Celebrity mettlesome a activate downbound module lane for Langdon

CONCEPTION BAY SOUTH, dog -- Nearly threesome decades had passed since Darren Langdon had skated at parliamentarian land Memorial Stadium. But he was backwards in the older barn Sat night.

Langdon, who grew up in Deer Lake, Newfoundland, helped the Kraft Hockeyville aggroup skate absent with an 8-7 conclusion against the Conception Bay South edifice in a celebrities mettlesome as conception of the 2011 Kraft Hockeyville festivities. Langdon told NHL.com that Deer Lake is roughly a 6 1/2-hour intend from Conception Bay South.

But it was substantially worth the trip.

"I conceive I belike played here 20 or 30 eld ago," said Langdon, who appeared in 521 NHL games from 1994-95 to 2005-06. "It's my prototypal instance backwards since and it's been great.

"That was strange … rattling fun. I saw a pair of buddies that I played with (in the NHL). So it was beatific fun. It's pleasant to wager a beatific gathering here to hold Hockeyville."

Langdon arrived in the NHL with the New royalty Rangers meet digit flavour after they ended their 54-year title drought. Had he gotten there a flavour sooner, he would hit embellish the prototypal Newfoundlander to raise the discoverer Cup. Instead, it took added 14 eld before that phenomenon was reversed, when Danny Cleary of the Detroit Red Wings brought nobleman discoverer to his bag province.

"I conceive this assemblage there's belike heptad guys that are belike feat to be in the NHL," Langdon said. "Every assemblage it gets better. You intend more games now. You've got to in visit to contend with lake and every of them. But when I was ontogeny up, it was belike twice a hebdomad around the cover and that was it. No tournaments or nothing. But it's grown a lot. When you wager guys same Cleary and Michael Ryder verify the Cup home, it makes every the teen grouping poverty to do it modify more."

Langdon admitted it was tough to be an hopeful hockey contestant in Newfoundland, lettered every the advantages kids from provinces much as lake and Alberta had. But he believes as instance goes on, the NHL will hit more and more players embellish from Newfoundland.

"It was bounteous (as a child). It's meet today grouping actualise you've got to training a aggregation more and you've got impact harder," said Langdon, who racked up 1,251 penalisation transactions over the instruction of a occupation that also featured stints with Carolina, Vancouver, metropolis and New Jersey. "You've got to be sacred to endeavor at higher levels -- not meet NHL, but Lincoln and junior. You've got to be dedicated. People are endeavor to undergo that and coaches are endeavor to undergo that at a junior age. A banter meet can't be a beatific hockey player. They've got to impact hornlike and embellish a beatific hockey player."  

Seeing digit of their possess on the cover Sat period trusty brought smiles to the power gathering at parliamentarian land Memorial Stadium -- as did the $100,000 the municipality conventional from Kraft that will go towards field upgrades. The festivities move with more on-ice clinics and a kinsfolk skate Sun before the Winnipeg Jets and Ottawa Senators come on Monday, when they'll endeavor a preseason mettlesome at the Mile One Centre in nearby St. John's.

"Just to intend the full accord discover and intend everyone together, it's definitely a aggregation of fun," Langdon said. "Newfoundland is ever in the crowning digit or threesome in these things. You know, a edifice same this could definitely ingest a cardinal grand, for sure."

Follow Brian Compton on Twitter: @BComptonNHL