HOCKEY LAST NIGHT: TAKING IN THE FRONTS

BRAMPTON -- The Kingston Frontenacs were like NBC last night -- their one hit, the Stewart and Skinner show, made up for some weak spots in the lineup in a 6-5 win over the Brampton Battalion.

A night at the uber-antiseptic Powerade Centre -- right where suburban sprawl and industrial hell meet -- is living proof (more like "almost legally dead proof") that the Ontario Hockey League is a couple of degrees from hip, but that's tolerable since it's such a a trip to see Chris Stewart and Peder Skinner skate together for the Fronts.

There probably aren't two linemates less alike in all of the OHL. Stewart, who had four points, is a big city kid from Scarborough, a first-round pick of the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, a prototype power forward at 6-foot-1, 235 lbs.. Skinner (his first name is pronounced peter) is an overager, undrafted by the NHL, from Isle aux Morts, Newfoundland who is listed at 5-foot-8, 165 lbs. -- generously listed.

While Stewart has million-dollar paydays in his future, Skinner's probably ticketed for low minor pro, Europe or maybe Canadian university hockey -- someone, please, give him a call -- but in the OHL he and Stewart are close to equals. If you took away Skinner's helmet and visor you'd swear he was some crafty centreman left over from the 1950s and '60s. He can skate and is willing to carry the puck through the heavy going despite being the smallest guy on the ice. You know how a good stickhandler dangles the puck in front of him to tease a defender into poking at it, then pulls it away? One brainstorm was instead of saying the usual stuff about how "he's great one-on-one," say the guy has some sweet dangle or sick dangle, similar to how in basketball they say a guard has a great handle. Of course, that would mean saying you went to a hockey game to see a Peder dangle, which seems wrong somehow. That said, it's better than talking about a player's "great acceleration" like he was some mutual fund, so sweet dangle it is.

Every Fronts game I've seen this year (OK, only three, but all in different cities) Skinner does something which might not make it into the game story, but sticks with you. At one point in the second period, he got back to cover for a defenceman who had gone AWOL on the play (something that happens a lot with the Frontenacs), intercepted a a pass that would have sent a Battalion in alone on Kingston goalie Jason Guy, then tore off for the other end. At the half-boards, he swivelled 180 degrees to make a pass, and did it so quickly that Brampton defender Stéphane Chabot fell right on his arse. That was some sweet dangle.

Later, on a power play in the third, Skinner fought through traffic and guys half a foot taller and 40 lbs. heavier to get the puck to Stewart, who put it over Battalion goalie Bryan Pitton on his second whack. It made the score 6-3 with 10 minutes to go, which meant it stood as the game-winner since no lead is ever safe with the Frontenacs. Ex-Belleville Bull John Hughes and Luke Lynes each scored in the final minutes before Kingston could back on the bus with the win. It was also a four-pointer, since the result not only put Kingston back into sixth place in the OHL's Eastern Conference, it gave them a five-point lead on Brampton with two games in hand.

For the Fronts (22-23-5-1), it meant they managed to go 2-2 since that YouTube-worthy brouhaha in Bellevegas on Jan. 27 that led to suspensions for four players, the first of whom return for Sunday's game vs. Barrie. Stewart has scored or set up 13 of 18 Kingston goals in that stretch -- he's had to double-shift and actually got his first point last night when he set up rookie fourth-liner Bobby Mignardi for the first of his OHL career.

A 5,000-seat skillet

Now, about the Powerade Centre -- if it wasn't for the blue neon lights on the outside the building and the marquee outside, after dark it could be easily mistaken for one of the factories in the surrounding area. It's a turnoff (the OHL Arena Guide seems to agree) and it gives off the sensation the politicians in Brampton just wanted to throw up a building as cheaply and quickly as possible.

That better not be what happens with the new building going up in Kingston. The Memorial Centre may have rats almost the size of some of the OHL's smaller players, but to throw all of its history aside for the sake a 5,000 skillet -- but one with luxury suites! -- that has all the charm of a HomeSense would be a waste, and that's reinforced by the building in Brampton.

After about five minutes, you can tell why the Battalion get crowds like last night's announced attendance of 1,653.* Brampton shouldn't get a bad rap for sports since it can lay claim to several Olympians and numerous Canadian lacrosse championships won by the famed Excelsiors, but the Powerade Centre casts a pall over its entire sportscape, and a similarly bad building would do the same for Kingston.

It's not an arena, it's a building -- which is a big distinction.

NHL Scoreboard; OHL Scoreboard

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.

* At one point the P.A. announcer said, "Access to the seating area is restricted while play in progress," and the first thought was, "Judging by the attendance, that's permanent in some sections."