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.

February 22, 2010

The Hockey News - Feb-22-10

<div class="byline">&#x2013; PHILIP COLVIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0065-0539/9394204-1-eng-US/f0065-052.jpg" title="f0065-05" width="269" height="105"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>here&rsquo;s no single reason why Miami has been the country&rsquo;s top-ranked team most of the year. The RedHawks are deep, fast and can play any style. Junior forwards Andy Miele, Pat Cannone and Carter Camper, captain Tommy Wingels and sophomore defenseman Chris Wideman offer firepower. Six-foot-6 junior left winger Justin Vaive and 6-foot-4 sophomore defenseman Will Weber are physical. And sophomore goalies Cody Reichard and Connor Knapp are outstanding. &ldquo;We just try to get better every week and want to be playing our best at the right time,&rdquo; Wingels said.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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PROSPECTS UNLIMITED

REDHAWKS RED HOT

<div class="byline">&#x2013; BOB DUFF</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-01243/9393003-1-eng-US/f0055-012.jpg" title="f0055-01" width="301" height="167"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-204/9393010-1-eng-US/f0055-202.jpg" title="f0055-20" width="133" height="133"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>G</span>LENN HALL</b> used to vomit before every game. Jacques Plante knitted his own under-garments. Jim Carey wouldn&rsquo;t permit his sister to attend his games, insisting she was bad luck.</p><p>The quirkiness of the current Blues netminders might not measure up to that status, but St. Louis starter Chris Mason is the only NHL goaltender capable of scoring on himself on a daily basis.</p><p>The &ldquo;Mason&rdquo; that Mason gets to direct shots at lives in virtual reality, thanks to a video game at <a href="http://stltoday.com">stltoday.com</a> known as &lsquo;Blues Shootout.&rsquo;</p><p>Created at the start of this season by the St. Louis-based Bing! Information Design, the game was launched to help generate interest in the team, allowing fans to direct shots at netminder Mason.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-02158/9392996-1-eng-US/f0055-022.jpg" title="f0055-02" width="1027" height="879"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Chris Mason gets the chance to shoot on himself via an online video game.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(STLTODAY.COM)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of cool,&rdquo; Mason said. &ldquo;I was a big fan of video games growing up.&rdquo;</p><p>The animated Mason trash talks after saves with such taunts as, &ldquo;That was brutal,&rdquo; or, &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t mess it up, stone hands.&rdquo;</p><p>Mason knows about scoring, having been credited with goals in the AHL and NHL, but both tallies - with the Milwaukee Admirals and Nashville Predators - were registered after opposing players shot it into their own net and Mason was the last player on his team to touch the puck.</p><p>&ldquo;Cheesy goals,&rdquo; is how Mason describes them. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d much rather shoot one and saucer it down and in. Maybe when I retire, I can tell people that&rsquo;s how it happened.&rdquo;</p><p>Backup Ty Conklin lost his quirky claim to fame this season when he didn&rsquo;t play in the Winter Classic. He&rsquo;d started &ndash; and won &ndash; all three outdoor games prior to this season.</p><p>Playing for his fifth team in six seasons, Conklin reached the Stanley Cup final with three of them - the &rsquo;05-06 Edmonton Oilers, the &rsquo;07-08 Pittsburgh Penguins and the &rsquo;08-09 Detroit Red Wings.</p><p>&ldquo;Maybe my agent can use that in contract negotiations,&rdquo; Conklin said.</p><p>The Hockey News recently named Conklin the NHL&rsquo;s best No. 2 netminder of the past decade.</p><p>&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t call it a back-handed compliment,&rdquo; Conklin said, &ldquo;but I think everybody would rather be the starter of the decade.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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IN EVERY ISSUE

St. Louis

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0066-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0066-01139/9394328-1-eng-US/f0066-012.jpg"></div><p><i>1 YEAR</i>&nbsp;of The Hockey News including the Yearbook and Future Watch</p><p><b>Daily email newsletter FREE</b></p><p>Full digital edition FREE</p><p><b>NHL<sup>&reg;</sup> team swivel key chain of your choice FREE</b></p><p><a href="http://THN.com">THN.com</a> in now available as a <b>FREE</b> download on mobile devices</p><p>Download the application today at <b><a href="http://thn.mobi">thn.mobi</a></b></p><p>Visit <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> to subscribe now!<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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IN THIS ISSUE

Your Inside Edge

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EASTERN CONFERENCE

<div class="byline">PHOTOGRAPH BY BILL WIPPERT</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-012117/9391987-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Behind the Rask</b></h2><p>Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask is having a stellar rookie season, but was beaten by Buffalo on this occasion.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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THE BIG PICTURE

<div class="byline">with Jason Kay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-012136/9392032-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="695" height="583"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MARK WILSON)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>IF YOU CALL YOURSELF A HOCKEY FAN,</b> and we&rsquo;ll assume you do if you&rsquo;re reading this notebook, you love goalies. Admit it.</p><p>While you may not be enamored with the guy between the pipes of your favorite team at all times, as hockey zealots we share affection for the people who ply the trade. The position has an inherent romanticism; masked men, or women, clad with cool armor, serving as the last line of defense. They play entire games, with an unparalleled ability to impact outcomes. When they&rsquo;re on, they can single-handedly defeat a giant foe. They are the consummate underdogs and towering superheroes all at once.</p><p>Yet, curiously, they&rsquo;ve come up short when it comes to being recognized with the NHL&rsquo;s top honor. Just seven times in 85 years has the Hart Trophy gone to a netminder. Ryan Miller, the subject of senior writer Ken Campbell&rsquo;s cover story in this issue, has what it takes to make it eight. What gives Miller a fighting chance, beyond his eye-popping numbers, is that his Buffalo Sabres aren&rsquo;t perceived as a juggernaut. Instead, they were viewed as a playoff bubble team entering the season, one that needed its goalie to be its best player on the ice virtually every game in order to win.</p><p>Being a great goalie on a very good team, it seems, has deterred Hart voters. That may partially explain why legends such as Patrick Roy, Terry Sawchuk and the reigning all-time wins and shutout king, Martin Brodeur, have never been awarded the MVP trophy. In fact, of the six netminders to receive the award, just one (Jacques Plante, 1962) played on the league&rsquo;s No. 1 overall team in his Hart-stopping season.</p><p>The other five backstopped squads that ranged from above-average to awful. Dominik Hasek&rsquo;s 1997 and &rsquo;98 Sabres were 10th and sixth overall in the years he won his Harts. Jose Theodore&rsquo;s 2002 Habs finished fourth, <i>in their division,</i> and just squeaked into the playoffs. Ditto for Chuck Rayner&rsquo;s 1950 Rangers. The New York Americans were fourth out of 10 teams in 1929 when Roy Worters got the Hart. And Al Rollins&rsquo; 1954 Black Hawks finished dead-last in a six-team league.</p><p>Naturally, other factors come into play &ndash; primarily the competition. The Hart has predominantly been awarded to the most dominating offensive player in any given season. Goals, after all, are glamorous. But if Ovie can&rsquo;t ratchet it up, Sid cools off and voters can&rsquo;t distinguish between the Sedins, then Miller may be our man.</p><p>And when he makes his acceptance speech, he should thank his teammates for being good&hellip;but not too good.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031455/9392025-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="476" height="254"></div><p><b>NEXT ISSUE</b> MARCH 1, 2010</p><p>CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TO SUBSCRIBE: <b><a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a></b> CONTACT US: <b><a href="mailto:editorial@thehockeynews.com">editorial@thehockeynews.com</a></b></p><h2><b>LISTEN UP!</b></h2><p><b>THE HOCKEY NEWS RADIO SHOW</b></p><p><b>FRIDAYS 3-4 EST</b></p><p><b>XM 204</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021812/9392018-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="185" height="72"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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HART STOPPERS NEED ‘HELP’

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021541/9392139-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="886" height="941"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DAVE REGINEK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03997/9392146-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="226" height="225"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>R</span>ecently, Hockey Day in Canada was in Stratford, Ont. My team practised with NHL alumni, had our picture taken with the Stanley Cup and met many celebrities, but none of them were as pleasant as <i>Hockey Night in Canada&rsquo;s</i> Ron MacLean.</p><p>He shook my hand, inquired about our team&rsquo;s success and wished us luck in the future.</p><p>I just wanted to thank Ron for everything he&rsquo;s done for hockey in Canada. It&rsquo;s one thing to show up and help put Stratford on the main stage, but Ron goes all the way.</p><p>He truly believes in hockey in Canada and for that we thank you, Ron.</p><p><b>Leah Henry, Stratford, Ont.</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-012121/9392132-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="247" height="204"></div><h2><b>FREE SWAG!</b></h2><p>Each issue, we&rsquo;ll give a cool THN hat to the top letter.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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MACLEAN MAKES DAY

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-07217/9392094-1-eng-US/f0006-072.jpg" title="f0006-07" width="450" height="676"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MILLER: GREGORY SHAMUS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>&ldquo;Pulling the trigger on a blockbuster deal brings a smile to every fan&rsquo;s face</b></blockquote><h2><b>KUDOS, BURKE</b></h2><p>I&rsquo;d like to thank Toronto GM Brian Burke for bringing excitement to the hockey world off the ice.</p><p>Pulling the trigger on a blockbuster before the NHL trade deadline is something that brings a smile to every hockey fan&rsquo;s face. It gets long waiting for the deadline before there can be a decent trade. Hopefully the Dion Phaneuf deal will inspire other GMs to do the same.</p><p><b>Natasha Dufresne, Sudbury, Ont.</b></p><h2><b>HEAD-SCRATCHER</b></h2><p>As a former college football equipment manager, I feel I can speak on this subject with some authority.</p><p>No piece of protective equipment can provide the protection it was designed to if not properly secured. If protective headgear is displaced even to a small degree, it cannot do its job.</p><p>Please guys, secure those chinstraps. I want to watch you play, not get helped off the ice.</p><p><b>Tim Allen, New Lenox, Ill.</b></p><h2><b>HOMETOWN HEROES</b></h2><p>I really enjoyed Ryan Dixon&rsquo;s article &ldquo;Re-adjust Your Radar&rdquo; in the Feb. 1, 2010, edition of THN.</p><p>The Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario League takes great pride in the accomplishments of Mark Giordano and Wayne Simmonds, two of our alumni mentioned in the column.</p><p>Both of these fine young men were passed over in their OHL draft year and then came later to the Attack through the insight and vision of Mike Futa and Ian McLellan, who led Owen Sound&rsquo;s scouting at the time. Mike and Ian recognized unlimited potential in Mark and Wayne when so many others had not.</p><p>Both of these young men have gone on to overcome their late starts and taken their games to the highest level. Our organization could not be more proud of them.</p><p><b>Bob Severs, president, Owen Sound Attack (OHL)</b></p><h2><b>FAN REPRESENTATIVE</b></h2><p>I&rsquo;d like to suggest another position be added to the NHL head office: &ldquo;Executive Fan.&rdquo;</p><p>Every franchise in the NHL has a booster club and those booster clubs have a president. My suggestion is that of the 30 booster club presidents, one is elected to represent the common fan.</p><p>As fans of this wonderful game, we should have a say on what rules should be added and/or changed to make the game more exciting.</p><p>After all, who are the ones forking out $100 for nosebleed tickets?</p><p>Imagine if the executive fan had the final vote on whether to keep or get rid of the shootout.</p><p>It would give the fans a bit more influence on how their hard-earned money goes to work in NHL rinks.</p><p><b>Ryan Wick, Victoria, B.C.</b></p><h2><b>FUN ON THE POND</b></h2><p>I&rsquo;ve seen it so many times on TV and in arenas, but recently I had a real glimpse of why hockey players are truly the best sportsmen out there.</p><p>I volunteered at the Canadian national pond hockey championship for the first time this year and I have never been more proud to be Canadian.</p><p>I officiated three games and was overwhelmed with the response from the players. I had the pleasure of talking with a number of them over the course of the day.</p><p>The level of respect they have for one another and the officials is unbelievable. It was 24 rinks filled with players who truly love hockey.</p><p>I can&rsquo;t think of anywhere else I would have rather been.</p><p><b>Chris Copeman, Huntsville, Ont.</b></p><h2><b>A MODERN MACHINE</b></h2><p>Can anyone stop Washington? The Capitals are averaging 3.8 goals per game, more than half-a-goal better than anyone else. Congrats for turning this team into a force &ndash; and I&rsquo;m not even a Capitals fan!</p><p><b>Jake Woodburn, Peterborough, Ont.</b></p><p><b><a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a></b></p><h2><b>POLL RESULTS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0986/9392101-1-eng-US/f0006-092.jpg" title="f0006-09" width="157" height="158"></div><p>Who will win the Vezina Trophy?</p><p><b>Ryan Miller 48%</b></p><p>Martin Brodeur 22%</p><p>Miikka Kiprusoff 6%</p><p>Jonathan Quick 6%</p><p>Craig Anderson 5%</p><p>Ilya Bryzgalov 4%</p><p>Roberto Luongo 3%</p><p>Evgeni Nabokov 3%</p><p>Henrik Lundqvist 2%</p><p>Tomas Vokoun 1%</p><h2><b>SPIT IT OUT!</b></h2><h3><b>GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST</b></h3><p>SEND US AN E-MAIL</p><p><b><a href="mailto:letters@thehockeynews.com">letters@thehockeynews.com</a></b></p><p>OR LOG ON</p><p><b><a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a></b></p><p>SENDUS SNAILMAIL Letters, The Hockey News</p><p>25 Sheppard Ave. W., Suite 100</p><p>Toronto, ON., M2N 6S7, Canada</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1062/9392087-1-eng-US/f0006-102.jpg" title="f0006-10" width="88" height="88"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>BONUS!</b></h2><p>All subscribers get exclusive access on <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> to digital magazine archives!<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Crowd Shots

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012363/9392191-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="510" height="584"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MICHALEK: BILL WIPPERT/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021596/9392184-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="155" height="154"></div><p>AKSHAY GHOSH FROM OTTAWA, ASKS <b>What kind of cars do you like?</b></p><p>I&rsquo;m not a big fan of fast cars, I like SUVs &ndash; Range Rover, Porsche Cayenne. I have a Cayenne.</p><p>JAMES LAZETTE FROM RIPON CALIF., ASKS <b>When you play your brother (Coyotes D-man Zbynek) do you smack talk?</b></p><p>We talk to each other a lot on the ice. Sometimes it&rsquo;s trash talk, sometimes not. When I played him more when I was in San Jose there was more trash talk.</p><p>DAN RAKUSAN FROM OTTAWA, ASKS <b>As a fellow Czech, I&rsquo;m concerned about the Olympics. Our old players are getting too old, while the young players aren&rsquo;t quite ready. What are your feelings about the state of Czech hockey in general?</b></p><p>I think there are big concerns, there aren&rsquo;t too many young guys coming out of the Czech Republic anymore. We saw at the draft last season there were, I think, three guys picked and the year before it was two. So that&rsquo;s a downward trend. It&rsquo;s pretty bad. When we were growing up there were so many players in the NHL and being drafted&hellip;hockey was the only thing; we didn&rsquo;t think about anything else. Now kids have computers and all the other sports and games. I think that affects it a lot now.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05471/9392177-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="88" height="88"></div><p><b>Visit <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> for exclusive Q+A&rsquo;s in our &lsquo;Getting to Know&rsquo; feature</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

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FAN SHOOTOUT with MILAN MICHALEK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04598/9392229-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="638" height="508"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOENIX: JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03941/9392236-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="187" height="187"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>ey Adam! Are the Phoenix Coyotes for real this year? After their huge ownership mess in the off-season, they&rsquo;ve turned a lot of heads as they compete for a playoff spot &ndash; and maybe even home ice in the post-season. Thanks.</p><p><b><i>Liam Ezzard, Kenora, Ont.</i></b></p><p>Hey Liam!</p><p>Two-thirds of this season had passed and the Yotes still were sitting comfortably in a playoff position, so I don&rsquo;t think anybody can make a &ldquo;flash in the pan&rdquo; argument about them anymore. We&rsquo;ll see if the pressure of a post-season race gets to the Coyotes, but it would take a serious collapse to deny the franchise its first playoff berth since 2002.</p><p>Hey Adam,</p><p>I know helmets are mandatory, but why must players wear them during the shootout? It seems it would be a great idea to allow the players&rsquo; faces to be seen in the non-contact tiebreaker. Keep up the great work. Thanks!</p><p><b><i>Seth Guindine, Northampton, Pa.</i></b></p><p>Hey Seth,</p><p>It would be cool to see NHLers streaking in on goalies without helmets. The problem would be if a skater fell as he was shooting and sustained a head injury. But the better change to the shootout would be to extend the process to include five shooters aside, rather than the current three.</p><p><b>SUBMIT YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS AT <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a></b></p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06338/9392222-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg" title="f0006-06" width="88" height="88"></div><p>Need more of your questions answered?</p><p>Read Proteau&rsquo;s <b>&lsquo;Ask Adam&rsquo;</b> column every Friday at <b><a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

