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.

May 21, 1999

The Hockey News May 21, 1999

One of the two finalists you picked for player of the year (THN, May 7, 1999) was Dominik Hasek. I may not be a &ldquo;hockey expert,&rdquo; but I know what is supposed to be an MVP. I am deeply shocked that you selected Hasek as runner-up to Jaromir Jagr, but then again I&rsquo;m not.If you selected him based on his numbers, then you selected the wrong goalie, by far. Hasek did have the top save percentage (.937), but he was ninth in wins (31). He didn&rsquo;t lead the league in shutouts (nine) or goals-against average (1.87), either.If your experts looked at the numbers carefully, Byron Dafoe would have been the goalie to select.He was first in shutouts (10), fifth in wins (32), third in GAA (1.99), and just behind Hasek in save percentage (.926). Hasek may be more well known, but if numbers back the award, I feel Dafoe should have been in the running.Randy Oldfield, Saint John, N.B.<h2>Chiasson tragedy</h2>As a Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; fan, I was very excited about Game 7 against the New Jersey Devils, but when I learned that Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; defenseman Steve Chiasson was killed in a car accident, the game just wasn&rsquo;t that important anymore.Chiasson was one of the most underrated defensemen in the NHL and 1 have enjoyed watching him play since the early 1990s when I first got into hockey. My heart and prayers go out to the Chiasson family and the Hurricane organization.Vincent Ferrito, Monroe, N. Y.<h2>We want stars</h2>I am a 58-year-old female and this is my second season as a hockey fan. At this point, my continued involvement with the sport is &ldquo;under review.&rdquo;First of all, I love hockey and was hooked from the first game I went to when Phoenix played Buffalo. At the time, I had no idea who Dominik Hasek or anyone else was.I have read hockey books and magazines and signed up for cable in order to learn as much as lean about the sport. The fighting is something I could do without, but I enjoy the players&rsquo; skills.I went to 20 games during the regular season and I wanted to address the Derian Hatcher-Jeremy Roenick incident, not to lay blame, but to point out who the real losers are&ndash;the fans. I waited all year to watch Roenick shine in the playoffs, but was denied that opportunity. Watching playoff hockey is about having all teams with thenbest players on the ice.At this point, I will be watching now us piays out. au sports nave problems, but the plays that cause so many injuries to hockey players do a disservice to the fans.Elizabeth Royer, Phoenix, Ariz.<h2>Parents&rsquo; guide</h2>I love hockey and I&rsquo;ve got kids in minor hockey, but sometimes I cringe at what I hear in the stands. I&rsquo;d like to see Hockey Canada put up banners in every rink as a guide for parents with the following message:1. Cheer for all kids.2. No foul language-be a role model for the kids.3. Leave the referees alone-they&rsquo;re learning and they&rsquo;re trying their best.4. Leave the coaches alone-they&rsquo;re volunteering their time for your kids.5. Relax-it&rsquo;s only a game.Dave Staines, Stratford, Ont.<h2>Rude return</h2>I am writing to express my utter disgust with the fans in Chicago. When I saw former Blackhawk Chris Chelios was booed in his first game back in Chicago, I was ashamed the fans would react in such a rude and disrespectful way.Whether or not they agree with the outcome of the Chelios deal, he did not deserve to be treated that way.I&rsquo;ve heard him say many times he loved it in Chicago and so did the fans. Well, Chicago, you showed your loyalty. Just how many warm thoughts do you think Chris Chelios has of the Windy City now?Heather Rotunda, Rockville, Minn.<h2>Wings equipped</h2>In your playoff preview (THN, April 23), Bob McKenzie wrote, &ldquo;the Wings are the contender best equipped to beat any team, including the Stars and the Avs, at their own game.&rdquo; No question. But far more importantly, the Red Wings are the best equipped to force other teams to play their own game.Depending on the opponent and coach Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s plans, that game may be a slick skating-passingcycling game or a blue-collar, crease-crashing game, but watch for Detroit to dictate the game if they are to win a third Stanley Cup.Pete Bauer, Cincinnati, Ohio<h2>Sport&rsquo;s real goons</h2>I am a fairly new subscriber of The Hockey News and was intrigued by your three-part series on fighting. However, there was one thing I believe was left out.Of the major sports, I believe ice hockey is no longer the No. 1 gate attraction for slugfests and outlandish behavior.The National Basketball Association has become the new haven for Friday night fights. NBA players not only throw shoves and punches at each other, they also heave chairs, throw basketballs, and occasionally choke their bosses.I think hockey is a premier sport and is gaining popularity with or without fighting. Fighting is part of the game and should stay that way. The other sports claim not to accept fighting, but they have done nothing to curtail it nor portray an image of cleaning up their game.The other day I overheard a conversation at work and one man said, &ldquo;I went to a boxing match and a basketball game broke out.&rdquo;Scott Pasch, American Fork, Utah<h2>Paying respect</h2>I would just like to thank, as a parent and a hockey fan, not only the Colorado Avalanche, but also the Rockies and the Denver Nuggets for their class in postponing their games in light of the school shooting tragedy that happened in Littleton, Colo.When all you hear about is the almighty dollar ruling all sports it was appreciated to see that money didn&rsquo;t win out over such a horrible tragedy.Jason Kolsrud, Camanche, Iowa<h2>Flyer follies</h2>Why is there always someone else at fault when the Philadelphia Flyers lose? A referee&rsquo;s call or non-call doesn&rsquo;t cut it for me.When will GM Bob Clarke get called on the carpet? President Ed Snider publicly backs Clarke and says he has done a good job of building this Flyers&rsquo; team.Mr. Snider, please remove your blinders. The Flyers&rsquo; inept power play and overall lack of talent proves this team is not a serious contender.It seems like Clarke&rsquo;s job may never be in jeopardy with Snider as boss. Who else could get away with so many mistakes and still keep his job?Ellis Gray, Philadelphia, Pa. Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 340-1641&nbsp;or write to Letters, THN, 777 Bay St, Suite 2700, Box 148, Toronto, Ont, M5G 2N8&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, THN, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947. E-mail us at paulj@transcontinentaLca&nbsp;Include hometown as well as home and business phone numbers. THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

DEPARTMENTS

Dafoe deserving of MVP attention

<div class="byline">By David J. Neal</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03700/7186346-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="466" height="611"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Murray</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021003/7186353-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="225" height="223"></div>Before Florida Panthers&rsquo; coach Terry Murray left to coach ream USA at the World Championship in Norway, he dropped a couple of parting shots that indicate significant changes will be made before next season.&ldquo;At times, in games, we got a little too comfortable with ourselves, too cocky with things and we let ourselves off the hook,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;Too many times during games, players went on their own agenda instead of playing for the system and playing for the team. We&rsquo;re not quite a team yet in my mind. I think that if we were playing as a team from the start of the year, we would have made the playoffs.&rdquo;The consistently inconsistent Panthers finished the season seven points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the Southeast Division title. It was the veterans, as much as the youngsters, who drove Murray up the wall.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t put in a lot of rules at the start of the season,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;There are some things I wanted from the players and we slipped too much in those areas. It shows me we need a bigger commitment from each player.&rdquo;Three times players were late for practice, including once on the road when rookie right winger Mark Parrish comically took a cab to the Corel Centre instead of the Ottawa Civic Centre. Players who got little ice time during a game were inconsistent about coming in early to ride the bike the next day.Also, Murray wasn&rsquo;t thrilled that he, twice, had to go looking for players to face the media after late-season losses. To him, it was a matter of professionalism.&ldquo;There are little things good teams do,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You put the little threads together, it&rsquo;s like a thread around your hands. One strand is not going to make it. But you wrap 40 or 50 and it binds your hands together.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Some interesting statistics at the end of the season: Left winger Ray Whitney led the team in goals that tied the game or put the team ahead with 13. None of Whitney&rsquo;s 26 goals came during garbage time, a big departure from his 1997-98 season&hellip;Defenseman Robert Svehla had 26 restraining fouls, the most of any Panther&hellip;First on the team in chippy minor penalties-spearing, cross-checking, roughing, etc.-was left winger Peter Worrell, who had 25 minors and seven nonfighting majors or double minors. Second, surprisingly, was defenseman Ed Jovanovski, who had 19 such minors in the 41 games he played before being dealt to Vancouver in the deal that brought right winger Pavel Bure to Florida. &#9632;

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NHL TEAMS

Murray looks for threads to bind Panthers together

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03422/7187205-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01960/7187198-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="4262" height="4821"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01867/7187191-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="4219" height="2415"></div> &#9632;

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NHL PLAYOFF GAME SUMMARIES

<div class="byline">By Dave Henry</div>The performance by Shreveport Mudbugs&rsquo; left winger Dale Henry in Game 4 of the Western Pro League final series May 1 adequately summed up the season.Henry&rsquo;s two-goal spurt in a 45-second span during the first period against the San Angelo Outlaws put an exclamation point on the year as the Mudbugs swept the Outlaws in four games, becoming the first team other than the El Paso Buzzards to win &lsquo;&rsquo; the title in the three-year history of the league.&ldquo;This was a career year from a team standpoint for a lot of these guys,&rdquo; said second-year Shreveport coach Jean LaForest. &ldquo;From a team perspective, there will never be another year like this for most of these players.&rdquo;Shreveport capped the sweep with a 6-2 victory May 1. The Mudbugs, who set a league record with 99 points during the season, went 11-1 in the post-season.Against the Outlaws, Shreveport allowed only six goals and handled San Angelo&rsquo;s high-scoring duo of Carl Boudreau and Jean Blouin.&ldquo;We always made sure we had a third man back,&rdquo; said LaForest, whose team limited San Angelo to 15 shots in a 4-0 Game 1 victory April 24.Shreveport had three defensemen (Jim Sprott, Wade Simpson and Chris Nadeau) with a plus/minus of at least plus-13 in the playoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02575/7187084-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="440" height="322"></div>Shreveport center Chris Mackenzie has been a member of every WPHL championship team. MacKenzie, who had three game-winning goals against San Angelo, played for the Buzzards before joining the Mudbugs this season. Goalie Kevin St Pierre was 7-1-0 with a 2.01 goals-against average.The biggest challenge for the Mudbugs will be keeping the record-setting squad intact.Because of league player development rules team is required to have at least five players with less than 100 pro games under their belt.COACHING CAROUSEL: Eight-year NHL veteran Alan May was named coach of the expansion Lubbock Cotton Kings April 27. May holds the Washington Capitals&rsquo; single-season record for penalty minutes with 339 in 1989-90&hellip;A pair of former New Mexico Scorpions are heading to the WPHL coaching ranks. Former goalie Tony Martino will take over as coach at New Mexico while former center George Dupont was named coach of the Tupelo T-Rex&hellip;The Alexandria Warthogs hirec coach Mike Zruna, a former assistant with the Birming ham Bulls of the East Coast League. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Shreveport Mudbugs cap year with near-perfect playoff run

<h2>Scouts like Stefan, Sedin</h2>1. Best in 1999 Patrik Stefan top player in North America, Daniel Sedin top European in Central Scouting draft list.2. Sudden-death Hejduk Colorado rookie Milan Hejduk pots winner in first two playoff overtime appearances.3. Jagr sidekick Given up on by three NHL teams, Martin Straka leads NHL with six playoff goals.4. Valiant effort Jeremy Roenick overcomes shattered jaw, broken thumb to play Game 7 Phoenix loss to St. Louis.5. When Fuhr speaks&hellip; With St. Louis trailing 3-1, Grant Fuhr says he'll shut out Phoenix in seventh game&ndash;and does.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0241/7185381-1-eng-US/c0002-022.jpg" title="C0002-02" width="436" height="619"><figcaption class="caption-body">Milan Hejduk</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0332/7185374-1-eng-US/c0002-032.jpg" title="C0002-03" width="435" height="620"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sandy McCarthy</figcaption></div><h2>Dashin&rsquo; Yashin crash &rsquo;n&rsquo; burn</h2>1. Anyone seen Alexei? Ottawa's Alexei Yashin held off the scoresheet in four-game sweep to Buffalo.2. Vintage Philly whine Flyers&rsquo; owner Ed Snider, coach Roger Neilson fined for slagging referees.3. Dudley Do Wrong THN puts in headshot of ex-NHL exec Rick Dudley, not current Ottawa GM Rick Dudley.4. Slash and sit Dallas&rsquo; Pat Verbeek, St. Louis&rsquo; Jamal Mayers suspended one game each for slashing incidents.5. Those are spiffin&rsquo; words War of words/spit between Sandy McCarthy and Tie Domi suggests someone is lying. &#9632;

C0002-02

PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-In-Chief</div>The smell of tragic death fills the air every moment of every day in the global village, but that does nothing to soften the blow of Steve Chiasson&rsquo;s passing.For the third time in 25 years, the NHL has lost a player driving after drinking.DWI and DUI offenses committed by league players are down in the United States and Canada-a result, likely, of the NHL-NHLPA substance abuse program-but all indications were a fatal one was committed in the early hours of May 3 in Carolina.Chiasson apparently eluded the grasp of teammates who had received training in how to disarm (read, take away the keys) of an inebriated teammate. jumped behind the wheel of his sport truck and rolled it a short time later.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0419/7185412-1-eng-US/c0002-042.jpg" title="C0002-04" width="453" height="577"></div>The 32-year-old leaves behind a wife and three children. (See pg. 8 for full story.)The NHL and NHLPA introduced a joint substance abuse program in 1996 founded on the twin principles of education and prevention. Players have attended mandatory seminars the past three years. The message conveyed by co-ordinators Dr. Brian Shaw of Toronto and Dr. David Lewis of Port Hueneme, Calif., has been clear: Think of all teammates as family and treat each of them as you would a family member in situations of potentially risky behavior.&ldquo;The motto we use is: Everyone is family, whether you have the natural family, which includes their wives and kids, or whether their family is teammates,&rdquo; said Dr. Lewis. &ldquo;So in the context of everyone is family, we deal with those issues in terms of what family responsibility is, what you do if a family member were in the same situation.&ldquo;That kind of changes the responsibility of how people feel with each other. It is no longer, &lsquo;Well, he is my teammate, he is a man and he can do what he wants to and I do not have any responsibility.&rsquo; &ldquo;The NHL family lost a 13-year member when Chiasson died. He was an elite level defenseman and wonderful companion to all who were in his company. That he will be missed by those who knew him is like saying oxygen would be missed by the rest of us.Two other NHL players have met similar fates to Chiasson. In 1974, Hall of Fame defenseman Tim Horton. 44, died in a highway accident travelling between Toronto and Buffalo. In 1985, all-star goalie Pelle Lindbergh, 26, died in a suburban Philadelphia accident.Alcohol was a factor in all three fatalities. It represents the unholiest of hat tricks in NHL history. Let it never happen again. &#9632;

C0002-04

IN THE ISSUE

Close-knit NHL family loses member

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie: Associate Editor</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011745/7185457-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="406" height="560"></div>How soon we forget.Lost amid the furor over the two-referee system in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs was that an officiating controversy boiled one year ago in the days of the one-referee system.&ldquo;Refereeing in the playoffs, it has always been an issue,&rdquo; said NHL senior vice-president Cohn Campbell. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s likely it always will be.&rdquo;This year&rsquo;s issue is two referees versus one; how it seemed to work so well in the regular season, but how it stopped working as effectively, or so it seemed, in the 44 games of the first round of the post-season.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021395/7185450-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1783" height="3142"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mick McGeough</figcaption></div>The specific complaints emanated from the Toronto Maple Leafs-Philadelphia Flyers series, especially in Game 6, when referee Rob Stuck chose to ignore Leaf Derek King&rsquo;s neutral zone obstruction of Flyer Rod Blind&rsquo;Amour and Terry Gregson chose to call Flyer John LeClair for elbowing Leaf Mike Johnson on the same sequence of action.It didn&rsquo;t matter that Philadelphia had five straight power players prior to LeClair&rsquo;s penalty and was unable to score on any of them. All that mattered was the Leafs scored the gamewinning and series-clinching goal on the power play.That led to Flyer owner Ed Snider and coach k Roger Neilson ripping into Gregson and the H two-man system, denouncements that cost the Flyers $75,000 in fines. (See pg. 5 for more.)Outside of the Toronto-Philadelphia series, f the two-man issue was not as hotly contested, but there I was a general sense that well in the regular season wasn&rsquo;t running as smoothly in the playoffs.It often seemed as though one referee was calling more penalties than the other. There SF seemed to be a steady stream to the penalty box with ample opportunity for special teams&rsquo; play to decide games. And the two-man advantages. Twenty two of them (resulting in only four goals) in 44 games. Some of them were the full 11 double whammy-one referee calling one It player and another calling a teammate, on the same stoppage of play.&ldquo;It used to be referees would never call a penalty in overtime, never,&rdquo; said Campbell of how convention evolves over the i years. &ldquo;Now, a penalty in overtime is not uncommon. Well, there has always been a belief that you don&rsquo;t penalize two players from the same team at the same time or that if a team is shorthanded, it&rsquo;s nearly impossible to do anything to make you two men short, but now that&rsquo;s changing, too. A penalty is a penalty. There&rsquo;s less managing of a game by the referees now than there was years ago and more calling of what they see.&rdquo;In the first round of the 1998 playoffs, there was significant hue and cry over the number and nature of the penalties called by one ref.You want two-man advantages? You got them-more in 1998 than 1999. In 46 first round games last year, there were 33 two-man advantages (for 10 goals) compared to 22 this year. Last year, single referees called 530 advantages compared to 443 under this year&rsquo;s two-man system. Average penalty minutes per game actually went down by 12 (40.3 to 28.6).And try to tell us two refs are calling more in the playoffs than in the regular season. The numbers don&rsquo;t support it.In the 270 regular season games with two refs, there were 32.1 PIMs per game. In the 44. first-round games with two refs, it dropped to 28.6.&ldquo;There are some things that can get you frustrated, but that always hap pens in the playoffs anyway,&rdquo; said Boston Bruins&rsquo; coach Pat Bums. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind it (two referees). I like some of the (officiating) pairs better than bothers, but I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s any question having two referees out there makes the players more aware and that&rsquo;s good.&rdquo;The two-man system isn&rsquo;t flawless. But the extra set of eyes, as Bums said, is a positive.&ldquo;Officiating, no matter how many you have on the ice, is about calls and non-calls,&rdquo; Campbell said. &ldquo;If you get a call or non-call your way, you say the officiating was good. If a call or noncall goes against you, the officiating was bad.&ldquo;Everything is so heightened in the playoffs. The two-man system isn&rsquo;t any different now than it was in the regular season, but the scrutiny is greater. There&rsquo;s more at stake.&rdquo;And because the stakes are so much higher it affords the minority which has been opposed to the two-man system a higher-profile platform from which to criticize.The Flyers were at the forefront of the anti two-man movement. A cynic would suggest the Flyers, from owner Ed Snider to GM Bob Clarke, were opposed to the one-referee system, too. It didn&rsquo;t help matters that Leaf coach Pat Quinn is not a fan of the two-man system, either. But like the Flyers, Quinn, more often than not, has rarely found much positive to say about one referee, never mind two.But then it&rsquo;s all pretty much a moot point The two-ref system is here to stay. So, too, is squawking over playoff officiating because some things will never change.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03911/7185443-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="1433" height="2110"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Koharski I</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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COLUMNS

