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.

March 22, 1996

The Hockey News March 22, 1996

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01714/6267427-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01680/6267420-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="3070" height="3534"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01390/6267413-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="3073" height="3512"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01329/6267406-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="3069" height="3542"></div><h2>NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01340/6267399-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="3049" height="1089"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="byline">By Sam Laskaris</div>This Wynne was no fluke.Waterloo Warriors&rsquo; captain John Wynne was a deserving recipient of the Joseph A. Sullivan Trophy, presented to the top Canadian men&rsquo;s university hockey player.The fourth-year defenseman led his Ontario Universities Athletic Association club in scoring and was a big reason why the Warriors, who were supposed to be in a rebuilding season, qualified for the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union&rsquo;s Final Four tournament March 8-10 in Toronto.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021065/6265526-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="466" height="620"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Wynne, Waterloo</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I really didn&rsquo;t expect anything like this,&rdquo; said Wynne, who had 10 goals and 46 points in 25 games. &ldquo;Things have just been phenomenal this year and I couldn&rsquo;t be happier.&rdquo;Wynne, 25, was announced the Sullivan winner at a banquet in Toronto March 7, two days before the CIAU Final Four. The Acadia Axemen, Calgary Dinosaurs and Trois-Rivieres Patriotes also qualified.&ldquo;We sure cut into a lot of plans to go to Florida this time of the year,&rdquo; Wynne joked. &ldquo;But I think anybody would give that up to be here for a chance at the national title.&rdquo;Warriors&rsquo; coach Don McKee has plenty of praise for his high-scoring rearguard.&ldquo;He was even better than his statistical data because he was keyed on in every game,&rdquo; McKee said. &ldquo;There was always one or two players assigned to him.&rdquo;Wynne, a Calgary native, played minor hockey in Alberta until 17 when he came to Ontario and joined the tradition-rich Jr. B Stratford Cullitons for one season. He also played two major junior seasons with the Ontario League&rsquo;s Detroit Ambassadors.The two other Sullivan nominees were Saskatchewan Huskies&rsquo; forward Brian Purdy and St. Thomas Tommies goalie Johnny Lorenzo.Though he didn&rsquo;t nab the Sullivan, Purdy, who was assessed just six penalty minutes in 28 games, was chosen the CIAU&rsquo;s most sportsmanlike player.Saskatchewan blueliner Jason Becker, who scored seven goals and 30 points in 28 games, won the Clare Drake Trophy as the CIAU&rsquo;s top rookie.Named to the all-Canadian team were goalies Lorenzo and Jean-Francois Rivard, Ottawa; defensemen Wynne, Evan Marble, Calgary, Sean O&rsquo;Reilly and Paul Doherty, Acadia; and forwards Steve Martell, St. Francis Xavier, Greg Gatto, Lethbridge, Brian Purdy, Saskatchewan, Marc Beaucage, UQTR, Jarrett Zukiwsky, Lethbridge, and Pierre Gendron, McGill. &#9632;

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Waterloo’s warrior Wynne’s Sullivan

Bauer&rsquo;s mission is to help skaters, at all levels, achieve their personal best.We accomplish this by heeding the needs of skaters and meeting and exceeding their expectations with superior performance products. Every day, we are establishing new levels of technological innovation through a committed investment in research and development. We will not compromise the standards we set 80 years ago and still use to measure our success against today.<h2>1996 PROFESSIONAL COMPOSITE ROLLER HOCKEY SKATE</h2>The ultimate skate for professional indoor roller hockey, the Professional Composite combines the latest composite technology with the function, fit and grit of Bauer&rsquo;s top ice hockey boot.The pro-quality, pro-stiff stitched leather boot is reinforced with ballistic nylon and designed to the same superior specifications as the Bauer skates supplied to countless NHL and RHI players. Its super-rigid, molded outsole, with a carbon-composite insert minimizes torsional deflection while maximizing skate responsiveness.The FLOFIT&trade; ankle padding systems conforms to each individual&rsquo;s anatomy for a custom fit, precise control and a minimal break-in period.The CLARINO synthetic leather lining is 33 per cent lighter and more supple than comparable leather, further reducing the break-in period. It&rsquo;s also more resistant to moisture and quicker drying with no hardening or cracking after continuous use.The Superfeet IV anatomical footbeds correctly distribute weight inside the boot, reducing foot fatigue and providing comfort, precise skate response and maximum energy transfer to the frame.The TUUK 7000&trade; aluminum chassis features a new rockering system that allows the front and back wheels to move up and inward, rather than lowering the middle two wheels. The 7000 &trade; is the only chassis that allows the critical second wheel to actually roll inside the bottom of the boot for a lower center of gravity.The PROFESSIONAL COMPOSITE comes with 76mm, 84A vented-core Hyper Power Edge CourtTM wheels, with ABEC-5 Twin Cam bearings and a precision brass axle system.<h2>TUUK 7000&trade; & TUUK 6000&trade; CHASSIS</h2>Compared to competitive chassis, the new TUUK 7000&trade; is at least 12 per cent higher. Made of premium Italian extruded aluminum alloy, the TUUK 7000 is the hardest, most-rigid chassis that Canstar has ever tested. It has more torsional and tensile strength than any chassis on the market to day.Combined with its brass axle system, the TUUK 7000 has the strength and durability to handle the most aggressive play.The TUUK 7000 has the same pitch and skate interface as the legendary TUUK ice blade. This proven relationship guarantees the same superior feel and performance proven in Bauer&rsquo;s ice hockey skates.Designed in combination with a patented skate outsole, the TUUK 7000 is the only chassis that allows the critical second wheel to actually roil inside the bottom of the boot for a lower center of gravity.<h2>H/9TUUK 7000&trade;</h2>The pro-quality, ultra-stiff stitched boot has a leather exterior, reinforced with ballistic nylon and molded plastic in key areas. The molded external counter and ankle support prevents abrasion to the boot during aggressive use. The cuff is asymmetrical for an anatomical fit (specific to the right or left leg).AIRFORM&trade; ankle system creates an anatomically-shaped ankle support piece with Air Bag ankle pads for a custom fit and a much shorter, irritation-free break-in period. The Air Bag ankle pads use Static Air technology, a combination of injected air and fibers, which forms around the ankle. This heat resistant system locks the heel in place for superior comfort, control and acceleration.<h2>TUUK 6000&trade;</h2>The ballistic nylon and leather stitched boot has a molded external ankle reinforcement for added support and abrasion protection. The cuff is symmetrical for a true anatomical fit (specific to the right and left leg).The POWER CLIP&trade; skid bars on the medial side protect the boot and have replacement inserts. A bumper on the lateral side protects the boot during slides and falls.Made of a premium Italian extruded aluminum alloy, the TUUK 6000&trade; aluminum chassis is designed for serious and intense roller hockey. Combined with its brass axle system, the 6000&trade; has strength and durability to handle most aggressive play. The 6000&trade; features a new rockering system that allows the front and back wheels to move up and inward, rather than lowering the middle two wheels, to closer simulate the feel of an ice hockey blade.The 6000&trade; also allows the second wheel to roll inside the bottom of the boot for a lower center of gravity. Even with larger wheels, the skater is lower to the playing surface than on other chassis. This allows better balance, more maneuverability, a tighter turning radius and faster acceleration than any other chassis-boot combination.The H/7 TUUK 6000&trade; comes with 72mm, 78A durometer vented-core full-radius hockey wheels from HYPER Power Edge Court&trade; and ABEC-3 bearings for smooth rolling and quick maneuvers. &#9632;

Bauer strives for perfection

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03439/6266357-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="558" height="958"><figcaption class="caption-body">Vince Damphousse</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02651/6266364-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="158" height="158"></div>The sometimes great, sometimes dreadful Montreal Canadiens are tough to figure.They can beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in four of five meetings, then go on a three-game swing through California and lose to the San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Mighty Ducks and Los Angeles Kings.It makes no sense and makes it difficult to speculate on the Canadiens&rsquo; fortunes.Pivotal factors: 1. Coaching. Mario Tremblay&rsquo;s lack of experiencing, an issue all season, will come under even greater scrutiny down the stretch. 2. Offensive balance. Pierre Turgeon, Vince Damphousse, Martin Rucinsky and Mark Recchi have carried the load, but what happens if one or more slumps? 3. Road play. The Canadiens were 2-6-1 in February road games. They must improve on that record.Hardware hopefuls: Damphousse, Selke.Needs: A tough, physical defenseman tops the list, though a power forward would be nice, too.Available: Defenseman Vladimir Malakhov and Recchi.Trade talk: The Canadiens might try to reinforce their blueline with Dave Manson of the Winnipeg Jets or Garry Galley of the Buffalo Sabres.Above and beyond: Damphousse has excelled since being moved to center on the second line.Down and out: Malakhov has all the ingredients to succeed, yet he consistently struggles and remains an enigma.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Benoit Brunet. who played only 19 games this season due to a hand injury and a subsequent back problem that was diagnosed as a strain, had a benign tumor between his vertebrae removed. Brunet hopes to return for the last four or five games of the regular season. Dr. Eric Lenczner, the Canadiens&rsquo; orthopedic specialist, said that is a &ldquo;best-case scenario&rdquo; and suggested Brunet might not play before next season&hellip;With one week between games, the Canadiens scheduled two days off in California before returning home from a three-game road trip. But coach Mario Tremblay cut the vacation short by one day after his team failed to win a game. &ldquo;You want a vacation, you earn it,&rdquo; Tremblay said. &#9632;

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NHL TEAMS

Which team will show up?

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01918/6268316-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div>DAVE ANDREYCHUKWENDEL CLARKJARI KURRITHE STRETCH DRIVENHL Trade Winds Who will be dealt at trade deadline?26 Team ReportsPivotal factorsHardware HopefulsAbove and BeyondDown and Out &#9632;

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WILL BEVERLEY BE ST. NICK? IN-LINE/ROLLER HOCKEY SPECIAL

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021132/6265233-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; goaltender Chris Osgood earns a place in NHL history by scoring a goal. Pg. 5.</figcaption></div>The Hockey News<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011389/6265240-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="120" height="107"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>THEME ISSUE STRETCH DRIVE</h2>The NHL trade deadline is March 20, Twenty-five days later, April 14, the regular season ends. Two days later, April 16, the Stanley Cup playoffs begin. In this issue are status reports on all 26 NHL clubs as they enter the most important segment of the regular season, The Stretch Drive.Our coverage includes THN writer Mark Brender&rsquo;s assessment of each playoff-contending team&rsquo;s schedule and their chances of making the play-offs (pg. 8). We look at the remaining games of seven teams in each conference. Also in the package is a listing of players named as available for trade in team stories. &#9632;

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<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Edltor-in-Chlet</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05436/6265271-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="343" height="429"></div>For Jeremy Roenick, it will be US against them.The United States, that is, versus the planet&rsquo;s other seven top hockey-playing nations when the first World Cup of Hockey is launched next fall. It promises to be the start of something special or, more accurately, the re-start of something special. The event&rsquo;s precursor, the Canada Cup, was held five times to generally high acclaim. Now there will be an eightteam tournament, parts of which will be played overseas for the first time. But that won&rsquo;t be the biggest change if Roenick, the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; star center, has his way.He predicts the U.S. will win the inaugural event after never capturing a Canada Cup. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll definitely go on the edge and say we&rsquo;ll win it,&rdquo; Roenick said March 7 in Toronto where plans for the tournament were formally unveiled. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not afraid to say that at all. And I hope we meet the Canadians in the final.&rdquo;Canada&rsquo;s response?&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s get it on,&rdquo; Eric Lindros said.The 23-year-old Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; superstar has already represented Canada six times internationally. Lindros has often said his country can count on him whenever it goes to war-on the ice.It may come to that.&ldquo;I think we have to beat (the Canadians) at their own game and that&rsquo;s a tough, physical style of hockey,&rdquo; Roenick said. &ldquo;Not so much the finesse. Not so much the grace of a European style, but a grinding Stanley Cup playoff atmosphere (style). You know you have your big bangers on the Canadians. They like to throw their weight around. I think they&rsquo;ve scared a lot of finesse teams.&rdquo;Three teams will enter the tournament as favorites: Canada, the U.S. and Russia. (See pg. 12 for more on the World Cup.) The former Soviet Union was the only team other than the host country to win the Canada Cup. The U.S., with Roenick on board, lost in the final of the 1991 Canada Cup and appeared headed for victory in the third period of Game 2 in the final. But the Canadians scored twice in the third period, even without Wayne Gretzky, who was injured in Game 1. Lindros was a mere teen then, but he never lost faith. &ldquo;Canada always has a way of pulling these things out.&rdquo; Lindros said. &ldquo;You always feel you can win. As soon as you put on that jersey, you feel like you can win.&rdquo;Roenick says the U.S. should have the same winning feeling this time. For the rest of the hockey world, those should be fighting words. &#9632;

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Roenick says U.S. will win ’96 World Cup

<h2>Osgood saves, Osgood scores</h2>1. Sharp shooter Detroit goalie Chris Osgood fires puck length of ice into empty Hartford net in 4-2 win March 7.2. Halts Avalanche San Jose backup goalie Wade Flaherty makes 54 saves as Sharks beat Colorado 5-3 March 5.3. He&rsquo;s No. 1 Waterloo Warriors&rsquo; defenseman John Wynne named Canadian university player of year.4. Net detective Washington&rsquo;s Jim Carey records back-to-back shutouts against Boston. Philadelphia.5. Player of week Islanders&rsquo; Ziggy Palffy scores back-to-back hat tricks against Dallas, Rangers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03823/6265309-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="318" height="454"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kelly Buchberger</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04599/6265302-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="319" height="453"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Carey</figcaption></div><h2>Canadians slide down standings</h2>1. Habs slump Five losses in six games puts Montreal&rsquo;s playoff hopes in jeopardy.2. Elbows down I Edmonton&rsquo;s Kelly Buchberger KO&rsquo;s Wayne Gretzky with elbow to the head.3. Elbows down II Springfield&rsquo;s Rob Murray suspended four AHL games for breaking opponent&rsquo;s jaw with elbow.4. Unlucky 7 Ryan Pisiak of San Antonio suspended seven Central League games for bumping official Feb. 20.5. Untimely slump New York Rangers win just one, tie two in eight-game stretch. &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-in-Chief</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03829/6265354-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="370" height="367"></div>Joe Who? Joe Thornton, that&rsquo;s who. The latest word among NHL scouts is this: Russian left winger Sergei Samsonov is no longer a lock to go first overall in the 1997 entry draft. And one of the players most likely to challenge him is Thornton, a center with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Another is Seattle Thunderbirds&rsquo; center/left winger Patrick Marleau. Thornton is a 6-foot-4, 185-pound center who is having an outstanding rookie season in the Ontario League. He is so much bigger than the 5-foot-10 Samsonov and so gifted a player he is eliciting high praise from scouts. Mighty Ducks of Anaheim assistant GM David McNab said Thornton has &ldquo;unlimited potential&rdquo; and must be considered in the same class as Samsonov. &ldquo;Anyone that big and that good 16 months from the NHL draft, it&rsquo;s impossible to say he can&rsquo;t be considered a No. 1 pick,&rdquo; McNab said. Thornton, 16, is more of a playmaker than a goalscorer, using exceptional skating and stickhandling skills to create plays. &ldquo;He has made some plays that make me want to applaud on the bench,&rdquo; said Greyhounds&rsquo; coach Joe Paterson. With the injury to No. 1-rated 1996 draft prospect Alexandre Volchkov (Barrie Colts), Thornton has taken over the OHL rookie scoring lead. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to go out and say he&rsquo;s a franchise player,&rdquo; Paterson said, &ldquo;but he&rsquo;s going to be an elite player.&rdquo; The splendid-skating Marleau, meanwhile, has been a standout with the T-Birds and the 6-foot-1, 180-pounder is their nominee for Western League player, rookie and most sportsmanlike player of the year. &ldquo;He has been our best player all season, he&rsquo;s our leading scorer and he&rsquo;s only 16,&rdquo; said Seattle GM Russ Farwell. Marleau had 29 goals, 53 points and 16 penalty minutes in 63 games. He barely qualifies for the 1997 draft; he was bom Sept. 15, 1979, the cut-off date&hellip;Where is the World Cup of Hockey headed? For bigger and better things. Its format will, in time, probably include a qualifying tournament as a means of determining the main event&rsquo;s makeup of teams. That would allow developing hockey countries-i.e. France, Italy, Latvia, Switzerland, Austria, Lithuania, Norway and Denmark-the chance to compete with the big kids. But more intriguing than which teams will be participating is when they will be participating. It&rsquo;s logical the NHL and NHL Players&rsquo; Association will closely monitor the impact of 1998&rsquo;s 16-day league shutdown for the Olympics to determine, first, if it&rsquo;s worth repeating for the quadrennial sporting festival, and second, to evaluate whether it&rsquo;s worth doing for the World Cup. The NHL and NHLPA (along with the International Ice Hockey Federation) have full proprietorship of the World Cup. If a shutdown makes sense (and cents) for the Olympics, would that not also be true of the World Cup? Could the second World Cup be staged in February, 2000, and not September, 2000?&hellip;They used to be called the Flying Frenchmen; now they could be called the Fighting Frenchmen. Through games of March 8, the Montreal Canadiens were second only to the Buffalo Sabres in fighting majors. The Habs had 72 and the Sabres, 74. They have been bucking a welcome trend in the NHL; fighting is down. There were 1,216 majors in 843 games, an average of 1.44 per game; 1994-95&rsquo;s season-ending average was 1.60. That represents a 10 percent drop and, if maintained, would be the lowest since 1992-93. The NHL&rsquo;s most peaceful team, the Boston Bruins, had 24 fighting majors. (See accompanying chan for each team&rsquo;s total.)&hellip;The only way the World Cup will have its hoped-for impact is for the elite players to care about its outcome as much as Canadians. One reason the Canada Cup didn&rsquo;t have global appeal was that other countries viewed it, in the infamous words of exSwedish coach Tommy Sandlin, as a &ldquo;summer tournament.&rdquo; Canadians have never seen it that way; one of the jobs facing the NHLPA/NHL is to get all their players passionately involved. It will take time-soccer&rsquo;s World Cup didn&rsquo;t instantly become a huge spectacle-but count on the hockey world fully embracing this event.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021250/6265347-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1145" height="1647"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Thornton is having a standout season in the Ontario League.</figcaption></div><h2>FIGHTING MAJORS</h2>The Buffalo Sabres led the NHL with 74 fighting majors in 64 games. Listed are each team&rsquo;s number of games (GP) and fighting majors(FM).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011542/6265340-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="395" height="1182"></div> &#9632;

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’Hounding top NHL prospect

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04459/6265385-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="345" height="413"></div>If John Vanbiesbrouck feels the pressure, he&rsquo;s not admitting it. But the Florida Panthers&rsquo; veteran has something to prove down the stretch.Vanbiesbrouck, 32, is regarded as one of the NHL&rsquo;s best goalies, but the past three seasons has a 4-12-1 mark in February games and was 9-10-3 in March outings. Panthers&rsquo; coach Doug MacLean, meanwhile, had pulled Vanbiesbrouck three times in a recent eight-game span.&ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t put much credence into what time of year it is,&rdquo; Vanbiesbrouck said, &ldquo;or what month it is. I just concern myself with the present, not the past.&rdquo;Then, with a chuckle, he added: &ldquo;The game gets so mental at this point in the season, maybe I just get mental at this time of year.&rdquo;The Panthers need a sound Vanbiesbrouck if they are to continue their remarkable season. Defense still takes priority for the Panthers and while Mark Fitzpatrick is a capable backup, their playoff hopes are much brighter if Vanbiesbrouck is on top of his game. It is imperative he exorcise whatever demons haunt him this time of year.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question John has been the guy who carried the load the first part of the year,&rdquo; said Panthers&rsquo; GM Bryan Murray. &ldquo;And we&rsquo;re aware of his record late in the season the past few years. But to be fair, the entire team hasn&rsquo;t played as well lately.&rdquo;Vanbiesbrouck said he doesn&rsquo;t play goal by numbers. Still, the numbers are tough to ignore. He started the season 12-5-1, with a 2.21 goals-against average and 91.5 save percentage, then went 8-9-5, with a 2.83 GAA and 89.7 save percentage in his next 22 games.Vanbiesbrouck was in the running for the Hart Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s most valuable player two years ago until he faltered. He was 513-5 in his final 23 games and the Panthers missed the playoffs by one point. Last season he was 4-5-1 in his last 10 starts and the Panthers again missed the playoffs by a point.&ldquo;I have been successful down the stretch in the past,&rdquo; said Vanbiesbrouck, who in 199192 with the New York Rangers closed the season 11-3-3 (including an 8-0-1 run) in his final 17 games. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m no different than every other player in this league who has to go out and prove himself on a nightly basis. It&rsquo;s not about what I&rsquo;ve done in the past; it&rsquo;s about what I can do for this team now.&rdquo; &#9632;

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COLUMNISTS

Beezer needs strong finish

A weekly compendium of significant events and developments (March 1-8).March 3: Wayne Gretzky of St. Louis knocked unconscious after being elbowed in the head by Edmonton&rsquo;s Kelly Buchberger.Vancouver&rsquo;s Alexander Mogilny scores goal, assist in return to Buffalo.March 5: Pat Bums fired as Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; coach; replaced on interim basis by director of scouting and player personnel Nick Beverley. Mike Foligno added to Leafs&rsquo; coaching staff from St. John&rsquo;s of American League.Petr Nedved scores four goals, one assist for Pittsburgh in 9-4 win over Winnipeg.March 6: Detroit goalie Chris Osgood scores in 4-2 win over Hartford. In East Coast League, Charlotte goalie Nick Vitucci credited with a goal after Louisville goalie Alain Morissette shoots puck in own net.Chuck Grillo fired as San Jose&rsquo;s executive vice-president and director of player personnel.March 7: Edmonton GM Glen Sather officially named head of Canada&rsquo;s entry in 1996 World Cup of Hockey. New Jersey GM Lou Lamoriello named GM of United States entry. Sather will be assisted by Dallas&rsquo; GM Bob Gainey and Vancouver GM Pat Quinn. Details of tournament are made public at news conference. &#9632;

Osgood scores for Wings; Burns shut out in Toronto

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>Chris Osgood came into the NHL after a dazzling offensive career in junior hockey and has lived up to his reputation as a sniper.Osgood became the third goalie in NHL history to score a goal when he fired the puck the length of the ice into an empty Hartford Whalers&rsquo; net March 6. The Whalers had pulled their goalie for an extra attacker in the final minute of a 3-2 game. Osgood&rsquo;s Detroit Red Wings won 42.The goal brought Osgood&rsquo;s career total to two. Osgood scored a goal with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western League in 1991.&ldquo;I went for it,&rdquo; Osgood said of his recent goal. &ldquo;When we got the empty net this time, I said I was going to go for it.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really look. I had a lot of time. I looked up once, I shot it. I just happened to have it on the right line this time.&rdquo;Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; goalie Ron Hextall has scored two NHL goals and Billy Smith of the New York Islanders was credited for a goal in 1979.Earlier this season, goalie Tony Melia of the Peterborough Pirates allegedly scored on David Langford of the Bracknell Bees in a British pro game.It was thought to be the first time a goalie actually scored on a goalie in an elite level game. Melia was awarded the goal after a Bracknell defenseman accidentally scored in his own net. The game was not recorded on tape, so there is concern Melia wasn&rsquo;t the last Pirates&rsquo; player to touch the puck.Twenty goalies have now scored 22 times in North American pro hockey and the top developmental leagues. Here&rsquo;s the breakdown. All goals were shot into empty nets unless otherwise noted:<h2>NHL</h2>Nov. 28, 1979: Billy Smith becomes the first NHL goalie credited with a goal after Colorado Rockies&rsquo; defenseman Rob Ramage inadvertently clears the puck into his own net. Smith is the last New York Islander to touch the puck.Dec. 8, 1987: Ron Hextall becomes the first NHL goalie to actually shoot and score after firing the puck the length of the ice into the empty Boston Bruins&rsquo; net.Apr. 11, 1989: Hextall duplicates his feat, this time during Game 5 of the Patrick Division semifinal game against the Washington Capitals.March 6,1996: Chris Osgood vs. Hartford.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011472/6265471-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="466" height="658"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chris Osgood, Detroit</figcaption></div><h2>American League</h2>Dec. 6, 1987: Darcy Wakaluk of Rochester Americans vs. Utica Devils.March 28, 1992: Paul Cohen of Springfield Indians vs. Rochester.Oct. 9, 1995: Robb Stauber of Rochester vs. PEI Senators.<h2>East Coast League</h2>March 18, 1995: Corwin Saurdiff of Hampton Roads Admirals vs. Charlotte Checkers.Dec. 15, 1995: Ollie Sundstrom of Erie Panthers vs. Wheeling Thunderbirds.March 6, 1996: Charlotte&rsquo;s Nick Vitucci gets credit for a goal when Louisville RiverFrogs&rsquo; goalie Alain Morissette shoots into his own net.<h2>Colonial League</h2>Oct. 29,1993: Carl Picconatto of the Flint Generals gets credit for a goal cleared into the Detroit Falcons&rsquo; empty net during a delayed penalty.<h2>Central League</h2>Feb. 21,1971: Michel Plasse of Kansas City Blues vs. Oklahoma City Blazers. It is the first-ever goal by a goalie in pro hockey.Nov. 10, 1995: Phil Groeneveld of Fort Worth Fire vs. Wichita Thunder.<h2>Ontario League</h2>Jan. 7, 1987: Chris Clifford of Kingston Raiders vs. Toronto Marlboros.Sept. 25, 1988: Jason Houle of the North Bay Centennials gets credit for a goal on a delayed penalty against the Kitchener Rangers.Oct. 11, 1991: Peter McGlynn of Kingston Frontenacs vs. Belleville Bulls.April 20, 1993: Fred Brathwaite of Detroit Jr. Red Wings vs. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in a playoff game.<h2>Western League</h2>Nov. 29, 1989: Olaf Kolzig of the Tri-City Americans vs. Seattle Thunderbirds.Jan. 3, 1991: Medicine Hat&rsquo;s Osgood vs. Swift Current Broncos. Strangely, Hartford left winger Geoff Sanderson, a graduate of the Broncos, is on the ice as an opponent for both Osgood goals.Dec. 29, 1992: Jeff Calvert of Tacoma Rockets vs. Moose Jaw Warriors.March 28, 1994: Jason Clague of the Red Deer Rebels gets credit for a goal against the Lethbridge Hurricanes in a playoff game.<h2>U.S. college</h2>Jan. 21, 1989: Damian Rhodes of Michigan Tech gets credit for a goal against Colorado College.No goals have been scored by goalies in the International or Quebec Leagues. &#9632;

