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It was the final day of training camp in September of 2001 and I opened the door to the Senators coaches office. Authentic Eli Apple Jersey . There, I saw a teenaged boy with tears in his eyes, being consoled by strength and conditioning coach Randy Lee. Jason Spezza had just been delivered the devastating news that he would be returned to junior hockey – the final victim of the roster cuts made by general manager Marshall Johnston and head coach Jacques Martin. At the time I was a fairly inexperienced member of the Senators PR department, but I knew that Spezza was not ready to deal with the media. He flatly told me he didnt want to answer any questions that morning. However, it was just past 10am and reporters were going to start trickling into the building at any moment. We made the decision to get Jason out of the rink before any cameras showed up and caught footage of him looking so despondent. I went outside to the hallway and found that an Ottawa Citizen reporter had been the first to show up. But there was nobody else around, so I told him he needed to have his photo taken for his 2001-02 season pass, and I walked with him down to the security area. And once I did that, Lee helped escort Spezza out of the rink going the opposite way – so that nobody from the media could see him. I dont think you could really blame him in that situation. He was 18 years old and just had the rug pulled out from underneath him. He exceled at every level when it came to hockey, so being returned to the OHL was something he never fathomed. A few hours later, Jacques Martin would make his infamous statement that Jason was "a boy playing a mans game" – and maybe it was true on that day. But it seemed like that label stuck to Spezza for his entire tenure in Ottawa, like a stubborn piece of gum at the bottom of his shoe. He was never quite good enough for some people in this market. Even after his heroics as a 19-year-old in the playoffs in 2003 – when he scored a goal and added an assist in a must-win Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final against the New Jersey Devils – there were lingering doubts about his ability as a player. The very next year, Jacques Martin made him a healthy scratch for several playoff games against the Toronto Maple Leafs. A trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2007 didnt cement his status in this town, even though Spezza tied for the league lead in playoff scoring. Just a couple of years later, he was booed on home ice during a Game 4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2010 playoffs. That was almost enough to drive him out of town, with general manager Bryan Murray hinting that Spezza told him he was amenable to a trade if one could be executed. And yet three years later he was still here, now wearing the captains "C" on his jersey - which only seemed to make the target on his back even bigger. It was a roller coaster with Spezza from the onset and it seemed the ride never stopped. Every game seemed to be a referendum on whether or not you could win with him. After a while, it gets tiresome. Tiresome for the player. Tiresome for the fans. And tiresome for the organization. And yes - even tiresome for people like me who work in sports talk radio. There are days when I would just have to say "Jason Spezza" on the air and our phone lines would light up. Finally, Spezza himself has had enough. Bryan Murray admitted to the reporters on Wednesday that Spezza has asked to get off this ride. And Im not sure I can really blame him. Hes spent 11 seasons here and has more than paid his dues. In the next few days, you will likely read a ton of internet comments suggesting that Spezza never really embraced Ottawa. And that if he cant stand the pressure of playing Ottawa, he shouldnt let the door hit him on the way out. From my perspective, though, Spezza handled the pressure in this market as well as he could have. He was made the scapegoat on many nights when the team lost. And when he was the star in a Senators victory, too often the sentiment was, "why cant he do that every night?" I believe that day as an 18-year-old was the only time that Jason Spezza ever knowingly ducked the media. He stood in the line of fire and took his lumps on a daily basis for more than a decade. To suggest that he doesnt have the mental toughness to handle a Canadian market is completely erroneous. The guy just spent 11 years in this market, was a point-a-game producer and wanted to be named the captain of this team 10 months ago. If thats shying away from the limelight, I think youre sadly mistaken. We can debate whether the media or the fans pushed another star out of town in Ottawa - although this one feels a little different than the forced departures for guys like Dany Heatley and Alexei Yashin. Daniel Alfredssons exit last summer was a punch in the stomach that nobody saw coming. Spezzas imminent departure, on the other hand, is more like a gradual erosion; something that was