Emmerton asks for, receives new digits
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| It was time for a jersey number down-grade for Cory Emmerton, who will now wear the number once worn by Darren McCarty. (Photo by Bill Roose/Detroit Red Wings) |
DETROIT – Cory Emmerton’s plate was full enough last season to make such an insignificant request. Or so he figured.
“At the time when you make the team the last thing that you’re thinking about is changing your number,” said Emmerton, who’s been assigned No. 48 since the Red Wings drafted the St. Thomas, Ontario, native in the second-round of the 2006 NHL draft.
After last season, Emmerton approached Paul Boyer and asked the team’s equipment manager if he could switch his jersey number to No. 25, which he wore during OHL stops in Kingston and Brampton.
Whether it’s superstitious, or not, Emmerton fared quite well with 25 at the junior level, producing 97 goals and 255 points in four OHL seasons. However, it was by accident that Emmerton became enamored by the number. As a first-year junior with the Frontenacs in 2004-05, the only numbers left to choose were in the 20s.
“I wore 2 (growing up) and 25 was open and I was looking for something in the 20s,” he said. “I kind of became fond of it as I began to wear it and it grew on me.”
Emmerton, who is the third player ever to don 48 in Wings’ history, is now the 31st to sport 25, and the first since Darren McCarty.
“Now I’m going to have to start playing like him to keep that tradition going,” Emmerton said of McCarty’s aggressive reputation. “Obviously, everyone was a Grind Line fan, whoever watched them play. They were fun to watch. I had the pleasure of playing with him in Grand Rapids when he was down the one year for a while, so I got to know him as a person and as a player, too. Obviously, it’s easy for me to say that I’m a big McCarty fan as a whole.”
Now that he’s changed the number on his back, Emmerton will likely change his Twitter handle, which currently includes his old jersey digit. But he’ll do so knowing that the switch may draw grief from an old teammate.
“Yeah, I expect that, it just comes with the territory of knowing (Mike) Commodore,” he said. “He’s going to give you grief for anything that he can.”
