The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.

December 3, 2012

The Hockey News - Dec-03-12

<div class="byline">BY ADAM KOVAC</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01912/9730663-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>F</span></b>ederal league teams, like their players, never know where or if they will be next season. In three years, the league has had four expansion teams, four go out of business and three relocate. Those who do stick around the lower rungs of the hockey world might play in some unlikely locations &ndash; the Southern Professional League features teams in such hockey hotspots as Knoxville, Tenn., and Biloxi, Miss. But as far as unconventional places to play go, you won&rsquo;t find many pro teams playing in weirder places than the Williamsport Outlaws.</p><p>Despite a championship last year in their debut FHL season, the New Jersey Outlaws found themselves uprooted and transported to Williamsport, Pa. The problem: Williamsport is not currently home to a suitable hockey arena. And so, on Oct. 24 against the Dayton Demonz, the Outlaws launched a season that will see them play their entire home schedule outdoors. Bowman Field, home of baseball&rsquo;s Williamsport Crosscutters, has replaced line drives with line changes.</p><p>Though it seems like a marketing gimmick, it was actually the result of financial necessity according to FHL commissioner Don Kirnan. &ldquo;They were drawing as well as they could in their building (in Wayne, N.J.), but it was too small for them,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;They had to get into a venue with more seating.&rdquo;</p><p>Enter the city of Williamsport, which had a civic arena with sufficient capacity. Trouble was, it wouldn&rsquo;t have ice ready in time for the season. The team was intent on moving to the city, so it settled on Bowman Field as a venue. It also happens to be the birthplace of Little League Baseball, whose World Series is still held annually in neighboring South Williamsport. So far, the city has welcomed the Outlaws, selling out its first home game. While team captain Trevor Karasiewicz admits there was some trepidation on the part of the players, the venue has since grown on them. &ldquo;When I first heard about it, I was like, &lsquo;What the f---?&rsquo;&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I was the most skeptical guy in the world. When I first pulled up, it was awesome. I was outside at 9:30 in the morning with the sun shining. It was pretty cool.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>WHEN I PULLED UP, IT WAS AWESOME. I WAS OUTSIDE AT 9:30 A.M. WITH THE SUN SHINING</b><br>-<i>TREVOR KARASIEWIC</i></blockquote><p>Roofless rinks can come with snafus. The 2003 Heritage Classic featured frigid temperatures, while the 2011 Winter Classic had the opposite problem, with a rink more closely resembling a swimming pool. Coach Chris Firriolo maintains that whatever nature might throw at his team, the rink will be ready, citing its design by the company Rink Specialists, which built the rink used in Boston&rsquo;s Fenway Park for the 2010 Winter Classic. The ice has already been put through its first major test, holding up well during the Outlaws&rsquo; 5-2 loss to Dayton in a game that saw temperatures reach T-shirt weather. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great facility,&rdquo; Firriolo says. &ldquo;Locker room facilities are great and sight lines are phenomenal. Ice conditions are pretty good, exceeding expectations. There&rsquo;s a really cool atmosphere right now.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01790/9730656-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="1387" height="921"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>OPIN-AIR LOVI AFFAIR</b></p><p>Fans and players are falling for pond-style hockey. The Outlaws sold out their opener and will play all their home games outside.</p></figcaption></div><p>It&rsquo;s a long way from the FHL to the Stanley Cup. Several teams in the league act as feeders to the ECHL &ndash; the Outlaws are affiliated with the Elmira Jackals, who feed the Binghamton Senators, the American League affiliate of the Ottawa Senators &ndash; but an ECHL call-up is as good as gets for most FHLers, who get paid under a salary cap limiting teams to $5,000 weekly. So while it&rsquo;s tempting to compare the Outlaws&rsquo; season to the NHL&rsquo;s annual Winter Classic, it&rsquo;s a big step from the 4,200-capacity arena to what would have been a crowd in excess of 100,000 in Michigan Jan. 1. But with that game cancelled, the Outlaws are fans&rsquo; best bet for high-caliber pond-style hockey and the team aims to take advantage of that. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a novelty, for sure,&rdquo; Firriolo says. &ldquo;To play outside, not many people have the experience. When it&rsquo;s a packed house and it&rsquo;s loud, the guys are really enjoying it.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02517/9730649-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="666" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>FOG ADVISORY</b></p><p>Bowman Field rink attendants face a unique set of challenges on the job.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(ALL: BILL THEBERT)</span></figcaption></div><p>Next year, the Outlaws hope to leave Bowman Field for a more conventional arena. Players will move to other teams and other leagues, if they can find jobs at all. But for now, the journeymen get to play. They aren&rsquo;t paid much, but it&rsquo;s enough to keep a roof over their heads when they&rsquo;re off duty. When game time arrives, the roof doesn&rsquo;t matter. For this season at least, the Outlaws have a place to call home ice.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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IN THIS ISSUE

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

<div class="byline">BY LUKE DECOCK</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011882/9729921-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Eric Staal&rsquo;s positive experience in Raleigh is a big part of the reason why little bro&rsquo; Jordan engineered the trade and signed long-term. <span class="photo-credit">(GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HERE&rsquo;S NO</b>&nbsp;<b>QUESTION</b>the opportunity to play with his brother Eric drove Jordan Staal&rsquo;s decision to engineer a trade to the Carolina Hurricanes this summer. Yet they would never have orchestrated their reunion if Jordan wasn&rsquo;t willing to make the same investment in the market Eric has over the past nine years. &ldquo;I was still pretty young when he got drafted, but I&rsquo;ve seen it grow a lot,&rdquo; Jordan says. &ldquo;Watching the Hurricanes win was a big part of it and from there it&rsquo;s been growing a lot. The fans here are great. They&rsquo;re really nice people and they love the game.&rdquo;</p><p>Two decades into Gary Bettman&rsquo;s Sun Belt expansion of the NHL, one of the biggest questions facing that geographic shift has been answered. Can franchises in the most nontraditional hockey markets attract and retain top free agent talent? The answer, at this point, is a qualified &ldquo;yes.&rdquo; The exodus of star players some foresaw hasn&rsquo;t happened and while franchises like Carolina and Nashville may not be the topof-the-list destinations for elite players, they&rsquo;ve had as many hits as misses.</p><p>The Predators landed one of the biggest targets after the 2004-05 lockout free agent scramble when they signed Paul Kariya. Florida and Tampa Bay have done a good job retaining players, even if they haven&rsquo;t spent the money necessary to land high-demand free agents, which franchises like Dallas and San Jose have.</p><p>Ray Whitney, Cory Stillman and Glen Wesley were the typical Carolina players who enjoyed being in Raleigh &ndash; older, married players who enjoyed the good schools and family atmosphere. But even those whose kids are too young for school have found reasons to stay. There&rsquo;s a core group of current and former Hurricanes who live in the area during the offseason. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a great place to live,&rdquo; Eric says. &ldquo;Not even just Raleigh and the people here, but our organization in general. There are good people in our organization, people you care about and want to win for and play hard for. It starts there. After that, it&rsquo;s the people that live here, that call this area home. You just love the way you&rsquo;re treated. It&rsquo;s respectful, but passionate at the same time.&rdquo;</p><p>Until this summer, when they traded for Jordan Staal and signed Alexander Semin, the Hurricanes hadn&rsquo;t made the investment necessary to run with the big boys in the free agent market. But there were some quiet successes in the area of player retention that laid the groundwork for this off-season.</p><p>Ron Francis signed as a free agent in 1998, when the team was still playing in its temporary home in Greensboro and the franchise&rsquo;s future was uncertain. He and his family have since settled in Raleigh permanently.</p><p>Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour arrived in 2000 via a trade with the Flyers and couldn&rsquo;t wait to flee. &ldquo;When I first got here, my first impression was, &lsquo;What am I getting myself into?&rsquo; Brind&rsquo;Amour says. &ldquo;You at first think, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ve got this much left, maybe I&rsquo;ll do my time and get out.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>But the more time he spent in North Carolina, the more he liked it. In 2001, he signed a long-term extension and never left. Brind&rsquo;Amour, Francis, Wesley and Stillman all now work for the Hurricanes.</p><p>Finances provoked an exodus of some of the key players from the 2006 Stanley Cup championship team, but two of those players, Matt Cullen and Aaron Ward, ended up willfully returning to the Hurricanes. Erik Cole began his career in Carolina, left reluctantly to go to Edmonton, came back and reluctantly left again, this time for Montreal.</p><p><b>MEANWHILE, THE TEAM&rsquo;S SUCCESS</b> in the 2002, 2006 and 2009 playoffs helped develop and energize the fan base, a movement that peaked in the amazing scene of Game 7 in the 2006 Cup final, when the entire arena stood for the entire game. Fans raised on college sports brought tailgating to the NHL and pushed noise levels to new limits. &ldquo;When I got here, the perspective was this was a form of entertainment,&rdquo; Ward says. &ldquo;Go watch some guys, maybe score a few goals, really not a wholehearted investment by the vast majority of fans. They were fringe fans. But 2002 went a long way to show this team, on a national stage, had an identity. You get to 2006 and it was almost the realization that you didn&rsquo;t have to be the Rangers with an infinite budget. You could assemble a group of guys that was likeable in the community and competitive in the game. It was a recipe for the fans not only liking the Hurricanes brand but the players themselves.&rdquo;</p><p>Markets like Carolina, of course, don&rsquo;t appeal to everyone. The Canes pushed hard to get on Rick Nash&rsquo;s list this summer and were close to working out a deal with Columbus, but Nash never budged. Still, the additions of Jordan Staal, who quickly signed a long-term contract extension, and Semin were uncharacteristic moves for the Hurricanes, who have been reticent to spend money in the past.</p><p>But there&rsquo;s no question players are more willing to entertain the idea of playing in Carolina than they were a decade ago. Winning a Cup helps, but so does the natural maturation of the market as hockey becomes less of a novelty and more a part of the culture. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s changed a lot,&rdquo; Eric says. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not a lot of guys I&rsquo;ve played with in my career, if any, that have said, &lsquo;I really didn&rsquo;t like playing there at all,&rsquo; or &lsquo;There&rsquo;s so many other better places to play.&rsquo;&rdquo; It&rsquo;s been the opposite. There are a lot of guys now in other places who wish they were still playing here.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>BROTHERLY LOVE</b></h2><p><b>WHEN THE NHL</b> finally drops the puck again, Eric and Jordan Staal will become the 47th set of brothers to play for the same team at the same time. Given their talent level and accomplishments as NHLers, the potential is there for special things, but they have a long way to go to match what some of the greatest brother acts in NHL history have done.</p><p><b>MAURICE AND HENRI RICHARD:</b>&nbsp;&lsquo;The Rocket&rsquo; and &lsquo;Pocket Rocket&rsquo; played only five seasons together with the Montreal Canadiens, but won the Stanley Cup in all of them. Between 1955-56 and 1959-60, the two combined for 238 goals and 538 points. Once Henri escaped the shadow of his famous brother, he went on to win six more Cups with the Canadiens and forge a Hall of Fame career.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011636/9729914-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="690" height="501"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(CHARLES HOFF/NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>HENRIK AND DANIEL SEDIN:</b> The twins from Ornskoldsvik, Sweden took a couple seasons to get going with the Vancouver Canucks, but have become two of the most consistent offensive producers in the NHL. Henrik won the Hart trophy in 2010 and Daniel was a finalist a year later, when both were named to the first all-star team. Over those two seasons, each brother won the NHL scoring crown, making the Sedins the first siblings to do so.</p><p><b>PETER, MARIAN AND ANTON STASTNY:</b> Fans in opposing rinks tried to get them off their game by calling them, &ldquo;The Stastny Sisters,&rdquo; but you&rsquo;d be hard-pressed to find three more resilient and talented players than the Stastny brothers. In their four seasons together with the Quebec Nordiques, the trio had 390 goals and 1,029 points. The brothers combined for 300 points in 1981-82, their first season together in the NHL.</p><p><b>BOBBY AND DENNIS HULL:</b>&nbsp;The Hulls were scoring machines during their time together with the Chicago Black Hawks. From 1964-65 to 1971-72, they scored 550 goals and 1,032 points, which included 88 goals and 171 points in 1968-69.</p><p><b>BILL AND BUN COOK:</b> The Cook brothers played 10 years together for the New York Rangers and won the Stanley Cup in 1927-28 and 1932-33, the same season they finished 1-2 in scoring for the Blueshirts. Bill was a first-team all-star and Bun a second-teamer in 1930-31.</p><p><b>DOUG AND MAX BENTLEY:</b> The Bentleys are another set of brothers who got into the Hall of Fame based largely on their time together. They didn&rsquo;t win any Stanley Cups with the Chicago Black Hawks, but were in the top 10 scorers three times, including 1942-43 when Doug won the Art Ross Trophy with 73 points and Max finished third, three points behind him. A third brother, Reg, played with Max and Doug in 1942-43. His only career goal was assisted on by both brothers.</p><p><b>BRENT AND DUANE SUTTER:</b> With six brothers in the NHL, there was a good chance two of them were going to play for the same team at one point. Brent and Duane won Stanley Cups together with the New York Islanders in 1982 and &rsquo;83. Twins Rich and Ron also played together for the Philadelphia Flyers and the St. Louis Blues.</p><p><b>SPRAGUE AND ODIE CLEGHORN:</b> Sprague was a nasty piece of work as a Hall of Fame defenseman and Odie was an offensively talented winger who played with his brother on the Montreal Canadiens from 1921-22 to 1924-25. How close were the Cleghorn brothers? Hours before Sprague&rsquo;s funeral in 1956, Odie was found dead of a heart attack.</p><p><b>FRANK AND PETER MAHOVLICH:</b> With more than eight years separating them, the Mahovlich Brothers played together on the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens. They had their best success with the Canadiens, winning Stanley Cups in 1971 and 1973 before Frank defected to the World Hockey Association.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Rollin’ in RALEIGH

