Interview with Jonathan Quick's replacement in net

When the Kings returned to their practice facility on Monday after nearly a week long break there was a stranger sitting in Jonathan Quick's stall. Perhaps even more confusing to some, he was putting on goalie equipment.

Salvatore Tecci had been at the rink since noon, hours before practice was set to start. As the players slowly trickled in, each pretty much did the same thing. "They would walk past me, then turn and do a double take," he said. "Many had a look of 'Who is this kid?'"

Eventually, they came over and welcomed him. "But, they would introduce themselves by their first names, which didn't really help because I didn't know who they were," he shared.  "Having lived in Boston for seven years, if I would have practiced with the Bruins, I probably would have known everyone on the team."

Tecci primarily grew up in Henderson, NV and his only exposure to pro hockey was the Las Vegas Thunder of the old IHL.

"When I first stared playing, there were only two ice rinks within 100 miles," said the 20-year old netminder. "I started skating when I was five, and eventually only became a goalie because one day somebody didn't show up. So, I said 'Yeah, I'll play goalie, they play the whole game.' I was always the youngest kid on the team, so they wouldn't give me a lot of playing time before."

In between filling in for one of his teammates back then and subbing for Quick while he was at the All-Star festivities, Tecci also attended the famed Thayer Prep School in Massachusetts - where a young Jeremy Roenick met Tony Amonte and skated on the same line together. As a freshman Tecci led the state in wins.

NHL scouts and college coaches paid him plenty of attention over the next few years. Yet, it all came to an abrupt end his senior year when he developed an eye infection that put him out of action for several months.

NHL DRAFT 2010: Interview with prospect Charlie Coyle

Every kid selected in this year's draft will have his own story to tell.

In this prospect profile we get to know somebody that could be tailor made for the Los Angeles Kings in the first round.  Charlie Coyle is ranked #24 by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau.  His favorite off-ice activity?  Working out.  His coaches say the 6'2" forward is a strong, powerful skater who protects the puck real well along the boards.  Teams around the league have taken notice too, as he had already met with 15 of them prior to the NHL Combine last month.

And for a star driven town like LA, how about this little gem of info - his celebrity look-alike...Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers.

NHL.com mock drafts have him going late in the first round, so he should be there at #19 when the Kings pick (assuming Dean Lombardi hasn't already traded it away for something different).

Charlie spoke with The Mayor about his past, present and future as he heads towards the NHL Draft later this week.

First off, who got you started in hockey?

Everybody on my dad's side of the family plays hockey.  I'm cousins with (former NHLers) Tony Amonte and Bobby Sheehan.

As a player, when did you start to realize "Hey, people are really starting to pay attention to me"?

The Best Rivalry in College Hockey

Boston College and Boston University are just three miles apart - on the same trolley ride no less. They've played hockey against each other a remarkable 247 times dating back to 1917. Later today they'll face off outdoors at Fenway Park for the first time ever.

Throughout their nearly 100-year rivalry, several players with current or former ties to the LA Kings have played on both sides of the battle.

Last summer's free agent addition, Rob Scuderi, was a BC Eagle for four years. Scuds was an iron man, playing more games in a BC sweater than any other player in team history. He was also there during a great run, going to the NCAA hockey championship game three of his four years (!), finally winning it all in 2001, his final season.

The always versatile Peter Harrold also played four years at BC. He served as the team captain his senior year of 2005-06 and was named first team all American on defense.

A college hockey game at Fenway isn't just the latest big game of the week because it's being played outdoors. This is a match-up of the last two NCAA national champions, BU last year and BC the year prior.

For Boston University it was their fifth title, trumping BC's three championships.

The man behind the bench today for BC, Jerry York, was also there for those three championships. He took over as coach of BC, his alma mater, in June 1994. Prior to that he coached at Clarkson and then Bowling Green - where he coached former Kings Rob Blake and Dan Bylsma.

York has had nine players selected in the first round of the NHL draft while heading BC's hockey program - including when the Kings drafted Brian Boyle in 2003.

He'll be trying to outwit another college hockey coaching legend, Jack Parker. He's been at the helm of BU for 37 years, sending 19 players to the Olympics, including four from the famous 1980 USA team - Mike Eruzione, Dave Silk, Jack O'Callahan and Jim Craig.

Another of Parker's star players moving on to international success with Team USA was Tony Amonte.

