Playing Hockey

Hop the frog, Whisper the dragonfly and Tollor the dragon are some of Anaheim right wing Todd Ewen's closest friends -- and none of them plays hockey for the Mighty Ducks -- though Whisper is into in-line skating and is very much a '90s kind of guy . . . hmm, make that fly.Hop, Whisper and Tollor are some of the characters Ewen has written about and illustrated in the book "A Frog Named Hop," which is being considered for publication by Hyperion Books for...

All-Metro field hockey stars Peggy Boutilier, Julie Jakum, Lauren Volk and Kelly Naylor rank among the best locally, but next weekend they will discover how they compare to the nation's best high school players.At the United States Field Hockey Association's Futures National Tournament in Boston, the four will compete for spots in the Olympic Festival in San Antonio, July 22-29, or the Amateur Athletic Union's Junior Olympics in Knoxville, Tenn., Aug. 1-7.Those attending the Olympic Festival will join another Baltimore star -- Tricia Burdt, last fall's All-Metro Field Hockey Player of the Year.

All-Metro field hockey stars Peggy Boutilier, Julie Jakum, Lauren Volk and Kelly Naylor rank among the best locally, but next weekend they will discover how they compare to the nation's best high school players.At the United States Field Hockey Association's Futures National Tournament in Boston, the four will compete for spots in the Olympic Festival in San Antonio, July 22-29, or the AAU Junior Olympics in Knoxville, Tenn., Aug. 1-7.Any who make it to the Olympic Festival will join another Baltimore star -- Tricia Burdt, last fall's All-Metro Field Hockey Player of the Year.

Good Counsel senior Vicky Urbas laces up her ice skates not to cut figure eights in the ice, but to deliver checks to forwards lingering in the crease.When field hockey season ends in November, Oakland Mills junior goalie Kelly Naylor retires that stick for a longer one more suited to slap shots.Urbas of Highland and Naylor are two of the record five Howard County girls making history in the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League.Howard High, a member of the league's Central Division, leads the way with three girls on its roster -- senior Nikki Sharp, sophomore Shauna Foote and senior Carolyn Wilburn.

The 16 former Washington Capitals, members of the Capitals Alumni Association, may be a little heavier, a little slower and a little older than they were before they retired from the National Hockey League. But in the games they play to benefit charity, they can still skate around defensemen, shoot the puck into the net and embarrass goalies half their age.Some of the ex-Caps wiped the rust off their skates and broke a good sweat when they conducted a practice session at Benfield Pines Ice Rink in Millersville last Sunday.

Four and a half years ago, David Quinn had to give up something -- ice hockey or his life.The fact that the choice was clear didn't make it any less painful.Quinn was one of the best collegiate defensemen in the United States, a shoo-in for the 1988 Olympic team, an NHL star of the future.And that's when the doctors told Quinn, a hemophiliac, that if he kept playing, he could bleed to death from such seemingly minor injuries as a sprained ankle, a bruise or a cut from a high stick.But today, Quinn, 25, has a second chance to play hockey and make the Olympic team because of, in the words of Olympic coach Dave Peterson, a medical miracle.

"Gimme Some Lovin' " blasts from the stereo in the Skipjacks' locker room, prompting one of the fuzzy-faced kids to shout, "Great tune!" Joel Quenneville surveys the commotion and smiles. "They know it," the veteran defenseman notes. "But they probably don't know who did it."Quenneville, 32, is a good 10 years older than most of his teammates. He remembers the Spencer Davis Group recording "Gimme Some Lovin'." He can identify other classics as well. Heck, he's so ancient, he played for the Colorado Rockies before they became the New Jersey Devils.