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.

February 19, 1999

The Hockey News February 19, 1999

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01491/6980030-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

<div class="byline">By Brendan Savage</div>The most decorated defenseman in United League history is suspended 25 games after throwing his stick. A forward has to play in the net when both of his team&rsquo;s goalies are ejected for fighting. And sagging attendance has at least two teams ready to move after the season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01865/6979734-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="450" height="369"></div>Yup, it has pretty much been business as usual during the first half of \ the season in the iL wacky and always / unpredictable UHL. Here&rsquo;s how things shape up heading into the second half of the season. Teams are listed in order of division standing after Jan. 27 games. The three division winners and five wild-card teams make the playoffs.<h2>Western Division</h2>1. Quad City Mallards (32-11-4). When the UHL&rsquo;s all-time leading goal scorer (Kevin Kerr) returned and signed with Quad City, it proved the two-time defending champion Mallards are still the best team money can buy.2. Thunder Bay Thunder Cats (28-17-3).Despite losing all-star defenseman Barry McKinlay to a 25-game suspension for throwing a stick and hitting two fans, the Cats won a UHL-best nine straight games in December..3. Madison Monsters (16-24-4). Attendance is horrible, the team&rsquo;s record is almost as bad and there&rsquo;s no relief in sight. The Monsters move south next season, perhaps to Knoxville, Tenn.<h2>Eastern Division</h2>1. Binghamton Icemen (23-184). The Icemen are looking to claim the division title in just their second year. Dieter Kochan become the first UHL goalie to score a goal connecting Jan. 8.2. Asheville Smoke (22-20-2). Led by the Gretzky brothers-coach Keith and scorer Brent (who is now with Chicago of the International League)&ndash;the Smoke have been a hit with North Carolina fans after seven years in Brantford, Ont.3. Winston-Salem Icehawks (18-25-1). Forward John Nelson donned goalie pads for the first time in his life after netminders Brian Kreft and Martin Bradette were ejected for fighting Jan. 9.4. Mohawk Valley Prowlers (14-18-7). The UHL&rsquo;s third venture into Utica, N.Y. has hardly been a charm. The Prowlers were in last place and the league&rsquo;s worst draw. Strike three?<h2>Central Division</h2>1. Muskegon Fury (31-10-3). Forward David-Alexandre Beauregard made the all-star team and helped the Fury post the best winning percentage despite losing an eye in junior.2. Port Huron Border Cats (26-16-4). Newcomer Paul Polillo won&rsquo;t win his fifth straight scoring title, but an emphasis on defense has the Border Cats headed for their best finish ever.3. Flint Generals (22-21-3). Robbie Nichols, the UHL&rsquo;s winningest and most suspended coach, returned to the bench after 30 games and promptly won 10 of his first 14 games.4. Saginaw Gears (14-24-7). Despite a new owner, new players and their third name change in four years, the Gears are again last overall. Pro hockey in Saginaw will be dead by the end of the season-if not sooner.<h2>THN&rsquo;s Awards & All Stars</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03408/6979727-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="1682" height="715"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

UHL MID-SEASON REPORT

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04312/6979572-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="171" height="170"></div>Early in the second period of a Feb. 3 game against Tampa Bay, it appeared the Washington Capitals had lost interest. They led 1-0 on a Peter Bondra goal, but suddenly the Lightning were forcing the issue and tied the game.It took nearly five full minutes for Washington to respond. But when the Caps were through answering, it was a result of epic proportions-a 10-1 win, two NHL records bettered, three team records extended, one team record tied.And coach Ron Wilson was not all that impressed.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t happy until we got to 3 or 4-1 because we were allowing them to hang around,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;Olie Kolzig made a great save on a 2-on-l and if he doesn&rsquo;t, who knows what happens after that?&rdquo;The one-sided win came at a time when the Caps were playing better, but it may be too late to make up all the ground lost earlier in the season.The last time the Caps scored in double figures was Dec. 17, 1993, an 11-1 drubbing of the Ottawa Senators. How long ago was that?Terry Murray was still coaching.In this season of little offense, the Caps went through an eight-game road trip and scored just 11 goals.Against the Lightning, the Caps scored eight second period goals in 9:34 and nine goals in 11:32, both NHL records. Their goals and shots (25) in the period were Cap records, as was total scoring points (22). Scoring nine unanswered goals tied a Washington mark.Bondra ended the game with four goals and an assist. It was his fourth four-goal game. Every forward who dressed for the game and two of the six defensemen had at least one point.But, as the post-game mood of many players reflected, in the grand scheme of things it was no big deal.&ldquo;It was just another two points,&rdquo; said defenseman Calle Johansson. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to have the two points whether you win 2-1 or 10-1.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Caps closed out their Maple Leaf Gardens log Jan. 30 with a 5-3 loss, finishing 14-21-4 in the building&hellip;During that game, defenseman Sergei Gonchar injured his left wrist colliding with Toronto defenseman Bryan Berard. At first it was feared it was broken, then that there was a tom ligament Finally an MRI showed that it was only scar tissue from an old injury. The last diagnosis was a sprain and it was thought he&rsquo;d be out two weeks&hellip; The team had a nearly three-hour meeting with coach Ron Wilson Jan. 27 and two days later fell behind 6-0 to Los Angeles before losing 6-3&hellip;Center Mike Eagles played in his 800th NHL game Feb. 3. He said it&rsquo;s a surprise because he didn&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;d be around to play this season. &#9632;

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NHL TEAMS

Goal blowout over Bolts no big deal

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Serge Payer never saw this hit coming.The fourth-year Kitchener Ranger center has been struck down by Guillain-Barre Syndrome.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t wish it on anyone else,&rdquo; Payer, 19, said from his bed at University Hospital in London, Ont., where he has been since Jan. 21.Following treatment, doctors were hoping to move Payer to a rehabilitation facility in Kitchener. Doctors expect a full recovery, but it&rsquo;s unlikely Payer will play again this Ontario League season. He&rsquo;s the Rangers&rsquo; top scorer.Guillain-Barre Syndrome is an inflammatory disorder of the peripheral nerves where the nerves are attacked by the body&rsquo;s immune system. It causes weakness in the limbs and can result in paralysis. The immune, system recognizes a virus has invaded the body. The immune system thinks the insulation that protects nerves is the virus and attacks the insulation.It is rare; there is only one case per 100,000 people each year. It&rsquo;s not communicable.Because it&rsquo;s rare, it&rsquo;s not easily diagnosed. Payer was experiencing pain in his lower back and legs, but doctors thought he&rsquo;d strained his back when he fell pushing his van out of a snowdrift Jan. 9.Guillain-Barre wasn&rsquo;t diagnosed until Jan. 21.&ldquo;Obviously this has been frustrating and discouraging, but the time will come and I&rsquo;ll be there (playing hockey again) before you know it,&rdquo; said Payer, who has signed with the Florida Panthers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01928/6979796-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="753" height="254"></div>He lost 20 pounds, mostly in his legs.&ldquo;Dad has told me not to worry about anything else,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Just stay positive and obviously staying patient is a key factor in this.&rdquo;Payer&rsquo;s father Paul is Kitchener&rsquo;s chief scout.PLAUDITS FOR SPEZZA: Brampton Battalion rookie Jason Spezza, the first 15-year-old to play in the OHL All-Star Game, didn&rsquo;t get a point, but scored big with players on both sides.&ldquo;Here&rsquo;s a player who could redefine our game,&rdquo; said Daniel Tkaczuk of the Barrie Colts, who played for the Eastern Conference all-stars which beat the Western Conference 127. &ldquo;Critics say Canadian talent has lost its edge. All they have to do is take a look at Spezza.&rdquo;Spezza doesn&rsquo;t turn 16 until June 13, eight days after he&rsquo;ll be drafted into the OHL. Bantam-aged players are allowed to play for their hometown team until drafted.OHL scoring leader Peter Sarno of the Sarnia Sting sat beside Spezza in the West dressing room.&ldquo;Sitting beside him is an honor,&rdquo; Sarno said. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t have too much offensive help (in Brampton). I went through that last year (with Windsor), but I was 18. He&rsquo;s 15.&ldquo;I see him on the ice and he seems to be so calm. He seems to have great patience with the puck. He has proved to everyone it doesn&rsquo;t matter how old you are, it&rsquo;s if you have the talent.&rdquo;COLT ROLL: The Barrie Colts stretched their home unbeaten streak to 24 games, the second-longest home unbeaten streak in OHL history. The Colts were 21-0-3 before their Feb. 5 game against the Brampton Battalion.Barrie hadn&rsquo;t lost at the Molson Centre since a 4-2 setback to the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s in the home opener Sept. 25. The OHL record is 33 games by the 1984-85 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. They went 33-0-0 at home.BAN TIME: London Knights&rsquo; right winger Rico Fata was suspended five games Jan. 29 for a cross-check to the head of Rob Davison of the North Bay Centennials Jan. 24.Fata had seven goals in seven games since being returned by the Calgary Flames.Knights&rsquo; trainer Don Brankley was suspended two games and fined $500 for an incident in the same game.Brankley had gone onto the ice to attend to a fallen Fata when he pushed a Centennial and verbally abused him, the league said in its investigation. &#9632;

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Ranger star Paver stricken with Guillain-Barre Syndrome

<h2>Jagr shines for Penguins</h2>1.68 is No. 1 Pittsburgh&rsquo;s amazing Jaromir Jagr takes over NHL scoring lead with incredible streak.2.Net result Colorado&rsquo;s Patrick Roy looks like capable stopper of old, racking up nine straight wins.3.Donald Audette Ex-Sabre lights it up in Los Angeles with eight goals, 16 points in 19 games for Kings.4.Caps cash in Washington sets NHL records with eight second period goals and nine in 11:32.5.Big shot Team Canada&rsquo;s Shawn Heins breaks hardest-shooter mark with 106 mph blast at UHL all-star game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0132/6980268-1-eng-US/c0002-012.jpg" title="C0002-01" width="310" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrick Roy</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0228/6980261-1-eng-US/c0002-022.jpg" title="C0002-02" width="306" height="446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Donald Audette</figcaption></div><h2>Imperfect 10 for Lightning</h2>1.Lightning cracks Tampa Bay&rsquo;s five-game losing streak includes 10-1 drubbing by Washington.2.Bill blows it U.S. President Bill Clinton mangles Detroit captain Steve Yzerman&rsquo;s name at White House visit.3.Bs waxed Boston Bruins sink in Northeast standings thanks to ugly 0-6-1 silde.4.Laka control Albany&rsquo;s Sasha Lakovic piles up 44 penalty minutes in one AHL game.5.Busted Anchorage&rsquo;s Dean Trboyevich charged with assault with deadly weaoon in WCHL game. &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-In-Chief</div>For those who want to see no-touch icing adopted by the NHL in an effort to keep defensemen from becoming endangered species, Don Sweeney has a clear message: Don&rsquo;t touch the icing rule.&rsquo;I think it&rsquo;s still a part of the game that needs to be there,&rdquo; said the Boston Bruins&rsquo; blueliner. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t get many situations where guys take cheap shots.&rdquo;This despite Sweeney narrowly escaping injury Feb. 2 when he and Colorado forwardShean Donovan were chasing a puck fired from the Avalanche side of center ice. Donovan appeared to hook Sweeney into sub-mission, sending him airborne into the end boards. It looked frightening, but Sweeney regained his feet quickly, faster even &rsquo; than Donovan. No penalty was called.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0319/6980299-1-eng-US/c0002-032.jpg" title="C0002-03" width="324" height="410"></div>It would seem to be precisely the kind of body contact hockey doesn&rsquo;t need. Gratuitous and dangerous. Few players expose themselves to the threat of injury more than defensemen racing into the comers or end boards with an opposing forward in hot pursuit. Icings and dump-ins can be accidents waiting to happen for rearguards. Some believe the incidence of meaningless collisions as a result of touch-up icings is too great and want the NHL to introduce no-touch icings. That means icings are called as soon as the puck crosses the red line-long before defensemen cross themselves and pray for a safe journey towards the boards.Among proponents of no-touch icing, seen at amateur, collegiate and international levels, is Don Cherry, no shrinking violence himself. Cherry remembers Al Maclnnis suffering a dislocated hip in 1992-93 when, during a nonicing situation, he was nudged from behind while chasing the puck and crashed into the boards.The downside to no-touch icings is that it raises the prospect of more icing calls; overlooks the fact a minority of icings are actually contested; eliminates legitimate dashes for loose pucks; and eliminates the possibility of indirect passes-icing length passes intended for teammates rocketing down the wing behind opposition defensemen. The upside is that defensemen are spared potentially high risk takedowns.Sweeney acknowledges he and his brethren are &ldquo;vulnerable,&rdquo; but said, &ldquo;guys are pretty respectful of that.&rdquo; There&rsquo;s something you don&rsquo;t hear very often. Players are generally accused of not being concerned with each other&rsquo;s safety. And what about Donovan? Did he care about Sweeney? Apparently so; he apologized to the defenseman. It was an annrnnriate resnonse to a sorrv collision. &#9632;

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EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

<div class="byline">Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div>Now that the NHL general managers no longer require their rose-colored glasses, they might want to pass them along to a group that could use them.Like the NHL coaching fraternity.The NHL GMs met Feb. 1-3 in La Quinta, Calif., and after much discus-sion opted not to recommend any rule changes.&ldquo;The managers believe the product on the ice is pretty dam good,&rdquo; was how NHL commissioner Gary Bettman put it.That, and after a meeting last year in which there were a myriad of changes recommended (two refs, video review, moving goallines out etc.), the GMs felt it was important to adopt a less-is-more attitude this time around. Be that as it may, the men in the bench trench don&rsquo;t see things quite as idyllic as their bosses. Not that the game is necessarily in tatters, the coaches admit, but it certainly has some warts.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011697/6978293-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="336" height="453"></div>Take obstruction, for example.The GMs discussed it and acknowledged there has been a little slippage in the standard that was set down at the beginning of the season. Nothing a little tweak won&rsquo;t cure.Well, maybe it needs more than that, according to the coaches.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s right back to where it was,&rdquo; said St. Louis Blues&rsquo; coach Joel Quenneville of obstruction. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s gone a long way back.&rdquo;That sentiment echoed the pointed criticisms of Toronto Maple Leaf coach Pat Quinn, who publicly bemoaned rising obstruction even before the GMs got together in California.Dallas Stars&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock is extremely frustrated with the issue. There are, he said, too many obstruction calls and too few obstruction calls.Come again?&ldquo;The players know the referees are looking for it, especially in the offensive zone,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;So a player without the puck is going to the net and the first time he&rsquo;s touched by a defenseman, he&rsquo;s diving and drawing a penalty. It drives me crazy. The refs have to start calling that dive. Sure, if an offensive guy has position on the defender and gets hooked from behind, it&rsquo;s a penalty. But if a defensive player has position on the offensive player and the offensive player goes down on his way to the net, well, that&rsquo;s just the way it is.&rdquo;And the flip side?&ldquo;Have you seen what&rsquo;s happening on the forecheck?&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with the first forechecker getting held up by a defenseman, that&rsquo;s fine, but some teams are now holding up the second and third forecheckers, too. It makes for ugly, ugly hockey and it&rsquo;s starting to happen with a lot more frequency. If they don&rsquo;t start calling it, an unskilled team will beat a skilled team in the first round of the playoffs.&rdquo;Tweak that.In other business, the GMs reviewed video review/zero tolerance for crease infringement, but will maintain the status quo, even though NHL senior vice-president Colin Campbell (a former coach) personally likes the no harm-no foul, leave-it-to-the-refer-ee&rsquo;s-discretion concept.That groan you hear is coming from Boston.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s ridiculous, it&rsquo;s stupid,&rdquo; said Bruins&rsquo; coach Pat Bums of the zero tolerance video review policy. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got to get rid of it. They&rsquo;re having a tough time scoring goals and then we disallow them because someone&rsquo;s toe is in the crease? It&rsquo;s nuts.&rdquo;Washington Capitals&rsquo; coach Ron Wilson is less emotional about it, but does have his concerns.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021360/6978286-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1293" height="2330"><figcaption class="caption-body">Devils&rsquo; Bobby Carpenter is interfered with by Boston&rsquo;s Jason Allison.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;The way it is now,&rdquo; Wilson said, &ldquo;there aren&rsquo;t many mistakes being made and that&rsquo;s good, I guess, but what really bugs me is the lack of spontaneity when you score a goal now. It&rsquo;s like a goal isn&rsquo;t a goal anymore until you see the referee get off the phone and point to the circle. I&rsquo;m not sure standing around and waiting to find out if you can celebrate is a good thing for the game.&rdquo;The GMs also discussed the merits of returning to the tag-up offside rule of two years ago, but chose to maintain the status quo, although there will likely be more intentional offsides called from here on in.&ldquo;Too bad,&rdquo; Quenneville said. &ldquo;I was really hoping they&rsquo;d reintroduce the tag-up because it encourages forechecking. I think the current offside encourages teams to lay back and trap.&rdquo;No one, other than the league&rsquo;s goalies, seem to have a problem with the continuing crackdown on the size of netminders&rsquo; equipment. The GMs rubber-stamped a pre-ordained reduction for goalie catching gloves for next season, from 50 inches in perimeter to 48.And to no one&rsquo;s surprise, the GMs endorsed the two-referee system that will be used in the playoffs this spring. Formal announcement of that will come from the league as soon it finalizes the practical considerations such as scheduling and any matters relating to the collective bargaining agreement with the NHL Officials&rsquo; Association.You may find this hard to believe, but there may be a coach or two out there who isn&rsquo;t convinced two refs is necessarily better than one.&ldquo;I figured two refs would be okay,&rdquo; Bums said, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m not so sure. We had a game with Dennis LaRue and Kerry Fraser. I had to ask LaRue, &rsquo;Why are you here?&rsquo; because Fraser was the only one making any calls.&rdquo;Someone better pass Pat the glasses. &#9632;

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COLUMNISTS

Obstruction creeps back

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div>If Theo Fleury has said it once, he has said it a thousand times.&ldquo;Why would I sign a new contract now when I&rsquo;m going to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer?&rdquo;Why indeed, prompting another question.Why did goalies Guy Hebert and Patrick Roy take themselves out of unrestricted free agency by signing new contracts with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Colorado Avalanche, respectively?&ldquo;Because it was what the players wanted,&rdquo; said NHL Players&rsquo; Association executive director Bob Goode-now. &ldquo;And isn&rsquo;t that what free agency is all about, making a choice? Guy and Patrick decided what was best for them and there are a whole host of considerations, from financial to the city to the franchise to management to coaches to teammates. From my perspective, that&rsquo;s how the system is supposed to work. I&rsquo;m happy for them.&rdquo;Hebert signed a three-year deal worth $11.9 million; Roy a two-year pact worth $15 million. No one knows what either would have gotten on the open market this summer, but they clearly believed the offers they received were close enough to market value and neither was keen on pulling up stakes and moving.It may be something of a trend this year. Some of the other top talent scheduled for unrestricted free agency this summer-New York Rangers Brian Leetch and Adam Graves, for instance-would prefer to remain with the Blueshirts.So long as the offer is deemed reasonable, that is. If it isn&rsquo;t, they&rsquo;ll move on.And yet there will be others-Fleury of the Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; Mark Recchi, for example-who will almost certainly exercise their freedom of choice in the summer.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an individual thing,&rdquo; Goode-now said. &ldquo;Some (free agents) will move on to new teams, some will sign early with their existing team and others, like Mike Richter last summer, will exercise their right and re-sign with their team. There are so many variables depending on the player and the team involved.&rdquo;As for the specific issue of why Fleury is determined to wait instead of signing now, there&rsquo;s one obvious reason. It&rsquo;s because the Flames haven&rsquo;t presented him with an offer he believes is close enough to what he&rsquo;s sure to get in the summer.<h2>Canada wants to host Worlds</h2>The World Championship has never been staged in North America, but Bob Nicholson would like to change that.The president of the Canadian Hockey Association told The Hockey News his organization intends to bid to host the 2001 World Championship.&ldquo;It has always been a European event, but we see no reason not to have it in Canada,&rdquo; Nicholson said. &ldquo;With the success we&rsquo;ve had with the World Junior Championship, it makes sense.&rdquo;Nicholson said no site has been firmed up but added, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure it would be well received in places like Winnipeg or Quebec City.&rdquo;The International Ice Hockey Federation has voted to permanently advance the tournament to February of each year, beginning in 2001. That would make it impossible for NHL players to participate-non-playoff participants and first-round losers have been used to stock Canadian and American entries in May&ndash;and a World Championship tournament in Canada would be competing head-to-head with the NHL regular season.But Nicholson said the World Championship could co-exist with the NHL regular season and, in fact, could work to the NHL&rsquo;s benefit.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to see a program where each NHL club gives us their top (Canadian) pro prospect in October and we&rsquo;d put together a national team that would train and play together right through to the World Championship,&rdquo; Nicholson said.&ldquo;After that, we&rsquo;d release the players back to their professional organizations. We think the idea has merit.&rdquo;-Bob McKenzie &#9632;

