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.

May 15, 1998

The Hockey News May 15, 1998

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03349/6763472-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg"></div>Brian Willsie has been the Guelph Storm&rsquo;s go-to guy all season.And now the Storm is going to the Memorial Cup.Willsie&rsquo;s humiliating one-game benching at the World Junior Championship is a distant memory after his back-to-back gamewinning goals gave the Storm a five-game victory over the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s in the Ontario League final.Willsie scored his second straight game-winner with 2:56 left in Game 5 for a 4-3 Guelph win April 29. Two nights earlier, he&rsquo;d broken a 1-1 tie with 2:10 left. He scored 10 goals (three game-winners) in 13 playoff games after 45 goals (including seven winners) during the regular season.&ldquo;Brian has gotten the job done for us all year,&rdquo; said Storm coach George Burnett. &ldquo;There are people who have 45-goal seasons, but how many of those are timely or game winners? Brian has scored when it meant something to us.&rdquo;Willsie, benched for a game at the World Juniors after being late for a team walk, said it&rsquo;s all behind him. A sixth round choice of the Colorado Avalanche in 1996, Willsie was signed by Colorado after the tournament.&ldquo;This is a whole different situation. This is a tremendous feeling. Every bad feeling from the disappointment over there is all gone,&rdquo; he said as champagne sprayed all around the Guelph dressing room. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen this on TV and I always wondered why the guys have red eyes. Now I know what they&rsquo;re talking about. This stuff stings.&rdquo;The Storm, in Guelph since moving from Hamilton in 1991, was in its third final in four years. Guelph lost to the Detroit Jr. Wings (now Plymouth Whalers ) in 1995 and the Peterborough Petes in 1996.TOP DOG: Plymouth rookie center David Legwand is a whale of a player.The media that covers the OHL certainly thinks so, voting him the most outstanding player and making him a nominee for Canadian Hockey League player of the year.The 17-year-old is only the second rookie to win the Red Tilson Trophy in its 54-year history. Jack Valiquette, who won in 1974 with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, is the other.Legwand, from Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., is also only the second American to win. Pat Peake, in 1993 with the Detroit Ambassadors, is the other. ,The voting was no contest. Toronto St. Michael&rsquo;s Majors&rsquo; goalie Bujar Amidovski was a distant second in voting, followed by Ottawa defenseman Sean Blanchard, Guelph goalie Chris Madden and London Knights&rsquo; left winger Max Spiridonov.Legwand, rated No. 2 for the NHL draft, was earlier voted rookie of the year by coaches and GMs after finishing third in scoring with 54 goals and 105 points in 59 games.<h2>PLAYOFFS &#9632;</h2>

f0027-03

LEAGUES

Willsie puts WJC in past after big showing in final

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>When he played 28 games with the New York Rangers this season, Marc Savard found himself in an unfamiliar role.No longer was he the go-to guy on offense. No longer was he playing 25 minutes a game.The Ontario League&rsquo;s leading scorer in the regular season and playoffs a year ago for the Oshawa Generals, Savard was being eased into the NHL by the Rangers. Of course, he also sat behind Wayne Gretzky and Pat LaFontaine on the depth chart at center.But now back with the Hartford Wolf Pack for the American League playoffs, Savard was again the focal point of the offense, as The Beast of New Haven learned yet again.Savard scored five goals and assisted on four as the Wolf Pack swept New Haven 3-0 in the first round.&ldquo;The playoffs are like a little season in a big season and it&rsquo;s a great feeling to bring your game up to another level,&rdquo; said Savard, the 91st overall choice in the 1995 NHL draft. &ldquo;This is the time of year everyone wants to play.&rdquo;Savard&rsquo;s scoring heroics against New Haven shouldn&rsquo;t be a surprise. During the season, the 20-year-old scored seven goals and 18 points in eight games against The Beast. Including the playoffs, that&rsquo;s 12 goals and 27 points in 11 games.He&rsquo;s hoping to get a chance in the NHL next season. But he knows much will depend on whether he&rsquo;s still behind Gretzky and LaFontaine.&rsquo; Whether 1 have to wait until one of them says goodbye to the game, if that&rsquo;s three years, then I&rsquo;ll be patient,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;Down here (in the AHL), I&rsquo;m in an offensive role. The Rangers used me in more of a defensive role. I was on the third line and I had maybe four to six minutes of ice time a game. But it was good to have a crack at &rsquo;The Show. &rsquo; I have a feel for the NHL now.&rdquo;MORE PLAYOFF MAGIC: A year ago, J.F. Labbe backstopped the Hershey Bears to the Calder Cup. This year, he was attempting to do the same for the Hamilton Bulldogs, though when the playoffs began he was on the bench.Bulldogs&rsquo; coach Lorne Molleken elected to start Steve Passmore in the opener against the Syracuse Crunch, but four shots and two goals into the game, Labbe finished the series.In the fifth and deciding game, Labbe made 31 saves and blanked the Crunch for the final 51:26 as the Bulldogs won 2-1. Labbe had a 2.27 goals-against average and .928 save percentage in the series against the potent Crunch.&ldquo;He was calm, cool, collected,&rdquo; Molleken said. &ldquo;It was a series where I thought he outplayed (Syracuse goalie) Corey Hirsch.&rdquo;AHL TIDBITS: Cincinnati Mighty Ducks&rsquo; coach Moe Mantha will be an assistant with the U.S. in the World Championship. Among the Americans are winger Bates Battaglia, who split the year between New Haven and the Carolina Hurricanes, and center Matt Cullen, who split time in Cincinnati and Anaheim.<h2>AHL PLAYOFF</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01903/6763379-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="952" height="517"></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

Savard tames The Beast, Rangers next on his list

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01794/6763579-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

DEPARTMENTS

LOUISVILLE®

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011646/6761854-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Of long locks and leg locks: The hair flies when Shark Mike Ricci and Star Shawn Chambers collide. (Photo by Rocky Widner)</figcaption></div>The Hockey News (ISSN 0018-3016) May 15, 1998; Vol. 51, No. 35, is published weekly September through May (except for last week in December); twice in June; and monthly in July and August. Single-copy price: $3.25. Subscription Rates: North America, $54.95 (plus $3.85 GST in Canada). Canadian requests, send to THN, 777 Bay St, Suite 2700, Box 148, Toronto, Ont, M5G 2N1 (416-340-8000, 1-888-3619768). U.S. subscription requests and address changes should be mailed to Box 904. Buffalo. NY 14240-9554. Distribution: Canadian Publication Mail Registration No. 1327 paid at Montreal, PQ. In United States, periodical postage (No. 0579-540) paid at Buffalo, NY 14240-9544 and at an additional mailing office. &#9632;

f0003-01

IN THIS ISSUE

The Hockey News

<h2>Forsberg rules for Avalanche</h2>1. Ultimate warrior He hits, he scores, he sets up goals&hellip;he is Peter &rsquo;The Great&rsquo; Forsberg, playoff scoring leader.2. First round stars Veterans Doug Gilmour (New Jersey), Rick Tocchet (Phoenix), Sergei Fedorov (Detroit) rule.3. Legwand tops Top draft prospect David Legwand of Plymouth named OHL&rsquo;s most outstanding player, top rookie.4. Crackdown Cheers to the NHL for following through on promise to call it by book through the playoffs.5. Blues cruise St. Louis scores four goals on one five-minute power play en route to sweep of Kings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021315/6761892-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="344" height="492"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Forsberg</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03864/6761885-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="341" height="493"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Gilmour</figcaption></div><h2>Can anybody figure this out?</h2>1. Schedule blues We know TV rules, but that doesn&rsquo;t make it any easier to follow cockamamie NHL playoff schedule.2. Flyers stumble GM Bob Clarke changed coaches (twice), made big deals, but Philly flat in first four games vs. Sabres.3. Let&rsquo;s talk Linesmen fail to tell ref Kerry Fraser to go upstairs on disputed Dallas goal in Game 5 vs. San Jose.4. Ray of dope Buffalo&rsquo;s Rob Ray suspended one game for verbally abusing ref and generally acting like spoiled child.5. Four scores Kings blow 3-0 lead, allowing four power play goals while Sean O&rsquo;Donnell sits, lose 4-3 to St. Louis. &#9632;

f0003-02

PLUS MINUS

The Hockey News&rsquo; next issue is the Draft Preview, printed May 15. It features our exclusive ranking of the top 54 prospects available at the 1998 draft. The following issue is scheduled to print once the Stanley Cup finalists are decided.The Stanley Cup issue will be published upon completion of the final series.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-05235/6761923-1-eng-US/f0003-052.jpg" title="f0003-05" width="727" height="271"></div> &#9632;

f0003-05

NOTE TO READERS: PUBLISHING SCHEDULE

Head injuries are a more serious problem in hockey than first feared.Not only are players suffering them at a staggering rate-despite what the NHL would have you believe-but so are those watching the game. There can be no other explanation for the violent response to the act of wanton violence carried out by Sean O&rsquo;Donnell of the Los Angeles Kings.How else can you explain the widespread attaching of blame on Geoff Courtnail and referee Don Koharski for the historic four-score April 27 while the two main culprits, O&rsquo;Donnell and goalie Jamie Storr, were cast as victims?Apparently, helmets should be mandatory for hockey viewers as well as participants.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04478/6761954-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="348" height="455"><figcaption class="caption-body">By Steve Dryden Editor-In-Chief</figcaption></div>O&rsquo;Donnell&rsquo;s attack on Courtnall after the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; forward hit Storr is the most pivotal blunder in the playoffs since Marty McSorley was caught with an illegal stick in Game 2 of the 1993 Stanley Cup final. Five years ago, Eric Desjardins&rsquo; goal on the ensuing power play and subsequent overtime marker saved the Montreal Canadiens from falling behind 2-0 in the series. Montreal didn&rsquo;t lose another game.This year, Los Angeles was on the verge of winning its first game against the Blues when Storr, securely in his crease, reached out to interfere with Courtnall as the St. Louis speedster raced around the net. Whether Courtnall could have minimized contact isn&rsquo;t the issue; what you need to know is that no collision would have occurred if Storr hadn&rsquo;t set out to obstruct Courtnall&rsquo;s path to the puck.Storr was belted to the ice and suffered a concussion. O&rsquo;Donnell belted Courtnall again and again and received a five-minute major. The Blues scored four power play goals in 3:07 and the Kings were kaput. Hockey&rsquo;s unofficial code of conduct demands opponents be punished for running goalies. It is an outdated philosophy. Regard less, everyone knows revenge is a dish best served cold. Players have to be smart before acting dumb.Finally, if players are going to treat their goalies like members of an endangered species, goalies should start acting like one. Do black rhinos charge in to meetings of the National Rifle Association? So many goalieskater collisions are the result of defensemen crosschecking forwards into their own goalies or the netminders joining the play of their own volition. Yet, the practice of wrongheaded retribution continues. If players can&rsquo;t use their brain before doing something on the ice, then they really don&rsquo;t need helmets. &#9632;

f0003-04

Goalies, ’mates agents of their own misfortune

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011663/6761992-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">P.J. Axelsson sent the Fleetcenter crowd into a frenzv with what the Bruins thought was an overtime winner in Game 3, but Tim Taylor&rsquo;s wayward skate turned joy to jeers.</figcaption></div>If you&rsquo;re looking for an eloquent argument either for or against the NHL policy on crease infringement, you&rsquo;ve come to the wrong place.No, it&rsquo;s time for a little common sense in common language from a common man.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a (expletive deleted) dumb rule,&rdquo; said Boston Bruins&rsquo; coach Pat Burns, &ldquo;and the league has to either change the size and shape of the crease or get rid of (video review for crease infringement) entirely.&rdquo;We couldn&rsquo;t have said it any plainer than that, although The Hockey News has said the same basic thing before. It was a little more than a year ago, during the crease chaos days of the 1997 Stanley Cup playoffs, that THN recommended: a return to the traditional (four by eight feet) rectangular crease; a zero tolerance policy with video review to disallow any goal where an attacking player precedes the puck into the (rectangular) crease; elimination of video review for crease calls if the first two aren&rsquo;t adopted.Did anyone pay any heed? Sadly, no.NHL GMs met last June, during the Stanley Cup final, and couldn&rsquo;t come to a consensus.Some wanted to change the size and shape of the crease. Others wanted to abolish crease video review and return to the no-harm, no-foul days. The league, spearheaded by senior vice-president Brian Burke, wanted the upstairs video goal judge to automatically review every goal scored and disallow any where there was a crease violation, no matter how minute. But they couldn t agree on anything, so they did nothing. Now we are left with the worst of both worlds.Just ask Bums, whose Bruins were burned in overtime of Game 3 of their first round playoff series with the Washington Capitals. P.J. Axelsson scored what appeared to be the winning goal, but referee Paul Devorski reouested a crease review. The video goal judge-who can say only whether a player is in the crease, not how he gets there-informed Devorski Bruin Tim Taylor did, in fact, precede the puck into the crease. Barely.No goal. As fate would have it, the Capitals&rsquo; Joe Juneau scored the winning goal in double overtime and the Bruins, especially GM Harry Sinden, howled long and hard. the stakes were almost as mgn in Game 5 between the Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks when Mike Modano scored the game winner even though teammate Jamie Langenbrunner was in the crease and appeared to be interfering with goalie Mike Vernon.Referee Kerry Fraser consulted with linesman Pierre Racicot, who said there was no crease violation, and no review was initiated. The goal stood. The Sharks fumed.&ldquo;Two of three (officials) said nothing,&rdquo; Vernon said. &ldquo;One guy. a linesman, from the blue-line made the call. That&rsquo;s totally surprising where he can go upstairs and take himself off the hool right away.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021460/6761985-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="361" height="457"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie Associate Editor (Photo by Brian Babineau/SA)</figcaption></div>In the first 32 playoff games this spring, there were only three crease reviews, including the Axelsson no-goal. Last spring, it was epidemic-62 in 82 playoff games, a frequency rate of about 76 per cent, which was dramatically higher than the 20 per cent figure of the 1996-97 regular season.But when the 1997-98 regular season started and the 76 per cent figure didn&rsquo;t decrease-it actually went up to 79 per cent in the first 160 games-the league told its on-ice officials to be more judicious with crease reviews.It had the desired effect. In the remaining 90b regular season games, the frequency returned to the seemingly acceptable 20 per cent figure.On the first few nights of this year&rsquo;s playoffs, goals were scored with players (barely) in the crease, but the refs turned a blind eye (no harm, no foul) or didn&rsquo;t suspect a violation.But when Devorski followed the rule to the letter of law, it highlighted the double standard.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s right,&rdquo; Burke said, &ldquo;and I don&rsquo;t have an ounce of sympathy for the GMs (Sinden) complaining because they could have changed the rule last spring and eliminated (the double standard),&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;We pleaded with the GMs to allow the guy upstairs to automatically review every goal for crease infringement and call down to disallow the goal, but they didn&rsquo;t want to do it. So this is what we&rsquo;re left with.&rdquo;Bums would be happy if the league would simply cut down the width of the crease.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s those little wings outside the post that cause all the problems,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m in favor of giving the goalies their room in the crease up front-mind you, I haven&rsquo;t seen any goalies killed in the last 10 years-but players have to be able to stand at the side of the net. All I know is as it stands right now, it&rsquo;s stupid.&rdquo;Burke acknowledged there&rsquo;s likely to be one more go-round on the crease controversy. He would prefer the GMs follow his recommendation to automatically review every goal, disallowing all where any part of a player is in the crease. But there seems to a growing number of GMs (starting with Sinden) who will be pushing to eliminate crease violation as a criteria for video review and return to the no-harm, no-foul days of letting the refs make the decision alone.Or they can do what they did a year ago-nothing-and live with the consequences of other incidents like the disallowed Axelsson goal, which aren&rsquo;t nearly the quantity of last spring but are certainly the quality.&ldquo;If (the rule) stays as it is,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;sure, they&rsquo;re going to happen. The GMs have to decide how they want to do it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0004-01

Crease crisis sequel

<div class="byline">By Alan Adams</div>OTTAWA-With Fathers of Confederation staring down at them, representatives of Canadianbased NHL teams asked the Canadian government to forget about hockey being part of the Canadian landscape and recognize it for what it really is-an industry.For 2-1/2 hours, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Canadian governors explained to Members of Parliament the facts of life of competing with heavily subsidized and lightly taxed U.S. teams. They said the NHL creates 12,000 jobs in Canada. The six teams pay more than $300 million in wages and benefits and have spent almost $1 billion this decade on new arenas and capital improvements, they said.The NHL produced charts showing Canadian teams and their employees pay $211 million in direct taxes. Tax structures, they argued, are crippling their ability to compete.And to illustrate their point Canadian teams are not competing on a level playing field, they showed how U.S. teams receive rink subsidies and often pay little or no property tax.&ldquo;A number of Canadian industries-television, film, aerospace technology to name a few-have benefitted and thrived in Canada working with partnership with government to everyone&rsquo;s mutual benefit,&rdquo; Bettman said. &ldquo;We hope this subcommittee will acknowledge that more than just a sport and a part of Canadian culture, the NHL represents an important industry, a significant and vital part of the Canadian economy.&rdquo;Bettman did not offer suggestions how to help NHL teams, saying he wanted to start a &ldquo;dialogue&rdquo; with the federal government. Ottawa Senators&rsquo; owner Rod Bryden went one step further, however, stating he believes NHL teams should be offered some system of tax credits.But Canadian Industry Minister John Manley has said tax breaks or subsidies are unlikely.With deep federal cuts to health care and social programs, subsidies to pro sports teams would be highly unpopular with the electorate. MP David Iftody noted 85 per cent of team costs are spent on salaries and taxes eat up three per cent.&ldquo;Why are they trying to plug a small hole in the back of their boat when you&rsquo;ve got a broken bow and all the water is coming in the front?&rdquo; he asked.Iftody suggested a trade-off, telling NHLers if they can harness salaries, the federal government might be able to find some form of tax relief.Iftody said he&rsquo;d like the committee to hear from NHL Players&rsquo; Association executive director Bob Goodenow. &#9632;

Canadian teams request tax pardon

<div class="byline">By Tim Buckley</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011593/6762071-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Cullen returned to a cheering throng after learning that his cancer is in remission (Photo by Thomas M. Goethe/St. Petersburg Time)</figcaption></div>The Tampa Bay Lightning won just 17 of 82 games during the 1997-98 season and often looked uninspired in the process. Inspiration shouldn&rsquo;t be a problem next season since the Lightning will probably find it by looking down the bench.Center John Cullen, who was diagnosed with cancer just over a year ago and was near death in October, got the greatest news of his life April 27 when doctors at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston told him his cancer is in remission.Now Cullen has his sights set on earning a spot on the team.&ldquo;I plan on being there for training camp,&rdquo; said Cullen, who has also played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Hartford Whalers and Toronto Maple Leafs during nine NHL seasons.&ldquo;Throughout this whole thing, my goal was to return to hockey. I know I&rsquo;ll have to work harder than I ever have in my life. But I have fought to beat this, and I&rsquo;ll fight to play hockey again.&rdquo;Lightning GM Phil Esoosito said Cullen will be invited to camp in September and it he cannot play he will be offered another job with the team. &ldquo;But he told me, &ldquo;Phil, I plan on playing, so let&rsquo;s not even worry about that other stuff. &rsquo; And knowing John, I believe he will play again.&rdquo;Playing hockey was the furthest thing from Cullen&rsquo;s mind when a grapefruit-sized tumor was discovered in his chest March 29, 1997. After intense chemotherapy and radiation treatments for nonHodgkin&rsquo;s lymphoma, Cullen learned the cancer remained in his body. On Sept. 4, 1998, with his hair gone, his weight down 30 pounds and his chance for survival at 50 per cent, he broke down during an emotional news conference that left teammates in tears.On Oct. 23, Cullen underwent an aggressive procedure in which his own bone marrow was extracted and reintroduced into his own body. Four days later, he nearly died. Cullen&rsquo;s heart stopped beating for nearly a minute due to pericarditis, a viral infection of the sac surrounding the heart.&ldquo;That was the scariest day of the whole thing,&rdquo; said Cullen, who was revived by the Dana Farber staff.The happiest day-for him, and others-came when Cullen received news which arrived precisely six months to the day after the bone-marrow transplant. Now, he must undergo regular testing to be certain the disease remains in remission.Now we have to wait a penoo or time to see it the remission holds,&rdquo; said Dr. Harvey Greenberg of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. &ldquo;John Cullen will need blood tests every so often and the longer the remission, the greater the odds it&rsquo;s a complete cure.&rdquo;Cullen remains optimistic about his chances.&ldquo;The doctor (in Boston) said I looked better than he thought I would,&rdquo; Cullen said upon arrival at Tampa International Airport, where he and his wife, Valerie, were surprised by about 75 enthusiastic supporters. &ldquo;The blood levels were all good.&ldquo;Today was a good day,&rdquo; added Cullen, 33. &ldquo;It has been a long, tough year, but now I&rsquo;ve got a clean bill of health. It was hard, but I stayed positive the whole way. I knew I could beat this thing.&rdquo;As Cullen made his way through the US Airways gate in Tampa, he read one sign that said &ldquo;WE LOVE YOU #12 JOHN!&rdquo; and saw another designed like a scoreboard: Cully-1, The Big &ldquo;C"-0, FINAL/OT.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pumped,&rdquo; said teammate Paul Ysebaert.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the best news I&rsquo;ve heard all season,&rdquo; said exhnemate Alex Selivanov.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t always talk out loud about it, but it was always on our mind every single day,&rdquo; goalie Corey Schwab, who was at the airport to greet Cullen, told the St. Petersburg Times. &ldquo;I think we all thought about it all the time. How could you not? We were wearing his number on our jerseys. Every time we looked at his locker, we thought about him. Now, it&rsquo;s just good to know he&rsquo;s coming back.&rdquo;And Lightning coach Jacques Demers will be happy to see Cullen in the lineup.&ldquo;John Cullen can play for me anytime, anywhere,&rdquo; said Demers, whose wife was scheduled for surgery April 29 in her ongoing battle against breast cancer. Another member of the organization, professional scout Peter Mahovlich, recently underwent successful surgery for prostate cancer.&ldquo;(Cullen) is an inspiration to me and my wife, Debbie, and for everyone who has ever met him,&rdquo; Demers told the Times. &ldquo;To go through what he did and stay positive and fight like he did shows unbelievable resolve and character. And anyone with that kind of character has a spot on my team.&rdquo;Cullen also believes. His hair is back, his weight up. He feels good. And he is not alone.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m proof,&rdquo; Cullen said, &ldquo;that there&rsquo;s better days ahead.&rdquo;&ldquo;As far as I&rsquo;m concerned,&rdquo; Valerie said, &ldquo;today is the first day of the rest of our lives.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0005-01