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ASK Adam

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-012115/9392274-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JONAS HILLER</b> <span class="photo-credit">(HILLER: DON SMITH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03895/9392281-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="108" height="108"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>T</b>&nbsp;<b>WON&rsquo;T EXACTLY</b> be like shooting fish in a barrel, but it looks as though GMs will have a plethora of bodies from which to choose when they go looking for goaltenders in the summer.</p><p>All told, as of early February, a mind-boggling 27 NHL-caliber goaltenders are in a position to become free agents on July 1 &ndash; 19 of them unrestricted and eight restricted. That&rsquo;s good news if you&rsquo;re a shopper who adheres to the principles of supply-and-demand economics.</p><p>Of course, if GMs applied that to goaltending, the guys guarding the nets wouldn&rsquo;t make much more money than the people who push them into place before the period begins. Logic being what it is, there are 60 full-time goaltending spots and hundreds of players who are qualified to fill them.</p><p>But it&rsquo;s also the most important position on a team and has more of a bearing on winning and losing than any other. That&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s so difficult to put a definitive value on goaltending and why, when you find one who can stay healthy and consistently perform at a high level, you pay him well and give him a long-term deal.</p><p>NHL teams this season are spending an average of $5.19 million in salary cap space on the goaltending position, which represents only 9.1 percent of the maximum cap space. A total of 67 individual players have higher cap hits than that this season and the amount teams are willing to pay goalies varies wildly.</p><p>Nobody devotes less cap space than the Los Angeles Kings do for Jonathan Quick and Erik Ersberg ($1.52 million, 2.7 percent of cap space) and no team is devoting more total cap space to the position than the Toronto Maple Leafs, who picked up Jean-Sebastien Giguere&rsquo;s $6-million cap hit in a trade and now have $8.5 million tied up in him and Jonas Gustavsson.</p><p>Meanwhile, Jonas Hiller and the Anaheim Ducks went a long way toward setting the market when they agreed to a four-year extension for $18 million, which likely provides a nice starting point for the Nashville Predators and Pekka Rinne to figure out their situation.</p><p>Most GMs agree that determining what to pay your goalie depends a lot on how he fits into the team dynamic and how heavily he is relied upon, particularly during the playoffs. Most of the time, it&rsquo;s a gut feel.</p><p>&ldquo;I judge it by when I look at a guy and I say, &lsquo;Holy s&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;! We could outplay this team for two weeks in a playoff series and that guy back there might still beat us,&rsquo;&rdquo; said one GM. &ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t too many guys who can do that.&rdquo;</p><p>So how do you explain that Giguere, who has won a Conn Smythe Trophy and a Stanley Cup, makes $6 million, while Marty Turco, who has had great regular season success but precious little in the playoffs, makes $5.7 million? Well, the consensus is, you don&rsquo;t.</p><p>Which isn&rsquo;t surprising, since goaltenders are such different creatures in the first place. If GMs looked at the situation objectively, they would see that you can often find goalies when you shake a tree, but just because a player can strap on the pads and stop a few shots doesn&rsquo;t mean he can carry a team to a Stanley Cup.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just the feel you have at the time with the team you have &ndash; that, to me, is the biggest thing,&rdquo; said New Jersey Devils GM Lou Lamoriello. &ldquo;Marty (Brodeur) is worth whatever you can pay him, but Marty also thinks, &lsquo;If we pay this to me, there might not be enough to have the success that&rsquo;s very important to me,&rsquo; and that&rsquo;s what he&rsquo;s all about.&rdquo;</p><p>Leafs GM Brian Burke, who originally signed Giguere to his current deal in Anaheim, then traded to get him, said the length of the contract for a goalie is often more important that the dollars you pay him.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-012256/9392267-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="666" height="842"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MARTY TURCO</b> <span class="photo-credit">(TURCO: SCOTT LEVY/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;Goalies tend to command term more than top dollar,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;You find a guy you like, you&rsquo;re willing to pay him term and maybe not that high-end dollar. The contract Hiller just got, that&rsquo;s a real sensible contract. He&rsquo;s only had a couple of good years and they committed a lot of money, but it&rsquo;s a four-year deal at a reasonable number. That&rsquo;s what I would try to do with a goaltender if I was trying to lock him up.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0007-01

SHUFFLING THE PADS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021714/9392312-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="870" height="1294"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JONATHAN QUICK</b> <span class="photo-credit">(QUICK: JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-09175/9392319-1-eng-US/f0008-092.jpg" title="f0008-09" width="133" height="133"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>+ GOALIE GAINS</b></h2><p>Jonathan Quick, Tuukka Rask, Jimmy Howard, Craig Anderson and Jaroslav Halak all take big steps forward in their careers.</p><h2><b>&minus; BOSTON RUINS</b></h2><p>One year after taking the East&rsquo;s No. 1 seed, the Bruins will be lucky simply to qualify for this season&rsquo;s playoff derby.</p><h2><b>+ IT&rsquo;S A BIG DEAL</b></h2><p>Trades are fun and get people talking, so good on Brian Burke and Darryl Sutter for having the stones to shake things up.</p><h2><b>&minus; UNLIKE MIKE</b></h2><p>Caps blueliner Mike Green usually focusses on scoring, but took a three-game ban for elbowing Florida&rsquo;s Michael Frolik.</p><h2><b>+ POULIOT POPS OFF</b></h2><p>After looking lost with the Wild since being drafted fourth overall in &rsquo;05, Benoit Pouliot is producing for the Habs.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-02

Plus/Minus

<p>TORONTO <b>$8,500,000</b></p><p>NY ISLANDERS <b>$8,400,000</b></p><p>BOSTON <b>$8,200,000</b></p><p>NY RANGERS <b>$7,725,000</b></p><p>CALGARY <b>$7,250,000</b></p><p>VANCOUVER <b>$7,250,000</b></p><p>MINNESOTA <b>$7,100,000</b></p><p>FLORIDA <b>$6,900,000</b></p><p>DALLAS <b>$6,700,000</b></p><p>CHICAGO <b>$6,451,875</b></p><p>BUFFALO <b>$6,368,333</b></p><p>SAN JOSE <b>$5,925,000</b></p><p>NEW JERSEY <b>$5,700,000</b></p><p>PITTSBURGH <b>$5,525,000</b></p><p>ATLANTA <b>$5,520,833</b></p><p>WASHINGTON <b>$5,321,666</b></p><p>ANAHEIM <b>$5,300,000</b></p><p>PHOENIX <b>$5,250,000</b></p><p>EDMONTON <b>$5,075,000</b></p><p>OTTAWA <b>$4,650,000</b></p><p>ST. LOUIS <b>$4,300,000</b></p><p>CAROLINA <b>$3,166,666</b></p><p>COLORADO <b>$3,062,500</b></p><p>MONTREAL <b>$2,975,000</b></p><p>TAMPA BAY <b>$2,800,000</b></p><p>PHILADELPHIA <b>$2,725,000</b></p><p>NASHVILLE <b>$2,475,000</b></p><p>DETROIT <b>$2,133,332</b></p><p>COLUMBUS <b>$2,105,000</b></p><p>LOS ANGELES <b>$1,520,000</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

CREASE CASH

<div class="byline">&#x2013; WAYNE FISH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012225/9392381-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Haitian-born Claude Vilgrain has settled in Calgary and coaches his daughter Cassandra (fifth from left) on an elite team for girls aged 14-15.</b></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-2016/9392388-1-eng-US/f0010-202.jpg" title="f0010-20" width="133" height="133"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021620/9392374-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="450" height="564"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>CLAUDE VILGRAIN</b></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE COURAGE THAT</b> steeled Claude Vilgrain to become a pioneer for the cause of black hockey players must have been inherited from his father, Alix, who could have fled their native Haiti after the earthquake, but chose to stay.</p><p>On Jan. 12 from his home in Calgary, Claude &ndash; a former NHL player with Vancouver, New Jersey and Philadelphia &ndash; watched in dismay as TV reports showed the devastation on the tiny island nation.</p><p>For years, Claude had tried to get his father to leave Haiti, but for more conventional reasons, like hurricanes and political unrest.</p><p>When the 7.0 earthquake hit, lines of communication went down and agonizing hours passed before word got out that all members of Vilgrain&rsquo;s extended family were safe.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s doing well and he prefers to stay,&rsquo;&rsquo; Claude said. &ldquo;We wanted him to come back, but he&rsquo;s very passionate about his country.&rsquo;&rsquo;</p><p>In his working years, Alix Vilgrain was a respected economist in Haiti and consultant to the country&rsquo;s Department of Agriculture.</p><p>All the Vilgrains seem to be important people &ndash; Claude&rsquo;s grandfather was a famous judge, his uncle a notable doctor who has a street named after him in Port-au-Prince, the devastated Haitian capital.</p><p>The character of people such as Alix demonstrates why Haiti has hope. While international aid pours in, it&rsquo;s the &ldquo;stick it out&rsquo;&rsquo; attitude of many Haitians that makes recovery possible.</p><p>&ldquo;Knowing him,&rsquo;&rsquo; Claude said, &ldquo;he wants to help people and that&rsquo;s why he wants to stay.&rsquo;&rsquo;</p><p>Claude was born in Haiti in 1963, but his family moved to Quebec City when he was only six months old. That&rsquo;s where he grew up and learned to play hockey.</p><p>After three years of college hockey at the University of Moncton (N.B.) and competing for Canada in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, he embarked on a professional career.</p><p>Vilgrain didn&rsquo;t fully appreciate the influence he had on the small but dedicated black hockey community until he left the game.</p><p>&ldquo;I never realized what impact I had as a black hockey player,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Claude, the only native Haitian ever to play in the NHL. &ldquo;But now I&rsquo;ve heard that guys like Jarome Iginla looked up to me, watched me play. (Calgary&rsquo;s) Jamal Mayers, too. He told me that I was his idol growing up.&rsquo;&rsquo;</p><p>Today, Vilgrain lives in Calgary and runs a playground equipment supply company.</p><p>He&rsquo;s turned a lot of his energy towards the Haiti relief effort, which became critical after hearing reports from his father.</p><p>&ldquo;He said it was a horrific sight, the smell and walking through all the dead people,&rsquo;&rsquo; Claude said. &ldquo;My daughters (Ashley and Cassandra) were watching on TV and crying and asking, &lsquo;Why, Daddy? Why does this have to happen to them?&rsquo;&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-01

FAMILY COURAGE

<h2><b>5 FIVE</b></h2><p><b>Dwayne Roloson&rsquo;s</b> five shootout wins are offset by his five losses. He has faced 39 shots and allowed 15 goals.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-031032/9392419-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="672" height="544"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ANDERSON: MICHAEL MARTIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>4 FOUR</b></h2><p><b>Craig Anderson</b> also boasts five wins in the shootout. No goalie has faced more shots this year than Anderson (45).</p><h2><b>3 THREE</b></h2><p><b>Marc-Andre Fleury</b> also has five wins, but is undefeated in the shootout and has allowed just one goal on 15 shots.</p><h2><b>2 TWO</b></h2><p><b>Martin Brodeur</b> breaks the tie with six shootout victories in 2009-10. His five wins on the road lead the league.</p><h2><b>1 ONE</b></h2><p><b>Jonathan</b>&nbsp;<b>Quick</b> leads the NHL with eight victories and no goalie has won more shootouts on home ice (five).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-03

