_ _ _ _ | | ____ __ | | ____ ___ | | ____ ___ | | ____ ___ | |/ _ / __| | |/ _ / __| | |/ _ / __| | |/ _ / __| | | (_ \__ \ | | (_ \__ \ | | (_ \__ \ | | (_ \__ \ |_|\____\___/ |_|\____\___/ |_|\____\___/ |_|\____\___/ GUIDE TO HOCKEY GUIDE TO HOCKEY GUIDE TO HOCKEY GUIDE TO HOCKEY ================================================================ Five Star - ELECTRONIC EDITION - * * * * * ================================================================ Issue 112 January 27, 1999 302,000 bytes ---------------------------------------------------------------- Visit us on the web at http://www.lcshockey.com/ for all your hockey needs... not really. To subscribe/unsubscribe from the LCS Hockey mailing list contact zippy@lcshockey.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ North America Strong and Proud ------------------------------------------------------------------ by Michael Dell The reports of Wayne Gretzky's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Gretzky, who turned 38 years old on January 26, led the North American team to an 8-6 victory over the World at the 49th annual NHL All-Star Game. The Great One collected a goal and two assists to help pace the attack, earning MVP honors in the process. And somewhere a young man yelled "Yee-haw! I'm Wayne Gretzky! Yee-haw!" Wait a minute, that was me. Never mind. Along with the honor of being named MVP, Gretzky was also presented with a 1999 Dodge Durango. Apparently, a Durango is some sort of vehicle. I thought it was one of them wild Australian dogs. Don't kid yourself, them boys is crazy. They're deadly dangerous. A Durango ate me baby. Gretzky estimates that he's won 16 or 17 cars during his illustrious playing career. No word on how many wild dogs he's won. He's given all the other cars away, but plans on keeping this latest prize. "I want to keep this to be a reminder of this game," said Gretzky. "I had a wonderful weekend in the city of Tampa Bay, and it was a fun game. After 21 years of professional hockey, 20 in the NHL, I just feel like this is the one thing I want to keep; I want to have it and I want to remember it. I don't want to forget it." The game itself was a beautiful display of offensive creativity. The clubs waged a wide-open, skating affair that produced more excitement than Starsky and Hutch's two-part Las Vegas adventure. The game's 14 goals were scored by 14 different players. That's odd. Gretzky, Mike Modano, Luc Robitaille, Paul Kariya, Mark Recchi, Ray Bourque, Rob Blake, and Darryl Sydor connected for North America, while Marco Sturm, Teemu Selanne, Pavol Demitra, Mattias Ohlund, Mats Sundin, and Sergei Zubov provided the World goals. The game was explosive from the opening faceoff. Each team had glorious scoring chances early. Alexei Yashin banked an apparent tap-in off the side of the North American net only moments before Eric Lindros cruised down the slot and one-timed a snapper into Dominik Hasek's chest. It was clear from the start that generating goal scoring chances would not be a problem. North America got on the board first at 4:09 of the opening period. Chris Pronger ventured deep into the left wing corner of the World zone and threw the puck to the net. The centering attempt hit a defender and came directly to Robitaille in front. Dominik Hasek denied Lucky Luc's shot, but the cagey winger tied up Nicklas Lidstrom long enough for Modano to barge in and chip the loose rebound over a sprawled Hasek for the 1-0 lead. The World knotted things at 9:42 of the first. The goal was credited to Sturm, but should have rightfully gone to Peter Forsberg. The slick Swede was gliding in at the right wing circle when he attempted to lead Sturm with a backdoor pass to the left post. Blake managed to disrupt the pass, but inadvertently deflected the puck between the pads of Martin Brodeur. Sturm pulled the trigger and would have scored had the puck reached him, so that must have been enough to convince the official scorer. It didn't take North America long to recapture the lead. Just 24 seconds after the World tied it, Robitaille put North America back in front at 2-1. The goal came as a result of a three-on- two break. Wendel Clark drove the net on left wing and brought Alexei Zhitnik with him, isolating Sergei Zubov on the right side against Jeremy Roenick and Robitaille. Roenick froze Zubov and then dropped a pass back to Lucky Luc who laced a shot through Hasek's five-hole. Brodeur preserved the 2-1 lead by stoning Martin Straka on two shots from the low slot after Demitra set up the little Czech center with a swell pass from behind the cage. Hasek responded with a huge save of his own, turning aside a two-on-none at the expense of John LeClair and Brendan Shanahan. Shanny sort of messed up. He carried the puck on right wing and simply waited too long to move it to LeClair. By the time the pass arrived, LeClair was at the lip of the goal crease and could only redirect a shot into Hasek's stacked pads. North America stretched its lead to 4-1 before the end of the first period thanks to two goals within a 33-second span. Kariya swatted a rebound behind Hasek at 16:45 and Recchi converted a two-on-one with Gretzky at 17:18. Alexei Zhitnik was the poor soul back on the two-on-one. Gretzky abused him with a flawless pass. All Recchi had to do was put his stick on the ice. The first period began on even terms, but North America clearly took control over the second half. The North Americans held a 4-1 lead on the scoreboard and a 19-9 advantage in shots. The second period opened much as the first ended. Only 17 seconds were gone when Modano won a faceoff in the World's right wing circle to Bourque at the right point. The future Hall-of- Famer eyed up the net as he moved to the top of the circle and then blew a wrist shot over Arturs Irbe's left shoulder to put North America ahead 5-1. Only 56 seconds later, Gretzky ran the lead to 6-1. It was another two-on-one with Recchi, except this time Gretzky kept the puck the entire time on right wing and hammered a slap shot between Irbe's pads. Just when it seemed as if North America would make it a laugher, the World came alive. Selanne started things off by storming wide on right wing around Scott Stevens and taking a remarkable backhand saucer pass from Yashin before wiring a perfectly placed wrist shot short-side over Ron Tugnutt's left shoulder. The goal came at 2:02. Demitra then made it 6-3 at 8:59 courtesy of a dazzling passing play. Sundin started things from beneath the goal line by slipping a pass out front to Zhitnik pinching down the slot. As Tugnutt and the North American defense converged on Zhitnik, the Buffalo blueliner spotted Demitra wide open at the right post for an easy tap-in. Blake and Ohlund would later exchange goals less than a minute apart to make the score 7-4 after two periods of play. Blake's was an innocent looking wrist shot that somehow found its way through Irbe's pads. Ohlund's was a much better shot, as he stepped up from the right point and one-timed a Sundin pass just inside the left post. Sundin and Ohlund hooked up again at 2:57 of the third to get the World within two at 7-5. Jaromir Jagr sparked the play by cycling out of the right wing corner and finding Ohlund coming late. The Swedish defender then made a sharp cut into the slot and dished a sweet pass to Sundin at the left post. Ed Belfour anticipated the play and got over in a hurry, but Sundin showed unbelievable patience and skill in pulling the puck closer to his skates to change the angle and then firing a shot under Belfour's right arm. You can't teach that sort of thing. It's all instinct. Sundin's got the goods. The final two goals of the game were accounted for by Dallas defensemen. Sydor streaked in from the left point and drilled a marvelous cross-ice pass from Modano that clipped Teppo Numminen's stick and skipped by Nikolai Khabibulin short-side. At 4:20, just 17 seconds after Sydor cashed in, Zubov made the score 8-6 with a tremendous highlight-reel goal. Dimitri Khristich kept the puck in high on the left wing boards and slid a pass across to Zubov at the right point. Zubie waltzed around a charging Gretzky and headed down the slot. Pronger stepped up to meet him only to have the Russian slip around him with a lightning quick backhand move. Zubov then turned the puck to his forehand and buried a wrister over Belfour's glove. The puck actually got lodged behind the back crossbar. It was something special. There was still plenty of time left on the clock to mount a comeback, but the World really couldn't muster much else in the way of offense. It was actually the North American squad that controlled play over the final 15 minutes. Only the astounding goaltending acrobatics of Khabibulin kept things close.

Lines

North America OFFENSE (lw-c-rw) Fleury - Gretzky - Recchi Kariya - Modano - Amonte Tkachuk - Roenick - Primeau LeClair - Lindros - Shanahan Clark, Robitaille NOTES: Roenick would often double-shift between Clark and Robitaille. And both Recchi and Fleury have been rumored to be heading to Broadway, so this game could have been seen as an audition with Gretzky. If that was the case, either one would seem to be a perfect fit. The threesome worked wonderfully together. DEFENSE Sydor - Bourque Pronger - MacInnis Stevens - Murphy Blake NOTES: All seven guys played about the same amount of time and were worked in and out on a pretty regular rotation. The pairings listed were just the first ones I saw. WORLD OFFENSE (lw-c-rw) Demitra - Straka - Jagr Naslund - Sundin - Forsberg Khristich - Holik - Bondra Krivokrasov - Yashin - Selanne Sturm NOTES: Sturm took turns with Naslund skating the left side for Sundin and Forsberg. The World was short one forward because a replacement couldn't be found in time for the injured Viktor Kozlov. DEFENSE Lidstrom - Numminen Zubov - Zhitnik Norstrom - Hamrlik Ohlund NOTES: Remember what I said up above about the North American defense? Well, same goes for the World... Also, the lone World power play featured Jagr, Selanne, and Forsberg up front, with Lidstrom and Zubov at the points.

Impressive Performances

NORTH AMERICA Wayne Gretzky (1-2-3): The Great One was a deserving MVP winner. He taught all the youngsters a few lessons on how to orchestrate a proper two-on-one and distributed the puck all game long with his usual legendary flair. Mike Modano (1-3-4): Mikey Mo was high pointman for North America, but Gretzky is Gretzky. Any other year and Modano's four points would have been enough for a car. Paul Kariya and Tony Amonte also deserve recognition. Combined with Modano, the trio formed the game's best line, not to mention what could be the fastest unit ever assembled since the junior days of Sergei Fedorov, Pavel Bure, and Alexander Mogilny. Darryl Sydor (1-0-1): The Dallas defender gets listed for a move he broke out in the second period. Sydor, a lefty shot, was carrying the puck wide on the right wing of the World zone when he pulled the puck behind him and then backhanded it off the inside of his right skate up to himself. And he did it in full flight without ever breaking stride. It was crafty. While not exactly Owen Nolan calling his shot over Hasek's glove, rest assured kids everywhere will be trying to master this All-Star gem. WORLD Mats Sundin (1-3-4): The Big Swede was a might impressive. Not many players can appear as dominant as Sundin when he's at his best. Sergei Zubov (1-0-1): This was Zubov's kind of game. There isn't a better skating defenseman in the world. He's just effortless on his blades. And his goal was simply amazing. Easily the goal of the game. Nikolai Khabibulin (14 saves): Khabby was the best goaltender. The only goal he allowed was deflected off one of his own men. He stopped everything else shot at him, including breakaways from Keith Primeau and Brendan Shanahan, and a flurry of unreal scoring chances from the Gretzky-Recchi-Fleury line.

Top Goals

1. Sergei Zubov, World: Zubie's goal was beautiful. If it was any prettier I'd have married it. Maybe move out to the country, start a family, raise a few pucks of our own. Seriously, how many times have I done that joke? If you're keeping track at home, feel free to let me know. 2. Teemu Selanne, World: This was a great showcase of what Selanne's all about. He moved the puck to his centerman, Yashin, at center ice and then used his powerful stride to blow right past Scott Stevens. Yashin read it properly and led Teemu down the wing with a swell backhand flip. Selanne finished the all-around splendid play with a precision wrister that left no room for error. 3. Mark Recchi, North America: Recchi gets the glory, but it was Gretzky's pass that made this one special. No one works a two-on-one better than number 99. Two things come into play. First, whether or not to make the pass. And second, the exact time to move the puck. Gretzky held onto the rock for an eternity on Recchi's goal before setting the table for an easy tap at the edge of the crease. Then in the second period, on another two-on-one with Recchi, Gretzky read that Mattias Ohlund was staying back to play the pass so he took the shot himself and beat Irbe five-hole. It was an instructional video for playmakers everywhere.

Top Saves

1. Nikolai Khabibulin, World: Khabby was sensational. His best save of the night came during a frantic shift in the third period that saw each member of the Gretzky-Recchi-Fleury line get two quality scoring chances. The most serious of which came when Gretzky wheeled out from behind the cage on the left wing side and threaded a pass through the crease to Fleury at the right post. Before little Theo could ring it up, Khabby slid across with his left pad and walled him off. Khabby's cool like that. 2. Arturs Irbe, World: Irbe gave up a couple soft ones, but he rose to the occasion on a two-on-one against Kariya and Amonte. The Mighty Duckling carried the puck on the left side and made the pass across to a streaking Amonte on the right. Irbe didn't panic. He calmly shuffled over and took Amonte's lethal snapper off his left arm, making the save seem routine. Irbe like wall. Chomp, chomp, chomp. Irbe like wall. 3. Dominik Hasek, World: Even though Shanahan kind of screwed up, Hasek still deserves credit for stopping him and LeClair on the two-on-none. It was a nice save.

Top Hits

1. Jeremy Roenick, North America: Hell, this was the only hit. JR Superstar rubbed Alexei Zhitnik into the backboards with a solid check early in the first period. He didn't crush him, but it still counts.

Wacky Game Facts

* The All-Star MVP award was the third of Gretzky's career, tying him with Mario Lemieux for the most ever. Gretzky's previous MVPs came in 1983 and 1989. * Gretzky's three points added to his career All-Star scoring record. He now has 25 points (13-12-25) in 18 career games. In case you're wondering, Mario Lemieux owns the better points-per- game average, collecting 20 (11-9-20) in just eight games. * Gretzky's two assists gave him 12 for his All-Star career, tying him with Adam Oates, Gordie Howe, Joe Sakic, and Mark Messier for the most ever. * Irbe's assist on Selanne's second-period goal was the first ever recorded by a goaltender in All-Star Game history. * Bourque's goal 17 seconds into the middle frame was the fastest ever in All-Star Game history from the start of a period. * Ken Hitchcock was behind the North American bench and earned his first ever coaching win in an All-Star situation. The victory raised his career record in mid-season classics to 1-11. * North America is now 2-0 versus the World, having won last year's game by an 8-7 score. * Joe Sakic wasn't invited to play. Now that's wacky. * At some point in the second period, I seem to have misplaced my pants... ----------------------------------------------------------------- CREDITS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Dell........................Editor-in-Chief Zippy..................................Computer Boy Jim Iovino.............................Ace Reporter Matthew Secosky......................Mr. Enthusiasm Nicole Agostino.......................Got Me Ripped Alex Carswell.................Anaheim Correspondent Matt Brown.....................Boston Correspondent Matt Barr.....................Buffalo Correspondent Simon D. Lewis................Calgary Correspondent Scott Pagel..................Carolina Correspondent Thomas Crawford...............Chicago Correspondent Greg D'Avis..................Colorado Correspondent Jim Panenka....................Dallas Correspondent Dino Cacciola.................Detroit Correspondent Aubrey Chau..................Edmonton Correspondent Vacant........................Florida Correspondent Matt Moore................Los Angeles Correspondent Jacques Robert...............Montreal Correspondent Jeff Middleton..............Nashville Correspondent Eric Witzel................New Jersey Correspondent David Strauss...............Islanders Correspondent Alex Frias....................Rangers Correspondent The Nosebleeders..............Ottawa Correspondents Eric Meyer...............Philadelphia Correspondent Bob Chebat....................Phoenix Correspondent Jerry Fairish..............Pittsburgh Correspondent Tom Cooper..................St. Louis Correspondent Al Swanson...................San Jose Correspondent Seth Lerman.................Tampa Bay Correspondent Jonah Sigel...................Toronto Correspondent Jeff Dubois.................Vancouver Correspondent Jason Sheehan..............Washington Correspondent Tricia McMillan...................AHL Correspondent Howard Fienberg.......................Correspondent ----------------------------------------------------------------- LCS Hockey - Issue 112 - January 27, 1999. All rights reserved because we, like, called ahead and stuff. Email address: info@lcshockey.com Street Address: 406 Sheffield Drive, Greensburg, PA 15601. Web Address: www.lcshockey.com Direct Address: Something from the meat case, Linda? ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- All-Star Skills Recap ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Michael Dell Each year at the offices of LCS Hockey, we always anxiously await the arrival of the All-Star Skills competition. And each year when it's over we usually have the same response: "What the hell was that?" It's not that the event hasn't produced its share of cherished memories over the years. Several indelible images have found their way into our collective subconscious. Who can forget Mario Lemieux's brilliance on breakaways, Ray Bourque's dead-eye shooting, or Sergei Fedorov's incredible skating? And I think we all remember where we were when we first found out that Al Iafrate was bald. It was all good stuff. The problem is that the evening never seems to live up to its full potential. Instead of being a time to highlight the game's premier talents and charismatic personalities, the Skills Competition is routinely rendered unwatchable by the fine folks at ESPN. The hurried pacing of the individual events makes it seem like everyone involved has a plane to catch, cheating the viewers of a chance to rightfully enjoy the presentation. Then there's the always annoying commentary from Gary Thorne, Bill Clement, Darren Pang, and Barry Melrose that leaves me thankful for the years of painstaking scientific research that resulted in the invention of the mute button. These guys just like themselves way too much. People are laughing at them, not with them. When's ESPN gonna wise up and hirer a young, antisocial, smart-ass punk to help liven up the broadcast? My phone rings, man. My phone rings. As per usual, the Heroes of Hockey game got things rolling. This year it was the traditional NHL Heroes versus a team of Sunbelt Heroes. Apparently you qualified as a Sunbelt Hero if you could actually recognize that big ball of fire in the sky as the sun. You know, the sun's my favorite planet. Always has been. It's like the king of all planets. The rosters of the two teams had a few interesting additions. Actor boy Tim Robbins was allowed to skate with the NHL Heroes because, well, he's like famous and stuff. Meanwhile, the Sunbelt squad boasted US Olympic gold-medal winner Cammi Granato and LCS Hockey hero Johnny Cullen, who also just happens to be the idol of millions from eight to eighty. Needless to say, we here at LCS were greatly anticipating the chance to watch Cullen work his magic. That's why it was so disheartening when ESPN did its best to completely ignore Johnny whenever he was on the ice. You think they'd go out of their way to showcase him since he's kind of been a great story and all, but I guess that would have made too much sense. Oh well. With Cullen a non-factor, the only point of interest was a personal blood feud between Granato and Pang. The diminutive netminder started between the pipes for the NHL Heroes, which naturally calls into question the very definition of the term "hero." Pang made a number of impressive saves at the start of the contest, including stopping Granato on a pair of penalty shots, before Tony's little sister finally had enough and drilled a slap shot behind him on the stick-side to put Sunbelt in front 1-0. The rest of the game was the usual Heroes fair. While there was some well-preserved skill on display, it was overshadowed by the lame comedic shtick that has become standard during such games. In the end, the teams skated to a 2-2 tie, with Marcel Dionne, Ken Linseman, and Gordie Howe providing the rest of the offense. Howe's goal was a bit questionable, but who cares? He's Gordie Howe, damn it! Once the Heroes split, the current day All-Stars emerged to make it fun. The first event of the Skills Competition was the always popular Puck Control Relay, which forces the players through a maze of cones like an LCS staffer searching for the open bar at a charity banquet. The rules of the relay were altered somewhat this year. Not only was the course structure slightly changed, both in length and cone placement, but the second participant of the tree-man teams had to be a defenseman and the designated blueliner was required to skate backwards to center red on his way down to pick up the puck. Hey, they're just trying to keep it fresh. North America was represented by Tony Amonte, Rob Blake, and Mark Recchi. Peter Forsberg, Teppo Numminen, and Teemu Selanne did the honors for the World. It didn't look good for North America when Amonte fell on the first leg of the race. But the Chicago speedster recovered enough to keep things close, allowing Mark Recchi to shock the World by edging Selanne for the win in a true photo finish. Paul Kariya then smoked Pavol Demitra in a one-on- one battle to earn the North Americans another point, giving them a 2-0 lead after one event. The World rebounded to knot the overall score with a dominating performance in the Fastest Skater competition. The times were up from years past, which could be attributed to the fact that guys skated one at a time, as opposed to racing a member of the opposition. Peter Bondra claimed the top prize with a time of 14.64, despite a slight stumble near the finish. While Bondra was a definite favorite, my money was on Amonte. Unfortunately, good ol' number 10's massive mane of hair slowed him considerably. It also made him resemble Stuttering John. That's never a good thing. Aside from Bondra's victory, the World also got a second point for having the fastest average speed. Here are the complete results: North America Player Time Darryl Sydor 15.35 Theo Fleury 15.47 (wiped out in the corner) Tony Amonte 14.71 World Alexei Zhitnik 14.69 Marco Sturm 14.65 Peter Bondra 14.64 North America rallied to reclaim its two-point cushion in the standings with a commanding effort in the Hardest Shot. Al MacInnis was the last to shoot and blasted his way to his third consecutive title, and fifth overall (1991, 1992, 1997, 1998), with a drive of 98.5 mph. The North Americans also held a significant advantage in average shot speed, 94.0 to 91.2. North America Player 1st Shot 2nd Shot John LeClair 96.2 98.3 Rob Blake missed net 91.4 Mike Modano 91.0 96.2 Al MacInnis 98.5 95.5 World Alexei Yashin 91.8 89.0 Roman Hamrlik 92.9 93.2 Nicklas Lidstrom 91.2 94.0 Bobby Holik 88.5 93.4 The fourth event of the night was a new one, Goalie Goals. Each netminder corralled a puck behind his cage and then tried to fire a shot over a small barrier to the open net at the other end of the rink. The concept itself isn't too bad, but the presentation was brutal. For some unknown reason, a member of the goaltender's team had to dump the puck down the boards to kick things off. Wouldn't it had made more sense to have a member of the opposition dump the puck hard and then forecheck? At least that would have added an element of excitement. As it was, there was no time limit to shoot so the actual process of passing the puck to the goaltender behind the net served no purpose whatsoever. North America was the odds-on favorite to win since Martin Brodeur is the second best puckhandler among NHL goaltenders, behind only Pittsburgh's Tom Barrasso. But surprisingly, neither Brodeur, Ed Belfour, or Ron Tugnutt were able to score. Belfour came the closest, sending a shot through the crease and just wide of the right post. Arturs Irbe did the unthinkable and rang the right post with both of his shots. Post like wall. Chomp, Chomp, Chomp. Post like wall. Nikolai Khabibulin also grazed the right pipe on one of his two efforts. Dominik Hasek proved to be the only sniper among the lot, splitting the posts with his second shot for the contest's lone goal. Hasek's cause was aided by a severely, if not illegally, curved blade. Upon seeing the sculpted hook, Khabibulin said, "That is nasty." Which, oddly enough, is the same response I often get when people see my broken thumb. Well, actually the most often heard remark is "Jesus Christ!", but I really don't think it looks anything like him. Hasek's win pulled the World into one point of the North Americans in the overall standings at 4-3. Following the Goalie Goals, Johnny Cullen and Paul Stewart came out to center ice to address the crowd. They both gave thanks for the support they received in their successful battles with cancer. They also announced that the NHL's Hockey Fights Cancer campaign has already raised $900,000 in just two months. It was a nice scene. The Skills Competition resumed with the Rapid Fire. This event was also revamped this year, and for the better. Instead of making the goaltender a sitting duck in the cross hairs of two shooters firing a total of 10 shots, this time it was a one-on- one confrontation. Five pucks were placed at strategic points around the hash marks. The shooter had 12 seconds to skate in from the blue line and fire as many shots as possible. They could slap, wrist, or even walk the puck to the net. Rebounds were also in play. Mats Sundin was the first to shoot and started things in style, swooping in and burying his first shot over Belfour's glove. The Eagle rebounded, though, and shut down the Big Swede the rest of the way. Alexei Yashin took notes and found room over Belfour's glove for his lone goal, as well. Irbe did Belfour one better, posting nine saves. The little Latvian shut out Theo Fleury completely, yielding his only goal to a Wendel Clark wrister stick-side. No disgrace in that. Clark can still shoot a puck. Tugnutt had a tough time of it. He did, however, have an excuse. See, he's Ron Tugnutt. Aw, I tease in fun. Markus Naslund and Sergei Krivokrasov each beat the Tugger twice. Naslund scored with a backhand deke and a wrister five-hole, Krivo with a backhander that caught post and Tugnutt's wallet before going in and then a nifty forehand move. Khabibulin posted eight saves against Amonte and LeClair. Khabby blanked Chicago's answer to Samson, but was burnt twice by LeClair over the blocker. Brodeur matched Irbe's nine-save showing with the most spectacular display of goaltending in recent memory. It didn't look good for El Diablo's puckstopper when he drew Jaromir Jagr and Teemu Selanne, but Brodeur came through like a champ. Jagr tried to wrist his first shot five-hole and was denied. He picked up the second puck at the edge of the left wing circle, drew Brodeur to the ice, and pulled the puck to his backhand for an easy goal. At least in theory. Brodeur, flat on the ice, reached out with his catcher and snagged the sure goal. Jagr didn't hesitate in racing to the edge of the right circle to fire a turning wrist shot. Brodeur, still in the process of getting to his skates, stayed down in a complete split and robbed him for a second consecutive time with a miraculous glove save. Jagr deserves credit for keeping his head up. A lesser man might have quit right there. But the Czech Wonder Kid persevered and beat Brodeur with a lethal backhand deke on his fourth shot. Brodeur gave him a playful slash as reward. Jagr then hit the right post with his fifth and final chance. Brodeur wasn't done. He still had to contend with the Finnish Flash. Selanne began with a forehand deke, but Brodeur responded with yet another spectacular, sprawling glove save. Teemu then tried to stuff the rebound home only to have Brodeur get it with his stick. Selanne's next two shots both sailed high glove side. Brodeur closed the door with a desperation pokecheck to silence the Anaheim superstar on all five of his shots. This was one occasion when Hasek was unable to show up Brodeur. The Dominator gave up one goal apiece to Eric Lindros and Keith Tkachuk. Lindros potted a rebound five-hole, while Tkachuk deked forehand and put a shot off Hasek's right pad that kicked up under the crossbar. The World team won the Rapid Fire by making 25 total saves compared to North America's 23. The overall standings were once again tied, 4-4. Shooting Accuracy was a North American affair. All four North American shooter, Tkachuk, Brendan Shanahan, Jeremy Roenick, and Ray Bourque, hit four targets. Tkachuk, Roenick, and Bourque tied for the best individual mark, hitting all four targets on just six shots. Although, Tkachuk did seem to cheat a little, continually inching forward with each passing shot. I don't want to say he was closer than everyone else, but two of his hits were disallowed for being in the crease. Naslund was the only World shooter to rub out all four foam plates, needing seven shots to turn the trick. Forsberg was three-of-eight and Martin Straka was one-of-eight. But clearly, the highlight of the event, and maybe the night, was Dimitri Khristich's zero-for-eight showing. It looked like Khristich had one too many pre-show cocktails. The guy was strugglin'. Dimitri, have you ever shot a puck before? C'mon, dude, you're an All-Star! The Boston winger was goin' with the wrong-footed wrister, popularized by the likes of Mark Messier, Mark Recchi, Joe Sakic, and myself. The shot's all about leverage and snapping the wrists. Yet Dimitri was standing up straight and trying to push the puck. The ones that didn't miss the net entirely dribbled along the ice to dead center. It was some funny, funny stuff. Maybe he needed Jason Allison and Sergei Samsonov on the ice with him for moral support? Or maybe he needed a few more pre-show cocktails? I usually go with six... or until I start making drunken phone calls to Bea Arthur, whichever comes first. North America earned two points in the standings, one for hitting the most targets and one for having the best individual mark, to take a 6-4 lead in the overall competition. The final event of the night was the Breakaway Relay. It would be really cool if ESPN took its time and showed replays of the better goals and saves, but that's what VCRs are for. Anyway, six shooters per goaltender with one point awarded for each goal scored. This always decides things. Belfour led off in net for North America. After stopping Roman Hamrlik and Numminen, Eddie got beat four consecutive times by Holik, Demitra, Naslund, and Sundin. Holik wristed a shot five- hole, Demitra and Naslund went with backhand dekes, and Sundin demonstrated excellent short-term memory by piping another shot over Belfour's glove. Irbe was solid for the World, stopping five of six. Archie easily snuffed Larry Murphy's wrist shot with his pads, poked away Luc Robitaille's backhand bid, and knocked down a Clark wrister with his glove before losing his goalie stick in the Lightning winger's skates. That meant he had to face Tkachuk without a stick. No problem. Tkachuk ain't that bright and decided to test him low glove side. Irbe got it with his left skate. Recchi also failed to exploit the stick side, pulling the puck to the backhand and roofing a shot over the lunging Latvian. Hasek came to the rescue and handed Irbe a stick before Wayne Gretzky took the group's final shot. Wayne tried to go with the element of surprise and flip a quick wrister glove side, but Irbe was all over it. Tugnutt was North America's second goaltender and did only slightly better than Belfour, giving up three goals. Sergei Zubov was first out of the gate and used Tugnutt with a backhand move. Mattias Norstrom attempted a variation of the "Dougie Weight" only to lose the biscuit when he tried to turn it to his forehand. He still deserves bonus points for going with such a high profile move. Good effort, Mattias. Make it fun. Nicky Lidstrom was third and had his forehand move stoned by Tugnutt's right pad. Peter Bondra motored in like a chimp and went forehand, but Tugnutt stretched his right skate back to the post to kick it away. Teammate Alexei Yashin was next up in a battle of turtlenecks. Proving once again that he is the master of the swank sweater, Yashin deked forehand and snapped a shot glove side for the red light. Selanne closed things out by displaying the patience of a true goal scorer. Teemu waited, waited, waited, and then zipped a shot over Tugnutt's glove with a casual grace. Khabibulin was second for the World. Chris Pronger missed high on the first shot before Scott Stevens, Shanahan, and Keith Primeau each beat Khabby stick-side with wrist shots. Let's hear it for scouting reports! LeClair spurned the obvious and decided to try and tuck a forehand deke low at the left post. Khabibulin answered with his right pad. Modano was the last shooter and also wavered from the stick-side solution. Mikey Mo went forehand and tried to slip a quick shot five-hole. No dice. Going into the final pair of netminders, the World had taken an 11-10 lead in the overall competition. It was up to Brodeur to keep things close. Mattias Ohlund drifted to his backhand before turning the puck over for a quick wrist shot, but Brodeur dipped his blocker to the ice and steered the puck