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November 9, 2015
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.
BAIT & SWITCH
IN 1991-92, THE SAN JOSE SHARKS JOINED the NHL as the league’s 22nd franchise. Although the team struggled on the ice during its first two seasons, it made quite a splash off the ice in terms of marketing and merchandising. The team was the hobbyhorse of brothers Gordon and George Gund III, who were awarded a franchise to be located in the Bay Area on the condition they sold their current team at the time, the Minnesota North Stars, to Norm Green at a reduced price. In their inaugural season, the Sharks finished last with 17 wins and 39 points. Their sophomore season was even worse. They won just 11 games, though they had company in the basement alongside the expansion Ottawa Senators, whom they tied with 24 points. In Season 3,…
ALEX OVECHKIN
THE PUREST THINGS IN life maintain their defining traits however we evaluate them. We can identify a spherical shape, for example, by seeing it or we could hold it in pitch dark and still know what it was. Alex Ovechkin’s purity as a goal scorer functions the same way. Merely watching live footage of him tells us he’s the best in the world at his craft. And even if we’d never laid eyes on him for a second, we’d still know he was peerless. The numbers tell us exactly what the eye test does. Ovechkin has compiled an eye-popping highlight reel over his 10-year career. No one will ever forget the goal he scored against the Coyotes as a rookie, contorting his body in a seemingly inhuman way to beat Brian…
REBOUND
STEPHAN MOREAU’S BATTLE with post-traumatic stress disorder almost cost him everything. In 2004, Moreau was involved in an emergency simulation while at sea with the Royal Canadian Navy. He helped a crew member put on a firefighting suit and gear, but when the equipment was activated, a malfunction caused the equipment to set ablaze and produce clouds of chemical smoke. The man inside the suit was screaming, panicking as people rushed to his rescue. The crew member survived, but Moreau was haunted by the accident. Even still, he can recall the sights, sounds and smells from that day. In the years that followed the accident, he stopped seeing friends and family. He began to self-medicate with alcohol and pills to escape his PTSD. And on more than one occasion, Moreau attempted…
A NOTE FROM MOM WILL ALWAYS HELP
CAN’T GET ENOUGH CAMPBELL? GO TO THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM FOR DAILY UPDATES PERHAPS WHAT ALEX OVECHKIN NEEDED more than a trusty alarm clock was a note from Epstein’s mother. To get that reference, you’ll have to point your pop culture compass to the 1970s and the hit show Welcome Back, Kotter. One of the characters, Juan Epstein, would produce hilariously bogus notes signed “Epstein’s Mother,” to explain his absence from class and general unruliness. Having one might have prevented Ovechkin from earning a onegame suspension when he set his alarm clock for PM instead of AM for a practice in mid-October. Then again, maybe not. But it got me thinking, what would some of the notes from home look like from people in the hockey world to excuse them or their teams from their…
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