<p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span>dam, what if hockey followed soccer and limited Olympic participation to players 23 and younger? It would reduce the burden on elite players to at most two Olympic tourneys and give veterans a mid-season break.</b></p><p><i>Jeff Wills, Sioux Lookout, Ont.</i></p><p>Interesting proposition, Jeff. It would appeal to those who want to see the Olympics return to its amateur roots. But I doubt it happens for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the Olympics financial juggernaut has given no indication it wants to remove the world&rsquo;s top pro athletes from its competitions. The NBA has embraced its stars taking part and, other than issues with the location of some of the Games, the NHL understands its benefits, too. Secondly, in hockey, we already have something relatively similar to your suggestion: the world juniors. Granted, you&rsquo;d be extending the age of a WJC participant by a few years under your proposal, but it&rsquo;s more or less the same idea. No need for two similar tourneys once every four years.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03928/9729517-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="746" height="845"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BRIAN CAMPBELL</b> <span class="photo-credit">(CAMPBELL: JONATHAN KOZUB/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>Adam, why do teams have different alternate captains each night?</b></p><p><i>Eric Duncan, Toronto</i></p><p>Eric, teams may have an injured alternate captain and need a replacement for a stretch, but usually players named alternates at the start of the year remain in that position throughout it. A handful of teams rotate the &lsquo;A&rsquo; among three or four players to give them the experience or while they wait to name a permanent captain.</p><p>Read more <b>&lsquo;Ask Adam&rsquo;</b> every Friday at <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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ASK ADAM

<p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>f the NHL returns for 2012-13, it&rsquo;ll be with a compressed sked. We won&rsquo;t get the three games in three nights the NBA used for its shortened &rsquo;11-12 season, but players will have to perform with less rest than usual. Here&rsquo;s how teams have fared (pts pct.) in the tightest parts of the schedule since the &rsquo;04-05 lockout:</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-012236/9729814-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="844" height="2316"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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SCHEDULE SQUEEZE

<div class="byline">PHOTOGRAPH BY TERRY WILSON CHL IMAGES</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-012186/9729334-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"></div><h2><b>Prospect Watch</b></h2><p><b>Many of the NHL&rsquo;s next in line faced each other as Team Russia battled Team OHL in the Subway Super Series.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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THE BIG PICTURE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-012225/9729379-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="907" height="580"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JAMIE HODGSON/THN)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>LISTEN UP!</b></p><p><b>THE HOCKEY NEWS RADIO SHOW</b></p><p>&nbsp;<b>FRIDAYS 2-3 EST XM 92</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021887/9729372-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="155" height="155"></div><p><b>SIRIUS 207</b></p><p><b>The</b>&nbsp;<b>Hockey Hall of Fame</b> is a little like chocolate. Even when it&rsquo;s bad, it&rsquo;s good. The building, the artifacts, and the happy hockey love the Hall spreads are all wonderful. The selection of honored members? That&rsquo;s where things can get dicey. The debate stoked by the concontroversial picks, however, is terrific fodder for passionate pucksters.</p><p>This year&rsquo;s eyebrow-raiser, for some, is Mats Sundin. A supremely gifted player who had a marvellous career, Sundin never won a major individual award or Stanley Cup and was named an end-of-season all-star just twice (both second team). His resume is similar to his pal and compatriot&rsquo;s, Daniel Alfredsson, the focus of our feature on pg. 24. Which begs the question: what will the Hall do with Ottawa&rsquo;s favorite son three, four, five years after he retires?</p><p>An informal THN office survey found most of our editors on the &ldquo;nay&rdquo; side; that &lsquo;Alfie&rsquo; falls just shy of having the requisite credentials. A poll we conducted online, conversely, gave No. 11 a slim 53% approval rating for enshrinement. Call it a split decision.</p><p>Here&rsquo;s the case for inclusion. Alfredsson compares favorably to a handful of players who already have plaques on the honored member wall. And while his numbers aren&rsquo;t top-10, the bulk of his career was played during the Dead Puck Era and he lost an entire season to the lockout. Incorporate 82 more games and he&rsquo;s likely in the same all-time points territory (top 50) as Michel Goulet, and ahead of guys such as Darryl Sittler. Alfredsson has never dominated the league, but did win the Calder Trophy and has been remarkably consistent and durable.</p><p>All of that may leave him as a long shot, but what could tip the scales is his community involvement. Alfredsson is a demi-god in Ottawa, the most beloved player in the league in his own market. Captain of the Sens since 1999, his charity work is supreme. He is a champion at raising awareness for mental health, is a board member for the Boys & Girls Club and is known to make surprise visits to various youth events. The NHL recognized him with the 2012 King Clancy Award for leadership and humanitarianism. It&rsquo;s hard to find anyone who has met him to find a bad word to say about him. Even Torontonians.</p><p>Those qualities and their impact will be as much a part of Alfredsson&rsquo;s legacy as the goals and assists. Maybe more. They shouldn&rsquo;t be deemed irrelevant.</p><p><b>NEXT</b>&nbsp;<b>ISSUE</b> DECEMBER 17, 2012</p><p><b>CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TO SUBSCRIBE:</b> <a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a></p><p><b>CONTACT US:</b> <a href="mailto:editorial@thehockeynews.com">editorial@thehockeynews.com</a></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031521/9729365-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="414" height="222"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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Is Alfredsson Hall Material?

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012455/9729448-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(IGINLA: GERRY THOMAS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span> like Jarome Iginla, but I disagree with his suggestions to make the nets bigger and streamline goalie equipment (&ldquo;How To Make Hockey Even Better,&rdquo; Nov. 12). Why are people always trying to impede the evolution of goaltending? Goalies are better athletes now. They finally have specific coaching (something skaters have had all along) and every time the gear is made smaller the goalies just get quicker. If you make the nets bigger and the gear smaller, then take away composite sticks and curved blades from the skaters.</b></p><p><b><i>Greg Moore, Ottawa</i></b></p><h2><b>Room To Grow</b></h2><p>Bobby Holik hit it bang on in &ldquo;How To Make Hockey Even Better.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s so obvious that because players are bigger and faster now they need more room on the ice to avoid the collisions and be able to execute more exciting and skilled moves. The NHL has to realize a larger ice surface is the best way to protect their investment in their players. They may have to lose a few seats, but the on-ice product would be a lot better.</p><p><i>Vic Williams, Richmond Hill, Ont.</i></p><h2><b>&lsquo;Ronnie Fan-chise&rsquo;</b></h2><p>I took my 10-year-old daughter to a Penguins game in the mid-90s and went down to see the players as they left the arena. Out came Ron Francis. Tall, good looking, my daughter was floating off the ground. With hundreds of fans yelling for him, he walked directly to her and signed a card. Ron made her a fan for life that night. She now has a shrine for Sidney Crosby, but I give the credit to Ronnie for being the gentleman he is.</p><p><i>Bob Thoma, Greensburg, Pa.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021670/9729441-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="511" height="678"></div><h2><b>One For The Ages</b></h2><p>I loved your Best of Hockey History. There were so many things I learned about the sport I love so much. I especially liked the nicknames; I just wished you touched more on how they got them. You could probably dedicate a whole issue to that. It&rsquo;s a shame hockey today doesn&rsquo;t have the personality. It&rsquo;s all about money now. Let&rsquo;s hope the battle between the billionaires and millionaires ends soon. Then we can get back to the greatest sport on earth and make more intriguing stories to fill your awesome magazine.</p><p><i>Tony Giannini, Toronto</i></p><p>The Best of Hockey History was so insightful and educating, a crash course in hockey history. It is amazing how you fit so much history into fewer than 200 pages. I salute you for a job well done.</p><p><i>Joel Hatcher, Corner Brook, Nfld.</i></p><h2><b>The Eh?-HL</b></h2><p>Hershey dead last in the East? Seriously? (AHL Predictions, Nov. 5) Yes, the Bears lost Chris Bourque and Keith Aucoin, but they added proven scoring in Jeff Taffe and Jon DiSalvatore, as well as Stanislav Galiev. And don&rsquo;t forget Ryan Potulny is still around, plus NHLers Dmitry Orlov and Braden Holtby. What gives?</p><p><i>Scott Longenecker, Annville, Pa.</i></p><p>Why is everybody so hyped on Oklahoma City? I think we&rsquo;re finding out fast the AHL is no joke, as Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are failing to produce like most assumed. It&rsquo;s a shame first-place Abbotsford get overlooked because of our neighbors to the north. Three good players do not equal a good team.</p><p><i>Ben Duncan, Calgary</i></p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03994/9729434-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="107" height="108"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p><b>@thehockeynews:</b></p><h2><b>I HATE _______ BECAUSE HE________.</b></h2><p><b>Justin Blackmore @JBlackmore10:</b></p><p>I hate Ilya Bryzgalov because he hates bears! #gottalovebears.</p><p><b>Rob @Brickish76:</b></p><p>I hate Alexandre Burrows because he literally BITES.</p><p><b>Alexander Law @zander_law:</b></p><p>I hate Brad Marchand because he is so good at what he does. This is coming from Habs/Nucks fan. #agitator</p><p><b>Charlie Arsenault @BigB0I96:</b></p><p>I hate Patrick Kane because he isn&rsquo;t sanitary. He hasn&rsquo;t washed his hands in years. #DirtyDangles</p><p><b>Michael Alper @mikealper:</b></p><p>I hate George Parros because my moustache will never be as good as his.</p><p><b>Brandon @IATEMYBROTHER:</b></p><p>I hate Henrik Lundqvist because my girlfriend thinks he&rsquo;s &ldquo;the hottest guy ever.&rdquo;</p><p><b>Justin Brown @Brownster4:</b></p><p>I hate Alex Semin because his fighting style mimics that of a newborn child.</p><p><b>Cody Alcorn @cdalcorn:</b></p><p>I hate Scott Hartnell&hellip;who doesn&rsquo;t? #suckitphaneuf</p><p><b>Submit your letter at: <a href="http://THN.COM/LETTERS">thn.com/letters</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0006-01

FLAME WAR

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021482/9729479-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="483" height="625"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ALFREDSSON: ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-012173/9729486-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="94" height="93"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p><a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a></p><p><b>Yes 53%</b></p><p>No 47%<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0007-02

POLLRESULTS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021792/9729555-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="478" height="342"><figcaption class="caption-body">NINO NIEDERREITER <span class="photo-credit">(NIEDERREITER: CHRISTOPHER PASATIERI/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-012345/9729576-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="169" height="142"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(YAKUPOV: TERRY WILSON/CHL IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>19</b>&nbsp;Games needed for Russia to beat the Ontario League team for the first time ever in the Subway Super Series. A 2-1 victory Nov. 8 ended the drought.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-05516/9729569-1-eng-US/f0008-052.jpg" title="f0008-05" width="94" height="93"></div><p><a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a></p><p><b>There were only two</b> matters on Devils GM Lou Lamoriello&rsquo;s mind as Superstorm Sandy powered its way up the East Coast of America and plunged 2.8 million other New Jerseyans into darkness: were his family and players in the path of the storm OK?</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04725/9729562-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="111" height="126"></div><p>Lamoriello started making calls. &ldquo;I checked up on all the players who are here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everyone fared fine. Certainly there was inconvenience, but everybody is fine.&rdquo;</p><p>Many others were not so fortunate and within days the hockey community stepped forward to help those who lost homes to flooding and damaging winds. The St. Louis Blues and Nashville Predators alumni scheduled a charity game Nov. 10 to partially benefit those affected by the storm.</p><p>Ex-NHLer Sean Avery had a video filmed by Casey and Dean Neistat chronicling the flood in Manhattan. The brothers got $500 for the video, posted to YouTube, and used the money to buy clothes for those in need. The Buffalo Sabres Foundation and Alumni Association packed 5,000 meals for under-fed kids in the hardest-hit areas.</p><p>The Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American League announced free admission to home games against Hershey and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve seen the damage &ndash; we feel it,&rdquo; said Sound Tigers president Howard Saffan. &ldquo;We want to give back to the community.&rdquo;</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-031272/9729548-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="1075" height="894"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>POWERLESS</b></p><p><b>Sandy&rsquo;s winds and flooding left almost three million Americans without electricity.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(SANDY: SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Bridgeport players distributed free tickets at malls. Fans who already had tickets got to exchange them for any other home game this season not against the rival Connecticut Whale.</p><p>The ECHL Trenton Titans offered a free ticket for each case of bottled water donated during their home game against the Reading Royals. Hundreds of cases and bags of clothing, toiletries and non-perishable food were brought to the Sun National Bank Center.</p><p>Arena operations in the area reported no serious damage to buildings besides power outages and fallen trees. Because of the lockout, the NHL wasn&rsquo;t directly impacted, but players and coaches were. Carolina Hurricanes assistant coach John MacLean, who still lives in New Jersey, packed up his family and went south. &ldquo;We had no power and the boys didn&rsquo;t have school, so we&rsquo;re living with the Mullers in Raleigh right now,&rdquo; MacLean said, referring to Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller. &ldquo;I came to get a little work done, like watching the minor league team.&rdquo;</p><p>Rangers center Brad Richards returned from Florida two days after Sandy hit and joined teammates in helping victims. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a bunch of good guys on the team,&rdquo; he told the Tampa Bay <i>Times</i>. &ldquo;Guys want to get together and help any way we can.&rdquo;</p><p>He was joined by Steve Eminger and Brian Boyle. &ldquo;The whole city is pulling together,&rdquo; Richards said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not something we&rsquo;re doing to get our names in the paper. It&rsquo;s just something we&rsquo;re doing.&rdquo;</p><p>New Jersey was hit hardest by Sandy, which shook retired Devils defenseman and current TV analyst Ken Daneyko. &ldquo;What a terrible thing for a lot of people,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You watch it all on TV. We lost power but we&rsquo;ve gotten it back. Not so bad. A few friends got hit hard. A buddy lost his house at the Shore. He had a place right on the beach in Mantoloking which was totalled. But he&rsquo;s fine.&rdquo;</p><p>Most players contacted went without electricity for a week or more. Some, like Devils goalie Martin Brodeur, had a generator. But even with the long gas lines, no power and debris strewn across the state, Sandy didn&rsquo;t shut in Lamoriello. &ldquo;We were without power at home and didn&rsquo;t get it back for a week,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I came to work. We had power (at the Prudential Center in Newark) after a few days. But everybody had it worse, so I don&rsquo;t want to talk about me. For me, it was a lot of little things, but it&rsquo;s been catastrophic for other people.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-02