wide. Sergei Krivokrasov had more success, deking backhand and barely sliding a shot under the North American goaltender's outstretched left arm. Marco Sturm continued to impress after his strong showing in the Fastest Skater by beating Brodeur forehand five-hole. It was sweet. Marty Straka almost added to the World lead, clanging a wrist shot off the left pipe. Peter Forsberg let me down by just trying to guide a low shot stick-side. Brodeur handled it easily with his blocker. Petey, when you've got a move that has been immortalized on a postage stamp, use it! Jagr was the World's ace. The best breakaway scorer in hockey wrecked Brodeur with a forehand deke, but it still wasn't enough. For the third time on the night, Brodeur absolutely robbed Jagr of what looked to be a sure goal, this time sliding backwards onto his stomach and splitting his pads post to post to deny Jagr with his right leg. The goals by Krivokrasov and Sturm meant that the North Americans needed to beat Hasek three times to force a shootout. Good luck. Jeremy Roenick drove the net hard, slammed on the brakes, and tried to stuff home a forehander, but Hasek was ready with the left pad. Ray Bourque missed wide of the left post. Paul Kariya drew Hasek to the ice and then sent a wrist shot off his blocker and wide. Eric Lindros had his initial five-hole shot denied but he found the rebound on his backhand, pulled it to his forehand, and deposited it just inside the right post for the goal. There was still hope. At least there was until Hasek slid to his left and stacked the pads to quiet Fleury. Game over. Amonte went for the hell of it and broke out a real wizard head fake before having Hasek deny his backhander with a left pad save. Thanks to Hasek's clutch saves, the World team skated away with a 13-11 victory. Arturs Irbe actually took top goaltending honors by making 14 combined saves in the Rapid Fire and Breakaway Relay. In a related story, LCS Hockey held its own Skills Competition this weekend. Events included Worst Speller, Most Grammatical Errors, Fastest Libel Suit, Classic TV Trivia, Work Avoidance, and Indifference to Authority. Once again, I swept everything. Thank you, thank you very much. I do what I can. Which, as always, isn't much. Good night, everybody! -------------------------------------------------------------------- Gretzky Proves He Still Belongs -------------------------------------------------------------------- by Jim Iovino As Wayne Gretzky moved across the ice during the 1999 All-Star Game in Tampa, he definitely looked like a man two days away from his 38th birthday. He was slower than every other player. He was breathing heavier. And his physical stature reminded people more of Mr. Burns instead of Mr. Hockey. But then it would happen. Every now and then, Gretzky's brilliance would flash across the ice. An incredible no- look pass here, a perfectly placed slap shot there...the Gretzky of old returned to shine one more time on the national stage. The 1999 All-Star Game could have been Gretzky's last. If it was, he made sure he went out in style by scoring a goal, assisting on two others, and winning the MVP award for the third time in his illustrious career. His slapper past goalie Arturs Irbe was vintage Gretzky. He broke in down the right wing, and while in mid-stride wound up for a blast that sneaked under Irbe's left pad and into the net. His two assists were also vintage Gretzky, especially the one on Mark Recchi's goal. Gretzky made a seemingly impossible pass that found its way over a stick, between a defender's legs and to a streaking Recchi at the side of the net. To put it simply, Gretzky was doing things that guys 10 to 15 years younger than him couldn't. That's why Gretzky's called the Great One. That's why he's still in the league after all these years. After the game Gretzky commented on his ability to hang with the new-age players in the league and the next generation who are supposed to one day take the torch from him instead of all of the players that he faced in the early years of his career. "I don't think there's much of a difference for me because the excitement that I still have is the same today as it was in 1980 when I played my first game in Detroit," he said. "The difference now is when I look over and see No. 9, it's Paul Kariya. When I looked over and saw No. 9 earlier, it was Gordie Howe. But I still have the same amount of respect for a guy like Paul Kariya who is a wonderful player. I've gone from being this young guy looking up to old guys from this older guy looking up to younger guys. "I have the same energy and the same feeling on the bench today as I did in 1980. It hasn't changed." That energy really showed through in the All-Star Game. There was a little extra jump in his stride when he skated on a line with Recchi and Theo Fleury. For Gretzky, playing on a line with two hard-working, unselfish players was an easy task. Fleury and Gretzky clicked from their first shift on. Often, the two would get so caught up in making tape-to-tape passes to each other they forgot to shoot the puck. But with this being an exhibition game, the two really didn't seem to care. They were just out there having fun and enjoying the moment. And what could be better than finishing off a fun weekend of hockey in Florida than by winning a new car? Sure, Gretzky's won numerous cars and other awards in his career, but he's never been able to keep one for himself. He's either given them to friends, family, or former teammates like Dave Semenko in Edmonton. Would Gretzky give the new Dodge Durango away this time? Not a chance. "You know, in my career I played 20 years and I have gone through winning awards, cars ... I don't know the exact number I've been fortunate enough to win," he said. "I've never kept one car. And I'm going to keep this one. It's like a memento to me. I want to keep it, I want to have it. It's kind of like a trophy to me." Hmmm...so he's keeping this car as a memento? Does that give fans a hint of an imminent retirement? "Oh, I have no idea," he said. "At the end of the year I'll sit down and decide what I'm going to do. I'm sure things will leak out before that time. But I haven't even thought about yes or no at this point." Retirement or not, Gretzky proved during the 1999 All-Star Game that he can still play at a high level in this league. The players might be getting younger. He might be slowing down a bit, but that doesn't me he can't school those young whippersnappers trying to take his crown as the game's best. "I would say I'm more proud today than I was when I was 20," Gretzky said. "I was really excited (to play in an All- Star Game at the age of 19 and 20, but there's something special about being two days from 38 and playing with the players that we have today. "The players today are better than they were 20 years ago. I don't care what anybody says. That's not to be disrespectful, because in 10 years the players are going to be better than they are today. Our game is just growing and getting better all the time. So I'm very proud of the way I am today." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Burke Butchers Bure Deal, Keenan's Firing --------------------------------------------------------------------- by Jeff Dubois I can now state with complete and total honesty that I love Brian Burke. Not in the way I loved Cliff Ronning, but in a professional, businesslike way. In the past two weeks, Brian Burke has given me hope that I may one day manage a big league hockey club. For half a season I have been writing about how great the Canucks would be after Mike Keenan got his hands on a team that included those acquired in a Pavel Bure deal. That legacy lasted two games. Well, I guess I might not be the most insightful hockey writer around (it's tough at a top notch media outlet as LCS Hockey), but I now feel 100 percent competent at running an NHL team. If Burke can do it, so can I, and you can too! We'll discuss the circumstances regarding Brian Burke's eight-day brain cramp, but first, the cold, hard facts: On January 17th, the Vancouver Canucks finally struck a deal for Pavel Bure with the Florida Panthers. The Canucks also gave up Bret Hedican, Brad Ference and a third-round pick for Ed Jovanovski, Dave Gagner, Kevin Weekes, Mike Brown and a first-round selection in either 1999 or 2000. On January 24th, the Vancouver Canucks fired coach Mike Keenan after only 436 days with the organization, during which time he made 10 trades involving 17 players and seven draft picks, and lost too many games behind the bench. Brian Burke subsequently announced the hiring of former Avalanche boss Marc Crawford. And now my opinion, most of which is not even factually based: The Pavel Bure trade will not be able to be analyzed completely for many years to come, but the short-term outlook is not impressive. First glimpse at the trade reveals that the Canucks gave a top-notch scorer in his prime and received only Dave Gagner to chip in offensively. Ed Jovanovski, I believe, will still one day be a top-notch NHL defenceman, and Weekes, Brown and the pick could one day play for the team, but Dave Gagner, are you kidding me? Now Davey may be a fabulous person, he may even set up a few goals this year, but the man is 34 years old. This leaves the Canucks with a combined 105 years of age between their top three pivots (Messier, Gagner, Zezel). The point that makes me doubt Burke's sanity is that he said he demanded Gagner be included in the deal. Demanded. I'll bet the discussion he had with Bryan Murray went something like this: "Bryan, I'm demanding that Dave Gagner be included in this deal." "But Burkie, he's 34 years old, I could count his goals on one hand, he's been in the press-box for most of the last two weeks and we're paying him over $3 million a year! Do you really expect me to give him up?" "If this deal is going to happen, he's got to be in there!" "Fine Burkie, you twisted my arm." Just a few days after the Bure trade, Craig Janney was traded by the Lightning to the Islanders for a sixth-round draft pick. Similar size, similar style, similar age. I'm sure that Tampa was desperately seeking a sixth-round pick, and to their dismay, Mike Milbury demanded Craig Janney in return. I just can't get past the fact that the Canucks were not able to secure a young forward in this deal. Florida has a wealth of young talent up front. Alphabetically, the list goes: Dvorak, Kozlov, Kvasha, Niedermayer, Parrish. Any one of these players could not only have helped this year, but for many years to come. Common sense tells me that Dave Gagner will be in a wheelchair by the time the Canucks make a run at the Stanley Cup. He may even be dead. While the Bure trade works itself out over the next few years, we can talk about the super job that Brian Burke did with Mike Keenan. I don't mean super in the great, outstanding sense, but rather in the un-professional, mind-blowingly inane way that Orca Bay (the Canucks parent company) conducts all of their business. First word of the firing came in Saturday's Vancouver Sun, which stated that Keenan had coached his last Canuck game. It also indicated that the Canucks would hire Marc Crawford as his replacement. It is fully possible that the Vancouver Sun has found a psychic line that really works, but the more likely scenario is that there was a corporate leak! Upon the publication of this story, Burke was in Tampa Bay for the All-Star Game. Instead of admitting that he had been found out, he "no comment"ed his way onto a plane and flew back to Vancouver with...Marc Crawford. Now is that a freaky coincidence or what? In the process, Burke left Keenan blowing in the wind for 24 hours, unaware of his status. I'll be the first to admit that Keenan is no saint when it comes to player relations, but Burke's actions made not only himself, but also the organization look bad. The hope in bringing Brian Burke back was that he could restore some respect and stability to the club. He has done neither. His handling of the Bure trade made many question his skills as a trader, and the Keenan saga has made those same people wonder if he has the leadership skills to keep a team out of embarrassing waters. It will take a while to make a concrete decision on his competency, but in the meantime, I'll be polishing up my resume, because Brian Burke's story has made me dare to dream again! --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1998 LCS Hockey Mid-season Awards --------------------------------------------------------------------- by Jim Iovino The All-Star break has come and gone, so it's time to look back at the first half of the 1998-99 season and hand out some mid-season awards. Since we had some money left over from the last LCS Hockey car wash, we decided to put the cash to good use and buy some swell trophies. But a funny thing happened on the way to the trophy store. We were enticed by the evil mini-skirted waitresses at Dino's Sports Bar in Latrobe, Pa., to blow all our cash and get ripped. Since we lost all our money, and Zippy picked up a nice welt above his left eye from one of the aforementioned waitresses, we couldn't buy new trophies. Feeling as if we let the players down, I decided to dig out my old Little League baseball trophies, tear off the name plates and etch in the names of this year's winners. So on with the show... Best Forward John LeClair, Philadelphia Flyers. LeClair leads the league in goals scored at the halfway point of the season with 27. At this pace, LeClair will easily eclipse his career-high of 51 goals. LeClair's shot is the heaviest in hockey, and he can unleash it from anywhere with deadly accuracy. Recently, Barry Melrose of ESPN fame was asked who the top American forward in the NHL was. Melrose said Keith Tkachuk. We at LCS Hockey would beg to differ. Tkachuk's nice and all, but we'd take LeClair. Besides his hard, accurate shot, he can also pass, plays well defensively, and will never miss a shift. LeClair hasn't missed a regular season game since the strike-shortened 1994-95 season. Tkachuk, on the other hand, has missed time due to injury. He's also missed a lot of time due to contract disputes that involved lots of whining and bitching. LeClair never whines, bitches or complains. He's just a complete player who anyone would love to have on their team. Honorable Mention - Eric Lindros, Philadelphia; Paul Kariya, Anaheim. Best Defenseman Chris Pronger, St. Louis Blues. Pronger plays over 30 minutes a game. And he plays each of those minutes the same way: aggressive, tough, and in charge. Formerly a whipping boy in St. Louis due to Mike Keenan's trade of the highly popular Brendan Shanahan, Pronger has turned into the best defenseman in the league. He won LCS Hockey's Best Defenseman Award last season, and is on pace to do it again this year. Pronger doesn't score a lot of points, but his game is more than scoring. He's a rock in his own end. He can hit like a truck. And his outlet passing out of his own end is superb. Add to that a meanness level lacking from most of the league these days, and Pronger is a complete defenseman. Offensively, Pronger is a little better than average, but he's shown signs of breaking through several times this season. He's already had a couple multiple-goal games this season and should break his own career high of 11 set two seasons ago. Honorable Mention - Al MacInnis, St. Louis; Darryl Sydor, Dallas; Rob Blake, Los Angeles. Best Goaltender Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres. What else can you say about The Dominator? How about this: The guy's just nuts. Hasek has been known to ask his teammates to shoot at his head at practice so he can see what it feels like to make a save with his helmet. But when Hasek does things like that, he's trying to advance the art of goaltending past its present form. Already he's served as a role model to young goaltenders everywhere. He shows them it's ok to break free from their rigid styles, either butterfly or standup, and just do what you have to to make a save. Hasek's unpredictability in net makes it nearly impossible to score on him. His unpredictability also makes him fun to watch. Speaking of watching Hasek, did you see his guest appearance on Arliss on HBO? That was swell. Hasek, playing himself, got ripped in a German bar while Arliss Michaels slept with Katarina Witt. Honorable Mention -- John Vanbiesbrouck, Philadelphia. Best Coach Barry Trotz, Nashville Predators. Barry Trotz is to the Nashville Predators what Bret Michaels is...aw, screw it. That damn catch phrase is getting older quicker than Wayne Gretzky. Trotz has done a remarkable job in Nashville, guiding the expansion team to a 16-25-4 record through the All-Star break. But perhaps the biggest accomplishment has been guiding the Buck-toothed Pussy to a better record than the Original Six Chicago Blackhawks. That can't be making people in Chi-town very happy. All cowboys and cowgirls in Nashville are ecstatic, however. They've been doing the boot-scoot boogie while the likes of Sergei Krivokrasov and Cliffie Ronning are beating the defending Stanley Cup champs, the Detroit Red Wings, and other top-notch clubs. Yee-haw! Honorable Mention - Pat Quinn, Toronto Maple Leafs. Best Trade Florida Panthers. The best deal so far this season had to have been Bryan Murray and the Panthers practically stealing Pavel Bure from the Vancouver Canucks. Sure, the Panthers still have to sign him to a long-term deal, but so far the results have been great. Bure has scored three goals in two games. This trade was also impressive because the Panthers didn't have to give up one ounce of their team's nucleus to get the Russian Rocket. Ed Jovanovski was struggling for more than a year in Florida, so he was bound to be headed elsewhere. Dave Gagner is on his last leg in the league. And Kevin Weekes was holding out, so he wasn't even in the team's plans. The Panthers didn't have to give up anyone like Robert Svehla, Viktor Kozlov or Radek Dvorak in the deal, so they pretty much stole Bure right from underneath the Canucks. Worst Trade New York Islanders. Mike Milbury recently stepped down as head coach of the New York Islanders but remained the team's GM. After seeing him trade away promising young defenseman Bryan Berard for Felix Potvin, some might be questioning if Milbury kept the right job. Berard could have been the cornerstone of the Islanders franchise for years to come. Potvin might not even be the starter by the end of the season. Milbury might have made this trade to save at least one of his jobs on Long Island. But when all is said and done, he might have started the downfall of a franchise that was one step away from being a contender again. Biggest Surprise Toronto Maple Leafs. Just a year ago the Leafs were the laughing stock of Canada. Their offense was pathetic. Their defense was porous. And their future was about as cheery as that of a drunk on Younge Street. But what a difference a year makes. After switching conferences, the Leafs now find themselves in first place in the Northeast Division with a 27-16-3 record. They own the highest scoring offense in the league, and while they have given up a high number of goals, they have Curtis Joseph between the pipes to make the biggest saves when they are absolutely needed. The turnaround has a lot to do with Joseph, but also a lot to do with the opening up of the Leafs offense. Head coach Pat Quinn has let the horses loose up front to get more creative and try to score more goals. So far, so good. The Leafs have scored 152 goals this year. The next-highest teams are Philadelphia and Detroit with 135 each. That's a big difference. That's also why the Leafs have such a good record. Biggest Disappointment Washington Capitals. After going to the Stanley Cup finals last season, the Caps have failed miserably this year. The team headed into the All-Star break with a 16-23-4 record. That sucks. Peter Bondra isn't scoring goals. The injury list has grown just like it has the past three seasons. And Olaf Kolzig isn't looking much like the Olaf Kolzig we all saw during the playoffs last season. Two words: Ug Ly. Darcy Tucker Award Darcy Tucker, Tampa Bay Lightning. This award seems to be the most highly contested of all the trophies so far this season. But despite strong competition from Tyler Wright, who earned points by taking on Peter Worrell during a game in Pittsburgh earlier this season, Tucker retains the rights to the title. Tucker scored major points for his antics with Darius Kasparaitis earlier this season. He also has earned his keep by scoring 12 goals. Of course, in grand Darcy Tucker style, he's scored most of them by charging the net and running over goaltenders. But that's just Darcy being Darcy. Honorable Mention - Tyler Wright, Pittsburgh Penguins. and last but not least... The Jerry Fairish Award Bernie Nicholls, formerly of the San Jose Sharks. New on the scene is the Jerry Fairish Award, which goes to the player who is No. 9 in your program, but No. 1 in your heart. And what a more fitting tribute could we bestow upon San Jose's No. 9, Broadway Bernie Nicholls, than the immaculate Fairish? Nicholls was forced into retirement after playing in just 10 games this season, but he'll forever be known as one of the coolest players the league has ever seen. He's almost a lock to pick up the first official Fairish Award after the season. Unless, of course, Wayne Gretzky changes his number to 9 and decides to retire at the end of the season... Congratulations, Bernie. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Hockey Players Get Hurt? -------------------------------------------------------------------- by Howard Fienberg Non-contact hockey. It's like kissing your dog... it stinks, and it carries nasty germs. The kind of germs that make you think that this sort of thing is just what youth hockey needs. Dr. William O. Roberts, a Minnesota researcher, called for a ban on intentional contact in ice hockey games below college level. The Associated Press ("More hockey players hurt in tourneys," Jan 17) reported that this was based on the recent release of his study comparing injury rates between tournament and season-long play. So why ban the contact? Because the results of his study show that hockey players have a much higher injury rate - a large proportion of them concussions - during tournament competitions as opposed to seasons. Dr. Roberts even goes so far as to speculate that the heightened intensity and tighter schedule, as well as living away from home, may have been factors in the increased injury rate. I smell Nobel prize for that one. But there is no rationale for his being up on his soapbox over this study. The only thing that he can reasonably claim from it is that we should ban the tournaments. That damned intensity thing. Let's kill spirited competition, it's dangerous. "I have daughters, and I'm kind of glad I don't have to deal with that issue... the game's fine without it in my opinion. There's enough incidental contact to satisfy most people," said Dr. Roberts. By banning bodychecking from hockey, you end up with figure skating. Ok, maybe not, but shinny is not very exciting. The women may not be allowed to check, but, in case nobody has noticed, they continue to check anyhow. Sure, we end up losing stars from concussions for lengthy periods of time. But do you know why that happens most often? Four reasons: they won't tighten their helmets; they won't wear good helmets; they won't wear mouth guards; and they play dirty. Enforcing or encouraging proper equipment usage should be first and foremost on the agenda, not banning essential elements of the sport. Don't emulate Wayne Gretzky's broomball helmet, which provides about as much protection against a collision as a bulletproof vest against a neutron bomb. The need for avoiding having your teeth being knocked out or getting a concussion is much greater than the need to trash talk your opponent. Then comes teaching the kids about safer and cleaner play: Stop checking from behind like a weasel, kids! That could be you in the hospital bed instead of little Jimmy! Darryl Seibel of USA Hockey emphasized this, and disagreed with Dr. Roberts' prognosis. "The conclusion is that body checking in and of itself does not necessarily present a danger at the youth level... there really is not an inordinate injury rate, especially compared with other youth sports." If you don't believe that, why not send your kid out onto the pitch to play rugby. The game is full contact, no protection, and an average of a half an ear is thought to be lost every game (Mike Tyson must have grown up in this sport). Not to mention the incidence of spinal injuries and concussions. But oh, it is sooooo much safer, isn't it. Hockey by Rumor Code phrases: "Rumored to be" or "is said to be" or "trading player A for players C and B makes good sense." The National Post has offered a rumor tally from the Toronto press since the beginning of the season. For the Sun, there were 69 rumors, of which four were right. For the Star, there were 14 rumors, and two were right. The Globe & Mail printed eight rumors, of which one was right. Rumors are good things because they are fun. Which is the only reason to read the vacuous Toronto Sun. -------------------------------------------------------------------- LCS Hockey Names Official Wrestler -------------------------------------------------------------------- by Michael Dell In our relentless quest for world domination, LCS Hockey is constantly searching for new and innovative ideas to spread the good word. One way we do this is by welcoming "Official" members into the LCS Family. Two years ago, we named Whitman "Grady" Mayo of "Sanford and Son" fame as our Official Classic TV Spokesperson. Then this past season, "Mr. Show with Bob and David" became the Official TV Show of LCS Hockey. It is now time for the grand tradition to continue. It gives us great pride to announce Chris Jericho as the Official Wrestler of LCS Hockey! Yes, that's right, the master of 1,0004 moves is in our corner. Do you think The Hockey News has an Official Wrestler? You know what? I don't think they do. Why? Because they're stupid. But even if they did, our Official Wrestler could beat up their Official Wrestler. A true hockey fan, Jericho is the son of former NHLer Ted Irvine, who played in the big show from 1967-77 with the Kings, Rangers, and Blues. If he wasn't in the ring busting heads, the "Lion Heart" would probably be on the ice ringing up goals. Born in New York City while his dad was playing for the Blueshirts, Jericho was raised in Winnipeg and calls Calgary home. It was during his formative years in Canada that the youngster came to appreciate the sport of professional wrestling. At the age of 19, Jericho enrolled in the famous Hart Brothers Wrestling School to train under the tutelage of the legendary Stu Hart. Jericho made his professional wrestling debut on October 2, 1990. After gaining his initial experience working the independent Canadian circuit, he then moved on to Mexico, Germany, and several highly successful tours of Japan. In February of 1996, Jericho came to North American prominence with his first appearance in the hardcore world of Extreme Championship Wrestling. It wasn't long before our hero had the ECW Television strap around his waist. He's just that good. From there it was on to his current employer, World Championship Wrestling. During his two plus years with WCW, Jericho has held the Cruiserweight belt an unprecedented five times and most recently owned the WCW TV Title before it was stolen from him by the powers that be. Just another example of the man trying to keep him down. His run-ins with the establishment and his overall winning personality makes Jericho the perfect fit for LCS Hockey. As our Official Wrestler, Jericho will continue to embody all the qualities that have made LCS Hockey what it is today, namely hard work, enviable talent, and the willingness to slap people silly. "Being a hockey player and fan, it's an honor to be the official wrestler of such a prestigious site," declared Jericho. "Maybe someday I can parlay this into a real high-paying gig... the offiicial wrestler for espn.com!" LCS Hockey, like the millions of other Jericoholics world wide, will be with Jericho every step of the way in his quest to recapture gold. When he steps through those ropes, we'll be there. When he's in the ring fighting for his life, we'll be there. And when we end up in the drunk tank, hopefully he'll pick up the phone. Thanks to Chris Jericho, LCS Hockey has put the entire hockey reportin' business in one big ol' Lion Tamer. You can almost hear the competition tapping out now. Be sure to visit Chris Jericho's Official Website at www.chrisjericho.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ AHL News ------------------------------------------------------------------ by Tricia McMillan Player of the Week (Jan. 10): Showing up for training camp out of shape will not impress your coach. Six goals in three games will. Hershey's Christian Matte was booted out of Avalanche camp but made up for it in spades lately, with a six- game goal-scoring streak and his first hat trick of the season against Portland. Matte had seven points total to win the POTW. Matte had 13 points in his first nine games back with the Bears after another demotion from Colorado. Player of the Week (Jan. 17): He's starting the All-Star Game, but first he takes care of regular season business. Does he ever. Rochester's Martin Biron had a sparkling week in net for the Amerks to acquire some hardware a week early. Biron won all three games he started, with a 1.00 GAA and a .968 save percentage as he stopped 91 of 94 shots sent his way. He also posted his league-leading fifth shutout of the season and tenth of his career, tying him on the franchise record list with Gerry Cheevers. Biron is also leading the AHL in GAA, wins and shutouts, and is second in minutes, saves and save percentage. Fast Track: Seems like it was just a few months ago that Bill Stewart took Saint John to the Calder Cup finals, and now he's the Islanders head coach. Actually it was just a few months ago, before the Islanders signed away Stewart to be an assistant on Long Island. And a good choice for head coach too, not the least because the Islanders had to fork over a draft pick to Calgary for plundering their farm coach. Should've Known Better: Albany coach John Cunniff faces criminal misdemeanor charges of criminal mischief and trespassing in an Albany court after a Jan. 7 incident at a neighbor's house. Cunniff and the neighbor apparently were having a dispute regarding Cunniff's girlfriend, which resulted in Cunniff showing up at the neighbor's house late at night and breaking the door. Neither Cunniff nor the Rats have commented on the matter. New Heavyweight Champion: Springfield's Rob Murray etched his name in the AHL record books - he is now the career penalty minutes champ of the AHL. Fred Glover's 30-year-old record of 2,402 PiMs fell as Murray's penalty minute total rose to 2,403. Of course, it took Glover 1,201 games to pick up his number. Murray needed 686 games. He's a baaaad boy. By the way, Geordie Kinnear passed the 1,000 PiM mark last week too. Maybe he can catch up. Cost of Living: Attendance figures through Jan. 21, plus ticket costs at each arena (thanks to the Lexington Herald for supplying the info.) Team Total Games Average Philadelphia 275,569 25 11,022 Rochester 164,206 21 7,819 Hartford 149,161 21 7,102 Providence 124,337 19 6,544 Kentucky 146,764 24 6,115 Hershey 133,992 23 5,825 Worcester 122,885 23 5,342 Syracuse 114,546 22 5,206 Albany 62,572 13 4,813 Springfield 96,500 21 4,595 Saint John 105,091 24 4,378 Hamilton 93,028 22 4,228 Portland 94,999 23 4,130 New Haven 84,974 21 4,046 Cincinnati 80,333 21 3,825 Adirondack 78,971 22 3,589 Lowell 65,354 20 3,267 St. John's 74,246 24 3,093 Fredericton 69,958 23 3,041 League 2,137,486 412 5,188 Team Ticket prices Adirondack $11.50 Albany $14, $8 Cincinnati $14, $11, $9, $5 Fredericton $12.50, $8 Hamilton $14, $10, $7 Hartford $17.50, $14.50, $12.50 Hershey $16, $15, $13, $10 Kentucky $25, $17, $14, $12, $10 Lowell $35, $11 New Haven $14, $12, $7 Philadelphia $15, $14, $11 Portland $13, $11, $9, $7, $5 Providence $11, $7 Rochester $15, $12.50, $9 Saint John $16.50, $14.40, $13, $12 Springfield $12, $9.50, $7 St. John's $16.50, $9 Syracuse $13.50, $11.50, $9.50 Worcester $13.50, $11.50, $8.50 Little Things:St. John's Jeff Reese turned in a 31-save shutout for the Leafs against Portland Jan. 12, as Lonny Bohonos racked up three points... Aaron Downey scored two goals for Providence and Andre Savage had three points as well in a Jan. 12 game their coach still won't like - the Bruins had a 6-0 lead on Springfield after two periods, but allowed the Falcons four third-period goals... That was Providence's tenth straight win, a season high in the AHL this year... The Amerks squeaked out a division lead battle with Hamilton Jan. 12 after Matt Davidson broke a tie late in the game... The Hartford WolfPack went eight days without a game, then played six in nine days... The rookie rules. New Haven's Shane Willis is now the AHL scoring leader... Providence hasn't lost at home since October 17. That's 14 games... The Ottawa Senators recalled Ivan Ciernik and Erich Goldmann from loan to Adirondack and Hershey, respectively, and reassigned both to Cincinnati... Jason Podollan and Lonny Bohonos had four points each for St. John's in its 5-4 win over Portland Jan. 14. Podollan tied Jeff Williams for the AHL goalscoring lead too, with 24... Cincinnati's Tom Askey has two shutouts this season, and the Hershey Bears have been shut out twice. Guess what? Same games. Askey stopped 28 shots to blank the Bears 1-0 Jan. 14, with the only goal coming from Rastislav Pavlikovsky, who joined Cincinnati that day from the crosstown Cyclones... Not only did Saint John finally win a game, they beat the division leader. The Flames ended a seven game losing streak Jan. 14 against Lowell as Eric Landry scored the game-winner in overtime for a 3-2 win... How bad were the Flames? Ronald Petrovicky's late first period goal against Lowell Jan. 14 was Saint John's first lead in 459 minutes, 34 seconds... Craig Mills bagged a pair as Portland won for the first time in six games, topping off Fredericton 4-2 on Jan. 15. It was the first time this season the Pirates won a game on a Friday... Dennis Bonvie, of all people, scoring the game-tying goal for the Phantoms against St. John's Jan. 15. The game stayed tied, 3-3... Kevin Hodson was sent to Adirondack for work