ON THE COVER

Cullen bounces back

I&rsquo;m glad to see that some teams in the NHL are finally coming to the conclusion that it is possible to play in the NHL, contribute effectively and be under 6-feet tall.With the recent play of Stu Barnes (5-foot-ll) Ray Whitney (5-foot-9) and Mike Sillinger (5-foot-10), it seems to me that if these players were given the chance to play on a regular basis with their previous teams, they would have never been traded.I&rsquo;m tired of GMs questioning a player&rsquo;s value because of his size without ever giving him a shot at showing his ability. I am convinced that many other smaller players could help teams, but will never be given that chance because of their physical stature.I look forward to seeing Daniel Briere (5-foot-9) play on a regular basis with the Phoenix Coyotes because I&rsquo;m certain he will prove again that size is not as important as heart, determination and skill.Bob Olson,&nbsp;Raleigh, N.C.<h2>Hey, what gives?</h2>In your annual Playoff Preview (THN, April 24), I read that the Philadelphia Flyers &ldquo;appear to have taken a step back.&rdquo;Chris Gratton had more points this season than Mikael Renberg and Karl Dykhuis combined. Alexandre Daigle had twice as many points with the Flyers as Vaclav Prospal and Pat Falloon did with the Ottawa Senators combined. Mike Sillinger had the best season of his career. Dan McGillis foi Janne Niinimaa is an even trade. Sear Burke is a better goalie than Garth Snow and the additions of Luke Richardson and Dave Babych have improved the Flyers&rsquo; defense corps.How do you figure they&rsquo;ve taken a step back?David Pace,&nbsp;Mississauga, Ont.<h2>Good call on Jagr</h2>Jaromir Jagr&rsquo;s second scoring championship-both of them have come in years he was not playing alongside Mario Lemieux-confirms his status as one of the top 50 NHL players of all-time.Just after The Top 50 NHL Player! of All-Time: The Definitive List hit the newsstands, many readers wrote in to take issue with the fact Jagr was ranked 37th.Jagr proved during the lockout shortened season of 1994-95 that he was ready to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins in Lemieux&rsquo;s absence. This sea son, with Lemieux&rsquo;s retirement and Kevin Constantine&rsquo;s defensive system, it was expected that Jagr&rsquo;s productivity would drop.But he showed he is still one of the game&rsquo;s most dominant players in i league vandalized by defensive systems, clutch-and-grab tactics and obstruction.Jeff Spilger, Waterloo, Ont.<h2>Let&rsquo;s re-visit J.R.</h2>Jeremy Roenick plays tough, scores goals, plays defense and is a good set-up man. Only a complete idiot would not want J.R. on his team.Which brings me to my next point. The coaches and GMs you talked to for your story on &ldquo;The Why Guys&rdquo; (THN, April 10) are obviously blind.Jeremy Roenick does pay the price and with his performance in the playoffs this year, you should ask those same people if they would like to have J.R. on their team now. If they&rsquo;re honest, they would all say yes.Brian Neal,&nbsp;Greenville, S.C.<h2>When will it end?</h2>The night Tie Domi passed &rsquo;Tiger&rsquo; Williams for the single-season penalty minute record for the Toronto Maple Leafs, he was interviewed about his fight with Cam Russell and said he couldn&rsquo;t continue because he was too emotional about the situation.A few issues come to mind:&#9633; It didn&rsquo;t seem Domi was too concemed about Russell as he threw the punches that knocked Russell cold.&#9633; Why don&rsquo;t the referee or lines-men jump in to break up a fight when one player is helpless?&#9633; Does a player have to get killed before fighting is banned?Rick Gava,&nbsp;St. Catharines, Ont.<h2>Fighting mad</h2>This letter is in response to all the negative things I&rsquo;ve read about fighting in hockey and the recent letter about hockey sinking to an all-time, low because of a couple of goalie. fights (THN, April 24).I&rsquo;m personally fed up with the hypocrites out there who, in one breath &rsquo; mention that athletes today have no: passion and are money-hungry, and in; the next complain about fighting in; hockey.Fighting in hockey is based purely upon emotion. The recent goalie r fights were a case of four men showing their pride, emotion and desire to i win. What better way is there in today&rsquo;s sports to show your passion than in a hockey fight?Frank Sheelen,: Quincy, Mass.Fax us your comments&nbsp;or (416) 340-1641&nbsp;[or] write to&nbsp;Letters, THN, 777 Bay St, 2700. Box 148, Toronto, Ont., M5G 2N8&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters. &rsquo; THN, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.V., 14240 9947.&nbsp;E-mail us at <a href="mailto:THN@transc.com">THN@transc.com</a>. Include home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;1 THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

Small guys proving they can walk tall

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011768/6762126-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0006-01

ELSTON

<h2>What you need to know about the 1997-98 season</h2>Change for the better it s a springtime tradition in the NHL that scoring drops when the playoffs begin. That had frightening implications this season, since goals per game ii 1997-98 (5.3) were the lowest since 1955-56 It must come as some relief to the league the longtime trend has been reversed, if only marginally, this season. Goals per game actual!; rose to 5.4 through 36 playoff games.Coaching conundrum I The New Jerse;Devils weren&rsquo;t eliminated from the playoffs but there was much talk whether Jacques Le maire could or would be fired. Those who know him suggest it&rsquo;s a moot point because he&rsquo;s likely to exercise a clause in his contract to take another job in the organization.Coaching conundrum II Though the Los Angeles Kings were the first team eliminated from the playoffs, everyone concedes Larry Robinson did a first-rate job, but he has hinted to some that he might actually consider walking away from the head coach&rsquo;s job. Friends suggest the Kings&rsquo; grueling travel schedule is a factor.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021208/6762157-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="392" height="617"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Tocchet</figcaption></div>Tocchet rocket In 10 consecutive playoff games-five with the Boston Bruins two years ago and five with the Phoenix Coyotes this spring-Rick Tocchet scored 10 goals. When the L.A. Kings traded him in January, 1996, the reasoning was he was too broken down to be a front-line player. Wrong. Tocchet has scored 63 regular season goals in 148 games since the trade for Kevin Stevens, who has scored fewer than half as many goals in 21 more games.Trade-off Bill Guerin had five goals in five playoff games for the Edmonton Oilers. New Jersey&rsquo;s Jason Arnott had five goals in a combined 40 playoff and regular season games. &#9632;

f0006-02

THE HOCKEY NEWS’ PUCK PRIMER

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div>Maybe it&rsquo;s only natural for a player such as Peter Forsberg, forced to do his best work in the heaviest traffic and tightest quarters, to have such an affinity for wide-open spaces.His summer home in Omskoldsvik, Swe., looks out across the vast expanse of the Baltic Sea. During the season, the Colorado Avalanche superstar center retreats to his spacious estate home in the foothills of Golden, Colo., with a panoramic view overlooking Denver.And that&rsquo;s only fitting for a player who, in the first round of this year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs, effectively looked down on the rest of the NHL.Forsberg&rsquo;s Avalanche had all it could handle with the pesky Edmonton Oilers, but Forsberg was proving to be too much.He was the NHL&rsquo;s early playoff scoring leader, scoring six goals and 11 points in five games.Forsberg had both goals in a 3-2 loss. He had two goals and three assists in a 5-2 win. He had one assist in a 5-4 victory. And he had two goals and one assist in a 3-1 decision before being shut out for the first time in a 3-1 loss in Game 5.But the numbers simply failed to convey just how dominant the 24-year-old really is.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the best center in the game today and with the way he&rsquo;s playing in the playoffs, he could be the best all-around player, too,&rdquo; Oilers&rsquo; GM Glen Sather told The Hockey News. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s great defensively, great offensively and hard to check. He&rsquo;s dirty as hell and he gets away with it because he&rsquo;s a big point producer.&rdquo;The Oilers were attempting everything to throw him off his game-Bill Guerin&rsquo;s stick cut him on the cheek when he was pounded in one game-but then it&rsquo;s not like the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Swede doesn&rsquo;t go looking for trouble.He is a clear and present danger, with and without the puck. When he&rsquo;s not controlling it in heavy traffic danger zones in the corner and front of the net-which is often-he&rsquo;s establishing himself as the NHL&rsquo;s Ultimate Warrior. His eyes rage with intensity. He can wield his stick like an axe or he can lower the boom (ask Edmonton&rsquo;s Kelly Buchberger) with the best of them. His vision, creativity and skill level are exceptional. The NHL&rsquo;s most complete player? It&rsquo;s tough to imagine anyone else coming close.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011607/6762202-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="756" height="1248"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Forsberg has established himsell as the NHL&rsquo;s Ultimate Warrior.</figcaption></div>A year ago, THN asked, and answered, the question: Eric Lindros or Peter Forsberg, who&rsquo;s better? A few eyebrows were raised when the latter was chosen over the former by a panel of coaches and GMs. With Lindros and his Philadelphia Flyers struggling in the first round, there&rsquo;s no debate at all about the two players who were traded for each other.It would be sacrilege for any young whippersnapper to have the unmitigated gall to mention Forsberg and, say, Gordie Howe, in the same breath, but Avs&rsquo; coach Marc Crawford, all of 37 years of age, has found a way around that.&ldquo;I was talking to (former NHLer) Dickie Duff the other day and and he said, &rsquo;Forsberg reminds me a lot of Gordie Howe at the same age, there&rsquo;s a lot of the Howe guy in him. &rsquo; &ldquo;Actually, Forsberg reminds a lot of people of a lot of people. He&rsquo;s multitalented with multiple personalities, some of them right out of Friday the 13th.&ldquo;He sees the ice really well, like Wayne Gretzky,&rdquo; said Sather, who is careful about making comparisons to his old Oiler legends. &ldquo;And he&rsquo;s a mean S.O.B., like Mark Messier. He can play in tight and score like Keith Tkachuk and he can really shoot a puck, too&hellip;wrist shot, slapshot, he&rsquo;s like Joe Sakic that way. He&rsquo;s a real combination of different players with different styles.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s a good thing so many people are so willing to say so many nice things about him, because Forsberg himself won&rsquo;t bite.&ldquo;So far, so good,&rdquo; was how he summed up his own play in his first four playoff games.Asked about his playoff goal to assist ratio (6:5), which is wildly off his regular season numbers (25:66), he giggled and said: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a shooter now,&rdquo; though he didn&rsquo;t really mean it.On his own ultra-aggressive, in-your-face attitude and the reaction it gets from the opposition: &ldquo;1 like it because you know you&rsquo;re in the game.&rdquo;He is not without his faults. He&rsquo;s known, at points in the regular season, to lose his focus a little and drift without the sense of purpose that usually characterizes his game. And the Avalanche is constantly reinforcing how important it is for him not to go over the top with his warrior act, at least not to the detriment of his elite offensive game.&ldquo;He really sees the whole ice, the whole game unfolding before him,&rdquo; Crawford said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think any of us can even fathom what he sees through his eyes, but we do have to remind him to stay focused on what&rsquo;s important. He&rsquo;s so competitive, he can get too riled up, but we have to be careful not to take too much of that away because that&rsquo;s the essence of his game.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021083/6762195-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="1641" height="3721"><figcaption class="caption-body">Forsberg possesses multiple personalities, some of them right out of Friday the 13th.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011661/6762188-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="3306" height="2157"><figcaption class="caption-body">Forsbera mav become the first European-born player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs, but he&rsquo;s certainly in no danger of capturing the Lady Byng. (Photo by Dale MacMi)</figcaption></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">Leadershio traits emerging</blockquote>For many teams, that&rsquo;s the game plan against him. Dallas Stars&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock said earlier this season the only hope of limiting Forsberg&rsquo;s effectiveness is to push him over the edge to where he stops thinking about the puck.No one knows it better than Forsberg himself.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to stay composed, but I&rsquo;m better at it now than I was (when he played in Sweden),&rdquo; Forsberg said. &ldquo;It was a lot easier to get to me then. I snapped a lot. I think I had the second most penalty minutes in the league one season (in Sweden).&rdquo;But he hasn&rsquo;t taken a backward step since he broke into the NHL in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season with the Quebec Nordiques. His first game was against Lindros and the Flyers. Quebec won 3-1; Forsberg immediately drew a bead on Lindros.Lindros returned the favor and absolutely crushed Forsberg with a big hit. He returned to the bench, where teammate Wendel Clark said: &ldquo;Peter, you&rsquo;ll do fine. That&rsquo;s the hardest check you&rsquo;ll ever get in this league.&rdquo;Forsberg loves confrontation. Maybe too much, sometimes at the expense of offense.&ldquo;Peter doesn&rsquo;t just want to beat a player with the puck, he&rsquo;d like to beat him physically, too,&rdquo; Crawford said.Case in point: During last spring&rsquo;s Western Conference final against the Detroit Red Wings, Forsberg waged war with Red Wings&rsquo; hardboot Vladimir Konstantinov. It was suggested more than once to Forsberg the ultimate satisfaction should be beating Konstantinov one-on-one and scoring a goal, but every time the Russian defenseman challenged him, the Swedish center aimed for the Peter Forsberg hat trick-beat the opponent with the puck while physically beating him and scoring a goal to boot.Always rising to the physical challenge is bound to take a little something away from his offensive effectiveness, but it&rsquo;s at the very core of what Forsberg is all about. Besides, he&rsquo;s a stubborn sonofagun.When he took the Stanley Cup home to Sweden two years ago, he stubbornly refused to allow it to be viewed in Stockholm until after he took to Omskoldsvik, a remote pulp and paper factory town of 35,000 that has produced a disproportionately high number of NHLers, including Anders Hedberg, Thomas Gradin, Forsberg and Niklas Sundstrom, among others.When the Flyer tandem of Jay Snider and then-GM Russ Farwell tried to convince him to turn pro after the 1992 World Championship in Prague, Forsberg steadfastly refused. He wasn&rsquo;t seduced by the money or the fame; he believed he wasn&rsquo;t ready and wouldn&rsquo;t go to the NHL until he was. And he didn&rsquo;t.Hard as it is to believe, this is only Forsberg&rsquo;s fourth NHL season. Crawford has noticed the evolution of his game, especially leadership.&ldquo;Peter has a great personality, a real dry sense of humor and he can be a bit of character,&rdquo; Crawford said, &ldquo;but he has never been particularly vocal, in the dressing room or on the bench. That started to change this season. He was our most vocal player on the bench during Game 1 (against Edmonton). He has always led by example, but now he&rsquo;s emerging as a real leader. As he gets more comfortable in that role, that&rsquo;s where you&rsquo;re going to see the next level of improvement in his game.&rdquo;Not that it comes naturally to him because, by nature, he&rsquo;s so humble. When he was put on the same line with Hakan Loob-one of Forsberg&rsquo;s idols-on the national team, they had to be broken up because they kept deferring to each other, constantly passing with neither one taking charge like they were capable.Away from the rink, Forsberg is pretty much laid back. He lists sleeping as one of his favorite activities, but he&rsquo;s an avid golfer (handicap of nine) and tennis player. His immense mountainside home in Golden even has its own boxing ring.&ldquo;It was here when I bought the house,&rdquo; Forsberg said sheepishly.But the image of him stepping into the ring, literally and figuratively, is not really a reach.No European player has ever won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, but one would have to think Forsberg, along with Jaromir Jagr and Dominik Hasek, are candidates to be the first.&ldquo;1 wouldn&rsquo;t care to be the first European,&rdquo; Forsberg said. &ldquo;I would be proud just to win it.&rdquo;Time will tell on that count, but there is one certainty.&ldquo;I can tell you this,&rdquo; Crawford said, &ldquo;Peter will never win the Lady Byng.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0007-01

FEATURES

Fabulous Forsberg

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011579/6762233-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"></div>If Europeans really don&rsquo;t have Canadians&rsquo; gut-wrenching hunger to hoist the Stanley Cup, the lack of drive would be in their eyes, free of shiners, free of desire. It would be written all over their faces: no risk taken, no cuts received.Most of all, it would be reflected in their play. So how do the Euro bashers explain that in the first round the average import was soft like a two-by-four?Through April 30, six of the top seven scoring defensemen were Sandis Ozolinsh, Nicklas Lidstrom. Boris Mironov, Sergei Zubov, Oleg Tverdovsky and Sergei Gonchar-by birthplace one Latvian, one Swede, one Ukranian and three Russians.The top scorer was Swede Peter Forsberg of the Colorado Avalanche with six goals and 11 points in five games. He was dubbed Peter Fives-berg by one writer for his masterful one-goal, four-assist masterpiece in Game 2 against the Edmonton Oilers. Call it revenge. A Bill Guerin high stick in Game 1 left him with a 10-stitch cut on his right cheek.Tied with Canadian Rich Tocchet for the longest consecutive playoff scoring streak was Michal Grosek of the Buffalo Sabres, a 22-year-old Czech who found the net in five straight games going back to last season. Grosek was sporting a gash across the bridge of his nose following a 6-1 pasting of the Philadelphia Flyers April 27. Europeans tallied four of the six Sabre goals in that game and another, one Dominik Hasek, kept them out.Of the 196 goals in the first 36 playoff games, 64 (33 per cent) were scored by players not bom in North America. Europeans make up about 22 per cent of all players. This could well be the year a European wins the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Of the 33 previous winners, 32 were Canadian, a streak broken only by American Brian Leetch in 1994.&ldquo;I think lots of coaches, teams, players say, you know, the European players come for money,&rdquo; Grosek said. &ldquo;Maybe some of them. I just want to win the Stanley Cup someday, just came to win a ring. That&rsquo;s what I care about.&rdquo;There used to be a sense that since Europeans don&rsquo;t grow up watching the Stanley Cup on television, they never learned to appreciate the mystique of the silver chalice.&ldquo;Now they do, believe me,&rdquo; said Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; defenseman Petr Svoboda. &ldquo;A lot of the European guys now are basically growing up here, coming here at a very young age, basically making them locals. (Kids in Europe) don&rsquo;t really care about the World Championship anymore because they see that the road to play here is open. Every athlete wants to play in the best league.&rdquo;Today many of the Europeans make their year-round homes in North America. They return to their homeland for a month in the summer, where they get asked why the didn&rsquo;t win the Stanley Cup just like anyone else visiting home after the season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a six-hour flight from Tampa to Vancouver and it&rsquo;s a six-hour flight from Boston to Stockholm,&rdquo; said Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; GM Rejean Houle. &ldquo;The world is getting very, very small&hellip;I think (the desire question) is over now.&rdquo;Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; defensemen Kevin Lowe recently said you can&rsquo;t win without Europeans anymore; many of them just have too much skill. There are still stylistic differences, but few people today are willing to say courage is one of them.Other stereotypes persist. Late in that Game 3 Flyer humiliation, Grosek was waiting for the Flyers to blow their tops, throw down their gloves and set off some third period fireworks. He was puzzled when they didn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t happen,&rdquo; he said, shrugging. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what happened.&rdquo;<h2>NHL GAME USED JERSEYS, STICKS & EQUIPMENT &#9632;</h2>

f0009-01

Could this be year European wins Conn Smythe?

