Sean Landrey is too nice and it frustrates his Prince George Spruce Kings coaches.
The six-foot-four, 225-pound forward should put fear into opponents every time he steps on the ice but much too Spruce Kings head coach Dave Dupas' dismay that doesn't happen as often as it should.
"He very rarely ever gets mad," said Dupas. "Sometimes we'd like him to get more mad because he goes out there and he's a gentle giant at times. We try to get it into him when he's on the ice that he has to be a certain way."
Landrey agreed that he doesn't always play with type of anger he needs out on the ice.
"Around the dressing room the guys get to know I'm a pretty nice guy and sometimes it goes into the games a little bit too much where I shouldn't be so nice," said Landrey. "I need to get a little meaner sometimes."
It's the 19-year-olds second full season with the Spruce Kings after playing seven games with the club as an affiliate player during the 2010-11 season when he was with the Prince George Coast Inn of the North midget triple-A Cougars. In 25 games this season, Landrey has notched four goals and nine points. He also has 19 penalty minutes.
During his rookie campaign with the Spruce Kings he collected four goals, six points and 38 penalty minutes in 39 games. But Landrey knows he's not around for his goal-scoring skills.
"I'm not usually the guy who is going to go out and score the goal with 10 seconds left in the game," said Landrey "I'd rather block a shot than score a goal."
This season Landrey has been handed the responsibility, along with linemates Bryant Christian and Jake LeBrun, to shutdown the opposition's top forwards.
"The three of us have great chemistry," said Landrey. "Jake and I, even though he's a little bit younger, played a couple of years together growing up and from Day 1 when Jake and I were brought together it's worked out really well. Then Christian came here and he just fit in perfectly with LeBrun and myself. It's been a really fun experience to play with both of them."
Landrey is eligible to play one more season in the B.C. Hockey League and then, like most of his teammates and opponents, he'd like to head to the United States to continue his hockey career while getting an education, preferably at an NCAA Division 1 school, but he's not picky.
"Just getting a scholarship to any school in the U.S. would be a dream come true," he said.
Dupas said what will likely get Landrey where he wants to go his size leading back to his nice guy image again.
"If he's going to move on at his size he's probably going to have to get into a role where he's going to have to play real physical and maybe have to fight when he has to," said Dupas. "If he's willing to do that then he can go on and play at a higher level, but, like I said, he's such a nice guy that's just not in his nature. He doesn't like to hurt people. If he want to play he's going to have to get that killer instinct to his play."
One thing that can work Landrey up into a tizzy is bad drivers, especially in Vancouver, something Dupas or any of his coaches might want to keep in mind when prepping for a game.
"There's just so many bad drivers in that city," said Landrey. "Nobody knows how to drive there it's ridiculous."
