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 29, 1996

The Hockey News March 29, 1996

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>The 1995-96 London Knights are officially the worst team that ever was in Canadian junior hockey&hellip;but just barely.The Knights, with a record of 3-60-3, posted a winning percentage of.068. That was just under the.069 recorded by the 1977-78 Shawinigan Dynamos of the Quebec League (3-65-4).In all, the Knights claimed 11 OHL futility records and set or tied seven Canadian Hockey League marks.Among the OHL and CHL records set or tied were: fewest points (nine); fewest wins (three); fewest home wins (two-bed CHL record); longest losing and winless streaks to begin a season (17 games); longest home winless streak (19-tied CHL record); and fewest goals scored in 66-game schedule (179).The Knights set OHL marks for: longest winless streak (33 games); longest home losing streak (18 games); fewest goals scored (179); and fastest four goals against (60 seconds).&ldquo;You&rsquo;d think you&rsquo;d be relieved to get it over, but I&rsquo;m sad,&rdquo; goalie Eoin McInerney said after the Knights were outscored by 256 goals and outshot by almost 1,000. &ldquo;I already miss it.&rdquo;Needless to say, the Knights face a massive rebuilding job.&ldquo;The fans have been patient and understanding,&rdquo; said assistant coach Murray Nystrom. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s our turn to start lb ing up to our end.&rdquo;GOLD RUSH: The Peterborough Petes struck gold when they drafted Cameron Mann in the third round in 1993.Mann, from Balmertown, where the paved highway ends in northern Ontario, led the Petes this season with 42 goals and 101 points in 65 games, fifth in the OHL.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s as far as you can get and still be in Ontario,&rdquo; Petes&rsquo; GM Jeff Twohey said of Balmertown, where Mann&rsquo;s father is a shift boss in a gold mine.Mann, a fourth-round pick of the Boston Bruins in the 1995 draft, got a big recommendation for the Petes to draft him in 1993 from Chris Pronger, a former Peterborough defenseman.Mann was with a midget team in Kenora, three hours southwest of Balmertown. &ldquo;Chris had just come back from the World Junior Championship and we&rsquo;d sent him home (to Kenora) for a few days,&rdquo; Twohey said. &ldquo;We asked him to go and see Cameron play.&rdquo;Pronger came back with a glowing report and the rest is history.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01757/6254860-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="691" height="237"></div>ELBOW-TO-ELBOW: It will be standing room only for the Detroit Whalers in the playoffs. They&rsquo;ll be playing at their Oak Park practice arena, which holds only 1,800 spectators.The Whalers played 20 of 33 home games at The Palace of Auburn Hills, but with the National Basketball Association Detroit Pistons and International League Detroit Vipers both in the playoffs and a heavy concert schedule, the Whalers could not set their playoff dates well enough in advance for marketing.OHL commissioner Dave Branch said the league was aware the playoffs would be an issue after Detroit wasn&rsquo;t able to renew its lease at Joe Louis Arena.&ldquo;But this is a small price to pay to maintain the Detroit franchise in our league,&rdquo; he said.Whalers&rsquo; owner Peter Karmanos broke ground March 4 for a 4,000-seat arena in Ply-mouth Township. It&rsquo;s scheduled to be completed in late August.AROUND THE OHL: Ottawa 67&rsquo;s leading scorer Alyn McCauley suffered a sprained ankle March 8, but is expected to return for the second round of playoffs, which begin March 29. The 67&rsquo;s, first in the East Division, gained a first-round bye. McCauley had 34 goals and 82 points in 55 games&hellip;Detroit set an OHL record with its 28th shorthanded goal March 9 against the Windsor Spitfires. The old record was set by the Niagara Falls Thunder in 1988-89 and tied by the Oshawa Generals in 1990-91. &#9632;

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LEAGUES

Knightmare finally over for hapless London squad

IN THIS ISSUE

NHL ROSTERS AND TRANSACTIONS

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011540/6253298-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken Dryden will review the University of Moncton&rsquo;s hockey program.</figcaption></div>The University of Moncton Blue Eagles are hoping Hall of Fame goalie Ken Dryden can make his biggest save for them.Reeling after the vicious attack by several members of the Blue Eagles&rsquo; hockey team on a referee and subsequent criminal charges against them, the New Brunswick university is counting on an independent review by Dryden to restore credibility to the program.At stake is the future of Moncton&rsquo;s hockey program. The school set an April 15 deadline to decide whether it will compete next season or take a one-year leave of absence.The Atlantic Universities Athletic Association suspended three players and Blue Eagles&rsquo; coach Pete Belliveau following a Feb. 24 playoff game between Moncton and the host Prince Edward Island Panthers.Referee Brian Carragher was punched in the head and speared in the groin moments after he ruled UPEI had scored in overtime to clinch the semifinal series. Belliveau was accused of verbally abusing Carragher, who escaped serious injury.Moncton players Mathieu Bibeau and Frantz Bergevin-Jean were banned five years from university hockey, while goalie Pierre Gagnon received a two-year suspension. Belliveau got a five-game suspension by the AUAA and was suspended indefinitely by the school.Moncton also fired assistant coach Patrick Daviault and suspended player Sylvain Ducharme from its athletic program for their involvements in the incident.Charlottetown police charged Bergevin-Jean, Gagnon, Bibeau and Ducharme with assault and Daviault with damage to property March 15.All will appear in Charlottetown court April 25.Gagnon, a third-year player from Pievost, Que., who said before the game he wouldn&rsquo;t be returning for his fourth year, was the first to make contact with Carragher. Bibeau and Berg-evin-Jean, both Montreal natives in their fourth seasons, were seen throwing punches at the referee.Canadian Hockey will honor the AUAA suspensions, meaning the players will be banned from amateur hockey.While investigations continue, the University of Moncton commissioned Dryden to help put out the fire.The former Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; goaltending great, now a lawyer and author, was introduced at a news conference March 12.&ldquo;We feel confident Mr. Dryden&rsquo;s vast experience as a player, author, educator and sports advisor will bring instant credibility to this review and bring more weight to the recommendations that will result from this evaluation,&rdquo; said University of Moncton president Jean-Bernard Robichaud.As part of his investigation. Dryden will probe everything from recruiting practices to possible drug use to the incident in Charlottetown.Last season, Blue Eagles&rsquo; all-star defenseman Stacy Dallaire was suspended four years by the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union after testing positive for cocaine.NO OBSTRUCTION: The NHL has given its crackdown on obstruction fouls a vote of confidence through the end of the season.NHL vice-president Brian Burke said during a conference call that even though the law-and-order policy hasn&rsquo;t opened up the game a great deal, there has been no suggestion from the league to drop the mandate.&ldquo;Obstruction was killing the game,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;(The crackdown) has worked to a great extent, particularly in the neutral zone. We&rsquo;re absolutely not going to back away down the stretch.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021248/6253291-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="323" height="430"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pete Belliveau</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03827/6253284-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="320" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">F. Bergevin-Jean</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04457/6253277-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="324" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mathieu Bibeau</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-05228/6253270-1-eng-US/f0003-052.jpg" title="f0003-05" width="324" height="427"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pierre Gagnon</figcaption></div>The goal-per-game average is up slightly over last season (6.36 through March 14 compared to 5.97 in 199495) while there has been a 21 per-cent increase in restraining fouls.The additional penalties have not resulted in games dragging on. The average game is two hours, 37 minutes, up one minute from last season.PUPPA POWER: Another Puppa is coming up big in goal.Derek Puppa, the 24-year-old brother of Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Daren, helped secure the U.S. college Division II title for the University of Alabama in Huntsville.Alabama swept four-time defending champion Bemidji State University of Minnesota 7-1 and 3-0 March 8-9 to bring a Division II title south of the Mason-Dixon line for the first time ever. Puppa, a two-time Division II all-America goalie, stopped 49 of 50 shots in the two games at Von Braun Center in Huntsville.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the premier goalie in (Division II) hockey,&rdquo; said Bemidji coach Bob Peters. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going places.&rdquo;Mario Mazzuca led the Alabama offense with three goals.OVERTIME FRENZY: Four amateur teams have had enough of overtime, thank you very much.New Hampshire defeated Providence 3-2 to win the Eastern College Athletic Conference women&rsquo;s hockey championship in what was the longest game in U.S. college history.Brandy Fisher scored the winning goal at 5:35 of the fifth over time for the Wildcats, ending the March 9 game that lasted five hours and 35 minutes.At the Minnesota state high school championship. Apple Valley needed five overtime periods to defeat Duluth East 5-4 in a semifinal game before more than 16,000 fans March 9. The overtime periods alternated between eight and 15 minutes.Apple Valley goalie Karl Goehring was the hero, making 65 saves. The game ended at 1:40 a.m. Apple Valley won the tournament with a 3-2 win over Edina in the final.-With a file from Don Morrison &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

Dryden commissioned to probe misconduct

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SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01916/6255541-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div>RANGERS LOAD UP FOR CUP SUNSHINE STATE&rsquo;S TOP TEAM?Adieu, Forum Habs bid tearful farewell to game&rsquo;s greatest shrineJean BeliveauAn old ice age Leafs keep getting older, but are they any better?Wendel ClarkHere&rsquo;s who should be on Team Canada, U.S. at World CupAmerican Star Mike Modano &#9632;

Cover-01

WAR OF THE WORLD

<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/f0002-03820/6253201-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="346" height="430"></div>The NHL needs to apply its fighting rules with more discretion.If the league is going to allow fighting, it has to re-examine the penalty for the third man entering an altercation. Why? Because there are times when ejecting a player for entering an altercation amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Example: Florida Panthers&rsquo; center Rob Niedermayer was thrown out of a March 11 game after going to the aid of teammate Brad Smyth, who was attacked by Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; goon Jim Cummins.Niedermayer did the right thing. So did referee Lance Roberts, who had no choice but to eject Niedermayer. Rule 54 (d) stipulates a game misconduct be imposed against the first player to intervene in an altercation. There is one exception: players aren&rsquo;t ejected if they enter a fray in which a match penalty is being assessed. That addendum to the rule was made so players could intervene to protect teammates who are targets of deliberate attempts to injure-and rendered potentially unable to defend themselves. No match penalty was called against Cummins, so Niedermayer was ejected after rather passively trying to keep Cummins from whaling on a prone Smyth. To add injury to insult, Cummins broke Niedermayer&rsquo;s nose before the boys in the white and black coats got a straitjacket around the Blackhawk. Niedermayer was being restrained by linesman Ron Asselstine. (The NHL responded by suspending Cummins for eight games.)Nobody argues with the intent of 54 (d); that is, to prevent two-men altercations from mushrooming into 10-player brawls. The league says it&rsquo;s the officials&rsquo; responsibilities to halt hostilities. But there are situations where players have to intervene or teammates will be hurt. Referees should be given the option of handing out no penalty or two-minute penalties to intervenors-depending upon their intent. Otherwise, players have no reason to play peacemaker. They may as well come in aggressively because they&rsquo;re going to be ejected anyway.There has been at least one example of an official making a judicious call in a matter of this nature, although it&rsquo;s hard to say whether his ruling was within the rules. Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; right winger Mike Gartner dove in to protect teammate Ken Baumgartner after he was knocked down by the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; Brad May in a Feb. 10 game. Penalties were assessed, but Gartner was spared a game misconduct. It was a great call by referee Don van Massenhoven. But was it the right call? It was in my rulebook. &#9632;

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Sometimes, players have to enter fights

<h2>Forum farewell memorable night</h2>1. Adieu, Forum Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; tribute to Forum was done with dignity, class and reverence to its legends.2. Axemen tops Tiny Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., takes Canadian university hockey title.3. Milestone man Dependable, defensive rearguard Charlie Huddy quietly hits 1,000-game plateau.4. Good move Swift action by University of Moncton into referee assault shows school wants to see justice done.5. Player of week Daren Puppa adds to family with newborn, subtracts from GAA with one goal against in two games.<h2>Cummins down for eight-count</h2>1. Cool your heels Chicago goon Jim Cummins gets eight games for dastardly acts against Florida Panthers March 11.2. The Blunder Year London Knights finish season 3-60-3, receive dubious distinction of worst junior team ever.3. Colorado College Tigers make early playoff exit for third straight year after winning regular season crown.4. Fifty goals? Big deal Utica of Colonial League releases 50-goal man Mark Green for &ldquo;selfishness on and off ice.&rdquo;5. Canuck struggles Inconsistent Vancouver Canucks outscored 21-6 in three straight losses.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011386/6253239-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="328" height="460"><figcaption class="caption-body">Charlie Huddy</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021129/6253232-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="327" height="458"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Cummins</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-06147/6253329-1-eng-US/f0003-062.jpg" title="f0003-06" width="572" height="1078"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dale Hawerchuk</figcaption></div>The St. Louis Blues traded away a grizzled 32-year-old veteran in center Dale Hawerchuk and still managed to get older.In a deal between teams gearing up for a Stanley Cup run, the Blues sent Hawerchuk to the Philadelphia Flyers for 37-year-old checking center Craig MacTavish.Hawerchuk had been a disappointment for the Blues and coach-GM Mike Keenan, who signed him to a lucrative free agent contract last July. He had just 13 goals and 41 points in 61 games. MacTavish, the only NHLer to not wear a helmet, had five goals and 13 points in 55 games.In acquiring MacTavish, Keenan gets another player with whom he&rsquo;s familiar. The heady center known for his defensive play and faceoff skills brings to 10 the number of current Blues&rsquo; players Keenan has coached in other stops.In another trade March 15, the Vancouver Canucks sent enigmatic left winger Roman Oksiuta to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for underachieving right winger Mike Sillinger. &#9632;

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MacTavish, Hawerchuk swapped

A weekly compendium of significant events and developments (March 8-15).March 10: Acadia defeats Waterloo 3-2 to capture Canadian university championship.March 11: Montreal beats Dallas 4-1 in final game ever at the Montreal Forum. Canadiens&rsquo; Hall of Famers honored at dramatic post-game ceremony. Maurice (Rocket) Richard receives 10-minute standing ovation.March 12: Two University of Moncton players suspended five years for attacking referee after playoff game. Two others suspended two years, the coach five games. Ken Dryden appointed to conduct review of hockey program.March 13: Toronto acquires Wendel Clark, Mathieu Schneider and junior D.J. Smith from Islanders for Kenny Jonsson, Darby Hendrickson, junior Sean Haggerty and Leafs&rsquo; first-round pick in 1997. Dave Andreychuk traded to New Jersey for two draft picks.March 14: Rangers acquire Jari Kurri, Marty McSorely and Shane Churla from Los Angeles for Ray Ferraro, Mattias Norstrom, Ian Laper-riere, Nathan LaFayette and a fourth-round pick in 1997.Chicago&rsquo;s Jim Cummins suspended eight games for attack on Brad Smyth and Rob Niedermayer of Florida. &#9632;

Fond farewell to Forum; Rangers, Leafs make big deals

I was shocked to see John Tonelli absent from your list of future Hall of Fame inductees (THN, March 8).If any hockey fan has made the mistake that plow horses are not as important as thoroughbreds, Tonelli&rsquo;s four Stanley Cups, his selection to the second all-star team in 1982 and his MVP in the 1984 Canada Cup should serve as a reminder.At the very least, Tonelli deserves a longshot induction (two-star rating).Michael Henneberry,&nbsp; Milton, Ont.<h2>Isles are Famers</h2>Brian Costello brings up some good points in his &ldquo;Hall Overhaul&rdquo; story. But I must say I disagree with some of his thoughts.While I agree the qualifications for induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame should be strict, I believe Clark Gillies, Butch Goring and John Tonelli should all be in.Let me tell you why.&#9633; Gillies helped define the fashionably new position of power forward. He was a skilled goal scorer and feared fighter, as well as a first-team all-star twice.&#9633; Goring won the Conn Smythe and Lady Byng Trophies and if the Selke Trophy had been awarded in the early 1970s, he would have surely won. Goring was the premier twoway forward of his time.&#9633; Tonelli was considered by many in the early 1980s to be one of the best players in the NHL. He was also the most valuable player in the 1984 Canada Cup.While none of these players would be considered superstars, they all made significant contributions to a Stanley Cup dynasty. No offense to Bernie Federko or Rick Middleton-great players in their own right-but they do not fall into this category.Scott Weinstein,&nbsp; Island Park, N. Y.<h2>Jagr has Hart</h2>Thank you, Steve Dryden, for pointing out Jaromir Jagr as a serious Hart Trophy contender (THN, March 8).It was inevitable that the media would pass Jagr by in their obsession to monitor Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s every breath since his return, but it&rsquo;s time to get over it and take a look at the statistics. Jagr led the league in goals, shots on goal, game-winning goals and, in my opinion, highlight-film goals.No one can handle the puck or challenge defensemen like Jagr can. If this were any other year, there would be no question about his consideration.Fortunately, Jagr is young and healthy and has most likely not yet reached his peak. I have no doubt his day will come.Jo Ann Bawol,&nbsp; Erie, Pa.<h2>Who cares, Stan?</h2>A few comments on Stan Fischler&rsquo;s column in the March 1 edition:Stan, don&rsquo;t you have anything better to worry about than whether or not Paul Kariya does live interviews between periods? I&rsquo;ve seen him in many taped interviews and he seems very approachable and articulate.What is so precious about these segments, anyway? Rarely do we ever &ldquo;really get to know the lad&rdquo; being interviewed. All we get is soft questions about how the team has been playing lately and what it will take to continue a hot streak or turn around a cold one. Then the player gives the company line about hard work and taking it one game at a time.What other major sport allows its stars to be pulled from the locker room during a game? If the fact that Kariya won&rsquo;t speak to the media during the game makes him a bad salesman for hockey, it&rsquo;s a wonder how Michael Jordan and the National Bas-ketball Association ever achieved such popularity.John Gworek,&nbsp; Indiana, Pa.<h2>Thanks for nothing</h2>Thanks, ESPN2, for robbing hockey fans in the U.S.The network hypes the final Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; game at the Forum and viewers anxiously sit through a game that is over in the second period.The game ends and the closing ceremony is about to take place. The moment arrives when the torch is to be passed through the hands of the former Canadien captains to the current one, Pierre Turgeon.But fans in the U.S. are shut out from this because ESPN cuts to a taped show prior to the conclusion of the passing of the torch.What will ESPN2&rsquo;s next move be-to show the Stanley Cup final and cut out before the presentation of the Cup?Andre Palai,&nbsp; Redondo Beach, Calif.<h2>What happened?</h2>After suffering through the Washington Capitals-Boston Bruins yawnfest on March 2, I had to wonder what ever happened to the strict crackdown on interference we heard so much about early in the season.The NHL talked such a good game back then. Referees would call the rampant obstruction and Brian Burke and Gary Bettman were adamant they would be called throughout the season and the playoffs.But now we&rsquo;re right back to seeing games with all the speed and excitement of a tractor pull. The Bruins-Capitals snoozer, featuring the &ldquo;anything goes&rdquo; approach of referee Richard Trottier, illustrated how much the enforcement of the obstruction rules has slipped. Players from both teams were blatantly holding and interfering with opponents all over the ice, secure in the knowledge that Trottier would not penalize them.It&rsquo;s sad the NHL has failed to stick to its guns on this issue. Once again, the league has shown its lack of vision and, once again, the fans are the big losers.Don McKeever,&nbsp; Attleboro, Mass.<h2>Split the Selke</h2>While all the marketing today emphasizes high-scoring forwards and defensemen, as well as goaltenders with miniscule goals-against averages, the forgotten players are the stay-at-home defensemen.The Selke Trophy recognizes defensive play, but is limited to &ldquo;the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game.&rdquo; Other than players and coaches, nobody really recognizes defensive excellence among defensemen.Come playoff time, team defense is the difference between the winners and losers, something the New Jersey Devils proved last season. Even the Pittsburgh Penguins didn&rsquo;t win the Cup until Ulf and Kjell Samuelsson came along.The Norris Trophy is supposed to go to the best all-around defenseman, but since Rod Langway won in 1984, it has gone to the best offensive defensemen. Although Ray Bourque and Chris Chelios are no slouches in their own end, they won their Norrises based on offensive achievement. That Paul Coffey won the Norris last year was a farce.It is time an award be given to the best defensive defenseman at the end of the year. One possible scenario would be that the Selke be made eligible to the best defensive player, either forward or defenseman. Another would see the Selke have co-winners, one forward and one defenseman. That way, defensive defensemen would get their due.Kendall Giberson,&nbsp; Woodstock, N.B.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.,&rsquo; 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;