Roy, Hebert bypass free agency

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello Senior Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011639/6978379-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky pulled even with Gordie Howe in pro goals.</figcaption></div>Wayne Gretzky reached another milestone when he scored the 1,071st goal of his pro career, matching Gordie Howe.Gretzky&rsquo;s second period goal against Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; goalie Garth Snow in an 8-4 New York Rangers&rsquo; win Feb. 4 gave him eight this season, 893 for his NHL career and 1,071 as a professional.The standard includes regular season and playoff goals in the NHL and World Hockey Association. Gretzky has 122 NHL playoff goals and 56 WHA goals (46 regular season and 10 playoff.)Howe&rsquo;s 1,071 total includes 869 in the NHL(801 regular season and 68 playoff) and 202 in the WHA (174 regular season and 28 playoff.)&ldquo;I&rsquo;m proud to have played in both the NHL and the WHA,&rdquo; Gretzky said after matching Howe&rsquo;s total. &ldquo;I will remember this a long time.&rdquo;Gretzky&rsquo;s goal total comes in 653 fewer games-1,768 compared to 2,421 for Howe.Gretzky, 38 and in his 20th NHL season, is closing in on other milestones. He was seven goals away from 900 for his NHL regular season career, 48 assists away from 2,000 and 55 points away from 2,900.Incredibly, with 2,845 NHL points Feb. 5, Gretzky was five points away from having 1,000 more than Howe, the No. 2 alltime point-getter. Howe had 1,850 in 26 seasons. Fourth all-time in NHL regular season games played, Gretzky (1,467) can pass John Bucyk (1,540) and Alex Delvecchio (1,549) in the next year. Out of reach is Howe at 1,767.<h2>Ottawa to host</h2>The Ottawa 67&rsquo;s gained entry into the Memorial Cup, by virtue of the fact they&rsquo;re the hosts.The Canadian Hockey League chose Ottawa over other Ontario League bids by the Barrie Colts, Plymouth Whalers and Sarnia Sting. The 67&rsquo;s will join champions from the OHL, Western League and Quebec League for the Memorial Cup May 15-23. Should the 67&rsquo;s win the OHL title, the runner-up will advance.In other news, the roster for the Prospect&rsquo;s Game was announced. Forty of major junior&rsquo;s top prospects for the 1999 entry draft will be featured in the Feb. 16 game in Calgary.<h2>THN&rsquo;s Millennium</h2>TIME CAPSULEMOLINE, Ill.-The stick of San Jose prospect Shawn Heins is in the Hall of Fame after he unleashed a 106 m-p-h shot during the United League AllStar Game Feb. 2. Asnawn member of CanaHeins da&rsquo;s national team, Heins&rsquo; first shot was 105.2 mph. Not happy with it, he uncorked the 106 mph blast deemed to be the hardest in all-star competition.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021179/6978372-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="255" height="350"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shawn Heins</figcaption></div>The Hockey News is making a deposit each week to our Millennium Time Capsule to mark the final year of the millennium. This week THN deposits Heins&rsquo; Hall of Fame stick. Jan. 8 Russian Gold MedalWorld Junior ChampionshipJan. 15 Tear DropDoug Wickenheiser&rsquo;s deathJan. 22 Panthers&rsquo; Jan. 20 Game Sheet Pavel Bure&rsquo;s Florida debutJan. 29 All-Star TruckWayne Gretzky all-star MVPFeb. 5 Hall of Fame stick106 m-p-h shot &#9632;

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Gretzkv at 1,071

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>A defenseman in the West Coast League was arrested and charged with using his stick as a deadly weapon.Dean Trboyevich of the Anchorage Aces speared Jacques Mailhot of the Fresno Falcons in the face Feb. 2 sparking a bench-clearing brawl that led to the ejection of 11 players.Trboyevich received a high-sticking major and a match penalty for spearing. Mailhot, who wasn&rsquo;t injured and continued playing, made a request during the first intermission that Trboyevich be arrested. An off-ice official called authorities and Trboyevich was arrested at his hotel after the game.Trboyevich posted $20,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in Fresno Country court Feb. 10. The charge can be treated as a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, or a felony punishable by two to four years in a state prison. A $10,000 fine could also be imposed. The WCHL suspended Trboyevich indefinitely.CTV TAKES TSN: CTV Inc., owners of CTV Sportsnet, has reached an agreement to buy control of NetStar Communications, the parent company of Sportsnet competitor TSN.CTV Sportsnet and TSN are the only two all-sports networks in Canada. The unexpected deal was announced Feb. 5.It was not immediately known how the purchase would affect NHL or junior television contracts with the two networks. Sportsnet has regional contracts with four Canadian NHL teams; TSN holds rights to two teams.<h2>PUCK BRIEFS</h2>CTV president Ivan Fecan said the purchase &ldquo;will enable our respective sport services to focus on what they do and know best. TSN is a nationally oriented service and SportsNet primarily a regional service across Canada.&rdquo;The deal is subject to approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.WOMEN GEAR UP: The U.S. national women&rsquo;s team will have half its Olympic gold-medal roster intact for the 1999 World Championship.Eleven members of the 1998 Olympic gold-medal squad are on this year&rsquo;s roster, announced Feb. 2. Five U.S. Olympians retired and three others have school commitments.The World Championship is March 8-14 in Finland.The Canadian team, by comparison, has 14 players returning from last year&rsquo;s silver-medal contingent at the Olympics. (See pg. 40 for rosters.)The two teams face each other for just the second time since the Olympics in the inaugural TSN Challenge March 1 in Brampton, Ont.FASEL NO DOPE: International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel said the NHL failed to represent the interests of North American fans and players by snubbing the world doping summit in Lausanne, Switz.&ldquo;It would have been easier if they were here to ask their opinion,&rdquo; Fasel said, &ldquo;but I cannot speak for them.&rdquo;Fasel said the international federation would organize talks with the NHL in order to resolve the longstanding deadlock between the two bodies on the issue of doping.PEEWEES CLASH: More than 2,000 peewee players representing 15 countries will be in Quebec City for the Peewee International Tournament Feb. 11-21. The 39th annual tournament is often referred to as the peewee world championship and has been a proving ground for more than 500 NHL and World Hockey Association players. &#9632;

Minor leaguer charged in spearing incident

As much as I admire Stan Mikita for the skill and flare he brought to the NHL, Andy Bathgate can correctly claim fame as the player who introduced the curved stick to the NHL (THN, Feb. 5).I became president of CCM in 1962 and I remember visiting Maple Leaf Gardens with our equipment contact man, George Parsons, to talk to the players about their equipment requirements.One morning in the early 1960s, we chatted with Bathgate and watched as he took hot water-soaked blades on a few sticks and carefully bent them under the dressing room doors. He had to bend them more than he wanted to because they did straighten out. It was definitely later that Mikita, then Bobby Hull, started to use the curved stick.Tom Nease,&nbsp;Woodbridge, Ont.<h2>Yashin bashin&rsquo;</h2>I just want to vent my frustration with THN for your cover story on Alexei Yashin (THN, Feb. 5).Less than a month ago, I complained to The Hockey News that it was time for a cover story on Yashin&hellip;but based on his talent, accomplishments and the respect the Ottawa fans have for him. When you finally write about him, the headline is &ldquo;Scandal Strikes Super Senator.&rdquo; Mark Brender writes THN planned a cover story as a result of &ldquo;Yashin&rsquo;s brilliant play; his eclectic life,&rdquo; but Brender goes on to write a cheesy story about Yashin&rsquo;s National Arts Centre donation trouble.What an insult to Alexei and all his fans worldwide. By going the way of a supermarket tabloid and capitalizing on a non-hockey issue, THN slapped us all in the face. Shame.Steve Hicks,&nbsp;Ottawa, Ont.<h2>Gone Fisching</h2>Wait a minute. I just read Stan Fischler&rsquo;s column (THN, Feb. 5) and he states that, among other things, the Detroit Red Wings won&rsquo;t three-peat without Slava Fetisov. Isn&rsquo;t he the same &ldquo;maven&rdquo; that, just a few years ago, felt the Wings wouldn&rsquo;t win a Cup because they had Fetisov? Beware readers, listening to the views of hockey &ldquo;experts&rdquo; could be hazardous to your hockey health.Dr. Alan E. Spinner,&nbsp;Naples, Fla.<h2>Ranger anger</h2>Attn; Neil Smith.What have you done? I&rsquo;ll tell you. You&rsquo;ve taken a recent Stanley Cup champion and destroyed it.As I walked out of Madison Square Garden the other night, I couldn&rsquo;t help but notice the disgusted faces of my fellow Ranger fans. Disgusted because of what has become of our team. Disgusted because of your inability to keep this team competitive. Disgusted because you couldn&rsquo;t get the one player, Pavel Bure, who could have turned things around here.Do something fast, Neil. You&rsquo;ve hit rock bottom and the loyal Ranger fans have had it with you. Just because we buy season tickets year after year, doesn&rsquo;t mean we&rsquo;ve been enjoying ourselves at the Garden. Get some help or get out of New York.Bruce Grobman,&nbsp;New York, N.Y.<h2>No tents for NHLers</h2>I recently watched a game on ESPN and the announcers kept talking about what a rough schedule the players and teams have traveling and staying in hotels. These guys are too spoiled.First, they&rsquo;re getting paid millions just for playing a game I have to pay to play-but I do this because I love the game. Second, I am in the U.S. AnForce so don&rsquo;t tell me about travel-I have to go to Saudi Arabia and Korea all the time and may be gone for four months and staying in tents. Where do these guys stay, the Marriott? Must be rough.And the funny thing is, I have to work 40 hours or more a week and I make about $25,000 a year. So don&rsquo;t cry about traveling, especially when your longest road trip might be eight days.Michael Fox,&nbsp;Mountain Home AFB, Idaho<h2>No to Niinimaa</h2>Why does everyone keep saying GM Bob Clarke made a bad trade by trading Janne Niinimaa for Dan McGillis?Niinimaa is supposed to be a powerplay quarterback, but had only three goals and 18 points after 47 games. Meanwhile, McGillis had seven goals and 32 points after 49 games. He had more shots on net than Niinimaa and a better plus/minus (plus-19 to plus-11). McGillis was also one of the league leaders in hits with 133. He plays a much more physical style than Niinimaa, but still had less penalty minutes (38 to 52).I&rsquo;m not saying Clarke has not made mistakes, but I think this and the signing of John Vanbiesbrouck show Clarke is capable of winning, too.David Cooper,&nbsp;Nanaimo, B.C.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 paulj@trans-continentaLca Include hometown as well as home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

Former CCM executive backs Bathaate claim

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011821/6978458-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender Staff Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011655/6978503-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goalie Mike Dunham will be key if Nashville is to makes a late playoff charge.</figcaption></div>When the playoffs spring to life in late April, chances are at least two and possibly three of the NHL&rsquo;s top 16 teams will be on the outside looking in.It is one of the injustices of a conference seeding system that punishes a good-enough team in the East (for not being better) and rewards the mediocre of the West (as long as the direct competition is mediocre, too).Yep, the disparity jumps out like a Bryan Marchment knee and there&rsquo;s little the Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers can do about it.The way it&rsquo;s looking now, three out of those four Eastern Conference teams will miss out on the post-season. Yet if they were in the much weaker Western Conference, there&rsquo;s a chance they would all make the top-eight cut.In THN&rsquo;s early look at the playoff race, we counted nine teams as givens&ndash;the Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference and the Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings and Phoenix Coyotes in the Western. The sadsack Tampa Bay Lighting was out of the race long ago and with their bumbling play of late, the New York Islanders have joined them.All the rest still have a shot, but the sun will set much faster on the laggards in the East. As of Feb 5, the gap between 13th and eighth place in the East was 14 points. In the West it was only eight. Western Conference teams don&rsquo;t have to make up nearly as much ground and judging by how the season has gone so far, won&rsquo;t have to play nearly as well to do it.The San Jose Sharks, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Nashville Predators, among others, were battling it out for that last Western spot, yet all have struggled to reach within sniffing distance of. 500. More depressing yet for their Eastern foes, a look at their schedules reveals these three teams will all be hard-pressed to keep up what can best be described as a tepid pace.The Sharks, for example, play a league-high 21 out of their final 33 games on the road, where they have won but four games all season. They will spend the better part of February on a harrowing 10-game, 17-day road trip in which they play back-to-back twice and never have more than one day off between games.Nashville doesn&rsquo;t have it much better. The Predators play 18 of 32 on the road. Seventeen of the 32 are against opponents with. 500-or-bet-ter records (as of Feb. 1). Perhaps most crucially, Nashville had only 12 &rsquo;Tour-pointer&rdquo; games remaining against the eight Western Conference teams still uncertain of a playoff berth (By comparison, the St. Louis Blues had 18).Anaheim, with five road wins in 23 games, plays 18 of its final 33 away from The Pond.Other interesting notes:? Despite a 9-2-1 run in December and January, Montreal still has to play. 650 hockey over its final 30 games to reach 85 points, expected to be the Eastern Conference playoff floor. Complicating matters is Montreal&rsquo;s 4-205 record against teams. 500 or better; two-thirds of their remaining games are against such teams.?The chances of the Calgary Flames, four points out of a playoff spot with two teams ahead of them as of Feb. 5, aren&rsquo;t all that bad. The Flames play only 12 of their final 31 games against opponents with winning records and 17 &ldquo;four-pointers&rdquo; against direct opponents, giving them every opportunity to make a late charge.?The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers both have difficult paths to travel in their duel for the Southeast Division title. Carolina, just a. 500 team on the road, will live for 19 of its final 32 games out of a suitcase; Florida plays 19 of its 34 remaining games against. 500-plus opponents. At stake is the automatic third seed in the Eastern Conference, and, possibly, a back door playoff berth.It would take a Carolina meltdown to happen, but it&rsquo;s nevertheless possible that the Southeast&rsquo;s best team could be ninth-best in the Eastern Conference. A team with a better record would miss the boat.And who would be to blame?Why, Nashville, of course. The NHL went to a three-division per conference format at this season to accommodate the Predators and a 27-team league.Imagine how much salt would be rubbed in the wound if Nashville managed to claw its way into the playoffs at the same time. It would have an inferior record and indirectly be responsible for the seeding scenario.<h2>COMPARING PLAYOFF PROSPECTS FOR TEAMS IN WESTERN & EASTERN CONFERENCE</h2>The magic numbers are 85 and 74.Thafs how many points it will take to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference (85) and Western Conference (74), according to Feb. 5 NHL standings.In the East, the eighth-place Florida Panthers had 50 points and were on pace to earn the last playoff berth with 85 points. In the West, the eighth-place San Jose Sharks had 44 points and were on pace to earn the last playoff spot with 74 points.The accompanying table shows the 16 teams in contention for seven playoff spots, assuming the other nine have been secured by conference frontrunners.Listed is winning percentage (WP), games left, games left against teams with, 500-or-better records, percentage of games left against. 500 foes and winning percentages teams need to maintain to hit the magic marks (85 or 74).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021114/6978496-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="556" height="875"><figcaption class="caption-body">Teemu Selanne</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03703/6978489-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="1985" height="971"></div> &#9632;

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Playoff engines running

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>Another game. Another Loss. Another goalless effort. That has been the story of Vincent Damphousse&rsquo;s sea-son.Not including the Jan. 16 game in which he scored an empty-net goal, the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; captain saw his dryspell reach 26 games during an embarrassing 5-3 home loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins Jan. 31. The drought stretches back to Dec. 5.Damphousse, who opened the season with four goals in five games, uncharacteristically shunned the media after the Pittsburgh defeat. Instead, he remained locked away inside the Canadiens&rsquo; exercise room and rode the stationary bike. In a way it is a perfect parallel of how things have been going for him this season-no matter how hard he peddles, he gets nowhere.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011713/6978541-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="347" height="496"></div>Damphousse doesn&rsquo;t normally commit his scoring droughts to memory. He remembers as a sophomore with the Toronto Maple Leafs going 26 straight games without scoring, but, for the most part, he has been a consistent offensive contributor. What makes this slump so tough to handle is the fact other players the Canadiens count on for goals, Mark Recchi, Saku Koivu, Brian Savage, Martin Rucinsky, are also underachieving.The Canadiens inability to score this season has the team perilously close to missing the playoffs. That, as you can imagine, is not going over well with the very demanding locals.&ldquo;My thing now is to try to get some chances; to try to get every shot, even the ones from bad angles, on goal,&rdquo; Damphousse explained two days after the Penguins&rsquo; game. &ldquo;Things have to break soon.&rdquo;The reality of the situation is&ndash;and Damphousse fully understands this&ndash;the Canadiens have to make a call on his future with them soon. He, along with right winger Recchi and defenseman Stephane Quintal, are slated to be unrestricted free agents this summer. Recchi is going to command in the $5-6 million (U.S.) a year range. Quintal, in his 11th NHL season and currently earning $900,000, is also due for a substantial raise.And what of Damphousse? He earns $3.275 million (U.S.) this season and, as much as he desires to stay in Montreal, isn&rsquo;t likely to accept a pay cut for that honor. Can the Canadiens afford to pay that much for a player whose numbers have been in decline for three years? Do they respect his defensive role enough to al least match his current salary? Would matching it be enough to interest him in staying when surely there will be teams convinced he can score again if he just gets out of the pressure-cooker that is Montreal?While Damphousse won&rsquo;t talk about his contract and how much he expects to sign for, he does spell out loud and clear that in a perfect world he will remain with the Canadiens.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021319/6978534-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="1264" height="1687"><figcaption class="caption-body">Vincent Damphousse has struggled on offense for the Canadiens.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It has always been my intention to stay,&rdquo; Damphousse said. &ldquo;I told (ex-Canadiens, GM) Serge Savard and (successor) Rejean Houle after him, this is where I want to play. I grew up in Montreal and I am proud to wear the Canadiens&rsquo; jersey. At the same time I know it has to work both ways. They have to want me, too. You may only get the chance at unrestricted free agency once in your career. My favorite thing would be to come to a deal with Montreal.&rdquo;So what&rsquo;s the going rate for a 31-year-old center who has lost his scoring touch? Damphousse scored 38 goals three years ago; 27 the following year and 18 last season. He&rsquo;s on pace for 13 this year. His points have fallen from 94 to 81 to 59 and he was creeping toward 43 this year.&ldquo;When Mario Tremblay coached the team he asked me to check the other team&rsquo;s top line,&rdquo; Damphousse said. &ldquo;I took a lot of pride in the job and finished fourth in voting for the Selke. I don&rsquo;t believe being a checking center means you abandon all the things you need to do to produce on offense.&rdquo;Damphousse hasn&rsquo;t exactly put up Hall of Fame numbers in his 13-year NHL career, but has been a consistent, impact player. He had the distinction of leading three different teams in scoring in three consecutive seasons; the Maple Leafs in 1990-91, Edmonton Oilers in 1991-92 and the Canadiens in 1992-93. His best offensive season was 1992-93 when he managed 97 points and another 23 in 20 playoff games as the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup.His highest goal output was the following year when he fired 40 in 84 games.&ldquo;When he&rsquo;s on his game, like early in the season, he&rsquo;s one of the better centers in the league,&rdquo; said Montreal coach Alain Vigneault. &ldquo;He can skate; he can score; he&rsquo;s one of the better defensive forwards in the league. But he has stopped scoring. Why? If we knew we&rsquo;d do something to help him.&rdquo;The question now is, will Damphousse be able to help himself? &#9632;

