By Damian Cristodero, Times Staff Writer
Saturday, February 26, 2011
5 questions | D Eric Brewer
When you played for St. Louis, did you visit the Arch? I did not. I was at the base of the Arch, never went up.
When you played for the Islanders, did you visit the Empire State Building in New York? We were in the city, but I didn't do the Empire State Building.
How about the Statue of Liberty? No, I did not.
You also played in Edmonton. Does that city have something iconic? I don't think so. I can't think of anything off the top of my head.
Is it disappointing that as a player, there is little time to see the sights? What happens is sometimes you get busy and you never do what's in your back yard.
Old friends
D Eric Brewer, whom the Lightning acquired from the Blues, has known Tampa Bay GM Steve Yzerman a long time. They were teammates on Canada's 2002 Olympic team that won gold in Salt Lake City, and Brewer played for Yzerman when Yzerman managed Canada's 2007 world championship team.
Yzerman's observations about Brewer were technical. "He moved the puck well and skated. I like his size, like his mobility."
Brewer remembered Yzerman took an interest in younger players.
"He was fantastic," Brewer said. "I remember shooting the breeze with him about some games and plays; kind of neat at the time to shoot the breeze with a player of that reputation and caliber."
Changing sides
With all the hoopla surrounding the first time GM Steve Yzerman faced his old team, the Red Wings, on Feb. 17 at the St. Pete Times Forum, it got Tampa Bay C Vinny Lecavalier, left, thinking about what it would be like if he ever had to face the Lightning. "I can't even imagine," said the captain who has played only for Tampa Bay in a 12-season career. "I can't even imagine wearing a different jersey."
Lecavalier did wear a different jersey when he played for AHL Norfolk in October 2009 in a mixed-squad preseason exhibition with the Lightning. "It was so weird," he said. "You're just not used to it. So if something ever happened, it would be a shock (to have to play against the Lightning). It's lucky I haven't had to go through that."
Quote to note
"You put a guy against the wall who's half my size and you tell him if I beat him up, he dies; see how hard he fights."
Coach Guy Boucher, explaining the desperation of penalty killers
Number of the day
22 Games between Dec. 28 and Wednesday, the last two times Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis and Steven Stamkos scored in the same game