The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.

March 20, 1998

The Hockey News March 20, 1998

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011812/6935240-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Steve Poiiti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011083/6935830-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="161" height="160"></div>As the Carolina Hurricanes continued to keep their playoff hopes alive, they were relying heavily on three key ingredients: Trevor Kidd, Keith Primeau and Gary Roberts.Since the end of the Olympic break, the Hurricanes had essentially become a three-man team, with Kidd providing the clutch saves and Primeau and Roberts providing the offense. Kidd stopped 43 of 44 shots in a 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks March 2 and 28 of 29 shots in a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings three nights later as the team stayed within five points of a playoff spot.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a key right now,&rdquo; said right winger Sami Kapanen. &ldquo;This is the time goalies have to step up. We didn&rsquo;t play that well (against the Sharks) and Trevor kept us in the game.&rdquo;Roberts, meanwhile, made an immediate impact since returning from a rib muscle tear that sidelined him for 10 games prior to the break. He had four goals in his first three games back, including two winners.&ldquo;The injuries are frustrating, but I&rsquo;ve now got 25 games to help this team,&rdquo; Roberts said. &ldquo;If I can accomplish that, I&rsquo;ll feel good about this year.&rdquo;Primeau was even hotter than Roberts. He had ten points in a six-game stretch, including six points since a solid performance in the Olympics. On a team that gets little production from other centers, Primeau was playing more than 25 minutes a game, including on the power play and killing penalties.NOTEBOOK: A 2-1 win at Los Angeles March 5 gave Carolina 10 road wins, eclipsing last season&rsquo;s total of nine&hellip;After a five-game trip to start the post-break play, the &lsquo;Canes have 10 home and 10 road games to finish the schedule. They were 63-0 in their past nine games away from Greensboro&hellip;Right winger Steve Leach might undergo surgery for a disc problem in his neck and could be out until early April. Leach had not played since Jan. 22&hellip;Steve Chiasson, the &lsquo;Canes top scoring defenseman, had one goal in his last 20 games&hellip;Right winger Kevin Dineen recorded his 700th career point with an assist in the team&rsquo;s 3-1 win at San Jose March 22&hellip;Strange stat: the Hurricanes were 618-3 when they outshot their opponents. &#9632;

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NHL TEAMS

’Canes three super men carry crunch-time load

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>The NHL wanted more goals. It hasn&rsquo;t got its wish.When the league announced there would be a crackdown on obstruction fouls following the 17-day Olympic break, scoring was at an average of 5.3 goals per game.In the first 57 games following the crackdown, scoring went up all right-to an average of 5.4.There was a substantial rise in power play opportunities per game, from 8.7 to 12.7. Credit the addition of an average of two more obstruction calls per game (from 2.2 to 4.3).&ldquo;For our club. I like it a lot,&rdquo; said Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; coach Ron Low. &ldquo;And I like it for hockey in general. What it does is get rid of lazy hockey. It was easier to hold or hook somebody than to keep your feet moving or to angle them off. This really opens things up for the skill players and if you have speed, it&rsquo;s a bonus.&rdquo;Coaches and players were warned by the league not to be publicly critical of the change in direction. That didn&rsquo;t prevent Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; defenseman Chris Chelios from expressing his disapproval.&ldquo;Anyone who knows hockey knows it&rsquo;s a joke out there,&rdquo; Chelios said.The NHL doesn&rsquo;t keep official statistics on the number of 5-on-3 advantages in games, however that has been a hot topic of discussion since the break.Anecdotal evidence suggests the incidence of two-man advantages has increased. That&rsquo;s certainly the way players see it.&ldquo;You just put your stick on a guy and they&rsquo;ll put you down (five men to three),&rdquo; Low said.<h2>SAME GOALS</h2>With the crackdown on obstruction, the NHL has increased the number of power play opportunities, from 8.7 to 12.7 per game. Power play efficiency remains virtually unchanged (15.1 to 15.0). Listed are games, power plays per game (PP/G), power play goals per game (PPG/G), power play percentage (PP%), even strength goals per game (ESG/G), obstruction penalties per game (ObstructJG) and goals per game (Goals/G) before and after the Olympic break.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03700/6935364-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="536" height="356"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

No soar in goals scored

TV tune out Ratings for the first postOlympic Saturday afternoon slate of games (Feb. 28) on Fox, even by NHL standards, were disappointing. Although specific numbers were not available, the league knows they were down from the pre-Olympic Saturday telecasts.Irish eyes On March 17, NHL senior vice-president Brian Burke will do what he does every year on St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day&ndash;take the day off and celebrate his Irish heritage. Within a week after that, though, he&rsquo;s expected to decide whether he&rsquo;ll resign from the league to return to his previous life as a GM. The betting is that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will be soon looking for a new hockey lieutenant.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021239/6935271-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="368" height="575"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chad Kilger</figcaption></div>Hopeful Hawks Chicago is banking that prospect Chad Kilger, acquired from Phoenix, can still become a quality player, but a majority of organizations surveyed by THN were of the opinion he&rsquo;s simply not going to make the grade as a full-time, frontline player. Kilger earned two assists in his Hawk debut.The trading post (I) With each loss, Florida falls further out of the playoff hunt and closer to trading a plethora of veteran assets, including Esa Tikkanen, Dave Gagner, Kirk Muller, Ray Sheppard and Gord Murphy. The asking price will be draft picks. Tikkanen and Murphy are most likely to move.The trading post (II) Now that Tampa Bay has given Stephane Richer $2.2 million a year, how does it deal with Rob Zamuner&rsquo;s demand for $2.5 million annually? Perhaps by trading him, which is why Colorado, Dallas, Philadelphia and Washington, among others, are lining up for a shot at the quality two-way player who is infinitely more valuable than Richer. &#9632;

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What you need to know about the 1997-98 season

<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/f0002-04705/6934940-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="343" height="426"></div>We&rsquo;re going to come clean. So should the U.S. Olympic team.The Hockey News was mere hours away from spreading an unsubstantiated rumor (something we are loathe to do despite unsubstantiated rumors to the contrary) when Mike Richter returned a call late Feb. 27. We were about to tell the world that Richter responded to the infamous fire extinguisher escapade Feb. 19 in Nagano by pouring orange juice over the head of an alleged perpetrator at breakfast. That story was all the buzz in the hockey world and we were prepared to print it even though we had no eyewitnesses. According to Richter, we were wrong. Only some early morning backchecking spared us a measure of embarrassment.Nothing now will spare the guilty U.S. Olympian or Olympians of huge embarrassment should his identity or their identities ever be disclosed. A sophomoric drunken prank has turned into an international incident. The story won&rsquo;t go away-nor should it-and the Washington Post reported the head of the U.S. Olympic delegation is pondering the possibility of recommending that all 23 team members be kept out of the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. U.S. Chief of Mission Paul George told the Post, &ldquo;if no one has the courage to &lsquo;fess up-and they haven&rsquo;t yet-then there&rsquo;s some basis to (discipline) on a teamwide basis. It&rsquo;s not unlike what a principal might do at a school. If no one in the class will &lsquo;fess up to breaking a window, then perhaps the whole class gets detention.&rdquo;That would be cruel and unusual (and unlikely) punishment. It would also be as juvenile as the incident itself. It is better that one or two or three individuals evade justice than 20 suffer an injustice.&ldquo;The reason we&rsquo;re sticking together,&rdquo; said Doug Weight of the Edmonton Oilers,&rdquo;is because we&rsquo;re a team and that has been our attitude since Day 1. This thing has been blown way, way up. I&rsquo;m 27 years old and I&rsquo;m not going to start telling on people. I&rsquo;m not a bad person and the guys who did this are not bad guys. It was just 10 minutes of craziness, that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo; Duration is never a mitigating factor in these circumstances-let alone when the eyes of the world are on you-and doesn&rsquo;t change the fact adults are expected to accept responsibility for their actions. It is nobody&rsquo;s fault but the offending party or parties that potential sanctions are growing disproportionately harsh. In time, the truth will emerge and the player or players involved will negotiate a settlement with terms better than total surrender. Maybe then we can put this story of cowardice behind us<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011512/6934933-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="1701" height="2348"><figcaption class="caption-body">Staying in New Jersey may be best for potential unrestricted free agent Doug Gilmour. Pg. 12. (Photo by Jim Mclsaac/BBS)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Player(s), not entire U.S. team, merit punishment

<h2>Yashin gives assist to arts</h2>1. Gift of giving Senators&rsquo; center Alexei Yashin donates $1 million to National Arts Centre in Ottawa.2. Rugged man In 12th season, Montreal center Vincent Damphousse has never missed game due to injury.3. Prime Primeau Carolina&rsquo;s Keith Pri-meau notches four goals, 10 points in six games.4. Nice return Colorado right winger Adam Deadmarsh returns from Olympics with four goals in five games.5. Something Bruin Boston NHL&rsquo;s most improved team with.533 winning percentage, up from.372 last year<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021256/6934978-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="325" height="456"><figcaption class="caption-body">V. Damphousse</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03936/6934971-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="323" height="456"><figcaption class="caption-body">Daniel Lacroix</figcaption></div><h2>Flyer Lacroix gone for three</h2>1. Head hunter Flyers&rsquo; Daniel Lacroix suspended three games for vicious crosscheck to head of Islander Rich Pilon.2. Euro basher Don Cherry won&rsquo;t pick Europeans for his major junior team? Wonder how the fans feel about that.3. Snake bit Rimouski&rsquo;s Derrick Walser fires 21 (of 77) shots in 4-2 win over Drummondville, but doesn&rsquo;t score.4. Have mercy Kazakhstan runs up score on Iceland at European D Pool Championship, winning 63-0.5. Take that Chicago&rsquo;s Chris Chelios suspended one game for arguing with, throwing stick in direction of ref. &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011688/6935030-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="382" height="520"></div>The King of Kings is back.After three miserable seasons, during which his team, the Los Angeles Kings, spun out of control as he battled a series of injuries which sidelined him for 120 of 212 games, Rob Blake was convinced his days in La La Land were Do Do Done. And the thought of leaving didn&rsquo;t bother him.&ldquo;I reached that point last season,&rdquo; Blake said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that I wanted to be traded, I just thought my time here was up. Our. team had been through so many changes. Look at the guys we got rid of:Alexei Zhitnik and Darryl Sydor-two great defensemen-Tony Granato, Wayne Gretzky. The list goes on. To me, they didn&rsquo;t seem like the right moves. Our team didn&rsquo;t get better. I actually didn&rsquo;t think it could get any worse and I didn&rsquo;t know if I wanted to be around.&rdquo;Blake, 28, is not only still around, he&rsquo;s back to being one of the NHL&rsquo;s best all-around defensemen. Named the Kings&rsquo; outstanding blueliner his first four seasons (1990-91 through 1993-94), he has fully recovered from knee and abdominal injuries and is again a force. After 60 games this season, Blake was tied for ninth among defensemen in scoring with 15 goals (tied for second best among blueliners) and 36 points. He also had 69 penalty minutes.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s tough,&rdquo; said Dallas Stars&rsquo; center Joe Nieuwendyk. &ldquo;Tough as nails. There aren&rsquo;t a lot of guys in the league who put up the points he does from defense and are as good open-ice hitters.&rdquo;St. Louis Blues&rsquo; defnseman Chris Pronger said,&rdquo;He&rsquo;s a pretty big guy and when he gets you in his sights, you know you&rsquo;re going to get hit hard. He makes those big-ass hits.&rdquo;Added Kings&rsquo; coach Larry Robinson: &ldquo;He gives our team life with a big hit when he crunches someone.&rdquo;Blake&rsquo;s resurgence is one of the main reasons why the Kings are in a neck-and-neck battle with the Boston Bruins for the honor of most improved team of the year, and why they&rsquo;ll likely make the playoffs for the first time since reaching the Stanley Cup final in 1992-93. They were fifth in the Western Conference and tied for eighth overall with 65 points in 60 games. However, they were 1-2-2 after the break.There are three other key reasons for the turnaround, according toRobinson: 1. Jozef Stumpel gives the Kings a gamebreaker. The former Boston Bruin was one of only 15 players in the NHL averaging more than a point per game with 63 in 59 games. 2. The Kings have the puck more. By acquiring offense-minded players such as Stumpel, Luc Robitaille and Garry Galley, the Kings can control the puck for the first time in several years. 3. The team is bigger. The Kings are playing the same aggressive forechecking system as last year, but large forwards such as Glen Murray and Sandy Moger have made it more effective.But, as one rival team&rsquo;s assistant GM put it,&rdquo;Let&rsquo;s not kid ourselves, the big reason the Kings have turned around is because Blake is back and healthy.&rdquo;In 1994-95, the lockout year, an abdominal strain limited him to just 24 games. The following year he blew out his left knee in the sixth game of the year and was done. Last season he suffered tendinitis in the same knee, which reduced his effectiveness.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021352/6935023-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1829" height="2513"><figcaption class="caption-body">The addition of center Jozef Stumpel from Boston gives the Kings a consistent scoring threat up front.(Jozef Stumpel by Andre Pichete/BBS; Rob Blake by Jim Mclsaac/BBS)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;You begin to wonder if you&rsquo;ll ever get back to the level you were at,&rdquo; Blake said. &ldquo;Two years ago when I was in rehab, I didn&rsquo;t think it would be possible. It&rsquo;s such a great feeling now to be able to go out and be aggressive and not hesitate, worrying I might hurt myself again.&rdquo;Blake&rsquo;s numbers were down considerably last year with just eight goals and 31 points in 62 games, a far cry from career highs of 20 goals and 68 points recorded in 1993-94. However, he helped Canada win a gold medal at the 1997 World Championship in Finland and was named best defenseman at the tournament. He was also named best defenseman at the Winter Olympics in Nagano. He is not yet considered an elite candidate for best defenseman in the NHL this season. Pronger and Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings are the frontrunners.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03883/6935016-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="589" height="907"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rob Blake</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It was such a treat to play pressure hockey at the Olympics,&rdquo; Blake said. &ldquo;To me that&rsquo;s the real test of how healthy I am and how good I can be. We haven&rsquo;t played pressure hockey around here for a few years.&rdquo;Blake started slowly this season, scoring just three goals and 12 points in his first 27 games. &ldquo;He started off trying to prove something,&rdquo; Robinson said. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t play as well as he is capable of. Since he calmed down-and there was really no one particular incident that turned things around-he has been a force. He has played as well as anybody I&rsquo;ve seen in the league.&rdquo;<h2>ON THE REBOUND</h2>After recording the worst record in the league last year, the Boston Bruins are the NHL&rsquo;s most improved team. Here is each team&rsquo;s 1996-97 winning percentage and 1997-98 WP as of March 5. Indicated is the increase or decrease in winning percentage.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04485/6935009-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="550" height="1098"></div> &#9632;

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Kings get real Blake

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011689/6935061-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="316" height="409"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Francis</figcaption></div><h2>MARCH</h2>Thurs., March 19: The Canadian women&rsquo;s nationals take place in Calgary. The title game is March 22 at Max Bell Centre.Wed., March 25: The trading season hits its climax at the NHL trading deadline (3 p.m. EST).Wed., March 25: Host Chicago and Anaheim meet in the first game since the Gary Suter crosscheck that knocked Paul Kariya out of the Olympics and potentially the rest of the season. Thurs., March 26: Canada&rsquo;s top university teams faceoff in the CIAU University Cup in Saskatoon, Sask. The title game is March 29 at Saskatchewan Place.<h2>UPCOMING</h2>Thurs., April 2: The best U.S. college teams compete at the NCAA Final Four championship at Boston&rsquo;s FleetCenter. The title game is April 4.Sun., April 19: The NHL regular season ends.Playoffs begin April 22.<h2>MILESTONES</h2>600 goals: Vancouver&rsquo;s Mark Messier needed five goals to reach 600.800 assists: Jari Kurri of Colorado needed five assists to hit 800. New Jersey&rsquo;s Doug Gilmour needed seven.1,000 assists: Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Ron Francis needed nine assists to become the seventh player in history to record 1,000 in a career.1,000 points: St. Louis&rsquo; Al Macinnis needed 10 points to hit 1,000. &#9632;

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March Upcoming Milestones Milestones

<div class="byline">By John Davidson Inside the NHL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011631/6935123-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="311" height="385"></div>Trust me on this one. This time, the NHL&rsquo;s crackdown on obstruction will stick. Hockey will be the winner.The difference in the latest go-round over how to open up play is the four most important stakeholders in the game-players, GMs (who propose rule changes), owners (who have to approve them) and, crucially, fans-all seem to have their sights set on the big picture. Better entertainment is what everyone wants. This is the only way to get there.Even as teams enter the stretch run, where a single penalty could mean the difference between making the playoffs and making a tee time, it&rsquo;s only some coaches who are questioning the wisdom of the crackdown. That&rsquo;s understandable, too, because it&rsquo;s coaches who have their jobs at stake. In the heat of the moment, for guys who are paid on how well they get others to do their jobs, post-game emotions are difficult to control.But look at who is controlling the game. We used to watch Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux and marvel at their skill. So far this season all we&rsquo;re talking about is Dominik Hasek. Doesn&rsquo;t that tell you something?The quality of games is improving. Players are adapting. There is more speed in the neutral zone. And speed is what generates excitement.Defensemen can still set picks, but now they have to be in position before the forechecker charges in. Forwards can still backcheck, but they have to do it with their feet instead of their sticks. Better skaters will receive more ice time and it&rsquo;s the guys who can fly whom everybody wants to see.There is one possible downside to all this. Players may try to take advantage of the changes by making like Greg Louganis and taking a dive. A word of advice: Don&rsquo;t.Goalies used to get warm-up shots when they entered a game in the middle of a period. It was a civilized rule that got mothballed when coaches started to use the tactic to gain an extended time-out. Referees are being instructed now to call the two-minute penalty for diving with vigilance. When that happens, everybody looks bad.In times of uncertainty, remember to focus on the big picture. When the NHL&rsquo;s best talent is unshackled, you&rsquo;ll see hockey at its most spirited. breathtaking best. &#9632;

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Think big picture in obstruction ruling

<div class="byline">By Bruce Garrioch</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021172/6935154-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ottawa&rsquo;s Alexei Yashin will give $1 million to the National Arts Centre. (Photo by Canapress)</figcaption></div>On an afternoon Alexei Yashin tugged on the heart strings of a whole community, the Ottawa Senators&rsquo; center was a little touched himself.The Senators&rsquo; Russian center reflected on his feelings after announcing his intention to donate $1 million during the next five years to the National Arts Centre in an attempt to help promote the arts community in Ottawa.&ldquo;It was emotional,&rdquo; Yashin said. &ldquo;It felt good to me to help the community. I wasn&rsquo;t really expecting that many people to be there.&rdquo;A fan of the fine arts and the theatre, Yashin made the largest single donation the NAC has received in its 29year history. He has already made a $200,000 installment toward something he has been thinking about for the last six months.John Cripton, director and chief executive officer of the NAC, called Yashin&rsquo;s donation a &ldquo;wondrous gift&rdquo; and said it would change the life of the center. The Crown corporation&rsquo;s budget had been severely cut in the early 1990s.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not about the amount of money involved; that has nothing to do with it,&rdquo; said Yashin, the Senators&rsquo; top-paid player after signing a five-year, $13million (U.S.) contract in December, 1995.&ldquo;We talked with the people at the NAC and it seemed like the right thing to do. I&rsquo;ve enjoyed a few shows at the NAC with my parents, I always like to visit Broadway in New York and the big theatres in Moscow.&ldquo;This was a chance to help those people in the arts community and do something for the people of Ottawa. This donation is just like holding a golf tournament. The money is just going to a different type of cause.&rdquo;Part of the money will be used to get young people involved in arts and culture. Two hundred school children were on hand for the news conference at the center that included guest conductor Pinchas Zuckerman leading the orchestra through a rendition of the theme song for Hockey Night in Canada.Yes, there will be a tax write-off, but more than $500,000 will come out of Yashin&rsquo;s pocket.Few close to him were surprised by the move. In many ways for Yashin, it just seemed like the right thing to do.&ldquo;We do make a lot of money,&rdquo; Yashin said,&rdquo;and I think it&rsquo;s great when you can give something back to the community, especially kids who may now see some performing arts for free.&rdquo;Yashin&rsquo;s growth and maturity as a player and person have been evident during his career in Ottawa.After arriving in Ottawa with his father, Valery, mother Tatiana and brother Dmitri, when he was drafted second overall at the 1992 NHL entry draft, Yashin often had his character questioned.During two separate contract disputes, the team considered dealing Yashin, but both times former GM Randy Sexton realized he could never get enough in return for the franchise player.However, after completing his contract with GM Pierre Gauthier in 1995, Yashin has emerged as a leader on the ice as assistant captain and in the dressing room.Yashin&rsquo;s parents have applied for their Canadian citizenship and have no plans to return to Russia after his career is over. Dmitri plays Jr. A hockey for the nearby Kanata Valley Lasers in the Central Jr. League.&ldquo;This contribution comes from the heart,&rdquo; said Yashin&rsquo;s New York-based agent Mark Gandler,&rdquo;I think Ottawa will always be Alexei&rsquo;s hometown. His parents will continue to live in Ottawa. This is his home.&rdquo;Yashin wants some of the money to be used to promote Russian culture in Canada. He would like to see an exchange program set up so more Russian performers can visit. On his wish list of people he&rsquo;d like to see perform at the NAC is Russian ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov.&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t see this when I was younger because I was so busy with hockey I didn&rsquo;t have too much individual time,&rdquo; Yashin said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t get an opportunity to see them in Russia. Maybe I&rsquo;ll get an opportunity now.&rdquo;Two years ago, when he was holding out for a new contract, he went to the Bolshoi Theatre for the first time and was moved by a performance of The Phantom of the Opera he saw on Broadway the night before the 1994 All-Star Game in New York.Asked if he was going to try to culture some of his teammates, Yashin was obviously tired by the stereotypical perspective about dumb hockey players.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand why this question is always asked,&rdquo; Yashin said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of high quality, educated people in this league.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Yashin assists arts