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011638/6762264-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Damian Rhodes had his best season as an NHLer this year. (Photo from Canapress)</figcaption></div>So Damian Rhodes, is it true? Do blondes really have more fun?&ldquo;So far, so good,&rdquo; said the Ottawa Senators&rsquo; goalie after helping his team build a 3-2 lead over the heavily favored New Jersey Devils in the opening round of playoffs.Rhodes surprised his teammates and fans alike when he showed up to the rink late in the regular season with his hair bleached blond. Goalies have a reputation for being a little off the wall, but Rhodes is generally quiet, even a touch on the shy side and not prone to making outlandish statements.All right, there is the matter of the little air purifier he takes with him on the road. He plugs it in at night and the humming sings him to sleep. (In true goalie spirit, he keeps a backup purifier at home.) And when Rhodes goes on a two-day road trip, he packs like he&rsquo;s leaving for a month. Other than that, he&rsquo;s rather predictable.So what gives with the hair?&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been going to the same hair dresser in Ottawa since I got here,&rdquo; said Rhodes, looking a little more like a roadie for one of the alternative rock groups he listens to (Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Sublime) than an NHL goalie. &ldquo;And I usually have highlights put in it. I told him it was time to get some more highlights put in and he said, &rsquo;No, let&rsquo;s do it all blond. &rsquo; My wife (Lara) was there and she was going, &rsquo;Do it&hellip;do it. &rsquo; So I did it.&rdquo;The next day Rhodes showed up to a team meeting and was greeted, rather predictably, by snickers.&ldquo;Who&rsquo;s the new guy over in the comer?&rdquo; wondered coach Jacques Martin during the meeting.And when he went public at the Arrowhead Pond for a game against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, teammate Denny Lambert skated up to him in warmup laughing.&ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s pointing at you,&rdquo; Lambert said.It would be taking things a little too far to suggest Rhodes has reinvented himself. After all, it&rsquo;s just a change in hair color. The dark will grow back in, but he hopes the dark side doesn&rsquo;t come back with it. Rhodes, the brunette, constantly questions his ability. Rhodes, the blond, beams with confidence.There is no question Rhodes played the best hockey of his NHL career down the stretch and carried his hot hand into the playoffs.For Knoaes, me new look is a perfect diversion. He is wrapped a little tight, too tight at times, and could use a few laughs, even if they tome at the expense of his own appearance.Rhodes has been waiting eight pro seasons for the opportunity to shine in the playoffs, to establish himself as a true No. 1 NHL goalie and he was making the most of it. There was a 10-second relief stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1993-94, but otherwise, zilch. He was injured last year when the Senators made the playoffs on the final night of the regular season and took the Buffalo Sabres to seven games in the first round. Ron Tugnutt was the hero then.Now it&rsquo;s his turn.&ldquo;This is a reality check for me,&rdquo;Rhodes said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been waiting for the chance to prove myself and I&rsquo;d be lying if I said I wasn&rsquo;t a little nervous. Last year was tough because all I could do was watch. All along I&rsquo;ve felt I could do it if I was given the chance.&rdquo;Rhodes joined the Senators after serving as Felix Potvin&rsquo;s backup in Toronto for 2-1/2 years. He took over the No. 1 job in Ottawa right away, but the following year the Senators signed Tugnutt, who was trying to revive his NHL career after a year in the minors, and the two have waged a stiff competition for playing time ever since.This season Martin wanted a No. 1 goalie to establish himself for the post-season and Rhodes I did just that late in the season.&ldquo;We have always alternated them,&rdquo; Martin explained. &ldquo;But after the I Olympic break I decided we needed a No. 1 guy. I Neither of them responded. Eventually Damian I got into a groove. He I played a lot of big games I and played well in them. I His confidence grew.&rdquo;Coming into this season, Rhodes&rsquo; record was a mediocre 44-60-23. He finished the season with a .9-19-7 record, a 2j goals-against average (13th best in the league) and a .907 save percentage (13th best).Rhodes is still looking for peace of mind in his professional life.&ldquo;Inside, I get a little bit anxious&hellip;a little bit ahead of myself,&rdquo; Rhodes said. &ldquo;When that happens, you get into negative thinking. That&rsquo;s the thing I&rsquo;m really working on-trying to eliminate that type of thinking.&rdquo;His play in this year&rsquo;s playoffs should go a long way in helping him accomplish that. &#9632;

f0010-01

Blond ambition

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011478/6762302-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="406" height="576"></div>J.R. Superstar grabs the puck with his team playing shorthanded, zips in alone and, after faking to his backhand, slams on the brakes and tucks the puck in neatly past Chris Osgood on his forehand.J.R. Superstar breaks through the neutral zone, looks down at the puck and hammers a 60-foot slapshot that ricochets off Osgood and crawls across the line.J.R. Superstar suggests Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; fans tip a beer or two over the heads of anyone who dares enter the America. West Arena wearing Detroit Red Wing colors and spoiling what has become a franchise tradition-the whitewash-where fans show up dressed all in white.J.R. Superstar, otherwise known as Jeremy Roenick, came back in the first round of the playoffs, just like the good old days. And he was talking up a storm. He was one of the early success stories in the playoffs, scoring four goals and assisting on three goals in the first round against the defending Stanley Cup champion Red WingsAs always, Roenick was enjoying his time in the spotlight.Take the great beer caper. Basically, Roenick insists, he was just having a little fun. Some people took him too seriously.&ldquo;They don&rsquo;t understand,&rdquo; Roenick said. &ldquo;My point, in general, is it&rsquo;s Detroit vs. Phoenix, us versus them. We&rsquo;re very proud of our whiteout. We&rsquo;re on the road and I was asked about the whiteout. I just wanted to put a damper on anyone who might try to spoil it. That&rsquo;s all. I wanted to discourage anyone from wrecking the whitewash.&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t believe how seriously people took what I said. It was like, &rsquo;Take a pill, a valium, maybe even drink a beer. &rsquo; It&rsquo;s all meant in good fun. You know, I half expected to get a beer dumped over my head during warmup in Detroit. I was surprised I didn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;It has been a while since Roenick has had this much fun. Contract hassles with the Chicago Blackhawks and later the Coyotes, coupled with a reduction in his scoring (and subsequent suggestions he has become J.R. Ordinary), left him scarred.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021057/6762295-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="543" height="951"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeremy Roenick</figcaption></div>In fact, a recent story in The Hockey News identified Roenick, Jim Carey, Stephane Richer, Radek Bonk and Ed Jovanovski as &ldquo;The Why Guys.&rdquo; That&rsquo;s a nice way of describing them as big-time underachievers. The story&rsquo; suggested Roenick isn&rsquo;t a 50-goal man anymore because he refuses to pay the price.Roenick was not impressed with the label, but the numbers don&rsquo;t lie. There is no denying he has not been the scorer in the past few seasons he was in his younger days. In fact, the 24 goals he scored this season represents his lowest NEIL total in a full year.&ldquo;1 don&rsquo;t look at this as vindication,&rdquo; Roenick said of his early playoff success. &ldquo;People can say whatever they want about me. But I&rsquo;d be lying it I told you this isn&rsquo;t fun.&ldquo;The playoffs are my time of year. I love the pressure. I live for it. It&rsquo;s one thing to score a goal in the 10th game of the season, or the 20th game, but quite another to score in the playoffs.&rdquo;Coyotes&rsquo; GM Bobby Smith said some of the criticism Roenick has endured has been unfair. Smith notes Roenick took on a more defensive posture this season and was quite successful in shutting down other team&rsquo;s top stars.&ldquo;In the regular season his game was good,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;A lot of guys&rsquo; numbers were down, but for some reason Jeremy gets singled out. 1 think Jeremy&rsquo;s flamboyance has led to some of the criticism. But I&rsquo;ll tell you what, he has played pretty well for us.&rdquo;Roenick was taking this year&rsquo;s playoffs very seriously. He packed away the golf clubs, vowing not to play again until hockey was finished, and he even moved into a hotel for home games.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll see my family on off days, but for the most part I want to stay focused,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Somebody asked me if it gets any better than this and you know what, it doesn&rsquo;t. Hey, it&rsquo;s fun to score goals, especially against the best team in the league. This is probably the most fun I&rsquo;ve had playing in a long time.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0011-01

COLUMNISTS

Welcome back J.R., where have you been?

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011597/6762333-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Fans are seeing more playoff goals such as this one, scored by John LeClair in Game 3 vs. Buffalo. (Photo by Scot Levy/BBS)</figcaption></div>The referees have their marching orders. Don&rsquo;t check the clock. Forget about the score. When you look at the penalty box and see there&rsquo;s someone already there, forget that, too. If it&rsquo;s a foul, just blow the whistle.Just over a week into the 1998 playoffs that&rsquo;s what they were doing, to a previously inconceivable degree.Take Game 3 of the Philadelphia Flyers-Buffalo Sabres first round series. In the second period, with the Flyers down 1-0, referee Rob Shick called a delayed penalty on John LeClair for goaltender interference, then before Philly touched the puck, he whistled Eric Lindros for boarding.The result was the Flyers had their two best players looking skyward in the sin bin while Buffalo enjoyed a two-man, two-minute power play.Referees might have made a similar call in the past if the sun was aligned with Mars and at least one victim was in the medical room getting a finger re-attached. Did we mention this was a playoff game?Whether Shick&rsquo;s decisions were the right ones and whether the crackdown has gone too far for purists&rsquo; liking both miss the point. After three seasons of phantom crackdowns, this one was sticking in the post-season, and the players were, for the most part, going along with it.After getting blown out 6-1, not one Flyer tried to turn a lost hockey game into the crying game. Nobody trashed the dressing room. Nobody blamed the ref. They were furious&hellip;at themselves. Philadelphia had to kill off seven penalties, gave up two power play goals (although none on the two-man advantage) and took full blame.&ldquo;They were working hard,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; defenseman Eric Desjardins of the Sabres, &ldquo;and that&rsquo;s why we took those penalties. If you&rsquo;re working hard you won&rsquo;t have to hook anybody or trip anybody, just be moving. It&rsquo;s not really a big adjustment. You know you&rsquo;re going to get your chances and you just have to take advantage of it.&rdquo;Teams were getting chances on the power play a lot more than last year. After 36 games in the first round, referees&rsquo; calls had resulted in an average of 11.9 man-advantage situations per game, compared to 10.3 at the same point last year. Teams had 69 power play goals, compared to 61 last season and there were 5.4 goals scored per game compared to 4.7 in 1997. Last year, there were nine shutouts at this point, compared to just two this spring.Not everyone is pleased.&ldquo;Every time there&rsquo;s a collision, there&rsquo;s a good chance somebody&rsquo;s getting a penalty,&rdquo; Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; captain Steve Yzerman told the Toronto Globe and Mail. &ldquo;But nobody knows what team is getting it. That eliminates a lot of aggression.&rdquo;Flyers&rsquo; coach Roger Neilson has his doubts, too.&ldquo;The referees are obviously under orders to call all the obstruction, which often was by playoff standards is a pretty marginal penalty,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And then there&rsquo;s another penalty that normally wouldn&rsquo;t be called, but because they just called a marginal one they have to call that, too, and it kind of snowballs. The problem is I don&rsquo;t think players know from game to game exactly what is going to be called.&rdquo;The change in philosophy is an evolution many thought would never happen because for the longest time the powers that be didn&rsquo;t want it to happen. Players, not referees, decide games.Things changed when GMs realized players were deciding the games all right-the wrong players with their clutching and grabbing-and the league gave enough top-down direction and a heavy hands-on approach to back the referees and see it through.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve seen so many plays where people are trying to stop the talent of other players by obstructing, by cheating,&rdquo; said Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; GM Rejean Houle. &ldquo;In the playoffs this year somebody may get burned by that, but I think that&rsquo;s the price you pay. It will improve our game. The only thing we have to worry about now is the diving and the faking.&rdquo;A memo was sent to all clubs April 20 re-emphasizing the obstruction and penalty standard introduced at the Olympic break would not be relaxed in the playoffs. Referees are kept up to date on controversial plays and favorable rulings on an almost daily basis.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had more conference calls this year than I had probably in my entire (18-year refereeing) career,&rdquo; said director of officiating Bryan Lewis.He said the age-old playoff mantra of &ldquo;let the players play&rdquo; may still be the favored approach of some coaches or players, but &ldquo;from our end of the business, it better not be.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

Players getting message in playoff penalty parade

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011499/6762371-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="404" height="574"></div>Grant Fuhr has survived reconstructive knee surgery, cocaine abuse, and two unsuccessful marriages. Money has flowed through more holes in Fuhr&rsquo;s pockets than shooters have discovered between Jason Muzzatti&rsquo;s legs.Fuhr has developed more spare tires than Goodyear, has spent a larger part of his career burning off calories than has Jenny Craig. The body of this St. Louis Blues&rsquo; goalie has fallen apart more often than Marcel Aubut&rsquo;s handshake deals. Fuhr figured to have about as much chance of playing at a high level at age 35 as the Lightning had playing into May.&ldquo;Everybody thought it was time for me to move on and I&rsquo;m proving them wrong,&rdquo; Fuhr says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m having fun with that.&rdquo;Of course, part of the problem always was Fuhr having too much fun with everything. Forgetting about the last goal is a kev to goaltending success. But when Fuhr also forgot that the car he sold was leased, the VCR was due back a year ago. that people he never saw before in his life were running his bar tab to five figures, he was playing not just the puck, but the clown.So the thought that Fuhr would wind up laughing at the world is hilarious. It wasn&rsquo;t so funny for the Los Angeles Kings, who were swept by a guy you figured that by now would be sweeping only floors. Someone would have to buy Fuhr a suit for his Hall of Fame induction. His medallion would wind up in the pawnshop.But his ticket for the S.S. Hardship has been traded for one on The Love Boat on the Mississippi. Fuhr has a lot of people to thank for that. Like Bob Kersee, the Blues&rsquo; fitness consultant, who took more blubber off Fuhr than was on Moby Dick. Like Wayne Gretzky, who told Mike Keenan that Fuhr wasn&rsquo;t through, and Keenan, who believed it.Mostly, Fuhr is obligated to show his gratitude towards himself for eight years ago getting off the stuff, for continuing to show he has the right stuff through dark times.&ldquo;Dorn (Hasek) was playing great in Buffalo,&rdquo; Fuhr said of his time with the Sabres. &ldquo;I never had to sit and watch and didn&rsquo;t adjust to it real well. L.A. was worse. I was thinking it was time to get out. Then, the last 10 games there Rogie (Vachon) let me play.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021056/6762364-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="544" height="817"><figcaption class="caption-body">Grant Fuhr</figcaption></div>He went I-/-J witn a 4.U4 goaisagainst average with the Kings, numbers that looked as well done as all those burgers he ate that summer before reporting to St. Louis for his last chance. Keenan sent Fuhr home, then to Kersee to get the lumps out. The goalie went to the salad bar and spent the year recreating his salad days until Nick Kypreos fell on Fuhr early in the 1996 playoffs.The ACL and MCL were gone, but he did the rehab and became a medical marvel, especially marvellous for a guy whose body seemed destined to be hanging in a medical school somewhere. Instead, students of the game of hockey are currently studying Fuhr for signs he isn&rsquo;t what he used to be. They have determined him to be awfully close, even after having his left knee, the good one, scoped this season, &ldquo;I get a sharp pain every once in a while,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;But actually, it has been pretty good. I put it through the same things I always did.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have a timetable for how much longer I&rsquo;m going to play, but my body is starting to come up with one. think I have maybe three or tour years in me. No goalie has ever played 1,000 games. I want to do that.&rdquo;He is at 806 for the regular season, 937 counting the playoffs. Eighty-four victories in the post-season puts him only four wins from tying Billy Smith, second behind Patrick Roy on the all-time list. &ldquo;A hundred playoff wins, that&rsquo;s another thing I&rsquo;m working on,&rdquo; Fuhr said.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always enjoyed the game, but the more I play, the more I love it. I want to leave the game on my own terms. That&rsquo;s what has been motivating me.&rdquo;His legs still flash out faster than the Blues have from the playoffs every spring since 1986. A guy who has been around is helping a franchise&rsquo;s time come around.Aging well is life&rsquo;s ultimate revenge. Grant Fuhr&rsquo;s twilight becomes him. &#9632;

f0013-01

Fuhr defies logic by excelling as NHL senior

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011584/6762409-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="412" height="580"></div>Impertinent thoughts on pertinent playoff topics:&#9633; Gary Bettman can rationalize his beloved crease rule until the cows come home, but enforcement of it defaces the game when it takes an overtime goal away from Tim Taylor just because a millimeter of his toe is over the line.&#9633; If there&rsquo;s a more mature, likeable defenseman than Wade Redden, his name must be Chris Phillips. Are the Ottawa Senators lucky, wise, or what?&#9633; The definition of chemistry in the NHL is what the Philadelphia Flyers do not have.&#9633; Is it Philly&rsquo;s goaltending, Eric Lindros or what? The Flyers are more baffling than El Nino.&#9633; It&rsquo;s still hard to believe that Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; coach Larry Robin son could not have imposed a sense of cool on his bench in the third period of that bad dream game, blowing a 3-0 lead in Game 3 that gave the series to the St. Louis Blues.&#9633; The NHL&rsquo;s Teflon Man of the year has to be Brian Leetch, who finished with a mindboggling minus-36, captaining the New York Rangers to Nowhere and still managing to escape with barely a twitting.&#9633; Best line of the first round belonged to Scott Stevens. Asked about the NHL&rsquo;s rules crackdown, the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; captain, replied, &ldquo;The way they&rsquo;re calling &rsquo;em, Mario Lemieux ought to make a comeback.&rdquo;&#9633; When Bettman goes to Ottawa lobbying for tax breaks for his Canadian teams, he gets no sympathy from folks who know that hospitals across the country are losing services because of budget cuts.&#9633; If the playoffs are everything, why is it that voting for all the prestigious NHL awards is completed before the race for the Stanley Cup begins?&#9633; As far as I&rsquo;m concerned, the Tampa Bay Lightning season was a success if John Cullen&rsquo;s cancer remains in remission.&#9633; Takashi Okubo gets the Harold Ballard Award for weirdest owner in NHL history. He&rsquo;s losing millions on his Lightning franchise, yet still hasn&rsquo;t seen his club play even once in Tampa Bay.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021201/6762402-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="548" height="957"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wade Redden</figcaption></div>&#9633; If I were the Chicago Blackhawks, I wouldn&rsquo;t have fired Craig Hartsburg. I would have fired Bob Murray or Bob Pulford. Or are they the same person?&#9633; One reason for the low U.S. network television ratings is the NHL&rsquo;s inability to develop high-profile marquee players who are readily identifiable in the manner of their National Basketball Association counterparts.&#9633; The best thing to happen to the New York Islanders in their postJohn Spano era is Trevor Linden, player and captain.&#9633; Definition of stealing money-NHL style: Tomas Sandstrom getting paid $1.4 million for doing nothing for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.&#9633; Every day in every way Darcy Regier is looking like GM of the year for keeping his head above the garbage through the smelliest autumn in Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; front office history and then steering his club into the playoffs.&#9633; The one barometer for gauging whether the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; new owners are serious about their franchise is whether they retain Glen Sather as GM. If they allow Slats to leave, Edmonton automatically becomes a bush hockey town.&#9633; Non-sellout crowds at the FleetCenter for Boston Bruins&rsquo; playoff games give me the creeps. This would have been unheard of at the lower-priced, cozier Boston Garden.&#9633; Shouldn&rsquo;t Miroslav Satan be skating for the Devils?&#9633; Blonde, brunette or whatever, Damian Rhodes is the most refreshing goaltender to hit the playoff scene since the 1994 version of Martin Brodeur.&#9633; Former Islanders&rsquo; coach Rick Bowness is right: Bryan Smolinski should be signed to a month-by-month contract.&#9633; People who should be back in the NHL sooner rather than later: 1. Colin Campbell; 2. Terry Crisp; and, 3. Butch Goring. &#9632;

f0014-01

Why isn’t Satan playing for the Devils?

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021019/6762440-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="325" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Belfour</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011464/6762447-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="186" height="185"></div>In what is arguably the loudest arena in hockey, he now holds the title of favorite villain.And Ed Belfour still doesn&rsquo;t get it.San Jose Sharks&rsquo; fans took advantage of a first round playoff series with the Dallas Stars to let Belfour, who left the team as a free agent in the summer, have it. They booed him from the moment he walked on the ice. They booed each time he touched the puck in a game. They cheered in mockery each time a goal was scored on him during the pregame skate. They hung signs and tried to throw him off his game.Even Sharks&rsquo; management got in on the act. Before Game 3 of the series, the video screen showed S.J. Sharkie tossing a dummy of Belfour off the roof of the San Jose Arena. When the dummy hit the pavement, the screen read: &ldquo;The Eagle has Landed.&rdquo; In Game 4, Sharkie took the head off an Eagle mascot. At other times, the video screen was doing look-a-likes and compared Belfour to Yoda and Danny Devito&rsquo;s Penguin from the Batman movie.And after two games and two losses, Belfour called it &ldquo;bush.&rdquo; He said fans need to &ldquo;get over it.&rdquo;And in some ways, he had a point. Belfour played all of 13 games for the Sharks last season. You could barely call it a cup of Starbucks in the fashionable Silicon Valley town. But the problem is the Sharks wanted to love Belfour and he dumped them.The Sharks acquired Belfour from the Chicago Blackhawks last season in a trade for Ulf Dahlen, Chris Terreri, Michal Sykora and a draft pick, knowing the goalie could become an unrestricted free agent, but believing fully they would sign him in the summer.But Belfour put them ott and turned down a three year offer for $10.5 million. Instead, he signed a three-year deal with the Stars worth $10 million. It was clear Belfour had dumped the Sharks and their fans for a date with a better looking woman. And hell hath no fury like a fan scorned.&ldquo;I feel sorry for our management because they treated Eddie pretty good,&rdquo; said Sharks&rsquo; center Bernie Nicholls, a I longtime teammate of Belfour. &ldquo;That I part is the only part that bothers me. I Eddie is a total free agent. He has I never won the Cup before. He&rsquo;s going to go with the team that gives him the best chance. I don&rsquo;t think you can fault him for that.Sharks&rsquo; fans can-and likely will for years to come. Remember, the Stars move to the Pacific Division next season.NOTEBOOK: Goalie Ed Belfour was ejected in the final minutes of Game 3-a 4-1 loss-after losing his cool and jumping Sharks&rsquo; left winger Shawn Burr. Said Belfour about suggestions he snapped: &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t snapping. They haven&rsquo;t seen snapping."&hellip;Center Mike Modano, shut out in Games 2, 3 and 4, played possibly his best game in a Stars&rsquo; uniform in Game 5, a 3-2 Dallas win. Modano scored twice and threw several crushing checks in the big victory&hellip;Modano&rsquo;s winner in Game 5 was allowed to stand despite the fact right winger Jamie Langenbrunner was apparently in the crease. The on-ice officials didn&rsquo;t request a video review.. Left winger Greg Adams missed the first four games of the San Jose series, but came back from a sore neck and migraine headaches to play in Game 5&hellip;Rookie left winger Juha Lind scored his first career playoff goal in Game 1, a 4-1 victory. He added another in Game 5, which the Stars won 3-2. &#9632;

f0015-02

NHL TEAMS

’The Eagle’ becomes bird of prey as scorned Shark fans show fury

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04535/6762478-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="324" height="444"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darryl Sutter</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03732/6762485-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="180" height="180"></div>San Jose Sharks&rsquo; officials and the club&rsquo;s fans became concerned immediately after the Chicago Blackhawks fired coach Craig Hartsburg in late April.After two lost seasons, San Jose advanced to the Stanley Cup playoffs under first-year coach Darryl Sutter. The thought of possibly losing Sutter to his former employer isn&rsquo;t a pretty one.Sutter spent his entire eight-year playing career with the Blackhawks and coached the club for three seasons, from 1992-93 through 1994-95.He also served as an assistant coach and associate coach under Mike Keenan and was head coach of Chicago&rsquo;s top minor-league affiliate, the Indianapolis Ice of the International League.Sutter has often spoken of his continuing loyalty to the Blackhawks&rsquo; organization and acknowledged that it pained him for the Sharks to reach the playoffs this season at Chicago&rsquo;s expense.San Jose is counting on Sutter&rsquo;s commitment to his current employers.&ldquo;I firmly believe the right thing will happen and everything will turn out very positively,&rdquo; said Sharks&rsquo; president Greg Jamison. &ldquo;We feel we have a very positive situation going with Darryl. We feel he has done an outstanding job and every sense we have is he has enjoyed San Jose. We very much appreciate the job Darryl has done and we want him to be with the Sharks for a long time.&rdquo;Sutter signed a two-year contract with San Jose last summer. He told The Hockey News last summer he had a clause in the deal that allows him to declare himself a free agent after the first year.&ldquo;We are focused on the playoffs,&rdquo; Jamison said as the Sharks battled the Dallas Stars in a first round Western Conference series. &ldquo;This is not the time or place for contract talk.Sutter downplayed talk of a potential job switch, but did not completely rule out the possibility.NHL history. Kevin Constantine, who led the. Sharks to playoff appearances-and subsequen first-round upsets-in 1993 and 1994, ranks second (.427).&ldquo;All that is just created stuff,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the farthest thing from my mind. Everything you read or hear is speculation. I just basically stat away from it. My responsibility is the players right here. We&rsquo;ll deal with everything later.&rdquo;By leading the Sharks to a 34-38 10 regular-season record, Sutter own: the best winning percentage (.476) ii San Jose&rsquo;s mostly sorry seven-yearNOTEBOOK: Checking-line center Ron Sutter scored his first playoff goal since 1992 in San Jose&rsquo;s 32 loss at Dallas in Game 5 of the first round series&hellip;Goals eight seconds apart by right winger John MacLean and Sutter fell three seconds short of the playoff record for the two fastest by one team. Detroit&rsquo;s Norm Ullman scored twice in a span of five seconds in a 4-2 victory over Chicago on April 11, 1965&hellip;Rookie defenseman Andrei Zyuzin scored his first career playoff goal to give the Sharks a 1-0 overtime victory in Game 4&hellip;Goaltender Mike Vernon&rsquo;s shutout in Game 4 was his sixth in 127 career playoff games. Vernon held the Stars without a goal for 142 minutes, 12 seconds, over parts of three games, before center Mike Modano scored on the power play at 19:57 of the first period in Game 5&hellip;Defenseman Mike Rathje&rsquo;s goal in Game 2 against Dallas marked the sixth of his short playoff career. All of the goals, including five in 1995, have come on the power play. &#9632;

f0015-04

Could Blackhawk loyalist Sutter be heading back to Windy City?

