Ontario Hockey League

Person 1: Hey, I'm a true hockey fan

Person 2: Prove it

Person 1: OK *names most players on every team in the NHL*

Just knowing the players doesn't mean you're a true hockey fan, it just means you're a smart one. It takes a true hockey fan to watch hockey outside of their comfort spot.

Over the last couple of months, I have been living in Santiago, Chile. However, I'm currently writing this article from Lima, Peru. It's no mystery that soccer is huge here, one in every five people is wearing a soccer jersey in certain parts of Chile.

I think it's very safe to say that people down here are true soccer fans, but compared to the hockey fans up north, they're nothing.

I just recently met up with some old friends, and I talked about soccer with them. I was surprised, they talked to me about leagues I have never even heard of. They knew everything, it was really impressive. They could name players from small leagues in Europe, it was all very impressive.

How many of you can name one team from the Elite League?

Like I said before, it doesn't matter if you can name the teams or the players that makes you a true sports fan. What is it then? It's the willingness to get out of your comfort zone.

Some excuses may arise such as "I can't understand the language they speak in," but not all leagues are in a foreign language. There are other english-speaking leagues such as the AHL, OHL, WHL, and even the college leagues. And even if you can't understand the language from some league in Sweden; you have eyes, you can see for yourself what's happening, you don't need someone to tell you what's happening.

I think that in order to have good perspective of what hockey really is, you have to acknowledge that the NHL isn't the only hockey league there is. NHL hockey isn't the only type of hockey there is.

I think too many people get caught up in who is going to win that they forget it's hockey. Here in South America, people sometimes just watch games over and over to look at the players' moves and admire their skill.

I'm just saying that you have to go outside your comfort zone (comfort zone means watching HNIC on your plasma TV) to maybe a not so comfortable zone (not so comfortable means watching a laggy hockey game on your computer in another language).

I don't care how well you know the NHL, if you don't know about hockey that's outside the NHL or North America, you can't call yourself a true hockey fan.

P.S. I'll write a better version of this when I get back to Chile.

Yesterday morning, a 21-year-old Ontario hockey player died following three weeks in a coma.

Don Sanderson played for Whitby Dunlops of the OHL, and fell into the coma after hitting his head during an on-ice fight.

Waking up to this news on Friday left me with a sense of despondency not only because of the death of a promising guy who was younger than myself, but because I could foresee the knee-jerk reaction that could potentially change the game I love for no logical reason.

The media backlash did not disappoint.

Almost every piece of coverage implied that changes to the rules of professional hockey were not only warranted, but desired.

In terms of logical thought, this is ridiculous.

First of all, hockey is a dangerous sport.

It is full-contact, played on ice, and necessitates skate blades, sticks and dense pucks of vulcanised rubber.

Not one single person enters into this sport thinking he or she will not get hurt: that's a given. They also know the risks involved, even the unlikely ones. Hasn't everyone involved with the game seen the Clint Malarchuk video a thousand times?

I'm not in any way trying to imply that if a player gets injured it is their own fault; my point is that in such a volatile sport, people know injuries will occur, and yet they still enter into participation.

Injuries simply are part of high-impact sports, some serious, and if players were entirely uncomfortable with this, they would not play.

Fighting in hockey is the same; players known the dangers, and they do it anyway.

Secondly, it is wholly irrational to change the way a sport is playing because of one incident.

Think about how many fights occur in the NHL; let's say, for the sake of averages, that there is one per game. So two players fight for every game that is played in the NHL. That's at least two guys having a scrap almost every night in a regular season.

How many NHL players then have died as a direct result of an on-ice head injury?

One.

Bill Masterton of the Minnesota North Stars died in 1968, two days after a check which floored him, causing him to hit his head on the ice.

This was a decade before the 1979 draft, when helmets became mandatory for any new player in the league, and since then, no other NHL player has died in such a way.

Finally, and most ludicrous of all, is the fact that the league in which this young man played has already implemented the rule that is being called for: fighting is not allowed.

Many people who are new to hockey ask me why fighting occurs in games, and I often have no better answer than "it just does".

Hockey is an intense, physically and mentally demanding sport, and intimidation has a large part to play in on-ice strategies. Sometimes this spills over into a fight, and more often than not, causes merely a bruised hand and a bruised ego.

Most things, when subjected to a ban, simply become more desirable; fighting in hockey might well be the same.

