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.

November 12, 1999

The Hockey News November 12, 1999

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02730/7818672-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="549" height="989"><figcaption class="caption-body">Olie Kolzig</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011087/7818679-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="146" height="146"></div>A large part of the reason the Washington Capitals missed the playoffs last season was a dreadful 5-19-1 run against teams from the Western Conference, earning just 11 out of a possible 50 points.It doesn&rsquo;t appear the Caps are learning from experience. After five games this season against Western Conference foes, Washington was 0-3-2. There are no built-in excuses like injuries to fall back on and coach Ron Wilson is spitting nails.Inconsistency has been a primary reason for the downfall. Against the Phoenix Coyotes Oct. 23, the Capitals&rsquo; played very well for the first 43 minutes, putting constant pressure on the puck and fashioned a 2-0 lead. Then Washington let its guard down for a few minutes and just that quickly the game was tied, which is how it ended.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Four nights later against the Los Angeles Kings, the Capitals had another 2-0 lead after 15 minutes then fell into embarrassing disarray. The Kings won easily 5-2. Los Angeles goalie Jamie Storr even made fun of the team he just beat, telling fellow Kings&rsquo; netminder Stephane Fiset &ldquo;you could have put a &lsquo;shooter-tutor&rsquo; in there and it would have been 5-2.&rdquo;Said an exacerbated Wilson after the game, &ldquo;If some guys don&rsquo;t want to play the way I ask, I&rsquo;ll just leave. If some guys won&rsquo;t listen to me, that&rsquo;s fine, I&rsquo;ll find something else to do&hellip;Some people don&rsquo;t get it. We&rsquo;ve got some young people who have struggled and we keep going to them, (but) I can&rsquo;t reward people with ice time who aren&rsquo;t getting the job done.&rdquo;The next day, somewhat calmer, but still frustrated, Wilson said, &ldquo;I was just emotional after the game, that&rsquo;s all. We have to find more stick-to-it-ness. We can&rsquo;t be up 2-0 but think, &lsquo;I haven&rsquo;t scored tonight.&rsquo; If we&rsquo;re up 2-0, we should win the game. I don&rsquo;t care who you&rsquo;re playing. We&rsquo;ve made a lot of careless blunders and we've talked about them and now we&rsquo;ve got to go out and do it. I&rsquo;m looking for more consistent concentration.&rdquo;Wilson believes the problems start when his forwards miss their defensive assignments which puts pressure on a Capitals&rsquo; defense that is not exactly lightning quick. Faster opponents zip around Wilson&rsquo;s defenders and confront goalie Olie Kolzig face-to-face with multiple quality scoring chances.Kolzig has played better than his stats indicate, but he can only do so much.NOTEBOOK: Washington GM George McPhee came off his 30-day suspension Nov. 1, frustrated he couldn&rsquo;t step in and do anything to help his struggling team&hellip;Two of right winger Peter Bondra&rsquo;s seven goals in the first eight games were shorthanded, extending his club record to 24&hellip;After allowing power play goals in each of its first six games, Washington stopped 10 of its opponents next 11 chances&hellip;Washington&rsquo;s lines continue to juggle nightly. Centers Adam Oates and Andrei Nikolishin have both snuggled and the search is on to find anyone who can jump start either one. &#9632;

f0030-02

NHL TEAMS

Capitals’ inability to hold leads confounds coach Wilson

<div class="byline">By Joe Starkey</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02748/7818472-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="323" height="434"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jaromir Jagr</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011092/7818479-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="151" height="154"></div>Hard as it is to believe, Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; captain Jaromir Jagr used to consider shooting one of his weaknesses. Now it&rsquo;s one of his strengths-and he intends to emphasize that point this season.Through the Penguins&rsquo; first eight games, Jagr had 48 shots, six per game.At that pace, he will finish the season with 492 shots, which would be the second-highest total in NHL history. Phil Esposito set the record of 550 in 1970-71, when he played 78 games for the Boston Bruins. No one has come close since. Paul Kariya of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim captured the second-highest mark with 429 shots last season.Jagr learned four seasons ago that more shots means more goals.&ldquo;I knew I could score a lot more goals than I did and I knew my weakness was (not enough) ugly goals and (not enough) shooting,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I knew when I was shooting more in 1995-96, I had like 400 shots and I scored 60 goals. I wasn&rsquo;t any different (of a) player before or after.&rdquo;To be precise, Jagr totaled 403 shots in 1995-96 and scored a career best 62 goals. Last season, his totals were 343 shots and 44 goals. That&rsquo;s simply not enough shooting for a player with Jagr&rsquo;s array of shots.&ldquo;His shot is especially great because of how quickly he releases the puck,&rdquo; said Penguins&rsquo; goaltender Peter Skudra. &ldquo;The goalie really has to be set to make the save.&rdquo;Jagr&rsquo;s first eight goals this season included six laser-like wrist shots, a one-time slapshot from 45 feet and a neat little backhand rebound. He hadn&rsquo;t even scored on one of his patented dekes-and those were virtually all he used to score on. Lately, he has focused on one-timers.Penguins&rsquo; assistant coach Troy Ward often feeds Jagr pucks in practice.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve passed to every guy on this team for three years now and the quality of his shooting practice is unbelievable,&rdquo; Ward said. &ldquo;The intensity with which he goes at it and the work he puts in is second to none. He&rsquo;s the one guy who could say, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m the best in the world, I don&rsquo;t need to work on this.&rsquo; He doesn&rsquo;t settle for that. He finds other ways to improve.&rdquo;The Penguins set a franchise-low for shots last season (24.5 per game), but they seem to be following their captain&rsquo;s lead this year. Through eight games, they were averaging 26.5 shots.NOTEBOOK: In their Oct. 23 loss to Carolina, the Penguins played without their top three centers-Martin Straka. Jan Hrdina and Robert Lang, all of whom were nursing injuries&hellip;Ex-captain Ron Francis, now with Carolina, was asked whether Penguins&rsquo; owner Mario Lemieux owes him a dinner after Francis passed Lemieux on the all-time NHL scoring list Oct. 22. &ldquo;As long as he keeps making deferred payments, I won&rsquo;t ask for a dinner,&rdquo; said Francis, who is still owed money by the franchise&hellip;Goaltender Tom Barrasso (sprained right knee) returned to practice Oct 25, his first action since leaving a game Oct. 7 at New Jersey. He was originally expected to be out of the lineup for seven-to-10 days&hellip;For only the third time in franchise history and first since 1983-84, the Penguins did not record a home victory in October, going 0-1-2&hellip;Goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin stopped Anaheim right winger Teemu Selanne on a penalty shot Oct. 27, marking the second time in three games a Penguins&rsquo; goaltender thwarted a penalty shot. Peter Skudra turned back Chicago left winger Doug Gilmour Oct. 16. &#9632;

f0028-02

Jagr plans shooting binge to bolster goal total

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011101/7818272-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="154" height="155"></div>Like so many players before them, young forwards Brendan Morrison and Patrik Elias finally blinked in their efforts to stare down New Jersey Devils&rsquo; GM Lou Lamoriello.Unable to land contracts they believed they deserved, the two restricted free agents gave up their mutual fight Oct. 25 and accepted what they felt were lowball offers from the tough negotiator.Both said they would actually sign the contracts when they were physically ready to be added to the roster.Elias, 23, agreed to a three-year deal believed to be worth $2.35 million, including $725,000 this season. That&rsquo;s a $400,000 raise from last year.Morrison, 24, accepted a one-year contract believed to be worth $500,000 and he will be eligible for salary arbitration after the season. He earned a base salary of $400,000 in 1998-99, along with a games-played bonus of $150,000.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what to think,&rdquo; Morrison said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve accepted the offer and I&rsquo;m ready to play hockey. It was a situation of weighing options. I just want to move forward and start playing.&rdquo;There was clearly bitterness remaining for both players.Morrison said the distasteful treatment he received from Lamoriello went &ldquo;beyond the money issue&rdquo; and Rich Winter, the agent for Elias, suggested negotiations embarrassed the players.NOTEBOOK: Coach Robbie Ftorek made the controversial move of scratching defenseman Ken Daneyko when the rear-guard would have played his 999th career game in St. Louis Oct. 23. Daneyko, who said he was angered at first, decided not to lash back verbally at his coach and took the classy route by conceding he hadn't been playing well. He also battled a sore back&hellip;Center Jason Arnott lost the bridge work in his upper mouth-installed just this summer-when he was hit by a deflected Scott Young shot in St. Louis&hellip;Defenseman Scott Niedermayer, who led the team&rsquo;s defensemen in scoring in each of the past four seasons, was off to a slow start. Niedermayer had no goals and just three assists through nine games. &#9632;

f0024-01

Morrison, Elias sign deals to stay in Lamoriello’s lair

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012011/7817255-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0006-01

DEPARTMENTS

ELSTON

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011596/7817028-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dmitri Khristich is adjusting well in Toronto despite getting the squeeze by Brad Lukowich of Dallas.</figcaption></div><h2>Nothing doing for brilliant Beezer</h2>1. Good things come in threes Philadelphia goalie John Vanbies brouck records three consecutive shutouts.2. Rockin&rsquo; Robyn Defenseman Robyn Regehr breaks both legs in July car crash, makes NHL debut with Calgary Oct. 28.3. Gold lunchbucket&nbsp;Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; grinder Rick Tocchet plays 1,000th NHL game.4.&nbsp;Passing Mario I With 1,495th point, Carolina&rsquo;s Ron Francis slips past Mario Lemieux to sixth on NHL&rsquo;s all-time list.5. Passing Mario II&nbsp;With 614th goal, Vancouver&rsquo;s Mark Messier moves past Lemieux to sixth among all-time snipers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021344/7817021-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="354" height="498"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Tocchet</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-031004/7817014-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="350" height="489"><figcaption class="caption-body">Trevor Linden</figcaption></div><h2>Rangers strangers to scoreboard</h2>1. Bad things (also) come in threes Struggling Rangers blanked in three straight games for first time since 1950.2. Brash&nbsp;behavior Canucks' Brashear suspended two games for nailing Islanders&rsquo; Jamie Heward from behind.3. Laplante&nbsp;sits Quebec&rsquo;s Laplante suspended six Quebec League games for leaving penalty box to fight.4. Trevor&rsquo;s&nbsp;Trevor Linden held goal-less through first 12 games with Habs.5.&nbsp;Greg Smyth St. John&rsquo;s player-assistant coach forced to resign after fighting a player in a restaurant. &#9632;

f0002-01

IN THIS ISSUE

PLUS/MINUS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-In-Chief</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04760/7817059-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="365" height="467"></div>With the NHL job 700 positions next season, it&rsquo;s no wonder a new trend has emerged to fill holes on the league&rsquo;s soon to be roster of 30 teams.Middle-aged Europeans joining teams for the first time is all the rage. At least a dozen players fit the description this season: played their entire pro careers in one of the overseas elite leagues before developing into bona fide NHLers. Most are long ago draft picks, but some were picked in the 1999 entry draft as overage Europeans and made their teams this season.Anaheim defenseman Niclas Havelid, Los Angeles defenseman Frantisek Kaberle and Boston left winger Mikko Eloranta market expanding to about Defensemen and forwards 23 to 28 who have were all picked last summer. They represent a new class of NHL prospect: The player overlooked as a teenager who then blossoms into a first rate professional. Not all are Europeans. New Jersey defenseman Brian Rafalski, an American, was signed as a free agent out of Finland after an outstanding 1998-99. There should be no fewer of these older draft picks in 2000, either as expansion or entry selections, when the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild fill their cupboards for the first time. The Atlanta Thrashers traded for one, left winger Per Svartvadet, and picked another, left winger Tommi Kallio, from Colorado. &ldquo;As the league continues to expand and the league continues to go to a more wide open style of play,&rdquo; says Thrashers&rsquo; GM Don Waddell, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re going to see a lot more (older) Europeans who can make an impact right away.&rdquo;The Thrashers are considering hiring a fulltime European pro scout, a step already taken by Montreal. The troubled Canadiens may be the only team with a fulltime scout watching the European pro leagues. Certainly, they&rsquo;re the only team employing someone of Dave King&rsquo;s stature in that role. The international hockey expert left an assistant coach's job in Montreal to monitor elite level play primarily in Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany. The Canadiens don&rsquo;t expect to unearth a first round draft pick, but finding a skilled top six defenseman (like Ottawa&rsquo;s Janne Laukkanen who came to the NHL as a 23-year-old) or third- or fourth-liner ready to play next season will make the venture worthwhile.And what separates the contenders from the pretenders for King? Mental and physical toughness. &ldquo;Every shift on the ice in the NHL a player must demonstrate courage,&rdquo; King says. That is not always the case in Europe and determining which players measure up on that scale is the ultimate scouting challenge. &#9632;

f0002-04

Europe producing newest brand of NHL player

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie&nbsp;Associate Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011867/7817090-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Canadian fans will hang their heads, like Ottawa&rsquo;s Ron Tugnutt, if Canadian teams re-locate. (Dan Hamilton/VPS)</figcaption></div>Question: What are Canadian-based NHL teams looking for from government?Answer: Anything they can get.Which is to suggest &ldquo;everything&rdquo; would be ideal, but &ldquo;something&rdquo; would be a start. And now they have one.The Ontario government&rsquo;s initiative to lower or eliminate property taxes on privately owned sports facilities, like the Corel Centre in Ottawa, may be the catalyst that provides across-the-board federal tax relief to all six Canadian franchises.The federal government&rsquo;s is contemplating an NHL request to use Canadian sports lotteries' revenues to subsidize the weak dollar and allow the Canadian teams to compete on a more level playing field with their U.S.-based counterparts.&ldquo;(The Ontario tax plan) is the big break-through that is going to let us combination of initiatives come together at the municipal level, at the provincial level,&rdquo; said Ottawa Senators&rsquo; Bryden in the wake of Ontario&rsquo;s announcement Oct. 29 on property tax relief.It was a surprise because just Ontario premier Mike Harris dismissed the notion of his government helping a pro sports league that he said doesn&rsquo;t have its financial house in order.Why the about-face?In part, because the province is effectively handing off half the cost of tax relief to the municipalities involved. The ultimate decision on whether to provide a break on property taxes is in the hands of municipal governments, which the province said would either have to cut services or raise taxes to fund the break.In Toronto, for example, Mayor Mel Lastman has no inclination to consider relief for the well-heeled Ma leafs it&rsquo;s extremely doubtful there breaks on Air Canada Centre taxes.In Ottawa though, where the regional government is solidly backing tax the Sens, Bryden&rsquo;s annual tax bill the Corel Centre of about on could be reduced by as much as $5 million to $6 million or wiped out entirely, Bryden has maintained the Sens are being gouged on property taxes, originally assessed at $1.1 million.Ontario&rsquo;s initiative renewed hope the federal government will step up with a tax relief program to benefit all six announcement, federal Minister of Industry John Manley suggested the feds could only get involved if there was movement by the provinces and municipalities.The Ontario move will help Manley in his efforts to convince the federal cabinet the NHL merits financial support, but it&rsquo;s still not guaranteed. A spokesman for Manley termed Ontario&rsquo;s action &ldquo;very positive.&rdquo; The NHL&rsquo;s prospects for aid are clearly better after Ontario&rsquo;s decision; a firm reading on federal intentions is expected by mid-to-late November.That federal financial aid, Bryden said, will ultimately determine whether the Senators can remain viable in Ottawa or whether he&rsquo;ll sell the franchise to U.S. interests, which would presumably move it to Houston or Portland, Ore. According to NHL by-laws, any pro posed franchise move for next season must be applied for in writing by waive that stipulation. Canada&rsquo;s other small-market teams-Calgary and Edmonton-are also eagerly anticipating federal assistance. If they don&rsquo;t get it, their future in Canada is in jeopardy.While there is seemingly tittle or no appetite on the part of Canadians to aid NHL teams, the three levels of government recognize there is reason to help out. The six NHL teams contribute more than $200 million annually in taxes (federal, provincial and municipal). If one or more were to leave, it would diminish the tax base.The NHL has made a collective effort on behalf of the six Canadian franchises to obtain federal aid. The league said it will ensure the future of the Canadian franchises when a new collective bar-gaining agreement is negotiated in the fall of 2004, but until then, the Canadian clubs require help to see them through.Amid criticism isn&rsquo;t doing enough to support the Cariadian teams, gram-which distributed about $12 million between Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa last year-is tangible proof of its commitment to keeping teams in Canada. But the NHL admits it isn&rsquo;t enough because the Canadian dollar is so low, most recently trading at $0.65 U.S.&ldquo;The difference in the dollar puts us in a $12-million hole,&rdquo; said Calgary Flames&rsquo; owner Harley Hotchkiss, who is also chairman of the NHL board of governors. &ldquo;We can knock that down to $9 million because of the money we get from the league (currency assistance plan). We need the (federal tax) aid to eat into that $9 million if we&rsquo;re going to be able to compete with U.S. teams.&rdquo;While federal aid would be a windfall to all six teams, their individual situations couldn&rsquo;t be more diverse. And if nothing else, the two-year campaign on tax issues has highlighted the biggest impetus for tax breaks is at the municipal and provincial levels, not federal.Calgary and Edmonton, for example, pay little or no property taxes. The Alberta government, acknowledging the value of keeping its two franchises, has already subsidized NHL operations, especially in Edmonton when the Oilers were on the verge of leaving town. Now, however, the provincial government in Alberta is floating the unique idea of a combination bond investment and lottery. Purchasers of the bonds would know the proceeds are earmarked for NHL assistance and there would be a drawing of bond numbers with the lucky bond holders claiming cash prizes.Conversely, in Montreal, the issue of property taxes is huge. The Canadiens pay $11 million annually on the Molson Centre, which the Habs say is more than all 22 U.S. teams combined pay and only slightly less than the other five Canadian clubs collectively. The Habs have taken the city of Montreal to court to fight the $11-million levy. It could be years before the suit is settled.In the meantime, the Canadiens are hopeful of getting provincial aid now that it looks as though the bid to save the Montreal Expos will result in as much as $8 * million in tax relief for the baseball team. It would be ironic if the Expos, given their place in Quebec culture vs. the Canadiens, president Pierre Boivin. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s unacceptable." The expectation is the Habs will eventually get some help from the province.Toronto isn&rsquo;t likely to get KB the property tax break because the city won&rsquo;t go Jr for it. Its only hope for relief may be at the national level, but the team with the league&rsquo;s highest ticket prices and one of the strongest revenue bases is hardly in dire straits.<h2>Tax breaks considered</h2>In British Columbia, the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; property tax bill of between $1 million and $2 million annually isn&rsquo;t as over-whelming as in Ottawa and Montreal, but neither is it the $500,000 paid in Calgary. The B.C. government has been lukewarm to Canuck efforts for Ontario-like reforms. It may be Ontario&rsquo;s property tax move is enough to spur a federal contribution. But it may also be the Canadian government will wait to see if Quebec and British Columbia are prepared to join in.One issue on which everyone agrees is, ultimately, it&rsquo;s the NHL&rsquo;s responsibility to safeguard the league&rsquo;s future NHL executive vice-president Bill Daly said it was the league that suggested all government assistance to the Canadian teams have a &ldquo;sunset&rdquo; provision in 2004, at which time a new collective agreement will be in place and Canadian franchises will presumably be able to compete on an equal footing with their U.S. counterparts. &#9632;

f0003-01

FEATURES

Canada’s financial fight

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011801/7817121-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="607" height="298"></div>Every little dollar helps NHL teams struggling to remain competitive with U.S. and the Ottawa Senators got a break Oct. 28 from the Ontario provincial legislature.The Ontario government offered a significant tax break of up to $16 million a year for the cash-strapped Senators. Team owner Rod welcomed the tax break, but also wants additional help from the federal stay in Canada.The Hockey News is making the millennium. This week deposits a Canadian dollar offered the form of a tax concession.Sept. 10 Ron Hextail&rsquo;s Goalie Stick Colorful goalie retiresSept. 24 QMJHL game summary Charline LabonteOct. 1 Ice pack for Lorne Molleken Black eye courtesy GM&rsquo;sOct. 8 Ruslan Salei&rsquo;s Rap Sheet Four-time on-ice offenderOct. 15 1,000 Pucks Pierre Turgeon gets 1,000th pointOct. 22 Five Minutes Exciting Hockey&nbsp;4-on-4 OT receives rave reviewsOct. 29 Canadian Dollar Financial aid approved for Sens. &#9632;