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Osgood ties Hextail in goals

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>The last time Borje Salming played in Toronto, the NHL team was in a dreadful tailspin, the coach was getting fired and hope was fading.It&rsquo;s seven years later and things have come full circle. This time Salming is an oldtimer, not a Toronto Maple Leaf.The 44-year-old Swedish defenseman is one of many former legends from the 1970s and &rsquo;80s who are in Toronto March 11-16 for the Carha 1996 World Cup. Ninety-five teams and more than 1,000 players are scheduled to compete in the world&rsquo;s largest oldtimers tournament.Thirteen countries are represented in 12 levels of competition ranging from recreational to elite. The countries include Canada, U.S., Russia, Czech Republic, Siberia, Latvia, Slovenia, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway and Hungary. Ages range from 35 to 60.&ldquo;It was quite a sight seeing a team of oldtimers from Siberia arrive in Toronto,&rdquo; said Rob Hamil-ton, chairman of the 70-member host committee. &ldquo;The only fellow who could speak English was telling us how warm it is in Toronto. They were walking around in freezing weather with their coats wide open.&rdquo;Former NHLers include Wilf Paiement, Rick Hampton. Jiri Hrdina and Jaroslav Pouzar. Other prominent names from international competition include: Ivan Hlinka. Milan Chalupa, Miroslav Dvorak, Vladimir Lutchenko. Yuri Lebedev and Vladimir and Alexander Golikov.A total of 3,500 visitors are expected for the tournament.SELECTION SHOW: The selection process for this year&rsquo;s National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I tournament will be determined March 17.The seedings and pairings for the 12 spots in the national championship will be televised on Midwest Sports Channel during a one-hour live telecast, starting at 9 p.m. EST.Regional playoffs begin March 22, with the semifinals and final March 28-30 in Cincinnati, Ohio.IN DEFENSE: Canada is gearing up to win its second straight title at the Pacific Women&rsquo;s Championship.The four-team tournament is April 1-6 in Richmond, B.C. The U.S., China and Japan are also represented.Canada defeated the U.S. in a shootout final last year in San Jose. It was the first-ever tournament.Named to coach Shannon Miller&rsquo;s Canadian roster are goalies Manon Rheaume and Danielle Dube; defensemen Therese Brisson, Cassie Campbell, Judy Diduck, Rebecca Fahey, Geraldine Heaney and Fiona Smith; and forwards Nancy Deschamps. Nancy Drolet. Lori Dupuis. Danielle Goyette, Marianne Grnak. Angela James, Luce Letendre, Karen Nystrom, Laura Schuler, France St. Louis, Hayley Wickenheiser and Stacy Wilson.The U.S. roster will be announced in midMarch. &#9632;

Legends get together for oldtimers’ tourney

An open letter to Wayne Gretzky:On behalf of hockey fans in California and other parts of the United States, I would like to give you a giant &ldquo;thank you&rdquo; for what you have done for the sport the past eight seasons with the Los Angeles Kings.When I moved to Northern California in 1987, nobody I met here followed hockey. Some people hadn&rsquo;t even heard of the sport. When the NHL cancelled its annual pre-season games in the Bay Area, there were few complaints. And in 1987-88 when the NHL gave its television contract to Sportschannel, which was unavailable in the western U.S., it was impossible to even watch hockey on television here.Your move to L.A. made the Kings the hottest ticket in town. Then came the San Jose Sharks, followed by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Today, California has eight pro teams, more than any other state or province. More importantly, the NHL has a television contract with the Fox network and your coming to L.A. was the first step that made everything possible.I wish you could have stayed in L.A., but I wish you success with the St. Louis Blues. Your stay in California will never be forgotten.Dave Rogahn, San Francisco, Calif.<h2>We&rsquo;ll see real fans</h2>I was glad to see Wayne Gretzky traded. While I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to see Gretzky perform in a Kings&rsquo; uniform, like most other fans I&rsquo;ve had to watch from my living room.Many of the real fans were pushed aside by astronomical ticket costs. Consequently, the Great Western Forum was filled with phony L.A. executives looking for a way to entertain their clients.Now that Gretzky is gone to the St. Louis Blues, people aren&rsquo;t going to pay $40 to see Gary Shuchuk. The phonies will go to Anaheim and the Kings, who have trimmed $8 million from their payroll, will have to lower ticket prices.Now we&rsquo;ll see who the real Kings&rsquo; fans are. Long live the purple and gold.Brad Kuna, Isla Vista, Calif.<h2>Good move, Neil</h2>However enticing the prospect was of reuniting Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, New York Rangers&rsquo; GM Neil Smith did well in not making a deal for the Great One.While acquiring Gretzky would have strengthened the No. 2 center spot for the Rangers, it would not have addressed their most pressing needs up front-size and strength.The Rangers&rsquo; lack of acceleration, especially through the neutral zone, was never more apparent than when they lost their most explosive skating forward in Messier. The Rangers must attempt to upgrade their team speed and their strength along the boards.Perhaps the cost conscious Buffalo Sabres would part with Pat LaFontaine and Brad May for a package of Ray Ferraro and Mattias Norstrom, along with prospects Peter Ferraro and Barry Richter.I&rsquo;ll stay tuned as the March 20 trade deadline approaches.Rick Gusmano, Farmingdale, N.Y.<h2>Sheer brilliance</h2>Let&rsquo;s finally give Mike Keenan some credit. After leading the New York Rangers to their first Stanley Cup in 54 years, Keenan is once again taking a contender into the playoffs.The move by the coach-GM of the St. Louis Blues to get Wayne Gretzky was simply brilliant. He made a trade for one of the best players in hockey and gave up three players whose contributions will never come close to matching Gretzky&rsquo;s.Keenan is a man of class and is definitely one of the best coaches in the NHL.Craig Orenstein, Toronto, Ont.<h2>Thanks, Pat</h2>I would like to thank Pat Bums for four wonderful years of hockey with the Toronto Maple Leafs. This Leaf fan is very sad to see you go.Thanks again, Pat. You made me proud to be a Leaf fan again.Jeff Doyle, New Ferolle, Nfld.<h2>Zubrus good, but&hellip;</h2>As a fan of the Central (Ont.) Jr. A League, let me first say that I was pleased to see some coverage of the league in the world&rsquo;s most prestigious hockey publication (THN, March 8).I was not, however, overjoyed to find the column by Steve Dryden dealt with two Ukrainians-Daynus Zubrus and Dmitri Yakushin-who have taken jobs from young Canadians.The comment that, &ldquo;with 18 goals in 21 games, Zubrus is likely the Central League&rsquo;s most talented player,&rdquo; not only belittles the contribution of Canadians playing in the league, but is also false. Hugo Boisvert of the Cornwall Colts was the league&rsquo;s leading scorer with 38 goals and 126 points in 53 games. Eric Meloche, another player for the Colts, had 67 goals in 53 games.Even Tyson Holly, a teammate of Zubrus with the Pembroke Lumber Kings, had more points per game than Zubrus. Zubrus isn&rsquo;t even the most talented import player in the league. Maxim Spiridonov of the Smiths Falls Bears had 49 goals in 49 games.Without a doubt, both Zubrus and Yakushin are superb professional prospects, but at this point in their careers, neither one can be considered the &ldquo;most talented&rdquo; player in the CJHL.Colin Johnston, Ottawa, Ont.<h2>FoxTrax not evil</h2>As far as the FoxTrax puck is concerned, I didn&rsquo;t like it (THN, March 8). However, hockey fans need to get off their self-righteous pedestals. The Fox network is not the anti-Christ.I cannot keep count of the number of non-hockey fans who tuned into the NHL All-Star Game just to see the glowing puck.Hockey has the ability and marketability to become the No. 1 sport. However, it will never become the No. 1 sport if the door is always slammed in the face of change.I would suggest the old-time hockey fans who wish to remain traditionalists and resist change rent the movie Slap Shot for every Fox broadcast.To Fox, Nike, Rollerblades and anyone else who wishes to promote hockey, I applaud you.Jeff Koviack, Swartz Creek, Mich.<h2>Stop trashing Fox</h2>In the past few issues of THN, I have become more and more annoyed at the trashing FoxTrax has received in almost all your articles and letters.I have been watching hockey for 13 of my 16 years and while I can understand how hockey purists are dis-satisfied, I find it absurd that more people don&rsquo;t realize the benefits.Although I did not enjoy the FoxTrax puck, I was able to take consolation in the positive aspects of it. It will attract more children to a game that desperately needs a youth fan base, especially in the U.S.My baseball/football/basketball fan friends said it was cool and they could &ldquo;actually see the puck on TV.&rdquo; If that is not enough to keep you from publishing anti-Trax articles, you are not true fans who want hockey to prosper.Jason Wyatt, Far Hills. N.J.Make your feelings known. Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 340-1641.&nbsp;Write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, 777 Bay St., Suite 2700, Box 148, Toronto, Ont., M5G 2C8&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904. Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947.&nbsp;E-mail us at <a href="mailto:THN@transc.com">THN@transc.com</a>. Include home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

California will never forget The Great One

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011648/6265581-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011495/6265612-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Friends remember Doug Harvey as an extremely generous man.</figcaption></div>MONTREAL-The overriding truth about Doug Harvey is he should have been beside Maurice Richard, not Howie Morenz, when they closed the Montreal Forum, March 11.Harvey died of cirrhosis of the liver in December, 1989, in a Montreal hospital, a week after his 65th birthday. When they buried him, men such as Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard and Dickie Moore wept not so much for a lost talent, but a lost soul.Friends describe Harvey as the most generous man they ever knew. &ldquo;Write the good things about Doug,&rdquo; Moore said. &ldquo;There was so much more to tell.&rdquo;In Harvey, the Montreal Canadiens had what many considered the perfect defenseman, a selfless set-up artist who established the standards for twoway play.But while his play made the seventime Norris Trophy and six-time Stanley Cup winner admirable, it was an unassailable code that made the Hall of Famer so well-loved.&ldquo;Doug Harvey was the most amazing man I&rsquo;ve ever met,&rdquo; said Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; scout Bill Dineen, who played against Harvey and later worked with him for the World Hockey Association&rsquo;s Houston Aeros. &ldquo;He lived by a code and, boy, if everybody lived by the same code, the world would be a better place.&rdquo;Once when the Canadiens were on a pre-season tour, a shabbily dressed man showed up at the club&rsquo;s pre-game meal, asking for Doug Harvey. Harvey sat the man at his table, fed him and slipped $50 in his pocket. Many successful men give, but few will consort with the recipient of their charity so unabashedly as Harvey did all his life.A Montreal Star reporter was once dispatched to monitor Harvey&rsquo;s progress on a house he was building. Only the basement had been roughed in and a recent rain and cold snap had turned the foundation into a serviceable rink. Harvey was found playing hockey in sneakers, while the neigh-borhood kids who had gathered to play wore skates.His son, Doug Jr., tells of a time the NHL great stopped a family vacation to rescue an elderly couple whose car broke down on their way to a wedding in Quebec City. Harvey gave the couple the family car, waited for a tow truck, returned the car at a prearranged meeting spot and picked up the couple&rsquo;s repair bills.Harvey&rsquo;s code centered on fairness. He risked his career-in 1961 he was traded to the New York Rangers for his temerity-over a point of principle: players should know what the league was doing with their share of the pension money.&ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t a rebel,&rdquo; said Howard (Rip) Riopelle, a former teammate who was friends with Harvey for 50 years, &ldquo;but he was emphatic about justice.&rdquo;In a 1956 game against the Rangers, Harvey speared Ranger captain Red Sullivan. Later than night, Sullivan underwent surgery for a ruptured spleen after receiving the last rites.&ldquo;Sure I speared him,&rdquo; Harvey said. &ldquo;He was kicking skates. He did it three times the game before and I warned him. Then he did it again, so I got him.&rdquo;After Harvey&rsquo;s trade from the Canadiens, he won his final Norris Trophy as a player-coach for the Rangers. But after being waived by New York he became a minor league vagabond until one last moment in the sun as a 44-year-old defenseman with the St. Louis Blues in 1968-69.Harvey&rsquo;s unwillingness to show up for work, more than any organized conspiracy, made him unemployable in hockey and his last 25 years were spent in and out of hockey and off and on the bottle. He reconciled with the Canadiens and was given a token scout&rsquo;s job for the last few years of his life. His children remained in contact.But the years of drinking finished his health. He died after a year-long stay in hospital, emaciated, sober and without regret.&ldquo;I was with him before he died,&rdquo; Moore said. &ldquo;He said &lsquo;Dickie, If I had to do it over again, I&rsquo;d do it exactly the same way.&rsquo; That was the way he was.&rdquo;Mike Ulmer, who wrote the bestselling &ldquo;Captains&rdquo; of the Toronto Maple Leafs, is working on a similar project about the Montreal Canadiens.<h2>FORUM FAREWELL</h2>The 71-year-old Montreal Forum, which hosted its last game March 11. became a legendary institution not because of its architectural aesthetics. but because of the people who graced its ice surface. Doug Harvey was one of those greats. &#9632;

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FEATURES

Forum great Harvey selfless player, man

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021004/6265643-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="388" height="508"></div>It is on bended knee I announce my apology list for the 1995-96 regular season. These are my Heart Trophies, awards handed out while tapping my hand over my heart and asking forgiveness for doubting these men could get the job done.To Alexander Mogilny: How do I say sorry in Russian? I had no clue Mogilny would revive what I thought was a career on a downward spiral with a change of scenery.Last I remember, Mogilny and some of his Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; teammates were telling the Philadelphia Flyers to play through in the first round of last spring&rsquo;s playoffs. Sabres&rsquo; management couldn&rsquo;t get him out of town fast enough, then when he got to Vancouver, Mogilny&rsquo;s comrade Pavel Bure went down with a knee injury. A sure set up for Mogilny to fall flat on his face, right?Instead, Mogilny has excelled with a nearMVP season.To Phil Esposito, Terry Crisp and the Tampa Bay Lightning: Okay, I admit it. I thought Esposito would be walking the plank by the end of this season and coach Crisp would be looking for work over the summer. But instead of their team going further south, the Lightning have quietly checked in with one of the best showings in the NHL this season. They team&rsquo;s resilience is a tribute to the coaching staff and Esposito&rsquo;s willingness to stick with his people.To Bryan Murray, Doug MacLean and the Florida Panthers: I owe an apology to Murray whom I thought made a monumental error when he decided to fire coach Roger Neilson.Not only that, but I thought he made an even bigger mistake when he hired MacLean instead of Larry Robinson. The result: MacLean is a candidate for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year, while Robinson has become a victim of the three-ring circus in Los Angeles.I&rsquo;m sorry, I didn&rsquo;t know Scott Mellanby was going to turn into a folk hero for slaying a rat. I didn&rsquo;t know Ed Jovanovski would develop a kill zone against the boards just inside the blueline. And I didn&rsquo;t believe Mark Fitzpatrick would be such a capable fill-in.Give some credit to Neilson for installing a system upon which the Panthers can still rely, but more credit to Murray and MacLean for taking it to the next level.To the Calgary Flames: Here&rsquo;s the deal. I took one look at the Flames&rsquo; early-season schedule and figured by the time the Saddledome was revamped, the Flames would be so battered they would be done for the season. Besides, I didn&rsquo;t believe Gary Roberts could come back from neck surgery, nor did I believe Theo Fleury&rsquo;s stomach problems would allow him to play well.Who knew? Pierre Page&rsquo;s Flames-thanks in large part to the weak west-have made a remarkable run to get back in the playoff picture.To Craig Patrick, Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins: Silly me. I thought Penguins&rsquo; management had cut up its credit cards and would have to suffer until all bills were paid. No Ulf Samuelsson? No Larry Murphy? No Luc Robitaille? No guarantee about Mario Lemieux? Whoops, I goofed again.To Ron Hextall: Last season was one thing, with a 48-game schedule. This 82-game season would be quite another beast and I thought Ron Hextall would be the Flyers&rsquo; weak link.What happens? Hextall spends most of the season among the NHL&rsquo;s top-ranked goalies. If every Flyer had his drive, they would be heading into April as a favorite to win the Cup. &#9632;

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Boy, was I wrong about Mogilny

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011563/6265709-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Canadiens have the luxury of 12 home games down the stretch.</figcaption></div>A football analogy to illustrate the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; playoff drive works like this: the two-minute warning has sounded and coach Paul Maurice&rsquo;s boys are down by a touchdown, backed up to their own 20-yard line on a tom-up field with the wind in their faces. It&rsquo;s the must-win game of the year.That&rsquo;s the bad news.The good news is the Whalers have the ball. They are poised for attack. The team they have to beat to stay alive is dead ahead.Although Hartford was eight points out of a playoff spot with 19 games to play, it still had an opportunity to be master of its own fate in the NHL playoff race. Eleven of its remaining games as of March 8 were four-pointers against teams also fighting for an Eastern Conference playoff spot. No other team among the 14 fighting for their playoff lives had more than nine games against &ldquo;four-point&rdquo; opponents.Maurice is well aware of the opportunity provided by his team&rsquo;s home stretch head-to-head battles.&ldquo;We look at (the schedule) as a good thing,&rdquo; Maurice said. &ldquo;Those are all good teams, but it does mean we maybe have a little bit more control over our own destiny here.&rdquo;The Whalers play the Boston Bruins three times, the Tampa Bay Lightning, New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres twice, and one game against each of the Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals. Because the difference between a win and a loss against any of these teams is, in effect, four points, winning these games is the quickest way to get back in the hunt. Losing them, of course, is deadly.The accompanying tables list the remaining schedules for the 14 teams still fighting for playoff spots. Only the Detroit Red Wings had clinched a post-season berth as of March 7, but we considered eight other teams safe bets to make it, including the Florida Panthers for the first time in franchise history.The THN elimination desk put the San Jose Sharks and New York Islanders out of playoff running while the Ottawa Senators had put themselves out mathematically by early-March.The schedules vary in difficulty of opposition and location. The Dallas Stars, Sabres and Edmonton Oilers face the biggest road tests-all play 11 of their final games away from home. Dallas had a winning percentage of.400 on the road, Edmonton.350 and Buffalo.333.Montreal, meanwhile, has lots of time to get used to its new Molson Centre. The Canadiens play there for 12 of their final 18 games.The winning percentages of each team&rsquo;s opponents are listed in the columns to the right of each game. They are averaged at the bottom of each schedule and range from a relatively soft.444 opposition faced by the Oilers to a respectable 535. faced by the Toronto Maple Leafs and Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils.The Devils and Oilers should both be pleased. With four teams in front of them and 10 points to make up, Edmonton needed all the help it could get. The Devils&rsquo; track record shows they only need help when playing teams they should beat easily. There is ho problem against the league&rsquo;s elite. Their record against the top eight teams was 12-8-3 (.587), while they were only 17-17-7 (.500) against the rest.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s good,&rdquo; said Devils&rsquo; defenseman Scott Stevens of the high-calibre opposition down the stretch. &ldquo;We play better against tougher teams. Earlier in the year, whenever we had a good team, we always hit our stride and played well.&rdquo;&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have a preference (who to play in the playoffs), we just want to get there,&rdquo; said goalie Martin Brodeur. &ldquo;We feel good about ourselves right now, there&rsquo;s no doubt about that. I don&rsquo;t think our season will be affecting our confidence going into the play-offs.&rdquo;<h2>EASTERN CONFERENCE</h2>Seven teams are in the hunt tor the last four Eastern Conference playoff berths. At right are their remaining schedules. 1. Beside each opponent is Its winning percentage (as of March 8). 2. Separate totals for home and road games are listed, plus their opposition&rsquo;s combined winning percentages. 3. Listed is each team&rsquo;s four-point games (indicated with asterisks): they are the games versus teams among the seven. Below is each team&rsquo;s conference ranking and combined opposition winning percentage.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021223/6265702-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="2732" height="2099"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03920/6265695-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="322" height="474"><figcaption class="caption-body">B. Shanahan</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04476/6265688-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="323" height="471"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pierre Turgeon</figcaption></div><h2>WESTERN CONFERENCE</h2>Seven teams are in the hunt for the last four Western Conference playoff berths. At right are their remaining schedules 1. Beside each opponent is its winning percentage (as of March 8). 2. Separate totals for home and road games are listed, plus their opposition&rsquo;s combined winning percentages. 3. Listed is each team&rsquo;s four-point games (indicated with asterisks); they are the games versus teams among the seven. Below is each team&rsquo;s conference ranking and combined opposition winning percentage.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-05344/6265681-1-eng-US/f0008-052.jpg" title="f0008-05" width="323" height="471"><figcaption class="caption-body">Theo Fleury</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-06275/6265674-1-eng-US/f0008-062.jpg" title="f0008-06" width="323" height="475"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexei Zhamnov</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0008-01

Schedule factor in races

The NHL trading deadline is March 20. Between now and then, expect to hear the names of dozens of players who could be available for trade.Here are some of the players ab out whom you&rsquo;ll be hearing and reading. All these players are listed as &ldquo;Available&rdquo; in team stories this issue. Not all players mentioned in &ldquo;Trade talk&rdquo; are listed as &ldquo;Available.&rdquo;Anaheim: G Guy Hebert or Mikhail Shtalenkov.Boston: C Ted Donato; LW Shawn McEachern.Buffalo: D Garry Galley; C Dave Hannan; LW Yuri Khmylev.Calgary: C Michael Nylander; C Dean Evason; C Claude Lapointe; LW Pat Conacher.Chicago: LW Patrick Poulin; RW Joe Murphy; RW Sergei Krivokrasov.Colorado: D Alexei Gusarov; C Mike Ricci.Dallas: G Darcy Wakaluk.Detroit: None listed.Edmonton: C Scott Thornton; LW Louie DeBrusk; RW David Oliver.Florida: D Geoff Smith.Hartford: D Brian Glynn; RW Steven Rice; RW Robert Kron.Los Angeles: G Kelly Hrudey; D Marty McSorley; RW Jari Kurri.Montreal: D Vladimir Malakhov; LW Mark Recchi.New Jersey: G Corey Schwab; C Neal Broten; C Sergei Brylin; LW Valeri Zelepukin; RW Stephane Richer.Islanders: D Scott Lachance; LW Wendel Clark.Rangers: D Mattias Norstrom; D Alexander Karpovtsev; C Ray Ferraro; LW Luc Robitaille.Ottawa: D Frank Musil; D Dennis Vial; LW Troy Mallette.Philadelphia: D Chris Therien; D Karl Dykhuis; C Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour.Pittsburgh: D Sergei Zubov; RW Markus Naslund.St. Louis: D J.J. Daigneault; D Ken Sutton; C Dave Roberts.San Jose: C Craig Janney; LW Ray Whitney; RW Ray Sheppard; RW Ulf Dahlen.Tampa: D Enrico Ciccone; D Michel Petit; RW Mikael Andersson.Toronto: C Darby Hendrickson; LW Dave Andreychuk; LW Ken Baumgartner.Vancouver: LW Roman Oksiuta; C Josef Beranek.Washington: C Joe Juneau.Winnipeg: C Darren Turcotte; C Ed Olczyk; C Mike Eastwood; LW Darrin Shannon; RW Dallas Drake. &#9632;