Tonelli and friends merit place in Hall

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011469/6253439-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<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/f0006-011645/6253484-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="343" height="429"></div>Lou Lamoriello has got his list and he&rsquo;s checking it twice, but that&rsquo;s about all the GM of Team USA expected to get done before the NHL trading deadline passed.Until March 20, his focus was to remain the defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils-his other team.&ldquo;I have a list of every eligible player and I made up my mind I wouldn&rsquo;t look at it until the 21st,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;I had USA Hockey send me the eligibility list and I&rsquo;m cross-referencing it to make sure nobody is left off because that has happened in the past.&rdquo;Glen Sather, too, had not yet assembled a team of candidates and still had to confer with associates Pat Quinn (Vancouver) and Bob Gainey (Dallas) on the make-up of Team Canada.Both GMs politely declined to talk in any detail about their entries in the 1996 World Cup, so The Hockey News has stepped into the breach and taken a first stab at naming the American and Canadian teams.This much you can be assured: Canada will have its usual blend of finesse and ferocity and the U.S. will be better equipped than ever to contend with the probable pre-toumament favorite.The U.S. talent pool keeps expanding and while the Americans still don&rsquo;t have the depth Canada boasts, they have abundant high-end talent at forward, strong defense and capable goaltending.Canada won four of five Canada Cup tournaments, including the final event in 1991 (defeating the U.S. in the final), because it had the best combination of greatness and gritness. Its lineup is expected to be no different for the inaugural World Cup. Certainly, THN&rsquo;s Canadian lineup has both qualities. Consider the median 199596 projected totals in goals and penalty minutes for our 15 forwards is 45 goals and 105 penalty minutes. That compares to 29 goals and 82 minutes for our Americans. (See table at right.)American star Jeremy Roenick told THN March 7 the U.S. will win the premier World Cup and predicted it will do so by fighting Canadian fire with fire. Lamoriello, for one, has no doubt he has plenty of grit at his disposal. &ldquo;I certainly feel that we&rsquo;ve got some tough kids,&rdquo; he said.THN&rsquo;s Canadian lineup includes the usual suspects and a few prospects (Chris Osgood, Ed Jovanovski and Jason Arnott), who will benefit from exposure to international competition in anticipation of them playing important parts in the 1998 Olympics and 2000 World Cup. That same philosophy was followed in choosing an American side.Several players on both teams are out of position on our depth charts and proposed line and defense combinations (see below); both Lamoriello and Sather agreed that is likely and foresee no problems for the players.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021125/6253477-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="1178" height="1376"><figcaption class="caption-body">Theoren Fleury is THN&rsquo;s choice as Canada&rsquo;s first line right winger.</figcaption></div>We have confidence players such as Mark Messier, Eric Lindros and Roenick will make the switch from center to the wing for the good of their teams and to maximize ice time for the glut of standout centers. Check out our line combinations; there are some unique trios.On the Canadian team is Wayne Gretzky although many people believe he no longer belongs in that elite company and would love to see Adam Oates (Boston) on the team. But that&rsquo;s not the way we see it. Nor Sather. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll do a lot,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t be worried about Wayne Gretzky.&rdquo;We are assuming good health and good spirits (translation: willingness to play) for virtually all players.Listed on this page are three goalies, eight defensemen and 15 skaters for both teams. World Cup teams are permitted to have 23 skaters and three goalies on their rosters. The NHL-packed Canadian and U.S. teams, as well as all other NHLers in the eight-team tournament, are scheduled to be named between April 4 and 15.Many believe Sather will end up coaching the Canadian team, but if that doesn&rsquo;t happen our suggestion is for Scotty Bowman (Detroit) to get the job with Larry Robinson (Los Angeles) and Marc Crawford (Colorado) acting as assistants. It&rsquo;s thought Lamoriello is leaning toward Ron Wilson (Anaheim) as his coach. An obvious candidate is Mike Milbury (Islanders). Two candidates to fill the assistants&rsquo; roles are ex-NHL coach Paul Holmgren and Robbie Ftorek, coach of the Albany River Rats&rsquo;, New Jersey&rsquo;s American League affiliate.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03718/6253470-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="2393" height="979"></div> &#9632;

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FEATURES

Guts & goals lethal combo at World Cup

Canada&rsquo;s depth at forward shines through in a comparison of THN choices for Canadian and American entries at the 1996 World Cup.We projected each player&rsquo;s 1995-96 statistics over a full season, grouped them by position and determined median productivity at defense, left wing, center and right wing. Also determined was the median individual performance for all 15 forwards; it&rsquo;s impossible to predict what positions they will occupy-although we have offered our suggestions-so the most accurate measurement is of the group as a whole.The collective forwards&rsquo; median American totals are 29 goals, 39 assists, 72 points and 82 penalty minutes; the median Canadian totals are substantially higher: 45 goals, 53 assists, 101 points and 105 penalty minutes.We produced median totals on the advice of American GM Lou Lamoriello, who said they are more revealing than averages in small groups. Blame him if you don&rsquo;t understand our mathematics. Just kidding, Lou.Also listed is each player&rsquo;s age as of the tournament&rsquo;s start, Aug. 26.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04445/6253515-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="570" height="2009"></div>*Blake has missed most of this season with a knee injury. He is expected to be ready next fall. Al lafrate isn&rsquo;t on the U.S. roster because he hasn&rsquo;t played a full season since 1993-94. If healthy, he would replace Shawn Chambers. &#9632;

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Our stats package

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpiniello</div>The New York Rangers&rsquo; latest blockbuster trade had all the usual markings.Their payroll grew. They got older. They got much bigger. They gave up more young players. And they got more ex-Edmonton Oilers.But this is a trade which can&rsquo;t be judged until the Rangers have played their final game this spring&hellip;and on whether or not they win that game.If the Rangers win the Stanley Cup-as they did after a flurry of get-bigger, get-older, get-Oilers trades in 1993-94-nobody in New York will care they gave up three prospects (Mattias Norstrom, Ian Laperriere and Nathan LaFayette) a popular center in Ray Ferraro and a fourthround 1997 draft pick to the Los Angeles Kings.In return, the Rangers got Jan Kurri, who turns 36 in May, and who is an unrestricted free agent after this season, plus big ruffians Marty McSorley and Shane Churla. In terms of size, they now have no concern about matching up physically with the Philadelphia Flyers or New Jersey Devils in a post-season series.But what if they lose in the playoffs? It remains a possibility because the Rangers did not have the answer to some of their key questions, even after the trade.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011493/6253546-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="340" height="338"></div>Their offense, after the No. 1 forward line of Mark Messier, injured Pat Verbeek and Adam Graves, has been very inconsistent. Unless Kurri makes a remarkable return to the form of his glory days, that problem remains.They take far too many penalties-McSorley and Churla won&rsquo;t help there-though Kurri could help kill some of them.And No. 1 goalie Mike Richter still was uncertain about whether his injured groin would be fully healed for a playoff run. Richter, who had played just 11 minutes since tearing a groin muscle Dec. 30, planned to return shortly before the March 20 trading deadline. A lot of hockey people believe therein lies the Rangers&rsquo; chances.Rangers&rsquo; president-GM Neil Smith said he&rsquo;d heard all the howling before, about giving up portions of the team&rsquo;s future in go-for-it-now deals.He heard it when he traded then-youngish Tony Granato and Tomas Sandstrom for Bernie Nicholls, and young Ulf Dahlen for Mike Gartner. He heard it when he dealt Doug Weight for Esa Tikkanen. He heard it when he traded Steven Rice and Louie DeBrusk in the Mark Messier package. He heard it when he traded Michael Stewart and a first-round draft pick for Verbeek. He heard it when he dealt Todd Marchant for Craig MacTavish and Tony Amonte for Stephane Matteau and Brian Noonan. He even heard it when he lost Troy Mallette as compensation for signing Graves.Yet, somehow, the Rangers have remained, through all of it, one of the top teams in the NHL during Smith&rsquo;s tenure.So he deserves the benefit of the doubt. It should also be pointed out that Smith needs to go for it. He is heading into the final year of his contract and the new owners of Madison Square Garden have shown little interest in renewing him and putting his salary on a level with other team executives who have won far less than Smith has.But you have to wonder.Norstrom, by the accounts of all the players who played with him, will be a terrific, physical defenseman. For whatever reason, the Rangers never gave him a chance.Laperriere was a player they really wanted when St. Louis came looking for Matteau in December, a feisty 22-year-old who could have been a long time Ranger.LaFayette, though banished to the minors this year, was acquired at the cost of goalie Corey Hirsch.Ferraro, who was rumored to be going to Calgary for Joe Nieuwendyk and to Los Angeles for Wayne Gretzky, didn&rsquo;t want to go anywhere. He signed a three-year contract, for $ 1.6 million per year, as a free agent last summer, fleeing the Islanders for a shot at the Cup. He said over and over that he wanted to stay in New York.There is also a money factor, though all amounts were insignificant for the final 14 games of 1995-96. Kurri, if he decides to stay in North America, won&rsquo;t demand the $2 million he now gets annually, but will be costly. McSorley&rsquo;s $1.9 million per is one of the most incredible salaries in the NHL, and it may dictate the Rangers can&rsquo;t afford their own behemoth defenseman and free-agent-to-be Jeff Beukeboom.Verbeek is also up for a raise as an unrestricted free agent and the payroll already is swollen beyond reality.The price the Rangers paid for their latest big deal was high. And there is only one way to judge whether it was too big a gamble.That will come in June. Or sooner. &#9632;

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COLUMNISTS

Smith rolls dice again

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div>Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; GM Cliff Fletcher said the trade to repatriate civic hero Wendel Clark was designed with the future in mind as well as the present.That left some people wondering just which future the boss was talking about.It wasn&rsquo;t the one he had been touting earlier in the season, with goalie Felix Potvin, center Mats Sundin and defenseman Kenny Jonsson as the pillars around which the Leafs would build their franchise once Doug Gilmour & Co., were gone.To get Clark, 26-year-old defenseman Mathieu Schneider and junior defenseman D.J. Smith, Jonsson was shipped to the New York Islanders. Center Darby Hendrick-son, Detroit Whalers&rsquo; junior star Sean Haggerty and the Leafs&rsquo; No. 1 pick in the 1997 draft went with him.To accommodate the new $3.2-million (U.S.) worth of contract in Clark and Schneider, Fletcher dumped former 50-goal left winger Dave Andreychuk to the New Jersey Devils for second-and third-round draft picks.Clearly, Fletcher&rsquo;s vision of the Leafs&rsquo; future is not built around top draft picks.Potvin, drafted in 1990, is the only Leaf first-or second-round pick of the past five years still with the team. Added to that, the Leafs have no first-or second-round pick in 1996 and no first-rounder in 1997.And if it is afuture built around a Stanley Cup run this season, it&rsquo;s highly questionable whether the Leafs have the team do it.After playing well and jumping out to a 21-14-7 start Jan. 10, they went 5-17-5 and found themselves fighting for a playoff spot in the weak Western Conference.All of which had the critics saying the trade had nothing to do with the future and everything to do with panic over a season gone sour.Fletcher said the Leafs&rsquo; losing skid had nothing to do with the trade&rsquo;s timing, that he had been trying to acquire Clark and Schneider for months.And he would have been just as prepared then to give up Jonsson, the team&rsquo;s best defenseman at 21.&ldquo;Wendel is an inspirational leader, that we all know, and how do you measure that?&rdquo; Fletcher said. &ldquo;Mathieu Schneider today is a better defenseman than Kenny Jonsson, period. We would have made this trade in December.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021002/6253577-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="952" height="1967"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Leafs think Mathieu Schneider can make a difference.</figcaption></div>The players, even those who weren&rsquo;t with Toronto when Clark was traded to the Quebec Nordiques in 1994, were thrilled to get Clark back.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to push us, push the whole franchise,&rdquo; Sundin said.When he arrived in Toronto the day after the trade, Clark, 29, said he felt healthy, happy and young again.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very exciting, very new,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It has been two years and now I&rsquo;m an 11-year rookie.&rdquo;But fan reaction was surprisingly muted when the trade was posted on the Maple Leafs Gardens scoreboard between periods of a March 13 game against the Winnipeg Jets. The scattered cheers didn&rsquo;t indicate the depth of passion Toronto fans still feel for Clark, who in his first nine seasons in Toronto had come to represent the city as much as 10-hour work days and the CN Tower. There was something else.This business about trading for battle-worn veterans, they have seen before. Kirk Muller, Dave Gagner and Larry Murphy, among others, have arrived and so far, it hasn&rsquo;t worked.But Fletcher is unequivocal in his belief trades and veterans are the path to a winner.Veterans because most good teams, he said, are old. For those who suggest giving up promising youth for older, proven talent spells a step backward for the Leafs, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d have to suggest they&rsquo;re not up to date in how the NHL runs.&rdquo;It did hold true last year. The top six defensemen for the Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils averaged 29 years and their top 12 forwards, 28. The Detroit Red Wings were 31 and 27.When the playoffs begin April 16, the Leafs will average 28 at forward and 30 on defense.And besides, Fletcher said. Leaf fans wouldn&rsquo;t put up with the losses while waiting for a large crop of young players to develop together.&ldquo;That wouldn&rsquo;t be acceptable here in Toronto,&rdquo; Fletcher said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t have that situation here.&rdquo;But with 13 games to play, these veteran Leafs were still fighting to see the post-season.&ldquo;Should we concentrate on hockey or on whether or not we gave up too much?&rdquo; said defenseman Todd Gill. &ldquo;The only pressure I&rsquo;m concerned with is making the playoffs.&rdquo;Sundin, a baby at 25, feels it too.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not a very young hockey club,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In the next few years here we&rsquo;ve got to do some damage.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Wendel’s Re-Leaf

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011560/6253608-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Oleg Tverdovsky hopes to restore his fragile confidence in Winnipeg.</figcaption></div>Two short years ago, the sparkling gold charm that hangs around the neck of 19-year-old sophomore defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky represented his hockey past, present and future.He designed it himself after the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim selected him second overall in the 1994 entry draft. Golden letters &lsquo;NHL&rsquo; are inset into a reverse gold pyramid-the background of the Ducks&rsquo; logo. A silver &lsquo;10&rsquo; of tiny diamonds shimmers on the front, embedded in the pyramid.Tverdovsky enlisted a Toronto jeweller to make it for $500. He had worn the No. 10 since he was seven.The number Tverdovsky eventually wants back-Alexei Zhamnov wears 10 on his new club, the Winnipeg Jets-but not the team.Tverdovsky and Ducks&rsquo; coach Ron Wilson had less than a golden rapport.Wilson says Tverdovsky was progressing well before his trade to the Jets along with rookie center Chad Kilger, but the opportunity to acquire Teemu Selanne was too good to pass up. Tverdovsky says he is happy Wilson and GM Jack Ferreira felt that way.Wilson&rsquo;s overbearing emphasis on mistake-free hockey, he says, destroyed his confidence and cramped his style.Teenagers with seven goals and 20 assists in 68 games don&rsquo;t often engage in verbal battles with ex-coaches, but Tverdovsky says more freedom and ice time would have brought better results.Hockey is an art for the smoothskating, offense-minded Russian; all Wilson wanted him to do was paint stick men; get the puck inside your own blueline, blast it off the glass, clear the zone, start over.It&rsquo;s a play as common as an offside, especially on a team as short on skill as the Ducks, but Tverdovsky took it as an insult.&ldquo;I feel stupid,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;You give the puck away and they come again. I&rsquo;m a player who can put the puck on the tape, so there&rsquo;s no way I&rsquo;m going to&hellip;&rdquo; He swore in frustration.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s stupid to me, just stupid. Everybody can do that. Why did they draft me if they didn&rsquo;t want this kind of player? Draft somebody else.&rdquo;Tverdovsky says he was frequently benched near the end of games in Anaheim and never told why. He vows next year will be different.&ldquo;I used to play different hockey than I played in Anaheim. I cannot explain it. I used to control the game, have the puck, be confident what I&rsquo;m doing. Sometimes (in Winnipeg) I&rsquo;m confused, because when I got here the first couple of games I was surprised how good the hockey is here, not that stupid, simple hockey we played in Anaheim.&ldquo;In Anaheim I felt like I didn&rsquo;t have any respect from the organization. Here they talk to me after every game, they tell me what is wrong.&rdquo;The broadside attack is, in Wilson&rsquo;s eyes, unwarranted.&ldquo;I think Oleg is still disappointed he was traded,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;When he was playing well, he played in any situation. I&rsquo;ve never known an 18-year-old to come in and completely dominate right off the bat, and we didn&rsquo;t expect that. I disagree that he was stifled.&rdquo;Wilson says he didn&rsquo;t want to jeopardize Anaheim&rsquo;s chance to win by playing him in obvious defensive situations. Nor did he want to overexpose Tverdovsky to high-powered offenses such as the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; because his confidence could get burned.Tverdovsky says the only thing that ruins his confidence is not playing.Tverdovsky&rsquo;s attitude had some in the Ducks&rsquo; organization questioning his maturity, whether he preferred individual victories over those of the team. It wasn&rsquo;t the cause of the trade, but it didn&rsquo;t hurt.Tverdovsky&rsquo;s season was further upended in January when his mother was abducted in Ukraine and held for ransom. She was eventually released unharmed (see pg. 18 for more).In Winnipeg, the job of tutoring Tverdovsky falls to assistant coach Randy Carlyle. He knows constant communication with the young star about when he has the green light will be crucial to his success.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t try to restrict him from going if he&rsquo;s going to make it an oddman rush in our favor,&rdquo; Carlyle says.The Jets also let him kill penalties, something he didn&rsquo;t do for one shift of his life as a Duck. Tverdovsky sat slumped in his stall, exhausted and happy, after a March 13 tie with the Toronto Maple Leafs: he played about 25 minutes, his most ever in the NHL.Still, he has much to learn. He had just five assists in 17 games as a Jet.But he&rsquo;s smart enough not to buy a new gold chain with a Jets&rsquo; logo.&ldquo;Oh no,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;you never know where you where you are going.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Relieved Tverdovsky severing Anaheim ties

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021220/6253639-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="382" height="506"></div>He is nothing if not contrary. Tell Mike Keenan that something cannot be done and he will go out of his way to disprove your theory.Example: the concept no NHL goalie can play in all 82 games. The conventional wisdom states with the lengthy schedule and burdensome travel, no goaltender can possibly stay fresh for the playoff run if he doesn&rsquo;t get a break sometime between October and April. This has been the mainstream thinking for so long it has gradually become accepted as gospel.So there were the St. Louis Blues, 15 games away from the regular season conclusion, and Grant Fuhr had started every game. Now everybody thinks Keenan is nuts for letting it drag on this long, but it&rsquo;d be too bad if Fuhr didn&rsquo;t get the chance to play every game-just to prove it can be done. Think of it as his personal Mt. Everest. He played the games because, well, because they were there.Thirty years ago, when the one-goalie system was the norm, all six NHL teams were based in the same geographic cluster. Accordingly, the travel was easier, right? Well, actually, no. A 10hour train ride is just as taxing as a coast-to-coast flight from New York to Los Angeles. They didn&rsquo;t wear masks and yet, one way or another, these intrepid men, from Glenn Hall to Eddie Johnston, played every night they weren&rsquo;t injured.&ldquo;Perception or commentary about something doesn&rsquo;t make it real,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always taken one goaltender and played him in 90 per cent of the games in my career in the National League. It&rsquo;s just something I believe in. I&rsquo;ve had very good luck. Five of the goaltenders I&rsquo;ve coached have won the Vezina Trophy.&rdquo;(Those winners were Pelle Lindbergh, Ron Hextall, Ed Belfour, Dominik Hasek and Fuhr.)Presumably, Keenan didn&rsquo;t start out planning to deploy Fuhr this way. In October, the reason to play him every game was clear: Keenan didn&rsquo;t have a lot of options. Nobody else on the roster had ever been an NHL No. 1 for any length of time.Following a training camp dispute over Fuhr&rsquo;s excessive poundage, playing the goalie nightin, night-out enabled Keenan to accomplish two things. First, by demonstrating confidence in Fuhr, it enabled the two to constructively mend fences. Moreover, playing so much helped Fuhr get into shape.For his part, Fuhr responded with startlingly good health and play. In recent years, he has been troubled by various injuries-from a wonky shoulder that has been bothering him for a decade to back and knee problems.Gradually, the idea evolved. Keenan didn&rsquo;t need to turn to Pat Jablonski or Bruce Racine or now Jon Casey, not when Fuhr was getting stronger every day.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like the first year with Ron Hextall,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;He played 10 of 11 pre-season games. He started Game I and I said, &lsquo;You&rsquo;ll start tonight and we&rsquo;ll go from there.&rsquo; He was still playing 70 games later.&rdquo;Does Fuhr need a rest to gear up for a potentially long and fruitful playoff run? Not according to him. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to play them all, but it&rsquo;s not my choice,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s up to Mike. I&rsquo;ll play at many as he lets me.&rdquo;Unlike some NHL goalies, Fuhr possesses just the right carefree attitude to go the distance &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re enjoying it and having fun with it, it can be done,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think that might be the difference between me and some other guys. Some guys don&rsquo;t see it as fun. I enjoy it every day.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Fuhr, Keenan dispelling NHL gospel

