AHL: Zach Parise QA

Few have made the pro transition as smoothly as Zach Parise of the Albany River Rats. The former North Dakota star leads all AHL rookies with 23 assists and is fourth in scoring among first-year players. McKeen's caught up with him recently following a 2-0 victory over the Portland Pirates and just prior to making his AHL All-Star Game debut.

McKeen's: The team has put together a nice roll the last couple of games. What do you think has been the difference?

Parise: We're starting to buy into the system I think. It seems like the guys are starting to depend and rely on each other a lot better .. we weren't doing that before, and we'd leave our teammates out to dry. I think now that we're starting to play better as a team, you can just totally tell the difference.

McKeen's: The goaltending has been good too.

Parise: The goaltending's been awesome. They've really stepped up big for us. Tonight Clemmer (Scott Clemmensen) was awesome, Ari's been great the last few games so I mean that's a huge part of our winning.

McKeen's: What do you think of the AHL rule changes so far?

Parise: I like the tag-up offsides, I've always liked that. The only one I don't like is the no tag-up icing. I think that allows the defensemen to stay up a lot more… you try to chip it by them and if it goes too far… even though you're guy is going to beat them, they blow it down. I don't like that. It kind of congests it a little more, and I think that's what they're trying to get away from. That can have a negative impact I think.

McKeen's: After your experience at the World Junior Championships, was it tough to watch this year considering the team couldn't repeat?

Parise: Yeah it was. I was really pulling for them, just watching all the games I could, but it's just tough to repeat. They played well, they played hard, I just don't think anyone was going to come close to Canada this year. They were unbelievable.

McKeen's: There's been a big emphasis the last couple of years on size in the pros and some have suggested that maybe you weren't big enough to be successful at this level. Do you think that your performance thus far has helped to disprove that?

Parise: I hope so. I mean you look at a guy like .. and I'm not making any comparisons between Marty St. Louis and myself, but look at the guy...he leads the league in scoring. Hopefully things are going to start taking a turn in that direction because I think that's what people want to see, that's what the fans want to see. They want to see creativity and scoring.

McKeen's: It's your rookie season and you're going to your first AHL All-star game, how does that feel?

Parise: It feels really good, it's going to be fun. I've got a lot of friends I know that are going to be up there too so I'm just going to enjoy it. My family is in town and we're going to have a good time with the weekend.