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.

December 25, 1998

The Hockey News December 25, 1998

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01916/7298657-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01984/7298650-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="8631" height="5263"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011002/7298643-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="4269" height="5179"></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>It wasn&rsquo;t the start to his senior year Michel Larocque had anticipated.After compiling an impressive 43-10-6 record during his first three seasons, the Boston University goalie found himself staring at a 0-4 record, 5.63 goals-against average and lowly. 729 save percentage in Hockey East play.But Larocque has righted himself since those first four games. In games since, he is 5-3-1 with a 2.64 GAA and. 908 save percentage.He stopped 61 of 65 shots in a pair of 3-2 wins over UMass-Amherst Dec. 4-5.&ldquo;Early on, I wanted to do too much,&rdquo; said Larocque, who had shared the goaltending with now-graduated Tommy Noble over his first three seasons. &ldquo;We also have a young team and our penalty killing was terrible.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;ll definitely take the blame for our slow start,&rdquo; added Larocque, a former AllHockey East rookie team goalie. &ldquo;Stuff like that happens for a reason. Now I feel I&rsquo;m out of that and I&rsquo;m better because of what happened.&rdquo;Boston University coach Jack Parker said Larocque has told him he has had mental slumps on occasion and lost his confidence and mechanics.&ldquo;But he&rsquo;s playing real well right now. He&rsquo;s playing as well as he ever has during his career at Boston University,&rdquo; Parker said. &ldquo;He looks in complete control out there.&rdquo;The 1997-98 all-Hockey East second team goalie said &ldquo;everybody was on my case&rdquo; during his early slump and he took it as a challenge.<h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>&ldquo;Being challenged brought my game up,&rdquo; said Larocque, a 5-foot-l 1, 200-pound native of Dieppe, N.B. &ldquo;I wanted to show the freshmen I could play. I knew things would come around for me and the team. It was just a matter of going back to basics.&rdquo;MARINES AT MAINE? The Maine&rsquo;s Black Bears will add a new wrinkle to their training regimen next September courtesy of a trip taken by coach Shawn Walsh.Walsh spent two days in early December on Parris Island, S.C., where the United States Marine Corps conducts its basic training.&rsquo;I discussed the idea of having one of their drill instructors work with the team for three weeks during dryland (training) and the Marines were very enthusiastic about it,&rdquo; Walsh said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ll have to check with the NCAA first.&rdquo;Walsh picked up several new training ideas.&ldquo;The drills will be very applicable to our team,&rdquo; Walsh said. &ldquo;Our sport is conducive to mental toughness and discipline.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: UMass-Lowell junior right winger John Campbell was player of the week for his two goals and two assists in 2-1 and 4-1 wins over Northeastern Dec. 4-5. Merrimack sophomore goalie Tom Welby, who stopped 67 of 72 shots in a split with Providence, was the defensive player of the week. &#9632;

Larocque shakes start, returns to winning ways

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NHL GAME SUMMARIES WORLD JR. CHAMPIONSHIP

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03732/7297523-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="202" height="191"></div>Is there a third straight Hart Trophy in Dominik Hasek&rsquo;s future?While a quarter season isn&rsquo;t long enough to pass judgment, Hasek, the NHL&rsquo;s two-time most valuable player and four-time Vezina Trophy winner has picked up right where he left off last season. And then some.Hasek had started every game this season through Dec. 10 and played all but two of them to their conclusion. He was a big part of the Sabres&rsquo; run to near the top of the Northeast Division and the Eastern Conference standings with a 13-5-5 record.Hasek had a stunning 1.79 goals-against average and an even more amazing. 942 save percentage.The numbers are vintage Hasek and even better than his totals at the end of the past two seasons. Hasek believes they will change as the season progresses, but not by much.&ldquo;I never felt (they) can be higher than I had last year, especially when they put a limit on our goalie equipment, the shoulders and arms,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t believe I could have a better save percentage than last year.&rdquo;Hasek finished 1997-98 at. 932, his highest total of the past four seasons. He led the league in each of them.&ldquo;Before the season, I didn&rsquo;t set any goals for my save percentage,&rdquo; Hasek continued. &ldquo;I think 930 is a great save percentage. At the end of the season, if I&rsquo;m somewhere around there, like before, I will be glad.&rdquo;No doubt if he accomplishes the feat, the. Sabres will be winners as well.In his three starts prior to Dec. 11, Hasek shut out the Philadelphia Flyers in Buffalo, beat the Nashville Predators in Nashville and preserved a 2-2 tie in St. Louis in a game in which the Sabres gave up 40 shots.When the Sabres play well, they&rsquo;re capable of beating any team in the league. When they don&rsquo;t, Hasek more often than not gets them a win or a tie. The Sabres had lost just once at home this season in 10 contests, were above. 500 on the road and unbeaten in six straight and counting.&ldquo;He has been terrific most every game,&rdquo; said coach Lindy Ruff. &ldquo;Even when we make mistakes he bails us out. That gives us a chance to win every night.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: It appears the end is near for Donald Audette. No one in management nor Audette himself expects the veteran right winger to ever play for the Sabres again and the team is known to be shopping him. Audette has been a no-show since training camp and has issued a demand to be traded. The Sabres&rsquo; initial response was to downplay the request and continue negotiations, but they&rsquo;ve gone nowhere and everyone is expecting a trade. &ldquo;It would be difficult for me to go back there now after everything that has happened,&rdquo; Audette said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I figure in their plans"&hellip;. Center Michael Peca denied a charge of headbutting from Philadelphia center Eric Lindros. &#9632;

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NHL TEAMS

Sabres’ Hasek Hart at work on No. 3 with numbers even he can’t ‘believe’

<div class="image-hero"><img title="C0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0145/7298857-1-eng-US/c0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phoenix defenseman Teppo Numminen deserves a stocking full of recognition this holiday season</figcaption></div><h2>Avs put eggs in one basket</h2>1. One-liners Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic put on same line, lead Colorado to five wins with combined seven goals, 13 points.2. Ken Daneyko New Jersey defenseman sets franchise record playing in 935th game for Devils.3. Mighty Marty Mighty Ducks&rsquo; right winger Marty McInnis fires seven goals, 18 points in 20 games since early-season trade.4. Blazing hot Kamloops Blazers&rsquo; goalie Kenric Exner undefeated at 19-0-4 with four shutouts.5. Patient Predator Rob Valicevic&rsquo;s hard work pays off, makes it to NHL at age 27 with Nashville.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0248/7298850-1-eng-US/c0002-022.jpg" title="C0002-02" width="425" height="602"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken Daneyko</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0340/7298843-1-eng-US/c0002-032.jpg" title="C0002-03" width="423" height="610"><figcaption class="caption-body">Daren Puppa</figcaption></div><h2>Lightning strikes Tampa goalies</h2>1. Crease crud Tampa&rsquo;s Bill Ranford, Daren Puppa, Corey Schwab combine for league-worst 3.78 GAA and. 882 SP.2. Why not Hakan Loob? Pavel Bure, who hasn&rsquo;t played this season, fourth in voting for World All-Star wingers.3. Shtrom storm Union goalie Leoor Shtrom suspended four ECAC games after record-tying 30 penalty minutes in brawl.4. Keeping tabs Ten games for crosschecking gives St. John&rsquo;s Greg Smyth 14 career AHL suspensions for 56 games.5. Power failure Los Angeles Kings 8.1 per-cent success rate on power play worst in NHL. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-In-Chief</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0424/7298888-1-eng-US/c0002-042.jpg" title="C0002-04" width="450" height="555"></div>Let it never be said The Hockey News isn&rsquo;t generous to a fault. Here&rsquo;s our holiday gift guide for last-minute shoppers with hockey people on their lists.Esa Tikkanen foes: Dictionary translating Tikkanese into English, French, Swedish, Czech and Finnish.Brian Burke: Overdue gratitude for a job well-done as NHL vice-president.Art Williams: A muzzle.Dennis Mills: A reality check.Chris Gratton, Owen Nolan, Saku Koivu: 1996-97.Atlanta Thrashers: The Nashville Predators&rsquo; expansion plan.Dixon Ward and Dallas Drake: Respect.Jimmy Waite: Patience.Eric Lindros and John LeClair: Bat-man and Robin uniforms.Jeff Kugel: A clue.U.S. national team: Its first gold medal at the World Junior Championship.Harry Neale: A lump of Cole.Sheldon Kennedy: Peace of mind.Matt Johnson: A change of heart.NHL 30-somethings: Unrestricted free agency.NHL GMs: Unrestricted common sense.Mario Lemieux: Back pay.Ray Bourque: Back pay.Teppo Numminen: Recognition.Pavol Demitra: Emergence from obscurity.Theoren Fleury: His two front teeth.NHL: A rules committee that takes its job seriously.Dallas Stars: A reason to truly believe in Ed Belfour.Sergei Fedorov: Pride.Dino Ciccarelli: Reserved seating at the Hockey Hall of Fame.Ron Francis: Points and pluses.San Jose Sharks: An economic correction.NHLPA: More teams with the San Jose Sharks&rsquo; sense of payroll.Michael Peca: An armed escort March 7 when Buffalo next meets Philadelphia.Daniel and Henrik Sedin: Name tags.Mississauga Ice Dogs: First pick in the European draft.Slew-footing victims: Rear-view mirrors. Carolina Hurricanes: Athletic supporters. Daren Puppa and Bill Ranford: Athletic supporters.Doug Gilmour: Nothing. He received his Christmas present during the summer.Daniil Markov and Dave Scatchard: Christmas bonuses.Colorado Avalanche: A middle class.Jaromir Jagr: Scissors.All players: A Jeff Libby video.All hockey fans: Subscriptions to THN. &#9632;

C0002-04

’Tis the season for puckheads to buy presents

<div class="byline">Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011771/7297017-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="425" height="565"></div>The NHL is expected to usher in the new millennium with bus travel, a limited number of games and maybe, just maybe, a game commencing at midnight Dec. 31,1999.&ldquo;All I can say is that we&rsquo;re focusing in on what needs to be done to get us through the transition from 1999 to the year 2000,&rdquo; NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told The Hockey News.In fact, within the last month, the league formed an internal head-office committee that is charged with overseeing the many logistical concerns associated with what is now commonly referred to as Y2K (Year 2000).Some of what may be expected from the NHL:&#9633; No air travel for any team on or around Jan. 1, 2000.&#9633; A light schedule of &ldquo;regional&rdquo; games that can be reached by bus travel, such as Anaheim-Los Angeles, Montreal-Ottawa, New Jersey-Philadelphia, Toronto-Buffalo, Islanders-Rangers and so on.&#9633; If not a fight schedule, then possibly an extended Christmas shutdown, pending discussion with the NHL Players&rsquo; Association.&#9633; One unidentified team has asked the league for permission to start a game at midnight on New Year&rsquo;s Eve. It&rsquo;s not known whether the league intends to seriously consider the request.Why all the fuss?Because there is widespread concern that the &ldquo;millennium bug"-a computer&rsquo;s inability to process the changing of years from 1999 to 2000-will adversely affect everything from air travel to the supply of basics such as heat, electricity and food.It&rsquo;s not likely to be the end of the world as we know it-there is a certain amount of fear-mon-gering-but many experts are suggesting there will be, at the very least, significant inconve-ience that could result in potentially serious situations. Recently, Canada&rsquo;s auditor general raised the possibility of senior citizens not getting their pension checks and other key government services being rendered inoperable because the federal government&rsquo;s efforts to retool their computer systems is well behind schedule.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021417/7297010-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="2417" height="2547"></div>Some major corporations have been preparing for Y2K for years. The NHL would appear to be getting into the game late, though Bettman suggested there&rsquo;s time to put a plan together.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the problems are going to be as dire as some of the doomsayers have made them out to be,&rdquo; said Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; owner Pete Karmanos, who also happens to head up Compuware software, which specializes in Y2K programs. &ldquo;But having said that, if you&rsquo;re in business and you don&rsquo;t go through a thorough checklist of your physical facilities, your data and your software, you could have problems.&rdquo;More than computers are affected. Anything that has an imbedded chip-everything from elevators to telephones to microwave ovens to auto-mobiles to arena scoreboards to faxes and parking barriers-could be bitten by the millennium bug.&ldquo;Hopefully, any associated problems won&rsquo;t last longer than a week,&rdquo; said Randy Dubien, an independent systems manager who has been contracted by Manulife Financial in Waterloo, Ont., to oversee its Y2K program. &ldquo;No one can say what the impact will be. Hopefully, it will be a blip in people&rsquo;s lives, but the potential for problems exists.&rdquo;Dubien said British Airways has already suspended service for the first few days of 2000. Other airlines are expected to follow suit. He also said some major hotel chains are refusing to take reservations for the same time frame. Even home insurance companies are now including &ldquo;no fault&rdquo; clauses in their policies, suggesting they won&rsquo;t be responsible for any damages incurred as a result Y2K.Dubien said there are expected to be worldwide &ldquo;lawsuits in the trillions of dollars&rdquo; for loss of service during the first few days of Y2K.The NHL gameplan is relatively basic. That is, try not to be too ambitious in terms of scheduling. Keep the players out of the air until it&rsquo;s clear no problems exist.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve told the league, &rsquo;Put us in Montreal,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Ottawa Senators&rsquo; president Ray Mlakar. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll take the bus.&rdquo;Still, there have to be checks to make sure the buildings being used are not going to suffer problems with heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Ensure all suppliers-food and beverage, maintenance etc.-have updated their systems and are de-bugged.&ldquo;The newer the building, the fewer worries,&rdquo; said Cyrill Leeder, chief operating officer of Ottawa&rsquo;s Corel Centre. &ldquo;A building that is pre-1990 may have problems.&rdquo;Once all that&rsquo;s done, it&rsquo;s just a matter of the fans getting to the arena.&ldquo;I wonder if traffic lights will be working,&rdquo; Dubien said.Fine, stay home and watch the game on TV, but be forewarned. Even if the networks are operating, local cable companies may not have done everything required to be de-bugged.Happy New Year. &#9632;

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COLUMNISTS

NHL faces off with Y2K bug

<div class="byline">-Bob McKenzie</div>The NHL Board of Governors agreed to disagree on how best to reduce the number of tie games.The only consensus it could reach on that issue during annual meetings, Dec. 7-8 in Phoenix, was that further study is required.&ldquo;The consensus is we should do something,&rdquo; NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told THN. &ldquo;What that something is, however, has yet to be determined. That&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ll all be looking at.&rdquo;This issue will fall back into the laps of the NHL GMs, who are scheduled to meet in the first week of February in La Quinta, Calif. It should be an interesting confab because of the diversity of opinion on how to address it.In the first 346 games of this season, 51 resulted in ties. That&rsquo;s about 15 per cent. More disconcerting, though, is while 65 games have gone intc the current five-minute sudden-death overtime, only 14 (22 per cent) have been settled.Some are advocating the elimination of overtime and letting the ties fall where they may. Others, such as Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; GM Glen Sather, is suggesting a new point system that would give three points for a regulation time victory, twc points for an overtime victory and one for a tie.Others, such as Colorado Avalanche GM Pierre Lacroix, are recommending more dramatic measures, such as starting the overtime period three skaters aside. Other ideas mentioned include the penalty-shot shootout, removing one skater for each minute of overtime or giving each tied team a point after regulation time and playing for the bonus point in OT.In other business:&#9633; the governors applauded the phasing-in of the two-referee system, but put off a decision whether it will be used in the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs. The expectation is it will, though the scheduled two-referee hiatus for March and April of the regular season is likely to be maintained.&#9633; Bettman reiterated the league&rsquo;s position that NHL players will not participate in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games unless there is a firm commitment from NBC that the Olympic hockey event will receive primetime exposure.&ldquo;We have to let the International Ice Hockey Federation know by the end of February what we&rsquo;re going to do,&rdquo; Bettman said. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t commit to going unless we get commitments from NBC.&rdquo;&#9633; Bettman announced the league was forming a $300 million labor contineencv fund in the event of a lockout or strike when the current collective agreement expires in the fall of 2004.The commissioner said it shouldn&rsquo;t be construed as a sign of an impending labor battle, only a sensible step for any industry that is prone to labor strife. The NHL Players&rsquo; Association has its own $80 million fund, generated by tax-free licensing dollars.&#9633; The governors formally approved a one-year extension of the Canadian Assistance Plan. Last season, the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators took advantage of the program. To be eligible, franchises must achieve designated levels of revenue and/or meet season-ticket, luxury box and corporate signage targets.The NHL Players&rsquo; Association has issued a legal challenge to the validity of the program. The NHLPA said it&rsquo;s not opposed to financial aid for Canadian teams, but took issue with the one of the initial conditions. That is, to qualify a team must have a payroll below the league average. The NHL said it has since eliminated that as a condition. &#9632;

Gridlock over deadlocks among governors

<div class="byline">By Jason Paul</div>The Americans want to make a big splash at the 1999 World Junior Championship.Coach Jeff Jackson has three returnees from the Ontario League&rsquo;s Plymouth Whalers, including center David Legwand, the Nashville Predators&rsquo; second pick overall in the 1998 NHL entry draft.Whalers&rsquo; defensemen Paul Mara and Nikos Tselios, both 1997 NHL first-rounders, are also back with the U.S. team competing at the Dec. 26-Jan. 5 event based in Winnipeg.The U.S. team, which has never won gold in the tournament, finished a disappointing fifth in 1998 after placing second the year before.&ldquo;The biggest problem was team chemistry,&rdquo; Jackson said. &ldquo;Two years ago when we played Canada in the gold medal game, we had a close-knit group of guys and last year I think we lost a little bit of that.&rdquo;Mara said having eight players returning will help bridge the gap between the U.S. college and major junior players. &ldquo;Last year there were cliques and that hurt us,&rdquo; Mara said. &ldquo;We have to stick together as a team, not as individuals.&rdquo;Jackson is looking for Legwand to play a bigger role: &ldquo;We need David to score goals for us and have offensive impact. We&rsquo;re not going to rely on him for his defensive capabilities.&rdquo;Legwand, who had 105 points in 59 games as an OHL rookie in 1997-98, was held scoreless in seven games at last year&rsquo;s event.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t get on the ice much so I couldn&rsquo;t do anything, but it was a good learning experience,&rdquo; said Legwand, who had 17 goals and 37 points in 23 games this season.Legwand and the Americans play their first game Dec. 26 in Winnipeg against Finland.Canada opens Dec. 27 in Brandon, Man., and takes on Slovakia.<h2>NHL embraces two-day holiday</h2>The lights may be on around much of the world Dec. 24 and 25, but they&rsquo;re dark days in the NHL.Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are two of six days during the 199899 regular season when there aren&rsquo;t games in the NHL. The others, Jan. 22-25, surround the All-Star Game.Team rosters are frozen Dec. 19 through Dec. 27; players can&rsquo;t be moved on waivers, by trades or any other manner of player assignment. Call-ups are permitted. &#9632;

Americans ready to take on world

<div class="byline">By Gordie Sutherland</div>The Quebec Remparts had to settle for a tie in the Quebec League record book.Quebec was in a position to make league history Dec. 10, but the Halifax Mooseheads beat the Remparts 6-2 to stop their unbeaten streak at 27 games.Reporters from two Quebec newspapers and crews from three Quebec television stations came to Halifax Metro Centre to see if the Remparts could make it 28 straight and break the league record they shared with the 1973-74 Sorel Eperviers, who had 26 wins and one tie during their run.Quebec had 22 wins and five ties and played 15 games on the road.&ldquo;The last couple of weeks we haven&rsquo;t played well, but we&rsquo;ve had some good games (during the streak),&rdquo; said Quebec coach Guy Chouinard.The Canadian Hockey League undefeated record is 29 games, set by the Western League&rsquo;s Brandon Wheat Kings in 1978-79. The Kamloops Blazers had a 26-game unbeaten streak going into a Dec. 11 game in Spokane.Before Dec. 10, the Remparts hadn&rsquo;t lost since Sept. 25 when they fell 2-1 in Halifax. Quebec tied Sorel for the league record with a 2-1 win over the Vai d&rsquo;Or Foreurs Dec. 6. &#9632;

