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.

January 14, 2000

The Hockey News January 14, 2000

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011411/6939312-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="373" height="530"></div>Once over lightly, but not politely:&#10065; Forget about a Western team winning the Stanley Cup. Dallas has had it and Detroit is too old. It will be either Philadelphia or Toronto going the distance.&#10065; As a captain, person and future Cup winner, Eric Lindros is my choice over Jaromir Jagr.&#10065; Without a skateable surface, a good game turns to slush. So, why after all the studying and specialist-hiring is ice throughout NHL rinks still about as smooth as an avalanche?&#10065; Five will get you 10 if you can name the Nashville Predators&rsquo; coach in 10 seconds and the Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; in 15. Answer at end.&#10065; One of the most interesting back-to-the-past stories is taking place in Greensboro, N.C., where a bustling East Coast League team is thriving where once the NHL held court.&#10065; Why does Gary Bettman regard the shootout as if it were the plague? Every International League fan will confirm a shootout is the most thrilling way to break a tie.&#10065; Never has any hockey personality lived through a difficult experience with more dignity, candor and humor than Roger Neilson. (See pg. 15 for more on Neilson.)&#10065; The best example of a quality foreign player requiring a crash course in English for interviewing purposes is Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; sparkling rookie Maxim Afmogenov.&#10065; Is it mere coincidence the decline and fall of Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; forward Trevor Linden as a hockey star coincided with his crowning as president of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association?&#10065; Granted, New Jersey Devil Scott Gomez is a good story, but the NHL&rsquo;s most underrated-yet-effective rookie is Devils&rsquo; defenseman Brian Rafalski.&#10065; If the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are losing fans with a Paul Kariya-Teemu Selanne marquee tandem, there's a message there for the entire NHL: Ticket prices are too high for the entertainment value.&#10065; Anyone remember when San Jose Sharks&rsquo; right winger Owen Nolan was considered a hopeless project?&#10065; The double-take was invented for the day I looked up and noticed Chris Chelios was the runaway leader in NHL plus-minus.&#10065; No matter how the NHL spins it, the two-ref system overcrowds the already gridlocked ice and inspires one zebra to out-call the other. Translation: The two-ref system still stinks.&#10065; With little fuss or fanfare, Joel Quenneville has become the NHL&rsquo;s best coach, closely followed by Pat Quinn and, of course, Scotty Bowman.&#10065; When it comes to up-and-coming hockey-smart execs, we&rsquo;ll take the NHL&rsquo;s Claude Loiselle in Manhattan and the IHL&rsquo;s Bob Bourne.&#10065; Don&rsquo;t take this the wrong way, but Paul Stewart has matured into a first-rate referee&ndash;the best and most colorful today-since his traumatic illness in 1998.&#10065; Patrick Roy wanting out of Colorado would be a threat I&rsquo;d welcome if I were Bob Hartley.&#10065; If the NHL wants to name a new trophy after a retired star, how about a Pat LaFontaine prize for the most media-friendly player? This year&rsquo;s nominees would include: 1. Matthew Barnaby; 2. Martin Brodeur; 3. Byron Dafoe; 4. Tie Domi; 5. Ray Ferraro; 6. Adam Graves; 7. Bill Guerin; 8. Wade Redden; 9. Jeremy Roenick; 10. Teemu Selanne.&#10065; Barry Trotz is Nashville&rsquo;s coach and Bobby Francis coaches Phoenix.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021087/6939305-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="943" height="1272"><figcaption class="caption-body">Surprise! Chris Chelios leads league in plus-minus rating.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0016-01

COLUMNS

Flyers, Leafs Cup favorites

<div class="byline">By Jett Legwold</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03273/6939805-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="326" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Dunham</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02478/6939812-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="159" height="157"></div>The Nashville Predators seem to have answered the biggest question they carried into the season.That is, whether or not Mike Dunham could really be a No. 1 goaltender.During contract negotiations that were sometimes messy, team officials expressed skepticism&ndash;some posturing, some not-over whether Dunham was durable enough to be a go-to guy.But he has been one of the few constants for the Predators.&ldquo;Mike has emerged as a No. 1 goalie,&rdquo; said Predators&rsquo; captain Tom Fitzgerald. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing with confidence and playing with good health. He&rsquo;s been through a lot of adversity and adversity sometimes makes you a better person and a better player.&rdquo;Dunham bristled at times earlier this season with all of the questions over his contract squabble-he signed a two-year deal as the pre-season drew to a close.He played in 44 games in 1998-99 after suffering repeated groin injuries-finishing with a 16-23-3 record and 3.08 goals-against average&ndash;and that was the reason the team put so many incentives in his new deal that are triggered by games played.Dunham spent most of the off-season in Nashville with a workout regimen designed to keep him healthier this season. And other than a recent bout with the flu, he hadn&rsquo;t missed any time with injuries.&ldquo;One of the challenges for Mike is to play a significant number of games and to play maybe even when tired or even when bruised to continue to elevate his career and move forward,&rdquo; said Predators&rsquo; goaltending coach Mitch Korn. &ldquo;In anybody&rsquo;s career there are comers to turn. Right now Mike has a great frame of mind and is in great physical condition. He feels like he can handle anything.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Rookie center David Legwand was putting up better numbers and he could thank Cliff Ronning. Ronning was moved to wing, to play alongside Legwand&ndash;with Patric Kjellberg on the other wing&ndash;and Legwand put up eight points in a 10-game span&hellip;Jeff Kealty. a 23-year-old defenseman who retired from the Predators&rsquo; International League affiliate in Milwaukee earlier this year because of concussions, told team officials he was consulting with doctors about resuming his playing career&hellip;Left winger Ville Peltonen saw his offensive struggles result in him being scratched twice. After collecting five goals and 10 points in 14 games last season, Peltonen had just three goals and 11 points in 31 games this year. &#9632;

f0021-03

NHL TEAMS

Dunham showing he can be No. 1 Cat in Nashville

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>Brian Noonan never considered retirement. The 34-year-old Boston native, temporarily out of NHL options, instead made an easy choice&ndash;to play where he now considers home for the IHL&rsquo;s Chicago Wolves.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t consider (quitting),&rdquo; Noonan said. &ldquo;Once I stop enjoying it, stop having fun at it, then I&rsquo;ll stop playing. But I wanted to play and this was my first choice for teams in the IHL and even better, they wanted me here.&ldquo;Being able to play for this team is great. They&rsquo;re an older team, they treat you so well, plus this is my hometown now. This is where I live. I&rsquo;ve lived here since I played for the Hawks (1987-1994). I have family here and I don&rsquo;t have to move.&rdquo;The veteran right winger of 629 NHL games signed on with the Indianapolis Ice last season and scored 63 points in 65 games. That, and a demand for experience, led the Phoenix Coyotes to sign him for the stretch run and playoffs. He said the lure of the Stanley Cup would keep him open to similar offers this season, &ldquo;But that&rsquo;s not something I spend every day worrying about,&rdquo; Noonan added. &ldquo;Right now, the is fun here.&rdquo;The IHL certainly has his attention on a nightly basis this season. The Wolves, the league&rsquo;s oldest team with an average age of just under 30, are still the Turner Cup favorites in the eyes of many, but get no bonus points for that status.&ldquo;The league has lost three teams from last year, so there are more players available and having more affiliations with NHL teams, there are more good teams in the IHL this year,&rdquo; said Noonan, who had 14 goals and 24 points through 30 games. &ldquo;I see a big change from just last year. You look out at the scores every night and it seems there are so many more shootouts, probably because there&rsquo;s more parity.&ldquo;I think it is a challenge that we are the oldest team in the league. With affiliations, you&rsquo;re getting a lot of young players who are trying to make their mark and make it to the NHL. You know they are going to go out every night and work hard and play hard because they know they have people watching them.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02562/6940336-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="684" height="274"></div>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s tough about it, but it&rsquo;s what also makes it fun, that you&rsquo;re competing against younger players.&rdquo;BLADES ON MOVE?: Kansas City Blades&rsquo; owner Dan DeVos has made his pitch to city council in Oklahoma City in an attempt to relocate his money-losing team.DeVos has an uphill battle, however. The Oklahoma City Blazers of the Central League are immensely successful and were just recently purchased by local billionaire Robert Funk from co-owners Horn Chen and Brad Lund.The Oklahoma City council has heard hockey presentations from both groups and a decision is expected by Jan. 11 on which franchise it would prefer for the future.Disappointed with attendance in Kansas City and how the city runs Kemper Arena, DeVos said he has not explored any other possible landing places for the Blades.The team has until Feb. 1 to exercise an option to extend its lease at Kemper.HEALTHY&hellip;FINALLY: Defending MVP Brian Wiseman is back on track after a tough start in which he was plagued by injuries. It turns out he played the half of the playoffs last season with a broken hand.The nature of the injury wasn&rsquo;t discovered until August and the domino effect, including surgery, has kept the 28-year-old center from being his best until only recently.&ldquo;That didn&rsquo;t heal completely until the end of September, so I was behind,&rdquo; said Wiseman, who had 14 points in 22 games. &ldquo;The shoulder injury only sat me out of a couple of games, but it was a nagging injury that prevented me from holding guys off of the puck.&rdquo;Wiseman also missed two weeks with a pulled abdominal muscle.DOTTING THE &lsquo;I&rsquo;: NHL veteran forward Derek King was assigned to the Grand Rapids Griffins by the St. Louis Blues Dec. 16 and had six goals in four games&hellip;The Cincinnati Cyclones&rsquo; franchise-record shutout streak of 144:38, all courtesy of goalie Mark Fitzpatrick, was broken by Chicago in a 5-4 Wolves&rsquo; win Dec. 21. &#9632;

f0027-02

LEAGUES

Chicago comfortable home for one-time Hawk Noonan

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01922/6940639-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg"></div><h2>1999-2000 REGULAR SEASON STATISTICS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01933/6940632-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="3281" height="3804"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01841/6940625-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="6556" height="3804"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01820/6940618-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="6610" height="3816"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01485/6940611-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="6538" height="3798"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01411/6940604-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="6598" height="3834"></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

DEPARTMENTS

Statistics

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden </div><div class="byline">Editor-In-Chief</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04706/6938836-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="336" height="422"></div>Playing for the St. Louis Blues, Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils provides goalies a unique opportunity for failure&hellip;personal records notwithstanding.They are the men seldom called upon to win games. Their job is to not lose games. Why? Because their teams routinely have commanding advantages in shots on goal. The result? It can look bad, really bad, when their teams lose.Consider that as the mid-season mark approached, the Blues had outshot the opposition in 25 straight games and recorded 12 games in which they outshot hapless foes by nine or more shots. The Devils and Flyers, meanwhile, had both outshot opponents by nine or more a league-leading 19 times.So, how had the goalies done? Blues&rsquo; No. 1 goalie Roman Turek had lost or tied four games in which teammates outshot the opposition decisively. Jamie McLennan had lost one more. The Hyers&rsquo; tandem of John Vanbiesbrouck and Brian Boucher had lost points in eight games when Philadelphia was nine or more shots better than its foes. The Devils&rsquo; Martin Brodeur had lost points in four of those games and Chris Terreri did the same in one. Of those goalies, however, only Terreri didn&rsquo;t have a winning record.That the Blues led the NHL in goals-against average (2.14) was a testament more to their defensive strength than their goaltending. Both Turek (.906) and McLennan (.894) had save percentages below the league average (.908). They faced the lowest average shots against (22) in the league. The second- and third-lowest totals were registered by Philadelphia (22.9) and New Jersey (24.6).The Hockey News considers a differential of nine or more shots (an average of three per period) as lopsided and tracks team records in those games. There are many in the league establishment who dismiss shots on goal and save percentage as inadequate measures of goaltending performance or territorial advantage. But in the absence of official NHL stats for scoring chances they are the only objective indicators of a team&rsquo;s defensive and goaltending strength. Save percentage is the most under-appreciated stat in the league. Dominik Hasek led the league in SP the past six seasons-setting the record last year (.937). Leading the way this season was the Florida Panthers&rsquo; Trevor Kidd with a .930 markChallenging Kidd for the SP title was Steve Shields. The San Jose goalie led the NHL with points in seven of 12 games the Sharks were outshot by nine or more. Where would the Sharks be without him? In the tank, no doubt.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011513/6938829-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="1675" height="2333"><figcaption class="caption-body">No surrender: Flyers&rsquo; coach Roger Neilson relies on his religious beliefs in his fight against cancer. Pg. 15.</figcaption></div><h2>PLUS</h2><h3>Coffey, Sakic make point</h3>1. Milestones Carolina defenseman Paul Coffey hits 1,500 points; Colorado center Joe Sakic gets 1,000th point.2. Big plus Detroit defenseman Chris Chelios rebounds from off year to lead NHL with a plus-31.3. Back in style Veteran Kirk Muller scores game-winning goal in first game with Dallas Stars.4. Tricky trio Leafs&rsquo; Nik Antropov, Blues&rsquo; Mike Eastwood, Devils&rsquo; Scott Gomez all record first NHL hat tricks.5. Phil &rsquo;er up Calgary defenseman Phil Housely resurrects career, signs two-year extension with an option for a third year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021257/6938822-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="319" height="455"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Coffey</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03937/6938815-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="318" height="452"><figcaption class="caption-body">Boris Mironov (Jim Mclsaac/BBS)</figcaption></div><h2>MINUS</h2><h3>Excitable Bolt goes berserk</h3>1. Lightning strikes Darcy Tucker suspended two games for spearing, sets team record with 49 PIMs in one game.2. Lightning struck Tampa Bay winless in seven games; go 0-3-1-0 against expansion Atlanta Thrashers.3. Kings crowned After terrific start to season, Los Angeles falters, dropping five straight games.4. Boris Mironov After holdout, Chicago defenseman responds with no goals, four assists (minus-9) in 19 games.5. What the Hull is he thinking? ESPN&rsquo;s Bill Clement picks Bill Barber as left winger on his all-century team. &#9632;