Trade Winds

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>Cliff Fletcher has handed the season, and potentially his job, to his Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; players.&ldquo;The buck stops at my desk,&rdquo; Fletcher said March 5 after firing coach Pat Bums and naming director of scouting and player personnel Nick Beverley interim coach. &ldquo;We have to get going or we&rsquo;re going to slide right out of the playoffs.&rdquo;The Leafs didn&rsquo;t have far to slide; they were in the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, one point behind the Winnipeg Jets and two behind the Calgary Flames. Making matters more tense were the Dallas Stars, just five points back with a game in hand.After numerous major moves that have not had the desired results and have tarnished Fletcher&rsquo;s reputation, the Leafs bear little resemblance to the teams that made it to the final four in 1993 and 1994.They were clearly a team in disarray when Fletcher, for the first time in his nearly quarter-century tenure as a GM, changed coaches during the season.&ldquo;Obviously a change had to be made,&rdquo; said Leafs&rsquo; veteran defenseman Todd Gill. &ldquo;We were sinking and it just seemed like there was no end to it. It&rsquo;s too bad it cost a guy his job. It&rsquo;s not fair, but it&rsquo;s part of the job description. When the team goes bad, the coach gets nailed.&rdquo;Indeed, the Leafs were bad.On Jan. 10, when all appeared well, they stood eight games over.500. When Bums was shown the door two months later, they were five games under.500, having endured one nine-game winless streak (0-7-2 Jan. 11-Feb. 5) and were in the midst of an eight-game losing skid that began Feb. 16.Prior to tying the New Jersey Devils 2-2 in Beverley&rsquo;s debut March 6, the Leafs were two losses shy of the club record for consecutive defeats (10), set by the 1966-67 Leafs.Toronto averaged just two goals per game during the losing streak and was outscored 31-16. Not even the defending Stanley Cup champion Devils, defensive specialists that they are, could win scoring two goals per game.The power play had slipped from fifth in the league at the quarter pole with a 20.8 percent success rate to seventh (19.7) at mid-season to 14th (17.6) at the time of Bums&rsquo; firing. The penalty-killing unit went from fifth at mid-season at an 85.9 percent effectiveness rating to 11th at 83.3.It wasn&rsquo;t a case of one or two key players slumping, the entire team had lost confidence.&ldquo;Everybody is in a slump at the same time,&rdquo; said defenseman Larry Murphy. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen anything like this in my life.&rdquo;Murphy, who opened the season with 41 points in 44 games, hadn&rsquo;t scored a goal in 31 games.Left winger Dave Andreychuk, the subject of persistent trade rumors, had just 18 goals. Leading scorer Mats Sundin was productive with 64 points in 61 games, but not a dominant force.Doug Gilmour had 24 goals in 61 games, but wasn&rsquo;t setting up behind the net and quarterbacking the offense the way he did in his most productive days. Gilmour, who was troubled by a herniated disc in his back, went 11 games without an assist, before earning one against the Devils.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011557/6265764-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="576" height="848"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Burns is the seventh NHL coach to be fired this season.</figcaption></div>Goalie Felix Potvin was not playing poorly, nor was he stealing games for his team.One of many knocks against the Leafs is that Fletcher rewarded too many old players with fat contracts and the players had grown complacent.&ldquo;When things go bad, people say this guy lost it and that guy lost it,&rdquo; Gill said. &ldquo;It has a snowball effect. First the goaltending is no good. Then the defense is too slow. Then it&rsquo;s the forwards&rsquo; fault because scoring is down. Then it&rsquo;s the coach&rsquo;s fault. Next it&rsquo;s the GM. We have the talent to do damage. We&rsquo;re simply not playing up to our potential.&rdquo;The Leafs tried just about everything short of placing pyramids under the bench to turn things around and nothing worked. The high-profile trades Fletcher engineered, acquiring left winger Kirk Muller from the New York Islanders and center Dave Gagner from Dallas, hadn&rsquo;t provided a spark.Bums, 43, was the seventh NHL coach this season to be replaced. He was earning $750,000 this season and has another year, at $850,000, left on his contract.In a column he wrote for the Toronto Star March 7, Bums indicated he would not return to coaching this season, but expected to be back in the NHL at some point.&ldquo;I know I&rsquo;ve disappointed a lot of people,&rdquo; Bums wrote, &ldquo;but I haven&rsquo;t disappointed myself. I tried everything. I didn&rsquo;t give up. My time ran out.&rdquo;Bums was 133-107-41 during the regular season with the Leafs and 2323 in the playoffs.The Leafs had collectively fallen into such a funk and the dressing room had become so glum. Mike Foligno was summoned from the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs of the American League to give the dressing room some life. Foligno, who was an assistant to Tom Watt with St. John&rsquo;s, was known for his spirit and enthusiasm during his 15year NHL career.Ex-Leafs&rsquo; captain Darryl Sittier, a special consultant to Fletcher, was asked to take a more active role in the dressing room, lending an ear and offering advice to the players.Beverley, whose only head coaching job was with the AHL&rsquo;s New Haven Nighthawks in 1982-83, wants the team to put more emphasis on offense.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be flying by the seat of my pants,&rdquo; Beverley said during his introduction as head coach. &ldquo;The biggest thing is to change the mind-set.&rdquo;He asked the Leafs to get away from dumping the puck into the opposition&rsquo;s zone and to start carrying it in, when possible, instead. He also said he would alternate goalies Potvin and Don Beaupre.In his first game behind the bench, he promoted right winger Mike Craig from the press box to the first line alongside Gilmour and Andreychuk. That lasted a period and then enforcer Toe Domi joined the top line.Beverley also played defenseman Dimitri Yushkevich regularly and vowed to make him a more integral part of the lineup. Yushkevich, who demonstrated terrific open ice hitting ability early in the campaign, was often benched by Burns.&ldquo;Now the onus is on the players,&rdquo; said Fletcher, who will appoint a new coach in the off-season. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be up to eveiyone to get their act together and to move forward to confirm a playoff position.&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;d better do it,&rdquo; Gill said, &ldquo;or there&rsquo;s going to be a huge fire sale this summer.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-01

Turrmoil in Toronto

<div class="byline">By Kevin Dupont</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011415/6265802-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="382" height="538"></div>Old, tired and uninspired-now there&rsquo;s a hat trick-the Boston Bruins all but wrapped up 1995-96, their season that wasn&rsquo;t, with a 5-3 loss to the New York Islanders March 5.Mathematics couldn&rsquo;t confirm it beyond a reasonable doubt, but it was that loss that tied the tags on their toe caps: Bruins, D.O.A. Ahead of their time. Out of the playoffs.*Note 1: the asterisk tells us there remains a slight, infinitesimal possibility the Bruins could capture the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.Note 2: a check with Albie D. Vided, a doctor of numerology at the nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology, elicited this response: &ldquo;Uh, yeah, they can still make it and the mathematical chances of that are on par with Barry Melrose showing up on the ESPN anchor desk with a buzzcut and bow tie.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021021/6265795-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="515" height="887"><figcaption class="caption-body">Adam Oates</figcaption></div>Admit it, you didn&rsquo;t think they had a sense of humor at M.I.T., did you?Over on Causeway Street, where the Garden was put to rest in September, there have been few smiles for the Bruins this season in their new FleetCenter. Kevin Stevens was a bust. Al lafrate couldn&rsquo;t play for a second consecutive season. Cam Neely&rsquo;s right hip turned arthritic, leading to his hints of retirement. Blaine Lacher was a bust. The supporting cast provided little impact and less promise.Now that, folks, is entertainment.When March came, even before the finishing loss to the Islanders, it was a bland, emotionless, spiritless, clueless and often scoreless lot. Steve Kasper was still on the job as coach, but his inexperience and his team&rsquo;s lack of a heartbeat spoke the obvious: he&rsquo;ll be back next year only if Helsinki doesn&rsquo;t freeze over.Who&rsquo;s next in line? Consult your Bruins&rsquo; alumni list and pray Bruce Shoebottom hasn&rsquo;t been spotted in the FleetCenter lobby. And don&rsquo;t be surprised if Jack Parker, head coach at Boston University, gets a kick at the can-if he wants it.Two good things we can say about Boston&rsquo;s season that wasn&rsquo;t: Ray Bourque kept ticking along, the metronome that he is, and Adam Oates somehow consistently brought his best game to the ice. They are the two names, and the only two, you can expect to return next season.For Oates and Bourque, that may be their bad luck, because there is every reason to believe that the Bruins will miss next year&rsquo;s playoffs, too. They have nothing left in the minors and there is little in their college stock to add to the stew.They also have little left to trade. The one promising outside name is Mattias Timander, a Swedish defenseman whom they selected 2O8th overall in the 1992 entry draft. That alone should give you an idea of how far they&rsquo;re reaching.It is a franchise, though abundantly rich at the gate, that now is paying dearly for its poor drafts-say hello to Dmitri Kvartalnov, Evgeny Ryabchikov, Shayne Stevenson and Rob Cimetta, if you see them-and its conservative scouting methods.They now have I Gordie Clark and Gerry Cheevers at the top of a reshaped scouting pyramid, but they need more, or risk repeating some huge blunders. Two recent big boo-boos that come to mind: giving up Andy Moog for Jon Casey; taking on a $15-million contract in Kevin Stevens. Too many of those mistakes turn bottom lines into flat lines.If nothing else-and this is of little consolation for die-hard Black-and-Gold fans-this will be the season that stops the incessant, inane claim that every team makes the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Bruins did that for 28 consecutive years and got erased in the first round 11 times, eventually leading to a fait accompli complex at the start of every season in the Hub.High expectations now have been knocked down a peg. In October, the Bruins will try again to equal that playoff streak that lasted nearly three decades.If successful, they&rsquo;ll finish that piece of work in the year 2024. Think what you might be doing then and then ask yourself how inconsequential that streak looks now. &#9632;

f0011-01

Little hope for Bruins now or in near future

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div>Picture this, if you can. Amidst the World Cup of Hockey hoopla at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman posed for pictures with NHL Players&rsquo; Association executive director Bob Goodenow and was spotted joking with outspoken Team USA center Jeremy Roenick.J.R. flashed his teeth for the cameras alongside Russian superstar Pavel Bure and Canadian defenseman Paul Coffey, while Sweden&rsquo;s Mats Sundin, Germany&rsquo;s Uwe Krupp, Finland&rsquo;s Saku Koivu and Czech Martin Rucinsky looked on.Thirty-nine-year-old Peter Stastny was there too, saying he wasn&rsquo;t sure if he would suit up for his native Slovakia, but looking like he still could.Not a bad lineup for a news conference. Anything that inspires this much unity and co-operation in the hockey world has got to be a good thing.Come Aug. 26, when the first puck drops in Stockholm for the tournament-opening game of the first World Cup of Hockey between Sweden and Germany, the unity will be gone.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all fun until you lose a game,&rdquo; said Coffey, a three-time veteran of the World Cup precursor, the Canada Cup. &ldquo;Then the pressure&rsquo;s on.&rdquo;While the event is being touted as the first competition involving the &ldquo;eight great nations of hockey,&rdquo; the competition for medals will be among the big six-Canada, the United States, Russia, Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland-with Slovakia and Germany looking to bolster their international experience and credibility.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011519/6265833-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="584" height="908"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Coffey says chemistry will be crucial to World Cup success.</figcaption></div>That&rsquo;s just what the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation are hoping the tournament will do for hockey on a world stage. Six preliminary round games will be played in Helsinki, Prague and Garmisch, Ger.The tournament will receive worldwide television coverage-on CBC and TSN in Canada, Liberty Sports and Fox in the U.S. and through a Swiss distributor in Europe and Asia.Essentially, though, this is an NHL-run tournament played under NHL rules, featuring new NHL arenas in Philadelphia, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver after the preliminary round and most importantly, NHL players.Close to 80 per cent of the players are expected to come from the NHL; only Slovakia and Germany will have more players from their national club teams than from North America.Goodenow dismissed concerns some prominent NHLers wouldn&rsquo;t participate.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got the best players the world and they feel a sense of commitment to the game in general-a commitment to represent their countries,&rdquo; Goodenow said. &ldquo;They all know the game has been good to them. They understand there&rsquo;s an obligation on the part of players to do what&rsquo;s good for the game, to make the game grow so that after they retire, 10, 20 years (later), they can say, &lsquo;I participated in this tournament.&rsquo; They&rsquo;ll have memories of it. It&rsquo;s all part of the hockey culture.&rdquo;&ldquo;I think it will be the beginning of a new era for ice hockey,&rdquo; said IIHF president Rene Fasel.National hockey federations in Europe are waking up to the reality they must NHL-ize their thinking to field competitive international teams.Czech star Jaromir Jagr said he wouldn&rsquo;t play in the tournament as long as the Czech coaches continued using four lines and no special power play or penalty killing units. Czech coach Ludek Bukac heard Jagr loud and clear when he toured North America in February and evidently Jagr&rsquo;s message got all the way back to Czech hockey offices in Prague.&ldquo;Yes, that&rsquo;s right, it will be changing,&rdquo; said Czech federation member Jindrich Micka. &ldquo;I think that some experience of Jaromir will be accepted by our coach.&rdquo;Jagr still hasn&rsquo;t committed, although Micka said he expects both Jagr and star goalie Dominik Hasek, who has also expressed reservations about the tournament, to play.Viktor Tikhonov will not be part of the Russian delegation after Russian NHLers led by Igor Larionov and Slava Fetisov said they wouldn&rsquo;t play if Tikhonov was coach. The Russian Federation also agreed to donate half its take for use in a fund to help retired players in Russia, many of whom, according to Bure, earn the equivalent of only $200 a month and struggle to make ends meet.With Nikolai Khabibulin in goal, loads of experience on defense and the potentially lethal line of Bure, Alexander Mogilny and Sergei Fedorov up front, the Russians have more than enough talent to compete with favorites Canada and the United States, who may have less speed, but more depth.Canada and the U.S., led respectively by GMs Glen Sather and Lou Lamoriello, are both expected to select players to the team rather than hold tryout camps. Neither has named a coach, but Sather will be assisted by Dallas Stars&rsquo; GM Bob Gainey and Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; president-GM Pat Quinn.The U.S. will have the strongest blueline of any team with Brian Leetch, Chris Chelios, Gary Suter, Kevin and Derian Hatcher, bolstered by excellent goaltending with John Vanbiesbrouck or Mike Richter.Sather faces the most difficult selection process. While superstars such as Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Eric Lindros have confirmed their interest, finding the right mix of offensive talent and defensive support will be crucial.&ldquo;(Chemistry) is the most important ingredient,&rdquo; Coffey said. &ldquo;(Sather) won&rsquo;t necessarily pick the most talented team. He&rsquo;ll surround himself with veteran players and talented young players, but he&rsquo;ll also get guys who will fit into a good team concept.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

World Cup brings hockey to masses

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011429/6265864-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="380" height="356"></div>The luster will be off NHL training camps when they open next September, but only because the brightest stars will be shining on a global stage.Training camps for the World Cup of Hockey begin in mid-August, with the first game two weeks later in Stockholm, Aug. 26. The last game of the final is scheduled for Sept. 12 or 14 in Montreal.Here&rsquo;s more informatior hockey&rsquo;s first-ever World Cup.Pools North American: Canada, United States, Russia and Slovakia. European: Czech Republic, Finland, Get many, Sweden.Format Teams play a three-game round robin in their own pool in the preliminary round. First-place finishers in each pool receive a bye to the third round. Fourth-place finishers are eliminated. Second and third-place finishers in each pool cross over to play a one-game quarterfinal, with winners advancing to a one-game semifinal against pool winners. The championship round is a best-of-three final.Rosters The maximum limit is 23 skaters and three goalies. A final list must be submitted 24 hours before a team&rsquo;s first game. In case of injuries, one player can be added starting with the third injured player and first injured goalie.Rules NHL rules are in effect, subject to any changes agreed upon by the NHL. NHL Players&rsquo; Association and International Ice Hockey Federation. A 10-minute, suddendeath overtime is played during round-robin games if teams are tied after three periods. These games end in a tie if no goal is scored in overtime. In all following rounds, games are played until there is a winner.Referees and linesmen will be selected from the NHL and European federations.Sites Garmisch, Ger., Prague and Vancouver each host one game. Two games will be played in ockholm, Helsinki and New York, while Ottawa, Philadelphia and Montreal each host three-four in Montreal&rsquo;s case if the final goes to a third game.Profits To be split among the NHL, NHLPA and I1HF, with a share going to host federations and NHL clubs.Television TSN has rights to eight preliminary-round games in Canada; CBC shows the rest. Liberty Sports and Fox distribute U.S. broadcasts.Compensation Players, coaches and managers receive $2,000 (U.S.) per week and an $80 per diem. The winning team receives $300,000 (U.S.). &#9632;

f0013-01

Winning team gets $300,000

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021017/6265895-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg"></div>Listed is game date, local starting time/Eastern Standard Time, venue and TV coverage. Fox designates an American partnership between Fox and Liberty Sports; CBC includes the French-language Radio-Canada; TSN includes the French-language Le Reseau des Sports; and CWL designates Swiss pro-orammer CWL Telesport. Abbreviations: N.A.-North America; EUR-Europe. &#9632;

f0013-02

World Cup Schedule

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>When Ziggy Palffy wants something badly enough, he usually makes it happen.And the New York Islanders&rsquo; sophomore right winger wants nothing more than for his team to make the playoffs. Even though that appears to be an impossibility this season, he forges onward.&ldquo;Ziggy hates when our team loses,&rdquo; said Islanders&rsquo; captain Patrick Flatley. &ldquo;Some players hate when they don&rsquo;t play well or if they do play well and the team loses, it doesn&rsquo;t bother them. Not Ziggy. He doesn&rsquo;t care how he does personally. If the team loses, he&rsquo;s miserable. That&rsquo;s what will drive him to be successful.&rdquo;Palffy has taken huge strides to become one of the Islanders&rsquo; key players this season. The 5-foot-10, 183-pound native of Skalica, Slovakia, led the team in scoring with 34 goals and 72 points in 64 games.He has gone from being a part-timer scrambling to get into the lineup a year ago to skating a regular shift as well as being a member of the first power-play unit. His high point this season came when he collected hat tricks in back-to-back games-March 3 against the Winnipeg Jets and March 5 against the Boston Bruins.There were a few big bumps along the way, though.People questioned Palffy&rsquo;s commitment two years ago when he refused a demotion to the Capital District Islanders of the American League after training camp, choosing instead to return home to play for Dukla Trencin. There were doubts about the 23-year-old Palffy again this season when he arrived at training camp in September and failed to meet the fitness standards expected of new coach-GM Mike Milbury. The boss wanted his players to be able to run two miles in under 12 minutes and Palffy failed the test.&ldquo;I like to do my training in the summer on the ice,&rdquo; Palffy said.Palffy was kept on the ice after one training camp session and put through a rigorous solo workout under the watchful eye of assistant coach Guy Charron.&ldquo;The only reason the thing gained so much attention was because it happened while people were still in the rink,&rdquo; Charron said. &ldquo;Ziggy probably felt he was in adequate condition and it was a bit of an eye-opener for him. I put him through a strenuous group of exercises and he responded to them.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011508/6265926-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="998" height="1795"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ziggy Palffy has answered questions about his commitment.</figcaption></div>Palffy. who has vowed to follow the Islanders&rsquo; off-ice conditioning program next summer, chalks his success this season up to playing more. He served notice late last season, after finally making it as a regular under coach Lome Henning, when he scored six goals and 11 points in New York&rsquo;s final 15 games.&ldquo;If you play 33 games like I did last year and get just a few shifts a game, you&rsquo;re not going to do too well,&rdquo; Palffy said. &ldquo;I feel comfortable this season knowing I will play. I&rsquo;m not doing anything special. It&rsquo;s just the way I play the game.&rdquo;Palffy was New York&rsquo;s second choice, 26th overall, in the 1991 entry draft. When he finally arrived in North America in 1993-94, he spent most of the season in the International League with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles. In a five-game stint with the Islanders, some defensive deficiencies were exposed. He had no points and was minus-6. The same season, though, Palffy competed for Slovakia at the Olympics in Norway and led all scorers with three goals and 10 points in eight games.&ldquo;Ziggy has made it clear he will always be a good player in this league,&rdquo; Charron said. &ldquo;Whether or not he develops into a star is up to him.&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be asked to repeat whatever success he enjoys this season in the future. Can he do it again, especially when the team becomes a contender and he faces checkers? He has exceptional skill and he has grit. There&rsquo;s no reason why Ziggy can&rsquo;t put up big numbers consistently.&rdquo;Palffy is a better-than-average skater, even if he isn&rsquo;t as speedy as some of the league&rsquo;s top scoring, smallish wingers. His hallmarks are good hands and a determined drive to the net. And despite his stature, he won&rsquo;t be pushed around.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen him get slashed and go right back at the guy who hit him with intent at retaliation to let them know he won&rsquo;t take any crap,&rdquo; Charron said.Palffy played the first portion of the season on a line with center Travis Green and rookie left winger Todd Bertuzzi, and has skated with Green and Wendel Clark down the stretch. Like all players, Palffy is aware he needs to strike a balance in his allround play.&ldquo;I know I need to work on my defense,&rdquo; Palffy said, &ldquo;but I like scoring goals.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-01

Ziggy plays the star

<div class="byline">By Robyn Norwood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011290/6265957-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="159" height="159"></div>The playoffs are a receding goal for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, who weren&rsquo;t far back, but weren&rsquo;t gaining ground, either.Another goal to shoot for is 33 wins, the record the Ducks and Florida Panthers set for first-year teams in 1993-94.Pivotal factors: 1. Steve Rucchin&rsquo;s resurgence. The center hasn&rsquo;t regained his confidence and scoring punch since spraining his knee in late-November. 2. Scoring balance. Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya ranked among the league&rsquo;s top 15 scorers, but nobody else on the team had 15 goals or 40 points. 3. Goaltending. It has been an up and down season in goal; the Ducks need up.Hardware hopefuls: Kariya, Byng.Needs: With a shallow and aging defense, the Ducks need a Phil Housley-type offensive defenseman to make the outlet pass to the forwards.Available: Goalies Guy Hebert and Mikhail Shtalenkov could be available since neither has convinced he can handle the No. 1 job alone.Trade talk: GM Jack Ferreira might make a deal, but it won&rsquo;t be a blockbuster. After giving up Oleg Tverdovsky and Chad Kilger, Ferreira is out of ammunition.Above and beyond: Paul Kariya&rsquo;s 1.22 points-a-game pace in his second season ranks ahead the second-year marks of such players as Brett Hull and Jaromir Jagr.Down and out: Mike Sillinger won&rsquo;t hit 50 points or 20 goals and was a team-worst minus-20.NOTEBOOK: It only took right winger Teemu Selanne 10 games to set a club record for the longest points streak. The old mark of nine was shared by Anatoli Semenov and Paul Kariya. Selanne was at 11 and counting&hellip;Goalie Mikhail Shtalen-kov started seven of eight games before coach Ron Wilson went back to Guy Hebert. &ldquo;People are always trying to make this into a goaltending controversy and there isn&rsquo;t one there,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;No matter what, the guy who&rsquo;s playing best is going to play.&rdquo; Hebert played 15 games in a row from late-December to early-February, but Shtalenkov has had the upper hand since Hebert suffered a slight neck injury. &ldquo;Mike&rsquo;s a dam good goaltender. The problem here is no one respects Mike.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-01

