MINOR HOCKEY SHOWCASE 1998 WINNERS

Ryan Wilson isn't just a fine, young hockey player. He also has quite a way with words. The 12-year-old resident of Middletown, N.Y., goes beyond scoring points for the Bear Mountain Bears peewee A travel team. He also scores points for being a great sport and a great son. To show appreciation to his father for the years of coaching and guidance provided, Ryan wrote a poem to express his feelings. It captures the ideal father-son relationship derived from hockey. It goes: 'You saw something in me when I was just three. You coached me well, as all can tell. You 've given me love and support, through my years of love for the sport. You taught me team-play and what I've become today. I see pride in your eyes! As I make my moves,…

Surging Sergei Gonchar

Michael Jordan is gone from basketball, but his influence lives on in the most unexpected places. Like in Sergei Gonchar's living room. Gonchar keeps a few tapes of the ex-Chicago Bulls' star by his home VCR. Every once in a while he pops them in just to take a look. He knows how Jordan disappeared into the maze of players, then surfaced and struck in an instant. Gonchar has taken to doing much the same thing on the Washington Capitals power play. You can learn plenty by watching the best. Said countryman and teammate Andrei Nikolishin,"He's every time in the right spot at the right time.” By mid-March, Gonchar was on a breathtaking run of 17 goals in 28 games-more than Paul Kariya or Mike Modano, for example, over the same time. The…

Ducks hold pair of future aces

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim don't have the quantity, but Pierre Gauthier certainly feels they have the quality. The Ducks' GM felt they have two Russians who will be “A-level” players in the NHL. “We have two high quality prospects in (Vitali) Vishnevsky and (Maxim) Balmochnykh,” Gauthier said. “I'm sure there are teams that have five or six good prospects, but I wouldn't trade our two for their five.” Vishnevsky was named the best defenseman at the 1999 World Junior Championship. Balmochnykh, a left winger, was named a first-team all-star. “We're looking at them being top-level players of the future in the NHL,” Gauthier said. “They could be first-line players, not necessarily stars like Paul (Kariya) or Peter Forsberg. “(But) we're like everybody else after that,” Gauthier said. “We've got quite a few prospects. We've…

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