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 26, 1999

The Hockey News February 26, 1999

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01298/7022186-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

SCOREBOARD

<h2>TI ME CAPSULE</h2>DETROIT-Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; Larry Murphy broke Tim Horton&rsquo;s record for career games played by a defenseman by appearing in No. 1,447 in a game against the Colorado Avalanche Feb. 5.Boston Bruins&rsquo; defenseman Ray Bourque will be the next to pass Horton, having played in 1,423 games through Feb. 11.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 a blueline to represent the long and prosperous careers of Murphy and Bourque.Jan. 8Russian Gold MedalWorld Junior ChampionshipJan.15Tear DropDoug Wickenheiser&rsquo;s deathJan. 22Panthers&rsquo; Jan. 20 Game SheetPavel Bure&rsquo;s Florida debutJan. 29AU-Star TruckWayne Gretzky all-star MVPFeb. 5Hall of Fame stickShawn Heins, 106 m-p-h shotFeb. 12BluelineLarry Murphy. Ray Bourque GP &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

THN’s Millennium

<div class="byline">By Helene Elliott</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02974/7021014-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="171" height="171"></div>It wasn&rsquo;t the &rsquo;Miracle on Manchester,&rsquo; the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; 1982 comeback playoff victory against the Edmonton Oilers. And it wasn&rsquo;t a game that won them a playoff series&ndash;or anything more than two points in the middle of February.But by scoring three times in the last 3:08 to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Feb. 11, the Kings regained some precious hope and a fighting chance at claiming a playoff berth. For a team that has had little to smile about in an inconsistent and injury-plagued season, it was a lot better than nothing. And they hoped it could turn out to be something-specifically, a turning point-that will launch them to a playoff drive.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a race; it&rsquo;s pressure,&rdquo; said rookie right winger Pavel Rosa, who escaped coach Larry Robinson&rsquo;s doghouse to score his first goal in more than a month and begin the Kings&rsquo; improbable comeback against the Eastern Conference leaders. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the pressure we would like to have, but who knows? We might build on this and go straight to the Cup.&rdquo;Goals by Sandy Moger and Donald Audette brought the Kings even in the third period, then center Jozef Stumpel unleashed a long shot that deflected past Ron Hextail with 0.3 seconds remaining to supply the margin of victory. They had been in danger of dropping six points out of eighth in the West, but instead moved within four points of the final playoff spot. It was the first time in more than a year the Kings had won a game in which they trailed after two periods.&ldquo;We needed to rally the team,&rdquo; said Stumpel, who has regained his timing and effectiveness after being slowed by early-season hip and ankle injuries.The Kings seemed to learn what it takes to win. How long they can sustain that remained to be seen as they began a potentially pivotal stretch of 13 consecutive games against Western rivals.&ldquo;A lot of times, you get a win like this and guys get confidence,&rdquo; Robinson said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been looking for something to build on.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Philippe Boucher, scratched 21 times in a 24-game span, asked to be traded. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not working out here,&rdquo; said Boucher, whose offensive skills don&rsquo;t compensate for his defensive weaknesses and inability to play a physical game&hellip;In a statistical oddity, right winger Russ Courtnail became the third King this season to play in his 1,000th career game. He reached the milestone Feb. 10 in a 3-0 loss at Phoenix, following defensemen Garry Galley and Doug Bodger by only a few weeks. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited to get it over with,&rdquo; said Courtnall, whose brother, Geoff, preceded him to the milestone. Another King on the verge of his 1,000th game, center Ray Ferraro, was eight away after the Kings&rsquo; 4-3 victory over Philadelphia Feb. 11&hellip; Defenseman Mark Visheau may be out for the season after doctors determined he has a congenital urinary tract obstruction that will require surgery. He played in 28 games, some at right wing, and had a goal and four points &#9632;

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NHL TEAMS

Kings get strong confidence boost thanks to last-minute comeback

<div class="byline">By Tim Buckley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03398/7021393-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="168" height="166"></div>Less than a year after buying the team, new Tampa bay Lightning owner Art Williams acknowledged he may sell the NHL&rsquo;s last-place team and its lease at the Ice Palace if he cannot find a suitable partner before the end of the season.Williams, who bought the team and the lease for $117-million last off-season, said he has been involved in talks with two potential investors, one an unidentified suitor from the Tampa Bay area who wants no more than a 50 per cent interest in the team and the other an unidentified group from outside the area that has supposed hockey expertise and an desire to buy controlling interest.If Williams, who expects to lose $20-million this season, cannot find a partner or investor, he may sell outright.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t give the odds on what will happen, but I think something will happen before the end of the season,&rdquo; Williams told the St. Petersburg Times. &ldquo;I believe I&rsquo;m going to find a partner. But by the end of the season, I&rsquo;ll know whether I&rsquo;m going to have a partner, or whether I&rsquo;m going to sell the team, or whether I&rsquo;ll continue to keep the ownership&hellip;It may very well happen that I continue to keep the team.&rdquo;Or it may not. The retired insurance mogul and former high school football coach from Georgia is unhappy with the performance of the Lightning, which also finished last in the league a season ago. That, he said, is why he may sell.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not about the money, it&rsquo;s about the losses on the ice,&rdquo; Williams said. &ldquo;This thing has just devastated me&hellip;I&rsquo;m not a happy trooper.&rdquo;Williams blamed fired GM Phil Esposito for raising false hopes about the team&rsquo;s potential this season.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know hockey and I got talked into some things that were just not right,&rdquo; he said, hinting at the acquisition of several veteran players in the off-season. &ldquo;We took shortcuts.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: A Boston-area specialist has told Lightning goalie Daren Puppa he does not need season-ending surgery, as initially believed, but Puppa may still miss the rest of the season while resting an injured abductor muscle. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not really in an area where surgery can help.&rdquo; said trainer Curtis Bell. Puppa, 33, has one year left on his contract that pays $2.3-million this season, but his future is uncertain: &rsquo;It&rsquo;s time to turn the page on Daren Puppa&hellip;I can&rsquo;t say he will never play here again, but it&rsquo;s time to move on,&rdquo; Lightning coach-GM Jacques Demers told the St. Petersburg Times Feb. 9. &ldquo;We cannot rely on him because of his health.&rdquo; Puppa has played just 45 games since 1996-97, including only 13 this year. &#9632;

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Williams ’devastated,’ may sell club

<h2>Thanks millions to Flyers&rsquo; wives</h2>1. Carnival queens Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; wives raise record $1.25 million for charity, 23-year total now $11.65 million.2. Freddie&rsquo;s steady Anaheim&rsquo;s Fredrik Olausson second blueliner born outside North America to get 500 points.3. Miller time Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Kip Miller, who had 14 career goals entering 199899, scores eight in a nine-game stretch.4. SRO Ottawa 67&rsquo;s completely sell out 1999 Memorial Cup tournament six days after being awarded event.5. Lucky Pettersen Augusta&rsquo;s Lars Pettersen fires five third period goals in 7-6 ECHL loss to Birmingham.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0135/7022224-1-eng-US/c0002-012.jpg" title="C0002-01" width="337" height="483"><figcaption class="caption-body">Fredrik Olausson</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0232/7022217-1-eng-US/c0002-022.jpg" title="C0002-02" width="339" height="484"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Cummins</figcaption></div><h2>Myhres issued 12-game ban</h2>1. Shark bitten San Jose&rsquo;s Brantt Myhres tossed a season-high 12 games for series of infractions.2. The Pitts Vancouver fails to win a game at Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Civic Arena in the 1990s, posting an 0-9-1 record there.3. Art Williams Tampa&rsquo;s vocal Art Williams already talking about selling Lightning less than a year after buying it.4. Cummins clipped Jim Cummins of Phoenix suspended five games for elbowing Chicago&rsquo;s Brad Brown5. Taxing proposition Proposed $10,000 tax on European players playing in CHL has discriminatory overtones. &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-In-Chief</div>Has a worse skater than Ray Sheppard ever scored 300 goals in the NHL?That&rsquo;s what a clutch of scouts asked themselves while watching the Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; right winger collect his 19th goal of the season Feb. 10 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.They considered the question with the utmost respect for Sheppard, who may represent the best combination of bad legs and beautiful wrists in NHL history.How bad a skater is Sheppard? &ldquo;I&rsquo;m ugly,&rdquo; he said. How bad? &ldquo;Most companies come to me and say they don&rsquo;t want me to wear their skates,&rdquo; he said. Sheppard was kidding. We think.But there is no denying the slowfooted, ungainly skating Sheppard is the yin to swift and smooth-skating teammate Paul Coffey&rsquo;s yang. There is also no denying Sheppard&rsquo;s delicate touch with the puck and infinite patience in the combat zone are at the superstar level. With Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s retirement two years ago, there is nobody in the game with more supple wrists<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0323/7022255-1-eng-US/c0002-032.jpg" title="C0002-03" width="350" height="447"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Bruce Benet/BS)</figcaption></div>It represents proof that nature has a sense of fair play: it offered platinum wrists as compensation for lead feet some 32 years ago. Now with his sixth NHL team, the former Ontario League scoring champion plays with the precision of a surgeon, using more brain power than muscle power and handling the puck with tender loving care. When the puck leaves his stick, it&rsquo;s the better for having known him, black but not blue because Sheppard seldom bruises it with slapshots. Goals aren&rsquo;t smashed in off his stick, they&rsquo;re sling shot off his blade.&ldquo;He scores goals that I shake my head at,&rsquo; said Toronto goalie Curtis Joseph. &ldquo;Tonight was one of them.&rdquo;Sheppard broke in on Joseph from the left side, showed wrist shot and went backhand, using the full reach of his maximum length stick to fool Joseph. His scoring range is about eight feet and he snaps shots off his back foot-virtually all players&rsquo; use their front foots for leverage-thereby minutely improving the shooting angle and changing the geometry for goalies accustomed to the puck being closer to them when shot.Within reach for the one-time 50-goal-scorer is 400 career goals; he stood at 341. Equally significant is another milestone at least three seasons away. Barring injury, Sheppard will finish 1998-99 with 775 career games and he wants to hit his own personal millennium mark.&ldquo;To say that I&rsquo;ve played 1,000 games with the way I skate,&rdquo; Sheppard said, &ldquo;that would be something.&rdquo; &#9632;

C0002-03

Sheppard’s feat: Scoring goals without fast feel

<div class="byline">Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div>The Hunter has become the hunted.Dale Hunter, who turns 39 this summer, is being stalked by Father Time and the ravages of a combative 19-year career he admits has been &ldquo;out there on the edge, between legal and illegal.&rdquo;And now, the end is near.It&rsquo;s difficult to imagine the NHL without the gritty Washington Capitals&rsquo; center, but we had better get used to the idea. This season is quite likely his last.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see what happens,&rdquo; Hunter told THN when asked if he would retire at the end of 1998-99. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been signing one-year contracts now for the past four or five years because any one of them could have been my last. I don&rsquo;t know how I&rsquo;ll feel (at the end of this season).&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011705/7020083-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="337" height="453"></div>This much we do know. Hunter was a healthy scratch in the Caps first five games of February-all Washington victories-bringing to eight the number of times this season he didn&rsquo;t dress because of a coach&rsquo;s decision. The first, on Dec. 12, ended his consecutive games streak of 305. In 43 games this season, he had no goals, four points, 94 penalty minutes and was minus-5. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s always hard to sit out, you always want to play,&rdquo; Hunter said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s nice to see the team winning. We need to get more speed in our lineup. I understand that.&rdquo;Hunter also said he can&rsquo;t see himself finishing his career anywhere but Washington. Since his role with the Caps is clearly diminishing, it&rsquo;s difficult to envision one of the game&rsquo;s greatest soldiers returning for a season on the fringe.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really up to Dale,&rdquo; said coach Ron Wilson. &ldquo;He realizes (ice) time has been a struggle because we&rsquo;ve got younger players who need the ice time. Dale is still a capable leader in the room, he still works hard at practice, but it&rsquo;s been a little bit of a struggle for him on the ice. He&rsquo;s been great about it. He&rsquo;s not down at all. I think he figures this is probably his last year.&rdquo;Wilson told Hunter at the beginning of the season he might only see action in half the Caps&rsquo; games. But injuries pressed Hunter into virtually full-time duty.Now, though, with the young legs of Jan Bulis, Richard Zednik and Yogi Svejkovsky back in the lineup, Hunter will be hard pressed to see regular activity.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021366/7020076-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1617" height="2099"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dale Hunter may have lost a step or two, but his warrior&rsquo;s heart has never been questioned.(Hunter Photo by Jim Mclsac; Wiliams photo by Bruce Benet Studios/BS)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I can only be so sentimental, Wilson said. Not that Hunter is looking for a handout.When he signed last summer, he told GM George McPhee that he didn&rsquo;t want to &ldquo;steal anybody&rsquo;s money.&rdquo; But then there&rsquo;s never been any danger of that.In seven season with the Nordiques in Quebec and an even dozen in Washington, Hunter has been the epitome of a hockey player&rsquo;s hockey player. He may be the best NHL player to have never scored 30 goals or 80 points, but his value has always been measured in more than nine 20-goal seasons or seven seasons of 60 or more points. He has never had a season with less than 100 penalty minutes and 11 times he had more than 200.The native of Petrolia, Ont., has never taken a backward step. He&rsquo;s not about to now.&ldquo;No regrets,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I played out there on the edge, between legal and illegal, and I fell off that edge sometimes, but it was what I felt I had to do to play in this league with my size (5-foot-10, 198 pounds) and skill.&rdquo;No one will likely ever forget his 21-game suspension for a late hit on New York Islanders&rsquo; center Pierre Turgeon in the 1993 playoffs.&ldquo;It happened,&rdquo; he said matter of factly. &ldquo;It gave you guys lots to write and talk about.&rdquo;And no one will ever dispute Hunter being an ornery S.O.B. on the ice, a humble and earnest man off it.&ldquo;When things get downright dirty out there, Dale is right at home,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;He really relishes it. He&rsquo;s got that smirk like Deputy Dawg, snickering away when it gets really wild. He&rsquo;s a character individual.&rdquo;Hunter&rsquo;s warrior persona should never obscure his ability to play a complete game when it was being played at the highest level.&ldquo;He became a great playmaker, with great vision and accurate passing,&rdquo; said Hall of Fame former teammate Peter Stastny of Hunter&rsquo;s days in Quebec with linemate Michel Goulet. &ldquo;The synergy between Goulet and Hunter, it was like they were three players out there.&ldquo;Dale has the heart of a lion,&rdquo; added Stastny. &ldquo;I remember when he broke his ankle in 1987 and he was traded to Washington after that. People said he wouldn&rsquo;t be the same player, but I knew differently. You can break the bone, but you can never break the heart of a lion. I admire Dale Hunter so much.&rdquo;Certainly, the Nordiques went into a death spiral after their heart and soul was traded away.Hunter said highlights of his career include getting to the Stanley Cup final with Washington last spring and playing alongside Hall of Famers Stastny and Goulet in Quebec, especially in playoff battles against the Montreal Canadiens. His only disappointment has been not winning the Cup.When Hunter actually retires, he&rsquo;ll return to the 1,600-acre farm in Petrolia that he shares with his brother Mark, but hockey will always remain a part of his life. He&rsquo;s trying to secure an Ontario League franchise for nearby Chatham, Ont., and his 13-year-old son, Dylan, (currently competing at the Quebec Peewee tourney) is rated a pretty fair player in his own right.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to get him to play more like a Goulet than a Hunter,&rdquo; Dale said with a laugh.No need for that. The hockey scape could always use the rugged beauty of a Hunter. &#9632;

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COLUMNISTS

Hunter’s last hurrah?

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04495/7020121-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03894/7020128-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="131" height="138"></div>There is a select group of less than 20 NHL player who have recoded more than 1,000 points and 1,000 penalty minutes. There are only a few with more than 200 goals and 2,000 PEMs. But only one, Washington&prime;s Dale Hunter, has managed to score more than 300 goals and 3,000 PIMs.The only players with a chance to join Hunter in the exclusive 300-3,000 club are Phoenix&prime;s Rick Tocchet and Dallas&prime; Pat Verbeek, but they&prime;d better get busy. While they both had 400-plus goals, through Feb. 11, Tocchet was 273 minutes shy and Verbeek 402.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-05239/7020114-1-eng-US/f0003-052.jpg" title="f0003-05" width="1088" height="769"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave &lsquo;Tiger&rsquo; Williams</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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VITAL STATISTICS: Hunter only 300-3,000 NHLer

Canadian NHL teams won&rsquo;t be getting any tax relief in the federal budget presented by the Canadian government mid-February.&ldquo;There will be nothing in this budget about professional sports in Canada,&rdquo; said Liberal Member of Parhament Dennis Mills, who chaired a parliamentary committee examining the difficulties Canadian sports teams face with rising player salaries and a declining Canadian dollar.The 176-page report released in early December, called Sport in Canada:Everybody&rsquo;s Business, had recommended Canadian professional sports franchises be eligible for $10 million in tax subsidies this year and next.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed that the (help for professional teams) won&rsquo;t be included in this budget,&rdquo; said Stephen Bell ringer, president of Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment, the company which owns the Vancouver Canucks.Bellinger said that Orca Bay, which also owns the Vancouver Grizzlies o: the National Basketball Association los $35 million for the 1998 fiscal year.The report stated the six Canadian NHL clubs contribute more than $1 billion to the government in taxes.&ldquo;We are not discouraged,&rdquo; said Bill Daly, NHL senior vice-president of legal affairs. &ldquo;We knew going in this would be a long process.&rdquo; &#9632;

Canadian clubs to receive no tax breaks from government

<div class="byline">By Jason Kay Senior Editor</div>Crease crisis, what crease crisis?Thanks largely to a reduction in the width of the crease this season, the phrase &ldquo;going upstairs&rdquo; is once again more closely associated with a high shot than a video review.Through 698 games, referees got the assistance of the video replay judge 185 times (for an average of once every 3.8 games). At the same point last season, the tale of the tape was used 236 times (once every 3.0 games). That translates to 22 per cent fewer reviews this season.And people are noticing. In The Hockey News&rsquo; Puck Poll No. 2, readers were asked which rule change has most improved the game this season. Decreasing the width of the crease from 12 feet to eight was the most popular response, garnering 45 per cent of the vote.&ldquo;Nothing maddens a fan more,&rdquo; writes THN reader Ross Beebe of Sardis, B.C., &ldquo;than not knowing whether he should cheer for a goal when the ref has to go upstairs for a ruling.&rdquo;Naturally, Bryan Lewis, the NHL&rsquo;s director of officiating, is pleased with the fact less is more where the crease is concerned.&ldquo;It met with some negative reaction at first,&rdquo; Lewis says, &ldquo;but it has worked. The goalies have adjusted well.&rdquo;The second most popular response among new rules is the implementation of the two-referee system for selected games (35 per cent).Fears that penalty-minute totals would soar and game times would get longer in two-referee games have been quelled. In fact, two-referee games actually had fewer PIMs (33 minutes to 33.6 minutes for one-referee games), while their game times were shorter (2:34 vs. 2:35). Overall, the average game time this season is seven minutes shorter than in 1997-98 (2:35 vs. 2:42).Third place in the poll went to moving the nets out two feet from the end boards (11 per cent). The desired effect was to create more offense, but through mid-February the goals per game average was virtually identical as it was the same point last season (5.27 goals per game vs. 5.28).Stricter application of supplementary discipline came fourth on the ballot, receiving nine per cent of the vote. &#9632;

Shrinking crease popular move

Which of the major changes implemented in the NHL this season has most improved the game?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011648/7020245-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="603" height="437"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021185/7020238-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="477" height="700"><figcaption class="caption-body">Glenn Healy</figcaption></div>PRIZE WINNERS The Hockey News didn&rsquo;t have to change any rules to get a winner for Puck Poll No. 2. We just drew Mark Barbour&rsquo;s name from all the entries. The resident of Perrysburgh, Ohio wins a Sony Playstation. Five other winners (NHL team caps) were also drawn at random.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03766/7020231-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="1137" height="351"></div> &#9632;