Kariya, Selanne need help to get team into contention

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03750/6265988-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="560" height="964"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kyle McLaren</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021009/6265995-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="160" height="160"></div>The Boston Bruins were in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1967 and had nothing but their own season-long inconsistency to blame for the predicament.Boston had three games left against the Montreal Canadiens, the most likely competitor for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.Pivotal factors: 1. The return of Cam Neely (hip) and/or Al lafrate (knee). This would make Boston bigger and wake up a quiet power play. 2. Defensive play. Blown coverages killed the Bruins in critical losses. 3. Play against contenders. Boston had seven games remaining against Montreal, Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers, against whom they were 0-8-0.Hardware hopefuls: Ray Bourque, Norris; Adam Oates, Lady Byng; Dave Reid, Selke.Needs: A nasty defenseman or grinding forward.Available: Twenty-goal forwards Ted Donato and Shawn McEachern could be had.Trade talk: Very little, since GM Harry Sinden said recently that January deals for Bill Ranford and Rick Tocchet had left the Bruins all but tapped out.Above and beyond: Rookie Kyle McLaren has established himself as the club&rsquo;s second-best defenseman.Down and out: Todd Elik. Seen as a second-line center upon signing as a free agent, he has bounced from first-line left wing to the minors and back.NOTEBOOK: In an attempt to add some grit down the stretch, the Brains signed 32-year-old center Ron Sutter as a free agent March 8. Sutter, thought to be signed only through the end of the season, was playing with Phoenix of the International League&hellip;That move came a day after 30-year-old right winger Steve Leach, whose ice time was dwindling and was in the last year of his contract, was traded to St. Louis for defenseman Steve Staios and left winger-enforcer Kevin Sawyer&hellip;The highlight of injured defenseman Al lafrate&rsquo;s week was 40 minutes during a scrimmage March 4. Right winger Cam Neely, however, remained off the ice and indicated his right hip could need as much as two more weeks of rest. &#9632;

f0016-03

Long streak in jeopardy

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011145/6266026-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="162" height="161"></div>The Buffalo Sabres are likely to be active in the trade market if one disturbing thing happens: they don&rsquo;t make the playoffs.Almost every day brings the Sabres one step closer to that reality. Heading into their March 8 meeting with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, they were eight points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.Pivotal factors: 1. Dominik Hasek&rsquo;s play. The Dominator was having a terrible time winning on the road even when he played well. From Nov. 27 until he beat the Onawa Senators Feb. 28, Hasek was winless in 11 starts away from home, going 0-10-1. 2. Discipline. The Sabres led the NHL in penalty minutes, averaging 25.3 minutes per game. They led the NHL with 74 fighting majors. 3. Pat La-Fontaine&rsquo;s contribution. Even though Randy Burridge has come through with surprisingly high numbers, La-Fontaine remains the Sabres&rsquo; only legitimate natural scoring threat.Hardware hopefuls: LaFontaine, Byng.Needs: A couple of big wingers to complement LaFontaine and Derek Plante.Available: Virtually everyone, but the players mentioned most often are checking center Dave Hannan, left winger Yuri Khmylev and offense-minded defenseman Garry Galley.Trade talk: At various points this season, LaFontaine has been rumored to be headed to the Vancouver Canucks, Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils.Above and beyond: Burridge, a left winger who scored just four goals in 40 games with the Washington Capitals and Los Angeles Kings last season, had 20 in 58 games.Down and out: Much was expected from former Hobey Baker Award winner Brian Holzinger and he was given plenty of opportunity, but he responded with just five goals in 47 games before being shipped to the Rochester Americans of the American League.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Charlie Huddy played his 1,000th NHL game March 8&hellip;The Sabres will induct brothers Seymour and Northop Knox into the club&rsquo;s Hall of Fame March 22. Seymour is the Sabres&rsquo; chairman of the board and Northrop is a consultant&hellip;Center Pat LaFontaine scored 10 goals in February&hellip;Right winger Alexander Mogilny made his first trip back to Buffalo a successful one. Traded to Vancouver last summer after six years in Buffalo, Mogilny had a goal and assist in a 3-0 win March 3&hellip;Goalie Dominik Hasek&rsquo;s inconsistency on the road continued. He was brilliant in a 3-3 tie with the Rangers at Madison Square Garden March 1, stopping 55 shots. March 6 in Vancouver, however, he was pulled after allowing five goals on 25 shots. &#9632;

f0017-01

If Sabres sink, trades will follow

<div class="byline">By Mike Board</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02868/6266057-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="161" height="160"></div>After the Calgary Flames started the season 4-15-5, few expected to see them rebound to join the playoff race.Especially when center Joe Nieu-wendyk held out in a contract dispute and left winger Gary Roberts was injured. Well, Nieuwendyk was traded and Roberts returned as good as new.Pivotal factors: 1. Goaltending. Trevor Kidd and Rick Tabaracci have formed a solid tandem since November. 2. Play in the defensive zone. The defense corps must continue to play simple, defense-first hockey. 3. Star players. Theo Fleury, German Titov and Gary Roberts will be relied upon for the bulk of the offense.Hardware hopefuls: Roberts, Masterton.Needs: A big center and more scoring up front.Available: Center Michael Nylander, a gifted offensive Swede, could be had, as could veteran forwards Dean Evason, Pat Conacher and Claude Lapointe.Trade talk: The Flames are interested in getting a quarterback for the power play now that Phil Housley is gone.Above and beyond: Roberts. He is a leader in the room and on the ice after returning from two neck surgeries.Down and out: Nylander. Al-though the team says it has plenty of room for him, Nylander&rsquo;s public spat with coach Pierre Page didn&rsquo;t help his standing. He shows plenty of promise offensively, but is unwilling to check to get the puck.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Sheldon Kennedy joined his teammates for a round of golf in Phoenix following the team&rsquo;s March 3 game in St. Louis. After paying his $160 (U.S.) green fee, he played four holes, lost plenty of golf balls and called it quits&hellip;Right winger Sandy McCarthy was to begin filming a movie about the great Jim Thorpe this summer, but production has been delayed. Meanwhile, the heavyweight enforcer has opened contract negotiations with the Flames and expects to make a substantial raise from the $150,000 he is being paid in his option year. He is a restricted free agent at the end of the season&hellip;Right winger Ron Stern, out with a shoulder injury, was showing improvement and was taking contact in practice. &#9632;

f0017-02

Rebound from awful start inspires hope for playoffs

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04466/6266088-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="572" height="972"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeff Hackett</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03634/6266095-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="162" height="161"></div>The Chicago Blackhawks weren&rsquo;t doing a very good job of showing they are a Stanley Cup contender.They lost six times in an important seven-game stretch in March, failing in tests against the Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings, while splitting with the Colorado Avalanche. &ldquo;We should be on equal terms with these teams,&rdquo; said coach Craig Hartsburg.Pivotal factors: 1. Ed Belfour&rsquo;s sore back. Jeff Hackett has been terrific, but the Blackhawks need Belfour in the playoffs. 2. The power play. It has been inconsistent all season. 3. Chris Chelios&rsquo; stamina. Can he hold up playing over 30 minutes a night at 34?Hardware hopefuls: Chelios, Norris; Eric Daze, Calder; Hartsburg, Adams; Brent Sutter, Selke.Needs: Steve Smith&rsquo;s iffy back had Chicago looking for another physical defenseman. There was also a need for a big center to match up with Detroit&rsquo;s Keith Primeau.Available: Patrick Poulin, Sergei Krivokrasov, Joe Murphy.Trade talk: GM Bob Pulford shot down rumors of interest in Marty Mc-Sorley and Wendel Clark. The Blackhawks were considering Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; defensemen Bryan Marchment and Luke Richardson.Above and beyond: With Belfour struggling with his health, Hackett has had a career year.Down and out: Poulin was supposed to play a key role, but the 22-year-old was hurt frequently and had only seven goals in 36 games.NOTEBOOK: Coach Craig Hartsburg&rsquo;s comment about Jeff Hackett possibly being the No. 1 goalie for the playoffs because of Ed Belfour&rsquo;s health problems brought a promise from Belfour that he would be ready. Belfour missed five more games in early-March with strained back muscles. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt in my mind I&rsquo;ll be ready,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played hurt lots of times. There&rsquo;s no worry in my mind and there shouldn&rsquo;t be in anyone else&rsquo;s.&rdquo;&hellip;Center Jeremy Roenick&rsquo;s ruptured right thigh muscle wasn&rsquo;t believed to be serious, although it did force him to miss two games in early-March&hellip;Right winger Joe Murphy had one goal in 18 games, a slump that had his name mentioned in several trade rumors. &#9632;

f0017-04

A contender or pretender?

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02873/6266126-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="570" height="971"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Ricci</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011185/6266133-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="159" height="160"></div>As the Colorado Avalanche takes the final turn of the regular season and into the playoffs, one thing is clear: this team has the potential win it all.Sound in every aspect of the game, the Avalanche has added some key playoff-tested veterans in hopes of getting it over the hump this season.Pivotal factors: 1. Patrick Roy&rsquo;s play. The pressure is on Roy to come through in the playoffs as advertised. 2. Consistency. Star centers Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg have proven they can lead in the regular season, but how about the playoffs? 3. Team defense. The team has raised the level of play in its own end, something it can&rsquo;t abandon.Hardware hopefuls: Forsberg, Hart; Sakic, Hart, Byng; Claude Lemieux, Selke.Needs: The Avalanche could use a big defenseman, but might get it if Uwe Krupp can return from injury before the playoffs.Available: Center Mike Ricci and defenseman Alexei Gusarov could be obtained.Trade talk: While it&rsquo;s unlikely the Avalanche will do anything major, there&rsquo;s speculation it has interest in Jari Kurri of the Los Angeles Kings.Above and beyond: Valeri Kamensky, who should finish with more than 90 points, has exceeded this season&rsquo;s expectations.Down and out: The injury-plagued Ricci has endured a frustrating season with just four goals in 46 games.NOTEBOOK: Coach Marc Crawford&rsquo;s name surfaced as a possible replacement for fired Toronto coach Pat Burns, but Crawford&rsquo;s departure is highly unlikely. Crawford is in the second year of a three-year contract and has been negotiating with GM Pierre Lacroix on an extension&hellip;The Avalanche set a franchise record with 57 shots on San Jose goalie Wade Flaherty March 5, but lost to the Sharks 5-3. The loss was the sixth at home for Colorado and all were to teams which were below.500 at the time&hellip;Defenseman Uwe Krupp, out since Oct. 6 with tom knee ligaments, skated in early-March for the first time since the injury. Krupp reported no pain in his left knee and hoped to return for the playoffs or sooner. &#9632;

f0018-02

Pieces there for Cup run

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03605/6266164-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="160" height="160"></div>Dallas Stars&rsquo; fans are hoping the end of the season will be just like a Hitchcock thriller&hellip;Ken Hitchcock, that is.The new Stars&rsquo; coach has pumped life into the team by emphasizing an aggressive puck-pursuit strategy and putting the onus on his superstars to carry the load. The result has been a late-season run at a playoff berth.Pivotal factors: 1. Andy Moog&rsquo;s play. He has been a rock during the recent turnaround and must continue to shine. 2. Mike Modano&rsquo;s linemates. Wingers Benoit Hogue and Jere Lehtinen have been solid playing alongside the No. 1 center and that trend must persist. 3. Special teams. The Stars need their power play-23 per cent since the all-star break-and penalty killing-27-for-28 during a recent seven-game span-to keep shining.Hardware hopefuls: None.Needs: A sniper on the right side. The work ethic is good among the right wingers; the production isn&rsquo;t.Available: Veteran goalie Darcy Wakaluk could be moved if the Stars are confident Jordan Willis has developed enough to play in the NHL.Trade talk: The Detroit Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks are said to have interest in defenseman Kevin Hatcher.Above and beyond: Defenseman Richard Matvichuk is having a breakthrough season, more with his defensive play than with points.Down and out: An intestinal disorder has made this a nightmare season for left winger Mike Donnelly.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Greg Adams fractured his right hand March 2 in a collision with Toronto&rsquo;s Nick Kypreos and was expected to be out of the lineup until late-March. Adams was third on the team in scoring at the time with 18 goals and 38 points&hellip;Center Todd Harvey and left winger Mike Donnelly were recalled from Michigan of the International League March 3&hellip;After returning from arthroscopic knee surgery, goalie Andy Moog was 71-1 while allowing 19 goals in nine games&hellip;The Stars put together a sevengame unbeaten streak (6-0-1) that had them within striking distance of Calgary, Winnipeg and Toronto-the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-placed teams in the Western Conference. &#9632;

f0018-03

Hitchcock’s new approach puts Stars in playoff hunt

<div class="byline">By Viv Bernstein</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04376/6266195-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="161" height="160"></div>The Detroit Red Wings have the league&rsquo;s best overall record and by the end of the season, could own the NHL record for most wins in a season. So why do anything?Why not, if they can further stack the deck in their favor? A little more bulk and a little more grit and a little more depth on defense can&rsquo;t hurt. So they&rsquo;ll look around to see if one or two pieces can be had at a cheap price. If not, they&rsquo;ll take their chances with what they have.Pivotal factors: 1. Team health. With March and early-April holding little meaning, staying away from the big hurt is a big deal. 2. Attitude. Being too laid-back could allow bad habits to form, so the Wings could use the league-record 60-win mark as motivation to keep up the pace. 3. Goaltending. Whoever winds up as the starter has the task of staying sharp behind a strong team.Hardware hopefuls: Chris Osgood, Vezina; Scotty Bowman, Adams; Sergei Fedorov, Selke.Needs: A physical defenseman and/or gritty left winger could help the situation, but the team chemistry won&rsquo;t be disturbed to get acquire one or both.Available: The only player the Wings truly wanted to trade this season was Ray Sheppard and they did long ago. If only they could get rid of goalie Bob Essensa, too&hellip;Trade talk: The Wings are talking with the Los Angeles Kings about defenseman Marty McSorley and left winger Jari Kurri, but the price is too high right now.Above and beyond: Center Igor Larionov has been better than a point-per-game player with the Wings and is a part of the one truly dangerous line the Wings can boast with Fedorov on the right side and Slava Kozlov on the left.Down and out: There is no one on the Wings&rsquo; roster who has failed miserably this season, but defenseman Bob Rouse hasn&rsquo;t played to expectations.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Stu Crimson wasn&rsquo;t surprised he was passed in goal scoring by goalie Chris Osgood, who got his first against Hartford Match 6. &ldquo;Why wouldn&rsquo;t Ozzie pass me in goal scoring?&rdquo; Grimson joked. &ldquo;He plays more than I do.&rdquo; (See pg. 5 for more on Osgood goal.)&hellip;The win over Hartford gave the Detroit 48 this season, breaking a team record. Detroit also became the fourth-fastest team in league history to reach 100 points, having accomplished that in 64 games&hellip;Right winger Doug Brown picked up his first penalty of the season when he was called for slashing Hartford&rsquo;s Geoff Sanderson. &ldquo;All I did was slash his stick and knocked the puck loose,&rdquo; Brown laughed. &lsquo;It&rsquo;s ironic I get one I really didn&rsquo;t deserve.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-04

Red Wings only hunting for bargains

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011104/6266226-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="161" height="159"></div>The stretch drive in Edmonton, now there&rsquo;s a good one.The Oilers were 10 points out of a playoff spot with 17 games left and a fourth straight year of post-season tee times was almost a certainty. Unless they find a way to improve on a dreadful road record, this season is over. Eleven of their final 16 games were away from Northlands Coliseum.Pivotal factors: 1. Offense from Doug Weight and Zdeno Ciger. They have to keep carrying the load because nobody else on the roster has given any indication they are capable of scoring regularly. 2. Curtis Joseph&rsquo;s play. He cannot wilt under the constant pressure of defensive mistakes. 3. Pressure games. The Oilers have to beat the teams they can, such as the Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Mighty Ducks and San Jose Sharks. They play that trio eight times down the stretch.Hardware hopefuls: None.Needs: The Oilers could use a proven goal-scorer on the wing, an enforcer who actually wants to fight and a workhorse defenseman who can lug the puck the length of the ice or actually find the right player to headman it to 95 per cent of the time.Available: Most of the team could safely go on the block, but some should go before others: David Oliver, Louie DeBrusk and Scott Thornton.Trade talk: It seems everyone in the east with a chance to win the Cup wants to deal for Bryan Marchment.Above and beyond: Weight will become the first Oiler since Mark Messier to go over 100 points. He has carried the offensive load on this team for three years and is on the verge of actual stardom, provided the Oilers turn into a team that demands some media attention outside of Edmonton. And that is very much in doubt.Down and out: Pick a player. DeBrusk might be the guy because he has failed at almost every turn to do his job. There is almost no chance he&rsquo;ll be an Oiler next season, despite the fact he will still be under contract.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Kelly Buchberger was remorseful for his elbow that gave Wayne Gretzky a concussion in a game against St. Louis March 3, but said there was no intent to injure. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t try to hurt him, that&rsquo;s for sure,&rdquo; said Buchberger, who wasn&rsquo;t suspended for the hit&hellip;Coach Ron Low scratched defenseman Boris Mironov for a game against Los Angeles March 6, hoping to light a fire under the inconsistent blueliner. But Mironov shrugged off the benching. &ldquo;If he wants to try someone else, that&rsquo;s OK,&rdquo; Mironov said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s fine. I&rsquo;m not upset.&rdquo;&hellip;Former Canadian national team defenseman Bryan Muir was set to play his first NHL game March 8 against San Jose. The Oilers have him on a five-game amateur tryout. &#9632;

f0019-01

Almost time to look to next season

<div class="byline">By Dave Joseph</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02797/6266257-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="160" height="159"></div>The Florida Panthers&rsquo; recent rocky road has left people wondering whether they hit a speed bump or a sinkhole.The Panthers went 0-5-1 during a recent stretch, prompting doubts about a team that looked so promising.Pivotal factors: 1. John Vanbies-brouck&rsquo;s play. It&rsquo;s crucial for the goalie to snap out of his funk, especially with Mark Fitzpatrick having little playoff experience. 2. The ability to break out of slumps. Stu Barnes, Scott Mellanby and Jesse Belanger, all of whom were on pace for career seasons until hitting the wall recently, must contribute more. 3. Performance of role players. The Panthers need guys such as Jody Hull, Tom Fitzgerald and Dave Lowry to chip in occasionally on offense.Hardware hopefuls: Doug MacLean, Adams; Ed Jovanovski, Calder.Needs: A goal-scoring forward.Available: Role players such as the ones mentioned earlier or defenseman Geoff Smith could be packaged in a deal.Trade talk: Belanger has been rumored to be up for trade all year, but the Panthers would have to get someone to replace him on their power play.Above and beyond: Jovanovski, in his first season, has become one of the league&rsquo;s most punishing body checkers.Down and out: While he has never been known for his goal scoring, captain Brian Skrudland was working on 50 games without a goal. That&rsquo;s a long drought even by his standards.NOTEBOOK: The Panthers&rsquo; six-game winless streak (0-5-1) stretched from Feb. 24 to March 7. The only game they didn&rsquo;t lose during that span was a 2-2 tie at home against Washington Feb. 29&hellip;During the slump, the Panthers dropped to 15-14-4 on the road&hellip;With John Vanbiesbrouck struggling, coach Doug MacLean went with No. 2 man Mark Fitzpatrick in goal in back-to-back games on the road in St. Louis (in Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s home debut with the Blues) and Winnipeg&hellip;Left winger Bill Lindsay (lacerated left hand) resumed skating and was hoping to return to action by mid-toiate March&hellip;Lindsay still led the team at plus-16. Right winger Jody Hull and defenseman Terry Carkner were second at plus-10. &#9632;

f0019-02

Goal scoring, goaltending at root of mid-winter slide

<div class="byline">By Michael Arace</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04413/6266288-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="561" height="959"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steven Rice</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03526/6266295-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="159" height="159"></div>Despite the possibility of his team missing the play-offs for the fourth straight year, Hartford Whalers&rsquo; GM-president Jim Rutherford wasn&rsquo;t looking to deal.Rutherford will pick up the phone if it rings, but he won&rsquo;t be doing much dialing. He believes a talented young group has been assembled, a group which needs only a bit more time to grow formidable.Pivotal factors: 1. Goaltending. Sean Burke still has the ability to steal games, something the Whalers are counting on. 2. Special teams. The 18th-ranked power play and 20th-ranked penalty killing units need to improve. 3. Schedule. The Whalers play 11 games against teams battling for Eastern Conference playoff spots down the stretch.Hardware hopefuls: None.Needs: Rutherford would like to procure a 100-point center (who wouldn&rsquo;t?) and a strong defenseman.Available: Rivals who call with interest in Steven Rice, Brian Glynn or Robert Kron may find a willing listener.Trade talk: There have been few rumors of substance, while talk surrounding Geoff Sanderson and Brendan Shanahan has been baseless.Above and beyond: In a matter of months, rookie Sami Kapanen came back from a scary head injury and has become an important piece of the puzzle.Down and out: While not a lost cause, Rice has disappointed, but still has the ability to throw bone-crushing hits.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Geoff Sanderson has been on the ice both times goalie Chris Osgood has scored a goal. The first came when Osgood was with Medicine Hat and Sanderson Swift Current of the Western League. The second came March 6 at in a 4-2 loss to Detroit. &ldquo;Now I&rsquo;m minus-2 against Osgood,&rdquo; Sanderson said&hellip;Sanderson registered his second hat trick of the season in a 7-1 victory over Florida March 2&hellip;Had left winger Brendan Shanahan not injured his wrist on opening night and suffered through a nightmarish 28 games, he may have deserved mention among Hart Trophy candidates. Through the first week of March, Shanahan was riding a wave where he had 28 goals and 42 points in 34 games. &#9632;

f0019-04

GM won’t tie up telephone

<div class="byline">By Lisa Dillman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01980/6266326-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="159" height="158"></div>While no one except Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; governor Bob Sandertnan will utter the words &ldquo;youth movement,&rdquo; it is no secret the organization is embracing that route.The Kings will likely be one of the busiest teams at the trading deadline and when the dust clears, expect them to be younger and bigger.Pivotal factors: 1. Byron Dafoe&rsquo;s consistency. Dafoe, who went nearly two months between victories, has to be able to carry the ball. It appears as though the Kings will turn to him during the stretch run even if Kelly Hrudey is not traded. 2. Coaching. Larry Robinson&rsquo;s motivational abilities will be put to the test. 3. Health. Another injury to a key player would be devastating.Hardware hopefuls: Vitali Yachmenev, Calder.Needs: They could use a mobile defenseman and a playmaking center.Available: Most of the speculation has centered on FOGs (Friends of Gretzky), namely Jari Kurri, Hrudey and Marty McSorley.Trade talk: Kurri and McSorley have been rumored to be going to a number of playoff-bound teams, either alone or as a package.Above and beyond: Kevin Todd has rebounded for his best season in years, getting 14 goals and 37 points in 62 games.Down and out: Left winger Kevin Stevens has had an amazing season of misery-a combination of injuries, playing poorly and just plain bad luck.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Kevin Stevens will be out for a major portion of the stretch run after a a small fracture was found in the head of his left fibula. &ldquo;It has been a death trip,&rdquo; Stevens said of the season&hellip;Defenseman John Slaney broke his right hand against Edmonton March 6, putting him out of the lineup from four-to-six weeks. It is unlikely he will return during the regular season&hellip;Dr. Neil Martin said the prognosis is excellent for right winger Tony Granato, who underwent brain surgery in mid-February. The 31-year-old Granato met with the media at the Los Angeles Forum March 6 and while he was progressing well, it was un-clear when or if he&rsquo;d be able to resume his career. &#9632;

f0020-01

Expect Gretzky’s buddies to be dealt for future help

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01750/6266395-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="161" height="160"></div>A year ago, the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; major concerns as they headed down the stretch were a power play that couldn&rsquo;t score, the absence of a playmaking center and a knee injury to a key veteran.That they won the Stanley Cup after taking care of all three problems was viewed as a good omen for this season&rsquo;s drive to the playoffs.Hoping for another hat trick in 1996, the Devils acquired defenseman Phil Housley to improve the power play, awaited the return of Neal Broten from an ankle injury and kept their fingers crossed a knee injury would not keep Crash Line left winger Mike Peluso out for the remainder of the schedule.Pivotal factors: 1. Housley&rsquo;s quarterbacking. Housley did not immediately turn the power play into an imposing weapon. That must change. 2. Veteran resurgence. Wingers Steve Thomas and John MacLean had to start scoring big goals instead of relying on kids such as Steve Sullivan and Petr Sykora. 3. Martin Brodeur&rsquo;s stamina. The Devils need the workhorse goalie to keep shouldering the load.Hardware hopefuls: Sykora, Calder; Brodeur, Vezina.Needs: An established backup to Brodeur would be a welcome insurance policy.Available: Broten, Stephane Richer, Valeri Zelepukin, Sergei Brylin, Peluso and Corey Schwab are bargaining chips.Trade talk: There was speculation the Devils would make a play for a veteran goaltender such as Kelly Hrudey or Andy Moog to backup Brodeur, but weren&rsquo;t willing to give up much in return.Above and beyond: Sykora had all the potential to make a splash in the NHL, but not even the Devils thought he would be so good so soon.Down and out: Richer called this season his toughest in the NHL. &ldquo;I was so low I don&rsquo;t even have a word for it,&rdquo; he said. The Devils do: disappointing.NOTEBOOK: The Devils are not likely to try to re-sign defenseman Phil Housley, an unrestricted free agent, after this season&hellip;Center Bobby Carpenter said he would probably need surgery on his hand to alleviate numbness that has bothered him recently&hellip;Center Bobby Holik hurt his ankle playing ping pong in the team&rsquo;s South Mountain Arena dressing room. He was out day-to-day&hellip;With left winger Mike Peluso sidelined by a knee injury, left winger Reid Simpson stepped in and fought Ottawa&rsquo;s Dennis Vial, the Rangers&rsquo; Darren Langdon and Toronto&rsquo;s Tie Domi in successive games&hellip;Goalie Martin Brodeur has a $150,000 bonus in his contract for winning the Vezina Trophy and a $100,000 bonus for winning the Hart Trophy. &#9632;

f0021-01

Cup repeat could be as easy as 1-2-3

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02404/6266426-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="161" height="160"></div>The only thing for which the New York Islanders are striving is the end of season.There is no reason to project success down the stretch because the team lacks discipline, has an inconsistent offense, makes too many defensive-zone mistakes and has received inadequate goaltending. There figures to be a house-cleaning at the trading deadline which will continue in the off-season.Pivotal factors: 1. Scoring balance. In a recent five-game stretch, five players accounted for 30 of 38 points the club registered. 2. Injuries. Through March 6, the team had lost 373 man-games to illness or injury. 3. Luck With 12 of their last 18 games on the road, the Islanders will need a reversal offortune of epic proportions.Hardware hopefuls: None.Needs: Everything, but the most glaring weaknesses are size at center and size and speed on the wings.Available: Most players on the team could be had, but the most marketable ones are Wendel Clark and Scott Lachance.Trade talk: Clark could go back to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but the Islanders want Kenny Jonsson.Above and beyond: Ziggy Palffy, earning $300,000 in the last year of contract, should have a 40-goal year.Down and out: Derek King had a disappointing season with 12 goals and 32 points in 61 games before being lost for the year with a fractured jaw March 3. If the Islanders cannot trade him, they are likely to release him.NOTEBOOK: Coach-GM Mike Milbury expected to be fined by the NHL after he threw two water bottles and two sticks on the ice near the end of a 6-2 loss to New Jersey March 1. He said he was upset at referee Mark Faucette&rsquo;s obstruction interference penalty on center Travis Green with 4:24 to play in a game that was tied 22. The Devils scored on their ensuing power play. Milbury said he thinks referees have tended to call more penalties on the Islanders at key times because they generally have less at stake than their opponents. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re an easy target,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Defenseman Dennis Vaske, who had missed 47 games because of a concussion, practised with the team without contact March 4 and hopes to return before the season ends. &#9632;

f0021-02

Golf only course charted as housecleaning planned

<div class="byline">By Rick Carplniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04154/6266457-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="560" height="964"><figcaption class="caption-body">Luc Robitaille</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03217/6266464-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="161" height="160"></div>The first rough spot of the New York Rangers&rsquo; season came at the stretch drive. The timing could have been worse, but the Rangers nevertheless were concerned about getting straightened out for the playoffs.Pivotal factors: 1. Health of key players. The Rangers badly need Mark Messier, Mike Richter and Pat Verbeek to be healthy. 2. Scoring. Luc Robitaille has not delivered as expected. 3. Sergio Momesso&rsquo;s presence. He needs to be as effective as he was in the 1994 Stanley Cup final.Hardware hopefuls: Mark Messier, Hart; Brian Leetch, Norris; Adam Graves, Selke; Colin Campbell, Adams.Needs: If Richter&rsquo;s groin doesn&rsquo;t get better, an experienced backup will be required.Available: It would take a big name to pry away defensemen Mattias Norstrom or Alexander Karpovtsev and it would take a team with a big budget to acquire Robitaille or Ray Ferraro.Trade talk: The Rangers seem to be focusing on Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; right winger Jari Kurri. They are looking to rent players just for the rest of the season and playoffs, as they did with Craig MacTavish and Glenn Anderson in 1993-94.Above and beyond: Messier, at 35, was on pace to challenge team records for goals (52) and points (109).Down and out; Robitaille, who had never scored fewer than 44 goals during a full season during his 10-year career, had 19 after 65 games.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Pat Verbeek sustained a Grade 3 separation of his right shoulder March 1 against Buffalo and is sidelined until mid-April&hellip;Defenseman Kevin Lowe&rsquo;s groin muscle injury was found to be a minor tear to the adductor muscle&hellip;Brian Leetch was one assist short of tying Ron Greschner for first among all-time Rangers&rsquo; defensemen (fifth overall) with 431&hellip;Center Mark Messier was three assists behind Stan Mikita (926) for sixth on the all-time NHL list&hellip;On left winger Bill Berg&rsquo;s first shift as a Ranger, he drew New Jersey&rsquo;s Scott Stevens into taking a penalty. Left winger Sergio Momesso, obtained from Toronto with Berg Feb. 29, scored on the power play, his first goal as a Ranger. &#9632;

