It's Friday the 13th, a day when even the biggest non-believer at least contemplates superstitions. Black cats, ladders, salt, and wood take on a whole new meaning on days like today. Sports are full of their own superstitions, with no sport being more rooted in them than hockey. The notion that some behavior can cause a certain outcome is considered misguided by many and downright nuts by some. But those involved with hockey—whether it's on the ice, behind the scenes, or in front of the television—think differently. If the team won, a superstition is born.

As silly as it seems, the behavior actually serves a purpose. Both the individual superstitions of players and the group superstitions of teams alter the psychology of the locker room in positive ways. They create focus and solidarity, qualities that are essential to winning. Sports psychologists agree that the superstitions are more akin to rituals that give players more confidence and self-esteem, both of which are integral parts of being successful.

Clearly the most well-known superstition in hockey is about keeping your hands off the trophy. The tradition of not touching the Stanley Cup goes way back in the history of the sport. To touch the Cup when you have not won it means you never will. Some players go as far as not even looking at it. The Staal brothers went to great lengths to avoid the Cup completely when brother Eric brought it home after the Hurricanes won the championship in 2006.

The Stanley Cup is not the only trophy that goes untouched, though. No really knows who was the first or even why it started, but captains of conference winning teams just know that you don't touch the Prince of Wales trophy or the Clarence S. Campbell bowl. Perhaps it's because to do so would be to accept less than the ultimate goal. Celebrate a conference win and it's like you will be satisfied with just that. Now, there have been teams to win the Cup after their captains have accepted the conference trophy. Scott Stevens of the New Jersey Devils, for example, hoisted the Prince of Wales trophy each of the three years the team won the Stanley Cup. However, there may be some credence to the belief as teams that have touched the conference trophy are 4-5 in the championships. Just look at the 2010 finals: Chicago captain Jonathan Toews didn't while Philadelphia captain Mike Richards did. Remember how that turned out?

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On October 23, 2010, Evan Brophey got the call all AHLers dream about. The Chicago Blackhawks needed him. He was getting his first look at the NHL. It wouldn't be his last as he recently got a similar call from the Colorado Avalanche front office. He is now the fourth player from Lake Erie to make the Avs' roster this season, and there's no doubt the 25-year-old centerman is hoping to stay.

Brophey (Kitchener, ON) was drafted by the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League in 2002, going 37th overall. He played two full seasons for the Colts, averaging 13 goals and 13 assists per season during that time. He appeared in the team's playoff run both seasons and helped take the Colts to the second round in 2003-2004 with four goals and three assists in 12 games.

Ten games into the 2004-2005 season, Brophey was traded to the Belleville Bulls, where he more than doubled his output. In only 53 games, the forward posted 61 points (25g, 36a) during the regular season; he added two more goals and one assist in the Bulls' short playoff run, which ended in a quarterfinals loss to the Peterborough Petes.

That summer, the Chicago Blackhawks drafted Brophey 68th overall (3rd round).

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Canadian Jean-Sébastien Giguère is no stranger to winning. He has hardware to prove it, including the Conn Smythe for playoffs MVP and the Holy Grail of hockey, Lord Stanley's Cup. Yet, the netminder is also well-acquainted with hard work. Despite a promising start in juniors, Giguère clawed his way up through the minors to become a starter for the team he'd help become champions.

Son to Claude and Gisele Giguère, Jean-Sébastien was only five years old when he knew he wanted to play hockey for the rest of his life. Unlike most players his age, however, he already had his heart set on stopping pucks. It certainly helped that he had five older siblings (three boys and two girls) who also loved - and excelled at - hockey, giving the young goalie plenty of rubber to turn away. Talent and desire were never a problem for him; growing up in a working class home with limited income (both of his parents were bus drivers) was. To help fund their passion, Giguère and his siblings worked paper routes, and their father took out a second mortgage on their house. The lessons of sacrifice, dedication and humility learned during those times have continued to show throughout the goaltender's career.

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There can be only one. In 1986, that tagline was made famous by a small film about immortal warriors, a film that went from being relatively unknown upon its initial release into full-blown cult status today. In 1999, a young kid from Binscarth, Manitoba, began his own journey from the unknown to the cult-like. With his gap-toothed grin, ginger hair, and propensity for battle, the Avalanche forward truly embodies the Highlander moniker. After all, there can be only one Cody McLeod.

McLeod was drafted in the fourth round of the 1999 WHL Bantam Draft by the Portland Winterhawks. After spending 2000-2001 in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, he began playing with the Winterhawks for the 2001-2002 season. In 47 games, he put up a modest 13 points (10g, 3a). His penalty minutes were also modest - well, modest for McLeod anyway - coming in at only 86 . The following season, he fully embraced his role as a willing combatant and team protector, nearly doubling his minutes to 153 in the process. He also upped his scoring, registering 15 goals and 18 assists in those 71 games. 

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It seems Kyle Quincey has embraced the Halloween spirit and done like your favorite plants vs zombies character, and risen from the dead. Or perhaps he was stoked from Sunday night's Walking Dead premiere, who knows. All we do know is: Welcome back BMF!

