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.

January 24, 1997

The Hockey News January 24, 1997

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011681/6896248-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="314" height="407"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Yzerman</figcaption></div>A weekly compendium of significant events and developments (Jan. 3-10).Jan 4: Canada defeats USA 2-0 to win World Junior Championship. Russia defeats Czech Republic 4-1 for bronze medal.New York Rangers win 2,000th game since joining NHL in 1926-27 season.Jan. 5: Joel Quenneville named Mike Keenan&rsquo;s replacement as coach of St. Louis. Mike Foligno named Quenneville&rsquo;s replacement as assistant coach in Colorado.Detroit&rsquo;s Steve Yzerman registers 1,300th career point in game against Chicago.Jan. 7: Tony Granato of San Jose, Viacheslav Fetisov of Detroit named to Western Conference team for All-Star Game.Jan 8: Dale Hawerchuk of Philadelphia, Dale Hunter of Washington named to Eastern Conference team for All-Star Game.Jan. 9: Tampa Bay beats Philadelphia 3-1, snapping Flyers&rsquo; undefeated streak at 17 games.Former L.A. Kings&rsquo; owner Bruce McNall sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to repay $5 million for scheming to bilk $236 million from banks, a securities firm and his team. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Canada wins WJC, Quenneville wins Blues’ post

<h2>Kennedy takes step to recovery</h2>1. Took guts Boston&rsquo;s Sheldon Kennedy steps forward telling of sexual abuse in hopes others will follow suit.2. Now that&rsquo;s a comeback One year after brain surgery, San Jose&rsquo;s Tony Granato gets invitation to All-Star Game.3. High Flyers Philadelphia strings together 17-game unbeaten streak-going 14-0-3.4. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m still a checker&rdquo; That may be so, but Dallas defensive specialist Dave Reid fires hat trick in win over Detroit.5. SRO Michigan State&rsquo;s full house Jan. 9 against Western Michigan marks 10 straight years of sellouts for State.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021250/6896134-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="323" height="456"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tony Granato</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03931/6896127-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="322" height="457"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Craig</figcaption></div><h2>McNall sentenced for fraud crimes</h2>1. Bruce McNall Former Kings&rsquo; owner and high-roller finally faces the music with conviction of fraud.2. Holdout shut out Phoenix left winger Igor Korolev without a goal in first 17 games.3. AHL bad boys St. John&rsquo;s coach Mark Hunter, goalie Don Beaupre suspended for attack on ref.4. Mike Craig Toronto right winger suspended two games for high-sticking Vancouver&rsquo;s Mike Sillinger.5. Troy Mallette Boston left winger suspended two games for elbowing Dallac&rsquo; drant Marshall &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01925/6898112-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

CLASSIFIED

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>The Hull Olympiques have a free pass to this year&rsquo;s Memorial Cup as host team, but they&rsquo;re starting to look like a squad that might have earned its way there anyway.The Olympiques hammered the Granby Pred-ateurs, the defending Memorial Cup champions, 11-3 Jan. 5 to extend their winning streak to seven games. It was stopped with a 6-4 loss to the Rimouski Oceanic Jan. 9, but the Olympiques defeated the Moncton Wildcats 6-1 the next night to move within striking distance of first place Granby in the Lebel Division standings.Olympiques&rsquo; GM Charlie Henry bolstered his roster with a couple of key trades in late-December. First, he acquired defenseman Mathieu Descoteaux from the Shawinigan Cataractes in exchange for left winger David-Alexandre Beauregard. He then acquired goaltender Martin Biron, defensemen Martin Ethier and Ben Metzger and a first round pick in the 1997 European draft from the Beauport Harfangs in exchange for defensemen Russell Smith, Dmitri Tolkunov, a fifth round pick in the 1997 midget draft and $15,000.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going anywhere if you don&rsquo;t have a great defense,&rdquo; Henry said. &ldquo;We think we now have five or six great defensive players.&ldquo;We realize it&rsquo;s a big year for us and we had to upgrade. We went and got young Ethier from Beauport, who&rsquo;s a helluva hockey player, and Descoteaux, who&rsquo;s a first round pick (by the Edmonton Oilers in 1996). Those guys have really stabilized our defense and on top of that, we have a better goaltender with good experience.&rdquo;Biron, the backup to Marc Denis at the World Junior Championship, had struggled with Beauport this season, posting a 6-10-1 record with a 3.98 goals-against average. But Henry is confident the first round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 1995 will rebound in Hull.Henry also has the league&rsquo;s top sniper in left winger Pavel Rosa, who had one goal and six assists in the romp over Granby. He had 46 seven-game winning streak, Rosa, a Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; second round pick in 1995, had 10 goals and 28 points.BRONZE BOYS: Rimouski center Vincent Lecavalier scored two goals and was named the game&rsquo;s MVP as Quebec beat Western Canada 7-4 Jan. 5 to win the bronze medal at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Red Deer, Alta.Lecavalier, a strong candidate to be the No. 1 pick at the 1998 NHL entry draft, also had two goals in Quebec&rsquo;s 10-4 loss to Sweden in the semifinal.Meanwhile, Jonathan Girard of the Laval Titan was named the outstanding defenseman at the tournament. Girard, the first overall pick at last year&rsquo;s midget draft, missed the first half of the Quebec League season as a result of a herniated disc in his back.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02627/6897954-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="576" height="284"></div>GOOD REVELATION: While Marc Denis was backstopping Canada to the gold medal at the WJC, the Chicoutimi Sagueneens may have found their goalie of the future.Remi Bergeron was called up from the midget Jonquiere Elites and the 17-year-old responded with five straight wins while posting a 2.40 goals-against average.As a result of Bergeron&rsquo;s performance, the Sagueneens traded goalie Frederic Brind&rsquo;Amour, their first round pick at the 1996 midget draft (ninth overall), to the Sherbrooke Faucons for a second round pick in 1997. Brind&rsquo;Amour had a 4-9-1 record with a goals-against average over 4.00 with Chicoutimi.&ldquo;We put Bergeron in the same type of situation (as Brind&rsquo;Amour) and he reacted positively,&rdquo; said Sagueneens&rsquo; coach Real Paiement, an assistant with the Canadian team. &ldquo;Marc will be very well backed up by this kid and when we have to put him in I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s going to perform even better than he did while Marc was gone because he knows the backup is Marc Denis behind him.&rdquo;So is Bergeron Chicoutimi&rsquo;s goalie of the future?&ldquo;I would say right now he is,&rdquo; Paiement said. &#9632;

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Host Olympiques trying to earn way to Memorial Cup

<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/f0002-04702/6896172-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="340" height="423"></div>I&rsquo;m the guy who selected Graham James Inside HOCKEY Man of the Year in 1989.With a couple of prominent exceptions (stripping behind the bench and an altercation with fans) he has lived up to the honor in the public domain.James has undermined it all privately.The former Swift Current Broncos&rsquo; coach-GM was honored for advocating peace and goodwill on the ice. He joined Inside HOCKEY in arguing our sport is a physical enough game without gratuitous acts of violence such as fighting.What he has admitted to doing with teenage players in his charge amounts to unspeakable acts of violence.He has violated their souls as much as their bodies and we are all the poorer for it because he has violated our peace of mind.Most of the activities in which our children (of all ages) participate are founded on an implicit trust between those who watch over them and those who surrender them, however temporarily. In the wake of the Jan. 2 conviction of James for sexually assaulting two teenage hockey players, that trust is weakened.Hysteria should not set in. (Every young athlete should not suddenly be considered at risk.)Nor should complacency set in after the initial wave of outrage subsides. (And it will.)Sheldon Kennedy, one of the two victims, says he wants to conceive a program that provides support for troubled children. The Hockey News looks forward to his efforts and applauds those who have quickly stepped forward and offered to help.James says Kennedy betrayed him, but it was James who betrayed the teenagers who gave him their trust. There has been widespread speculation there are other victims and all we can do is hold out hope it is ill-founded, although that seems naive.It&rsquo;s as naive as James&rsquo; hope all the good he has done on and off the ice won&rsquo;t be forgotten. It&rsquo;s foolish to dismiss legitimate accomplishments as the result of illegitimate acts. It is more foolish to think they will not be overwhelmed by the vile nature of James&rsquo; crime. With stands against violence, alcohol and racism, James was a conscience of hockey while committing unconscionable acts.Nearly seven years after James was the first recipient of Man-of-the-Year honors, Inside HOCKEY is dead and buried.Today, so is James&rsquo; reputation.The hockey world is left to come to terms with his awful legacy.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011506/6896165-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="1689" height="2331"><figcaption class="caption-body">The overachieving Buffalo Sabres owe many thanks to resident acrobat Dominik Hasek. Pg. 13.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Hockey world wrestles with James’ legacy

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-in-chief</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011679/6896217-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"></div>The troubling story of colorful ex-Western League coach Graham James&rsquo; conviction for sexual assaulting two former members of the Swift Current Broncos has rocked the hockey world. Boston Bruins&rsquo; right winger Sheldon Kennedy identified himself as one of the victims during a interview Jan. 4 in a Calgary hotel room. Editor-in-Chief Steve Dryden represented The Hockey News, one of four newspapers invited to speak with Kennedy. Four days later, THN conducted a telephone interview with James, who began serving a 3-1/2-year sentence at an Edmonton prison. THN covers the story in this five-page special report. Additional stories appear on pgs. 18,19 and 32.CALGARY-Sheldon Kennedy was bom 27 years ago in rural Manitoba. He has been reborn the past five months.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like you&rsquo;re learning to live again,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m starting to like myself again. I didn&rsquo;t like myself, didn&rsquo;t care enough about myself for a long, long time.&rdquo;When Graham James was led out of a Calgary courtroom Jan. 2 in leg irons and handcuffs, Kennedy was both liberated and vindicated.James was sentenced to 3-1/2 years in prison for sexually assaulting two former members of the Western League&rsquo;s Swift Current Broncos.A publication ban prohibits naming the victims, but Kennedy went public in a remarkable Jan.4 interview as part of the healing process and in hopes of bringing attention to the issue of sexual abuse.Kennedy wanted to go on the record and to set the record straight.&ldquo;Everybody always thought (James) was a god, he was the man,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;Everybody always thought he was just a great, great guy. I was so sick and tired of me being the wild, bad guy. I&rsquo;m not saying I&rsquo;m an angel, (but) it was good closure for me to know finally that he&rsquo;s the bad guy.&rdquo;Nobody can know for sure if the Boston Bruins&rsquo; right winger will ever be entirely free of the demons haunting him since the first time James abused Kennedy in Winnipeg when Kennedy was a young teenager. But it has undeniably been a cleansing experience.&ldquo;I feel like I am 10 months old inside a 27-year-old body,&rdquo; he said.This ordeal, formally started in late-August when he lodged a complaint with Calgary police, is part of a new beginning for Kennedy who has been seeing a psychiatrist twice a week since the summer.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m only a quarter of the way there, but I&rsquo;m getting a lot better,&rdquo; said Kennedy, who played two seasons for the Calgary Flames before his contract expired and he was signed as a free agent this season by the Bruins. &ldquo;I can feel things.&rdquo;Something Kennedy should feel is a measure of pride for uncovering one of hockey&rsquo;s dirty secrets. It has quickly become a source of major concern for officials all over the hockey world this went undetected so long: James sexually abused Kennedy over a six-year period (1984-1990).Court heard James assaulted Kennedy 300 times-primarily mutual masturbation, never sodomy-and a second victim 50 times from 1991 to 1994.Police and the two complainants believe there have been other victims and one Calgary policeman called James a &ldquo;serial sexual predator.&rdquo;&ldquo;I feel there are other kids involved,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter if they come forward, but they&rsquo;ve got to deal with it and if they don&rsquo;t, they&rsquo;re going to be running for the rest of their lives because I tried hiding a million times.&rdquo;Kennedy left behind farm life and an unhappy home life in Elkhorn, Man., as a 14-year-old to learn about hockey in the big city. He arrived in Winnipeg as a vulnerable teenager soon to be victimized by James, who invited Kennedy to stay with him during a midget tournament.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021343/6896210-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="581" height="926"><figcaption class="caption-body">Above, Graham James clowns around with Danny Lambert, left, and Sheldon Kennedy. Below, Kennedy as a Boston Bruin.(James, Lambert and Kennedy from THN archives; Kennedy skating by Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Graham knew that I needed a father figure coming from home because it wasn&rsquo;t a great situation at our place and he preys on that,&rdquo; Kennedy said.Court was told the first night that Kennedy stayed with James on a separate cot, he was assaulted in a pitch black room after the coach first fumbled around in the dark and then turned on the light to reveal himself cradling a shotgun.According to the statement of facts read in court, James silently ejaculated on Kennedy&rsquo;s feet that night, fondled his penis and attempted oral sex while Kennedy tried to discourage James.&ldquo;From the first time&hellip;that screwed my whole life up,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;Sure he may have looked like he helped me. &lsquo;Look how much I&rsquo;ve done for him. I&rsquo;ve talked to the (Detroit) Red Wings, getting you help with your drinking and all this sort of stuff.&rsquo; But if he didn&rsquo;t portray me as that at 14 years old, he wouldn&rsquo;t have to help me and keep me in control like that. He knew. He had this whole thing planned, I&rsquo;m telling you. He knew what he was doing. It&rsquo;s the way (sexual predators) work.&rdquo;Kennedy added,&rdquo;When something out of the blue like that happens, you don&rsquo;t have a clue what to do. You tell your mom, she makes you go home. You tell your friends at 15, they&rsquo;re just going to portray you as a gay guy.&rdquo;Kennedy said he never told anybody about the assaults, not teammates, not friends, not team officials and not billets, either in Moose Jaw or Swift Current two Saskatchewan small towns.&ldquo;I was so scared to come out and admit that it happened to me,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;So scared to say that I was with another man. I have nothing against homosexuality, but there has to be an understanding if somebody&rsquo;s not willing to do (it)-which many times I told him, that I think it&rsquo;s wrong, definitely wrong.&rdquo;Kennedy played all his junior years for James. The coach arranged for the speedy forward to be on teams in Moose Jaw (the AAA midgets and the WHL Warriors), Winnipeg (the Manitoba Junior League&rsquo;s Winnipeg South Blues) and Swift Current so that Kennedy always remained close to him, including living with him in Winnipeg.Kennedy said James acted as though they were married. The typical routine was for Kennedy to spend Tuesday and Thursday nights at James&rsquo; apartment concluding with sexual assaults.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt Graham loved me, that he was infatuated with me,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;But I have told him a lot of times that it&rsquo;s not right.&rdquo; It was during his three seasons with Swift Current that Kennedy emerged as an NHL prospect, posting back-to-back 50-goal seasons, earning a berth on the 1988 world champion Canadian national junior team and fourth place 1989 team and captaining the 1989 Memorial Cupchampion Broncos. He was chosen 80th overall by the Red Wings in the 1988 entry draft.Kennedy ran the Broncos&rsquo; bus. He was the kid other players envied for his wit, his adventurous spirit, his irreverence, his cool.&ldquo;That was my front,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;I was hyper, do any kind of wacky, stupid thing. That was the way I ran from my stuff. I kept everybody entertained, so they never got deep on me.&rdquo;Kennedy kept the truth about James&rsquo; sexual assaults bottled up for years-until he married Jana in April, 1995.&ldquo;She was the first person I ever trusted enough,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;She was the first real friend I had.&rdquo;Kennedy and Jana have a daughter, Ryan, who turned one Jan. 12.&ldquo;The biggest crime I see that Graham committed,&rdquo; Jana said,&rdquo;was that he stole from Sheldon his youth, he stole from Sheldon his trust of people and his confidence in adults. And that will take years and years to get back.&rdquo;It was Jana who confronted James after the latter called to ask why Kennedy hadn&rsquo;t played for the Flames in Edmonton last April 8. Kennedy had been out drinking and spoke with coach Pierre Page the following morning; he told Page that he had personal problems. (See pg. 8 for more.)&ldquo;I had known for almost a year at that point and I had never said anything to (James),&rdquo; Jana said. &ldquo;I just basically said, &lsquo;Do you want to get into this with me right now?&rsquo; (James) said, &lsquo;What are you talking about?&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;Do you want to get into this with me right now, Graham?&rsquo; He just starting backpedaling, trying to justify.&rdquo;James had left the Broncos in 1994 to co-found the Calgary Hitmen, a WHL expansion team that began play in 1995-96. Kennedy is one of several NHLers, including Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche and Calgary&rsquo;s Theoren Fleury (both of whom played for James), who invested in the team. In James&rsquo; capacity as coach-GM, he worked out of the Saddledome, home of the Flames.&ldquo;All last year it just kept coming up,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;Once you tell one person, it&rsquo;s like you crack the door open a little bit and you think about it and it comes up more and more and finally I got to the point where I was ready and wanted to do something about it. I had a hard time going down to the rink and seeing Graham and there&rsquo;s always kids around him.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s probable James&rsquo; sexual advances exacerbated existing problems and created new ones for Kennedy, long reputed to be a problem drinker. Kennedy said James attached that label early and reinforced it so he could be the one to rescue him.&ldquo;I truly don&rsquo;t believe that I&rsquo;m an alcoholic or a drug addict,&rdquo; said Kennedy, who admitted drinking made him feel &ldquo;normal&rdquo; in the past.Kennedy has had two convictions for impaired driving and another for possession of a small quantity of marijuana. He spent 12 days in jail for missing an appointment with his parole officer in Detroit.Kennedy said his drinking is under control. Now he wants to say that about the rest of his life.Kennedy said he&rsquo;s tired of living through the highs and lows: &ldquo;I was like the Rocky Mountains. I&rsquo;m kind of in the foothills now. I want to get back where everything&rsquo;s on an even keel.&rdquo;The valleys bottomed out with Kennedy considering suicide.&ldquo;Death was an easy way out,&rdquo; he said,&rdquo;and that was a thought many times.&rdquo;Kennedy said he wants to feel &ldquo;normal&rdquo; after years of awkwardness.&ldquo;You always feel weird,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You know something&rsquo;s wrong in your life, but you just don&rsquo;t know why it&rsquo;s like that. It&rsquo;s screwed up. You know that you do things that aren&rsquo;t correct. You know that all the time, but you just don&rsquo;t know why.&rdquo;Kennedy said he accepts responsibility for past transgressions.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not making any excuses for what I did,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I take full blame for the things I did because I did them. I just know my feelings were definitely screwed up.&rdquo;Kennedy added,&rdquo;It&rsquo;s so brutal how you feel.&rdquo;And now?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like they opened up your skin and took away your insides and left your heart,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Then you have to find all your new feelings and learn to live.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011624/6896203-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="1220" height="2640"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sheldon Kennedy expects to play his best NHL hockey for Boston. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div><div class="sidebar">&lsquo;It&rsquo;s so brutal how you feel&rsquo; &#9632;</div>

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FEATURES

Starting Over

CALGARY-One of the NHL&rsquo;s better skaters has never hit his stride in pro hockey.Sheldon Kennedy, a swift 5-foot-10, 180-pound right winger, has never realized his full potential. Small wonder.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been sexually abused since I was 14, never lifted a weight or rode a bike in my life except this year,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;I smoked and drank until two days before training camp and I seemed to play in the NHL, so I&rsquo;m really looking forward to playing with a clear mind and getting in shape.&rdquo;Kennedy had 41 goals and 89 points in 254 career NHL games with the Detroit Red Wings and the Calgary Flames before joining the Boston Bruins as a free agent last summer.He had three goals and seven points in 14 games with the Bruins (whom he termed &ldquo;incredible&rdquo; in their support of him) before taking time off to attend the Graham James trial.&ldquo;Maybe I&rsquo;ll be down in the minors next year,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;Maybe I&rsquo;ll be down in the minors two weeks from now, but I feel I can only get better from what has gone on.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really looking forward to enjoying playing and being in shape and winning. I want to be a big part of the Boston Bruins&rsquo; hockey club. And I want to get there not by the Boston Bruins feeling sorry for the kid who was abused. I want to get there by playing well.&rdquo;Kennedy didn&rsquo;t score in his first game back against the Philadelphia Flyers Jan. 7, but contributed a goal and an assist in his second game, a 5-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens Jan. 9. &#9632;

Bruin out to be best he can be

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Steve Dryden</div>CALGARY-Hockey associations all over North America have begun taking action to minimize the chance of another Graham James saga.One of James&rsquo; two sexual abuse victims also wants to take action.&ldquo;The biggest thing,&rdquo; Sheldon Kennedy said,&rdquo;is that I don&rsquo;t want this swept under the carpet. Not just for me, but this whole issue.&rdquo;Kennedy said he would like to start a camp for troubled youths in hopes they can work through their problems and make a real friend or two in the process. Tom Laidlaw, Kennedy&rsquo;s agent who has been instrumental in helping the player work through the past few months, said one man has already offered a portion of 7,200 acres he owns outside Femie, B.C.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t come into this thinking I&rsquo;m going to save the world,&rdquo; Kennedy said of his decision to pursue charges against James. &ldquo;I came into this feeling very scared and very nervous, not wanting anybody to find out. The more I&rsquo;ve learned about it, the more I know about sexual assault, the more I want to be able to help because I feel the position I&rsquo;m in, that maybe I would be able to help a lot-you know set up some type of charity and do some events.&rdquo;Kennedy suggested high-calibre hockey teams such as those in major junior should all have persons akin to guidance counselors independent of the clubs. He said players would be more inclined to speak freely to someone who isn&rsquo;t associated with the team.The former Swift Current Bronco, who also played in Moose Jaw, Sask., and Winnipeg, never told anybody James was abusing him.&ldquo;I know it&rsquo;s a lonely feeling when you&rsquo;re away at 14,15,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;I know you&rsquo;re a macho hockey player. But there are many days as a hockey player you just sit in there and bawled because you wanted to be home. You&rsquo;re lonely.&rdquo;.Kennedy said sex offenders can stand in the way of young people realizing their dreams.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure there are a lot of 15-year-old kids-just scared to come forward-and I feel I can open the door for people and show it&rsquo;s all right to do.&rdquo; &#9632;