f0021-04

Key injuries big concern

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01873/6266495-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="159" height="158"></div>For the Ottawa Senators, it&rsquo;s another case of wait &lsquo;til next year after the club was officially eliminated from the playoff picture in early-March.But for a change, there are some encouraging signs and fans feel the team is finally headed in the right direction.Still, barring a miraculous finish, the team will finish last overall for the fourth year in a row and there will be nowhere to go but up.Pivotal factors: 1. Continued improvement of the kids. Patience with the young players appears to be paying off. The stable of young talent-Alexei Yashin, Daniel Alfredsson, Radek Bonk, Alexandre Daigle and Wade Redden-gives Ottawa a good nucleus. For that to matter, however, the potential must be fulfilled. 2. Damian Rhodes&rsquo; development. The 26-year-old has been solid, starting every game after being acquired Jan. 23. Even Rhodes had doubts whether he could be a No. 1, but he has answered all questions so far. 3. The off-season. The Senators have 15 players whose contracts expire after this season, leaving GM Pierre Gauthier a lot of flexibility with his payroll. Acquiring one or two free agents and spending that money wisely will be critical.Hardware hopefuls: Alfredsson, Calder.Needs: The team&rsquo;s long wish list includes a scoring winger or two, a tough defenseman and likely a backup goalie.Available: The Senators don&rsquo;t have much that other clubs would want apart from the kids, but the feeling is Gauthier will move anybody for the right price. Tough Dennis Vial or grinding Troy Mallette might interest a playoff team looking to add some grit, while defenseman Frank Musil might be good insurance.Trade talk: Defenseman Steve Duchesne has been the subject of much trade speculation, most notably to the Toronto Maple Leafs or Los Angeles Kings, but Gauthier was denying all reports.Above and beyond: Alfredsson, selected 113th overall in the 1994 entry draft, has surprised everyone with his offensive play. He has proven himself to be an excellent skater, a tireless worker and a gritty guy who&rsquo;s not afraid to go into traffic.Down and out: Daigle was playing much better before a broken arm ended his season, but his five goals in 50 games was a huge disappointment. Before Gauthier came on as GM and Jacques Martin as coach, Daigle&rsquo;s confidence was shattered.NOTEBOOK: The Senators are offering a money-back guarantee to season ticket purchasers next season. If fans aren&rsquo;t happy with the way the club performs in the pre-season and opening night, they can have the rest of their ticket money refunded. There will be no increase in season ticket prices for next season&hellip;The Senators, the team that at one time couldn&rsquo;t win on the road, was having trouble winning at home. As of March 7, the team&rsquo;s last home win was Jan. 29 against the St. Louis Blues. Nine of the club&rsquo;s 12 wins had come on the road&hellip;Goalie Damian Rhodes continued to be the club&rsquo;s ironman in net, starting his 20th straight game March 7 against Pittsburgh. Coach Jacques Martin said there were no plans to give him a break. &#9632;

f0022-01

Light at end of tunnel, finally

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03430/6266526-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="559" height="801"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mikael Renberg</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02603/6266533-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="160" height="159"></div>When the Philadelphia Flyers ran off eight straight wins in November, everyone envisioned a team making a serious charge at the Stanley Cup.But that was then and this is now a team that went 15-13-8 after that almost-forgotten streak. The inconsistent Flyers hadn&rsquo;t won more than two in a row since the early run.Only a career year from captain Eric Lindros has kept the Flyers from slipping into the middle of the pack.Pivotal factors: 1. Mikael Renberg&rsquo;s health. The Flyers were 8-7-2 in the first 17 games Renberg was out with an abdominal injury. 2. Second-line production. The Dan Quinn-Rod Blind&rsquo;Amour-Pat Falloon unit must back up the Legion of Doom. 3. Play of young defensemen Chris Therien and Karl Dykhuis. Both struggled after outstanding first seasons in Philadelphia.Hardware hopefuls: Lindros, Hart; Joel Otto, Selke.Needs: The Flyers have a fleet corps of skaters on their blueline, but could use a big defenseman who can clear the front of the net. They also wouldn&rsquo;t mind a sniper for the second line.Available: Therien, Dykhuis and possibly Brind&rsquo;Amour.Trade talk: The Flyers wouldn&rsquo;t mind getting Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; right winger Jari Kurri or defenseman Marty McSorley, but not at the expense of anyone on the current roster.Above and beyond: Dumped by the Ottawa Senators, Quinn came to the Flyers and had an immediate impact, collecting 13 points in his first 13 games in Philadelphia.Down and out: Working on the last year of his contract, center Anatoli Semenov has been used sparingly and had only three goals entering the final quarter of the season.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Shjon Podein scored his first two goals since Dec. 16, including the game-winner, in a 3-2 victory at Ottawa March 1. While Podein wasn&rsquo;t scoring often, he did lead the Flyers at plus-19&hellip;Right winger Mikael Renberg, out since Jan. 22 with abdominal injuries (the latest, inflammation of the pelvic joint) re-sumed skating for the first time in 10 days March 4 and participated in his first practice March 6. He was hopeful of getting back into action by mid-March&hellip;The new CoreStates Center&rsquo;s first hockey event will be the Aug. 31 World Cup of Hockey game between Canada and the U.S. The arena will also host a semifinal match Sept. 7 and the first game of the best-of-three final Sept. 10. &#9632;

f0022-03

Concerns about consistency

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02493/6266571-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="589" height="919"><figcaption class="caption-body">Petr Nedved</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01776/6266578-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="164" height="160"></div>After going through a thoroughly chaotic off-season, the Pittsburgh Penguins were unsure where they were headed this winter.It&rsquo;s safe to assume, however, not even the most optimistic management member expected to have a team in contention for the Eastern Conference title entering the stretch.The biggest reasons for the unexpected success were the high-octane offense and the best home record in the conference, 26-6-0.Whether GM Craig Patrick can make the personnel moves that will take the Penguins to the next level remains to be seen.Pivotal factors: 1. Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s health. If his back blows out, the Penguins&rsquo; championships chances go with it. 2. Team defense. The Penguins&rsquo; goals-against average was flirting with 3.50, an alarmingly bloated figure, in early-March. 3. Ability to win on the road. The Penguins struggled to score or win away from the Civic Arena for much of the season.Hardware hopefuls: Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, Art Ross, Hart; Ron Francis, Selke.Needs: Upgrading the defense has been the Penguins&rsquo; top priority since it was gutted last summer and takes on a real urgency as the trading deadline approaches.Available: Right winger Markus Naslund, whose contract is up this season, has been a staple in trade speculation for over a year. If the Penguins decide to make a high-impact move, they might be persuaded to part with defenseman Sergei Zubov.Trade talk: Much of the talk about Naslund has had him going to the Edmonton Oilers. A few players there-defenseman Bryan Marchment and center Scott Thornton, for example-would fill obvious voids in Pittsburgh&rsquo;s lineup.Above and beyond: Talented Petr Nedved, an enigma in his other NHL stops, has been versatile and valuable for the Penguins this season. He was a prolific scorer-netting 35 goals in 63 games-as well as an excellent penalty killer and perhaps Pittsburgh&rsquo;s best faceoff man.Down and out: Zubov has shown flashes of excellence, but has not been a consistent force since coming over from the New York Rangers in the summer.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Petr Nedved. who never had scored a hat trick in the NHL, scored four goals in a 9-4 victory over Winnipeg March 5. He also had an assist for the first five-point night of his career&hellip;Right winger Dave McLlwain. acquired from the Ottawa Senators for a late-round draft pick March 1, scored twice against the Jets. McLlwain is in his second tour of duty in Pittsburgh, the team with which he entered the NHL in 1987&hellip;Center Richard Park, who had four goals and six assists in 56 games, was returned to Belleville of the Ontario League March 2. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good time for him to go back for the simple reason the playoffs are coming up,&rdquo; said coach Ed Johnston. &ldquo;All the games he&rsquo;ll play between now and the end of the year will be meaningful.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03342/6266564-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="585" height="919"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sergei Zubov</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0023-02

Killer offense, home record puts Penquins in contention

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04246/6266609-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="163" height="160"></div>In less than two seasons as coach-GM, Mike Keenan has turned the St. Louis Blues upsidedown, with his prize move being the acquisition of Wayne Gretzky.The transactions have made the Blues older, slower and vastly more experienced, but it remains to be seen whether all the roster shuffling will be enough to put the Blues over the top.Pivotal factors: 1. The Great One&rsquo;s effectiveness. The Blues acquired Gretzky to be Brett Hull&rsquo;s set-up man and energize an offense that has sputtered all season. 2. Grant Fuhr&rsquo;s energy. Fuhr had started every game for the Blues through March 6 and showed no signs of wearing down. But if he fails for any reason, the load will fall to Jon Casey. 3. Old-age factor. The Blues&rsquo; roster is loaded with veterans who must endure a two-month playoff run if the Blues are to get to the Stanley Cup final.Hardware hopefuls: Fuhr, Masterton.Needs: The Blues filled a hole and added depth at right wing by acquiring Stephen Leach from the Boston Bruins for prospects Kevin Sawyer and Steve Staios March 8. Now the Blues are looking for a physical defenseman to fill the No. 5 or 6 roll. Another experienced backup goalie wouldn&rsquo;t hurt, either.Available: Veterans J.J. Daigneault, Ken Sutton and Paul Broten and rookie Dave Roberts are the most likely to be moved.Trade talk: The Blues have some interest in the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; Marty McSorley, but the Kings want too much in return and the Blues don&rsquo;t have much to give. Jari Kurri also sparked some interest before the Blues got Leach.Above and beyond: Keenan&rsquo;s signing of Fuhr in the off-season was considered a reach by many and it became laughable when Keenan suspended Fuhr at the start of training camp for reporting overweight. But Keenan and Fuhr are getting the last laugh. Fuhr has been a workhorse and has saved the Blues on many occasions.Down and out: Keenan gave Dale Hawerchuk a three-year, $7.5-million contract in the off-season to be Hull&rsquo;s set-up man. Hawerchuk has been in and out of Keenan&rsquo;s doghouse and was under a point-per-game for only the second time in his career.NOTEBOOK: The Blues asked the NHL to suspend Edmonton right winger Kelly Buchberger for knocking out center Wayne Gretzky with an elbow to the chin in a March 3 game. Gretzky was unconscious for several minutes and suffered a mild concussion. Coach-GM Mike Keenan called it a &ldquo;vicious elbow.&rdquo; Gretzky said the hit was &ldquo;part of the game.&rdquo; Buchberger was not suspended&hellip;The Blues were unbeaten in their first three games of the Gretzky era, going 2-0-1 with victories over Edmonton and Florida and a tie with Vancouver. The streak ended March 6 with a 4-2 loss to Calgary at Kiel Center&hellip;In four games with the Blues, Gretzky had a goal and three assists, including his first set up of Hull in the loss to Calgary. &#9632;

f0023-04

Will experience be enough to overcome old, slow legs?

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02485/6266647-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="578" height="915"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chuck Grillo</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01759/6266654-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="162" height="160"></div>In less than a year, the San Jose Sharks have gone from being first-round Stanley Cup playoff darlings to absolute chaos.The firing of director of player personnel Chuck Grillo March 6 was the latest in a massive coaching and frontoffice shakeup. It began Dec. 2 when former coach Kevin Constantine was let go and also claimed team president Art Savage, who resigned Feb. 27.GM Dean Lombardi and new president Greg Jamison are looking at a daunting task to return the club to play-off-contender status.Pivotal factors: 1. Leadership. On paper, the Sharks are not nearly as bad as their record indicates, but need veteran character players. 2. Confidence. San Jose&rsquo;s kiddie corps has taken its share of criticism, but is still a pretty impressive group. It cannot afford to accept losing as a way of life. 3. Goal-tending. Chris Terreri has been outstanding, but Lombardi must decide whether he is confident Terreri is the man to take the Sharks to the playoffs or whether to deal for a big-name goalie.Hardware hopefuls: None.Needs: San Jose sorely lacks a rock-solid presence on defense. Having ranked at the bottom of the league in goals against all season, the Sharks could desperately use an imposing veteran to make opponents wary of venturing in front of the net.Available: Ray Sheppard or Ulf Dahlen could be had. given San Jose&rsquo;s relative strength on right wing. Center Craig Janney is not part of the longterm plan, while a team in search of a small, skilled forward could make a run for left winger Ray Whitney.Trade talk: Rumors about right winger Owen Nolan have been unfounded. Several contenders might have an interest in defenseman Jayson More, or perhaps Terreri.Above and beyond: Jeff Odgers. After not scoring a goal in his first 45 games, the right winger was given more ice time and produced 10 in a span of 17 games.Down and out: Arturs Irbe. With a 1-7-4 record, 4.84 goals-against average, 85.0 save percentage and no longterm contract, Irbe-a one-time local folk hero-faces an enormous challenge to re-establish himself as a No. 1 goaltender.NOTEBOOK: In announcing the dismissal of Chuck Grillo, who formerly shared the GM&rsquo;s duties with Dean Lombardi, president Greg Jamison said, &lsquo;This is a decision to give the organization more focus. We believe in the direction Dean is taking this team.&rdquo;&hellip;Goalie Wade Flaherty stopped 54 shots in a 5-3 win at Colorado March 5, falling three short of Jeff Hackett&rsquo;s regular season team record. Flaherty had 56 saves in last year&rsquo;s 5-4, double-overtime playoff win over Calgary&hellip;After missing 20 games with a broken foot, right winger Ulf Dahlen returned March 3&hellip;The Cook County, Ill., state&rsquo;s attorney&rsquo;s office Feb. 28 dropped a charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance against Sharks&rsquo; TV announcer Randy Hahn.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03308/6266640-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="580" height="914"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wade Flaherty</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0025-02

Grillo another casualty of horror show season

<div class="byline">By Roy Cummings</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-04194/6266685-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="160" height="160"></div>It took some time, but Lightning eventually did strike this season.After a 4-10-4 start, the Tampa Bay Lightning played at a better-than-500 clip and managed to win both the respect of its peers and a solid shot at postseason play.Pivotal factors: 1. Goaltending. For the Lightning to stand its ground, it will need both No. 1 goalie Daren Puppa and new backup Jeff Reese to continue their stellar work. 2. Power play. The Lightning scores very few goals while at even strength. Its power play, among the top three in the league all season, must stay hot. 3. Kiddie corps. Roman Hamrlik, Chris Gratton, Jason Wiemer, Alexander Selivanov, Cory Cross and Aaron Gavey have to keep on contributing.Hardware hopefuls: Rob Zamuner, Selke; Hamrlik, Norris; Terry Crisp, Adams; Puppa, Vezina.Needs: The Lightning needs a goal scorer to enhance its even-strength offense and a steady, stay-at-home defenseman to help anchor a blueline corps that thins quickly out after Hamrlik. Cross, David Shaw and Bill Houlder.Available: The Lightning would be willing to part with either Enrico Ciccone or Michel Petit to improve itself up front. Mikael Andersson, who becomes a free agent at season&rsquo;s end, could also be had and the closer the Lightning gets to the playoffs the greater the chances are it will part with its 1996 No. 1 draft pick.Trade talk: The Lightning is interested in Dino Ciccarelli of the Detroit Red Wings and is willing to part with a draft pick and defenseman to get him. It is also interested in a variety of defensemen, including Craig Ludwig, Rich Pilon, Mathieu Schneider, Lyle Odelein, Adam Burt, Bryan Marchment and Dave Manson.Above and beyond: One year after being handed a termination contract, Zamuner has become one of the Lightning&rsquo;s best and most dependable players. He plays left wing on the top forward line and leads the first penalty killing unit.Down and out: Ciccone has gone from being one of the team&rsquo;s most promising defenseman to trade bait. Mistakes in his own end and a lack of discipline have plagued his game.NOTEBOOK: The Lightning earned its 100th franchise victory, in its 280th game, with a 2-0 win over Chicago March 5 at the ThunderDome. The Lightning reached the 100-win plateau faster than 10 other teams in NHL history&hellip;Defenseman Roman Hamrlik established a career high with by scoring both goals (Nos. 12 and 13) against Chicago. Hamrlik&rsquo;s previous single-season best came last year when he had 12 goals in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 campaign&hellip;Goalie Daren Puppa matched the team record for victories in a season when he won his 22nd against the Blackhawks&hellip;Phil Esposito was close to agreement on a contract renewal that would bring him back as GM and president for at least two more seasons. &#9632;

f0025-04

Goaltending, power play lead post-season charge

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02543/6266723-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="576" height="911"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nick Beverley</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01824/6266730-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="162" height="162"></div>Chaos would not be too strong a description for the state of the Toronto Maple Leafs entering the stretch drive.While confusion reigned off the ice with ongoing legal problems of chairman Steve Stavro, the club hit rock bottom with an eight-game losing streak that cost head coach Pat Burns his job March 4.While some still hold out hope this veteran club will be revitalized in the playoffs, that&rsquo;s an extremely rosy view of a team that has fallen apart.Pivotal factors: I. Nick Beverley&rsquo;s approach. The Leafs will try to attack more under interim coach Beverley and their ability to produce more offense is crucial. 2. Kenny Jonsson&rsquo;s return. Jonsson&rsquo;s exit from the Leaf lineup with a shoulder separation was widely seen to be the beginning of the club&rsquo;s problems. 3. The play of Felix Potvin. Beverley said he would alternate Potvin and backup Don Beaupre, but the Leafs need Potvin to shine if they are to succeed.Hardware hopefuls: None.Needs: A defenseman with the ability to provide reliable minutes in the latter parts of close games would be a helpful addition, as would a winger who can score.Available: It&rsquo;s reasonable to assume every Leaf is potential trade bait. Left winger Dave Andreychuk almost certainly will be gone by the deadline and junior scoring whiz Sean Haggerty is being actively shopped. Darby Hendrickson and Ken Baumgartner are also available.Trade talk: The Islanders and Leafs have apparently been talking about a deal that would see former Leaf captain Wendel Clark return to Toronto. Four or more teams are said to be interested in Andreychuk, but the return won&rsquo;t be high.Above and beyond: Believe it or not, Tie Domi is one of very few Leafs who has delivered the goods this season, and that tells you something about the state of this club.Down and out: Andreychuk, with only 17 goals at the end of February, has fallen off the map in the second year of a five-year, $11-million contract. A hand injury hampered his season, but his production last season and before the injury this season was also well below expectations.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Kenny Jonsson returned March 8 after missing 18 games with a separated shoulder. Center Dave Gagner also returned that night from a slightly separated shoulder after missing three games&hellip;With coach Nick Beverley&rsquo;s plans to alternate goaltenders Don Beaupre and Felix Potvin, it is the first time Potvin has not been the undisputed No. 1 goaler since Grant Fuhr was traded in February, 1993&hellip;Plans to renovate the Gardens through the addition of a $12-million video scoreboard and roof reinforcement project have been scrapped. The Leafs will instead conduct a feasibility study on constructing their own facility, while the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association have again made overtures about the possibility of sharing a facility.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03433/6266716-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="576" height="911"><figcaption class="caption-body">Felix Potvin</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0026-02

Stretch turnaround unlikely for team immersed in turmoil

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04312/6266761-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="162" height="159"></div>The Vancouver Canucks bottomed out in November, not coincidentally the month Pavel Bure was lost for the season, but they have been making the slow uphill climb ever since.Suddenly, all the dire warnings this team couldn&rsquo;t win, Rick Ley couldn&rsquo;t coach and Pat Quinn had lost his managerial touch were lost amid the mounting victory total, especially on the road where Vancouver put together a terrific 11-3-5 run.Pivotal factors: 1. Mike Ridley&rsquo;s return. A solid two-way center when healthy, Ridley is coming off back surgery and should be ready for action by mid-to-late March. 2. Esa Tikkanen. Tikkanen&rsquo;s bum right knee could go on him at any time, which would cause a depth problem. 3. Power play. The power play sat in the lower half of the league and hadn&rsquo;t rebounded since the trade of point man Jeff Brown.Hardware hopefuls: Alexander Mogilny, Hart, Lady Byng; Trevor Linden, Selke; Corey Hirsch, Calder.Needs: A physical defenseman. The mix on the blueline includes too many smoothies and not enough nastiness. Dana Murzyn is the only defenseman who consistently makes opposition forwards pay the price for going to the net.Available: Quinn would likely be willing to part with forwards Roman Oksiuta and Josef Beranek.Trade talk: During the course of the season, the Canucks have inquired about high-profile players such as Pat LaFontaine of the Buffalo Sabres, Kevin Hatcher of the Dallas Stars and Mark Tinordi of the Washington Capitals. All these players have one thing in common-huge contracts-a factor that no longer scares off the suddenly deep-pocketed Canucks. Quinn would like to make a &ldquo;soft deal&rdquo;, as he did for Mogilny, by giving up low-budget players to cash-strapped organizations.Above and beyond: Hirsch. The little netminder started 19 straight games when No. 1 man Kirk McLean was out six weeks following minor knee surgery. He finished the stint with a goals-against average under 3.00 and a save percentage above 90.0.Down and out: Beranek. The Czech center skates well, but has almost no grit and has tumbled down the depth chart to the fourth unit. He rarely passes the puck and rarely scores.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Alexander Mogilny made a triumphant return to Buffalo March 3 as he scored the winning goal on a shorthanded breakaway against his old team. Right winger Russ Courtnall scored the most natural of hat tricks in a 5-2 win over Buffalo March 6 when he connected at even strength, on the power play and then shorthanded, all in the same period&hellip;The Canucks had lost nine straight to Detroit before a 3-2 win at Joe Louis Arena March 2&hellip;After losing seven of their first 15 on the road, the Canucks lost only three of their next 19 to become the league&rsquo;s second best road team behind Detroit&hellip;Center Mike Ridley said he feels better than he has in five years following back surgery, although he had yet to participate in a full practice. &#9632;

f0026-04

Questions start disappearing as victories begin mounting

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02482/6266799-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="581" height="915"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michal Pivonka</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01777/6266806-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="162" height="161"></div>It&rsquo;s that time of the season again, when the Washington Capitals reach out at what seems like the last minute and select post-season in Pittsburgh over early spring tee times in Hilton Head.The Capitals and Penguins have met in the playoffs the past two seasons and three of the past four. Washington was clutching and scratching as usual as the last quarter of the season began, fighting to extend the campaign.The Capitals had the Penguins beaten last season, up 3-1 in games and ahead in Game 5. What followed was a collapse that took management and players months to get over. But first things first, the Capitals have to get there.Pivotal factors: 1. Team defense. The goaltending of Jim Carey and Olie Kolzig, and the overall defense (averaging 2.60 goals per game against) has got to remain solid. 2. Team offense. The meager offense (averaging 2.8 goals per game) can&rsquo;t afford a slump of any kind by any player. 3. Special teams. Both the power play and penalty killing must improve if the club is to have any chance in the playoffs.Hardware hopefuls: Michal Pivonka, Selke; Jim Schoenfeld, Adams.Needs: More and consistent offensive punch is needed, but to get it would strip the club at its only depth position, defense. The Capitals, however, do have draft picks from which to choose.Available: While everyone except Carey and Peter Bondra could be had for the right price, the Caps would be willing to move an improving Joe Juneau and his $2-million contract.Trade talk: There is a long line of teams trying to get Mark Tinordi with Kolzig and Steve Konowalchuk also drawing inquiries. The Vancouver Canucks have been frequently mentioned.Above and beyond: Pivonka has done everything the club has asked and more, from centering the first line and sending Bondra off in the right direction to taking the critical defensive roles. And he missed the first nine games of the season.Down and out: Center Jason Allison came in with high hopes, but failed to produce. He collected no goals, three points in 18 games and spent much of the season in the American League.NOTEBOOK: Goaltender Jim Carey shut out Boston and Philadelphia back-to-back March 2 and 3. That gave Carey 10 shutouts in his first 82 NHL games&hellip;Defenseman Joe Reekie, who had to step up his physical play with Mark Tinordi (con-cussions) and Brendan Witt (broken wrist) sidelined, was rewarded with a four-year deal worth $3.65 million&hellip;While right winger Peter Bondra missed four games with a groin pull, the Capitals went 3-0-1, outscoring opponents 12-5&hellip;Center Stefan Ustorf. recovering from a separated shoulder, sustained a concussion while playing at Portland of the American League on a conditioning stint. Then after rejoining the Capitals, he got whacked on the bridge of his nose by a teammate in his first practice.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03306/6266792-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="580" height="913"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Carey</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0027-02

Another Pitt stop possible, but can Capitals stop Pitt?