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Damphousse at crossroad

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender Stall Writer</div>KANATA, Ont.-Whoever said coaches are hired to be fired didn&rsquo;t know much about team building. If a coach can get his players to trust each other, there&rsquo;s no reason he can&rsquo;t stick around himself.These aren&rsquo;t the exact words Jacques Martin uses, but they explain the essence of his message&hellip; and, one might say, of the unexpectedly strong performance of his team.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like to look at coaching as a short-term affair,&rdquo; says Martin, now in his fourth season in Ottawa. &ldquo;To me, there&rsquo;s no reason why a coach can&rsquo;t be successful and stay in the same place.&rdquo;Rewarded with the Eastern Conference&rsquo;s third-best record as of Feb. 5, the Senators have earned a reputation among the NHL&rsquo;s elite as relentless competitors. It&rsquo;s a direct reflection of their unassuming, low-profile coach and his ability to reach a cast of unassuming, largely low-budget players. It is Martin, according to winger Daniel Alfredsson, who is &ldquo;the biggest reason why we&rsquo;re doing so well.&rdquo;Some would say any coach has to be in it for the long haul in Ottawa, but Martin&rsquo;s approach has nothing to do with being in a small market. It is about how a coach who spent seven years teaching college believes success over time is best achieved. The correct answer is slowly and carefully.&ldquo;To create a team that can win on a regular basis, look at it like building a house,&rdquo; Martin says. &ldquo;You build a good foundation before you lay the house, the walls and things like that. And it&rsquo;s the same thing building a team. You have to develop a good work ethic, that&rsquo;s No. 1, and you have to develop a team concept. The team has to come first.&rdquo;Hence the team&rsquo;s offbeat pre-season retreat in Banff, Alta.. Martin had his troops filling out pieces of paper asking for the one time in their careers when they witnessed true leadership. He had millionaires wandering blindfolded on winding roads and through a forest, guided away from curbs and tree trunks only by a teammate&rsquo;s voice. And he had grown men playing with Lego.A replica product of their efforts looks down on the team from the central archway just inside their Corel Centre dressing room. Lego Man, as they call him, is the ever-present reminder of all a team can accomplish when it works together.Players, coaches and trainers were divided into groups of six. Each group was given the same pile of Lego pieces. The goal was to reproduce a giant Lego Man already assembled behind a curtain. Only one member of each group at a time could venture behind the curtain to look at the large-scale model. They tried to divide responsibilities; someone would remember what the arms looked like, someone else the legs, someone else the torso or the head. When all had seen it, they could begin building. The quickest group had their Lego Man built in about 26 minutes.Martin held a similar bonding session last year when the players regrouped after the Olympic break. They met for a half-day, business-type seminar in Edmonton and through different activities and exercises came up with a &ldquo;blueprint for success&rdquo; to get them into the playoffs. It did.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a team that believes in this team bonding stuff,&rdquo; says goalie Ron Tugnutt. &ldquo;When we first started doing it (several years ago) it was like, &rsquo;Are you kidding me?&rsquo; and we kind of made fun of it. But I started to notice more and more that guys were finding it a challenge to do things and they&rsquo;re competing against each other.&rdquo;The moral of the story? When the house is built on a solid base, it&rsquo;s easy to make renovations. And unlike with Lego, you don&rsquo;t have to pick up the pieces to do it. &#9632;

Martin lays foundation for success with trust. Lego

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy Senior Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011686/6978603-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div>MONTREAL-It&rsquo;s three hours until game time and Keith Primeau is already well into his routine.Sticks groomed to perfection? Check. Skates sharpened? Check. Stretching completed? Check. Minor injuries and ailments attended to by the medical staff? Check.By all appearances, Primeau is loosey-goosey as he wanders the hallway of the Melson Centre. On the inside, who knows? Primeau&rsquo;s inner fires bum white hot.He has been accused by teammates of putting his &rsquo;game face&rsquo; on way too early. There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with being intense and wanting desperately to win, but Primeau can be downright creepy to be around. Because his role with the Carolina Hurricanes is so huge. it&rsquo;s important for those around him to feel he&rsquo;s in control. Visibly, at least on this Saturday morning, he seems to be at peace.&ldquo;Keith Primeau?&rdquo; says Hurricanes&rsquo; defenseman Paul Coffey, speaking loudly enough for the subject of the conversation to overhear. &ldquo;I guess he has played OK this year.&rdquo;A-OK is more like it.The leading candidates for the Hart Trophy at the midway point of the season were the usual suspects-Dominik Hasek, Eric Lindros, Jaromir Jagr and Paul Kariya. Primeau isn&rsquo;t in that group, but he is within a couple strides of the pack.The &rsquo;Canes are making sweet music this season and Primeau is the maestro. Only the FloridaPanthers, enjoying a revival since Pavel Bure arrived, stand between the Hurricanes and a likely No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs as winners of the Southeast Division.Of Primeau&rsquo;s 23 goals (to go with 20 assists) in 50 games, nine came on the power play, one was scored while the Hurricanes were shorthanded and four were game-winners. Playing on a line with left winger Robert Kron and veteran right winger Ray Sheppard, Primeau was easily on pace to eclipse his single-season high of 31 goals in 1993-94.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s heads and shoulders above where he was even a year ago,&rdquo; says Carolina defenseman Steve Chiasson.The Hurricanes have managed to overcome numerous injuries to their defense corps to remain atop the division. Carolina GM Jim Rutherford has done a nice job of integrating youth into the lineup over the past few seasons and making key acquisitions of influential veterans; players such as Gary Roberts, Ray Sheppard and Ron Francis to go with the likes of Jeff O&rsquo;Neill, Sami Kapanen and Marek Malik. Goaltender Arturs Irbe appears reborn having signed as a free agent after being cast aside by the Vancouver Canucks. And fellow stopper Trevor Kidd, the team&rsquo;s No. 1 goalie last year, has handled the competition and reduction in playing time admirably.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&rsquo;He&rsquo;s trying to relax more, but it&rsquo;s a chore for him&rsquo;</blockquote>There are questions though. Can Irbe and Kidd come through in the playoffs? And, if Chiasson doesn&rsquo;t make a successful recovery from shoulder surgery, who will they get to replace him?Make no mistake though, the Hurricanes are Primeau&rsquo;s team. How well he performs will be a huge determining factor in how far the team goes. The 28-year-old center, who is in his ninth pro season, is coming into his own as a star performer.Better late than never.Some suggest the 6-foot-5, 220-pounder was an underachiever in his six seasons with the Detroit Red Wings. Then again, a strong case could be made that he was rushed into the NHL before he was ready and was never given a real chance to show what he could do, stuck behind Steve Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov. Under the circumstances, he actually did more than hold his own as he developed nicely.There was a day when Yzerman&rsquo;s presence stood between Primeau and the opportunity to shine. Now Primeau is every bit as important to the Hurricanes&rsquo; cause as Yzerman is to the twotime defending Stanley Cup champion.&ldquo;Keith is one of the best forwards in the NHL who is not the best at any one particular thing he does, if that makes any sense,&rdquo; says Carolina coach Paul Maurice. &ldquo;In other words, he&rsquo;s dominant in every aspect of the game. He could be a heavyweight (fighter) in the league if he wanted to be, but he&rsquo;s too important to our team in other areas. He&rsquo;s solid defensively, too. And he might not score 60 goals, but he&rsquo;ll get you between 40 and 50 through sheer hard work.&rdquo;Adds Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman Eric Weinrich: &ldquo;He has always been very physical; now he has added a lot of skill to his game. His hands are as good as anybody I&rsquo;ve played against with the exception of Mario (Lemieux).&rdquo;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;d go that far,&rdquo; Chiasson says. &ldquo;The thing Keith does have, though, is tremendous skating ability. He gets that long stride going and if he gets a half a step on you to the outside, you&rsquo;re not going to catch him.&rdquo;Mike Primeau had a big decision to make in 1982.Every morning when he would leave his home in Markham, Ont., for his job at the hydro plant in neighboring Pickering, he would drive the hilly back roads directly into the sun. Then at night as he made his way home, he again drove with the sun shining brightly in his eyes.It was hell.&ldquo;He honestly felt one morning he, wouldn&rsquo;t be able to see because of the sun and he&rsquo;d come over a hill and. somebody would be in his lane and that would be it,&rdquo; says Keith Primeau, his oldest son. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s when he finally made the decision to move.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011518/6978596-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="1964" height="2167"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gale force: Hurricanes&rsquo; leader Keith Primeau savs the desire to keep qettinq better is what drives him.</figcaption></div>The family relocated to Whitby, Ont., where Mike Primeau could leave home in the morning with the sun at his back and return home under the same circumstances.Playing in Detroit for Keith Primeau was like driving into the sun. Like his dad, he loved his occupation, but ultimately he knew if he was to stick with it, or as he likes to say, &ldquo;keep my sanity,&rdquo; he would have to leave. Either leave&hellip; or quit.Primeau&rsquo;s stay in Detroit got off to a rocky start, right from the day he was drafted by the Wings third overall when he expected to go No. 2 to the Vancouver Canucks. In one of the best draft years ever, the Canucks took Petr Nedved instead.While Jaromir Jagr, picked fifth by the Pittsburgh Penguins, is clearly the best player to emerge from the Class of &rsquo;90, Primeau is No. 2 in the top five that also included Nedved, Owen Nolan and Mike Ricci.Often during his first few years in the NHL, Primeau found himself playing out of position, on the left wing instead of at center where he was most comfortable.It wasn&rsquo;t until his fourth season with Detroit that he found his niche on the team. Slotted into the No. 3 center position behind Steve Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov, he offered dependable two-way play.&ldquo;I was really happy with what they had me doing, playing 15 minutes a game on the third line, often in a checking role,&rdquo; Primeau says. &ldquo;Quite often I was lined up with some pretty talented wingers. I could have played like that for a long time and stayed happy.&ldquo;Then, after my fourth year, they brought in Igor Larionov. I&rsquo;m like, &rsquo;What the hell is this?&rsquo; Getting Igor was a great move for the Red Wings; it was not a great move for Keith Primeau. That&rsquo;s when I knew I had to get out&rdquo;It took a holdout after his sixth season for Primeau to finally get his way, but he ultimately landed in Hartford, traded to the Whalers along with Coffey and Detroit&rsquo;s No. 1 pick in the 1997 entry draft for left winger Brendan Shanahan and defenseman Brian Glynn. While most of the hockey world wanted out of Hartford, Coffey included, Primeau loved it.&ldquo;I guess there are some regrets that I don&rsquo;t have a Stanley Cup ring,&rdquo; Primeau says, &ldquo;but I will never regret my decision to leave.&rdquo;If Primeau has gone unnoticed for the most part by Joe Fan, his talents have at least been appreciated by those who piece together Canadian teams for international competition. In that regard he has been recognized as one of the best players in the NHL. He played for Team Canada in the 1996 World Cup and again last year in the Winter Olympics in Nagano. He was an alternate captain on Canada&rsquo;s gold medal-winning entry at the 1997 World Championship and captain of last year&rsquo;s team.This season he was determined from the outset to raise his profile in the NHL. During a Sept. 22 pre-season game in Detroit, of all places,Primeau played it like it was the seventh game of the Stanley Cup final. Late in the game he drove hard to the net with such force that, after firing the game-winning goal, he flew backwards into the end glass with his arms raised high in the air in celebration. Then, with less than a minute to play, he went toe-to-toe with former teammate Darren McCarty.Primeau is the first to admit he&rsquo;s an emotional player. And sometimes in the past he let his emotions get the better of him. When teammates played a practical joke on him during a practice in Detroit, he wound up slugging it out with Bob Probert. Two years ago in a game against the Buffalo Sabres, he beat up his younger brother, Wayne. Upset by the incident and banished for the rest of the period, Primeau raced to a telephone and called his dad. Mike Primeau assured his oldest son that young Wayne had it coming and told him to calm down and go finish the game.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s trying to relax more, but it&rsquo;s a chore for him,&rdquo; Maurice says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s improving though. In the past we&rsquo;d lose a game and I&rsquo;d show up to the office the next morning at seven and he&rsquo;d be there, on the treadmill or riding the bike. He&rsquo;d whip himself. It has helped having guys like Ronnie (Francis) and Paul (Coffey) around.&rdquo;Coffey, who has played with all the great ones-Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Eric Lindros, Yzerman-says Primeau has the makings of a superstar. &ldquo;Sure he&rsquo;s a serious guy, but there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with that,&rdquo; Coffey says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a lot like Eric and people say Eric is too serious. But like Eric, Keith is a great guy to be around if he wants to be around you. And he&rsquo;s not going to change for anyone. Look at how he&rsquo;s playing now. Why would he?&rdquo;The game against the Canadiens isn&rsquo;t one of the Hurricanes&rsquo; better efforts of the year in spite of the fact they win 3-1. They are outshot 45-10 and fail to register a single shot on goal in the third period.Though Primeau draws just one nondescript assist in the game, he is easily the most physically imposing player on the ice. Early in the game he steps into Weinrich who glares at his opponent, but doesn&rsquo;t take the confrontation any further. Later, Primeau and Montreal&rsquo;s Igor Ulanov nearly come to blows. Ulanov is not known as a fighter and with Primeau towering over him as they stand chest-to-nose, he&rsquo;s not about to start carving out a reputation as one.Even in an otherwise off-day for the team, Primeau is noticeable.&ldquo;People often ask me if I&rsquo;m where I think I should be as a player and I always answer, &rsquo;No,&rsquo;&rdquo; Primeau says. &ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m getting there, but there&rsquo;s still work to be done. That&rsquo;s what drives me.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-01

HURRICANE KEITH

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div>Supply and demand is well and good if you happen to be Lou Lamoriello, president and GM of the New Jersey Devils.Lou demands and Albany supplies. Nowhere is the success of a bigleague franchise so closely coupled with its farm team as the New Jersey Turnpike-New York State Thruway connection.The Devils&rsquo; 25-man roster (as of early February) contained 13 skaters from their American League affiliate. Of course, that doesn&rsquo;t even take into account the overflow of River Rats which Lamoriello has sprinkled across the NHL map, particularly St. Louis.&ldquo;Some people call us Albany West,&rdquo; chuckles Blues&rsquo; GM Larry Pleau, who counts Scott Pellerin, Chris McAlpine, Ricard Persson, Bryan Helmer and Pascal Rheaume among his Rats&rsquo; alumni. &ldquo;One thing we know is that if they played in Albany, we don&rsquo;t have to teach them defense.&rdquo;Devils&rsquo; owner John McMullen and Lamoriello irrigated their original AHL farm in Utica before moving to Albany to insure against soaring salaries and free agency defections. And guess what? It works.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011645/6978641-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="394" height="568"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brendan Morrison</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We wanted (Doug) Gilmour to come back to us this season,&rdquo; McMullen says, &ldquo;but when he asked too much ($6 million), we looked to our farm team for help and we got it.&ldquo;Without a successful farm team like the Rats,&rdquo; Lamoriello says, &ldquo;we couldn&rsquo;t fiscally survive as a competitive team.&rdquo;Adieu, Doug Gilmour. Welcome, Brendan Morrison. Adieu, Doug Bodger. Bonjour, Brad Bombardir. Not to mention, Kevin Dean and Sheldon Souray, all ex-Rats.&ldquo;Our policy is to develop them slowly but surely,&rdquo; Lamoriello says. &ldquo;Patience is a virtue when you&rsquo;re playing in Albany.&rdquo;Dean can vouch for that. He captained the Rats&rsquo; 1995 Calder Cupwinning team, but didn&rsquo;t become a Devils&rsquo; regular until this year.&ldquo;I spent 3-1/2 years in Albany, bu never looked at it like I was stuck in the minors,&rdquo; Dean says. &ldquo;I realized that I had a lot of development to do and, finally, I got the call.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021312/6978634-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="535" height="944"></div>Ditto for Toronto Maple Leafs Jason Smith and Steve Sullivan, who made it to New Jersey, but became tradable, as did one-time Rats, Reid Simpson, Bryan Muir (Chicago Blackhawks) and Cale Hulse (Calgary Flames).The Rats&rsquo; 1995 Calder Cup goalie tandem, Mike Dunham and Corey Schwab, had a cup of coffee in New Jersey before settling in Nashville and Tampa Bay, respectively.When Steve Thomas joined Gilmour and Bodger among the departed Devils last summer, skeptics predicted New Jersey would suffer. But Thomas was replaced by the most unpronounceable Rat since Krzysztof Oliwa, one Vadim Sharifijanov. A member of the 1995 Calder Cup-winners, &rsquo;The Sheriff quietly has emerged as a Calder Trophy candidate along with Morrison.The beauty of Albany&rsquo;s supply depot is that it not only delivers players, but coaches as well. When Jacques Lemaire said goodbye to East Rutherford, Robbie Ftorek stepped in without missing a beat or bleat.&ldquo;When I was in Albany, our playing style was as close to the one on the big club as possible,&rdquo; Ftorek says. &ldquo;The same goes now that John Cunniff is there. This makes it easier for Albany guys to make the transition to the big club.&rdquo;Grads such as Petr Sykora, Jay Pandolfo, Patrik Elias, Brian Rolston, Denis Pederson, Sergei Brylin and John Madden ripen slowly. The exception is Martin Brodeur, the Utica alumnus who wasted little time en route to stardom.Morrison would have preferred a supersonic maturing process. The moment he was dubbed the next Gilmour, Morrison wanted to go back to the future. Instead, he went to Albany.&ldquo;Initially,&rdquo; says Morrison of his AHL tour, &ldquo;it was disappointing. &ldquo;But I soon realized the Devils have a learning process and the record shows that it works.&rdquo;At least 26 NHL GMs will second the motion. &#9632;

f0012-01

FISCHLER

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div>They were the toast of the NHL for the first quarter of the season and then reverted to their old, desert dog selves for the second quarter, which begs the question: Who are the real Phoenix Coyotes?The team that roared off to that 17-33 start, and looked as if finally, it was a serious Stanley Cup contender? Or the team that sunk into a win-one, lose-one pattern (8-9-7) thereafter and made you wonder if it was just a mirage on the Arizona horizon? The reality is, the Coyotes are probably somewhere in between, closing the gap on the NHL&rsquo;s elite, but not there yet<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011634/6978679-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="397" height="568"></div>A brief confession here: Every year, dating back to their Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; days, I would boldly predict that this franchise had finally arrived and that once and for all, they would deliver on their potential. So many good players passed through the organization-Teemu Selanne in his breathtaking rookie incarnation; Alexei Zhamnov, back when you could find him without a road map; Phil Housley when he actually used to shoot the puck. For whatever reason, these men of great promise never could get it together, so one-by-one, they moved on&hellip; and now? Figure it this way. After 12 years of failing to win a playoff round, the law of averages must be on my side. The Coyotes faltered in December, largely because of captain Keith Tkachuk&rsquo;s absence. Just about every team in the league eventually contends with injuries to key personnel, but Tkachuk is a special case. The problem is, Tkachuk doesn&rsquo;t play on the Eastern Seaboard or the West Coast, so he tends to get overlooked when people start rhyming off the top players in the game.The Coyotes, with Tkachuk in the lineup, represent a legitimate contender and the numbers support this. Without Tkachuk, they were a 4-7-1 team. On the nights he was in the line-up, Phoenix was 21-5-8. Do I hear anybody making a case for Tkachuk for the Hart<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021232/6978672-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="915" height="1280"><figcaption class="caption-body">In a major market, captain Keith Tkachuk would be a Hart candidate.</figcaption></div>Trophy? Sure, if he was in Toronto or New York, they would. In Phoenix? It&rsquo;s easier to overlook the fact he brings to the Coyotes the same qualities&mdash;skill and nastiness-as Eric Lindros brings to the Philadelphia Flyers.The Coyotes&rsquo; blueprint for success has shifted in the past 12 months of the Bobby Smith era. For whatever reason, Smith figured out the only real shortage among position players in the league is on defense. So Smith made peace with Oleg Tverdovsky, traded for Keith Carney, signed Jyrki Lumme and along with two key holdovers, Teppo Numminen and Gerald Diduck, turned an average defense corps into the deepest in the league.You could afford to invest all your shekels in defense too, provided Tkachuk is there to anchor the offense. In early February, the Coyotes had only four players scoring goals in double fig-ures-Tkachuk, Jeremy Roenick, Rick Tocchet and Greg Adams. Subtract Tkachuk from the mix and there isn&rsquo;t enough offense to win on a consistent basis.Smith made all the right moves for the longest time, but then, he overplayed his hand a month into the season by dumping centre Cliff Ronning on the Nashville Predators. The theory was that Daniel Briere was ready to step up to the NHL after starring in the American League last season. Ronning was an unrestricted free agent following the season and thus didn&rsquo;t enter into their plans. The problem is Briere and the Coyotes&rsquo; two other blue chip youngsters, Brad Isbister and Shane Doan, are just that-kids, trying to find their way in the NHL. Some nights, it looks as if they have it figured out and they&rsquo;re ready for prime time. Other nights, it looks as if they&rsquo;re going backwards. It&rsquo;s why so few teams are willing to provide on-the-job training anymore. It&rsquo;s just easier to go out and buy the finished product which, presumably, is why the Coyotes have been linked to a possible deal for Adam Oates, if the Washington Capitals drop further out of the playoff picture.There is an urgency to win in Phoenix now. It&rsquo;s hard to stay patient if the last time you won a playoff round, John Ziegler was president and Alan Eagleson was in the Hall Of Fame. &#9632;