and he got some against Albany, stopping 44 of 45 shots Jan. 15. Dave Paradise scored the game-winner for the Wings... Kentucky lost their fourth straight after winning ten straight, this time dropping to New Haven 3-2 Jan. 15 on a game-winner from Jaroslav Spacek... The T-Blades also lost enforcer Garrett Burnett for the rest of the season with a torn patellar tendon. Burnett was the second player the team lost to a knee injury, after a torn ACL finished Christian Gosselin... The Providence Bruins won their 11th straight game, the best streak this season, as Mattias Timander scored his first goal of the year for a 3-2 win over Springfield Jan. 15... All-Star Lubos Bartecko was returned to Worcester just in time for two goals and an assist against Hartford Jan. 15. Bartecko lost a hat trick to the crossbar as the IceCats won, 4-1... The Jan. 15 game between Lowell and Saint John was called off due to the weather. It hasn't been rescheduled yet... But Saint John didn't need that game to get a second win. They did it Jan. 16 at Fredericton, winning 2-1 with both goals coming from Chris O'Sullivan. Martin St. Louis set up both goals and Igor Karpenko stopped 39 shots... St. John's lost for the first time in five games, to Hershey 3-2 on Jan. 16. Ville Nieminen two goals to include the game- winner... Sergei Vyshedkevich had two goals and Jiri Bicek set up three as Albany set down rival Adirondack 5-2 Jan. 16... Kentucky ended a four game losing streak with a 2-2 tie with Hamilton. Dan Lacouture scored both goals for Hamilton... The Amerks knocked over Syracuse 5-1 Jan. 16, with Jason Holland scoring his first goal since being traded by the Islanders last March... The largest crowd of the season in Hartford saw the WolfPack and the Phantoms enter the third period tied at 2. Then they saw Hartford go nuts on Philly, scoring four goals for the 6-2 win. All-Star Johan Witehall had a three-point night... The Providence Bruins' 11-game winning streak ended but their unbeaten streak continues after a 2-2 tie with Worcester Jan. 16. Cameron Mann scored both for Providence... It was the second time in a week the struggling IceCats ended a double digit win streak. Worcester ended Kentucky's ten-game streak just days earlier... The IceCats then proceeded to go wild on Hartford the next day, taking a 2-2 tie into the third and then scoring three unanswered goals for the 5-2 win that was the exact opposite of Hartford's game the night before... Kentucky, meanwhile, completed the reversal of their losing streak with a 6-1 thumping of Hamilton Jan. 17. Steve Guolla and Herbert Vasiljevs had five points each... The Phantoms, fresh off giving Hartford four unanswered goals, gave four more to St. John's the next day before staging a pair of comebacks to tie the game at 4 and then at 5 before allowing the game-winning goal to Ladislav Kohn with 52 seconds remaining in overtime. It was Kohn's fifth point, while Jason Podollan and Lonny Bohonos had three each... Martin Biron got his fifth shutout of the season against Syracuse Jan. 17 with 23 saves as the Amerks won 5-0. Domenic Pittis scored two goals... Providence kicked their unbeaten streak to a lucky 13 on Jan. 18 with a 6-2 win over Lowell, powered by two goal games from Randy Robitaille and Marquis Mathieu... New Haven's four game win streak and six game unbeaten streak ended the same day when Springfield pulled off their patented third period comeback for a 4-2 win... Hartford, Worcester and Albany all posted season highs in attendance on the weekend of Jan. 15-17, with 11,085, 11,972 and 9,036 respectively... The Beast of New Haven are the lone team with two 20 goal scorers - Shane Willis and Scott Levins... Providence is on pace to score over 300 goals this season... The St. John's Maple Leafs got their offense in gear, with a 12 point week from Lonny Bohonos and a ten point week from Jason Podollan, neither of whom received the POTW... The Phantoms are on pace to break the AHL record for shorthanded goals in a season. They have 16; the record is 26, set by St. Catharines in 1985-86 Adirondack's Dave Paradise ran up an eight-game point streak... Albany's Steve Brule set a franchise record with a 15 game point streak, a streak that was ended by Adirondack... Hershey's Marc Denis posted his second shutout of the season and Rob Shearer had three points as the Bears trounced St. John's 5-0 on Jan. 20... That goose-egg was the first time this season the baby Leafs were involved on either end of a shutout. The only AHL team yet to appear on one side of a zero or the other is Hartford... Jason Elliott hasn't played much lately, but still stopped 45 shots for the Red Wings in their 3-1 over Springfield Jan. 20. Darryl Laplante had a pair of goals... Fredericton picked a 1-0 shutout against Lowell Jan. 20, with Martin Gendron scoring the only goal and Jose Theodore stopping 25 shots... Worcester set a franchise record for fewest shots in a game, recording only 14 against Hartford in a 4-1 loss Jan. 20... The Mighty Ducks took care of Syracuse Jan. 20, getting a 3-1 win after Chris Albert scored two goals... Eric Veilleux had two goals and two assists against Syracuse Jan. 21 as the T-Blades went on to win 5-1. Jarrod Skalde also had three points... Hershey knocked off Philadelphia for the second time in a row Jan. 22 as Ville Niemenen scored a pair. The Bears went on to win 5-2... Providence ran their unbeaten streak up to 14 with a 3-2 win over Fredericton Jan.22... Rookie Pierre Dagenais had three points in Albany's 7-2 win over Lowell Jan. 22, but more importantly three Rats scored their first ever AHL goals: Henrik Rehnberg, Josh DeWolf and David Cunniff... Eric Landry and Chris Dingman split the goals as Saint John defeated Hamilton 4-1 Jan. 22... Bobby House and Trevor Letowski had three points each for Springfield in a 5-1 win over Adirondack... Cincinnati's Craig Reichert posted a five-point game against Syracuse Jan. 22, with a goal and four assists en route to a 7-1 win... St. John's knocked off Rochester Jan. 22 when Brad Chartrand scored the gamewinner with just 1:23 remaining in regulation... Shane Willis scored two and set up two as New Haven defeated Portland 4-2 Jan. 22. Byron Ritchie also had three points... The Phantoms had better start watching their rear view mirror, because the Bears are just two points behind them. Hershey swept the home-and-home with Philly Jan. 23, winning 3-1 on Mitch Lamoureux's two goals... Warren Luhning and Craig Charron were both involved in all four Lowell goals as the Monsters defeated Adirondack 4-1 Jan. 23... Springfield also won 4-1 over Portland, as Trevor Letowski scored two goals including one short-handed, and Joe Corvo scored the others... Yet another 4-1 game as Rochester knocked over Albany. Craig Fisher scored two... Mathieu Garon stopped 23 shots for his third shutout of the season Jan. 23 as Fredericton took down Worcester 3-1... It took 11 tries, but it finally happened - New Haven won a game in Hartford. They made it darn interesting too, as Byron Ritchie scored the winning goal with only 57 seconds remaining in regulation. The Beast came away on the good end of 2-1... ------------------------------------------------------------------ AHL All-Star Game Recap ------------------------------------------------------------------ by Tricia McMillan One potato, two potato, three potato, four. Five potato, six potato, seven potato, AHL All-Star hockey. Yes, the 1999 AHL All-Star Game had a remarkable resemblance to a round of hot potato, as no pass went unpicked and the turnovers were rife. Both teams played the first period like the puck was about to explode and nobody wanted to be the guy with it at the time. And when all was said and done, it was a damn good game, requiring overtime and a shootout before PlanetUSA surfaced with a 5-4 win. After last year's run-and-gun roller-coaster ride, the AHL had, uh, suggested a little defensive effort might be in order. And both teams answered the bell, turning in a world of defensive work most notable for picking off nearly every pass attempt this side of the U.S. President. Oh yeah, and Bob Wren's charging up the ice on the rush without a stick and apparently oblivious to that fact. That, and goaltending, was the story of the first period. While Canada had the better of play by a considerable margin, PlanetUSA goalie Jean-Marc Pelletier stood on his head to stop all but one of the 18 high quality, scoring chance shots flung at him. The lone mark against him came from his Phantoms teammate and Canadian captain Peter White. Canada defenseman Dan Boyle carried the puck in and was promptly double-teamed by the PlanetUSA defense, leaving White alone with the puck in front of Pelletier. Pelletier stopped White's first shot; not the second. "I took a shot and got my own rebound and that was it," said White, who was very enthusiastically applauded by his home crowd. And with PlanetUSA sending ten reasonable shots that were handled easily by Martin Biron, Canada emerged with the 1-0 lead. But the second period saw PlanetUSA pick up the pace, and a tremendously lucky goal. Defenseman Francis Bouillion threw the puck from the left corner to the top of the crease hoping a teammate would be there. He didn't need a teammate; Canadian Randy Robitaille tried to knock the puck down and instead directed it five-hole on a very surprised Marc Denis. "Well, those goals, they're not keeping me from sleeping at night," Denis said later. "But that first goal was kind of cheesy." The resulting momentum for PlanetUSA may keep Denis up at night though, if not the news he received immediately after the game that the Avalanche had re-signed Patrick Roy. The suddenly recharged team redoubled their efforts and barely three minutes later took the lead when Landon Wilson sent a pass from behind the net right to Herbert Vasiljev's stick for a roofer. Just two minutes after that, defenseman Jon Coleman unleashed a blast from the right point that PlanetUSA captain Ken Gernander neatly deflected past Denis. Canada, for its part, was credited with only seven shots. That doesn't count the posts and crossbars they hit. Goalie Jim Carey was quite lucky on a few shots, but surprise, surprise, the Net Detective is back, thank you. Carey flashed the form that sent him to the AHL All-Star Game four years ago and kept Canada off the scoreboard, sending the teams off with a 3-1 lead for PlanetUSA. Maybe it was just that end of the ice, but like Biron and Carey before him, Steve Passmore didn't see much rubber. Possibly because the flow of play had turned back in the Canadians' favor and they stormed back. The first step back for Canada came in the same manner as PlanetUSA's booster - an own goal. Jeff Williams flipped the puck to the slot from behind the net, where it struck PlanetUSA defenseman Rich Brennan and immediately reversed course right past goalie Robert Esche. Minutes later Martin St. Louis broke loose on a two-on-one with John Madden, and when defenseman Radoslav Suchy committed, St. Louis flipped the puck right onto the tape of Madden, who didn't miss and tied the game. "If the defenseman gives me the shot, I take the shot," explained St. Louis, more noted for his sniping than his passing. "But I felt John was wide open. The goalie was giving him an open net." A few minutes later the lead was changed. Steve Guolla passed the puck from behind the net to Derek Armstrong, who had camped at the right post. Armstrong slapped it at the goal and Esche handled it like a shortstop with a bad grounder, swatting and grabbing at it with his catching glove before inadvertently knocking it in the net for the go-ahead score. For Armstrong, it was like trying to make a putt fall. "I was kind of wishing it in my head," said Armstrong. "I got a good pass from Guolla and threw it at the net and then knuckled it in with my mind." Unfortunately, Armstrong then had to mind the knuckleheads - the official scorers, apparently blinded by homerism, awarded the goal to Peter White, who wasn't anywhere near the net at the time and announced same to the crowd that was nearly bonkers in admiration for the hometown hero. "Whitey looked over at me, and says 'you're probably going to get booed when they announce your name'," laughed Armstrong, who did indeed hear the boo-birds when the change was made. But now Canada held a 4-3 lead with less than five minutes remaining and PlanetUSA was borderline desperate. Canada frustrated all attempts by PlanetUSA to even enter their zone, until Boris Protsenko carried in the puck only to be tripped by a Canadian player. On his knees but undaunted, Protsenko poked the puck away from another Canadian player and into the reach of Coleman, who had joined the rush. Coleman carried the puck to the left corner and looked for help. "I saw someone in the slot, so I threw it towards the net and one of them whacked it in," described Coleman. "That was actually a great play by [Protsenko], tipping the puck to me, that was the key to the play." There were actually two PlanetUSA players camped by the crease when Coleman's pass arrived and the tip-in honors went to the left post camper, Protsenko's Syracuse teammate Valentin Morozov. And with 1:18 left, we had a tie game. And with 17 seconds remaining in the game, believe it or not, there was a penalty call from referee Mike Leggo. For too many men on the ice. Really. PlanetUSA spent the waning seconds of regulation with Landon Wilson in the box, his second trip of the game although not responsible for this particular one. On to overtime, where Canada charged on Esche but couldn't beat him and likewise for Passmore as the teams suddenly reverted to firewagon offense less success. With the teams still deadlocked after 65 minutes, it was time for a shootout. The shootout was brought to us by the letter 'W'. At least it seemed that way with the first three Canadian shooters being Bob Wren, Shane Willis and Jeff Williams, abetted by PlanetUSA's submission of Wilson. The previously stickless Wren had plenty of stick on Esche, opening up the five-hole and neatly backhanding the puck through. But he must have inspired Herbert Vasiljevs, who used a similar if less flashy move and put the puck in the same spot to even the shootout at one. Esche was able to block Willis' shot with his stick, and then Wilson was likewise stonewalled by Passmore on another five-hole attempt. Esche switched to the glove to rob Williams, and then birthday boy Chris Ferraro's turn came up. Ferraro went for the five-hole on his Hamilton teammate Passmore - and made it. Now Canada had two shots at tying it up. Randy Robitaille went next, and his shot went through Esche, dribbling slowly towards the net. Esche, realizing he hadn't gotten all of it, twisted and dove in front of the puck before clearing it away from harm. After Valentin Morozov missed on his turn, it was all up to Martin St. Louis, who had a Skills Competition-created dilemma. "In the breakaway [skills competition] I had the same goalie, and I gave him my favorite move," said St. Louis, "and I didn't want to use the same move, I thought he'd shut me down on that one. If it had been somebody else, I would have tried the same thing I used yesterday." Maybe he should have stuck with his favorite move, because Esche stoned him again, and the game belonged to the world, as it were, with a 5-4 final. Chris Ferraro, not surprisingly, was named the PlanetUSA Player of the Game, and it was the second time in three years Ferraro scored the game-winning shootout goal - he also did the trick at the Saint John edition of the game in 1997. For scoring what had been the go-ahead goal, Armstrong was named the Canadian Player of the Game. The MVP? Of course, the Philadelphia crowd had to be appeased and they were with the naming of Jean-Marc Pelletier as the game's number one star. "I was talking to Martin Biron and Marc Denis, and we were saying, what are the odds of a goalie getting the MVP in an All-Star Game?" said a slightly dazed Pelletier. "You'd have to face 25 shots and make everything a save. But anybody could have had it, everybody on our team played a real fantastic game." The crowd for that matter, was considerable if not considerate. The official attendance of 14,120 was easily the best for a minor league All-Star Game in any recent year. As in Syracuse, the crowd opted to align itself with the underdog PlanetUSA team and the chants of "USA!" were one of the few aspects of the game audible in the press box. About the only other thing audible up there in the rafters were the chants of "Hershey s----", a chant led by Hershey mascot Cocoa Bear. Really. Otherwise it was rather like watching a television with the mute on, although that was likely a function of the building design rather than lack of crowd noise. All in all, things went as they should. Both captains scored goals, both the veterans and the rookies had roles in the spotlight, the hometown boy was the MVP and crowd went home happy. And that's what they had in mind when they created All-Star Games. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Be sure to check out the website for more AHL All-Star coverage from Tricia McMillan.) ================================================================ TEAM REPORTS ================================================================ EASTERN CONFERENCE ATLANTIC DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW JERSEY DEVILS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Rob Ftorek Roster: C - Bobby Holik, Bob Carpenter, Denis Pederson, Petr Sykora, Jason Arnott, Sergei Brylin, Brendan Morrison. LW - Dave Andreychuk, Brian Rolston, Scott Daniels, Jay Pandolfo, Sasha Lakovic. RW - Patrik Elias, Randy McKay, Vadim Sharifijanov, Krzysztof Oliwa. D - Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Ken Daneyko, Lyle Odelein, Kevin Dean, Sheldon Souray, Brad Bombardir, Ken Sutton. G - Martin Brodeur, Chris Terreri. Injuries: Dave Andreychuk, lw (ankle, indefinite). Transactions: None. Game Results: 1/14 at Ottawa L 3-2 1/15 Tampa Bay W 3-1 1/18 at San Jose L 3-1 1/20 at Anaheim W 4-3 1/21 at Los Angeles W 3-2 TEAM NEWS by Dan Hurwitz The biggest news surrounding the Devils has little to do with their recent slump (three losses in four games) or their current upswing (three wins in four). It doesn't involve injuries and sickness claiming legendary goal-scorer Dave Andreychuk or budding scorers Patrik Elias or Jason Arnott. Martin Brodeur narrowly missed another goal, but no, I'm talking about: the return of the Force For Cultural Hegemony, yours truly. For those of you newcomers who don't realize LCS has a history, I was the first remote correspondent, covering New Jersey and Philadelphia. So it's only appropriate that editor-in-chief Mike Dell brought me back to my old space for this, the "All-Star" edition of LCS: Guide To Hockey. I'm guessing you might actually want to read more about hockey than my huge ego, so let's review the past couple of weeks with your New Jersey Devils: First off, it turns out Bill Clinton is not the only person frustrated by a bunch of hostile Senators. To add to the pain of last year's upset first-round loss to Ottawa in the playoffs, the Devils have dropped two tough losses to Ottawa in the past two weeks, and they found themselves trailing the seven-year-old squad in the standings. The challenge continues, too, as the Devils resume play after this weekend's All-Star Break with a game against the Senators in Canada's capital. This is not your father's New Jersey team, which is to say, unlike in the Jacques Lemaire days, these Devils are not a lock to keep leads. This was obvious in the Ottawa losses, which run the risk of being very troubling for the team, in that they involved blown leads. With the Flyers recent surge, during which they lost only once in the past 18 games, New Jersey cannot afford the shaky play they've showed of late. In the new alignment of the Eastern Conference with three divisions, trailing behind both Toronto and Ottawa at season's end while finishing second behind Philly puts the Devils in the fifth seed, not even having home-ice advantage at the start of the playoffs. As their place in the standings began to slip over this recent stretch, however, they reversed the trend with a trip to the West Coast. Although their tour of the California coast opened with a disappointing loss to the resurgent Sharks, they headed into the All-Star break on a modest two-game win streak with nail-biting wins in Anaheim and Los Angeles. That's the good news, but it comes with some qualifications. Both wins came as a result of having more of those pesky "lucky bounces" than the home teams secured. In Anaheim, the Devils were the beneficiaries of a shaky game by backup goaltender Dominic Roussel, who overcame a less-than stellar game by their own Martin Brodeur and a late onslaught by Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne to pull out a 4-3 victory. The following night, the Devils pulled off another narrow victory, 3-2 over the Kings, which was the textbook definition of "stealing a win." It opened with Randy McKay's 12th of the season, which made Kings goaltender Jamie Storr look like a shooter-tutor. From 30 feet out, McKay fired a slap shot which nutmegged the unscreened Storr. A couple of minutes later, though, the Devils decided to be good sports and gave up a weak one themselves. Josef Stumpel's wrist shot hit Brodeur in the shoulder, bounced over the confused netminder and landed in the goal for a tie score. After pulling ahead 3-2, however, the Devils got some real luck. Down two men, three with the extra attacker who replaced Storr, New Jersey very nearly surrendered the tying goal when Donald Audette deflected in a floating shot. Fortunately for Robbie Ftorek's bunch, though, Audette is giving Theo Fleury a run for the "shortest player" trophy, and his shot was ruled hit by a high stick (aren't they all high with Audette?) by referee Mick McGeough. So that's how the Devils ended the pre-All-Star portion of the season. Andreychuk's injury won't heal anytime soon, but they certainly hope the gradual return of their other missing players will help. And the essence of what the competition for the second half will look like will get a fitting kick-off as the Devils open in Ottawa. One final, positive note from a guy who doesn't get to see his old home team much anymore (I'm based on the West Coast these days): The ability of the New Jersey organization to continue to maintain such incredible depth is staggering, especially given yet another round of expansion. Rookies and sophomores like Elias, Vadim Sharifijanov, Brendan Morrisson, John Madden, Sheldon Souray and Sasha Lakovic have plugged in beautifully and give the Devils all sorts of possibilities for this season and many to come. Of course, it doesn't hurt that most of them played at one point or another for Ftorek with New Jersey's AHL affiliate in Albany, New York. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW YORK ISLANDERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Bill Stewart Roster: C - Robert Reichel, Trevor Linden, Bryan Smolinski, Claude Lapointe, Sergei Nemchinov, Craig Janney. LW - Mike Watt, Mike Hough, Ted Donato, Gino Odjick. RW - Zigmund Palffy, Jason Dawe, Joe Sacco, Mariusz Czerkawski, Kevin Miller, Mark Lawrence, Steve Webb. D - Kenny Jonsson, Scott Lachance, Richard Pilon, Eric Brewer, David Harlock, Barry Richter, Zdeno Chara, Ted Crowley. G - Felix Potvin, Tommy Salo, Wade Flaherty. Injuries: Kenny Jonsson, d (MCL tear, 4-6 weeks); Gino Odjick, lw (abdominal, out for season); Rich Pilon, d (knee, day-to-day); Eric Cairns, d (ankle, who knows?). Transactions: Acquired Craig Janney, c, from Tampa Bay in exchange for a sixth-round pick. Game Results 01/13 at Rangers L 4-3 OT 01/16 at Florida L 1-0 01/20 Florida L 5-2 01/21 at Pittsburgh W 5-2 01/26 Boston W 4-1 TEAM NEWS by David Strauss Last week, after a loss to the Florida Panthers at Nassau Coliseum, a game punctuated by fans chanting "Mike Must Go," Isles GM and Coach Mike Milbury said his team looked like it had "quit." "There's no excuse for that," Milbury said. "That was a stinker without much sign of effort. We're going to do something about it." So he did. For the second time in less than two years, Milbury resigned as head coach of the Islanders to concentrate on his role as general manager and head quipmaster. The Isles have the second-worst record in the National Hockey League and last earned a postseason berth in 1994. Assistant coach Bill Stewart, 41, a former NHL defenseman, was named as his replacement about three hours before the Islanders met the Pittsburgh Penguins. "It's obvious," Milbury said, "things didn't go very well. When things don't go very well, changes have to be made. I thought the message I received from the players last night was a pretty strong one and not a good one. There didn't seem to be passion. There didn't seem to be discipline. [When a] team quits on the coach, it's an awfully tough thing to get them back." Milbury was given a three-year contract extension last summer and has more than four years left on a contract at $750,000 a season, said he informed the players at the team hotel at 4 p.m. "I didn't get applause for it, but they might do that later." "Obviously," Islanders captain Trevor Linden said, "we feel responsible. It's a tough situation for Mike. It's a tough situation for us." Milbury had done well in Boston, leading the Bruins to the 1990 Cup Finals. But it turned out to be too hard to repeat that success in Uniondale, where Milbury didn't have the option of sending out Ray Bourque and Cam Neely when things got tough. (Sadly, the tandem of Barry Richter and Steve Webb didn't inspire the same leadership.) Milbury was hired as coach of the Islanders in July 1995. He took over as GM several months later when Don Maloney was fired. When John Spano took control of the Islanders before it was discovered he had less money than your average bum, he convinced Milbury to step down as coach and hand the reigns over to the Worst Coach in NHL History (TM), Rick Bowness. Milbury fired Bowness after a 10-game losing streak last season, and reports were that he planned to step down after the year was over and hire a new coach. But new owners Steven Gluckstern and Howard Milstein convinced Milbury to hire an army of 417 assistant coaches (or seven, it's hard to tell) to help handle the load. Milbury stayed on as coach. However, despite an 8-8 start for the Isles in 1998-99, they soon slumped. There was a seven-game losing streak in late November and early December, and then an 0-10-1 streak in January. On the day he stepped down, Milbury's team was 13-29-3 this season. Milbury was 57-111-24 in parts of four seasons with the Islanders. The players had lost respect for Milbury the coach, and his habits of favoring and rejecting certain players for curious and unknown reasons. They also said he shifted his lines too often with little consistency. Captain Linden, when asked to describe Stewart, said: "He runs a good bench." Though Milbury has come under fire of late, especially in his role of general manager after his recent trade of Bryan Berard to the Toronto Maple Leafs for goalie Felix Potvin, he said it had nothing to do with his decision. He said he understood the derisive chants. "Our fans are tired of losing," he said. "I understand that. No one is more tired of losing than I am." "To look at Mike as the scapegoat would be easy," Islanders defenseman Scott Lachance said. Linden added, "We, as players, are responsible. But, for whatever reason, the message was not getting to us." Though several of the assistant coaches were potential replacements, including associate coach Lorne Henning, Milbury said the obvious choice was Stewart. Known as "Stewie," Stewart has a history of winning. He led the St. John's Flames, the AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames, to a 43-24-13 record and a berth in the Calder Cup Final last season. He received the Louis Pieri Award as the Coach of the Year. He led a Canadian junior team, the Oshawa Generals, to a 41-18-7 mark and the Ontario Hockey League championship in 1996-97. He was Colonial League Coach of the Year in 1995-96. Ownership News Should Howard Milstein succeed in his bid to buy the Washington Redskins of the National Football League, his stake in the Isles will be purchased by his brother Edward. The Board Of Governors approved the potential sale to Edward Milstein at its All-Star Game break meeting. The move was necessary because Howard Milstein, who is waiting for approval from the NFL to complete his $800 million purchase of the Redskins, must sell all or part of his Islanders share under the NFL's cross-ownership rules. Edward Milstein is also a prospective minority owner of the Redskins, so he would need permission from the NFL to own both a small share of the Redskins and a 45 percent stake in the Islanders. Arena News Talks continue on a new arena for the Islanders. All reports seem to indicate that a final deal may be announced in the next few weeks. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW YORK RANGERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: John Muckler Rosters: C - Wayne Gretzky, Manny Malhotra, Petr Nedved, Sean Pronger, Marc Savard. LW - Brent Fedyk, Adam Graves, Darren Langdon, Kevin Stevens, Esa Tikkanen. RW - Todd Harvey, Mike Knuble, John MacLean, Niklas Sundstrom. D - Jeff Beukeboom, Brian Leetch, Stan Neckar, Peter Popovic, Ulf Samuelsson, Mathieu Schneider, Ruman Ndur, Chris Tamer. G - Mike Richter, Dan Cloutier. Injuries: Todd Harvey, rw (Grade 2 ligament strain on left knee, out 4 weeks). Transactions: Called up Derek Armstrong, rw, from Hartford (AHL). Game Results: 1/13 NY Islanders W 4-3 1/15 Chicago L 3-1 1/16 at Montreal W 4-3 1/19 Ottawa L 2-1 1/21 Florida L 2-1 TEAM NEWS: Alex Frias, NY Rangers Team Correspondent "Heartbeat Harvey" Out for Month: The Rangers lost the undisputed emotional leader on the their roster when Todd Harvey suffered a Grade 2 sprain of the medial collateral ligament of his left knee in the 1/13 game against the Islanders. During the third period of Islander game, Harvey lined up to hit Islanders defenseman Kenny Jonsson and caught his left skate in a rut. "I turned to make the hit and my left foot went that way and I went the other way," Harvey said. "It's kind of disappointing to have it happen like that." Talk about bad timing. "Heartbeat" has been just about everything except a 50-goal scorer for the Blueshirts this season. After the Islander game, Harvey was visibly disappointed. He could handle the assortment of stitches, an infected elbow, strained hip flexor, bruised right thumb and a charley horse, but this one is a biggie. "He's a huge part of our hockey club, emotionally, physically and skillfully. There's not a guy in this room who doesn't love the way he plays," linemate Adam Graves says. "We're going to miss him, but not one guy is going to be able to replace him. We're all going to have to try and fill the void collectively. We're already sitting at .500 but as you all know, it's not enough to get us into the playoffs. We know we have to be five to 10 games over .500." But with Todd 'The Bod' up in the press box until mid February, the odds diminish... Bure Out, Fleury In: With the infamous Pavel Bure saga over, GM Neil Smith can now shift his attention towards Calgary and Theo Fleury. Fleury, who has indicated he will not sign a contract before he becomes a free agent this summer, had to have had his curiosity heightened after Sunday night's All-Star game, where Fleury was riding shotgun with Gretz and was the first to congratulate Gretzky on the Great One's MVP selection and went home with autographed sticks from No. 99. "It's very possible that could happen," Fleury said of coming to the Rangers. "That would be a lot of fun." Then again, Fleury told other reporters he expected to stay in the West because he has a son in Calgary. To be continued... ----------------------------------------------------------------- PHILADELPHIA FLYERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Roger Neilson Roster: C - Rod Brind'Amour, Marc Bureau, , Daymond Langkow, Eric Lindros. LW - Colin Forbes, Dan Kordic, John LeClair, Roman Vopat, Valeri Zelepukin. RW - Alexandre Daigle, Jody Hull, Keith Jones, Mikael Renberg, Dainius Zubrus. D - Dave Babych, Ryan Bast, Andy Delmore, Eric Desjardins, Karl Dykhuis, Dan McGillis, Luke Richardson, Chris Therien, Dmitri Tertyshny. G - Ron Hextall, Jean-Marc Pelletier, John Vanbiesbrouck. Injuries: Marc Bureau, c (sprained wrist, day to day). Transactions: none. Game results: 01/11 Nashville W 8-0 01/13 at Washington W 3-0 01/16 Toronto L 4-3 01/18 at Ottawa W 5-0 01/21 Washington W 4-1 TEAM NEWS by Chuck Michio, Philadelphia Correspondent ROUGH ROAD AHEAD The Flyers recent winning streak, stifling defensive play, strong goaltending, and balanced scoring rightfully have fans expecting big things come playoff time. Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. It's easy to be excited about the Flyers' 19-4-6 record in their last 29 games, but keep this in mind. Only 11 of those games were against teams with winning records. That's about to change. Twenty-two of their last 38 games will match them up against teams over .500. And chances are that their performance in that stretch will be a much better predictor of the their playoff chances than their recent tear. Here's a scary thought. Thanks to the, shall we say "peculiar," new playoff system, a 2nd place finish in the Atlantic division would mean no better than a 4th-place seeding for the playoffs - and a first-round matchup with the 5th seed in the East. That could mean another first-round date with, gulp, Buffalo and Dominik Hasek. SPEAKING OF WHICH... Flyers fans couldn't have been very encouraged by watching the Dominator do his thing against Eric Lindros and John LeClair over the All-Star weekend. Sure, Lindros managed to slip one out of five pucks behind him in the Skills Competition Rapid Fire event (it was a cheap rebound goal) and he scored in the Breakaway relay (another cheap rebound goal), but Hasek was still rock solid. And the next day, he added an exclamation point by denying LeClair from the doorstep on a two-on-none and holding the Lindros, LeClair, and Shanahan line without a point in the All-Star Game. Here's hoping that the boys in orange and black somehow manage to avoid the pointy-eared little demon elf in the playoffs. I wouldn't count on it. DAIGLE BLOCKS TRADE I can't imagine that there are many Alexandre Daigle fans lurking out there, but logic dictates that there must be one or two tucked away in a rubber room somewhere. Well, even they must be ashamed of their hero now. The events of the last few days are nothing short of incredible, even for those who've grown accustomed to watching Daigle cherry pick, loaf, complain, and generally waste space and talent. I certainly count myself as a member of that club, and even I'm shocked by the guy's latest antics. For those who haven't been following the sorry saga, I'll give a brief recap. Bob Clarke thought he had Daigle traded to the Edmonton Oilers for Andrei Kovalenko, another talented malingerer with an affinity for missing planes. But there was one little detail to be worked out. The deal was contingent on Daigle accepting a one-year contract extension in the range of $1 million. Still, it seemed like a done deal. A guaranteed million would have to seem pretty attractive to a guy with three goals and two assists in 31 games, right? Wrong! Incredibly, Daigle refused the extension and killed the trade. And I guess he figured that Clarke wasn't quite pissed off enough at that point, because he went on to say that he'd much prefer a trade to Los Angeles, where he'd be nearer to Hollywood and a prospective career as an actor. What the hell is the matter with this guy? I'd say he's already acting-like the jackass of the sports century. I can't blame Daigle for not wanting to go to Edmonton. Glen Sather is a butt munch, the team is going nowhere, and it's so cold the damned ground is frozen 15 feet below street level. But if he thinks that's an ugly scenario, he should probably consider what it's going to be like for him to be within one hundred yards of Clarke on a daily basis. Maybe he should ask Valeri Kharlamov about that? Hopefully, Clarke will administer the same kind of vigilante justice to Daigle. It looks like that's the only way the Flyers are ever going to get rid of the guy at this point. PELLETIER STONES AHL ALL-STARS John Vanbiesbrouck is looking pretty good at the moment, but chances are the Flyers goalie of the near future isn't even on their NHL roster right now. Next season should see Phantoms goalie Jean-Marc Pelletier with the big club, not the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms. He's already shown that he can do the job at the First Union Center, where he dominated the AHL All-Star festivities this weekend. Pelletier celebrated his first-ever AHL All-Star berth by stoning six consecutive penalty shots in the skills competition and stopping 17 of the 18 shots he faced in the big game. His efforts earned him the All-Star MVP Award. A towering goaltender in the Ron Hextall mode, Pelletier seems poised to take at least a backup role on the Flyers next year. "Jean-Marc has progressed very well," said Phantoms coach Bill Barber, "especially when you consider he's a guy who before this year had no experience at the professional level. After we had the injury to Boucher, he basically took the job over. He's been very focused. Mentally, he's been getting himself ready to play. A lot of times for young players, that's the biggest challenge." ----------------------------------------------------------------- PITTSBURGH PENGUINS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Kevin Constantine Roster: C - Martin Straka, Robert Lang, Jan Hrdina, Tyler Wright. LW - German Titov, Stu Barnes, Kip Miller, Patrick Lebeau, Ian Moran, Dan Kesa. RW - Jaromir Jagr, Alexei Kovalev, Aleksey Morozov, Robby Brown, Martin Sonnenberg. D - Darius Kasparaitis, Kevin Hatcher, Brad Werenka, Jiri Slegr, Bobby Dollas, Neil Wilkinson, Jeff Serowik, Victor Ignatjev, Maxim Galanov. G - Tom Barrasso, Peter Skudra. Injuries: Aleksey Morozov, rw (concussion, day-to-day); Jeff Serowik, d (concusison, day-to-day); Rob Brown, rw (broken foot, indefinite); Victor Ignatjev, d (shoulder, indefinite). Transactions: None. Game Results 1/13 at San Jose L 3-2 1/16 at Los Angeles W 5-1 1/18 at Anaheim L 5-3 1/21 NY Islanders L 5-2 TEAM NEWS by Jerry Fairish Well, here we are at the halfway marker in the season and guess what...the Penguins still have a legitimate chance of pulling this whole thing off. What I mean by that is not just playing well enough to secure a spot in the playoffs, I'm talking about winning the whole sunshiny show. I think the Penguins have found their groove as far as playing as a team goes. Now all they need is to keep everyone healthy, keep scoring on a consistent basis, and just let Tom Barrasso do what he does best and I think the Pens have a real chance. The Pens are 20-14-7 for 47 points. This places them 11 behind Philly for the top spot in the Atlantic and eight points behind the Devils for the second spot. This isn't bad for a team who nobody (not myself of course) expected to make the playoffs. Well, I got news for all those non-believers...it's gonna happen and shame on you for turning on a team when they're hurting. Myself on the other hand, I was behind the Pens from the get-go. I think if you look back at my first article this season it says something along the lines of "They're gonna suck." but that wasn't me who wrote it. It breaks down like this...I originally submitted the article to Editor-in-Chief Mike Dell. Mike Dell decided to change all the sentences that read, "They're going to be awesome" to" They're gonna suck." Why did he do this? I think to just stir up controversy. That's my opinion. In my last issue I asked you, the readers, to send E-mail. And the response was overwhelming. I received a whopping 455 letters of praise in just a 10-day span. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for writing, and as a reward I have taken excerpts from some of my favorites and posted them here for you to read. I have left the last names off for privacy reasons, and for the fact that these girls are mine and I'm not sharing. Dear LCSGod, Zippy sucks...you rule...you make the website what it is...Zippy's gay...Will you marry me? Forever yours, Shelly Shelly, you're right. Zippy does suck. Jerry, how is it that this "webpage" was able to succeed without you being there for the first 10 years or so? P.S. I love you. Just curious, Michelle Michelle, I too was wondering how these five idiots (I counted Zippy twice) survived without my writing skills. I feel that now that I have arrived that these jabronies should be kissing the ground I walk on. Jerry, how much does Mike Dell weigh? Love, Mom Dear Mom, you've seen Mike Dell; he can't weigh any more than 75 pounds. Dear Jerry, I loved your pictures at the Happy Birthday Baby Jesus game. On top of being the hottest guy I've ever seen, why didn't you kick Zippy's a**? Chimp hater, Matthew Dear Matthew, I wanted to pummel the chimp on several different occasions, unfortunately LCS Company Policy states that no writer shall beat on the chimp. You should know that. Well, folks, that's it for me. Why? Because I can! ================================================================= ================================================================ TEAM REPORTS ================================================================ EASTERN CONFERENCE NORTHEASTERN DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- BOSTON BRUINS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Pat Burns Roster: C - Jason Allison, Anson Carter, Joe Thornton, Tim Taylor, Chris Taylor. LW - Sergei Samsonov, Ken Baumgartner, Rob Dimaio, Peter Ferraro, Ken Belanger. RW - Dimitri Khristich, Steve Heinze, Per Johan Axelsson, Peter Nordstrom. D - Ray Bourque, Don Sweeney, Dave Ellett, Kyle McLaren, Hal Gill, Darren Van Impe, Grant Ledyard, Dennis Vaske, Jonathan Girard, Brandon Smith, Terry Virtue. G - Byron Dafoe, Rob Tallas. Injuries: Kyle McLaren, d (shoulder, indefinite); Dave Ellett, d (achy all over, day-to-day); Grant Ledyard, d (achy all over, day-to-day). Transactions: Recalled defensemen Brandon Smith and Terry Virtue from Providence (AHL). Game Results 1/15 at Buffalo L 2-1 1/16 Tampa Bay T 2-2 1/18 Nashville W 8-1 1/21 Ottawa L 3-1 TEAM NEWS by Matt Brown The Boston Bruins went into the All-Star Break both ahead and behind. The Bruins were ahead of last year's pace in overall points, but they were further behind in the standings. The main reason is the emergence of Toronto as a real NHL team again, with the addition of Curtis Joseph in goal. Based on last year's records, the Bruins division looked like it was inheriting a patsy, but nothing could be further from the reality. Coupled with the establishment of Ottawa as a former laughing stock rather than a current one, the Bruins find themselves in fourth place, and in need of some serious improvement if they are to avoid getting involved in a scramble for the lower playoff berths. Only the misery that Montreal is enduring has the Bruins out of the division cellar, and that by a meager five points. Across the conference, the increase in teams to 14 means that making the playoffs is no longer the "gimme" that it has been in past years. Although perennial losers like the Islanders and Lightning are still bottom feeding, and the Rangers and Capitals look very sorry compared to last year's clubs, Florida has stepped up its place with the addition of Pavel Bure, and Carolina is making everyone forget about the Whale by leading the Good Ol' Boy division (the Southeast? What kind of hockey name is that? Maybe we should go back to naming the divisions Norris, Patrick, and Bubba?). One of the problems haunting the Bruins has been an inability to keep the core team on the ice. Injuries to a host of players, most of them minor, have definitely hurt the Bruins' cohesion, and that is tough on a young team. Particularly difficult at this time is the separated shoulder suffered by Kyle McLaren. This injury, to a guy who was really coming into his own as an NHL defenseman to be reckoned with, has caused Pat Burns to juggle his defensive rotation drastically. Injuries to both veteran standbys, Grant Ledyard and Dave Ellett, have forced Burns to fire up the Providence shuttle, bringing Brandon Smith and Terry Virtue from the Baby Bs, and even playing them as a defense pair! Bruins fans were looking at Pat to see if he had a fever when these rookies hit the ice together, but the fact is that they did a decent job on their shifts, playing within their abilities and the team system, just like good Pat Burns defensemen should. Given the injury situation on the backline, you would think it a good thing that the Bruins only played four games since our last conversation, but that turned out to be three games too many. Boston lost to Buffalo, giving the Sabres all they could handle, but unfortunately for the Bruins, the Sabres could handle it. The next game, the Bruins let the Lighting off the hook, playing an uninspired game, and letting Bill Ranford re-live his glory years for once this season. Ranford made some incredibly acrobatic saves against his old mates twice removed, and didn't even rip up his groin again like the last time. Game three saw the Bruins feasting on the toothless Predators, handing Barry Trotz's menagerie an 8-1 pasting. Thomas Vokoun now has played goal against the Bruins twice, and one would imagine he has seen quite enough of them, as he was flogged mercilessly for five goals in two periods. Not pretty to watch, unless you are into Lions vs. Christians and that sort of thing. Then the Bruins faced their midterm final against the Ottawa Senators at home in the FleetCenter, and flunked. Ottawa only won 3-1, that margin increased by an empty-net goal from the stick of ex-Bruin Shawn McEachern (why can't we KEEP guys like that?), courtesy of fledgling point man Steve Heinze. Heinze playing point with an empty net? Shock tactics? Element of surprise? Not really, as Heinze fell down twice, and ended up diving at Shawn and knocking the puck into his own net. The game was truly decided earlier, however, when it became clear that the Bruins were not likely to get more than one goal past Ron Tugnutt, who should definitely have his career highlight video made exclusively of games against the Bruins. Byron Dafoe played very well, but he was victimized by a tip off Don Sweeney's stick, and a screened slapper from Sami Salo (try saying that after four or five Sam Adam's, and you'll get slugged or picked up, depending on what kind of bar you are in). So who gets called to play in the All-Star game when Martin Brodeur came up lame? Good old Ronny. Dafoe, although considered a foreigner, couldn't break the Eastern Bloc strangle hold on the World team goal, with a Czech, a Latvian, and a Rooskie getting the honors. Next year for sure, Byron. So what do the Bruins need to do in the second half of the season? Get healthy on defense and get some goals on offense. Big Joe Thornton has begun to emerge from his teenage larval stage and he is beginning to throw his weight around and buy himself some skating room. He is fifth in goal scoring on the Bruins with eight, and he looks capable of much more. The problem is that the Bruins are not deep enough at the wing positions to give Joe the kind of support he is ready for. The line of Thornton, Heinze, and Anson Carter just does not seem to have the kind of chemistry Bruins fans were hoping for - Joe's best moments have come not with those guys but as substitute center on the checking line with P.J. Axelsson and Rob DiMaio. What the Bruins need, frankly, is Dimitri Khristich's evil twin. They need another forward with the talent and hustle of Dimitri at his best, and maybe a little bit of nasty thrown in. Ken Belanger has the nasty but not the rest of the package. And neither Carter or Peter Ferraro quite have what it will take to propel Joe's line to the next level, and give the Bruins three solid lines to throw at every team. Picking up a legitimate player, and either putting him on with Joe and Steve, or putting the newcomer on the first line with Jason Allison and Sergei Samsonov, while moving Khristich to Joe's line, would make the Bruins a power. Who to go after? That's a tough call. If you go after players from the also-rans this early, you run the risk of picking up somebody with a loser attitude (those teams will want to get rid of the guys causing the sucking sound, after all). Harry Sinden always talks about the dangers of paying the big bucks for a paperweight on skates, and his most famous foray into these waters yielded Kevin Stevens, an immovable object in all the wrong places. Boston can be hometown-hell - look at Stevens and Jim Carey and McEachern for examples. But Harry and Mike O'Connell are reputed to know hockey, and are being paid to bring in a winner (so the fable reads). They have been in the "one player too short" situation many times, and they should have figured out by now that the fans would rather they take a chance and give us some hope. If it doesn't work, at least we'll hear more hockey talk on sports radio around town. ----------------------------------------------------------------- BUFFALO SABRES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Lindy Ruff Roster: C - Michael Peca, Brian Holzinger, Curtis Brown, Wayne Primeau, Erik Rasmussen, Derek Plante. LW - Dixon Ward, Geoff Sanderson, Michal Grosek, Paul Kruse. RW - Vaclav Varada, Miroslav Satan, Matthew Barnaby, Rob Ray. D - Darryl Shannon, Alexei Zhitnik, Jason Woolley, Jay McKee, Richard Smehlik, James Patrick, Mike Wilson. G - Dominik Hasek, Dwayne Roloson. INJURIES: Wayne Primeau, c (shoulder, day-to-day). TRANSACTIONS: January 19 - loaned Erik Rasmussen, c/lw, to Rochester (AHL); January 24, we think - recalled Rasmussen from Rochester. GAME RESULTS 01/13 St. Louis L 4-2 01/15 Boston W 2-1 01/16 at Ottawa T 1-1 01/18 at Florida W 4-0 01/19 at Tampa Bay L 2-1 TEAM NEWS by Matt Barr Ruff Orchestrates Fine First Half If one weren't concerned about sounding like a broken record, you could really sum up the Sabres' first half the way you've summed up the last few seasons: decent players, all-word goaltender, WYSIWYG. Sure, there's last year's Selke runner-up and 1997 winner Michael Peca, having just as good a campaign as his last two. There's Miro Satan filling the net like he never has. There's, um, Jay McKee, who has an outside shot at some Norris consideration in a few years. But after that, at least to the more casual observer and Stanley Cup handicapper, it's sixteen guys named Moe. Now, we're not casual observers here, so we'll point out that, other than maybe Ottawa, there's no harder-working team in the conference. More than that, even, since you could have given similar credit to those gooned-up Mike Keenan Chicago Blackhawks of a few years ago, too, there's probably no smarter team, and not many more fundamentally sound. And few play with more abandon disproportionate to their star power, either. (By which we mean, for example, the Red Wings can go gonzo on you, but they're gonna score six goals. The Sabres fly around like gnats even though the chances are real good that one fundamental lapse, one ill-timed pinch or missed shift change, could have a dramatic impact on the outcome of the game.) We don't need to go into the biggest reason for this palpable confidence, we'll just wait till it wins the Vezina and MVP again. There are other reasons, not the least of which is coach Lindy Ruff's superb handling of the assets at his disposal. So the Ward-Peca-Varada line is setting the league on fire, and Ward's got something like 28 goals in his first 32 games? Let's plug in Erik Rasmussen in Ward's spot! This move has said as much about Ruff's tactical brilliance as Rasmussen's sound play and ominous physical presence. Ward continues to see time on the line, but Rasmussen has added an element to it that it took guts to gamble on. Ruff's faith in his players is an important element to the team's success, too. Mike Wilson has probably committed enough offenses this season that even the U.S. Senate would vote to remove him, yet rather than letting him rot in the press box (oh, Wilson's seen plenty of time there), Ruff has presented him with a series of opportunities, do with them what he will. Wilson -- a couple glaring digressions aside -- has responded well. When Wayne Primeau complained publicly about his lack of ice, Ruff fired back that ice had to be earned by strong, smart, physical play. Primeau responded appropriately. Geoff Sanderson as of this writing has only been a healthy scratch once, despite an interminable offensive dry spell. Dominik Hasek burns to play every game, and believes he's at his best when worked his hardest. Voila: Hasek starts every game for the season's first three months, only giving way to Dwayne Roloson when it genuinely starts to look like Hasek needs a break. Go back to last year, even. Michal Grosek was incensed at being benched repeatedly late last season, a posture that clearly did not endear him to Coach. Yet Grosek tied for the team lead in playoff goals last year, and was even made an alternate captain during Rob Ray's suspension earlier this year. Ruff has pushed all the right buttons since arriving behind the bench at the Marena. And no one is even threatening to run Hasek in practice, or anything like that, which is always key. More Thoughts on the First Half There are reasons to be optimistic about the Sabres' Stanley Cup aspirations and reasons to hedge your bets. We're just all giddy that we're thinking in terms of Stanley Cups these days instead of first round series wins. Personnel-wise, the team remains almost unchanged from a year before. James Patrick has pitched in at the blue line, and Rasmussen has been a fine addition up front; and no more Donald Audette. That's not much turnover, in this day and age. So why are the Sabres a better team this year than last, when they had the best record in the league from January on and came within two wins of getting slapped around by the Red Wings? 1. The emergence of Satan as a net-filler, Grosek and Curtis Brown as capable two-way players and goal scoring threats, and Jay McKee as a force on defense, to start. 2. Experience and the confidence that goes with it, to continue. Nothing convinces people that success is possible better than succeeding. 3. Commitment by ownership, to dally. We remain convinced that John Rigas' authorization of the organization's pursuit of Ron Francis and Doug Gilmour in the offseason has sent a signal to the field troops that if it's money and/or players you think you need to win, you'll get them, now or in the future. 4. Dominik Hasek is even better than he was last year, to finish up. On the flip side, why are they less likely to advance to the Stanley Cup final than they were last year? Well, if you held a round-robin between Philadelphia, New Jersey, Ottawa and the Sabres right now, they would probably all emerge with identical records. Factor in improved Leafs, Bruins, Hurricanes and Panthers teams, and the unbelievable fact that the Penguins remain dangerous despite their travails, and any team that wants to play Dallas for the Cup has got a hard road to hoe. The Mike Wilson Saga Continues The Sabres lost their first game to St. Louis in five years when a Curtis Brown goal was waved off because the Sabres had too many men on the ice. Alexei Zhitnik had pinched deep in the Blues zone, causing Mike Wilson to think he was actually on the bench and that he (Wilson) had better hurry up and get out there at the point. We can easily see how this could happen. Hasek Wins All-Star Skills Competition; Goes Commercial Having a Slinky for a spine is priceless for Hasek in a new Master Card commercial, whereas winning the All-Star skills competition for the World team was merely special. (The game itself was eminently forgettable.) Hasek was the only goalie to score a goal in the new goalies-try-to-score-a-goal competition on Saturday, and followed that with five saves in six attempts in the competition-ending shootout. If they gave out MVP trophies for the All-Star skills competition, we'd storm Gary Bettman's house and bludgeon him to death. ----------------------------------------------------------------- MONTREAL CANADIENS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Alain Vigneault Roster: C - Saku Koivu, Vincent Damphousse, Scott Thornton, Matt Higgins, Trent McLeary, Sergei Zholtok. LW - Shayne Corson, Martin Rucinsky, Benoit Brunet, Terry Ryan, Brian Savage, Andrei Bashkirov, Dave Morissette, Patrick Poulin. RW - Mark Recchi, Turner Stevenson, Jonas Hoglund, Jason Dawe. D - Vladimir Malakhov, Stephane Quintal, Patrice Brisebois, Brett Clark, Miloslav Guren, Stephane Robidas, Craig Rivet, Igor Ulanov, Eric Weinrich, Alain Nasreddine. G - Frederic Chabot, Jeff Hackett. Injuries: Saku Koivu, c (elbow infection, day-to-day); Craig Rivet, d (back spasms, day-to-day); Turner Stevenson, lw (spained ankle, day-to-day); Brian Savage, lw (strained ribcage muscle, undetermined). Transactions: 01/16: Brett Clark assigned to Fredericton (AHL); 01/19: Brett Clark recalled from Fredericton; 01/21: Sylvain Blouin recalled from Fredericton; 01/22: Sylvain Blouin assigned to Fredericton. Game Results 01/12 at Detroit L 5-1 01/15 at Washington W 3-0 01/16 NY Rangers W 3-0 01/18 Washington T 4-4 01/21 at Chicago L 3-0 TEAM NEWS by Jacques Robert Never Give Up... Or so it says on the Maurice Richard Trophy unveiled at 1999 NHL All-Star Game in Tampa Bay to honor one of the NHL's all-time greats -- Maurice "Rocket" Richard of the Montreal Canadiens -- with a trophy in his name to be awarded annually to the league's top goal scorer. In regard to this season, is that quote from the Rocket meant for the players, the fans, or the press? As far as reporters are concerned, most seem to already have given up on this season and feel that the Habs would be better off not making the playoffs in order to get a good draft pick. Well, the fans appear to be behind the Canadiens, still buying tickets, and with blind faith, hoping to see them for the team they once were in the days of Maurice Richard, and later Guy Lafleur & Co. I guess that leaves the players, and we will know soon if they have the drive not to give up, even though they have to win 65% of their games to have a chance to make the playoffs. The Canadiens went into the break in 10th place in the Eastern Conference. All the teams they are trying to catch have at least two games in hand. Also, the Habs are five points out of a playoff spot and three points behind ninth-place Florida, winner of the Pavel Bure sweepstakes. Dave King commented: "The situation has changed there since they got Bure. He looked pretty good in his first game back and that's one more team we have to worry about." One who worries is Alain Vigneault. He spent the All-Star break in Nassau but he left with the bitter taste of defeat after his team was outplayed 3-0 by the Blackhawks. He said: "If the players have the kind of vacation they deserve, it will rain for four days." Even though things have picked up since December 26 (9-3-1), that loss against Chicago exemplifies the first half of the season. Hackett, the player who has been keeping hopes alive since he was acquired on Nov. 16, was left to fend for himself. While on the other side of the ice, Jocelyn Thibault was able to count on his teammates to protect a shutout against his old team. "I think we were all trying to win this one for Jocelyn", said Doug Gilmour. Two other former Habs, Dave Manson and Brad Brown, also really wanted to win. However, those are emotions that seem hard to come by in the Habs dressing room. One long time hockey commentator, Yvon Pedneault, wrote: "Some players break their stick out of frustration at the end of a match. Is it frustration or hypocrisy?" However, just to be fair, the guys could have just been over confident after their last three games, including two shutouts, 3-0 at Washington (Jan. 15) and 3-0 against the NY Rangers (Jan. 16) and a 4-4 tie against Washington (Jan. 18). Those were Hackett's 15th and 16th shutouts of his career. "I feel comfortable, " said Hackett at the time. "Our team was down against Detroit, but we showed how we bounce back. We have character. We have a sign of a good team." Well, that's one guy who doesn't show signs of giving up, let's hope his feeling is contagious and that the Canadiens will start the second half of the season on the right foot in Tampa Bay. They have to... ----------------------------------------------------------------- OTTAWA SENATORS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Jacques Martin Roster: C - Alexei Yashin, Vaclav Prospal, Radek Bonk, Shaun Van Allen, Bruce Gardiner, Steve Martins. LW - Shawn McEachern, Marian Hossa, Magnus Arvedson, Andreas Johansson. RW - Daniel Alfredsson, Andreas Dackell, Chris Murray, Bill Berg. D - Lance Pitlick, Patrick Traverse, Chris Phillips, Sami Salo, Wade Redden, Jason York, Janne Laukkanen, Igor Kravchuk. G - Damian Rhodes, Ron Tugnutt. Injuries: Dec 12 - Lance Pitlick, bruised hip, athroscopic surgury, 8-10 weeks; Jan 1 - Chris Phillips, sprained right ankle, 4-6 weeks; Jan 16 - Chris Murray, sprained left knee/MCL, 6-10 weeks; Jan 18 - Andreas Johansson, injured left knee, day to day. Transactions: None. Game Results 01/14 New Jersey W 3-2 01/16 Buffalo T 1-1 01/18 Philadelphia L 5-0 01/19 at N.Y. Rangers W 2-1 01/21 at Boston W 3-1 TEAM NEWS by The Nosebleeders The 11-game unbeaten streak is over, Yashin reneges on one million dollar gift to the Ottawa arts community, and Ron Tugnutt makes the All-Star team. What a way to go into the mid-season break. Ottawa fans have waited a long time but all of a sudden they have a contending team. The team ended an 11-game unbeaten streak that helped them rise considerably in the chase for bragging rights (first place) in the NHL's Eastern conference. The streak smashed many team and individual records. The streak has helped to put the Sens 11 games over the .500 mark. They are currently in a race for the top spot in the Eastern conference. Overall the team continues to play very well. This is now a team that can consistently take the play to its opponents, forcing them to play a Senator game. A full court offensive press combined with a rushing defensive system has moved the Senators into 4th in the NHL in goals scored. The system has also helped reduce their goals against to one of the lowest totals in the league (6th lowest). Ron Tugnutt leads all NHL goalies with a 1.63 GAA. The play of Alexei Yashin is a big reason for the team's success. Yashin has truly become one of the league's stars. Yash leads the team with 53 points at the All-Star break. Yashin is currently in the last year of a three-year deal and can expect to see his salary increase to somewhere in the 10 million dollar a year range. Up until last week, the big question surrounding Yashin was whether the Senators could afford him next season. The Gift That Stopped Giving Last season, Yashin was honored in Ottawa for giving the National Arts Centre (a facility that houses local and international plays and theaters as well as the National Symphony Orchestra) a one million dollar donation. As the time Yashin was photographed smiling as he handed over the donation to the then NAC head. In Russia, Yashin's family had been involved with the arts and Yashin mentioned that he was hopeful that some of the money could be used to bring more Russian performers to North America. This would help both the Russian arts community as well allowing North Americans the chance to enjoy the talents of more Russian artists. For this donation, Yashin was heralded not only in Ottawa but elsewhere in North America and around the world as an example of what other highly paid sports stars could and should be doing to pay back their communities. After his contract squabble with the team, this gift put him in much improved standings in the eyes of the those who felt he was simply money hungry (at the time his close to three million a year deal was not small). Funny Things They Do on TV The cheque Yashin was photographed with was merely a representation of the amount that Yashin has agreed to donate over a five-year period - $200,000 a year - still not too shabby all things considered. All good things must come to and end and last week Yashin announced that he would not be handing over the remaining unpaid portion of his charitable donation. With the second installment due, and for reasons as yet unknown, Yashin has refused to pay the remaining $800,000. Speculation is that Yashin is upset with the departure of a senior NAC official and the direction of the NAC. The NAC board of directors held a news conference (broadcast live on local TV) to announce that they had recently come to learn that as part of the $200,000 a year donation, the NAC had agreed to pay a charitable finder fee of $15,000 a year and had agreed to pay up to $85,000 a year to a company owned by Yashin's parents. The news conference announced that the NAC board of directors had come to learn of Yashin's decision only after deciding that no services had been rendered by Yashin's parent's firm and therefore no $85,000 payment was in order. The 'scandal' took up half of the front page of local papers for days. Yashin was busy with the All-Star break and his public comments were few. Stay tuned as he is yet to give his reasons for reneging other than to say that their is more to the story than what NAC officials say. Two large private donations totalling $600,000 from Canadian business people were reported on January 27th. There is no word on what strings, if any, these donations come with. Speaking of Strings - Lace 'Em Up, Tugger! NHL veteran Ron Tugnutt joined Alexei Yashin as an NHL All-Star, replacing Curtis Joseph who fell to injury. For Tugger, who leads all goalies in GAA (1.63) this season, this represented one of the highlights of his career and he was pleased as punch to be at the game. When interviewed on TV during the skills competition the smile on his face went ear to ear and he could be heard saying "hi mom" at the end of his interview. Bring on Those Devils! (again) For the third time in less than a month, the Senators faced the Devils. This one was a lot closer than the previous two and the Senators barely squeaked away with a 3-2 victory. A third-period goal by Wade Redden tied the game at two and Andreas Johansson netted the game-winner with under eight minutes to go in the third. The Senators were outshot 31-24. * The Senators posted a team record fifth straight win. * For the Sens, this was their first victory when trailing after two periods (1-8-2) and for New Jersey their first loss when leading after two periods (16-1-2). * For Johansson this was his fourth goal in the three games against New Jersey this season, bringing his total to 17 goals in 41 games. In his 95 previous NHL contests he had nine goals. Shots on Goal in the Third: Sabres Zero, Senators 13 The Dominator did his job as all the Sens could get by him was one goal despite outshooting Buffalo 39-15. Buffalo failed to record a shot in the third period. This was the first time since February 19, 1981 at Montreal that Buffalo had not registered a shot on goal in a period. Alexei Yashin extended his points streak to 11 games. Dominik Hasek continues to lead all goalies with a 1.23 GAA against the Senators in 23 games. Errriccc Errriccc Errriccc Eric Lindros quieted Ottawa fans as the Philadelphia Flyers, coming off of an impressive unbeaten streak, came into Ottawa determined to play. And play they did, soundly snapping the Ottawa unbeaten steak at 11 and the Yashin scoring streak at that same number. Ottawa could not capitalize on seven power play attempts and a second-period effort that saw them outshoot the Flyers 19-8. The only goal of the second was a Flyer power-play goal with Shawn Van Allen in the box for driving. * Eric Lindros' two points moved him into first place overall with 45 points against the Sens (Adam Oates is now in second place). Lindros has done this in an impress 24 games for an average of almost two points a game. Lindros' total includes a five-point game on February 26th, 1997. * John Vanbiesbrouck recorded his fourth shutout in five games. Before joining the Flyers, Vanbiesbrouck (35-years-old) did not have more than four shutouts in any of his previous 15 seasons. * The Flyers moved to 7-0-3 in their last 10 road games. Milestones Achieved and on the Way Radek Bonk moved into third place overall in games played for the Senators with 280. He surpassed Randy Cunneyworth who has 276. Bonk is 21 games shy of Alexandre Daigle's 301 games played with the team. Hey, congrats to Magnus Arvedson on his 100th game (against New Jersey) and to Andreas Dackell on his 200th (against the New York