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04209/6266837-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="161" height="160"></div>The Winnipeg Jets drifted mostly sideways for 57 games and then slowly downwards to the point where they were tied for, but never out of, the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.Then the light came on.An overtime goal by Dallas Drake Feb. 23 that provided a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks started a run of six victories in seven games and brought a whole new outlook to the Jets&rsquo; stretch run.Pivotal factors: 1. Injuries, especially to key players. This is a category every team wishes to avoid, but clubs closer to the bubble, such as the Jets, can ill-afford to go without the likes of No. 1 goalie Nikolai Khabibulin or bigtime performers such as left winger Keith Tkachuk or defenseman Teppo Numminen. 2. Consistency. It&rsquo;s something the Jets seem to have finally found in the second half-at least a little more of it-and if that improved work ethic remains a noticeable part of each outing, they will play on past Game 82. 3. Alexei Zhamnov. The magical center&rsquo;s production and impact were sporadic all season. Those elements will be essential down the stretch if the Jets are to survive the grind.Hardware hopefuls: None.Needs: More depth on defense. A defense-minded defenseman, especially one with some experience, remains on GM John Paddock&rsquo;s wish list.Available: Darrin Shannon, Mike Eastwood, Dallas Drake and Darren Turcotte could be moved, but at a discounted value because of sub-par seasons. Eddie Olczyk, who had 25 goals and is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, may also be available.Trade talk: Since the Jets made some major deals in February, (acquiring Chad Kilger, Oleg Tverdovsky, Craig Muni and Dominic Roussel), it&rsquo;s likely their biggest moves this season are behind them. There have been Zhamnov rumors, probably because he&rsquo;s playing out his option, but he might be hard to trade because of his inconsistent season and his pending Group II free agency.Above and beyond: Olczyk wins a close race with Mike Stapleton and Norm Maciver.Down and out: Shannon, though often injured, had only three goals through March 7.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Dave Manson agreed to a new four-year, $6.4-million contract in early-March&hellip;Right winger Dallas Drake, who held out of training camp last fall because he was unhappy with his contract, signed a new two-year deal March 7. It is worth nearly $1.2 million&hellip;Goalie Nikolai Khabibulin was hooked from successive starts March 3 against (he Islanders and March 5 in Pittsburgh, but bounced back with his 20th win of the season March 7 at home against Florida. That game was his 20th straight start for the Jets&hellip;Right winger Eddie Olczyk had a six-game points streak through March 7, with five goals and 12 points&hellip;Left winger Keith Tkachuk also had a six-game string alive, with six goals and 12 points. &#9632;

f0027-04

Don’t expect anything major as Jets head in right direction

<div class="byline">By Kevin Gould</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01809/6266868-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Landon Wilson knows inconsistency has kept him out of the NHL.</figcaption></div>Following Landon Wilson&rsquo;s first game at the minor pro level last March, the general feeling was: Take a good look, because he won&rsquo;t be here long.One year later, he&rsquo;s still in the American League, playing for the Cornwall Aces.Just a year ago, Wilson was ranked the No. 10 prospect outside the NHL in THN&rsquo;s annual Future Watch issue. He dropped to No. 30 this year. He was No. 1 on the Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; list in 1995, then No. 3 for the Colorado Avalanche in 1996.Not a huge fall, but a drop nonetheless for the 6-foot-2, 205-pound right winger who has been called the next Cam Neely because of his aggressiveness and scoring touch.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if that comparison is fair, but he&rsquo;s a player who fits that mold,&rdquo; said Avalanche coach Marc Crawford. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a big, strong kid who plays tough and has some scoring potential.&rdquo;With Wilson, 21, much of that potential is untapped. It was clearly evident in that first AHL game a year ago. He scored a goal and assist, hit with a zealous passion and drove to the net with authority.Wilson finished last season with seven goals, 15 points and 93 penalty minutes in 21 regular-season and playoff games with Cornwall. Indications were he still had some work to do before advancing to the next level.But there are some in the Aces&rsquo; camp who believe Wilson&rsquo;s biggest problem might be a mental one, that he lacks dedication to hockey, that his work ethic is questionable, that he sometimes appears indifferent.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just 21 and not everyone develops in the same amount of time,&rdquo; said Aces&rsquo; coach Bob Hartley. &ldquo;For some guys the transition to pro hockey takes longer.&rdquo;Wilson had been up for seven games with Colorado this season and scored his first NHL goal. His biggest nemesis was inconsistency.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s learning the trade right now,&rdquo; Crawford said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll play eventually, when he becomes a consistent performer. The one thing everyone wants him to work on is his consistency.&rdquo;Wilson knows it and believes he&rsquo;s improving in that regard.&ldquo;The whole month of February I felt I was on a roll,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;I need to keep working hard. I may not be scoring every night, but it&rsquo;s important for me to finish my hits and go to the net hard.&rdquo;Wilson grew up a hockey nomad. The son of former NHLer Rick Wilson-now an assistant coach with the Dallas Stars-played youth hockey in Michigan, Saskatchewan, New York and California.Although hockey is his first love, Wilson shone in football and was considered a decent professional prospect. While in Los Angeles, he quarterbacked an El Segundo high school team and was recruited by U.S. college programs.&ldquo;It was a hard decision to make, but I love the game of hockey,&rdquo; Wilson said, &ldquo;and I like the game of football.&rdquo;Wilson was with the University of North Dakota when the Toronto Maple Leafs drafted him 19th overall in 1993. He was part of the Mats Sundin/Wendel Clark trade with the Nordiques in 1994.Some observers expected Wilson to crack Colorado&rsquo;s lineup this season, but a broken leg in training camp sidelined him until December.&ldquo;If I didn&rsquo;t get hurt, I&rsquo;d be in a different situation,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But injuries and obstacles are part of the game.&rdquo;Apart from injury, the season hasn&rsquo;t gone as well an anticipated for Wilson, in his mind and the mind of others.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve played to my potential,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I could be more offensive. I should be bearing down more on the chances I get.&rdquo;Wilson had 12 goals, 20 points and 87 penalty minutes in 35 games with Cornwall. Not exactly Neely numbers, but Wilson isn&rsquo;t worrying too much about living up to lofty comparisons, one he has been hearing for a long time.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard that since junior,&rdquo; Wilson says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great compliment. Cam Neely is a great player and a great leader. It&rsquo;s a good feeling to be recognized as having the potential to turn out like Neely or Keith Tkachuk. That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m working toward.&rdquo;Off the ice, Wilson is reserved. He would rather play floor hockey, with mentally challenged youths in Corn-wall than go to a nightclub. He&rsquo;s straight-laced, but headstrong.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re seeing some improvement,&rdquo; Hartley said. &ldquo;We all know he has a ton of skills. He has to blend his skills and mental preparation together.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0028-01

Tapping potential Wilson’s big quest

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02542/6266899-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="525" height="355"></div>When the American League season began, goalie Mike Buzak was basically a well-paid doorman for the Worcester IceCats.He opened the door on the bench and watched rookie Eric Fichaud play. And play. And play.Buzak, a rookie out of Michigan State, only had spot duty, playing on the road and in the middle game of a three-game weekend. A month into the season he had appeared in two games and his goals-against average was over 5.00.But ever since Fichaud&rsquo;s inevitable promotion to the NHL&rsquo;s New York Islanders in late January, Buzak is an every-day goalie and is the AHL&rsquo;s turn-around player of the year.A seventh-round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues in 1993, Buzak climbed to fourth in the AHL with a 2.79 GAA and 90.8 save percentage.&ldquo;I knew Fich (Fichaud) was going to be the man, but I knew eventually he wouldn&rsquo;t be here and I&rsquo;d get my chance,&rdquo; Buzak said. &ldquo;It was tough sometimes, but I had to wait for my chance.&rdquo;Then he had to prove to coach Jimmy Roberts that he deserved to play.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he was ready early in the year to help,&rdquo; Roberts said. &ldquo;But I have to give him credit. He has worked on his game and he&rsquo;s playing well.&rdquo;One area of improvement: his concentration. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m working on being more intense, on focusing on every thing that got me here,&rdquo; Buzak said. &ldquo;(At Michigan State) I could do it sporadically because everybody couldn&rsquo;t shoot.&rdquo;Buzak didn&rsquo;t celebrate when Fichaud was called up, however.&ldquo;In a way, it was a sad day for me because we got along well,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t sitting there saying, &lsquo;I hope he leaves soon.&rsquo; I did learn some things from him and I know he made me better.&rdquo;WINGS MAY FLY: A declining season-ticket base and a drop in attendance has the Detroit Red Wings evaluating the long-term future of the Adirondack Red Wings, the AHL franchise they own and operate in Glens Falls, N.Y.If the Red Wings can&rsquo;t forge their way back into the Capital Region marketplace, Detroit will explore moving its franchise.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting near crunch time,&rdquo; said Ken Holland. Adirondack&rsquo;s GM and assistant-GM in Detroit. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been approached by people and we&rsquo;d be fools not to listen. We want to stay here, we&rsquo;re comfortable here. But economics dictate what we do.&rdquo;Average attendance this season is 3,910, down from 4,105 last season. The lowest ever was 3,946 in 1991-92.Season ticket sales were 1,825 this year, a drop of 945 from 1989-90. That was the last time the Wings had no competition in the region. The Calder Cup champion Albany River Rats play 40 miles away and are averaging 6,064.GREAT WEEK: Fredericton Canadiens&rsquo; goalie Patrick Labrecque made a heavy workload look easy. Labrecque played four road games in five nights and went 2-0-2 with a 2.00 GAA and 95.0 save percentage. Included was a 6-0 shutout at over the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs.&ldquo;When a goalie plays a lot. it&rsquo;s easier to be focused all the time,&rdquo; said Labrecque, who is 1711-3 with a 3.36 GAA and 90.6 save percentage.AHL TIDBITS: Jim Sandlak. an 11-year veteran, initially balked at his demotion to the Syracuse Crunch by the Vancouver Canucks, but finally reported March 6. The fourth overall pick in the 1985 draft. Sandlak played only 24 minorleague games and 546 in the NHL&hellip;Springfield&rsquo;s Rob Murray was suspended four games for an elbow that broke Providence forward Bill McCauley&rsquo;s jaw. &#9632;

f0028-02

Buzak making up for lost time

<div class="byline">By Frank Welch</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01705/6266930-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Enforcer prospect Matt Johnson has had a quiet season in Phoenix.</figcaption></div>Matt Johnson recently became the proud owner of a Harley Davidson. He didn&rsquo;t just buy a bike, we&rsquo;re talking the Fat Boy model here. Big wheels, big engine, big sound, the works.&ldquo;I always wanted a Harley, no matter what,&rdquo; said the enforcer in training. &ldquo;It was a lifelong dream.&rdquo;Johnson was living the dream of every hockey player last season. As an 18-year-old, Johnson was playing with the NHL Los Angeles Kings and his salary for one week&rsquo;s worth of work was more money than many people his age make in a year.While with the Kings, he found himself with the ultimate housing arrangement. He and a fellow NHL prospect, goalie Jamie Storr, were permanent house guests of Wayne Gretzky and Janet Jones. He also received on-the-job training from Marty McSorley, Rick Tocchet, Gretzky, and Rob Blake. All willingly took Johnson under their wings.And for 14 wonderful NHL games, life was great. But hockey has since led Johnson on a circuitous route. The 6-foot-5 left winger was returned to the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario League at mid-season and was assigned by the Kings to the Phoenix Roadrunners of the International League before this season even started.Kings&rsquo; coach Larry Robinson said Johnson needed to work on his skills, his skating and speed in particular.The plan was for Johnson to hone his skills in the desert and establish his image as a tough guy. After that, he would be recalled by the Kings, perhaps by as early as Christmas.The call hasn&rsquo;t come-and it may not for a while.Johnson&rsquo;s stint in Phoenix hasn&rsquo;t exactly gone according to plan. He has been plagued by a nagging shoulder injury and innuendos he doesn&rsquo;t have an enforcer&rsquo;s natural instincts, despite the fact he piled up 233 penalty minutes with the Petes two seasons ago.There have been whispers Johnson lacks the intensity and conditioning needed for a tough guy to make an impact in the NHL. Some have suggested that while Johnson is certainly capable of mixing it up, he&rsquo;s not always willing. In Johnson&rsquo;s 29 games in Phoenix, he had only three fights and 87 PIM. He also had four goals and eight points.So what&rsquo;s it going to be? Can Johnson blossom into the heavyweight enforcer the Kings envisioned when they selected him 33rd overall in the 1994 entry draft? Los Angeles passed on several skilled prospects at the No. 33 spot, including Curtis Brown, Jose Theodore, Sean Haggerty, Mathieu Dandenault and Richard Park.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s definitely a good prospect,&rdquo; said Kings&rsquo; assistant GM and director of player development Dave Taylor. &ldquo;He needs to develop his skating to compete at an NHL level.&rdquo;&ldquo;I still feel this guy has a future in the NHL,&rdquo; said Phoenix coach Rob Laird. &ldquo;Perhaps coming from the NHL to here, he&rsquo;s not motivated to fight. But no one seems to want to go with him. We&rsquo;re not asking him to find a partner when there&rsquo;s no one to dance with.&rdquo;In a game earlier this season, Johnson challenged any and all of the Atlanta Knights&rsquo; players to test his physical skills. There were no takers, so Johnson chose his own waltz partner. The problem was, his opponent tobe backed away and the two circled for two minutes with nary a punch thrown.&ldquo;There haven&rsquo;t been a lot of takers,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;When you skate around for two minutes and can&rsquo;t find anyone that will fight, it&rsquo;s frustrating.&rdquo;Johnson, 20, also has heard murmurs he simply doesn&rsquo;t like to mix it up when the situation calls for it. A tough guy who doesn&rsquo;t like to fight?&ldquo;If I didn&rsquo;t like it, I wouldn&rsquo;t do it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t sent to Phoenix strictly to fight. I&rsquo;ve got to pick it up a notch and work on my skills.&rdquo;Phoenix GM Adam Keller said Johnson&rsquo;s stint in Phoenix has been an adjustment period. The transition has become a little more smooth as Johnson and Storr (teammates in Phoenix) are close friends. Storr, also 20, was the Kings&rsquo; No. 1 draft choice in the 1994 entry draft.&ldquo;When Matt first joined us, his mind and attitude weren&rsquo;t really with us,&rdquo; Keller said. &ldquo;He has a lot of things going for him. But he has to make a commitment to work himself back to the NHL.&rdquo;Johnson has no qualms about playing in Phoenix. He just wishes the call will come soon.&ldquo;One of these days, he will realize that to succeed, he has to work harder than before;&rdquo; Laird said. &ldquo;I feel he can climb his way back to the NHL, but it is up to him.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0029-01

Johnson hopes to rise from Phoenix

<div class="byline">By Dave Eminian</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02458/6266961-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="385" height="433"></div>The Chicago Wolves had trouble breaking out of the pack in the International League&rsquo;s race for playoff position in the Western Conference.So the second-year team kicked veteran coach Gene Ubriaco out of their pack March 1, sending GM Grant Mulvey behind the bench.Ubriaco&rsquo;s departure came shortly after the Peoria Rivermen handed Chicago its eighth loss in nine games Feb. 28. Ubriaco was there for the team picture at practice the morning of March 1. By the time the team boarded its bus that afternoon for a road game, his seat was filled by Mulvey.The move had an immediate effect. The Wolves won three straight games under Mulvey to get back into the playoff race.Eight of the 10 teams in the Western Conference qualify for the post-season and all teams were in contention going into the final five weeks. Chicago was in the middle of the pack.During one stretch tn the weak Midwest Division, the Peoria Rivermen had lost eight straight games, the Kansas City Blades nine of 10 and Chicago nine of 10.&ldquo;(Firing) Ubriaco was the hardest thing I had to do in my entire life,&rdquo; Mulvey said. &ldquo;I would have rather fought Behn Wilson five times a night.&rdquo;Ubriaco, who was fired late in the season by the Atlanta Knights in their Turner Cup season of 1993-94, will be offered another position in the Wolves&rsquo; organization.<h2>WISEMAN ACQUITTED:</h2>Brian Wiseman of Chicago was acquitted of sexual assault charges in Chatham, Ont in late-February. He rejoined the team after missing four games.The charges stemmed from a 1991 incident, when Wiseman was 19, in which a 15-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted. The case was originally declared a mistrial, but resurfaced recently on the basis of new evidence.&ldquo;All I can say is I&rsquo;m relieved this is over,&rdquo; said Wiseman, now 24 and in his second year with the Wolves. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad to get this behind me.&rdquo;Grant Mulvey was happy to see the player&rsquo;s personal life cleared and anxious to reunite Wiseman on a line with Steve Maltais and Rob Brown.&ldquo;He has been found innocent of all charges and allegations and his defense proved those allegations were without merit,&rdquo; Mulvey said.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s ecstatic. This whole thing has weighed heavily on him and on us. I can tell you he has been a great person here.&rdquo;Wiseman scored the winner with 43 seconds remaining against the Indianapolis Ice March 2 and notched two goals in a 9-5 win over the Cleveland Lumberjacks a night later.I-OPENERS: The Milwaukee Admirals acquired enforcer Marc Labelle from the Cincinnati Cyclones Feb. 28 to complete a summer deal for right winger Brian Dobbin&hellip;Part of the renovation planned for Winnipeg Arena under terms of its lease with the Minnesota Moose calls for an increase in luxury suites and the creation of specialservice club seating&hellip;Las Vegas Thunder assistant GM Clint Malarchuk came out of retirement to play 4:22 of a 4-1 loss to Kansas City March 5. It was part of a ceremony honoring the ex-NHL goalie and retiring his number. He stopped the only two shots he faced&hellip;Player of the week for the period ending March 3 was Chicago&rsquo;s Rob Brown, who had a season-high 16-game points streak. Goalie of the week was Cincinnati&rsquo;s Danny Lorenz. February&rsquo;s player of the month was Craig Fisher of the Orlando Solar Bears (11 goals, 20 points in 11 games) and goalie of the month was Stephane Beauregard of the Orlando Solar Bears (8-1-2,92.7 save percentage). &#9632;

f0029-02

Wolves howl again under Mulvey

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>Nashville Knights&rsquo; wingers Hugo Belanger and Colin Ward, who make up two-thirds of the highest-scoring line in the East Coast League, headline the 1995-96 all-ECHL team.Belanger, who plays left wing, led the league with 120 points after 58 games. The native of St. Hubert, Que., was first in assists (75) and third in goals (45). He was named player of the month for February after netting 36 points in 15 games.Ward mans the right wing and had 43 goals and 89 points in 55 games for the Knights, the highest-scoring club in the ECHL.Centering for Belanger and Ward on the all-ECHL squad is Jim Brown of the Knoxville Cherokees, second behind Belanger in scoring with 101 points. The defensemen are Chris Valicevic of the Louisiana IceGators and Steve Lingren of the Dayton Bombers, while Alain Morissette of the Louisville RiverFrogs is the goalie.Two of Valicevic&rsquo;s Louisiana teammates, defenseman Aaron Boh and left winger Bob Berg, are on the second team. Boh played most of the season for the Columbus Chill before being traded to the IceGators in mid-February. Berg led the league in goals (48 in 57 games).The rest of the second team includes defenseman Dave Craievich of the Mobile Mysticks, center Keli Corpse of the Wheeling Thunderbirds, right winger Glenn Stewart of the Erie Panthers and goalie Sean Gauthier of the South Carolina Stingrays.Voting for the teams was done by each ECHL coach and one media representative from each of the league&rsquo;s 21 cities.HIGH-SCORING GOALIES: A goalie has scored a goal for the third time in less than a year.Nick Vitucci of the Charlotte Checkers was given credit for a goal in a game against Louisville March 6, the same day Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; goalie Chris Osgood also scored.Vitucci cleared the puck out of his zone and it slid into the Louisville end where it was retrieved by RiverFrogs&rsquo; goalie Alain Morissette. In an attempt to clear the puck behind his net, Morissette sent it into his own goal.As the last Checker to touch the puck, Vitucci was given credit for the goal.Ollie Sundstrom of Erie scored into an empty net Dec. 15, 1995 and Corwin Saurdiff of the Hampton Roads Admirals scored March 18,1995.STREAK BUSTERS: Louisville ended the Toledo Storm&rsquo;s string of 23 games without losing in regulation-the third-longest streak in pro hockey history.The RiverFrogs beat the Storm 5-3 March 2 in Louisville. Toledo had gone 19-0-4 during the streak.The Storm&rsquo;s run was two games better than the Richmond Renegades, who went 15-0-6 earlier this season. The only longer streaks were by the NHL&rsquo;s Philadelphia Flyers, which went 25-0-10 in 1979-80, and the American League&rsquo;s Cleveland Barons, who went 21-0-6 in 1947-48.David Goverde, who came to Toledo in a trade with Louisville in late December, was in goal for every game during the streak.CRACKING DOWN: Commissioner Pat Kelly handed out suspensions after brawls between Louisiana and Hampton Roads.More than 400 minutes in penalties were featured in Feb. 23-24 games.Louisiana defenseman Rob Mc-Caig. who had two match penalties among his 43 minutes Feb. 24, was suspended 10 games, while Louisiana coach Doug Shedden was suspended five games for failure to control his players.Meanwhile, Rick Vaive, South Carolina coach and director of hockey operations, was fined and suspended one game for unspecified recruiting violations. &#9632;

High-scoring Knights lead parade of all-stars

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01743/6267016-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="691" height="237"></div>Good goaltending can take a team a long way. Just look at the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s, who have gone from worst in 1994-95 to first in the Ontario League&rsquo;s East Division.The play of Craig Hillier, the top-rated goalie at mid-term by the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau, has been a boon for the 67&rsquo;s in more ways than one.Ottawa coach-GM Brian Kilrea showed confidence in Hillier prior to the start of the season when he turned down an offer for overage Windsor Spitfires&rsquo; goalie Travis Scott. That freed up a key overage spot on the 67&rsquo;s roster.Given the chance to be the No. 1 netminder, the 18-year-old Hillier hasn&rsquo;t disappointed. He was second in the OHL with a 2.90 goalsagainst average and 23-13-3 record.&ldquo;His play gave us the opportunity to get an overager somewhere else,&rdquo; said Kilrea, who first acquired high-scoring forward B.J. Johnston from the Sarnia Sting, then saw Daryl Rivers, their top defenseman last season, return from the Mobile Mysticks of the East Coast League.&ldquo;Our goal at the start was just to make the playoffs, but Craig has done a remarkable job for us,&rdquo; Kilrea said.A native of Cole Harbour, N.S., Hillier might have been playing for the neighboring Halifax Mooseheads had the Quebec League&rsquo;s scouting bureau not left him off its ratings list, thus making him ineligible for that draft.He was Ottawa&rsquo;s third-round pick in 1994, the final year OHL teams could draft players out of Nova Scotia.HARD TIMES: Windsor&rsquo;s Chris Van Dyk suffered a setback two games into his comeback from the loss of his left eye, but the defenseman still has plenty of support about his OHL return.Van Dyk, who lost the eye when clipped by an accidental high stick Dec. 1, was lost for two weeks with a separated shoulder from a check on his blind side March 1 against the London Knights.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s doing what he wants to be doing, playing hockey,&rdquo; Van Dyk&rsquo;s mother Margaret said. &ldquo;A part of me is uneasy, but I&rsquo;m very happy for him. His life has been hockey.&rdquo;Doctors don&rsquo;t know if Van Dyk will ever regain the sight. A third operation to insert an artificial lens is scheduled for April. Van Dyk had to sign a waiver absolving the OHL from all responsibility should something happen to his right eye.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not surprised Chris is back,&rdquo; said teammate Wes Ward. &ldquo;This shows he has an awful love for the game.&rdquo;BULL PARKED: Richard Park wasn&rsquo;t happy with his demotion by the Pittsburgh Penguins, but the Belleville Bulls were absolutely thrilled to get him back two weeks before the playoffs. Park was returned to junior after the Penguins acquired Dave McLIwain from the Ottawa Senators.The skilled center had four goals and 10 points in 53 games with the Penguins after getting 28 goals and 79 points in 45 OHL games last season. He had one goal and one assist in his first game in Belleville, an 8-5 win over the North Bay Centennials on March 6.NEW DIGS: The Detroit Whalers will be playing in a new 4,000-seat arena next season, complete with luxury suites and an Olympicsized ice surface.Ground broke March 4 on the double-rink building in Plymouth Township, a 25-minute drive northwest of downtown Detroit. Whalers&rsquo; assistant GM Kerry Kerch said it will be ready in late-August.CRASH AND BANG: North Bay defenseman Ryan MacDonald was involved in an all-in-the-OHL-family car accident in late-February.The car MacDonald was driving was struck by one driven by Memorial Gardens manager John Loyst and the investigating policeman was OHL linesman Jim Kilroy. No charges were laid and nobody was hurt. &#9632;