Remparts tie record

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN Staff</div>Usually it&rsquo;s the fan who gets an autographed jersey, but it was Theo Fleury who received one in a game against the Dallas Stars.The Calgary Flames&rsquo; right winger was high-sticked in the face by Dallas defenseman Richard Matvichuk Dec. 7 in Calgary and returned to the bench with his jersey covered in blood. It was deemed too messy to wear on the ice by referee Mark Faucette, so Fleury was told to change into a fresh one.Just then, Fleury was tossed a replica jersey from a Calgary fan in the Saddledome stands. He stripped off his shirt and put on the fan&rsquo;s jersey much to the delight of the Calgary fans. As it turned out, the jersey was a shade too small and covered in autographs, including his own.&ldquo;I thought about going out with it, but I&rsquo;m not going out there wearing a sweater with my autograph,&rdquo; said Fleury said, who was irate a penalty wasn&rsquo;t called. &ldquo;Besides, I didn&rsquo;t know if it was legal or not.&rdquo;Calgary&rsquo;s trainer couldn&rsquo;t find another Flames&rsquo; white jersey with No. 14, so Fleury finished the game with a nameless No. 76 sweater. Dallas went on to win 3-2.During the same game, Stars&rsquo; center Mike Modano was awarded a penalty shot on a high-stick by Calgary left winger Valeri Bure, who was also given a double minor for a separate high sticking incident.Modano was stopped by goalie Tyler Moss, but the Stars capitalized on the resulting power play for the winning goal.<h2>PUCK BRIEFS</h2>According to NHL rule 30(h), any double minor penalty that also warrants a penalty shot must be served in full if the shooter misses on the penalty shot. If he scores, only one minor is served.The NHL said it was the fifth time in the 1990s a penalty and penalty shot have been called on the same play, but the first time this particular rule came into effect.LAWSUIT LOOMS: Ex-NHLer Sheldon Kennedy will file civil lawsuits against the Canadian Hockey Association, Hockey Manitoba, the Western League and the Saskatchewan Amateur Hockey Association, the Toronto Sun reported.The newspaper said the suit is expected to claim the four organizations had some knowledge of Graham James&rsquo; history as a sexual predator. Kennedy was sexually assaulted more than 300 times by James while playing amateur hockey. James was sentenced to 3-1/2 years in prison in January, 1997, and is now in a Montreal half-way house.Kennedy, 29, is attempting a comeback to the NHL and is now with the International League&rsquo;s Manitoba Moose. The Sun said the lawsuit will be announced in late December.OWNER IN JAIL: Former NHL team owner Nelson Skalbania will serve a one-year prison term after finding out his appeal was denied.Skalbania, who owned all or part of the NHL Atlanta Flames and Calgary Flames, and the Indianapolis Racers and Edmonton Oilers in the World Hockey Association, was sentenced to one year in jail for theft of $100,000 in a 1991 real estate deal. The appeal was denied Dec. 10.&rsquo;X&rsquo; FOR HASEK: Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; goalie Dominik Hasek was the overall leader in balloting for the NHL All-Star Game through Dec. 10.Hasek had 90,591 votes as the top European goalie, outdistancing right winger Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins (86,524).The top vote-getter among North American players was left winger Paul Kariya of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (57,534) followed by left winger Brendan Shanahan of the Detroit Red Wings (56,028).Fans are selecting the World and North American teams for the Jan. 24 All-Star Game in Tampa Bay. The top two wingers, two defensemen, one center and one goalie after voting ends Dec. 28 will comprise the two starting lineups. (See pg. 37 for all-star voting.)NO TO TEAMS: The Hockey Hall of Fame will not open its doors to teams as part of the induction process.The Hall&rsquo;s selection committee decided against the notion of inducting teams the way it inducts players, chairman of the board Bill Hay said.&ldquo;The idea was rejected by the committee, although there&rsquo;s certainly an opportunity and need for teams to be recognized by the Hall,&rdquo; Hay said.The 1972 Summit Series teams of Canada and Russia were the genesis of inducting teams into the Hall.RATINGS UP: Television ratings for CBC&rsquo;s Hockey Night in Canada have increased 27 per cent over last season. An average of 1.8 million viewers are tuning in to the Saturday night doubleheader, compared to 1.45 million last year. &#9632;

Fleury of activity in bizarre game

<h2>Clarks help provide hope for newborn&rsquo;s parents</h2>I just wanted to share a story about a great hockey player and his family.On Oct. 9, 1998, my daughter was bom with a brain hemorrhage and we experienced the same nightmare as Tampa&rsquo;s Wendel Clark and his family. The Clarks&rsquo; first child, Kylie, was also bom with a brain hemorrhage, which took place during delivery.My wife and I never imagined such a thing could happen to us. We had never even heard of this happening to anyone else, so we didn&rsquo;t have anyone to talk to about it.Just recently, after sending a letter to the Lightning, I received a call at work. It was Wendel&rsquo;s wife, Denise. We talked about Kylie (now three) and how well she is doing. Mrs. Clark also gave me her home telephone number so my wife could contact her.We still don&rsquo;t know how my daughter will do, but thanks to Mrs. Clark&rsquo;s phone call we have a lot of hope.Mike Freeley,&nbsp;Huntington, N. Y.(Editor&rsquo;s note: After two years of close medical attention, Kylie has been given a clean bill of health.)<h2>Why do Durbano?</h2>Why on earth would you waste three full pages on Steve Durbano (THN, Dec. 18)? Do you really think your readers are interested in his drinking and partying habits? I would guess that 90 per cent of your readers never even heard of the guy.Don&rsquo;t get me wrong, I love hockey fights and fighters of the past and present and know a lot about the tough guys of the league. I just don&rsquo;t care about how many six-packs Steve Durbano can drink. If you want to write about tragic stories, how about John Kordic?Jim Bianco,&nbsp;Cherry Hill, N.J.<h2>Cheap should pay</h2>I enjoyed Steve Dryden&rsquo;s column about Cam Neely&rsquo;s chances of going to the Hall of Fame (THN, Dec. 4). Dryden omitted, however, the player who was responsible for the premature ending of his career. The culprit, Ulf Samuelsson, was pictured on the front cover. It was Samuelsson&rsquo;s submarine check that led to Neely&rsquo;s original injury.It&rsquo;s a shame hockey fans are not able to watch Neely&rsquo;s great skill, but still have to watch Samuelsson&rsquo;s cowardly cheap shots. It proves the point that it&rsquo;s not only headhunters who can end a career, it also can be cheap-shot artists. The NHL should take a hard fine on any player who continuously plays dirty. If not, more star players&rsquo; careers will end prematurely and hockey will be the loser.Brian Doherty,&nbsp;Washington Township, N.J.<h2>Captain cover</h2>Who in their right mind would put Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; captain Keith Tkachuk, the NHL&rsquo;s perennial contract re-negotiator and major league whiner, on the cover of the same issue (THN, Sept. 11) in which the story of Mike Gartner&rsquo;s retirement is buried on page 11?Surely, the retirement of the game&rsquo;s fifth all-time goal-scorer and a major league class act for 19 years merits the front page of The Hockey News.And who makes the cover again three months later (THN, Dec. 11)? You guessed it, Tkachuk. I guess not much else was going on-only John Cullen and Bernie Nicholls retiring, Pavol Demitra and Martin Straka having career seasons, Ron Hextall&rsquo;s milestone&hellip;If Tkachuk remains true to form and sits out again next year, will you promise not to put him on the cover all season?Jim Vantour,&nbsp;Orleans, Ont.<h2>The tying game</h2>Ties in the NHL are not as bad as people believe. However, if there is a need to cut down on ties, I have some suggestions:1. Play until someone wins (it works in other sports).2. Extend overtime to 10 minutes. There would be no real harm; what&rsquo;s a few extra minutes?3. Award no points for a tie. The two points awarded for a win would be more meaningful in the standings. With no points for ties, teams would have more reason to play for a win and the result would be more exciting hockey.John Leak,&nbsp;Amistad, N.M.<h2>Wait on Lindros</h2>Would someone please explain to me what exactly Eric Lindros has accomplished in his career to make him earn a place on The Hockey News&rsquo; Top 100 list?Never mind the fact THN placed him above both Steve Yzerman and Joe Sakic. Sure, Lindros won the Hart Trophy in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season, but if his career ended tomorrow, who would remember that 10 years from now?Between them, Yzerman and Sakic have three Stanley Cups, two Conn Smythe Trophies, six 50-goal seasons and tons of class.Please let&rsquo;s give credit where credit is due. That&rsquo;s not to say Lindros won&rsquo;t get there one day, but let&rsquo;s wait a few years then see where he fits into the scheme of things.Dana McVay,&nbsp;Mt. Vernon, Iowa<h2>Why no Cyclone?</h2>Just one question about THN&rsquo;s Top 100. Steve Yzerman, definitely. Eric Lindros, sure. But no Cyclone Taylor? C&rsquo;mon.Dave Holland,&nbsp;Calgary, Alta.<h2>Raising &rsquo;Cane</h2>An open letter to all of the Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; doubters:Why do you people insist on putting this team down? I&rsquo;ve heard it all. No fan support, lack of support and no commitment to a winning attitude.This team is playing in a temporary home. Everyone says it&rsquo;s a disgrace they average 8,000 people per game. I would like to see how another team would fare in a building in the middle of nowhere.Just wait until the Hurricanes move to a broader fan base in downtown Raleigh. Then maybe, just maybe, people will stop putting this team down and start paying attention to the scoreboard.In case you didn&rsquo;t notice, the Carolina Hurricanes are in first place in a division that everyone thought would be a Capital cakewalk.Tom Gidlow,&nbsp;Benson, N.C.<h2>Rest of the story</h2>In regards to Steve Dryden&rsquo;s column in the Nov. 27 issue, there are several things that need to be clarified.First, the only way Igor Ulanov would want to play 80 games against Eric Lindros is if his memory has failed him. The column implied that Ulanov has punished Lindros far more than the other way around. In the 1996 playoffs, when Game 6 was decided, Lindros engaged Ulanov in a fight and broke Ulanov&rsquo;s nose.And there was no mention of a Philadelphia Flyers-Tampa Bay Lightning game last season when Ulanov cowardly slashed Lindros. Lindros twice challenged Ulanov and twice Ulanov scurried for protection.Please print both sides of the story. Watching one highlight film hit does not make for an accurate column.James Keller,&nbsp;Stratford, N.J.Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 340-1641&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;Letters, THN, 777 Bay St., Suite 2700, Box 148, Toronto, Ont., MSG 2N8&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, THN, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947.&nbsp;E-mail us at <a href="mailto:kayj@trans-continental.cn">kayj@trans-continental.cn</a> Include hometown as well as home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

LETTERS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011899/7297192-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy Senior Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011725/7297223-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tony Amonte&rsquo;s super quick release sets him apart from his peers.</figcaption></div>You wanna talk speed, talk Paul Coffey. You wanna talk offense, talk Denis Savard.You wanna talk speed and offense, then talk to Paul Coffey and Denis Savard-about Tony Amonte.Coffey, the future Hall of Fame defenseman with the Chicago Blackhawks and Savard, one of the craftiest centers in the game for 17 years and now a Blackhawks&rsquo; assistant coach, have been along for the ride as Amonte has defied a defensive trend that has made scoring goals nearly impossible in the NHL.The 28-year-old right winger was the first NHLer to hit the 20-goal plateau this season thanks to a two-goal effort in a 7-5 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning Dec. 6. That put him nearly halfway to his best-ever output of 41 goals two years ago. Amonte has consistently been in the 30-35 goal range, but his quick start in 1998-99 had him on pace for 61.&ldquo;His biggest attribute is his speed,&rdquo; said Coffey, whose own fleet feet helped him become the highest scoring defenseman in NHL history. &ldquo;Today&rsquo;s game is not really that fast. Everything gets clogged up and there&rsquo;s a lot of just standing around. Tony finds a way to cut through the clogged up areas.&rdquo;&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no secret to his success,&rdquo; added Savard, who had 1,338 points in 1,196 NHL games. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s partly speed and it&rsquo;s partly work ethic. He comes to play every night. In an 82 game schedule, most players play 50 really good games, 20 pretty good games and 12 lousy games. Not Tony. He plays 70 really good games and the other 12 are very good, too.&rdquo;The NHL hasn&rsquo;t had a 60-goal scorer since Mario Lemieux bagged 69 and teammate Jaromir Jagr 62 for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96. Last season, Peter Bondra of the Washington Capitals and Teemu Selanne of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim tied for the league lead with 52 apiece.This year, as teams headed into the second quarter, only Amonte and Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; left winger John LeClair were on pace for 60 goals.&ldquo;There are a handful of players in the league, Amonte, (Paul) Kariya and (Teemu) Selanne who are just as dangerous when they don&rsquo;t have the puck as when they have it,&rdquo; said Rorida Panthers&rsquo; defenseman Gord Murphy. &ldquo;You have to keep your eye on them all the time because if you don&rsquo;t, they can catch you flat-footed. Playing against those guys, it would be helpful to have more than two eyes.&rdquo;Amonte&rsquo;s 20 goals represented 31 per cent of his team&rsquo;s total output. That&rsquo;s the best of any player in the NHL.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really doing nothing differently this season,&rdquo; Amonte insisted. &ldquo;The puck just seems to be bouncing for me.&rdquo;While the Blackhawks continue to struggle, Amonte has been blessed playing with two gifted centers, Alexei Zhamnov and Doug Gilmour, He started the year with Zhamnov and when things went stale, was placed with Gilmour. In an attempt to change the team&rsquo;s sagging fortunes, he was put back with Zhamnov and joined by veteran Ed Olczyk who was recalled from the minors. The trio helped the Hawks go on a four-wins-in-five-games run.&ldquo;Doug likes to slow things down and sets the tone of the game,&rdquo; Amonte said. &ldquo;Alex is a little quicker and likes to draw the defensemen to him and then drop the puck back to me. They both expect me to shoot the puck every time. All I have to do is hit the open ice.&rdquo;If the goals stop coming, about the only change the long-haired Amonte will make is to get a haircut. Other than than, he&rsquo;ll keep plugging.&ldquo;He plays hard, he shoots hard, he skates hard, he does everything hard,&rdquo; Coffey said. &#9632;

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FEATURES

Amonte defies scoring trend

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011792/7297254-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ray Bourque has eaten into Paul Coffey&rsquo;s lead in goals during the 1990s.</figcaption></div>Milestones still aren&rsquo;t Ray Bourque&rsquo;s favorite topic of conversation, but he doesn&rsquo;t resist the subject as he once did. All the Boston Bruins&rsquo; brilliant defenseman asks is a chance to go over the figures before discussion begins.&ldquo;OK,&rdquo; Bourque said. &ldquo;What am I getting close to?&rdquo;There&rsquo;s no pretension, phoniness or superiority in Bourque&rsquo;s query. He simply reasons when a player has performed in nearly 1,400 games, in every conceivable situation, it&rsquo;s only logical to assume some statistical barriers must be on the horizon.&ldquo;Milestones are great,&rdquo; said Bourque, who turns 38 three days after Christmas, &ldquo;but if you go out there, have some talent and stay around as long as I have, you&rsquo;re bound to put some numbers up. I&rsquo;m really just doing my job, trying to prove myself every day.&rdquo;The same attitude is held by Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; Paul Coffey, who may see his NHL record for career goals by a defenseman fall to Bourque this season. Coffey, limited by injuries to just four games for the Blackhawks through Dec. 11, remained at 383 career goals. Bourque, with three goals and 14 points in 25 games through Dec. 10, was closing in on Coffey at 378.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice having records,&rdquo; Coffey said. &ldquo;I remember it feeling good when I passed Bobby Orr and Dennis Potvin. It definitely means something, but I&rsquo;ve just been out there playing, trying to win games. I haven&rsquo;t been thinking of what it means (record-wise) when I score.&rdquo;Bourque, who&rsquo;s in his 20th season, all with Boston, recently signed an extension to play through 1999-2000. The Montreal native entered the NHL in 1979-80, a year before Coffey joined the Edmonton Oiler juggernaut. Coffey had already scored more goals than Bourque by the end of his fifth NHL season and surged further ahead with a league-record (for defensemen) 48 goals in 1985-86.Bourque, who has had only one 30-goal season (31 in 1983-84) has gradually caught up in the 1990s. Coffey hasn&rsquo;t scored more than 14 goals since connecting for 24 with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1990-91 while Bourque has scored 20 or more four times in that span.His days as a 20-goal, 80-point man have passed without regret. Bourque scored 13 last season-the lowest non-lockout total of his career-but he enjoyed it far more than his 19-goal campaign of 1996-97 when the Bruins finished last in the NHL and missed the playoffs for the first time in his career.Bourque hasn&rsquo;t lost the ability to score, but he&rsquo;d have to relinquish some of his defensive duties to do so. He and second-year partner Hal Gill play against opponent&rsquo;s top lines, often with Boston&rsquo;s checking trio, so opportunities for even-strength points are rare. Through 25 games, Bourque had two goals and 11 points on the power play, an assist while shorthanded and one goal and two points at even strength.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t even know if I&rsquo;d be able to score 70, 80 points any more,&rdquo; said the five-time Norris Trophy winner as the league&rsquo;s top defenseman, who still averages about 30 minutes ice time per game, &ldquo;but obviously I won&rsquo;t do it playing the role I play. That&rsquo;s fine. I&rsquo;m here to win games and I think the system we play is a big plus. It also suits my game, for where I&rsquo;m at in my career.&rdquo;Coach Pat Bums&rsquo; system, which brought the Bruins back to the playoffs last year, was one of the main reasons why Bourque signed on for a 21st season. So if Bourque, who&rsquo;ll soon pass Gordie Howe to check in behind Coffey at No. 3 on the NHL&rsquo;s all-time assist list, doesn&rsquo;t catch or pass Coffey&rsquo;s goal total this season, there&rsquo;s always next year. Howe retired with 1,049 assists and Bourque needed just two to tie him.&ldquo;I know things have gone well for me,&rdquo; Bourque said. &ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m very fortunate to have played as long as I have, and to have had this much success. But no matter what you&rsquo;ve done, you&rsquo;ve always got to go out and do it again tomorrow. That&rsquo;s the way I&rsquo;m approaching this.&rdquo;Coffey, who at 37 says he&rsquo;d still like to play a couple more seasons, is by no means conceding his scoring marks to Bourque. But if his former Canada Cup and All-Star Game teammate happens to end up ahead of him, at least the records will be held by a worthy man.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m lucky,&rdquo; Coffey said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played against Ray for a lot of years, but I&rsquo;ve also had my chances to play with him and get to know him. I have nothing but respect and admiration for him, as a player and as a person.&rdquo; &#9632;

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’D’ goal mark within Bourque’s grasp