However, it was a BU game that Amonte says was "definitely the most memorable game for me throughout my whole career." And some game it was, a game that many call the greatest college hockey game of all-time. It was his last college game and it was for the 1991 NCAA title. With BU down 7-4 and less than eight minutes to go, he scored on a pass from former Kings forward Shawn McEachern. A few minutes later Amonte returned the favor, setting up McEachern for a goal. With 39 seconds left in the game BU would tie it. Sadly, they lost in OT, giving Northern Michigan its only national championship.

Nearly as disappointing to the BU loyal was the 1980 Beanpot final. For those unfamiliar, the Beanpot is an annual tournament featuring four Boston area teams - BU, BC, Northeastern and Harvard. First established in 1952, the February tournament grew in popularity to where it was eventually contested at Boston Garden (and is now played at TD Garden, the new home to the Bruins). BU has won the Beanpot 29 times, more than double the team with the second most wins (BC with 14). However, in 1980 they lost 5-4, giving Northeastern their first ever Beanpot trophy. A situation that Eruzione later joked about saying "There were actually two miracles that year."

The event at Fenway will surely be the most remembered game between the two since they met for the NCAA championship in 1978, the only time they've met with the title on the line. BU won that day 5-3.

Like the just completed World Jr's tourney, tonight's game will feature several potential NHL stars of the future. For example, Chris Kreider is expected to be back for BC after just winning a gold medal with Team USA at the WJC. Three of his teammates were also drafted by NHL teams...and nine more on the BU roster, including the Colorado Avalanche's first and second round picks from 2007 - Kevin Shattenkirk and Colby Cohen.

For some more LA flavor, take a look at the Kings alum that played for either institution:

Boston University - Peter Ahola (played 70 games on D for the Kings back in 1991-93), Rich Brennan (2 games, 2000-01 season), Paul Fenton (92 games, 87-88) and Shawn McEachern (49 games, 93-94).

Boston College - Brian Boyle (36 games, 2007-09), Jeff Giuliano (101 games, 2005-08), Steve Heinze, Billy O'Dwyer (18 games, 1983-85) and Kevin Stevens.

Perhaps a few of those guys, along with Harrold and Scuderi, will be so excited for the Fenway game they'll order one of the special BC jerseys the team will wear just this one time (pictured above). To commemorate the event, they've added a little Fenway green to the striping on their jersey. That's a nice touch.

See the jersey, Fenway Park and these two legendary teams square off on the NHL Network today at 4:30 pm PST.

BU vs. BC. Great rivals almost always produce great games.

The Mayor
www.twitter.com/Mayor119

The other Winter Classic

Fenway Park isn't done hosting hockey just yet.

Friday evening the famed ballpark will host a match-up between two of the most storied institutions in college hockey, Boston College and Boston University.

Current LA Kings players Peter Harrold and Rob Scuderi, both Boston College alum, will surely be rooting for their former schools. In fact, both programs usually rank in the top 5 for having sent the most players to the NHL.

As a quick sneak preview to the article we'll be posting on Friday prior to the game, take a look at just some of the current and former NHL players that will have a vested interest in the outcome of this one:

Partial list of Boston College Alums
Brian Leetch
Bill Guerin
Joey Mullen
Brian Gionta
Brooks Orpik

Partial list of Boston University Alums
Tony Amonte
Keith Tkachuk
Chris Drury
Mike Eruzione
Ryan Whitney

The game will be carried live on the NHL Network. More to come as the game draws closer.

One19
www.twitter.com/Mayor119

WJC: Jeremy Roenick previews Canada-USA

Make no mistake about it. This is a big game. It's one you circle on the calendar as soon as the schedule is released.

When it comes to hockey, Canada thinks they are the center of the universe. And when it comes to the World Junior Championships, they are. We can at least give them that one. They've won five straight gold medals and many believe they're the odds on favorite for a sixth.

However, they still need to play their arch nemesis - Team USA.

It will be a team filled with bright eyed youngsters hoping to become part of the next group of American superstars.

They're trying to take the reigns from a generation that was without a doubt the most successful group of all time. Sure, there was the gold medal team at the 1960 Winter Olympics. A one off. And there was the 1980 gold medal team. A miracle indeed.

Then came the explosion of elite U.S. players onto the world stage. Beginning in the late 80's at the World Junior Championships and continuing on to the Olympics and World Cups of the next two decades you had guys named Chelios, Guerin, Hull, Leetch, Modano, Tkachuk, Richter and Weight, just to name a few.

One more name from that list was Jeremy Roenick, who just so happens to be the all-time leader for points by an American player at the World Juniors. A record that may fall to this week to one of this year's assistant captains, Jordan Schroeder.

I spoke with JR last night to get his thoughts on the possibility of a new record holder and he shared some memories of his time at the World Juniors too...

MM:  Jordan Schroeder is three points away from tying your record of 25 points...

JR:  Well, at least my record held for twenty years (he laughs). That's good for American hockey though if he does. We need good kids coming up in the game, you know, the next generation of U.S. players.

Well, this is his third tournament...

That makes it OK then. It's going to take him three times and I did it in two, so that makes it OK (he laughs again, a constant whenever you talk to JR). Seriously though, it will be a great accomplishment for him.

Let's talk about some of your experiences at the World Juniors. Your first trip in 1988 was a tough one for the U.S., you guys only won one game...

Yeah, it was a tough one. That was right when the transition was beginning. The U.S. was just starting to get some good talent coming up. You had Modano, Amonte, Leetch and all those guys. We were all coming into our own. Before that, with the exception of maybe the '80 Olympic team, the U.S. was always one of those teams that was never competitive enough to grab a medal. I think that was right at the cusp of us starting to get really good, around '87-88 was when that change started to happen.

How about the experience of traveling to Russia for the tournament that year? It had to be a little overwhelming considering how young you were at the time.

Well, I was a sophomore in High School and it was really my first experience going overseas to play hockey. There was a lot of stuff going on with Russia and Canada at the time, there was a heated rivalry between those two. It was still a communist country back then and I remember everybody was under their rule. When you were standing outside the Lenin Square, everybody was waiting to go in to Lenin's tomb and they wouldn't let you walk in certain places. It was a total control thing. I also remember people were trading all sorts of things. Back then the black market was crazy. Some of us were trading food and clothing for things the Russians had, like those big wool hats - those were really cool. Other guys were trading their sneakers or gum and candy. They just ate it up because they didn't have stuff like that at the time.

You and Modano both had solid numbers that first year, even though the team wasn't doing so well. You finished with 5 goals and 4 assists. He had 4 goals too. Was the friendly rivalry already underway at that point?

We were brewing up a competitive edge before that. Like at the 17 Selects people were talking - I was the guy from Boston and Mo was the guy from Detroit. We were two of the guys everybody talked about and it just kept brewing from there. As we got older I always respected Mike and loved the way he played. Even today, he is probably one of my favorite players that I played with or against. I just don't think we see guys more talented than Mike Modano come along very often.

The following year Team USA was more competitive, going 3-3-1 up in Alaska. You led the tournament with 16 points and Modano was right behind you with 15. Anything stand out from your second trip to the World Juniors?

It was in our home country, but a place I had never been before. We were treated very well up there. The amenities were much better and our team was much better. Like I said earlier, that's really when we started rolling as a national powerhouse. That team was really strong. You can go right down the list from Modano and Amonte to the whole group of amazing players, you can see why we kept building momentum all the way up to the gold medal at the World Cup in '96.

In your first WJC you guys lost to Canada 5-4. At the second one in '89, even though the team was actually playing better in the tournament overall, you guys lost to Canada 5-1.

I remember that game, we were totally outmatched. They came out and played a very, very physical brand of hockey. They really took it to us. That game taught us a lot about what it was going to take internationally to win hockey games. I think that's when we started playing a physical game, more like the Canadians did. That was a big turning point for us, for my generation...and how we needed to play in order to beat them.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

As we were wrapping things up the talk briefly turned to Team USA's announcement of their Olympic roster coming up on Friday. Some of the players expected to make the team played for Team USA when they won the gold medal at the 2004 World Juniors. The Olympics would be the next step up for some of those guys. JR said he was "very curious and very excited" about seeing who makes the team. He wants to know who the new regime is going to be.

For now though, it's all about this tournament. Canada versus the USA, a marquee match-up every year. Both teams come into the game undefeated with the winner getting a bye into the semi-finals on Sunday. The loser gets an extra game on Saturday.

Can Jordan Schroeder pick up three points and tie JR for the all-time American points record? Can the U.S. upset Canada on their home turf?

Tune in at 5pm PST to witness it all live on the NHL Network.

This is one of those games you just don't want to miss.

The Mayor
www.twitter.com/MayorNHL
www.facebook.com/MayorsManor


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