Mattias Ohlund: The defenseman, with zero goals and 10 assists, is the first to say he needs to contribute more offensively. But Ohlund is a calming influence on the blue line, and he was an early season anchor and mentor for rookie Victor Hedman. Ohlund is minus-3, but his team-high 23:57 of average ice time was almost all against opponents’ top players.

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His Olympic gold medal is tucked away somewhere in his father’s home.

There’s no grandiose display, not even a trophy case to celebrate any of the hockey achievements of Mattias Ohlund.

The Lightning’s rugged defense-man says he pulls the medal out sometimes but admits he’s not too sentimental when it comes to hockey games, even Sweden’s 3-2 victory against archrival Finland in the 2006 Olympics gold-medal game in Turin, Italy.

“I’m happy I was part of that tournament, and I’m happy we won,” Ohlund said. “You move on and look forward to the next day.”

Ohlund, 33, is surely feeling something after being selected Sunday to play for Sweden in his fourth Olympics, in February at Vancouver.

Rookie defenseman Victor Hedman was not selected but hopes to be picked as a replacement in case of injuries before the 23-player rosters are locked in Feb. 15.

For Ohlund, this Olympics will be a homecoming of sorts. He spent 12 seasons playing for the Canucks. Ohlund signed a seven-year free-agent contract last summer with the Lightning worth $25.25 million.

“Regardless of where the Olympics is, it’s going to be a fantastic experience, even more so when it’s in Vancouver, where I have so many friends,” he said.

Ohlund’s Olympic experiences have been interesting. He missed the final two games in ‘06 with rib and shoulder injuries after he crashed into the boards with Switzerland’s Patric Della Rossa. He left before the gold-medal game and was later awarded his medal.

In Salt Lake in 2002, he was on the Swedish team that was upset by Belarus in the quarterfinals, still considered one of the biggest Olympic upsets.

Ohlund has played in 14 games in the Olympics, collecting five points, all assists.

“I enjoy all of them,” Ohlund said. “(Belarus) was a big upset. You’re upset at the time, but then you look back and enjoy just the whole experience.”

Ohlund said he enjoys the camaraderie that comes with wearing the yellow and blue track suits many of Sweden’s athletes wear at the Games. He also enjoys spending time with all athletes, not just hockey players.

“It’s so much different than what we’re used to,” Ohlund said. “You’re eating, not at the fancy restaurants you’re used to and the fancy hotel rooms. It’s very different, and it’s very grounding in a way. It’s awesome to be a part of it.”

Hedman, 19, looked at his computer early Sunday morning to learn he did not make the team. He did not speak with anyone from Sweden before heading to the St. Pete Times Forum for practice, arriving by 9:15 a.m.

“Of course you’re a little disappointed, but on the other hand, (Sweden coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson) knows what he’s doing,” Hedman said. “He picked the team that won the last (Olympics). I can’t blame him. Of course, I have a lot of work ahead of me.”

Hedman is averaging 22:16 of ice time, second to Ohlund’s 23:56. Hedman has three goals and eight assists and is second among the Lightning defensemen with 11 points. Ohlund has eight assists.

Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said Sweden’s coach had tough roster decisions to make.

“How young do you go? Experience vs. inexperience,” he said. “(Hedman is) the type of guy, I guarantee you, if the NHL (participates in) another Olympics … he will definitely be on the roster.”

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What in the world is veteran NHL goalie Dan Cloutier doing in Rockford, IL you ask?

The 33 yr old family man took a few minutes to answer few questions after practice on Tuesday. Cloutier recently signed a professional tryout with the AHL Rockford IceHogs. Cloutier has not played professionally in the past 18 months and has had two surgeries to his hip. He also spent some time as assistant coach to the CHL Corpus Christi IceRays along side his brother, Sylvain, who was the Head Coach.

First and foremost, Cloutier was NOT signed by the IceHogs to replace number one net minder Corey Crawford. Crawford is currently sidelined with a lower body injury that has apparently been plaguing him since the end of last season. Cloutier also was NOT signed nor brought in to play for the Chicago Blackhawks.

When first asked “Why Rockford, IL?”, Cloutier replied that it was the best fit for his family right now. He attended fall training camp with the Detroit Red Wings and had received multiple offers from teams in Europe to play this season. With a two year old at home and his wife expecting their second child, he felt it would be unfair to leave his family behind at this time if he chose to accept an offer in Europe. So, he decided to wait to see if anything opened up close to home this past November. On the very same day he got the call from the Rockford IceHogs, he had also received calls from two other teams in North America.

He adamantly denies receiving any pressure from the IceHogs organization in regards to getting back into game ready shape. He goes on to state that the IceHogs have been really great to him, allowing him to take his time getting into game ready form. The IceHogs have brought their Goaltending Coach, Wade Flaherty, back to town this week to work specifically with Cloutier.