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011692/7297285-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="499" height="705"></div>The New York Islanders have question marks at the ownership level, a star scorer they can&rsquo;t sign, an outdated building, a young stud on defense who is stuck in neutral, another stud on the blueline who can&rsquo;t get the ringing out of his ears and a goalie with his own personal coach imported from Sweden to go with below average stats.If that&rsquo;s not enough, the Islanders haven&rsquo;t made the playoffs for four years and there is no indication they&rsquo;ll make it this season.Try to paint a happy face on that scenario. It&rsquo;s not easy. Just ask Bob Nystrom, the Islanders&rsquo; director of corporate relations who scored the winning goal in the team&rsquo;s first of four straight Stanley Cups in 1980.&ldquo;What we accomplished back then is history,&rdquo; Nystrom said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s too bad these guys have those standards applied to them. The players can only control what happens on the ice and this particular group of players gives it an honest effort. There was a time when I didn&rsquo;t think the players put their best foot forward, but not this group. They hate losing. In that respect, I&rsquo;m still proud to be an Islander.&rdquo;Forget Canada&rsquo;s small market teams, the Islanders are one of the NHL&rsquo;s biggest concerns and there is little reason to believe things will change for the better any time soon. That&rsquo;s why NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has been negotiating on their behalf with Nassau County to try to get a new arena built. That and the fact Bettman probably feels a little guilty for the league being bamboozled by John Spano.There is every reason in the world for die-hard (they must be) Islander fans to be concerned. Here are some of them:&#9633; Ownership. There are those who joke Spano would have done a better job as owner of the Islanders than the current tandem of Howard Milstein and Steve Gluckstem. That, of course, is dumb. Spano was a con artist whose fraudulent attempt to buy the Islanders cost the franchise a couple of valuable years of rebuilding time.Milstein is more interested in acquiring a National Football League team than addressing the misfortunes of his hockey club. Did these guys only buy the team (for an inflated $195 million) in hopes of acquiring 70 acres of land around Nassau County Coliseum to develop? Yes. Now the hope is Gluckstem&rsquo;s interest in the club-he actually cares about the game-will ultimately translate into interested ownership.&#9633; The arena. The Coliseum lacks many of the amenities, such as luxury boxes, that most of the league&rsquo;s buildings possess. Consequently, a new building is a must for the franchise to move forward.&#9633; Ziggy Palffy. The Islanders refuse to pay the restricted free agent, who has averaged 45 goals a year the past three seasons, the $6 million a year he&rsquo;s seeking. But unlike the Pittsburgh Penguins, who took a similar stance, with Petr Nedved a year ago but still made the playoffs, and the Vancouver Canucks who are surviving without superstar Pavel Bure, the Islanders don&rsquo;t have the depth to challenge for the playoffs without Palffy or the assets he would bring in a trade. The feeling is if ownership gets the arena deal it wants, it will meet Palffy&rsquo;s demand. If not, the team will be sold again.&#9633; The blueline. Bryan Berard has superstar potential. But the 1996-97 Calder Trophy winner as the league&rsquo;s top rookie is only 21 and can&rsquo;t make things happen on his own. Not yet. He was a team-worst minus-32 last season and was minus-7 through 27 games this season. He often looks confused on the ice, not sure whether hang back or go with the puck.Kenny Jonsson, 24, suffered a concussion Nov. 17 and the Islanders can be forgiven for fearing his career is in jeopardy having already lost Brett Lindros and Dennis Vaske to similar career-ending injuries. The Islanders had lost eight of nine without Jonsson and have had to rely on journeymen Barry Richter and David Harlock.&#9633; Goaltending. Tommy. Salo was once brought to tears in an arbitration hearing upon hearing GM Mike Milbury&rsquo;s candid evaluation of his play. Now his play brings Islanders&rsquo; fans to tears. Consider Dec. 1 when he allowed four goals on 10 shots in a 51 loss to the Washington Capitals.The intriguing thing about the Islanders is there is a solid foundation in place. One could imagine things turning around in a hurry if the arena deal came together and ownership took a vested interest in the future of the team.Milbury threatened to clean house if the Islanders didn&rsquo;t get off to a decent start this season, which they did by opening 6-4-0. They had four wins in their next 17 games. The hockey gods continue to conspire against the Islanders and a franchise that was once proud is now an embarrassment. &#9632;

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Glory days distant memory on Long Island

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender Staff Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011762/7297316-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div>Sandra Guilfoyle checks off her son&rsquo;s injuries like items on a grocery list. Crushed shoulder, broken ribs, punctured lung, lacerated liver, crushed pelvis, broken leg-and that&rsquo;s just the basics. The rest of the chart reads like a medical school textbook.On Aug. 29, 10-year-old Kyle, visiting Toronto from his home in London. Ont., was on his bicycle heading for a bike path across the street when disaster struck. His gears seized up and the pedals spun furiously out of control. He was carried helplessly down a hill, directly into the back end of an 18-wheeler.Kyle doesn&rsquo;t remember the collision. Nor does he remember being placed on life support at Toronto&rsquo;s Hospital for Sick Children. Miraculously, there was no head trauma, but internal injuries were so serious it was five weeks before doctors said he&rsquo;d make it. The long-term recovery for a fragile, badly damaged body presented new challenges. His pelvis was so badly mangled he needed a colostomy bag. That he&rsquo;d be in a wheelchair for months was unavoidable. He needed nurses, rehabilitation specialists, physiotherapists and a Grade 5 tutor.Fortunately, the hospital could provide for all of that. But when it came time to try walking, Kyle was on his own.&ldquo;As soon as he felt his legs he said that was it, he was never going to walk again,&rdquo; Sandra says. &ldquo;We couldn&rsquo;t do anything. He just gave up.&rdquo;Sandra, who is divorced, was staying at Toronto&rsquo;s Ronald McDonald House, a lodging for families whose children are undergoing cancer treatment or convalescing from other serious illnesses.Days passed with no change from Kyle.On the day Sandra met Ronald McDonald House honorary chairman Kris King, she was in as much despair as any parent director of development Jennifer Feeney had ever seen.Sandra admits she was no hockey fan. She knew of King only because his picture-an action shot in the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; dark blue road uniforms-is mounted prominently in the front lobby. What she saw in King was hope.It turns out King, the Leafs&rsquo; fourth-line left winger, was the first-rate tonic that Kyle Guilfoyle needed. He needed someone special to help him summon the courage to walk again.The first time Sandra Guilfoyle saw her only son walk again, tentative steps up the stairs at Maple Leaf Gardens before a Nov. 23 game against the Calgary Flames, was the best Christmas present she could have imagined.That&rsquo;s what this is, of course-a happy Christmas story. Yet it&rsquo;s.a holiday tale only because of the season. With King and other pro athletes who are generous with their time, charitable work is a year-round commitment.King says he learned about the value of helping others from his parents Dave and Kate while growing up in Bracebridge, Ont. &ldquo;I guess it was just a reflection of how they treated others and treated us,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I had a solid understanding that it was better to give sometimes than receive.&rdquo;He and his wife Paula want their own children&mdash;Danielle, 10, Eric, 8, and Kyle, 3-to see that not all families and children are as fortunate as themselves.While King was a New York Ranger in the early 1990s, he and Paula volunteered at the Apple Institute, a Long Island drug rehabilitation institute. Any further impetus the Kings needed in their charity work came eight years ago when King&rsquo;s older brother, Tony, was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia. Tony received a bone marrow transplant from his sister Koreen, which not only saved Tony&rsquo;s life, but changed Kris&rsquo;.Kris was introduced to the Ronald McDonald House then and the services it provides; he and Paula volunteered at Ronald McDonald House in Winnipeg shortly after and have been involved with the charity ever since.&ldquo;I almost lost my brother and was very close to losing him and probably should have lost him,&rdquo; Kris says. &ldquo;At the time it was my way to give a little back and help those that down the road might need the help my brother was able to get.&rdquo;Some families whose spirits he lifts know about King&rsquo;s personal history; others don&rsquo;t. What they all talk about is his sincerity and how well he connects with kids, even Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; fans like Kyle Guilfoyle.&ldquo;I still like them, but I&rsquo;m getting with Toronto now,&rdquo; Kyle says Dec. 3, as he and King wait in the hospital lobby before a picture shoot. King walked over after the Leafs&rsquo; practice.Kyle is asked whose pictures he has on the walls of his hospital room.&ldquo;Eric Lindros, John LeClair, (Jeff) Hackett&hellip;&rdquo;&ldquo;They&rsquo;re in the drawer now,&rdquo; King jokes.Soon they find common ground.&ldquo;My ears are too big,&rdquo; Kyle says. &ldquo;I had surgery when I was younger to take out some cartilage but they still stick out of the baseball cap.&rdquo;&ldquo;You&rsquo;re telling me,&rdquo; King picks up. &ldquo;The guys always kidded me that when I got in a cab they could see my ears out of both windows.&rdquo;&ldquo;All the kids used to call me Dumbo,&rdquo; Kyle says.&ldquo;It means we&rsquo;re special,&rdquo; King replies. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t tease you if they don&rsquo;t like you.&rdquo;At this, Kyle grins a sneaky smile. He&rsquo;s all ears and he doesn&rsquo;t even mind.Hurtling his body into the comers is a breeze for King. Spending time in hospital rooms with terminally ill children isn&rsquo;t as easy, but it&rsquo;s pain he willingly endures.&ldquo;Some people can go into a very sick child&rsquo;s room, a child that you know is going to die, and just not feel comfortable and feel very upset about it,&rdquo; King says. &ldquo;I think I know that I&rsquo;m doing more good at the time than not being there. I think at the time, the positive that you&rsquo;re instilling in this person is more than the grief you might feel after.&rdquo;Not that he particularly wants anyone to know what he&rsquo;s feeling.King keeps his volunteer work low-profile to avoid being seen as a self-promoter. He has been visible in roles as honorary chairperson of the Canadian Paraplegic Association and the Manitoba Muscular Dystrophy Association. Yet he has never felt people needed to know that he used the money from his King Clancy Award in 1996 to install an elevator in the family home of a Manitoba girl with muscular dystrophy (And he is vexed when he can&rsquo;t uncover out how a reporter found out).Nor does he volunteer that he and his father packed a truck with skids of bottled water to send to Manitoba flood victims last year.&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t like the glory, he just doesn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; his wife Paula says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a private thing.&rdquo;Says King: &ldquo;I wish a lot more guys, not just in hockey but professional sports or business would just take a little step back sometimes and realize they have it pretty good.&rdquo;Feeney says she figures King has spent 130 hours at Ronald McDonald House the past year. One girl wanted to give him a pair of chocolate boxing gloves as a gift but couldn&rsquo;t find any. He stops in once a week, minimum, and planned on bringing Leafs Darby Hendrickson and Alyn McCauley with him to this year&rsquo;s Christmas party.&rsquo;The House,&rsquo; as King calls it, relies heavily on corporate and private donations. It received $30,000 with the first annual Kris King celebrity boat cruise in Muskoka, Ont., last August. The Leafs have submitted King&rsquo;s name for the NHL Foundation Players&rsquo; Grant, now in its second year, which gives $25,000 (U.S.) to the charity of a players&rsquo; choice. (Note to Kris: they know about the elevator). If King wins, so does &lsquo;The House.&rsquo;The deal was, in Kyle&rsquo;s words, &ldquo;if I started to get walking, I could go down and meet all the guys.&rdquo;Sandra had been telling him for a few days that somebody special was coming to visit. When King entered the room, Maple Leaf shirt in hand, Kyle was bursting inside with excitement, but he didn&rsquo;t want to show it. He stayed cool.When King left, Kyle started working like never before. The pre-accident Kyle returned.&ldquo;Thanks to Kris, at least now he&rsquo;s attempting to take some steps,&rdquo; Sandra says.None in his life were bigger than those he took Nov. 23 at Maple Leaf Gardens. Staff at Sick Kids were against the outing altogether, saying Kyle wasn&rsquo;t ready. But a bargain is a bargain and not even bed rest orders from Dr. Spock could have kept Kyle away from the game that night.As they got off the escalator and headed for the stairs leading to the luxury boxes, Kyle announced he was going to walk. Just like that. Walk.&ldquo;I was excited,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;but there was supposed to be somebody to carry me.&rdquo;There was, but he didn&rsquo;t need him. With his mother holding him, Kyle put one foot in front of the other, and again, and again, and his mother cried with every step. &ldquo;He forgot what was wrong,&rdquo; Sandra says. &ldquo;It brought tears to my eyes.&rdquo;Since then Kyle&rsquo;s condition has improved markedly. The colostomy turned out to be reversible. He moved to a rehabilitation center and there was a chance he&rsquo;d be home for Christmas.King, meanwhile, broke his hand in a Dec. 5 game in Montreal and was out for two weeks. And there was still no Kris King poster up in Kyle&rsquo;s room. &ldquo;We went searching all over and couldn&rsquo;t find one,&rdquo; Sandra says.They don&rsquo;t make many of a guy whose point total has never matched his age in 10 NHL seasons. Maybe they should change the criteria. Lord knows, the market is there. &#9632;

f0010-01

Kris kringle

<div class="byline">-Bob McKenzie</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011718/7297361-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div>It would perhaps be fitting, maybe even a desirable date with destiny, if No. 99 decided to hang &rsquo;em up in 1999.But it looks to be 99 per cent certain 99 will still be with us beyond &rsquo;99.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to,&rdquo; Wayne Gretzky told The Hockey News. &ldquo;I see no reason not to (continue playing into the Year 2000). I&rsquo;m having so much more fun this season than last year&rsquo;s (non-play-off season). The team has done such a nice job of acquiring some talent and depth. I&rsquo;m still finding it really enjoyable coming to the rink.&rdquo;At this stage of his career and coming up hard on age 38, Gretzky&rsquo;s future in the game is unquestionably tied to the New York Rangers&rsquo; short-term competitiveness. Just as the Great One himself is inexorably linked to the double-digit number he has made famous.So, we may be forgiven for believing something momentous has to happen in the coming calendar year, when Gretzky&rsquo;s number comes up on the cusp of a new millennium.The Great One has always had a fascination with numbers and not just the ones on his back-215, 92, 50 in 39, 802, 1,851&hellip;the list goes on. He has forced us all to become numerologists of sorts because no athlete has statistically dominated his game like Gretzky has hockey.&ldquo;Hey, my dad just told me this,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;The first goal I ever scored was at 18:51 of the first period, 18:51, can you believe that?&rdquo;Oh, yeah.The number is significant, of course, because it was his 1,851st point-one more than Gordie Howe had in his NHL career-that made Gretzky the league&rsquo;s career scoring leader.Gretzky&rsquo;s numbers are magical and he sees the magic in them.If Gretzky plays every game in 1998-99, as he has for the past two seasons, he&rsquo;ll move to No. 4 in career games played. The number? Why, 1,499, of course.As an aside, if he plays 82 games in the 19992000 season, it will give him 1,581, second only to Mr. Hockey. Did we say 1,581? An eerie reconfiguration of 1,851, no?And with five goals in his first 27 games this season, Gretzky had 890. Sometime in 1999, he&rsquo;s going to get career goal No. 900.Coincidence? Not for a guy who has always been dressed to the nines. And none of his numbers have been more karmic than the ones he wears on his back.Why should we be surprised? The number nine has traditionally been a special one in hockey. The pantheon of greats who have worn it include Maurice Richar Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull. And lest we forget Charlie Conacher, Teeder Kennedy, Johnny Bucyk, Clark Gillies and Lanny McDonald. Now, Anaheim&rsquo;s Paul Kariya is the standard bearer for the game&rsquo;s second-most special number.Gretzky has made No. 99 into its first.While many players will wear No. 9 as a tribute to one or the greats such as Richard, Howe or Hull, you don&rsquo;t see anyone in the NHL, or just about anywhere else save kids&rsquo; hockey, donning No. 99.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011593/7297354-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="4042" height="839"></div>Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but no one wants to attract the kind of attention that comes with No. 99. No one understands that better than Gretzky, who was, at first, reluctant to take &ldquo;a hot-doggish number.&rdquo;As a kid, No. 9 was always Gretzky&rsquo;s number.&ldquo;It was,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;for Gordie.&rdquo;But it wasn&rsquo;t his first number in hockey.&ldquo;I was six and I made the (10-year-old) travelling team (in Brantford),&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;There was this really good player on the team, I think his name was Brian Queley, and he wore No. 9.1 took No. 11.1 didn&rsquo;t play more than two shifts a game that year. The next year. Brian moved up and I got my No. 9.1 wore it all the way through after that.&rdquo;He wore it when he played lacrosse. And baseball, too, though Gretzky remembers there was a season or two when the young pitcher wore No. 1.Gretzky was a nine until he joined the Soo Greyhounds as a 16-year-old. No. 9 wasn&rsquo;t available because it was being worn by Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., native Brian Gualazzi.&ldquo;I always wore No. 9,&rdquo; said Gualazzi, now an assistant crown attorney in the Sault. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t wear it because of Howe or Hull or any of those guys. I wore it because I was bom on Nov. 9.&rdquo;And when Gualazzi joined the hometown Hounds as a rookie, he couldn&rsquo;t have it. Veteran Tim Coulis was wearing it. When Coulis left, Gualazzi snapped it up and was wearing it when a rookie Gretzky arrived on the scene.The rest of the story has become hockey lore.Gretzky wore No. 14 in training camp. Greyhound coach Muzz MacPherson suggested he switch to No. 19, which he did to start the 197778 regular season.&ldquo;It was a few weeks into the season when Muzz and Angelo (Bumbacco, the Greyhounds&rsquo; GM) came to me and suggested I wear two nines,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;Phil Esposito was wearing No. 77 at the time, so double-digit numbers were being worn. At first, I said, &rsquo;No, that&rsquo;s too hot-doggish.&rsquo; But they convinced me to wear it.&rdquo;Gualazzi, a Minnesota North Star draftee who was recruited by Pierre Page for Dalhousie Uni versity, remembers it all well.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021117/7297347-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="2026" height="2129"><figcaption class="caption-body">Maurice &lsquo;Rocket&rsquo; Richard is among the hockey legends who have made No. 9 so special.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;No one ever asked me to give (No. 9) up,&rdquo; Gualazzi said. &ldquo;Not that I would have. It was no issue. I was a veteran and Wayne was a rookie.&rdquo;Gualazzi enjoyed his one season with Gretzky-they ended up on the same line in the play-offs-but Gualazzi flourished as a junior player the next season (Gretzky&rsquo;s first in the WHA) when he scored a then-franchise record 75 goals.After kicking around briefly in the minors, Gualazzi put his efforts into getting a law degree. He moved back home and right into the crown attorney&rsquo;s office. Beyond his hockey-playing days, the No. 9 hasn&rsquo;t held any special significance, though he still wears it when he plays pick-up hockey or with the Greyhound alumni team. &ldquo;They kept (No. 9) for me,&rdquo; Gualazzi said.When Gretzky joined the WHA Edmonton Oilers early in 1978-79, GM-coach Glen Sather gave him the opportunity to discard No. 99. The late Bill Goldsworthy even offered to give up No. 9 if Gretzky wanted it.&ldquo;That was nice of &lsquo;Goldy,&rsquo;&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;And &lsquo;Slats&rsquo; said he was just trying to take the pressure off me. But I told him, &rsquo;I don&rsquo;t think it will matter much.&rsquo; I knew then 99 would be my number.&rdquo;It has become a trademark of sorts. No. 99 figures prominently in the logo for his Toronto restaurant, the address of which was legally petitioned to be changed to 99 Blue Jay Way. Simply, the number and Gretzky have become synonymous.A numerologist could have a field day with Gretzky. Numerology, not unlike astrology, can be manipulated to say just about anything you want, but for what it&rsquo;s worth, Gretzky&rsquo;s full name (Wayne Douglas) gives him in numerology what&rsquo;s called a &ldquo;destiny&rdquo; number of nine. Nines are generally regarded as multi-talented, compassionate and global.One wonders what might have unfolded for Gretzky if he hadn&rsquo;t resisted his urge to change numbers after Howe&rsquo;s retirement.&ldquo;When Gordie retired there for awhile and Gilbert Perreault came on the scene, I was tempted to go back to No. 11,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;I told my dad, &rsquo;I should have kept IL&rsquo; For kids of my era, No. 11 was a cool number because of Perreault. There have always been numbers more special than others-nine because of Gordie, four because of Beliveau and Orr and seven because of Espo.&rdquo;And now 99, because of you know who, though when eight-year-old Ty Gretzky and his six-year-old brother Trevor play hockey at Chelsea Pier in New York, there&rsquo;s no No. 9 to be found on either of their backs. In fact, there&rsquo;s no last name either.&ldquo;We put their first names on the back of their sweaters,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t need that kind of pressure. I asked them what numbers they got. Trevor took No. 5 because that&rsquo;s his favorite. Ty got No. 14 because his favorite player is Brendan Shanahan.&rdquo;Which is as it should be. There&rsquo;s just one No. 99 on the dawning of 1999.NHL to unveil Richard Trophy at All-Star Game in TampaA Rocket launching is set for Jan. 24.No, that&rsquo;s not the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; latest projection of when they&rsquo;ll trade Pavel Bure, the Russian Rocket.It is, however, when the NHL will unveil the new Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy, which will be presented annually to the player who scores the most goals in the regular season.It&rsquo;s not something the league was publicly commenting on, but The Hockey News has learned Richard and the trophy in his name will be the centerpiece of NHL All-Star Game festivities, Jan. 22-24 in Tampa Bay.Health permitting-the Hall of Fame winger has been battling a rare form of stomach cancer-Richard is scheduled to be in Tampa for a news conference on Jan. 23.The trophy itself is expected to be unveiled by Richard on the ice in a pre-game ceremony Jan. 24 at the Ice Palace.The trophy, which is being kept under wraps until All-Star Sunday, was designed and created by Jean-Raymond Goyer of Montreal. The trophy was approved last season after TSN hockey broadcaster Gord Miller suggested the idea, which was then advanced by Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; president Ronald Corey.NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said there are no plans for any other new league trophies, nor is there any strong sentiment to re-name some of the existing trophies.THN had suggested the re-naming concept-the Art Ross Trophy (scoring leader) would become the Gordie Howe Trophy; the Norris Trophy (top defenseman) would become the Bobby Orr Trophy and once Wayne Gretzky retires from the game, the Hart Trophy (MVP) would be the Wayne Gretzky Trophy.No one within the league, it seems, is prepared to run the risk of whatever criticism might come from traditionalists who don&rsquo;t want to dishonor the names Ross, Hart and Norris by replacing them.Still, if the Montreal Forum can be replaced by the Molson Centre, it shouldn&rsquo;t be such a reach to consider replacing Ross, Hart and Norris with Howe, Gretzky and Orr. &#9632;

