Hockey no stranger to Japan<
>By Shawn P. Roarke | NHL.com <
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>Hockey in Japan is big news, especially anything to do with the National Hockey League. Just ask John Tucker and Corey Foster -- former NHLers who have plied their trade in Japan's professional league.<
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>Tucker, who retired from hockey this past year, and Foster have seen Japanese hockey from every facet as members of the Kokudo Bunnies -- Japan's top club team.<
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>"They watch every hockey game they can get their hands on," said Tucker, who joined Kokudo after being released by the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 1995-96 season. "Even if it is a tape of a [NHL] game from five years ago, they will sit down and watch it and try to learn from it.<
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>"We draw two to four thousand per game and every game is televised. Everyone follows it over there. There is a lot of interest. It's daily in the paper and they also have the NHL scores and stuff."<
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>With a rabid, eager fan base like that, it is no surprise that the NHL has been so successful in staging games in Tokyo. The trip by Pittsburgh and Nashville for October's GAME ONE festivities is the third foray the NHL has made to Japan in the last five years.<
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>In 1997, the Vancouver Canucks and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim played the first regular-season game in Japan. In 1998, Calgary and San Jose played a two-game series in Tokyo. This year's two-game series -- set for Oct. 7 and 8 -- will be played at the
and new Saitama Super Arena, just outside of Tokyo.<
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>"The support for the game is unbelievable," said Foster, a four-team vet of the NHL. "We play in rinks that seat three, four, maybe five thousand and they are usually full. The support is there. We get letters from the fans every day from the Internet and stuff, wishing us well and asking us questions."<
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>An eagerness to learn North America's most exciting sport makes players like Tucker and Foster huge draws in Japan.<
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>The six-team Japan Ice Hockey League, now in its 35th year of operation, allows two foreigners per team. It also allows a limited number of foreign players of Japanese descent per squad. The rest of the team is comprised of Japan-based players.<
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>With the game still developing -- many observers say the level of play is somewhere between the level displayed in the American Hockey League and the East Coast Hockey League -- players like Tucker and Foster are an invaluable commodity, giving the league recognition and passing on a vast bank of knowledge to their Japanese teammates.<
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>Both players said they spend much of their time during practice helping the Japanese players learn some of the intricacies of the sport.<
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>"If there is anything we've learned in our hockey travels, we try to pass it on to the younger Japanese players," said Foster, a former first-round pick of the Devils. "We try to teach them the parts of the game that they don't know or understand fully. And, we learn stuff from them all the time."<
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>One of the first things foreign-based players learn when joining the JIHL is the dedication and work ethic of their Japanese peers, who are actually employees of the companies that sponsor the teams.<
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>"I was lucky enough to have never had to play in the minors, so it is hard to compare the level of play," says Tucker, who scored a career-high 31 goals for Buffalo in 1985-86. "But, in Japan, the emphasis is on skating and playmaking and the players are incredibly physically fit."<
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>Foster also remarked on the emphasis on physical fitness.<
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>"The Japanese have an unbelievable work ethic," he said. "They just work so hard. I know if John and I were still on the ice, none of the guys would get off. Even when we got off, guys would still be out there for another 30 minutes working on stuff."<
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>Both players have
ought their families to Japan for the JIHL season, which starts in September and ends in March. For each, the experiences in Japan have been some of the best of their hockey careers.<
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>"The last few years, I was up and down between the minors and the NHL," explained Foster, who is set to return for another season with Kokudo. "My family and I got tired of that and we wanted something where we knew where we would be for the season and something that had some stability. I thought we would try it for a year and, so far, we've enjoyed it."<
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>Tucker, meanwhile, wasn't ready to hang up the skates after being let loose by the Lightning and was leaning toward playing in Europe when the opportunity to play in Japan presented itself.<
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>He eagerly accepted and
ought his family over to take part in a new cultural experience. He says that his years there were enjoyable for himself, his wife and daughter.<
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>"When you go there to live, you have to accept the customs there and go with an open attitude," said Tucker, who is being thrown a testimonial game by the Bunnies this September. "And, that's exactly what we did. "I learned Japanese over there. It is a tough language to learn. It's not like anything else. The other players laughed at us all the time when we tried to speak. We practiced our Japanese and the other players practiced their English and we all got along somehow."<
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> MTFBWY ~Commander Corran Horn<
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