Originally published in Medhunters Magazine in 2003 By Lucas Aykroyd The average doctor might balk at a last minute summons to work the week before Christmas in Bled, Slovenia. But Dr. George Nagobads was glad to accept when the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) told him a medical supervisor was needed for the obscure Division […]

Go to the Net: Eight Goals That Changed the Game By Al Strachan Published by Doubleday Canada 304 pages, 2005 For those who don’t read the Toronto Sun, Al Strachan has probably been best-known in recent years for his on-air feuding with ex-Vancouver Canucks general manager Brian Burke on Hockey Night in Canada’s Satellite Hot […]

By Lucas Aykroyd If you owned a broadcasting company and believed all the old stereotypes, you’d never let a former goalie become a fixture on your hockey telecasts. After all, aren’t goalies supposed to be the craziest guys in the sport? When they’re not willingly throwing their bodies in front of 100-mph slapshots, they’re talking […]

Originally published in the NHL All-Star Game Program in 2004 By Lucas Aykroyd “Honk If You Love Goals And Assists.” Maybe that’s the bumper sticker they should put on the vehicle awarded annually to the NHL All-Star Game MVP. Out of the 28 occasions in NHL history when the MVP has scored new wheels, 23 […]

Originally published in The Hockey News in 2005 By Lucas Aykroyd With the NHL season likely consigned to oblivion, you may wonder if hockey has lost any glamour it enjoyed in the USA. Only 6 percent of Americans expressed a “great interest” in hockey in a recent Zogby International poll. So when I was invited […]

Originally published in Full Tilt in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd The official motto of British Columbia is “Splendour Without Diminishment.” But even if you agree with former premier Bill Vander Zalm that life here in Lotusland is fantastic, there’s no denying the lows are just as much a part of our sporting tradition as the […]

Originally published in Full Tilt in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd One of the nice things about living in British Columbia is that for most of our history, we’ve been fortunate enough to avoid the kind of cataclysmic events that make headlines around the world. No civil wars, no big terrorist attacks, no devastating earthquakes, no […]

Originally written in 2001 By Lucas Aykroyd Despite its reputation as a great sporting country, Australia isn’t known for its hockey prowess. The Aussies regularly capture Olympic gold medals in swimming and equestrian events and dominate the international scene in rugby and cricket. To most Australians, the word “hockey” evokes images of a grass pitch […]