Rangers). A quick look down the Senators career games played chart confirms that this is a young team with many players in the 2-5 years of experience category. MSG After the Flyer loss to end the unbeaten streak, the Senators rebounded within 24 hours by edging the New York Rangers 2-1 at MSG. Radek Bonk's first goal in 18 games snapped a third-period tie. The score in this one was closer than the play, as the Senators outhustled the Rangers to gain the victory. The FleetCenter After a scoreless first, and a trade of goals in the second, rookie Sami Salo scored his first NHL goal 55 seconds into the third period to lead the Senators to a 3-1 victory over the Boston Bruins. Ron Tugnutt made 25 saves for the Senators, who improved to 6-0-1 in their last seven road games to break the team record set April 3-19, 1998. ----------------------------------------------------------------- TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Pat Quinn Roster: C - Mats Sundin, Darby Hendrickson, Steve Sullivan, Alyn McCauley. LW - Fredrik Modin, Steve Thomas, Todd Warriner, Derek King, Kris King, Igor Korolev, Garry Valk. RW - Sergei Berezin, Tie Domi, Mike Johnson, Adam Mair, Lonny Bohonos. D - Bryan Berard, Sylvain Cote, Dimitri Yushkevich, Alexander Karpovtsev, Jason Smith, Daniil Markov, Glen Featherstone, Tomas Kaberle, Yanick Tremblay. G - Curtis Joseph, Glenn Healy, Francis Larivee, Jeff Reese. Injuries: Curtis Joseph, g (groin strain, day-to-day); Glenn Healy, g (knee injury, indefinite). Transactions: 1/18 - Jeff Reese called up from minors (from St. John's-AHL); 1/11 - Francis Larivee called up from minors (Chicago-IHL). Game Results 01/12 at Tampa Bay W 4-3 01/13 at Florida T 3-3 01/16 at Philadelphia W 4-3 01/18 at Carolina L 4-2 01/20 at Dallas W 6-4 01/21 at St. Louis W 4-2 TEAM NEWS by Jonah A. Sigel Now Comes The Hard Part W L T Pts Pct GF GA Toronto Maple Leafs 27 16 3 57 .620 152 133 Statistics, it is said, don't lie. The numbers put up by the Blue and White so far have been nothing short of incredible. No one of sane mind or honest soul could say they predicted this. It would take a good historian to try and find the last time the Maple Leafs were first in their division or second overall in the entire league at the All-Star Break. True, Burns took this team far, but it was never in this style. Any success the Leafs have had in the last 25-30 years has come at the expense of a weak Norris division. The pundits predicted doom, the team that could not score all last season was moving to the punishing Eastern Conference where they would get hammered. Statistics don't lie. For weeks, we have told you to hang on to our hats because this team is destined to fall. One paper predicted that by the end of this last 10-game stretch, seven of which have been at the road, "the Leafs should have fallen back to earth where they belong." After so many seasons of pitiful hockey it is going to be difficult to get any respect. Between now and the trade deadline they must play away from Toronto 13 times, the majority of those games are against Eastern teams. Four of the next seven games leading up to the closing of MLG are on the road, all of them against the East. For more perspective, only seven of the remaining games are against Western teams. That means only seven out of 36 games, more importantly, they will be facing playoff opponents 29 out of the last 36 games, that is scary. So far this season their record against their own conference is 11-14-2, which is not so good especially when compared to their incredible record against the West which is 16-2-1. That is staggering. It is hard to imagine a tougher task for any hockey team than the one the Leafs face. I am by no means suggesting that the first half was easy, but in comparison... Just before the break, the team got its first major injury of the year. While so far it does not look serious, only time can really tell. After Glenn Healy wrenched his knee, CuJo pulled a groin just before the break. In years past, groin pulls were nothing major. But for some bizarre reason, in the modern day NHL, groin injuries have become quite serious. While the next games are critical to the season, one can only hope that CuJo will both take and be given the appropriate time to heal. With the closing of the Gardens a few short weeks ahead and the opening of the ACC a week following that, they surely want CuJo ready. To bring him back too soon would be a big mistake. The addition of Bryan Berard has been as advertised; a steady improvement in the power play and no problems off the ice either. It is quite odd to see the papers being so complementary to Smith and Dryden of late - especially Al Strachan. Time will tell how serious a run the Buds are going to make this year. At some point they are going to have to decide if it worth making a trade to improve the club for this year's run. Let's hope that success has not gone to their heads. As for the rest of the season, let's just enjoy what has been a great first half, and see what happens. A glance at the paper today has the Leafs in first place, and the statistics don't lie. ================================================================ ================================================================ TEAM REPORTS ================================================================ EASTERN CONFERENCE SOUTHEASTERN DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- CAROLINA HURRICANES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Paul Maurice Roster: C - Ron Francis, Keith Primeau, Jeff O'Neill, Kent Manderville. RW - Ray Sheppard, Sami Kapanen, Kevin Dineen, Robert Kron. LW - Gary Roberts, Martin Gelinas, Paul Ranheim, Bates Battaglia, Byron Ritchie. D - Paul Coffey, Steve Chiasson, Glen Wesley, Adam Burt, Curtis Leschyshyn, Sean Hill, Dave Karpa, Nolan Pratt, Mike Rucinski, Marek Malik. G - Trevor Kidd, Arturs Irbe. Injuries: None. Transactions: None. Game Results 1/14 Florida L 3-2 1/16 Washington L 3-2 OT 1/18 Toronto W 4-2 1/21 at Detroit L 4-1 TEAM NEWS by Scott W. Pagel Carolina All-Star Roundup For those of you that didn't fall asleep during the Backstreet Boys' endless rendition of the National Anthem, you got to see a pretty good All-Star game. The two Hurricane representatives, goalie Arturs Irbe and center Keith Primeau, made a pretty good showing for themselves, especially in the skills competition on Saturday night. Irbe, who isn't really know as a stick-handling netminder, hit the post twice in an "offensive" contest for the goaltenders. Irbe cleared the small barrier before hitting the right post on both his attempts. The Canes goaltender wasn't done there, though, as he stole the show in what was an offensive attack by two separate players. Both Theo Fleury and hometown hero Wendel Clark took turns bombing Irbe with pucks. Fleury and Clark had 12 seconds each to shoot five pucks at the goaltender. Only Clark was able to get one by as Irbe made nine saves in all, tying him with Martin Brodeur for the best mark in the event. Finally, it was a breakaway contest in which six skaters came one after another. Irbe stoned Larry Murphy, Luc Robitaille and Wendel Clark to start things off. If that wasn't difficult enough, Clark ended up knocking Irbe's goal stick out of his hand, but Irbe was unfazed as he proceeded to stone Keith Tkachuk. Unfortunately, Mark Recchi took advantage of the misfortune and was able to score, but Irbe did rebound, after getting his stick back from Dominik Hasek, to stop Wayne Gretzky on the final shot. In the same competition, Primeau beat Nikolai Khabibulin stick- side for a goal. During the actual game, Irbe saw action in the second period and didn't fare too badly, allowing three goals on 15 shots. More importantly, Irbe showed that his offensive skills from the night before weren't a fluke as he became the first goaltender in All-Star history to earn an assist. Irbe passed the puck to Alexei Yashin before the Ottawa star gave it to Teemu Selanne who eventually scored. Irbe allowed goals to future Hall-of-Famers Ray Bourque and Wayne Gretzky (the MVP of the game) as well as Los Angeles' Rob Blake. Primeau, meanwhile, didn't tally a point in the contest. He mostly saw action on a line with Jeremy Roenick and Tkachuk. Look Out Behind You It's no secret that Pavel Bure is now a Florida Panther. If you're a Carolina Hurricane fan and you haven't exactly thought about this whole deal, let me just summarize for you - this isn't good. Remember a few issues ago when the Canes had close to a double-digit lead in points in the Southeast Division? Well, that's no longer the case. As of the beginning of this week, the Hurricanes led the Panthers by just four points. I'm one of those people that likes to make a big deal out of "what if the playoffs started now?" So, let's take a look since we are at the midway point of the season: The Flyers would be first with 58 points, the Maple Leafs second with 57 and the Hurricanes third with 47...thanks to being the division leader. Falling all the way to fourth are the Senators (56), the Devils are fifth (55), the Sabres sixth (53), followed by Boston with 47 and Pittsburgh, also with 47. Just missing the playoffs would be the Panthers who now have 45 points. It doesn't take a math major to see that there is a pretty good chance there is only one playoff team coming out of the Southeast Division. Bure alone has made a very average team an above average team. A pure goal scorer like the Russian Rocket can make a difference between lots of wins and losses at the end of the year. Considering Bure has scored three goals in two games, it's not going to take that long for him to get back into the groove. That just may mean April tee times again for the Hurricanes. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FLORIDA PANTHERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Terry Murray Roster: C - Viktor Kozlov, Rob Niedermayer, Chris Wells, Steve Washburn. LW - Ray Whitney, Johan Garpenlov, Oleg Kvasha, Kirk Muller, Bill Lindsay, Peter Worrell. RW - Pavel Bure, Scott Mellanby, Dino Ciccarelli, Radek Dvorak, Mark Parrish. D - Robert Svehla, Gord Murphy, Paul Laus, Bret Hedican, Terry Carkner, Rhett Warrener, Jaroslav Spacek. G - Kirk McLean, Sean Burke. Injuries: Viktor Kozlov, C, separated shoulder, day to day. Scott Mellanby, RW, neck injury, day to day. Transactions: January 13th - Assigned right wing Peter Worrell to New Haven of the AHL. January 15th - Assigned forward Craig MacDonald to New Haven of the AHL. January 16th - Recalled defenseman Jaroslav Spacek from New Haven of the AHL. January 17th - Acquired right wing Pavel Bure, defensemen Bret Hedican and Brad Ference and a conditional third-round draft pick from the Vancouver Canucks for center Dave Gagner, defenseman Ed Jovanovski, left wing Mike Brown, goaltender Kevin Weekes and a conditional first-round draft pick. January 19th - Dino Ciccarelli, RW, was suspended for two games by the NHL for a slashing incident Monday night against the Buffalo Sabres. January 21st - Recalled Steve Washburn, C, from New Haven of the AHL. Game Results 01/13 Toronto T 3-3 01/14 at Carolina L 3-2 01/16 NY Islanders W 1-0 01/18 Buffalo L 4-0 01/20 at NY Islanders W 5-2 01/21 at NY Rangers W 2-1 01/26 at Philadelphia T 3-3 TEAM NEWS by Matthew Secosky Pavel Bure: Florida Panther. I believe Wayne Gretzky said it best when he uttered the words, "Miami fans are in for a treat. He's an exceptional hockey player worth every penny he's paid." After all, when The Great One makes a statement like that it has to be true. Pavel Bure is one of those rare players that can move you to the edge of your seat every time he touches the puck. He's the 'i' in CHiPs. He's the creme filling in a Twinkie. He's the whole f'n show. Need proof? How about this. Bure has six goals in his first three games. The rest of team has combined for four. Florida had only won two games of their past eleven before Bure arrived, with Bure they are undefeated in three. Yeah, I'd say Bure got the goods. Carolina better watch their backs cause the Panthers are going to make the race to win the division very interesting in the second half. Hip! Hip! Bure! Hip! Hip! Bure! Random Notes Did You Know? When integrated circuits are welded onto printed circuit boards or equipment, the presence of moisture between the closely spaced terminals can result in conductive paths that may impair device performance in high-impedance applications. It is therefore recommended that conformal coatings or potting be provided as an added measure of protection against moisture penetration. Kozlov Missed All-Star Game A shoulder injury kept Viktor Kozlov out of Sunday's NHL All-Star game, making the Panthers one of only two teams not represented in the event. The other team was...ummm...I forget. Guess they're used to it though. Kozlov is listed as day-to-day and as such could return any day. Funny how that works. The Money Ain't a Thing Dino Ciccarelli was suspended two games by the NHL for slashing defenseman Jason Woolley in last Monday's 4-0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. Ciccarelli will lose $22,653 of his $2.17 million salary. The suspension comes only two days after Dino recorded his 1,200th NHL point to become the 28th person to reach that milestone. Ciccarelli is now eighth in career scoring among active players. "I have a lot of individual goals and it's something I'm proud of, but it's the team successes that's more fun," Ciccarelli said. "I'm a firm believer that 90 percent of the goals in this league are ugly and 10 percent are pretty." ----------------------------------------------------------------- TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Jacques Demers Roster: C - Darcy Tucker, Chris Gratton, Mike Sillinger, Michael Nylander, Vincent Lecavalier. RW - Stephane Richer, Benoit Hogue, Rob Zamuner, Mikael Andersson. LW - Wendel Clark, Alexander Selivanov, Sandy McCarthy, Steve Kelly, Brent Peterson. D - Cory Cross, Petr Svoboda, David Wilkie, Jassen Cullimore, Pavel Kubina, Mike McBain, Kjell Samuelsson. G - Bill Ranford, Daren Puppa, Corey Schwab. Injuries: Daren Puppa, g (groin, indefinite). Transactions: Trade Craig Janney, c, to Islanders for future considerations; trade Andrei Nazarov, rw, to Calgary for Michael Nylander, c; assign Andrei Skopintsev, d, to Cleveland (IHL). Game Results 01/15 New Jersey L 3-1 01/16 Boston T 2-2 01/19 Buffalo W 2-1 01/21 Nashville W 3-2 01/26 Montreal L 2-1 TEAM NEWS by Seth Lerman It was good while it lasted. The Tampa Bay Lightning's three-game unbeaten streak came to an end on January, 26 when the visiting Montreal Canadiens defeated the Lightning 2-1. Despite another strong defensive showing, the Lightning were on able to light the lamp once as Benoit Hogue notched his fourth of the season. Prior to the All-Star break, the Lightning tied Boston 2-2, defeated Buffalo 2-1, and Nashville 3-2. Two of the three games were played on the road. "It's been a rough year so far," defenseman Cory Cross said to Associated Press. "It's nice to get away for a few days. It's good to get a couple wins. We'll enjoy the break a little more." The victory against the Sabres was special for coach Jacques Demers. It was the 400th victory of his career. He becomes only the twelfth coach in NHL history to accomplish this feat. "I'm going to get it (the game puck) framed and I'm going to put my wife's name on it," said Demers, whose wife Debbie was diagnosed with cancer midway through last season. "I want to share it with her because I didn't think she'd be here tonight." "You got to remember, I didn't do this by myself," Demers said. "The players seemed to really want it for me and I won't forget that. It was a special thing." The victory over the Sabres snapped an eight-game winless streak and also beat Buffalo for the first time (0-8-1) since Corey Schwab posted a 4-0 shutout over the Sabres on Oct. 15, 1996. "Jacques is an emotional guy and really cares about his team. We're glad we could give something back to him," said Rob Zamuner whose goal in the second period turned out to be the game-winner. "It's a nice night for Jacques and he deserves one day of feeling good about our team." Off the ice, the Lightning made a couple of moves. First they sent Craig Janney to the New York Islanders for a draft pick. Less than a week later, they traded hard hitting Andrei Nazarov to the Calgary Flames for center Michael Nylander. "Michael is a dynamic, young offensive player who has the ability to create scoring chances at any time," said Tampa Bay general manager and coach Jacques Demers. "He upgrades our skill level immediately." Nylander had his best season in 1995-96 with Calgary, totaling 17 goals and 38 assists in 73 games. Prior to joining the Flames, Nylander played for the Hartford Whalers. This season he has played only nine games and has two goals and three assists. He missed the first 23 games with a knee injury and has been a healthy scratch for 12 contests. ----------------------------------------------------------------- WASHINGTON CAPITALS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Ron Wilson Roster: C - Adam Oates, Jan Bulis, Andrei Nikolishin, Michal Pivonka, Dale Hunter. LW - Joe Juneau, Brian Bellows, Richard Zednik, Steve Konowalchuk, Trevor Halverson. RW - Peter Bondra, Craig Berube, Kelly Miller, Mike Eagles, James Black. D - Calle Johansson, Sergei Gonchar, Brendan Witt, Joe Reekie, Dmitri Mironov, Ken Klee, Enrico Ciccone. G - Olaf Kolzig, Rick Tabaracci. Injuries: Yogi Svejkovsky, lw (sprained ankle, day-to-day); Adam Oates, c (groin strain, indefinite); Tom Chorske, lw (abdomen/groin, 3-5 weeks); Chris Simon, lw (shoulder surgery, out for season); Richard Zednik, lw (groin, indefinite); Mark Tinordi, d (groin strain, indefinite); Jeff Toms, lw (abdomen, 4-6 weeks). Transactions: None. Game Results: 1/13 Philadelphia L 3-0 1/15 Montreal L 3-0 1/16 at Carolina W 3-2 OT 1/18 at Montreal T 4-4 1/21 at Philadelphia L 4-1 TEAM NEWS by Jason Sheehan Capitals' Hourglass is Almost Empty It is now or never for the Washington Capitals. The Capitals have two options: They must revamp their game in order to make the playoffs or become the first team in recent history to participate in the Stanley Cup Finals while missing the playoffs the year before and after the miracle season. There is no magic potion, no rainbow and no magic slippers that starts winning streaks. Winning comes from hard work, chemistry and a willingness to get down and dirty in the trenches. These are qualities the Capitals have lacked in the first half of the season. These are also qualities Washington must develop in order to save its season. Through 43 games, the Capitals are seven games below .500 and have grossed a measly 36 points, placing them 12th in a 14-team conference. Winning one game and losing the next will no longer get the job done. This symptom has plagued the Capitals this month. To put things in prospective, the Eastern Conference's eighth and final playoff seeds (Boston and Pittsburgh) are four and six games above .500, respectively. Meanwhile, the Carolina Hurricanes, who lead the Southeast Division with 47 points, would be ranked third in the conference if the season ended after the all-star break. Division winners receive the top three seeds. If poor play and a strong conference are not enough to frighten the Capitals, then the sudden emergence of the Florida Panthers should send general manager George McPhee and coach Ron Wilson to church. The Panthers, who trail Carolina by two points in the division, became a force to win the division last week with the acquisition of disgruntled holdout Pavel Bure in a seven-player trade from Vancouver. The deal included draft picks and an exchange of second-line players. Vancouver acquired defenseman Ed Jovanovski and center Dave Gagner. Florida strengthened its lineup with defensemen Bret Hedican and Brad Ference. Bure made an immediate impact, scoring three goals in his first two games as a Panther. Organization Tries to Solve Injury Mystery While Panthers general manager Bryan Murray has improved his roster, McPhee seems content waiting for his injured players to get healthy. The Capitals are on pace to break yet another franchise record for amount of man-games lost to injury. Washington, which lost 476 man-games to injury last season, has lost 258 this season through 43 games. McPhee enforced a plan in training camp to reduce the amount of injuries that have plagued the club in each of the last three seasons. That plan called for more preventative measures to be taken with injured players. McPhee reasoned the man-games lost to injury were so high because injured players were not giving themselves enough time to heal. Unfortunately for McPhee and company, injured players are no longer playing hurt; they're not playing at all. The failure of "Plan A" has forced McPhee to revisit the drawing board and create "Plan B." The new plan begins early next month when sports medicine consultant John Arnett comes to Washington to address the injury situation. "As a manager I think I know where the problem areas are," McPhee told The Washington Post, "but the smartest thing we can do is get someone to really look at the situation from the outside. I think it reflects well on the organization and it's what the players would like to see happen, that we're going to be trying yet again to do something about this problem." Bondra is NHL's Fastest Man Right wing Peter Bondra finally found light at the end of his long tunnel - easing the frustrations of a 15-goal season - by becoming the NHL's fastest man for the second time in his career at the All-Star Skills Competition Jan. 24 in Tampa Bay. Bondra beat San Jose rookie Marco Sturm and Chicago's Tony Amonte by completing a circle around the rink in 14.64 seconds. Due to rule changes in the event, that time was about a second slower than times posted by previous winners. Two skaters used to race against each other, but due to the controversial win at last year's skills competition by Scott Niedermayer - he used his stick to cross the finish line ahead of Bondra - players now skate alone. Bondra, an avid golfer, isn't ready to hit the links in April. He believes he and his teammates can dig themselves out of the Eastern Conference's basement and compete with the NHL's elite teams. "When I play golf over the summer, if on the first nine holes I'm struggling, then I'm looking forward to making it up on the back nine," Bondra said. "That's how I'm looking at this. My goal is to have a better second half and for our team to make the playoffs." ================================================================ ================================================================= TEAM REPORTS ================================================================= WESTERN CONFERENCE CENTRAL DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Dirk Graham roster: C - Doug Gilmour, Mark Janssens, Chad Kilger, Alexei Zhamnov. LW - Dan Cleary, Eric Daze, Jean-Yves Leroux, Mike Maneluk, Ethan Moreau, Bob Probert, Reid Simpson. RW - Tony Amonte, Nelson Emerson, Marko Makinen, Ed Olczyk. D - Jamie Allison, Brad Brown, Chris Chelios, Christian Laflamme, Dave Manson, Bryan Muir, Remi Royer, Trent Yawney, Doug Zmolek. G - Mark Fitzpatrick, Jocelyn Thibault. injuries: Eric Daze, lw (groin, day-to-day); Trent Yawney, d (broken elbow, out for season). transactions: Assigned Craig Mills, rw, to Portland (AHL) January 12; recalled Marko Makinen, rw, from Greenville (ECHL) January 15; assigned Todd White, c, to Chicago (IHL) January 19. game results: 1/12 at Colorado L 4-1 1/15 at Rangers W 3-1 1/17 Phoenix T 1-1 1/21 Montreal W 3-0 team news by Tom Crawford Hawks Petition League for Move East In light of the Blackhawks' recent searing play against the giants of the old Wales Conference, you could forgive them for asking the league for a change of venue. Not only did the Hawks recently take two points each from Montreal and the Rangers--teams battling for the honor of almost making the Eastern Conference playoffs--but their record against teams with more than one year's membership in the East is a nearly respectable 6-7-3. Why, if the Hawks could change conferences and take Nashville with them, displacing, say, Philadelphia and the Maple Leafs, they'd be right up there in third or fourth place in the Atlantic. Ah, it's nice to dream sometimes. Blackhawk For Life? When Chris Chelios signed a three-year contract extension in 1996, both sides expressed their satisfaction that the veteran defenseman would play out his career in his hometown of Chicago. But, as Jeremy Roenick learned earlier that year, when Bill Wirtz says he means to make you "a Blackhawk for life", you're not meant to take him literally. Two years after promising Roenick a lifetime membership in the Indian-head fraternity, Wirtz dealt J.R. to Phoenix for the terminally frustrating Alexei Zhamnov. Now it seems as if Chelios may have to settle for being an honorary Hawk as well. Reports out of New York last week claimed Cheli had actually requested a trade from the sinking Chicago franchise to a contender, and that he and Wirtz had a handshake deal to make the trade if it was clear the Hawks would not make the playoffs this year. Both parties denied the existence of such a pact, but the rumors persist. And if you can get past the visceral shock that the idea of trading Chelios brings, it really isn't such a bad idea. Let's face it, the Hawks suck and Cheli's getting old. His only real worth to the team is in a mentoring role, and that's never been Chelios' strength. He could do so much for a team like Phoenix or Philadelphia--teams with Stanley Cup-caliber talent but no cojones. He always shines in the playoffs, often providing unexpected offense, and his addition would provide immediate credibility to a contender's blue line corps. The Hawks could grab some serious young talent in a deal like this. However, GM Bob Murray will have to either land a superstar in return for Cheli or face the wrath of a fan base that's lost its favorite player twice in three seasons. It's a tough decision, and most likely one in which Wirtz and Murray will choose the safe route. Smart money says Chelios stays put. Look, I'm About To Be Nice To A Blackhawk Executive Whatever he does with Chelios, Murray has already accomplished more in trades this year than in the rest of his tenure as GM. The acquisitions of Jocelyn Thibault and Nelson Emerson have paid immediate dividends, and the players Murray gave up for them he was glad to be rid of. Jeff Hackett was done as a Blackhawk after his near nervous breakdown brought on by the signing of Mark Fitzpatrick. A career backup, Hackett apparently never developed the confidence of a No. 1 goalie, and he went to pieces under the pressure of a talented competitor. Hackett took with him the human turnover, Eric Weinrich, and Thibault brought with him Brad Brown, a blueliner with a lot more years left on him and a taste for hitting. In dealing Paul Coffey to the Hurricanes for Emerson, Murray admitted he made a big mistake by signing a guy who couldn't crack the lineup in defense-starved Philly. And, more importantly, he found that most rare of beasts (at least in Chicago) a winger who shoots the damn puck. Though Emerson's Blackhawk stats look more like a defenseman's (40 shots on net, 2 goals), his eagerness to put rubber on goal is a welcome change. Now if Bob can just get Shantz and Dubinsky back. Al Would Have Been So Proud Tony Amonte had a chance to climb many rungs on the hockey respect ladder but couldn't quite pull it off against the Rangers. Amonte was mired in a nine-game goal-less streak and was in danger of falling farther behind John LeClair for the league lead. Then with only three seconds to go in the contest and the Hawks owning a 2-1 lead, Tony found himself with the puck on his stick and an empty net in front of him. Surely somewhere inside he heard the voice of Al Iafrate admonishing him that empty net goals were for, well, men who prefer the company of other men. But Tony just couldn't help himself, and he lobbed the puck into the open net. Funny thing is, he didn't make up any ground on LeClair, because John scored a cheapie that night, too. Careful boys, you're liable to give American hockey players a bad name. News and Notes Though the wins against Montreal and the Rangers look like solid defensive efforts on the score sheet, defensive lapses continue to be a problem even in Hawk victories. The team completely fell asleep in the second period in Madison Square Garden, allowing 18 shots on Jocelyn Thibault, and the unofficial count against the Canadiens had the Hawks giving it away in their own zone 14 times. Still a long way to go . . . . Brad Brown scored his first NHL goal in a timely fashion, tying the game against the Coyotes late in the third period . . . . Tony Amonte was the team's sole representative at the NHL All-Star game in Tampa. Amonte's usual All-Star teammate Chris Chelios didn't gripe about being left off the squad, instead admitting that Amonte was the only Hawk who merited selection. ----------------------------------------------------------------- DETROIT RED WINGS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Scotty Bowman Roster C - Steve Yzerman, Igor Larionov, Kris Draper, Sergei Fedorov. LW - Brendan Shanahan, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Doug Brown, Tomas Holmstrom, Kirk Maltby, Brent Gilchrist. RW - Darren McCarty, Martin Lapointe, Mathieu Dandenault, Stacey Roest D - Nicklas Lidstrom, Larry Murphy, Jamie Macoun, Aaron Ward, Uwe Krupp, Anders Eriksson. G - Chris Osgood, Norm Maracle. INJURIES: Brent Gilchrist, lw (hernia, indefinite); Kirk Maltby, lw (lower abominal strain, day-to-day); Joe Kocur, rw (abdominal strain, day-to-day); Kevin Hodson, g (knee strain, indefinite); Uwe Krupp, d (back problems, 2 weeks). TRANSACTIONS: Phillipe Audet, rw, returned to Adirondack (AHL). GAME RESULTS: 1/12 Montreal W 5-1 1/14 Nashville W 2-1 OT 1/16 at Vancouver T 2-2 1/17 at Edmonton L 4-1 1/19 at Calgary L 3-1 1/21 Carolina W 4-1 team news by Dino Cacciola LES HABS Five different Red Wing players scored goals in an impressive win over long-time Original Six rival Montreal Canadiens. The Red Wings won 5-1, making their record 4-2 over the last six games. Slava Kozlov, Sergei Fedorov, Nicklas Lidstrom, Jamie Macoun and Doug Brown scored for the Wings. "Scotty's been saying some things the last week," Goalie Chris Osgood said. "I don't want to say what it is, but we've been paying attention. Everybody's really stepped it up and used what Scotty's been saying on the ice." Sergei Fedorov said the main point of coach Bowman's message was simply to get back to what the Red Wings do best and this is skating. "Red Wings' hockey," Fedorov said. "That's what it's all about. It's scoring a lot of transition goals. It's no turnovers. It's tight defense. Once we got going tonight, it was like, `That's how we do it, guys. Let's keep it going.' " The Canadiens took the lead early in the first period., but the Red Wings scored five straight goals and out shot Les Habitants 39-18 for the game. Kozlov and Fedorov broke the game open with goals 33 seconds apart and Lidstrom's unassisted short handed goal gave the Wings a 3-1 lead with 43 seconds left in the opening period. Jamie Macoun made it 4-1 with his first regular season goal since March 13, 1997, an unassisted effort to boot. That ended a personal scoring drought of 129 straight games. Dougie Brown got the final score. OT BABY How sweet it is. Even though it was an overtime win against an expansion team, the Wings will take any point they can scrounge up these days. Points have been hard to come by. Slava Kozlov scored 2:54 into overtime after a Nashville player lost the puck in the corner, giving the Red Wings a 2-1 victory over the upstart Predators . The loose puck went to Detroit's Sergei Fedorov and then to Steve Yzerman, whose sweet pinpoint pass to Kozlov set up the game-winning goal. "I had a good feeling going into overtime," Fedorov said. "They finally made a mistake and we got the puck and turned it into a goal." Kozlov took the pass from Yzerman near the right post and snapped a shot past goalie Tomas Vokoun for just his ninth goal of the season. Kirk Maltby also scored. "Kris slipped the puck to me and it just slipped in," Maltby said. "More times than not, the goalie will make the save on that, and you hope for the rebound. But this time, it happened to go in." OZZIE THE TIE KING It's been 31 games and just over four years since goalie Chris Osgood last gave up an overtime goal. With a 2-2 tie against the Vancouver Canucks, he extended his amazing OT shutout streak to 136:15. Ozzie still remembered the last regular season overtime goal he's given up. "It was against the Rangers, I think Verbeek scored it," said Osgood, who made two of his 16 saves in the overtime period. "It was a back-door goal. That was quite a while ago. "I take pride. It's a thing that's important to me and fun at the same time because I use it as a challenge to see how long I can go without letting one in." Darren McCarty scored 6:43 into the third period to secure the tie for the Red Wings, who are 6-0-2 in heir last eight meetings against the Canucks going way back to March 8, 1997. McCarty's goal came four minutes after the Canucks went ahead 2-1. Igor Larionov scored Detroit's other goal. Winger Brendan Shanahan had an assist on Larionov's goal, ending an 11-game stretch without a single point. It is believed that he is playing hurt. "We felt we deserved to win. Garth Snow had a great game. We hit three posts early in the second period which could've given us a nice cushion but we fought back and had a lot of chances," said Shanahan. "We're not happy that we got a tie because we felt we played well enough to win." OIL SLICK Steve Yzerman had a shorthanded goal for Detroit and that wasn't enough as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Red Wings 4-1. "They buried their chances," Brendan Shanahan said of the Oilers. "We missed open nets. As it turned out, the second period was where they scored their goals." Shanahan hasn't scored in 12 games. His last goal was Dec. 23 against the Nashville Predators. "I've never been through 10 or 12 games without a goal," he said. The Wings are 22-19-3 and in first place in the Central Division, but the team isn't satisfied with being just a few games over .500, Shanahan said. "The guys get down on themselves a little bit. I think we've found ourselves in some games where we haven't played our best." Chris Osgood was replaced by Norm Maracle at the start of the third period to finish the game. BURNED OUT The Red Wings had 36 shots but it wasn't enough to extinguish the Flames as they lost 3-1. The Flames won the season series against Detroit 3-1. Darren McCarty scored the lone goal for the Red Wings in the defeat. "We played pretty good defensively, but when you're always coming from behind, the defense isn't much good to you at that point," said head coach Scotty Bowman. "It came down to them scoring on their chances and their goalie making some great saves," said Brendan Shanahan, who is goalless in his last 13 games after scoring 17 in his first 32. The Wings did open the scoring on a power play 7:26 into the first period when Steve Yzerman's centering pass deflected off McCarty's skate and over the goal line. EYE OF THE STORM Chris Osgood gave up a goal in the first minute of the game on a breakway by Keith Primeau. He also and almost scored one himself in the last minute of the game in an open net. The win ended a three-game winless streak from their recent western road trip. Defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings, who won for just the seventh time in their last 21 games. Sergei Fedorov, Dougie Brown and Igor Larionov also scored for Detroit. "Ozzie was magnificent, he made so many good saves," Brown said. "A couple point blank, a couple breakways, a couple one timers and a couple of wraparounds. You just can't say enough good things about the way Ozzie played tonight." Ozzie almost scored his second career goal when his rink length shot at an empty net was just wide and tapped in by Larionov for Detroit's final goal with only 28 seconds left. "It would've been nice to score a goal," Osgood said. "I thought I might as well go for it. It would've been a big boost at this time of the season." Osgood scored a goal March 6, 1996, at Hartford when the Hurricanes were still the Whalers. Ouch! Captain Steve Yzerman had to leave the game in the second period with a cut above his right eye and a broken nose after he was hit in the face by a puck. Yzerman went down on the ice trying to block what he thought was going to be a pass between two former Red Wings, Paul Coffey and Primeau. Coffey instead fired a shot that hit Yzerman in the face and opened a deep gash. Yzerman missed the All-Star Game due to the injury. He was taken to the hospital to get x-rays and tests. A broken nose was the prognosis and a whole bunch of stitches. Kirk Maltby also broke his nose in a third period collision with Ronnie Francis. He is not having much luck this year in the health department. Lidstrom broke a 1-1 tie 14:31 into the second period with a power-play blast from just inside the blue line that deflected off a Hurricanes defenseman and past goalie Arturs Irbe for the game-winner. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NASHVILLE PREDATORS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Barry Trotz roster: C - Darren Turcotte, Greg Johnson, Jeff Nelson, Patric Kjellberg, Sebastien Bordeleau, Cliff Ronning. LW - Andrew Brunette, Blair Atcheynum, Scott Walker, Denny Lambert, Ville Peltonen, Jeff Daniels, Vitali Yachmenev. RW - Sergei Krivokrasov, Brad Smyth, Tom Fitzgerald, Patrick Cote. D - Joel Bouchard, Bob Boughner, John Slaney, Jamie Heward, Jayson More, J.J. Daigneault, Drake Berehowsky, Jan Vopat, Kimmo Timonen. G - Mike Dunham, Eric Fichaud, Tomas Vokoun, Chris Mason. injuries: Ville Peltonen, lw (separated shoulder, 4-8 weeks); Eric Fichaud, g (separated shoulder, season); Jayson More, d (post-concussion syndrome, day-to-day); Darren Turcotte, c (knee, 4-6 weeks). transactions: Recalled Mark Mowers, f, from Milwaukee (IHL). game results: 1/14 at Detroit L 2-1 1/15 Phoenix W 2-0 1/18 at Boston L 8-1 1/19 Vancouver W 4-1 1/21 Tampa Bay L 3-2 team news by Jeff Middleton CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR In the second of three games against the league's best, the Predators bounced back from a horrible performance against the best in the East and gave the Red Wings another run for their money. In one of the hardest fought games so far this year, Tomas Voukoun gave up one weak goal but held off the underachieving Red Wings to force overtime. Unfortunately, this is not the IHL and you do not get one point for an OT loss - Slava Kozlov's goal dashed Nashville's hopes for a second win against the Central Division leaders. ANOTHER FIRST FOR THE PREDS Coming back home, the Predators could come out in one of two ways: they could (A) be so disheartened by the previous night's loss to Detroit and get smoked by the Coyotes or (B) be encouraged by the previous night's effort and put up an even better one for the home crowd. Even without Captain Keith Tkachuk Phoenix presented a formidable opponent for Nashville, who showed in no time they were up to the task. A power-play goal by former 'Yote Cliff Ronning was all the Preds would need, as streaky Tomas Vokoun held down the fort to earn the franchise's first ever shutout. THE EAST - A BEAST The last time Nashville met the boys from Boston, they played a lousy game and got spanked. This time, they got spanked even harder. The matinee in Beantown on President's Day was again a vacation day for the Predators, as the day of Friday night's victory turned into the night of Monday's defeat. The Eastern Conference has had its way with the Predators this season, and if there is any hope of earning a playoff spot they must step it up against the larger, stronger Eastern Conference teams. That's pretty much the bottom line, not much to say about this contest. BACK HOME, THANKFULLY Up and down and up and down and up and down. This is the story of the Nashville Predators through the 1998-99 season. That and injured goalies anyway. The good thing about coming back home was that even though he would not be starting, Mike Dunham was back on the bench as Tomas Vokoun's backup. Since he injured his groin against the Vancouver Canucks back in December, it seemed logical that he would come back against that same team. Unfortunately, it also seemed logical that the Canucks would injure another Preds' keeper. At the end of the first period, Vokoun suffered a knee sprain that would once again bring G Chris Mason up from Milwaukee to ride the pine before the break. So the hometown fans got to welcome Dunham back mid-game. It was also a game where the Preds actually beat someone convincingly. With the largest margin of the year, the Predators won the season series against Vancouver, earned valuable points against another playoff contender, and sealed Mike Keenan's fate as ex-coach of the Vancouver Canucks. THE ALL-STAR BREAK Since the 49th NHL All-Star game was going to be played Sunday in Tampa, the Predators decided to give the fans in Tampa Bay some practice at cheering. The worst team in the league came into Music City and demonstrated the clear differences between the East and the West. Size does matter, and the Predators got outmuscled all night long. They played as if the break had already started and lost to the cellar-dwellers from Florida. Mike Dunham showed a little rust, making a poor decision on a dump-in in the second period which lead to the Lightning's second goal. The video replay rule reared its ugly head as the tying goal was disallowed due to the tip of Patrick Kjellberg's skate crossing just into the blue. A LOOK BACK After a half a season in the books, it might be worthwhile to analyze how the newest franchise in the NHL has done. So here goes, the first report card: Goalies: B+ When looking at the goaltending we see a tale of two injuries. Mike Dunham's groin and Eric Fichaud's shoulder have hurt the Predators, but have allowed Tomas Vokoun to sharpen his skills against the best. The future looks bright. Defensemen: C+ Drake Berehowsky has been the cornerstone of the defense, but there are some serious holes that require solid goaltending as caulk. With offensive-minded blueliners such as Kimmo Timmonen, Jamie Heward and John Slaney on the ice for a considerable amount of time each night, odd-man rushes are frequent and not too far between. Where's Greg DeVries these days? Forwards: A- All good teams have at least two good combinations up front, and the Predators have actually put together a couple that most nights can provide a fairly good offensive punch. Cliff Ronning and Patrick Kjellberg spend each night with a variety of wingers, as do Greg Johnson and Sergei Krivokrasov. The loss of Ville Peltonen deprived the Predators of some considerable skill, but Vitali Yachmenev and Blair Atchyenum have stepped up nicely. Scott Walker and Sebastien Bordeleau provide speed and defense, while Denny Lambert and Patrick Cote are 6th and 7th in the league in PIM. Veterans Darren Turcotte and Captain Tom Fitzgerald have given the team an identity and a dependable checking line to throw out against the league's best. Coaching: A The coaching staff has been exceptional, considering they are testing the waters just like anyone else. Establishing the kind of team mentality and unity so quickly was said to be the biggest challenge to Barry Trotz, but it has been met and overcome. Front Office: A+ David Poile has made all the right moves so far. Jack Diller has sold the city on the excitement of hockey. Craig Leipold has proven to be a new force on the Music City scene. Excellent job all around. Overall: B+ The Predators need serious help on special team and also need to develop some consistency. If they can they will be a serious threat to lose to the Stars in the first round of the playoffs. Not bad for a first try. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ST. LOUIS BLUES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Joel Quenneville Roster: C - Craig Conroy, Mike Eastwood, Pascal Rheaume, Pierre Turgeon, Michal Handzus. LW - Geoff Courtnall, Michel Picard, Tony Twist, Pavol Demitra. RW - Jim Campbell, Kelly Chase, Scott Pellerin, Scott Young. D - Marc Bergevin, Al MacInnis, Chris McAlpine, Rudy Poeschek, Chris Pronger, Jamie Rivers, Ricard Persson. G - Grant Fuhr, Jamie McLennan. Injuries: None. Transactions: Jan. 12 - Recalled Jochen Hecht, c, from Worcester (AHL); Jan. 14 - assigned Lubos Bartecko, rw, to Worcester; Jan. 20 - recalled Rich Parent, g, from Worcester, assigned Jochen Hecht, c, to Worcester; Jan. 22 - sent Rich Parent, g, to Worcester. Game Results: 1/13 at Buffalo W 4-2 1/16 at Colorado L 2-0 1/19 at Phoenix L 4-2 1/21 Toronto L 4-2 TEAM NEWS by Tom Cooper Wick Loses His Flame After battling cancer for over a year, St. Louis Blues playoff hero Doug Wickenheiser succumbed to the disease that consumed him. He was 37. "Aside from being one of the most exciting hockey players, he was a truly great person and had a great family," said Susie Mathieu, the Blues' publicity director when Wickenheiser was with the team. "He embodied it all." "Wick" is best remembered for the "Monday Night Miracle" when he scored the game-winning overtime goal in Game 6 of the 1986 Campbell Conference Finals against Calgary. In the game, St. Louis trailed 5-2 with 11:52 left in the game when the Blues clawed back to tie the game in regulation. Wickenheiser's goal in overtime sent the series to a seventh game, which Calgary eventually won 2-1. Wearing a Bluenote for 230 games, Wick had 51 goals and 67 assists. His career spanned 10 years and four other teams - New York Rangers, Washington, Montreal, and Vancouver. During Wickenheiser's struggle with cancer, the Blues wore a circular emblem with a lit candle and the number 14 above the flame. In a ceremony to honor Wickenheiser's life prior to St. Louis's game with Toronto, the Blues unveiled a banner with that symbol on it that will hang between the American and Canadian flags for the rest of the season. It will be moved permanently outside of the Blues Alumni Box at the Kiel Center starting next season. Although the hero has passed on, his teammates will always remember him for the joy he had on the ice. "I remember the pumping of his fists," said Bernie Federko the franchise's career leading scorer, now a radio analyst with the team. "I can see it right now, and the smile on his face. That's what we remember him by, not the last few months." Let's Talk Some Games Well, not much has happened in the past two weeks over in Bluesland. No huge fines, no troubles with money, nothing like that. So, since we've got some extra time and web page space, let's see what the Blues have done (or, better yet, what they haven't done) in their past four games. Is That Hasek In Net? Playing the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo with Dominik Hasek in goal. That thought usually instills fear in the heart of any opponent entering the Marine Midland Arena. Usually. This was a Buffalo Sabre squad that had lost its previous three home games when Hasek started. The Blues pushed that streak to four with a 4-2 win. Chris Pronger scored twice and Grant Fuhr stopped 23 of 25 to give St. Louis only their second road win in 14 games. "Our record on the road hasn't been what we like," said Blues coach Joel Quenneville. "We got the big goal that we didn't get before." Michael Peca gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead five minutes into the first, but St. Louis came back with Pronger's two goals in the second and two more goals in the third to push the lead to 4-1 seven minutes into the third. For Pronger, his two goals, both on the power play, were an enjoyment. "Anytime you score two goals against (Hasek), it's going to be fun," Pronger said. "It's even more fun to win." Roy The Hell Can't We Score On Him? The old school is moving out. The new guard is coming in. How come nobody told that to the Blues? Earlier in the week, the Blues (Chris Pronger particularly) mastered Dominik Hasek, a goaltender that was to represent a new wave of young flashy netminder that were hogging the spotlight of the National Hockey League. Only three days later, the Blues traveled to Colorado to take on a goaltender who was replaced in the spotlight by Hasek - Patrick Roy. Problem is Roy wasn't as easy to beat as Hasek was. The Colorado goalie, who had shut out the Blues in their previous two meetings this season, did it again. This time he stopped all 28 shots he faced for a 2-0 victory. "I guess sometimes you need one (a shutout) to get on a roll," said Roy, who has 44 career shutouts. "I felt good today, like the last game. I was just trying to make save after save, play as good as I could." Aaron Miller and Valeri Kamensky scored the only goals of the contest. The only bright spot of the game was the return of Pierre Turgeon to the Blues' lineup, after the center missed 14 games with a broken bone in his left hand. A Battle of Former Division Rivals So, plain and simple, the Blues needed a win to avoid going 1-4 on their five-game road swing. Would they get it? Ha! That's a good one. The Blues did jump out to a 1-0 lead when Al MacInnis picked up a Power-play goal with only a second left in the first. But Phoenix posted a three-spot in the third as the Coyotes went on for a 4-2 victory, thus ending the Blues' dismal road trip with a loss. Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 26 of 28 shots for the win, while Jamie McLennan stopped 15 of the 19 he faced. He was replaced at 1:20 of the third by Grant Fuhr after McLennan allowed his fourth goal of the night. Back Home The Blues closed their pre-All-Star Game schedule back home in the friendly confines of the Kiel Center to try and change their recent luck and at least head into the long break with a point or two in a match with Toronto. Uh huh, right. The Blues did jump out to a lead after one period, Craig Conroy helped do that with a goal 15:20 in. But Toronto picked up two in the second and added two more in the third as the Maple Leafs sent the Blues into the annual break with a 4-2 loss. Any layman would see that the Blues are not doing as good this season at the Break as they were last season at this same point. Goals are down, points are down, wins are down. Everything is down. Has the loss of Brett Hull caused it all? Possibly, but that's in the past. We've got a new hero in Pavol Demitra. Maybe he can help us out, especially in the third period where the Blues are 0-14-2 this season when trailing after two and 0-55-10 going back to Nov. 14, 1996. Lord knows we need the help. ================================================================ ================================================================= TEAM REPORTS ================================================================= WESTERN CONFERENCE NORTHWEST DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- CALGARY FLAMES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Brian Sutter Roster: C - Andrew Cassels, Clarke Wilm, Cory Stillman,Jeff Shantz, Steve Dubinsky. LW - Bob Bassen, Ed Ward, Jason Wiemer, Dave Roche. RW - Valeri Bure, Theoren Fleury, Jarome Iginla, Martin St. Louis, Rocky Thompson, Andrei Nazarov. D - Tommy Albelin, Cale Hulse, Derek Morris, Todd Simpson, Steve Smith, Phil Housley, Dennis Gauthier. G - Ken Wregget, Fred Brathwaite. Injuries: Cory Stillman, c (returned from knee strain Jan. 5, missed five games); Jean-Sebastien Giguere, g (returned form strained hamstring Jan. 13, missed seven games); Dennis Gauthier, d (returned from concussion Jan. 16, missed two games); Valeri Bure, rw (returned from concussion Jan. 16, missed two games); Andrei Trefilov, g (returned from groin strain Jan. 18, missed six games); Tyler Moss, g (returned from groin injury Jan. 18, missed 17 games); Rocky Thompson, rw (suffered concussion Jan. 16, day-to- day); Dave Roche, lw (injured knee Jan. 2, day-to-day); Ken Wregget, g (suffered back spasms Nov. 3, indefinite). Transactions: Recalled Rocky Thompson, rw, from St. John (AHL) Jan. 11; sent Tyler Garner, g, to Oshawa (OHL) Jan 11; acquired Andrei Nazarov, rw, from Tampa Bay Lightning Jan. 19 for Michael Nylander, c; sent Hnat Domenichelli, lw, to St. John Jan. 18; sent Chris Dingman, lw, to St. John Jan. 18; sent Andrei Trefilov, g, to Detroit (IHL) Jan. 22; sent Jean-Sebastien Giguere, g, to St. John Jan. 22. Game Results: 1/13 at Anaheim W 2-1 1/14 at Los Angeles L 3-0 1/16 at San Jose T 3-3 1/19 Detroit W 3-1 1/21 at Colorado L 4-2 TEAM NEWS by Simon D. Lewis Fleury Fit to Fly Flames' Coop Theo Fleury is set to test the free agent market starting on July 1. That's what he told the Calgary Sun this week and it looks to be certain that Flames fans are seeing their last season with feisty No. 14 in the lineup. "People have to realize I'm just playing by the rules right now. I think anybody in my position would do that. I know the situation in Calgary for me is great, I'm going to play a lot and have a lot of support from my teammates and coaching staff. But there has been a certain level of frustration with how things have gone in this whole situation," said Fleury. He's referring to the Flames' seeming inability to offer him a renegotiated deal last year when he was very interested in staying. Now it's too late to deal and too late to trade him unless some playoff desperate team needs him as that last cog in the machine for a May/June run for glory. When Fleury signed his last deal, which pays $2.4 million this year, he gave the Flames a discount because he wanted to stay in Calgary. He still does, but circumstances have conspired to drive him into the arms of free agency. The Flames management may have miscalculated that the loyal Fleury would once again sign up at rock bottom prices. In 1989, when the Flames beat the Habs for the Stanley Cup, Fleury was a rookie. He is the last link to those glory days when the Oilers and the Flames made Alberta the dreaded black hole in any team's western road trip. He will be missed. Holy Goalies Ken Wregget is still not totally well, but he's working out again. Andrei Trefilov's better and back in the "I" with the Detroit Vipers. Ty Garner is also well and back with the Oshawa Generals of the OHL. Fred Brathwaite has a spot until Wregget gets better. Tyler Moss, by virtue of his one-way contract, has held onto his spot while Jean-Sebastien (Just Call Me Jean) Giguere, the rookie with the two-way contract, got a ticket to New Brunswick and the AHL. But wait... Wregget has a history of injuries, so the Flames may still need two guys. Will Freddy's Fabulous Comeback end with him back between the pipes with the Manitoba Moose? Can he stick around and win a deal with one of them there expansion teams? Will Jean Giguere continue to impress and command a spot with the big team? Stay tuned, eh? All-Star Break Report Card Forwards - Once you get past Fleury the pickings get might slim. Andrew Cassels, Valeri Bure and Jarome Iginla are solid second line players but cannot supply the offence the Flames need. Rating: C- Defence - An interesting mix of old and young. Steve Smith and Phil Housley are playing well. Likewise, youngster Derek Morris and Captain Todd Simpson are solid. This team doesn't usually lose because of bad D. It's the low scoring offence. Rating: B-. Goalies - The Flames have dressed eight different twine minders so far this season. No rating is possible, although you have to like Moss and Giguere. Power Play - Yech! Rating: D Penalty Killing - Against the Avalanche on January 21 the Flames surrendered a league-high 51st power-play goal against. Rating: F Andrei the Giant He's 6"5' and 230 pounds and he's just flown in from Tampa Bay. He's Andrei Nazarov. You know, the one who got into a rhubarb with Eric Lindros in a parking lot... the guy who tossed a linesman so he could get at Bryan Marchment... the goon who got suspended for head-butting. Yeah! I knew you knew who I meant. "Our smaller players have to feel comfortable," said coach Brian Sutter. "We looked at Vancouver and the L.A. defence and a lot of other clubs in our conference and we knew we had to add more size. Well, this guy is a big unit." Gone in the trade to Tampa is the mercurial Michael Nylander. It sure looks like the Flames lost on the deal in the skill level department. Who knows how this one will turn out. "We Wuz Robbed!" With 4.8 seconds on the clock and the Flames holding a 3-2 lead over the Sharks it looked good. Only problem is that the timekeeper in the Shark Tank neglected to start the clock for 2.2 seconds and Patrick Marleau netted the tying goal with one tenth of tick on the clock. Referee Paul Devorski apologised to both Coach Sutter and GM Al Coates and offered that the Flames could file a protest. In the end, though, there's little chance that anything will be done. Final result: 3-3 tie. ----------------------------------------------------------------- COLORADO AVALANCHE ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Bob Hartley Roster: C - Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Stephane Yelle, Chris Drury. LW - Valeri Kamensky, Rene Corbet, Milan Hejduk, Shean Donovan, Warren Rychel. RW - Claude Lemieux, Adam Deadmarsh, Shjon Podein, Jeff Odgers. D - Sandis Ozolinsh, Sylvain Lefebvre, Adam Foote, Alexei Gusarov, Jon Klemm, Aaron Miller, Eric Messier, Greg deVries, Cam Russell. G - Patrick Roy, Craig Billington. Injuries: Shjon Podein, rw (fractured leg, mid-February); Jon Klemm, d (knee, mid-January); Warren Rychel, lw (hand, indefinite). Transactions: Assigned Marc Denis, g, to Hershey (AHL); assigned Wade Belak, d, to Hershey; assigned Scott Parker, rw, to Hershey. Game results: 1/12 Chicago W 4-1 1/16 St. Louis W 2-0 1/19 at Los Angeles W 5-4 1/21 Calgary W 4-2 TEAM NEWS by Greg D'Avis Five-game winning streak? The Avalanche had one of these before, getting everyone all het up before sinking back into mediocrity. But -- dare we say -- they're starting to look like they're for real. For one, they're almost at full strength now. Sandis Ozolinsh is back, Patrick Roy is back, Alexei Gusarov is back, Jon Klemm'll be back any second now, leaving only Shjon Podein and Warren Rychel on the DL. For two, the stars are playing like stars - Sakic's red hot, Forsberg's Forsberg, Roy's cocky again -- and Valeri Kamensky is picking it up, Claude Lemieux is having a solid year, etc. So, while the streak doesn't have any powerhouses on it (St. Louis is the only contender they've beaten in the past five), it's given them momentum; and unlike the last streak, they've looked dominant. The Chicago game was the tail end of a home-and-home, and the poor, pitiful Blackhawks weren't even in the same league as Colorado. The only blemish -- rookie tough guy Scott Parker took on Bob Probert and, well, learned a few things about fighting. (Parker was since sent back to Hershey to make room for Gusarov.) Against St. Louis, the Avalanche played a strong, near-perfect game. Roy made crazy saves, the Avalanche held a lead. And, true to form, Ozolinsh turned the puck over in his own end a lot, making everything interesting. Sakic took over in the next two games, getting ready for a rest at the All-Star break with two straight two-goal games against L.A. and Calgary. Crawford Resurfaces Former coach Marc Crawford, who either quit or was driven out last summer (depending on who you believe), just showed up as the new Canucks coach, replacing the ever-popular Mike Keenan. Depending on the settlement, the Avs will receive cash and a draft pick from Vancouver. Stay tuned.... ----------------------------------------------------------------- EDMONTON OILERS ---------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Ron Low Roster: C - Doug Weight Todd Marchant, Rem Murray, Boyd Devereux, Josef Beranek LW - Dean McAmmond, Mats Lindgren, Ryan Smyth. RW - Bill Guerin, Mike Grier, Andrei Kovalenko, Pat Falloon, Georges Laraque. D - Sean Brown, Roman Hamrlik, Boris Mironov, Frank Musil, Janne Niinimaa, Tom Poti, Todd Reirden, Marty McSorley. G - Bob Essensa, Mikhail Shtalenkov. Injuries: Georges Laraque, rw (bruised sternum, day-to-day); Marty McSorley, d (groin pull, day-to-day); Kelly Buchberger, rw (fractured arm, indefinite). Transactions: Sent Bill Huard, lw, and Todd Reirden, d, to Hamilton (AHL). Game Results: 1/10 at Anaheim L 6-4 1/12 Dallas T 2-2 1/14 at Vancouver W 3-1 1/17 Detroit W 4-1 1/21 at San Jose T 3-3 Team News by Aubrey Chau Dougie's Back Doug Weight made his return Jan. 17 against the Wings after about a three-month absence due to knee surgery. He assumed the captaincy from Bill Guerin, who was filling in for Buchy. His return fired up his teammates to a win over the struggling Wings. Bye Billy Trooper Bill Huard cleared waivers. He didn't really get a chance to play with the Oilers this season, he only dressed in three games. When he did dress, he got injured. The pro veteran cleared waivers this week, but isn't going to Hamliton, looks like he's going to Houston of the IHL. Rumour Mill Say it ain't so. The hottest Oiler trade rumour right now would see Alexander Daigle coming to Edmonton in exchange for Andrei Kovalenko. It's pretty much like exchanging one headache for another. Sure Kovalenko misses team flights, but (at least this season) he put points up on the board. Which is something Daigle has struggled to do ever since he was drafted in 1993 by the Ottawa Senators. Philly GM Bobby Clarke desperately wants to dump Daigle somewhere, anywhere.and it almost happened. Glen Sather wanted Daigle to sign a one-year, $1 million contract extension, but Daigle didn't want to commit to Edmonton. Philly's Coach, Roger Nielson is totally frustrated with Daigle, who apparently wants to play only wing, because playing center is too hard. It looks like Daigle's agent and Clarke are trying to get him to reconsider signing with Edmonton, so something happening with Daigle coming to Edmonton is not out of the question. Other rumours out there include Boris Mironov going to Detroit. Sather's asking for Darren McCarty and Anders Eriksson. According to reports, that's too heavy a price for the Wings, even though they're thin on the blue line. With Uwe Krupp out, they are desperate for another d-man who can play half a game like Boris. Another rumour involving our friend Boris would see him going to the Islanders in return for Felix Potvin. Look for Sather to get another goalie for the playoff run, whether it's Potvin, Tommy Salo, Kevin Hodson from the Wings.the Oilers most likely won't be going into the playoffs with their current two goalies. OOOPs! I mentioned in my last article that Doug Weight was an unrestricted free agent. Sorry guys, but he's only a restricted free agent, and can file for arbitration. Looks like those A-Team reruns and nachos have finally gotten the best of my brain. ----------------------------------------------------------------- VANCOUVER CANUCKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Marc Crawford ROSTER: C - Mark Messier, Dave Gagner, Harry York, Dave Scatchard, Peter Zezel. LW - Todd Bertuzzi, Brad May, Markus Naslund, Donald Brashear, Bert Robertsson, Chris McAllister. RW - Alexander Mogilny, Bill Muckalt, Trent Klatt, Steve Staios. D - Adrian Aucoin, Murray Baron, Jamie Huscroft, Ed Jovanoski, Bryan McCabe, Dana Murzyn, Mattias Ohlund, Jason Strudwick. G - Garth Snow, Corey Hirsch. INJURIES: Peter Zezel, c (knee, about one month). TRANSACTIONS: An embarrassment of riches! Traded Pavel Bure, rw, Bret Hedican, d, Brad Ference, d, and a third-round draft pick to Florida for Ed Jovanovski, d, Dave Gagner, c, Kevin Weekes, g, Mike Brown, lw, and a first-round pick ( '99 or '00 ); assigned Matt Cooke, c, to Syracuse ( AHL ); fired coach Mike Keenan and replaced him with Marc Crawford, also a coach. GAME RESULTS: 1/14 Edmonton L 3-1 1/16 Detroit T 2-2 1/18 at Dallas W 5-3 1/19 at Nashville L 4-1 TEAM NEWS by Jeff Dubois If you've been living in a cave for the past two weeks, here's the big news: Matt Cooke has been returned to Syracuse of the AHL. They traded Bure and fired Keenan too, but back to Cooke. His stay in Vancouver was longer and more successful this time round, and his final game in Canuck colours, for now, was a memorable one in which he assisted on Trent Klatt's third-period marker that eventually earned the team a tie. Matt Cooke could only comment on his recent assignment by stating, " Jeff, pull your head out of your rear and talk about Bure and Keenan!". All the Bure/Keenan news you can stand is contained in a feature column on the main screen. It is understandable that you missed it when rushing to read my team report, and you are forgiven. Since all the extra-curricular stuff is in that feature, we'll stick to a short on-ice outline here! The Canucks sailed into the All-Star Break with an impressive...wait, less than impressive 15-24-6 record. Canucks fans again learned that to gather hope from one or two games is a futile practice at best. The Canucks came off an impressive shutout win against Dallas, had three days of rest and had Todd Bertuzzi back in the lineup, but fell to Edmonton 3-1 in a game I was lucky to have not attended. They then took three out of four points against Detroit and Dallas before being out-classed by Nashville in their last game before the break. Ed Jovanovski, the newest addition to the blue line, shone in his first two Canucks games, finishing as a plus in both and hitting solidly. Dave Gagner assisted on two goals in his first Canucks period before trailing off in his last five. After these two games, the average Canuck fan has labeled Jovanovski the next Scott Stevens and Dave Gagner a bust. Mark Messier hit a couple milestones in the Dallas game, tying Bobby Hull in career goals and Marcel Dionne in career assists. It will be interesting to see how Messier deals with Crawford as the new coach. It was well-known that Keenan gave Messier special treatment, and the two were close friends. It would not be surprising to see Messier's enthusiasm level drop as the Canucks are clearly rebuilding after the Bure trade. Last week, I mentioned the contribution of Mr. Wayne Axford, my high school history teacher, whose presence has been nothing short of an inspiration these past few months. I have decided to begin an award to be handed out every issue that will recognize the Canuck whose effort, performance and hygiene has been the most exemplary over the previous two week span. Seeing as the criteria for this award so closely match the example I see every day in Mr. Axford, I have decided to name the award in his honour. Mr. Axford graciously accepted this nomination, stating, "I am humbled and honoured to be associated with the Vancouver Canucks organization. I think". Thank you, Mr. Axford. The first Mr. Wayne Axford Award for Sporting Excellence goes to left winger Markus Naslund, who scored two goals and added an assist over the previous four games. Above all, he worked hard, an attribute Mr. Axford has instilled in me. Congratulations, Markus. The next Canucks report will appear on Wednesday, February 10. Questions and comments, and nominations for the Wayne Axford Award can be e-mailed to: canucks_eh@hotmail.com ================================================================ ================================================================= TEAM REPORTS ================================================================= WESTERN CONFERENCE PACIFIC DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- ANAHEIM MIGHTY DUCKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Craig Hartsburg ROSTER: C - Matt Cullen, Travis Green, Josef Marha, Steve Rucchin, Marty McInnis. LW - Johan Davidsson, Ted Drury, Stu Grimson, Paul Kariya, Jim McKenzie. RW - Antti Aalto, Jeff Nielsen, Tomas Sandstrom, Teemu Selanne. D - Kevin Haller, Jason Marshall, Frederik Olausson, Jamie Pushor, Ruslan Salei, Pascal Trepanier, Pavel Trnka. G - Guy Hebert, Dominic Roussel. INJURIES: Jim McKenzie, lw (laceration above right eye on Jan. 10, day-to-day). TRANSACTIONS: None. GAME RESULTS: 1/08 Phoenix W 4-1 1/10 Edmonton W 6-4 1/13 Calgary L 2-1 1/15 Dallas L 3-1 1/18 Pittsburgh W 5-3 1/20 New Jersey L 4-3 1/21 at Phoenix T 3-3 TEAM NEWS by Alex Carswell WADDLING INTO THE SECOND HALF The Ducks were hoping to continue their home-ice hot streak during the six-game pre-All Star home stand. And they did...for a few minutes. About 120 minutes, actually, because after that span they decided to sleepwalk through a tilt against Calgary, losing 2-1 to the hapless Flames and their goalie of the moment, Fred Brathwaite. That led to a complete whitewash by the Dallas Stars -- not entirely unexpected -- and a near disaster against Pittsburgh. Fresh off the Dallas disaster, and having been reminded of the manner in which a really good team goes about its business -- you know, starting to play at the beginning and continuing to do so until the end -- Anaheim put the screws to the