Adam Plant is the opposite of what you would expect in a hockey player. Just 5-foot-9 and 165 pounds, the former squirt-level goalie is a shutdown defenseman for the third-ranked Denver Pioneers.
His lack of size doesn’t hinder his defensive responsibilities, and growing up in goalie skates didn’t adversely affect how he gets around the rink. Plant might be DU’s best skater — which partly explains why he’s such a good defender.
“He’s an excellent skater and he’s always going at people with really good angles, taking away time and space, and angling through people’s arms,” Pioneers coach Jim Montgomery said of Plant, a junior from Penticton, British Columbia. “That’s how he separates the man from the puck. That allows him to not only create the turnover, but he picks up the turnover a lot of times. I think the most underrated part of his game is how fiercely competitive he is. He hates to lose any battle.”
Plant was recruited by Montgomery and his staff as an offensive-minded defenseman, following a three-year junior-A career with the British Columbia Hockey League’s West Kelowna Warriors. But as a DU freshman in 2014-15, he finished the season paired with shutdown defenseman Josiah Didier, a 6-3, 220-pound bruiser who played against the opponent’s top offensive line.
“Being a smaller guy, I never pictured myself as a defensive defenseman growing up,” Plant said. “But the way things turned out, it’s been great. It’s the way I can best help the team, and I’m just happy to fill a role.”
He added: “It’s an adjustment. Once you use your feet properly, and your stick and angles, you get used to it. You focus your game on those things. It’s tough not putting up the numbers you want to, but as long as you get that win, that’s all that matters.”
Plant was a goalie until age 10, when he turned to regular skates because he sought more action.
“I wanted to hit, which is kind of funny because I don’t like hitting now,” Plant said. “I was a really active goalie. I was up near the blue line, trying to play pucks. But I didn’t have a problem adjusting to different skates. When I was in junior high, we had some ex-NHL players help out at the school. And we had a hockey academy, so the second half of the day we got to go down to the rink and always did power skating for the first half hour.”
Plant’s elite skating ability might come from his versatility. Growing up, he also played soccer, baseball, lacrosse and was an avid mountain biker and skier. He was bypassed in the NHL draft but could get some free-agent looks as early as this summer. Montgomery expects Plant to play all four years at DU but won’t be surprised if he makes an NHL roster at some point.
“It’s going to take the right situation with the right coach to value what he is,” Montgomery said. “I can see him playing in a Chicago-style system, but I don’t see him playing in a L.A. Kings-style system.”
Footnotes. Denver hosts NCAA Division I newcomer Arizona State in a nonconference series this weekend in the first-ever games between the teams. … Freshman forward Henrik Borgstrom is expected to play both games after returning from the World Junior Championship, where he played for defending gold medal winner Finland. … Sophomore forward Troy Terry, who was the hero in Team USA’s 4-3 shootout victory over Russian in Wednesday’s WJC semifinals, might play for the Pioneers on Saturday, Montgomery said. Terry and the Americans will play for the gold medal Thursday.