Ice escapade

DAVOS, Switzerland -- In this resort town perched 5,116 feet high in the Alps and known for its healing mountain air, Joe Thornton has come to find comfort from the pain of the NHL lockout that threatens the future of the sport.

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Instead of sitting home in limbo, the Bruins captain is getting his hockey fix playing for HC Davos of the Swiss Elite League.

Since arriving here two days after winning the World Cup with Team Canada in mid-September, Thornton has had to adapt to a different culture, different food, a different language, and different coaches. Even the hockey is foreign _ a larger ice surface, no red line, and all new teammates.

But he has embraced his surroundings and the experience.

"I'm happy, I'm playing hockey,'' said Thornton. "My feeling is it's not going to be played this year [in the NHL] and maybe not even next year. I've got to play, and why not play over here?

"It's too bad for all the guys and for all the fans, but it doesn't seem to be working out. That's why me and [Columbus winger Rick Nash] wanted to get over here as quick as we could. But everybody knew it was coming.''

Thornton has had to adjust to a coach, Arno Del Curto, who is emotional and demonstrative (his nickname is "the Mike Keenan of Switzerland''). Most of Del Curto's instructions are in German (which is why Thornton never starts in the front of the line for drills), but for the most part, the language barrier isn't a problem.

"Arno's a character, but we knew he was that kind of coach,'' said Thornton, who thrived during Keenan's brief tenure in Boston. "With Mike, even though he was hard sometimes, you had to laugh at him. It was crazy like that.

"Most of the kids are younger here, they're about 20 to 22, and then there are some older guys as well, but he means well, and everyone on the team knows that. He says, 'I have to light a fire under these guys because they're Swiss and they don't know how to play.' He's funny and I enjoy it."

In some ways, Thornton said, the atmosphere reminds him of junior hockey. The team buses to road games around the country, which is a little bit smaller than New Jersey. The longest trip is four hours, but Thornton joked that it seems longer.

"We watch movies and everything but they're all in German, so it stinks," he said. "So I have to learn German quick. They have some in English but I think they're just trying to [upset me] and put the German ones on all the time. They play a card game over here but it's too confusing, so I don't even play cards."

Exuberance abounds
Davos plays its home games at the Sportzentrum, a wooden structure that resembles a gigantic ski lodge. The team has a rabid following, with fans proudly wearing its neon yellow-and-blue colors. At one end of the ice, fans stand for the entire contest -- some waving huge flags, others banging on drums, and all of them stomping and cheering from start to finish.

"The fans are crazy," said Thornton. "They stand up the whole end and chant. It's kind of like watching a soccer game over here. They sing the whole game. It's different. A lot of them go to the road games, too. It makes you feel like the Yankees of Switzerland."

The uniforms also are different. Sponsor names cover both the sweaters and the pants. The uniform for one team, from Rapperswil, has golden arches from head to toe.

As the team's leading scorer, Thornton wears a bright yellow helmet and bright yellow shirt, which makes him look like the leader of the Tour de France.

"I feel like Lance Armstrong," he said.

One part of the equipment he doesn't care for is the half-shield, which is required. He has grudgingly worn shields in the past when healing from facial injuries.

"It stinks," he said. "But you've got to do it. It fogs up all the time, it gets scratched, I don't even know how to maintain it. It's tough to get used to."

There are lifestyle adjustments as well. Thornton used to cook for himself when he lived in Boston. Here, he's decided to leave it to the experts.

"It's a little different going to the grocery store," he said. "I thought I picked up apple juice the other day and it was half-vinegar and half-apple juice, so now I just go to restaurants.

"It's a nice country, everybody's polite. Even though some people don't speak English, you can kind of use hand signals. They're patient with you. Even at the restaurants, you ask them for an English menu and they usually have it. There are about four or five I go to regularly because you get to know the people and the menu. All the food is pretty much the same as back home.

"You just have to watch out -- they eat horse over here. You have to stay away from that. I'll eat the cow, but not the horse."

Assistant coach Harry Kreis, who was raised in Winnipeg but played 19 years of pro hockey in Germany, said Thornton has done remarkably well. Kreis said he checks on players such as Thornton and Nash to make sure they're not homesick.

