DW: What is your favourite hockey jersey today, as far as design goes?KB: I like the Blackhawks. I just like the logo, and the colours, red, black and white. Its old school, with a little bit of edge. DW: Did you have a hockey hero growing up?KB: I always based it on road hockey, and everybody always plays as their favourite player in road hockey. I was always the goalie, but it was always the player that was winning that night or the night before so it would always change. It was always a goaltender, so I never really had an idol or somebody I loved growing up.DW: If you could place yourself on one NHL team right now, which team would you choose and why?KB: I would pick the Detroit Red Wings because I think over the last three or four years they have lead the league in players lost due to injury. Teams always take advantage of them physically going in there because they know [Henrik] Zetterberg and [Pavel] Datsyuk arent really going to do much back. And guys like Drew Miller arent really going to answer the bell down there. I think I would be most needed and wanted, and also adored there because in southern Ontario, I remember back in the day, they would start talking Monday about a Toronto-Detroit matchup on Saturday. There would be a whole week of hype and build up. Joe Kocur, Bob Probert, Tie Domi, Todd Gill, Steve Yzerman… whos fighting who? I think that fan base is starving for a player of that calibre. #187291676 / gettyimages.com DW: Hockey players can be known for locker room fun and games, what is the best prank youve ever witnessed?KB: A lot of them are R-rated, so they cant be told. Things have changed a lot over the years. A lot of these young kids will phone their agent, and the agent will phone the GM and then we get a bullying lawsuit. Its pretty funny you can get a bullying lawsuit and everybodys making a league minimum of $575K. But theres always the typical cut the tie on the plane when the rookies are sleeping, sew the pockets of their pants shut, cut the legs off dress pants… yknow, the old typical where they have to walk out with a short suit.DW: What is the most memorable game youve ever played in?KB: Probably my first. At the time I was in Iowa and got called up… I think it was against Calgary at home. I didnt know it but my parents were flown in for the game – Dallas did that. I remember walking to the rink, walking under the tunnel and before I got to the dressing room I saw them and had a couple tears. For my parents thats a big thing, for any Canadian kid playing hockey. In minor hockey we had a million miles on the old green hornet minivan, with multiple accidents and rearview mirrors hanging there and still getting to a hockey game in time and worrying about insurance later. All the sacrifices they made, so I think the first game in the National Hockey League was probably my most memorable.DW: If you could steal the talent from one current NHL players, who would you choose?KB: I think Steven Stamkos. I think the age hes at and the skating and shooting ability. Through his actions he always follows up on what he says hes going to do. Both on and off the ice Id say Steven Stamkos. I wouldnt take his toughness attributes; Id combine his talents with mine.DW: I hear your workout program involves fight training – what does a typical week of training look like for you?KB: Its evolved. For a number of years I trained at Adrenaline Training and Fitness in London, Onatrio run by Mark Hominick. Also started back in the day at a gym called Hard Knocks run by Shawn Tompkins. Tompkins unfortunately passed away a number of years ago, but he was kind of one of the big startups in Ontario for mixed martial arts. He brought up Hominick, Sam Stout, Chris Horodecki - that group of guys came from London, Ontario and were all very successful and opened a gym called Adrenaline. Theyve had the likes of Chad Laprise graduate from there and he won Canada versus Australia in this years UFC show. So I trained there three times a week, but now that Ive got three boys Ill go ten rounds hitting the bag with rollerblades in the garage. The garage thing is a little bit easier as you get older because when I went to Adrenaline I would come home with more punishment during the summer than I would get during the winter. Even though youd spar with these guys, as much as you say it doesnt get serious, testosterone takes over. You go in there, you get in the cage and youre two animals. Once you get caught with one, everything else goes out the window and you start inflicting punishment on each other. DW: Who are some of the best fight opponents youve faced in your NHL career?KB: In terms of pure toughness, Id say Brian McGrattan could take the most punishment. Back in the day Josh Gratton, if you look at some of his tapes – pull up [Darcy] Hordichuk versus Gratton and that will explain who he was in terms of his fighting ability. Hardest puncher is Colton Orr; hes got a huge right. Everybody in the league knows it so you make sure you tie that up and make him use his left. Its the guys who have been in the league for a long time who are kind of 60" or 61" who will still fight the 65" guys. You know youre in for it because you know theyve taken punishment, whereas a lot of the bigger guys for the majority of their lives never get hit. You can hit a fighter whose 61" three or four times and you know its still coming back at you. DW: Is there a player you always wanted to fight but never got the opportunity to?KB: No, I think everybody I pretty much fought. Someone I loved to fight was [Paul] Bissonnette. I enjoyed fighting him for obvious reasons. Nobody I ever wanted to fight that I never got the chance to… actually no, maybe Matthew Barnaby I would have loved to fight. I kind of took his job because he had concussion problems in Dallas and he had a fantastic insurance policy there so he decided to take that. But I would have liked to fight him. #73363571 / gettyimages.com DW: Youve never been afraid to speak your mind – what is your current thinking on the place of fighting in the game? And do you see a time ahead when players say "no" to it all together?KB: I think fighting will be done by the next CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement). I think there will be another lockout for sure; because I think its just business and thats the way it goes. I think during that time period theyll adjust things. Unfortunately the leagues run by lawyers, I think every sports league is run by lawyers, and theres a lot of pressure being put on the league by the lawsuits that occurred in the NFL. If they can show some examples of them moving away from that it