Starting from 5

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012172/9392499-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JENNIFER POTTHEISER/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>B</span>UFFALO &ndash;</b> When the good people of Buffalo can afford to go to an NHL game, they see the result of Ryan Miller&rsquo;s handiwork up close, mostly in the form of pucks being steered into corners, pucks going to his catching glove to die and pucks generally not finding their way behind him.</p><p>Those whose reputations might not be quite so, ahem, sterling, can also see Miller&rsquo;s talents on display in the form of landscape photography that adorns the walls of the criminal and family court divisions in the Erie County Supreme and County Court building in downtown Buffalo. There&rsquo;s no admission charge to see the exhibit. Running afoul of the law gets you in for nothing.</p><p>The story goes that Miller went to Michael Gillis&rsquo; framing shop/art gallery in Buffalo a few years ago to get one of his prints framed to give to his mother for Christmas. The more Gillis saw of Miller&rsquo;s photographs &ndash; largely landscape and nature shots from western New York and northern Michigan &ndash; the more he realized Miller had a special talent.</p><p>&ldquo;He has a Renaissance man quality about him that&rsquo;s very real,&rdquo; Gillis said. &ldquo;Nowadays with digital photography, everyone thinks they&rsquo;re photographers, but Ryan really is one. My favorite of all of his photographs is a close-up of an icy window. It&rsquo;s just a beautiful photograph done in these wonderful sepia tones. He has a sense of what is beautiful and he&rsquo;s very good at capturing that.&rdquo;</p><p>He certainly captured Judge Sheila A. Ditullio&rsquo;s attention. Without knowing the identity of the photographer, Ditullio became intrigued with Miller&rsquo;s work and when the courthouse needed some artwork for an addition that looked a little too dull, it acquired eight of Miller&rsquo;s photos of Buffalo landmarks. The shooter&rsquo;s name is not on any of the photos, at the request of the photographer.</p><p>Great photography, it is said, is more a product of the mind and the eye than the camera or the lens. So it makes perfect sense that Miller can produce great pictures. He is undoubtedly one of the NHL&rsquo;s more cerebral players, both in his approach to the game and his ability to articulate his thoughts. And his dedication to his craft, whether it&rsquo;s goaltending or photography, is unquestioned. Look at him: He&rsquo;s a skinny rope of a guy with spindly legs, but when they&rsquo;d do the Soldier Walk with 150-pound weights in each hand at Michigan State, Miller would go further than anyone on the hockey or football teams.</p><p>On the ice, Miller has been an elite goalie for a couple of seasons now, but only this year has he captured the rapt attention of the hockey world. Ranked No. 1 among all NHL goalies this season by THN, Miller has emerged as the favorite to win the Vezina Trophy this year and many believe the Hart Trophy as MVP is also possible.</p><p>He&rsquo;s pegged as the starter for the U.S. Olympic team and will run the table in Vancouver if coach Ron Wilson has anything to say about it. And he does. Wilson plans to start Miller in the first game and go with him through the entire tournament unless Miller falters, which will leave the reigning Vezina winner Tim Thomas cooling his heels on the U.S. bench.</p><p>Of course it helps that Toronto GM Brian Burke and Wilson, who are at the top of the food chain with the U.S. Olympic team, have had a front-row seat to Miller&rsquo;s brilliance this season. The Sabres have historically always represented a deep, black hole for the Leafs, but this season it&rsquo;s bordering on the sublime. In five games, the Leafs have outshot the Sabres by a 193-147 margin &ndash; a mind-boggling average of 10 shots per game &ndash; but the Sabres have won all five contests. Against the Leafs, Miller has recorded a 1.58 goals-against average and .960 save percentage.</p><p>&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s funny when people say Ryan Miller is on the team because he&rsquo;s 5-0 against us,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;He beats everybody. In my mind, Ryan Miller is the best goalie in the NHL.&rdquo;</p><p>That sentiment seems to be gaining popularity in hockey circles. Miller has been largely credited for Buffalo&rsquo;s remarkable turnaround this season after two years out of the playoffs. When Miller speaks of the reasons why, he goes into excruciating detail about all aspects of the Sabres game. Not once does he mention that the Sabres give up 32 shots a game and that he&rsquo;s 22-6-2 in games in which his team is outshot.</p><p>What Miller gives the plucky, youthful Sabres is a chance to stay in games and play a style of hockey that breeds success. The Sabres forwards know they can push the envelope in the neutral and offensive zones because they have Miller back there to save them. And their defensemen know they don&rsquo;t have to worry about getting black and blue stopping shots because Miller actually likes to see the puck coming to him. In fact, only the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils have blocked fewer shots than the Sabres this season, which proves that indiscriminately throwing your stick or your body or your face in front of every shot might not always be the best idea.</p><p>&ldquo;If we get a puck in our zone, I know what to expect, I know where to look and I know where the soft spots are,&rdquo; Miller said. &ldquo;I know a lot of the goals that teams score are going to be pretty dirty. I know my D-men are going to play off the post and it&rsquo;s not going to be three guys stacked in front of me trying to block a shot. That&rsquo;s just havoc because so much can go wrong.&rdquo;</p><p>Everyone connected with the Buffalo Sabres will acknowledge Miller has found another level to his game this season, but the reality is he has always been a very good goalie in the NHL. He was among the league&rsquo;s best stoppers last season before having to miss 13 games with an injury that essentially dropped the Sabres out of the playoff race.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-012148/9392492-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="684" height="448"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021613/9392485-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="685" height="451"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-05512/9392478-1-eng-US/f0014-052.jpg" title="f0014-05" width="452" height="683"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-031093/9392471-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="688" height="456"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04750/9392464-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="683" height="451"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-06400/9392457-1-eng-US/f0014-062.jpg" title="f0014-06" width="451" height="682"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ALL GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;Last year I was really having a solid season and I was really close to being where I wanted to be,&rdquo; Miller said. &ldquo;But when I ended up missing those games, that was that. You miss that many games at that crucial a point in the season and you slip out of that whole conversation. And I was kind of on the outside of that anyway at the time.&rdquo;</p><p>That&rsquo;s certainly not the case in this, Miller&rsquo;s fifth full season as an NHLer. The Sabres shudder to think where they&rsquo;d be without Miller&rsquo;s play this year and while defenseman Craig Rivet wears the &lsquo;C&rsquo;, it is Miller who is the on-ice general. Since the Sabres entered the NHL in 1971, only the Montreal Canadiens, with 10, have won more Vezina Trophies than the Sabres&rsquo; eight &ndash; and Buffalo&rsquo;s seven between Tom Barrasso and Dominik Hasek are the most in the NHL since 1982 when the award went from the goalie(s) with the best GAA to the GMs&rsquo; choice as the best netminder in the league.</p><p>As inconceivable as it might be, Miller is beginning to remind a lot of people of Hasek. Their styles could not be more different, with Miller having an uncanny economy to his style compared to Hasek&rsquo;s make-it-up-as-you-go-along approach to goaltending, but there are some who think Miller is beginning to have the same effect on his team that Hasek did.</p><p>&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s coming very close to it&hellip;yeah,&rdquo; said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, who was behind the bench for three of Hasek&rsquo;s Vezinas and one of his two Hart Trophy seasons. &ldquo;But let&rsquo;s remember, we&rsquo;re basing that on three-quarters of one season. The tougher grind is still ahead.&rdquo;</p><p>You get the sense, though, that this season, Miller is up for it. His intensity and attention to detail regularly amaze teammates. There are times, some say, that he gets into such a trance-like zone before the game that virtually nobody else can get in. He has what his father, Dean, describes as a &ldquo;relatively dry sense of humor, somewhat twisted,&rdquo; that he often displays, but he&rsquo;s also intensely serious about his game. Always has been.</p><p>Take Miller&rsquo;s early days as a goalie. The dream can begin in some pretty unlikely places and for Miller, it was in a small, dimly lit rink in the basement of the Eastridge Mall in San Jose with the Santa Clara Blackhawks. At the age of eight and in the middle of the game, Miller told his father, who was coaching the team, that he wouldn&rsquo;t go out for his next shift until Dean promised he could play goal. Dean made a deal with his son. He told Ryan to get his team back in the game and if he did that, Dean would get him some goaltending equipment. Ryan went out and scored three goals and two assists in his last-ever game as a forward.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little bit of a perfectionist,&rdquo; Miller said. &ldquo;I probably took it a little more seriously than those other eight-year-old kids.&rdquo;</p><p>That trait, meanwhile, remains a work in progress. Miller has learned to dial down his intensity level in recent years with the help of a sports psychologist. His intensity is now more focused on attention to detail and preparation rather than mentally ragging on himself after every goal.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve taken a lot of the anger out of it,&rdquo; Miller said. &ldquo;Sometimes maybe the best thing to do would be to snap and then reset yourself. But it&rsquo;s not an intensity that is aligned with being mad or angry.&rdquo;</p><p>See what we meant about Miller being cerebral? It turns out Miller has a lot to say, just not in a Jeremy Roenick kind of way. When most people in the hockey establishment were sticking to the status quo during the headshot debate, Miller spoke out against the &ldquo;stupid hits&rdquo; in the game and chided the GMs for not being more proactive about headshots, saying, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the slowest reaction I&rsquo;ve ever seen to anything.&rdquo; When the Sabres lost Game 7 of 2006 the East final to the Carolina Hurricanes on a power play goal that came when Sabres defenseman Brian Campbell cleared the puck over the glass, Miller called it, &ldquo;the dumbest rule ever.&rdquo; On the dearth of games early, then a frantic pace during a compacted schedule, Miller said, &ldquo;Thanks, NFL. Would it kill (the NHL) to put two or three more games in October and November and thin out a couple of road trips?&rdquo;</p><p>But Miller is, generally speaking, an introspective and humble sort. He respects the game&rsquo;s protocol and its pecking order. Despite the fact he&rsquo;ll be the backup, Thomas will wear No. 30 instead of Miller, a move that was made with Miller&rsquo;s blessing.</p><p>Which made it all the more surprising to see Miller&rsquo;s choice of head-gear for the Olympics. His mask for the Games features, among a number of things, a bulked-up Uncle Sam rolling up his sleeves for a fight and the words, &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t tread on me.&rdquo;</p><p>It all seems a little too brash for a guy who doesn&rsquo;t normally display much of a swagger.</p><p>But Miller explains both are based more on history than any sense of bravado. He said the Uncle Sam is a re-creation of a poster that was popular in World War II. Not as popular as the &ldquo;I Want You,&rdquo; poster, but one that was widely circulated. Miller&rsquo;s Uncle Sam also has a couple of tattoos added because, &ldquo;he&rsquo;s more of a bad-ass.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011900/9392450-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="683" height="452"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BILL WIPPERT/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>As far as the &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t tread on me,&rdquo; inscription, Miller points out that one of the original flags for the colonies in the 1700s had a serpent and those words on it. Underneath each eye is a four-leaf clover, which is a shout-out to 1980 &lsquo;Miracle On Ice&rsquo; goalie Jim Craig, who had the same thing under his eyes.</p><p>The back plate of the helmet has the Declaration of Independence in the background and the words &ldquo;Matt Man&rdquo; with a halo, a tribute to Miller&rsquo;s cousin, who died of leukemia at the age of 18 and inspired him to establish his Steadfast Foundation charity.</p><p>The mask is actually designed and painted by Warwick Mask and Equipment in Port Huron, Mich., but most of the elements for the mask were created by Miller himself.</p><p>&ldquo;I gathered all the intelligence,&rdquo; Miller said. &ldquo;And I did a few sketches of how I kind of pictured it in my head.&rdquo;</p><p>When Miller looks at his future, what kinds of pictures is he creating in his mind? A framed photo of himself with an Olympic gold medal? With the Vezina Trophy? Perhaps even the Stanley Cup?</p><p>Now that would be an image that would be burned into the minds of long-suffering Buffalo sports fans for a long, long time. And they wouldn&rsquo;t have to go to court to see it.</p><h2><b>MOST WINS SINCE THE 2004-05 NHL LOCKOUT</b></h2><p>Miikka Kiprusoff, Cgy <b>191</b></p><p>Martin Brodeur, NJ <b>186</b></p><p>Roberto Luongo, Van <b>179</b></p><p><b>Ryan Miller, Buf 169</b></p><p> Henrik Lundqvist, NYR <b>164</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-01

Picture Perfect

<p><b>1. Ryan Miller,</b> Buf (8)</p><p><b>2. Martin Brodeur,</b> NJ (NR)</p><p><b>3. Craig Anderson,</b> Col (20)</p><p><b>4. Tomas Vokoun,</b> Fla (7)</p><p><b>5. Miikka Kiprusoff,</b> Cgy (11)</p><p><b>6. Ilya Bryzgalov,</b> Phx (2)</p><p><b>7. Jonathan Quick,</b> LA (28)</p><p><b>8. Roberto Luongo,</b> Van (10)</p><p><b>9. Evgeni Nabokov,</b> SJ (6)</p><p><b>10. Henrik Lundqvist,</b> NYR (4)</p><p><b>11. Marc-Andre Fleury,</b> Pit (26)</p><p><b>12. Jaroslav Halak,</b> Mtl (NR)</p><p><b>13. Dwayne Roloson,</b> NYI (25)</p><p><b>14. Tuukka Rask,</b> Bos (NR)</p><p><b>15. Cristobal Huet,</b> Chi (23)</p><p><b>16. Jimmy Howard,</b> Det (NR)</p><p><b>17. Tim Thomas,</b> Bos (1)</p><p><b>18. Johan Hedberg,</b> Atl (NR)</p><p><b>19. Jonas Hiller,</b> Ana (9)</p><p><b>20. Antti Niemi,</b> Chi (NR)</p><p><b>21. Brian Elliott,</b> Ott (NR)</p><p><b>22. Chris Mason,</b> StL (16)</p><p><b>23. Pekka Rinne,</b> Nsh (19)</p><p><b>24. Niklas Backstrom,</b> Min (2)</p><p><b>25. Ondrej Pavelec,</b> Atl (NR)</p><p><b>26. Ty Conklin,</b> StL (18)</p><p><b>27. Dan Ellis,</b> Nsh (NR)</p><p><b>28. Antero Niittymaki,</b> TB (14)</p><p><b>29. Jose Theodore,</b> Wsh (27)</p><p><b>30. Cam Ward,</b> Car (21)<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

The Top 30

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011919/9392537-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Still crazy-good after all these years, Martin Brodeur is back near the top.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>M</span>ARTIN BRODEUR IS</b> a pretty confident, laid-back kind of guy. So much so that he doesn&rsquo;t actually chase goaltending records as much as they seem to come to him.</p><p>If there is one thing that consumes Brodeur, though, it is winning. And in that respect, Brodeur has already done the math and come to the conclusion there is one NHL record he would love to have that he has virtually no chance of taking.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really look at (goalie records) too much,&rdquo; Brodeur said, &ldquo;but I know one that is going to be untouchable and that&rsquo;s wins in the playoffs. Patrick (Roy) is so far ahead&hellip;I&rsquo;d love to do it, but I think that one is pretty safe.&rdquo;</p><p>Roy has 151 playoff victories and Brodeur is a very distant second with 98. The 37-year-old Brodeur has this season and two more years left on his contract with the New Jersey Devils. In order for him to break Roy&rsquo;s mark, the Devils would have to win the Stanley Cup each of those years and Brodeur would have to be the goalie of record in all of those victories. Then, if there&rsquo;s no lockout in 2012-13 &ndash; there, we said it &ndash; he&rsquo;d have to come back for another year and win six more playoff games sometime around his 41st birthday.</p><p>So, Brodeur must be content with all of his other accomplishments and the fact he&rsquo;s maintaining an extraordinarily high level of play so late into his career. After picking up the all-time records for shutouts, games played and minutes played this season, Brodeur is padding his totals by having a terrific regular season. In fact, he&rsquo;s ranked as the No. 2 goalie in the NHL so far, behind only Buffalo&rsquo;s Ryan Miller.</p><p>Our goalie ranking is based only on performance through the first three-quarters of this season, so career accomplishments or previous bad years are not taken into account. The ranking was determined based both on statistics &ndash; save percentage, goals-against average, wins, shutouts, time on ice, shootout wins, shootout save percentage, save percentage while killing a penalty and save percentage in the third period when the game is tied and when his team is ahead &ndash; and a cross-section of opinions.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011687/9392530-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="666" height="675"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BRODEUR: ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>That Miller and Brodeur were pegged as the No. 1 goaltenders for their respective countries in the Olympics adds a little spice to the debate over which one has emerged as the Vezina Trophy favorite this season. The early returns are certainly favoring Miller &ndash; in fact, talk of the Hart Trophy has surfaced when it comes to Miller &ndash; but it&rsquo;s worthy to note the Vezina is voted upon by the GMs and with that group a tie usually goes to the more established goalie (ie. Brodeur).</p><p>But Vezina or not, Brodeur continues to be at the top of his game. His save percentage through the first three-quarters of the season was right up there with the best of his career and he continues to be a low-maintenance workhorse for the Devils, who can play seemingly every game without getting worn down.</p><p>&ldquo;I think with (Devils coach) Jacques (Lemaire) back and the way we play, it helps me out to go out and play the puck and be more active in the net,&rdquo; Brodeur said. &ldquo;I still get shots. It&rsquo;s a different league and you don&rsquo;t get the 15-16 shot games anymore. I feel really comfortable playing in the system we&rsquo;re playing right now.&rdquo;</p><p>As is always the case for Brodeur, the argument will inevitably surface that he benefits from the Devils&rsquo; suffocating defensive style of hockey. There is undoubtedly some credence to that, since through early February the Devils led the league in goals-against average and were second to the Chicago Blackhawks in fewest shots against per game.</p><p>But there is a flip side to that as well and it&rsquo;s that the Devils generally don&rsquo;t create much offense, which forces Brodeur to be sharp almost every game. The Devils are in the bottom third of the league in goals scored and in 5-on-5 scoring, which is important considering they are among the lowest-ranked teams in both penalties and power play opportunities. (Of course, the arrival of Ilya Kovalchuk will add some octane to the offense&hellip;) Through their first 55 games this season, the Devils were outshot 21 times and nobody in the league even came close to Brodeur&rsquo;s record of 17-4-0 in games in that scenario.</p><p>It&rsquo;s no surprise to those who watch Brodeur on a regular basis that he hunkers down in games in which his team is either being outchanced or isn&rsquo;t producing much in the way of offense. Devils GM Lou Lamoriello has been with Brodeur throughout the goalie&rsquo;s career in New Jersey and said behind the calm demeanor and the quick smile is a man who is single-mindedly driven by the wins column.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got a lot of unique traits,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;He loves the game. He works hard every day. He takes care of himself and he respects his teammates. He&rsquo;s a team guy who just wants to win. That&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s all about with him.&rdquo;</p><p>Ironically, the one thing that has eluded Brodeur in recent years has been playoff success. In fact, the Devils have not advanced past the second round since last winning the Stanley Cup in 2003 and have been bounced from the first round in each of the past two seasons.</p><p>Those kinds of results won&rsquo;t give Brodeur a shot at Roy&rsquo;s all-time playoff wins record. But before he can think of that, there&rsquo;s the added pressure of playing another Olympics for Canada. Not that the homeland Vancouver setting will change his steady approach.</p><p>&ldquo;Nope, same thing,&rdquo; Brodeur shrugged. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t change the way I approach stuff. You&rsquo;ll see me out there, nobody else.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-01

The Devil we know

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-021295/9392592-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="702" height="1139"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MASON: RONALD MARTINEZ/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>Nine netminders were ranked among the NHL&rsquo;s top 30 last season, but have slid off the list in 2009-10. They are:</b></p><p><b>Steve Mason,</b> Clb (3)</p><p><b>Scott Clemmensen,</b> Fla (12)</p><p><b>Manny Fernandez,</b> UFA (13)</p><p><b>Marty Turco,</b> Dal (15)</p><p><b>Mike Smith,</b> TB (22)</p><p><b>Carey Price,</b> Mtl (24)</p><p><b>Martin Biron,</b> NYI (29)</p><p><b>J-S Giguere,</b> Tor (30)<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-02

