Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2001 By Lucas Aykroyd Martin Havlat grew up far away from the plains of Africa, but the young Czech left wing’s speed and vision inevitably prompt comparisons to a gazelle. TV analyst John Davidson is awed by the way the Ottawa Senators rookie “explodes through the neutral zone.” Drafted 26th […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2001 By Lucas Aykroyd When you look at a photo of our Milky Way Galaxy, the stars are so densely clustered that you can’t distinguish individual luminaries. You might think a similar effect would occur with Dominik Hasek on the star-laden Detroit Red Wings. But the 36-year-old superstar goaltender looks […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2000 By Lucas Aykroyd In hockey talk, the term “workhorse” is often abused. Listening to TV color commentators, you might think any NHL defenseman who occasionally plays more than 20 minutes per game deserves that title. But Roman Hamrlik of the Edmonton Oilers really is a workhorse, and he proved […]

Originally published in Michigan Hockey in 2004 By Lucas Aykroyd For NHL teams, succeeding in the annual NHL Entry Draft can be as risky as investing in precious metals on the stock market. Fortunately for the Detroit Red Wings, Hakan Andersson has proven his worth by consistently assembling a great portfolio of prospects. As Detroit’s […]

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 […]

Originally published in Rinkside in 2000 By Lucas Aykroyd 1964. It was the year four mop-topped lads from Liverpool hit America and revolutionized rock and roll. The year Martin Luther King won the Nobel Peace Prize. And in hockey terms, it was a long time ago. So when the Cologne Sharks of the Deutsche Eishockey […]

Originally published in the 2003 NHL Playoff Program By Lucas Aykroyd Nothing feels better for an NHL player than winning the seventh game of a hard-fought playoff series. Any victory is sweet, but this is even sweeter. By the time you hit Game Seven, you’re deep into a war of attrition with your opponents. If […]

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 Prospects Hockey in 2007 By Lucas Aykroyd “Hockey’s in his blood.” “He was born to play this game.” For some participants in the CHL Top Prospects Game, these aren’t mere clichés. They’ve clearly got genes that scream of athletic ability, and their hockey-oriented family environment has contributed toward their rosy prospects for […]

Originally published in Prospects Hockey in 2005 By Lucas Aykroyd If you’re a highly touted CHL-trained prospect, there’s no better endorsement than being chosen number one overall in the NHL Entry Draft. Since the draft was instituted in 1969, 27 CHLers have earned that honour. Of course, not every #1 pick fulfills his potential. For […]