Two-ref system has backers

There are no doctors on the NHL Central Scouting Bureau so the decision to install Patrik Stefan as the No. 1 rated prospect in North America had to be easy.The 6-foot-1 1/2, 205-pound Long Beach Ice Dog is the consensus No. 1 prospect, a big, strong hard-driving center. But health considerations have raised some concern leading up to the 1999 entry draft in Boston, June 26.Stefan sustained neck and head injuries and was sidelined for a couple months. Upon his return, Stefar sustained another head injury, this one season ending.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re rating the player when he he&rsquo;s healthy,&rdquo; said CSB director Frank Bonello. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s up to the teams to determine the player&rsquo;s health and whether it&rsquo;s a factor.&rdquo;A May 16 draft lottery will determine which team holds the first overall pick. The odds were stacked in favor of the Tampa Bay Lightning.Swedish forward Daniel Sedin is No. 1 on CSB&rsquo;s European list. (See pg. 38 for full list.) &#9632;

Stefan, Sedin top Central Scouting’s final list

<div class="byline">By Joe Starkey</div>A surreal scenario was unfolding in Pittsburgh.As the bankrupt Penguins were moving into the second round of the playoffs, their franchise was moving closer to relocation or extinction.On May 5, the NHL asked U.S. Bankruptcy Court for permission to disband or sell the ailing Penguins if the team could not be reorganized by the first week of June. The league also asked the court to move up a hearing scheduled for June 24 on a financial reorganization plan submitted by retired superstar Mario Lemieux.U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Bernard Markovitz was expected to address the NHL&rsquo;s plan at an emergency hearing May 11.The league has made it clear it backs Lemieux&rsquo;s plan and its preference is for the Penguins to stay in Pittsburgh. But the team&rsquo;s creditors have raised objections to Lemieux&rsquo;s plan, a situation which the league said raises &ldquo;serious questions regarding whether the Lemieux plan can be confirmed at all, let alone prior to the first week of June.&rdquo;The NHL wants to complete its 1999-2000 schedule in the first week of June. That month also is crucial for player contracts and season ticket sales. The league had set a May 31 deadline for a reorganization plan. It would have to be approved by Markovitz and the committee. The league said it was forced to file its plan as a back-up in case others fell through.Contrary to speculation, the NHL will not grant Pittsburgh an expansion franchise if the Penguins are dissolved. The league would instead sell the team, likely to an out-of-town interest, and the money from the sale would be used to pay creditors. &#9632;

Hearing to decide Pens’ fate

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>The red in Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; chairman Ed Snider&rsquo;s face told the story as much as his words did after a series loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.Snider, who was fined $50,000 by the NHL for critical comments (coach Roger Neilson received a $25,000 fine and player Keith Jones $1,000), was livid the night of May 2 after referee Terry Gregson whistled the Flyers&rsquo; John LeClair for elbowing Mike Johnson with 2:54 to play in a scoreless tie, resulting in Sergei Berezin&rsquo;s goal to clinch the series.According to Snider, Gregson and partner Rob Shick overlooked two other violations-Todd Warriner&rsquo;s cross-check of Jody Hull and Derek King&rsquo;s pull-down of Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour on the deciding goal.Then, in Snider&rsquo;s opinion, they cited LeClair for a questionable hit that did not involve a scoring chance or injury.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a disgrace,&rdquo; Snider shouted in a media-packed equipment change room at the First Union Center. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sick to my stomach that this man (Gregson) called this against John LeClair, one of the cleanest players in the league after Jody Hull&rsquo;s head was almost taken off and we have film that Gregson was looking right at it.&ldquo;As far as I&rsquo;m concerned, he decides the game, not the players.&rdquo;The Flyers, in particular Neilson, have been critical of the two-referee system. Twice in the series (Games 1 and 4), the Flyers received simultaneous minors, resulting in two-minute 5-on-3 situations.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sick of this crap with these officials,&rdquo; Snider said. &ldquo;Two officials put us two men short for two minutes in the series and&hellip;I can&rsquo;t put up with this anymore.&rdquo;Neilson echoed Snider&rsquo;s comments.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a serious elbow by any means and to have the series decided on that play, it&rsquo;s unbelievable,&rdquo; Neilson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s frustrating, it&rsquo;s annoying, it&rsquo;s an awful end to what was going to be a great series.&rdquo;Said LeClair, &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question he blew the call, that&rsquo;s the bottom line.&rdquo;Added Jones, &ldquo;Instead of letting two teams play hockey, they (Gregson, Shick) decided they wanted to be first and second star.&rdquo;WORLD SERIES: The U.S. team and Canada sailed through the first round setting up a head-to-head battle in the second round at the World Championship in Hamar, Norway.The Americans beat Austria and Japan and lost to the Czech Republic to finish 2-1, while the Canadians swept Slovakia, Norway and Italy.<h2>PUCK BRIEFS</h2>The second round consists of Canada, U.S., Finland and Switzerland in one pool. Making up the other pool is defending champion Sweden, Russia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The top two teams in each pool after a round-robin advance to a one-game semifinal. The two semifinal winners meet in a two-game final.GRETZKY IN: The Hockey Hall of Fame has waived the mandatory three-year waiting period for Wayne Gretzky and he will enter the shrine Nov. 22 in Toronto.The Hall&rsquo;s selection committee voted unanimously to eliminate the three-year wait for The Great One. Gretzky is the seventh player to go directly to the Hall upon retirement. The group includes Mario Lemieux (1997), Bobby Orr (1979), Gordie Howe (1972), Jean Beliveau (1972) Maurice Richard (1961) and Dit Clapper (1947).OGREAN MOVES ON: Dave Ogrean resigned as executive director of USA Hockey to take the position of deputy executive director for marketing for the U.S. Olympic Committee.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m honored to have the opportunity to return to the USOC in this challenging new role,&rdquo; Ogrean said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult to leave USA Hockey.&rdquo;Ogrean, 46, guided USA Hockey to unparalleled growth during his six-year tenure. Registered membership is up 60 per cent in that time to more than 550,000 ice and in-line players.Ogrean will remain with USA Hockey until June 4. A search committee is looking for a replacement.STILL ALIVE: Canada&rsquo;s national team didn&rsquo;t meet its goal of raising $300,000, but it was given a reprieve.The program raised $274,000 by the May 1 deadline, but Canadian Hockey was encouraged by the support and allowed some flexibility. The $300,000 target was needed to help offset operating expenses.&ldquo;The program will continue, but we will have to make some necessary changes,&rdquo; said Canadian Hockey president Bob Nicholson.The program will have the summer to prepare a proposal on finding additional revenue sources for the team.GREAT RATINGS: Game 7 of the opening round NHL playoff series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils May 4 was the fourth most-watched quarterfinal round game in ESPN history.The game was seen in 993,677 homes and averaged a 1.3 rating. Pittsburgh won the game 4-2.-With files from Wayne Fish and Steve Keating &#9632;

Flyers’ Snider fined $50,000

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011871/7185608-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011703/7185639-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="513" height="724"></div>Jaromir Jagr&rsquo;s heroic performance in Game 6 against the New Jersey Devils was one for the ages.Here we have the top player this season bedeviled by a groin injury that sidelines him four games of the series. It&rsquo;s moments before game time at Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Civic Arena. The Penguins are down 3-2 for what could be the last NHL game at The Igloo. Virtually everyone is convinced Jagr either won&rsquo;t play or will be limited to power play duty at most. But the captain takes to the ice and takes regular turns as his Penguins face elimination on the wrong end of a 2-1 score.With three minutes remaining, German Titov shovels the puck from behind the New Jersey goal to Jagr in front. It seems like an impossible shot yet Jagr mysteriously outmuscles defenseman Scott Stevens and finds a three-inch opening to stuff the puck behind Martin Brodeur.It is now sudden-death overtime and Jagr is slogging through his 29th shift as Martin Straka eludes defenseman Scott Niedermayer on the left. &ldquo;When Marty beat Niedermayer,&rdquo; Jagr said, &ldquo;I was waiting for the puck.&rdquo;Jagr roofed the winner at 8:59 as 15,376 disbelieving witnesses raised the Igloo&rsquo;s roof. And why not? Jagr had just orchestrated one of the most dynamic stickhandling symphonies this side of Rocket Richard.Not that Jagr is alone. Big league hockey history is filled with episodes of players defying extraordinary illness or injury to perform above and beyond the realm of believe-it-or-not.Here are some other memorable post-season heroics.Charlie Gardiner (1933-34) The Blackhawks&rsquo; goalie was at the top of his game in 1933-34 when he was afflicted with a tonsil infection. The disease spread, causing uremic convulsions, yet he remained in the Chicago goal as the playoffs began.Gardiner delivered series wins over the Montreal Maroons and Canadiens, reaching the final against Detroit. His body wracked with pain, Gardiner led the Hawks to a two-games-to-one lead in the best-of-five series. After Game 3, Gardiner collapsed on the bench but recovered enough to admonish his teammates: &ldquo;Look, all 1 want is one goal next game. Just one goal and I&rsquo;ll take care of the other guys.&rdquo;On April 10, 1934, drained of energy, the failing netminder held his club in a 0-0 game through three periods. As his insides burned with pain, he survived 10 minutes of overtime until teammate &lsquo;Mush March won the match and Chicago&rsquo;s first Cup with a goal at 10:05.Days later he underwent brain surgery. Just two months later Charlie Gardiner was dead.Rocket Richard (1951-52) A bitter Bruins-Canadiens semifinal reached a seventh game on April 8, 1952. With the scored tied 1-1 in the second period, Boston&rsquo;s rugged Leo Labine crosschecked Rocket Richard in the head. Richard keeled over and lay motionless.Eventually, he responded to smelling salts and with his face smeared with blood, skated to the first-aid room where a deep cut over his left eye was stitched. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t remember anything after I got hit,&rdquo; Richard later explained. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t even know the score when I went back to the bench.&rdquo;With less than four minutes left in the third period, he raced down the right wing, 1-on-l with Hall of Fame defenseman Bill Quackenbush, then quickly cut left and put the puck past &lsquo;Sugar&rsquo; Jim Henry. It was the winning&ndash;and series-clinching-goal. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t remember a thing about it,&rdquo; Richard said an hour after scoring the goal.Bobby Baun (1963-64) In their quest for a third straight Stanley Cup, Toronto met Detroit in the final. Toronto trailed Detroit, three games to two and were clinging to a 3-3 tie in Game 6.With 10 minutes remaining, Bob Baun threw his leg in front of a Gordie Howe shot. The puck cracked a bone in the Leafs&rsquo; defenseman&rsquo;s ankle and he had to be carried from the ice.During the intermission after the third period, the team doctor stuck a needle in Baun&rsquo;s foot, whereupon the blueliner returned to the bench.&ldquo;When I saw him come out, I sent him over the boards,&rdquo; said coach Punch Imlach. &ldquo;It was a great show of courage, but you expect those things from a guy like Baun.&rdquo;Late in the period, he golfed a shot that struck defenseman Bill Gadsby&rsquo;s stick and ricocheted crazily behind goalie Terry Sawchuk for the winning goal.Following the game, the Leafs ordered Baun to a doctor for X-rays of his broken ankle, but he refused them. &ldquo;If there was anything wrong, didn&rsquo;t want to know the details,&rdquo; Baun remarked. Riddled with pain killers, Baun still took a regular turn throughout the final game, a 4-0 Leafs&rsquo; win. &#9632;

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Jagr earns spot among top playoff heroes

Steve ChiassonBorn: April 14,1967, Barrie, Ont.Position: DefenseHeight: 6-foot-1 Weight: 205 lbs.Drafted: 50th overall in 1985 entry draft<h2>NHL CAREER STATS</h2><h3>Regular Season</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011764/7185715-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="885" height="1608"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021346/7185708-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="1099" height="1398"></div><h2>Career Highlights</h2>1985-86: Won Memorial Cup with Guelph Platers; named tournament MVP.1992-93: Best offensive season of career&hellip;Played in NHL All-Star Game.1993-94: Traded to Calgary for goaltender Mike Vernon.1996-97: Traded to Hartford with third round 1997 draft choice for Hnat Domenichelli, Glen Featherstone, second and third round 1997 draft choices&hellip;Won gold medal with Canada at World Championship. &#9632;

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FEATURES

Biography

<div class="byline">By Todd Graff</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03972/7185677-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Investigators say they think Steve Chiasson could have lived had he been wearing a seat belt when his pickup truck left the road. (Photo by AP/Canapres)</figcaption></div>By the time most people awoke May 3, the Carolina Hurricanes were dealing with something far worse than losing a playoff game.Just six hours after the Hurricanes were eliminated by the Boston Bruins in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, 13-year NHL veteran defenseman Steve Chiasson was killed in a one-car accident on a winding, rural road in north Raleigh, N.C.-just a few miles from his home.The 32-year-old native of Barrie, Ont., died about 4:15 a.m. EDT when he lost control of his pickup truck and was tossed from the vehicle. Chiasson is survived by wife Susan and three children: sons Michael, 8, and Ryan, 5, and daughter Stephanie, 3.&ldquo;This is a tragedy that&rsquo;s impossible to put into words,&rdquo; said Hurricanes&rsquo; GM Jim Rutherford. &ldquo;This was a guy who was highly respected and important player for his leadership role.&rdquo;Investigators believe three factors contributed to his death-alcohol, excessive speed and the fact Chiasson wasn&rsquo;t wearing a seat belt.&ldquo;From the evidence at the scene and from the information gathered&rdquo; said state Trooper K.L. Home, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s no doubt alcohol contributed to the accident.&rdquo;If the medical examiner&rsquo;s report reveals alcohol was involved, it will be the third alcohol-related death of an NHL player in the past 25 years. Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; goaltender Pelle Lindbergh (1985) and Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; defenseman Tim Hor ton (1974) were both killed in car wrecks. (See story on pg. 9).According to the police report, Chiasson&rsquo;s 1996 Chevy pickup was traveling at an estimated 74 mph-in a 55 mph zone-as he tried to navigate Falls of the Neuse Road as it bent around a water treatment plant. As Chiasson&rsquo;s truck drifted to the right shoulder of the two-lane road, he jerked the steering wheel back, but overcompensated and headed into a four-foot high embankment on the other side of the road.Investigators told the Hurricanes they believe Chiasson could have lived had he been wearing a seat belt.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just surreal,&rdquo; said Adam Burt, the longtime Hurricanes&rsquo; defenseman who was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in March. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m still in shock over it. Guys in Philadelphia knew &lsquo;Chase&rsquo; and they were having trouble dealing with it.&rdquo;After losing to the Bruins in Game 6 at the FleetCenter May 2, the Hurricanes chartered a flight back to Raleigh. A team spokesman said two cases of beer were available aboard the charter, which carried 52 people.As has become an accepted part of hockey culture, players often gather at a season&rsquo;s close to drink a few beers and reminisce about the year gone by.When the Hurricanes&rsquo; plane landed at approximately 1 a.m. at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, sources say roughly half the people aboard the charter-mostly players-attended a season-ending party at the home of left winger Gary Roberts.As the party was breaking up early Monday morning, taxis were called to take many of the players home. When a cab didn&rsquo;t show quickly, Chiasson apparently became impatient and opted to drive his pickup home.Right winger Kevin Dineen had been prepared to drive Chiasson and a couple of teammates home.When it was discovered Chiasson had left, Dineen, Ray Sheppard and Roberts&rsquo; wife went looking for him. When they reached his house, they discovered that he had not made it home. Minutes later, they happened upon the accident.&ldquo;We have a family amongst players and an extended family amongst wives and children that go to school together and play on sports teams together,&rdquo; said Hurricanes&rsquo; coach Paul Maurice. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really an environment like any other.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s is no other way to put it except that we have lost a member of our family.&rdquo;Nearly 36 hours after the accident, about 200 teammates, friends and family members gathered for an emotional memorial service in Raleigh, just a few miles from the sight of the accident.A large flower arrangement graced the center of the altar where pastor Murry Haber performed the ceremony, while a large action photo of Chiasson was situated on an easel to the right of the altar.Members of the team entered the church with their wives or girlfriends, while Susan Chiasson and the couple&rsquo;s three children followed the team holding flowers. When two-year-old Stephanie caught a glimpse of the photo, she exclaimed into an eerie silence, &ldquo;There&rsquo;s my daddy &ldquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;He wasn&rsquo;t a hockey player, he was my best friend&rsquo;</blockquote>NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL director of hockey operations Colin Campbell attended the ceremony, along with former Hurricanes&rsquo; players Burt, Jeff Brown and Nelson Emerson.Dineen, Sheppard and Chiasson&rsquo;s agent, Roland Thompson, spoke at the service, each of them talking of their teammate&rsquo;s honesty and integrity.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take that with me as long as I live,&rdquo; said Sheppard, Chiasson&rsquo;s roommate on the road, who struggled to keep his composure. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be in our prayers forever. We should all be grateful for him.&rdquo;When Susan Chiasson closed the service, not a dry eye remained in the church. &ldquo;I can just feel him here,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t a hockey player, he was my best friend.&rdquo;Chiasson&rsquo;s funeral was scheduled for May 8 in Peterborough, Ont., the town in which he grew up.The tragedy wasn&rsquo;t Chiasson&rsquo;s alcohol-related incident. In the summer of 1989, during his fourth season with the Detroit Red Wings, Chiasson was charged with impaired driving, although he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of drunken driving.A year earlier, Chiasson was among a group of Wings that included Bob Probert and Petr Klima to have post-season bonuses forfeited because they broke curfew during the playoffs and were out late at an Edmonton bar.&ldquo;He played very hard on the ice and, unfortunately, he lived hard off the ice,&rdquo; said Detroit senior vice-president Jim Devellano, who drafted Chiasson in 1985. It didn&rsquo;t seem to affect his performance. He was a hard-nosed player.&ldquo;I had several conversations with him about the drinking because he was a young player at the time, somebody I cared for.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011668/7185670-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="166" height="247"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Chiasson plays his final shift for the Hurricanes against Boston. (Photo by Brian Babineau/SA)</figcaption></div>Chiasson was known as a devoted family man. On many afternoons after practice, he could be seen skating with his sons. While he was out with a shoulder injury this season, he helped coach his son Michael&rsquo;s youth team.Players also called him a dedicated and dependable teammate. Despite suffering a tom labrum in December and having surgery on his right shoulder Jan. 5, Chiasson made it back for the end of the regular season. Dallas Cowboys&rsquo; wide receiver Michael Irvin is the only other pro athlete known to return as quickly from a similar injury.One of the enduring images from the Red Wings&rsquo; elimination from the playoffs in 1994 is of Chiasson comforting heartbroken goaltender Chris Osgood.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the kind of guy everybody wanted to be around,&rdquo; Rutherford said. &ldquo;He was certainly (popular) with his teammates and just a real ordinary guy that loved the game of hockey and loved the people around him.&ldquo;He was one of our veteran players among the team leaders. He wasn&rsquo;t a designated captain, but he was always understood as being one of the honorary captains.&rdquo;Known as &lsquo;The Tank&rsquo; by his major junior teammates, Chiasson led the Guelph Platers to the Memorial Cup in 1986, receiving the tournament MVP award in the process.Selected 50th overall by the Red Wings in 1985, Chiasson started his NHL career in 1986-87 and played parts of eight seasons for Detroit. In 1993, he played in the NHL All-Star Game and recorded career highs that year of 50 assists and 02 points.He was traded to the Calgary Flames June 29, 1994 for goaltender Mike Vernon and spent parts of three seasons there before the Hurricanes acquired him in a multi-player deal March 5, 1997.&ldquo;We know Steve loved the game of hockey,&rdquo; said defenseman Glen Wesley. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a skilled player who took a youthful approach to the game. He was a man of tremendous character and a loving father. We all miss him.&rdquo;<h2>Reaction</h2><blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;Oh &hellip;his three kids are so young and so beautiful and now he won&rsquo;t be around.&rdquo; &ndash;Carolina teammate Jeff O&rsquo;Neill</blockquote><blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;He was just outgoing, effervescent, always saw the positive side of things. If there was a good guy award in the league, he would be one of the top candidates.&rdquo; &ndash;Montreal assistant coach Dave King</blockquote><blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;The kind of guy you want to go to war with.&rdquo; &ndash;Detroit GM Ken Holland</blockquote><blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;Next to losing a member of your own family, it&rsquo;s every general manager&rsquo;s worst nightmare. When the phone rings at that time, you break out in a cold sweat. Because these guys are at an age-especially after a team has been eliminated and has a get-together-you worry about guys getting home.&rdquo; &ndash;Vancouver GM Brian Burke</blockquote><blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;I think more time and money has to be spent on helping people-players, coaches, everyone-in dealing with the pressure. There&rsquo;s incredible tension and stress involved now in the game, given the stakes and the money.&rdquo; &ndash;Former Calgary coach Pierre Page</blockquote><blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;When a young life ends prematurely, when a young family loses a husband and a father, words cannot begin to express our sorrow.&rdquo; &ndash;NHL commissioner Gary Bettman</blockquote> &#9632;