<div class="byline">By Brent Hurst</div>Patrik Stefan would be a sure-fire top-five prospect for this year&rsquo;s NHL entry draft. There&rsquo;s only one problem-he&rsquo;s too young to be selected.But he&rsquo;s just too young. Bom Sept. 16, 1980, he misses being eligible for this year&rsquo;s draft by one day.By the time he is drafted, Stefan will have 1-1/2 seasons of pro hockey under his belt The 17-year-old center recently joined the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the International League.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03762/6935185-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="277" height="377"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrik Stefan</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be a dominating, playmaking center,&rdquo; said Ice Dogs&rsquo; coach John Van Boxmeer. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a guy who looks to make the play rather than shoot himself. He&rsquo;ll be a guy who can get 100 assists and 20-to-25 goals in the NHL.&rdquo;Playing on a line with left winger Patrik Augusta and right winger Jocelyn Lemieux, the 6-foot-3, 195-pounder had three goals and five points in 10 games.Stefan agreed to a 25-game tryout contract with Long Beach while his Czech League team, Sparta Prague, was not playing during the Olympics. But when the Games ended, Stefan decided to stay.Stefan joins Radek Bonk, Petr Sykora, Robert Dome and Sergei Samsonov as European teenagers who have played in the IHL. Each of his predecessors was drafted in the first round of the NHL draft.Stefan is one of four Europeans with late birthdays who could go Nos. 1-4 in the 1999 draft. The others are Swedish twins Daniel and Henrik Se-din and Russian Denis Svitke. &#9632;

f0005-03

Teen opens eyes with play in IHL

Chris Phillips of the Ottawa Senators is lucky the serious eye injury he suffered Feb. 25, that could have been easily prevented by a visor or facemask, isn&rsquo;t career ending.Face protectors, unfortunately, are not mandatory in any of the North American professional leagues, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean professional hockey players are immune to injury.As president of the Canadian Safety Council, I find the failure to make CSA certified and approved equipment mandatory flies in the face of public health and injury protection.Dr. Pierre Guibor, a New York City-based ophthalmologist and attending physician with the New Jersey Devils, says 98 per cent of all eye and facial injuries are suffered by players who do not wear a shield.The complete safety of the NHL&rsquo;s most valuable assets-the players-must be at the top of the league&rsquo;s agenda. The players, who are important role models, must abandon their macho, outdated attitudes that visors and facemasks aren&rsquo;t cool. They are critical safety equipment.Emile Therien,&nbsp; Ottawa, Ont.<h2>Large ice nice</h2>After watching the Olympics, it&rsquo;s obvious the way to solve the NHL&rsquo;s problems is not by enlarging nets or eliminating the red line, but rather by using European ice dimensions.Why do you think Europeans have more raw skill than North American players&rsquo;?Renat Johnsson,&nbsp; Durham, U.K.<h2>Stiffer sanctions</h2>I know when play gets rough the adrenaline starts flowing, but when players are close to the boards, why don&rsquo;t they think before hitting from behind?The NHL needs more severe penalties. How about stiffer fines and an automatic five-game suspension for a player&rsquo;s first offense, a 10-game suspension the second time, and a 30-game suspension for the third time?Something has to be done before someone is permanently injured or killed. Equipment can only do so much, it has to begin in players&rsquo; minds.Derek Jenny,&nbsp; Lloydminster, Sask.<h2>Novice checking?</h2>I just heard the Canadian Hockey Association is considering a proposal to introduce bodychecking at the novice level. This falls in line with the mindset of many Canadians that hitting, dumping and chasing the puck are superior skills to those of skating, shooting and passing.That&rsquo;s fine with me. Just don&rsquo;t complain when Canada keeps losing at international tournaments and the majority of NHL scoring leaders are European or American.Oh, this is already happening?My mistake.Ken Dole,&nbsp; Halifax, N.S.<h2>Thanks, Peter</h2>Recently, I took my three-year-old son to a Washington Capitals&rsquo; practice, where Peter Bondra spent a few minutes talking to my son and learned that he didn&rsquo;t have a &ldquo;real&rdquo; hockey stick of his own.He told us to wait, went to the dressing room and came out and gave Tommy his stick. What made it so special was that he took the time to cut it down to my son&rsquo;s size, spray paint the bottom half and tape the blade up as well.Thank you Peter, your gift and kindness will always be remembered.Linda Taylor,&nbsp; Glen Burnie, Md.<h2>Enforce the rules</h2>All of the fuss about changing the rules to create more scoring is nonsense.What the league needs is for referees to call the penalties by the book. Let teams play shorthanded for a spell and quality will go up, scoring will return and the stars will shine. Leave the rules alone, just enforce them.Larry Daly,&nbsp; San Mateo, Calif.<h2>Terrible attitude</h2>Like all Canadians, I was disappointed that we lost to the Czech Republic, but I will not accept the Canadian attitude of gold or nothing.It seems like they simply went through the motions in the bronze medal game against Finland. There are hundreds of Olympians who would have loved to win a bronze medal.How they can consider themselves positive role models for today&rsquo;s youth when the team is stressing win or nothing? This is a poor message.Stan Bouchie,&nbsp; Marathon, Ont.<h2>Don&rsquo;t send men</h2>I&rsquo;ve always said,&rdquo;Send a woman to do a man&rsquo;s job.&rdquo; It looks like I was right.To the USA women&rsquo;s hockey gold medal champions: Congratulations, you deserved it.Angela Ryer,&nbsp; Decatur, Ga.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., M5G 2N8&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, THN, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 142409947. 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;

Senators eye injury avoidable with visor

<div class="byline">By Brent Hurst</div>When comparing Vezina Trophy candidates this season remember this: Dominik Hasek works twice as hard as Ed Belfour.That&rsquo;s not a knock against Belfour of the Dallas Stars. When it comes to shutouts, it&rsquo;s a fact.Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres had a league-leading and career-high nine shutouts, one more than Belfour&rsquo;s eight-also a career best-but that only hints at the difference between them.In Hasek&rsquo;s shutouts this season, he averaged 34 saves, twice as many as the 17 saves Belfour averaged in his shutouts.Six times Hasek saved more than 30 shots to earn a shutout, including perhaps his best performance of the year Dec. 19 against the Montreal Canadiens when he stopped 42 shots in a 1-0 win. He didn&rsquo;t face fewer than 28 shots in any of the nine games.Only once had Belfour saved more than 28 shots to record a shutout. In five of the games the Stars&rsquo; defense was so strong Belfour faced 14 or fewer shots.This isn&rsquo;t the first time Hasek and Belfour have duelled for the league lead in shutouts. The two netminders tied for the NHL shutout title in 1993-94 with seven and in 1994-95 with five. Belfour led or tied for the league lead in shutouts four consecutive seasons (1991-92 through 199495).With 22 games remaining, Hasek had an opportunity to become the first goalie to record more than 10 shutouts in a season since Philadelphia Flyer Bernie Parent had 12 in 1974-75.However, Hasek won&rsquo;t have one luxury going for him in that quest. The Sabres don&rsquo;t have any games left against the New York Rangers, his victim three times this season.<h2>NET GAINS</h2>Listed are the dates, opponents and number of saves recorded by Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; goalie Dominik Hasek and Dallas Stars&rsquo; goalie Ed Belfour in shutouts this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011647/6935302-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="534" height="486"></div> &#9632;

f0007-01

Hasek’s shutouts tougher

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021109/6935333-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dallas faceoff expert Joe Nieuwendyk battles New Jersey&rsquo;s Doug Gilmour for puck possession. (Photo by John Giamundo/BBS)</figcaption></div>The American League will be a testing ground this spring for several potential rule changes in the NHL.During games in late March and April, the following rule changes will be instituted in at least two of 10 selected AHL games: players will serve their entire two-minute minor whether the opposition scores or not; goalies will be penalized for handling the puck behind the net; players will not be allowed to stop behind their own net; line changes will be prohibited before neutral zone faceoffs; hurry-up faceoffs will occur in which linesmen will drop the puck within an allotted time whether players are ready or not; and the goalline will be moved out from the end boards to 13 feet from II feet to increase room behind the net.NHL GMs endorsed the experimental rules for AHL play during a February meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz.NEW DIRECTIVE: NHL vicepresident Brian Burke told referees during a conference call March 6 to penalize diving that has resulted from the obstruction crackdown.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s infrequently called, but it&rsquo;s in the book and we&rsquo;ve got to encourage (the referees) to assess it when it&rsquo;s appropriate,&rdquo; Burke told The Toronto Star March 4. &ldquo;An increase in diving is the biggest negative aspect (of the obstruction calls).&ldquo;The referees are doing what we asked them to do to make games better, but we can&rsquo;t start patting ourselves on the back. We have to stick with it,&rdquo; Burke said.FACEOFFS LEADERS: Led by center Eric Lindros, the Philadelphia Flyers continued to be the NHL&rsquo;s most proficient faceoff team. The Flyers had won 55.9 per cent of their faceoffs this season, marginally ahead of the Dallas Stars at 55.5 per cent, according to league statistics released March 3.Of the 13 teams that have won more faceoffs than they&rsquo;ve lost, 10 had winning records.Lindros was tops at faceoffs, winning 59.9 per cent. Joe Nieuwendyk of the Dallas Stars was second at 59.1 per cent and Washington Capital Adam Oates third at 58.8 per cent.COLLEGE SHOWDOWN: National pride will be at stake when some of the top university and college players in Canada and the United States faceoff for bragging rights at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit April 10.The North American University Hockey Championship pits top NCAA seniors against the best university players from the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union. The CIAU defeated the NCAA last year 5-4.TILTED ICE Kazakhstan averaged more than a goal per minute when it beat Iceland 63-0 March 3 at the under-18 European D pool hockey championships in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. &#9632;

f0007-02

AHL to test rules

<div class="byline">Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021313/6935409-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="344" height="429"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011703/6935402-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="3053" height="1783"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Hextall&rsquo;s future with the Flyers is clouded now that they have obtained Sean Burke. (Photo by John Giamundo/BBS)</figcaption></div>It was a Wednesday morning and if all those around Bob Clarke were losing their heads over the state of the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; netminding situation, the GM wasn&rsquo;t. Or so he said.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see how it&rsquo;s possible,&rdquo; Clarke said, when asked if he would make a deal to upgrade one of Ron Hextall or Garth Snow after they had turned in back-to-back sub-par performances. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to give up one of our good young players to get a goalie I can get for nothing in the summer.&rdquo;So, Clarke was asked, there&rsquo;s no reason to expect the Flyers to trade for a goaltender before the March 25 deadline?&ldquo;That would be my guess,&rdquo; Clarke said.Later that same day, on March 4, the Flyers traded one netminder, Garth Snow, to the Vancouver Canucks for another netminder, Sean Burke, who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at season&rsquo;s end.&ldquo;It came right out of the blue,&rdquo; Clarke said, explaining the about-face. &ldquo;(Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; coach) Mike Keenan called in the afternoon and wanted to do something because of his goaltending situation with expansion coming. When we could do it without giving up Dainius Zubrus or Janne Niinimaa, we did it.&rdquo;One might suggest not a moment too soon.It would be foolhardy to suggest the Flyers&rsquo; underachieving ways-they were battling to keep third place in the Eastern Conference-were solely attributable to Hextall and Snow. When a supposed Stanley Cup contender loses seven of nine games, as they did in a stretch sandwiching the Olympic break, there&rsquo;s more than one problem.But there&rsquo;s no disputing the Flyers weren&rsquo;t getting A-calibre, win-the-Cup netminding from either Hextali or Snow. And wasn&rsquo;t that the refrain from last spring&rsquo;s Stanley Cup final, when then coach Terry Murray used two goalies because he couldn&rsquo;t find one to get the job done?The numbers might suggest otherwise. At the time of the trade. Hextall had a 16-10-5 record, 2.02 goals-against average (fourth-best in the league) and.916 save percentage. Snow was 14-9-4, 2.43 and.902.But the numbers don&rsquo;t tell the whole story. On March 1, Hextall gave up two weak goals in the first 73 seconds of a crucial tilt against the first-place New Jersey Devils. After that, he made a number of stellar saves to keep it close and the Flyers clawed their way back to tie it in the third period. Then, Hextall made an ill-advised foray out of the net late in the game that allowed Steve Thomas to score the winning goal.The next night, Snow let in an early long shot as the Islanders went on to beat the Flyers 3-1.Clearly, this bad-goal syndrome couldn&rsquo;t go on forever, but Clarke felt as though he was boxed in.The real answer to his problem was either in New York (Mike Richter of the Rangers) or Edmonton (Curtis Joseph of the Oilers). Both are slated to become unrestricted free agents this summer and Clarke figured he would have to bite the bullet until then. He was adamant about not giving up one of his prime young assets (Zubrus or Niinimaa) for a goalie who could be bought with cash were pleading their case before an arbitrator on the validity of a clause in a free agent offer sheet to Sergei Fedorov, they contended one exceptional individual could lead a run-of-the-mill team to the NHL&rsquo;s final four. In making their case, the Hurricanes, one of Burke&rsquo;s former teams, used the 6-foot-4 Toronto native as a case in point.The year was 1988 and Burke, an NHL rookie, joined the New Jersey Devils after the in the off-season. But that scenario left the Flyers in no-man&rsquo;s land for this spring&rsquo;s run at the Cup.Then along came Keenan with an offer Clarke couldn&rsquo;t refuse.But is Burke the answer to what the ails the Flyers? The jury is out, but there&rsquo;s no downside to finding out because Burke&rsquo;s upside is so much higher than Snow&rsquo;s.Perhaps it&rsquo;s an omen.When the Carolina Hurricanes Olympics. Not only did Burke help the Devils make the playoffs, going 10-1-0 down the stretch, but he emerged as a playoff phenom, leading upstart New Jersey to the final four.It was, by all accounts, a key factor in the arbitrator ruling Fedorov&rsquo;s offer sheet valid.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know that,&rdquo; Burke told The Hockey News upon his arrival in Philadelphia. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s interesting.&rdquo;Maybe history will repeat itself, this time in the form of Burke taking the Flyers to a Cup victory. Burke would like to think that. So would the Flyers. But also worth pointing out is that if the Hurricanes really believed Burke still had those mystical qualities, they would have paid him what he wanted and kept him in Carolina. Instead, they peddled Burke to Vancouver, where he struggled mightily. In 25 games in Carolina, Burke was 711-5, 2.80 and.899. In Vancouver, his numbers were an abysmal 2-9-4,3.51 and.876.That rave rookie year now certainly looks good on Burke&rsquo;s resume, but one fact cannot be overlooked: that was the last time he won a playoff game. Ten years ago. Ten long years.Mind you, it&rsquo;s not like he has had much of a chance. Aside from his rookie ride in &rsquo;88, Burke has seen NHL playoff action in only one other year, 1990, when he went 0-2-0 for the Devils.The next year, the Devils lost in the first round, but Burke never played a game. Then, because of a contract dispute, he played the next season with the Canadian national and Olympic teams. He was subsequently traded to the Hartford Whalers, where he became known as a good goalie on a bad team. In all, it was five straight non-playoff years in Hartford. Toiling first for Carolina this season, then Vancouver, the 31-year-old pretty much figured it was going to be six.And then along came a Vancouver forecast for Snow.&ldquo;When they told me was I traded, all I could think of was, &lsquo;Where?&rsquo;&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;When they said, &lsquo;Philadelphia,&rsquo; all I could think of was, &lsquo;Playoffs. This is a chance to win the Stanley Cup.&rsquo;&rdquo;There&rsquo;s as much on the line for Burke-if not more-as there is for the Flyers. He&rsquo;s playing for a contract. If he shines and leads the Flyers where Hextail and Snow couldn&rsquo;t, he can expect a lucrative long-term reward. If, however, he falters, his market value, in a year when there&rsquo;s a plethora of free-agent netminding help available, will plummet and free agency could be another word for unemployment. Potential unrestricted free agent goalies this summer include Richter, Joseph, John Vanbiesbrouck and Grant Fuhr.Burke needs to excel on the ice, all the better to put behind him domestic problems from earlier this season when he entered a plea of guilty to spousal abuse. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got my (personal) life together,&rdquo; Burke told reporters when he arrived in Philly.If Burke has a lot on the line, the same isn&rsquo;t necessarily true of the Flyers. As Clarke put it so bluntly: &ldquo;We&rsquo;re hoping Sean can play the way he once played. He&rsquo;s heading into free agency and he has got two months to show us what he can do.&rdquo;The implication is clear. If Burke can&rsquo;t do it, Clarke will write whatever check it takes to get Richter or Joseph for next season. Until then, Burke looks as though as he&rsquo;s an upgrade on Snow and maybe, just maybe, he&rsquo;ll get on one of those rolls he used to be known for.One theory is Burke, playing behind a first-class team, will automatically become a better goalie. That&rsquo;s possible. But he&rsquo;ll also have to avoid the mental mistakes he periodically experienced in Hartford, Carolina and Van-couver-breakdowns that often came in the late stages of close games. In some respects, the recent knocks on Burke aren&rsquo;t all that much different than they have been for Hextall. That is, they play goal well enough, but give up the bad goal at the most inopportune time.Another theory is that Burke is bothered by a chronically sore back, nothing so bad as to keep him out of games, but irritating enough to make it difficult for the 6-foot-4, 208 pounder to get into the crouch position. Like Hextall, it sometimes appears as though Burke has difficulty moving his feet and maintaining sound balance.He prefers to think of it all as the normal ups and downs of the position and that, in spite of his efforts to take responsibility for his play over the years, things will get better now that he&rsquo;s playing for a true contender.&ldquo;It really has been such a tough year in every way,&rdquo; Burke said,&rdquo;but I won a world championship last year (withCanada) and I know I can still (win games). In a way, I think the difficulties this year can be a positive, especially now. The way I look at it, I said, &lsquo;Okay, suck it up. work through it,&rsquo; and now this coming to Philadelphia is my reward.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s not like he&rsquo;s an unknown quantity to the Flyers. Director of player personnel Paul Holmgren was his coach in Hartford. Flyer head coach Wayne Cashman was with Canada at the World Championships last spring.&ldquo;Homer and Cash really like him a lot,&rdquo; Clarke said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re confident he can do the job. We just never thought we&rsquo;d get him or anyone like him without giving up a good young player and we weren&rsquo;t going to do that. If he can go out and stand on his head, great. If not, we&rsquo;ll see what happens.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s what Ron Hextall is doing. Waiting to see what happens.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been around long enough to know I have to be ready to play when the opportunity is there and the rest will take care of itself,&rdquo; he said after the trade was consummated.&ldquo;And that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m doing now.&rdquo;Though Hextall has a no-trade clause in his contract, his immediate future with the Flyers hinges on how well Burke plays. Hextall isn&rsquo;t ready to fade to black just yet, though he knows he can&rsquo;t go on forever.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m 34 years old,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a kid any more. I understand, at some point, my time will come.&rdquo;Still, this hasn&rsquo;t been an easy year for Hextall, who has become the lightning rod of criticism for the Flyers. Rightly or wrongly, goaltending gets fingered as the reason the Flyers didn&rsquo;t beat Detroit in the Cup final last year and why, if it weren&rsquo;t upgraded this season, there&rsquo;d be no Cup this time around, either.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011676/6935395-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="649" height="968"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sean Burke has the chance to salvage what has been a tough season. (Photo by John Giamundo/BBS)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not fun to hear about it constantly and read about it everywhere, but it&rsquo;s a fact of life,&rdquo; Hextall said. &ldquo;To be honest, I&rsquo;ve been more inconsistent lately than I would like. I&rsquo;ve struggled. The team has struggled. But it&rsquo;s funny. I watch the highlights every day and I see other goalies letting in a bad goal here or there and nothing is said. It seems I&rsquo;m not allowed to let one in. That gets tiring.&rdquo;For some, that the Hextall debate rages at all is surprising. When he finished his first tour of duty in Philadelphia-traded to the Quebec Nordiques as part of the Eric Lindros deal-many saw his career unravelling, first in Quebec, then with the Islanders in New York. Since returning to the Flyers, though, he has had a renaissance of sorts, posting strong regular season numbers and some pretty decent playoff efforts, too. But few will remember how well he played in the 1995 playoffs, only that he gave up a long shot to New Jersey&rsquo;s Claude Lemieux as the Devils knocked off the Flyers en route to their Cup win.That&rsquo;s the book on Hextall. Gives up bad goals at bad times. Has trouble with long shots. Can&rsquo;t move well laterally. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard it all,&rdquo; Hextail said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to name names, but some of the goalies regarded as the best in the game aren&rsquo;t very good on long shots.&rdquo;Now that Burke is on the scene, the longshot may be Hextall himself. But he has battled too hard for too long to go down without a fight.No one has to tell Bob Clarke what goaltending means to a Cup contender. The image of Bernie Parent leading Clarke&rsquo;s Flyers of the 1970s to a pair of Cups remains indelibly etched into his memory. But someone does have some explaining to do. &ldquo;We all talk so much about goaltending, it&rsquo;s all some people talk about,&rdquo; Clarke said. &ldquo;So explain to me how the guy (Dominik Hasek) who&rsquo;s regarded as the best in the game today, explain how he was left unprotected by the Buffalo Sabres in the last expansion draft. But that&rsquo;s goaltending. If you don&rsquo;t have one of the top three guys in the game, you&rsquo;re not really sure what you&rsquo;ve got from one year to the next.&ldquo;Goaltending is important, but I don&rsquo;t see how one goalie or a change of goalies wins you the Stanley Cup. Did Buffalo win the Cup with Hasek last year? It&rsquo;s the team that wins the Cup and goaltending is a part of it, but it&rsquo;s not the only part.&rdquo;<div class="sidebar">Potential free agent Burke has much to gain</div><div class="sidebar">Hextail not giving up &#9632;</div>

f0008-02

FEATURES

Burke missing link?

