head coach: Pierre Page

roster: C: Matt Cullen, Mark Janssens, Sean Pronger, Steve Rucchin; LW: Shawn Antoski, Ted Drury, Paul Kariya, Tomas Sandstrom, Brent Severyn, Jeremy Stevenson; RW: Jeff Nielsen, Warren Rychel, Joe Sacco, Teemu Selanne, Scott Young; D: D: Drew Bannister, J.J. Daigneault, David Karpa, Jason Marshall, Dmitri Mironov, Ruslan Salei, Brent Severyn, Dan Trebil, Pavel Trnka; G: Guy Hebert, Mikhail Shtalenkov.

injuries: Brent Severyn, lw/d, (sore neck, day-to-day); Shawn Antoski, lw (depressed skull fracture, indefinite).

transactions: 1/20, recalled Matt Cullen, c, from Cincinnati (AHL); 1/15, assigned Bob Wren, c, to Cincinnati; 1/12, recalled Bob Wren from Cincinnati; assigned Kevin Todd to Long Beach (IHL).

standings:

Western Conference - Pacific Division
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
Colorado     52  24  12  16    64  153  126
Los Angeles  49  21  19   9    51  139  136
Edmonton     50  18  23   9    45  129  143
San Jose     49  18  24   7    43  120  132
Anaheim      51  17  25   9    43  124  151
Calgary      51  13  28  10    36  128  160
Vancouver    50  12  30   8    32  129  180

game results:

1/12 at Los Angeles  L 3-2 OT 
1/14 Colorado        L 2-0 
1/21 Florida         W 8-3 
1/22 at Colorado     W 4-3 
1/24 Los Angeles     T 3-3

team news:

by Alex Carswell, Anaheim Correspondent

THE WORLD'S BEST

Teemu Selanne was definitely the "World's Best" player on January 18. Selanne became the first European player to score a hat trick in All-Star competition by notching three of the first four goals for the World squad in Vancouver. He opened the scoring just 53 seconds into the game, added another some three minutes later and completed the trick in the middle of the second period. And while his efforts were good enough to establish another first -- he became the first European to be named All-Star MVP -- they weren't enough to lead his team to victory.

Nonetheless, in snagging the Dodge Durango, Selanne became just the second All-Star MVP to have played on the losing side. Grant Fuhr took home top honors for the Campbell Conference in a 4-3 overtime defeat back in 1986.

The game honors were seemingly just more of the same for Selanne, who was named the NHL's Player of the Week for the period leading up to the All-Star break. He also clinched a World victory in the SuperSkills competition with his goal in the second tie-breaking round of the Breakaway event.

THE TEAM'S BEST

While Selanne was showcasing his talent for the World squad, Vancouver native Paul Kariya -- snubbed by North American coach Jacques Lemaire -- was looking inward. Though he traveled to Vancouver to meet with his soon-to-be Olympic teammates, his immediate focus was on his role as Ducks captain.

Kariya felt that he needed to raise his game if the Ducks were going to snap out of their funk. It's not that he hadn't already been the first or second-best player on the ice every night. It's just that he was holding himself to an even higher standard. So after scoring five goals and 10 points in the first three games after the break, Ducks fans should be delighted that Kariya has raised his personal bar.

He popped a hat trick and added two assists in the 8-3 victory over Florida, earning an NHL single-game season-high +5 along the way. He then tallied the decisive goals against both Colorado (4-3) and the Kings (3-3). With Kariya and Selanne finally hitting on all cylinders, it's scary to think what might happen if the team could just put together a moderately threatening second unit.

TODD MAN OUT

Kevin Todd, who came to the Ducks as a waiver claim off the Pittsburgh roster prior to last season, has likely played his last game for the team. He cleared waivers for the second time this season (earlier, he was exposed and left unselected in the Waiver Draft) and was demoted to the IHL Long Beach Ice Dogs.

Todd added spark when he was in the lineup, and was -- by this team's standards -- fairly productive, scoring four goals and 10 points in 24 games. But his lack of size hurt him, although more in the eyes of management than on the ice: for most of his 24 games, Todd played bigger than the majority of his teammates. Nonetheless, Todd (who was rumored on his way to Tampa in exchange for a prospect before Lightning ownership quashed the deal) has been exiled in favor of bigger, younger and often less effective legs.

OLYMPIC NEWS

Since this is the LCS Olympic Special, a run-down of Anaheim's Olympic presence seems in order. The team has seven players heading to Nagano, and while only Tomas Sandstrom will represent LCS- sponsored Team Sweden, the others have not given up hope of defeating the Nordic juggernaut.

Also competing for gold: Guy Hebert (USA), Paul Kariya (Canada), Ruslan Salei (Belarus), Teemu Selanne (Finland), Dmitri Mironov and Mikhail Shtalenkov (Russia).

Asked about the intensity of competition between former-and-future Anaheim teammates -- not to mention linemates -- during the Olympic tournament, Selanne was firm. "I'll do whatever I have to," he said, to try and win the gold.

As for the impact this season-stopping professional Olympics will have around the league, Selanne said it could cut both ways.

"I think it'll be important for the guys left here to get rested," he said of his teammates, adding that the rest vs. exhilaration factor is "tricky" to figure out. "Especially for teams with a lot of players going. We really don't know what to expect."

Well, if you buy what the pundits at LCS tell you, you can expect a gold medal for Team Sweden. But while that outcome may be far from certain, you probably can expect some great hockey along the way. Not to mention controversy in the wake of injuries, slumps and streaks that will inevitably follow these historic games.

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