It was the final day of training camp in September of 2001 and I opened the door to the Senators coaches office. There, I saw a teenaged boy with tears in his eyes, being consoled by strength and conditioning coach Randy Lee. Jason Spezza had just been delivered the devastating news that he would be returned to junior hockey – the final victim of the roster cuts made by general manager Marshall Johnston and head coach Jacques Martin. At the time I was a fairly inexperienced member of the Senators PR department, but I knew that Spezza was not ready to deal with the media. He flatly told me he didnt want to answer any questions that morning. However, it was just past 10am and reporters were going to start trickling into the building at any moment. We made the decision to get Jason out of the rink before any cameras showed up and caught footage of him looking so despondent. I went outside to the hallway and found that an Ottawa Citizen reporter had been the first to show up. But there was nobody else around, so I told him he needed to have his photo taken for his 2001-02 season pass, and I walked with him down to the security area. And once I did that, Lee helped escort Spezza out of the rink going the opposite way – so that nobody from the media could see him. I dont think you could really blame him in that situation. He was 18 years old and just had the rug pulled out from underneath him. He exceled at every level when it came to hockey, so being returned to the OHL was something he never fathomed. A few hours later, Jacques Martin would make his infamous statement that Jason was "a boy playing a mans game" – and maybe it was true on that day. But it seemed like that label stuck to Spezza for his entire tenure in Ottawa, like a stubborn piece of gum at the bottom of his shoe. He was never quite good enough for some people in this market. Even after his heroics as a 19-year-old in the playoffs in 2003 – when he scored a goal and added an assist in a must-win Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final against the New Jersey Devils – there were lingering doubts about his ability as a player. The very next year, Jacques Martin made him a healthy scratch for several playoff games against the Toronto Maple Leafs. A trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2007 didnt cement his status in this town, even though Spezza tied for the league lead in playoff scoring. Just a couple of years later, he was booed on home ice during a Game 4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2010 playoffs. That was almost enough to drive him out of town, with general manager Bryan Murray hinting that Spezza told him he was amenable to a trade if one could be executed. And yet three years later he was still here, now wearing the captains "C" on his jersey - which only seemed to make the target on his back even bigger. It was a roller coaster with Spezza from the onset and it seemed the ride never stopped. Every game seemed to be a referendum on whether or not you could win with him. After a while, it gets tiresome. Tiresome for the player. Tiresome for the fans. And tiresome for the organization. And yes - even tiresome for people like me who work in sports talk radio. There are days when I would just have to say "Jason Spezza" on the air and our phone lines would light up. Finally, Spezza himself has had enough. Bryan Murray admitted to the reporters on Wednesday that Spezza has asked to get off this ride. And Im not sure I can really blame him. Hes spent 11 seasons here and has more than paid his dues. In the next few days, you will likely read a ton of internet comments suggesting that Spezza never really embraced Ottawa. And that if he cant stand the pressure of playing Ottawa, he shouldnt let the door hit him on the way out. From my perspective, though, Spezza handled the pressure in this market as well as he could have. He was made the scapegoat on many nights when the team lost. And when he was the star in a Senators victory, too often the sentiment was, "why cant he do that every night?" I believe that day as an 18-year-old was the only time that Jason Spezza ever knowingly ducked the media. He stood in the line of fire and took his lumps on a daily basis for more than a decade. To suggest that he doesnt have the mental toughness to handle a Canadian market is completely erroneous. The guy just spent 11 years in this market, was a point-a-game producer and wanted to be named the captain of this team 10 months ago. If thats shying away from the limelight, I think youre sadly mistaken. We can debate whether the media or the fans pushed another star out of town in Ottawa - although this one feels a little different than the forced departures for guys like Dany Heatley and Alexei Yashin. Daniel Alfredssons exit last summer was a punch in the stomach that nobody saw coming. Spezzas imminent departure, on the other hand, is more like a gradual erosion; something that was inevitable. And when he finally does leave Ottawa, I can guarantee you Jason Spezza wont be shedding any tears. New England Patriots Pro Shop . - A mixed martial arts fighter who changed his name to War Machine was ordered Friday to stand trial in Nevada state court on 34 felony charges including attempted murder, sexual assault and kidnapping that could get him life in prison for allegedly attacking his porn star ex-girlfriend and her friend. Fake Patriots Jerseys .Y. -- Defenceman Ryan Murphy had a goal and an assist and Drew MacIntyre made 24 saves to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 4-2 in an exhibition game Wednesday night. https://www.patriotsjerseysale.com/. Dr. James Andrews is to operate next week on the 24-year-old pitcher, who made the AL All-Star team last year. 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But tonight we felt good at the plate and I think we were a little patient today and got some pitches we could handle." Nick Castellanos had a home run and three RBIs to back Rick Porcello (3-1), who gave up four runs and six hits with four strikeouts in five-plus innings for the Tigers. Rajai Davis added three hits to raise his average to .354. Correia (0-3) gave up eight runs -- seven earned -- and eight hits in 2 1-3 innings for Minnesota. It was his shortest outing since going just two innings last Aug. 5 against the Royals. Chris Colabello drove in his 27th run for the Twins, setting a franchise record for RBIs in April. Jason Kubel had two doubles among his three hits for the Twins. Brian Dozier hit his seventh homer of the season and Kurt Suzuki drove in two runs, giving him 19 RBIs on the year, which leads all catchers. Correia served up a two-run homer to Castellanos in the second -- and probably only got through that inning thanks to a poor decision by third base coach Dave Clark to send slow-footed Alex Avila from first base on a double by Andrew Romine. Avila was thrown out at home and Ian Kinsler grounded out to short-circuit the rally. "I was missing from the get-go," Correia said. "Balls were just kind of running back over the middle. I got away with it for an inning or so and then it caught up to me." But the Tigers had more in store for Correia. Hunter led off the third with a doublee and, after Miguel Cabreras groundout, the next five batters reached base with three hits and two walks, the last one from Romine with the bases loaded to make it 5-1.dddddddddddd. Hunter added a two-run single off Anthony Swarzak later in the inning that pushed the lead to 9-1. "They teach that in baseball: The most important inning is the inning after your team scores," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. "We were able to bounce back and score not just a few but seven." There are no statements delivered in April, but the Tigers did throw a little cold water on what has been a surprising start to the season for the Twins. Minnesota has lost at least 96 games in each of the past three years, but rode the second-highest scoring offence in the American League to an 11-10 start that put the Twins right on heavily favoured Detroits heels in the AL Central. "Its something positive you can build off of and thats what were going to do, try to carry it over to the next day," Hunter said. "Usually when you get a loss, as a human being you kind of think about that negative and it can carry over and linger. But since we won and its positive, just try to build off it." After breezing through the first five innings, Porcello didnt get an out in the sixth before being lifted for Justin Miller. Ausmus had to use five more pitchers to finish the game, but that big third inning gave his team plenty of cushion to absorb a four-run sixth by the Twins. NOTES: Twins GM Terry Ryan finished his last round of radiation treatment for cancer, assistant GM Rob Antony said. Ryan is expected to return to Target Field this weekend. ... Avila left the game with a bruised left shin and is day to day. ... Twins OF Oswaldo Arcia was scheduled to fly to Triple-A Rochester on Saturday to start a rehab assignment. Arcia has been on the disabled list since April 5 with a wrist injury. ... RHP Anibal Sanchez (0-2, 3.54 ERA) pitches for Detroit on Saturday against RHP Phil Hughes (1-1, 6.43). ' ' '