road-weary Pens. But up 4-0 early in the third, the Ducks stopped skating. Bing, bang, boom: 4-3. An empty-netter saved the day, but also proved how close this team was to total meltdown -- a term that may well have been applied to coach Craig Hartsburg after the game. Then came New Jersey. Oh, and Guy Hebert's stomach flu. That put Dominic Roussel in the nets against the Devils, and three softies in the net. True, his all-star counterpart, Martin Brodeur, let in a couple of questionable goals, too, and Roussel sharpened up toward the end. Nonetheless, the Ducks came out on the short end of the stick. The next night, Roussel found some measure of redemption, battling back in a tough tie against arch rival Phoenix. But 3-3-1, while indicative of the teams general performance in the first half, is not how the team wanted to go into the break. MIDTERM REPORT The LCS Hockey tradition, going back at least several months, is to provide a mid-season assessment of each team's performance up to the All Star break. And while I'd rather grade the Dallas Stars' papers -- easy work, that -- I've got Homeroom 7, as in the seventh-place Ducks. So here goes. GOALTENDING Make no mistake, without Guy Hebert, this team would be kissin' cousins with the last-place Blackhawks. Guybo has meant at least that 10-point differential to the Ducks, and continues to be the straw that keeps the drink in the glass until Paul and Teemu can stir it up. Dominic Roussel has played well, considering he was a mere afterthought to the hockey world just four months ago. But if Hebert goes down, so does Anaheim. GRADE: A DEFENSE Something of a mixed bag. There have been significant absences (Ruslan Salei's suspension, injuries to Jason Marshall and Freddie Olausson), and one could have hoped for more, but on the whole this unheralded corps has not been so bad. Salei has continued to get better; Marshall is fast becoming a rock; and Olausson seems finally to have recovered his scoring touch -- going on a five-game goal streak that was the longest in the NHL since Sergei Zubov of the Rangers notched that many in 1995. In school terms, one might say that attendance has been poor and they don't always pay attention in class, but they are showing potential. GRADE: B- OFFENSE Our offensive class is being divided into three groups. Those not being discussed should talk among themselves. Quietly. GROUP 1: Kariya, Selanne, Rucchin. What can you say? They're three of the league's best players. The unheralded Rucchin gets no credit for pivoting between two superstars as well as he does. GRADE: A+ GROUP 2: Marty McInnis, Travis Green and Tomas Sandstrom are not getting the job done. The hard-luck Sandstrom seemed on the verge of a comeback season when derailed by a broken wrist. We question the wisdom of his coming back before the wing was fully healed, but hey, YOU try and stop a hockey player from getting back in the lineup. McInnis, who seemed a savior when he first showed up, has tailed off now that he's on his own line (which is to say, a Kariya-less trio). And Green, well, let's just say that much more has been expected of him since he arrived in Anaheim last season. Then, it was injuries. Now? You tell us. GRADE: D GROUP 3: The cops, the crew and the kids. The cops, Grimson and McKenzie have done a fine job patrolling the Pond. No needless escapades; just stepping up when called for, or called out. The crew, a.k.a. Ted Drury and Jeff Nielsen, does a fine job on the fourth line. Ted Drury toils (and toils) in anonymity while Nielsen, who once, in days of yore, was thought of as a potential scorer, has toughened up to earn his regular shift. The kids -- Aalto, Cullen and Davidsson -- are so close to making an impact that it's painful. Each has shown tremendous determination, decent attention to defense and flashes of offensive brilliance. The problem? None of them can finish. If they could, no one would care that the veterans on the second line can't either. GRADE: C+ COACHING Teacher evaluations are tough. The suits are at the mercy of the talent in uniform, but it is their job to plot, strategize and inspire. The premise of Hartsburg's team-defense orientation is solid, there's no doubt about that. This year, the players don't have to worry that their whole system will be revamped during the first intermission -- every other night -- as was the case last year under Pierre Page. That being said, it has to be on the inspiration side of things that he is so far falling short. The team doesn't always give 60 minutes. They keep saying things like "We're learning," and "We haven't figured out how to win." Part of that may be that they don't have all the elements in place to win. Impatient at waiting for the second line to score, Hartsburg finally, as the break approached, split them up. But mixing milk with milk gets you nothing but milk. The Ducks need some 80-proof alcohol in the mix. That's why it's puzzling that Josef Marha rides the pines every night, and that Frank Banham hasn't yet been given a chance with the big club. Okay, so Banham has some defensive lapses; but the guy can finish. He proved it last year. And if that magic talent can rub off on the other young guys, maybe they can teach him to be a little more responsible in his own end. And what is Hartsburg afraid of, anyway? Letting Guy Hebert save the team's bacon one or two more times a night? Face it, you gotta live to learn. GRADE: C ALL-STAR NOTES AND NAGS First things first: Enough with the brutal intro music spectacle. I want to hear the fans cheer and boo, not some canned stadium-entertainment-director's idea of ear-splitting, atmosphere killing "rock." Second things second: Kariya and Selanne both lit the lamp, so the home team was well represented. Ducks rule! Next: I don't know who the Backstreet Boys are, but after that sorry rendition of the anthem, they need a little meeting with the back alley boys -- brass knuckles and all. Fourth: Ray Bourque has been an all-star like 20 times. He makes millions of dollars. It's time to lose that Supercuts lid and get a real coif. Hell, Pavol Demitra's skinhead look is more attractive that the Hair-Club-for-Men doo Bourkie's been sporting for, like, ever. Finally: If you can tell me how Doug Favell, Pete Peeters, Don Awrey, Dave Maloney, Wayne Cashman, Danny Gare or Darryl Sittler qualify as "Sun Belt Heroes of Hockey," I'll clean your house for a year. Rod Gilbert and Vic freakin' Hadfield? The closest these guys ever came to the Sunbelt was on roadies to Atlanta! You want a good theme for a Tampa Bay weekend? How about players Phil Esposito traded against players who WISH he had traded them. Now that would be a game. ----------------------------------------------------------------- DALLAS STARS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head coach: Ken Hitchcock Roster: C-Mike Modano, Guy Carbonneau, Joe Nieuwendyk, Tony Hrkac, Brian Skrudland. LW- Jamie Langenbrunner, Jason Botterill, Dave Reid, Brent Severyn, Jere Lehtinen, Dan Keczmer, Jamie Wright. RW- Brett Hull, Mike Keane, Grant Marshall, Pat Verbeek. D-Derian Hatcher, Craig Ludwig, Darryl Sydor, Shawn Chambers, Richard Matvichuk, Sergei Zubov, Sergei Gusev. G-Ed Belfour, Roman Turek. Injuries: None. Transactions: None. Game Results: 1/15 at Anaheim W 3-1 1/18 Vancouver L 5-3 1/20 Toronto L 6-4 Team News by Michael Dell Jim Panenka, your usual Dallas correspondent, is nowhere to be found. So, in his place, I will try to honor the Stars as only I can. Yes, that's right, through Haiku. Dallas is quite good The Stars are Cup contenders Have you seen my pants? Thank you. My book of Haikus, entitled "Haikus? I Got Your Haikus Right Here," can be found at better bookstores everywhere. Godspeed. ----------------------------------------------------------------- LOS ANGELES KINGS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Larry Robinson Roster: C - Jozef Stumpel, Olli Jokinen, Ian Laperriere, Ray Ferraro, Yanic Perreault. LW - Eric Lacroix, Vladimir Tsyplakov, Luc Robitaille, Craig Johnson, Josh Green. RW - Russ Courtnall, Nathan LaFayette, Glen Murray, Sandy Moger, Daniel Audette, Pavel Rosa. D - Garry Galley, Rob Blake, Sean O'Donnell, Doug Bodger, Mattias Norstrom, Steve Duchesne, Philippe Boucher. G - Stephane Fiset, Jamie Storr. Injuries: Steve McKenna, lw (abdominal strain, season). Craig Johnson, lw (ribs, week to week). Ray Ferraro, c (knee, 4-6 weeks). Glen Murray, lw (knee sprain, 6-8 weeks). Transactions: Umm...none, unfortunately. Game Results 1/14 Calgary W 3-0 1/16 Pittsburgh L 5-1 1/19 Colorado L 5-4 1/21 New Jersey L 3-2 Team News by Matthew Moore The Kings are a roller coaster, going up and down with a bunch of loops, while the fans try to not puke. Coming off a 6-1-1 stretch, things were looking up. But then reality set in. Playing flat-footed and like they don't seem to care anymore, they simply got outskated and outhustled by the Pens, disappeared for stretches of the games with the Avs and Devils, and just plain sucked overall. This brings up whether Larry Robinson should continue to be the Kings coach. The Kings are suffering from a lack of direction and consistency, which shows in their performance. Showing up for one period a game just doesn't cut it anymore and it just gets monotonous for Robinson to blame the lack of intensity of his players for their losing. Well, shouldn't the coach have something to say about that? Donald Audette continues to be showing that the Kings can actually make a great trade. He shows a great ability to get open for a shot quickly and has been the source of much of the offensive excitement for the Kings recently. Now if only he got some support from the rest of the Kings he would be a point per game scorer if not better. But one can only dream. Trade rumors: Alexandre Daigle wants to be traded from the Flyers, and the Kings are rumored to be one of his suitors. This possibility scares me, considering his main claim to fame is that he went on a date with Pam Anderson, unless you count his being a major disappointment in both Ottawa and Philadelphia as a claim to fame. Sure the guy has shown flashes of good skills, but what the heck good are they if the boy can't play anything but straight ahead hockey and can't play defense worth a darn. Seems like a Petr Klima reincarnation except without the speed. I'd pass and let the Oilers try one of their reclamation projects. I'd now write something about the All-Star Game, but as I hate All-Star games I didn't watch it. Especially something as lame as World vs. North America, which just means that all the hard to spell names are on one team instead of two. Yee-haw. But congratulations to Rob Blake, Luc Robitaille, and Mattias Norstrom on getting to play this year. It was especially sweet of Norstrom to get selected since he is a defensive- minded player best known for backing up Rob Blake. And a missing persons report is going to be filed for both Pavel Rosa and Steve Duchesne, who have disappeared recently. Duchesne is rumored to be on the outgoing side of the potential Daigle trade, which would just mean the Kings would get a crappy young player who doesn't live up to his potential in exchange for an older player who likes making turnovers. Rosa has been shoved back into the dark recesses of the third and fourth lines by Larry Robinson. Who cares if he was showing great potential and had 12 points in 15 games? Who cares if he is the future of the Kings, should get playing time in this soon to be lost season, and played pretty darn well with Luc Robitaille? Got to make sure that Sandy Moger and Yanic Perreault get their ice time... ----------------------------------------------------------------- PHOENIX COYOTES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Jim Schoenfeld Roster: C - Jeremy Roenick, Bob Corkum, Mike Stapleton, Juha Ylonen, Daniel Briere. LW - Keith Tkachuk, Greg Adams, Jim Cummins, Mike Sullivan. RW - Rick Tocchet, Dallas Drake, Brad Isbister, Shane Doan. D - Keith Carney, Gerald Diduck, Jyrki Lumme, Teppo Numminen, Oleg Tverdovsky, Deron Quint, J.J. Daigneault, Jason Doig. G - Nikolai Khabibulin, Jimmy Waite. Injuries: 1/8 - Gerald Diduck, d (knee sprain, six weeks); 1/8 - Brad Isbister, rw (groin strain, day-to-day); 1/19 - Bob Corkum, c (hip flexor, day-to-day). Transactions: 1/10 - Recalled Trevor Letowksi, c, Rob Murray, c, and Jason Doig, d, from Springfield (AHL); 1/13 Acquired J.J. Daigneault, d, from Nashville for future considerations; 1/22 - Assigned Stephen Leach, rw, Trevor Letowski, c, and Rob Murray, c, to Springfield. GAME RESULTS 1/11 Buffalo W 1-0 1/13 Pittsburgh W 5-3 1/15 at Nashville L 2-0 1/17 at Chicago T 1-1 1/19 St. Louis W 4-2 1/21 Anaheim T 3-3 TEAM NEWS by Bob Chebat At the All-Star Break, the Coyotes remain one of the best teams in the NHL, sitting just six points behind the league-leading Dallas Stars. They missed their captain, Keith Tkachuk, dearly, however, while he was nursing a broken rib he received in a game against the Kings prior to the New Year. With Keith in the lineup, the Coyotes are an amazing 20-4-6, while going 4-7-1 without him. Perhaps this makes him a candidate for the Hart Trophy this season? Only time will tell. Here is a detailed report card of the Coyotes performance so far this season headed in to the break. Can this team finally get past the first round of the playoffs? Only time will tell, but I hate the thought of running in to Edmonton or Anaheim in the first round. Goaltending - A+ Nikolai Khabibulin and Jimmy Waite have become one of the best goaltending tandems in the NHL this season. They will both tell you that this is thanks to the defense and having a great team in front of them, but don't let that fool you. Both netminders have played outstanding hockey all season long and when the offense has struggled to score, they have kept the team in the games and have stolen at least eight wins so far this season. Defense - A- Teppo Numminen, Jyrki Lumme, and Keith Carney are the core to what is one of the top defensive groups in the NHL. Gerald Diduck has played very well in his reduced role this season, but unfortunately he was injured prior to the break and will be out another 3-4 weeks. Oleg Tverdovsky is not scoring as much as the Coyotes had hoped for, and too often he gets caught up ice. Opponents have a tendency to walk right around him when on the fly into the Coyotes zone. GM Bobby Smith picked up J.J. Daigneault prior to the break to add more depth to the blue line. If the Coyotes are going to make a serious run at the Stanley Cup this season, the defense could use a little more fine tuning, but not too much. Forwards - C The top line of Jeremy Roenick, Dallas Drake and Keith Tkachuk is as good as it gets in the NHL. Take that away, and the Coyotes score 12 goals in 7 games, 5 of which came in one of them. After the first line, the Coyotes have a potentially great second line, but still need a solid center to head up Rick Tocchet and Greg Adams. Daniel Briere is not progressing as quickly as the Coyotes had hoped, Juha Ylonen and Shane Doan are having a hard time finding the net, and Brad Isbister has not provided the offense the Coyotes had hoped for. The Cliff Ronning trade hurt the team badly when the top line went down in early January. Phoenix needs its number one trio out there to be considered serious contenders. The kids have got to start bringing it up a notch. Penalty Killing - A+ There is no better group of penalty killers in the league than Bob Corkum, Mike Stapleton, Juha Ylonen and Mike Sullivan. Over the first half of the season, these guys have given the Coyotes the No. 1 penalty-killing unit in the NHL. Add to that the stellar defense of Numminen, Carney, Lumme and Diduck, and you have a team that rarely lets the opponents get on the board while shorthanded. This has been the biggest improvement the Coyotes have had this season. Power Play - F Quite frankly, the power play has been horrible this season, and the players know it. There have been two serious droughts for the power play so far this season, one of which lasted eight games. Too much passing and not enough shooting is part of the problem, the other one being that the other teams have learned to aggressively attack the man with the puck and not allow the Coyotes to set up in their zone. For some reason this seems to work better against the Coyotes than the rest of the league. Again, if this team wants to make a serious run at the Cup, the power play is going to have to improve over the second half of the season. Firing at 12 percent will not win any championships. Coaching - A The coaching staff has done a terrific job this season keeping things in check and making sure the guys are ready to go every night. Only on a few occasions have they come out flat and appeared to have no legs. After the opening night disaster against the Senators, a gruesome practice the next day was a statement that Jim Schoenfeld will not tolerate mediocrity or less than 100 percent from anyone on game nights. His new outlook on the team this season earned him a spot on the NHL North American All-Star team along side division-leading Ken Hitchcock of the Dallas Stars. Assistant coaches John Tortorella, Gordie Roberts and Benoit Allaire are also to be commended for the jobs they have done. The only thing keeping this grade from an A+ is the power play. Overall - B The power play really brings down the overall grade, but don't let that fool you. The Coyotes have played with heart and desire all season long. An ugly opening game at home, followed by a sluggish couple of games, then the team went on a tear, set several franchise records, and moved to the top of the NHL power rankings in every major media source out there. Is this team for real? I think so, but those few areas need work if they are going to get over the hump. They have gone from a team we would "like" to see get past the first round, to one we "expect" to see go deep into the playoffs. Let's just hope Edmonton or Anaheim are not the first round opponents this season. For game-by-game updates, photos and more, please visit my Unofficial Coyotes Web Site at http://bizbud.com/coyotes. ----------------------------------------------------------------- SAN JOSE SHARKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Darryl Sutter Roster: C - Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm, Mike Ricci, Tony Granato, Ron Sutter. LW - Murray Craven, Stephane Matteau, Dave Lowry, Jeff Friesen. RW - Ron Stern, Owen Nolan, Joe Murphy, Brantt Myhres, Alexander Korolyuk. D - Bryan Marchment, Bill Houlder, Marcus Ragnarsson, Mike Rathje, Andrei Zyuzin, Bob Rouse, Jeff Norton, Andy Sutton. G - Mike Vernon, Steve Shields. Injuries: Gary Suter, d (tricep, rest of season); Murray Craven, lw (back, IR); Bryan Marchment, d (shoulder separation, four weeks). Transactions: beats me... Game Results 1/15 Pittsburgh W 3-2 1/16 Calgary T 3-3 1/18 New Jersey W 4-1 1/21 Edmonton T 3-3 TEAM NEWS by Michael Dell Al Swanson, your normal Sharks reporter, is missing in action. So I will fill in for him as only I can, yes, that's right, through Haiku. Sharks have lots of teeth Owen Nolan is quite cool Have you seen my pants? Thank you. Thank you very much. My book of Haikus, entitled "Haikus? I've Got Your Haikus Right Here," can still be found at better bookstores everywhere. ================================================================ NEXT ISSUE: Wednesday, February 10. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Player Stats - thru January 24 ---------------------------------------------------------------- TEAM P NO PLAYER GP G A PTS +/- PIM PP SH GW GT S PCTG ANA L 9 Kariya, Paul 45 20 41 61 8 26 5 1 0 0 252 7.9 ANA R 8 Selanne, Teemu 38 21 29 50 7 16 9 0 3 1 132 15.9 ANA C 20 Rucchin, Steve 45 14 27 41 4 18 3 0 3 1 96 14.6 ANA C 16 McInnis, Marty 45 13 16 29 -11 26 7 1 5 0 84 15.5 ANA D 2 Olausson, Fredrik 39 10 19 29 11 14 8 0 0 0 70 14.3 ANA C 39 Green, Travis 42 9 8 17 -4 47 2 1 0 0 91 9.9 ANA C 11 Cullen, Matt 38 2 7 9 -5 22 1 1 0 0 57 3.5 ANA D 24 Salei, Ruslan 39 2 7 9 0 31 1 0 0 0 84 2.4 ANA R 17 Sandstrom, Tomas 21 6 2 8 -2 24 3 0 1 0 48 12.5 ANA C 22 *Davidsson, Johan 39 3 4 7 -5 12 1 0 1 0 37 8.1 ANA C 14 *Aalto, Antti 41 3 4 7 -6 14 2 0 0 0 39 7.7 ANA D 25 *Crowley, Mike M 20 2 3 5 -10 16 1 0 1 0 41 4.9 ANA L 33 McKenzie, Jim 38 2 2 4 -12 49 1 0 1 0 32 6.3 ANA C 18 Drury, Ted 39 2 2 4 6 30 0 0 0 0 27 7.4 ANA D 23 Marshall, Jason 39 0 4 4 -5 70 0 0 0 0 32 0.0 ANA L 32 Grimson, Stu 45 3 0 3 3 120 0 0 1 0 9 33.3 ANA R 19 Nielsen, Jeff 43 1 2 3 -4 15 0 0 1 0 49 2.0 ANA D 4 Pushor, Jamie 43 1 1 2 -8 78 0 0 0 0 47 2.1 ANA D 7 Trnka, Pavel 35 0 2 2 2 32 0 0 0 0 31 0.0 ANA D 5 Haller, Kevin 45 0 2 2 -4 67 0 0 0 0 38 0.0 ANA C 10 Marha, Josef 10 0 1 1 -4 0 0 0 0 0 13 0.0 ANA D 27 *Trepanier, Pascal 24 0 1 1 0 28 0 0 0 0 20 0.0 ANA D 34 Trebil, Dan M 1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 ANA L 12 *LeClerc, Mike M 2 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 BOS L 12 Khristich, Dmitri 42 20 26 46 6 28 8 1 4 1 85 23.5 BOS C 41 Allison, Jason 43 9 29 38 -3 24 2 1 1 0 91 9.9 BOS L 14 Samsonov, Sergei 43 15 20 35 -8 8 4 0 6 1 80 18.8 BOS D 77 Bourque, Ray 42 4 24 28 4 22 3 0 2 0 138 2.9 BOS R 23 Heinze, Steve 42 13 10 23 1 24 4 0 3 0 96 13.5 BOS C 6 Thornton, Joe 43 8 10 18 3 33 4 0 0 0 59 13.6 BOS D 20 Van Impe, Darren 39 5 12 17 -1 51 4 0 0 0 72 6.9 BOS C 19 DiMaio, Rob 35 3 11 14 -3 58 0 0 0 0 52 5.8 BOS C 33 Carter, Anson R 24 6 7 13 1 10 2 0 1 0 40 15.0 BOS C 42 Ferraro, Peter 29 5 6 11 10 38 1 0 1 0 43 11.6 BOS L 11 Axelsson, P.J. 39 5 6 11 -3 6 0 0 0 0 65 7.7 BOS D 32 Sweeney, Don 43 2 8 10 4 40 0 0 0 0 40 5.0 BOS D 18 McLaren, Kyle R 25 5 4 9 -5 32 3 0 0 0 54 9.3 BOS C 38 Taylor, Chris 31 3 5 8 1 10 0 1 0 0 49 6.1 BOS C 17 *Bates, Shawn 22 3 3 6 4 2 0 0 0 0 21 14.3 BOS D 36 Ledyard, Grant R 23 2 4 6 -1 23 1 0 0 0 27 7.4 BOS D 25 Gill, Hal 43 2 4 6 -2 32 0 0 1 0 59 3.4 BOS D 44 Ellett, Dave R 27 0 3 3 5 6 0 0 0 0 25 0.0 BOS C 26 Taylor, Tim 11 2 0 2 -1 12 0 0 1 0 14 14.3 BOS L 16 Belanger, Ken 30 1 1 2 -1 112 0 0 0 0 9 11.1 BOS L 22 Baumgartner, Ken 43 1 1 2 -1 77 0 0 0 1 9 11.1 BOS C 28 Savage, Andre 6 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 8 12.5 BOS L 57 *Laaksonen, Antti M 6 1 0 1 -1 0 0 0 0 0 5 20.0 BOS C 56 *Nordstrom, Peter M 2 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 BOS C 72 *Nickulas, Eric M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 BOS D 55 *Girard, Jonathan R 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 BOS D 71 Virtue, Terry 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 BOS D 29 Vaske, Dennis M 3 0 0 0 -3 6 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 BOS L 51 *Henderson, Jay M 4 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 BOS D 53 *Smith, Brandon 4 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 BOS R 10 *Mann, Cameron M 4 0 0 0 -3 0 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 BOS R 27 Wilson, Landon M 4 0 0 0 -2 4 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 BOS C 61 *Mathieu, Marquis M 9 0 0 0 -1 8 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 BUF L 81 Satan, Miroslav 42 19 16 35 11 18 6 2 2 0 104 18.3 BUF C 27 Peca, Michael 43 17 13 30 0 36 9 0 5 1 105 16.2 BUF C 37 Brown, Curtis 42 11 19 30 19 28 3 1 3 2 77 14.3 BUF L 18 Grosek, Michal 43 11 19 30 12 75 2 0 1 0 86 12.8 BUF R 15 Ward, Dixon 42 13 16 29 7 24 2 1 3 0 50 26.0 BUF D 5 Woolley, Jason 43 3 19 22 14 44 1 0 1 0 97 3.1 BUF C 19 Holzinger, Brian 42 13 8 21 10 21 5 0 2 0 71 18.3 BUF R 25 Varada, Vaclav 43 7 12 19 4 41 1 0 1 0 65 10.8 BUF D 44 Zhitnik, Alexei 42 5 14 19 -11 60 2 1 1 0 102 4.9 BUF L 80 Sanderson, Geoff 40 9 9 18 4 12 1 0 1 0 73 12.3 BUF R 36 Barnaby, Matthew 36 4 14 18 4 106 0 0 3 0 49 8.2 BUF D 8 Shannon, Darryl 42 2 11 13 24 38 1 0 0 0 50 4.0 BUF D 42 Smehlik, Richard 34 0 9 9 -6 30 0 0 0 0 29 0.0 BUF C 9 *Rasmussen, Erik 27 2 5 7 7 27 0 0 0 0 27 7.4 BUF D 74 McKee, Jay 42 0 6 6 16 50 0 0 0 0 32 0.0 BUF C 22 Primeau, Wayne 30 2 3 5 -2 28 0 0 0 0 27 7.4 BUF C 26 Plante, Derek 22 1 4 5 1 6 0 0 0 0 37 2.7 BUF R 32 Ray, Rob 38 0 3 3 0 139 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 BUF D 3 Patrick, James 30 0 2 2 9 8 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 BUF D 21 Hurlbut, Mike M 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 BUF C 83 *Pittis, Domenic M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 BUF D 29 *Holland, Jason M 3 0 0 0 -1 8 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 BUF L 17 Cunneyworth, Randy M 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 BUF D 4 Wilson, Mike 14 0 0 0 4 8 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 BUF L 24 Kruse, Paul 17 0 0 0 -2 61 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 CGY R 14 Fleury, Theo 46 21 26 47 5 52 6 2 2 0 200 10.5 CGY R 12 Iginla, Jarome 46 18 9 27 -2 41 5 0 2 0 96 18.8 CGY D 6 Housley, Phil 46 2 25 27 0 26 1 0 0 0 109 1.8 CGY R 8 Bure, Valeri 44 9 17 26 -1 14 2 0 0 0 123 7.3 CGY C 16 Stillman, Cory 40 13 12 25 0 22 5 0 3 1 88 14.8 CGY C 21 Cassels, Andrew 46 9 16 25 -4 14 4 0 2 0 63 14.3 CGY D 53 Morris, Derek 45 5 17 22 2 65 2 0 2 0 104 4.8 CGY C 11 Shantz, Jeff 44 9 8 17 3 26 1 1 2 0 43 20.9 CGY C 24 Wiemer, Jason 46 5 10 15 -6 133 0 0 0 0 75 6.7 CGY C 23 *Wilm, Clarke 43 6 4 10 4 38 1 2 0 0 49 12.2 CGY D 55 Smith, Steve 45 1 9 10 -1 50 0 0 0 0 25 4.0 CGY D 32 Hulse, Cale 44 1 6 7 -8 79 0 0 0 0 38 2.6 CGY C 18 Dubinsky, Steve 37 3 3 6 -7 10 0 2 0 0 35 8.6 CGY C 25 Roche, Dave R 26 2 3 5 0 29 1 0 2 0 21 9.5 CGY D 27 Simpson, Todd 46 1 4 5 4 106 0 0 0 0 28 3.6 CGY R 42 Ward, Ed 38 3 1 4 -1 32 0 0 0 0 32 9.4 CGY R 33 Pankewicz, Greg M 18 0 3 3 0 20 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 CGY D 5 Albelin, Tommy 28 0 3 3 -3 4 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 CGY L 62 Nazarov, Andrei 27 2 0 2 -7 47 0 0 0 0 19 10.5 CGY C 15 *St. Louis, Martin M 13 1 1 2 -2 10 0 0 0 0 14 7.1 CGY C 17 Domenichelli, Hnat M 4 1 0 1 -1 2 0 0 0 0 8 12.5 CGY C 44 *Fata, Rico R 20 0 1 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 13 0.0 CGY C 28 Bassen, Bob 22 0 1 1 -8 20 0 0 0 0 22 0.0 CGY L 7 Dingman, Chris M 2 0 0 0 -2 17 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 CGY R 22 *Thompson, Rocky 3 0 0 0 0 25 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 CGY D 38 Charron, Eric M 3 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 CGY D 4 *Helenius, Sami M 4 0 0 0 -2 8 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 CGY D 3 *Gauthier, Denis 21 0 0 0 -2 27 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 CAR C 55 Primeau, Keith 45 22 16 38 3 44 8 1 4 1 112 19.6 CAR R 26 Sheppard, Ray 42 15 23 38 3 4 4 0 4 0 104 14.4 CAR L 24 Kapanen, Sami 44 13 19 32 0 2 3 0 4 0 106 12.3 CAR L 10 Roberts, Gary 41 9 20 29 -1 90 0 0 2 0 76 11.8 CAR C 21 Francis, Ron 45 8 14 22 -9 14 3 0 1 0 56 14.3 CAR C 19 O'Neill, Jeff 45 9 9 18 1 35 2 0 0 0 71 12.7 CAR D 2 Wesley, Glen 45 4 10 14 12 20 0 0 2 0 69 5.8 CAR L 18 Kron, Robert 44 6 7 13 -7 8 2 1 0 0 72 8.3 CAR R 11 Dineen, Kevin 41 6 6 12 6 61 0 0 1 0 55 10.9 CAR L 23 Gelinas, Martin 43 6 5 11 -2 24 0 0 1 0 53 11.3 CAR L 28 Ranheim, Paul 41 3 7 10 0 8 0 1 0 0 32 9.4 CAR L 44 Manderville, Kent 44 3 7 10 8 20 0 0 0 0 38 7.9 CAR D 3 Chiasson, Steve R 24 1 8 9 6 12 1 0 0 0 65 1.5 CAR D 77 Coffey, Paul 20 0 7 7 -10 8 0 0 0 0 25 0.0 CAR D 7 Leschyshyn, Curtis 34 1 5 6 2 38 0 0 0 0 15 6.7 CAR D 4 Pratt, Nolan 24 1 4 5 2 38 0 0 1 0 13 7.7 CAR L 13 Battaglia, Bates 28 1 4 5 4 8 0 0 0 0 17 5.9 CAR D 5 Malik, Marek 16 0 3 3 -6 10 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 CAR D 22 Hill, Sean 32 0 3 3 2 22 0 0 0 0 26 0.0 CAR D 33 Karpa, David R 21 0 2 2 1 32 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 CAR D 6 Burt, Adam 39 0 2 2 7 35 0 0 0 0 25 0.0 CAR D 46 *Rucinski, Mike 12 0 1 1 -1 6 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 CAR D 14 *Halko, Steve 12 0 1 1 2 10 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 CAR C 15 *Ritchie, Byron M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 CAR C 31 *MacDonald, Craig M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 CHI R 10 Amonte, Tony 45 24 15 39 -8 38 10 1 3 0 144 16.7 CHI C 93 Gilmour, Doug 45 10 23 33 -14 33 4 1 1 0 79 12.7 CHI C 36 Zhamnov, Alex 43 9 22 31 -12 20 4 1 1 0 119 7.6 CHI R 11 Emerson, Nelson 46 10 20 30 2 40 3 0 1 2 124 8.1 CHI D 7 Chelios, Chris 40 5 16 21 -2 68 2 0 0 1 96 5.2 CHI L 55 Daze, Eric R 36 10 5 15 -18 14 5 0 1 2 93 10.8 CHI C 15 Kilger, Chad 45 7 8 15 -3 24 1 1 1 1 47 14.9 CHI R 14 *Maneluk, Mike 36 6 8 14 8 16 1 0 1 0 49 12.2 CHI D 22 Manson, Dave 39 2 11 13 -4 78 2 0 0 0 73 2.7 CHI L 19 Moreau, Ethan 43 6 3 9 -5 58 0 0 1 0 46 13.0 CHI L 25 *Cleary, Dan 35 4 5 9 -1 24 0 0 0 0 49 8.2 CHI D 4 Zmolek, Doug 36 0 9 9 3 61 0 0 0 0 20 0.0 CHI L 24 Probert, Bob 41 2 6 8 -11 104 0 0 1 0 49 4.1 CHI C 26 *White, Todd M 18 4 3 7 0 10 1 0 0 0 21 19.0 CHI C 16 Olczyk, Ed 27 3 4 7 -4 8 0 0 2 0 39 7.7 CHI D 2 *Brown, Brad 31 1 4 5 -2 72 0 0 0 1 9 11.1 CHI D 3 Laflamme, Christian 40 1 3 4 -7 54 0 0 0 0 29 3.4 CHI L 33 Simpson, Reid 26 0 2 2 0 69 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 CHI D 37 *Muir, Bryan 29 0 2 2 1 28 0 0 0 0 46 0.0 CHI C 20 Janssens, Mark 41 1 0 1 -7 59 0 0 0 0 23 4.3 CHI L 23 Leroux, Jean-Yves 3 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 CHI R 39 *Mills, Craig M 7 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 CHI R 17 *Dumont, Jean-Pierre M 7 0 0 0 -2 4 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 CHI R 27 *Jones, Ty M 8 0 0 0 -1 12 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 CHI D 38 Allison, Jamie 10 0 0 0 -7 22 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 CHI D 6 *Royer, Remi M 18 0 0 0 -10 67 0 0 0 0 24 0.0 CHI D 5 Yawney, Trent R 20 0 0 0 -6 32 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 COL C 21 Forsberg, Peter 44 13 39 52 16 60 2 1 4 0 121 10.7 COL C 19 Sakic, Joe 36 20 26 46 8 16 4 5 3 0 138 14.5 COL L 13 Kamensky, Valeri 43 9 22 31 -3 18 2 0 1 0 83 10.8 COL R 18 Deadmarsh, Adam 40 11 14 25 -4 65 4 0 2 0 94 11.7 COL R 22 Lemieux, Claude 45 17 6 23 -1 56 9 0 6 1 175 9.7 COL C 37 *Drury, Chris 42 10 12 22 2 35 3 0 1 0 67 14.9 COL R 23 *Hejduk, Milan 45 5 16 21 -2 14 2 0 2 0 104 4.8 COL L 20 Corbet, Rene 41 6 12 18 1 45 1 0 1 0 71 8.5 COL R 12 Donovan, Shean 38 5 6 11 1 25 1 0 1 0 46 10.9 COL D 5 Gusarov, Alexei 20 1 8 9 2 12 0 0 0 0 13 7.7 COL D 2 Lefebvre, Sylvain 39 0 9 9 6 20 0 0 0 0 34 0.0 COL D 52 Foote, Adam 27 2 6 8 3 41 2 0 0 0 42 4.8 COL C 26 Yelle, Stephane 36 5 2 7 -6 22 1 0 0 0 62 8.1 COL D 3 Miller, Aaron 43 3 4 7 -5 36 1 0 1 0 48 6.3 COL L 25 Podein, Shjon 23 1 3 4 0 10 0 0 0 0 33 3.0 COL R 36 Odgers, Jeff 45 2 1 3 -2 154 1 0 0 0 21 9.5 COL D 4 Russell, Cam 38 1 2 3 -2 81 0 0 0 0 15 6.7 COL D 29 Messier, Eric 13 1 1 2 0 8 0 0 0 0 17 5.9 COL D 8 Ozolinsh, Sandis 5 0 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 COL L 16 Rychel, Warren R 16 0 2 2 1 44 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 COL D 24 Klemm, Jon R 16 0 2 2 5 19 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 COL D 7 de Vries, Greg 45 0 2 2 -6 50 0 0 0 0 43 0.0 COL R 14 *Matte, Christian M 5 1 0 1 -1 0 0 0 0 0 7 14.3 COL D 15 *Gaul, Mike M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 COL C 44 *Aubin, Serge M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 COL D 59 *White, Brian M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 COL D 32 Buchanan, Jeff M 6 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 COL D 43 *Smith, Dan M 12 0 0 0 5 9 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 COL R 27 *Parker, Scott M 21 0 0 0 -1 67 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 COL D 6 *Belak, Wade M 22 0 0 0 -2 71 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 DAL C 9 Modano, Mike 43 15 31 46 14 30 4 1 3 1 115 13.0 DAL D 5 Sydor, Darryl 43 12 24 36 -7 17 7 0 2 1 100 12.0 DAL R 22 Hull, Brett 33 16 16 32 10 18 9 0 5 0 115 13.9 DAL R 26 Lehtinen, Jere 38 15 11 26 14 6 6 1 2 0 94 16.0 DAL C 15 Langenbrunner, Jamie 38 6 20 26 7 34 4 0 1 0 65 9.2 DAL C 25 Nieuwendyk, Joe 33 9 14 23 -2 18 4 0 1 0 65 13.8 DAL D 56 Zubov, Sergei 43 6 17 23 -2 10 3 0 2 0 82 7.3 DAL R 16 Verbeek, Pat 43 11 6 17 1 54 7 0 1 1 69 15.9 DAL R 29 Marshall, Grant 43 8 9 17 5 42 0 0 3 0 51 15.7 DAL D 2 Hatcher, Derian 43 6 9 15 12 51 1 0 1 0 60 10.0 DAL C 41 Hrkac, Tony 37 5 10 15 5 18 2 0 1 1 38 13.2 DAL R 12 Keane, Mike 43 3 12 15 -2 46 1 1 1 0 49 6.1 DAL C 21 Carbonneau, Guy 42 1 11 12 -2 15 0 0 1 0 34 2.9 DAL D 24 Matvichuk, Richard 41 3 7 10 14 22 1 0 0 0 29 10.3 DAL L 14 Reid, Dave 40 3 6 9 -1 8 0 0 0 0 49 6.1 DAL D 3 Ludwig, Craig 42 2 3 5 7 42 0 0 0 0 21 9.5 DAL C 10 Skrudland, Brian 32 3 1 4 1 31 0 0 1 0 25 12.0 DAL D 27 Chambers, Shawn 36 2 2 4 2 14 1 0 1 0 46 4.3 DAL D 4 *Gusev, Sergey 14 1 3 4 1 4 0 0 1 0 18 5.6 DAL L 17 Severyn, Brent 12 0 1 1 -1 21 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 DAL C 23 Gavey, Aaron M 2 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 DAL L 28 *Botterill, Jason M 7 0 0 0 -1 14 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 DAL L 46 *Wright, Jamie M 8 0 0 0 -4 0 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 DAL D 6 Keczmer, Dan 18 0 0 0 -2 20 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 DET C 19 Yzerman, Steve 46 19 28 47 13 38 8 1 2 0 144 13.2 DET R 25 McCarty, Darren 46 12 23 35 9 71 5 0 1 1 96 12.5 DET L 14 Shanahan, Brendan 46 17 17 34 3 75 2 0 3 0 177 9.6 DET D 55 Murphy, Larry 46 7 25 32 14 36 3 1 1 0 98 7.1 DET D 5 Lidstrom, Nicklas 46 8 22 30 13 10 5 1 2 0 112 7.1 DET C 91 Fedorov, Sergei 46 11 18 29 0 22 1 1 1 0 122 9.0 DET C 8 Larionov, Igor 45 7 22 29 0 36 2 0 1 0 52 13.5 DET R 20 Lapointe, Martin 45 9 10 19 4 100 2 1 2 0 91 9.9 DET L 96 Holmstrom, Tomas 46 8 11 19 -14 38 5 0 4 0 63 12.7 DET C 13 Kozlov, Vyacheslav 43 9 9 18 -5 31 2 0 3 1 110 8.2 DET R 17 Brown, Doug 45 7 7 14 -2 24 3 1 1 0 110 6.4 DET D 44 Eriksson, Anders 46 2 9 11 4 28 0 0 1 0 49 4.1 DET C 33 Draper, Kris 46 3 7 10 -5 46 0 0 1 0 46 6.5 DET C 23 *Roest, Stacy 30 2 6 8 -4 8 0 0 0 0 31 6.5 DET R 18 Maltby, Kirk 22 3 4 7 -2 16 0 0 0 0 25 12.0 DET D 15 Gill, Todd 40 3 4 7 -13 22 1 0 0 1 51 5.9 DET R 26 Kocur, Joe R 35 2 5 7 0 70 0 0 0 0 20 10.0 DET D 11 Dandenault, Mathieu 39 2 4 6 9 33 0 0 0 0 42 4.8 DET D 34 Macoun, Jamie 43 1 5 6 -10 28 0 0 0 0 39 2.6 DET D 4 Krupp, Uwe R 22 3 2 5 0 6 0 0 0 0 32 9.4 DET D 27 Ward, Aaron 24 2 1 3 -8 31 0 0 0 0 16 12.5 DET D 3 Houda, Doug 3 0 1 1 -2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 DET L 22 *Audet, Philippe M 4 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 EDM R 9 Guerin, Bill 44 20 17 37 12 68 10 0 1 1 136 14.7 EDM L 20 Beranek, Josef 39 14 