LEWISTON — Far away from the ice, in the dining halls and dormitories of Niagara

University, is where Gregg Sutch really mesmerized his fellow Buffalo Sabres' prospects. The

kid with the fast smile, quicker wit and attentive eyes had the players awestruck with his

little trick.

Sutch, you see, is severely hearing impaired. Always has been. But what some people might

view as a hindrance, Sutch sees an advantage, especially when people find out he's a stellar

lip-reader.

That's what happened last week when he and the other players gathered for the Sabres'

development camp.

"The guys like to play with it," the 18-year-old said. "They like to go as far away as they

can and have me read their lips. Or we'll be in the middle of a conversation and somebody will

want to talk about another player that's at the table with me, and he'll start talking about

him with me [silently] and I can understand the whole conversation while nobody else can.

"It's kind of fun. Guys try to take advantage of it and have fun. I really don't look at it

as a negative thing. I just try to have fun because I have it and there's nothing I can do

about it."

Folks would gravitate toward Sutch no matter what hearing level he possessed. The

Toronto-area native is smart, funny and eager to chat. But there's no denying he attracts

extra attention because of his impairment.

The Sabres' fifth-round pick in last month's NHL draft was born with the severe hearing

loss. No one knows why, but it didn't take long for his parents to notice.

"I was about 2 years old when my parents kind of clued in that there was something wrong,"

Sutch said in clearly audible, slightly thick words. "I was just sitting around playing with

my toys and my parents would call me to get my attention, I wouldn't react whatsoever. The

final straw for my parents was we were up at a cottage and my uncle blew a whistle, and

everybody reacted to my uncle except for myself. I was just doing my own thing. That's kind of

when my parents clued in that there was something weird, something wrong with me.

"My parents were faced with the choice of having me wearing hearing aids or do sign

language, and thankfully they chose hearing aids because that allowed me to have a regular

life just like everybody else."

Sutch, who plays forward for Mississauga of the Ontario Hockey League, wears hearing aids

in both ears all the time. Well, not all the time

"Except when I sleep. I sleep like a baby because nothing's going to wake me up," he said

with a grin. "That's one of the advantages that I have. If I'm having a bad day or something

and I don't want to hear anybody, I take them off and kind of turn off the whole world. So

there are advantages. It's just something I've lived with all my life. I don't really think of

it any more."

He knows other people do, though. He's hard to ignore in an athletic profession in which

the only physical anomaly might be a missing tooth or two. It's why Sutch never hesitates to

tell his story.

"I know a lot of people are curious about it, and I'd rather they have knowledge about it

than try to make assumptions about it," he said. "One of the situations that I run into a lot

is people will automatically stereotype me as deaf, and that's the one thing that I'm trying

to let everybody know is that I'm hearing impaired, not deaf. There's a difference between

deaf and hearing impaired.

"My analogy is somebody who wears glasses isn't blind; they're visually impaired. If

somebody wears hearing aids, they're hearing impaired, because if you're deaf hearing aids

won't work. That's the one thing that I'm still trying to get my point across to everybody."

The Sabres, of course, didn't draft Sutch because he's an interesting story and good at

telling tales. They picked the 6-foot-2, 193-pounder because he knows how to play hockey and

has been since he was 3 or 4 years old.

"I still remember the first time I was on the ice: I was bawling. I guess things have

changed a lot since then," he said. "I'm just an old-fashioned bang kind of guy. You put the

puck in the corner, I'm going to go in and go get it. At the same time, I can chip in

offensively once in a while.

"Being able to bring everything to table, I'm going to leave everything on the table as

well. I'm going to give everything I've got every night."

To say he had trouble last season would be putting it mildly. Sutch had the type of year

folks would wish only on their worst enemies, and maybe not even them. An ankle sprain kept

him away from the ice for nearly eight weeks. A staph infection from ingrown hair in the same

ankle forced him to miss two more. A separated shoulder greeted him shortly after his return.

He played just 43 ineffective games, recording three goals and five assists.

"It was awful. It was just brutal. If it wasn't for bad luck, there was no luck," Sutch

said. "Sometimes, I just had to laugh at it. It was amazing. I just couldn't believe that

somebody would be put through that. It was just one injury after another, and even when I came

back I was still getting bumps and bruises.

"Basically, I had to call it the year from hell because of the injuries. At the same time

it was a positive experience because I learned how to deal with that, and it made me a better

person in the long run."

The Sabres talked with Mississauga coach Dave Cameron and determined Sutch was better than

he played, especially when they took into consideration the way he handled his setbacks.

"He had a terrible, terrible year with injuries," said Kevin Devine, the Sabres' director

of amateur scouting. "I know his coach very well. I think his numbers are going to improve,

and he's going to come to play every night. He'll take anybody on in the fighting department."

The right winger credits the hearing problem with making him a more attentive player. He

can't hear his linemates call for the puck, can't listen for a player to shout that he's open.

Sutch just has to know that the player is available.

"It forces me to have vision for the game," he said. "I can't rely on my hearing,

obviously, if a teammate was calling for a pass or something like that, so it really forces me

to keep my head up for the game.

"It's one of the hardest things, having your head up at all times, knowing where everybody

is. You have to learn your linemates' tendencies a lot quicker than anybody else would have

to, so that's made me a better player."

Hockey fans will get a prime chance to see his skills this season. His team is hosting the

Memorial Cup, which determines the best team in junior hockey. Mississauga will get a lot of

attention, and the kid with the on- and off-ice talent will attract the spotlight as well.

He'll gladly accept it.

"I love this game," Sutch said, "so I just want to keep on playing it and see where it

takes me."