f0031-01

Hillier’s play key to Ottawa’s turnaround season

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02486/6267047-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="576" height="289"></div>Alain Vigneault is used to being with a losing team, so he was right at home when he took over the Beauport Harfangs.The Harfangs, pre-season favorites to win the Quebec League&rsquo;s Dilio Division, had a bad first half despite having eight NHL drafted players in the lineup. As a result, coach Joe Canale was fired Dec. 26 with the Harfangs sporting an 1819-2 record.Enter Vigneault, who was fired by the NHL&rsquo;s Ottawa Senators Nov. 20 after spending three years there as an assistant coach. After taking over in Beauport, Vigneault has led the Harfangs to a 16-6-5 record. They defeated the Shawinigan Cataractes 10-4 March 5 to take over first place in the division with four games remaining in the season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve changed some working habits and some attitude, but I firm ly believe the biggest change has come from the veterans and the players themselves,&rdquo; Vigneault said. &ldquo;The credit has to go to the players. Coaches don&rsquo;t score goals.&rdquo;When Vigneault first took over, he was disappointed with the players&rsquo; conditioning. So he held long and demanding practices as well as gruelling off-ice workouts.&ldquo;They were very receptive and they wanted to do it,&rdquo; the coach said. &ldquo;Usually when you work hard in the long run you get the just reward and that&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s going on with us now.&rdquo;Vigneault, who coached the Hull Olympiques for five seasons before joining the Senators, said the decision to return to junior was easy.&ldquo;Staying at home and collecting a paycheck isn&rsquo;t what it&rsquo;s made out to be,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was bored out of my mind. I got the opportunity to do what I love to do most and that&rsquo;s to coach. I ain&rsquo;t going to apologize for wanting to work.&rdquo;Vigneault said he doesn&rsquo;t even mind the long bus trips that are a part of junior hockey.&ldquo;Buses aren&rsquo;t that bad,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You get a pillow or you get a book and you read. We&rsquo;ve also got videos on the bus now so you can show videos of the games. That was part of our overload. We did a lot of hockey on the bus.&rdquo;There are rumors Vigneault will join the New York Islanders as an assistant coach next season, but he says he won&rsquo;t even think about the NHL until this summer.&ldquo;A lot of teams have talked to me,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but like I told everybody, I want to finish this year properly and do an honest job to the end.&rdquo;Meanwhile, the Harfangs moved their home for the final five games of the regular season and the playoffs from the 1,450-seat Marcel Bedard Sports Centre to Quebec City&rsquo;s Colisee, former home of the NHL&rsquo;s Quebec Nordiques.HOT MONTH: The Granby Predateurs were the hottest team in February, posting an 11-2-0 record to overtake the Hull Olympiques for first place in the overall standings.The Predateurs gained 11 points on Hull during the month as the Olympiques struggled to a 5-3-1 record. With three games remaining, Granby (53-12-2) had a four-point lead over Hull (51-13-2) and looked like a good bet to win the second regular-season title in its 15-year history.This season marks only the third time in the 27-year history of the QMJHL that two teams have won 50 games in the same year. No team had won 50 games since Pat Burns led Hull to a 54-18-0 record in 1985-86.NOTEBOOK: Daniel Goneau and Martin Chouinard of Granby joined the 50-goal club in a 12-3 romp over the Laval Titan March 1. Goneau had a four-goal night to hit 50 while Chouinard scored once&hellip;Granby&rsquo;s Michel Therrien is looking to become the first coach in league history to win three straight regular-season titles. Therrien won the previous two years while with Laval&hellip;A crowd of 9,340 packed the Halifax Metro Centre to watch the Mooseheads beat the Sherbrooke Faucons 4-2 March 1 in a game televised live in Canada on The Sports Network. It was the largest crowd in the league this season. The Mooseheads, who were averaging 4,717 fans a game, had a 20-13-1 record at home, but were only 9-22-1 on the road. &#9632;

f0031-02

Harfangs showing life under Vigneault’s rule

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03350/6267078-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="355" height="361"></div>Marcel Comeau has the rare distinction of winning a championship and being fired in the same season.Comeau-who coached Canada to the 1996 World Junior Championship title-was dismissed March 2 as coach of the Western League&rsquo;s Kelowna Rockets.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m good enough to coach the Canadian national team, but not good enough to coach here,&rdquo; said Comeau, 44.The Rockets were 33-29-4 and fourth in the West Division when Comeau was fired. The team was 15-21-2 since Dec. 1, when Comeau left for his stint with the national junior team.&ldquo;Our team is below.500 since Dec. 1,&rdquo; Rockets&rsquo; governor and GM Bruce Hamilton said. &ldquo;I just thought we were having a problem getting the guys to play (for Comeau). At this time of year, I can&rsquo;t change all the players. I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s any lesser of a coach than when he started.&rdquo;Hamilton promoted assistant coach Alan Kerr to replace Comeau.Two days later, former Seattle Thunderbirds&rsquo;, Prince Albert Raiders&rsquo; and Red Deer Rebels&rsquo; coach Peter Anholt was hired as an assistant.Comeau had coached the Rockets since they joined the WHL in 1991-92. The Rockets moved from Tacoma to Kelowna after 1994-95. He signed a contract extension calling for two years plus an option on June 1, 1994. He did not intend to exercise the option.&ldquo;That was a factor in the firing,&rdquo; Comeau said. &ldquo;I told Bruce that my option is next year and I wouldn&rsquo;t be back.&rdquo;Comeau has landed a new job in Seattle. He would not disclose details except to say: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s in hockey, but out of coaching.&rdquo;Rockets&rsquo; center Robb Gordon-who also played for Comeau at the WJC-understood the decision to oust Comeau.&ldquo;(Comeau) probably wasn&rsquo;t the right coach at this time for this team,&rdquo; Gordon told The Kelowna Daily Courier. &ldquo;He has been here for a long time and while he was respected, there were a lot of guys who needed something more than the same old patterns.&ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t very emotional with us. I guess you could say distant. Sure, there was a lack of communication that way.&rdquo;LOCKED IN: A cadre of GMs sought to have the WHL&rsquo;s proposed east-west interlocking format for 1996-97 scrapped in favor of keeping the existing arrangement.Their proposal was turned down at a GMs meeting March 4 in Calgary.Starting next season, all teams in the East and Central Divisions will play just one game against each of the West Division clubs. The existing interlocking format has called for a home-and-home set since 1987-88.&ldquo;We decided to give (the new format) a try for a year,&rdquo; Regina Pats&rsquo; GM Brent Parker said. &ldquo;There were some of us-and I was a part of it-who still believe that it behooves us to have each team play one another at home and away. I believe it&rsquo;s good for all the fans to see all the teams.&rdquo;BEST OF THE WEST: Team-by-team nominees for the player-of-the-year award are:East Division-Left winger Mike Leclerc, Brandon Wheat Kings; center Darryl Laplante, Moose Jaw Warriors; right winger Rhett Gordon, Regina Pats; center Mark Dey-ell, Saskatoon Blades; left winger Mike Mc-Ghan, Prince Albert.Central Division-Defenseman Ray Schultz, Calgary Hitmen; center Byron Ritchie, Lethbridge Hurricanes; goalie Paxton Schafer, Medicine Hat Tigers; left winger Greg Schmidt, Red Deer; defenseman Craig Millar, Swift Current Broncos.West Division-Right winger Jarome Iginla, Kamloops Blazers; center Robb Gordon, Kelowna; left winger Richard Zednik, Portland Winter Hawks; goalie Chris Mason, Prince George Cougars; center Patrick Marleau, Seattle; center Darren Sinclair, Spokane Chiefs; goalie Brian Boucher, Tri-City Americans. &#9632;

f0031-03

Comeau’s glory fades as Rockets swing axe

<div class="byline">By Bill Brophy</div>You can expect a couple of things each February. A groundhog will emerge from its hole and botch the weather forecast and the University of Wisconsin will be preparing for a stretch drive in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.There were doubts about that latter ritual this year, however. In a rare rebuilding season, the Badgers started February closer to last place than first. But Wisconsin rode the goaltending of Kirk Daubenspeck to its first-ever unbeaten February and rolled into March with a pair of overtime victories over North Dakota in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.Daubenspeck, 9-0-1 since Feb. 2, made a career-high 54 saves in the 5-4 victory in Game 2 of the best-of-three series. Joe Bianchi had the winning goal, a fluke 65-foot wrist shot that Toby Kvalevog couldn&rsquo;t handle with four seconds left in the first overtime period.Steve Sabo, who was a stickboy when the Badgers won the national title in 1983, had the winning goal in the series-clincher, a 5-4 decision. It came at 1:56 of the second overtime, ending the longest game in school history.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve won national championships and been involved in triple overtime games in that building and this series ranks up there with that one,&rdquo; said coach Jeff Sauer. &ldquo;After the way we started, to come this far is very sweet.&rdquo;In mid-December the Badgers had a 3-12-1 record, their worst start in school history, and talk of a national bid was silly. But they hadn&rsquo;t lost since Jan. 25 and headed into the WCHA Final Five in Milwaukee with a 17-18-3 record.<h2>WCHA</h2>If there was a game that turned the season around it was Feb. 3 against Minnesota-Duluth when the Badgers, who hadn&rsquo;t rallied to win a game in the third period, scored four times to register a 5-3 victory in Madison.&ldquo;We lit their fuse,&rdquo; said Duluth coach Mike Sertich. &ldquo;They have been on a mission since.&rdquo;LOSING EXIT: Brush Christiansen, who built the Alaska-Anchorage program, ended his 17-year career with the two losses at Minneapolis March 2-3. Christiansen, 50, announced his retirement the week before.Speculation about Christiansen&rsquo;s successor revolved around Miami (Ohio) Mark Mazzoleni, Minnesota assistant coach Mike Guentzel, St. John&rsquo;s (Minn.) coach John Harrington and former Minnesota and Colorado College coach Brad Buetow, who coaches the Quad City Mallards of the Colonial League.RED HOT: Michigan Tech was also on a roll heading into the playoffs.Tech upset Minnesota-Duluth, 5-4 in overtime and 4-3. Jimmy Roy had the winner in the first game and Luciano Caravaggio made 42 saves. Pat Mikesch had two goals and goalie David Weninger had 38 stops to complete the upset in the series. UMD was seeded fourth in the tournament while Tech was seventh. &#9632;

Badgers spot shadow and make late surge

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggle</div>Steve McKell is a man of letters-and most of them are A&rsquo;s.From the &lsquo;A&rsquo; he wears on his sweater, as the assistant captain of Vermont, to the A&rsquo;s he accumulates in the classroom, McKell is a leader, both on and off the ice.A senior defenseman from Lennoxville, Que., McKell has been a fixture on the Vermont blueline for four years. He is a big reason why the Cats won their first Eastern College Athletic Conference regular-season championship ever this season and are headed for the national tournament for the first time since 1988.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s like the Rock of Gibraltar on defense,&rdquo; said Vermont coach Mike Gilligan. &ldquo;He has the best plus-minus (plus-27) of any defenseman who has ever been here.&rdquo;McKell is a defensive specialist. He had just two goals in 126 games in four years at Vermont. His first came last season against Clarkson and his other came this year against Union. He also had a career-high 10 assists this year.But when it comes to ice time, few players on Vermont get more work than McKell.&ldquo;We know he&rsquo;s not going to score, but we use him on the power play just because we want to get the puck out of our zone,&rdquo; Gilligan said.Off the ice, McKell is an English major who spent last August in England studying Shakespeare. He carries a 3.8 (out of a possible 4.0) grade-point average and is also an active participant in Vermont&rsquo;s Kids and Kops program, designed to educate Burlington-area youths on drug and alcohol abuse.<h2>ECAC</h2>CHARITY MATCH: Proceeds from the American College Hockey Association&rsquo;s Eastern Senior All-Star Game, which will be held April 9 at New Hampshire&rsquo;s Whittemore Center, will go to the John Gilpatrick Fund.Gilpatrick, a senior forward for Suffolk (Mass.) University, sustained a spinal injury in a game against Stonehill Jan 25.The game will pit seniors from the ECAC and Hockey East. Former Boston Bruins&rsquo; defenseman Bobby Orr and 1980 U.S. Olympic captain Mike Eruzione will serve as honorary captains for the game.NOTEBOOK: Vermont junior forward Eric Perrin won the scoring title with 21 goals and 54 points. Junior Tim Thomas was the No. 1 goalie for the second straight year, compiling a 2.05 goals-against average. That&rsquo;s the lowest GAA since Dickie McEvoy of Harvard finished with a 1.92 GAA in 15 games in 1987&hellip;RPI and Dartmouth played the third-longest ECAC tournament game ever in the preliminary round of the playoffs. Senior defenseman Jon Pirrong scored at 16:14 of overtime to give the defending champion Engineers a 5-4 victory&hellip;Harvard ended the regular season with nine straight losses, the longest losing streak in the history of the program, which started in 1897. &#9632;

McKell makes his point off Vermont scoresheet

<div class="byline">By Matt Carlson</div>The Central Collegiate Hockey Association&rsquo;s race for first place was the most lively of the battles in the four U.S. college leagues.And for the first time in 22 years, it finished in a dead heat.With 22-6-2 records and 46 points, Lake Superior State and Michigan shared the best records. The Lakers, by virtue of winning the season series against the Wolverines 2-1, were named the official regular-season champion and top seed for the CCHA playoffs.Third-place Michigan State and fourth-place Western Michigan each finished one point behind Lake Superior State and Michigan. The Spartans, at 22-7-1, got third place for having one more victory than the 21-6-3 Broncos.&ldquo;Our objective was to get to Joe Louis (Arena and the CCHA tournament),&rdquo; said Lakers&rsquo; coach Jeff Jackson. &ldquo;Still, two weeks ago, if you told me we&rsquo;d finish in first place, I would have told you you&rsquo;re crazy.&rdquo;The Lakers won their last five games to leap over the pack and claim their fourth CCHA regular-season crown. It was their first since 199091.Michigan State had gone into the final weekend with a three-point lead over the Lakers and Wolverines. The Spartans, however, lost 5-1 to Bowling Green and 3-0 at Michigan.&ldquo;I was happy that we went into the final weekend battling for first place,&rdquo; said MSU coach Ron Mason, &ldquo;but it becomes a little disappointing when you can&rsquo;t close it out.&rdquo;<h2>CCHA</h2>HOT NUMBERS: Statistically, the Michigan Wolverines were, by far, the most impressive CCHA team during 1995-96.Overall, the Wolverines outscored opponents 210-82 in 36 games. In 30 CCHA games, the margin was 178-71. In league play, Michigan had 42 more goals than Lake Superior State. The Wolverines&rsquo; goals against tied with Western Michigan as the lowest on the circuit.Michigan outshot foes 1,395 to 738 and scored 68 power-play goals while allowing just 27.BOTTOMS UP: Although they landed in sixth place, the Ferris State Bulldogs finished with a 5-1-0 flourish after struggling all season,&ldquo;We&rsquo;re putting things together at the right time,&rdquo; said Ferris State coach Bob Daniels. &ldquo;Every team has injuries, but we had Derek Crimin, Andy Roach, Dwight Parrish and Vai Passarelli-four of our top guys-out during a period from about Jan. 1 to early February.&rdquo;ALL ROOKIES: The CCHA&rsquo;s all-rookie team includes: forwards Randy Robitaille (Miami), Mike York (Michigan State) and Tony Kolozsy (Illinois-Chicago); defensemen Chris Bogas (Michigan State) and Joe Corvo (Western Michigan); and goalie Marc Magliarditi (Western Michigan). &#9632;

Lakers capture crown in exciting race to wire

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>Boston University senior left winger Jay Pandolfo was selected Hockey East player of the year in a vote by coaches.UMass-Lowell&rsquo;s Bruce Crowder was coach of the year; Boston College center Marty Reasoner was rookie of the year and New Hampshire senior defenseman Todd Hall won the Len Ceglarski Sportsmanship Award.Pandolfo had 22 goals and 40 points in 24 league games (31 goals and 57 points in 34 overall games). He was plus-31 to lead the Terriers to their third straight Hockey East regularseason title.Reasoner won an unprecedented nine Hockey East rookie-of-the-week honors and had 16 goals and 43 points in 32 games. He shared the team scoring lead with David Hymovitz.Crowder led UMass-Lowell to a 16-6-2 record and a second-place finish. UMass-Lowell was picked sixth in the coaches pre-season poll.Joining Pandolfo on the 12-member all-Hockey East team were Boston University teammates Chris Drury, a forward, and defenseman Jon Coleman; Maine goalie Blair Allison, defenseman Jeff Tory and forward Tim Lovell; Hall and forward Mark Mowers from New Hampshire; Boston College forward David Hymovitz; Northeastern defenseman Dan McGillis; UMass-Lowell forward Christian Sbrocca and Providence goalie Dan Dennis.Accompanying Reasoner on the all-rookie team were Maine defenseman Brett Clark and forward Steve Kariya; Merrimack defenseman Darrel Scoville; New Hampshire forward Derek Bekar and Boston University goalie Michel Larocque.<h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>STREAK ENDS: UMass-Lowell and senior center Jeff Daw put an end to Maine&rsquo;s 11-game home winning streak. Daw had three goals and an assist in a 7-5 win over Maine March 2. Daw scored two goals 34 seconds apart in the third period to snap a 4-4 tie.Daw, the co-player of the week, had seven game-winning goals among his 21 during the season, ranking him second in the country.&ldquo;He has been fabulous,&rdquo; said coach Bruce Crowder. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a two-time captain for us and he brings it all off the ice as well as on the ice.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Boston University locked up the Hockey East regular-season title with a 5-1 win over Northeastern March 1. The Terriers have won three-straight league titles, although they shared it with Maine a year ago&hellip;Boston University goalie J.P. McKersie played his first full game in almost two seasons. McKersie, who sustained serious injuries when a car hit the bike he was riding two summers ago, made 14 saves and lost 3-1 against Boston College March 2. It was the first full game he had played since March 31, 1994&hellip;BU&rsquo;s Chris Drury was the league&rsquo;s scoring champ with 42 points in 23 games. &#9632;

High-scoring Pandolfo named player of year

<div class="byline">By Kevin Allen</div>Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s trade from the Los Angeles Kings to the St. Louis Blues didn&rsquo;t stop the presses, although it did delay them in the trading card industry.Card companies altered their production schedules to join the wild rush to get fresh Gretzky/Blues items into the marketplace. All licensed companies plan to have cards of Gretzky wearing a Blues&rsquo; uniform in their spring sets.&ldquo;Last year, we delayed a week to get Michael Jordan in (the 1995-96 National Basketball Association set),&rdquo; said Topps spokesman Marty Appel. &ldquo;We were willing to delay it as long as we could for Gretzky. It&rsquo;s still an industry where one hot card can drive a set.&rdquo;Fleer/Skybox and Parkhurst will win the race to be first in the marketplace with Gretzky wearing the Bluenote. Fleer Ultra will be out March 20 with card No. 385 showing a picture of Gretzky taken from his Blues&rsquo; debut Feb. 29 against the Vancouver Canucks.&ldquo;If the trade had happened a day later, we wouldn&rsquo;t have been able to do it,&rdquo; said Fleer spokesman Rich Bradley.Coincidently, card No. 386 happens to be Brett Hull. &ldquo;They will be next to each other, on the ice and in the set,&rdquo; Bradley said.Parkhurst adjusted its schedule to squeeze a new Gretzky image into its International Series II edition, which is sold only in Europe. That&rsquo;s key to that product because Gretzky&rsquo;s popularity still soars in Europe because of his tour there during the lockout last season. He will also be part of the Emerald Ice Insert set.Topps won&rsquo;t match the speed of Parkhurst and Fleer/Skybox, but it will have seven different Gretzky cards spread over Bowman and Topps Finest. Bowman comes out April 22 and Topps Finest will be out in May.Gretzky in a Blues&rsquo; uniform will also appear in Donruss Elite in early May. In addition to the regular set, he will appear on a Cutting Edge insert card. The card has a &ldquo;simulated steel&rdquo; embossed look.Donruss vice-president Chris Malone predicts the new Gretzky cards will stir the marketplace. &ldquo;There are people out there who only collect Gretzky (items),&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;They will want to update their collection. We saw that with Patrick Roy earlier this season.&rdquo;Presumably, Upper Deck is plotting how to best use Gretzky, who is under contract to it. However, it wouldn&rsquo;t appear the company can get him on a card in a Blues&rsquo; uniform until its Super Premium set is released in May.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel that hurts them because they can do so much more with him,&rdquo; said Michael Merhab, the NHL Players&rsquo; Association director of licensing and collectibles. &ldquo;It would be the same for (Donruss/Leaf) if Mario Lemieux were the one being traded.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01712/6267205-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="570" height="808"><figcaption class="caption-body">Europeans will get an early look at Gretzky with the Blues.</figcaption></div>Merhab, who used to work for Upper Deck, said he could foresee the company coming out with a Gretzky-Huil tandem card and/or a card featuring pictures of Gretzky in three NHL uniforms he has worn during his 17-year career.Card store owners, even in St. Louis, say the Gretzky deal didn&rsquo;t create an instant high demand for his older cards, although Randy Fauth, owner of Sports Card Dugout in St. Louis, said he sold a 1994-95 Leaf gold card of Gretzky for $150 a day after the trade was announced. Only 2,500 were issued.It had been dormant on his shelf for eight months prior to the Feb. 28 trade.&ldquo;A few more people are interested, but it&rsquo;s not fanatical,&rdquo; Fauth said. &ldquo;The people who sell Blues&rsquo; jerseys may feel the interest more than I will.&rdquo;Still, he&rsquo;s both surprised and glad card companies put a priority on adding Gretzky Blues&rsquo; cards to their sets for spring.&ldquo;They are usually slow about doing that,&rdquo; Fauth said. &ldquo;When cards come out with Gretzky wearing a Blues&rsquo; uniform, you won&rsquo;t be able to keep him in stock.&rdquo;Clearly, card companies wouldn&rsquo;t be changing their production schedules for any regular player. Jordan and Gretzky might be the only two pro athletes who would cause this much commotion in the card world.&ldquo;If Babe Ruth is the greatest baseball player,&rdquo; Appel said, &ldquo;then the greatest basketball and hockey players are playing right now. Let&rsquo;s not undervalue our appreciation of that.&rdquo;The impact of Gretzky&rsquo;s change of uniforms isn&rsquo;t lost on The Great One, who understood the value of licensing long before it became fashionable.&ldquo;Obviously, there will be a whole new barrage of memorabilia and merchandising,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s a capitalistic country and if I&rsquo;m going to be successful, the Blues will be successful and individual store owners will be more profitable. I think everybody is going to win.&rdquo;Much is made of Upper Deck&rsquo;s bad collation, but Rick Cipolla of Long Island, N.Y., had a happy story to tell about Upper Deck. He wrote to Collectors World in February:&ldquo;I just had to drop a quick letter regarding your article about the usual Upper Deck Hockey collection problems (THN, Feb. 24).&ldquo;About a month ago, I picked up a box of Series I retail-I usually buy hobby-and a small miracle happened.&ldquo;For the first time since I started collecting UD Hockey, I got a complete set. Wait, hold on, I also got a superpack containing eight Predictors and a couple of Freeze Frames. I died and went to collector heaven.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0033-01

Gretzky trade forces change in plans

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div>We have a changing of the school guard. Upper Deck is still on the honor roll, but it won&rsquo;t go home this term with the best report card in the class.That honor belongs to Donruss this year and that should be a lesson to the rest of you. It didn&rsquo;t do anything spectacular, it simply did all things well enough to merit a high average. Most importantly, it didn&rsquo;t let its studies slip in any one subject and consequently, its overall marks didn&rsquo;t suffer.The marks are in for Series I and there are a few surprises. Upper Deck, which finished first last year, dropped from B+ to B-and down to fourth. Not much has changed with Upper Deck in terms of quality, but its bad collation really brought it down.Card sets were graded on the basis of six categories: overall look, photography, card backs, player selection, collation and subsets.The overall grade for a set is not necessarily an average of all the marks since a pronounced strength or weakness in the set often affected the final grade.For example, Parkhurst&rsquo;s International set received high marks for its overall look and photography, the two most important elements in a set.Before we get to the marking breakdown, let&rsquo;s look at some of the individual efforts in Series I:Card of the year: Pinnacle&rsquo;s Olaf Kolzig card, which features the Washington Capitals&rsquo; goalie about to bite into a hot dog that features his name written in mustard.Worst card of the year: Score&rsquo;s Ian Laperriere card. The card has Laperriere&rsquo;s back to the camera and he is guiding an octopus that has been thrown onto the ice on a shovel that is held by a headless worker at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01801/6267306-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="435" height="622"><figcaption class="caption-body">Best card of the year</figcaption></div>Misrepresentation of the year: Topps calling Claude Lemieux &ldquo;the Great One.&rdquo;Best text on a cardback: The Jaromir Jagr card in Topps&rsquo; Profiles subset, written by Mark Messier. It reads: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you ever want to back off him; you want to eliminate what we call &lsquo;time and space&rsquo; on him. The sooner you pick him up, and the less space you let him skate with the puck before you check him, the better off you are.&rdquo;Best innovation: Donruss&rsquo; decision to include statistics for the 1994-95 lockout shortened season projected over an 84-game season.Now to refresh your memory, here were some of the highlights and low-lights of each Series I:Donruss This set is a triumph of substance over style. Nothing is overdone and the cards are very strong on both the front and the back. Player selection is a little flat, but the other strengths overcome that.Parkhurst International These are simply the best looking cards of the year. The design and photography is outstanding. The subsets are a little disappointing and we think the set should have more of an international flavor.Leaf This is another example of the Leaf-Donruss penchant for doing almost everything well. The collation is about as good as you&rsquo;ll find, but the player selection could have been a lot better. There is no grade given for subsets, because there aren&rsquo;t any.Upper Deck The company&rsquo;s late release allowed it to be a lot fresher than the others and the set is generally good. But horrendous collation-even by Upper Deck standards-is a big shortcoming.Topps This company began making cards long before they became so popular and remains a good traditional product. It upgraded its overall look and still has the substance to back it up.Upper Deck Collectors Choice UD&rsquo;s low-end alternative set isn&rsquo;t low-end in photography, subsets and chase cards. It is among the best in those departments.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01761/6267299-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="440" height="624"><figcaption class="caption-body">Worst card of the year</figcaption></div>Pinnacle The set looks much better than it did last year and would receive a better mark from THN if not for its dull subsets. All around, it is a solid, workmanlike effort.Fleer Ultra The chase cards are outstanding, but the regular cards and subsets comes up short. The cards look great, but lack a high degree of substance.Score This set really isn&rsquo;t that bad at all. It&rsquo;s just that you can&rsquo;t get beyond how ridiculous the cards look to give them an accurate read. The photography is very good in some spots and the collation is outstanding.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02569/6267292-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="1180" height="685"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03442/6267285-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="1183" height="685"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04337/6267278-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="1180" height="684"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05267/6267271-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="1178" height="683"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06234/6267264-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="1176" height="686"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07215/6267257-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="1179" height="682"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02562/6267250-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="1183" height="684"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03455/6267243-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="1183" height="686"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04364/6267236-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="1181" height="684"></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