Kennedy wants to keep issue front and center

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-in-chief</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011802/6896351-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Graham James poses for a 1989 picture in Swift Current as Inside HOCKEY&rsquo;S first choice as Man of the Year. (THN file photo)</figcaption></div>CALGARY-Graham James did more than abuse Sheldon Kennedy and one other victim-he abused his position as coach, mentor and father figure.&ldquo;Graham has a way about him,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s great with words and&hellip;1 came from a family where my dad and I were not close. I think Graham takes advantage of those things.&ldquo;I went in there and I was looking for a father figure. Once it starts happening, it&rsquo;s brutal and you&rsquo;re always trying to hide and run from him and he&rsquo;s always tracking you down.&rdquo;Kennedy was invited to Winnipeg as a 14-year-old and sexually assaulted by James.Coaches in all sports have huge influence and power over their athletes and hockey players are no different. Many hunger to play in the NHL and feel compelled to do almost anything to achieve that dream.James, who coached the Moose Jaw Warriors, Swift Current Broncos and Calgary Hitmen in the Western League, was sentenced to 3-1/2 years of prison for sexually assaulting two former players.The Hockey News conducted a Jan. 8 phone interview with James from the Edmonton prison where he is undergoing evaluation.He was asked if he took advantage of his position as coach.&ldquo;I would hope that it wasn&rsquo;t that way,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;I guess I thought it was on a level of friendship and that&rsquo;s probably naive. It wasn&rsquo;t my intention to abuse my power or trust, but I could be naive on that. Most people are going to assume that&rsquo;s what happened.&rdquo;Kennedy feels that way.&ldquo;He was just a very smart manipulative man,&rdquo; said the Boston Bruins&rsquo; right winger.James, 44, did at least three interviews in the wake of his conviction, talking to the Calgary Sun and Edmonton Journal before speaking guardedly, on the advice of lawyers, to THN.&ldquo;Do I have any regrets? Sure,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;I cared about these people. They&rsquo;re no longer friends of mine. There&rsquo;s many people who were friends of mine and are probably wondering and I&rsquo;m going to lose a lot (of friends). I regret everything. I regret people thinking I&rsquo;m a harmful person, that I&rsquo;m out of hockey, that any good I&rsquo;ve done is swept aside. There are lots of regrets and lots of time to think about them. I regret what it has done to my family. It has tom them apart.&rdquo;James has two brothers and a sister. He said neither them, nor his parents, knew he was gay. His brother, Rusty, bitterly advised his brother to stop talking to the media and offered his support to Kennedy.&ldquo;I know my brother has problems,&rdquo; he said,&rdquo;and I know they have to be dealt with. The brother I knew six months ago no longer exists because of this.&rdquo;James said he has seen a psychologist and been classified a hebo-phile-somebody who is attracted to adolescents.Asked if he agreed with the sentence, arrived at through a plea bargain, James said,&rdquo;I accept the law. It&rsquo;s wrong because Sheldon Kennedy says it&rsquo;s wrong even if I don&rsquo;t agree with everything (Kennedy said). If he&rsquo;s saying it&rsquo;s wrong now, the last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt him.&rdquo;Kennedy said he was pleased with the judgment, although he, too, didn&rsquo;t agree with everything he heard in court Jan. 2.&ldquo;It went a lot better than I (expected),&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;I had a problem with a few things that were said, that he was a class act and he was portrayed as not a pedophile. I don&rsquo;t believe that&hellip;He knew exactly what he was doing. Both cases were almost exactly the same. Both statements in court.&rdquo;James told both the Sun and Journal he disputes some facts read out in court. The ex-coach said Kennedy was 15 when the assaults began (not 14); he didn&rsquo;t use a shotgun to threaten Kennedy; and there weren&rsquo;t 300 incidents.James told the Sun he didn&rsquo;t contradict those facts in court because,&rdquo;I didn&rsquo;t want Sheldon up on the witness stand being cross-examined. I didn&rsquo;t want to put anybody through that. The bottom line is that I was guilty of the basic charges.&rdquo;James said he believed Kennedy &ldquo;tolerated&rdquo; his sexual advances, although &ldquo;(Kennedy) wasn&rsquo;t comfortable with it.&rdquo; James said he wished what he did was acceptable: &ldquo;Maybe I thought I was living in ancient Greece.&rdquo;The one-time Western League icon acknowledged what he viewed as tolerance may have been viewed as forced submission by his victims.Kennedy said,&rdquo;I believe that he truly fell in love with me, but he knew exactly what he was doing and he should have realized it wasn&rsquo;t accepted. I mentioned many times that it wasn&rsquo;t right. That I hated it. There was no willingness on my part.&rdquo;James said,&rdquo;The hardest part of being a friend of Sheldon was to say goodbye, to know that I couldn&rsquo;t impose on his life, that he had to find someone and play hockey. That was very difficult. The parting of the ways. Knowing that we couldn&rsquo;t be as close again, that he would find someone and get married.&rdquo;Kennedy said,&rdquo;I&rsquo;d like to talk to Graham one more time in the future, just once. Either that or write him a letter. I think I&rsquo;d like to talk to him just because I&rsquo;d be able to tell in his eyes whether he really knew what he did was wrong.&ldquo;From what his lawyer has been saying I can&rsquo;t see that he understands. There&rsquo;s that interview coming out saying he still wants to be my friend. It&rsquo;s like he doesn&rsquo;t get it. He doesn&rsquo;t understand that he&rsquo;s in jail for 3-1/2 years for doing what he did. How could I still be his friend? There&rsquo;s no way.&rdquo;&ldquo;My only hope,&rdquo; James told THN. &ldquo;is that there are some people out there who believe in me and my hope is that someday one or two say, &lsquo;Look, we don&rsquo;t agree with what Graham did, we&rsquo;re not commenting on that. What we are saying is that there&rsquo;s a lot of good things about him that he did for us.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s my only hope-that people understand there is a side to me that was a great benefit to people. Certainly right now it&rsquo;s almost impossible for anybody to do.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0006-01

Abusing a trust

<div class="byline">By Alan Adams</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011638/6896382-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sheldon Kennedy&rsquo;s admission he was sexually assaulted has had a wide-ranging impact in hockey. (Photo by Jim Mclsaac/BBS)</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s a period the hockey world will never forget-former junior coach Graham James being found guilty of sexual assault and Sheldon Kennedy baring his soul to the world in telling how he was one of James&rsquo; victims.The sport became transfixed on, arguably, the most shameful act in its history.Reports of sexual improprieties, alleged and actual, surfaced daily.While Kennedy is back playing for the Boston Bruins and James adjusts to life behind bars after being sentenced to 3-1/2 years in prison, the saga is far from over.What follows is a compendium of events and issues that surfaced surrounding James&rsquo; conviction:&#9633; Within days of Kennedy going public, attention turned to the possibility of players being sexually abused by the late Portland Winter Hawks&rsquo; owner and WHL chairman of the board, Brian Shaw. Shaw died of AIDS-related cancer in 1993.Former Regina Pats&rsquo; and Kamloops Oilers&rsquo; coach Bill LaForge said he asked then-commissioner Ed Chynoweth to investigate Shaw, but was told there was no evidence to support his allegation Shaw was abusing players.Former Edmonton Oil Kings&rsquo; player Larry Hendrick told the Edmonton Journal Shaw propositioned him during a Vancouver road trip when Hendrick was 15.Hendrick said Shaw told him during the 1971-72 season if he had sex with Shaw, it would improve Hendrick&rsquo;s chances of making it to the NHL. Hendrick recalled one day getting out of the shower and he felt he was being watched.&ldquo;(Shaw) just stood there with his robe open, masturbating,&rdquo; Hendrick said. &ldquo;I kicked the bathroom door and told him to get out. He did.&rdquo;Chynoweth, now the owner of the Edmonton Ice expansion team in the WHL, said he doesn&rsquo;t recall LaForge making a complaint and said he received no complaints.Winter Hawks&rsquo; GM Ken Hodge, a close friend and colleague of Shaw, said the subject of abuse was never brought up to him by a player and he would welcome an investigation.&#9633; While police in Calgary have said their part of the investigation is over, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police widened its probe to include players living in the United States.RCMP Cpl. Rick Newstead said the Mounties will contact between two and 10 of James&rsquo; former players with the Swift Current Broncos. He said not to expect immediate results from the broader investigation.&ldquo;A lot of these players won&rsquo;t admit they were victimized until they are down on their luck,&rdquo; Newstead said. &ldquo;You have to realize that these players are like alcoholics. Some of their problems won&rsquo;t surface for years down the road.&rdquo;Meanwhile, before announcing their investigation was over, Calgary police said they knew of two more victims, including one &ldquo;high-profile&rdquo; NHLer. (See pg. 19 for more on this.)&#9633; The Canadian Hockey Association was working on a policy covering sexual harassment and sexual abuse, but the governing body for amateur hockey in Canada sped up the process in light of James&rsquo; conviction.Part of the CHA&rsquo;s objective is to make players aware of what sexual abuse is-to let them know what, if any, touching is appropriate and to educate volunteers on what to look for from a player&rsquo;s standpoint and from a volunteer&rsquo;s standpoint.The CHA also wants to work with police to set up a national registry of pedophiles-James is a hebophile, someone who is attracted to adolescents-in the event that if a person moves to another province, he can be traced.The CHA policy is being fine-tuned and will be voted on during its meetings at the end of January.&ldquo;What happened was deplorable and sickening,&rdquo; said CHA chairman Frank Lento. &ldquo;And it bothers me there were individuals who had suspicions and did nothing. They are just as guilty.&rdquo;The Western League, meanwhile, said it intends to use the RCMP to screen all team employees in a bid to identify anyone with a criminal record.&#9633; While Canada is still formulating a screening policy, USA Hockey has had one in place for two years.It has been implemented in Michigan, Massachusetts and the Atlantic district (New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware). It allows officials to check whether an individual has any civil or criminal past that would be inappropriate for those working in hockey.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t eliminate the possibility, but you can certainly reduce the probability (of sexual abuse) if we use the tools that are given to us,&rdquo; said Charlie Bobbish of Massachusetts Hockey.&#9633; While Kennedy decided to go public with his story, the second victim named in court has not come forward. The Calgary Sun, however, interviewed the person and the victim says he believes there are at least 20 other people who were preyed upon by James.&#9633; The father of the second victim said the Broncos did not act on a complaint by his son about improprieties in 1994, after James had a confrontation with players over his sexual orientation.&ldquo;(The Broncos) knew about it,&rdquo; the father said. &ldquo;They let (James&rsquo;) contract run out because they knew something could happen. It bothered my son that they let him go to Calgary where he could continue on.&rdquo;The father named former Swift Current scout Doug Mosher as the person with whom his son filed the complaint. But when asked specifically whether his son told Mosher he had been abused, the father replied: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know that. I do not know that he specifically said he was being sexually abused.&rdquo;Mosher, now GM of the Medicine Hat Tigers, first refused comment, citing a gag order.Later he said the player never made him aware he had been sexually or criminally abused. Mosher also threatened to sue those who &ldquo;dragged his name through the mud.&rdquo;&#9633; The question many are asking is: why did people involved in the league not realize what was happening?Gary Bollinger, a former vice-president of the Broncos, told the Calgary Sun he was warned in 1986 that James was &ldquo;doing it&rdquo; with Kennedy.&ldquo;I was told by the father of the player we traded to get Kennedy that (Kennedy) and James were doing it,&rdquo; Bollinger said. &ldquo;I figured if they were doing it, they were doing it with consent.&rdquo;Bollinger was later fired when he questioned why James needed to take a player with him on a scouting trip to Europe.&#9633; As details of James&rsquo; past became public, another former member of the Broncos&rsquo; front office was charged with sexual assault.An ex-Broncos&rsquo; scout who worked for James will be in court in late-January to face three counts of sexual assault against two men. Don Middleborough scouted for the Broncos for the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons.Middleborough resigned from the Grand Forks (B.C.) Jr. B Border Bruins in December after being charged.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure that I&rsquo;ll get a fair trial, the charges are trumped up anyway,&rdquo; he said in a court appearance Jan. 9.&#9633; Sheldon Kennedy has hired a lawyer to see whether civil lawsuits can be launched.Tom Laidlaw, Kennedy&rsquo;s agent, said a considerable portion of any money received would go toward establishing a ranch/camp that would serve as a refuge for troubled young people.&ldquo;The process (of a lawsuit) has been started and we expect the lawyers to come back to us shortly,&rdquo; Laidlaw said.&#9633; Coming forward as Kennedy did has been a widely admired step in the NHL.Philadelphia superstar Eric Lindros spoke with Kennedy before the Bruin&rsquo;s first game back, Jan. 7 against the Flyers.&ldquo;What Sheldon did took an incredible amount of courage,&rdquo; said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who spoke with Kennedy&rsquo;s wife, Jana, and offered his support.NHL senior vice-president and director of hockey operations Brian Burke said: &ldquo;People always debate who the toughest player in the NHL is. Today, I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s any doubt it&rsquo;s Sheldon Kennedy.&rdquo;&#9633; Don Cherry is known not to mince words in Coach&rsquo;s Comer and he had a few select ones to say about James two days after the junior coach was convicted.After host Ron MacLean appeared to praise James for agreeing to a plea bargain, Cherry swore and said James should be &ldquo;drawn and quartered.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0007-01

Were there others?

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div>It was the final Monday of the 199596 regular season. The Calgary Flames, desperately trying to clinch a playoff spot, were in Edmonton to play the Oilers.Coach Pierre Page decided to skip the usual game day skate in favor of a team meeting. All the players but one-Sheldon Kennedy-turned up. After the meeting ended, Page called Kennedy&rsquo;s hotel room and discovered the troubled winger was having problems again.When Page arrived in the darkened hotel room, Kennedy acknowledged that he&rsquo;d been on a bender the previous night and needed help. His problem: that he&rsquo;d been sexually abused as a youth. That set in a motion a series of events that eventually led to the sentencing of Kennedy&rsquo;s former junior coach, Graham James, to 3-1/2 years for sexual abuse.According to Page, on that day he told Kennedy: Either you can tell me about the specifics of your problem or we can get you professional help. Kennedy opted for professional help, so he packed his bags and was sent home to Calgary.Dr. Winne Meeu-wisse, the team&rsquo;s doctor, met Kennedy at the airport. Kennedy says Mee-uwisse referred him to a stress management specialist. Kennedy implied the Flames did little to help him deal with the root of his problems-sexual abuse-and instead focussed on hockey issues.&ldquo;I went to see (the doctor) twice, went back and played and nothing was mentioned again until I went to the players (see pg. 18 for more),&rdquo; said Kennedy.Flames&rsquo; GM Al Coates said,&rdquo;We had a player that obviously needed some professional medical assistance. We made sure that we provided that to him.&rdquo;Did Coates know the scope of Kennedy&rsquo;s problem? &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;I knew he had a problem of some kind. When I got the call at the office-I wasn&rsquo;t in Edmonton-I said: &lsquo;Under the circumstances, let&rsquo;s get him home. &lsquo;I called the doctors. I put him in the doctors&rsquo; care. None of us are professionals.&rdquo;Once Kennedy was in doctors&rsquo; care, Coates said, confidentiality issues overrode all other concerns. &ldquo;We would simply wait at that point for the doctors to say that he&rsquo;s ready to come back and play.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011694/6896413-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="510" height="756"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pierre Page</figcaption></div>Kennedy alleged the Flames sent him to a hypnotist, not a doctor, and the priority was to get him back playing. &ldquo;We had our doctor meet him right here at the airport,&rdquo; Coates said. &ldquo;Now, what (the doctor) chose to do with (Kennedy) after that becomes a question of his professional judgement-not mine or Pierre&rsquo;s or anybody else&rsquo;s.&rdquo;Page said Kennedy didn&rsquo;t tell him James was his abuser, as Kennedy maintains. &ldquo;All he told me was sexual abuse, nothing else,&rdquo; Page said. &ldquo;To this day, I still don&rsquo;t know who the expert is because they keep everything very confidential. We never got feedback from then on.&ldquo;We did the right thing. I said, &lsquo;We don&rsquo;t mind if he doesn&rsquo;t play. Just solve his problems. I don&rsquo;t care how much it costs.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s what I said.&rdquo;Page added that, on doctors&rsquo; advice, Kennedy rejoined the team for the playoffs after missing the final four regular season games. &ldquo;The decision to come back and play is always done with the player when: No. 1, they&rsquo;re medically fit; and. No. 2, they are psychologically ready,&rdquo; Meeuwisse said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s standard policy.&rdquo;Goaltender Rick Tabaracci was one of four Flames&rsquo; players in whom Kennedy confided about his problems the night of their first 1996 playoff game. Tabaracci corroborates Page&rsquo;s point: the Flames were more concerned about Kennedy&rsquo;s welfare than any contribution he could potentially make on the ice. Kennedy had scored three goals in 41 games.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s be honest,&rdquo; said Tabaracci, since traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning. &ldquo;Sheldon didn&rsquo;t contribute a lot.&rdquo;Page had experience with two troubled players-John Kordic and Bryan Fogarty-playing for him when he was coach-GM of the Quebec Nordiques. Kordic&rsquo;s death of a drug overdose in 1992 hit him hard.&ldquo;Pierre wanted to make sure he didn&rsquo;t lose Sheldon,&rdquo; Tabaracci said. &ldquo;Any conversation I ever had with Pierre was, &lsquo;Whatever it was going to take to help him, that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ll do.&rsquo; To even think we needed Sheldon back on the ice-we didn&rsquo;t. I mean. I think they did more than a lot of clubs would do.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-01

Flames say they did the right thing

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>Former Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; owner Bruce McNall was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison and ordered to pay $5 million restitution for his admitted role in a scheme to bilk banks, a securities firm and the NHL team of more than $236 million.The sentence was handed down Jan. 9 in Los Angeles.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you can ever be totally pleased with this type of situation,&rdquo; McNall said outside the court. &ldquo;Under the circumstances, it&rsquo;s in the range of what I expected. The saddest part of all of this is there are a lot of victims made out of all this.&rdquo;U.S. District Court Judge Richard Paez praised McNall in handing down the sentence.&ldquo;You have quite a history here in L.A. You are a man of many talents, but this was a quite serious matter that took place over a long period of time involving a lot of money, a lot of banks.&rsquo;McNall pleaded guilty more than two years ago to two counts of bank fraud and to single counts of conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud six banks, one securities company and the Kings. He has been free on bond.Federal prosecutors had recommended the maximum prison sentence of eight years and restitution of $26.7 million. Paez reduced it because of what he termed McNall&rsquo;s &ldquo;extraordinary acceptance of responsibility,&rdquo; of the charges and substantial assistance to prosecutors in this and other cases.McNall must turn himself in by March 10 and said in a published report, with the eight weeks of freedom he has left he would &ldquo;get things arranged so my kids (aged 13 and 11) can continue to go to the school they go to.&rdquo; &#9632;

Ex-Kinas’ owner McNall gets stiff sentence

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011606/6896468-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Florida&rsquo;s John Vanbiesbrouck starts for the Eastern Conference all-stars. (Photo by Jim Levy/BBS)</figcaption></div>RED DEER, Alta.-Team Ontario claimed the second global title in two days for Canada at the World Under 17 Hockey Challenge.Ontario whipped Sweden 6-2 Jan. 5, one day after Canada won the World Junior Championship in Geneva.The Swedes, powered by twin brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin, steamed into the final and were favored to beat Ontario. But Manny Malhotra scored two goals and goalie Jake McCracken stopped 26 of 28 shots to lead Ontario.Daniel Sedin led round-robin scoring with 20 points, five more than Henrik at 15. Ontario&rsquo;s Justin Papineau, a standout in the final game, was second with 16.The key to Ontario&rsquo;s game plan was to stop the Sedins. Daniel was the star against Ontario in a roundrobin tie.Ontario coach Brian Hayton&rsquo;s strategy was to force the Swedes away from the middle of the rink.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t score from the comers,&rdquo; said Hayton, whose winning tactics included playing 6-foot-4 defenseman Bryan Allen opposite the Sedins. &#9632;

f0009-01

Ontario takes out Sweden

Tony Granato&rsquo;s remarkable recovery and return from brain surgery prompted his invitation to the NHL All-Star Game under commissioner Gary Bettman&rsquo;s special category.The San Jose Sharks&rsquo; right winger will be joined as an honorary selection at the Jan. 18 All-Star Game in San Jose by defenseman Slava Fetisov of the Detroit Red Wings on the Western Conference team. Eastern Conference special additions are Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; center Dale Hawerchuk and Washington Capitals&rsquo; center Dale Hunter.Injury replacements have yet to be named. Injured participants include Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg of the Colorado Avalanche, Jason Arnott of the Edmonton Oilers, Rob Blake of the Los Angeles Kings and Paul Coffey of Philadelphia.The NHL also announced rosters for the Heroes of Hockey Game. A team of former stars from Californiabased squads will take on a team of NHL heroes. (See pg. 41 for rosters.)The Heroes of Hockey game will be telecast live on ESPN at 9 p.m. Jan. 17 (EST) and on tape delay on CBC the next day at 4:30 p.m. (EST).<h2>ALL-STAR GAME ROSTERS</h2><h3>WESTERN CONFERENCE</h3>GOALTENDERS&lsquo;Patrick Roy, Colorado AvalancheAndy Moog, Dallas StarsChris Osgood, Detroit Red WingsDEFENSEMEN&lsquo;Chris Chelios, Chicago Blackhawks&lsquo;Sandis Ozolinsh, Colorado AvalancheRob Blake, Los Angeles KingsDerian Hatcher, Dallas StarsAl Maclnnis, St. Louis BluesOleg Tverdovsky, Phoenix CoyotesFORWARDS&lsquo;Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche&lsquo;Brett Hull, St. Louis Blues&lsquo;Paul Kariya, Anaheim Mighty DucksTony Amonte, Chicago BlackhawksJason Arnott, Edmonton OilersPavel Bure, Vancouver CanucksTheoren Fleury, Calgary FlamesPeter Forsberg, Colorado AvalancheMike Modano, Dallas StarsOwen Nolan, San Jose SharksMats Sundin, Toronto Maple LeafsSteve Yzerman, Detroit Red Wings<h3>EASTERN CONFERENCE</h3>GOALTENDERS&lsquo;John Vanbiesbrouck, Florida PanthersMartin Brodeur, New Jersey DevilsDominik Hasek, Buffalo SabresDEFENSEMEN&lsquo;Ray Bourque, Boston Bruins&lsquo;Brian Leetch, New York RangersPaul Coffey, Philadelphia FlyersKevin Hatcher, Pittsburgh PenguinsScott Stevens, New Jersey DevilsRobert Svehla, Florida PanthersFORWARDS&lsquo;Wayne Gretzky, New York Rangers&lsquo;Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh Penguins&lsquo;Dino Ciccarelli, Tampa Bay LightningDaniel Alfredsson, Ottawa SenatorsPeter Bondra, Washington CapitalsJohn LeClair. Philadelphia FlyersMario Lemieux, Pittsburgh PenguinsEric Lindros, Philadelphia FlyersMark Messier, New York RangersZigmund Palffy, New York IslandersMark Recchi, Montreal CanadiensGeoff Sanderson, Hartford Whalers&lsquo;Chosen in fan balloting. Remaining players added by NHL in consultation with a committee of GMs. Replacements for injured players had yet to be named. &#9632;

Gutsy Granato honored

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>Not playing in the World Junior Championship evidently hasn&rsquo;t hurt Patrick Marleau&rsquo;s draft prospects.In its mid-term ranking of draft prospects, the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau rated Marleau, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound center with the Western League&rsquo;s Seattle Thunderbirds, the second-best North American skater eligible for the 1997 NHL entry draft. (See pg. 42 for complete list.)The shifty 17-year-old is behind only Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds &lsquo;center Joe Thornton and one spot ahead of Russian whiz Sergei Samsonov. Not bad company for someone who wasn&rsquo;t even invited to Canada&rsquo;s final selection camp for the WJC.&ldquo;Our staff has been fairly high on him right from day one,&rdquo; said one NHL scout. Marleau had an outstanding rookie season last year and was second in the WHL scoring race with 30 goals and 61 points in 39 games this season.The scout had Samsonov-who is playing for the Detroit Vipers of the International League-ranked ahead of Marleau on his list, but called Marleau &ldquo;a real talented offensive player who&rsquo;s a good skater and seems to work relatively hard at his defensive game.&rdquo;WHERE ARE THEY NOW?: The NHL Pension Society is on the lookout for Byers and a mature Bond and is willing to pay the right Price.Sound like Wall Street? Not really. It&rsquo;s just searching for men who are due pension money from the NHL.Michael Byers, John Bond and Thomas Price are among the 23 men the pension society has had trouble finding. More than 1,300 former players are owed $41.1 million in misappropriated pension funds.The society has been unable to contact: Bradford Anderson. Herb Boxer, Gary Cardiff. Jacques Cloutier, Alexander Debrody. John Flesch, John Healy, Fred Hilts, Doug Keans, Raymond Larose. M.P. Mahoney, James Paterson. Darcy Regier. Leonard Ronson. Paul Shmyr, Doug Soe-taert. Fred Speck, John Van Horlick. Robert Walton and James Watson.Regier was recently fired as assistant GM of the New York Islanders; Boxer is coach of the Central League&rsquo;s Memphis RiverKings; Soetaert is GM of the International League&rsquo;s Kansas City Blades; and Cloutier is assistant coach of the Colorado Avalanche.Anyone knowing the whereabouts of the other men is asked to contact Lise de Jocas at the NHL Pension Society at (514) 288-9220.PUTTIN&rsquo; ON THE FOIL: The Western Professional League made highlight reels around North America recently, but for the wrong reasons.In a Jan. 4 game between the New Mexico Scorpions and Central Texas Stampede, a brawl broke out that saw Jacques Mailhot of Central Texas fighting with off-ice personnel and a suspended player come out of the stands to fight Mailhot.WPHL president Rick Kozuback issued a 20-game suspension to Mailhot and slapped a 10-game ban on Clint Collins of New Mexico, who was serving a suspension and came down from the seats to join the fracas. &#9632;