Cloutier made his starting debut with the IceHogs…December 6th and played a total of 26:22 minutes in the game before receiving a Match penalty for roughing from Referee David Danfield. Cloutier took offense to being run over by Manitoba Moose player, Guillaume Desbiens. A line brawl ensued, which Cloutier participated in against Desbiens. Cloutier states he has always been competitive and doesn’t back down. The AHL Announced on Monday December 7th that Cloutier received a one game suspension for his actions in the game on December 6th.

courtesy of chicagonow.com

On Jan. 27, 2007, Scatchard was playing his 651st game in the bigs, with his fourth NHL squad, the Phoenix Coyotes, when his life took a sudden, fateful turn.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pounder from Hinton, Alta., absorbed a hit from Pittsburgh’s Sergei Gonchar and was catapulted face-first into the boards at Phoenix’s Jobing.com Arena, sustaining a concussion and losing a handful of teeth.

courtesy of community.sportsbubbler.com

The fact that he would play only 11 pro games over the next two-and-a-half years, that the Coyotes would buy out his contract in the summer of 2007, that he would have to go hat in hand for an NHL free-agent tryout two years later — all that was of little consequence in comparison to the personal agony he endured over the next year of his life.

The constant pain, the sapped strength, even the loss of balance were attributed to post-concussion syndrome. For the scrappy, resourceful, utility man, it was a terrifying time.

“It wasn’t about playing hockey, it was about living,” Scatchard, 33, told NHL.com. “It’s almost indescribable. There are so many things that go through your head, and your body starts not to work the way it once did. That’s what was scary and frustrating.

“You’re continually soul searching, with thoughts like: ‘Why is this happening to me? What can I do to fix it?’ You almost go crazy trying to figure it out. Finally, when you do, it’s the biggest relief you’ve ever felt.”

For Scatchard, that breakthrough came early in 2008, when in desperation he visited a Seattle-based doctor, of German heritage, who practiced Oriental medicine.

Scatchard was told that his bewildering medical problems all stemmed from a bite problem, with his false teeth throwing his jaw out of alignment.

“It took me well over a year and change before I could start treating everything properly,” Scatchard said. “It seemed like once we started working off the jaw, and the teeth alignment, and the bite, all the symptoms started to go away.”

As Scatchard recently told The Tennessean: “When you think about it, if you’re walking around with your jaw out of alignment for 15 months, you’re going to have some tension in your neck.”

During his hockey hiatus — interrupted only by 11 AHL games during the 2007-08 season — Scatchard was a stay-at-home dad, helping to raise his daughter, born in 2007, and his son, who came along in early 2009.

But the former Vancouver Canuck, New York Islander and Boston Bruin still felt he had something to contribute to the NHL and earned a tryout to the Canucks’ training camp this past September.

He didn’t stick, but the Canucks “put in a good word for me with some other teams,” and he was signed by the Predators in October and sent to the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals to get ship-shape.

On Oct. 27 at Boston, after a 996-day absence, Scatchard returned to the NHL, taking one shot on goal and earning a plus-1 rating during the Preds’ 3-2 loss to the Bruins.

“He’s a veteran presence, a big body, a right-handed draw, a guy who can play multiple positions,” Nashville head coach Barry Trotz told NHL.com. “He didn’t play and couldn’t get work, but Dave has scratched and clawed his way back into an NHL lineup.

“It’s a good story. It speaks of good character traits,” adds Trotz. “And it also represents a lot of what we do in Nashville. You give people opportunities. If they earn ‘em, then good things can happen.”

Scatchard scored his third goal of the season on Saturday afternoon into an empty net as the Predators won their fourth-straight game over the homestanding Calgary Flames.

A former 27-goal scorer with the Islanders, Scatchard has been used in a supporting role on the fourth line, and has averaged a touch over 11 minutes per night through 15 games this season.

The Preds’ October leap of faith, in the form of a contract, “means everything to me,” says Scatchard, “and I’m just getting warmed up.

“I’m not really playing a huge volume of minutes, or anything, so I think when an opportunity does present itself for more minutes, the production will start to show a little bit more. But I am feeling really good.”

Todd Kimberley | NHL.com Correspondent

For Mattias fans, here’s a good blogsite:

LINK

He wore a nucks’ uniform for 22 games in 1985-86, and 8 games in 1986-87.

But mostly, Young played in Fredericton before joing the Philadelphia organization.

He was the Chicago Wolves’ goalie from 1994-95 until 2000-01, and is now the team’s GM.

“Wendell has been involved here a long time and knows what’s going on,” said Wolves chairman Don Levin. “He knows everybody. He’s probably been the face of the organization since we’ve been here.”

“You see a lot of goalies in broadcasting and management after their careers and I think it’s because goalies sit back and see things and analyze the game differently,” Young said. “Player, executive, coach and GM are all different job descriptions, but they all have one common theme and that’s to win. It’s just people rowing at different parts of the boat to get to the same destination.”

‘If you’re not committed to winning, shame on you, and I will address it,” Young said. ”We have a commitment from the top to the bottom to win. It’s been like that year after year. I don’t see it (his job) as pressure. I’ve been given great assets. We don’t see ourselves having a successful year until we win a championship.”

First it was Peter Forsberg and then Daniel Sedin. Now Mattias Ohlund has injured his foot.

