Wednesday, April 1, 2009 | 4:12 p.m.
NOW
If you have a memory like an elephant, you might recall that Las Vegas had a professional roller hockey team in 1994 called the Flash, and that one of its stars was a guy named Walt Puddubny.
Walt Poddubny died the other day. He was only 49 years old.
Poddubny had three 30-goal seasons in the NHL, which is what made him a roller hockey celebrity. His teammates with the Rangers said he had a strange pregame ritual -- watching Three Stooges videos.
While he never put anybody's head in a vise, P-dub never skated away from a fight, either.
Just before he died, Poddubny had agreed to an interview with Allan Maki, a reporter from Toronto I met while covering the Canadian Football League. According to Maki, Walt was down on his luck, living in his sister's basement in Thunder Bay, Ont.
Anyway, I can't believe he's dead.
Like hockey on roller blades, that just doesn't seem right.
THEN
It's too bad Helena, Mont., didn't have a roller hockey team because Helena Wheels would have been a great name for one.
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