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November 5, 1999
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.
Stars dazed, Sabres confused
The marathon that is the NHL regular season is still in its warmup phase, but that doesn’t stop the vultures from circling or the panic button from getting attention. There already has been the good (Brian Savage and Radek Bonk), the bad (Rangers’ power play and Calgary) and the ugly (Bryan McCabe and Boston). Here are the NHL’s team-by-team early season surprises or disappointments: Anaheim Pavel Tmka, now on the top defense pairing with Oleg Tverdovsky, has already matched last season’s output (four points). Atlanta The Thrasher forwards are expected to play good defensive hockey, but frequent lapses have coach Curt Fraser baffled and upset. Boston Wingers Steve Heinze and Anson Carter, with two goals between them, have been huge letdowns in Dmitri Khristich’s absence. Buffalo Team drifted through first two weeks of season without purpose;…
Plagued Pilon on shelf, golden chance for rookie Cairns
It’s a grand opportunity for Eric Cairns, a crushing disappointment for Rich Pilon and a blow to the New YorkIslanders' blueline. Butch Goring lost one of his toughest defensemen Oct. 18 when Pilon went down with an injured left knee after a hard check by Dainius Zubrus of the Montreal Canadiens during the second period of the Islanders' 4-2 victory. It was originally diagnosed as a bruised knee, but once the Islanders returned home they found out the bad news-Pilon had sprained the medial collateral ligament, an injury that would knock him out of the lineup for at least three weeks and possibly four. Pilon had started slowly because of lingering back problems from last season, but had begun to come around. He played particularly well in the Isles’ loss to the New…
Holik off to ferocious start, but can he maintain pace?
His harshest critics call him Mr. October, which may be an honor in baseball, but is an insult in the NHL where the important goals aren’t scored until springtime. Perhaps that was why center Bobby Holik took it all in stride when he became the first player in New Jersey Devils’ history to score six goals in the first six games of the season. Having endured much criticism for failing to score a goal in the last two playoffs, Holik remained cautiously optimistic he might turn his strong start into his best season yet with the Devils. “I’ve never started like this, but I’ve never been a 10-year veteran before,” Holik said. “I’m a lot smarter than I was the last several years. Everything seems to be coming together. Now it’s up to…
Grizzlies’ Vukota suspended eight games for sucker punch
While NHL vice-president Colin Campbell had the high-profile Ruslan Salei-Mike Modano case to assess, his International League counterpart Bob McCammon had his own disturbance to tackle in mid-October. McCammon’s verdict was to banish Utah Grizzlies’ right winger Mick Vukota for eight games after several incidents in the messy closing moments of an Oct. 9 game between the Long Beach Ice Dogs and Grizzlies in West Valley City, Utah. Fourteen game misconducts and 254 minutes in penalties were handed out. Long Beach coach-GM John Van Boxmeer was also suspended for two games, “for actions leading to the resumption of the altercation at the conclusion of the game, McCammon said. Vukota’s crime was a sucker punch that knocked Long Beach’s Claude Boivin out cold with 10 seconds left in the game Utah won 3-1. With the…
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