Leaf at head of class

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div>Collector&rsquo;s Edge has a novel approach to its first-ever minor pro set.The 200-card set-98 players from each of the International and American Leagues-features regular boxes and something the company calls an &ldquo;Ice Box.&rdquo; Those boxes are geared specifically to the cities that are homes to teams and carry a guarantee that every player in the set from that team will be in the box.&ldquo;Obviously, somebody in St. John&rsquo;s will want all the cards of the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs rather than the Rochester Americans,&rdquo; said Collector&rsquo;s Edge spokesman Frank Girhiny. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll also be offering the Ice Boxes to people in the parent-club cities.&rdquo;Collector&rsquo;s Edge is covering the minors for the first time and while the cards are hit-and-miss, they are generally good.One interesting wrinkle in the set is cards of Peter Bondra and Michal Pivonka with the Detroit Vipers of the IHL. The two played in Detroit during their contract impasse with the Washington Capitals.The set was targeted for a December release, but didn&rsquo;t hit the shelves until late-February.OLD COLLEGE TRY: In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of U.S. college hockey, the American Hockey Coaches Association has come up with a 10-card set tracing the game from its roots at the collegiate level to present day.Included in the set are an illustration of Hobey Baker, the first ever college hockey star and inspiration behind the Hobey Baker Award, former legendary Minnesota coach John Mariucci, the 1948 Michigan Wolverines (the first team to win a national title), Michigan State coach Ron Mason (the winningest coach in college hockey history) and Cammi Granato of Providence College (a star women&rsquo;s player).&ldquo;They were done basically to promote college hockey,&rdquo; said ACHA president Joe Bertagna. &ldquo;It shows a little of our past, present and future.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01718/6267337-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="572" height="802"><figcaption class="caption-body">The minor pros now have a card set to call their own.</figcaption></div>Just 1,896 sets were produced and they can&rsquo;t be bought in stores. Those wishing to obtain a free set can send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Bertagna at: 7 Concord St., Gloucester, Mass., 01930.STICK TO IT: The Imperial Toy Corporation of Los Angeles has made its first foray into hockey with an NHL sticker set. And the company has gone back in the past to attract collectors of the future. Each pack of stickers contains a stick of gum.&ldquo;It was one of the ways to make the product stand out,&rdquo; said Imperial spokeswoman Lisa Effress. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a way of appealing to the younger crowd.&rdquo;The product is being sold only in hobby stores, but hopes to expand to the retail market next season. It is also hoping to get a co-sponsor which will buy the product in bulk and use it as a sales tool.Curiously, there is no sticker book in which to place the stickers. Effress said that is also in the works. &#9632;

f0036-01

Minor league cards will have regional appeal

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01640/6267368-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0037-01

CLASSIFIED

NOTEUnofficial game summaries provided by National Hockey League; (shots on goal/plus-minus); SA-shots against: GA-goals against; ENG-empty net goals; Decdecision, charges to goaltenders of record when winning goal is scored.<h2>FRIDAY, MARCH 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02236/6267626-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="486" height="1899"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-03179/6267619-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="490" height="2267"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-04139/6267612-1-eng-US/f0042-042.jpg" title="f0042-04" width="494" height="2264"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-05122/6267605-1-eng-US/f0042-052.jpg" title="f0042-05" width="488" height="1810"></div><h2>SATURDAY, MARCH 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-06110/6267598-1-eng-US/f0042-062.jpg" title="f0042-06" width="488" height="365"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-07101/6267591-1-eng-US/f0042-072.jpg" title="f0042-07" width="490" height="2270"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0890/6267584-1-eng-US/f0042-082.jpg" title="f0042-08" width="491" height="2271"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01352/6267577-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="493" height="2136"></div><h2>SUNDAY, MARCH 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02252/6267570-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="503" height="1276"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03211/6267563-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="491" height="3500"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04141/6267556-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="494" height="3500"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-05125/6267549-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="492" height="1140"></div><h2>MONDAY, MARCH 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-06102/6267542-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="491" height="1133"></div><h2>TUESDAY, MARCH 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0792/6267535-1-eng-US/f0043-072.jpg" title="f0043-07" width="490" height="1053"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0880/6267528-1-eng-US/f0043-082.jpg" title="f0043-08" width="493" height="3504"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0972/6267521-1-eng-US/f0043-092.jpg" title="f0043-09" width="491" height="2298"></div><h2>WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1065/6267514-1-eng-US/f0043-102.jpg" title="f0043-10" width="497" height="1114"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01259/6267507-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="490" height="3512"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-03112/6267500-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="500" height="833"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0485/6267493-1-eng-US/f0044-042.jpg" title="f0044-04" width="497" height="93"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02161/6267486-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="2039" height="2645"><figcaption class="caption-body">Martin Brodeur&rsquo;s five shutouts for the Devils tied him for second in the NHL with Chris Osgood of the Detroit Red Wings.</figcaption></div><h2>THURSDAY, MARCH 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0573/6267479-1-eng-US/f0044-052.jpg" title="f0044-05" width="497" height="656"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0664/6267472-1-eng-US/f0044-062.jpg" title="f0044-06" width="498" height="836"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0760/6267465-1-eng-US/f0044-072.jpg" title="f0044-07" width="498" height="829"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0848/6267458-1-eng-US/f0044-082.jpg" title="f0044-08" width="516" height="3516"></div> &#9632;

f0042-02

NHL SUMMARIES

<h2>ANAHEIM</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 6: Don McSween, D, assigned to Baltimore (AHL). Darren Van Impe, D, recalled from Baltimore. March 8: Todd Krygier, LW, traded to Washington for Mike Torchia, G. Torchia assigned to Baltimore.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Shaun Van Allen, Steve Rucchin, J.F. Jomphe, David Sacco. LW-Paul Kariya, Alex Hicks, Garry Valk. RW-Teemu Selanne, Mike Sillinger, Joe Sacco, Todd Ewen, Jim Campbell, Valeri Karpov. LD-Bobby Dollas, Randy Ladouceur, Jason Marshall. Darren Van Impe. RD-Jason York, Fredrik Olausson, David Karpa. G-Guy Hebert, Mikhail Shtalenkov.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Peter Douris, RW, groin strain, day-to-day. Milos Holan, D, recovering from marrow transplant to treat leukemia, indefinite.<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 7: Rob Tallas, G, recalled from Providence (AHL). Steve Leach, RW, traded to St. Louis for Steve Staios, D, and Kevin Sawyer, LW. March 8: Ron Sutter, C, signed free agent contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Adam Oates, Jozef Stumpel, Ted Donato, Clayton Beddoes, Ron Sutter. LW-Todd Elik, Shawn McEachern, Tim Sweeney, Kevin Sawyer. RW&mdash;Rick Tocchet, Marc Potvin, Joe Mullen, Sandy Moger, Steve Heinze. LD-Don Sweeney. Kyle McLaren, Philip von Stefenelli. RD-Ray Bourque, Dean Chynoweth, Jon Rohloff, Rick Zombo. G-Rob Tallas, Craig Billington.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Al lafrate, D, tom right knee cartilage, indefinite. Cam Neely, RW, sore right hip, indefinite. Davis Payne, LW, separated right shoulder, indefinite. Bill Ranford, G, back spasms, day-to-day. Dave Reid, LW, fractured left index finger, day-to-day.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 6: Brian Holzinger, C, assigned to Rochester (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Pat LaFontaine, Derek Plante, Mike Peca, Dave Hannan. LW-Brad May, Yuri Khmylev, Brent Hughes, Rob Conn. RW-Michal Grosek, Matthew Barnaby, Rob Ray, Scott Pearson. LD-Garry Galley, Charlie Huddy, Mark Astley. RD-Alexei Zhitnik, Darryl Shannon, Mike Wilson. G-Dominik Hasek, Andrei Trefilov.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Donald Audette, RW, tom anterior cruciate ligament, out for season. Bob Boughner. D, left thigh bruise, day-to-day. Randy Burridge. LW, sore left knee, day-to-day. Jason Dawe. RW. broken ribs, day-to-day. Richard Smehlik, D, tom anterior cruciate ligament, out for season.<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Gary Roberts, Dean Evason, Michael Nylander, Corey Millen. LW-Paul Kruse, German Titov, Mike Sullivan, Cory Stillman, Pat Conacher. RW-Theo Fleury, Sheldon Kennedy, Sandy McCarthy, Pavel Torgajev, Ed Ward, Jocelyn Lemieux. LD-Zariey Zalapski, Trent Yawney, Tommy Albelin. RD-Steve Chiasson, James Patrick, Jamie Huscroft, Kevin Dahl. G-Trevor Kidd, Rick Tabaracci.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Claude Lapointe, C, hip bruise, day-to-day. Ron Stem, RW, bruised shoulder, late-March.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 6: Jimmy Waite, G, and Sergei Krivokrasov, RW, assigned to Indianapolis (IHL). March 7: Waite recalled from Indianapolis.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Bemie Nicholls, Denis Savard. Brent Sutter, Jeff Shantz. LW-Tony Amonte, Murray Craven. Bob Probert. RW-Steve Dubinsky, Eric Daze, Joe Murphy. Jim Cummins. LD-Keith Carney, Gary Suter, Steve Smith. RD-Chris Chelios, Eric Weinrich, Igor Ulanov, Cam Russell. G-Ed Belfour, Jeff Hackett, Jimmy Waite.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Patrick Poulin, LW, sore back, day-to-day. Jeremy Roenick, C, ruptured right thigh muscle, day-to-day.<h2>COLORADO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 1: Aaron Miller, D, assigned to Cornwall (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Mike Ricci, Troy Murray, Stephane Yelle. LW-Valeri Kamensky, Chris Simon, Rene Corbet, Warren Rychel. RW-Claude Lemieux, Scott Young, Adam Deadmarsh, Mike Keane. LD-Sylvain Lefebvre, Sandis Ozolinsh, Adam Foote, Jon Klemm. RD-Curtis Leschyshyn, Craig Wolanin, Alexei Gusarov. G-Patrick Roy. Stephane Fiset.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Uwe Krupp, D, tom left knee ligaments, indefinite.<h2>DALLAS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 3: Todd Harvey, RW, and Mike Donnelly, LW, recalled from Michigan (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Joe Nieuwendyk, Mike Modano, Brent Gilchrist, Guy Carbonneau. LW-Brent Fedyk, Benoit Hogue, Randy Wood, Bill Huard, Mike Donnelly. RW-Grant Marshall, Jere Lehtinen, Mark Lawrence, Mike Kennedy, Todd Harvey. LD-Craig Ludwig, Derian Hatcher, Darryl Sydor. RD-Kevin Hatcher, Grant Ledyard. Richard Matvichuk, Mike Lalor. G-Andy Moog, Darcy Wakaluk.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Greg Adams, LW, fractured right hand early-April. Bob Bassen, C, right knee surgery, late-March.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-lgor Larionov. Steve Yzerman. Keith Primeau, Greg Johnson. LW-Vyacheslav Kozlov, Bob Errey, Tim Taylor, Stu Grimson. RW-Sergei Fedorov, Darren McCarty, Doug Brown, Dino Ciccarelli, Mathieu Dandenault. LD-Paul Coffey, Slava Fetisov, Nicklas Lidstrom. RD-Marc Bergevin. Vladimir Kon-stantinov, Bob Rouse, Mike Ramsey. G-Chris Osgood, Mike Vernon.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Kris Draper, C, sprained right knee, day-to-day. Martin Lapointe, LW, sprained left knee, indefinite.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Doug Weight, Jason Arnott, Todd Marchant, Scott Thornton, Kent Manderville. LW-Zdeno Ciger, Dean McAmmond, Mariusz Czerkawski, Ryan Smyth, Louie DeBrusk, Ralph Intranuovo. RW-Miroslav Satan, Glenn Anderson, David Oliver, Kelly Buchberger, Kirk Maltby. LD-Jeff Norton, Luke Richardson, Bryan Muir, Brett Hauer. RD-Bryan Marchment, Boris Mironov, Donald Dufresne, Jiri Slegr. G-Curtis Joseph, Fred Brathwaite.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None.<h2>FLORIDA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Rob Niedermayer, Brian Skrudland, Stu Barnes, Jesse Belanger. LW-Johan Garpenlov, Mike Hough. Dave Lowry. Mike Casselman. RW-Scott Mellanby, Jody Hull, Radek Dvorak, Tom Fitzgerald, Brad Smyth. LD-Ed Jovanovski, Terry Carkner, Jason Woolley, Geoff Smith. RD-Gord Murphy, Paul Laus, Robert Svehla, Magnus Svensson, Rhett Warrener, Mike Johnson. G-John Vanbiesbrouck, Mark Fitzpatrick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bill Lindsay, LW, lacerated left hand, indefinite.<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 1: Steve Martins, C, assigned to Springfield (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Jeff O&rsquo;Neill, Andrew Cassels, Andrei Nikolishin, Mark Janssens. LW-Brendan Shanahan, Geoff Sanderson, Paul Ranheim, Scott Daniels. RW-Nelson Emerson, Sami Kapanen, Robert Kron, Steven Rice, Kelly Chase. LD-Jeff Brown, Glen Wesley, Adam Burt. RD-Glen Featherstone, Gerald Diduck, Brad McCrimmon, Brian Glynn. G-Sean Burke, Jason Muzzatti.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Kevin Dineen, RW, broken right wrist, early-April.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 1: Aki Berg, D, assigned to Phoenix (IHL). March 7: Berg recalled from Phoenix.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Kevin Todd, Yanic Perreault, Patrice Tardif, Robert Lang. LW-Dimitri Khristich, Eric Lacroix, Craig Johnson, Barry Potomski. RW-Vitali Yachmenev, Jari Kurri, Shane Churla, Gary Shuchuk, John Druce. LD-Steven Finn, Doug Zmolek, Rob Cowie. RD-Aki Berg, Philippe Boucher, Sean O&rsquo;Donnell. G-Kelly Hrudey, Byron Dafoe.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Rob Blake, D, tom left knee ligament, out for season. Shane Churla, RW, hip contusion, day-to-day. Tony Granato, RW, intracerebral hematoma, out for season. Marty McSorley, D, left leg contusion, day-to-day. John Slaney, D, broken hand, out for season. Kevin Stevens, LW, fractured left fibula, late-March. Vladimir Tsyplakov, LW, strained right shoulder, out for season.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Pierre Turgeon, Vincent Damphousse, Saku Koivu, Marc Bureau. LW-Scott Fraser, Martin Rucinsky, Mark Recchi, Donald Brashear. RW-Andrei Kovalenko, Valeri Bure, Turner Stevenson, Chris Murray. LD-Vladimir Malakhov, Peter Popovic, Stephane Quintal, Robert Dirk. RD-Lyle Odelein, Patrice Brisebois, Doug Wilkie, Rory Fitzpatrick. G-Jocelyn Thibault, Pat Jablonski.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Benoit Brunet, LW, behign back tumor, indefinite. Brian Savage, LW, hip pointer, day-to-day.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 2: Steve Sullivan, C, recalled from Albany (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Petr Sykora, Steve Sullivan, Bobby Carpenter, Sergei Brylin, Denis Pederson. LW-Steve Thomas, Valeri Zelepukin, Brian Rolston, Reid Simpson. RW-John MacLean, Bill Guerin, Stephane Richer, Randy McKay. LD-Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Phil Housley. RD-Shawn Chambers, Jason Smith, Ken Daneyko, Kevin Dean. G-Martin Brodeur, Corey Schwab.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Neal Broten, C, sprained left ankle, day-to-day. Bobby Holik, C, sprained left ankle, day-to-day. Mike Peluso, LW, strained left knee, day-to-day.<h2>N.Y. ISLANDERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 2: Chris Taylor, C, assigned to Utah (IHL). March 4: Jarrett Deuling, LW, and Derek Armstrong, C, recalled from Worcester (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Martin Straka, Travis Green. Bob Sweeney, Alexander Semak, Derek Armstrong. LW-Wendel Claris, Todd Bertuzzi, Niklas Andersson, Jarrett Deuling. RW-Ziggy Palffy, Patrick Flatley, Marty McInnis, Dan Plante. Brad Dalgamo. LD-Darius Kasparaitis, Bryan McCabe, Scott Lachance. RD-Mathieu Schneider, Brent Severyn, Chris Luongo. G-Tommy Soderstrom, Eric Fichaud.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ken Belanger, LW, concussion, indefinite. Yan Kaminsky, LW, shoulder surgery, indefinite. Derek King. LW, fractured jaw, out for season. Brett Lindros, RW, concussion, out for season. Chris Marinucci, C, left knee surgery, out for season. Rich Pilon, D, hip flexor, day-to-day. Dennis Vaske, D, concussion, day-to-day. Mick Vukota, RW, thumb surgery, early-April.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mark Messier, Ray Ferraro, Sergei Nemchinov, Ian Laperriere, Daniel Lacroix. LW-Adam Graves, Luc Robitaille, Sergio Momesso, Darren Langdon, Bill Berg. RW-Alexei Kovalev, Niklas Sundstrom, Joey Kocur. LD-Brian Leetch, Ulf Samuels-son, Mattias Norstrom. RD-Jeff Beuke-boom, Bruce Driver, Doug Lidster, Alexander Karpovtsev. G-Glenn Healy, Jamie Ram.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Kevin Lowe, D, strained groin, late-March. Mike Richter, G, pulled groin, day-to-day. Pat Verbeek, RW, separated shoulder, indefinite.<h2>OTTAWA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 2: Dave McLIwain, C, traded to Pittsburgh for an eighth-round draft pick in 1996.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Alexei Yashin, Radek Bonk. Dave Archibald. LW-Randy Cunneyworth, Tom Chorske, Pavel Demitra, Troy Mallette. RW-Rob Gaudreau, Daniel Alfredsson, Trent McCleary, Pat Elynuik, Dennis Vlal, Antii Tormanen, Scott Levins. LD-Stan Neckar, Steve Duchesne, Janne Laukkanen. RD-Sean Hill, Jaroslav Modry, Frank Musil, Chris Dahlquist. G-Damian Rhodes, Mike Bales.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Alexandre Daigle, C, broken right arm, out for season. Ted Drury, C, sprained left wrist, indefinite. Kerry Huffman. D, broken right wrist, out for season.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 4: Dan Kordic, D, assigned to Hershey (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Eric Lindros, Dan Quinn, Anatoli Semenov, Craig MacTavish. LW-John LeClair, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Shjon Podein, Shawn Antoski. RW-Bob Corkum, Pat Falloon, Rob DiMaio, Trent Klatt. LD-Kevin Haller. Chris Therien, Petr Svoboda. RD-Eric Desjardins, Kjell Samuelsson, Karl Dykhuis. G-Ron Hextall, Garth Snow.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Patrick Juhlin, RW, strained abdominal muscle, indefinite. Joel Otto, C, sprained left knee, day-to-day. Mikael Renberg, RW, inflammation in pelvic joint, day-to-day. Russ Romaniuk, LW, fractured jaw, indefinite.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 1: Dave McLIwain, RW, acquired from Ottawa for an eighth-round draft pick in 1996. March 2: Richard Park, C, returned to Belleville (OHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mario Lemieux. Ron Francis, Bryan Smolinski, Chris Wells. LW-Petr Nedved, Joe Dziedzic, Dave Roche, Brad Lauer. RW-Jaromir Jagr, Markus Naslund, Glen Murray, Dave McLIwain. LD-Chris Tamer, Francois Leroux, Dmitri Mironov. RD-Sergei Zubov, Chris Joseph, Neil Wilkinson. G-Tom Barrasso, Ken Wregget.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Stefan Bergkvist, D, appendectomy, indefinite. Ian Moran, D, strained shoulder, day-to-day. Ed Patterson, RW, disk surgery, indefinite. Tomas Sandstrom, LW, ankle surgery, day-to-day.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 5: Dallas Eakins, D, recalled from Worcester (AHL). Ken Sutton, D, assigned to Worcester. March 7: Kevin Sawyer, LW, and Steve Staios, D, traded to Boston for Stephen Leach, RW.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Wayne Gretzky. Dale Hawerchuk, Adam Creighton, Peter Zezel, Dave Roberts. LW-Shayne Corson, Mike Hudson, Stephane Matteau, Tony Twist. RW-Brett Hull, Rob Pearson, Brian Noonan, Stephen Leach. LD-Murray Baron, Chris Pronger, Jay Wells. RD-AI Maclnnis, Igor Kravchuk, Christer Olsson, Dallas Eakins. G-Grant Fuhr, Jon Casey.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Geoff Courtnail, LW, broken left thumnb, March 20 Greg Gilbert. LW, back spasms, indefinite. Basil McRae, LW, separated left shoulder, day-to-day.<h2>SAN JOSE</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 2: Alexei Yegorov, LW, assigned to Kansas City (IHL). March 7: Chuck Grillo, executive vice president, director of player personnel, fired. Fredrik Oduya, D, recalled from Kansas City.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Craig Janney, Ville Peltonen, Jamie Baker, Viktor Kozlov. LW-Kevin Miller, Ray Sheppard, Jeff Friesen, Dody Wood. RW-Chris Tancill, Ulf Dahlen, Jeff Odgers, Shean Donovan, Owen Nolan, Dave Brown. LD-Doug Bodger, Michal Sykora, Marcus Ragnarsson, Jim Kyte. RD-Tom Pederson, Yves Racine, Jayson More, Fredrik Oduya. G-Chris Terreri, Wade Flaherty.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Arturs Irbe, G, strained knee ligament, indefinite. Ray Whitney, LW, bruised hand, indefinite.<h2>TAMPA BAY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Brian Bradley, John Cullen, Chris Gratton, Aaron Gavey, Allan Egeland. LW-Rob Zamuner, Shawn Burr, Jason Wiemer, John Tucker. RW-Mikael Andersson, Alexander Selivanov, Brian Bellows, Paul Ysebaert. LD-Roman Hamrlik, Cory Cross, Enrico Ciccone. RD-David Shaw, Rudy Poeschek, Adrien Plavsic, Chris LiPuma. G-Daren Puppa, Jeff Reese, Derek Wilkinson.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bill Houlder, D, groin strain, indefinite. Petr Klima, LW, shoulder sprain, indefinite. Michel Petit, D, back strain and hip flexor strain, day-to-day.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 5: Pat Burns, coach, fired. Nick Beverley, director of scouting and player personnel, named interim coach. Mike Foligno, assistant coach, recalled from St. John&rsquo;s (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Doug Gilmour, Mats Sundin, Dave Gagner, Darby Hendrickson. LW-Kirk Muller, Dave Andreychuk, Todd Warriner, Ken Baumgartner, Nick Kypreos. RW-Mike Gartner, Mike Craig, Tie Domi, Mark Kolesar, Wayne Presley. LD-Jamie Macoun, Kenny Jonsson, Rob Zettler, Todd Gill. RD-Larry Murphy, Dave Ellett, Dmitri Yushkevich. G-Don Beaupre, Felix Potvin.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brandon Convery, C, broken left hand, indefinite. Matt Martin, D, broken right ankle, day-to-day.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 7: Martin Gelinas, LW, and Dana Murzyn, D, signed contracts.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Trevor Linden, Cliff Ronning, Josef Beranek, Jim Dowd. LW-Martin Gelinas, Alek Stojanov, Esa Tikkanen, Roman Oksiuta, Gino Odjick. RW-Alexander Mogilny, Russ Courtnail, Tim Hunter, Scott Walker. LD-Bret Hedican, Dana Murzyn, Frantisek Kucera, Dean Malkoc, Jassen Cullimore. RD-Jyrki Lumme, Dave Babych, Leif Rohlin, Adrian Aucoin. G-Kirk McLean, Corey Hirsch.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Pavel Bure, RW, right knee surgery, out for season. Mike Ridley, C, back surgery, indefinite.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Feb. 29: Stefan Ustorf, C, assigned to Portland (AHL). March 3: Ustorf recalled from Portland. March 5: Joe Reekie, D, signed four-year contract. March 8: Andrew Brunette, LW, assigned to Portland. Mike Torchia, G, traded to Anaheim for Todd Krygier, LW.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Dale Hunter, Michal Pivonka, Joe Juneau. Stefan Ustorf. LW-Steve Konowalchuk, Todd Krygier, Craig Berube, Mike Eagles, Keith Jones. RW-Kelly Miller, Peter Bondra, Pat Peake, Jeff Nelson, Kevin Kaminski. LD-Mark Tinordi, Joe Reekie, Calle Johansson, Jim Johnson. RD-Ken Klee, Sylvain Cote, Sergei Gonchar. G-Jim Carey, Olie Kolzig.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brendan Witt, D, broken left wrist, indefinite.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>March 8: Rob Murray, C, recalled from Springfield (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Alexei Zhamnov, Ed Olczyk, Darren Turcotte, Mike Eastwood, Chad Kilger. LW-Keith Tkachuk, Darrin Shannon, Kris King, Jim McKenzie. RW-lgor Korolev, Dallas Drake, Mike Stapleton, Shane Doan, Denis Chasse, Rob Murray. LD-Teppo Numminen, Dave Manson, Craig Muni. RD-Jeff Finley, Oleg Tver-dovsky, Deron Quint. G-Nikolai Khabibulin, Dominic Roussel.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Randy Gilhen, C, arthroscopic right knee surgery, indefinite. Norm Maciver, D, groin pull, March 19. &#9632;

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March 22, 1996

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

Waterloo’s warrior Wynne’s Sullivan

Bauer strives for perfection

Which team will show up?