Begin waits to hear what future holds

Steve Begin, a can’t-sit-still sort, is a rotten sleeper. Often he stares at the ceiling till his alarm sounds.

“I haven’t changed. Good nights. Bad nights,” says Begin, shrugging. “Just because I’m thinking — thinking about the game, thinking about what to do, thinking about hockey all the time.”

Over the years, though, he’s made his peace with tossing and turning, learning to catch naps when he can. Still, the man positively fizzes.

Now imagine how scarce the winks would have been Thursday night.

Training like mad, working like crazy, he attended the Flames’ camp this week — without a contract — knowing that a decision would arrive Friday afternoon, the deadline for National Hockey League roster declarations.

Begin, red-eyed no doubt, is waiting.

Either his NHL career ends where it started, with the club that drafted him 40th overall in 1996. Or it resumes here.

“No idea,” Begin, 34, says Thursday. “I don’t know what’s ahead of me. It was a tough week, tough practices. It was fun, though.”

But he does understand commitment. He did not sell himself short.

“I laid everything out there. Now it’s going to be their call — hopefully I force their hand. I feel like I’m a young buck again.”

In 2010-11, chassis battered, he’d made two appearances for the Nashville Predators, and another 36 on behalf of their farm team in Milwaukee.

Last season, the Vancouver Canucks rang 10 days before training camp. Struggling with hip issues, his mind already on surgery, Begin accepted the invitation.

He performed in one preseason date.

He performed in one pre-season date. “The next day I couldn’t move,” says Begin. “As smart as I am, I went to the rink, I didn’t tell them, I did a two-hour practice. And that was it. I said, ‘I can’t put my skate on. I have a hard time walking. Can you please fix me?’ But this year? I was prepared.”

Hip fixed, he’s bigger than ever — legitimately 195 pounds (as opposed to merely being listed at 195) — and stronger than ever, which is no small thing. (He and Chris Clark, 12 years ago at the Flames’ camp, tied for strongest player after each bench-pressing 295 pounds four times.)

And his value right now cannot be underestimated, especially on a grit-deficient outfit such as the Flames.

Long-timers in the organization can vouch for Begin’s character.

The peppy forward earned folk-hero status during the 2001 Calder Cup run. Not only did he score 10 times en route to the championship, he served as the Saint John Flames’ inspiration.

When his nose was broken, when his face was swollen to grotesque dimensions, Begin used strips of tape to pull open his eyes so he could see during games.

“Good memories,” he says, not kidding.

Playing with Begin in Montreal, playing against Begin growing up, Alex Tanguay wants this story to have a happy ending.

“Such a competitor,” says Tanguay. “To come back after a year off and hip surgery and all the problems that he’s had physically in the past, and then you see him work. He’s one of the guys in the best shape here.”

But Tanguay doesn’t get to make the final call. And for Begin, there’s no shame. “I’m proud of myself,” he says. “Everything I’ve been through the last two years, what I’ve done here. I showed up in great shape. I cross my fingers and hopefully it will work. If it doesn’t work, it’ll be tough. Real tough. But I’ll be proud of myself.”