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021062/6762516-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="323" height="440"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sandis Ozolinsh</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011372/6762523-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="183" height="183"></div>Sandis Ozolinsh is difficult to peg both on and off the ice.Is he a defenseman? A forward? How about an &ldquo;offenseman?&rdquo;&ldquo;You (media) guys named me that, or rover ana whatever else you cauea me, Ozolinsh said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really like that name, but as long as I keep playing that way, I can&rsquo;t say too much.&rdquo;Ozolinsh has been called mam things in Denver, not all of them kind But when he plays like he did in the first five games of the team&rsquo;s firs round series with the Edmonton Oilers Ozolinsh is a darling of Colorado Avalanche fans.Ozolinsh, who struggled down the stretch of the regular season, had seven points-all assists through the first five games, including a four-point game April 26 in Colorado&rsquo;s 5-4 overtime victory over Edmonton.When Ozolinsh is scoring, he gives the Avs a two-pronged attack few teams can match. When he isn&rsquo;t, he is often a liability in his own zone. Ozolinsh finished the season a team-worst minus-12 in 1997-98 and had just five points in his last nine games.On the flip side, he finished just eight points back in the defensemen scoring race this season despite missing 16 games with a knee injury. Prorate his 1997-98 numbers (13 goals, 51 points in 66 games) over a full 82-game schedule and you get 16 goals and 63 points. Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings, a Norris Trophy favorite this season, led blueliners with 59 points in 80 games.Ozolinsh, a Norris Trophy finalist in 1997, (he finished third behind winner Brian Leetch of the New York Rangers and runner-up Vladimir Konstantinov of the Wings), is as dangerous as most forwards in the league when he&rsquo;s playing well offensively.The 25-year-old&rsquo;s most productive season was 1996-97 when he recorded 23 goals and a careerbest 68 points in 80 games. He has also been a big playoff performer, collecting 12 goals and 51 points in 64 post-season games entering 1998.&ldquo;When he&rsquo;s playing well, we&rsquo;re a much tougher team to beat,&rdquo; said Avs&rsquo; captain Joe Sakic.Ozolinsh, whose self-deprecating sense of humor makes him a hit with the media, said his game changes depending on the score.&ldquo;Sometimes I have to ask the guys what the score is so 1 Know what to do, ozolinsh said with a laugh. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s easy to play on this team with the forwards we have. I just have to give them the puck.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Avs blew a chance to end their first round series with Edmonton in five games when they lost 3-1 April 30. The loss kept goalie Patrick Roy stalled at 99 career playoff wins&hellip;Veteran right winger Claude Lemieux&rsquo;s winning goal in Game 4 was the 19th of his playoff career, moving him to No. 2 on the all-time NHL list. Only Rangers&rsquo; center Wayne Gretzky has more (24). The goal was the 73rd of Lemieux&rsquo;s post-season career, tying him with Florida right winger Dino Ciccarelli for eighth all-time&hellip;Left winger Rene Corbet had surgery on his left thumb, broken in Game 1, and was expected to miss a month of action. There is a possibility he could be back for part of the Western Conference final if the Avalanche advances that far&hellip;Center Jari Kurri was a healthy scratch for Game 4 of the Edmonton series, the first time that has happened in his 17-year playoff career. Avalanche coach Marc Crawford elected to sit out Kurri for Game 5, too. &#9632;

f0016-02

Streaky Ozolinsh gives Avs boos when he’s at his offensive best

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04577/6762554-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="324" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Guerin</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03788/6762561-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="183" height="182"></div>Bill &rsquo;The Butcher&rsquo; Guerin was having a slice in the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; first-round playoff series with the Colorado Avalanche.Guerin scored five times in the first five games, including four of the oilers six power play goals.He was also wreaking havoc in other ways. In Game 1, as the teams fought to a frenzied finish at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Guerin crosschecked, highsticked and slashed Avs&rsquo; center Peter Forsberg. He cut the super Swede for nine stitches, earning him the nickname from a Denver | columnist, who called for his banishment, it not from the league, then at least trom Game 2.&ldquo;I take it as a compliment,&rdquo; he laughed the next morning, fully aware he would not be suspended.He took it and he gave it out all series. And he kept scoring.&ldquo;I tell you what, he has scored some big goals for us. Huge goals,&rdquo; said coach Ron Low.The Oilers trailed Game 1 by a 2-0 count. Guerin scored. The Oilers won 3-2.The Oilers trailed Game 2 by a 2-0 count. Guerin scored. And then again. The Oilers lost 52.The Oilers trailed Game 3 by a 4-2 count. Guerin scored. The Oilers lost in overtime 5-4.The Oilers trailed Game 5 by a 1-0 count. Guerin scored. The Oilers won 3-1.&ldquo;He has been like Craig Simpson in 1990 for us,&rdquo; said captain Kelly Buchberger, recalling Simpson&rsquo;s 16-goal playoff campaign as the Oilers won the Stanley Cup.Guerin was nothing short of terrific for Edmon ton. He slid into the post-season in a serious slump, but broke out in fine form.&ldquo;We all wanted to play physical and I think Billy led us,&rdquo; said linemate Doug Weight &ldquo;He was knocking heads around and I know it pumped me up.&rdquo;Guerin struggled through the last 15 games of the regular season. The points wouldn&rsquo;t come. He wasn&rsquo;t getting his nose dirty. But he was exactly the player the Oilers wanted him to be in the playoffs.&ldquo;I thought he played big tonight,&rdquo; Low said after Game 1. &ldquo;He played like the power forward he is. He took the body well.&rdquo;Guerin took the compliments like he takes the criticism, with a shrug.&ldquo;I think what Ronnie is getting at is I kept it simple. I&rsquo;m not a guy who will make plays like Dougie Weight and Peter Forsberg. The more I keep it simple, the better my game is going to be.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The NHL&rsquo;s board of governors April 27 unanimously approved the sale of the Oilers to a group of local investors for $70 million (Cdn.). The group raised half the purchase price and will borrow the remainder. As part of the sale agreement, the new ownership group gets a six-year, rent-free lease at the Edmonton Coliseum, which amounts to a $2.4-million annual subsidy by city taxpayers&hellip;Right winger Mike Grier&rsquo;s first two goals of the post-season wrapped up a 3-1 win in Game 5 April 30. Grier scored the winnet and insurance empty-netter as the Oilers&rsquo; stayed alive by scoring three third-period goals for a 3-1 victory&hellip; Said coach Ron Low of the Oilers&rsquo; gutsy comeback in Game 5: &ldquo;The bullet was in the eyebrow. Not quite sunk in the head yet. It&rsquo;s hard to explain, but going out for the third period, everybody said it&rsquo;s too damn early to golf."&hellip;The Oilers allowed the Avalanche to get 2-0 leads in the first three games of the series. &#9632;

f0016-04

’Butcher’ Guerin provides beef. Grade A game in post-season

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011261/6762599-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Ottawa Senators had plenty of surprises in store for the New Jersey Devils in their playoff series, including this goal by usually tough right winger Chris Murray in Game 2. (Photo by Bruce Benet Studios)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02930/6762592-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="188" height="185"></div>It was the Tale of Two Contracts.Doug Gilmour, in an effort to show he has enough left in his 34-year-old body to warrant a two-year deal worth $10 million when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer, almost singlehandedly kept the New Jersey Devils alive in the opening round of the playoffs.On the flip side of the coin, Bobby Holik was hopeful of regaining his regular season form before the Devils were knocked out of the playoffs and he had lost too much bargaining power for his own off-season free agency negotiations.Holik, the team&rsquo;s leading goal-scorer during the regular schedule, remained in a prolonged slump that may cost him millions. The hard-hitting center scored his 29th goal March 14 and seemed assured of his first 30-goal season in the NHL, but he struggled through the final 16 games without scoring another goal and did not have a point or assist in five playoff games.Gilmour, however, was a force in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal against the Ottawa Senators with two goals and an assist. He also scored a key goal in the fifth game to raise his offensive totals to five goals and seven points for the series.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a goal-scorer,&rdquo; Gilmour said, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;ll take them.&rdquo;Even though he missed 19 of the last 21 regular season games because of cartilage damage in his right knee, Gilmour reminded everyone of the calibre of playoff performer he is.Gilmour said he would like to re-sign with the Devils&hellip;if the money is right.&ldquo;The (light) travel is a big difference here. It&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ve really enjoyed,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It makes your body feel better.&rdquo;Gilmour, who was under intense scrutiny as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs before joining the Devils, also likes the relative privacy of New Jersey. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not under a microscope,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I enjoyed my time (in Canada). I&rsquo;m not saying anything bad about it, but when I got traded, it was a nice change.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Ken Daneyko became the only player to appear in all 100 playoff games in Devils&rsquo; history&rsquo; when he was in the lineup for Game 5 against Ottawa April 30&hellip;Coach Jacques Lemaire made a surprising move when he used enforcer Krzysztof Oliwa on a new version of the Crash Line with center Bobby Holik and right winger Randy McKay&hellip;Searching for offense, Lemaire opted to keep rookie center Brendan Morrison in the lineup&hellip;McKay, who failed to score a goal in the first five playoff games, said he still wasn&rsquo;t comfortable after returning from strained left knee ligaments&hellip;Right winger Jason Arnott, who played 4-1/2 seasons for Edmonton before the Devils acquired him this year, said he followed the Oilers in the playoffs, but didn&rsquo;t keep an eye on the stats of the player for whom he was acquired, right winger Bill Guerin. &ldquo;I look at Edmonton because I want to see what they do,&rdquo; Arnott said. &ldquo;No other reason.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-01

Gilmour, Holik go different ways as nair bucks for new contracts

<div class="byline">By Bruce Garrioch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03642/6762630-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="194" height="191"></div>Daniel Alfredsson was the toast of Ottawa, but he wanted to give his own salute to the fans at the Corel Centre.After scoring his first career playoff hat trick in Game 4 of the Ottawa Senators&rsquo; series against the New Jersey Devils, the Swedish winger tossed his stick to a fan when he was introduced as the first star in the 4-3 victory.&ldquo;I just thought they deserved it,&rdquo; said Alfredsson. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been so supportive of us and I wanted to do something to show that we appreciate how much they&rsquo;ve been behind us. It&rsquo;s so exciting to play here.&rdquo;All the talk early in the playoffs was about goaltender Damian Rhodes and his new bleached-blonde lid, but it was Alfredsson who emerged as one of the club&rsquo;s post-season leaders.It took a little bit of time, however. He was held pointless in the first three games of the series, despite firing seven shots at Devils&rsquo; goalie Martin Brodeur in Game 1.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not about points,&rdquo; Alfredsson said. &ldquo;I know what I can do out there and I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s happening for me. I&rsquo;m not creating scoring chances the way I&rsquo;m capable of getting the job done.&rdquo;His teammates didn&rsquo;t necessarily see it that way.&ldquo;Alfredsson has really been working his butt off,&rdquo; said Senators&rsquo; center Bruce Gardiner. &ldquo;Ever since this started, I really think he has been working and I knew sooner or later he was going to get some points.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say right now we&rsquo;re getting everything we want from Daniel Alfredsson and there is no way we could have gotten to this position without him. He has really bought into the style we&rsquo;re trying to play&rdquo;Alfredsson didn&rsquo;t have the kind of year he expected. He missed six games at the beginning of the year while negotiating a new contract, eventually signing a five-year, $10-million (U.S.) deal. Then, troubled by injuries, he finished third in team scoring with 17 goals and 44 points in 54 games.NOTEBOOK: Senators&rsquo; coach Jacques Martin was incensed with referee Mark Faucette for the officiating. in a 3-1 loss in Game 5 which cut Ottawa&rsquo;s series lead to 3-2. &ldquo;I think there was a different standard of officiating,&rdquo; Martin said. &ldquo;I guess we have gone back to the old rules.".. Ottawa center Alexei Yashin and some of his teammates took in some National Basketball Association playoff action. They watched the New Jersey Nets and Chicago Bulls before the fifth game at Continental Airlines Arena. It was the first time Yashin had seen Bulls&rsquo; star Michael Jordan play five and &rsquo;His Aimess&rsquo; scored 38 points. &ldquo;He was incredible to watch. He can really take over a game,&rdquo; Yashin said&hellip;Captain Randy Cunneyworth has been forced to take one for the team in the playoffs. The 13-year-NHL veteran left winger was a healthy scratch for four of the first five games&hellip;The Senators lost defenseman Wade Redden with a groin injury in the second period of Game 5. He was listed as day-to-day. &#9632;

f0018-03

Alfredsson places pedal to metal after three games of neutral play

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02701/6762661-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="326" height="440"><figcaption class="caption-body">Geoff Courtnall</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011050/6762668-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="188" height="185"></div>Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; coach Larry Robinson paid Geoff Courtnail of the St. Louis Blues the ultimate compliment after the Blues swept the Kings in the first round, saying Cnnrtnail &ldquo;definitely&rdquo; was a player he&rsquo;d like to have on his team.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a playoff performer,&rdquo; Robinson said. &ldquo;He singlehandedly beat us in the first game and after that, he got under everyone&rsquo;s skin. He&rsquo;s a bit like Claude Lemieux. He does whatever it takes to win a hockey game.&rdquo;Such as running the goalie, a tactic that turned Game 3 in the Blues&rsquo; favor.With the Kings leading 3-0 and outplaying the Blues in front of rookie goalie Jamie Storr, Courtnail took it upon himself to take Storr and the Kings out of the game by barreling into him at 8:34 of the final period.Storr&rsquo;s head cracked off the goalpost and the 22-year-old goalie went down in a heap. Then, defenseman Sean O&rsquo;Donnell threw off his gloves and pummeled Courtnail to the ice. Amazingly, the Blues ended up with a five-minute power play after this exchange. (See pg. 3 for more on the play.)Referee Don Koharski gave O&rsquo;Donnell a fighting major, while Courtnail got a minor penalty for charging that was negated by a delayed penalty on Ian Laperriere for boarding. The Blues scored four power play goals in a stunning span of 3:07 on the major and came back to win 4-3.The Kings called Koharski&rsquo;s penalty &ldquo;a disgrace,&rdquo; but Courtnall called it &ldquo;a perfect call,&rdquo; i, saying Storr &ldquo;stepped in front of me. He tried to block me from going behind the net. I don&rsquo;t know what he was thinking. 1 tried as best I could to get out of the way, but I was going so fast.&rdquo;Storr couldn&rsquo;t play in Game 4 because of post concussion syndrome, but Courtnall played, seemingly with a big target on his back. The Kings were preoccupied with getting even, whether smashing Courtnall into the boards as Rob Blake did in earning an interference penalty, or slashing him on the back of the legs as O&rsquo;Donnell did to put the Kings two men short. By the time they quit paying attention to Courtnall, they trailed 2-0 in the game en route to a 2-1 loss.&ldquo;They were trying to kill Courts,&rdquo; said Pierre Turgeon. &ldquo;They were kind of focusing on him, which is probably good for us.&rdquo;Courtnall, who had a goal and six points in Game 1, was the dominant player and personality in the series.&ldquo;Courts has had a real strong playoff tor us so far,&rdquo; coach Joel Quenneville said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s in that agitating mode where he gets under people&rsquo;s skin. He draws a lot of penalties, either off the rush or by sheer frustration. He just frustrates you.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The sweep against the Kings was the fourth in Blues&rsquo; history, their first since eliminating Chicago in four in the first round of the 1993 playoffs. Their other sweeps came in the 1969 playoffs-in the first round against Philadelphia and in the Stanley Cup semifinal against Los Angeles&hellip;Five-time Stanley Cup winner Grant Fuhr finished the series with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage&hellip;Special teams were a big factor in the Blues&rsquo; success against the Kings. They scored on eight of 26 power plays, a 22.2 per cent success rate. They killed 28 of 29 Kings&rsquo; chances, for a 96.6 per cent success rate&hellip;Left winger Geoff Courtnall led the Blues in the first round with seven points, one ahead of defenseman Chris Pronger. Centers Pierre Turgeon and Jim Campbell and right winger Brett Hull each had five points, with Turgeon and Campbell scoring three goals and Hull two. Second line center Pavol Demitra was the only other multiple-goal scorer, with three. &#9632;

f0020-02

Courtnail at feisty, agitating best, writes end to LA. ’s playoff Storr-y

<div class="byline">By Helene Elliott</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04297/6762699-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="326" height="436"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jamie Storr</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03471/6762706-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="191" height="184"></div>The Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; return to the playoffs turned out to be merely a glimpse of post-season play. But in losing to the St. Louis Blues in four games, they realized how much they have accomplished-and how much more work they must do in order to I compete with the NHL&rsquo;s elite teams. IAlthough only the series opener was a blowout-an 8-3 Blues&rsquo; victory-the Kings were clearly outplayed by a faster, deeper team. The Kings were unable to handle the Blues&rsquo; transition game or their power play, which struck for an NHL-record four goals during a controversial five-minute major penalty on Sean O&rsquo;Donnell in Game 3 and gave the Blues a stunning 4-3 victory.The Blues were 8-for-36 on the power play in the series, compared with the Kings&rsquo; l-for-29 performance. The Kings&rsquo; lack of discipline in repeatedly taking needless penalties bothered coach Larry Robinson more than almost anything, except the five-minute power play the Blues got after Geoff Courtnall ran into Kings&rsquo; goalie Jamie Storr and O&rsquo;Donnell pummeled Courtnall as payback.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve come a long way, but this just proves we&rsquo;ve still got a long way to go,&rdquo; Robinson said. &ldquo;We got beat by a better club, but we also beat ourselves by continuing to take bad penalties.&rdquo;The Kings&rsquo; offense never exerted sustained pressure. Jozef Stumpel, their regular season scoring leader, had one goal and two assists and defenseman Rob Blake was scoreless and minus-4.Robinson and GM Dave Taylor are happy with their team&rsquo;s size, but they recognize they need more speed up front. A power play quarterback is also on their off-season wish list.&ldquo;If you look at our team from a year ago, we&rsquo;ve made some good strides,&rdquo; Taylor said. &ldquo;Do we need to make some more strides? Absolutely. We have to improve our team in a number of areas.&rdquo;Although the Kings have said they will venture into the free agent market, some of the help they need might already be on their roster. One example is Storr, whose solid play late in the season indicates he&rsquo;s ready to be a No. 1 goalie. If the Kings decide they can&rsquo;t keep Storr and Stephane Fiset, one could be traded for the scorer they need.The Kings are also expecting Olli Jokinen, who began the season with them before returning home to Finland, to crack the lineup next season.&ldquo;We feel that we have some young guys that were with us this year who will only continue to get better,&rdquo; Taylor said, &ldquo;and some younger guys in the system who have the ability to come in and help us even as soon as next year.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goaltender Jamie Storr, who suffered a concussion in Game 3 when he was knocked into the post by St. Louis left winger Geoff Courtnall, didn&rsquo;t get medical clearance to play in Game 4. Team doctor Michael Mellman. however, believes Storr will make a full recovery&hellip;Center Ray Ferraro, hampered by soreness and swelling in his left knee, planned to undergo arthroscopic surgery&hellip;Coach Larry Robinson was expected to be fined as much as $10,000 for his criticism of referee Don Koharski after Game 3. Robinson was steamed about the five-minute major Koharski assessed to defenseman Sean O&rsquo;Donnell for pounding Courtnall&hellip;The Kings have an eight-game playoff losing streak, which started with Game 2 of the 1993 Cup final against Montreal&hellip;Defenseman Rob Blake and left winger Glen Murray (Canada), center Jozef Stumpel (Slovakia), defenseman Mattias Norstrom (Sweden) and center Olli Jokinen (Finland) were invited to play at the World Championship. &#9632;

f0020-04

Faster, deeper Blues show Kings still lots of room for improvement

<div class="byline">By Cynthia Lambert</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02449/6762737-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="327" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tomas Holmstrom</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01820/6762744-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="188" height="187"></div>Tomas Holmstrom came to the Detroit Red Wings with the nickname &rsquo;The Demolition Man. &rsquo; At least that&rsquo;s what he was in his home of Sweden. At 6-feet and 210 pounds, Holmstrom is most definitely not a finesse player.In fact, Holmstrom is a lot like former Red Wing Dino Ciccarelli. He hits and he seems to enjoy being hit. One thing he doesn&rsquo;t do much of is retaliate.In his rookie playoff season (he plaved just one post-season game last season in the Red Wings&rsquo; run to the Stanley Cup), Holmstrom was a mainstay. And by Game 4 of the first round series against the Phoenix Coyotes, he had earned his way onto the right wing of a line with center Sergei Fedorov and left winger Vyacheslav Kozlov.He was also working on a top power play unit, plunked right in front of the net, a la Ciccarelli, to create an ample screen and bother for the goalie. Through the course of a game, Holmstrom sustains more crosschecks to his back than any other Red Wing.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s OK with me,&rdquo; said Holmstrom, 25. &ldquo;As long as I don&rsquo;t have any ice packs on me after the game.&rdquo;Through five games, he was clear of ice packs, but he wasn&rsquo;t unscathed. During Game 4, with Phoenix leading 1-0, Fedorov blistered a slapshot past goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, beating him cleanly, high on the glove side. But the goal was disallowed because Holmstrom&rsquo;s left foot was in the crease.It wasn&rsquo;t the first time it had happened to Holmstrom. He has had a handful of those infractions this season and after Game 4 he found it hard to forgive himself, ever though the Wings ended up winning the game 4-2.&ldquo;You have to stay out of the crease, &rsquo; Holmstrom said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to do that.&rdquo;Though he may be unforgiving Holmstrom is also resilient.It was his goal, a redirection of a Kozlov shot, that gave the Wings a 1-0 lead in the first period of Game 5 for his first ever playoff goal. Detroit went on to win the game 3-1.NOTEBOOK: Through five playoff games, center Sergei Fedorov had five goals. Coyotes&rsquo; coach Jim Schoenfeld deemed Fedorov Detroit&rsquo;s best player in the playoffs and the assessment was no stretch. In each game, Fedorov was Detroit&rsquo;s best player. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s getting better with each game,&rdquo; said Detroit GM Ken Holland. &ldquo;What he has shown is that he&rsquo;s one of the best players in the game. What he has now is the confidence to score goals. That&rsquo;s what we needed him to get during the 20 games or so he played in the regular season and he did that.&rdquo; The Wings signed Fedorov Feb. 26, when they matched the six-year, $38 million offer sheet to which the Carolina Hurricanes signed him&hellip;Coach Scotty Bowman has one year remaining on his contract, but it is a two-way contract, giving the team the option of retaining Bowman or moving him to a scouting role. It is likely the team will want him back as coach. The two associate coaches-Dave Lewis and Barry Smith-have guaranteed contracts for one more season. &#9632;

