Wednesday night, Jan. 30
The way I skate, I have a lot of respect for those guys who are out there, like Ron Dugay, who make everyone look silly by just skating around them. I still have a long ways to go, but it's coming along.

Ryan Dempster knows a little bit about baseball and hockey. A native of Gibsons, British Columbia, the Florida Marlins right-hander was the seventh Canadian pitcher elected to the All-Star Game when he was named to 2000 National League squad. He's working out in L.A. until pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 17. Until then, he'll be sharing his NHL All-Star experiences with ESPN.com and ESPN Radio (Thu. and Fri. on AllNight, 2 a.m.-6 a.m. ET).

I was on Bruckheimer's Bad Boys -- Jerry Bruckheimer's team. We won, 10-9.

It was weird being in a locker room with guys like Phil Esposito and Jari Kurri when I grew up watching them. You realize how good they are and what a heck of a career they've had. Hopefully, someday I'll be sitting there and some kid will come in thinking the same thing about me, they way I thought of them.

On the ice with them, it was easy. Just keep your stick on the ice and one of those guys are going to find you, they're so talented.

I'm still a little disappointed about my breakaway. I was coming down the right wing when Larry Playfair reached from behind me and pokechecked the puck away. I think I could have made another move and beaten him. I had another chance later on, sort of a two-on-one, but I shot and hit the goalie right in the pads. You know, where you're not supposed to.

Then, I had an end-to-end rush -- just like Paul Coffey on a good day. I was going coast-to-coast, it was really fun. There were limited shifts because there were so many folks, so I just tried to have fun while I was out there.

Everyone was joking around on the bench. Our coach, Butch Goring, was trying to throw out six lines at a time. We were all just dying laughing. Everyone had a good time joking around. Sometimes there are one or two people who take it way too seriously, but we had a good mix. There were some serious, and some not so serious, but most were in the middle. Obviously, we wanted to win -- which we knew we were going to. The result was inevitable.

It will be a somewhat tame night, considering Thursday and Friday will probably be pretty fun. I'm really looking forward to Friday night. The SuperSkills competition is always fun. That's my favorite part.

Wednesday morning, January 30
Hey, it's me -- Ryan Dempster from the Marlins. I come out here every year to L.A. to train with a personal trainer. It worked out great this year because the NHL All-Star Game is out here. Being an avid hockey fan, this year I'm lucky because I get to play in the NHL All-Star Celebrity Challenge on Wednesday. So it worked out perfect.

I grew up in Canada, where hockey is the sport of choice. I've always followed it and watched all the great players growing up, guys like Lemieux and Gretzky, Messier. I love baseball, that's my first passion, but I love hockey and going out there on the ice and playing a bit.

I was at the All-Star Game in Vancouver in '98 and Denver last year. When you're a player participating in it, it's and honor and it's fun, but it's a lot of work -- you want to make sure your family is taken care of, make sure you've got tickets for your friends, make sure everyone is having a good time.

The actual game is different than baseball. In hockey, how often do you see a penalty? It's pretty wide open. In baseball, as much as people like to think that Chan Ho Park grooved a fastball for Cal Ripken Jr., you can't really play that kind of laid-back game. It's still pretty serious, like any other game. When you go to a different All-Star Game, it's kinda fun to relax, kick back and be a spectator -- you're so used to being the athlete all the time. And you get to meet a lot of new people, that's where I get the most fun out of it.

I played a little bit growing up in Gibsons, British Columbia, but not much. My mom told me and my two younger brothers we could play hockey and one other sport or no hockey and all the other sports that we wanted to. So we played every sport possible. Getting to the hockey rink included a 40-minute ferry ride from where we lived (Gibsons is on a peninsula) and I think she got tired of having to drive one brother out at 5:30 in the morning and another out at 6:30 in the morning.

I got a chance to practice with the Florida Panthers last season. I had taken Rob Niedermayer and Todd Simpson out to batting practice when we played the Orioles during spring training, and they actually sat on the bench during the game. So they invited me to practice with them. I got out there for one of their last practices of the year. Duane Sutter had called everyone in to go over what drills they were going to run in practice, and he didn't introduce me. So I just went out there like I was a part of the team. Some guys didn't know who I was. Afterwards, one of the guys came up to me and told me how a bucnh of them were wondering who this new guy was and were worrying if they were the one being sent down. They were watching me get dressed thinking, "He's a tall guy, a bit bigger, maybe he's a goon." Then when we were skating they thought, "Well, he's definitely a goon." And then I took my first slap shot and they said, "OK, what the heck is going on here?"

The last time I skated was Monday night (Jan. 21). I try to skate once or twice a week in L.A. There is a group of guys that play, mostly friends. Every now and then a celebrity will pop in, like Monday night Cuba Gooding Jr. and D.B. Sweeney skated. It'll be a blast to get out there with those guys and just have a good time while raising money for a great cause (Hockey's All-Star Kids and Children's Hospital Los Angeles). It'll be my chance to display my two-sport talent.