Hockey Players

Once, Kings defensemen Matt Greene and Rob Scuderi and Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller were just like the young hockey players they skated with Thursday night in El Segundo. Well, maybe not Greene. “These guys are good. A lot better than we were,” Greene said while the Junior Kings peewee double-A2 team went through drills. “I don't know about Millsie. He was pretty good when he was younger.” Miller, who is married to actress Noureen DeWulf and spends his summers in California, and the two Kings made good use of their time during the lockout by going on the ice for about an hour to offer advice and hockey tips to kids on each of the three rinks.

The NHL on Thursday used its most potent hammer and ensured locked-out players will lose at least one paycheck when it canceled a segment of the regular-season schedule from the Oct. 11 openers through Oct. 24. The action was the next step following its postponement of training camp and cancellation of exhibition games. But players aren't paid during camp and were scheduled to get their first checks Oct. 15. That may be the first of many missed paydays because the league and the players' union have been unable to conduct sustained negotiations toward a new collective bargaining agreement.

Defensemen who wouldn't hesitate to block wicked slap shots with their faces are considered tough, but they have nothing over 9-year-old hockey player Genny Shepler of Forest Falls. Brawny enforcers are applauded when they avenge their teammates' honor, but they're not as brave as the brown-haired girl who wore a Kings shirt and had a black balloon tied to her wheelchair with purple ribbon as she greeted the Stanley Cup on Tuesday at the HealthBridge Children's Hospital in Orange.

As U.S. women's field hockey team members gear up for their next Summer Olympics match, they've got momentum (and a Google Doodle ) on their side. Ranked No. 10, the U.S. team was seen as an underdog, but it also appears capable of competing with the very best in the world. "Coach [Lee] Bodimeade said in a press conference following the match that Argentina drives us to our best performances," said Ashley Meunier, communications manager for USA Field Hockey, after the team's defeat of Argentina at the London Games.

Times columnist Helene Elliott rates the pluses and minuses in the NHL from the previous week: + The Buffalo Sabres were last in the East as late as Feb. 18, but they're battling Washington for the final conference playoff spot as the season nears its end. Losses to Pittsburgh on Friday and at Toronto on Saturday hurt them, but including those games they're 14-4-3 since Feb. 19. + A year ago, the New Jersey Devils had a horrible start...

Hockey players always remember the key firsts: First goal. First assist. First fight? "It was like probably when I was 12 years old," said Kings left wing Kyle Clifford. "It was a guy named Steele from Florida. He didn't drop his gloves, but I fought him anyway. I don't know his first name. He was an American guy … so it was good. " Naturally, Clifford's fighting debut against young Mr. Steele isn't anywhere to be found on hockeyfights.com since he was, after all, only 12. But his vintage scraps against the heart of the Ontario Hockey League when he was a junior player and every tussle in the NHL have been duly recorded.

Imagine life without Teemu Selanne ever playing for the Winnipeg Jets, taking those 76 goals and 132 points and scoring them in his rookie season for another Canadian team. It is certainly worth recounting what almost didn't happen now that the Ducks' Selanne is about to settle into the warm (well, metaphorically speaking) Manitoba civic embrace Saturday. The adopted son is returning for an eagerly awaited homecoming when the Ducks play the Jets. Selanne's rookie season was with the Jets in 1992-93, and if Winnipeg had not stepped up financially, he would have been playing right wing for the Calgary Flames.

If you've been paying attention to the NBA's labor woes, this statement should sound familiar: "Unfortunately, we lose less money by not playing, and we know if we were to try to continue to play we would lose franchises and be in terrible, terrible shape. We are out of gas. " And you'll probably think you've heard this before, from a player involved in the collective bargaining process: "It's interesting that we're supposed to enter into a partnership that starts with a lockout.

A growing professional hockey league based in Russia is a point of pride for a country that loves the sport, able to attract stars from the prestigious North American league who find competitive salaries and a less-demanding schedule. On Wednesday, a premier Kontinental Hockey League team fell victim to one of Russia's chronic weaknesses: the quality and safety of air travel. A Yakovlev-42 charter jet carrying the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv team to its season opener crashed into the Volga River shortly after takeoff, killing 43 people: 35 players, coaches and team officials, plus eight crew members.

Bob Probert Former NHL player Bob Probert, 45, who played in the National Hockey League for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks, died Monday after he developed chest pains while on a boat with his family in Lake St. Claire in Windsor, Ontario, said family friend Rich Rogow. Rogow said Dan Parkinson, Probert's father-in-law, gave him CPR; but Probert died at Windsor Regional Hospital. He was born June 5, 1965, in Windsor. After starring with Detroit from 1985 to 1994, Probert spent his last seven seasons (1995-2002)