Marleau takes quantum leap to No. 2

I must disagree with Mike Brophy&rsquo;s criticism of Sasha Lakovic (THN, Dec. 13) for going after the fan that poured a drink over Calgary Flames&rsquo; assistant coach Guy Lapointe&rsquo;s head.When I saw the incident on the hockey highlights, the first thing I said was,&rdquo;I hope someone on the Flames&rsquo; bench teaches that idiot a lesson.&rdquo; I don&rsquo;t consider a gentle escorting by security and a ban by the Edmonton Oilers from games at Northlands Coliseum enough of a deterrent.As spectators, we are not there to interfere with the game. Cowards who throw snowballs at National Football League players or prevent pro baseball players from gloving catchable fly balls are in the same category.Doing what that spectator did is like teasing caged zoo animals and then expecting them not to want out of the cage to get at you.If fans want to involve themselves with the players, throw them out on the ice and see how long they last.Peter Wade,&nbsp; Nashville, Tenn.<h2>Good show, T.O.</h2>Mats Sundin will play in the AllStar Game, but it wasn&rsquo;t with any help from Toronto Maple Leaf fans.Sundin was fourth in scoring, but received a pitiful 44,014 votes to finish eighth among centers in the Western Conference. How bad was it? Well, he finished 8,000 votes behind Ray Ferraro and a whopping 50,000 behind Jeremy Roenick.I don&rsquo;t expect fans from other cities to recognize Sundin&rsquo;s efforts, but for 101 players to have more votes than Sundin should be an embarrassment to Toronto fans.Luigi Tari, North York, Ont.<h2>LeClair deserving</h2>How could John LeClair not have been voted to the All-Star Game? He is one of the league&rsquo;s top scorers and proved early in the season that he doesn&rsquo;t need Eric Lindros to be good.As good as Dino Ciccarelli is, LeClair deserved to be voted to the team more. Shame on everyone who didn&rsquo;t vote for LeClair.Nicole Poinsett,&nbsp; Stockton, N.J.<h2>Let&rsquo;s give credit</h2>It&rsquo;s an absolute crime that Ron Hextall was not named to the Eastern Conference team for the All-Star Game.As of Jan. 3, the day the Eastern Conference team was announced, Hextall was first in wins and winning percentage, second in goais-against average and third in shutouts.The Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; defense is not one of the league&rsquo;s best and would look much worse if Hextall weren&rsquo;t in the net. Let&rsquo;s give credit where credit is due.Mike Reynolds,&nbsp; Absecon, N.J.<h2>No-win situation</h2>It&rsquo;s clear the rule used to determine the winning goaltender is a joke and must be changed.In the Colorado Avalanche-Chicago Blackhawk game Dec. 31,1 watched Patrick Roy stop 21 of 22 shots. Avalanche coach Marc Crawford replaced Roy with Craig Billington for 12 seconds in the second period and, for this performance, Billington earned the victory.I&rsquo;m sure Billington would be the first to admit he didn&rsquo;t deserve the win as the puck didn&rsquo;t leave the Hawks&rsquo; zone while he was in the net. But because Sandis Ozolinsh scored what turned out to be the winning goal during those 12 seconds, Roy was denied the victory.Roy hardly needs the stats, but it is further proof the league needs to make a change.Tim Hillenbrand,&nbsp; Mokena, Hl.<h2>Some commitment</h2>Let&rsquo;s see, the Detroit Red Wings need a power forward with character, so they go out and get Brendan Shanahan.The Philadelphia Flyers need a quarterback for their power play, so they go out and get Paul Coffey.The Pittsburgh Penguins need a tough defenseman, so they go out and get Darius Kasparaitis.The Chicago Blackhawks need a second line center, so they go out and get&hellip;Adam Creighton.Blackhawks&rsquo; owner Bill Wirtz and GM Bob Pulford committed to winning? What a laugh.Craig Nigrelli,&nbsp; Buffalo, N.Y.<h2>Bad Hab-it on &lsquo;D&rsquo;</h2>As a lifelong fan of the Montreal Canadiens, I must ask what on earth they&rsquo;ve been doing over the past few years getting rid of defensemen at the primes of their careers.They&rsquo;ve traded players such as Chris Chelios, Eric Desjardins, Petr Svoboda, Mathieu Schneider, Sylvain Lefebvre and Lyle Odelein.Am I missing something here?Peter Militello,&nbsp; Glendale, N.Y.Make your feelings known. Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 340-1641&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;Letters, THN, 777 Bay St, Suite 2700, Box 148, Toronto, Ont, MSG 2N8&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, THN, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 142409947.&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;

Want to mix it up? Get out on the ice

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011668/6896571-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0010-01

ELSTON

<h2>Seals second? Ha!</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021233/6896602-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="594" height="883"></div>One of the great things about making pre-season predictions is that by the end of the season, people usually don&rsquo;t remember what the predictions were and the experts can continue to make prognostications with impunity.Well, we&rsquo;re here to set the record straight. The Hockey News&rsquo; crack panel blew it big-time in 1967-68. Get this, it picked the California Seals to win the Western Division in the first season of expansion. &lsquo;&lsquo;In the West, hockey men figured the expansion division will be at least a three-way &lsquo;dogfight&rsquo; for the top with California, Philly and Minnesota closely involved,&rdquo; THN reported in its Oct. 14, 1967 issue.As it turned out, the barking Seals were the only dogs of the division. They finished dead last 15-42-17 record and floundered near the bottom of the league each season until they moved to Cleveland in 1976.Perhaps THN prognosticators were impressed by the fact that legendary goalie Jacques Plante would play for the Seals. Retired since 1965, Plante came in as a goalie coach, but looked so good that the Seals activated him. He started one pre-season game before mysteriously leaving the team. Plante did return to the NHL the next season with the St. Louis Blues and played six more years. &#9632;

f0010-02

50th ANNIVERSARY FLASHBACK

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011626/6896633-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Canadian goalie Marc Denis celebrates Canada&rsquo;s fifth straight gold. Alyn McCauley (below) fights off Mike York and Ben Clymer of USA. McCauley was Canada&rsquo;s best all-around skater. (Photo by Scott Levy/BBS)</figcaption></div>GENEVA-For two teams on course for history in the making, Canada and the United States had a decided preoccupation with the present and the future at the 1997 World Junior Championship.Canada scored a 2-0 win over the U.S. in the gold-medal game to win the 1997 title in Geneva, Switz. It was Canada&rsquo;s fifth consecutive WJC title, an unprecedented run that eclipsed the old Soviet Union&rsquo;s four-year roll between 1977 and 1980. Canada hasn&rsquo;t lost a game at the WJC-going 23-0-3-since Jan. 4, 1993 when it was beaten by the Czech and Slovak team after having already secured the gold medal.And yet for all the historical implications of this year&rsquo;s victory, Team Canada coach Mike Babcock suggested throughout the tournament that wasn&rsquo;t his team&rsquo;s motivating factor.&ldquo;Because the team changes so much from year to year, all our guys really wanted was their gold medal,&rdquo; said the 33-year-old coach of the Spokane Chiefs. &ldquo;Sure, it&rsquo;s nice to make history, but the only pressure we were putting on ourselves was to win this tournament.&rdquo;If Canada has dominated internationally at this level, the same cannot be said of Babcock&rsquo;s team. Though Canada finished the four-game round-robin undefeated (2-0-2), it ended up in second place behind USA in Group A. That necessitated a sudden-death playoff qualifier with Slovakia, which Canada won handily (7-2), and then a thrilling 3-2 semifinal victory over a talented Russian team.As usual, goaltending played an integral role. Marc Denis of the Chicoutimi Sague-neens, a first round pick of the Colorado Avalanche, was often the difference between victory and defeat. That was especially true in the win over Russia and to a large extent in the gold-medal game shutout.The seven-man defense corps got the job done, but it was far from a work of art. Chris Phillips, Jesse Wallin, Jason Doig, Hugh Hamilton, Corey Sarich, Richard Jackman and Jeff Ware were often guilty of playing error-prone hockey, but (with a lot of help from Denis) toughed it out in workmanlike fashion.Up front, Canada expected to have no difficulty scoring goals, but found them hard to come by.Boyd Devereaux, the Kitchener Ranger who was a first round pick of the Edmonton Oilers, emerged as the offensive hero. He scored the tying and winning goals against the Russians and fired what proved to be the winner against the Americans. Devereaux started the tourney as the 13th forward, but played his way onto Canada&rsquo;s key checking line-Alyn McCauley between team captain Brad Larsen and Devereaux.Assigned to check all the other teams&rsquo; top forward units, the McCauley-Larsen-Devereaux trio was the No. 1 offensive unit, too, in the semifinal and final. The other Canadian shooters-Brad Is-bister, Daniel Briere, Cameron Mann, Christian Dube, Peter Schaefer and Joe Thornton-took turns providing just enough offense to get by.Still, they got the job done, displaying character and grit when things started to look bleak, such as the five-minute disadvantage against Russia when the Russians were leading 2-1. Russia never got a shot on goal during the power play.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t easy, it wasn&rsquo;t pretty, but we&rsquo;ve got the gold and that&rsquo;s all that matters,&rdquo; said McCauley, who was Canada&rsquo;s best all-around player. &ldquo;The last few minutes of that game (with the U.S. goalie pulled and the Americans applying extensive pressure in the Canadian end) was a life-and-death struggle.&rdquo;Unquestionably, coach Jeff Jackson&rsquo;s U.S. team carried the play in the gold-medal game.&ldquo;I thought we outplayed Canada and I don&rsquo;t ever remember when a U.S. coach has been able to say that,&rdquo; said Jackson, who now heads up USA Hockey&rsquo;s ongoing national junior team program out of Ann Arbor, Mich. &ldquo;No one will be able to convince us we weren&rsquo;t the better team today. We are no longer afraid to play the Canadians.&rdquo;Maybe so, but it&rsquo;s tough to win a game or a gold medal if you can&rsquo;t score even one goal. The U.S. junior team fell victim to the same malady that befelled Canada at the World Cup-an inability to beat a hot goaltender and, ultimately, an opposing team that was mentally tough enough to weather the storm and counter-punch at key moments to secure victory.Regardless of what happened in the final, the 1997 U.S. national junior team had already made history. The silver medal was the best U.S. finish ever, improving on bronze medals in 1986 and 1992.The future appears bright for the U.S. program because it&rsquo;s in the hands of capable hockey men-Jackson and his staff-who expect the Americans not just to compete, but to win. Also, Jackson is taking a page out of the successful Canadian Hockey Association playbook on proper team building.In essence, the creation of full-time under-18 and under-17 national teams in the U.S. is an admission that the U.S. high school hockey system is not the way to develop elite players or competitive national teams. Slowly but surely, the developmental emphasis in the U.S. is turning away from a school-based system to a more (Canadian-like) junior system.&ldquo;I have to tell you I got more help putting this team together from the people in the Canadian Hockey League (major junior) than I did our own (college) people,&rdquo; said Jackson, who won two national titles with the Lake Superior State University Lakers. &ldquo;We have to start changing the attitudes in our own country.&rdquo;This year&rsquo;s U.S. team, the 2-0 loss to Canada notwithstanding, was one of the most cohesive, committed teams the Americans have ever iced. Jackson, having been through a disaster in 1995 in Red Deer, understands now what it takes to be competitive on the world stage. So, too, do his players from this year&rsquo;s team.The Russians, meanwhile, won the bronze medal with a 4-1 win over the fourth-place Czechs.Finland finished fifth, followed by Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and Poland. The Poles will be relegated to the B Pool for next year&rsquo;s tournament in Finland and will be replaced by B Pool champion Latvia.(See page 41 for complete standings and team-by-team scoring.) &#9632;

f0012-01

Gold times five

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div>Ted Nolan has no problem admitting the Buffalo Sabres, on paper, have little business looking down from their lofty perch near the top of the Northeast Division. No, at the start of the season the coach did not see this coming-and that was even when he was counting on Pat LaFontaine&rsquo;s 90-plus points in the lineup.Give Nolan full marks for opting for honesty over bravado, but it&rsquo;s not as if he is making a big concession. Had he said anything else he surely would have been labeled a liar.The Sabres missed the playoffs last year while giving up the most shots in the league, an average of 35.5 per game. It seemed LaFontaine&rsquo;s prolonged absence due to post-concussion syndrome this season would leave the second-youngest, lightest club in the league with as meagre a stock of proven talent as any bottomfeeder around. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean the Sabres couldn&rsquo;t work hard, which is all Nolan said he ever wanted.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011523/6896664-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="582" height="836"><figcaption class="caption-body">Derek Plante</figcaption></div>&ldquo;The only thing we have control over is the way we perform,&rdquo; he said, recounting what he told his team at the start of the year. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s not worry about the end result, let&rsquo;s worry about the process. That has been a trademark right from the beginning.&rdquo;They fought to a 21-16-5 record, eighth-best in the league, by using the continued brilliance of one old standby-goaltender Dominik Hasek (2.55 goals-against average, 92.1 save percentage in 39 games)-and the breakthrough of young centers Derek Plante, Brian Holzinger, Matthew Barnaby and Mike Peca.One game in particular did wonders for the Sabres&rsquo; collective confidence. They fought the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche to a 00 tie Nov. 2 after landing in Denver early that morning because of plane problems in St. Louis, where they had beaten the Blues 4-2 the night before.&ldquo;We kind of surprised ourselves that night,&rdquo; said center Plante, 25, whose 20 goals and 31 points in 42 games was the Sabres&rsquo; biggest surprise of all.&ldquo;Dominik played great&ndash;Dominik always plays great&ndash;but Patrick Roy played great too.&rdquo;Like the Florida Panthers, the Sabres have turned into a textbook example of how teamwork and three balanced lines can make up for a lack of stars. But the Sabres weren&rsquo;t seen as a team that had a chance to pull it all together because they had to count so heavily on their unproven youth.Plante, for example, began last season as a depth player clawing for ice time. Sophomore Holzinger, second on the team with 28 points (and 12 goals), didn&rsquo;t give any indication last season he could emerge as a consistent second-liner this soon.Hasek said the team was playing with more defensive discipline and allowing far fewer 2-on-1s and 3-on-1s. Buffalo&rsquo;s shots were down two per game from a year ago; to Hasek it feels like four or five. Still, he remains focussed only on making the playoffs.&ldquo;Respect doesn&rsquo;t come after half the season,&rdquo; Hasek said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care. I just want to win every game.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-01

Hasek and youth key to surprising Sabres

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011615/6896695-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Penguin players refer to their new goalie as Patrick Roy-lime. (Photo by Jim Mclsaac/BBS)</figcaption></div>Stop reading if you think you&rsquo;ve heard this one before.An unknown French Canadian goalie bides his time playing.500 hockey in the minors, waiting for his shot at the dream. He gets a call. There has been an injury on the NHL parent club, he&rsquo;s needed as a backup. A couple weeks later the other veteran goalie is felled by a pulled hamstring and the rookie takes over the No. 1 job by default. His nervous coach prays for Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr on offense (which, fortunately, he has), Ray Bourque and Chris Chelios on defense (which, unfortunately, he does not have) and an athletic therapist with a soft touch for a pulled hamstring.The rookie settles in. He talks about just helping the team win, about how well the team is playing in front of him. He rolls to a 10-0-1 record, to the top of the league with a 1.94 goals-against average and 93.3 save percentage. Suddenly, it&rsquo;s midJanuary and he&rsquo;s the only undefeated goalie left, THN&rsquo;s mid-season rookie of the year, a hero in his own right. The next Quebec-bred goalie legend is bom.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to think about it,&rdquo; he says, laughing. &ldquo;I just want to go out there and play the same game. I don&rsquo;t think about what is happening to me.&rdquo;Still going? Good, because as similar as the Patrick Lalime success story might sound to the breakthrough tales of dozens of Quebec goaltending saviors, it&rsquo;s not the same story at all.As of mid-January there were 12 Quebec-bred goalies to have played an NHL game this season. Seven were picked in the first round of the NHL entry draft, four others in the second or third. Then there&rsquo;s Lalime-the 16th goalie selected in the 1993 draft, by the Pittsburgh Penguins, with the last pick of the sixth round, 156th overall.Some goalies chosen that low eventually emerge to star in the NHL, but not the ones from Quebec. More often they&rsquo;re from Pardubice, Czech., (Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; Dominik Hasek, 199th in 1983) or Sverdlovsk, Rus., (Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; Nikolai Khabibulin, 204th in 1992) or another outpost where an industrious bird dog can spot hidden talent where others don&rsquo;t bother to look.In Quebec, goalies&rsquo; games are precision-dissected like frogs in a science lab. They all know that you hold your arms too far away from your body in the ready position; that you cheat by moving away from the post too early when the puck is in the comer; that your focus wanders after a bad goal.&ldquo;Game in, game out, it has been a pleasant surprise,&rdquo; said Penguins&rsquo; goalie coach Gilles Meloche. &ldquo;His only problem (in the past) was his consistency. He&rsquo;d be really good for four, five games, but then he&rsquo;d go to sleep.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s the difference between Lalime and Jocelyn Thibault, Felix Potvin, Martin Brodeur and all the rest. The others were pegged to bask in stardom. Lalime could have just as easily withered away because of the frailty of his mental game.Lalime, 22, certainly didn&rsquo;t fall asleep at the switch during his first full month as an NHLer. He was named rookie of the month for December on the strength of a 7-0-1 record with a 1.50 GAA, 94.1 save percentage and two shutouts.Lalime said he was selected so low in part because he played for a bad Quebec League team, the Shawinigan Cataractes. He said he struggled last year with Pittsburgh&rsquo;s International League farm team, the Cleveland Lumberjacks, because they were all offense, no defense. But there&rsquo;s another reason Lalime played 26 games for the East Coast League&rsquo;s Hampton Roads Admirals two seasons ago, when he was well behind his current backup, Philippe DeRouville, on the depth chart.&ldquo;Before maybe I was putting too much pressure on myself, maybe to do too much,&rdquo; Lalime said. &ldquo;A big part of the game, especially for a goalie, it&rsquo;s in your head. If a goal was scored I was thinking everything for myself. Now I don&rsquo;t worry about that. Now I&rsquo;m just playing a simple game, following the puck.&rdquo;He has learned to help his team, in effect, by caring less about himself. In the past, while he worked over what he might have done differently to stop the goal that just went in or the game his team just lost, more goals and losses would whiz right by him.Not any more. Perhaps Lalime should take it as a sign of real acceptance in Pittsburgh that in his 10th win-5-3 over the New York Islanders Jan. 7&ndash;the Penguins had enough confidence in him to abandon their newfound defensive commitment. He stopped 47 shots for the victory.His teammates also have tagged him with a novel nickname, one that associates him with a longtime hero and a partner in butterfly-style thievery.They are calling him Patrick Roy-lime. &#9632;

f0014-01

Lalime breaks mold

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011489/6896733-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="383" height="538"></div>Give me more offense. I need goals. Lots and lots of goals.Make no mistake, I was thrilled with Canada&rsquo;s victory at the World Junior Championship. There is no better feeling than being No. 1.Or is there? What about being No. 1 and entertaining at the same time?I would be willing to gamble next year&rsquo;s world crown for a little more entertainment. Canada has proved repeatedly it can win playing a solid defensive style, and I am certain there are those who will say,&rdquo;If it ain&rsquo;t broke, don&rsquo;t fix it.&rdquo;Those who share that sentiment obviously didn&rsquo;t watch this year&rsquo;s tournament. I did. With the exception of the final result, I didn&rsquo;t like what I saw.Canada plays a boring brand of hockey. We have become a nation of checkers.It was so frustrating watching Canada&rsquo;s forwards beating the daylights out of the puck. Canada scored fewer than four goals per game and, considering the weakness of some opponents, that is not nearly enough.I was willing, at one point, when Canada was struggling to score against the Swiss of all teams, to endorse a plan to send the top 20 scorers under the age of 20 to the next WJC. Pick 20 gunners-okay, they can have a goalie, too-and let them do their thing.That&rsquo;s a little dramatic, I&rsquo;ll admit, but something must be done. How long can Canada continue to score big on technical merit while barely registering in artistic impression?Surely it can&rsquo;t be a matter of there not being enough offense-minded players from which to choose. But a certain mentality has set in. If a players greatly exceeds the average number of goals and points of his peers, he must be a defensive liability.That isn&rsquo;t always the case. You take Jeff Ware; give me Stephane Robidas.Ware, who has struggled as an underage NHLer with the Toronto Maple Leafs this season, was Canada&rsquo;s seventh defenseman. He made the team ahead of Robidas who, at the time he was cut from Team Canada, had 18 goals this season with Shawini-gan of the Quebec League. Ware had six goals in two years with Oshawa of the Ontario league.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021039/6896726-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="593" height="1098"><figcaption class="caption-body">Christian Dube</figcaption></div>We&rsquo;re talking about the No. 7 defenseman, a player not likely to see an overabundance of duty. Surely, Canada could have used Robidas&rsquo; offensive prowess from the blueline, even if only on the power play.When the chips were down, this year&rsquo;s entry proved it could close the door on the opposition&rsquo;s attack.Even though Canada&rsquo;s defense was shaky, it was solid in the gold medal game and when there were letdowns, goalie Marc Denis stood his ground.So congratulations are due all the way around.But Canada used to be the undisputed No. 1 nation in hockey. That is no longer the case, what with the United States taking the World Cup. Perhaps one of the reasons is it has become predictable. Canada needs to open things up.&ldquo;There is a danger in staying the same for too long,&rdquo; said New Jersey Devils&rsquo; GM Lou Lamoriello, architect of the American&rsquo;s successful World Cup entry. &ldquo;The temptation, when you win, is to not fiddle with things.&rdquo; The commitment to change, of course, has to come from the top. No coach wants to be the one to blow the streak now.It&rsquo;s up to Hockey Canada to take a stand; don&rsquo;t just be content with winning. Start, instead, to care more about how we win. Is it not possible to win and entertain at the same time? The Colorado Avalanche did both last season.Canada should use its success on the junior level as a license to change, experiment if you will.If it doesn&rsquo;t work, we can always go back to playing D-as in dull.My guess, though, is a more concentrated offensive attack would be equally successful and much more pleasing to the eye. &#9632;

f0015-01

COLUMNISTS

No offense, but Canada could use some goals

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011401/6896771-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="375" height="534"></div>The road to a second consecutive Stanley Cup is a bloody trail. The Colorado Avalanche has been buried by such a blizzard of injuries referees had to send St. Bernards to the dressing room to find enough players to start games.Dale Hawerchuk&rsquo;s skate put out Joe Sakic, who joined Peter Forsberg, Sylvain Lefebvre, Valery Kamensky, and Alexei Gusarov on an injury list longer than even Claude Lemieux&rsquo;s rap sheet. When Keith Jones scored a recently at Madison Square Garden and the red light circled, trainer Pat Kams assumed another ambulance was arriving and called for the stretcher. Instead, the Avalanche stretched its unbeaten streak to seven, which, all things considered, seems like a reach, but actually is an extension of Colorado&rsquo;s depth.In the absence of two of the top centers in the league, Stephane Yelle stepped up with a fine game which made you want to scream over the injustice of one team having so many good players. It has been five years since any champion repeated, an indication that expansion and free agency have made it hard to draft and retain championship cores, but the days of dynasties may not be over afterall.Of the Avalanche&rsquo;s top players, only Patrick Roy and Lemieux are older than 30. Meanwhile, GM Pierre Lacroix is stockpiling draft choices like Son of Sam Pollock. Colorado has two extra first round picks, plus a flip-flop with the Los Kings Angeles, lined up for 1998. When you can afford to move a 27-year-old regular like Curtis Leschyshyn for a high pick, you are dealing from strength. And Lacroix will be again when he can dangle a No. 1 to a salary-dumping team before the next two trading deadlines.Granted, the Washington Capitals received five No. 1 picks from the St. Louis Blues for Scott Stevens in 1990 and still are boring as ever. But the Eric Lindros trade, which has more spirals than a DNA molecule, continues to spin off pieces and picks for Colorado. Lacroix decided not to have his head examined and make Chris Simon a million-a-year player, but the books don&rsquo;t have to be examined to fairly state the cable conglomerate that owns the Avalanche is better suited to keep a champion together than Howard Baldwin or Peter Pocklington.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021083/6896764-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="506" height="754"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrick Roy</figcaption></div>Colorado has a chance to be good for a long time. Therefore, Marc Crawford has a chance to be the coach for a long time, unless he puts too many men on the ice too often during playoff series, campaigns actively for stricter government regulation of the cable industry, or fails to cater to a star player&rsquo;s ego.Mario Tremblay seemed to feel threatened by Roy, so the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; coach created the confrontation that delivered the best goalie of this generation to Colorado. For sure, Roy had a big head, especially in comparison to that of pea brains who talked themselves into the ridiculous conclusion he had to go.This is a mistake Crawford will not repeat. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying this to suck up to Patrick, although it wouldn&rsquo;t hurt to suck up to him,&rdquo; said the coach. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s a great leader and teammate. He&rsquo;s our most valuable player and we have a lot of shining lights.&rdquo;And an army orf-workers who are keeping a light on for the stars until they come back. &ldquo;Simon could be the premier tough guy of his day, but we have a hardened, competitive, playoff group,&rdquo; Crawford said. &ldquo;With these injuries, we&rsquo;ve had to play a style close to what you play in the playoffs.&rdquo;A team can always use practice at that. That the Avalanche is still competing for first overall indicates this team practices well, too. Of course, if you have to play bunker hockey, it&rsquo;s good to be able to hunker down with Roy.&ldquo;Our team defense and goaltending has given us a chance to win,&rdquo; Crawford said. &ldquo;Patrick gives the guys confidence. I don&rsquo;t know if he&rsquo;s personally challenged by this crisis, but he has played like a man on a mission.&rdquo;This certainly helps at a time when nobody knows who his teammates are. The real Avalanche will return in plenty of time for the playoffs. The names have only been temporarily changed and they still protect the crown. &#9632;

