31.   In addition to a new contract for Weight, the Oilers are hoping to sign Mike Comrie, the best player in junior hockey.

32.   In his junior hockey days, Thornton could use his obvious size advantage to muscle his way to winning faceoffs.

33.   In January, a fight broke out in a handshake line after a junior hockey game in Rhode Island.

34.   In his early teens he participated in the Canadian junior hockey programs.

35.   In junior hockey, Morrisonn is a star blue liner who can pretty well write his own ticket in terms of how he plays.

36.   In Canada, junior hockey was rocked by a scandal in which one coach was imprisoned for sexually abusing his teen-age players.

37.   In the semifinals of the world junior hockey championships Wednesday, Canada played Russia in a match with historic resonance and international appeal.

38.   Kamloops is the defending Memorial Cup winner as champion of the Western Hockey League, which many consider the most talented of the junior hockey organizations in Canada.

39.   Junior hockey, considered semi-feudal by some critics, is a rite of passage for Canadian athletes who wish to play professional hockey.

40.   Kariya, who was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, chose college hockey in the United States over junior hockey in Canada.