19 33 5 10 6 0 2 0 87 16.1 EDM R 51 Kovalenko, Andrei 42 13 14 27 -4 30 2 0 3 1 71 18.3 EDM D 2 Mironov, Boris 41 6 21 27 14 84 1 0 3 1 95 6.3 EDM R 10 Falloon, Pat 44 11 10 21 2 12 5 0 0 0 92 12.0 EDM R 25 Grier, Mike 44 7 14 21 -2 23 0 1 0 0 74 9.5 EDM D 22 Hamrlik, Roman 38 4 16 20 1 30 1 0 0 0 82 4.9 EDM L 17 Murray, Rem 40 10 7 17 3 12 1 0 2 0 59 16.9 EDM C 37 McAmmond, Dean 41 7 9 16 4 26 1 0 0 0 77 9.1 EDM C 26 Marchant, Todd 44 6 10 16 -1 18 1 0 0 0 97 6.2 EDM C 19 Devereaux, Boyd 41 6 7 13 3 19 0 1 4 1 34 17.6 EDM D 44 Niinimaa, Janne 43 0 13 13 8 46 0 0 0 0 72 0.0 EDM L 94 Smyth, Ryan 40 5 7 12 0 30 1 0 1 2 97 5.2 EDM C 14 Lindgren, Mats 33 2 10 12 5 18 0 0 0 0 43 4.7 EDM D 5 *Poti, Tom 39 3 8 11 2 22 2 0 1 0 55 5.5 EDM R 16 Buchberger, Kelly R 37 4 3 7 -2 59 0 2 1 0 24 16.7 EDM C 39 Weight, Doug 6 0 7 7 -1 0 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 EDM R 42 K. Brown, Kevin M 12 4 2 6 -2 0 2 0 0 0 13 30.8 EDM R 27 *Laraque, Georges 8 2 1 3 4 15 0 0 0 0 6 33.3 EDM D 46 Reirden, Todd M 7 1 2 3 5 12 0 0 0 0 18 5.6 EDM D 33 McSorley, Marty 20 1 1 2 -4 52 0 0 0 0 12 8.3 EDM D 8 Musil, Frank 20 0 2 2 0 18 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 EDM D 32 *Millar, Craig M 24 0 2 2 -6 19 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 EDM D 23 *Brown, Sean 32 0 2 2 1 109 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 EDM L 21 Lacroix, Daniel 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 EDM C 34 Dowd, Jim 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 EDM L 28 Huard, Bill M 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 EDM C 7 *Lindquist, Fredrik M 8 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 FLA C 14 Whitney, Ray 43 14 19 33 2 8 4 0 4 0 89 15.7 FLA C 44 Niedermayer, Rob 44 12 20 32 -5 28 5 0 2 2 84 14.3 FLA C 25 Kozlov, Viktor 36 7 21 28 9 8 2 1 0 0 122 5.7 FLA R 27 Mellanby, Scott 34 11 13 24 2 29 3 0 3 2 70 15.7 FLA D 24 Svehla, Robert 42 5 17 22 -9 38 2 0 0 1 90 5.6 FLA L 21 *Parrish, Mark M 36 11 7 18 -1 12 4 0 2 0 73 15.1 FLA R 19 Dvorak, Radek 44 7 10 17 -5 16 0 3 0 0 95 7.4 FLA L 11 Lindsay, Bill 44 8 8 16 -3 65 0 0 2 0 90 8.9 FLA D 4 Hedican, Bret 45 3 13 16 9 38 0 2 1 1 55 5.5 FLA L 16 *Kvasha, Oleg 41 7 6 13 3 35 2 0 1 1 94 7.4 FLA R 22 Ciccarelli, Dino 8 6 1 7 2 21 5 0 1 0 18 33.3 FLA L 29 Garpenlov, Johan 39 4 3 7 -8 32 0 0 0 1 47 8.5 FLA D 3 Laus, Paul 43 1 6 7 1 158 0 0 0 0 31 3.2 FLA D 5 Murphy, Gord 39 0 7 7 6 8 0 0 0 0 50 0.0 FLA L 9 Muller, Kirk 44 2 4 6 -7 36 0 0 0 0 61 3.3 FLA D 8 *Spacek, Jaroslav 28 2 3 5 0 18 2 0 0 0 37 5.4 FLA D 2 Carkner, Terry 32 1 4 5 -3 33 0 0 0 0 13 7.7 FLA D 7 Warrener, Rhett 29 0 5 5 -2 44 0 0 0 0 19 0.0 FLA R 10 Bure, Pavel 2 3 0 3 2 0 1 0 0 0 9 33.3 FLA L 18 Hicks, Alex 22 0 3 3 0 30 0 0 0 0 21 0.0 FLA D 6 *Ratchuk, Peter 15 1 1 2 2 4 0 0 0 0 18 5.6 FLA L 28 *Worrell, Peter M 31 0 2 2 -2 138 0 0 0 0 17 0.0 FLA R 26 Nemirovsky, David M 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 FLA R 10 *Nilson, Marcus M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 FLA C 17 Washburn, Steve 4 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 FLA L 12 *Hay, Dwayne M 9 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 LAK L 20 Robitaille, Luc 45 25 19 44 2 26 6 0 5 0 160 15.6 LAK R 27 Murray, Glen R 37 15 13 28 -5 18 3 3 3 0 110 13.6 LAK C 44 Perreault, Yanic 42 8 13 21 -1 20 2 2 0 0 88 9.1 LAK L 9 Tsyplakov, Vladimir 45 8 11 19 2 20 0 2 1 0 72 11.1 LAK C 15 Stumpel, Jozef 32 8 10 18 -8 6 1 0 0 0 64 12.5 LAK D 4 Blake, Rob 27 3 12 15 1 53 1 1 0 0 88 3.4 LAK D 28 Duchesne, Steve 42 2 12 14 -3 18 1 0 0 0 69 2.9 LAK C 26 Ferraro, Ray R 30 6 7 13 0 41 2 0 2 0 32 18.8 LAK R 55 *Rosa, Pavel 15 3 9 12 0 4 0 0 0 0 35 8.6 LAK R 10 Audette, Donald 14 4 7 11 3 23 2 0 0 0 42 9.5 LAK D 6 O'Donnell, Sean 45 1 10 11 5 106 0 0 0 0 39 2.6 LAK C 12 *Jokinen, Olli 31 5 4 9 -1 16 2 0 0 0 47 10.6 LAK C 11 Convery, Brandon 15 2 7 9 4 12 0 0 1 0 14 14.3 LAK D 3 Galley, Garry 33 2 6 8 -2 18 1 0 0 0 39 5.1 LAK L 23 Johnson, Craig 38 4 3 7 -10 16 1 0 2 0 56 7.1 LAK D 8 Bodger, Doug 29 0 7 7 0 10 0 0 0 0 30 0.0 LAK C 22 Laperriere, Ian 35 1 5 6 -4 87 0 0 0 0 31 3.2 LAK R 19 Courtnall, Russ 21 2 3 5 -4 6 0 0 0 0 28 7.1 LAK C 45 Moger, Sandy 22 2 2 4 -4 18 0 0 2 0 19 10.5 LAK R 24 LaFayette, Nathan M 25 2 2 4 -2 35 0 1 1 0 33 6.1 LAK D 48 *Visheau, Mark 26 1 3 4 -6 102 0 0 0 0 10 10.0 LAK L 21 *Green, Josh M 26 1 3 4 -6 8 1 0 0 0 34 2.9 LAK D 14 Norstrom, Mattias 45 1 3 4 -3 28 0 1 0 0 36 2.8 LAK D 43 Boucher, Philippe 26 0 3 3 -9 24 0 0 0 0 51 0.0 LAK L 17 Johnson, Matt 26 2 0 2 -2 80 0 0 0 0 3 66.7 LAK L 29 Lacroix, Eric 31 0 1 1 -7 12 0 0 0 0 19 0.0 LAK D 54 *Nemecek, Jan M 4 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 LAK R 42 Bylsma, Dan 8 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 LAK L 7 McKenna, Steve R 11 0 0 0 0 17 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 MTL R 8 Recchi, Mark 42 9 24 33 -7 16 3 0 1 0 94 9.6 MTL C 25 Damphousse, Vincent 41 8 17 25 -4 34 3 1 1 0 102 7.8 MTL L 26 Rucinsky, Martin 40 9 13 22 -12 30 4 0 0 0 103 8.7 MTL L 17 Brunet, Benoit 41 10 11 21 2 29 2 2 0 0 78 12.8 MTL D 38 Malakhov, Vladimir 38 8 12 20 0 55 4 0 2 0 82 9.8 MTL C 11 Koivu, Saku 33 6 14 20 -5 14 1 1 0 0 67 9.0 MTL L 27 Corson, Shayne 36 8 10 18 -7 65 7 0 3 0 80 10.0 MTL L 49 Savage, Brian 29 10 7 17 -6 14 3 0 3 1 66 15.2 MTL D 5 Quintal, Stephane 46 5 12 17 -3 54 1 0 3 0 81 6.2 MTL L 37 Poulin, Patrick 45 7 9 16 2 15 0 1 1 0 48 14.6 MTL D 22 Weinrich, Eric 44 4 9 13 -21 35 1 0 1 0 63 6.3 MTL R 44 Hoglund, Jonas 42 6 6 12 -1 10 1 0 0 1 69 8.7 MTL R 23 Stevenson, Turner R 33 2 10 12 0 39 0 0 0 1 57 3.5 MTL R 21 Dawe, Jason 39 3 6 9 -3 16 0 0 0 0 56 5.4 MTL D 52 Rivet, Craig 40 2 6 8 1 51 0 0 0 0 20 10.0 MTL C 34 Zholtok, Sergei 37 3 4 7 -9 6 0 0 1 0 46 6.5 MTL D 55 Ulanov, Igor 44 2 3 5 -3 59 0 0 0 0 29 6.9 MTL D 43 Brisebois, Patrice 31 1 4 5 -12 20 1 0 0 0 60 1.7 MTL D 29 Clark, Brett 38 2 2 4 -4 14 0 0 0 0 25 8.0 MTL C 24 Thornton, Scott 15 2 1 3 4 34 0 0 0 1 17 11.8 MTL C 15 Houde, Eric M 8 1 1 2 -2 2 0 0 1 0 4 25.0 MTL C 46 *Higgins, Matt M 25 1 0 1 -2 0 0 0 0 0 12 8.3 MTL R 42 *Delisle, Jonathan M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 MTL L 14 *Ryan, Terry M 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 MTL D 48 *Guren, Miroslav M 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 MTL R 45 *Asham, Aaron M 5 0 0 0 -3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 MTL L 35 Bashkirov, Andrei M 5 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 MTL L 36 Morissette, Dave M 7 0 0 0 1 35 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 MTL D 56 *Nasreddine, Alain 15 0 0 0 -1 52 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 MTL R 6 McCleary, Trent 29 0 0 0 -2 17 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 NSH C 7 Ronning, Cliff 43 11 24 35 2 28 6 0 3 0 134 8.2 NSH C 22 Johnson, Greg 41 9 22 31 1 4 0 2 0 0 80 11.3 NSH R 25 Krivokrasov, Sergei 35 15 13 28 2 24 5 0 3 1 104 14.4 NSH L 10 Kjellberg, Patrick 43 9 16 25 -5 18 2 0 1 0 65 13.8 NSH L 19 Brunette, Andrew 44 7 15 22 1 20 4 0 1 0 50 14.0 NSH C 71 Bordeleau, Sebastien 38 6 10 16 -8 6 0 0 2 0 88 6.8 NSH C 24 Walker, Scott 36 5 11 16 4 60 0 1 1 0 50 10.0 NSH R 21 Fitzgerald, Tom 43 5 8 13 -14 22 0 0 1 0 93 5.4 NSH R 43 Yachmenev, Vitali 28 5 7 12 -4 10 0 0 2 0 42 11.9 NSH L 28 Lambert, Denny 41 4 8 12 -2 128 1 0 0 0 34 11.8 NSH D 20 Heward, Jamie 37 3 9 12 -18 38 2 0 1 0 78 3.8 NSH L 16 Peltonen, Ville R 14 5 5 10 1 2 1 0 0 0 31 16.1 NSH R 23 Atcheynum, Blair 29 5 4 9 -3 10 1 0 0 0 35 14.3 NSH C 9 Turcotte, Darren 38 4 5 9 -9 16 0 0 1 0 73 5.5 NSH D 5 Vopat, Jan 33 5 3 8 5 14 0 0 0 0 34 14.7 NSH D 15 Berehowsky, Drake 39 0 7 7 -3 97 0 0 0 0 45 0.0 NSH D 42 Bouchard, Joel 27 2 4 6 -3 23 0 0 0 0 27 7.4 NSH D 6 Boughner, Bob 42 1 5 6 -5 75 0 0 0 0 35 2.9 NSH L 32 Daniels, Jeff M 9 1 3 4 -1 2 0 0 0 0 8 12.5 NSH D 27 Slaney, John 23 0 4 4 -7 6 0 0 0 0 40 0.0 NSH C 7 Nelson, Jeff M 9 2 1 3 -1 2 0 0 0 0 8 25.0 NSH D 4 More, Jay R 18 0 2 2 2 18 0 0 0 0 24 0.0 NSH L 8 Friedman, Doug M 2 0 1 1 0 14 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 NSH D 44 *Timonen, Kimmo 15 0 1 1 4 12 0 0 0 0 21 0.0 NSH L 17 *Cote, Patrick 37 0 1 1 -5 137 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 NSH R 12 Smyth, Brad M 3 0 0 0 -1 6 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 NSH R 18 *Mowers, Mark 3 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 NSH C 12 Valicevic, Rob M 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 NJD L 16 Holik, Bobby 42 19 22 41 15 64 4 0 5 0 133 14.3 NJD C 17 Sykora, Petr 42 13 18 31 -1 16 8 0 2 0 99 13.1 NJD C 14 Rolston, Brian 44 12 19 31 -1 8 3 3 0 0 112 10.7 NJD R 21 McKay, Randy 34 12 12 24 13 88 3 0 4 0 80 15.0 NJD L 23 Andreychuk, Dave R 29 11 11 22 1 16 3 0 3 1 71 15.5 NJD C 9 *Morrison, Brendan 39 5 17 22 -6 16 3 0 0 0 56 8.9 NJD L 26 Elias, Patrik 38 7 14 21 -1 22 0 0 1 0 66 10.6 NJD D 27 Niedermayer, Scott 34 5 16 21 1 12 1 1 1 0 74 6.8 NJD C 25 Arnott, Jason 39 10 9 19 -4 37 5 0 1 0 96 10.4 NJD R 8 *Sharifijanov, Vadim 27 7 11 18 8 10 0 0 2 0 41 17.1 NJD L 20 Pandolfo, Jay 42 10 7 17 -1 8 0 1 3 0 65 15.4 NJD D 4 Stevens, Scott 42 4 13 17 15 38 0 0 1 0 67 6.0 NJD D 24 Odelein, Lyle 41 0 15 15 2 69 0 0 0 0 51 0.0 NJD C 10 Pederson, Denis 44 6 8 14 -1 48 2 0 0 0 94 6.4 NJD C 18 Brylin, Sergei 27 3 5 8 2 16 2 0 1 0 26 11.5 NJD D 28 Dean, Kevin 35 0 6 6 -2 14 0 0 0 0 26 0.0 NJD L 29 Oliwa, Krzysztof 32 3 2 5 0 112 0 0 1 0 27 11.1 NJD D 3 Daneyko, Ken 44 1 4 5 17 39 0 0 0 0 32 3.1 NJD D 2 Souray, Sheldon 35 1 3 4 -1 51 0 0 0 0 56 1.8 NJD L 32 Lakovic, Sasha 15 0 3 3 0 59 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 NJD C 19 Carpenter, Bob 28 0 3 3 -2 16 0 0 0 0 31 0.0 NJD D 6 Bombardir, Brad 31 0 3 3 -9 10 0 0 0 0 26 0.0 NJD L 11 *Madden, John 4 0 1 1 -2 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 NJD L 22 Daniels, Scott M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NJD D 7 Sutton, Ken M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYI C 21 Reichel, Robert 46 11 26 37 -14 30 3 0 1 0 104 10.6 NYI C 32 Linden, Trevor 46 11 15 26 -9 20 5 1 1 0 96 11.5 NYI C 13 Lapointe, Claude 46 11 13 24 -8 40 2 2 1 0 78 14.1 NYI C 20 Smolinski, Bryan 46 8 14 22 -7 34 5 0 1 0 131 6.1 NYI C 11 Janney, Craig 40 4 18 22 -14 12 2 0 0 1 37 10.8 NYI R 25 Czerkawski, Mariusz 45 11 10 21 -4 10 4 0 0 1 108 10.2 NYI L 15 Donato, Ted 46 6 11 17 -4 25 1 0 0 0 64 9.4 NYI D 29 Jonsson, Kenny R 35 7 9 16 -5 18 6 0 0 0 38 18.4 NYI L 12 *Watt, Mike 42 5 11 16 1 6 0 0 2 0 41 12.2 NYI R 44 Lawrence, Mark 24 5 5 10 -2 10 0 0 0 0 26 19.2 NYI R 16 Palffy, Zigmund 14 3 7 10 -6 6 1 0 0 0 46 6.5 NYI C 17 Nemchinov, Sergei 44 5 3 8 -13 16 1 0 0 0 35 14.3 NYI D 38 Richter, Barry 40 3 5 8 -9 12 0 0 1 0 58 5.2 NYI D 7 Lachance, Scott 40 1 7 8 -12 20 1 0 0 0 25 4.0 NYI L 24 Odjick, Gino R 23 4 3 7 -2 133 1 0 2 0 28 14.3 NYI D 4 *Brewer, Eric 34 3 4 7 -11 14 0 0 0 0 31 9.7 NYI D 6 Harlock, David 40 2 5 7 -13 40 0 0 0 0 23 8.7 NYI C 11 Miller, Kevin M 33 1 5 6 -5 13 0 0 0 0 37 2.7 NYI D 3 *Chara, Zdeno 23 0 3 3 2 42 0 0 0 0 17 0.0 NYI R 14 Sacco, Joe 40 2 0 2 -15 27 0 1 2 0 60 3.3 NYI D 36 Crowley, Ted 9 1 1 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 16 6.3 NYI D 2 Pilon, Rich R 33 0 2 2 -3 59 0 0 0 0 13 0.0 NYI C 37 *Nabokov, Dmitri 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 NYI L 18 Hough, Mike M 11 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 NYI R 8 Webb, Steve 22 0 0 0 -4 22 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 NYR C 99 Gretzky, Wayne 45 7 36 43 -15 6 3 0 2 1 84 8.3 NYR L 24 Sundstrom, Niklas 44 8 19 27 -8 14 1 0 1 0 48 16.7 NYR D 2 Leetch, Brian 45 6 21 27 -5 20 2 0 0 0 98 6.1 NYR R 15 MacLean, John 45 16 10 26 -3 28 7 1 1 0 121 13.2 NYR L 9 Graves, Adam 45 19 6 25 -12 39 10 0 5 0 113 16.8 NYR R 20 Harvey, Todd R 33 10 14 24 2 59 5 0 2 1 50 20.0 NYR L 17 Stevens, Kevin 44 10 14 24 1 36 2 0 1 0 70 14.3 NYR C 93 Nedved, Petr 26 9 14 23 -4 28 3 0 0 0 71 12.7 NYR C 33 Savard, Marc 33 6 15 21 2 14 4 0 1 0 53 11.3 NYR R 22 Knuble, Mike 45 9 11 20 -1 14 1 0 1 0 63 14.3 NYR D 25 Schneider, Mathieu 38 4 13 17 -9 20 2 0 1 0 82 4.9 NYR C 6 *Malhotra, Manny 37 5 2 7 -2 9 0 0 1 0 26 19.2 NYR D 5 Samuelsson, Ulf 44 3 4 7 0 69 0 0 0 0 27 11.1 NYR D 23 Beukeboom, Jeff 38 0 7 7 0 55 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 NYR D 34 Popovic, Peter 43 1 3 4 -11 26 0 0 0 0 34 2.9 NYR C 32 Pronger, Sean 13 0 3 3 -3 4 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 NYR L 10 Tikkanen, Esa M 32 0 3 3 -5 38 0 0 0 0 25 0.0 NYR D 3 Neckar, Stan 13 0 2 2 -3 4 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 NYR R 21 Fraser, Scott M 17 0 2 2 -5 4 0 0 0 0 13 0.0 NYR D 8 Mertzig, Jan 23 0 2 2 -4 8 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 NYR D 36 *Ndur, Rumun 14 0 1 1 1 27 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 NYR L 37 Fedyk, Brent 30 0 1 1 -8 12 0 0 0 0 25 0.0 NYR C 18 Armstrong, Derek M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYR D 26 Finley, Jeff M 2 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYR D 14 Smith, Geoff M 4 0 0 0 -5 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYR L 28 Stock, P.J. M 5 0 0 0 -1 6 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYR L 19 Langdon, Darren 26 0 0 0 -4 50 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 NYR D 4 Tamer, Chris 26 0 0 0 -7 52 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 OTW C 19 Yashin, Alexei 45 20 33 53 21 26 6 0 2 1 184 10.9 OTW L 15 McEachern, Shawn 45 21 18 39 14 32 4 0 2 1 137 15.3 OTW C 21 Johansson, Andreas 43 17 10 27 4 24 6 0 5 0 99 17.2 OTW R 10 Dackell, Andreas 40 10 14 24 9 10 4 0 3 0 64 15.6 OTW D 33 York, Jason 42 4 18 22 13 18 2 0 0 1 82 4.9 OTW L 20 Arvedson, Magnus 43 10 11 21 15 26 0 2 3 0 82 12.2 OTW C 13 Prospal, Vaclav 43 4 17 21 1 37 2 0 1 0 61 6.6 OTW D 6 Redden, Wade 43 5 13 18 10 40 2 0 1 0 76 6.6 OTW C 14 Bonk, Radek 44 9 7 16 9 30 0 0 4 0 58 15.5 OTW R 11 Alfredsson, Daniel 31 6 9 15 4 8 2 0 2 0 97 6.2 OTW D 29 Kravchuk, Igor 44 2 10 12 3 16 1 0 0 0 103 1.9 OTW L 18 *Hossa, Marian 23 4 7 11 8 6 0 0 0 0 42 9.5 OTW C 25 Gardiner, Bruce 38 4 6 10 7 23 0 0 1 0 45 8.9 OTW D 3 *Traverse, Patrick 31 1 7 8 8 12 0 0 0 0 22 4.5 OTW C 22 Van Allen, Shaun 42 4 3 7 -1 12 0 1 0 0 28 14.3 OTW R 12 Oliver, David M 17 2 5 7 1 4 0 0 0 0 18 11.1 OTW R 17 Murray, Chris 35 1 6 7 -2 60 0 0 0 0 33 3.0 OTW D 4 Phillips, Chris R 30 3 3 6 -2 28 2 0 0 0 42 7.1 OTW D 5 *Salo, Sami 27 1 4 5 8 12 0 0 1 0 38 2.6 OTW D 27 Laukkanen, Janne 22 0 3 3 10 10 0 0 0 0 19 0.0 OTW C 16 Martins, Steve 19 2 0 2 1 4 0 0 0 0 17 11.8 OTW D 2 Pitlick, Lance R 26 2 0 2 7 23 0 0 0 0 15 13.3 OTW L 26 Crowe, Phil M 8 0 1 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 OTW L 37 Sarault, Yves M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 OTW D 23 Bicanek, Radim M 4 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 OTW L 9 Berg, Bill 12 0 0 0 -3 7 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 PHI C 88 Lindros, Eric 42 26 33 59 28 77 5 1 1 1 137 19.0 PHI L 10 LeClair, John 44 27 29 56 30 14 11 0 4 1 149 18.1 PHI C 17 Brind'Amour, Rod 44 17 30 47 10 27 7 0 2 2 106 16.0 PHI D 37 Desjardins, Eric 40 8 23 31 19 24 3 0 1 0 101 7.9 PHI R 20 Jones, Keith 40 10 17 27 19 52 1 0 2 0 70 14.3 PHI D 3 McGillis, Dan 44 6 20 26 17 34 5 0 2 0 106 5.7 PHI C 18 Langkow, Daymond 40 7 13 20 11 17 1 0 1 0 74 9.5 PHI L 12 Forbes, Colin 42 9 7 16 4 33 0 0 4 0 60 15.0 PHI R 19 Renberg, Mikael 28 6 10 16 2 4 3 0 1 0 57 10.5 PHI L 26 Zelepukin, Valeri 36 7 5 12 6 19 0 0 4 0 62 11.3 PHI R 8 Hull, Jody 36 2 10 12 9 8 0 0 1 0 38 5.3 PHI D 6 Therien, Chris 37 1 9 10 20 30 1 0 0 0 51 2.0 PHI C 28 Bureau, Marc 33 3 4 7 -2 4 0 0 0 0 27 11.1 PHI R 9 Zubrus, Dainius 44 3 4 7 -3 23 0 1 0 0 36 8.3 PHI D 5 *Tertyshny, Dimitri 33 0 6 6 3 18 0 0 0 0 32 0.0 PHI C 11 Daigle, Alexandre 31 3 2 5 -1 2 1 0 1 0 26 11.5 PHI D 24 Dykhuis, Karl 42 3 2 5 -16 22 0 0 0 0 44 6.8 PHI D 44 Babych, Dave 28 0 3 3 1 20 0 0 0 0 36 0.0 PHI D 22 Richardson, Luke 44 0 3 3 6 74 0 0 0 0 30 0.0 PHI R 15 Greig, Mark M 3 1 1 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 4 25.0 PHI C 29 Vopat, Roman 31 0 2 2 -4 59 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 PHI D 43 *Delmore, Andy M 2 0 1 1 -1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 PHI D 32 *Bast, Ryan M 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHI L 21 Kordic, Dan M 2 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PHI L 40 Zent, Jason M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHI D 25 Joseph, Chris M 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHI C 14 White, Peter M 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PHI C 15 Park, Richard M 4 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHI R *Bonvie, Dennis 11 0 0 0 -4 44 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHO C 97 Roenick, Jeremy 40 16 26 42 12 61 4 0 2 0 103 15.5 PHO L 7 Tkachuk, Keith 30 17 17 34 20 45 6 0 4 1 91 18.7 PHO R 22 Tocchet, Rick 41 14 16 30 12 81 2 1 2 0 86 16.3 PHO D 27 Numminen, Teppo 42 8 17 25 15 18 0 0 0 2 87 9.2 PHO D 20 Lumme, Jyrki 42 3 19 22 9 28 0 0 2 0 89 3.4 PHO L 17 Adams, Greg 42 10 11 21 0 14 3 0 2 0 92 10.9 PHO R 11 Drake, Dallas 34 8 13 21 17 40 0 0 3 0 76 10.5 PHO D 10 Tverdovsky, Oleg 42 5 11 16 12 12 2 0 1 0 61 8.2 PHO C 36 Ylonen, Juha 42 4 11 15 14 18 2 0 1 0 49 8.2 PHO C 14 Stapleton, Mike 40 5 6 11 -5 24 0 2 1 0 49 10.2 PHO C 8 *Briere, Daniel 38 6 4 10 0 12 2 0 2 0 55 10.9 PHO C 21 Corkum, Bob 41 4 5 9 5 9 0 0 0 0 82 4.9 PHO R 19 Doan, Shane 41 2 7 9 -2 33 0 0 0 0 78 2.6 PHO D 3 Carney, Keith 42 0 8 8 10 36 0 0 0 0 30 0.0 PHO R 16 Isbister, Brad R 28 3 4 7 0 41 0 0 2 0 46 6.5 PHO D 5 Quint, Deron 30 1 5 6 -3 12 0 0 0 0 30 3.3 PHO R 15 Cummins, Jim 27 1 4 5 3 110 0 0 0 0 10 10.0 PHO C 26 Sullivan, Mike R 34 2 2 4 -6 12 0 1 1 0 42 4.8 PHO D 33 Daigneault, J.J. 39 2 2 4 -8 40 1 0 1 0 41 4.9 PHO C 12 Murray, Rob M 5 1 2 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 3 33.3 PHO R 23 Leach, Steve 15 0 2 2 -3 11 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 PHO D 4 Diduck, Gerald R 33 0 2 2 10 51 0 0 0 0 27 0.0 PHO C 50 *Letowski, Trevor M 4 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 33.3 PHO L 29 DeBrusk, Louie M 3 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PHO D 55 *Doig, Jason 5 0 0 0 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PIT R 68 Jagr, Jaromir 41 17 40 57 6 34 6 0 4 0 160 10.6 PIT C 82 Straka, Martin 41 21 26 47 8 16 4 2 2 1 105 20.0 PIT C 9 Titov, German 38 6 26 32 8 18 2 0 1 0 63 9.5 PIT C 20 Lang, Robert 41 18 12 30 -11 14 5 0 3 1 92 19.6 PIT D 4 Hatcher, Kevin 41 7 21 28 8 14 3 1 2 0 86 8.1 PIT R 27 Kovalev, Alexei 36 12 14 26 -7 25 4 0 2 0 82 14.6 PIT C 14 Barnes, Stu 41 15 10 25 -7 14 10 0 2 0 95 15.8 PIT C 38 *Hrdina, Jan 41 5 11 16 -5 16 2 0 2 0 41 12.2 PIT D 5 Werenka, Brad 41 3 11 14 11 50 1 0 3 0 40 7.5 PIT R 44 Brown, Rob R 30 4 7 11 -1 8 2 0 0 0 39 10.3 PIT R 95 Morozov, Alexei R 26 5 5 10 6 8 0 0 0 0 40 12.5 PIT C 37 Miller, Kip 38 3 5 8 -6 20 0 0 0 0 51 5.9 PIT D 71 Slegr, Jiri 23 1 6 7 -2 52 0 0 0 0 33 3.0 PIT D 16 Serowik, Jeff R 26 0 6 6 -4 16 0 0 0 0 26 0.0 PIT D 47 *Galanov, Maxim 35 3 2 5 0 8 2 0 0 1 32 9.4 PIT D 8 Dollas, Bobby 36 1 4 5 -7 46 0 0 0 0 20 5.0 PIT R 24 Moran, Ian 25 2 1 3 0 19 0 1 0 0 19 10.5 PIT R 25 Kesa, Dan 31 1 2 3 -1 21 0 0 0 1 15 6.7 PIT D 11 Kasparaitis, Darius 31 0 2 2 9 40 0 0 0 0 22 0.0 PIT L 18 Lebeau, Patrick M 8 1 0 1 -2 2 0 0 0 0 4 25.0 PIT D 23 Ignatjev, Victor R 11 0 1 1 -3 6 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 PIT D 6 Wilkinson, Neil 9 0 0 0 -1 9 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 PIT L 12 *Sonnenberg, Martin 11 0 0 0 0 17 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 PIT C 29 Wright, Tyler 31 0 0 0 -1 55 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 SJS L 39 Friesen, Jeff 41 12 18 30 0 14 7 0 1 1 124 9.7 SJS C 18 Ricci, Mike 45 9 16 25 3 30 1 1 1 1 57 15.8 SJS R 11 Nolan, Owen 43 10 14 24 2 64 2 1 1 0 113 8.8 SJS C 19 Sturm, Marco 45 11 11 22 4 32 3 2 3 1 75 14.7 SJS C 14 Marleau, Patrick 45 11 11 22 3 14 3 0 3 1 62 17.7 SJS R 17 Murphy, Joe 39 11 10 21 6 24 1 0 1 1 103 10.7 SJS D 2 Houlder, Bill 44 4 16 20 9 28 4 0 1 0 64 6.3 SJS L 37 Matteau, Stephane 36 4 10 14 4 45 0 0 0 0 33 12.1 SJS D 5 Norton, Jeff 35 1 11 12 7 16 1 0 1 0 45 2.2 SJS R 21 Granato, Tony R 30 6 5 11 3 50 0 1 1 1 55 10.9 SJS L 26 Lowry, Dave 31 5 5 10 2 14 1 0 0 1 28 17.9 SJS R 22 Stern, Ronnie 43 5 5 10 2 90 1 0 1 0 55 9.1 SJS D 3 Rouse, Bob 45 0 9 9 1 26 0 0 0 0 51 0.0 SJS C 12 Sutter, Ron 29 3 4 7 -3 36 0 0 1 0 32 9.4 SJS R 15 *Korolyuk, Alex 18 2 5 7 -1 10 0 0 0 0 29 6.9 SJS L 32 Craven, Murray 29 1 6 7 -2 12 0 0 0 0 35 2.9 SJS D 40 Rathje, Mike 45 3 2 5 2 18 1 0 0 0 39 7.7 SJS D 27 Marchment, Bryan R 38 1 4 5 -5 69 0 0 0 0 37 2.7 SJS D 10 Ragnarsson, Marcus 37 0 4 4 0 30 0 0 0 0 35 0.0 SJS D 4 Zyuzin, Andrei 12 2 0 2 2 10 2 0 0 0 23 8.7 SJS C 8 Skalde, Jarrod M 13 1 1 2 -2 4 0 0 0 1 15 6.7 SJS D 6 *Hannan, Scott M 5 0 2 2 0 6 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 SJS C 9 Nicholls, Bernie R 10 0 2 2 -4 4 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 SJS C 36 Guolla, Steve M 7 1 0 1 1 6 0 0 0 0 18 5.6 SJS R 33 Myhres, Brantt 18 1 0 1 -2 60 0 0 0 0 5 20.0 SJS C 13 Baker, Jamie M 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 SJS D 20 Suter, Gary R 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 SJS R 25 Craig, Mike M 1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 SJS L 7 Burr, Shawn 8 0 0 0 -3 10 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 SJS D 42 *Sutton, Andy 15 0 0 0 -1 23 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 STL L 38 Demitra, Pavol 42 21 24 45 3 8 11 0 6 0 125 16.8 STL D 2 MacInnis, Al 42 12 17 29 9 42 7 0 2 2 145 8.3 STL D 44 Pronger, Chris 38 9 19 28 4 75 4 0 0 0 101 8.9 STL C 77 Turgeon, Pierre 28 11 11 22 -3 16 2 0 2 1 85 12.9 STL R 48 Young, Scott 40 7 13 20 4 10 3 0 1 0 112 6.3 STL C 22 Conroy, Craig 42 5 15 20 4 20 0 0 0 0 83 6.0 STL L 33 Pellerin, Scott 41 10 6 16 -4 22 0 2 1 0 69 14.5 STL C 32 Eastwood, Mike 42 6 10 16 7 22 0 0 0 0 41 14.6 STL C 25 Rheaume, Pascal 33 5 8 13 4 22 2 0 0 0 49 10.2 STL R 27 Yake, Terry 21 4 9 13 -4 12 3 0 2 0 21 19.0 STL R 10 Campbell, Jim 34 2 11 13 -9 25 0 0 0 0 66 3.0 STL C 26 *Handzus, Michal 42 2 9 11 -9 20 0 0 0 0 51 3.9 STL L 14 Courtnall, Geoff R 21 3 7 10 1 26 0 0 1 0 54 5.6 STL C 15 *Reasoner, Marty M 22 3 7 10 2 8 1 0 0 0 33 9.1 STL L 34 Picard, Michel 22 4 4 8 -4 6 0 0 1 0 23 17.4 STL L 56 *Bartecko, Lubos M 13 2 5 7 -2 4 0 0 0 0 13 15.4 STL L 18 Twist, Tony 31 2 4 6 4 95 0 0 0 0 14 14.3 STL R 39 Chase, Kelly 26 1 4 5 4 95 0 0 0 0 12 8.3 STL D 6 Rivers, Jamie 41 0 5 5 -4 28 0 0 0 0 39 0.0 STL D 7 Persson, Ricard 15 0 1 1 -1 23 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 STL D 36 Helmer, Bryan 23 0 1 1 3 32 0 0 0 0 28 0.0 STL D 19 McAlpine, Chris 28 0 1 1 -8 37 0 0 0 0 38 0.0 STL D 4 Bergevin, Marc 36 0 1 1 -1 63 0 0 0 0 30 0.0 STL C 55 *Hecht, Jochen M 3 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 STL D 20 Poeschek, Rudy 13 0 0 0 -1 28 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 TBL L 17 Clark, Wendel 41 19 11 30 -5 22 7 0 1 1 115 16.5 TBL C 16 Tucker, Darcy 45 12 12 24 -20 94 4 2 2 0 100 12.0 TBL R 61 Selivanov, Alexander 42 6 13 19 -8 18 1 0 0 0 116 5.2 TBL C 77 Gratton, Chris 41 2 13 15 -10 86 0 0 0 1 93 2.2 TBL D 4 Cross, Cory 43 2 13 15 -14 63 0 0 0 0 62 3.2 TBL C 8 *Lecavalier, Vincent 45 7 5 12 -13 6 2 0 1 0 58 12.1 TBL R 44 Richer, Stephane 28 3 8 11 -11 10 1 1 0 0 55 5.5 TBL D 13 *Kubina, Pavel 33 3 7 10 -14 60 1 0 1 0 53 5.7 TBL D 5 Cullimore, Jassen 41 3 7 10 -11 44 1 0 1 0 38 7.9 TBL D 23 Svoboda, Petr 35 4 4 8 1 50 1 1 1 0 55 7.3 TBL R 10 McCarthy, Sandy 44 4 4 8 -18 96 1 0 0 0 53 7.5 TBL C 33 Hogue, Benoit 39 3 5 8 -20 32 2 0 1 0 55 5.5 TBL L 7 Zamuner, Rob 24 3 3 6 1 12 0 0 1 0 39 7.7 TBL C 25 Nylander, Michael 10 2 3 5 1 2 1 0 0 0 7 28.6 TBL R 34 Andersson, Mikael 36 2 3 5 -4 2 0 0 0 0 38 5.3 TBL C 26 Sillinger, Mike 42 2 3 5 -14 12 0 1 0 0 42 4.8 TBL D 6 Wilkie, David 16 1 3 4 -1 17 0 0 0 0 15 6.7 TBL C 11 Kelly, Steve M 25 1 3 4 -13 19 0 0 1 0 12 8.3 TBL L 47 Peterson, Brent 14 2 1 3 -1 0 0 0 0 0 10 20.0 TBL D 23 Sykora, Michal M 10 1 2 3 -7 0 0 0 1 0 24 4.2 TBL D 2 McBain, Mike 24 0 3 3 -5 12 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 TBL D 55 Bannister, Drew 14 1 1 2 0 18 0 0 0 0 22 4.5 TBL D 28 Samuelsson, Kjell 28 1 1 2 -6 28 0 0 0 0 15 6.7 TBL C 15 Ysebaert, Paul M 10 0 1 1 -5 2 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 TBL D 71 *Larocque, Mario M 2 0 0 0 -1 6 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 TBL C 12 Cullen, John R 4 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 TBL D 46 Skopintsev, Andrei M 4 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 TOR C 13 Sundin, Mats 46 16 31 47 7 28 4 0 5 0 134 11.9 TOR L 32 Thomas, Steve 46 18 21 39 11 27 6 0 5 0 128 14.1 TOR R 22 Korolev, Igor 43 11 21 32 10 28 1 0 2 0 58 19.0 TOR L 7 King, Derek 45 16 14 30 6 10 5 0 2 0 93 17.2 TOR R 20 Johnson, Mike 46 16 12 28 10 18 4 3 1 0 104 15.4 TOR R 94 Berezin, Sergei 40 15 12 27 10 4 5 0 2 0 125 12.0 TOR L 19 Modin, Fredrik 46 12 11 23 8 25 1 0 3 1 78 15.4 TOR C 18 McCauley, Alyn R 35 7 15 22 4 2 1 0 1 0 64 10.9 TOR D 34 Berard, Bryan 35 5 15 20 -4 26 3 0 3 0 77 6.5 TOR D 36 Yushkevich, Dimitri 42 5 14 19 14 68 2 1 0 0 61 8.2 TOR D 3 Cote, Sylvain 46 3 16 19 8 16 0 0 1 0 77 3.9 TOR D 15 *Kaberle, Tomas 42 3 14 17 -3 6 0 0 2 0 47 6.4 TOR C 11 Sullivan, Steve 28 6 9 15 4 14 0 0 1 0 46 13.0 TOR D 52 Karpovtsev, Alexander 28 2 12 14 24 22 1 0 0 0 31 6.5 TOR L 8 Warriner, Todd 21 5 7 12 2 10 1 0 1 0 46 10.9 TOR R 28 Domi, Tie 38 4 8 12 0 97 0 0 0 0 35 11.4 TOR L 10 Valk, Garry 42 3 9 12 1 29 1 0 0 0 57 5.3 TOR D 25 Smith, Jason 45 2 8 10 -8 35 0 0 0 0 45 4.4 TOR D 38 Tremblay, Yannick 28 2 7 9 4 12 0 0 0 0 34 5.9 TOR C 14 Hendrickson, Darby 33 2 3 5 -3 26 0 0 0 0 33 6.1 TOR D 55 *Markov, Daniil 27 2 1 3 0 14 0 0 0 0 11 18.2 TOR L 12 King, Kris 38 2 1 3 -9 55 0 1 1 0 20 10.0 TOR D 2 Eakins, Dallas 18 0 2 2 3 24 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 TOR D 4 Dahl, Kevin M 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 VAN R 19 Naslund, Markus 43 23 16 39 -6 44 11 0 2 0 117 19.7 VAN C 11 Messier, Mark 44 13 26 39 -10 25 4 2 2 0 73 17.8 VAN R 17 *Muckalt, Bill 45 14 13 27 3 40 3 2 1 0 71 19.7 VAN D 2 Ohlund, Mattias 45 6 16 22 -8 61 1 0 1 0 84 7.1 VAN R 89 Mogilny, Alexander 26 5 17 22 2 30 1 2 1 1 41 12.2 VAN D 6 Aucoin, Adrian 45 11 8 19 0 52 8 1 1 0 91 12.1 VAN C 15 Gagner, Dave 38 4 12 16 -7 41 2 0 0 1 51 7.8 VAN D 55 Jovanovski, Ed 43 3 13 16 -2 82 1 0 1 0 69 4.3 VAN C 20 Scatchard, Dave 45 8 6 14 -1 82 0 1 2 0 86 9.3 VAN C 22 Zezel, Peter R 35 6 7 13 4 16 1 0 2 0 43 14.0 VAN L 9 May, Brad 39 2 11 13 -8 67 1 0 0 0 52 3.8 VAN R 26 Klatt, Trent 44 3 8 11 -1 4 0 0 0 0 43 7.0 VAN C 27 York, Harry 26 5 5 10 1 8 1 0 0 0 27 18.5 VAN L 8 Brashear, Donald 45 5 5 10 -11 123 0 0 1 0 65 7.7 VAN D 4 McCabe, Bryan 32 4 6 10 -7 68 1 1 0 0 37 10.8 VAN C 44 Bertuzzi, Todd 14 4 4 8 6 18 1 0 1 0 29 13.8 VAN D 36 McAllister, Chris 27 1 1 2 -7 63 0 0 0 1 5 20.0 VAN D 5 Murzyn, Dana 10 0 2 2 3 21 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 VAN L 24 *Cooke, Matt M 26 0 2 2 -10 23 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 VAN D 23 Baron, Murray 44 0 2 2 -8 69 0 0 0 0 29 0.0 VAN L 15 *Schaefer, Peter M 8 1 0 1 -5 2 1 0 0 0 6 16.7 VAN C 14 *Holden, Josh M 11 0 1 1 -3 6 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 VAN D 7 Huscroft, Jamie 19 0 1 1 -3 57 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 VAN D 34 Strudwick, Jason 31 0 1 1 -7 68 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 VAN R 25 Staios, Steve 45 0 1 1 -10 52 0 0 0 0 24 0.0 VAN D 18 Robertsson, Bert 12 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 WSH C 90 Juneau, Joe 42 8 18 26 -4 16 2 1 2 0 108 7.4 WSH R 12 Bondra, Peter 42 15 10 25 -7 40 3 2 2 1 171 8.8 WSH D 6 Johansson, Calle 43 7 11 18 1 20 2 0 2 1 99 7.1 WSH L 13 Nikolishin, Andrei 34 3 15 18 4 12 0 1 0 0 57 5.3 WSH L 23 Bellows, Brian 43 8 8 16 -2 14 3 0 1 0 95 8.4 WSH D 15 Mironov, Dmitri 42 2 13 15 -5 80 2 0 0 0 79 2.5 WSH C 77 Oates, Adam R 20 6 8 14 -1 6 3 0 0 0 34 17.6 WSH C 28 Black, James 37 5 9 14 3 2 0 0 0 0 56 8.9 WSH C 22 Konowalchuk, Steve 28 7 5 12 1 12 1 1 1 0 64 10.9 WSH R 2 Klee, Ken 40 5 6 11 -1 42 0 0 1 0 49 10.2 WSH D 55 Gonchar, Sergei 29 8 2 10 5 25 4 0 1 0 87 9.2 WSH L 17 Simon, Chris R 23 3 7 10 -4 48 0 0 0 0 29 10.3 WSH C 8 Bulis, Jan 15 4 5 9 4 0 1 0 3 0 23 17.4 WSH C 20 Pivonka, Michal 14 4 3 7 -5 8 2 0 0 0 18 22.2 WSH L 27 Berube, Craig 40 3 3 6 -4 124 0 0 0 0 26 11.5 WSH D 19 Witt, Brendan 36 1 5 6 -2 52 0 0 0 0 27 3.7 WSH D 24 Tinordi, Mark 34 0 6 6 -5 77 0 0 0 0 23 0.0 WSH L 44 Zednik, Richard R 15 3 2 5 -4 28 1 0 1 0 34 8.8 WSH L 10 Miller, Kelly 25 2 2 4 -2 11 0 0 1 0 29 6.9 WSH L 21 Toms, Jeff R 5 1 3 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 5 20.0 WSH C 32 Hunter, Dale 40 0 4 4 -5 92 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 WSH C 36 Eagles, Mike 21 2 1 3 -2 8 0 0 0 0 11 18.2 WSH C 26 *Herr, Matt M 18 1 2 3 -2 6 0 0 0 0 21 4.8 WSH D 29 Reekie, Joe 34 0 3 3 5 32 0 0 0 0 35 0.0 WSH R 34 Svejkovsky, Jarolsav R 7 2 0 2 2 4 0 0 1 0 15 13.3 WSH D 39 Ciccone, Enrico 23 1 1 2 -2 55 0 0 0 0 10 10.0 WSH L 9 Chorske, Tom 15 0 2 2 -3 6 0 0 0 0 24 0.0 WSH L 18 Halverson, Trevor M 5 0 1 1 -1 2 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 WSH D 39 Poapst, Steve M 1 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 WSH R 14 Augusta, Patrik M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 WSH R 14 Lefebvre, Patrice M 3 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 WSH L 48 *Gratton, Benoit M 4 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 WSH D 38 *Baumgartner, Nolan M 5 0 0 0 -3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 WSH D 3 Malgunas, Stewart M 7 0 0 0 -4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Goalie Stats thru January 24 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TM NO GOALTENDER GPI MINS AVG W L T EN SO GA SA SPCT G A PIM ANA 31 Hebert, Guy 37 2233 2.26 15 15 7 2 4 84 1167 .928 0 0 0 ANA 30 Roussel, Dominic 9 501 2.51 2 4 2 1 1 21 282 .926 0 0 0 BOS 34 Dafoe, Byron 35 2034 2.06 15 13 6 3 4 70 954 .927 0 2 19 BOS 35 Tallas, Rob 10 583 2.37 5 3 1 1 1 23 258 .911 0 0 0 BUF 39 Hasek, Dominik 41 2393 1.86 22 10 7 0 8 74 1216 .939 0 0 6 BUF 30 Roloson, Dwayne 5 218 3.03 1 3 0 1 0 11 103 .893 0 0 2 CGY 40 Brathwaite, Fred 7 422 1.99 3 3 1 0 1 14 218 .936 0 0 0 CGY 30*Moss, Tyler 11 550 2.51 3 7 0 0 0 23 295 .922 0 1 0 CGY 31 Wregget, Ken R 11 632 2.85 3 5 2 1 1 30 301 .900 0 0 4 CGY 47*Giguere, Jean-Seba M 15 860 3.21 6 7 1 2 0 46 447 .897 0 1 4 CGY 35 Trefilov, Andrei 5 186 4.84 0 4 0 0 0 15 104 .856 0 0 0 CGY 1*Garner, Tyrone N 3 139 5.18 0 2 0 0 0 12 74 .838 0 0 0 CAR 1 Irbe, Arturs 32 1885 2.20 14 11 5 3 5 69 908 .924 0 0 4 CAR 37 Kidd, Trevor 16 844 2.70 6 7 2 2 1 38 381 .900 0 0 0 CHI 41 Thibault, Jocelyn 32 1857 2.58 11 16 4 3 3 80 924 .913 0 0 0 CHI 30 Fitzpatrick, Mark 16 848 2.62 3 6 4 1 0 37 421 .912 0 0 2 COL 33 Roy, Patrick 30 1791 2.21 14 12 3 2 3 66 778 .915 0 0 22 COL 30*Denis, Marc M 4 217 2.49 1 1 1 0 0 9 110 .918 0 0 0 COL 1 Billington, Craig 14 702 2.99 7 6 0 1 0 35 308 .886 0 0 2 DAL 1 Turek, Roman 13 705 1.96 7 1 2 1 0 23 289 .920 0 0 0 DAL 20 Belfour, Ed 34 1905 2.05 20 8 5 0 3 65 720 .910 0 0 8 DET 38*Maracle, Norm 12 600 2.30 4 3 2 1 0 23 276 .917 0 0 0 DET 30 Osgood, Chris 36 2062 2.59 19 16 1 3 2 89 930 .904 0 1 6 DET 31 Hodson, Kevin 2 99 3.64 0 1 0 0 0 6 41 .854 0 0 0 EDM 30 Essensa, Bob 22 1156 2.44 8 6 4 1 0 47 503 .907 0 1 0 EDM 35 Shtalenkov, Mikhail 28 1513 2.62 10 13 3 2 2 66 653 .899 0 0 2 FLA 31 Burke, Sean 31 1827 2.50 13 9 9 0 1 76 831 .909 0 2 8 FLA 1 McLean, Kirk 15 865 2.71 4 7 2 0 1 39 406 .904 0 0 0 LAK 35 Fiset, Stephane 13 744 2.26 5 6 1 1 1 28 376 .926 0 0 0 LAK 1*Storr, Jamie 18 1022 2.47 9 8 1 1 3 42 472 .911 0 0 4 LAK 32*Legace, Manny M 16 859 2.58 2 9 2 5 0 37 415 .911 0 1 0 LAK 31*Bach, Ryan 2 88 4.77 0 2 0 0 0 7 60 .883 0 0 0 MTL 39 Chabot, Frederic 1 38 1.58 0 0 0 0 0 1 19 .947 0 0 0 MTL 31 Hackett, Jeff 35 1993 2.59 13 14 7 5 2 86 903 .905 0 0 6 MTL 60*Theodore, Jose M 14 751 3.20 3 9 0 1 0 40 327 .878 0 0 0 NSH 1 Dunham, Mike 22 1221 2.90 10 10 1 0 0 59 665 .911 0 0 4 NSH 29*Vokoun, Tomas 20 976 3.20 6 9 3 1 1 52 527 .901 0 1 4 NSH 35 Fichaud, Eric 9 447 3.22 0 6 0 1 0 24 229 .895 0 0 0 NSH 30*Mason, Chris 3 69 5.22 0 0 0 0 0 6 44 .864 0 0 0 NJD 30 Brodeur, Martin 38 2302 2.48 21 12 5 3 2 95 951 .900 0 2 2 NJD 31 Terreri, Chris 6 358 3.02 4 2 0 0 0 18 133 .865 0 0 0 NYI 35 Salo, Tommy 32 1889 2.60 13 17 2 3 5 82 846 .903 0 0 10 NYI 1*Cousineau, Marcel M 6 293 2.87 0 4 0 0 0 14 119 .882 0 0 0 NYI 30 Flaherty, Wade 8 348 3.62 1 4 1 2 0 21 169 .876 0 0 2 NYI 28 Potvin, Felix 9 540 3.67 3 6 0 1 0 33 243 .864 0 0 0 NYR 39*Cloutier, Dan 12 592 2.33 3 4 2 1 0 23 300 .923 0 0 0 NYR 35 Richter, Mike 37 2137 2.67 14 17 5 5 3 95 996 .905 0 0 0 OTW 31 Tugnutt, Ron 24 1397 1.63 13 5 4 2 1 38 571 .933 0 0 0 OTW 1 Rhodes, Damian 25 1329 2.75 12 9 2 0 1 61 572 .893 1 0 4 PHI 34 Vanbiesbrouck, John 33 1958 1.81 16 7 8 1 6 59 729 .919 0 1 8 PHI 27 Hextall, Ron 13 728 2.23 8 3 2 0 0 27 280 .904 0 0 0 PHO 35 Khabibulin, Nikolai 31 1804 1.93 18 8 4 1 4 58 802 .928 0 0 4 PHO 28 Waite, Jimmy 13 749 2.24 6 3 3 0 1 28 319 .912 0 0 2 PIT 35 Barrasso, Tom 28 1552 2.51 13 10 3 3 2 65 646 .899 0 3 20 PIT 30*Aubin, Jean-Sebast M 9 309 2.52 3 1 1 0 1 13 112 .884 0 0 0 PIT 1*Skudra, Peter 12 623 2.99 4 3 3 1 1 31 258 .880 0 0 0 SJS 31 Shields, Steve 15 878 2.05 4 5 4 0 1 30 367 .918 0 0 2 SJS 29 Vernon, Mike 32 1874 2.40 11 13 8 1 3 75 797 .906 0 0 6 STL 30*Parent, Rich 3 95 1.89 0 0 1 0 0 3 34 .912 0 0 0 STL 29 McLennan, Jamie 24 1292 2.37 9 11 3 3 2 51 457 .888 0 0 0 STL 31 Fuhr, Grant 22 1165 2.63 7 6 5 0 1 51 425 .880 0 0 8 TBL 1*Bierk, Zac M 1 59 2.03 0 1 0 0 0 2 21 .905 0 0 0 TBL 93 Puppa, Darren R 13 691 2.87 5 6 1 1 2 33 350 .906 0 1 0 TBL 32 Schwab, Corey 11 637 3.30 3 8 0 2 0 35 339 .897 0 1 4 TBL 30 Ranford, Bill 24 1333 3.60 3 15 3 1 1 80 717 .888 0 0 2 TOR 35 Reese, Jeff 1 46 2.61 1 0 0 0 0 2 18 .889 0 0 0 TOR 30 Healy, Glenn R 3 179 2.68 2 1 0 0 0 8 83 .904 0 0 0 TOR 31 Joseph, Curtis 38 2245 2.73 21 13 3 1 1 102 1058 .904 0 4 2 VAN 31 Hirsch, Corey 14 627 2.68 3 5 2 0 1 28 289 .903 0 0 0 VAN 30 Snow, Garth 39 2088 2.99 12 19 4 3 2 104 1050 .901 0 1 14 WSH 40 Rosati, Mike M 1 28 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 12 1.000 0 0 0 WSH 31 Tabaracci, Rick 12 622 2.12 2 5 3 0 1 22 285 .923 0 0 0 WSH 37 Kolzig, Olaf 35 1940 2.72 13 18 1 3 3 88 844 .896 0 0 19 Stats provided by Brad Murray. 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