f0012-01

DRESSED TO THE 9’s

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy Senior Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011570/7297392-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">A new season in Buffalo was a fresh start for Geoff Sanderson.</figcaption></div>It was quite a tour, the one that took Geoff Sanderson from heaven to hell.It started in Hartford, then shifted to Raleigh, N.C., where he and his new bride Ellen set up shop (about 80 miles from Greensboro where the Carolina Hurricanes play home games). From there, it moved on to Vancouver for a cup of coffee with the Canucks and finally over to Buffalo where he joined the Sabres for the 1997-98 stretch drive.Three moves in just a few months. Is it any wonder why Sanderson, who averaged 39 goals in four NHL seasons, lost his bearings? His last two moves were solo journeys, made without Ellen, who had a commitment to teach in North Carolina until June. That took a toll on the 26-year-old native of Hay River, Northwest Territories.So when the Sabres banished Sanderson to the press box for Game 5 of their opening round series against the Philadelphia Flyers because of poor play, Sanderson wasn&rsquo;t the least bit surprised. (To his credit, Sanderson bounced back with the winner in overtime in the opening game of Buffalo&rsquo;s second round series with the Montreal Canadiens).&ldquo;The way I was playing, I probably should have been sat out many times before,&rdquo; he said.Sanderson needed to get grounded again. That&rsquo;s why he was so delighted to get a full training camp with his Sabres&rsquo; teammates under his belt before this year kicked off. And, oh yes, to be with Ellen once again.Sanderson wasn&rsquo;t exactly thrilled with&rsquo; his own play through the first quarter of this season, feeling he still hasn&rsquo;t recovered his consistency, but at least he was scoring with some regularity. His eight goals in 23 games put him on pace for 29 this season.That&rsquo;s 17 fewer than his single-season best of 46 as a sophomore with the Hartford Whalers in 1992-93, but is certainly more impressive than the 10 goals he scored in 73 games last year.&ldquo;Anytime you play for three teams in a year, you start to question yourself,&rdquo; said Sanderson&rsquo;s linemate, center Brian Holzinger. &ldquo;When he came to us last year, you could see he was trying, but something was missing from his game.&rdquo;Some players accept trades as a challenge and convince themselves the deal was engineered because the team acquiring them wanted them badly. For Sanderson, the moves spelled rejection. Try as he might, he never became acclimatized to his new surroundings or new teammates. In 40 games with the Hurricanes, he managed just seven goals. In nine games with the Canucks, Sanderson had but three assists. And in 33 games with the Sabres, he had only four goals and six points.&ldquo;I lost my confidence because of the trades,&rdquo; Sanderson said. &rsquo;It fell to rock bottom and 1 couldn&rsquo;t get up again. When you get traded, it&rsquo;s a bit of a slap in the face. When you get traded twice, it really hurts. Both times I went to my new teams and tried to look at it as a fresh start, but it didn&rsquo;t work. I couldn&rsquo;t generate anything.&rdquo;Sanderson&rsquo;s game is based on speed and a big shot. When he&rsquo;s at his best he flies by defenders and drills shots past goaltenders frozen in their tracks. He is not a player who takes control of a game, but one who, when he gets free and is fed the puck, can have an impact on the outcome.When he&rsquo;s struggling, Sanderson can usually be seen getting a step on a defender with the puck and then suddenly, mysteriously, slamming on the breaks and pivoting away from the net rather than cutting to it. That was the case far too often last season. When it happens this season, his coaches are quick to point it out.&ldquo;We tell him to keep his game simple,&rdquo; said Sabres&rsquo; coach Lindy Ruff.Getting Sanderson back on track is a big boost for the offense-challenged Sabres who rely, sometimes too much, on defense and goaltending. Donald Audette led the Sabres in goals last season&rdquo; with a mere 24, who was still an unsigned free agent as of Dec. 11. The Sabres haven&rsquo;t had a 40 goalscorer since 1995-96 when Pat LaFontaine had 40.During his heyday with the Whalers, Sanderson played on a line with crafty center Andrew Cassels and tenacious right winger Pat Verbeek. The Sabres have tried to recreate a similar line with Holzinger and Matthew Barnaby. Holzinger, the Hobey Baker Award winner as the top U.S. college player in 1995, is in search of a breakthrough season. Like Sanderson, his game is based on speed. Barnaby, one of the NHL&rsquo;s best disturbers, also brings an element of offense that often goes unnoticed.&ldquo;The biggest difference in Geoff this season is the addition of Barnaby to that line,&rdquo; said Sabres&rsquo; GM Darcy Regier. &ldquo;Both for Geoff and Brian. Matthew is a much better playmaker than he gets credit for. So if those guys can use their speed and Matthew can get them the puck, it&rsquo;s a good line.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0015-01

Sanderson glad to be grounded

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011492/7297430-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="508" height="718"></div>Impertinent thoughts on pertinent topics:&#9633; By stealing Keith Jones from the Colorado Avalanche, Bob Clarke moved his Philadelphia Flyers a step closer to the Stanley Cup. But the final gap won&rsquo;t be bridged until he shores up his defense.&#9633; If Gary Bettman decides to retire in 2005, his successor should be George McPhee. In the meantime, the commissioner had better find a solution to the league&rsquo;s biggest problem: overpriced tickets.&#9633; Neil Smith-bashers have gone into hiding, and for good reason. His acquisitions of Mike Knuble, Peter Popovic, Mat Schneider and most recently, Stan Neckar and Petr Nedved have suddenly made his Blueshirts respectable.&#9633; Jim Schoenfeld is having the last laugh on many, but most of all on those Washington Capitals critics who believed he was all style and no substance.&#9633; If Ted Nolan fails to wind up in one of Atlanta, Columbus or Minnesota, believe it, he&rsquo;s blacklisted.&#9633; With all deference to Schoenfeld, Pat Quinn, Ken Hitchcock and Scotty Bowman, Pat Bums is my coach-of-the-year again and already.&#9633; Among the nicer aspects of the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; survivability is Jaromir Jagr. The captain appears to have grown into a leader and spokesman, traits that were invisible just a year ago.&#9633; Bernie Nicholls would get my vote for Hall-of-Fame induction.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021151/7297423-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="1070" height="1454"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexandre Daigle continues to struqqle to meet expectations.</figcaption></div>How many 70-goal scorers can you name?&#9633; Has anyone realized Eric Lindros is underrated as a hockey scholar and wit?&#9633; Memo to Gary Bettman: forget about shoving your NHL into the Olympics again. The so-called exposure is temporary, phony and unnecessary for the game&rsquo;s betterment.&#9633; Detroit can legitimately call itself Hockeytown, but Windsor helps make it so. How about Philadelphia with both the Flyers and AHL Phantoms setting attendance records side-by-side on Broad Street.&#9633; Those media jackals who were so eager to kill Paul Maurice&rsquo;s Carolina career two weeks into the season have turned mute and disappeared.&#9633; The most consistent top hockey book writer, year in and year out, happens to be a broadcaster-Dick Irvin.&#9633; It&rsquo;s lucky for Pierre Lacroix that nobody in Avalanche ownership seems to know what&rsquo;s going on with that Denver hockey club.&#9633; Survivors who you have to like for the dignity and skill they continue to bring to the rink: 1. Dave Ellett; 2. Dave Babych; 3. Kelly Buchberger; 4. Larry Murphy; 5. Kelly Miller.&#9633; If Maple Leaf Gardens could talk, the grand dame of rinks would tell you that the most memorable night in her fife took place on April 18, 1942 when Toronto beat Detroit to win the Stanley Cup. It was-and still is-the only time a club has come back from a three-games-to-none deficit in the final to take the mug.&#9633; Pat LaFontaine is missed for his glow as much as his ability.&#9633; My condolences to any of those Dallas Stars who can&rsquo;t get along with Ken Hitchcock, one of the best in the biz.&#9633; Is there a sadder story of an unblossoming No. 1 pick than Alex Daigle? &#9632;

f0016-01

Flyers getting closer, but need help on ‘D’

<div class="byline">By Cammy Clark</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011340/7297461-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="202" height="202"></div>Mighty Ducks of Anaheim goalie Guy Hebert is the only survivor of the franchise&rsquo;s first five seasons. He&rsquo;d love to keep it that way.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve made no secret about it. since pretty much when I got here, that I would love to stay here in Anaheim and finish my career,&rdquo; Hebert said.But Hebert, 31, is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career at the end of this season. Where he will end up, nobody knows for certain.The Ducks probably could have Hebert re-signed by now. Negotiations for a new contract were begun after last season by then-Ducks&rsquo; president Tony Tavares and then-GM Jack Ferreira. But when Pierre Gauthier was hired as president July 16, he halted the negotiations shortly thereafter.One likely reason Gauthier, now also GM, stopped negotiations was concern over Hebert&rsquo;s health and play. He was coming off a sub-par year (13-24-6 with a 2.93 goals-against average and. 903 save percentage) and had major surgery on his right shoulder April 9.But if Hebert finishes this season as strongly as he has started it&mdash;9-8-5 record, 2.28 GAA (ninth best in the NHL) and. 925 save percentage (fifth best)-his stock will likely be high in the off-season.&ldquo;I like Guy. I&rsquo;m a fan of Guy&rsquo;s,&rdquo; Gauthier said. &ldquo;He turned out probably a lot better goaltender than people thought&hellip; I&rsquo;d like to say we&rsquo;ll keep him if he keeps playing that way. We are looking forward to talking with him in due time.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Teemu Selanne sat out Anaheim&rsquo;s 2-1 victory at San Jose Dec. 6 to rest his sore right thigh muscle. Three days off the ice worked wonders. &ldquo;What a huge difference, unbelievable,&rdquo; Selanne said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m like a young stallion right now. I&rsquo;m so excited. I haven&rsquo;t skated like this for a month. For three weeks, I was skating like a cow.&rdquo; But as of Dec. 10, Selanne was still looking for his first goal since injuring his thigh a month earlier&hellip; The Ducks had lost or tied four games after leading in the third period. &#9632;

f0017-01

Hebert boosts chances of being first Duck-for-life with strong showing

<div class="byline">By Nancy L. Marrapese</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-021024/7297492-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="205" height="197"></div>Their principal objective every night is to stop the other teams&rsquo; best fines, to prevent points from being scored. Any offense they produce is gravy.That might be the perspective from an outsider. From the inside, the trio of center Tim Taylor, left winger P.J. Axelsson and right winger Rob DiMaio pride themselves on what they can do in addition to frustrating the best forwards around the NHL.Last season, the durable three combined for 85 points, 38 of them goals, which translated for the Bruins as far more than gravy.This season has been a different and frustrating search for the same offense. Taylor was injured Oct. 14 in Colorado when he slammed skates-first into the boards, badly spraining an ankle. He missed 12 games, came back Nov. 13 against the New York Rangers and then missed six more.During Taylor&rsquo;s absence, when he was filled in for by younger brother Chris, the frustration began building in Axelsson and DiMaio, who weren&rsquo;t able to finish as well without the elder Taylor.There was some relief from their frustration against the Carolina Hurricanes in Greensboro Dec. 10 when Axelsson picked up his second goal of the season and Taylor scored his first in the Bruins&rsquo; 3-2 victory. DiMaio was still waiting for his first.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been way too frustrated lately,&rdquo; said coach Pat Bums. &ldquo;Way, way too frustrated, worried about scoring goals. If they get back to the way they were playing last year, checking the top lines, taking scoring chances away, they&rsquo;re going to get goals. They have to have a role to play and that&rsquo;s my job, to give them that role.&rdquo;Taylor, who played short shifts throughout the Carolina game and wasn&rsquo;t able to take faceoffs for the most part, won the game in the third period when he beat goalie Trevor Kidd at the right post, jamming in his second attempt.Taylor admitted to frustration at having to deal with his ankle problem. Bums said he expects Taylor to have to deal with it all season.Taylor&rsquo;s response?&ldquo;Geez, I hope not. But it&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;m going to have to get through. It seemed like every time someone was falling down, it was right on my leg. Hopefully it won&rsquo;t take too long to get over.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Dmitri Khristich continued to be red hot. His two-point outing against Carolina Dec. 10 gave him 14 points over his past eight games&hellip;Goalie Byron Dafoe, not on the all-star ballot, increased his unbeaten streak to six games (4-0-2) with the win over the Hurricanes. After playing in 21 of Boston&rsquo;s first 25 games, Dafoe was first among NHL starters with a 1.74 goals-against average, second in save percentage (.939) and tied with Buffalo&rsquo;s Dominik Hasek and Islander Tommy Salo for&rsquo; the league lead with four shutouts&hellip;The Carolina win extended the Bruins&rsquo; unbeaten streak to eight (6-0-2). The last time the club had such a skreak was March 7-21,1996. &#9632;

f0017-02

Checkers Taylor, DiMaio, Axelsson struggling to prove worth in goals

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011375/7297554-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="196" height="197"></div>It isn&rsquo;t how Theo Fleury wanted what could be his final season with the Calgary Flames to unfold.On the ice, Fleury is satisfied with what he has accomplished. His 28 points a third of the way through the season put him among the NHL scoring leaders.It is the off-ice distractions that have become so&hellip; distracting. Hardly a week goes by when there isn&rsquo;t some new trade rumor and/or speculation about his contract. The latest speculation? That he had turned down a multi-year, incentive-laden offer that could earn him close to $5 million (U.S.) per season.Fleury&rsquo;s agent, Don Baizley, would only acknowledge he and Flames&rsquo; GM Al Coates have discussed a contract extension since the season began. Coates was even more noncommittal, saying: &ldquo;My position is, we&rsquo;re not going to discuss our offers publicly and I&rsquo;m not going to change that position.&rdquo;In an interview, Fleury acknowledged that while he would consider a new contract offer from the Flames, he is unlikely to negotiate with any other NHL team that may be interested in acquiring his rights in a trade.&ldquo;My No. 1 choice is to stay here,&rdquo; Fleury said. &ldquo;^After that, I&rsquo;ve come this far, so why not go all the way?&rdquo;Logically, before any NHL team would do a deal for Fleury, it would first see if he was amenable to signing a contract extension.NOTEBOOK: Center Michael Nylander, recovering from off-season reconstructive knee surgery, received medical clearance to return to the lineup in the second week of December and accompanied the Flames on a five-game, 11-day road trip. Coach Brian Sutter wasn&rsquo;t sure when Nylander would actually play, but the Flames opened up a spot on the roster for him by sending right winger Martin St Louis back to Saint John of the American League. In addition, right winger Rico Fata was sent to Canada&rsquo;s team for the world junior championship&hellip;The only injured player remaining on the roster was goaltender Ken Wregget. He left a Nov. 3 game against Detroit because of back spasms and may be out until Christmas. &#9632;

f0018-01

Fleury will only consider extension with Flames

<div class="byline">By Dustin Long</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03719/7297585-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="441" height="584"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rav Sheppard</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021026/7297592-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="195" height="191"></div>Ray Sheppard is back. Increased playing time and a pair of linemates who complement his style have led to the hard-shooting 32-year-old&rsquo;s resurgence.Sheppard had 12 goals through the Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; first 28 games. At that pace, he&rsquo;d finish with 35 goals, his highest total since 199596 when he scored 37 for the Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks and Florida Panthers.Two years before that with Detroit, Sheppard had Keith Primeau as a linemate and scored 52 goals. They have been reunited on the &rsquo;Canes and are joined by speedster Sami Kapanen to form Carolina&rsquo;s most successful unit this season.&ldquo;What that line does is complement each other very well,&rdquo; said coach Paul Maurice. &ldquo;Ray is a finisher, Keith does a lot of things very well and Sami has great speed and great hands.&rdquo;The three combined for 32 goals in the first 28 games. Primeau had a seven-game points streak, and Sheppard enjoyed a six-game goal streak, tops in the NHL this season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s almost like we haven&rsquo;t missed a beat,&rdquo; said Sheppard of rejoining Primeau.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m extremely comfortable with Sami,&rdquo; Primeau added. &ldquo;Every once m a while you come across a player that you have good chemistry with. If there is one player in my career that I would say I felt more comfortable with than Sami, it is Ray Sheppard.&rdquo;Sheppard had 14 goals in 61 games for Florida before being traded to Carolina for goalie Kirk McLean last year. Sheppard had four goals in 10 games with Carolina.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t productive because I was only playing 10 minutes a game,&rdquo; Sheppard said of his time in Florida. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing with offensive players here who give me the opportunity to score.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Boston coach Pat Bums wasn&rsquo;t impressed with the statisticians in Greensboro after his team was credited with just 16 shots in a 3-2 win Dec. 10: &ldquo;The guy who marks the shots here, I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;d know what a shot was if it hit him in the head.&rdquo;&hellip;The &rsquo;Canes led or were tied for first in the Southeast Division for 48 of the season&rsquo;s first 65 days&hellip; After going through an O-for-44 power play drought earlier this season, the &rsquo;Canes scored a power play goal in six consecutive games&hellip; Goalie Trevor Kidd is no Samson. He was 3-1-1 since cutting his long hair&hellip;Carolina&rsquo;s home game against Detroit Dec. 12 was the Canes&rsquo; first sellout since moving from Hartford. Capacity is 11,059 in the 20,800-seat Greensboro Coliseum with the curtains pulled down. &#9632;

f0018-03

Sheppard back to scoring after rejoining pal Primeau

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04459/7297623-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="201" height="189"></div>They don&rsquo;t have a fancy nickname and the way Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; coach Dirk Graham shuffles his lines, they&rsquo;re not even sure how long they&rsquo;ll be together.But there was little doubt the line of Alex Zhamnov, Tony Amonte and Eddie Olczyk was leading the Hawks&rsquo; surge back into the playoff picture in the Western Conference.&ldquo;Obviously, there&rsquo;s a strong chemistry there,&rdquo; Graham said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a line that is feeding off each other and the team is feeding off them.&rdquo;During a stretch where the Hawks won four of six games, Zhamnov, Amonte and Olczyk combined for 13 goals and 11 assists.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a real nice fit with them,&rdquo; Olczyk said. &ldquo;We know what each other is thinking on the ice. It&rsquo;s like a quarterback with a wide receiver.&rdquo;Zhamnov, Amonte and Olczyk are no strangers to one another. Amonte and Olczyk were linemates briefly with the New York Rangers several years back while Zhamnov and Olczyk skated together off and on during two-plus seasons in Winnipeg.Amonte and Zhamnov have been linemates for the most part since Zhamnov arrived in Chicago from Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; organization in 1996.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice because we&rsquo;ve all played with each other in the past,&rdquo; Amonte said. &ldquo;Eddie knows how to get the puck to Alex and then get open for him. My job is to do the same thing, to get open for Alex and let him do his magic.&rdquo;Zhamnov was easily playing his best hockey as a Hawk.&ldquo;I just play,&rdquo; he said.Life was good again for Olczyk, who was sent to the Chicago Wolves of the International League in late October when he started slowly. He was recalled Nov. 24.On the day he signed with the Hawks Olczyk said it was his goal to help bring out the best in Zhamnov.&ldquo;Yeah, but I didn&rsquo;t say when,&rdquo; joked Olczyk.NOTEBOOK: The Blackhawks were getting scoring from their top three lines. Right winger Eric Daze and left winger Mike Maneluk combined for five goals in three games playing with center Doug Gilmour while third-line center Chad Kilger had three goals and three assists in a five-game stretch&hellip;Defenseman Paul Coffey visited the Mayo Clinic Dec. 2 to find out more about the nerve problem that was numbing his right leg. It turns out a needle from an epidural last summer hit a nerve and caused the damage&hellip; Jocelyn Thibault won four straight games to grab the No. 1 goaltending job&hellip;The power play had moved up to 10th in the league after being ranked 21st at one point in November. &#9632;

f0018-04

Veteran line aims Hawks at nlavoffs

<div class="byline">By Adrian Date?</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06240/7297654-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="445" height="595"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Forsberg</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05304/7297661-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="200" height="197"></div>Fans of the Colorado Avalanche are singing the praises of the team&rsquo;s newest line of Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Milan Hej-duk.Thrown together in a part-desperation, part-experiment moment by coach Bob Hartley before Colorado&rsquo;s Dec. 2 game with the Detroit red Wings, the fine was sensational its first five games together.The trio, led by Sakic at center and Forsberg at left wing, had a combined 15 points in the five games-all Avalanche wins. The move to unite Sakic and Forsberg took everybody by surprise, including Forsberg, who had never played anything but center.&ldquo;It was a little shocking to see the practice sheet with my number next to Joe&rsquo;s,&rdquo; Forsberg said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s a lot of fun playing with him. It&rsquo;s not that big of an adjustment.&rdquo;Hartley won&rsquo;t commit to keeping the line together the rest of the season, but said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d be a fool to change the line now, the way they are playing together. They give us a lot of speed and skill.&rdquo;For the Avs&rsquo; first three-plus years in Denver, Forsberg centered a top line with Claude Lemieux and Valeri Kamensky on the wings-a trio that was highly successful. But the line was inconsistent offensively this season, as was the whole team. Colorado was shut out five times in its first 20 games and Hartley felt a shakeup was needed.Lemieux was dropped to the second line, one centered by rookie Chris Drury with Adam Deadmarsh at left wing. Kamensky was given third- and fourth-line status and wasn&rsquo;t too happy about it.&ldquo;If I&rsquo;m still playing on the third line, I think I need to go somewhere,&rdquo; Kamensky said. &ldquo;But that&rsquo;s not my decision. That&rsquo;s (GM) Pierre Lacroix&rsquo;s decision.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Adam Foote was sidelined with a concussion at St. Louis Dec. 5 and his status was uncertain. The day after suffering the injury, Foote did not respond well to questions designed to test memory and neurological function&hellip;Center Joe Sakic returned to Denver Dec. 11 to be with his wife Debbie, who underwent an emergency appendectomy. Sakic missed the Avs&rsquo; Dec. 12 game with New Jersey&hellip;Left winger Shjon Podein suffered a broken right leg Dec. 4 and is expected to be out until mid-February&hellip;Despite several blocks of empty seats in the upper bowls of McNichols Arena at points this season, the Avs proclaimed every game a sellout through Dec. 10 and said they had sold out 152 straight. &#9632;

f0018-06

Putting stars on one line gives Avs needed boost

<div class="byline">By Mike Heike</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-07204/7297692-1-eng-US/f0018-072.jpg" title="f0018-07" width="198" height="186"></div>Jamie Langenbrunner&rsquo;s talent might be so deep it pushes him right off the Dallas Stars&rsquo; top two fines.Doesn&rsquo;t sound right, does it? But Langenbrunner&rsquo;s emerging offensive ability, combined with strong defensive instincts and an ability to turn up his physical game at key moments, has coach Ken Hitchcock looking at him as a possible third line center.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a natural center and I think at some point in time we have to look at playing him in that role (on the third line),&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;We need to get good people around him and see what he can do there.&rdquo;Langenbrunner received an extended look on the top fine with Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen. He also enjoyed success on the second line with Joe Nieuwendyk and Pat Verbeek. Langenbrunner managed 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in 10 games and moved into third on the Stars in scoring. In doing so, he showed why, at 23, he is becoming a more consistent force in the NHL. In addition, he&rsquo;s getting a physical edge back to his game.&ldquo;Sometimes I play better in those types of games,&rdquo; Langenbrunner said. &ldquo;If both sides are playing skilled and you&rsquo;re stepping around each other all the time, you tend to play a little soft. But if someone is going to hit you, you have a tendency to want to do the same thing. I think I play better when the games get more physical.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Brent Severyn wrenched his back during a December practice and was expected to be out 2-to-4 weeks. Severyn, who had sat out three consecutive games at the time as a healthy scratch, said he tried to push himself too hard to make up for the lack of playing time&hellip; Defenseman Craig Ludwig played his 1.200th regular season game Dec. 9. Center Guy Carbonneau was scheduled to play his 1,200th Dec. 13&hellip;The Stars recalled goalie Manny Fernandez Dec. 10 to fill in for Roman Turek. who had a groin injury&hellip;The Stars lent Fernandez to the Houston Aeros of the International League&hellip;When left winger Dave Reid scored Dec. 6, he broke a goal-scoring drought that dated back to Dec. 3, 1997. &#9632;

f0018-07

Langenbrunner could be Stars’ third line center

<div class="byline">By Chuck Carlton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02929/7297723-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="747" height="1647"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Murphy</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011270/7297730-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="198" height="195"></div>Maybe the food at the Red Deer, Alta., A&W has a special therapeutic quality.Maybe there was something in the diesel fumes from the bus the Detroit Red Wings rode from Calgary to Edmonton.Or it could have been as simple as timely goals, big saves and a team too talented to lose for too long.The one certainty is the Red Wings have been a different team since a toilet-cleaning truck went astray Nov. 17 at the Calgary Airport. The resulting hole in team plane Redbird One forced a bus trek to Edmonton, a nostalgia trip complete with an A&W pit stop. A win over the Oilers followed Nov. 18 and the Red Wings went on a 7-1-1 roll, outscoring opponents 37-19 in the process.&ldquo;Everybody got on the bus like the old days,&rdquo; said associate coach Barry Smith. &ldquo;Everybody waited in line for burgers and fries just like the old days.&rdquo;And everybody started producing&hellip;just like the old days.&ldquo;Right away, I would dismiss it,&rdquo; said defenseman Larry Murphy, &ldquo;but the more you think about it, that was a factor, as a change of pace. It wasn&rsquo;t like it was a terrible bus ride. It was kind of a big joke. A lot of people had fun with it.&rdquo;The Red Wings&rsquo; streak came unconventionally.The victories started with rookie Norm Maracle in goal and continued with the last two wins under Chris Osgood. For part of the streak, the Red Wings used only five defensemen in the regular rotation. Coach Scotty Bowman, by necessity and by force of habit, was doing a lot of line juggling.&ldquo;I think the credit should go to the individuals that make up the team,&rdquo; said defenseman Uwe Krupp. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a group that wasn&rsquo;t happy with the way we were playing. The results we got were disappointing. Everybody started pulling together and saying we had to win hockey games. Things went well and we didn&rsquo;t panic.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been on teams where you couldn&rsquo;t get up to the next level no matter what you tried. This is a very good team with strong leadership. There aren&rsquo;t too many holes here.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goalie Chris Osgood returned from a hip flexor injury and three weeks of inactivity to beat Los Angeles Dec. 5 and Chicago Dec. 8. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just trying to get back to feeling the way I usually feel when I play,&rdquo; Osgood said. &ldquo;It takes a while."&hellip;The Wings were in the midst of a stretch where they played 12 of 18 at Joe Louts Arena&hellip;Left winger Slava Kozlov continued to slump; he had just three goals in 25 games and was a team-low minus-6.Center Steve Yzerman passed Mike Bossy (573) and into 11th place on the NHL&rsquo;s all-time goal list in the win over Los Angeles. &#9632;

f0019-02

Burgers, bus ride get credit for helping re-start Wing machine

<div class="byline">Bv Robert Tvchkowskl</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011051/7297761-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="196" height="198"></div>Two years ago, Ryan Smyth was a 20-year-old future star on his way to a 39-goal season with the Edmonton Oilers.It seems like a lifetime ago.&ldquo;Right now I feel like I&rsquo;m hurting the team,&rdquo; said Smyth, who had one goal in 24 games. &ldquo;I just want to help this team win and every time I&rsquo;m on the ice it doesn&rsquo;t seem like 1 am.&rdquo;Smyth&rsquo;s ice time has been cut dramatically this season. A first-line regular two years ago, he has spent most of this year with the fourth unit.&ldquo;In fairness to Ryan, he&rsquo;s only getting two or three shifts a game,&rdquo; said coach Ron Low, who&rsquo;s more concerned with Smyth&rsquo;s defensive liabilities than his scoring slump.Smyth, who had knee surgery midway through last season, missed all of training camp as an unsigned free agent. &ldquo;I was a little behind the eight ball, coming to camp four weeks late,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That probably set me back a little bit, but that&rsquo;s over with.&rdquo;The deal he signed is worth $500,000 this season with a $250,000 bonus clause that kicks in after 25 goals. He won&rsquo;t reach the bonus money, but he hasn&rsquo;t given up on the season.&ldquo;I just have to make the most of my chances, even if it&rsquo;s only one or two shifts a game and keep working hard.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s frustrating, but if I get down on myself that just makes it worse. I want to keep upbeat as much as I can. It&rsquo;s hard. But good things will happen to good people if you work hard.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Oilers were all over the board on a wacky early December homestand. They started by losing to Chicago, which came to town on a nine-game losing streak; then beat Phoenix, which was undefeated in 14; then lost to Tampa Bay, which was on a nine-game losing streak&hellip;Defenseman Marty McSorley rejoined the Oilers after five weeks on the shelf with a separated shoulder&hellip;Goalie Bob Essensa also returned after missing seven games with knee inflammation&hellip;The club recalled right winger Fredrik Lindquist, the leading scorer for Hamilton of the American League. Lindquist, who led the Bulldogs with 26 points in 19 games, was scoreless in his first two starts with the Oilers. &#9632;

f0022-01

Smyth tries to stay upbeat in midst of difficult season

<div class="byline">By David J. Neal</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03528/7297792-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="443" height="588"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dino Ciccarelli</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02738/7297799-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="197" height="199"></div>It&rsquo;s too bad right winger Dino Ciccarelli played only three of the Florida Panthers&rsquo; first 25 games. Had he ended the first week of December with zero games missed instead of 22 and, scoring at the rate he was, Ciccarelli would have had 36 goals instead of four.While it&rsquo;s ridiculous to believe Ciccarelli would actually have that many goals, there&rsquo;s no denying the impact he&rsquo;s having in his quicker-than-expected return. After missing the start of the season with several ailments, Ciccarelli suffered a hairline back fracture in his first game against the Chicago Blackhawks Nov 4.Panthers&rsquo; coach Terry Murray watched his team play lifelessly in some games thereafter, suffer a disheartening loss against the New York Rangers Dec. 1 and not get nearly enough action around the net. So, in the interest of pep and scoring, Murray backed off his vow to make Ciccarelli skate for two weeks before returning. Ciccarelli had skated on his own a couple of times and with the team twice and was coming off the ice with stiffness in his back at the spot of injury.The battle-scarred, 38-year-old with more dents in his body than a 1965 Corvair responded with a deflection goal and a rebound goal in a 3-3 tie with the Carolina Hurricanes Dec. 5. He followed that up by scoring on a rebound in a 6-5 victory over the Ottawa Senators Dec. 9.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d be lying if 1 said I felt good out there,&rdquo; Ciccarelli said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t feel that great. My conditioning was off. Where I had the injury is stiff and sore right now.&rdquo;&ldquo;I hope this return is the start of a long series of games for him,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He gets to the front of the net, he creates problems for the defense. 1 think, just with his reputation, he puts a little pressure on the opposing team.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The National Car Rental Center clock malfunctioned during the tie with Carolina, then went completely crazy during the game with Ottawa. It froze several times and, with Ottawa on the rush and down 5-4 in the third period, the clock not only went out, but blared a period-closing horn. The clock was off during the final eight minutes of the contest&hellip;The Panthers blew a four-goal lead for the first time in their history against Ottawa before scoring late to win 6-5&hellip;The victory over the Senators was keyed by a team-record tying five power play goals, four of which occurred during a five-minute major penalty. It was the first time the Panthers have scored more than two goals on one power play. &#9632;

f0022-03

CiccarelIi’s early return good news for offense

<div class="byline">By Helene Elliott</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04359/7297830-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="198" height="194"></div>Suddenly, after nearly two months of injuries, misery and a slide that saw them lose 11 of 12 games, things began to look up for the Los Angeles Kings.They won a game, which was noteworthy enough in itself, and got extra satisfaction by building and holding a first-period lead in their 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals Dec. 9 at the Great Western Forum. That was the first time since Nov. 21-a 10-game span-they had jumped out in front or had scored a goal in the first period.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a win,&rdquo; said coach Larry Robinson. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a step in the right direction.&rdquo;Perhaps more significantly, defenseman Rob Blake resumed practising and pronounced himself ready to return after missing six weeks because of a broken foot. Blake&rsquo;s return would give the Kings virtually all of their regular lineup.The imminent return of their top defenseman figured to put the Kings in a better position to decide whether to pull the trigger on a trade. With their key players back, the Kings will be able to get a better read on their strengths and weaknesses. So far, only the weaknesses have been glaringly apparent.The Kings&rsquo; plunge to the bottom of the NHL standings led club president Tim Leiweke to send a letter to season ticket holders apologizing for the team&rsquo;s nightmarish 2-10-1 November and asking for, &ldquo;your patience and continued support.&rdquo;He added: &ldquo;Although the injuries to Stephane Fiset, Jamie Storr, Jozef Stumpel, Rob Blake, Doug Bodger, Russ Courtnall, Steve McKenna, etc., have been the major reason for these struggles, we are certain that it has been very frustrating for you, just as it is for us. We still believe in this team and we are still confident that we will be back in the playoffs once we get our key players back on ice. Hopefully, you will judge us on the entire season, not just the last month.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Rookie center Olli Jokinen was a healthy scratch Dec. 9 against Washington, a surprising development because he had been chosen the NHL&rsquo;s rookie of the month for November. Jokinen didn&rsquo;t hide his displeasure following his second game in the press box this season. &ldquo;You learn by being a player. If you play, you can watch tape after the game,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Left winger Steve McKenna, who injured an abdominal muscle Nov. 5 and missed 14 games, injured the muscle again Dec. 9 and was expected to be out at least until late December&hellip;Left winger Luc Robitaille, who had 13 goals in the Kings&rsquo; first 27 games, was nine short of 500 for his career. &#9632;

f0022-04

Injured Kings see light at end of tunnel

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06213/7297861-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="444" height="587"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shayne Corson</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05270/7297868-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="201" height="200"></div>The captain of Team Titanic, better known as the Montreal Canadiens, has given a vote of confidence to GM Rejean Houle and the players he has assembled.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to make excuses, but look at the injuries we&rsquo;ve had,&rdquo; said team president Ronald Corey.Saku Koivu missed a dozen games with an abdominal strain; Shayne Corson was gone for 10 with neck and rib carti-lage injuries; Martin Rucinsky missed six while negotiating a contract; Brian Savage missed five with a contract dispute and another one due to a groin injury; and captain Vincent Damp-housse missed five with a back injury.Scott Thornton, expected to replace Marc Bureau after he was signed by the Philadelphia Flyers as a free agent, hasn&rsquo;t played since Oct. 28 due to a tom abdominal muscle.Little wonder the Canadiens were last in the Northeast Division, seven games below. 500 as of Dec. 10. They had only two wins and a tie in their past 13 games.Nonetheless, Corey still believes he has a good team that can make a run for the playoffs.The injuries, plus the training camp no-shows of Koivu, Corson, Rucinsky and Savage, took their toll on the team.&ldquo;You use training camp to get on the same page and to work on your conditioning,&rdquo; said coach Alain Vigneault, who has attempted to remain calm. &ldquo;For us, this is the first time since camp that we&rsquo;ve all been together as a team. Because we had all those holdouts, we couldn&rsquo;t get where we should be.&rdquo;Despite claims to the contrary, Houle didn&rsquo;t control expenses. All four of the holdouts got the contracts they were seeking, despite Houle&rsquo;s numerous suggestions his hands were tied and he had to hold the fine financially.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Alain Nasreddine was suspended two games by the NHL for bumping linesman Wayne Bonney during a fight with Phoenix left winger Keith Tkachuk Dec. 9&hellip;Defenseman Igor Ulanov was benched for the final 35 minutes of the 4-2 loss to Phoenix. Ulanov had a disagreement with assistant coach Dave King on the bench after being caught up ice. Head coach Alain Vigneault found it unacceptable and told King to bench Ulanov. &ldquo;He was disrespectful to my assistant coach,&rdquo; Vigneault said. Asked if he had shown a lack of respect towards King, Ulanov responded: &ldquo;If a coach respects the players, the players will respect him back.&rdquo; Ulanov and King settled their differences the following morning. &#9632;

f0022-06

Injuries, early no-shows take toll on hurtin’ Habs

<div class="byline">By Jeff Legwold</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-07182/7297899-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="201" height="198"></div>The Nashville Predators started the season with virtually everyone on the roster playing with a one-year contract.Now, having rounded the quarter pole in their first year, they are beginning to see who may figure into the team&rsquo;s long-term future. Center Darren Turcotte became the first to step up for another year.Turcotte agreed to a one-year extension worth the same $850,000 he is earning this season.&ldquo;I wanted the security, that was important to me.&rdquo; said Turcotte, who stood to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. &ldquo;It seems in free agency, when you jump out there, you either hit a home run or you don&rsquo;t even get a real swing at it. I like this situation, I like my role, I&rsquo;m very happy here.&rdquo;Turcotte, an 11-year NHL veteran, is a key penalty killer for Nashville and plays on a line with Tom Fitzgerald and Vitali Yachmenev, who are usually matched against the opposition&rsquo;s top line. The 30-year-old had three goals and six points in 23 games.GM David Poile signed the vast majority of the players on the Predators to one-year deals, taking a wait and-see approach.&ldquo;If they want to be here and they perform, we&rsquo;ll try and work out some longer deals,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;If they&rsquo;d rather be somewhere else and things haven&rsquo;t lived up to their expectations, they can move on.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Predators entered the Dec. 10 game against San Jose with 22-year-olds Tomas Vokoun (four NHL games) and Chris Mason (no NHL games) as their goalies. No. 1 man Mike Dunham was nursing a strained groin and backup Eric Fichaud was out with a shoulder injury. Vokoun, incidentally, got the win in a 2-1 victory over the Sharks&hellip; Right winger Rob Valicevic, a 27-year-old career minor leaguer. made his NHL debut against Edmonton Dec. 8. At the first stoppage in play, he was given the puck and coaches gave him a videotape of the game afterward&hellip; Left winger Ville Peltonen could be out until April after dislocating his left shoulder Dec. 5 against Buffalo. It was the third time this season he had dislocated the shoulder. &#9632;