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011492/6253677-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="380" height="537"></div>By the middle of the season, it became apparent the state of Florida would host its first playoff game this spring. The surprise now is that first Sunshine State post-season game may be in Tampa, not Miami.In an amazing turnaround, the Tampa Bay Lightning have stolen the spotlight in Florida from the Panthers. While coach Doug MacLean&rsquo;s crew struggled through the first half of March, coach Terry Crisp&rsquo;s Lightning were the hottest team in the NHL.A 1-1 with Philadelphia March 13 kept the Lightning just three points behind the Flyers for fourth in the Eastern Conference and the final home-ice advantage berth in the first round.But fearful of being burned, Crisp is warning his players and fans about getting too excited.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a long, long way to go,&rdquo; Crisp said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s this time of the season that the games get very, very tough. I think the danger here is that people see how well we&rsquo;ve played and just assume that we&rsquo;ll keep winning games like this or getting points like this.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s going to get tougher and the team knows it&rsquo;s going to get tougher.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021060/6253670-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="508" height="879"><figcaption class="caption-body">Daren Puppa</figcaption></div>But the ride so far has been fun. During the 1-1 tie in Philadelphia, Daren Puppa looked like a Vezina Trophy candidate, stopping 42 of 43 shots. The tie gave the Lightning a beautiful picket fence record of 11-1-1 in a 13-game stretch and gave Puppa a record of 7-0-1 in his eight starts with a 1.63 goals-against average.The lone goal by the Flyers ended a streak of two consecutive shutouts for Puppa, who also took time out to be with his wife in between those shutouts for the birth of their second child, Isabelle Megan. In other words, what began as a nightmare season for the Lightning has turned into a fairy tale.Through the first half of the season and well into the new year, the Lightning were forced to read, watch and hear stories about the success of their counterparts in south Florida. There was a time when half the team was rumored to be on the trade block, while the heads of GM Phil Esposito and Crisp were on the chopping blocks.Brian Bradley? Seemed like he was going to be traded every week from October to January. Daren Puppa? Same deal.Instead, Esposito is close to signing a new deal with the owners of the club, while Crisp, in the last year of a contract, is gaining bargaining lever-age.&ldquo;I think you&rsquo;ve got to give Phil credit for being patient,&rdquo; Crisp said. &ldquo;He said we had a seven-year plan and he didn&rsquo;t want to give away some of the key players. As a coach, maybe you want some quick changes, I&rsquo;m like everybody else, but Phil wanted to stay (the course.)&rdquo;Esposito&rsquo;s patience stands in stark contrast to his early record as a GM with the New York Rangers when he shuffled the deck like a black jack dealer. But with his new approach, things finally, gradually, started turning around in November. Since starting the season 4-10-4, the Lightning was 28-16-6 (.640 winning percentage) in its next 50 games.What&rsquo;s the secret?&ldquo;It will sound like a cliche, but we&rsquo;re just digging our heels in,&rdquo; Crisp said, &ldquo;and if you want to ask me to go one step deeper than that, then you look at Daren Puppa. Mind you, one important part of all of this is that we were relying too much on him in the early season and when he was hurt I think the team thought they could not win.&rdquo;The turning point came when Jeff Reese won consecutive games against the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres and Hartford Whalers when Puppa was injured. The team did not fall apart. In the meantime, defenseman Roman Hamrlik continued his progress towards the league&rsquo;s elite and the rest of the soldiers did their jobs.&ldquo;From here is where it gets real tough,&rdquo; Crisp said. &ldquo;Now, we&rsquo;ll see if we can win the really tough battles.&rdquo;Maybe so, but they&rsquo;ve already won a major battle by being a playoff contender very deep into the season. Taking some of the Florida sunshine from the Panthers has been a nice reward, too. &#9632;

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Lightning grabbing share of sunshine

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03677/6253708-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Thomas New Jersey Devils</figcaption></div>He is the player who replaced Claude Lemieux in a New Jersey Devils&rsquo; sweater.Regardless of Steve Thomas&rsquo; past, he was destined to be compared this season to Lemieux, who left his mark forever on Devils&rsquo; history by winning the Conn Smythe Trophy during the franchise&rsquo;s first Stanley Cup championship.But the real pressure, Thomas claimed, hasn&rsquo;t yet arrived.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that test has come yet,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;I think my test is the playoffs. I&rsquo;m going to go out and play the way I can play and try to contribute the way I can contribute. I&rsquo;m not going to put that much pressure on myself to try and equal what he did, but after the playoffs I want people to say: &lsquo;That guy is a good player.&rsquo; &ldquo;Devils&rsquo; coach Jacques Lemaire and GM Lou Lamoriello have been saying it for years. Both claimed Thomas was on a short list of &ldquo;players worth obtaining&rdquo; years ago.That opportunity arose during training camp when Lemieux challenged the legality of his contract and took the Devils to arbitration in an attempt to become an unrestricted free agent. The Devils accused Lemieux of going from Conn Smythe to con artist. He lost an arbitration hearing and was soon after banished by the Devils, who rescued Thomas from the New York Islanders.In a three-team trade Oct. 3, the Devils got Thomas, Lemieux went to the Colorado Avalanche and Wendel Clark went from Colorado to the Islanders.&ldquo;I think Steve will be fine in the playoffs,&rdquo; Lemaire said. &ldquo;Everyone will be talking about him and looking at him in the playoffs, but he can&rsquo;t put pressure on himself because of that. He&rsquo;s everything we expected and he will get better.&rdquo;It has been suggested Lemaire&rsquo;s conservative, defense-minded approach to the game is a death sentence for goal scorers. The Devils, the theory goes, can magically trans-form a 40-goal scorer into a 20-goal man.Thomas never argued that point, but after an 11-year NHL career in which he collected 269 goals and no Stanley Cup rings, he has seen the value of the neutral zone trap and the sit-back style that has become the Devils&rsquo; trademark.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m 32 now and I want a chance to win a Stanley Cup. I feel like I have a pretty good chance to win a Cup here,&rdquo; he said.As the Devils came together with a nine-game unbeaten streak to signal their charge to the playoffs, Thomas was at the forefront as the club&rsquo;s most dangerous scorer.He scored three goals in back-to-back overtime victories against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers and had a hand in both winning goals. In all, Thomas had 23 goals and 55 points in 66 games.&ldquo;I think I know the system a little more than I used to. I&rsquo;ve found out less is more,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;If you play well through the neutral zone, you&rsquo;re going to get chances to score if you create turnovers.It&rsquo;s a matter of waiting for them to come to you and being in the right position.&rdquo;While Thomas has conformed to the system, he hasn&rsquo;t lost that edge in his game teammates respect.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a sparkplug,&rdquo; said captain Scott Stevens. &ldquo;He gets the guys going. He&rsquo;s feisty and he hits. Steve is fearless.&rdquo;Almost true. Thomas&rsquo; biggest fear was watching his career hit a dead end with the Islanders. After coming off a stellar 42-goal effort in 1993-94, Thomas became unhappy about his contract situation the following season and sunk to 11 goals in 47 games.&ldquo;Quite a few things bothered me that year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They traded Pierre Turgeon, who was having a bad year in a 48-game schedule. They weren&rsquo;t happy with the way he was playing so they bailed out on a guy who was only 25 and could be a franchise player for a long time.&rdquo;Though Long Island isn&rsquo;t far from the Meadowlands, Thomas is miles closer to achieving his career goal in New Jersey.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played unbelievably since the All-Star Game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a credit to our coaching staff and the players. Everyone is going all out every night. It&rsquo;s important for us to keep this ball rolling.&rdquo;<h2>HOW STEVE STACKS UP</h2>Steve Thomas knows comparisons to Claude Lemieux are inevitable, especially during the playoffs. Here&rsquo;s how the principals of last fall&rsquo;s big three-team trade have fared this season. &#9632;

f0009-03

Replacement player

<div class="byline">By Robyn Norwood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021164/6253739-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="572" height="977"><figcaption class="caption-body">Teemu Selanne</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011555/6253746-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="162" height="163"></div>So who is the playmaker and who is the goal-scorer?It you thought Paul Kariya would be setting up Teemu Selanne, take another look, because their roles have often been reversed with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.Scarier for opponents of the young stars, Kariya and Selanne are both double-threats who can reverse roles at any time.Kariya, 21, scored his 39th and 40th goals of the season off two thread-the-needle passes from Selanne March 10 against the Los Angeles Kings and had 11 goals and 19 points during Selanne&rsquo;s first month with the Ducks.Selanne, 25, had nine goals and 20 points in his first 13 games following his acquisition from the Winnipeg Jets.&ldquo;Obviously the guy scored 76 goals, he has got to be one of the top goal-scorers in the league,&rdquo; Kariya said.&ldquo;He has speed and strength, that&rsquo;s so obvious, but I think the best aspect of his game is his passing. He puts the puck through legs like (Wayne) Gretzky.&rdquo;Together they had the Ducks on a 7-3-1 playoff surge through midMarch that included three overtime victories.&ldquo;When the game is real tight, talking with Paul, we know we are the guys who can win this game,&rdquo; Selanne said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great challenge for us to have to push ourselves. Paul is a big winner. He wants to win games the same as me and I hate to lose.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Captain Randy Ladou-ceur and team physician Craig Milhouse visited defenseman Milos Holan in hospital March 12, three weeks after Holan underwent a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia. Holan, whom Milhouse said was &ldquo;in good spirits,&rdquo; was removed from protective isolation and might be able to leave the hospital by early-April. Full recovery takes a year&hellip;Left winger Todd Krygier, who clashed with coach Ron Wilson in January, was traded to Washington March 8. GM Jack Ferreira insisted production was the issue. Krygier went 20 games without a goal&hellip;Right winger Todd Ewen served a two-game suspension in mid-March after receiving his fourth game misconduct of the season. &#9632;

f0010-02

NHL TEAMS

Stars swap lead roles

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-04499/6253777-1-eng-US/f0010-042.jpg" title="f0010-04" width="161" height="161"></div>Charlie Huddy knew when he came to the NHL 16 seasons ago most of the great offensive milestones would be impossible for him to reach.As a defensive defenseman, he knew 1,000 points wasn&rsquo;t realistic. As a player whose game was built on using size and physical strength to stop opponents from executing in his zone, big goal totals were out of the question.But 1,000 games, yeah, that&rsquo;s the ticket. And Huddy reached the milestone in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim March 8.&ldquo;I look at all of the players who have gone through the NHL, so few people get to that number,&rdquo; Huddy said. &ldquo;To be in a class who have gotten to 1,000 is a pretty big milestone for me.&rdquo;The 36-year-old defenseman joined 112 other NHL players who have taken part in 1,000 games.&ldquo;When I was in Edmonton, when we won the Cups, we had a lot of great players there-(Wayne) Gretzky, (Mark) Messier, (Paul) Coffey, right down the line,&rdquo; Huddy said. &ldquo;The nice part about that was that I had a job to do there and so did my team-mates. I know those guys appreciated the role I played when I was in Edmonton. It&rsquo;s kind of nice to get (1,000 games) and be in a category with those guys.&rdquo;But what&rsquo;s even better than playing 1,000 games, said Huddy, is to still be around for No. 1,001 and beyond.&ldquo;I think the big thing is that I still enjoy playing. I like playing with the young guys,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think if I can go out there and help the team and be a contributor&hellip;1&rsquo;11 look at it at the end of the year and see how I feel, but I think at this point I&rsquo;d like to come back for another year. I&rsquo;ve got to realize that if I do come back next year, wherever it may be, I might only play 30 or 40 games. But I still think I&rsquo;d have fun doing that.&rdquo;Huddy was also on the verge of 100 career goals. He scored his 99th in his 999th career game March 6 against the Vancouver Canucks.NOTEBOOK: The Sabres stumbled through an early-March western swing, losing at Vancouver, Anaheim and San Jose before beating Los Angeles. The loss at Anaheim March 8 marked the first time this season the Sabres lost a game in which they led going into the third period. They also blew a lead against San Jose March 10 in the third, prompting a double session workout from head coach Ted Nolan the next day in Los Angeles&hellip;The losses have pushed the Sabres almost completely out of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference. The last time the Sabres missed the playoffs was 1986 when they finished last overall and drafted Pierre Turgeon with the first pick in the 1996 entry draft. &#9632;

f0010-04

Stay-at-home Huddy makes grand mark

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03733/6253808-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="162" height="159"></div>The game summary said the night belonged to Rick Tocchet and goalie Bill Ranford, but Tocchet insisted the summary wasn&rsquo;t complete.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s great to score a hat trick,&rdquo; said Tocchet, who collected three goals in the Boston Bruins&rsquo; 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins March 14, &ldquo;but sometimes people don&rsquo;t see the little things, like getting under (an opponent&rsquo;s) skin, getting the puck out of the zone, taking a hit to make a play. We&rsquo;re winning because guys are accepting roles now.&rdquo;Tocchet&rsquo;s comments came after Boston&rsquo;s fourth straight victory, which tied its best stretch of the season. It also pushed the Bruins three games over.500 for the first time all season and was their first win in four tries against the Penguins in 1995-96.Boston&rsquo;s streak started with a 4-3 decision over the New York Islanders March 7 and gained steam two days later in a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Bruins climbed out of a 2-0 hole in that game largely because of a Sandy Moger check that rattled Eric Lindros and both annoyed and distracted the Flyers. A night after that, Boston won at Florida 4-1.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve beaten good teams, which was difficult for us before this stretch,&rdquo; said Ranford, who stopped 90 of 95 shots over three wins. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve battled and battled well.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to talk about positive things for a change,&rdquo; said captain Ray Bourque. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re starting to feel good about ourselves.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Bruins were angry to learn left winger Kevin Sawyer, obtained March 8 from St. Louis, had a more serious groin injury than suspected and needed to be off skates until late-March&hellip;Left winger Dave Reid, back March 9 after missing 16 games with a fractured finger, strained an abdominal muscle one night later and left the lineup again. It was unclear when he would return&hellip;Defenseman Al lafrate&rsquo;s salary grievance hearing resumed March 15. Boston hasn&rsquo;t paid lafrate&rsquo;s salary this season, contending his most recent knee injury isn&rsquo;t hockey-related. lafrate, meanwhile, practised for an hour March 13 and appeared as close as seven-to-10 days away from his first game since May, 1994. &#9632;

f0010-03

Doing little things leads to large wins for Bruins

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021019/6253846-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="574" height="765"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Stern</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011413/6253853-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="161" height="158"></div>Ron Stem&rsquo;s injury started out as a day-to-day concern, but in the end he missed almost two months of the Calgary Flames&rsquo; season with a shoulder injury-and considers himself lucky it wasn&rsquo;t more.&ldquo;Early on, I was pretty much facing the fact I may be going for surgery,&rdquo; Stem said. &ldquo;I talked a lot with Gary (Roberts) and our doctors. We knew that was a last straw. Basically, we wanted to be patient and wait for things to come around.&rdquo;Stem injured his right shoulder in a Jan. 14 game against the Colorado Avalanche. Part of the problem was that, just as Roberts did, Stem experienced a burning sensation in his extremities.Ultimately, Roberts endured two neck operations and played only eight NHL games in a 20-month span recovering from his condition. Stem&rsquo;s injury was not as serious.&ldquo;Gary went through 20 months of this, I only went through two,&rdquo; Stem said. &ldquo;So I can&rsquo;t compare my situation to his. It&rsquo;s a lot easier staying positive for two months rather than two years.&rdquo;Stem returned to the lineup for a March 12 game against the St. Louis Blues and estimated it would take about 10 games before he would feel comfortable on the ice.&ldquo;I felt a little slow,&rdquo; Stem said. &ldquo;I felt a step behind. I don&rsquo;t know if it was the timing as much as my speed wasn&rsquo;t there. I felt a bit better as the game went on.&rdquo;The most heartening development was that Stem&rsquo;s shoulder survived the contact without any difficulty.&ldquo;When I had a chance to hit, I tried to make sure I got a hit,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wanted to make sure I didn&rsquo;t slack off. You always worry about the cheap shot, but if you worry about that, you&rsquo;ll definitely be off your game.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goalie Trevor Kidd made his first start in 25 days a solid one in a 4-2 win over St. Louis March 12. Kidd had been relegated to bench duty when Rick Tabaracci got hot in mid-February and started seven consecutive games&hellip;Center Robert Reichel, who played in Germany this season after failing to come to contract terms with the Flames, took in the Blues&rsquo; game as part of a week-long visit to Calgary. However, the Flames planned no new talks with him until the World Championship, slated for April in Vienna&hellip;Center Claude Lapointe, who&rsquo;d been bothered off and on by a hip and groin injury since just after Christmas, was sent to Saint John of the American League March 12 for a week of conditioning.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03716/6253839-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="578" height="766"><figcaption class="caption-body">Trevor Kidd</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0011-02