will maybe lessen the damage done in the near future. I also think the league is trying to sell itself to an audience in the United States, not so much the 40 plus million people in Canada. Sometimes they dont value the views of the generational Canadian fan. Youre already starting to see it, just look at Jarome Iginla and Dion Phaneuf the other night, who if you polled 100 people I think 99.9% of them would say they would like to see that fight. That 0.1 percent of a human being might say no.KB: It came out this morning that linesman have been told by league officials that if you can safely stop a fight before it happens make that judgment yourself. I think youre already starting to see it – for both the good and the bad. The game will evolve, and I guess it is what it is.DW: When you career is all said and done… what do you plan to do?KB: I just take it day by day, Ive been fortunate to play for nine years now so I can take a little bit of time to figure out what I want to do. I want to spend a little more time with the kids and a little more time with my wife… although Im not sure shes too happy about that. Shes used to running the ship, and now all of a sudden I think Im the captain. Ive been realizing its sometimes better for me to just keep my mouth shut. Ive never really done that in my job, so Ive had to bite my tongue quite a bit. First I need to learn where I stand on the totem pole at home, and then well go from there. Ive always had a work ethic, I have a brain and Im not ugly, ugly yet, so if I can convert that into something, whatever I find Ill work my ass off at and try to be the best I can be at what I do.DW: And finally, we like to ask everyone this – can you go BarDown?KB: Ya, I can go BarDown. Practice, I am the sickest practice player youve ever seen. You can poll guys out there that I played with. And I think thats whats gotten me an extra two or three years in the National Hockey League, because coaches have been like, "Oh jeez, this kid is unbelievable" and even guys are like "Youre sick, Barchy." You ask David Clarkson who the best skilled tough guy hes played with… I should have a resume of guys who said that because I mightve got a couple more years out of the game. But ya, I can go BarDown. Vans Old Skool Rød . In this space, I will be writing new and unique pieces about the team that you wont be able to find anywhere else. So naturally, in an attempt to come up with a fresh topic about the Ottawa Senators, I am going to start with a piece about their goaltending. Vans Old School . "I had a pretty good year," the soft-spoken Granberg told TSN.ca with a grin from the teams annual rookie tournament in London. A fourth-round selection in 2010, Granberg is worth keeping an eye on with NHL training camps rolling around in less than a week. The six-foot-two, 200-pound defender may not possess the wow-inspiring theatrics of fellow prospect Morgan Rielly, but nonetheless has a chance to contribute with the Leafs when all is said and done this season. http://www.oldskoolvanstilbud.com/ . - Jerome Verrier scored the winner 8:24 into overtime and Louis-Phillip Guindon stopped 46 shots as the Drummondville Voltigeurs edged the host Val-dOr Foreurs 4-3 on Friday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action. Hvide Vans Old Skool . In the days leading up to the draft, TSN.ca and TSN Radio basketball analyst Duane Watson looks at some of the names that will be headlining the event. Tonight, Michigans Nik Stauskas of Mississauga, Ontario. Vans Old Skool Gum Sole Dk . Duhamel, from Lively, Ont., and Radford, from Balmertown, Ont., were second with 77.01 points, just behind Olympic bronze medallists Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany. The four-time world champs lead at 79.Its one of my biggest pet peeves in football and it happens all over the world and it happens often. Moreover, it makes the game a little less beautiful. I call it the "deliberate handball swindle." A player, believing hes been fouled, grabs the ball while falling to the ground, forcing the referee into making a decision in the players favour. As a long suffering observer of CONCACAF, Ill cynically assume that this technique originated in Central America and spread like a disease to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, FIFA has allowed the plague to fester...until recently it seems. More and more, we are seeing officials make the correct decision, by giving a free kick in the other direction, while brandishing the yellow card that is automatically awarded for intentionally handling the ball. Unfortunately for Whitecaps fans, it was a Vancouver player that fell victim to that modern interpretation and, because Mattias Laba was already in the book, it was an indisputable sending off in the Whitecaps 2-1 loss to Colorado Rapids on Saturday. Was Laba pulled back by Nick Labrocca in the 77th minute and might a foul have been awarded? Yes. But there were a full two steamboats between Laba tumbling to the ground and the Argentine midfielder grabbing the ball. Enough time for the referee to blow his whistle, which he didnt, and enough time for Laba to consider the circumstances - already on a yellow witth his team leading by a goal.dddddddddddd Perhaps in his home country, in front of a huge crowd, a referee might have caved to the con and we see that all the time. I sympathize with officials who are constantly being put in a position of having to interpret deceit. So for the good of the game, Im glad Ionnis Stavridis construed the law the way he did and I hope his contemporaries in the game consistently follow suit and react the same way in similar circumstances. There is part of me, though, that also wonders whether in this instance, if the referee knew right away that Laba was already on a yellow for a belligerent foul just 23 minutes earlier ,as there seemed to be hesitation between him showing the secnd yellow and then the red. If referees themselves strive for anonymity and the desire to let players decide games, then, upon reflection, perhaps Mr. Stavridis might have secretly wished he had just awarded a foul to Nick Labrocca and not influenced the game to that degree. But it doesnt change the fundamental issue - grabbing the ball to force a referee into a ruling falls under the same category as diving or, as its now known, “simulation." Its cheating plain and simple and if the Whitecaps truly want to live by their slogan “Our All, Our Honour”, maybe they need to learn from this incident and encourage players to think twice about employing one of the games most notorious swindles. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '