NHL '03-'04: In NHL, old-timers play every night

NHL '03-'04: In NHL, old-timers play every night
AP Photos KBS201-203
By ALAN ROBINSON
AP Sports Writer
Old-timers games once were a summertime ritual at major league parks. In the NHL, the geriatric set plays games that count every night.
Mario Lemieux, only two years from 40 and now an established club owner, thinks he can win another scoring title. Dominik Hasek, coming out of retirement only a few months shy of 39, thinks he can win another Stanley Cup.
Igor Larionov, Mark Messier, Chris Chelios, Ron Francis? They'll soon be closer to 50 than 40 and can get ready to stuff AARP membership cards in their wallets alongside their NHL Players Association cards.
Call them the Aged on Ice, players who aren't the stars they once were but still have a long shelf life, even in a pro sport more bruising than any other except football.
There are old-timers in other sports, for sure -- ageless pitcher Jesse Orosco is in the playoffs with the Minnesota Twins at 46; Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens are throwing in the high 90s in their 40s; and Gary Anderson is kicking field goals for the Tennessee Titans at the George Blanda-like age of 44.
But no team sport has bigger names, more Hall of Fame-level players still active in their late 30s and early 40s than hockey.
The main reason for this longevity? Credit the merger of modern science with hockey's age-old rituals and training regimens.
Because the hockey season is so long -- teams were back in training camp less than three months after the Stanley Cup finals ended -- staying in game shape has become an all-year routine that extends careers more than ever.
Want to guess how long Gordie Howe would want to play if he were still active?
"It started four or five years ago where guys began training hard all summer and keeping themselves in good shape and watching what they eat," said the Penguins' Lemieux, who turns 38 this weekend and has no plans to retire as long as he remains injury-free. "If you stay in shape year-round and you're able to stay healthy, you can play a long time in this league."
At a high level, too. Lemieux led the NHL in scoring much of last season, until a series of late-season trades left him with inexperienced and far less-talented linemates.
Lemieux has been around so long since being drafted at 18, he's seen the Penguins go from NHL doormats to two-time Stanley Cup winners to perennial playoff contenders back to doormats. He also sat out a season and retired for 3 1/2 years. Now, he's more than twice as old as his youngest player, 18-year-old rookie goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
All across the NHL, other veterans are in similar situations. The Rangers' Messier will be 43 in January. The Hurricanes' Francis will be 41 in March. Tampa Bay's Dave Andreychuk is 40, an age the Devils' Scott Stevens will reach in April. Defensemen Al MacInnis of St. Louis and James Patrick of Buffalo already are 40.
The Red Wings' Chris Chelios will be 42 in January, yet is barely the oldest player on the team. Brett Hull is 39, an age Hasek hits in January and Steve Yzerman reaches in May.
The Maple Leafs may be the oldest team around except for some shuffleboard teams in St. Petersburg, with goalie Ed Belfour, who turns 39 in April, plus 37-year-olds Gary Roberts and Joe Nieuwendyk.
Larionov, now with the Devils after helping the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup in 2002, is the oldest of the old-timers -- he'll be 43 in December, long past the age most contact-sport athletes expect to play.
"You have to love the game, you have to commit yourself to the game," said Larionov, the oldest player to score a game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup finals. "You sacrifice a lot of things. When you're successful, you climb to that summit and there is nothing else above that. Then you take a couple of days or a couple of weeks off and you feel hungry again, so you have to do it again. ... That's what keeps me going."
That and the money, of course. The former Soviet Red Army star was making only $100 a month when he came to the NHL at 29, years after many players began making big money.
"That's not the reason, though," Larionov said. "If you think about the money, you forget about the main thing, playing the game. You have to play the game."
But for how long? Given the ever-improving knowledge about injury prevention, weight training and physical fitness, and medical breakthroughs such as arthroscopic surgery and ligament replacement, careers can be extended far longer than they once were.
The players' wealth allows them to hire their own physical therapists, trainers, even their own nutritionists. Lemieux has had his own back specialist and fitness instructor for years.
Stevens, still one of hockey's premier defensemen and a three-time Stanley Cup winner, thinks something else is necessary to guarantee longevity.
"I think to play at the age of Igor and guys like Chelios and myself, you do stay in good shape and take care of yourself and you have to be injury-free and have a lot of drive," Stevens said. "You also have to like to compete. That might be the biggest thing."
Because players are staying in exceptional shape until they reach a relatively advanced age, Messier said retiring becomes difficult for some.
"You have to be able to put the work in, put the training in and the hours in to get yourself ready to play and then decide if you really want to play or not," he said. "There's never a perfect scenario to retire. ... When it's time to retire it's always going to be a disappointment. That's just the way sports is."
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AP sports writers Tom Canavan in New Jersey and Ira Podell in New York contributed to this story.