“Mattias Ohlund was scratched with a right foot injury he said was sustained during Saturday’s game with the Kings when his skate “got caught in the ice.”

Ohlund, who tried but could not participate in the morning skate and is wearing a walking boot, said he had not had X-rays or an MRI exam.

“We don’t think it’s anything serious,” he said.”

by Damian Cristodero

photo courtesy of ohlund.atspace.com

This season he’s both scoring and fighting. As of today, he’s had five fighting majors: against Kip Brennan, Wade Brookbank, Nicolas Blanchard, Kirk MacDonald and Vladimir Mihalik.

Also, he’s scored five goals, along with 2 assists in 16 games.

Cowan is getting some power play time and his fifth goal came from a Mike Kostka blast that bounced in off of the Barbarian.

Cowans’ five goals puts him one behind Sergein Shirokov and would tie him for second in Moose scoring. Cowan is 3rd in Pirates goal scoring (Portland is in the AHL cellar with 12 points.).

by Ron Spence

It was Phil Kessel’s first game back and it was late in the first period when the new Leaf thought that he would wheel the puck up the ice.

“I don’t remember (ever) getting hit like that,” Kessel said. “I put myself in a bad situation to tell you the truth, I shouldn’t have done that. Clean hit, he got me good.”

“When he came back (to the bench), [Kessel] said that’s the hardest he’s ever been hit in this League,” said Ron Wilson. “You could kind of see it coming; he was dancing through a minefield. … You’ve got to give him a double thumbs up for taking a hit like that, a massive hit and coming back and still being a dominant player every shift.”

I miss Mattias in a ‘nucks uniform.

“The veteran of 1,001 regular-season NHL games was without a team, without a training camp, without a contract through July, August and most of September. On Wednesday, however, May was skating at Joe Louis Arena with the Grand Rapids Griffins, brought into town by the Detroit Red Wings on a professional tryout.

If all goes well for the 37-year-old forward, he’ll wind up with a contract and a spot on either the Griffins or Red Wings roster.

May is not going with the Red Wings when they leave for Sweden, Sunday, according to Detroit vice president and general manager Ken Holland, May will not be offered a contract before then.

May can play for Grand Rapids without signing a contract, getting new 25-game PTOs (professional tryouts). But before he can play an NHL regular-season game, May needs a contract.

“I’ve been through a lot of different things, but I’ve never had a summer like this,” said May. “The phone wasn’t ringing off the hook. I wasn’t waking up to messages every day. This happened and it was right. Now it’s work. It’s out of my control. That’s what you have to do as a player, just show everything you have.”

May is a left-handed shooting left wing who broke into the NHL as a 20-year-old with Buffalo back in 1991. May is perhaps most famous for scoring the Adams Division semifinal series clinching goal in overtime against Boston in 1993, a goal made legendary by broadcaster Rick Jeanneret’s “MAY DAY” call.

The 14th overall pick in the 1990 draft (there were just 21 teams in the league then), May was selected the same summer that the Red Wings took Keith Primeau third overall and Slava Kozlov in the third round.

May lasted 1,001 regular-season games by showing third- and fourth-line ability and a top-notch toughness. He has 287 career points and 2,182 career penalty minutes. May has 142 career fighting majors, including seven last season in a year he split between Anaheim and Toronto.

“That’s who and what he is,” said Holland. “He brings a physical element and that’s something we don’t have. Now, he’s 37 and he wants to see what he’s got left and so do we.”

May has average 9:50 of ice time per game since the 1998-99 season. His time was down to less than seven minutes per game over the past two years.

The pinnacle of May’s career was in 2007 when he won the Stanley Cup with Anaheim after being traded from Colorado late in the season.

“First of all, I want to play; I want to make this team,” said May. “The second thing is to be part of this tradition, a winner. I had a great opportunity to win a few years ago and it’s infectious. You want to do it again.”

May learned of the tryout opportunity with the Red Wings on Monday. His family had moved to Toronto from California at the beginning of September — just three days before his 13-year-old son Tyler and 10-year-old daughter Samantha started school.

Having a stable home life was the reason that May didn’t consider playing in Europe this season, cutting his chances to return as a player.

“At this stage, school and family and friends … we made a big enough move back to Toronto,” said May. “It’s unbelievable. We’ve lived in four or five houses in the last three years. My family’s set. Now it’s just cheer Dad on. … My son loves hockey. They said, ‘Keep going.’ They’re proud of me. Those days that you were beaten up or emotionally drained, that helped.”

So May skated on his own this summer without knowing if he’d have a 20th season as a professional hockey player. He had several discussions with Toronto general manager Brian Burke — May and Burke have been together with three NHL teams — but nothing close to an offer to return to the Maple Leafs as a player, according to May.

On Wednesday, May was on the ice at Joe Louis Arena with the Griffins on a day that the Red Wings were given off.

May is working to try to fill the role served by Aaron Downey previously, adding physical toughness to a Red Wings team that consistently is last in the NHL in fighting majors.

More than that, May is working to extend a playing career that has been more than gratifying.

“It’s not about anything else other than I love it,” said May. “I just love it.”