f0002-04

IN THIS ISSUE

Blues first in goals against, shots against

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie </div><div class="byline">Associate Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011689/6938867-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Martin Biron Buffalo SabresEric Chouinard</figcaption></div>SKELLEFTEA, Swe.-The United States has always embraced the melting pot philosophy and, when it comes to developing young hockey talent Jeff Jackson would have it no other way.&ldquo;I look at the Slovaks and Czechs and Russian: who are playing (NHL) hockey in the U.S., and and I say, 'Keep &rsquo;em coming," because a lot of them will stay and raise their families here,&rdquo; said Jackson, the head coach of the U.S. national junior team competing at the 2000 World Junior Championship. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had great success with hockey players coming from another country, mostly Canada so far, and bolstering our talent pool. We&rsquo;re hoping for more and more from other countries, too.&rdquo;Jackson need not look further than this year&rsquo;s U.S. team for evidence of first-generation Americans with Canadian hockey bloodlines.Forward Brett Henning, born in Huntington, N.Y., and raised on Long Island and the Twin Cities of Minnesota, is the son of former NHL player and current New York Islanders&rsquo; associate coach Lorne Henning, the pride of Melfort, Sask. Forward Connor Dunlop, born and raised in St. Louis, is the son of former NHLer Blake Dunlop, an Ottawa native who once starred for the 67&rsquo;s before putting down roots in Missouri. And netminder Philippe Sauve, born in Buffalo, N.Y., but raised in Montreal, is the son of former NHL goaltender Bob Sauve.&ldquo;Not only are we getting the American sons of Canadian NHL players,&rdquo; Jackson said, &ldquo;we are getting other former NHL players from Canada getting deeply involved in the U.S. minor hockey system. We&rsquo;re seeing an explosion of young talent coming out of areas like Long Island and St. Louis.&ldquo;Why? Because guys like Gerry Hart are coaching in Long Island. Suddenly, we&rsquo;re seeing all sorts of good young goaltending prospects coming out of St. Louis. Why? Because Lindsay Middlebrook is the goalie coach for the minor teams in the St. Louis area.&rdquo;It will take some time, but Jackson envisions similar minor hockey booms taking place in new NHL markets such as Florida, Dallas, Phoenix and California.&ldquo;There are (former NHL) players there,&rdquo; Jackson said. &ldquo;They have children and they want them to play hockey, so they get involved.&rdquo;Youngsters like Henning and Dunlop are not exceptions. Chris Hartsburg of Colorado College, the son of Mighty Ducks of Anaheim coach Craig Hartsburg, was one of the final cuts on this year&rsquo;s U.S. national junior team. Eric Nystrom, the son of former Islander Bob Nystrom, has joined Jackson's national junior program. So has Sean Murphy, the son of NHL vice-president and former big league player and coach Mike Murphy.&ldquo;I played outdoors in Melfort and my dad was in charge of clearing the snow off the ice,&rdquo; said Lorne Henning.&ldquo;Brett learned most of his hockey playing on the pond across the road from our house in Bloomington, Minn., and my dad would come down from Melfort and he was in charge of snowblowing the snow off the pond. Some things never change.&rdquo;Players like Henning and Dunlop, who both attend University of Notre Dame, are keenly aware of their Canadian heritage, but are red-white-and-blue young Americans.&ldquo;My mom&rsquo;s from Vancouver and my dad&rsquo;s from Ottawa,&rdquo; said Connor Dunlop, &ldquo;so most of my relatives are Canadians, but I&rsquo;m an American.&rdquo;Ditto for Brett Henning, whose formative years were spent in Minnesota and later on a John Tonelli-coached national championship team from Long Island, although there was a two-year stint with Chris Hartsburg when they both played for the Cambridge, Ont., Jr. B Winterhawks. That led to Henning taking out Canadian citizenship, but for expediency more than anything else. It eliminated long waits at the border.Nationalities aside, the father-son connections underline the value and prevalence of bloodlines in hockey. The Canadian team has some interesting family ties (see pg. 3 for more). Former NHLer Mats Hallin&rsquo;s son, Per, is playing for Sweden this year. Marian Hossa&rsquo;s younger brother, Marcel, is playing for the Slovaks.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s obviously something in the genes,&rdquo; Jackson said.And Jackson&rsquo;s desire to have more than Canadians put down roots in U.S. minor hockey is already coming to pass. Hall of Famer Peter Stastny, a native Slovakian, is a big part of die burgeoning youth hockey scene in St. Louis.The U.S. hockey melting pot is at work.Bloodlines run deep at World Junior tournament<h2>Family ties for Biron, Chouinard</h2>When Mathieu Biron was considering whether to play in the 2000 World Junior Championship, he kept it all in the family.The New York Islanders&rsquo; defenseman phoned Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; netminder Martin Biron for some brotherly advice.&ldquo;(Martin) told me his World Junior experience was a very positive experience and I wouldn&rsquo;t regret it if I went, but that I would have to make up my mind for myself,&rdquo; said Biron, who was given final say on whether to leave his NHL team for the junior nats.Martin Biron was a backup goaltender when Canada won gold in 1997 in Geneva.Biron isn&rsquo;t the only member of the Canadian team with some interesting family ties.Forward Eric Chouinard, a first round choice of the Montreal Canadiens, is the son of former NHL 50-goal man Guy Chouinard. In fact, Eric Chouinard was born in Atlanta when his father was a member of the Atlanta Flames.Chouinard could have played for Team USA, but said that was never a serious consideration.&ldquo;(The Americans) talked to me a few times, but I always knew I would play for Canada," said Chouinard, who previously represented Canada in the World Under-18 tournament and the province of Quebec in the World Under-17 tournament.-Bob McKenzie &#9632;

f0003-01

FEATURES

USA: Thanks, Canada

A Canadian study of face protection in hockey reported players who wear full shields on their helmets run no higher risk of injuries than players wearing half shields.The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, eased fears that the greater protection offered by full shields encourages dangerous and careless play. It also confirmed full shields are significantly better at protecting players from facial injuries.&ldquo;Some people think you put a full face shield on, you get a gladiator mentality, you&rsquo;re invincible and the game gets rougher,&rdquo; the study&rsquo;s lead author, Dr. Willem Meeuwisse from the University of Calgary, said in published reports.U.S. college players have been required to wear full face protection since 1980 and there has been debate about its effectiveness in lessening injuries ever since. College coaches asked the NCAA in April to go back to half shields.The study monitored 642 Canadian college players from 22 teams during the 1997-98 season. About half the players wore full shields and the others half shields.Players with full shields incurred 34 face and head injuries, 38 concussions, seven neck injuries and 150 other injuries.Those with half shields had 95 face and head injuries, 41 concussions, nine neck injuries and 202 other injuries.The study also showed players with half shields were 2.3 times more likely to sustain facial injuries and 9.9 times more likely to sustain dental injuries than players with full shields.The NHL requires players to wear helmets, but not face shields. The Hockey News calculated last season that just 14.4 per cent of NHL players wear face protection. &#9632;

Study indicates full face shields don’t promote violent play

Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; superstar right winger Jaromir Jagr was sure to set a single-season all-star voting record in the final two weeks of balloting.Jagr had 610,850 votes as of the latest update (Dec. 21), just 9,938 behind Paul Coffey&rsquo;s 1995-96 record of 620,788. Voting closed Jan.Meanwhile, the NHL announced its selection process for coaches in the Feb. 6 All-Star Game. The coach of the team with the best winning percentage in games played in the Eastern Conference as of Jan. 4 will guide the North American team. The coach of the runner-up team will be the assistant.Similarly, the coach of the team with the best winning percentage in the Western Conference will head the World team with the coach of the runner-up team serving as assistant.HOCKEY 101: Casual hockey fans have spoken and ESPN is listening.The Jan. 9 game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Colorado Avalanche will be a special instruction presentation on ESPN2.The telecast, dubbed &lsquo;NHL Rules!&rsquo; will concentrate on the cause and effect of each pattern of play. Bill Clement and Darren Pang will provide explanation in a rare two-analyst format. They will describe the offensive and defensive strategies and be joined by NHL director of officiating Bryan Lewis, who will discuss rules and penalties. Barry Melrose will also provide analysis via the internet.&ldquo;The idea is two-fold,&rdquo; Lewis said. &ldquo;To educate people with lesser knowledge of the game and to entertain people who do have knowledge of the game. It&rsquo;s not just for beginner fans.&rdquo;The televised product will proceed without a play-by-play call. The analysts instead will provide information when appropriate. There&rsquo;s intent to have the officials miked as well.&ldquo;Even die-hard hockey fans admit hockey is a complicated sport,&rdquo; said Larry Kristiansen, ESPN coordinating producer. &ldquo;This one-of-a-kind production will help educate viewers.&rdquo;<h2>PUCK BRIEFS</h2>DIRECTOR GRETZKY: Having retired from the faceoff dot last season, Wayne Gretzky is dot compatible again, having joined the long list of dot-com companies.The Hall of Famer recently joined forces with fellow retired greats Michael Jordan and John Elway to form a new online sports equipment and apparel company, <a href="http://MVP.com">MVP.com</a> Inc.Elway, a two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback for the Denver Broncos, is chairman, while Gretzky and Jordan, a six-time National Basketball Association champion with the Chicago Bulls, are on the board of directors.The three retired greats all made a financial investment in the new venture and will be actively involved.SPEEDY MARLEAU: San Jose center Patrick Marleau sped around the ice in 13.858 seconds to win the Sharks&rsquo; fastest skater competition.Defenseman Mike Rathje had the hardest shot (98.7 miles-per-hour) and winger Nicklas Sundstrom was 4-for-6 in accuracy shooting.The FedEx SuperSkills competition continues each week for various NHL teams leading up to the Feb. 6 All-Star Game. The Buffalo Sabres (Dec. 30), Carolina Hurricanes and Ottawa Senators (Jan. 2) were next in line.The Vancouver Canucks had their competition Dec. 20 and winger Don&nbsp;aid Brashear was the fastest skater (14.36 seconds), defenseman Adrian Aucoin the hardest shot (99.1 m-p-h) and winger Alexander Mogilny the most accurate shooter (4-for-4).Overall leaders after 17 team competitions were: Philadelphia&rsquo;s Mark Recchi (13.806 seconds), Tampa Bay&rsquo;s Fredrik Modin (102 m-p-h), and a four-way tie in accuracy shooting between Mogilny, Florida&rsquo;s Viktor Kozlov, Boston&rsquo;s Joe Murphy and Philadelphia&rsquo;s Valeri Zelepukin.WHAT A PLUS: Chris Chelios is on pace for his worst offensive season, but his overall game hasn&rsquo;t suffered.The Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; defenseman led the NHL with a plus-31 rating at the December break. He was well ahead of Mighty Ducks of Anaheim winger Paul Kariya, who was plus-19.Chelios, 37, had just two goals and 11 points in 35 games heading into the break. However, he&rsquo;s not on the ice for too many goals against. Chelios was an even or plus in 33 of the 35 games and was averaging more than 24 minutes of ice time per game.NO SUSPENSION: Russia&rsquo;s national under-17 team escaped punishment after an incident two days before the start of the world under-17 tournament in northeastern Ontario.The Russian team was playing a tuneup game Dec. 26 against Newmarket when a bench-clearing brawl erupted. Eleven of the 18 players ejected were Russians. Moreover, goalie Andrei Medvedev shoved an official after a non-penalty call.The Canadian Hockey Association said there will be an investigation, but the Russian team can participate in the tournament which runs until Jan. 3. Other teams involved are Germany, Finland, Quebec, Canada West, Team Ontario, Pacific and Atlantic.QUICK START: The U.S. national women&rsquo;s team got off to a good start at the three-team 1999 Christmas tournament in Lake Placid with a 3-0 win over Russia. Sweden is the third team in the double round-robin tournament.<h2>RED-HOT RED WINGS</h2>The Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; .614 winning percentage in the 1990s ranks among the best of all-time. The Montreal Canadiens of the 1970s top the decade dominators, winning 501 times and losing just 160 in 791 games. Here are the top 10 decade winning percentages.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011632/6938953-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="562" height="472"></div><h2>GRETZKY LED DECADE</h2>Retired great Wayne Gretzky wasn&rsquo;t nearly as prolific offensively in the 1990s compared to the 1980s, but he was still No. 1. Gretzky had 940 points in 675 games during the decade. He had 1,868 points in 781 games during the 1980s. Stats are after Dec. 28 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021173/6938946-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="549" height="475"></div> &#9632;

