A self-proclaimed Carolina Hurricanes fan, Stephen McIninch bid the ’Canes adieu a couple months ago and set out on a 12-day, 12-game hockey odyssey that extended from central Virginia, where he lives, all the way to California and north to the Twin Cities of Minnesota. Remarkably, he saw 12 games, involving more than half of the teams in the NHL, in 12 different cities. And he intends to do it again in the next couple of years, this time visiting the six NHL cities in Canada and the others in the Lower 48 he missed in October. Crazy? Most folks might think so, but, hey, he’s a player.

A travel analyst by trade, McIninch said it took him two weeks to develop his travel schedule and make all the flight and hotel arrangements from his office and home in Crozet, just outside Charlottesville, Va., where the University of Virginia is located.

He says he contacted each home team in advance and received media credentials for each arena, giving him a perch for each game in the press box and access to the teams’ locker rooms and the coaches’ post-game press conferences.

The father of six-month-old twins and a five-year-old stepson received plenty of encouragement from his wife and his teammates on his recreational hockey teams.

Because his responsibilities with Global Travel enable him to do his job from remote locations, he was able to make travel arrangements for his clients and respond to their requests throughout his trip.

He says the highlights of his sojourn were meeting Hockey Hall of Fame goalie Grant Fuhr in Phoenix and Dallas Stars forward Mike Modano and goalie Marty Turco in Dallas.

Here’s McIninch’s account of each game he saw.

Oct. 11, Nashville
I’m on my way to the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport to embark on what I consider the hockey fan’s ultimate dream trip: 12 NHL games in 12 U.S. cities in 12 days. By the time I get back to Virginia, I will have traveled 8,449 air miles and watched 16 of the greatest hockey teams in the world do their thing.

I can’t help but think about all the things I’m going to see, the people I will meet, how tired I may become and how many flight delays I may encounter. But most of all, I’m excited about all the hockey I’m going to see.

I arrived in Nashville this morning. Before attending the Predators’ game with the Phoenix Coyotes at the Sommet Center downtown, I toured the Adventure Science Center and the Nashville Zoo.

About 13,000 people watched the Predators lose 6-3 and I attended the post-game press conference with Nashville coach Barry Trotz and met a number of executives with the Predators and Coyotes organizations and representatives of Center Ice Magazine.

Oct. 12, Dallas
My American Airlines flight to Dallas was on time and I got to my hotel on the west side of town in the morning. On the advice of my cabbie, I visited the Texas State Fair, whose grounds are also the home of the Cotton Bowl.

I got to American Airlines Arena early enough to interview Dallas Stars goalie Marty Turco.

The Stars’ opponent, the Calgary Flames, was 0-7-1 in their last eight games. Calgary won, 3-2, on a slap shot by Matthew Lombardi at 3:20 of overtime.

The Stars were hurriedly getting ready for their flight to Chicago, but we were able to interview Nicklas Hagman, Mike Modano and Brendan Morrow, and sit in on coach Dave Tippett’s press conference. 

An obviously frustrated Tippett said, “The team failed many times to protect the puck, and the play by Morrow was a poor decision and a poor play all-around. We gave them a gift at the end of a game and it cost us a point.”

Oct. 13, Phoenix
After relaxing this afternoon in my room and the hotel’s swimming pool, I took a shuttle to Jobing.com Arena (formerly Glendale Arena).  The arena is next door to the University of Phoenix Stadium, the home of the Arizona Cardinals. This arena is very loud and very kid friendly. 

The Wild scored a shorthanded goal with 2:45 left in regulation play to go up 3-2 and held on for the victory in the face of a Coyotes power play to end the period.

The Coyotes’ Daniel Carcillo, who scored two goals in the game, said afterwards, “I just got lucky on my goals tonight, and my second one in the first period was just a good shot that seemed to get by (Wild goalie Niklas) Backstrom.  Though I felt the team lagged in energy in the third period and then gave up those two goals in the third, we had our chances to tie but were unable to convert.”

Jacques Lemaire, coach of the Wild, exclaimed, “We stole that game from Phoenix, we played good, and give the Coyotes credit for their great play. But we came up with the win and will bring that momentum into Anaheim tomorrow night.”

Oct. 14, Los Angeles
I’m staying in Anaheim the next two nights. I’ll attend the L.A. Kings-Detroit Red Wings game this afternoon and the Anaheim Ducks-Wings contest tomorrow night.