Stern feels lucky he missed just two months with injury

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-04561/6253884-1-eng-US/f0011-042.jpg" title="f0011-04" width="159" height="157"></div>When Tony Amonte play ed for the New York Rangers, he was often in coach Mike Keenan&rsquo;s doghouse because of what Keenan perceived as a poor work ethic.&ldquo;He always called me a rich kid from Boston who never worked a day in his life,&rdquo; Amonte said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d say my father stopped working in 1978 after triple bypass surgery and that I worked landscaping since I was 13. He didn&rsquo;t know me.&rdquo;If Keenan looks closely at Amonte now, he sees the hardest-working member of the Chicago Blackhawks who was on pace to score 30 goals for the third time in his career.&ldquo;If you look at the whole season, Tony has been our most consistent forward,&rdquo; said coach Craig Hartsburg. &ldquo;At times someone has been better, but game in and game out, Tony has been there for us.&rdquo;Even when Amonte started the season with four goals in 32 games, he was working hard and killing penalties in his usual all-out fashion.Lately, Amonte&rsquo;s luck has changed and he had 21 goals in a 26-game stretch.&ldquo;Tony works his tail off no matter who we&rsquo;re playing, what the score is, how much time is left or whether we&rsquo;re home or away,&rdquo; said Jeremy Roenick, Amonte&rsquo;s linemate and best friend from high school. &ldquo;He does nothing but fly around the ice. There&rsquo;s no in-between for him.&rdquo;Only recently has Amonte rediscovered the confidence he says Keenan took away from him during the 199394 season in New York. He was dealt to Chicago late that season.&ldquo;Confidence is a big part of my game,&rdquo; Amonte said. &ldquo;When I came here (in 1994) I didn&rsquo;t have an ounce of confidence.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Jim Cum-mins was suspended eight games by the NHL for a cross-checking and punching incident against Florida&rsquo;s Brad Smyth and Rob Niedermayer March 11. GM Bob Pulford thought the ban was too harsh. &ldquo;I honestly felt we&rsquo;d get a suspension, but one to three games,&rdquo; Pulford said&hellip;Left winger Tony Amonte wasn&rsquo;t thrilled to hear St. Louts&rsquo; Mike Keenan might coach the U.S. in this summer&rsquo;s World Cup. &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;d probably get invited if he coached, but I&rsquo;d have to look at things,&rdquo; Amonte said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;d want to start off the year like that.&rdquo;&hellip;Centers Denis Savard (1,300 points) and Brent Sutter (800) reached offensive milestones March 11 in an 8-4 win over Florida. &#9632;

f0011-04

Things falling into place for hard-working Amonte

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021236/6253915-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="561" height="971"><figcaption class="caption-body">Adam Foote</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011516/6253922-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="160" height="161"></div>Time is running out for the Colorado Avalanche to find consistency.All season, but particularly in the second half, the Avalanche has exhibited a trend of being great one night against a tough opponent, then dreadful the next game against a team it should beat.Case in point: after rebounding from a tough loss at home against the Detroit Red Wings Feb. 8 with a road win against the Vancouver Canucks the next night, the Avalanche had three hard days of practice before traveling to Anaheim for a game with the Mighty Ducks. Colorado&rsquo;s 4-0 loss to Anaheim-its third in as many games there this season-was the Avalanche&rsquo;s 11th setback to a team with a record under.500.&ldquo;Against the under-.500 teams, sometimes everybody tries to do a little too much, instead of doing the simple things,&rdquo; said defenseman Adam Foote. &ldquo;Once we try to make things complicated, we lose.&rdquo;Coach Marc Crawford clearly was disappointed at the team&rsquo;s dispirited play against the Ducks.&ldquo;After they got their first goal, it was like, &lsquo;Here we go again.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s not a great attitude to have when you&rsquo;re playing in the NHL,&rdquo; Crawford said. &ldquo;They took away our space and made it a difficult game, one where we had to really bear down and dig deep.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t done that and it&rsquo;s something for us to address and change because that&rsquo;s the type of hockey that (we&rsquo;re) going to see in the playoffs.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Coach Marc Craw-ford&rsquo;s name surfaced as a potential successor to Pat Burns in Toronto, but Colorado GM Pierre Lacroix said he is trying to work out an extension of Crawford&rsquo;s contract. Crawford, who began his pro coaching career in the Maple Leafs&rsquo; organization at St. John&rsquo;s of the American League, is in the second year of a three-year deal and is said to be seeking in the neighborhood of $600,000 (U.S.) a year&hellip;Hard-luck center Mike Ricci had a goal disallowed Feb. 13 against Anaheim, his second nullified goal in two weeks&hellip;Injured defenseman Uwe Krupp skated on his own for the first time in five months March 4 and reported no pain in his left knee. Krupp hopes to return for the playoffs or sooner. &#9632;

f0012-02

Consistency still concern

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03811/6253953-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="158" height="159"></div>After a season of hard work, Bob Bassen was excited about finally getting a chance to help the Dallas Stars.The gritty center, who was the Stars&rsquo; major off-season acquisition, had an outstanding training camp, but blew out his knee in September and underwent reconstructive surgery.The intensity Bassen showed in rehabilitating his knee is the same kind of intensity coach Ken Hitchcock believes Bassen will bring to the team.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s so valuable,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;He gives you a boost&hellip;like a scary boost. Bob Bassen on one leg gives you a scary boost.&rdquo;In mid-March, Bassen said he was operating at about 85 per cent and needed to get some real physical play in before he&rsquo;d feel 100 per cent. His yearning to return is high.&ldquo;You miss it a lot when you&rsquo;re not out there and you really are dying to get back,&rdquo; said Bassen, who signed a four-year, $4-million contract in the summer. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been out before, so I know what this is like.&rdquo;Expectations for what Bassen will mean to the Stars&rsquo; drive for a playoff berth are high. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no gray in Bobby Bassen, only black and white,&rdquo; said GM Bob Gainey.The only concern the Stars have is where Bassen will fit into the mix. Ice time at center is scarce because Hitchcock has been giving Joe Nieuwendyk and Mike Modano extra work. That could mean a shift to wing for Bassen.&ldquo;If that&rsquo;s my biggest problem, I&rsquo;m in pretty good shape,&rdquo; Hitchcock said.NOTEBOOK: Center Guy Carbon-neau participated in the ceremonial faceoff, played the last shift and was honored as a former Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; captain when the Forum hosted its final game March 11. &ldquo;It was just great to be there. It was very special,&rdquo; Carbonneau said&hellip;Defenseman Richard Matvichuk was knocked cold by a cross-check to the neck from Ottawa&rsquo;s Michel Picard March 13 and had to leave a four-game road trip to return home for observation&hellip;Left winger Mike Donnelly returned to the lineup against Ottawa and scored a goal in his first game back in two months&hellip;Defenseman Sergei Gusev, drafted 69th overall last year, is getting a serious look as a player who could step into the lineup next season. &#9632;

f0012-03

Stars hope Bassen’s return provides spark team needs

<div class="byline">By John Niyo</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04470/6253984-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="157" height="159"></div>Dinno ciccarelli began me season on a line with Steve Yzerman and Ray Sheppard. They jokingly referred to it at the time as the &lsquo;Trade Line&rsquo; because each kept hearing his name mentioned in rumors.Three-quarters of a season later, only one member of that unit is gone-Sheppard was moved to the San Jose Sharks-and the two survivors are integral components of the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; first-place team.Yzerman led the team with 34 goals in 67. games while Ciccarelli, in his 16th season, is doing what he always does-scoring goals and eagerly playing the role of agitator.Coach Scotty Bowman praised Ciccarelli&rsquo;s play and said the right winger is well-rested and ready for the stretch run-which may be a sign that he will indeed be around for the stretch run. &ldquo;And if you look at it,&rdquo; Bowman added, &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s on about his normal ratio, which is a goal every two games.&rdquo;Ciccarelli, who had 16 goals in 51 games, achieved another milestone in a 5-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets March 12. He scored his 545th career goal to move past the legendary Rocket Richard and into 13th place on the all-time goal list.A night earlier, Ciccarelli said he had been, &ldquo;glued to the TV,&rdquo; watching Richard receive a 10-minute standing ovation during ceremonies after the final game at the Montreal Forum.&ldquo;Yeah, I did think about it,&rdquo; Ciccarelli said. &ldquo;It kind of blew my mind to be honest with you. I&rsquo;m proud (of) myself. Things like that just don&rsquo;t happen every day.&rdquo;Neither do Stanley Cup championships, said Ciccarelli, who lost in the final with the Minnesota North Stars in 1981 and with Detroit last season.&ldquo;(The milestone is) exciting and everything,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m excited about the way this team is playing. One thing that&rsquo;s missing for me is the Stanley Cup ring and it&rsquo;s certainly more important.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Kris Draper returned to the lineup March 12 against Winnipeg after missing nearly a month with a sprained knee. Right winger Martin Lapointe, out since Feb. 29 with a sprained knee, targeted mid-March for his return to the lineup&hellip;Detroit remained on pace to break the league&rsquo;s all-time record for wins in a season (60) set by coach Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens. The Wings needed nine wins in their last 14 games to surpass the standard&hellip;Center Steve Yzerman extended his points streak to 16 games with an assist against the Jets March 12&hellip;Detroit tied the franchise record for road wins in a season with its 23rd in a 5-2 triumph in Winnipeg March 10. &#9632;

f0012-04

Ciccarelli primed for stretch run

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011427/6254015-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="164" height="162"></div>David Roberts is yet another victim of the St.Louis Blues&rsquo; youth movement. And he&rsquo;s only 25.You see, Blues&rsquo; coach-GM Mike Keenan keeps moving youth out of his organization.&ldquo;(Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; GM) Glen Sather said you&rsquo;ve got to be 30 to play for St. Louis,&rdquo; said Roberts, obtained by the Oilers for future considerations March 13. The futures amounted to cash and unhappy left winger Glenn Anderson, who went to the Blues via a previous waiver claim the same day.A day later, Roberts had a career-high three-point game in a 6-1 win over the San Jose Sharks, a game Keenan was watching from the press box.&ldquo;My body is sore,&rdquo; the left winger said after the game. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not used to playing that much.&rdquo;Sather obviously likes Roberts, but doesn&rsquo;t know exactly what he&rsquo;s getting in the University of Michigan product, who had one goal in 29 games for the Blues.&ldquo;Keenan has never played any of those prospects so we don&rsquo;t know how good he is,&rdquo; Sather said.Roberts played a few games as Anderson&rsquo;s center for St. Louis last season and the former Oiler gave him a good recommendation.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an excellent player,&rdquo; Anderson said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a pretty cagey move by (Sather), using me and getting Roberts out of the deal because of the fact he&rsquo;ll be around a lot longer and he&rsquo;ll help this team.&rdquo;Right winger David Oliver, a teammate of Roberts&rsquo; at Michigan, agrees with Anderson&rsquo;s assessment.&ldquo;He can skate, he has great hands and he can score,&rdquo; Oliver said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he was given a chance to do the things he&rsquo;d done all his life in St. Louis.&rdquo;Roberts&rsquo; season included so many trips between St. Louis and the Worcester IceCats of the American League, he&rsquo;d worn six different numbers.&ldquo;It was a journey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Mike likes to keep life interesting.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Bryan Marchment went five games without a penalty in late-February and early-March. It may have been a personal best. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m almost positive it is, since squirt hockey,&rdquo; Marchment said. Marchment still led the Oilers with 167 penalty minutes in 62 games&hellip;Defenseman Brett Hauer was sent back to Cape Breton of the American League to regain his confidence. Oilers&rsquo; coach Ron Low figured Hauer had lost it after making two costly mistakes in a game against Vancouver Feb. 9. &ldquo;Not one game has he played without a major, glaring mistake since that game,&rdquo; Low said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a time bomb.&rdquo; Hauer politely disagreed. &ldquo;The next game I came back against Calgary, played 20 minutes and was plus-3.1 thought I bounced back.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-01

Roberts sheds Blues for ice time

<div class="byline">By Ray Murray</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021016/6254046-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="161" height="160"></div>It was only a tie, but the Florida Panthers treated a 3-3 draw with the New York Rangers March 13 like a win.The way things were going, the Panthers were delighted to snap a five-game losing streak, even if it extended their winless string to a franchise record nine games (0-7-2). In their previous game March 11, the Panthers set a team mark for goals allowed in an 8-4 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.After 60 games as the league&rsquo;s biggest surprise, the Panthers fell hard, starting with a 4-0 loss to the Rangers Feb. 24 in a game that, had they won, would have put the Panthers back in first place in the competitive Eastern Conference.The Panthers started their slide by scoring only four times in five games.The players had a 30-minute team meeting after the blowout in Chicago and a renewed effort two nights later in Madison Square Garden, where they rallied three times to tie the game. Johan Garpenlov forced overtime with his second power-play goal of the night with only 1:45 left in regulation time.&ldquo;From the drop of the puck until the last shift of the overtime we fought hard,&rdquo; said right winger Tom Fitzgerald. &ldquo;We played Panther hockey. We scratched and clawed until the final buzzer.&rdquo;&ldquo;I thought we really took it away in the third period and overtime,&rdquo; said coach Doug MacLean. &ldquo;We had some great opportunities. It&rsquo;s a big point for us right now. It&rsquo;s like a win.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Stu Barnes is expected to be out until late-April because of a left knee sprain. Barnes suffered the injury when he collided with Boston defenseman Don Sweeney in a March 10 game&hellip;Owner Wayne Huizenga is expected sign a letter of intent with Broward County, assuring the Panthers will stay in South Florida. Huizenga is expected to consider the two offers he has received to sell the team before signing the agreement by a March 28 deadline&hellip;Right winger Brad Smyth and center Rob Niedermayer saw justice when the NHL suspended Chicago&rsquo;s Jim Cummins eight games for cross-checking and punching the two Panthers&hellip;The Panthers claimed center Martin Straka off waivers from the New York Islanders., &#9632;

f0013-02

Surprising start gives way to untimely winless skein

<div class="byline">By Michael Arace</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04660/6254077-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="567" height="968"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steven Rice</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03768/6254084-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="162" height="161"></div>The players hear The Question all the time. The front office is continually peppered with The Question. Rumors pop up all over the map, adding suspense to The Question: Are the Whalers leaving Hartford?Soon, everyone will have The Answer. A major marketing push with a goal of more than doubling the Whalers&rsquo; season ticket base (to 11,000 at Civic Center, which seats 15,635) and filling 40 of 45 skyboxes (only 10 had been renewed as of mid-March) should help decide the issue.The &ldquo;Save the Whale&rdquo; campaign is likely to be implemented sometime in the first or second week of April.It won&rsquo;t take long for the Whalers and the state of Connecticut to get a solid read on the response to their campaign. The state, which controls the Civic Center through the quasipublic Connecticut Development Authority, has the power to open several new revenue streams for the Whalers, including parking, luxury boxes and concessions.According to reports in the Hartford Courant, the governor&rsquo;s office has indicated these revenue streams will be opened to the Whalers should the campaign appear to be headed toward a successful conclusion.Whalers&rsquo; owner Peter Karmanos has said the franchise is on a course to lose $20 million this season. According to the team&rsquo;s sale agreement with the state, the Whalers can leave after the 1997-98 season if they have lost $30 million.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Steven Rice scored in a 3-2 win over Pittsburgh March 13 to extend his points streak to four games. He also put one of the hits of the year on Tomas Sandstrom in that game&hellip;Left winger Brendan Shanahan&rsquo;s return to St. Louis March 9 turned out to be a boon for the Blues. Before a record crowd of 20,803, the Blues scored three goals in a span of 1:21 in the first period and blitzed the Whalers 6-3. Shanahan was greeted enthusiastically and scored in the game&hellip;Center Mark Janssens had the orbital bone around his left eye cracked in a fight with enforcer Tony Twist of the Blues, but was able to laugh about the incident. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not conceding the fight,&rdquo; Janssens joked. &ldquo;I did this to myself.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-04

Push coming to save team

<div class="byline">By Lisa Dillman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011506/6254115-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="161" height="158"></div>The Wayne Gretzkyera Los Angeles Kings were slowly built by blockbuster deals. Now the team is being swiftly dismantled by blockbuster trades in the postGretzky days.In a trade six days before the NHL deadline, the Kings sent defenseman Marty McSorley and right wingers Jari Kurri and Shane Churla to the New York Rangers for four players and a fourth-round draft choice in 1997.By getting centers Ray Ferraro, Ian Laperriere, Nathan LaFayette and defenseman Mattias Norstrom, the Kings immediately gained youth. Ferraro is 31, but the other three are all under 25.Kings&rsquo; management sounded giddy in the aftermath of the deal.&ldquo;The trade accomplishes two goals,&rdquo; said GM Sam McMaster. &ldquo;First, it dramatically increases our youth and depth. Second, we have a No. 1 center in Ray Ferraro.&rdquo;Norstrom was considered the key to the deal, a good prospect who has displayed inconsistency. He had three points in 25 games. Laperriere had 12 points in 61 games and is often compared to the Kings&rsquo; Eric Lacroix, an enthusiastic hitter with so-so offensive skills.LaFayette, on his fourth NHL team, had spent all of this season with the Binghamton Rangers, New York&rsquo;s American League affiliate.&ldquo;The kids are going to show exuberance,&rdquo; said Kings&rsquo; coach Larry Robinson said. &ldquo;We needed a change in the atmosphere and I think it&rsquo;s a change for the better.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Ray Ferraro, an unrestricted free agent who chose the Rangers last summer, wasn&rsquo;t thrilled with the deal. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed,&rdquo; Ferraro said. &ldquo;If any other free agent asked what I think, I would tell him to explore his possibilities before he came (New York).&rdquo;&hellip;Only two players on the Kings&rsquo; roster-goalie Kelly Hrudey and right winger Gary Shuchuk-remain from the 1993 Stanley Cup finalists&hellip;Left winger Kevin Stevens, who fractured his left fibula, will likely be out until late-March&hellip;Left winger Matt Johnson, who has spent the season with Phoenix of the International League, underwent reconstructive surgery on his left shoulder March 12 and will need four-to-six months before he can resume playing. &#9632;

f0014-01

Kings excited about future after another monster trade

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03792/6254146-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="563" height="965"><figcaption class="caption-body">Donald Brashear</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021152/6254153-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="160" height="159"></div>If you sell it, they will come. And buy, and buy.A charity auction that officially began the public dismemberment of the Montreal Forum, which hosted its last NHL game March 11, raised $726,750, to be divided between the United Way and the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; alumni association.The event drew 2,500 people, including 1,000 buyers who bid on everything from a hot dog grill to a latrine in the Forum washroom.Pierre Daoust, who owns a bar in the Montreal suburb of Laval, spent $32,000, plus $4,000 in taxes, for the Canadiens&rsquo; most recent Stanley Cup banner, from the 1992-93 season. It was the highest price paid for any of the 145 items up for auction.Daoust outbid former Canadiens Patrick Roy and Denis Savard, both of whom sent representatives to the auction. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t about to pay $100,000, but to me the last Stanley Cup banner is the most important,&rdquo; Daoust said.Before the night was half over, New Jersey collector Marc Cooper had spent more than $75,000 on Canadiens&rsquo; memorabilia, including $31,000 for the Cup banner from 1915-16. The puck with which Andrei Kovalenko scored the final goal in Forum history was purchased for $7,500 by Montreal businessman Larry Boulet. Some of the more bizarre purchases included $2,500 for a stick and jersey belonging to Donald Brashear, still seeking his first goal following 56 games this season; $1,800 for a turnstile; and $900 for a hot dog grill.NOTEBOOK: Center Vincent Damp-housse recorded the final Canadiens&rsquo; shot on net at the Forum. Defenseman Darryl Sydor had the final shot for Dallas. The last faceoff, between Marc Bureau and Mike Modano, took place at 18:51 of the third period, while the last puck entered the crowd at 16:17 of the third. The final wave lasted a full minute, from 6:15 to 7:15 of the third&hellip;The Canadiens completed the Forum portion of their home schedule with an 18-8-5 record, including five consecutive victories. Ten of the team&rsquo;s final 15 regular season games were scheduled for the Molson Centre, beginning March 16 against the Rangers. The Canadiens practised six times at their new home prior to their debut. &#9632;

f0014-03

Forum items fetch fortune

<div class="byline">By Rich Chore</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011394/6254184-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="160" height="158"></div>The first order of business for coach Jacques Lemaire was to assure Dave Andrey-chuk his career as a goal-scorer didn&rsquo;t end when he joined the defense-minded New Jersey Devils.It might have been a tougher sell had Andreychuk, acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs March 13 for two draft picks, not played a somewhat similar style under former Leafs&rsquo; coach Pat Bums the past few seasons.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want him to worry about scoring goals,&rdquo; Lemaire said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to have his chances.&rdquo;The Devils&rsquo; conservative approach didn&rsquo;t concern the 32-year-old Andreychuk as much as his own drop in production this season. He came to the Devils with 20 goals and 44 points in 61 games. Andreychuk had back-to-back 50-goal seasons in 1992-93 and &lsquo;93-94.&ldquo;I look at this as another opportunity to prove to myself I can still score goals,&rdquo; Andreychuk said, &ldquo;despite the year I&rsquo;m having.&rdquo;The Devils are certain he can.&ldquo;From the hash marks in, there&rsquo;s nobody better in the league,&rdquo; said Devils&rsquo; captain Scott Stevens. &ldquo;For deflections and goals around the net, his size and strength, his reach, his soft hands-he&rsquo;s a pure scorer. You can&rsquo;t move him.&rdquo;In return for Andreychuk, who is scheduled to make $7.2 million over the next three seasons, the Leafs received a choice of the Devils&rsquo; second-round pick or the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; second-round pick (acquired in the Esa Tikkanen trade) this year. Toronto will also get a choice between New Jersey&rsquo;s fourth-round pick in 1998 or third pick in 1999.Andreychuk, who grew up in Hamilton, Ont., had mixed feelings about leaving Toronto.&ldquo;It was tough. Any deal is going to be tough,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m from the area, so it was a little tougher. I&rsquo;m coming to a pretty solid team. They won a Stanley Cup last year and we&rsquo;re contenders this year. A lot of players (here) know what it takes.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger John MacLean was expected to miss a week to 10 days after undergoing arthroscopic surgery March 13 to remove debris from his right knee. The problem is not related to the ligament tear that sidelined him the entire 1991-92 season&hellip;Left winger Valeri Zelepukin was sidelined day-to-day after being speared in the groin by Philadelphia&rsquo;s Eric Lindros March 10. No penalty or disciplinary action was taken against the Flyers&rsquo; captain&hellip;Montreal center Vincent Damphousse, who broke Devil defenseman Shawn Chambers&rsquo; right hand with a slash March 13, also es-caped punishment. Chambers was expected to be out of the Devils&rsquo; lineup until mid-April. &#9632;

