‘Bragging rights are on the line’: Doan, Kesselring excited to face old teammates in Utah

Josh Doan and Michael Kesselring only spent a year in Utah, but that’s all it took for them to become members of the local hockey family. While the fans were excited to land JJ Peterka in a blockbuster trade this summer, they were equally sad to lose “Doaner” and “The King.”

“They were so great to both of us all year last year,” Doan said in an interview with the Deseret News on Tuesday. “We have nothing but great things to say about the people here.”

The Buffalo Sabres hosted the Utah Mammoth last week, so the jitters of playing their former team for the first time are out of the way — but that doesn’t make Doan and Kesselring any less eager to win when they play again on Wednesday.

“Bragging rights are on the line,” Doan proclaimed, while also noting that every game is important, regardless of the opponent.

Kesselring faced his former teams in both the USHL and the AHL, so he knew what to expect before last week’s contest.

“It’s always nerve-wracking at first,” he said. “Honestly, that’s the best I’ve handled it, last game, I thought. I wasn’t too nervous. I was kind of giggling, honestly, when I saw Cools and those guys out there.”

“I think Cools is always going to be someone that’s fun to play against,” Doan said. “Kells, Guens and Bainer, Crouser and Carcs, obviously I got along really well with those guys last year. … They’re guys that I get along with really well off the ice, and they like to play hard and physical and kind of be pests on the ice, so it’s always fun to play them.”

Doan and Kesselring lived together in Utah last season, and they live together in Buffalo now — but the trade also affected Logan Cooley, who became good friends with them and had planned to move in with them before the trade.

The guys got together for dinner in Buffalo last week. They did the same on Tuesday in Salt Lake City: Kesselring said the plan was for Cooley to pick them up for dinner at Clayton Keller’s house.

“I miss the group,” Kesselring said. “It’s a good group in there and it’s been fun to watch them this year. I’ve watched a bunch of their games.”

How are Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan doing in Buffalo?

Michael Kesselring

Kesselring started the season on injured reserve after a lower-body injury removed him from the preseason. Now that he’s back in the lineup, part of the challenge is learning the systems his new team uses.

He’s also trying to learn a new side of the game — the penalty kill — now that he’s on a team that already has several power-play specialists. He averaged less than 30 seconds per game on the PK last season, and is currently logging 1:30 per game shorthanded.

“I have to get going still a little bit from my injury, so I haven’t played too well yet, to be honest.” he said. “But I can see that the opportunity’s there and once I get going and get my feet moving a little bit more and start feeling better, I think it’s going to be a great fit.”

“I want to be a guy that penalty kills. Power play is great, but penalty kill is going to be more of my role.”

He hopes that playing well in that area will eventually land him spots on the 4-on-4 and 3-on-3 units.

He’ll always be grateful to Bill Armstrong, André Tourigny and the rest of the staff for giving him his first NHL opportunity, but that doesn’t make him any less eager to show them they should have kept him.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to score a few and stick it to them a little bit,” he said.

Josh Doan

Sabres fans have been thrilled with Doan’s performance so far. He embraces the blue collar, lunchpail mentality that’s prevalent in Buffalo, making him an instant fan favorite.

The season is only 15 games old, but he’s already halfway to his full-season point total from last year. He hasn’t registered a point in his last three games, dating back to the last game against Utah, so he’s hoping to change that Wednesday.

“I don’t know how happy (the fans will) be tomorrow if either one of us score, but at the end of the day, it’ll be cool to see all of them again,” he said.

Of course, most fans would probably be thrilled to see Doan or Kesselring score, as long as the Mammoth come out on top at the end of the game.

A bittersweet return

Kesselring is particularly excited to get reacquainted with Mammoth fans.

“Playing in Buffalo was cool, but I think tomorrow in Delta will be really special,” he said. “Obviously, as you said, it’s (only) one year, but, I mean, we were in the first year of an organization. It’s pretty special, pretty cool.”

He recalled seeing one young fan who traveled to Buffalo for last week’s game with a half-Utah, half-Buffalo jersey with Kesselring’s name and number on both.

“That just makes my day,” he said. “I remember being a little kid and getting signatures from (Steven) Stamkos and (Victor) Hedman, guys like that, how much it meant to me. It’s cool that I can impact someone like that, even though I don’t think of myself like that at all. It’s really special.”

While he likes it in Buffalo, he does miss the unconditional love he experienced in Utah.

“The fans were unbelievable to me and Doaner last year. That was honestly probably one of the hardest parts, too, other than (leaving) the guys. We had such a good fan base here. It was so nice just seeing all the positive things all the time. I could do no wrong. You see the other side of it now in a hockey market. They’re pretty critical.”