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Sad day for hockey

<div class="byline">By Jason Paul THN Staff</div>It&rsquo;s the road we all wish was less travelled. A person hops into an automobile and disaster strikes.Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; defenseman Steve Chiasson joined a long list of NHL players who have been in horrible vehicle accidents.It was just over two years ago the Stanley Cup took a backseat to reality.Six days after winning the Detroit Red Wings won the Cup, celebration turned to tragedy when defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov suffered a devastating and career-ending head injury June 13, 1997.The limousine carrying teammate Slava Fetisov and team masseur Sergei Mnatsakanov. crashed into a tree. Konstantinov and Mnatsakanov suffered severe injuries while Fetisov escaped with minor injuries.The driver of the vehicle, Richard Gnida, was subsequently pleaded guilty to driving, with a suspended license and served seven months in jail.The last NHL player to die in a car accident was Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; goalie Pelle Lindbergh. Coming off a Vezina Trophy-winning season in 1984-85, Lindbergh never got a chance to defend his title as the NHL&rsquo;s top net; minder when his car crashed into a wall at a school early on the morning of Nov. 10, 1985.The 26-year-old was speeding at 60 miles per hour in a 35-mph zone and failed to negotiate a turn. His blood-alcohol content was .24. The legal limit was .10.Tim Horton, 44, lost his life in a crash at the tail end of his career when the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; defenseman decided to drive from Toronto to Buffalo instead of taking the team bus Feb. 14, 1974.Three years later, the longtime Toronto Maple Leaf was inducted into the Hall of Fame.Michel Briere saw his promising career end after just one NHL season. Having scored 161 points in his only major junior season for the Shawinigan Bruins, the 20-year-old went straight to the NHL and finished with 44 points for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1969-70. But an automobile accident in May ended his career and, after being comatose for a year, he died.St. Louis Blues&rsquo; defenseman Bob Gassoff died in the summer of 1977 in a motorcycle accident at the age of 24.Defenseman Scott Garland, 27, who was signed as a free agent by the Maple Leafs in 1973, lost his life in a June, 1979 accident on a Montreal freeway when he blew a tire and spun out of control.Center Don Ashby, the Leafs&rsquo; No. 1 pick in 1975, died in a car crash May 30, 1981 at the age of 26. &#9632;

NHLers Horton, Lindbergh victims of car crashes

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011737/7185777-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="469" height="661"></div>On the day Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; defenseman Steve Chiasson died in a car crash, I read a bedtime story to my six-year-old daughter, in which the main character was having what she called a &ldquo;bad, sad, mad&rdquo; day.Normally, you plough through these stories without giving them a second thought, but this time, I could only think &ldquo;yes exactly.&rdquo; All day long, I&rsquo;d been edgy, ill-tempered and sour stomached and finally, I could put it into words.It had been a bad, sad, mad day, all right. It was bad because I liked Chiasson, liked him a lot.Maybe it&rsquo;s a sign of advancing age, but Chiasson-in the three seasons he played for the Calgary Flames-was a pleasing throwback to an earlier era. He was approachable, sensible and possessed a sneaky, if understated, sense of humor.He was a consummate professional, a good person who overcame some physical limitations to become an effective NHL defenseman.Former teammate James Patrick summed it up best: Chiasson, said Patrick, was about as old-school as they come. I was sad because Chiasson&rsquo;s widow, Sue, is left to raise their three children-Michael, Ryan and Stephanie&ndash;by herself.Only a handful of the players&rsquo; wives who passed through Calgary have made a lasting impression on me, but I have no difficulty conjuring up an image of Sue Chiasson. In her time there, she was actively involved in a series of charity endeavors-drives for the local food bank, that sort of thing. She would occasionally drop by for an interview on a local radio show.The memory persists years later of a strong, grounded woman who understood, really understood, the importance of giving something back when you have so much. Mainly though, I was mad-mad because Chiasson&rsquo;s death was so unnecessary.The temptation is to fall back on some pithy platitude or other; to say, &ldquo;maybe we can learn a lesson from this tragedy; that to drink and drive can be a potentially fatal mistake.&rdquo; Problem is, that was the lesson we were supposed to learn almost 14 years ago when Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; goalie Pelle Lindbergh crashed his Porsche. The reality is more and more players do understand the necessity of calling a taxi cab after imbibing a few post-game beers.It&rsquo;s just hard to get past that sense you are indestructible; that home is only a few miles away; traffic at 4 a.m. will be light; and who knows when that taxi will ever show up? Alcohol does more than just impair reflexes; it impairs judgment too.A number of his Hurricane teammates advised Chiasson not to drive. For whatever reason-largely his own impatience-Chiasson didn&rsquo;t listen.Paul Ranheim, the Hurricanes&rsquo; soft-spoken winger, spoke for perhaps all of the players who were there with Chiasson in his final hour.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m watching ESPN,&rdquo; said Ranheim, &ldquo;and they have this up there and I say, &lsquo;no.&rsquo; And yet, I was there. I went to the accident scene. I saw it. It&rsquo;s denial.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gone over it a thousand times in my head. What could I have done differently? Why couldn&rsquo;t I have been there to take his keys from him?&ldquo;It hits so close to home when it&rsquo;s someone you know and someone you spent a lot of time with. We were just with him, literally, 15 minutes before it happened.Miles away, Patrick was searching for perspective as well.&ldquo;You just feel devastated,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Obviously, you feel for Sue and the kids. My daughter and their oldest son, Michael, are the same age. My daughter just loved Michael. It was like he was her first boyfriend or something.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021273/7185770-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="452" height="697"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Ranheim</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Right now, I&rsquo;m thinking of all the guys Steve played with and of how devastated his Carolina teammates must be. It&rsquo;s just such a huge loss.&rdquo;On May 2, in the aftermath of the first round playoff loss to the Boston Bruins, Chiasson spoke in terms of the &ldquo;big picture.&rdquo; After a six-year playoff absence, the Hurricanes&rsquo; players and coaches all learned something from the defeat, Chiasson said.He talked about the team&rsquo;s &ldquo;good nucleus&rdquo; and promised: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll get better.&rdquo;It sounded as if Chiasson, who would have become an unrestricted free agent in July, wanted to return to the Hurricanes.Patrick spoke with Chiasson at length just before Christmas and said: &ldquo;He was just loving it in Carolina. The coaching staff and the situation there was just the way he liked it. He just wanted to play the games, that was his approach.&ldquo;I remember he was really enjoying hockey again. He felt he&rsquo;d lost that for a couple of years.&rdquo;Sadly, now he&rsquo;s lost that forever. &#9632;

f0010-01

Chiasson was wonderful throwback

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03793/7185808-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0010-03

Will heart of Pens win Hart?

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011562/7185846-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="512" height="717"></div>Derian Hatcher said he didn&rsquo;t mean to break Jeremy Roenick&rsquo;s jaw. He said there was no attempt at redemption for Roenick&rsquo;s hit on Mike Modano in an earlier game. He said there was no attempt at intimidation or sending a message.&ldquo;Basically, I just had a hit and I took it,&rdquo; said the Dallas Stars&rsquo; defenseman.And listening to Hatcher, it&rsquo;s difficult to believe he&rsquo;s trying to cover something up. The soft-spoken 26-year-old has had the best success in his job as captain when addressing issues head on. He&rsquo;s sincere in his approach, and that makes his take on the Roenick issue pretty believable.That said. Hatcher probably did more to help his career in Dallas with that one hit than with all the solid defensive work he&rsquo;s done the past six seasons. And that&rsquo;s pretty sad.To Stars&rsquo; fans, Hatcher&rsquo;s thundering shot that broke the jaw of the Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; top scorer April 14 at Reunion Arena was redemption, sweet redemption, for six years of being the cowards of the county.Was Hatcher&rsquo;s hit dirty? The fans don&rsquo;t care. Did he leave his feet? The fans don&rsquo;t care. Did he lead with his elbow? The fans don&rsquo;t care. Are they sorry that Roenick broke his jaw? Y&rsquo;know, most probably are. But this brutal game they&rsquo;re learning to love in the Lone Star State has taught them too many harsh lessons.So another team got hurt by &ldquo;an unfortunate incident,&rdquo; so another team had its playoff hopes dashed by a crucial injury, the general feeling in Footballtown was it was about time someone evened things up.Nobody cared about the Stars when Pavel Bure knocked out Shane Churla in one of the cheapest shots in league history in the 1994 playoffs. The league wouldn&rsquo;t even suspend Bure for one game. Nobody cared when Bryan Marchment rammed Mike Modano in 1997 with a careless knee-to-knee hit. Nobody cared when Marchment ran Joe Nieuwendyk in last season&rsquo;s playoffs, wrenching Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s knee on a hit many believe took away the Stars&rsquo; chances at a Stanley Cup.And Roenick simply added to the formula when he smashed Modano March 23 in Phoenix, knocking Modano from the game and causing a mysterious cut on his eyelid. While those in Phoenix and the NHL offices saw it as a clean hit, talk radio in Dallas lit up with fans who described it a blindside hit to a man who wasn&rsquo;t even close to the puck. They said it was Roenick&rsquo;s temper that caused the blow, his own retribution for taking the brunt of a Craig Ludwig hip check earlier in the shift.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021114/7185839-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="1145" height="1964"><figcaption class="caption-body">Derian Hatcher is a big hit with Dallas Stars&rsquo; fans.</figcaption></div>Certainly the league had to do something to protect Modano, one of its star players. Stars&rsquo; fans reasoned.But when the league didn&rsquo;t suspend Roenick, the memories of Marchment and Bure came flooding back. When Coyotes&rsquo; captain Keith Tkachuk issued his bold statement in the press that the Stars should stop whining, should &ldquo;do something about it or else shut up,&rdquo; the fans wanted blood, they wanted redemption. And they cheered wildly when Hatcher delivered it.The sad thing about the entire incident is before that hit Hatcher had his critics in Dallas-people who said he wasn&rsquo;t physical enough for his 6-foot-5, 225-pound frame, people who didn&rsquo;t like his lumbering style, people who said he wasn&rsquo;t enough of a leader. After the hit, Hatcher became every fan&rsquo;s hero.That&rsquo;s too bad, because Derian Hatcher has become one of the better defensemen in the NHL. He is certainly viewed as the best on the Stars by all inside the organization, and he has worked hard to cover whatever deficiencies he might have had. Hatcher played every game this season until he was suspended for the final two regular season games and first five of the playoffs. He was as physical as he&rsquo;s been in Dallas, but he did it in a positionally strong way. He contributed more offensively with nine goals and 30 points. He was plus-21.He just didn&rsquo;t make many mistakes. But few people will see that, few people will see what assistant coach Rick Wilson says is a pie know that long before Hatcher broke Roenick&rsquo;s jaw, h had a physical presence on the ice.&ldquo;The one thing this guy has that other players don&rsquo;t have is absolute 100 per-cent physical play with absolute accountability,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t need his stick to back it up and he doesn&rsquo;t need anybody else to back it up. People know him and are aware of him and that changes the way the game is played.&rdquo;Derian Hatcher was named captain four years ago at 22 and had to grow into the role amid a sea of expectations. And the funny thing is it&rsquo;s only after the Roenick hit he&rsquo;s starting to get the recognition as a guy who will &ldquo;take care of business.&rdquo;No one seems to realize the guy&rsquo;s been taking care of business for the Stars both on and off the ice for the past three seasons. And trust us when we say, he&rsquo;d honestly much rather be known for that. &#9632;

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Hatcher big hit after BIG HIT