f0016-01

Knee-deep Avalanche poised for repeat run

<div class="byline">By Robyn Norwood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011256/6896802-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="162" height="158"></div>One 1993 expansion team has been to the Stanley Cup final and the other has yet to make the playoffs.But the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim exacted a sliver of flesh from the Florida Panthers this season, sweeping the two-game season series.Until a 3-0 shutout over Florida on New Year&rsquo;s Day in Miami, the Ducks were 0-3-1 against the Panthers.&ldquo;It was nice to finally do it,&rdquo; said Joe Sacco, an original Duck and one of only three expansion draft players left in Anaheim. Florida has 10 of its original players.&ldquo;The Panthers have been in the playoffs and have gone to the Stanley Cup final, we haven&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Sacco said. &ldquo;We look at the standings every day. That&rsquo;s our other motivation.&rdquo;The Ducks were six games under.500 and the Panthers were 11 over before the first game. A week later, the teams met again and the Ducks jumped to a 3-0 first period lead, then held on for a 3-2 victory to become the only team aside from the Philadelphia Flyers to beat the Panthers twice this season.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t been in a playoff game, but it almost felt like one,&rdquo; said goalie Guy Hebert after the first victory.Hebert made 58 saves in two games, holding the Panthers to two goals in six periods. The Ducks also shut out Florida&rsquo;s power play on nine attempts.&ldquo;(Hebert) is their best penalty-killer,&rdquo; said Panthers&rsquo; coach Doug MacLean.NOTEBOOK: Coach Ron Wilson&rsquo;s promised contract extension remains unsigned and it&rsquo;s becoming increasingly questionable whether the issue will be resolved before the end of the season. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know anymore,&rdquo; Wilson said. Whether it&rsquo;s an indication of management waffling or just typical foot-dragging isn&rsquo;t clear&hellip;Right winger Brian Bellows scored his 450th NHL goal Jan. 1&hellip;Center Teemu Selanne played in his 300th NHL game Jan. 8, acquiring his 393rd NHL point on his 186th goal&hellip;Rugged left winger Shawn Antoski was trying to tough out hip and groin injuries that might require surgery. He played through pain against Florida Jan. 8 in only his second appearance since being acquired from Pittsburgh in a Nov. 19 trade. &#9632;

f0017-01

NHL TEAMS

Sweeping Panthers gives Ducks small satisfaction

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03686/6896833-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="577" height="896"><figcaption class="caption-body">Troy Mallette</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02951/6896840-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="161" height="157"></div>Troy Mallette&rsquo;s wallet is a little lighter these days, but he may invest in a new video recorder and editing machine anyway.&ldquo;I might start collecting tape of mishaps that happen to myself and maybe make my case at the end of the year,&rdquo; said Mallette, the big left winger suspended for two games and fined $1,000 for elbowing Dallas Stars&rsquo; left winger Grant Marshall in the head Jan. 4. &ldquo;Just to say, &lsquo;Look, I put up with this, game in and game out.&rsquo;&rdquo;The decision came Jan. 7, just a few hours before a game in which the Bruins could least afford to lose him. They were visiting the king-sized Philadelphia Flyers. Mallette, with center Brett Harkins, was looking forward to being reunited with right winger Sheldon Kennedy, who had missed the previous three games.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t expect any (suspension) at all, and I&rsquo;m a little upset,&rdquo; said Mallette, who had shaken off a couple of minor injuries to collect five goals, four assists and 98 penalty minutes in 29 games. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen other guys get (hit) worse.&rdquo;Mallette cited the two-game suspension of Hartford Whalers&rsquo; Keith Primeau, who had slashed Joe Juneau of the Washington Capitals across the back and neck, as an example of why his punishment was unjustified.&ldquo;I had no intent to take a guy&rsquo;s head off with my stick,&rdquo; Mallette said. &ldquo;I was coming across the ice to make a hit, and I came up a bit (he jumped before hitting Marshall) to protect myself. That&rsquo;s part of the game.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Sheldon Kennedy&rsquo;s first game in Boston (Dec. 9) since revealing years of Graham James&rsquo; sexual assaults against him while James was his Swift Current Broncos&rsquo; coach was memorable. Kennedy scored his fourth goal of the season and set up Jozef Stumpel&rsquo;s winner over Montreal in the third period. &ldquo;I like it when (coach) Steve Kasper puts pressure on me,&rdquo; Kennedy said of his final-minutes assignment. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been in that situation for a long time and it was kind of nice. It was an exciting game, for sure.&rdquo; (See pg. 3 for a special report on the Graham James case.)&hellip;Goalie Bill Ranford remained out of the lineup because of a cyst in his back that was thought to be causing persistent weakness in his left shoulder. &#9632;

f0017-03

Mallette out after elbow

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011288/6896871-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="158" height="161"></div>Few were willing to give Steve Shields a chance the first time he showed up in the NHL.&ldquo;I can remember an exhibition game down south,&rdquo; said Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; winger Rob Ray,&rdquo;and we were up something like 5-1 or 5-2 and this guy comes in for the third period and we lose, 6-5. I remember we all were thinking, &lsquo;Uh-oh, this guy isn&rsquo;t going to make it.&rsquo;&rdquo;That was some three years ago, but the former U.S. college champion for Michigan had other ideas. Shields lost weight, built confidence and won a Calder Cup championship last season with the Rochester Americans of the American League. He then made his 1996-97 NHL debut a beauty, holding the San Jose Sharks to a single goal in a 1-1 tie Jan. 7.It may not be a notable achievement to get a point off the Sharks in San Jose this season, but when you consider the Sharks outshot Buffalo, 43-23, Shields earned the tie singlehandedly.&ldquo;I expected to go out and help the team win a hockey game,&rdquo; he said after making the start in place of the resting Dominik Hasek. &ldquo;I wanted to give the guys a chance to win come the third period.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad one guy played for us tonight,&rdquo; said coach Ted Nolan. &ldquo;Steve was just outstanding. On a couple of saves I thought Dominik was in the net.&rdquo;It was the third NHL game of Shields&rsquo; career and his first appearance since Dec. 26. 1995.NOTEBOOK: Goalie Dominik Hasek&rsquo;s night off Jan. 7 in San Jose was his first after 18 straight starts and 23 straight appearances&hellip;Right winger Brad May was with the team on a five-game road trip in early-and mid-January. He was recovering from a broken right hand and hoped to play against Phoenix Jan. 12 or the Islanders Jan. 15&hellip;Center Derek Plante became the first Sabre to hit the 20-goal mark, but 18 of 20 were scored at home&hellip;After struggling to come back from major knee surgery, defenseman Richard Smehlik was rounding back into form. Smehlik scored the lone goal against San Jose and had three in four games&hellip;Center Brian Holzinger already had more goals and assists (12-15) then he did all of last season. &#9632;

f0018-01

Shields defies doubters with spectacular show

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03662/6896902-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="570" height="898"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Belfour</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02954/6896909-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="158" height="159"></div>Whatever problems the Chicago Blackhawks have were not being laid at coach Craig Hartsburg&rsquo;s door.GM Bob Pulford gave his second-year coach a vote of confidence in the midst of the Hawks&rsquo; 6-15-5 slide, saying he will change players before he changes coaches.Pulford blamed many of the Hawks&rsquo; woes on a lack of work, execution and poor defense. &ldquo;Our coaching is fine,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not the situation. One thing we&rsquo;ve prided ourselves in here is defense and it&rsquo;s the one thing killing us. We&rsquo;re just not doing the right things a lot of times. We&rsquo;re making mental errors.&rdquo;The pressure was mounting on Pulford to pull the trigger on a trade that would shake the Hawks out of their slump, but he insisted he wasn&rsquo;t going to make a deal just for a change.&ldquo;You can trade your 14th or 15th player for someone else&rsquo;s, but I don&rsquo;t believe in that,&rdquo; he said.No one in the organization was denying rumors that veteran goalie Ed Belfour was being shopped, although the Hawks were finding little interest because of Belfour&rsquo;s $2.75-million salary and his impending unrestricted free agency.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a bad team because we don&rsquo;t play as a team or with any commitment,&rdquo; said defenseman Chris Chelios.&ldquo;Maybe guys have got to get (ticked) off and stop moping around and being frustrated about it. It&rsquo;s a broken record and I&rsquo;m sure guys are getting sick of hearing me say it.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Tony Amonte survived a scary collision with Edmonton goalie Bob Essensa Jan. 8 with only a bruised left knee and wasn&rsquo;t expected to miss any time&hellip;Goalie Ed Belfour was mired in a month-long 0-6-4 slump and in danger of losing even more playing time to Jeff Hackett. &ldquo;Obviously, it&rsquo;s not working (with Belfour) and we&rsquo;ve got to start winning some hockey games,&rdquo; said coach Craig Hartsburg. The Hawks had four wins since Nov. 30, all with Hackett in goal&hellip;Belfour criticized the media for reporting his recent dressing room problem with Hackett. &ldquo;What was written was blown out of proportion by people putting words in my mouth,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Defenseman Gary Suter scored his first goal in 26 games Jan. 5 against Detroit. &#9632;

f0018-03

Coach stays, players out?

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04416/6896940-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="159" height="160"></div>Sheldon Kennedy scored the opening goal in an otherwise disappointing 4-1 Calgary Flames&rsquo; loss in the first game ol a playoff series against the Chicago Blackhawks last April.Afterwards, Kennedy confided to a handful of teammates that he had been sexually assaulted as a teenage hockey player.&ldquo;It was all pretty casual,&rdquo; said Flames&rsquo; defenseman Steve Chiasson, who played with Kennedy with both the Detroit Red Wings and Calgary. &ldquo;None of us really knew what to say because we&rsquo;re not psychologists. We said, &lsquo;You have to tell somebody,&rsquo; because we didn&rsquo;t know how to deal with it.&rdquo;Of the four players who listened to Kennedy&rsquo;s story, only Chiasson remains with the team. Rick Tabaracci was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in November. Dean Evason&rsquo;s contract was bought out in July. Kevin Dahl was released. (See page 7 for more on the Flames&rsquo; response to the Kennedy situation.)Did Chiasson think the fact that Kennedy&rsquo;s peers advised him to seek professional help convinced him to do just that?&ldquo;That&rsquo;s such a tough, tough question to answer,&rdquo; Chiasson replied. &ldquo;Maybe a lot of the problem he had dealing with it was because hockey is such a tough, macho sport. This didn&rsquo;t fit the (game&rsquo;s) image.&rdquo;Now that Kennedy has come forward publicly and identified himself as one of the two complainants against James, how will NHL players respond to him? Is it going to be difficult for Kennedy to play with his current team, the Boston Bruins?&ldquo;I really, really hope not,&rdquo; Chiasson said. &ldquo;In the big picture, it&rsquo;s still only a hockey game. Sheldon did something for himself; he did something for his wife and daughter; and he did something for a lot of other people in hockey. What he did here is probably one of the most unselfish things he could do.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goalie Trevor Kidd won his first game in almost two months, a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks Jan. 4 that snapped a 47-day drought. In the normal goaltender rotation, the Flames would have turned to rookie Dwayne Roloson after Kidd lost two nights earlier to Colorado. However, since the team had won only six of its previous 28 games, coach Pierre Page figured it was time to change his goalie rotation and Kidd was happy he did. &lsquo;That was nice,&rdquo; Kidd said. &ldquo;That was sweet. That was good for my confidence&rdquo;&hellip;Left winger Ed Ward was called up from Detroit of the International League and scored twice in his first three games with the team. &#9632;

f0018-04

Kennedy told mates about abuse

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011191/6896971-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="161" height="158"></div>In the wake of the conviction of former Canadian junior coach Graham James for sexual assault, a Calgary policeman said there was a &ldquo;high-profile NHL player&rdquo; who also was abused.&ldquo;I can say that isn&rsquo;t me,&rdquo; Joe Sakic said.The Colorado Avalanche center is one of the few who played for James in junior who could today be classified as an NHL star. But Sakic said not only was he never harassed by James, but he never knew his former coach in Swift Current, Sask., was a sexual predator.&ldquo;The whole thing caught me completely by surprise,&rdquo; Sakic said. &ldquo;I was shocked when I first heard about it.&rdquo;Sakic was a teammate of Sheldon Kennedy with the Swift Current Broncos from 1986-88, a period in which Kennedy was sexually abused by then-coach James.Sakic is a good friend of Kenne-dy-they were seated next to each other and survived a 1986 bus crash that killed four Broncos&rsquo; teammates.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s sick and disgusting,&rdquo; Sakic said. &ldquo;Graham needs help. Him saying he wants to be friends again someday with Sheldon is not normal. But he always acted normal back then. I don&rsquo;t remember there being anything out of the ordinary.&rdquo;Sakic is a part-owner, along with James, of the Western League&rsquo;s Calgary Hitmen. James, who was also coach-GM of the team, resigned when it was made public he was being investigated.NOTEBOOK: Center Joe Sakic&rsquo;s injury continued an incredible rash that left seven regulars off the roster for Colorado&rsquo;s Jan. 9 game in Ottawa. Nevertheless, the Avs beat Ottawa 2-0 to stretch their unbeaten streak to nine (6-0-3)&hellip;Center Peter Forsberg (deep left thigh bruise) went home to Sweden to visit with family and friends and continue his rehabilitation. He said his leg was &ldquo;starting to feel smooth again&rdquo; and the hope is he&rsquo;ll be back shortly after the all-star break&hellip;The Avalanche were guests of U.S. President Bill Clinton at the White House Jan. 10&hellip;Colorado hired Mike Foligno as its new assistant coach, replacing Joel Quenneville who left to become head coach of the St. Louis Blues. Foligno left the Toronto organization. &#9632;

f0019-01

Sakic says he was not abused by junior coach

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03576/6897002-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="572" height="893"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Reid</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02863/6897009-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="159" height="157"></div>He doesn&rsquo;t ever bring it up, but when you broach the subject with Dave Reid, it does get under his skin. Why the heck wouldn&rsquo;t the Boston Bruins give the 32-year-old left winger a three-year contract at $700,000 a season?&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one,&rdquo; he said,&rdquo;I can&rsquo;t answer.&rdquo;Reid is in good shape and works hard, so it&rsquo;s likely he will still be a good player two seasons from now. His salary is at least $200,000 below the NHL average already, so in two seasons Reid will be downright cheap.Teammate Pat Verbeek was one of the most highly sought-after (and highly paid) free agents, but Reid may be the steal of last summer&rsquo;s crop. He had 10 goals and 22 points for the Dallas Stars through 42 games-including a three-goal game in a 6-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings Jan. 8&ndash;and was on pace for a 40-point season. More importantly, he was a tremendous steadying influence on a Stars&rsquo; team that saw its goals-against average drop half a goal per game.Reid was so strong that he was voted Stars&rsquo; player of the month for December, despite the fact Andy Moog and Joe Nieuwendyk enjoyed better months statistically.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just a guy who gets things done and that&rsquo;s apparent on the ice,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock.&ldquo;What has been the greatest thing is that after all the years there, I feel more at home on this team than I ever did (in Boston),&rdquo; Reid said. &ldquo;This is the best team feeling I&rsquo;ve ever had in the NHL.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Coach Ken Hitchcock sent disgruntled left winger Benoit Hogue back to the dressing room during the third period of a 6-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. The two had been quietly feuding over Hogue&rsquo;s consistency, but the incident brought out a lot of emotions and the player and coach felt better after airing their grievances the next day. &ldquo;I think it was just all bottled up inside me,&rdquo; Hogue said. &ldquo;It was good to get it out.&rdquo;&hellip;Goalie Roman Turek looks like the real deal. The 26-year-old rookie won two games against Detroit (2-1 and 6-3) in the span of a week while Andy Moog nursed a sore knee&hellip;Moog was selected to his fourth All-Star Game, defenseman Derian Hatcher to his first and center Mike Modano to his third. &#9632;

f0019-03

Reid comes at a bargain

<div class="byline">By Cynthia Lambert</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011075/6897040-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="160" height="157"></div>Joe Kocur was champing at the bit to come back to the NHL, and even more so to play for his original team, the Detroit Red Wings.And though only a couple of players remain from his time in Detroit, which ended in 1991, it only took him a week to get used to things.&ldquo;I care about this team,&rdquo; Kocur said. &ldquo;You know, you have to love the team you&rsquo;re playing for. Sometimes when you&rsquo;re traded it&rsquo;s slow to come. But here, it feels like I never left, like I would do anything for any of the guys in here.&rdquo;This is a new life for Kocur, 32, who started the hockey season playing in a 30-and-over league in the Detroit area. From there he progressed to the Red Wings Alumni team, and finally ended up with the San Antonio Dragons of the International League for a week before signing with Detroit.&ldquo;I was working out six days a week and it wasn&rsquo;t so I&rsquo;d look good in the summer,&rdquo; Kocur said. &ldquo;When you see that possibly the end is near, you start to respect the game more. You respect the job you have or the job you could have.&rdquo;Kocur&rsquo;s contract will pay him $250,000 for the remainder of the season. In that time he must prove he deserves another contract, a situation that doesn&rsquo;t disturb him.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re a player like me you&rsquo;re always auditioning,&rdquo; said Kocur, who had 2,270 penalty minutes in 684 games.NOTEBOOK: Detroit&rsquo;s four-game winless streak (0-3-1) that started with a 5-3 loss to Phoenix at Joe Louis Arena and extended through a 6-3 loss at Dallas, ended Jan. 9 with a 5-4 overtime win at Phoenix. The loss at Dallas was one of the Wings&rsquo; worst games of the season. &ldquo;Of course, this is not usual for us to have this,&rdquo; said center Igor Larionov. &ldquo;(Winning) is still a trademark for this team. This is not an expansion team with young players. We have to play though the adversity. We have to wake up.&rdquo; Larionov scored the gamewinner in Phoenix to snap the Wings&rsquo; longest winless span since Oct. 9-16, 1993, when they lost four straight&hellip;Center Steve Yzerman&rsquo;s goal in the 5-5 tie with Chicago Jan. 5 was his 1,300th NHL point. &#9632;

f0020-01

Kocur proves you really can go back home again

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03487/6897071-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="571" height="892"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kelly Buchberger</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02724/6897078-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="160" height="157"></div>Kelly Buchberger has been handcuffed with a bad reputation.He does have hands. They dangle at his sides, just like they should. And when he sticks them in a pair of hockey gloves, they are far more useful than that reputation would suggest.&ldquo;As far as Bucky going 1-on-1 and quick-handing it through a guy&rsquo;s legs, he&rsquo;s not one of the top guys, but he has vision and the ability to make the hard pass, the saucer pass, through the feet,&rdquo; said Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; center Doug Weight. &ldquo;He has got a lot of assists every year. He can pass the puck. You can&rsquo;t be a good passer without good hands.&rdquo;Buchberger&rsquo;s play over a two-week stretch on a line with Ryan Smyth and Mats Lindgren showcased his little-known offensive ability. With customary hard work and some offensive flair. Buchberger fashioned a six-game points streak and had 20 on the season, just five back of last year&rsquo;s disappointing total in 82 games.Buchberger has no quarrel with his reputation as a physical player. After all, he has more than 1,400 career penalty minutes.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t bother me at all,&rdquo; Buchberger said. &ldquo;I know what got me here and I&rsquo;ll do it until the bitter end. I have confidence in the way I play the game. I want to help the team. If that means chipping in a few points&hellip;&rdquo;Or chipping a few teeth. He&rsquo;ll do that too. Or at least he used to. Maybe now he&rsquo;ll have to protect those soft hands of his.Or maybe not.NOTEBOOK: Injured center Jason Arnott said he plans on playing in the All-Star Game Jan. 18 in San Jose and the Oilers have not named his replacement. He had surgery to repair his fractured left ankle Jan. 3 and was originally scheduled to be out for at least a month. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s progressing better than we thought,&rdquo; Arnott said. Coach Ron Low said Arnott might even play a game for the Oilers before Jan. 18. The closest one to that date was a home game against Horida Jan. 15. Arnott was hurt Dec. 27&hellip;Center Doug Weight scored five goals and seven points in the first four games Arnott missed. The Oilers went 4-0-0 before losing in Chicago. That game also killed right winger Andrei Kovalenko&rsquo;s points streak at 11 games. &#9632;

f0020-03

Buchberger applauded

<div class="byline">By Dave Joseph</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01844/6897109-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="163" height="160"></div>Just before the new year, John Vanbiesbrouck remarked that sometime in the course of a season a player has to clear the air. The Florida Panthers&rsquo; goalie did exactly that in Annapolis, Md., recently when he held a closed-door meeting with coach Doug MacLean regarding the trading of center Stu Barnes.Vanbiesbrouck and other Panthers were surprised and shaken in November when the Panthers&rsquo; GM Bryan Murray traded Barnes and defenseman Jason Woolley to the Pittsburgh Penguins for center Chris Wells. Vanbiesbrouck&rsquo;s concern had nothing to do with Wells, but rather team chemistry.&ldquo;There were issues in my mind and it affected my play,&rdquo; said Vanbiesbrouck, who won one game in nine starts from Nov. 29 to the end of the year before recording his 25th career shutout Jan. 4 against the Los Angeles Kings. &ldquo;I felt it was time to clear the air.&rdquo;Barnes didn&rsquo;t have been a huge voice in the dressing room, but he provided the Panthers with four solid lines, an attribute many considered among the Panthers&rsquo; greatest last season when they reached the Stanley Cup final. It wasn&rsquo;t long after the deal that the Panthers began losing ground in the standings.&ldquo;As much as people may not want to admit it and I don&rsquo;t want to admit it, it&rsquo;s a fact. (The trade) is something we&rsquo;ve got to get over,&rdquo; Vanbiesbrouck said.But he said the team is turning the comer. &ldquo;This team is definitely moving together instead of apart.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: In an effort to get some offensive spark, the Panthers recalled right winger David Nemirovsky Jan. 3 from their American League affiliate in Carolina. The rookie scored his first NHL goal Jan. 8 in the Panthers&rsquo; 3-2 loss at Anaheim&hellip;A dispute over workers&rsquo; wagers is threatening construction of the Panthers&rsquo; new arena. Labor union members, some of whom picketed outside owner H. Wayne Huizenga&rsquo;s offices, believe they should receive higher wages based on a county law regarding the building of public projects. Huizenga&rsquo;s officials believe that because Huizenga&rsquo;s company is a private entity, it should not be subject to Broward County&rsquo;s wage law. A mediator could be brought in to try to resolve the differences. &#9632;