f0014-01

Time to howl is now for Coyotes

<div class="byline">By Cammy Clark</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011505/6978710-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="171" height="171"></div>Goalie Guy Hebert could have waited to test the unrestricted free agent market this summer, but the original Mighty Duck decided he didn&rsquo;t want to leave Anaheim and signed a three-year deal for about $12 million instead.&ldquo;I could have tested the market and most likely ended up in a different city,&rdquo; said Hebert, 32, who was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent July 1. &ldquo;But my priority was to stay in Anaheim, if at all possible, as long as I didn&rsquo;t have to take a serious pay cut to do that. You want to get your market worth, but also want to be happy.&rdquo;Hebert, who is making $2.6 million this season, will get a raise to an average of about $4 million a season. He probably could have got an even bigger deal, possibly even from the Ducks, if he had waited until this summer.The Ducks started negotiations with Hebert after last season. But when Pierre Gauthier took over as GM in July, he halted contract talks. Gauthier was leery of establishing a new salary for Hebert last summer, considering he was coming off a sub-par year and season-ending shoulder surgery.&ldquo;We knew we wanted to keep him, but we didn&rsquo;t know how much (we wanted to pay him),&rdquo; Gauthier said.Hebert&rsquo;s stock only went up. He had a strong first half, with a stellar 2.31 goals-against average and. 926 save percentage. He had a 16-18-7 record, but many of the losses were due to poor offensive support.NOTEBOOK: Don&rsquo;t expect to hear about a new deal with captain Paul Kariya before the end of the season. GM Pierre Gauthier said the left winger&rsquo;s case is unique because he will be a restricted free agent. &rsquo;There&rsquo;s no panic because we&rsquo;re not going to lose him,&rdquo; Gauthier said. Gauthier added that the Ducks, Kariya and his agent, Don Baizley. have a &ldquo;silent understanding&rdquo; to hold off contract talks until after the season. When Kariya&rsquo;s contract talks do begin, they start at the $8.5 million he&rsquo;s making this season&hellip;During the Ducks 1-0 loss at Edmonton Jan. 30, trainer Greg Smith was hit in the face by a puck in the first period. But tough guy that he is, he didn&rsquo;t leave the game. The next day, on super bowl Sunday, Smith had surgery to &ldquo;push back his cheek.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0015-01

NHL TEAM REPORTS

<div class="byline">By Mike Lottus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03752/6978741-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="345" height="475"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cameron Mann</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021051/6978748-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="168" height="172"></div>Benching the top line and an experienced defenseman didn&rsquo;t work.Neither did a players-only meeting called by captain Ray Bourque after a 5-2 loss at Pittsburgh Jan. 30.The inevitable finally happened after a 5-4 loss to the New York Islanders Feb. 4, which ran the Boston Bruins&rsquo; winless streak to 0-6-1. The front office, in the person of club GM Harry Sinden, met with the coaching staff and concluded changes were needed.The initial moves weren&rsquo;t especially drastic-forwards Cameron Mann and Antti Laaksonen were summoned from the Bruins&rsquo; American League-leading Providence farm club-but the call-ups were expected to bump a couple of more accomplished players out of their jobs, at least in the short term.&ldquo;(Mann and Laaksonen) have to be players who&rsquo;ll play among our top nine forwards,&rdquo; Sinden said. &ldquo;They can&rsquo;t just be substitute-type players you use on the fourth line, it could be for as little as two or three games, (but) if we see some signs it&rsquo;s working, we&rsquo;ll give it some more time.&rdquo;Nothing else had worked in the Bruins&rsquo; worst stretch in a season-and-a-half under coach Pat Bums. He tried benching No. 1 linemates Jason Allison, Dmitri Khristich and Steve Heinze and defenseman Don Sweeney Jan. 26 against the Islanders.But wins didn&rsquo;t follow.The Bruins were 1-8-2 from Jan. 9 through Feb. 4 and had dropped from a first-place contender in the Northeast Division to the ninth-place team in the Eastern Conference.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re finding ways to lose,&rdquo; said goalie Byron Dafoe, who was in a personal 0-5-1 slump. &ldquo;When things go wrong they seem to snowball and we&rsquo;re in one hell of an avalanche right now.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Jason Allison, benched in a Jan. 26 loss on Long Island, scored five goals in a two-game span after collecting just one in his previous 20 outings&hellip;Left winger Sergei Samsonov, one of Allison&rsquo;s frequent linemates, had gone 11 games without a goal through Feb. 4. That tied the longest goalless streak of his young NHL career&hellip;Defenseman Ray Bourque, goalless over 13 straight games, had scored only once in 25 games. Of the four goals Bourque scored in Boston&rsquo;s first 49 games, only one came in a home game&hellip;The Bruins hoped right winger Anson Carter (sprained ankle) and defenseman Kyle McLaren (separated shoulder), two injured regulars, would return in mid-February. &#9632;

f0015-03

GM Sinden mulls changes as Bruins keep tumbling

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011418/6978779-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="171" height="171"></div>Matthew Barnaby made his way back into the lineup after being sat for two games, but no one was convinced he was back for good.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll give 100 per cent as long as I&rsquo;m a Buffalo Sabre,&rdquo; said a cryptic Barnaby after being scratched for games against the Los Angeles Kings Jan. 30 and Pittsburgh Penguins Feb. 2.Barnaby, 25, returned for a game against the Colorado Avalanche Feb. 3, but it was amid a swirl of trade rumors that have people thinking he will be gone before the March 23 deadline.The Sabres were said to be interested in Tampa Bay Lightning left winger Wendel Clark and the Lightning would value Barnaby&rsquo;s energy and toughness.Sabres&rsquo; GM Darcy Regier indicated he would entertain offers for Barnaby and coach Lindy Ruff all but said he expected Barnaby would be gone soon. Everyone was being especially careful because the Sabres went down this road last season and Barnaby remained with the club.That doesn&rsquo;t seem likely this time as the Sabre right winger appeared to be playing like a man who wanted out. Published reports said teammates had grown tired of his antics and would just as soon see him moved.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s close,&rdquo; said Ruff when asked if he and the team were no longer on the same page as Barnaby. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll let it go at that.&rdquo;Barnaby, a regular in the Sabre lineup since 1995-96, said he has heard every rumor and frequently asks media members how he might look in another team&rsquo;s sweater. That, too, has irked teammates.The Ottawa native caused quite a stir prior to last season when he said he would run Dominik Hasek in training camp. Barnaby was upset with comments the Sabres&rsquo; goalie made about coach Ted Nolan, who was not rehired after being named NHL coach of the year.After a so-so regular season, Barnaby came to life in the playoffs, scoring seven goals and 13 points in 15 games.NOTEBOOK: Goaltender Dominik Hasek was tagged for four goals in back-to-back 5-3 losses to Pittsburgh and Colorado. Coach Lindy Ruff said he would try to work backup Dwayne Roloson into the lineup to give Hasek a break. Hasek had appeared in 46 of 48 Sabre games&hellip; Ex-Sabre right winger Donald Audette scored in his first trip back to Buffalo, but the Sabres rallied to beat Los Angeles 4-1 Jan. 30&hellip;Center Curtis Brown, who put a visor on after he suffered a broken nose, has decided to wear it permanently&hellip;Right winger Derek Plante, who has asked to be traded, started three straight games and seemed to be meshing on a line with center Brian Holzinger and left winger Geoff Sanderson. Plante led the team in scoring two years ago with 27 goals and 53 points in 82 games, but has been hard-pressed to remain in the lineup at points this season. The University of Minnesota-Duluth graduate was the Sabres&rsquo; seventh pick in the 1989 entry draft. &#9632;

f0016-01

Seems like only matter of time ’til Barnaby Buffaloed right out of town

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021093/6978810-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="169" height="170"></div>He began the season playing an unfamiliar position&ndash;center&ndash;and trying to rebound from a sub-par sophomore year of only 13 goals.Now Jarome Iginla is playing a second unfamiliar position, left wing, but starting to fulfill the promise he showed in his first year with the Calgary Flames, when he was runner-up for the Calder Trophy. Iginla, a natural right winger, reached the 20-goal mark for the second time in three seasons in early February. Playing mainly on a line with Theo Fleury and Jeff Shantz, Iginla has had a more consistent season than he did a year ago.Iginla said the chance to play with Fleury-a sparkplug-has helped him raise the level of his own game. Fleury is a veteran player whose own inspired play causes those around him to work harder.&ldquo;The chemistry on the fine is good,&rdquo; said Iginla. &ldquo;Shantzy and Theo both come to play every night, so I have to make sure I&rsquo;m ready to play. Playing with Theo, he&rsquo;s easily one of the best players in the league. People pay such close attention to him that when he gets the puck, everybody goes to him. So me and Shantzy just try to get open.&rdquo;Coach Brian Sutter shifted Iginla to the middle in training camp because of an acute shortage of natural centers in the organization.Iginla looked uncomfortable there, so the experiment was aborted in mid-October. When Fleury and Iginla were first placed on a line together, Sutter put Fleury on the left side, but that didn&rsquo;t work well either. As soon as the two switched spots, things started to happen for both of them.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an adjustment, playing left wing, but I&rsquo;ve enjoyed it,&rdquo; Iginla said.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a little harder in your own zone, taking the puck off the boards, but it&rsquo;s an advantage going into the offensive zone. You get the chance at a one-time shot and Theo&rsquo;s always looking for you.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Theo Fleury watch is on on two fronts. The right winger had a nine-point scoring outburst over a three-game span, giving him 817 career points, five short of tying defenseman Al Maclnnis for the team&rsquo;s all-time career scoring lead. With Fleury set to be an unrestricted free agent in July, Fleury is also subject to almost daily trade speculation, something that he is handling with startling composure. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like water off a duck&rsquo;s back now,&rdquo; said Fleury. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m used to it.&rdquo; Fleury said his preference would be to stay in Calgary through the end of the year and help the team qualify for the playoffs and let things take their natural course following the season. One reason is personal. Fleury&rsquo;s wife, Veronica, is due to give birth to their second child April 8. The trading deadline is Mar. 23 so a deal-even to a contending team-would disrupt his personal life. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to be a rent-a-player,&rdquo; Fleury said. From the Flames perspective, the longer they wait to trade him, the less they may get in return. &#9632;

f0016-02

Change of position, joining Fleury make Iginla scoring threat again

<div class="byline">By Todd Graff</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011271/6978841-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="171" height="170"></div>He admits the insecurity played on his mind this season. Playing for the first big contract of his young career, Sami Kapanen found thoughts of deals and money occupying more time than he wanted it to.Kapanen&rsquo;s mind was eased, though, Feb. 1, when the Hurricanes inked their 25-year-old left winger to a three-year contract extension worth an average of $2.2 million per season.Kapanen, who was in the final year of a contract that paid him $550,000 per season, would have been a restricted free agent July 1.&rsquo;Im relieved that the deal is done,&rdquo; Kapanen said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited. I think it&rsquo;s going to help me play better hockey.&rdquo;Not that Kapanen wasn&rsquo;t playing well. One of the cornerstones of the Hurricanes&rsquo; future, Kapanen had 14 goals and 34 points through Feb. 4.But those numbers were slightly off the pace Kapanen set in his breakthrough year of 1997-98, when his career-high 63 points matched center Keith Primeau for the team lead.Kapanen also established career highs in goals (27) and assists (36) last season, and capped the sterling campaign by helping Finland capture the bronze medal at the Olympics.&ldquo;He has been a solid performer for our team over the last two-plus seasons,&rdquo; said GM Jim Rutherford, &ldquo;and we expect Sami to be an important part of our team&rsquo;s success in the future.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Making his first start in 24 days, goalie Trevor Kidd earned a shutout in a 0-0 tie with Boston Jan. 31. Kidd, who sat on the bench while Arturs Irbe shined, stopped 36 shots for his second shutout of the season and 15th of his career. The tie left him stuck on 99 career wins for more than a month. &ldquo;It felt good to get on the ice in a game situation,&rdquo; Kidd said. &ldquo;It was frustrating not being in the net."&hellip;The &rsquo;Canes finished January at 6-43, giving them a. 500 or better record in each of the first four months for the first time in franchise history&hellip; The &rsquo;Canes were 11-3-1 when right winger Ray Sheppard scored, 12-16-7 when he didn&rsquo;t&hellip;Carolina&rsquo;s seven shutouts this season broke the franchise record of six set in 1995-96. &#9632;

f0017-01

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03694/6978872-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="343" height="482"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dirk Graham</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02964/6978879-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="170" height="169"></div>Just when it looked like the Chicago Blackhawks were about to make their long-awaited move in the chase for a playoff spot in the West, they reverted to their old form.After sandwiching a five-game unbeaten streak around the all-star break, the Hawks lost consecutive road games to the Vancouver Canucks, San Jose Sharks, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Los Angeles Kings, get-ting outscored 14-5 and looking awful in the process.Coach Dirk Graham was not amused.&ldquo;The effort we&rsquo;re getting from some people is a joke,&rdquo; said Graham after a 3-0 loss at Anaheim Feb. 3. &ldquo;These are supposed to be desperate games, but we&rsquo;re not getting enough from everybody. It&rsquo;s the same thing we&rsquo;ve been saying all year. Nothing is changing.&rdquo;Graham heaped a lot of the blame on veterans, although young Hawks such as Eric Daze and Christian Laflamme were failing badly. Daze was a healthy scratch for the first time this season Feb. 4 at Los Angeles. &ldquo;He has to find his game,&rdquo; Graham said.Doug Gilmour, Tony Amonte, Chris Chelios, Alex Zhamnov, Bob Probert, Eddie Olczyk and Dave Manson were all turning in hot and cold efforts. Man son was scratched Feb. 3 at Anaheim while Amonte was benched for the final 12 minutes of the third period of a 5-1 loss at San Jose Feb. 1.&ldquo;It was the right decision because I let Dirk and my teammates down,&rdquo; said Amonte, who didn&rsquo;t register a shot in the game.There was great concern in Chicago over Chelios&rsquo; fading play. At 37 and with a pair of bum knees, Chelios was looking like a shell of his former self.&ldquo;I would agree he is not playing very well,&rdquo; Graham said.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m struggling with the team and I&rsquo;m struggling with myself,&rdquo; Chelios said.NOTEBOOK: The Hawks seemed close to acquiring left winger Matthew Barna by from Buffalo Feb. 3, but a snag developed and there was no deal&hellip;With veteran biueliners Chris Chelios and Dave Manson struggling, the Hawks&rsquo; most consistent defenseman was rookie Brad Brown. &ldquo;He has been awesome,&rdquo; said coach Dirk Graham. &ldquo;You knew the character and leadership was there, but his play has been a pleasant surprise."&hellip;After appearing in two games upon his arrival from Anaheim, new Hawks&rsquo; center Josef Marha was scratched from the next two&hellip; Center Mark Janssens and defenseman Doug Zmolek also found themselves out of the lineup because of inconsistent play. &#9632;

f0017-03

Exasperated Graham hot over Chicago’s cold play

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011303/6978910-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="170" height="171"></div>Adam Deadmarsh has his face on pickle jars for sale in the Denver area, but he could have considered his hockey career to be in a real pickle when Colorado Avalanche coach Bob Hartley asked him to switch positions a few weeks ago.Deadmarsh, normally a right winger, was asked to be the Avs&rsquo; second line center when Hartley decided to move Peter Forsberg to left wing on a line with Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk Dec. 2.Deadmarsh, 23, played a little center for the Avs when Forsberg was out for 17 games two seasons ago, but never on a permanent basis. But the way Deadmarsh had played recently, the switch could become a permanent thing.&ldquo;Wherever they ask me to play, I just try to go out and do my best,&rdquo; said Deadmarsh, who had 15 goals and 32 points after 45 games. &ldquo;Peter and Joe have been unbelievable together, so it&rsquo;s important for our line to contribute, too.&rdquo;Instead of pouting, Deadmarsh took on the challenge and pressure of playing the new position in style. After scoring on a gorgeous redirection of a Sandis Ozolinsh slap shot in a 5-3 win over Buffalo Feb. 3, Deadmarsh extended his goal-scoring streak to fourgames as the Avs won their franchise record 10th straight game.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just on one of those rolls where things go right for you,&rdquo; said Deadmarsh, who was centering right winger Claude Lemieux and left winger Valeri Kamensky.&ldquo;That line has been generating lots of chances almost every night,&rdquo; Hartley said. &ldquo;And &rsquo;Deader&rsquo; has done a tremendous job adapting.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goalie Patrick Roy was one career win away from the 400-win club after beating Buffalo Feb. 3. He would join Terry Sawchuk (447), Jacques Plante (434), Tony Esposito (423) and Glenn Hall (407)&hellip;Left winger Shjon Podein returned Feb. 3 after missing two months with a broken leg&hellip; Center Joe Sakic had a seven-game point streak&hellip; Colorado was said to be interested in Lightning left winger Wendel Clark&hellip;Right winger Jeff Odgers had his appendix removed Feb. 1 and would miss 2-3 weeks. &#9632;

f0018-01

Deadmarsh sweet, not sour, as Colorado’s new second line center

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02968/6978941-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="171" height="172"></div>Jamie Langenbrunner has enduredthe most confounding of his first three seasons in the NHL.And yet the 23-year-old Dallas Stars&rsquo; forward has probably never had this pro hockey thing figured out quite so well.&ldquo;The way I look at it is, I scored 17 goals in the first half of last season and then only six in the second half,&rdquo; Langenbrunner said. &ldquo;This year, I have six in the first half, so I must be in for a pretty good second half.&rdquo;That Langenbrunner can joke about this season shows maturity. It also might show he&rsquo;s ready to step into his role as a two-way forward.&ldquo;Everything Jamie has to do for us comes out of defense and tenacity,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s where he&rsquo;s going to get all of his offense from-defense and tenacity.&rdquo;Langenbrunner has more definition in his role, putting him clearly ahead of his progress of last season. And yet, at the same time, he can&rsquo;t jump into that role successfully until he&rsquo;s given the proper structure.Langenbrunner is willing to do whatever it takes to help the Stars win which has meant playing all three forward spots this season. He&rsquo;s a natural center and Hitchcock has talked extensively about moving him into the third line center role. He played right wing with Joe Nieuwendyk last season and scored 23 goals-tied for third on the Stars.In his rookie season, the native of Duluth, Minn., had 13 goals and 39 points.Langenbrunner has been moved to left wing this year-an unfamiliar position-because the Stars have no other answer in that second line hole, but he has struggled at times.&ldquo;When I change back and forth, it does get difficult,&rdquo; Langenbrunner admitted. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m thinking too much and not reacting, I&rsquo;m worrying about where I should be on the ice and not just playing the puck.&rdquo;Although the 5-foot-ll, 185-pound Langenbrunner had just six goals in 41 games, he already had 22 assists after earning 29 assists all of last season.&ldquo;I know where I am in the team and 1 know what I have to do,&rdquo; he said of the Stars&rsquo; defensive style.&ldquo;I just have to go out there and do it and block the rest out.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Coach Ken Hitchcock said the answer to the Stars&rsquo; need for a left-shot left winger might come from within the organization. Instead of using rightshot Jamie Langenbrunner, Hitchcock said Jason Botterill. Jamie Wright or Dave Roberts could be recalled from the Michigan K-Wings of the International League&hellip;Linemates Mike Modano (nine games) and Brett Hull (eight) had helped each other to season high point-scoring streaks through Feb. 1&hellip;Defenseman Shawn Chambers played in his 600th career game Feb. l&hellip;The Stars were 12-0-4 in back-to-back games and 6-02 on the second night&hellip; The Stars set a franchise record with their 19th consecutive sellout Feb. 1 against Calgary. &#9632;