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div>During training camp, Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; rookie forward Dave Scatchard was driving an hour from Burnaby every day to get to the rink. His buddy Mattias Ohlund had a condo downtown and space to spare.There were conditions, though, before Scatchard could move in.Ohlund likes his living quarters as neat and tidy as his bank account, which this year received an injection of $6 million (U.S.) in first-year salary and bonus. Scatchard, meanwhile, has trouble making his bed.&ldquo;Mattias is kind of a neat freak,&rdquo; Scatchard says. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t leave my dirty dishes in the sink. You&rsquo;re not allowed to wear your shoes in the house. They have to be in the closet, they can&rsquo;t be blocking the door.&rdquo;Ohlund (his name is pronounced Ma-TEE-as OH-lund) doesn&rsquo;t really like Scatchard using the phone, either, because he&rsquo;s got calls coming in from relatives and friends in Sweden around the clock and doesn&rsquo;t want the line tied up.Naturally, they all want to know how Ohlund&rsquo;s season is going. Well, he doesn&rsquo;t have this CalderTrophy thing wrapped up just yet, but let&rsquo;s just say if he&rsquo;s dusting off the mantle, it&rsquo;s probably not a waste of time.Left winger Patrick Elias of the New Jersey Devils was the early leader for top rookie, but time in the minors has dimmed his chances. TorontoMaple Leafs&rsquo; right winger Mike Johnson was another favorite and held a four-point lead over Boston Bruins&rsquo; left winger Sergei Samsonov in the rookie point race, but Johnson hadn&rsquo;t scored in 12 games.With less than two months to go, Ohlund and Samsonov (pronounced Sam-SAHN-ov) were the leading can didates.(Which isn&rsquo;t to say they&rsquo;ll necessarily be the best four years from now. &ldquo;I think Patrick Marleau is going to be the best of them all,&rdquo; one scout said of the San Jose Sharks&rsquo; 18-year-old center. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be really special.&rdquo;)Ohlund, with five goals and 24 points, was averaging 26 minutes a game and some were already considering him the team&rsquo;s No. 1 defenseman ahead of Jyrki Lumme. Even a rival executive with a Calder candidate on his own team said it would be a shame if Ohlund-&rdquo;a world-class player&rdquo;-didn&rsquo;t win.Two more impressive Ohlund stats:147 shots on goal to lead all rookies-second on Vancouver to Pavel Bure-and a plus-1 on the NHL&rsquo;s worst defensive team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011510/6935440-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="952" height="1939"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mattias Ohlund is averaging 26 minutes a game. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Even when it looks like he might lose a battle,&rdquo; Scatchard said,&rdquo;he always comes out of the comer with the puck.&rdquo;The Canuck public relations machine has kicked into gear with a 20-page &ldquo;Mattias Ohlund for NHL Rookie of the Year&rdquo; booklet containing quotes like this one from Colorado Avalanche coach Marc Crawford:&ldquo;As the year has gone on,&rdquo; Crawford is quoted as saying,&rdquo;he has shown that he&rsquo;s head and shoulders above any other rookie in the league. I&rsquo;ve seen a couple of kids that young and are going to develop into decent players, but he&rsquo;s a good player right now. He&rsquo;s got a great shot, great poise and a great presence.Ohlund takes the compliment in stride. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s fun to hear stuff like that, but to be honest I don&rsquo;t think about it. My main goal is to play good and do my best for the team.&ldquo;The game (in the NHL) is so much faster and more physical. Back home you have some extra time, a few seconds to think. Here you have to make the pass quickly and if you don&rsquo;t there&rsquo;s a man right on you. I think it just took me a couple of weeks to adjust.&rdquo;It took only a little longer for Samsonov to shine, but with eight goals and 16 points in 17 games since Jan. 8, the 5-foot-8, 185-pound fire hydrant has won over admirers with explosiveness and creativity.&ldquo;You&rsquo;d have to think Samsonov would be the leading candidate,&rdquo; said another scout. &ldquo;You can tell, the kid has got it.&rdquo;&ldquo;It took some time to get used to this league,&rdquo; Samsonov said. &ldquo;There was talk about my size. I wasn&rsquo;t really worried, but in the back of your mind you&rsquo;re thinking about it. I wasn&rsquo;t scared, but just still&hellip;&rdquo;Samsonov said the one thing he has had to work on most is consistency. Ohlund said his greatest challenges have come in Vancouver&rsquo;s five games against Colorado, and more specifically, center Peter Forsberg.Ohlund never knew Forsberg in Sweden; Forsberg&rsquo;s first season with the Quebec Nordiques in 1994-95 was Ohlund&rsquo;s first with Lulea in the Swedish Elite League. Playing together on Sweden&rsquo;s Olympic team in Nagano was the first time they ever talked.Four months from now, they could have more in common than just their nationality. Forsberg won the Calder in 1995. &#9632;

f0011-01

Ohlund cleans up

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011636/6935478-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="382" height="534"></div>Position Wanted: Center, 34 years old, one of the 30 highest point producers of all-time, still among top 10 centers in the NHL, seeks 20-25 minute-a-night job with contending team. Will work power play, kill penalties. Salary expectation: $5 million a year or best offer.The New York Rangers have Wayne Gretzky, 37, and Pat LaFontaine, 33, signed for next year. The Philadelphia Flyers put money down last summer on Chris Gratton.No room at the inn at Colorado, not with Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg. The Dallas Stars go 1-2 with Mike Modano and Joe Nieuwendyk and the Detroit Red Wings owe Sergei Fedorov $28 million if they get to the semis, which is semi-insane, only half as crazy as figuring out where potential unrestricted free agent Doug Gilmour will play next season.Would the Washington Capitals, putting $2.8 million toward Adam Oates and not selling out a new building, take on more age and obligation? Are the St. Louis Blues, their drunken shore leave over and back sailing a ship of fiscal responsibility, making Brett Hull sweat because they believe millions would be better spent on someone else?Mike Keenan needs a center. The Montreal Canadiens have cash, as apparently do the Carolina Hurricanes.The Florida Panthers, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders and maybe the Los Angeles Kings, are going to have to do something to show they are serious.Somebody will show Gilmour the money, the way the Vancouver Canucks did with Mark Messier, perhaps to Messier&rsquo;s everlasting regret. Aging stars looking for one last big score spell respect by the number of years and zeroes attached to the offer. But if their worst nightmare is attracting token or no interest, the living one is playing out their final years unable to make a difference for a bad team.The more Gilmour looks around, the more he realizes the best place for him is probably where he is. Both Scott Stevens and Martin Brodeur obviously felt that way when they re-signed with the New Jersey Devils for below-market rates, to the chagrin of agents who felt the players sold themselves short.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021308/6935471-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="445" height="839"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Gilmour</figcaption></div>They did, provided the goal was to squeeze every last buck and establish position for the next guy to the table. If it was more important to Stevens and Brodeur to keep their families settled and play for a winning team, then they made a killing.Gilmour figured his negotiations would be next, but when his agent Larry Kelly gave Devils&rsquo; GM Lou Lamoriello a number, they were told to take a number.&ldquo;I think Lou eventually will make an offer below what we&rsquo;ve asked for,&rdquo; said Gilmour, who suffered what was believed to be a minor knee injury March 5. For the privilege of staying with a contending team, he is willing to take two years at $5 million per.Lamoriello may have felt it right to reward the franchise staples before the recently-hired gun and might want to see if Jason Arnott can stop worrying and start playing like an anchor on the No. 1 line. Or, Lou might be playing his cards close to the vest for no better reason than maintaining the greatest degree of control. The burden is on Gilmour to prove during the playoffs he is irreplaceable. The $5 million seems steep, but the going rate rises all the time. Gilmour still retains adequate spring in his legs to justify a two-year investment, plus he knows Lamoriello might be frustrating, but isn&rsquo;t stupid.&ldquo;I understand totally,&rdquo; Gilmour said. &ldquo;Lou builds this franchise with a good minor league system. I&rsquo;m sure he would like to put me in the plans, but he&rsquo;s not much of a negotiator as the season goes on. Lou did say, &lsquo;The CB A is for guys like yourself. If there are going to be offers better than mine, you might have to take it.&rsquo; This is actually a better feeling than when you are in your option year and don&rsquo;t have any control. Yes, New Jersey is a good place for me to be. It&rsquo;s nice to win. But as time goes on, I have to look at different things.&rdquo;There are lots of them, with four more coming. To the best of our recollection, the last hockey player to actually retire was Ron Sedlbauer. The last one to go out holding a Cup was Lanny McDonald, a reminder that while there is plenty of NHL life after 35, living happily-ever-after still is the way to go, if you can swing it. &#9632;

f0012-01

COLUMNISTS

Best place for Happy Gilmour is New Jersey

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04493/6935523-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03849/6935530-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="184" height="202"></div>CARRY YOUR WEIGHTFEBRUARY WINNER: FREDRIK MODINWho the heck is Fredrik Modin?Even people who live in the city of Toronto, where Modin has played for the Maple Leafs the past two seasons, can be forgiven for asking that question. That&rsquo;s because the towering 6-foot-3, 222-pound left winger did very little to distinguish himself as a competent NHLer.Until recently that is. Modin caught fire in late-January and led all scorers during the month of February with eight goals and 10 points in seven games. For his efforts, Modin is the Dodge Trucks NHL Player of the Month.The rebuilding Leafs welcomed his emergence. At one point during his hot streak, Modin scored eight of 11 Maple Leaf goals. And, in one four-game stretch, he had three two-goal evenings.Three of his goals in February were game-winners. Teemu Selanne of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim was the only other player in the league who had more than one game-winner. He had two.Modin demonstrated glimpses of being more than just an average player as a rookie when he scored six goals and 13 points in 76 games. However, he was often inconsistent.This season it was much of the same until January, when suddenly he started using his considerable size to dish out hits and jockey for position in front of the other team&rsquo;s net. Also, he began to use his slap shot which has been measured at over 100 miles per hour. He wound up with six goals in five home games and two goals in two road games.Others who were considered for the award included Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; center Jozef Stumpel (five goals, nine points in six games), Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; right winger Donald Audette (six goals, eight points in seven games) and New Jersey Devils&rsquo; goalie Martin Brodeur (5-0-0, two shutouts).<h2>FACTS & STATS</h2>Player: Fredrik Modin Team: Toronto Maple Leafs Position: Left Wing Age: 24SEASON TOTALS:<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05353/6935516-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="1783" height="140"></div>FEBRUARY TOTALS:<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-06290/6935509-1-eng-US/f0012-062.jpg" title="f0012-06" width="1775" height="124"></div> &#9632;

f0012-04

PLAYER OF THE MONTH

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div>The Colorado Avalanche has just completed a workmanlike 4-3 road win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in its third game after the Olympic break. Teammates are already heading for the bus when winning goalie Patrick Roy towels off and turns to face the hungry media.Dominik Hasek is a hundred miles away at home in Buffalo, but he might as well be in the next dressing room, so palpable is his presence.Yes, it has come to this, and it may be a first. After the Czech Republic&rsquo;s gold medal performance in the Olympics and Hasek&rsquo;s penchant of late for chalking up shutouts for the Buffalo Sabres, we are actually comparing Patrick Roy to someone else and not the other way around.So the question is put to St. Patrick: How does he feel about the outpouring of admiration for Hasek that has, in effect, relegated Roy to second rung in the goalie pecking order?At first Roy says he can only worry about himself, but when pressed the tune changes, and it sounds as if he&rsquo;s taking talk of Hasek&rsquo;s ascendancy as a challenge to his own place in the game.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy for him,&rdquo; Roy says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing well and I will not deny him that, he&rsquo;s red hot right now. He won the gold, and his team was on a roll before that and he kept playing well, and he&rsquo;s still on a roll. Let&rsquo;s not take away what he&rsquo;s doing.&ldquo;But I know one thing,&rdquo; Roy continues-and here he turns his head and locks in two piercing blue eyes on his questioner,&rdquo;I would not exchange my playoff record with his.&rdquo;The arrogance of a champion.Hasek be damned. Roy is still, after all, the 35th best NHLer ever according to The Hockey News&rsquo; ranking of Top 50 NHL Players of All-Time and, perhaps, the best clutch goalie ever.He&rsquo;s the player who, as a Montreal Canadien five years ago, rushed out of a hospital bed to play a first round playoff game against the Boston Bruins after having an emergency appendectomy and still played better than most healthy goaltenders.No one is more keenly aware Roy&rsquo;s three Stanley Cups are his trump card than Roy himself. He can boast indirectly of his record for most career playoff wins of any goalie in history (96), his three Stanley Cups and two Conn Smythe Trophies, and no one can answer back.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011625/6935561-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="970" height="1959"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrick Roy says he will continue plavinq as Iong as he has fun. (IPhoto by Brian Winkler/BBS)</figcaption></div>They even overshadow his own amazingly consistent regular seasons, including an 25-12-12 record, 2.37 goals-against average and.919 save percentage this season.Such supreme confidence has long been Roy&rsquo;s trademark. Still, something has changed in his attitude, and it has nothing to do with Hasek.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter (to Roy) who is where, who is doing what,&rdquo; says Colorado GM Pierre Lacroix, formerly Roy&rsquo;s agent. &ldquo;When you&rsquo;re that type of guy, you don&rsquo;t compete with anybody.&rdquo;Except himself. And Roy seems to have recaptured an enjoyment and appreciation of the game that might have been on the wane in his glory days with the Canadiens.When Roy signed a contract with Montreal at the beginning of this decade, he was sure it would be his last.&ldquo;He told me in 1990 it was his last contract,&rdquo; Lacroix said. &ldquo;He was going to play golf.&rdquo;Roy signed another deal with Montreal in 1993 following his second Stanley Cup win and again with Colorado in 1996, a three-year, $14.2-million pact that makes him the league&rsquo;s richest goalie. Lacroix doesn&rsquo;t know what made Roy change his mind.&ldquo;I thought I would be fed up by then and that&rsquo;s not the case,&rdquo; Roy says. &ldquo;Coming here to Colorado, it has been a lot of fun for me, a good turn in my career. I kind of forgot (in 1990) that the years are going fast. Now I&rsquo;m not putting any (limit to) years in front of me except having fun and playing well.&rdquo;As for the Olympic performance, the truth is that Roy shone there, too.It would be easy to let Canada&rsquo;s fourth-place finish throw a dark blanket over Roy&rsquo;s performance.But he had a.935 save percentage over six games and was just as brilliant as Hasek in Canada&rsquo;s quarterfinal loss to the Czech Republic, save for a shootout goal by Robert Reichel that found a tiny hole between the tip of his right pad and the post.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re talking about a goalpost here, and that&rsquo;s it,&rdquo; Roy says.&ldquo;He had one, I had one, the difference is mine when in, his didn&rsquo;t. To me, I call that destiny, and my destiny wasn&rsquo;t there.&rdquo;Chances are he&rsquo;ll find it in the playoffs. It has always been there for him before. &#9632;

f0014-01

Roy defends crown

<div class="byline">By Jack Falla</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011496/6935599-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="382" height="533"></div>There is nothing difficult to understand about the concept, but apparently NHL marketing directors and those in charge of arena game day theatrics have a tough time comprehending what is nothing more than basic civility and common sense, namely, applause is a fan&rsquo;s to bestow, not management&rsquo;s to command.We&rsquo;ve been to most NHL arenas wherein we&rsquo;re constantly dismayed by the synthetic spontaneity and fraudulent joy elicited from the audience by means of synthesized and phony cavalry charge calls and by Jumbotron signs reading &ldquo;Noise&rdquo; and &ldquo;Cheer&rdquo; or by videos showing a pair of disembodied hands applauding in cartoonish insistence that the audience do the same.Cheering and applause should be-and at one time were-the spontaneous expression of approval by a legitimately enthused audience. They should not be a contrived chorus solicited by the electronic equivalent of a talk show flunky holding up an idiot card urging the studio get-a-lifers to ever greater levels of bogus enthusiasm. Today a generation of hockey fans has grown up cheering not just when they&rsquo;re inclined to, but when they&rsquo;re told to.Oh, we know, we know, the electronic exhortations are all part of the Disneyfication of all sports; an element in a marketing strategy that tries to make a hockey game what the suits like to call a total entertainment experience.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re in the entertainment business,&rdquo; as Mighty Ducks of Anaheim owner and Disney CEO Michael Eisner likes to remind us seemingly as often as right winger Teemu Selanne scores.But let&rsquo;s make a distinction between legitimate entertainment elements and Pavlovian cheering-on-demand. We are not lost-in-the-past curmudgeons. We enjoy the techno jock jam music pulsing over most arena sound systems before games and between periods. Technotronics&rsquo;&rdquo;Pump Up the Jam,&rdquo; 2 Unlimited&rsquo;s<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021043/6935592-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="514" height="969"><figcaption class="caption-body">Teemu Selanne</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Twilight Zone&rdquo; and C & C Music Factory&rsquo;s &ldquo;Gonna Make You Sweat&rdquo; are a major improvement over an organist playing &ldquo;Lady of Spain&rdquo; (which, in turn, is a major improvement over The Village People singing &ldquo;YMCA&rdquo;).We enjoy the NHL highlight videos shown as casually amusing distractions during TV timeouts.It&rsquo;s always preferable to watch a replay of Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; defenseman Darius Kasparaitis low-balling someone into the bench than to watch the players on the ice spray water on their faces and blow their noses into their game jerseys (well, maybe not if you&rsquo;re into the collectibles market). And if we don&rsquo;t exactly enjoy them, we&rsquo;re at least not offended by mascots. Got nothing against Wild Wing.But there comes a point where the Disneying up of the game becomes a Dumboing down of the fan. And that point is reached when management instructs us to cheer and we applaud and yell in slavish compliance.We&rsquo;ve become a stadium of sheep. And it is at this point that-as William F. Buckley, Jr. wrote in the inaugural edition of The National Review-&rsquo;We stand here in the face of progress and shout, &lsquo;NO!&rsquo;&rdquo;Hockey is a great game, the natural action of which will elicit plenty of opportunities for the collective and genuine expression of enthusiasm.It is a game that at various times has made us stand and yell and-more times than we care to own up to-give our companion an exultant whack with a rolled-up game program.A Dominik Hasek it-wasn&rsquo;t-possible save, a Wayne Gretzky saucered seeing-eye pass, a Pavel Bure ignition-and-lift-off burst of speed are reasons enough to cheer. A &ldquo;Cheer&rdquo; sign on a message board is an insult to the game and the audience. It&rsquo;s insincere. And so is any response to it. Besides, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association do it.So it has to be wrong. &#9632;

f0015-01

Applause must be earned not demanded

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>To be traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the worst team in the NHL, would be a nightmare to most players. But for Mark Fitzpatrick, the Lightning represents his best chance, once and for all, to become a No. 1 goalie in the NHL.So when he got the news he was moving across state, he was thrilled.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve handed me the torch and I&rsquo;m glad,&rdquo; said the 30-year-old Toronto native, traded Jan. 16 from the Florida Panthers with winger Jody Hull for Dino Cic-carelli and Jeff Norton. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had to battle a lot of things along the way, many of which were out of my control. But I never gave up on my dream to be a No. 1 goalie.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s far too early to concede the starter&rsquo;s job to Fitzpatrick and he&rsquo;ll have some formidable competition when Daren Puppa gets healthy. But his play, most notably a pair of wins over the Washington Capitals after the Olympic break, was encouraging.The Lightning defeated Washington 4-3 Feb. 25 despite being outshot 3318. Three nights later Tampa Bay was outshot 37-22, but beat the Caps 5-2.The wins helped raise his confidence after a dreadful 0-8-1 start in Tampa Bay and also helped the Lightning stop its skid toward one of the worst winning percentages of all-time. They were.259 before the Olympic break. Five games after the break they were up to.270. The 1974-75 Capitals have the worst winning percentage of all-time, .131.He was 3-11-1 with a 3.26 goals-against average and.899 save percentage with the Lightning.Fitzpatrick had a sniff at No. 1 in 1989-90, his second year in the NHL, when he played 47 games for the New York Islanders and recorded a personal high 19 wins. Then he contacted Eosinophilia Myalagia Syndrome (EMS), a rare blood disorder that caused swelling in his legs, muscles and joints. The Islanders were on an extended road trip, preparing for the 1990-91 season, when it hit. Fitzpatrick couldn&rsquo;t return until late in the year, playing 12 games for Capital District of the American League and two on Long Island.Fitzpatrick was prescribed antibiotics, as well as some medication commonly given to cancer patients, but he didn&rsquo;t shake the disease for a few years.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011410/6935630-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="970" height="1963"><figcaption class="caption-body">In Tampa, Mark Fitzpatrick finally has his chance to be No. 1. (Photo by Jon Hayt/BBS)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I had to look at the bright side,&rdquo; Fitzpatrick said. &ldquo;At least I was still playing. Some people get this and lose their life.&rdquo;Fitzpatrick was selected 27th overall by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1987 NHL entry draft, seven slots ahead of Jeff Hackett who was chosen 34th by the New York Islanders. They both made their debuts in 1988-89, Fitzpatrick with the Kings and Hackett with the Islanders. By the end of the year the two were teammates following a trade that sent Fitzpatrick to Long Island along with defensemen Wayne McBean and Doug Crossman for goalie Kelly Hrudey.The following season Fitzpatrick played with the Islanders while Hackett was dispatched to the minors. Hackett didn&rsquo;t really get his break with the big club until Fitzpatrick became ill.Fitzpatrick said he rode an emotional roller coaster in the next few seasons. He was confident he could be a winning goalie in the NHL, having backboned the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western League to back-to-back Memorial Cups in 198788 and 1988-89, but needed the opportunity to prove himself.&ldquo;After overcoming EMS, I had the attitude-just go for it,&rdquo; Fitzpatrick said. &ldquo;It was like I had an even greater desire to be a No. 1 goalie. I&rsquo;ve been given this second chance at life and I don&rsquo;t want to waste it.&rdquo;Being claimed by the Panthers in the 1993 expansion draft kept him in the NHL. But John Vanbiesbrouck was clearly the No. 1 goalie and Kevin Weekes is the Panthers&rsquo; goalie of the future.Earlier this season Fitzpatrick grumbled when he was sent to the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks of the AHL for a two-week conditioning stint. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know too many 10-year veterans who get sent to the minors for conditioning,&rdquo; he complained, to which Panthers&rsquo; GM Bryan Murray replied: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s getting $1.2 million to be a backup goalie. He should shut up and do what he&rsquo;s told.&rdquo;Murray failed to tell Fitzpatrick he was being showcased for a trade.Lightning coach Jacques Demers is impressed with Fitzpatrick&rsquo;s attitude and feels the goalie is doing the right things to be No. 1 in Tampa Bay.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s always asking me questions about Patrick (Roy),&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;What Patrick was thinking in certain situations, how Patrick prepared himself for games, things like that. He&rsquo;s out of Vanbiesbrouck&rsquo;s shadow; now is his chance.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-01

