He wishes now he had chronicled his experiences. Not so much for publication, but for his own amusement and amazement and to keep the memories sharp.
"In 16 years, you see a lot of players and play a lot of games," Steve Bancroft said of his hockey heritage. "I'm the guy who never quite made it, but I must be doing something right. People keep asking me to play."
The Stanley Cup finalist Calgary Flames asked Bancroft to be on the ice Tuesday for the start of training camp. In less than a month, Bancroft will turn 35. He is trying to make a National Hockey League team that is loaded with good, skilled, young defencemen. He knows his best days are so far behind him that he may soon -- this year or next -- begin a second career as a real-estate agent in Southern Ontario.
The native of Madoc, Ont., also knows that if he manages to dress even once for the Flames during the 2005-06 season, it would push his NHL career count to seven games. All with the same head coach, Darryl Sutter.
That it has taken him 16 years to play a half-dozen NHL games is some of the material Bancroft wishes he had scribbled in a journal. Other memorable moments have included: being selected in the first round of the 1989 NHL entry draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs; being traded by Toronto to the Boston Bruins; and being traded by Boston to the Chicago Blackhawks and then playing his first NHL game -- under Sutter -- against the Bruins in Boston.
Does Bancroft remember that game? "I didn't do much," he said. "Four or five shifts. It was special to go back there and play against my old team. I think we lost."
Then there was the big season he had with the American Hockey League's Kentucky Thoroughblades in 2000-01. With current Flame Miikka Kiprusoff in goal, the 'Blades were an entertaining bunch, with Bancroft starring on defence, scoring 23 goals and 50 assists while amassing 162 minutes in penalties.
On the strength of that showing, Bancroft was called up by the San Jose Sharks, for whom he played five games for Sutter before disappearing back into the minor leagues. All told -- and even Bancroft isn't sure the numbers are exact -- the 6-foot-1, 214-pound vagabond has played for nine AHL teams, nine International Hockey League teams, one Deutsche Eishockey Liga (German elite league) team and has been signed, claimed and reassigned more times than a lost piece of luggage.
And still people keep asking him to play.
"[The Flames]are looking for a veteran for Omaha," said Bancroft, who knows he has already been slotted with Calgary's AHL affiliate in Nebraska. "I'll be there to help the young guys. At the same time, if four guys get hurt, there's a possibility I could be a call-up guy."
The Flames like Bancroft's abilities and the fact he's been weathered by time and circumstance. "He's a real good pro," Calgary assistant coach Rich Preston assessed. "He does everything well on the ice and he's a guy who appreciates knowing where he stands."
Bancroft thought he was in good standing when the Maple Leafs went for the trifecta and drafted Scott Thornton, Rob Pearson and Bancroft, all from the Ontario Hockey League's Belleville Bulls, with the third, 12th and 21st picks overall. Unfortunately for the Leafs, there was never any payoff. Within a year, Bancroft was shipped to Boston. Within five years, all three players were out of the Toronto organization as fans wondered, "What was that all about?"
"We always joked that the cars belonging to the Leaf scouts all ran out of gas in Belleville," Bancroft said with a laugh. "That's as far as they scouted. The Leafs were in hard times then -- obviously with having three first-round picks. We were so excited. We all ended up going back to junior and we expected big things there, but it didn't happen."
Thornton became an NHL journeyman. Bancroft became a minor-league wanderer. Pearson last played professionally, in Germany, three years ago.
"Everyone I know asks me why I keep doing it," Bancroft said. "As a kid, I wanted to play in the NHL and although it didn't pan out for me, I've always loved the game of hockey. It's still enjoyable. It's kind of hard to put into words, but I do know it's been a great 16 years."
From Newmarket, Ont., to Maine, and from Indianapolis to Las Vegas, Bancroft has seen it all and hopes to see a little more. Who knows? He may yet start a journal and jot down his recollections. The long trips. The cheap hotels. The fights. The what-ifs. He may be the guy who never quite made it, but, let the record show, he's hung around longer than most.