No NHL teams. (Too familiar to be “strange.”) No junior teams. (Sorry, Lewiston MAINEiacs–you have to be able to drink in the US.) No teams with foreign-language names. (“Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk” might look funny to North Americans, but so what? “Manchester Monarchs” looks funny to Russians.) No teams with regular animal or force-of-nature names. (Nice try, […]

If you’re reading this in mid-November, you might be thinking: “Who applies for a hockey job a month before Christmas? The season’s in full swing. Most of the jobs are taken now.” You wouldn’t be far from the truth. But the fact is, there are hockey jobs available right now. And if you want to […]

After the final on-ice sessions at Bear Mountain Arena in Victoria, how impressed was Vancouver Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault with the performance of Jannik Hansen? Just count the number of times Vigneault said “really” when asked to assess the speedy 21-year-old Danish winger to date. “He’s really impressed me,” Vigneault said. “He’s really strong […]

Originally published on GettingIt.com in 1999 By Lucas Aykroyd Penalty box mayhem is a hockey tradition. Hulking, sulking, testosterone-addled players with big sticks and sharp skates have never been easy to cage. Bad-boy antics have been known to escalate within the confines of that 5- by 14-foot prison, providing memorable moments when penalty box attendants […]

Originally published in Rinkside in 2005 By Lucas Aykroyd On a chilly winter night, there’s nothing like curling up by the fireside with a good book. So why not choose something about the world’s most exciting sport? Long gone are the days when hockey was stereotyped as the refuge of gap-toothed illiterates. Art Farrell, the […]