f0022-07

Turcotte first Predator to get contract extension

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01943/7297930-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="202" height="202"></div>Discreetly, but not silently, the New Jersey Devils wondered whether Dave Andreychuk was finished.As he struggled last season, it was suggested the 500-goal scorer had lost his touch.But if Devils&rsquo; coach Robbie Ftorek&rsquo;s looser reins have proved anything this season, it is that Andreychuk still has it. After scoring the game-winning goal in overtime against the Philadelphia Flyers Dec. 10, Andreychuk shared the team lead of 10 goals with Petr Sy kora.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s doing the things he has always done well,&rdquo; Ftorek said.Even more impressive was the fact Andreychuk, 35, was in double figures despite missing six games with a bruised sternum following a hit from Florida Panthers&rsquo; forward Peter Worrell Nov. 7.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know who was concerned. I wasn&rsquo;t concerned,&rdquo; Andreychuk said. &ldquo;It has taken me a few games. My first week back I didn&rsquo;t play great, but the last week I feel pretty good. Before that, I couldn&rsquo;t do too much. I feel more confident.&rdquo;It is far too early, but Andreychuk was being mentioned among the top candidates for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance. He continued to play with pain.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s going to be there for a little while. It&rsquo;s just going to linger on,&rdquo; Andreychuk said.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a sprained wrist. That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve been told. I just have to deal with it.&rdquo;He has dealt with worse, such as a very conservative defensive approach during the Jacques Lemaire era which transformed him from a goalscorer to a component of the neutral zone trap. He still scored big goals, but not as many as he might have scored elsewhere.Andreychuk blamed himself for scoring only 14 goals last season&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to think back to when I had a tougher year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Maybe my first year of junior. It was tougher mentally more than anything. Physically, my game hasn&rsquo;t changed.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Ken Daneyko played in his 935th career game Dec. 8 to pass fonner Devil right winger and current Ranger John MacLean as the club&rsquo;s all-time leader. Daneyko, who played his first game with New Jersey in 1983-84 after being selected 18th overall in the 1982 entry draft, will be honored with Ken Daneyko Night on Jan. 15&hellip;The Devils scored and allowed five goals in back-to-back games Dec. 5-8 for the first time since Nov. 28-30, 1990&hellip;Defenseman Scott Stevens missed one game with what he called &ldquo;flu or food poisoning."&hellip;Jason Arnott was one of the team&rsquo;s top forwards after a move back to center on a line with right winger Petr Sykora and left winger Patrick Elias&hellip;Coach Robbie Ftorek experimented with a new version of the Crash Line with Bobby Holik centering right winger Randy McKay and left winger Krzysztof Oliwa&hellip;With 20 points in 26 games, Sykora, 22, was leading the team and was on pace for a career-high 63. &#9632;

f0023-01

Return of dandy scoring touch proves Andreychuk not done yet

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02618/7297961-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="201" height="197"></div>A dreadful slump which coincided with concussion victim Kenny Jonsson&rsquo;s absence underscored the workhorse defenseman&rsquo;s value to the New York Islanders.&ldquo;Kenny is to our team like Ray Bourque is to Boston,&rdquo; said his defense partner Rich Pilon. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s our best defenseman. He logs 25 minutes a game. Any time a guy like that&rsquo;s out of the lineup, you&rsquo;re going to feel the effects.&rdquo;The Islanders lost seven of the eight games Jonsson missed after being injured Nov. 17 against the Colorado Avalanche. They had lost nine of 11 overall to drop to 10-17-0. Jonsson hoped to return for a Dec. 12 home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, after which the Islanders were to leave on a four-game western road trip.Jonsson was suffering from nausea and headaches in the aftermath of being sandwiched between Peter Forsberg and Cam Russell. After missing two games, he said he felt fine and returned for a Nov. 25 home game against the Philadelphia Flyers. But he developed another headache in the second period and sat out the third. Jonsson missed the next six games. The Isles lost them all and were outscored 24-11.&ldquo;He plays against the top (opposing players),&rdquo; said left winger Mike Hough. &ldquo;He kills penalties. He plays on the power play. Our penalty killing has suffered and our goals against has jumped.&rdquo;Without unsigned free agent right winger Ziggy Palffy, the Islanders lack the ability to come back once they get behind. Losing Jonsson and Pilon, who missed three games with a sprained wrist (he returned Dec. 8), their defensive pairings were scrambled. They were left with 19-year-old Eric Brewer, 21-year-olds Bryan Berard and Zdeno Chara, 26-year-old Scott Lachance and free agent journeymen David Har-lock, 27, and Barry Richter, 28.&ldquo;When a team goes into a losing streak,&rdquo; Hough said, &ldquo;they tend to press. Guys try to do too much, get away from their roles. That&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s happening. Guys are pressing.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Through Dec. 11, the Islanders were the only NHL team without a tie. This was the latest they had gone without a tie in their history. Their fewest number of ties in a season was four in 1983-84&hellip;A 16-for-52 binge lifted the Isles&rsquo; power play to No. 1 in the league at 23.4 per cent, but they went O-for-5 in a 2-1 home loss to Colorado Dec. 8&hellip;Goalie Tommy Salo allowed four goals on 10 third period shots in a Dec. 4 5-1 road loss to Washington, against whom he is on an 0-7-1 streak&hellip; Right winger Mariusz Czerkawski was stopped on a penalty shot by Washington&rsquo;s Rick Tabaracci in the first period of the Dec. 4 game&hellip; Left winger Ted Donato, who had four assists in his first 11 games with the Isles, had two goals and four points in a 7-5 Dec. 5 home loss to New Jersey&hellip;Left winger Jason Dawe had just three assists in a 14-game slump and was a healthy scratch for the fifth time Dec. 8&hellip;Left winger and enforcer Gino Odjick missed three games due to a strained abdominal muscle. &#9632;

f0023-02

Jonsson injury sends Islanders spiraling toward NHL basement

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011018/7297992-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="197" height="195"></div>New York Rangers&rsquo; left winger Niklas Sundstrom wants to play well and doesn&rsquo;t want to be traded.But the situation is this: If he plays poorly, and at times he has, he hears it from coach John Muckier and it becomes easier for the Rangers to trade him.If he plays well, as he did through early December before a large contingent of NHL scouts, he becomes more valuable as a trade commodity.If the Rangers are to get Pavel Bure from the Vancouver Canucks, Sundstrom will have to go in the deal. If they are to try to pry Theo Fleury from Calgary, the Flames will want Sundstrom. It&rsquo;s a fact.The other fact is, when Sundstrom plays as well as he has with linemates Petr Nedved and Mike Knuble, the Rangers are a better team. Maybe good enough to not need to make such a trade.&ldquo;I just told myself to try to stay focused and not think too much about the rumors,&rdquo; Sundstrom said. &ldquo;People are coming up to me all the time. It&rsquo;s not fun. You&rsquo;ve got to try to get it out of your mind. It&rsquo;s tough sometimes.&rdquo;Sundstrom broke in with nine goal in 1995-96 and exploded with 24 goals a year later. He tailed off to 19 last season and had six in 26 games (on pace for 19) this season.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been playing good either, so I&rsquo;ve got only myself to blame.&rdquo; Sundstrom said.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Jeff Beuke-boom, who suffered a concussion when he was sucker-punched by Matt Johnson of Los Angeles Nov. 19, had a relapse in early December. Beukeboom absorbed at least two punches to the head in a fight with Nashville&rsquo;s Denny Lambert and began suffering from flu-like symptoms which could be related to the concussion. X-rays and another MRI exam were negative, but he was being held out until the symptoms subsided&hellip;The Rangers, who began the season 0-4-0, went over the. 500 mark for the first time since they began the 1997-98 season 10-4&hellip; President-GM Neil Smith continued to speak with his Vancouver counterpart Brian Burke about right winger Pavel Bure who is sitting out awaiting a trade. &#9632;

f0024-01

Sundstrom hopes to stay right where he is in NYC

<div class="byline">By Bruce Garrioch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03462/7298023-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="432" height="586"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexei Yashin</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02694/7298030-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="196" height="195"></div>It&rsquo;s no coincidence the Ottawa Senators started rolling just about the same time center Alexei Yashin got back on track.As the Senators made it to five games over the. 500 mark for only the second time in team history, the early season struggles of the club&rsquo;s captain had long since been forgotten.After scoring only one goal in the first 10 games, Yashin went into Ottawa&rsquo;s game against the Phoenix Coyotes Dec. 12 with seven goals and 15 points in his previous 10 games.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just me, everybody is playing well,&rdquo; Yashin said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re doing this as a team. I can&rsquo;t do it alone. Everybody has (stepped) up and we&rsquo;re getting help from everybody.&ldquo;I know it&rsquo;s the same old thing, but everybody has to do their job. It doesn&rsquo;t matter if I score five goals and the other team scores six, then what good does that do us if we&rsquo;re not winning.&rdquo;While Yashin&rsquo;s point is well taken, the club will go as far as he can take them. Playing on a line with Shawn McEachern and Andreas Dackell, the three had formed a powerful unit opponents have to shut down.McEachern, for his part, had five goals and 13 points in a 10-game span.&ldquo;I know people expect me to score goals, but that shouldn&rsquo;t always be what says whether you&rsquo;re a good player or not,&rdquo; Yashin said.&ldquo;Yes, it&rsquo;s nice to get the points, but it&rsquo;s better for us to get the wins. We&rsquo;ve won some good games and we&rsquo;ve lost some tough ones. I&rsquo;ll do whatever I can to help us have success.&rdquo;Yashin is always on an even keel. He never gets too up or too down. His teammates sometimes have a hard time reading him, but as GM Rick Dudley noted, &ldquo;Yashin looks like he&rsquo;s relishing his role.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The decision to dress seven defensemen for games in Tampa Bay and Florida in early December meant youngster Chris Phillips was moved to left wing on a line with right winger Shaun Van Allen and center Bruce Gardiner. Phillips played briefly on the wing last season, but has struggled on defense this year&hellip; After a three month wait and several false alarms, defenseman Janne Laukka-nen made his debut with the Senators Dec. 8 in Tampa. Laukkanen had off-season stomach surgery and was ready to return in November, but suffered a slight groin pull&hellip;Center Vaclav Prospal was facing possible suspension after giving Florida defenseman Paul Laus a stick to the face Dec. 9 and receiving a match penalty. &#9632;

f0024-03

Sens hit high-water mark after Yashin goes on tear

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04301/7298061-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="197" height="192"></div>&ldquo;Here we go again,&rdquo; read one headline.&ldquo;Beezer in freezer,&rdquo; said another.To those who follow the Philadelphia Flyers on a regular basis, no further explanation was needed.John Vanbiesbrouck, who was brought in last summer to upgrade the Flyers&rsquo; questionable goaltending situation, found himself pulled from one big game, a 5-5 tie versus the New Jersey Devils Dec. 8, and benched for the rematch two nights later, which the Flyers&rsquo; lost 5-4 behind backup Ron Hextail.After a good start, Vanbiesbrouck&rsquo;s record slipped to 7-6-4 with an. 884 save percentage, among the league&rsquo;s poorest.&ldquo;No goalie likes to get yanked out of a game, but it happens if you&rsquo;re not playing well or for momentum&rsquo;s sake,&rdquo; said coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s aware of that.&rdquo;Vanbiesbrouck knows he has some work to do. The 35-year-old goalie did not have a good season last year (18-29-11 for a non-playoff Florida Panthers&rsquo; team) and has only &ldquo;stolen&rdquo; a few games for the Flyers this year.&ldquo;There are definitely times during the year, and times during your career, when you struggle,&rdquo; Vanbiesbrouck said. &ldquo;Struggles are a time that test your perseverance and character and how hard you&rsquo;re willing to work and go the extra mile.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to stand here and take the blame&hellip; There&rsquo;s no looking at anyone but yourself. Fortunately, in games like the (first) Jersey game, the guys showed a lot of character, came back and got a tie. We&rsquo;re worried more about the team than one individual.&rdquo;The Flyers had given up the fewest shots in the NHL as of Dec. 9, but really haven&rsquo;t played the kind of tight defensive style many thought they would play with Neilson at the helm and Vanbiesbrouck in goal.&ldquo;For 82 games, you need two goalies,&rdquo; Hextail said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think me playing is a reflection of the way he has been playing.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Alexandre Daigle was scratched for the fourth time in five games in the Flyers&rsquo; 5-4 loss to New Jersey Dec. 10. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what the problem is with Alex,&rdquo; said Flyers president/GM Bob Clarke. &ldquo;We talked a while ago."&hellip;Center Eric Lindros was fined $1,000 for getting a slashing major against Sabres&rsquo; defenseman Jay McKee in a 3-0 loss at Buffalo Dec. 4, but did not receive a suspension. With 16 goals and a league-leading 38 points through 26 games, Lindros was on pace for the best offensive season of his career. Also, Lindros was injury-free through the Flyers&rsquo; first 26 games, a health streak he had not achieved at the start of any previous nonlockout year. &#9632;

f0024-04

Cold ‘Beezer’ on hot seat after softies

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-06165/7298092-1-eng-US/f0024-062.jpg" title="f0024-06" width="442" height="592"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith Tkachuk</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-05201/7298099-1-eng-US/f0024-052.jpg" title="f0024-05" width="197" height="195"></div>You can lead a horse to water, but you can&rsquo;t make him stand in front of the net and take repeated shots to the fetlock while he awaits a shot from the point to redirect or deflect.Unless you&rsquo;ve got a horse like Keith Tkachuk, who&rsquo;s making a living this season camping out in front of the crease for the Phoenix Coyotes and tipping in goal after goal.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so tough for the goalie to see the puck, I don&rsquo;t know why more guys don&rsquo;t try it,&rdquo; said Tkachuk, who scored at least seven of his first 15 goals directly off deflections. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re a player and you do it, I think you&rsquo;re going to see a lot more results.&ldquo;You see a lot of guys who think they&rsquo;re going to get goals by sitting out and waiting for one-timers. That ain&rsquo;t going to happen.&rdquo;The general consensus in the Phoenix dressing room, however, seems to be fewer and fewer players in the NHL are paying the price in front. Some of the Coyotes say it&rsquo;s a dying art form.&ldquo;Keith might be the best player in the league at doing it; him and (Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo;) John LeClair,&rdquo; said forward Rick Tocchet. &ldquo;Those guys probably score 15 goals a year that way. It&rsquo;s all about determination. How come half the guys in the league don&rsquo;t go to the front of the net? Why is it the guys who do are successful? The trick is, because they&rsquo;re not scared to. They&rsquo;re not afraid to take a bunch of whacks over the head.&rdquo;Tkachuk, who since the 1993-94 season has scored more goals (220) than any player in the NHL, said only good things can happen when a forward plants himself in front of the goalie.&ldquo;If you miss it, you&rsquo;re still screening the goalie anyway,&rdquo; Tkachuk said.NOTEBOOK: Despite going undefeated in 19 of their first 22 games, the Coyotes haven&rsquo;t been satisfied. They rarely have employed a killer instinct on teams and buried an opponent. &ldquo;We definitely have to find a way to put teams away when we&rsquo;ve got them back on their heels,&rdquo; said defenseman Keith Carney. Of their 16 wins, only five were by more than two goals&hellip; After scoring only seven goals on the power play in their first 15 games, the Coyotes scored seven in their next seven, raising their efficiency rating from below 9 per cent to nearly 15 per cent. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re moving the puck much better. We&rsquo;re getting it to the net,&rdquo; said center Jeremy Roenick, who was leading the club in scoring with nine goals and 28 points. &#9632;

f0024-06

Tkachuk takes licking, but keeps on clicking

<div class="byline">By Joe Starkey</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-07140/7298130-1-eng-US/f0024-072.jpg" title="f0024-07" width="197" height="193"></div>Kevin Hatcher&rsquo;s name has been mentioned in trade rumors since summertime, but the veteran Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; defenseman pays them no heed.Instead, Hatcher was focussing on providing the Penguins with an all-around effort every game. He was succeeding. Hatcher was leading the Penguins in minutes per game (just over 25) and on most nights was their best defenseman.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just keeping things simple,&rdquo; said Hatcher&rsquo;s defense partner, Brad Werenka. &ldquo;He moves the puck well, gets it to the guys who need it. His whole game right now is real solid, top to bottom.&rdquo;Hatcher&rsquo;s offensive play has been typically productive. With four goals and 13 assists through 24 games, he was on pace for more than 60 points this season. That would easily eclipse his total of 48 from last season. One more goal would be career No. 213 of his career, tying him with Brad Park for 10th all-time among NHL blueliners.But Hatcher is paying more attention to the other end of the rink. With a bevy of skilled forwards in front of him, he has less pressure to score points. His puck-handling skills, defensive prowess and leadership ability are just as important.&ldquo;No big differences from night to night-that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m focusing on,&rdquo; said Hatcher, who was plus-10 in his past 12 games. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to be real steady at both ends.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Stu Barnes saw his playing time slashed every game in the first five games after the Penguins acquired Alexei Kovalev. Barnes was taken off the first line and relegated to fourth-line duty Dec. 5 at Boston. He played a season-low 9:45 that night, and his status as a first-liner was uncertain. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not happy about it, but there&rsquo;s not much you can do.&rdquo; said Barnes, who was second on the team in goals (12) and first in power-play goals (seven)&hellip;Coach Kevin Constantine was experimenting with an all-Czech line of center Robert Lang, right winger Jaromir Jagr and Martin Straka on the left; and an all-Russian trio of Kovalev, center German Titov and right winger Aleksey Morozov. &#9632;

f0024-07

Hatcher’s two-way play pleasing plus for Pens

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecklng</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01914/7298161-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="199" height="194"></div>St. Louis Blues&rsquo; left winger Geoff Courtnall has joined the growing list of players to suffer post-concussion syndrome.San Jose Sharks&rsquo; winger Owen Nolan knocked out Courtnall with a sucker-punch as time expired in the first period of a Nov. 27 game. Courtnall finished that game and played two more against the Colorado Avalanche before persistent headaches and nausea sidelined him Dec. 5.&ldquo;He passes all the cognitive tests, but he still experiences headaches and symptoms commonly associated with a concussion,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; trainer Ray Barile. &ldquo;We need for all of them to go away before we allow him to play again.&rdquo;Courtnall said he has been bothered by headaches, nausea and a general malaise &ldquo;pretty much since 1 got hit.&rdquo;&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t felt 100 per cent,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Whenever I try to exert myself, I feel sick, nauseous. It&rsquo;s frustrating. I feel fine when I&rsquo;m relaxing, but as soon as I try to play, I have nothing.&rdquo;&ldquo;It worries me. I&rsquo;ve never had anything like this before.&rdquo;In his 13th full NHL season, Courtnall said he suffered one serious concussion when he played for the Washington Capitals in the late 1980s and three or four since.Courtnall, who is angry at Nolan for the play, said he &ldquo;shouldn&rsquo;t have played the two Colorado games. I thought it would go away and I&rsquo;d get better. But whenever I play, it just prolongs it.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: After sitting out one game as a healthy scratch, right winger Jim Campbell returned to the lineup and picked up two assists in three games. &ldquo;He showed major progress in getting scoring chances and doing little things away from the play,&rdquo; said coach Joel Quenneville.. Goalie Grant Fuhr, out since Nov. 7 with a tom adductor muscle, was scheduled to remm to action against Pittsburgh Dec. 12, a full week ahead of schedule&hellip;Slovak right winger Pavol Demitra scored two for national pride by beating Czech Republic hero Dominik Hasek for both goals in the Blues&rsquo; 2-2 tie with Buffalo Dec. 8. &ldquo;I am (so) happy,&rdquo; said Demitra, who had another goal called back because Campbell was in the crease. &#9632;

f0025-01

Concussion tally mounts as Courtnall added to list

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03382/7298192-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="431" height="592"><figcaption class="caption-body">Owen Nolan</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02590/7298199-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="202" height="191"></div>Perhaps grasping at straws as his team continued to falter, San Jose Sharks&rsquo; coach Darryl Sutter lit into the club&rsquo;s veterans during a morning skate in Dallas Dec. 9.Sparing eight younger players who were sent to the opposite end of the ice to work with assistant coaches Paul Baxter and Bob Berry, Sutter challenged an almost exclusively underachieving group to pick up its play.&ldquo;I have no patience for guys who don&rsquo;t get ready to play,&rdquo; he later said. &ldquo;Other than (Bob) Rouse and (Ron) Stem, name one guy who has played well. None of &rsquo;em. That tells you how prepared that group has been.&rdquo;The biggest problem in San Jose, Sutter said, is no different from a year ago. The team lacks leadership, particularly someone who can both show the way on the ice and point a finger in the dressing room when necessary.Sutter cited several individuals, including Mike Vernon, Bryan Marchment, Owen Nolan, Mike Ricci, Stephane Matteau, Joe Murphy and Murray Craven.&ldquo;None of those guys are bad guys,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re all good guys. I think they have fallen into a trap, a little bit of complacency. There&rsquo;s not a guy there who s gomg to grab somebody by the throat. You need that to win&hellip; That group is being totally unfair to the kids&hellip;This team is not going to (win) the Stanley Cup. We all know that. But it&rsquo;s those kids who have to develop a championship attitude.&rdquo;Nolan and Ricci scored goals in a strong 3-3 tie with the Stars Nov. 9, but the Sharks followed up the next day with a 2-1 loss to the Nashville Predators.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not knocking Darryl for his ways, but I don&rsquo;t think we need to hear it as many times as he says it,&rdquo; Nolan said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s his job, but at the same time he can only kick us in the ass so many times.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Despite having surrendered only two goals in seven of his eight starts, backup goaltender Steve Shields fell to 1-4-3 with a 2-1 loss at Nashville on Dec. 10&hellip;Right winger Joe Murphy scored his 200th career goal in the loss to the Predators&hellip;The Sharks scored three goals in a game for just the eighth time this season and three goals in a period for only the third time in the 3-3 tie at Dallas Dec. 9&hellip;Second-year center Patrick Marleau snapped a 12-game goal drought with a power play strike against the Stars&hellip; After having gone 18 games without a goal, right winger Owen Nolan scored in back-to-back games Dec. 6-9&hellip;Veteran center Ron Sutter returned to the lineup Dec. 9 after having missed 12 games with a strained back. &#9632;