With Chris Osgood in the net, Detroit took a 1-0 lead on a power play goal 40 seconds into the second period. The Wings’ Kris Draper soon made it 2-0. 

With a two-man power play advantage, Los Angeles’s Mike Cammalleri took a pass from Lubomir Visnovsky and hammered a one-timer past Osgood at 1:44 of the third period.  That was as close as the Kings would get. Detroit scored twice more for a 4-1 win.

After the game, some of the Kings were outspoken, especially Mike Cammalleri. “The other teams are too good,” he said. “They’re doing what they want to do for 60 minutes; we’re doing it for 40 or 45.  There’s a lot of time for them to expose us, and that’s what you’re seeing.”

Oct. 15th, Anaheim
I spent most of the day at Disneyland’s California Adventure.  As game time neared, Red Wing jerseys started showing up at the park. 

Tonight, the Stanley Cup champion Ducks played host to the Wings. Anaheim got on the scoreboard first, with Kent Huskins scoring his first NHL goal at 1:56 of the first period off a pass from Ryan Getzlaf.
Anaheim broke a 3-3 tie at 9:02 of the third period on a shorthanded goal by Samuel Pahlsson assisted by Rob Niedermayer and Pronger. Detroit continued to apply pressure but Ducks goalie Ilya Bryzgalov came up with save after save.

Anaheim added an insurance goal by Corey Parry at 15:20 of the third and closed out the scoring with an empty net marker at 19:55.

Oct. 16, Denver
Tonight’s game at the Pepsi Center pitted the Colorado Avalanche against the Calgary Flames.
The Colorado Avalanche fell behind 4-0 and still managed to win. Ryan Smyth scored twice in regulation and notched the winner in the shootout. 
“We got behind but found a way to come out of it,” said Avalanche’s Ryan Smyth. “We weren’t prepared for the full 60 minutes, but a win’s a win. You don’t want to critique a win. We’ll take them any which way right now.”
 “They were all over us in the first period, but after the fourth goal, it seemed that we really started putting pucks on Flames goalie Mikka Kipprusoff,” remarked Avalanche goalie Jose Theodore, who earned his first win of the season.
Oct. 17, Columbus
Tonight it was the Blue Jackets versus the Dallas Stars in Nationwide Arena. But first I visited COSI, a big science museum along the Scioto River.
The Blue Jackets held the lead and had the momentum most of the game, but the Stars pulled Mike Smith from net for the sixth attacker with 1:20 left in the third period and Brendan Morrow scored less than a minute later to send the game into overtime and eventually a shootout.
The Blue Jackets were unable to get anything past Stars goalie Mike Smith and had to settle for a single point in the standings when Dallas’s Jusse Jokinen scored.
“We didn’t put the hammer down,” Columbus Coach Hitchcock said.  “We paid for it in the end.
“For 2-1/2 periods we were terrific. We played really hard, really well. We did exactly what we needed to do to beat that hockey club. If we play that way, we’re going to win a lot of games. But we didn’t put the hammer down. When you’ve got a 2-1 lead and you’re given odd-man rushes, you have to score. That’s what we didn’t do, and it came back to haunt us.”
“It’s really unacceptable,” Blue Jackets star Rick Nash said. “Good teams finish those games and win those games with no problem.”

Oct. 18, Washington, D.C.
Since D.C. is where I was born and grew up, I had lunch with some hometown friends and went down to Gravely Point to watch the planes land and take off at National Airport.

Unfortunately for the hometown team, the New York Islanders scored three unanswered goals for a 5-2 win over the Capitals, who had battled from two goals down to tie the score earlier.
 
“We’re going to get in tomorrow and get to work on specialty teams,” said coach Glen Hanlon, who has since been replaced. “There’s ups and downs in all specialty teams and we’re going to ride our way out of this.”

“The only thing I wasn’t happy with was the power play,” Hanlon said. “We have to make some changes.  “We are what we are. We’ve got offensive players, but maybe we’ll make the mix a little different.”

 “The first and second lines played really well tonight and brought the offense that we needed tonight, and they did manage to get some goals for us as well,” Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro said. “Anytime you get a win on the road it is a bonus, and Billy (Guerin) took care of us tonight with his hat trick.”

