By CHRIS STEVENSON -- Ottawa Sun
  Alexei Yashin threw a party and everybody came.
 The Senators' star centre threw a house-warming party to show off his new penthouse digs and entertained his teammates and their significant others.
 By all accounts, the party was a huge success, in more ways than one.
 The get-together marked the first time Yashin had hosted a social function for more than just a couple of his teammates who used to drop by for some borscht at the house he had shared with his parents, Tatiana and Valeri, and his brother, Dmitri, in Kanata.
 It might have been as much a coming-out party as a housewarming, signifying a new stage in Yashin's life.
 For the first time since coming to Canada, he has a place of his own. "It was important that my parents understand why I was doing it," said Yashin. "It wasn't because I didn't want to be with them."
 Yashin's decision to move out was simply one that must be made by young men whose time has come.
 "He seems very comfortable now," said Senators captain Randy Cunneyworth. "I think things outside of his hockey world have fallen into place. He's out on his own and I think that's obviously helped. He's got a chance now to lead his own life and have responsibility and I think that's translated into a more mature person.
 "His talent on the ice has always been considerable, but he's saying and doing more off it and that's one thing that everybody has noticed."
 "I'm growing up, but I don't think I've changed that much," said Yashin. "I've got more experience in the NHL. I don't agree my personality has changed. I've never been a closed person. I've gotten to know the guys better, but that's only because we were changing 10 or 15 guys a year for the first couple of years and all the guys I knew were always gone."