NEW YORK -- Drugs. Illicit sex. Even violent crime.

The front page of a modern-day metropolitan sports page? Sometimes.

	Roenick, left, checks seating availability for Sheldon Souray (far right), Chris Therien (middle) and Kevin Weekes (far left).

Regular components of American soap operas? Always.

Scott Gomez and Jeremy Roenick have never been implicated in any of the aforementioned infractions, but when they recently had cameo roles on ABC's "One Life to Live", they came in direct contact with a soap-opera script.

Unfortunately, their fledgling status as actors didn't allow them to get too involved in the real drama of daytime television.

In the episode scheduled to air Aug. 31, Roenick and Gomez play airline employees. Jessica Buchanan, played by Erin Torpey if you're not a "One Life" regular, is struggling with a decision to board a plane. Roenick books the ticket, and Gomez stands at the gate, polyester suit and all, ready to take her ticket.

An example of one of their lines?

Roenick's role

"I'm going to be the ticket agent at the airport. Two of the actors are kind of in a squabble, and one has lied to the other one. And she's leaving town. She's getting out of 'Dodge'. She comes to the airport to get out of town, and her counterpart chases her and tries to change her mind about leaving. So, all I'm doing is playing the ticket agent, and I'm issuing the ticket, and telling her she has to connect through New York in order to get to London, or wherever she's going. And she almost changes her mind, so I'm sitting there, and I'm kind of wondering whether I should issue the ticket, or am I going to hold off. I say, 'Am I going to hold off on this ticket?' She says, 'No! No! No!', so I continue to issue the ticket. I give it to her, and I tell her 'Hey, Ma'am, your gate's already been called. (The) flight's already been called' and I point around. 'It's going to be through Gate 2 over here.' " -- Jeremy Roenick on his part, which can be seen Aug. 31.

Gomez: "Will you be traveling alone?"

Heavy stuff indeed.

"We're out of our element," said Roenick, who actually has done some acting work with Disney and on the popular HBO series, "Arli$$". Phoenix's All-Star forward has no illusions about his post-hockey acting possibilities. "I definitely want to do something on TV, whether it's acting, I don't know.

"That's a tough gig," he said as he raised the thick script packet. "I think I'd like to stay in the sports business, do a little commentating and rip people myself from the other end of the camera (rather) than the one being ripped on."

Roenick and Gomez weren't the only NHLers on the set. Flyers defenseman Chris Therien, Lightning goalie Kevin Weekes and Canadiens defenseman Sheldon Souray made the "cut" but didn't get speaking parts.

Here's a stretch: They play professional hockey players boarding the same flight.

"I have to work myself up to that (speaking on camera)," said Souray, whose good looks have landed him in magazines like "Maxim" and "GQ". "I have to earn that, I guess. It's fun to watch Jeremy and Scott out there. It looks like the pressure is on them."

All five players skate for different teams, and the odds of them going full-force into the corners next season -- or in the past -- are still very good. But all five seemed comfortable burying the competitive hatchet, at least for a day.

"I think I got this one from Jeremy," said Gomez as he laughed and pointed to a scar under his eye as he and Roenick were fitted in their '70s-style blue suits.

"That's his best suit from the year," Roenick quipped about Gomez's duds.

	Gomez, left, is in full -- albeit unfamiliar -- uniform as he makes his acting debut on "One Life to Live" with a menacing Souray pointing at him.

For Gomez, 20, this experience is just one of many during an incredible year. In the regular season, he scored 19 goals and had 70 points in his rookie campaign. Then, Gomez won the Stanley Cup with the Devils and added the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie. This summer, he took the Cup home to his native Alaska to a hero's welcome.

And now, he's acting on television.

"Daytime Emmy Award. That will complete the year," said Gomez, who likely needs several takes to get the perma-smile off his face. In addition, Gomez doesn't have a great history in the acting field.

"I took drama in high school for a week," he said. "So, if she (his teacher) is watching: 'I made it!' "

Her response would likely be that Gomez shouldn't quit his day job.

Brian A. Shactman is the NHL editor for ESPN.com.