HOCKEY NHL ALL-STAR GAME : Brind’Amour Is Right at Home

If Rod Brind’Amour learns nothing else this season, he’ll get plenty of experience fitting in.

The 21-year-old wing joined the Philadelphia Flyers in September and today will be playing in his first NHL All-Star Game.

He is the Flyers’ only representative in the All-Star Game, to be played on the home ice of the proud organization that is celebrating its 25th anniversary but has fallen on lean times. Brind’Amour professed to “not really” even be looking forward to it.

It’s not that he won’t be thrilled to be among the likes of Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Brind’Amour, uncomfortable with his All-Star status on a team that includes such past All-Stars as Rick Tocchet, Steve Duchesne and Ron Hextall, called his feelings a “not-really-deserve-it-sort-of-type thing.”

“It put a little damper on it,” he said.

Tocchet, who is missing his first All-Star Game in four years, said the Wales Conference chose the right Flyer.

“It’s a great choice,” Tocchet, the Flyers’ captain, said. “The first time you go you don’t think you belong. He’s been our most consistent guy and he deserves to go.”

Tocchet is not dwelling on missing the game, even though he would like to have made it.

“You don’t go on reputation,” said Tocchet, who has 11 goals and 14 assists.

Brind’Amour leads the club, last in the Patrick Division, with 16 goals and 20 assists in 44 games. To Brind’Amour, those 36 points don’t reflect an All-Star season.

“I don’t think they’re awesome numbers,” Brind’Amour said.

To be sure, the game will feature players with flashier statistics. For the Wales team, Pittsburgh’s Lemieux has 28 goals and 47 assists in only 38 games, the Penguins’ Kevin Stevens has 33 goals and 40 assists in 45, and the New York Rangers’ Mark Messier 22 and 41 in 47 games.

The Campbell team has St. Louis’ Brett Hull, who has 47 goals and 27 assists in 46 games, Los Angeles’ Gretzky with 18 and 45 in 40 games, and Chicago’s Jeremy Roenick with 35 and 26 in 48 games.

They’ll probably have a chance to show off their offensive skills, too, with the defensive attitude adjustment that comes with this game. Checking is rare and goals a staple in All-Star games; since 1983, at least 10 goals have been scored in all but one game.

The Wales Conference leads the Campbell Conference 11-4 in the series, although the Campbell has won two of the past three games.

“I know I’ll be a bundle of nerves,” Brind’Amour said. “That’d be anywhere, even more so in Philly.”

He doesn’t have anything in particular he wants to accomplish. He just wants to present himself well with the best players in the game.

“No one wants to look bad in a game like that,” he said. “I just hope to fit in and feel comfortable. That’s the main thing.”

Fitting in hasn’t been a problem in Philadelphia for Brind’Amour, who arrived before the season with Dan Quinn from St. Louis in a trade for Ron Sutter and Murray Baron.

“Since I’ve been here they’ve treated me well,” Brind’Amour said, adding that includes the fans. “Even when we haven’t been doing well this year, they’re still coming out to support us.”