f0021-02

Sophomore Holmstrom makes mark standing in front of opposition net

<div class="byline">By Mike Dudurich</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04179/6762775-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="325" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">K. Constantine</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03251/6762782-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="185" height="183"></div>Despite a stumble to the finish line that included an explosion by his star player, Kevin Constantine&rsquo;s Pittsburgh Penguins put together quite a 1997-98 regular season.Expected by most to be a run-of-the-mill team after Mario Lemieux retired, the Penguins rolled to the Northeast Division title with a 40-2418 record and the second seed in the Eastern Conference.Constantine&rsquo;s reputation as a supreme motivator was confirmed with the Penguins&rsquo; surprising finish and gave fans in Pittsburgh hopes for a successful run in the postseason.In the four playoff series Constantine coached the San Jose Sharks, three went to seven games. In 1994, the Sharks knocked out the Detroit Red Wings in seven games before losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs, also in seven. The next year they went the distance in a first round win over the Calgary Flames.&ldquo;Experience helps, but if experience were all that mattered, what did it mean that my team beat Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s Red Wings in 1994?&rdquo; Constantine asked on the eve of the playoffs. &ldquo;These teams (Pittsburgh and the Montreal Canadiens) are so evenly matched and it&rsquo;s certainly conceivable that this one could go seven. And if it does, nothing could be more thrilling. If you&rsquo;re a kid playing hockey in North America, you always talk about doing something in Game 7 of a playoff series.&rdquo;Constantine&rsquo;s re-invention of the Penguins changing them from a freewheeling, devil-may care unit into a nasty, hate-to-play-them group earned Pittsburgh home ice advantage for atleast two rounds.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always nice to have home-ice advantage, but I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a major factor. I would say the first goal of the game is far more important than home-ice advantage,&rdquo; Constantine said. &ldquo;The teams that finished No. 2 and 7 in our conference are so evenly matched that to call one a favorite and call one an underdog is not realistic.&rdquo;And, like the good regular season, a good post-season would be an unexpected bonus for hockey fans in Pittsburgh this season.NOTEBOOK: Montreal coach Alain Vigneault revived an old complaint about the Penguins that hadn&rsquo;t been heard in years. He accused them of being a collection of &ldquo;divers&rdquo; and that they &ldquo;make it very hard on the referees.&rdquo; That charge hadn&rsquo;t been laid on them since the Stanley Cup years of 1991 and 1992&hellip;The Penguins, losers of seven of their past eight playoff openers, improved to 8-1 in second games after a 4-1 win over the Canadiens&hellip;Right winger Jaromir Jagr&rsquo;s assist on left winger Stu Barnes&rsquo; initial goal April 25 gave him 100 points in 100 playoff games. Only 58 players in NHL history have 100 playoff points&hellip; Jagr moved into second place on the Penguins&rsquo; all-time playoff scoring list with three assists in that game. His 102 points moved him past former Penguins&rsquo; left winger Kevin Stevens&hellip;Center Ed Olczyk&rsquo;s goal in Game 2 snapped a 24-game goalless streak&hellip;The Penguins were 9-55-8 all-time in Montreal, but stood at 52-1 in the Molson Centre after splitting Games 3 and 4. &#9632;

f0021-04

Constantine’s re-invention of Pens gives fans surprising cause for hope

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-06115/6762813-1-eng-US/f0021-062.jpg" title="f0021-06" width="324" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith Tkachuk</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-05142/6762820-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="182" height="181"></div>&ldquo;Tkachuk.&rdquo;According to a popular television commercial seen often to the Phoenix area, that word is the sound of a goal being scored. Goalies heard it 50 times in 1995-96, an NHL-high 52 times t year ago, and 40 times this season.That&rsquo;s nothing to sneeze at.But in the opening round of the playoffs against the Detroit Red Wings, the sound &ldquo;Tkachuk&rdquo; more closely resembled that of someone blowing their nose.By his own admission, star power forward Keith Tkachuk was not nearly living up to expectations for the Phoenix Coyotes. Outside of scoring two goals during a 7-4 Phoenix rout in Game 2, he had been virtually silent as the Red Wings grabbed a 3-2 series lead, forcing the Coyotes to the brink of elimination.&ldquo;The bottom line is, I get paid to score goals,&rdquo; Tkachuk said. &ldquo;I ain&rsquo;t doing it.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gotta lead. But everybody has to step it up, too. You can&rsquo;t have to count on Rick Tocchet scoring every (expletive deleted) game. Everybody has to pull their weight. Keith Tkachuk, Jeremy Roenick. Everybody.&rdquo;But not everybody is going to have his contract restructured come July 1. Though he has two years remaining on his current deal-which pays him $3.2 million a season-Tkachuk fenagled management to re-do his contract by staging a holdout during the pre-season.He and his Boston-based agent, Bob Murray, will seek a possible extension and a balloon payment signing bonus up front, possibly worth as much as $10 million or more.It figures to be a long, contemptuous bargaining session, which GM Bobby Smith already has indicated probably will eat up most of the summer.&ldquo;No way is this thing going to get hammered out in a matter of days,&rdquo; Smith said earlier in the season.But the Coyotes have promised they will eventually come to an agreement with their rugged captain, who turned Keith Tkachuk 26 on March 28. His performance in the playoffs, though, could make talks drag on even further than expected..NOTEBOOK: After losing their best defenseman, Teppo Numminen, to a groin injury in Game 1 against Detroit, Phoenix lost starting goalie Nikolai Khabibulin to a similar injury in Game 4. Replacement Jimmy Waite performed well in his absence, but Detroit still won Game 5 3-1&hellip;Right winger Mike Gartner, who had just 24 penalty minutes all season, racked up 16 in Game 5 at Detroit on three minors and a 10-minute misconduct from referee Bill McCreary. &rsquo;To get a 10minute misconduct for telling the referee to wake up at the end of the game, that&rsquo;s pretty harsh after 19 years,&rdquo; Gartner said. &ldquo;Maybe you have to swear at them not to get kicked out, I don&rsquo;t know."&hellip;When the NHL declined to suspend Detroit left winger Brent Gilchrist for high-sticking right winger Rick Tocchet in Game 4, Tocchet took matters into his own hands. He clobbered Gilchrist during a fight in the closing minutes of Game 5 and said afterward, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s old-time hockey. If the NHL isn&rsquo;t going to do something about it, I will.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0021-06

Tkachuk set for summer renegotiation, stranoelv silent on ice early in playoffs

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0887/6762851-1-eng-US/f0021-082.jpg" title="f0021-08" width="322" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body">V. Damphousse</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0799/6762858-1-eng-US/f0021-072.jpg" title="f0021-07" width="182" height="181"></div>Now that the regular season is ovei and Vincent Damphousse has stopped collecting his team-high salary of $3.275-million (U.S.), the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; captain figured it was about time he started earning his keep.The veteran center was a disappointment during the season, slumping to an uncharacteristically low 18 goals and 59 points in 76 games. But he brought his game up in the playoffs.Through four games of the Canadiens&rsquo; Eastern Conference quarterfinal against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Damphousse led Montreal with six points, including five assists. He was playing inspired hockey, going to the net and frequently jostling with Penguins&rsquo; defenseman Darius Kasparaitis.&ldquo;You want to be known as a playoff guy. That&rsquo;s the best compliment any player can get,&rdquo; Damphousse said. &ldquo;Last year&rsquo;s playoff hurt the most.&rdquo;Damphousse was one of several Habs held pointless as Montreal was eliminated in five games by the New Jersey Devils in the opening round.He became the lightning-rod for the city&rsquo;s disappointed hockey fans and its ever-demanding media. When he didn&rsquo;t report to training camp due to his contract status and ended up signing his lucrative one-year deal, the pressure was on him to produce.But he didn&rsquo;t. Other than the loekout-shortenee 1995 season, it marked the first time since Damp housse&rsquo;s sophomore campaign he was held to fewer than 20 goals. And his 18 goals came in 12 we. games, meaning he failed to score in 64 others.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a terrible year,&rdquo; he claimed. &ldquo;It was an average year.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s no middle of the road with Damphousse. He&rsquo;s either very good or very bad. In 1993, while the Canadiens were winning a Stanley Cup, he went 11-12-23 in 20 playoff games. But the following season, he was virtually nonexistent in Montreal&rsquo;s first round loss to the Boston Bruins. Damphousse was held to a goal and two assists in seven games.NOTEBOOK: Finnish center Saku Koivu, recovering from a broken hand suffered in early April, didn&rsquo;t play in the first four games of the series. But with the Canadiens having to win two of the final three games, including at least one in Pittsburgh to advance to the second round for the first time since 1993. pressure was growing on him to dress&hellip;Left winger Brian Savage left Game 4 with a concussion, while defenseman Stephane Quintal reinjured the right ankle that forced him to miss the final nine games of the regular season. Savage had just two assists through the first four games&hellip;Jose Theodore, the only goaltender able to beat New Jersey in the 1997 playoffs, replaced veteran Andy Moog early in the second period of Montreal&rsquo;s 63 loss to Pittsburgh in Game 4. Moog was removed after allowing five goals on nine shots. Theodore, who spent most of the season with Fredericton of the American League, was dressed for Jocelyn Thibault, out with a groin injury. &#9632;

f0021-08

Captain Damphousse comes to life after post-season gets under way

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02654/6762889-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="322" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Clarke</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01949/6762896-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="184" height="183"></div>And all this time, the Philadelphia Fivers thought bigger was better.Actually, it probably was until the NHL decided to crack down on obstruction fouls and stick to its guns.The Flyers were supposed to benefit from the tighter officiating. The biggest team in hockey, the Flyers figured their size would work in their favor getting into the attacking zone.That is why president-GM Bob Clarke was one of the strongest proponents of the rule restructure. But after watching the smaller, quicker Buffalo Sabres skate to a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series. Clarke was having second thoughts.Clarke watched the Flyers take a lot of penalties on non-scoring plays, such as icing, and said perhaps the referees were calling the games a little too closely.&ldquo;It looks like the officials feel like they&rsquo;ve got to call penalties now,&rdquo; said Clarke. &ldquo;The penalty the other night (against Petr Svoboda in the first 30 seconds of a 6-1 loss in Game 3) was a dive and when a coach tells a player to dive, then there&rsquo;s something wrong.&ldquo;The refs have to be more discreet than that.&rdquo;Clarke structured the Flyers to compete against another big team, the New Jersey Devils, who weren&rsquo;t having overwhelming success early in the playoffs either.The problems stemming from the crackdown gave Clarke pause for thought. Is bigger still better in the NHL? &ldquo;Scouts have been asking a lot of questions,&rdquo; Clarke grinned.Will Clarke go to smaller, quicker players? &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you have any choice, you have to.&rdquo;This isn&rsquo;t the first time the league has initiated a crackdown on interference. But in the past, things always went back to the old way after a while. Not this time.&ldquo;We took a gamble, figuring once the playoffs started, the players would have a little bit more freedom to decide the outcome of the games,&rdquo; Clarke said. &ldquo;What we&rsquo;ve seen in every senes is a lot of calls deciding the outcome of the games.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Flyers had history working against them in their opening round playoff series against Buffalo. They fell behind 3-1 in the best-of-sevens series. In their 31-year history, the Flyers are 0-9 attempting to come back from that deficit. Another bad omen: The Flyers lost 6-1 in Game 3; only once have they ever won a playoff series in which they lost a game by five goals (Minnesota, 1972-73). In their two losses in Games 3 and 4 at Buffalo, the Flyers were outscored 7-1 on special teams. The Flyers managed 45 shots on Sabres&rsquo; goalie Dominik Hasek in the 4-1 Game 4 defeat, but center Eric Lindros and left winger John LeClair had only one between the two of them.. Dominic Roussel, who was on loan to the Canadian national team this year, reported back to the Flyers to serve as a third goalie during the playoffs&hellip;Defenseman Petr Svoboda bounced back from a neck injury in Game I to play in Game 3, but aggravated the injury in Game 4 and left the game early. &#9632;

f0022-02

Slumping Flyers change tune on bigger team being better theory

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04312/6762927-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="325" height="444"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Juneau</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03464/6762934-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="182" height="181"></div>The new management of the Washington Capitals made its goal very clear from the outset last summer, when it was introduced on the dirt floor of the MCI Center, still far from finished at the time.With no disrespect meant toward any individual previously employed by the Capitals, GM George McPhee and coach Ron Wilson labeled as &ldquo;mediocre&rdquo; what the Capitals had done in the past. It was a team that had completed 23 seasons with just one divisional title and not a single playoff victory beyond the second round.Mediocre seemed a pretty apt description.The references were repeated as Washington played well enough down the stretch to get home ice and then rode goalie Olie Koizig&rsquo;s huge frame into the playoffs. Just as it had been the case during most of the regular season, as Kolzig went, so went the Capitals.&ldquo;We want to set a new precedent for the Washington Capitals,&rdquo; said Kolzig, who has been around for, but not directly involved in some of the team&rsquo;s infamous playoff history and no doubt had gotten the new philosophical message from management. &ldquo;The only way we can do that is by erasing the past. And the only way you erase the past is by getting a win.&ldquo;Wilson&rsquo;s and McPhee&rsquo;s philosophy is don&rsquo;t settle for mediocrity. You want to go as far as you can. No one is satisfied by playing well in over time if you lose. Go out there and be the guy to get the goal and turn the thing around. Now we finally got an overtime win.&ldquo;We had a great overtime record during the regular season (4-1-12) and I don&rsquo;t see why we can&rsquo;t do that in the post-season.&rdquo;Washington beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 in double overtime April 26 in a first round game, the victory breaking the Capitals&rsquo; seven-game overtime playoff losing streak.Joe Juneau, who had one game winning goal during the regular season, scored from Adam Oates and BrianBellows at 6:31 of the second extra period to secure the victory for Washington.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Peter Bondra sprained an ankle and missed games in the first round against Boston. With right winger Richard Zednik already out of the lineup with strained abdominal muscles, the Capitals recalled Yogi Svejkovsky from Portland of the American League in an attempt to match some of Boston&rsquo;s younger legs&hellip;The apparent game-winning goal by Boston left winger P.J. Axelsson in the first overtime of Game 3 of the Bruin series was disallowed when two of the three officials spotted Bruin center Tim Taylor in the crease before the puck. The Bruins were displeased by the development, even more so when they lost in the second OT&hellip;Europeans had seven of the first nine playoff goals scored by the Capitals&hellip;Burly left winger Chris Simon returned for Game 4, about a month early from his Jan. 12 shoulder surgery&hellip;Center Adam Oates picked up the slack with Bondra injured, scoring two goals and six points in four games. &#9632;

f0022-04

New-look Caps finally get job done with long-awaited overtime victory

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06196/6762965-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="323" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michael Peca</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05242/6762972-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="180" height="181"></div>The Buffalo Sabres were having some success in the playoffs this spring, but they hadn&rsquo;t forgotten their roots.&ldquo;You have to give some credit to (John) Muckier,&rdquo; said Sabres&rsquo; captain Michael Peca. &ldquo;Muckier did a good job, really.&rdquo;Peca, who was also free with his praise of fired coach Ted Nolan last season, noted it was Muckier who brought in the core of the team including himself, defenseman Mike Wilson and several up-and-coming European players who were making an impact.Muckier was fired as the team&rsquo;s GM last season, as was Nolan, after the two squabbled all season. Nolan, the NHL&rsquo;s coach of the year in 1996-97, remains unemployed, but Muckier was hired as coach of the New York Rangers late in the year after the Blueshirts fired Colin Campbell.&ldquo;(Muckier) was able to see the players with character before they had shown it,&rdquo; Peca said. &ldquo;Look at the Czech players he brought in, guys not previously known for that trait,&rdquo;The Sabres have always gotten some mileage out of Dominik Hasek, but this season they&rsquo;ve had contributions from defenseman Richard Smehlik and wingers Michal Grosek and Vaclav Varada.Smehlik was teamed with Alexei Zhitnik and was a big part of the reason the Sabres had some success shutting down Eric Lindros and John LeClair of the Philadelphia Flyers in the first four games of their first round series. Grosek was something of a Flyer killer. He scored just 10 goals all season, but had three in the first three games against the Hyers and five in his first five games against them in playoff competition dating back to last season.Varada, brought up from the Rochester Americans of the American League after Jason Dawe was traded to the New York Islanders, was a physical presence for the Sabres in front of the net and in the comers. He took a slew of hits from the Flyers, but continued to play tough and produce points.&ldquo;Everyone on this team knows he&rsquo;s counted upon to contribute, Peca said. I hats the key to our success.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Vaclav Varada played on a line with center Michael Peca and left winger Dixon Ward in the playoffs and all benefited. Ward led the Sabres in scoring with five points in the first four games and scored the first goal in Game 4 off a nice setup from Peca and Varada&hellip;Right winger Miroslav Satan, almost a healthy scratch for Game 3, scored two goals in that game and another one in Game 4. Satan had asked team owner John Rigas to rub his stick for luck just prior to Game 3&hellip;Right winger Matthew Barnaby also had a point in each of the first four games, setting up Grosek for three goals and adding one of his own in Game 4&hellip;Barnaby and left winger Rob Ray were criticized for losing control of their emotions in Game 2 in Philadelphia, but Barnaby was solid throughout the series. Ray received a one-game suspension for verbal abuse of an official in Game 2. He sat out Game 3 and was a healthy scratch in Game 4. &ldquo;The toughest decision I had to make this season,&rdquo; said coach Lindy Ruff. &#9632;

f0022-06

Sabres’ captain Peca pays tribute to ex-GM Muckier for building team

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-08151/6763003-1-eng-US/f0022-082.jpg" title="f0022-08" width="325" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Landon Wilson</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-07171/6763010-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="183" height="182"></div>As his Boston Bruins embarked of what many observers considered an unlikely return to the playoff wars after finishing last in the NHL in 1996-97, coach Pat Bums stressed the post-season appearance was an important part of his young club&rsquo;s maturation.&ldquo;The most important thing to me was to make the playoffs,&rdquo; Bums said. &ldquo;Even if guys aren&rsquo;t playing, it&rsquo;s important to see what we&rsquo;re going to go through. That cannot be taught by any coach.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s safe to say the Bruins will never forget the lessons of Games 2 and 3 of their first round series with the Washington Capitals.Hours after the euphoria of reversing a 2-0 deficit to earn a 4-3 double-overtime victory on defenseman Darren Van Impe&rsquo;s second goal of Game 2 at MCI Center, the Bruins had what nearly everyone at EeetCenter believed was a similar victory snatched away in Game 3. P-J Axelsson&rsquo;s overtime goal was taken off the board when a replay detected part of Tim Taylor&rsquo;s skate in the crease and Boston went on to absorb a crushing, 3-2 loss in the second overtime period.&ldquo;We got robbed,&rdquo; fumed Bruins&rsquo; president-GM Harry Sinden, who was furious referee Paul Devorski asked for the review when Taylor hadn&rsquo;t interfered with Washington goalie Olaf Kolzig and had no impact on the play. &ldquo;In February, they told the referees when the player has a toenail in the crease, don&rsquo;t bother with the video goal judge. The league says to ignore it when he doesn&rsquo;t interfere.&ldquo;I told (the NHL) it won&rsquo;t work. You&rsquo;ve got to have it one way or another. Either upstairs (on every suspicion of crease infractions) or never upstairs.&rdquo;(See pg. 4 for more on video review.)Taylor took full responsibility for his actions.&ldquo;It is a rule,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I tried to know where I was and I thought my front foot was out of the crease. I made a mistake I should&rsquo;ve known where my back foot was. I should&rsquo;ve been aware of where I was and we would have won.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Bruins allowed Washington to take a 2-0 lead in each of the first four games of the series and didn&rsquo;t score a first period goal. The B&rsquo;s were O-for-12 on first period power play attempts&hellip;Right winger Landon Wilson became the seventh Bruin to make his NHL playoff debut this spring when he appeared in Game 4. Wilson&rsquo;s presence meant the first post-season healthy scratch of center Ted Donato&rsquo;s career. Donator went goalless in Boston&rsquo;s last 25 regularseason games&hellip;Defenseman Don Sweeney (fractured left shoulder) won&rsquo;t be back until next season. Sweeney, who elected to have March 4 surgery in hopes of speeding the healing process, may have another operation in the off-season&hellip;The Bruins announced a restructured ticket-pricing plan that chopped as much as $21 (U.S.) off some seats, making season tickets available for as little as $15 per game. The B&rsquo;s, who didn&rsquo;t sell out either of their first two home playoff games, took 300 orders for next season within days of the announcement. &#9632;

f0022-08

Taylor’s inability to toe (crease) line among valuable post-season lessons

<div class="byline">By Cammy Clark</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01841/6763041-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="187" height="184"></div>While the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim say they will be aggressive in the free agent market, there is one free agent of their own they hope not to lose.Right winger Scott Young could elect to become an unrestricted Group V free agent because his salary of $1.05 million is lower than the league average.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve talked to his agent (Anton Thun),&rdquo; said GM Jack Ferreira. &ldquo;But the longer it goes and the closer we get to free agency (July 1), he might want to find out what&rsquo;s out there.&rdquo;Young, 29, said at the end of the season he&rsquo;d like to stay in Anaheim. &ldquo;Hopefully, everything will go smoothly and we can avoid going to free agency,&rdquo; Young said.Young, who played part of the season injured, finished fourth on the team in scoring with 13 goals and 33 points in 73 games and was a strong penalty killer.Rugged left winger Brent Severyn also could become a Group V free agent. He said he would like to remain a Duck, but isn&rsquo;t holding his breath: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s big-time uncertainty for me. Sluggos, we&rsquo;re bottom of the pecking order. I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ll know until right before camp.&rdquo;Severyn played in 37 games for the Ducks with 133 penalty minutes. He missed six games due to automatic suspensions stemming from too many instigator penalties and missed 32 games with a neck injury he said limited his effectiveness all season.NOTEBOOK: GM Jack Ferreira went to Russia in late April to see left winger Maxim Balmochnykh play. Balmochnykh was the Ducks&rsquo; second round pick (45th overall) in 1997. The Ducks would like to sign him so he can come to North America to start the transition process as soon as possible&hellip;St. Louis checking center Craig Conroy feels Ducks&rsquo; right winger Teemu Selanne deserves the Hart Trophy. &ldquo;He does it all,&rdquo; Conroy said. &ldquo;They had a tough go of it this year and he was right there with 50 goals. I&rsquo;d pick him for sure. (Buffalo goalie) Dominik Hasek is good. There are a lot of great players. But for one guy, for what he does for that team when (Ducks&rsquo; left winger Paul) Kariya is out, is unbelievable.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0023-01