f0004-01

TIME CAPSULE

Hockey in the 20th century will be remembered for 100 seasons of achievement, but two stand out: 1969-70 and 1981-82.Those two NHL seasons featured the two most important full season performances in history according to a poll conducted for The Hockey News Century of Hockey, a collector&rsquo;s edition magazine now available on newsstands across North America.Bobby Orr&rsquo;s landmark scoring championship in 1969-70 was selected a narrow winner over Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s 92-goal 1981-82 as the best individual NHL single season by a panel of 20 experts.&ldquo;Orr changed the way the game was played,&rdquo; said Steve Dryden, Editor-in-Chief of The Hockey News. &ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t the first defenseman to be an offensive threat but none of those before him accomplished what he did, that is, expand the job description for all defensemen who followed.&ldquo;No longer was it acceptable for defensemen to join the offense on a limited basis; it was expected of them if teams were to have success. Long-time NHL executive Mike Smith said it best: Orr was a transition player in the game&rsquo;s history.&rdquo;And 1969-70 was a transition season as Orr became the first defenseman to win the Art Ross Trophy with 120 points on 33 goals and 87 assists.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011804/7817176-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="474" height="628"><figcaption class="caption-body">THN&rsquo;s Century of Hockey</figcaption></div>That represented an 88 percent improvement on Orr&rsquo;s own previous NHL point record (64) and a 100 per-cent increase over any defenseman&rsquo;s total before him (59 by Pierre Pilote in 1964-65).By scaling those statistical heights, Orr revolutionized hockey much as Babe Ruth did baseball exactly 50 years earlier when he raised the home run standard from 29 to 54 in 1920, an 86 per-cent improvement over his own record.Similarly, Gretzky&rsquo;s 92-goal season (including 50 goals in 39 games) smashed Phil Esposito&rsquo;s goal mark of 76 in a single season. No other player has come closer than six goals to Gretzky&rsquo;s record. Rounding out the top five single season choices were Gretzky&rsquo;s 215-point 1985-86, Rocket Richard&rsquo;s 50 goals-in-50 games 1944-45 and Orr&rsquo;s second scoring championship season in 1974-75.Century of Hockey&nbsp;ranks the top 40 seasons in NHL history, tells the story of pre-NHL hockey and provides a season-by-season review of the hockey world from 1917-18, the first season of the NHL, through 1998-99, the last of the century. &#9632;

f0005-01

Orr has century’s best NHL season

<div class="byline">-With files from Mark Brender and Bill Montague</div>Jeff Kugel may have received a stay of execution, but as far as he&rsquo;s concerned, he was still burned by the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.The 6-foot-7, 252-pound left winger, who was banned for life from the Ontario League last season only to be reinstated this year, quit the Greyhounds Oct. 28 after playing in just two of the team&rsquo;s first 13 games.Kugel said he was never given a fair chance by coach Paul Theriault. He was placed on waivers and is hoping another OHL team will claim him. Kugel was picked up off waivers by Sault Ste. Marie Sept. 22 after the Windsor Spitfires decided he no longer fit into their plans.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s something I was forced to do,&rdquo; said Kugel, a native of Roseville, Mich. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s upsetting. I wasn&rsquo;t playing, I wasn&rsquo;t on a line in practice and it was like I was a pylon. I don&rsquo;t think Mr. Theriault thought enough of me as a hockey player.&rdquo;Theriault could not be reached for comment, but Greyhounds&rsquo; GM Dave Mayville was disappointed, saying Kugel&rsquo;s value would have magnified down the stretch after the coaching staff had time to work with him.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unfortunate,&rdquo; Mayville said. &ldquo;I thought we were making progress. We wanted to show him there&rsquo;s more to his game than just (fighting).&rdquo;Kugel was handed a lifetime ban last year from commissioner Dave Branch for an incident Oct. 25 against the Owen Sound Platers in which he came off the bench and sucker punched Juri Golicic and then chased another player to center ice before being escorted off the playing surface.Kugel&rsquo;s stay in the Soo was filled with adversity. He was not deemed fit to play by Theriault until the team&rsquo;s eighth game. Theriault made Kugel change in a spare dressing room by himself until he passed the team&rsquo;s fitness standards. He was not given his own stall in the main room until nearly a month after being acquired.Kugel had no goals, no points and no penalty minutes in two games this season and has one goal, one assist and 76 penalty minutes in 46 career OHL games.He received an invite to the New York Rangers&rsquo; training camp in September.ALUMNI GROUP: Retired NHLers have finally come together to form their own association.In June, a headhunting firm chose ex-NHLer Rene Robert from a field of 70 candidates to become the first executive director of the NHL Alumni Association. Robert and one staff person have been operating out of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association headquarters in Toronto, but were scheduled to move into their own Toronto office in early November.Robert said the NHLAA will focus on fundraising, career transition programs, securing health and dental insurance for retired players, drug and marital counseling and trying to work with NHL consultant Brian O&rsquo;Neill on the distribution of fine money to retired players.He acknowledged retired players&rsquo; legal battles with the NHL over pension moneys have created a tense relationship with the league, but said the time for fuming is over. &ldquo;We have to let go and start moving forward,&rdquo; Robert said.One of the association&rsquo;s challenges will be to bring together players of different generations who may find themselves in vastly different economic circumstances. Robert is recording a video with Wayne Gretzky, Stan Mikita. Bobby Orr and Derek Sanderson stressing the need for a united front. He&rsquo;ll show the tape when he makes visits to the 25 alumni chapters.WINNING VOICE: Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon has been hired by ESPN to do promotional commercials for the NHL.Sarandon does voice-overs for commercials designed to introduce fans to the subtleties of hockey. Featured players include Eric Lindros, Jaromir Jagr, Chris Chelios and Sergei Fedorov.Sarandon and her actor-husband Tom Robbins are long-time hockey fans. &#9632;

Kugel discards second chance

I bid a fond farewell to all NHL players, coaches and scouts and all radio and TV personalities I had the privilege to meet at McNichols Arena in Denver.At McNichols, we were on the same concourse, but I won&rsquo;t see you again as the new Pepsi Center segregates the expensive seats from the cheaper ones.The &lsquo;Can&rsquo; has a beautiful cosmetic appearance, but fan comfort is lacking. To cram in 18,129 paying customers, the builder used small seats and there&rsquo;s little room for your legs.My seat is further from the ice at the Pepsi Center than at McNichols, but my season ticket went up 14 percent. In five seasons, my ticket price has risen 113 per cent. To complain is futile, because the NHL, team owners and rich players don't care.I know I won&rsquo;t see them up on the third level, where the poor hockey fans sit in their cramped seats.Art Caldwell, Aurora, Colo.(Editor&rsquo;s Note: Seats at Pepsi Center are reportedly the same size as those at McNichols. Arena, though the beverage holders take up leg room.)<h2>Don&rsquo;t blame Houle</h2>I&rsquo;m not a great fan of Rejean Houle (nice guy, lousy GM) or the Montreal Canadiens, but 1 took exception to the letter &ldquo;The Hab-nots&rdquo; (THN, Oct. 29).Hindsight doesn&rsquo;t even enter the picture when it comes to the proposed lineup consisting of players who have been in Montreal the past decade.Money, especially the Canadian dollar, does. The &ldquo;Stanley Cup contender&rsquo;&rsquo; payroll would not be feasible in any market, including New York.I agree the deals that sent away Pierre Turgeon, Lyle Odelein and Jyrki Lumme were brutal and player development does not exist under the current regime.However, Patrick Roy stormed out on the team, Claude Lemieux refused to stop diving and Stephane Quintal signed with the highest bidder. And I don&rsquo;t remember anyone lamenting the trades of Ron Tugnutt, Sylvain Le febvre and Valeri Bure.Alan Willey, Montreal<h2>Heed Modano message</h2>I fully support Mike Modano&rsquo;s stance regarding violence in today&rsquo;s hockey (THN, Oct. 22).It&rsquo;s disgusting. I&rsquo;ve been watching hockey for over 20 years and violence has gotten progressively worse. I&rsquo;ve seen bullies get on the ice and make a beeline towards the other team&rsquo;s best player to try to take them out.Players, coaches and GMs need to speak out on this topic. Stricter rules must be devised and enforced to protect the injured and punish the bullies. Bigger fines and longer suspensions should make the bad boys think twice.Modano&rsquo;s right-we can&rsquo;t wait for a life-threatening injury to happen before this issue is taken seriously.Danielle Reid, North Bergen, N.J.<h2>Yzerman drives Detroit</h2>The assertion that Detroit&rsquo;s Sergei Fedorov is a better player than Steve Yzerman in the letter &ldquo;Statistically speaking&rdquo; is just plain wrong (THN, Oct. 29).His entire career, Yzerman has been the heart and soul of the Red Wings. Fedorov, on the other hand, needs a transplant.Fedorov may be superior in raw talent but what good is talent if you 100 per cent every game?Meanwhile, Yzerman gives it his all each outing. Once a top scorer in the NHL, he changed his style to fit coach Bowman&rsquo;s game plan. The result: Back-to-back Stanley Cups.While Yzerman is destined for the Hall of Fame, Fedorov will only get buys a ticket.Rex Whetstone, Westland, Mich.<h2>Slack Hawks</h2>Isn&rsquo;t it encouraging for Chicago Blackhawk fans to hear GM Bob Murray thinks Boris Mironov could remain unsigned all season?With defense prospect Jonas Elofsson back in Sweden, last March&rsquo;s seven-player deal with Edmonton is reduced to Dean McAmmond for four good, young players.Combined with poor drafting, trades like this will keep the Stanley Cup out of Chicago for many years.Raymond Khermouch, Little Neck, N. Y.<h2>Gambling with future</h2>Ontario Premier Mike Harris said &lsquo;No&rsquo; to a hockey lottery because it would hurt existing provincial lotteries.But if Canadian teams aren&rsquo;t helped financially, Canada will suffer.Do the politicians realize how much money an NHL team brings into its city (and province) and how many millions will be lost when (not if) Canadi an teams head south for good?Darren Wells, Grande Prairie, Alta.(Editor&rsquo;s Note: Ontario&rsquo;s provincial government has proposed a new tax class that will cut as much as $16 million annually in property tax from privately owned arenas, if municipalities match it. See pg. 3 for more.)Fax us your comments&nbsp;at&nbsp;(416) 340-1641&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;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., <a href="mailto:mccaigs@trans-continental.ca">14240-9947.&nbsp;E-mail us at <a href="mailto:mccaigs@transcontinental.ca">mccaigs@transcontinental.ca</a> Include hometown as well as</a>&nbsp;home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

New generation of fans feeling crushed at ‘Can’

Yes, visors should be mandatory &#10063;No, visors should not be mandatory &#10063;Place a check mark in the box beside your choice.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021339/7817286-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="502" height="901"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mattias Ohlund (Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div><h2>HOW TO PARTICIPATE</h2><h3>RESPOND BY</h3>Fax: Puck Poll, 416-340-1641Mail: Puck Poll, 777 Bay St., Suite 2700, Toronto, Ont. M5G 2N1E-mail: <a href="mailto:mccaigs@transcontinental.ca">mccaigs@transcontinental.ca</a>PRIZES Winners are chosen at random. The first five people selected will receive a copy of the videocassette &ldquo;NHL&rsquo;s Greatest Goals.&rdquo;RESPONDENTS Include return mailing addresses and phone numbers to be eligible for prizes.RESULTS Results and winners will appear in the Dec. 3 issue of THN.CONTEST RULES See THN masthead on pg. 4. &#9632;

f0006-02

PUCK POLL

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011823/7817324-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="343" height="469"></div>The new Rangers need time to bond. All that money they make is languishing in the stock market while bonds are doing better all the time.But at least the youth movement is finally Harvey, on. For instance, right winger Todd far and away the most feisty forward on a sleepwalking team, doesn&rsquo;t know what line he is on.Center Manny Malhotra, considered a cornerstone of the rebuilding effort, is on the bench. And right winger Pavel Brendl, the No. 3 overall Neil Smith said would play this year, is on a bus in the Western League.Meanwhile, Smith inexplicably appears not to be on notice, despite missing the playoffs two consecutive created this one. After putting $67 million into six free agents, then adding $1.7 million in the exchange of Peter Popovic for Kevin Hatcher, the Rangers are paying their players $59 million, $9 million more than any other franchise (the Philadelphia Flyers are second at $50 million.Forwards Theo Fleury, Valeri Kamensky and Tim Taylor, defensemen Stephane Quintal and Sylvain Lefebvre and goal-tender attracted to a losing organization many more millions than any other club chose to bid. Now, a month into a season in which the Rangers will need every point to squeeze into the playoffs, motivation is an issue. Well, duh.You can argue that these earning their money. Or, like me, wonder just how productive they still are, while questioning the judgement of the GM and his moneybags upstairs in bringing in so many past-their-prime mercenaries to re-energize an already-aged roster.A career overachiever such as Fleury undoubtedly is trying to get himself going, but it is hard not to believe that a guy who a year ago-as a prospective unrestricted free agent-was dismissive of coming to New York for lifestyle reasons isn't wondering why he came.Maybe Fleury needs time, or a top center, but a poorly planned team has neither to offer him. The Rangers&rsquo; first line center, Petr Nedved, is a second line center. Another scoring center was left out of the budget, which means the Rangers are going to have to try to package some of their few player such as Doug Weight, Keith Primeau or Alexei Yashin.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021210/7817317-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="856" height="1513"><figcaption class="caption-body">ls Peter Nedved cut out for the No. 1 center&rsquo;s role in New York, or is he really just a second line pivot? (Jim Leary/BBS)</figcaption></div>We understand the need to be presentable are trying to patch while young players ported Nedved and made more sense of these latest signings retired in April, a year before he had to, because he was made to feel unwelcome. Never mind the insincere praise and regret the Rangers heaped upon Wayne Gretzky as the door was held wide open for him. The Sensitive One didn&rsquo;t want this to get ugly.Meanwhile, Pavel Bure, the 28-year-old de-facto free agent who really wanted to come to New York and to give the Vancouver Canucks Malhotra, a kid well into a second season without ice time, being used as only an ornament of a youth movement that does not yet exist.Smith signed Taylor for the job that Malhotra is supposed to grow into. Absolutely the best move the GM has made since trading for Mark Messier in 1990 was the acquisition of Harvey from the Dallas Stars for Brian Skrudland and Mike Keane. But Harvey has been moved around as a lineup fill-in after Fleury, 31, and John MacLean, 34.After years of appearing to know only players who used to play well, Smith made the kind of move that builds contenders, trading up for Brendl. Brendl showed up out of shape, which at 18 isn&rsquo;t as scary as what appeared at camp to be a skating deficiency.If Brendl can&rsquo;t play, whatever credibility Smith had is gone. He never really should have had much, considering the organization&rsquo;s two best assets, Brian Leetch and Mike Richter, pre-dated the GM&rsquo;s arrival. It doesn&rsquo;t take deep analysis to understand the 1994 Stanley Cup team was built on Edmonton&rsquo;s financial problems and Garden moneybags, more than any great managerial foresight.Since then, the graph shows a steady decline, with Smith, his background whine often delivered at frequencies not heard by the public, blaming the win-now mentality of the market, coaches and some of the team&rsquo;s best and most sincere players. Everybody but himself. &#9632;

f0007-01

COLUMNS

Expensive Rangers poorly constructed

<div class="byline">By Mike Gibb Staff Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011900/7817362-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sami Kapanen is supplying Carolina with a much-needed offensive lift.</figcaption></div>Sami Kapanen has performed CPR on the Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; offense, helping resuscitate the franchise&rsquo;s scoring savvy.The Canes&rsquo; gasping offense needed someone to breathe life into it after managing just 210 goals in 1998-99 (15th in NHL) and then losing more than 25 per cent of its punch in the form of still-unsigned restricted free agent Keith Primeau (30 goals) and unrestricted free agent Ray Sheppard (25).Their absence meant Carolina coach Paul Maurice had to shuffle the lines, so he teamed Kapanen, a talented right winger, with veteran center Ron Francis and unproven left winger Bates Battaglia during training camp.The result?A dynamic No. 1 line. The blend of Kapanen&rsquo;s skill, Francis&rsquo; experience and Battaglia&rsquo;s enthusiasm has produced one of the most effective units in the NHL through the first month of the season.Kapanen, who had played mostly with Primeau the past two seasons, has prospered with Francis as his middleman.&ldquo;I think one of the things that is happening is (Kapanen) is rounding out his game,&rdquo; Maurice said. &ldquo;Playing with a guy like Keith, it&rsquo;s one type of game, but playing with a guy like Ronnie, it&rsquo;s a different game.&ldquo;(Kapanen) is being relied upon as a shooter. He knows he has to put some pucks in the net for this team and I think he has benefitted from that.&rdquo;Kapanen once wondered if he would ever play in the NHL. A native of Vantaa, Fin., he spent five seasons in the Finnish Elite League before being drafted as a 22-year-old by the then-Hartford Whalers in the fourth round (87th overall) of the 1995 entry draft.&ldquo;There were times I doubted if I would make the NHL,&rdquo; Kapanen said. &ldquo;I had a couple good seasons before I got drafted. I thought I was doing pret ty well. Usually a month before the draft, people would come to me and say they had heard this and that about me being drafted.&ldquo;Then every time after the draft, when I checked the papers and saw I wasn&rsquo;t drafted, I would say, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m going to show they&rsquo;re wrong.&rsquo; There will always be something to prove for me.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021427/7817355-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="885" height="1629"><figcaption class="caption-body">(All photos John Giamundo/BBS)</figcaption></div>The 5-foot-10, 170-pounder is building a solid case for himself.His great start to the 1999-2000 season placed him eighth in league scoring with 13 points-including seven goals-in Carolina&rsquo;s first nine games and Kapanen was an NHL-best plus-11, tied with Francis.It took a while for the NHL to discover Kapanen, but he couldn&rsquo;t have found a better fit than with the Canes.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have a lot of depth in our organization,&rdquo; said Carolina GM Jimmy Rutherford about the state of the team heading into the 1995 draft. &ldquo;We needed a player who could come in, so we drafted an older guy (Kapanen) we felt could play.&ldquo;He has come into his own. He can be an elite scorer, the potential is there, without question.&rdquo;No question about Kapanen&rsquo;s heart, either. Despite suffering a frightening injury-which sidelined him for almost three months-at his first NHL training camp in Sept., 1995, his high-speed approach remains intact.The injury occurred during a scrimmage when he lost an edge on his skate. As he was sliding across the ice, former Hartford defenseman Gerald Diduck accidentally slammed into him and Diduck&rsquo;s knee smashed into Kapanen&rsquo;s face, giving the Finn a concussion and blood bubbles on his neck and spine.When Kapanen joined Carolina after the injury, he impressed Maurice with his skilled-and gutsy-play. In fact, besides being Carolina&rsquo;s best skater, Maurice said Kapanen has been, at times, the team&rsquo;s most physical player.&ldquo;The thing I noticed about him (after the injury) was he showed no fear out on the ice,&rdquo; Maurice said. &ldquo;That was also a detriment because he&rsquo;s not physically big enough to do that.&rdquo;But his game is plenty big.&ldquo;If he doesn&rsquo;t improve one bit from today, he&rsquo;s going to be a very good player in the NHL,&rdquo; Maurice said. &ldquo;Do we expect him to improve? Absolutely. We&rsquo;ve got a good young player here and we expect him to be good for a long time.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s clear if the Canes are to successfully defend their Southeast Division title, the brunt of the offensive responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of Kapanen and his linemates.Kapanen deflects any questions about being under pressure to perform, but his true feelings surface on occasion.&ldquo;I think I am better when I push myself, when I know the team is expecting me to score,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;(But) it&rsquo;s not just a matter of one or two players stepping up, we have to do it as a team. &#9632;

f0008-01

Kapanen comes to Canes’ rescue

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy Senior Writer</div>Sitting in his stall in the visitor&rsquo;s room at Toronto&rsquo;s Air Canada Centre, Florida Panthers&rsquo; is the picture of contentment.A few years ago, had he been told he wouldn&rsquo;t be starting, his stomach might have churned for fear over job been told he was getting the start, it might have set game day ritual that drove him loss. Then again, had he off a and others to distraction.On this day, though, the soft-spoken 27-year-old with his shoulder-length hair and goatee talks only about being comfortable with himself and his situation. It has been a gradual evolvement.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a lot more relaxed these days,&rdquo; Kidd says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve dropped a lot of superstitions. If I didn&rsquo;t get three hours sleep in the afternoon on game day or the bus was 10 minutes late arriving at the rink, I&rsquo;d think the first three shots I faced were going in. Now I just take things as they are.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011773/7817393-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="550" height="729"><figcaption class="caption-body">Trevor Kidd (Andre Pichette/BBS)</figcaption></div>And perhaps with his new attitude, the goalie who was the Calgary Flames&rsquo; first pick (11th overall) in the 1990 entry draft, will finally emerge as the star he was projected to be.It has been a rollercoaster ride for Kidd, whose seven-year career has included stops in Calgary, Carolina and now Florida. (The Atlanta Thrashers selected him in the expansion draft, but traded him to Florida for defenseman Gord Murphy, two minor leaguers and a draft pick).Kidd put together a strong season for the Hurricanes in 1997-98 (he was 21-21-3, with a career-best 2.17 goals-against average), but the club failed to make the playoffs and management signed free agent Arturs Irbe who came in and stole the starter&rsquo;s job.Instead of whining about his displacement, Kidd quietly played out the season-just 25 games played after four straight seasons of 43 games-knowing the Hurricanes weren&rsquo;t going to protect him in the expansion draft. Atlanta drafted him with the intention of trading him for other assets.While the Panthers may be Pavel Bure&rsquo;s team, somebody still has to season, Kidd has been the man. When partner Sean Burke sustained a concussion early in the season, Kidd stepped up the plate. He was 5-1-1 with a 2.11 make saves. And so far this goals-against average and .921 percentage.The Panthers signed Kidd to a four-year deal for $8.4 million that runs through 2002-03.&ldquo;We needed to get an NHL goalie said Florida and Trevor fit the bill,&rdquo; coach Terry Murray. &ldquo;In today&rsquo;s game, unless you have a Dominik Hasek, you need two goalies who you feel are confident can do the job.&rdquo;For Kidd and Burke, it is their third tour of duty together. They played for in 1991-92 and again with the Hurricanes in 1997-98. Burke said he is impressed with the strides Kidd has made.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s definitely relaxed Burke said. &ldquo;He seems very comfortable with where he&rsquo;s at in his career.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-01