Starting over again

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011263/6935668-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="384" height="534"></div>Every club defeated by the Boston Bruins these days conducts an orderly retreat while quizzically muttering,&rdquo;How did we ever lose to that expansion team?&rdquo;It happens every time the Bruins win because logic-as in Boston&rsquo;s starting lineup-dictates defeat. Scan the roster and you wonder why Ray Bourque ever rejected an opportunity to play for the Detroit Red Wings.Their captain and lone superstar, Bourque, has so many miles on his wheels, at age 38, he should be skating on his hubcaps, if not his knees.The Bruins&rsquo; starting goalie, Byron Dafoe, was vetoed twice by the Washington Capitals and experienced deportation by the Los Angeles Kings in favor of Stephane Fiset. Alleged whiz kid Joe Thornton is the tallest invisible skater since Jack Stoddard, who was the most invisible tall skater in NHL history.Ted Donato, Boston&rsquo;s most reliable forward in 1996-97, has been in and out of more doghouses this year than Fido, Rover, Blue and Mike Keenan.Which makes one wonder why this formerly subterranean sextet is vigorously contending for home-ice advantage in the playoffs.The answer lies one-half inch behind the manic moustache and occasionally surly sneer of Pat Bums. Hockey&rsquo;s most famous ex-cop, Bums is the finest example of panache behind an NHL bench. He has dash, just the right dollop of flamboyance and total believability that makes skaters want to win for him.&ldquo;Pat&rsquo;s system is the key,&rdquo; says right winger Anson Carter. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no difference the way we play nightin, night-out. All the guys believe in Bums and that feeling has got us lots of wins.&rdquo;The Bums&rsquo; system is not unlike the Jacques Lemaire trap in New Jersey. &ldquo;Boston plays a patient, but hustling forechecking game waiting for the other team to make mistakes,&rdquo; Lemaire says. &ldquo;Then they pounce on them. Pat has the Bruins going that way for 60 minutes.&rdquo;This was evident on a recent three-game road trip. Against the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals, the Bruins&rsquo; took the foes&rsquo; best shots, then counter-punched for consecutive wins. Next at New Jersey, the Bruins encountered the streaking Devils and fell behind by a goal. But Bums&rsquo; discipline held and Jason Allison produced a 1-1 tie on a marvelously well-executed backhander.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02956/6935661-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="511" height="879"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jason Allison</figcaption></div>The Bums system even applies to dinosaurs. Take a triceratops like Dave Ellett. Detective-sergeant Bums had turned Ellett into a 33-year-old going on 21. &ldquo;He has made it fun and simple,&rdquo; says Ellett who recently played in his 1,000th NHL game. &ldquo;I let my brains do a lot of my work.&rdquo;Admired by his peers, Bums has no more fervent fan than Lemaire who talks with him whenever they meet.&ldquo;He has a knack of surrounding himself with players-like Ellett-who he knows well and who know him well and he gets the most out of them,&rdquo; Lemaire says. &ldquo;Ellett is a good example and he has played great for Pat.&rdquo;So has Lord Byron, who has turned the one-time disaster area around the Bruins&rsquo; crease into Fortress Dafoe.&ldquo;Bums has this team playing very good defense,&rdquo; Dafoe explains. &ldquo;That makes my job much easier, plus the fact that he&rsquo;s playing me in almost every game. It gives me a lot of confidence.&rdquo;Steve Heinze says,&rdquo;Great goaltending has been a key to our turnaround and Byron has given us top goaltending all year. That&rsquo;s a nice question mark not to have to worry about. If he&rsquo;s still playing well in the playoffs, that will be one less thing to worry about.&rdquo;The true mark of coaching savvy is the ability to turn a slug into a slugger. A year ago, Allison scored a grand total of eight goals. At last look, Allison had 25 red lights for Bums and the sky was the limit. &ldquo;Jason has made the commitment to play good hockey,&rdquo; Bums explains. &ldquo;He has also made the commitment to conditioning-and he&rsquo;s doing it.&rdquo;Why?The coach is making him. Imagine if Bums ever gets them to commit to a Stanley Cup. &#9632;

f0017-01

Boston on the run thanks to Mr. Burns

<div class="byline">By Cammy Clark</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011294/6935699-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="162" height="160"></div>Mighty Ducks of Anaheim team doctor Craig Milhouse is confident Paul Kariya will play hockey again. He just doesn&rsquo;t know when.More than a month after being crosschecked to the jaw by Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; defenseman Gary Suter on Feb. 1 and suffering his fourth concussion, Kariya was still experiencing symptoms of post-concussion syndrome.&ldquo;Paul is slowly getting better,&rdquo; Milhouse said Feb. 28. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s still symptomatic. Obviously, the symptoms have lingered longer than we&rsquo;d hoped. I told Paul, &lsquo;I know you&rsquo;re going to get better. I wish I could tell you when. I still feel you absolutely will play again.&rsquo;&rdquo;Milhouse ruled the concussion &ldquo;mild&rdquo; when it occurred and said Kariya would be able to return to the lineup a minimum of seven days after he was asymptomatic. But with Kariya still suffering from headaches, dizziness and having difficulty concentrating, Milhouse amended the time frame for Kariya&rsquo;s return to at least a month after he is asymptomatic.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to err on the side of caution,&rdquo; Milhouse said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to get caught up in trying to get him back for the playoffs.&rdquo;Before the Ducks&rsquo; 23-year-old captain is cleared to play, the team will also get a second opinion. &ldquo;When you&rsquo;re dealing with those kind of issues, it&rsquo;s a career thing and a lifelong thing,&rdquo; Milhouse said.NOTEBOOK: After the break, the Ducks played four games without their top three offensive threats due to injuries-left winger Paul Kariya, right winger Teemu Selanne (abdominal strain) and center Travis Green (groin pull). The Ducks went 1-3-0 during that span. Without that trio, the Ducks&rsquo; lineup doesn&rsquo;t strike fear in goalies. Against Edmonton Feb. 27, the Ducks&rsquo; lineup entered the game with a combined 59 goals (2.3 per person). Go figure, they won that game 4-0&hellip;The Ducks need a super shuttle to Cincinnati of the American League. They recalled left winger Mike Leclerc and right winger Frank Banham March 5, making them the 16th and 17th players from the farm team to wear a Ducks&rsquo; uniform this season. &#9632;

f0018-01

Kariya’s season in doubt, but Ducks won’t rush him

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03667/6935730-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="574" height="899"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Sweeney</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02960/6935737-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="162" height="160"></div>Don&rsquo;t try to tell Don Sweeney the obstruction crackdown is good for the game.The Boston Bruins&rsquo; veteran defenseman suffered a fractured shoulder blade when Steve Webb slammed him into the boards during a 5-4 victory over the New York Islanders March 1. It was a hit the Bruins don&rsquo;t think would have been possible if Webb could have been slowed down.&ldquo;It won&rsquo;t be the last time&rdquo; a defenseman is hurt in such a manner, said Sweeney, who had surgery March 4 that will probably keep him out for the remainder of the regular season. &ldquo;Forwards, for the most part, have carte blanche in that situation to just come at you now.&rdquo;&ldquo;We want more forechecking in the game, I agree,&rdquo; said Bruins&rsquo; coach Pat Bums. &ldquo;But the defensemen will be going down like that all the time. There&rsquo;s never one without the other. There&rsquo;s always trouble.&rdquo;The Bruins tried to minimize trouble on their blueline March 3 when they acquired 36-year-old Grant Ledyard from the Vancouver Canucks for an eighth round pick in the 1998 entry draft. While happy to obtain a proven defender for the stretch drive without losing a player from their roster, the Bruins hadn&rsquo;t planned on adding a player in the twilight of his career. Boston now has four defensemen under contract for next season who will be 32 or older-captain Ray Bourque (37) Ledyard. Dave Ellett (34 on March 30) and Sweeney, who&rsquo;ll be 32 this summer.NOTEBOOK: The Bruins got defenseman Grant Ledyard relatively cheaply after he had fallen out of favor with Vancouver coach Mike Keenan. The Canucks hadn&rsquo;t used him since Jan. 31. &ldquo;It was a sobering experience,&rdquo; Ledyard said&hellip;Backup goalie Rob Tallas, sidelined by a hamstring strain since Jan. 24, was so impressive in a 23-save. 3-0 shutout March 3 at Washington that coach Pat Burns gave him another start two nights later at New Jersey. Tallas made 20 saves in a 1-1 tie with the Devils&hellip;Center Jason Allison was named NHL player of the week for the period ending March 1. He had two goals and six points in three games&hellip;Defenseman Dave Ellett played his 1,000th NHL game March 1 against the Islanders. &#9632;

f0018-03

Ledyard in for Sweeney

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011199/6935768-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="164" height="162"></div>Michael Peca is playing so well for the Buffalo Sabres right now, people tend to forget he was voted sexiest man in Western New York in a local newspaper.&ldquo;To tell you the truth you&rsquo;re the first guy who&rsquo;s mentioned it,&rdquo; Peca said of the article that would normally be the subject of derision from teammates. &ldquo;I think everyone&rsquo;s been so focused around here lately that no one&rsquo;s even noticed it.&rdquo;It illustrated how much the Sabres have been concentrating on hockey during their 13-game (70-6) unbeaten streak.&ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m back on top of my game,&rdquo; Peca said. &ldquo;I guess the start was slower than I would have liked what with the contract (dispute) and some of the problems we had, but things are going well now and I feel confident that when I go out on the ice I can help get things done.&rdquo;Peca is again a contender for the Selke Trophy as the league&rsquo;s premier defensive forward, which he won last season.Coach Lindy Ruff has Peca doing battle against the league&rsquo;s top offensive forwards and like his predecessor, Ted Nolan, he double shifts Peca, using him as an offensive center, sometimes on his No. 1 or No. 2 lines.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s part of what I think I can contribute,&rdquo; Peca said. &ldquo;I pride myself on my defense and I take a certain amount of satisfaction in keeping other players off the scoreboard because I think that contributes as much to a win as scoring a goal, but I like to contribute where I can offensively as well, because I think it&rsquo;s important to be a complete player.&rdquo;Peca felt he was pretty much at that point earlier this season when Canada selected its Olympic team. He wasn&rsquo;t chosen. He refuted an argument he was left off because he wasn&rsquo;t playing well when the team was announced.&ldquo;I think politics might have something to do with it because in the NHL everything is political,&rdquo; Peca said,&rdquo;but whatever the reason I wasn&rsquo;t their guy and I have to respect that. They made their choices and I respect that as well.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: A slew of injuries cut into ice time for several players. Center Brian Holzinger had a sprained ankle and was day-to-day. Left winger Derek Plante was having trouble with his back and was in the same situation. Defenseman Richard Smehlik had blood behind his left eye and was still waiting for it to drain before he could return to the lineup. As a result, defenseman Rumun Ndur was still with the club, supplementing the blue line. Center Eric Rasmussen, Buffalo&rsquo;s first round pick in 1996, was recalled from Rochester of the American League&hellip;The team record for consecutive games without a loss is 14, set in 1980-81. That was also the last time the Sabres reached the conference finals&hellip;Coach Lindy Ruff said he wouldn&rsquo;t discount talk of the Sabres making a long playoff run because the team is playing well now and Dominik Hasek has been brilliant. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen what strong team play and a hot goaltender can do,&rdquo; said Ruff, who was with the Florida Panthers when they made their ran to the Stanley Cup finals two seasons ago. &#9632;

f0019-01

Sexy Peca plays captain’s role in Sabres’ super unbeaten run

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02869/6935799-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="161" height="160"></div>Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; GM Bob Murray hopes the search is over.With the acquisition of 6-foot-4, 215-pound Chad Kilger March 4 from the Phoenix Coyotes, the organization finally may have found the big second line center it has been seeking for years.In order to get the 22-year-old Kilger and defenseman Jay More from the Coyotes, the Hawks had to part with defenseman Keith Carney and physical right winger Jim Cummins.&ldquo;I gave up a top-four defenseman and it&rsquo;s a gamble,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;But there are only so many young centers with size. I missed on (Chris) Gratton and this guy was next.&rdquo;Although the deal was made with an eye to the future, the Hawks immediately inserted Kilger into the lineup and he picked up two assists in his Chicago debut, a 2-2 tie with the Pittsburgh Penguins.&ldquo;The whole key to the deal now is how we develop Chad Kilger,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He needs ice time and an opportunity to play with decent players. And an understanding coach.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s probably one of those cases, and we all do it, where you draft a kid and there&rsquo;s too much pressure put on him to play right away. He probably would have been better off in juniors after he was drafted.&rdquo;Kilger was the fourth selection overall in the 1995 draft by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. After collecting five goals in 45 games during his rookie season (1995-96) in Anaheim, he was packaged with Oleg Tverdovsky and sent to the Winnipeg Jets for right winger Teemu Selanne. He never met the sky-high expectations in the organization and wound up spending much of his time with the Springfield Falcons of the American League.Naturally, Kilger welcomes the chance to get his career back on track with the Blackhawks, already his third organization.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just real excited to play on this level again,&rdquo; Kilger said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking forward to getting the opportunity to play.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: GM Bob Murray indicated he wants to make another deal before the March 25 trade deadline for more muscle on the blueline. &ldquo;My defense is not physical enough,&rdquo; Murray said. &lsquo;Tm not happy about that and I&rsquo;m going to fix it.&rdquo;&hellip;Defenseman Chris Chelios received his first suspension in four years March 3, a one-gamer, for verbally abusing referee Bill McCreary and throwing his stick in McCreary&rsquo;s direction. Chehos was angry an obstruction penalty wasn&rsquo;t called when he was hauled down by St. Louis defenseman Chris Pronger in a March 3 game. Chelios has been a harsh critic of the new enforcement of obstruction rales. &ldquo;Anyone who knows hockey knows it&rsquo;s a joke out there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The referees don&rsquo;t know what to call.&rdquo;&hellip;Center Alex Zhamnov suffered a concussion at St Louis when checked hard into the glass by Blues&rsquo; left winger Scott Pellerin. He missed a March 5 game at Pittsburgh&hellip;Left winger Bob Probert was skating with the team again and still planning an April return from shoulder surgery. &#9632;

f0019-02

Blackhawks gambling young Kilger can turn career around in new city

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03492/6935861-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="578" height="898"><figcaption class="caption-body">Adam Deadmarsh</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02730/6935868-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="162" height="159"></div>Adam Deadmarsh swears he doesn&rsquo;t know who &ldquo;pillaged the village&rdquo; at the Olympics.And the member of the U.S. Olympic team certainly wasn&rsquo;t playing like someone with a guilty conscience.The Colorado Avalanche right winger was one of the team&rsquo;s best players in its first six games after the break. Although the Avs won only three of them, it wasn&rsquo;t because Deadmarsh didn&rsquo;t pull his weight.The 22-year-old had four goals and an assist in the span. Deadmarsh&rsquo;s short career has been one characterized by hot and cold streaks, but the Avs are hoping his post-break hot spell lasts through the playoffs.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got some injuries right now and that means everybody has to step things up, me included,&rdquo; Deadmarsh said.Deadmarsh led the Avs with 33 goals last season, but with 19 goals in 62 games this season he will have a tough time matching that. He remained optimistic for both himself and his teammates, however, especially now that the league is cracking down on obstruction fouls.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a tougher team to stop offensively when we&rsquo;ve got room to skate,&rdquo; Deadmarsh said.Deadmarsh skates around the subject of who the perpetrators might have been who trashed their Olympic village rooms. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t even know about it until I got back to the States,&rdquo; said Deadmarsh, a native of Trail, B.C., who has dual Canadian-American citizenship.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Francois Leroux suffered a dislocated left shoulder Feb. 26 and could be done for the season if the injury requires surgery. To fill Leroux&rsquo;s spot on the roster, the Avalanche recalled rookie left winger Wade Belak from Hershey of the American League&hellip;Goalie Patrick Roy&rsquo;s 4-0 shutout of Phoenix Feb. 26 was the 40th of his career, tying him with Frank Brimsek for 21st on the all-time list&hellip;Left winger Valeri Kamensky donated the $5,000 he received for winning last season&rsquo;s MasterCard Play of the Year to the Children&rsquo;s Hospital of Denver&hellip;Right winger Claude Lemieux missed games against Toronto (March 2) and Ottawa (March 4) with back spasms, but was expected back in early March. &#9632;

f0020-03

Deadmarsh comes alive

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04310/6935899-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="163" height="160"></div>Much has changed in the hockey playing life of Hnat Domenichelli since being acquired by the Calgary Flames from the Hartford Whalers a year ago.The 22-year-old was ticketed for a full season in the American League to develop and mature. The plan changed when former junior teammate, Jarome Iginla, broke his right hand, opening up a spot on one of the top two lines-and Domenichelli, called up Jan. 21, delivered. He produced a seven-game point streak from Jan. 29 to March 1, which tied him with Boston Bruins&rsquo; right winger Sergei Samsonov for the longest of the season by a rookie.&ldquo;Last year, it was tough for me at the NHL level,&rdquo; said Domenichelli, who had three goals and six points in 23 games for the Flames and Whalers. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t playing a lot in Hartford, so it was tough to find your role within the team. Then I came to Calgary and the team was pretty much set.&rdquo;&ldquo;So this year, I was here from the beginning of camp. I was part of the organization, so they were able to watch me.&rdquo;It helps playing on a scoring line. Domenichelli was installed on left wing with German Titov shifting to center and Theo Fleury on the right side. &ldquo;Playing with Theo and German have made it easy for me,&rdquo; Domenichelli said. &ldquo;Anytime you play with the best players on the team, it&rsquo;s obviously going to make you better.&rdquo;Domenichelli, aiming for a 50-goal season with the Saint John Flames in the AHL, had 33 when he came up and five more in his first 10 games in Calgary. Could he still attain that goal split between the NHL and the AHL?&ldquo;I&rsquo;m at 38 now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;To get to 50 would be great, but it&rsquo;s obviously very tough to score at this level. For me. I&rsquo;d rather make the playoffs than score, but I think one thing might fall into the other. If I can help with the offense and the team can score, it should provide wins.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Ron Stem, expected to return to the lineup following the Olympic break, went back to Colorado Springs for more arthroscopic knee surgery to remove a new piece of loose cartilage. It was unclear whether Stem, a potential unrestricted free agent this summer, will be able to return this season&hellip;Right winger Jarome Iginla received medical clearance to return to the lineup March 7 against Ottawa. Iginla had been out since mid-January with a broken bone in his right hand&hellip;Right winger Valeri Bure suffered a concussion against Tampa Bay March 3, his second of the season, so doctors were being cautious before giving him the green light to play. Bure was expected to be out until mid-March. &#9632;

f0020-04

Domenichelli makes most of chances

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01851/6935930-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="161" height="160"></div>The Dallas Stars have survived this season with some or their best forwards out of the lineup at times. Now, they&rsquo;ll see if they have the depth to survive without two of their best defensemen.Blueline stalwarts Derian Hatcher and Sergei Zubov were expected to be out of the lineup until mid-March. Hatcher, the team captain, had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee to clean up cartilage he damaged March 1 in a 2-2 tie with the Chicago Blackhawks. Zubov, whose 47 points in 60 games led NHL defensemen, aggravated a sprained neck against the Hawks.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had challenges before like this and have stepped up with the forwards,&rdquo; said coach Ken Hitchcock. &ldquo;Now it&rsquo;s time to see if the defense can do the same thing.&rdquo;Likely affected most by the injuries would be Shawn Chambers and Craig Ludwig-each of whom expected to see their minutes increase by anywhere from five-to-eight minutes per game. Richard Matvichuk, who recently returned from a knee injury, also expected to see his playing time increase, although he was already fourth on the team in minutes played, averaging 21 per game.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re all going to have to take up the slack and even play different roles,&rdquo; Matvichuk said.Center Mike Modano was expected to move back to Zubov&rsquo;s point position on the power play and Hitchcock said he expected to change the defensemen more often on the power play.NOTEBOOK: Defensemen Petr Buzek. 20, and Brad Lukowich, 21, were recalled from Michigan of the International League to fill the roster spots left vacant by injuries to Derian Hatcher and Sergei Zubov. Neither Lukowich nor Buzek had played in the NHL prior to the recall&hellip;Goalie Roman Turek was named NHL rookie of the month for February. Turek played in three of the Stars&rsquo; five games and went 3-0-0 with a 0.67 goals against average and.972 save percentage. Turek, 27, is not eligible for the Calder Trophy, but can be named to the all-rookie team&hellip;Defenseman Darryl Sydor recorded his 200th career point March l&hellip;The Stars moved to 25 games above .500 Feb. 28, the most the franchise has ever been above .500. &#9632;