The ban on fighting in the OHL didn't stop the fluke death Don Sanderson from occurring, and so this incident just proves to me that no change in legislation will alter the amount of violence in hockey.

Evidently, changing the rules cannot change the sport entirely.

I have never spoken to a hockey fan who does not love the intensity of an on-ice tussle.

Its just a shame that in their attempt to sensationalise everything, the media not only misrepresents the unlikely death of a promising young hockey player, but does a disservice to the fans of that sport too.

Let's not let reactionary journalism turn a tragic death into a farcical situation.

For over three long years, hockey fans have anticipated the arrival of a soft-spoken teenager from Oakville, Ontario; a kid once widely thought talented enough to challenge the NHL's rigid age limit policy. And, for years, those fans had every reason to believe an exception for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft was all but guaranteed.

Fast forward to the beginning of the 2008-09 Ontario Hockey League season, however, and realize that 18-year-old John Tavares is still suiting up alongside the rest of the Oshawa Generals with whom he has played the past three seasons—the same team that made him the youngest drafted player in OHL history.

So what happened to the critically acclaimed hockey phenom between then and now to prevent him from getting ready for his first year as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning this September?

In short: nothing.

Born five days shy of the league's birthday cut-off for the latest NHL campaign, Tavares' decision to bypass possible appealing procedures is nothing to look twice at. Though the kid with 10 points already in his first five OHL games this season shares a birth year with first overall draft pick Steven Stamkos (and most of last June's honored rookies) John Tavares is just as content leading by example, finishing up high school in Oshawa, Ontario and being the type of kid parents wish all professional athletes would be.

Fresh off a third-period comeback victory against the Niagara IceDogs in which he registered his then-third goal of the young season, Tavares stepped aside from his Generals teammates to talk OHL, NHL, and what exactly 18-year-olds get up to these days.

Austin Kent: What would you say your role on the Generals is, both on and off the ice?

John Tavares: I think being more of a veteran guy, [my role] is to be a leader and set a good example for the young guys and the younger veterans that we have.

Kent: Now, for a person of your reputation with the upcoming NHL Draft, how does that weigh on you as an 18-year-old?

Tavares: I came in the league pretty early and had been a roommate of one of our past captains; I learned a lot from him. I think it more just kind of happens, you really don't try to worry about it or think about what you should do—you lead by example. If something needs to be said it's said, and that's about it.

Kent: What about off the ice? How does it affect your life? You're barely old enough to vote, right? How does this celebrity affect how you go about everything?

Tavares: You get used to it, everybody looking at you, watching what you're doing, how you act and stuff. Everyone always wants a piece of you, but it comes with the reputation of doing what I'm doing, especially here in Canada and the Toronto area, so I enjoy it. It's great, I enjoy it, it's a lot of fun. Not too many people get this opportunity and I'm just trying to take advantage of it.

Kent: What is a typical day in your life like, say a typical Tuesday or Wednesday?

Tavares: I'm finishing high school [in Oshawa] this semester, so I get up, eat breakfast, take a shower and go to school, go eat lunch. Some of the guys are on the team so we go to practice and afterwards we do a bunch of things. We've gone to a couple Jays games already. We've hung out as a team. My roommates like to play some video games, so we always do stuff like that. Sometimes we go rent a movie and watch it at home. What any sort of 18-year-old would do. My life isn't too different than anyone else.

Kent: In terms of training, I think a lot of people forget that, now that you've reached the level you've reached, you can't really rest there. What are you doing in terms of preparing for the NHL?

Tavares: Obviously I trained all offseason, five days a week for two hours a day, and made sure that I prepared myself the best I could for this season. So I try and work out twice a week to maintain what I built over the summer. I make sure I keep that strength and that speed and my quickness up.

Kent: I know prospects always hate this question, but while you were younger, what team did you aspire to play on?

Tavares: Well I've always been a fan of the Leafs. Obviously growing up in Oakville, half an hour from downtown Toronto, I was always a big Leafs fan. Especially when Gilmour and Clark were there and they were really good. It's tough to see what they're going through now but they're always my favourite team. It's kind of my only memory as a 3-year-old; probably the memory I remember the most is watching Hockey Night in Canada—the Leafs versus the St. Louis Blues—with my father.

Kent: Speaking of Oakville, was it a surprise for you to hear about Stefan Legein? How did you react? Was that sort of something you knew about beforehand?