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy Senior Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011693/7185884-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Curtis Joseph backboned the Maple Leafs&rsquo; first round playoff win over the Philadelphia Flyers. (Photo by John Giamundo/BS)</figcaption></div>Curtis Joseph&rsquo;s life is a delicate balance.Star player, savior and media darling of the Toronto Maple Leafs on one hand; humble, down-to-earth family man whose greatest joy is raising his three kids with his wife Nancy, on the other.But while the city of Toronto gets caught up in Stanley Cup fever (a little prematurely perhaps), Joseph goes about his day-to-day business like it&rsquo;s the first week of training camp.&ldquo;I guess you could call me laid back,&rdquo; said a relaxed Joseph, sitting in the first row of seats at Air Canada Centre-his building, much the way Maple Leaf Gardens belonged to Doug Gilmour in 1993, the last time the Leafs made a serious charge in the playoffs. &ldquo;Sometimes I might be too laid back, but that&rsquo;s just who I am.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s a good thing, too. Because if Joseph was the nervous type, you wouldn&rsquo;t want to be around him at this point in the season. Not when he&rsquo;s facing his old nemesis&ndash;the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.To the Toronto faithful, Joseph represents a glimmer of hope. The weird thing is, in nine seasons, Joseph has never made it out of the second round.&ldquo;He has gained a reputation as a great first round goalie and it&rsquo;s well deserved,&rdquo; said one team&rsquo;s pro scout. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s really no different than Eddie Belfour. People say, &lsquo;Yeah, Eddie&rsquo;s good, but he has never won the final.&rsquo; &ldquo;Joseph acknowledges that reality.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d love to get past the second round, absolutely,&rdquo; Joseph said. &ldquo;Past the second round. Past the third round. Into the fourth round. A lot of people measure the success of an athlete by whether or not they win a championship. And why wouldn&rsquo;t they? It determines whether a player is a winner or not a winner.&rdquo;Frankly, the main reason the St. Louis Blues, the team Joseph broke in with in 1990, made it to the second round in 1993 before losing to the Maple Leafs in seven games, was because of his play. Same thing the past two years with the Edmonton Oilers. Joseph carried them past the heavily favored Dallas Stars in seven games two years ago-who will ever forget Joseph sliding across, seemingly out of nowhere, to rob Joe Nieuwendyk in overtime of Game 7 with a glove save?&ndash;and did the same thing last year when the Oilers upset the Colorado Avalanche.Yet when it came decision time in Edmonton, and the Oilers had to choose between keeping center Doug Weight and Joseph, both free agents, they chose the forward. They couldn&rsquo;t afford Joseph.The Leafs could, though and $24 million (U.S.) for four years later, he was theirs.Joseph actually had his heart set on joining the Philadelphia Flyers, a team he felt was closer to winning the Cup. He even surprised his agent, Don Meehan, by answering the doorbell one summer evening wearing a Flyers&rsquo; jersey. The joke was on him, sort of.The Flyers opted for John Vanbiesbrouck, and no matter how they paint it, they went the cheap route. Joseph got the last laugh beating them out in the first round this season.&ldquo;The (Eastern Conference) can have him,&rdquo; said Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s this, three years in a row he beats out a pretty good team in the first round? I&rsquo;m not sure how he does it.&rdquo;If Dominik Hasek is the ultimate numbers goalie of the 1990s, having led the NHL in save percentage six years running, Joseph is the league&rsquo;s anti-numbers stopper. Much Like Grant Fuhr during the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; heyday, the number Joseph cares most about is wins.So in spite of the fact he was 25th in goals-against average this season at 2.56 (above the league average of 2.47) and 15th in save percentage at .910, the fact he tied for second in wins with 35 was good enough to make him a Vezina Trophy finalist as the league&rsquo;s top goalie.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;He rarely gets burned. You just have to have faith in him&rsquo;</blockquote>&ldquo;I keep an eye on the numbers and I&rsquo;d like mine to be comparable to the other top goalies in the league, but I don&rsquo;t dwell on it,&rdquo; Joseph said. &lsquo;T&rsquo;d like to lead the league in all the goaltending categories, but that&rsquo;s not possible.&rdquo;Joseph, it should be noted, was the last goalie to lead the NHL in save percentage before Hasek went on his six-year tear. That was in 1992-93 when Joseph recorded a .911 save percentage. That same year Joseph had his highest ever finish in GAA, fourth at 3.02.Joseph&rsquo;s style is best described as acrobatic. Or as one opposing team&rsquo;s goalie coach suggested: &ldquo;He has no style. He&rsquo;s not very predictable; it&rsquo;s an arm (save) this time, a leg (save) the next. It doesn&rsquo;t matter what it is, he seems to stick something in front of the shot. He&rsquo;s a gambler, but he knows the percentages. He plays with a lot of heart and that rubs off on the rest of the team.&rdquo;Though he often looks like he&rsquo;s off balance and in trouble, Joseph claims it&rsquo;s an illusion. He knows what he&rsquo;s doing.&ldquo;The whole thing with my style is balance,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;As long as I&rsquo;m in control of my balance, no matter how it looks, I know what&rsquo;s happening. I basically take things as they come. If Brett Hull and Mike Modano are coming in 2-on-l with Hull carrying the puck, I know he&rsquo;s a shooter so I&rsquo;ll move out a bit. If Modano is carrying the puck, he&rsquo;s more of a passer so I&rsquo;ll stay a little deeper in my net.&rdquo;&ldquo;There are times,&rdquo; said teammate Kris King, &ldquo;when he wanders out of his net and you think, &lsquo;Just stay in the goal and make the save,&rsquo; but he rarely gets burned. You just have to have faith in him.&rdquo;Joseph was one of two key off-season acquisitions for Toronto last summer. Coach Pat Quinn was the other. Quinn-bless his soul-brought a more wide-open, run-and-gun style to town, thumbing his nose to the defensive fad that has dragged hockey down to the same excitement level as lawn bowling, and the dependable Joseph allowed him to do so.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no coincidence we led the league in goals this season after not being able to score last year,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;The guys had the confidence to take chances on offense knowing if it didn&rsquo;t work out, and we ended up with an odd-man rush against us, he&rsquo;d bale us out.&rdquo;The Leafs scored 268 goals this year, 20 more than second place New Jersey Devils and 74 more than they scored last season under coach Mike Murphy.Could this be Joseph&rsquo;s year? By all means things seemed to be falling into place for Joseph and the Leafs. The Flyers were without superstar center Eric Lindros in the first round and the Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto&rsquo;s second round opponent, weren&rsquo;t certain as the series began about the health of Jaromir Jagr, the league&rsquo;s leading scorer and likely Hart Trophy winner.&ldquo;I know if we&rsquo;re going to be successful, I have to be on my game,&rdquo; Joseph said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t dwell on it though. We&rsquo;ve got enough power up front that it I hold the fort, we can put enough goals in.&rdquo;<h2>Round by Round: Who Are The &lsquo;Money&rsquo; Goalies</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011680/7185877-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="2424" height="1175"></div> &#9632;

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Cujo: In dog Leafs trust

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011573/7187391-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"></div><a href="http://www.rivercitysports.com">www.rivercitysports.com</a><a href="mailto:order@rivercitysports.com">order@rivercitysports.com</a> &#9632;

f0013-01

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011545/7185915-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="226" height="228"></div>It&rsquo;s hard to imagine things going much better for the Buffalo Sabres.They swept the Northeast Division champion Ottawa Senators in four games in the first round of the playoffs.Before the second round series with the Boston Bruins got underway, the Sabres learned veteran goaltender Dominik Hasek was a finalist for his third straight Hart Trophy as the league&rsquo;s most valuable player. Hasek is also a finalist for the Vezina Trophy presented to the league&rsquo;s top goaltender.In addition, his teammate, captain Michael Peca, is a finalist for the Selke Trophy as the league&rsquo;s best defensive forward. Peca won the award two seasons ago and was a finalist last season.Hasek&rsquo;s accomplishments are almost a given every season, but Peca has risen to new heights. His performance in the sweep of the Senators was every bit as impressive as anything Hasek did. Peca held Ottawa star Alexei Yashin to no points, forced Yashin into the penalty box on numerous occasions-he was there when Alexei Zhitnik scored the series-clinching goal-yet Peca led the Sabres in scoring with one goal and six points.&ldquo;Everyone mentions Hasek as the savior for that team, but if I look at forwards and defenseman and the team as a whole I have to think Michael Peca is the MVP of that team,&rdquo; said Bruins&rsquo; center Tim Taylor. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t get the recognition that he should get.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Miroslav Satan, a 40-goal scorer in the regular season-missed the start of the Boston series with a bruised heel/ankle. He suffered the injury in Game 4 of the series with Ottawa when he was struck by a shot taken by defenseman Alexei Zhitnik Right winger Rob Ray returned to action in Game 1 against the Bruins after sitting out all four games in the Ottawa series as a healthy scratch&hellip;Though still claiming to be losing extraordinary sums of money, the Sabres had their best year ever at the gate this past season. The Sabres shot up to seventh in the league in attendance, up from 17th last season. Their season average was 17,982 and up 15 per cent from the 1997-98 campaign. &#9632;

f0015-01

Hasek, Peca rewarded with trophy nominations

<div class="byline">By Nancy L.Marrapese</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03769/7185946-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="442" height="602"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darren Van Impe</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021084/7185953-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="227" height="221"></div>He is one of the least known Boston Bruins&rsquo; defensemen. He&rsquo;s still learning the game, still finding his niche in the lineup, still fighting for ice time.But Darren Van Impe continues to make a contribution to Boston&rsquo;s cause. While teams target Ray Bourque when the Bruins are on the power play, Van Impe, positioned at the other point, has been able to take advantage. On May 6 in the team&rsquo;s opener with the Buffalo Sabres in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, Van Impe drew two assists on the man advantage, including one on Joe Thornton&rsquo;s winning goal.What was most remarkable about Van Impe is he actually played more than marathon man Ray Bourque. Bourque turned in more shifts (28) but logged just 22 minutes, eight seconds while Van Impe put in 23 shifts for a total of 22:13.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just moving the puck around and trying to contribute,&rdquo; said Van Impe. &ldquo;I gave it to Ally (Jason Allison) and he was streaking down the wall. He went in and had a really nice goal. Then, on the other one, I fed Ray for the one-timer and Joe was in front of the net and it went off him and in. That&rsquo;s how we re going to have to get our goals.&rdquo;Much of the coaching staff s use of Van Impe comes with Boston on the man advantage. During the regular season, four of his career-high five goals came with the man advantage. He has a heavy shot, decent puckhandling skills and has worked well with Bourque in a platoon situation with defenseman Kyle McLaren.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been switching off with me and Mac on the point with Ray on the power play,&rsquo;&rsquo;said Van Impe. &ldquo;If on a given night, Mac isn&rsquo;t doing the job, I go out there and hopefully I can pick things up.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Bruins were planning to beef up security after the ice was littered with junk in the waning moments of Game 1 against Buffalo. The officials threatened the Bruins with a two-minute penalty for delay of game and coach Pat Burns asked for it to stop. &lsquo;The crowd is way different from what I&rsquo;ve seen in years past,&rdquo; said Bums, referring to the enthusiasm the team received. &lsquo;The crowd is going to have to have some discipline too. We were warned twice. (The officials) are going to give us a penalty and they&rsquo;re going to use somebody as an example and I don&rsquo;t want it to be us."&hellip;Much of the pre-series hype centered around the goaltending duel between Vezina Trophy finalists Dominik Hasek and Byron Dafoe. &#9632;

f0015-03

Van Impe comes through with timely power play

<div class="byline">By Joe Starkey</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04565/7185984-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="227" height="222"></div>The Pittsburgh Penguins were a one-line team last season. Because of that, they were a one-series playoff team. The Montreal Canadiens dumped the Penguins in six games in the opening round.This season, everything has changed.The Penguins upset the top-seeded New Jersey Devils in Round 1 and faced the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Round 2 largely on the strength of their second line. Its members-center Martin Straka, left winger German Titov and right winger Alexei Kovalev-combined for 27 points in seven games against the Devils.&ldquo;They were a great, great line for us,&rdquo; said coach Kevin Constantine.When team captain and leading scorer Jaromir Jagr went down with a groin injury and missed Games 2 through 5, the second-line members picked up the slack. Straka had a hat trick in a Game 3 victory. When Jagr returned, the Titov-Kovalev-Straka trio provided the Devils with more to worry about than just No. 68.By Game 7, the Devils opted to split up their top defensive pairing of Scott Niedermayer and Scott Stevens. The duo had been arranged specifically to hound Jagr, but Straka and Kovalev proved to be game-breakers in their own right. The Devils couldn&rsquo;t afford to spend all their defensive resources on Jagr anymore.&ldquo;You have to play some of your best defenders against Jaromir,&rdquo; Constantine said. &ldquo;Thus, some of your best defenders won&rsquo;t be out there against a Straka or a Kovalev or a Titov.&rdquo;Titov arrived in the off-season via a trade with the Calgary Hames. Kovalev was acquired from the New York Rangers in November. They provide the sort of size, strength and skill that were nowhere to be found in Penguins&rsquo; country last season.&ldquo;It makes it so much easier for the first line,&rdquo; Jagr said. &ldquo;I know even if (I don&rsquo;t) play very well and even if our line doesn&rsquo;t score, we still have a chance.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Jaromir Jagr missed Games 2 through 5 of the New Jersey series with a strained right groin/hip flexor, but made a dramatic return for Game 6. He scored the tying goal with 2:12 left in regulation and the winner 8:59 into overtime&hellip;Right winger Matthew Barnaby and Devils&rsquo; defenseman Lyle Odelein reached new heights in their running feud. The New York Post reported Barnaby said, &ldquo;Cornelius is what we call (Odelein). Planet of the Apes. Look at him. He looks like an ape."&hellip;Defenseman Neil Wilkinson announced his retirement before the playoffs. Wilkinson, 31, has been hounded by groin/abdomen problems the past few seasons. &#9632;

f0015-04

Second line makes big difference

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011464/7186015-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="225" height="225"></div>Ken Hitchcock says it&rsquo;s twice as hard to score on the power play in the playoffs. And watching the Dallas Stars the past two seasons, he has plenty of evidence to back that up.Unfortunately, the rest of the NHL doesn&rsquo;t follow the same trend. While the Stars saw their power play success rate decline from 19 per cent in the regular season to nine per cent in the playoffs (2-for-29 through five games), the rest of the NHL held steady at 15 per cent in both the regular season and post-season.So what&rsquo;s the problem?&ldquo;I just think it&rsquo;s so much harder to find open space in the playoffs and that&rsquo;s reflected in our power play,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;I think every aspect of the playoffs is harder for goal-scorers and that means goal-scorers have to work that much harder.&rdquo;The Stars are a team that have high skill at the top level in Mike Modano, Brett Hull and Joe Nieuwendyk-not a trio that generally likes to muck it up in front of the net. Is that the reason the power play is so much worse when it comes to post-season play?&ldquo;I honestly think that sometimes the puck just doesn&rsquo;t go in,&rdquo; Modano said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve faced some pretty good goaltending the past few years and I think that&rsquo;s a big reason.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s something that really hurt last year and something that obviously has to be better. We just have to get better.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Stars went 5-0 and allowed seven goals in the five games they were without suspended defenseman Derian Hatcher&hellip;Goaltender Ed Belfour posted his fifth career shutout and won his 50th career playoff game May 6 (3-0 victory) against St. Louis&hellip;Right winger Brett Hull was held without a goal in the first round sweep of Edmonton, but scored on his second shot in Game 1 of the second round against the Blues. Hull on whether returning to St. Louis would be a distraction: &ldquo;It would be if I let you guys make it a distraction,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not going to let you guys do that"&hellip;Veteran center Guy Carbonneau was hoping to return from a sprained knee by Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinal. &#9632;

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Stars search for answers to playoff power play woes

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03843/7186046-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="468" height="611"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pierre Turgeon</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021129/7186053-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="224" height="223"></div>Lightning, in the form of a cheap shot, has struck Pierre Turgeon for the second time in his playoff career.In 1993, Dale Hunter knocked Pierre Turgeon out of the playoffs with a dislocated shoulder by hitting him after Turgeon had scored the clinching goal in the New York Islanders&rsquo; series victory over the Washington Capitals.On May 6, Turgeon was the victim of a similar, though not as flagrant, cheap shot in Game 1 of the Blues&rsquo; second round playoff series with the Dallas Stars.With 2:18 remaining in the game, Dallas right winger Pat Verbeek hit Turgeon across the back of the left knee with a two-handed slash. The slash struck a nerve in Turgeon&rsquo;s knee and a nerve in the Blues, particularly right winger Jamal Mayers. A few minutes later, Mayers exacted revenge by hitting Dallas defenseman Darryl Sydor with a two-handed slash to the hands.Verbeek and Mayers received two-minute minors for slashing, but NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell checked in with one-game suspensions. Campbell also fined Blues&rsquo; right winger Kelly Chase $1,000 for accosting Verbeek in a runway between the dressing rooms at Reunion Arena.Meanwhile, Turgeon was out day-to-day with a severe contusion and damage to his peroneal nerve.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s sore,&rdquo; Turgeon said. &ldquo;I had relaxed. I didn&rsquo;t expect to get hit like this.&rdquo;The incident was unfortunate for Turgeon because he appeared to be finally putting the ghosts of past playoffs behind him. He had two goals and eight points in a seven-game, first round series win over the Phoenix Covotes.&ldquo;He has been a top player,&rdquo; said coach Joel Quenneville. &ldquo;Verbeek knew exactly what he was doing.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Blues&rsquo; came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Phoenix in the first round. It was their second such comeback in franchise history. The other came in against Detroit in 1991&hellip;After the Blues fell behind 3-1 in the series, goalie Grant Fuhr guaranteed a shutout if the Blues got him to Game 7. He delivered with a 35-save performance in the Blues&rsquo; 1-0 overtime victory. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s one thing to make a guarantee,&rdquo; said center Craig Conroy, &ldquo;but to back it up like that is incredible."&hellip;The Blues&rsquo; 1-0 overtime victory in Game 7 against Phoenix marked the third time in NHL history a Game 7 has gone into OT with the score tied 0-0. Detroit beat Toronto 1-0 to win the Stanley Cup in 1950. The Wings&rsquo; also beat the Blues&rsquo; 1-0 in 1996. &#9632;

f0016-03

Deja vu for Blues’ Turgeon as Verbeek delivers slash

<div class="byline">By Paul Hunter</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04625/7186084-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="224" height="221"></div>From the moment Pat Quinn reappeared on the Toronto hockey scene as the Maple Leafs&rsquo; coach, 29 years after manning the team&rsquo;s blueline as a rugged defenseman, he preached confidence.He looked at the struggling, defensive team and saw talent and speed few thought existed.&ldquo;Right from training camp, Pat Quinn said he was sick of hearing about the future, the future, the future. We can win the Stanley Cup this year,&rdquo; said right winger Tie Domi after the Leafs wrapped up a first round playoff victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in six games.The players-backed by the superb goaltending of free agent arrival Curtis Joseph-bought into Quinn&rsquo;s optimism. The coach said they should skate more. They did. He said they could score more. They did. He said they would win more. They did.Freed from the restraints of playing trap hockey, the free-wheeling Leafs led the NHL in goals with 268, an improvement of 74 over the previous campaign. Their 45 wins was a franchise record and their 97 points represented an incredible jump of 28 points.For reinventing the Leafs, both in style and substance. Quinn was named May 5 as one of the finalists for the Jack Adams Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL coach of the year.Also in contention for the honor are Jacques Martin of the Ottawa Senators and Ken Hitchcock of the Dallas Stars.Quinn has won the award twice before, with Philadelphia in 1980 and the Vancouver Canucks in 1992.&ldquo;When we decided to make a coaching change,&rdquo; said associate GM Mike Smith. &ldquo;I knew we needed a really proven coach.&rdquo;Quinn called being a finalist as coach of the year an honor.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m thrilled,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a team award too, so that&rsquo;s rewarding as well.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: After an investigation, I the NHL announced it could find no corroborative evidence that right winger Tie Domi used a racial slur against Philadelphia right winger Sandy McCarthy during Game 3 of the playoff series between the two clubs. McCarthy, who has a black father, alleged Domi &ldquo;dropped the N-bomb on me&rdquo; during the game. Domi, who vehemently denied using a racial epithet, claimed McCarthy spit in his face. The Flyer said he didn&rsquo;t and no league action was taken against McCarthy, either&hellip;The 20 goals scored during in the Leafs-Flyers series was the lowest ever for two NHL teams in a six-game set. The previous low was 22 in a 1951 series between Boston and Toronto. &#9632;

