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.

April 23, 1999

The Hockey News April 23, 1999

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01895/7170032-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>With very little effort whatsoever, Pierre Gauthier resisted partaking in hockey&rsquo;s version of March Madness.While many teams mortgage the future for a quick fix, the first-year president-GM kept his Mighty Ducks of Anaheim on course, making just one minor deal to acquire veteran center Peter Zezel. That deal was annulled when Zezel refused to report, not that he would have put the Ducks over the top anyway.It&rsquo;s hard to believe a team with two of the league&rsquo;s best players and top scorers, namely Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne, wouldn&rsquo;t take a more serious stab at winning this season. Or is it?&ldquo;Just because you don&rsquo;t make a trade doesn&rsquo;t mean you didn&rsquo;t try to make one,&rdquo; Gauthier said. &ldquo;My mandate as a manager and the mandate of the organization is to win. And if spending money on older players past their prime is the way people (in the organization) think it should be done, then they hired the wrong guy.&rdquo;Let&rsquo;s recap. The Detroit Red Wings, who have already won back-to-back Stanley Cups, make a rash of moves at the deadline to acquire experienced (and expensive) veterans Chris Chelios, Wendel Clark, Ulf Samuelsson and Bill Ranford.The Colorado Avalanche, two years removed from winning it all, roll the dice on future unrestricted free agent Theo Fleury in an attempt to sip champagne from the Cup once more. The Philadelphia Flyers add firepower in Mark Recchi and Steve Duchesne in hopes of winning their first Cup in 24 years. The Dallas Stars didn&rsquo;t go overboard at the deadline, but bring in Benoit Hogue and Derek Plante in an attempt to claim their first Cup. It&rsquo;s important to note the Stars have made many significant and costly changes in the past few years including signing Brett Hull last summer.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011760/7168756-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="496" height="649"></div>Even the budget impaired Buffalo Sabres look a chance on rent-a-tlayer Joe Juneau knowing he could leave them without compensation In the off-season.You would think a earn with Kariya and Selanne, as well as dependable goalie Guy Sebert, would be tempt-d to get in on the dealings. Gauthier could have attempted to get any or all of these players using Disney dollars, but he refused to alter his long-range plan which emphasizes patience.&ldquo;You know I get the Disney-money question every day,&rdquo; Gauthier said. &ldquo;Money doesn&rsquo;t buy championships in hockey. The teams that are successful are the teams that build within. Even Detroit. Look at their team, it was built through the draft and through moving assets.&rdquo;As evidence, Gauthier points out core players for the Wings-Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Chris Osgood and Darren McCarty-were all Detroit draft picks.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to give a bunch of 35-year-old players retirement contracts,&rdquo; Gauthier said. &ldquo;It has nothing to do with money. It has to do with what price you are willing to pay for a quick fix. The answer to winning is to build from within and pay your players market value. If a player is worth $1 million a year, I&rsquo;ll pay him that. Will I pay him $1.5 million a year to keep him? No.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021343/7168749-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="1611" height="2070"><figcaption class="caption-body">Anaheim has time on its side with Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya. (Photo by John Rusel/BS)</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s not like there&rsquo;s any pressing need for the Ducks to win right now. Kariya, after all, is just 24 and Selanne is 28. They will be star players when the Ducks are in a position to consider significant deadline deals.As it it, it&rsquo;s hard to imagine how many moves the Ducks would have had to have made to be in a position to knock off the Red Wings, Stars or Avalanche this season. Their defense is not Stanley Cup calibre and they don&rsquo;t yet have enough depth at forward.&ldquo;In renting players, the price this year (around the NHL) was tremendous,&rdquo; Gauthier said. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re of the philosophy you should keep building, you&rsquo;re not going to throw first round draft picks out the window.&rdquo;Gauthier employed the same philosophy as GM of the Ottawa Senators who have blossomed this season thanks, in a big part, to the foundation he laid there..&ldquo;You want to become good, but you also want to stay good,&rdquo; Gauthier said. &ldquo;I want to be competitive for 10 years. I think Lou Lamoriello is the best GM in the NHL. He has built his team the right way. He won (the Cup); he has remained a contender after winning it; he&rsquo;s a contender this year and he&rsquo;ll be a contender next year.&rdquo;Lamoriello believes in allowing young players the proper amount of time to develop. When players don&rsquo;t make their mark immediately, he sticks with them.&ldquo;One of the main reasons is I believe you have to show faith in the people in your organization,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. He adds he is not opposed to a team with a legitimate shot making significant changes at the deadline to enhance their chances of winning.&ldquo;A GM must feel his team has a chance to win because if he doesn&rsquo;t, any moves he makes is just window dressing,&rdquo; Lamoriello said.Gauthier simply wasn&rsquo;t in the mood to decorate this season. &#9632;

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COLUMNS

Ducks stay on course

<div class="byline">By Gordie Sutherland</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05259/7169925-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg"></div>The Quebec League&rsquo;s second-best team in the regular season took a seat in the second round of the playoffs.The Halifax Mooseheads, who earned a first round bye, opened the playoffs against the fast-rising Acadie-Bathurst Titan and lost the best-of-seven Dilio Division semifinal series in five games.Titan GM and owner Leo-Guy Morrissette added nine players since December and it appeared his new team was coming together at the right time.&ldquo;I think that is the best team I have put on the ice in my 15 years of major junior,&rdquo; said Morrissette, whose club had won 16 of its past 18 games. &ldquo;We were underdogs before I did my trades. After my trades, I&rsquo;m sure we can beat every team in the league.&ldquo;We have a 75 per cent chance to win the (President&rsquo;s) Cup (as league champion), if (the) team works like that every game, every play.&rdquo;Titan goalie Roberto Luongo, acquired from the Vai d&rsquo;Or Foreurs, had a 2.87 goals-against average through the first two rounds, while hired guns Mathieu Benoit and Ramzi Abid scored 17 points and 14 points, respectively, in 10 games. Morrissette acquired the two forwards from the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.WHERE&rsquo;S LUC?: Veteran referee Luc Lachapelle is one of the most respected officials in the Quebec league, but he&rsquo;s not working the playoffs. His absence has become a hot issue in the Quebec media and among coaches who prefer his let-the-teams play approach.League president Gilles Courteau said Lachapelle, 44, wasn&rsquo;t adequately enforcing obstruction and interference penalties.&ldquo;At the beginning of the season, we set standards to be applied by the referees and he didn&rsquo;t (apply them),&rdquo; Courteau said.In a poll, RDS reporter Stephane Leroux asked the eight coaches still in the playoff race to name the three referees they would most like to see work a best-of-seven final. Seven selected Lachapelle while one declined to participate in the poll.NOTEBOOK: The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles are staying put for at least another season. The team announced April 6 it had reached a one-year deal with Serco, the company that operates Centre 200 in Sydney, N.S&hellip;.Mooseheads&rsquo; goalie Alexei Volkov has joined Russia&rsquo;s national senior team for the world championship in May. Volkov, 19, won gold with the national junior team this past January&hellip;The Quebec Remparts&rsquo; move to Le Colisee for the playoffs is paying off at the gate. In their first three games at the 15,399-seat rink, the Remparts drew crowds of 9,808, 7,310 and 9,842.<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2>HIGHLIGHTS (April 2-8): Hull completed its second upset of the playoffs eliminating Shawinigan with a 6-5 double overtime win in Game 6. In the regular season, the Olympiques, plagued by injuries, finished sixth in the division, 37 points behind the first-place Cataractes. In the first round, Hull knocked off Victoriaville, third in the division. Defenseman Jiri Fischer led the team with 18 points in 12 playoff games, goalie Philippe Bergeron posted a 3.13 goals-against average and forward Michael Ryder had 10 goals. &#9632;

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Mooseheads out, underdog Titan bounces favorite

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021081/7169318-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="768" height="1368"><figcaption class="caption-body">Denis Pederson</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011541/7169325-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="200" height="207"></div>Ever since Patrik Sundstrom&rsquo;s NHL career was cut short by a chronic back problem seven years ago, the New Jersey Devils have gone to great lengths to cover their backs.The team has spared no expense to charter a spacious jet while staying only in luxury hotels on the road. Players also have the benefits of full-time strength and conditioning coach Mike Vasalani and massage therapist Juergen Merz.But even that has not always been enough. The Devils&rsquo; medical staff was forced to keep a close watch on lower back problems which sidelined center Denis Pederson for three games late in the regular season. He had returned to the lineup by the time the Devils clinched their third straight division title April 8.Pederson, 23, underwent a magnetic resonance imaging test (MRI) and a series of other examinations to determine there was no disk or spinal problem. His injury was muscular, just like Sundstrom, although the Devils were hopeful Pederson&rsquo;s injury would not become career-threatening.&ldquo;Hopefully we took care of it now and we can take care of it when it doesn&rsquo;t feel good,&rdquo; Pederson said. &ldquo;I have to be aware of it and treat it with heat and by rubbing it out instead of letting it get to a point where I can&rsquo;t move.&ldquo;The first time I hurt my back it was on a (weight) lift I did in the summertime. This time it was more of a case of running down and becoming weak and stiff.&rdquo;The Devils put Pederson on a stretching program for the remainder of this season. He will be given an offseason training regimen designed to head off the kind of problems that ended Sundstrom&rsquo;s career and plagued Mario Lemieux.&ldquo;Denis has to get into a very disciplined exercise program,&rdquo; said GMLou Lamoriello. &ldquo;A summer program will help him.Right winger Randy McKay has battled back problems most of his career.&ldquo;My back has killed me for most of this year. A back injury is a real bad injury,&rdquo; McKay said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a nagging injury to try to play through. You compensate and your legs get tired. It hurts when you get hit.&ldquo;With (Pederson), 1 think it&rsquo;s something he can overcome. He has to always treat it and take care of it, even when it feels good.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: With Howard Milstein out of the running for the National Football League&rsquo;s Washington Redskins, Devils&rsquo; owner John McMullen and cable TV magnate Charles Dolan were back in the picture with their $650-million offer&hellip;The Devils&rsquo; three straight Atlantic/Patrick Division titles are the first since Philadelphia won three in a row from 1984-85 through 1986-87&hellip;Right winger Brian Rolston reached the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his NHL career April 8&hellip;Clarkson defenseman Will Mitchell was signed and reported to Albany (American League). &#9632;

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NHL TEAMS

Pederson hoping to keep back problem under control

<h2>Perreault helps Quinn get 400</h2>1. Oh, what a night Toronto coach Pat Quinn nails down win No. 400; Yanic Perreault scores all Leafs goals in 4-2 win.2. Finds way in San Jose Vincent Damphousse fires eight goals, 12 points in eight games since joining Sharks.3. Maine men University of Maine Black Bears win NCAA championship beating New Hampshire 3-2 in overtime.4. Byron Dafoe Boston goalie becomes sixth goalie in expansion era to record 10 shutouts in single season.5. 500 and counting Kevin Ken becomes 10th minor leaguer to hit 500-goal plateau with Quad City of UHL.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0237/7168398-1-eng-US/c0002-022.jpg" title="C0002-02" width="432" height="607"><figcaption class="caption-body">Yanic Perreault</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0328/7168391-1-eng-US/c0002-032.jpg" title="C0002-03" width="429" height="617"><figcaption class="caption-body">Vincent Damphousse</figcaption></div><h2>Marchment sits for making slur</h2>1. Mush mouth San Jose&rsquo;s Bryan &rsquo;Mush&rsquo; Marchment suspended a game for making racial slur.2. Powerless Playoff-bound Carolina Hurricanes and Phoenix Coyotes 27th, 26th, respectively, on power play.3. Johnson waxed for two Toronto&rsquo;s Mike Johnson suspended two games for elbowing Ottawa&rsquo;s Janne Laukkanen.4. Bad timing Pittsburgh captain Jaromir Jagr picks rotten time to spout off about coach Kevin Constantine.5. Year to forget One year after Cinderella journey to Stanley Cup final, Washington to miss playoffs. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-In-Chief</div>Whomever eliminates the Boston Bruins this spring will have recorded a well-earned victory. That&rsquo;s because we know one thing for sure entering the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs: the Bruins will not beat themselves.It&rsquo;s just not their style. Boston was on pace to finish the regular season dead last on The Hockey News&rsquo; newly minted Self-Destruction Scale. That&rsquo;s a good thing.We combined each team&rsquo;s league ranking in a number of shorthanded situations (the fewer penalties the higher the ranking), penalty-killing percentage and giveaways (the fewer giveaways the higher the ranking) to determine which clubs have the greatest tendency to shoot themselves in the skates. Boston surrendered the fewest giveaways (an average of 8.22 per game), faced the fewest shorthanded situations (3.7 per game) and led in penalty-killing (89.7 per cent) to record an extraordinary hat trick and score of three.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0416/7168436-1-eng-US/c0002-042.jpg" title="C0002-04" width="450" height="566"></div>If this all sounds like gobbledygook and silly stats manipulation, consider this: three of the NHL&rsquo;s top four teams (Dallas, New Jersey and Ottawa) were 24th through 26th on the Self-Destruction Scale.Lowly Chicago, meanwhile, was challenging for inaugural honors as the team most likely to beat itself, scoring an NHL-worst 64: ranking 11th in giveaways (14.0 per game), 27th in shorthanded situations(5.0 per game) and 26th in penalty-killing (79.8 per cent).Now that&rsquo;s a losing combination.<h2>THN SELF-DESTRUCTION SCALE</h2>Listed are NHL rankings in giveaways (Give), total shorthanded situations (TSH) and penaltykilling percentage (PK). Scores are the sums of all three rankings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-053/7168429-1-eng-US/c0002-052.jpg" title="C0002-05" width="960" height="1340"></div> &#9632;

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Bruins least likely NHL club to self-destruct

<div class="byline">By Chuck Carlton</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011741/7168467-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Dan Hamilton/VPS)</figcaption></div>Anatoli Tarasov s vision of hockey perfection endures in Igor Larionov.To this day, Larionov remembers one of the sayings of Tarasov, the godfather of Soviet hockey.&ldquo;His famous expression to the players was that even when you were playing the game and controlling the puck and going 5-on-5,&rdquo; Larionov said, &ldquo;you still have to see that nice looking blonde girl sitting in the second row. That&rsquo;s what he was saying. You have to see the other things around you.&rdquo; in the Russian factory town of Voskresensk, he was always the smallest player and had to use his mind as much as his physical skills. Larionov was one of the first Red Army players to question the dictatorial system and methods of coach Viktor Tikhonov and survived to play in the NHL.Now he&rsquo;s the last active member of the fabled &ldquo;Green Unit,&rdquo; having outlasted Fetisov, Sergei Makarov, Vladimir Krutov and Alexei Kasatonov. Detroit coach Scotty Bowman, a veteran of international were the skilled, physical finishers on the wing. Kasatonov and Fetisov formed one of the best defensive pairings in the world.But none of it would have worked as well without Larionov.&ldquo;Those guys depended a lot on him,&rdquo; said Murphy, a Canada Cup veteran. &ldquo;There was flash there, but without him they weren&rsquo;t going to succeed. It was obvious to anybody who played against him.&rdquo;Larionov&rsquo;s skill wasn&rsquo;t lost on Bowman, who acquired him from the San Jose Sharks for former 50-goalWhatever concessions Larionov, 38, has made to age have been barely noticeable the second half of this season with the Detroit Red Wings. He had 14 goals, 62 points and was plus-12 in 72 games following a slow start to the season. He has taken responsibility for returning Slava Kozlov (28 goals in 75 games) to sniper status.&ldquo;He never ceases to amaze me,&rdquo; said teammate Larry Murphy. &ldquo;He makes tremendous plays, game in and game out.&rdquo;The three-year contract the Red Wings gave him in 1997-the one that pays him $1.9 million this season-suddenly looks more devalued than the ruble, given Larionov&rsquo;s performance.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s probably the best that I&rsquo;ve seen him play over here,&rdquo; said longtime teammate and friend Slava Fetisov, an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils.Deep down, Larionov knows he&rsquo;s beating the odds again. Growing up hockey wars, called the &ldquo;Greens,&rdquo; nicknamed so because the players wore green jerseys at practice, &ldquo;as good as you can get.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a little special, yes,&rdquo; Larionov said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m the oldest guy on the team and the oldest player among Russians in the NHL. Many of the guys playing now, I don&rsquo;t think they saw me play when I started playing hockey in 1977. I&rsquo;m trying to keep the style from that school. It&rsquo;s the old school, that old style of Tarasov hockey-which is skating, the ability to make good passes, be a team player and be smart on the ice.&rdquo;Larionov has been called the Russian Wayne Gretzky so often that it has become a cliche as well as a compliment.&ldquo;One word describes Igor: Professor,&rdquo; Fetisov said. &ldquo;We called him that when he was only 16-years-old. He was intelligent. He always tried to find the right solution.&rdquo;On the unit, Makarov and Krutov scorer Ray Sheppard in 1996. All Detroit has done since is win two Stanley Cups and a President&rsquo;s Trophy while setting a league record for wins.&ldquo;We knew him from playing against San Jose in 1994,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t know as much about him as what we thought. He&rsquo;s a great two-way player and plays big in big games.&rdquo;Larionov retains the ability to make players around him better, whether it&rsquo;s with a five-man unit or just one. When Kozlov struggled early in the season, Larionov sought the coaching staffs approval for a departure from the left-wing lock. Forget the system, he told Kozlov. Go to net and work magic. I&rsquo;ll take care of the defense.&ldquo;My goal is to help the young guys to play well and be consistent,&rdquo; Larionov said. &rsquo;With Kozzy&hellip;he has such skill and he&rsquo;s a good skater with a good shot and a natural goal-scorer. To have a guy with that kind of ability to keep all that package in his pocket, it&rsquo;s a shame.&rdquo;As well as Larionov is playing, he knows his days are numbered. He also knows he doesn&rsquo;t have it all figured out.&ldquo;Every time you step up on the ice,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a mystery for me-every little situation and every little task.&rdquo;PROFESSORIgor Larionov is known for being a thinking-man&rsquo;s player. &#9632;

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FEATURES

Ageless Wonder

<div class="byline">-Denis Gibbon</div>The rigors of a 3,000-mile road trip cost Kazakhstan&rsquo;s national under-18 team a shot at a medal at the recent European junior championships.In an effort to cut travel costs, the Kazakhstan team decided to take a bus, rather than a plane, from its home base in the city of UstKamenogorsk to Bucharest, Romania, site of the European junior championship tournament.A 3,000-mile flight takes only about four hours. A 3,000-mile drive can take upwards of 50 hours, not including stops. Kazakhstan found that out the hard way. When the team didn&rsquo;t arrive in time for its first game, officials declared a forfeit and Lithuania was awarded a 5-0 victory.Behind the eight-ball, Kazakhstan wound up in a playoff for fifth place on the final day, shellacking Romania 15-0, while the less-talented Lithuanian team claimed the bronze medal by knocking off Estonia.Latvia defeated Slovenia to win the gold medal. &#9632;

3,000-mile bus journey costs Kazakhs medal

<div class="byline">By Alan Adams</div>Former NHL center Jim Harrison has filed a lawsuit against the NHL Players&rsquo; Association and its presidents alleging they conspired to deny him his salary, disability insurance and other benefits.Harrison filed the lawsuit April 9 in the Supreme Court of B.C. in Kelowna.The Bonnyville, Alta., native played 324 games with four teams over eight seasons before injuries forced his retirement in 1979.Harrison was supposed to collect $175,000 in disability insurance, but wound up with $10,000, which went to cover legal fees.Named as defendants in Harrison&rsquo;s lawsuit were: the NHLPA, along with all its past presidents including Bob Pulford, Norm Ullman, Red Berenson, Ken Dryden, Pit Martin, Bobby Clarke, Phil Esposito, Tony Esposito, Bryan Trottier, Mike Gartner, and Doug Wilson along with the current president, Trevor Linden.Alan Eagleson was the NHLPA executive director at the time Harrison made his insurance claim, but was not named in the suit.Eagleson pleaded guilty to fraud in January, 1998 and was sentenced to 18 months in jail. He&rsquo;s now on parole.&ldquo;What we didn&rsquo;t want to do was be in a situation where the judge had the easy way out and say, &rsquo;Eagleson was at fault here,&rsquo; therefore we will give you judgement against him and the NHLPA,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Harrison&rsquo;s lawyer, Chris Fraser.Instead, Harrison opted to sue the players, who were in essence Eagle-son&rsquo;s bosses.&ldquo;It seems to me that probably the NHLPA should have jumped on at some point in time and brought their own acts against Eagleson for all the harm he has done. The (NHLPA) are welcome to bring him into the loop if they want to. The basis of our claim is they didn&rsquo;t properly supervise him.&rdquo;Fraser said the union presidents were named &ldquo;because they are representative of the membership.&rdquo; In other words, it was easier to name them than all NHL players, past and present.In his suit, Harrison claims the NHLPA and its leadership was negligent in not properly supervising Eagleson &ldquo;from acting in a fraudulent, deliberate, and malicious fashion&rdquo; and &ldquo;by failing to implement or apply sufficient, or at all, checks and balances to prevent&rdquo; Eagleson from colluding with NHL clubs to deprive Harrison from securing his salary, disability insurance and other benefits.Harrison was an Eagleson client at the time of the alleged conspiracy. He continues to suffer from a significant physical disability stemming from his back injury and is unable to work.The NHL is aware of the lawsuit, but hadn&rsquo;t seen. As such, the league had no comment. &#9632;