f0018-02

Struggling Langenbrunner juggling whether he’s left, right or center

<div class="byline">By Chuck Caplton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03674/6978972-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="171" height="171"></div>Darren McCarty is still trying to balance doing the right thing and doing the smart thing.McCarty&rsquo;s internal debate continued with personal second-guessing after the Detroit Red Wings lost two defensemen in a 2-2 tie with New Jersey Feb. 1.Devils&rsquo; enforcer Krzysztof Oliwa knocked out Larry Murphy with a jarring hit, just after Murphy had tied Tim Horton for most games played by an NHL defenseman at 1,446. Later, Todd Gill was sidelined four-to-six weeks with a broken left forearm when Oliwa butt-ended him with his stick.&ldquo;A successful attempt to injure, that&rsquo;s my comment on the whole thing,&rdquo; said the normally diplomatic Murphy.At least twice, the 6-foot-l, 210-pound McCarty thought about challenging the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Oliwa, but game situations dictated otherwise. That didn&rsquo;t make McCarty feel any better about his inaction.&ldquo;I take a lot of responsibility for things that didn&rsquo;t happen as much as ones that did,&rdquo; said McCarty, who was well aware the Devils visit Joe Louis Arena Feb. 19. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t sit well. Stuff like that won&rsquo;t happen again.&rdquo;McCarty&rsquo;s situation is difficult. He serves as the team&rsquo;s nominal enforcer with Joey Kocur out at least two more weeks with a lower-abdominal muscle pull. He was second on the team with 77 penalty minutes behind right winger Martin Lapointe (102). Kocur had 70 penalty minutes.But the Red Wings don&rsquo;t want McCarty, who was just four goals away from tying his career-high of 19, taking penalties against players like Oliwa, whom associate coach Barry Smith described as an &ldquo;idiot.&rdquo;McCarty might have reached a happy medium in the next game against the New York Islanders. He won a one-sided first period fight with Rich Pilon and scored two goals.Meanwhile, the Wings were searching for ways to patch up their defense. Murphy, 37, was expected back soon after no evidence of a concussion was found. Uwe Krupp continued to struggle with a herniated disc in his back and would likely seek a second consultation in Los Angeles.So, right winger Mathieu Dandenault was forced back again to defense and Yan Golubovsky, 22, was recalled from Adirondack.NOTEBOOK: Goalie Norm Maracle was arrested by Michigan State Police for drunken driving Jan. 31. He registered. 11 on his breath test, just over the state legal limit of. 10. Police saw his Porsche weaving in traffic at 85 mph. &ldquo;I made a big mistake and I want to apologize,&rdquo; Maracle, 24, said, his voice breaking. &ldquo;We get a lot of kids who look up to us&hellip;I know it&rsquo;ll never happen again."&hellip; Left winger Brendan Shanahan&rsquo;s career-high goal drought ended at 15 games when he scored against the Rangers Jan. 30&hellip;Morley Candy is releasing candy bars honoring forwards Darren McCarty and Kris Draper. Proceeds go to the cancer foundation McCarty started for his father, Craig, who is battling bone cancer. &#9632;

f0018-03

McCarty ponders tough guy role after Idiot’ Oliwa runs Murphy, Gill

<div class="byline">By Robert Tychkowskl</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03583/6979003-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="171" height="170"></div>Apparently, the expression &rsquo;Better Late Than Never,&rsquo; doesn&rsquo;t apply to home games.The Edmonton Oilers learned that lesson the hard way after being booed off their own ice twice in three games.Edmonton came out flat and emotionless and fell behind 3-0 in the first 30 minutes of each game-first to the Chicago Blackhawks Jan. 27, then to the St. Louis Blues Feb. 1 in a pair of 43 overtime losses.It wasn&rsquo;t the first time they started off on the wrong foot. In 24 home games, Edmonton had only lead after the first period six times.&ldquo;At the start of the games we&rsquo;re awful,&rdquo; said defenseman Janne Niinimaa. &ldquo;Somehow we can&rsquo;t get it going until something major happens and we get mad. That&rsquo;s been the story for the last while and we&rsquo;re sick and tired of it.&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;re all sick and tired of it,&rdquo; added winger Bill Guerin. &ldquo;We have to start winning some of these things or we&rsquo;re going to be out of it.&rdquo;The Oilers have fallen well short of pre-season expectations, drawing a heap of criticism on coach Ron Low. This was supposed to be a breakout year, the year they finally opened the playoffs at home, but instead of contending for one of the top three spots in the Western Conference, they were hanging on to sixth place by a thread.&ldquo;It seems a lot of times coaches are scapegoats for the players, but I don&rsquo;t think that should be the case here,&rdquo; said forward Mike Grier.NOTEBOOK: As of early February, the Oilers had won back-to-back games only four times all season&hellip;Center Doug Weight had yet to score a goal in 10 games this season-four before his knee injury and six since&hellip;Edmonton is one of the few teams in the NHL that doesn&rsquo;t have a single player wearing a visor, but that could change if defenseman Janne Niinimaa gets used to the face shield he&rsquo;s wearing in practice. Niinimaa&rsquo;s been sewn for nearly 30 stitches in his face this season-15 in recent weeks alone from three separate cuts around the eyes. &ldquo;It makes you think. It makes you wonder if one&rsquo;s going to hit the bull&rsquo;s-eye,&rdquo; Niinimaa said. &ldquo;I wanted to put it on just to see if I can wear it. It does block the vision a little bit, that&rsquo;s a fact.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0019-03

Trouble starting at home brinqs boos from rafters

<div class="byline">By David J. Neal</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02877/6979034-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="345" height="472"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Parrish</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011208/6979041-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="172" height="169"></div>A spectacular start followed by 29 goal-less days in December made Florida Panthers&rsquo; rookie right winger Mark Parrish a target for Panthers&rsquo; coach Terry Murray, an avid manipulator who likes to keep young players uneasy.Parrish is still uneasy, but happier since getting two goals and two assists in three games after get-ting back on the top two lines.Murray began to lean on Parrish in January, yanking him in and out of the lineup throughout the month. Then, the trade for Pavel Bure overloaded the Panthers on the right side and pushed Parrish down to the minors for two games during the all-star break. He even lost a couple of teeth, causing his girlfriend to laugh that he now looked like a hockey player.Parrish admitted his work habits had started to lag.&ldquo;You think you&rsquo;re working hard,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In your mind, you&rsquo;re working hard. But, you know you&rsquo;re not.&rdquo;When Parrish rejoined the Panthers after the all-star break, he had a conversation with Murray during which he told his coach he was frustrated. Mur-ray said, &ldquo;Good.&rdquo;&ldquo;We all get frustrated in our businesses,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;You think about it, sort it out and change up. You find a different way to accomplish the same goal.&rdquo;So, against the Montreal CanadiensJan. 27, Parrish tried a different tack, keeping the puck and protecting it instead of trying to get open, and picked up a key goal from the edge of the crease, where he was scoring earlier in the sea-son.Of course, Parrish knows at the first sign of another production drop,Murray will start his manipulations, maybe even suggest another turn in the minors.NOTEBOOK: When left winger Ray Whitney scored against Toronto Feb. 3, it ended an eight-game goalless streak, Whitney&rsquo;s longest since joining the Panthers in November. 1997&hellip;The paid attendance of 17,763 against Toronto was Florida&rsquo;s first non-sellout at home since the Pavel Bure trade&hellip;Panthers&rsquo; coach Terry Murray said he almost wished prospect and center Steve Washburn would ask to go to the minors so he could be showcased for a trade. Washbum, 23, has dressed for only four games and admitted that could be an option&hellip; Rookie defenseman Peter Ratchuk. who had one goal and one assist in 17 games, was sent back to the minors to make room for right winger Scott Mellan-by&rsquo;s return from whiplash. &#9632;

f0019-02

Rookie Parrish, vet coach uncover mutual frustration

<div class="byline">By Jeft Legwold</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011092/6979072-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="167" height="171"></div>Craig Leipold may be a neophyte NHL owner, but the Nashville Predators&rsquo; boss has formed a long-range opinion of where he thinks things are going in the NHL.And as a result, expect Nashville to stick to its slow and steady approach.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a fairly simple business practice-don&rsquo;t spend more than you bring in,&rdquo; Leipold said. &ldquo;I look at what some teams are doing and I wonder why they are doing that. We have to do what is right for our team in our market.&rdquo;The Predators, who have the lowest payroll in the league this season at around $13.6 million, may be one of the few teams to break even or make money this year, if the predictions of some team executives are correct.Mighty Ducks of Anaheim GM Pierre Gauthier has said he believes 20 of the league&rsquo;s 27 teams will lose money this season. Dallas Stars&rsquo; owner Tom Hicks estimated his own Stanley Cup contender will lose somewhere between $3 million and $12 million.Leipold puts the blame on the increase in salaries and cautions fans the Predators won&rsquo;t be able to engage in many bidding wars.&ldquo;We just have to face the fact we are not going to be able to pay the kind of money for player salaries that New York, Detroit, Philadelphia and Chicago can,&rdquo; Leipold said. &ldquo;We accept that, but then we don&rsquo;t think we have to do that, either. We have to be a little smarter about drafting, about who we sign and why.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Talks were scheduled to begin in mid-February on a new contract for center Cliff Ronning. The 33-year-old Ronning, a potential unrestricted free agent this summer, has said he wants to stay in Nashville&hellip;Coach Barry Trotz said goalie Tomas Vokoun should get at least some consideration for the Calder Trophy. The 22-year-old rookie was 7-10-3 with a goals-against of 3.23 and save percentage of. 900. &ldquo;He has kept a team in the playoff race,&rdquo; Trotz said&hellip;A dentist discovered that defenseman Kimmo Timonen still had a piece of a tooth buried in his gum several days after being injured. Timonen had taken 40 stitches and lost a tooth when high-sticked by Detroit center Kris Draper Jan. 23. &#9632;

f0020-01

Economics to keep Preds on slow, steady course

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03499/6979103-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="340" height="469"><figcaption class="caption-body">Saku Koivu</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02738/6979110-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="170" height="169"></div>If the Montreal Canadiens still hold out hope of making the playoffs, the month of February could ultimately dictate whether the dream remains alive or has become a nightmare.Of the Canadiens&rsquo; 11 games in the month, seven are on the road. Montreal played well away from the Molson Centre last sea-son, logging a 22-15-4 record, but has struggled in 1998-99. Entering February, Montreal was 7-14-4 on the road.Of those seven games, six were against teams with winning records. Montreal plays the Philadelphia Flyers, first overall in the Eastern Conference, twice, along with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators. (See pg. 7 for more on playoff race.)The Canadiens&rsquo; home schedule isn&rsquo;t much better. After the game against the Vancouver Canucks Feb. 3, Montreal entertain the Sabres, Florida Panthers and Senators.Montreal split its first two games of the month, edging the Canucks 2-1 before losing 5-2 at Philadelphia Feb. 4.Captain Vincent Damphousse put things in perspective. &ldquo;If we play well and win some games this month, we could be right back into the thick of the playoff race,&rdquo; he said before quickly adding: &ldquo;And if we don&rsquo;t win, we&rsquo;ll be out of it by the end of the month. We all know what we have to do.&rdquo;The Canadiens realize if they are to grab that elusive playoff berth, the offense must start pro-ducing more. Montreal had scored only 117 goals through 52 games. With Martin Rucinsky and Benoit Brunet tied for the team lead in goals at 12, it&rsquo;s conceivable the Canadiens will fail to have a 20-goal scorer this season.&ldquo;The goal seems to be getting smaller,&rdquo; said center Saku Koivu. &ldquo;We have a lot of guys who aren&rsquo;t scoring when they have chances.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Brian Savage, got good news when he learned he doesn&rsquo;t require season-ending surgery on his rib cage. Savage had missed six consecutive games with the ailment through Feb. 4&hellip;Right winger Mark Recchi, an unrestricted free agent this summer and the subject of constant trade rumors, has expressed his desire yet again to remain in Montreal and lead the Canadiens to a post-season berth. &ldquo;I think we have a playoff team and I want to be part of it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can do something about that by playing well and getting us in a position where we challenge for a spot."&hellip; Center Shayne Corson is planning to open a restaurant, specializing in steaks and Italian food, in downtown Montreal. &#9632;

f0020-03

February pivotal month for Habs’ playoff hones

<div class="byline">By Helene Elliott</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04315/6979141-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="168" height="169"></div>This season has been anything but a bed of roses for Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; defenseman Garry Galley.Scratched regularly in the early weeks and obliged to watch from the press box, he found it difficult to regain his timing on the rare occasions he was able to crack the lineup. Injuries helped him regain a spot, but he and fellow defenseman Steve Duchesne&ndash;the Kings&rsquo; two major freeagent signings the past two stnnmers-have struggled at both ends of the ice and the Kings have suffered with them.But all of Galley&rsquo;s difficulties were forgotten, at least for a moment, when he came home from a disappointing 1-3-0 Eastern road trip to find his wife, Teri Lynn, had gotten him 1,000 roses to commemorate his 1,000th NHL game.Galley, who will be 36 in April, reached the 1,000-game milestone Feb. 1, against the Flyers at Philadelphia. That city is one of the many stops on his NHL resume-he played 236 games for the Flyers over parts of four seasons-so he was happy to celebrate his milestone there.After the way his season started, he was happy to celebrate it anywhere.&ldquo;It means a lot to me,&rdquo; Galley said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never be a 500-goal scorer or a 1,000-point guy. But to play consistently, night after night, is important to me.&rdquo;The occasion got even better when he returned home.&ldquo;We came home from the trip at 3:30 (a.m.) and there were 1,000 roses in the entry way to the house,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was a real surprise.&rdquo;It was a nice moment in what has been a difficult season. Galley had three goals and 11 points in 38 games and acknowledged being a healthy scratch had a humbling effect on him.&ldquo;One thing you learn in this game is that it&rsquo;s a proving ground every day,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;One thing I&rsquo;d tell kids is they have to prove themselves every night.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Glen Murray, idled since Jan. 2 because of a tom knee ligament, passed a strength test and was fitted with a brace. He resumed skating Feb. 4. The plan was for him to skate lightly to test the knee and, if all goes well, to return to the lineup in midFebruary&hellip; Left winger Luc Robitaille was in a mini-slump as the Kings got deeper into February. Through Feb. 4, he had gone four games without a goal. Robitaille was still among the NHL leaders with 27 goals in 50 games&hellip;Defenseman Steve Duchesne, the subject of trade rumors, set up two goals in a 3-2 win over Chicago Feb. 4. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way he&rsquo;s capable of playing.&rdquo; said coach Larry Robinson. &#9632;

f0020-04

Galley’s tough year gets rosier

<div class="byline">By Rich Chore</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01860/6979172-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="170" height="172"></div>Kevin Dean never lacked heart.But in his first season as a true regular on defense for the New Jersey Devils, Dean found out how fragile a hockey career can be when his was jeopardized by an irregular heartbeat.Dean. 29, expected to return to the Devils&rsquo; lineup after missing only a few games for extensive testing, but he wasn&rsquo;t sure how serious it might be when he felt his heart &ldquo;flutter&rdquo; during a Feb. 1 game against the Detroit Red Wings at Continental Airlines Arena.&ldquo;I felt it in the first period. I thought it would go away and it didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Dean said. &ldquo;I felt it again in the second, so I said something. There was no pain, just a little flutter. I wasn&rsquo;t scared. I&rsquo;ve had it before for a minute, a couple of beats, but it never went on that long before. I didn&rsquo;t notice it as much skating around as I did on the bench.&rdquo;He called it quits after two periods and was taken to a New Jersey hospital, where he was held overnight for observation. After undergoing an EKG, echo cardiogram and nuclear stress test, Dean was released and monitored by doctors the next few days.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m fine,&rdquo; Dean said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m like I always was. They think it was just a fluke.&rdquo;Foremost among the concerns was that Dean had a heart virus, which could have done damage.&ldquo;This is a not a bruised knee. It&rsquo;s a little more scary,&rdquo; said goalie Martin Brodeur. &ldquo;The heart, that&rsquo;s your life.&rdquo;Dean said there is no history of heart problems in his family, but the Devils weren&rsquo;t tairing any chances in rushing him back. Dean did not accompany the team on an early February road trip.&ldquo;Anything with the heart is serious. It would be scary for anyone,&rdquo; said defense partner Sheldon Souray. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t aware that he had a problem at all. I never heard anything until (Ken Daneyko) said three or four minutes before we were going out for the third period that we were down to five defensemen.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goalie Chris Terreri&rsquo;s 2-0 shutout Feb. 4 in St. Louis was his first for the Devils since he blanked Hartford March 10, 1994&hellip;Left winger Krzysztof Oliwa maintained he did not intend to hurt Detroit defenseman Larry Murphy with his open-ice hit Feb. 1. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not known in this league as a cheapshot artist,&rdquo; Oliwa said&hellip;Left winger Dave Andreychuk had the cast removed from his fractured right ankle and was hoping to return by late February&hellip;The Devils had reeled off five consecutive road victories through Feb. 5. Overall, they were an impressive 18-7-1 away from home&hellip;With left winger Patrik Elias back from the flu, coach Robbie Ftorek reunited the Elias-right winger Jason Arnott-center Petr Sykora line&hellip;Left winger Sasha Lakovic was awaiting word from the American League on a possible suspension. Lakovic played two games for Albany for conditioning and was involved in altercations against Providence and Adirondack before being recalled by the Devils. &#9632;

f0021-01

Devils’ Dean breathing easier after irregular heartbeat scare

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02484/6979203-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="170" height="173"></div>Felix Potvin did not expect to ride in on a white horse and save the New York Islanders&rsquo; season singlehandedly.But he also did not expect to fall flat on his face&ndash;and that&rsquo;s more or less what he did in his first five starts after arriving in a trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs.Potvin went 0-5-0, with a. 847 save percentage and 4.47 goals-against average before finally getting a 5-4 win in Boston against the Bruins Feb. 4. He bottomed out by allowing seven goals on 36 shots in two periods against the Senators in Ottawa Jan. 30, before being yanked in what became a 9-2 loss.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt,&rdquo; Potvin said, &ldquo;this is one of the worst games I&rsquo;ve had in a while.&rdquo;Potvin had only five appearances behind Curtis Joseph before leaving the Maple Leafs Dec. 5, trying to force a trade. Until the Jan. 9 deal which sent him to the Islanders for Bryan Berard, he worked out with the Sherbrooke Faucons of the Quebec League. The Islanders tried throwing Potvin right into the fire, but he showed he was rusty. Not having defenseman Kenny Jonsson (sprained knee) in the lineup did not make things easier. Rich Pilon (sore back) also was unavailable in Ottawa.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great goaltender,&rdquo; said associate coach Lome Henning. &ldquo;He just hasn&rsquo;t had a chance to get it going.&rdquo;Before the Ottawa debacle, coach Bill Stewart gave Tommy Salo three straight starts and Salo went 2-0-1.This year the Islanders hired Salo&rsquo;s Swedish goaltending guru Stefan Lunner as an assistant coach. In a published report, Lunner said he was confused about why GM Mike Milbury acquired Potvin. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t see the goaltending as the problem for this team,&rdquo; Lunner said.With Lunner on the staff, Milbury intent on trading Salo and Stewart splitting the job between them, Potvin was asked if the situation is awkward. &ldquo;No,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Stefan has been good with me. We talk a lot. That&rsquo;s not something that bugs me.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Ted Donato had to wait four extra days to reach the 500-game milestone when he was scratched for the Jan. 30 contest against Ottawa. Donato, who had 13 points in 35 games with the Isles, played No. 500 against Detroit Feb. 3 (5-1 loss). The 29-year-old, acquired earlier this season from Boston, had seen his ice time drop to fewer than five minutes a game&hellip;Right winger Trevor Linden broke a 13-game drought with his 12th goal of the season in a 4-4 tie with Phoenix Jan. 29&hellip;Defenseman Barry Richter suffered a separated right shoulder in Ottawa. He was expected to be out until mid-February&hellip;The Islanders were 4-11-1 in 16 games without defenseman Kenny Jonsson (sprained knee). Jonsson began light skating in early February and was aiming for a mid-February return&hellip;Following the Detroit game, coach Bill Stewart was displeased with the team&rsquo;s physical play and recalled tough defenseman Dean Malkoc from Lowell of the American League. &#9632;

