ECHL

Talking Shop With Kansas City Mavericks Forward Rob Bordson

Talking Shop With Kansas City Mavericks Forward Rob Bordson

Part one of an in-depth conversation with Kansas City Mavericks forward Rob Bordson.

Mar 22, 2021 by Mike Ashmore
Talking Shop With Kansas City Mavericks Forward Rob Bordson

Well before I ever got to cover the ECHL for FloHockey, I was a beat writer for the Trenton Devils and then Trenton Titans for the local paper for five seasons. 

That franchise may have folded long ago, but the memories from many nights spent in the arena are still plenty fresh. Among some of the better times there were when Rob Bordson was on the ice.

At the time just a second-year pro, “Bordo” spent about half of his 2011-12 season — one which marked the return of the Titans to Trenton — in the capital city, and he finished as the team’s second-leading scorer (17-34—51) despite having played in barely over half of the games that year.

Save for a nine-game stint back in the league in 2015-16 and Bordson, now 32, hadn’t been back in the ECHL since that season until this year, when COVID-19 protocols made it significantly harder for import players to find work in Europe. 

In part one of a recent, lengthy chat held over Zoom — which will be presented in its entirety in “Q&A” form — the current Kansas City Mavericks forward reflected on his time in Trenton and subsequent time in the American Hockey League after that, wondering how close he was to an opportunity in the NHL that has unfortunately yet to come.

MIKE ASHMORE, FLOHOCKEY: I guess a good place for us to start might be that season in Trenton. It was your second pro year, and you’d already been through a lot the season prior with getting traded over from the Ducks to the Flyers. Being with the Titans that year, which was an organization that was really trying to find its footing again at that time, what was it like being a part of all of that?

ROB BORDSON: “That was my first stint in this league, the ECHL, and my first year pro I was in the American (Hockey) League. I needed a place to play, so my agent was looking at spots. I think he knew (head coach) Vince Williams, and they wanted to bring me in and try to get me back to where I wanted to be and provide that opportunity. It was a big year for me personally, because I’d learned to play the pro game a little bit that first year, but I wanted to take on a bigger role, and that’s what I did with Trenton. It helped build confidence for me, and then I was able to earn an American League contract after that and played three or four more years after that in Adirondack. That was a real big step in my career. You can either take something like that where you’re being salty for being down in this league, or you can use it as a stepping stone, and that’s the approach I took.”

FLOHOCKEY: There was so much going on off the ice with that organization at the time, especially with speculation about stability of the franchise from a long-term financial standpoint. Was it ever hard for you or for the group as a whole to block all of that out and just focus on the task at hand given the instability there?

BORDSON: “Yeah, it was kind of a goofy feeling sometimes. I think it was an organization that was there for a while, out of the league, and then they just got back in. There’s always the questions of the financial problems, like, ‘Are we even going to be able to finish the season,’ and stuff like that. It was very strange. But, you kind of just have to be a pro and go about doing what you’re doing. We’re hockey players, so we can only control what we’re doing on the ice. Vince did a good job of letting us know that everything was going to be fine. And, it was. But obviously, they’re not in the league anymore. At that point, I was a younger guy, so I was just playing pro hockey and thinking everything is fine and not trying to worry too much about those things.”

FLOHOCKEY: In retrospect, was it something of a valuable learning experience for you in the sense of just keeping your head down and controlling what you can control?

BORDSON: “I think so. I think that’s a good point. It teaches you at a young age. We were just talking about this in the locker room today, actually. Hockey teaches you life lessons, not only just sports-wise, but lessons you can take on in life, and that’s for sure something that I think you can definitely take out of that season and that scenario with that team. Control what you can control, and it’s the same thing in life. It’s the same thing this year with the pandemic, you know, we’ve had games canceled, games postponed. Some things, you can’t control. So, like you said, just put your nose down and do what you can.”

FLOHOCKEY: After such a strange start to your pro career over the first two years, you were able to really establish yourself at the AHL level as you mentioned. Was there ever a point where you felt like there might be an opportunity for you at the top level?

BORDSON: “The step down in Trenton was a big point in my career, because I proved that I can put up offensive numbers in the pro game. I had in college, my last year of college I did. When I went back to the American League, Kjell Samuelsson was an assistant coach with the Phantoms at the time, and he said he’d come down to Trenton a few times to watch. They had other players there too, but he kept coming back to me. So, he was thinking, ‘Let’s give Bordson another shot,’ so the Flyers gave me another opportunity, but they wanted me to take on a different role, almost like a shutdown center role. I relished that role, and I played for the Phantoms for the next three and a half years. I’m not sure how close I was, personally. During the lockout year, there were a lot of NHL guys down from the Flyers and I don’t think I was supposed to make the team, and I did. Terry Murray really liked me, so he molded me into that third line center role too. I don’t know if I was close to getting a call-up, but the Flyers had a writer do an article on me. So, I don’t know. It’s all hearsay. You can think maybe I was on their radar, but I don’t know. The Flyers were always good to me, I really enjoyed playing for their organization. The closest I ever was, was actually after my college career. I signed with Anaheim and went out there, and took warmups twice, but didn’t play in any games. I’d been close a few times, but never got in a game, so it is what it is.”


Mike Ashmore has 17 years of experience covering professional and college sports. You can follow him on all social media channels at @mashmore98.