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PUCK POLL

<div class="byline">By Wayne Karl</div>A new hockey stick unveiled Feb. 9 in Chicago could help players of all levels improve their puckhandling skills-once they get used to the stick&rsquo;s unusual look and feel.The UB Offset from International Marketing Management (IMM) of Oak Park, Ill., features a shaft that snakes back half an inch at the hosel. The &ldquo;hands forward&rdquo; design allows players to hold the puck further back in their stance, resulting in improved stickhandling, shooting and passing, the company says.&ldquo;Players will be able to do things with the puck we&rsquo;ve never seen,&rdquo; said ex-NHLer Gene Ubriaco, now assistant GM for the International League&rsquo;s Chicago Wolves. &ldquo;But you can&rsquo;t just pick it up and play. You have to get used to it.&rdquo;Ubriaco, who is also a partner in IMM, codeveloped the stick with! his son Gene Jr.Hespeler Hockey and Mission Hockey have signed to use the UB Offset technology in their sticks. Beginning this summer, Hespeler will market a full wood and fiberglass stick, as well as a number of different wood and composite replacement blades. Mission will produce replacement blades only.IMM makes some bold claims for the &ldquo;stick that will change the game.&rdquo; They include:&#9633; Passing and shooting: UB Offset makes it easier for players to receive a pass because the weight of the shaft is ahead of the blade, thereby creating &ldquo;soft hands.&rdquo; The puck also spins faster coming off the blade of the passer or shooter producing a pass that is easier to receive and a shot that is &ldquo;heavier&rdquo; and more difficult for goalies to handle.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04466/7020300-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="763" height="625"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gene Ubriaco, right and son Gene Jr., display offset stick.</figcaption></div>&#9633; Stickhandling: The design allows players to hold the puck further back in their stance, affording better control.&#9633; The backhand: &ldquo;It brings back the backhand,&rdquo; Ubriaco said. The design gives a player more leverage to lift the puck.&ldquo;It could be a boon for kids and men&rsquo;s leagues because they have more time to fiddle with the puck, so they&rsquo;ll have the most fun with it.&rdquo;UB Offset is approved for use by the NHL and IHL, but the only pro player using it in games is Wolves&rsquo; defenseman Steve Gosselin.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a very good stickhandling guy and it has helped me improve. My wrist shot is a little harder, too&rdquo; Gosselin said.Wayne Gretzky, part owner of Hespeler, has had samples of his company&rsquo;s offset model since the beginning of the season. But he continues to use his regular stick.Ubriaco expects players to be slow to convert. &ldquo;If I&rsquo;m in the NHL and I&rsquo;m successful, I&rsquo;m not going to fool around with something new,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Players are very traditional and superstitious.&rdquo;Wayne Karl is Editor of Hockey Business News, sister publication to The Hockey News. &#9632;

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Stick makers hone to score with crooked stick

Am I missing something? Is there a more acclaimed player in the NHL, who has won nothing, than Toronto&rsquo;s Curtis Joseph? Sure, Joseph can get hot at times, but what goalie can&rsquo;t?Here is a goaltender who has never led the league in goals-against average, save percentage or wins. He has never won a Vezina or Conn Smythe Trophy, or a Stanley Cup. He has never been named to a first or second all-star team. He has never won a Canada/World Cup. He has never appeared in a Stanley Cup final, but since he was signed by the team that plays in the center of the universe, all I here is Cujo this and Cujo that.Curtis Joseph is a very good goaltender, but he has not even begun on a path to greatness.Billy Joe McInnis, Hammonds Plains, N.S.<h2>Wizard of Ozolinsh</h2>I&rsquo;ve got just one thing to say to Colorado Avalanche GM Pierre Lacroix: What a difference defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh has made after missing almost half the season as an unsigned free agent. It should come as no surprise that Colorado&rsquo;s winning streak coincided with Ozolinsh&rsquo;s return. Without a quarterback attack, the Avalanche were exposed for an apparent lack of depth.Welcome back Sandis.T. Jason Melmer, London, Ont.(Editor&rsquo;s Note: see pg. 10 for more on the Avalanche.)<h2>Cooling on Tampa</h2>I grew up on Long Island in the 1970s and became a hockey fan during the Islanders&rsquo; string of Stanley Cups.After moving south, I was excited when the NHL expanded to Tampa. But all I&rsquo;ve seen so far are draft picks that haven&rsquo;t panned out; character players and fan favorites that get run out of town; a miserable goalie situation; and missing out on star players such as Pavel Bure.My question to owner Art Williams is: When can we see the Lightning make such an acquisition? We seem to sign players nobody else wants (no offense to Wendel Clark).Mr. Williams, if you want us to &ldquo;come the Ice Palace, you need to 1 exercise your checkbook and put the best product on ice.$ Gary Felice, jj Tampa, Fla.<h2>Greenberg great</h2>I am writing in response to a reader x who slammed Jay Greenberg for his I use of metaphors and lack of point&rsquo; (THN Letters, Feb. 12).First of all, anyone with intelligence can understand the point Jay is x making in each of his columns. Secondly, I think he is hilarious-especially with the way he incorporates names from the past. But most importantly, Jay Greenberg is having fun and isn&rsquo;t that what sports is supposed to be?And even if a column doesn&rsquo;t seem to be going anywhere, does it matter? What&rsquo;s the problem with having the odd one that makes you giggle and feel good about the game?David M. Tonelli, Timmins, Ont.<h2>Graham should go</h2>My heart goes out to the fans in Chicago. After watching a recent game, I have come to the conclusion that Dirk Graham must go. The team is playing with absolutely no system in place-players are often running into each other and scrambling in their own end.I read their team report in THN where Graham wanted the players going to the net more often, but it is awfully hard to do that when you&rsquo;re not in the offensive zone very much.Why would owner Bill Wirtz spend big bucks on a player like Doug Gilmour and have a 50-cent coach running the show? If they expect to make the playoffs, my recommendation would be Ted Nolan.Steve Hawkins, Inverary, Ont.<h2>Air Cash Centre</h2>I think Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; fans will soon be sick of their generic new and improved arena and yearn for the days when a farm mortgage wasn&rsquo;t necessary to take your kids to the game. Enjoy the new cash factory, I mean the Air Canada Centre.Ron Record, Clifton, N.J.<h2>The other Eric</h2>As a life-long Habs&rsquo; fan, I really enjoyed your article on Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; defenseman Eric Desjardins (THN, Feb. 12). When Montreal made the deal for Mark Recchi, I told anyone who would listen that it was Desjardins the Habs would miss the most. Forget John LeClair&rsquo;s accomplishments, it simply wouldn&rsquo;t have happened in Montreal&rsquo;s stifling offense or without another Eric to complement his play. So, keep up the great play Desjardins, too bad it&rsquo;s with the Flyers.Jim Kittl Dubai, United Arab EmiratesFax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 340-1641&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;Letters, THN, Til&nbsp;Bay St., Suite 2700, Box 148, Toronto, Ont, M5G 2N8&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, THN. P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947. E-mail us at paulj@trans-continentaLca Include hometown as well as home and business phone numbers. THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

Cujo good, not great among NHL goalies

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011829/7020355-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

In light of the NHL&rsquo;s experience at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano and the recent corruption scandal involving members of the International Olympic Committee, do you support NHL participation at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City?Yes, I support NHL participation &#9633;No, I don&prime;t support NHL participation &#9633;Place a check mark to the box beside your choice.Cap choice<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021249/7020386-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="535" height="1050"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith Tkachuk, Team USA</figcaption></div><h2>HOW TO PARTICIPATE</h2>RESPOND BYFax: Puck Poll, 416-340-1641Mail: Puck Poll, 777 Bay St.,Suite 2700, Toronto, Ont.M5G 2N1E-mail: <a href="mailto:puckpoll@transcontinental.ca">puckpoll@transcontinental.ca</a>PRIZES Winners are chosen at random. First prize is an exclusive denim jacket with The Hockey News logo. Five more winners receive NHL team caps.RESPONDENTS Include return mailing addresses, phone numbers, jacket size and team cap choice to be eligible for prizes.RESULTS Results and winners will appear in the March 19 issue of THN.CONTEST RULES See THN masthead on pg. 4. &#9632;

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<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>If it simply came down to LQ&mdash;likability quotient-Mats Sundin would be a Hall of Famer in waiting.There are few gentlemen in the NHL as successful and accommodating as the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; center. It is his calm, cool nature, especially in the heat of battle, that makes him the leader he is with his club.But being a nice guy isn&rsquo;t enough when your team has not won the Stanley Cup in nearly 32 years. And it&rsquo;s not enough when you are the captain of the team and the one individual on it capable of dominating a game singlehandedly. It&rsquo;s results that count. While Sundin has consistently been around the point-a-game mark since joining the Leafs five years ago, there are still questions about his ability to guide a team to the promised land. During his time in Toronto, Sundin has has not been able to remove those lingering doubts.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all part of being a professional in the position (team captain) that I am in,&rdquo; says Sundin, who celebrated his 28th birthday the night they played the last game at Maple Leaf Gardens, Feb. 13. &ldquo;There are a lot of high expectations on me. The expectations are even greater in a hockey city like Toronto than theywould be in other cities. I don&rsquo;t mind it, though.&rdquo;<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011666/7020424-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="47" height="64"></div>It&rsquo;s really no I different for Sundin than it. is for Eric Lindros in Philadelphia with the Flyers or it was for Steve Yzerman in his first 13 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings before he led the team to back-to-back Stanley Cups. Lindros, for that matter, was challenged by his team&rsquo;s GM, I Bobby Clarke, to be the best he can beevery night after signing a mammoth contract extension with the Flyers last summer.This has been a feel-good season for the Leafs, who not only have a new building to play in, but have either been in first place in the Northeast Division or within striking distance of it all sea son. Curtis Joseph offers the Leafs championship-calibre goaltending and Steve Thomas was a fine free agent acquisition. On top of all that, the Leafs are downright entertaining in most games, win or lose.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021119/7020417-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="102" height="141"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 102px">(Photo by Jim Leary/BS)</figcaption></div>The Leafs will need Mats Sundin to come through at crunch time. When the Leafs played a more defense-oriented system under coach Mike Murphy, Sundin would often fly up the ice by himself with the puck while his wingers hung back. It was on those solo rushes that he displayed his electrifying skill. Now, under coach Pat Quinn, who stresses more offense, Sundin often seems invisible. In that regard he&rsquo;s a lot like former Leaf Frank Mahovlich who never seemed to satisfy the locals.Toronto&rsquo;s second-last game at the Gardens Feb. 10 was a perfect example. In a 6-5 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, Sundin did nothing. Little Sergei Berezin, meanwhile, fired a hat trick and puny Steve Sullivan chipped in a goal and an inspired effort.Sundin is 6-foot-4 and 228 pounds, but he does not play a physical game. So if he&rsquo;s not hitting and he&rsquo;s not scoring-he was held without a goal in 11 straight games from Nov. 14 through Dec. 7-what is he doing? Not much. In 11 games against teams in the Northeast Division, Sundin had a grand total of three assists. Yet, somehow, he was 13th in league scoring after 52 games with 18 goals and 53 points. The question remains, can he inspire victory in the crunch?&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question, assuming we get to the playoffs, Curtis will have to give us the goaltending he&rsquo;s capable of giving and Mats will be the guy who carries us up front,&rdquo; says Leafs&rsquo; associate GM Mike Smith. &ldquo;It will be a big test for Mats.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s not like Sundin hasn&rsquo;t proven himself at crunch time in the past He scored six goals and had 11 points in 10 games leading Sweden to the World Championship last spring. But he has to do it in the NHL if he is to be considered among the truly elite.This season presents Sundin with his best opportunity to prove himself as a leader with the Leafs. And he knows as much.&ldquo;Obviously I&rsquo;d like to have more goals at this point, but it&rsquo;s nice to see other players doing well and the team doing well,&rdquo; Sundin says. &ldquo;And we have a nice atmosphere in the dressing room.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0007-02

Time for Sundin to get down and dirty

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy Senior Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011722/7020455-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Derian Hatcher is respected around the league for his strength (Photo by Layne Murdoch/BBS)</figcaption></div>Inside every defenseman, even the most defense-oriented of the breed, is the desire to score goals.Not necessarily the ability to do so mind you, but, rest assured, the desire is there.So, on an a warm, sunny afternoon in Dallas when Stars&rsquo; captain Derian Hatcher is home packing for a west coast trip and gets the news coach Ken Hitchcock has designs on moving him up to forward-for the power play, that is&mdash;it comes as a pleasant surprise.&ldquo;He is, is he?&rdquo; Hatcher says, and you can sense the big smile cutting a path across his boyish face. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s great. I love it up there. It&rsquo;s fun. I love to stand in front of the net. You get the chance to go for the tip or for rebounds. In the NHL if you want to get points, you have to play on the power play.&rdquo;Normally, the 6-foot-5, 225-pound Hatcher sees about 30 seconds of power play time on the tail end of a two minute man advantage. When you have gifted offensive blueliners on your team such as Sergei Zubov and Danyl Sydor, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why they would get the bulk of the extra-man playing time.But as January came to a close and the Stars&rsquo; power play began to falter, Hitchcock decided to shake things up. It&rsquo;s important to note the Stars still had the best success rate in the league with the man advantage, but Hitchcock has enormous standards and wanted to inject some life into the unit. So, up goes Hatcher.&rsquo;For a big man, Derian has soft hands,&rdquo; Hitchcock reasons. &ldquo;He can do things with the puck that other big men can&rsquo;t do. And he creates a lot of traffic in front. He gets in the way and he&rsquo;s hard to move.&rdquo;The Stars aren&rsquo;t the only team to employ such a tactic. The St Louis Blues did the same thing the past two seasons with 6-foot-6 Chris Pronger who, like Hatcher, is best known for his defensive play. This season, with the absence of Steve Duchesne, who signed with the Los Angeles Kings as a free agent, Pronger has filled in more playing the point with the man advantage.Dallas tried it numerous times last season and met with success. Hatcher scored three goals while playing forward on the power play in the regular season and added two more in the playoffs.If there has been any one major alteration in Hitchcock&rsquo;s approach this season, it is that he asked his defense to get more involved in the attack. The Stars still pay enough attention to defense to have allowed an average 23.6 shots against per game, third lowest in the league, but the defense is encouraged to take more chances with the puck. If they see a backdoor play, go for it; follow up on the rush as the fourth man; even move deep into the offensive zone on occasion.Hatcher, 26, loves the switch. He has long been identified as one of the young bucks on the blueline who would carry the torch when the NHL&rsquo;s older generation slips into retirement, but has never put up great offensive numbers. His 12 goals in 1993-94 represents the only time in seven NHL seasons he has hit double figures in goals and his 31 points that same sea son is still a career high. This season, Hatcher had seven goals and 18 points in 48 games.The combination of brute strength and defensive poise have not only made the Sterling Heights, Mich., native a star for the Stars, but also an automatic inclusion on any American international squad. He played in one World Junior Championship, scored three goals and five points for the champion Americans in the first World Cup of Hockey and was a member of Team USA in the 1998 Winter Olympics.Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; captain Keith Tkachuk calls Hatcher one of the toughest defensemen in the league to play against. Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; winger Jeff O&rsquo;Neill agrees.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s one thing to be big and tough,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neill says, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s another thing to be big, tough and mean. That&rsquo;s what Hatcher is. It seems like every time I play against him he&rsquo;s in a bad mood.&rdquo;As the Stars continue to look more and more like a team capable of knocking off the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings, Hatcher&rsquo;s contributions become increasingly important. It is clear he has taken his game to the next level, showing a strong improvement in the level of his consistency.&ldquo;In every big game he&rsquo;s a big player,&rdquo; Hitchcock says. &ldquo;His sense of timing is very strong. He has the ability to set the tone in a game. If he knows it&rsquo;s going to be a particularly hard or tough game, he always makes an impact in it.&rdquo;Unlike many teams which rely on one or two key defensemen, Dallas uses four defensemen almost exclusively-Hatcher with Richard Matvichuk, Sydor and Zubov, Craig Ludwig and Shawn Chambers. So, Hatcher doesn&rsquo;t get the minutes of, say, Pronger and Al Maclnnis in St. Louis or Brian Leetch with the New York Rangers who regularly clock in at around 30 minutes a game. Hatcher averages 24 minutes, 16 seconds a game.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to play more, who wouldn&rsquo;t?&rdquo; Hatcher says. &ldquo;But when you have six defensemen like we do, everybody needs to play. But the more you play, the better you play.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s why added duty on the power play is such a welcome surprise. That and the chance to score the odd goal. &#9632;

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FEATURES

Hatcher moves forward

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div>The phrase &ldquo;Here Come the Capitals&rdquo; conjures up the bizarre image of great public buildings from Sacramento to Regina to Albany stampeding in an enormous cloud of dust.Okay, maybe just to me.But as January turned into February, the Washington Capitals were clearly getting up off the NHL mat after suffering through 50 games of playing more like their 1970s ancestors than the defending Eastern Conference champs.Until ripping off five straight victories in the early days of February, the Caps were fumbling along 10 games below.500.In fact, the sudden resurgence of Ron Wilson&rsquo;s crew came at precisely the same time the rumor mill was suggesting the Caps were considering dumping veterans, specifically unrestricted free agents-in-waiting like defenseman Mark Tinordi.&ldquo;Sure, other people are calling because it looks like we might not be able to make it to the playoffs,&rdquo; said Washington GM George McPhee. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t consider them vultures. I consider them prudent GMs. But I haven&rsquo;t offered players to anybody. That sends the wrong message to our team.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011630/7020493-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="349" height="499"></div>Indeed, after slashing the margin between themselves and the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff slot to five points from 12 in a matter of days, the Caps certainly appeared more than capable of forcing their way back into the spring dance.That should make some people very, very nervous, because the Caps can state two items with utter certainty that other teams cannot.One, a strong finish can erase weeks of mistakes and painful setbacks.The Caps finished 15-5-2 down the stretch last season and were soaring come playoff time. Two, just getting into the playoffs means elbowing your way to the Stanley Cup final is eminently possible.Last year, that was the case for the D.C. boys largely because giants like the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils fell early, leaving the unproven to roam the eastern range.This year, the season-long tightness of the conference has produced intense competitiveness that suggests all eight post-season qualifiers truly will have a shot at meeting the western representative in the final.Injuries devastated the Caps in the first 50 games, particularly up front where Adam Oates, Jaroslav Svejkovsky, Jan Bulis, Richard Zednik and Steve Konowalchuk missed a combined 138 games.The prolonged absence of the Bulis-Zednik axis was particularly damaging since the Euro-kids were being counted upon to inject youth and speed into the club&rsquo;s aging attack. At the 50-game mark, however, they had only played together in three games (but five of their combined 10 goals were game-winners).The assortment of injuries was also a factor in keeping the Caps out of the Pavel Bure sweepstakes, although McPhee suggested such speculation was never realistic.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021137/7020486-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="727" height="854"><figcaption class="caption-body">With Peter Bondra playing well, the Caps are back in the playoff hunt.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;To give up youth for one player, and then to pay that player a big salary, that just doesn&rsquo;t work here,&rdquo; he said.injuries also deflected attention from the troubling reality that the Caps&rsquo; finest players, notably winger Petr Bondra and goalie Olaf Kolzig, were in a thick fog for the first four months.After tying Teemu Selanne for the league lead in goals last season with 52, including 13 game winners, Bondra stumbled along for weeks, showing the curious lack of confidence that frequently accompanies his diverse talents. After 47 games he had 30 points.Kolzig, meanwhile, registered a .920 save percentage in the regular season last year and a Hasek-like .941 percentage in the playoffs, but this year was at .893 before the Caps got rolling.When the Caps did string those five wins together, which included a 10-1 whipping of the Tampa Bay Lightning Feb. 3, Bondra and Kolzig came alive, with the former edging out the latter for NHL player-of-the-week honors.Assuming those two continue to set the pace, the final ingredient to a Capital revival in &rsquo;99 could be if McPhee can add a couple of helpful parts in the final weeks as he did last year with Brian Bellows and Esa Tikkanen.Beware, then, of the Capitals. Those great public buildings may again be gathering on the horizon. &#9632;