Off The List

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011798/9392623-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Florida would love to see Jacob Markstrom on this side of the pond next year.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(ANDRE RINGUETTE/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>WHEN NHL TEAMS</b> map out the future, the position hardest to forecast is netminder.</p><p>But each franchise has a &ldquo;goalie cycle&rdquo; to ensure one veteran&rsquo;s exit is swiftly followed by a prospect&rsquo;s ascent. And in Florida, a lot of that mapping revolves around Jacob Markstrom, ranked No. 2 among NHL-affiliated prospects in THN&rsquo;s upcoming Future Watch issue.</p><p>The Panthers&rsquo; first selection in the 2008 draft (31st overall), Markstrom is a big, 6-foot-3, 178-pound goaltender currently playing for Brynas in his homeland of Sweden.</p><p>Well, &ldquo;playing&rdquo; may be a bit of an under-statement &ndash; Markstrom is <i>saving</i> Brynas with his exceptional netminding this year.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing for a very offensively challenged team,&rdquo; said Scott Luce, Florida&rsquo;s director of amateur scouting.</p><p>Nevertheless, Brynas is a middle-of-the-pack outfit thanks to goals against; through 45 games, no team in the Swedish Elite league had given up fewer goals than the 102 surrendered by Markstrom&rsquo;s squad and the 20-year-old is a big reason why.</p><p>The Panthers prospect leads the league in save percentage (.928), goals-against average (1.96) and shares the top mark for shutouts with four through 34 appearances.</p><p>Needless to say, Florida is pleased.</p><p>&ldquo;Ever since I first saw him at the Ivan Hlinka tournament, I liked his mental focus,&rdquo; Luce said. &ldquo;He tracks the puck well, his size sticks out like a sore thumb and he&rsquo;s athletic.</p><p>&ldquo;Ideally, we&rsquo;d like to see him in North America next year.&rdquo;</p><p>And that&rsquo;s where the goalie cycle comes into play. Current starter Tomas Vokoun has been playing very well for the low-scoring Panthers, but has just one more season on his Florida contract. The Czech Olympian will turn 35 the day after free agency begins for him in July of 2011, while backup Scott Clemmensen, 32, is signed through 2011-12.</p><p>Assuming Markstrom gets some seasoning in the American League next season, that may be the ideal period for a hand-off. Of course, the young Swede will have to earn it.</p><p>&ldquo;Nothing is going to be handed to our goal-tenders,&rdquo; Luce said, &ldquo;Jacob included.&rdquo;</p><p>Markstrom, however, is the one to watch in the future, even if the loaded Swedish teams he backstopped at the past two World Junior Championships failed to snag gold.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of pressure placed on that Swedish team,&rdquo; Luce said, &ldquo;and I think they did an excellent job preparing.&rdquo;</p><p>That Markstrom has worked on some of his shortcomings is a promising sign for the Cats. When he flailed against Canada in the 2009 WJC final, the knock against the youngster was that he couldn&rsquo;t handle teams crashing his crease. This summer, while playing an exhibition game against Canadian university squad Carleton, he weathered a similar storm of contact whipped up by the Ravens.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a leader and he knows the importance of his position,&rdquo; Luce said, noting that Markstrom&rsquo;s father and brother are both soccer netminders. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a mentally adept goaltender.&rdquo;</p><p>And with a pretty solid tradition of netminders in the Florida organization, it&rsquo;s fair to say Markstrom will need that mental edge to get the best jump out the gate when the NHL comes calling in the very near future.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-01

Panther on prowl

<h2><b>Jacob Markstrom, Florida (2)</b></h2><p><b>Drafted</b> 31st overall, 2008</p><p><b>2009-10</b> Brynas (Swe.)</p><p><b>Update</b> As the starting netminder for Team Sweden at the 2010 world juniors, Markstrom led his team to bronze. Likely to make the jump to North American pro game next season.</p><h2><b>Jonathan Bernier, Los Angeles (15)</b></h2><p><b>Drafted</b> 11th overall, 2006</p><p><b>2009-10</b> Manchester (AHL)</p><p><b>Update</b> Bernier led the American League in both save percentage and shutouts as the calendar turned to February.</p><h2><b>Cory Schneider, Vancouver (20)</b></h2><p><b>Drafted</b> 26th overall, 2004</p><p><b>2009-10</b> Manitoba (AHL)</p><p><b>Update</b> Recorded a .920 save percentage in two NHL starts this season. NHL-ready, but may need a change of scenery to get a shot.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011607/9392661-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="436" height="518"></div><h2><b>Chet Pickard, Nashville (26)</b></h2><p><b>Drafted</b> 18th overall, 2008</p><p><b>2009-10</b> Milwaukee (AHL)</p><p><b>Update</b> First-year AHLer has mediocre stats (2.77 GAA, .892 SP) in rookie pro season, but playing better recently. Still a few years away from NHL.</p><h2><b>Michal Neuvirth, Washington (30)</b></h2><p><b>Drafted</b> 34th overall, 2006</p><p><b>2009-10</b> Hershey (AHL)</p><p><b>Update</b> Played well in 15 fill-in games when Capitals had injury problems. Likely will start 2010-11 as Semyon Varlamov&rsquo;s backup.</p><h2><b>Jake Allen, St. Louis (45)</b></h2><p><b>Drafted</b> 34th overall, 2008</p><p><b>2009-10</b> Drummondville (QMJHL)</p><p><b>Update</b> Had an up-and-down world juniors as Canada&rsquo;s starting goalie. Was excellent before getting pulled in gold medal game.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-021211/9392654-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="436" height="518"></div><h2><b>Robin Lehner, Ottawa (58)</b></h2><p><b>Drafted</b> 46th overall, 2009</p><p><b>2009-10</b> Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)</p><p><b>Update</b> Playing his first season in North America, Swedish netminder has looked sharp. Look for him to make the leap to AHL next season.</p><h2><b>Matt Hackett, Minnesota (74)</b></h2><p><b>Drafted</b> 77th overall, 2009</p><p><b>2009-10</b> Plymouth (OHL)</p><p><b>Update</b> Has improved his numbers in each of his four OHL seasons. Sparkling .927 save percentage ranks as one of the league&rsquo;s best.</p><h2><b>Corey Crawford, Chicago (NR)</b></h2><p><b>Drafted</b> 52nd overall, 2003</p><p><b>2009-10</b> Rockford (AHL)</p><p><b>Update</b> As Chicago&rsquo;s No. 3, he&rsquo;ll continue to groom his game in the AHL until one of Cristobal Huet or Antti Niemi is moved or gets hurt.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-01

Next in net

<div class="byline">BY RYAN DIXON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-021125/9392706-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Jaroslav Halak (left) has been better, but Carey Price has the pedigree.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011552/9392713-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="139" height="172"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>RADING</b>&nbsp;<b>CAREY PRICE</b> represents a huge risk; a massive, gulp-worthy gamble. It&rsquo;s the kind of move that could severely alter the trajectory of an organization &ndash; which makes it the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; perfect play.</p><p>The problem in trading Price, naturally, is the notion that you&rsquo;re not trading the Price prone to soft goals that we&rsquo;ve witnessed recently, but rather a goalie who will soon closely resemble Roberto Luongo or Marc-Andre Fleury. Packaging Price now, when he&rsquo;s still only 22 years old and in the infancy of his pro career, has the potential to come back and bite a team the way dealing a 21-year-old Luongo helped sink the New York Islanders further into despair. The Isles were clearing the way for Rick DiPietro, whom they drafted first overall on the same day they dealt Luongo &ndash; the fourth overall pick just three years prior &ndash; to Florida back in 2000.</p><p>The Penguins didn&rsquo;t have another net-minding prospect of DiPietro&rsquo;s stature in their midst when a young Marc-Andre Fleury was struggling for a few years to find his game at the NHL level after headlining the stacked 2003 draft as its top pick.</p><p>Anyone who attended the Stanley Cup parade last summer in Pittsburgh can tell you how the decision to stand by Fleury shook out.</p><p>The Pens, of course, had three other guys drafted either first or second overall on their championship-winning team, which is something the Habs most certainly do not.</p><p>Moreover, Montreal is no closer to obtaining the type of franchise-defining skater it has so desperately needed since Guy Lafleur retired because the team continues to finish each season in no man&rsquo;s land, somewhere between playoff pretender or something just shy of that, but never truly terrible enough to make the kind of high draft selection that offers genuine promise of a dynamic return.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p>That&rsquo;s what they were hoping for when they nabbed Price fifth overall in 2005 (thanks to the post-lockout lottery balls), the highest selection for Montreal since picking Petr Svoboda at No. 5 in 1984.</p><p>It goes without saying that if GM Bob Gainey and his management crew honestly believe the Price who won gold at the world juniors in &rsquo;07 and claimed MVP honors during the Hamilton Bulldogs&rsquo; run to the AHL&rsquo;s Calder Cup just months after that is on the verge of emerging at the NHL level, they should hang onto him with a death grip.</p><p>And before further discussing any possibility of trading Price, let&rsquo;s put this in proper context: Nothing this kid has done in two-plus years as an NHLer is a critical indictment of his abilities as an athlete or the makeup of his character. This is about Jaroslav Halak, himself only 24, pushing Price hard for the No. 1 job and the fact both goalies are slated to become restricted free agents this summer.</p><p>Take away that element and most of the talk around Price would focus on the need to be patient and help a once very promising puckstopper make good on his potential.</p><p>But you play the hard cards you&rsquo;re dealt. Halak, who&rsquo;s been a very loyal soldier to the Habs organization, has made it clear he wants the shot to be a true No. 1, something he definitely deserves based on the fact he&rsquo;s been the team&rsquo;s best goalie this year and highly serviceable in a limited role prior to this season. It&rsquo;s very difficult to see him signing a new deal with any club that doesn&rsquo;t assure him a golden chance to win the starter&rsquo;s job next October.</p><p>Quite frankly, if Price is still on the scene, Halak will probably view any promises from the Habs as hogwash. Gainey&rsquo;s stake in Price&rsquo;s ascent has seemed almost personal in the past, from mandating he make the Habs as a 20-year-old in the fall of 2007-08, to trading starter Cristobal Huet at the deadline that same season and handing the reins to a goalie with 26 NHL games under his belt at that point.</p><p>Two years later, Gainey&rsquo;s future may be more closely tied to Price than ever. He has been the GM of the Habs for seven years and the closest thing we&rsquo;ve seen to firewagon hockey in that time is a constant spinning of wheels. Gainey was given an endorsement by Geoff Molson when he and his family officially took over as the team&rsquo;s new owners in December, but at some point the middling results speak for themselves. Part of the reason the Habs likely couldn&rsquo;t afford both Price and Halak &ndash; even if the latter wanted to stay &ndash; is because Gainey moved to bring in Scott Gomez and his annual salary cap hit of $7.3 million. Split that in two and you&rsquo;ve got a couple very happy goalies, at least from a financial standpoint.</p><p>In some ways, trading Price would mirror Calgary GM Darryl Sutter&rsquo;s decision to deal 24-year-old Dion Phaneuf. Everybody can see the potential upside in a player who&rsquo;s been down for a couple years, but was nominated for a Norris Trophy in just his third year in the league.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-011260/9392699-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="1132" height="1026"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ANDY MARLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02822/9392692-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="524" height="285"></div><p>But Sutter, like Gainey, has been pulling the strings of a team hasn&rsquo;t made discernible progress for seven years and might not be in a position to put his feet up and wait for a young kid to hit his stride.</p><p>Moving Price would take serious gumption, but Gainey has never lacked for fortitude. What he&rsquo;s come up empty on so far is a club capable of truly great things.</p><p>The vast majority of observers agree Price would fetch a higher return than Halak in any potential swap, whether it&rsquo;s before the March 3 deadline or at the NHL draft in June. That&rsquo;s because it&rsquo;s so tempting to believe your team would be able to extract the most from his sheer athleticism, the trait that must be most haunting for the Habs to ponder when contemplating whether to push Price out of town.</p><p>It&rsquo;s a vicious cycle; but so, too, is the benign, middle-of-the-road existence Montreal has been stuck in for far too long. Breaking out of it means taking some audacious actions &ndash; and one deep breath.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-02

Which keeper to keep?

<div class="byline">WITH KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-021064/9392751-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>If the trapezoid is eliminated, goalies could attempt more long-bomb passes.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011441/9392758-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="139" height="174"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span>LL RIGHT, THIS WAS THE PLAN:</b> In an attempt to bolster the argument that the NHL should abolish the behind-the-net trapezoid, I was going to go to your YouTube there, type in &lsquo;Goalie Fail,&rsquo; then watch the deluge of hilarious gaffes that led to goals from bumbling goalies coming out of the net to play the puck.</p><p>What I got were a lot of soccer goalkeepers doing very stupid things. I watched Marc-Andre Fleury fall face-first after stepping on the ice during the 2008 Stanley Cup final. Heh-heh. I saw Keith Ballard take a baseball swing at his own goalie&rsquo;s head. Then I watched, &lsquo;Cat goes nuts over paper towel roll,&rsquo; which led to 15 minutes I&rsquo;ll never get back as I witnessed innocent pranks go horribly wrong.</p><p>Even in TSN&rsquo;s Top 10 NHL Goaltending Gaffes, only four of them were a result of goalies misplaying the puck outside the crease.</p><p>The point is, the notion we have that goalies are a bunch of ham-handed morons when it comes to playing the puck might not be so accurate. It probably happens a lot less than we think it does, but, like the Grape Lady on YouTube, it can lead to spectacular results.</p><p>Those who espouse the notion of removing the trapezoid often argue that allowing goalies to handle the puck will lead to more goals because they&rsquo;re so bad at it. To be sure, some of them are, but the NHL established the trapezoid in the first place because so many goaltenders had become so adept at handling the puck that the league thought they were killing offensive opportunities.</p><p>Well, we&rsquo;ve had almost five full seasons with the trapezoid and while it might have been a concern in the pre-lockout NHL, the game has changed so much and the flow of play has so greatly improved that the league could easily abolish the trapezoid and allow goalies to play the puck with impunity without compromising offensive chances.</p><p>And who&rsquo;s to say it wouldn&rsquo;t lead to more scoring opportunities? Have you seen the way some of the goalies can pass the puck these days? Imagine Martin Brodeur or Rick DiPietro retrieving the puck from the corner and launching a long bomb two-thirds of the way up the ice to spring a teammate for a breakaway. Or, imagine an opponent batting the puck down before it leaves the defensive zone and having a tap-in on an unguarded net.</p><p>Either way, something interesting is bound to happen.</p><p>The fact is, the speed at which the game is played and the constant flow of the play would not be greatly impacted by allowing goalies to play the puck and there would be a number of benefits to allowing it.</p><p>First of all, the post-lockout NHL has made icons of predatory hitters such as Colby Armstrong and Jordin Tootoo, who live for nothing more than the opportunity to chase down a defenseman who is retrieving the puck or a forward who is curling around the net with his head down and knock him senseless.</p><p>You want to get rid of a lot of the headshots that have become so controversial without actually instituting a headshot rule? Then allow the goalies to play the puck outside the trapezoid and give them the protection to avoid being bulldozed while doing it. Incidental contact is one thing; skating from two zones away to make a guy one with the rinkboard advertising is quite another. There&rsquo;s a clear distinction there and the guys at the NHL are smart enough to figure it out.</p><p>And really, how fair is it to inhibit goaltenders from playing the puck anyway? Knowing how valuable a skill it is, many young goalies have honed the craft of puckhandling and made it an essential part of their skill package. Why should they be penalized for doing so?</p><p>And isn&rsquo;t prohibiting a goalie from playing the puck tantamount to stopping defensemen from blocking shots? The next time you watch a game and wonder why the score is 1-0 in the third period, watch closely how many shots don&rsquo;t even reach the net because uber-protected players are bravely throwing themselves in front of slapshots.</p><p>And if the league is so worried about offense and game flow, there are a host of other rule changes that could be made to offset the removal of the trapezoid.</p><p>For example, ever wondered why it&rsquo;s perfectly legal for a player to make a hand pass to a teammate as long as he&rsquo;s in the defensive zone, but not the neutral or offensive zones? Either abolish hand passes in all zones and put the faceoff at the dot nearest to the infraction or allow them in all three zones. Simple.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-011264/9392744-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="1158" height="883"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Playing the puck has become a skill goalies hone to benefit their team.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(ANDY MARLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Another one I&rsquo;ve never been able to figure out is why teams are allowed to ice the puck with impunity when killing a penalty. First, you give a team a disadvantage for breaking the rules, then you allow it to break the rules again to mitigate the disadvantage it faced for breaking the rules in the first place.</p><p>Here are a couple of remedies: One would be to abolish the free-pass icing when killing a penalty and, just to make it more interesting, retain the rule that doesn&rsquo;t allow the team that iced the puck to make a player change during the stoppage in play. That way you&rsquo;d have four tired penalty-killers taking a faceoff in their own end. Another would be to allow each team a pre-determined number of icings per period, let&rsquo;s say three. The first three icings would not be called, but each one after that would result in a defensive-zone faceoff, even on a penalty kill.</p><p>Sound crazy? Well, it&rsquo;s no more outlandish than establishing a small, defined area in which goaltenders are allowed to play the puck. And the results might be a whole lot more entertaining than watching a feline chase around an empty roll of toilet paper.</p><p>I mean, it was kind of entertaining and all, but&hellip;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0022-02

Trapezoid be gone!