f0015-01

Andreychuk out to prove he still has it

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02972/6254215-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="162" height="161"></div>New York Islanders&rsquo; coach-GM Mike Milbury feels he accomplished three important things in the blockbuster trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs.First, he got Kenny Jonsson, a 21-year-old defenseman who some believe has Norris Trophy potential. Second, he deepened the Islanders&rsquo; prospect pool by acquiring high-scoring Ontario League left winger Sean Haggerty, center Darby Hendrickson and a first-round pick in the 1997 entry draft. And third, he freed up $2 million by sending left winger Wendel Clark and defenseman Mathieu Schneider to Toronto March 13. That money can now be used to help sign top-rated prospect Bryan Berard.&ldquo;When I came to Long Island last summer,&rdquo; Milbury said, &ldquo;I had one goal in mind. That was to win a Stanley Cup. It wasn&rsquo;t to be competitive, it wasn&rsquo;t to be so-so and run a good business. I think we have just taken a giant step forward.&rdquo;Jonsson, whom Milbury likens to former NHL great Borje Salming, was the key for the Islanders. While not overly physical, he is big at 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, mobile, can kill penalties and play the point on the power play. He had four goals and 26 points in 50 games with the Leafs this season.&ldquo;We feel we got the best player in the deal,&rdquo; Milbury said.Jonsson is excited about his new opportunity. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m coming to a team with a lot of young guys,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re going to have a shot at the Stanley Cup.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Coach-GM Mike Mil-bury said he will try to sign low-priced free agents over the summer to fill the leadership void created by the departure of left winger Wendel Clark and defenseman Mathieu Schneider&hellip;Associate coach Rick Bowness ran his record to 2-0-0 as Milbury&rsquo;s fill-in when the Islanders won 42 in Winnipeg March 9&hellip;The team&rsquo;s return to Long Island from Winnipeg was delayed 18 hours by charter problems which included an airplane clipping its fantail on a light stanchion as it swung in front of the terminal to pick them up. The plane was disabled. The team had to stay overnight and wait for another plane&hellip;Center Martin Straka was claimed off waivers by the Florida Panthers. &#9632;

f0015-02

Milbury says Jonsson deal puts Islanders closer to Cup

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04513/6254246-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="562" height="965"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jari Kurri</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03702/6254253-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="162" height="161"></div>If the New York Rangers fail to win the Stanley Cup this year, it won&rsquo;t be because of size.Six days before of the trading deadline, the Rangers acquired right winger Jari Kurri, tough defenseman Marty McSorley and pugilistic right winger Shane Churla from the Los Angeles Kings for centers Ray Ferraro, Ian La-perriere and Nathan LaFayette, defenseman Mattias Norstrom and a fourth-round draft pick in 1997.Coming on the heels of a trade in which the Rangers added Sergio Momesso, the deal makes the Rangers perhaps the biggest team in the league.&ldquo;The genesis of this was when the (Philadelphia) Flyers knocked us out of the playoffs last year,&rdquo; said GM Neil Smith. &ldquo;People picked up on the point this club wasn&rsquo;t big enough or strong enough.&ldquo;I have no doubt that we&rsquo;re a better playoff team with this formula than we were two weeks ago.&rdquo;Certainly, this is a move for right now because Kurri, who is an unrestricted free agent this summer and turns 36 in May, is believed to be headed back to his native Finland after this season. McSorley, 32, and Churla, 30, are also older players.McSorley and Kurri are also experienced playoff performers-they own a combined six Cup rings-and they know what it takes to win.&ldquo;Jari&rsquo;s such a smart player, and he plays in so many different situations,&rdquo; McSorley said. &ldquo;He still has jump, he still sniffs around the net and still has the knack of scoring big goals.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Ken Germander, on recall from Binghamton of the American League, scored his first NHL goal in his debut March 9 and added another in his second game&hellip;The Rangers lost defenseman Alexander Karpovtsev with a bruised right thumb March 13. X-rays were negative and he was out on a day-to-day basis&hellip;Right winger Joey Kocur was scratched from a second straight game March 13, leaving him with 38 games played. Kocur will pick up a $50,000 bonus when he plays his 40th game and another $50,(MX) if he is on an NHL roster at the trade deadline&hellip;Defenseman Brian Leetch passed Ron Greschner to become the team&rsquo;s all-time assist leader for defensemen with 433. &#9632;

f0015-04

Big pick-ups for Rangers

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021007/6254284-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="562" height="970"><figcaption class="caption-body">Damian Rhodes</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011288/6254291-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="161" height="160"></div>Goalie Damian Rhodes munched on a chocolate bar recently while he waited for a flight to Pittsburgh.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to need it,&rdquo; said Ottawa Senators&rsquo; captain Randy Cunney-worth, referring to the added calories. &ldquo;Take a good look at him. That&rsquo;s the most he&rsquo;ll weigh for a while.&rdquo;Rhodes started a club record 22 straight games through March 13 and there was little reason to believe the streak would be jeopardized in the near future.Coach Jacques Martin, who has made the 26-year-old goalie his ironman, knows Rhodes will need a break, but it didn&rsquo;t look to be anytime soon.&ldquo;I think (Rhodes) has held in there very well,&rdquo; Martin said. &ldquo;He has been very consistent. He&rsquo;s not flashy, but he has been very effective.&rdquo;Rhodes&rsquo; numbers support Martin&rsquo;s assertion. Since coming to the Senators from the Toronto Maple Leafs in mid-January, Rhodes had a 2.87 goals-against average, 90.3 save percentage and 5-15-2 record. That ranked him 15th among NHL goalies, a remarkable position considering he&rsquo;s on a last-place team.Rhodes, who came within 1:22 of getting his first shutout in a 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars March 13, has adjusted to the role of main man after playing second string to Felix Potvin in Toronto.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t get as uptight now because I know I&rsquo;m going to get another chance the next night,&rdquo; Rhodes said of his situation.NOTEBOOK: The Senators&rsquo; 4-1 win over Dallas at the Corel Centre was just their second in 13 games at the new building&hellip;Senators&rsquo; and Maple Leafs&rsquo; alumni will play a charity game to benefit the foundation for slain sportscaster Brian Smith March 30&hellip;Defenseman Kerry Huffman, out for the season with a broken wrist, made his own way to Montreal for the Senators&rsquo; last game at the Forum March 9. He went out for a skate after his teammates finished their morning workout. &ldquo;I just wanted one last twirl,&rdquo; Huffman said. Rookie right winger Daniel Alfreds-son was leading the Senators in goals, assists, points, power play goals, shots and was tied for the lead in game-winning goals. &#9632;

f0016-02

Rhodes on big-time roll

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03748/6254322-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="160" height="159"></div>The only owner the Philadelphia Flyers have ever known is Ed Snider. He brought them into the world 29 years ago when the NHL expanded to 12 teams.But Snider&rsquo;s association with his team may be undergoing a significant change in the near future.Comcast, a Philadelphia-based cable TV giant, is negotiating to buy controlling interest in the Flyers, as well as the National Basketball Association Philadelphia 76ers, the new CoreStates Center and the CoreStates Spectrum. Sources said agreement in principle had been reached. The deal could be valued at $500 million, making it the largest sports deal in U.S. history.Snider owns about 90 per cent of the team and would relinquish about 60 per cent.Under the purchase agreement, Snider and his management company, Spectacor, would continue to run the Flyers as well as the two buildings.Snider would not comment on negotiations, but rumors have circulated for several years he has been unhappy with having to put out a substantial portion of his own money for the $220-million CoreStates Center, which is scheduled to open in late-August.Sources said Comcast has also negotiated the right to completely buy out Snider from the Flyers sometime in the future.The Flyers are valued at approximately $85 million.NOTEBOOK: After missing 17 games with an abdominal injury, right winger Mikael Renberg returned for two games, but aggravated the trouble spot against New Jersey March 10 and sat out the March 13 game against Tampa Bay. Flyers&rsquo; doctors said Renberg will have good days and bad days with the injury until the season is over and he can get an extended rest&hellip;The Flyers snapped an 0-for-28 power play slump against Tampa Bay&hellip;The Flyers&rsquo; American League team in Philadelphia next season will be called the Phantoms and be coached by Bill Barber&hellip;Two-time goal-scorer Ron Hextail on the goal by Chris Osgood of Detroit: &ldquo;If he&rsquo;s going to do it, he really should pick a comer. Right down the middle is the easy way.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-03

Flyers could change hands in blockbuster transaction

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04545/6254353-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="161" height="160"></div>For most of this season, Dave McLIwain couldn&rsquo;t get work with the worst team in the NHL.As the regular season wound down, however, he was receiving steady ice time from one of the league&rsquo;s best-and doing it with a couple of the finest linemates in the game.The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired McLIwain from the Ottawa Senators March 1 and almost immediately installed him on right wing with center Mario Lemieux and left winger Ron Francis. McLIwain wasn&rsquo;t quite as prolific as his partners, but did ring up two goats and two assists in his first four games.&ldquo;He has some speed and he&rsquo;s a pretty smart player,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll drive to the net when he has to open it up and he can shoot the puck.&rdquo;This is McLIwain&rsquo;s second stint with Pittsburgh-he was the Penguins&rsquo; ninthround draft choice in 1986-so he has known Lemieux for a while. And Francis isn&rsquo;t exactly a stranger, either-Mc-Llwain has checked both of them over the years.&ldquo;Knowing and watching these guys, they&rsquo;re opportunists,&rdquo; McLIwain said. &ldquo;And the guys who play with them seem to get a lot of opportunities.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s something he wasn&rsquo;t getting much of in Ottawa. He played in just one game this season with the Senators.At 29, he began to suspect some teams might have written him off, dismissed him as a player whose days as a major league contributor were over.&ldquo;You almost start doubting yourself, or think it&rsquo;s the end of the road,&rdquo; McLIwain said. &ldquo;But you have to keep your confidence and things usually work out.&rdquo;The Penguins kept close tabs on him-the Senators loaned him to the Cleveland Lumberjacks, the Penguins&rsquo; International League affiliate-and decided he was the kind of forward they needed to bolster their lineup for the stretch drive.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited to be back here, that&rsquo;s for sure,&rdquo; McLIwain said. &ldquo;I always wondered what it would be like to get back to play for Pittsburgh, on a winning team.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The NHL awarded the 1997 entry draft to Pittsburgh. It will be the first time the Penguins have played host to the event&hellip;The Penguins had a three-game losing streak that coincided with the absence of coach Ed Johnston, who was away from the team for nearly a week after his mother died in Montreal. Assistant coaches Rick Kehoe and Bryan Trottier shared Johnston&rsquo;s duties while he was gone&hellip;Left winger Tomas Sandstrom returned to the lineup after missing nine games because of ankle surgery, but didn&rsquo;t make it through three periods. He got a bruised shoulder and displayed some con-cussion-like symptoms after absorbing a hard hit by Hartford&rsquo;s Steven Rice March 13. &#9632;

f0016-04

Reversal of fortune for McLIwain

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05412/6254384-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="160" height="158"></div>Before Wayne Gretzky ar rived with the St. Louis, Blues reporters would write things like, &ldquo;Brett Hull could score 100 goals with Gretzky as his center.&rdquo;So far, the experts have been wrong. In the first six games with Gretzky, Hull had two goals and two assists, with only one goal set up by The Great One. Coach-GM Mike Keenan blasted Hull&rsquo;s play after a 4-2 loss to the Calgary Flames March 12.&ldquo;(Hull) has played very poorly,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t played with near the intensity he played with prior to Wayne arriving. If he says he can&rsquo;t play with Wayne Gretzky, then I don&rsquo;t know who in the hell he can play with.&rdquo;Hull never said that, but wondered how Keenan could make him &ldquo;walk the plank&rdquo; for a &ldquo;little bit of a rut.&rdquo; He also questioned Keenan&rsquo;s timing.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m having a hard enough time figuring out how I want to play without worrying about what he says,&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t need him on my back. It&rsquo;s not like I&rsquo;m doing it on purpose.&rdquo;Hull said part of the reason he wasn&rsquo;t clicking with Gretzky was because he was caught between the way he learned to play after Adam Oates&rsquo; departure in 1992 and the way he played before Oates left.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like going from being a receiver to a quarterback and now back to being a receiver again,&rdquo; Hull said.Keenan called Hull&rsquo;s analysis, &ldquo;an excuse. If you don&rsquo;t know what to do, go out and work. He has quit working since Wayne has arrived. He&rsquo;s fooling around.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Rangers have filed tampering charges against the Blues, based on comments president Jack Quinn made about New York&rsquo;s rumored offers for Wayne Gretzky&hellip;Right winger Glenn Anderson joined the Blues March 12, claimed off waivers from Edmonton. The Blues had first right of refusal because they put in a claim for Anderson when Edmonton snatched him from Vancouver in February. To get the Oilers to put Anderson back on waivers, the Blues traded center Dave Roberts to Edmonton for future considerations&hellip;The Blues&rsquo; first three home games in the Gretzky era drew 62,000- the top three crowds in Blues&rsquo; history. A record 20,803 turned up for former Blue favorite Brendan Shanahan&rsquo;s return. &#9632;

f0016-05

Keenan blasts Hull again as sniper fizzles with 99

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07319/6254415-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="563" height="963"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Thomas</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06346/6254422-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="160" height="157"></div>The San Jose Sharks&rsquo; front-office shuffle continued with the promotion of Wayne Thomas to assistant GM.Thomas, 48, had served for nearly three seasons as an assistant coach, while also assisting GM Dean Lombardi during the off-season. He left behind his coaching responsibilities, which began in 1993 under former head coach Kevin Constantine, to focus on aiding Lombardi full-time with all front-office duties.&ldquo;Wayne&rsquo;s background has touched all parts of hockey,&rdquo; Lombardi said. &ldquo;He has been a (minor league) head coach, an assistant coach, an advance scout, an administrator. He&rsquo;s very good at paying attention to detail.&rdquo;Thomas&rsquo; March 11 job change followed the March 6 firing of director of player personnel Chuck Grillo and the Feb. 27 resignation of team president Art Savage. It was the first move in Lombardi&rsquo;s plan to recover from this lost season.&ldquo;This is a big job. We have some adjustments to make to right this ship. We just have to pull together and get through this,&rdquo; said Lombardi, whose job is secure, according to new team president Greg Jamison.The addition of Thomas in a fulltime administrative capacity will enable him and Lombardi to alternate duties that require travel while one remains to cover the office. This is particularly important, Lombardi said, with the March 20 NHL trade deadline approaching and the entry draft set for June 22.NOTEBOOK: Chuck Grillo returned to his home in Apple Valley, Minn., with plans to focus on running Minnesota Hockey Camps after being fired as director of player personnel March 6. &ldquo;This is probably the worst experience I&rsquo;ve had in my whole life,&rdquo; said Grillo, who was blamed by several San Jose-area media members for the Sharks&rsquo; poor season&hellip;Right winger Owen Nolan had four goals and six points in three games after missing two games due to illness&hellip;Goalie Arturs Irbe participated in a full-scale practice March 12 for the first time since undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery Feb. 19. Irbe was hoping to get back in the lineup before season&rsquo;s end&hellip;Defenseman Yves Racine scored his first goal as a Shark in a 6-4 win over Buffalo March 10. &#9632;

f0016-07

Thomas gets key position

<div class="byline">By Roy Cummings</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011143/6254453-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="166" height="162"></div>The type of surge the Tampa Bay Lightning was experiencing in mid-March was nothing new to Brian Bellows.The right winger has been there, done that.The year was 1991. The team was the Minnesota North Stars, a club so much like the Lightning, Bellows&rsquo; eyes widened with wonder as he rattled off the similarities.&ldquo;Just like this team, we didn&rsquo;t have any real stars on that club,&rdquo; said Bellows of a team that made it to the Stanley Cup final before losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins.&ldquo;I mean, Dave Gagner was our leading scorer. But we played real smart defense, we had great goaltending, a great power play, and we just seemed to come out of nowhere at the end of the season. Just like we are now.&rdquo;And just like the Lightning, that North Stars&rsquo; team was going nowhere when the season started. Both teams started their respective seasons with 4-10-4 records.The North Stars stumbled to the all-star break, but on Jan. 30 they began a run in which they went 11-44 over 19 games to pull even with the playoff pack. Tampa Bay&rsquo;s record in the 19 games it played after Jan. 30 was 11-5-3.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m telling you it&rsquo;s scary how similar these two teams are,&rdquo; Bellows said.What&rsquo;s even more scary is what happened to the North Stars down the stretch that year. They won just two of their last nine games and wound up eighth in the conference.Bellows said that it would be fine with him if the Lightning repeated that trick of finishing eighth, minus the slump, of course.&ldquo;We just want to be in the top eight because that gets you there and gives you a chance to win it all,&rdquo; Bellows said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way it was in Minnesota. We just wanted to get there and we did.&ldquo;And look what happened. The same thing could happen here.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goalie Daren Puppa was named NHL player of the week for the second time this season when he was honored for his play during the period ending March 10. He pitched shutouts against Chicago and Washington during that span and stopped 42 shots in a 1-1 tie with Philadelphia March 13 in which he ran his scoreless string to 180 minutes and 43 seconds. During the week, he was also by his wife&rsquo;s side for the delivery of their second child. &ldquo;It was quite a week,&rdquo; Puppa said&hellip;Right winger Mikael Andersson became a father when his wife gave birth to a daughter&hellip;When right winger Petr Klima returned to the lineup against the Flyers, the Lightning had its full complement of forwards for the first time since Jan. 6. &#9632;

f0017-01

Bellows sees Stars during sizzling streak

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02866/6254484-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="164" height="160"></div>From hot to cold to hot again, Mathieu Schneider has experienced the extremes of life for an NHL player.Schneider began his NHL career in hockey-crazed Montreal. Then he was off to the New York Islanders, where fewer than 10,000 fans is the rule for a home game at the Nassau County Coliseum.Now, after a blockbuster trade March 13 that saw Schneider and Wendel Clark traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs along with junior defenseman D.J. Smith for Kenny Jonsson, Darby Hendrickson, junior sniper Sean Haggerty and a 1997 first round pick, Schneider finds himself once again in the eye of the storm.&ldquo;In cities like Toronto or Montreal where the game is so big, people don&rsquo;t think about winning the Stanley Cup in &lsquo;98 or somewhere down the road,&rdquo; Schneider said. &ldquo;They want to win the Cup now.&rdquo;The Leafs acquired Schneider with the notion of contending for the Stanley Cup, although a miserable record since the all-star break might render that particular notion rather comical. But Schneider will jump in immediately as Toronto&rsquo;s best defenseman and is expected to provide the big shot on the power play.One thing is for sure, he will be under intense scrutiny.&ldquo;Losing is not taken for granted like maybe it was in Long Island,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I enjoy playing in a city with lots of pressure. If you don&rsquo;t play well, you will read about it in the papers.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Of the 23 players who dressed for the Leafs in last year&rsquo;s first-round playoff loss to Chicago, 11 have been traded&hellip;Wendel Clark is wearing his familiar No. 17 with the Leafs, while Mathieu Schneider is wearing No. 72, the same number he wore with the Isles. Doug Gilmour offered to relinquish his captaincy to Clark, but GM Cliff Fletcher said there was no need to do so. &ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t St Louis,&rdquo; Fletcher said&hellip;Jamie Macoun sustained an eye injury when he was highsticked by Corey Millen of Calgary March 9, but the veteran blueliner didn&rsquo;t miss a game&hellip;Coach Nick Beverley abruptly abandoned his plan to alternate goaltenders Don Beaupre and Felix Potvin when Beaupre was bombed for seven goals March 8 in Hartford. &#9632;

