Brothers Battle

If you haven’t already, you’ll be hearing a lot about Ryan Strome. The Ontario League’s leading scorer and bluechip prospect for the New York Islanders will be a prominent factor for Canada at the World Junior Championship. That takes care of the immediate future. But in the longterm, there’s a good chance you’ll be taking notice of Strome’s 15-year-old brother, Dylan, and perhaps his 13-year-old sibling, Matthew. In fact, early indications are the Strome family will give the Staals and Subbans a challenge when it comes to NHL talent. Take Dylan, a center for the Toronto Marlboros minor midgets, for example. Talk to scouts and they’ll tell you he is in a group of three or four players contending for the first overall choice in the 2013 OHL draft. They’ll tell you…

The Instigator

Home Is Where The Help Is

While many 2013 NHL draft prospects ship out to the Canadian Hockey League or United States League, one stayed close to home. Ryan Fitzgerald wanted the best of all worlds – family, school and hockey – so he’s developing in Massachusetts with the Valley Jr. Warriors of the Eastern Junior League, just 40 minutes from his house. He had other options, but staying in the East seemed to be the chosen path. “The EJ is a good league, it’s big and strong,” said Fitzgerald, committed to Boston College for 2013-14. “It has the essentials for getting me ready for next year.” His dad is ex-NHLer Tom Fitzgerald, Pittsburgh Penguins assistant to the GM. He couldn’t agree more with his son’s decision: “That’s what this is all about – preparation for BC, to…

CROSSWORD

ANSWERS AVAILABLE IN THE NEXT ISSUE AND AT THN.com/xword ACROSS 1 The WHA’s championship trophy 4 British Columbia Junior Hockey League: abbrev. 7 ___ Stanley’s Mug 8 The first ‘A’ in NCAA 10 Michigan’s NCAA team 12 Mike Ilitch is ___ of the Red Wings and Tigers 13 A New York team, briefly 14 Attackers 18 ‘Red’ ___ coaches 10 Across 19 Canadian Amateur Hockey Association: abbrev. 20 Championship teams get them 21 New York’s other team DOWN 1 Give up 2 Home of the Hurricanes 3 Former Canuck and Bruin ___ Skriko, pictured 4 Home of the OHL’s Bulls 5 They won 1 Across three times 6 Where players stash their stuff during games 9 Talks on behalf of a player at contract time 11 Where the Coyotes are based 12 The NHL season typically starts this month 15 Ex-Cane captain Rod Brind’___ 16 They were Cup winners in 1999 17 Hockey legend ___ Blair LAST…