Sunday Rink Surfing

The best Lemaire story came from Vancouver Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell, who played for the Wild from 2000-06. After scoring a big goal against the Detroit Red Wings, Mitchell was called into Lemaire's office.

Lemaire eyed him up and down and finally said, as Mitchell recalled for the Vancouver media, "You produced three scoring chances, which is good. But you gave up three chances to Sergei Fedorov, Steve Yzerman and Brett Hull. Who do you think is going to score more goals, Fedorov, Yzerman or Hull or Willie Mitchell?"

"I got his point," Mitchell said.

"I sent him an e-mail offering any support I could to help him with the team in Pittsburgh," Cuban wrote Friday in an e-mail to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "He sent me a nice reply. Hopefully, we can do something together."

During the bidding process for the Penguins, Cuban was part of a group of investors that included New York businessman Andrew Murstein and Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino.

At the time, Cuban said he joined Murstein's group to try to ensure the Penguins remained in Pittsburgh. The franchise's future is in limbo, pending the resolution of a funding plan for a new arena.

However, Cuban revealed yesterday that he dropped out of the Murstein group before the sale process reached its final stage.

"They were nice and professional, but they were investors first and fans second," Cuban wrote. "The further we got in, the more concerned I got of what would happen if we won the bidding. I told them I didn't want to be part of a group where winning wasn't ahead of IRR (individual rate of return)

"As the season got closer, there was no urgency or excitement about the season. It was about negotiating tactics."

"Maddie, do you want to go to the Red Wings?" Paul asked, holding his cell phone.

It was the middle of September and Maddie was lying on the backseat of his truck, exhausted from chemotherapy.

She perked up instantly.

"Kris Draper wants you to be his guest," Paul said.

Maddie jumped and smiled and pretended she was about to faint. She loves the Red Wings. She loves Kris Draper.

After Draper learned about Maddie from a Free Press story, he offered to have Maddie use his private seats. Maddie is in the last stages of Ewing's sarcoma, a rare bone cancer.

On Sept. 21, Paul and Maddie walked into Joe Louis Arena, through the concourse and into the locker room before an exhibition game.

Draper gave Maddie an official Red Wings sweater with her name on the back. Draper had it signed by Robert Lang, Chris Osgood, Niklas Kronwall, Tomas Holmstrom, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brett Lebda and Coach Mike Babcock.

Maddie had been invited to watch warm-ups from the penalty box.

"The guys will be flicking some pucks at you," Draper said. "Like I said to your dad, anytime you guys want to come down, give us a call."

"What do you say?" Paul asked.

"Thank you," Maddie said.