Grown-up Kidd eases into new comfort zone

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011868/7817431-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="372" height="517"></div>Impertinent thoughts on pertinent subjects:&#10063; The two worst moves by the Buffalo Sabres since the finaling about the Dallas Stars&rsquo; Cup-winning goal; 2. Dominik Hasek&rsquo;s retirement announcement. Conclusions: 1. Buffalo protested too much; 2. &lsquo;The Dominator&rsquo; retired too soon.&#10063; Four-on-four hockey works so well in overtime it should be adopted for regulation time, too-and will, by the year 2005.&#10063; We&rsquo;ve never met a more dedicated hockey player than Matt Cullen of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.&#10063; Philadelphia&rsquo;s Roger Neilson is getting close to tying Paul Maurice&rsquo;s record for surviving &ldquo;firings&rdquo; by the media.&#10063; A neat idea that won&rsquo;t happen for 10 years: Merging of the American and International Leagues into one super developmental league to serve all NHL clubs.&#10063; The Hall of Fame should get on with it and honor Don Cherry with the media award for one very good reason: He belongs.&#10063; Talk about following tough acts with grace and skill, how about a standing ovation for so adroitly succeeding Rick Dudley?&#10063; Whoever thinks no superstar exists who can sell hockey as well as Wayne Gretzky hasn&rsquo;t talked to Teemu Selanne.&#10063; George McPhee emerged from his pension with even greater support from everyone-his bosses, his players, his fellow GMs-except the Chicago Blackhawks.&#10063; You figure it. The NHL desperately tries to curb fight replays on TV, but endorses video games that include enhanced fisticuff sequences.&#10063; Why, if the shootout brings everyone to their feet at every IHL game, does the suddenly radical NHL not sus even give it a second thought?&#10063; The United League&rsquo;s Quad City Mallards, which sells out The MARK in Moline, Ill., almost every home game, has to be one of the most amazing minor league towns on ice.&#10063; Delay of game applies to goaltenders, too. So why do referees never penalize netminders when they deliberately freeze the puck to get a breather?&#10063; Who&rsquo;s the genius-Bobby Smith for hiring Bobby Francis, or Bobby Francis for being Bobby Francis?&#10063; By far the biggest marketing mistake ever made by the NHL has been its continuous failure to give more value to regular season games.&#10063; How about the Minnesota Wild? They won&rsquo;t be playing until 2000-01, yet the club already has a media guide.&#10063; In answer to the tune, &ldquo;How Can I Miss You If You Don&rsquo;t Go Away,&rdquo; I miss the following: 1. Bernie Nicholls as a player and an interview; 2. Mike Gartner as a player and a class act; 3. Al lafrate as Planet lafrate; 4. Charlie Bourgeois as Doug MacLean&rsquo;s favorite Maritimer-and mine; 5. Mark Messier as a Ranger; 6. Tom McVie, as the funniest, most hockey-loving son of a gun this side of The Talking Zamboni.&#10063; It&rsquo;s heartening to know The Hockey News is reviving my decade-old idea for a defensive defenseman&rsquo;s trophy. The only problem is it should be named after Bill Quackenbush (Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins), the best pure defensive defenseman who ever caught our eye. THN suggested it be named after Rod Langway.&#10063; My early choice for the Calder Trophy: Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; right winger Peter Schaefer.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021361/7817424-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="928" height="1265"><figcaption class="caption-body">Anaheim&rsquo;s Matt Cullen earns high marks for dedication. (Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-01

4-on-4 answer for entire games

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy Senior Writer</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1696/7817483-1-eng-US/f0012-162.jpg" title="f0012-16" width="361" height="522"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-15106/7817476-1-eng-US/f0012-152.jpg" title="f0012-15" width="2388" height="1891"><figcaption class="caption-body">New Lightning coach Steve Ludzik has gone back to the drawing board in an attempt to turn around a losing tradition in Tampa Bay.</figcaption></div>To everything, there is a reason.That&rsquo;s not exactly Steve Ludzik&rsquo;s motto, but it describes the way he lives his life. There is no flying by the seat of his pants; his career has been carefully charted. And though he has realized his goal of becoming an NHL coach, the Tampa Bay Lightning bench boss knows he has some road left ahead of him.So the fact he is among the NHL&rsquo;s lowest-paid coaches means very little to him. Making it back to the NHL-he played nine seasons as a center with the Chicago Blackhawks and Buffalo Sabres-is just the beginning. Building a reputation as a winner is his priority. As such, he&rsquo;s thankful for the opportunity to coach in the NHL at any price.And contrary to the notion that teams are going with green coaches as a way of saving greenbacks, Ludzik feels he belongs-or at least deserves the chance to prove he belongs.&ldquo;I read a while ago where Mike Keenan said teams are going with inexperienced coaches just to save money," Ludzik said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really think that&rsquo;s fair to coaches who are trying to make it to the NHL. How do we get our foot through the door?&rdquo;Hurt feelings aside, there is some truth to Keenan&rsquo;s statement. Still, it&rsquo;s nice to see some newcomers-many of whom have paid their dues in the minors-get a chance. And keep in mind, Philadelphia Flyers GM Bob Clarke gave a young Mike Keenan the opportunity to coach in Philadelphia many years ago and Keenan took the puck and ran with it.With team payrolls sky-rocketing, ownership has identified coaches, especially those at the entry level, as one area to hold down costs.There were a number of experienced coaches looking for work last summer, including Keenan, Jim Schoenfeld and Ted Nolan, but their salary expectations are much higher than aspiring rookies.Of the league&rsquo;s seven new coaches (including Chicago&rsquo;s Lome Molleken, who took over as interim coach last season when Dirk Graham was fired), five are paid $400,000. One makes $450,000 and another $475,000.&ldquo;When you sign your first deal, you have to be conscious of the so-called coaches&rsquo; fraternity and you have to be careful you don&rsquo;t lowball and give somebody else the opportunity to use your salary to keep another coach&rsquo;s salary down,&rdquo; said Bobby Francis, in his first year guiding the Phoenix Coyotes. &ldquo;At the same time, when you look at what (entry level) coaches are getting now, it wasn&rsquo;t too long ago that those numbers were good for veteran coaches.&rdquo;The average salary for coaches this season is $615,000, up from $593,000 a year ago.When The Hockey News began charting coaches&rsquo; salaries three years ago, the average was $386,000 and the entry level was closer to the $250,000 range.In 1996-97, Jacques Lemaire of the New Jersey Devils was the NHL&rsquo;s highest-paid coach at $750,000. Now four coaches-Pat Quinn of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Scotty Bowman of the Detroit Red Wings, John Muckier of the New York Rangers and Marc Crawford of the Vancouver Canucks-earn $1 million or more. And at least four others will earn $800,000 or more. It should be noted Quinn&rsquo;s salary called for him to earn an average of $1.1 million a season as coach, but it was increased by $400,000 a year when he was named GM of the - Leafs last summer.Of the league&rsquo;s 28 coaches, only the Devils&rsquo; Robbie Ftorek&rsquo;s salary remains a mystery. Ftorek, who does not support salary disclosure, is thought to be earning in the neighborhood of $700,000 to $800,000.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011669/7817469-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="2394" height="2182"><figcaption class="caption-body">Calgary coach Brian Sutter is in the final year of his contract</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021162/7817462-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="1344" height="589"></div>It should also be noted what you see isn&rsquo;t necessarily what a coach is getting. For instance, Brian Sutter of the Calgary Flames is paid the seemingly low salary-given his considerable experience-of $357,500. But he also received a large signing bonus that, when coupled with his salary, puts him more in line with other veteran coaches. And Craig Hartsburg of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim settled for less money when he signed his contract prior to last season because he received a large buyout from the Blackhawks, who fired him the year before.For Ludzik and the other newcomers, money is important, but it&rsquo;s not what drives them. Success does.When Ludzik retired as a player, he wasted little time in getting into coaching.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to be one of those guys who sat around for a few years trying to decide what I was going to do with the rest of my life,&rdquo; he said.He coached Muskegon of the Colonial League for two years and spent the past three seasons with the Detroit Vipers of the International League. The Vipers won the Turner Cup in 1997 and made it to the final the following season. Ludzik&rsquo;s .695 winning percentage the past three years is the highest in IHL history.When Vipers&rsquo; owner Bill Davidson purchased the Lightning last year, it was only a matter of time before he hired Ludzik as his coach. It happened after ex-Vipers&rsquo; GM Rick Dudley was lured away from the Ottawa Senators during the summer.The Lightning have made the playoffs just once in their seven years of existence and that was four seasons ago-1995-96. Tampa has become the butt of many jokes about inept ownership and management.Ludzik hopes to be part of the management team that changes all that. And he knows to do that, discipline must be instilled.Most new coaches tell their players they have heard bad things about some individuals, but Ludzik is prepared to let each Bolt make his own impression.&ldquo;I told them I had heard bad things about some of them and it was up to them to prove those things wrong,&rdquo; he said.Ludzik has undeniable panache, from his slicked-back hair to the vests he sports to the two-tone gangster-style shoes he wears for games. He makes a statement when he slips in behind the bench and that&rsquo;s important to him.&ldquo;I'm not normally a very flashy dresser,&rdquo; Ludzik said. &ldquo;Putting a fancy suit on me is like putting earrings on a pig. The point I try to make is this: I tell my players to be prepared for the game and they can look at me and know I&rsquo;m prepared.&rdquo;And Ludzik makes a statement when he gathers his team, be it behind closed doors for instruction or video session or on the ice for one of his high-paced practices. His systems are complicated and players are tested on them periodically. He is not one for small talk and he is a firm believer in keeping practices as close to game situations as possible.&ldquo;I hate when players just stand around,&rdquo; said Ludzik, who posts his practice itinerary on the glass surrounding the rink for all his players to see in advance.&ldquo;He has his system and all the drills are geared toward that system,&rdquo; said Lightning left winger Shawn Burr.Ludzik holds two-star, and four-star practices. Four-star practices two-star practices about an hour and 10 minutes, but will Christmas. There are no water breaks.&ldquo;They are definitely the fastest-paced former Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; winger Fredrik Modin, who was traded to Tampa Bay early this season.&ldquo;His practices are right to the point,&rdquo; said Lightning forward Stan Drulia, who was with the Vipers the past three years. &ldquo;He has a name for everything and he uses terminology that, if you&rsquo;re not used to it, is hard to understand. Like, he&rsquo;ll say, &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s do the Boom-Boom.&rsquo; Me, (center) Dan Kesa and (defenseman) Ian Herbers have played for him before, so we know what he&rsquo;s up to. Other guys will look at us like, &lsquo;What&rsquo;s he talking about?&rdquo;Whether Ludzik&rsquo;s philosophies will translate into success in the NHL remains to be seen. The Lightning opened the season 2-6-1-1 under his guidance.&ldquo;No matter what players are being paid, today&rsquo;s athletes still want to win," Ludzik said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve told the guys this is a great opportunity for them. Nobody expects anything from this team, so we have a chance to sneak up on people. To do that we have to be committed to learning and working hard.&rdquo;And if all goes well, Ludzik won&rsquo;t be stuck at the bottom end of the coaches pay scale for too long. &#9632;

f0012-16

Ludzik: Style & Substance

All figures are U.S. dollars. Canadian-dollar contracts have been converted to U.S. dollars at an exchange rate of .65. This season&rsquo;s salaries are bolded and remaining contract years are listed. Some annual salaries represent averages of the entire contract. Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; Pat Quinn is the only coach-GM.<h2>1. Pat Quinn $1.5 million</h2>Toronto Maple Leafs2000-01: $1.5 million2001-02: $1.5 million<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011822/7817703-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="160" height="187"></div><h2>2. Scotty Bowman $1 million</h2>Detroit Red Wings<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021439/7817696-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="160" height="186"></div><h2>- John Muckier $1 million</h2>New York Rangers2000-01 $1 million<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03932/7817689-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="160" height="187"></div><h2>- Marc Crawford $1 million</h2>Vancouver Canucks2000-01: $1 million<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04549/7817682-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="160" height="181"></div><h2>5. Pat Burns $850,000</h2>Boston Bruins2000-01: $950,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05395/7817675-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="166" height="181"></div><h2>- Terry Murray $850,000</h2>Florida Panthers2000-01: $900,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-06321/7817668-1-eng-US/f0012-062.jpg" title="f0012-06" width="163" height="183"></div><h2>7. Darryl Butter $825,000</h2>San Jose Sharks<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-07274/7817661-1-eng-US/f0012-072.jpg" title="f0012-07" width="163" height="184"></div><h2>8. Ken Hitchcock $800,000</h2>Dallas Stars2000-01: $900,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-08231/7817654-1-eng-US/f0012-082.jpg" title="f0012-08" width="151" height="184"></div><h2>- Joel Quenneville $800,000</h2>St. Louis Blues2000-01: $900,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-09188/7817647-1-eng-US/f0012-092.jpg" title="f0012-09" width="157" height="181"></div><h2>10. Ron Wilson $750,000</h2>Washington Capitals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-10170/7817640-1-eng-US/f0012-102.jpg" title="f0012-10" width="157" height="187"></div><h2>11. Roger Neilson $650,000</h2>Philadelphia Flyers<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-11158/7817633-1-eng-US/f0012-112.jpg" title="f0012-11" width="157" height="188"></div><h2>12. Alain Vigneault $585,000</h2>Montreal Canadiens2000-01: $585,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-12137/7817626-1-eng-US/f0012-122.jpg" title="f0012-12" width="157" height="184"></div><h2>13. Jacques Martin $487,500</h2>Ottawa Senators2000-01: $552,500<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-13123/7817619-1-eng-US/f0012-132.jpg" title="f0012-13" width="157" height="184"></div><h2>14. Kevin Lowe $475,000</h2>Edmonton Oilers2000-01: $600,0002001-02: $600,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-14114/7817612-1-eng-US/f0012-142.jpg" title="f0012-14" width="154" height="184"></div><h2>15. Andy Murray $450,000</h2>Los Angeles Kings2000-01: $500,0002001-02: $550,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03853/7817605-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="160" height="181"></div><h2>16. Kevin Constantine $400,000</h2>Pittsburgh Penguins2000-01: $400,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04712/7817598-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="157" height="184"></div><h2>- Bobby Francis $400,000</h2>Phoenix Coyotes2000-01: $425,0002001-02: $450,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-05566/7817591-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg" title="f0013-05" width="160" height="178"></div><h2>- Curt Fraser $400,000</h2>Atlanta Thrashers2000-01: $425,0002001-02: $450,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-06471/7817584-1-eng-US/f0013-062.jpg" title="f0013-06" width="151" height="182"></div><h2>- Butch Goring $400,000</h2>New York Islanders2000-01: $400,0002001-02: $500,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-07430/7817577-1-eng-US/f0013-072.jpg" title="f0013-07" width="157" height="181"></div><h2>- Steve Ludzik $400,000</h2>Tampa Bay Lightning2000-01: $425,0002001-02: $450,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-08399/7817570-1-eng-US/f0013-082.jpg" title="f0013-08" width="151" height="177"></div><h2>- Paul Maurice $400,000</h2>Carolina Hurricanes2000-01: $450,0002001-02: $450,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-09371/7817563-1-eng-US/f0013-092.jpg" title="f0013-09" width="151" height="181"></div><h2>- Lome Molleken $400,000</h2>Chicago Blackhawks2000-01: $425,0002001-02: $450,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-10348/7817556-1-eng-US/f0013-102.jpg" title="f0013-10" width="157" height="184"></div><h2>23. Craig Hartsburg $375,000</h2>Mighty Ducks of Anaheim2000-01: $400,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-11318/7817549-1-eng-US/f0013-112.jpg" title="f0013-11" width="160" height="178"></div><h2>- Bob Hartley $375,000</h2>Colorado Avalanche20O0-01:$400,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-12280/7817542-1-eng-US/f0013-122.jpg" title="f0013-12" width="156" height="181"></div><h2>25. Brian Sutter $357,500</h2>Calgary Flames<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-13240/7817535-1-eng-US/f0013-132.jpg" title="f0013-13" width="157" height="178"></div><h2>26. Lindy Ruff $345,000</h2>Buffalo Sabres2000-01: $700,0002001-02: $700,0002002-03: $700,000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-14207/7817528-1-eng-US/f0013-142.jpg" title="f0013-14" width="154" height="176"></div><h2>27. Barry Trotz $325,000</h2>Nashville Predators2000-01: $350.000<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-15172/7817521-1-eng-US/f0013-152.jpg" title="f0013-15" width="160" height="178"></div><h2>Robbie Ftorek</h2>New Jersey Devils THN wasn&rsquo;t able to corroborate reports of the length or value of Ftorek&rsquo;s contract.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-16130/7817514-1-eng-US/f0013-162.jpg" title="f0013-16" width="155" height="185"></div> &#9632;

