FRISCO – Chosen to represent Canada at hockey's World Junior Championships in 2001, Steve Ott began an unusual training regimen before his trip to Moscow. He thought it might help the Canadian cause if he could "blab" with opposing players in a language they could understand.

And so the Stars' first pick in the 2000 draft studied cursing in Russian, Swedish, Finnish, German, French and Czech. He learned what he describes as "sensitive phrases" designed to make opponents "boil over" and perhaps commit unpardonable errors.

Anything to gain an edge. As usual.

Ott and his father, Butch, determined early in Steve's hockey life that he lacked the necessities to become his game's next "Great One." But he had enough base skills for a fruitful career if he could become a blue-collar, in-your-face provocateur able to contort rivals' nerve endings.

If he couldn't play with the deft skills of his idol, Wayne Gretzky, Ott could bring another dimension to a team. He could be a "Grate One."

Playing that role to near perfection, the utilitarian Ott had his finest season in 2007-08, scoring a career-best 11 goals, adding 11 assists and contributing a team-leading 147 penalty minutes. Settled into the Stars' checking line alongside Mike Modano and Stu Barnes, Ott scored two goals and played a pivotal role in the Stars' first-round playoff elimination of the Anaheim Ducks. He is destined to repeat past skirmishes with the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference semifinals, which begin tonight.

"Hard-edged" is Ott's simple description of his style. "There's a fine line I ride."

Sitting at a lunchroom table at the Stars' practice facility this week, the 25-year-old forward matter-of-factly told his story. There were no theatrics. No increased volume. Not a single four-letter word in any language to describe opponents he has battled or the excruciating mental and physical pain that came with a 2006-07 season lost to injury. Ott might as well have been an accountant, calmly sharing findings from a lifetime of audits.

Most surprising was the soft edge he would never allow to be seen in an NHL arena and not captured in the endless YouTube fighting videos titled "Ott vs. ..."

"My abrasive side will always be there on the ice," said Ott, who at 6-0, 193 pounds is hardly an imposing physical presence. "If I don't play that way every single night, I won't be in the NHL. I love playing against the other team's best players. I want to face him one-on-one, play hard against him and win the little wars so my team can win the game."

Coincidentally, Stars coach Dave Tippett mentioned "abrasiveness" in his first sentence describing Ott. "Fearless" came in the second sentence.

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Of course, abrasiveness is a double-edged sword.

Before defenseman Mattias Norstrom was traded to the Stars last season, he was captain of the division rival Los Angeles Kings. Norstrom doesn't like to admit it, but he confessed, "I hated him. Everybody did."

"Everything changes with a guy like Steve when he becomes your teammate," Norstrom said. "The in-your-face, loud-mouth, plays borderline with elbows flying [style] becomes something you appreciate. Now, he is the kind of player you love to have on your team."

Butch Ott was his only son's earliest hockey tutor. When Butch, a career military man now retired from the Canadian Air Force, went overseas with United Nations forces, mother Debby, an Air Force sergeant, monitored Steve's progress.

Butch and Steve agree that father constantly pushed son, and in his absence, Debby's criticisms could be just as searing. Steve said the pressure was so great that he contemplated quitting the summer he turned 14.

"I drove him harder than anyone else," said Butch, who now runs a recreation center in Windsor, Ontario, and scouts for the Stars. "I admit it. It's similar to the military. You have to put the right foundation. I had to find out where his breaking point was."

It was Butch who made sure Steve learned there was more to the game than scoring goals. The father knew his son was a gifted offensive player but not nearly blessed enough for the NHL. Steve, caring and gentle off the ice, needed an edge.

Butch eventually signed up 15-year-old Steve to play with the Belle River (Ontario) Canadiens, a low-level minor league team littered with players who were four and five years older.

A boy has to find ways to compete playing against bigger, stronger men. Steve Ott immersed himself in learning the tricks of the trade not taught in etiquette school.

"It was the only way to survive," Steve said.

And thrive. Two months before Ott's 18th birthday, the Stars, coming off a Stanley Cup championship and a Finals loss, made him the 25th player selected in the 2000 draft.

Ott progressed nicely his first three seasons in the league. In 2005-06, he was the only Star to play in all 82 regular-season games. Last season, however, was a disaster. He was injured in a fight against the Kings' Tom Kostopoulos. Somewhere between the punches, Ott's ankle exploded. There were two surgeries, He missed 62 games.

"He hit me with a good punch" is Ott's simple explanation for the injury. In 19 games, he didn't score a goal and recorded four assists.

Tippett calls this Ott's "breakout season."

"He had to come in and establish himself as a good player," Tippett said. "He did that and more."

Ott scored his 11th goal in the Stars' season-ending victory against the Sharks. He had scored 10 in his first four seasons with the team.

It was a typical Ott effort. His antics in the eighth game of the season between the teams enticed fed-up Joe Thornton and retaliator Jody Shelley, both 6-4 and 230-plus pounds, into fights. Thornton, the Sharks' best offensive player, spent 19 minutes confined to the penalty box. Shelley received a game misconduct. Ott's goal was the pièce de résistance.

"You know," Ott volunteered, "maybe I love to be hated."