f0005-01

Jagr on verge of all-star voting record

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie </div><div class="byline">Associate Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011813/6938984-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Canada&rsquo;s Steve McCarthy and goalie Maxime Ouellet hold off Finland&rsquo;s Ossi Vaananen. (Bruce Jessop/IHA)</figcaption></div>SKELLEFTEA, Swe.-There are, to the North American mind, things in international hockey that often amuse, bemuse and confuse.The pool setup at the 2000 World Junior Championship is one that covers all three.&ldquo;Can you tell me how they set up this A pool?&rdquo; said Team Canada defenseman Kyle Rossiter, who wondered aloud how so many competitive nations (Canada, U.S., Czech Republic, Finland and Slovakia) are in the same division while three weaker sisters (Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Switzerland) ended up in the same pool as powerhouses Sweden and Russia.Whether it&rsquo;s the WJC or the World Championship, the composition is determined as a result of the order of finish two years prior. That&rsquo;s International Ice Hockey Federation policy.Teams that finished first, fourth, fifth, eighth and ninth were grouped in one pool while teams that finished second, third, sixth, seventh and 10th comprise the other.The reference point for the 2000 WJC was the 1998 WJC. A few thing have changed since then. Slovakia, which finished ninth in &rsquo;98, has emerged as a quality entry. And Canada&rsquo;s eighth-place finish that year was an anomaly.And some team in the 2000 WJC will pay the price because of it. Four of five teams in each pool advance to the quarterfinal playoff round. That meant one of Ukraine, Kazakhstan or Switzerland would advance while one of five legitimate medal contenders would go home at the end of the round-robin portion of the tournament.Of the first six Pool A games, three finished in ties and two were decided by one goal.Conversely, of the first six Pool B games, none were decided by less than four goals. Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Switzerland were clearly out of their element.But if you were looking for complaints from a team in Pool A, say, Canada, guess again.&ldquo;The IIHF believes it is important for the marketing and organizing of the tournament to set the schedule two years in advance,&rdquo; said Denis Hainault, the Canadian Hockey Association&rsquo;s director of high performance. &ldquo;We agree with the IIHF. In fact, we&rsquo;ve been one of the countries pushing for (the two-year lag time).&rdquo;Hainault figures what goes around comes around, that Canada will enjoy the scheduling benefit of its silver medal in 1999 next year when the tourney is in Russia. The outcome of this year&rsquo;s WJC will be used to determine seedings for the 2002 WJC, which is slated for Pardubice in the Czech Republic.Because of the pool imbalance, it was difficult to tell whether favorites Sweden and Russia were on a championship course. Both won their first two games handily. Their only real round-robin competition was against each other Dec. 29.In Pool A, though, tight, taut hockey was featured and the Czechs, coming off a dismal 1-3-1 performance last year in Winnipeg, were the early leaders with a 1-0-2 mark.Canada and the U.S. were both 1-0-1 to start the event, while Finland (0-1-1) and Slovakia (0-2-1) were battling to avoid elimination.The Czech turnaround can be traced, in part, to a philosophical shift. Last year, the Czech federation refused to use Czech players playing junior in North America and paid the price. This year, five of their top six forwards (Prince Albert&rsquo;s Milan Kraft and Michael Sivek, Sault Ste. Marie&rsquo;s Josef Vasicek, Tri City&rsquo;s Jaroslav Kristek and Kootenay&rsquo;s Jaroslav Svoboda) play in the Canadian Hockey League.&ldquo;My attitude is we should have the best players, regardless of where they play,&rdquo; said Czech team manager Zbynek Kusy. &ldquo;Not everyone in our country agrees. There is the issue of supporting and building Czech hockey in (Czech Republic).&rdquo;Last year&rsquo;s policy cost them the services this year of Calgary Hitmen scoring sensation Pavel Brendl. He rejected an invitation this year because of the snub a year ago.The Czechs were also without their premier junior-aged player. Patrik Stefan, the No. 1 pick in the NHL entry draft last summer, is a regular with the NHL&rsquo;s Atlanta Thrashers.The Czechs are in search of their first gold medal in the 23-year history of the WJC. &#9632;

f0006-01

WJC pool imbalance striking

<div class="byline">By Mike Gibb </div><div class="byline">Stall Writer</div>As far as the National Women&rsquo;s Hockey League is concerned, Y2K couldn&rsquo;t have come at a better time.Since beginning play in September, the NWHL has been searching for a name for their new trophy-jokingly called the &ldquo;Whatnot&rdquo; Trophy-scheduled to be unveiled in March. Well, the search is over.And given the timing, there is no more appropriate name. Whichever of the nine teams that wins the inaugural NWHL championship will be awarded the Millennium Cup.The use of a championship trophy&ndash;which still may find a sponsor&rsquo;s name attached to it-was pivotal to league president Susan Fennell in order to establish the NWHL&rsquo;s credibility and create an icon.&ldquo;Last year, the girls played for T-shirts at the national championship,&rdquo; Fennell said.The Cup is a big step for the fledgling league, which has taken several big strides this season.With nine teams in Canada already-five in Toronto, one in Ottawa and three in Quebec&ndash;and interest from seven other cities in Canada and the U.S., the NWHL is capitalizing on the explosive growth of women&rsquo;s hockey.Vancouver, Portland (Ore.), Calgary, Seattle, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles have all expressed an interest in joining the NWHL, as soon as next season.Teams play a 40-game schedule from September to the weekend of March 18.Fennell is confident a national TV deal in Canada can be reached in time to broadcast the Millennium Cup final in 2000.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going where we want to be,&rdquo; she said.The league has tripled in size from just three teams two years ago. Originally called the Central Ontario Women&rsquo;s Hockey League because all three founding teams were based in the Toronto area, Fennell said it was important to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Hence, the National Women&rsquo;s Hockey League. There is no relationship between the NWHL and the NHL.None of the league&rsquo;s 180 players are paid; in fact, most of the players fork over money for ice time and travel costs. Fennell said about 85 per cent of Canada&rsquo;s national women&rsquo;s team plays in the league, as well as members from the U.S. and Finnish national teams, making it the most highly skilled level of organized women&rsquo;s hockey.There is no age limit, either minimum or maximum, and each team holds tryouts in the spring.Fennell, who can&rsquo;t skate and has two sons, but no daughters, became hooked on women&rsquo;s hockey while watching the gold medal final between Canada and the U.S. at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.&ldquo;We want to expand the league to give every woman a chance to play if she wants,&rdquo; said Fennell, who by day is a regional councillor in the Toronto area. &ldquo;This is still the embryonic stage of the league, but everything is progressing.&rdquo; &#9632;

National Women’s League to play for Millennium Cup

Dave Elston, cartoonist for The Hockey News and Calgary Sun, is one of 12 Canadian artists whose work is featured in the NHL&rsquo;s Visions of Hockey artwork collection.The hockey-themed collection was unveiled in a virtual gallery format on the NHL&rsquo;s website, <a href="http://www.nhl.com">www.nhl.com</a>. It is part of the league's 50th All-Star Game Feb. 6 in Toronto.Elston is the only full-time sports cartoonist in Canada and his book, The Evolution of Hockey, was recently published by McClelland & Stewart Inc. The Calgary artist is joined by 11 others in the Visions of Hockey series including: Larene Bourgeois, John Coburn, Barry Oretsky and Cornelius Spek (all from Toronto), William Roy Brownridge (Calgary), Michel Lapensee (Lachine, Que.), Tony Luciani (Harriston. Ont.), Judy Minor (Aylmer, Ont.), Kupapik Ningeocheak (Sankiluag, Nunavut), Adam Rogers (Vancouver) and Terry Tomalty (St. Bruno, Que.).The collection will be auctioned off Jan. 20 with proceeds going to &lsquo;Hockey Fights Cancer,&rsquo; a joint initiative between the NHL and NHL Players&rsquo; Association. The artwork may also be adapted for a line of merchandise, with a portion of the sales also going to &lsquo;Hockey Fights Cancer.&rsquo;ANOTHER GREAT ONE: Brantford. Ont., is home not only to the greatest player of all-time, but also the top Zamboni driver of &rsquo;99.Jimmy &lsquo;The Iceman' MacNeil got more than 177,000 votes to win the Zamboni driver of the year award. The Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc., is celebrating its 50th anniversary.MacNeil, who drives the Zamboni in Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s hometown, finished ahead of driver Al Sobotka from Detroit&rsquo;s Joe Louis Arena.MacNeil wins a trip to the Feb. 6 2000 NHL All-Star Game in Toronto, just down the road from Brantford.NCAA HALL: The NCAA will unveil a tribute to college athletes in the spring with its Hall of Champions display in Indianapolis.The exhibit will occupy more than 35,000 square feet and display NCAA championship memorabilia from 22 sports, including hockey, since 1921.PUCK BRIEFS &#9632;

Popular cartoonist Elston part of NHL art collection

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011648/6939063-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"></div>Chuck Carlton correctly acknowledges Americans are a decreasing presence in the NHL while the European influence is on the rise (THN. Dec. 3).USA Hockey has addressed this by starting a national team program, based in Ann Arbor, Mich. Carlton says &ldquo;no doubt it&rsquo;s a great start.&rdquo; But many do doubt it&rsquo;s a great start, or the right start. It costs countless dollars, all for about 40 players. If, as Carlton says two paragraphs later, &ldquo;The problem is quantity,&rdquo; then USA Hockey needs to be more far-reaching with its investment.Later, Carlton says, &ldquo;A pending proposal that would open the door for major junior players to join NCAA programs would gut American opportunities at the wrong time.&rdquo; But if the goal is to get more Americans into the NHL, the NCAA rule change would enable more Americans to play major junior. That would raise the level of American play more than the program at Ann Arbor-at no cost to USA Hockey&ndash;and accommodate far more than 40 players. And if they don&rsquo;t realize their pro dreams, those kids can still go to U.S. colleges and play Division I.Debby Bendl,&nbsp;Snowmass, Colo.<h2>Showman Shack</h2>Eddie Shack was not a gifted player and he didn&rsquo;t fight much, but he loved to be on the ice and he&rsquo;s a good pick as the century&rsquo;s most colorful person (THN, Dec. 24).He was like a little kid who was happy just being on the ice. If you gave him the puck, that was a bonus. When he scored a goal, he was like a child with a new pair of skates at Christmas-jumping up and down with that happy, silly grin.You have to love a guy who fills up his wreck of a car with hats in Toronto, drives to Sudbury, sells the hats&ndash;and the car if he didn&rsquo;t like it&ndash;and then goes back to Toronto and does it again.He has to be the most colorful person in hockey-how many others have songs about them?Ray Zabulionis,&nbsp;London, Ont.<h2>Time to act</h2>It&rsquo;s time NHLers criticized not only opponents for cheap shots, but their own teammates. It&rsquo;s time for teams to bench their own players for dirty or dangerous actions. And it&rsquo;s time the NHL implemented adequate punishment for vicious conduct.I love the banging and hitting, but I hate the cowardly elbowing, slashing and attacks from behind. Hockey is the best sport in the world, but don&rsquo;t kill each other over it.Daniel Moore,&nbsp;God&rsquo;s Lake Narrows, Man.<h2>Not your ordinary Joe</h2>This is to all the people that doubted Boston Bruins&rsquo; center Joe Thornton during his first season in 1997-98.Thornton is now the Bruins&rsquo; leading scorer. He is out there on power plays and shorthanded situations. He is fast enough to blow by defensemen and tough enough to run over defensemen. He isn&rsquo;t afraid to drop the gloves to aid a teammate. He has shown that he can score, but he can also center the checking line.And here&rsquo;s the best part: He&rsquo;s only 20 years old.Ben Howard,&nbsp;St. Albans, Vt.<h2>Keen on Keenan</h2>Why does Mike Keenan get such a bad rap?I know he&rsquo;s tough to play for, but didn&rsquo;t he help the Rangers win the Stanley Cup in just one season after 54 years of futility? Why is it they haven&rsquo;t had a great season since?In St. Louis, he traded Brendan Shanahan for Chris Pronger, Shayne Corson for Pierre Turgeon and drafted Michal Handzus and Jochen Hecht. Finally&mdash;I love this one-he got Pavol Demitra from Ottawa for Christer Olsson. These five Keenan-acquired players are the top five Blues&rsquo; scorers this season.I hope the Rangers fire GM Neil Smith and bring in Keenan. At least I&rsquo;ll know the players are earning all that money in practice.Gregg Bodin,&nbsp;Staten Island, N. Y.<h2>No points for creativity</h2>If Jaromir Jagr insists on doing something goofy every time he scores, he could at least come up with something original instead of ripping off gestures from other athletes.Last season it was the mile-high salute-stolen from the NFL&rsquo;s Denver Broncos. This year, he has decided to do a poor imitation of Chicago Cub Sammy Sosa after each goal.Jagr is an incredible goal-scorer, but these copycat antics are growing old. What&rsquo;s next, riding his stick to center ice and pretending to shoot the goalie like Tiger Williams did years ago with the Maple Leafs?Scott Bird,&nbsp;Gillam, Man.<h2>Finally, a ray of hope</h2>I moved to Tampa from Montreal eight years ago and, to my relief, the city was granted an NHL team that began play in 1992.There have been a few highs, like the first victory-an exhibition game against the Minnesota North Stars&ndash;and the thrill of making the playoffs in 1996 and throwing a scare into favored Philadelphia.Then began the nightmare. The comedy of errors with the phantom Japanese ownership group, the follies of the brothers Esposito and Art Williams&rsquo; theatrics almost drove us away.But this is the same town that put 25,000 in the stands for games and this year has been a breath of fresh air. The Lightning may not make the playoffs, but there is stability and hope for the future. For the first time, the team has professional sports ownership and management.Thank you, Rick Dudley and staff.Tom Bekris,&nbsp;Tampa<h2>Minors major deal</h2>I&rsquo;m from a hockey-loving family and living in central New Jersey, we&rsquo;re close to the Devils, Rangers, Islanders and Flyers, as well as the Phantoms (AHL) and Titans (ECHL).So where do we go when we want to see a game? The Phantoms or the Titans! Why? Economics. At Phantom games, we get four seats, four hot dogs and four drinks for $48. Titans' prices are similar.The last NHL game we attended was a New York Rangers&rsquo; game on company tickets. Each ticket was $65 for seats no closer than ones that cost $12 at the minor league games. And the game was boring and the Rangers lost. If we had spent $260 on the four tickets-plus food, drink and parking&ndash;we would have been very disappointed.If NHL owners want to know why they&rsquo;re not selling out, it&rsquo;s the price. Make good seats available at an affordable price and more families would be able to attend.Maria Judice,&nbsp;Hazlet, N.J.<h2>Talent pool shallow</h2>I&rsquo;m tired of hearing about the low scoring in the NHL. The excuses of bigger goalie equipment, a greater emphasis on defense and increased clutching and grabbing are off base.The culprit is expansion. There are 150 players in the league that aren&rsquo;t really NHL-quality. They have to play clutch-and-grab because they don&rsquo;t have the talent to compete with an average NHLer, never mind the stars.Mike Poirier,&nbsp;Coquitlam, B.C.Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 340-2786&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;Letters, THN, in Bay St, Suite 2700. Box 148, Toronto, Ont, M5G 2N8&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, THN. P.O. Box 904. Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947.&nbsp;E-mail us at <a href="mailto:mccaigs@transcontinental.ca">mccaigs@transcontinental.ca</a> Include hometown as well as home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