inevitable. And when he finally does leave Ottawa, I can guarantee you Jason Spezza wont be shedding any tears. Discount Cheap Giants Hoodies . Finlands Kari Lehtonen made 26 saves to lead Dallas over the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 Saturday night. He received plenty of help from the Stars defence and got goals from Ray Whitney and Russias Valeri Nichushkin. NY Giants Jerseys Outlet . This week they discuss the Philadelphia 76ers, Gregg Popovich, Royal and Ancient Golf Club and Bill Belichick. http://www.cheapnewyorkgiantsjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-doug-kotar-jersey . Lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Blake Comeau – The Penguins winger had a hat trick in a 4-3 overtime win against Toronto.ASPEN, Colo. - About a dozen Winter X Games stars — more than a few of them owners of Olympic gold medals — were milling about the tent before the action began.Only one drew a crowd.Shaun White.Now 28 and coming back after the most humbling year of his life, White will be a multimillionaire megastar regardless of whether he wins or loses Thursday night, when he drops into the halfpipe for his first competitive trip since the disappointments of 2014.But behind the clothing lines, the guitar, the new life as an event promoter and those 1.46 million Twitter followers is one, simple fact: White wouldnt have any of that if he wasnt great on that snowboard.He doesnt want that to change — one reason he finds no use dwelling on his less-than-successful year.I guess, going forward, yeah, why look back? White said. I definitely learned some lessons and definitely feel better off than before, in a way. I think that, for me, it was a learning experience and Im pumped to be riding still.The inevitability that White brought to almost every contest he entered was washed away last year, with a series of injuries, falls, withdrawals and, finally, that fourth-place finish on the halfpipe that pushed the snowboarding world off its axis at the Sochi Olympics.He wasnt happy about it, said his coach, Bud Keene. Such is the risk you take when you put on a bib and lay it on the line. His career is far from over, athletically. Hes still, hands down, the best halfpipe rider in the world, and not by a small margin.For the first time since he won his first Winter X gold in 2003, there are some people who would argue that.Whites chance to end — or at least stall — that discussion comes at the event where he brandished his reputation with eight gold medals on the halfpipe, five more in slopestyle. (He has another two golds in X Games skateboarding.)But for the first time in a while, it matters who else is in the field.—Theres the Olympic champion, Iouri Podladtchikov — thhe iPod — whose invention of the 1440-degree Yolo spin, along with his ability land it in Russia when White could not, rewrote the book on 2014. Authentic Wayne Gallman Jersey. —There are high-flying and technically precise Ayumu Hirano and Taku Hiraoka of Japan, who took silver and bronze in Russia last year, proving, if nothing else, that they could outscore White on any given day.—And theres the defending champion here, Danny Davis, who conceded after his win last year that it took a little of the thrill away because White had chosen not to attend while he prepared for the Olympics.Davis also struggled on that mushy halfpipe in Russia last year, falling on both his runs in the finals and finishing 10th.Some guys landed and rode well. Others didnt. Thats just the way it goes, Davis said.But the stakes, especially away from the halfpipe, are nowhere near as high for Davis, or iPod, or anyone, as they are for White.Such is the nature of celebrity.Before Wednesdays news conference, White posed for the most pictures and signed the most autographs, frequently handing his cup of hot tea off to a friend so he could grab a pen. When the questions started, he drew the most interest, fielding queries on topics that ranged from Russia, to fashion, to music, to his hair, to his pre-competition rituals.Currently, I dont have too many, he said of the rituals. Yeah, when theres a lot of contests, thats when it happens.But between business, music and, yes, practice, there havent been a lot of contests lately — or any — which makes Thursdays runs down the halfpipe that much more intriguing.He may have wiped away the past. A win might help his millions of fans do it, too.I guess in my mind, in some way or another, Ive kind of scratched it off, he said. It was a frustrating circumstance for me. In hindsight, you can always look back and question what you did. That was the beauty of being in the hunt of it.___Follow Eddie Pells on Twitter: http://twitter.com/epells Cheap Steelers Jerseys Cheap Patriots Jerseys Cheap Bills Jerseys Cheap Jets Jerseys Cheap Giants Jerseys Cheap Redskins Jerseys Cheap Bears Jerseys Cheap Eagles Jerseys Cheap Cardinals Jerseys Cheap Jaguars Jerseys Cheap Raiders Jerseys Cheap Dolphins Jerseys Cheap Panthers Jerseys Cheap Lions Jerseys Cheap Browns Jerseys ' ' '