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Don’t count out Caos

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender Staff Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021246/7020552-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Forsberg</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;Another win, another relaxing shower, another vapid post-game interview. This, you are convinced, is what Joe Sakic must be thinking.It&rsquo;s the insouciant shoulder shrug that gives him away. That, and how he cuts off the question before it&rsquo;s even finished and the way his eyebrows arch upwards in disbelief.You ask if his game has been expanded by playing with Peter Forsberg and he stares back like you&rsquo;ve got four heads. The tragedy, it seems, is none of them were smart enough to focus their eyes on the Avs&rsquo; 5-3 dismantling of the Buffalo Sabres this night because if they were, the mouths wouldn&rsquo;t have to ask such redundant questions.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s quite obvious,&rdquo; Sakic says, as he splatters on sweet-smelling after-shave in the visitors&rsquo; dressing room at Marine Midland Arena. &ldquo;We have a lot more puck control and we&rsquo;re just more patient with the puck. We&rsquo;ll hold onto it until someone gets open.&rdquo;So would you go so far as to say Forsberg is the best left winger you&rsquo;ve ever played with? &ldquo;I would say so, yeah,&rdquo; Sakic says. &ldquo;By far.&rdquo;Funny, that&rsquo;s what it seemed ke from watching the game, too.So you go chat with mild-mannered Forsberg, sweaty and smiling, and discover something even funnier. Before this season, Forsberg had never played a game at left wing.&ldquo;Every once in a while I ask him (if he wants to play center) when I&rsquo;m struggling on faceoffs and he&rsquo;s like &rsquo;No way,&rsquo;&rdquo; Sakic says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s says it&rsquo;s easier playing wing. You&rsquo;ve just got to stand at the blueline by your point man.&rdquo;Even that doesn&rsquo;t happen too often. Says Forsberg: &ldquo;We barely spend any time in our own zone.&rdquo;No, the zone the Avalanche found themselves in is the kind most teams spend all season, heck, 10 seasons, trying to find. Most never do.A 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames Feb. 9 finally put an end to Colorado&rsquo;s winning streak at 12 games. It was the longest streak in six years and tied for the sixth-longest in NHL history (see chart on next page).Games nine through 12 were on the road against, in order, the Boston Bruins, the Sabres, the Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars. If there was any doubt the Avs were for real, they were settled then.So Steve Hartley, take your bow The 13-year-old son of rookie coach Bob Hartley is responsible for making Forsberg a left winge and the rest of the league miserable.The night was Nov. 29, an off-night for the Avs. Father and son were set for a night of ping pong in the Hartley basement. Bob&rsquo;s mind weighed heavy; his team was limping along at 8-102 and had been shut out in two of its past four games. No goals, no excitement, no glory.So it was a good thing that before the Hartleys picked up the ping pong paddles, Bob popped an old hockey tape in the VCR.The 1987 Canada Cup came to life on the big screen TV. The little white ball bounced back and forth on the table, Hartley to Hartley. The little black puck moved from stick to stick, Gretzky to Lemieux. Hartley to Hartley. Lemieux to Gretzky. Hartley to Hartley. Gretzky to Lemieux. Boy, Steve said during one of their breaks, those two guys sure do some amazing things together. That&rsquo;s how the light went on in his father&rsquo;s head.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03777/7020545-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="1352" height="2564"></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;You give Joe the puck, you know something&rsquo;s going to happen&rsquo;</blockquote>(This, by the way, was Scott&rsquo;s second major contribution to the Avs&rsquo; good fortunes. His pestering led Bob to go to a Montreal Roadrunners&rsquo; roller hockey game a few years back and by the end of the night, Bob had invited defenseman Eric Messier to training camp with the Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; American League farm club Cornwall Aces.)Colorado&rsquo;s new lines-including a No. 1 unit with Sakic at center, Forsberg on left wing, fleet rookie Milan Hejduk on the right-were posted in the dressing room before practice the next morning.The others: Winger Adam Deadmarsh playing center between Claude Lemieux and Valeri Kamensky and a third line of Stephane Yelle between Chris Drury-normally a center&ndash;and Sean Donovan.Hartley told Sakic he wanted them to play together against the Steve Yzerman-Sergei Fedorov line when Detroit came to town two days later. Yzerman and Fedorov didn&rsquo;t play together, as it turned out, but Sakic and Forsberg did and have ever since.The Avs went 21-8-2 over the next 31 games and Forsberg (9-25-34 in 29 games) and Sakic (15-16-31 in 22 games-he missed eight because of a shoulder injury) shot up the scoring charts. With six shorthanded goals between them, they&rsquo;re even a threat killing penalties together.But it would be unfair to say the exquisite union is the only reason for the Avs&rsquo; ride in the clouds to the top of the Northwest Division.Long-term contracts signed by Adam Foote, Patrick Roy and Sandis Ozolinsh have stabilized the dressing room. Ozolinsh&rsquo;s returned from a long contract battle Jan. 12, the same day the streak started, and provided an offensive presence from the blueline that had been lacking. Roy fought through early-season struggles and during the streak brought his game back to a level worthy of his cockiness.&ldquo;Basically, because I thought I was in very good shape (entering training camp), I thought it would be easier and it was not the case,&rdquo; Roy explains after the Sabre game. &ldquo;I had to be more hungry.&rdquo;And of, course, there was a list of injured defensemen so long it could have subbed for Kenneth Starr&rsquo;s subpoena list. A week before the fateful ping pong game, the only healthy blueline bodies were Aaron Miller, Greg de Vries, Cam Russell and those household names in the Buchanan and Smith families, Jeff Buchanan and Dan Smith.Then there is the matter of getting the high-octane, high-circling Avalanche to become a defensively committed hockey team.After a 3-1 loss to Colorado Feb. 7, Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock went so far as to compare them to the trapping New Jersey Devils during their Cup-winning season of 1995. &ldquo;Obviously,&rsquo; Hitchcock praises, defensive commitment in Colorado &ldquo;certainly isn&rsquo;t a concern any more.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011527/7020538-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="2316" height="1767"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goalie Patrick Roy said he bounced back from an awful start to the year when he realized he had to get hungrier. (Photo by Andre Pichette/BBS)</figcaption></div>For their opponents, dealing with Sakic and Forsberg most certainly is. They are easily the most exciting reason to watch the Avs.And after a couple months of watching them together, of course, it all makes such perfect sense. Why not put two of the best puckhandlers in the league on the same line? Forsberg has always shown incredible strength on the puck while playing center, so he&rsquo;ll get to work along the boards. Sakic can continue his kamikaze charges up the middle, find a seam, dish off, sneak into position to unload that deadly wrist shot. Forsberg hasn&rsquo;t returned the puck yet? Fine, go back, support the cycle, keep one man high, gain control, get in position again. Eventually, something good will happen.If it&rsquo;s late in the game, Jon Klemm might replace Hejduk on the right for defense. When Hartley feels the team needs a spark, he moves Forsberg to right wing (he had never played there before, either) and moves feisty Rene Corbet to the left. Whatever the situation, Forsberg and Sakic play the same way.&ldquo;We tell each other we&rsquo;ve got to get it down and just keep working,&rdquo; Forsberg says. &ldquo;It might not be in the first period, but in the second something&rsquo;s going to break down.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t complaining (about) my last line. Claude and Val, we had a great line. But Joe, you when you give the puck to him, something&rsquo;s going to happen. He&rsquo;s not going to just sit on it.&rdquo;Much of the magic they weave starts with Forsberg&rsquo;s preternatural balance. Once the puck is shot into the offensive zone, if he gets to the comer first and gains possession, he can protect the puck like he&rsquo;s playing shinny for a while before taking it home. Against Buffalo, Sabres&rsquo; defensemen Jay McKee (roughing) and Alexei Zhitnik (holding) took first-period penalties two minutes apart because they couldn&rsquo;t stop him from coming out of the comer.According to Sabres&rsquo; center Michael Peca, &ldquo;cycling&rdquo; doesn&rsquo;t describe what it is they do. It&rsquo;s a cycle that often ends before it has a man ana reaorov (at Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s whim). And if you say it can&rsquo;t work with two centers, remember that Mario Lemieux didn&rsquo;t look too bad two years ago as Ron Francis&rsquo; left winger.Call it a sign of the times. Scoring is at a full goal a game lower today than it was in the Avs&rsquo; championship season in 1995-96 (5.27 to 6.30). &ldquo;The game has changed since we won the Cup,&rdquo; Adam Foote says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so much more of a defensive style in this league.&rdquo;So if goals are tougher to come by, it only makes sense to make sure there&rsquo;s at least one dependable source. And when that source starts to click, sometimes others are watching. So now Lemieux is scoring. Deadmarsh is scoring. Heck, even Donovan is scoring. Before they know it, a team criticized for its loss of third-line character players has more depth than opponents know what to do with.&ldquo;The difference between this year and last year that I&rsquo;ve noticed the most,&rdquo; Ozolinsh says, &ldquo;is that we have three lines that are just flying down the ice. We get production from everybody.&rdquo;&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t know how long it&rsquo;s going to go,&rdquo; Hartley says. &ldquo;Peter Forsberg is such a great centerman, we don&rsquo;t want to make him a definite left winger for the rest of his life.&rdquo;True enough. No need for the Avs to get ahead of themselves; after all, the experiment is barely half a season old.Our advice? Play some more ping pong in the basement. Bob. That will give Forsberg some time to actually get used to his position. At playoff time, ask Scott how things are going. He&rsquo;ll tell you what to do. chance to begin because they&rsquo;re always trying to come out with the puck instead of dumping it safely back into the comer.When they do come out&ndash;or even before then, for fear of what magic they might inflict if they get free&ndash;the defense is forced to collapse. Forwards leave their point men-(&ldquo;Most of the time I&rsquo;m already down there,&rdquo; Ozolinsh says sheepishly, &ldquo;so they&rsquo;re following me&rdquo;) and in an instant the puck is zipped back for a clear shot on goal. It&rsquo;s no coincidence, Hartley says, that Colorado blueliners have found their names on the scoresheet with increasing frequency.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough enough to (play against) one of them and keep an eye on guys without the puck because they seem to be able to hit anybody,&rdquo; Peca says. &ldquo;To have two of them out there, you&rsquo;ve really got to be aware of the entire ice surface.&rdquo;The only question, really, is why it took so long to put them together. Uniting the stars is happening all over, after all. Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne. Eric Lindros and John LeClair. Yzer<h2>THE ROCKY CLIMB</h2>It&rsquo;s the team that benefits most from Pete Forsberg and Joe Sakic being on the same line Listed are team and individual stats before and after the two were united Dec. 2.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011697/7020531-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="719" height="535"></div><h2>STREAKY TEAMS</h2>It might not be a bad thing that Colorado hat its winning streak snapped at 12 games. O the teams that have posted the top six winning streaks in history before the Avs, only two&ndash;the 1967-68 Montreal Canadiens ant the 1981-82 New York Islanders-have got on to win the Stanley Cup.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021089/7020524-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="740" height="438"></div> &#9632;

f0010-02

DYNAMICDUO

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div>The Islanders never were going to win it all with a hothead like Billy Smith. Neither were the Penguins with Tom Barrasso, perceived to have pulled more chutes than the National Skydiving Association.The wait in New York was scheduled to continue even longer than the 1992 Ron Francis goal that Mike Richter let in from the red line, unless the Rangers got a goalie who didn&rsquo;t need binoculars.Amazing but true fact: Not one goaltender has ever been thought to have the stuff to win a Stanley Cup until he did. Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy came up and succeeded so fast, they didn&rsquo;t even have the decency to allow people a chance to doubt them.&ldquo;Ed Belfour has taken his teams (deep into) the playoffs and hasn&rsquo;t won,&rdquo; said Belfour&rsquo;s coach, Ken Hitchcock.&ldquo;When you are in those situations, people look for reasons why you didn&rsquo;t Curtis Joseph hasn&rsquo;t won a Stanley Cup, but nobody talks about him in the terms they do for Belfour. If you never got there, people don&rsquo;t worn about it.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011654/7020590-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="398" height="564"></div>Of course, nobody in Dallas would lose any sleep over the Stars either, if owner Tom Hicks was not buying up every 35-year-old short of Gordie Howe in an attempt to win it all. By that we mean not only the two 1999 Stanley Cups that it will take for Hicks to break even financially for this season, but last year&rsquo;s championship too, which the Stars might have won with a few more saves by Belfour.A couple of bad goals, a few ill-timed swipes of the stick against Red Wing legs in the six-game conference final defeat by Detroit last year embellished fears this goalie was the biggest dead end Texas has seen since The Alamo.Belfour has 45 victories and a 2.35 goals-against average in 80 career playoff games, good enough to get him $10 million over three years in 1997 from a franchise that frankly, is looking to tomorrow about as much as could Colonel Travis. That kind of commitment to a goalie who plays on his knees is enough to make an owner hit his.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021318/7020583-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="837" height="1283"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Belfour&rsquo;s fiery personality has gotten in the way of playoff success. (Photo by Claus Andersen/BS)</figcaption></div>We can&rsquo;t remember seeing anybody shakier win 10 straight playoff games like Belfour did behind a tight Blackhawk defense in 1992, before Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux swept up in four games the pucks Belfour had been dropping for I four series. In 1995, the Blackhawks went down to the Red Wings in five close conference final contests that had an Eddie Egg in almost every one of them.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure there are going to be doubts,&rdquo; the goalie says with a practiced shrug that has yet to dislodge the chip on his shoulder. &ldquo;They can say whatever they want, I only care what my team-| mates think, what my organization thinks, how I compete. My numbers speak for themselves.&rdquo; Actually, statistics are flapping tongues able to be tied in almost any pretty bow imaginable.Hitchcock is much more to the arguable point. &ldquo;Ed&rsquo;s taken some criticism I think is unwarranted. Had we scored three goals a game against Detroit we would have won.&ldquo;We put a lot of pressure on him, making every save critical, every play magnified. And that was unfair because Ed basically won the first two series, especially the one against San Jose. The thing that&rsquo;s gotten him into a little bit of trouble is his competitiveness. He felt players were taking advantage of teammates. Then, when people started to do things to him, he let it get to him.&ldquo;When he first got here, every situation for Ed was confrontational. It was always me versus the world and now I think he just enjoys being part of the group. He used to be real defensive about goals. I don&rsquo;t hear that anymore. I think he&rsquo;s really starting to enjoy the moment, his team, wherever it takes him.&rdquo;Popular theory is down again, come another spring. We&rsquo;re not so sure. Belfour is a good, not great, goalie, less consistent than some, more capable of stealing a game or a series than many.Most years, the Cup-winning goalie has to swipe one, then over four rounds merely perform to the level of his team, which, considering the Stars&rsquo; experience, could easily be like Detroit&rsquo;s 1998 playoff in front of Chris Osgood. He was another in a long series of goalies supposed to break hearts, who wound up breaking open champagne. &#9632;

f0012-01

Belfour can’t win… until he does

<div class="byline">By Cammy Clark</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011543/7020621-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Fredrik Olausson was a healthy scratch earlier in the year.</figcaption></div>Fredrik Olausson has made a pretty good career out of going unnoticed.The 32-year-old defenseman, now in his 13th NHL season, can walk down most any street in his native Sweden without being recognized. The exception is his hometown, Dadesjo, &ldquo;but in Stockholm, not too many people would bother me,&rdquo; Olausson said.The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim blueliner&rsquo;s days of relative anonymity were put on hold for the past few weeks as he approached the 500-point milestone-a feat accomplished by only 36 defensemen in the history of the league. And only one of them. Hall of Famer Borje Salming, was born outside North America.Salming, a native of Kiruna, Swe., retired in 1990 with 787 points over 17 seasons for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings. On Feb. 6, Olausson became the second European to hit 500 when he scored a key goal in the Ducks&rsquo; 4-3 comeback victory at St. Louis.Before he reached the milestone, fellow Swede and Ducks&rsquo; teammate Tomas Sandstrom joked he thinks Olausson can catch Salming. &ldquo;He only needs to play four more years,&rdquo; Sandstrom said.But after doing the math, Sandstrom said, &ldquo;Okay, four more years averaging 70 points.&rdquo;&ldquo;Thanks, Tomas,&rdquo; Olausson said when told of Sandstrom&rsquo;s prediction. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s way, way, way in the future to think about.&rdquo;But in his next game, Olausson had his second four-point night of his career in a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers Feb. 10.&ldquo;Salming is way up there, but if I get four points every game, I might catch him,&rdquo; Olausson said with a laugh. &ldquo;He was a tremendous player. He&rsquo;s a legend.&rdquo;For now, Olausson is happy to be making a substantial contribution. He led Ducks&rsquo; defensemen this season in scoring with 14 goals and 36 points in 46 games, fourth overall among NHL blueliners-two points behind Al Maclnnis of St. Louis.But Olausson is most thankful to simply be playing hockey. While his new teammates were going through the first rigorous week of training camp in September, he was undergoing test after test at local hospitals. Doctors were desperately trying to figure out why his spleen was enlarged.&ldquo;It was tough,&rdquo; said Olausson, who had no idea anything was wrong until the problem was discovered during routine player physicals. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know if I was going to be allowed to play again. Was my career over? Would I have to go remove my spleen in order to play hockey?&rdquo;After the exhaustive testing was completed, doctors were not able to find the cause for his enlarged spleen. But they did determine he was at no great risk to continue playing.But the rough start wasn&rsquo;t over. He didn&rsquo;t play well and found himself a healthy scratch for six of the Ducks&rsquo; first 26 games.Teammates Teemu Selanne and Guy Hebert, who had played with Olausson previously, thought he was trying so hard to conform to coach Craig Hartsburg&rsquo;s rigid defensive systems that his offense suffered.&ldquo;Early in the season he didn&rsquo;t really know what kind of way Hartsy wanted him to play,&rdquo; Selanne said. &ldquo;He was scared to make mistakes and make good plays.&rdquo;Olausson, an unrestricted free agent last summer, said he wondered briefly if he had erred by returning to Anaheim, where he had played 56 games over parts of two seasons in 1996.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure there was a small period of doubt for a second,&rdquo; said Olausson, who played last season for the Pittsburgh Penguins. &ldquo;But a new environment always takes time and I&rsquo;ve never been a particularly fast starter.&rdquo;Olausson had only eight points in his first 21 games. But after being scratched for the sixth time Dec. 9, he made a decision to be more aggressive on offense. In his next 23 games, he produced eight goals and 22 points and became a fixture on the power play. Hartsburg also paired him with Ruslan Salei and they began to regularly play with the top line.Olausson, the Ducks&rsquo; leader at plus-13, was on pace for 59 points, which would be his best offensive season since 1991-92, when he had 62 points for the Winnipeg Jets.&ldquo;Now he has the confidence to do the things that got him into the league and what makes him so special,&rdquo; said Selanne, who played with Olausson during their run-and-gun days for the Jets. &ldquo;He was unbelievable in Winnipeg. I always told him shoot the puck more. In Winnipeg, the guys didn&rsquo;t dare go in front of the net because if his shot hits me, I&rsquo;m gone. Even the goalies-they were so scared.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-01

Olausson on again

<div class="byline">By Cammy Clank</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011642/7020652-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="174" height="173"></div>Mighty Ducks of Anaheim coach Craig Hartsburg took center Steve Rucchin off the top line, but not for the reason you might think. Rucchin was demoted not for playing poorly, but playing too well.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not worried about the first line,&rdquo; Hartsburg said. &ldquo;I want to get more from the second line. Steve adds a little more experience to that line. Having three veterans there in big games will not only create some offense, but also be able to play other teams&rsquo; top lines and play good defensively as well.&rdquo;Rucchin, 27, was installed between Marty McInnis and Tomas Sandstrom, while Matt Cullen moved up to play with top guns Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne.The Ducks were mired in a five-game winless streak when Hartsburg made the change. It definitely worked. The Ducks went 4-0-0 after the change, defeating the Chicago Blackhawks, Tampa Bay Lightning, St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers.Hartsburg had tried breaking up his. big line before, but always by separating Kariya and Selanne. This is the first time he tried moving Rucchin, who is off to his best season in his five-year career.Rucchin&rsquo;s 18 goals and 48 points in 52 games put him on pace for 28 goals and 76 points over a full season. Both would be career highs. His previous best year was 1996-97 when he recorded 19 goals and 67 points.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Teemu Selanne reached the 600-point milestone with two goals and an assist against Philadelphia in a 5-3 victory. He had 290 goals and 310 assists in 454 career games. Among players who have reached the 500-point milestone, he is sixth all-time in points-per-game with 1.315&hellip;Ducks&rsquo; defenseman Kevin Haller made a beautiful end-to-end rush against Tampa Bay Feb. 5, thinking he had notched his first goal of the season. But in the Ducks&rsquo; defensive zone, teammate Stu Grimson and Tampa Bay&rsquo;s Sandy McCarthy had dropped their gloves. Neither had thrown a punch, but referee Blaine Angus blew the whistle just a second or two before Haller beat Lightning goalie Bill Ranford. &#9632;

f0014-01

Rucchin’s superior play earns ticket off top line

<div class="byline">By Nancy L Marrapes</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04575/7020683-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="352" height="472"><figcaption class="caption-body">Anson Carter</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03850/7020690-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="171" height="170"></div>Anson Carter can say it now. The pain pays off.When Carter was preparing to return to the Boston Bruins&rsquo; lineup from a badly sprained ankle, assistant coaches Jacques Laperriere and Bobby Francis were his taskmasters, testing his endurance, pushing him to skate harder.The work paid dividends when Carter, who had missed 15 games, finally made it back into the lineup Feb. 9 in Edmonton. He wasn&rsquo;t exactly eased back into things, either; he played 21 shifts for a total of 15 minutes&ndash;and scored his seventh goal of the season in a 2-0 Boston win.&ldquo;As much as I hate getting killed by Lappy or Bobby Francis after practice, the games are so much easier because I&rsquo;m in a lot better shape,&rdquo; Carter said. &ldquo;Nobody really wants to be out there, but we know at the same time that if we don&rsquo;t put in the work, when we get a chance to go into a game situation, we won&rsquo;t be in shape enough to take advantage of our opportunities.&rdquo;The biggest beneficiary of Carter&rsquo;s return stands to be winger and linemate Steve Heinze, who was in a prolonged scoring slump. At the start of the season, Joe Thornton was tagged the center on the No. 2 line with Heinze and Carter. Thornton wasn&rsquo;t quite ready then. As Thornton was developing, Carter got hurt and Heinze was bounced around with different combinations. Now with Carter back and Thornton much improved, it&rsquo;s possible that unit could emerge in the role coach Pat Bums originally envisioned.Carter said he&rsquo;s hoping that&rsquo;s how it works out. He said it has been painful watching Heinze struggle.&ldquo;When I&rsquo;m out there, he doesn&rsquo;t have to do too much with the puck,&rdquo; Carter said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll do the dirty work in the comers, I&rsquo;ll get him in the puck and make the plays. As long as he puts the puck in the back of the net, I&rsquo;m happy with that.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The team lost defenseman Darren Van Impe in the first period of the Edmonton game when he was crushed by Oilers&rsquo; right winger Georges Laraque. Van Impe sustained a separated right shoulder and was out indefinitely. Defenseman Kyle McLaren, who was injured and was watching from the press box, called it the &ldquo;biggest hit I&rsquo;ve ever seen.&rdquo; After that, coach Pat Burns said he would add toughness to his lineup. Tough forwards Ken Baumgartner and Ken Belanger were scratched from the Edmonton game&hellip;Bums on improving center Joe Thornton: &ldquo;He looks more like a hockey player now. When he comes in in the morning, he doesn&rsquo;t wear his Santa Claus underwear. He&rsquo;s not a silly boy anymore. He&rsquo;s a man now.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-04

