Washington (Pa.) native Riley Barber debuts against Penguins
The pronouns still trip up Riley Barber.
Even after being a professional for five seasons and with the considerable gulf of time in having taken up residence in Michigan for well over a decade, he still mixes up “we” and “they” when it comes to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“When ‘we’ drafted Crosby, that was big for me and my brothers, that’s for sure,” Barber said Tuesday morning.
Never mind that Barber was wearing the bleu, blanc and rouge practice jersey of his current employer, the Montreal Canadiens, when he allowed that slip of the tongue. The Washington County native, who made his season debut Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena, could be forgiven for his faux pas given his black-and-gold-oriented roots.
“I was a really big fan,” said Barber, 25, “I was there when they won the Stanley Cup in Detroit (in 2009). I remember when Mario bought the team. I saw him growing up.”
The son of former NHL forward Don Barber, who played 115 games between the Minnesota North Stars, Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques and San Jose Sharks, and Stacy Barber, a skating instructor, Riley Barber grew up in the city of Washington and attended John F. Kennedy Catholic Elementary School. His mother taught figure skating at the Southpointe complex, the Penguins’ former practice rink, in nearby Canonsburg.
His connections to the sport extended beyond his family.
“(Former Penguins forward and current broadcaster) Bob Errey was my coach,” Barber said. “We were called the Pittsburgh Mega Men or something back in the day. He was my coach. He was great. My dad and him got along really well, and we had a great group growing up there. Fun weekends playing mini-hockey with his kids.”
Born in 1995, Barber is very much a product of Penguins owner Mario Lemieux’s influence on sport in the region. At the same time, his clearest memories of the Penguins came after they drafted forward Sidney Crosby No. 1 overall in 2005.
“I liked (forward) Colby Armstrong back in the day. He was a righty,” Barber said. “I liked him. I liked (forward Ryan) Malone. And, obviously, Crosby when he got on the team.”
Approximately two years after Crosby joined the Penguins, Barber moved to Livonia, Mich. at age 13 to pursue a higher level of the sport with the Detroit Little Caesars Hockey Club. That move led to success in the United State Hockey League, the top junior league in this country, with the Dubuque Fighting Saints. He played for the U.S. National Team Development Program and was drafted by the Washington Capitals in 2012.
A sixth-round pick by the Capitals, Barber was not on hand for the selection despite the draft being held at Consol Energy Center, now known as PPG Paints Arena.
Tuesday was his first visit to the facility.
“I’ve actually never been to this building,” Barber said. “The only building (in Pittsburgh) I’ve been in was the old Igloo (Civic Arena) growing up.”
After three seasons with Miami (Ohio), Barber opted to skip his senior season with the Redhawks and signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Capitals in 2015.
Aside from three NHL games, and no points, with Washington in 2016-17, his professional career before this season was spent with the Capitals’ AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears.
After being one of the AHL’s leading goal-scorers with 31 goals as well as 60 points in 64 games last season, Barber joined the Canadiens as an unrestricted free agent by signing a one-year, two-way contract.
He opened the season with the AHL’s Laval Rocket and led that team with 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in 21 games before being recalled Monday.
(Video courtesy the Laval Rocket)
His call-up was preceded by a five-game scoring streak in which he recorded seven points (two goals, five assists).
“It’s, obviously, a numbers game at times,” Barber said. “I was playing really well at the start but just not getting the bounces. As of late, it started falling in for me and my linemates, and that’s always a positive thing.”
Said Canadiens coach Claude Julien: “The one thing we know, he’s got a good shot. And he’s really found his scoring touch lately there in Laval. We’re going to have a look at him here. We had a look at him in (training) camp, and he was good enough to stay right until the end.”
Barber is back on the NHL roster at the moment because of injuries to the Canadiens’ incumbent forwards. That vacancy has created opportunity.
“Riley Barber is a right-hand shot,” Julien said. “We need a right winger. … He’s playing well. He deserves to be called up, and he’s a right winger.”
Barber appears to have a clear idea of what he needs to do in order to stay in the NHL.
“I know the role that I’ll play up here and the role that I’ve got to play,” Barber said. “It’s not going to stop me from making plays or anything like that. It’s just going to be really exciting to get out there and get a first couple of shifts, get a feel for the puck and see what happens.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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