Anybody here seen my old friend Tony?

Thursday December 06, 2007 @ 02:18 AM EST

So it’s official. The Ducks announced that Scott Niedermayer will be back in the line-up this season after contemplating retirement since the end of 06/07. Not that I care all that much about Scotty, or the Ducks (no Pronger, no care), but it got me thinking about my endlessly holding out hope for another return. And in my opinion, a much bigger one. If you have been a reader of mine for a while you know exactly who I am talking about. Yep, you guessed it: Tony Amonte. I figured with my newfound blog notoriety, I’d shed some more light on my favorite cause… the Tony Amonte Search and Rescue that is. Since the oh-six/oh-seven season, Tony has been MIA and seems to have fallen off the hockey radar. It broke my heart as an avid Flames fan, and a Tony Amonte fan, that I could have missed his departure. And I still toss and turn at night wondering.. “what happened to Tony Amonte?”, did he fall off the face of the earth? Did his plane venture into some sort of hockey player Bermuda Triangle? Is he hiding out with Osama Bin Laden in the hills of Afghanistan? I feel like an irresponsible parent who lost their kid in the Wal-Mart. The search continues. Not only did I trek through every website that covers anything NHL, I also hit up Wikipedia, on the verge of stalker status I will admit. I wrote to Adam Proteau at The Hockey News, no dice. Not even Tony-Amonte.com knows his whereabouts (yes, there is a Tony Amonte dot com, and no I did not create it). You’d figure a semi-official fan site would have a small idea, or at the very least an educated guess. And what if I do find out that Tony Amonte has retired? Without an announcement, retirement party, a speech, a toast… anything. Look at it this way; doesn’t it pull on your heart strings to think about all the adorable puppies in the pound that don’t get adopted by nice families with big yards? Well that’s how I feel about him not having a roof over his head this season (a metaphorical roof of course, I’m sure he lives in a house..). He needs an NHL home. Tony is an American hero, he deserves better.


But let’s get all “what if” for a second here. What if Tony is still in career-limbo, like Niedermayer was? What if. Tony could possibly have been the Presto-Log for the dwindling Calgary Flames this season. It certainly could not hurt. Afterall he did put up decent digits last season (10 assists, 20 goals, 30 points, 40 PMs… by the way aren’t those the most mathematically even stats you’ve ever seen?). He currently has 900 career points (and not to mention some sick style), and at age 37 and a mere 18 seasons in the NHL under his belt, he still has plenty of time to hit an even 1000. Did you know that Tony Amonte is ranked 11th all time in points amongst American NHLers? Now there’s a Snapple cap-worthy fun fact for you. All jokes aside, my point is that he could possibly be a superb addition to any team with room on the old S-Cap. Dear NHL, Tony needs a home. His fans miss him. Teams want him. The game needs him. All I want for Christmas is Tony Amonte to make his return to the NHL. Please, don’t let Tony slip into hockey oblivion.


If anyone out there can even fathom where Tony might be, please by all means contact me. All information is helpful. Consider “Operation Find TA” underway. Until then, we’ll all be rocking our jerseys with “Amonte” emblazoned across the back and a big fat question mark where the number should be, anticipating The Return. Just don’t call it a comeback.

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