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 .472Police 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
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