Carter’s killer practices reap dividends for Bruins

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021238/7020721-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="170" height="168"></div>The old man and the &lsquo;C&rsquo; have long since parted company, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean Randy Cunneyworth still can&rsquo;t make a wave or two when given the chance.The former Ottawa Senators&rsquo; captain set an NHL record for longest period between goals for the same team when he scored for Buffalo in a 5-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Marine Midland Arena Feb. 11.Cunneyworth, a Sabres&rsquo; draft pick in 1980, re-signed with Buffalo as a free agent last summer. He has spent most of his time since as a playerassistant coach with the Rochester Americans in the American League, but was recalled to help lend some veteran experience to a team that had been in a prolonged slump.Cunneyworth has done that, but he also aided the cause with a goal and an assist against the Canadiens, his first goal in a Sabres&rsquo; uniform since Nov. 15, 1981. For the record, that&rsquo;s 17 years and 88 days, an NHL record for time between goals scored for the same team.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure you guys are never going to let me forget it,&rdquo; the 37-year-old Cunneyworth said after the Sabres ended a five-game winless streak and appeared to get back on track. Cunneyworth went pointless in a 1-1 tie at Ottawa two nights earlier, but his efforts didn&rsquo;t go unnoticed by coach Lindy Ruff.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a veteran player and he did things out there to keep us out of trouble,&rdquo; Ruff said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the reasons he&rsquo;s here. We need someone like that.&rdquo;Cunneyworth has also been a plus in a somewhat troubled Sabres&rsquo; dressing room.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of nice to be back and I&rsquo;m trying in my own way to pass some of that feeling along to the guys in the room,&rdquo; Cunneyworth said. &ldquo;Hockey is supposed to be fun. I think maybe we&rsquo;ve gotten away from that a little lately.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Sabres recalled 20-year-old defenseman Corey Sarich from Rochester of the American League. Sarich made his NHL debut in the 1-1 tie with Ottawa and played a regular shift against Montreal&hellip; Defenseman Mike Wilson and left winger Paul Kruse scored their first goals of the season in the Montreal game. The Canadiens limited the Sabres to six-first-period shots, but Buffalo scored on three of them&hellip;Right winger Matthew Barnaby&rsquo;s status was day-to-day with the Sabres. He was a healthy scratch for five of six games and is likely to be traded. Barnaby has kept a tight lip in Buffalo, but he told a French Canadian television reporter that he expects to be dealt. &#9632;

f0014-02

Cunneyworth scores…17 years later

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011512/7020752-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="166" height="169"></div>The first sign that Ken Wregget&rsquo;s on-again. off-again back injury was almost healed came the first Saturday of February when he whispered excitedly to a pair of reporters: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got the green light from the doctors.&rdquo;The next day, Calgary Flames&rsquo; coach Brian Sutter confirmed the news-that after a three-month absence, Wregget was ready to return to the lineup. The only question was when would it happen?Fred Brathwaite had reeled off 14 consecutive starts and posted a winning record (5-4-5) over that stretch, no mean feat for a team that was 12 games under .500 on the day he signed an NHL contract.Sutter played a hunch and gave Wregget the sternest test imaginable, inserting him for a Feb. 9 game against a Colorado Avalanche team riding a 12-game winning streak.&ldquo;The night he got hurt,&rdquo; Sutter explained, &ldquo;he was beating a top team, Detroit, in their building. Well, tonight he looked just the same as he did before he was injured.&rdquo;Wregget, who missed 42 games in all, emerged with a 2-1 victory and said he couldn&rsquo;t have scripted a better return.&ldquo;You want to come in and play as well as you can,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;After such a long break between starts, just getting on the ice after the injury was a bonus. Even if I&rsquo;d played one or two periods, I would have been happy. To go all the way, it was gravy.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Phil Housley got an assist in a 2-1 loss to Ottawa Feb. 6 to give him 1,053 career points. That moved Housley past former Islander great Denis Potvin and into fourth place on the all-time scoring list for defensemen&hellip;The future considerations the Flames will receive from Tampa in the Jan. 29 Sami Helenius trade? If the Lightning resign Helenius to a new contract, the Flames get an eighth round draft pick. If Helenius returns to Europe, they receive nothing&hellip;Right winger Theo Fleury&rsquo;s 25th goal of the season in a 2-1 win over Edmonton Feb. 8 marked the 10th consecutive year in which he&rsquo;d reached that plateau&hellip;Center Andrew Cassels was still sidelined after tweaking his groin in a Feb. 1 game against Dallas. &#9632;

f0015-01

Royal return for Wregget all gravy after long layoff

<div class="byline">By Todd Graff</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04553/7020783-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="342" height="474"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Francis</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021058/7020790-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="170" height="169"></div>Before historic Maple Leaf Gardens closed its doors to the NHL for the final time, ending 67 years of celebrated hockey history, Ron Francis left an indelible stamp on the old arena.As if playing in his 1,300th game wasn&rsquo;t enough, the Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., native splurged for two goals and three assists in the penultimate game at the Gardens.&ldquo;It was my 1,300th game and my last one in Maple Leaf Gardens, so I wanted to make sure I had a good one,&rdquo; said Francis, who bested that performance only once-a six-point (all assists) night March 5, 1987 against the Boston Bruins. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I planned for it to go that well. But it&rsquo;s nice to have a few breaks go your way.&rdquo;Despite nine points in his previous 11 games, Francis entered the evening with just eight goals and 25 points. The 35-year-old was on pace for 15 goals and 46 points, well off his 17year average of 25 goals and 84 points.The free-agent signing of Francis to a four-year, $20.8 million contract has been roundly criticized recently as the biggest bust in the NHL this season.&ldquo;He has taken a lot of crap about not putting points on the board,&rdquo; said coach Paul Maurice. &ldquo;I think he handles it well. I&rsquo;m happy he was able to get a fit-tie candy in here tonight.&rdquo;Francis remembers sneaking into Maple Leaf Gardens when he played for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. So it was only fitting that in the building where he watched his heroes, Francis became just the 20th player in NHL history to play in 1,300 games, 767 of those coming as a member of the Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been impressed with Ron Francis as a two-way player,&rdquo; said Leafs&rsquo; coach Pat Quinn. &ldquo;As he gets older, his statistics are down a bit, but that guy is a leader. He really helps in intangible ways.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: On center Ron Francis&rsquo; second goal against Toronto, left winger Gary Roberts notched the 300th assist of his career, although he didn&rsquo;t know it. &ldquo;With Ron Francis playing his 1,300th game,&rdquo; Roberts said, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re 300th assist is not that big a deal. But it&rsquo;s a nice honor."&hellip;Carolina&rsquo;s second line of Francis, Roberts and Sami Kapanen recorded 18 points in their two games against the Leafs this season. They play each other two more times this season&hellip;Center Jeff O&rsquo;Neill sprained his neck in a fight with New Jersey defenseman Sheldon Souray and had missed three straight games&hellip;Defenseman Sean Hill, who broke his ankle Dec. 21, was ready to return to the lineup before an abdominal strain kept him on the sidelines. &#9632;

f0015-04

Francis gets ‘a little candy’ in his last game at Gardens

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03755/7020821-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="168" height="168"></div>It was the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; longest road trip or the season, a seven-gamer that was going to pretty much determine their playoff chances.Calling it a total disaster would be kind.After starting with a win in Edmonton and a tie at Calgary, the Hawks lost the next five games and were outscored 17-5.&ldquo;It was little more than disintegrated,&rdquo; said coach Dirk Graham.It was a trip where the Hawks got little from their key veterans after the first two stops. Alexei Zhamnov had one goal on the trip and was benched for two periods in the final stop in Phoenix, a 3-0 loss Feb. 6. Doug Gilmour had one assist in the final five games, Tony Amonte was scoreless in the last four games, Eric Daze had no goals and was scratched once, and Chris Chelios was minus-8.GM Bob Murray held little back in critiquing the play of his veterans on such an important road trip.&ldquo;I heard all along how bad our kids were. Well, our veterans are making mistakes and costing us games,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand and I&rsquo;m tired of not understanding. If it sounds like I&rsquo;m (ticked) off, it&rsquo;s because I am.&rdquo;Chelios&rsquo; poor play was baffling. He wasn&rsquo;t saying much, although the fact he is now 37, playing for a bad team on bad knees, certainly figures into the equation.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m struggling and the team is struggling,&rdquo; Chelios said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to be sharper&hellip;I&rsquo;ve just got to play better defense and not worry about everything else.&rdquo;Graham remained optimistic the Hawks could make the playoffs as long as certain players picked up their effort. There&rsquo;s little doubt Graham was issuing a direct challenge to Zhamnov and Daze.&ldquo;My job is to keep after these guys and try to get them to do it, but in some cases they haven&rsquo;t done it for three years,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Maybe they don&rsquo;t want to do it.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Alexei Zhamnov didn&rsquo;t endear himself to coach Dirk Graham by missing a practice followed by the Feb. 10 game against San Jose with a sore back. Zhamnov&rsquo;s injury came after Graham had been highly critical of the veteran center&rsquo;s play. &ldquo;He has a sore back, at least that&rsquo;s what the trainers told me,&rdquo; Graham said&hellip;Zhamnov, who had three goals and eight points in his last 25 games at the time of his injury, tried to downplay persistent rumors that he wanted out of Chicago. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy here,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Center Doug Gilmour&rsquo;s name popped up in trade rumors involving Buffalo, although he said his agent, Larry Kelly, was told by GM Bob Murray there was nothing to worry about. &#9632;

f0015-03

Road woes compound Hawk misery

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011427/7020852-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="169" height="167"></div>When Claude Lemieux scored the winning goal in the Colorado Avalanche&rsquo;s 3-0 victory at Dallas Feb. 7, it marked the ninth time he has reached the 20-goal mark.Isn&rsquo;t it about time, then, to cut the veteran some slack when it comes to his reputation for not coming to play until the playoffs?Not only was he second on the team in goals after the win over the Stars-Colorado&rsquo;s 12th straight victory-but Lemieux has provided valuable services in areas you might not expect.Lemieux, 33, has been given more ice time as a penalty-killer. And when defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh missed the start of the season as an unsigned free agent, Lemieux played the point on the power play. In both areas, he excelled.In fact, when Ozolinsh finally signed, coach Bob Hartley kept Lemieux as a point man.Lemieux has been criticized over the years for not always bringing his A game to the rink during the regular season. Part of the reason for that perception may be because his playoff numbers are so good. His 19 game-winning playoff goals are second all-time to Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s 24.Lemieux had a couple of sub-par offensive regular seasons-he scored only six goals in 45 games for the New Jersey Devils in 1994-95-but the goal inDallaswasthe318thofhis career.&ldquo;Lately, things have been going well for me, and the team has been winning,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anybody&rsquo;s jumping up and down over what we&rsquo;re doing, but we&rsquo;re playing better as the season&rsquo;s going on.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Colorado saw its team record 12-game win streak snapped Feb. 9 at home against Calgary. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s too bad it had to end like this at home,&rdquo; said goalie Patrick Roy. who won 11 straight before taking the loss&hellip;When Eric Messier was recalled from Hershey of the AHL Feb. 9, that gave Colorado nine defensemen&hellip;Roy recorded his 400th career victory Feb. 5 in Detroit, a1 Avs&rsquo; victory. That&rsquo;s top among active players. At 33, Roy became the youngest goalie in league history to record 400 wins. &#9632;

f0016-01

Lemieux’s nine 20-goal seasons testament to veteran’s consistency

<div class="byline">By Mike Helka</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021100/7020883-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="169" height="169"></div>Maybe that Noah guy would have made a good NHL coach.HocKey success these days seems to be coming in twos. Six of the NHL&rsquo;s nine leading scorers through Feb. 11 were linemates on three separate teams, a trend that Dallas Stars&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock says is helping clubs keep their heads above water in an ever-expanding league.&ldquo;If you have two good players who can connect, who have the chemistry, then you have something,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult to get three players together and keep a line going, but it&rsquo;s not as tough to find pairs. That&rsquo;s what the league is coming to now.&rdquo;On the surface, Hitchcock seems to be bucking that trend with his top line. Center Mike Modano between left winger Jere Lehtinen and right winger Brett Hull is one of the finest units in the league.But if you break it down, the line is really a pair of pairs with Modano being a swing man. He and Lehtinen have played together for the past three seasons and form one of the toughest defensive forward tandems in the NHL. Modano and Hull are the offensive pair, creating scoring opportunities and scaring defensive players who have to choose to defend one or the other.&ldquo;I like to look at it as two different pairs,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;I see that fine as a checking line, so I see Modano and Lehtinen as the key pair.You see that line as a scoring fine, so you see Hull and Modano.&rdquo;Either way, the combos seem to be working. Hull and Modano had combined for 22 points in a 10-game stretch and were getting better the more they played together. Hull, who has played alongside some of the game&rsquo;s best playmakers, knows the difference good chemistry can make.&ldquo;It makes a big difference for any player when he can play with a skilled center,&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a team game and you have to be able to build that chemistry.&rdquo;Of course, that chemistry isn&rsquo;t always easy to find.&ldquo;I think what you have to have is two players with the same vision, vision of the ice and vision of the game,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;And 1 honestly believe you can see if they have that the first two or three times they skate together. Some players were meant to skate together, and some weren&rsquo;t.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Stars went 5-5-2 in their first 12 games following the end of their 15-game unbeaten streak Jan. 8&hellip;The Stars face a tough schedule in March, playing 16 games during a 30-day stretch. Ten of those games are on the road. Still, the Stars weren&rsquo;t worried about fatigue. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re better when we play every second night because this is a veteran team that loves to play,&rdquo; said coach Ken Hitchcock&hellip;When the Stars lost to Colorado Feb. 7, it was the furthest they had ever gone in a season-48 games-before losing 10 times&hellip;Though he had a season-high eight-game point streak snapped with the loss to Colorado, right winger Brett Hull still had 10 points in his past nine games. &#9632;

f0016-02

Two outstanding pairs on No. 1 line helps give Hitchcock winning hand

<div class="byline">By Chuck Carlton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03820/7020914-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="169" height="167"></div>The half-gallon milk carton easily could have featured the pictures of Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan and a few other missing Detroit Red Wings.Instead, the picture was of Scotty Bowman, from 17 years ago when he was the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; GM. Somehow the relic of homogenization past remained with Bowman for nearly two decades. But it was the message under the photo that Bowman treasures.It was Bowman offering tips on team play, about avoiding selfishness and of not sulking and complaining about playing time. Then as now, the message is timeless, one reason Bowman brought the carton to his Joe Louis Arena office in midFebruary.But as much as Bowman may have disliked the pleas by Fedorov and, to a lesser extent, Shanahar for ice time during recent slumps, he started to give his high-profile players more responsibility while at the same time demanding results.And he started to get them.While Detroit stumbled in losses to the Colorado Avalanche (3-1 Feb. 5) and Pittsburgh Penguins (2-1 Feb. 7), the team righted itself with wins over the Nashville Predators (5-2 Feb. 9) and Edmonton Oilers (4-2 Feb. 11).Fedorov, playing on a line with Steve Yzermar at left wing and Darren McCarty at right wing had back-to-back multiple-point games for the first time since March of 1998 in the Wings&rsquo; two victories.&ldquo;I feel personally pretty good,&rdquo; Fedorov said. &ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;ve got more room and got my game in shape. I definitely enjoy myself out there much more than I have.&rdquo;Shanahan, moved to the right side from left wing, had three goals in seven games since breaking a 15-game goal-drought. The last time he regularly played right wing? &ldquo;I think it was bantam,&rdquo; he said.No matter. Without the defensive duties in the left-wing lock system, Shanahan can chase the puck more.Bowman has made other changes, including simplifying schemes for a defense which has recently featured four regulars 25 or younger, and going to five-man units as much as possible, with Nicklas Lidstrom and Larry Murphy joining the top line.NOTEBOOK: Larry Murphy played his 1,447th game Feb. 5 against Colorado, breaking Tim Horton&rsquo;s mark for NHL defensemen. &rsquo;T haven&rsquo;t given (the record) a lot of thought lately, but it&rsquo;s a reality now,&rdquo; said Murphy, who missed one game after being shaken up on a hit by New Jersey left winger Krzysztof Oliwa Feb. &hellip;Defenseman Uwe Krupp got some good news when he learned he will not have to undergo season-ending surgery for a herniated disc in his back. Krupp&rsquo;s return to the Wings&rsquo; lineup, however, was still unclear&hellip;Left winger Brent Gilchrist, who hasn&rsquo;t played this season following hernia surgery, is skating pain-free and could soon rejoin the team. &#9632;

f0016-03

Invisible Wings start to reappear after Bowman grants ice time wish

<div class="byline">By Mario Annlcchiarlco</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02970/7020945-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Weight</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011277/7020952-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="169" height="168"></div>It was mid-February, still 30 games away from regular season, but the Edmonton Oilers were already concerned about their chances of earning a playoff berth.Following disappointing back-to-back losses to the Calgary Flames (2-1 Feb. 8) and Boston Bruins (2-0 Feb. 10), the Edmonton Oilers became aware they had a battle on their hands in the suddenly congested Western Conference. Through games of Feb. 11, they were eighth, four points up on the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames.The Oilers have been the NHL&rsquo;s team in waiting for what seems like an eternity, yet they missed the playoffs four years in a row before making it in and losing in the conference semifinal each of the past two seasons. It hasn&rsquo;t helped matters that captain Doug Weight missed 38 games with a knee injury.And with a five-game, 10-day road trip that featured stops in Detroit, St. Louis, Dallas, Anaheim and Los Angeles there was cause for concern. The road to ruin? It definitely had the potential for it.&ldquo;You look at the first three games, they are going to have a huge bearing on how we fair,&rdquo; said coach Ron Low. &ldquo;If we get through the first three at .500, we&rsquo;ll stand a chance.&rdquo;The Oilers had a 10-11-5 record (.481 winning percentage) away from the suddenly not-so-friendly confines of Skyreach Centre, where they were 1013-3 (.442). The road trip could be a make-or-break proposition for the club.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played great on the road and we&rsquo;ll worry about our home woes when we get back home,&rdquo; Weight said. &ldquo;Right now we&rsquo;ve got to take our positives into the road.&rdquo;To a man, the Oilers believe it&rsquo;s just a matter of time before they turn it around in the West. And any glimmer of hope is something you want to hang on to right about now.&ldquo;Sure, it&rsquo;s a real sense of urgency, but you&rsquo;ve got to bring yourself up, your emotion level up,&rdquo; said left winger Boyd Devereaux.And there is no looking back at this critical stage of the schedule.&ldquo;I think we need to worry about our own team,&rdquo; said Weight of the logjam behind the Oilers. &ldquo;I think if we play up to our calibre we&rsquo;ll be in the playoffs.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d be ignorant if we didn&rsquo;t look at what the space is behind us. It&rsquo;s definitely a point that we&rsquo;re watching, but right now we want to look ahead.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Oilers were generous with proceeds from the settlement of a lawsuit with the NHL Players&rsquo; Association brought against the Edmonton&nbsp;Journal. The paper contended the NHLPA wanted to profit from charity hockey pools. The Journal printed a front-page apology Jan. 17 and as part of the settlement, the NHLPA received $25,000. The money was divided between the players, who donated the money to their favorite charities&hellip;Defenseman Boris Mironov returned to the lineup Feb. 10 after sitting out two games with a bruised shoulder. He led the team with 25:39 of ice time. &#9632;