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Too many bucks for too few pucks

f0008-01

NEW HORIZONS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011511/6939146-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"></div>As far as lists go, this one is heading six feet under.In every issue The Hockey News published in 1999, we made an addition to our Millennium Time Capsule. We&rsquo;ve done our best to include snapshots like Pavel Bure&rsquo;s debut in Florida while still keeping an eye on the bigger picture like the plight of the Ottawa Senators-on and off the ice. Now it&rsquo;s time to bury it until Y3K. Here is the list of our deposits, in chronological order:Jan. 8: Russian gold medal. Russia captures the World Junior Championship with thrilling overtime win against Canada.Jan. 15: Tear Drop. Doug Wickenheiser, the No. 1 pick in 1980, succumbs to brain cancer.Jan. 22: Panthers&rsquo; Jan. 20 game sheet. Pavel Bure scores twice in his debut with Florida.Jan. 29: All-Star Truck. Wayne Gretzky is named the MVP of the all-star game and wins a truck&ndash;the 17th vehicle he has been awarded.Feb. 5: Hall of Fame stick. San Jose prospect Shawn Heins unleashes a record 106 m-p-h shot at United League all-star game.Feb. 12: Blueline. Larry Murphy passes Tim Horton for most games by a defenseman while Ray Bourque is on Murphy&rsquo;s heels.Feb. 19: Eight Stanley Cup banners. Maple Leaf Gardens closes and with it go the eight Cups Toronto won on its ice.Feb. 26: Unproven resume. Rookie coach Dirk Graham is fired by the Chicago Blackhawks.March 5: Small talk. Calgary explains why they traded Theo Fleury to Colorado.March 12: Roberto Luongo: Top Future Watch prospect. New York Islanders&rsquo; goalie of the future named top NHL prospect.March 19: America&rsquo;s scoring king. Calgary defenseman Phil Housley passes Joe Mullen to become highest-scoring American with 1,064th point.March 26: Ken Holland&rsquo;s phone bill. Detroit picks up potent group of players at trade deadline.April 2: Gretzky&rsquo;s 1,072 pucks. Wayne Gretzky passes Gordie Howe to become highest pro goal-scorer.April 9: Ottawa&rsquo;s 24-point season. A 100-point season for Ottawa lays the 1992-93 season to rest.April 16: NHL record book. Wayne Gretzky, who holds 61 NHL records, retires after a 21-year career.April 23: Rocket power. Teemu Selanne captures first Rocket Richard Trophy as NHL&rsquo;s goal leader.May 7: Carolina sweater No. 3. Steve Chiasson dies in truck accident.June 4: Czech championship. Czechs win second world title in four years.June 20: Star Dust. The Dallas Stars win the Stanley CupJuly 2: Atlanta Thrashers&rsquo; jersey. The Thrashers have 46 players to form NHL&rsquo;s newest franchise.July 23: Neil Smith&rsquo;s checkbook. The Rangers&rsquo; GM spends more than $67 million signing a handful of free agents.Aug. 20: Harry Sinden&rsquo;s shoes. The Bruins&rsquo; GM walks away from a $2.8-million arbitration award to Dmitri Khristich, first to ever do so.Aug. 27: Ken Dryden&rsquo;s address. Dryden&rsquo;s speech at the Open Ice Summit sets tone.Sept 3: Glove save in Pittsburgh. Mario Lemieux becomes Pens&rsquo; new owner, rescuing team for second time.Sept. 10: Ron Hextall&rsquo;s goalie stick. The colorful goalie, who revolutionized puckhandling and was the first goalie to score twice, retires.Sept 24:&nbsp;QMJHL game summary. Sixteen-year-old goalie Charline Labonte becomes first female to start and win junior game.Oct 1: Ice pack for Lorne Molleken. Washington GM George McPhee punches Molleken because he felt Chicago iced a goon lineup.Oct 8: Ruslan Salei&rsquo;s rap sheet. Ducks&rsquo; defender suspended 10 games for fourth offense in 20 months.Oct 15: 1,000 Pucks. Millennium man Pierre Turgeon records 1,000th point.Oct 22: Five minutes of exciting hockey. The new 4-on-4 OT receives rave reviews.Oct. 29: A Canadian dollar. The Ottawa Senators are given a $16-million tax break by the provincial government.Nov. 5: Fire wagon hockey. Montreal off to poor start with worst output in 64 seasons.Nov. 12: Alexei Yashin&rsquo;s contract. The Ottawa Senators suspend Yashin after he fails to honor final year of deal.Nov. 19: Geoff Courtnall&rsquo;s helmet. Courtnall becomes latest NHLer to retire due to concussions.Nov. 26: Wayne Gretzky. THN&rsquo;s choice for top NHLer ever finds new office space in hallowed Hockey Hall of Fame.Dec. 3: 1955-56 Montreal Canadiens. THN names this version of the Habs as the best NHL team ever.Dec. 10: 1980 Miracle highlight reel. Herb Brooks, coach of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, returns to the NHL as Pittsburgh&rsquo;s coach.Dec. 17: Gary Bettman, Bob Goodenow. THN mandates sequestering the two until a new CBA is reached.<h2>THN&rsquo;S FINAL DEPOSIT</h2>Dec. 29: A map. The NHL has grown from a modest three-team league in Canada to one that stretches across North America and embraces Europe. The final deposit into THN&rsquo;s Millennium Time Capsule is a map, because you can&rsquo;t get around today&rsquo;s NHL without one.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021079/6939139-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="771" height="447"></div> &#9632;

f0011-01

One last look at 1999

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011637/6939198-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Theoren Fleury as Napoleon (Jim Leary/BBS)</figcaption></div>A thousand years is longer even than it took for the Flyers to give up on Kerry Huffman. It covers more time than the Capitals needed to finally get past the second round, for Larry Hillman to pack it in.In contrast, hockey has been around only as long as Craig Ludwig. Still, history, like Terry Yake in expansion drafts, is cyclical. As many times as we saw Lee Norwood reincarnated, we have to believe that some hockey persons, having more lives than Jody Hull, existed in other eras.The true greats never lose it, they just keep coming back, perhaps more often than Esa Tikkanen. And since we all know the game is an even greater gift to us from God than Tom Barrasso believes himself to be, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the most known hockey personages of recent decades might actually be the latest versions of some of the most momentous figures of the millennium.We asked Ray Bourque, who personally knew most of those people, if he saw the resemblance. He found the similarities were more undeniable than a For Sale sign on Alexei Yashin&rsquo;s lawn. Just to double-check, we ran the theory by Bill Wirtz, who actually lives in the past, and he, too, saw uncanny correlations.Those of us who don&rsquo;t learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them. Anybody but Bryan Berard can see that. So, once every thousand years or so, about as long as it would have been before Harry Sinden gave Dmitri Khristich one more dime, it is instructive to study not only Who&rsquo;s Who, but Who Was Who:Eddie Shore was Vincent Van Gogh This great defenseman bore an eerie resemblance to the one-eared, Dutch psycho-impressionist painter. After threatening to kill Paul Gaugin in a violent seizure worse than ever suffered by Gary Rissling at the sight of Basil McRae, the anguished Van Gogh instead cut off one of his own ears before committing suicide two years later.This wasn&rsquo;t the end of the story, however. Van Gogh returned just 12 years later as a Saskatchewan farm boy and at his first Bruin camp made a bigger impression than any of his broad-stroked paintings ever did during his previous life-time. He promptly lined up a tough guy named Billy Couture, who brought up his stick and left the kid&rsquo;s reincarnated, state-of-the-art ear dangling tenuously from the side of his head.Now, some guys will go to extremes to get out of having to listen to a Jacques Martin pep talk, but even in those days, this was considered rather much. Shore rejected the advice of the Bruins&rsquo; doctor that the appendage would have to come off and set out, the remainder of his flap flapping in the New England winter breeze, to seek another opinion.When he finally found a doctor willing to sew, Shore asked not for novocaine, but a mirror to watch the procedure. Whaddaya think, this dude wasn&rsquo;t crazy? Can&rsquo;t hearrrrrr youuuuu!After retiring as a player, Shore bought an American League team in Springfield where he tied goalies to nets and continued to act madder than a British cow.Maurice Richard was William Wallace Scottish martyr was reborn as Gaullist hero, but as long as he kept slaying the Englishmen from Detroit and Toronto, origin was unimportant and support never lacking.One hundred years before gunpowder was introduced to Europe and 700 before the invention of Boom Boom Geoffrion, Braveheart led a rock-throwing and sword-swallowing (by the Brits) rebellion that briefly gained Scotland its independence from King Edward. So charismatic was Wallace's leadership that when he crowned a linesman and earned a suspension, his followers picked up rocks and celebrated the invention of glass by smashing every piece up and down Ste. Catherine Street.Terrible lea Linasay was Genghis Kahn The brilliant military leader formed the first players&rsquo; association, a modest group of several hundred thousand Mongolians, who overran Xi Xia, Khorezm and the Kipchaks with a devastating series of hipchecks.The heartless manner in which the vanquished were executed became known as the Khan Smite. In his second incarnation, the fierce emperor terrorized a team run by a disciple, Toronto owner Khan Smythe, advancing to Montreal, where he battled the great Eastern warrior Fer Gee. He then commemorated his vanquishing of the Chin Empire by slicing up the chinny-chin-chin of Bill Ezinicki for 15 stitches.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011529/6939191-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="744" height="466"><figcaption class="caption-body">All-time great left wingers Bobby Hull and Karl Marx</figcaption></div>Bobby Hull was Karl Marx Scholars have needlessly debated who was the greatest left winger ever. One soul was shared by a philosopher and social scientist who advocated a society in which robber barons could not get ahead and a hockey player who aimed a 100-mph slap-shot at masked men&rsquo;s heads.Marx&rsquo;s signing with Winnipeg made the WHA viable, freeing the proletariat and eventually luring Eastern Europeans to a New World where, the first sight of the contracts of their dreams caused them to exclaim: &ldquo;Das Kapital!&rdquo;Marx died virtually penniless in London. Some things have not gone entirely tight for Hull since his hockey career ended, too. For instance, it practically broke an old communist&rsquo;s heart when he sired a son who wound up a St. Louis teammate of Charlie Bourgeois. Also, the star has stood accused of occasionally acting out his own vision of Marx&rsquo;s society: Classless.Bobby Orr was Leonardo da Vinci Both in the 16th and 20th centuries, he was way ahead of his time. Da Vinci revolutionized both art and Art Ross by becoming the first defenseman to win the NHL scoring title. Not only did he lead two Renaissance&rsquo;s, but also dabbled as an inventor. Da Vinci did a sketch of a flying machine, which he successfully demonstrated after being tripped by Noel Picard an instant after scoring the 1970 Stanley Cup-winning goal.As they still say in Charlestown, &ldquo;da guy was a genius.&rdquo; He dissected human corpses-like the Rangers in Game 6 of the 1972 final&ndash;and produced accurate drawings of bones, tendons and other body parts. In his most famous painting. The Last Supper, hockey&rsquo;s Jesus is warning the apostles that one of them is about to betray him. Sure enough, it turned out to be Alan Eagleson.Sam Pollock was Nostradamus His book, Centuries, was published in 1555, exactly 400 years before the beginning of the Canadiens&rsquo; dynasty. Coincidence? We think not. The man predicted the rise and fall of Kings (their best team ever slipped on Marty McSorley&rsquo;s banana blade where else but at the Montreal Forum), foresaw the stock market crash (and had the rights to Rejean Houle when the WHA folded), and the dawning of the industrial age (the 1986 Canadiens won a Cup with Mike McPhee as their big gun off the wing). Uncanny.The Man Who Saw Tomorrow traded Ernie Hicke to the Seals for the pick that became Guy Lafleur and compiled more No. 1 draft choices than Molson has kegs. Also, he bequeathed his GM job to Irving Grundman over Scotty Bowman, so this is a guy who knew how to tell a joke, too.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021077/6939184-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="1463" height="2395"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s picture-perfect performances remind many of another magnificent artist.</figcaption></div>Phil Esposito was P.T. Barnum Once claimed there was a sucker born every minute. And all of them ultimately lined up to buy a piece of Esposito&rsquo;s Tampa Bay Lightning at one point or another. Had more mystery investors than a sperm bank. Show business pioneer signed a woman goaltender, a Not So Great Gretzky and despite producing only one team with a winning record, managed to keep the Kjells moving without a tangible sighting of a pea for six years.Max McNab was George Washington First in war, first in peace and GM of a New Jersey Devils&rsquo; team usually first to be eliminated from the playoffs. Never told a lie. Down the stretch of the 1982-83 season, he played it straighter than Tim Higgins went up and down his wing, refusing to make sure a Devils&rsquo; team doomed to finish 34 points out of a playoff spot would not lose two more games and get to pick first in Lemieux's draft year.As the legend has grown, the truth has been chopped down like a cherry tree. Or, like Kent Nilsson, who had the misfortune to be in the vicinity of the crease on a night Ron Hextall was getting lit up. It is hard to believe any GM of the Washington Capitals, which McNab ran before the Devils, would ever have thrown one of Abe Poll in&rsquo;s dollars across the Potomac without suffering serious repercussions.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03802/6939177-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="759" height="483"><figcaption class="caption-body">Passion and power: Rocket Richard and Mel Gibson&rsquo;s Braveheart</figcaption></div>Mario Lemieux was Michaelangelo He did works of grandeur and power and flowing movement that pressed to the extremes of heroism, even tragedy. Of course, he didn&rsquo;t do windows, either the first or second time around.That said, only an artist who had the patience to labor three years on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel would see nothing wrong with signing a deferred-money contract with Howard Baldwin, risking the loss of shirt and pants, just the way David was sculpted by Michaelangelo.Wayne Gretzky was Thomas Edison The most inventive person who ever lived twice didn&rsquo;t sleep well after coming up with the fight bulb. He had to return to test them 894 times over 20 years in hockey rinks in two nations. Edison also held the patent on records, which explains why he so diabolically smashed old ones to make new ones.Scotty Bowman is Ulysses S. Grant Came out of retirement to defeat the Confederates with bold, relentless, sometimes unpredictable, strikes. Won an unconditional surrender at Vicksburg and from every P.R. person with whom he has ever worked. Suffered considerable criticism for the heavy casualties in his campaign, but franchise owners like Abraham Lincoln have always recognized the man gets results.The general had limited success in larger roles like President of the United States and as GM in Buffalo, but tactically goes down as one of the greatest field generals in history. Angled off both Robert E. Lee at Appomattox and Claude Lemieux in the McNicholls Arena parking lot.Theo Fleury is Napoleon The Little Emperor lost to Lord Nelson&rsquo;s British fleet at the Battle of the Nile. He recovered to whip up on some Egyptians, but when Napoleon&rsquo;s army was infected with the plague, he ended up beaten by his own captured artillery. We could have told you the Avalanche never should have let Mike Keane go.After barely missing capture by a British cruiser off Sicily, Napoleon became a free agent and hustled back to France, where he told tales taller than he was about his great victories in North Africa.The French people, beset by economic woes and government crises, bought into Napoleon as the great healer. Like the Rangers, they would buy anything. The famed pose of Napoleon with his hand inside his shirt came alive again as Fleury double-checked to see where he had misplaced the Avalanche&rsquo;s offer to keep him.We don&rsquo;t know how making him an Emperor again is going to come out, but hopefully it will go better than the last time.Then, Napoleon was deposed to the Isle of Elba, where today Bob Gutkowski is trying to build a Napoleanic Complex with an 18,000-seat arena and commercial development.Wayne Gretzky was Thomas Edison and the light bulb inventor lit up more goaltenders than any other ice great, past or present &#9632;