Tavares: I saw him about a week before and he was running a few hockey schools and I could tell he wasn't training very hard. I heard he still might have been taking some time off because I know he has had a bad shoulder, but it was a surprise to me. I talked to him the day after it was released publically and he told me I wasn't supposed to say anything but I just tried to give him some advice, to make sure that he wasn't going to regret his decision and that this was really what he wanted to do, because this is the chance of a lifetime and not many people are in our spot. It's a privilege to be where we are, so it's unfortunate, but with some people it's just the way it is. This might have been good enough for him, just playing junior hockey and playing for the national team, representing Canada well. I know he'll certainly be missed in the hockey world and I'll miss seeing him out there and talking to him every day about how his season's going.

Kent: From my understanding there has been a lot of talk about your agent. Does your mom represent you?

Tavares: No. That was false. That was kind of a mix up. My mom said that we didn't have an agent and that we weren't looking for an agent then. People misinterpreted it as her being my agent. I've hired Pat Brisson from Creative Artist Agency. [He] and J.P. Berry are the two main guys there at that agency and I've been with them probably since late June or early July.

Kent: Last question, No. 91: When I saw it I thought Dennis Rodman. But is it just 19 reversed?

Tavares: Well it was 19 reversed from when I was playing minor hockey. When I switched teams one year, one kid wouldn't give me the 19 so I just flipped it. After the year I asked my mother whether I should change it and she said it looked good, and I had a pretty good season, so I've pretty much just stuck with it ever since.

Kent: Alright fair enough, well I won't keep you. Thanks John and I'll see you later.

Straight from www.thegoodpoint.com by Austin Kent

Tremors of shock are hitting the hockey world today as the news squeaks out that Stefan Legein, a second-round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2007, is quitting hockey.

The stunning development was originally reported by the Columbus Dispatch and has now been confirmed by Jackets general manager Scott Howson.

Legein was a key player on the Canadian world junior squad that won its fourth straight gold medal last January; the right winger also helped the team to victory in last fall's Super Series against Russia.

Why would a 19-year-old with a very bright future suddenly quit the game for which he had such passion? There are no clear answers yet; only a thick cloud of fog.

Legein is an agitator of the first degree who has no trouble putting the puck in the net. He was a constant presence on Team Canada's second line and also put up over a point per game in his last two seasons with the Niagara IceDogs of the OHL.

But Legein's trademark was the thundering body check. He took every opportunity to pound an opponent into the boards (and into next week) and didn't shy away from fisticuffs. In short, he was an easy player to like.

A quick viewing of any game from last year's world junior reveals a kid who simply loves the game.

Or used to.

The details of Legein's premature retirement remain sketchy, but according to the Dispatch, the Jackets have been told that Legein has "lost the passion" he formerly held for the game.

Aaron Portzline at the Dispatch writes that Legein wasn't the same player last season after returning from the shoulder injury he suffered at the WJC. Portzline says Legein did not get along with his IceDog teammates late in the season—if true, a shocking turn for a player who has always been very popular in the locker room—and left the Syracuse Crunch after two playoff games to start training for the 2008-09 season.

As Portzline asks, who wants to work out instead of competing in the playoffs? Very strange indeed.

Then, at Jackets prospect camp, Legein looked lackluster. As one of the team's most promising prospects, it would be reasonable to expect him to stand out, right?

One final twist: when asked about their son's alleged retirement Tuesday evening, Legein's parents said they knew nothing about it.

It's possible they just didn't feel like talking, but what if Legein never told them? That doesn't sound like the Stefan Legein that Canadian hockey fans have come to know and love.

So, how do you lose your passion for hockey? Maybe it was the pressure to succeed, which can be unbearable for a teenager. But that doesn't seem likely, as Legein had already achieved a degree of success with Team Canada that most players can only dream about. And the Columbus media certainly does not provide the fishbowl atmosphere of Toronto or Montreal.

Sometimes young players hang 'em up when they realize they won't get enough ice time to justify riding the buses over getting an education. But that can't be it either. Legein was a bonafide NHL prospect.

Perhaps there was a major change in his life or some sort of family tragedy. Maybe his parents pushed him too hard. Clearly, whatever has led hard-hitting, fun-loving Stefan Legein to such a 180-degree turnaround is something that has yet to see the light of day.

Calgary's Daniel Ryder pulled a similar cut-and-retire routine last year, only to return to this year's training camp.

Let's hope Legein does the same. Otherwise, the Jackets and the hockey world are missing out on a heck of a player, and the kid Canada fell in love with is missing out on a heck of a career.