f0017-02

Oilers hope road success leads directly to playoff march

<div class="byline">By David J. Neal</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011310/7020983-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="170" height="169"></div>When Peter Worrell scored his first NHL goal, burying a wrist shot over the glove of St. Louis Blues&rsquo; goaltender Rich Parent, he coolly raised his stick as if it hadn&rsquo;t taken 51 games, as if he hadn&rsquo;t been a seventh-round project, as if he hadn&rsquo;t just gotten called up by the Florida Panthers that day.That message was intentional-he intended to do it more.Worrell probably didn&rsquo;t plan on scoring the next game, but his bouncing reaction to his second NHL goal was just as intentionally joyous as his first was restrained. And, it was understandable, coming as it did in Ottawa, across the river from Hull, where Worrell played major junior from 1994-95 through 1996-97. The 21-year-old native of Pierre Fonds, Que., was naturally thrilled about his success in the nation&rsquo;s capital.&ldquo;You saw my celebration,&rdquo; Worrell said after getting the winner Florida&rsquo;s 3-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators Feb. 11. &ldquo;I was psyched, I was pumped just playing here. 1 love playing here. It&rsquo;s a great atmosphere in the region. I had two great years here and thought I was reliving them.&rdquo;In Worrell&rsquo;s last year with Hull of the Quebec League, the Olympiques won the Memorial Cup and Worrell&rsquo;s numbers spelled out his role-17 goals, 63 points, 437 penalty minutes in 62 regular season games. He had 16 points and 83 PIMs in 14 playoff games.As is so often the case, the tough guy was one of the most popular players with the fans. Two nights after scoring his first NHL goal Feb. 8, he was given, literally, the red carpet treatment at a Moncton-Hull game. As Worrell walked out to conduct the ceremonial face-off, chants of &ldquo;Peter! Peter!&rdquo; throbbed from the crowd giving him a standing ovation.Between periods, the 6-foot-6 Worrell floated around the concourse, kids following him and adults stopping him to shake hands every few steps.&ldquo;The people have always liked me there, even my first year,&rdquo; Worrell said.NOTEBOOK: Being called back up to the Panthers after being sent down Jan. 13, reunited right winger Peter Worrell with rookie right winger Mark Parrish. The chemistry between the two got an added synchronicity&ndash;the night Worrell scored his first goal, Parrish, a goal-scorer, got into his first NHL fight. Parrish said he got a message from his old college roommates on his answering machine that was solely them singing &ldquo;Eye of the Tiger."&hellip;When right winger Pavel Bure strained a muscle behind the knee in Pittsburgh Feb. 5, it was thought the injury would sideline him for a week. Bure hadn&rsquo;t even skated as of Feb. 11&hellip;The Panthers had leads of 3-1 in three consecutive games and won only once&hellip;Right winger Dino Ciccarelli was out with back problems for the fourth time this season. Ciccarelli admitted he rushed back the previous three times before he was completely ready. Still, Ciccarelli went to Detroit to get a second opinion on his back, which has stiffness and has inhibited his skating. &#9632;

f0018-01

Tough guy Worrell scores big goals, scores big with admiring fans, too

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011214/7021045-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="168" height="168"></div>You usually get what you pay for-except if you&rsquo;re Rejean Houle, GM of the Montreal Canadiens. If you&rsquo;re Houle, you can&rsquo;t help but feel shortchanged.Although Houle stretched his $32-million (U.S.) budget to the limit in signing Mark Recchi, Vincent Damphousse, Saku Koivu, Vladimir Malakhov, Shayne Corson and Patrice Brisebois to new multi-year deals this season, the Canadiens aren&rsquo;t receiving much bang for their buck.As the Canadiens embarked on a two-game road trip to Pittsburgh and Buffalo during the second week of February, Koivu had seven goals and 14 assists in 38 games. His 21 points, based on an annual salary of $3 million, meant he was receiving $142,857 per point, according to figures compiled by the Montreal Gazette.But Koivu hardly is alone. Most of his fellow high-priced teammates&ndash;the Canadiens have 10 players earning more than $1 million this sea-son-aren&rsquo;t giving the team fair market value for their investment.Mark Recchi is earning a team-high $4.5 million and also had a team-leading 37 points. But that worked out to $121,621 per point. Captain Vincent Damphousse, next on the pay scale at $3,275 million, had only 27 points, meaning he was receiving $121,296 per point.Keep in mind, however, 27 games remained to be played.It took a holdout until the middle of training camp, but Houle delivered on a promise to renegotiate Corson&rsquo;s contract. With 20 points and a $2 million deal, Corson is getting $100,000 a point.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not scoring at all, but we have the same players we had last year,&rdquo; said an exasperated Houle. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t understand it. We didn&rsquo;t let anyone go from our offense, but we can&rsquo;t score. I&rsquo;m disappointed.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s the players at the bottom of the pay scale who are providing the Canadiens with some cheap thrills. Benoit Brunet, enjoying a career season for the second year, had 23 points. At his $1-million salary, that works out to $43,478 a point.NOTEBOOK: The Canadiens tried their best to acquire Florida right winger Pavel Bure from Vancouver. According to Finnish sports magazine Suomen Urheilulehti, the Canadiens offered forward Mark Recchi and defenseman Vladimir Malakhov for Bure. The report, citing Matti Vaisanen, Florida&rsquo;s European scout as its source, said Vancouver GM Brian Burke refused the potential deal because he wanted Finnish center Saku Koivu instead of Recchi. &ldquo;You know J can&rsquo;t comment on that,&rdquo; said Montreal GM Rejean Houle. &ldquo;I can tell you we talked with those people (the Canucks) and we did have very serious talks. I know we were in it. For sure we thought Bure would have been a good fit."&hellip;Phoenix GM Bobby Smith has confirmed that Montreal would like to move Recchi, an unrestricted free agent this summer, rather than lose him and receive no compensation. Smith said the Coyotes were interested, but balked when it considered the price tag too steep. &#9632;

f0019-01

Habs’ big investment in offense showing little return for Houle

<div class="byline">By Jeff Legwold</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02882/7021076-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="169" height="170"></div>After offering some of their future considerations to the Phoenix Coyotes for Cliff Ronning, Cliff Ronning became a big consideration for the immediate future of the Nashville Predators.In a move that heads off what would have been impending unrestricted free agency for the 33-year-old center, GM David Poile signed Ronning to a two-year deal worth $3.5 million.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said I thought it was the highest priority of establishing the team here in Nashville,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;We wanted Cliff Ronning in our future building years.&rdquo;In 50 games this season, Ronning had 13 goals and 39 points and has provided some much needed offense and up-front speed.Ronning has consistently been one of the Predators&rsquo; leaders in ice time among forwards and has been one of the more durable players in a season filled with injuries. He is also now the oldest Predators&rsquo; player by three years.&ldquo;Cliff Ronning is just what the doctor ordered,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve felt from the beginning the hardest thing for an expansion team to get was offense and Cliff is the kind of player that is exciting and creates things.&rdquo;He is also the kind of player Poile and coach Barry Trotz had been looking for in their decision to forsake the trapping game for a strong forecheck in almost every situation.&ldquo;I enjoy the style,&rdquo; Ronning said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a boring style, it&rsquo;s exciting and it&rsquo;s a good fit for me.&rdquo;Poile acquired Ronning Oct. 31 for what will amount to a middle-round pick in next year&rsquo;s entry draft. Ronning had never been to Nashville and initially had to fight the disappointment of being shipped from a Stanley Cup contender to an expansion team.&ldquo;But the fans are incredible here, I enjoy the coaching staff, I enjoy the players on this team,&rdquo; Ronning said. &ldquo;There are so many positive people to surround yourself with. It&rsquo;s a class organization and I think more people will see that.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: With a goal Feb. 9 in a 5-2 loss to Detroit, center Cliff Ronning was just two points shy of 600 for his career&hellip;When defenseman Jan Vopat sustained a concussion against Edmonton Feb. 5, it meant veteran defenseman Rob Zettler finally made his first appearance on the Predators&rsquo; roster this season. Despite 477 games of NHL experience entering the season, Zettler did not make the roster out of training camp. &ldquo;We just had a lot of similar players to Rob and elected to go with some younger players in that regard,&rdquo; said coach Barry Trotz&hellip;Right winger Sergei Krivokrasov, who was the team&rsquo;s only player to be selected for the All-Star Game, was mired in a slump. He saw his ice time diminish, especially on the power play. He seemed to be lacking the burst he had before injuring his leg against Vancouver in December. &rsquo;To me, he just looks like he&rsquo;s having a hard time coming back from that,&rdquo; Trotz said. &ldquo;We need Sergei back at full speed. He is a big part of what we do.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0019-02

Ronning, Preds happy together as center signs for two more years

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011100/7021107-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="169" height="168"></div>Hibernation has been difficult for &lsquo;Papa Bear.&rsquo;Pushed into retirement before he truly felt he was ready, Viacheslav Fetisov has earned praise this season as a New Jersey Devils&rsquo; assistant coach under Robbie Ftorek. But the career change wasn&rsquo;t as easy as Fetisov made it appear. Fetisov, 40, said he would rather still be playing.&ldquo;I miss the team feeling, to be in the dressing room, especially being a part of the Detroit Red Wings the last couple of years. Being a hockey player has been a big part of my life for 30 years,&rdquo; Fetisov said.&ldquo;I feel like I can still play hockey. It was very tough (to retire), especially being on the sidelines during the games. It took a while to get into it. But I&rsquo;m still playing 2-on-2 after practices.&rdquo;That was hardly enough competition for someone who played in three Olympics, 11 world championships, two Canada Cups and the 1996 World Cup. But pride and a money disagreement led to Fetisov&rsquo;s retirement.A member of Detroit&rsquo;s last two Stanley Cup teams, he was told that his salary would be cut from $1 million per season to $500,000. Fetisov balked, and rather than sign with another NHL team, he accepted the Devils&rsquo; coaching offer.&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t see myself playing for any other team. That was probably a mistake, but I said, &rsquo;That&rsquo;s my team.&rsquo; My heart will be in Detroit forever,&rdquo; Fetisov explained. &ldquo;I think they knew what they offered me was not going to be acceptable. Most of the players wanted me to play another year.&rdquo;Fetisov said he was grateful Devils&rsquo; GM Lou Lamoriello gave him an opportunity to break into coaching. He also said he would someday like to become a head coach in the NHL.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a no-brainer,&rdquo; said former teammate Doug Brown. &ldquo;Slava will make a great head coach.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Kevin Dean returned from an irregular heartbeat and suffered a knee injury in a Feb. 9 game against Vancouver&hellip;Left winger Dave Andreychuk, recovering from a fractured right ankle, said he hoped to play before the end of February&hellip;Defenseman Scott Stevens called his first closed-door meeting after losing to the Canucks to address the team&rsquo;s mediocre play at home (11-10-5)&hellip;Left winger Sasha Lakovic&rsquo;s six-game suspension in the American League for a 44-PIM night of terror with Albany has no effect on his NHL availability&hellip;The Feb. 6 New Jersey-Toronto game was shown on tape delay in Poland, where viewers got to see Devils&rsquo; tough guy Krzysztof Oliwa go toe-to-toe with Toronto&rsquo;s Tie Domi. &#9632;

f0020-01

Coach Fetisov wishes he could play

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02745/7021138-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="171" height="169"></div>The morning after a pathetic 2-1 Nassau Coliseum loss to the Washington Capitals, the Islanders got a taste of what life can be like when they get coach Bill Stewart mad.Stewart brought the team in for a 75 minute off-ice workout followed by a previously unscheduled 75-minute practice featuring 3-on-3 full contact drills below the blueline and a series of around-the-rink skates.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re the 26th-place team in this league,&rdquo; Stewart said, &ldquo;and that&rsquo;s not good enough for me. And it shouldn&rsquo;t be good enough for the people involved.&rdquo;Against the Caps, the Islanders got two scoring chances in 60 minutes-one a slot shot by Ziggy Palffy at 10:16 of the first period, the other Palffy&rsquo;s rebound shot with 47.4 seconds left in the game after Stewart pulled goalie Tommy Salo.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t accept the way we played,&rdquo; Stewart said, &ldquo;and it&rsquo;s a two-sided coin. Now they&rsquo;re going to see the other side of Bill Stewart.&rdquo;The team was 3-3-2 in eight games after GM Mike Milbury stepped down and handed the coaching job to Stewart. But it lost a two-goal lead in the final nine minutes and settled for a 3-3 home tie with the Vancouver Canucks Feb. 7 in Stewart&rsquo;s seventh game behind the bench. Their power play was 2-for-45 in nine games without injured Kenny Jonsson (sprained knee), who was expected back in mid-February.&ldquo;I have a problem with-people that don&rsquo;t want to work,&rdquo; Stewart said after his tough practice. &ldquo;A big problem. I think the message was well-sent. Anything less than a hundred per-cent (effort) is not acceptable&hellip;The bottom line here is respect for one another. In any winning situation, there has to be a respect of players for coach and coach to players.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Ziggy Palffy got his 300th point in his 301st game when he assisted on center Robert Reichel&rsquo;s goal against the Canucks&hellip;During the same game, left winger Claude Lapointe tied his career season high with his 13th goal&hellip;Left winger Mariusz Czerkawski was scratched three times in a six-game span by coach Bill Stewart&hellip;A club source told Long Island newspaper Newsday that GM Mike Milbury was miffed Stewart started goalie Tommy Salo in five of eight games. &ldquo;We have to get Felix (Potvin) playing,&rdquo; the source said. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t let him sit the way he&rsquo;s sitting. But it&rsquo;s Stewie&rsquo;s show.&rdquo; The source said Milbury, who has refused to be interviewed since giving up the coaching job, is trying to trade Salo. Stewart termed the story: &ldquo;B.S.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0020-02

Skaters skate when Stewart stews

<div class="byline">By Rick Car piniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01867/7021169-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="171" height="170"></div>There were some snickers when the New York Rangers went free-agent shopping last summer and signed John MacLean for three years at $7.2 million.Here go the Rangers again, some thought, overpaying for a 34-year-old whose best offensive days were behind him.The Rangers took no notice. They felt they were getting a player who was in demand; a player they figured would be competitive and dependable defensively. They didn&rsquo;t care if he scored a lot.Well, MacLean has surprised just about everyone. Through 51 games, he was second on the team with 19 goals and tied for third with 32 points. He had eight power-play goals, one shorthanded (on a penalty shot), two game-winners and was playing on the Rangers&rsquo; No. 1 line with Adam Graves and Wayne Gretzky.&ldquo;He has been a pleasant surprise in that department,&rdquo; said coach John Muckier. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s getting more ice time than anybody ever expected him to have. He has come through for us, there&rsquo;s no question about that.&rdquo;MacLean never felt he was finished as a scorer. He points out that just two years ago, he scored 29 goals and tied for the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; team lead.Then came a difficult 1997-98, a season in which he was shackled in a defensive role in New Jersey before being shipped to the San Jose Sharks for with defenseman Ken Sutton for defenseman Doug Bodger and center Dody Wood. He finished the year with 16 goals and 43 points in 77 games.&ldquo;It was just a tough year in New Jersey and then in San Jose,&rdquo; MacLean said. &ldquo;But this year 1 was put in the position where I get to play on the power play and now I get to play with Gretz. The opportunities are there and I&rsquo;ve got to keep going and shooting and, hopefully, they&rsquo;ll keep going in.&rdquo;That is something MacLean does. He shoots the puck, from anywhere, at any time. His 143 shots on goal led the Rangers.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Todd Harvey was set to return from a sprained left knee ligament after missing a month. The Rangers were 5-12-1 in the 18 games Harvey had missed this season and 15-12-6 with him in the lineup&hellip;Left winger Adam Graves reached the 24-goal mark in a 3-2 loss to Boston Feb. 7. That gave Graves one more than the 1997-98 team lead shared by Graves, center Wayne Gretzky, right winger Alexei Kovalev and center Pat LaFontaine&hellip;Graves also scored the Rangers&rsquo; fourth shorthanded goal in a span of 12 games. Prior to that, the Rangers had gone 121 games without a shorthander. &#9632;

f0021-01

Rangers getting last laugh as MacLean coming through

<div class="byline">By Bruce Garrloch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02491/7021200-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="171" height="169"></div>Another day, another comeback story for Ottawa Senators&rsquo; right winger Daniel Alfredsson.For the third time this season, Alfredsson, 26, was forced to make a comeback from an injury. This time, it was Feb. 11 against the Florida Panthers, after Alfredsson had missed five games with a left knee injury sustained Jan. 21 against the New Jersey Devils.&ldquo;At this rate, I am going to have to play in the NHL for 10 years to play 400 games,&rdquo; Alfredsson joked.This has been a difficult year for the Senators&rsquo; winger. He missed nine games and almost all of training camp with a tom ligament in the left knee and four games after a high stick near his right eye.Last season, Alfredsson missed 27 games because of various injuries and was out for the first six games while waiting to sign a five-year, $10-million contract.Alfredsson&rsquo; main objective now is to stay healthy and be productive.&ldquo;There have been a lot of injuries lately, but I&rsquo;m just trying to forget them and stay healthy,&rdquo; Alfredsson said. &ldquo;The funny thing is that I never got hurt before.&rdquo;The Senators hope getting Alfredsson back in the lineup will help get center Vaclav Prospal back on track. Through mid-February, he hadn&rsquo;t scored a goal in 30 games and wasn&rsquo;t showing any signs of coming out of his slump.Alfredsson was struggling before he went down with the most recent injury-six goals and 16 points in 33 games-but he does a good job along the boards and could dig the puck out for Prospal. Andreas Johansson, the left winger on the line-could also help get Prospal going.&ldquo;(Prospal) has got to be surrounded by people who can complement his ability to make plays and I think when we&rsquo;re healthy we can give him that,&rdquo; said Ottawa GM Rick Dudley.The Senators have learned to live without Alfredsson, but they&rsquo;re a better team with him in the lineup. The Calder Trophy winner as NHL rookie of the year in 1995-96, Alfredsson has been one a relatively consistent offensive weapon for the Senators when healthy.&ldquo;(Alfredsson) could not only help (Prospal), but anybody he plays with,&rdquo; said coach Jacques Martin.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Chris Phillips, who had been close to making a comeback from an ankle injury sustained Jan. 1, aggravated the ailment during a practice Feb. 6 in Calgary and was ordered off skates for a week. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not as bad as it was the first time,&rsquo;&rsquo; Phillips said. &ldquo;I just tweaked it a little bit. Hopefully, it won&rsquo;t be that bad."&hellip;The Senators had lost just twice in a 20-game stretch (13-2-5)&hellip;GM Rick Dudley said the six-year, $58-million contract right winger Pavel Bure received from Florida won&rsquo;t have an effect on negotiations with center Alexei Yashin. Scheduled to make $3.3 million (U.S.) next year in the last season of his contract, Yashin will likely enter into negotiations this summer with the Senators&hellip;Goalie Ron Tugnutt saw his 11-game undefeated streak (7-0-4) come to an end in a 3-1 loss to Horida Feb. 11. &#9632;

f0021-02

Sens’ star winger Alfredsson hopes hurtin’ times are over

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03282/7021231-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="170" height="169"></div>The Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; other Eric will soon be in the big money, too.Eric Desjardins may be enjoying his best season since joining the Flyers in 1994-95 and the team rewarded him with a new contract proposal that will put him among the elite defensemen in the league.The offer, faxed by president-GM Bob Clarke to Desjardins&rsquo; agent, Richard Tech, Feb. 8, is reportedly for four years and an estimated $14-$16 million.It&rsquo;s not quite in the neighborhood of captain Eric Lindros&rsquo; $8.5 million annual salary, but it does get him up there with players such as goalie John Vanbiesbrouck ($3.5 million this season).&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good proposal,&rdquo; Teoli said. &ldquo;To Eric, the important thing is to stay in Philadelphia. He likes his security. Just talking about arbitration and free agency makes him go crazy.&rdquo;The 29-year-old Desjardins, who would become a restricted free agent after his $1.7-million-per-year contract runs out at season&rsquo;s end, sounded like he was ready to close the deal.&ldquo;I would love to stay in Philly for the rest of my career,&rdquo; he said.Desjardins is beginning to receive some support for the Norris Trophy. Not known for his scoring, Desjardins, who has never won the Norris, was second in league scoring for defensemen the day the Flyers made the proposal.With 10 goals and 37 points in 48 games, Desjardins was on pace to break his single-season highs of 13 goals (1992-93) and 47 points (199596).Desjardins&rsquo; teammates insist points don&rsquo;t truly measure the value of his play to the team.&ldquo;Defensively, he seems the way he has always been, just very solid,&rdquo; said defense partner Chris Therien. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s getting more recognition now because things are going in for him. That&rsquo;s good. But he has always been outstanding.&rdquo;Said Colin Forbes, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s probably one of the top three defensemen in the league. He&rsquo;s so cool, so calm out there.&rdquo;Desjardins is taking this year&rsquo;s success&ndash;and accolades-in stride.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always nice when you get it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m just trying to do my job. If it comes, it comes. If it&rsquo;s not there, it&rsquo;s no big deal. If the team&rsquo;s winning, that&rsquo;s all that matters. I&rsquo;m not doing anything different to get my points.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Eric Lindros scored his 32nd goal of the season in a 4-3 loss at Los Angeles Feb. 11 to extend his point-scoring streak to 15 games, the longest in the league this season. Pittsburgh right winger Jaromir Jagr&rsquo;s 13-game streak was the previous high&hellip;A 5-4 loss to Anaheim Feb. 10 ended three streaks for the Flyers: A league-best 10-game (7-0-3) road unbeaten streak, a 15-game (11-0-4) unbeaten streak against the Western Conference and an overall eight-game (6-0-2) unbeaten streak. It was just the Flyers&rsquo; second loss (16-2-7) since Dec. 12&hellip;The Flyers&rsquo; Wives Fight for Lives Carnival Feb. 7 raised $1.25 million for leukemia research and related charities. The 23year total for the event is $11.65 million&hellip;The Flyers completed a seven-game homestand (5-0-2) with a 2-2 tie against Boston Feb. 6. &#9632;

f0021-03

Norris candidate Desjardins set to cash in on big season

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01997/7021262-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="170" height="168"></div>Don&rsquo;t ask Nikolai Khabibulin about the records, the numbers or the career highs. Don&rsquo;t ask him about his upcoming restricted free-agent status, either. The Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; stellar stopper has too much on his mind already.&ldquo;All I&rsquo;m thinking about right now is trying to keep playing well and get ready for the playoffs,&rdquo; said Khabibulin, 26. &ldquo;The playoffs aren&rsquo;t very far away now and I want to see how far this team can go. That&rsquo;s really all that matters to me right now.&rdquo;Not the 22 wins in 39 games. Not the Vezina-like 1.81 goals-against average or the equally impressive .933 save percentage. Not the six shutouts. And not the fact he just tied Bob Essensa&rsquo;s club record for career victories with 116 when he blanked the Los Angeles Kings Feb. 10.&ldquo;The record is nice, but at the same time, it&rsquo;s nothing like the guy we&rsquo;re going to play next,&rdquo; Khabibulin said, referring to Colorado Avalanche&rsquo;s Patrick Roy. &ldquo;He has won 400 games already. That&rsquo;s a record you can be proud of. So is the fact he has won the Stanley Cup before. That&rsquo;s when it really matters.&rdquo;If Khabibulin continues his assault on the NHL, the Coyotes will have a realistic shot. His teammates certainly think so.&ldquo;Niki&rsquo;s just locked in right now. He&rsquo;s playing incredible,&rdquo; defenseman Gerald Diduck said. &ldquo;Playing against him before, you hear the stories and you see him playing some great games. But playing in front of him now, you really appreciate it&hellip;When he comes across the crease, he just covers so much.&rdquo;After Khabibulin beat Los Angeles for the fourth time this season, Kings&rsquo; coach Larry Robinson said, &ldquo;The guy&rsquo;s just a brick wall in nets for that team. He&rsquo;s really on top of his game.&rdquo;As for his contract, which expires after this season, Khabibulin can expect a huge raise. He certainly will more than double his $1.25-million salary and could be eyeing a deal worth potentially close to $4 million a season.The team has not yet started negotiations, but Khabibulin said he knows a deal will get done.NOTEBOOK: Owner Richard Burke angrily denied rumors the team is for sale, rumors that had been flying as discussions for a proposed new hockey arena in Scottsdale, Ariz., began to heat up. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s total B.S.,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;I am not selling this team, period."&hellip;ESPN analyst Bill Clement split more than $1,300 for holding the winning 50-50 raffle ticket at the Coyotes&rsquo; Feb. 10 game against the Kings&hellip;Three days after returning from a three-game suspension for abusing an official, enforcer Jim Cummins was hit with a five-gamer for elbowing Chicago defenseman Brad Brown in the face. Asked if he was upset at Cummins&rsquo; recent behavior, coach Jim Schoenfeld said, &ldquo;If I was mad at Jimmy, it would stay behind closed doors.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0022-01