f0012-01

SPIRIT of HOCKEY

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011626/6939236-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="314" height="427"></div>The New York Islanders have been charged with breaking promises to rebuild a winner and entering into no sincere attempts to negotiate for a new arena. They had an owner who committed fraud, have assaulted their fans&rsquo; sensibilities and committed battery of the franchise&rsquo;s proud history.They have faced more counts of abandonment than former Ottawa Senator GMs Pierre Gauthier and Rick Dudley, committed conspiracies to dump salaries, once even pondered interstate flight to avoid paying the rent.But the latest Islander outrage is even more unspeakable than the franchise, five years removed from the playoffs, has become as a topic for talk radio in a nine-team market. In late December, the organization was arraigned for endangering the welfare of a child.In their latest salary dump, the Islanders traded goaltender Felix Potvin to the Vancouver Canucks. The wolf, at the door for years, has been let it in to eat at 20-year-old Roberto Luongo&rsquo;s flesh, after finishing with the bare bones stacked in front of him.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m scared to death,&rdquo; said Islanders&rsquo; GM Mike Milbury. &ldquo;But Roberto&rsquo;s not and I guess that&rsquo;s what counts. His most dominating characteristic is his composure. Really, nothing seems to faze him.&ldquo;Somebody asked him what it was like in the American League and he said &lsquo;Aw, there&rsquo;s not much there.&rsquo; Sure, I&rsquo;m worried we are asking too much, too soon. But I think he needs a challenge.&rdquo;Everybody can use a challenge. But kids at important stages of their development don&rsquo;t need an ordeal. The Islanders, whose go-to guy is Brad Isbister, manage just more than two goals per game, have whole periods where they can&rsquo;t get over the opposition&rsquo;s blueline and stretches where they don&rsquo;t seem to have any clue behind their own. They are barely exceeding subterranean expectations.That said, so far they have bounced back from every non-competitive game by showing they care, which is more than their owners do. Veterans, of which the Islanders have precious few left, are more likely to become disillusioned by the hopelessness of the situation than the kids, who, at this stage of their careers, would happily take their pay in fish sticks.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021227/6939229-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="1787" height="2597"><figcaption class="caption-body">Roberto Luongo is confident he can handle the pressure playing behind an inexperienced Islanders&rsquo; team. (John Giamundo/BBS)</figcaption></div>As the fourth player taken in the 1997 entry draft, the highest goaltending selection ever, Luongo isn't of a mind he&rsquo;s being rushed, more like he&rsquo;s overdue.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s logical to think this is too soon for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In the past, a lot of goalies got burned being brought up young. But I am not the same person they are.&ldquo;I can handle the pressure. As long as I don&rsquo;t get discouraged, come to practice to work hard, I don&rsquo;t see how I am going to have a problem. I am ready for this. I have been waiting for it my whole life. I&rsquo;ll work as hard as I can at my dream.&rdquo;At 6-foot-3 and 175 pounds, the kid fills much more of the net than Islander fans do seats. He has a glove hand faster than John Spano&rsquo;s to endorse a loan check. Luongo stoned the Boston Bruins at FleetCenter in a memorable debut and has since shut out the Bruins and beaten the New Jersey Devils. He may not know what is best for him in the long run, but perhaps ignorance is bliss.The franchise has fallen off the map, so this really is a low-pressure deal. Goalie Kevin Weekes, who came over from the Canucks in the Potvin deal with two forwards who can play, Bill Muckalt and Dave Scatchard, will get close to half of the starts.So it is not as if Luongo faces the schedule alone, or when left to his own devices, doesn&rsquo;t already know a few tricks to get him through.&ldquo;The first time I saw him in training camp two years ago, I said, &lsquo;Wow!&rsquo;&rdquo; said Islander right winger Gino Odjick. &ldquo;Here was an 18-year-old kid turning his pad slightly so the rebound goes to the comer. He has good fundamentals, backs them up with great reflexes and never gives up. He&rsquo;ll throw his stick or glove across and most times the puck hits them.&rdquo;Asked how he handles a bad goal, Luongo shrugged.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t do anything about those,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You can only make it worse if you dwell on them.&rdquo;In late December, the Pittsburgh Penguins broke a scoreless tie with three good goals in less than five minutes in the third period. Luongo still was stopping breakaways to the end, trying to keep his team in a game it was going to win maybe one out of a million, which is what the scouts call a goaltending prospect like him.We&rsquo;re the first to shake our heads at how NHL teams eat their young, but the Islanders don&rsquo;t have much to put on the table. So if the situation isn&rsquo;t ideal, well, Luongo still looks like the real deal.And if the Islanders don&rsquo;t kill him first, inevitably they will make him stronger. &#9632;

f0014-01

Isles throw Luongo to wolves

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011497/6939274-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="372" height="481"></div>Roger Neilson will not wave a white flag and surrender in this battle. No towels on the end of a hockey stick this time.That's because Neilson&rsquo;s ally in his fight of all fights-against bone marrow cancer-is God. Not Harold Snepsts or Darcy Rota.Neilson has already begun medical treatments to drive the cancer out of his body. Other than that, not much else in his life has changed. The 65-year-old coach of the Philadelphia Flyers goes about his business comforted by religious beliefs that have guided him most of his life.&ldquo;I was raised in a Christian family,&rdquo; Neilson said. "One day, when I was a kid, I went forward and told God I&rsquo;d let him take over my life. I&rsquo;ve relied on my faith all through my life.&ldquo;I believe in the bible. I believe in God. I believe as you go through life you can get guidance and strength to deal with the peaks and valleys you face. To be honest with you, I don&rsquo;t know how a person who doesn&rsquo;t believe in God gets through something like (cancer).&rdquo;Since it was announced in early December he had cancer, Neilson&rsquo;s religious convictions have garnered as much attention as his love for video as a teaching tool. People seem to think it&rsquo;s a big deal that Neilson is a Christian.Those closest to Neilson know he has always lived a Christian lifestyle. He never curses, he reads the bible and he prays. He attends church regularly, a Presbyterian church in New Jersey during the winter months and a non-denominational church in Lakefield, Ont., when he&rsquo;s home in the summer. Neilson said he doesn&rsquo;t get hung up on denomination, but rather enjoys a special 1-on-l relationship with the Lord.Those who only know him as a coach might be surprised at his religious conviction, based on the fact he has always employed tough guys. To put it bluntly, Neilson likes goon hockey. OK, that might be a little strong, but there&rsquo;s no denying he embraces fighting, like defensive hockey, as a tactic he&rsquo;ll gladly use if he thinks it will help him earn a victory.And Neilson doesn&rsquo;t see a contradiction in living a religious lifestyle on one hand and sending a player out to beat up another player on the other.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s because fighting is part of the game,&rdquo; said Neilson matter-of-factly. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s in the rules. A player who is a fighter or an enforcer has a job to do. Look at a guy like Anaheim&rsquo;s Stu Grimson. He knows he has a job to do and he does it. Off the ice he&rsquo;s a quiet, religious guy. A lot of fighters are gentle people off the ice.&rdquo;As fond as Neilson is of the defensive stalwarts he has tutored over the years-Doug Jarvis, Bob Gainey, Craig Ramsay and current pet, Jody Hull-he has always held a place close to his heart for his fighters. It was Neilson who first discovered Stan Jonathan and employed him as one of the most feared fighters in junior hockey with the Peterborough Petes. Kurt Walker and Scott Garland likely never would have made it to the NHL if not for Neilson&rsquo;s insistence teams need policemen.Tiger Williams, Kris King, Tie Domi, Jim Nill, Troy Mallette, Mark Janssens, Joey Kocur, Jeff Beukeboom, Brent Severyn and Paul Laus are among the soldiers who have gone to war for Neilson. His goons, er, enforcers with the Flyers are Sandy McCarthy and Craig Berube.NHL senior vice-president Colin Campbell did his share of scrapping for Neilson as a defenseman with the Petes and Vancouver Canucks. And he served as one of Neilson&rsquo;s assistant coaches with the New York Rangers. Campbell recalls the days Neilson would start five tough guys, himself included, to intimidate the opposition.&ldquo;That was in the day when the (brawling) Philadelphia Flyers ruled the ice,&rdquo; Campbell said.Campbell and Neilson remain close friends today.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021044/6939267-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="369" height="480"><figcaption class="caption-body">Roger Neilson</figcaption></div>&ldquo;The thing about Roger and his beliefs is, they are his beliefs and he doesn&rsquo;t push them on other people,&rdquo; Campbell said. &ldquo;He just accepts people for who they are. I think that&rsquo;s why people are so fond of him.&rdquo;There are a number of Christian players in the NHL, Adam Burt and John Vanbiesbrouck of the Flyers among them, and Neilson said they often come together in the off-season with their families. They, along with many others, are praying for Neilson&rsquo;s return to health.As for Neilson, well, not surprisingly he remains devoted to coaching the Flyers. What will be, he said, will be.You know, since I got cancer a lot of people have asked me if I&rsquo;m afraid of dying,&rdquo; Neilson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not as though I want to die. Nobody wants to die. But I can truly say I am not the least bit afraid. I believe God has a plan for me beyond this life." &#9632;