<div class="byline">WITH ADAM PROTEAU</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-021001/9392789-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>J-S Giguere dealt with scrutiny long before landing in the Toronto pressure-cooker.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(ABELIMAGES/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011389/9392796-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="139" height="179"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>S</span>OMEBODY ONCE TOLD ME</b> the best way to think of goaltenders is to imagine them as tightrope walkers; the best of the bunch always are able to properly combine physical agility with mental mastery and can consistently limit the subtlest of shifts and remain focused despite the surrounding dangers.</p><p>Often, young goalies &ndash; say, a Steve Penney or a Blaine Lacher &ndash; will burst upon the NHL scene and demonstrate above-average skills that tempt fans into believing they&rsquo;ll be able to match that early elite play year after year. And soon thereafter, the fans and netminders learn it isn&rsquo;t nearly that simple a task.</p><p>Calder Trophy winner Steve Mason is learning that lesson the hard way this year. But even if the Blue Jackets starter squirms out of his sophomore slump, there&rsquo;s no assurance he&rsquo;ll regain the balance to keep his feet firmly planted on hockey&rsquo;s ultimate walking wire.</p><p>For all goalies, the fight to stay atop the tightrope lasts the length of their careers. And the added weights placed upon them &ndash; due to circumstances that, for the most part, are beyond their control &ndash; inevitably make the balancing act more difficult.</p><p>Jean-Sebastien Giguere, the newest starting goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs, provides a perfect example.</p><p>The 32-year-old was drafted 13th overall by Hartford in 1995, but was traded twice (first to Calgary and then to Anaheim) and didn&rsquo;t play more than 15 games in an NHL season until 2000-01, when he finally found a home with the Ducks.</p><p>&ldquo;When J-S was in Calgary, things didn&rsquo;t go that well and I think he wasn&rsquo;t playing up to his potential there, so we got him in the summer for a second round pick,&rdquo; said then-Ducks goalie coach Francois Allaire, who has been reunited with Giguere in Leafs land. &ldquo;Even then, he got cut by us and went to the minors for a fifth season, but by Christmas I really felt he was ready for the NHL. And since we waived Guy Hebert, J-S was the top guy over there and he&rsquo;s been one of the most consistent (goalies) in the game.&rdquo;</p><p>Allaire isn&rsquo;t unnecessarily flattering one of his most famous proteges: A statistical analysis of the past decade puts Giguere in the top 10 in NHL wins (207) and save percentage (.915).</p><p>The battle to stay relevant, however, continued after Giguere earned the Conn Smythe Trophy (in a losing cause in the 2003 Stanley Cup final); a Cup championship three years later; and, a four-year, $27-million contract extension (with a no-trade clause) in 2007 that suggested he&rsquo;d retire in Anaheim.</p><p>But the superb play of Ducks understudy Jonas Hiller put an end to that notion and led to the trading of Giguere to the Leafs (in a late January swap that miraculously unloaded Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake on Anaheim). The concerns about whether or not Giguere will thrive in Toronto&rsquo;s fishbowl existence ignore how much pressure all NHL puck-stoppers feel to produce every day.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s super-competitive out there,&rdquo; said Giguere one day after his Leafs debut (a 3-0 shutout of New Jersey). &ldquo;Every year there are young guys coming up and in today&rsquo;s game, since the lockout, it&rsquo;s a young man&rsquo;s game.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a high-paced, high-energy game and you have to compete against those young guys and all the energy they bring. And at the same time, you have to worry about being ready for each game. It&rsquo;s a tough battle, but that&rsquo;s what keeps you going and motivated.&rdquo;</p><p>His goalie coach agreed.</p><p>&ldquo;If you have one or two years where you don&rsquo;t reach the expectations your team is putting on you, there will be changes for sure,&rdquo; Allaire said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s part of the business, but the athletes here are so good and have battled for spots from a very early age, so they&rsquo;re used to it. It&rsquo;s just a normal part of their life.&rdquo;</p><p>Leafs coach Ron Wilson already is on record as saying he expects Giguere to play the majority of Toronto&rsquo;s remaining games, while easing in goalie-of-the-future (and relatively cheaper rookie) Jonas Gustavsson.</p><p>That fits in with the strategy Giguere can see many NHL teams employing in the salary cap era.</p><p>&ldquo;I think teams are going to look more and more at trying to get a good No. 1 goalie and then maybe a cheaper backup,&rdquo; Giguere said. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re making a big salary, you&rsquo;re going to be expected to play a lot and play well. And they won&rsquo;t have much patience for you if you don&rsquo;t.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the reality of today&rsquo;s game.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-02

A fine balance

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ROB ROSSI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-01274/9392834-1-eng-US/f0054-012.jpg" title="f0054-01" width="320" height="167"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-203/9392841-1-eng-US/f0054-202.jpg" title="f0054-20" width="133" height="133"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p><b>THOSE WHO</b> know Marc-Andre Fleury best long ago made peace with the fact they should bring a book when waiting for their buddy.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just late a lot,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m late for everything.&rdquo;</p><p>This trait applies to Fleury&rsquo;s pre-game routine, which goaltending coach Gilles Meloche, himself a long-time NHL netminder, described as remarkably normal for a man of the position.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been around guys that you couldn&rsquo;t talk to on the day of a game, the day before a game or until after a practice,&rdquo; Meloche said. &ldquo;But you can talk to Marc up until the game starts.&rdquo;</p><p>Meloche is mostly correct in his assessment of Fleury, who struggled to identify a quirk or pre-game ritual that anybody would find interesting.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-02157/9392827-1-eng-US/f0054-022.jpg" title="f0054-02" width="1047" height="884"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Marc-Andre Fleury waits until the last minute to get into his goalie gear.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(FLEURY: GREGORY SHAMUS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Sure, Fleury has taken part in pre-game shadowboxing matches with teammate Max Talbot before playoff games, but those were for the benefit of calming Talbot&rsquo;s nerves. As for those bright yellow pads he wore until late in the 2007-08 season, well, Meloche down-played the popular notion that Fleury hung onto those as a security blanket from his junior days with Cape Breton.</p><p>&ldquo;He wore those because we never told him they might be hurting him,&rdquo; Meloche said. &ldquo;Once we found that out and told him, he changed in a few weeks. He just takes it as it comes. Nothing affects him or changes him, and that&rsquo;s a good attitude &ndash; it&rsquo;s a different attitude for a goalie, but it works.&rdquo;</p><p>Refusing to worry about things is what works best for Fleury, who last season guided the Penguins to the Stanley Cup on the strength of several game-changing saves.</p><p>Washington&rsquo;s Alex Ovechkin and Detroit&rsquo;s Nicklas Lidstrom likely don&rsquo;t take comfort in knowing that Fleury didn&rsquo;t appear nervous before denying them pivotal goals in Game 7 of a second round series and the Cup final, respectively.</p><p>As is the case before every game, Fleury waited until the last possible minutes to get dressed for those high-pressure contests.</p><p>&ldquo;Six minutes before warmups, I get dressed &ndash; always,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just don&rsquo;t like to get dressed and sit there. You&rsquo;re kind of just sitting there and (thinking) too much. I don&rsquo;t like that.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0054-01

Pittsburgh

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-03102/9392872-1-eng-US/f0054-032.jpg" title="f0054-03" width="286" height="167"></div><p><b>ON THE</b> scale of goaltender quirkiness, Martin Brodeur and Yann Danis are two sticks in the mud.</p><p>But perhaps the Devils&rsquo; two goalies have taken routines and superstitions to an even higher level: both are fearful of falling into a routine. Brodeur&rsquo;s one major concession is kissing the back of his mask before games. That&rsquo;s where the initials of his five children are painted.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played with superstitious guys that don&rsquo;t let you touch their gear, I&rsquo;ve actually talked to Marty about that,&rdquo; said enforcer Andrew Peters. &ldquo;These aren&rsquo;t his exact words, but he told me if you have a habit, once you break it you can lose yourself mentally. He won&rsquo;t set himself up for that.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0054-03

New Jersey

<div class="byline">&#x2013; PETER BOTTE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-0478/9392903-1-eng-US/f0054-042.jpg" title="f0054-04" width="280" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE ISLANDERS&rsquo;</b> Dwayne Roloson, Rick DiPietro and Martin Biron all claim to be not particularly superstitious. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean they don&rsquo;t fit the bill for the quirkiness generally associated with goalies.</p><p>Biron, especially, is a gregarious sort who has claimed he was drawn to the position because goalies can show their personalities more than other players. To that end, one former teammate described Biron as a &ldquo;master chirper&rdquo; in terms of talking to opponents on the ice. Biron also admits he blows into his skates before wearing them to &ldquo;make sure they&rsquo;re warm,&rdquo; and he carries around what he calls his own makeshift suture kit &ndash; including dental floss for sewing &ndash; to do many of his own equipment repairs.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0054-04

NY Islanders

<div class="byline">&#x2013; STEVE ZIPAY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-0559/9392934-1-eng-US/f0054-052.jpg" title="f0054-05" width="269" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>H</span>ENRIK LUNDQVIST</b> listens to the same three songs before starts, two by Swedish rockers. He avoids any conversation during a shutout. In a recent Versus ad for the NHL, Lundqvist hears about sticking needles in a Sidney Crosby bobblehead and responds, &ldquo;Oh, I like that idea.&rdquo;</p><p>Rookie backup Chad Johnson has many ticks. He wears a special golf glove under his catching glove and before his starts, he always eats spaghetti and meat sauce.</p><p>&ldquo;The golf glove, been doing that since I was about six,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s see&hellip;Two eggs on toast in the morning&hellip;I put my left stuff on first&hellip;I tape my stick from toe to heel. And the sauce, it has to be red. Maybe a little chicken on the side.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0054-05

NY Rangers

<div class="byline">&#x2013; WAYNE FISH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-0642/9392965-1-eng-US/f0054-062.jpg" title="f0054-06" width="286" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>F</span>INDING THE</b> right time to go to the bathroom on game night is tough enough on position players, but Flyers backup Brian Boucher has the answer.</p><p>&ldquo;It seems like I go to the bathroom the same time right before I go out for warmups,&rdquo; Boucher said.</p><p>Besides control over that item, Boucher has been putting on his gear in the same order since his 1999-2000 rookie season &ndash; left skate first, then right skate, left pad, right pad.</p><p>Once on the ice, Boucher takes part in a somewhat common ritual among goalies &ndash; a rendition of the &ldquo;(Muhammad) Ali Shuffle&rdquo; during the national anthems: His body is still, but his skates are moving in place.</p><p>&ldquo;Just trying to get myself jacked up,&rdquo; he said.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0054-06

Philadelphia

<div class="byline">&#x2013; TIM SASSONE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-03112/9393041-1-eng-US/f0055-032.jpg" title="f0055-03" width="320" height="167"></div><p><b>CRISTOBAL HUET</b> might be the least superstitious goalie in the NHL.</p><p>He has no problem talking to reporters on game day. He lets the equipment guys touch his gear and once allowed a member of the PR staff to borrow his mask for a photo shoot on the morning of a game.</p><p>What in the name of Ed Belfour is going on? Belfour wouldn&rsquo;t even talk to teammates on days he played.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like to call it superstition, I have more rituals,&rdquo; Huet said. &ldquo;I tend to always put my skates on left then right, pads left then right, and do things with the same guys, but if I don&rsquo;t do it, it&rsquo;s not going to affect my game. I think it&rsquo;s good to be a little detached from those things.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0055-03

Chicago

<div class="byline">&#x2013; AARON PORTZLINE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-0483/9393072-1-eng-US/f0055-042.jpg" title="f0055-04" width="319" height="167"></div><p><b>TO GOALIE</b> Mathieu Garon, an NHL game is more than three 20-minute periods &ndash; it&rsquo;s actually 12 five-minute periods.</p><p>&ldquo;I always look at the scoreboard to check the time,&rdquo; Garon said. &ldquo;I try to break it down in five-minute segments. I focus on having a good five minutes, and then moving on.&rdquo;</p><p>Garon got burned by his scoreboard-watching earlier this year. He was looking up when the puck dropped, allowing the Flyers&rsquo; Jeff Carter to score off a faceoff.</p><p>Sophomore goalie Steve Mason has very few quirks, especially since ditching an old pre-game ritual of shooting a puck into his own net.</p><p>&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t leave the ice before I did it, but I got away from doing that,&rdquo; Mason said.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0055-04

Columbus

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ANSAR KHAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-0556/9393103-1-eng-US/f0055-052.jpg" title="f0055-05" width="319" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>C</span>HRIS OSGOOD&rsquo;S</b> desire to be the bullpen catcher for the Detroit Tigers after he retires is a bit strange. As was his one-time habit of taping photos of teammates&rsquo; faces on pictures cut from magazines.</p><p>But other than that, Osgood and Jimmy Howard are &ldquo;about as normal as you&rsquo;re going to get for goalies,&rdquo; according to teammate Kirk Maltby.</p><p>Osgood will talk and joke with teammates right up until game time. Howard will kick a soccer ball around with the guys until warm-ups.</p><p>Each has his routine &ndash; veal or chicken parmesan and a salad for Osgood&rsquo;s pre-game meal, the same music mix on his iPod on the drive to the rink for Howard &ndash; but neither is obsessed about it.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0055-05

Detroit

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JOHN GLENNON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-0639/9393134-1-eng-US/f0055-062.jpg" title="f0055-06" width="316" height="167"></div><p><b>DAN ELLIS</b> has a crafty sense of humor that he uses to keep the atmosphere light in the dressing room.</p><p>A couple seasons ago, Ellis initiated a practical-joke war with Jason Arnott and J-P Dumont, a battle that found Ellis stuffing mushy old apples into various parts of the vets&rsquo; equipment before practice.</p><p>This year, Ellis has shown more of an artistic flair, using a magic marker and drawing board to craft cartoons involving teammates and coaches.</p><p>There was the <i>Avatar</i>-like warrior he drew, complete with bow and arrow, that had a strong resemblance to D-man Shea Weber. Then there was the light-saber toting Darth Vader character that looked like a certain Nashville coach.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0055-06

Nashville

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MIKE ZEISBERGER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-01213/9393172-1-eng-US/f0056-012.jpg" title="f0056-01" width="300" height="167"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-20/9393179-1-eng-US/f0056-202.jpg" title="f0056-20" width="133" height="133"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p><b>BRIAN PAPINEAU</b> is thankful his Maple Leaf goalies do not require the &ldquo;Glenn Hall bucket.&rdquo;</p><p>Fifty years ago, Hall, then with the Chicago Black Hawks, had the messy habit of vomiting before games. During games, too. So, in preparation for that, the Hawks kept a bucket under the bench just in case&hellip;</p><p>Papineau, the Leafs equipment man, thankfully hasn&rsquo;t had to deal with anything like that over the years. At the same time, he understands how quirky goalies can be.</p><p>&ldquo;I used to have to sew a medallion into Felix Potvin&rsquo;s glove,&rdquo; Papineau said. &ldquo;I think it was some kind of good luck charm from his dad.&rdquo;</p><p>What about today&rsquo;s Leafs?</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-02141/9393165-1-eng-US/f0056-022.jpg" title="f0056-02" width="1046" height="883"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Leafs goaltender Jonas Gustavsson likes to have his alone time after practice.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(ANDY MARLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Well, first off, know that Jonas Gustavsson can be one miserable &lsquo;Monster&rsquo; prior to games. It&rsquo;s not that the Swedish rookie is rude. Or boorish. Or even angry. He just doesn&rsquo;t like being around people when he&rsquo;s preparing to play.</p><p>Even his teammates. Gustavsson just likes to focus.</p><p>While teammates shuffle hurriedly off the ice following daily practices, Gustavsson is alone on the bench with his mask slightly ajar. While it&rsquo;s usually just a couple minutes of solitude, Gustavsson sits quietly with teammates in sight, taking it all in, preparing himself mentally for what lays ahead and focusing himself on the next task at hand.</p><p>Gustavsson isn&rsquo;t particularly fond of sitting in the dressing room, either.</p><p>That&rsquo;s not the case with newly acquired goalie J-S Giguere, who came over in a deal with the Anaheim Ducks Jan. 31 in exchange for Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake.</p><p>Giguere considers himself relatively normal for a member of the traditionally quirky goaltending fraternity. But, like all those creatures who strap on a mask and pads, he does have his own unique way of doing things.</p><p>&ldquo;I always put my equipment on left to right,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been doing it since I was a kid playing in Montreal.&rdquo;</p><p>At least Giguere is upbeat. That wasn&rsquo;t the case with former Leafs goalie Ed Belfour, who allegedly threatened anyone who touched his equipment. Given Belfour&rsquo;s famous temper, maybe the bucket wouldn&rsquo;t be so bad after all.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0056-01

