Defenseman Darnell Nurse of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds knows that those curious NHL scouts coming to see him play not only expect a steady game along the back end, but a fairly physical one.

"At 6-foot-4 and 189 pounds, I have to use every pound that I have … it's kind of expected being this size," Nurse told NHL.com. "You have to be someone who is hard to play against, and that's something I enjoy.

"When a player skates down his wing, looks up and sees me, I want them to say, 'Oh God, I have to go against him again.'"

Scouts have already seen that trait in Nurse.

Fifty-two years ago today, Nov. 27, 1960, Gordie Howe went where no NHL player had gone before.

Howe entered the Detroit Red Wings' game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Olympia needing one point to become the first NHL player to record 1,000 regular-season points. He needed 6:36 to get it -- Howe assisted on a goal by Fred Glover that gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead in a game they went on to win 2-0.

Howe's 1,000th point came in his 938th NHL game. He went on to add 850 points (including an assist on the Red Wings' other goal that night) and finished his NHL career 20 years later with 1,850 points, a total later passed by Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier.

Since that night, 78 players have joined Howe as a 1,000-point scorer. Here's a numerical look at one of the NHL's most elite groups:

0 -- Number of 100-point seasons for Howe before he reached 1,000 points. Howe's only 100-point season in the NHL came in 1968-69, eight years after he passed the 1,000-point mark.

1 -- Players who scored their 1,000th point on Feb. 29, which occurs once every four years. Boston Bruins defenseman Ray Bourque reached the milestone on Leap Day, 1992.

2 -- Players who needed more than 1,300 games to reach the 1,000-point mark. Dale Hunter got his 1,000th point on Jan. 9, 1998, in his 1,308th game. That was the record until Nicklas Lidstrom scored his 1,000th point in his 1,336th game on Oct. 15, 2009.

A pair of "exceptional" junior hockey players will join forces for Ontario when the 2013 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge is held in Victoriaville and Drummondville, Quebec.

The 10-team tournament, scheduled Dec. 29, 2012, through Jan. 4, 2013, features five clubs from Canada, along with teams from the United States, Finland, Russia, Slovakia and Sweden. A total of 18 players who had at one time participated in the 2012 World U-17 Hockey Challenge were selected in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft in Pittsburgh last June.

Highlighting Ontario's roster are 2014 draft-eligible defenseman Aaron Ekblad of the Ontario Hockey League's Barrie Colts and 2015 draft prospect Connor McDavid of the OHL's Erie Otters. Both players were granted exceptional player status by Hockey Canada to be eligible for their respective OHL Priority Selection drafts. Ekblad was promptly drafted No. 1 by the Colts in 2011 and McDavid was chosen first by the Otters in 2012.

Each Monday, NHL.com will take a look back at the weekend that was in the American Hockey League with an emphasis on the young stars and top prospects that are continuing their development. Here are some of the highlights from the past few days in the AHL:

FRIDAY

FIRST STAR

Andy Miele, Portland

Miele had four assists to help the Pirates fend off Springfield in overtime. The Falcons led 4-1 at one point, but Miele had the primary assist on three straight goals to level the score and again on Oliver Ekman-Larsson's winner in the extra session. Miele, the 2011 Hobey Baker Award winner, signed as an undrafted free agent with Phoenix in April of last year. He is now second on the Pirates with 16 points in 18 games.

After the Edmonton Oilers won their first Stanley Cup in the spring of 1984, NHL fans had one question for Wayne Gretzky and his high-scoring teammates entering the 1984-85 season: Can you do it again?

The Oilers seemed well on their way after rolling to a 6-3 win over the visiting Minnesota North Stars on Dec. 7. It was the club’s eighth straight victory and upped its record to a super impressive 20-3-3.

Gretzky and Co. reeled off another eight-game winning streak in late January/early February. At that point, the Oilers were full-steam ahead at a sensational 38-9-6.

Down the stretch, however, Edmonton stumbled a bit, finishing the regular season with a mediocre 6-7-4 mark in its last 17 games.

Once the Stanley Cup Playoffs started, however, the Oilers got their championship act together, losing three games en route to their second championship.

The '84-85 season also marked the arrival of a potential scoring rival for Gretzky. Pittsburgh Penguins rookie Mario Lemieux seemed to have the rare combination of super size and sensational skill to someday challenge the Great One’s lock on the Art Ross Trophy.

In our sixth installment of the NHL in the 1980s, I’ll examine the stories and topics that dominated the headlines during the '84-85 campaign.

Many believe the 1992-93 NHL season was among the finest staged in the League's history. From the addition of two teams through expansion, to the sudden prominence of European players, to the heroics of Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux, to the crowning of the Montreal Canadiens as Stanley Cup champions, the season was full of memorable moments. At its 20th anniversary, NHL.com will spend the year looking back at the key moments of that '92-93 campaign to see if it may indeed be the NHL's Greatest Season.

Eric Lindros was a huge presence that loomed over the story arc of this magical season. Last month, NHL.com looked at his trade to the Philadelphia Flyers -- perhaps the biggest in the history of the League -- through the eyes of the Flyers. Now we look at the deal through the eyes of the Quebec Nordiques, the team that drafted Lindros No. 1, then used him to finish the foundation of a franchise that would grow into a dynasty after relocating to Colorado.

As general manager and coach of the Quebec Nordiques, Pierre Page was well on his way to the team's fifth straight last-place finish in the Adams Division during the 1991-92 NHL season, and the potential solution to that chronic problem was refusing to play for his team.

Page chose Eric Lindros with the No. 1 pick in the 1991 NHL Draft despite the fact the prodigy, playing for the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League, had made it abundantly clear he never intended to sign with the Nordiques. With Lindros biding his time in junior, the Nordiques were heading toward a 52-point season, their sixth straight losing campaign.