Dave Andreychuk keeps 20-year-old wooden stick on Lightning bench for games.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published October 10, 2003
TAMPA - Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk swears he is not superstitious; dismisses it before the question is even asked.
Still, you have to wonder about a player who insists on keeping a beat-up, 20-year-old wooden stick on the bench during games though he has no intention of using it and it never has been used to score any of his 613 goals.
"I just think it's been around so much, it'd be kind of a shame to get rid of it," Andreychuk said.
The story of the Koho brand stick, which will be in Tampa Bay's stick rack during tonight's season-opener against the Bruins, dates to the 1983-84 season, Andreychuk's second in the league and second with the Sabres.
Coach Scotty Bowman apparently believed Andreychuk's stick had an illegal curve. Andreychuk said Bowman kept the Koho on the bench to make a switch if the referee wanted to measure.
Was Andreychuk's stick illegal?
"I don't know if it was illegal at the time," he said. "It probably could have been. So the stick just traveled around with us. Never used it. It was just there."
It remained there through stints with the Maple Leafs, Devils, Bruins, Avalanche and Lightning.
"It's seen very limited action," Andreychuk said. "Maybe a couple of times in the last eight years. You break a stick and rush over to the bench and by accident somebody gives you that one.
"I know when you get moved around team-to-team, the equipment staff knows about the stick before anything else. They have fun with it too. They want to make sure it's around."
Equipment manager Ray Thill said he is constantly on stick patrol.
"I always have an eye on it wherever we go," he said. "It's the first thing we look for when we open the stick bag."
Andreychuk said he isn't sure what to do with the stick after he retires.
His first thought was to give it to the Sabres equipment manager who kept track of it in the early '80s. But Andreychuk said it has become a "family heirloom" and said he might give it to his father or hang it above his mantle.
Until then, it will stay on the bench.
"I don't think it would affect anything if it wasn't there," Andreychuk said. "It's just a habit now more than a superstition."
"He says he's not superstitious," teammate Tim Taylor said with a chuckle. "But any guy who keeps a 20-year-old stick on the bench is very superstitious."
VINCENT LECAVALIER FOUNDATION: The foundation's first fundraiser is 9 p.m. Saturday at the Bahasa Lounge on West Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa. Admission is $20.
Teammates Brad Richards, Dan Boyle and John Grahame are expected to attend. The fund was created to help those battling childhood illnesses.
CELL PHONE DONATION: The Lightning wives will collect old cell phones for charity from 6-7:30 tonight on the Chrysler/Jeep Plaza at the St. Pete Times Forum. Proceeds will go to The Spring, a domestic violence safe haven.