f0021-01

Defense gets serious test with Hatcher, Zubov out

<div class="byline">By Chuck Carlton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03272/6935961-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="576" height="893"><figcaption class="caption-body">Anders Eriksson</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02477/6935968-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="163" height="158"></div>Center Sergei Fedorov&rsquo;s return might not be the only addition to the Detroit Red Wings lineup this season.Senior vice-president Jimmy Devellano, assistant GM Don Waddell and scouts Mark Howe and Dan Belisle were all on scouting trips evaluating NHL talent before the March 25 trade deadline.&ldquo;Certainly if we can look to upgrade, we&rsquo;re going to do it,&rdquo; said GM Ken Holland,&rdquo;but if at the same time we can&rsquo;t get anything done, we&rsquo;re one of five, six or seven Stanley Cup contenders. Would we like to upgrade? Yes. So would everybody else.&rdquo;If the Red Wings pull the trigger, it will almost certainly be for a top-four defenseman such as Ottawa Senator Igor Kravchuk, Florida Panther Gord Murphy or Vancouver Canuck Jyrki Lumme-all unrestricted free agents this summer.Although pleased with the development of Anders Eriksson, management is concerned the loss of Vladimir Konstantinov could show in the playoffs.Holland doesn&rsquo;t rule out the status quo and feels more comfortable with his team after matching the six-year, $38-million Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; offer sheet to retain Fedorov Feb. 26.&ldquo;If there&rsquo;s a move to upgrade the team at the right price, we&rsquo;ll do it,&rdquo; Holland said. &ldquo;If we have to go into the playoffs as is, the return of Sergei Fedorov has been a major, major addition. If you had asked me a couple of weeks ago, I would have said Sergei probably wouldn&rsquo;t play this season.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Sergei Fedorov began making amends with his teammates by heating players and the training staff to dinner in Phoenix at Morton&rsquo;s of Chicago, an upscale steakhouse. The tab: $11,000&hellip;Fedorov scored his first goal on a power play in a 3-1 win over Phoenix March 2&hellip;The Fedorov contract means the Red Wings likely won&rsquo;t make a pitch this summer for prized unrestricted defenseman Al MacInnis&hellip;The Red Wings, however, have started discussions with defenseman Larry Murphy, an unrestricted free agent after this season. GM Ken Holland said he won&rsquo;t negotiate with players after the playoffs begin&hellip;Backup goalie Kevin Hodson was unbeaten in his last four starts and posted his second shutout, a 2-0 win March 5 over Anaheim. &#9632;

f0021-03

Front office ready to deal

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04195/6935999-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="162" height="156"></div>As more and more of Michael Largue&rsquo;s story began to unravel, it became clear the self-proclaimed investment banker was less and less what he portrayed himself to be.And thankfully, he did not delay the sale of the Edmonton Oilers to a serious group of local investors. Largue was merely a sideshow as the business of keeping the team in Edmonton remained on track, and in fact, gained momentum with a week to go before the March 13 sale deadline.A spokesman for the local group welcomed two new investors on board and said the locals were $5 million (Cdn.) short of raising the $60 million (Cdn.) they wanted to buy the team from the Alberta Treasury Branch. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re still confident of $60 million,&rdquo; said spokesman Cal Nichols.They need to raise $70 million (U.S.) by that date to buy the team or it will go to Houston&rsquo;s Les Alexander, who put in a bid of $82.5 million (U.S.). The locals were courting Alberta banks to raise the approximately $40 million (Cdn.) extra they will need to carry as a debt load.Largue, meanwhile, burst onto the scene, full of promises that he had the $100 million (U.S.) backing of a Swiss banker named Lester Mittendorf, who was interested in buying the Oilers and keeping them in Edmonton. Largue visited Edmonton and was quickly exposed as a fake. He had recently been convicted of a fraud charge in Long Island, N.Y., and was placed on five years probation.Largue&rsquo;s claims of playing college hockey at Northeastern University and for the Bern Bears of the Swiss Elite League were also exposed as lies.His estranged wife Jeanette told the Edmonton Journal Largue is &ldquo;a pathological liar,&rdquo; and said despite Largue&rsquo;s contention that negative stories were affecting his children, the couple never had kids.The Journal said Largue was named in 11 lawsuits in the U.S.NOTEBOOK: There was a chance defenseman Kevin Lowe might return from a season-long inner ear virus that had kept him out of all but five games this season. He joined the team for a sevengame road trip in early March with the hopes of getting in the lineup&hellip;Right winger Scott Fraser had five goals in eight NHL games, including one in overtime to give the Oilers a 5-4 win over Colorado March 2. The victory snapped a 13-game winless streak against the Avs&hellip;GM Glen Sather said he wants a definitive answer from goalie Curtis Joseph&rsquo;s agent, Don Meehan, on the possibility of re-signing the goalie, who is due to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. &#9632;

f0021-04

Happy ending after Largue’s comic relief?

<div class="byline">By Michael Russo</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02678/6936030-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="573" height="900"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ray Sheppard</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01981/6936037-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="161" height="159"></div>Alarm bells went off for right winger Ray Sheppard when he was a healthy scratch Feb. 27 against the Detroit Red Wings.Sheppard immediately became nervous about his future with the Panthers. &ldquo;(Assistant coach) Duane Sutter came up to me and told me I wasn&rsquo;t playing,&rdquo; Sheppard said. &ldquo;The last time I was told that, I was traded the next day. So there are a few things running through my mind right now. I don&rsquo;t know what to think.&rdquo;Sheppard was last a healthy scratch Oct. 23, 1995, the day before Detroit dealt him to the San Jose Sharks for Igor Larionov and a draft pick.Coach-GM Bryan Murray insisted Sheppard was not on the trading block.Sheppard, who had 12 goals in 54 games, said this has been the most disappointing season of his 11-year NHL career.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a matter of time when you&rsquo;re not scoring that a decision such as today happens,&rdquo; Sheppard said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not happy about it, especially against Detroit.&rdquo;It seems almost every game Sheppard misses great chances, including another wide-open net with the New York Rangers when goalie Mike Richter sprawled out on the ice to block Sheppard&rsquo;s shot in a 4-3 loss March 4.&ldquo;Look, I&rsquo;ll tell you point blank that I know I&rsquo;ve had a terrible year,&rdquo; said Sheppard. &ldquo;But not every season is going to go great. Obviously this is a bad year for me personally and the team hasn&rsquo;t been great either. But I&rsquo;m not the only one who isn&rsquo;t scoring.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Backup goalie Kevin Weekes started his first game since Nov. 1 on March 4 against the New York Rangers when John Vanbiesbrouck bruised his left knee during the morning skate. Weekes made 30 saves in a 4-3 loss&hellip;Coach-GM Bryan Murray&rsquo;s renewed confidence in left winger Johan Garpenlov lasted all of two games. Murray said he wanted to give Garpenlov, a routine healthy scratch, a four-or five-game chance after the Olympics. Two games into the experiment, Garpenlov was in the stands again&hellip;Murray&rsquo;s first return to Detroit since he was fired as GM in 1994 was completely overshadowed Feb. 27 because center Sergei Fedorov&rsquo;s season-long holdout came to an end with his debut against the Panthers. &#9632;

f0022-02

Sheppard no Ray of hope

<div class="byline">By Helene Elliott</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03477/6936068-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="161" height="159"></div>Goaltender Stephane Fiset has probably been the most valuable player in the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; resurgence this season, providing consistency and frequent game-winning acrobatics.But when Fiset strained a groin muscle March 2 and was ordered to rest, the Kings didn&rsquo;t miss a beat. They turned to Jamie Storr. whom they have been grooming for the starting job since they chose him seventh overall in the 1994 entry draft.Thrust into the spotlight, Storr acquitted himself well. He ran his unbeaten streak to five (4-0-1) and set a career high in victories with four before falling victim to a weak offensive effort by his teammates and losing 2-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes March 5. With a 2.13 goals-against average and.931 save percentage in nine appearances, Storr gave the Kings every reason to be confident when he&rsquo;s in the net.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s making some big saves after we make bonehead plays and that&rsquo;s what your goalie is supposed to do,&rdquo; Kings&rsquo; coach Larry Robinson said in singling Storr out for praise after the loss to the Hurricanes. &ldquo;We got great goaltending from Jamie.&rdquo;Storr was more disappointed that the team&rsquo;s hot streak had ended than he was about the end of his personal streak. The Kings went into the Olympic break on a 9-1-1 surge and kept that alive by tying the Detroit Red Wings (Feb. 25) and defeating the Chicago Blackhawks (Feb. 26) after the break, but losses to the St. Louis Blues (Feb. 28) and Carolina sandwiched around a tie against the Vancouver Canucks (March 2) brought them back to earth.&ldquo;We have to win these kinds of games,&rdquo; Storr said. &ldquo;We have to keep improving and focusing on each game.&ldquo;I feel pretty good playing and the team has been playing really well in front of me. We went on a roll for a while and now is the toughest part, coming out of it. We&rsquo;ve got to get back into it.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Kings&rsquo; offense took a hit March 2 when left winger Luc Robitaille underwent surgery to repair an abdominal injury he sustained before the Olympic break. Although team doctor Ronald Kvitne said Robitaille will miss the rest of the season, Robitaille hopes to return before the playoffs. &ldquo;It was getting worse every game, and then (on Feb. 7) it got to the point where I couldn&rsquo;t move,&rdquo; Robitaille said. &ldquo;At first, we figured that I would be OK with three weeks of therapy during the Olympic break. But when I tried to skate (before the Kings&rsquo; game at Detroit Feb. 25), I couldn&rsquo;t go.&rdquo; Mesh was inserted into the lining of Robitaille&rsquo;s abdominal wall to reinforce weakness found on both sides. &#9632;

f0022-03

Fiset down, good show left in Storr

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05249/6936099-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="569" height="900"><figcaption class="caption-body">Vladimir Malakhov</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04322/6936106-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="160" height="160"></div>Vladimir Malakhov is big and talented, but the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman also is injury-prone.Malakhov, who turned down a request to represent Russia at the Nagano Olympics, missed a three-game Canadiens&rsquo; road trip with what appeared to be tendonitis in his left shoulder or upper arm.Without Malakhov, who arguably had been the team&rsquo;s best defenseman this season, Montreal lost two of the three games.The origin and nature of Malakhov&rsquo;s injury are sketchy. Although he didn&rsquo;t practise the final week of February, he suited up for a Feb. 25 6-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Canadiens&rsquo; first game following the Olympics. Malakhov was on the ice for four Penguins&rsquo; goals.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to use the injury as an excuse,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was hurting when we played Pittsburgh. I couldn&rsquo;t shoot. I couldn&rsquo;t hold guys. But I didn&rsquo;t play well.&rdquo;Malakhov missed four games in December with a sprained left knee. The 6-foot-4, 227-pounder hasn&rsquo;t played a full season since joining the New York Islanders in 1992. He appeared in 65 games last season, missing 16 games alone with a fractured thumb.Although Malakhov said he thought he was suffering from tendonitis in his shoulder, coach Alain Vigneault said the pain was in the bicep.&ldquo;When our players say that they&rsquo;re injured, we have to believe them,&rdquo; Vigneault said.NOTEBOOK: Center Vincent Damphousse dressed for a March 4 game at Dallas despite suffering a mild concussion four nights earlier at Toronto. By playing, the Canadiens&rsquo; captain extended a remarkable record dating back to 1986, his rookie season. Damphousse has never missed a game throughout his career due to injury. Suspensions-two games with the Canadiens and another with Toronto-cut into his streak of consecutive games played. In his sophomore season, he was a healthy scratch for five games with the Leafs. Take that away and Damphousse would have played in 920 consecutive games and would be in hot pursuit of the NHL record held by former Hab Doug Jarvis, who played in 964 consecutive games. &#9632;

f0022-05

Malakhov hit by injury bug

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06199/6936137-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="162" height="160"></div>Brian Rolston&rsquo;s ticket out of town may have been sitting on GM Lou Lamoriello&rsquo;s desk while Rolston remained an unsigned free agent throughout training camp.It was certainly there, just waiting to be handed to the speedy forward, when Rolston publicly voiced his unhappiness after being scratched from a game against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in late November.And yet, unlike longtime New Jersey Devils John MacLean and Bill Guerin, Rolston never got the boot from Lamoriello. As the Devils increased their lead atop the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference with a nine-game unbeaten streak (7-0-2), Rolston played a key role as the left winger on Bobby Carpenter&rsquo;s checking line.He backed up his words and earned a prominent place in the lineup.&ldquo;Basically, it&rsquo;s all about confidence, which I&rsquo;ve had ever since Johnny MacLean left,&rdquo; Rolston said. &ldquo;Before that, I didn&rsquo;t have a purpose on this team. I wasn&rsquo;t playing much and I wasn&rsquo;t killing penalties. You try to get yourself psyched up, but when you don&rsquo;t have an opportunity to contribute, it&rsquo;s hard. When Johnny Mac left, it gave me that opportunity. At the start of the season I felt like a fringe player. I was worrying if I&rsquo;d even stay in the lineup.&rdquo;In 55 games this season, Rolston had 14 goals and 24 points, but his defensive role had expanded significantly from a year ago.NOTEBOOK: Center Doug Gilmour, an unrestricted free agent following this season, suffered a bruised right knee in a collision with Boston defenseman Grant Ledyard March 5. Gilmour, looking for a two-year deal at $5 million per season, said the Devils hadn&rsquo;t made any offers. &ldquo;Obviously if there is no offer there, there&rsquo;s nothing I can do,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if it will change and there will be an offer, but there has been nothing so far. Am I looking for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;&hellip;Right winger Randy McKay&rsquo;s goal on March 2 was his first in 18 games&hellip;Defenseman Scott Stevens returned to the lineup after missing one game with a hip pointer. He appeared in his 50th game for the Devils March 2. &#9632;

f0022-06

Perseverance rewarded as Rolston finds niche

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01872/6936168-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="161" height="158"></div>When the New York Islanders obtained right winger Trevor Linden from the Vancouver Canucks Feb. 6, they envisioned him eventually taking over as captain from Bryan McCabe, who went to Vancouver in the same deal.The Islanders surprised Linden, however, by making the announcement before his third game with them March 3 against the Philadelphia Flyers at Nassau Coliseum.In a pre-game ceremony during which the team&rsquo;s new owners invited members of the 1980-83 Stanley Cup dynasty to participate, ex-captain Denis Potvin presented Linden with a new sweater with a &lsquo;C&rsquo; on it. Linden had received the news from coach Rick Bowness less than two hours earlier.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s certainly a great honor,&rdquo; Linden said after a 3-1 win broke the Islanders&rsquo; three-game losing streak. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m following a great legacy of captains. It was a proud moment in my life.&rdquo;Defenseman Bryan Berard said,&rdquo;I think it was the right move. In the few days he has been here, he has spoken up and guys have listened. He was captain in Vancouver and did a great job there. You can see the leadership qualities.&rdquo;GM Mike Milbury said he discussed the matter that afternoon with new coowner Steven Gluckstem.&ldquo;Rick (Bowness) didn&rsquo;t have any trouble with it,&rdquo; Milbury said,&rdquo;so we went ahead and did it&hellip;Nobody else in the room comes close to having (Linden&rsquo;s) qualifications.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: GM Mike Milbury said when the captain&rsquo;s &lsquo;C&rsquo; was sewn on Trevor Linden&rsquo;s sweater,&rdquo;somebody sewed the neck hole. We caught that before he went on the ice.&rdquo;&hellip;Milbury said that after J.P. Dumont&rsquo;s recent scoring splurge with the Quebec League&rsquo;s Val d&rsquo;Or Foreurs, he planned to watch Dumont play in midMarch&hellip;Left winger Sergei Nemchinov broke a 19-game scoring drought with an empty net goal against Philadelphia March 3 in a 3-1 win&hellip;The NHL didn&rsquo;t take any disciplinary action after a pre-game shoving match featuring defenseman Rich Pilon and Philadelphia&rsquo;s Brantt Myhres, but Flyers&rsquo; left winger Daniel Lacroix received a three-game suspension for a vicious crosscheck on Pilon later in the game. &#9632;

f0023-01

Linden named Islanders’ captain after two games

<div class="byline">By Rick Carplniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03388/6936199-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="575" height="896"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02559/6936206-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="160" height="157"></div>Who would believe a scrawny 37-year-old could come back from the Nagano Olympics and be, far and away, the New York Rangers&rsquo; best player in the first four games after the break?That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s &lsquo;The Great One.&rsquo;Wayne Gretzky had two goals and six points in wins over the Toronto Maple Leafs (Feb. 26) and Florida Panthers (March 4) and was the Rangers&rsquo; best player in losses to the Philadelphia Flyers (Feb. 28) and Buffalo Sabres (March 2).Gretzky&rsquo;s ice time under new coach John Muckier is about the same as it was under former coach Colin Campbell, but Muckier has included him in penalty killing and uses him more on the No. 1 power play unit.Muckier also uses Gretzky in late-period situations when protecting a lead.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve known Gretz for quite a few years,&rdquo; Muckier said,&rdquo;and I know better than to bet against Gretz. He loves a challenge and he needs to be challenged. Gretz is really playing solid, not just offensively, but also defensively.&rdquo;Gretzky challenged his teammates to pick up their passion, then did so himself.&ldquo;We came back from the break and just looked at each other and said, &lsquo;We just have to do it.&rsquo; Each guy has to be committed to it.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad (Canada) rested him in the penalty shots (in the semifinal shootout loss to the Czech Republic),&rdquo; quipped Rangers&rsquo; goalie Mike Richter. &ldquo;He seems rested.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Rangers were shut out by Buffalo goalie Dominik Hasek for a third straight time March 2 in a 1-0 loss. Hasek had blanked them for more than 198 minutes since a Wayne Gretzky goal in November. &ldquo;I think right now he&rsquo;s the best player in the game,&rdquo; said Gretzky, who lost his only chance at an Olympic medal to Hasek and the Czech Republic. It marked the first time the Rangers had been shut out by one team three consecutive times since 1927 when the Montreal Canadiens did it&hellip;Left winger Darren Langdon suffered a bruised sternum and neck strain during a fight with Florida defenseman Paul Laus March 4&hellip;The Rangers had one 4-on-4 goal and no shorthanders, while allowing seven at 4-on-4 and 11 shorthanded. &#9632;

f0023-03

Great Gretzky Rangers’ best

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02624/6936237-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="573" height="900"><figcaption class="caption-body">Garth Snow</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01938/6936244-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="163" height="162"></div>Most of the Philadelphia Flyers will miss Garth Snow&rsquo;s quick glove hand and quicker wit, but realized it was time to get serious about their goaltending situation.When they heard their team had acquired goaltender Sean Burke from the Vancouver Canucks for Snow March 4, the players pretty much said the same thing: they hated to see Snow go, but were excited by the possibilities Burke brings to their team.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re sorry to see Snowy leave, but it was a great addition,&rdquo; said center Chris Gratton. &ldquo;(Burke) sure takes up a lot of net.&rdquo;Center Eric Lindros played with Burke on the Canadian Olympic team in 1992 that captured the silver medal in Albertville, France.&ldquo;Garth&rsquo;s a good guy and a good goalie, but obviously (president/GM Bob) Clarke thought we needed a change,&rdquo; Lindros said.&ldquo;When teams aren&rsquo;t playing well, the GM is going to asses the situation and make adjustments. Garth Snow wasn&rsquo;t the problem, he was playing great for us. It&rsquo;s the tough part of hockey.&rdquo;Goaltender Ron Hextall had a great relationship with Snow, both on and off the ice, but he&rsquo;s realistic. With a no-trade clause through the 1998-99 season, his future seems secure. Now the competition for playing time simply gets a little tougher.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s any doubt that our team lacks confidence and that goes right from the top to the bottom,&rdquo; Hextall said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;ve ever seen an entire team struggle with confidence like this. Is it because of the goaltending? I don&rsquo;t know. I know I&rsquo;ve got to play better.&rdquo;Clarke didn&rsquo;t want to give up a young player such as Colin Forbes, Dainius Zubrus or Janne Niinimaa so this was a workable compromise. With Burke approaching free agency, the Flyers can evaluate him before making an off-season offer.&ldquo;With Burke, we&rsquo;ll be getting a top goaltender even though he&rsquo;s a free agent at the end of the year,&rdquo; Clarke said. &ldquo;His goaltending has been outstanding in the past. He has struggled in Vancouver, but we think coming here, he&rsquo;ll be a great goaltender for us.&rdquo;(See pg. 8 for more on the Flyers&rsquo; goaltending.)NOTEBOOK: The Flyers sent a videotape of New York Islander defenseman Rich Pilon&rsquo;s attempt to hit left winger John LeClair&rsquo;s knees in a March 3 game in Uniondale, N.Y., but all they got for their trouble was a three-game suspension to left winger Daniel Lacroix for retaliating with a crosscheck to Pilon&rsquo;s jaw. Said Lacroix,&rdquo;I was just coming to the defense of a teammate. In a situation like that, with no penalty called, I wouldn&rsquo;t (hesitate) to do it again. (Pilon) has been doing that with our top players for the past couple years.&rdquo;&hellip;Eric Lindros notched his 500th career point in a 3-1 road win against the Rangers Feb. 28&hellip;A 4-3 defeat at New Jersey March 2 left the Flyers 0-7-1 against the Devils, Detroit, Colorado and Dallas this season. &#9632;