Lending A Hand

<div class="byline">By Charlie Teljeur</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012318/9729607-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0010-01

The Instigator

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-0/9729638-1-eng-US/f0010-02.jpg" title="f0010-0" width="685" height="694"></div><h2><b>+PLUS</b></h2><h3><b>&lsquo;V&rsquo; FOR VACATION &ndash; AND VICTORY</b></h3><p class="dropcap"><i><span>H</span>awks D-man</i>&nbsp;<b><i>Johnny Oduya</i></b>&nbsp;<i>vacations in Thailand and decides to play there. He leads his team to the title in a tourney that also features Vesa Toskala playing forward.</i></p><h2><b>&ndash;MINUS</b></h2><h3><b>UNHOLY LAND</b></h3><p><i>OHL&rsquo;s Brampton Battalion relocating to North Bay, citing poor attendance. So much for Greater T.O. being hockey&rsquo;s Mecca.</i></p><h2><b>+PLUS</b></h2><h3><b>HORAK ON FIRE IN ABBOTSFORD</b></h3><p><i>Flames prospect gets dubbed &ldquo;Roman Scorak&rdquo; after 10 goals in 10 games (including first career hat trick) to lead AHL in goal-scoring.</i></p><h2><b>&ndash;MINUS</b></h2><h3><b>GEAR GRAB</b></h3><p><i>Criminal masterminds steal equipment from NAHL&rsquo;s Fresno Monsters and are busted selling it back to an undercover cop posing as a player.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-0

PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; NATHAN CADDELL</div><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>f you&rsquo;re a hockey fan, especially one who favors the fisticuffs, you&rsquo;ve probably heard the saying &ldquo;down goes Brown!&rdquo; In 1992, during a game at Maple Leaf Gardens, the Leafs&rsquo; Sylvain Lefebvre and the Blackhawks&rsquo; Rob Brown dropped the gloves and traded punches until Lefebvre sent Brown to the ice, prompting broadcaster Joe Bowen to proclaim the memorable three words.</p><p>Sixteen years later, writer Sean McIndoe decided to start a blog using Bowen&rsquo;s call as its namesake. This year, on the 20th anniversary of Lefebvre dropping Brown, <i>The Best of Down Goes Brown</i> is out with forewords by TSN&rsquo;s Bob McKenzie and James Duthie.</p><p>From the first chapter, the lifelong Leafs fan will have you laughing &ndash; and not just at the misfortunes of his favorite team. McIndoe&rsquo;s collection is vast, topical and poignant, parodying everything hockey. His chapters are not only scathingly satirical, they&rsquo;re also in-depth and detailed, covering a range of topics and poking fun at everything from the broadcasting of games to Wayne Gretzky.</p><p>But as funny as the book is &ndash; and it&rsquo;s hilarious &ndash; it&rsquo;s almost too much of a good thing, like eating a giant tub of M&M&rsquo;s. There are only so many jabs at the way the NHL is run that even the most cynical fan can absorb. Another hitch is repetition. In a 270-page comedic collection all about hockey, you&rsquo;re bound to run into the same punch lines (Kerry Fraser&rsquo;s non-call on Wayne Gretzky comes to mind).</p><p>Overall, McIndoe&rsquo;s book is a great read. If the lockout has you down, <i>The Best of Down Goes Brown</i> will put a smile back on your face.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-031094/9729669-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="520" height="792"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ODUYA: BILL SMITH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0010-03

JOKES ’N’ JABS, IT’S ALL UP FOR GRABS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; CANDICE MONHOLLAN</div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>F</span>or most, June 19, 2012,</b> was just another day in the off-season. For Chris Kushneriuk, it was the day he&rsquo;ll never forget. The 25-year-old Ottawa native was training for the upcoming ECHL season when dull, achy pain in his side and back sent him to the hospital. &ldquo;I remember I was just sitting there thinking I feel fine,&rdquo; Kushneriuk said. &ldquo;The doctor comes in and goes, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t know how to tell you this, but you have testicular cancer.&rsquo; The next day I was in for surgery and a couple weeks after that, chemotherapy.&rdquo;</p><p>The news sent shockwaves through many in the hockey community. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re so stunned and bewildered at how this could happen to a young, healthy professional hockey player,&rdquo; said Zach Hervato, his friend and former teammate at Robert Morris University.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011936/9729700-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="661" height="840"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>COLONIALS CARE</b></p><p><b>Chris Kushneriuk has seen an outpouring from his former college team, Robert Morris.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(COURTESY OF CHRIS KUSHNERIUK)</span></figcaption></div><p>Since the news broke, support has poured Kushneriuk&rsquo;s way. Bakersfield, the team he was to play on, had him on speakerphone on the ice at the end of October and everyone said a prayer with him. They also hung his jersey in the room. &ldquo;We feel like he should be in the locker room with us,&rdquo; said Condors teammate Evan Trupp. &ldquo;It hangs there every game and practice as a reminder to all of us who we&rsquo;re playing for every night.&rdquo;</p><p>RMU coach Derek Schooley has spearheaded fundraisers in honor of Kushneriuk, including an awareness weekend, a team autograph session and bracelets that read, &ldquo;RMU Krushes Cancer.&rdquo; The team also participated in &lsquo;Movember&rsquo; to raise money for various men&rsquo;s health issues. &ldquo;When Chris was comfortable letting the world know he had testicular cancer, plans took off from there,&rdquo; Schooley said. &ldquo;He was an integral part of our program and he still is.&rdquo;</p><p>Kushneriuk was preparing for another surgery Nov. 19 to remove part of his liver and affected lymph nodes in his abdomen, but doctors are optimistic, perhaps with another round of chemotherapy, that will be the end of the cancer. He continues to look toward the future and the chance to play again. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve come to realize how big of a part hockey has in my life and what I would do is try to use the game to reach out to others,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Down the road, I want to be much more actively involved in cancer awareness and raising money to help eliminate the disease.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0011-01

Rallying Point

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ADAM KOVAC</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012261/9729731-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">THN COPY EDITOR MATT LARKIN <span class="photo-credit">(THN)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>wo months into the</b> lockout and nobody is a winner. Not the players. Not the owners. Not the arena employees. Or the laid-off mascots. But there might be an entity celebrating during these tough hockey times: the Canadian economy.</p><p>Turns out, all those hours you spend secretly deciding between starting Cam Ward or Ryan Miller in net while you think your boss isn&rsquo;t watching actually add up to the tune of $2.9 billion per year.</p><p>Give or take a few tens of millions.</p><p>It turns out fantasy sports are pretty popular with the big four sports, totalling 36 million fantasy GMs between them. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s more than play golf,&rdquo; said Paul Charchian, president of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. &ldquo;Not fantasy golf. Golf.&rdquo;</p><p>James Pedderson is the director of public relations for Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., an outplacement job-consulting firm. CGC made some waves back in September when it released a study that, despite being tongue in cheek, they maintain is fairly accurate. According to the study, fantasy football costs the U.S. economy $6.5 billion per year in lost productivity.</p><p>Pedderson applied the formula to fantasy hockey. While not nearly as popular as its football counterpart &ndash; which accounts for roughly three quarters of all fantasy players &ndash; there are still 5.8 million puckheads champing at the bit to finally get their virtual drafts underway.</p><p>The result? Using an average wage calculated by GCG and assuming every fantasizer wasted an hour a week at work futzing with his roster, fantasy hockey costs Canadian and American employers a $111 million per week.</p><p>If you&rsquo;re feeling bad for yourself for not having any scratches to make tonight, or for your employers for the amount of money you&rsquo;ve cost them over the years, hold on. Whenever you think you have it bad, somebody else has it worse. Scott Cullen, who is the go-to guy for fantasy sports at TSN, doesn&rsquo;t play in a fantasy hockey league. He plays in five or six. And, as he dryly notes, fantasy hockey isn&rsquo;t just a good way for him to goof off at his desk; it also drives most of the web traffic on his columns. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s basically my job, but I&rsquo;ll actually play two or three hours a week at work,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;Any fantasy sports will get in the way of your productivity at work, depending on how interested you are in winning.&rdquo;</p><p>Unlike a lot of us other shlubs tempted to do some actual work when we show up to our jobs, Cullen has an easy way out &ndash; he&rsquo;s just shifted his attention to basketball and football. For other fantasy hockey fanatics, as the snow approaches, you may find yourself inconsolable with so much time to ponder drafts, matchups, lineups you might never see, waiver pickups you&rsquo;ll never make and mastermind trades you&rsquo;ll never execute. But take heart: in these tough times, every little bit helps in this economy.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-01

Dream Teams Are A Boss’ Nightmare

<div class="byline">&#x2013; LIZ BEVAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-031150/9729769-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="628" height="595"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04689/9729783-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="136" height="136"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><a href="http://KUKLASKORNER.COM"><span>K</span>UKLASKORNER.COM</a></b>is one of the most comprehensive sites dedicated to hockey to be found on the web. The site is a hodge-podge of information from all over the hockey-verse. They transcribe television interviews for readers and provide things that normally wouldn&rsquo;t have been available in print. The collection of blogs that are linked to Kukla&rsquo;s Korner is astounding. There are general hockey blogs, as well as a collection based on division. The writers at Kukla&rsquo;s Korner are thorough and make sure to throw in somemulti-media to keep their readers interested. Their focus is mostly on the NHL, but there are a few articles about the minor leagues as well.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021781/9729776-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="129" height="129"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>HE SAID What!?</b></h2><p><b>SOME PEOPLE SAY 4 MORE YEARS OF OBAMA. I LOOK AT IT MORE LIKE 4 MORE YEARS OF DISGRUNTLED GOALIE POLITICALLY CHARGED FACEBOOK RANTS! #I TT</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05481/9729762-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="150" height="148"></div><p><b>@STROMBONE1</b> (widely believed to be Roberto Luongo)<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-03

CLICK THIS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; BRIAN COSTELLO </div><div class="byline">BY ANDREW BRETHAUER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021680/9729852-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>SERGEI GONCHAR</b> <span class="photo-credit">(GONCHAR: RICHARD WOLOWICZ/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>B</span>ooks can be written</b> about collateral damage caused by the NHL work stoppage. But one vein seldom discussed is that about 100 regulars from 2011-12 will never again play in the NHL if 2012-13 is lost to lockout.</p><p>Some will be among those standing in solidarity behind NHL Players&rsquo; Association boss Donald Fehr as he addresses media. They&rsquo;ll have sacrificed their 2012-13 salary in the name of remaining unified only to be transferred to the retired players category of the NHL Guide and Record Book.</p><p>Here&rsquo;s what we know from the previous lockout. In 2003-04, there were 1,010 players with at least one game played. Research shows 240 of them (23.8 percent) never played another game in the NHL after the lockout was settled. About half were bit players (114 skaters with 20 or fewer games). Among the rest were aging vets on the cusp of retirement &ndash; Scott Stevens, Mark Messier, Ron Francis, Al MacInnis and Adam Oates.</p><p>The number 240 sounds like a lot, but it&rsquo;s largely natural turnover yearly. How does this compare to any given season? We took 2008-09 as a random example. There were 974 players who played at least one game in the NHL. Of those, 138 (or 14.2 percent) never played another game in the NHL. The bulk of natural turnover are cup-of-coffee guys who play a few games, but never make it back again. A much smaller number are guys who retire or return to Europe.</p><p>So what does this mean? The percentage was higher in the season before the lockout (23.8 percent) because an extra 12 months expired, meaning another wave of players slipped into retirement. But here&rsquo;s the kicker: there wasn&rsquo;t that large segment of the cup-of-coffee guys because there were no games. Why did the number increase by almost 100? We can speculate a certain percentage of players who didn&rsquo;t play during the lockout lost their edge and couldn&rsquo;t regain it competing against a younger class of graduating junior and American Leaguers.</p><p>How can we extrapolate this if 2012-13 is lost to a lockout?</p><p>In 2011-12, there were 983 players who played at least one game in the NHL. Because of natural turnover, we can project 14.2 percent of them (139 players) won&rsquo;t play again in the NHL. No big deal, it happens every season. But using the 2004-05 lockout as a case study, we can predict another 9.6 percent (the difference between 23.8 percent and 14.2) or 95 more players &ndash; like 38-year-old Sergei Gonchar in the last year of a big contract &ndash; won&rsquo;t be back for 2013-14.</p><p>An allowance must be made for the fact new rules enforcement steered some players away from returning in 2005-06. And the salary cap cost some vets their jobs at the expense of younger, less costly talent. Also, it&rsquo;s a safe assumption most top-six forwards and top-four &lsquo;D&rsquo; will be immune from this projected hike in job turnover when the NHL does return to action.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011938/9729845-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="1189" height="1464"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(TIM SESTITO: ANDY MARLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES; TOM SESTITO: LEN REDKOLES/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0014-02

Good-bye Guys

<div class="byline">&#x2013; CLIVE BRANSON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021372/9729883-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="470" height="453"></div><h2><b>VANCOUVER CANUCKS (1970 - Present)</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he first pro hockey team in Vancouver was called the Millionaires (1911-1922), later renamed the Maroons (1924-1926). They played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, which became the Western Hockey League, before folding in 1926. It wasn&rsquo;t until 1970 that Vancouver claimed a new pro team, the Canucks, through NHL expansion. The name comes from two resources: Johnny Canuck was an animated political cartoon character from 1869, later reinvented as a blue-collar action hero who combated Nazis. He has been portrayed in various ways over the years, from a dashing, pipe-smoking military officer to a barrel-chested, toque-wearing lumberjack. Also, the word Canuck is an old slang term, like Yankee, that can be traced from the words Canada and Chinook. The Chinook are a western aboriginal people in British Columbia.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0015-02

WHAT’S IN A Name?

