski, all 6-foot-4 and 212 pounds of him, as he stopped by Sunday afternoon to visit with his old, old baseball coach: me.

Jankowski carries on a family tradition.

Jankowski has 10 goals and 13 assists for 23 points in 56 games as the third-line centre of the Flames. We saw his goal the other night against the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Fla. from our room. He glided in off the wing, took a pass and his quick wrister beat James Reimer.

On the diamond with the 2007-2009 Georgetown Eagles, Jankowski could usually be found in centre field for coach Bill Byckowski. Assistant coach Jason Corrigale coached third and if work permitted, I helped out in 2007.

At 5-foot-1 and 100 pounds as a peewee, Jankowski was a steady defender with a Devon White-like glide. At the peewee nationals playing for Ontario in Quebec City, he came up throwing to the plate -- as the whole bench yelled “Second base, Second base!” -- and threw out a British Columbia runner. While Ontario lost, the prevented run cinched first place in pool play and a bye to the semi-final.

Jankowski singled in an 8-0 win over New Brunswick as Carson Kelly, a pickup from the Markham Mariners, homered twice. Kelly was a St. Louis Cardinals first-rounder and is now with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Jankowski drove in a run in the four-run first in the final as Ontario beat Quebec 5-1, with Ron Stewardson pitching out of a one out, bases loaded jam.

We spoke about Luke Sinclair’s great play on a nubber up the third base line, how he had zero chance at first but alertly fired home for the second out, how Kyle Hann allowed one earned run until the eliminations, how Brad Bedford almost knocked fences down one night in Burlington, plus how Kelly and Stewardson hit balls off the roof of the tin garage at the historic Fairgrounds during batting practice in Georgetown.

Two years later, at 5-foot-7 and 140 pounds, Jankowski had another gold medal around his neck playing for Byckowski, coach Scott VandeValk and myself at the bantam nationals in Vaughan. Jankowski doubled and walked twice in a 14-0 win against Nova Scotia and appeared in the 6-0 win over New Brunswick.

Those Peewee and bantam national champs teams included the likes of Adam Anderson, Josh Anderson, Nathan Desouza, Tom Byckowski, Mikey Courvoisier, Michael Craigen, Scott Garvey, Scott Good, Robert Grilli, Adam Hoover, Paul Howarth, Steven Jannetta, Kaleb Leff, Anthony Marra, Jonathan Palumbo, plus Bedford, Hann and Sinclair.

Flames’ Mark Jankowski, centre, visited his old baseball coach Bob Elliott and all-star registered nurse Heather MacLean Sunday at Foothills Hospital in Calgary. MacLean is the biggest Flames fan on the eighth floor, next to Alice Choo and Braden Paul.

The pick ups included Michael Clouthier, Dayton Dawe, Steven Dressler, Daniel Pinero, Andris Rizquez, Zach Sardellitti, Kelly and Stewardson.

While Jankowski has 23 points (10 goals) he was not the only future NHLer in our dugout. INF-OF Josh Anderson has 21 goals, 11 assists for 32 points in 58 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

We talked about Anderson and how Calgary-Columbus games must be fun, about Dawe and Clouthier stars of the bantam semi-final win as Grilli did a half an hour delayed steal, Dawe knocked in the winning run and Clouthier worked two scoreless, fanning four. How in the final Adam Anderson, Dressler and Sinclair shared the mound for a 4-2 win.

We talked about DeSouza, who was drafted and spent three years in the Toronto Blue Jays system, aabout Pinero, active in the Detroit Tigers system, about Dawe, who spent three three years in New York Yankees organization annd of course Carson Kelly.

I told Jankowski how a couple of years later I was interviewing 10 players one after another for the Canadian Baseball Network at the Mizuno camp at the Rogers Centre. We had eight standard questions, as Baseball Canada’s Adam Morissette sent over players. One question was “What was your best game ever?”

Quebec lefty Bryan Corona-Moreno told us how he’d pitched a complete game at the nationals one summer -- allowed a bunt single, struck out five -- and lost. He allowed four walks, but his teammates had an error and four passed balls.

“I lost on a bunt single,” Corona-Moreno said, “we got beat 4-2. Four runs on a bunt.”

Ohhh-oh ... “Ah, was this the bantam gold medal final against Ontario?”

“Hey let me ask you, what did you think of the Ontario coaches?” I asked.

“Man, they were all big and all nuts,” he said ... and I slinked away.

Byckowski had been kicked out of the game, the first base ump came into our third base dugout -- after Byckowski had left -- and I asked the ump that maybe he should go back to where he belonged, while VandeValk authored a protest.

Yes, we were all big in a bantam-aged players’ eyes. Three nice guys like us? No way we were all nutso.

* * *

We have been watching a lot of hockey -- probably the most since when we covered the Ottawa ‘67s in 1984-85. The Flames retreat-attack power play is different, but we’re told every team does that now.

Jankowski had asked to come for a visit after a Feb. 8 loss to the San Jose Sharks, but I said it was best to get his rest, since the Flames were headed on the road the next day.

Man, it was like a Seattle Mariners-style trip ... after a 4-3 shoot out loss in Vancouver to the Canucks, the Flames flew diagonally to Tampa, where they lost 6-3 to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Next was a cross-state trip to play the Panthers and a 3-2 overtime loss. To cap it all was a Saturday afternoon pit stop in Pittsburgh where they beat the Penquins 6-4 on the final day of the four-game, eight-day trip. They picked up four points and in a Monday matinee they beat the Arizona Coyotes to remain in first place.

Jankowski’s best year on the diamond may have been as a midget with the Hamilton Cardinals.

No one was surprised that he chose hockey considering his regal roots:

_ Grandpa Lou Jankowksi grew up in Hamilton. He worked for the NHL Scouting Bureau, Washington Capitals and the New York Rangers. One of his Hamilton Junior Red Wings’ who stayed at the Jankowski house was Hall of Fame coach Brian Kilrea.

_ His father Len Jankowski tried out for the ‘67s in the Yvan Joly era and then played for the Cornell Big Red. He also earned the nickname POY -- Parent of the Year from VandeValk.

_ His great uncle is Hockey Hall of Famer Red Kelly.

_ His uncle, Ryan Jankowski is director of scouting for the Buffalo Sabres, scouted for the Montreal Canadiens and was an assistant general manager with the New York Islanders.

Jankowski was not always 6-foot-4, in fact the roster from the 2007 Baseball Canada peewee nationals shows him as a 5-foot-1, 100 pounder. Here he is being presented a trophy from coach Bill Byckowski.

_ Mark Jankowski went to Stanstead College in Quebec after being passed over in the OHL draft and sprouting to 6-foot-4. At the private school he scored 53 goals and 94 points. With the University of Providence Friars, he earned First Team East All-Star, won the Robert Gaudreau Jr. Award (most goals in a season), Michael Boback Award (most assists), and the Gates Orlando Award (most points). Next he spent parts of three seasons with the Flames’ AHL affiliate, the Stockton Heat.

_ His brother David, Rose Marie and Len Jankowski’s youngest son, an infielder back in the day, starred for the Junior A Hawkesbury Hawks of the Central Hockey League and is at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY. All the way he had support from his older siisters Natalie and Nicole.

As one ball coach said about Anderson and Jankowski “couldn’t happen to two nicer guys.”