f0021-01

Goalie says trading Barnes had ill effect on Panthers

<div class="byline">By Helene Elliott</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03269/6897140-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="579" height="897"><figcaption class="caption-body">Aki Berg</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02470/6897147-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="163" height="158"></div>The future is now for Aki Berg and the Los Angeles Kings.The 19-year-old defenseman, the third pick overall in the 1995 draft, was summoned to Los Angeles Jan. 6 instead of being sent back to the Phoenix Roadrunners of the International League after playing for Finland in the World Junior Championship.Berg didn&rsquo;t have a point in his first two games back, but he was able to muscle some opposing forwards away from the Kings&rsquo; net and move the puck quickly.Now that an additional half-season in Phoenix and the World Junior tournament is behind him, he may be better prepared for the NHL. The time was right for the Kings to find out whether Berg can develop into the physical presence they were missing on the backline.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve come to the conclusion that maybe we have to keep him here and work with him,&rdquo; said Kings&rsquo; coach Larry Robinson. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good skater and we&rsquo;re looking for some mobility back there.&rdquo;Berg, who had two assists and was plus-6 for Finland, admitted he was overwhelmed in the NHL last season.&ldquo;I feel a little more comfortable now. It was hard last year. Now, it&rsquo;s going easier,&rdquo; Berg said.He knows the Kings want him to pick up the physical aspect of his game.&ldquo;I have to do that to play well here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Last year was very hard for me because my language was bad. It&rsquo;s not perfect but it&rsquo;s better now. I have more confidence. I just have to keep going.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goalie Stephane Fiset&rsquo;s 6-2 victory over Vancouver Jan. 7 was his first victory since Dec. 7. He had lost seven straight games and allowed 36 goals in that span&hellip;By defeating Vancouver and Buffalo in successive games, the Kings recorded back-to-back victories for the first time since Nov. 14 and Nov. 17 wins over Toronto and Chicago&hellip;Defenseman Rob Blake, who broke a bone in his right hand Dec. 26, was fitted with a new cast and hoped to play in the All-Star Game Jan. 18 in San Jose&hellip;Center Neal Broten was still seeking his first goal as a King after 12 games. He had just four assists&hellip;At the halfway point, the Kings were 14-23-4 with 32 points, compared to 16-16-9 with 41 points last season. &#9632;

f0021-03

Better Berg back in bigs

<div class="byline">By Michael Apace</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04192/6897178-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="161" height="157"></div>Perhaps the best way to describe Hartford Whalers&rsquo; coach Paul Maurice is &ldquo;measured.&rdquo;Under most conditions, he sees little to gain from flogging his players publicly. He conducts most of his strategic and personnel business behind the scenes. Maurice is generally terse and to-the-point, then he steps back and allows team leadership to do its work.But even Maurice couldn&rsquo;t contain himself after a string of one-goal losses mounted. Heading into Hartford&rsquo;s Jan. 10 road game against the Vancouver Canucks, the Whalers were on the skids. They were on a 3-10-1 slide, including a streak of 0-5-1 in their past six games.Maurice&rsquo;s anger began to bubble after Vincent Damphousse scored twice in the final 1:53 of the third period to propel the Montreal Canadiens to a 54 victory in Montreal Jan. 6. The winner was scored with 3.1 seconds left.In the Whalers&rsquo; next game Jan. 9, they squandered a 2-1 lead in the third period and lost 3-2 to the Calgary Flames. The Whalers slipped to.500 (17-17-7) for the first time since the season started.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like (the movie) Groundhog Day,&rdquo; Maurice said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the same freaking game, over and over.&rdquo;Before the team boarded its plane for Vancouver, Maurice let his players have it.&ldquo;Guys are doing things they wouldn&rsquo;t do twice in five years,&rdquo; Maurice said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re just squeezing the stick right now. That&rsquo;s what one win and one tie in seven one-goal games will do to you.&ldquo;But we&rsquo;ve got to stop this. I just boiled over and boiled over. If I waited until the next day, the emotion probably would have subsided-and I probably wouldn&rsquo;t have gotten any sleep. It was either holler or take NyQuil.&rdquo;Said captain Kevin Dineen,&rdquo;There is a time and a place for everything, and that was the time and place for us to be chewed out.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Whalers&rsquo; owner Peter Karmanos, Connecticut governor John G. Rowland and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman met at the governor&rsquo;s residence Jan. 9. The Whalers&rsquo; arena situation in Hartford has taken a more constructive bent. &ldquo;The only thing that works is a new facility for the Whalers in Hartford,&rdquo; Rowland said. &ldquo;For the 800th time, my preference is to keep the Whalers in Hartford,&rdquo; Karmanos said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure we&rsquo;ll work with the governor and figure out what the solution to the problem is.&rdquo; An arena may or may not be feasible for all parties, the Whalers may or may not stay-but at least Karmanos and Rowland are talking rather than sniping at one another in the newspaper. &#9632;

f0021-04

Coach blows stack after close losses

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01974/6897209-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="159" height="160"></div>Sleeping Beauty has finally awakened.Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; captain Vincent Damphousse, a notoriously slow starter, had only eight goals after 29 games. Then he went on one of his patented hot streaks, with 11 goals in 14 games, including a torrid pace of nine goals over a six-game span.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not normal to be on a pace like that,&rdquo; he admitted after scoring three goals, including the equalizer and winner with only 3.1 seconds remaining in Montreal&rsquo;s 5-4 win over the Hartford Whalers on Jan. 6.The victory increased the team&rsquo;s unbeaten streak to seven games at 4-0-3. It ended during a 5-4 road loss to the Boston Bruins Jan. 9.&ldquo;You get in a zone and things go your way,&rdquo; Damphousse said. &ldquo;When you struggle, you can be in a perfect spot and the puck won&rsquo;t bounce.&ldquo;Mentally, I&rsquo;m feeling better on the ice and asking myself fewer questions. You build confidence as you score and you don&rsquo;t think. You don&rsquo;t ask questions because it becomes natural. I know something good is going to happen.&rdquo;Damphousse was tied with Mark Recchi for the team lead in goals, with 19 in 43 games, and had 42 points.It will take some doing for Damphousse to match his 94 points of last season, but all of a sudden his season isn&rsquo;t looking so bad.&ldquo;It seems that whenever my career is in a slump I come through with a streak.&rdquo; said Damphousse. &ldquo;Of course, for 30 games I kept telling myself that this was going to be the night that I would break out.&rdquo;Brian Savage, the left winger on Damphousse&rsquo;s line, said he believes the captain was invigorated by the two-day Christmas break the Canadiens had. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so important that Vinnie, as captain, plays well,&rdquo; Savage said. &ldquo;That doesn&rsquo;t mean he has to score or be great. He just has to go out and show he&rsquo;s concerned with the team.&rdquo;Damphousse did just that, calling a players-only meeting before a Dec. 26 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Canadiens tied the Penguins to begin their streak.NOTEBOOK: The Canadiens, already hit hard by injuries, lost defenseman Patrice Brisebois when he suffered a separated shoulder Jan. 4 against the Islanders. It required surgery and Brisebois will be lost until at least mid-April. Right winger Valeri Bure suffered a concussion in the same game&hellip;Right winger Mark Recchi will be the Canadiens&rsquo; lone representative in the All-Star Game. Recchi led the team with 19 goals and 46 points in 43 games&hellip;Although he couldn&rsquo;t match the accomplishments of center Vincent Damphousse. rookie center Sebastien Bordeleau was proving he belongs in the NHL by contributing five assists over a four-game span&hellip;Right winger Stephane Richer played his 800th regular season game Jan. 9 at Boston. &#9632;

f0022-01

Damphousse regains touch

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02672/6897240-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="159" height="159"></div>Petr Sykora is keeping his fingers crossed. With a strong second half comeback from a chronic groin injury, the skillful center still has hopes of overcoming what has been a humbling sophomore jinx.Until his return to the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; lineup Jan. 8 following a 30day rehabilitation program, Sykora had appeared in only 10 games this season.&ldquo;My season starts now; I don&rsquo;t want to think about what happened before,&rdquo; said Sykora, who reported only slight soreness after a solid game against the Colorado Avalanche and was optimistic the next morning. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking to play hockey. I really didn&rsquo;t play hockey for 3-1/2 months. I&rsquo;m looking to get in the playoffs and do some big things in the playoffs.&rdquo;For a time, it seemed more likely Sykora was looking for an appointment in the operating room. He re-aggravated a groin injury originally suffered during training camp Oct. 29 and missed 11 of the team&rsquo;s next 12 games.After a brief conditioning assignment with the Albany River Rats of the American League, Sykora was recalled Nov. 25 and played in all three games during a trip in which they played the Dallas Stars. Phoenix Coyotes and Colorado. It was a mistake.&ldquo;I had a pretty good year last year and I just wanted to prove I could do the same thing this year,&rdquo; Sykora said. &ldquo;I think I rushed to get back on the ice. I shouldn&rsquo;t have played that first game. I had an MRI and they didn&rsquo;t find any major problem. I was talking to Reid Simpson (who required somewhat similar surgery) about what kind of pain he had and I don&rsquo;t think we had the same thing.&rdquo;Simpson had not yet played a game this season for the Devils. Sykora, on the other hand, was on the cautious road back to his 1995-96 form in which he remained among the candidates for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year until running out of gas after the AllStar break.&ldquo;If he plays like he&rsquo;s capable, he&rsquo;ll help us offensively, he&rsquo;ll help us get points,&rdquo; said coach Jacques Lemaire. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll help us on the power play, too.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: According to an anonymous source, GM Lou Lamoriello had words with coach Jacques Lemaire about how right winger Bill Guerin was (or was not) being used. However, in a Jan. 9 chat with reporters, Lamoriello gave the coach high marks for the first half of the season for the way he has worked rookies into the lineup, kept team morale up and handled the ticklish Mike Dunham-Martin Brodeur goalie rotation&hellip;Defenseman Scott Stevens played in his 400th game with New Jersey Jan. 8 against Colorado&hellip;Because of injuries to several forwards, defenseman Scott Niedermayer played three games at left wing. Given considerable ice time, he was among the team&rsquo;s better forwards, but did not score a point. &#9632;

f0022-02

Sykora eyes solid second half

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01866/6897271-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="159" height="159"></div>One of the only bright spots during a 2-9-0 stretch in which the New York Islanders plummeted toward the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings was the play of center Bryan Smolinski.He arrived in a Nov. 17 trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins for Darius Kasparaitis and Andreas Johansson because the Islanders were desperate for goals. Smolinski delivered. He got six goals in the club&rsquo;s 11-game swoon and had 11 in his first 22 games with the Islanders.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to be selfish and say, &lsquo;At least I&rsquo;m getting my points,&rsquo;&rdquo; Smolinski said &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not winning. It&rsquo;s not good when a team&rsquo;s losing.&rdquo;Isles&rsquo; coach-GM Mike Milbury moved Smolinski up to the first line to center Niklas Andersson and Ziggy Palffy and was giving the unit a lot of power play time.Milbury said he was happy with Smolinski&rsquo;s production, but added,&rdquo;I want more energy out of Bryan. Goalscoring isn&rsquo;t enough. I&rsquo;d like to see him a little more physical when he can be and pursue the puck on the forecheck.&rdquo;As one of the team&rsquo;s top players, Smolinski, 25, is also being asked to assert himself in more of a leadership role.&ldquo;I wanted to come here, keep my mouth shut and do my job,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;(Being a leader) is new ground for me. It&rsquo;s going to take some education, but I&rsquo;d love it.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Dennis Vaske. recovering from post concussion syndrome, suffered a dizzy spell after skating lightly in early-January and was told not to exercise on or off the ice the week of Jan. 6-10. Vaske called it &ldquo;a minor setback&rdquo; and said he still hopes to return by the end of January&hellip;Center Travis Green broke a 14-game drought with a goal Jan. 7 against Pittsburgh&hellip;Left winger Derek King had one goal, the 200th of his career, in a 19-game span&hellip;Defenseman Bryan Berard broke an eight-game pointless streak with a goal Jan. 7&hellip;GM Mike Milbury indicated he would recall banished right winger Todd Bertuzzi from Utah of the International League for a Jan. 20 game against St. Louis. &#9632;

f0023-01

Smolinski producing points, leadership next on agenda

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03385/6897302-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="575" height="896"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexei Yashin</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02554/6897309-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="161" height="158"></div>Alexei Yashin has heard it all before.He&rsquo;s selfish, moody, doesn&rsquo;t pass the puck enough, doesn&rsquo;t shoot enough, doesn&rsquo;t smile enough.After teammate Daniel Alfredsson got the nod to represent the Ottawa Senators at the Jan. 18 All-Star Game, some team followers suggesting Yashin&rsquo;s failure to produce Jan. 3 in a 1-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils was because he was in a snit over not getting the all-star nod.&ldquo;All season long, it&rsquo;s negative stuff about me,&rdquo; Yashin said. &ldquo;I feel the people should support the organization and the players no matter how many points they have.&ldquo;Sometimes you can have a bad game, but you&rsquo;re still trying 100 per cent, every shift, every situation. I know the fans want to see the team in first place. The ticket prices are high and they want to see a real show.&rdquo;Yashin&rsquo;s 16th goal of the season in a game against the Boston Bruins Jan. 1 was highlight reel stuff as he tucked it in the net while flying through the air.His first-period goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning Jan. 6 capped a great shift which saw him outmuscle defenseman Roman Hamrlik.Yashin would probably like more freedom and less of the structure imposed by today&rsquo;s NHL game. But he is not accepting the view he&rsquo;s a floater.&ldquo;Maybe I have a different style of skating. Maybe people think I&rsquo;m not exciting. I&rsquo;m doing what I&rsquo;ve been doing all my career. I&rsquo;m excited to play. I&rsquo;m happy to be on the ice.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Senators&rsquo; attendance dipped to a franchise low of 11,329 at the Corel Centre when Tampa Bay visited Jan. 6. But the fans bounced back with a crowd of 17,126 against Colorado&hellip;The story of Graham James&rsquo; sexual abuse against Boston&rsquo;s Sheldon Kennedy dating back to their junior days shocked Kennedy&rsquo;s ex-teammate, defenseman Frank Musil. They both played for Calgary in 1994-95. &ldquo;(Kennedy) was always sort of a different guy,&rdquo; said the Senator veteran. &ldquo;But now you realize what he was going through. I really feel for Sheldon. I hope he will recover from this.&rdquo;&hellip;The power play goal surrendered to Colorado Jan. 9 was the first in five games for Ottawa. The Senators were 12-for-12 in the previous four games. &#9632;

f0023-03

Yashin not brooding

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04274/6897340-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="161" height="159"></div>Alexei Kovalev&rsquo;s season seemed to be just getting started when, with one hideous twist, it probably ended.The New York Rangers&rsquo; right winger, in the middle of one of his best games of the year and minutes after scoring his 13th goal, completely tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee when he got tangled with Alexander Selivanov of the Tampa Bay Lightning Jan. 9 at Madison Square Garden.It is up to the 23-year-old whether to undergo the complete reconstructive surgery, which would mean an extensive rehabilitation period of four months, maybe as many as seven or eight months; or to wait for the swelling to subside attempt to rehabilitate the knee through exercise, which would mean he would be out until sometime in February.The latter choice would probably not be the recommendation of doctors, because Kovalev could then always be a shift away from a serious re-injury, which would then mean major surgery. For a player of Kovalev&rsquo;s age, immediate surgery could mean a complete recovery by early summertime, or certainly by training camp.No surgery can be performed until late-January at the earliest, when the swelling subsides.Kovalev seemed a bit confused by the options he was hearing, although it seemed he was leaning toward whatever team doctors recommend.&ldquo;We have to find out,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I want to hear exactly what the doctors say when they make their decisions. I want to come back. I don&rsquo;t want to be done for the full season. I want to know everything that happened.&rdquo;Rangers&rsquo; president-GM Neil Smith said the decision will be Kovalev&rsquo;s to make, but was hoping he&rsquo;d have the reconstruction done.This is the final year of Kovalev&rsquo;s five-year contract. He becomes a restricted free agent July 1 and his bargaining position is hardly enhanced by a 13-goal, 22-assist start.NOTEBOOK: Center Wayne Gretzky reiterated what he has said all along, he would be &ldquo;more than honored&rdquo; if he was chosen to play for Canada in the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. But Gretzky also said he wants to be one of the best players at the time because he doesn&rsquo;t want a &ldquo;courtesy invite or a sympathy invite.&rdquo;&hellip;Goalie Mike Richter lost a career high 11-game winning streak in a 2-2 tie with Colorado Jan. 6, then lost a 16-game unbeaten streak, the second longest of his career, in a 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay Jan. 8. In the first month of the new edict about goalies&rsquo; pads. Richter, one of those fingered as a perpetrator of illegal pads, was unbeaten and named NHL player of the month. &#9632;

f0023-04

Kovalev’s season in jeopardy

<div class="byline">Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02640/6897392-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="345" height="428"></div>The Hart Trophy is all Jaromir Jagr&rsquo;s. For now.The Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; superstar right winger scored a league-high 36 goals in 41 games to stake his claim as the NHL&rsquo;s best player in the first half of the 1996-97 regular season, according to The Hockey News.&ldquo;If he sets his mind to it,&rdquo; said New York Rangers&rsquo; coach Colin Campbell,&rdquo;Jagr is virtually unstoppable. He is so big, so gifted and there isn&rsquo;t anything he won&rsquo;t do to score.&rdquo;That hunger seldom wavers. Jagr had goals in 26 of his 41 games. His 27 even-strength goals were also a league-high. It doesn&rsquo;t take a math wizard to figure he was on pace for a 72-goal season. No one has done that since 1992-93, when Alex Mogilny and Teemu Selanne each had 76.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s on a mission,&rdquo; said Tampa Bay Lightning coach Terry Crisp. &ldquo;The best defense against him is to hope he&rsquo;s going to have an off-night.&rdquo;&ldquo;His talent is so great he&rsquo;s going to bum you.&rdquo; said Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; coach Terry Murray. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a matter of minimizing the damage.&rdquo;The line of Ronnie Francis between Mario Lemieux and Jagr is the NHL&rsquo;s dominant unit. After being put together Nov. 22 in Hartford, the trio racked up 110 points in 21 games, with the Penguins going 16-2-3.Jagr, like the entire Penguin team, got off to a slow start, but was the first of the team&rsquo;s stars to elevate his game.A strong case could also be made for Lemieux as mid-season MVP. Lemieux had 29 goals and 70 points (five more than Jagr in one fewer game) to lead the league, but it wasn&rsquo;t until Mario began playing alongside Jagr that his game really took off. It was perhaps the first time the teacher needed the student&rsquo;s help more than the student required the teacher&rsquo;s.That said, Jagr&rsquo;s competition was stiff on a number of fronts in the first half and will become more daunting in the second half. Lemieux recently said &ldquo;my speed is back.&rdquo; Enough said.Eric Lindros, who missed the Flyers&rsquo; first 23 games, was on a tear, scoring 13 goals and 29 points in 20 games. His return sparked a 17-game unbeaten streak for the Flyers.&ldquo;(Lindros) is playing as well as I&rsquo;ve ever seen him play,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing a more patient game, doing more things off the rush and he has really matured to become a true leader.&rdquo; For the purposes of declaring a midseason MVP, Lindros was excluded from consideration because he missed more than half his team&rsquo;s games.While Lemieux and Lindros would appear to be Jagr&rsquo;s greatest threats, others cannot be overlooked.New York Ranger Wayne Gretzky was a terrific point producer (16 goals and 60 points in 46 games) throughout his team&rsquo;s resurgence and was playing his best hockey in years. But the Rangers&rsquo; approach, as opposed to Pittsburgh&rsquo;s and Philadelphia&rsquo;s, has been stardom by committee.&ldquo;One night it&rsquo;s Mike Richter, another night it&rsquo;s Brian Leetch or Wayne or Mark (Messier),&rdquo; Campbell said. &ldquo;They take turns winning games for us.&rdquo;Two goaltenders-Patrick Roy of the Colorado Avalanche and Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres-were first half MVP considerations and will no doubt be the same in the second half of the season.&ldquo;Hasek was great last year, but he has been sensational this year,&rdquo; said Buffalo coach Ted Nolan. &ldquo;He gives us a chance to be in every game.&rdquo;On a team full of stars, albeit injured ones, Roy has been the Avalanche&rsquo;s main man this season. Peter Forsberg&rsquo;s thigh injury and Joe Sakic&rsquo;s calf laceration will make it difficult for them to mount serious challenges to Jagr.Perhaps no player means as much to his team as Paul Kariya to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, but he&rsquo;ll be in tough against superstars from contending teams.Two other highlights of THN&rsquo;s mid-season awards review include: giving Ranger blueliner Leetch the mid-season Norris Trophy over perennial leader Chris Chelios of the Chicago Blackhawks; and placing unbeaten Pittsburgh netminder Patrick Lalime (10-0-1, 1.94 GAA and 93.3 save percentage) at the head of the rookie class over Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03418/6897385-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="2613" height="2309"></div><h2>THN&rsquo;s mid-season trophy honor roll</h2>The Hockey News canvassed NHL coaches and GMs to determine who earned mid-season hardware. The exercise was done separately for the Western Conference and Eastern Conference, including the selection of first-, second-and third-all-star teams. We found there is a more significant dropoff between the top defenseman in the East (Brian Leetch) and his challengers than in the West between Chris Cheliosind rivals. Notably absent from the eastern all-star teams is Boston Bruins&rsquo; defenseman Ray Bourque, whose NHL record stieak of 17 straight all-star selections appears jeopardy. Also noteworthy is that in the East the top rookies are all goaltenders and defensemen while in the West the best freshmen are forwards. A panel of THN editors combined East and West to make league-wide determinations.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04267/6897378-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="2606" height="265"></div><h2>THN ALL-STARS WESTERN CONFERENCE</h2>FIRST TEAMG-Patrick Roy, ColoradoD-Chris Chelios, ChicagoD-Sandis Ozolinsh, ColoradoLW-Keith Tkachuk, PhoenixC-Joe Sakic, ColoradoRW-Mats Sundin, TorontoSECOND TEAMG-Chris Osgood, DetroitD-Derian Hatcher, DallasD-Vladimir Konstantinov, DetroitLW-Brendan Shanahan, DetroitC-Peter Forsberg, ColoradoRW-Teemu Selanne, AnaheimTHIRD TEAMG-Andy Moog, DallasD-Nicklas Lidstrom, DetroitD-Adam Foote, ColoradoLW-Paul Kariya, AnaheimC-Steve Yzerman, DetroitRW-Tony Amonte, Chicago<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01951/6897371-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="508" height="994"></div>Sandis OzolinshHART TROPHY1. Patrick Roy, Colorado2. Joe Sakic, Colorado3. Mats Sundin, TorontoNORRIS TROPHY1. Chris Chelios, Chicago2. Sandis Ozolinsh, Colorado3. Derian Hatcher, DallasVEZINA TROPHY1. Patrick Roy, Colorado2. Chris Osgood, Detroit3. Andy Moog, DallasCALDER TROPHY1. Jarome Iginla, Calgary2. Jim Campbell, St. Louis3. Jamie Langenbrunner, DallasSELKE TROPHY1. Jere Lehtinen, Dallas2. Mike Keane, Colorado3. Todd Marchant, EdmontonLADY BYNG TROPHY1. Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit2. Paul Kariya, Anaheim3. Teemu Selanne, AnaheimJACK ADAMS TROPHY1. Marc Crawford, Colorado2. Ken Hitchcock, Dallas3. Scotty Bowman, Detroit &#9632;

f0024-02

THIS PENGUIN FLIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01848/6897430-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg"></div>We at THN are nothing if not relentless. Either that, or a little thick.For years now, we have advocated a couple of individual award causes. One, defensemen being seriously considered for the Lady Byng Trophy (sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of play). Two, the Selke Trophy going to the best defensive forward, not an offensive ace who plays solid &lsquo;D&rsquo;.Is anyone listening? Apparently not.The last time a defenseman won the Byng was 1961, when Red Kelly of the Toronto Maple Leafs earned the honor. The most recent winners of the Selke include Sergei Fedorov, Ron Francis and Doug Gilmour.We long for the good old days when men were men and Dirk Graham and Rick Meagher won the Selke.This mid-season awards review reflects our bias. And, yes, we are getting defensive. Just look at our picks in the Western Conference (Jere Lehtinen, Mike Keane and Todd Marchant) and Eastern Conference (Niklas Sundstrom, Bill Lindsay and Shjon Podein). They are defense-minded forwards who also contribute offensively, not vice versa.Lehtinen is one of the NHL&rsquo;s best-kept secrets, said Dallas Stars&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an unbelievable positional player and the best tracker of the puck I&rsquo;ve ever seen,&rdquo; Hitchcock said of the right winger on his top line with Mike Modano and Greg Adams.New York Ranger coach Colin Campbell sings similar praises of Swedish delight Sundstrom, who plays alongside Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille.As for the Byng, we see it as two gentleman race between New York&rsquo;s Brian Leetch (22 PIM in 46 games) and Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings (18 PIM in 42 games), two blueliners who excel while playing the game hard, but fairly.<h2>THN ALLSTARS EASTERN CONFERENCE</h2>FIRST TEAMG-Dominik Hasek, BuffaloD-Brian Leetch, RangersD-Robert Svehla, FloridaLW-Mario Lemieux, PittsburghC-Wayne Gretzky, RangersRW-Jaromir Jagr, PittsburghSECOND TEAMG-John Vanbiesbrouck, FloridaD-Kevin Hatcher, PittsburghD-Eric Desjardins, PhiladelphiaLW-John LeClair, PhiladelphiaC-Mark Messier, RangersRW-Zigmund Palffy, IslandersTHIRD TEAMG-Mike Richter, RangersD-Scott Stevens, New JerseyD-Sergei Gonchar, WashingtonLW-Geoff Sanderson, HartfordC-Eric Lindros, PhiladelphiaRW-Peter Bondra, Washington<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02539/6897423-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="516" height="991"></div>Brian LeetchHART TROPHY1. Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh2. Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh3. Dominik Hasek, BuffaloNORRIS TROPHY1. Brian Leetch, Rangers2. Robert Svehla, Florida3. Kevin Hatcher, PittsburghVEZINA TROPHY1. Dominik Hasek, Buffalo2. John Vanbiesbrouck, Florida3. Mike Richter, RangersCALDER TROPHY1. Patrick Lalime, Pittsburgh2. Bryan Berard, Islanders3. Janne Niinimaa, PhiladelphiaSELKE TROPHY1. Niklas Sundstrom, Rangers2. Bill Lindsay, Florida3. Shjon Podein, PhiladelphiaLADY BYNG TROPHY1. Brian Leetch, Rangers2. Ron Francis, Pittsburgh3. Peter Bondra, WashingtonJACK ADAMS TROPHY1. Ted Nolan, Buffalo2. Doug MacLean, Florida3. Terry Murray, Philadelphia &#9632;