f0026-02

Burke trade lifts Flyers

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03497/6936275-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="163" height="159"></div>GM Bobby Smith might not be done dealing, but his first and only trade of the season quickly shored up a major problem on the Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; blueline.The addition of Keith Carney gives Phoenix a legitimate top-four defense corps, the main thing it was lacking while struggling to maintain ground in the Western Conference playoff race.Carney, a member of the U.S. Olympic team, was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks, along with enforcer Jim Cummins, for disgruntled center Chad Kilger and defenseman Jay More March 4.&ldquo;Keith Carney and Jim Cummins are what we really needed,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;Everyone looked at our team and said we needed another top-four defenseman. Those guys are extremely difficult to come by. Carney is an outstanding player. He&rsquo;s going to make us a much better team right away.&rdquo;The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Carney, who also played for the U.S. in the World Cup, likely will be paired with offense-minded Oleg Tverdovsky.&ldquo;I was a bit surprised (about the trade),&rdquo; Carney said. &ldquo;I was definitely happy in Chicago. Things were going really well and I was getting a lot of time and we were really starting to play better after an awful start.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m happy to come to a place that wants me. They&rsquo;ve got a real good team here in Phoenix, a nice blend of good offensive guys and big, strong guys and great goaltending. If we get on a roll and improve our playoff positioning, we can make some things happen.&rdquo;Carney will be a key, but Smith sees the addition of Cummins, a physical, 6-foot-2, 220-pound right winger, as equally important. The Coyotes&rsquo; lone enforcer had been left winger Jim McKenzie and most teams have at least two heavyweights.Carney becomes a restricted free agent this summer and will command at least double his current $700,000 salary, but Smith said the team will sign him.NOTEBOOK: Entering their March 6 game against Carolina, the Coyotes were winless in seven straight (0-6-1), one loss or tie way from reaching their season-high record for futility&hellip;Coach Jim Schoenfeld put center Jeremy Roenick on the team&rsquo;s No.l line at right wing with left winger Keith Tkachuk and center Craig Janney&hellip;Right winger Mike Gartner was a healthy scratch in four straight games. &ldquo;If I felt that Mike would score big goals for us, he&rsquo;d obviously be in the lineup.&rdquo; Schoenfeld said. Responded Gartner: &ldquo;Well, I disagree with that. I&rsquo;ll just leave it at that.&rdquo;&hellip;Tkachuk missed the third period of a 3-1 loss to Detroit March 2 after suffering a groin injury, but it wasn&rsquo;t believed to be serious. &#9632;

f0026-03

Trade brings improved ‘D’ with Carney

<div class="byline">By Bruce Garrioch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04355/6936306-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="162" height="161"></div>Choking on his words, an emotional Radek Bonk stood in the middle of the Ottawa Senators&rsquo; dressing room before practice last week and apologized to his teammates for the distraction he has caused.The Senators&rsquo; center was charged with impaired driving early March 3 by the Ontario Provincial Police and has a Ottawa court date March 31.There were no tears during his short speech, but according to players, he was clearly shaken by the incident.&ldquo;Radek feels horrible about it,&rdquo; said Senators&rsquo; defenseman Lance Pitlick. &ldquo;He apologized to us as a team. I think what he needs right now is our support, he doesn&rsquo;t need alienation. We&rsquo;ve all made mistakes.&rdquo;During a media session, Bonk&rsquo;s head was down and he looked up only briefly.Bonk refused to discuss the specifics of the case on his lawyer&rsquo;s advice, but sources said his 1997 Ford Expedition swerved around a comer and hit a curb. While he was waiting for a tow truck, the police arrived following a traffic complaint.&ldquo;I want to focus on hockey,&rdquo; said Bonk, 22. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got 20 games left and that&rsquo;s the most important thing. I&rsquo;m going to get ready (for the next game) just like any other. That&rsquo;s all I have to say.&rdquo;To make matters worse for Bonk, he was also bothered by a day-to-day knee injury. He sat out Ottawa&rsquo;s 4-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche March 5.NOTEBOOK: Team captain and left winger Randy Cunneyworth was a healthy scratch March 5 against Colorado. It&rsquo;s the first time in his Ottawa career he has ever been a scratch. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t put myself before the team. I support the decision,&rdquo; said Cunneyworth. &ldquo;I would hope it serves as some kind of notice that they are absolutely dead serious about putting the best lineup on the ice.&rdquo;&hellip;Center Vaclav Prospal, acquired with right winger Pat Falloon in a trade Jan. 17 with the Philadelphia Flyers for Alexandre Daigle, made his debut against the Avalanche. He had been out since Jan. 2 with a broken ankle. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be nice to get back to playing,&rdquo; said Prospal&hellip;The Senators talked to the Calgary Flames about acquiring left winger Marty McInnis. &#9632;

f0026-04

Bonk apologizes to mates following impaired charge

<div class="byline">By Mike Dudurich</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-06216/6936337-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="578" height="899"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ian Moran</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05264/6936344-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="162" height="157"></div>It has been a highly forgettable year for Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; defenseman Ian Moran.His season didn&rsquo;t start when his teammates&rsquo; did, thanks to a nagging knee injury that took a long time to heal. Then he missed time due to a concussion suffered after being clocked by New York Islander Paul Kruse.But all of that pales in comparison to the more important burden the 25-year-old defenseman has carried with him. His father, Mike Moran, is seriously ill as a result of a virus that attacked the left side of his heart. His heart had been weakened to the point that last rites were given in February.He&rsquo;s on a waiting list for a heart transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital. It&rsquo;s hoped a heart will be found and surgery done within six months.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t be sitting here today if it wasn&rsquo;t for him,&rdquo; Ian Moran said. &ldquo;He coached my youth hockey teams and has supported me all through my career. Every time I talk to him, he always tells me things I should be doing and he loves to hear all the stories about the guys. I just feel terrible with what&rsquo;s going on right now.&rdquo;The son carries a beeper with him at all times. During games, he gives it to Pens&rsquo; equipment manager Steve Latin.&ldquo;My mom and my aunt are the only two who have the (beeper) number,&rdquo; Moran said. &ldquo;If I ever get beeped and it comes up 911, I&rsquo;ll know. The team has been great about saying, &lsquo;You have to do what you have to do, and there are things more important than hockey.&rsquo;&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Former center Mario Lemieux was back in the headlines in Pittsburgh March 4 when he held a news conference to announce he is bringing a Celebrity Players Tour golf tournament to Pittsburgh June 25-28. Lemieux has spent most of the past three months in Florida playing golf and not watching the NHL&hellip;GM Craig Patrick and co-owner Roger Marino said the Penguins have no plans to deal veteran center Ron Francis before the trading deadline, even though he becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1. Patrick also said there had been little conversation with free agent center Petr Nedved&hellip;The Penguins had not lost consecutive games since midNovember&hellip;After a 2-4-3 start at home, the Penguins went 11-4-3. &#9632;

f0026-06

Moran faces tough times

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecklng</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01891/6936375-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="160" height="158"></div>With so many bones broken on slashes through protective gloves, the St. Louis Blues counted their blessings when Darren Turcotte ended up with only a bad bruise after Al MacInnis accidentally, inadvertently, unexpectedly and inexplicably slashed him across the bare right hand on the bench March 1 at Anaheim.MacInnis called it &ldquo;probably the stupidest thing I ever did.&rdquo;As MacInnis skated to the bench to leave the ice on a line change midway through the first period, he raised his stick to slam it on the top of the boards. As MacInnis&rsquo; stick came down in the two-handed release of frustration. Turcotte reached up to open the gate on the bench for the change. Wham.Turcotte was done for the game, and so was MacInnis. The Ducks kindly announced he had &ldquo;taken ill,&rdquo; but truth be told, the proud veteran was too distraught to continue.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s real upset about it,&rdquo; Turcotte said. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t mean to do it. It was just a strange chain of events.&rdquo;Turcotte&rsquo;s skate blade had felt dull a few minutes earlier, so he took off the skate on the bench and sent equipment man Bert Godin to sharpen it. That&rsquo;s why he had his gloves off.&ldquo;I felt for him,&rdquo; MacInnis said. &ldquo;The poor guy was in so much pain. Somebody must have been looking over both of us. I could have broken his hand in 10 places.&rdquo;Through March 6, Turcotte had missed two games.NOTEBOOK: In his 76th career game, goalie Jamie McLennan recorded his first career shutout, blanking Montreal 4-0 March 5. The victory gave him four consecutive victories since Grant Fuhr went down with another knee injury Feb. 26, allowing only seven goals. Through March 6. McLennan had a personal unbeaten streak of 8-0-2, with the last loss coming to the New York Islanders Nov. 29&hellip;Through March 6, the Blues&rsquo; power play had scored on nine of their past 29 chances (31 per cent). They had scored two or more power play goals in 11 games this season, going 10-0-1&hellip;The Blues lost right winger Blair Atcheynum for six-to-eight weeks with a broken left index finger suffered while blocking a slapshot against Anaheim March 1. &#9632;

f0027-01

Turcotte lucky no breaks after Maclnnis loses cool

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03367/6936406-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="572" height="895"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bernie Nicholls</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02561/6936413-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="161" height="158"></div>It&rsquo;s a good thing for the San Jose Sharks February was a short month, made even shorter by the NHL&rsquo;s 17-day break to accommodate the Winter Olympics.San Jose went just 2-4-0 in February, thanks to a power play that produced one goal in 31 opportunities. That was better than only the last-place Tampa Bay Lightning, which went 1-for-33.San Jose didn&rsquo;t begin the new month any better, going 0-for-8 in a 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes March 2. Left winger Stephane Matteau finally scored a power play goal in a 5-4 win over the visiting Detroit Red Wings March 5.&ldquo;Your power play influences the way the whole game goes,&rdquo; said center Bernie Nicholls. &ldquo;It can add a lot of enthusiasm or it can bring a lot of downers.&rdquo;The Sharks certainly know that feeling. A common thread in San Jose&rsquo;s 12 losses between Dec. 4 and March 5 was power play ineptness. The Sharks were 0-for-61 in those 12 games.In 14 victories and five ties during the same span, San Jose produced 15 power play goals in 79 opportunities.&ldquo;We just look like we&rsquo;re not together out there,&rdquo; Nicholls said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not getting enough guys in front of the net when the shots are coming through. It seems like we&rsquo;re always in between.&rdquo;How bad was it? Defenseman Todd Gill&rsquo;s four power play goals were tops.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s too late in the season to get frustrated,&rdquo; said left winger Murray Craven. &ldquo;When you get frustrated, you stop thinking out there and do things that are uncharacteristic.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Frustrated by having been a healthy scratch in four of the five previous games, defenseman Todd Gill resigned as team captain March 2. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a decision I&rsquo;m going to have to live with,&rdquo; Gill said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s one of the toughest things I&rsquo;ve ever done.&rdquo; Coach Darryl Sutter said he&rsquo;ll wait until next season to name a replacement&hellip;A maddening inability to provide offensive support for backup goaltender Kelly Hrudey continued in a 3-1 loss to visiting Carolina March 2. In Hrudey&rsquo;s 17 starts, the Sharks scored 26 goals, an average of 1.53 per game&hellip;A 54 win over visiting Detroit March 5 gave the Sharks a 3-1-0 victory in the season series with the Red Wings. Before this season, San Jose was 2-20-1 all-time in the regular-season against Detroit. &#9632;

f0027-03

Power outage killing Sharks

<div class="byline">By Tim Buckley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01930/6936444-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="162" height="161"></div>One day the Tampa Bay Lightning signed right winger Stephane Richer to a three-year contract. The next, it was catching flak for still not having re-signed left winger Rob Zamuner.Richer, a 14-year veteran who would have become an unrestricted free agent in the off-season, agreed Feb. 26 to a three-year deal believed to be worth $6.6 million, which averages more than the $1.95 million he makes now.&ldquo;I talk to people and they say, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re crazy&hellip;You could be a free agent,&rsquo;&rdquo; Richer said. &ldquo;But I like the challenge. I&rsquo;m telling you, we&rsquo;re going up, not going down.&rdquo;Lightning coach Jacques Demers said he talked Richer into staying. Demers called him a &ldquo;31-year-old with 25-year-old legs.&rdquo;&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a change going on here,&rdquo; Demers said,&rdquo;and he&rsquo;s willing to believe that. The organization has said, &lsquo;Go ahead and improve this team,&rsquo; and I&rsquo;ve been telling that to the players.&rdquo;Some wonder if there was a great demand for Richer, but Demers insists other teams, including the Los Angeles Kings, were ready to sign him.Not every negotiation will be as tidy as talks with Richer. Especially, it seems, Zamuner&rsquo;s.In September, Zamuner could have been signed for $5.2 million over three years. Now, the Lightning&rsquo;s top goal-scorer is believed to be seeking about $6-million over three seasons. Complicating matters is the fact Zamuner is represented by agent Pat Morris, who represented Chris Gratton when the center signed an offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; and forced a trade last summer.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t worry about being fearful of a sheet coming down,&rdquo; said GM Phil Esposito. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not even going to worry about that. I&rsquo;m pretty confident I can get it done. Besides, I&rsquo;ll be damned if I get into a spitting match to sign (Zamuner) just because I signed Richer.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Tony Esposito. Tampa Bay&rsquo;s director of hockey development and scouting, said the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the International League might become its chief minor league affiliate next season. It&rsquo;s believed the Lumberjacks would be willing to subsidize a total of about $500,000 in salary for up to 14 players under Lightning contracts and would permit the Lightning to place its own head coach in Cleveland. The Lightning has an affiliation agreement with the Adirondack Red Wings of the American League that expires after this season&hellip;Right winger Stephane Richer had two power play goals in the Lightning&rsquo;s 4-2 loss to Edmonton March 4, but a 10minute misconduct in both that game and a 2-1 loss to Calgary March 3 signaled mounting frustration. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting tough,&rdquo; Richer said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been in a situation like this.&rdquo;&hellip;Center Paul Ysebaert had 11 points, including five goals, in 12 games after picking up an assist in the loss to Edmonton. &#9632;

f0028-01

Richer signs, but Zamuner still waiting

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02618/6936475-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="163" height="162"></div>For Jamie Macoun, the honors have come few and far between since he jumped from the lineup of the Ohio State Buckeyes to the Calgary Flames nearly 15 years ago.So he was grateful March 4 when he was named as the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; nominee for the Masterton Trophy, emblematic of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice anytime you get a chance to be nominated for something,&rdquo; said the 36-year-old defenseman. &ldquo;Especially when you&rsquo;re in a situation like I&rsquo;m in where I do a lot of the grunt work. It&rsquo;s quite rewarding.&rdquo;Although Macoun isn&rsquo;t the player he was during the 1980s with the Calgary Flames, he and Jason Smith have been the team&rsquo;s No. 1 defense pairing all season.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s what I call a disrespectful player,&rdquo; said coach Mike Murphy. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t read the stats sheets of other players or their bios. He plays the same against every player whether they&rsquo;re one of the top players or not. He&rsquo;s a very good defensive defenseman.&rdquo;Macoun&rsquo;s status is expected to get more interesting as 1998 wears on.For starters, several playoff-bound teams were expected to make pitches for the blueliner before the March 25 trade deadline if the Leafs lost ground in their bid to make the Stanley Cup tournament.The Dallas Stars offered a draft pick for Macoun at the trade deadline last year, but were turned down.Second, Macoun could be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season if the Leafs decide not to pick up next year&rsquo;s salary at $1.1 million.Leaf management is apparently divided over whether to renew his deal.NOTEBOOK: Center Mats Sundin celebrated his new $22.8-million (U.S.) contract by taking the entire team out to dinner&hellip;There&rsquo;s concern left winger Wendel Clark won&rsquo;t play again this season because of a severe groin injury. The former Maple Leaf captain hadn&rsquo;t played since Jan. 7 and was expected to get a second opinion on whether surgery may be required. Clark, 31, is slated to become an unrestricted free agent after this season and the club has decided it won&rsquo;t even begin contract discussions with any players until the campaign ends&hellip;Right winger Fredrik Modin scored 11 goals in 13 games sandwiched around the Olympic break&hellip;Right winger Mike Johnson, a Calder Trophy favorite at one point this season, was fading badly. He had just one point in an 18-game stretch through March 5&hellip;The Leafs and Vancouver were talking over a deal that would send unhappy Leaf farmhand Brandon Convery, a center, to the Canucks for center Lonny Bohonos. &#9632;

f0028-02

Macoun gets Leaf Masterton nod, but future in Toronto not certain

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03441/6936506-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="162" height="160"></div>The Washington Capitals appeared to be moving into the rarified space known as home-ice advantage for the playoffs when they hit a little bump in the road. That little bump quickly started to look like an earthquake.Dating back to before the Olympic break, the Capitals were on an eight-game winless streak that included six straight losses and a scoreless streak of 160 minutes, 27 seconds. The only thing that kept the club relatively close was that other pretenders were also trying to swim upstream.All facets of the Capitals&rsquo; game vanished at the same time for no reason anybody could put a finger on. It was tough to put blame on the 17-day winter break for the Olympics because the slide started two weeks before the time off.There were team meetings, plus longer and more intense practices and video sessions. The lineup was changed and changed again, but nothing was able to turn the slide around.&ldquo;We have to have all 20 guys who are playing that night pulling the same way and we don&rsquo;t have that right now,&rdquo; said assistant coach Tim Army.&ldquo;With things tightening up and the playoffs right around the comer, when you only have eight to 10 guys playing well, teams that are persistent and consistent will expose guys who aren&rsquo;t playing well and that&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s happening. We don&rsquo;t have to panic, but we have to get urgent and that&rsquo;s all 20 guys playing well together.&rdquo;Things got so bad that coach Ron Wilson broke up his most consistent line of the last two months, Dale Hunter&rsquo;s checking unit with Craig Berube and Kelly Miller on the wings. The hope was to move Hunter up to play with wingers with better scoring potential and utilize his playmaking skills, while Berube and Miller could help another center get more confidence.NOTEBOOK: The Capitals went winless (0-4-1) in February, only the fifth winless month in the club&rsquo;s 24year history. Two others involved season-ending Aprils with just two games each, but the others were longer: 011-3 in December, 1975, and 0-10-5 in December, 1977&hellip;Washington came oft the Olympic break playing Tampa Bay three straight times and lost all three&hellip;Defensive center Mike Eagles came off his second tour of injured reserve this season March 5 against Philadelphia. He lost only six games with a broken foot because the injury came just before the Olympic break. Earlier, he had missed 17 games with a broken wrist&hellip;Center Michal Pivonka was out with a pulled groin&hellip;After goalie Dominik Hasek shut out the Capitals 3-0 March 1 at the new MCI Center, he said he might have had an easy time because the ice was so bad. He wondered how Capitals right winger Peter Bondra could ever get 50 goals in a season playing there. Building officials acknowledged a problem that day, but say it has been fixed. &#9632;

f0028-03

Tumbling Caps slip-slidin’ away as play hits unexpected depths

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04311/6936537-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="164" height="161"></div>After pulling off a series of preOlympic trades and then watching his new players perform well, Mike Keenan finally lived the flip side.The Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; coach acquired goalie Garth Snow from the Philadelphia Flyers March 4 for Sean Burke and then threw the Snow man into the fire the next night. It was a risky move considering Snow had risen early that morning in Philly and traveled all day to reach Vancouver. It was also the wrong move.Snow flopped in his Canuck debut and surrendered four goals on 23 shots in 40 minutes against the Calgary Flames. He looked inept on a couple of goals, including a 60-foot unscreened slapper by Flames&rsquo; fourth-liner Ed Ward. He Was hooked for the third period and Vancouver lost the important game 6-2.&ldquo;It was unacceptable the way I played and I deserved to get pulled,&rdquo; Snow said. &ldquo;I felt good and the travel is a cop-out and an excuse.&rdquo;Clearly this was not what Keenan had in mind when he dealt for Snow and declared the 28-year-old had the potential to be a No. 1 net-minder at the NHL level. &ldquo;Garth felt he was ready to play, he travelled reasonably well and had some rest, but obviously it doesn&rsquo;t look like it was the right decision,&rdquo; Keenan said.In theory, acquiring Snow made sense. Both the departed Burke and Arturs Irbe are heading for unrestricted free agency and the Canucks could have been left without the rights to an experienced NHL goalie. Snow&rsquo;s contract is also up, but he will be a Group II restricted free agent. It is expected Vancouver will pursue a No. 1 goalie over the summer, although Keenan would not confirm that.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to give (Snow) a chance,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had some good luck with goaltenders in the past and maybe he will be another.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Pavel Bure set an NHL record when he scored his third penalty shot goal of the season against Ottawa&rsquo;s Damian Rhodes Feb. 28 in a 6-4 Canuck win&hellip;Center Mark Messier passed the 1,600-point plateau in the same game, becoming just the fourth player in NHL history to reach that mark. Entering the second week in March. Messier needed just five goals for 600&hellip;After failing to come from behind in 26 straight games while trailing after two periods, the Canucks finally rallied against the Senators, winning 6-4 after facing a 3-2 third period deficit&hellip;With the March 3 trading of defenseman Grant Ledyard to Boston for an eighth-round draft pick, coach Mike Keenan had dispatched seven players who suited up for the Canucks&rsquo; opening game of the season. Forwards Trevor Linden, Martin Gelinas and Mike Sillinger and goalie Kirk McLean were traded and forwards Lonny Bohonos and Dave Roberts were waived and sent to the minors. &#9632;

