Brian Smith

The hockey world was shocked by the violent death of former Kings and North Stars left wing Brian Smith on August 2, 1996.

A popular television sportscaster for CJOH-TV in Ottawa, Smith was shot in the head in the parking lot outside his station following his sportscast July 31st, 1996. Police said that a 38-year old man was responsible for the shooting and that apparently the suspect was angry at members of the media and wished to cause harm to a media personality.

After 90 minute surgery Smith died on August 2 at Ottawa Civic Hospital. Brian was just 54 years old.

Brian's NHL career began with the Kings during the club's inaugural season, 1967-68. During the 67-68 campaign he played 58 games for the Kings recording 10 goals and 9 assists for 19 points. The following year he was dealt to Montreal and then Minnesota, where he played 9 more NHL games. He played a total of 10 years as a pro with nine teams, mostly in the minor leagues.

Brian had been employed at CJOH since 1973, the year after he retired from hockey. He was highly respected for his straight-talking, low-key style.

Brian came from a prominent local hockey family. His father, Des, was a member of the 1940-41 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins and his brother, Gary, was an NHL goaltender for 14 seasons with eight different teams earning him the nickname, "Suitcase Smith." 

Brandy Semchuk

Brandy Semchuk enjoyed a lengthy career in the minor leagues because he could skate effortlessly. Too bad that's about all he could do. Semchuk never showed much offensive promise until he reached the lowly WPHL and WCHL some seven years after turning professional. Semchuk was a blazing skater used primarily in defensive and penalty killing situations through out most of his career.

Semchuk was drafted high, 28th overall by Los Angeles in 1990. This was due largely to his breakaway speed and the fact that he trained for two seasons with the Canadian National team as opposed to junior hockey. With the Nats he trained under Dave King, one of the top defensive teachers in all of hockey. However he left the program with lower back and groin injuries that nagged him for years.

The Kings gambled on him by taking him so early. He was an interesting prospect at the time - a young player who was very solid defensively and with great speed are two things often lacking in players that age. But Semchuk lacked an offensive element. As a result, he only played in 1 NHL game, against the Calgary Flames. While he scored no points, he did get on the stats sheet by taking a minor penalty.

After his minor league season was over in 1993, he was one of the Kings' minor league players asked to skate and practice with the Kings during their magical run to the 1993 Stanley Cup finals. Semchuk recalls having dinner with Wayne Gretzky as amongst his career highlights.

Semchuk opted to play out the final year of his contract in 1993-94, and that proved to be a mistake. Back in the minor leagues, Semchuk suffered a serious eye injury that ended his season. No team, not even the Kings, were interested in Semchuk after the scary injury. He continued on, catching on with minor league contracts in a variety of minor league cities until he finally hung up the blades in 1999. His eye never fully recovered full vision.

Last I heard Semchuk was living in Fresno, California, coaching hockey a youth hockey team named the Jr. Falcons. His daughter Emma was a promising player on the Jr. Falcons. He also was helping to coach a new junior hockey team, the Fresno Monsters.

Vladimir Tsyplakov

Vladimir Tsyplakov was a lanky Belorussian who had his National Hockey League career cut short due to a serious knee injury.

A scoring star with Dynamo Minsk, Tsyplakov took the bold step of bolting to North America without a NHL contract. In fact the left winger was only drafted after playing in 3 North American minor professional seasons. The Los Angeles Kings drafted the IHL scoring start 59th overall in 1995.

If the Kings were looking for immediate help, they found it. By 1996-97 Tsyplakov was a regular in the Kings lineup and on the penalty kill.  He earned a reputation as a solid playmaker as well.

1997-98 was his best NHL season. He scored career highs with 18 goals, 34 assists and 52 points. That was also the first year the NHL shutdown its' hectic schedule to allow players to go to the Olympics. Tsyplakov played for Belarus, describing the Nagano opportunity as a dream come true.

In January 2000, he joined the Buffalo Sabres. The coaching staff was very happy with Tsyplakov's addition as he proved to be a versatile forward who could play in a number of key situations when called upon. He finished the year with 19 points and a plus 17 rating in just 34 games with the Sabres.

Just when all seemed well for the utility forward, a disastrous knee injury took away nearly half a season from Tsyplakov in 2000-01. He returned after Christmas and found his game. He scored 14 points in 36 games and added a goal in 9 playoff contests.

