Originally published in Eishockey News in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd Esa Tikkanen and Brett Hull are examples of NHLers who played hard on the ice but exhibited a light-hearted attitude when they took off their skates. However, Dion Phaneuf definitely doesn’t fit that mold. In his second NHL season, the 21-year-old defenseman conducts himself more […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 1999 By Lucas Aykroyd Ten seconds. That’s all it took for Andrei Nazarov to show the Vancouver Canucks he was fighting mad and ready to live up to his many nicknames in a 26 September exhibition game at GM Place: “The Russian Bear,” “The Mad Russian,” and “The Nazinator.” At […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2000 By Lucas Aykroyd Perhaps we should qualify the saying that “one man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity” in the case of rookie Calgary defenseman Toni Lydman. Derek Morris’s decision to hold out in contract negotiations isn’t exactly a misfortune, but it has allowed Lydman to stake his claim on […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2001 By Lucas Aykroyd And then there were three. Igor Kravchuk recently became the third current Russian member of the Calgary Flames, joining Valeri Bure and Oleg Saprykin when he was picked up on waivers from Ottawa on 10 November 2000. The 34-year-old defenseman didn’t see the move coming, but […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2007 By Lucas Aykroyd The Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks must feel like they’re playing each other all the time this season. That’s close to the truth, considering they’d already met five times by early January. But that sort of thing doesn’t concern Jarome Iginla. The 29-year-old Calgary captain […]

Originally published in Prospects Hockey in 2007 By Lucas Aykroyd It’s fitting that Home Hardware has sponsored the CHL Top Prospects game since 2000. Hockey players need to be good with their hands, after all, whether they’re snipers, stay-at-home defensemen, quick-reacting goalies, or enforcers. Some CHLers, past and present, even show a talent for using […]

Originally published in Rinkside in 2005 By Lucas Aykroyd It may seem hard to believe now, but at one time, Finland produced fewer quality goalies than any other major hockey nation. Want proof? Check out the scoresheets from the inaugural 1976 Canada Cup. In their first best-on-best competition, the Finns lost 11-2 to Canada, 8-0 […]

Originally published in Prospects Hockey in 2002 By Lucas Aykroyd 1987 was a landmark year for Canadian hockey, as the Edmonton Oilers won their third Stanley Cup and the host nation captured the Canada Cup for the third time. The Western Hockey League mirrored this positive trend. With the emergence of high-scoring talents like Joe […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd Last season, Miikka Kiprusoff became the first Finnish goalie to win the Vezina Trophy, but he didn’t bother to attend the NHL Awards in Vancouver. This season, after getting off to a slow start with three wins in his first 11 starts, the 30-year-old Turku […]