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November 30, 2009
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
SUCCEEDING EACH STANZA
COACHES OFTEN TELL their teams to take things simply. “Just go out there and win this period,” is a regular refrain. Typically, the Flyers listen better than most teams. For every period they’ve played that included a scoring discrepancy, Philadelphia has come out ahead 65.3 percent of the time. The Flyers also tend to find the net fairly quickly, averaging 14:50 of play before putting a puck past the other team’s stopper. Part of the reason for the Flyers’ success is older players such as Chris Pronger. While people tend to think of guys in their late 20s as being in their prime, the 30-and-over crowd is actually the most productive, averaging 5.59 points per player through mid-November compared with 5.0 for players aged 23 to 29. Seems there’s something to be said…
CROSSWORD
ANSWERS AVAILABLE IN THE NEXT ISSUE AND AT THN.com/xword ACROSS 1 ‘J.R.’ was one in 2008-09 8 ___ Hat is home of hockey’s Tigers 9 Stretch of poor play 10 Where the Frontenacs play 11 Victory smoke 14 One of Wayne Gretzky’s nicknames 15 Nashville bench boss ___ Trotz, pictured 20 Veteran hockey man ___ Devellano 21 Morning skates are often ___ 22 Another Gretzky 23 Howell and Potvin book-ended this great’s Norris Trophy run 24 Former IIHF head ___ Ahearne DOWN 2 One-time Canuck ___ Graves 3 ‘Guy’s’ Quebec League team 4 Oiler executive ___ Lowe 5 They play at Staples Center 6 Steve Shutt got ___ goals his best season 7 Former NHLer Rick ___ now runs goalie camps 12 Home of junior hockey’s Olympiques 13 An OHL city 16 Rick ___ was with the Wings and Blues 17 Spears 18 The Huskies play in ___-Noranda 19 ___ Sinden coached Team Canada LAST WEEK’S CROSSWORD…
EARLY-YEAR NEWSMAKERS
Goalie Devan Dubnyk can’t say he didn’t get a chance to show the Edmonton Oilers what he can do. After playing in 62 games for the Springfield Falcons a year ago, Dubnyk was the AHL leader in minutes played after five weeks this season. Chosen 14th overall by Edmonton in the 2004 draft, the 23-year-old Dubnyk was 6-6-1 with a 2.79 goals-against average and .926 save percentage. The third-year pro had played in 13 of 15 games. TRUE TO FORM Bobby Sanguinetti was drafted by the New York Rangers to be a puck-moving, point-producing defenseman. He’s proving to be very good both. Selected 21st overall in 2006, Sanguinetti was sixth in AHL scoring after five weeks with five goals and 17 points in 14 games. SO FAR, SO GOOD Third-year center Jon Matsumoto, 23, went…
ASK Adam?
Adam, Anze Kopitar has emerged as an elite force this season, but do you think it’s possible he’ll pass the 100-point mark? Peter Hamming, Lumby, B.C. Peter, Are you kidding? Of course Kopitar could reach that plateau. Through 18 games, he was on pace for a 63-goal, 126-point season. Every time I see him play, I think of the comparison former Kings coach Marc Crawford made between him and Mats Sundin. The only difference Crawford told me he saw between Kopitar and the former Leafs captain was that Kopitar had yet to fully embrace conditioning and thus hadn’t filled out his 6-foot-3 frame enough to take the next step in his career. Kopitar worked out like a madman this summer, and voila – the next step was taken. Adam, If Sarnia’s Michael Liambas was suspended for…