<div class="byline">WITH KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-021119/9729952-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>GOALS ARE PLENTY IN GUELPH</b></p><p><b>Andy Bathgate leads the Canadian university ranks with 12 tallies.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(KEN CAMPBELL/THN)</span></figcaption></div><p>A regular feature on grassroots hockey through the lockout</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011520/9729959-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="188" height="223"></div><p><b>Grandpa</b>&nbsp;<b>must have indeed</b> been proud. They didn&rsquo;t make them much tougher than Andy Bathgate back in the day. And the modern-day version of Andy Bathgate is no shrinking violet, either.</p><p>That 21-year-old Bathgate is making a name for himself in Guelph more than 60 years after his Hall of Fame grandfather captained the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters to the Memorial Cup is a matter of coincidence. What is not is that Bathgate inherited the stubborn and resilient gene. Not long after he scored his nation-leading 12th goal for the Guelph Gryphons, he was hit from behind to the ice, separating his shoulder badly.</p><p>He was familiar with the agony of the injury, having separated his right shoulder before and having two surgeries performed on it while playing in junior. To mix things up, though, he wrecked his left shoulder this time. But instead of going to the hospital, Bathgate hoped putting it on ice and resting it for a day or two would have him back in the lineup to keep up his torrid scoring pace. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a hockey player,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can take it.&rdquo;</p><p>Those words must be sweet music to the ears of his grandfather, who played in the NHL at almost the identical height (6-foot-1) and weight (177 pounds), but was considered a behemoth during his era. If anything, his grandson is a little undersized by NHL standards. It will be all but impossible for Bathgate &ndash; a 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins fifth round draft pick (151st overall) &ndash; to replicate his grandfather&rsquo;s feats in the NHL, but he embraces sharing the first and last names of a Hall of Famer rather than seeing it as a millstone. Bathgate is abundantly proud of his grandfather, no more so than when he got the thrill of his life by being invited to the New York Rangers rookie camp in the fall. His grandfather spent the bulk of his career in New York and would be on the short list of all-time great Rangers. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never forget walking into the practice rink and seeing No. 9 and Bathgate up in the rafters,&rdquo; the grandson said. &ldquo;The first day, probably eight or nine of the guys asked me, &lsquo;Hey, are you related to that guy who&rsquo;s hanging in the rafters?&rsquo; And I was like, &lsquo;Yeah, that&rsquo;s my grandfather.&rsquo; It made me so proud.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>I wouldn&rsquo;t change my name for the world</b><br><b><i>&ndash; Andy Bathgate</i></b></blockquote><p>After playing four years in the Ontario League for the Belleville Bulls and Plymouth Whalers, Bathgate has taken Canadian university hockey by storm as a freshman. After just 11 games, he was leading the country in goals and points (19). His famous grandfather comes to games when he can, but usually waits a few days to call his grandson to go over the finer points. He has been a big part of his grandson&rsquo;s hockey career, serving as an assistant coach under his son (and the younger Bathgate&rsquo;s father), Billy. Not only did he pass on hockey DNA, but he was always analyzing his grandson&rsquo;s game and helping him refine it. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s my grandfather,&rdquo; the younger Bathgate said, &ldquo;but from a hockey point of view, he&rsquo;s a genius.&rdquo;</p><p>Not that he always felt that way about his grandfather. He knew growing up that he had played in the NHL and been a big deal, but had no idea how good his grandfather was until he did a little research as a teenager. When he was eight or nine years old, people lacking perspective told him he would never be as good as his grandfather. Bathgate always wondered why people fawned over his grandfather, but later gained an appreciation for his career. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t change my name for the world &ndash; I love it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Whenever someone asks me about my grandfather, I&rsquo;ll have a conversation with anyone about it.&rdquo;</p><p>The NHL is now fading for Bathgate, who played two American League games when he was in the Penguins organization. But he continues to chase the dream and hopes to one day play professionally in Europe. He had a chance to play with Ambri-Piotta in Switzerland, where his grandfather also spent two years playing, but that was scuttled by the lockout. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never give up the dream,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll keep playing until I can&rsquo;t play anymore.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>BOX SCORE</b></h2><p><b>Nov. 8</b> &ndash; Gryphon Centre Arena, Guelph, Ont.</p><p><b>University of Guelph Gryphons</b> 7</p><p>Andy Bathgate, Jon-Thomas MacDonald, Nicklas Huard, Michael Charbonneau, Michael Hasson, James Merrett, Jordan Mock</p><p><b>University of Toronto Blues</b> 4</p><p>Kyle Ventura (2), Paul Van De Velde (2)<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0022-02

Name Of The Game

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011463/9730011-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>D</span></b>uring the month of October, little Hugo Alfredsson&rsquo;s minor atom team played 15 games and had eight practices. There&rsquo;s something about that kind of ratio for nine-year-old kids that doesn&rsquo;t sit really well with Hugo&rsquo;s dad, who, for the first time in his career has both a child playing competitive hockey and the time to ponder such weighty matters.</p><p>For players his son&rsquo;s age, Daniel Alfredsson would much rather see three practices for every game, not two games for each practice. For himself, he&rsquo;d like to see any combination of the two, but if there&rsquo;s any way a guy could actually be enjoying the lockout, Alfredsson has found a way. Alfredsson came back from Sweden with a renewed sense of vigor, ready to play some of the best hockey of his career for some of the worst money of his career. While the wait continues, the Kanata Blazers minor atom A team will have to be content with having the two most overqualified assistant coaches in their history.</p><p>Alfredsson is on hand most practices to help his younger brother, Henric, who coaches the team. So is Ottawa Senators defenseman Chris Phillips, whose son Ben also plays for the Blazers. Alfredsson and Phillips dutifully fulfilled the obligations to be certified as Level I coaches in Canada. But the coaching and bloodlines haven&rsquo;t translated into a huge amount of success for the Blazers, who were 3-9-1 out of the gate in the Ontario East Minor Hockey League. The scouting report on Hugo, meanwhile, is pretty much the same as it is for his father. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s definitely not the strongest skater,&rdquo; Henric says, &ldquo;but he&rsquo;s very, very smart. He&rsquo;s very aware of what&rsquo;s going on out on the ice and it&rsquo;s tough to teach that. You either have it or you don&rsquo;t. We have guys who can shoot the puck and skate like the wind, but if you ask them to be in a certain spot, they just don&rsquo;t know how to do that.&rdquo;</p><p>It&rsquo;s clear Alfredsson and his son share a certain innate talent for reading plays. As a coach, Henric notices his older brother has another natural talent for dealing with young kids. When Alfredsson started coming to help out during practice, he would get down on his knees and look the players right in the eyes when he was instructing them. Perhaps that has something to do with how little impressed with himself he is or the fact he has four young boys at home. But as expected, Alfredsson doesn&rsquo;t do the big, imposing authority figure very well. It&rsquo;s that everyman quality, along with an abundance of talent, that has made Alfredsson one of the most respected players in the league and the most loved ever to play in Ottawa.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>I had a few seasons when I didn't play my best, but the Hall of Fame isn't a goal of mine</b><br>- Daniel Alfredsson</blockquote><p>Consider that when the Senators signed Alfredsson to his current four-year deal worth $19.5 million, the contract was front-loaded with $14 million in the first two seasons and just $1 million for 2012-13. Alfredsson could have retired or demanded the Senators extend his contract to make up for the wages he&rsquo;ll earn this season, if they play. But Alfredsson reasons that he made most of his money up front, so it&rsquo;s only fair to fulfill his commitment now. Imagine that. And just to back it up, Alfredsson went home this summer and, unhampered by back problems for the first time in years, trained with track and field coach Peter Froberg, who focused less on his legs and more on his trunk. As a result, Alfredsson came back to Canada in the best shape in years and with a renewed eagerness to get on the ice.</p><p>Instead of retiring after this season, Alfredsson is now talking about playing a couple more seasons. He&rsquo;s made it clear to the Senators that, at this point in his career, he&rsquo;s going to opt for the Nicklas Lidstrom plan, which would put him on a series of one-year contracts until he decides he doesn&rsquo;t want to do it anymore.</p><p>Now that Alfredsson has had a chance to be around his family so much, when he does decide to retire it won&rsquo;t be because his body has worn out. In fact, he admits to being torn between wanting to continue his career and try to win a Stanley Cup and spending more time with his wife and four sons. &ldquo;I find the travel the toughest part, not the games,&rdquo; Alfredsson says. &ldquo;Being away from the family is hard, but at the same time, winning hockey games and travelling home with the team is also a pretty good feeling. But I find the time when you get into a city until the game next day, there&rsquo;s a lot of dead time there where I feel I could be of more use some-where else sometimes.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-011286/9730004-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="949" height="1467"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>LIFE&rsquo;S BOTH LOVES</p><p>Daniel Alfredsson spent much of the lockout as assistant coach for his nine-year-old son Hugo&rsquo;s youth hockey team.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(DAVE SANDFORD/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Places such as home. At one point during the lockout, Alfredsson joked to an Ottawa reporter that he is the home&rsquo;s &ldquo;official toilet wiper.&rdquo; Let&rsquo;s just say he has four boys and their aim is not quite as good as bearing down on an open net. You figure it out. The same way he gets down on his knees during practice with the Kanata Blazers, he&rsquo;s often spending much of his time at home looking into the eyes of Hugo, Loui, Fenix and William Alfredsson. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s great with kids,&rdquo; Henric says. &ldquo;I see him with the kids in the basement and he does things in the way that a normal dad would not be able to explain to his kids.&rdquo;</p><p>There is little doubt that even at 40, which he will be in December, Alfredsson still has a lot left to give on the ice. After a disastrous 2010-11 for himself and the Senators, Alfredsson rebounded with 27 goals last season for a team that overachieved and surprised everyone in hockey. The Senators are bounding with young talent and they could do a lot worse than having a guy like Alfredsson around to usher it along. But Alfredsson is also a proud man and will not stand for simply being one of those guys who&rsquo;s &ldquo;good in the room.&rdquo; As long as he feels he can make a contribution to the Senators&rsquo; top two lines and not take ice time from a more deserving player, he&rsquo;ll continue playing. And as long as he has summers as pain-free and productive in the gym as this past one, the fire will continue to burn. If the lockout wipes out the season, Alfredsson says he&rsquo;ll start looking around for a team to join in January. &ldquo;I get the sense that if he feels he can play to a decent level, he&rsquo;d like to play a little longer,&rdquo; says Senators GM Bryan Murray. &ldquo;When I talked to him this summer, he said, &lsquo;I feel so good now, I wish I had been doing this for the past few years.&rsquo; Things like that excite older players. Before the lockout, I would go and watch the guys work out and Alfie looked like Alfie. He certainly appears to love working out.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011472/9729997-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="1398" height="1215"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>ONES AND DONE</p><p>After his long-term deal expires at the end of 2012-13, Alfredsson will play on one-year contracts until he retires.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(RICHARD WOLOWICZ/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>That singular dedication, Henric maintains, comes directly from their father and mother. Hasse Alfredsson spent most of his working life doing manual labor, installing fiber optic cables for the national telephone company. He was a good athlete, too, who never, ever let his son win at anything. That way, when Daniel finally was able to beat his father in tennis or on the track, there was a true feeling of accomplishment. Alfredsson&rsquo;s mother, Margareta, was stricken with multiple sclerosis more than 30 years ago and has been confined to a wheelchair for almost two decades. It&rsquo;s from her that Alfredsson gets his remarkable ability to shrug off injuries and return to the Senators lineup in record time. His sister, Cecilia, has had her struggles with mental health issues well documented.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>I'm not really good at anything, but I'm not bad at anything</b><br>- Daniel Alfredsson</blockquote><p>With that kind of grounding, plus the requisite Swedish characteristics of being ridiculously modest and low-maintenance, it&rsquo;s easy to see how Alfredsson doesn&rsquo;t get caught up in individual achievements. Which is something of a contradiction, since beneath the surface Alfredsson is an intensely proud man and one who hates losing at anything. And while he has never been more loved or enjoyed a more iconic existence in Ottawa than he does now, the lockout in 2004-05 and this one could be what keep Alfredsson out of the Hall of Fame.</p><p>Think about it. He would have played his rookie season in 1994-95 had it not been for the first lockout. Who knows what he and the Senators would have accomplished if 2004-05 had not been lost? Both he and the team were at the height of their talents and Alfredsson came back the next season and scored a career-high 43 goals and 103 points. When the league does start playing again, Alfredsson will enter the season with 416 career goals. If not for the lockouts, he would have had a legitimate shot at 500, something he thinks he&rsquo;ll need to play, &ldquo;until I&rsquo;m 50,&rdquo; to reach now. But Alfredsson&rsquo;s legacy is secure. He played his 1,000th career game in 2009-10 and is proud of having reached the 400-goal mark.</p><p>When Alfredsson says he doesn&rsquo;t need to be inducted into the Hall of Fame to validate his career, you believe him. But if you can make a case for Mats Sundin, why not Alfredsson? His career numbers aren&rsquo;t as gaudy, but he has two things Sundin does not &ndash; the Calder Trophy and an appearance in the Stanley Cup final. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t bother me one bit to be honest,&rdquo; Alfredsson says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m extremely proud of my career no matter what happens. There are a lot of what ifs. I had quite a few seasons where I didn&rsquo;t play my best or play to my potential. The Hall of Fame is not a goal of mine at all.&rdquo;</p><p>Whoa, back up there for a second. What&rsquo;s this about not playing to your potential? Alfredsson has been nothing if not consistent in his effort throughout his career. Injuries have played a part in slowing him down the past couple seasons, but nobody has ever questioned his commitment to the game. From the time Alfredsson landed in Ottawa in 1995, he has been remarkably consistent and durable. He has been a great player on bad teams and a great player on great teams. He has ushered the Senators through painful rebuilding periods, twice, and never once has his commitment to the team been questioned. He&rsquo;d never be confused with Hall of Fame defenseman Paul Coffey when it comes to skating ability, but he has worked hard over his career to improve his speed. He still gets to his share of pucks because of his vision and anticipation and once he gets the puck he&rsquo;s almost impossible to separate from it. There is no one area of his game that stands out, but there is just an incredible level of consistency of effort to his game. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really good at anything,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m not bad at anything.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-011365/9729990-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="949" height="716"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>BUILD AND RE-BUILD</p><p>Jason Spezza is a big part of Ottawa&rsquo;s second re-build. Alfredsson was there for the first one, a generation ago.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>That&rsquo;s because he puts in enormous amounts of himself into everything he does. Henric maintains that in almost every pursuit, including hockey, he has more talent than his brother. But Alfredsson became captain of the Ottawa Senators (and Henric&rsquo;s career ended with the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s) because of his willingness to go to any lengths to get better. When Alfredsson struggles with his golf game, he props his iPhone on a bench and takes a video of his swing to analyze it. It&rsquo;s all part of that delicate balance between humility and pride that he centers so well.</p><p>Alfredsson has come to the point when anything good that happens to him now &ndash; on the ice at least &ndash; is a bonus. He has already earned more than $61 million over the course of his career, so money will no longer be a motivating force. Like Lidstrom did, he&rsquo;ll retire from the game with something still to give, but will do so confident he made the right decision. Fans in Ottawa and true fans of the game have to hope that day doesn&rsquo;t come for at least a couple more years.</p><p>He won&rsquo;t continue to play if it&rsquo;s going to tarnish his hockey legacy. His off-ice legacy, meanwhile, is secure even by his standards. &ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m a role model and I take that seriously,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Sometimes too seriously. I want to be a guy that when Ottawa fans look back they saw me as a guy who worked hard and was a good person. Those are the two things that if I hear somebody say that, then I&rsquo;ll be extremely proud.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-01

