MONTREAL — He was only 14 years old the day he left home for another country, another continent, another world. Some people wondered how Patrick Kane could leave South Buffalo for Detroit at such a young age. Big deal. It's a four-hour drive, an hour flight, the backstroke across Lake Erie.

Thomas Vanek was the same age when he kissed his family goodbye in Austria to chase a fantasy some 5,000 miles away in a tiny town in western Canada. He barely spoke English when he boarded a plane destined for the unknown, carrying with him little more than his desire to play hockey at a higher level.

Looking back, that simple fact helped him overcome the sick feeling of loneliness and uncertainty that settled in his stomach as his plane touched down in Alberta. As the doors opened, with his host family assembled at the airport and his future awaiting him, Vanek walked up the aisle hounded by a simple question:

"What am I doing here?" Vanek said last week.

He asked himself the question several times that day and many more in the 10-plus years that followed while zigzagging across North America. He was following his dream.

That's what carried him overseas in the first place, and that's what will carry him into the NHL All-Star Game today.

Every player selected for the All-Star Game has his own story about unwavering passion and commitment. Some begin on the ponds of the Canadian countryside, some from countries that no longer exist, Kane from South Buffalo, none quite like the one Vanek takes into the Bell Centre.

"When I look back at it, I say that I wouldn't change a thing that I've done," Vanek said. "Every decision that me and my family made, it turned out

pretty well so far."

You think?

Vanek has 28 goals this season and has been among the league leaders all season. Eighteen months ago, he landed a seven-year contract worth $50 million with the Buffalo Sabres, who picked him fifth overall in the 2003 draft after watching him lead the University of Minnesota to a national title in HSBC Arena.

At age 25, he has evolved into the Sabres' one true superstar, a natural goal-scorer that Buffalo hasn't witnessed since Alexander Mogilny. He's on pace to score a career-high 48 goals this season and could become the first Sabres player to net 50 since Mogilny had 76 during the magical 1992-93 season.

His 107 goals in the last two-plus seasons place him only behind Alex Ovechkin, Vincent Lecavalier, Ilya Kovalchuk, Dany Heatley and Jarome Iginla over the same period.

"Thomas is a very dangerous player," Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara said. "He's a guy you don't always see around you, but all of a sudden he has the puck and is scoring goals. He's a really good player and a really improved player."

Vanek has become an icon (think: Tiger Woods) back home, where skiing has owned the national spotlight for generations. Two years ago, after he scored 43 goals for the Sabres, he was named Austria's top sports figure. The Austrian media has visited him several times over the years, and he can no longer walk the streets back home without being noticed.

And to think a few years ago he felt honored to share the ice with Heatley.

"I'm a big fan of his, too," Heatley said. "Thomas is a guy who just scores goals. He finds a way to score goals. He's not flashy all the time, but he gets the job done and puts the numbers up. Players around the league have given him his due for a long time, and it's nice that he's getting some recognition elsewhere."

The fact Vanek will become the first Austrian to play in the All-Star Game is merely a bonus, chocolate sprinkles atop the whipped cream atop the pudding atop the sweetest crust ever made. His career has evolved layer by layer en route to All-Star recognition that was once beyond his comprehension.

"The All-Star Game was so special to me as a kid that it was something I never dreamt," Vanek said. "The dream was always playing in the NHL — one game. When I watched the All-Star Game, I guess you can dream big. That was a little too big, especially for an Austrian who never made it before."

His parents had their doubts before setting him free, but the alternative was worse. If he left home and hockey didn't work out, he could come home. It was better than facing potential what-ifs and could-have-beens that could have accompanied never taking a shot.

Anyway, how could they say no? They fled the former Czechoslovakia with Vanek's older brother before he was born in Vienna. His mother, Jarmila, was supervisor at a hotel management school before retiring. His father, Zdenek, played professionally in Austria and turned to coaching. He never witnessed a player with the prodigious skills of his son and didn't want to hold him back.

Just like that, Vanek was gone.

He was a high school freshman when he arrived in homespun Lacombe, which sits between Edmonton and Calgary. A year later, after a six-week stint in Rochester, he was playing for Sioux Falls, S.D., in the United States Hockey League, for players 20 and under. He was 18 when he arrived at Minnesota, 19 when he won his first game in Buffalo while leading the Golden Gophers to the NCAA championship. Along the way, he left his mark at every stop.

"He was an amazing talent," Sioux Falls team President Jim Loria said. "For a franchise born into this league in a market that never had hockey, to have a player that gifted, we owe him a debt of gratitude. He was our poster boy, and he still is today. He could have run for mayor."

Eleven years after he arrived, he's still a plane ride from home and still chasing the dream. Today, he's in Montreal for a game that exceeded them.

As he skated in practice Saturday with the best players in the world, he was asking himself the same question that has followed him throughout his career: What am I doing here?

"I'll always remember getting off that plane in Canada and asking myself that question," he said. "What am I doing here? Well, here I am. Everything worked out pretty good."