Toronto

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MIKE LOFTUS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-0383/9393210-1-eng-US/f0056-032.jpg" title="f0056-03" width="289" height="167"></div><p><b>MOST FOUND</b> the tantrum completely out of character, but some who watched online &ndash; including Tuukka Rask&rsquo;s father &ndash; relived the past.</p><p>&ldquo;That was me, when I was a kid,&rdquo; said Rask, Boston&rsquo;s 22-year-old rookie, who famously blew up while playing for Providence last year. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the kind of stuff I did after every goal, pretty much.&rdquo;</p><p>That&rsquo;s no longer the case, with Tim Thomas describing Rask as &ldquo;actually very normal.&rdquo;</p><p>But Rask isn&rsquo;t a robot, so he flipped after not one, but two tainted shootout goals were allowed in a 1-0 loss to Albany.</p><p>&ldquo;My dad was actually happy when he saw that,&rdquo; Rask said. &ldquo;He thought there was nothing left from the old Tuukka.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0056-03

Boston

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JOHN VOGL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-0466/9393241-1-eng-US/f0056-042.jpg" title="f0056-04" width="314" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>U</span>SUALLY, AS THE</b> anthem singer draws out the final few bars of &ldquo;O Canada!&rdquo; or &ldquo;The Star-Spangled Banner,&rdquo; players are already carving the fresh ice.</p><p>Not in the Sabres crease, however. One of Ryan Miller&rsquo;s rituals involves anthem awareness. During the first anthem, Miller squares up to that country&rsquo;s flag and tilts his head toward it, seemingly staring attentively. As applause fills the space till the second song, the Michigan native turns to the other banner, tilts his head again and stands at full attention for the song&rsquo;s duration.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just another thing you put into your routine so you don&rsquo;t start thinking about things that are unnecessary,&rdquo; Miller said.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0056-04

Buffalo

<div class="byline">&#x2013; HERB ZURKOWSKY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-0541/9393272-1-eng-US/f0056-052.jpg" title="f0056-05" width="315" height="167"></div><p><b>CAREY PRICE</b> insists he&rsquo;s not superstitious.</p><p>But last February, when things weren&rsquo;t going well, Price ditched his new red pads and returned to the white ones in which he had enjoyed considerably more success. Coincidence? Not likely.</p><p>And while Price insists he doesn&rsquo;t have any inflexible routines, he&rsquo;s not against helping others out of slumps. Once, with the help of former teammate Tom Kostopoulos, the two sacrificed Josh Gorges&rsquo; stick to the hockey gods, laying pieces of it at every corner of Carolina&rsquo;s RBC Center following a morning skate.</p><p>Sure enough, after playing 97 goalless games with the &ldquo;jinxed&rdquo; stick, Gorges scored about a week later.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0056-05

Montreal

<div class="byline">&#x2013; BRUCE GARRIOCH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-0635/9393303-1-eng-US/f0056-062.jpg" title="f0056-06" width="264" height="167"></div><p><b>BRIAN ELLIOTT&rsquo;S</b> superstition is pretty simple.</p><p>&ldquo;My superstition is, I don&rsquo;t tell anybody what my superstitions are,&rdquo; said the Sens goalie. &ldquo;I do have them, I just don&rsquo;t like to talk about them.&rdquo;</p><p>Elliott won&rsquo;t talk about his behavior on game day, but he did go far enough to admit he does the same thing all the time. And, if something works, he sticks with it.</p><p>Elliott juggles balls before every game to work on hand-eye co-ordination. It worked at Wisconsin (NCAA) and he&rsquo;s kept doing it in the pros.</p><p>&ldquo;The guys bug me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I put ice on one part of my body before a game and we win, they tell me I have to do that before the next game. I don&rsquo;t go that far.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0056-06

Ottawa

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ELLIOTT PAP</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-01199/9393341-1-eng-US/f0057-012.jpg" title="f0057-01" width="311" height="167"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-20/9393348-1-eng-US/f0057-202.jpg" title="f0057-20" width="133" height="133"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p><b>ROBERTO LUONGO</b> is hardly among the weirdest goalies in hockey, unless you consider the Canucks captain a weirdo for loving practice.</p><p>Kirk McLean, Vancouver&rsquo;s last marquee netminder before &lsquo;Bobby Lou&rsquo; arrived, was a sight never seen at an optional workout. &lsquo;King&rsquo; Richard Brodeur, famous for his heroics in the 1980s, used to wave at pucks in practice, preferring to save his energy for the games.</p><p>Luongo, however, almost never takes an optional off, almost never misses a morning skate and he always talks to the media &ndash; on a game day, on a practice day and at the airport whenever the Canucks head out of town for a road swing. It&rsquo;s very common to see Luongo taking shots from the team&rsquo;s fourth-liners and healthy scratches while the rest of the Canuck regulars relax in the players&rsquo; lounge or head home early. How strange is that?</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-02139/9393334-1-eng-US/f0057-022.jpg" title="f0057-02" width="1062" height="902"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Roberto Luongo has a legendary work ethic that extends beyond game night.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>No wonder GM Mike Gillis and coach Alain Vigneault wanted Luongo to be the team&rsquo;s captain when Markus Naslund departed following the 2007-08 season. Luongo became the NHL&rsquo;s first goalie captain since the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; Bill Durnan in 1947-48.</p><p>&ldquo;We thought long and hard about it,&rdquo; said Gillis, explaining the Luongo appointment. &ldquo;We feel really strongly this is the right decision for this organization. It boiled down to the fact that Roberto was the right age and at the right time in his career.</p><p>&ldquo;His commitment level is unprecedented.&rdquo;</p><p>Married with a daughter who turns two in March, the 30-year-old Luongo is a homebody whose hobbies are playing poker and following the National Football League. He isn&rsquo;t much more complicated than that. No wonder the Canucks signed him to a 12-year contract extension. They aren&rsquo;t concerned that he&rsquo;ll be distracted by fame, fortune or the city&rsquo;s bright lights.</p><p>&ldquo;I think you lead by example, that&rsquo;s the main thing,&rdquo; Luongo said. &ldquo;Any time you&rsquo;re in the arena, you want to be fully dedicated to what you&rsquo;re doing whether it&rsquo;s on the ice, in the gym or in the dressing room.&rdquo;</p><p>Now when is that next practice?<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0057-01

Vancouver

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RANDY SPORTAK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-03101/9393379-1-eng-US/f0057-032.jpg" title="f0057-03" width="301" height="167"></div><p><b>FEW PEOPLE</b> know how funny Miikka Kiprusoff is.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s always got something brewing,&rdquo; said goalie coach and former teammate Jamie McLennan. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll surf the Internet and find an old picture of me. Then at the rink, he&rsquo;ll be very serious and say he needs to show me something&hellip;It&rsquo;ll be a picture of me from 1989 or something and he&rsquo;ll make fun of my mullet.&rdquo;</p><p>Years ago in Finland, Kiprusoff had to go for a lengthy run in training camp. He disappeared from the pack of goalies, but near the finish line he was found dining in a blueberry patch while he awaited the return of his brethren.</p><p>His reply: &ldquo;Now everyone knows blueberries are good for you. Antioxidants. I was ahead of my time.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0057-03

Calgary

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ADRIAN DATER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-0482/9393410-1-eng-US/f0057-042.jpg" title="f0057-04" width="303" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>C</span>RAIG ANDERSON</b> might seem like a good ol&rsquo; boy, with his love of auto racing and small-town U.S. roots. But he&rsquo;s actually whip-smart with a sarcastic sense of humor.</p><p>Goalies tend to be a bit more thoughtful than your average NHLer &ndash; think Ken Dryden &ndash; and Anderson fits the bill.</p><p>He grew up watching his dad and other family race cars in Illinois, and has a Corvette logo on the back of his helmet.</p><p>And he has a sarcastic streak. If a reporter asks a dumb question &ndash; which, er, happens rarely &ndash; he&rsquo;ll give a smart-aleck answer with a roll of his eyes. But most of the time, Anderson is cordial. And if you ask questions with racing metaphors, you&rsquo;ll get a great answer no matter what.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0057-04

Colorado

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ROB TYCHKOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-0552/9393441-1-eng-US/f0057-052.jpg" title="f0057-05" width="303" height="167"></div><p><b>DEVAN DUBNYK</b> doesn&rsquo;t want to be a typical goalie.</p><p>That&rsquo;s why the further along he goes in his career, the more he tries to shed the idiosyncrasies that give netminders such a flaky reputation.</p><p>&ldquo;The more I started to play, the more I tried to get away from that stuff,&rdquo; said the rookie. &ldquo;Instead of adding (rituals) in the pros, I got rid of them.&rdquo;</p><p>Superstitions are not only potential distractions, they&rsquo;re hard to execute in the up-and-down world of pro netminding.</p><p>&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going back and forth between Edmonton and Springfield (AHL), you&rsquo;re dealing with different teams, different dressing rooms,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;As soon as one ritual goes wrong it&rsquo;s in your head. Forget it.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0057-05

Edmonton

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MICHAEL RUSSO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0057-0634/9393472-1-eng-US/f0057-062.jpg" title="f0057-06" width="320" height="167"></div><p><b>WILD TEAMMATES</b> love it when Josh Harding starts &ndash; because he&rsquo;s finally quiet.</p><p>The team&rsquo;s DJ and loud-mouth &ldquo;doesn&rsquo;t shut up when he&rsquo;s not playing&hellip;But when he&rsquo;s playing, he doesn&rsquo;t say anything,&rdquo; said Cal Clutterbuck.</p><p>But Niklas Backstrom &ldquo;is invisible,&rdquo; Clutterbuck added. &ldquo;All of a sudden he&rsquo;s in his gear and going to the ice.&rdquo;</p><p>That&rsquo;s because to focus, Backstrom, seemingly in a trance, leaves the dressing room for awkward-looking, turtle-like trots around the bowels of arenas prior to starts. It looks so weird, arena workers have been known to stare with their mouths ajar.</p><p>In Finland, Backstrom used to put on his winter gear and tuque and do the walk outside.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0057-06

Minnesota

<div class="byline">&#x2013; DAVID POLLAK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-01210/9393510-1-eng-US/f0058-012.jpg" title="f0058-01" width="308" height="167"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-20/9393517-1-eng-US/f0058-202.jpg" title="f0058-20" width="133" height="133"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p><b>AFTER GIVING</b> it some thought, defenseman Dan Boyle had this to say about Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov:</p><p>&ldquo;As far as goalies go, he&rsquo;s probably one of the more normal guys I&rsquo;ve played with.&rdquo;</p><p>Assistant equipment manager Rick Bronwell has worked with some quirky netminders, like one guy with the Houston Aeros. Before each game, he would write the opposing team&rsquo;s name on a piece of tape, put it on a voodoo doll &ndash; and then stick pins in it.</p><p>&ldquo;Nabby&rsquo;s boring,&rdquo; Bronwell said.</p><p>Intense? Yes. Direct? Yes. Quirky? No, not really.</p><p>But then Bronwell mentions Nabokov&rsquo;s preference for a certain type of tea. And the fact he insists that nobody else use the communal cup that he has claimed as his own; the white one with the gold and red coloring on it.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-02138/9393503-1-eng-US/f0058-022.jpg" title="f0058-02" width="1047" height="883"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov is very particular about his cup of tea.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>When you ask Nabokov about that special tea, how-ever, he tells you it&rsquo;s not as if there&rsquo;s only one kind. There are several, and conditioning coordinator Mike Potenza provides them. But, yes, Nabokov admits, he has let everyone know he doesn&rsquo;t want anyone else drinking from his cup.</p><p>Still, that doesn&rsquo;t exactly qualify as very quirky.</p><p>That also applies to Nabokov&rsquo;s game-day routine. He does try to arrive at the rink at the same time and keep to the same schedule as far as stretching and getting into his gear, but it&rsquo;s not as if he obsesses about every detail.</p><p>Does he feel the need to put the same pad on first every time? No, one day it could be the left, the next day the right. It doesn&rsquo;t matter.</p><p>Nabokov, who came up through the Russian hockey system, is well aware that goalies have reputations for being a little strange.</p><p>&ldquo;I think it has some truth to it,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but to be honest with you, the guys I&rsquo;ve been playing with seem normal to me.</p><p>&ldquo;Nobody had really much weirdness.&rdquo;</p><p>But another Shark picks up on the topic and isn&rsquo;t ready to declare Nabokov quirk-free.</p><p>&ldquo;How old is Nabby?&rdquo; asked sophomore right winger Brad Staubitz. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s 34? How many 34-year-olds do you know that throw pillows on airplanes and then try to hide under the seat?&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0058-01

San Jose

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ERIC STEPHENS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-0382/9393548-1-eng-US/f0058-032.jpg" title="f0058-03" width="307" height="167"></div><p><b>IF IT</b> isn&rsquo;t his mask, it&rsquo;s his skates. And if it isn&rsquo;t his skates, it&rsquo;s his pads.</p><p>If you hang around Jonas Hiller long enough, you&rsquo;ll notice he always has a piece of his equipment in his hands and he&rsquo;s either fiddling with this or sharpening that.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no one even close,&rdquo; said winger Bobby Ryan. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen someone play and tweak with as many things as he does. It&rsquo;s unnatural almost.&rdquo;</p><p>It&rsquo;s perfectly natural in the netminder&rsquo;s view.</p><p>&ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t have confidence in your equipment,&rdquo; Hiller said, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s tough to have confidence in your moves and yourself stopping the puck. It has to work for me. I always try to improve it. I really like to know what I&rsquo;m working with.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0058-03

Anaheim

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MIKE HEIKA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-0464/9393579-1-eng-US/f0058-042.jpg" title="f0058-04" width="318" height="168"></div><p><b>MARTY TURCO&rsquo;S</b> hero growing up was Wayne Gretzky, so he&rsquo;s always had a bit of &ldquo;dangle&rdquo; in him.</p><p>As an undersized player in his youth, Turco often was the backup goalie who would &ldquo;mess around&rdquo; in practice by trying to make every save look as difficult as possible or trying to pass the puck like Gretzky. It was a fun way to make his teammates laugh.</p><p>But the crazy thing is, Turco actually became the goalie he was practising to become &ndash; just watch him skate out of the net and play the puck, or flip around to make the most unorthodox of saves.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve done a lot of work to get the basics and form down,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But the heart of my game is athletics and reaction.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0058-04

Dallas

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JONATHAN DAVIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-0539/9393610-1-eng-US/f0058-052.jpg" title="f0058-05" width="312" height="167"></div><p><b>ASSISTANT GM</b> Ron Hextall, a former Flyers goalie, was known to lock himself in his room before big games and scream at the top of his lungs.</p><p>But in a city such as Los Angeles, where quirky is considered normal, the Kings have two goalies in Jonathan Quick and Erik Ersberg who defy the &ldquo;oddball&rdquo; description.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never played on a team in all my years of hockey where at least one of the goalies wasn&rsquo;t a little out there,&rdquo; said Drew Doughty. &ldquo;Maybe that&rsquo;s the quirky part. These two are as normal as they come.&rdquo;</p><p>Added Ersberg: &ldquo;Not since my days of peewee when I wore a Mickey Mouse T-shirt for every game have I done something that would be called quirky or superstitious.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0058-05