f0012-01

1999-2000 NHL COACHES’ $ALARIE$

<div class="byline">By Mike Gibb Statt Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011812/7817748-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Bobby Hull THN archives; Brett Hull by Claus Andersen/BBS)</figcaption></div>They are two of the most dynamic goal-scorers ever, already linked by blood, soon to be linked by legacy.But they are polar opposites.Bobby Hull was fast and overwhelming, the consummate power forward and possessor of the most feared shot in hockey history. Brett Hull is deceptive and cunning, using a knack for being in the right place at the right time along with his own heavy shot to close in on a legend-his father.Brett has spent the majority of his life proudly wearing the tag &lsquo;Bobby Hull&rsquo;s son.&rsquo;And while it has been years since he came into his own as a hockey player, the closer Brett gets to surpassing Bobby in NHL career goals, he once again becomes his father&rsquo;s son.&ldquo;Twenty-one (to go), but who&rsquo;s counting?&rdquo; smiled Brett at Air Canada Centre in Toronto Oct. 25, three days after scoring career goal No. 589.&ldquo;To have a chance to get up there with my dad, who just happens to be a legend of the game, it&rsquo;s hard to describe the feelings. I don&rsquo;t want to sound like it doesn&rsquo;t mean anything because it does. I just don&rsquo;t want to disrespect the people that are ahead of me."The combined Hull legacy will be that of an two generations, with surgeon-like accuracy. overpowering shot, terrorizing goaltenders over Beyond their golden goal-scoring touch, however, father and son share little in their on-ice approach.&ldquo;They have totally different styles, but the shot is the same,&rdquo; said Al Arbour, the former New York Islanders&rsquo; coach who played against Bobby. &ldquo;Bobby could really fire it and so (can) Brett. When Bobby used to fire, everybody ducked.&ldquo;But that&rsquo;s it between them. Bobby would fly off the wing, while Brett is more deliberate. You knew when Bobby was on the ice. You wouldn&rsquo;t notice Brett until he put the puck in the net. They played different games, but the end result was the same.&rdquo;Brett remains in awe of his astronomical goal total, but will forever be in open-mouthed wonder of his namesake&rsquo;s ability and attitude towards the game of hockey.&ldquo;Boy, he could skate,&rdquo; said the Dallas Stars&rsquo; right winger. &ldquo;He was so strong and fast and powerful. I just try to mope around out there and get open where no one can see me.&ldquo;He is a better hockey player, there&rsquo;s no question about it. Goals have nothing to do with it. I think he loved the game more than me. I like to play the game, but I don&rsquo;t love the game.&rdquo;Bobby, the highest-scoring left winger in NHL history and No. 8 on The Hockey News&rsquo; list of the Top 100 NHL players of all-time, was the first player to surpass 50 goals in a season, when he scored 54 in 1965-66. He captured the Hart Trophy twice, in 1965 and goals on seven occasions-more than other player in history-and was 12-time all-star. His the NHL&rsquo;s all-time list.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;Brett could kill you with a lot of different shots. Bobby would just blow it by you.</blockquote>Brett, No. 64 Trophy and led the NHL in three consecutive seasons, from goals in third-highest and Gretzky total.&ldquo;I thought Bobby Hull had the most devastating shot of anyone ever,&rdquo; Calgary Flames&rsquo; of hockey against Bobby.&ldquo;When you ask who&rsquo;s a better goal-scorer, Brett scored (86) goals,&rdquo; added MacNeil, also one of the men responsible for drafting than that.&ldquo;But if you to take one of the take Bobby for the marketing end of it. He was Hollywood. He would sell your game where efficient and smart player who put up incredible numbers. The result is still the same.&rdquo;When Brett passes Bobby, which, barring injury, should happen this season, it will be a huge accomplishment. But Brett, who&rsquo;s under contract through next season with a team option for 2001-02, won&rsquo;t retire after he scores No. 611.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a goal, but it&rsquo;s certainly an achievement,&rdquo; Brett said about catching his dad. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;m proud of and feel privileged to have the chance to do.&rdquo;The Hull race to 610 goals was first accomplished by Bobby, of course, but Brett will do it faster. It took 1,063 games for the elder Hull to record 610 NHL goals (.574 goals per game), while Brett has scored 589 times in 872 games (.675). Brett&rsquo;s average is the third-highest of anyone in the top 100 career goal leaders, trailing only Mario Lemieux (.823) and Mike Bossy (.762).&ldquo;I would say there is nobody who has scored more bad goals than Brett,&rdquo; said Andy Moog, the goaltending consultant for the Vancouver Canucks and part-owner of the Western Pro League&rsquo;s Fort Worth Brahmas. &ldquo;A bad goal is one scored in the middle of the net, half-hard. The reason he scores those goals is goalies see Brett Hull and in to stop him. release and the and the goalie beats himself.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011654/7817741-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="858" height="1353"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brett Hull will be proud to pass Bobby in but concedes his dad was a better player. (Bruce Bennett Studios)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;The ultimate challenge as far as facing Brett was be patient. I had io hold on as long as I could and force him to make a great shot. And you know what, he would.&rdquo;Brett has profited from his dad spending seasons in the only did Bobby sign a million-dollar provided well for his family, in Bobby would scored at least NHL (he started playing in WHA) and Brett catch dear old dad.&ldquo;Brett could kill with a lot shots, Bobby would just blow and is now the assistant GM of the "Brett could do a lot more things with the puck. once he came over the red line, he became a threat. could beat you like nothing.&rdquo;Both Hulls are 5-feet-10 and Brett&rsquo;s playing weight of 201 pounds is about eight more than Bobby&rsquo;s. But Bobby&rsquo;s game is remembered as always being played like he was on fast-forward, while Brett&rsquo;s game seems to unfold in slow motion.&ldquo;He was so graceful,&rdquo; Brett said of his father. &ldquo;I was never given that. I&rsquo;ve got a 29-inch inseam. That&rsquo;s not conducive to speed.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s weird how you can do the things in the game and be successful playing a different style. I think lacking speed helped me be a better goal-scorer because people with speed are usually creating the play and not finishing.&rdquo;The Hulls are the best father-son combination ever to play in the NHL. They are the only father-son pair ranked in THN&rsquo;s Top 100 and only the Howes (Gordie and Mark) are in the same arena.Brett will join his dad in the Hall of Fame three years after he retires, which, Brett jokes, won&rsquo;t happen as long as they keep paying him to play hockey. And after years of trying to separate himself from his father&rsquo;s achievements, Brett will find himself linked to Bobby again.<h2>BRETT VS. BOBBY</h2>When Brett Hull hangs up his skates, he will have scored more NHL goals than his legendary father, Hull. But with 12 all-star selections brag about his youth. career numbers for father and son.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021170/7817734-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="552" height="653"></div> &#9632;

f0014-01

Honor thy father

<div class="byline">By Cammy Clark</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011602/7817779-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="156" height="153"></div>Mighty Ducks of Anaheim defenseman Ruslan Salei has served his time for his shove that sent Dallas Stars&rsquo; center Mike Modano crashing head-first into the end boards.When Salei&rsquo;s 10-game suspension ended Oct. 29. he returned to the Ducks&rsquo; lineup, trying to forget all the horrible things he read about himself and play the same hard-nosed hockey that got him to the NHL in the first place.&ldquo;1 know a lot of people did not even see the play, but write I&rsquo;m a criminal and trying to kill this guy,&rdquo; Salei said. &ldquo;But I was not trying to hurt anybody. It really was a bad accident.&rdquo;But Salei&rsquo;s shove, more reckless than vicious, was viewed harshly because of his previous two suspensions. Two years ago, he was suspended two games for head-butting Chicago Blackhawks' right winger Sergei Krivokrasov. Last year, he was suspended five games and fined about $27,000 for slew-footing Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; forward Daniel Briere.Salei, 24, knows he returns with a reputation as a thug, the guy who almost put Modano in a wheelchair.The Minsk, Rus., native said he loves to get under the skin of opponents, but he wants to be known as a solid all-around player who competes hard, not one who intentionally hurts people.Last season, Salei led all Ducks&rsquo; defensemen in ice time, averaging 22:06, and his 65 penalty minutes was eighth on the team and 81st among NHL blueliners.Said Ducks&rsquo; captain Paul Kariya: &ldquo;Rusty&rsquo;s a physical presence out there and we missed that. Sometimes when you&rsquo;re walking that tightrope thing, it&rsquo;s difficult. When you play an aggressive game, you&rsquo;re not going to be the most popular guy on the ice.&rdquo;Ducks&rsquo; coach Craig Hartsburg has backed Salei throughout the ordeal.&ldquo;Rusty can&rsquo;t be concerned with all the stuff that&rsquo;s been talked about,&rdquo; Hartsburg said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good player and he&rsquo;s got to play hard and be good defensively. That&rsquo;s what he does best.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Anaheim traded center Ted Drury to the New York Islanders for center Tony Hrkac and defenseman Dean Malkoc Oct. 29. Hrkac will report to Anaheim while Malkoc will stay with Chicago (International League)&hellip; Anaheim right winger Teemu Selanne missed a penalty shot against Pittsburgh Oct. 27. But when he got a breakaway in overtime of the same contest, he lifted a perfect shot past goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin for the game-winner in a 2-1 victory. Teemu isn&rsquo;t going to miss two of those in a row,&rdquo; said Anaheim coach Craig Hartsburg. &ldquo;If there is anyone we want in that position in that point of the game, it&rsquo;s Teemu. He&rsquo;s a natural goal-scorer.&rdquo; With the goal, Selanne tied left winger Paul Kariya for most career goals by a Duck with 171. Kariya has played in 313 games, Selanne in 265&hellip;Anaheim defenseman Fredrik Olausson notched his 400th career assist on right winger Marty McInnis' goal in the overtime win against Pittsburgh. &#9632;

f0016-01

Salei rides out 10-game suspension, doesn’t worry about ‘criminal’ label

<div class="byline">By Jeff Schultz</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021242/7817810-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="152" height="151"></div>A few numbers convinced Atlanta ' Thrashers&rsquo; coach Curt Fraser to alter his original plans of giving his players a day off following back-to-back games.No. 7: The number of times the Thrashers scored two or fewer goals in their first nine games.No. 5: The total number of goals scored in a span of four games against the New York Rangers (4-1 loss Oct. 17), Colorado Avalanche (3-2 overtime loss Oct. 23), Calgary Flames (2-1 win Oct. 26) and Toronto Maple Leafs (4-0 loss Oct. 27).No. 3: The combined number of shots by Atlanta in the final period of the win over Calgary and in the first period against Toronto. Despite being outshot 30-3 in those two periods, goalie Damian Rhodes held the opposition scoreless.&ldquo;I thought it was important to come out here,&rdquo; said Fraser after taking his players through a workout the day after the loss to the Leafs. &ldquo;I thought it would invigorate them a little instead of having them go home and sitting and thinking about last night&rsquo;s game.&rdquo;The loss to Toronto, which dropped Atlanta to 2-5-2, was the expansion team&rsquo;s worst showing in nine games, even a step below the 7-1 loss to Detroit in their second game Oct. 7. Atlanta had difficulty getting out of its own end from the opening faceoff. Fraser didn&rsquo;t like what he saw, though he denied the practice the day after the Toronto loss was some sort of punishment.&ldquo;They know what they did, believe me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Nobody feels worse than the guys who made the mistakes.&rdquo;Said center Mike Stapleton: &ldquo;I just don&rsquo;t think we were mentally ready to play and it showed. When you&rsquo;re a step behind a team like (Toronto), it shows two-fold compared to another team.&rdquo;Changes could come soon. Expect left winger Jason Botterill (four goals, seven points in seven games) to be the first call-up from the Thrashers&rsquo; International League affiliate in Orlando.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a team right now that doesn&rsquo;t shoot until we get into a real good spot,&rdquo; Fraser said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to have to start shooting from everywhere.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Atlanta GM Don Waddell has complied with the wishes of right winger Martin Prochazka to not be reassigned to Orlando of the International League. Prochazka will instead be returned to his previous team, Slovnaft Vsetin, in the Czech Republic. Originally signed as a free agent, he had only one assist in three games and was a healthy scratch in four others. &ldquo;If nobody wants me here, what can I do?&rdquo; Prochazka said. &ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s it for me here. I believed I worked hard and played well here. I don&rsquo;t know what the problem was. But I must respect their decision.&rdquo; Prochazka will return to the Czech Republic with his wife and infant son as soon as Waddell can negotiate with agent Rich Winter to remove the team from liability for his $500,000 contract&hellip;Atlanta&rsquo;s first home win came against Calgary, the team that deserted Atlanta in 1980. Several former Atlanta Flames were honored after the first period&hellip;Rookie Patrik Stefan went scoreless in five games after getting five points in the first four. &#9632;

f0016-02

Fraser calls for off-day practice in attempt to stimulate offense

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011479/7817841-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="158" height="154"></div>He may not have received everything he wanted, but Byron Dafoe will get the opportunity to back up his belief that upper echelon of NHL goalies.A Vezina Trophy finalist last season, Dafoe ended a 12-game standoff Oct. 29 by signing a three-year contract after a 40-minute, face-to-face meeting with team GM-president Harry Sinden.Dafoe was scheduled to begin practising Oct. 30 and hoped to be ready to play by Nov. 6, a home game against the Atlanta Thrashers.&ldquo;Holding out is a lonely place to be,&rdquo; Dafoe said. &ldquo;We (he and the Bruins) both extended ourselves more than we initially felt we would, (but) we&rsquo;re both happy. I can honestly say I&rsquo;m happy.&rdquo;Dafoe, coming off back-to-back seasons of 30-plus wins, was believed to have signed for at least $9.5 million, plus some bonus potential, over the life of the pact. For saking the arbitration process after the Bruins came up with a three-year, $9-million offer, Dafoe tried via various bonus clauses to get the potential salary up to about $4 million per season-a level that would put him within or near the top 10 among NHL goalies.Obtained from the Los Angeles Kings in 1997-98, Dafoe has put together two solid seasons in Boston.He went 30-25-9 with the Bruins in 1997-98 and improved leading the NHL with placing second in save percentage (.926).The Bruins held firm during often colorful negotiations. At one point, Sinden referred to agent Ron Salcer&rsquo;s salary requests as &ldquo;a shakedown.&rdquo; Dafoe, took one offer off the replaced it with a smaller one.&ldquo;I was trying to keep patient,&rdquo; Sinden said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re glad that what turned out to be an ordeal for all of us is over.&rdquo;Dafoe became the first Boston goalie since Hall of Famer Frank Brimsek in 1938-39 to record a goals-against average (1.99) below 2.00 last season.NOTEBOOK: Boston salvaged a six-game road trip and avoided becoming the first Bruin team to not win any of its first 10 games-with victories at San Jose and Anaheim Oct. 23 and 24. &ldquo;We didn't play any differently,&rdquo; said coach Pat Burns. &ldquo;We just got some breaks.&rdquo;&hellip; Left winger Dave Andreychuk scored four goals in a 7-3 win over Tampa Bay Oct. 28 giving him 541 in his career and tying him with Stan Mikita for 18th overall. He&rsquo;s now within-20 goals of Maurice Richard, Michel Goulet, Johnny Bucyk and Guy Lafleur. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen a guy who never gives up on a puck like him,&rdquo; said defense man Ray Bourque. &#9632;

f0018-01

Dispute over as Dafoe signs three-year pact with Bruins

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021123/7817872-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="154" height="151"></div>He scores goals about as often as he&rsquo;s criticized for poor play-which is pretty close to never-but veteran defenseman James Patrick always looks to the bright side.And the Buffalo Sabres needed optimism in big doses as they struggled through the first month of the season. They also needed some big goals and Patrick provided one Oct. 27 to give Buffalo a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, just the second win of the campaign for the Sabres.For Patrick, it was his first goal since Feb. 15.&ldquo;(Teammate) Rob Ray and I were talking about goals before the game and I thought, &lsquo;Is (the February goal) going to be the last goal I&rsquo;ll ever score? &rsquo;&rdquo; Patrick said. &ldquo;We were kidding about it, but that thought popped into my head.&rdquo;Patrick, once an offense-minded defenseman for the New York Rangers who also had a stop in Calgary before joining the Sabres as a free agent, was happy to get the goal for two reasons.First, it took away the bitter taste of blowing a two-goal lead against Tampa, and second, it helps erase the thoughts of a near miss in the 1999 Stanley Cup final against the Dallas Stars. Patrick rang one off the crossbar minutes before Stars&rsquo; right winger Brett Hull scored the controversial over-time Cup winner in Game 6 last spring in Buffalo.&ldquo;I was happy to see James get that,&rdquo; said team-mate Curtis Brown of the goal. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a veteran guy and knows we can really feed off something like that. At this point, we don&rsquo;t care who does it, we just need guys stepping up.&rdquo;Perhaps even more importantly, goalie Dominik Hasek got the win. It was Hasek&rsquo;s first of the season and came just days after another poor outing in Ottawa were the Sabres were thumped 4-0 by the Senators.&ldquo;This is not a case where we feel Dom has let us down,&rdquo; Patrick said in defense of his suddenly beleaguered teammate. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not playing well enough to win. That&rsquo;s the bottom Une.&ldquo;We know how much pride he has. We realize all he has done for all of us. We wanted to take the heat off and let him relax and play his game.&rdquo;Except for a stretch of just under five minutes when the Lightning scored all of its goals, Hasek did look sharper against Tampa. He even made one of his now trademark saves with his head, blocking a shot and redirecting it with his helmet up the ice.NOTEBOOK: The return of right winger Brian Holzinger from an inured shoulder meant a demotion for rookie defenseman Brian Campbell to Rochester (American League)&hellip;Coach Lindy Ruff shook up his lines in an effort to create more scoring. Ruff moved winger Dixon Ward off a line with center Michael Peca and right winger Vaclav Varada and put him with center Stu Barnes and Holzinger. He then moved right winger Erik Rasmussen up with Peca and Varada&hellip;Ruff wasn't happy sending the promising Campbell down, but Buffalo was caught in a numbers&rsquo; game and Campbell can move up and down without going through waivers&hellip;Former Buffalo captain Pat LaFontaine returned to the Marine Midland Arena for the first time when he was among several athletes inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. &#9632;

f0018-02

Patrick plays slump-buster as rare goal gives Sabres win

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03802/7817903-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="156" height="154"></div>For Grant Fuhr, it has always been about wins.In a 17-year NHL career that has spanned six stops, Fuhr rarely has posted the gaudiest numbers or rung up a series of individual awards. For Fuhr, the ultimate award has come in the number of wins and championships he recorded.It was that attitude that characterized the 400th win of Fuhr&rsquo;s career, a 3-2 overtime victory over the Florida Panthers Oct. 22.Fuhr became only the sixth goaltender in league history to reach the plateau, after Terry Sawchuk, Jacques Plante, Tony Esposito, Patrick Roy and Glenn Hall. Among the five, only Roy is active and he had 417 career wins through Oct. 28.It is Fuhr&rsquo;s goal to eventually overhaul Sawchuk&rsquo;s NHL record of 447 wins. Ultimately, Fuhr also wants to be the first goaltender to play 1,000 career games. He was at 855 and counting.Reflecting on his career, Fuhr said: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve definitely learned a lot, experienced a lot of things, but there&rsquo;s still more to come. There are still some things I&rsquo;d like to accomplish. (Nobody has) had 450 wins. That&rsquo;s a total I think is reachable. I still think 1.000 games is reachable. My body might not agree, but my mind says 1,000 games is reachable.&rdquo;On the night Fuhr achieved his 400th win. he was making his seventh start of the early season for a team that was slumping badly defensively. The previous start, Fuhr got bombed 7-1 by his former St. Louis Blues&rsquo; teammates. This came after he took some of them out to dinner, in the expectation the coveted victory would be especially sweet against the team that traded him away. It didn&rsquo;t happen.Fuhr kept it close for a while, but his teammates struggled defensively and constantly left him hung out to dry. Fuhr&rsquo;s pattern for most of the season has been to play well in the early stages of a game, when the Flames traditionally struggle, but he can only hang in for so long.After 12 games, the Flames had surrendered a league-leading 43 goals. Following the loss in St. Louis, Fuhr predicted maybe it was time for him to a steal a game, which he ultimately did against the Panthers.&ldquo;What can you say?&rdquo; offered defenseman Derek Morris. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s Grant Fuhr, one of the best players in the game.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: It took until the 11th game of the season, but center Jason Wiemer finally returned to the lineup after recovering from a tear in the medial collateral ligament ofhis left knee. Wiemer. normally the center on the checking line, was desperately missed as the Flames began the season with a leaky defensive performance. To make room for Wiemer, the Flames farmed out left winger Steve Begin to Saint John of the American League&hellip;Defenseman Robyn Regehr rejoined the Eames Oct. 28 following a five-game rehabilitation assignment with Saint John and was immediately inserted in the lineup for a 4-3 overtime win over Ottawa. Regehr suffered two broken legs in an early July automobile crash. The morning of the game. Regehr telephoned his mother to give her the news. "She was pretty emotional.&rdquo; Regehrsaid. &ldquo;I had to settle her down." &#9632;

f0018-03

Fuhr joins select 400-win club, sights now set on 1,000 games

<div class="byline">By Cecil Harris</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011258/7817934-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="152" height="155"></div>In 13 NHL seasons, Gary Roberts has seen plenty of bad ice.But what really troubles the Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; left winger is as the new multi-purpose arenas get bigger, more elaborate and more expensive, the quality of the ice gets worse.That may not bode well for Roberts and his teammates, who have moved into Raleigh&rsquo;s new Entertainment and Sports Arena.In an Oct. 20 game at Toronto&rsquo;s nine-month-old Air Canada Centre, Roberts got a skate caught in a rut and strained his groin. That caused him to miss the Canes&rsquo; home opener Oct. 29.&ldquo;Being in Canada, you would think they could make ice,&rdquo; said Roberts, who grew up in nearby Whitby. &ldquo;They can&rsquo;t make ice there either.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard on the body when you play on terrible ice. Hard on the legs, hips, groins. The NHL is going to have to address this. It&rsquo;s a serious issue.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s not a new issue. Players and coaches have complained for decades about the inferior ice at New York&rsquo;s Madison Square Garden, which is booked virtually every night and often stages two major events in a day.&ldquo;A lot of injuries in the game have to do with how bad the ice is,&rdquo; Roberts said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of talk in the league now about guys not having respect for each other. But the bottom line is, a lot of guys are taking some awkward hits into the boards because the ice around the league is so (poor).&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Unsigned restricted free agent center Keith Primeau said through his agents he would rather play for free for the Canadian national team than play for Carolina. Primeau, who isn&rsquo;t eligible for unrestricted free agency until after the 2002-03 season, has been offered a two-year, $6-million contract after rejecting four-year. $20-million and two-year, $7-million deals&hellip;Carolina drew a capacity crowd of 18,176 Oct. 29 for Raleigh&rsquo;s first major league sports event, when the Canes hosted New Jersey. More sell outs will require huge walk-up sales as Carolina has sold only 6,000 season tickets&hellip;With an assist Oct. 22 at Buffalo, center Ron Francis moved past Mario Lemieux into sixth place on the NHL&rsquo;s all-time scoring list. &#9632;