f0015-01

Faith guides tough coach

<div class="byline">By Bill Plunkett</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011264/6939343-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="158" height="160"></div>The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim have been consistent only in their inconsistency this season.Further proof of that came Dec. 27 when the Ducks failed to maintain a first period stranglehold on the Edmonton Oilers and lost 4-1. Anaheim outshot Edmonton 16-7 in the first period, keeping the puck in the Oilers&rsquo; zone for more than nine minutes of the period and scoring the frame&rsquo;s only goal.&ldquo;This is a good lesson that in this game you have to be consistent, you have to play for 60 minutes,&rdquo; said right winger Teemu Selanne.But with an 8-3-2-0 record in a 13-game stretch, it appeared the Mighty Ducks had learned that lesson and were ready to move on to other parts of the NHL curriculum.Not so.Inconsistency is nothing new for the Ducks. Teams they expect to be easy marks-playoff outsiders such as the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, Tampa Bay Lightning and Edmonton-have a way of surprising the Ducks. Anaheim was 4-4-1 this season against those teams.The Ducks recently went on their longest winning streak of the season-four games in mid-December&ndash;and beat such Western Conference powerhouses as the Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings, but the streak ended with an 8-2 thrashing at the hands of the Phoenix Coyotes.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s still a process,&rdquo; Selanne said. &ldquo;Every shift is so important.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goalie Dominic Roussel endured a headache on the way to his first shutout of the season. With 1:55 left in a 1-0 game against San Jose Dec. 26, Roussel collided with the Sharks&rsquo; Ron Sutter. &ldquo;I remember telling the trainer (Chris Phillips). &lsquo;Good job getting out here so quick." " Roussel said. "He said, &lsquo;Actually, it took me awhile.&rsquo; So, 1 guess I must have been out of it for a minute. When I opened my eyes and looked around, everything was where it should be. So I figured I was OK." Roussel finished the game&hellip;The Ducks are having trouble drawing at home, averaging 14,012 fans this season, down 11 per cent from 1998-99. But that's not the case on the road. They played to sell-out crowds in San Jose Dec. 26 and Edmonton Dec. 27. &#9632;

f0017-01

Ducks aiming to fly right in up-and-down season

<div class="byline">By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03690/6939374-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="325" height="441"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jason Allison</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02957/6939381-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="157" height="155"></div>It has been a nagging pain both physically and psychologically for Boston Bruins&rsquo; center Jason Allison, who has been playing since last spring with an injured right wrist.Allison finally received some concrete news Dec. 28 on his condition after undergoing tests at Massachusetts General Hospital. Allison. 24, was faced with a tough decision&ndash;either have surgery immediately to replace the tom tendon in his wrist and miss the next three to four months or continue playing in what is often excruciating pain.Allison said he was told by doctors the situation wouldn&rsquo;t get any worse and if he wants to play, he can if he can bear the discomfort.&ldquo;I was more scared than I am now because it was getting to the point where I was thinking, &lsquo;Is this ever going to get better whether I take time off or not?&rsquo;&rdquo; Allison said. &ldquo;But they found the problem and there&rsquo;s a solution so that&rsquo;s peace of mind for me.&rdquo;Allison, who had seven goals and 25 points in 33 games, said he wouldn&rsquo;t make his decision until talking with his family and consulting with Bruins&rsquo; GM-president Harry Sinden Dec. 29. He was even toying with the idea of playing one more game before deciding.Allison has been frustrated because of his varying effectiveness. Some nights he could take faceoffs, other nights he couldn&rsquo;t. Some nights he felt strong and others he had trouble handling the puck.Allison is set to become a restricted free agent this summer. Sinden said he&rsquo;d consider extending Allison&rsquo;s contract a year in order to avoid the whole situation this summer.&ldquo;If he played the year out and scored 50 goals, he&rsquo;d be in a great position,&rdquo; Sinden said. &ldquo;If he plays it out and things don&rsquo;t go right, then what then? Maybe we can resolve that between us. We&rsquo;re going to try.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Ray Bourque played his 1,488th NHL game against Montreal Dec. 23 and surpassed Wayne Gretzky to take over fifth place on the league&rsquo;s all-time games played list. The players ahead of Bourque are Gordie Howe (1,767), Alex Delvecchio (1,549), John Bucyk (1,540) and Detroit defenseman Larry Murphy (1,514)&hellip;The Bruins&rsquo; 2-7-4 skid had some speculating coach Pat Burns&rsquo; job could be in jeopardy. Bums is in the third year of a four-year deal that pays him $850,000 (and $950,000 next year). Bums said he was brushing it off and hoped his team would, too. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen it before and I&rsquo;ve heard it before and I&rsquo;ve seen it many times before,&rdquo; Bums said. &lsquo;There&rsquo;s not a whole lot you can do about it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0017-03

Allison faces tough call, play hurt or face surgery?

<div class="byline">By Jell Schultz</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04506/6939412-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="158" height="159"></div>It&rsquo;s not difficult to scan a dressing room and pick out which goalie is fresh out of the minors. The pads and gloves aren&rsquo;t color coordinated. The sticks aren&rsquo;t personalized by the manufacturer, but carry a generic name.Then there is the mask. In this era of elaborately decorated headgear, Scott Fankhouser&rsquo;s mask is painted white and has a few Atlanta Thrashers&rsquo; decals stuck on it.Best to keep things simple for now.There&rsquo;s no telling what might happen next for a 24-year-old rookie who in the past six months has gone from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell to Greenville (East Coast League) to Orlando (International League) to heaven.That&rsquo;s just where Fankhouser thought he had landed when, as the Thrashers&rsquo; fifth goalie of the season, he came off the bench to stop 36 of 38 shots in his NHL debut in the Thrashers&rsquo; improbable comeback 4-4 tie against the Philadelphia Flyers Dec. 23. Four nights later, Fankhouser nearly helped Atlanta engineer an upset in Detroit, stopping 37 of 40 shots, though the Red Wings prevailed in overtime 3-2.This was a welcome departure in Atlanta, where Damian Rhodes struggled before injuring his ankle and Norm Maracle has been inconsistent.&ldquo;All year long we&rsquo;ve been waiting for our goaltending to stand up,&rdquo; said coach Curt Fraser. &ldquo;Well, this kid is doing a tremendous job. He&rsquo;s giving us a chance to win and that&rsquo;s all we want.&rdquo;Said Fankhouser: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a strange world. Some guys get breaks and I&rsquo;m starting to get mine, so I&rsquo;m trying to make the most of it. If they want to put me in the East Coast League for the rest of the year, that&rsquo;s fine with me, as long as I get to play some games.&rdquo;Fankhouser was an 11th round draft pick of St. Louis in 1994, but the Blues never signed him. The Thrashers signed him as a free agent.NOTEBOOK: Goalie Damian Rhodes remained sidelined with an ankle sprain that has lingered since Nov. 17. GM Don Waddell said he will start exploring trade options to bring in another goalie if it remained uncertain whether Rhodes would return by mid-January&hellip; Atlanta finally has a dependable forward line: rookie center Patrik Stefan between left winger Andrew Brunette and right winger Dean Sylvester. The three combined for seven goals and 16 points in their first five games&hellip;Center Ray Ferraro, slumping with one goal in 12 games, was a healthy scratch for the first time this season Dec. 23 against Philadelphia. Ferraro came back the next game against Tampa Bay to score a goal. &#9632;

f0017-04

Fankhouser surprise saver for Thrashers

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011295/6939443-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="159" height="160"></div>Dominik Hasek and Dixon Ward both stirred the pot in Buffalo recently, but only Ward was backtracking.A report in the Buffalo News, not denied by Ward, indicated the veteran right winger wanted out of the Sabres&rsquo; camp and was demanding to be traded. Once the story hit the papers, Ward waited a day, then without denying the report, said his problems in Buffalo were his own and that he wanted to stay.Ward has struggled this season and been a healthy scratch four times. He was also taken off the No. 1 line in recent weeks and has played with a variety of forwards not named Michael Peca or Vaclav Varada.In backing away from the trade demand, Ward said he was frustrated by the changes, but his best NHL opportunity is likely still in Buffalo and he wants to make that happen.Meanwhile, Hasek continued to make statements muddying his future. He was quoted both in Buffalo and the Czech Republic as saying he might consider playing another season after this one. The reason, he stated, was that he did not want his season to end this way-he&rsquo;s on injured reserve with a groin injury and has been out of the lineup since October.The statement was met with extremely guarded reaction in Buffalo. Coach Lindy Ruff said Hasek may be looking too far ahead and the primary goal is to get him healthy and playing again sometime this season.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Geoff Sanderson scored against the Devils in a 4-1 loss Dec. 27 at New Jersey. It was Sanderson&rsquo;s second goal in as many games; he also tallied in a 2-1 win vs. Colorado Dec. 23. The goals were the first since Oct. 29 for the struggling forward, who had been the subject of several trade rumors&hellip;Goalie Martin Biron got the win against Colorado, but was yanked after giving up three goals to the Devils, including breakaway goals set up by Buffalo defensemen Cory Sarich and Jason Woolley. The 22-year-old goalie also surrendered three goals on five shots against Detroit Dec. 29. Still, Biron had been stunning in other games and appeared to have cemented himself as the Sabres&rsquo; go-to goalie for this season and many more. &#9632;

f0018-01

Miffed Ward, gimpy Hasek send Sabres mixed signals

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03668/6939474-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="337" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rene Corbet</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02961/6939481-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="158" height="160"></div>Rene Corbet&rsquo;s difficult season took a turn for the better when he finally returned to the Calgary Flames&rsquo; lineup just before Christmas.Corbet was the most visible of the four players Calgary received from the Colorado Avalanche Fleury last spring, but his in exchange for Theo time with the Flames has been spent mostly perched on the sidelines.In the 55 games the Flames had played since the trade, Corbet spent 22 on the injured list. And when he wasn&rsquo;t sitting, he was playing hurt.Corbet was hobbled with groin problems last spring and early this season, then suffered a cracked ankle after taking a shot off the stick of teammate Marc Savard. The ankle injury side-lined him for six weeks.&ldquo;It was just a wrist shot,&rdquo; Corbet said, &ldquo;but it caught me in a bad place. I&rsquo;ve stopped harder shots there and nothing happened. I suppose it was just meant to be. The good news is, it gave a break to my groin. I don&rsquo;t want to say it was good timing (breaking his foot), but everything is positive right now.&rdquo;Corbet, who had a goal and five points in 17 games this season, doesn&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;ll take a long time to catch up.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s my first full season with the Flames, so right now, I think of this as a new start,&rdquo; said the 26-year-old left winger. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking to have a good finish, to be part of the success of this team.&rdquo;The Flames originally installed Corbet on a line with Savard and Jarome Iginla, but eventually switched him to the No. 1 unit of Jeff Shantz and Valeri Bure.Of his return, Corbet said: &ldquo;It went pretty well considering I&rsquo;d missed six weeks. I&rsquo;d been skating pretty hard for two weeks. The training staff made sure 1 was ready. It was exciting to get back.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Phil Housley, who would have been a free agent at the end of the season, signed a two-year extension Dec. 28. He signed because of his good relationship with coach Brian Sutter and the desire not to relocate his family. Reports indicated the deal was worth $2.5 million per season and included a team option for a third year. He was tied for fourth among NHL defensemen with 27 points&hellip;The Eames ignited a controversy when they signed Sutter&rsquo;s son, Shaun, to a three-year deal that included a $225,000 signing bonus. Sutter, a 19-year-old center, had just one goal in 24 games with Medicine Hat of the Western League. &ldquo;Just because his name is Sutter doesn&rsquo;t mean he should make less money,&rdquo; said Flames&rsquo; GM Al Coates. &#9632;

f0018-03

Corbet remains optimistic despite injury-filled year

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04420/6939512-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="161" height="160"></div>Keith Primeau is stealing a page from the Alexei Yashin contract negotiation handbook.Primeau rejected the Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; &ldquo;final&rdquo; contract offer, a two-year, $6-million deal, on Dec. 28 and it appeared he would sit out the entire season.&ldquo;I refuse to make an apology for doing what I think is right for me and my family, without coming off bold or crass,&rdquo; Primeau said.Reports indicated Primeau was looking for a four-year, $17-million deal.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m willing to compromise, but I&rsquo;m not willing to jeopardize my position,&rdquo; Primeau said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to sign for less than my market value.&rdquo;Hurricanes&rsquo; GM Jim Rutherford said he wasn&rsquo;t going to shop Primeau around the league, but he would listen to any offers submitted. &ldquo;I said we weren&rsquo;t going to move him, it was more based on other teams calling and checking,&rdquo; Rutherford said.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t call people to see because I didn&rsquo;t feel it was right. But I&rsquo;ve talked to three or four teams on a more serious basis and they didn&rsquo;t express enough interest to make a proposal that made any sense.&rdquo;Primeau, Carolina&rsquo;s leading scorer last year with 30 goals and 62 points, is a restricted free agent, and Rutherford has said the Canes would match any offer made by another team.While Primeau, a restricted free agent, is in a different situation than Yashin, the former Ottawa Senators&rsquo; captain who is sitting out while still under contract, both appear ready to miss this season in order to satisfy their principles.Rutherford sent Primeau a letter the day before the deadline informing him of Carolina&rsquo;s final offer and of the expiration date. Primeau said after reading it, he immediately tossed it out. &ldquo;Not a lot of people can throw $3 million in the trash,&rdquo; Rutherford said.The Hockey News determined in November that two-way NHL forwards earn in the range of $1.5-3.5 million a year.NOTEBOOK: Paul Coffey became the first defensemen in NHL history to record 1,500 career points with an assist in a 4-3 loss to Ottawa Dec. 23&hellip;Defenseman Nolan Pratt had only two NHL goals in three-plus seasons, but both were game-winners. His second goal gave the Canes a 4-3 overtime win over Florida Dec. 26. It was the first time in eight games this season that Carolina decided a game in overtime&hellip;Rookie winger Tommy Westlund scored the team's first shorthanded goal of the season in the Dec. 26 game&hellip;Defenseman Sean Hill, Carolina&rsquo;s top-scoring blueliner with six goals and 23 points in 34 games, could be out until mid-January with an injured groin muscle. &#9632;

f0018-04

Primeau cans Canes’ ‘final’ offer

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06222/6939543-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="338" height="446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Gilmour</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05280/6939550-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="158" height="159"></div>Searching for bright spots in the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; dismal first half is tough work. The list pretty much begins and ends with Tony Amonte and Doug Gilmour.Amonte&rsquo;s 18 goals and 39 points in the Hawks&rsquo; first 36 games is about what was expected from one of the game&rsquo;s better forwards.As for Gilmour, the 36-year-old center has gone out and answered critics who questioned how much gas he had left in the tank.&ldquo;Doug Gilmour (is) playing hockey like he did 10 years ago,&rdquo; said associate coach Lorne Molleken.That might be a stretch. Gilmour is not the dominating force he was in the early 1990s with Toronto Maple Leafs, but he has been a dangerous offensive threat most nights for the Hawks.After a tough start while recovering from back surgery last April, Gilmour had 24 points in a 26-game stretch. Overall, he had 12 goals and 28 points in 36 games.&ldquo;The thing with Dougie is he has started to play well defensively and as a result he has started to put some numbers on the board,&rdquo; Molleken said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the greatest leaders who ever played. Every night on the ice he gives 110 per cent. Some nights he has success and some nights he doesn&rsquo;t, but I trust him completely. He never disappoints me.&rdquo;Gilmour has already said he will retire after next season when his three-year, $18-million contract expires. His name will no doubt surface in trade rumors as the March deadline approaches and perhaps the retooling Hawks will be looking to get out from the final year of that big contract.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s part of the territory,&rdquo; Gilmour said. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t want to be traded. I want to be here, finish out my three-year contract and help turn this around.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Boris Mironov, who missed the first two months of the season as a restricted free agent, was still looking slow and out of shape after 19 games. He had just four points, all assists, and was minus-9&hellip;Center Mark Janssens underwent back surgery Dec. 21 and will be lost until at least late February&hellip;New manager of hockey operations Mike Smith said his reputation for being partial to European players is a little misleading. &ldquo;I know it&rsquo;s part of my history, at least in Winnipeg, but there were some reasons in Winnipeg we were looking European," Smith said. "We didn&rsquo;t have any money and back then you could get a good European player to come over an an entry-level contract.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-06