Ex-NHLer Harrison sues NHLPA

<div class="byline">Compiled by THAI staff</div>The NHL unveiled plans for the 2000 All-Star Game, its 50th annual, in Toronto with a colorful new logo.The logo features an integration of the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; logo inside a red maple leaf and a blue star, all within a circle. Streams of platinum flow from the center. The design is anchored by an integration of the word &rsquo;Toronto&rsquo; and the No. &rsquo;2000.&rsquo;The 2000 all-star weekend begins with the Heroes of Hockey game and NHL skills competition Saturday, Feb. 5 and the All-Star Game Feb. 6 at the Air Canada Centre.The NHL&rsquo;s first All-Star Game was played in Toronto Oct. 13,1947.LAST SENATOR DIES: The last full-time player from the original Ottawa Senators died March 28. Bill Touhey was 93.Touhey was an Ottawa native who debuted in the NHL with the Montreal Maroons in 1927-28. He spent the next three seasons with the Senators and was the team&rsquo;s MVP in 1930-31.After one season with the Boston Bruins, Touhey played two more seasons in Ottawa and retired from the NHL in 1934 when the Senators&rsquo; franchise was relocated.He had 65 goals and 105 points in 280 NHL games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011678/7168570-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="771" height="727"></div>CONDUCTOR DIES: Jerry Toth, the conductor for Canada&rsquo;s most famous hockey song, died at age 70.Toth conducted and orchestrated the theme for CBC&rsquo;s Hockey Night In Canada, which was written by<h2>PUCK BRIEFS</h2>Delores Claman. The music became synonymous with the televised game on Saturday nights in the 1960s.CZECHS WIN: The Czech Republic&rsquo;s national B team won the Motorola Canada Hockey Award by claiming five of six points in the last three games of a six-game series with Canada&rsquo;s national team.The Czechs won 5-4 at London, earned a 1-1 tie at Guelph and won 51 in Ottawa. Earlier, Canada had 4-1 and 4-3 wins along with a 4-4 tie. Those three games were exhibition.The series marked the national team debut of 15-year-old phenom Jason Spezza, who had an outstanding rookie year with the Brampton Battalion of the Ontario League. Spezza is the youngest player ever to play for Team Canada. He had two assists in six games.Undrafted Vaclav Kral and David Moravec, an eighth round choice of the Buffalo Sabres in 1998, sparkled for the Czech Republic and should make their country&rsquo;s national team for the World Championship, which starts in Norway May 1. Kral scored four goals in the game at Ottawa.USHL AWARDS: Pete Fregoe of the Des Moines Buccaneers was selected player of the year in the United States League.Fregoe was the first player since 1993-94 to eclipse the 100-point batrier as he had 46 goals and 103 points.Tom Preissing of the Green Bay Gamblers was top defenseman, Tony Zasowski of the Omaha Lancers top goalie, Tyler Palmiscno of the Sioux City Muskateers top rookie and Mark Osiecki of Green Bay top coach.NEW ALLIANCE: USA Hockey and the U.S. Figure Skating Association have formed a working committee to explore the formation of a new alliance that would support the development, growth and operational success of in-line skating rinks.The committee will meet to consider its goals and strategy. &#9632;

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T.O. gears up for All-Star Game

The Ottawa Senators were the butt of a lot of jokes in 1992-93 when they won 10 games, lost 70 and totalled just 24 points during their expansion season.The growing process has been slow (successive seasons of 37, 39 prorated, 41, 77 and 83), but the Senators are laughing now as they reached the 100-point barrier in 1998-99 with four regular season games remaining to be played.1116 Senators will allow fewer than half the number of goals they allowed in each of their first two seasons. And with 22 road victories already in 1998-99, that&rsquo;s one more then they won in their first four seasons combined.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 puts to rest the misery and jabbing the Senators-and their fans-endured in 1992-93.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03771/7168601-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="852" height="1620"></div>Jan. 8Russian Gold MedalWorld Junior ChampionshipJan. 15Tear DropDoug Wickenheiser&rsquo;s deathJan. 22Panthers&rsquo; Jan. 20 Game SheetPavel Bure&rsquo;s Florida debutJan. 29All-Star IruckWayne Gretzky all-star MVPFeb. 5Hall of Fame StickShawn Heins&rsquo; 106 m-p-h shotFeb. 12BluelineLarry Murphy, Ray Bourque GPFeb. 19Eight Stanley Cup BannersI eafs won eight Garden titlesFeb. 26Unproven resumeRookie coach Dirk Graham firedMarch 5 ISmall talkCalgary explains Theo Fleury dealMarch 12Roberto LuongoTop Future Watch prospectMarch 19.America s scoring king Phil Housley passes Joe MullenMarch 26Ken Holland&rsquo;s phone bill Detroit&rsquo;s deadline dealsApril 2Gretzky&rsquo;s 1,072 pucksWayne Gretzky sets goal standardApril 9Ottawa&rsquo;s 24-point season100-point year puts &rsquo;92-93 to rest &#9632;

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THN’S Millennium: TIME CAPSULE

Steve Dryden&rsquo;s article on the NHL trading deadline and its affect on the league was excellent (THN, April 9).I couldn&rsquo;t agree more with what kind of affect all the wheeling and dealing has on the sport. While I understand it is necessary for GMs to stay on top of their competition, the trading deadline has become more of a &ldquo;yard sale&rdquo; for teams who want to unload players for the sake of the almighty dollar.The comparisons to Major League Baseball that I am hearing and reading about are becoming more frequent and, frankly, quite disturbing. This problem will get worse with each passing year. The number of trades will get more ridiculous and, much like baseball, the gap between the haves and have-nots will continue to widen.The notion that if you&rsquo;re an also-ran in the league, you must sell off your team to the highest bidder is a detriment to the league and insulting to its fans.Trevor Kraycik,Philadelphia, Pa.<h2>Cap off to Hunter</h2>As a great career winds down, I would like to thank Dale Hunter for showing up and giving 100 per cent every shift, every night. Washington Capital fans will miss No. 32. And to those who consider him a &ldquo;dirty player,&rdquo; I&rsquo;ve thoroughly enjoyed watching him rough up your superstars.Brian Milesky,Surfside Beach, S.C.<h2>Gretzky class act</h2>I have been a fan of Wayne Gretzky ever since he joined the NHL in 1979 and I never miss a game when he visits Philadelphia.I took my three-year-old son to see Wayne in action March 27 and we arrived in time to see the pre-game skate. We stood in the second row and as he skated by he glanced up. I waved my No. 99 jersey and he smiled in appreciation.When he left the ice he instructed the equipment manager to leave the bench and fight his way through the crowd so he could sign my jersey. I have always thought Wayne Gretzky was the epitome of class and he has just elevated that to a new level.Dan Wallace,Deptford, N.J.<h2>West is best</h2>How many more boring Stanley Cup finals do we have to watch until the Eastern Conference teams begin to develop skill players instead of boring defensive schemes?These teams may be able to beat the West&rsquo;s mediocre teams such as the Calgary Flames, but there isn&rsquo;t one team m the East that will pose a threat in the Cup final to the Detroit Red Wings, Dallas Stars or Colorado Avalanche. I&rsquo;ll take the speed and puckhandling skills of Sergei Fedorov, Mike Modano and Peter Forsberg over the dull Eastern Conference systems any day.Chalk up four straight sweeps for the West.Brian Peiser,New York, N.Y.<h2>Elston&rsquo;s drawing</h2>I&rsquo;d like to thank Elston for recognizing Bryan Marchment for what he is-a goon (THN, March 26). As a Dallas Stars&rsquo; fan, it was hard watching one man last season throw a wrench in what could have been Mike Modano&rsquo;s best year, take out former Star Greg Adams and then Joe Nieuwendyk for last year&rsquo;s playoffs.I would still like to see someone teach Marchment a lesson.Matt Froehlich,Houston<h2>Recchi missed</h2>I was very sad to see Mark Recchi traded to the Philadelphia Flyers. He was the heart and soul of the Montreal Canadiens and the class of the organization. Montreal will deeply miss him.Derek Rogers,&nbsp;Marionville, Ont.<h2>Just another Joe</h2>I always like reading The Hockey News because every now and then you&rsquo;ll publish something hysterical like Joe Murphy&rsquo;s comments comparing himself to Mark Recchi and his upcoming free agency (THN, April 2).Having seen Joe during his glory years with the Chicago Blackhawks, I can&rsquo;t believe Joe doesn&rsquo;t rate himself above the likes of a Joe Sakic or a Wayne Gretzky, for that matter.Good luck in the summer in trying to find someone to give you a salary anywhere close to what you&rsquo;re making now, Joe. My advice, take the money from the Sharks and run. After all, that&rsquo;s what you&rsquo;ve done throughout your entire career.Maybe THN&rsquo;s next puck poll should ask readers who&rsquo;s the better player-Murphy or Recchi. Joe can vote for himself, that way at least he&rsquo;ll have one vote in the poll.Michael Thoma,ChicagoPax us your comments at (416) 340-1641 or write to Letters, THN, 777 Bay St., Suite 2700, Box 148, Toronto, Ont., M5G 2N8 in Canada. In the U.S., write to Letters, THN, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947. E-mail us at <a href="mailto:paulj@trans-continental.ca">paulj@trans-continental.ca</a> Include hometown as well as home and business phone numbers. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

LETTERS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011867/7168656-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

Now that the NHL trade deadline has passed and all major roster moves have been made, which team do you think will win the Stanley Cup?Place a check mark in the box beside your choice.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021263/7168687-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="678" height="1279"><figcaption class="caption-body">Derian Hatcher</figcaption></div><h2>HOW TO PARTICIPATE</h2>RESPOND BYFax: Puck Poll, 416-340-1641 Mail: 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 a copy of The Hockey News&rsquo; Top 100 Players of All Time book. Five more winners will receive THN desk clocks.RESPONDENTS Include return mailing addresses and phone numbers to be eligible for prizes.RESULTS Results and winners will appear in the May 7 issue of THN.CONTEST RULES See THN masthead on pg. 4. &#9632;

f0006-02

PUCK POLL

<div class="byline">By Christina L Attardo</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011699/7168718-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jane Lang uses sound to follow activity during a Rangers&rsquo; game. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div>Ottawa Senators&rsquo; center Alexei Yashin stripped his man of the puck and led the attack into the offensive zone. The New York Ranger he left flat-footed raced to catch up with him and reached for Yashin&rsquo;s left arm with his stick. Down went Yashin and up went the arm of the referee.Two minutes for hooking.A voice from the crowd yelled &ldquo;That was a dive! You&rsquo;re blind, ref!&rdquo;Jane Lang laughed at this hyperbole from her seat in the lower tier of Madison Square Garden. She knows all too well that sometimes it is the fans who are the blind ones. Quite literally, she happens to be one of them.Lang adjusted the Rangers&rsquo; cap on her head and smiled so broadly her cheeks popped out like little apples.&ldquo;There is nothing like a hockey game,&rdquo; she said, fiercely hugging the arm of her friend, Ron Kelly.It did not matter to the 55-year-old grandmother that she could not see it. Being a part of the excitement of Rangers&rsquo; hockey at MSG was enough to satisfy this life-long fan.Blind since birth, Lang insists it is easy to understand hockey if one can comprehend the relationship between the blueline, red line and goal crease on the ice. Lang was able to follow the game against Ottawa based on how the sound bounced back in the Garden.&ldquo;I had to listen for a while to see how long they skated before they went around and when they reached the boards at each end,&rdquo; Lang said. &ldquo;Then I got a real perspective of where I was and how the game was going in front of me. It&rsquo;s just a different way of looking at it, so to speak.&rdquo;Growing up in Boston, Lang attended games at Boston Garden. Since becoming a Ranger fan, she had dreamed of experiencing a game at MSG.Like many New Yorkers, Lang is frustrated every season attempting to locate tickets that are sold out. After giving a lecture for AT&T about seeing-eye dogs at the end of last year, though, her greatest wish was granted.&ldquo;Someone asked what I wanted for Christmas and caught me off guard,&rdquo; Lang recalled. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have time to think so the truth came out and I said I would like to go to a Ranger game.&rdquo;And when she opened her Christmas card from AT&T on Christmas Eve, out slipped two Ranger tickets.According to Dave Snowden, manager of disabled services for MSG, a blind person has never requested accommodations for a Rangers&rsquo; game. To his knowledge, Lang was the first.&ldquo;I cried when they sang the anthem because I was so excited and happy to be there,&rdquo; Lang said. &ldquo;I love the atmosphere at MSG; it is very charged and you hear the banging and the yelling.&ldquo;I kept punching Ron. I said &rsquo;You sit on this side because I have to punch somebody and I can&rsquo;t hit a stranger.&rsquo; &ldquo;Lang listened to the game with one ear turned toward the ice and the other tapped into her radio to decipher which players were skating. With all the sounds-from pucks clanging posts to players hitting the boards-Lang would still be able to follow the game even without the commentators.&ldquo;One of the best things about a game is to hear the Zamboni,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I love hearing it go up and around, and then come down again. There&rsquo;s a system to it and you can tell it covers every inch of the ice.&rdquo;Another sound she has been able to observe is the language of players and coaches. Being without sight has sharpened Lang&rsquo;s sense of hearing and she frequently employs it to determine what is being said on the ice.&ldquo;I think I hear more than most people do. And those hockey boys sure know some words!&rdquo; she said.Hints of a Boston accent creep into her voice when Lang talks hockey.She becomes animated as she analyzes what the Rangers are doing right and where they need to improve. Punching the air with her fist to emphasize her points, her eyes widen with emotion.&ldquo;I can never sit down during a game. I scream like a maniac,&rdquo; Lang said. &ldquo;When (the Rangers) were in the Stanley Cup final (1994), I couldn&rsquo;t sit still. If Vancouver got a goal, I went out on the porch, then came back in and started pacing. (Husband) Pete said, &rsquo;Are you sure you enjoy this?&rsquo;Lang met her husband when she left Boston in June of 1965 for Morristown, N.J., where the &rsquo;Seeing Eye&rsquo; is located. She had applied to the organization to receive a guide dog and ended up marrying the training instructor that September. After 33 years, Peter and Jane Lang are still together, despite the fact her husband does not share her love of hockey.&ldquo;Jane amazed me,&rdquo; Pete said. &ldquo;One of the things that attracted me to her was her enthusiasm about life and the fact she just has a natural way with everything-from sports to children.&rdquo;When first son, Danny, became interested in hockey, geography dictated he would become a New York fan. Gradually, Lang made the switch.It is Lang&rsquo;s passion for hockey that has eased her through some of the tougher times in her life. Her seeing eye dog, Matthew, has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. As a result, Lang&rsquo;s independence has been curtailed. She&rsquo;s unable to go out as much.That&rsquo;s when she turns on the game.Lang records games on television to send to Danny, now living in Georgia, but not before she replays them for herself the next day in case she missed anything. She even taped the game she attended and has it sitting in her video stacks with &rsquo;My Ranger Game &rsquo; written across the front in Braille.During the summer, Lang selects a game from her collection to play on the hottest day in August.Lang returned to MSG for her second game Feb. 14 against the Detroit Red Wings-a Valentine&rsquo;s present from Pete. Aside from being able to attend more games, one thing Lang would like to do is meet the players. She wants to feel their faces to see their expression. Lang says she is able to tell a lot by the lines of a person&rsquo;s face and the way they shake hands.&ldquo;I would be interested to know what the guys are like and you can&rsquo;t tell that by hearing an interview,&rdquo; Lang said. &ldquo;But I can tell a lot by the way they say &rsquo;How do you do?&rsquo; If they&rsquo;re looking at you or over you, you can hear it in their voice. You don&rsquo;t have to see to know that.&rdquo;As much as she loves her Rangers, Lang becomes frustrated, too. She will hear if a defenseman gets caught or a forward lose the puck. She jumps out of her seat yelling, &rsquo;Do you want me to go out there and do it myself?&rsquo;With a laugh, she adds, &ldquo;Not that there&rsquo;s a chance in hell I ever could!&rdquo; &#9632;

f0007-01

Blind fan has feel for game

Once upon a time we had groin pulls. A guy was out a week, maybe two, and then came back. Now, we&rsquo;ve got stomach muscle pulls and tears, and guys are on the IR for a month or three like the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; Jean-Yves Leroux who needed surgery.&ldquo;A groin pull is in the belly of the muscle and you pretty much know the player will be back in a week, maybe two weeks,&rdquo; said Hawks&rsquo; trainer Mike Gapski. &ldquo;Even if it&rsquo;s the tendon area, it might be six weeks, but you know it&rsquo;ll get better.&ldquo;With the abdominal muscle it&rsquo;s different. Through all the diagnostic studies with MRIs, bone scans and CT-scans, nothing shows up. If there was a tear and it was big enough with some fluid, you&rsquo;d see it, but most times it&rsquo;s not. All you can do is go by what the player tells you.&ldquo;We tried to rehab Leroux first. We didn&rsquo;t want to jump into surgery if it wasn&rsquo;t needed because then he could be out 10 weeks. It&rsquo;s a tough line to walk.&rdquo;Obviously when a player rests the injury for weeks and then has to have surgery he&rsquo;s lost double the time. But Leroux&rsquo;s injury, after already hyper-extending his back and hip, was frustrating. There were lots of different treatments, but nothing worked.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03970/7168794-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="439" height="508"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Gapski Head Trainer Chicago Blackhawks</figcaption></div>&ldquo;With this sort of thing you start to feel better and you can skate a little bit, but when we pushed him farther, he couldn&rsquo;t do it. A regular person could function in his day-to-day life, but for a player who has to turn, you can&rsquo;t do it,&rdquo; Gapski said.After 3 1/2 months, Leroux returned to the lineup mid-January.&ldquo;Most of it is rest to let it heal. In the first 2 1/2 weeks the most weight you can even lift is five pounds. That&rsquo;s tough on an athlete,&rdquo; said Gapski.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04501/7168787-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="660" height="245"></div>POWER BAR&hellip;ENERGY TO PERFORM &#9632;

f0008-03

FROM THE CHICAGO BIACKHAWKS LOCKER ROOM:

<div class="byline">By Cammy Clark</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011664/7168825-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="202" height="200"></div>The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim&rsquo;s goal for the final games of the regular season was to finish fifth in the Western Conference.If they do, they will likely face the Phoenix Coyotes in the first round of the playoffs. But if the Ducks slip, they would face either the Detroit Red Wings or Colorado Avalanche.&ldquo;I think that would be a way better situation to play against Phoenix,&rdquo; said right winger Teemu Selanne. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s our goal. We don&rsquo;t have anything else on our mind.&rdquo;Captain Paul Kariya agreed: &ldquo;We know that we get in fifth spot we&rsquo;re going to play Phoenix, a team we&rsquo;ve had some success against in the past, both in the regular season and playoffs.&rdquo;Two seasons ago, the Ducks beat Phoenix in the first round, but were swept by the Detroit Red Wings in the second round. This season the Ducks are 2-1-2 against Phoenix and 1-3-C against Detroit and 1-3-0 against Colorado. The Ducks also are 1-10-3 lifetime at Joe Louis Arena (counting two playoff losses).Coach Craig Hartsburg said after a 3-2 loss at Detroit April 5: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not worried about who we play. But if we win some games, we won&rsquo;t be here (in Detroit) in the first round.&rdquo;The first order of business is to get their game back up to par. The Ducks went 1-3-1 on a five-game trip and had five regular season games remaining.NOTEBOOK: The Ducks have sorely missed top center Steve Rucchin, their best defensive forward and third-leading scorer. He missed seven of eight games (through April 7) with a strained groin. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s beyond frustrating right now,&rdquo; Rucchin said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely not easy. But I just have to stay confident that it&rsquo;s going to turn the comer any time now. I don&rsquo;t know when exactly &rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;After a routine glove save on Dallas&rsquo; left winger Benoit Hogue April 7, goalie Dominic Roussel had to leave the game at the 13:39 mark of the first period with back spasms. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t even get up, so there&rsquo;s no chance I could have stayed in there,&rdquo; Roussel said. As a precaution, the Ducks called up Patrick Lalime from Kansas City of the International League. &#9632;

f0009-01

Anaheim ponders opponent as playoff time approaches

<div class="byline">By Nancy L. Marrapese</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03712/7168856-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg" title="f0009-03" width="438" height="589"><figcaption class="caption-body">Byron Dafoe</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021159/7168863-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="209" height="208"></div>Goaltender Byron Dafoe was snubbed on the allstar ballot and never properly considered for addition to the roster for January&rsquo;s All-Star game.Yet, Dafoe&rsquo;s numbers this year prove he is one of the best goalies in the NHL. He picked up his 30th victory, April 7 in a 5-2 win over the Florida Panthers, tying a career high set in 1997-98. It clinched a playoff spot for the Bruins and improved Dafoe&rsquo;s already stingy goals-against average to 2.01 and save percentage to .926.After that performance, he was ranked third in the league in overall stats with an NHL-best 10 shutouts and had started 21 straight games.Dafoe is the first Bruins&rsquo; goalie to post 10 shutouts in a season since Hall of Famer Frank Brimsek did it 60 years ago in 1938-39.Dafoe was ignored at the All-Star Game because it was felt he really didn&rsquo;t fit in the North American or World Team criteria (he was born in Great Britain, but raised in Canada). He said he doesn&rsquo;t expect to receive much consideration for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s best goalie.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s almost the same as the all-star thing,&rdquo; Dafoe said. &ldquo;If I get a chance to win it, that&rsquo;s even better. But just the fact that people mention my name around, that&rsquo;s good enough for me.&rdquo;Dafoe&rsquo;s great fortune has meant a real back seat for Rob Tallas. Tallas started his first game in 22 outingsApril 8 against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Ice Palace. It was his first start since Feb. 21 when he earned a 6-3 victory in Chicago, but he allowed three goals in 40 minutes and was pulled in favor of Dafoe.Tallas was tagged with the 3-0 loss and received no support from his team mates, who had what Bums termed an emotional hangover. It was Tallas&rsquo; first career loss to Tampa.NOTEBOOK: Coach Pat Burns and assistant GM Mike O&rsquo;Connell got into a verbal scrap over how the coach parcels out ice time. O&rsquo;Connell said left winger Sergei Samsonov had been slumping offensively over a recent 10-game span because he wasn&rsquo;t playing much. When Bums saw the comments in the newspaper, he got very upset and fired back after the Bruins&rsquo; victory over Montreal April 5. The two had words, but buried the hatchet a day later&hellip;Bums elected to rest some of his players once the Bruins were assured of a playoff berth. Defenseman Hal Gill was ailing with a hip flexor injury, so he sat out April 8 against Tampa though he could&rsquo;ve played. Right winger Rob DiMaio was rested because of a sore hand and forearm. &#9632;

f0009-03

Dafoe lets numbers talk and they speak volumes

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-04548/7168894-1-eng-US/f0009-042.jpg" title="f0009-04" width="199" height="191"></div>Making trades is never easy, but assimilating new players into the lineup just a dozen games before the playoffs start isn&rsquo;t any piece of cake either.Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; coach Lindy Ruff has been reshuffling his lineup ever since the Sabres picked up left winger Joe Juneau from the Washington Capitals, defenseman Rhett Warrener from the Florida Panthers and center Stu Barnes from the Pittsburgh Penguins.He has had mixed results.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s some experimentation going on definitely,&rdquo; Ruff said. &ldquo;Hopefully we&rsquo;ll have it all sorted out before the playoffs get under way.&rdquo;Ruff has broken up his No. 1 defensive pair of Alexei Zhitnik and Richard Smehlik, playing Zhitnik with the newly acquired Warrener while Smehlik has been teamed with Jay McKee.That often puts Darryl Shannon out with Jason Woolley, but Ruff has occasionally benched Shannon in favor of the younger and more physical Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, who is in his rookie season with the Sabres.Up front, Barnes and Juneau have played with a variety of players as Ruff continues to search for combinations. The testing has had its share of setbacks because Juneau has been ill since coming over to the Sabres and was recovering from the after-effects of a concussion before that.Both have also had problems breaking into the scoring column, especially on the power play. That&rsquo;s disappointing because they were acquired to improve the club in that very area.Ruff put Barnes at center with Juneau and Vaclav Varada on the wings in an attempt to build a third scoring line behind one centered by Michael Peca and another anchored by Miroslav Satan.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a matter of everyone getting used to each other,&rdquo; Barnes said. &ldquo;We know what&rsquo;s expected, we just have to get the combinations to click.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Michal Grosek took exception to being benched for part of a 4-3 win over the Islanders and said so. Ruff sat him down for most of the second period and all of the third, then cited lackluster play after the Sabres broke a four-game winless streak on the road. Grosek said it&rsquo;s hard to improve when he isn&rsquo;t playing&hellip;Goalie Dwayne Roloson got the win with a strong third period as the Sabres played their fourth game in five nights&hellip;Defenseman Rhett Warrener scored his first goal as a Sabre when he beat Islanders&rsquo; goalie Wade Flaherty April 6&hellip;Right winger Vaclav Varada had four goals in seven games earlier this year, but hadn&rsquo;t scored since returning from an ankle sprain Jan. 18. &#9632;

f0009-04

Sabres keep reshuffling their lineup

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011733/7168925-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="202" height="188"></div>The injury occurred in an April 3 game as Calgary Flames&rsquo; defenseman Steve Smith was doing his usual number in front of his team&rsquo;s net, hacking and whacking away until the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; Ladislav Kohn lost his balance and tipped over.Kohn&rsquo;s skate came up and caught Smith on the side of the cheek.&ldquo;I knew I got hit a blow to the side of the cheek, but I didn&rsquo;t even know 1 was injured,&rdquo; said Smith. &ldquo;I just went back to the bench and I put my hand to my face and saw a bit of blood and thought, &rsquo;I must have got nicked.&rsquo; &ldquo;No big deal until Smith started to lose all feeling on the right side of his head. At that point, he knew it was more than just your average eight-stitch cut. Kohn&rsquo;s skate severed a nerve near the jugular vein.&ldquo;They actually took the nerve and pulled it back together and repaired it,&rdquo; said Smith. &ldquo;The doctor had these big goggles on for the surgery. You should have seen the thread they used, it was as thin as a hair. It was wild.&rdquo;Smith was an assistant coach on Brian Sutter&rsquo;s staff last year, but came out of retirement to play this season. In 69 games he had a goal and 15 points, but it is his leadership and defensive play the Flames have come to rely on.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s everything you want in a role model for your kids,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a student of the game. His work ethic and discipline are impeccable and they always have been.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Captain Todd Simpson, who was originally listed as missing from the Flames&rsquo; lineup because of &ldquo;fatigue,&rdquo; eventually acknowledged what most suspected-the injury was actually a concussion, the result of a series of blows to the head over the span of a week. That culminated when the defenseman was taken heavily into the boards by the Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; Keith Primeau in a Mar. 12 loss&hellip;Seven Flames players have strong Edmonton connections. Five were born there-defensemen Derek Morris and Cale Hulse, right winger Jarome Iginla, left winger Hnat Domenichelli and right winger Ed Ward. Simpson was raised in Edmonton and defenseman Steve Smith broke in with the Oilers in the 1980s. &#9632;

f0010-01

Veteran defenseman Smith gets scare with facial cut

<div class="byline">By Todd Graff</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03790/7168956-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="430" height="584"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Chiasson</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021269/7168963-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="198" height="192"></div>Few thought Steve Chiasson could do it. No knock against the Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; defenseman, but returning to the lineup just three months after major shoulder surgery seemed-at best-remote.But Chiasson always felt he had a shot, and on April 5, exactly three months after surgery to repair a tom labrum in his right shoulder, he received medical clearance from Dr. James Andrews of Birmingham,Ala., to play April 10 against the New York Islanders.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a good day,&rdquo; Chiasson said after hearing the news. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m obviously looking forward to it. It&rsquo;s been a long three months.&rdquo;Chiasson&rsquo;s speedy recovery wasn&rsquo;t unprecedented, although it certainly was rare. He said he first injured the shoulder while competing for Canada at the 1997 World Championship. He contemplated surgery after last season, but opted to play through it again this season. On Dec 19, Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; center Michael Peca flattened Chiasson, and he underwent surgery for a tom labrum in his right shoulder shortly after.&ldquo;Maybe I wouldn&rsquo;t be in this position if I had stepped back on another occasion and tried not to be in such a hurry when my shoulder was hurting,&rdquo; said Chiasson, an unrestricted free agent this summer who had one goal, mine points and a plus-eight rating in 24 games. &ldquo;As athletes, we&rsquo;re paid to play. That&rsquo;s what I want to do. But I have to make sure I&rsquo;m healthy.&rdquo;Coach Paul Maurice planned to use him for about 10 minutes against the Islanders and hoped to get Chiasson one 20minute night over the last three games.&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll take a couple games to get his feel back, but he&rsquo;s in better condition than he&rsquo;s ever been this time of year,&rdquo; Maurice said.NOTEBOOK: The Hurricanes&rsquo; 2-0 loss to Montreal April 6 increased their road winless streak to 11-games (0-6-5) which ranks as the longest in two seasons and fourth-longest in franchise history. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel that our road play has been completely different from our home play,&rdquo; said coach Paul Maurice. &ldquo;In past years I always felt we were just a really bad road hockey team. I don&rsquo;t get that feeling now."&hellip;With a 4-2 victory against New Jersey April 6, the Hurricanes reached 80 points for just the fourth time in franchise history, the last coming when they closed the 1989-90 season with 85&hellip;Left winger Gary Roberts snapped an 18-game goalless streak when he netted the first against the Devils. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to finally get a break.&rdquo; Roberts said. &#9632;

f0010-03

Chiasson’s quick recovery boon for struggling ’Canes

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011558/7168994-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="204" height="199"></div>Larne Molleken&rsquo;s day finally arrived.After coaching 13 years in the minor pro and Canadian junior ranks in such places as Swift Current, Weybum, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon and Cape Breton, Molleken realized a dream April 8 when he was named head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.The 42-year-old Molleken had been the Hawks&rsquo; interim coach since Feb. 22 when he replaced the fired Dirk Graham.The Hawks went 10-6-4 in Molleken&rsquo;s first 20 games, but more important than that he restored some pride to a club that has floundered for two seasons.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a good atmosphere around the club now,&rdquo; said GM Bob Murray. &ldquo;A feeling like that hasn&rsquo;t been around here for a couple years.&rdquo;It was an emotional Molleken who accepted his dream job, signing a three-year contract.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great honor to coach the Chicago Blackhawks,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This has been a goal of mine to coach in the NHL and to be named coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, with their tradition, an original six team, is unbelievable.&ldquo;Over the last six weeks (assistant coaches) Trent Yawney and Denis Savard and the players have put forth a great effort to help make this day possible.&rdquo;The players were unanimous in their support of Molleken, who won them over quickly with his positive approach and decision to open up the offense and let his skill players do what they do best. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s definitely brought out the best in everyone on this team and that&rsquo;s what a coach is supposed to do,&rdquo; said Reid Simpson.&ldquo;Everyone in this room loves playing for him,&rdquo; said right winger Tony Amonte. &ldquo;The biggest thing he has done is bring us together as a team and closer as a unit. He treats everyone fairly and is open and honest with people.&ldquo;In the situation we were in, I didn&rsquo;t think one guy could turn it around, but he did. He has everyone thinking positive about this organization again.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Doug Gilmour underwent successful back surgery April 5 to reduce a bulging disc in his back. Gilmour will need up to eight weeks of rehab, but is expected to start the season on time in October&hellip;With the Hawks playing so well under Lorne Molleken, it raised the question of why GM Bob Murray didn&rsquo;t make the coaching change sooner than Feb. 22 with the playoffs all but out of reach. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy to say that,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;But we made a commitment to a guy (Dirk Graham) and I didn&rsquo;t think you could just do something like that. We all knew it wasn&rsquo;t working, but I thought it would come around."&hellip;Right winger Eric Daze reached the 20-goal mark for the fourth time in his four NHL seasons&hellip;When the Hawks drew just 13,639 for an April 5 game against Vancouver, it was the smallest crowd since they moved to the United Center in 1994&hellip;Rookie left winger J.P. Dumont got his first career hat trick April 8 in a 6-2 win over the Rangers. &#9632;

f0011-01

Dream comes true for Molleken as Hawks droo interim from title

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021110/7169025-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="200" height="197"></div>Not only were the Colorado Avalanche in a horse race with the Detroit Keo Wings for the No. 2 Western Conference playoff seed as the season drew to a close, but two of its players waged a race for the NHL rookie scoring title.Chris Drury and Milan Hejduk entered the final week of the regular season at the top of the league scoring list, with 44 points apiece. Winning the race could determine who gets the Calder Trophy, an honor Drury and Hejduk said they would trade for a sip out of the Stanley Cup.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really unimportant to me,&rdquo; Hejduk said of the rookie scoring title.&ldquo;What&rsquo;s more important is how we will do in the (playoffs). We have a chance for the Stanley Cup, so that&rsquo;s bigger than anything.&rdquo;Hejduk, a 23-year-old from the Czech Republic, jumped from the middle of the rookie scoring pack to the top, thanks to recent efforts such as a four-assist night against the Los Angeles Kings April 5.He has made believers of those who wondered whether the 5-foot-ll, 185-pound right winger would be able to handle the rigorous physical play of the NHL.Hejduk has shown he can take a hit and he didn&rsquo;t succumb to the dreaded rookie &ldquo;wall.&rdquo;&ldquo;I played in the Czech League and for the national team and the play there is like in the NHL,&rdquo; Hejduk said. &ldquo;If I get knocked down, so what? I get right back up.&rdquo;Drury&rsquo;s three-assist effort against the Kings on April 5 put him in a tie with Hejduk, but he wasn&rsquo;t losing sleep over winning the race.&ldquo;Like I&rsquo;ve said all along, maybe in July or even five years from now, it will be nice to look back on it as a nice accomplishment,&rdquo; Drury said.&ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t think it matters right now. How we do in the playoffs is what I&rsquo;m thinking about a lot more.&rdquo;The Avs&rsquo; teammates were one point ahead of New Jersey Devils&rsquo; center Brendan Morrison, who sat third among league rookies.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Adam Deadmarsh was sidelined after taking a punch to the left eye in a fight with Edmonton defenseman Jason Smith April 3. Deadmarsh was listed as day-to-day, but could miss as much as two weeks&hellip;The Avalanche signed 1998 No. 1 draft pick Alex Tanguay, a center, to a three-year, $2.925-million contract April 7. Tanguay will receive base salaries of $475,000, $550,000 and $600,000, along with a $1.3-million signing bonus spread over the three years&hellip;Veteran defenseman Cam Russell underwent surgery to repair a separated left shoulder April 8 and will be lost for the remainder of the season&hellip;Defenseman Jon Klemm returned to the lineup April 7 after missing two weeks with appendicitis&hellip;Goalie Patrick Roy moved past Glenn Hall and into fourth place on the all-time regular season win list with his 408th in a 5-2 victory over Edmonton April 3. Ahead of him are Terry Sawchuk (447), Jacques Plante (434) and Tony Esposito (423). &#9632;

f0011-02

Drury, Hejduk go down to wire in bids for rookie scoring title

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011689/7169056-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="196" height="190"></div>Seventeen years into an NHL career that was supposed to last five, Craig Ludwig sticks to the basics. He is equal parts Evel Knievel and Homer Simpson-a player trained in the old school.But beneath the wild man persona that has produced motorcycle rides for charity, a Bad Boys poster of leatherclad Stars and a series of memorable team parties, Ludwig is hiding perhaps his greatest asset-he&rsquo;s still a pretty good hockey player.&ldquo;He has this big image and that&rsquo;s there because of the type of person he is,&rdquo; said coach Ken Hitchcock. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t think he gets near enough credit for being a true natural athlete.&rdquo;Ludwig admits the biggest secret on the team is he&rsquo;s not that slow. He regularly wins races in which teammates skate from the goal line to center ice to take a puck in on a breakaway. He also records one of the team&rsquo;s better VO2 (fitness) scores.The 38-year-old defenseman earned the nomination for the Dallas chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association for this year&rsquo;s Masterton Trophy-given to the NHL player who exhibits, perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to the game.&ldquo;There is nobody on this team that wants to win more than Craig Ludwig and there&rsquo;s nobody who works harder than him at winning,&rdquo; said center Guy Carbonneau. &ldquo;All that stuff about not caring is just an act. He cares, believe me.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Stars struggled through the final month of the season, at one point going 5-5-2, including a 3-0 loss to revamped Detroit at Reunion Arena. However, they were missing several players, including center Brian Skrudland (chest), center Mike Modano (hip rotator muscle), defenseman Shawn Chambers (hip flexor) and defenseman Richard Matvichuk (groin, knee). Hitchcock expected all four to be healthy for the playoffs&hellip; With his 11th game-winning goal of the season April 7, right winger Brett Hull tied the franchise record set last season by center Joe Nieuwendyk&hellip;.The Pacific Division ended up being the toughest in the Western Conference, but the Stars were 163-2 against division foes through April 10. &#9632;

f0012-01

Stars’ Masterton choice no leadfoot on defense

<div class="byline">By Chuck Carlton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03865/7169087-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="436" height="592"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wendel Clark</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021342/7169094-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="200" height="190"></div>The Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; transition from a team of also-rans to Stanley Cup favorite has been as smooth as silk.Wendel Clark and Chris Chelios have been brought aboard without a single misstep. Ditto for Bill Ranford and Ulf Samuelsson.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re already part of the family,&rdquo; said right winger Martin Lapointe. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t come in acting like they were saviors or something. It happened naturally and that&rsquo;s the nice thing about it.&rdquo;But not the nicest. That would be the eight-game winning streak-one short of the team record-since the four players were acquired March 23.The turnaround might have happened anyway with a team of veterans who almost seemed to be biding their time until April. The trade just might have helped it along.&ldquo;Chelios was a captain in Chicago. For what reason?&rdquo; said associate coach Dave Lewis. &ldquo;Clark was a captain in Toronto. For what reason? The players who were here have a lot of respect for the guys who came in. And the players we have now really know what it&rsquo;s all about.&rdquo;During their streak, the Red Wings outscored opponents 30-11. Until Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; defenseman Murray Baron scored April 7, the Wings had not trailed for 439 minutes, 11 seconds.Goalie Chris Osgood, who had allowed only six goals in six starts, blanked the Dallas Stars 3-0 April 4 for his first shutout in nearly six months. Backup Ranford, all of 3-18-3 in Tampa Bay, had won both his starts in Detroit.While Clark (four goals) and Chelios (impeccable defensive play) did their part, so did others. Sergei Fedorov put together a season-high 10-game scoring streak and Brendan Shanahan hit 30 goals for the seventh time in his career.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Brendan Shanahan&rsquo;s ice time increased with the addition of penalty-killing duty following a meeting with coach Scotty Bowman in late March. Sources say the tone was positive&hellip; Defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom is making a bid to become the first defenseman since Red Kelly in 1954 to win the Lady Byng Trophy. Lidstrom had just 14 penalty minutes through his first 78 games. &ldquo;I know he&rsquo;s a good player,&rdquo; Kelly said, &ldquo;but don&rsquo;t tell me about his penalty minutes. Tell me how many goals are scored against the team when he is on the ice. I&rsquo;ll bet it&rsquo;s not too many. That&rsquo;s what matters."&hellip;Detroit&rsquo;s 3-0 win in Dallas April 4 was the Red Wings&rsquo; first in four tries against the Stars.Wendel Clark &#9632;

f0012-03

Red Wings get red hot thanks to new arrivals

<div class="byline">By Mario Anicchiarico</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04503/7169125-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="198" height="195"></div>GM Glen Sather dipped into his bag of tricks as the Edmonton Oilers battled it out with their arch-rivals, the Calgary Flames, for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.For the first time in 20 years, Sather banned the media from the dressing room prior to and during practices.He also brought in sports psychologist Don Smith in a last-ditch effort to shake up his struggling club.&ldquo;I was at the end of my rope. I couldn&rsquo;t sleep, couldn&rsquo;t read a book,&rdquo; offered center Doug Weight, who has struggled to regain his form after returning from knee surgery. &ldquo;I felt I was letting my teammates down. I talked to (Don Smith) for about four or five hours and the energy was back. I feel a lot better.&rdquo;With five games remaining in the regular season, two of them against the Calgary Flames, the Oilers were one point ahead of their provincial rivals.The Oilers had managed just 16 wins in their last 54 games. They also were 0-16-4 when surrendering the first goal at home.&ldquo;Things are going fine and then we&rsquo;ll get a bad penalty or give up a bad goal and you can just see them (sigh and slump),&rdquo; said Sather, who clearly detected a problem in his club&rsquo;s mental approach to the game.&ldquo;Look at Arnott,&rdquo; Sather said, referring to former Oiler Jason Arnott. &ldquo;He was maligned here, he was never going to be a player. Now he has 29 goals (in New Jersey) and he&rsquo;s playing like a house on fire.&ldquo;Why is that? Different skills? Sharpening his skates a different way? It&rsquo;s mental preparation, the way he feels about himself.&ldquo;Who would have thought back in October, when we were leading our division, that we would be in this spot right now?&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;Nobody wants to be here, but we are here and at least we have a chance to redeem ourselves.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: After a fine start with the Oilers, goaltender Tommy Salo surrendered goals on his first three shots in a 7-4 loss to Phoenix March 30 and was given the hook after 8:14 of play. Salo then allowed three goals on six shots in a 5-1 loss to Toronto April 1 and coach Ron Low sat him in a game at Colorado. Salo returned to action against Calgary April 7 and stopped 23 of 25 shots in a 4-2 win&hellip;That victory snapped a three-game losing streak. The Oilers had surrendered five consecutive goals in all three defeats. They were down 5-0 to both Phoenix and Toronto and blew a 2-0 lead in Denver, losing 5-2 to the Avs&hellip;Left winger Georges Laraque remained out of the lineup with a concussion. &#9632;

