Around the rinks: Parity has come to the NHL big time
Going into Tuesday’s games, 18 teams were within three points of each other in the overall standings. Six were tied at 18 points (or fourth overall) with another six at 15 points (as low as 21st overall). “It seems like every year it’s getting closer and closer,” said Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby. “Teams know each other well. You can’t have a bad night. Anyone can beat anyone on a given night. This year is a good example of that.”
HAWK TALK: John Tavares played briefly with new Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton, who played 15 games with the Islanders in Tavares’ second NHL season. “Was a great guy. Guys that played with him for longer than I have always spoke very highly of him as a player and a guy.” The 33-year-old Colliton replaced Joel Quenneville, a close friend of Leafs coach Mike Babcock. “The slopes in Denver are going to get worn out,” Babcock said of the three-time Cup champion’s skiing hobby. “If he wants to work, he’ll work.” BOYLE’S MOMENT: Players around the league are sporting moustaches as part of the Movember campaign to raise cancer awareness, including fair-haired Maple Leaf Kasperi Kapanen: “I took a head start, but if I didn’t take a head start you guys wouldn’t seeing anything for a month.” Former Leaf Brian Boyle, diagnosed with leukemia last year, scored a natural hat trick on Monday — Hockey Fights Cancer day — for the New Jersey Devils. “Good guy,” said Babcock. “Anybody who’s been involved with cancer knows when you get cancer, the whole family gets cancer. It scares the crap out of you. Even when they tell you you’re cured, it scares you for the rest of your life, every time you’re not feeling right.”
CANADIAN REBOOT: Shannon Szabados will be in net for Canada at the Four Nations Cup, which runs until Saturday in Saskatoon. The Canadian women opened against Sweden on Tuesday night and will also face Finland and the United States — for the first time since the Winter Olympics. “It is the start of another four-year cycle, so all teams will be sure to have new faces in and out of the lineup, new coaching staff, etc. So for us, it is just important to be on the same page and communicate,” Szabados told theicegarden.com. “There is no doubt there will be some ups and down — it’s inevitable when starting fresh — but our staff has done a fantastic job of laying the groundwork for us, so that when we come together in short-term tournaments like this we are ready to roll out of the gates.” HODGSON’S STORY: Cody Hodgson, diagnosed with malignant hyperthermia that pre-
maturely ended his career, has partnered with the RYR-1 Foundation on a documentary about the disorder. Caused by a genetic mutation of the RYR-1 gene, it affected his muscular system and seemed to be triggered by prolonged exercise. “I was having trouble breathing,” he says in the doc. “I was blacking out and my muscles were extremely tight. My whole body was just shaking.” The documentary will get its first screening in Toronto in early December.
DUBOIS DA MAN: Pierre-Luc Dubois has emerged as the No. 1 centre in Columbus. He has the size at six-foot-three and 207 pounds, the skills, skates well and is practically unstoppable when he plays keep-away with the puck. And he’s 20. “I think the big thing for him is just going to be — and it’s a tough thing to do — but just be consistent night in and night out,” teammate Brandon Dubinsky told the Columbus Dispatch. “We rely on him so much every night … which is crazy, I know. For me, the sky’s the limit as far as his ability. You can throw in any power forward that has played the game and say he has some similarities. I don’t want to put too much pressure on him, but there’s just so many good players (he resembles).”