f0016-04

Quinn gets recognition for turnaround

<div class="byline">By Chuck Carlton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06381/7186115-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="467" height="612"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Ranford</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05453/7186122-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="225" height="223"></div>He was the insurance policy tucked away in a desk, the fire axe underneath the clear glass.Bill Ranford was for emergency use trading deadline, increased exponentially.Osgood suffered the injury in Round 1 during the fourth and final game against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.Although Ranford last won a playoff series in 1992 for the Edmonton Oilers and a post-season game in 1996 for the Boston Bruins, the Red Wings were happy to have a goalie who once won the Conn Smythe Trophy, even if it was nine years ago.&ldquo;Billy has been here before and has a lot of respect from the guys,&rdquo; said goaltending consultant Jim Bedard. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like, &lsquo;Oh my God, what are we going to do next?&rsquo; &ldquo;Ranford has enjoyed a mini-renaissance in Detroit. After going 3-18-1 only and that&rsquo;s what Chris Osgood&rsquo;s sprained right knee qualifies as. With Osgood ailing at the start of the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; second round playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche, the significance of Ranford, acquired from Tampa Bay Lightning at the with the woeful Lightning, he was 3-01 in four starts with Detroit, with a 1.97 goals-against average.His task, depending on how quickly Osgood could return, was to lead the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions against their arch-rivals, while holding his own with Patrick Roy.&ldquo;Go ahead, put more pressure on me,&rdquo; Ranford said in mock terror.Actually, Ranford was holding up nicely under the strain. Still, he admits to butterflies before every game-especially playoff games.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re not nervous it&rsquo;s time to get out,&rdquo; Ranford said.NOTEBOOK: Although injured goalie Chris Osgood made remarkable progress during the 10-day layoff between the first and second rounds, he was listed as day-to-day when the series with Colorado opened. Osgood said it would be difficult to sit and watch from the press box or the end of the bench. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s more upsetting and frustrating than anything,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But 1 want to make sure I&rsquo;m ready to play, not going in there and being 70 per cent and not being able to do what I want to do. It wouldn&rsquo;t be fair to the guys."&hellip;Detroit&rsquo;s nine consecutive post-season victories, over two seasons, tied a franchise record&hellip;Defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom was named a finalist for the the Norris (best defenseman) and Lady Byng (sportsmanlike) Trophies. &#9632;

f0016-06

Ranford’s value magnifies as Osgood sprains knee

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07351/7186153-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="224" height="219"></div>Can Dale Hunter change his name to Ponce de Leon for a while?A sip from the fountain of youth for Hunter is a wish the Colorado Avalanche would take if it were granted one for the playoffs.The Avs entered their second round series with the two-time Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings having to rely on the 38-year-old Hunter to play a key role. Namely, Hunter became the team&rsquo;s third-line checking center when Colorado lost valuable utilityman Stephane Yelle for the series with a sprained knee.Yelle had a knee-on-knee collision with San Jose Sharks&rsquo; center Ron Sutter in Game 6 of Colorado&rsquo;s first round victory. He was expected to miss at least two weeks.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s one of those things where I&rsquo;m going to have to step up and contribute,&rdquo; said Hunter, a 19-year NHL veteran. &ldquo;Stephane did a great job for us and his spot is going to be hard to fill.&rdquo;Hunter did the job expected of him against San Jose. Only Stu Grimson of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (30 penalty minutes) had more PIM in Round 1 than Hunter&rsquo;s 22. And the veteran supplied a nasty element the Avs have been lacking.&ldquo;Dale did a great job for us in the San Jose series, and with Stephane&rsquo;s injury, the trade to get him looks even better now,&rdquo; said coach Bob Hartley. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not worried about Dale Hunter.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Dale Hunter entered the Detroit series as the NHL&rsquo;s alltime playoff penalty minutes leader, with 713. &lsquo;They add up over the years,&rdquo; Hunter said with a laugh&hellip;Left winger Valeri Kamensky (broken forearm) hoped to return by Game 3 of the Detroit series&hellip; Veteran defenseman Alexei Gusarov, out with a sprained left knee, was expected to miss the entire series&hellip;Colorado recalled tough forwards Scott Parker and Chris Dingman in preparation for the rival Wings&hellip;Center Joe Sakic led all NHL scorers with 12 points after the first round&hellip;As expected, the Avs-along with the Denver Nuggets and the Pepsi Center-were sold to WalMart heir Bill Laurie for $400 million. &#9632;

f0016-07

Hunter gets assignment as Avs’ checking center

<div class="byline">By Cammy Clark</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011315/7186184-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="225" height="230"></div>Despite being swept in the first round of the playoffs by the powerhouse Detroit Red Wings, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim management is pleased with the progress their team has made.The Ducks improved 18 points from a miserable 1997-98, a season in which in they didn&rsquo;t qualify for the playoffs.&ldquo;Our primary goal was to get back in the playoffs and we did that,&rdquo; said GM Pierre Gauthier. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re going in the right direction. How quickly we get there and how good we get, you can&rsquo;t predict that.&rdquo;Overachievers Defenseman Fredrik Olausson, a free agent pick-up, finished fourth among NHL defenseman in scoring with 56 points.Center Steve Rucchin stepped up his offensive game, recording a career-high 23 goals in 69 games.Underachievers Center Travis Green had just 13 goals and was sometimes demoted to the fourth line.Defenseman Dan Trebil was a solid contributor two seasons ago, but has yet to regain his consistent play to earn a regular spot back in the Ducks&rsquo; lineup.Needs 1. Skilled defenseman. Olausson is the only threat. The rest of the defense corps combined for nine goals. 2. Scoring forward. The Ducks need help on the second line, especially if right winger Tomas Sandstrom leaves as an unrestricted free agent. 3. Agitator. The Ducks need a speedy pest on the checking line who is good on faceoffs and a threat to score.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Paul Kariya is recovering from a broken right foot suffered April 25 in Game 3 against Detroit He sustained the injury while blocking a shot by Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom five minutes into the third period. &ldquo;I knew something was wrong right away,&rdquo; Kariya said. &ldquo;But I thought it might be just a bad bruise.&rdquo; Kariya did not miss a shift, playing the remaining 15 minutes of the game. The next day X-rays revealed a break and Kariya sat out Game 4, a 3-0 loss. It was the first game Kariya missed all season. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed, but I would block the shot again if I had to do it all over,&rdquo; Kariya said. The injury is one that normally takes four-to-six weeks to heal and should cause no long-term problems. &#9632;

f0017-01

Gauthier believes Ducks headed in right direction

<div class="byline">By Epic Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03719/7186215-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="461" height="614"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Sutter</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-021002/7186222-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="226" height="220"></div>Almost a month after their season ended with a third consecutive playoff no-show, the Calgary Flames had still not resolved the status of coach Brian Sutter for next season.GM Al Coates gave Sutter a ringing personal endorsement prior to heading overseas to watch the World Championship, but the organization had not decided if they would exercise the option year on Sutter&rsquo;s contract.Sutter originally signed a three-year deal with the Flames in 1997, but the final year is at Calgary&rsquo;s option. Sutter&rsquo;s status will be reviewed at an ownership meeting scheduled for mid-May.Asked if he would recommend that Sutter be retained, Coates replied: &ldquo;Absolutely&hellip;I&rsquo;m a big-time fan of Brian Sutter&rsquo;s and what he wants to do with the team.&rdquo;Sutter earned a league-low $425,000 (Cdn.) last season. Coates wanted to extend the contracts of his coaching staff early in the season, but ownership wanted to see how the year played out.When Sutter was asked to discuss his future, he declined to answer the question. Sutter sounded as if he planned to be back next year, if only because he was talking about preparations for next year in his post-season comments.Sutter believes the Flames would do well to copy the developmental model established by the New Jersey Devils.&ldquo;If you look at a team like New Jersey, they put all their best young players in the minors and they stay there for about three years,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;In that time, you&rsquo;ve decided how they mix in with your team. If they&rsquo;re not there, they trade them&ndash;or just let them go. We&rsquo;re getting to the point where we can leave our good young players down (in the minors) and let them play and see how they mix in with our players up here.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: An immediate priority for GM Al Coates was getting center prospect Daniel Tkaczuk, the team&rsquo;s first pick in 1997, under contract. If Tkaczuk is not signed by June 1, he goes back into the 1999 draft&hellip;Center Andrew Cassels can elect to become a Group V unrestricted free agent because his salary of $1,225 million will fall just below the NHL average. Had the Flames made their qualifying offer to Cassels slightly higher last summer, Cassels would have been a restricted free agent this season-something that would have significantly enhanced the Flames&rsquo; chances of signing him. For his part, Cassels said he would be happy to talk to Calgary. &ldquo;It depends on other teams&hellip;what they&rsquo;re looking for too,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

f0017-03

Coates wants Sutter back as head coach next season

<div class="byline">By Todd Graff</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04529/7186253-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="224" height="221"></div>The first playoff appearance in seven years ended in disappointment for the Carolina Hurricanes. Their six-game loss to the Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs will be remembered for blown opportunities.With the series knotted 2-2, left winger Martin Gelinas missed an open net from the top of the crease early in the second overtime of Game 5. Anson Carter won the game for Boston 12 minutes later.In Game 6, the Hurricanes missed at least four wide open nets en route to a 2-0 defeat.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a hard pill to swallow,&rdquo; said captain Keith Primeau. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to take a long time to get over it.&rdquo;Still, the club won the Southeast Division title, a step on which they hope to build.Overachievers Defenseman Nolan Pratt, 23, didn&rsquo;t begin the season among the Hurricanes&rsquo; top seven, but spent many nights at the end of the year matched against the opponent&rsquo;s top unit.Goalie Arturs Irbe, a free agent bargain, established career highs in shutouts (six), goals-against average (2.22) and save percentage (.923).Underachievers Center Jeff O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s production tailed off; he recorded just 16 goals and 31 points in 75 games.Defenseman Dave Karpa was supposed to give Carolina a physical presence along the blueline, but struggled to get into the lineup even when he was healthy.Needs 1. Offensive defenseman. The &lsquo;Canes received just 14 goals from defensemen all season, fewest in the league. They desperately need a quarterback for the league&rsquo;s worst power play. 2. Scoring winger. Even if the Hurricanes re-sign free agent Ray Sheppard, they need wingers who can score. Only Keith Primeau scored more than 25 goals. 3. Enforcer. Got away without one this season. But there were occasions when they needed a bigger physical presence.NOTEBOOK: Right winger Ray Sheppard matched Mark Hunter&rsquo;s franchise record with goals in four straight playoff games. His five goals during the streak tied a club record for goals in a series and were half the Hurricanes&rsquo; total against Boston. In 11 career playoff games against the Bruins, Sheppard has nine goals and four assists&hellip;The Hurricanes-Whalers still have not won a best-of-seven series in their 20-year franchise history. Their only series win came in a best-of-five affair against Quebec in 1986&hellip;The Hurricanes&rsquo; woeful power play went 2-for-21 against Boston. &#9632;

f0017-04

Playoff loss bitter pill to swallow

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-05374/7186284-1-eng-US/f0017-052.jpg" title="f0017-05" width="230" height="229"></div>With pockets as deep as any club in the league, the Chicago Blackhawks again figure to be heavily involved in the chase for unrestricted free agents this summer.The Hawks, who missed the playoffs the past two years, made a big splash last July when they signed Doug Gilmour to a three-year, $18 million contract. GM Bob Murray says the splash may not be as big this summer.&ldquo;Maybe the best thing for this team would be to add a couple of mid-level guys,&rdquo; Murray said.The Hawks need a stay-at-home defenseman and some help at wing, where unrestricted free agents like Mark Recchi, Vincent Damphousse, Stephane Quintal and Sylvain Lefebvre could be on their shopping list.Despite what Murray says, don&rsquo;t rule out the Hawks from making a pitch for Theo Fleury should he not resign with the Colorado Avalanche. Fleury is exactly what the Hawks need, an offensive force and star quality player who would help fill the growing number of empty seats at the United Center.The strong manner in which the Hawks finished the season (8-1-2) leaves Murray encouraged.&ldquo;We have to be selective about who we bring into our locker room,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to disrupt that chemistry in any way, shape or form.&rdquo;Murray has several key restricted free agents to sign including defensemen Boris Mironov, Anders Eriksson and goalie Jocelyn Thibault.&ldquo;I would love to have as many loose ends as possible tied up by the end of August so we can go into camp with as few distractions as possible,&rdquo; Murray said.NOTEBOOK: Joining defensemen Boris Mironov and Anders Eriksson and goalie Jocelyn Thibault as restricted free agents are defensemen Brad Brown and Jamie Allison and forwards Jean-Yves Leroux. Ryan VandenBussche and Todd White&hellip;Center Alex Zhamnov said he will switch his uniform number next season from 36 to 13. &ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s bad luck to you guys, but in Europe it&rsquo;s no problem,&rdquo; said Zhamnov, who now has changed numbers three times&hellip;The Hawks sold out only five games all season, three of them against Detroit when scores of fans from Michigan helped fill the building&hellip;Owner Bill Wirtz couldn&rsquo;t be happier with Lome Molleken as his team&rsquo;s coach. &ldquo;Everybody just wants to play for him,&rdquo; said Wirtz. Molleken replaced Dirk Graham late in the year. &#9632;

f0017-05

Hawks target middle class on summer shopping list

<div class="byline">By Robert Tychkowski</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011348/7186315-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="224" height="224"></div>The Edmonton Oilers were hoping this would be the year they finally turned the comer, the year they&rsquo;d finish top four in the Western Conference and gain home ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.As it turned out, they barely snuck into eighth place in the final week of the season. For the third year in a row they met a No. 1 seed in Round 1. The Dallas Stars swept them in four one-goal games.Overachievers Defenseman Tom Poti delivered as a 22-year-old rookie leading the Oilers at plus-10.Left winger Rem Murray started the year as a spare part, but finished on the first line, second in team goals with t career-high 21.Right winger Pat Falloon, pluckec off the NHL scrap heap, had 17 goals and 40 points in 82 games.Underachievers A lot of it was out of Doug Weight&rsquo;s control, but from start to finish it was a year to forget for the Oilers&rsquo; star center.Right winger Bill Guerin had a career-high 30 goals, but faded down the stretch and was shut out in the playoffs.Needs 1. Big defenseman. The Oilers miss the presence of a player such as former Oiler Dan McGillis. 2. Return to form for Weight. The team needs him to have his &lsquo;A&rsquo; game. 3. Defensive center. The Oilers could use a good checking center who&rsquo;s good on the faceoff.NOTEBOOK: The Oilers have a whole whack of high-end players up for free agency this summer, among them forwards Bill Guerin, Ryan Smyth, Mike Grier and Rem Murray, defenseman Roman Hamrlik and goalie Tommy Salo. All of them fall into the Group II category and all say they want to be back, but it&rsquo;ll be tough going for a franchise that was already stretched to the limit last year with a $22million payroll&hellip;The status of coach Ron Low is still in question. His contract expires at the end of June and he hasn&rsquo;t been offered a new deal by GM Glen Sather and the 37-man ownership group. Low says he wants to be back, but if he&rsquo;s not in the plans, he&rsquo;d like to be freed up immediately to look for other work. &#9632;

f0018-01

Difficult regular season nut Oilers behind 8-ball

<div class="byline">By Helene Elliott</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04445/7186384-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="225" height="225"></div>The Los Angeles Kings began their lengthy summer vacations by cleaning up some loose ends. In some cases, those loose ends were bone spurs or other nagging injuries players didn&rsquo;t have time to tend to during the season.Five players visited hospital operating rooms in late April and early May to get various repairs done.Left winger Josh Green needed surgery to reconstruct his left shoulder after recurring dislocations bothered him all season. Right winger Russ Courtnall underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder to repair a partially tom tendon and remove scar tissue from his rotator cuff. Defenseman Philippe Boucher had surgery to remove a bone spur from his right foot. And left winger Matt Johnson had arthroscopic surgery to remove scar tissue and a bone spur in his left shoulder.In addition, goaltender Stephane Fiset underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a tear in his left abdominal wall. Team officials said the surgery was not related to the groin injuries that kept him out of 23 games this season.In the meantime, GM Dave Taylor began searching for a new coach to replace Larry Robinson, whose contract was not renewed. One potential candidate was eliminated April 30 when Butch Goring was hired by the New York Islanders.&ldquo;Dave is a very thorough person and will exhaust all possibilities,&rdquo; said team spokesman Mike Altieri of Taylor&rsquo;s hunt. Probably the best-known candidate is Ted Nolan, the former Buffalo coach who sent the Kings a resume not long after the Kings announced Robinson would not return.It&rsquo;s believed the Kings are interested in Dave Lewis, one of the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; associate coaches and a former King. John Van Boxmeer, coach of the International League&rsquo;s Long Beach Ice Dogs, is also well-regarded by Kings&rsquo; management.NOTEBOOK: The Kings broke ground for a new training complex in the Los Angeles suburb of El Segundo. However, the new complex will not be ready by the beginning of next season, and the Kings will again hold training camp at Iceoplex in North Hills&hellip;GM Dave Taylor went to Europe to attend the World Championship. No doubt, he intended to take a close look at defenseman Aki Berg, who tore up the Finnish League this season. Berg couldn&rsquo;t agree on a contract with the Kings this season, but they retain his rights and Taylor has said he is eager to have Berg return&hellip;Construction of the $375-million Staples Center remains on schedule for the Kings to debut there in mid- to late October. &#9632;