f0012-04

Psychologist gives Oilers psyche job

<div class="byline">By David J. Neal</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011571/7169156-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="203" height="201"></div>For Florida Panthers&rsquo; defenseman Robert Svehla, the season came full circle in early April.In the first pre-season game against the Boston Bruins, Svehla was benched during the third period. After handing Boston two goals off turnovers in the Panthers&rsquo; 5-2 loss April 7, he was benched for the entire third period.Thus ended a five-day stretch that began with Panthers&rsquo; coach Terry Murray blasting Svehla and questioning the effects of the contract given Svehla by Panthers&rsquo; GM Bryan Murray, the coach&rsquo;s brother.&ldquo;Robert Svehla came into training camp, I thought, really out of shape,&rdquo; said Terry Murray. &ldquo;From the very beginning, the first exhibition game, I remember I put him on the bench in the third period. It was just a slow-paced performance from him, no intensity or passion being shown. Right from that game, it really has gone through the whole year.&rdquo;With the Panthers supposedly concentrating on giving players short-term deals-keep &rsquo;em hungry was the theory-Svehla got security. The 30-year-old signed a new four-year, $10.5-million contract last summer even though he was coming off a poor season-nine goals, 43 points and minus-3 in 79 games. Prior to last season, he was considered a cornerstone of the franchise and appeared in the 1997 All-Star Game.This season, he had eight goals, 35 points and was minus-12 in 75 games.&ldquo;If Terry doesn&rsquo;t like him, I can assure you that I can trade him and get good value for him,&rdquo; said Bryan Murray.Actually, Terry is the one who sounds like a GM, bemoaning the current economics.&ldquo;I think there are few players in any sport who can handle long term and big money,&rdquo; Terry Murray said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a very, very hard thing mentally to do. It changes your life, your intensity, your inner drive and it might even take away a little passion for the game. You just become an average player out there.NOTEBOOK: Panthers&rsquo; captain Scott Mellanby called the 5-2 loss to Boston April 7 one of the most embarrassing nights the Panthers have had. Etched in his mind was the way the home fans threw the hats given away for the night&rsquo;s promotion when Boston right winger Anson Carter completed a hat trick. Mellanby said he understood the fans reaction, but was embarrassed by the team&rsquo;s performance&hellip;After losing to Boston, the Panthers were 0-12-2 all-time without left winger Bill Lindsay in the lineup&hellip;Center Ryan Johnson was an emergency callup from New Haven of the American League for the Boston game. He arrived just after 6 p.m. and scored his first NHL goal in the third period&hellip;Through games of April 8, the Panthers had nine regulars out with injuries. Included in the group were: defensemen Gord Murphy. Mike Wilson. Bret Hedican and Paul Laus: and forwards Dino Ciccarelli, Pavel Bure, Oleg Kvasha. Viktor Kozlov and Lindsay. &#9632;

f0013-01

Coach Murray wonders if Svehla lost edge after signing big deal

<div class="byline">By Helene Elliott</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021100/7169187-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="198" height="198"></div>Was Larry Robinson offering to jump before he could be pushed?The Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; coach, whose four-year, $3.2-million contract expires after the season, said he&rsquo;s considering stepping down as coach in favor of another job with the organization, perhaps as an instructor for the Kings&rsquo; minor league prospects.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; Robinson said when asked if he wants to return behind the Kings&rsquo; bench. &ldquo;It has been a tough year. Even my wife is finding it tough.&rdquo;Robinson, who rejected a three-year extension offered him during training camp, has struggled through an assortment of professional and personal trials this season.For starters, the Kings have been one of the NHL&rsquo;s biggest disappointments. Expectations were high for them after they finished fifth in the Western Conference last season. But through early April, they were 14 games under .500 and all but eliminated from playoff contention.In addition, Robinson&rsquo;s mother died in March, a loss he felt deeply.&ldquo;This Christmas, when I phoned home and talked to my mom, the first thing she said (was): &rsquo;When are you coming home?&rsquo;&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of sad knowing that the last Christmas she had that I wasn&rsquo;t there to spend it with her.&rdquo;Robinson said he had approached GM Dave Taylor with his job-switch proposal. Taylor was out of town and could not be reached for comment, but has previously said a decision on Robinson&rsquo;s situation would not be made until the season ends.The strain of trying to get players to stick to his game plan and figure how to squeeze more goals out of a team that ranked 26th in the NHL has taken its toll on Robinson.&ldquo;It starts to bother you mentally,&rdquo; Robinson said. &ldquo;It wears you to the point where 1 talk to some of my friends back home and they want to know how 1 am, and I ask, &rsquo;Why?&rsquo; And they say, &rsquo;Because you look awful.&rsquo; &ldquo;NOTEBOOK: The Kings had to recall goaltender Ryan Bach from Long Beach (International League) March 29 after goalie Jamie Storr sprained his ankle while playfully wrestling with coach Larry Robinson during practice. The sprain was initially judged to be a day-to-day situation, but proved more serious and idled Storr indefinitely&hellip;Defenseman Rob Blake was suspended two games for cross-checking San Jose right winger Alexander Korolyuk April 8. As a result of the suspenion, Blake forfeits $128,475 in salary&hellip;Defenseman Garry Galley was expected to miss the last six games of the season because of an abdominal strain that may require surgery&hellip;Right winger Sandy Moger was scheduled to undergo surgery on a tom rotator cuff and was expected to miss the rest of the season&hellip;Center Jozef Stumpel sustained a sprained knee, courtesy of a check by San Jose defenseman Bryan Marchment April 8. His status was uncertain. &#9632;

f0013-02

Robinson considering job switch after difficult, disannointinq year

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011677/7169218-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="201" height="199"></div>When he played for the Winnipeg Jets, Stephane Quintal missed the playoffs for two consecutive seasons and vowed history would never repeat itself.&ldquo;I remember how I didn&rsquo;t want to feel that way again,&rdquo; said the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman. &ldquo;But in Winnipeg, the talent wasn&rsquo;t there. Here, that&rsquo;s not the case.&rdquo;Nonetheless, the Canadiens won&rsquo;t be participating in post-season play. A 3-0 loss at Boston April 5, combined with Buffalo&rsquo;s victory against Pittsburgh, officially eliminated Montreal.It marks the second time in five seasons and only the third in 50 the Canadiens failed to advance to the playoffs and it will be remembered as one of the most dismal seasons in the franchise&rsquo;s glorious 82-year history.The season began with turmoil. Martin Rucinsky and Brian Savage, still negotiating contracts, missed the first few games. There were distractions caused by the impending unrestricted free agency of Mark Recchi, Vincent Damphousse and Quintal. Recchi and Damphousse were eventually traded.When the team was hit by injuries and the system lacked the depth to compensate, the losses mounted.Through 78 games, the Canadiens had scored just 175 goals. Only the Tampa Bay Lightning had scored fewer. The Habs likely will finish the year without a 20-goal scorer for the first time, other than the 1995 lockout-shortened year, since 1940-41.NOTEBOOK: Goalie Jose Theodore, who had lost his last eight NHL starts and spent most of the season with Fredericton of the American League, recorded the first big league shutout of his career, April 7 against Carolina. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t played in a while in the NHL and the last four or five games were on the road, so I wanted to do well here in the Molson Centre,&rdquo; said Theodore, who recorded his first win since Nov. 9. Theodore blocked 27 shots in the 2-0 win. &ldquo;I never thought the door was shut for me,&rdquo; Theodore said. &ldquo;I never thought the team had given up on me. If they had, I&rsquo;m sure they would have moved me or they wouldn&rsquo;t have played me so much in the minors.&rdquo; However, the following night it was back to reality in a 3-1 loss to the Islanders. &#9632;

f0014-01

Dismal Canadians season results in playoff no-show

<div class="byline">By Jeff Legwold</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03864/7169249-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="442" height="585"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Dunham</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021259/7169256-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="198" height="189"></div>It has been a frustrating year for Nashville Predators&rsquo; goalie Mike Dunham, who has battled a nagging groin injury, causing him to miss half the season.Dunham had played in just 41 games. Many believe had he played 65-to-70 games, the Predators would have had a legitimate chance of making the playoffs. Dunham had a 16-20-3 record with a goals-against average of 3.01.&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t think there is any question he has the ability to be in there every night,&rdquo; said coach Barry Trotz.In his developing years, Dunham split time with Garth Snow at the University of Maine and Corey Schwab with Albany of the American League, then played behind Martin Brodeur in New Jersey. He had never played more than 44 games in a season before joining the Predators. Dunham has been spectacular at times, stealing wins early in the season.GM David Poile is currently working on a new deal for the restricted free agent, who is on a one-year deal at $800,000. Dunham has said he will remain in Nashville over the summer, trying to strengthen the area where the injury keeps recurring. He has also said he would explore &ldquo;all of the options,&rsquo; which could include some mino surgery if doctors say conditioning ant a stretching regimen will not work.The loss of backup goalie Eric Fichaud for the season after Jan. 11 shoulder surgery pushed Tomas Vokoun intt starter duty for much of the second half of ths season and the rookie i: easily one of the mos pleasant surprises for ths team in its inaugural year But Poile has calles Fichaud&rsquo;s recovery ths &ldquo;biggest challenge&rdquo; of hi: career and goaltending will get at least some attention in ths entry draft, as well as the free agen market.NOTEBOOK: Visitors were restricted during Philadelphia center Eric Lindros&rsquo; stay in a Nashville hospital, but Predators&rsquo; assistant equipment manager Craig Baugh was able to get in for at least a wave. Lindros, whose arms were strapped down to his sides, waved back with his leg&hellip; With the playoffs out of the question, coach Barry Trotz was mixing fines. One created for speed included center Clifl Ronning, right winger Scott Walker and left winger Vitali Yachmenev&hellip; Centei Darren Turcotte had surgery to repair two tom ligaments in his right knee April 8.. Pat Morris, the agent for center David Legwand, and the team continued to swap contract proposals, but no deal was imminent.Mike Dunham &#9632;

f0014-03

GM Poile aiming to keep Dunham in Nashville net

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04585/7169287-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="198" height="196"></div>In a season of great disappointment, the play of rookie Eric Brewer has been one of the New York Islanders&rsquo; few bright spots.The coaching staff brought Brewer, the only teenage defenseman in the league, along slowly, scratching him for 12 of the first 37 games. But as of April 9, he had played 38 of the past 41 matches.Because Rich Pilon missed 10 games with an inflamed back disc, Brewer was promoted to the second pairing with David Harlock and spotted on power play and penalty killing units.In a 2-2 tie with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim April 3, he logged a career-high 26:57 minutes. In the next game, a 4-3 home loss to the Buffalo Sabres, Brewer had a defensive-zone giveaway that led to a Sabres&rsquo; goal, but scored a third period goal and played 25:22.&ldquo;I just lost the puck,&rdquo; Brewer said. &ldquo;Sitting around crying isn&rsquo;t going to help the team win. I&rsquo;m still a rookie, no question about it, but I feel like I&rsquo;m playing better.&rdquo;He suffered a setback, however, when he sustained a strained Achilles tendon in the first period of a 3-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on April 8.Brewer is one of 10 survivors from the Islanders&rsquo; opening night lineup. That does not include Pilon, injured enforcer Gino Odjick or defenseman Barry Richter, who was scratched for the opener. Richter became a regular.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen a lot, to say the least,&rdquo; Brewer said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen some good games, some bad games, some trades, some tough times and some good times. It can only get better.&rdquo;Coach Bill Stewart said Brewer is better prepared mentally than he was early in the season and has realized he can play against the top players in the NHL.Odjick said he believes Brewer has the potential to become a player similar to St. Louis Blues&rsquo; star Chris Pronger.NOTEBOOK: Coach Bill Stewart said he has been told the club wants to rehire him, but cannot make a contract offer until a budget is set&hellip;Goalie Felix Potvin was due to start the last three games of the season, including one in Toronto April 14 against his former team&hellip;Center Trevor Linden ended an 18-game drought, during which he had just six assists, with his 15th goal against the Mighty Ducks&hellip;Center Mats Lindgren scored his first goal with the Isles against Anaheim&hellip;The team&rsquo;s $23.8-mil-lion payroll on April 6 included $7.8 million for demoted left winger Mike Hough and five injured players and $16 million-likely an NHL low-for the 20 who dressed against Buffalo. &#9632;

f0014-04

Isles eyeing Brewer as future star

<div class="byline">y Bick Carplnlello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011461/7169356-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="197" height="199"></div>For a second consecutive season, the New York Rangers were eliminated from the playoff race while scoreboard watching in Chicago. But. aside from the result and location, the Rangers felt there wasn&rsquo;t much in common between the two seasons.&ldquo;This year, (there was) a lot better feeling,&rdquo; said president-GM Neil Smith. &ldquo;Last year, we were only starting this process. This year, we&rsquo;ve taken a lot of strides toward where we&rsquo;re still trying to go. To give the analogy of trying to build a building, all we had last year was a big empty lot. At least now there&rsquo;s some foundation poured into the ground.&rdquo;But it still hurt to be eliminated.&ldquo;Yeah, it does (sting),&rdquo; said goalie Mike Richter. &ldquo;I do believe strongly that we have improved from last year. But I can tell you it&rsquo;s extremely disappointing. We improved for sure in the last year, but we obviously have more improving to do.&rdquo;The front office also has some decisions to make. For starters, there&rsquo;s captain Brian Leetch, who stands to become an unrestricted free agent July 1. Leetch insisted that the two years of failure won&rsquo;t affect whether he re-signs.And then there&rsquo;s Wayne Gretzky. The Great One&rsquo; has been telling friends he will play next season, but the Rangers hold the option on his contract for next year and hadn&rsquo;t officially announced they will exercise the option.NOTEBOOK: Center Petr Nedved was expected to tniss the rest of the regular season and World Championship with a rib cage injury&hellip;Right winger Todd Harvey&rsquo;s season ended when X-rays revealed his broken thumb had healed only 75 per cent. Doctors decided to leave the cast on&hellip;The Rangers were swept by New Jersey for the first time in team history. A 4-1 Devils&rsquo; win April 4 left New Jersey 10-0-4 in the teams&rsquo; last 14 regular season meetings&hellip;Defenseman Chris Tamer scored on a backhanded shot from the red line against Philadelphia goalie Ron Hextali April 5. It was Tamer&rsquo;s first goal since Feb. 16, 1997, when, as a member of Pittsburgh, he was set up by Mario Lemieux for a shorthanded goal, also against the Flyers. &#9632;

f0016-01

Another playoff no-show, but Rangers like direction

<div class="byline">By Bruce Garrloch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03840/7169387-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="428" height="589"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Dudley</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021126/7169394-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="195" height="190"></div>There was no champagne in the Ottawa Senators&rsquo; dressing room, but you couldn&rsquo;t blame them for feeling a little bit bubblv.A 3-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs April 8 in front of a packed house of 18,500 at the Corel Centre allowed the Senators to clinch first place in the Northeast Division and reach the 100-point plateau.Now, with the playoffs looming and the battle for first place in the Eastern Conference going down to the wire, the Senators know they&rsquo;ll have to five up to lofty expectations in the playoffs.&ldquo;We have more or less brought that on ourselves because of the way we&rsquo;ve played this year,&rdquo; said GM Rick Dudley. &ldquo;Would we be disappointed if we didn&rsquo;t do well in the playoffs? The league is tough, but we&rsquo;ve got a team here that we believe can be a legitimate contender.&rdquo;The Senators&rsquo; stated goal coming out of training camp-set by management with full agreement from coach Jacques Martin-was to get this team to the elite level so that it would have a chance to compete for a Stanley Cup.Eight months later, it&rsquo;s mission accomplished.&ldquo;Am 1 surprised? If you had told me we&rsquo;d have a 100-point season and have the second-ranked team in the league, I would have taken it,&rdquo; Dudley said.The Senators brought in left winger Ted Donato from the New York Islanders and center Nelson Emerson rom Chicago at the trade leadline. Both will play a hole in the playoffs, but were brought in for depth reasons because the club didn&rsquo;t want to fool with it&rsquo;s chemistry.By winning the Northeast, the Senators guaranteed they&rsquo;ll have one manner to raise next fall, they&rsquo;d like to add a couple of others-Eastem Conference and Stanley Cup champions-to make it a collection.NOTEBOOK: Center Nelson Emerson, picked up at the trade deadline from Chicago, was close to returning from a separated shoulder. Emerson, 31. suffered the injury after getting hit by St. Louis defenseman Jamie Rivers&hellip;Captain Alexei Yashin was putting heat on Anaheim&rsquo;s Teemu Selanne for the inaugural Maurice Richard Trophy. Yashin moved one goal behind Selanne with his 44th of the season April 7 in a 4-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. He was upset with criticism he&rsquo;s being selfish with the puck. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough when you&rsquo;re in this kind of a competition,&rdquo; Yashin said. &ldquo;You do what&rsquo;s best for your team. I know some people think I&rsquo;m being selfish when I make some decisions, but I do what&rsquo;s best for the team.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-03

Senators set sights high after claiming division

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04622/7169425-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="200" height="191"></div>They wanted to make a statement. A statement that even without Eric Lindros, they&rsquo;re a legitimate contender.But to do that, the Philadelphia Flyers had to get some of their best players back in uniform.As it turned out, Eric Desjardins (partially tom anterior cruciate ligament in left knee), John LeClair (back injury) and Mark Recchi (headaches from fatigue) came off the injured list the same night to lead the Flyers to an important 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins April 8.Earlier that day, the Flyers learned Lindros, who suffered a collapsed lung after a game against the Nashville Predators April 1, would have to undergo a surgical procedure to remove clotted blood that formed at the base of his chest cavity.But the Flyers maintained their focus and poise and beat the Penguins to keep their position in the middle of the Eastern Conference standings.LeClair scored the winning goal on an assist from Desjardins and Recchi added an insurance goal.&ldquo;When you get three guys like that back in the lineup like we did, it gives you a big boost,&rdquo; said goalie John Vanbiesbrouck.LeClair&rsquo;s goal was his 40th of the year. Although injuries appeared certain to keep him from reaching the 50-goal mark for a fourth consecutive year, he did make it four straight years of at least 40.The Flyers, meanwhile, believe they can hold their own for a round or two in the playoffs without Lindros. To do that, they must get significant contributions from players such as LeClair and Recchi.No structural damage showed on a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test administered to LeClair. &ldquo;It felt good,&rdquo; LeClair said.The situation was similar for Desjardins, who said a brace has helped keep his knee stabilized. &ldquo;The brace is so well-built, it feels like another piece of equipment,&rdquo; he said.NOTEBOOK: Center Eric Lindros underwent a thoroscopy April 9 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The surgical procedure removes residual clotted blood. Lindros developed high fevers the night of April 7 and doctors feared infection. Dr. Larry Kaiser, chief of thoracic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, performed the procedure. Lindros, who spent six days in a Nashville hospital after suffering a collapsed lung April 1, hoped to be back for the later rounds of the playoffs if the Flyers advanced that far, but was cautious. &ldquo;The worst case scenario is I don&rsquo;t come back until September,&rdquo; Lindros said. &ldquo;But it might be sooner than that.&rdquo; (See pg. S-10 for more on Lindros). &#9632;

