Zach Bogosian, the 19-year-old defenseman from the Atlanta Thrashers, has emerged as a serious candidate for the United States Olympic Team, a pair of sources have told FanHouse.
The 19-year-old Bogosian, a native of northern New York, has developed into a superb two-way defenseman with shocking ease, with just 64 NHL games under his belt. The third overall pick from 2008 already has eight goals this season, tops among NHL defensemen. He would be a natural for the up-tempo system Team USA coach Ron Wilson plans to install for the Olympics in Vancouver in February.
When he was 15 years old, phenom defenseman Cam Fowler locked in a scholarship to play college hockey at Notre Dame. Two years later, at the age of 17, the kid from Farmington Hills, Mich. made a phone call he said was "the toughest thing I've had to do in my life so far."
He broke his commitment with head coach Jeff Jackson and Notre Dame, electing to play Canadian junior hockey with likely 2010 first overall pick Taylor Hall and the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League.
NEW YORK -- As Alex Ovechkin takes the pregame warmup at Madison Square Garden, an hour before scoring in his return game -- a Capitals' 4-2 win -- Rangers fans in blue and white jerseys stand 10-deep behind the glass. In a rarity for this most vocal of fanbases, hardly anyone makes a sound. They mostly just stand and watch and appreciate. Ovechkin is back after a two-week injury and he seems to have been missed not just by Capitals fans.
Bob Hoch attempts to focus on Ovechkin with the Canon 200 he's taken out of his jacket pocket. Hoch has been a Rangers season ticket-holder for five years, but he's an unabashed Ovechkin true believer. "I love Ovechkin and hate Sidney Crosby," Hoch says, as if there has to be a choice. "They're both incredible hockey players, but Crosby takes dives and avoids contact at all times and Ovie is old school. He's the guy you'd kill to have on your team."
The Columbus Blue Jackets drafted a super-skilled freelancing forward a year ago and are now wondering why he's not developing into Jere Lehtinen. So on Tuesday, Nikita Filatov took his sticks and went home to Russia and the KHL -- as the Blue Jackets always knew he could.
Now the big question is, where do the Blue Jackets and their "prized" prospect go from here?
NEW YORK -- Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin will make his return to the lineup on Tuesday night in Madision Square Garden against the New York Rangers.
Ovechkin, who is still tied for the NHL lead in goals with 14, missed six games over the last 15 days with what the Capitals termed an "upper body strain." His return is not just at one of the world's more famous arenas, but can be seen on VERSUS. In Ovechkin's three previous appearances on the league's national cable partner this season, he has a combined six goals and two assists. In his last five games at Madison Square Garden -- including last year's playoffs -- Ovechkin has four goals and four assists.
Dave Schultz will be inducted into the Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame on Monday night. Looking back more than 30 years later, it's hard to believe Schultz was only a Flyer for four seasons.
"That's my only regret," said the man forever known as "The Hammer."
Just four years. Ask any hockey fan to list the men associated with the great and notorious Philadelphia hockey teams of the 1970s and you will hear Bobby Clarke's name first, followed maybe by Bernie Parent and possibly the coach, Fred Shero. But in that next group -- along with everyone from Bill Barber and Rick MacLeish to Gary Dornhoefer and Reggie Leach and the Watson brothers -- comes The Hammer.
Gordon had been warned about this two weeks ago. The video, the one he filmed in 1986, was recently re-discovered, dropped on the world wide web and slowly but surely was starting to go viral.
The NHL can be a league of brutality, of fierce grudges played out inside the boards. But one of the game's most endearing qualities is the sportsmanship demonstrated when the final buzzer sounds. There is, of course, the traditional handshake after playoff series. Then there are the moments you don't hear much about.
David Morehouse (pictured right) arrived safely at home on Thursday morning. The 48-year-old president of the Pittsburgh Penguins had emergency endovascular stent surgery on Sunday in California to repair a blocked artery. But there is a lot more to this story.
As if being a goalie in the National Hockey League is not difficult enough. As if 6-3 power forwards standing in front of you on power plays is not enough of a distraction.
From now until the day he is dealt -- and he almost definitely will before the March 3 deadline -- Martin Biron is going to hear his name in trade rumors. This is what happens when you're on a one-year contract at a very reasonable $1.4 million. This is what happens when your team has an established No. 1 goalie (Dwayne Roloson) under contract through 2010-2011 and their best netminder (Rick DiPietro) in the fold for another eleven years. This is also what happens when you're low-maintenance, talented, accomplished and respected.
Zach Bogosian, the 19-year-old defenseman from the Atlanta Thrashers, has emerged as a serious candidate for the United States Olympic Team, a pair of sources have told FanHouse.
When he was 15 years old, phenom defenseman Cam Fowler locked in a scholarship to play college hockey at Notre Dame. Two years later, at the age of 17, the kid from Farmington Hills, Mich. made a phone call he said was "the toughest thing I've had to do in my life so far."
NEW YORK -- As 
The Columbus Blue Jackets drafted a super-skilled freelancing forward a year ago and are now wondering why he's not developing into 
NEW YORK -- Washington 
Dave Schultz will be inducted into the 
Scott Gordon was told, with a purposeful tint of vagueness, that a reporter had a question "about your days in Boston College."
The NHL can be a league of brutality, of fierce grudges played out inside the boards. But one of the game's most endearing qualities is the sportsmanship demonstrated when the final buzzer sounds. There is, of course, the traditional handshake after playoff series. Then there are the moments you don't hear much about.
As if being a goalie in the National Hockey League is not difficult enough. As if 6-3 power forwards standing in front of you on power plays is not enough of a distraction.