f0021-02

This ‘Cat’ unable to land on feet in early days as Islander goalie

<div class="byline">By Rick Carplniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01990/6979234-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="169" height="169"></div>For much of the season, rookie Manny Malhotra couldn&rsquo;t find ice time on the New York Rangers&rsquo; fourth line.In New York&rsquo;s first 50 games, Malhotra was scratched eight times and received five shifts or fewer 15 times. It was a slow and difficult process for the 18-year-old center. He had five goals and seven points.On Jan. 30, against the defending champion Detroit Red Wings no less, Malhotra found himself playing on the No.l line when Wayne Gretzky left the game with a ribcage injury and he didn&rsquo;t look out of place one bit.Two nights later, at home against the Washington Capitals, Malhotra was back in his old spot, getting just three shifts, as Gretzky managed to play despite the injury.Malhotra, who has been guarded by coach John Muckier from being put into situations in which he might fail-such as the five games against the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Philadelphia for which he was scratched-has mostly looked like he belongs because of his size and speed. There is only one area he has felt a little bit out of place.&ldquo;I learned how big faceoffs are,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the biggest things I wanted to work on at the beginning of the year. At the beginning, I felt I was doing pretty good on them. But with the tempo increasing and the intensity increasing, so do the efforts on faceoffs.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Brent Fedyk scored his first goal since April 7, 1996, in a 3-1 loss to Washington Feb. Center Wayne Gretzky needed a pain numbing injection to his ribcage to play in the Caps&rsquo; game. He wasn&rsquo;t sure when he originally suffered the injury, but it was clearly aggravated when he was slew-footed by Carolina defenseman Marek Malik Jan. 28. Through Feb. 1, Gretzky had played in all 213 games since becoming a Ranger&hellip;Right winger Todd Harvey was aiming at a Feb. 12 return date from the sprained left MCL he suffered Jan.. Ex-Red Wing Mike Knuble received his Stanley Cup ring from Detroit GM Ken Holland when the Rangers visited Jan. 30. &#9632;

f0022-01

Malhotra subs for 99, then returns to bench

<div class="byline">By Bruce Garrloch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03483/6979265-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="340" height="472"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Tugnutt</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02685/6979272-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="168" height="168"></div>Ron Tugnutt is the only goalie in the NHL with a goals-against average just slightly better than his weight.After giving up two goals or less for the 13th consecutive game and extending his unbeaten streak to 11 straight games Feb. 4 against the Edmonton Oilers in a 2-2 tie, Tugnutt&rsquo;s league-leading average slipped to 1.59.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to play my weight,&rdquo; Tugnutt said.Listed at 165 pounds, the Ottawa Senators&rsquo; goaltender has been a big presence as the club battles the Toronto Maple Leafs for first place in the Northeast Division.His save percentage (.933) was second to Buffalo&rsquo;s Dominik Hasek (.935).Just four years removed from a stint in the minors, Tugnutt (15-5-5) is showing the form which helped lead the club to the playoffs two years ago and he could be close to pushing aside teammate Damian Rhodes (12-10-2), who had an 2.81 GAA and. 893 save percentage.But Tugnutt, 30, refuses to take credit for his great numbers.&ldquo;The average is a reflection on the way the whole team is playing,&rdquo; Tugnutt said. &ldquo;When we get a win it&rsquo;s not just because of the goaltender and when we lose, it&rsquo;s not just because of the goaltender.&ldquo;Hopefully, when the guys look at the goals-against average they under-stand that this is a team thing.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s only just past the midway point, but it has already been a dream sea-son for Tugnutt. He was named as a replacement for Toronto&rsquo;s Curtis Joseph in the All-Star Game last month at Tampa.&ldquo;I was treating this as if this was never going to happen again in my career,&rdquo; t ugnutt said. &ldquo;To be in the All-Star Game, with these players has been the highlight of my career.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Senators started a Western Canadian road swing Feb. 1 without seven regulars: defensemen Janne Laukkanen (back), Lance Pitlick (hip), Patrick Traverse (concussion) and Chris Phillips (ankle). That forced the Sens to recall defensemen Radim Bicanek (Grand Rapids) and John Gruden (Detroit) from the International League&hellip;The Senators set a franchise record for most goals and the widest margin of victory in a 9-2 win over the visiting Islanders Jan. 30&hellip;An arbitrator is going to have to be called in to settle whether defenseman Lance Pitlick is a Group IB or Group II free agent this summer. The NHL doesn&rsquo;t feel Pitlick, 30, has met the requirements for unrestricted free agency. &#9632;

f0022-03

Tugnutt’s weighty numbers big reason for Sens’ success

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02566/6979303-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="611" height="1112"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andrei Kovalenko</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01879/6979310-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="172" height="172"></div>This time, Andrei Kovalenko had a good reason for being up all night.Already delayed by a three-day wait for a U.S. visa, Kovalenko saw his flight from Calgary to Philadelphia (by way of Minnesota) cancelled the evening of Feb. 2.Uh-oh, thought Kovalenko, who missed an Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; flight Jan. 11 after a night out in Los Angeles. That transgression opened the door to a threeway trade that sent Alexandre Daigle from the Flyers to the Tampa Bay Lightning (via Edmonton) and Alex Selivanov from Tampa to the Oilers.Kovalenko wasn&rsquo;t about to be tardy for another hockey function.&ldquo;I said, &rsquo;Give me the next flight out-I have to make it to Philadelphia for practice,&rsquo;&rdquo; Kovalenko said.The 28-year-old Russian hopped on a plane to San Francisco, then flew all night, arriving in Philadelphia at 6 a.m. Four hours later, he was skating with his new team.That impressed some of the Flyers, who apparently are keeping an open mind on Kovalenko&rsquo;s past.&ldquo;The guy slept in one time,&rdquo; said coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;He got in at six today and managed to get up in time for the practice, so I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s going to be any problem.&rdquo;GM Bob Clarke said he had done some background checks on Kovalenko and expected no trouble. Yet Clarke also warned that if there are any disturbances, he will have a short fuse.But Ron Hextail, a teammate of Kovalenko with the Quebec Nordiques in 1992-93, said he believes there&rsquo;s not much to worry about.&ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t a problem in Quebec,&rdquo; Hextail said.The goalie added no single player posed a threat to the Flyers&rsquo; strong locker room this season. &ldquo;This room is very, very stable right now,&rdquo; Hextali said. &ldquo;As stable as I&rsquo;ve seen it in a longtime. The leadership is clear, everybody knows their role, everybody has accepted their role.&rdquo;Kovalenko, a 32-goal scorer two seasons ago in Edmonton, said he wanted to put the past behind him and looked forward to playing in Philly. He made his debut in a 5-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens Feb. 4.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great team, a great chance to win a ring,&rdquo; said Kovalenko, who had 13 goals and 27 points in 44 games this season. &ldquo;I think this is my style, my team, a physical team.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Rod Brind&rsquo;-Amour&rsquo;s league-leading ironman streak of 448 games appeared to be in serious jeopardy after he suffered a rib injury late in a Jan. 28 game against Phoenix. The following day, coach Roger Neilson said he believed Brind&rsquo;Amour would be out up to two weeks. But Brind&rsquo;Amour strapped on some extra padding and scored two goals in a 6-2 win over Tampa Bay Jan. 30. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played with a lot worse,&rdquo; Brind&rsquo;Amour said&hellip;Left winger John LeClair was the NHL&rsquo;s goal-scoring leader with 33 in 49 games. &#9632;

f0023-02

Philadelphia confident Kovalenko not fly-by-night operator

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01946/6979341-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="170" height="170"></div>Last season, they managed to finish. 500 despite losing a whopping 475 man-games to injury. So is it any surprise the Phoenix Coyotes are playing. 500 again since injuries began to ravage what once was the hottest team in the NHL?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s something every team must play through at one time or another,&rdquo; said coach Jim Schoenfeld. &ldquo;Last season, we went through it all year long. This year, it didn&rsquo;t hit us until December.&rdquo;And it hit them in January and the first week of February, too.It started when left winger Keith Tkachuk suffered a groin pull, then a sprained knee and finally, a fractured rib, all of which kept him sidelined for 12 games. The club went 4-7-1 with him out of the lineup. It started a rash of injuries to several key players, including his linemate, right winger Dallas Drake, who is out until late February after suffering a separated left shoulder.Meanwhile, the Coyotes were without top-four defenseman Gerald Diduck (sprained knee ligaments) and defensive specialist left winger Mike Sullivan (broken rib).&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easier for everyone when you&rsquo;re healthy and guys are settled into theirroles,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said. &ldquo;But it rarely happens so you have to fight through it. At tat, we&rsquo;ve only lost two of our past 11 (4-2-5 through Feb.3). A lot of teams would like to trade places with us.&rdquo;The Coyotes had 62 points through 48 games, which placed them six points back of the Pacific Division&ndash;and NHL-leading Dallas Stars. The Coyotes&rsquo; point total was also the fourth best in the leaeue through Feb. 4.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Rick Tocchet got his 400th career goal in a 4-2 loss in Philadelphia Jan. 28&hellip;Right winger Jim Cummins received an automatic three-game suspension for physical abuse of an official, which occurred when he continued to swing at Philadelphia left winger Roman Vopat while the linesmen were trying to break up the fight&hellip; Center Bob Corkum promised his daughter, Carley, he would score for her on her birthday Jan. 29. He got two goals in a 4-4 tie with the Islanders. &#9632;

f0026-01

Once red-hot Covotes trying to battle through another rash of injuries

<div class="byline">By Joe Starkey</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02630/6979372-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="168" height="170"></div>Jaromir Jagr survived his first major test as captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins.His opponents did not.The Penguins had lost five of six games entering their Jan. 28 contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Teams were threatening their playoff position. Jagr organized a players-only meeting the day before the game and promptly went on a four-game scoring tear to lift the team out of its funk.He had 13 points (four goals, nine assists) to spark a four-game winning streak. In a 5-3 victory over two-time defending Hart Trophy winner Dominik Hasek and the Buffalo Sabres Feb. 2, Jagr set up four goals and scored one.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s becoming a leader,&rdquo; said coach Kevin Constantine. &ldquo;Until this stage of his career, his only challenge was being one of the best players in the league. Now he&rsquo;s more of a package. He&rsquo;s only four months into the process, but he&rsquo;s improved a lot of his leadership qualities from even a year ago.&rdquo;The day before the slump-breaking victory over the Maple Leafs, Jagr was asked if he felt it was his responsibility to bring the team out of its funk.&ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;1 know I have to be the one. Who else is going to do it?&rdquo;Constantine did his part by shaking up his topthree fines. He put rookie center Jan Hrdrna and much-traveled winger Kip Miller on the top line with Jagr. The three meshed liked they&rsquo;d been together for years. They combined for 12 points in the victory over Buffalo.&ldquo;Right now, we&rsquo;ve got three bodies and one mind,&rdquo; Jagr said. &ldquo;We play the same way.&rdquo;Jagr&rsquo;s goal against Buffalo was an empty-net-ter. He&rsquo;d missed some open nets earlier in the season.&ldquo;We thought we found a weakness in his game,&rdquo; Constantine joked. &ldquo;Now, I don&rsquo;t know what his weaknesses are.&rdquo;Jagr&rsquo;s scoring binge catapulted him to the top of the NHL scoring race with 21 goals and 72 points in 46 games. He also passed the 800-point mark for his career in a 5-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens Jan. 31. Overall, Jagr had 807 points through Feb. 5, second in team history to Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s 1,494.NOTEBOOK: Center Jan Hrdina was named NHL rookie of the month for January on the strength of four goals and nine points in 12 games&hellip;The Penguins were 1-11-3 in games they trailed after two periods before posting consecutive victories in such games. They rallied from 3-2 deficits Jan. 31 against Montreal and Feb. 2 against Buffalo, winning both games 5-3&hellip;Defenseman Jiri Slegr was on a six-game point streak. Slegr has been skating on the top defense unit next to Kevin Hatcher.. All four of defenseman Brad Werenka&rsquo;s goals were game-winners&hellip;Goaltender Peter Skudra has two shutouts this season&ndash;the only two of his career-both against Toronto. &#9632;

f0026-02

Jagr proves worthy of captaincy by carrying Penguins out of slump

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecklng</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03502/6979403-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="170" height="171"></div>St. Louis has the shutout Blues where the Big Apple is concerned.New York&rsquo;s three hockey teams each posted a shutout against the Blues at Kiel Center, with New Jersey Devils&rsquo; backup goalie Chris Terreri completing the hat trick with a 2-0 victory Feb. 4.Terreri made 36 saves for his ninth career shutout, joining New York cohorts Tommy Salo of the Islanders and Mike Richter of the Rangers in blanking the Blues on home ice this season.It took all three New York goalies to match Patrick Roy of the Colorado Avalanche who alone has three shutouts against the Blues this season. He&rsquo;ll go for four April 11 at Kiel Center.Fortunately, the Blues are finished with New York.&ldquo;It was the same script all three games,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; coach Joel Quenneville. &ldquo;I thought that we definitely deserved better in the three games. We totally dominated the games.&rdquo;The Blues outshot the New York teams by a combined 83-44 at Kiel, only to be outscored 4-0. The Islanders won 1-0 Oct. 17 despite being outshot 24-10. The Rangers won 1-0 Jan. 2, though they were outshot 23-12.New Jersey fared much worse on the shot clock (36-22) yet matched the output of their New York City cohorts on two goals by Brian Rolston, who scored with one minute remaining in the first period and later hit an empty net.After the all-star break, the Blues were 3-1-0 on a West Coast trip, scoring at least three goals in every game for goalie Rich Parent. Grant Fuhr and Jamie McLennan, the deposed Nos.l and 1A goaltenders, would sue for that kind of support.The Blues didn&rsquo;t score as many as three goals in the five losses that prompted Quenneville to bench them at the all-star break. Blues&rsquo; goalies have absolutely zero margin for error because the team can&rsquo;t score on a consistent basis despite regularly outshooting and outplaying the opposition.The New York shutouts are just an extreme example.&ldquo;I thought (Parent) was fine,&rdquo; Quenneville said. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t get a lot of work. One goal went in, and usually that&rsquo;s enough.&rdquo;For New York teams at Kiel, anyway.Parent&rsquo;s 1.95 goals-against average and. 909 save percentage were both better than those of Fuhr and McLennan.NOTEBOOK: After going pointless in three games before the all-star break, center Pierre Turgeon had four goals and six points on the Blues&rsquo; West Coast trip following the break. He scored two goals, including the winner, and had an assist in the Blues&rsquo; 4-3 overtime victory over Edmonton Feb. 1. Turgeon had 28 points in 33 games&hellip;Goalie Rich Parent was 3-1-0, with a 2.10 GAA and. 897 save percentage on the trip&hellip;The 31-0 trip was the Blues&rsquo; best of the season and more than doubled their road wins since Nov. 4. They had been 29-5 on the road&hellip; Left winger Scott Pellerin established a career high of 11 goals, with a shorthander against Calgary Jan. 30. &#9632;

f0026-03

Big Apple teams score hat trick, ounchless Blues don’t score at all

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01898/6979434-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="173" height="171"></div>The San Jose Sharks established a lofty objective before departing on the longest continuous road trip in NHL history.&ldquo;I told the guys we&rsquo;re going to leave in seventh place (in the Western Conference),&rdquo; said Sharks&rsquo; coach Darryl Sutter. &ldquo;The long-term goal of the trip is to try to maintain that. It&rsquo;s a pretty high sight to set, but if we do that, we&rsquo;ll be in great shape.&rdquo;San Jose found itself in eighth place, a point behind the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, almost immediately after dropping a 3-1 decision to the Phoenix Coyotes in the first game of the trip Feb. 4.By the time the extended road swing ends Feb. 20 in Washington, the Sharks could be well on their way to the playoffs, or in serious jeopardy of falling out of post-season contention.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a huge trip,&rdquo; said winger Joe Murphy. &ldquo;We know we have to play 10 games, but you just have to take it a game at a time.&rdquo;Only the 1987-88 Calgary Flames, forced out of the Saddledome by the Winter Olympics, ever played as many successive games away from home. Calgary endured 11 consecutive road games, but the NHL all-star break enabled the Flames to return home in the midst of the stretch.&ldquo;An absolute nightmare,&rdquo; said San Jose goaltender Mike Vernon, who was in his second full season with Calgary at the time.The Sharks find themselves homeless for so long because of a professional tennis tournament and an ice show at San Jose Arena Feb. 3-23. In the process of haggling over schedule proposals, Sharks&rsquo; management opted to accept the 10-game trip now rather than an alternative that would have included more road games closer to the end of the season.In order to remain in playoff position, San Jose will probably have to at least match its season total of four road victories. That league-low figure had come in 19 away games. The Sharks, though, went 2-2-1 on an early January road swing.NOTEBOOK: After being shut out in back-to-back losses to St. Louis and Colorado, the Sharks snapped a club-record scoreless streak of 165 minutes, 38 seconds when left winger Jeff Friesen scored 55 seconds into the first period of a 5-1 win over visiting Chicago Feb. 1. Friesen later scored another goal, his team-high 14th, after having produced just one in 10 games&hellip; Center Marco Sturm snapped an eight-game goal drought in the victory over the Blackhawks&hellip; Right winger Owen Nolan, San Jose&rsquo;s captain, returned to the lineup Feb. 1 after missing a 5-0 loss at Colorado two nights earlier because of back spasms&hellip; Second-year defenseman Andrei Zyuzin played against Chicago, making his first appearance since his Jan. 11 recall from the minors. &#9632;

f0027-01

Road trip from hell will tell all

<div class="byline">By Paul Hunter</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02566/6979472-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">With goalie Curtis Joseph always back to bail them out, the Leafs have prospered playing run-and-gun.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03370/6979465-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="170" height="172"></div>When it comes to Curtis Joseph, it seems absence makes the Hart grow fonder.The Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; No. 1 goaltender, already being mentioned in die local media as a candidate for the NHL&rsquo;s most valuable player award, had that value underscored when he missed a game with a groin injury Jan. 28.Backup Jeff Reese stepped between the pipes that night in Pittsburgh and the Leafs were humbled 6-0.It wasn&rsquo;t all Reese&rsquo;s fault. The team in front of him played terribly, but it was a reminder of how much of Toronto&rsquo;s surprising success this season is owed to Joseph, who signed with the Leafs last summer as a free agent.Joseph returned to the nets nine days later and, looking like his old self, helped the Leafs pull out a 5-3 win over the Washington Capitals.&ldquo;It seems the tighter the game gets, the better he plays,&rdquo; praised captain Mats Sundin. &ldquo;When the game gets close he&rsquo;s not letting in anything.&rdquo;While his numbers aren&rsquo;t among the NHL&rsquo;s leaders-except for his 23 wins-Joseph has been frequently brilliant. It is only because of the confidence the team has in him that Toronto has been able to open its game up this season and play a more offensive style.When veteran Derek King was asked how many wins Joseph was personally responsible for this season, he said: &ldquo;All of them.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s for that reason the Leafs&rsquo; are considering putting a publicity push on for Joseph as a Hart Trophy candidate.&ldquo;We consider Curtis a worthy candidate, but it&rsquo;s a little too early to talk about (a lobby effort),&rdquo; said Pat Park, the Leafs&rsquo; media relations manager.Joseph said it was &ldquo;flattering&rdquo; he was being suggested for the award.It&rsquo;s worth mentioning, however, The Hockey News did not consider Joseph among the top contenders in a mid-season report. Eric Lindros led the way, followed by Dominik Hasek and Paul Kariya. Jaromir Jagr has since joined that group of elite candidates.NOTEBOOK: The Leafs are also weighing the idea of promoting Pat Quinn as a candidate for the Jack Adams Trophy, awarded to the NHL&rsquo;s coach of the year&hellip;Defenseman Alexander Karpovtsev travelled to New York Feb. 4 to have a troublesome sprained wrist examined by a specialist. He&rsquo;d missed two straight games with an injury Quinn said &ldquo;didn&rsquo;t seem to be improving."&hellip;Defenseman Dallas Eakins was assigned to St. John&rsquo;s of the American League Feb. 1 for a 14-day conditioning stint. That means the 31-year-old has now played for 15 teams (six in the NHL) since turning pro in 1988&hellip;Right winger Tie Domi returned to the lineup Feb. 2 after missing 10 games with a sprained right knee. &#9632;

f0027-02

Cuio invaluable Hart-stopper?