f0016-04

Philadelphia looks to rally without Eric

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011311/7169456-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="204" height="197"></div>The Phoenix Coyotes are enjoying one of the best regular seasons in franchise history, but the outlook for the playoffs isn&rsquo;t entirely rosy.Of greatest concern was the team&rsquo;s dismal power play. With only five games left in the regular season, the Coyotes had managed a league-low 37 power play goals in 313 total opportunities. That translates into an 11.8 per-cent success rate, second-worst in the 27-team league.&ldquo;When I even hear power play, chills go up my spine,&rdquo; said center Jeremy Roenick. &ldquo;It shouldn&rsquo;t be like that. We have to stay positive and keep working at it, but it&rsquo;s only natural to get frustrated. But we&rsquo;ll get through it.&rdquo;Why the problems? Coach Jim Schoenfeld said part of it is personnel-related. Despite the talent the Coyotes possess, they haven&rsquo;t had the right players to assemble the correct mix. A gaping hole was filled, Schoenfeld said, when newly acquired center Robert Reichel came over from the New York Islanders before the trading deadline and occupied the power play spot on the half boards. That allowed Roenick to move down low and let bruising power forward Keith Tkachuk to position himself in front of the net on the first unit.But defenseman Jyrki Lumme, expected to quarterback the power play, has seen his effectiveness limited by a nagging shoulder injury.The good news was that Lumme was set to return to the lineup before the start of the playoffs after missing 16 games. If he isn&rsquo;t able to get the job done, the pressure will be on Teppo Numminen and Oleg Tverdovsky to pick up the slack.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe we haven&rsquo;t hit a big surge by now,&rdquo; said Tkachuk, who was leading the club with 10 power play goals. &ldquo;We should have straightened it out by now and that&rsquo;s definitely what we&rsquo;ve got to do before the playoffs start.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s way past the point of frustration,&rdquo; Roenick said. &ldquo;Now it&rsquo;s sheer panic. We haven&rsquo;t really needed it, but come to me after the playoffs. If our power play didn&rsquo;t come through, then it&rsquo;s all our fault.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Less than a week after helping the University of Maine clinch the NCAA Championship, captain David Cullen, a 6-foot-2, 209-pound defenseman, signed a multi-year contract with the Coyotes. The 22-year-old Cullen comes from a strong hockey background. He had three uncles (Barry, Brian and Ray) and a cousin (John) play in the NHL&hellip;Coach Jim Schoenfeld didn&rsquo;t sound as if he expected injured defenseman Gerald Diduck (out since early March with a broken foot) to return to the lineup before the playoffs. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty sure we won&rsquo;t have Gerald back,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said. &ldquo;If he does make it back, he hasn&rsquo;t played in eight weeks. Would you just throw him into the fray?"&hellip;Defenseman Deron Quint is also questionable for the playoffs after suffering his second concussion of the season March 30 in Edmonton&hellip;Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin was one game shy of tying Bob Essensa&rsquo;s franchise record for most games played by a goalie (281). &#9632;

f0017-01

Power play turnaround needed as Coyotes enter post-season

<div class="byline">By Joe Starkey</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-021000/7169487-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="198" height="198"></div>Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; coach Kevin Constantine refused to cite injuries as an excuse for his team&rsquo;s poor play down the stretch.But it would have been hard to blame him if he did.Constantine&rsquo;s players began dropping like flies in early March and never stopped. First it was goalie Tom Barrasso, then defensemen Kevin Hatcher, Darius Kasparaitis and Maxim Galanov. Then it was center Robert Lang, winger German Titov, defenseman Neil Wilkinson and goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin.Finally, it was team captain Jaromir Jagr, who aggravated a groin injury and sat out an April 8 game against the Philadelphia Flyers.Not surprisingly, the Penguins were mired in a season-long, eight-game winless streak (0-6-2) and had fallen to sixth in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins had lost 351 man-games to injury through 77 games.Despite the plummet, Constantine wasn&rsquo;t worrying about the Penguins&rsquo; first round playoff opponent.&ldquo;Every team in this conference is good,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve just got to rest up and go at it. This conference, there&rsquo;s not a team that has run away from the pack, like the Dallas Stars, but they&rsquo;re all good.&ldquo;If we&rsquo;re going to where we want, which is to the Cup, then we&rsquo;ve got to beat every team in our conference at some point. If we beat them in the first round, the second round or the third round, I don&rsquo;t think it matters. We&rsquo;ve got to beat them somewhere along the way.&rdquo;Outside of Kasparaitis, who is gone for the season, the Penguins should be near full strength for the playoffs. Only Wilkinson (hamstring) and Galanov (shoulder) were question marks.&ldquo;The injuries are just amazing,&rdquo; said defenseman Brad Werenka. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re changing guys a lot, and that makes it a little harder, but it could be a silver lining, to get some guys back healthy and rested for the playoffs.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Jaromir Jagr attempted to clear up a controversy over critical comments attributed to him in the Czech newspaper MF Dnes about coach Kevin Constantine. &ldquo;There was some kind of misunderstanding with the guy who wrote that because he doesn&rsquo;t know how I feel about the coach,&rdquo; Jagr said. &ldquo;(Constantine might do) some stuff what I don&rsquo;t agree with, but it doesn&rsquo;t mean I don&rsquo;t like him. I like him a lot and that&rsquo;s what the people should understand.&rdquo; Jagr&rsquo;s original quotes were picked up in The European Daily Report and translated into English this way: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like the way (Constantine) prepares the team and I&rsquo;m not the only one among the players,&rdquo; Jagr said. &ldquo;His communication is just awful. Either he yells at us or he just hides somewhere. Right now, it&rsquo;s just impossible to talk to him.&rdquo; Constantine brushed off the quotes, saying, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s water under the bridge. In a way, whatever was said there, that&rsquo;s not the issue. The issue is, we&rsquo;are headed toward the playoffs and excited about the playoffs.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0017-02

Injuries contribute to late slide, but Constantine not worrying

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011344/7169518-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="201" height="190"></div>St. Louis Blues&rsquo; right winger Scott Young had one or my best games of the season under trying circumstances.Young scored a goal and assisted on Michel Picard&rsquo;s game-winner in the Blues&rsquo; 4-2 victory over the Washington Capitals April 7 at MCI Center-his first game since the death of his father, Joseph. Mr. Young, age 68, died March 30 after a brief bout with cancer.&ldquo;I want to get back into a routine,&rdquo; Young said. &ldquo;I want to feel good on the ice. I felt really good before I went home (March 27) and I ended up feeling good again in the second period. I was a little nervous that it would take two or three games to get going again.&rdquo;Young&rsquo;s performance helped the Blues to their eighth victory in 13 games (8-3-2). Coach Joel Quenneville and defenseman Al Maclnnis commended Young for his performance under duress.&ldquo;He responded to a tough situation,&rdquo; said Quenneville, whose own father died last season.&ldquo;He played with energy and enthusiasm. He showed the kind of person he is. The game helps you get your mind off it.&rdquo;Al Maclnnis, whose mother died during the 1991 Canada Cup, concurred.&ldquo;The games are almost a release,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Anytime you lose a parent, if you were writing a book, you&rsquo;re closing a very large chapter on your life. I think as kids growing up, with your parents taking you to minor hockey and stuff, they would want you to get back playing.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Veteran defenseman Marc Bergevin called it a season April 7. He said he&rsquo;ll undergo surgery for a tom abdominal muscle that sidelined him for 20 games in January and February&hellip;Left winger Geoff Courtnail, out since Dec. 6 with post-concussion syndrome, received medical clearance April 7 to participate in contact drills, the last hurdle he must clear in his return to the lineup&hellip;Rookie left winger Tyson Nash, a missile on skates, made quite an impact-figuratively with the Blues and literally with opposing players-in the two games he played as an emergency recall, a 5-2 victory over Dallas April 3 and a 2-2 tie April 5 at Toronto. &ldquo;He had two very good games,&rdquo; Quenneville said. &ldquo;We liked everything we saw in him.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-01

Young makes impressive return

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03698/7169549-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="434" height="588"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bryan Marchment</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021001/7169556-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="199" height="193"></div>An unfortunate choice of words cost San Jose Sharks&rsquo; defenseman Bryan Marchment a one-game suspension April 6.Marchment sat out a 1-0 victory at Phoenix after NHL director of hockey operations Colin Campbell banished him for calling Vancouver left wing Donald Brashear a &ldquo;big monkey&rdquo; during the second period of a 5-2 victory over the visiting Canucks April 3.Marchment acknowledged using the term, but said it was a common label to describe fighters in the NHL. Brashear, one of the league&rsquo;s premier enforcers, is also black, however, so he took Marchment&rsquo;s words as a racial epithet.&ldquo;At the time, I didn&rsquo;t think anything of it because that&rsquo;s what I would call numerous tough guys around the league,&rdquo; Marchment said.The incident occurred while Marchment was skating in front of the Vancouver bench, toward the Sharks bench. The Canucks were angry at Marchment because of a hard first period hit that knocked Vancouver defenseman Mattias Ohlund out of the game with a concussion.&ldquo;I was being confronted by a few guys on their bench,&rdquo; Marchment said. &ldquo;Donald Brashear said something and I called him &rsquo;a big monkey.&rsquo; By no means was it meant to be racial.&rdquo;&ldquo;Donald Brashear said something and I called him &lsquo;a big monkey.&rsquo; By no means was it meant to be racial.&rdquo;Marchment pointed to several former NHL teammates who are black, as well as a number of his friends who are black as evidence that he is not a racist.Marchment went to the Canucks&rsquo; practice the next day and attempted to make amends with Brashear.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t apologize for what I said, but I apologized for the terms people might have taken it as,&rdquo; Marchment said.&ldquo;At that point, he started saying things to me that weren&rsquo;t very kind. He swore at me, so I just left.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goaltender Steve Shields recorded his fourth shutout of the season and stretched his unbeaten streak to 8-0-2 with 33 saves as the Sharks clinched a Stanley Cup playoff berth with a 1-0 victory April 6 at Phoenix&hellip; Right winger Tony Granato. sidelined since undergoing reconstructive knee surgery Jan. 14, returned to the lineup in a win over Phoenix April 3&hellip;Center Vincent Damphousse. acquired March 23 from Montreal, registered his 12th career hat trick and added an assist in a 5-2 triumph over Vancouver April 3. Damphousse had seven goals and 12 points in eight games with the Sharks&hellip;Right winger Joe Murphy notched two three-point efforts since being placed on a line with Damphousse. &#9632;

f0018-03

Perceived racial slur nets Marchment one game off

<div class="byline">By Tim Buckley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04443/7169587-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="200" height="198"></div>The rare bottle of Louis XIII cognac and set of Waterford crystal glasses were a nice touch.But then the Tampa Bay Lightning gave coach-GM Jacques Demers an even more meaningful memento of his 1,000th game as an NHL head coach: The league&rsquo;s last-place team won, beating Washington 4-3 April 3.&ldquo;I appreciated the gifts from the organization and the league, but to get a gift from the players really meant a lot to me,&rdquo; said Demers, who has also coached Quebec, St. Louis, Detroit and Montreal. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s something that you don&rsquo;t expect and that made the whole night even more special.&rdquo;Tampa Bay got goals from Stephane Richer and Rob Zamuner 37 seconds apart in the third period, breaking a five-game winless streak.&ldquo;We know how hard things have been for him here in Tampa Bay,&rdquo; said defenseman Petr Svoboda. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t won a lot of games for him. but we really wanted to make this one special.&rdquo;Only four others have coached more NHL games than Demers: Scotty Bowman (1,890), Al Arbour (1,606), Dick Irvin (1,442) and Billy Reay (1,102).Demers, who led the Canadiens to the 1993 Stanley Cup, has seen his record drop to 408-465-127 since replacing Terry Crisp Nov. 12, 1997. His record in Tampa was 33-93-14.&ldquo;I was over .500, and that meant a lot,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now I&rsquo;ll never be over .500 again. That&rsquo;s a little disappointing.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Lightning was promoting an all-rookie team candidate and it wasn&rsquo;t center Vincent Lecavalier, but defenseman Pavel Kubina. The 1996 seventh round draft pick led all rookies in ice time with more than 22 minutes a game, was second in hits (139) and third in scoring among rookie defensemen (17 points). Kubina, 22, has also been asked by the Czechs to try out for the World Championship team&hellip;With top prospect Patrik Stefan plagued by injuries, there was talk that the Lightning may entertain trade offers for its 1999 first round draft pick&hellip;Tampa&rsquo;s 3-0 win over Boston April 8 ensured the Lightning (45 points) will finish with more points than last year&rsquo;s 17-5510 last-place team. &#9632;

f0018-04

Demers joins four others with 1,000th name at helm

<div class="byline">By Paul Hunter</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011245/7169618-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="194" height="200"></div>Few moves made at the NHL&rsquo;s trading deadline were greeted with the less enthusiasm than the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; acquisition of Yanic Perreault.Jaded Toronto fans, hoping for a big name, were skeptical that the center who had played himself out of town five years earlier would have the impact needed for a Stanley Cup push.The soft-spoken Perreault answered his critics with his soft hands.In his first nine games with the Leafs, the 28-year-old had seven goals and 12 points. That included scoring all four goals in a 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators April 7.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good challenge for me to come here and show people I can play at this level,&rdquo; said Perreault, who was acquired from the Los Angeles Kings for minor league prospect Jason Podollan and a third round draft pick.Perreault has also been instrumental in keeping leading goal-scorer Sergei Berezin firing on all cylinders. The expectation was Berezin&rsquo;s production would tail off when his center, Igor Korolev, was lost for six weeks with a broken finger March 20. But Perreault moved in for Korolev and the two have meshed seamlessly. In the nine games they&rsquo;ve been together with Garry Valk on the right wing, Berezin had eight goals.&ldquo;(Perreault) can distribute the puck very well,&rdquo; said coach Pat Quinn. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll move it to the open man and I think Sergei has benefitted from that.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Toronto&rsquo;s 4-2 win over Ottawa April 7 was the 400th regular season coaching victory of Pat Quinn&rsquo;s career&hellip;Right winger Mike Johnson was suspended two games for delivering an elbow to the head of Ottawa defenseman Janne Laukkanen April 7&hellip;With three games remaining, the Leafs needed one more victory to tie the franchise record for wins in a season. The 1992-93 Leafs had 44 victories&hellip;Goalie Curtis Joseph needed one more win to set a club mark for victories in a season by a goalie. He had 34 wins, tying him with Johnny Bower. Mike Palmateer and Felix Potvin&hellip; During center Yanic Perreault&rsquo;s four-goal game, he scored at even strength, shorthanded and on the power play. &#9632;

f0019-01

Perreault proving his worth in second stint with Leafs

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03605/7169649-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="433" height="584"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mattias Ohlund</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02907/7169656-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="200" height="190"></div>Will he ever learn?For the second straight season, Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; sophomore defenseman Mattias Ohlund sustained a concussion when nailed while cutting through the middle with his head down.A year ago, Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; captain Mike Peca knocked the Swede out for four games. This season it was San Jose Sharks&rsquo; hit man Bryan Marchment&rsquo;s turn. The hit occurred during the Sharks&rsquo; 5-2 victory over Vancouver April 3.&ldquo;I was hoping I could play a long time before my second concussion, but it&rsquo;s my second one in two years,&rdquo; said a disappointed Ohlund. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not too concerned because the one I have now is way better than how I was feeling last year at this point.&rdquo;Canucks&rsquo; captain Mark Messier, who has administered a few elbows during his career, figures Ohlund must do the same to send a message around the league.&ldquo;He has to take care of himself,&rdquo; Messier said. &ldquo;He has to set a precedent where if players hit him, they know they&rsquo;ve got to pay the price. Nobody&rsquo;s afraid to hit him because he doesn&rsquo;t protect himself. He doesn&rsquo;t get his stick up. He hasn t earned that respect.&rdquo;Coach Marc Crawford was in complete agreement with Messier.&ldquo;The people coming to lay the hits have to nav a price, too, and that price could be a couple of teeth,&rdquo; Crawford said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tough, violent sport at times and this is not the pretty part. I hesitate to say this because you have an affect on minor hockey-but this is not minor hockey. This is professional hockey where livelihoods are at stake.&rdquo;Added GM Brian Burke: &ldquo;If a guy is headhunting, you&rsquo;ve got to make him eat Sher-Wood.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Canucks will finish last in the Western Conference for the second straight season and almost certainly set a team record for fewest goals in a season. They had 184 with three games left. Their previous low was 203 during the 1971-72 campaign, which had a 78-game schedule&hellip;Goalie Kevin Weekes continued to search for win No. 1 after another pair of losses, 2-1 to Chicago and 6-1 to Detroit. Weekes is 0-8-1 as a Canuck and 0-13-2 lifetime&hellip; Center Robb Gordon and defenseman Brent Sopel made their NHL debuts after a rash of injuries sidelined six regulars plus earlier call-up, left winger Peter Schaefer&hellip; Vancouver has been shut out eight times, tying for second worst in franchise history. The record is 12, in 1971-72. &#9632;

f0019-03

Ohlund advised to fight fire with fire after concussion

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04464/7169687-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="195" height="198"></div>Ron Wilson calls it a flashback to the old days.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s old time hockey, that&rsquo;s all,&rdquo; said the coach of the Washington Capitals, referring to the play of some of his grizzled veterans as the team played out the final days of a disappointing season.While it is only the shell of the team that went to the Stanley Cup final last season, it was veterans such as Adam Oates and Brian Bellows who were holding this mongrel club together, providing the spark while some of the younger players were finding it hard to keep up the pace.&ldquo;We really don&rsquo;t have hope but pride is a good word,&rdquo; said Oates after the Caps beat the Florida Panthers for the second time in a week, putting a severe crimp in the Panthers&rsquo; post-season plans. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a hard situation. We brought it on ourselves, but it&rsquo;s still a hard situation. Now you&rsquo;re just counting down the games. I don&rsquo;t know how baseball guys do it when they&rsquo;re already out of it with 60 games left.&rdquo;With 17 goals, Bellows continued the drive he started in 1982 with the Minnesota North Stars, zeroing in on the 500-goal plateau. He has pulled to within 15 of that number, passing Darryl Sittier and taking aim at Norm Ullman, who is 29th on the all-time list with 490 goals.&ldquo;Those two guys have a lot of pride, they&rsquo;re true professionals, they come out and play hard every night,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;You either have that or you don&rsquo;t. You either have the will to compete or you don&rsquo;t. You can&rsquo;t teach people how to compete, if s just there, part of your personality.&rdquo;Except for the lockout-shortened season, Oates has had at least 50 assists every season since 1987-88, but had just 39 entering the final week of the season.Oates missed 23 games in the middle of the season with a groin injury and has been unable to make up the lost ground.NOTEBOOK: Sergei Gonchar became the first Caps&rsquo; defenseman since 1992-93 to score 20 goals in a season when he connected twice against Florida April 1. Three Caps-Kevin Hatcher (34), Al lafrate (25) and Sylvain Cote (21)-were critical parts of Washington&rsquo;s offense that season&hellip;Defenseman Brendan Witt returned to the lineup April 7 after missing four games to be with his seriously ill father in Saskatoon, Sask&hellip;The club is on course to surpass 500 man-games lost to injury for the season (plus at least 24 games lost to nonmedical causes), an average of more than six players out for every game. The team has topped the 1,500-man mark for mangames lost during the last four seasons. &#9632;

f0019-04

Veteran Caps keep plugging through storm

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>This was to be the year Ryan Johnson moved on, the year he proved to the Florida Panthers he was ready for full-time NHL duty.Instead, it has been the season to forget for the Beast of New Haven center. Literally.Four months after his head was slammed into the glass by Springfield Falcons&rsquo; defenseman Sean Gagnon, Johnson still has little recollection of the blow that gave him his second concussion of the season and forced him to miss 31 games.But at least he&rsquo;s back on the ice and showing he hasn&rsquo;t forgotten what to do with the puck. The third-year center, a second round pick by Florida in 1994, is trying to salvage what&rsquo;s left of the American League season and help New Haven secure a playoff berth.In a 10-game stretch, Johnson had five goals and 12 points. He&rsquo;s feeling normal again after a long bout with post-concussion syndrome.&ldquo;Last year was a big step, I played 10 games with Florida and was up for a couple weeks,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;This year I wanted to show I was more than an up-and-down player, I wanted to really establish myself.&ldquo;But incidents like these only make you stronger. I&rsquo;ve taken some pretty good hits since I&rsquo;ve been back and I found out I&rsquo;m fine.&rdquo;Johnson&rsquo;s troubles began in the first AHL game of the season, when he and a teammate started to crisscross entering the offensive zone but collided. The speedy center sustained a mild concussion and missed two weeks.Then on Nov. 25, Gagnon rode him out along the boards and drove his head into the glass. Gagnon was suspended for two games. Johnson missed two-and-a-half months.Johnson, 22, spent the night in the hospital, but knew he was far from healthy when he was discharged.&ldquo;I had headaches, dizziness, I was real disoriented,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Mornings were really bad. I&rsquo;d wake up and not be sure where I was.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011134/7169718-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="562" height="561"></div>Johnson&rsquo;s return has put some spark back into the New Haven attack. He led the Beast in assists (48) last season and was second in points with 67 in 64 games. He had two assists in 10 NHL games. This season he had six goals and 25 points in 34 games.NO POUTING: Peter Ferraro spent the first five-and-a-half months in the NHL with the Boston Bruins, scoring six goals and 14 points in 45 games, then was shipped off to Providence.But the fifth-year pro didn&rsquo;t whine about the reassignment, he just went out and produced.He scored 11 goals and 17 points in his first 11 games with Providence.&ldquo;I tell guys we don&rsquo;t have time for them to feel sorry for themselves, to just get your game in order and that&rsquo;s the quickest way back to the NHL,&rdquo; said Bruins&rsquo; coach Peter Laviolette.OVERCOMING SHORTCOMINGS: Despite being just 5-foot-5 and 160 pounds, Mike Omicioli thrived in the NCAA with Providence College, finishing third in career scoring for the Friars with 138 points.Omicioli joined the talent-stripped Portland Pirates for the final three weeks of the AHL season, commuting from Providence to play on an amateur tryout contract while still dealing with the classload of his senior year. He had two goals and an assist in his first four games.AHL TIDBITS: St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs&rsquo; goalie Marc Robitaille posted the first shutout of his career, stopping 30 shots in a 1-0 victory at Lowell April 3&hellip;Worcester IceCats&rsquo; first-year center Johan Hecht was the player of the week for the period ending April 4 after scoring four goals and seven points in three games. Hecht was the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; second round pick (49th overall) in 1995&hellip;Cincinnati Mighty Ducks&rsquo; goalie Tom Askey stopped 193 of 204 shots over a five-game span, helping the Mighty Ducks earn seven of a possible 10 points. &#9632;