f0017-02

Schneider thrilled to be back in pressure cooker

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04465/6254515-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="570" height="970"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Ridley</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03632/6254522-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="161" height="160"></div>The Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; search for a solid twoway center may have emerged from their medical room.Mike Ridley, at least the real Mike Ridley, has never shown up in a Canuck uniform despite dressing for 24 games earlier this season.The 32-year-old arrived the from Toronto Maple Leafs in a July 8 trade for Sergio Momesso, but along with his luggage came a bad back. Ridley complained from training camp something wasn&rsquo;t right, struggled for a couple of months and then finally bowed out of the lineup Dec. 9 to see noted back specialist Dr. Robert Watkins.After a month of rehabilitation failed to solve the problem, Watkins performed surgery on the bulging disc that was robbing Ridley of strength in his legs. Ridley missed three months and 40 games before returning March 14.&ldquo;I knew for a long time I had a disc problem, but how it affected my legs was never really diagnosed until this year, even though I&rsquo;ve seen specialists and doctors, tons of guys,&rdquo; said Ridley, who had contemplated retirement more than once during his ordeal.Neither the Maple Leafs nor Washington Capitals, Ridley&rsquo;s team for eight years before the pit stop in Toronto, were able to get to the root of his ailment. At times, they thought it was an equipment problem and Ridley tried different skates and sticks.&ldquo;I drove the trainers nuts,&rdquo; Ridley said. &ldquo;Now I finally feel the way I should, but I&rsquo;m far from giving a big sigh of relief and saying I&rsquo;m fixed.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: After hitting a high-water mark three games above.500, the Canucks fell apart in successive losses to Colorado, Washington and Chicago and were outscored 21-6. Included in that run was a 9-0 loss to the normally pop-gun Capitals. It was Vancouver&rsquo;s most embarrassing defeat in 10 years&hellip;With the return of center Mike Ridley, the Canucks had just one player, right winger Pavel Bure, left on the injured list. Bure, ahead of schedule in rehabilitating his knee, could see some action come playoff time&hellip;After shutting out Buffalo March 3, goalie Kirk McLean surrendered seven goals to Colorado, six to Washington and five to Chicago in consecutive starts. McLean is having his worst season since 1990-91. &#9632;

f0017-04

Ridley back from ordeal

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011182/6254553-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="160" height="160"></div>Don Beaupre holds most of the positive records for a Washington Capitals&rsquo; goaltender, but at the rate things are going he won&rsquo;t for much longer.In a little more than one NHL season, Jim Carey is in the process of rewriting the team&rsquo;s goalie records. Through 67 games this season, Carey had seven shutouts, bettering Beaupre&rsquo;s single season record by two. With 11, Carey was also closing in on Beaupre&rsquo;s career shutout mark of 12 and his 28 wins this season were one shy of the club record.Barring injury, he will surpass the records for games (59), minutes (3,388), shots faced (1,530) and saves (1,349) before the season ends.And all this from a goaltender some felt might be experiencing sophomore blahs not that long ago.While en route to a good season by any measure, Carey started to pick up more steam when he had back-to-back shutouts over the Boston Brains March 2 and Philadelphia Flyers March 3. He was beaten 1-0 in his next outing by the Tampa Bay Lightning, then blanked the Vancouver Canucks 9-0 March 12.&ldquo;The biggest difference is the first five to 10 shots, they aren&rsquo;t going in,&rdquo; said Capitals&rsquo; coach Jim Schoenfeld. &ldquo;Our goalies seem to warm into the game.&rdquo;The longer a game goes, the more dominant the Capitals become. Through the first three-quarters of the season, opponents were outscoring the Capitals by 33 in the first period, but Washington held a 50-goal edge for the rest of the game.For whatever the reason, goalies were not confident early in games. Eleven times this season first shots got through and 33 times in the first 66 games one of the first three opposition shots found the net.NOTEBOOK: The Capitals reacquired left winger Todd Krygier from Anaheim March 8 for Mike Torchia, the goalie who opened the season in Portland of the American League and was in Hampton Roads of the East Coast League when he became a Duck. The Caps sent Krygier to Anaheim 13 months earlier, but Washington wanted him back for his penalty killing and versatility. In Krygier&rsquo;s first home game for the Caps he had two goals and four points in the 9-0 win over Vancouver&hellip;Right winger Peter Bondra snapped a five-game goal drought against the Canucks&hellip;When left winger Keith Jones went down with a groin pull, it left defensemen Calle Johansson and Joe Reekie and center Dale Hunter as the only Capitals to play in every game this season. &#9632;

f0018-01

Carey becomes scary good as he smashes team marks

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02871/6254591-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="579" height="769"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexandra Tverdovsky</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04374/6254598-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="163" height="163"></div>Oleg Tverdovsky is a thankful young man.On Jan. 30, his mother Alexandra was abducted outside an apartment building in Donetsk, Ukraine, where she and his father, Fedor, had gone to visit relatives. A former coach of the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; defenseman has been arrested, having allegedly persuaded accomplices to kidnap Alexandra in an attempt to collect a $200,000 ransom.The ordeal lasted 11 days, during which Alexandra was held at an apartment outside Donetsk. During an attempted exchange for the ransom on a train, police arrested five suspects.Tverdovsky&rsquo;s parents have returned to North America and are staying at his home in Anaheim.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re doing good,&rdquo; Tverdovsky said March 14 after refusing to discuss the matter for weeks. &ldquo;Everything is fine with them. She was not hurt.&rdquo;Between the time of the abduction and the arrests Feb. 11, Tverdovsky told no one about the ordeal. And while it was going on, he was traded from the Mighty Ducks to the Jets Feb. 7. He didn&rsquo;t miss a game during that time.&ldquo;This was just my problem and I was supposed to take care of it,&rdquo; said the 19-year-old Tverdovsky. &ldquo;Sometimes it bothered me and it was tough to play because I wasn&rsquo;t always thinking about hockey. But now I am doing better.&rdquo;Police in Ukraine said the unemployed coach, identified only as Nikolai V., was jealous of Tverdovsky&rsquo;s NHL success and his big contract.The coach &ldquo;felt he deserved a big part of the money,&rdquo; Vasyl Trubnikov, a police official in the eastern Ukrainian city, said in a telephone interview with the Los Angeles Tinies.The five alleged participants were charged with extortion and face a maximum seven-year sentence if convicted.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Eddie Ol-czyk was expected to be out until early-April with a sprained left knee. He suffered the injury when Florida center Brian Skrudland fell on him after a faceoff in a March 7 game&hellip;Goaltender Nikolai Khabi-bulin started 22 games in a row before getting a break March 12 in Detroit. Dominic Roussel played that one, his first start for Winnipeg, and lost 5-2&hellip;With injury holes in their lineup and four junior-aged skaters playing regularly, the Jets scrapped back for a 3-3 tie in Toronto March 13, led by two goals from former Leaf Mike Eastwood. &ldquo;I think this is great for morale,&rdquo; Eastwood said. &ldquo;Look, nobody&rsquo;s going to come in and save the day for us. We have to do it from within.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03603/6254584-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="578" height="768"><figcaption class="caption-body">Oleg Tverdovsky</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-02

Tverdovsky says mother fine after 11-day abduction ordeal

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011102/6254629-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0019-01

CLASSIFIED

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div>MONTREAL-In the end, convenience, financial considerations and luxury triumphed over myth, spirituality and sentiment in Montreal, just as it did in Detroit, Chicago and Boston, and as it will someday in Toronto.After 3,228 hockey games and 72 seasons, the Montreal Canadiens closed the Forum March 11 with the requisite amount of tears and a ceremony that included the passing of a symbolic torch among most of the team&rsquo;s surviving captains.The new Molson Centre, unveiled March 16, features a startling level of splendor and while there is much more space, there is also more distance-distance from the ice, distance from the past, from the ghosts.It has always been different here. To Canadiens&rsquo; fans both inside and outside Montreal, the Forum isn&rsquo;t, the Forum wasn&rsquo;t, a place so much as the world headquarters of a value system. This is where success lived, every other city just rented it and if you needed evidence of the existence of a higher hockey power, the locals would point to the roof. There, hanging from the rafters, were 24 reminders.At the Forum, it was always understood sterling management, a minuscule six-team league and profiteering from territorial rights to the finest players in Quebec were not the only reasons for 24 Stanley Cups. The expectation of excellence was passed from one team to the next just as the torch was passed that night to and from former captains Butch Bouchard, Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Yvan Coumoyer, Serge Savard, Bob Gainey, Guy Car-bonneau and finally, incumbent captain Pierre Turgeon.But the belief here is that it had to be something more. How do you explain the Boston Bruins, two minutes away from eliminating Montreal in 1979, inexplicably botching a line change that opened the door to what would become a Canadiens&rsquo; Stanley Cup? Or Marty McSorley&rsquo;s illegal stick in 1993 that turned the tide of the Cup final away from the Los Angeles Kings? Or the force of nature that imbued Maurice Richard?&ldquo;Do people here think God helps the Montreal Canadiens?&rdquo; Guy Lafleur said. &ldquo;I think so. I really do.&rdquo;The Canadians are not lost, of course-all that has been lost is a building. But it&rsquo;s a building where Richard scored his 500th goal, a building his followers tried to wreck when NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended Richard for the 1955 playoffs.Howie Morenz lay in state at the Forum and the especially romantic insist he was killed by the knowledge the shattered leg that put him in hospital would never permit him to play in the Forum again.The Canadiens and the Soviet Red Army played a superb exhibition game in 1975 in the Forum, a contest many in Montreal believe the best game ever played.&ldquo;In the history of Quebec, there have been two great institutions, the Catholic Church and the Montreal Canadiens,&rdquo; noted Rejean Tremblay, the dominant figure in the francophone press and the author of the Forum&rsquo;s closing ceremonies.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01978/6254674-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="557" height="818"><figcaption class="caption-body">Maurice &lsquo;Roket&rsquo; Richard</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Religion would love to be like the Canadiens. The Church has lost some prestige, but the Canadiens are an institution. You saw in tonight&rsquo;s ceremonies. In other towns, we saw fireworks and light shows. Here, we saw the link with the past.&rdquo; But with the Forum goes the link to an era when the white skates of the Oakland Seals were considered heresy, a time when the thing that glowed on the ice was the play, not the puck.The arena-which opened its doors Nov. 29, 1924 as home of the Montreal Maroons before becoming the Habs&rsquo; domain in 1926&mdash;will host a few more musical events before it is permanently mothballed. While no word has been released on its fate, it has been rendered cruelly redundant by the departure of the Canadiens to the city&rsquo;s corporate hub.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03438/6254667-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="3868" height="2092"></div>The $230-million Molson Centre, meanwhile, moves the Canadiens back among the elite in league seating capacity and corporate amenities. The new rink boasts 5,782 corporate or prestige seats positioned throughout the building, greater access for the disabled, a spectacular scoreboard, transportation links far superior to those at the Forum and frequent nods to the team&rsquo;s history through exhibits incorporated into the building&rsquo;s design. With 21,347 seats, the Molson Centre can accommodate 3,348 more fans per game.While Ken Dryden has often declared the Forum the most perfect venue for hockey, hockey hasn&rsquo;t always been perfect here. Just as in every NHL arena, management declared silence unwelcome at the Forum and warded it off with sound effects and promotions. The confidence imbued in the building often graduated to selfabsorption and the stifling demands of the patrons drove wedges between them and some of the very stars, Lafleur, and Serge Savard, to name two, honored in the finale.Since very recent history has been rocky, those 24 banners have become the Canadiens&rsquo; most tangible asset. They missed the playoffs last season and are fighting for their post-season lives again. This year&rsquo;s team is green and on the night they closed the Forum, the opposition Dallas Stars boasted more players with Stanley Cup rings (7-4) than did the Canadiens.The changing economics of the game rendered the concept of dynasties redundant long before the Forum closed. But gone with the closing of the doors is a tangible link to the headiest dominance the NHL will ever see. The Canadiens won 1,480 regular season home games, lost 513 and tied 336. They had a 215-88-4 playoff record at the Forum.&ldquo;You have players who will come in and break their heart to play for this organization,&rdquo; said former Canadien Jacques Lemaire, the coach of the New Jersey Devils. &ldquo;But you will never see four or five Stanley Cups again. I don&rsquo;t know if you&rsquo;ll see three in a row. You will never see a player winning 11 Stanley Cups like Henri Richard did. That I can assure you.&rdquo;It was the elder Richard, Rocket, who was accorded the lengthiest and most heartfelt emotion of a night which began with a pre-recorded version of the Canadian national anthem sung by late Forum stalwart Roger Doucet. The performance was presented on video screens that hung against the scoreboard. Then came the introduction of the franchise&rsquo;s three premier stars, Richard, Beliveau and Lafleur, lengthy ovations, and finally, three periods of middling hockey.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01747/6254660-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="1557" height="1327"><figcaption class="caption-body">Fire on ice: Captains Henri Richard and Yvan Cournoyer take part in the torch passing.</figcaption></div>The Canadiens won 4-1 and Turgeon, on merit, was named the game&rsquo;s first star. Next came the introduction of 19 Hall of Farners including Vladislav Tretiak, Elmer Lach, Tom Johnson. Dickie Moore, Gump Worsley. Dryden, Lemaire, Jacques Laperierre, Frank Mahovlich, Guy Lapointe, and Steve Shutt.Finally, the torch was passed from Carbon-neau, who donned a red Canadiens&rsquo; jersey, to Turgeon who, with teammates in tow, skated it around the Forum ice. They sang Auld Lang Syne and turned out the lights.Moments after the perfectly choreographed wake, the participants pronounced it a success. Turgeon, for one, believes fate can change addresses. &ldquo;Why not? We have the same team, same organization,&rdquo; Turgeon said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll bring it over there.&rdquo;&ldquo;Maybe 70 years from now,&rdquo; Lafleur said, &ldquo;they&rsquo;ll be talking about how they did even better at the Molson Centre.&rdquo;It will be nicer at the new rink, plusher, more amenable. It just may even be better. But hockey will never be as unique as it was when it was played at the comer of St. Catherine and Atwater.On March 11, before almost 18,000 teary fans in Montreal, we were reminded again-there is no defense against progress. &#9632;

f0020-01

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>The Stanley Cups provided fond memories, but it&rsquo;s the unusual and fantastic happenings at the Forum that will remain etched in our consciousness.So, without further adieu, here are some moments that will linger in hockey history.Rocket Riot, March 17, 1955: A powder keg Forum erupts into a riot after a fan, angry at Clarence Campbell for suspending Rocket Richard for the 1955 playoffs, slaps the NHL president across the face. Richard had been banned for punching a linesman during an altercation in an earlier game.Summit Shocker, Sept. 2, 1972: Canadian pride is rocked when a team of unknowns from the Soviet Union crushes the home team 7-3 in Game 1 of the 1972 series. The Soviets&rsquo; dazzling play helps change the face of international hockey.Cherry&rsquo;s Too Much. May 10, 1979: Guy Lafleur scores the most famous goal of his career in Game 7 of a semifinal series against the Boston Bruins. The game-tying score comes late in the third period while Cherry&rsquo;s team is serving a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty. The Habs go on to win the game in overtime and capture the Cup.Ringing in New Year, Dec. 31, 1975: Soviet Red Army goalie Vladislav Tretiak plays the game of his life in what some call the greatest contest ever played, a 3-3 tie between the Canadiens and comrades.Morenz mourning. March 11, 1937: A jam-packed Forum crowd pays its final respects to the great Howie Morenz. Morenz, 36, died of unconfirmed causes-folklore attributes it to a broken heart-six weeks after suffering a broken leg.Three-for-all, Nov. 5, 1955: Jean Beliveau&rsquo;s heroics-three power play goals in 44 seconds-prompts the NHL to change its man-advantage rules. Soon after, players serving minor penalties are allowed to return to the ice after the opposition scores.Sticking it to &lsquo;em. June 3, 1993: Down 1-0 in games and trailing the Los Angeles Kings by a goal in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final, the Canadiens call a successful stick measurement on Marty McSorley, The Habs rally to win the game-thanks to a record-tying three-goal performance by defenseman Eric Desjardins-and the series.Wing and a prayer, March 24-25, 1936: Detroit&rsquo;s Mud Bruneteau ends the longest game in NHL history by scoring the only goal 176 minutes and 30 seconds into a playoff game against the Montreal Maroons.St. Patrick&rsquo;s last day, Dec. 2, 1995: In front of a national TV audience, Patrick Roy confronts team president Ronald Corey, telling him the match that night against the Detroit Red Wings is his last as a Hab. Roy is steamed because coach Mario Tremblay leaves him in goal for nine goals in an 11-1 humiliation. &#9632;

Moments in history of Forum

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>Saying his heart is fine, but no longer in the game, defenseman Gaston Gingras announced his retirement from the Fredericton Canadiens.A veteran of 17 pro seasons, Gingras helped Fredericton gain its first berth in the American League&rsquo;s Calder Cup final last year.Gingras, 37, missed the first two months this season when a training camp medical examination revealed an irregular heart beat. He had a pacemaker installed in October and played with the device. He was a co-captain of the Canadian team at this year&rsquo;s AHL All-Star Game.While his heart is in fine working order, his body and mind weren&rsquo;t at the level he required.&ldquo;Every game I was thinking, &lsquo;If I can just get through this, I have a couple days to get ready for the next,&rdquo; said Gingras, who played 476 NHL games and won a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1985-86. &ldquo;It was getting to the point where I wasn&rsquo;t contributing like I should.&rdquo;Gingras played in 39 games this season, collecting two goals and 23 points.PHILLY PHANTOMS: Bill Barber has landed the lead role as the Phantom of the Opera, at least at the CoreStates Spectrum next year.Phantoms was the winning moniker in the expansion team&rsquo;s name-the-team contest. The Phantoms also announced Barber as coach. The Hall of Fame ex-Philadelphia Flyer will make the move from Hershey along with Philadelphia prospects. That ends a 12-year affiliation with the Hershey Bears.Hershey will likely strike an agreement with the Colorado Avalanche, which is moving its farm team out of Cornwall after this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01871/6254729-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="528" height="358"></div>MORROW A SCORER: Scott Morrow was leaving a rink recently when a fan held up a card collection, asked him to pick out his and sign an autograph.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have a card,&rdquo; said the Hershey left winger.He will next season. Morrow was at the 40-goal plateau and making a bid for the AHL goals title.Morrow scored a single-season high of 22 goals as a rookie with the Springfield Indians in 1992-93.&ldquo;It has been a surprise,&rdquo; said Morrow, a University of New Hampshire product selected by the Hartford Whalers in the fifth round of the 1988 NHL entry draft. &ldquo;I thought I could be around the 30-goaI range. But a lot depends on what kind of role you&rsquo;re thrown into.&rdquo;A checker or third-line winger in Springfield and with the Saint John Flames for much of the past three years, Morrow has blossomed this season with Jim Montgomery or Shawn McCosh as his center.TIME SHARE: The Detroit Red Wings plan to share their Adirondack Red Wings farm club with another NHL team next season as a way to cut costs, said senior vice-president Jim Devellano.Detroit has owned and operated the Adirondack team since 1979-80. Under the shared affiliation, Detroit will retain franchise ownership, hire the coach and support staff, plus supply 12 or 13 players. Sources say the Tampa Bay Lightning will provide about 10 players.Devellano is not worried about a dropoff on player development.&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t a team in the NHL that has 10 top prospects,&rdquo; Devellano said. &ldquo;If a team has three, four or five, they&rsquo;re doing very well.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0022-01

