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By PAT HICKEY


There are eight players at the Canadiens' rookie camp who are on tryouts. They are all longshots to ever play in the National Hockey League and, in fact, most of them won't even get invited to the main training camp, which begins late next week.

But there's always a sleeper or two and Trevor Timmins, the Canadiens' director of player personnel, said the big surprise this year may be Eric Neilson, a 22-year-old native of Fredericton, who might be the only player in camp with his own website (www.ericneilson.com).

"He's a tough guy, but I think of him more as a middleweight than a heavyweight," Timmins said of the 6-foot-1, 210-pounder. "He's not afraid to drop his gloves, but he can also play hockey."

Neilson rode shotgun for Sidney Crosby as a junior with the Rimouski Oceanic. His most impressive numbers in junior hockey were his penalty minutes. He collected 822 in 205 games with the Oceanic.

Neilson spent last season with the Bakersfield (Calif.) Condors in the ECHL. In 47 games, he had a couple of goals, a couple of assists and 164 penalty minutes.

While Neilson is hoping for a step up to the American Hockey League with the Hamilton Bulldogs, he found himself in an exclusive club early this year when he underwent back surgery performed by Robert Watkins. The good doctor repaired a herniated disc, the same procedure he had performed for Michael Jordan, Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky.

Neilson is known as a character guy and he was recognized for his off-ice activities this year when he finished second in the voting for CCM ECHL Man of the Year. The award goes annually to the player who contributes most to the community. Neilson has been involved in youth reading programs through the Boys and Girls Club of Bakersfield and even learned sign language to help him communicate with a group of deaf teens.

Hey big spenders: The Canadiens' annual golf tournament raised more than $315,000 for the Montreal Canadiens Children's Foundation, with some high rollers pulling out their chequebooks.

One fan paid $15,000 for a couple of spots in the team picture, prompting one wag to suggest he could have saved a lot of money by investing in Photoshop software.

A private box to see the coming Barbra Streisand concert at the Bell Centre fetched $16,000, or $1,000 for each of the 16 places in the box.

And it took a similar bid to nail down a trip to Las Vegas to see Celine Dion's show and greet the diva backstage. The package for four persons included four nights at a Vegas hotel, but I dropped out of the bidding when I heard the airline tickets were economy class.

Stubbs launches book: Colleague Dave Stubbs has found some time in his busy schedule to write a book for young readers titled Our Game: A History of Hockey in Canada. The following is a shameless plug to invite hockey fans of all ages to join Stubbs and some special guests for a pair of book launches.

Regular readers of The Gazette sports pages know that Stubbs is Sheldon Souray's Boswell and the defenceman will join Stubbs at the Indigo store at Place Montreal Trust, 1500 McGill College Ave., from noon until 2 p.m. tomorrow.

Next Saturday, Stubbs and Hall of Famer Elmer Lach will be at the Chapters store at the intersection of the Trans Canada Highway and Boulevard St. Jean from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m.

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2006