Gilmour’s play bright spot for struggling Hawk team

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-07191/6939581-1-eng-US/f0018-072.jpg" title="f0018-07" width="154" height="154"></div>Joe Sakic did not want to go into Y2K still looking for PIK.Thanks to a second period assist on a goal from an unlikely source, Chris Dingman, the Colorado Avalanche captain earned his 1,000th career point before the turn of the millennium.As part of Colorado&rsquo;s 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues Dec. 27, Sakic became the 56th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points&ndash;and only the 14th to do it with one franchise.&ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s one of the things I&rsquo;m most proud about, that it all came with the same team,&rdquo; Sakic said. &ldquo;Not too many guys have done that. To be among that group, I&rsquo;m really proud of that fact&rdquo;No. 1,000 actually was a long time coming for the 12-year veteran center, who missed the previous 16 games with injured rib cartilage. But the wait was worth it for the humble Conn Smythe winner as playoff MVP in 1996.&ldquo;But I was pretty relieved when Chris put the puck in the net,&rdquo; Sakic said.Winning a Stanley Cup and signing a three-year, $21-million contract in 1997 did not change Sakic.&ldquo;He does what he does best, which is work hard and try to maintain what he&rsquo;s done,&rdquo; said defenseman Adam Foote. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s dedicated to the game. I think hockey is his life. Out of anyone on this team, hockey is what he likes to do and he works real hard at it&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Upon his return to the lineup, Joe Sakic centered a line with Peter Forsberg at left wing and Adam Deadmarsh on the right side. Coach Bob Hartley planned to keep that line intact, along with Colorado&rsquo;s &lsquo;Kid Line&rsquo; of left winger Alex Tanguay, center Chris Drury and right winger Milan Hejduk&hellip; Veteran right winger Dave Reid continued to be bothered by a sore ankle and was expected to be out until after the new year&hellip;Sakic said he would not sign any contract extension before the season is over, preferring to wait until summer when he'll be eligible for a no-trade clause. Sakic said he wants to finish his career in Denver and would like to play four more years after this one. &#9632;

f0018-07

Sakic pleased to record 1,000 points for one team

<div class="byline">By Mike Heike</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011200/6939612-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="157" height="159"></div>Kirk Muller knew there were critics out there. He knew he wasn&rsquo;t going to get the money he wanted. So the 33-year-old free agent left winger chose a team based on a different set of criteria.&ldquo;I just wanted a chance to win, a chance to play on a good team with a good group of guys,&rdquo; said Muller, who had 338 goals and 892 points entering this season.Muller believes that chance is with the Dallas Stars. That&rsquo;s why he signed a one-year deal Dec. 15 worth a whopping $190,000 plus bonuses. He could top out at about $500,000 with a good season. Muller earned $1.8 million last season with the Florida Panthers.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care about the money,&rdquo; Muller said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m realistic in where I am in my career and what I can add to a team, and that&rsquo;s changed for me over the past year or so.&rdquo;Muller began helping in his first game in a Stars&rsquo; uniform, scoring the winning goal in a 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. He took Jere Lehtinen&rsquo;s place on the first line with Mike Modano and Brett Hull and could play with Joe Nieuwendyk and Jamie Langenbrunner when Lehtinen returns from a fractured ankle.&ldquo;I'm going in with my eyes open.&rdquo; Muller said. &ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s what I had to learn in Florida. It makes me a different player now.&rdquo;&ldquo;We need his depth, we need his character, we need his grit,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock.NOTEBOOK: Stars' captain Derian Hatcher had the back of his right calf muscle slashed one-third through by the skate blade of Oilers' center Todd Marchant Dec. 17. Hatcher received 40 stitches to sew the muscle back together and is expected to be out at least 6-8 weeks&hellip;The Stars traded for defenseman Kevin Dean from Atlanta and expected Dean to pick up some of the slack. However, Dean was sidelined for a week with an irregular heartbeat in late December&hellip;Center Joe Nieuwendyk suffered tom rib cartilage Dec. 17 and was expected to be out two weeks&hellip;Left winger Jere Lehtinen (fractured ankle) is expected to begin playing in January&hellip;Defenseman Shawn Chambers, out since Game 4 with a knee injury, started skating Dec. 26. &#9632;

f0019-01

Veteran Muller says Stars perfect fit for his game

<div class="byline">By Chuck Carlton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03578/6939643-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="328" height="440"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brendan Shanahan</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02870/6939650-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="157" height="155"></div>Injuries can have an upside.If not for their rash of injuries, the Detroit Red Wings probably wouldn&rsquo;t be playing left winger Brendan Shanahan about six additional minutes a game (up to 20 minutes), and it&rsquo;s a good bet he wouldn&rsquo;t have 20 goals.If it weren&rsquo;t for injuries, specifically the hernias that sidelined wingers Kirk Maltby and Dairen McCarty, they may not have signed free agent right winger Pat Verbeek and then placed him on the line with Shanahan and Steve Yzerman.Shanahan, Yzerman and Verbeek, with 1,506 career goals between them, are proving to be just as magical together as they have been separately through their careers.&ldquo;I think we keep things simple,&rdquo; Verbeek said. &ldquo;We work hard. For me, it&rsquo;s been a good fit mainly because there&rsquo;s no restrictions on the right wingers so I get to do what I like to do-get in there, forecheck, get on guys and force turnovers and try to outwork the guy to the front of the net.&rdquo;The trio had 28 goals in their last 15 games together and helped the Red Wings win eight of nine with a 3-2 overtime victory Dec. 27 over the Atlanta Thrashers. Shanahan had five goals in five games during one stretch.&ldquo;Shanny is playing as good as he&rsquo;s ever played,&rdquo; Yzerman said. &ldquo;His time is up from last year, to 20 minutes from 14.&rdquo;He&rsquo;s at 20 goals for the 12th consecutive season, an active mark only matched by Brett Hull of the Dallas Stars, who&rsquo;s working on his 13th this year.&ldquo;One thing I really strove for over my career is consistency,&rdquo; Shanahan said&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s not really a mark that stands out number-wise. It&rsquo;s showing up to work and getting a bit of luck as well.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Fourteen temporary metal detectors have been installed at Joe Louis Arena in anticipation of Y2K security concerns. The devices will remain in place until at least early January. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you expect it, but you have to prepare for it,&rdquo; said left winger Brendan Shanahan. "You never know what somebody&rsquo;s thinking.&rdquo; Detroit is less than a mile from the heavily traveled Ambassador Bridge border with Canada&hellip; Al Maclnnis may have hockey's hardest shot, but goalie Chris Osgood blamed himself as much as the St. Louis defenseman for a broken right hand sustained in November. Osgood was using a year-old blocker rather than a new one. &ldquo;I probably shouldn&rsquo;t have used it, but I was using it because I was on a roll,&rdquo; Osgood said. &#9632;

f0019-03

Shanahan pitches in when injury bug nips at Wings

<div class="byline">By Marlo Annicchiarico</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04448/6939681-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="160" height="157"></div>Sean Brown is in just his second full season in the NHL. but the 23-year-old Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; defenseman knows you have to act first and ask questions later.He did exactly that when Washington Capitals&rsquo; enforcer Chris Simon came calling in a recent fight.Brown, who is establishing himself as one of the tougher hombres on Edmonton&rsquo;s roster, obliged and ended up speed-bagging Simon, who appeared to injure a shoulder and was forced to hang on.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if he did it right away; I didn&rsquo;t ask,&rdquo; smiled Brown, who has learned in his short pro career that you can&rsquo;t afford to stand around and wait to see what happens. &ldquo;I thought I&rsquo;d get a few jabs in first.&rdquo;The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder has been getting his fair share in against some rugged opponents and making his mark as a reliable defenseman. His strengths include being physical, good foot speed, responsible positional play and supporting his defensive partner. His confidence has flourished under new coach Kevin Lowe.&ldquo;He has all the attributes to be a very desirable commodity in the game,&rdquo; said Lowe of Brown, who has come a long way from the 51 appearances he made last season under coach Ron Low. &ldquo;He moves the puck well, he skates well, he&rsquo;s tough, has a good shot and he&rsquo;s game.&ldquo;Last year he played well for us, but it seemed whenever we got into a tight game, or so-called big game, we were a little apprehensive. This year, he&rsquo;s played all the games, even the big ones and I&rsquo;m sure his confidence is up and our confidence in him is as well.&rdquo;Which is important when you&rsquo;re a young defenseman attempting to find your place in the NHL. Any veteran rearguard will tell you that.&ldquo;Being a young guy, one of the toughest things is having confidence and knowing and believing he can play,&rdquo; said Oilers&rsquo; blueliner Jason Smith. &ldquo;I think (Brown) is getting that.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Doug Weight returned to the Oilers&rsquo; lineup Dec. 27 after missing five games with cracked ribs. He had two assists in a 4-1 victory over Anaheim and his line, consisting of right winger Bill Guerin and left winger Pat Falloon, combined for six points&hellip;Former Toronto assistant GM Anders Hedberg signed on as Edmonton's director of European pro scouting Dec. 21&hellip;At the Christmas break, Oilers&rsquo; defensemen Tom Poti (27:04), Roman Hamrlik (26:56) and Janne Niinimaa (26:04) ranked among the top 12 in the league in ice time&hellip;Right winger Alex Selivanov had cooled off after his blazing start. He hadn't scored in 13 games through Dec. 29, but still led the Oilers with 18 goals. &#9632;

f0019-04

Brown slugs, skates way to blueline post

<div class="byline">By David J. Neal</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011084/6939712-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="155" height="157"></div>Nobody is questioning Scott Mellanby&rsquo;s leadership these days.Only Herbert Hoover, who was staring at the Depression, was called into doubt after two years in office the way Mellanby was after two years as Florida Panthers&rsquo; captain. Teammates, coaches and management all criticized &ldquo;team leadership&rdquo; and made clear it was a euphemism for Mellanby.Well, as the Panthers pulled out to a big lead in the Southeast Division and right winger Pavel Bure got red hot, it didn&rsquo;t take painstaking analysis to see things started to happen for the Panthers when Mellanby started to happen.Mellanby scored the winner in a 2-1 victory Dec. 4 over Washington by beating three Capitals, then goalie Olaf Kolzig on the short side. That started an 11-game run in which Mellanby had six goals and 14 points. The Panthers went 7-3-1-1 during that stretch.During the second game of the streak, Dec. 7 against the Phoenix Coyotes, Mellanby was put back with right winger Bure and center Viktor Kozlov, whom he had been with at the start of the season. The line exploded. Bure had a hat trick that night, the start of nine goals and 19 points in 10 games. Kozlov had three goals and 11 points during the same 10 games.When Mellanby does a good job grinding, that line has success both off the rush and cycling in the offensive zone. If Mellanby isn&rsquo;t on his comer game, that line is dangerous only off the occasional rush.&ldquo;Right now, I&rsquo;m more relaxed over there,&rdquo; said Mellanby, who had nine goals and 23 points in 32 games overall. &ldquo;Early on, I really was over-trying. Sometimes, when you don&rsquo;t relax, you try too hard, you just get tighter and tighter.&rdquo;Coach Terry Murray said he has been pleased with Mellanby&rsquo;s play all season, despite the lack of production at times. &ldquo;I thought he was doing a very good job,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;(But) that&rsquo;s probably the fault that we have in this business. We&rsquo;re always looking at the stat sheets and saying, &lsquo;What&rsquo;s this guy doing?&rsquo;&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Coach Terry Murray, who previously said he didn&rsquo;t have enough confidence in goalie Richard Shulmistra to start him, gave the netminder a shot against Tampa Bay Dec. 27. Shulmistra stopped 20 of 21 shots in a 6-1 win that snapped a Panthers' three-game winless skid. Shulmistra&rsquo;s only previous NHL start had been for New Jersey, a 2-1 overtime loss to the Panthers in 1998&hellip;Through late December, right winger Pavel Bure hadn&rsquo;t scored a goal when the Panthers were behind this season. But of the 10 Florida goals that tied games when Bure was in the lineup, he had assisted on five. He had nine goals that had given the Panthers a lead and six that were the first goal of the game. Overall, he had 21 in 27 games&hellip;The Panthers&rsquo; non-sellout streak continued into the new millennium, reaching 24 at the end of 1999. They fell short of capacity in the final seven home games of 1998-99 and the first 17 of 1999-2000. The Panthers sold out 13 of their first 34 home games in 1998-99. &#9632;