The following season Tsyplakov opted to return home and play for Ak Bars Kazan of the Russian High League. One major draw to returning home was the opportunity to return to the Olympics. Because the NHL only shut down their schedule for only a set number of games, nations like Belarus could not necessarily count on their few NHL players being eligible during the Olympic qualifying rounds. Tsyplakov wanted to not just return to the Olympics, but help his nation qualify to compete for a medal. Not only did Belarus qualify, but this time Tsyplakov's team pulled off one of the biggest upsets in international hockey history as Belarus knocked off heavily favoured Sweden.

Tsyplakov remained active in Russia through the end of the 2004 season.

Dean Kennedy

"Average" defensemen don't often get the respect they deserve. Case in point is Dean Kennedy.

In a cover story on the Feb. 3, 1989 issue of The Hockey News, Kennedy earned the dubious honor of being the NHL's "most average defenseman" as a result of a NHL average statistics analysis. Unfortunately, The Hockey News goofed in picking Kennedy's photo for the cover, accidentally choosing a photo of Ken Hammond.

If Rodney Dangerfield was a hockey player, he'd be Dean Kennedy. Talk about a lack of respect!

Though he had a rather anonymous career, Dean Kennedy was a solid positional defenseman who could play physically in his own end. He was a hard hitter who always finished his check. In his prime he was a good fit as a number 4 defenseman.

A native of Redvers, Saskatchewan, Kennedy grew up idolizing Tiger Williams - hockey's ultimate bad boy. Kennedy would switch from right wing to defense around the age of 14, and joined the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL in 1980. By 1981 he was scouted as a promising rearguard. The Los Angeles Kings drafted Kennedy 39th overall

Kennedy began the 1982-83 season in Brandon but quickly made the jump to the NHL, playing 55 games as a rookie.

He made a name for himself somewhat infamously although Tiger Williams would have been proud. He was suspended four games for fighting Edmonton's Ken Linseman under the stands and in the corridors of the Great Western Forum. Though he played with heart, his positional play, like so many young defensemen, was in need of improvement. He spent most of the next two years learning the pro game in the AHL with the New Haven Nighthawks.

Kennedy became a regular with the Kings from 1985-86, getting a chance to play with his idol Williams. He would remain with the Kings until he was traded to the New York Rangers in December 1988. He would only play in 16 games in the Big Apple as he was traded back to L.A. where he worked well with the offensive minded Steve Duchesne.

In the summer of 1989 Kennedy was traded to the Buffalo Sabres for a draft choice. He would enjoy a strong season in his first year in Buffalo. The team registered 98 points in the standings. Kennedy himself scored 14 points, and played a full 80 game schedule.

Kennedy played in one more season with Buffalo before joining the Winnipeg Jets prior to the 1991-92 season. Though most of his first season with Winnipeg was lost to injuries, the next two years he played an important role in stabilizing the Winnipeg defensive corps. He also acted as team captain for parts of two seasons.

The Edmonton Oilers claimed the grizzled veteran on waivers after the owners' lockout of 1994-95 ended. Kennedy would play in 40 games before retiring.

Kennedy retired with 717 hard fought NHL contests on his resume. He scored just 26 goals and 134 points while amassing 1118 penalty minutes.

Kevin Dallman

Boy the world has changed a lot since I was a kid.

Kevin Dallman never grew up dreaming of playing in Russia, but he has become one of the best players in Russian elite league history.

Canadian pros who find NHL jobs hard to come by have often headed to Europe for big pay checks rather than travelling the "iron lung" to minor league cities in the southern US. But with the creation of Russia's oil-rich Kontinental Hockey League Canadians are striking it rich in Russia now, too.

Kevin Dallman was an undersized defenseman. He was a bit of a late bloomer with the OHL's Guelph Storm, as a result he was never drafted. The Bruins signed him as a free agent and let him apprentice in the minor leagues for three years. He got into 21 games with the B's, before moving on to St. Louis and later Los Angeles. In total he played over 154 NHL games, quite the accomplishment for an undrafted player.

He moved on to Astana, Kazakhstan, where he played with the local KHL team, Barys Astana. He may have headed there with only short term plans, but he now has no intention on leaving. He is team captain and has rewritten the Russian record book.

"I was only going to come over for one year and then go back and show I could play there," Dallman said. "But everything worked out well. I had a really good year and I had a lot of fun here."

Dallman led the league in scoring for defencemen in 2008-09 with 58 points and 28 goals in 53 games, besting the legendary Viacheslav Fetisov's record for most points by a defenseman in the Russian league.

Although he got offers from a few NHL teams after his first year, he opted to stay in Astana and signed a three-year deal with the team.

Time will tell what is in Dallman's future. Maybe he will even one day return to the NHL. But one thing is for sure - this Canadian kid will go down as a hockey legend - in Kazakhstan.