Peterborough -- It didn't take long for John Tavares to stick his nose into one of the biggest rivalries in junior hockey.
Tavares, the first overall pick in the OHL Priority Selection last May, traveled with his Oshawa Generals to Peterborough to face the Petes in their first match-up of the regular season between the East Division adversaries on Thursday. Tavares opened the scoring 1:35 into the game and scored again midway through the first period to give the Generals a 3-1 lead. The Petes rallied back and scored the winner with less than three minutes left in the game, but Tavares left a strong message that he was ready to compete in his first OHL season.
"It was a big game," Tavares said after the final buzzer. "We came in here and we knew it was a big rivalry and would be a tough game. We started off great and it was kind of back and forth and then they got a lucky bounce there at the end. It was unfortunate, but we're going to come out strong every game."
Tavares, the left shooting centre from Oakville, made headlines last May when he was granted "exceptional" status by an independent panel that made him eligible for the OHL Priority Selection a year before his normal draft year. He had played most of his career with the 1989 age group, including an outstanding season that ended with a win in the OHL Cup championship game with the Toronto Marlies last year. The league was under heavy criticism from the media for allowing Tavares into the draft, but the player demonstrated all of the attributes of a young man that was ready to step up to the next level.
Tavares ended any doubt that he was ready to play in the OHL when he scored in his first game -- on his first shot -- a short-handed marker in Oshawa's 4-3 win in Kingston last Friday. His two goal game against Peterborough is the type of effort Generals' coach Randy Ladouceur has quickly come to expect from Tavares.
"He's come along real well," said Ladouceur, who is starting his first full season behind the bench after joining the Generals mid-way through last year. "He's feeling very comfortable out there. We've seen his development through training camp and right into the regular season. He's a very good player - a very special player - and that's why he's in the situation that he's in."
Tavares, who turned 15 on Tuesday, has been hailed by some hockey people as the next Sidney Crosby, but a more fitting comparison may be former OHL star Jason Spezza -- the last underager that played in the OHL. Tavares and Spezza share similar size at the same age and both demonstrated uncanny vision on the ice that contradicted their youth.
"He's got great vision with the puck," said Ladouceur, who played three OHL seasons with Hamilton and Brantford. "He's got real good hands and he knows what to do -- he distributes it very well. We're just going to bring him along and see how things go. We're not going to put too much pressure on him, but certainly he's responded very well to all the challenges we've put in front of him so far."
Ladouceur has had some experience with phenoms. The Brockville native was in his first full season as an NHL defenceman the year that Steve Yzerman led the team in scoring as an 18-year-old graduate of the Petes. Ladouceur played 14 seasons in the NHL before retiring in 1996. He immediately joined the Hartford Whalers' coaching staff and moved with the team to Carolina where he was an assistant for seven seasons.
Ladouceur has put veterans Cal Clutterbuck and Justin Allen on Tavares' wings. The pair has helped Tavares adjust to life in the OHL both on the ice and off.
"We like the chemistry they have," said Ladouceur. "They've worked very well as a line. It may not be something that we keep all year but certainly it worked through the exhibition season. The guys have really made him feel welcome in the locker room. I think we've got a really good bunch of guys with leadership and that know the situation. He seems to have adjusted very well."
One of Tavares' most useful attributes so far in the young season has been his ability to put controversy behind him and focus on making the Generals a better team and helping them get back into the playoffs this season.
"Things have been great," said Tavares, who isn't eligible for the NHL draft until 2008. "So far (GM) Brad (Selwood) and the team are trying to keep everything away and just let me focus on hockey and it's worked so far. I come to the rink every day and I don't think about anything that's been written in the newspaper or has been on TV, I just work hard and come to the Generals to help the team win."
Tavares and the Generals travel to Sudbury to face the Wolves on Friday and are in Toronto to play the St. Michael's Majors on Sunday (2:00 p.m. on Rogers Cable and the Super Sports Pak).