Khabibulin focussed on playoffs

<div class="byline">By Joe Starkey</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02691/7021293-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="170" height="168"></div>Fifteen years after he saved the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mario Lemieux will try for an encore. On Feb. 9, Lemieux went public with his intention to assemble an ownership group to make a bid for the bankrupt franchise.&ldquo;The fans in Pittsburgh deserve a lot more than a bankrupt team,&rdquo; said Lemieux, the former Penguins&rsquo; superstar who retired after the 1996-97 season. &ldquo;We want to keep the team in Pittsburgh.&rdquo;The Penguins had exclusive rights until Feb. 11 to submit a financial reorganization plan to U.S. Bankruptcy Court. But on Feb. 9 they withdrew their request to extend their exclusive privilege, thereby opening the bidding to anyone. The team&rsquo;s biggest creditors will vote on competing proposals and the court must approve the final plan.The proposals must detail how a potential ownership group will pay off the $127 million owed to Penguins&rsquo; creditors. Opening the bidding means an out-of-town buyer could attempt to move the team to another city. Penguins&rsquo; co-owner Roger Marino and his Boston-based advisory team are expected to submit a proposal. Suspicions are Marino would not want to keep the team in Pittsburgh.Lemieux, owed $26.3 million, is the team&rsquo;s single largest unsecured creditor. He said he is willing to convert a &ldquo;large part&rdquo; of the money owed him into equity in the team. He and his partners, whose identities are not known, plan to submit their proposal sometime next month.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m taking a big chance,&rdquo; Lemieux admitted. &ldquo;But I believe hockey can work in Pittsburgh. I believe in the fans of Pittsburgh.&rdquo;Lemieux said his group has met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman several times and that Bettman was &ldquo;very supportive.&rdquo; Asked if he&rsquo;d be a hands-on owner, Lemieux said he&rsquo;d be in the office three or four days a week and would attend games, something the Penguins&rsquo; out-of-town co-owners, Marino and Howard Baldwin, rarely do.Asked if he&rsquo;d be interested in suited up for games, Lemieux said no. &rsquo;If I&rsquo;m an owner, I can&rsquo;t be a player.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Kip Miller scored seven goals in eight games after he was moved to the team&rsquo;s top line with right winger Jaromir Jagr and rookie center Jan Hrdina Jan. 26&hellip;Goaltender Tom Barrasso returned from a four-game absence (strained neck) to stop 91 of 94 shots in a three-game winning streak. Barrasso stopped 35 of 36 shots in a 2-1 victory over Detroit Feb. 7&hellip;Defenseman Jiri Slegr had a seven-game point streak snapped against the Wings&hellip;Right winger Alexei Kovalev&rsquo;s goal with 28.5 seconds remaining in overtime beat Montreal Feb. 9 and gave the Pens a 3-0-7 record in overtime. It also stretched the team&rsquo;s winning streak to seven games, their longest under second-year coach Kevin Constantine. &#9632;

f0022-02

Lemieux serious about ownership

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecklng</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01887/7021324-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="171" height="167"></div>Entering the season, goal tending seemed to be the least of the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; worries, not with Grant Fuhr and Jamie McLennan primed to split duty. But as the season headed into the final 30 games, goaltending might be their biggest question mark.At the all-star break, the Blues sat Fuhr and McLennan, relegating Fuhr to backup status and McLennan to the press box, opting instead to use rookie Rich Parent.Then, Fuhr figuratively and literally fell apart in his return to the lineup on Feb. 6, giving up three third-period goals in a 4-3 loss to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim that prompted him to seek medical attention after the game.On Feb. 8, Fuhr underwent surgery on his troublesome right knee. Dr. Rick Wright repaired a small cartilage tear on the outside of Fuhr&rsquo;s right knee. Then he shaved the bottom of the femur to smooth out rough edges that had been causing Fuhr pain and perhaps contributing to a stunning decline in his play since the first of the year. He was expected to be out until late March.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not very good right now and simply put, the leg&rsquo;s not allowing me to be,&rdquo; Fuhr said. &ldquo;My leg is not liking me very much. Until we can get along, it&rsquo;s going to be a struggle.&rdquo;Since Jan. 1, Fuhr was 1^4-0, with a 3.28 goals-against average and a horrendous .832 save percentage. As of Feb. 12, the Blues allowed at least four goals in each of their four previous games.NOTEBOOK: After going 69 games (059-10) over 27 months without winning a game they trailed after two periods, the Blues did it twice in three days, beating Florida Feb. 8 and Tampa Bay Feb. 10, both by 5-4 scores. The Blues trailed both games 4-3 at the second intermission. Against Florida, rookie right winger Jamal Mayers, with his first NHL goal, and right winger Pavol Demitra sparked the third-period comeback. Against Tampa, it was Demitra and right winger Terry Yake&hellip;The modest comeback streak ended Feb. 11 when the Blues couldn&rsquo;t overcome a 4-1 deficit at the end of two periods and lost 5-1 to San Jose&hellip;Demitra was leading the Blues in scoring with 25 goals and 52 points, including a team-high seven winners. &#9632;

f0023-01

Grisly work from goalies reason to be concerned

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04282/7021355-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="342" height="467"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alex Korolyuk</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02574/7021362-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="170" height="170"></div>The San Jose Sharks&rsquo; blueprint for success paid off handsomely in back-to-back midFebruary victories at Chicago and St. Louis.Unlike virtually all of I their competitors for Stanley Cup playoff positions in the Western Conference, the Sharks lack a superstar capable of carrying a team. San Jose, though, functions quite nicely when receiving contributions from every player in uniform on a given night.The Sharks displayed their brand of hockey in a 5-2 victory over the Blackhawks Feb. 10 and a 5-1 triumph over the Blues the following night. In Chicago, it was former Blackhawks&rsquo; winger Joe Murphy leading the offense with two goals. Rookie winger Alex Korolyuk chipped in three assists at Chicago, then burned St. Louis for his first career two-goal game.San Jose also received multiplepoint games from talented young forwards Patrick Marleau and Jeff Friesen against the Blackhawks, as well as team captain Owen Nolan and defenseman Mike Rathje against the Blues.&ldquo;I thought our experience was really important (in Chicago) and (in St. Louis) our young legs were really important,&rdquo; said coach Darryl Sutter.Unlike the Blues, for example, who rely heavily on top-flight players such as defensemen Al Maclnnis and Chris Pronger and forwards Pavol Demitra and Pierre Turgeon, San Jose counts on balance up and down the lineup.&ldquo;We feel we have more depth up front than they do,&rdquo; said captain Owen I Nolan.The Sharks still might need a roster addition or two to land their second consecutive playoff berth. San Jose, though, has I recovered quite nicely from I an 0-6-2 start. Halfway through a marathon 10 game road trip, the Sharks were 3-2 and had climbed to seventh place in the Western Conference.NOTEBOOK: NHL vice-president Colin Campbell handed right winger Brantt Myhres a hefty 12-game suspension for leaving the bench to attack Kings&rsquo; defenseman Mattias Norstrom Feb. 6 in Los Angeles. Campbell said the suspension was so severe because Myhres did three no-nos: he left his own bench, attacked an opponent already in his own bench; and delivered a dangerous blow to the head while carrying his stick irresponsibly. Myhres will be out of pocket $31,250.04. The 12-game ban ties that of Los Angeles&rsquo; Matt Johnson for the longest in the NHL this season&hellip;After sharing the NHL lead with six shorthanded goals last season, left winger Jeff Friesen bagged his first this season in a 5-1 win at St. Louis Feb. 11. &#9632;

f0023-04

Sharks attack playoff spot with contributions from all

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01969/7021424-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="170" height="169"></div>When the Washington Capitals obtained Enrico Ciccone from the Tampa Bay Lightning in December, coach Ron Wilson was looking for more than just a pugilist.&ldquo;We want him to be as tough as he has always been, but we&rsquo;re also looking for him to contribute on a regular shift as much as possible,&rdquo; Wilson said.Ciccone, who wants his given name to be spelled Cicco and to be called &rsquo;Chico&rsquo;, is turning out to be a more than welcome addition on a team that is suddenly short of defensemen, although he had worked his way into the regular rotation before the injuries to blueliners multiplied. Ciccone&rsquo;s success, assistant coach Tim Hunter said, is the result of hard work and a sincere desire to improve his game in every practice and every game.&ldquo;His defensive instincts, his ability to move the puck and see the game are real pleasant surprises for us,&rdquo; Hunter said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure when the team got him they knew there was potential. He just needed to be harnessed a little, given the right opportunities, some guidance. It&rsquo;s paying dividends.&rdquo;Ciccone, who had one goal, two points and 76 penalty minutes in 30 games with the Caps and Lightning, is trying to overcome the same brawler reputation that dogged Hunter.&ldquo;With these coaches, there&rsquo;s words of encouragement every day and that really matters,&rdquo; Ciccone said. &ldquo;They offer constructive criticism and that&rsquo;s good because I want to learn.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Half the Capitals&rsquo; regular defenseman were out with injuries in midFebruary. Sergei Gonchar and Brendan Witt have wrist sprains and Dmitri Mironov has a back strain&hellip;.Defenseman Stewart Malgunas was recalled from Portland (American League) to help the beleaguered blueline&hellip; Right winger Tom Chorske, who had abdominal surgery Dec. 4 and was thought to be lost for four months, is hoping to return in early March&hellip;Left winger Joe Juneau, who took a puck in the mouth Feb. 9 against the Islanders, lost three teeth and spent the entire next day undergoing dental surgery&hellip;The Caps beat the Isles 2-1 that night, Washington&rsquo;s seventh straight win over New York and 11th in a row without a loss (10-0-1). &#9632;

f0024-01

’Chico’ becoming the man Caps thought he could be

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04273/7021455-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="341" height="469"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sergei Berezin</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02655/7021462-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="168" height="167"></div>For Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; coach Pat Quinn, the reason for Sergei Berezin&rsquo;s success is pretty simple. Now if he could only get the rest of his defense-challenged forwards to buy into the plan, they&rsquo;d already be carving Quinn&rsquo;s name on the nameplate for the Jack Adams Award.With a hat trick in a 6-5 loss to the Carolina Hurri-I canes Feb. 10, Berezin took over the team lead in goals with 21 after scoring just 1 16 last season.As far as Quinn is concerned, the whole key to Berezin&rsquo;s offensive explosion is that he&rsquo;s taking care of his defensive game. That reflects well on Berezin, who was a healthy scratch 14 times last season by former coach Mike Murphy, largely because Murphy felt he couldn&rsquo;t count on Berezin defensively.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of those guys who was hanging on the perimeter and getting squat, getting nothing,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;He has been a little bit better defensively and all of a sudden he&rsquo;s getting the puck in better spots, which gives him room to maneuver.&rdquo;Berezin&rsquo;s success was in stark contrast to the play and results produced by the Leafs&rsquo; top two lines, which had largely gone missing at both ends of the rink. Center Mats Sundin had two goal (one was an empty-netter) in seven games and left winger Fredrik Modin was scoreless in a 14-game stretch. Left winger Derek King and right winger Mike Johnson, second-liners all season, each had just one goal in 11 games.&ldquo;A lot of scorers figure when things aren&rsquo;t going well they&rsquo;ll just kind of hang around outside because then they&rsquo;ll have some space,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;Well, they don&rsquo;t have space and they&rsquo;re easier to check. You&rsquo;re not going to solve your scoring problems that way. We don&rsquo;t have so many great 1-on-l players that are going to stickhandle through teams for their goals.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Former Leaf captain Dave Keon refused an invitation to attend the final game at Maple Leaf Gardens, Feb. 13 against Chicago. Keon lives in Florida and long ago distanced himself from the franchise&hellip;In the Leafs&rsquo; 6-5 loss to Carolina Feb. 10, goaltender Curtis Joseph played in his 500th career game and tied the franchise record for assists by a goalie with his fifth of the season&hellip;Center Alyn McCauley, who strained his left knee Dec. 30, was cleared to start practising Feb. 11 and was hoping to be back in the lineup by the end of February at the latest&hellip;From Jan. 12 through Feb. 6, the Leafs endured their toughest road test of the season with 10 of 11 away from home. They were 6-3-1 in the road games. &#9632;

f0024-04

Berezin kick-starts offense by first improving defense

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03427/7021493-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="171" height="172"></div>Among the many projects facing new Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; coach Marc Crawford, perhaps the most perplexing has been solving the riddle of Alexander Mogilny.The talented right winger has been in a season-long drought that didn&rsquo;t end with Crawford&rsquo;s arrival. Crawford tried him on three different lines in his first two weeks at the helm. Nothing worked. Mogilny had no goals in Crawford&rsquo;s first eight games and was mired in a 1-goal-in-21-game slump. The lone goal came during a 5-on-3 power play.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to help Alex through this,&rdquo; Crawford said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure if he gets a number of chances that he&rsquo;ll get one and he&rsquo;ll start smiling again and he&rsquo;ll start being a little more upbeat and it will show in his play.&rdquo;Mogilny has missed 19 games this season, 17 due to a sprained knee and two because of a bruised kidney. But he has been back in the lineup since Jan. 10, thereby erasing any injury excuse for his lack of production. Overall, he had five goals and 26 points in 34 games.Crawford has tried him with both Mark Messier and Dave Gagner, two cagey centers, and then put him on a line with waiver pick-up Harry York and unproductive left winger Brad May. Mogilny was also taken off the first power-play unit.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m struggling with confidence right now,&rdquo; Mogilny said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m fine with whatever the coach wants to try. I&rsquo;m hanging in there.&rdquo;Mogilny clearly appears unhappy the Canucks are again floundering and will likely miss the playoffs for a third straight season. However, with his ability, he is one player who can make a difference.&ldquo;Alex can be unreal,&rdquo; said May, who was Mogilny&rsquo;s teammate in Buffalo the year (1992-93) the Russian scored 76 goals. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s not going to be us that will get him going. It&rsquo;s up to him. We all know what Alex can do.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Mark Messier injured his left knee against Pittsburgh Feb. 11 and was out indefinitely. Before getting hurt, the captain maintained he is happy in Vancouver and does not want to be traded to a contender. GM Brian Burke has insisted Messier is untouchable&hellip; A 6-5 loss to the Penguins Feb. 11 meant the Canucks failed to win in Pittsburgh in the 1990s (0-9-1). Vancouver&rsquo;s last victory at Civic Arena came Jan. 7, 1989. The Canucks have been outscored 54-33 during the streak&hellip;Vancouver is negotiating with goalie Kevin Weekes, the unsigned Group U free agent obtained in the Pavel Bure trade. The Canucks expect to lose either Garth Snow or Corey Hirsch in the Atlanta expansion draft. &#9632;

f0024-03

Mogilny continues to confound

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello Senior Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01867/7021531-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wolves&rsquo; rearguard Glen Featherstone has never skated with such style</figcaption></div>Chicago Wolves&rsquo; goaltender Wendell Young may have a great glove hand, but he has a greater flair for fashion.If anybody knows what&rsquo;s in these days, it&rsquo;s the journeyman goalie.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to have greys in your wardrobe this year,&rdquo; Young said. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be caught without your greys.&rdquo;Young, of course, is right. Fashion experts everywhere are endorsing the grey shade for 1999. It&rsquo;s the happening color. Stores can&rsquo;t keep it in stock. (Bet you never thought you&rsquo;d read that in The Hockey News.)That&rsquo;s part of the reason THN&rsquo;s fashion-conscious panel selected the International League&rsquo;s Wolves as the first ever repeat winners of the top logo in minor pro hockey. Not only is the Wolves&rsquo; logo a smashing design with a fierce life-like green-eyed canine, it&rsquo;s also totally hip.Check out the deep grey tones mixed in with the blacks and whites I (fashion gurus like ourselves refer to I colors in plural, not singular.) So not only is it the best logo in the HL, American League and East Coast League, it&rsquo;s withstanding the test of time fashion-wise.&ldquo;You guys are the fashion experts, you would know,&rdquo; said Wolves&rsquo; director of media relations Judd Sirott. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s great news. Especially being the first ever repeat winners.&rdquo;This is the sixth year THN has ranked logos in minor pro hockey. The AHL&rsquo;s Albany River Rats won in 1994, followed by the IHL&rsquo;s Minnesota Moose (1995), the defunct Carolina Monarchs (1996) and the defunct Phoenix Roadrunners (1997).The Wolves entered the HL in 1995 and finished third in our survey. They were third in 1996 and fourth in 1997 before moving into top spot.&ldquo;Some of our guys look a whole lot better during games in the Wolves&rsquo; uniform than they do afterwards when they&rsquo;re in their suits,&rdquo; Young said.Team owner Donald Levin selected the nickname Wolves as a tribute to his mother, Henrietta Berman, whose maiden name is Wolfe.Not only are the Wolves winners on the runway, they&rsquo;re champions on the ice, too. Chicago won the 1998 Turner Cup in a hard-fought seven-game series with the highly fashionable Detroit Vipers (No. 5 in our logo ranking.) The Wolves are again among the top teams in the IHL this season.Our annual minor pro logo ranking is determined by a panel of THN editors based on general appearance and originality. Consideration is given to marketing success and graphic connection to hockey. Team logos can shift a maximum of three places from one year to the next.&ldquo;Teams put a lot of thought into the design of a logo,&rdquo; said Young, who has played for 11 pro teams in five leagues, including the Vancouver Canucks, whose Halloween style uniforms rank with the worst of all-time. &ldquo;It has to appeal to the kids. The merchandise sales depend upon it.&rdquo;Young says rarely does a trip go by when he&rsquo;s not hounded by roadies and groupies for Wolves&rsquo; merchandise. It has been like that since Chicago&rsquo;s first HL season in 1995-96.&ldquo;Our first year of existence was the best year for merchandise, but our numbers are back to rivaling that year,&rdquo; said Adam Fox, Wolves&rsquo; executive vice-president of business operations. &ldquo;Winning the championship has helped with our merchandise sales.&rdquo;Winning the championship? The IHL championship or the logo ranking championship?&ldquo;The logo-ranking championship, absolutely,&rdquo; Fox chuckled. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I meant. Nothing&rsquo;s better than being the No. 1 logo.&rdquo;Being No. 1 is something the 35-J year-old Young is accustomed to. The Hockey Hall of Fame has recognized him as the only player in hockey history who has been on four championship teams in four separate leagues. He won the Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s Memorial Cup with the I Kitchener Rangers in 1982, the AHL&rsquo;s &rsquo; Calder Cup with the Hershey Bears in 1988, the NHL&rsquo;s Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and &rsquo;92 and the Turner Cup in Chicago last season.&ldquo;Make that five titles if you include the logo ranking,&rdquo; Young said. -Yeah, but we don&rsquo;t give out championship rings, Wendell. We do ooze fashion expertise, though.Because greys are on the cutting edge this season, logos incorporating that color tended to move up the rankings. Our voting panel has the right to _ bump a team&rsquo;s logo ranking no more than three spots up or down, giving credence to the thought processes of our previous voting committees.The sixth annual minor pro logo ranking includes 58 teams in the top three minor leagues. New teams include the Augusta Lynx, Florida &rsquo; Everblades, Greenville Grrrowl and Miami Matadors of the ECHL and the Lowell Lock Monsters of the AHL. Defunct teams are the Quebec Rafales and San Antonio Dragons of the HL and the Raleigh IceCaps and Louisville RiverFrogs of the ECHL.Four teams&ndash;the Kansas City Blades and Milwaukee Admirals of the IHL and the ECHL&rsquo;s Jacksonville Lizard Kings and Dayton Bornbers-had makeovers. They met with mixed reviews. (See pg. 26 for story.)Four AHL teams (Adirondack Red Wings, Fredericton Canadiens, Providence Bruins and St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs) were not included because they are virtually identical to NHL logos used by teams of the same nickname.A separate ranking in the March 12 issue of THN will include the 48 _ teams in the United, Western Pro, Central and West Coast Leagues.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02554/7021524-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="682" height="3784"></div> &#9632;