Oct. 19, Chicago
Since this would be my first visit to the United Center, I found myself reflecting on all the hockey players that have played for the Chicago Blackhawks and the rich history this team has.

The first 15 minutes of the game between the Hawks and the Colorado Avalanche was an offensive bonanza for coach Dennis Savard’s skaters, who built a 3-0 lead.

Jonathan Toews dragged the puck between his skates and stutter stepped around the Avalanche defenseman, then slipped the puck past goalie Jose Theodore to ignite the offense. Hawks Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane added goals at the 8:26 and 14.36 marks, respectively. The marker was Kane’s first in the NHL.

The Avalanche got on the board at 15:21 of the first and pulled within a goal 40 seconds into the second period on a tally by Marek Svatos. They pulled even at 3-3 7:35 into the third on a goal by Ryan on the power play.

The Blackhawk demonstrated their resilience when Timmo Ruutu got the winner at the 18:35 mark. Robert Lange rounded out the scoring with an empty-netter.
 
“The kids had a heck of a game, I was proud of the way the guys played once Colorado tied it at 3-3,” Savard said. “The kids showed great things, Kahbi (Nikolaj Kahbibulin) played a great game and made some great saves.

“The goal by Toews, I hadn’t seen anything like that in a long time, and I look forward to seeing him score goals like that this season. That play was definitely a play of the month, the year.” Savard said.

Oct. 20, St. Louis
The St.Louis fans were some of the loudest I’ve heard in a while. They began chanting and cheering before the game began.

The Minnesota Wild opened the scoring midway through the second period on a goal by Pavol Demitra. The Blues drew even on a shot by Scott Wagner that found the five hole of Wild goalie Josh Harding in the last minute of the period only to see the Wild’s Eric Belanger score with just 11 seconds before the intermission.

The Wild cemented a 3-1 win on a goal by Brent Burns 11:19 into the third period.

“Harding played great tonight for the Wild. I give him a lot of credit for coming out here and playing the way he did,” St. Louis goalie Manny Legace said. “It was very deflating when they scored on me with 10 seconds left in the second. 

“We did play a good game against a club who doesn’t give up a lot of goals. We seemed to have pulled the momentum from them when we got that goal with less than a minute, but when they came back and immediately scored, you could tell that the door shut right back up on us.”

Minnesota and the Twin Cities are all about hockey. When you walk into the Xcel Energy Center, home of the Minnesota Wild, you feel the pulse of the crowd. This arena was packed this evening for the unbeaten Wild’s game with the Colorado Avalanche.

As part of the pre-game program, a fan skated to center ice and planted the “Hockey Stick Flag” at center ice, followed by a World War II veteran shouting, “Let’s Play Hockey. Go Wild!”

The game was scoreless until the Wild’s Mark Parrish took a pass from Martin Gaborik and backhanded the puck past Avalanche netminder Peter Budaj 5:20 into the second period.

Two minutes later, with the Wild enjoying a two-man advantage, Brian Rolston shot a bullet past Budaj for a 2-0 Minnesota lead.

The Avalanche once again rallied, drawing even on second-period goals by Tyler Arnason and Andrew Brunette. But the Wild wasn’t about to disappoint its enthusiastic fans. With 3:04 remaining in the third period, Miko Koivu slid the clincher past Budaj.

The Wild remained undefeated and off to its best start ever.

Oct. 22, Raleigh
Finally, my last city and game, this one between the Vancouver Canucks and my Southeast Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes.

Despite a 16-6 advantage in shots on goal, the Hurricanes could not beat Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo in the opening 20 minutes.

Carolina finally got on the board at 5:07 of the second period, when Cory Stillman beat Luongo off a pass from Ray Whiney.

No team in the NHL is better than the ’Canes at protecting a lead after two periods. Tonight’s game was no different.

Carolina doubled its lead to 2-0 when Rod Brind’Amour slid a perfect pass to the stick of  Chad LaRose, who broke in alone on Luongo and beat the Canucks backstopper upstairs.

The Canucks fought back, slicing their deficit in half on a goal by Morrison at 3:19. But Whitney closed the door with an empty-net marker in the last 30 seconds for a 3-1 Carolina win.

Oct. 23, Charlottesville, Va.
Home in my own bed after an 8,923 mile journey. What a ride! Can’t wait to do it again?

Jim Davis also contributed to this report.