f0028-04

Hot Keenan takes Flyer on goalie Snow

<div class="byline">By Phil Janack</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01822/6936568-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Philly fans cheer Frank Bialowas, then boo when he leaves the ice. (Photo by Paul Angers/BBS)</figcaption></div>When the Philadelphia Flyers announced two years ago they were relocating their American League affiliate to Philadelphia, Frank Bialowas figured it was the last place he&rsquo;d want to go.&ldquo;I remember thinking, &lsquo;Those poor guys who have to play there,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said. &lsquo;&lsquo;They&rsquo;ve got a big league team across the street and they&rsquo;re not going to draw any fans.&rdquo;These days, Bialowas can&rsquo;t imagine being anywhere else. The Philadelphia Phantoms&rsquo; tough guy has become one of the most popular icons in a town populated by big-name, high-profile multi-millionaire athletes.In addition to leading the league in the standings, the Phantoms are also tops at the gate, and Bialowas is a big reason why. The 27-year-old right winger has become a cult hero in Philadelphia, a blue-collar player in a blue-collar town.&ldquo;At our level, these guys aren&rsquo;t making million-dollar contracts, so they&rsquo;re a little more in touch with the people who come to see them play,&rdquo; said Frank Miceli, chief operating officer of the Phantoms.&ldquo;That relationship gets bonded a little quicker than it does with some other pro athletes. (Frank&rsquo;s) personality on the ice is something that attracts people to him and his personality off the ice keeps that attraction going.&rdquo;Wherever he has been, in Roanoke, Va., St. John&rsquo;s, Nfld., Toronto and Portland, Me., before Philadelphia, Bialowas&rsquo; on-ice role has been to serve and protect teammates.That style earned him a promotion to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 199394. A flamboyant character whose long hair covers the name on the back of his sweater, Bialowas played three games and earned 12 penalty minutes before returning to the minors.His reputation draws the attention of up-and-coming enforcers eager to establish themselves against one of the league&rsquo;s most feared fighters.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the never-ending cycle,&rdquo; Bialowas said. &ldquo;It gets old after a while, but you&rsquo;ve got to learn to deal with it.&rdquo;With four goals, eight points and 171 penalty minutes in 49 games this season, his career minor league totals stood at 27 goals, 48 points and 1,704 penalty minutes in 391 minor league games.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a very skilled player,&rdquo; Bialowas said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m your basic grinder, mucker&hellip;I&rsquo;ve just got to keep plugging away and, hopefully, it takes me back (to the NHL).&rdquo;In this case, a promotion would mean a stroll across the parking lot, from the fabled Spectrum to the Flyers&rsquo; new home at the CoreStates Center. That would be good news for the fans of Philadelphia, who have made the Winnipeg native their adopted son.&ldquo;He has taken fan support to a whole new realm.&rdquo; said Jason Vogel, Phantoms&rsquo; director of media relations who coordinates player appearances. Bialowas&rsquo; name is always at the top of the list.&ldquo;They cheer when he has a shift and they boo when he goes off. They count the time left when he&rsquo;s in the penalty box,&rdquo; Vogel said. &ldquo;He has been embraced by the city and he has embraced it back. He&rsquo;s probably one of the top 10 icons in the city.&rdquo;Nicknamed &lsquo;The Animal,&rsquo; Bialowas&rsquo; popularity can be measured by the success of Animal Night, which was held Feb. 6 before a sellout crowd of 17,380 the second straight year.Run in conjunction with the Philadelphia Zoo and Keebler, the Phantoms hand out animal crackers to all fans as well as hand-held masks featuring Bialowas&rsquo; likeness. A live petting zoo is set up in the Spectrum&rsquo;s concourse and fans have the opportunity to win a chance to visit the zoo and feed the animals with Bialowas.Not a week earlier, at the Flyers&rsquo; wives charity carnival, Bialowas showed up unannounced at a photo booth and spent 4-1/2 hours posing for photographs at $10 apiece. He had as much camera time as any of the Flyers&rsquo; biggest stars, including Eric Lindros and John LeClair.&ldquo;They used a whole box of Polaroids,&rdquo; Bialowas said. &ldquo;It had to have been over 500 pictures. It was like a semi (transport truck) flashing its lights in my face.&rdquo;Over the Christmas season Bialowas was the focal point of a toy drive, called &ldquo;Animals from the Animal,&rdquo; held to benefit 30 underprivileged kids from the Children&rsquo;s Miracle Network. Some 1,000 stuffed animals were collected and the leftovers were taken to affiliated hospitals on Christmas Eve.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s very giving to the community, almost to a fault,&rdquo; Vogel said. &ldquo;Everybody knows about him. He&rsquo;ll do anything-schools, hospitals. Sometimes he does too much.&rdquo;Acquired from the Washington Capitals for future considerations in July, 1996, Bialowas has two years left on his contract. Even if his career doesn&rsquo;t take him back to the NHL, he is glad it took him through Philly.&ldquo;I appreciate everything everyone does for me, so when you get a chance to give a little bit back to the community, it&rsquo;s a pleasure.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0029-01

Bialowas possesses ‘Animal’ magnetism

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>Syracuse isn&rsquo;t known for its Finnish heritage, but the flag of Finland will hang inside the Onondaga County War Memorial for the remainder of the season.The Syracuse Crunch are flying the Finnish flag to salute second-year defenseman Tuomas Gronman, who won a bronze medal with Finland at the Nagano Olympics.Gronman was one of seven AHL players to participate in the Olympics and the only one to win a medal. Finland defeated Canada 3-2 in the bronze medal game.&ldquo;For a small country to beat some of the big countries,&rdquo; Gronman said,&rdquo;it&rsquo;s great for selfesteem for the whole country.&rdquo;Gronman, 23, was honored by the Crunch before a Feb. 27 game against the Hartford Wolf Pack. The flag was raised as the Finnish national anthem played. Four days later, he was in Pittsburgh as the parent Penguins honored the seven members of their organization who won medals.Gronman, who had a limited role at the Olympics, was named to the team in December.&ldquo;When they selected the team I was playing in Pittsburgh,&rdquo; Gronman said. &ldquo;The game (Finland team officials) saw was against Ottawa and I scored a goal. They saw one game and they saw the right one.&rdquo;Gronman had five goals and 19 points in 30 games for the Crunch.The other AHL players to appear in the Olympics were: left wingers Alexei Lojkin, Frederiction Canadiens (Belarus), Martin Hohenberg, Frederiction (Austria) and Jan Benda, Portland Pirates (Germany); center Robert Petrovicky, Worcester IceCats (Slovakia); and defensemen Erich Goldman, Worcester (Germany) and Alexander Zhurik, Hamilton (Belarus).WOLF PACK ATTACK: What could have been a rough stretch for the Hartford Wolf Pack instead put the team within reach of a record.Unable to play at home from Jan. 24 through Feb. 25 because other events were scheduled in the Hartford Civic Center, the Wolf Pack went 8-2-0 on the road. &ldquo;How we did it, I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said Hartford coach E.J. McGuire.The Wolf Pack were 17-11-3 on the road and needed five wins to tie the AHL record for most road wins by a first-year team. The overall league road victory record is 25.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02529/6936599-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="427" height="424"></div>TWO TOP DOGS: Hamilton coach Lome Molleken once again has a surplus of goaltending. Steve Passmore was recalled from the International League&rsquo;s San Antonio Dragons and rejoined reigning league MVP J.F. Labbe to give the Bulldogs a superb 1-2 goaltending punch.Passmore was 3-7-2 with a 4.52 goals-against average in San Antonio. He was 9-5-3 with a 2.71 GAA in Hamilton before the loan, which was designed to give him and Labbe the chance to play every game for their teams. Labbe was 21-13-9 with a 2.83 GAA.AHL TIDBITS: Springfield Falcons&rsquo; center Daniel Briere was on pace to become just the sixth rookie in AHL history to reach 100 points. Briere had 33 goals and 80 points in 62 games, putting him on pace for 43 goals and 103 points&hellip;Albany River Rats&rsquo; rookie left winger John Madden, a free agent signee by the New Jersey Devils from the University of Michigan, continued to lead the AHL in plus/minus at plus-31&hellip;St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs&rsquo; center Brandon Convery recorded his 200th AHL point in his 207th career game&hellip;The AHL hit the three million mark in attendance Feb. 27, the earliest date in league history. The AHL is on pace to crack the four million mark for the first time. &#9632;

f0029-02

LEAGUES

Finnish flag raised in Gronman’s honor

<div class="byline">By Kevin lole</div>The Grand Rapids Griffins became the first International League team to fire its head coach this season when Dave Allison was relieved of his duties March 3.GM Bob McNamara said he would take over as head coach for the rest of the season.Allison was in his second year with Grand Rapids. The team was 30-25-7 at the time of the change and in third place in the Northeast Division, fifth in the Eastern Conference.. Allison, a former Ottawa Senators&rsquo; head coach, guided Grand Rapids to a 40-30-12 mark last year in the Griffins&rsquo; inaugural season. Allison, 38, couldn&rsquo;t be reached for comment and McNamara was vague on the reasons for the change.&ldquo;I think probably the best way to describe it is that we had a difference in philosophy of how to proceed with the team,&rdquo; said McNamara, whose only previous pro coaching experience was as a player/assistant coach with the Milwaukee Admirals. &ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t on the same page and we believed it was best at this point in time to go in a different direction.&ldquo;This is something we&rsquo;ve monitored closely over the last several months and it finally got to a point where we felt a decision had to be made.&rdquo;Allison had kept the Griffins above.500 and in contention despite a long stretch when he was without several of his best players because of injuries, suspension or NHL promotions.The team, which hurts for offense, was hit particularly hard in January when leading scorer Michel Picard was signed by the St. Louis Blues.McNamara said he had considered bringing in a new coach to take over, but felt the adjustment period would be too difficult.&ldquo;If we&rsquo;d have gone in that direction and brought someone in from the outside, it probably would have been late March, maybe even early April, until he would have been comfortable with who he had to work with,&rdquo; McNamara said. &ldquo;I felt I had the best understanding of what we have and what this hockey team can do.&rdquo;McNamara said assistant coach Curtis Hunt would take on added responsibility and another assistant would be hired.THE HIGH WRAP STRIKES: Orlando Solar Bears&rsquo; left winger Bill Armstrong isn&rsquo;t the type of player one would expect to see on the highlights on ESPN SportsCenter, let alone twice in three days.But that&rsquo;s exactly what happened after the 32-year-old veteran scored twice using his &ldquo;high wrap&rdquo; move, a lacrosse-style goal.He scored against Pat Jablonski of the Cleveland Lumberjacks Feb. 26 when he picked up the puck flat on his blade, skated around the net and stuffed it into a tiny opening in the upper righthand comer.The goal made it on ESPN, CNN and TSN, as well as many other major broadcast outlets. On Feb. 28 in Orlando, when the Solar Bears were hosting the Chicago Wolves, the goal was shown on the video screen at the O-Rena.&ldquo;When I saw it go up, I said, &lsquo;Oh no, don&rsquo;t play that,&rsquo;&rdquo; Armstrong said.He needn&rsquo;t have worried about tipping the Wolves off, though. He tied the game at 3-3 when he pulled the move against Chicago goaltender Stephane Beauregard and helped the Bears to a critical 4-3 victory.Armstrong said he has scored eight times on the move, four in the IHL and four in the American League. He also taught it to the University of Michigan&rsquo;s Mike Legg, who won acclaim by scoring on such a move two seasons ago.&ldquo;My job is to score goals and help the team win and this is a legitimate shot,&rdquo; Armstrong said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not trying to embarrass anybody. Both of the goals were big goals, though. When I did it at home, we tied the game at 3-3 and the building erupted like a volcano.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01930/6936630-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="380" height="434"></div>LINDBERG BOLTS: Grand Rapids may be headed to court with one of its top players. Left winger Chris Lindberg wanted out of his IHL contract so he could sign with a team in Switzerland for more money than he was earning in Grand Rapids, but the team said no.Lindberg went anyway and was suspended by the IHL. GM Bob McNamara said he believes Lindberg, whom he called &ldquo;one of the better players in our league,&rdquo; is playing for Zug in the Swiss Elite League. Grand Rapids hired a Swiss law firm to represent it in proceedings against the player.&ldquo;It seems to me that if we allow guys who have legally binding signed contracts to get up and go whenever they want, you won&rsquo;t have much of a league,&rdquo; McNamara said. &ldquo;We have to stand up for ourselves and our league and we intend to do so vigorously.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0030-01

Griffins fire head coach despite winning record

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>The Baton Rouge Kingfish picked the wrong time of year to go into their worst slump of the season and it cost coach Dave Schultz his job.Even though the Kingfish were two games over.500 and only one point out of the playoff race with 11 games left, Schultz was fired March 1 after his club lost to the Birmingham Bulls 3-2 in a shootout. The former Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; enforcer was 26-24-9 in his first year at the Baton Rouge helm.The most damaging part of that resume, however, was a 1-7-2 record over the previous 10 games. &ldquo;We had to make the move,&rdquo; GM Ron Hansis said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen a better effort the last couple of games, but the six to eight games previous, the effort wasn&rsquo;t there. We&rsquo;re not playing like a team that needs to get into the playoffs.&rdquo; Hansis, who coached the Erie Panthers for seven seasons, will go behind the bench for the rest of the season.The Kingfish, who were in sixth place in the seven-team Southwest Division, vied for the top spot after a 16-3-5 run from Nov. 14 to Jan. 11. But since mid-January, Baton Rouge had struggled to a 7-13-3 mark, mostly because of a lack of offense. The Kingfish were last in goals, averaging under three per game.&ldquo;We hit the stretch drive and we fizzled,&rdquo; said Hansis, who said the search for a new coach would begin immediately.MIAMI ON BOARD: The East Coast League and Miami Hockey Partners confirmed March 5 the league will put a team in the Miami Arena next season.Bob Snyder, the managing partner and president of Miami Hockey Partner, will run the team. The Miami Arena is available because the NHL&rsquo;s Florida Panthers are moving 40 miles north to a new arena in Broward County next season.Leisure Management International, the manager of the Miami Arena, and Miami Hockey Partners signed a five-year agreement to operate an ECHL club in the South Florida city, which will be the largest market in the 27-team league.Rather than an expansion franchise, the Miami team will come from one of the ECHL&rsquo;s existing franchises, believed to be the Louisville RiverFrogs. Louisville was scheduled to make an announcement March 6.BRAWLERS GET PUNISHED: Andy van Hellemond, senior vice-president, operations for the ECHL, handed down some stiff suspensions and fines in the wake of a bench-clearing brawl between the Louisiana IceGators and Tallahassee Tiger Sharks Feb. 27.Louisiana coach Doug Shedden was suspended seven games for going onto the ice and assistant coach Bill Thurlow got three. Thurlow&rsquo;s suspension will follow Shedden&rsquo;s so the IceGators will have someone behind the bench. Shedden was suspended four games earlier this season.Three Louisiana players, Ryan Pisiak (eight games). Stan Melanson (five) and Jason McQuat (three) were suspended, as were three Tiger Sharks: John Badduke (eight games). Louis Bedard (four) and David Geris (one). Louisiana was fined $2,500 and Tallahassee $1,000.The incident started when Louisiana&rsquo;s Rob Weingartner was clothes-lined by Bedard and then punched by Badduke in front of the IceGators&rsquo; bench 8:08 into the second period. That touched off a melee that brought both teams off their benches.In an unrelated incident, Roanoke Express goalie Daniel Berthiaume was suspended three games for hitting referee Terry Koharski in the head with the puck after a goal was scored against him in a 5-2 Express victory over the Johnstown Chiefs Feb. 24.After an investigation, van Hellemond concluded Berthiaume didn&rsquo;t hit Koharski intentionally or the penalty would have been harsher.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02621/6936661-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="375" height="389"></div>COAST LINES: The Columbus Chill recorded its second straight shutout, blanking Louisville 5-0 March 1, and became the first team in league history to post six shutouts in one season. Clint Owen stopped 36 shots for the Chill. Four other teams (Tallahassee, Toledo Storm, Dayton Bombers and Knoxville Cherokees) had registered five shutouts in previous seasons&hellip;Birmingham Bulls&rsquo; center Jamey Hicks extended his scoring streak to 30 games with his league record ninth shorthanded goal of the season March 1 against Baton Rouge. Four players have had eight shorthanded goals in a season, most recently Ron Handy of Louisiana last season&hellip;The ECHL and American League entered into an agreement Feb. 24 to establish a joint marketing initiative beginning next season. Under the plan, corporate sponsors are able to access the 46 combined markets of the two leagues through one centralized platform. &#9632;

f0030-02

Coach Schultz canned after Kingfish hit skids

<div class="byline">By Brendan Savage</div>Bill Horn went straight from the Winston-Salem IceHawks&rsquo; front office to the top of the United League goaltending chart.Hom, who has made his home in the Greensboro, N.C., area for five years, was originally interested in playing for the IceHawks when Winston-Salem received a UHL franchise this season.But when agreement on a contract couldn&rsquo;t be reached, he became the team&rsquo;s director of community relations and group sales as well as its goaltending coach for the first half of the season. Finally, in December, talks began that put Hom back in uniform by mid-January.&ldquo;It was a situation where we were looking to have two goalies going into the stretch run and playoffs,&rdquo; Horn said. &ldquo;I got thrown right in. The first time I dressed, (starter Mark Richards) got hurt when he took a shot on the shoulder. I played the third period and shootout and we ended up winning against Brantford.&rdquo;When Richards was recalled to the Saint John Flames of the American League a week later. Hom became No. 1 and after 16 games ranked fourth in the UHL with a 3.21 goals-against average. He had a 10-6-0 record and.894 save percentage.It&rsquo;s no coincidence the IceHawks began to play better about the same time. Although they were last in the five-team West Division through 59 games, their 29-27-3 record would have had them one point out of second in the East.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Justin Morrison scored his 100th goal as a member of the Muskegon Fury in a 10-2 romp over the B.C. Icemen Feb. 28&hellip;The Quad City Mallards&rsquo; 10-game winning streak was snapped when they lost 6-2 to the Madison Monsters Feb. 27&hellip;UHL scoring leader Jason Firth, a center with the Thunder Bay Thunder Cats, topped the 60-goal mark for the first time when he scored in a 4-0 victory over Madison Feb. 24&hellip;With an average attendance of 8,490 through 31 games. Quad City was on pace to shatter its own league record of 7,650 set last year.WESTERN PRO LEAGUE: As far as the San Angelo Outlaws are concerned, center Carl Boudreau could not have picked a better time to have a career year.The 26-year-old six-year pro from Victoriaville, Que., led the WPHL in points (117) and assists (83) in 62 games, and was a big reason San Angelo was a good bet to earn a playoff spot in the West Division.Not only do the points represent a career-best for Boudreau, he also broke the league record of 110 points set last year by former Amarillo Rattler Chris Brooks.&ldquo;Basically I&rsquo;m playing with two pretty good wingers in (right winger) Jean Blouin and (left winger) Ross Harris,&rdquo; said Boudreau, who had 107 points with the Oklahoma City Blazers of the Central League in 1993-94. &ldquo;We clicked right away. I get them the puck and they&rsquo;ve scored a lot of goals.&rdquo;Blouin&rsquo;s eight goals and three assists in five games earned him player of the week honors March 2.COUPAL SUSPENDED: Central Texas Stampede left winger Gary Coupal continued on a career path of trouble when he received an eightgame suspension Feb. 23 for physical abuse of officials. Coupal was banned for life from the United League in December and the Ontario League in 1994-95. He was suspended for 49 games from the East Coast League last season for various offenses.&ndash;with a file from Dave Henry &#9632;

