TAKE FIVE: DEREK EDWARDSON

Thursday, April 12, 2007 | 7:30 a.m.

Round One: Las Vegas Wranglers vs. Phoenix Roadrunners

Game 1: Las Vegas 5, Phoenix 1

Game 2: 7 tonight , at U.S. Airways Center, Phoenix

Game 3: 7:05 p.m. Friday, at Orleans Arena, Las Vegas

Game 4: 7:05 p.m. Saturday, at Las Vegas

Game 5: 7:05 p.m. Monday, at Las Vegas *

Game 6: 7:05 p.m. Tuesday, at Las Vegas *

Game 7: TBD, at Phoenix *

*If necessary

Tickets: $12.50-$36.75 for adults, $7.50-$10.50 for kids; 471-7825, www.lasvegaswranglers.com, www.orleansarena.com

He started watching the Blackhawks when he was 3. So by the time he was 10, Derek Edwardson was a seasoned fan of the team when it skated into its only Stanley Cup finals of the past 33 seasons.

At home in Morton Grove, Ill., Edwardson rose and fell like a roller coaster watching the 1992 playoffs.

"Back when they were a good team," says the left-handed shooting center, who scored in Las Vegas' 5-1 win over Phoenix in Tuesday's opening game of the ECHL playoffs. He leads the Wranglers with 69 points (28 goals, 41 assists).

Pittsburgh swept Chicago for the Cup in four games. Since World War II, the Blackhawks have won it only once, in 1961. Through 1973, they went 0-for-4 in the NHL's championship series.

"It's been kinda tough being a Blackhawks fan," Edwardson says. "We used to go to the games at the old Chicago Stadium, a great atmosphere. Not a lot of my friends did it, so it was a bit of an escape."

He's come a long way since he was 5, when he first laced on the skates.

"Hated it," Edwardson says. "Went out and fell right away. Said I'm never doing that again."

1. Back up

Edwardson watched his father, Kurt, and his brothers and friends water down and freeze Harrer Park to make their own rink. That doesn't happen anymore. "Insurance reasons," Edwardson says. After that first fall, he was forced back onto the ice. "It took a little encouragement from the old man," he says.

2. Eh, got a ticket?

At a junior tournament in Windsor, Canada, across the bridge from Detroit, he discovered how the sport is viewed north of the border. "There were fans in the stands for practice," he says. "At home, half the players' parents didn't go to practice. It's just a different atmosphere there, much more intense."

3. A regal Redhawk

In 2003-04, he won Central Collegiate Hockey Association player of the year honors and led Miami of Ohio to its first NCAA tournament in seven years. The Redhawks lost to Denver, which won the national championship. "On my visit there, they offered me a scholarship," he says. "It's all I could ask for. I took it right away."

4. A fish story

Usually a freshwater angler, he tested the salt waters last summer while visiting former teammate Lee Green. They have a little more fight in them in the deep water, huh, Derek? "Yeah," he says, smiling. He snagged an 85-pound halibut, the biggest catch of his life. Some of it is still in his freezer.

5. For the fans

The Wranglers went 3-4 at home in the playoffs last season, which they exited in the second round in six games to Alaska. The 5-foot - 10, 180-pound center says the Orleans Arena faithful deserve better. "Our fans are unreal," he says. "In other arenas, they'll boo their team. Here, even with bad losses, we hear encouragement. That's a good thing."