Rosehill's fight

When Philadelphia Flyers' Jody Shelley delivered the cheap shot, hit from behind on Toronto Maple Leafs' Darryl Boyce in the pre-season game this week, it was Jay Rosehill who arrived on the scene first to deliver the message: Don't mess with my teammates.

And that's pretty much what you'd expect from a guy who stands 6-foot-3, weighs 215 pounds and accumulated 185 penalty minutes with the Maple Leafs and American Hockey League's Toronto Marlies last season. But to watch Rosehill play with the puck at practice, showing beyond doubt that his hands are good for more than punching people in the face, you see a different side to a player who is desperate to do whatever it takes to stay in the NHL.

Fighting was Rosehill's ticket to 'The Show', but being able to safely skate a regular shift is what will keep him in the NHL. That's why he works so hard in practice on the little things to convince Toronto's coaching staff that he's more than a fighter.

"You bet," Rosehill said, "I've just come into fighting the last three or four years or so. I've always been a player that works on my skills since I've been in this league. I want to stay in this league and to do that you can't just be a fighter. You've got to be able to play, too."

After one season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth where he managed five assists to go with 103 penalty minutes, the seventh round pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2003 NHL entry draft turned pro with the Johnston Jets of the ECHL. It wasn't long before he was summoned to play with Springfield of the AHL. In fact, Rosehill spent most of the next four seasons playing in that league. When he signed with the Maple Leafs as a free agent in 2009, he was introduced to a man who has had a significant effect on his career, Marlies coach Dallas Eakins.

"Dallas has been huge for me," Rosehill said. "Some coaches I've had in the past basically wrote me off as a player or cut my day short if I made a mistake. Dallas took me under his wing and really gave me confidence just by showing he had confidence in me. He guided me on the things he felt I needed to work on and he told me to not be afraid to make a mistake. He has been a big reason why I've been able to develop my game beyond the fighting."

Perhaps Eakins saw a little of himself in Rosehill. Back when Eakins was trying to crack the lineup of the Ontario Hockey League's Peterborough Petes, he was automatically ejected from his first three pre-season games after a single shift in each for fighting. As he prepared to play his fourth game, the team's coach, Dick Todd, pulled him aside and said, "Dallas, we have established that you can fight. Now we need to know if you can play hockey." Eakins went on to become captain of the Petes.

Eakins used Rosehill on an energy line with Darryl Boyce and Greg Scott last season, starting most games and each period with that trio to set the tone. At the NHL level he has found his ice time a little harder to come by and he knows he has to make the most of it when he's toed over the boards.

The Leafs are pleased with Rosehill's progression as a forward.

"Just having seen him play in the American League and making the transition from a defenceman to forward, I think one of his best attributes is being bale to get up and down the ice," said assistant coach Scott Gordon. "Because he can do that it makes him more effective. We know he has the ability to make a play with the puck and not have it explode when it's on his stick. Those are the little things that go a long way to sticking in this league."

Rosehill said he is feeling comfortable playing the wing.

"You want to try to do as much as you can with your ice time," Rosehill said. "It was a lot different down there because I had a different role. You come up here and you're cold because you're not on the ice as much as you were (with the Marlies) and it's tough to take advantage of your shifts sometimes, but that's the role I've been given. I've been trying to hang onto the puck a little longer and if I can make things happen down low then that will help me take my game to the next level.

"It goes without saying I can't be making mistakes along the walls and we have to get in on the forecheck. Obviously I have to play to my strengths which means playing physically. If I can limit my mistakes and keep a lot of my time in the offensive zone as opposed to the defensive zone that's going to be huge for me being able to stay here."

There has been a lot of speculation as to where fighting in hockey is going. While most fans want it kept in the game, many have grown tired of staged fights between two thugs who sit on the bench for most of the game and only appear for long enough to scrap.

As for the Leafs, their designated policeman, Colton Orr, is coming off a serious concussion and has not fought yet this pre-season. There's always the fear that a player who has had a concussion is more susceptible to being re-concussed and that goes double for a player who absorbs punches to the head for a living. If Orr is unable to play the role this season, Rosehill is certainly ready to take over.

That said, he admitted it's a tough way to make a living.

"It is," Rosehill said. "Mentally is the worst part. You get your bruises and cuts and sore noses, but that's pretty minor compared to the mental affect fighting has on guys. It's funny, my girlfriend (Dale) tries to help me out in terms of the mental side of fighting, which I appreciate, but really it's a world of my own. There's not much anybody can do or say to help you out; you have to deal with it on your own. I watch fights on the internet to see a guy's strengths and weaknesses in an effort to be as best prepared as I can, but at the same time, you don't want to have too much running around inside your head. Come game time it's whatever happens, happens."

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy will cover the Toronto Maple Leafs for sportsnet.ca for the 2011/12 season.