f0025-01

Defensive stalwarts deserve Selke, Byng

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01930/6897461-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="159" height="159"></div>Hidden behind all the hype of the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; 17-game unbeaten streak were some valuable lessons.Namely, how to play with patience, dominate third periods with size and how to win close games.The streak (14-0-3), unofficially ninth-longest in NHL history and second best in the overtime era only to the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; 18-gamerin 199293, came to an end with a 3-1 loss on home ice to the Tampa Bay Lightning Jan. 9.It was the Flyers&rsquo; first defeat since a 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders Nov. 27. Eric Lindros&rsquo; league-and career-high 17-game point-scoring streak was also snapped that night.&ldquo;You learn a lot from a streak like that,&rdquo; said coach Terry Murray. &ldquo;You start to really believe in yourself. It&rsquo;s a great confidence factor.&rdquo;During the streak, the Flyers made it through a six-game western road trip at 4-0-2, second-best in team history. They also managed to put together a team record four straight shutouts in late-December.Much of their success came from grinding teams down in the third period. The Flyers average 6-foot-2, 210 pounds-biggest in the NHL. At the mid-season point, they had six third-period come-from-behind victories.&ldquo;The scoring was spread out pretty well and both goaltenders (Ron Hextall, Garth Snow) played very well,&rdquo; Murray said.NOTEBOOK: Center Dale Hawerchuk took some needling from teammates after he was named a commissioner&rsquo;s selection for the NHL All-Star Game. Left winger Dan Kordic wondered aloud if Hawerchuk, 33, was playing in the regular or the Heroes of Hockey game. Hawerchuk did contemplate retirement earlier this season due to a painful hip injury, but has made close to a full recovery&hellip;Center Eric Lindros&rsquo; 17-game point streak fell one short of current GM Bob Clarke&rsquo;s team record 18. Other streaks stopped in a 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay Jan. 9: An eight-game home winning streak and goalie Ron Hextall&rsquo;s 11-game (10-0-1) unbeaten streak Defenseman Paul Coffey (concussion) resumed light skating Jan. 8, but still complained of dizziness. &#9632;

f0026-01

Valuable lessons learned during unbeaten streak

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecklng</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03490/6897492-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="571" height="896"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joel Quenneville</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02616/6897499-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="161" height="160"></div>In hiring Joel Quenneville as Mike Keenan&rsquo;s replacement behind the bench, St. Louis Blues&rsquo; chairman Jerry Ritter said the Blues are &ldquo;on the verge of a promising new era.&rdquo;Quenneville received rave reviews as the Blues conducted their coach search. He jumped ahead of Jacques Demers and Paul MacLean, both of whom had St. Louis ties and were impressive in their interviews.&ldquo;I got a good feel for him,&rdquo; said president Mark Sauer, hired to replace Jack Quinn Dec. 19&ndash;the day Keenan was fired as GM and head coach. &ldquo;We checked him out thoroughly. People raved about him.&rdquo;Whenever Blues&rsquo; officials asked opinions on who was the best head coaching candidate not currently a head coach, the answer kept coming back &ldquo;Quenneville.&rdquo; So, they signed him to a three-year deal-two after this season-worth a $375,000 per season.Ritter said Quenneville is a man of intelligence with a strong commitment to win. Ritter also likes Quenneville&rsquo;s style. Quenneville&rsquo;s reputation is he&rsquo;s direct and to the point, forthright and honest-qualities often ascribed to Ritter.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a guy who puts on false airs,&rdquo; Ritter said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a guy who asks direct questions and when you ask him a direct question, he looks you in the eye and gives you an answer.&rdquo;Quenneville received high marks from his players.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s more comfortable on the bench,&rdquo; said center Peter Zezel. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s more relaxed, more confident.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Although the Blues lost 5-2 to Edmonton in coach Joel Quenneville&rsquo;s debut Jan. 7, they beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 in their next game Jan. 9 to give Quenneville his first win. Center Pierre Turgeon scored the game-winner with 25.4 seconds to play&hellip;Former Mike Keenan whipping boy Robert Petrovicky had a goal and an assist against San Jose to give the center two goals and four assists in seven games after Keenan&rsquo;s dismissal. Right winger Brett Hull scored his 20th goal of the season and defenseman Chris Pronger had three assists&hellip;Quenneville has installed a neutral zone trap system for the Blues, who had played a puck pursuit game. One thing he won&rsquo;t change is using Grant Fuhr the majority of the time in net. &#9632;

f0026-03

Quenneville era begins

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04353/6897530-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="161" height="159"></div>Darcy Wakaluk felt something pop in his right knee and not long afterward, the rest of the Phoenix Coyotes heard the same kind of thing.It was the sound of losing three straight games.It started Jan. 4 in Landover, Md., when the Washington Capitals blanked Wakaluk and the Coyotes 3-0. Wakaluk, the club&rsquo;s backup goaltender, suffered tom cartilage in his knee at some point during the game and later underwent arthroscopic surgery. He was placed on the injured fist Jan. 8 and will be sidelined until at least mid-February.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s disappointing,&rdquo; said Wakaluk, who had similar surgery on his left knee after last season. &ldquo;Things were really going good. It has been fun to come into the dressing room every day.&rdquo;The mood mellowed considerably, however, after a 5-1 road loss two days later to the Buffalo Sabres in which the Sabres scored all their goals off Phoenix turnovers.And then it got worse following a 5-4 overtime loss to the visiting Detroit Red Wings. The Coyotes battled back with two third-period goals to forge a 4-4 tie, but Igor Larionov snapped home the game-winner for Detroit 58 seconds into overtime, handing the Coyotes their first loss in nine overtime games.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just making too many mistakes right now,&rdquo; said goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, who reclaimed his No.l status from Wakaluk before Wakaluk&rsquo;s injury. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re playing well as a team, but we&rsquo;re having breakdowns at bad times.&rdquo;One breakdown the Coyotes can ill afford is any sort of slump by Khabibulin, whom they will depend upon heavily until Wakaluk&rsquo;s return. The period from early-January to midFebruary is critical to the team&rsquo;s hopes of securing a pivotal top-four finish in the Western Conference.&ldquo;It will be a good test for me and for the team,&rdquo; Khabibulin said.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Dave Manson may undergo surgery after the season to repair his damaged vocal chords, suffered in a fight five years ago. He hasn&rsquo;t had the operation because doctors warned him it might leave him vulnerable on the ice. But a new procedure, similar to the one Hartford defenseman Glen Featherstone underwent, will allow him to keep playing. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be nice to hear my own voice again,&rdquo; said Manson, who has spoken in a deep, gravely tone since the fight. &ldquo;I have to repeat myself a lot and that&rsquo;s really frustrating.&rdquo; What will his Coyotes&rsquo; teammates think if the hear Manson in a different voice? &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, we never listen to him anyway,&rdquo; said left winger Kris King. &#9632;

f0026-04

Wakaluk out, Khabibulin in for Coyotes

<div class="byline">By Mike Dudurich</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-06215/6897561-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="569" height="903"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darius Kasparaitis</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05263/6897568-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="160" height="160"></div>The Pittsburgh Penguins came roaring into the halfway point of 1996-97 playing as well as they have all season.Their 22-15-4 record was five games worse than last year&rsquo;s mark of 27-11-3, but the 1995-96 team didn&rsquo;t have to overcome a 5-12-1 start to get to that point.These Penguins, after an embarrassing 8-3 loss at home to the New York Rangers Nov. 16, put together a pair of impressive unbeaten streaks that vaulted them back among the elite in the NHL.&ldquo;Since we made the trades, we&rsquo;ve been playing some great hockey,&rdquo; said Mario Lemieux, who was leading the league in scoring.The trades, of course, brought a feisty defenseman (Darius Kasparaitis), a gritty third-line center (Stu Barnes), a pair of talented offensive defensemen (Jason Woolley and Fredrik Olausson) and a couple much-needed role players (Andreas Johansson and Alex Hicks).&ldquo;(Penguins&rsquo; GM Craig Patrick) brought the chemistry back into our dressing room,&rdquo; said coach Eddie Johnston. &ldquo;He brought us an ingredient we didn&rsquo;t have, that had left our room for a while. And the other thing is, the big three guys have been on a roll.&rdquo;Johnston put Lemieux, Ron Francis and Jaromir Jagr together Nov. 22. The Penguins were struggling and needed a spark fast and Johnson&rsquo;s move turned out to be a bit of genius. In the 21 games after the line was united, it combined for a total of 51 goals and 110 points.NOTEBOOK: The Penguins ended the first half of the season with a five-game winning streak and had lost just twice in their past 20 games (15-2-3)&hellip;Right winger Jaromir Jagr&rsquo;s assist on center Ron Francis&rsquo; second goal in a 7-3 win over Tampa Bay gave him 600 points in his career. Francis was once thought to be a premier second line player, but is proving to be a true No. 1 center. Left winger Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s two goals in the same game moved him into seventh place on the alltime goal scorers list with 592&hellip;The Penguins said goalie Tom Barrasso had successful back surgery Jan. 3 and that he would be out indefinitely (the rest of the season)&hellip;The Penguins attracted six sellouts in 18 home games. &#9632;

f0026-06

Trades made Pens better

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-07189/6897599-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="161" height="159"></div>Less than halfway through his rookie season, San Jose Sharks&rsquo; coach Al Sims was aging rapidly.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very frustrating,&rdquo; said Sims, two days after the Sharks blew a two-goal, third-period lead in a 4-3 loss to the visiting Calgary Flames Jan. 4. &ldquo;We just don&rsquo;t know how much more we can take here as coaches.&rdquo;Sims and his assistants, Wayne Cashman and Roy Sommer, along with everyone else, were equally perplexed by two troubling factors. The Calgary game marked the fourth time this season San Jose had failed to win after holding a multiple-goal lead. Three of those lapses resulted in losses, the other in a tie.In addition, the Sharks had the worst home record in the NHL, 6-123, after a 1-1 tie against the Buffalo Sabres Jan. 7 and a 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues two nights later. At 14-225, San Jose had fallen to last place in the Western Conference.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve exhausted every option as coaches,&rdquo; Sims said. &ldquo;It lies within the dressing room now. We&rsquo;ve whipped them, punished them, been nice to them, been kind to them, treated them great. It hasn&rsquo;t worked.&rdquo;Most discouraging, perhaps, was unlike last season, the Sharks are not a blatantly bad hockey team, and yet they still hadn&rsquo;t been able to sustain any consistency.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Tony Granato was added to the Western Conference squad for the Jan. 18 NHL All-Star Game in San Jose as a special selection by commissioner Gary Bettman. It will mark the first all-star appearance for Granato, who underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain last February&hellip;The Sharks demoted left winger Ray Whitney for the second time this season, assigning him to Utah of the International League Jan. 6. Whitney, who failed to score in three early-season games with San Jose, managed just two assists after being recalled from Utah Dec. 16. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t score a goal in nine games,&rdquo; said coach Al Sims. &ldquo;He probably had a chance every game and he didn&rsquo;t finish.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0026-07

Sims flustered with team’s bad habit of blowing leads

<div class="byline">By Roy Cummings</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01923/6897630-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="160" height="158"></div>There were some bumps along the way, but the path defenseman Drew Bannister rode to the NHL got him exactly where he wanted to be.Bannister, a second-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1991, is a good example of what a couple years of tutelage in the minors can do for even an early-rounder.Instead of struggling upon his arrival in the NHL, as many early rounders do when they enter directly out of junior, the rookie has stepped in and played with the confidence and poise of a veteran. He says the long-routed approach he took is the reason.&ldquo;That second year I spent in Atlanta, I learned so much,&rdquo; Bannister said, referring to the 61 games he played last season the Lightning&rsquo;s former International League affiliate. &ldquo;I was put in situations I&rsquo;d never been in before, not in the pros anyway. I was doing things like killing penalties and playing on the power play.&rdquo;Now Bannister is killing penalties and working the power play in the NHL. They are duties he likely would not be performing were it not for those two years in the minors.&ldquo;I remember there was a time when he wasn&rsquo;t even playing in Atlanta,&rdquo; said Lightning coach Terry Crisp. &ldquo;So that gives you an idea of how far he has come. I mean, we use him in every situation now. Penaltykilling, power play.&ldquo;And he&rsquo;s the guy we put out there against a team&rsquo;s top line a lot of the time. We put him out there against (Teemu) Selanne and (Paul) Kariya the other night and he stayed right with them.&rdquo;Bannister&rsquo;s now-refined athletic ability allows him to do that. He&rsquo;s one of the best skaters on the team and one of its most mobile rearguards.&ldquo;Once they started showing some confidence in me, putting me out there in tougher and tougher situations, against better and better players, I gained confidence,&rdquo; he said.NOTEBOOK: The Lightning was unbeaten in seven of its last eight after defeating the Rangers and Philadelphia in consecutive road games Jan. 8 and 9&hellip;Goalie Rick Tabaracci bruised his sternum blocking a shot in the Jan. 8 victory over the Rangers and had to sit out a game. Tyler Moss was recalled to serve as backup for Corey Schwab&hellip;Center Daymond Langkow had become one of the team&rsquo;s hottest scorers, potting seven goals in 10 games through Jan. 9&hellip;Left winger Shawn Burr returned to the lineup Jan. 4 despite the fact the tip of his left ring finger had blackened and would eventually fall off as a result of being severed from a slash in a game Dec. 19. Burr was expected to miss eight weeks. &#9632;

f0028-01

Long road right road for Bannister

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02612/6897661-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="161" height="163"></div>After seeing Jeff Ware win gold as a member of Canada&rsquo;s national junior team, the Toronto Maple Leafs decided junior hockey is where he belongs.So, three days after the 19-year-old Ware returned from the World Junior Championship in Switzerland, the Leafs returned the 6-foot-4 defenseman to the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario League.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be life-and-death for us to make the playoffs and the tendency of the coach in that situation is to go with his key veteran players,&rdquo; said Leafs&rsquo; GM Cliff Fletcher. &ldquo;Because of the situation, Jeff would end up playing a restricted type game, and that&rsquo;s not what we want him to do.&rdquo;Despite sending Jamie Heward back to the minors two days before Ware, the Leafs still had seven healthy blueliners on the roster, and were hoping to have both Jamie Macoun (strained ribs) and Mathieu Schneider (strained groin) back from injuries by the end of January.That would have meant little time for Ware, who dressed for only 13 Leaf games before joining the junior nats.&ldquo;They feel it&rsquo;s a bad atmosphere for me here right now,&rdquo; Ware said. &lsquo;Tt&rsquo;s better for me to be in junior and to be out in the dying seconds of a game where I can make a difference. They said not to worry, that I&rsquo;m still a big part of the future here.&rdquo;&ldquo;He can go down there and be an impact player,&rdquo; said Leafs&rsquo; coach Mike Murphy.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Mats Sundin was the lone Leaf addition to the Western Conference team for the All-Star Game&hellip;Center Doug Gilmour lashed out at his teammates after a 7-3 loss in Vancouver Jan. 4, accusing some of a lack of effort&hellip;Right winger Mike Craig received a two-game suspension Jan. 7 for highsticking Canuck forward Mike SiUinger Jan. 4. Sillinger&rsquo;s nose was broken on the play&hellip;After being demoted to St. John&rsquo;s of the American League Jan. 8, center Brandon Convery stormed out of coach Mike Murphy&rsquo;s office and indicated he would not report to the Leafs&rsquo; minor league team. GM Cliff Fletcher gave Convery 10 days to report&hellip;Defenseman Mathieu Schneider resumed skating Jan. 9. &#9632;

f0028-02

Ware brings tourney gold back to juniors in Oshawa

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04308/6897692-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="575" height="899"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dale Hunter</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03437/6897699-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="158" height="157"></div>At the age of 36, Washington Capitals&rsquo; captain Dale Hunter has maintained he will continue playing in the NHL as long as it is fun.Commissioner Gary Bettman has injected a lot more fun into Hunter&rsquo;s game.Bettman made Hunter one of his four &ldquo;special selections&rdquo; to appear in the All-Star Game, the first time in his 17-year career that Hunter has been so recognized.He was stunned-and also speechless (but that is usually the case)-when GM David Poile broke the news at an &ldquo;emergency&rdquo; team meeting. The redness in his eyes summed up how deeply he felt about the honor Bettman bestowed on him.&ldquo;You think of the All-Star Game and you think of the Gretzkys, the Marios, Messiers, the best players in the game all on the ice at the same time&hellip;You know, the All-Star Game, for me?&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s 13, 14 years too late,&rdquo; said Calle Johansson. &ldquo;Look at the size of him, he plays like he&rsquo;s 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, but he&rsquo;s only 5-10, 195. He&rsquo;s a franchise player, one of those guys every team would like to have.&rdquo;It was Bettman who hit Hunter with a 21-game suspension, the longest in NHL history for an on-ice infraction, after he blindsided then New York Islander Pierre Turgeon April 28, 1993, separating one of the center&rsquo;s shoulders. Turgeon missed half of the Isles&rsquo; remaining 12 playoff games.&ldquo;When (Hunter&rsquo;s) sentence ended, the matter was over,&rdquo; Bettman said.NOTEBOOK: After 56 tries and a seven-year wait, goalie Olie Kolzig got his first NHL shutout, a 3-0 blanking of Phoenix Jan. 3. The Coyotes didn&rsquo;t test him that often, Kolzig admitted, but it was nice all the same. His next game was a 1-1 draw with Hartford, followed by a 2-0 blanking of the Rangers, the first time New York had been shut out this season&hellip;Center Joe Juneau returned to action Jan. 9, eight days after being cut down by a two-hander from Hartford center Keith Primeau&hellip;Left winger Todd Krygier, slashed across the left wrist Dec. 11 in San Jose, is out until about Feb. 1 with degenerative damage to the area&hellip;Left winger Steve Konowalchuk hadn&rsquo;t scored in 17 games, then had game-winning and game-tying goals within a three-game span. &#9632;

f0028-04

All-star nod stuns Hunter

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05240/6897730-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="161" height="160"></div>Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; GM Pat Quinn doesn&rsquo;t buy the criticism, some of it coming from his own player, Alexander Mogilny, that his team is floundering due to the lack of an elite center.In his 10 years at the helm, Quinn has been unable to draft, trade for, or sign a true playmaking center. The media and fans continuously pointed this out before Mogilny joined the fray. Undaunted, the boss called the no-center theory nothing more than a convenient excuse for a group not living up to expectations.&ldquo;Last year there was the claim they hated the coach,&rdquo; said Quinn, referring to Rick Ley, who was ultimately fired. &ldquo;There are never ever good excuses. We&rsquo;ve got an excuse-we don&rsquo;t have the center. Well, that&rsquo;s baloney.&rdquo;Quinn did admit his grand plan for a Stanley Cup contender appeared to be coming apart and said &ldquo;you&rsquo;d have to call (it) marginal at this point.&rdquo;The Canucks reached the 40-game mark at 19-20-1 and ranked a terrible 23rd in goals against, five spots lower than their finish last season when team defense was the biggest concern.Injuries and lapses in work ethic appeared to be the biggest culprits.&ldquo;You put together a group of athletes and throw them out and they might come together,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;You hope they do, you dream about it, you manipulate around and when it&rsquo;s there, there&rsquo;s all sorts of funny things that can happen.&rdquo;But it hasn&rsquo;t been a barrel of laughs for Quinn and his associates. Among the problems is a perceived lack of grit, which he feels can be conquered from within.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played some gritty games,&rdquo; Quinn continued. &ldquo;Do we do it every night? No. Can you learn to be gritty? I believe you can. We have the guys who don&rsquo;t bang along the boards and are better in open ice. But when you play the systems we play today, there is not a lot of open ice, so suddenly you say the talented guys aren&rsquo;t gritty enough to do this. I think they are.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Pavel Bure finally got on his first roll of the season, scoring six goals and adding two assists in a four-game stretch to open January&hellip;The Canucks lost their top blueliner, Jyrki Lumme. until third-January when an MR1 conducted Jan. 4 discovered a partial tear of the muscle in his right shoulder&hellip;After scoring just one shorthanded goal in their first 35 games, the Canucks scored four in their next four&hellip;Center Mike Sillinger suffered a broken nose in a Jan. 4 game against Toronto when he was cross-checked by Toronto right winger Mike Craig Sillinger didn&rsquo;t miss any games and responded with five points and two first-star selections in two games following the injury. &#9632;

f0028-05

Quinn: Stop whining and start winning

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01816/6897761-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