f0020-01

Johnson back in fine form after concussion setbacks

<div class="byline">By Kevin lole</div>Long Beach Ice Dogs&rsquo; center Patrik Stefan, projected to be a top five pick in June&rsquo;s NHL entry draft, will miss the rest of the International League season and his career is in question following a serious concussion.Late in the first period of a March 31 game against the Las Vegas Thunder, Stefan, an 18-year-old Czech who has drawn comparisons to Pittsburgh superstar Jaromir Jagr, collided with Las Vegas center Kevin Kaminski.Stefan&rsquo;s head hit Kaminski&rsquo;s knee, seriously injuring both. Stefan had a Grade 2 concussion, his second of the year. Kaminski sustained a tom medial collateral ligament in his left knee and is also out for the year.Stefan sustained a conI cussion earlier this season in a game against the Houston Aeros that caused him to miss 38 games and more than two months. He played 33 games with Long Beach and scored 35 points and was a plus-8 while centering the team&rsquo;s top line.The latest concussion was his third in hockey.His agent, Rich Winter, acknowledged the seriousness of the injury and said every precaution was being taken to safeguard the potential star.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re waiting for doctors&rsquo; reports and right now, they&rsquo;re doing a series of assessments to determine the nature and extent of the damage he has incurred as a result of this concussion,&rdquo; Winter said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to take some time and we&rsquo;re going to have to see how he recovers.&rdquo;Kaminski said he saw Stefan take a pass and begin to skate up ice with his head down. Kaminski said he went to make a hit when, at the last moment, Stefan began to fall.As he lost his balance, Stefan&rsquo;s head hill Kaminski in the knee.&ldquo;I was going to give him the big hit and the next thing you know, I don&rsquo;t know whether their bench yelled or he toe-picked or bailed, but I couldn&rsquo;t get out of the way and he took out my knee,&rdquo; said Kaminski, who had been a key for Las Vegas&rsquo; playoff run.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02775/7169749-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="882" height="357"></div>Tampa Bay Lightning GM Jacques Demers said he felt Stefan would have been one of the few first-rounders ready to play in the NHL next season, though he said teams will tread cautiously because of the concussions.Long Beach GM John Van Boxmeer, on the other hand, said he doesn&rsquo;t think the injuries will hurt Stefan&rsquo;s draft standing.LALIME, MALTAIS HONORED: Former Pittsburgh Penguin Patrick Lalime has played virtually every night for Kansas City and single-handedly lifted the Blades into the playoffs.Lalime was named the league&rsquo;s March goaltender of the month after going 10-3-1 with a 2.92 goals-against average and .911 save percentage.Lalime set a franchise record with his 35th win April 3. He had started 17 games and lead the league in games, wins, saves and minutes, and is second in shootout wins.Chicago Wolves&rsquo; winger Steve Maltais was player of the month for March. He had 12 goals and 18 points in 14 games and was a plus-11 in that span. Since joining the Wolves in the 199495 season, Maltais has surpassed the 50-goal plateau four times and his 271 goals from that time through April 5 was the most in the league.CENTURY VIPERS: So what else is new? The Detroit Vipers went over the 100-point plateau. The Vipers have surpassed century mark in each of their five seasons in the league, making them the only team in hockey history to earn 100 points in each of its first five seasons.The Vipers have already clinched the best record in the East, going 46-19-10 through April 5 for 102 points. Detroit has been to the Turner Cup Finals in each of the previous two seasons and won it in 1997, which may make coach Steve Ludzik a hot commodity on the NHL coaching market in the summer. &#9632;

f0020-02

Prime NHL draft prospect sidelined with concussion

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>If you&rsquo;re putting together an expansion team, it helps if you can call on your hockey-playing brother. Especially if he winds up as the leading scorer on a club that finishes with a 45-20-5 record, third best in the East Coast League.That&rsquo;s what Florida Everblades&rsquo; coach Bob Ferguson did and it helped earn him ECHL coach-of-the-year honors.Left winger Tim Ferguson, 32, led the Everblades with 33 goals and 69 points, in addition to providing leadership in the locker room.&ldquo;He had been in Europe for eight years,&rdquo; said coach Ferguson. &ldquo;We were looking for some veteran leadership with a young team, so you turn to somebody you know and trust.&ldquo;I knew what he was going to give us from the leadership standpoint and work ethic, and I&rsquo;ve been very happy with what he has done for us offensively. He played in 67 of our 70 games and was a key part of nearly all of them.&rdquo;Coach Ferguson also molded together the toughest defense in the ECHL, thanks to the goaltending of Marc Magliarditi (32-10-3 record and 2.27 goals-against average) and Randy Petruk (13-10-2 and 2.75), and a squad that set a league record for lowest goals-against (2.57 per game) while allowing just 26.3 shots a game.&ldquo;My philosophy is that goaltending makes coaches good and I&rsquo;ve got two that made us pretty successful,&rdquo; said Ferguson, who became Florida&rsquo;s coach and director of operations after three seasons as coach of the International League&rsquo;s Indianapolis Ice.&ldquo;Our goaltending and overall team defense has been consistent all season. There were stretches when goals were hard to come by, but we relied on our goaltenders to get us 2-1 and 3-2 victories.&rdquo;The Everblades, who finished second in the Southeast Division, also set a league mark for road wins (22) by a first-year franchise, despite starting the year with 13 straight road games.Meanwhile, Chris Valicevic of the Louisiana IceGators was the first defenseman named MVP in league history. He was also chosen defenseman of the year for the fourth straight time. Despite going scoreless in his last seven games of the regular season, the 30-year-old finished third in scoring with 92 points. He had 72 assists in 70 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01897/7169780-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="566" height="595"></div>Valicevic was also named first-team defenseman on the all-star squad for the fourth consecutive season, becoming the first player to be selected to four straight allstar teams.Richmond Renegades&rsquo; netminder Maxime Gingras, who edged Magliarditi for the lowest GAA (2.26), added goaltender-of-the-year honors to his rookie-of-the-year award. Louisiana center John Spoltore won the scoring title with 109 points. The 27-year-old was the lone player to pass the 100-point mark.DONE DEAL: The ECHL&rsquo;s board of governors approved the suspension of both the Chesapeake Icebreakers and Miami Matadors for 1999-2000. Each team must decide whether to relocate or reopen at the same venue in time for the 2000-2001 season, and the decision must be approved by the governors.Earlier, the Columbus Chill franchise was granted suspension for next season because an NHL team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, will begin play in 2000-2001 in the Ohio city.MURPHY&rsquo;S LAW: Louisiana broke the league record for shorthanded goals in a season by scoring 24 times with a man disadvantage. The previous mark was 22. Right winger Jay Murphy scored 11 of those goals, tying the league record set last year by Jamey Hicks of the Birmingham Bulls.Murphy had more shorthanded goals himself than 18 teams. If Murphy had scored once more, the IceGators would have become the first team in history with six 30-goal scorers.John Varga (39), Spoltore (36), Don Parsons (34), Mike Murray (31), Louis Dumont (30) and Murphy (29) helped make Louisiana the most prolific team (4.2 goals per game) in the ECHL. &#9632;

f0021-01

Brotherly love Blades’ secret to success

<div class="byline">By Brendan Savage and Dave Henry</div>Quad City Mallards&rsquo; right winger Kevin Kerr became the 10th player in minor pro hockey history to score 500 career goals and he&rsquo;s not through yet.Kerr, who is the United League&rsquo;s all-time leader in goals with 339 in six seasons, scored the milestone goal in a 5-0 triumph over the Port Huron Border Cats March 26.The 12-year veteran spent five years with the Flint Generals before joining Quad City early this season after a brief stint in the East Coast League.&ldquo;I wanted to do it in Flint, but when I didn&rsquo;t, it didn&rsquo;t bother me too much,&rdquo; Kerr told The Quad City Times. &ldquo;I knew it would come and I&rsquo;m happy it came here (in Quad City) where the people have treated me so well.&rdquo;Kerr, who has also played in the American and International Leagues, is second among active minor leaguers behind Jock Callander of the Cleveland Lumberjacks (IHL). Callander had 527 goals when Kerr scored his 500th. The career leader is Scott Gruhl with 666.Kerr had a UHL-record five straight 50-goal seasons before finishing with 31 this year. He auctioned off the milestone puck and raised $5,000 to go towards a local youth stricken with meningitis.NOTEBOOK: Muskegon ended Quad City&rsquo;s two-year reign as regular-season champion by beating the Saginaw Gears March 30 for its club-record 50th victory&hellip;Thunder Bay center Jason Firth, last season&rsquo;s MVP, recorded his first 50-goal season and totaled 141 points to end Paul Polillo&rsquo;s five-year reign as scoring champion&hellip;Muskegon, Quad City and Thunder Bay all topped the 100-point plateau, marking the first time in UHL history three teams have done that in the same season&hellip;Quad City defenseman Brian Lafleur was plus-7 in a season-ending 12-1 victory over the Mohawk Valley Prowlers to tie the UHL record of plus-63 set by Thunder Bay&rsquo;s Brian Downey in 1993-94&hellip;A fighting major March 26 against the Binghamton Icemen put Mohawk Valley tough guy Serge Roberge over the 3,000 mark in career penalty minutes&hellip;Muskegon&rsquo;s average attendance of 3,638 set an all-time record for that city dating back to its IHL days&hellip;Saginaw went 0-18-1 in its final 19 games to set a UHL futility record.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02519/7169818-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="553" height="259"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03301/7169811-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="465" height="321"></div>WESTERN PRO LEAGUE: After receiving a vote of confidence from his players, Fort Worth Brahmas&rsquo; coach Terry Menard returned to the bench for the playoffs following a brief three-game return to his glory days.A pair of late-season injuries prompted Menard to return to the ice. Brahmas&rsquo; principal owner and former NHL goalie Andy Moog took over on the bench.Fort Worth defeated the two-time defending league champion El Paso Buzzards 2-1 in a first round playoff series, then swept the Abilene Aviators, owners of the second-best regular season record, in four games. The Brahmas face the San Angelo Outlaws in the Western final.Moog went 3-0 before Menard returned to the bench.NEW OWNERS IN AUSTIN: The Austin Ice Bats, the biggest draw in the WPHL for two of the last three years, were sold to Houston firm K&J Ice Ltd., March 24.The Austin Hockey Group, Inc., comprised of Dr. Dan Hart, Ed Novess, Blaine Stoughton and Paul Lawless, sold the franchise for an unspecified sum.Austin was second in attendance, drawing 4,909 fans a game, just behind the Shreveport Mudbugs who led the league with 4,910&ldquo;We felt as a group that this was the best way to promote the continued growth and success of &rsquo; the franchise and to ensure that pro hockey continues to thrive in Austin,&rdquo; Hart said.NOTEBOOK: The Lake Charles Ice Pirates reached the Eastern finals against the Shreveport Muaougs in record-setting fashion. Lake Charles routed the Corpus Christi IceRays 9-0 April 1. The lopsided win set post-season records for largest goal differential and most goals by one team in a single game&hellip;Shreveport set league records for most wins in a season (47) and points (99)&hellip;Arkansas GlacierCats wingers Tim Findlay and Ryan Pawluk both had more than 100 points, combining for 210&hellip;San Angelo Outlaws&rsquo; winger Carl Boudreau repeated as scoring champion with 118 points&hellip;Seven of the 17 WPHL teams averaged more than 4,000 fans a game. &#9632;

f0021-02

Veteran Quad City winger joins select 500-goal club

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03508/7169856-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg"></div>One NHL team admits it made a mistake at last year&rsquo;s entry draft.&ldquo;Sometimes we outsmart ourselves. What the hell are we doing when we miss a guy like this?&rdquo; said the team&rsquo;s scouting director, asking not to be identified.The &ldquo;guy&rdquo; is London Knights&rsquo; right winger Tom Kostopou-los.&ldquo;I can dam well promise you he&rsquo;ll be drafted (June 26 in Boston),&rdquo; said the scout.Kostopoulos, who turned 20 in January, established himself as the early star of the Knights&rsquo; Ontario League Western Conference semifinal with the Plymouth Whalers, scoring all three goals in a 3-2 overtime win in Game 2 on April 6. The Knights took a 2-1 series lead over the regular season champions after winning the opener 3-2 in overtime.The Whalers tied the OHL mark for the second-most points in a season (106) and finished 34 ahead of London.Kostopoulos led his team in playoff scoring with six goals and 13 points after being the MVP of the quarterfinal against the Sarnia Sting. He was second on the Knights in the regular season with 27 goals and 87 points. And those numbers come from a grinder.The scout said his team discussed drafting Kostopoulos in the later rounds last year, but the concern was his skating.&ldquo;He has taken care of that,&rdquo; the scout said. &ldquo;The kid&rsquo;s just a hockey player. He deserves the chance.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the type of kid who just doesn&rsquo;t get written out of the play,&rdquo; said Knights&rsquo; coach Gary Agnew. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not going to go coast to coast and dazzle. He&rsquo;s going to battle to score the goal.&rdquo;A LITTLE KNIGHT MUSIC: Her record doesn&rsquo;t yet rival the late Kate Smith and her God Bless America good-luck charm for the Philadelphia Flyers, but London Knights&rsquo; anthem singer Judy Von had a 15-game winning streak. Von, sister of NHL referee Don Van Massenhoven, is a country and western singer and has been singing the anthems at the Ice House for three years. Van Massenhoven owes his NHL career to his sister.When Judy played hockey as a teen, the girls&rsquo; league required each team to supply a referee. Judy&rsquo;s father &ldquo;volunteered&rdquo; Don and a whistle-tooter was born.DIRTY SERIES: Barrie Colts&rsquo; right winger Sheldon Keefe was suspended two games after high-sticking forward Jonah Leroux of the Oshawa Generals in the mouth during Barrie&rsquo;s 52 win April 6 in an Eastern Conference semifinal game. More suspensions followed two nights later when the two teams racked up 228 penalty minutes, including 156 in the first period, in a 8-1 Barrie victory. Generals&rsquo; defenseman TJ. Reynolds was given five games for striking Colts&rsquo; center Tim Verbeek in the head while fellow defenseman Trevor Gillies was given four games for spearing Colts&rsquo; left winger Michael Christian.<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2>HIGHLIGHTS (April 2-8): Barrie&rsquo;s power play connected six times in Game 3 and was 10 for 20 in the series against Oshawa&hellip;Belleville&rsquo;s Glenn Crawford scored at 1:19 of overtime in Game 4 to put the Bulls ahead 3-1&hellip;Adam Cologiacomo and Harold Druken scored two goals each for Plymouth in Game 3 against London.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011025/7169849-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="774" height="894"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ryan McGill knows expectations will be high next year for the Ice</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0022-03

Undrafted Knight making scouts kick themselves

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04342/7169894-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg"></div>The Ice disappeared in the spring, but without its customary meltdown.The Kootenay Ice extended the powerful Calgary Hitmen to seven games in a first round Western League playoff series before bowing out in the deciding game. Calgary finished 43 points ahead of Kootenay and won the WHL regular season title.Tm not taking anything away from Calgary, but playoffs are a different season.&rdquo; said Koote nay coach Ryan McGill, whose team was seeded eighth for the Eastern Conference J quarterfinal. &ldquo;I knew going in that if we played BESjsjl hard. we&rsquo;d give ourselves a chance.&rdquo;Kootenay won two of the first three games and was undefeated at home in the series. The team&rsquo;s excitement was tempered by a seasonending 8-3 loss to Calgary before 12,957 fans April 2 in Calgary.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t play as well as we could until the seventh game,&rdquo; said Calgary coach Dean Clark.&rsquo; &ldquo;It was probably a good wake-up for us.&rdquo;&rdquo; &hellip; Kootenay had a 30-35-7 regular season record, expectations Calgary was 51-13-8. The Ice-a third-year franchise-had not made the playoffs until this season.Owner Ed Chynoweth transferred the team from Edmonton to Cranbrook, B.C., last June.&ldquo;The expectations for our organization will be high next year and rightfully so,&rdquo; McGill said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be our fourth year.&rdquo;PLAYOFF PISTOLS: Calgary left winger Pavel Brendl amassed six goals-including an overtime winner-during the first two games of an Eastern semifinal against the Red Deer Rebels.Brendl struck in OT April 6, to give Calgary t 4-3 victory. One night earlier, he scored Calgary&rsquo;s first four goals in a 6-3 win.Prince Albert Raiders&rsquo; left winger Marc Brown had five goals after two games of an Eastern semifinal against the Moose Jaw Warriors.RED-HOT RAIDERS: Brown&rsquo;s Raiders won its first six playoff games of 1999, outscoring opponents 35-9. Prince Albert (45-22-5) is atoning for last season&rsquo;s 20-47-5 slate.&ldquo;Last year was pretty disappointing,&rdquo; Brown recalled. &ldquo;I was traded by Spokane, which was going to the Memorial Cup (as the host team), and went to a last-place team. That was tough.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Kamloops Blazers earned a bye into the Western Conference final after eliminating the Kelowna Rockets in the first round. The break will allow Blazers&rsquo; defenseman Robyn Regehr to fully recover from a concussion&hellip;The Portland Winter Hawks-defending Memorial Cup champions-were ousted in the first round by the Tri-City Americans. Portland was outscored 19-8 and outshot 189-104.<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2>HIGHLIGHTS (April 2-8): Seattle, with MVP Cody Rudkowsky in goal, blanked Prince George 6-0 to win Game 7. Prince George, which fought back from 2-0 and 3-1 series deficits, was outshot 58-32&hellip;Prince Albert won the first three games against Moose Jaw, outscoring the Warriors 16-3. Evan Lindsay had a shutout in Game 3 to lower his average to 1.29.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02716/7169887-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="781" height="898"><figcaption class="caption-body">Star goaltender Roberto Luongo helped the Titan knock off Halifax</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0022-04