f0018-04

All the Kings’ men fall apart

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06232/7186415-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="469" height="614"><figcaption class="caption-body">Saku Koivu</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05293/7186422-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="226" height="224"></div>It will forever remain one of life&rsquo;s little mysteries: What went wrong with the Montreal Canadiens this season?How could a team go from 87 points one season to 75 the next, missing the playoffs in the process?Montreal management remains unable to provide definitive answers. An assortment of excuses has been tossed into the mix, including protracted contract talks that left as many as six players absent from training camp and a season-long goal drought.GM Rejean Houle even suggested the team missed veteran goal tender Andy Moog, who unexpectedly retired last summer.That&rsquo;s a little far-fetched.What isn&rsquo;t, however, is that Houle failed to receive market value for his investments. Everyone, from Saku Koivu to Vladimir Malakhov, and from Martin Rucinsky to Brian Savage and Shayne Corson, got what they wanted when negotiating new deals. But all experienced prolonged slumps, resulting in the Canadiens scoring 51 fewer goals than last season.Coach Alain Vigneault intimated some of the players might have become too comfortable after signing lucrative deals.&ldquo;The players today aren&rsquo;t like the players in the &lsquo;50s, &lsquo;60s, &lsquo;70s or &lsquo;80s,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Players today don&rsquo;t compare themselves to the past. They compare things to the way they are in the other 26 cities. Some players feel that if things don&rsquo;t work out here they&rsquo;ll work out somewhere else.&rdquo;Vigneault denied the reduction in offense resulted from shortcomings in the team&rsquo;s system.&ldquo;This is the same sys tem we used last year and we had the fifth-best offensive record in the league,&rdquo; he said.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Stephane Quintal, the Canadiens&rsquo; only unrestricted free agent, has now said he&rsquo;ll wait until after July 1 and see what interest exists rather than immediately resigning with Montreal. The New York Rangers are one team that appears interested&hellip;Nine Montreal players become restricted free agents this summer: Defensemen Scott Lachance. Craig Rivet and Igor Ulanov: goaltenders Jose Theodore and Frederic Chabot: and forwards Dainius Zubrus. Jonas Hoglund. Jason Dawe and Trent McCleary&hellip;Defenseman Patrice Brisebois is waiting to hear whether he requires surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back. Brisebois missed 12 games late in the season with a separated collarbone. &#9632;

f0018-06

Habs search for answers to surprisingly bad season

<div class="byline">By Jell Legwold</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-07199/7186453-1-eng-US/f0018-072.jpg" title="f0018-07" width="225" height="219"></div>There was a time when this off-season was going to be all about change for the Nashville Predators.The expansion franchise loaded up with players on one-year contracts, a strategy that would give them the flexibility to make easy roster moves.&ldquo;But I would say things worked out so that much our activity was in the beginning of the season, with the expansion draft, a lot of trades and then we played the season,&rdquo; said GM David Poile. &ldquo;There will be some change, but maybe not as much as we initially may have thought.&rdquo;Poile and coach Barry Trotz see roughly four to five holes they&rsquo;d like to fill.&ldquo;I think we have one or two decisions on defense and one or two decisions at forward,&rdquo; Poile said.The hope is that David Legwand, the team&rsquo;s first draft pick, will be one of those players. Legwand, who was signed to a three-year deal just before the last game of the Predators&rsquo; season, will likely start as the fourth line center next season if all goes as planned.But it&rsquo;s the team&rsquo;s defense, which surrendered an average of 33 shots and 3.15 goals per game, that will get the hardest look. The Predators would like to be bigger and more physical on their blueline.It is unlikely, according to Trotz, a front-line defenseman will find his way to the roster, &ldquo;but we can add some depth and still get better there.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Don&rsquo;t expect the Predators to open their wallets this summer. Owner Craig Leipold said he would prefer to spend money on scouting and development than on veteran free agents&hellip;The Predators will be the expansion Atlanta Thrashers&rsquo; first opponent. The two will play the first pre-season game Sept 11 in Columbus, Ga. The Predators, who are filling out a nine-game pre-season schedule, also have a Sept. 14 game in Nashville against Detroit and a Sept. 18 game against Washington in Biloxi, Miss&hellip;Leipold said when the team&rsquo;s officials get together for their major off-season budget meeting, contract extensions for GM David Poile and team president Jack Diller will be up for discussion. &#9632;

f0018-07

Poile plans roster changes, but not as many as expected

<div class="byline">By Rich Chore</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011249/7186484-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="229" height="227"></div>The New Jersey Devils tave written an embarrassing legacy. The perennial regular season powers are playoff pushovers.After winning a third straight Eastern Conference championship, the Devils were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round for the second straight season. Since winning the Stanley Cup in 1995, the Devils have won a grand total of one playoff round.&ldquo;The more it happens, the more frustrating and discouraging it becomes,&rdquo; said captain Scott Stevens.Overachievers Jason Arnott responded with a 27-goal season after being moved from right wing to center.Defenseman Ken Daneyko had his best season, finishing at plus-27.Rookie right winger Vadim Sharifijanov reached double figures in goals (11) and was plus-11 in 53 games.Underachievers Defenseman Scott Niedermayer, given more offensive freedom under coach Robbie Ftorek, should have dominated, but didn&rsquo;t.Right winger Denis Pederson struggled at times this season and was benched for most of the playoffs.Needs 1. A big-game player. The team&rsquo;s failure in the playoffs proved once again that it does not have a go-to guy. 2. A mobile defenseman. The Devils need someone to bridge the gap between the veterans and the promising kids. 3. A re-evaluation of priorities. Too much emphasis on the regular season has put undue pressure on the team when the playoffs roll around.NOTEBOOK: The Devils are the first team in NHL history to finish first in the conference or league three straight years and win only one playoff round during that period&hellip;Center Bobby Holik led the team in scoring during the playoffs and tied the club record of seven assists in a series (Peter Stastny did it in the 1992; John MacLean in 1988). However, Holik failed to score and hasn&rsquo;t done so in 17 straight playoff games&hellip;Owner John McMullen said that because of the team&rsquo;s early exit, it will lose money this season. The Devils needed to reach the conference semifinal to break even&hellip;Veteran forwards Dave Andreychuk and Bobby Carpenter, both unrestricted free agents, will probably not be back. &#9632;

f0019-01

Another early playoff exit after solid regular season

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03608/7186515-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="468" height="611"><figcaption class="caption-body">Butch Goring</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02911/7186522-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="233" height="229"></div>Seeking to reconnect the New York Islanders with their 1980s&rsquo; Stanley Cup dynasty, GM Mike Milbury gave Butch Gorins a three-year $ 1,3-million contract to replace Bill Stewart as head coach.The April 30 move was the team&rsquo;s eighth coaching change since Al Arbour&rsquo;s first retirement in 1986 and fifth since Milbury&rsquo;s 1995 arrival. The Isles missed the playoffs this season for a fifth straight year, the NHL&rsquo;s longest active futility string.Goring, 49, was an effective twoway second-line center in his playing days who took the checking heat off Bryan Trottier and helped the Islanders win four straight championships.&ldquo;Obviously, you&rsquo;d like to be able tc walk into the same scenario I walkec into 19 years ago,&rdquo; Goring said, &ldquo;bu I&rsquo;m very optimistic about this scenario.&rdquo;Milbury was a player/assistant coach under Goring with the Boston Bruins it 1985-86. Goring was fired 13 game: into the next season. He has spent 11 of the past 12 years as a head coach in the Western, American and International leagues. Most recently, he coached the Islanders&rsquo; IHL affiliate, the Utah Grizzlies. Goring also was Arbour&rsquo;s assistant coach with the Islanders in 1989-90.&ldquo;There hasn&rsquo;t been a day,&rdquo; Goring said, &ldquo;that I haven&rsquo;t wanted to step into Al Arbour&rsquo;s shoes. This is the place I really wanted to return home to. I bleed Islander blue.&rdquo;Stewart had an 11-19-7 record after replacing Milbury behind the bench on Jan. 21, but shot himself fatally in the foot by making comments which appeared disloyal relating to the team&rsquo;s lack of talent and low budget.Milbury said hiring Goring lends stability to the coaching position. Goring will retain assistant coach Greg Cronin and associate coach Lome Henning.NOTEBOOK: Center Mats Lindgren (shoulder) and defenseman David Harlock (finger) had surgeries April 28&hellip;Player reaction to Butch Goring replacing Bill Stewart was mixed. Said right winger Gino Odjick: &lsquo;Too bad for Stewie. I thought he was getting things back on track. But it&rsquo;s their decision. They pay me to play hockey, pay Mike (Milbury) to be GM, and now they&rsquo;ll pay Butch Goring to be the coach."&hellip;Right winger Mark Lawrence, who scored 36 goals for Goring at Utah in 1997-98, said, &ldquo;I really enjoyed playing for Butchie. I think he had a great part in turning my career around.&rdquo; Goalie Wade Flaherty, a former Utah teammate of Lawrence&rsquo;s, said, &ldquo;(Goring&rsquo;s) a good man, good coach. He knows how to run a bench.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0019-03

Former Isles’ hero Goring asked to turn ship around

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04466/7186553-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="225" height="224"></div>Dan Cloutier has had the pain, now he&rsquo;s looking to make the gain.The New York Rangers&rsquo; 23-year-old goalie underwent surgery April 30 to help fix a nagging groin problem. He was to be inactive for about three weeks and expected to be 100 per-cent healthy by training camp.Then comes the chance to start making the next step. Not only will the Rangers have to decide if Cloutier is ready to be a regular NHL goalie next season, but they will also have to decide if they will keep him or Mike Richter. With an expansion draft 13 months away, the Rangers could lose one or the other. They are exempt from losing a goalie in this June&rsquo;s expansion draft because the Nashville Predators selected Richter last year.In 1998-99, Cloutier took a few baby steps towards his goal. He played in 22 games (6-8-3, 2.68 goals-against average, .914 save percentage), giving him 34 career NHL appearances. At times he was terrific, and at times he struggled.&ldquo;To me he&rsquo;s a No. 1 goalkeeper in the National Hockey League,&rdquo; said coach John Muckier.Cloutier understands his day will come, but it might not be right away.&ldquo;Obviously I&rsquo;m still learning,&rdquo; Cloutier said. &ldquo;This has been a pretty good year for me to learn and get some experience. It would have been nice to play more, but Mike Richter had a great year.&ldquo;I think this organization is bringing me along slowly and I think that&rsquo;s good for me. They&rsquo;re not throwing me in there and looking for me to make miracles. And I think John has had some young players before and brought them along slow and now they&rsquo;re great players.&rdquo;Which is what Cloutier wants to eventually be.&ldquo;My goal is to one day become a No. 1 goalie,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t this year and I might not be the next year. And as long as I reach that goal, I&rsquo;ll be happy.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Rangers&rsquo; president/GM Neil Smith and Jay Grossman, the agent for defenseman Brian Leetch, had a couple of conversations shortly after the season ended, but there was no reason to believe they were any closer to avoiding Leetch&rsquo;s unrestricted free agency, which arrives July 1&hellip;The Rangers reacquired minor league right winger Brad Smyth from Nashville for future considerations&hellip;Smith went on a scouting trip to see games in the first round series between Detroit and Anaheim, and San Jose and Colorado. That led to speculation he was watching two free-agents-to-be: right winger Joe Murphy and center Vincent Damphousse of San Jose. &#9632;

f0019-04

Cloutier on track to take next step

<div class="byline">By Bruce Garrloch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-06271/7186584-1-eng-US/f0019-062.jpg" title="f0019-06" width="473" height="617"><figcaption class="caption-body">Magnus Arvedson</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05354/7186591-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="225" height="222"></div>The best season in franchise history hit a brick wall in the playoffs, but the Ottawa Senators aren&rsquo;t about to panic.The Senators suffered a disappointing first round, four-game sweep at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres-which came on the heels of a 103-point campaign-but GM Rick Dudley is confident the pieces are still in place for success.&ldquo;The good thing about the Ottawa Senators is that you don&rsquo;t have to make any changes,&rdquo; Dudley said. &ldquo;You could do nothing, and you&rsquo;d still improve because you can just watch this team grow together.&rdquo;Overachievers Left winger Magnus Arvedson had 21 goals and was one of the best defensive forwards in the league.Left winger Shawn McEachern, headed for off-season groin surgery, helped spark the offense with 31 goals.Underachievers Vaclav Prospal wasn&rsquo;t up to the challenge of being the team&rsquo;s No. 2 center. That fact became glaringly apparent in the playoffs when the Sabres shut down No. 1 center Alexei Yashin, who was held pointless, and nobody was there to pick up the slack.Needs 1. Cash. Dudley has 12 players headed for restricted free agency. The Senators had a payroll of $20 million (U.S.) last season, but it&rsquo;s about to take a huge jump with the likes of defensemen Wade Redden, Jason York and Janne Laukkanen along with forwards Arvedson and Bonk open to new deals. 2. Satisfy center Alexei Yashin. He could ask to renegotiate his deal and the Senators would be well-served to keep him happy. 3. Address the goaltending issue. The Senators need to get a No. 1 goalie. They should either give the job to Damian Rhodes or Ron Tugnutt or trade for a new netminder.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Bill Berg. 32, an unrestricted free agent July 1, is pondering retirement&hellip;Six Senators-goalie Ron Tugnutt and defenseman Wade Redden (Canada), right winger Marian Hossa (Slovakia), right winger Daniel Alfredsson (Sweden), left winger Ted Donato (United States) and center Alexei Yashin (Russia)-were competing at the World Championship in Norway. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking at it as a chance to play for my country and have some fun at the same time,&rdquo; Redden said&hellip;,GM Rick Dudley is open to the idea of starting contract talks with Yashin. &ldquo;(Yashin&rsquo;s agent) Mark Gandler and I haven&rsquo;t spoken yet,&rdquo; Dudley said, &ldquo;but when we do I&rsquo;m going to tell him we intend to keep Alexei Yashin in Ottawa. &#9632;

f0019-06

Playoff disappointment doesn’t change big picture

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-07238/7186622-1-eng-US/f0019-072.jpg" title="f0019-07" width="223" height="219"></div>How erratic were the 1998-99 Philadelphia Flyers? Well, they were the only team in the history of pro hockey to have an undefeated streak of at least 10 games (10-0-5) and a winless streak of at least 10 games (0-8-4) in the same season.They won two playoff games by a combined score of 8-2 and lost four others by scores of 2-1,2-1,2-1 and 1-0.Yet, the Flyers say they&rsquo;re closer to the Stanley Cup than they were a year ago. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re much closer,&rdquo; said team chairman Ed Snider.Overachievers Center Daymond Langkow was the Flyers&rsquo; most improved player, but slumped down the stretch and in the playoffs.Adam Burt was brought in as a utility defenseman, but pushed Luke Richardson and Dimitri Tertyshny to the bench for the playoffsUnderachievers Richardson hasn&rsquo;t lived up to his five-year, $12.5million contract and is likely to have a new address next season.Right winger Mikael Renberg, who was slowed by injuries, didn&rsquo;t supply enough offense.Needs 1. Another sniper. Mark Recchi could fill that hole if the Flyers re-sign him. 2. An offensive defenseman. Steve Duchesne isn&rsquo;t expected back, so the Flyers need somebody to complement Eric Desjardins. 3. Backup goalie. Ron Hextail&rsquo;s days in Philadelphia appear to be numbered. Youngsters Brian Boucher or JeanMarc Pelletier could step up.NOTEBOOK: Center Eric Lindros, who didn&rsquo;t see action in the playoffs against Toronto, said he would have been healthy enough to play in Round 2 if the Flyers had made it that far. Lindros is recovering from a collapsed lung&hellip;President-GM Bob Clarke said his first priority in the off-season is to sign right winger Mark Recchi, possibly before he becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1. Recchi said he wants to return to the Flyers&hellip;Clarke said he will make every effort to resign his eight restricted free agents: forwards Lindros, Mikael Renberg. Daymond Langkow, Keith Jones, Valeri Zelepukin and Sandy McCarthy and defensemen Karl Dykhuis and Dan McGillis. &#9632;

f0019-07

Snider still high on Flyers despite first round setback

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011138/7186653-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="220" height="219"></div>While the Vancouver Canucks are secure in their head coaching position, the ranks beneath Marc Crawford may be thinned due to the career ambitions of Glen Hanlon and Stan Smyl.The two long-time assistants have both expressed an interest in becoming head coaches and both seem prepared to go to the minors to achieve those goals. Their contracts expire June 1.&ldquo;This is a tough thing for myself,&rdquo; said the 42-year-old Hanlon, who joined Vancouver as a goalie consultant in 1991 and became a full-time assistant in 1994. &ldquo;I have friends here, I have family here, my wife has a job teaching school here. Everything in my life for an assistant coach is as good as it can possibly be.&ldquo;But sometimes you have to step outside that comfort zone and make tough decisions for your own advancement. I relish the opportunity to be able to be a head coach.&rdquo;Smyl, 42, has already received an offer from a Japanese club team. He has been with the Canuck organization for 21 consecutive years, 13 as a player and eight as an assistant coach.If neither Smyl or Hanlon does move, Burke said they will be offered contract extensions. Hanlon would not be heartbroken if he wound up staying.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve invested a lot of time here and I just want to see it through to the end, where we win the Stanley Cup or make some progress to win the Cup,&rdquo; Hanlon said.NOTEBOOK: The Canucks expected to have 1998 first round pick Bryan Allen, a defenseman, signed by mid-May. Allen will receive the rookie salary cap of $975,000 (U.S.) plus a lucrative performance bonus package&hellip;The Canucks had a large delegation watching Calgary Hitmen right winger Pavel Brendl in the Western League final. Vancouver will pick no worse than fourth in the June 26 entry draft&hellip;Canuck prospect David Ytfeldt. a 19-year-old defenseman, was chosen rookie of the year in the Swedish Elite League&hellip;Four Canucks were playing at the World Championship: Canadian defenseman Bryan McCabe. Swedish winger Markus Naslund. and U.S. forwards Darby Hendrickson and Trent Klatt. &#9632;