f0025-03

Surly Sutter rips veterans over lack of leadership

<div class="byline">By Tim Buckley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-04239/7298230-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="198" height="190"></div>The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim made defenseman Drew Bannister a $330,000 qualifying contract offer last off-season, then decided not to negotiate after Pierre Gauthier replaced Jack Ferreira as Anaheim&rsquo;s GM.Bannister never did report to training camp, returning instead to his home in Sault Ste. Marie and practising there with his former junior team.There were times, Bannister admits now, when he wondered if he had done the right thing.&ldquo;I think the hardest part was when it was going through my mind that I might never play again in the NHL,&rdquo; Bannister said. &ldquo;Facing the reality that I may never get a chance again-I think that was the toughest part.&rdquo;Bannister&rsquo;s decision, however, was rewarded after the Ducks traded him to the Tampa Bay Lightning Dec. 10 for a fifth round selection in the 2000 draft.Tampa Bay then signed Bannister, who had been playing for Las Vegas of the International League, to a two-year deal worth $225,000 the rest of this season and between $550,000 and $600,000 next season.&ldquo;Waiting as long as I did paid off me,&rdquo; said Bannister, 24, a 1992 second round draft choice of the Lightning who broke in with Tampa Bay in 1995-96.Now, Bannister is happy to have a second chance with the Lightning.&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t be more excited coming back. (Lightning coach-GM Jacques Demers) said it was a great opportunity and 1 know it is. He just wants me to come in and play a simple game and not do anything dramatic. Obviously, I&rsquo;m not going to be a savior for the franchise, but hopefully I can help the defense, which I know I can do.&rdquo;The Lightning&rsquo;s decision to reacquire Bannister came two days after Tampa Bay fell 4-2 to the Ottawa Senators Dec. 8, its Uth loss in 12 games. That marked the first trade by Demers since he took added the GM title to his job description Oct. 13.NOTEBOOK: Rumored to be the major part of trade talks that could bring the Lightning either Toronto goalie Felix Potvin or Philadelphia center Chris Gratton, Lightning winger Mikael Renberg invoked the name of a former teammate. &rsquo;T remember when I was in Philadelphia, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour&rsquo;s name was involved in trade rumors all the time and he has never been traded,&rdquo; Renberg told the St. Petersburg Times... The International League has decided to name its Comeback Player of the Year award the John Cullen Award, in honor of the Lightning assistant coach&rsquo;s battle with cancer&hellip; Enforcer and fan favorite defenseman Enrico Ciccone was placed on waivers, then assigned to Cleveland of the International League. &#9632;

f0025-04

Bannister happy about Tampa return

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011014/7298261-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="201" height="201"></div>Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; associate GM Mike Smith had a lot more on his mind in mid-December than what he was going to do about Felix Potvin.That&rsquo;s not to say Smith wasn&rsquo;t devoting his energies toward trading Potvin, who left the team Dec. 3 and announced two days later he wasn&rsquo;t coming back. Smith was on the phone daily trying to deal Potvin.But through the affair, Smith was also consumed by a more important matter. His wife, Judy, has cancer and underwent surgery Nov. 30 and was expected to begin chemotherapy in late December. When Smith wasn&rsquo;t at games, he was by her side in a Boston hospital.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had better weeks.&rdquo; Smith said Dec. 5. &ldquo;It sure makes all the bull seem pretty meaningless.&rdquo;As soon as Potvin walked out-and subsequently was suspended without pay by the team-efforts to trade him intensified, but nothing had materialized through Dec. 10. A potential deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning involving Mikael Renberg fell through when Tampa coach-GM Jacques Demers balked at the asking price.Potvin&rsquo;s move, meanwhile, will likely do nothing to force a trade, but the longest-serving Maple Leaf said he simply grew too tired of waiting.&ldquo;I told (the Leafs) I just couldn&rsquo;t handle it anymore,&rdquo; Potvin told a Montreal news conference Dec. 9. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it was worth it anymore to deal with this misery.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Kris King will be out of the lineup until late December, thanks to a broken left hand he suffered when hit by a shot in the Leafs&rsquo; 4-3 win over Montreal Dec. 5, then aggravated against the Rangers two nights later&hellip;The Leafs will miss goalie Felix Potvin, but he can&rsquo;t match Glenn Healy in the comedy department. Healy was recalled from the Chicago Wolves of the International League, where he had been sent at the start of the season. &ldquo;One road trip we were stuck on the runway for seven hours,&rdquo; Healy said. &ldquo;The plane kept driving and driving until we arrived at the rink and I realized we were on a bus."&hellip;Although center Mats Sundin led the team in scoring, his eight goals came in just five games and hadn&rsquo;t scored since Nov. 12. &#9632;

f0026-01

Potvin not only concern for de-facto GM Smith

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03544/7298292-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="429" height="584"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Wilson</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02685/7298299-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="196" height="193"></div>Coach Ron Wilson took his Washington Capitals bowling and they responded with a win. But the next night they reverted to previous form and were beaten in Philadelphia.On Dec. 7 and 8, Wilson halted practice and told the players in blunt terms that those not making positive contributions would be relegated to the bench and he would get down to two lines if necessary to win games.&ldquo;From here on out for the rest of the season, it&rsquo;s all about winning,&rdquo; he told the club before resuming a lengthy road swing.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re letting yourselves and your teammates down, I&rsquo;m going to sit your (butt) on the bench and I don&rsquo;t care if you&rsquo;re a goalie, defenseman or forward. If you&rsquo;re minus-4 after seven shifts, I don&rsquo;t want to hear you whining about ice time. Negativity from one guy spreads throughout the whole team. If you&rsquo;re sat down for whatever reason, try to be positive.&rdquo;Washington surprised the NHL by advancing to the Stanley Cup final last summer, but not much has gone right since. It finished October with a 3-3-3 record, but were 8-14-3 midway through December.There is no one thing the team can zero in on for a quick fix. Scoring has been sub-par-even for the Caps. Defense wasn&rsquo;t a shadow of its old self. Goaltending wasn&rsquo;t even remotely close to last season and the special teams have disappeared.There has been the usual huge string of injuries, but after four years of medical woes, the Caps should have learned to cope by now. They haven&rsquo;t.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so difficult when you have so many people missing from your lineup,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t know from game-to-game what your team is going to look like. We&rsquo;ve got to find a way of sucking it up.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: When the Caps got winger Tom Chorske from the Islanders Oct. 16, they knew he had a groin problem, but were under the impression-as was Chorske-the injury would be healed within 10 days. It wasn&rsquo;t. Chorske had surgery Dec. 4 and will be out until late-February&hellip;The Caps&rsquo; 5-1 victory over the Islanders Dec. 4 was memorable for several things: goalie Rick Tabaracci prevented right winger Mariusz Czerkawski from scoring on a penalty shot; forwards Peter Bondra and Steve Konowalchuk both scored shorthanded on the same penalty; defenseman Mark Tinordi had his 200th point; the Caps snapped a scoreless string of 100 minutes, 10 seconds and a three-game losing streak. &#9632;

f0026-03

Washington bowled over by strikeless beginning

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04385/7298330-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="197" height="197"></div>After staggering through a miserable 14-goal season one year ago, Markus Naslund appeared on his way out of Vancouver. He wasn&rsquo;t coach Mike Keenan&rsquo;s kind of player and Canuck management had its doubts, too, sending him nothing more than a qualifying contract offer over the summer.But injuries to first-line wingers Todd Bertuzzi and Alexander Mogilny opened a door for Naslund and he has barged through it to lead the team in goals with 14 after 27 games.All this after being a healthy scratch twice in the first nine days of the season.&ldquo;It was difficult,&rdquo; said Naslund, a 25-year-old from Omskoldsvik, Swe. &ldquo;I was probably fragile mentally. It doesn&rsquo;t help when you don&rsquo;t feel the coach is supporting you and he doesn&rsquo;t like the way you play. I thought I&rsquo;d be gone. I was more sick about the way I was playing. I&rsquo;ve been in the NHL for five seasons and I was starting to wonder if I&rsquo;d ever have the kind of season I was capable of.&rdquo;Naslund&rsquo;s promotion to the first line and first power play unit, where he skates alongside Mark Messier, has made all the difference. Messier has been finding Naslund with his pin-point passing and the Swede has been finishing with gusto.In an eight-game stretch through Dec. 11, Naslund had six goals and four assists, including a hat trick against the Dallas Stars Dec. 4. He is clearly thriving under the spotlight.&ldquo;I enjoy being one of the guys who has the pressure to score goals and I think I can do it if I get the ice time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My confidence is building. I&rsquo;ve gone back to playing the way I used to before I came over here.&rdquo;In his first two full seasons with the Canucks, Naslund netted just 35 goals, a total he would surpass by March if he maintains his current pace.&ldquo;Markus has progressively gotten better,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t know if 1 challenged him any other way than with ice time.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Canucks recycled another of coach Mike Keenan&rsquo;s explayers when they plucked center Harry York off waivers from Pittsburgh. York, 24, broke into the NHL under Keenan during the 1996-97 season in St. Louis. York was with the Penguins for only two weeks after being part of the Petr Nedved-Alexei Kovalev trade. York scored a goal in his Canuck debut-a 4-4 draw in Anaheim Dec. 9-and was plus 2&hellip;Left winger Brad May&rsquo;s goal-less drought reached 19 games when a goal originally credited to him against Anaheim was later changed to Markus Naslund&hellip;Canuck captain Mark Messier had a six-game points streak going through Dec. 11 (1-7-8). &#9632;

f0026-04

Confident Naslund breaks out

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>Forgive Jeff Williams if he isn&rsquo;t sympathetic to the fuss about hockey&rsquo;s lack of scoring.Difficult to score goals? Says who? Not Williams, that&rsquo;s for sure.The third-year left winger shared the American League lead in goals with 15 through 22 games heading into mid-December, making him the AHL&rsquo;s biggest surprise.Not since his minor hockey days had Williams scored more goals. In three Ontario League seasons with Guelph from 1993-94 through 1995-96, he scored 14, 14 and 15 goals. As a rookie pro in 1996-97, he combined for 17 goals in 66 games for the Raleigh IceCaps of the East Coast League and Albany. La&rdquo; season, he scored 13 in 58 games for the River Rats.So who gave the 22-year-old the hands transplant?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01960/7298361-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="572" height="571"></div>&ldquo;This is my third season, I have to make a name for myself,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I want to get my name into someone&rsquo;s mind that I can play.&rdquo;Playing on a line with Alexandei Semak and John Madden is one reason tor Williams&rsquo; emergence. Hard work is another. He is often on the ice before practice working on his shot with assistant coach Red Gendron.&rsquo;I ve been in the right place at the right time,&rdquo; said Williams, who scored the winning goal in back-to-back road games. &ldquo;Once they started going in, the ball seems to get rolling.&rdquo;A seventh round 1994 draft pick of the New Jersey Devils, Williams came out of junior known as a checking center. Considering the Storm had Jeff O&rsquo;Neill and Todd Bertuzzi, Williams wasn&rsquo;t expected to be the scorer.&ldquo;Playing in a defensive role, you build that area of your game and it helped me adapt to the New Jersey style,&rdquo; said Williams, who was shifted to the wing this season. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t necessarily want to get out of the defensive mode, but I want to show l ean add to my game.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s a critical year for him. This is the final year of his contract. But his past performance indicates an ability to rise to the occasion. Last season, he had five goals and 11 points in 12 playoff games. In his final junior season, he had 13 goals and 28 points in 16 playoff games.&ldquo;We expected him to score more last year, but he didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Rats&rsquo; coach John Cunniff said. &ldquo;Then he had a good playoff and got confidence. Confidence is a delicate thing.&rdquo;SMYTH SUSPENDED: St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs&rsquo; defenseman Greg Smyth, whose toughness is the primary reason he has played 13 pro seasons, has the dubious distinction of being the AHL&rsquo;s most suspended player.Smyth was suspended 10 games after crosschecking Portland Pirates&rsquo; right winger Jean-Pierre Dumont in the head Nov. 29. Starting with a three-game suspension for his role in a pre-game playoff brawl in his rookie season of 1986-87 with Hershey, Smyth has been suspended 14 times for 56 games.He was suspended twice last season after incurring match penalties for * head-butting and cross checking. In 1988-89, he got a pair of 10-game banishments for stick swinging.The incident with Dumont adds to his ugly file, though Smyth, thought the punishment was harsh. Dumont did play the next game.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m hurt by my reputation,&rdquo; Smyth said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re not on the same wavelength as the NHL. Rob Ray slew-foots a guy and blows out the guy&rsquo;s knee and gets four games.&rdquo;DUMONT HEATS UP: After going pointless in his first 11 pro games, rookie Jean-Pierre Dumont has helped Portland climb from last to third in the Atlantic Division by scoring 11 goals and 16 points in a nine-game stretch.That includes a three-goal, two-assist performance at Saint John Dec. 3, after which Pirates&rsquo; coach Mark Kumpel said &ldquo;the puck just seems to follow him.&rdquo;&ldquo;Every coach I&rsquo;ve played for says that, that the puck follows me,&rdquo; Dumont said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, but I really like to control the puck and I like to shoot a lot (67 shots in 19 games).&rdquo;Dumont was chosen third overall by the New York Islanders in the 1996 draft. He was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in the off-season.AHL TIDBITS: St. John&rsquo;s 3-11-2 home record is starting to take a toll at the box office. The crowd of 2,950 for a Dec. 2 game with Rochester was the first time in the franchise&rsquo;s eight-year history that fewer than 3,000 fans came to Memorial Stadium. &#9632;

f0027-01

After years of searching, Williams finds goal touch

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>The Johnstown Chiefs have been buried so deep in the cellar of their division each of the past three Novembers, it took a tour guide to find them.The Chiefs were again in last place in the Northeast Division of the East Coast League when December rolled around, but at least they were at the. 500 mark (6-6-3) for the first time since 1994.&ldquo;We need to continue to get better,&rdquo; said coach Scott Allen. &ldquo;If we can get better each day, we can make progress in the standings.&rdquo;Allen took over when Nick Fotiu was fired the day after Christmas last year and guided the Chiefs to a 17-21-4 record the rest of the way. Johnstown missed the playoffs for the third straight year, but might be ready for a return.The resurgence can be partly attributed to help from the Calgary Flames, who replaced the Pittsburgh Penguins as an NHL affiliate.&ldquo;We had a solid base of free agents, but I have to give credit to the Flames&rsquo; organization.&rdquo; Allen said. &ldquo;Their organization is committed to development from the ECHL to the American League to the NHL.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02614/7298392-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="936" height="386"></div>One of the top young prospects is defenseman Jakub Ficenic. The 21-year-old Czech Republic native led the Chiefs in scoring with nine goals and 15 points. Ficenic scored 28 goals and 88 points for Surrey Iasi season in the British Columbia Junior League.&ldquo;I saw him play in the Royal Bank (junior A) Cup,&rdquo; Allen said. &ldquo;I was impressed with his skill level and work ethic. He&rsquo;ll put in the extra time to improve and become a better player. No question, he has an NHL slapshot.&rdquo;PARSONS POPPED: League-leading goal-scorer Don Parsons of the Louisiana Ice-Gators broke a bone in his left hand in a slashing incident against the Birmingham Bulls Nov. 27.Parsons, who was leading the ECHL in goals (16 in 16 games) when he was hit by defenseman Kevin Popp, may be out of action until after Christmas.No penalty was called on the play but Louisiana coach Doug Shedden sent a tape to the league office and was awaiting a ruling.HAMPTON SAYS NO: The city of Hampton, Va., turned down a request from the Hampton Roads Admirals to relocate their ECHL franchise in the 8,100-seat Hampton Coliseum for 1999-2000.The Admirals are scheduled to move from their Norfolk, Va., home up to the American League next season, but may have to delay their plans for one more season. As of early December, the Hampton Roads ownership hadn&rsquo;t made a firm decision about operating in the ECHL or the AHL in 1999-2000.COAST LINES: Louisiana goalie Bujar Amidovski was both rookie and goalie of the month for November after going 6-1-0 with a 1.85 goals-against average. The 21-year-old Toronto native was leading the ECHL with a 1.94 GAA and 8-2-2 record before signing a 25-game contract with AHL&rsquo;s Saint John Flames. Center Dave Seitz of the South Carolina Stingrays was player of the month with 10 goals and 22 points. &#9632;

f0027-02

Chiefs see a Flame burning at the end of the tunnel

<div class="byline">By Kevin loie</div>Long Beach Ice Dogs&rsquo; center Patrik Stefan, a top prospect for the 1999 NHL draft, won&rsquo;t play until February after sustaining neck and head injuries in a game against the Houston Aeros.Stefan, 18, was hit after taking a shot on goal Nov. 27. He suffered a mild concussion as well as head and neck injuries that will force him to miss eight weeks, including the World Junior Championship. Stefan would have played for his native Czech Republic squad.He was taken to a local hospital following the hit, where CAT scans and an MRI proved negative. He will be checked every two weeks.Stefan, who had nine goals and 23 points in 20 games with the Ice Dogs this season, is expected to be among the top half-dozen selection in the next entry draft.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03409/7298423-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="517" height="533"></div>The news was a disappointment to Stefan, who earlier missed two games with a foot infection.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unbelievable,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I am very disappointed that I am injured, but what can I do? It is a part of playing hockey. Right now, I just want to rest and make sure I am 100 per cent before I come back.&rdquo;CYCLONES MOVE: Goalie Geoff Sar-jeant and center Don Biggs, two mainstays of the Cincinnati Cyclones, were dealt by the club in separate trades Dec. 3.Saijeant was dealt to the Detroit Vipers for goalie Jani Hurme and left winger Phil Crowe. Biggs was sent to the Utah Grizzlies for center Fred Knipscheer.Cyclones&rsquo; coach-GM Ron Smith said he was talking with Ottawa Senators&rsquo; GM Rick Dudley about Hurme. The Vipers had determined Kevin Weekes would be their No. 1 goalie, not Hurme, who is property of the Senators.But the move was hastened when Smith and Saijeant got into a shouting match Nov. 27 in Kansas City after Sarjeant was pulled for allowing what Smith said were three bad goals.&ldquo;Geoff blew up at me,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;I pulled him and he lost it. He started yelling bad coach, bad system, bad defense, this, that and the other. It was really shocking because there had been no indication that this was going to happen.&rdquo;That prompted Smith to get back to the Vipers and Dudley and complete the deal for Hurme and Crowe.The Cyclones also received defenseman Geoff Smith on loan from the New York Rangers that day, completing what Smith said is a very effective makeover.&ldquo;I liked our team a lot, but the chemistry wasn&rsquo;t there for some reason,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;And for that reason, I don&rsquo;t know if we could have considered ourselves legitimate contenders.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve filled some holes and I like what I see. We&rsquo;re big, we can skate and we have some toughness. Things really worked out for the best, even though we hated having to move guys who have been a part of a lot of success.&rdquo;Cincinnati won three consecutive road games after the trades.MORE CYCLONES: The Cyclones lost defenseman Pat MacLeod to a season-ending right knee injury.Dr. Timothy Kremcheck had to reconstruct MacLeod&rsquo;s anterior cruciate ligament and repair the medial collateral ligament and medial meniscus Nov. 25.Kremcheck said the three-hour surgery to repair MacLeod&rsquo;s knee went well and said he should be able to return by next training camp.TURCO WINS HONORS: Michigan rookie goalie Marty Turco was the league&rsquo;s goalie of the month in November after going 5-1-1 with a 2.15 goals-against average and. 935 save percentage. The former University of Michigan star stopped 216 of the 231 shots he faced.He was leading the league in both goals-against average (2.07) and save percentage (.941).Grand Rapids&rsquo; center Robert Petrovicky was November player of the month. He had five goals, 17 points and was plus-8 in 12 games.I-OPENERS: The IHL changed the name of its comeback player award to the John Cullen Award. It&rsquo;s named after the retired NHLer who attempted his comeback with the Cleveland Lumberjacks this season&hellip;Las Vegas Thunder right winger Patrice Lefebvre, the defending league MVP, returned Dec. 4 in Orlando after missing 17 games due to tom left knee ligaments. In his first game back, Lefebvre had two assists and helped Vegas snap a four-game losing streak. &#9632;