f0020-01

Injured Roberts angered by bad ice in new arenas

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03629/7817965-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="326" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wendel Clark</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02891/7817972-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="154" height="153"></div>It hasn&rsquo;t been the greatest of debuts for Wendel Clark in a Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; uniform.Clark had one goal in his first seven games, but his slow start was only part of the story. He was scratched for a game Oct. 16 at Pittsburgh, then placed on the injured reserve list-against his wishes-with a sore groin.Clark was angry when coach Lome Molleken told him he wasn&rsquo;t playing. He got even more upset when GM Bob Murray informed him he was going on IR.&ldquo;Wendel was (ticked) off and it&rsquo;s good that he was mad,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;It would be a problem if a player didn&rsquo;t get mad when he wasn&rsquo;t playing. Maybe I should put a few more guys on IR if that&rsquo;s how they&rsquo;re going to react.&rdquo;Clark returned to the lineup after using the week on injured reserve to rest his legs, not wanting to stir the pot any more than it had been stirred.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not here to voice any negatives,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re all just here to win. The week (on IR) is such a short period of time in an 82-game schedule. If we can rectify this in this short period of time, I&rsquo;m all for it.&rdquo;Molleken said Clark needed to bring his game to the next level, yet it was puzzling why the veteran left winger was being singled out on a team where most players were struggling with their games during an 0-4-4 start.&ldquo;When I look at Wendel Clark, his strength is scoring,&rdquo; said Molleken. &ldquo;We need him to play to his strengths.&rdquo;Clark didn&rsquo;t think he was playing poorly, nor did he feel he should have gone on injured reserve.&ldquo;My feeling was, yes, (I could have played through the injury), but it&rsquo;s not my call,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re running the team and doing what they think gives them the best chance to win. I have to respect the decision. Obviously, they&rsquo;re not happy with my play.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Chicago tied a club record with its eight-game winless streak to start the season (0-4-4). They got their first victory Oct. 27 at Montreal&hellip; Goalie Jocelyn Thibault&rsquo;s 1-0 shut out of the Canadiens was his second against his former team in two starts&hellip;Left winger J.P. Dumont missed only two games due to the concussion he suffered when elbowed by Pittsburgh defenseman Darius Kasparaitis&hellip;Chicago was hoping a herniated disk in left winger Eddie Olczyk&rsquo;s back could be treated with medication, thus avoiding surgery&hellip;GM Bob Murray believed he was getting closer to signing defenseman Boris Mironov&hellip;Defenseman Sylvain Cote is in the top 10 in defensemen scoring with one goal, seven points through Oct. 28. &#9632;

f0020-03

Clark sore about IR stint, but toes team line for now

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04422/7818003-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="156" height="154"></div>Could the Calder Trophy be destined for Colorado for the second straight season?After the first dozen games of 1999-2000, the-Avalanche have a couple of excellent candidates for top rookie honors, just a year after center Chris Drury was the NHL&rsquo;s best freshman.The front-runner is left winger Alex Tanguay, who posted points in eight of his first 12 games and had observers marveling at the poise and passing skills displayed by a 19-year-old.Then there&rsquo;s 20-year-old defenseman Martin Skoula. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Czech, a two-way specialist, has shown outstanding patience with the puck and never rattles against forecheckers.For Skoula to win the Calder would be a longer shot because he doesn&rsquo;t figure to post big offensive numbers his first year in the league.But the Avs have once again left people around the league wondering, &ldquo;Where did they find these guys?&rdquo;Much of the credit goes to former chief scout Dave Draper. It was he who recommended the Avs take Tanguay and Skoula in the middle of the first round of the 1998 NHL entry draft. It was also Draper who tabbed Drury (72nd overall in 1994) and Milan Hejduk (87th overall in 1994).&ldquo;Dave Draper was and still is a credit to this organization,&rdquo; said GM Pierre Lacroix. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s may be the best in the business.&rdquo;Draper is in semi-retirement now, succeeded by Bryan MacDonald, but remains with the organization as a consultant.Tanguay scored twice against the Philadelphia Flyers Oct. 28 in a game that saw the Avs rally from a 4-0 deficit in the third period, but lose 5-4 in overtime. Skoula recorded his first career point with a third period assist.&ldquo;Hey, what can I say about those two guys?&rdquo; said Avs&rsquo; coach Bob Hartley. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re already playing like they&rsquo;ve been in the NHL for a while. They&rsquo;re only going to get better.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Colorado denied a report in a Swedish newspaper that stated center Peter Forsberg would return to the lineup Nov. 5. A December return from shoulder surgery remains the timetable, the club said&hellip;Colorado finished the first dozen games, 10 of which were on the road, with a 5-5-2-1 record, all without Forsberg. &lsquo;To get 13 points, with our schedule, was a good accomplishment." said coach Bob Hartley&hellip;Right winger Claude Lemieux was moved up to the first line with center Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk shifted from right to left wing. Left winger Alex Tanguay was moved to the second line, which is centered by Chris Drury with Adam Deadmarsh on the right side. &#9632;

f0020-04

Calder could come calling once again

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02625/7818034-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="556" height="985"><figcaption class="caption-body">Blake Sloan</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-011014/7818041-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="157" height="152"></div>Blake Sloan lived a miracle last season.He started the year playing defense with the Houston Aeros of the International League, experimented for a few games at forward and generally tried to find a niche for himself in professional hockey.Then last March, he was grabbed up by the Dallas Stars, where he found a home on the fourth line of the Presidents&rsquo; Trophy champions and played 19 of 23 playoff games en route to the Stanley Cup. An undrafted, undersized defenseman, Sloan had somehow wormed his way into a dream world.&ldquo;It was better than anything I could have imagined,&rdquo; Sloan said.But after the summer parties died down, after Sloan was able to gloat in front of his former University of Michigan teammates, after he cashed that playoff bonus check, he was left with one realization-he still had to earn a roster spot on the Stars. Entering training camp, Dallas had a group of seven forwards fighting for two jobs.&ldquo;Nothing is given here, last season isn&rsquo;t a factor anymore,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock. &ldquo;Whoever wins is going to have to win on the basis of what he does this season.&rdquo;When camp and the pre-season were over, Sloan was still around. Generously listed at 5-foot-10, Sloan is the shortest player on the Stars. But he makes up for it in speed, intensity and hustle. And that allows Hitchcock to hand him the highest compliment a coach can give.&ldquo;What you have right now is an NHL player,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt that he can play at this level and play well.&rdquo;In fact, during the team&rsquo;s injury-riddled October, Sloan was one of the Stars&rsquo; best forwards. He had just one goal-his only NHL point in 25 career games-but his energy helped change the complexion of several contests.Sloan had tried his hand at real work during the summer, landing a temporary accounting job, but said he wasn&rsquo;t crazy about the experience. Hopefully the business world can wait.&ldquo;What&rsquo;s amazing about Blake is this is his first full season where he plays only forward,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s only going to get better once he learns the little intricacies of the position and starts improving his offensive skills.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK:&nbsp;For all their winning ways, recent editions of the Stars have been surprisingly easy to shut out. Last season, Dallas was blanked seven times-the most since 1975-76. In their first 11 games this season, they have been shut out three times&hellip;Right winger Chris Murray wants to find a home in Dallas. After being selected 54th overall in the 1994 entry draft by Montreal, Murray has shuffled between Phoenix, Carolina. Ottawa and Chicago before being picked up by Dallas on waivers. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough not having any roots,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not what you grow up dreaming about.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0021-02

Sloan not worried about being too forward after defense switch

<div class="byline">By David J. Neal</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011141/7818072-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="145" height="151"></div>Not that you would know it from Florida Panthers&rsquo; right winger Radek Dvorak&rsquo;s yearly point totals, but there is a Czech word for October: Rijen.&ldquo;The bad month, a bad one for me.&rdquo; chuckled Dvorak, who definitely isn&rsquo;t Mr. Rijen.The first 10 games of the season saw Dvorak record two assists, both second assists at that. His other poor starts came in 1995-96 and 1997-98 when he had three assists in 11 games and two assists in 10 games, respectively. He has broken the trend only once-last season-when he scored twice in October.&ldquo;1 don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said Dvorak about the slow starts. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like I haven&rsquo;t tried. But it hasn&rsquo;t come yet. The team is playing well, so that&rsquo;s the first thing I have to think about.&rdquo;Coach Terry Murray feels it&rsquo;s all about consistency.&ldquo;Erratic,&rdquo; said Murray when asked about Dvorak. &ldquo;Some games, he&rsquo;s a real threat with his speed, has scoring chances and contributes on the defensive end. He might be frustrated with not seeing the results, but he has to work his way through that.&rdquo;At least he was getting shots on goal despite spending most of the early sea in a checking role. Dvorak had 22 shots in 10 games.&ldquo;1 have to be more relaxed and confident,&rdquo; Dvorak said. &ldquo;When I go into a game, I have to tell myself to do just the little things the coaches ask. Then, the scoring chances will come.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: It took right winger Pavel Bure just 2:55 into his return to the ice to score the first of two goals against the Islanders, a 6-3 Florida win Oct. 27. The game was Bure&rsquo;s first since straining a groin Oct. 12. &ldquo;It felt fine,&rdquo; Bure said after the game. "I guess it&rsquo;s 100 per cent when you go out and score and your team wins.&rdquo; &hellip; The two goals gave Bure 18 in 16 games as a Panther&hellip;Left winger Peter Worrell also made a splashy return from injury (sprained knee) the same night. He had a breakaway and a fight on his first shift, then later appeared to deflect in what turned out to be the winning goal. Worrell swore he didn&rsquo;t touch it, so the goal became defenseman Filip Kuba&rsquo;s first NHL tally. &#9632;</div>

f0022-01

Dvorak holds true to form with disappointing October

<div class="byline">By Rob Tychkowski</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03604/7818103-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="319" height="440"><figcaption class="caption-body">Georges Laraque</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02821/7818110-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="151" height="145"></div>It&rsquo;s hard to imagine hulking Georges Laraque being intimidated on a hockey rink.But it wasn&rsquo;t that long ago that he was scared silly out there.Of the puck.He&rsquo;d rather fight the three toughest guys on the other team, go for a root canal and follow that up with a poetry reading than lug the biscuit.&ldquo;I used to treat it like a hot potato,&rdquo; grinned the six-foot-three, 240-pound Oiler enforcer. &ldquo;As soon as I got it, I got rid of it as fast as I could. I was afraid to hang onto the puck. I thought that only bad things would happen if I had it, so I made sure I didn&rsquo;t have it very long.&rdquo;Those days are over. Now, a more experienced, confident and talented Laraque doesn&rsquo;t want to give it up. He spends a lot of his time playing keep-away behind the opponent&rsquo;s net, fending off defensemen.&ldquo;The harder I work on the forecheck, the harder the defensemen have to work,&rdquo; Laraque said. &ldquo;It tires them out for the next line that comes out against them.&rdquo;And with the list of NHL heavy-weights willing to challenge Laraque getting shorter and shorter, he&rsquo;s determined to make an impact in other ways.With relentless forechecking. With punishing bodychecks. And with smart, safe minutes on Edmonton&rsquo;s fourth line.&ldquo;The games are pretty clean now, so I have to show them that I can do other things,&rdquo; said Laraque, who credits the Oilers&rsquo; for developing him as a player.He scored his first goal of the season in a 2-1 loss &lsquo;against the Dallas Stars Oct. 20 and played 14 minutes, including the final seconds.&ldquo;I said from the start of this season that I wouldn&rsquo;t have any problem giving him a lot of ice time if he worked hard and proved that he deserved it,&rdquo; said Edmonton coach Kevin Lowe. &ldquo;And he has.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The war of words between unsigned winger Bill Guerin&rsquo;s camp and Edmonton GM Glen Sather rages on. The latest development saw Sather fax Guerin&rsquo;s agent Bob Murray a list of six comparable players in the $2.5-million price range (including Montreal&rsquo;s Shayne Corson, Carolina&rsquo;s Gary Roberts and Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Alexei Kovalev). Murray, who&rsquo;s seeking $3 million per season for his client, called the fax a waste of paper, pointed out only five players last year had 30 goals and over 100 penalty minutes (Guerin, Philadelphia&rsquo;s Eric Lindros, Detroit&rsquo;s Brendan Shanahan. Colorado&rsquo;s Peter Forsberg and Phoenix&rsquo;s Keith Tkachuk)&hellip;Defenseman Janne Niinimaa snapped a 30-game goal scoring drought against St. Louis Oct. 21. &#9632;

f0022-03

Laraque still heavyweight, but not puck-shy anymore

<div class="byline">By Chuck Carlton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04423/7818141-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="150" height="147"></div>He&rsquo;s playing less and contributing more. At 37, he has found the step scouts maintained he had lost last season. His two sons, Dean and Jake, are immersed in Detroit youth hockey.In almost every way that matters, Chris Chelios is an integral part of the Detroit Red Wings. Just look at the team&rsquo;s 16-2-1 regular season record with him in the lineup. The only blemish, of course, is the playoff loss last season to the Colorado Avalanche.His past life with the Chicago Blackhawks is over, right? Uh, not so fast.&ldquo;This is my team,&rdquo; Chelios said, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m still going to hotels asking where the Hawks&rsquo; pre-game meal is and all kinds of slip-ups like that.&rdquo;For all the ties and memories, there are no regrets about the deal that saw him leave Chicago for two first round draft picks and defenseman Anders Eriksson.&ldquo;To be on a team like this in Detroit with a legitimate chance to win a Stanley Cup, that&rsquo;s pretty important,&rdquo; Chelios said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s great to come to this team. I never would have OK&rsquo;d a trade to a team in the same situation as Chicago.&rdquo;The Red Wings are continuing to find ways to employ Chelios&rsquo; many talents. Coach Scotty Bowman has used him as a winger on the power play to take advantage of his puck pursuit. He and Steve Duchesne have been a surprisingly coherent odd-couple pairing. Teammates who once worried about a Chelios cross-check now notice his subtle skills. And captain Steve Yzerman even likened him to former Wing Vlad Konstantinov.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always found the most overlooked thing about him is his skating ability,&rdquo; Yzerman said. &ldquo;Not that anybody said he was bad, but I don&rsquo;t think people realized how good a skater he is. His speed from turning backwards to forwards on a guy wide is as good as I&rsquo;ve ever seen, up there with Vlady and all the guys who can really skate well.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Coach Scotty Bowman seldom deals in hyperbole, so his praise of 38-year-old center Igor Larionov merited notice. "He has so much patience with the puck,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s underrated. He plays on the same team with (Sergei) Fedorov and (Steve) Yzerman and other players. Igor is playing as well this year as he has since he has been in Detroit." Through nine games, Larionov had three goals and 10 points.. After recording four goals in three games, left winger Brendan Shanahan was one goal shy of 400 for his career&hellip;Detroit and arch-rival Colorado played a clean game Oct. 27 that featured no fights and just six minor penalties. The Wings won 5-3. &#9632;

f0022-04

Vet Chelios becoming key Wing cog

<div class="byline">By Helene Elliott</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-011027/7818172-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="156" height="149"></div>Goaltender Jamie Storr almost became the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; forgotten man, the victim of injury and circumstance.Storr, who had a 2.40 goals-against average. .916 save percentage and 12-12-2 record with the Kings last season while being named to the NHL&rsquo;s all-rookie team for the second successive year, strained a groin muscle in his first start of the season Oct. 7 at Tampa Bay. He didn&rsquo;t finish that game and didn&rsquo;t dress for the next game, but the injury wasn&rsquo;t nearly as severe as the groin pulls he has had in the past, such as the one that caused him to miss 16 games last season.And coach Andy Murray felt comfortable with veteran Stephane Fiset, who had a 2.50 GAA, .914 save percentage and 6-3-2 record.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said it before and I&rsquo;ll say it again, I can&rsquo;t control the ice time I get,&rdquo; said Storr, who was drafted seventh overall by the Kings in 1994. &ldquo;All 1 can control is how hard I work in practice and to be ready when I get a chance.&rdquo;He got a chance against the Washington Capitals Oct. 26. And although the Kings fell behind early, he made 15 saves and earned his first victory of the season in the Kings&rsquo; 5-2 win.Storr, 23, acknowledged he felt butterflies before the game, but to him, that was a good omen. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m always a little nervous before every game,&rdquo; Storr said. &ldquo;Someone once told me if you&rsquo;re not nervous, you&rsquo;re not ready. You&rsquo;ve got to turn it into a positive.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Los Angeles finished their first homestand at the Staples Center by rallying from 2-0 deficits to defeat Washington (Oct. 26) and Pittsburgh (Oct. 28). That gave them a three-game winning streak and 3-1-1 home record&hellip;The Kings sold out their home opener and averaged 15,582 fans per game in the 18,118-seat arena&hellip; Coach Andy Murray was pleased with the start, but hardly complacent. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s encouraging, but I&rsquo;m realistic enough to know it&rsquo;s a long season,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Murray and his assistants were still working with defenseman Aki Berg to help him become more consistent. Berg was guilty of some bad passes against Washington and was outmuscled by Jaromir Jagr on Pittsburgh&rsquo;s first goal Oct. 28. but L.A. came back for a 5-3 victory. &#9632;

f0023-01

Storr capitalizes on start, earns first win of season

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03503/7818203-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="315" height="424"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shayne Corson</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02701/7818210-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="155" height="145"></div>The Montreal Canadiens lost eight of their opening 11 games while being held to just 20 goals.This team clearly needs help. And it appears to be on the way.Shayne Corson, who hasn&rsquo;t played since the season opener due to a bout with colitis, was expected to return Oct. 30 for a game against the New York Rangers. And defenseman Craig Rivet, missing since the third game of the season with a fractured cheekbone, was scheduled to return against New Jersey Nov. 3.Although Corson, a center, was held to only 12 goals last season-when all of the team&rsquo;s offensive guns were firing blanks-he has scored more than 20 goals five times in his career. Any production would be a much-needed boost for a team that has already lost five games by one goal this season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been tearing my hair out watching the guys play on TV.&rdquo; Corson said.Corson was first diagnosed with the hereditary disease when he was 15. Victims of ulcerous colitis are unable to keep food in their bodies, leaving them drained of energy. The 6-foot-l, 205-pound Corson said he lost about five pounds while recovering from his condition. It flared up last summer and again at training camp, but he played through it while doctors attempted to determine how serious it was. He was forced to return to Montreal Oct. 6 before the start of a three-game road trip when he began passing blood.&ldquo;You have no energy and everything you eat goes right through you,&rdquo; Corson explained. &ldquo;None of the nutrients in the food gets to you, so you&rsquo;re tired all the time.&rdquo;Corson is being treated with medication, but had his colon and large intestine been inflamed, they might have had to be removed.NOTEBOOK: Center Trevor Linden, acquired last summer from the New York Islanders for a first round draft pick, continued to struggle. Linden, who failed to score 20 goals in any of his last three seasons, was still seeking his first goal this year and had recorded only three assists. Signed to a multi-year contract that pays him $3 million (U.S.) annually, Linden was hailed as the answer to the team&rsquo;s offensive woes. &ldquo;I need to catch a break somewhere,&rdquo; Linden said.. Rookie center Mike Ribeiro, who scored his first NHL goal in Toronto Oct. 23, appears to have won a job. Coach Alain Vigneault said the 19-year-old. who could be returned to Rouyn-Noranda of the Quebec League, would remain with Montreal. &#9632;