f0020-01

Assistants Hanlon, Smyl could leave Canucks’ fold

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03533/7186684-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="460" height="601"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Shields</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02779/7186691-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="219" height="217"></div>It might have seemed as if the San Jose Sharks treaded water this season. After all, they finished with a similar record, 31-33-18, after going 34-38-10 a year ago, and lost in the opening round of the playoffs for the second consecutive season.San Jose, though, overcame a brutal schedule that began with a road trip to Tokyo and included an NHL-record 10-game trip in February. The Sharks also dealt with the loss of defenseman Gary Suter, who played only part of one game because of a tom triceps tendon.&ldquo;To do as well as we did, I think it&rsquo;s a huge accomplishment for our team,&rdquo; said defenseman Mike Rathje.Overachievers Goalie Steve Shields established himself as the heir apparent to No. 1 man Mike Vernon.Rookie left winger Alex Korolyuk produced 12 goals and 30 points in 55 games.Underachievers Veteran left winger Murray Craven, hampered by injuries most of the season, managed only four goals in 43 games.Defense-minded left winger Stephane Matteau. winger wasn&rsquo;t as dependable as usual and contributed only eight goals.Needs 1. A big summer free-agent hit. With center Vincent Damphousse and right winger Joe Murphy standing to go on the market July 1, the Sharks must come up with a successful strategy to either hang on to their own or find quality replacements. 2. Good health for Suter. While journeyman Jeff Norton did a decent job, San Jose desperately needs Suter to provide more offense from the blueline. 3. Continued development of youngsters. Players such as Patrick Marleau, Korolyuk, Rathje, Jeff Friesen, Marco Sturm, Andrei Zyuzin and prospect Brad Stuart remain the key to the future.NOTEBOOK: By dropping all three of their home playoff games to Colorado, the Sharks stretched their post-season losing streak at San Jose Arena to four games&hellip;With a 7-3 win over the Avs in Game 4 April 30, San Jose established a club record for goals in a playoff game&hellip;Defenseman Jeff Norton set a team-record playoff scoring streak by producing at least one assist in all six playoff games. Center Bernie Nicholls had a five-game streak last year&hellip;A day after dropping the decisive Game 6 to Colorado, the Sharks announced left winger Jeff Friesen and center Patrick Marleau would join Team Canada for the World Championship in Norway&hellip;Right winger Dave Lowry underwent arthroscopic knee surgery May 3. &#9632;

f0020-03

Sharks take step forward despite similar results

<div class="byline">By Tim Buckley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04339/7186722-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="220" height="216"></div>With the way things have gone the past two seasons, including two ownership changes and two straight last-place finishes, few teams have reason to be envious of the Tampa Bay Lightning.But the Lightning does have one thing many seem to want: a high first round draft pick.With the odds stacked in favor of Tampa Bay picking first for a&rsquo;second consecutive year, Lightning GM Jacques Demers has been busy fielding inquiries.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of interest in this pick,&rdquo; Demers told the St. Petersburg Times, &ldquo;and we have to decide what is the best thing to do.&rdquo;A year ago, there was no question what Tampa Bay was going to do: select top prospect Vincent Lecavalier.This time around, there is much less certainty.Calgary Hitmen left winger Pavel Brendl has piqued the interest of the Lightning. Brendl had 70 regular season goals, but some scouts question his consistency.Concussions have caused plenty of headaches for scouts watching Patrik Stefan, whose problems with head injuries this season have some in the Lightning organization wondering about the risks associated with this standout from Long Beach of the International League. Yet Demers said a recent medical exam seems to clear Stefan of any lingering problems.Then there are Sweden&rsquo;s Sedin twins-Daniel and Henrik-whom Demers and adviser Cliff Fletcher scouted at the World Championships in Norway.So many top prospects.So many options, including the possibility of shipping the top pick to someone else.&ldquo;Last year Vinnie (Lecavalier) was there and there was no way we were going to trade the pick,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;This year there are some tough decisions.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Bill Davidson-led ownership group that is buying the team from Art Williams hopes to gain Board of Governors approval and assume full control of the franchise by the end of May, a month earlier than initially expected. Its first order of business will be to determine if Jacques Demers will continue in the dual role of coach and GM&hellip;Demers said he had not spoken with ex-Los Angeles coach Larry Robinson, who reportedly may be interested in becoming a Lightning assistant&hellip; Several Lightning employees have been dismissed in anticipation of the ownership change and trainer Curtis Bell was informed his contract will not be renewed. &#9632;

f0020-04

Lightning considers trading pick

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-05186/7186753-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="218" height="219"></div>The Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; failure to advance beyond Round 1 of the playoffs could have serious ramifications for the franchise.The Coyotes blew a 3-1 serious lead before bowing out to the St. Louis Blues in seven games and there are concerns the setback could affect the way people vote in a May 18 referendum in the city of Scottsdale. The referendum is for a proposed 20,000-seat arena project for the team. If the vote fails, the Coyotes might have to remain at America West Arena in downtown Phoenix, a building not suitable for hockey.In a worst-case scenario, the team would then be sold and possibly relocated.The loss to the Blues&ndash;the eighth consecutive first round defeat for the Coyotes&rsquo; franchise&ndash;could also spell the end of the line for coach Jim Schoenfeld. His status was expected to be made clear by mid-May.Meanwhile, there are several key players set to become free agents, including No. 1 goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and center Robert Reichel, who has threatened to return to his native Czech Republic. There also are persistent rumors GM Bobby Smith may bolt to Minnesota to work for the expansion Wild.It could be the most interesting offseason in franchise history.Overachievers Gritty right winger Dallas Drake led the team in playoff scoring with four goals and seven points.Right winger Shane Doan had a lackluster regular season, but collected two game-winners against the Blues.Underachievers Reichel was a key cog after being acquired at the trading deadline, but was ineffective in the post-season.Defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky was benched for Game 7 against St. Louis.Needs 1. A No. 2 center. This need becomes more crucial if the Coyotes can&rsquo;t re-sign Reichel. 2. Depth at forward. The Coyotes&rsquo; third and fourth lines can&rsquo;t match up with Dallas, Detroit or Colorado. 3. A new arena. Among its shortcomings, America West has 4,700 obstructed-view seats.NOTEBOOK: Center Jeremy Roenick made a remarkable return from a shattered jaw and fractured thumb and played in Game 7 against St. Louis, a 1-0 overtime loss. Roenick was fitted with a specially designed helmet and faceguard&hellip;Center Juha Ylonen agreed to a three-year deal worth $600,000. $625,000 and $750,000. He likely will take over the third-line checking duty if Bob Corkum leaves as an unrestricted free agent&hellip;The team was close to resigning left winger Louie DeBrusk to a two-year deal worth about $450,000 annually&hellip;Right winger Rick Tocchet, who failed to score in the series against St. Louis, suffered tom cartilage in his rib cage during pre-game warmups before Game 6. &#9632;

f0020-05

Another first round loss could have deen imnact

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-06146/7186784-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="221" height="220"></div>It was only 12 months ago the Washington Capitals opened the first round of the playoffs with the honor of home-ice advantage.This year, the only honors they had were on the golf course.&ldquo;I guess we&rsquo;ve reached the point in our business where all you have to do is make the playoffs, just get in, and anything can happen,&rdquo; said GM George McPhee. &ldquo;It happened for us last year and it might happen for somebody else this year.&rdquo;Washington was fourth a season ago and just got past a rising Boston Bruins&rsquo; team to advance all the way to the Stanley Cup final, while the New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins were ousted before the Eastern Conference final.&ldquo;The first round is really dangerous,&rdquo; McPhee said. &ldquo;But if you can get by that first series, things can really open up for you. I really thought the finalist (from) the East (this season) would be New Jersey, Ottawa or Boston, because the Bruins finished so strongly.&rdquo;Washington finished anything bu strongly this year, losing nine of it: last 11 games. McPhee, however, continues to be upbeat.&ldquo;Our core is pretty dam good,&rdquo; hi said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve just got to make the playoffs and see what happens. Don&rsquo; put a lot of pressure on yourself by talking about the Stanley Cup all the time. Just get in.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The World Championship in Norway featured a number of current and former Caps&rsquo; executives Among those present were: GM George McPhee (scouting), former Caps&rsquo; and current Nashville GM David Poile (Teair USA GM), former Caps&rsquo; and curreni Florida coach Terry Murray (Team US4 coach) and former Caps&rsquo; and current Fiori da GM Bryan Murray (Team Canadi GM)&hellip;Defenseman Dmitri Mironov had surgery to repair a bulging disc in his bad and is expected to be fully recovered in time for training camp&hellip;The Velocity Grill, one of the commercial cornerstone: of the MCI Center, has been closed for non-payment of more than $500,000 in taxes. &#9632;

f0020-06

Playoffs first, Cup second best mindset says McPhee

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01901/7186815-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">CUP QUEST: Ottawa 67&rsquo;s defenseman Brian Campbell wants to add a Memorial Cup to his trophy case. (Photo by Dan Hamilton/VPS)</figcaption></div>Brian Campbell&rsquo;s trophy case in Strathroy, Ont., is going to need renovations this summer, a carpentry job he&rsquo;ll entrust to grandpa Ed Patterson.But as full as that case will be, the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s defenseman said there&rsquo;s still room for one more prize, and that&rsquo;s the biggest prize in major junior hockey&ndash;the Memorial Cup.Campbell, 19, has already received hardware for being the Ontario League&rsquo;s most outstanding player, top defenseman, most gentlemanly player and first all-star team defenseman. At Christmas, he won a silver medal, at the World Junior Championship.But he said a Memorial Cup would mean more than anything because it&rsquo;s a team trophy.&ldquo;It would be something that can be shared along with other people,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A team award is something I&rsquo;ve never accomplished as a junior.&rdquo;He has done almost everything else in his four-year OHL career, rising from relative obscurity on a team always deep on the blueline to one of the premier rearguards in junior hockey.He remembers his first game with the 67&rsquo;s. He was sitting on the bench with defense partner Nick Boynton, also a rookie. It was the opener against the Detroit Whalers and Detroit&rsquo;s Bryan Berard took an interference penalty 27 seconds into the game.Coach Brian Kilrea looked down his bench and told the rookies to take the point on the power play.&ldquo;Nick and I went out on our first power play in our first OHL game, he scores and I get an assist,&rdquo; Campbell recalled. &ldquo;That was pretty special.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s overwhelming when you&rsquo;re a 16-year-old.You don&rsquo;t know what to expect. I was wondering if I could play in the league. I&rsquo;ve always had doubts and I still play with doubts.&rdquo;He was Buffalo&rsquo;s sixth round pick in the 1997 entry draft. The Sabres offered him a contract and have until June I to sign him.Campbell became only the second j defenseman to win the Red Tilson Trophy as &ldquo;the OHL&rsquo;s most outstanding player, an award voted on by the media.The other defenseman was Bryan Fogarty of the Niagara Falls Thunder in 1988-89. Fogarty smashed the league record for points (155), goals (47) and assists (108) by a defenseman in a single season. Those marks still stand.Campbell is 6 feet and 180 pounds, small by today&rsquo;s standards for NHL defensemen, but makes up for that in other areas.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s extremely strong in all parts of the game.&rdquo; Kilrea said. &ldquo;He has great mobility and is very agile and then there&rsquo;s his skating. He wouldn&rsquo;t win a race around the rink, but put a puck on his stick and he beats them hands down.&rdquo;Kilrea took a year off from coaching in 1994-95 and it was while scouting he saw Campbell playing Jr. B in Petrolia, Ont.&ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t play a lot. He was only 15. But when he did get on the ice, I liked the way he moved the puck. He wasn&rsquo;t intimidated and in that league at that age, a defenseman is going to be run. I went back three weekends in a row.&rdquo;Kilrea liked Campbell so much that when he reported to his first training camp, Kilrea assigned him No. 44.&ldquo;I told him he was going to be our Bobby Orr,&rdquo; Kilrea said.&ldquo;Nobody can ever be Bobby Orr, but he was going to be ours.&rdquo;Campbell reluctantly accepted and still wears No. 44.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s some guy I had to live up to, but it&rsquo;s good to have pressure put on you because that makes you a better player,&rdquo; Campbell said. &ldquo;They were putting confidence in me. I&rsquo;m pretty proud of what I&rsquo;ve done in Ottawa.&rdquo;That leaves only one thing for Campbell&ndash;the challenge of winning a Memorial Cup.<h2>Five weeks, no games for 67&rsquo;s</h2>It won&rsquo;t be difficult to identify the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s at the Memorial Cup. They&rsquo;ll be the ones without the traditional playoff beards.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t like having a playoff beard when I&rsquo;m not in the playoffs,&rdquo; mused clean-shaven 67&rsquo;s defenseman Brian Campbell, who sported a full beard when his team lost a second round Ontario League series to the Belleville Bulls April 9.As hosts of the May 15-23 Memorial Cup. that meant the 67&rsquo;s had five weeks between games. Ottawa hosts champions from the OHL. Quebec League and Western League in a nine-day tournament to declare a major junior champion.While it hasn&rsquo;t been the kind of spring fans in Ottawa anticipated, the 67&rsquo;s have shaken off what a month ago was near devastation.Five weeks of nothing but practice hasn&rsquo;t been the boot camp some might have expected.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve tried to put a little humor into it by having scrimmages, fun games, 3-on-3,&rdquo; said 67&rsquo;s coach Brian Kilrea. &ldquo;You just try to do something a little bit different so they didn&rsquo;t come to the rink saying &lsquo;Oh do we have to do this again.&rsquo; &ldquo;While Kilrea said his team may face adjustments getting up to game speed, one advantage the 67&rsquo;s have is perfect health. During the playoffs, injuries to defensemen Luke Sellars, Jeremy Van Hoof and Jon Zion put pressure on Nick Boynton and Campbell to carry the load. In the end that cost Ottawa. The 67&rsquo;s blew leads late in the third period three times against Belleville.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to have our whole team there,&rdquo; said center Dan Tessier. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be just like at the beginning of the season when we were playing well.&rdquo;The 67&rsquo;s will move into intense scrimmages the final week of practice, but won&rsquo;t actually have played any games for five full weeks by the time they hit the ice May 15.&ldquo;We have to get back to the way we played the first 40 games.&rdquo; Kilrea said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just hoping that with the rest we&rsquo;ll come back and be the team we were that got the bid.&rdquo;-Dave Naylor &#9632;

f0021-01

Brian’s swan song

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03511/7186853-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg"></div>The Ottawa 67&rsquo;s enter the Memorial Cup with criminal charges hanging over the heads of two star players.Captain Nick Boynton and Mark Bell were charged with assault causing bodily harm after an incident outside an Ottawa bar April 25 at 2:15 a.m. Police say a taxi driver was attacked and taken to hospital with a gash on his forehead that needed five stitches. He also sustained black eyes, a split lip and bruised ribs.Bell, 18, a first round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in 1998, was arrested at the scene. Police said a second suspect fled. Boynton, 20, a Washington Capitals&rsquo; first-rounder in 1997, turned himself in four days later. He was identified by witnesses from a photo lineup, police said.The 67&rsquo;s were eliminated from the second round of the Ontario League playoffs April 9 and faced a five-week layoff. They&rsquo;re the host team for the Cup, which begins May 15.The two were scheduled to appear in court May 11. The charges won&rsquo;t affect their playing in the Cup and coach Brian Kilrea said Boynton won&rsquo;t lose the captaincy.&ldquo;There are two sides to every story and I want to wait to have my guys give theirs (in court),&rdquo; Kilrea said.It was the second time in less than three weeks charges were brought against OHL players.Richard Scott, 20, of the Oshawa Generals, was charged with two counts of assault and one count of threatening after off-ice incidents prior to a playoff game April 8 in Barrie. Police said Sheldon Keefe of the Barrie Colts was accosted in the arena parking lot. Scott was scheduled to appear in court May 12.IN NAME ONLY: On paper, goalie Cory Campbell is a rookie. In every other respect, he&rsquo;s a veteran.There&rsquo;s something about playing 46 regular season games and 19 playoff games that changes the way a player is viewed.Campbell, 17, is a big reason the Bulls made it to the championship series against the London Knights.He began the season on the bench, backing up overager Shawn Gallant. Gallant lasted nine games and was released.Bulls&rsquo; coach Lou Crawford gave the crease to his rookie and Campbell responded, going 28-13-4 with a 3.49 goals-against average and one shutout.&ldquo;It happened so fast,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s still my first year and I still haven&rsquo;t felt any type of downer.&rdquo;STORM HUNTING: The Guelph Storm are looking for a new coach after Geoff Ward resigned over a contract dispute.He joined the team last summer after leaving Kitchener in a contract dispute. Guelph was knocked out in the second round after finishing first in the Midwest Division and second in the<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011029/7186846-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="783" height="918"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tigers&rsquo; coach Rick Carriere says Ryan Hollweg can step right in.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0022-03

Boynton, Bell to appear in court, Cup

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04345/7186891-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg"></div>Most of the ice in California can be found in the beverages.But hockey is gaining a following in that region-as evidenced by the fact Ryan Hollweg was the plum of the Western League&rsquo;s 1999 bantam draft.Hollweg-who hails from the Los Angeles suburb of Downey-became the first American-born player to go No. 1 when he was chosen by the Medicine Hat Tigers April 29 in Calgary.&ldquo;It was a real honor to go first overall,&rdquo; Hollweg said. &ldquo;Medicine Hat had talked to me before and let me know that they&rsquo;d probably take me, but it was still exciting.&rdquo;Hollweg&rsquo;s family moved to Langley, B.C., one year ago. The 16-year-old was introduced to the sport at age four.&ldquo;My mom was bom and raised in Burnaby, B.C.,&rdquo; said Hollweg, a 5-foot-l 1, 185-pound left winger. &ldquo;She knew about hockey so she put me in it. She called the local ice rink (in Downey), asked if there was a hockey program and signed me up. I loved it the moment I tried it.&rdquo;Hollweg moved to B.C. two years ago to play for the Jr. B Grandview Steelers. He spent this past season with the B.C. League&rsquo;s Langley Hornets, recording 14 goals, 54 points and 173 penalty minutes in 58 games. He was named the Jr. A league&rsquo;s top rookie.&ldquo;He has shown he is able to play against bigger, older players,&rdquo; said Medicine Hat coach and director of operations Rick Carriere. &ldquo;The WHL will be faster and more physical than Jr. A, but he has the maturity to play against people in this age group. He has been playing against guys who are Wand 20.&rdquo;Hollweg is eligible to play in the WHL next season. The Tigers hope to ice two first-overall picks-Hollweg and defenseman Jay Bouwmeester (1998).WILY VETERAN: Donnie Kinney is the only member of the Kamloops Blazers to have represented the team in two league finals.Kinney, a 20-year-old right winger, was a rookie in 1995 when Kamloops won its third Memorial Cup in a four-season span. The 199899 Blazers competed in the WHL final against the Calgary Hitmen.&ldquo;It seems like the five years have flown by,&rdquo; Kinney said. &ldquo;I started off my junior career on a winning note. It&rsquo;s nice to get back to winning playoff rounds.&rdquo;SHOOTING FOR RECORDS: Calgary&rsquo;s Pavel Brendl had 21 goals-three short of the WHL single-season playoff record. Blair Chapman scored 24 times in 20 games for the Saskatoon Blades in 1976. With 44 points, Brendl was nine away from former Regina Pats&rsquo; star Dale Derkatch&rsquo;s postseason standard of 53, established in 1984.<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02720/7186884-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="786" height="922"><figcaption class="caption-body">Donnie Kinney is Kamloops&rsquo; last tie to its 1995 title team.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0022-04

