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Before every game I ...
DUSTIN PENNER AND TEEMU SELANNE, Ducks forwards
Well after all their teammates have suited up, Penner and Selanne remain in mufti. "Guys get dressed and sit there for 15 minutes," says the 6'4", 245-pound Penner (left). "I don't like doing that. You get sweaty. When I put on the gear, I start to focus, and if I get dressed early, I [might start] concentrating too [early]." Penner and Selanne (their locker stalls abut) begin dressing just before warmups. "I need about two minutes, 40 seconds," says Selanne, a.k.a. the Finnish Flash. "My record is probably 2:32." Penner says he and Selanne are always "neck and neck for the last one out," and they cut it close enough to unnerve some teammates—though neither has ever been late to the ice.
Tomas Holmstrom, Red Wings left wing
"I have these three T-shirts," says the 34-year-old career Wing. "They're all gray, all the same, but it's important that I not mix them up. I wear one before warmups, I switch to another before I go out for warmups, and then there's one I wear during games." Holmstrom, who was nursing an eye injury in Detroit's current series with the Sharks, started the practice last season, but he won't say why. "I don't want to talk about," he says. "People will think I'm crazy."
Chris Neil, Senators right wing
Ottawa's tough guy has rules. No one is allowed to touch anything in or near his locker stall, and he eats two chicken breasts at the same restaurant before every home game. Then there's his footwear: After each morning skate he puts in a new pair of 108-inch laces, tying together the bottom two eyelets on each skate and trimming the remaining 100 inches. Then he laces the rest of the skates with two more 108-inch laces. "The 108 is too short to tie the whole skate," explains Neil, who adds that "everybody has [superstitions]. I know what it takes to get me ready for a game."
The Pop Culture Grid
Harry Potter
Ping-PongCheesecakeDo a sitcom DAN UGGLA Marlins 2B The Man Friends don't show up to meet me I can't recall the last one I read Anything decided by a judge Steak and Bud Lite Become a Marlins Mermaid
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DAVID E. KLUTHO (PENNER)
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ROBERT BECK (SELANNE)
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ROBERT BECK (HOLMSTROM)
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RICHARD C. LEWIS/WIREIMAGE.COM (SKATE)
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LOU CAPOZZOLA (NEIL)
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ETHAN MILLER/GETTY IMAGES (SPEARS)
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RON VESELY/MLB PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES (AARDSMA)
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GREG NELSON
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GREG NELSON (BLAKE & HARRIS)
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CHUCK SOLOMON (UGGLA)
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JENNIFER GRAYLOCK/AP (JEREMY PIVEN)
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WARNER BROTHERS/PHOTOFEST (POTTER)
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ERICK W. RASCO (PANCAKES)
