inside the nhl dream

Inside the NHL Dream A look inside the National Hockey League

On the Bubble Dwayne Roloson remembers his experience. “It was my first training camp. The Calgary Flames had Trevor Kidd and that was about it. They sent me down, and I was really frustrated. We just came back from a road trip and bang! You’re in the airport with a ticket to Saint John. It’s like something blew up inside you. You’re walking on something, and it just dropped out from underneath you. You’ve got to bite the bit and go, go, go, and do what you’ve got to do every day to get back up. “Being sent up and down is like an emotional roller coaster. Usually when you get sent down, you kind of lose a step. You have to step back and try to see what’s going on and get your mind back into where you were before. A lot of times, it’s hard to do. Even when you get called up, it’s like, ‘Well, am I coming up or coming up for a game and going back down?’ That’s probably one of the toughest parts of the game. You basically have to deal with it on your own.”

The Draft Floor

Photographer: Debbie Elicksen

Curtis “Cujo” Joseph

Photograph by Debbie Elicksen

The One-Dollar Deal Kris Draper was traded to Detroit from Winnipeg in 1993/94 for future considerations. To finalize the deal, there had to be a transaction, such as a draft pick or money. “When Bryan Murray made the call from Detroit, Mike Smith said, ‘Give us a dollar and an official trade.’ I never found out if it was an American or Canadian dollar. When we won the Stanley Cup in 1997, and it was fan appreciation night, all the players stood up and said thank you. When I stood up, I had a U.S. dollar in my pocket. I went over and gave it to Mr. and Mrs. Ilitch and told them, ‘I know it was a tough time making this trade. It cost you a dollar, and I just wanted to give you the dollar back.’ They have that dollar framed in their corporate office.”

Paul Kariya

Photographer: Debbie Elicksen Photographer: Debbie Elicksen


Mike M

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Not So Instant Replay John Garrett recollects a major distraction while playing goal for the Hartford Whalers at the old Landover rink in Washington – one of the first rinks to install a Jumbotron. “I look up the ice, and it’s a two on two. They come in, the guy throws it across, and all of a sudden, it’s a two on one. The guy has an empty net to score. I’m thinking, what happened to my other defenseman? I’m watching the Jumbotron. As I’m watching the Jumbotron, they dropped the puck. RW Mike Gartner tees one up from behind the blue line and scores. At the last second, I look down. He’s scoring, and I’m still watching the Jumbotron. Coach Don Blackburn gets me to come to the bench and sit down. The other goalie goes in. He says, “You can watch the Jumbotron as much as you want, now. You’re game’s over.”

Jeff Cowan and Grant Fuhr



Dave Lowry and Friends


Claude Vilgrain and Stan Fischler


Brendan Shanahan

Training Camp Woes When retired LW Dave Lowry was a 19-year-old rookie with Vancouver, at his first training camp, he questioned his childhood dream of playing in the NHL. The coach was Bill Laforge, who oversaw all of 20 games for the Canucks in 1984-85. Scrimmage teams had two minutes to take off their skates and run a mile in their gear if they lost. “Unfortunately, I was on a team that didn’t win a game in training camp,” recalls Lowry. Laforge set up 13 stations for some unusual drills: jumping in and out of the bench; sparring in a circle; running in and out of sticks; run in and hit the boards; players lining up on the top of the circles on both sides then skating as hard as they could to run over each other behind the net. Lowry sort of wished he would be sent down (to the minors). “I thought if this is what pro hockey is like, I don’t know if I want to stay.”


Ian Laperriere and Chris Pronger

Trading Sideways It was trade deadline. Kelly Kisio was in his second year in San Jose under coach George Kingston. San Jose was in Chicago. “About a half-hour before the deadline, I got traded to Chicago. I talked to Darryl Sutter (then a Chicago coach), who said, ‘come on down tonight and we’ll get your gear over to our dressing room. We’ll decide if you play tonight.’ I phoned my wife, phoned my agent, everything was fine.” Before leaving for the rink, the trade was nullified. A fax didn’t go through. Kisio spoke with Chicago head coach Mike Keenan, who said they couldn’t do anything about it, go home, and they’d sort it out. “I went home and cleaned my garage for two days, didn’t hear from anybody. The deal didn’t go through. I got back to the dressing room in time for a team picture with San Jose. Chicago went to the finals that year.”


Derek Morris


Jarome Iginla


Darcy Tucker


Theoren Fleury


Jaromir Jagr


Luc Robitaille


Mike Babcock


Michael Peca


Mike Ricci


Scotty Bowman


Mats Sundin


Steve Smith and Sheri Forde

All Dogs Go To Switzerland Minnesota LW Pascal Dupuis spent the 2004-05 lockout season playing in the Swiss-2 league with HC Ajoie. Although he only played eight games (5-5-10), he brought his whole family over, including the dog and cat. “Obviously, every time you cross the border, Canada to U.S. or international, you have to go to the vet and get some proof of their shots. I had to do that over there and here.” It’s not something very many people do from overseas. Dupuis had to go to a vet that specialized in horses in order to get his papers filled so his pets could return home.

The Book A behind the scenes look at the National Hockey League (2001). Available in ePub or PDF. $1.99 Trades, travel, time commitments, family sacrifices, the physical toll, and what it’s like to live on the bubble. Inside the NHL Dream puts a human face to those who work inside the league. It’s for anyone who dares to dream and go after what they want. Click here to buy: http://www.freelancepublishing.net/wp/books/

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