f0023-03

Good news for hapless offense as Corson’s return date nears

<div class="byline">By Jeff Legwold</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04356/7818241-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="151" height="142"></div>Nashville coach Barry Trotz had said things would &ldquo;shake out,&rdquo; that as the season progressed, the Predators would play here and there and a decision would be made. That it would eventually be &ldquo;easy&rdquo; to pick a No. 1 goalie.Turns out the coach knew what he was talking about.With Mike Dunham returning to the Predators&rsquo; crease just before the regular season and Tomas Vokoun coming off quality work last season and steady exhibition play in September, Trotz simply said &ldquo;the play of the two goalies will determine what we do.&rdquo;And when Nashville jumped to a 4-3-1 start-which put them above .500 for the first time in their existence-it was in large part because the team&rsquo;s goaltending question had been answered.Dunham sped up the decision-making process by getting off to the best start of his career. He won four consecutive games for the first time in his NHL tenure and pushed Vokoun to the backup role.Which is what Trotz meant when he said: &ldquo;At some point, one will outplay the other one and then one goalie will get a little more ice time. It&rsquo;s their play that will dictate the way it goes.&rdquo;Dunham appeared in just 44 games last season as he battled recurring groin injuries. He was thought to be lagging again this season when he missed virtually all of training camp as an unsigned restricted free agent.But Dunham was nearly flawless in his first four starts. His approach of &ldquo;staying focused and having fun on the ice&rdquo; was working as the schedule entered its second month. Overall, he had a 2.61 goals-against average, .921 save percentage and 4-1-0 record, losing only to the San Jose Sharks 3-2 Oct. 28.The Predators also appear more confident with Dunham in net. They scored much more for him (17 goals in his first five starts) than for Vokoun (six goals in his first four starts).NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Jan Vopat returned to the lineup for the Oct. 28 game in San Jose after being a healthy scratch for eight games&hellip;Nashville held its own Super Skills competition and the biggest surprise of the afternoon was defenseman Joel Bouchard, who was clocked as the team&rsquo;s fastest skater. Defenseman Drake Berehowsky had the hardest shot at 96 m-p-h, while right winger Vitali Yachmenev won accuracy shooting contest and left winger Ville Peltonen won the individual puck control race&hellip;Finnish defenseman Kimmo Timonen had a goal and seven points to rank in the league&rsquo;s top 10 scoring for defensemen. He had just four goals and 12 points in 50 games last season. &#9632;

f0023-04

Dunham No. 1 goalie once again

<div class="byline">By Anthony McCarron</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03528/7818303-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="323" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Lawrence</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02771/7818310-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="152" height="149"></div>No one in the New York Islanders' organization has lost faith in Mark Lawrence yet, but the time may be coming as the right winger continues to struggle.Lawrence, a career minor-leaguer who enjoyed a breakout year last season, didn&rsquo;t score a goal in the Isles&rsquo; first eight games of the season and sometimes seemed as close to the opponent&rsquo;s net as the PA announcer. The 6-foot-4, 219-[x&gt;und Lawrence played well last year mostly because of his willingness to crash the crease, both providing a target to capture the attention of opposing blueliners and a goateed screen for goalies.Lawrence. 27. scored 14 goals in 60 games last season after scoring none in 17 total NHL games in a pro career that began in 1992-93. He was a restricted free agent during the off-season and the team inked him to a two-year, $ 1.6 million contract and immediately talked about him as a key player.Perhaps most importantly, &ldquo;Larry&rdquo; came into training camp in top condition. He&rsquo;s been blasted before by brass for coming in flabby and it cost him a longer stint in the NHL last season.No one seems to be able to pinpoint the problem. The Isles&rsquo; constant juggling of their lines certainly hasn&rsquo;t helped."The problem was, I was trying to overwork,&rdquo; Lawrence said. &ldquo;I'm just trying to get things going. I feel like I&rsquo;m playing well. I&rsquo;m just not getting the chances.&rdquo;If that doesn&rsquo;t come soon, expect Lawrence to begin watching games from the press box.Butch Goring, who coached Lawrence with Utah of the International League in 1997-98. holds faith.&ldquo;I believe he&rsquo;ll be a big contributor to our team,&rdquo; Goring said of the player who had 36 goals and 64 points in Utah. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s just gone through a frustrated time."NOTEBOOK: The Islanders traded center Tony Hrkac and minor league defenseman Dean Malkoc to Anaheim for center Ted Drury Oct. 29&hellip;Defenseman Jamie Heward suffered the second concussion of his career on a hit by Vancouver left winger Donald Brashear Oct. 23. Heward was cleared to practice a few days afterward, but not to play. He is listed as day-to-day and the Isles needed to recall defenseman Evgeny Korolev to eat up some minutes in his absence&hellip;Left winger Brad Isbister has been one of the team&rsquo;s biggest surprises so far this season, coming into his own as a bruising/scoring power forward. He&rsquo;s provided presence in the corners and a light scoring touch, with four goals in the team&rsquo;s first eight games. &#9632;

f0024-03

Lawrence looks for break and tries to recapture form

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04352/7818341-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="156" height="151"></div>For the time being, it will be the New York Rangers as currently constituted who will have to emerge from the funk they were in after the first 12 games of this season.The 4-7-1 Rangers had lost four in a row and were shut out in three consecutive games, despite $59.4 million worth of talent. Their power play was a putrid 4-for-55.But since no trades were imminent, there was no cavalry coming over the hill. And the two men who run the top of the organization insisted there wouldn&rsquo;t be any front office or coaching shake-ups.Dave Checketts, president of Madison Square Garden, and Rangers&rsquo; GM-president Neil Smith separately said a change in coach or management hadn&rsquo;t even been considered yet.Muckier, armed with a new one-year contract extension, was at least assured of getting a chance to right his troubled team.To turn it around, the Rangers must get their offensive players going-goal-tending and defense have been as good as could be expected so far.Because of all the new faces and all the money spent on free agents-$67 million guaranteed on the six signees that came aboard in the off-season-the Rangers weren&rsquo;t likely to' be either willing or able to make a trade of significance. The Carolina Hurricanes were not yet at the point with unsigned Keith Primeau where it would entertain offers. Ditto for the Ottawa Senators, who had taken the stance it will let Alexei Yashin sit out the entire season rather than renegotiate his contract.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s something material you can do,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;If it is, I haven&rsquo;t figured it out yet. But I think that we've just got to keep close tabs on what&rsquo;s going on, be supportive and not cause this thing to be worse by your actions. You have to be supportive."I know one thing: I&rsquo;m watching a team that&rsquo;s playing with no confidence right now.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Rangers were shut out three straight games for the first time since October, 1950&hellip;Left winger Valeri Kamensky continued to be bothered by pain and weakness in his right forearm, which was broken last March and then suffered a stress fracture on opening night&hellip;Center Tim Taylor said he has recovered feeling in his right foot, which had gone numb after a slash on the back of the leg Oct. 11. However, Taylor&rsquo;s left hand is still sore after a splinter bore into it during the Oct. 20 game in Philadelphia. Doctors believe the splinter, which was surgically removed, did some nerve damage. He should be able to continue to play despite the pain and lack of strength in the hand, which hampers his shooting. &#9632;

f0024-04

No changes to Ranger roster yet

<div class="byline">By Bruce Garrioch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01989/7818372-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="151" height="152"></div>The Ottawa Senators have a new center in their lineup, but it&rsquo;s not Alexei Yashin.With Yashin in Switzerland waiting for a new contract, the Senators decided to plug the void left by his absence with the signing of free agent Joe Juneau to a one-year, $1.7-million (U.S.) contract.Troubled by the lack of production from Vaclav Prospal in the first two weeks of the season, GM Marshall Johnston moved swiftly to sign Juneau who had been waiting at his home near Montreal.Juneau. 31, an unrestricted free agent who finished the season last year with the Buffalo Sabres, is expected to center the No. 1 line.&ldquo;This is a good opportunity for me,&rdquo; Juneau said. &ldquo;I looked at situations around the league and I've always liked Ottawa. I played against this team in the playoffs last year and I know how exciting it can get in this building.&ldquo;Sure, it was tough to wait, but I was working out everyday because I knew I was going to get the opportunity to get something sooner later. I like this team. They&rsquo;ve got a chance to win and I want to be part of it.&rdquo;The Senators were one of two teams-the Washington Capitals were the other-who made inquiries about Juneau.If Juneau is to supply the offensive boost Ottawa needs, he&rsquo;ll have to revert to the form he showed early in his career. His best offensive season was 1992-93&mdash;his rookie year-when he had 32 goals and 102 points in 84 games for the Boston Bruins. Injuries have hampered his effectiveness and production in recent seasons. Last year, he had 15 goals and 43 points in 72 games with the Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals.The Senators believe Juneau still has what it takes, however.&ldquo;Joe Juneau is a player who can help us,&rdquo; said coach Jacques Martin. &ldquo;He brings good experience and he&rsquo;s the kind of guy we need who can score goals for us. He&rsquo;s a talented player and we feel like he can fit in well.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Daniel Alfredsson is back on the shelf again. The right winger suffered a tom MCL Oct. 21 against Colorado and will be out of action until at least early December. Troubled by injuries last season, Alfredsson had a strong start-four goals and eight points in eight games-until he caught his foot in a rut at the Corel Centre in the first period of an Oct. 21 game against Colorado&hellip;Owner Rod Bryden won&rsquo;t even discuss holdout center Alexei Yashin. Asked to respond to comments by Yashin that he&rsquo;ll wait as long as it takes to get a new contract or trade from the Senators, Bryden replied: &ldquo;Alexei Yashin? That name doesn&rsquo;t register with me.&rdquo;&hellip; Left winger Rob Zamuner suffered a groin strain is expected to be out of action until early November&hellip;The Senators picked up right winger Viacheslav Butsayev off waivers from Tampa Bay Oct. 29 and assigned him to Grand Rapids of the International League. Butsayev was originally taken by Tampa Bay in the waiver draft. &#9632;

f0025-01

Sens hoping veteran Juneau can help plug Yashin void

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02657/7818403-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="152" height="151"></div>A dozen games into the season, John LeClair was still looking to get his groove back.The three-time 50-goal scorer had just four goals in his first 12 games and his minus-7 was a team-low mark among forwards.In a 5-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks Oct. 26, the perennial all-star left winger was minus-4 and committed a glaring turnover leading to the backbreaking fourth goal.He could blame it on a back injury in training camp, linemate Eric Lindros&rsquo; ongoing battle with a respiratory ailment or the uncertainty of his contract status beyond this year. But he won&rsquo;t."There&rsquo;s a lot of things I need to improve on.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I feel OK, that&rsquo;s just trying to look for an excuse. I have to think of things I need to do instead of reasons why it&rsquo;s not happening.&rdquo;He will be happy to list some of those things that need to be better.&ldquo;I have to be stronger on the puck and I need to see the ice a lot better,&rdquo; LeClair said. &ldquo;And I need to be a lot stronger in front of the net, too. I made a horrendous play (on the Vancouver goal). It was awful. The pass I tried to make was 50-50 at best. I should have been a lot surer of myself&hellip; instead, it turned around and was a 3-on-l.&rdquo;LeClair said rather than worry about what Lindros can contribute to the his game, he should be trying to assist Lindros in his time of need.&ldquo;It makes it harder to take when Eric&rsquo;s not feeling well,&rdquo; LeClair said. &ldquo;All the times he has helped everybody else on the team, I feel bad that I can&rsquo;t pick up my game to help him out a little.&rdquo;As for his future, LeClair said he can&rsquo;t concern himself with things beyond his control. LeClair had 220 goals with the Flyers in 359 games entering this season.&ldquo;You have to (block it out),&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The important thing is playing the game. That&rsquo;s what you have to concentrate on. I can&rsquo;t let outside influences bother me. It&rsquo;s still fun to play here, there&rsquo;s a great group of guys. Those things (the contract) don&rsquo;t cross my mind when we start to play.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: After struggling with a viral infection for more than a week, center Eric Lindros sat out the Flyers&rsquo; 5-4 overtime win over Colorado Oct. 28. Lindros was minus-5 when he took himself out of the lineup on the advice of doctors. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think people give Eric credit, he&rsquo;s very responsible,&rdquo; said left winger John LeClair. &ldquo;He knows what&rsquo;s right for him. He wants to play; he wants to show the guys he wants to play so badly it affects his decision-making as far as his health. It&rsquo;s something he&rsquo;s trying to fight through. He&rsquo;s pale all the time. My comment to him was he should go home because he&rsquo;s not going to accomplish anything here.&rdquo; Also troubled by a respiratory problem was coach Roger Neilson. He was told to take it easy by doctors, but Neilson didn&rsquo;t miss any games. GM Bob Clarke suggested Neilson take advantage of a four-day break in the schedule to go to Dallas to visit long-time friend Nancy Nichols. Asked if he would follow Clarke&rsquo;s advice, Neilson said, &ldquo;not likely.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0025-02

LeClair won’t make excuses for horrible start to season

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02768/7818434-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="554" height="1001"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shane Doan</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011106/7818441-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="147" height="150"></div>As good as things have I been going for the Phoenix Coyotes-a franchise-best 6-2-3 start among the highlights-it isn&rsquo;t as if they haven&rsquo;t hit any speedbumps.There have been the customary woes on the power play. The ill-timed penalties and second period collapses. A five-game suspension to center Jeremy Roenick. Even the charter flights have been a nightmare.But if there has been one positive constant thus far in Coyoteland, it has been the surprising play of the team&rsquo;s No. 3 line consisting of rookie Mika Alatalo, Juha Ylonen and Shane Doan.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been outstanding,&rdquo; said coach Bobby Francis. &ldquo;That has been a common theme throughout the course of the season. They&rsquo;ve been as consistent of a line as we&rsquo;ve had.&rdquo;The three generate lots of scoring chances and, although they haven&rsquo;t buried too many of them, the most impressive part of their play has been their aggressiveness against other teams&rsquo; top lines. All three have proven difficult to beat. They control the puck so well, they seldom let the opposition ever get a sniff at the Phoenix net.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been playing great the whole time they&rsquo;ve been playing together since training camp,&rdquo; said defenseman Teppo Numminen. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s great to see we have three good lines and we can throw them out against anybody.&rdquo;The top two lines, consisting of Keith Tkachuk, Jeremy Roenick and Dallas Drake, and Greg Adams, Travis Green and Rick Tocchet, have been getting good results on their own. Green was on a torrid streak, having scored goals in six of seven games, and Roenick scored four goals in his first three games back.But where would the Coyotes be without Alatalo, a 28-year-old first-year left winger from Finland, fellow Finn Ylonen, a 27-year-old third-year center, and the hard-working Doan, 23, a powerful right winger? Doan says the Finns deserve most of the credit."Juha and Alatalo create so much with their speed and nobody realizes how strong those two are on the puck,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s almost impossible for a defenseman to come over and knock them off the puck, and because of it, they&rsquo;re able to hold onto the puck down low. We talk a lot about that as a line, about not giving the puck away."We take pride in playing against the other team&rsquo;s top line and trying to shut it down. The best way to keep them from scoring is to play in their end. which is really what we&rsquo;re trying to do.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Travis Green&rsquo;s five-game goal-scoring streak and six-game point-scoring streak ended Oct. 23 against Washington. It was the club&rsquo;s second-longest goal-scoring streak-one behind Keith Tkachuks six-game streak in 1997-since the Coyotes relocated from Winnipeg. &ldquo;Everything just seems to be jumping into the net,&rdquo; Green said&hellip;Left winger Greg Adams and defenseman Jyrki Lumme were named to the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; all-time team&hellip;GM Bobby Smith said he has no intentions of trading unsigned goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. &#9632;

f0026-02

Consistently strong checking line bright spot for Coyotes

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03541/7818510-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="157" height="152"></div>Going into this season, there were concerns whether sophomore center Michal Handzus could produce enough offense to lay claim to the No. 2 center&rsquo;s slot.He had scored only four goals and 16 points in 66 games during his rookie season, not exactly the productive numbers one expects from a second line pivot.But with a good start this season, Handzus, 22, has set St. Louis&rsquo; mind at ease. As far as the Blues are concerned, the No. 2 center&rsquo;s job is in good Handzus.In the Blues&rsquo; first IQ games, the second-year player had already scored five goals, one more than his total for last season. His nine points put him well ahead of last season&rsquo;s pace, when he didn&rsquo;t score his ninth point until the Blues&rsquo; 33rd game.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s showing more offensive instincts than he demonstrated last year,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; coach Joel Quenneville. &ldquo;We like that because we know we can count on him defensively.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s growing into that spot. He looks like he wants to be the guy to play in an offensive role at center. We like his progress&hellip;His natural game is defense, but he has offensive abilities and we want to extract that. His game is all instincts. And they&rsquo;re the right ones. You can&rsquo;t teach a kid that.&rdquo;The 22-year-old Handzus attributes his success to confidence gained from playing with good linemates.He started the season with right winger Pavol Demitra and veteran left winger Geoff Courtnail, who is out indefinitely with a concussion. Lubos Bartecko replaced Courtnail for a few games before being replaced by Derek King, who came over in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing with great players,&rdquo; Handzus said. &ldquo;That gives me confidence.&rdquo;But Handzus won&rsquo;t let his new-found offensive prowess go to his head."The puck is going in for me right now, (but) it&rsquo;s early&hellip; just nine games,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a long season.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: After losing his first three starts, goalie Roman Turek won four in a row, posting a 1.50 goals-against average and .936 save percentage, before New Jersey ended his streak with a 2-1 victory Oct. 27&hellip;By beating Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and New Jersey in consecutive home games, St. Louis won four in a row at home for the first time in eight years&hellip; Left winger Derek King had two assists in his Blues' debut-a 3-1 victory over NewJersey Oct. 23-after being acquired from Toronto&hellip; When veteran defenseman Rudy Poeschek cleared waivers, he was assigned to St Louis&rsquo; American League affiliate in Worcester-a temporary stop until they find him a home in the International League. &#9632;

f0028-03

No. 2 pivot role in good Handzus

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04368/7818541-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="145" height="151"></div>The elation of a franchise-best 7-2-0 start gave way to reality when the San Jose Sharks surrendered 13 goals during a three-game losing streak that brought the club down to earth.Coach Darryl Sutter, who has preached defense since taking over the Sharks&rsquo; bench in 1997, used a rare three-day break in the schedule to teach a remedial course in playing without the puck.San Jose responded Oct. 28 by limiting the Nashville Predators to 24 shots in a 3-2 victory at San Jose Arena."Everyone realizes that for us to start winning some more games, we&rsquo;re going to have to play better defensively,&rdquo; said defenseman Bob Rouse.Team defense, San Jose&rsquo;s primary strength the past two seasons under Sutter, has been glaringly inconsistent this year. The Sharks relied on newfound offensive firepower and often spectacular goaltending from Steve Shields during their hot start, while apparently losing sight of the importance of defensive-zone play.&ldquo;Really, from Game 1, we haven&rsquo;t played very well defensively,&rdquo; said left winger Murray Craven.San Jose finished fifth in the NHL with a 2.28 goals-against average last season. Before beating the Predators, the Sharks ranked 17th with a 2.57 mark. Opposition shots on goal were up from 27 per game last year to 33.3.Injuries that shelved veteran defensemen Bryan Marchment, Jeff Norton and Marcus Ragnarsson didn&rsquo;t help. In addition, San Jose held leads for long stretches in several games, meaning other teams had to open up their play. Still, something wasn&rsquo;t quite right.In retrospect, the combined 12 goals scored by San Jose in the season&rsquo;s first two games might have sent a dangerous message.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s just being excited about the kind of team we have,&rdquo; said left winger Jeff Friesen. &ldquo;We forgot you have to take care of your own end.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Owen Nolan&rsquo;s career-high 10-game scoring streak, the longest in the NHL this season, ended in a 3-1 loss to Boston Oct 23&hellip;Defenseman Bryan Marchment, who missed nine games with a sprained knee ligament, returned Oct. 23&hellip;With Marchment back, the Sharks sent rookie defenseman Scott Hannan back to American League-affiliate Kentucky&hellip; Defenseman Jeff Norton, out since Oct. 7 because of three cracked lumbar vertebrae, resumed practising Oct. 26&hellip;Center Mike Ricci failed on a penalty shot against former Colorado teammate Stephane Fiset during a 4-3 loss at Los Angeles Oct. 24. &#9632;</div>