<div class="byline">By Tim Buckley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01936/6979503-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="171" height="170"></div>Veteran forward Mikael Andersson knows what the NHL&rsquo;s last-place team is up to.The Tampa Bay Lightning wants to get younger, and faster.Toward that end, Tampa Bay acquired Michael Nylander from Calgary on Jan. 19 and Alexandre Daigle in a three-way deal involving the Philadelphia Flyers and Edmonton on Jan. 29.All of which leaves Andersson, a steadfastly loyal Lightning Original, with a reduced role. But don&rsquo;t for a minute think the 32-year-old Swede isn&rsquo;t a respected and highly regarded member of the organization, or that the Lightning won&rsquo;t miss him as he sits out with a knee injury sustained in practice Feb. 4-for as long as six weeks.&ldquo;He understands his role,&rdquo; said Lightning coach-GM Jacques Demers. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a kid anymore.&rdquo;Andersson is confident and wishful he can still be an every-night player after he returns, but he also knows the organization will spend much of the remainder of this season determining who can contribute later.Andersson intends to play for Tampa in the final year of his contract next year. Demers has talked to him about becoming the team&rsquo;s European scout when his playing career is over.&ldquo;That would be something I want to do,&rdquo; said Andersson, who played for Sweden in the 1998 Winter Olympics. &ldquo;He mentioned it to me, and hopefully it will be there when everything is settled.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Lightning president Billy McGehee denied a Tatnpa radio report that owner Art Williams is trying to sell the team, but confirmed that Williams is still seeking a minority investor: &ldquo;I have talked to Art Williams extensively about this issue and he has made it clear he is only interested in finding an equity partner,&rdquo; McGehee said in a statement issued by the team Feb. 2. &ldquo;At no point has Art ever discussed selling the team with me."&hellip;The Lightning signed forward Alexandre Daigle to a contract extension Feb. 3 that will mn through the 1999-2000 season. Terms were not disclosed, but it is believed Daigle can make between $1-million and $1.5-million if certain bonuses are achieved. That marks a drop from his 199899 base salary of $1,9-million. &#9632;

f0028-01

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03444/6979534-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="344" height="470"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marc Crawford</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02622/6979541-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="170" height="166"></div>The Marc Crawford era is off to a shuddering start.Crawford, hired Jan. 24 to replace Mike Keenan, went 1-4-0 in his first five starts, losing two of three at home and two of two on the road.The Canucks were improved defensively o-ver the first four games and surrendered just nine goals. Then they allowed eight in one game against the New York Rangers.With the exception of a 3-2 victory over the dreadful Chicago Blackhawks, the Canucks were outshot in every game. They even managed the rare feat of playing an entire period without a shot in a 1-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators.Vancouver captain Mark Messier feels the Canucks will eventually turn it around under Crawford.&ldquo;I like Marc a lot and 1 think he&rsquo;s got a lot to offer the team,&rdquo; Messier said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve really enjoyed it under him. He&rsquo;s brought some new ideas and I think they&rsquo;re good ideas. There are no grey areas. His overall plan is good for our team.&rdquo;Deposed coach Mike Keenan favored a read-and-react system; Crawford puts more of an emphasis on strict positioning. Canuck management felt Keenan&rsquo;s style was more suited to a veteran team, unlike Vancouver&rsquo;s current youthful roster, particularly on defense.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to take time to adjust to Marc,&rdquo; said goalie Corey Hirsch. &ldquo;It usually takes half a season to adjust to a new coach. I think he&rsquo;s talking about the right things, like work habits and short shifts.&rdquo;Crawford is also going to have to adjust to losing after compiling a 165-8841 record with the Quebec-Colorado franchise.&ldquo;We just have to persevere and keep on believing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know you want me to say the job here is huge. It&rsquo;s obvious we have a ways to go and without sounding like idiots, we&rsquo;re trying to stay as positive as we can.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Canuck rookie right winger Bill Muckalt drew a crowd at Madison Square Garden Feb. 4 when he planted a terrific hit on Wayne Gretzky. &ldquo;It was a clean hit,&rdquo; said Muckalt. &ldquo;If anything, I held up. I would never try to hurt anyone, let alone Wayne Gretzky. &rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Center Dave Gagner, who was said to be a vital part of the Pavel Bure trade by GM Brian Burke, found himself on the fourth line after just three games under new coach Marc Crawford. He was back on the second line a game later&hellip; Crawford made a number of positional changes in his first five games, moving Markus Naslund from left to right wing, Todd Bertuzzi from left wing to center, Trent Klatt from left to right wing and Harry York from center to left wing. &#9632;

f0028-03

Coach Crawford not yet cure for all that ills sad Canucks

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>He has skated more laps around more rinks than a Zarn-boni and ridden enough miles on a bus to deserve a lifetime pass from Greyhound.Now in his 17th season of pro hockey, and 15th in the American League, Mitch Lamoureux is the last of a nearly extinct breed.The AHL&rsquo;s 1982-83 rookie of the year with the Baltimore Skipjacks, Lamoureux has been willing to grind out a career in the minor leagues long after his NHL days were over. His NHL career ended in 1987-88, having played 73 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers.Other than a short tour of duty in Europe, Lamoureux has been a fixture in the AHL, but at 36, he is quite sure this is it. He retired once before, after the 1996-97 season, but was lured back by his love for the game and the Hershey Bears&rsquo; dire player shortage last year. He felt so good over the summer he saw no reason to stop.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01830/6979603-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="444" height="441"></div>&ldquo;I got the itch to play again so I came back, but I&rsquo;m 95 per cent sure this is it,&rdquo; Lamoureux said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a little window there, but I doubt I&rsquo;ll come back. This is no farewell tour, though.&rdquo;The 5-foot-7,185-pound center was leading the Bears in scoring (13 goals, 37 points) and in plus/minus (plus-21).&ldquo;In the beginning of the year it was my job to help the kids,&rdquo; Lamoureux said. &ldquo;But right now they don&rsquo;t need much help. They&rsquo;re helping the old man out.&rdquo;When this season ends, Lamoureux almost certainly will rank seventh in all-time AHL scoring. He has climbed from 13th to ninth already, and his career totals of 358 goals and 810 points put him within easy striking distance of Jimmy Anderson (821 points) and Harry Pidhirny (829).He also ranked eighth in goals, surpassing longtime Hershey star Tim Tookey (353). Lamoureux&rsquo;s 57 goals as a rookie is the sixth-highest total in AHL history.When Lamoureux does finally say goodbye to the game, there will be one benefit: a savings on medical supplies for the team. &ldquo;He needs so much Flex-all to keep his joints loose, he has blown my budget,&rdquo; said Bears trainer Dan Stuck.MELTDOWN: Albany River Rat tough guy Sasha Lakovic took a run at the AHL single-game penalty minute record, piling up 44 minutes after starting a brawl before the second period of a 5-3 loss at Adirondack Jan. 30.The left winger, down for the weekend on conditioning from New Jersey, fought with Martin Laitre in the first period. As the teams warmed up before the second period, Lakovic instigated a fight with Laitre, then delivered a vicious head-butt as the fight ended.Lakovic earned 39 penalty minutes for that incident, including a double minor, fighting major, misconduct, game misconduct and match misconduct.That mental meltdown gave Adirondack a nine-minute power play to start the second period and the Red Wings scored three times.The AHL record is 54 penalty minutes in a game set by Wally Weir of the 1980-81 Rochester Americans.&ldquo;Every time they play us, (the Devils) send Lakovic down to babysit them,&rdquo; said Wings&rsquo; coach Glenn Merkosky. &ldquo;A total lack of discipline by Lakovic cost them the hockey game.&rdquo;STREAK SNAPPED: The Providence Bruins&rsquo; 16-game unbeaten streak came to an end Jan. 30 when the host Hershey Bears won 6-1. The AHL record is 27 by the 1947-48 Cleveland Barons.&ldquo;It was just something that kind of unfolded and it just kept going,&rdquo; said rookie coach Peter Laviolette.ADDING SOME BITE: The Hartford Wolf Pack solved its need for a game-breaking scorer by acquiring right winger Brad Smyth on loan from the Milwaukee Admirals of the International League for goalie Kay Whitmore. Smyth, 25, was the AHL&rsquo;s 1995-96 MVP after scoring 68 goals for the Carolina Monarchs. The Nashville Predator prospect scored two goals and three assists in his first three games-all Wolf Pack victories. &#9632;

f0029-01

One last kiss for Hershey star as Lamoureux set to pack it in

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>To Hampton Roads coach John Brophy, winning his 900th professional game was no big deal.What was more important to the 66-year-old Admirals&rsquo; boss was breaking a four-game losing streak and remaining in first place in the Northeast Division of the East Coast League.Brophy reached the milestone Jan. 27 when Hampton Roads beat the Chesapeake Icebreakers 3-1 before roughly 200 spectators at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, Md.&ldquo;We had to win the game to stay in first. That&rsquo;s all that matters,&rdquo; Brophy told the Norfolk Virginian Pilot. &ldquo;(Winning 900) means &rsquo; nothing. It just means I&rsquo;ve been here forever.&rdquo;.Brophy had just finished serving a two-game suspension for an altercation in a game in Roanoke Jan. 10.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02534/6979634-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="416" height="425"></div>Goaltender Steve Valiquette stopped 38 shots and the Admirals played their usual hard-working defensive style to stay ahead of division rival Roanoke Express.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if it was a distraction, but it&rsquo;s something we&rsquo;ve all been thinking about,&rdquo; said Valiquette, 21, a New York Islanders&rsquo; prospect. &ldquo;I wanted to get it tonight. Hopefully, now he&rsquo;ll get 1,000.&rdquo;Brophy became only the third professional coach to reach the 900 plateau, trailing only Hall of Fame coaches Scotty Bowman (1,282 wins and counting) and Al Arbour (904). Brophy&rsquo;s record, including playoffs, was 901-795-155 entering February.Brophy&rsquo;s only coaching tenure in the NHL was behind the bench of the Toronto Maple Leafs for 2-1/2 seasons where he racked up a 64-111-18 record.,In 10 seasons with the Admirals, Brophy was 408-248-66.COAST LINES: Richmond Renegades&rsquo; &rsquo; goaltender Maxime Gingras posted back-to-back shutouts against the Johnstown Chiefs and Hampton Roads-both by scores of 4-0&ndash;to become only the second netminder in ECHL history to record five shutouts in one season. The other was David Goverde of the Toledo Storm in 1996-97&hellip;Former Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; center Kimbi Daniels had four goals for the New Orleans Brass in a 6-4 win over the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks Jan. 29&hellip;The Baton Rouge Kingfish lost their first game in three years when leading after two periods when the expansion Florida Everblades rallied for a 6-4 victory Jan. 30. The Kingfish had gone 52-0-7 when leading after 40 minutes since moving to Louisiana from Erie, Pa. &#9632;

f0029-02

Admirals’ Brophy downplays hitting 900 career-win plateau

<div class="byline">By Kevin lole</div>Jani Hurme came to North America to pursue his lifelong dream of playing in the NHL. It didn&rsquo;t take him long, however, to discover the road to stardom would be paved with potholes.The Finnish-born 24-year-old goalie, a 1997 second round pick of the Ottawa Senators, has been traded from their Detroit affiliate, not once, but twice, in just over a year.Hurme made his North American debut last season with the Vipers, but after six games was dispatched to the Indianapolis Ice.This season, Ottawa tried again and sent him back to Detroit. But after 12 games he was dealt to the Cincinnati Cyclones along &rsquo; with left winger Phil Crowe for goaltender Geoff Sarjeant.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01939/6979665-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="627" height="257"></div>The whole situation was not, however, what one might think, according to Senajtors&rsquo; GM Rick Diftiley And Dudley, of all people, should know since he was the Vipers&rsquo; GM last season.&ldquo;Jani is a prospect and he needed a chance to go someplace (last year) where he could play just about every game,&rdquo; Dudley said. &ldquo;There were some other very good goaltenders in Detroit and that wasn&rsquo;t going to happen.&ldquo;This year, Jani had a great camp with us, but Detroit again has a lot of goalies and Cincinnati was in a situation where it could make him its No. 1 guy and we felt we needed to do that,&rdquo; Dudley said.Since arriving in Cincinnati Dec. 4, Hurme has been nothing short of superb. He was 13-6-2 and was giving the Cyclones the type of goaltending championship teams need.Hurme is glad to be out of Detroit, where he never hit it off with Vipers&rsquo; coach Steve Ludzik.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like him and he doesn&rsquo;t like me,&rdquo; said Hurme, whose International League numbers this season were 20-9-3 with a 2.88 goals-against average and. 902 save percentage.Hurme said he is playing much better since arriving in Cincinnati simply because he knows he is wanted.He said his confidence took a beating in Detroit, but said he has gotten a chance to adjust to the North American game in a good environment with the Cyclones.&ldquo;Actually, both times (Detroit) traded me, I was not expecting it and of course, it doesn&rsquo;t feel good,&rdquo; Hurme said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t like the feeling. But I&rsquo;ve been lucky this year, because coming to Cincinnati was the best thing to happen to me.&rdquo;INJURED DOGS: It is unlikely any team this season had been hurt worse by injuries than the Long Beach Ice Dogs, who have been without at least seven key players for the past month.The Dogs were still without defense-f man Dan Lambert (elbow), arguably the league&rsquo;s top player; right winger r Patrik Augusta (knee), one of the &rsquo; league&rsquo;s top snipers; first-line winger Jocelyn Lemieux (foot); top NHL prospect Patrik Stefan (bruised spinal column); second-line center Doug Ast (thumb); No. 1 goaltender Manny Legace (foot); and big left winger Sacha Molin (wrist).The Dogs have fallen from the top of the standings to the middle of the pack as a result, but Ice Dogs&rsquo; coach-GM John Van Boxmeer was hoping the team would be healthy by playoff time.I-OPENERS: The league announced the 2000 All-Star Game will be played at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago&hellip; The Utah Grizzlies may have lost right winger Mick Vukota for the season after he detached part of his hip bone, as well as suffering a suffering a hernia, in a fight with Manitoba&rsquo;s Mike Ruark&hellip;Manitoba acquired center Chris Winnes on loan from Hartford of the American League. The Moose were looking for a veteran in the middle after losing Neil Brady to injury for the season&hellip;Utah left winger Brad Lauer had an eight-game goal-scoring streak and earned player-of-the-week honors Feb. 1&hellip;Cincinnati will retire forward Paul Lawless&rsquo; No. 13 April 2. &#9632;

f0030-01

Hurme blows through Detroit and finds home with Cyclones

<div class="byline">By Brendan Savage</div>After threatening to skip the All-Star Game as a protest, Paul Willett of the Muskegon Fury ended up being named the United League&rsquo;s MVP in the second annual contest against the Canadian national team.Willett and four teammates talked about skipping the game after being roughed up in a game a week earlier by the Quad City Mallards, who hosted the second annual affair.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02625/6979696-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="574" height="312"></div>But after speaking with commissioner Richard Brosal, the veteran center and his teammates made the trip to Quad City and Willett had one goal and one assist to help the UHL post a 65 shootout victory over Team Canada.&ldquo;It was the type of thing that was blown out of proportion,&rdquo; said Willett, who claimed his eye was gouged by Quad City all-star Mike Melas in a Jan. 27 game in Muskegon.&ldquo;Some things were said that maybe shouldn&rsquo;t have been said, but there&rsquo;s no way we weren&rsquo;t going to come. We&rsquo;re all professionals.&rdquo;Bob Maudie was named Team Canada&rsquo;s MVP after scoring two goals during regulation while also bagging his club&rsquo;s only goal in the shootout.For the second straight year, the game resembled a playoff game more than a wide-open all-star affair. No more than one goal ever separated the teams and neither team managed to outshoot the other by more than one shot in any period.The UHL finally avenged last year&rsquo;s 4-3 loss when Muskegon&rsquo;s David-Alexandre Beauregard, Quad City rookie Brian LaFleur and Winston-Salem&rsquo;s Alexei Deev scored in the shootout.&ldquo;When I first went out, I didn&rsquo;t know what to &ldquo;expect,&rdquo; said referee , George Harrison.&ldquo;Typically, in an All-Star Game, you put your whistle in your pocket. But after about 10 minutes, it was obvious these guys were playing for keeps.&ldquo;It had more intensity than a normal All-Star Game.&rdquo;Team Canada, which lost 6-4 to the West Coast League all-stars this year, won the skills competition 1310 thanks to a strong performance by defenseman Shawn Heins.Heins, who is under contract to the San Jose Sharks, won the fastest skater competition as well as the hardest shot. His slap shot of 106 miles per hour broke the all-time record of 105.3 set by Al lafrate of the Washington Capitals in 1993. (See pg. 5 for more on Heins). &#9632;

f0030-02

Willett shows up, takes MVP honor

<div class="byline">By David Henry</div>If there is a lesson to be learned in the third year of the Western Pro League, it is not to underestimate beginner&rsquo;s luck.At the midway point of the season, three expansion teams were either first or second in their respective divisions. The Corpus Christi IceRays, Arkansas GlacierCats and Abilene Aviators-all newcomers-held down the top spots Jan. 27, two weeks after the all-star break.Here&rsquo;s how the second half stacks up. Teams are listed in order of division standing after Jan. 27 games. The top three teams in each division and three wild-card teams make the playoffs.<h2>Central Division</h2>1.Waco Wizards (23-17-3). By mid-season, the league&rsquo;s most improved team already had more wins than their league-worst 18 last season.2.Corpus Christi IceRays (22-18-4). The IceRays led the Central Division for most of the first half, but they need to identify a No. 1 goalie.3.Central Texas Stampede (21-16-6). The Stampede is too inconsistent. It has a good power play, but can&rsquo;t put together a win streak.4.Fort Worth Brahmas (21-18-4). Seven December wins keep the Brahmas bullish, along with the 18 wins by goalie Steve Plouffe.5. Austin Ice Bats (16-20-7). The fans keep coming, but the Bats&ndash;the league leader in penalty minutes-keep going into the Central cellar.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02562/6979765-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="447" height="382"></div><h2>Eastern Division</h2>1.Lake Charles Ice Pirates (27-16-2). One of only two teams with a winning record both at home and on the road.2.Arkansas GlacierCats (26-16-2). Ryan Pawluk, Tim Findlay and Jarret Whidden, are the y WPHL&rsquo;s best trio.3.Monroe Moccasins (24-18-5).. The WPHL&rsquo;s least penalized team and most disciplined. y4.Shreveport Mudbugs- (23-16-4). Real homers. The Mudbugs lost only three of 18 games at home.5.Alexandria Warthogs (17-21-7). A record of 8-3-2 in December has the Warthogs thinking post-season. Alexandria needs another sniper.6.Tupelo T-Rex (14-29-2). Its 14 wins are a league-low, but only three behind Alexandria.<h2>Western Division</h2>1.Abilene Aviators (31-14-1). The Aviators won their first 15 home games, but had to cool off sooner or later.2.San Angelo Outlaws (27-13-3). The Outlaws were the hottest team at the midway point with an 11-1-1 mark outside the division.3.El Paso Buzzards (25-18-2). The two-time champs are struggling on the power play. They miss former league MVP Jamie Thompson.4.Odessa Jackalopes (22-20-3). The return of injured winger Sami Laine should help the struggling Jackalopes offensively.5.Amarillo Rattlers (22-18-3). Winger Steve Ferranti was a nice pickup. As usual, the Rattlers are inconsistent defensively.6.New Mexico Scorpions (20-23-4). Co-owner Joe Murphy filed for bankruptcy Jan.. 12 and the WPHL is running the team in the interim.Our choices for mid-season bests &#9632;

