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NHL Round-up
By LCS: guide to hockey

General NHL News

Islander's Sale Approved
The sale of the New York Islanders to John Spano received unanimous approval from the National Hockey League's Board of Governors. Spano reached agreement in November to purchase the Islanders and all of the cable television rights for $165 million. But the sale to the young Texas businessman was not completed until last month, when Spano finalized negotiations with SportsChannel, which will televise Islanders games well into the 21st century. Spano is a 32-year-old native New Yorker and chairman of The Bison Group, a Dallas-based aircraft and heavy equipment firm. He and his wife have a home on Long Island and lease an apartment in Manhattan. Spano, who bought the club from John O. Pickett, has said he will not move the Islanders to another city. But he also has stated the need for renovations to the Nassau Coliseum or construction of a new arena for the Isles to become a competitive team.

Firings...Hirings...Signings...etc...

Welcome Back Huddy
Veteran defenseman Charlie Huddy is back in the National Hockey League after being recalled Wednesday by the Northeast Division-leading Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres, looking to hold on to first place in the division and catch the Philadelphia Flyers for the top slot in the Eastern Conference, recalled the 37-year-old Huddy from Rochester of the American Hockey League. The move was necessitated by injured defenseman Richard Smehlik, who is day-to-day with a sore right knee. Huddy, a mainstay of the Edmonton Oilers dynasty that won five Stanley Cups in seven years, spent the entire season as a player-coach with Rochester, where he had four goals and six assists with 28 penalty minutes and a plus-8 rating. A veteran of 1,004 NHL games, Huddy, who played 55 games with the Sabres last season, has 99 goals and 354 assists for 453 points with 779 penalty minutes.

EJ Fired
The Penguins fired coach Eddie Johnston this week. He was a great man, but only an average coach. Here are his coaching records;

Regular season
Year, team        W   L   T  Pct.
1979-80, Chi     34  27  19 .544
1980-81, Pitt    30  37  13 .456
1981-82, Pitt    31  36  13 .469
1982-83, Pitt    18  53   9 .281
1993-94, Pitt    44  27  13 .281
1994-95, Pitt    29  16   3 .281
1995-96, Pitt    49  29   4 .281
1996-97, Pitt    31  26   5 .540
Totals          266 251  79 .513

Playoffs
Year, team       W  L  Pct.
1979-80, Chi     3  4 .000
1980-81, Pitt    2  3 .400
1981-82, Pitt    2  3 .400
1993-94, Pitt    2  4 .400
1994-95, Pitt    5  7 .400
1995-96, Pitt   11  7 .400
Totals          25 28 .472

Police Blotter:

Petit and Brashear Suspended
Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Michel Petit and Vancouver Canucks left wing Donald Brashear were each suspended by the National Hockey League Sunday pending a hearing as a result of incidents in Saturday games. Petit was suspended for kneeing Florida Panthers left wing Johan Garpenlov in a Saturday afternoon game at Florida. Garpenlov suffered a sprained right knee and will be sidelined up to six weeks. Petit received a major penalty and a game misconduct on the play and missed Sunday night's 2-1 win against the New York Rangers. Brashear was suspended for delivering a blind-side punch to Los Angeles Kings center Ian Laperriere in Saturday night's game at Los Angeles. He received a major penalty for fighting and a game misconduct on the play and missed Sunday night's 5-2 loss at Anaheim.

J.J. Daigneault, ANA -- Abusing Ref
The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim will be without defenseman J.J. Daigneault until late March after the league suspended him for 10 games, without pay, and fined him $1,000 for slashing referee Don Koharski on Feb. 23. The suspension for abuse of an official is automatically 10 games. The fine is the maximum allowed under the league's Collective Bargaining Agreement. Daigneault struck Koharski with his stick after an accidental collision between the two. Daigneault subsequently swung and missed at Koharski.

Bernie Nicholls, SJS -- Cross-check
San Jose Sharks center Bernie Nicholls has been suspended for two games and fined $1,000 as a result of a match penalty for intending to injure Florida Panthers defenseman Ed Jovanovski.