f0028-04

Club guilty of letting defense rest

<div class="byline">By Tom Jones</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02643/7818572-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="330" height="436"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Martins</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01969/7818579-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="150" height="154"></div>Tampa Bay Lightning left winger Robert Petrovicky learned a hard lesson about hockey just before the start of this season. He learned it&rsquo;s not who you know or what you know that gets you a spot in the NHL. And sometimes it&rsquo;s not even how you play.Sometimes it all comes down to money. Petrovicky made too much ($600,000) and that was the key reason why he did not start the season with Lightning despite an outstanding training camp.Petrovicky led the Lightning with three pre-season goals, but found himself packing his bags before the season opener, the last cut from the 23-man roster. Lightning coach Steve Ludzik and GM Rick Dudley Dudley came under heavy criticism from the local media for the first time since assuming control of the team.Even Ludzik admitted Petrovicky was getting the shaft. He agreed Petrovicky should make the team based on his edict of &ldquo;first come-first served.&rdquo;&ldquo;He did everything he needed to do to make the team,&rdquo; Ludzik said. &ldquo;When I called him in to tell him, I told him straight out: &lsquo;You&rsquo;re getting (a raw deal).&rsquo; He didn&rsquo;t deserve to go down. I felt awful about it, but I promised he would be back.&rdquo;Ludzik and Dudley remained true to that promise, recalling Petrovicky from Grand Rapids of the International League Oct 28. But only after Petrovicky agreed to a new deal at a slight pay cut. He was willing to do anything to get back in the NHL.&ldquo;When I got sent down, it was worst day I&rsquo;ve ever had in my (career),&rdquo; Petrovicky said. &ldquo;It was business and I understand that now. But I was pretty upset. I felt I deserved to make the team and at the time, I didn&rsquo;t understand why I was being sent down.&rdquo;However, Petrovicky refused to pout in Grand Rapids even though he called it &ldquo;the longest three weeks I&rsquo;ve ever had playing hockey.&rdquo; Petrovicky led Grand Rapids with five goals in seven games and was back in the lineup for the Lightning Oct. 28 in Boston. And immediately, he paid dividends, picking up an assist after a beautiful cross-ice pass to Andreas Johansson.His promotion came only 10 days after his 26th birthday.&ldquo;It was a nice birthday present,&rdquo; said Petrovicky, who turned 26 Oct. 16. &ldquo;Now I just have to play hard and stay. What happened is history now. I&rsquo;m back and that&rsquo;s what counts.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Slava Butsayev, whom Tampa Bay claimed from Ottawa in the waiver draft, is back with Ottawa after the Senators claimed him when the Lightning placed him on waivers. Tampa wanted to send Butsayev, who played only two games this season, to the minors, but Ottawa spoiled those plans. Butsayev didn&rsquo;t score a point and had a minus-2 rating. After not meshing with the Lightning system or teammates-twice he fought in practice-he had been a healthy scratch in six of the Lightning&rsquo;s eight games. As it turns out, though, the Lightning then picked up center Steve Martins a day later when the Senators tried to pass him through waivers after signing Joe Juneau&hellip;Right winger Colin Forbes is getting less and less playing time under Tampa coach Steve Ludzik and was a healthy scratch in five of the Lightning&rsquo;s first six games&hellip;Center Chris Gratton picked up his 100th NHL goal in a 4-3 loss to Buffalo Oct. 27&hellip; Tampa Bay traded defenseman Mikko Kuparinen. its ninth round selection in the 1999 draft, to Atlanta for future considerations. &#9632;

f0029-02

Petrovicky makes most of promised second chance

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03434/7818610-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="145" height="148"></div>Before this season started, Dmitri Khristich was out of work and wondering where he&rsquo;d end up, Nik Antropov was still going by Nikolai and was playing on Canada&rsquo;s east coast and Mike Johnson was the Toronto Maple Leafs second line right winger.Johnson is still at his post, but everything around him changed shortly after Mats Sundin went down with a broken ankle Oct. 9. The injury to Sundin elevated center Yanic Perreault to first line duty and necessitated the recall of Antropov from St. John&rsquo;s of the American League. Khristich took Todd Warriner&rsquo;s spot on the left side immediately after he was acquired Oct. 21. largely because he didn&rsquo;t fit anywhere else.These were not ingenious coaching maneuvers and Leafs&rsquo; coach-GM Pat Quinn isn&rsquo;t about to take credit for them. But he certainly reaped the benefitsties of putting the three players together with the line&rsquo;s early success. In the first three games it was together, the Leafs went 3-0-0 and the line combined for 12 points.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re great players,&rdquo; Khristich said of his linemates. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re reading off each other, were opening ice up for each other, passing the puck.&rdquo;Antropov and Johnson could say the same thing about Khristich. Based largely on the early success of the line, Antropov cemented his status on the team and looks like he&rsquo;ll have an extended run in Toronto. Johnson got off to a slow start, but looks as enthusiastic and involved as he has in his three seasons with the Leafs.All three bring distinguishing qualities to the line. Johnson has terrific speed and an opportunistic sense. Antropov has the hardest shot on the team and has displayed a surprising physical element. Khristich is a very good defensive player, goes to the net well and works well along the boards.&ldquo;(Dmitri) is just a really smart player,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;Nikky is continuing to get more confidence and I&rsquo;ve probably picked up the level of my play. Put it all together and it&rsquo;s easy to see why we have had a couple of successful games.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: To make room for left winger Dmitri Khristich. Toronto placed center Steve Sullivan on waivers and he was picked up by Chicago Oct 23&hellip;Center Mats Sundin began skating on his own Oct 27 and participated in a full practice Oct. 29, less than three weeks after his right ankle was fractured by a shot in a game against Ottawa Oct. 9. Although Sundin said he felt ready, he was scheduled to return to the lineup Nov. 3 against Carolina&hellip;Back-to-back 4-0 shutouts of Dallas Oct. 25 and Atlanta Oct. 27, gave Toronto a streak of 159:36 of shutout hockey&hellip;Entering a game against Calgary Oct 31, Toronto had 21 consecutive three-game winning streaks halted with a loss or tie in the fourth game. &#9632;</div>

f0029-03

Antropov line rolling for Leafs

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04305/7818641-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="147" height="145"></div>The Vancouver Canucks have waited two years for Peter Schaefer to fulfill the promise that he showed in major junior. Their wait is apparently over.Schaefer, 22 and in his third professional season, has emerged as a bona fide Calder Trophy candidate after a sizzling month of October. In the Canucks&rsquo; first 12 games, Schaefer scored six times and assisted on six others.A natural left winger, Schaefer has been converted to the right side and has flourished. He has also been a regular penalty killer for coach Marc Crawford and a point man on the team&rsquo;s impressive power play.&ldquo;The only thing anybody can ask for is an opportunity and as you get more ice time, you&rsquo;ll improve your confidence,&rdquo; as a line that said Schaefer, who dressed for 25 games last season and just qualified 1999-2000 rookie. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to take the goals as they come because there are going to be slumps.&rdquo;If Schaefer isn&rsquo;t getting excited, Crawford certainly is.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re very happy with what Peter Schaefer has done,&rdquo; Crawford said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not satisfied with being a quality NHL player. He wants to be a real top guy.&rdquo;Canucks&rsquo; GM Brian Burke is also counting his blessings.Schaefer, Vancouver&rsquo;s third round pick in the 1995 entry draft, is leading an impressive Canucks&rsquo; rookie corps also includes goalie Kevin Weekes, left winger Steve Kariya and center Artem Chubarov.&ldquo;Three people deserve the credit for Peter&rsquo;s emergence,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;Jack Mcllhargey, who did a nice job of developing him in Syracuse, Marc Crawford, who has given him confidence and put him in roles where he has had a chance to excel, and finally Peter himself, who lacked physical strength last year and generated that on his own. He has always been a smart player and now he&rsquo;s a complete player.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Captain Mark Messier scored his 614th career goal against Philadelphia Oct. 26 to pass Mario Lemieux and move into sixth place on the all-time goals&rsquo; list&hellip; Goalie Kevin Weekes recorded his first career shutout when he beat the Rangers 3-0 at Madison Square Garden Oct 24&hellip;Vancouver acquired goalie Corey Schwab from Atlanta Oct. 29 for a conditional draft pick in 2000. Schwab had been playing with Orlando of the International League&hellip;After leading the league in shorthanded goals last season, Vancouver took the lead in 1999-2000 with five in 12 games&hellip;Vancouver&rsquo;s first road trip of the season was a successful one as they went 3-1-2-0. &#9632;</div>

f0029-04

Freshman Schaefer shapes up

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-011006/7818710-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="469" height="454"></div>Greg Smyth, who has been suspended more times than any player in American League history, was given the boot by his own team.Smyth, 33, was forced to resign as the player/assistant coach with the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs after becoming involved in an off-ice altercation with teammates Jason Bonsignore and David Nemirovsky, both 23.The altercation took place while players were at dinner in Portland, Me., and began when good-natured ribbing turned personal. There was at least a minor physical confrontation involving pushing and shoving between Smyth and Bonsignore.While internal conflicts aren&rsquo;t uncommon, the parent Toronto Maple Leafs were appalled their assistant coach didn&rsquo;t exercise better judgment.&ldquo;Smitty&rsquo;s conduct was not what you expect of an assistant coach,&rdquo; Toronto assistant GM Bill Watters told the Evening Telegram of St. John&rsquo;s, Nfld. &ldquo;We could not tolerate that sort of behavior. I&rsquo;m terribly disappointed.&rdquo;Smyth was given severance pay and became a free agent Oct. 22. The Leafs did not want him to remain as a player on the St. John&rsquo;s defense, where he has played for three seasons.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s finished with the organization, that&rsquo;s it,&rdquo; Watters said.Smyth, whose 1,970 career penalty minutes rank third all-time in the AHL, said the players were trading verbal barbs and he then critiqued their performance. He was upset by what he considered indifferent play by Bonsignore and Nemirovsky, the top offensive players for St. John&rsquo;s.&ldquo;Obviously I pushed the wrong buttons and they pushed the wrong buttons back,&rdquo; said Smyth, who in 14 seasons has been suspended by the AHL 19 times for a total of 65 games for various on-ice transgressions.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d been watching how certain people were playing and it was building up inside. You just expect the players to give what you give when you play and that&rsquo;s not always the case. 1 watched those two players over the first six or seven games and it was frustrating.&rdquo;The frustration reached a boiling point in the restaurant.&ldquo;We bumped each other, pushed each other,&rdquo; Smyth said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re all adults and I was the oldest. I&rsquo;ve made my bed and I have to lie in it.&rdquo;STREAK ENDS: The Rochester Americans fell two games shy of tying the AHL record for most wins to start a season when they lost 3-2 at Kentucky in their 10th game.Mike Craig&rsquo;s&nbsp;power-play goal with 12 seconds remaining gave the Thoroughblades the win.&ldquo;We knocked the big boys off the mountain.&rdquo; said Kentucky coach Roy Sommer.In winning their first nine games of the season, the Americans trailed in just one game, three one-goal deficits in the first period at Hartford Oct. 16 when they rallied for a 6-5 overtime win against the Wolf Pack.OXYGEN, PLEASE: Cincinnati Mighty Ducks&rsquo; rookie goalie Gregg Naumenko withstood a 57-shot barrage by Kentucky to gain a 4-4 tie at Rupp Arena Oct. 22.Naumenko, who played NCAA hockey at Alaska-Anchorage last season, faced a dizzying 26 shots in the second period and made 25 saves.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m so tired I can hardly think straight,&rdquo; Naumenko said.Thoroughblades&rsquo; defenseman Shawn Heins, he of the 106 m-p-h slapshot, launched 14 shots himself. He outshot the Mighty Ducks 8-7 in the second period.IT&rsquo;S ALL IN THE&nbsp;NAME: If you&rsquo;re not named Craig, you apparently can&rsquo;t be among the top goal-scorers in the AHL.Rochester&rsquo;s Craig Fisher led the way after four weeks with 10 goals, while Mike Craig of Kentucky and Craig Ferguson of the Louisville Panthers each had nine. &#9632;

f0031-01

Assistant Smyth axed after din with players

<div class="byline">By Brendan Savage</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02663/7818741-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="520" height="265"></div>Most goaltenders can only dream about shooting the puck into an opponent&rsquo;s net. Not Mike Torchia.The Mohawk Valley Prowlers&rsquo; stopper has done it twice.Torchia&rsquo;s latest goal came Oct. 22 in a United League win over the host B.C. Icemen. He scored into an empty net with 57 seconds remaining to become the third goalie in UHL history to be credited with a goal.The play began when Mohawk Valley&rsquo;s John Vecchiarelli scooped up the puck near center and fired it at the empty B.C. net. Vecchiarelli missed the net, but collected his rebound and shot it into the side of the net before chasing it to the boards along with the other skaters. At that point, the puck squirted down the ice to Torchia, who knew exactly what he was going to do with nobody stationed between him and the Icemen&rsquo;s net.&ldquo;With a two-goal lead, they took away the boards on me so 1 had a lot of room up the middle,&rdquo; Torchia said. &ldquo;I just told my defensemen that if I get it, I was going to go up the middle and to stay out of the way.&rdquo;They did, allowing Torchia to join Flint&rsquo;s Carl Picconatto and the Icemen&rsquo;s Dieter Kochan as the only UHL goalies to score.Picconatto was credited with a goal because he was the last General to touch the puck before a Detroit Falcon player fired it into his own net during a delayed penalty Dec. 26, 1993. Kochan scored into an empty net Jan. 5, 1999 against Winston-Salem.Torchia, whose first empty net goal came in 1991 when he was playing for the Canadian national team, turned aside 39 of 40 shots in beating the Icemen.NOTEBOOK: The Missouri River Otters and Fort Wayne Komets began the season 4-0-0 to share the best start by an expansion team in UHL history&hellip; Fort Wayne drew 8,358 for its opener, the largest opening night crowd in the city&rsquo;s 48-year pro hockey history&hellip;The addition of four cities is being felt at gates. Through 31 games, the UHL was averaging 4,091 fans. That&rsquo;s an increase of 41 per cent over a year ago&hellip;Asheville&rsquo;s 0-5-0 start is the worst in the franchise&rsquo;s nine-year history dating back to the club&rsquo;s days in Brantford. The Smoke was on the verge of matching the worst start in UHL history, 0-6-1 set by Thunder Bay in 1997-98&hellip;Flint&rsquo;s 4-0-0 start was the best in the city&rsquo;s 30-season pro hockey history. &#9632;

f0031-02

Goalie Torchia scores again

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011072/7818772-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="608" height="293"></div>Selling the farm wasn&rsquo;t what the Cleveland Lumbeijacks had in mind to solve an overcrowded roster.Two of the Lumbeijacks&rsquo; best players were reassigned by the parent Chicago Blackhawks to International League rival Houston Aeros.Forward Jeff Daw&nbsp;and defenseman Marty Wilford went sent by the Blackhawks to the defending Turner Cup champion Aeros Oct. 25, raising eyebrows around the IHL. Daw had four goals in nine games for Cleveland and both players had points in their first game with Houston Oct. 25.The Lumbeijacks are in a one-year affiliation agreement with the Blackhawks, who are taking their affiliation to Hampton Roads when it joins the American League next season.The removal of Daw and Wilford was a tough pill to swallow for some Cleveland veterans, especially in the wake of the team&rsquo;s out-of-the-playoffs season a year ago.But the belief remained in the dressing room there&rsquo;s an unwritten rule in Cleveland this season that game scratches must come from players signed by the Jacks and not among those assigned by the Blackhawks.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going on,&rdquo; Cleveland-signed defenseman Eric Lavigne&nbsp;told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. &ldquo;Chicago wants to play Chicago guys and I&rsquo;m not playing. Just because we don&rsquo;t have an NHL contract doesn&rsquo;t mean we are not good players.&rdquo;Lavigne had not played, nor traveled to any of the five road games.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t even feel like I&rsquo;m part of the team,&rdquo; Lavigne said. &ldquo;Who knows if I&rsquo;ll make a road trip this year.&rdquo;Forward Chris Longo also expressed discontent after sitting out two weeks. Among other scratches was veteran Jock Callander, who&rsquo;s chasing the league&rsquo;s all-time scoring record, a feat that has been heavily promoted in the Cleveland area.Owner Larry&nbsp;Gordon, however, denied there&rsquo;s any such team rule and the scratches and loans to Houston were hockey decisions on an overcrowded roster.BOIVIN&rsquo;S BACK:&nbsp;Long Beach Ice Dogs&rsquo; forward Claude Boivin returned to action Oct. 25 in Houston after missing more than two weeks because of a concussion sustained in a game against Utah. Boivin was the victim of Mick Vukota&rsquo;s blind-sided sucker-punch, a cheap shot that knocked him unconscious and cost Vukota an eight-game suspension.RED-HOT BARRIE: Long Beach center Len Barrie, who scored 24 goals in Frankfurt last season, has returned with a vengeance to the IHL. Barrie, with eight goals and 15 points, was the IHL&rsquo;s leading scorer through Oct. 25.DOTTING THE I: With scoring down almost one goal per game in the first month of the season, IHL games are closer than ever. Through 52 games, nearly 31 per cent had gone to shootouts, more than seven per cent higher over the same period last season and more than six per cent higher than the average for the entire 1998-99 season&hellip;Another reason for closer games was poor power plays. The league efficiency average near the end of October was 15.7 per cent, nearly three per cent lower than last year at the same period&hellip;Kalamazoo K-Wings&rsquo; coach Bill McDonald earned his 300th pro coaching win Oct. 20 in Chicago&hellip; The Kansas City Blades began their longest road trip of the season, nine games, Oct. 29. They don&rsquo;t return to Kemper Arena until Nov. 19, when they face the Manitoba Moose. &#9632;

f0032-01

Jack players cry foul over roster decisions

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02724/7818803-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="288" height="299"></div>Mike Morrone may not win all his fights, but the New Orleans Brass left winger appears to have won the biggest battle of his life off the ice.Morrone, a 5-foot-l 1, 220-pound enforcer for the Brass, was diagnosed with seminoma, a form of testicular cancer shortly before Christmas last year. After two major surgeries, one in New Orleans and the other at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, Morrone, 23, has returned to the Brass lineup this season.&lsquo;The thing was I didn&rsquo;t feel sick,&rdquo; Morrone told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. &ldquo;And I couldn&rsquo;t do anything about it. I felt great. But I was sick.&rdquo;At first, team doctors thought it might be an infection, so they treated it with antibiotics. But the pain persisted.&ldquo;It can certainly kill you if it goes undetected and spreads,&rdquo; said Dr. Vince Morelli. &ldquo;But if you reach it early enough, before it spreads to the lymph nodes and the bloodstream, then you&rsquo;re fine and curable.&rdquo;When he first heard the diagnosis, Morrone, who shows no fear on the ice, was really shaken.&ldquo;I remember him (doctor) telling me,&rdquo; Morrone said, &ldquo;I could have two months (to live). I could have one year. I could have 50 years. He didn&rsquo;t know. It was very scary.&rdquo;As soon as he learned of the illness, New Orleans&rsquo; coach Ted Sator got in touch with Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; owner Mike Karmanos, whose wife had died of cancer. Karmanos established the Karmanos Cancer Institute, one of the world&rsquo;s leading cancer treatment facilities.&ldquo;We were devastated when Mike first told us,&rdquo; said Sator, who helped Morrone deal with the initial prognosis. &ldquo;Hopefully, the coaches are around sometimes to do more than just the Xs and Os in the hockey game. These are young men and they are terrific young men.&rdquo;After the second surgery, which found the cancer hadn&rsquo;t spread and that he wouldn&rsquo;t need chemotherapy, Morrone began working out daily to get in shape for the season. With support from his teammates, Morrone made it back and was on the ice when the Brass opened their season Oct. 21 against the Mobile Mysticks.&ldquo;Any surgeries I had coming off injuries, I always rushed back,&rdquo; said Morrone, who is under contract with Carolina. &ldquo;I always wanted to there for the team and get ready&rdquo;BUILDING PROBLEM: The Arkansas RiverBlades&rsquo; home opener Oct. 23 against New Orleans was postponed because of structural problems in the Alltel Arena in North Little Rock, Ark.The arena was scheduled to open Oct. 12 for an National Basketball Association exhibition between the Los Angeles Lakers and Washington Wizards, but was canceled about two hours before tipoff when faulty construction on the arena&rsquo;s raker beams, which support the upper deck, was discovered. Arena officials vowed to have it fixed in time for the RiverBlades&rsquo; opener but it wasn&rsquo;t.The game was postponed until later in the season. &#9632;