f0025-01

Fashionable Wolves

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello Senior Editor</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01955/7021576-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="645" height="3795"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02637/7021569-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="1957" height="1892"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lowell Lock Monsters&rsquo; stopper Marcel Cousineau has taken Louie&rsquo;s image and put it on his goal mask. (Photo by Paul Angers/BS)</figcaption></div>The Lowell Lock Monsters would like to clear up a little confusion with their new logo.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s Lock with a &rsquo;k&rsquo;, not an &rsquo;h&rsquo; and it has nothing to do with the Loch Ness Monster,&rdquo; said Tom Rowe, Lowell&rsquo;s vice president, GM and alternate governor. &ldquo;Just about everyone who comments on it thinks it&rsquo;s a play on the Loch Ness Monster. It isn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;The other monster, known as &rsquo;Nessie&rsquo; is a creature fabled to inhabit the waters of Loch Ness in Scotland. Several photos have been taken, none with Nessie holding a hockey stick.There&rsquo;s no confusion about Lowell&rsquo;s logo being the best of this year&rsquo;s new crop. Each of our panelists ranked it first or second among the nine new looks. It finished 10th overall.Lowell&rsquo;s nickname derivation comes from the Massachusetts city&rsquo;s location on the Merrimack River. A lock and canal system along the waterway is vital for Lowell&rsquo;s textile industry. Monsters? Because it sounds good next to Lowell and Lock and it provides an entertainment factor for the younger audience.&ldquo;Sure, it&rsquo;s a purple monster, but we didn&rsquo;t want it to be Barney the dinosaur,&rdquo; Rowe said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not marketing that crowd.&rdquo;Though the monster in the logo has a sinister look, &rsquo;Louie,&rsquo; the team&rsquo;s mascot, is friendly so as not to scare the children. It is also fashionably grey.&ldquo;Sales have been unbelievable,&rdquo; Rowe said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been blown away.&rdquo;The eight other looks range from cute to ho-hum to disappointing.Greenville Grrrowl (No. 16) Give the team credit for its unique approach. Yorkshire terrier has a puck, not stick, in its mouth and Growl is spelled with three r&rsquo;s. Original.Dayton Bornbers (No. 20) We&rsquo;re disgruntled they abandoned the traditional look, but glad they didn&rsquo;t go with a cartoony terrorist holding a grenade belt and a hockey stick.Kansas City Blades (No. 26) A big improvement from the stylized &rsquo;kc&rsquo; look (No. 47 last year). Grey and red stand out strongly on traditional badge background.Florida Everblades (No. 38) Catchy name, very appropriate. But there&rsquo;s something about the green and dark blue that clash from a distance. And what&rsquo;s with the three nose rings?Augusta Lynx (No. 41) Outstanding choice for a nickname, but the logo came up a little short. With Augusta home of Masters golf, Lynx is a natural play on links.Milwaukee Admirals (No. 52) Took the simplistic look a little too far. How many Admirals out there have those big porkchop sidebums? We had the old logo ranked No. 15 last year.Jacksonville Lizard Kings (No. 54) Peer pressure won out. Their old angular logo was perennially in the top 20. It was unique. Now this? So much for creative thinking. They sold out.Miami Matadors (No. 55) Our fashion eye tells us black, gold and red don&rsquo;t really match. Why scare the bull? And there&rsquo;s something about that cheesy moustache we don&rsquo;t trust.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03507/7021562-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="672" height="3807"></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

It’s not Nessie or Barney, but Lowell’s Louie is a hit

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello Senior Editor</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01905/7021614-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="915" height="1457"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mobile&rsquo;s Andrew Will is a colorful defenseman. (Photo courtesy Mobile Mysticks)</figcaption></div>Take a quick glance at the busy logo of the Mobile Mysticks, then shield your eyes just as quickly.That&rsquo;s our disclaimer. We don&rsquo;t want to be responsible for any damage to your retinas caused by leering at this hyperventilating mass of confusion.Chances are you&rsquo;re not going to be able to decipher what it is anyway so here&rsquo;s the explanation: Remember &rsquo;Puff the Magic Dragon,&rsquo; that lovable beast who lived in the independent Republic of Honilee in some seaside cottage? You know, frolicking around in the autumn mist? Yeah, that&rsquo;s the one.Well, this is &rsquo;Puck the Magic Dragon.&rsquo; He&rsquo;s the official mascot of the East Coast League team based in Mobile, Ala.He&rsquo;s green, he&rsquo;s purple, he&rsquo;s yellow, he&rsquo;s red. He has wings, horns, claws, teeth, a jagged tail. He&rsquo;s snorting steam, sticking out his tongue, everything. The designers couldn&rsquo;t make up their minds so they incorporated all their ideas.Heck, he&rsquo;s even carrying a double-bladed offset stick that we really, really, really hope isn&rsquo;t patent pending.The result is a terribly assiduous design that should have a warning label on it.THN&rsquo;s esteemded panel of logo judges deemed the Mysticks to be No. 58 in a field of 58. The Mysticks have been around for four years but only this season sunk to the depth as the worst logo in minor professional hockey.That distinction would have belonged to the ECHL&rsquo;s Toledo Storm for a fourth straight season if not for a restriction. Because teams such as the Storm and the International League&rsquo;s Cincinnati Cyclones have been clever enough to launch &rsquo;Be the first to wear the worst, &rsquo; marketing campaigns after THN&rsquo;s logo issue hits the newsstands, we decided teams can&rsquo;t be judged the worst in consecutive seasons, so not to shamelessly profit time and time again from such a dishonor.Toledo was judged the worst in 1995-96 and 1997-98 sandwiching the ECHL&rsquo;s Louisville RiverFrogs in 1996-97. With the RiverFrogs out of business this season, it was up to the Mysticks to fall to the basement-for one year anyway. Unless the Storm does something to upgrade its dreadful Etch-A-Sketch logo, it&rsquo;s doomed to fail again.&ldquo;Hey, if you can&rsquo;t be first, you may as well be the worst,&rdquo; said Mysticks&rsquo; GM Steve Chapman.To make one thing perfectly clear, just because we don&rsquo;t like the Mysticks&rsquo; logo doesn&rsquo;t mean it isn&rsquo;t a hit in Mobile or with fans of the ECHL team.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very popular in the area,&rdquo; Chapman said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re one of the better ECHL teams in terms of merchandising. The kids love the mascot.&rdquo;The genesis for the team nickname and logo goes back to the city&rsquo;s Mardi Gras roots. Mobile, not New Orleans, is the original home of the Mardi Gras and during celebration week there&rsquo;s a parade that includes a dragon float.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of revelry and excitement on the street during Mardi Gras and we wanted to capture that with the hockey team,&rdquo; Chapman said.&ldquo;The magic dragon is a big part of that and our logo and &rsquo;Puck&rsquo; are something we really like.&rdquo;<h2>THN&rsquo;S BEST, WORST</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02571/7021607-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="728" height="580"></div> &#9632;

f0027-01

Mysticks logo falls to basement

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>Gene Autry was the singing cowboy. Tom Askey may someday be known as the singing goaltender.While trying to prove himself as a legitimate NHL prospect to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Askey is also working toward his post-hockey dream of being a musician.He&rsquo;s doing a pretty good job at both, especially the on-ice part. Askey, 24, ranked sixth in the American League in goals-against average at 2.47 and was tied for fifth in save percentage (.922). He earned AHL player-of-the-week honors for the period ending Feb. 7 after leading the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks to 3-0 and 2-1 wins over the Hamilton Bulldogs.&ldquo;He has proved by his play this season that he has taken another step towards becoming a National Hockey League goaltender, perhaps as soon as next season,&rdquo; said Anaheim assistant GM David McNab.He&rsquo;s kicking away pucks with a little rhythm in his head, too. Askey never plays a game without listening to Jim Morrison or Jimi Hendrix. He wears a T-shirt of one of the rock legends under his equipment.&ldquo;Jim Morrison has played most of the games, but the shirt has got some holes in it now, it&rsquo;s getting a little worn out,&rdquo; Askey said.Askey even had the rock-star look for a couple months, letting his hair grow long and wearing it in a oony tail.&ldquo;I cut the hair, though, and toned it down a bit,&rdquo; Askey said, deciding to adhere a little more closely to the spiffy image of the Disney-owned Mighty Ducks. &ldquo;Anaheim is a clean-cut organization. They didn&rsquo;t ask me to cut my hair, but I got the hint.&rdquo;During his rookie season with the Baltimore Bandits, Askey bought an acoustic guitar and began to write his own songs. He has since added an electric guitar and a smaller acoustic guitar for travelling.&ldquo;We have so much free time and this gives me a good release,&rdquo; Askey said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a lot of cool music. I&rsquo;ve written about 50 songs and I&rsquo;m happy with about 20.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01945/7021645-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="456" height="454"></div>He plays much of it to himself, saying he&rsquo;s a little self-conscious about how it sounds. But sometimes Asking will have a jam session at his Cincinnati apartment for friends. So far, the music reflects life, not hockey.&ldquo;Maybe there&rsquo;s a little bit of hockey in an abstract way,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I like anything from the Beatles to Metallica, so it gives you a good bead on what my musk sounds like.&rdquo;Hockey, however, is primary in his life. He appearence in seven NHL games for Anaheim late last season, posting one decision, a loss, and a 2.64 average.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m liking my hockey career right now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Bu like T said, we have a lot of free time as players, so the longer I play the game, the better off my music is too.&rdquo;HONORING THE G-MEN: The Rochester Americans will retire the No. 9 worn by Jody Gage, now their GM, and Dick Gamble, the scoring star of their Calder Cup teams of the 1960s.The only other uniform retired by the 43-year-old franchise is No. 6, worn from 1962 &rsquo; through 1973 by the late Norm &rsquo;Red&rsquo; Armstrong.That the organization probably has the best history in the American League and only one jersey has been retired, it is an unbelievable honor,&rdquo; said Gage, who retired in February of 1996 due to knee problems.Gage holds team records for goals (351), assists (377), points (728) and games (653), and AHL records for playoff goals (51) and 40-goal seasons (seven). He ranks third all-time in AHL scoring (1,048 points) and goals (504).AHL TIDBITS: Right winger Mark Greig had 10 points during a Philadelphia Phantoms&rsquo; six-game winning streak. All the victories came on the road&hellip;The Syracuse Crunch had lost a team record eight games in a row&hellip;Right winger Warren Luhning. the Lowell Lock Monsters&rsquo; leading scorer, will be out until at least midMarch with a knee injury. That&rsquo;s bad news for a team that was skidding at home (0-5-2 since Dec. 19)&hellip;Hartford winger Brad Smyth launched 13 shots and scored three times in a 4-4 tie with Lowell Feb. 7. &#9632;

f0028-01

Ducks’ Askey rocks own world while he rolls on for Cincinnati

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>When the Augusta Lynx fell behind the Birmingham Bulls 7-1 after two periods Feb. 11, Lars Pettersen and his teammates talked in terms of finishing the game strong after being embarrassed for 40 minutes on their home ice at the Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center.Pettersen made sure the Lynx accomplished their goal by scoring five goals in a span of 16:01 in the third period. The center&rsquo;s effort didn&rsquo;t quit bring Augusta all the way back&ndash;the Bulls hung on for a 7-6 East Coast League victory.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never heard of a guy scoring five k goals in (16 minutes),&rdquo; said teammate Sam Ftorek, who assisted on four of the goals. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s possibly the fastest five goals in one game in the history of hockey.&rdquo;Pettersen, who only had eight goals in his previous 47 games this season, got the first four in a span of 8:30, with three coming on the power play. Then, with goaltender Judd Lambert on his way to the bench for an extra attacker, Pettersen added his fifth goal with 1:04 left.&ldquo;It was just a huge effort by everyone,&rdquo; said Pettersen, a 22-year-old from Okotoks, Alta. &ldquo;For me, it feels good to finally score some goals here. I&rsquo;ve struggled all year, but now it pretty much seems like everything I shoot is going in. I&rsquo;d much rather have the win, but it&rsquo;s always nice to have a game like that.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02628/7021676-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="404" height="422"></div>Pettersen, who assisted on Augusta&rsquo;s first goal of the game, finished with a six-point night and a place in the record books.MIAMI BLUES: The Miami Matadors, who moved from Louisville, Ky., after last season, were struggling at the gate. Playing in the 14,703-seat Miami Arena, the Matadors were averaging a league-worst 1,714.In recent weeks, the announced crowds have been in three figures. There are several reasons &ldquo;or the poor turnouts: The Florida Panthers play in earby Fort Lauderdale; the arena is in one of Miami&rsquo;s most crime-ridden sections; and the Matadors (18-22-7) were in last place in the Southeast Division.DUAL HONORS: Hampton Roads&rsquo; goalie Steve Valiquette, 21, was named rookie and goaltender of the month for January. The New York Islanders&rsquo; prospect went 5-0-2 with a 1.84 GAA and .952 save percentage.Louisiana center John Spoltore, the league&rsquo;s leading scorer with 80 points, was player of the month after recording four goals and 27 points in 12 games. &#9632;

f0028-02

Rettersen’s remarkable five-goal period not enough to secure win for Augusta

<div class="byline">By Kevin lole</div>Brent Gretzky has become a first-line center for the defending Turner Cup champions, a consistent scoring threat and a smart two-way player.For that, he gives much of the credit to his brother, but it&rsquo;s not the brother you might think.Gretzky, who is centering the Chicago Wolves&rsquo; top line, said playing for his brother Keith for the Asheville Smoke of the United League earlier this season played a big role in helping to re-establish his offensive game. Gretzky had 70 points in 32 games with Asheville before being signed by the injury-plagued Wolves.In his first 12 games with the Wolves, Gretzky recorded 11 points playing alongside left winge Steve Maltais, the team&rsquo;s leading scorer.&ldquo;I got a lot of ice time playing for Keith and he put me in situations where I had a chance to score,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;That j has made a difference.&rdquo;Gretzky, who played 13 games for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the mid-1990s, has struggled the past five years to establish himself as a regular at either the International or American League level. Las Vegas signed him in 1996 with the intent of allowing him to play an offensive role, but he got just 17 points in 40 games and was waived.He spent last year playing in Austria, where he had 70 points in 32 games. He gained more faith in his shot there and started unleashing it more frequently. In the past, he hung onto the puck too long and always looked for his wingers, causing teams to play off him and clog the passing lanes.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a confidence thing and the only way you get confidence is by getting ice time and going out and having some success,&rdquo; said Gretzky. &ldquo;I did that last year in Austria and this year playing for Keith, and it has really been a factor for me.&rsquo;And while Gretzky, 27 on Feb. 20, admits he still harbors a thought somewhere in the back of his mind about returning to the NHL, he said his primary goal now is to establish himself as a consistently productive IHL player.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01834/7021707-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="728" height="298"></div>&ldquo;The NHL is the NHL and it&rsquo;s always going to be on your mind, but I really need to play here and show that I deserve to be in the lineup in this league for a year or two,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting an opportunity on the most talented team I&rsquo;ve ever played on and in a terrific organization. It&rsquo;s up to me to take advantage of that and prove I deserve to be here long-term.&rdquo;CARLYLE EXTENSION: Manitoba signed coach-GM Randy Carlyle to a two-year contract extension that will bind him to the Moose through the 2000-01 season. Carlyle took over as Moose boss when Jean Perron was fired midway through 1996-97.&ldquo;Randy Carlyle is an invaluable asset to the Manitoba Moose and we are thrilled to have him back,&rdquo; said Moose president Mark Chipman.The Moose were second in the Midwest Division, four points behind Chicago, through mid-February.VETERAN &rsquo; SIGNINGS: The Chicago Wolves acquired center Kevin Miller as a free agent and the Las Vegas Thunder inked defenseman David Shaw.Miller, a 10-year NHL veteran, played 33 games with the New York Islanders this season. Shaw, a 13-year NHLer, played 26 games for Las Vegas last year, but retired abruptly in March because of personal problems. He had the itch to play again, however, and opted to return to Las Vegas to help the Thunder in its bid to earn a playoff berth.I-OPENERS: Las Vegas has gone from being one of the worst teams in the IHL to one of the hottest since severing its relationship with the Phoenix Coyotes Jan. 10. With the Phoenix affiliation, Las Vegas was 9-23-5, averaged 2.73 goals a game and allowed 4.27. Since the sides split, Las Vegas was 9-3-0, averaged 3.83 goals a game and allowed 3.08&hellip;Bob McCammon, the IHL&rsquo;s vicepresident of hockey operations, sustained minor facial cuts after being involved in an auto accident. He was a passenger in a limousine headed to a charity affair that was struck broadside&hellip;Houston Aeros&rsquo; center Mark Freer was minus-1 against Manitoba Feb. 5, ending a string of 30 consecutive games in which he was either even or plus. &#9632;

f0029-01

Gretzky credits brother Keith for helping him re-start career

<div class="byline">By Brendan Savage and David Henry</div>Amid speculation the team might fold if it wasn&rsquo;t sold soon, the Saginaw Gears were faced with another distraction during the United League&rsquo;s all-star break.In a bizarre incident, most of the club&rsquo;s equipment was confiscated by equipment manager Ray House, whose mother owns the company that sold Saginaw most of its gear this seasonClaiming the Gears weren&rsquo;t making payments and concerned a sale would leave his mother&rsquo;s Rochester, N.Y., company with an unpaid bill, House backed his truck up to Wendler Arena Feb. 3 and took most of the Gears&rsquo; equipment. House claimed the Gears owed almost $250,000.&ldquo;I know the team is going to be sold and I w; afraid I&rsquo;d be left holding the bill and not, getting any money,&rdquo; said House, who consulted a lawyer and the police before kidnapping the Gears&rsquo; gear.Team owner Khaled M. Shukairy callea police to help find the equipment, but said, &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t going to have him arrested. I just wanted my equipment back. We had been making payments and would have continued to make payments.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02535/7021745-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="372" height="200"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03345/7021738-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="304" height="224"></div>The Gears got their equipment back later the same day; after giving House a certified check for $7,836.14. Then they fired him along with public relations director JaSimon, whom they said assisted in the caper.Shukairy said he has agreed to sell the Gears to a group of businessmen in Canton, Ohio. It&rsquo;s under-i if the club will relocate, but the sale was expected to be final Feb. 12.WESTERN PRO LEAGUE: Change is the only constant with the New Mexico Scorpions these days.Less than a month after former owners Joe Murphy and Bernie Nicholls declared bankruptcy and were removed as owners by the Western Pro League, the Scorpions fired head coach Garry Unger Feb. 5.Unger guided New Mexico to a decent 2025-6 record this season, but the Scorpions were mired in last place in the WPHL&rsquo;s West Division. Skating coach Mark Ciaccio was hired to replace Unger.&ldquo;I needed to make a change and felt this was in the best interest of the team,&rdquo; said Michael Plaman, who acquired the franchise from a bankruptcy trustee Jan. 19. &ldquo;I wanted a coach committed to Albuquerque and hockey in New Mexico. This team has the talent to make the playoffs.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Saginaw’s gear held hostage until team coughs up payment

