CALGARY, Alberta -- Mark Recchi fought to contain his emotions when talking about former Montreal Canadiens teammate Saku Koivu's battle with abdominal cancer.

"I was in shock," Recchi said Thursday after an afternoon skate with the Canadian Olympic team. "I had heard in the morning that he was in the hospital. You just think he's in the hospital for a real bad flu. To hear that, I mean, it didn't really hit me. It's a scary thought. I couldn't really believe it."

Recchi, who now plays for the Philadelphia Flyers, planned to travel to Montreal at the conclusion of the Olympic camp.

"I just want to get the opportunity to get up there right away and spend some time with him," Recchi said. "We have a very special friendship. I consider him one of my best friends. We've kept in very close contact even with me leaving Montreal. We were roommates for almost four years on the road. We played on the same line."

Pittsburgh star Mario Lemieux, diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease in 1993, knows first-hand what Koivu is feeling.

"There's no doubt yesterday and today were the most difficult days of his life," said Lemieux, Team Canada's captain. "It's scary to learn that you have cancer."

Lemieux recalled it was the toughest day of his life when he heard his diagnosis, but said learning as much as he could about his disease helped him fight it.

"I think what you have to do from there is just try to learn as much as you can about what you have and what the outcome might be and what the odds are and then you go from there," he said. "In my case, I did a lot of research about what I had, I talked to a lot of close friends who were doctors in Pittsburgh.

"Right from there, right from the second day, I was very, very positive about the outcome. And that's how you have to approach it. You have to approach it that you're going to beat the disease.

"It's not easy when you're in that situation. but you have to battle and you have to be very strong mentally. And I think he is, just from what some of the guys have said over the years and watching him play over the years. He's always battling and hopefully that can translate into his private life."