f0032-02

Cancer player’s toughest battle

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01974/7818841-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="680" height="232"></div>A bomb scare at the Kingston Memorial Centre was a little too close to home for five American-born members of the Erie Otters.The Otters, trailing the Frontenacs 7-3 after two periods Oct. 22, when the bomb threat was made to 911, decided to forfeit rather than go back inside the arena.Ontario League commissioner Dave MarQueen Branch said no disciplinary action would be taken against Erie or coach Dave MacQueen said the decision not to play was justified.&ldquo;Two periods had been completed, the score was 7-3, the facility was deemed safe by the police and we had a ready, willing and able partner in the Kingston Frontenacs,&rdquo; Branch said.&ldquo;The one remaining element was the Erie Otters. One could not absolutely guarantee that the arena was free and clear&hellip;and there have been some issues (in the U.S.) and one cannot dismiss those issues lightly.&rdquo;Constable Mike Shultz of the Kingston police said the call was received by 911 at 8:45 p.m. The male caller said the bomb would explode in 40 minutes.Kingston municipal workers were on strike, but the union consented to allow the Frontenacs to play a few games without fear of interruption. There were some suspected acts of sabotage such as a malfunctioning compressor at the arena in the days leading up to the game. The strike was settled Oct. 26.Shultz said the arena was cleared, a search conducted and clearance given for the teams and 2,600 spectators to re-enter 65 minutes after the call was received.&ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t matter if we had 100 officers, we couldn&rsquo;t search a building that size satisfactorily,&rdquo; Shultz said. &ldquo;The procedure is to wait until you&rsquo;re comfortable nothing untoward is going to happen, then you lift the evacuation order.&rdquo;MacQueen said his players initially indicated they would finish the game.&ldquo;Just as I was heading back into the arena, (captain) Shane Nash caught up to me and said, &lsquo;You&rsquo;d better come back on the bus.&rsquo; It turned out four or five of our players had legitimate concerns about going back,&rdquo; MacQueen said.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02664/7818834-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="334" height="475"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Campbell</figcaption></div>&ldquo;These are American kids and a lot has been happening in the U.S. and these kids are aware of this. One of them was almost in tears.&rdquo;MacQueen said the players talked about the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado last spring and a shooting at a high school near Erie two years ago.&ldquo;Considering the state of some players, it was a chance I was not willing to take,&rdquo; MacQueen said.&ldquo;There was a 99 per cent chance nothing was going to happen, but that one per cent&hellip;do you carry that for the rest of your life?&rdquo;BULL-ISH: The defending OHL champion Belleville Bulls had a league-leading 65 goals in 12 games.An indication as to their depth in firepower came Oct. 21 when they dealt overage center Peter Campbell to Erie for goalie Corey Batten. Campbell had 45 goals last season for the Owen Sound Platers, but requested a trade because he wasn&rsquo;t getting enough ice time.&ldquo;It took me by surprise,&rdquo; said Bulls&rsquo; coach Lou Crawford. &ldquo;Peter had worked hard in the month he was here to get in shape. Kids don&rsquo;t understand it&rsquo;s a 68-game schedule, not eight games.&ldquo;In Owen Sound he was the go-to guy. Here, he was in a different setting and it was hard for him.&rdquo;MR. SPEAKER: Former Toronto Marlboros&rsquo; goalie Gary Carr was elected Speaker of the Ontario Legislature.Carr, the member of provincial parliament for Halton, played with the Marlies when they won the 1975 Memorial Cup. He was named the most outstanding goalie in the tournament with a 4.04 goals-against average in four games.A Boston Bruins' draft pick, Carr played for eight teams in three minor leagues over seven seasons.Howard Hampton, leader of Ontario&rsquo;s New Democrat Party, played three seasons of U.S. college hockey with Dartmouth. &#9632;

f0033-01

Bomb threat spooks Erie, team gives game to Fronts

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03508/7818879-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="371" height="375"></div>Pavel Brendl&rsquo;s&nbsp;overall improvement is not reflected by his statistics.The Calgary Hitmen sniper-who led the Western League with 73 goals in 68 games last season-scored seven times in his first 11 appearances of 1999-2000.That production is low-for Brendl, anyway-but he is anything but concerned.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to play all over the ice, not just on offense,&rdquo; said Brendl, whom the New York Rangers selected fourth overall in the 1999 NHL entry draft after his 134-point rookie season with Calgary. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to do more than just score. Hopefully that&rsquo;ll work for me.&rdquo;The right winger is still an offensive threat, as evidenced by a 10-game point-scoring streak he carried into the final week of October. But he is trying to work on other dimensions of his game-at the Rangers&rsquo; behest.&ldquo;They told me I should play more without the puck,&rdquo; said Brendl, 18. &ldquo;They want me to work on my defensive play.&rdquo;Calgary coach Dean&nbsp;Clark had expected Brendl to work on his defensive play in New York. Clark was not alone in his thinking.&ldquo;That was probably the problem,&rdquo; Brendl acknowledged. &ldquo;Everyone kept telling me that I&rsquo;d make it. It was a little bit disappointing (to return to junior).&ldquo;A lot of people told me I&rsquo;d make it no matter what and I probably didn&rsquo;t work hard enough in the summer. I wasn&rsquo;t ready for it.&ldquo;It was my first NHL training camp and I didn&rsquo;t know what to expect. Next year, I&rsquo;ll know what&rsquo;s happening and I&rsquo;ll have more of a chance to make the team.&rdquo;THREE&rsquo;S A CROWD: Zdenek Blatny had nine points after seven games with the Seattle Thunderbirds and was the team&rsquo;s second-leading scorer. Then he was traded.An excess of Europeans forced Thunderbirds&rsquo; GM Russ Farwell to ship the Brno, Czech Republic native to the Kootenay Ice Oct. 21. Seattle received right winger Kyle Wanvig, 18, and a future bantam draft pick. Wanvig, who had asked the Ice for a trade, was then dispatched to the Red Deer Rebels for future considerations.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04397/7818872-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="342" height="475"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pavel Brendl</figcaption></div>Blatny was the odd man out after the Calgary Flames returned center Oleg Saprykin to Seattle. The Thunderbirds elected to keep Saprykin and goalie Alex Fomitchev-acquired from the Calgary Hitmen-as their two import players.&ldquo;We obviously had to make room on our roster when one of the best players in the league returns,&rdquo; Farwell said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s unfortunate we can&rsquo;t retain all three. Zdenek has been playing well.&rdquo;Blatny, 18, was the Atlanta Thrashers&rsquo; third round choice in the 1999 draft after 18 goals and 33 points in 44 games as a rookie.UPON FURTHER REVIEW: The Saskatoon Blades have withdrawn from bidding for the 2001 Memorial Cup.That leaves five teams-the Hitmen, Regina Pats, Lethbridge Hurricanes, Prince George Cougars and Kelowna Rockets-in the running for the Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s championship tournament.The three major junior leagues-Westem, Ontario and Quebec-designate a host team for the Memorial Cup on a rotating basis. The 2000 tournament is in Halifax, home of the QMJHL&rsquo;s Mooseheads.The WHL will determine its host city after bids are heard and evaluated Dec. 6 in Calgary.Saskatoon withdrew its proposal to concentrate on its on-ice product.&ldquo;We looked at where we have been as an organization and where we want to be,&rdquo; said Blades&rsquo; owner-president Jack Brodsky, whose team has had four consecutive sub-.500 seasons.NOTEBOOK: Goalie Evan Lindsay, 20, has returned to the Prince Albert Raiders after a stint with the East Coast League&rsquo;s Tallahassee Tiger Sharks. Lindsay, who had a franchise-record 2.84 goals-against average with the Raiders last season, is under contract to the Montreal Canadiens. Tallahassee is the Canadiens&rsquo; secondary affiliate&hellip;The Portland Winter Hawks went undefeated in three games (one win, two ties) after losing their first seven games. &#9632;

f0033-03

Brendl’s scoring pace lagging, but defensive play improves

<div class="byline">By Gordie Sutherland</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011097/7818910-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="510" height="437"></div>Less than a month after returning to Quebec, winger Eric Laplante is out of the Remparts&rsquo; lineup again.The flamboyant Laplante, who rejoined the Remparts after failing to reach a contract agreement with the San Jose Sharks, was front and center in an Oct. 22 brouhaha with the Sherbrooke Castors and his actions earned him a six-game suspension.A bench-clearing b[awl broke out at 18:23 of the second period and Laplante received an automatic five games for leaving the penalty box to rejoin the tray plus an additional game for being the aggressor when he punched Maxim Potapov.Norm Gosselin, Sherbrooke&rsquo;s GM, said a check by Laplante on center Eric Pinoul triggered the fighting.&ldquo;It was a dirty check because Pinoul was trying to recover the puck and he was hit before he touched it,&rdquo; Gosselin said. &ldquo;It was interference. He pushed him on the boards. That could be dangerous.&rdquo;After the hit on Pinoul, Potapov crosschecked Laplante and the fighting ensued.The Castors were assessed a $1,000 fine for being the first team to clear the bench and coach Joe Canale got a four-game suspension, including two for encouraging his players to go over the boards. Bryan Lachance got five games for being the first player off the Sherbrooke bench.The host Remparts, who won the game 4-1, were also fined $500 for leaving the bench and forward Sylvain Plamondon received a three-game suspension, stemming from an attempt-to-injure infraction.Remparts&rsquo; GM Raymond Bolduc said Canale let the incident escalate.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s never nice when everybody is the ice, but Sherbrooke started every thing and we&rsquo;re paying for it,&rdquo; Bolduc said. &ldquo;He (Canale) pushed all of his players on the ice.&rdquo;Quebec League president Gilles Courteau meted out the suspensions based on the report of referee Jean Hould and the videotape of the game."We don&rsquo;t like to see brawling during our hockey games and that&rsquo;s the reason we have severe automatic suspensions,&rdquo; Courteau said.BENOIT BACK: In a classic case of never say never, marquee marksman Mathieu Benoit is back with the Bathurst Titan.The 20-year-old winger was adamant his junior days were over after last season&rsquo;s memorable run in which he helped the Titan to the QMJHL championship. But following an unsuccessful tryout with the American League&rsquo;s Albany River Rats, Benoit decided to return to Bathurst rather than report to the Augusta Lynx of the East Coast League.He had an immediate impact, scoring three points, including a goal, in his Oct. 24 debut as the Titan ended a five-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Montreal Rocket.&ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t supposed to come back,&rdquo; said Titan owner Leo-Guy Morrissette. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m really happy he has and the fans are really happy, too.&rdquo;Benoit, who has competed in two Memorial Cups, scored more than 100 points in each of the last i two seasons and earned accolades last year as the league&rsquo;s playoff MVP.He has done just about everything a junior can do, but Morrissette said he didn&rsquo;t have to offer extra incentives to get Benoit back.&ldquo;He has the same contract as the other two 20-year-old players with my team,&rdquo; Morrissette insisted. &ldquo;He just wants to be seen by the other NHL teams.&rdquo;Although trading Ramzi Abid to the Halifax Mooseheads Oct. 13 appeared to signal the beginning of Bathurst&rsquo;s rebuilding process, Morrissette said it&rsquo;s not a given he&rsquo;ll deal Benoit.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see in January whether we&rsquo;ll go for another Cup or not.&rdquo;To create an overage opening for Benoit, Morrissette is trying to trade forward Alain Charbonneau.BYE-BYE BIRON: Shawinigan Cataractes&rsquo; coach Denis Francoeur has all but said good-bye to defenseman Mathieu Biron.Biron, 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds, became one of the biggest surprises of the pre-season when he cracked the New York Islanders&rsquo; lineup and he appears to be making himself at home on Long Island.&ldquo;The Islanders told Mathieu to find an apartment, so I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;ll be back with our team,&rdquo; said Francoeur of Biron, 19, who had 45 points last season.Biron&rsquo;s departure leaves the Cataractes with a young and inexperienced blueline.&ldquo;We miss him, but I&rsquo;m happy for him,&rdquo; said Shawinigan goalie Mathieu Chouinard. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of my good friends.&rdquo;Francoeur tried to enlist some help for his defense with the free agent signing of Slovak Miroslav Talarovic, who debuted Oct. 21. The Drummondville Voltigeurs selected the highly touted prospect fifth overall in last July&rsquo;s Canadian Hockey League import draft, but were forced to release the 18-year-old to keep returning Europeans Zoltan Batovsky and Miroslav Zalesak. &#9632;

f0034-01

Brawl nets long suspensions

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>Merrimack&rsquo;s Warriors were picked to finish last in the coaches&rsquo; pre-season poll. But regardless of where they finish, there are plenty of positives in the program and a brighter future.The primary source of optimism is the $7.5-million renovation to the Volpe Complex facility, which is the worst in the nine-team league.The renovation is ongoing and is expected to be completed by January, 2002, according to Merrimack coach Chris Serino.The new-look 3,000-seat facility will have a new lobby, an L-shaped concourse, six to eight luxury boxes that will hold 12-15 people each, new dressing rooms, a VIP room, a weight room, coaches offices and a new press area.The ice sheet will be shifted several feet from its current location.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a lot like Providence (Schneider Arena), only nicer,&rdquo; Serino said. &ldquo;We wanted it to be unique and a place people enjoy coming to. We also wanted it to be a place our alumni are proud to see.&rdquo;A few years ago, Merrimack administrators were considering building a new arena, but, instead, decided upon a renovation. Serino said it will aid recruiting efforts.&ldquo;(But) it won&rsquo;t make an impact for a couple years,&rdquo; said the former New Hampshire assistant.SUPER FARKAS: Jeff&nbsp;Farkas was sometimes overshadowed by teammates Brian Gionta. Blake Bellefeuille and Mike Mottau. But this season, the Boston College senior center is casting the shadows. Farkas, who scored 32 goals last season, had six goals and 11 points in his first three games, including a hat trick in a 4-1 win over UMass-Amherst Oct. 23.The third round draft choice of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1997 is considered a legitimate Hobey Baker Award candidate by UMass-Amherst coach Joe Mallen.&ldquo;He had a great individual performance against us,&rdquo; Mallen said. &ldquo;He beat two of our players in 1-on-l situations for one goal. He is slippery, has a quick release and is playing with confidence. He challenges people in 1-on-ls.&rdquo;Farkas was Hockey East&rsquo;s player of the week in games through Oct. 24.NOTEBOOK: Two freshmen goalies picked up their first wins on the first weekend of the season. Northeastern&rsquo;s Mike Gilhooly stopped 32 shots in a 4-1 win over UMass-Amherst Oct. 22 and UMass-Lowell&rsquo;s Cam McCormick rejected 20 shots in a 4-1 win over Northeastern Oct. 24. McCormick was rookie of the week&hellip;Maine defenseman Peter Metcalf was defensive player of the week, in part due to his two goals and two assists in Maine&rsquo;s 6-3 wins over University of New Brunswick (exhibition) and Canisius in their J.C.. Penney Hockey Classic tournament title. Sophomore winger Barrett Heisten. who had two goals and three assists, was tournament MVP&hellip;New Hampshire&rsquo;s 4-3 and 5-3 wins at Lake Superior State Oct. 22-23 meant the Wildcats have swept their last five series. &#9632;

Merrimack arena facelift aims to jumpstart Warrior program

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div>Mike Sertich wanted desperately to coach his Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs in their Western Collegiate Hockey Association season-opening series at Wisconsin, but his body had other ideas.Sertich made the six-hour bus trip with the team despite missing the entire week of practice with pneumonia. He was on the bench to start the series opener Oct. 22 in Madison, but was soon shivering and sweating so badly that he retired to the team hotel. He reportedly was coughing so heavily he was spitting up blood.&ldquo;He had ting better,&rdquo; said Minnesota-Duluth associate coach Jim Knapp. &ldquo;Just before (the opener), his face was gray and he looked awful.&rdquo;The next morning, trainer Terry Hanson drove Sertich 170 miles to Eau Claire, Wis., where they were met by Sertich&rsquo;s wife, Audie. The couple then returned to Duluth, where Mike was admitted to St. Luke&rsquo;s Hospital for tests.Knapp had tried to talk Sertich out of making the trip in the first place."That&rsquo;s all north side of Virginia (Minn.) right there,&rdquo; Knapp said, referring to where Sertich grew up. &ldquo;You tell somebody they can&rsquo;t do something and they say, &lsquo;BS, I&rsquo;m going to do it.&rsquo;&ldquo;I told him, &lsquo;You can&rsquo;t come on this trip.&rsquo; He said, &lsquo;Forget that, I&rsquo;m coming.&rsquo;&rdquo;Sertich was back home Oct. 25, but it&rsquo;s unclear when he will resume his coaching duties.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s important that he not push it too quickly, that he gets his health back first,&rdquo; Knapp said.The Bulldogs were 1-1 without their coach, claiming a 3-1 win over the Badgers in the season opener before dropping a 6-1 decision.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been behind the bench with Serty for 800 games and I was a high school coach, so it wasn&rsquo;t anything new to me,&rdquo; Knapp said.ALL IN THE FAMILY: When Minnesota-Duluth freshman Jon Francisco skated his first shift against Wisconsin Oct. 22, he completed the seventh father-son combination to play for the Bulldogs.Francisco&rsquo;s father, Jon, played for Minnesota-Duluth during the 1973-74 season.ICE TRIBUTE: Minnesota players are wearing the initials &lsquo;KP&rsquo; on their sweaters this season in memory of Kyle Peterson, a former Gophers&rsquo; player from St. Paul who ran the Mariucci Inner City youth hockey program.Peterson died recently following a battle with cancer. &#9632;

Bulldogs’ coach Sertich sidelined by pneumonia

<div class="byline">By Paul Harris</div>It&rsquo;s nothing new Michigan State is allowing an astonishingly low amount of goals-only four in four Central Collegiate Hockey Association games-but the really bad news for opponents is the Spartans have found a goalie to team with standout junior Joe Blackburn.A Livonia. Mich., native, Blackburn set a CCHA record last season with a 1.34 goals-against average. And so far this season, freshman Ryan Miller has an even better GAA and save percentage than Blackburn in virtually the same amount of minutes.Drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the seventh round (138th overall) of last June&rsquo;s NHL draft, Miller was 2-0-0 with a 1.21 GAA and .951 save percentage. Blackbum was 2-1-0 with a 1.99 GAA and .915 save percentage.Michigan State was 4-1-0 overall.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s actually better than I thought he would be as a freshman,&rdquo; said Spartans&rsquo; coach Ron Mason. &ldquo;The thing he has going for him is he has Joe Blackbum as the go-to guy.&rdquo;A native of East Lansing, Mich., where Michigan State is located, Miller has hockey bloodlines. His grandfather and uncle played at Michigan State, as did second cousins Kelly, Kevin and Kip Miller, who moved on to the NHL.He and Blackburn posted back-to-back shutouts over Ohio State Oct. 22-23. Blackburn won 1-0 in the first game, then Miller 6-0. Both goaltenders made 20 saves.ONE-GOAL WONDER: After two shutouts at the hands of Michigan State, Ohio State had only one goal (Eric Meloche Oct. 16 against Western Michigan) in their last 211:28.The Buckeyes (2-5-0 overall and 1-5-0 in the CCHA) had also lost five straight games.The five-game losing streak was Ohio State&rsquo;s first since January, 1997 when it lost six in a row. Back-to-back shutouts hadn&rsquo;t happened to Ohio State since November, 1995.NOTEBOOK: When Alaska-Fairbanks beat Michigan 4-1 Oct. 22 in Fairbanks, it ended an 18-game losing streak to the Wolverines.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s big for our program,&rdquo; said first-year Alaska-Fairbanks&rsquo; coach Guy Gadowsky. &#9632;

Hometown boy Miller filling net for Spartans

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggie</div>A simple move of about 20 feet was all it took to bring Vermont junior Jerry Gernander out of a frustrating offensive slump.Gernander scored just one goal the entire 1998-99 season for the Catamounts, but he broke out with a bang Oct. 23.The native of Coleraine, Minn., whose twin brother, Jim, is also a member of the Vermont team, scored four goals to lead the Cats to a 7-4 victory over Boston University.&ldquo;All we did was move him out to the wing,&rdquo; said Vermont coach Mike Gilligan. &ldquo;It was something we worked on. We felt he would feel less restricted out on the wing because we ask our centers to do a lot in their own end.&rdquo;By moving Gernander to the wing, it allowed Gilligan to put his two best forwards-Gernander and captain Kevin Karlander-side by side.&ldquo;I wanted them on the same line,&rdquo; Gilligan said. &ldquo;I knew either Jerry or Kevin could play the wing, but it was Jerry who slid over.&rdquo;Gernander was a defensive forward when he came to Vermont from the U.S. Junior League, but he surprised everyone by banging in nine goals in 31 games during his freshman year.The strong work ethic the Gernander twins display is in their blood. Their older brother, Ken. has played for the Winnipeg Jets and the New York Rangers in the NHL and is with the Rangers&rsquo; American League affiliate in Hartford this season, Their father, Robert, is chief scout for the Stanley Cup-champion Dallas Stars.FANTER RESIGNS:&nbsp;There has been a change in the Eastern College Athletic Conference&rsquo;s hierarchy.Jeff Fanter,&nbsp;who served as the league&rsquo;s hockey commissioner for two years, announced his resignation early in October.The Indiana native is returning to his home state to take a position as the assistant sports information director at the University of Indiana.ECAC commissioner Phil&nbsp;Buttafuoco said Steve Hagwell, who is in charge of ECAC public relations, will replace Fanter. Because his duties won&rsquo;t be limited just to hockey, Hagwell will have the title of assistant commissioner. &#9632;

Gernander snaps slump with four-goal outburst

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01967/7819058-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01912/7819051-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="3587" height="4187"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01611/7819044-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="3614" height="4209"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01509/7819037-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="3628" height="4209"></div> &#9632;

Search for your favorite player or team

November 12, 1999

Capitals’ inability to hold leads confounds coach Wilson

Jagr plans shooting binge to bolster goal total

Morrison, Elias sign deals to stay in Lamoriello’s lair

ELSTON