ALFIE! ALFIE! ALFIE! ALFIE!

f0028-01

SAY HELLO TO THE BAD GUYS

<div class="byline">WITH ADAM PROTEAU</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02961/9730528-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>THE GOOD OLD DAYS</b></p><p><b>Dany Heatley&rsquo;s stock has plummeted since THN dubbed him &ldquo;face of the NHL&rdquo; in &rsquo;03.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(DYLAN LYNCH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-011352/9730535-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="207" height="245"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>M</span>any people you read</b> about on the preceding pages earned their mosthated mention the old-fashioned way: through an-over-the-line on-ice altercation, a consistently dominant performance against a particular team or simply being the best player on an archrival opponent.</p><p>Then there&rsquo;s the curious case of Minnesota Wild forward Dany Heatley. A little more than a decade ago, Heatley was one of pro hockey&rsquo;s brightest beacons, a collegiate star drafted second overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2000 who won the Calder Trophy in 2001-02 and topped 40 goals in his sophomore season. EA Sports selected him for the cover of its <i>NHL 2004</i> video game and THN named him &ldquo;The New Face Of The NHL&rdquo; in our Sept. 16, 2003 edition. He was next in a long line of humble Canadian kids destined to represent the best the sport had to offer.</p><p>But speak Heatley&rsquo;s name in any number of NHL locales these days and you&rsquo;re more likely to get a dismissive sneer or an angry epithet than you are an acknowledgement he once was a poster boy for the game. Heatley has arrived at his current position &ndash; in many ways, an afterthought,  but still able to bring groups of otherwise reasonable fans to froth at the mouth &ndash; by taking a path few will tread.</p><p>His life changed dramatically after his 2003 automobile accident that killed passenger and Thrashers teammate Dan Snyder and ended with Heatley pleading guilty to second-degree vehicular homicide. But though it obviously left him with lasting physical and emotional scars and led him to request a trade out of Atlanta, the tragedy didn&rsquo;t rob Heatley of his ability to play. In his first two seasons after Ottawa acquired him in 2005, Heatley posted a pair of 50-goal seasons and more than 100 points each year. With 15 assists and 22 points in 20 playoff games, he was an integral part of Ottawa&rsquo;s run to the 2007 Cup final.</p><p>It was only after Heatley signed a six-year, $45-million contract extension with the Senators in the fall of 2007 that his effectiveness waned and enmity for him mounted. His production plateaued and he clashed with then-coach Cory Clouston before demanding (and receiving) a trade in 2009. From that moment on, there no longer has been a place in Ottawa where you can extend your arms in any direction and not be touching a Heatley hater.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>He makes otherwise reasonable fans froth at the mouth</b></blockquote><p>Heatley&rsquo;s public persona had become radioactive. When he attended Canada&rsquo;s 2010 Olympic team training camp in Calgary &ndash; his hometown &ndash; Heatley had boos rained down upon him by fans. He&rsquo;d made the cardinal sin of asking to be traded from a successful team &ndash; and, gasp, a successful Canadian team &ndash; and thus wore the villain&rsquo;s hat from coast to coast. That Heatley engineered his way to a spectacular city like San Jose &ndash; after rejecting a deal to Edmonton &ndash; deepened the insult, but there was no need to assail him with hollered raspberries. He was getting punished by Father Time and, as it turns out, the business side of the game.</p><p>In his first year as a Shark, Heatley equalled the 39 goals he posted the season prior. In &rsquo;10-11, he slipped to 26 goals and that was the end of him in San Jose. He was dealt to Minnesota, where he scored just 24 goals last season. Today, when the Wild promote their future, they talk about prized signings Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. Heatley, the one-time franchise cornerstone, isn&rsquo;t in the conversation. Off the ice, the news is equally bleak: Heatley is in the midst of suing ex-agent Stacey McAlpine for allegedly illegally withdrawing more than $4 million from his earnings.</p><p>Undoubtedly, many fans always will regard Heatley as someone more than worthy of their undying hatred. Not me. I&rsquo;m not rooting for him, but I do think the regrettable choices he&rsquo;s made carry with them a harsher punishment than any boo-bird could create with a throaty jeer and bitter disposition. Hate on Heatley if you must, but understand that doing so at this stage is just piling on a player who hasn&rsquo;t reached the standard for hockey success.</p><p>WANT MORE PROTEAU? READ HIS EXCLUSIVE WEB COLUMN THURSDAYS AT <b><a href="http://THN.COM/PROTEAU">THN.COM/PROTEAU</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0035-02

From Shining Star To Career Condemned

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-011358/9730573-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALYONKA & IGOR LARIONOV</figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>P</span></b>arents have forever burdened their children with tales of how hard things were back in the day, but for the daughters of the NHL&rsquo;s first generation of Russians, that divide is extra-pronounced.</p><p>Anastasia Fetisova studies film in New York, but her father, multiple Stanley Cup-winner Slava Fetisov, grew up in a one-room apartment with his family in the Soviet Union. Water came in a bucket and froze in the winter. To slake his thirst, the young Fetisov would lick the cube. His skates cost his parents several months pay. The hardships he overcame to reach the NHL are not lost on his daughter &ndash; one of a group of young women who have grown up in North America after their fathers became trailblazers in the NHL. &ldquo;He talks to me all the time about it,&rdquo; Anastasia says. &ldquo;He had seen what life could be like. The first time he played in Canada (for the Soviet national team), there was a feast at the hotel and the players stuffed themselves.&rdquo;</p><p>Whenever Olga Khmylev complained about waking up early for tennis practice, she&rsquo;d hear the same unsympathetic refrain from her father: He used to get up at 4 a.m., then get on the subway for two hours just to get to hockey practice in Moscow as a youngster. And he liked it.</p><p>Olga, now a senior at Boston College, is the daughter of Yuri Khmylev, who went from the old Russian League&rsquo;s Soviet Wings to the NHL&rsquo;s Buffalo Sabres in 1992. But he never forgot where he came from and makes sure his offspring know that. &ldquo;My parents have really stuck to their Russian roots,&rdquo; Olga says. &ldquo;Whenever I went to a friend&rsquo;s house growing up, I had to bring a gift, like a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates, because that&rsquo;s what you did in Russia.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">"I TIRED TO TEACH MY DAUGHTER THE RUSSIAN WAY, BUT NOW IT&rsquo;S MORE THE NORTH AMERICAN WAY - JUST GO OUT AND HAVE FUN."<br>-YURI KHMYLEV</blockquote><p>Her father, now a Sabres scout, emphasized Russian at home. &ldquo;It was really important because we thought after I stopped playing we were headed back to Moscow,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But by then Olga was in school and speaking perfect English.&rdquo;</p><p>But sometimes it&rsquo;s those visits back to grandma and grandpa&rsquo;s place that really reveal how citizens lived during Soviet times, even those who happened to be the best hockey players in the empire. Alyonka Larionov was raised all over the place thanks to father Igor&rsquo;s stops in Vancouver, Switzerland, San Jose and Detroit (where she spent most of her youth), but returning to the apartment where he grew up in Russia really put things in perspective. &ldquo;There were these small stickers of The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Prince on the fridge,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Those stickers were the only things small enough for him to sneak back into the country when he played internationally. These days you can buy every Beatles album on iTunes, but he was just happy to have those to look at.&rdquo;</p><p>When her mom took her first trip to a Western grocery store, it was an eye-opener. Escorted by Pat Quinn&rsquo;s wife in Vancouver, she went straight to the meat section and began piling items into her cart. When Quinn&rsquo;s wife asked what she was doing, she said she had to get it now because it wouldn&rsquo;t be there tomorrow.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-011210/9730566-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="887" height="959"><figcaption class="caption-body">OLGA & YURIKHMYLEV</figcaption></div><p>Language was a barrier for the parents and kids when they came over and while children pick up new tongues quickly, Fetisova&rsquo;s mother learned English watching soap operas. Fetisov had to make do picking up phrases in the dressing room.</p><p>Alyonka carved out a broadcast career for herself in North America, working for TSN at the all-star weekend and 2012 draft, but got a job at the Barclays Center, home of the NBA&rsquo;s Brooklyn Nets (and soon the NHL&rsquo;s New York Islanders). She&rsquo;s travelled extensively to work on TV projects and she doesn&rsquo;t take that freedom lightly. &ldquo;Hockey was 12 months a year for my dad,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;They had a two-week break. One summer he met my mother, the next summer he married her. When I was born he couldn&rsquo;t be there because the team was on the road. It would have been treason to even ask.&rdquo;</p><p>Almost universally, the young women characterize Russian culture as guarded and wary, which is understandable given the surveillance and oppression many Russians experienced during the Communist era. Larionov&rsquo;s great-grandfather &ldquo;disappeared&rdquo; during the dangerous Stalin regime and it was not a rare story. But under hardship comes determination. Perhaps that&rsquo;s why those Soviet international teams dominated for so long before the Iron Curtain fell. &ldquo;Whoever can survive the most will succeed,&rdquo; Larionov says. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s pride in that.&rdquo;</p><p>Natalia Nemchinov grew up in Westchester County, when her father Sergei played for the New York Rangers. She&rsquo;s an account executive in the fashion industry and part of the new generation whose their parents found freedom in North America. Their homeland is now catching up. &ldquo;Moscow right now is so modern,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s Americanized. It&rsquo;s a beautiful city and even in fashion you see all these amazing brands from Italy or America. I love the food and the people.&rdquo;</p><p>For Olga, her father&rsquo;s determination was evident in the path he took. While she went to Boston College for tennis and academics instead of turning pro right away, her dad had one goal in mind and that was to be the best on ice. &ldquo;He gave up everything he had,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;He told me, &lsquo;I failed a lot of classes, but I have a gold medal.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>Sometimes those old attitudes die hard. Khmylev has made adjustments over the years when it comes to his athletic daughter&rsquo;s tennis career. &ldquo;In Russia, if you win it&rsquo;s good. Second place? You lose,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I tried to teach my daughter the Russian way, but now it&rsquo;s more the North American way &ndash; just go out and have fun.&rdquo;</p><p>Olga wasn&rsquo;t allowed to play organized hockey growing up, but she did skate on the backyard pond in Buffalo and caught her dad bragging to his buddies about her prowess on the rink. &ldquo;She has different hands,&rdquo; he says with a chuckle. &ldquo;She does have a good shot.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0036-01

DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BROPHY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-011319/9730618-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JORDAN NOLAN OF THE LOS ANGELES KINGS HOISTS THE STANLEY CUP ALONGSIDE HIS PARENTS, FORMER NHL COACH TED NOLAN AND HIS MOTHER SANDRA.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(NOLAN FAMILY: BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span></b>he hockey gods sometimes do things in mysterious ways. And they don&rsquo;t always stick to the script. If they did, it would have been Ted Nolan bringing the Stanley Cup home to the Garden River First Nations Reserve in Northern Ontario for a daylong celebration this past summer. Or perhaps even Nolan&rsquo;s oldest son, Brandon, once a junior scoring star with the Oshawa Generals whose pro career was derailed by a nasty concussion after seeing only six NHL games.</p><p>Nope, it wasn&rsquo;t Ted or Brandon. It was Jordan Nolan, just 23 and the youngest of the Nolan clan, who brought the Cup home. Jordan admittedly had a rather cavalier approach to making hockey his career throughout most of his junior days, split between Erie, Windsor and Sault Ste. Marie, but once he found his focus, there was no holding him back. &ldquo;Anyone that watched me play junior would probably say I was a pretty lazy player,&rdquo; Jordan says. &ldquo;I got to be 20 and didn&rsquo;t have a contract and I dedicated a summer to training hard and being focused. I got a contract, but I still had to make the American League. The hard work paid off.&rdquo;</p><p>It sure did. Nolan, drafted by Los Angeles in the seventh round in 2009, was called up from Manchester Feb. 10 and played an integral role as an energy player in helping the Kings claim their first championship. The 6-foot-3, 227-pound center brought polished grit to a team that had trouble manufacturing an identity.</p><p>New coach Darryl Sutter decided the Kings needed more sandpaper and Nolan was part of the solution. Had Sutter, who comes from one of the hardest-working families in hockey history, seen Nolan play junior hockey, however, he may have gone in another direction.</p><p>Ted, who played professional hockey before embarking on a successful junior coaching career, didn&rsquo;t want to be a pushy hockey dad, but there reached a point when he felt his youngest needed a kick in the pants. &ldquo;I really just wanted to be Jordan and Brandon&rsquo;s dad, not their hockey coach,&rdquo; Ted says, &ldquo;but when Jordan was 18 we sat down with him and I said, &lsquo;Jordan do you want to be a player or do you just want to play?&rsquo;</p><p>&ldquo;At that point he told me he really wanted to be a player. I told him he didn&rsquo;t have a hope in heck of making it unless he improved his work ethic.&rdquo;</p><p>Despite winning the Cup, Jordan knows he has plenty of work ahead in his quest to be more of a contributor. That&rsquo;s why he doesn&rsquo;t mind being back in Manchester during the lockout. With the Monarchs, he gets serious minutes in critical situations &ndash; significantly more responsibility than just a handful of shifts as a fourth-line NHLer.</p><p>What is interesting now is how the family dynamic has been altered. Once it was Ted who had the greatest inspirational influence on the others. Now it is his son, the champion.</p><p>All things considered, it has been a pretty smooth ride for Jordan. His father, on the other hand, hit more than a few speed bumps along the path of a career that has had its share of dramatic ups and downs. Ted made it to the NHL as a player, scoring six goals and 22 points with 105 penalty minutes in 78 games spread over three seasons with Detroit and Pittsburgh. But he made his biggest mark on the game as a coach.</p><p>Nolan guided the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario League to three consecutive Memorial Cup berths, finally winning the title in 1993. After one season as an assistant with the Hartford Whalers, he was named coach of the Buffalo Sabres. It was an interesting twoyear ride, to be sure.</p><p>On one hand, Nolan established himself as a bona fide NHL bench boss, winning the Northeast Division title in his second season and capturing the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year. On the other hand, he locked horns with the team&rsquo;s superstar goaltender, Dominik Hasek, and GM John Muckler &ndash; probably a bad strategy for a young up-and-comer. Darcy Regier ultimately took over as GM and offered Nolan a one-year contract to return. Nolan considered the offer insulting and walked.</p><p>Nolan returned to junior hockey, reaching another Memorial Cup final with the Quebec League&rsquo;s Moncton Wildcats, and later made it back to the NHL with the New York Islanders, but it is his tumultuous days in Buffalo he is best remembered for. All these years later, he has come to grips with what happened with the Sabres, though it was not easy. &ldquo;When I was let go by Buffalo, it ruined two years of my life,&rdquo; Nolan says. &ldquo;I lost track of who I was as a man. I was so consumed with getting another job and about why I got let go that I lost sight of who I was as a man and as a person. It was probably the darkest two years of my life. Thank God for my wife, who really helped me through that dark period. She helped me realize hockey was something I did; it didn&rsquo;t define who I was.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02809/9730611-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="1419" height="650"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BRANDON NOLAN: SCOTT AUDETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">I TOLD JORDAN HE DIDN'T HAVE A HOPE IN HECK OF MOKING IT UNLESS HE IMPROVED HIS WORK ETHIC.<br>-TED NOLAN</blockquote><p>&ldquo;Do I have any regrets about Buffalo? No. None whatsoever. I did exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to prove I could coach in the NHL and I wanted to prove I could win in the NHL. I did that.&rdquo;</p><p>Nolan would love another shot in the NHL, but in the meantime he keeps busy working as coach for Latvia&rsquo;s national team. Latvia finished 10th in the world last season, up from 13th the year before, and Nolan believes it can do better this coming year. He also runs the Ted Nolan Foundation, which provides scholarships for First Nations women across the country and sends young kids from Northern Ontario to leadership camps, among other things. He also speaks to First Nations children about the dangers of substance abuse and the importance of getting an education.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-011208/9730604-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="755" height="827"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(TED NOLAN: JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Ted said he is thankful his sons never faced the type of vile racism he did as a player and a coach. When asked about the night in 2005 in Chicoutimi when fans taunted him by shouting racial slurs and doing the &ldquo;tomahawk chop,&rdquo; the anger builds. &ldquo;It was one of the most humiliating situations I ever felt as a man,&rdquo; Nolan says. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t like it was 1956. When I was a kid growing up and people called me names, I thought it was tough, but it was way easier than what I faced that night as a man. It was emotionally devastating because we are a proud people with a rich culture.&rdquo;</p><p>Moments like those haven&rsquo;t kept the Nolans down. With Brandon about to graduate from university with a business degree, Jordan trying to take his game to the next level and Ted improving Team Latvia while making significant social contributions back home, you get the feeling the Nolan&rsquo;s story is far from being told.</p><p>The best chapters may lie ahead.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0038-01

DO IT LIKE DAD

<div class="byline">BY RORY BOYLEN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02545/9730701-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>SCORESHEET ABLAZE</b></p><p><b>JC Lipon had 40 points through 20 games. He had 34 in his first 118 WHL games.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(KAMLOOPS BLAZERS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01840/9730708-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="77" height="89"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span></b>f JC Lipon didn&rsquo;t become a hockey player, he had another sporty career choice in mind. In fact, wakeboarding appeared the more likely route after he went unselected in the Western League&rsquo;s bantam draft in 2008 and became a fringe prospect of the Kamloops Blazers.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-03429/9730694-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="141" height="177"></div><p>At the time, Lipon was a high-end wakeboarder, having competed multiple times at Canadian nationals, winning the boys&rsquo; title, and even at the worlds in Reno, Nev.</p><p>He trained with best friend and X-Games gold-medal snowboarder Mark McMorris. On the hockey side, he wasn&rsquo;t regarded as a scorer at that point in his career. In his last season before joining the WHL, Lipon scored only 13 points in 43 games with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians.</p><p>The Blazers added him as a &ldquo;list player,&rdquo; a collection of up to 50 names each WHL team can protect, including roster players, which forms a pipeline of talent. Lipon was invited to training camp and arrived with middling expectations  and plans to travel to Ontario for a wakeboarding event shortly after. &ldquo;Basically, that summer I was training for wakeboarding and then I got listed at the end of the hockey season, so I was coming out here to see what it was like,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t feel like I was ready yet to play, I guess. I had a booking for wakeboarding nationals after that.&rdquo;</p><p>Little did Lipon know, he was about to face a critical decision on his future. &ldquo;During my intra-squad game, the GM went out to see my mom and grandma, who were reading books and not even watching the game, and pulled them into the office and gave them the contract to look over,&rdquo; Lipon said. &ldquo;After the game, I went up there and made the decision. He just said there was a 50/50 chance and we ran into some injuries that year, so I got to show off what I had and they kept me.&rdquo;</p><p>Lipon&rsquo;s 2009-10 rookie season was a tumultuous one for the team, which started strong but soon found itself trading veterans with an eye towards the future. He logged only 13 points, but anticipated greater responsibility and more ice time in his draft year.</p><p>When it didn&rsquo;t play out that way, it became frustrating for the competitive youngster and he took it upon himself to add more grit to his game and drop the gloves from time to time. That&rsquo;s fitting for an undersized player who fashions himself a power forward and styles his game after T.J. Oshie. Lipon logged 111 penalty minutes, but only 21 points and went unselected on the NHL draft floor. &ldquo;He did a lot of things to try and get ice time that year,&rdquo; said Blazers GM Craig Bonner. &ldquo;He fought a lot, he did what the coaches asked.&rdquo;</p><p>Lipon returned and finally broke out with 19 goals and 65 points in 69 games, but his lack of size continued to work against him and the NHL took a pass for a second time. The Colorado Avalanche did invite him to their training camp, but that was scuttled with the lockout.</p><p>So Lipon returned to Kamloops, where he has ripped up the league with 40 points in 20 games and become the story of the young Canadian Hockey League season. Already named the CHL player of the week twice, Lipon has clicked with NHL-draftee linemates Colin Smith (Colorado, 192nd overall in 2012) and Tim Bozon (Montreal, 64th in 2012) and is finally garnering attention from scouts in his last draft-eligible season. &ldquo;For sure he&rsquo;ll get drafted,&rdquo; said one NHL scout. &ldquo;How can he not? His head&rsquo;s where it needs to be for him to be a player.&rdquo;</p><p>With a nod to join the Super Series squad and visions of a spot on Team Canada&rsquo;s national junior roster dancing in his head, Lipon&rsquo;s hockey career looks to finally be on track to pro life.</p><p>And he&rsquo;s leaving the entire WHL in his wake.</p><p>17 <b>Years since a WHLer topped 140 pts, which JC Lipon was on pace to do after 20 games</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

f0042-02

Late Splash, Last Laugh

<div class="byline">BY NATHAN CADDELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01818/9730746-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>BEST FOR LAST</b></p><p><b>Mark Pysyk elevated his play during the Oil Kings&rsquo; WHL championship run last season.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(MICHELINE VELUVOLU/ROCHESTER AMERICANS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03475/9730753-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="77" height="89"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>F</span></b>or the first time in Mark Pysyk&rsquo;s career, he won&rsquo;t be playing for his hometown. The 20-year-old has graduated to the American League after being drafted by the Buffalo Sabres with the 23rd overall pick in the 2010 draft.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02570/9730739-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="225" height="154"></div><p>Having spent five years with the Western League&rsquo;s Oil Kings in Edmonton, a stone&rsquo;s throw from his hometown of Sherwood Park, Alta., Pysyk leaves the friendly confines of the prairies to embark on his pro career, a transition that will be made easier by the skill and poise the young defenseman has shown throughout his career. &ldquo;Going from being the captain there to having to fight for time here, it&rsquo;s a bit different, but that&rsquo;s what everyone wants, to keep moving forward,&rdquo; Pysyk said.</p><p>The newly crowned Rochester American hasn&rsquo;t had much trouble with that last part so far, registering a goal in his first pro game, a 6-5 shootout win over the Syracuse Crunch.</p><p>While offense has always been a strong point in Pysyk&rsquo;s game, evidenced during his last two seasons with Edmonton in which he hit 40 and 38 points, the 6-foot-1, 193-pounder was also plus-44 over those campaigns, proving he&rsquo;s strong defensively, too. &ldquo;I try to be an all-around player,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I concentrate on the defensive zone first and foremost, then maybe a bit of offense.&rdquo;</p><p>An all-around player is what the Sabres expected when they made him their first pick in 2010, giving Pysyk huge responsibility to live up to. And while he accepts the load that comes with being a high choice, Pysyk isn&rsquo;t burdened by it. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s pressure on every player, no matter what their road to get here was, especially when you&rsquo;re on the ice, to do your job and battle for spots in the lineup,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You just have to take it in stride and have fun with it.&rdquo;</p><p>Of course it&rsquo;s easy to say that when you&rsquo;ve got experience being a highly coveted prospect, as Pysyk was when the expansion Oil Kings took him with their first-ever pick, third overall in the 2007 WHL bantam draft. As is often the case with expansion teams in their early years, it was a long road for Pysyk with the Oil Kings, beginning in 2007-08 as a 15-year-old rookie. &ldquo;Every expansion team goes through their tough times,&rdquo; Pysyk said. &ldquo;I was a part of that and it was good to be a part of that, to put my time in there.&rdquo; In the five years following, the team grew appreciably, culminating in last season&rsquo;s win of the Ed Chynoweth Cup, thanks in large part to Pysyk, who dominated the playoffs, posting 11 points and a plus-9 rating in 20 games.</p><p>The Sabres aren&rsquo;t exactly an expansion team and won&rsquo;t call for Pysyk&rsquo;s services right away. Pysyk is in good company at Rochester among a handful of highly regarded prospects such as forwards Luke Adam and Zemgus Girgensons, and fellow defensemen Brayden McNabb and T.J. Brennan. The hope is that this young nucleus can develop together before bringing their games to the big club.</p><p>Pysyk represented Canada at the 2012 world juniors. He&rsquo;s ranked as the Sabres&rsquo; No. 5 prospect in Future Watch 2012 and is considered a good skater who moves the puck smartly, but the big club would like to see him get physically stronger.</p><p>Before he becomes Buffalo material, however, he&rsquo;s concentrating on the present and he&rsquo;d love for this season to end like his last. &ldquo;(Winning the Chynoweth Cup) was awesome,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We had a chance in Portland and couldn&rsquo;t get it done, but it was a blessing in disguise as we won it at home in front of the fans in my hometown and it was unbelievable.&rdquo;</p><p>Except this time, he&rsquo;ll want to do it in his new home of upstate New York. He should get comfortable &ndash; chances are he&rsquo;ll be there for a while.</p><p><b>FOR MORE ON THE FUTURE, CHECK OUT: <a href="http://thn.com/prospects">THN.COM/PROSPECTS</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0043-01