Ice cool down sizzling Hitmen, but lose Game 7

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01917/7169956-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Maine forwards Ben Guite and Marcus Gustafsson put pressure on New Hampshire goalie Ty Conklin.</figcaption></div>It wasn&rsquo;t an easy road back to the top for Maine, but junior goalie Alfie Michaud put the breaks on the Black Bears&rsquo; winding fortunes.When sanctions were being levied on Maine for a variety of NCAA violations over a prolonged period of time, it would have been understandable if Michaud had changed his mind about attending the school.Recruiters from other schools began calling the Michaud household in Selkirk, Man., again.&ldquo;But my dad (Alfred Sr.) told me I had given Maine my word and you don&rsquo;t go back on your word,&rdquo; Alfie, Jr., recalled. &ldquo;He said &rsquo;Be a man and face facts. And go to that school. They&rsquo;re a great program and you&rsquo;ll win there.&rsquo; &ldquo;Thanks to the scintillating goaltending of his son, Alfred Michaud Sr. proved to be prophetic as Maine&rsquo;s 3-2 overtime win over New Hampshire April 3 gave the Black Bears their second NCAA championship-six years to the day after its first title.Michaud stopped 81 of 84 shots in the tournament, including a 2-1 overtime win over Boston College two days before, to earn him Frozen Four most valuable player accolades.And it was only fitting that seniors Bobby Stewart and Marcus Gustafsson score the respective overtime winners.Maine&rsquo;s five seniors had never played in an NCAA tournament. School-and NCAA-imposed sanctions prevented them from playing in the NCAA tournament their first two seasons, and a sub-par regular season followed by a heart-breaking 3-2 loss to eventual NCAA runner-up Boston College in the Hockey East title game last year kept them out of the NCAAs.Maine was 26-9-4 and 24-10-1 in the seniors&rsquo; first two seasons which certainly would have qualified the Bears for the NCAA tourney.&ldquo;This title makes up for it, no question about it,&rdquo; Stewart said. &ldquo;We had one chance to do it and we capitalized on it. This was awesome.&rdquo;Michaud said it was their leadership throughout the season that paved the way for the championship.&ldquo;What those guys have been through has been unbelievable,&rdquo; Michaud said. &ldquo;This was their only chance. And they came to play. When you looked into their eyes, you saw the burning desire and how badly they wanted it. They&rsquo;d cut off their arms to win this.&rdquo;None of this was lost on Maine coach Shawn Walsh.&ldquo;I leaned on the senior class for leadership more than any senior group I&rsquo;ve had and they came through,&rdquo; said Walsh, who was suspended a year for a number of violations since the late 1980s, including using ineligible players, illegal-NCAA recruiting, and extra benefits supplied to players.&ldquo;I made mistakes,&rdquo; Walsh admitted. &ldquo;I hope I&rsquo;ve rewarded (the school for sticking with me).&rdquo;The Bears had to overcome one adversity after another all season.&#9633; Only six players appeared in all 41 games because of injuries and the World Junior Championship over the Christmas holiday.&#9633; In February, popular equipment manager Dick Britt was killed in a freak accident at his home. A Maine hockey sweater with his name on it and the No. 99 was on the bench at all times.&#9633;. The team entered the NCAA tournament as the Eastern Regional&rsquo;s third seed after losing three of its previous five games.&#9633; Tenacious checking-line center Brendan Walsh, who was playing on a broken patella in his left knee held together by screws, re-fractured the patella in the first period of the Boston College game in Anaheim.But the close-knit Bears, featuring players from five different countries, overcame his loss and persevered.&ldquo;I thought we had a pretty good club,&rdquo; said Walsh, who has coached Maine for 15 years. &ldquo;But I was never convinced of how good we were. I was always petrified of upcoming opponents.&rdquo;New Hampshire wrestled the regular season title from Maine by sweeping the Bears on the last weekend of the season. Boston College defeated Maine in the Hockey East semifinal.The Bears held their four NCAA tournament opponents to just seven goals while scoring 18 themselves.And that was attained with two fresh-men (Doug Janik and Peter Metcalf) and two converted sophomore forwards (Anders Lundback and A.J. Begg) on the blueline.Michaud stopped 121 of 128 shots in the four-game tournament, including 46 in the championship game. New Hampshire goalie Ty Conklin, who made 36 stops himself, called Michaud&rsquo;s performance &ldquo;unbelieveable.&rdquo;&ldquo;That was the best performance by a goalie against us all season, especially considering the magnitude of the game,&rdquo; Conklin said.Michaud, who wasn&rsquo;t even chosen as an all-Hockey East honorable mention, said he maintained a &ldquo;second-by-second&rdquo; focus this season and worked on sharpening up his positonal play.&ldquo;I had my hills and valleys the first two years,&rdquo; Michaud said. &ldquo;But I relaxed this year and everything fell into place at the right time.&rdquo;Michaud had a 28-6-3 record, 2.32 goals-against average and .910 save percentage.The Bears entered the year with just one player, right winger Steve Kariya, who had scored more than 15 goals in a season.But they finished the year with three scoring more than 20 goals and seven who had at least 10 goals.&ldquo;We had a bunch of grinders who didn&rsquo;t give up,&rdquo; said junior center Ben Guite. &ldquo;And the freshmen manned very quickly.&rdquo;Maine had just 16 scholarships, two fewer than the maximum allowed by the NCAA, because of the sanctions.&ldquo;We may not have had three superstars, but everybody contributed,&rdquo; Stewart said.Maine had two first-team Eastern all Americas in semors Kanya and defenseman David Cullen.Their role players came through time and time again and the coaching staff made smart tactical decisions, like shadowing New Hampshire linemates and scoring machines Jason Krog, the Hobey Baker Award winner, and fresh man Darren Haydar, after the first period of the final. The Krog line, including Mike Souza, attempted 17 shots in the first period, but was held to 17 over the remainder of the game.&ldquo;They did a real good job on our line,&rdquo; Haydar said.Meanwhile, the winner came off the stick of Gustafsson, who admitted to being discouraged after playing in only one game his freshman season at Maine in 1994-95. Maine lost to Boston University 6-2 in the NCAA final that year.Gustafsson returned to Sweden to serve his mandatory year in the military.&ldquo;That helped me a lot with my selfdiscipline. I believed in myself and wanted to redeem myself when I came back. I wanted to show people I could be a better player than I was my freshman year. I think I did,&rdquo; said Gustafsson who converted his own rebound 10:50 into overtime.Coach Walsh said this team didn&rsquo;t have the talent of the 1992-93 team, which featured Steve&rsquo;s older brother, freshman Hobey Baker Award winner Paul Kariya.&ldquo;This team was quieter. It had to do all the little things. There wasn&rsquo;t a big margin for error,&rdquo; Walsh said.Despite the two-year ban from NCAA play, Maine is still one of only two teams (along with Boston University) that has appeared in three national finals over the last seven years. &#9632;

f0023-01

The Maine event

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01891/7170001-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01975/7169994-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="9080" height="5263"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01974/7169987-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="4569" height="5263"></div> &#9632;

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NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02582/7170070-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01957/7170063-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="9075" height="5263"></div> &#9632;

f0031-02

NHL GAME SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01974/7170101-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL ROSTERS AND TRANSACTIONS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01918/7170132-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="S0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0002-0135/7170246-1-eng-US/s0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Look for Steve Yzerman to again get his hands on the Stanley Cup.</figcaption></div>There are two reasons to consider not kicking the Detroit Red Wings to win i third consecutive Stanley Cup.One, the Colorado Avalanche. Fwo, the Dallas Stars. In that order.Because, assuming there are no apsets in the Western Conference playoffs, the Avs and Stars are major obstacles standing between Detroit and the first Cup three-peat since the New York Islanders won four straight from 1980 through 1983.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tough road, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; said Detroit GM Ken Holland.Tough? That doesn&rsquo;t begin to describe what it will take to be the best in the West. No team, with the exception of Colorado, faces as difficult a path to get to the final, never mind win it, as the Wings.But then no team is as well equipped to handle it as the Wings, who for the fourth time in five years are The Hockey News&rsquo; pick to win it all.It won&rsquo;t be easy. In fact, it will be the Wings&rsquo; most difficult run yet.In each of the past two years, Dallas and Colorado have been victims of first round upsets (both at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers). That meant Detroit had to beat only one of them en route to the Cup.The forecast this year, though, is for Detroit and Colorado to meet in the second round of the playoffs, with the battered winner having to face the President Trophy-winning Stars in the conference final.Nothing in the Eastern Conference can compare to that gauntlet. The only way one of the legitimate Eastern con-tenders-the Ottawa Senators, New Jersey Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs-will win the Cup is if the Western rep leaves its game in the conference final.What makes this year&rsquo;s Western race so special is the three contenders are arguably better then they&rsquo;ve ever been.The Stars haven&rsquo;t significantly altered their roster, aside from the addition of Brett Hull, but they have added some speed at the bottom end of their lineup and most assuredly are mentally tougher, physically healthier and more acutely aware of what it takes to win in the playoffs now than they were in each of the past two years. The Stars are the contender best equipped to win the tight 2-1 or 3-2 game. They&rsquo;re led by a six-man defensive corps (Derian Hatcher, Richard Matvichuk, Sergei Zubov, Darryl Sydor, Shawn Chambers and Craig Ludwig) that is second to none.Colorado, with rookie coach Bob Hartley, has added dynamic Theo Fleury to the most talented group of forwards in the league (Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Claude Lemieux, Adam Deadmarsh and rookies Chris Drury and Milan Hejduk) to go along with the most imposing playoff netminder (Patrick Roy). The Avs are the contender best equipped to blow the doors off an opponent.But the Wings are the contender best equipped to beat any team, including the Stars and Avs, at their own game.Prior to the trading deadline, this wasn&rsquo;t the case. But the addition of defensemen Chris Chelios and Ulf Samuelsson and tive wins immediately after Holland&rsquo;s deadline deals was no mirage.At this time of the year, one never likes to put too much stock in what happens during the final weeks of the regular season, but those eight consecutive wins immediately after Holland&rsquo;s deadline deals was no mirage.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0002-0218/7170239-1-eng-US/s0002-022.jpg" title="S0002-02" width="423" height="561"></div>The moves not only gave the Wings more depth and an awesome addition of grit, it gave them a renewed reason to believe in themselves, which was clearly wavering.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s any question (the trades) got the attention of our other players,&rdquo; Holland said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s more competition for icetime and positions. I think that between us not replacing some players who left (Slava Fetisov, Bob Rouse, Mike Knuble) and injuries to others (Uwe Krupp, Brent Gilchrist), our players in the lineup found a com fort level. If they were healthy, they were playing. These deals have given us our depth back and given everyone a bit of a jolt.&rdquo;No team, not even the Avs, has four multi-purpose lines as good as the Wings: Steve Yzerman between Tomas Holmstrom and Brendan Shanahan. Sergei Fedorov between Doug Brown and Wendel Clark. Igor Larionov between Slava Kozlov and Martin Lapointe. Kris Draper between Kirk Maltby and Darren McCarty. Although these combinations have been juggled, each of those lines can score. Each of them can grind. They have speed, skill and savvy.On the blueline, Krupp is likely gone for the year, but the Wings still boast a top four of Nicklas Lidstrom, Chelios, Larry Murphy and Samuelsson, with Todd Gill, Jamie Macoun and Mathieu Dandenault for depth. The Wings&rsquo; grit factor has gone through the roof.&ldquo;Guys like Chelios and Samuelsson can play a role that we haven&rsquo;t filled since we lost (Vladimir Konstantinov),&rdquo; said coach Scotty Bowman.: After last year&rsquo;s win, the questions about Chris Osgood&rsquo;s goaltending have subsided.; All in all, the deepest team in the league is even deeper. Most importantly, though, they&rsquo;ve found a reason to believe. In the year of their first win, the motivation was to simply prove they could do it. Last year, the limousine accident was their inspiration. There was no identifiable hook this season and without it, the Wings were foundering in mediocrity.&ldquo;You could see that they had lost their focus,&rdquo; said a rival coach, who requested anonymity. &ldquo;They just didn&rsquo;t have it. The (deadline) deals got them excited, got them re-focused. Management said, &rsquo;This means a lot to us, we&rsquo;re doing everything possible to win, are you?&rsquo; Now, they&rsquo;re on a mission again.&rdquo;They&rsquo;ll have to be.The Avalanche team that lost in the first round last year bears no resemblance to this year&rsquo;s much-improved unit. And the Stars would like to think they won&rsquo;t experience the misfortune of losing a key cog such as Joe Nieuwendyk this time around.&ldquo;The thing I really like about our team is how resilient we&rsquo;ve become,&rdquo; said Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock. &ldquo;We have a clearer understanding of how hard it is to win and what&rsquo;s required to get it done.&rdquo;Trouble is, no team understands that better than the Red Wings, who have greater depth and the dimension to beat any team at any type of game.On paper, Colorado presents the most imposing lineup, but on the ice, it&rsquo;s difficult to bet against the new and improved defending Cup champions.<h2>THN ODD&rsquo;S</h2>THN odds for winning the Stanley Cup were posted April 8 when 17 teams remained in the NHL playoff picture. They fall into five levels: Sure Shot: No. 1; Hot Shots: Nos. 2-3; Good Shots: Nos. 4-6; Long Shots: No. 7-9; Shots in the Dark: Nos. 1015; and No Shots: 16-17.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0002-036/7170232-1-eng-US/s0002-032.jpg" title="S0002-03" width="718" height="2730"></div> &#9632;

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EASY AS 1-2-3

It&rsquo;s reigning again.Thanks in large part to the dizzying deals they made at the NHL&rsquo;s trading deadline, the Detroit Red Wings are poised to become the first team to win three consecutive Stanley Cups since the New York Islanders accomplished the feat in the early 1980s.Of course, while the Wings are The Hockey News&rsquo; pick to win it all again in 1999, they face plenty of stiff competition, particularly from within their own conference. The Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars are ranked second and third respectively in our exclusive odds section.Here&rsquo;s what you will find about the 17 teams who had clinched playoff berths or were still in contention as of April 8.&#9633; Team profiles include each club&rsquo;s odds of winning the Cup, Primary Strengths and Crucial Weaknesses, and THN Outlook.&#9633; Profiles of two key players from darkhorse teams. Featured are Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; center Jeremy Roenick (the star you know) and New Jersey Devils&rsquo; right winger Petr Sykora (the star you don&rsquo;t know).&#9633; Detailed team-by-team personnel breakdowns, including Depth Charts, Significant Injuries, Wild Card and Key Player selections and which players coaches will count on most when the ice chips are down.&#9633; Jay Greenberg reflects on how the Philadelphia Flyers will cope without captain Eric Lindros.&#9633; A look at the playoff TV schedule and a glance back at last year&rsquo;s post-season.The NHL playoffs begin Wed., April 21, and could run as late as Tues., June 22 if the final opens as scheduled June 8 and goes seven games. The final could begin earlier depending on when Conference finals are completed. &#9632;

Your guide to our special post-season section

<h2>No. 1 DETROIT RED WINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0004-0132/7170420-1-eng-US/s0004-012.jpg" title="S0004-01" width="331" height="288"></div>Primary Strengths Depth. No team has four lines that can score and grind like the Wings. Foot soldiers Tomas Holmstrom and Martin Lapointe had as many game-winning goals (four each) as Steve Yzerman. The Wings&rsquo; top four defense can play it any way. Crucial Weaknesses The Wings&rsquo; vaunted defensive play never materialized this season, but injuries and lack of depth were factors. The trade-deadline flurry fixed that. THN Outlook As long as netminder Chris Osgood does his job, as he did last spring, the rejuvenated Wings with Chris Chelios, Wendel Clark and company have to be considered odds-on favorites to win their third straight Cup. This is the grittiest the Wings have been since Vladimir Konstantinov was in the lineiin.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0004-0214/7170413-1-eng-US/s0004-022.jpg" title="S0004-02" width="330" height="286"></div><h2>No. 2 COLORADO AVALANCHE</h2>Primary Strengths The Avs have unrivaled pure offense and skill, led by Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Theo Fleury, Claude Lemieux. Adam Deadmarsh and rookies Chris Drury and Milan Hejduk, plus Sandis Ozolinsh from the point. Playoff warhorse Patrick Roy was rounding into form. Crucial Weaknesses Inconsistent defensive execution. Third-most penalized team in NHL and penalty killing, especially at home, is ragged. Susceptible to giving up shorthanded goals (11, second only to Pittsburgh). THN Outlook If there&rsquo;s a team that can knock off the Red Wings and win it all, it&rsquo;s the Avalanche. The consensus is that if they fire on all cylinders, they can take their game to a level beyond that of any other team, including Detroit, but they are vulnerable to defensive breakdowns.<h2>No. 3 DALLAS STARS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0004-038/7170406-1-eng-US/s0004-032.jpg" title="S0004-03" width="333" height="288"></div>Primary Strengths The NHL&rsquo;s premier defensive team is led by the league&rsquo;s best six-man blueline unit, which is also capable of generating offense. Extremely disciplined, effective special teams, the Stars are best suited to winning low-scoring games. Crucial Weaknesses Team speed is only fair, compared to Detroit and Colorado, and there is a distinct lack of production from the left wing. There is a concern that if Detroit and Colorado kick it in into overdrive, the Stars don&rsquo;t have the offensive guns to hit that extra gear. Until netminder Ed Belfour wins it all, there&rsquo;ll be questions, but goaltending isn&rsquo;t really a liability at all. THN Outlook The Stars are clearly capable of winning it all and may benefit if Detroit and Colorado beat each other up in the second round. This is a better team than last year&rsquo;s.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0004-044/7170399-1-eng-US/s0004-042.jpg" title="S0004-04" width="332" height="293"></div><h2>No. 4 OTTAWA SENATORS</h2>Primary Strengths The Senators are well coached and play a patient trapping game that frustrates their foes. Team speed is excellent, their transition is to be feared and so is a balanced attack led by budding superstar Alexei Yashin. The Sens were the only team to be top five all season long in goals for and against. Crucial Weaknesses Can a team that platoons its goalies truly contend? Weak on faceoffs. When the going gets tough, there&rsquo;s some concern the NHL&rsquo;s least penalized team can deal with it. THN Outlook The Sens&rsquo; speed and solid two-way approach, with excellent team chemistry, suggest this team is for real, although now they become the hunted instead of the hunter for a first round upset. Though they are the least penalized, they&rsquo;re not passive in body contact or paying the price.<h2>No. 5 NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0004-052/7170392-1-eng-US/s0004-052.jpg" title="S0004-05" width="331" height="298"></div>Primary Strengths The Devils&rsquo; attack, much improved under Robbie Ftorek, is the most diverse in the league-13 players scored in double digits-and the No. 1 unit of Petr Sykora between Patrik Elias and Jason Arnott is dynamic. New Jersey also thrives playing on the road (No. 1 in the league) Crucial Weaknesses Foot speed is a concern on a veteran defense that is under the gun more now that the Devils are playing a more offensive style. Martin Brodeur&rsquo;s goaltending should be a strength, but he has been out-goaled now in consecutive playoff years. THN Outlook If Brodeur re-discovers his &rsquo;A&rsquo; game in the playoffs, New Jersey should benefit from the new emphasis on offense and it&rsquo;s not unreasonable to believe the Devils have what it takes to get to the Cup final.<h2>No. 6 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0005-0211/7170385-1-eng-US/s0005-022.jpg" title="S0005-02" width="330" height="296"></div>Primary Strengths Offense and goaltending. Believe it or not, the Leafs have the No. I attack in the league. Its success is founded on quick puck movement and supreme confidence in netminder Curtis Joseph, who doesn&rsquo;t have the numbers to prove it, but is arguably the top goalie in the league this season. Crucial Weaknesses Toronto has the worst goals-against average of any playoff team, the power play is poor and penalty killing is even worse. The Leafs have a losing record within the Eastern Conference. THN Outlook The numbers suggest the Leafs won&rsquo;t succeed in the playoffs, but there&rsquo;s an indefinable quality to this team that suggests they may be a team of destiny this season. Certainly, Joseph gives them a chance to beat any Eastern foe. Be wary of Toronto.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0005-0132/7170378-1-eng-US/s0005-012.jpg" title="S0005-01" width="330" height="298"></div><h2>No. 7 BUFFALO SABRES</h2>Primary Strengths Though he struggled at times in the second half and ran into injury problems, the Dominik Hasek factor cannot be discounted. He&rsquo;s special and could be good enough to win a series all I by himself. Buffalo allowed the second-most shots I on goal this season and had the second-best GAA. Crucial Weaknesses The Sabres didn&rsquo;t have anyone among the top 25 scorers and despite trading for help in the form of Stu Barnes and Joe Juneau (one goal between them in 17 games) still couldn&rsquo;t ignite their offense. THN Outlook The Sabres came close to getting to the Cup final last spring and no one should be shocked were they to take another run at it this year, but all signs point to this team not being on the right track this time.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0005-08/7170371-1-eng-US/s0005-082.jpg" title="S0005-08" width="323" height="291"></div><h2>No. 8 PHOENIX COYOTES</h2>Primary Strengths The Coyotes have the personnel to play a bruising, physical game. When healthy and rested, which it wasn&rsquo;t for the second half of the season, their defense is skilled and mobile. Netminder Nikolai Khabibulin is capable of playoff heroics. Crucial Weaknesses In spite of having Keith Tkachuk, Jeremy Roenick and Rick Tocchet up front and Oleg Tverdovsky, Teppo Numminen and Jyrki Lumme on defense, the Coyotes snuggled to score goals this season and their power play was better than only Carolina. THN Outlook After a torrid start, the Coyotes were basically a .500 team, but as long as they stay healthy, they have the big-play personnel that concern many of the top contenders. Not an easy team to play against, but a notch below the elite three in the West.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0005-09/7170364-1-eng-US/s0005-092.jpg" title="S0005-09" width="316" height="265"></div><h2>No. 9 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2>Primary Strengths Even without Eric Lindros, the Flyers have a solid offense led by John LeClair, Mark Recchi, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour, Daymond Langkow, Keith Jones and Mikael Renberg. Crucial Weaknesses Make no mistake, the loss of Lindros is a monumental blow to a team that already was extremely suspect in all areas behind the blueline. The defense is error-prone and soft. Still, the Flyers gave up the second-fewest shots on goal in the league. THN Outlook The Flyers&rsquo; attitude was Cup final or bust, but Lindros&rsquo; injury and the defensive/goaltending inade&rsquo; quacies have shifted the Flyers into the extreme darkhorse category. If the players are willing to listen, though, Roger Neilson can be innovative.<h2>No. 10 BOSTON BRUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0005-045/7170357-1-eng-US/s0005-042.jpg" title="S0005-04" width="332" height="293"></div>Primary Strengths Coach Pat Bums knows what it takes to win in the playoffs and has a grinding defensive team (No. 2 overall) anchored by the stellar netminding of league shutout leader Byron I Dafoe, though he has yet to establish playoff credentials. Boston surged in the second half when it got offensive contribution from two lines. The best penalty killing in the league. Crucial Weaknesses A heavy reliance on Ray Bourque allows teams to key on him and wear him down. Offense is improved, but still a little on the spotty side. THN Outlook The Bruins are the least desired first round opponent because they are eminently capable of an upset, or two, but lack the horses to go all the way. You only get what you pay for.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0005-037/7170350-1-eng-US/s0005-032.jpg" title="S0005-03" width="334" height="289"></div><h2>No. 11 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2>Primary Strengths In Jaromir Jagr, the Penguins have the most dominant player in the game and he&rsquo;s supported by a rather anonymous but productive supporting cast Coach Kevin Constantine gets more out of this team than one would expect. Pittsburgh had the best home record of any Eastern team. Crucial Weaknesses On a good day, the defense is inadequate, but with injuries it&rsquo;s even worse than that. Overall, the Penguins don&rsquo;t have what it takes to withstand any kind of physical punishment and if Tom Barrasso isn&rsquo;t healthy and on his game, goaltending is a big question mark. THN Outlook It&rsquo;s difficult to measure the impact of the friction between Jagr and Constantine, so let&rsquo;s leave it at this: Barrasso and Jagr could combine for; first round upset but beyond that, the Pens are overmatched.<h2>No. 12 ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0005-10/7170343-1-eng-US/s0005-102.jpg" title="S0005-10" width="323" height="279"></div>Primary Strengths Al Maclnnis, who is likely to win the Norris Trophy, and Chris Pronger, give St. Louis a dynamic blueline duo that set the tone for the team that gave up the fewest shots on goal in the league. Goals are difficult to come by, but the Blues&rsquo; power play was No. 3 overall, though they generated the fewest man-advantage situations of any team. Penalty killing is exceptional. Crucial Weaknesses Now that Grant Fuhr is healthy, a weak goaltending situation has improved some, but the Blues&rsquo; biggest problem is generating offense at even strength. THN Outlook If Fuhr is on his game, the contenders fear and respect Joel Quenneville&rsquo;s well-coached team, but a shortage of guns will make it difficult for the Blues to take down one of the powerhouses.<h2>No. 13 ANAHEIM MIGHTY DUCKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0005-11/7170336-1-eng-US/s0005-112.jpg" title="S0005-11" width="321" height="291"></div>Primary Strengths Teernu Selanne and Paul Kariya, in that order, are a clear and present danger every time they&rsquo;re on the ice. Fredrik Olausson&rsquo;s offense from the blueline, declining as it may have been, was a bonus for a team lacking a presence of any kind on defense. Guy Hebert&rsquo;s .924 save percentage is impressive, given he&rsquo;s the only NHL goalie to face more than 2,000 shots. Crucial Weaknesses Team defense is suspect and no team relies as heavily on two players as the Ducks do with Selanne-Kariya, who accounted for 40 per cent of the team&rsquo;s goals. THN Outlook The Ducks can be respectable against any team, including the heavyweights, but it&rsquo;s difficult to imagine them having enough of anything to actually knock one of them off.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0005-06/7170329-1-eng-US/s0005-062.jpg" title="S0005-06" width="327" height="295"></div><h2>No. 14 SAN JOSE SHARKS</h2>Primary Strengths The Sharks have the fifthbest GAA in the league, second best in the West. Netminder Steve Shields got hot to finish the season and Vincent Damphousse&rsquo;s arrival jump-started a flat offense. The Sharks have terrific speed. Crucial Weaknesses The power play, No. 23 overall, is impotent and there&rsquo;s little in the way of an offensive threat from the blueline. For that matter, the Sharks didn&rsquo;t have a 25-goal scorer and they&rsquo;re the lowest-scoring team in the playoffs. THN Outlook If Boston is a team to be avoided in the East, San Jose is the Western equivalent. Though they have a tough time scoring, Damphousse energized the offense and the Sharks have speedy young talent (Jeff Friesen. Patrick Marleau) and a pressure-treated coach in Darryl Sutter.<h2>No. 15 CAROLINA HURRICANES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0005-05/7170322-1-eng-US/s0005-052.jpg" title="S0005-05" width="329" height="290"></div>Primary Strengths Diminutive netminder Arturs Irbe has a playoff track record and Keith Primeau is capable of elevating his play to a high level. Veteran leadership from Gary Roberts and Ron Francis. Crucial Weaknesses Carolina has the worst power play in the league and lowest production (14 goals) from its defense, which was injury ravaged down the stretch drive. No Hurricane was amongst the top 25 in league scoring and the team plays poorly on the road. THN Outlook If Irbe stands on his head, as he did during his days in San Jose, and the injured blueliners return to the fold, Carolina has the capability to win a round, though we can hardly call it an upset since it will be the third seed despite having the lowest point total in the Eastern Conference.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0005-13/7170315-1-eng-US/s0005-132.jpg" title="S0005-13" width="317" height="285"></div><h2>No. 16 EDMONTON OILERS</h2>Primary Strengths On a lot of nights this season you wouldn&rsquo;t know it, but Edmonton has terrific team speed and can be an ornery, abrasive team to play against. Can draw on experience of playoff upsets in each of the last two years. Crucial Weaknesses Goaltending is, at best, a question mark as newcomer Tommy Salo is inconsistent. The Oilers&rsquo; record at home is abysmal and so is the commitment to team defense as they have given up more goals than they&rsquo;ve scored. Many player changes raise questions about team chemistry. THN Outlook This Oiler squad is a far cry from the one that beat Dallas and Colorado in each of the past two years. Netminder Curtis Joseph is long gone and without that critical element, Edmonton can&rsquo;t be considered as a candidate to knock off an improved Dallas team.<h2>No. 17 CALGARY FLAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0005-12/7170308-1-eng-US/s0005-122.jpg" title="S0005-12" width="331" height="289"></div>Primary Strengths The Flames&rsquo; 1-4 passive traptype defense isn&rsquo;t pretty to watch, but it can be difficult to play against. In the absence of Theo Fleury, Valeri Bure, Jarome Iginla and Cory Stillman stepped up offensive production though it&rsquo;s still meagre. Defenseman Phil Housley has exceeded expectations. Crucial Weaknesses Offense is difficult to come by. team defense is below average. Calgary has some good young talent, but it&rsquo;s still developing and on the thin side. The goaltending-Ken Wregget or Fred Brathwaite-has stabilized but isn&rsquo;t at elite level. THN Outlook The Flames have surprised just by competing for a playoff spot so it&rsquo;s a little much to expect anything more, though they do have a win, a tie and some one-goal losses to Dallas.<h2>STAR TREK</h2>Sniper Brett Hull and the juggernaut Dallas Stars dominated during the regular season. The question now is can they get by foes such as the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche to claim their first Stanley Cup?<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0005-07/7170301-1-eng-US/s0005-072.jpg" title="S0005-07" width="3594" height="1548"><figcaption class="caption-body">STAR TREKSniper Brett Hull and the juggernaut Dallas Stars dominated during the regular season. The question now is can they get by foes such as the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche to claim their first Stanley Cup?</figcaption></div> &#9632;