Winds of change blow Horn from front office to net

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Windsor Spitfires&rsquo; rookie right winger Curtis Watson was upgraded from critical to serious condition three days after a bizarre traffic accident early March 1.Watson, 17, who remained in the intensive care unit at a Windsor hospital, was in his pickup truck at 2:30 a.m., when he and another pickup, driven by Linda Eyue, 29, of Windsor, collided in an intersection.The force of the crash sent Watson out the back window and wedged him between the cab and truck bed. Other details have left police baffled. A conscious Watson told police at the scene he wasn&rsquo;t driving and he had been wearing his seatbelt. The crash area was searched, but no other person was found.Police had not determined which vehicle failed to stop for a red light, but the investigating officer said it appeared neither was speeding and alcohol was not involved. No charges had been laid.&ldquo;This is a weird one, I&rsquo;ll tell you,&rdquo; said constable Bob Hill, a collision reconstructionist with Windsor police.Hill said Watson suffered head injuries, so he might not have remembered he was driving. Spitfires&rsquo; coach-GM Tony Curtale said he didn&rsquo;t know why Watson was out four hours after a team curfew.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know where he was going, but I told him it wasn&rsquo;t a good idea,&rdquo; said goalie Ron Vogel, who boards with Watson.MR. ZERO: Ottawa 67&rsquo;s goalie Craig Hillier dreams of shutouts and those dreams have become nightmares for the opposition.Hillier&rsquo;s 2-0 shutout over the St. Michael&rsquo;s Majors Feb. 27 was an Ontario League-record 10th for the team this season and tied the 67&rsquo;s with the 1967-68 Western League&rsquo;s Flin Flon Bombers for the most by a Canadian Hockey League team in one season. Hillier had six shutouts and rookie Seamus Kotyk had four.Hillier&rsquo;s six blanks ties him with Glenn Hall of the 1950-51 St. Catharines Tee Pees for third place for shutouts by an OHL goalie. Don Lockhart holds the record of nine, set with the 1949-50 Toronto Marlies.The 67&rsquo;s were on pace to establish an OHL record for fewest goals allowed in a season. At their current pace, they would allow 166 goals.The record of 174 was set by the 1971-72 Peterborough Petes.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01858/6936716-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="687" height="235"></div>BERT NO. 2: Barrie Colts&rsquo; coach Bert Templeton, 57, moved into a second-place tie with Ken Hodge for the most coaching victories in CHL history. Templeton, in his 21st OHL season, recorded his 741st victory March 1 with a 4-2 win over the Owen Sound Platers.&ldquo;Most of the individual records that happen, you put them on the back burner, but it&rsquo;s nice to sit back and realize it&rsquo;s a fair number of wins,&rdquo; said Templeton, who has also coached the Hamilton Fincups, St. Catharines Black Hawks, Niagara Falls Flyers and North Bay Centennials.Hodge coached the Edmonton Oil Kings and Portland Winter Hawks of the Western League for 22 seasons. Ottawa coach Brian Kilrea holds the record with 795 victories in 21 seasons, all with the same team.SOUR GRAPES: Don Cherry, co-owner of the expansion Mississauga Ice Dogs, said his team won&rsquo;t participate in the CHL&rsquo;s import draft.The Ice Dogs join the OHL for the 1998-99 season, with Peter Sturgeon expected to be their first coach. CHL teams can carry two Europeans, but Cherry said he won&rsquo;t have any. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just tired of seeing Europeans take so much delight in beating Canadians,&rdquo; Cherry said after the Nagano Olympics. &ldquo;Why should we train them?&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: A preliminary trial hearing will be held in May for Belleville Bulls&rsquo; left winger Daniel Cleary, charged in January with drunk driving&hellip;The Erie Otters were on a 10-game winning streak and 17-game unbeaten streak, the longest in the CHL this season. &#9632;

f0031-01

Windsor rookie in hospital after late-night crash

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>Shawinigan&rsquo;s Mathieu Chouinard was showing people why he is the Quebec League&rsquo;s toprated goalie for this year&rsquo;s NHL entry draft.Chouinard, the Central Scouting Bureau&rsquo;s second-ranked goalie behind Patrick DesRochers of the Sarnia Sting, had a league-record shutout streak of 207 minutes and four seconds end March 1 when Laval Titan Gregor Baumgartner scored at 0:35 of the third period in a 10 Cataractes&rsquo; loss. Chouinard posted consecutive shutouts in previous games against the Drummondville Voltigeurs and Moncton Wildcats.&ldquo;I like his size (6-foot-1, 185 pounds) and he has pretty good mobility,&rdquo; said one NHL scout. &ldquo;He takes up a lot of space.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a potential first-or second-rounder for sure. He&rsquo;s not a top five pick, but he may sneak into the first round depending on what the needs are. But I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;ll be the top goaltender taken. I think DesRochers in Sarnia will be the top guy.&rdquo;Chouinard, who had a 2915-3 record with a 2.74 goals-against average and.906 save percentage, admitted he has felt extra pressure in his draft year.&ldquo;You just have to deal with it and I think I have,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My goals before the season were to have a save percentage above.900 and a goals-against below 3.00 and I&rsquo;ve accomplished that.&rdquo;FIRING SQUAD: Daniel Bissonnette of the Baie Comeau Drakkar became the third coach to be fired in six days and the fifth since Jan. 9 when he was axed Feb. 24.The expansion Drakkar had a 15-42-5 record and was one point behind the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in the race for the sixth and final playoff spot in the Dilio Division.Bissonnette was replaced by Fernand Leblanc, a Baie Comeau native who scored 63 goals with the Sherbrooke Castors in 1975-76. The Drakkar won its first two games under Leblanc to move one point ahead of Cape Breton with six games left in the regular season.Of the first 11 expansion teams in league history, only three made the playoffs in their first season. Baie Comeau would be the fourth.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02560/6936747-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="576" height="289"></div>CHECKED OUT: Laval captain Dominic Perna suffered a stretched knee ligament after a vicious knee check at center ice from Sherbrooke Faucons&rsquo; defenseman Eric Pinoul in a 4-0 Titan victory Feb. 27.Perna, who had 41 goals and 96 points in 61 games, probably didn&rsquo;t help the injury when he got up from the ice and tried to attack Pinoul in the penalty box. He was restrained by teammates and ended up throwing his glove at Pinoul.Perna, a center, was expected to be out of the Titan lineup until late March. QMJHL vice-president Maurice Filion suspended Pinoul for four games.QUICK HEALER: When Val d&rsquo;Or Foreurs&rsquo; right winger Jean-Pierre Dumont suffered a broken thumb Feb. 14, he was expected to be out for a month.Well, Dumont, the third overall pick by the New York Islanders in 1996, was back in the lineup Feb. 23 after missing only three games and scored four goals in his next three games while wearing a small plastic device to protect his left thumb. He had 49 goals and 86 points in 49 games.&ldquo;My thumb still hurts a bit, but it&rsquo;s not too bad,&rdquo; Dumont said. &ldquo;I can still feel the stick and shoot.&rdquo;TARGET PRACTICE: The Rimouski Oceanic fired 77 shots at Drummondville goalie Jonathan Pelletier March 1 in a 4-2 win over the Voltigeurs. Derrick Walser led the Rimouski onslaught with 21 shots, but didn&rsquo;t score. The record is 89 shots, set by the Cornwall Royals Feb. 19, 1976 against the Shawinigan Dynamos.NOTEBOOK: The Quebec League set a single-season attendance record March 1 when 15,726 fans attended six games, pushing the league total over 1,250,000. The old record of 1,240,966 was set last season. &#9632;

f0031-02

Chouinard’s shutout record solidifies spot as top goalie

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>The Brandon Wheat Kings&rsquo; rookie goalies were keeping the record keepers busy this season.Jomar Cruz and Jamie Hodson had combined for five shutouts through early March, a new single-season team mark.The record fell March 1 when Cruz, 17, whitewashed the Medicine Hat Tigers 11-0 for his third shutout of the season. Hodson, also 17, became the first goaltender to post shutouts in his first two Western League starts.&ldquo;This is great,&rdquo; Hodson said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t expect to get this chance right away. I didn&rsquo;t think both of us would be here.&ldquo;Jomar and I get along really well. It&rsquo;s a great experience to be able to help the team, especially a contending team.&rdquo;The rout of Medicine Hat gave Brandon a 41-18-6 record and extended the Wheat Kings&rsquo; winning streak to nine games.Cruz improved his goals-against average to 2.84 and his record to 126-1. Hodson was 12-2-2 with a 3.20 GAA.Wheat Kings&rsquo; coach Bob Lowes was alternating Cruz and Hodson since Jan. 23, when GM Kelly McCrimmon traded the team&rsquo;s only veteran goal tender, 19-year-old David Haun, to the Spokane Chiefs.&ldquo;It was a little surprising to see them trade a veteran,&rdquo; Cruz said. &ldquo;The way things are working out, it&rsquo;s a really good opportunity. It&rsquo;s nice to see that they have confidence in us.&rdquo;Cruz was bom April 5, 1980, three days before Hodson.Brandon&rsquo;s previous mark of four shutouts had been accomplished during four different seasons. Glen Hanlon had four shutouts in each of the 1975-76 and 1976-77 seasons. Byron Penstock had four in 1994-95. Brian Elder and Jody Lehman combined for four shutouts in 1995-96.POOR PETRUK: Kamloops Blazers&rsquo; goaltender Randy Petruk has suffered a late-season injury for the second straight year.In 1996, Petruk missed the final six weeks after injuring a medial collateral knee ligament.On Feb. 27, Petruk sustained a pulled groin in a 3-3 tie with the Prince George Cougars, but was expected to be out only until early March.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s that bad,&rdquo; said Blazers&rsquo; assistant coach Craig Bonner. &ldquo;Behind the bench, I was thinking, &lsquo;Not again.&rsquo; As of right now, I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s very serious.&rdquo;Petruk, who backstopped Kamloops to a Memorial Cup title as a 16-year-old, was 31-201 with a 3.06 GAA, three shutouts and.905 save percentage in 55 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03406/6936778-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="358" height="363"></div>WINNER HAWKS: The Portland Winter Hawks claimed the WHL&rsquo;s regular season title March 1 by defeating the Red Deer Rebels 7-2.The victory gave Portland a 50-11-4 record and 104 points. The Winter Hawks were pursuing their franchise record of 113 points, set in 1980-81.Oddly enough, the 1980-81 Winter Hawks did not win the regularseason title.The Victoria (now Prince George) Cougars amassed a league-high 121 points that season. Portland aid capture the regular season crown in 197980, going 53-18-1 for 107 points.The regular season title guarantees Portland home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs and they&rsquo;ll go in with the knowledge the past six regular season champions have gone on to capture the WHL playoff title. The last regular season pace-setter to lose in the playoffs was the 1990-91 Blazers, who were eliminated by Spokane-the eventual Memorial Cup champion-in the West Division final.Eighteen of the previous 31 regular season champs have gone on to capture the league title.NOTEBOOK: Brandon hit the 40-win mark for the sixth consecutive season. Kamloops and the Regina Pats share the WHL mark of seven straight 40-win seasons&hellip;Jay Henderson set an Edmonton Ice goal-scoring record by scoring his 41st, 42nd and 43rd goals of the year (his fifth hat trick of the season) in an 8-4 loss to the Swift Current Broncos March 1. &#9632;

f0031-03

Youth serves Brandon well with spectacular stoppers

<div class="byline">By Chris Miller</div>Logic says Denver Pioneers&rsquo; coach George Gwozdecky should be waiting for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association season to end. After all, the Pioneers were struggling to stay out of last place down the stretch.But his enthusiasm in a league where all nine teams qualify for playoffs which begin March 13 is positively pre-season-like.&ldquo;If the season started today, I honestly think we&rsquo;d be among the top teams,&rdquo; said Gwozdecky, whose team could finish anywhere from sixth to ninth. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve gone through a lot, but we&rsquo;re better because of the adversity.&rdquo;Denver hit rock bottom after being hammered twice by the visiting Wisconsin Badgers in early January. The Pioneers were in last place and facing a stretch of 11 road games in 14 games.But they went 7-5-2 and righted the ship.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re feeling good about ourselves going into the playoffs,&rdquo; Gwozdecky said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure what happened. There are probably a dozen reasons for it. Everybody has done something, and the kids never gave up. A lot of supporters gave up. The team was feeling heat from the outside, I&rsquo;ll say that.&rdquo;Denver&rsquo;s adversity started when it lost nine seniors off last season&rsquo;s NCAA tournament team-a team which fell in overtime to NCAA runner-up Boston University in a quarterfinal game.&ldquo;People needed to adjust to new roles,&rdquo; said the team&rsquo;s leading scorer, junior left winger Paul Comrie. &ldquo;We lost a lot of talent and other teams could key on (our top players). I think everybody has stepped it up during the second half of the season.&rdquo;Comrie, senior center Anders Bjork and freshman right winger Mark Rycroft have led an offense that had started to score timely goals. And sophomore Stephen Wagner, who battled a groin injury early in the season, was becoming steadier in goal.Another Pioneer obstacle was lack of a home rink. The Ritchie Sports Center will open in time for the 1999-2000 season; meanwhile, the Pioneers are playing at McNichols Arena, the Denver Coliseum and the Air Force Academy.SHOT IN THE ARM: When Minnesota-Duluth senior left winger Ken Dzikowski missed a penalty shot against North Dakota Feb. 28, it was hardly an omen. Dzikowski later assisted on five goals as UMD shut out the visiting Fighting Sioux 7-0.NOTEBOOK: St. Cloud State had a league-high 10 short-handed goals. &ldquo;Our guys love to kill penalties,&rdquo; said Huskies&rsquo; coach Craig Dahl&hellip;Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer won his 400th game with the Badgers, making him the third WCHA coach to do that at one school. The others are John Maclnnes (555 at Michigan Tech) and Murray Armstrong (462 at Denver). &#9632;

Gwozdecky optimistic despite tough season

<div class="byline">By Paul Harris</div>Michigan State goaltender Chad Alban has long been considered one of the best puckhandling netminders in the country and now he has tangible evidence: A goal.With 13 seconds remaining in the Spartans&rsquo; eventual 6-3 victory over Ferris State Feb. 28, Alban fired the puck from beside his own net and into the empty Ferris State goal. The Bulldogs had pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker.&ldquo;Everything was perfect. The defensemen held up their forechecks and I had plenty of room,&rdquo; said Alban, who with the victory tied Jason Muzzatti for MSU&rsquo;s all-time victory record of 83. &ldquo;I let it go and it looked good.&rdquo;Alban is the first Central Collegiate Hockey Association goaltender to score a goal and is believed to be the fourth in U.S. college hockey history credited with one.In 1980, during an exhibition game against Vasby of Sweden, Maine goalie Tim Tortorella shot a puck down the ice that the opposing netminder misplayed into a goal. In 1989, Michigan Tech&rsquo;s Damian Rhodes was credited with a goal when he was the last Michigan Tech player to touch the puck before it went into the Colorado College net.Earlier this season, Vermont&rsquo;s Andy Allen scored when a Harvard pass from behind the net went off his stick and into an empty Crimson goal.&ldquo;It was an amazing feeling to watch the puck going down the ice,&rdquo; said senior MSU defenseman Tyler Harlton. &ldquo;We all knew Chad could do it. He has a better shot than half our team.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen (a goalie scoring) on TV in the NHL a few times and I thought if anyone could do it, it would be Chad,&rdquo; said Michigan State coach Ron Mason. &ldquo;This puts the icing on the cake for him.&rdquo;But Alban, a senior from Kalamazoo, Mich., deserves credit for more than scoring goals this season. His 1.58 goals-against average ranked best in the country and he&rsquo;s a candidate to win the Hobey Baker Award. His play is a big reason the Spartans had only given up 48 goals in 28 conference games.IRISH SWEEPSTAKES: Notre Dame junior right winger Brian Urick was CCHA offensive player of the week for the period ending March. 1.In a sweep over Northern Michigan Feb. 2728, Urick had two goals and four assists. Urick is a 1996 fifth-round draft pick (114th overall) of the Edmonton Oilers.BUCK STOPPER: Ohio State freshman goalie Jeff Maund was named CCHA defensive player of the week on the strength of two victories which clinched third place for the Buckeyes. Maund made 15 saves in a 3-1 win over Miami Feb. 26 and 25 in a 5-2 victory over Bowling Green Feb. 28. &#9632;

Hobey hopeful goalie adds goal to resume

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggie</div>The injury jinx that has plagued Cornell throughout 1997-98 has left Big Red coach Mike Schafer shaking his head.&ldquo;From the first day of the season, we never had a full roster,&rdquo; Schafer said. &ldquo;Early in the year, we were playing with four defensemen. Now, for the last three weeks, we&rsquo;ve only had three lines and one extra forward. It puts a strain on the entire team.&rdquo;Among the Big Red with big hurts is senior goalie Jason Elliott, two-time MVP of the ECAC Tournament. Elliott suffered a knee injury in a 3-2 win over Harvard Feb. 21, and Schafer wasn&rsquo;t sure if he would be back in time for this year&rsquo;s tournament.During the course of the season, senior center Vinnie Auger left the team because of a recurring back problem and junior right winger Keith Peach was also knocked out for the year with a back injury. Senior center Ryan Smart missed nearly all of January and February with a broken thumb.&ldquo;Injuries are part of the game, but this year, we&rsquo;ve taken it to a different level,&rdquo; Schafer said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve only had five guys on the team who haven&rsquo;t been hurt at some time this year. And many of the guys who have been hurt were upperclassmen, who we had counted on for leadership.&rdquo;But the Big Red didn&rsquo;t throw in the towel and thanks to Elliott, who had a 2.64 goals-against average and.922 save percentage in league games, Cornell (9-10-1 ECAC. 13-12-2 overall) was still in the hunt for first-round, home-ice advantage entering the final weekend of the regular season.&ldquo;The guys haven&rsquo;t used the injuries as an excuse,&rdquo; Schafer said. &ldquo;And once we get into the playoffs, anything can happen.&rdquo;With Elliott out, freshman Ian Burt stepped in and played well in losses to RPI (4-3 Feb. 27) and Union (1-0 Feb. 28). &ldquo;Ian did a solid job,&rdquo; Schafer said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s over the hump as far as pressure goes.&rdquo;BIG HELPER: Paul DiFrancesco&rsquo;s four years at St. Lawrence have been a series of ups and downs, but he&rsquo;ll finish his career on top. DiFrancesco, a center, broke the school record for career assists in a 3-2 overtime win over Harvard Feb. 27. DiFrancesco pushed his career assist total to 113, breaking the record of 112, set by Doug Crawford during the 1970s.NOTEBOOK: Clarkson senior goalie Dan Murphy picked up a pair of wins in the final weekend of February to raise his career win total to 84. That moves him to fourth on the alltime NCAA win list&hellip;Union College ended its 13-game winless streak (0-12-1) in emphatic fashion. The Skating Dutchmen beat Colgate 60 Feb. 27, then blanked Cornell 1-0 the next night. Senior goalie Trevor Koenig made 39 and 33 saves in the shutouts. &#9632;

Injuries bite Big Red, but season not dead

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>Boston University defenseman Chris Kelleher showcased his offensive talents a year ago by collecting 10 goals and 34 points to help the Terriers earn a spot in the national championship game.This season, Kelleher has become more of a stay-at-home defenseman to allow prolific defense partner Tom Poti to raid the offensive zone.And Kelleher doesn&rsquo;t mind surrendering the spotlight.&ldquo;I get my points when they come, but I&rsquo;m not too concerned with how many I get,&rdquo; said Kelleher, who had 20 points in 31 games. &ldquo;I leave that to Tom. He&rsquo;s so great offensively. He creates so many things. I let him go and worry about defense.&rdquo;Kelleher said he looks at the big picture.&ldquo;My points aren&rsquo;t what they were a year ago, but we&rsquo;re one of the top defensive teams in the nation,&rdquo; said Kelleher, whose Terriers had allowed just 2.03 goals per game through March 4 and permitted two or fewer goals in 21 of 32 games. &ldquo;I get more enjoyment out of winning games 5-1 and 4-1 than I do winning them 7-5 or 7-6.&rdquo;Kelleher, a fifth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1993, said he has concentrated on playing a strong game from the red line back.The 6-foot-2, 220-pound senior co-captain, who plays on the power play and kills penalties, had racked up 99 career points and, barring injury, was a sure bet to break the 100-point plateau.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had a good career and what has made it such a good career is the players around me and the coaching staff,&rdquo; Kelleher said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had great teams every year.&rdquo;THREE TIMES UNLUCKY: The University of New Hampshire&rsquo;s Wildcats had their first three-game losing streak since December, 1995 after being swept by the league&rsquo;s biggest surprise, the Northeastern Huskies, 5-4 and 2-1 Feb. 27 and 28. UNH had lost its previous game to UMass-Amherst 4-3. In the three losses, UNH scored only eight goals on 104 shots.&ldquo;We aren&rsquo;t putting the puck in the net,&rdquo; said UNH coach Dick Umile. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting plenty of chances. We&rsquo;re even missing open nets.&rdquo;With the playoffs on the horizon, Umile isn&rsquo;t ready to push the panic button just yet.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re going to have some periods of time when things aren&rsquo;t going well,&rdquo; Umile said.WELCOME SWEEP: Something had to give when Providence, 1-7-1 in a nine-game stretch, faced a Merrimack team in the midst of a nine-game losing streak. Merrimack did.Sophomore left winger Fernando Pisani had two goals and three assists and freshman goalie Boyd Ballard made 42 saves as Providence swept the Warriors 4-2 and 6-4 in a home-and-home series Feb. 27 and 28. &#9632;

Kelleher easily adpats to more defensive role

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01832/6936905-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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HOCKEY MARKETPLACE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01932/6936957-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01883/6936950-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="3077" height="3507"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01840/6936943-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="3121" height="3541"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01754/6936936-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="3078" height="2386"></div> &#9632;

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NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02522/6936988-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

<h2>NOTE</h2>Unofficial game summaries provided by National Hockey League; (shots on goal/plus-minus); SA-shots against; GA-goals against; ENG-empty net goals; Decdecision, charges to goaltenders of record when winning goal is scored.<h2>FRIDAY, FEB. 27</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01819/6937194-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="503" height="3122"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02589/6937187-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="1519" height="2220"><figcaption class="caption-body">Philadelphia Fivers Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour was the first star in game against the Rangers Feb. 28.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03477/6937180-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="497" height="658"></div><h2>SATURDAY, FEB. 28</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04374/6937173-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="497" height="511"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05287/6937166-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="501" height="1236"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06244/6937159-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="501" height="1234"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-07224/6937152-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="503" height="3499"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-08190/6937145-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="517" height="3505"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01781/6937138-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="492" height="2667"></div><h2>SUNDAY, MARCH 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02521/6937131-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="488" height="743"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03395/6937124-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="498" height="3481"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04319/6937117-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="1513" height="1991"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pavol Demitra led St. Louis to a 6-2 win over Anaheim with a goal and two assists March 1.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05267/6937110-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="502" height="1446"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06227/6937103-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="485" height="311"></div><h2>MONDAY, MARCH 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07205/6937096-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="494" height="1067"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-08182/6937089-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="491" height="1442"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-09157/6937082-1-eng-US/f0039-092.jpg" title="f0039-09" width="502" height="3480"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01405/6937075-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="491" height="2122"></div><h2>TUESDAY, MARCH 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02247/6937068-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="487" height="1311"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-03184/6937061-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="504" height="2875"></div><h2>WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-04155/6937054-1-eng-US/f0041-042.jpg" title="f0041-04" width="500" height="551"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-05140/6937047-1-eng-US/f0041-052.jpg" title="f0041-05" width="496" height="3495"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-06130/6937040-1-eng-US/f0041-062.jpg" title="f0041-06" width="491" height="1378"></div><h2>THURSDAY, MARCH 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-07116/6937033-1-eng-US/f0041-072.jpg" title="f0041-07" width="495" height="2048"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0895/6937026-1-eng-US/f0041-082.jpg" title="f0041-08" width="499" height="3496"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0970/6937019-1-eng-US/f0041-092.jpg" title="f0041-09" width="499" height="3493"></div> &#9632;

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NHL SUMMARIES

NHL ROSTERS AND TRANSACTIONS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01428/6937249-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01328/6937280-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0045-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01263/6937311-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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March 20, 1998

ELSTON

’Canes three super men carry crunch-time load

No soar in goals scored

What you need to know about the 1997-98 season