Valuable Young could opt to test free agent market

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03372/6763072-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="610" height="965"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jarome Iginla</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02534/6763079-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="185" height="181"></div>The year began with such promise. Here was Jarome Iginla, coming off a second-place finish in Calder Trophy voting, preparing for his sophomore season on a Calgary Flames&rsquo; team which believed it would be in the playoffs.Eight months later, Iginla slipped from the 50 points he recorded as a 19-year-old to only 27 scored as a 20-year-old. He missed 21 games, 20 with a broken wrist and one when coach Brian Sutter decided to sit him out of a game.That hadn&rsquo;t happened to Iginla since he cracked the Western League at 16 and it clearly stung his pride. Sutter explained his decision by saying: &ldquo;He has the capability of being a great player, but so far, he has been handed everything. Now, he has to earn it.&rdquo;For Sutter, the answer to every problem generally begins with hard work.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s always just about hard work,&rdquo; Iginla said. &ldquo;I know you can always work a little harder, so I&rsquo;m not going to say I&rsquo;m the hardest-working guy in the world, but I don&rsquo;t think it was through a lack of effort. Every night, I wanted to come and be the best I could be. For whatever reason, it didn&rsquo;t go my way-and yeah, I got frustrated this year.&rdquo;Still, Iginla plans to take a positive approach as he prepares for Year 3.&ldquo;The good thing is, over the summer, I&rsquo;ll have a long time to think about it and get refocused,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know next year will be a better season. I haven&rsquo;t lost my confidence and I do expect myself to be a good player in the league.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Medical report: Goalie Rick Tabaracci underwent surgery April 23 to repair an abdominal tear; defenseman Todd Simpson underwent shoulder surgery April 28; center Michael Nylander, who was scheduled to undergo reconstructive knee surgery in Calgary, elected to have it done in Sweden instead, so that the doctors who performed the operation could also monitor his rehab&hellip;It isn&rsquo;t clear whether center German Titov will be back in the Flames&rsquo; lineup next season. The 32-year-old Titov has two years remaining on his contract, but was unhappy about being scratched twice this season. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going to happen,&rdquo; Titov said. &ldquo;I still think I&rsquo;m a good player. Maybe they trade me this summer. Who knows?&rdquo; &#9632;

f0023-03

Iginla looks for rebound

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04264/6763110-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="185" height="179"></div>After failing to make the playoffs for the first time in almost three decades, the Chicago Blackhawks took the easy way out and fired coach Craig Hartsburg.GM Bob Murray dismissed the classy Hartsburg April 28 along with assistants Lome Henning and Newell Brown.Murray said he wished he could fire 25 players, but decided to start with Hartsburg, feeling the third-year coach had run out of ways to motivate the club.&ldquo;Craig Hartsburg sold out his heart and soul to try to get this team to play and it didn&rsquo;t work,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;The things he tried to do to motivate this hockey team ran the gamut and nothing worked.&rdquo;Hartsburg has two years remaining on his contract worth a total of $775,000. The only member of Hartsburg&rsquo;s staff not let go was assistant Denis Savard, who was considered a candidate for the vacant head coaching position. Others reportedly in the running are Hawks&rsquo; pro scout Dirk Graham and San Jose Sharks&rsquo; coach Darryl Sutter.&ldquo;I think the important thing is to find somebody I have a relationship with,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;I think there&rsquo;s going to be a lot of tough things done, so it has to be someone I&rsquo;m on the same page with.&rdquo;The problem is, Graham has said he doesn&rsquo;t want to coach after spending one year as a Hartsburg assistant (1995-96), Savard has less than a season as an assistant under his belt and Sutter still has a year to tun on his Sharks&rsquo; contract.Hartsburg took the news hard, although he said it wasn&rsquo;t totally unexpected after the Hawks collapsed down the stretch.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t look at it as unfair,&rdquo; Hartsburg said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed and obviously upset that it happened.&ldquo;At this point. I&rsquo;m in no hurry to do anything. But I will coach in this league again. And more importantly, I will win in this league.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Craig Hartsburg dismissed reports he had a bad relationship with defenseman Chris Chelios. In fact Hartsburg went out of his way to defend the Hawks&rsquo; captain, who was a heavy target of post-season criticism. &ldquo;There has been questions about his leadership, but the first thing is everyone&rsquo;s expectations of Chris are unrealistic,&rdquo; Hartsburg said. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t keep waiting for Chris to do everything."&hellip; Hartsburg said he had no personal problems with Chelios. &ldquo;He may have a problem with me, but he never relayed it to me personally,&rdquo; Hartsburg said. Chelios, who didn&rsquo;t comment after Hartsburg&rsquo;s firing, said after the season he never has had a good relationship with any coach and had nothing against Hartsburg. &#9632;

f0023-04

Hartsburg takes fall for sour season

<div class="byline">By Steve Politi</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-06178/6763141-1-eng-US/f0023-062.jpg" title="f0023-06" width="612" height="974"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Karmanos</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-05213/6763148-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="187" height="184"></div>It&rsquo;s discouraging news-for Carolina hockey naysayers After just six months of marketing efforts, the Hurricanes sold all 47 of the upper-level suites in their new arena in Raleigh. The arena, now under construction, will have 75 boxes, including another 28 on the lower level. The team has already sold six of those and expects to have all of them sold well in advance of the team&rsquo;s first season in Raleigh, scheduled for the fall of 1999.&ldquo;This kind of vindicates one of the reasons for moving here, that the corporate community would support the sale of the boxes,&rdquo; said Sims Hinds, the team&rsquo;s vice-president, arena management.The boxes sold for $100,000 to $140,000 each, which already gives the team a gross of $5.4 million. If it sells all of the boxes, it will make about $9 million. In their final season in Hartford, the Whalers received just $2.2 million total from suites, concessions, parking and advertisement.So while the team&rsquo;s short-term financial picture is bleak-it will lose more than $30 million in the Greensboro Coliseum this season-its long-term future in Raleigh looks promising.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to whitewash everything,&rdquo; said owner Peter Karmanos. &ldquo;I would have liked for us to make the playoffs. I would have liked to have more people come see games in Greensboro. But we&rsquo;re light years ahead of where we were at this time last year. Light years.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Glen Wesley, 29, agreed to a five-year contract April 30, a deal that could see him finish his career in Carolina. Financial terms were not released&hellip;The Hurricanes signed Curtis Leschyshyn, 29, to a new contract, keeping the defenseman from becoming an unrestricted free agent. It&rsquo;s a three-year deal worth $4.9 million&hellip; Indications were coach Paul Maurice would be retained for a fourth year. &ldquo;My opinion, at this point in time, I don&rsquo;t see a need to change coaches,&rdquo; said team owner Peter Karmanos&hellip;Left winger Bates Battaglia and defenseman Adam Burt were added to the U.S. team for the World Championship.. Left winger Paul Ranheim is the Hurricanes&rsquo; only remaining unrestricted free agent. &#9632;

f0023-06

NHLTEAMS

Long-range picture bright

<div class="byline">By Michael Russo</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-07159/6763179-1-eng-US/f0023-072.jpg" title="f0023-07" width="184" height="178"></div>In their first transaction of the off-season, the Florida Panthers threw Dino Ciccarelli a bone by re-signing the veteran right winger to a two-year contract.Ciccarelli, 38, who acts as his own agent, agreed to a deal that will pay him at least $2 million next season, with the base salary decreasing the following year.The eighth-leading goal-scorer of all-time (602), Ciccarelli had 16 goals and 33 points in 62 games this past season with the Tampa Bay Lightning.&ldquo;What Dino brought to us was competitiveness, hard work and grit,&rdquo; said GM Bryan Murray. &ldquo;He is a very good example for the young players.&rdquo;A fan favorite in the five cities in which he has played during an 18-year career, Ciccarelli is renowned as being one of the most agitating players in the NHL. He sacrifices himself in front of the net and is lethal when it comes to screening the goalie, redirecting shots with nifty deflections or stuffing away rebounds. carein waived his option to become an unrestricted free agent July 1.&ldquo;I may have gotten a few more dollars somewhere else,&rdquo; Ciccarelli said, &ldquo;but since I&rsquo;ve established myself and my family here the last few months and since I will always be playing in front of 19,000 good fans, I wanted to stay. Even though we didn&rsquo;t have a good season, I think there&rsquo;s a big potential and upside here.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: GM Bryan Murray blamed the Panthers&rsquo; demise on a division in the dressing room between youngsters and veterans. &ldquo;There was no acceptance of some of these younger people and that&rsquo;s a problem,&rdquo; Murray said. One of the veterans Murray is referring to is goalie John Vanbiesbrouck, who criticized management for its hastiness in playing so many youngsters. &ldquo;Everybody needs to take a good, hard look at what&rsquo;s going on here,&rdquo; said Vanbiesbrouck, who is expected to leave this summer as an unrestricted free agent. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve lost a lot of games and a lot of veteran guys have taken the heat and had fingers pointed at them. On the flip side, nobody came to us and said, &rsquo;Hey, you&rsquo;re the guys who we believe in. &rsquo; Instead, they questioned (us).&rdquo; &#9632;

f0023-07

Ciccarelli sees big upside, signs for two more seasons

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01924/6763210-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="187" height="183"></div>While Mike Milbury wrestled with the decision whether to continue coaching the New York Islanders or concentrate on his duties as GM, many other important decisions were on hold.Club sources put reporters on alert an announcement would be made between May 3 and 6. Indications were new owners Steven Gluckstem and Howard Milstein were trying to convince Milbury to stay as coach with reduced GM duties. A club source said Milbury would prefer to give up coaching, hire a replacement and remain as GM.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to convince Mike,&rdquo; Gluckstem said, &ldquo;to come with an open mind to look at what&rsquo;s best for the franchise. Different things could happen. I want to fully explore all the models.&rdquo;Milbury went to Florida for a few days to mull over how to argue his case.&ldquo;I guess what I&rsquo;m going to do is weigh a very serious lifetime decision,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m in the Zen mode. I&rsquo;m going to go to the mountain. 1 need to think about what I want to do with my life.&rdquo;Meanwhile, the Islanders have restricted free agents Ziggy Palffy, Trevor Linden, Kenny Jonsson, Eric Fichaud, Jason Dawe, Joe Sacco and Ken Belanger to sign. They must decide how hard to pursue a veteran goalie, a playmaking center and a veteran defenseman and whether to sign 1996 top pick J.P. Dumont, still in junior hockey, or let him go back into the entry draft and take the 30th out all choice as compensation.NOTEBOOK: Center-right winger Trevor Linden, 10-7-17 in 25 games with the Islanders after being traded from Vancouver, joined Canada for the World Championship in Switzerland. Linden also played for Canada at the Nagano Olympics&hellip;Forwards Bryan Smolinski and Tom Chorske are playing for USA, but defenseman Bryan Berard begged off due to a hip flexor injury. Berard said playing in the tournament would have set back his off-season conditioning a month. Berard had a topsyturvy sophomore season after winning the Calder Trophy in 1996-97. &ldquo;I just want to get away from it mentally and physically,&rdquo; Berard said. &ldquo;I want to concentrate on getting in the best shape I can and having a good year next year.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-01

Milbury ’In the Zen mode’ as thoughts turn to future

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03402/6763241-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="614" height="969"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Leetch</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02619/6763248-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="189" height="181"></div>Before he left for his summer vacation, New York Rangers&rsquo; captain Brian Leetch spoke out about his buddy Mike Richter&rsquo;s impending free agency.Leetch doesn&rsquo;t want to see Richter get away the way Mark Messier did last summer. When asked what the team&rsquo;s priorities would be this long summer, Leetch said, &ldquo;Certainly to get Mike (signed). I thought it should and would have been done by now. I know coach (John) Muckier is a very intelligent person when it comes to the game of hockey and personnel. I would guess they&rsquo;ve already gone over ideas, or they will in a short time.&rdquo;That sounded like a bit of an insult toward team president-GM Neil Smith, whose first words on break-up day were &ldquo;the priority starts off with Richter and move on from there.&rdquo;Smith was aware, by then, of Leetch&rsquo;s skeptical comments.&ldquo;Whatever he says, it&rsquo;s his opinion,&rdquo; Smith said in annoyed fashion. &ldquo;Tve already said it&rsquo;s the top priority. There&rsquo;s nothing more I can say than that.&rdquo;That, too, sounded like last season&rsquo;s break-up day comments on Messier, so if Leetch has doubts about Richter, they are not unfounded.&ldquo;It certainly was on his mind for a lot of this season,&rdquo; Leetch said about Richter. &ldquo;You&rsquo;d like to say he loves the city, but if you let it go to free agency, anything can happen. So if it doesn&rsquo;t get done in the next few weeks, I&rsquo;d be surprised as far as him coming back.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: New York accountant Barry Klarberg. who handles the finances of many pro athletes, most notably Mark Messier and Mike Richter, said the Richter situation is looking like it could be Messier II. &ldquo;It sounds like the same script all over again,&rdquo; Klarberg said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t understand what the Rangers are possibly thinking by not acting aggressively and going after Mike right now."&hellip;Left winger Adam Graves saw a specialist about a tom abdominal/groin muscle and it was determined that he would attempt a month of rest and rehab before deciding if surgery was necessary. The determination was that would leave enough time for Graves to have the surgery and still be ready for training camp. &#9632;

f0024-03

Leetch wants goalie signed

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04254/6763279-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="192" height="184"></div>The biggest decisions of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the early off-season concerned the future of coach Mike Murphy and the pursuit of high-priced free agents.The most controversial item on the franchise&rsquo;s agenda, however, won&rsquo;t have anything to do with improving the on-ice product. It is believed the Maple Leafs will become the first NHL team to institute personal seat licenses for season ticket holders when they move into the Air Canada Centre.Given that some of the long-time patrons of Maple Leaf Gardens have held their seats for 30 years or more, many are already upset about the notion. The issue gained more prominence in late April when Leaf president Ken Dryden and representatives from the other five Canadian NHL franchises put their cases to a Canadian parliamentary committee, asking for tax concessions in order to compete better with the American teams.Meanwhile, license amounts as large as $10,000 per seat have been tossed around, although the team has made no statements on the issue.Team chairman Steve Stavro has already contacted some long-time ticket holders in the cheaper sections of the Gardens to assure them they won&rsquo;t be subjected to any seat licenses. That leaves the more expensive areas and it&rsquo;s likely ticket holders in those sections will be given the option to move elsewhere and avoid the license fee.The club is planning to invite 5,800 individuals or businesses that control the 13,000 season tickets to go down to the new arena, which is expected to be ready for February, and select their seats.&ldquo;(Moving) is a sensitive issue,&rdquo; said Richard Peddie, the chief executive officer of the group that controls the Leafs and the National Basketball Association&rsquo;s Toronto Raptors. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to invite everyone down. They&rsquo;re going to personally pick their seats, but we have to have the site set up to handle it.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Leafs are expected to announce a new local TV deal that speculation suggests will net them more than $20 million per season&hellip;Associate GM Mike Smith said left winger Wendel Clark will explore the unrestricted free agent market before the Leafs make any attempt to sign him. Clark recently underwent groin surgery. &ldquo;He has two to three months of rehabilitation ahead,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;Our conversations with Wendel will depend on how healthy he is."&hellip;The Leafs have made no decision on the future of coach Mike Murphy and haven&rsquo;t set a timetable by which any decision will be made. &ldquo;It hasn&rsquo;t come up in the evaluation process,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure it will at some point.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-04

Seat licenses in offing for new arena

<div class="byline">By Tim Buckley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01821/6763310-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="186" height="181"></div>Trying to put the woeful season of the last-place Tampa Bay Lightning into perspective, Paul Ysebaert pointed at himself.Only in a season like this, the 10year veteran said, can someone lead a team in scoring and have the worst plus-minus in the league. Ysebaert finished 1997-98 with 40 points in 82 games, yet somehow managed to finish minus-43.&ldquo;Tell me that would happen, I would have said, &rsquo;(You&rsquo;re crazy), &rsquo; &ldquo;said Ysebaert, who in 1991-92 actually led the NHL at plus-44 as a member of the Detroit Red Wings. &ldquo;You know, I look back at the whole year, on and off the ice&hellip;it&rsquo;s a real messed-up, Murphy&rsquo;s Law kind of year.&ldquo;What didn&rsquo;t go wrong?&rdquo;Ysebaert should know. He was the only of 45 players who appeared for the Lightning this season to play in all 82 games. In fact, he was one of just five who played in 70 or more for Tampa Bay. Rob Zamuner, Karl Dykhuis, Mikael Andersson and Cory Cross were the others.&ldquo;You never think a year could be this bad,&rdquo; said Ysebaert, a right winger who spent much of the season as the Lightning&rsquo;s No. 1 center. &ldquo;From injuries to illness, the power play to penalty killing, neutral zone forechecking to defensive zone cover-ages-if it wasn&rsquo;t one of those things, it was another.&rdquo;Injuries aside, perhaps nothing anguished the team more than the plight of John Cullen, who spent the season battling non-Hodgkin&rsquo;s lymphoma. Nine days after the season ended, Cullen learned his cancer was in remission. (See pg. 5 for more.) That fight, plus that of Debbie Demers, the wife of coach Jacques Demers who is battling breast cancer, inspired Lightning players to persevere.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve learned a lot, from overcoming adversity to realizing life can come up and grab you anytime,&rdquo; Ysebaert said. &ldquo;The whole season has been taxing on everyone. If anything makes us stronger people, this will.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Stephane Richer underwent surgery April 24 to repair a partially tom tendon in his left ankle. He faces three months of rehab, but should be ready for training camp&hellip;Center Brian Bradley, the team&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer, aired many of his grievances with the team on a local radio station. Bradley, who suffered a concussion and had wrist injury surgery this season, is apparently unhappy with some of his medical care and the way the team has helped him deal with potentially careerthreatening injuries. Said trainer Curtis Bell: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the fact he may never play again&hellip;is resultant of any misdiagnosis by anybody. If he does have to retire it&rsquo;s resultant of a severe injury.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0025-01

Ysebaert tries to rationalize dismal year

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03335/6763341-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="616" height="1026"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hal Laycoe</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02521/6763348-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="181" height="184"></div>Hal Laycoe, the man who coached the Vancouver Canucks in their first two NHL seasons, died in a Langley, B.C., hospital April 28 following surgery for a ruptured intestine. He was 75.Laycoe was best remembered in Vancouver for his coaching stint, but he was also well known in hockey circles for an 11-year playing career and his involvement with &rsquo;Rocket&rsquo; Richard in the 1955 stick-swinging incident that ultimately led to a suspension for Richard and rioting in the streets of Montreal.Laycoe, a defenseman, played for the New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins. Upon retiring in 1956, he turned to coaching in the old Western League. A native of Sutherland, Sask., Laycoe took his first NHL coaching job with the Los Angeles Kings in 1969-70, but he lasted just 24 games. The following year he joined the expansion Canucks. He also served as the Canucks&rsquo; GM in 1973-74.&ldquo;He had a great life,&rdquo; said Bob Laycoe, one of Hal Laycoe&rsquo;s three children and a coach himself (football) at the University of Toronto. &ldquo;He was very fortunate to be a part of championship teams and to get to know championship individuals.&rdquo;Former Canuck defenseman Dennis Kearns remembers the time an L.A. reporter asked Laycoe when he knew he was in trouble with the Kings. Kearns said Laycoe replied, &ldquo;When I looked at the pool in my backyard and I knew I couldn&rsquo;t walk across it.&rdquo;Orland Kurtenbach was the Canucks&rsquo; captain during Laycoe&rsquo;s two-year coaching reign and remembered Laycoe as a man of honor.&ldquo;His word was as good as anything on paper, certainly any time I ever dealt with him,&rdquo; Kurtenbach said. &ldquo;He was intense at times, as all coaches are when ~ they want to get their message across. He always had a positive approach to the coaching end of it even though those first two years were pretty tough.&rdquo; ,Funeral services for Laycoe were held May 2.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Pavel Bure is vacationing in Moscow, once again delaying any announcement on his future with the Canucks. He is expected to declare his desire to be moved&hellip;Based on his 51-goal season, Bure must be paid the average of the 3 league&rsquo;s top three players as of Oct. 15, 1998. .The Canucks have seven players 1 competing at the World Championship in Switzerland: left winger Todd Bertuzzi and defenseman Bryan McCabe (Canada): gualie Garth Snow, left winger Donald Braft shear and left winger Dave Roberts (USA); B goalie Arturs Irbe (Latvia) and defenseman ft Mattias Ohlund (Sweden)&hellip;The Canucks ft are interested in talking to NHL vice-president Brian Burke about their vacant GM job. &#9632;

f0025-03

Canuck coach Lavcoe had ’great life’