S0004-01

ON THE COVER

Going off the deep end

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="S0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0006-0137/7170451-1-eng-US/s0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeremy Roenick has altered his playing style to suit the needs of the Coyotes.</figcaption></div>He&rsquo;s still as colorful. He&rsquo;s still as personable. And he still packs in the fans like a 200-pound magnet at America West Arena.But he is not the same Jeremy Roenick&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve changed,&rdquo; Roenick said softly, but confidently, curling his body into his locker. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m the same hockey player, I think, but I&rsquo;m definitely not the same man.&rdquo;He is a better man, to be sure. A family man. A caring husband. A loving father. He is a lot of things he wasn&rsquo;t. But he has changed. And it&rsquo;s all for the better. Sometimes, you wonder why it took so long for the man who has every-thing-a beautiful wife, beautiful children, a beautiful job with beautiful pay-to figure out how beautiful he has it. At some point this season, Roenick, the flashy center for the Phoenix Coyotes with chiseled good looks and pop-star popularity, figured it out.And not a moment too soon,&ldquo;It&rsquo;s time,&rdquo; Roenick said earlier this season, &ldquo;for me to grow up.&rdquo;The maturation process has continued throughout the season, a year in which the 29-year-old Bostonian has rededicated himself to his family and his career. Outside distractions-people, places and things-nearly got the best of him. His marriage suffered, something he isn&rsquo;t proud about. His whole life was like a pinball game bordering on tilt. But somewhere along the line, he woke up and realized he couldn&rsquo;t get a free game by simply plopping in more quarters.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m proud of J.R.,&rdquo; said veteran Coyotes&rsquo; right winger Rick Tocchet. &ldquo;Not many people know what he has gone through in the past year, but he has been able to overcome a lot and focus on being the person he needs to be, both on the ice and off.&rdquo;Away from the rink, the accommodating Roenick has done his best to keep a safe distance from his adoring array of fans and hangers-on. That wasn&rsquo;t always the case from the man who felt he had to please everyone just to make everybody feel comfortable. But he is learning, like all of us learn, and he&rsquo;s getting better at shutting doors that used to be as wide open as a hotel revolving door at check-out time.&ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;m slamming the door these days,&rdquo; Roenick said, matter-of-factly. &ldquo;It was definitely getting way out of control where I think if I let it spin any more, I could have spun it right out of control and there would have been nothing to stop it.&rdquo;On the ice, Roenick has undergone a revival of sorts, too. As the 1998-99 season drew to a close, he ranked among the top 15 scorers in the league with 24 goals and a team-high 71 points in 75 games. It&rsquo;s his best season since registering his third-straight 100-point year with Chicago in 1993-94.Of course, his good results are tied to his metamorphosis; he more or less changed his entire playing style in the same year he virtually changed his entire life. A freelance, whirling dervish with unpredictable moves and enviable skill, J.R. toned down his high-wire act once he was paired with power forward Keith Tkachuk, die Coyotes&rsquo; captain, on the team&rsquo;s No.l line.They said it would never work, the flashy, posterboy center playing with the demanding, demonstrative left winger. But Roenick and Tkachuk have fit together like peas and carrots, with gritty right winger Dallas Drake, the freakazoid grinder and banger, serving as the lima bean.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s back as far as I&rsquo;m concerned,&rdquo; Tkachuk said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s important for this team that Jeremy plays his best and he concentrates on just hockey, not the other things that probably have caused him a lot of distractions in the past.&rdquo;For the longest time, Roenick seemed to be battling himself. The talk of the town during his days in Chicago, he immediately became the most popular player in Phoenix upon his arrival from the Windy City. But his charm and charisma almost seemed to swallow him whole for some reason.Maybe it was just a matter of time. During a pre-season interview, in which his emotions ran rampant, Roenick complained his life has been so vastly chronicled, he felt his image had taken on that of a &ldquo;cartoon character.&rdquo;&ldquo;I just had that conversation again with my wife (Tracey),&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;why my life is so written about, so perceived by so many people, why everything I do is mentioned. I don&rsquo;t know the answer to that. Maybe it&rsquo;s because of my early career, the quotes I used to have and how I spouted from the mouth and talked freely. Maybe it&rsquo;s because of the way I&rsquo;ve played the game, the way the fans have looked at me. I don&rsquo;t know, but there comes a point where&hellip;&ldquo;I went to go get a tattoo on my foot and it was in the papers. I mean, what&rsquo;s up with that? That&rsquo;s my business.&rdquo;How he performs on the ice is, however, open for discussion. And both he and the Coyotes are performing close to expectations. Phoenix was the best team in the league for the better part of two months this season and even after a disastrous 2-11-0 spill in February, was battling the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche for the second-best overall record in the West behind the Dallas Stars.And Roenick was cruising right along, too, scoring 19 points in a 16-game game stretch as the Coyotes entered the final week of the regular season&ldquo;Roenick&rsquo;s one of the players in this league who can beat players himself,&rdquo; said Detroit coach Scotty Bowman. &ldquo;He seems to have his scoring touch back now and he&rsquo;s playing with a lot of reckless abandon. That&rsquo;s the style he has to play.&rdquo; &#9632;

S0006-01

Roenick figuring it out

<div class="byline">By Rich Chore</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="S0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0007-0131/7170482-1-eng-US/s0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">HOT SHOT: Petr Sykora worked on his shot and has developed into one of the NHL&rsquo;s best goal-scorers.</figcaption></div>There had always been a &ldquo;fragile&rdquo; sticker glued to Petr Sykora&rsquo;s forehead.Though his skills were undeniable even as a teenager, his doubters felt he would never be able to withstand the physical punishment of an NHL season. And even the New Jersey Devils, who had faith in Sykora when 17 other clubs passed on him in the 1995 entry draft, wondered whether he had the mental toughness to become a star.&ldquo;I think he was fragile,&rdquo; said teammate Bobby Holik. &ldquo;He was just a kid and he&rsquo;s a finesse player. When he wasn&rsquo;t feeling well and he felt discomfort, it threw him off his game. He has learned that there are going to be days and weeks when you don&rsquo;t feel your best playing in this league. He has put it aside and become consistent with his talent. For a player like Petr, consistency means scoring.&rdquo;No one wonders about the 22-year-old Czech forward any more.With the regular season nearing completion, Sykora led the Devils in goals (27) and scoring (67 points). He had played in all but two games and established himself as the right winger on the team&rsquo;s No. 1 line with center Jason Amott and fellow Czech Patrik Elias at left wing.&ldquo;He has really blossomed,&rdquo; said coach Robbie Ftorek of Sykora. &ldquo;He has played well defensively, he has played well physically, he has played productively and he has done a good job on our power play. He has even killed a few penalties.&rdquo;While Amott does the crashing and Elias uses his speed and playmaking skills to give his linemates more room, Sykora has developed into one of the game&rsquo;s most dangerous goalscorers. He uses a lightning-quick shot and a willingness to battle traffic rather than retreat to the perimeter.&ldquo;I really worked on my shot over the summer to make sure I&rsquo;d be ready,&rdquo; Sykora explained. &ldquo;And I also try to go more to the net and more through the traffic. That&rsquo;s how I really changed my game this year.&rdquo; INorth America got its first close-up look at Sykora in 1993-94 when he made his debut in the International League with the Cleveland Lumberjacks. Just 17 years and 71 days old, he was the youngest player ever to play in the T.&ldquo;That year I was the youngest,&rdquo; Sykora said. &ldquo;The year before it was Radek Bonk and the year after it was Sergei Samsonov. I think all three of us have done a good job in the NHL. It says a lot about the IHL. It&rsquo;s a good stepping stone for a young guy.&rdquo;Although he scored four goals and nine points in the 13 games he played for theLumbeijacks, it wasn&rsquo;t an easy adjustment for Sykora.&ldquo;It was very tough&rdquo; he recalled. &rsquo; &rsquo;1 didn&rsquo;t speak any English and the schedule was tougher than I was used to.&rdquo;The following season he joined the Detroit Vipers and there was never any question the speedy center was headed for the NHL&hellip;until he suffered a dislocated shoulder that ended his 1994-95 season after 29 games.&ldquo;I think I was playing good, pretty much a point-a-game,&rdquo; Sykora said. &ldquo;I knew if I kept on playing well I had a chance to be among the top five players drafted, but then I got hurt.&rdquo; That killed his chances of being a top draft pick. Sykora went 18th overall and became the steal of the 1995 draft.&ldquo;Our scouts had seen him play in Czechoslovakia and in junior tournaments,&rdquo; s said Devils&rsquo; GM Lou Lamoriello. &ldquo;What he had then is what we see F now-skating ability and hockey sense. He was explosive. We were pleased when he was still there when it was &mdash; our turn. We had him rated higher than where we picked him.&rdquo; Sykora wanted to prove immediately he was sturdy enough to succeed in the NHL. He started the season in Albany of the American League, where he played five games before being recalled. In 63 games for the Devils that season, he scored 18 1 goals and 42 // points&ldquo;I wanted to prove to other teams that they made a mistake not taking me, but I was surprised I made it my first year,&rdquo; Sykora said. &ldquo;It was a very big challenge for me to play on that team because the Devils had won the Cup the year before.&rdquo;Although he made an immediate splash, questions of Sykora&rsquo;s stamina and ability to withstand the rigors of the long NHL schedule did not go away. A groin injury suffered the day before the 1996-97 season opened bothered him all year and limited him to only 19 games.Sykora spent most of last season with the Devils, but he battled minor injuries and a drop in confidence. He appeared in only two of the team&rsquo;s six playoff games last spring.He then made two key decisions last summer. First, he spent three weeks with a psychologist to help him eliminate the emotional peaks and valleys that marked his last two seasons.Then, on Sept. 19, after missing the beginning of training camp while seeking a new contract that would pay him $1 million per season, Sykora reluctantly signed a three-year, $1,875 million deal. It paid him $575,000 this season, but it got him back on the ice.&ldquo;I just took whatever I got,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was too young to be without hockey because I just love to play.&rdquo;When Ftorek succeeded Jacques Lemaire as coach this season, a healthy Sykora thrived. And when Ftorek moved Amott to center between Elias and Sykora Dec. 5, they surpassed the Dave Andreychuk-Bobby Holik-Randy McKay unit as the Devils&rsquo; No. 1 line.Still single, Sykora shares his New Jersey home with his pet chinchilla, P.J. He recently bought a house in suburban Detroit for summers. When his playing career is over, Sykora said he will keep a home in the U.S. and in the Czech Republic.Considering his age, scoring touch and a durability few expected, that doesn&rsquo;t figure to be anytime soon. &#9632;

S0007-01

Sykora proves’em wrong

<div class="image-hero"><img title="S0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0008-0127/7170513-1-eng-US/s0008-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

S0008-01

1999 NHL PLAYOFF PREVIEW II: DEPTH CHARTS

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0010-0213/7170163-1-eng-US/s0010-022.jpg" title="S0010-02" width="472" height="672"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0010-0126/7170170-1-eng-US/s0010-012.jpg" title="S0010-01" width="144" height="194"></div>While Eric Lindros&rsquo; right lung reinflated, Ed Snider personally manned the pump on the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; balloon.&ldquo;We have a lot of talent on this team that can pick it up,&rdquo; Snider said. We have to figure out a way to win without him.&rdquo;The cavalry, consisting of Eric Desjardins with an 80 per cent ripped ACL, John LeClair with a bad back, and Mark Recchi coming off a concussion, is coming. On a gurney.This has been the worst Philadelphia winter since the one George Washington spent at Valley Forge. Certainly during a mind-boggling12-game winless streak, the Flyers slept more places than the General ever did. They seemed to be recovering when Lindros&rsquo; respiratory system mysteriously imploded, leaving four of the team&rsquo;s five top players out of the lineup.&ldquo;I was wondering if somebody is sticking pins in dolls,&rdquo; Snider said. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;ll find that person before the playoffs. We&rsquo;re going to be okay.&rdquo;Snider keeps his faith even higher than his payroll. He was coming down the stretch short one defenseman and one witch doctor. Lindros had matured into everything he was supposed to be. Trades had corrected the Chris Gratton mistake, brought back Mark Recchi, creating a second line with Mikael Renberg and Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour as good as some playoff teams&rsquo; first line. GM Bobby Clarke had shaken the support roster upside down since last spring&rsquo;s playoff debacle, making the team almost as deep as the mystery of that 12-game slide.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>The defense is soft and the Flyers&rsquo; mental resolve has sometimes seemed the same way. But with two lines capable of steamrolling and nobody else in the East impersonating the 1977 Montreal Canadiens, the Flyers still had as good a shot to the get to the final as anybody. Lindros clearly had resumed taking no prisoners.Now, this. The good news is there appeared to be no rib damage causing a puncture, allowing blood to pour into the chest cavity. The bad news is they have no clue why it did happen, which makes you wonder not only which stars once crossed over this star player, but is this really just a one-time freak, accident?Lindros lost more blood-four quarts-than has drained from Snider&rsquo;s face for 23 consecutive springs. Carl Lindros, Eric&rsquo;s dad and agent, says it will take more than just a couple doctors to convince him Eric shouldn&rsquo;t shut it down until September and what father wouldn&rsquo;t feel that way?Meanwhile, the fans either want a Cup or Clarke and coach Roger Neilson to drink hemlock out of one. But with the nucleus still young, it&rsquo;s hardly now or never for the Flyers. And with this defense, that&rsquo;s certainly a good thing.Snider&rsquo;s resolve to get over the top remains even deeper than his pockets or his defense of Clarke for not going after Mike Richter, a goalie who could keep the window of opportunity open for at least four years.&ldquo;Nobody around here is throwing in any towels,&rdquo; Snider said. Instead, they are used to wipe another season&rsquo;s tears, then hung to dry on the same line where the Flyer board chairman puts his heart and pocketbook every year.He wants another championship so badly that when the doctor&rsquo;s incision sent Lindros&rsquo; blood spurting around the emergency room like Old Faithful, the most faithful owner in the game could taste every bitter drop. &#9632;

S0010-02

Flyers’ Snider keeping the faith

<div class="image-hero"><img title="S0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0011-0121/7170201-1-eng-US/s0011-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

Search for your favorite player or team

April 23, 1999

NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

Ducks stay on course

Mooseheads out, underdog Titan bounces favorite

Pederson hoping to keep back problem under control