We were tough on Mr. Quincey after his dismal abysmal season last, so it's only fair that we show him a little love now that he is back amongst the living. Last season Quincey accrued 1 measly assist in 21 games on his way to a plus/minus -5, before throwing a check at Ovechkin that only hurt himself. He encompassed all that was awful. But the BMF has reared his gnarly ways again and in just 6 games has potted 1 goal and 2 assists, is a +/- +2, and already has half as many shots as he had in 21 games last season. His points have also been timely: an assist last night on the game winner, and the tying PP goal in Montreal to send the game to OT. And after averaging 1.5 hits a game in his first two full NHL seasons, and only 1.3 hits per game last season. This year, he's off to a 1.8 hits per game start.

Stats only tell a portion of Kyle's resurrection tale though as his overall play is back to the form we grew to love when he first arrived with the Avs. He's strong, confident, reliable, steady, and intelligently aggressive. Instead of being owned in his own end, he now owns his own end (go ahead and read that sentence twice, it works). Quincey and his partner in crime, Shane O'Brien, are making sure anyone who comes within 782 miles of their net minder pay for their negligent and intrusive behavior. All in all, Kyle Quincey seems to be back. Yes, it's only 6 games - a small sample size to be sure, but do you love the free Costco samples any less because they're small? Me thinks not.

Kyle, you are no longer "Thing #2", you are our only thing - and we love you.

It's almost silly how reputations are born. You have a couple of rocky years playing for a club with which you never quite gelled, and suddenly you're problematic, lacking talent and a threat to the stability of a locker room. This is exactly what happened to Shane O'Brien, the 28-year-old defenseman from Port Hope, Ontario. Despite solid years before signing with the Canucks, a few missteps on the ice, some poor decisions off of it, and a public clashing with the guys in charge have made it seem like the guy has been trouble his entire career. Here's the truth, though: O'Brien is a young, talented hockey player who had two tough years.

In 1999-2000, while playing for the hometown Port Hope Buzzards of the Quebec Major Junior League, Shane O'Brien put up 6 goals and 27 assists for 33 points in only 47 games. Although he was already making a name for himself as a tough player (110 PIM), he clearly had offensive skills, too. He went on to show his versatility in the Ontario Hockey League. In three seasons (Kingston Frontenacs and Toronto St. Michael's Majors) of play in the OHL, O'Brien put up 89 points in 190 games while logging 429 minutes in the box. Those minutes included 30 fights from which the defenseman gained recognition with his toughness and sense of loyalty to his teammates. To be sure, the young player lacked some discipline, something with which he would struggle later on in his career.

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Welcome back to Checking Out, a weekly series which features bios on Avalanche players. Because Patrick Bordeleau has made the cuts thus far and is generating some interest around here, I thought it might be nice to get a peak at his career and see what we have in the Montreal native.

If you go to HockeyFights.com and look at Patrick Bordeleau's profile, you'll notice that he fights. A lot.  Since his debut in the QMJHL in 2003, Bordy has averaged over 9 fights per season, topping out with a career-high 17 last year for the Lake Erie Monsters. If you look a little closer, you will notice that he dominates. Completely. He has become so proficient at hockey brawls that guys began to purposely avoid facing him last season. Others probably wished they had. Did I mention Bordeleau also hits? Hard. Both opposing players and the glass can attest to that.

At only 25, the 6'6" 225-lb forward has figured out his role in hockey and embraced it fully. Bordeleau was picked up by the Minnesota Wild during the 4th round (114th overall) in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. He began his professional career on a tryout with the Charlotte Checkers in 2007 after the Wild failed to sign him to a contract. He spent the next two seasons bouncing between 9 clubs, one of which was Colorado's affiliate, the Monsters. The brass in Lake Erie apparently liked what they saw because they signed Bordy to a one-year AHL contract for 2009-2010.

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Semyon Varlamov is only 23 years old. He's barely made his mark in the hockey world. Yet, he's already been the center of some highly publicized controversies. From allegedly threatening to bolt to the KHL if he didn't get the starting job in Washington DC (he was actually just considering his options as he felt he needed a change) to saying American women are fat (he actually said "heavy set" and, as 30% of the country is obese, well....he's right), the young goaltender has gotten some press that hasn't shed the best light on him. It's a shame because the product he delivers on the ice is nothing short of inspiring, and that's what really should be in the headlines.

Varlamov was born on April 27, 1988, in what was - at the time - the USSR (Kubyshev, Russia). At 8, he picked up a skater's stick and decided it wasn't enough for him: too small, too fragile. Thus, he swapped it out for a goaltender's and, even before he could skate, he started down the path of a netminder. In his early teens, he moved with his family to Yaroslavl and quickly became the favored goalie on his young team. He showed impressive talent early on and, by 2004, was a hot enough commodity that Lokomotiv Yaroslavl's Junior farm club, Lokomotiv-2, brought him on to back up Ivan Kaustin. In 8 games, he posted one shut out and a 2.43 GAA.

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