Sapurji: OHL all-star skills and stuff

KINGSTON, ONT. -- Your lowly OHL reporter is probably the only person in the history of hotels who has messed their back up by sleeping in a freaking "sleep number" bed.

Talking with Sarnia Sting defenceman Joe Rogalski earlier this afternoon, I asked him about his sleep number because this is second time in like two weeks (first time was in Windsor for Prospects) my spine has been wrecked by dialling the wrong number.

"I don't do anything," said Rogalski. "I just go with whatever it's at."

Serious. Pain.

And speaking of serious pain, the OHL old-timers Alumni were on the ice last night at the K-Rock Centre to once again re-live their junior hockey dreams. To be honest, I thought the Alumni game was more entertaining than the skills competition -- who knew Plymouth head coach and GM Mike Vellucci was such a sniper?

NOTE: After the game Vellucci said he hadn't skated flat-out like that in some 12 years. He also complained that his legs hurt, his lungs burned and he had a lot of fun.

Windsor Spitfires star Taylor Hall might have summed it up best when asked about the participation of the Windsor coaching staff -- GM Warren Rychel, head coach Bob Boughner and assistant coaches DJ Smith and Bob Jones -- in the all-star alumni skate.

"I think they might have put on a little extra weight or have eaten too much and had too much beer after their careers were over," said Hall. "But for sure it's good to see them out there."

It was also hilarious interesting to see some of the gear the alumni were sporting. Former NHLer Bryan Marchment came out sporting an old-school JOFA helmet that was definitely not CSA approved -- we're talking like from the dinosaur times.

After the game it was really nice to see some of the familiar faces from the OHL's days of yore. I haven't seen former Belleville Bulls goalie Kory Cooper -- now a goaltending consultant for the Kingston Vees and Fronts -- in some 15 years. He said it was just like old times when former Fronts forward Jason Sands started chirping him during the game.

Sands, is now a successful real estate agent in Kingston. He says his brother Josh, a former Belleville Bull, is working as a lumberjack. Seriously.

Former Kingston Canadians forward Wayne Erskine -- who now works for Canadian Blood Services in Ottawa -- was quite a bit before my time covering the league, but when he was playing junior, I was in grade school with his younger sister. The OHL can be a really small world at times.

At any rate, a good time was had by all.

MOORE AMERICAN SPEED: So after last night's skills John Moore tried to explain what happened when he recorded two shots of 13 and 15 miles per hour respectively in the hardest shot competition last night.

"Being an American I thought someone was messing with me," said the Winnetka, Ill. native. "But when it finally registered it was a big sigh of relief... the guys were kinda giving me the gears a little bit about that with the 13 and the 15, so it was nice to redeem myself."

Moore ended up winning the competition with a shot clocked at 98 mph. It turns out Moore has had some practice at his before, since his best friend's father is a police officer with a radar gun.

"One summer he saw me shooting pucks, so he came out with his radar gun and it was 98 (mph)," said Moore.

As always - questions, comments, compliments, complaints, threats etc: sunaya19@hotmail.com or on Twitter @loosepucks