The incident occurred in overtime of the Sharks-Panthers game Feb. 25.

1996-97 NHL Suspension

Date     Player/Team/Length      Opponent     Reason 

Feb 28    Bernie Nicholls         Florida      Flagrant cross-check
          San Jose                             on Ed Jovanovski
          2 games
Feb 26    J.J. Daigneault         Referee      Struck Don 
          Anaheim                              Koharski with his 
          10 games                             stick 
Feb 25    Michel Petit            Florida      Kneeing 
          Philadelphia                         Johan Garpenlov
          2 games 
Feb 25    Donald Brashear         Los Angeles  blind side punch
          Vancouver                            to Ian Laperriere
          4 games
Feb 18   Brent Severyn           Phoenix      Initiating 
         Colorado                             altercation with  
         2 games                              Kris King                  
Feb 5    Matt Johnson            San Jose     Flagrant elbow
         Los Angeles                          against Andrei 
         4 games                              Nazarov
Feb 5    Rob Blake               San Jose     High-sticking 
         Los Angeles                          incident against 
         4 games                              Shean Donovan
Feb 5    Tony Granato            Los Angeles  Cross-checking 
         San Jose                             Dmitri Khristich 
         4 games                              in back of head
Feb 2    Peter Bondra            Florida      Kneeing incident
         Washington                           against Ray Sheppard
         At least 1 game
         pending hearing
Feb 2    Todd Harvey             Buffalo      Flagrant elbow 
         Dallas                               against Matthew
         At least 1 game                      Barnaby
         pending hearing
Jan 30   Sean O'Donnell          Colorado     Involved in 
         Los Angeles                          altercation on
         1 game                               bench with 
                                              Valeri Kamensky  
Jan 23   Jim Cummins             Toronto      Drawing third
         Chicago                              game misconduct
         1 game                               of the season
Jan 19   Craig Berube            Ottawa       Slashing
         Washington                           Dennis Vial
         2 games
Jan 11   Rich Pilon              Pittsburgh   Stick swinging
         NY Islanders                         Mario Lemieux
         2 games
Jan 7    Mike Craig              Vancouver    High-sticking
         Toronto                              Mike Sillinger
         2 games
Jan 7    Troy Mallette           Dallas       Flagrant elbow
         Boston                               Grant Marshall
         2 games 
Jan 1    Keith Primeau           Washington   Slash
         Hartford                             Joe Juneau
         2 games 
Dec 31   Greg Hawgood            Edmonton     Slash
         San Jose                             Boris Mironov
         2 games
Dec 6    Pavel Bure              Buffalo      Forearm blow
         Vancouver                            Garry Galley
         1 game
Nov 30   Guy Lapointe            Edmonton     Attacking a fan
         Calgary assistant coach
         2 games
Nov 30   Kevin Constantine       Edmonton     Attacking a fan
         Calgary assistant coach
         1 game 
Nov 26   Grant Ledyard           Florida      Kneeing
         Dallas                               Rob Niedermayer
         2 games 
Nov 26   Sasha Lakovic           Edmonton     Attacking a fan
         Calgary
         2 games
Nov 15   Mathieu Schneider       Anaheim      Flagrant elbow
         Toronto                              Paul Kariya
         3 games
Nov 1    Alexei Zhitnik          Dallas       High-sticking
         Buffalo                              Jamie Langenbrunner
         2 games
Oct 16   Daniel Lacroix          Los Angeles  Elbowing 
         Philadelphia                         Kevin Stevens
         2 games 
Oct 11   Brendan Shanahan        Edmonton     Cross-checking
         Detroit                              Greg de Vries
         1 game
Oct 8    Mark Messier            Florida      Checking from behind 
         NY Rangers                           Mike Hough
         2 games  
Oct 8    Louie DeBrusk           Vancouver    Slashing  
         Edmonton                             Dana Murzyn 
         4 games
Oct 7    Scott Stevens           Detroit      High-sticking 
         New Jersey                           Igor Larionov 
         1 game 


LCS: Guide to Hockey

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