<div class="byline">By Kevin Idle</div>Perry Ganchar has been around the International League for years, but the Cleveland Lumberjacks&rsquo; coach was still amazed by what happened March 18.Just a month before the start of the playoffs, the Lumberjacks made a 12-player deal with the Quebec Rafales and another 1-for-l deal with the Grand Rapids Griffins.That left the first-year coach in the difficult position of trying to assimilate seven players into a new system.&ldquo;Yeah, it was I difficult,&rdquo; Ganchar I said, laughing. &ldquo;And the thing that made it tougher was of the seven players we acquired, six were injured for one period or another.&rdquo;But Ganchar&rsquo;s Lumbeijacks, who entered the Eastern Conference playoffs as the No. 7 seed, managed to pull together just fine. The &rsquo;Jacks ousted the heavily favored Fort Wayne Komets in four games.One of the keys was the stellar work in goal of Tom Draper, who was one of the six players acquired from Quebec. Draper was goalie of the week April 26 after stopping 144 of 155 shots and leading the &rsquo;Jacks to the series victory.But the Lumbeijacks also did a solid job against the potent top line of Fort Wayne, which features center Viacheslav BuLsayev and wingers Andrei Bashkirov and Konstantin Shafranov.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t go out there with the idea of stopping them, we just hoped we could limit their damage, Ganchar said. They&rsquo;re a line that when they get rolling, they can take over a game.&rdquo;One of the ways the &rsquo;Jacks did that was by being very physical. One of the results of the deals GM Larry Gordon made was Cleveland became a much more imposing team. Forwards with size and strength, such as Jason Ruff, Joe Dziedzic and Sean Tallaire, have made the Lumberjacks a grittier club.LEFEBVRE HEADS ALL-STARS: Las Vegas Thunder right winger Patrice Lefebvre, the league&rsquo;s leading scorer, headlines the IHL&rsquo;s first-team post-season all-star club.Lefebvre was the only player named on all ballots. Joining him on the first team were goaltender Bruce Racine of Fort Wayne, defensemen Dan Lambert of the Long Beach Ice Dogs and Greg Hawgood of the Houston Aeros, center Brian Wiseman of Houston and left winger Gilbert Dionne of the Cincinnati Cyclones.Named to the second team were goalie Jeff Reese of the Detroit Vipers, defensemen Gord Dineen of the Utah Grizzlies and Jon Gruden of Detroit, left winger Ken Quinney of Las Vegas, center Viacheslav Butsayev and right winger Konstantin Shafranov, both of Fort Wayne.I-OPENERS: Las Vegas goalie Tim Cheveldae and Milwaukee Admirals&rsquo; forward Kerry Clark announced their retirements. Cheveldae, the former No. 1 man with the Detroit Red Wings, retired after last season when he was with Fort Wayne, but later changed his mind.<h2>IHL PLAYOFF</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02595/6763410-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="953" height="518"></div> &#9632;

f0026-02

Cleveland ’Jacked up for playoffs with new players

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>Winning in the regular season is not always enough for East Coast League coaches. Just ask Greg Puhalski of the Toledo Storm.Despite posting a four-year record of 162-8531 for a winning percentage of .638, Puhalski was fired by the Storm April 27. Toledo was 4121-8 this season and second in the Northwest Division before losing in the second round of the Kelly Cup playoffs to the Wheeling Nailers.Under Puhalski, the Storm advanced past the second round of the playoffs only once, reaching the semifinal in 1995-96.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s our feeling the organization had become somewhat stagnant and in order for progress to be made, a change had to take place,&rdquo; said GM Pat Pylypuik, a teammate of Puhalski&rsquo;s on back-to-back Toledo ECHL championship teams in 1993-94. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Greg returning&rsquo; as coach of the Toledo Storm would have been the ideal situation for either Greg or the team.&rdquo;&ldquo;The bottom line is we weren&rsquo;t able to win a championship,&rdquo; Puhalski said. &rsquo;That&rsquo;s not an easy thing to do at any level. I&rsquo;m not bitter. I&rsquo;m just disappointed I wasn&rsquo;t able to do that. You try to recruit the best players you can and you&rsquo;re only as good as the players you get&rdquo;Another coach, Scott Gruhl of the Richmond Renegades, lost his job on the same day when his contract was not renewed. After helping the Renegades win an ECHL title in 1994-95 and first place overall in 1995-96 as a player, Gruhl guided Richmond to a 71-58-11 record in two seasons behind the bench. The Renegades were 30-33-7 this season and missed the playoffs.&ldquo;He did a great job, but unfortunately, in this town, we&rsquo;ve set a bar that is high,&rdquo; said Harry&rsquo;Feuerstein, chairman and CEO of the club. &ldquo;In order to hit that bar and head in the direction we need to go, we feel we needed a change.&rdquo;CLOSE TO A RECORD: Wheeling and the Hampton Roads Admirals played the second-longest game in ECHL history April 22. Dan Ceman&rsquo;s goal 3:39 into the third overtime gave the Admirals a 4-3 win in the first game of their Northern Conference final. The longest overtime game in history was 105:47, between the Admirals and the Greensboro Monarchs in 1991.After learning of the death of his grandmother earlier in the day, Hampton Roads goaltender Sebastien Charpentier made 51 saves.UNITED LEAGUE: Jason Renard of the Brantford Smoke became the third player in United League history to draw a lifetime suspension after he attacked Chad Grills of the Flint Generals in a playoff game.The incident happened 4:02 into the third period of Flint&rsquo;s 5-1 win in the decisive Game 5. After knocking Grills to the ice with a high stick, Renard jumped onto his back and crosschecked Grills in the back of the helmet, slamming his head into the ice. Grills was not hurt.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s one thing if somebody in the heat of battle whacks somebody else,&rdquo; said commissioner Richard Brosal, who was at the game in Flint. &ldquo;But if somebody is laying there helpless and (Renard) re-positions his stick and comes down on somebody, I don&rsquo;t need to wait until somebody gets paralyzed.&rdquo;During the five-game series, Renard drew six 10-minute misconducts, one game misconduct and 115 minutes in penalties. He also scored two goals in the Smoke&rsquo;s 6-5 loss in Game 1.He joins Dan Woodley of the Saginaw Lumber Kings and Gary Coupal of the Muskegon Fury in being banned for fife by the UHL.NOTEBOOK: Mark MacFarlane of the Quad City Mallards received a five-game suspension for an elbow to the head that caused Madison Monsters Randy Holmes&rsquo; tongue to fall back into his throat. Quick treatment by Madison trainer Jose Ortiz may have saved Holmes&rsquo; life&hellip;The expansion team that will begin play in Utica, N.Y., next season will be known as the Mohawk Valley Prowlers.WESTERN PRO LEAGUE: It didn&rsquo;t take long for El Paso Buzzards&rsquo; coach Todd Brost to update his answering machine message with &ldquo;Home of the 1998 Western Pro League champion El Paso Buzzards.&rdquo;The Buzzards won their second straight WPHL title April 22 in impressive fashion over the Fort Worth Brahmas. El Paso&rsquo;s 6-5 overtime win April 22 gave the Buzzards a 4-0 sweep.&rsquo;This team was better than the one we had last year.&rdquo; said Brost, who has won two WPHL titles in two years as coach.Buzzards&rsquo; left winger Billy Trew, with two game-winning goals, was named WPHL playoff MVP with 10 goals and 26 points in 15 games. Teammate Jamie Thompson, the regular season MVP, had 15 goals and 26 points in 15 games.-files from Brendan Savage and Dave Henry<h2>ECHL PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03470/6763441-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="962" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0026-03

Puhalski pays price for Storm defeat

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>For the Spokane Chiefs, the Memorial Cup will be a success on at least one front-regardless of whether they win the title.The Chiefs-the host team for the Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s championship toumament-are hoping to set a Memorial Cup attendance record.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01861/6763510-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="625" height="732"><figcaption class="caption-body">Greg Leeb&rsquo;s Spokane Chiefs will see large Memorial Cup crowds.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We sure think that&rsquo;s possible,&rdquo; said Chiefs&rsquo; GM Tim Speltz. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t necessarily think we&rsquo;ll break the record, but it is within our grasp. It&rsquo;s realistic that it could happen.&rdquo;As of late April, the Western League&rsquo;s Chiefs had sold about 72,000 tickets. The Memorial Cup&rsquo;s attendance record of 77,296 was set in 1989 in Saskatoon.Spokane could top the 80,000 mark. Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena will be able to accommodate 10,580 for each of the eight tournament games. There is also a possibility of a ninth game (a tiebreaker). Speltz indicated at least 7,800 tickets have been sold for every game.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re really excited with the way that people have responded,&rdquo; said Speltz, who was the victorious GM when Spokane won the 1991 Memorial Cup.The Chiefs were eliminated from the WHL playoffs in the Western Conference final.The Portland Winter Hawks edged Spokane 3-2 in Game 7 of the conference championship and advanced to the league final against the Brandon Wheat Kings.&ldquo;It was a very good series,&rdquo; Speltz said. &ldquo;Portland&rsquo;s a very good team and we were right there. If you played the final game foot-2, 175-pound Bouwmeester spent this past season with the Edmonton Southgate Lions of the Alberta AAA Major Bantam League.Medicine Hat received the first selection because it had the WHL&rsquo;s worst record (16-50-6). of that series 10 times, it would probably end up5-5. It was very close.&rdquo;Portland was first in the conference with a 5314-5 regular-season record. Spokane (45-23-4)I was second. The seventh-game loss meant that Spokane would be idle from April 22 until May 9.BLADES&rsquo; BRASS BACK: Saskatoon Blades&rsquo; GM Brent McEwen and coach Willie Desjardins will return next season.McEwen and Desjardins were hired Dec. 8, when owner Jack Brodsky fired coach Donn Clark and GM Daryl Lubiniecki. Under McEwen and Desjardins, the Blades posted a 1023-6 regular-season record. Saskatoon had a 15-16-2 slate at the time of the firings.BOUWMEESTER NO. 1 The Medicine Hat Tigers selected defenseman Jay Bouwmeester first overall in the WHL&rsquo;s bantam draft, which was conducted April 30 in Calgary. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound Bouwmeester spent this past season with the Edmonton Southgate Lions of the Alberta AAA Major Bantam League.Medicine Hat received the first selection because it had the WHL&rsquo;s worst record (16-50-6).<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04241/6763503-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="1307" height="902"></div> &#9632;

f0027-01

Hosts hoping for large crowds at Memorial Cup

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>One of the Quebec League&rsquo;s oldest teams was extinguished April 30 when the league&rsquo;s board of governors approved the transfer of the Laval Titan to Bathurst, N.B.Titan owner Leo-Guy Morrissette retains the team and the transfer was just a rubber stamp away from reality. The approval is conditional on Bathurst meeting the criteria of the franchise book. That isn&rsquo;t expected to be a problem as the team plans to play in the two-year-old K.C. Irving Regional Centre, which seats 4,500 and has skyboxes and a glassed-in bar and restaurant.The move came as no surprise as Morrissette had threatened to do so on previous occasions due to lagging attendance. He asked the board for permission to look for a new home Jan. 28.He wanted to move the team at the end of 1996-97 after an average attendance of only 1,114 at the 2,998-seat Colisee, but decided to give Laval fans one more chance. The Titan had the sixth besl record in the QMJHL this season, yet averaged just 1,200 fans.Morrissette&rsquo;s brother, Jean-Claude, sold the Granby Predateurs to a Sydney, N.S., group (Cape Breton) last year. Halifax and Moncton also have Maritime teams in the QMJHL.Laval had a storied 28-year history in the QMJHL. The franchise won four league titles, most recently in 1993. Only ths Shawinigan Cataractes&rsquo; franchise has been around longer.REMPARTS UPSET: When the Rimouski Oceanic eliminated the Quebec Remparts in the Dilio Division final, it market only the fifth time in the 29-year history of the QMJHL the regular season champions didn&rsquo;t advance to the playoff final.&ldquo;We ran into a hot goalie,&rdquo; said Quebec coach Guy Chouinard. &ldquo;We all know you need a hot goaltender to win in the playoffs and Rimouski had it against us.&rdquo;Quebec lost the first three games despite outshooting Rimouski 155-88, including 63-26 in Game i. Oceanic goalie Jean-Marc Pelletier made 60 saves in a 5-3 win.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02538/6763548-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="620" height="726"><figcaption class="caption-body">J.P. Dumont was in contention for the playoff scoring title.</figcaption></div>FIRST FOR EVERYTHING: Rimouski and the Vai d&rsquo;Or Foreurs advanced to the President&rsquo;s Cup final for the first time in their short histories.The Oceanic entered the league in 1995-96 after the franchise transferred from St. Jean, while Vai d&rsquo;Or entered as an expansion team for 1993-94. Rimouski had never advanced past the second round before, while Vai d&rsquo;Or lost in the Lebel Division final last year.Vincent Lecavalier of Rimouski (1525-40) and Jean-Pierre Dumont of Vai d&rsquo;Or (28-15-43) were battling for the playoff scoring title. Dumont was one goal away from the CHL record for goals in one playoff year (29) by Mario Lemieux in 1983-84.CHANGES IN HALIFAX: The Halifax Mooseheads announced Danny Grant won&rsquo;t return as coach, but will stay with the organization as head scout. GM Denis Leblanc was relieved of his duties, but will stay with the team as a Quebec scout.<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-05169/6763541-1-eng-US/f0027-052.jpg" title="f0027-05" width="1309" height="904"></div> &#9632;

f0027-02

Maritimes have four teams as Titan move east

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01896/6763617-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02600/6763610-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="3428" height="678"></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

NHL PLAYOFF STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01829/6763655-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01890/6763648-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="3427" height="2681"></div> &#9632;

f0031-01

NHL SUMMARIES

Transactions include NHL personnel moves from April 24 to May 1. Rosters and injuries are as of May 1. Players in roster are listed in sequence of line combinations and defense pairings (i.e. first center plays on line with first left winger and first right winger). Injured players status is either day-to-day (returning within the next few games), indefinite (extended period) or projected return date.<h2>ANAHEIM</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Jason Allison. Ted Donato. Tim Taylor. Joe Thornton. Joel Prpic. LW-Sergei Samsonov, Steve Heinze. P.J. Axelsson, Ken Baumgartner, Mike Sullivan. RW-Dimitri Khristich, Anson Carter. Rob DiMaio, Landon Wilson. Cameron Mann LD-Hal Gill, Grant Ledyard, Dave Ellett, Dean Malkoc. RD-Ray Bourque, Kyle McLaren, Darren Van Impe. G-Byron Dafoe, Rob Tal-las, John Grahame.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Don Sweeney. D, left shoulder surgery, late April.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>April 26: Rob Ray. RW. suspended one game for verbally abusing officials April 24.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Michael Peca, Brian Holzinger, Derek Plante, Wayne Primeau. LW-Dixon Ward, Geoff Sanderson, Curtis Brown. Michal Grosek. RW-Miroslav Satan. Donald Audette, Matthew Barnaby. Rob Ray, Vaclav Varada. LD-Darryl Shannon, Alexei Zhitnik, Jay McKee. RD&mdash;Richard Smehlik, Jason Woolley, Bob Boughner, Mike Wilson. G-Dominik Hasek, Steve Shields.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Paul Kruse. LW. sprained right knee ligament, day-to-day.<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h2>CAROLINA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>April 30: Curtis Leschyshyn, D. signed three-year contract. April 30: Glen Wesley, D. signed five-year contract.<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>April 28: Craig Hartsburg, coach. Lome Henning, assistant coach, and Newell Brown, assistant coach, fired.<h2>COLORADO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Stephane Yelle, Jari Kurri. LW-Valeri Kamensky, Keith Jones. Eric Lacroix, Warren Rychel, Francois Leroux. RW-Claude Lemieux, Adam Deadmarsh, Tom Fitzgerald, Jeff Odgers, Shean Donovan. LD-Sylvain Lefebvre. Adam Foote, Jon Klemm. Eric Messier. RD-Uwe Krupp, Alexei Gusarov. Sandis Ozolinsh, Aaron Miller. G-Patrick Roy, Craig Billington.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Rene Corbet, LW. broken thumb, indefinite.<h2>DALLAS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>April 29: Petr Buzek, D, Sergey Gusev, D. Brad Lukowich. D, and Jason Botterill. LW, recalled from Michigan (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mike Modano, Benoit Hogue, Guy Carbonneau, Brian Skrudland, Mike Kennedy. LW-Greg Adams, Juha Lind, Bob Bassen, Dave Reid, Jamie Wright. RW-Jamie Langenbrunner, Jere Lehtinen, Pat Verbeek, Mike Keane, Grant Marshall. LD-Shawn Chambers, Craig Ludwig. Danyl Sydor. Dan Keczmer. RD-Derian Hatcher, Richard Matvichuk. Sergei Zubov, Craig Muni. G&mdash;Ed Belfour, Roman Turek, Manny Fernandez.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Patrick Cote. LW, shoulder surgery, out for season. Joe Nieuwendyk, C, torn ligaments in right knee, mid-May.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Steve Yzerman, Kris Draper. LW-Vyacheslav Kozlov, Brendan Shanahan. Brent Gilchrist, Kirk Maltby, Darryl Laplante. RW-Tomas Holmstrom, Martin Lapointe, Darren McCarty. Joe Kocur, Mike Knuble, Mathieu Dandenault, Stacy Roest. LD-Nicklas Udstrom, Anders Eriksson. Slava Fetisov. Jamie Macoun, Maxim Kuznetsov. RD-Larry Murphy, Bob Rouse, Dmitri Mironov. Aaron Ward, Yan Golubovsky. G-Chris Osgood. Kevin Hodson. Norm Maracle.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Ooug Brown. RW, separated shoulder, day-to-day.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>April 26: Georges Laraque, RW, recalled from Hamilton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Doug Weight. Todd Marchant. Tony Hrkac, Rem Murray. LW-Dean McAmmond, Ryan Smyth, Valeri Zelepukin, Mats Lindgren, Bill Huard. RW-Bill Guerin, Kelly Buchberger, Mike Grier, Scott Fraser, Andrei Kovalenko, Georges Laraque. LD-Roman Hamrlik. Bobby Delias. Frank Musil, Kevin Lowe. RD&mdash;Boris Mironov, Janne Niinimaa. Drake Berehowsky, Greg de Vries. G-Curtis Joseph. Bob Essensa.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None.<h2>FLORIDA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>April 28: Jan Vopat, D, signed two-year contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Jozef Stumpel, Yanic Perreault. Ian Laperriere, Nathan LaFayette, Ray Ferraro. LW-Vladimir Tsyplakov, Luc Robitaille, Dan Bylsma, Matt Johnson. Steve McKenna, Roman Vopat. RW-Glen Murray, Craig Johnson, Russ Courtnail. LD-Garry Galley. Mattias Norstrom, Aki Berg. Jan Vopat. RD-Doug Zmolek, Rob Blake. Sean O&rsquo;Donnell, Philippe Boucher. G-Stephane Fiset, Jamie Storr, Frederic Chabot.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Sandy Moger, RW, sprained left knee.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>April 26: Jose Theodore, G. recalled from Fredericton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Vincent Damphousse, Mark Recchi, Marc Bureau, Scott Thornton. LW-Martin Rucinsky, Benoit Brunet, Zarley Zalapski, Jonas Hoglund, Patrick Poulin. RW-Shayne Corson, Turner Stevenson. Sebastien Bordeleau, Mick Vukota. LD-Vladimir Malakhov. Dave Manson. Igor Ulanov. RD-Peter Popovic. Patrice Brise-bois. Craig Rivet. G-Andy Moog. Jose Theodore.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Saku Koivu. C. broken left hand, May 1 Stephane Quintal, D. sprained right ankle, day-to-day. Brian Savage, RW. concussion, day-to-day Jocelyn Thibault. G. strained groin, day-to-day.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01804/6763686-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="552" height="957"><figcaption class="caption-body">Curtis Leschyshyn</figcaption></div><h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h2>ROSTER</h2>C-Doug Gilmour, Bobby Holik, Bobby Carpenter, Brendan Morrison. Sergei Brylin. LW-Dave Andreychuk, Patrik Elias, Brian Rolston. Jay Pandolfo, Petr Sykora. RW-Randy McKay, Steve Thomas. Denis Pederson, Krzysztof Oliwa. LD-Scott Stevens, Ken Daneyko, Doug Bodger, Kevin Dean, Brad Bombardir. RD-Lyle Odelein, Scott Niedermayer, Sheldon Souray. G&mdash;Martin Brodeur, Mike Dunham.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jason Arnott, RW, lacerated wrist, indefinite. Scott Daniels. RW, bruised ribs, day-to-day.<h2>NY ISLANDERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h2>NY RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>OTTAWA</h3><h2>TRANSACTIONS</h2>April 27: Radim Bicanek, D, recalled from Manitoba (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Alexei Yashin, Bruce Gardiner. Sergei Zholtok, Vaclav Prospal, Radek Bonk. LW-Andreas Dackell, Magnus Arvedson, Shawn McEachern. Denny Lambert, Randy Cunneyworth. RW-Chris Murray, Shaun Van Allen, Daniel Alfredsson, Pat Falloon. LD-Chris Phillips, Stan Neckar, Jason York, Per Gustafsson. RD&mdash;Igor Kravchuk. Janne Laukkanen. Lance Pitlick, Radim Bicanek. G-Damian Rhodes, Ron Tugnutt.<h2>INJURIES</h2>Wade Redden. D, strained groin, day-to-day.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Eric Lindros, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Mike Sillinger, Joel Otto. LW-John LeClair, Shjon Podein, Chris Gratton, Colin Forbes, Dan Kordic RW-Trent Klatt. Dainius Zubrus, Alexandre Daigle, Daniel Lacroix, John Druce. LD-Chris Therien, Dave Babych, Dan McGillis, Paul Coffey. RD-Eric Desjardins. Luke Richardson, Kjell Samuelsson, Chris Joseph. G-Sean Burke. Ron Hex-tall, Dominic Roussel.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Petr Svoboda, D. strained neck, indefinite.<h2>PHOENIX</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>April 26: Jocelyn Lemieux. RW. Scott Langkow, G, Daniel Briere. C, Jason Doig, D. and Sean Gagnon, D. recalled from Springfield (AHL). Robert Esche, G, signed two-year contract.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Craig Janney, Cliff Ronning, Bob Corkum, Mike Stapleton, Mark Janssens, Daniel Briere. LW&mdash;Keith Tkachuk, Dallas Drake, Darrin Shannon, Brad Isbister, Jim McKenzie. RW-Jeremy Roenick. Rick Tocchet. Mike Gartner, Shane Doan, Jim Cummins, Jocelyn Lemieux. LD-Keith Carney. Murray Baron, Norm Maciver, Sean Gagnon. RD-Gerald Diduck, Oleg Tver-dovsky, Michel Petit, Jason Doig. G-Jimmy Waite, Scott Langkow.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jim Johnson. D. post-concussion syndrome, indefinite. Nikolai Khabibulin. G. strianed groin, day-to-day. Teppo Numminen. D, strained groin, day-to-day. John Slaney. D, torn hamstring. mid-May. Darcy Wakaluk. G, right knee surgery, indefinite. Juha Ylonen, C, broken right leg, mid-May.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>April 30: Brian Bonin, C, Jan Hrdina, RW, and Sven Butenschon, D. recalled from Syracuse (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Ron Francis, Robert Lang, Sean Pronger, Ed Olczyk, Tyler Wright. Robert Dome. Brian Bonin. LW-Stu Barnes. Martin Straka. Alexei Morozov. Chris Ferraro. RW-Jaromir Jagr. Rob Brown, Alex Hicks, Andreas Johansson, Jan Hrdina. LD-Darius Kas-paraitis, Chris Tamer, Jiri Slegr, Brad Werenka. RD-Kevin Hatcher, Neil Wilkinson, Fredrik Olausson. Ian Moran. Sven Butenschon. G-Tom Barrasso, Ken Wregget, Peter Skudra.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Garry Valk. RW, strained abdomen, day-to-day. Neil Wilkinson. D. strained abdomen, day-to-day.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Pierre Turgeon, Pavol Demitra. Craig Conroy, Terry Yake, Mike Eastwood. LW-Pascal Rheaume, Geoff Courtnail. Scott Pellerin, Darren Turcotte, Tony Twist, Michel Picard. RW-Brett Hull, Jim Campbell, Blair Atcheynum, Kelly Chase. LD-Todd Gill. Chris Pronger, Marc Bergevin, Jamie Rivers. RD-AI Maclnnis, Chris McAlpine. Steve Duchesne, Rudy Poeschek. G-Grant Fuhr, Jamie McLennan.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None.<h2>SAN JOSE</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>April 24: Jason Muzzatti. G. Stephen Guolla, LW and Jarrod Skalde, C, recalled from Kentucky (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Mike Ricci, Bernie Nicholls, Patrick Marleau, Ron Sutter, Marco Sturm, Jarrod Skalde. LW-Stephane Matteau, Murray Craven. Jeff Friesen, Shawn Burr. Stephen Guolla. RW-John MacLean, Joe Murphy, Owen Nolan, Dave Lowry, Tony Granato. LD-Mike Rathje, Marcus Ragnarsson, Bill Houlder. RD-AI lafrate, Bryan Marchment, Andrei Zyuzin, Marty McSorley, Ken Sutton. G-Mike Vernon, Kelly Hrudey, Jason Muzzatti.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Todd Ewen, RW, knee surgery, out for season.<h2>TAMPA BAY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>April 26: Yogi Svejkovsky, RW, recalled from Portland (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Adam Oates, Andrei Nikolishin, Dale Hunter. Michal Pivonka. LW-Esa Tikkanen, Joe Juneau, Chris Simon, Craig Berube, Todd Krygier, Jeff Toms. RW-Brian Bellows, Peter Bondra, Mike Eagles, Kelly Miller, Yogi Svejkovsky. LD-Calle Johansson, Joe Reekie, Brendan Witt. Jeff Brown. RD-Mark Tinordi, Phil Housley, Sergei Gonchar, Ken Klee. G-Olie Kolzig. Bill Ranford.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Steve Konowalchuk. LW, wrist surgery, indefinite. Pat Peake. RW, heel surgery, indefinite. Richard Zed-nik. RW. strained abdomen, day-to-day.<h2>THE WEEK THAT WAS</h2>A weekly compendium of significant events and developments (April 24-May 1).April 24: Detroit senior vice-president Jimmy Devellano signs four-year contract extension.April 26: Buffalo&rsquo;s Rob Ray suspended one game for verbally abusing official in April 24 game.April 27: Tampa Bay&rsquo;s John Cullen told be doctors his cancer is in remission.April 27: Owners of Canadian-based NHL teams and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman make case to federal government in Ottawa for Canadian teams getting tax break.NHL board of governors approves sale of Edmonton Oilers to group of local investors.April 28: Craig Hartsburg fired as coach of Chicago Blackhawks.Hal Laycoe, first coach of the Vancouver Canucks, dies after a brief illness. &#9632;

