Search for your favorite player or team
© The Hockey News. All rights reserved. Any and all material on this website cannot be used, reproduced, or distributed without prior written permission from Roustan Media Ltd. For more information, please see our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
May 9, 1997
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.
Forsberg rectifies sub-par start
It’s difficult for a player on a bad team to go minus-7 in two straight games. What were the odds, then, that Colorado Avalanche center Peter Forsberg would post such numbers in two straight playoff games against the Chicago Blackhawks? Not likely, but it happened. In Games 3 and 4 of the Avalanche’s first round series with Chicago, those were the ghastly numbers Forsberg put up. Good thing there was a Game 5. “I played probably my two worst games ever in the playoffs in those games,” Forsberg said. “I knew I had to play better for us.” Forsberg did, getting three assists in the Avalanche’s 7-0 blasting of Chicago in Game 5 at home. The assists raised Forsberg’s playoff points total to seven. Forsberg’s play in Games 3 and 4 was uncharacteristic, but nobody on the…
Robitaille a playoff force
There were people who said Wayne Gretzky could not be hit. But Luc Robitaille hit him. Took him right down. The only trouble is, they’re teammates. The hit, or tackle, came after Gretzky had scored the New York Rangers’ first goal of their playoff series against the Florida Panthers in Game 2. It showed how much enthusiasm and emotion Robitaille has built up for these playoffs. “He got me pretty good,” Gretzky said. “I was worried I hurt him,” Robitaille said. Robitaille was physical to the Panthers, too. He was perhaps the Rangers’ most effective forward, and one of their top hitters, in Game 1. In Game 2, he scored his second goal since Feb. 5-a span in which he had one goal in 14 games, then missed 13 with a broken foot. In…
QMJHL castoff Arsenault comes up big for Gens
Oshawa Generals’ goalie Dave Arsenault has extra incentive to reach the Memorial Cup. The team that released him last fall, the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, has already qualified. Arsenault, who played with three Quebec League teams the past two seasons, led the Generals into the Ontario League final against the Ottawa 67’s with a sparkling ’ semifinal against the Kitchener Rangers. Oshawa won in six games. In Game 5, which the Generals won at 19:46 of overtime, Arsenault saw 71 shots. “I had a good suitcase,” Arsenault, 20, said of his time in the QMJHL, which saw him play for three teams. When World Junior gold medallist Marc Denis returned to Chicoutimi from the Colorado Avalanche after training camp, Arsenault went on waivers. The Detroit Red Wings, who drafted him in 1995, contacted the Generals, still…
NHL gets Crease Crazy De-crease size
It should go down as one of the worst calls in the history of the NHL, a sure sign the end of the world as we know it is not far off. But it won’t. Referee Dan Marouelli’s decision to disallow an apparent game-winning goal in overtime of Game 3 of the Florida Panthers-New York Rangers series and penalize Panther Scott Mellanby for goaltender interference will be dismissed and ultimately forgotten like so many other judgment calls made every spring. Too bad because it represents all that is wrong with the 1997 Stanley Cup playoffs. The NHL has gone Crease Crazy. The irony is Marouelli’s decision didn’t go to video review for this year’s favorite flavor, crease infringement. Mellanby wasn’t even close to being in the crease. But the Panthers’ winger did what comes…
Made possible with the support of