Los Angeles

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JIM GINTONIO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-0629/9393641-1-eng-US/f0058-062.jpg" title="f0058-06" width="274" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>LYA BRYZGALOV</b> once answered a question by quoting several lines of dialogue from the movie <i>300</i>. Recently, before a reporter asked a question, Bryzgalov had a familiar look of bemusement splashed across his face and said, &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve reached Ilya Bryzgalov. If you want to talk to him, please leave me a message at the sound of the beep. Beeeeep!&rdquo;</p><p>One never knows what to expect from Bryzgalov, but defenseman Adrian Aucoin nodded sagely when asked about the Russian goaltender.</p><p>&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s a phony as far as the accent goes,&rdquo; Aucoin said. &ldquo;He does the old &lsquo;can&rsquo;t understand&rsquo; when he doesn&rsquo;t want to and understands really everything else when he wants to.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0058-06

Phoenix

<div class="byline">&#x2013; PETER KERZEL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-01181/9393679-1-eng-US/f0059-012.jpg" title="f0059-01" width="320" height="167"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-202/9393686-1-eng-US/f0059-202.jpg" title="f0059-20" width="133" height="133"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p><b>VERY VANILLA,</b> those cagey Capitals netminders.</p><p>Perhaps veteran Jose Theodore has already experienced the mountaintop of winning the Hart and Vezina Trophies while with the Canadiens in 2001-02, rubbing elbows with Paris Hilton, having his career fizzle, then re-inventing himself in Washington. Maybe rookies Semyon Varlamov, Michal Neuvirth and Braden Holtby are just too young, naive and more focused on career advancement.</p><p>Yes, the current crop of Caps keepers is decidedly light on colorful personalities and outrageous antics &ndash; and had a franchise-record 12-game winning streak (including a personal-best nine straight by Theodore) and a runaway lead in the Southeast Division to show for its subtlety.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-02117/9393672-1-eng-US/f0059-022.jpg" title="f0059-02" width="1047" height="883"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Semyon Varlamov has been known to request a translator&hellip; in English.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Occasionally, some individuality leaks out. Varlamov has been known to don bright, yellow laces in his skates, something many young Russian players do, but he&rsquo;s definitely following that lead rather than setting a trend.</p><p>The 21-year-old, however, does do one thing with panache, even if understated. He insists that he needs a translator when it&rsquo;s time to talk to the press. He might even ask for one &ndash; in near-perfect English.</p><p>Varlamov displayed an incredibly even demeanor after replacing Theodore in the first round of last year&rsquo;s playoffs against the Rangers. New York&rsquo;s Sean Avery played the role of pest, buzzing the crease, trying to rattle the rookie. All Avery got was an unbelieving stare from the unflappable goalie. Well, that and a game misconduct for pie-facing him at one point.</p><p>When coach Bruce Boudreau made the decision to play Varlamov, he had Alex Ovechkin deliver the news &ndash; in Russian.</p><p>&ldquo;That he doesn&rsquo;t understand a word we&rsquo;re saying probably really helps him,&rdquo; Boudreau said. &ldquo;Just tell him he&rsquo;s playing and let him do his job.&rdquo;</p><p>A job Varlamov performed well, until groin and knee injuries derailed him this season. When Varlamov recorded his first career NHL shutout during last season&rsquo;s playoffs, there was beer, wine or shots. When you&rsquo;re not yet legal drinking age, you adapt.</p><p>&ldquo;Tonight, I will drink milk,&rdquo; Varlamov said, in all seriousness.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0059-01

Washington

<div class="byline">&#x2013; GUY CURTRIGHT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-0385/9393717-1-eng-US/f0059-032.jpg" title="f0059-03" width="310" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>J</span>OHAN HEDBERG</b> and Ondrej Pavelec aren&rsquo;t quirky by goaltending standards, but they&rsquo;ve been involved in two of this season&rsquo;s oddest plays.</p><p>Pavelec was first, going old-school to make a glove save against Ottawa&rsquo;s Alex Kovalev after his mask was knocked off and the whistle didn&rsquo;t blow. A maskless goalie is one thing, but a headless goalie is another.</p><p>That&rsquo;s what Hedberg looked like after a collision with Philadelphia&rsquo;s Simon Gagne. Not only was Hedberg&rsquo;s mask knocked off, but his sweater came up and covered his head.</p><p>&ldquo;At first, you panic,&rdquo; Hedberg said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know where the puck or the net was. Fortunately, the whistle blew. Once I got my head out, I had to smile. It was funny.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0059-03

Atlanta

<div class="byline">&#x2013; LUKE DECOCK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-0469/9393748-1-eng-US/f0059-042.jpg" title="f0059-04" width="318" height="167"></div><p><b>IF THE</b> stereotype of the &ldquo;goofy goalie&rdquo; is becoming an artifact of old-time hockey, Cam Ward may be the unflappable poster boy.</p><p>If he has a vice, it&rsquo;s singing in public, whether playing &ldquo;Rock Band&rdquo; or doing karaoke. Other than that, Ward is so vanilla, it&rsquo;s eerie &ndash; he married his high school sweetheart, he&rsquo;s a Nickelback fan and he&rsquo;s more than willing to talk to the media on game days. He&rsquo;s also a Special Olympics booster.</p><p>Ward&rsquo;s backup, Manny Legace, deserves a mention for suffering one of the strangest injuries in hockey history. In 2008, while playing for St. Louis, Legace missed five games after slipping on a red carpet unfurled for vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0059-04

Carolina

<div class="byline">&#x2013; GEORGE RICHARDS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-0545/9393779-1-eng-US/f0059-052.jpg" title="f0059-05" width="320" height="167"></div><p><b>WHEN ASKED</b> if he had any superstitions, Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun merely smiled.</p><p>&ldquo;I had to go to the same gas station, stuff like that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I got rid of all that a long time ago.&rdquo;</p><p>Panthers goalie coach Robb Tallas, who spent parts of five seasons in the NHL, said all goalies have some quirks &ndash; whether they want to acknowledge them or not. Some might not even realize it, it&rsquo;s simply become routine.</p><p>&ldquo;If they say they aren&rsquo;t superstitious, they&rsquo;re lying,&rdquo; Tallas said with a laugh. &ldquo;We like our routines. When things are going right and you&rsquo;re feeling good&hellip;You don&rsquo;t want to disrupt it. Everyone does something different, but they all do the same things.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0059-05

Florida

<div class="byline">&#x2013; DAMIAN CRISTODERO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-0634/9393810-1-eng-US/f0059-062.jpg" title="f0059-06" width="291" height="167"></div><p><b>MIKE SMITH</b> said his girlfriend wishes he would apply his crease-cleaning policies to the homestead.</p><p>During games and practices, Smith uses the back edge of his stick like a huge wind-shield wiper, scraping the snow and patting down any rough spots. He doesn&rsquo;t even scrape the ice with his skates before a period, a technique - or lack thereof - he learned from Marty Turco in Dallas.</p><p>&ldquo;He brought to my attention the more snow in the crease, the slower you move when you&rsquo;re down,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;So I&rsquo;m not one to go out there and make it messy.&rdquo;</p><p>Unlike the house?</p><p>&ldquo;I do clean the garage back home in the summer,&rdquo; Smith said, &ldquo;so I&rsquo;m good at that.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0059-06

Tampa Bay

f0060-01

WESTERN CONFERENCE

<div class="byline">BY TIM CAMPBELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-01170/9393945-1-eng-US/f0062-012.jpg" title="f0062-01" width="889" height="1092"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>H</span>E WON 81 GAMES</b> in his final two years of junior with the Western League&rsquo;s Tri-City Americans and was the first back-to-back WHL goalie-of-the-year since Mike Vernon.</p><p>Chet Pickard is used to shouldering the load and getting the job done, but the professional opponents the Milwaukee Admirals goalie faced as a green rookie didn&rsquo;t care much.</p><p>&ldquo;I got lit up by Abbotsford,&rdquo; said Pickard, 20, of the 7-5 loss in his pro debut. &ldquo;It was kind of a reality check. I learned a lot about the game and about this league. It was kind of a humbling experience.&rdquo;</p><p>The Winnipegger, a 2007 first round pick (18th overall) of the Nashville Predators, was mostly a bystander for a month after his shelling, but has since shown his value; he&rsquo;s 13-8-2 and has started regularly in the season&rsquo;s second half.</p><p>&ldquo;(Early) it was tough because last year and the year before I was playing every single game,&rdquo; Pickard said. &ldquo;It got a bit frustrating. I had a lot of things to work on after my first game.&rdquo;</p><p>One of those items is quickness, a hallmark of successful NHL netminders and something Nashville has harped on since drafting him.</p><p>Pickard took that message to heart early, concentrating on eating better and losing five pounds after training camp, &ldquo;just to get quicker.&rdquo;</p><p>The quickness will be important. Rushing, however, is out of the question.</p><p>&ldquo;Chet is like a lot of kids who have high expectations, being a first round draft pick,&rdquo; said Predators assistant GM Paul Fenton. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s watched the success of Carey Price, who was his (WHL) teammate and he looks up to him.</p><p>&ldquo;Right there, it puts things a little out of perspective, but we have a time frame we&rsquo;ll follow as an organization for the development of all our kids.&rdquo;</p><p>The best way to the Nashville net is through Milwaukee, <i>&agrave; la</i> Pekka Rinne.</p><p>&ldquo;There is no time frame, especially for a goalie,&rdquo; Fenton said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll be ready when they&rsquo;re ready. And they have to be ready, because you can hide mistakes when they&rsquo;re made by defensemen or forwards, but you can&rsquo;t hide them with goalies.&rdquo;</p><p>So far, Pickard is on track.</p><p>&ldquo;We knew him as a character player and knew his work ethic before we drafted him,&rdquo; Fenton said. &ldquo;He does extra, stays at the rink, studies his game, knows his flaws and works at them.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-0297/9393938-1-eng-US/f0062-022.jpg" title="f0062-02" width="198" height="194"></div><h2><b>Chet Pickard</b></h2><p>Milwaukee Admirals</p><p><b>Ht.</b> 6-3</p><p><b>Wt.</b> 214</p><p><b>Pos.</b> G</p><p><b>Age</b> 20</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-0359/9393931-1-eng-US/f0062-032.jpg" title="f0062-03" width="211" height="126"></div><h2><b>AND COUNTING</b></h2><p><b>26</b></p><p>Average shots per game Pickard has faced as a rookie pro</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-0443/9393924-1-eng-US/f0062-042.jpg" title="f0062-04" width="218" height="218"></div><h3><b>Hey, Colin Wilson!</b></h3><h2><b>EXPECT THE CALL</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-0525/9393917-1-eng-US/f0062-052.jpg" title="f0062-05" width="211" height="126"></div><p>The rookie pro is a big-bodied center with vision who moves well. Wilson was once thought to be over-muscled, but 2009-10&rsquo;s leaner version is major progress for the 20-year-old son of a former NHLer.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-0622/9393910-1-eng-US/f0062-062.jpg" title="f0062-06" width="182" height="253"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PICKARD: SCOTT PAULUS)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-0717/9393903-1-eng-US/f0062-072.jpg" title="f0062-07" width="285" height="83"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0062-01

EARNING HIS STRIPES

<div class="byline">&#x2013; TIM CAMPBELL</div><p class="dropcap"><span>G</span>oalie Justin Pogge got the best of his former team twice in January, helping the San Antonio Rampage to a pair of wins over the Toronto Marlies.</p><p>The former Maple Leafs blue-chip prospect, just 23, was dealt last summer to the Anaheim Ducks, who don&rsquo;t have their own AHL affiliate and sent him to the Rampage.</p><p>DONE FOR SEASON Manitoba defenseman Michael Funk called it quits for 2009-10 after suffering a fourth concussion in the past two years and third in the past 12 months.</p><p>Funk, who played just 32 combined games this season and last, was taken high into the boards by Texas&rsquo; Luke Gazdicin in November and hasn&rsquo;t played since. He has experienced daily headaches with no discernible cause.</p><p>&ldquo;I want to live a long and successful life and I&rsquo;m only 23,&rdquo; Funk said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll still take it day by day and try to make it better, take it from there.&rdquo;</p><p>NOT ENOUGH? Peoria&rsquo;s Derek Armstrong had a career-best four-goal game Jan. 30 against Houston, staking his team to a 4-0 third-period lead. But it wasn&rsquo;t enough for the Rivermen, who squandered the advantage. Armstrong even scored in the shootout, but Peoria couldn&rsquo;t make it stand, falling 5-4 to the Aeros.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

RAMPAGING RETRIBUTION

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0063-01136/9394028-1-eng-US/f0063-012.jpg" title="f0063-01" width="888" height="1092"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>B</span>EFORE THE</b> Carolina Hurricanes recalled defenseman Brett Carson in December, he had some rather intense video game battles with roommate Justin Peters.</p><p>Well, they were intense for Peters; that&rsquo;s just his personality when it comes to competition.</p><p>Carson, on the other hand, didn&rsquo;t need intensity to dominate at EA Sports&rsquo; <i>NHL10</i>.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to pump his tires too much, but he&rsquo;s definitely got my number,&rdquo; Peters said. &ldquo;My problem is I can&rsquo;t score. I have no touch around the net.&rdquo;</p><p>Thanks to Xbox, Peters now knows how AHL opponents feel when they&rsquo;re facing him; they wonder what happened to their goal-mouth touch, because the Albany River Rats&rsquo; fourth-year goalie has been slamming the door all season.</p><p>Rochester Americans center Jamie Johnson, one of the AHL&rsquo;s top 10 scorers this year, was stoned by Peters earlier in 2009-10.</p><p>&ldquo;I put everything I wanted on it, I put it where I wanted it,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great goalie.&rdquo;</p><p>Peters&rsquo; development has been sure and steady since he turned pro in 2006. He went from a trying AHL rookie season in &rsquo;06-07 to ECHL all-star in &rsquo;07-08 to Albany&rsquo;s No. 1 last year.</p><p>&ldquo;I understand the process,&rdquo; said Peters, who was drafted 38th overall by Carolina in 2004.</p><p>This season, he&rsquo;s been terrific. The 23-year-old Peters was 18-12-2 with a 2.47 goals-against average and .918 save percentage when February began.</p><p>&ldquo;It all starts with your approach to the game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve worked on having the belief in yourself, in your abilities and playing in the moment. Instead of worrying about wins and losses and what might happen, I&rsquo;m trying to focus on what it takes to be successful.&rdquo;</p><p>He has also worked with Carolina goalie coach Tom Barrasso on the physical aspects of goaltending.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve talked about having the confidence to play at the top of the crease,&rdquo; Peters said, &ldquo;when to play the puck, where to leave the puck for the defenseman, when to take a whistle.&rdquo;</p><p>Peters said he isn&rsquo;t worried about Carolina&rsquo;s depth chart, which features a 25-year-old Conn Smythe Trophy winner in Cam Ward who&rsquo;s signed through 2015-16.</p><p>&ldquo;As a fan of hockey, I watch a lot of hockey, I see what&rsquo;s going on,&rdquo; Peters said. &ldquo;But I can only control what I&rsquo;m doing.&rdquo;</p><p>So far, he&rsquo;s been in total control this season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0063-0286/9394021-1-eng-US/f0063-022.jpg" title="f0063-02" width="198" height="195"></div><h2><b>Justin Peters</b></h2><p>Albany River Rats</p><p><b>Ht.</b> 6-1</p><p><b>Wt.</b> 213</p><p><b>Pos.</b> G</p><p><b>Age</b> 23</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0063-0356/9394014-1-eng-US/f0063-032.jpg" title="f0063-03" width="210" height="126"></div><h2><b>AND COUNTING</b></h2><p><b>72</b></p><p>Career wins with Florida (ECHL) and Albany (AHL)</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0063-0440/9394007-1-eng-US/f0063-042.jpg" title="f0063-04" width="182" height="254"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(COURTESY ALBANY RIVER RATS)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>ON TOP</b></p><h2><b>TOP SCORERS</b></h2><h3><b>Keith Aucoin</b></h3><p>Hershey Bears</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0063-0526/9394000-1-eng-US/f0063-052.jpg" title="f0063-05" width="211" height="126"></div><p><b>71 POINTS</b></p><p>Alexandre Giroux, Her 66</p><p>Corey Locke, Hfd 54</p><p>Brock Trotter, Ham 50</p><p>Jason Krog, Chi 50</p><p>Andrew Gordon, Her 49</p><p>Jamie Johnson, Roc 49<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0063-01