Tigers select California kid first in draft

<div class="byline">By Gordie Sutherland</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05262/7186922-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg"></div>The Memorial Cup is coming to Atlantic Canada.A successful five-year history and a knockout bid were rewarded April 29 as the Halifax Mooseheads landed the prestigious Canadian Hockey League tournament in 2000.Never in the 81-year history of the event has the Memorial Cup been held in the Atlantic region.Halifax was the first Maritime team to join the league, which now includes the Bathurst Titan, Moncton Wildcats and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a tribute to the Halifax fans,&rdquo; said Mooseheads&rsquo; governor Joe Richard. &ldquo;It belongs to them. The (bid) committee worked hard, but the choice of having Halifax as the host for the Memorial Cup is for the Halifax Mooseheads&rsquo; fans.&rdquo;To get the tournament, the Mooseheads beat out another league heavyweight in the Quebec Remparts, who had hockey icon Jean Beliveau on hand for their bid presentation.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t an easy decision to make, but going to Halifax is going to be a big boost for Halifax, the Atlantic territory and the CHL as well,&rdquo; said league president Gilles Courteau.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve done very well for the last five years with attendance. They&rsquo;re good with marketing, they&rsquo;re good with organization and they have good hockey people.&rdquo;The Mooseheads promised to sell out the Memorial Cup, which will be held May 20-28 next year. Halifax led the CHL in average attendance this season, drawing 7,862 per game and selling out the 9,815-seat Metro Centre seven times.HULL OF A RUN: The Hull Olympiques finished the playoffs with a perfect 11-0 home record.The Olympiques, who finished 15 games under .500 in the regular season, forced Game 7 in the QMJHL final with a 4-1 win over the Bathurst Titan May 5.The deciding game was set for May 7 at Bathurst&rsquo;s K.C. Irving Regional Centre, where the Titan are undefeated in 17 games, including an 11-0 slate during their current post-season run.Hull&rsquo;s Michael Ryder and Bathurst&rsquo;s Mathieu Benoit each have 20 playoff goals in 22 games, tying them for the league lead.THERRIEN HIRED: The Montreal Rockets have hired Gaston Therrien as their first coach. The expansion Rockets made the announcement April 29.Therrien coached the Rimouski Oceanic for two seasons before taking over behind the bench with the Vai d&rsquo;Or Foreurs late in 1997-1998. He guided the Foreurs to a league title in 1998.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll try to put the best team on the ice next year,&rdquo; said Therrien, 38, a former Quebec Nordique. &ldquo;I know one thing, in Montreal, you have to win.&rdquo;Montreal, which opens play next season, will begin the building process with the May 26 expansion draft.<h2>PLAYOFFS &#9632;</h2>

f0022-05

Halifax to host Memorial Cup in Year 2000

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01920/7186953-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"></div>Apparently defending the honor of his fallen teammate, St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs&rsquo; center Lonny Bohonos was charged with assault after he allegedly attacked Fredericton Canadiens&rsquo; coach Michel Therrien outside a bar.Bohonos&rsquo; lawyer, Garry Williams, said at a May 3 arraignment that Bohonos may have been provoked, alleging Therrien made comments about injured St. John&rsquo;s winger Mark Deyell. Deyell&rsquo;s career is likely over after he was struck in the eye by the stick of Fredericton defenseman Miroslav Guren.Therrien told the Daily Gleaner of Fredericton he was &ldquo;scared for my life&rdquo; when he was jumped by Bohonos shortly after midnight the night before the deciding game of their Calder Cup playoff series.The incident took place early May 1 outside Turkey Joe&rsquo;s, a club in St. John&rsquo;s that is popular with the players, about 19 hours before the teams played Game 5 of the Atlantic Division semifinal. The visiting Canadiens won the game and series 3-2.Therrien had a bruise near his eye and said he was also struck on the back and neck.&ldquo;I love these kids, I love my players and I love that team,&rdquo; Therrien said after the Canadiens&rsquo; first playoff advancement in three years. &ldquo;I feel the guys played that game for me.&rdquo;Bohonos, the Leafs&rsquo; leading scorer in the regular season, played in the season-ending loss. He was charged with assault, a summary conviction offense, the following day. He refused comment to reporters.&ldquo;Michel Therrien made remarks to the effect that he (Deyell) got what he deserved,&rdquo; Williams said.Deyell was struck in the eye as he attempted to skate past Guren after the Fredericton defenseman mishandled the puck. Guren went to hook Deyell but missed his arm and instead hit him directly in the eye.A third-year center in the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; system, Deyell suffered a bruised retina and his iris was tom. An eye specialist in St. John&rsquo;s said he&rsquo;ll likely regain only 20 to 30 per cent of his vision in the eye and that it&rsquo;s likely his career is over.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t realize how precious life is and how torturous it is when you lose something,&rdquo; Deyell said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m trying to stay positive.&rdquo;The spooky oddity is Deyell was involved in an incident early in the season when Lowell Lock Monsters&rsquo; defenseman Jeff Libby lost an eye. Deyell was upended along the boards, his skate came up and struck Libby in the eye, ending Libby&rsquo;s career.Deyell, 23, said the most difficult thing to grasp is Therrien&rsquo;s reported remarks. When a Canadiens&rsquo; player suggested the next day the team visit Deyell in hospital. Deyell said Therrien allegedly told the player, &ldquo;Shut up, that I was a wimp and got what I deserved.&rdquo;Deyell said he got the information from someone in the Fredericton dressing room.Therrien did not return phone calls. Guren visited Deyell to apologize. &ldquo;That made me feel good that the kid came to see me, even though what happened was accidental,&rdquo; Deyell said. &ldquo;But I can&rsquo;t respect that coach or the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; organization.&ldquo;Anyone who could say that is pretty degrading to our sport. I respect Lonny for sticking up for me.&rdquo;AHL president Dave Andrews said the league would not act until the police investigation is completed.&ldquo;It looks as though a number of people used poor judgment,&rdquo; Andrews said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a strange place to be the night before a game, a deciding playoff game at that.&rdquo;FRANCHISE NEWS: The Worcester IceCats reached a five-year working agreement with the St. Louis Blues that runs through 20032004.In Portland, the Washington Capitals announced they will supply all players to the Pirates next season. The Capitals had a partial working agreement in Portland this season, relying on the Chicago Blackhawks to fill out the roster. The agreement didn&rsquo;t work as Portland used an AHL record 63 players and missed the playoffs.SETTING AN EXAMPLE: Hartford Wolf Pack defenseman Brent Thompson won the Yanick Dupre Memorial Award as the AHL&rsquo;s Man of the Year.Thompson was honored for his work with several charitable causes in the Hartford area, including his work with the Connecticut Children&rsquo;s Medical Center.<h2>AHL PLAYOFFS</h2>HIGHLIGHTS (April 23 to May 7): Rochester defenseman Mike Hurlbut led the team with five points, including one power play goal. The Americans had a 41.2 per cent efficiency rating in the playoffs&hellip;Chris Ferraro scored the winning goal as the Hamilton Bulldogs beat the Albany River Rats 3-2 in double overtime of the deciding game. Ferraro led the league with five playoff goals&hellip;Philadelphia center Peter White led the playoffs with eight points. The Phantoms had a slight 6-5-1 edge in 12 games against the Kentucky Thoroughblades this season&hellip;Martin St. Louis had six points as the Saint John Flames surprised the Lowell Lock Monsters in three straiught wins. &#9632;

f0023-01

Bohonos faces assault charge

<div class="byline">By Kevin tote</div>The Detroit Vipers have a reputation as a team that prefers to wait for its opponents to make mistakes. And while it&rsquo;s true the Vipers trap occasionally, coach Steve Ludzik disputes the notion his game plan is based on the trap.But whatever Ludzik is doing, it is working. The Vipers won the Eastern Conference regular season title for the third consecutive year, going 50-21-11. Detroit&rsquo;s 111 points were second in the International League only to the 121 posted by the Houston Aeros.The Vipers play a strong, aggressive forecheck using a different type of player than previous editions. Detroit has always had a big personnel budget, but because of injuries and promotions, the Vipers have had to make do without a lot of players they projected to be key guys.This year, the Vipers relied more on less-heralded players who still managed to get the job done.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve faced a fair amount of adversity and overcome it, so hopefully, that will stand us in good stead,&rdquo; said Ludzik, who has won 154 games in three seasons as Detroit&rsquo;s coach. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve lost a lot of key players and we&rsquo;ve had five or six guys from the East Coast League in our lineup at times, but we managed to play hard every night and win a lot of games.&rdquo;Despite the loss of such key players as goalie Kevin Weekes to the Vancouver Canucks, Brad Shaw to the St. Louis Blues, Dan Kesa to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Steve Martins to the Ottawa Senators, Detroit put a formidable team on the ice and is a favorite for its second Turner Cup in three years.If that happens, Ludzik figures to be near the top of the list of j candidates to fill NHL coaching vacancies, but he&rsquo;s in no mood to talk about that while the playoffs are going on.&ldquo;When our season&rsquo;s over, if somebody wants to talk to me, we&rsquo;ll make him one of the league&rsquo;s most feared players, won the Governor&rsquo;s Trophy as the league&rsquo;s top defenseman. talk, Ludzik said. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;ve got a job to do and we need to focus our energies entirely on that.&rdquo;Detroit received a first round bye, then beat the Indianapolis Ice 3-1 in the second round after losing the opener in double overtime.TOP D&rsquo;:Houston de fenseman Greg Hawgood, whose speed and offensive flair<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01997/7186991-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="928" height="379"></div>It was the second time in four years Hawgood won the award. He won it in 1995-96 while with the Las Vegas Thunder.Hawgood led all IHL defensemen with 74 points and quarterbacked the league&rsquo;s most potent power play unit. He edged Brett Hauer of the Manitoba Moose for the award.ALL-STAR TEAMS: Houston put together the league&rsquo;s best regular season record so it should be no surprise that the Aeros tied for the lead with two first-team allstars.In balloting by league coaches, Kansas City Blades&rsquo; Patrick Lalime was first-team goalie, with Houston&rsquo;s Greg Hawgood and Manitoba&rsquo;s Brett Hauer on defense, Houston&rsquo;s Brian Wiseman at center, Chicago Wolves&rsquo; Steve Maltais at left wing and Manitoba&rsquo;s Scott Thomas on the right side.Detroit&rsquo;s Andrei Trefilov was the second-team goalie. Dan Lambert of the Long Beach Ice Dogs and Tom Tilley of Chicago were picked as the second-team defense, with Bill Bowler of Manitoba at center, Dave Hymovitz of Indianapolis at left wing and Chris Marinucci of Chicago at right wing.GORING REPLACEMENT: The Utah GM and coaching jobs came open when Butch Goring resigned to take the New York Islanders&rsquo; coaching job. The leading candidate to replace Goring is exIslander teammate Bob Bourne, who coached Las Vegas this year.Another candidate is ex-Las Vegas coach Chris McSorley, who became despised by Utah fans during the bitter rivalry between the teams. Grizzlies&rsquo; president Tim Mouser and McSorley worked together with the Toledo Storm in the ECHL.LAMOTHE ON FIRE: Indianapolis goalie Marc Lamothe had a sub-par regular season, but he has rebounded with a strong playoff run.Lamothe, who dealt with the death of his father because of cancer during the campaign, entered Game 2 of the Ice&rsquo;s best-of-three openinground series with Cincinnati midway through the game. He held the Cyclones scoreless in that game and then shut them out in the clincher.To prove it was no fluke, he blanked Detroit in a double overtime game in Game 1 of the next round. He extended his scoreless streak to a franchise record 179 minutes, 11 seconds before the Vipers solved him.<h2>IHL PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02679/7186984-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="806" height="1153"></div>HIGHLIGHTS (April 23 to May 7): Orlando advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the second consecutive year and the third time in four years with a three-game sweep of Michigan&hellip;Houston, the regular season champion. survived a second round scare from Long Beach to advance to the Western finals. Long Beach led the series after three games, but Houston won Games 4 and 5 to move on. Lane Lambert snapped a 2-2 tie in Game 5 with a goal early in the third period&hellip;Chicago swept Manitoba, winnine three one-goal names. &#9632;

f0024-01

Vipers trade in juggernaut for aggressive forecheck

<div class="byline">By Brendan Savage</div>Madison, Wis., was without a United League team for less than five weeks.After four years in Madison, the Monsters pulled up stakes and moved to Knoxville, Tenn., about 100 miles from the Asheville Smoke. Both clubs are owned by brothers Andy and Dan Wilhelm.The UHL covets the Madison market, however, so the board of governors wasted no time awarding an expansion franchise to 16 Madison-area business owners.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03448/7187022-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="341" height="181"></div>&ldquo;It is important to have another franchise in that region along with Quad City, Rockford, 111., and St. Charles, Mo.&rdquo; said commissioner Richard Brosal.Rockford and St. Charles will join the UHL next season. St. Charles will be an expansion team, but sources said the Thunder Bay Thunder Cats will relocate to Rockford.The addition of Madison will give the UHL at least 13 teams. It&rsquo;s also possible Fort Wayne could leave the International League and join the eight-year-old UHL.NOTEBOOK: For the fourth straight year, the top two teams in the standings advanced to the final. Regular season champion Muskegon Fury needed seven games to beat sixth-place Flint Generals while twotime defending champion Quad City Mallards knocked out Thunder Bay in six games. &#9632;

f0024-03

Madison back in league

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01894/7187053-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg"></div>The East Coast League is cleaning up its act.Previously known as a league where players deliver some creative stickwork when the referee isn&rsquo;t looking, the ECHL has reduced its average penalty minutes per game more than 21 per cent over the past four seasons.The league average went from 31.4 minutes in 199596 to 24.7 this past season, according to information supplied by the ECHL office.&ldquo;I give credit to the coaches,&rdquo; said Andy Van Hellemond. the league&rsquo;s senior vice-president of operations. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve disciplined their players to the point where they realize penalties are going to be called and rules are going to be enforced.&rdquo;Van Hellemond, the former NHL referee who joined the ECHL three years ago, has worked closely with coaches and officials in an effort to cut out unnecessary and potentially harmful acts by players that have plagued the league in past years.Outside of a couple of serious stick incidents early in the season, the ECHL had less of those kinds of major penalties during 1998-99.&ldquo;The players have responded,&rdquo; Van Hellemond said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had very few major incidents where guys needed to be suspended.&ldquo;That helps the decline in total minutes. We&rsquo;re still playing rough and tough hockey. I think it&rsquo;s a good place for the American League to send their good, young players to develop without having to worry about defending themselves nightly.&rdquo;BROPHY CONVICTED: Hampton Roads Admirals&rsquo; coach John Brophy was convicted of assault May 3 in Roanoke, Va., for shoving a security guard after a January game.Under a plea agreement, Brophy was fined $1,000 and a second assault charge was dropped. He did not attend the hearing in general district court. Prosecutors did not seek jail time for the misdemeanor.Brophy originally was charged with assaulting two guards who were trying to escort him to the dressing room following a 3-0 loss to the Roanoke Express.According to police, Brophy appeared to be egging on the hostile crowd when he was told to leave by the security guards. He then shoved one of the guards in the chest and elbowed the other, prosecutors said. Brophy&rsquo;s lawyer said the coach did not know who he was pushing in the confusion. He was suspended six games by the ECHL.FUND GROWS: The Baton Rouge Kingfish announced $16,845 was donated and put into a trust fund for defenseman Scott Humeniuk. who is recovering from a stroke he suffered March 2.Humeniuk is ahead of schedule with his recovery an continues with daily rehabilitation.COAST LINES: The Johnstown Chiefs extended the contracts of GM Toby O&rsquo;Brien and coach Scott Alle through 1999-2000. The Chiefs missed the playoffs, bi improved to 27 wins&hellip;The Wheeling Nailers renewe their affiliation with the Pittsburgh Penguins for 199$ 2000, which will include the expansion Wilke: Barre/Scranton (Pa.) Penguins of the AHL.<h2>ECHL PLAYOFFS</h2>HIGHLIGHTS (April 23 to May 7): Richmond goaltender Maxime Gingras recorded back-to-back shutouts against the Roanoke Express, as the Renegades tied an ECHL playoff record with their ninth straight win. Richmond earlier swept the Toledo Storm and won three straight after losing the opener against the Hampton Roads Admirals&hellip;Mississippi played its second three-overtime game of the playoffs, but this time, Pee Dee beat the Seawolves on Rick Bennett&rsquo;s goal 7 1/2 minutes into the third extra session. &#9632;

f0025-01

ECHL’s crackdown on officiating reflects well on players, coaches

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01938/7187422-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01865/7187129-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01977/7187122-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="4466" height="5191"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01898/7187115-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="4168" height="757"></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

NHL PLAYOFF STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02584/7187160-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0031-02

NHL PLAYOFF GOALTENDING STATISTICS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01977/7187236-1-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/f0035-01921/7187267-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0035-01

TOP 500 SCORERS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01884/7187298-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"></div>(OT) denotes overtime gameTeam affiliations are listed in parentheses under names &#9632;

f0036-01

AMERICAN LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01790/7187453-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"></div><a href="http://WWW.NHLLIVE.COM">WWW.NHLLIVE.COM</a><a href="mailto:HOCKEY@NHLLIVE.COM">HOCKEY@NHLLIVE.COM</a><a href="http://WWW.VSTM.COM">WWW.VSTM.COM</a> &#9632;

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CENTRAL SCOUTING LIST

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SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="S0001-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0001-017/7187515-1-eng-US/s0001-012.jpg"></div><a href="http://www.memorialcup99.com">www.memorialcup99.com</a> &#9632;

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May 21, 1999

Dafoe deserving of MVP attention

Murray looks for threads to bind Panthers together

NHL PLAYOFF GAME SUMMARIES

Shreveport Mudbugs cap year with near-perfect playoff run