THE HOCKEY NEWS FUTURE WATCH

<div class="byline">By Kevin lole</div>Marc Lamothe has played it by the book this season.The Indianapolis Ice goalie was one of the International League&rsquo;s first half surprises-Indianapolis had surrendered the second-fewest goals in the league-and he credits his strong play, in part, to books he read that helped him improve his mental game.&ldquo;In the summer, I did a lot of reading and research on mindset and the way to approach things and the psychological aspects of the game,&rdquo; said Lamothe, who declined to reveal what he read, laughingly calling it &ldquo;my secret.&rdquo;Whatever it was, it has worked. The 6-foot-1, 204-pound Lamothe was ninth in the league with a 2.67 goals-against average and owned a 91.0 save percentage.He signed with the Chicago Blackhawks in August after two undistin-guished seasons in the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; chain.&ldquo;Honestly, he was signed to be a depth guy,&rdquo; said Indianapolis coach Bob Ferguson. &ldquo;We had Jimmy Waite here and Eddie Belfour and Jeff Hackett up there, but because of injuries and some different things in Chicago, he has gotten a chance to put up some great numbers.&ldquo;The best way to judge a goalie is not by the quality of shots he stops, but by the quality of goals scored on him. And I&rsquo;ll tell you what, there haven&rsquo;t been many bad ones in there.&rdquo;The play of Lamothe, 22, and Waite, 27, kept the Ice in first place in the Central Division for much of the first half.It has been a turnaround for Lamothe, who was a backup in the American League last year.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been very fortunate because things have broken my way,&rdquo; Lamothe said. &ldquo;Last year in Fredericton, I didn&rsquo;t play a lot and any goalie would tell you he plays better the more he plays. I worked hard in the summer and I got a chance to show what I could do. The key for me now is to sustain this and take it to the next level.&rdquo;SMYTH UPDATE: There was some good news for Kevin Smyth, the Orlando Solar Bears&rsquo; left winger hit in the right eye by a puck Dec. 28.After a 5-1/2 hour operation Jan. 6 at Columbia University Hospital in New York, doctors expressed optimism Smyth may be able to regain some sight in his injured eye.Smyth, 23, had 40 per cent of the retina re-attached during surgery. Previously, Smyth underwent three hours of surgery to repair lacerations around the eye following the accident.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s still too early to say for certain, but it appears he may regain some sight, which is great news,&rdquo; said Orlando GM Don Waddell. &ldquo;He probably won&rsquo;t get his peripheral vision back, since he&rsquo;ll end up losing 60 per cent of his retina, but at least there&rsquo;s some hope he&rsquo;ll be able to have some of his sight restored.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02615/6897792-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="385" height="435"></div>DECEMBER STARS: Michel Picard of the Grand Rapids Griffins was the IHL player of the month in December and Frederic Chabot of the Houston Aeros was top goalie.Picard topped goal-scorers with 16 and had 27 points in 14 games. He scored two goals or more in seven of the 14 games.Chabot won three straight goalie-of-the-week awards. He was 8-2-1 with a 1.82 goals-against average and 93.7 save percentage. He tied a league record with three consecutive shutouts.I-OPENERS: Cleveland Lumbeijacks&rsquo; center Jock Callander moved into a tie for sixth place on the IHL all-time goal-scoring list with Eddie Long when he notched career goal No. 459 Jan. 3. Callander needed 20 more goals to tie Len Thomson for fifth pace&hellip;The Manitoba Moose, struggling for goals, signed center Alexander Korolyuk, who had been playing with the Russian national team. A 1994 sixth round draft selection of the San Jose Sharks, Korolyuk led the Russian League in scoring last season with 49 points&hellip;The Utah Grizzlies announced a 10-game package on U.S. cable outlet Fox Sports Rocky Mountain. &#9632;

f0030-02

LEAGUES

Mysterious self-help book puts goalie in thick of plot

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>Peter Ferraro now knows how Cam Neely and Kevin Stevens felt.The Binghamton Rangers&rsquo; winger dressed for a Jan. 5 game against the Rochester Americans, but never left the bench in the 7-2 win. Neely and Stevens received similar treatment from Boston Bruins&rsquo; coach Steve Kasper last season.Binghamton coach George Burnett said Ferraro had taken too many undisciplined penalties and needed to be punished. Ferraro was third in the AHL in minors with 35 and had 95 minutes.Ferraro&rsquo;s roughing penalty at the end of the second period the night before at Syracuse helped the Crunch score a pair of power play goals, turning a 4-3 lead into a comfortable 6-3 lead in what became a 7-4 victory.&ldquo;Those are the little things tha might keep you at this level for a long time,&rdquo; Burnett said of the penalty. &ldquo;When the game&rsquo;s on the line, you just don&rsquo;t get involved.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the first person that will tell you it needs to be corrected.&rdquo;Well, not necessarily.&ldquo;There has been a lot of pressure put on myself to lead on this hockey club and it seems every time I take a penalty I have to be punished for it-unnecessarily,&rdquo; Ferraro said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a feisty player, I&rsquo;m going to take a few penalties and draw a few penalties. I might take one, but I might have drawn four or five. In my mind, (Burnett) is not keeping it balanced.&rdquo;Ferraro, who scored 48 goals and 102 points last season, had 15 goals and 38 points in 39 games this season. He led the American League in shots with 204. Brother Chris was second with 156 (and had 18 goals).&ldquo;(Peter) has played frustrated,&rdquo; Burnett said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s leading the league by a mile in shots.&rdquo;SPECIAL SPECTRUM: The Philadelphia Phantoms are making the CoreStates Spectrum as tough to play in for AHL opponents as the parent Philadelphia Flyers did for NHL teams.The Phantoms amassed a 15-game home winning streak, just two shy of the AHL record set by the 1937-38 Cleveland Barons and matched by the 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers.During the streak, the Phantoms outscored the opposition 84-38. Their home record was 17-21.The Spectrum is home to the NHL record of 20 games-by the 1975-76 Flyers (the 1929-30 Boston Bruins share the record). Phantoms&rsquo; coach Bill Barber was a winger on that Flyers&rsquo; team.&ldquo;We talked about the tradition of this building at the beginning of the year,&rdquo; Barber said. &ldquo;I told the guys it was not given to us then, that we had to go out and earn it and gain the respect of the rest of the league. It has to be the same with us now. I&rsquo;m very proud of the guys.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03426/6897823-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="424" height="425"></div>SWEET REVENGE: Goalie Jamie Ram, loaned to the Kentucky Thor-oughblades by Binghamton in early October to make room for New York Rangers&rsquo; hot prospect Dan Cloutier, enjoyed his return to Broome County Arena.Ram stopped 57 shots on New Year&rsquo;s Eve and beat Binghamton 4-1.That included 28 saves in the Rangers 29-shot second period.Ram was 19-8-3 with a 3.00 goals-against average for the Thoroughblades.BAD BOYS: St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs&rsquo; goalie Don Beaupre and coach Mark Hunter each received two-game suspensions for their on-ice outbursts against referee Lyle Seitz after a 3-2 overtime road loss to the Portland Pirates Jan. 5.Beaupre shot the puck at Seitz, then Hunter stormed after Seitz and confronted him on the ice. Hunter and Beaupre were upset with what they viewed as poor officiating in back-to-back games.AHL TIDBITS: After scoring just two goals in 27 games, Springfield Falcons&rsquo; right winger Scott Levins scored seven in a four-game stretch after Christmas&hellip;After joining Syracuse on loan from the Los Angeles Kings, center Nathan LaFayette had seven goals in seven games. &#9632;

f0030-03

Taking, drawing penalties all part of Ferraro’s game

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04302/6897861-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="381" height="503"></div>Portland Pirates&rsquo; owner Tom Ebright has built a little empire for himself because he&rsquo;s a smart businessman.He knows mutual funds. He knows investments. Simply put, he knows how to make money. That&rsquo;s why he pulled his American League team out of Baltimore four years ago.Too bad the AHL didn&rsquo;t realize how correct Ebright was when he moved the money-losing Skipjacks to Portland, Me., where they have rebounded as the Pirates.But, no, someone wanted to give Baltimore another try, believing the area&rsquo;s three million or so residents care about hockey. They don&rsquo;t, at least not 2.999 million of them.The league didn&rsquo;t want to believe that, thoug Instead of learning from two previous failures, the AHL went back to Baltimore last season.Now, four months into Year II of the Bandits-and in the midst of Year I under progressive, well-financed new ownership-it appears there will soon be another entry in the register of &ldquo;Inactive teams&rdquo; in the AHL record book.Three times is a charm? Ha. Three times is a charming disaster.The Bandits announced a crowd of 1,205 for a Jan. 2 game against the Kentucky Thoroughblades. The official average attendance is 3,046, second-worst in the league. Some insiders believe the real average may be closer to 2,000.&ldquo;Part of your motivation is having home-ice advantage and part of home-ice advantage is having a crowd to give you a boost,&rdquo; says Bandits&rsquo; coach Moe Mantha.The Bandits have none. They kill off a 5-on-3 power play late in a one-goal game and there&rsquo;s no roar to lift their spirits.Players come out of the dressing room fired up to play, then see 10,000 empty seats and realize they might as well be on the road.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the nature of the beast here,&rdquo; Mantha says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not my job to worry about it; it&rsquo;s my job to make sure these young players are developing (for the parent Mighty Ducks of Anaheim).&rdquo;He&rsquo;s leaving the worrying to owner Mike Caggiano, who in the past owned successful low-level minor league baseball teams. Like Ebright, Caggiano knows a lot about making money. His pockets are very deep and he says he&rsquo;s in no way ready to give up.&ldquo;Nobody&rsquo;s panicking,&rdquo; Caggiano says. &ldquo;Our job is to get the people here once or twice, then they&rsquo;ll come back. They&rsquo;ll realize it&rsquo;s good, inexpensive entertainment.&rdquo;Confidence is a great thing. So is common sense. Ebright folded his tent before the bank folded it for him.In Baltimore there is a core of fans who love the game and will support it forever. But there are not enough. It appears the hockey team will die, despite Caggiano&rsquo;s confidence. Attendance was predictably bad in the fall because the baseball Orioles were in the playoffs and the National Football League was back for the first time in 13 seasons in the form of the transplanted Cleveland Browns.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05222/6897854-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="382" height="505"><figcaption class="caption-body">Moe Mantha</figcaption></div>The Bandits under then-coach I Walt Kyle were a great story last spring, making an uplifting run in the playoffs. Despite being one game from the semifinals, few came to Baltimore Arena to watch.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m surprised we haven&rsquo;t been successful there,&rdquo; says AHL president Dave Andrews. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re going to have your successes and your projects. It&rsquo;s too bad Baltimore can&rsquo;t be listed with Kentucky and Philadelphia (new franchises that are thriving).&rdquo;Instead, it appears the Bandits will be listed in the R.I.P. section next to the Baltimore Skipjacks and Baltimore Clippers. &#9632;

f0030-04

Bandits latest victims of Baltimore’s apathy

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>If the Charlotte Checkers want to win the fifth annual East Coast League AlLStar Game, coach John Marks will have to figure a way to shut down the league&rsquo;s top players.The leading snipers on nine teams will help make up the 22-man roster that will challenge the defending ECHL champions Jan. 21 at Independence Arena in Charlotte, N.C.For the first time in the league&rsquo;s all-star history, the owners voted to have the league champion host the game and face the best of the rest instead of a North-South or East-West affair as in the past.Among the top scorers for the rest of the league are center Mike Ross of the South Carolina Stingrays, the EC-HL&rsquo;s leading scorer (32 goals and 54 points), center Jim Brown of the Knoxville Cherokees (50 points), right winger Eric Royal of the Wheeling Nailers (50) and left winger Jeff Jablonski of the Roanoke Express (47).The starters are goaltender Sylvain Daigle (Mississippi Sea Wolves), forwards Glen Metropolit (Pensacola Ice Pilots). Andrei Bashkirov (Huntington Blizzard) and Mike Pomichter (Jacksonville Lizard Kings) and defensemen Lance Brady (Birmingham Bulls) and Chris Valicevic (Louisiana Ice Gators).The all-star squad will be directed by St. Louis Blues&rsquo; associate coach Roger Neilson. He&rsquo;ll be assisted by former NHL star and South Carolina coach Rick Vaive.MELTING ICECAPS: The Raleigh IceCaps were forced to postpone a game for the second time this season when the Jan. 4 contest against Charlotte was called off because of problems with the ice at Raleigh&rsquo;s Dorton Arena.After the IceCaps and Checkers played in what was close to &ldquo;standing water&rdquo; Jan. 3, the system which enables the water to freeze failed. The Dorton maintenance crew worked through the night, but couldn&rsquo;t repair it in time for the game.On Dec. 10, a game between Raleigh and the Richmond Renegades was postponed because of an uneven ice surface in the wake of an ice show at Dorton Arena. Both games will made up later in the season.Even when the ice was playable, the IceCaps had all kinds of problems, getting hammered by South Carolina 10-2 and 10-1 in a span of three nights. Raleigh was down to 11 skaters at one point because of injuries and callups.FAMILY LINES: In what was a first for the ECHL-possibly all of pro hockey-all three on-ice officials came from the same family when Knoxville played at Charlotte Dec. 7. Referee Mick Wickium worked with game, while his brother Terry and cousin Pete served as linesmen.&ldquo;I got into (officiating) first and they just sort of followed me,&rdquo; said Pete, who lives in Rock Hill, S.C., and works many Checkers&rsquo; games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01852/6897892-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="281" height="293"></div>COAST LINES: Dayton Bombers&rsquo; goaltender Derek Herlofsky was named the league&rsquo;s December player of the month after going 10-1-0 with a 3.00 goals-against average Herlofsky, who was recently recalled by the Michigan K-Wings of the International League, had won 10 straight games&hellip;Baton Rouge Kingfish goaltender Christian Soucy had two shutouts in three nights and was named ECHL player of the week for the period ending Jan. 5. Soucy stopped 32 Mobile Mysticks&rsquo; shots in blanking them 4-0 Jan. 3, then turned aside 32 more shots in shutting out Richmond 2-0 Jan. 5&hellip;The Louisiana IceGators have topped 500,000 in attendance since their inception last season, becoming the fastest team in ECHL history to reach that mark It took them just 49 games. &#9632;

f0031-01

Checkers will have to live up to name in All-Star Game

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Adam Colagiacomo, acknowledging he had differences with coach Brad Seiwood, said it was &ldquo;tragic&rdquo; the London Knights traded him.Colagiacomo went to the Oshawa Generals a day before the Jan. 10 deadline to play with Ontario League scoring leader Marc Savard.&ldquo;I want the fans to know I didn&rsquo;t ask to be traded. It&rsquo;s a tragic thing,&rdquo; said Colagiacomo, a 17-year-old right winger seen as an early pick in this year&rsquo;s NHL entry draft.He was London&rsquo;s first choice, fourth overall, in 1995 and led the Knights with 28 goals as a rookie on a team that won three games.&ldquo;(Selwood and GM Paul McIntosh) told me it was being done to better the team. They said they have four right wingers (Max Spiridonov, Tom Kostopoulos. Eric Pacey and Mike Mazzuca) back next year,&rdquo; he said.&rsquo;The Knights also gave a sixth-round pick to get the Generals&rsquo; two top 1995 draft picks, center Jay Legault, 17, and defenseman Jason Metcalfe, 18.Colagiacomo was second in points as a rookie with 66, but his production tailed this season after missing five weeks with a shoulder separation. He had 11 goals and 22 points in 26 games.&ldquo;We had our differences,&rdquo; Colagiacomo said of his relationship with Selwood, who denied a rift in a TV interview. &ldquo;There were situations, but it worked out for the best. He respected me and I respected him. He taught me a lot.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy because I&rsquo;m going to a team making a Memorial Cup run. I want to leave with a clean face.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01915/6897923-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="689" height="235"></div>A day earlier, defenseman Jeff Ware, a member of Canada&rsquo;s gold medal World Junior Championship team, was returned to the Generals from the Toronto Maple Leafs after seeing little action in 13 NHL games.&ldquo;The coaches felt maybe it was better I go back to junior and play a lot,&rdquo; said Ware, 19, who had no points and six penalty minutes.SWAP MEET: In a flurry before the trading deadline, the Knights got defenseman Jeff Brown.Brown, the first overall midget pick of 1994, went to London via the Sudbury Wolves after refusing to report to the Wolves in a trade from the Sarnia Sting Jan. 4. As part of the three-team deal, the Wolves sent centers Richard Rochefort and Sean Venedam to Sarnia. The Knights dealt defenseman Brandon Sugden, a Leafs&rsquo; prospect, and defenseman Ryan McKie to Sudbury.The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Kingston Frontenacs swapped four players and four picks.The Greyhounds, losing toughness when Nathan Perrott went down Jan. 3 with a broken tibia, acquired last season&rsquo;s penalty champ, defenseman Mark Moro, 19, and 30-goal right winger Justin Davis, 18.The Frontenacs got defensemen Liam Mac-Eachern. 19, and Aaron Maclnnis, 18, plus four mid-round draft picks in 1997 and 1998.YOUNG STAR: Team West coach E.J. McGuire is excited about having 16-year-old center Rico Fata of the London Knights on his team for the league&rsquo;s All-Star Game.&ldquo;We welcome him for his leadership,&rdquo; said McGuire, who coaches the Guelph Storm.Fata captained Ontario to a gold-medal victory at the World Under-17 Championship in Red Deer, Alta. He is being touted as a first-round pick in the 1998 NHL entry draft.At 16, Fata is the youngest player in the AllStar Game, the first intra-league game for the OHL in 13 years. It is slated for Jan. 21 in Barrie. (See pg. 45 for OHL and Western League All-Star Game roster.)COACH RESIGNS: Chris Johnstone, in his fourth season as coach, quit the Erie Otters.With his team last in the Central Division at 11-25-3, the third-worst record overall, Johnstone stepped down Jan. 5. The Otters were expected to challenge for the division title.Assistant Dale Dunbar is interim coach. He was formerly with Detroit midget Compuware. &#9632;

f0032-01

Generals gear up for drive with Colagiacomo, Ware

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>The Graham James case has prompted shocked Western League executives to implement screening and counselling programs.James, a former coach with the Swift Current Broncos, Moose Jaw Warriors and Calgary Hitmen, was convicted Jan. 2 of sexually assaulting two players. He was sentenced to 3-1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to offenses against former Broncos&rsquo; star Sheldon Kennedy and another player who wants anonymity.&ldquo;This is tough on everybody,&rdquo; said WHL commissioner Dev Dley. &ldquo;What makes it such a shock is that this is a guy who everybody thought they knew. He was successful, well-respected and articulate.&ldquo;It turns out that there was a darker side. No one was any the wiser.&rdquo;Dley is adamant there wasn&rsquo;t any forewarning.&ldquo;No one knew about it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When you look at the size of the community (16,000 people), that&rsquo;s pretty telling. In a small community like Swift Current, no one knew.&ldquo;(Former Broncos&rsquo; scout) Doug Mosher worked in close proximity to Graham. Doug has 33 years of RCMP background. If he had heard of anything untoward, he would have spotted it and acted upon it.&rdquo;James left Swift Current for Calgary in 1994. Mosher replaced James as Swift Current&rsquo;s GM and now holds the same post with the Medicine Hat Tigers. Mosher called a conference Jan. 7 to say he had no prior knowledge of James&rsquo; acts.&ldquo;It has been stated by one of the fathers of one of the victims that, when I was a scout for the Broncos, I was made aware of complaints of sexual misconduct,&rdquo; Mosher said in a statement.&ldquo;At this time, I would like to make it very clear that at no time, while I was employed by the Broncos hockey club, did the boy or any other player ever complain to me that he had been sexually or criminally abused.&rdquo;The WHL has set up a mechanism which it hopes will encourage any future victims to come forward. Dley said that an independent counselling service is being established. He added that the league will implement mandatory police checks on all potential coaches.&ldquo;The police check is one of those things that, in this case, would not have been an effective measure,&rdquo; Dley said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a case of someone unknown in a remote community. Graham James was very high-profile. This was a side of him nobody imagined.&rdquo;Dley pledged to do his best to guard against a recurrence.&ldquo;Whenever a situation like this arises, no matter what body or profession you&rsquo;re talking about, there&rsquo;s no question there&rsquo;s a negative impact,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We can help to get over it by taking the steps necessary to make sure this doesn&rsquo;t occur again.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03440/6897985-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="357" height="362"></div>CAPTAIN CHANGE: The Regina Pats have stripped center Josh Holden of his captaincy.The decision followed a pair of two-game suspensions. Since December, Holden has been disciplined for spitting and throwing a puck. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s frustrating,&rdquo; Holden said. &ldquo;There are some things in my personal life that I&rsquo;ve been bringing to the rink. I&rsquo;ve been overpreparing myself&hellip;worrying about what I&rsquo;m not doing instead of and doing what I do best.&rdquo;The Vancouver Canucks picked Holden 12th overall in the NHL&rsquo;s 1996 entry draft. Pats&rsquo; defenseman Gerad Adams replaced Holden as captain. Holden is now an alternate captain.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s two lessons well learned,&rdquo; Holden said. &ldquo;Hopefully I won&rsquo;t go for the hat trick.&rdquo;WHITFIELD WINS: Canada&rsquo;s World Junior Championship team was laden with first round draft picks.Trent Whitfield wasn&rsquo;t among them-but the Spokane Chiefs&rsquo; center still helped Canada win the World Junior title Jan. 4 in Geneva.The Boston Bruins picked the 19-year-old Whitfield 100th overall in the 1996 draft.&ldquo;I got my invite and I was thrilled,&rdquo; Whitfield said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t even know if I&rsquo;d get an invite. When I got a chapce to play, it was incredible.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0032-03

Top officials say they knew nothing about James’ acts

<div class="byline">By Chris Miller</div>The Western Collegiate Hockey Association has never been weaker offensively.Through the first half of the season, there was an average of 6.85 goals per game. That&rsquo;s the lowest in the 28-season modem history of the league and only the second time (1967-68 was the other) the per-game average has fallen below seven.Mark Johnson was a WCHA scoring leader during his playing career at Wisconsin from 1976 to 1979, the highest-scoring era in league history, when goals-per-game were over nine. After a long NHL career, he&rsquo;s now an assistant coach with the Badgers.&ldquo;When we were playing, it seemed like every team had two or three lines of players who were threats-call them skill or finesse players,&rdquo; said Johnson, the leading scorer on the 1980 gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic team.&ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t as many skilled players as there used to be. Why? There are all sorts of possible reasons. Maybe the kids play too many games at the youth levels instead of just going out on their own and learning to be innovative.&rdquo;Stricter National Collegiate Athletic Association rules virtually prohibit players with Canadian major junior experience from playing U.S. college hockey and scholarships have also dropped from 20 to 18 at the Division I level.Whether goalies are substantially better is a matter of debate, but they are better equipped.&ldquo;The size of the glove they use compared to, when I played college hockey is like night and day,&rdquo; Johnson said.Minnesota coach Doug Woog thinks the increasing number of Olympic-sized rinks (200-by-100 feet as opposed to 200-by-85) in the WCHA has also limited scoring.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to forecheck on the big rinks-with smaller ones you can force the turnovers and score a couple of quick goals,&rdquo; Woog said. &ldquo;And, I think the tag-up rule hurts, too. The puck gets dumped in and instead of chasing it, players are coming back the other way to get onside.&rdquo;CLOSE RACE: Despite a lack of offense, there was no lack of suspense in the WCHA race. Seven points separated the top seven teams in early-January, with North Dakota and St. Cloud State tied for first place.The three bottom teams in the league-North-em Michigan, Alaska-Anchorage and Michigan Tech-fell way back in the race. Those teams were contributing to the league&rsquo;s offensive woes, combining to average only 2.2 goals per game.SIOUX STREAKING: North Dakota put together a nine-game unbeaten streak, its longest since 1986-87, after going 3-0-1 in non-confer-ence games over the holidays.The Sioux continued to dominate third periods, outscoring opponents 38-19 when the game was on the line. &#9632;

Could big gloves, rinks be drivina goals down?

