Over the weekend, former Sabres centre Derek Toy tweeted out a twitpic of he and one of his arch nemeses, Sidney Crosby. The pic wasn't photo-shopped. Both centres in the same shot, in blue jeans and tshirts. Sid had cool Airwalks on his feet. Roy had some hideous bowling shoes on. Hmmm, said I to myself. What the Hell was Sid doing chillin with @Roy9ner? In Dallas? Didn't compute for me. I was stumped.
Today, I put all the pieces of the puzzle together when I learned the Crosby and a sizable galaxy of past and present Stars were skating in secrecy, in a heavy duty, Texas-siized lockout workout. It all went down at the DrPepper StarCenter in Plano, Texas.
Who saw this coming?
Crosby and all of his buds will be busting ass in the Dallas suburb all week long. Hopefully, the NHL owners and NHLPA will be doing likewise, busting ass on ratifying the new collective bargaining agreement.
Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News ased the million dollar question to Sabres Son Of Anarchy, Steve Ott:
But why Dallas?
“I’m on the golf course right now, and it’s 80 degrees,” said former Stars player Steve Ott, who was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in the summer. “I think it’s snowing in Buffalo.”
Tongue in cheek, of course. @OtterN9NE, and his family are loving new lifestyle along the banks of where Lake Erie meets the Mighty Niagara.
This special, hush-hush Dallas boot camp is the brainchild of several present and former Dallas Stars. All of the current and former Stars have brough dates and "+1s" with them to the party.
Steve Ott, Adam Pardy, James Neal, and Sheldon Souray returned to Dallas, and brough with them some of their new teammates..
Ott brought his bro Mike Weber. Pardy tagged along. Neal the face of the NHL, Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz. Souray brought fellow Ducks D-man, Cam Fowler.
Current Stars Trevor Daley, Ray Whitney, Mark Fistric, Eric Nystrom, Vernon Fiddler and Richard Bachman are in the mix, too.
So there's the Dallas connection. But like a good batch of Texas chili, you have to add pepper and seasonings. Thats why Shawn Horcoff , Danny Cleary, Ryane Clowe , Ryan Malone, Teddy Purcel, Torrey Mitchell, and Aaron Johnson are also en la casa.
Souray told Heika:
“I’m not really sure how it all came together, but it was one guy talking to another, and a bunch of us deciding this was a good place for it,” said Souray. “It’s centrally located, and we can fly under the radar a little bit, so it works for us.”
According to Heika, former Florida Panthers assistant coach Jim Hulton is the gunnery seargent running the boot camp. The players passed the hockey helmet, raised cash, and have rented the ice for the week, hired equipment people to take care of their equipment, and have a catering company providing all of the food and beverages.
This camp is being funded 100% by #theplayers. NHLPA solidarity in full effect.
“We’re serious about it,” said Daley. “We want to come in here and have a serious workout and get ready as if we’re going to be playing soon, because I think we all hope we’ll be playing soon.”
If the new CBA takes effect on Thursday as I am predicting, these NHLers better be ready to immediately report to their NHL cities for their respective truncated training camps. If the league is to begin on 11/2 and 82 games are on the schedule, then the boys better be ready for the grind of three games in four nights, and six games in eight nights.
This camp will go a long way tp getting the boys into hockey shape. This is not a grab-ass fest. Its a boot camp.
“
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst,” Souray said. “We’re trying to prepare in a way where we’ll be ready if we’re asked to play quickly.”
@OtterN9NE told Heika that Sid's presence at this hockey camp has upped the ante in a big way.
“He’s just a normal guy, but you understand his level of practice and his level of performance, and that brings everyone up a notch,” Ott said.
“Sidney Crosby didn’t come all the way down here to mess around. He’s here to get himself in the best shape he can be in.”
Oh, by the way, Derek Roy is still recovering from off season surgery. He is not participating in the on-ice sessions. He just started light skating on his own last week. He's not expected to play for the Stars until mid to late November, if not December.
Let me take this moment to congratulate the son of former Buffalo Sabres scoring star, Pierre Turgeon. Dominic Turgeon scored his first ever WHL goal on Sunday for his Portland Winter Hawks squad.
thanks, hockeyprospect.com
The 16 year old Turgeon is a chip off the old block. His proud Papa, the first overall pick in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft, was a scoring machine in The Q and throughout his sterling silver NHL career. The elder Turgeon scored 1,327 points in 1,294 games during his illustrious NHL career that spanned 22 seasons.
He and his wife Elisabeth had four children. They currently live near Denver, Colorado. One of the Turgeon children, Elizabeth, died as a result of injuries that she suffered in a car accident on December 23, 2010, near Vaughn, New Mexico, at age 18.
Dominic and the Turgeon family deserve good things in their lives. They are great people, who have had to endure such an emotional, tragic loss in their lives.
I'll never forget the first time I met Pierre Turgeon. It 1987. We were in the Sabres room after a Buffalo-Boston game in which "Sneaky Pete" scored a goal. Turgeon, fresh faced rookie straight out of Granby of The Q, had just scored a goal and he was brimming with excitement. His English was poor at that stage of his young life. He apologized to me repeatedly for his inability to communicate to me in English his feelings. I told him to enjoy the moment and to not apologize for the language barrier. As his rookie season progressed, Turgeon's English improved dramatically and he would always take time to talk with me after games. I always will appreciate Turgeon for that. Such a humble, contrite, thoughtful, and selfless star.
Buffalo fans were shocked when eight games into the 1991-92 season, the Sabres traded Turgeon, Benoît Hogue, Uwe Krupp and Dave McLlwain, to the New York Islanders for Pat LaFontaine, Randy Wood, Randy Hillier, and future considerations. Talk about a blockbuster.
When did I get so old? Turgeon played 22 years in the NHL?
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