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.
December 12, 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.
Jagr leads Czech Olympic team
A dozen NHLers will be on the Czech Republic team for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Pittsburgh Penguins’ right winger Jaromir Jagr heads the list of Czech NHLers. He is joined by six other forwards, four defensemen and goalie Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres. The remainder of the team will be made up of players currently playing in the Czech Republic. One of those players might be former Boston Bruin center Vladimir Ruzicka, who at 34 is still a top point producer with Slava Prague. Surprising omissions from the NHL list are left wingers Patrick Elias and Petr Sykora of the New Jersey Devils. Seldom-used Toronto Maple Leafs’ winger Martin Prochazka made the roster ahead of the two Devils because of international success Prochazka had playing with Tampa Bay Lightning…
Teacher reaches student as Kovalev makes gains
Alexei Kovalev found his on switch. The New York Rangers’ enigmatic right winger, who started the season with just four points (all assists) in 18 games, was turning things around. In eight games following the dreadful start, Kovalev collected five goals (three winners) and four assists. Kovalev, 24, hit bottom with a 45minute benching against the Dallas Stars Nov. 7, which prompted a few days of angst. Finally, he initiated a meeting with coach Colin Campbell and when that meeting ended, it appeared the teacher had gotten through to the student. “I think it really helped me, talking to Colin,” Kovalev said. “We understand each other now. He knows I’m a person who cares about winning and he wants to win. Now I have to prove that I can help him win games.” While…
Leafs’ boss denounces NHL fights
Ken Dryden has an arena to build, a roster to rebuild and a case to build for moving his team to the Eastern Conference. Eventually, the GM-president of the Toronto Maple Leafs plans to take on another project-convincing the NHL establishment to punish fighting with ejection. “(Fighting) could be eliminated if there was the desire to eliminate it,” Dryden said. Dryden doesn’t buy the theory that if fighting were abolished, stick work would get out of control. He remains as adamantly against fighting as he was in his two best-selling books, The Game and Home Game. “The best argument is always the 90 per cent of players on every team that are never in a fight,” he said. “Do they play on a different ice sur-face? Do they play under different circumstances? Do they…
Kovalenkos slide puzzling
Andrei Kovalenko’s goal drought reached such alarming proportions, the Edmonton Oilers went searching for answers in his veins. When the stocky right winger had gone 21 games without a goal, GM Glen Sather decided Kovalenko needed bloodwork. He sent Kovalenko for a medical and physical exam. “Just to make sure everything is OK,” Kovalenko said. A team source said everything was not OK and Kovalenko, a 32-goal-scorer last season, found himself under the watchful eye of assistant coach Ted Green, who was assigned to whip the veteran into game shape over the course of a week. It was just the latest in a long line of attempts by the Oilers to light a fire under the 27-year-old Kovalenko. Coach Ron Low was almost at wit’s end for an answer. “I think he’s trying,” Low said.…
Made possible with the support of
