Chris Neil celebrates 1,000th NHL game

Chris Neil's NHL debut came so long ago that his current teammate, Andreas Englund, was just about to start elementary school at the time.

The Ottawa Senators forward played in his 1,000th career NHL game, becoming the 307th player to reach that milestone and 46th player in League history to complete the feat with one team.

Neil had commemorative sticks made for Ottawa's game against the Los Angeles Kings, and he led the Senators onto the ice before the pregame warmup, an honor usually reserved for the starting goalie.

Neil became the third player in Senators history to play in 1,000 games. He spent one season with Ottawa's American Hockey League affiliate in Binghamton, New York, and the B-Sens posted this throwback photo.

The 37-year-old fan favorite, who Ottawa selected in the sixth round (No. 161) at the 1998 NHL Draft, has more penalty minutes (2,492) than any active NHL player.
Neil even received well wishes from former-nemesis Darcy Tucker. Tucker, a longtime forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs, battled Neil for years and through four Stanley Cup Playoff series in a five-season span between 2000-04.

And, of course, if you hang around long enough you eventually have a peanut butter and jelly incident. It's only natural.