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Many in the Ontario League say they&rsquo;ve been blindsided by a proposed $10,000 tax on nonNorth American players in Canadian junior leagues next season.The Canadian Hockey Association tax would be on top of the release fees already negotiated by teams with the player&rsquo;s home club and federation.Canadian Hockey League teams pay $2,000 per import. There are 30 Europeans in the OHL, where each team can employ a maximum of two imports. The Mississauga IceDogs, Kingston Frontenacs and Toronto St. Michaels Majors don&rsquo;t carry any Europeans.The proposal, which goes to a vote in May, won&rsquo;t apply to Americans because of the number of U.S.-based junior clubs playing in Canada.The number of Europeans in junior D to major junior has doubled to 243 from 121 in three seasons.&ldquo;Our Canadian hockey players pay the cost for our development system and the players from overseas come in, use it for a year or two and move on,&rdquo; said CHA chairman of the board Bob MacKinnon. He said it&rsquo;s to be determined if the tax will be a yearly or one-time fee.One OHL owner in favor of the proposal is the IceDogs&rsquo; Don Cherry, who refuses to have any Europeans on his team.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve sometimes felt like I&rsquo;m a voice in the wilderness on this one,&rdquo; Cherry said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s &rsquo; tough on the guy who&rsquo;s paid taxes all his fife to build rinks, then bought all the equipment for his kids and gotten up at 6 a.m. to watch them play. Then, somebody says &rsquo;Sorry, you can&rsquo;t play because we&rsquo;ve brought someone over from the Czech Republic.&rsquo; &ldquo;The tax would be paid by the player, his parents, his CHL team, his agent, or a combination.Kitchener Rangers&rsquo; right winger Michal Dvorak, from the Czech Republic, said the tax will be a burden many can&rsquo;t afford.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01946/7021776-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="750" height="252"></div>&ldquo;I knew nothing about the OHL before I came here, so I wouldn&rsquo;t have paid that much money to come,&rdquo; said Dvorak, a Florida Panthers&rsquo; third-round pick. &ldquo;The league wouldn&rsquo;t be as good without the Europeans. It has the right mixture. The Canadians can benefit from us and we can benefit from them.&rdquo;Mark Burgess, owner of the Sudbury Wolves and on the OHL executive committee, said a $10,000 tax &ldquo;is a ludicrous deal. We can&rsquo;t go backvard with our involvement rith European hockey. They&rsquo;ve added a lot to our league and this would be just crazy. We cannot close the doors, whether it&rsquo;s hockey or trade.&rdquo;HOUSE HUNTING: Dale Hunter, a veteran of 19 years in the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques and Washington Capitals, is exploring moving the Owen Sound Platers to Chatham, Ont., which is near his hometown of Oil Springs.The Platers, who moved to Owen Sound from Guelph in 1989, are for sale. Chatham Memorial Arena seats 3,000 and would need $3 million in upgrades.The city would be asked to be partners in an eventual new arena.FULL HOUSE: The Memorial Cup is already sold out. Six days after the tournament was awarded to the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s, the team announced more than 9,000 deposits of $25 had been sold for the all-event packages and no more will be offered.The Civic Centre holds 10,500. The CHL requires the remaining 1,000 seats go to the visiting teams&rsquo; fans, scouts and dignitaries.BACK ON BLADES: Former Windsor Spitfires&rsquo; enforcer Jeff Kugel, a 19-year-old American banned from the OHL for life for his attack on a player in October and subsequently barred from all amateur hockey in Canada, has joined a junior B team in Lakeland, Mich.Kugel can apply to the OHL for reinstatement after the season. &#9632;

f0030-01

Proposed $10,000 CHL tax on imports stirs up emotions

<div class="byline">By Gordie Sutherland</div>If the season ended today, center Ladislav Nagy would be the Quebec League&rsquo;s rookie of the year.But some would argue the Halifax Mooseheads&rsquo; star shouldn&rsquo;t be eligible for the award.It&rsquo;s nothing against Nagy, but more to do with the recent trend of older European players coming to Canada to play major junior hockey.Although he&rsquo;s a first-year player, Nagy is 19 and played against men last season in Slovakia&rsquo;s elite league, so it&rsquo;s not surprising that the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; prospect has made an impact&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to have a new n where 19- and 20-year-olds can&rsquo;t t rookie of the year,&rdquo; said Shawinigan Cataractes assistant GM Stephane Pilotte. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to try to pass that new rule, but it&rsquo;s too late for this year.&rdquo;As it is now, any first-year player who hasn&rsquo;t played 20 or more games the previous season is eligible. -The Cataractes have their own candidate in 17-year-old center Dominic Forget, but he&rsquo;s not likely to beat out Nagy, who led the league with 59 goals.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to take anything from Nagy, but he was playing in the national league over there in Slovakia and Dominic was playing against 15- and 16-year-olds,&rdquo; Pilotte said.&ldquo;Nagy deserves maybe to have the first or second all-star team and leave the rookie (award) for the real rookies.&rdquo;It wasn&rsquo;t that long ago that the NHL revised its rules for rookie of the year.Russian Sergei Makarov won the Calder Trophy as top rookie in 1990 as a 32-year-old winger with the Calgary Flames. The NHL changed its criteria the next season. Now, to be eligible, a player must be under 26 on Sept. 15 of his rookie season.In Canada&rsquo;s three major junior leagues, any first-year player is eligible. The argument in Nagy&rsquo;s favor is he deserves the award for adjusting so well to the North American style of play in his first season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02629/7021807-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="560" height="508"></div>&ldquo;Do we call a rookie a first-year player or a young player?&rdquo; asked Halifax coach Bob Mongrain. &ldquo;It has been a debate that is going on in every league, in the NHL and in junior hockey.&ldquo;It is a concern and the Canadian Hockey League, not just the Quebec League, should have a rule. I think it shouldn&rsquo;t (just) be a first-year player, but a young player.&rdquo;TITAN-IC DEAL: The people of Bathurst had better love their hockey because they&rsquo;re paying for it. paying for itTitan owner Leo-Guy Morrissette negotiated a five-year, rent-free deal with the City of Bathurst last April.A story in the Moncton Times & Transcript reported the city is budgeting $50,000 each year over the next decade to defray the cost of bringing the Titan to Bathurst.The team plays at the K.C. Irving Regional Centre, an $18million state-of-the-art facility.The deal also includes a provision for the city to provide ice time for all games and practices. Another perk gives the team all bar profits from home games.RE-ALIGNMENT: With the addition of a 16th team, the QMJHL plans to go with a four-division format next season.The move, subject to the approval of the board of governors, would put the expansion Montreal Rockets with the Hull Olympiques, Vai d&rsquo;Or Foreurs and Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.A Maritime division would include the Halifax Mooseheads, Bathurst Titan, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and Moncton Wildcats.The Baie-Comeau Drakkar, Rimouski Oceanic, Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Quebec Remparts would be grouped together as would the Shawinigan Cataractes, Sherbrooke Castors, Drum-mondville Voltigeurs and Victoriaville Tigres.Teams in the same division would play each other seven times and teams outside their division four times, making for a 69-game schedule. &#9632;

f0030-02

Nagy’s year prompts league to rethink rookie definition

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>Jamie Lundmark has the distinction of being the highest ranked North American prospect for the 1999 NHL entry draft&hellip;sort of.The Moose Jaw Warriors&rsquo; center is the top rated Canadian&ndash;or American-born player in the Central Scouting Bureau&rsquo;s mid-season rankings-but is actually third behind a pair of Czechs.The Edmonton native is ranked behind forwards Patrik Stefan of the International League&rsquo;s Long Beach Ice Dogs and Pavel Brendl of the Calgary Hitmen among prospects playing in North America.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited, but the draft is still a long way away (June 26 in Boston),&rdquo; Lundmark said.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s still a lot of time to go up or down, so I&rsquo;m not getting my hopes up too high.&rdquo;Lundmark, 18, had 32 goals and 68 points after 52 games. He was third in rookie scoring behind Brendl (100 points) and the Tri-City Americans&rsquo; Jaroslav Kristek (69). Lundmark was the only non-European among the WHL&rsquo;s top 11 rookie scorers.&ldquo;What he has done for our hockey team this year has far exceeded anything we hoped for,&rdquo; said Moose Jaw coach Len Nielsen. &ldquo;He brings intensity, fire and an outstanding skill level. When he steps on the ice, he makes the other players better.&rdquo;Lundmark spent last season with the Alberta Junior League&rsquo;s St. Albert Saints, scoring 91 points in 57 games.St. Albert GM Marcel Viveiros said Lundmark would spend hours shooting pucks after practice.&ldquo;A percentage of his talent is God-given,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but there is also his determination to improve himself by hard work and repetition.&rdquo;NO BUSTED BRONCOS: The Swift Current Broncos were having a respectable season (26-23-5) despite the graduation of three marquee players.Swift Current had to replace the Canadian hockey League&rsquo;s 1997-98 player of the year (Sergei Varlamov), the Western League&rsquo;s top defenseman (Michal Rozsival) and one of the league&rsquo;s best goaltenders (Terry Friesen).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03436/7021838-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="406" height="420"></div>&ldquo;Am I surprised that we&rsquo;re above .500?&rdquo; said Broncos&rsquo; coach-GM Todd McLellan. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of what we wanted to achieve and what we targeted. Every good organization wants to overachieve, (but) we&rsquo;re certainly not beating our drums at all.&rdquo;Center Layne Ulmer led the Broncos, who were expected to finish among the also-rans, with 59 points. His 34 goals were more than twice as many as any other Bronco.Goalie Bryce Wandler was third in the WHL with a 2.60 goals-against average.LUCKY SEVEN: Goaltender Jeff Blair found that seven victories were much easier to attain with Tri-City than F the Saskatoon Blades.Blair, 20, improved his Tri-City record to 7-3-1 when he blanked the k Lethbridge Hurricanes 3-0 Feb. 7. I He had a 7-17-2 record with the &rsquo;Blades after getting traded to TriCity Jan. 7.&ldquo;This is probably a career season for me,&rdquo; Blair said. &ldquo;It was pretty hard to win in Saskatoon because they had injuries and they don&rsquo;t score a lot of goals.&ldquo;Being traded to Tri-City was a great thing. I&rsquo;m with a contender and looking forward to the playoff run.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Seattle Thunderbirds&rsquo; goalie Cody Rudkowsky had his shutout streak snapped at 141 minutes, 28 seconds in a 4-3 loss to the Kamloops Blazers Feb. 7. Rudkowsky, who led the league with a .920 save percentage, had shutouts in his previous two games&hellip;Defenseman Steve McCarthy scored all five of the Kootenay Ice&rsquo;s goals over two games-a 4-2 loss to Calgary Feb. 5 and a 7-3 loss to Red Deer two nights later&hellip;Pavel Brendl recorded his league-high 100th point with his 56th goal in game No. 50-a 9-3 win over the Regina Pats Feb. 7. Brendl also was a league-high plus-53. &#9632;

f0030-03

Lundmark leaves his mark as top Canadian prospect

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div><h2>WCHA</h2>On the surface, it looks as though St. Cloud State pulled off a recruiting hat trick: the leading scorer, best defenseman and top goaltender for the Huskies this season are all freshmen.But while St. Cloud coach Craig Dahl appreciates the development, he knows it is mainly a by-product of misfortune. Center Tyler Arnason (10 goals and 24 points) is carrying a heavier load because injuries have sidelined forwards Jason Goulet and Peter Torsson.&ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t be that way if Torsson and Goulet were still playing,&rdquo; Dahl said.Goulet, a senior, had nine goals and 21 points before sustaining a tom knee ligament in January against Michigan Tech, an injury that will likely keep him out until the end of February. Torsson, who had three goals and seven points in the first 13 games, is out for the season after undergoing knee surgery in early January.Amason, who led the United States Junior League last season with 37 goals and 82 points for Fargo-Moorhead, &ldquo;has very good skills,&rdquo; Dahl said. &ldquo;And we did have a good recruiting class.&rdquo;Evidence of that fact comes in the form of Mike Pudlick, who had the most points (15) among Huskies&rsquo; defensemen, while Dean Weasler (9-5-2, 3.11 goals-against average, .906 save percentage) has emerged from a three-man scrum to be the go-to guy in goal.But after St. Cloud was swept at home by Wisconsin Feb. 5-6. Dahl could not help but look over his lineup and see other holes. Junior winger Matt Bailey (0-2-2) had played only 16 games due to a badly sprained knee; junior forward Mike Rucinski, a double-digit goal scorer in his first two seasons, left school during the holiday break to turn pro; sophomore winger Nick Ouimet was a mid-season transfer to Union College; and winger Ryan Frisch sustained tom knee ligaments in the series opener against the Badgers.Nevertheless, the Huskies were within five points of third place entering the final four weeks of the season. &ldquo;Somehow we&rsquo;ve managed to stay in the race for third,&rdquo; Dahl said.FAMILY TRADITION: Rare is the instance when brothers have emerged as all-WCHA first-team honorees, but it could happen this season.Alaska-Anchorage rookie goaltender Gregg Naumenko is a serious contender four seasons after Nick, a defenseman at North Dakota, was a two-time selection (1995 and 1996).Gregg began February leading the WCHA with a 2.08 average and .925 save percentage in 19 games. Not only is he a strong consideration for all-league, he is the front-runner for rookie of the year.GENERATION GAP: Entering February, five of the top 10 goaltenders in the league were freshmen, while nine of the top 10 scorers were seniors. &#9632;

Injuries force freshmen to carry Huskies’ load

<div class="byline">By Paul Harris</div><h2>CCHA</h2>The Jim Culhane era at Western Michigan University got off to a terrific start. The question now is how long will it last?The Broncos won their first two games under interim coach Culhane-6-3 over Alaska-Fairbanks Feb. 5 and 4-1 over Bowling Green the next night.The latter win was the Broncos&rsquo; first road victory of the season. Prior to the back-to-back wins, the Broncos were 3-16-6 under Bill Wilkinson (2-13-6 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association), who was fired Feb. 3.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t be any more proud of these young men in the locker room,&rdquo; said Culhane after the Bowling Green win.Culhane, a former WMU player and an assistant to Wilkinson the past seven seasons, is a candidate to get the permanent coaching position. Others reportedly in the running are Michigan State assistant Tom Newton and Cornell head coach Mike Schaefer. Both are former WMU assistants.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been with Bill since 1983 when he recruited me,&rdquo; Culhane said. &ldquo;This is a time of mixed emotions. You&rsquo;re never ready for (a firing) and you never want to see it happen. If you&rsquo;re coaching, it&rsquo;s the bad side of the profession.&rdquo;Culhane, who played six games with the NHL&rsquo;s Hartford Whalers in 1989-90, said he decided to throw his hat into the ring for the head coaching job after speaking with his father and Wilkinson.Director of athletics Kathy Beauregard said a search committee for a new coach would be formed promptly and the school wanted to move quickly.VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: Lake Superior State athletic director Bill Crawford said those calling for the firing of coach Scott Borek won&rsquo;t get their wish anytime soon.&ldquo;The president and I talked about it and (Borek&rsquo;s) back as far as we&rsquo;re concerned,&rdquo; Crawford said.The Lakers sat eighth in the CCHA with a 614-2 record (7-18-3 overall). Last season, Borek&rsquo;s second as head coach, the team was 1214-4 in the conference (15-18-4 overall) and finished tied for sixth. Lake Superior State won NCAA titles in 1988 under Frank Anzalone and in 1992 and 1994 under Jeff Jackson.PROSPECT WATCH: Michigan freshman defenseman Jeff Jillson is the CCHA&rsquo;s toprated player on the NHL&rsquo;s mid-term Central Scouting list. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound native of North Smithfield, R.I., is No. 15 on the list of North American skaters.The other top CCHA prospects are Notre Dame freshman center David Inman (No. 27), Michigan freshman center Mike Comrie (No. 38) and Michigan State freshman right winger Adam Hall (No. 46). &#9632;

Interim coach Culhane gets Broncos bucking

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggle</div><h2>ECAC</h2>In a season when deciding the Eastern College Athletic Conference rookie-of-the-year award will be about as easy as settling the National Basketball Association lockout was, St. Lawrence freshman Brandon Dietrich is doing his best to keep his name near the top of the list.Dietrich, a native of Waterloo, Ont., who has played both center and wing for the Saints, had a team-high 14 goals after 26 games and was one of the big reasons that the Saints (10-2-2 ECAC, 15-9-2 overall) were tied with rival Clarkson for the league lead with eight regularseason games left.Saints&rsquo; coach Joe Marsh isn&rsquo;t afraid to put the 6-foot, 175-pound Dietrich in a class with Burke Murphy and Paul DiFrancesco, two of the best forwards ever to play at St. Lawrence.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s in that league, for sure,&rdquo; Marsh said, &ldquo;especially when you consider what he means to the team. He has put the numbers up, which has been a huge help, but he has also been the everyday player like those guys were. We&rsquo;ve got him on power play, penalty kill, everything.&rdquo;Eight of Dietrich&rsquo;s goals had come on the power play, giving him the league lead in that category, and he also had five game-winning goals.&ldquo;He does things that you can&rsquo;t coach,&rdquo; Marsh said. &ldquo;He has a little change of pace in his stride that makes him elusive in open ice and he works real hard down low. He just has a knack to score.&rdquo;Dietrich showed that knack last season when he scored 99 points (51-48) in 48 games for the Elmira Sugar Kings.Although senior goalie Eric Heftier has been very instrumental in the Saints&rsquo; rise from last year&rsquo;s tenth-place finish, Dietrich has been just as valuable.BULLDOGS BARK: Defending regular season champion Yale, all but written off at the Christmas break, is making a strong run for home ice for the playoffs.The Bulldogs extended their unbeaten streak to seven games (5-0-2) with a 2-1 win over Cornell and a 4-4 tie with Colgate on a tough road trip in the first weekend of February.Junior center Jeff Hamilton had two goals and two assists against Colgate, giving him 34 points (17-17) in 20 games.Another team making a late run is Clarkson. The Golden Knights won their seventh game in a row with a 3-2 decision over Vermont Feb. 6.HEROIC SAINTS: If St. Lawrence does win the regular season title and an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament, it can thank a couple of last-second victories.On Jan. 29, junior Jason Windle scored with four seconds left to give the Saints a 5-4 victory at RPI. Then, on Feb. 6, sophomore Erik Anderson scored the game-winning goal with three seconds left in overtime as St. Lawrence turned back Dartmouth 4-3. &#9632;

Rookie phenom Dietrich real Saint for St. Lawrence

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div><h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>The drive for the Hockey East regular season championship has come down to a three-horse race.The Maine Black Bears, New Hampshire Wildcats and Boston College Eagles each had a chance to claim the crown through mid-February.The Black Bears got a leg up on their rivals with a 4-3 win over the Wildcats Feb. 7. That catapulted Maine into first place by a point over New Hampshire. BC was four points behind Maine. All three teams had seven league games left.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a fun finish,&rdquo; said Maine coach Shawn Walsh. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s going to be some great hockey down the stretch.&rdquo;Walsh said he never thought his team would be in this position at this stage of the season.&ldquo;We were only a .500 team last year,&rdquo; pointed out the 15-year Maine coach, whose team&rsquo;s triumph over UNH was its seventh straight and gave them a 16-1-3 record over a 20-game stretch.One of the keys to Maine&rsquo;s success has been its depth.&ldquo;We have so many guys who can hurt you,&rdquo; said senior captain and team scoring leader Steve Kariya. &ldquo;We have good players who aren&rsquo;t even in the lineup.&rdquo;BEAN-IE BABIES: The Boston University Terriers gained a measure of redemption in an otherwise difficult season by winning another Beanpot Tournament.Led by tournament MVP Michel Larocque&rsquo;s 36 saves, BU beat Northeastern 4-2 Feb. 8 at Boston&rsquo;s FleetCenter for its record fifth consecutive Beanpot championship.BU has now won 22 of the 47 Beanpots.Larocque stopped 65 of 69 shots in the two Beanpot wins.BU coach Jack Parker has put together wonderful teams over the years, but acknowledged it&rsquo;s &ldquo;weird&rdquo; to have this kind of success at the annual event.This year, he said his team&rsquo;s upset of Bostor College (3-2 in overtime) in the first round was buoyed by the fact his team was a heavy underdog and all the pressure was on BC.He said his team didn&rsquo;t play as well against Northeastern, but Larocque held the fort and his Terriers protected the lead well over the last: seven minutes.NOTEBOOK: Maine senior defenseman David Cullen was named the league&rsquo;s player o: the week for the period ending Feb. 7. Culler had three assists in wins over Northeastern and UNH&hellip;BU left winger Mike Pandolfo, who had a hat trick in a 6-3 win over Merrimacl Feb. 5, was named the rookie of the week&hellip;UMass-Amherst goalie Markus Helanen was the defensive player of the week for hi; 27 saves in a 3-1 win over Merrimack Feb. 6. &#9632;

Bears, Wildcats, Eagles fight it out for top spot

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01845/7021979-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01895/7021972-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="6999" height="4029"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01854/7021965-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="3463" height="4069"></div> &#9632;

f0033-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01831/7022010-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02594/7022055-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01496/7022048-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="3371" height="3994"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01420/7022041-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="3395" height="3994"></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/f0043-01439/7022086-1-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/f0044-01334/7022117-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg"></div>(OT) denotes overtime gameTeam affiliations are listed in parentheses under names &#9632;

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0045-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01269/7022155-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg"></div>Players who have played eight games and fewer are excluded from statistics.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01262/7022148-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="3413" height="4000"></div> &#9632;

Search for your favorite player or team

February 26, 1999

SCOREBOARD

THN’s Millennium

Kings get strong confidence boost thanks to last-minute comeback

Williams ’devastated,’ may sell club