Leaving The Nest

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01718/9730791-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>DIVINE INTERVENTION</b></p><p><b>A pious player, Spencer Martin has a Bible quote, Psalm 118:8, on the back of his mask.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(MARTIN: OHL IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-04277/9730798-1-eng-US/f0044-042.jpg" title="f0044-04" width="77" height="89"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>M</span></b>ississauga has been solid in net the past few years, boasting talents such as Chris Carrozzi, Brandon Maxwell and J.P. Anderson. This season, the Steel-heads are riding high thanks to a younger goalie, draft-eligible 17-year-old Spencer Martin. The Oakville, Ont., product has won nine of 11 decisions and led the Ontario League in goals-against average (2.00) and save percentage (.937).</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02461/9730784-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="231" height="123"></div><p>The Steelheads had a backup plan entering the season, but it seems unnecessary now. &ldquo;We acquired an older goaltender in Tyson Teichmann, who&rsquo;s got some experience, and in the two of them we have a nice 1-2 combo,&rdquo; said coach-GM James Boyd. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking into getting Spencer as many games as we can, but we certainly don&rsquo;t want to overload him.&rdquo;</p><p>That hasn&rsquo;t been a problem, especially when the Steelheads are playing some of the best defense in the OHL. Toronto Maple Leafs first-rounder Stuart Percy (2011, 25th overall) is captain of the ship and is impressed with Martin&rsquo;s development. &ldquo;He learned from two great goalies in Maxwell and Anderson,&rdquo; Percy said. &ldquo;This year he&rsquo;s bigger in the net and he&rsquo;s more comfortable communicating out there. He&rsquo;s going to be a great goaltender.&rdquo;</p><p>Hockey Canada likes what it sees in Martin. The youngster was part of Canada&rsquo;s bronze medal under-18 squad last spring and attended the national team&rsquo;s goaltender camp alongside 2013 draft peers such as Tristan Jarry, Eric Comrie and Zach Fucale. &ldquo;Every time you get to put on your nation&rsquo;s jersey it&rsquo;s an honor,&rdquo; Martin said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot of pressure, but I love it. I love pressure.&rdquo;</p><p>Between the pipes, Martin uses the most of his 6-foot-2, 192-pound frame and his coach notes his raw athleticism. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a big guy and he moves extremely well,&rdquo; Boyd said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a tremendous athlete and it shows in our fitness testing and our drills on the ice. When he goes post to post, I&rsquo;m not sure there&rsquo;s anybody in the league who&rsquo;s that quick.&rdquo;</p><p>Martin also prides himself on being a battler. &ldquo;I never give up on the puck,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>A spiritual person, Martin has a Bible quotation inscribed on the back of his mask that is very fitting for someone who faces a barrage of attacks from enemies every night he&rsquo;s in the crease. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s Psalm 118:8 and it basically means &lsquo;trust God,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Through my hockey career, the ups and downs, he&rsquo;s got my back and all my credit goes to him.&rdquo;</p><p>It&rsquo;s uncommon for a Canadian Hockey League team to hand the starter&rsquo;s role to a kid in his draft year, so when it happens on a good squad there&rsquo;s usually reason to take notice. Boston Bruins first-rounder Malcolm Subban (2012, 24th overall) accomplished that last season in Belleville and he&rsquo;s the frontrunner to man the Canadian crease at the world juniors in Russia.</p><p>As a rookie, Subban platooned with Teichmann for the Bulls. Martin&rsquo;s new mate also played alongside last season&rsquo;s OHL MVP, London Knights netminder Michael Houser. &ldquo;I learned a lot last year, but he&rsquo;s got three or four years under his belt,&rdquo; Martin said. &ldquo;Definitely we communicate every day like best friends and help each other out.&rdquo;</p><p>Boyd described his hot netminder as quiet off the ice and Martin is polite and affable. That level head will be important in his draft year, especially when expectations are high: International Scouting Services ranked him fifth among eligible goaltenders. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a deep thinker,&rdquo; Boyd said. &ldquo;Like most goalies, he marches to the beat of his own drum, but it&rsquo;s a good drum.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0044-01

Kid Is King Of The Crease

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-03349/9730829-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="445" height="460"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ZACHARY FUCALE</b> <span class="photo-credit">(FUCALE: DAVID CONNELL)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>1. ZACHARY FUCALE</b></h2><p>Halifax (QMJHL)</p><p><i>Leads the &lsquo;Q&rsquo; in wins this year and plays big minutes for &lsquo;The Herd&rsquo;.</i></p><h2><b>2. ERIC COMRIE</b></h2><p>Tri-City (WHL)</p><p><i>Tabbed for big things since the bantam draft; has NHL bloodlines.</i></p><h2><b>3. VILLE HUSSO</b></h2><p>HIFK (Fin.)</p><p><i>Already with the big club; led his under-20 squad to a title last season.</i></p><h2><b>4. TRISTAN JARRY</b></h2><p><i>Big backup is adept at taking away the bottom of the net.</i></p><h2><b>5. EAMON MCADAM</b></h2><p>Waterloo (USHL)</p><p><i>Set for All-American Prospects Game and World Jr. A Challenge.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0044-03

Net Gains

<div class="byline">BY ANDREY OSADCHENKO</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0045-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01629/9730867-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>BAD COMPANY</b></p><p><b>Leo Komarov bristles at the comparisons between his game and Sean Avery&rsquo;s.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(GRAIG ABEL)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-04308/9730874-1-eng-US/f0045-042.jpg" title="f0045-04" width="77" height="89"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p><b>L</b>eo Komarov may just be the most unique hockey player ever. Look no further than his background for proof.</p><p>The newest Toronto Marlies left winger was born in Estonia, grew up in a Swedish-speaking town in Finland, played three seasons in Moscow and will now try to conquer Canada.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-02419/9730860-1-eng-US/f0045-022.jpg" title="f0045-02" width="155" height="154"></div><p>The 25-year-old Komarov is fluent in four languages &ndash; Finnish, Swedish, Russian and English, but uses only three in his head during a game. &ldquo;On the ice I think in Finnish and Russian and sometimes in Swedish,&rdquo; Komarov said. &ldquo;Hopefully, I&rsquo;ll be here for more than one year. I need to live here and get more used to the local lifestyle, practise my English and then we&rsquo;ll see.&rdquo;</p><p>Before signing with the Leafs, who drafted him 180th overall in 2006, Komarov spent three seasons with Pelicans in the Finnish League, scoring 15 goals and 50 points in 158 regular season games, then three years with Dynamo Moscow in the Kontinental League, notching 30 goals and 36 assists in 145 games and winning a Gagarin Cup last spring.</p><p>So what kind of role did Komarov play on those teams? Let&rsquo;s put it this way: the 5-foot-10, 187-pounder&rsquo;s style of play was often compared to Sean Avery&rsquo;s. Ouch. &ldquo;Of course I like when people write about me, but I don&rsquo;t want to look like Sean Avery,&rdquo; Komarov said, almost offended by the comparison. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not that kind of player. I&rsquo;m like that, sure, but I can play differently.&rdquo;</p><p>When it comes to Komarov&rsquo;s personality, there&rsquo;s a trait that becomes immediately apparent: honesty. Even if opposing fans consider him a villain, he never treats them the same way. After Game 7 of the Gagarin Cup final, hosted by Avangard Omsk, Komarov threw his stick over the glass to a local kid as a present. One of the older fans grabbed it from the kid and threw it back on the ice. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t expect something quite like this to happen,&rdquo; Komarov said. &ldquo;A present like this is dear to any kid who&rsquo;s into hockey. If I were him, I&rsquo;d be happy to get anyone&rsquo;s stick. It&rsquo;s a great thing. You&rsquo;d cherish it forever. I mean, it may not be a great gift because it&rsquo;s Komarov&rsquo;s stick, but still, a hockey stick is a hockey stick.&rdquo;</p><p>Komarov debuted in the American League with his usual sandpaper, amassing 16 penalty minutes in eight games along with a goal and three points.</p><p>As for making the big club, he is honest about his expectations. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a third- or fourth-liner, I guess,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to tell, really. Of course, I&rsquo;d love to play on the first line, but it&rsquo;s going to be difficult for me to get there. It&rsquo;s not even my goal at this point. There are going to be much better players than me up there.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to make the team first. I want to be useful for my team. I&rsquo;ll do whatever my coach tells me.&rdquo;</p><p>Why did it take him so long to finally make the jump across the pond? Cue more brutal honesty. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like it was me who had to decide,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They just didn&rsquo;t want to see me here. They showed some interest only last season, but I decided to stay. And we won the Cup. I don&rsquo;t have anything to win there anymore.</p><p>&ldquo;Sure, everything was good in Russia for me, but I still dreamed of making it to the NHL. The Maple Leafs are a great hockey club. And I like the city. I have a chance to play here and this is why I came over.&rdquo;</p><p>49 <b>PIM for Leo Komarov with Dynamo Moscow in 20 KHL playoff games in &rsquo;11-12</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0045-01

Honest Living For Komarov

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0046-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01634/9730912-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>TOM BARRASSO</b> <span class="photo-credit">(B BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>L</span></b>egendary humorist and writer Erma Bombeck once wrote, &ldquo;Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth.&rdquo; That&rsquo;s another way of saying that regardless of the generation, teenagers are perpetually pretty much going to hell in a handcart.</p><p>Well, from among this bunch of louts we&rsquo;ve been able to identify a few of them who turned out just fine. It&rsquo;s not often that teenaged players turn in classic performances in the NHL, but there are enough that we had trouble trimming the list to 10.</p><h2><b>10. BEP GUIDOLIN</b></h2><p>When Guidolin played his first NHL game for the Boston Bruins Nov. 12, 1942, he established a mark that will almost certainly never be broken, since he was just 16 years and 11 months old at the time. Little known fact: his linemate for the Bruins was a 17-year-old named Don Gallinger.</p><h2><b>9. BRYAN TROTTIER</b></h2><p>In the first season of his Hall of Fame career, the 19-year-old scored 32 goals and 95 points for the New York Islanders in 1975-76. It stood as the NHL record for assists by a rookie until Peter Stastny broke the mark five years later at the age of 24.</p><h2><b>8. MARIO LEMIEUX</b></h2><p>Three minutes into his first NHL game, which was played six days after his 19th birthday, Lemieux stripped Ray Bourque of the puck and scored. He scored 42 more times and totalled 100 points for a woeful Pittsburgh Penguins team in 1984-85 and won the Calder Trophy.</p><h2><b>7. LARRY MURPHY</b></h2><p>The 60 assists and 76 points Murphy scored for the L A. Kings in 1980-81 established rookie records for defensemen that still stand. Even though he turned 20 that season, it wasn&rsquo;t until March, so he played almost all of the year as a 19-year-old.</p><h2><b>6. DALE HAWERCHUK</b></h2><p>An 18-year-old for all but the very last day of the regular season in 1981-82, Hawerchuk took the NHL by storm with 45 goals and 103 points for the Winnipeg Jets and won the Calder Trophy over 20-year-old Barry Pedersen.</p><h2><b>5. JIMMY CARSON</b></h2><p>After scoring 79 points as a rookie for the Los Angeles Kings, Carson exploded for 55 goals and 107 points as a 19-year-old in 1987-88. His reward for the feat? That summer he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in the Wayne Gretzky blockbuster.</p><h2><b>4. SIDNEY CROSBY</b></h2><p>Following up his 102-point rookie season, Crosby scored 36 goals and 120 points in 2006-07 for the Pittsburgh Penguins and, at the age of 19, became the youngest player in NHL history to win a scoring championship. He also won his first Hart Trophy that season.</p><h2><b>3. BOBBY ORR</b></h2><p>Bobby Orr&rsquo;s rookie numbers with the Boston Bruins are not eye-popping when you compare them to the totals that came later in his career, but his 13 goals and 41 points were impressive enough to net him the Calder Trophy in 1966-67 at the age of 18. He was a second-team all-star as well, then went on to be named a first-teamer eight straight times.</p><h2><b>2. WAYNE GRETZKY</b></h2><p>A 137-point season might not seem terribly impressive when you stack it up against the prodigious numbers Wayne Gretzky produced in the seasons after, but he posted 51-86-137 totals in his first season (1979-80) with the Edmonton Oilers. He couldn&rsquo;t win the Calder because he had already played in the World Hockey Association and missed out on the Art Ross because Marcel Dionne scored more goals, so he had to settle for the Hart and Lady Byng Trophies, all before he turned 20.</p><h2><b>1. TOM BARRASSO</b></h2><p>You might take issue with this choice, but consider that Barrasso won both the Calder and Vezina Trophies in 1984, one year after playing high school hockey in Massachusetts. Barrasso compiled a 26-12-3 record that season as an 18-19-year-old and was named a first-team all-star for the only time in his career.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02415/9730905-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="370" height="550"></div><h2><b>TOP 10</b></h2><p>The Hockey News&rsquo; latest tome contains 65 lists (a nod to our 65th anniversary) over 230 pages ranging from the game&rsquo;s best goalies to names that make you hungry to this one, the top teens of all-time. <i>Top 10</i> is available in bookstores everywhere and at <a href="http://THN.com/top10book">THN.com/top10book</a>.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0046-01

