Dinner: $24,000; bonding: priceless

By TOM JONES
Published January 23, 2006

The Lightning took part in one of hockey's great rituals last week: the rookie dinner.

Once a season, each NHL team takes in a meal on the road at some fancy restaurant and rookies pick up the tab.

And, trust us, veterans aren't ordering the special with a glass of water.

When the bill came for dinner at some steak joint in Los Angeles last week, Lightning rookies Paul Ranger, Ryan Craig, Evgeny Artyukhin and Norm Milley had to pull about $6,000 out of their wallets. EACH!

That's right, 21 players and five trainers (no coaches are invited) racked up a bill of about $24,000, or in the neighborhood of 900 bucks a person. It's safe to say when the waiter brought the wine list, the players went straight for the good stuff.

Lightning rookies were somewhat mum about the whole thing, unsure if they were allowed to talk about the meal, but it's really no secret. It has been going on in the NHL for years.

When Tim Taylor was a rookie with the Red Wings in 1993, he and three others dished out exactly $6,100 for a meal at a place called the White House in Anaheim, a house built in 1909 with 12 private dining rooms and a wine list with more than 200 selections. The veterans ordered a few bottles of Louis Roederer Cristal, which runs about $400 a pop.

Veteran defenseman Darryl Sydor got off a little easier. When he was with the Los Angeles Kings in 1992, the team took pity on its rookies, eating in Winnipeg at the legendary Hy's Steakhouse. Sydor can't remember how much he paid, but it wasn't as much as this year's rookies.

Fredrik Modin also can't remember how much he paid. Either that, or he refuses to tell. When the veteran forward was with the Maple Leafs in 1996, the rookie dinner was at Morton's in Denver.

"Let's put it this way, I felt it," Modin said.

C'mon, Fred, how much?

"I don't know, let's just say I felt it," Modin said, smiling.

The grand winner (or loser?) of Lightning rookies has to be defenseman Dan Boyle. Boyle had been with the Panthers a couple of weeks in 1999 when they had their dinner at the scariest possible place: Las Vegas.

"We had a West Coast trip, but we had a few days off before the trip," Boyle said. "So the whole team went to Vegas for three days. We had our rookie dinner at Mandalay Bay (Resort and Casino)."

Boyle was one of six rookies. He had not received his first NHL check. The bill was $24,000. Boyle was in for $4,000.

"By the way," Boyle said, "we lost all three games on the trip. Anaheim, L.A., San Jose. We got smoked all three games."

Hazing in the traditional sense is gone at the NHL level. While other sports shave rookies' bodies, make them sing their college fight songs, lug equipment or fetch water, all the NHL has is the dinner.

But it truly is a bonding experience, unlike rituals that do little more than embarrass and really don't bring rookies closer to teammates.

"This really is a great thing," Taylor said. "As a rookie, you sort of feel good about treating your teammates and you get to enjoy it as well. We're all in it together, doing the same thing."

Part of the tradition, of course, is to order the most expensive wines and appetizers that are not eaten. But the rookies don't seem to mind. And if the bill is outrageous (as if $24,000 isn't), a veteran or two usually will secretly slide money to the rookies, creating more of a bond. In fact, that is believed to have happened at this year's Lightning meal.

The dinner could not have come at a better time. After a turbulent few weeks filled with losses and the waiving of popular teammate and captain Dave Andreychuk, the Lightning needed something to bring it together. The meal came two days after a series of team meetings following an awful loss at San Jose and a day after a feel-good 4-1 victory over the Kings.

Since the meeting, the Lightning has won two in a row. The only bad part is Ranger, Craig, Artyukhin and Milley probably will share a few macaroni-and-cheese dinners until payday.

[Last modified January 23, 2006, 01:00:11]