Tampa, Florida					Thursday, September 09, 2010

Life In The Lightning Locker Room
Thursday, October 23, 2003
TAMPA—Tim Taylor is the first out of the locker room for the pre-game warm-ups. Brad Richards the last, Pavel Kubina second, or third, from the last. That’s the way they want it. And that’s the way it is. Vinny Lecavalier is the fastest dresser. Fred Modin still uses a wooden stick. Dave Andreychuk keeps his old wooden KOHO stick from the 1984 Buffalo team on the Lightning bench, home and away, and Nolan Pratt submerges his head in a cold whirlpool (sink on the road) before heading for ice and warm-ups. Jasson wets the palms of his gloves from the water cooler, not the sink, before a game while Ruslan Fedotenko washes his gloves after every game and Brad Lukowich is in charge of the locker room music. Yes, it is a moral hockey sin to allow your jersey, clean or dirty, practice or game to hit the locker room floor ever, even drag it, and, yes, at the Lighting home arena here you’ll take a verbal lashing and perhaps a fine, if you step on the club logo in that room. Yes, generally, goalies are the most idiosyncratic, though Nikolai Khabibulin “is a regular guy, while John Grahame requires private time when he plays, between periods, not the least peculiar compared, say, to Gary “Suitcase” Smith who was the roommate of assistant Lightning equipment manger Jim Pickard years ago. “Why, Smith would take off all of his gear, right through the jock strap, between periods, and then put it back on before play resumed,’’ said Pickard, “and, I mean every game. Once, he wore six pairs of socks at one time. Why all this? Because he was a goalie, I guess,’’ said Pickard who was the equipment manger of the New York Islanders from 1972 through 1990, has worked four Stanley Cup winning teams, over 2,000 National Hockey League games and now with wife Ori thinks it terrific to be in his sixth year at the Lightning. Ray Thill is the equipment manager and Dana Heinze an assistant like Pickard, whose times and stories are legendary. He was precisely the right man with whom to visit and talk Lightning, locker room and equipment. He’s a young 52. “This team, the Lightning? No goofballs. No jerks. Nice.’’ He said, confirming the thoughts of newsfolk assigned the Lightning, now. On equipment, well, the team supplies all, except running shoes for the game site and the training site, including sticks. The sticks now are a combination of graphite and other materials, not just wood as they once were. The new designs are “supposed to be stronger and more durable,’’ said Pickard. “I know they are lighter. Cost? Oh, perhaps $110 to $125 each. I know if the players were playing for them, they’d use less.’’ This, the Lightning, “is a fine locker room. A good group of men, and a real mix. I mean when I played there may have been one American while the rest were Canadian. You know how the Europeans have come over and made their home. Take our goalie, Khabibulin, he is a perfect example	of a perfect adaptation, No real hang-ups. Not a prima donna. Does want his mask to be functional but beautiful and a reflection of his native Russia,’’ and it is. The gates of Leningrad can be seen clearly. No, Khabibulin has no hang-ups, no special needs. Grahame, however, when he plays, needs space before the game and between periods He has a chair placed outside the locker room a bit out off the path, where he readies mentally the six minutes before heading to the ice. On away games, he picks the spot for the Grahame chair and meditation, “where we will put a stopwatch for his timekeeping,’’ Said Pickard. And the locker room smell—surely the most powerful in all of sports, certainly by my personal estimate, and I have a nose of the size and sensitivity to judge that, “well, we use an awful lot of spray,’’ said Pickard, but no sport produces the sweat in the amounts hockey does, then traps it in the heavy equipment for longtime penetration and then inhalation. A hockey locker room is a special place, hardly comparable to a perfume factory in Southern France, despite the deodorizing. Just can’t wash the playing equipment often and long enough to release all of the aroma. “I know, I know,’’ said Pickard, “but it don’t bother me no more, for it is a room of fine young men here,’’ and it flat is. “The highest pain tolerance has to belong to Cullimore, who had that laceration of over 100 stitches once but didn’t let it bother him. He’s special. Been through a lot of adversity. Was waived through the league once, then sent down and now has become a landmark Lightning for four years “St. Louis? Special? Yes. Because he has such powerful thighs and calves and is built close to the ice, he almost is never knocked off his feet. He also is always full out for everything, always moving. Fine player and team player. Selfless.’’ Speed dresser Vinny Lecavalier, is, “well, he likes a pre-game massage of his legs and arms. Some do. Some don’t. But Vinny, gets his massage at 6:15, for the 6:30 ice team. When he starts his massage, some guys are already dressed. He dresses starting about eight minutes before heading for the ice. Then, I understood Tim Taylor rushes out of the room first and is ready to greet the others when they head out. Brad Richards wants to be the last out and he is, with Kubina second or third from last. So we got these little deals. Like Sarich (Cory), who has to have a blue sharpie to mark his number on his stick—not red, not black, must be blue.’’ This is a good crowd, a good team and a good locker room, Pickard said and most agree fully. ’’The room is loose, a good mix of veterans and young guys, who get along well. “They’d better. That’s what the coach (John Tortorella) wants. No crap in the locker room. None. And everyone on this staff and squad knows where they stand at all times. Torts sees to that.’’ ##
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