Fountain Of Youth

<div class="byline">BY RYAN WHIRTY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01569/9730943-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>SEATTLE&rsquo;S BEST</b></p><p><b>The up-tempo, skilled Mets became the first U.S. team to win the Stanley Cup.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(HOCKEY HALL OF FAME)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>ithout the actions</b>&nbsp;of the Patrick brothers, Frank and Lester, the NHL wouldn&rsquo;t be what it is today. In the early 20th century, the Patricks created and built the Pacific Coast Hockey Association into a viable, thriving counterpoint to the dominant, eastern-based NHL. They also guided hockey&rsquo;s evolution by creating a fleeter, skillful game in the PCHA &ndash; a style that went a long way to revolutionizing the sport in a much-needed way. &ldquo;The continuation of the league saved the development of professional hockey, says Craig Bowlsby, whose new book, <i>Empire of Ice</i>, chronicles the PCHA. &ldquo;The Patricks were the key innovators of ice hockey and if they had been forced to retreat from the front lines, it would have taken decades longer to make the game as fast and exciting as it is today.&rdquo;</p><p>The PCHA was founded in 1911, two years after the National Hockey Association (precursor to the NHL forming in 1917), which initially monopolized the Stanley Cup. But at the end of 1913-14, the two loops agreed to have their respective champions face each other for what would become pro hockey&rsquo;s biggest prize.</p><p>The 1914-15 season was also significant because it brought hockey south of the border and was the first year for a new PCHA team in Portland, the Rosebuds &ndash; or as they were commonly known, the Uncle Sams. The following season saw the creation of another American-based franchise, the Seattle Metropolitans, or Mets for short. (A third team centered in the U.S., the Spokane Canaries, played in the PCHA for one season, 1916-17.)</p><p>The first year, the PCHA champ &ndash; in this case, the Vancouver Millionaires &ndash; played the NHA titlist for the Cup was 1915. But history was made the following year when the Uncle Sams became the first U.S.-based squad to play for the Cup. Although they eventually fell to the NHA champ Montreal Canadiens three games to two, it was a hotly contested series that stirred Portlanders&rsquo; pride and surprised many easterners, who expected the Habs to roll. The Feb. 20, 1916, edition of the Portland <i>Oregonian</i> featured a boast from Lester Patrick that perhaps represented the feeling of all Uncle Sams supporters. &ldquo;Although most followers of hockey rate the two leagues at par,&rdquo; Patrick said, &ldquo;I think that our circuit is a little faster and you can say for me that the Uncle Sams have a fine chance of holding the Stanley Cup.&rdquo;</p><p>It wasn&rsquo;t just a clash of playing styles that fuelled the rivalry. For several years, the PCHA had been raiding the NHA for some of the continent&rsquo;s best players, keenly irking easterners. But it was the 1916-17 season that really  set the hockey world on its ear, when the PCHA-champion Seattle Mets walloped the NHA crown-holding Canadiens three games to one, outscoring them in the three victories by a combined score of 19-3. Not only had a U.S.-based franchise won the Stanley Cup for the first time, but the PCHA&rsquo;s fast-paced brand of hockey now couldn&rsquo;t be ignored by the greater hockey establishment. &ldquo;Seattle&rsquo;s valiant hockey team,&rdquo; crowed the March 27, 1917, Seattle <i>Times</i>, &ldquo;put the climax on a successful hockey revolution at The (Seattle Ice) Arena last night, kicked the props from under the tottering Canadian dynasty and climbed rough-shod over the fallen monarchs to the place of power as the hockey champions of the universe.&rdquo;</p><p>This original super series paved the way for development  of the modern NHL. &ldquo;It created a huge rivalry with the teams in the NHL,&rdquo; Bowlsby says. &ldquo;This served eastern hockey well, because during these years the NHL almost folded due to lack of fan support. The East-West World Championship challenges became the highlights of the seasons, where the teams could make enough money to stay afloat. These Stanley Cup contests were all extremely exciting and pushed the level of the sport to new heights.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>The NHL almost folded due to lack of fan support</b></blockquote><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0047-01

West Coast Offense

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN KENNEDY</div><h2><b>GuessWho</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-01421/9731016-1-eng-US/f0049-012.jpg" title="f0049-01" width="483" height="647"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(GUESS WHO: JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><i>&ldquo;I played four years for the Kelowna Rockets, reaching the Memorial Cup final three times and winning it in 2004.&rdquo;</i></p><p><i>&ldquo;I won gold manning the blueline for Canada at the 2005 world juniors and 2010 Olympics.&rdquo;</i></p><p><i>&ldquo;The Flyers signed me to an offer sheet in summer 2012, but my team matched it to keep me.&rdquo;</i></p><h2><b>SEPARATED AT Birth</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-02319/9731009-1-eng-US/f0049-022.jpg" title="f0049-02" width="231" height="399"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DALY: BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>Bill Daly</b></p><p><i>NHL deputy commish is Gary Bettman&rsquo;s No. 1 man in CBA labor war. Mandate is to break bad work stoppage.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-03251/9731002-1-eng-US/f0049-032.jpg" title="f0049-03" width="230" height="405"></div><p><b>Dean Norris</b></p><p><i>Plays Hank Schrader, DEA&rsquo;s No. 1 man, in contentious Albuquerque drug war on hit AMC show</i> Breaking Bad.</p><p>Email your suggestions to <b><a href="mailto:sab@thehockeynews.com">sab@thehockeynews.com</a></b></p><p>WHO AM I: SHEA WEBER</p><h2><b>CROSSWORD</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-04231/9730995-1-eng-US/f0049-042.jpg" title="f0049-04" width="914" height="914"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(By Larry Humber)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>ANSWERS AVAILABLE IN THE NEXT ISSUE AND AT</b> <a href="http://THN.com/XWORD">THN.com/<b>xword</b></a></p><h3><b>ACROSS</b></h3><p>1 Duck who was Calder runner-up in 2009</p><p>8 Ted Leonsis is one</p><p>9 Missing completely when shooting</p><p>10 Hold the puck, stopping play</p><p>11 Tim Horton&rsquo;s last team</p><p>12 Alex ___ is with the Blues, pictured</p><p>14 Harry ___ was coach in Vancouver</p><p>17 Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s first pro team (Mark messier&rsquo;s, too)</p><p>19 ___ Kasparaitis was both an Islander and a Ranger</p><p>20 Bobby Clarke&rsquo;s uninspired nickname</p><p>21 Behave badly: two words</p><p>22 Derek ___ succeeded Bobby Orr as Calder winner</p><h3><b>DOWN</b></h3><p>2 Where Gordie Howe first cashed a paycheck</p><p>3 Gaffes</p><p>4 Sheets of ice used for hockey</p><p>5 Trophy taken by Erik Karlsson in 2012</p><p>6 Lord Stanley&rsquo;s Cup now resides in Los ___</p><p>7 Lack of experience</p><p>11 He wears the &lsquo;C&rsquo; in Phoenix</p><p>13 John ___ lost more games than any other WHA goalie</p><p>15 Outfits</p><p>16 An off-ice official</p><p>17 Stirred up</p><p>18 ___ Summanen played for and later coached Finland</p><p><b>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S CROSSWORD SOLUTION ACROSS</b> 1. NOTRE DAME, 8. LOOSE, 9. ANAHEIM, 10. EVGENI, 11. FROstY, 12. NIEMI, 14. NORTH, 17. HOWELL, 19. HOWARD, 20. TRUDEAU, 21. STEVE, 22. YOunG NATS <b>DOWN</b> 2. OWNER, 3. REHASH, 4. DAILY, 5. ELEVEN, 6. COVERED, 7. SEMIFINAL, 11. FRANCHISE, 13. CROWNED, 15. HARVEY, 16. SWEDEN, 17. HURON, 18. LEAST</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-05180/9730988-1-eng-US/f0049-052.jpg" title="f0049-05" width="949" height="1215"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BLAST: HHOF ARCHIVES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-0775/9730981-1-eng-US/f0049-072.jpg" title="f0049-07" width="136" height="136"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>Blast from the Past</b>&nbsp;<b>from The Hockey Hall <i>of</i> Fame</b></h2><p><b>A good fit with our &ldquo;hated&rdquo; theme, Ulf Samuelsson made plenty of enemies during his 16-year career.</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-06103/9730974-1-eng-US/f0049-062.jpg" title="f0049-06" width="622" height="633"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JERSEY: CHRIS RUTSCH)</span></figcaption></div><h3><b>HERSHEY BEARS | 2012-13</b></h3><h2><b>JerseyHound</b></h2><p>If the Hershey Bears aren&rsquo;t the first team that comes to mind when you think AHL, they&rsquo;re the second. After all, they&rsquo;re celebrating their 75th campaign. The squad once known as the B&rsquo;ars as a nod to Hershey being America&rsquo;s chocolate capital has kept its tasty brown color scheme forever, but updated the bear logo for 2012-13.</p><p>Using a faux-throwback motif, the Bears have created a solid, original crest with a nice bear paw shoulder logo. A third jersey uses just the bear&rsquo;s head, while 75th anniversary sweaters were used earlier this season.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0049-01

LAST MINUTE OF PLAY

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01409/9731054-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg" title="f0050-01" width="347" height="495"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>ncase you haven&rsquo;t noticed,</b> the NHL has a rather, um, unique view when it comes to expansion. That is, it goes on binges. Since 1967-68 when it doubled in size, the league has spent sustained periods of either adding cities with Takeru Kobayashi hot dog consumption speed or no growth at all. We are currently in the latter cycle. After adding Columbus and Minnesota for 2000-01, the league has gone 12 years without expanding, which makes it the longest drought since it grew to the Original 12.</p><p>So after years during which increasing the number of teams has represented the bogeyman, perhaps it&rsquo;s time to address the NHL&rsquo;s expanding universe. How can you argue in favor of expansion when the league should contract, you say? Well, the league has made it clear it has no plans on getting smaller any time soon. And with overall revenues driving the league&rsquo;s economy, if the NHL isn&rsquo;t willing to get rid of its weak, then it should consider adding some strength.</p><p>By most accounts, the league will expand to 32 teams at some point in the not-too-distant future, with Quebec City and suburban Toronto (Markham) being the most likely candidates. After all, Seattle will be needed to balance things out in the Western Conference once the league finally decides to put the good people of Glendale, Ariz., out of their misery. Adding two teams in the East and moving the Winnipeg Jets to the West will make things nice and tidy with 16 teams in each conference.</p><p>Now, what to do about expansion affecting the talent base? Well, if you add two teams, there will instantly be 46 players at the bottom of most team&rsquo;s rosters &ndash; actually they&rsquo;ll occupy the expansion teams for the first couple of years &ndash; who will be playing in the NHL where they otherwise wouldn&rsquo;t be good enough to play. There is no getting around that. So in one sense, the talent base will be diluted.</p><p>But from the talent perspective, the NHL has never been more prepared to accept additional teams. Talented players are coming from more outlets than ever before. They&rsquo;re being better coached and trained, are paying more attention to nutrition and conditioning at an earlier age than ever and are being groomed in super-elite hothouses such as hockey academies and the U.S. National Team Development Program. When fitness freak Gary Roberts can convince a bunch of 12-year-olds to choose quinoa over potato chips as a post-game snack, you get the idea that grooming hockey talent now has come a long way since the 1970s and &rsquo;80s.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-02303/9731047-1-eng-US/f0050-022.jpg" title="f0050-02" width="587" height="728"><figcaption class="caption-body">SETH JONES</figcaption></div><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>&ldquo;The NHL has never been better prepared to accept more teams</b></blockquote><p>And while that has created a problem with elitism in hockey &ndash; and boy does it exist &ndash; the result is that young players are doing some special things these days. If this lockout continues through the season, do yourself a favor and go watch some youth hockey in your community. Chances are you&rsquo;re going to leave the arena blown away by the level of talent some of these kids possess. A lot of those at the elite level have off-season coaches specifically to work on skills or skating. They hire personal trainers and their parents are willing to spare no expense to help their children chase the dream.</p><p>And it&rsquo;s not just that. European talent continues to blossom, but the key here is the quantity of talented players coming out of the United States. The number of Americanborn players in the NHL continues to rise with every year and with programs in places such as Texas and California now producing NHL talent, the game is beginning to attract the best athletes in those places. Seth Jones, who could go No. 1 in the NHL draft in June, is a perfect example. Instead of following in the footsteps of his father, Popeye, and pursuing professional basketball, he fell in love with hockey.</p><p>The American League has made enormous strides as the NHL&rsquo;s top development entity as well. Most observers would note there&rsquo;s virtually no appreciable drop-off in talent from the first line on most AHL teams to the fourth line of the majority of NHL teams. They are virtually interchangeable. And as some of the locked out NHLers are learning, the level of play in the AHL is a lot better than they might have been expecting.</p><p>If you want to talk about contracting the NHL on the basis of finances, that&rsquo;s an entirely different story. But if you&rsquo;re worried about the quality of play suffering, growing the league by 6.7 percent is not going to make a difference, not with the way players are prepared for the NHL now. The game has changed significantly since the NHL last expanded and once the league decides to take the leap again, fans will find that bigger might indeed be better.</p><p>CAN&rsquo;T GET ENOUGH CAMPBELL? CLICK ON <b><a href="http://THN.com">THN.COM</a></b> FOR KEN&rsquo;S EXCLUSIVE BLOG<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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December 3, 2012

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Rollin’ in RALEIGH

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