Veteran Gingras bids Canadiens adieu

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02601/6254767-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="382" height="506"></div>Over the past two years, while the International League has shed ties to the NHL and brought its game right into the big boys&rsquo; backyards, the American League has been a faithful servant.&lsquo;Catch the rising stars,&rsquo; the AHL boasts.Under the progressive, visionary leadership of president Dave Andrews, inroads to corporate sponsorships have become expressways and long-overdue southern expansion has begun.And all the while, the AHL has proudly trumpeted itself as the development league for the NHL.&lsquo;We Build Success,&rsquo; is the AHL&rsquo;s slogan for its 60th anniversary season. But success for whom?It&rsquo;s beginning to look as though the NHL is taking the AHL for granted.The New Jersey Devils are asking for $1 million from the Albany River Rats for next season as an affiliation fee. That&rsquo;s an increase of $250,000 from this season, a hit Rats&rsquo; owner Albert Lawrence can&rsquo;t afford and a fee no AHL team currently pays.A price must be paid for development and it&rsquo;s a shared price, one not merely the sole responsibility of the privately owned AHL team.Has Devils&rsquo; GM Lou Lamoriello forgotten how valuable the AHL development time was for Martin Brodeur, Bill Guerin and Brian Rol-ston? Some of the best prospects in minor pro hockey are now in Albany.At the same time, the Detroit Red Wings are saying they can no longer afford to stock an entire farm team, so they&rsquo;ll take on a partner and form a dual affiliation next season with the Adirondack Red Wings.Declining ticket sales in Glens Falls is a big reason, Detroit executive Jim Devellano said.Maybe if the Wings weren&rsquo;t paying goalie Bob Essensa $1.2 million to play for the Fort Wayne Komets of the IHL, season-ticket revenue in Glens Falls wouldn&rsquo;t be so important.And where would Kris Draper be now if, three years ago, Detroit had been sharing a farm team? He wouldn&rsquo;t be in Detroit, that&rsquo;s for sure, because he never would have had a chance to show in Adirondack during 1993-94-when he was brought in to fill out the minor league roster-just what he could do.NHL teams have every right to look out for No. 1. But avoiding a little red ink in one area of the balance sheet-player development cost-won&rsquo;t mask the red-faced look of missing the Stanley Cup playoffs.It&rsquo;s very frightening to think that if Detroit can&rsquo;t afford to finance a complete AHL roster, how can the small-market teams such as the Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators?I have long despised dual affiliations. Players don&rsquo;t grow together under one organizational philosophy, cliques between players from each system often form and parent teams gripe when their prospects aren&rsquo;t getting enough power play or crunchtime playing time.What&rsquo;s worse, the veteran players who teach the kids the nuances of the game-work habits, professionalism-are considered unnecessary luxuries and aren&rsquo;t signed.So kids play with kids. The prospects don&rsquo;t develop, they regress. And they play a pretty basic brand of hockey, so fans stop coming.Young prospects also don&rsquo;t progress well in losing environments. They begin to accept losing and don&rsquo;t learn what it takes to win.Which is why loyal fans of the Providence Bruins and Syracuse Crunch are becoming disgruntled with poor on-ice products.Providence has led the AHL in attendance the past three years, averaging more than 9,100 a game. This year, the average crowd is down an incredible 1,200 a game. That&rsquo;s the price for winning just one playoff series in three years and being eight games under.500 this season.In Syracuse, where the second-year Crunch has played to 94 per-cent capacity the past two seasons, some fans say it&rsquo;s time to file for divorce from parent Vancouver for lack of support. The Crunch missed the playoffs last season and is in danger of missing again this season.Not that this is really a surprise. The Canucks&rsquo; record as a parent team the past seven years is alarmingly poor. The combined record for the final three years with the Milwaukee Admirals of the IHL, two years with the Hamilton Canucks of the AHL and the two in Syracuse is 229-27943.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03429/6254760-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="1202" height="1948"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Taglianetti of Providence is playing in front of fewer fans this year.</figcaption></div>What&rsquo;s worse, a Canucks&rsquo; farm club hasn&rsquo;t won a playoff series since 1988-89, missing the playoffs two of the past three years and bowing out in the first round the other four years.So maybe it&rsquo;s time the NHL and AHL create a regulated development blueprint, much like baseball has with its Double-A and Triple-A teams.Then the AHL could continue to say &lsquo;We Build Success&rsquo; while at the same time being a success. &#9632;

f0022-02

NHL’s bottom line affecting AHL farm

<div class="byline">By Dave Eminian</div>The Peoria Rivermen aren&rsquo;t relocating, but they are moving-to the East Coast League next season.Frustrated over what he calls a fruitless situation, Peoria owner Bruce Saurs said he has given up on finding a buyer for his financially troubled 14-year-old International League team.Saurs said he&rsquo;ll likely ask the league for permission to place the franchise-which won Turner Cups in 1985 and &lsquo;91-into dormancy, which is the IHL&rsquo;s version of suspended operation.League rules permit dormancy for up to one year before the franchise is officially folded.Saurs, whose franchise operated at a profit in each of the previous six years under his ownership, said the team&rsquo;s losses could hit $2 million by season&rsquo;s end.He said he has had feelers from places such as Memphis, New Orleans and San. Antonio, but nothing he called serious.Saurs said the only alternative now is the ECHL, where expansion fees are $1.5 million and annual operating budgets are $1.6 million. His IHL budget this season was $4.4 million.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing out there, it&rsquo;s too late for me to find a buyer,&rdquo; Saurs said. &ldquo;If we wait any longer to start the (ECHL) process, we may not have hockey in Peoria at all next year and that&rsquo;s not worth the risk.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d end up being the biggest idiot of all time if I let that happen. I&rsquo;ve given up on a sale. It&rsquo;s a lose-lose situation for Bruce Saurs and probably a lose-lose situation for Peoria.&rdquo;In other franchise news, the sale of the Kansas City Blades by Russel Parker to Dan DeVos was officially approved. DeVos, a vice-president of the Amway Corporation, also owns the IHL&rsquo;s 1996-97 expansion Grand Rapid Griffins, the Ontario League&rsquo;s Barrie Colts and is vice-chairman of the National Basketball Association&rsquo;s Orlando Magic.League sources continue to say the San Francisco Spiders, meanwhile, are likely headed for a franchise move, if not a suspension of operations. The team is expected to lose up to $7 million this season.ICE CHIPS: Indianapolis Ice president Ray Compton, whose energy and marketing prowess has put his team in the spotlight many times over the years, became a rink rat in the truest sense of the term.Compton lived inside Market Square Arena for a week as a charity stunt to sell out the 16,000-seat venue for the March 9 game against the Fort Wayne Komets.The game was designated a charity event for local youth organizations and local celebrities and dignitaries joined Compton in the arena throughout the week.The end result was a win for charity and a 2-1 shootout victory for the Ice over the Komets in front of a franchise-record crowd of 14,631.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01850/6254798-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="386" height="435"></div>I-OPENERS: Darryl Williams of the Detroit Vipers collected a goal and five assists and had an IHL season-high plus-6 outing March 9 in a 9-1 hammer, ing of powerhouse Orlando Solar Bears&hellip;Cincinnati Cyclones&rsquo; center Dave Tomlinson scored five times in a 9-4 win over the Houston Aeros March 9&hellip;The Cyclones&rsquo; great goaltending tandem was temporarily broken up when Frederic Chabot underwent arthroscopic surgery March 9 to repair a small tear in the medial meniscus of his left knee. Chabot was expected to be out of the lineup until mid-April. Cincy picked up Peter Ing on loan from Fort Wayne to back up Danny Lorenz&hellip;The Phoenix Roadrunners beat the Minnesota Moose 5-4 in a shootout March 9 in the first penalty-free IHL game since a Jan. 2, 1993 duel between Peoria and the San Diego Gulls&hellip;Milwaukee Admirals&rsquo; center Terry Yake was named IHL player of the week for the period ending March 10, thanks to his nine-point effort in three games. Christian Soucy of Indianapolis was named goaltender of the week with a 1.00 goals-against average and 96.9 save percentage in two games. &#9632;

f0024-01

Rivermen hope to set sail in East Coast next season

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>The Richmond Renegades have had an imaginary bullseye on the back of their sweaters all season.In the middle of the circle, it says &lsquo;Defending Riley Cup Champions&rsquo; and every team they&rsquo;ve played has taken dead aim.Despite getting the best shot from opponents, the Renegades improved on last year&rsquo;s record (41-20-7). With five games remaining, Richmond was 44-10-11 for an East Coast League record 99 points.Roy Sommer&rsquo;s peers in the ECHL have recognized this year&rsquo;s accomplishments by naming the Renegades&rsquo; boss coach of the year. Sommer received 101 votes to finish ahead of Greg Puhalski of the Toledo Storm, who got 75. The Storm (46-12-7) also had 99 points.&ldquo;To come into this season after the success we had last year and accomplish what we have is amazing,&rdquo; said Sommer, whose regular-season record in four years behind Richmond&rsquo;s bench is 153-87-25.With eight players returning from last season, the Renegades won their first seven games and didn&rsquo;t slow down. They were on top of the East Division for all but a few days and were closing in on their second straight title.&ldquo;Experienced players have been a tremendous part of our success because they&rsquo;ve learned how to win,&rdquo; Sommer said. &ldquo;They know what it takes in a 3-2 or 2-1 game, when you need a big goal or you need to defend the goal. We&rsquo;ve got a lot of character guys who are easy to coach.&rdquo;The league also announced other major award winners. Nashville Knights&rsquo; left winger Hugo Belanger, the league&rsquo;s leading scorer (131 points) is MVP, while Wheeling Thunderbirds&rsquo; center Keli Corpse is rookie of the year. Corpse, who is under contract to the Montreal Canadiens, was ninth in scoring (91 points).Other honors went to Alain Morissette of the Louisville RiverFrogs (top goalie) and Chris Valicevic of the Louisiana IceGators (top defenseman).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02572/6254829-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="496" height="334"></div>CHANGE FOR CHIEFS: Johnstown Chiefs&rsquo; president/GM Les Crooks announced his resignation March 6 to pursue other opportunities. Crooks, completing his second year as the head man, will leave at the end of the season.&ldquo;(Johnstown chairman of the board) Jim Edwards and I have been discussing this for some time,&rdquo; Crooks said. &ldquo;Both of us feel the Chiefs require someone who is willing to commit to a long-term future in Johnstown. I&rsquo;m not that guy.&rdquo;Two days later, the Chiefs named Thomas (Toby) O&rsquo;Brien to replace Crooks. O&rsquo;Brien, who played goalie for the Chiefs when the team arrived in Johnstown in 1988, has been president and director of hockey programs for Great Northern Sports, Inc., in Rochester, N.H., the past five years.&ldquo;Toby brings to the position a passion for the game of hockey, respect for the hockey tradition in Johnstown and a commitment to keep that tradition alive,&rdquo; Edwards said.600-POINT MAN: Tallahassee Tiger Sharks&rsquo; center Trevor Jobe became the first ECHL player to reach 600 career points.Jobe took a pass from defenseman Hardy Sauter in the slot and wristed a shot past goalie Olie Sundstrom of the Erie Panthers March 5 for the historic point.Jobe had 42 goals and 93 points in 49 games, giving him a total of 606 points in his ECHL career.COAST LINES: Former Charlotte Checkers&rsquo; goalie Rob Tallas had a successful NHL debut March 7 when he was in goal for the Boston Bruins&rsquo; 4-3 win over the New York Islanders. Tallas, who had 26 saves, became the 68th ECHL alumnus to make it to the NHL. He was on recall from the Providence Bruins of the American League. &#9632;

f0024-02

Renegade coach Sommer recognized as top skipper

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>When Michel Therrien was named coach of the Granby Predateurs last summer after winning back-to-back regular season championships with the Laval Titan, he knew he had a tough job ahead. After all, this was a franchise that had only two winning seasons in its 14-year history.&ldquo;They haven&rsquo;t won and they don&rsquo;t know what it takes to win, even if they have talent,&rdquo; Therrien said at the time. &ldquo;We have a lot of work to do. They don&rsquo;t have a (winning) tradition here.&rdquo;Well, now they do.Xavier Delisle scored a power-play goal at 4:49 of overtime March 9 to give the Predateurs a 4-3 victory over the Halifax Mooseheads and clinch the Jean Rougeau Trophy as Quebec League regular season champions. Therrien also entered the record book as the first coach in the 27-year history of the QMJHL to win three straight regular-season titles. His teams had a 152-56-5 record during that span for a.725 winning percentage.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s not really a secret to success,&rdquo; Therrien said. &ldquo;What I ask from the players at the beginning of the season is to set big goals-they don&rsquo;t have to be satisfied with little things. I like to put that pressure on them right at the beginning of the year so that they&rsquo;re going to work harder to achieve their goals.&rdquo;The victory also marked the third straight Rougeau Trophy for four Granby players (Francis Bouillon. Daniel Goneau, Benoit Gratton and Jean-Francois Brunelle) who were acquired from Laval in trades this season.&ldquo;(Therrien) is a good motivator,&rdquo; Goneau said. &ldquo;He is also demanding. Even if we win, but don&rsquo;t play a good game, you know you&rsquo;re going to have a hard time at practice the next day. He hates losing.&rdquo;Therrien&rsquo;s team has now set its sights on winning its first President&rsquo;s Cup as playoff champions.OLYMPIQUES&rsquo; FLAME FADING: The Hull Olympiques, who looked like a good bet to win the regular season title after winning 24 straight games between Nov. 22 and Jan. 26, were slumping.The day after clinching the Rougeau Trophy, Granby beat the Olympiques 5-2 in Hull. It was the Olympiques&rsquo; fourth loss in six games (2-40).The Olympiques posted a 7-7-1 record after their win streak ended.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re in a little slump, but we just have to work our way out of it and be ready for the playoffs,&rdquo; said Hull goalie Jose Theodore. &ldquo;Last year we didn&rsquo;t win (the regular season title) either, but we went to the Memorial Cup. That&rsquo;s what matters.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02483/6254891-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="578" height="292"></div>FIRST TO WORST: The Laval Titan became only the second team in league history to go from first to worst in consecutive seasons. It.(inched the dubious feat with a 7-3 loss to the Sher-brooke Faucons on March 10.With one game remaining in the season, the Titan sported a 14-52-2 record after going 48-22-2 last season. Center Dominic Perna is the only player who remains in Laval from last year&rsquo;s team.The good news for the Titan is it will get the first overall pick at the June 1 midget draft in Victoria ville.The only other team to go from first to worst in consecutive seasons was the Victoriaville Tigres in 1989-90 and 1990-91.FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: This has been a season of firsts for the Vai d&rsquo;Or Foreurs.With a 37-24-7 record and one game still to play in their third QMJHL season, the Foreurs posted their first winning record and playoff berth.And with a 5-0 win over the Chicoutimi Sagueneens March 9, goalie Sebastien Charpentier stopped 22 shots for the team&rsquo;s first-ever shutout. It took 210 games to accomplish the feat. &#9632;

f0025-02

Good things come in threes for Granby skipper Therrien

<div class="byline">By Bob Vanstone</div>The Brandon Wheat Kings are reaping their best harvest since 1979.Brandon entered the final weekend of the regular season with a 50-19-1 record-the best in the Western League.The Wheat Kings had not hit the 50-victory plateau since the 1978-79 edition went 58-5-9 en route to the WHL title.&ldquo;We tried to gear our year around winning 40,&rdquo; said Wheat Kings&rsquo; GM Kelly McCrimmon. &ldquo;We thought that, with the people we had coming back, 40 was attainable. Fifty wins is a benchmark. Not a lot of teams win 50 games.&rdquo;McCrimmon should know. He played right wing on the formidable Wheat Kings&rsquo; club of 1978-79. Is his presence the catalyst?&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; McCrimmon said with a chuckle, &ldquo;some may argue.&rdquo;It is difficult to argue with the Wheat Kings&rsquo; success of late.They had missed the playoffs four straight seasons, but the dry spell ended in 1992-93 when they won 43 games. Victory totals of 42 ana 45 preceded this season&rsquo;s outburst.&ldquo;This is great,&rdquo; said left winger Mike Leclerc. &ldquo;In my first year in the league (with the 1992-93 Victoria Cougars), we won 15 games. I&rsquo;ve gone from the worst to the best in four years. I can&rsquo;t complain about that at all.&rdquo;HIP HIP HOORAY: Regina Pats&rsquo; goalie Chad Mercier continues to be a workhorse despite a hairline fracture of his right hip.The injury has nagged the 19-year-old Mercier since mid-January. He has received medical clearance to continue playing.&ldquo;The nature of the injury is not as serious as it sounds,&rdquo; said Pats&rsquo; GM Brent Parker. &ldquo;The doctors have given us strong assurances there is a very remote chance of Chad causing more or permanent damage by continuing to play.&ldquo;As long as Chad can handle the pain, he has been given the go-ahead to play. Because the injury is on a weight-bearing joint, there is going to be some discomfort for him.&rdquo;When asked how the hip felt, Mercier quipped: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s still attached.&rdquo;TOTALLY FRANK: Major revisions to the Saskatoon Blades&rsquo; record book are in order, thanks to right winger Frank Banham.Banham scored his 78th and 79th goals of the season March 12, setting a single-season franchise record. Gerry Pinder had 78 goals for the 1966-67 Blades. The 20-year-old Banham also increased his Blades&rsquo; career records for goals (186) and points (364).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03306/6254922-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="352" height="361"></div>HONOR ROLL: Saskatoon center Mark Deyell and Kamloops Blazers&rsquo; right winger Jarome Iginla are the finalists for the player-of-the-year award.Deyell had a league-high 148 points after 66 games. Iginla had 131 points in 60 games. Other finalists are:Top goalie-Mercier and David Lemanowicz (Spokane Chiefs).Most sportsmantike player-Left wingers Peter Schaefer (Brandon) and Hnat Domenichelli (Kamloops).Top executive-GMs Doug Mosher (Swift Cunent Broncos) and Tim Speltz (Spokane).Top rookie-Defenseman Chris Phillips (Prince Albert Raiders) and center Patrick Marleau (Seattle Thunderbirds).Top defenseman-Wade Redden (Brandon) and Nolan Baumgartner (Kamloops).Coach of the year-Bob Lowes (Brandon) and Mike Babcock (Spokane).Top marketing person-Scott Clark (Regina) and Dave Pier (Spokane).Humanitarian of the year-Center Darryl Laplante (Moose Jaw Warriors) and defense-man Brad Lukowich (Kamloops).NOTEBOOK: Craig Millar had 28 goals through mid-March-a single-season record for a Swift Current defenseman. Dan Lambert had 25 in 1988-89&hellip;Kamloops was thwarted in its bid to win 50 games for the seventh time in eight years. A 5-4 loss to the Prince George Cougars March 12 left Kamloops with 46 wins and three games remaining. &#9632;

f0025-03

Impressive Wheat Kings hit magical 50-win mark

Minnesota coach Doug Woog was upset, but not as much as the Colorado College Tigers.The top-ranked team in U.S. college hockey most of the season was the victim of a stunning upset at the hands of the Michigan Tech Huskies. Woog was upset because of a one-game suspension, but at least his team went on to win the Western Collegiate Hockey Association championship.Seventh place Michigan Tech pulled off the shock of the season against Colorado College 43 in one semifinal game. Just a night earlier, Tech rallied from two goals down to beat St. Cloud State 4-3 in the qualifying game.Woog was suspended for abusive behavior toward the officials. The incident occurred March 9 after Minnesota beat Wisconsin 4-3 in an emotional overtime game in which Woog shouted profanities and made the choke sign at referees Mike Schmitt and Don Adam. WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod said Woog also contacted Schmitt when the referee tried to herd Gopher players away from Wisconsin fans.&ldquo;We were celebrating and I didn&rsquo;t see any reason for the ref to come into our party,&rdquo; Woog told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. &ldquo;I slipped my arm between him and the players.&rdquo;Woog missed the Gophers&rsquo; 7-2 WCHA championship win over Michigan Tech.After three upsets in the five first-round series, upsets continued at the Final Five. Colorado College has won three straight regular season titles, but hasn&rsquo;t won a playoff title yet. Tech, St. Cloud and Wisconsin all got to the Final Five despite sub-.500 records.Minnesota&rsquo;s 4-3 semifinal win over Wisconsin came on Nick Checco&rsquo;s overtime goal. Minnesota drubbed a weary Michigan Tech team 7-2 in the championship game as MVP Brian Bonin scored two goals and set up two others.In Eastern College Athletic Conference best-of-three action, sixth place Harvard surprised third place St. Lawrence. Harvard had gone into the playoffs with a nine-game losing streak.Martin St Louis had a goal and six assists as top seed Vermont swept eighth place RPI. Todd White had two goals and five assists as second place Clarkson swept seventh place Brown. Brad Chartrand had four goals as fourth place Cornell crushed fifth place Colgate.In Hockey East best-of-three action, UMass-Lowell&rsquo;s Christian Sbrocca had two goals and five points as the second place River Hawks swept seventh place Northeastern.Providence College goalie Dan Dennis led the fourth-place team to a sweep over fifth place Boston College. Maine rookie Brett Clark had two power play goals as the third place Black Bears swept sixth place New Hampshire.Top seed Boston University had no problem against eighth place UMass-Amherst, outscoring the opposition 19-3 in two games.The top three teams in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs all advanced with quarterfinal series wins.Top seed Lake Superior needed an overtime goal from Sean Tallaire against Ohio State in Game 1. The Lakers cruised to an 8-2 decision over the eighth place Buckeyes in Game 2.Brendan Morrison had four goals and two assists as second place Michigan swept seventh place Miami. Third place Michigan State needed three games to beat sixth place Ferris State.Although Bowling Green was 0-3-0 against Western Michigan this season, the Falcons flew off with 8-1 and 3-1 wins over the Broncos. &#9632;