<div class="byline">By Paul Harris</div>The scouting reports didn&rsquo;t give Notre Dame&rsquo;s Joe Dusbabek enough credit.Pegged as a player who would be more valuable for his leadership qualities than his talent, Dusbabek has taken steps to correct that perception. The freshman right winger from Minnetonka, Minn., was tied for the team lead in goals with eight and tied for second in team scoring with 15 points in the Fighting Irish&rsquo;s first 19 games. Dusbabek also led the team at plus-5.&ldquo;I think his skills are a lot better than people thought,&rdquo; said Miami coach Mark Mazzoleni. &ldquo;He scored a nice goal against us the other night. He snapped one off from 25 feet. You don&rsquo;t see too many guys do that.&rdquo;That goal, in a 6-3 Miami victory Jan. 3, was Dusbabek&rsquo;s fourth point in four games.Only 18, Dusbabek is 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds. That means he should be an outstanding college power forward by the time he&rsquo;s 20. And he already uses his size well.&ldquo;He adds a tremendous physical presence to the lineup,&rdquo; Mazzoleni said. &ldquo;But he has tremendous ability with the puck. I think he&rsquo;s going to develop into a real good college player. He has great straight-away speed. He has the ability to develop into one of the premier power forwards in college hockey.&rdquo;Maybe one of the reasons Dusbabek&rsquo;s hockey ability wasn&rsquo;t highlighted was his participation and success in other sports while at Minnetonka High School. He was a star fullback on the football team and a three-time allstater in track. In his first varsity football game, he ran for 273 yards and three touchdowns and in track he finished second in the state in the 400 meters.But NHL scouts aren&rsquo;t downgrading Dusbabek&rsquo;s potential. According to the Redline Report, Dusbabek is the 72nd best player overall for the 1997 entry draft and 13th best college player available.CCHA AT WJC: Michigan State&rsquo;s Mike York and Western Michigan&rsquo;s Joe Corvo were key players for the United States&rsquo; silver medal team at the World Junior Championships in Switzerland.York, a sophomore center from Waterford, Mich., was the tournament&rsquo;s leading scorer with five goals and 10 points in six games.&ldquo;I think he went into it with something to prove from last year,&rdquo; said Team USA coach Jeff Jackson.York made last year&rsquo;s WJC team, but didn&rsquo;t play a lot in the tournament.Corvo, a sophomore from Oak Park, Ill., was named the tournament&rsquo;s best defenseman. But he only made the team as a replacement for Josh DeWolf of St. Cloud State.&ldquo;He took advantage (of the opportunity),&rdquo; Jackson said. &ldquo;He picked his spots (to jump into the play) and made a contribution that way.&rdquo; &#9632;

Dusbabek emerges as talented character guy

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggle</div>Union College coach Stan Moore isn&rsquo;t going to take any credit for the spectacular year junior goalie Trevor Koenig is having.But is it just coincidence that Koenig, a native of Edmonton, has emerged as one of the nation&rsquo;s top goalies in Moore&rsquo;s first season at Union?During his first two Eastern College Athletic Conference seasons, Koenig showed signs of brilliance, including a 6-0 shutout victory over St. Lawrence as a freshman and a 91.1 save percentage in 20 games last season.But those flashes have become more steady this season. Koenig, who played for the Fort Saskatchewan Traders in the Alberta Junior League before coming to Union, had played in all but two of Union&rsquo;s first 18 games, compiling a 2.13 goals-against average and 92.9 save percentage, among the best in the nation.As a result, the Skating Dutchmen were 10-71. Last season, they had just seven wins.&ldquo;I won&rsquo;t take credit for what he has done this year,&rdquo; said Moore, who replaced Bruce Delven-thal behind the Union bench. &ldquo;That was a great recruiting by (Union assistant coach) Kevin Sneddon. He saw a great goaltender in Trevor.&rdquo;Moore, an assistant at Colgate before coming to Union, had watched what Koenig could do from the other side of the ice for two years.&ldquo;I saw what he could do two years ago, when he was a freshman,&rdquo; Moore said. &ldquo;We won 2-1 at Union and we couldn&rsquo;t solve him. We scored early in the first period and late in the game and he was the reason the game was close.&rdquo;More and more teams are finding that out this season, as Koenig tries to become the first Union goalie to win the ECAC goaltending title.&ldquo;Trevor&rsquo;s not just a stopper. He&rsquo;s a tender, like a soccer goalie,&rdquo; Moore said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll stop the puck and then take it and get it to the right people. He&rsquo;s a complete goaltender.&rdquo;HOT AND COLD: Give the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde award to RPI.After erupting for 15 goals in two games to win their own tournament late in December, the Engineers reverted back to their old ways and were shutout by Princeton, 6-0 Jan. 3.Junior goalie Erasmo Saltarelli made 33 saves for the Tigers to hand RPI its fourth shutout loss of the season.NOTEBOOK: Princeton sophomore left winger Scott Bertoli and Clarkson junior right winger Chris Clark each recorded their first career hat tricks Jan. 4. Bertoli had his in a 6-4 loss to Union, while Clark had his in a 6-2 win over Cornell&hellip;Vermont coach Mike Gilligan recorded his 350th coaching win Jan. 3. The last 210 wins have come in Gilligan&rsquo;s 12 years at Vermont&hellip;St. Lawrence had its seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2) snapped Jan. 4 when Colgate goalie Dan Brenzavich made 37 saves in a 4-2 victory. &#9632;

Union blocker Koenig shines for new coach

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>Boston University junior right winger Mike Sylvia is not as well known in college hockey circles as some of his high profile teammates, but he was a show-stealer in the Terriers&rsquo; biggest weekend of the season.Boston University, which has either won or shared the league regular season championship each of the past three seasons, not only snapped New Hampshire&rsquo;s school-record 14-game winning streak Jan. 3 with a 9-4 triumph, it swept UNH 3-2 in overtime on Sylvia&rsquo;s goal two days later. The wins moved the Terriers (10-0-1) ahead of UNH (10-2-0) in the Hockey East standings.Sylvia had two goals and an assist in the first win before getting his game-winner at 3:01 of OT to conclude the sweep.&ldquo;We were looking to turn things around,&rdquo; said Sylvia, referring to BU&rsquo;s 1-3-2 record in its previous six overall games. &ldquo;This was the biggest sweep of the year for us. We hadn&rsquo;t played any of the top teams in the league yet. This will really help our confidence.&rdquo;Sylvia has a reputation as a clutch performer; he scored the all-important fourth goal to give the Terriers a 4-2 lead over Maine en route to a 6-2 triumph in the national championship game two years ago.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re always contending for the league title at BU so we get to play in a lot of big games,&rdquo; Sylvia said.MAINE MAN: Maine coach Shawn Walsh won his first two Hockey East games after returning from his one-year suspension for violating National Collegiate Athletic Association rules.One thing Walsh stressed was getting his defensemen more involved in the offense. In his first four overall.games, Walsh&rsquo;s defensemen combined for 20 points. Maine&rsquo;s defensemen had combined for 40 points through their first 17 games.&ldquo;It has created a lot of odd man rushes for us,&rdquo; said senior center and assistant captain Dan Shermerhorn.&ldquo;We needed more offensive diversity,&rdquo; Walsh said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s more exciting for the fans and more fun for the players.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: About 24 hours after receiving a silver medal at the World Junior Championship with Team USA in Switzerland, Boston University defenseman Tom Poti joined the Terriers during the second period of their Jan. 5 game against New Hampshire&hellip;Providence scored four times in the final 10 minutes against Maine Jan. 3, but still came out on the losing end of a 5-4 decision. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re emotionally immature,&rdquo; said Friars&rsquo; coach Paul Pooley, whose team had 12 freshmen and sophomores in the lineup against Maine&hellip;Northeastern freshman goalie Marc Robitaille made 23 saves to post his first career shutout, a 5-0 win over Air Force Jan. 3. &#9632;

Sylvia again Mr. Clutch for improving Terriers

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01877/6898164-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01832/6898157-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="3094" height="3523"><figcaption class="caption-body">Valeri KamenskyAndrew CasselsBrian LeetchMichel PetitAndrei NazarovMats LindgrenAfter a slow start, Joe Nieuwendyk has picked up his production for the steady Dallas Stars. (Photo by John Giamundo/BBS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01748/6898150-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="3099" height="3528"><figcaption class="caption-body">The captain is back: Montreal&rsquo;s Vincent Damphousse erupts for seven goals in nine games. (Photo by Jim Levy/BBS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01812/6898143-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="3056" height="3508"></div> &#9632;

f0035-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01775/6898195-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0039-01

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, JAN. 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02517/6898401-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="493" height="2019"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03392/6898394-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="493" height="2394"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04318/6898387-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="492" height="1875"></div><h2>SATURDAY, JAN. 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05266/6898380-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="490" height="449"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06226/6898373-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="497" height="2397"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07204/6898366-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="498" height="2397"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-08181/6898359-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="495" height="2396"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01479/6898352-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="491" height="3044"></div><h2>SUNDAY, JAN. 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02308/6898345-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="487" height="367"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03225/6898338-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="491" height="3200"></div><h2>MONDAY, JAN. 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-04178/6898331-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="489" height="213"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-05154/6898324-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="497" height="3483"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-06135/6898317-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="493" height="896"></div><h2>TUESDAY, JAN. 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-07121/6898310-1-eng-US/f0040-072.jpg" title="f0040-07" width="488" height="2515"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-08109/6898303-1-eng-US/f0040-082.jpg" title="f0040-08" width="496" height="3480"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0988/6898296-1-eng-US/f0040-092.jpg" title="f0040-09" width="494" height="844"></div><h2>WEDNESDAY, JAN. 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1083/6898289-1-eng-US/f0040-102.jpg" title="f0040-10" width="490" height="2569"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01401/6898282-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="502" height="2588"></div><h2>THURSDAY, JAN. 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02245/6898275-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="500" height="842"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-03182/6898268-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="498" height="3497"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-04153/6898261-1-eng-US/f0041-042.jpg" title="f0041-04" width="500" height="3496"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-05138/6898254-1-eng-US/f0041-052.jpg" title="f0041-05" width="499" height="823"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-06128/6898247-1-eng-US/f0041-062.jpg" title="f0041-06" width="498" height="2030"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-07114/6898240-1-eng-US/f0041-072.jpg" title="f0041-07" width="495" height="640"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0893/6898233-1-eng-US/f0041-082.jpg" title="f0041-08" width="481" height="3490"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0968/6898226-1-eng-US/f0041-092.jpg" title="f0041-09" width="486" height="3490"></div> &#9632;

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NHL SUMMARIES

NHL ROSTERS AND TRANSACTIONS

The NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau released it&rsquo;s mid-season composite ranking Jan. 10 on three separate lists: North American skaters, North American goalies and European skaters. What follows is the entire ranking. The first two rounds of North American skaters, European skaters and top five North American goalies include name, position, height, weight, team, and league. In parentheses after each players&rsquo; team is league (if playing major junior, U.S. college or minor league) or province/state/country (if playing Jr. B, Tier II, U.S. independent junior, high school, prep school, midget, or in Europe). League abbreviations: Major junior: OHL, Ontario League: QMJHL, Quebec League; WHL, Western League. U.S. College: CCHA, Central Collegiate Hockey Association; ECAC, Eastern College Athletic Conference; HE, Hockey East; WCHA, Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Other leagues: USHL, United States Hockey League; NAJHL, North American Junior Hockey League.<h2>NORTH AMERICAN SKATERS</h2><h3>First Round</h3>1. Joe Thornton, C, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 198, SS Marie (OHL); 2. Patrick Marleau, C, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 190, Seattle (WHL); 3. Sergei Samsonov, LW, 5&rsquo;9&rdquo;, 184, Detroit (IHL); 4. Paul Mara, D, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 186, Sudbury (OHL); 5. Dan Tkaczuk, C, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 190, Barrie (OHL); 6. Jason Ward, RW/C, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 184, Erie (OHL); 7. Nicholas Boynton, D, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 210, Ottawa (OHL); 8. Daniel Cleary, LW, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 203, Belleville (OHL); 9. Eric Brewer, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 195, Prince George (WHL); 10. Brad Ference, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 186. Spokane (WHL); 11. Stefan Chemeski, RW, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 185, Brandon (WHL); 12. Ryan Bonni, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 187, Saskatoon (WHL); 13. Adam Colagiacomo, RW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 206, London (OHL); 14. Mike Brown, C, 6&rsquo;5&rdquo;, 183, Red Deer (WHL); 15. Scott Hannan, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 210, Kelowna (WHL); 16. Scott Barney, C. 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 198, Peterborough (OHL); 17. Jarrett Smith, C, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 190, Prince George (WHL); 18. Brenden Morrow, LW, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 195, Portland (WHL); 19. Jean-Francois Fortin, D, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 190, Sherbrooke (QMJHL); 20. Matt Zultek, LW, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 218, Ottawa (OHL); 21. Karol Bartanus, RW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 188, Drummondville (QMJHL); 22. Kevin Grimes. D, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 202, Kingston (OHL); 23. Nikos Tselios, D, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 187, Belleville (OHL); 24. Kyle Kos, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 184, Red Deer (WHL); 25. Ty Jones, RW, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 210, Spokane (WHL); 26. Jeff Farkas, C, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 162, Boston Coll. (HE).<h3>Second Round</h3>27. Jeff Zehr, C/LW, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 195, Windsor (OHL); 28. Vratislav Cech, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 196, Kitchener (OHL); 29. Benoit Cote, C, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 192, Shawinigan (QMJHL); 30. Daniel Tetrault, D, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 198, Brandon (WHL); 31. Alexandre Mathieu, C, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 180, Halifax (QMJHL); 32. Didier Tremblay, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 190, Halifax (QMJHL); 33. Jonathan Desroches. D, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 206, Granby (QMJHL); 34. Rick Berry, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 190, Seattle (WHL); 35. Toby Petersen. C, 5&rsquo;10&rdquo;, 196, Colorado College (WCHA); 36. Harold Druken, C, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 202, Detroit (OHL); 37. Ben Clymer, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 195, Minnesota (WCHA); 38. Jame Pollock, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 190, Seattle (WHL); 39. Gregor Baumgartner. C, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 170, Laval (QMJHL); 40. Jeremy Reich, C, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 186, Seattle (WHL); 41. Tyler Rennette, C, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 175, North Bay (OHL); 42. Jay Legault, LW, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 192, Oshawa (OHL); 43. Karel Betik, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 208, Kelowna (WHL); 44. Mike Souza, LW, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 190, New Hampshire (HE); 45. Matt Elich, RW, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 187. Windsor (OHL); 46. Wes Jarvis, D, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 203, Kitchener (OHL); 47. Geoff Koch, C, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 182, Exeter Academy HS; 48. Tomas Baluch, LW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 189, Chicoutimi (QMJHL); 49. Joe Dipenta, D, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 187, Smiths Falls (Central Ontario Jr. A); 50. Derek Schutz, C, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 185, Spokane (WHL); 51. Larry (Burke) Henry, D, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 190, Brandon (WHL); 52. Adam Mair, C, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 189, Owen Sound (OHL).<h3>Third Round</h3>53. Gennady Razin, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 175, Kamloops (WHL); 54. Nick Smith, C, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 165, Barrie (OHL); 55. Bobby Leavins, LW, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 190, Brandon (WHL); 56. Chris St. Croix, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 186, Kamloops (WHL); 57. Harlan Pratt, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 202, Prince Albert (WHL); 58. Marek Ivan, LW/C, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 182, Lethbridge (WHL); 59. Robert Francz, LW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 194, Peterborough (OHL); 60. Jerome Tremblay, LW, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 188, Shawinigan (QMJHL); 61. Kevin Caulfield, RW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 205, Boston Coll. (HE); 62. Jerad Smith, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 205, Portland (WHL); 63. Kyle Calder, C, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 180, Regina (WHL); 64. Chris Stanley, C. 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 187, Belleville (OHL); 65. Todd Fedoruk, LW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 205, Kelowna (WHL); 66. Scott McCallum, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 220, TriCity (WHL); 67. Jeremy Rondeau, LW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 220, Swift Current (WHL); 68. Ryan Schmidt, D, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 205, Peterborough (OHL); 69. Mike Van Ryn, D, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 186, London (OHL); 70. Mike Pandolfo, LW, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 203, St. Sebastian (HS); 71. Steve Wilejto, C, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 178, Prince Albert (WHL); 72. Keith Delaney, C, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 196, Barrie (OHL); 73. Jeffrey Sullivan, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 185, Halifax (QMJHL); 74. Chris Corrinet, C, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 210, Deerfield Academy (HS); 75. Ryan Ready, LW, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 185, Belleville (OHL); 76. Kris Knoblauch, LW, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 202, Red Deer (WHL); 77. David Darguzas, C/LW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 196, Edmonton (WHL); 78. Jeff McKercher, D, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 197, Barrie (OHL).<h3>Fourth Round</h3>79. Eric Van Acker, D, 6&rsquo;5&rdquo;, 220, Chicoutimi (QMJHL); 80. Jason Chimera. C, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 160, Medicine Hat (WHL); 81. Erik Cole. RW, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 185, Des Moines (NAJHL); 82. Adam Edinger, C, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 210, Bowling Green (CCHA); 83. Mike Laceby, LW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 180, Kingston (OHL); 84. Bobby Allen, D, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 202, Cushing Academy (HS); 85. Matthias Trattnig, C, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 200, Capital District (NAJHL); 86. Darryl Knight, C, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 170, Sarnia (OHL); 87. Graham Belak, D, 6&rsquo;5&rdquo;, 206, Edmonton (WHL); 88. Francois Page, RW, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 210, Victoriaville (QMJHL); 89. Mathieu Benoit, RW, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 202, Chicoutimi (QMJHL); 90. Bobby Russell, LW. 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 170, Portland (WHL); 91. Dmitri Tolkunov, D, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 160, Hull (QMJHL); 92. Jeff Church, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 196. Prince George (WHL); 93. Denis Boity, RW, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 185, Rimouski (QMJHL); 94. Heath Gordon, LW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 192, Green Bay (NAJHL); 95. Philippe Gervais, LW, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 205, Drummondville (QMJHL); 96. Quintin Laing, LW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 175, Kelowna (WHL); 97. Brian Campbell, D, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 186, Ottawa (OHL); 98. Rob Stanfield, D, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 194, Kitchener (OHL); 99. Tyler Palmer, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 215, Lake Superior (CCHA); 100. Kurtis Drummond, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 199, Swift Current (WHL); 101. Stephen Lafleur, D. 6&rsquo;5&rdquo;, 185, Belleville (OHL); 102. Jay Leach, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 202, Capital District (NAJHL); 103. Steve Rymsha, LW, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 200, St. Catharines (Jr. B); 104. Larry Paleczny, C, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 197, Owen Sound (OHL).<h3>Fifth Round</h3>105. Ben Simon, C, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 178, Notre Dame (CCHA); 106. Greg Willers, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 195, Kingston (OHL); 107. Michal Dvorak, RW. 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 180, Kitchener (OHL); 108. Aaron Fransen, D, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 200, Kingston (OHL); 109. Francis Lessard, RW/D, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 184. Vai d&rsquo;Or (QMJHL); 110. Pat Kavanagh, RW, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 192, Peterborough (OHL); 111. Pat Parthenais, D, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 212, Detroit (OHL); 112. Rod Leroux, D, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 205, Seattle (WHL); 113. Kyle Freadrich, LW, 6&rsquo;5&rdquo;, 231, Regina (WHL); 114. Brian Gaffaney, D, 6&rsquo;5&rdquo;, 205, North Iowa (NAJHL); 115. Les Borsheim, RW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 180, Brandon (WHL); 116. Steeve Vandal, LW, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 190, Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL); 117. Samuel St. Pierre, RW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 170, Victoriaville (QMJHL); 118. Brad Defauw, LW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 210, North Dakota (WCHA); 119. Chris Kerr, D. 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 185, Sudbury (OHL); 120. Mike Oliveira, C, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 208, Kingston (OHL); 121. Justin Morrison, RW. 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 195, Omaha (NAJHL); 122. Kris Mallette, D, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 220, Kelowna (WHL); 123. Eric Tremblay, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 205, Laval (QMJHL); 124. Billy Manley, C, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 185, Halifax (QMJHL); 125. Andrew Merrick, C/LW, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 202, Michigan (CCHA); 126. Derek Holland, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 172, Medicine Hat (WHL); 127. Kent Mcdonell, RW, 6, 175, Guelph (OHL); 128. Jason Price, D, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 187, Maine (HE): 129. Jeff Tetzlaff, RW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 195, Barrie (OHL); 130. Jeff Martin, RW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 177, Windsor (OHL).<h3>Sixth Round</h3>131. Chad Hinz, C, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 184, Moose Jaw (WHL); 132. Jody Lapeyre, C, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 190, Tri-City (WHL); 133. Tim Stay, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 175. Avon Old Farms (HS); 134. Andrei Shurupov, C, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 193, Belleville (OHL); 135. Kyle Dafoe, D, 6&rsquo;5&rdquo;, 195, Owen Sound (OHL); 136. Hugo Marchand, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 183, Victoriaville (QMJHL); 137. Colin Sheen, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 183, Exeter Academy (HS); 138. Mathieu Cusson, C, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 178, Saskatoon (WHL); 139. Maxim Spiridonov, RW, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 170, London (OHL); 140. Joel Dezainde, D, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 192, Belleville (OHL); 141. Nick Gillis, RW, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 188, Cushing Academy (HS); 142. Joe Corvo, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 201, Western Michigan (CCHA); 143. Eric Lind, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 198, Avon Old Farms (HS); 144. Jeff Katcher, D, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 178, Brandon (WHL); 145. Bobby Haglund, LW, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 195, Des Moines (NAJHL); 146. Jimmy Grondin, LW, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 203, Rimouski (QMJHL); 147. Donnie Kinney, C, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 178, Kamloops (WHL); 148. Mike Pudlick, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 180, Twin-City (NAJHL); 149. Brock Boucher, LW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 203, Barrie (OHL); 150. Lucas Nehrling, D, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 195, Sarnia (OHL); 151. Cam Severson, LW/C, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 215, Lethbridge (WHL); 152. Blake Bellefeuille, RW, 5&rsquo;10&rdquo;, 190, Boston Coll. (HE); 153. Andrew Proskumicki, LW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 191, Sarnia (OHL); 154. Christian Robichaud, LW, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 175, Victoriaville (QMJHL); 155, Nick Stephens, LW, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 192, Twin City (NAJHL); 156. Craig Strain, D, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 186, Edmonton (WHL).<h3>Seventh Round</h3>157. Drew Kehler, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 177, Kamloops (WHL); 158. Trevor Gillies, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 195, North Bay (OHL); 159. Brad Morgan, D, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 196, Barrie (OHL); 160. Ken Wilhelm, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 220, Kelowna (WHL); 161. Brian Barker, LW, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 195, Barrie (OHL); 162. Brett Chodorow, C, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 185, Harvard (ECAC); 163. Brett Gibson, C, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 172, Erie (OHL); 164. Jordon Flodell, D, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 198, Moose Jaw (WHL); 165. Wyatt Smith, C, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 198, Minnesota (WCHA); 166. Bryan Dube, RW, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 200, Chicoutimi (QMJHL); 167. Joe Dusbabek, RW, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 200, Notre Dame (CCHA); 168. Curtis Suter, D, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 220, Spokane (WHL); 169. Mark Moore, RW, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 185, Harvard (ECAC); 170. Wes Goldie, RW, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 177, Owen Sound (OHL); 171. Matt Price, LW. 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 205, Kingston (OHL); 172. Ben Guite, RW, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 185, Maine (HE); 173. Adam Nittel, RW, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 206, Erie (OHL); 174. Ryan Geremia, LW, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 205, Calgary (WHL); 175. Sebastien Roger, RW, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 185, Moncton (QMJHL); 176. Denis Ivanov, RW, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;. 209, Guelph (OHL); 177. Matt Libby, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 180, Des Moines (NAJHL); 178. Konrad Brand, D, 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 200, Kamloops (WHL); 179. Frederic Belanger, D, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 180, Halifax (QMJHL).<h2>NORTH AMERICAN GOALIES</h2>1. Roberto Luongo, G, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 178, Vai d&rsquo;Or (QMJHL); 2. Curtis Cruickshank, G, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 209, Kingston (OHL); 3. Pierre-Luc Therrien, G, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 170, Drummondville (QMJHL); 4. Matt Cockell, G, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 170, Saskatoon (WHL); 5. Jean-Marc Pelletier, G, 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 200, Cornell (ECAC); 6. Chris Madden. G, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 167. Guelph (OHL); 7. Jason Mclean, G, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 200, Moose Jaw (WHL); 8. Jean-Francois Damphousse, G, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 146, Moncton (QMJHL); 9. Dustin Schwartz, G, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 175, Medicine Hat (WHL); 10. Patrick Dovigi, G, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 180, Erie (OHL); 11. Evan Lindsay, G, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 180, Prince Albert (WHL); 12. Gene Chiarello, G, 5&rsquo;9&rdquo;, 170, London (OHL); 13. Nicolas Chabot, G, 5&rsquo;10&rdquo;, 189, Rimouski (QMJHL); 14. Luc Vaillancourt, G, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 190, Beauport (QMJHL); 15. Cory Rudkowsky. G, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 195, Seattle (WHL); 16. Shawn Degagne, G, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 164, Kitchener (OHL); 17. Todd Weninger, G, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 155, Calgary (WHL); 18. Thomas Connerty, G, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 175, Ohio State (CCHA); 19. Dean Weasler, G, 5&rsquo;10&rdquo;, 195, Rochester (NAJHL); 20. Chris Noble, G, 5&rsquo;10&rdquo;, 155, Kelowna (WHL); 21. Mike Morrison, G. 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 185, St. Sebastian (HS); 22. Josh Evans, G, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 166, Peterborough (OHL); 23. Greg Berard, G, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 160. Andover Academy (HS); 24. Jeremy Symington, G, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 185, Petrolia (Western Jr. B); 25. David Haun, G, 5&rsquo;10&rdquo;, 155, Brandon (WHL); 26. Scott Stirling, G, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 185, Brown (ECAC)<h2>EUROPEAN SKATERS</h2>1. Olli Jokinen, C. HIFK (Fin.), 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 198; 2. Maxim Afinoganov, F, Dynamo (Rus.), 5&rsquo;10&rdquo;, 167; 3. Michael Holmqvist, C, Djurgarden (Swe.), 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 183; 4. Petr Mika, F, Slavia Praha (Cze.), 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 191; 5. Michel Risen, F, Biel (Switz. II), 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 176; 6. Roman Lyashenko, C, Yaroslavl (Rus.), 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 180; 7. Niklas Nordgren. F, MoDo (Swe.), 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 183; 8. Dimitri Kokorew, D, Dynamo (Rus.), 6&rsquo;4&rdquo;, 196; 9. Andrei Markov, D, Khimik (Rus.), 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 183. &#9632;

CENTRAL SCOUTING

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01423/6898487-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01323/6898480-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="3081" height="3517"></div> &#9632;

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0045-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01260/6898518-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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January 24, 1997

Canada wins WJC, Quenneville wins Blues’ post

PLUS MINUS

CLASSIFIED

Host Olympiques trying to earn way to Memorial Cup