f0033-01

NHL ROSTERS AND TRANSACTIONS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02551/6763724-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg"></div>(OT) denotes overtime gameTeam affiliations are listed in parentheses under names<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2><h3>Playoffs: Division Finals (best of seven)</h3><h4>Atlantic Division</h4>Saint John vs. Portland: Tuesday. April 28: Saint John 7, Portland 1 Thursday. April 30: Portland at Saint John Sunday. May 3: Saint John at Portland. Tuesday, May 5: Saint John at Portland Thursday. May 7: Portland at Saint John Saturday. May 9: Saint John at Portland Monday, May 11: Portland at Saint John. (Saint John leads series 1-0).<h4>New England Division</h4>Hartford vs. Worcester: Wednesday. April 29: Hartford 5. Worcester 2. Friday. May 1: Worcester at Hartford. Saturday. May 2: Hartford at Worcester. Tuesday, May 5: Hartford at Worcester. Sunday. May 10: Worcester at Hartford. Tuesday. May 12: Hartford at Worcester. Wednesday. May 13: Worcester at Hartford.<h4>Empire Division</h4>Albany vs. Hamilton: Friday. May 1: Hamilton at Albany. Sunday. May 3: Hamilton at Albany. Wednesday. May 6: Albany at Hamilton Friday. May 8: Albany at Hamilton. Sunday. May 10: Albany at Hamilton. Tuesday. May 12: Hamilton at Albany. Wednesday. May 13: Hamilton at Albany.<h4>Mid-Atlantic Division</h4>Philadelphia vs. Hershey: Sunday, April 26: Philadelphia 3, Hershey 2. Wednesday, April 29: Philadelphia 5, Hershey 3. Saturday. May 2: Philadelphia at Hershey. Sunday. May 3: Philadelphia at Hershey Wednesday. May 6: Hershey at Philadelphia. Thursday. May 7: Philadelphia at Hershey. Saturday. May 9: Hershey at Philadelphia. (Philadelphia leads series 2-0).<h3>Division Semifinals (best of five)</h3><h4>Atlantic Division</h4>Saint John vs. St. John&rsquo;s: Thursday. April 16: Saint John 4. St. John&rsquo;s 3. Saturday. April 18: Saint JohnSt. John&rsquo;s 1 (OT). Tuesday. April 21: St. John&rsquo;s 3, Saint John 1. Thursday. April 23: Saint John 3, St. John&rsquo;s 1 (Saint John wins series 3-1).Fredericton vs. Portland: Friday. April 17: PortlandFredericton 3. Sunday. April 19: Portland 4. Fredericton 2. Thursday, April 23: Fredericton 6. PortlandFriday, April 24: Portland 3, Fredericton 1. (Portland wins series 3-1).<h4>New England Divison</h4>Springfield vs. Worcester: Tuesday, April 14: WorcesterSpringfield 3 Sunday, April 19: Worcester 3. Springfield 2 (OT). Tuesday. April 21: Springfield 5, WorcesterFriday, April 24: Worcester 5, Springfield 2. (Worcester wins series 3-1).Hartford vs. New Haven: Friday, April 17: Hartford 7, New Haven 4. Saturday. April 18: Hartford 6, New Haven 4. Wednesday. April 22: Hartford 3, New Haven 2. (Hartford wins series 3-0).<h4>Empire Division</h4>Albany vs Adirondack: Friday. April 17: Albany 6, Adirondack 3. Saturday. April 18: Albany 2. Adirondack 0 Tuesday, April 21: Albany 3, Adirondack 2 (OT). (Albany wins series 3-0).Hamilton vs. Syracuse: Friday. April 17: Syracuse 5, Hamilton 2. Sunday. April 19: Hamilton 2, Syracuse 1 Wednesday, April 22: Syracuse 3, Hamilton 0. Thursday, April 23: Hamilton 4. Syracuse 3. Saturday, April 25: Hamilton 2, Syracuse 1. (Hamilton wins series 3-2).<h4>Mid-Atlantic Division</h4>Philadelphia vs. Rochester: Tuesday. April 14: Philadelphia 5, Rochester 2. Thursday, April 16: Rochester 5, Philadelphia 2. Saturday. April 18: Philadelphia 5, Rochester 2 Sunday. April 19: Philadelphia 6, Rochester 3. (Philadelphia wins series 3-1).Hershey vs. Kentucky: Wednesday. April 15: Hershey 2, Kentucky 1. Friday, April 17: Hershey 2. Kentucky 1 Wednesday. April 22: Hershey 10, Kentucky(Hershey wins series 3-0).<h3>SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01896/6763717-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="3437" height="4051"></div> &#9632;

f0033-02

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01853/6763755-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div><h2>EAST COAST LEAGUE</h2><h3>Playoffs: Conference Finals (best of seven)</h3><h4>Southern Conference</h4>Louisiana vs. Pensacola: Wednesday. April 22: Louisiana 3, Pensacola 1. Saturday. April 25: Louisiana 3. Pensacola 1 Sunday. April 26: Pensacola 9, Louisiana 4. Tuesday, April 28: Pensacola 6, Louisiana 4 (Series tied 2-2).<h4>Northern Conference</h4>Wheeling vs. Hampton Roads: Wednesday, April 22: Hampton Roads 4, Wheeling 3 (3OT) Friday, April 24: Wheeling 2, Hampton Roads 1 Saturday, April 25: Wheeling 4, Hampton Roads 3 (OT). (Wheeling leads series 2-1).<h3>Conference Semifinals (best of five)</h3><h4>Southern Conference</h4>Louisiana vs. Pee Dee: Louisiana wins series 3-0. Pensacola vs. Charlotte: Pensacola wins series 3-0.<h4>Northern Conference</h4>Roanoke vs. Hampton Roads: Hampton Roads wins series 3-2. Toledo vs. Wheeling: Wheeling wins series 3-1.<h4>Scoring Leaders</h4><h3>TOP GOALIES</h3><h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>Playoffs Final (best of seven) Columbus vs. Wichita: Wednesday, April 29: Columbus 8, Wichita 0. Friday, May 1: Wichita at Columbus. Saturday, May 2: Columbus at Wichita. Monday, May 4: Columbus at Wichita. Wednesday, May 8: Wichita at Columbus. Saturday. May 9: Wichita at Columbus. (Columbus leads series 1-0).<h3>Divison Finals (best of seven)</h3><h4>Western Division</h4>Oklahama vs. Wichita: Wednesday. April 15: Wichita 3, Oklahoma City 2. Friday, April 17: Wichita 6, Oklahoma City 2. Saturday. April 18: Wichita 3, Oklahoma City 2. Tuesday. April 21: Oklahoma City 4. Wichita 3. Friday, April 24: Oklahoma City 4. Wichita 1. Saturday, April 25: Oklahoma City 5, Wichita 4. Sunday. April 26: Wichita 5, Oklahoma City 4 (OT). (Wichita wins series 4-3).<h4>Eastern Divison</h4>Columbus vs. Nashville: Friday. April 10: Columbus 5, Nashville 2. Saturday. April 11: Columbus 6, Nashville 2. Friday, April 17: Nashville 4, Columbus 2 Saturday, April 18: Columbus 6, Nashville 3. Thursday, April 23: Nashville 3, Columbus 1 Friday, April 24: Columbus 8, Nashville 4. (Columbus wins senes 4-2).<h3>Division Semifinals (best of five)</h3><h4>Western Division</h4>Oklahoma City vs. Memphis: Oklahoma City wins series 3-1. Tulsa vs. Wichita: Wichita wins series 3-1.<h4>Eastern Division</h4>Columbus vs. Macon: Columbus wins series 3-0. Huntsville vs. Nashville: Nashville wins series 3-0.<h3>Scoring Leaders</h3><h2>UNITED LEAGUE</h2><h3>Playoffs: Division Finals (best of seven)</h3><h4>East Division</h4>Brantford vs. Flint: Friday, April 17: Flint 6, Brantford 5. Sunday. April 19: Flint 7, Brantford 3. Friday, April 24: Flint 5, Brantford 1. Saturday. April 25: Brantford 4, Flint 2. Sunday, April 26: Flint 5, Brantford 1. (Flint wins series 4-1).<h4>West Division</h4>Quad City vs. Muskegon: Saturday. April 18: Quad City 6. Muskegon 5 (OT).Monday. April 20: Muskegon 6, Quad City 3. Friday. April 24: Quad City 4, Muskegon 3.Saturday. April 25: Quad Citry 2 Muskegon 1 (OT). Sunday, April 26: Muskegon. 3 Quad City 2 Wednesday. April 29: Quad City 7 Muskegon 1. (Quad City wins series 4-2).<h3>Division Semifinals (best of seven)</h3><h4>East Division</h4>Flint vs. Binghamton: Flint wins series 4-1. Por Huron vs. Brantford: Brantford wins series 4-0.West DivisionQuad City vs. Madison: Quad City wins series 4-3 Muskegon vs. Thunder Bay. Muskegon wins series 4-1.<h3>Scoring Leaders</h3><h3>Top Goalies</h3><h2>WEST COAST LEAGUE</h2><h3>Playoffs Final (best of seven)</h3>San Diego vs. Tacoma: Wednesday. April 22: Sar Diego 4. Tacoma 0. Friday, Aril 24: San Diego 5 Tacoma 4 (OT). Saturday. April 25: Tacoma 4. Sar Diego 1 Tuesday, April 28: San Diego 7, Tacoma 3 (San Diego leads series 3-1).<h3>Division Finals (best of seven)</h3>South Divison: San Diego vs. Phoenix: San Diegr wins series 4-0 North Divison: Anchorage vs. Taco ma: Tacoma wins series 4-0.Divison Semifinals (best of five)South Division: Bakersfield vs. San Diego: Sar Diego wins series 3-1. Fresno vs Phoenix: Phoeni: wins series 3-2. North Division: Reno vs. Tacoma Tacoma wins series 3-0. Anchorage vs. Idaho Anchorage wins series 3-1.<h3>Scoring Leaders</h3><h3>Top Goalies</h3><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2><h3>Playoffs Final (best of seven)</h3>Vai d&rsquo;Or vs. Rimouski: Monday, April 27: Vai d&rsquo;Or 8 Rimouski 3 Tuesday. April 28: Vai d&rsquo;Or 5. Rimousk 2 (Vai d&rsquo;Or leads series 2-0).<h3>Division Finals</h3><h4>Frank Dilio Division</h4>Rimouski vs. Quebec. Sunday, April 12: Rimousk 5, Quebec 4 (OT). Tuesday, April 14: Rimouski 5 Quebec 4 Thursday. April 16: Rimouski 5. Quebe 3. Friday. April 17: Quebec 4, Rimouski 3 (OT] Sunday. April 19: Quebec 7. Rimouski 3 Monday April 20: Rimouski 5. Quebec 2. (Rimouski win series 4-2).<h4>Robert Lebel Division</h4>Friday, April 10: Vai d&rsquo;Or 6, Laval 2. Sunday. April 12: Vai d&rsquo;Or 5, Laval 1. Tuesday. April 14: Laval E Vai d&rsquo;Or 4. Friday. April 17: Vai d&rsquo;Or 2, Laval 1 Sunday. April 19: Vai d&rsquo;Or 4, Laval 0. (Vai d&rsquo;O wins series 4-1).<h3>Second round (round robin)</h3><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2><h3>Playoffs:</h3><h4>Final (best of seven)</h4>Guelph vs. Ottawa: Wednesday. April 22: Guelph 5.Ottawa 2. Friday. April 24: Guelph 3, Ottawa 2. Saturday. April 25: Ottawa 8, Guelph 1. Monday, April 27: Guelph 2. Ottawa 1. Wednesday April 29: Guelph 4, Ottawa 3. (Guelph wins series 4-1).<h4>Semifinals (best of seven)</h4>London vs. Ottawa: Friday, April 10: Ottawa 3, London 0. Saturday, April 11: Ottawa 3, London 2. Tuesday, April 14: Ottawa 4, London 2. Thursday. April 16: Ottawa 5. London 2, (Ottawa wins series 4-0).Plymouth vs. Guelph: Friday, April 10: Guelph 2, Plymouth 1. Monday, April 13: Guelph 5, Plymouth 1. Thursday. April 16: Guelph 5. Plymouth 1. Friday. April 17: Guelph 5. Plymouth 2. (Guelph wins ssries 4-0).<h4>Quarterfinals (best of seven)</h4>Sudbury vs. Guelph: Friday, Guelph wins series 4-0. Plymouth vs. Belleville: Plymouth wins series 4-2. Owen Sound vs. Ottawa: Ottawa wins series 4-1. Kingston vs. London: London wins series 4-t<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2><h3>Playoffs</h3><h4>Final (best of seven)</h4>Portland vs Brandon: Saturday. April 25: Portland 7, Brandon 3. Sunday, April 26: Portland 5, Brandon 1. Wednesday, April 29: Portland 7, Brandon2. (Portland leads series 3-0).<h4>Semifinals (best of seven)</h4>Calgary vs. Brandon: Saturday, April 11: Brandon 5, Calgary 4 (OT). Sunday, April 12: Brandon 5, Calgary 4. Tuesday. April 14: Calgary 3, Brandon 2 (OT). Wednesday. April 15: Brandon 5, Calgary 1. Friday. April 17: Brandon 4. Calgary 1. (Brandon wins series 4-1).Spokane vs. Portland: Saturday, April 11: Spokane 6, Portland 3 Monday, April 13: Portland 2, Spokane 0. Wednesday, April 15: Portland 4, Spokane 1 Thursday. April 16: Spokane 5. Portland 3. Saturday, April 18: Portland 9. Spokane 2. Tuesday, April 21: Spokane 5, Portland 2. Wednesday. April 22: Portland 3, Spokane 2. (Portland wins series 4-3).<h3>Scoring Leaders</h3><h3>Top Goalies</h3><h2>WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP</h2>The 1998 World Championship will be held in Zurich and Basel, Switzerland, May 1-17. Round robin play will determine seedings for the playoff round.Group A: Czech Republic; Germany; Belarus; Japan. Group B: Canada; Italy; Slovakia; Austria. Group C: United States; Sweden; France Switzerland. Group D: Russia; Finland; Latvia; Kazakhstan.<h3>Round Robin</h3>Friday, May 1: Canada vs. Austria, Zurich 4 pm; Czech Republic vs. Japan. Basel 4 pm; Italy vs. Slovakia, Zurich 8 pm; Germany vs. Belarus. Basel 8 pm Saturday. May 2: United States vs. Switzerland, Zurich 4 pm; Russia vs. Kazakhstan, Basel 4 pm; Sweden vs. France. Zurich 8 pm; Finland vs. Latvia, Basel 8 pm.Sunday, May 3: Slovakia vs. Canada, Zurich 4 pm; Belarus vs. Czech Republic, Basel 4 pm; Italy vs. Austria. Zurich 8 pm; Germany vs. Japan, Basel 8 pm. Monday. May 4: France vs. United States, Zurich 4 pm; Latvia vs. Russia, Basel 4 pm; Sweden vs. Switzerland, Zurich 8 pm; Finland vs. Kazakhstan, Basel 8 pm. Tuesday, May 5: Austria vs. Slovakia, Zurich 4 pm; Japan vs. Belarus, Basel 4 pm; Canada vs. Italy, Zurich 8 pm; Czech Republic vs. Germany, Basel 8 pm. Wednesday. May 6: United States vs. Sweden, Zurich 4 pm; Kazakhstan vs. Latvia, Basel 4 pm; Switzerland vs. France, Zurich 8 pm; Russia vs. Finland. Basel 8 pm.<h3>Playoffs</h3>Thursday, May 7: A2 vs. B1, Zurich 4 pm; B2 vs. A1, Basel 4 pm; Cl vs. D2, Zurich 8 pm; D1 vs. C2, Basel 8 pm. Friday. May 8: C3 vs. A3. Zurich 4 pm; B3 vs. D3, Zurich 8 pm. Saturday, May 9: B1 vs. D2 Zurich 4 pm; A1 vs. C2, Basel 4 om; Cl vs. A2, Zurich 8 pm; Di vs. B2. Basel 8 pm. Sunday, May 10: B3 vs. C3, Zurich 12:00 pm; A3 vs. D3, Basel 12:00 pm; B1 vs. C1, Zurich 4 pm; A1 vs. D1, Basel 4 pm; 02 vs. A2, Zurich 8 pm; C2 vs. B2, Basel 8 pm. Monday, May 11: A3 vs. B3, Zurich 4 pm; D3 vs. C3, Zurich 8 pm.<h3>Final Round (Zurich)</h3>Tuesday. May 12: Semifinal Game 1 (4 pm and 8 pm). Thursday May 14: Semifinal Game 2 (4 pm and 8 pm) Friday, May 15: Third place game.FinalSaturday, May 16: Final Game 1. 3 pm. Sunday. May 17: Final Game 2. 3 pm.<h3>TEAM CANADA</h3>Goaltenders: Christian Bronsard, Canadian National Team; Jeff Hackett, Chicago; Felix Potvin. Toronto. Defensemen: Cory Cross, Tampa Bay; Ed Jovanovski. Florida; Bryan McCabe, Vancouver Gord Murphy, Ronda; James Patrick, Calgary Forwards: Todd Bertuzzi. Vancouver, Eric Daze, Chicago; Nelson Emerson, Carolina: Martin Gelinas. Carolina; Travis Green, Anaheim; Trevor Linden. NY Islanders; Keith Primeau, Carolina: Steve Rucchin, Anaheim; Ray Whitney, Florida: Rot Zamuner, Tampa Bay.<h3>TEAM USA</h3>Goaltenders: Garth Snow, Vancouver Tim Thomas. IFK Helsinki Defensemen: Greg Brown. Landshut Germany; Adam Burt, Carolina; Mike Crowley, Cincinnati (AHL); Chris Luongo, Landshut Germany; Brian Rafalski, IFK Helsinki; Paul Stanton, Mannheim Germany; Dan Trebil, Cincinnati (AHL); Eric Weinrich. Chicago. Forwards: Bates Battaglia, Carolina; Donald Brashear, Vancouver Torr Chorske, NY Islanders; Matt Cullen, Anaheim; Chris Drury Boston University, Ted Drury, Anaheim; Todd Harkins DEV Gmbtt Germany; Darby Hendrickson, Toronto; Kevir Miller, Chicago; Mark Parrish, Seattle (WHL); Davie Roberts, Syracuse (AHL); Bryan Smolinski, NY Islanders. &#9632;

Search for your favorite player or team

May 15, 1998

Willsie puts WJC in past after big showing in final

Savard tames The Beast, Rangers next on his list

LOUISVILLE®

The Hockey News