f0031-02

Aviators fly out of gate as new teams stand out

<div class="byline">By Gordie Sutherland</div>Bathurst Titan owner Leo-Guy Morrissette made two blockbuster deals in December and expected immediate success in return.The string of wins didn&rsquo;t come and rookie head coach Dino Masanotti paid the price when he was fired Jan. 28.Bathurst had lost three of its past four games, including a 5-3 setback to the Sherbrooke Castors Jan. 27 that marked the Titan&rsquo;s first home loss in 12 games.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always a surprise,&rdquo; Masanotti, 36, said of being fired. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t expect that. The only thing I was expecting was more time to mold the team together.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like three new teams that I have to put in one team. Time was J really short. I thought I would have more time.&rdquo;Bathurst has welcomed eight new players since December, including Canadian junior silver-medalist goalie Roberto Luongo, sniper Mathieu Benoit and last season&rsquo;s-&rdquo; league MVP Ramzi Abid.Although Bathurst (31-18-3) was third overall at the all-star break, Morrissette, who is also the Titan&rsquo;s GM, said he needed to make a coaching change before playoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02633/6979827-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="555" height="517"></div>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s simple,&rdquo; Morrissette said. &ldquo;The club hasn&rsquo;t been performing up to potential for the last month and a half. When we win, we&rsquo;re lucky to win. Our defensive play has been atrocious for the past 11 or 12 games.&rdquo;Morrissette hired former Rimouski Oceanic coach Roger Dejoie as Masanotti&rsquo;s replacement.ROCKETS BLASTED: The Montreal Rockets are set to play next season, but not everyone is happy about the deal the expansion team has made with the Quebec League.A chief complaint, particularly among Maritime teams, is the Rockets, who were named after Maurice Richard, won&rsquo;t be paying travel compensation.The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, for example, pay $94,000 to help offset visiting teams&rsquo; transportation costs. The Halifax Mooseheads pay $57,000 while the Moncton Wildcats shell out slightly more.Moncton coach-GM Real Paiement felt Montreal is getting preferential treatment. &ldquo;Everybody who has come into the league the last few years has had to pay (compensation),&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Who is going to pay for us to go to Montreal to play? There&rsquo;s no other team in Montreal now&rsquo;.&rdquo;QMJHL president Gilles Courteau defended the decision. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think coming to Montreal is something extra that teams are going to have to do,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When Vai d&rsquo;Or and Rouyn-Noranda come to play Hull, they will go to play Montreal after, or they play in Montreal and on their way back they play Hull.&rdquo;Courteau also said the Rockets will not receive any travel money from other member teams.NOT FORGOTTEN: The Shawinigan Cataractes&rsquo; decision to give Dominic Forget another year of midget last season is paying off. The speedy 17-year-old has emerged as the second-line center with the Cataractes and was second in rookie scoring. Shawinigan assistant GM and chief scout Stephane Pilotte has marvelled at the 5-foot-9,185-pounder&rsquo;s consistency.&ldquo;I think we were a little surprised that he stayed with the first two lines all year,&rdquo; he said.NOTEBOOK: The Lebel Division beat the Dilio Division 8-6 at the All-Star Game at Montreal&rsquo;s Molson Centre Feb. 2&hellip;Former NHL star Pat LaFontaine was introduced Jan. 28 as the Rockets&rsquo; honorary president. He also has a 10 per-cent ownership&hellip; Halifax Mooseheads center Ladislav Nagy tied the league record for shorthanded goals and broke the franchise record for points in a season during a 7-3 win over the Vai d&rsquo;Or Foreurs Jan. 29. As part of his five-point night, Nagy surpassed Brant Blackned who held Halifax&rsquo;s single-season record with 97 points in 1994-95. He also got his 11th shorthanded goal to earn a tie with former Drummondville Voltigeurs&rsquo; forward Rene Corbet. &#9632;

f0032-02

Masanotti takes fall for Titan as star-studded lineup falters

<div class="byline">By Bob Vanstone</div>Brandon Wheat Kings&rsquo; GM Kelly McCrimmon benefitted from some forward thinking on the Western League&rsquo;s trading deadline.McCrimmon acquired two of the WHL&rsquo;s better forwards-centers Brett McLean and Jason Chimera-in separate Feb. 1 deals.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re certainly happy to get the two players we did,&rdquo; McCrimmon said. &ldquo;They really give us a dimension. Both have the ability to be gamebreakers and make us better.&rdquo;McLean and Chimera are graduates of Canada&rsquo;s national junior program. McLean, 20, played for Canada at the World Junior Championship in 1998. Chimera, 19, wore the Maple Leaf for the 1999 tournament.Brandon dealt right winger Ryan Johnston, 20, defenseman Andrew Kaminsky, 19, and a third round bantam pick in 2000 to the Kelowna] Rockets for McLean. Kelowna then sent Kaminsky to the Regina Pats for rearguard Gerad Adams, 20.Chimera was obtained from the Medicine Hat Tigers for right winger Justin Yeoman, 17, goalie Kyle Kettles, 17, and a second round pick in 1999.Chimera had 18 goals and 40 points in 37 games with Medicine Hat this season.McLean&ndash;the leading scorer in Rockets&rsquo; history-had 32 goals and 70 points in 44 games. He had 373 points in 308 games with the Rockets.At the time of the deals, Brandon (25-22-4) and the Moose Jaw Warriors (26-21-2) were tied for third in the six-team East Division. The Prince Albert Raiders (28-16^4) and Swift Current Broncos (25-21-5) occupied the top two spots.Brandon needed to win 15 of its final 21 games to tie a WHL record for most consecutive 40-win seasons. Regina (1979-80 through 1985-86) and the Kamloops Blazers (1989-90 through 1995-96) share the mark of seven straight 40-win seasons.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03445/6979858-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="410" height="403"></div>&ldquo;Obviously, we have some ground to make up,&rdquo; McCrimmon said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t necessarily feel we&rsquo;re fine-tuning a championship team.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re encouraged with our play since Christmas and with our play on the road. The signals sent to us by our team encouraged us to do something to round off the team.&rdquo;MOVING AGAIN: Defenseman Brad Ference was dealt for the second time in barely two weeks. The NHL rights to Ference&ndash;the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; first round choice in the 1997 draft-were sent to the Florida Panthers in the Jan. 17 Pavel Bure trade.Ference, 19, was also moved on the WHL&rsquo;s trading deadline. The Spokane Chiefs shipped him to the Tri-City Americans for defenseman David Boychuk, 17, and future considerations.Spokane traded another 1997 first rounder-left winger Ty Jones-shortly before the WHL deadline. The 19-year-old was shipped to Kamloops Jan. 27 for right winger Ryan Thorpe, 17, and a r fourth round bantam pick.In another deal of note, the Leth-L bridge Hurricanes traded their leading goal-scorer, right winger Curtis Huppe, to Tri-City., The 19-year-old Huppe (who had 33 goals in 48 games with Lethbridge) and right winger Andrew Guindon, 17, were sent westward for center Nathan Barrett, 17, and defenseman Ryan Jorde, 16.Lethbridge also unloaded its best defenseman, 19-year-old Luc Theoret, who went to the Portland Winter Hawks for center Todd Hornung, 18. Portland opted to add veterans despite its 15-22-9 slate.&ldquo;With the quality of players we now have, we felt we had to go for it now rather than look to the future,&rdquo; said Portland GM Ken Hodge.HOT HAWK: Todd Robinson has become the Winter Hawks&rsquo; all-time leading scorer.Robinson, 20, overtook Dennis Holland, who had 429 points from 1986-87 through 1988-89, during a 4-3 win over the Calgary Hitmen Jan. 27. Robinson assisted on three Portland goals to finish the game with 431 points.Robinson upstaged Calgary right winger Pavel Brendl, whose point streak was halted at a WHL season-high 20 games. &#9632;

f0032-03

Wheat Kings look forward to another 40-win season

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div>Circumstances dictate George Gwozdecky play the role of gypsy leader this season.While construction continues on a new rink, Gwozdecky and the Denver Pioneers will call four different sites home-including two arenas located well outside the city limits&ndash;by the end of the regular season. Heading down the stretch of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association season, it would appear everyone on the team is handling the disruptions OK.At the end of January, the Pioneers were 115-1 at &ldquo;home&rdquo; with a 4-2-0 mark at the Denver Coliseum, 7-3-0 at McNichols Arena and 0-0-1 at the World Arena in Colorado Springs, which is 75 miles away. The Denver schedule in February calls for two appearances at Cadet Ice Arena, located on the Air Force Academy campus outside Colorado Springs.The disruptions are easier to take when things are going well, which has been the case. The Pioneers began the new year with a 7-2-1 run, a stretch that includes a 4-2 win over Hockey East powerhouse New Hampshire.Denver (10-8-2) firmly entrenched itself in the top half of WCHA playoff bound teams by taking three of four points in a series at Wisconsin Jan. 29-30.Gwozdecky harbors no illusions of catching first-place North Dakota, which is running away with its third straight regular season title. But Denver, led by standout center Paul Comrie, began February in third place, just two points behind Colorado College.&ldquo;Are we title contenders?&rdquo; Gwozdecky said. &ldquo;No, nobody (other than North Dakota) is. Are we a contender for second place? We&rsquo;ve got Colorado College in our sights.&rdquo;The archrivals, who split a home-and-home series in November, meet again Feb. 19-20.&ldquo;We might have an opportunity to catch them if the timing is right,&rdquo; Gwozdecky said.A LINK TO THE PAST: Walk-on backup goalie Tony Gasparini came off the bench to make 28 saves and help Minnesota-Duluth gain a 2-2 tie with top-rated North Dakota Jan. 30.The moment is significant when you consider Tony&rsquo;s father, Gino, coached the Fighting Sioux during their 1980s heydays. Tony was a typical rink rat, who developed a close bond with Dean Blais, a former North Dakota assistant who now runs the show in Grand Forks.&ldquo;After the game, he came over and gave me a hug and said, &rsquo;Congratulations,&rsquo; &ldquo; Tony Gasparini said of Blais. &ldquo;That really meant a lot.&rdquo;SISTERLY KISSES: The last three meetings between St. Cloud State and Alaska-Anchorage have done little to pad their respective offensive stats.Their final game of the 1997-98 season ended in a 0-0 standoff in St. Cloud. Their series in Anchorage Jan. 29-30 resulted in a pair of 1-1 ties. &#9632;

Life on the road just fine for hot Denver Pioneers

<div class="byline">By Paul Harris</div>Bill Wilkinson&rsquo;s long tenure as coach at Western Michigan University is over.Wilkinson, in his 17th season, was fired Feb. 3. He had coached the Broncos to a 2-13-6 conference record this season, last in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. The team&rsquo;s overall record was 3-16-6.Wilkinson will be replaced on an interim basis by assistant coach Jim Culhane. Culhane took over the team briefly before the beginning of the season when the university suspended Wilkinson for violations stemming from a team golf outing and subsequent party.Culhane will also be a candidate for the permanent position.&ldquo;We appreciate Bill&rsquo;s many years of loyal service to this institution,&rdquo; said Director of Athletics Kathy Beauregard. &ldquo;The university felt it was time for a change in the leadership of the hockey program. The university remains committed to fulfilling the terms of coach Wilkinson&rsquo;s contract.&rdquo;Wilkinson will be reassigned to become a special assistant to Beauregard until his contract runs out June 30, 2000.Wilkinson&rsquo;s career record at WMU is 313301-53.His teams reached the NCAA tournament three times and won the 1986 CCHA tournament championship.SPARTANS UNBEATABLE: The first-place Michigan State Spartans hadn&rsquo;t lost since a 2-1 setback to Minnesota Nov. 29, a span of 15 games in which the team was 12-0-3.<h2>CCHA</h2>Michigan State led the CCHA with 33 points, thanks to a 14-2-5 record. But despite the unbeaten streak, the Spartans have been unable to pull away from the pack with a little more than a month left in the regular season.&ldquo;It helps the atmosphere in the dressing room,&rdquo; said senior center Mike York. &ldquo;But when you look at the standings, you realize other teams have been playing well, too. That makes it easy to focus on the next game.&rdquo;Not only was Michigan just two points back, third-place Ohio State was four points behind.SWITCH TO CENTER: Miami sophomore Jason Deskins began the season as a winger, but coach Mark Mazzoleni moved him to center when junior center Dustin Whitecotton was lost for the season because of an injury. That&rsquo;s when Deskins took off. Since being moved to the middle Nov. 27, Deskins had 10 goals and 15 points in 13 games.&ldquo;One of the most stupid moves we&rsquo;ve done and one of the best,&rdquo; Mazzoleni said of not playing Deskins at center and then putting him there. &ldquo;He played center for Compuware of the North American League (Jr. A).&rdquo;For the season, Deskins had 16 goals and 27 points in 28 games. He was CCHA offensive player of the week. &#9632;

Wilkinson’s reign at WMU comes to end in 17th year

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggie</div>If the Eastern College Athletic Conference gave out an award for patience, it would have to go to Princeton sophomore center Kirk Lamb.Lamb, a native of Cold Lake, Alta., waited more than a year and a half before he finally got into a game for the Tigers.He became eligible to play at Princeton Dec. 20, after serving a suspension of one year and nine games, imposed by the NCAA, for playing major junior hockey. He was allowed to practice with the team during that span, but couldn&rsquo;t compete in a game.In 1995, Lamb was drafted by the Calgary Hitmen of the Western League and played in nine games before being sent back to junior A, where, in 1996-97, he was MVP for the Bon-nyville Pontiacs in the Alberta Junior League.Although college scouts knew Lamb would have to sit out for more than a year, many were interested in his offensive skills and Princeton finally won the recruiting battle.Lamb, 20, took part in the Tigers&rsquo; victory celebration last March at Lake Placid, when Princeton won its first ECAC title, but the day he was really waiting for came Dec. 20, 1998, when he made his debut against Northeastern.Lamb scored his first goal in a 4-1 win over Army Jan. 26, and will be a role player as the Tigers (14-4-1), ranked sixth in the nation, bid for their second straight ECAC crown.<h2>ECAC</h2>&ldquo;He missed 45 games. That&rsquo;s a lot of time to sit on the sidelines,&rdquo; said Princeton coach Don Cahoon. &ldquo;The timing elements and game readiness have to become second nature for him.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s on our second power-play unit and we&rsquo;re using him on a regular shift with Syl Apps. We&rsquo;re trying to find a comfort zone for him.&rdquo;CASE FOR HEFFLER: Since the formation of the ECAC setup in 1985, only one goalie, Dave Gagnon of Colgate in 1990, has been named the player of the year.But St. Lawrence senior Eric Heffler could add his name to that short list this season.Heffler continued his outstanding run Jan. 29-30, when he led the Saints to wins over RPI and Union on the road.He had 38 saves as the Saints defeated RPI 54 in overtime to end the Engineers&rsquo; nine-game winning streak, and earned his fourth shutout of the season the next night with 27 saves in a 4-0 win over Union. Heffler (13-8-1) had a. 930 save percentage and a 2.41 goals-against average.The game at RPI went right down to the wire, as St. Lawrence junior Jason Windle scored the winning goal with four seconds left in overtime. The goal was Windle&rsquo;s third of the season.NOTEBOOK: RPI junior winger Pete Gardiner is one of five finalists for the national Hockey Humanitarian Award, which recognizes scholarship, good character and citizenship to the community. The winner will be announced April 2 in Anaheim, Calif. &#9632;

Lamb in Tigers’ clothing after lengthy suspension

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>Hockey East seems to have three legitimate Hobey Baker Award candidates in University of New Hampshire senior center Jason Krog, Maine senior right winger Steve Kariya and Boston College sophomore right winger Brian Gionta.&rsquo;&rsquo;They&rsquo;re all tremendous players,&rdquo; said Providence College coach Paul Pooley. &ldquo;Kariya and Gionta have a lot of energy. They&rsquo;re always moving, always darting. Krog is very gifted. He&rsquo;s around the puck all the time. He can slow the game down and still be dominant.&rdquo;Through 16 league games, Gionta and Krog shared the league scoring lead with 34 points each. Kariya had 30 in 15 games.Overall, Krog had 52 points in 26 games; Kariya had 46 points in 25 games; and Gionta had 41 points in 22 games.Merrimack coach Chris Serino agreed with Pooley that Kariya and Gionta play a more similar style than Krog.&ldquo;Gionta and Kariya are the kinds of players who, whenever they touch the puck, they&rsquo;re exciting,&rdquo; Serino said. &ldquo;They are quick and they have the ability to make things happen. If you overplay them, they&rsquo;ll make a great pass to an open man. Krog can also be exciting but he&rsquo;s more of a straight-forward player.&rdquo;Northeastern University coach Bruce Crowder said Gionta and Kariya are flashier, but Krog gets the job done in equally superb fashion.&ldquo;Kariya and Gionta will make the crowd stand up and say &lsquo;Wow,&rsquo;&rdquo; Crowder said. &ldquo;Krog uses his speed to create space. He&rsquo;s very unselfish and a great team leader.&rdquo;<h2>HOCKET EAST</h2>All three have dominated despite their size. Krog, who was a Hobey Baker finalist last season, is the biggest at 5-foot-ll and 191 pounds. Kariya is 5-foot-9 and 165 pounds, Gionta 5-foot-7 and 160 pounds.BEANPOT RECRUITS: The 47th annual Beanpot Tournament featuring the three Hockey East Boston-area schools-Northeastem, Boston University and Boston College, along with Harvard (Eastern Collegiate Athletic Association)-is much more than just bragging rights.The event, in its 47th year, is an invaluable recruiting tool, according to Crowder.&ldquo;Most of our kids see the chance to play in the Beanpot (in front of scouts) as an important reason to come,&rdquo; Crowder said.A Hockey East school has won eight of the past nine tournaments, not including this year&rsquo;s all-Hockey East final between Boston University and Northeastern at Fleet Center Feb. 8.NOTEBOOK: Krog, UNH goalies Ty Conklin and Sean Matile and Maine left winger Barrett HeLsten were named player, co-goalies and rookie of the month for January, respectively. Krog had 20 points in 10 games; Conklin was 5-0 with a 1.60 goals-against average; Matile was 4-1 with a 1.80 GAA; and Heisten had 11 points in eight games. &#9632;

Krog, Kariya and Gionta Hobey Baker candidates

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01889/6979999-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01848/6979992-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="6999" height="4085"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01826/6979985-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="3415" height="4045"></div> &#9632;

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NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02312/6980075-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01408/6980068-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="3399" height="4005"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01417/6980061-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="3356" height="4048"></div> &#9632;

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NHL GAME SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01434/6980106-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL ROSTERS AND TRANSACTIONS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01331/6980137-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0045-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01265/6980168-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0046-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01260/6980199-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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EAST COAST LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01295/6980230-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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February 19, 1999

NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

UHL MID-SEASON REPORT

Goal blowout over Bolts no big deal

Ranger star Paver stricken with Guillain-Barre Syndrome