RIGHT PATH TO SUCCESS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>ith Jonathan Quick playing well in Los Angeles, the Kings are allowing second-year pro Jonathan Bernier to continue developing in Manchester.</p><p>Bernier, drafted 11th overall in 2006, played 54 games as a rookie and will surpass 50 games again this year. When February began, he was 21-11-5 with a 1.90 goals-against average, .942 save percentage and a league-high six shutouts.</p><p>MILESTONE For a guy who couldn&rsquo;t land a roster spot in major junior and was never drafted by an NHL team, Hershey Bears defenseman Bryan Helmer has sure proved a lot of people wrong.</p><p>Helmer, 37, became just the second D-man in AHL history to reach 500 points (118 goals, 382 assists). Only John Slaney scored more (166 goals, 519 points) and he sometimes played on the wing.</p><p>&ldquo;Looking back, when I started in 1993-94, I never would have expected to be doing what I&rsquo;m doing,&rdquo; Helmer said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been really fortunate to play on a lot of good teams with a lot of good players.&rdquo;</p><p>Helmer was signed as a free agent in 1993 by New Jersey after three seasons with the Jr. A Wellington (Ont.) Dukes. He has played 146 NHL games for Phoenix, St. Louis, Vancouver and Washington.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

SOPHOMORE QUICK STUDY

<div class="byline">&#x2013; DENIS GIBBONS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0064-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0064-01142/9394090-1-eng-US/f0064-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Michael Garnett is guarding nets and sharing wine with Jaromir Jagr in Russia.</b></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>HEN</b>&nbsp;<b>MICHAEL GARNETT</b> was eight years old, he sat in the stands at Saskatoon Place with his dad and marveled at the moves of Jaromir Jagr, then 18 and playing for the Czech Republic at the 1991 World Junior Championship.</p><p>Nineteen years later, Garnett was playing for Team Jagr at the Kontinental League All-Star Game in Minsk, Belarus.</p><p>If that wasn&rsquo;t a big enough thrill, what happened later was. &ldquo;After the game we were flying back to Moscow and Jagr was seated across the aisle from me,&rdquo; Garnett said. &ldquo;He had a bottle of Number 99 Estates red wine, which Wayne Gretzky had given him at the All-Star Game, but he doesn&rsquo;t drink red, so he gave it to me.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0064-0289/9394083-1-eng-US/f0064-022.jpg" title="f0064-02" width="228" height="248"></div><p>Garnett, who played 24 games for the Atlanta Thrashers in 2005-06 after being drafted by the club in 2001, is in his third season in Russia. He currently ranks sixth overall among KHL goalies with a 2.13 goals-against average, .914 save percentage and four shutouts in 39 games with MVD Balashikha.</p><p>Finn Karri Ramo, who plays for Avangard Omsk, was the starting goalie for Team Jagr and Garnett took over for the final 20 minutes of the match, which Team Jagr &ndash; made up of foreign players &ndash; won 11-8 over a selection of Russian stars, led by Alexei Yashin.</p><p>All players were presented with an airline ticket to anywhere in the world, courtesy of Aeroflot, the official Russian airline.</p><p>Garnett spent the &rsquo;06-07 season playing for the Chicago Wolves of the American League, the Atlanta Thrashers&rsquo; farm team. But when his contract expired, the Thrashers didn&rsquo;t qualify him and there wasn&rsquo;t a lot of interest from other NHL clubs.</p><p>&ldquo;It was either an AHL contract or nothing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So I decided that to make more money and further my career, it would be good to play at a higher level.&rdquo;</p><p>Since the MVD Balashikha club is sponsored by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Garnett was issued a badge entitling him to privileges usually reserved for police officers, border guards and secret service agents</p><p>One of the perks is being waved through whenever he is in a car and stopped by police for a random check.</p><p>His girlfriend Kelly Fedoruk, who is studying to be a doctor at the University of Saskatchewan, has been able to visit him in Russia five times.</p><p>In 2007-08, his first year in Russia, he was the only player on the Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk squad who spoke English until the team signed defenseman Evgeny Nourislamov, a native of Togliatti, Russia, who had played three seasons of major junior in the Quebec League with Drummondville.</p><p>&ldquo;He married a girl from Montreal and he helped me out incredibly,&rdquo; Garnett said. &ldquo;But it was pretty difficult for me before he arrived.&rdquo;</p><p>Balashikha, a city of about 100,000 people, is located on the eastern edge of Moscow. Garnett can actually travel to the center of Moscow by subway in just 40 minutes.</p><p>While the KHL takes a break in February to allow players to compete for their respective countries in the Olympic Games, Garnett will get a chance to fly home to Saskatoon for a week.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0064-01

GARNETT’S MVD PERKS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RISTO PAKARINEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0064-0346/9394121-1-eng-US/f0064-032.jpg" title="f0064-03" width="485" height="294"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Swedish Elitserien&rsquo;s board recently drafted a five-point list of changes it is considering: a new icing rule, new playoff format, smaller rink size, shootouts, and improved refereeing.</p><p>The one creating the most discussion in Sweden was and has been the rink size, as currently most rinks are at or close to the maximum size, 30 meters (98 feet) wide. The IIHF rulebook allows rinks as small as 26 meters, (85 feet), but few rinks in Europe are that narrow. In Finland, however, most teams play in a smaller &ndash; mostly 28 meters (92 feet) wide &ndash; rink.</p><p>The Finnish example didn&rsquo;t convince the Swedes.</p><p>&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t think that the smaller rinks have made the games more attractive,&rdquo; league CEO Peter Gudmundson told Swedish <i>Expressen</i>.</p><p>The Elitserien was one of the first leagues to use the shootout in 1999, but, pressured by its coaches, decided to re-introduce the tie in 2004.</p><p>Another Swedish curiosity is on its way out the window if the league changes its playoff format to one where the top seed plays the eighth seed and so on.</p><p>In the current system, the first seed gets to choose between the eight-seed and seven-seed, the second-placed team chooses between the sixth and whichever is left after the No. 1 team has picked its opponent. Last season, eight-seeded Timra ended up playing the fourth-placed HV71.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0064-03

CHANGES ON TAP

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ANDY BAGGOT</div><p><b>IT MIGHT COME</b> as a surprise to the rest of the WCHA that goaltender Marc Cheverie enrolled at Denver three years ago lacking in confidence.</p><p>His final junior season was a struggle &ndash; a 3.10 goals-against average and .875 save percentage in 31 starts for Nanaimo of the British Columbia League.</p><p>That was followed by a rookie season with the Pioneers in which he was a backup to Peter Mannino, appearing in just five games.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a huge adjustment for a goaltender going in,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Cheverie of the jump from Jr. A to NCAA. &ldquo;Every day was a battle in practice. There were times where it seemed like I couldn&rsquo;t stop a beach ball.</p><p>&ldquo;As time went on, you&rsquo;re battling through practice and you get better and better. You really don&rsquo;t have a choice but to get better.&rsquo;&rsquo;</p><p>Now Cheverie, a junior from Cole Harbour, N.S., who was a seventh round pick (193rd overall) by Florida in 2006, is the best goaltender in the NCAA.</p><p>As February began, Cheverie was 14-3-3 with a 2.02 GAA, .932 SP, six shutouts and was 9-2 in one-goal games. He&rsquo;s the main reason Denver was ranked second in the nation and sat in first place in the WCHA.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s our MVP, no question,&rsquo;&rsquo; said coach George Gwozdecky.</p><p>That point was driven home in painful fashion &ndash; literally &ndash; when Cheverie sustained a 30-stitch laceration to his left calf Oct. 30. The Pioneers won one of the three games Cheverie missed.</p><p>The 6-foot-3, 180-pounder said his improvement can be traced mainly to subtle upgrades in rebound control, glove positioning and body movement that allow him to take away as much of the net as possible.</p><p>Most Hobey Baker Award lists have Cheverie and Wisconsin defenseman Brendan Smith on them. Smith, the nation&rsquo;s top scoring blueliner and an NHL first-rounder, said if he had a ballot he&rsquo;d probably vote for Cheverie.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0065-01152/9394173-1-eng-US/f0065-012.jpg" title="f0065-01" width="692" height="930"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DAN WALLENBERG/OHIO STATE)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a really good goalie,&rsquo;&rsquo; Smith said.</p><p>Cheverie grew up playing street hockey with Sidney Crosby and was friends with &lsquo;The Kid&rsquo; until the Pittsburgh star left town to embark on his celebrated path. Cheverie hopes to someday join Crosby in the NHL.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a dream of mine forever,&rsquo;&rsquo; he said.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0065-02111/9394166-1-eng-US/f0065-022.jpg" title="f0065-02" width="256" height="256"></div><h2><b>Marc Cheverie</b></h2><p>Denver Pioneers</p><p><b>Ht.</b> 6-3</p><p><b>Wt.</b> 180</p><p><b>Pos.</b> G</p><p><b>Age</b> 22</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0065-0382/9394159-1-eng-US/f0065-032.jpg" title="f0065-03" width="343" height="83"></div><h3><b>Draft Status</b></h3><p>Drafted 193rd overall by Florida in 2006</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0065-0460/9394152-1-eng-US/f0065-042.jpg" title="f0065-04" width="211" height="126"></div><h2><b>AND COUNTING</b></h2><p><b>10</b></p><p>Shutouts the past two seasons for Cheverie with the Pioneers<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0065-01

NATION’S TOP TENDER

<div class="byline">&#x2013; LARRY MAHONEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0065-0629/9394235-1-eng-US/f0065-062.jpg" title="f0065-06" width="289" height="130"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>oston College right winger Cam Atkinson put up respectable numbers as a freshman last season with seven goals and 19 points in 36 games. But the sixth round pick (157th overall) by Columbus in 2008 has taken his game up a notch this season. Atkinson, 20, had 16 goals through his first 24 games, including 11 in a 12-game stretch. &ldquo;With each game he plays, he&rsquo;s more of a difference-maker,&rdquo; said Eagles coach Jerry York. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve always liked him, he just never really scored last year. Now he&rsquo;s a hard force out there for people to handle. He&rsquo;s so strong and he has terrific acceleration.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0065-06

SCORING IN BUNCHES

<div class="byline">&#x2013; TOM BOGGIE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0065-0712/9394266-1-eng-US/f0065-072.jpg" title="f0065-07" width="295" height="90"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>J</span>ack Christian&rsquo;s long wait is finally over. After staying away from hockey for a year-and-a-half, the Harvard senior defenseman returned to the ice in late January and will be key to the Crimson&rsquo;s stretch run. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound undrafted free agent, who was known for delivering some of the hardest hits in the league, sustained a concussion in January 2008, returned to the ice in February that year, then sat out the entire 2008-09 season and the first half of the this year to fully recover. &ldquo;Jack adds a dimension to our defense with his size, strength and physical play,&rdquo; said Harvard coach Ted Donato.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0065-07

CHRISTIAN RETURNS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ANDY BAGGOT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0065-0811/9394297-1-eng-US/f0065-082.jpg" title="f0065-08" width="354" height="78"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>M</span>innesota &ndash; which has 20 NHL draftees on its roster &ndash; began February in danger of missing the national tournament for the second consecutive year, leading to intense speculation about the future of the Gophers&rsquo; two-time NCAA champion-coach Don Lucia, whose contract runs through 2012. The rumors focus on Nebraska-Omaha coach Dean Blais returning to his alma mater, but Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi insisted Lucia will return next season &ldquo;unless he chooses not to.&rsquo;&rsquo; Injuries have hurt the Gophers this year. That Lucia missed games in &rsquo;08-09 due to illness also fueled speculation.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0065-08

GOPHERS NEARLY GOATS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JIM CRESSMAN</div><p><b>THE NHL SCOUT</b> remembers vividly the first time he saw Philipp Grubauer play goal.</p><p>It was a preliminary round game in the 2008 World Under-17 Challenge at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ont., on New Year&rsquo;s Day; Germany was playing Team USA.</p><p>The scout also remembers expecting a rout by the Americans, who had a highly touted young defenseman named Cam Fowler, now Grubauer&rsquo;s teammate on the Windsor Spitfires.</p><p>&ldquo;Boy, were we all surprised,&rdquo; the scout recalled of the outcome. &ldquo;Nobody had heard of the kid, but after that game he could have written his own ticket to North America.&rdquo;</p><p>Grubauer kicked aside 42 shots as the plucky Germans stunned the Americans 4-2.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a dream,&rdquo; said the young goalie through interpreter and former NHLer Uwe Krupp. &ldquo;This win means a lot for German hockey.&rdquo;</p><p>Grubauer had no idea what that win would mean for him. That summer he was selected by the Belleville Bulls in the CHL import draft and this year he was dealt to the defending Memorial Cup-champion Spitfires.</p><p>&ldquo;We just believe in his ability and he&rsquo;s going to be one of our leaders down the stretch,&rdquo; said Windsor coach Bob Boughner.</p><p>Despite playing on a bad Bulls team earlier this season, Grubauer posted a solid .913 save percentage in 31 games before the trade.</p><p>&ldquo;I remember some of the games we had 45, 50 shots and how great he was,&rdquo; Boughner said. &ldquo;I love those goalies who face a ton of rubber and have those kinds of numbers.&rdquo;</p><p>Boughner is impressed with Grubauer&rsquo;s technical skills; the 18-year-old stands up and seldom surrenders big rebounds.</p><p>&ldquo;He just looks like he&rsquo;s had great coaching and that he&rsquo;s a student of the game, because he&rsquo;s very square to the puck,&rdquo; Boughner said. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t come out of that form very often. Even in scrambles, he just pushes a quick side to side.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0067-01108/9394380-1-eng-US/f0067-012.jpg" title="f0067-01" width="684" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(AARON BELL/OHL IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Soccer was Grubauer&rsquo;s introduction to sports. But his mother took him to watch hockey and he got hooked.</p><p>&ldquo;Everybody played soccer and I wanted to try something different,&rdquo; said Grubauer, who now speaks English. &ldquo;Goalie is one of the important positions and I wanted to be that guy back there.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0067-0255/9394373-1-eng-US/f0067-022.jpg" title="f0067-02" width="324" height="173"></div><h2><b>Philipp Grubauer</b></h2><p>Windsor Spitfires</p><p><b>Ht.</b> 6-0</p><p><b>Wt.</b> 180</p><p><b>Pos.</b> G</p><p><b>Age</b> 18</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0067-0340/9394366-1-eng-US/f0067-032.jpg" title="f0067-03" width="343" height="83"></div><h3><b>Draft Status</b></h3><p>Rated No. 2 among OHL goalies by Central Scouting</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0067-0427/9394359-1-eng-US/f0067-042.jpg" title="f0067-04" width="211" height="126"></div><h2><b>AND COUNTING .925</b></h2><p>Grubauer&rsquo;s save percentage with the Spitfires<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0067-01

NO BULL, HE’S GOOD

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ROB VANSTONE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0067-0518/9394411-1-eng-US/f0067-052.jpg" title="f0067-05" width="257" height="148"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>randon McMillan, 19, is a forward, moving forward. The Kelowna Rockets left winger excelled on defense during the latter half of last season &ndash; helping his team win the league title and advance to the Memorial Cup final &ndash; but that was a temporary move to address a blueline void. &ldquo;Anaheim, the NHL team that I&rsquo;m drafted by, wasn&rsquo;t too happy about (the switch to defense) at the start,&rdquo; recalled McMillan, whom the Ducks selected in the third round (85th overall) of the 2008 NHL draft. &ldquo;But as it went on, they thought I grew as a player and they thought I learned a lot from it and became more of a consistent hockey player every night. They liked that it happened and they liked that I grew from it, but they said, &lsquo;This year you&rsquo;re a forward, for sure.&rsquo;&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0067-05

MCMILLAN BACK WHERE HE BELONGS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JIM CRESSMAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0067-0613/9394442-1-eng-US/f0067-062.jpg" title="f0067-06" width="301" height="94"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>hree words summed it up, but those three words spoke volumes. &ldquo;It was awesome,&rdquo; said Kitchener Rangers 16-year-old defenseman Ben Fanelli after being on skates for the first time since taking a crushing hit from Michael Liambas of the Erie Otters. The hit against the glass on Oct. 30 sent Fanelli to hospital with two skull fractures and resulted in Liambas being suspended for the season. But almost three months later, Fanelli was cleared by his neurologist for a 10-minute spin around the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium ice. &ldquo;I really feel like I&rsquo;m part of the team again,&rdquo; said Fanelli after his first visit back to the dressing room. He won&rsquo;t play again this season as he continues to rehab from the effects of the severe concussion he sustained from the hit.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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February 22, 2010

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