"It's certainly an adjustment for anybody coming over from North America, to play on the big ice surface," said Kreis. "He's adapted well and he's playing very well. The strengths he has on the smaller ice surface, the puck control that he has, the way he can handle his opponent and keep the opponent off the puck. We're seeing that more and more here. He certainly is controlling the puck and controlling the play.

"In Europe, players aren't chosen often because of their size, it's more their skill, as opposed to North America, where size and skill come more together. Joe and Rick are the two biggest players on the team. The two of them work together very well. They understand each other well. Because Joe handles the puck so well and can thread the needle, Rick is always in the right position."

Some hockey people in North America have advocated getting rid of the red line in the NHL, but Kreis said there's actually more interference in European hockey than there is the NHL.

"Players can interfere with you without the puck and that took a little bit of adjustment," he said. "That was a little frustrating for Rick at the beginning. But he's working through that. In the NHL, they call the interference immediately and here they're a little more lenient."

Can't miss the Sox
Although there is primarily a German influence in Davos, there are plenty of North American influences as well. On TV, many US programs are carried and dubbed in German, and the music featured at the rink includes Canadians Avril Lavigne and Shania Twain. Another reminder of home for Thornton: He stayed up until the wee hours to watch Red Sox games on satellite and catches Patriots games when he can.

"I felt like I was kind of in Boston watching all these baseball games, and I talk to [Glen Murray] every day, and I talk to some of the other guys every day," he said. "Just watching this baseball, it just puts a smile on your face. I watched the longest game in playoff history [between the Red Sox and Yankees in the American League Championship Series] and it was over about quarter to six in the morning here, so then I had to be at practice at 9 a.m. So I slept most of the afternoon."

Thornton and Nash live in the same apartment building and have been a source of mutual support. Nash, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 draft by the Blue Jackets, said it's been a real boost having Thornton around.

"Coming to a different country and not knowing anybody, it could really be tough," said Nash. "Me and Joe have gotten to know each other, and now that we're here, it gives you someone to hang out with. Everyone else here has girlfriends, friends, or family, and we just kind of have each other. It's nice to have someone you can talk to and who understands every word you say and not just some of it."

If Thornton has adjusted to being nearly 4,000 miles from home, it took a long time for him to distance himself emotionally from the way the Bruins' season ended last year.

Playing with torn rib cartilage was difficult enough, but not being able to put away the Canadiens after leading the first-round playoff series, three games to one, was devastating. Thornton went from being a happy-go-lucky person to someone who felt as if he had the weight of the world on his broad shoulders.

"As the captain, I take all the responsibility for that series and us losing that series," he said. "For me, I wanted to play. You try your best and that's what you want to leave on the ice, is your best.

"I looked in the mirror after the series was over and I knew I did my best, and that's all you can do. I know playing in Boston, there are huge expectations for you and I knew we were heavily favored to win that series. And I knew if we didn't win it, I was going to take some heat.

"It still plays on me now, us losing to Montreal. I knew I was going to get ridiculed a little bit and it comes with the territory of being the best player and captain of the team, and it's my job to lead the team at least out of the first round."

More than six months removed from that acute disappointment, Thornton is back to his old self. He said he has chalked up last year as a lesson learned.

"As I get older, I think there's going to be more pressure on me, and there should be," he said. "I put more pressure on me than anyone else in Boston or on Team Canada. As I get older, I think I'm going to continue to be a better player and a better captain.

"Obviously, I was looking forward to going back with our team this year, but unfortunately, we can't. Playing in the NHL, year by year, you learn to deal with things a little better. I'm getting used to the ups and the downs. You just try to stay on an even keel every day."

Until the NHL gets back on its feet, Thornton said, he's going to make the most of his situation.

"If I'm not playing in Boston, this is a great place for me to play," he said. "Just the Swiss people and the hockey, it's just relaxed. It's kind of like playing junior hockey again.

"I feel healthy, and that's probably the main thing. It's nice to come over here by yourself. Nobody really knows you when you first come here. It was a really easy transition for me."