Top-ranked Tigers make early exit

Unable to ignite the University of Illinois-Chicago Flames the past six seasons, coach Larry Pedrie has been let go.On the heels of the Flames&rsquo; last-place Central Collegiate Hockey Association finish and 9-243 overall record, UIC interim athletic director Jim Schmidt announced March 12 Pedrie&rsquo;s contract would not be renewed.&ldquo;Coming off the season we just endured, we thought a change was best for everyone,&rdquo; Schmidt said. &ldquo;We want to put this behind us, look to the future and build a winner.&rdquo;Pedrie&rsquo;s six-year record at UIC was 64-14019 (.315 winning percentage). The Flames&rsquo; best record under Pedrie&rsquo;s regime was his first season, 1990-91, when they were 13-23-2.<h2>CCHA</h2>&ldquo;Obviously, we made some mistakes in our decision making,&rdquo; Pedrie said. &ldquo;Other things happened that were beyond our control. But I blame nobody but myself. I had to develop a program and make it successful. I failed. I can&rsquo;t say six years isn&rsquo;t enough. It is. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean I didn&rsquo;t want another year.&rdquo;When asked if the school might be able to pursue an established, big-name college coach, Schmidt said, &ldquo;I think the budget will be there.&rdquo;ALL THE BEST: The 1995-96 all-CCHA first team includes: forwards Brendan Morrison of Michigan, Sean Tallaire of Lake Superior State and Kevin Hilton of Michigan; defensemen Keith Aldridge of Lake Superior and Andy Roach of Ferris State; and goalie Marc Magliarditi of Western Michigan.The second team had forwards Jason Botter-ill of Michigan, Anson Carter of Michigan State and Jeremy Brown of Western Michigan; defensemen Steven Halko of Michigan and Kelly Perrault of Bowling Green; and goalie Tom Askey of Ohio State.CORRECTION: The CCHA was not, as reported earlier, the first U.S. Division I league to be on the Internet. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association was on the Internet several months before the CCHA. The confusion stems from the CCHA&rsquo;s claim to have the first domain on the Web, as opposed to the first site.-Matt Carlson<h2>WCHA</h2>The Hobey Baker Award winner won&rsquo;t be announced until March 29, but the engraver might want to get his Bs and Ns ready.Minnesota&rsquo;s Brian Bonin continued to make a case for himself as college hockey&rsquo;s best player. On the same weekend he became the second skater to win back-to-back Western College Hockey Association player-of-the-year awards, he was named MVP of the WCHA Final Five tournament after leading the Gophers to the playoff title in Milwaukee.The senior center also led the nation in scoring (33 goals and 80 points) through 40 games.&ldquo;You always worry about falling off after a good year,&rdquo; said Bonin, a Hobey finalist last season, &ldquo;but I think I stepped up my play a little. The best thing is, it&rsquo;s not over yet.&rdquo;Bonin was the leading vote-getter on the all-WCHA teams, even though eight of the 18 allleague players were from regular-season champion Colorado College.The Tigers also reaped individual honors. Don Lucia was top coach, center Brian Swanson was top rookie and defenseman Eric Rud was top defensive player. Minnesota defenseman Dan Trebil was named student-athlete of the year.The all-WCHA first team included forwards Bonin, Teeder Wynne of North Dakota and Peter Geronazzo of CC; defensemen Mike Crowley of Minnesota and Nick Naumenko of North Dakota; and goalie Ryan Bach of CC.The second team had forwards Antti Laak-sonen of Denver, Swanson and Colin Schmidt of CC; defensemen Scott Swanson of CC and Trebil; and CC goalie Judd Lambert.The all-rookie team featured the Swansons, forwards Matt Cullen of St. Cloud State and Erik Rasmussen of Minnesota; defenseman Darrin Bradley of Anchorage; and goalie Steve DeBus of Minnesota.SEYMOUR GOES PRO: Northern Michigan finished last in the WCHA and took another blow when leading scorer Dean Seymour left with a year of eligibility remaining. Seymour signed a tryout contract with the Las Vegas Thunder of the International League.-Chris Miller &#9632;

Flames to start anew without coach Pedrie

Hockey East&rsquo;s two-year experiment with the shootout has ended and now it is up to the league&rsquo;s coaches to decide whether to recommend it for use across the country.The league will make its recommendation to the American Hockey Coaches&rsquo; Association in April and if recommended, it will be voted upon. If endorsed, the shootout will be proposed at the National Collegiate Athletic Association convention in September.Thirty-one games in Hockey East were determined by shootouts in the two years it was used. Shootout winners received three points and shootout losers received two. Winners in regulation or the five-minute overtime earned five points.<h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>The league&rsquo;s coaches voted 5-4 to give the shootout a second year this past season, but UMass-Lowell&rsquo;s Bruce Crowder, who voted in favor of it, said he&rsquo;d now vote against it now.&ldquo;It has run its course,&rdquo; Crowder said. &ldquo;I wanted it to have a second year because I didn&rsquo;t want to do it just one year and have us hem-and-haw about bringing it back nine years from now.&rdquo;Crowder said he initially got caught up in the positive aspects of it, &ldquo;but I noticed fans leaving the building during the shootout.&rdquo; Crowder said he thinks the consensus among coaches is to not recommend it.SPECIAL GUEST: Boston University&rsquo;s Travis Roy was the guest of 1995 Winston Cup NASCAR rookie of the year Ricky Craven for the Purolator 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway March 10.Roy, paralyzed from the neck down when he went head-first into the boards Oct. 20, was transferred from the Boston University Medical Center to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta Feb. 5.Craven, a native of Newburgh, Me., has known Roy and his family for several years. The Roys are from Yarmouth, Me.Roy&rsquo;s dad, Lee, used to be Craven&rsquo;s crew chief when he was racing in New England and Travis also worked on Craven&rsquo;s pit crew. Roy attended the Purolator 500 in a motorized wheelchair and watched Craven finish 12th.-Larry Mahoney<h2>ECAC</h2>Call them the no-name Knights.As the Clarkson Golden Knights battled for a spot in the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament this year, the blue line was patrolled by a half dozen players who don&rsquo;t exactly strike fear into the hearts of opponents.&ldquo;The guys are very coachable. That&rsquo;s about all I can say,&rdquo; said Clarkson coach Mark Morris. &ldquo;If you watch them in practice, no one is going to wow you.&rdquo;Three of them-senior Josh Bartell, junior Jason LaBarge and freshman Jason Gates-came to Clarkson as walk-on players.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re not high-maintenance players,&rdquo; Morris said, &ldquo;and they know that for us to be good, they have to play a controlled, disciplined game.&rdquo;The defense corps was a big reason why the Knights were in the Eastern College Athletic Conference final four with a 24-7-3 record.The player who doesn&rsquo;t get much recognition is sophomore Scott Ricci, a 6-foot-2, 206-pounder. &ldquo;He has NHL skills from the defensive side,&rdquo; Morris said, &ldquo;but offensively, he doesn&rsquo;t do anything that jumps off the sheet.&rdquo;The blueliners who could blossom in years to come are freshman Mikko Ollila and sophomore Nick Windsor.&ldquo;Nick and Mikko are slight, but in the next couple of years, they&rsquo;re going to become very proficient at special teams play,&rdquo; Morris said. &ldquo;Mikko already has a pile of assists for a freshman and as their strength improves, both he and Windsor are going to be outstanding.&rdquo;SIMONTON SAYS&hellip;BYE: It didn&rsquo;t take Union College defenseman Reid Simonton long to jump from college to the pros.Five days after the Dutchmen were eliminated from the playoffs, Simonton, a senior, signed a tryout contract with the Richmond Renegades of the East Coast League. After three games, he was called up to the Cornwall Aces of the American League. Simonton was chosen by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1994 supplemental draft.Simonton finished with nine goals and 19 points and also left school as the all-time leader in penalty minutes (325).-Tom Boggle &#9632;

Future of shootout to be determined by coaches

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01774/6255046-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01806/6255039-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="3095" height="3542"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01702/6255032-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="3087" height="3534"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01801/6255025-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="3081" height="3546"></div> &#9632;

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NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

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NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

<h2>NOTE</h2>Unofficial 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 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02485/6255283-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="496" height="1918"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03349/6255276-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="505" height="2287"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04263/6255269-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="496" height="1681"></div><h2>SATURDAY, MARCH 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05213/6255262-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="494" height="519"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06176/6255255-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="497" height="2290"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-07152/6255248-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="497" height="2294"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-08132/6255241-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="501" height="2289"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01788/6255234-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="497" height="2868"></div><h2>SUNDAY, MARCH 10</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02542/6255227-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="498" height="568"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04248/6255220-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="498" height="1540"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05177/6255213-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="498" height="1539"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06145/6255206-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="500" height="1537"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-07120/6255199-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="497" height="1539"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-08106/6255192-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="500" height="233"></div><h2>MONDAY, MARCH 11</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0990/6255185-1-eng-US/f0032-092.jpg" title="f0032-09" width="500" height="2365"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03372/6255178-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="2035" height="1940"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Juneau was the playmaker on Washington&rsquo;s first three goals in a 9-0 romp over the Vancouver Canucks March 12.</figcaption></div><h2>TUESDAY, MARCH 12</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1083/6255171-1-eng-US/f0032-102.jpg" title="f0032-10" width="497" height="742"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01709/6255164-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="500" height="2733"></div><h2>WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02486/6255157-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="490" height="692"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03356/6255150-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="491" height="3511"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04281/6255143-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="495" height="1615"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06198/6255136-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="492" height="1617"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07180/6255129-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="494" height="1614"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-08148/6255122-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="496" height="1335"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05231/6255115-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="1511" height="1852"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat LaFontaine set up four teammates in a 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings March 13.</figcaption></div><h2>THURSDAY, MARCH 14</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-09130/6255108-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="492" height="2088"></div> &#9632;

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NHL SUMMARIES

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

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INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By Larry Starks</div>St. Louis added Wayne Gretzky and now it has the Central League.The CHL has added St. Louis as an expansion franchise for 1998-89. It becomes the league&rsquo;s seventh team and the first in an NHL market since Dallas left in 1995.&ldquo;We think we will do well there,&rdquo; said CHL president Ray Miron. &ldquo;St. Louis has always been a good hockey town, especially now that Gretzky is there. The Kiel Center has sold out.&rdquo;Miron said he is not concerned about having to compete against the NHL&rsquo;s St. Louis Blues.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a risk at all,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got Chicago in the International League and they&rsquo;re doing well. Detroit is in the InternationalLeague and they&rsquo;re doing well. We wouldn&rsquo;t be going in there if we thought it was a risk.&rdquo;The yet-be-be-named team will play in a proposed 10,000-seat arena in nearby St. Charles, Mo. The arena will have 40 luxury boxes and is expected to be completed in the summer of 1998, said Frank Trulaske, an O&rsquo;Fallon, Ill., businessman who is the arena&rsquo;s lead investor.The CHL is also in negotiations with the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum for an expansion team in Shreveport, La. But the coliseum is also negotiating with the East Coast League.NOTEBOOK: San Antonio Iguanas&rsquo; center Brian Shantz, who captured his second straight scoring title, was selected the CHL&rsquo;s MVP. Memphis RiverKings&rsquo; center Derek Grant was selected top rookie while teammate Dan Brown was named top defenseman. The CHL first-team all-star team consists of Shantz at center, Sebastien LaPlante of San Antonio and Dave Shute of the Wichita Thunder tied at left wing, Kyle Reeves of the Fort Worth Fire at right wing, Brown and Liam Garvey of San Antonio on defense and Scott Brower of Memphis in goal. &#9632;

Central League sets up shop in St. Louis for 1998

<div class="byline">By Brendan Savage</div>Erin Whitten recorded another firs, when she played one shift at righi wing for the Flint Generals of the Colonial League.Whitten, the first woman in pre hockey history to win a game in goal, became the first female to appear as a skater when she suited up in an emergency role during a 5-3 victory over the Madison Monsters March 8. The game was in Madison.Because of suspensions and injuries that left Flint shorthanded on the road, Whitten dressed as a forward to serve penalties. After serving a bench minor, she jumped into the play for 18 seconds.The last time Whitten played forward was at age 12 in a boys&rsquo; league in Glens Falls, N.Y.&ldquo;I was just happy I didn&rsquo;t make a fool out of myself.&rdquo; said Whitten, who played in borrowed equipment. &ldquo;I had dreams all night about being on a breakaway. I still have dreams about breakaways.&rdquo;Whitten, 25, had appeared as a goalie in eight games for Flint and the Muskegon Fury this season. She had a 2-0-1 record, 5.26 goals-against average and 80.7 save percentage.NOTEBOOK: After scoring twice against Flint Feb. 25 to become just the second ColHL player with consecutive 50-goal seasons, Mark Green was released by the Utica Blizzard for what GM Jeff Croop called &ldquo;selfishness on and off the ice.&rdquo;&hellip;Paul Pollilo of the Brantford Smoke broke his own league records for assists (107) and points (158) in a season. &#9632;

Whitten plays shift at forward

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01678/6255486-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="382" height="511"></div>When the Hanover Barons were looking for a play-by-play man for this season, they wanted someone who would grow into the role.Michael Weber was the perfect choice. Man, does he have a lot of growing to do. Weber is also on a long-term deal since he probably won&rsquo;t be allowed to leave town for at least another eight years.The pre-pubescent voice of the Hanover (Ont.) Barons Jr. C team was bom last fall when Weber, then a nine-year-old fourth grader, answered the advertisement in the Hanover Post for a play-by-play man on the team&rsquo;s cable television broadcasts. He wasn&rsquo;t the top candidate for the job, remembers Mike Anderson, who hired Weber and handled the color commentary, but he was the keenest.&ldquo;I was counting the odds against me,&rdquo; said Weber, who turned 10 in mid-season, &ldquo;because I&rsquo;m pretty small and everything.&rdquo;But as he does with the MildmayNovice B team, Weber worked the comers. He went to most of the practices, all the pre-season games and studied the rosters of the opposing teams in the Western (Ont.) Jr. C League.&ldquo;He was incredibly professional by anyone&rsquo;s standards; he came to the games very well prepared,&rdquo; Anderson said. &ldquo;At the beginning of the season, you could tell he was trying hard to memorize the names and go with the flow. But about mid-season there was one game where I looked over and I saw he wasn&rsquo;t reading anything. He never dropped his head once and at that point, I knew he was away.&rdquo;Weber&rsquo;s stint on television has made him a local hero of sorts and has garnered national attention. Through it all, he has learned that celebrity has its advantages. The main one, of course, is he gets into all of the games free.&ldquo;I got a free hat and a T-shirt, too,&rdquo; Weber said, &ldquo;and every so often Mike gets me a pop between periods. I tell him he doesn&rsquo;t have to, but he does anyway.&rdquo;Most of the 12 regular season and three playoff games Weber worked-with his 12-year-old brother Jeff working the camera-were on Friday nights or Sunday afternoons. But there was the occasional weeknight game when he would have to leave after the second period because it was well past his bedtime.Weber regularly does imaginary play-by-play between his two favorite teams, the TorontoMaple Leafs and Calgary Flames. He would love to have a career in the broadcast booth, but wants to play before doing play-by-play.&ldquo;I think I have to become a better player,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think if I played in the NHL it would get me a better job. Then I could say, &lsquo;I remember the Stanley Cup playoffs and boy, emotions were running high.&rsquo; &ldquo;With 19 goals and 17 assists this past season, Weber takes pride in his two-way play. By his own meticulous count, he was plus-21, including a short stint on defense when he was pointless and plus-11.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m the best player,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We have a guy on our team who had 55 goals, but only one assist. I think that shows a lot.&rdquo;<h2>From defenseman to businessman</h2>Just after his playing career ended in 1993, Borje Salming had a small part in a movie. Even though he is a good guy, his rugged, scarred face made him the perfect Swedish bad guy.&ldquo;I robbed a bank and I had all the cops chasing me,&rdquo; Salming said.These days, the former NHL star is laughing all the way to the bank. Salming has parlayed his name into several successful business ventures in Sweden, including Durable Botje Salming Underwear (which he plans to market in Ontario soon), a line of sunglasses, floor hockey sticks and a company that imports wine and Upper Canada Lager.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02466/6255479-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="1504" height="1906"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ten-year-old Michael Weber calls them as he sees them for the Jr. C Hanover Barons.</figcaption></div>With sales of $3.5 million last year, Salming&rsquo;s skivvies have not exactly cornered the market. More gentlemen prefer tennis legend Bjorn Borg&rsquo;s underwear. But Salming points out he has only been in the business four years, while Borg&rsquo;s togs have been available in Sweden for 11.&ldquo;We are right beside each other in the stores,&rdquo; said the 45-year-old Salming, who was back in Toronto in mid-March with the Stockholm VIPs for a World Cup oldtimers&rsquo; tournament. &ldquo;And that is good, because they can see that our stuff is better.&rdquo;The fluid stride and smooth passes are still there, despite the fact he plays only about 10 times per year. Hockey brought him fame, but Salming is quite content to be out of the loop.&ldquo;I played 25 years,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had enough. I am happy.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Play-by-play child’s play

<div class="byline">By Sam Laskapis</div>Acadia University athletic officials find themselves in a quandary. How do they demote a coach who has just won a national hockey title?The Acadia Axemen, led by interim coach Mark Hanneman, captured the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union crown with a 3-2 victory over the Waterloo Warriors March 10 in front of 7,511 fans at Toronto&rsquo;s Maple Leaf Gardens.Hanneman, who had served as an assistant with the Axemen the previous nine seasons, was handed head coaching duties last summer when Tom Coolen took a one-year leave of absence to accept a job as an assistant with the Saint John Flames of the American League.&ldquo;Part of being an Acadia person is always helping out when called upon,&rdquo;-.said Hanneman, whose head coaching contract with the Axemen expires in April.Coolen said he hasn&rsquo;t made any plans for his future and won&rsquo;t do so until his season ends with the Flames.Acadia goalie Trevor Amundrud turned aside 25 of 27 Waterloo shots in the championship game. The Axemen had a 3-0 lead after two periods and stopped a late Waterloo surge in the dying minutes.Paul Doherty, Wade Whitten and Chris Skoryna scored for Acadia while Matt St. Germain and Mark Cardiff replied for Waterloo.The Axemen, who also captured the national crown in 1993, advanced to this year&rsquo;s championship match by edging the Trois-Rivieres Patriotes 4-3 in their semifinal March 8. Waterloo qualified by dumping the Calgary Dinosaurs 5-2 in the other semifinal.Acadia captain Greg Clancy was selected as the tournament MVP. The Axemen also had four players named to the tournament all-star team: forwards Jason Weaver and Whitten, defenseman Paul Doherty and goalie Amundrud. Rounding out the team were Waterloo forward Mike Chambers and Trois-Rivieres defenseman Daniel Laflamme.Hanneman said if asked, he&rsquo;d gladly come back as an assistant with the Axemen should Coolen return to Acadia next season.&ldquo;Tom and I are great friends,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Our children are the same age and we hang around all the time. He&rsquo;s like a brother to me. I miss him and I love the guy. He taught me everything I know about coaching.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s also a mutual admiration society between Hanneman and his players.&ldquo;There have been rumors all year about Tommy coming back,&rdquo; Doherty said, &ldquo;but Mark has been our coach all year and guys went to bat for him.&ldquo;We love him as a coach because he went to bat for a lot of guys on this team. When people were having trouble on the team, he was always there through thick and thin.&rdquo;Amundrud wouldn&rsquo;t mind seeing Hanneman return as the club&rsquo;s head coach next season.&ldquo;Look at what he has done,&rdquo; said Amundrud. &ldquo;He has taken us right to the national final. He&rsquo;s one of the big reasons why we won.&rdquo; &#9632;

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March 29, 1996

Knightmare finally over for hapless London squad

NHL ROSTERS AND TRANSACTIONS

Dryden commissioned to probe misconduct

SCOREBOARD