Originally published in Eishockey News in 2009 By Lucas Aykroyd Sam Gagner has a long way to go to catch up with his father Dave. To be precise, Sam trails by 791 career NHL games and 629 points. But the 20-year-old Edmonton Oilers center is gradually learning what it’ll take to match the consistency of […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2009 By Lucas Aykroyd The London Pro Knights beat Switzerland’s EV Zug 7-4 on August 31 to win the final of the inaugural Euro-Can Cup. Hosted in London, Canada, the week-long, eight-game tournament also featured Austria’s Black Wings Linz and EHC Munchen of Germany’s 2nd Bundesliga, which finished third […]

Future Greats and Heartbreaks: A Year Undercover in the Secret World of NHL Scouts By Gare Joyce Published by Doubleday Canada Hardcover, 336 pages Release Date: November 20, 2007 Gare Joyce is gradually becoming Canada’s answer to George Plimpton. No, the prolific Toronto-based hockey scribe hasn’t strapped on equipment and competed against pro athletes to […]

Good news lies ahead for those who object to the garish advertising that often covers European hockey jerseys. When the International Ice Hockey Federation kicks off its Champions Hockey League in 2008-09, 24 clubs from across Europe (including the champions of the top six European leagues) will compete for some 16 million Swiss francs in […]

Today marks the 35th anniversary of Game Eight of the 1972 Summit Series, where Paul Henderson scored with 34 seconds left to give Canada a 6-5 victory and the final edge over the USSR in this most seminal of international hockey series. Joe Pelletier, the mastermind behind 1972SummitSeries.com, has assembled some special coverage to mark […]

In recent years, René Fasel has often spent more time in Vancouver, Canada than anywhere besides the Zurich headquarters of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) in his native Switzerland. The IIHF President chairs the IOC Coordination Commission for the 2010 Winter Olympics, and he visits Canada’s leading West Coast city regularly to make sure […]

I had the pleasure of covering Game Eight of the Canada/Russia Super Series for HockeyCanada.ca last night at GM Place. It pretty much encapsulated the entire course of the series (6-1 compared to seven wins and one tie). A colleague of mine who attended the games in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Red Deer told me that […]

When the Russians flopped with a tenth-place finish at the 2004 IIHF World Championship in the Czech Republic, head coach Viktor Tikhonov blamed it on “the mistakes of the players” and “the lack of time” to prepare for the tournament. Tikhonov, predictably, refused to acknowledge that his 1984-style methods just hadn’t worked, and that his […]

Originally published on IHWC.NET in 2007 By Lucas Aykroyd If you’re a Swedish hockey fan, you surely remember where you were when Nicklas Lidstrom scored the Olympic-winning goal versus Finland last year. If you’re a Slovak hockey fan, you must recall what you were doing when Peter Bondra’s late goal lifted Slovakia over Russia in […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2000 By Lucas Aykroyd If the doors of opportunity had ever opened, Jiri Bubla might have shone for Czechoslovakia in the NHL of the 1970’s as Borje Salming did for Sweden. Instead, the 5-11, 200-pound native of Usti nad Labern kept his talents on the other side of the Atlantic, […]