f0027-03

Top draft prospect Stefan sidelined with neck injury

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Erie Otters&rsquo; managing partner Sherry Bassin said the Ontario League has to address the whole issue of checking as 17-year-old Derek McDonald remained in hospital after being hit against the boards.The Otters&rsquo; rookie winger was unconscious for two hours and experienced a severe concussion after being checked Dec. 6 in Oshawa.McDonald was in an Oshawa hospital. Doctors were considering transporting him by ambulance to an Ottawa hospital so he could be near his home of Constance Bay.Bassin said McDonald, 6-foot-l and 195 pounds, was standing with his back to the boards and had cleared the puck from his feet when he was struck by Brandon Coalter of the Generals. McDonald&rsquo;s helmeted head struck the edge of the boards, then the ice.Referee Brad Beer didn&rsquo;t call a penalty. The league requested the videotape and after watching the video and receiving a written report fromBeer, OHL referee-in-chief Ted Baker said Coalter would not be suspended. The league sided with Beer, saying no penalty was warranted, but Bassin said &ldquo;it was a violent hit. There has got to be a certain amount of respect when people are in a vulnerable position.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve taken extreme measures to deal with checking from behind. I think this is another area that has to addressed. This is a very serious injury.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01997/7298454-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="940" height="319"></div>McDonald&rsquo;s parents have been at his bedside since the accident. His condition was upgraded from serious to fair and he was moved out of intensive care. A CAT scan showed no sign of spinal damage.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s coming along slowly,&rdquo; Ken McDonald told the Toronto Star. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re keeping our fingers crossed. He&rsquo;s still groggy, sleeps and wakes up and doesn&rsquo;t know where he is. His short-term memory is gone for now and he doesn&rsquo;t have any memory of the injury.&rdquo;Bassin said it&rsquo;s not known when McDonald will be released from hospital. That&rsquo;s why doctors were considering transferring him to an Ottawa hospital to make it easier on his parents. They drove to Oshawa after the accident.&ldquo;Derek is facing a very long recovery route,&rdquo; Bassin said.WITHOUT SIN: The expansion Brampton Battalion, the least-penalized team (17.8 penalty minutes a game) went without a penalty in a 6-4 upset of the defending-champion Guelph Storm Dec. 4.AGE-OLD QUESTION: Barrie Colts&rsquo; goalie Brian Finley, 17, is the youngest player at the final camp for Canada&rsquo;s world junior team.But Sheldon Ferguson, chief scout for the Carolina Hurricanes and former chief scout for the juniors, said Finley&rsquo;s age isn&rsquo;t against him.Ferguson said the juniors wouldn&rsquo;t have invited him if they didn&rsquo;t feel he could make it, and even more important, play.&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t forget, Brian has played for the under-17 and under-18 teams. He knows what thai hockey is about,&rdquo; Ferguson said.Finley was Barrie&rsquo;s second round pick in the 1997 OHL midget draft and this year is the toprated goalie for the NHL entry draft.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a pretty good player, huh?&rdquo; said Colts&rsquo; coach-GM Bert Templeton. &ldquo;I see him night in and night out and there&rsquo;s not a goalie I&rsquo;d trade him for in this league.&rdquo;SUPER SZUPER: Import goalie Levente Szuper registered his third shutout as the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s won their 14th straight game Dec. 6, 3-0 over the Kitchener Rangers.&ldquo;He lived up to his name,&rdquo; said coach-GM Brian Kilrea as Szuper improved to 10-1-1 and the team to 25-2-2.Szuper, who&rsquo;s from Hungary, was leading the OHL with a 1.82 goals-against average, followed by teammate Seamus Kotyk (15-1-1) at 1.87.The 67&rsquo;s won&rsquo;t have Szuper for three games in late December. He heads home to Budapest to play for Hungary in the world junior B pool. &#9632;

f0028-01

’Violent check’ leaves Erie rookie in hospital bed

<div class="byline">By Gordie Sutherland</div>The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles will finish the season in Sydney, N.S., but they&rsquo;ll need financial help to make it their long-term home.The second-year team has lost more than $600,000, including about $200,000 this season, and wants to negotiate a new lease deal with the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and Serco, the management company that runs Sydney&rsquo;s Centre 200.Last season, the Screaming Eagles paid Serco $360,000, including $4,700 in rent per game and a percentage of advertising revenue and merchandise sales.The team, which also pays a 50cent surcharge on each ticket sold, wants to cap the annual cost of playing at Centre 200 $250,000.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02669/7298485-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="704" height="645"></div>The city and Serco were to meet Dec. 15.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s based on the amount of money we&rsquo;ve paid to the venue here in Sydney to operate last year,&rdquo; said Screaming-Eagles president Bill Sidney. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s far in excess to what we want to pay. It is the most expensive in the league and also in Canada (the Canadian Hockey League).&ldquo;We want to cap it at what we consider to be a reasonable figure and the figure is $250,000. We don&rsquo;t particularly care where it comes from as long as it comes.&rdquo;Cape Breton averaged about 3,200 fans last season and has averaged 2,965 through 17 games this season. Some of the team&rsquo;s 33 shareholders began a season-ticket blitz Dec. 7 and sold 100, bringing the total to 1,700.The Screaming Eagles also pay the highest travelling expense in the league for other teams to come to Sydney. They paid $100,000 last season and it was reduced to $94,500 when the Laval Titan moved to Bathurst, N.B., for this season.The Screaming Eagles arrived in Sydney in 1997 when a group of Cape Breton investors purchased the Granby Predateurs.FEW JUNIOR INVITATIONS: The Quebec League finished a distant third among Canada&rsquo;s major junior leagues when the national team invited 30 players Dec. 2 to it selection camp, which opened Dec. 13 in Winnipeg.Goalie Roberto Luongo of the Vai d&rsquo;Or Foreurs, defenseman Jonathan Girard of the Bathurst Titan, center Simon Gagne of the Quebec Remparts and center Alex Tanguay of the Halifax Mooseheads were the only Quebec league players asked to try out.Seven Quebec League players represented Canada at last season&rsquo;s tournament.&ldquo;Most of the impact players in this league right now are 18,&rdquo; said Hull Olympiques&rsquo; coach Claude Julien, an assistant with the national junior team.&ldquo;Junior hockey goes in cycles and in the Quebec League right now, we have a great crop of 18-year-old kids who are going to be excellent candidates for next year.&ldquo;It has been proven in the past that in order to win these kinds of tournaments, you have to have a majority of your players with as much experience as possible.&rdquo;The failure to invite Rouyn-Noranda Huskies&rsquo; winger James Desmarais. 19, who was thought to be a candidate, created a stir.He leads the league in scoring, but didn&rsquo;t play well when Team Canada&rsquo;s director of scouting, Barry Trapp, was watching.&ldquo;I thought (Desmarais) should have been at least invited,&rdquo; said Rouyn-Noranda coach Jean Pronovost. &ldquo;At least give him an opportunity. You can always send him back if he doesn&rsquo;t do the job.&rdquo;OCEANIC SHIP OUT TWO: The Rimouski Oceanic traded overage defenseman Eric Drouin and 18-year-old winger Jonathan St-Louis to the Drummondville Voltigeurs Dec. 8 for third and seventh round picks in the 1999 Quebec League midget draft. Drouin was put on the market after the Oceanic acquired 20-year-old winger Francois Page from the Victoriaville Tigres Nov. 24. &#9632;

f0028-02

Cape Breton Screaming about lease agreement

<div class="byline">Bv Rob Vanstone</div>Kyle Calder wouldn&rsquo;t complain about a Western League scoring title. But the Regina Pats&rsquo; left winger has other priorities.&ldquo;It feels good to be at the top in scoring,&rdquo; Calder said, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;d rather see the Regina Pats at the top of the standings.&rdquo;The 19-year-old Calder had a league-best 48 points for a team sporting just a 14-17-1 record. He was the WHL&rsquo;s player of the month after scoring 10 goals and 19 points in 13 November games.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s relaxed out there,&rdquo; Pats&rsquo; coach Tim Tisdale said. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t put any pressure on him. We&rsquo;ve just told him to go out and do his thing. He works so hard and is in such good shape that he can log a lot of ice time and guys can&rsquo;t keep up with him.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03478/7298516-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="518" height="520"></div>A fifth round draft pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in 1997, Calder has filled an offensive void created by the graduation of Pats&rsquo; snipers Josh Holden. Ronald Petrovicky and Boyd Kane.&ldquo;The thing you notice about Kyle is he wants to be the guy in the key situations,&rdquo; Regina GM Brent Parker said.&ldquo;To use basketball terminology, he wants to be the guy who has the ball in the last seven seconds when the game is tied. He really relishes those opportunities and challenges.&rdquo;Calder would also relish the World Junior Championship, but was not among the initial invitees to Canada&rsquo;s training camp.&ldquo;I was kind of shocked but, in their minds, it was in their best interests,&rdquo; Calder said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s too bad, but I have to look ahead. I&rsquo;ll stay here and play for the Pats. That&rsquo;s all right. That&rsquo;s good.&rdquo;LUCKY SEVEN: The Brandon Wheat Kings need one more 40-win season to equal the WHL record of seven straight.A strong second half will be required if Brandon is to equal the standard established by Regina (1979-80 through 1985-86) and the Kamloops Blazers (1989-90 through 1995-96).The 1998-99 Wheat Kings had a 14-15-2 start, meaning they would have to win at least 26 of 41 remaining games.&ldquo;We still want to win 40 games,&rdquo; Brandor GM Kelly McCrimmon said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a goa we have for our team every year.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a goal, but I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;ve discussec it at all this year-or in any other year. It has just always been that way.&rdquo;McCrimmon attributed the slow start to spate of injuries, parity in the WHL and the facl 17 of Brandon&rsquo;s first 28 games were on the road.&ldquo;We want to get better as we go along,&rsquo; McCrimmon said. &ldquo;If we can do that, we&rsquo;ll still have very high aspirations come playoff time.&rdquo;RED-HOT BLAZERS: Kamloops boasted a 25-game unbeaten streak (22-0-3) after the first week of December.The Blazers had not lost since Oct. 12, when the Tri-City Americans prevailed 7-2.Kamloops is threatening the WHL and Canadian Hockey League. record for the longest undefeated I streak in one season-29 games, set by Brandon in 1978-79.Brandon also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak in overlapping seasons. Brandon went 49 games without a loss from Feb. 11 to Dec. 13, 1978.Kamloops&rsquo; goalie Kenric Exner also boasted an unblemished record at 19-0-4. He had a 1.61 goals-against average,. 939 save percentage and four shutouts.NOTEBOOK: The Calgary Hitmen&rsquo;s franchise-record unbeaten streak was snapped at 12 games (8-0-4) Dec. 6 when they lost 6-3 to the Seattle Thunderbirds. Calgary began this season 9-0-2&hellip;Calgary center Pavel Brendl had a league-high 27 goals after 26 games&hellip;Seattle Thunderbirds&rsquo; right winger Bret DeCecco is the early Cy Young favorite. He had 25 goals and just nine assists after 26 games&hellip;The WHL&rsquo;s trade deadline is Feb. 1&hellip; The Saskatoon Blades were outshot 43-9 during a 4-1 loss to the Swift Current Broncos Dec. 2. Saskatoon had one shot on goal in the first period, three shots in the second and five in the third. &#9632;

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Pats’ super scorer Calder quietly posting huge stats

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div>An odd development in the latest three-year run of Western Collegiate Hockey Association success at North Dakota is the annual emergence of a rookie goaltender.In 1996-97, freshman Aaron Schweitzer was the focus, going 17-3 with a 2.31 goals-against average and. 908 save percentage as the Fighting Sioux swept the regular season and playoff titles en route to winning the sixth NCAA championship in school history.Last season, freshman Karl Goehring compiled a 23-3-1 record, 2.27 GAA and. 913 save percentages as the Fighting Sioux won their second straight MacNaughton Cup.This season, with Schweitzer having defected to the Canadian national team and Goehring (51-1, 3.44,. 885) struggling, red-shirt freshman Andy Kollar (3-0, 2.23,. 910) has suddenly become a prominent part of the puzzle.&ldquo;He has earned the right to play,&rdquo; North Dakota assistant coach Scott Sandelin said of Kollar. &ldquo;But Karl is still our No. 1 guy.&rdquo;Sandelin alluded to a couple elements of the goaltending combination that have helped North Dakota to a 10-1-1 overall record heading into a series Dec. 11-12 against Wisconsin.Fighting Sioux coach Dean Blais and his staff thought Goehring, the reigning WCHA rookie of the year, tired down the stretch last season and would benefit from a solid backup.Moreover, Goehring and Kollar, junior league teammates at Fargo-Moorhead of the United States League, have shared goaltending duties before.<h2>WCHA</h2>&ldquo;They&rsquo;re good friends and they push each other,&rdquo; Sandelin said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good competitive rivalry.&rdquo;SHOWING IMPROVEMENT: Alaska-Anchorage had lost only once during a sevengame stretch (4-1-2) going into its home series with Denver Dec. 11-12. The run, which featured a series sweep of Air Force Dec. 4-5, gave the Seawolves (6-8-2 overall) as many wins as they had all of last season (6-25-5).Meanwhile, Minnesota-Duluth finally got its offense in gear during its series sweep at Michigan Tech Dec. 4-5. After scoring only 12 goals in 10 WCHA games, the Bulldogs scored 11 in two wins, 5-3 and 6-1.The line of center Jeff Scissons, left winger Ryan Homstol and right winger Colin Anderson had 17 points.HOME COMING: Denver will become the fourth program in the WCHA to unveil a new home in the 1990s. Magness Arena, a multipurpose facility, will debut in October 1999. The building will feature 6,200 theatre-style seats for games. Denver will join Minnesota (Mariucci Arena, 1993), Colorado College (World Arena, 1998) and Wisconsin (Kohl Center, 1998) on the list of new homeowners in the league. &#9632;

Another frosh goalie sensational for Sioux

<div class="byline">By Paul Harris</div>Injuries to two of their top three returning scorers have hobbled the fortunes of the Miami RedHawks this season.Center Dustin Whitecotton is out for the season with a broken arm and left winger Gregor Krajnc, missed eight games with a tom knee ligament. Those injuries are partly responsible for the inexperienced RedHawks being 10th in the 11-team Central Collegiate Hockey Association with a 2-10-3 record (3-11-3 overall).&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a real young team. We knew we would probably take a few steps back,&rdquo; said Miami coach Mark Mazzoleni. &ldquo;And at the same time we&rsquo;ve had a few injuries.&rdquo;Miami finished fifth in the CCHA last season with a 14-12-4 record. Without Whitecotton and Krajnc on the active roster, Miami&rsquo;s top returning scorer from last season has been sophomore Center Alex Kim, who is tied for the team lead in scoring with six goals and 14 points. Junior Center Mark Shalawylo shares the lead with five goals and 14 points.With the injury woes it&rsquo;s no huge surprise scoring-or a lack of it-has been a problem. Miami had just 35 goals in 15 games.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing real well defensively (51 goals allowed) but we&rsquo;re having a tough time getting to the net,&rdquo; Mazzoleni said.The coach has also been happy with the stellar goaltending of junior Ian Olsen, who has a 3.16 goals-against average and. 895 save percentage.<h2>CCHA</h2>&ldquo;I very much like our talent base. But we&rsquo;re just real young right now,&rdquo; Mazzoleni said. &ldquo;And the only good thing about freshmen and sophomores is that they&rsquo;re going to be juniors and seniors.&rdquo;WORLD JUNIOR INVITES: Ten CCHA players were invited to the training camps of Team USA and Team Canada for the World Junior Championship, which will be held in Winnipeg from Dec. 26-Jan. 5.Invited to the U.S. camp were Michigan State sophomore goalie Joe Blackburn, freshman right winger Adam Hall and freshman defenseman Andrew Hutchinson; Michigan freshman defenseman Jeff Jillson; Notre Dame sophomore left winger Dan Carlson and freshman center David Inman, Bowling Green sophomore center Mike Murphy and Lake Superior State freshman left winger Mike Vigilantes.Invited to the Canadian camp were Michigan sophomore defenseman Mike Van Ryn and freshman center Mike Comrie.BUCKEYES ON THE MOVE: Ohio State played it&rsquo;s final weekend at OSU Ice Arena Dec. 4-5, when it swept Notre Dame 4-3 and 41. The Buckeyes will try to build on their streak of 15-consecutive home victories when they open the Value City Arena Jan. 2, against Michigan. &#9632;

RedHawks grounded by injuries to scorers

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggle</div>Union senior goalie Leoor Shtrom knew he had a chance to make a name for himself as the No. 1 goalie, but the headlines he made recently weren&rsquo;t the kind Shtrom expected.Shtrom tied the Eastern College Athletic Conference record for penalty minutes in a game by a goalie, and also received a four-game suspension for his part in a third-period fight that broke out during the Skating Dutchmen&rsquo;s 5-2 loss to Cornell at Cornell&rsquo;s Lynah Rink Dec. 4.The incident started in the third period when Jay Varady of Union collided with Cornell goalie Ian Burt. Players from both sides began pushing and shoving, and Shtrom skated the length of the ice to join in.Shtrom at first locked up with Burt, and the two then began fighting.All 10 skaters on the ice received double minors for roughing and 10-minute misconducts, but Shtrom received two fighting majors and a double game disqualification, for a total of 30 minutes.That tied the league record set by Ron Levasseur of Cornell in a game against Colgate in 1987.The double game disqualification (Burt received a single game disqualification) cost Shtrom an automatic three game suspension, because, according to NCAA rules, suspensions increase with each disqualification (one game for the first, two games for a second, and so on). Union coach Kevin Sneddon later imposed his own one-game suspension, meaning Shtrom won&rsquo;t be eligible to return to the ice until Jan 3 at the earliest.<h2>ECAC</h2>Union and Cornell combined for 217 penalty minutes, a single-game league record.Shtrom has a 4.38 goals-against average and. 879 save percentage this season.DRIVE FOR FIVE: St. Lawrence senior Eric Heffler is making a habit of winning the goaltender-of-the-week award.Heffler earned the award for the fifth time Dec. 7 after leading the Saints to back-to-back road wins. He made 31 saves in a 5-2 victory at Brown, and then came back with another 31 saves in a 5-1 Saints&rsquo; win at Harvard.Heffler lowered his league goals-against average to 2.12 and raised his save percentage to. 938. &rsquo;NOTEBOOK: RPI coach Dan Fridgen finally broke the Stair Rink Jinx Dec. 4. Fridgen, a Colgate graduate who played his home games in Stair Rink, got his first win as a head coach at his alma mater when the Engineers defeated the Red Raiders 4-3 in overtime. In his previous four trips back to Starr Rink, Fridgen was 0-2-2 as a coach&hellip; As Yale hit its Christmas break, Bulldogs&rsquo; junior center Jeff Hamilton, a Hobey Baker candidate, was averaging two points per game (six goals and 14 points in seven games). &#9632;

Shtrom makes news, but for wrong reasons

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01942/7298688-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

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NHL GAME SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01882/7298781-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL ROSTERS AND TRANSACTIONS

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December 25, 1998

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

Larocque shakes start, returns to winning ways

NHL GAME SUMMARIES WORLD JR. CHAMPIONSHIP

Sabres’ Hasek Hart at work on No. 3 with numbers even he can’t ‘believe’