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PG-18

By by Lynn Zinser

Tuesday, June 18, 2002

Tampa Bay C Vincent Lecavalier remembers bracing for those first big hits -- grumpy old NHL players barreling in, loaded with experience and ill intentions. C Joe Thornton remembers watching much of his rookie season from the Bruins bench, dazed and confused by the trip from hot prospect to NHL punching bag. Lecavalier and Thornton both survived that trial by fire as 18-year-olds who vaulted straight from the draft to the NHL. But that doesn't make it the easy -- or the recommended -- path to NH ...

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