f0020-01

Captain Mellanby emerges again as pivotal leader for Panthers

<div class="byline">By Helene Elliott</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02731/6939743-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="159" height="158"></div>When center Jozef Stumpel ached, the Los Angeles Kings winced.Bothered by a hernia most of last season, the Slovakian center was rarely able to stretch or turn without feeling discomfort. After leading the team in scoring in 1997-98 with 21 goals and 79 points, he slumped to 13 goals and 34 points in 64 games last season.&ldquo;I was hurting since last season,&rdquo; Stumpel said. &ldquo;I was compensating with the other muscles and finally it hurt too much.&rdquo;Stumpel underwent hernia surgery Nov. 8 after collecting two goals and 15 points in his first 15 games. He missed 18 games, returning to the lineup Dec. 22.Stumpel had an assist in his second game back, a highlight film spinning move to get away from two players and feed left winger Luc Robitaille.Understandably, Stumpel was not at peak form when he returned. However, he was diligently working out to regain his conditioning, strength and flexibility.&ldquo;I believe I can be a little more strong,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I feel much better on the ice. Always, I had a pain before and it was bothering me. There&rsquo;s still a little pain, but it&rsquo;s going away.&rdquo;Robitaille was delighted to see Stumpel, whose creativity and passing skills mesh well with Robitaille&rsquo;s scoring instincts.&ldquo;He hangs onto the puck so well,&rdquo; Robitaille said. &ldquo;His game is to hold onto the puck with a guy on him and make the play. He&rsquo;s really strong and he&rsquo;s only going to get better as the season goes on.&rdquo;Coach Andy Murray also welcomed Stumpel&rsquo;s return, but saw room for improvement from his No. 1 line. &ldquo;That line can still raise the level of their game,&rdquo; he said.For that matter, so could the entire Kings&rsquo; team. The club had lost a season-high five in a row through late December.&ldquo;There are still some players we need more out of,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re battling for our lives right now.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Looking for depth up the middle, the Kings signed unrestricted free agent Bob Corkum. a defensive specialist. Financial terms were unavailable. Corkum, a center who is skilled on faceoffs, played with Phoenix last season. He had been working out in the Boston area. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll need about four or five practices and then I&rsquo;ll be ready to go,&rdquo; he said&hellip;The Kings were O-for-5 in their attempt to win the 1,000th game in franchise history. After reaching 999, they lost five straight games, their longest losing streak of the season. The Kings salvaged a point in the fifth loss, a Dec. 26 overtime setback to Phoenix&hellip;Defenseman Jere Karalahti recorded his first NHL point with an assist on left winger Luc Robitaille&rsquo;s goal in the 3-2 loss to the Coyotes&hellip; Although the Kings were relatively injury-free in the first quarter of the season, their man-games missed mounted quickly in the second quarter. It reached 111 in their 35th game. &#9632;

f0020-02

Kings’ playmaking whiz Stumpel key returnee for slumping team

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01852/6939774-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="157" height="158"></div>Just call Francis Bouillon the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; little big man.The stocky 23-year-old rookie defenseman, who stands only 5-foot-7, has had his path blocked more than once by coaches who felt he was too small. But Habs&rsquo; coach Alain Vigneault sees things differently. Although Vigneault had nine healthy defensemen available for the first time this season, he has made it clear Bouillon will play.&ldquo;Francis Bouillon is not going to be sat down,&rdquo; Vigneault said. &ldquo;He has earned the right to be here. He deserves every bit of ice he&rsquo;s getting.&rdquo;Bouillon, who had seven assists in 35 games, said he was pleasantly surprised to hear Vigneault&rsquo;s assessment, especially since he&rsquo;s the only defenseman who can be sent to the minors without first clearing waivers.Bouillon&rsquo;s emergence may have cost Scott Lachance a job. Since returning from an injury, Lachance has been a healthy scratch for four games.A rash of injuries at the start of the season gave Bouillon his chance and he has capitalized. He has displayed excellent puckhandling skills and tenacity in 1-on-l battles.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always had to do that on every team I&rsquo;ve been on-come in through the back door and then prove I belong,&rdquo; said Bouillon, who wasn&rsquo;t drafted and bounced around the minors for three seasons. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t easy, but I kept working hard and my chance came.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Several teams, including San Jose, are looking at acquiring Canadiens&rsquo; center Shayne Corson, although he only has two goals and seven points in 26 games, believing his grit and determination will carry them over the top in their pursuit of a Stanley Cup. Corson is earning $2.25 million this season, but is scheduled to earn $4 million in 2000-2001. It&rsquo;s the team&rsquo;s option, and if it isn&rsquo;t picked up, Corson becomes an unrestricted free agent. It appears unlikely the budget-conscious Canadiens will pick up an option for a 33-year-old who is frequently injured, leading to the possibility they&rsquo;ll trade him before losing him&hellip;According to Forbes magazine, the Canadiens are the sixth-most valuable NHL franchise, at $175 million (U.S.). &#9632;

f0021-01

Bouillon makes believer of Babs’ coach Vigneault

<div class="byline">By Rich Chore</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04196/6939843-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="159" height="155"></div>Martin Brodeur may have lost a few pounds, but not his status as the key to the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; success.Looking for an edge in his seventh year with the Devils, Brodeur decided to lose 10 pounds and the results have been overwhelmingly positive.Coach Robbie Ftorek called Brodeur the team&rsquo;s best player while Devils&rsquo; goalie coach Jacques Caron said Brodeur was just reaching his prime.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s probably playing the best of his career now,&rdquo; Caron said. &ldquo;That also comes from experience, knowing the league better and better mental preparation. Not just being in shape.&rdquo;Both Brodeur and Caron downplayed the weight loss, but it certainly helped his stamina as he started 34 of the team&rsquo;s first 37 games.&ldquo;He said he felt comfortable at a heavier weight,&rdquo; Caron said, &ldquo;but I think he&rsquo;s a lot faster since he lost the weight. When you feel better about yourself, you react better and have more energy.&rdquo;Shedding a few pounds was done at the request of the coaching staff in training camp.&ldquo;I came in at 213 and they asked me to get down around 207 and see how it went,&rdquo; Brodeur recalled. &ldquo;I lost a little bit of weight in training camp and early in the season and the next thing I know I&rsquo;m at 203. I want to take care of myself physically as I get older, but this is not a huge deal.&rdquo;Ftorek called him the Devils&rsquo; best player in the first half, during which Brodeur fashioned a 19-9-4 record, 2.15 goals-gainst average and .910 save percentage.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a hard question to answer because everybody plays well in different games, but I look at Marty as probably our best player this season,&rdquo; Ftorek said. &ldquo;Marty always plays well, as far as I&rsquo;m concerned. There are some games when he&rsquo;s just unbelievable and&hellip;then there are games when he&rsquo;s only really, really good.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Devils&rsquo; owner John McMullen appeared to be moving closer to accepting an offer from the Yankee-Nets to buy the Devils for as much as $160 million. That group, headed by George Steinbrenner, wants to build an arena in Newark, N.J., for the National Basketball Association&rsquo;s New Jersey Nets and Devils&hellip;Left winger Scott Gomez, who had turned 20 three days earlier, became the youngest player in Devils&rsquo; history to register a hat trick Dec. 26 against the Rangers in a 3-3 tie. He was the first Devils&rsquo; rookie to do it since defenseman Uli Hiemer Oct. 31, 1984&hellip;Assistant coach Larry Robinson missed two games in December for his daughter&rsquo;s college graduation. &#9632;

f0021-04

Leaner Brodeur on top of game

<div class="byline">By Anthony McCarron</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01982/6939874-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="158" height="161"></div>Kevin Weekes says he has been in this situation before and thrived. So why, he wonders, does everyone ask about playing in a goalie tandem with Roberto Luongo like it&rsquo;s something bad?&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a goalie, not a number,&rdquo; Weekes said when asked whether he is the New York Islanders&rsquo; No. 1 goalie.Weekes, who the Isles acquired Dec. 19 along with forwards Dave Scatchard and Bill Muckalt from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Felix Potvin, was on the same junior team (Owen Sound of the Ontario League) as current Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; goalie Jamie Storr. Observers said having two young, promising goalies on the same team wouldn&rsquo;t work out.&ldquo;Jamie and I learned a lot from each other and became great friends,&rdquo; Weekes said. &ldquo;It worked out.&ldquo;The only thing labeling matters for is groceries, because people want to know what they&rsquo;re eating. I recognize this is a good situation for a young player to grow with Roberto.&rdquo;Though Luongo is likely to get the first shot at being No. 1, GM Mike Milbury and coach Butch Goring have parroted each other since the trade, saying Weekes will get his chances.Weekes, 24, made the most of his first opportunity with the Isles. He made 36 saves in a 4-2 win over the Rangers on Dec. 23. Overall this season, he was 7-7-4, with a 2.81 goals-against average and .902 save percentage.NOTEBOOK: After the Isles collapsed in the third period of a 4-0 home loss to Pittsburgh Dec. 21, coach Butch Goring blasted the team in a 1O-minute dressing room tirade that could be heard through the concrete walls at Nassau Coliseum. Players later said that was as mad as they had seen the coach all season&hellip;In the first five games since his Dec. 17 recall from the minors, left winger Niklas Andersson had three goals and eight points&hellip;Associate coach Lorne Henning went to Sweden for the World Junior Championship and got the chance to see his son, Brett, a 1999 Islander draft choice, play for Team USA&hellip;Biggest ever? Goring has paired defensemen Eric Cairns (6-foot-6. 235 pounds) and Zdeno Chara (6-foot-9, 246 pounds). &#9632;

f0022-01

Weekes feels he can grow in net tandem with Luongo

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03478/6939905-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="334" height="440"><figcaption class="caption-body">Petr Nedved</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02679/6939912-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="155" height="158"></div>The transition to No. 1 center has been difficult enough for Petr Nedved.The swirling trade rumors, which had the New York Rangers dealing Nedved in a package for Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; restricted free agent center Keith Primeau, have made it worse.Rangers&rsquo; president-GM Neil Smith told Nedved he hadn&rsquo;t offered him to anybody, but that didn&rsquo;t mean Nedved&rsquo;s name hasn&rsquo;t come up in trade talks.&ldquo;Whether you like it or not, it&rsquo;s going to be on your mind,&rdquo; Nedved admitted. &ldquo;But let&rsquo;s not make it as an excuse for me not to play well. You don&rsquo;t have control over that, and that&rsquo;s going to happen. If management feels that&rsquo;s going to help this team, that&rsquo;s the way it&rsquo;s going to be. You live with that. If it happens, it happens.&rdquo;Part of Nedved&rsquo;s problems have been the transition, going from No. 2 behind Wayne Gretzky to No. 1, even though Nedved doesn&rsquo;t play with the Rangers&rsquo; No. 1 line wingers, Adam Graves and Theo Fleury. Part of it is his confidence, which took a hit early in the year. Part of it is a groin injury that cost him four games. And part of it is the trade rumor that won&rsquo;t go away until Carolina either signs or trades Primeau.&ldquo;He asked me a couple of weeks ago.&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t even know why he asked me because you can never explain it. Players have to understand, too, that unless you are overpaid or unsuccessful, you&rsquo;re always going to be asked about.&rdquo;Smith sees in Nedved a strong person, one who went through a courageous defection from the Czech Republic, and who has been through two lengthy contract holdouts. Nedved had seven goals and 24 points in 30 games.&ldquo;The question is if (the trade rumor) affects his play,&rdquo; Smith said.NOTEBOOK: Rangers&rsquo; captain Brian Leetch had the biceps-high cast removed from his broken right forearm Dec. 22, and an examination showed the arm to be healing well. Leetch, fitted with a cast below the elbow, will be re-examined and is expected back in late January. An erroneous report made its way across the continent that Leetch said he wouldn&rsquo;t be back until after the Feb. 6 All-Star Game&hellip;Left winger Valeri Kamensky returned from soreness in his twice-broken right forearm Dec. 23. He hadn&rsquo;t been 100 per cent healthy since opening night, when he rebroke the arm on his last shift&hellip;Right winger Theo Fleury had four goals and 14 points in an eight-game span and had 34 points in 34 games despite a slow start. &#9632;

f0022-03

Unsettled Nedved fights to get his game on track

<div class="byline">By Bruce Garrioch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04323/6939943-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="151" height="154"></div>Slowly, the Ottawa Senators are putting their fractured blueline back together.The Senators, who have been decimated by injuries to their defensemen all season, added another piece to the puzzle Dec. 27 against the Montreal Canadiens when Sami Salo returned from a broken wrist.Salo, who missed two months after being slashed by Florida Panthers&rsquo; defenseman Bret Hedican Oct. 30, looked fine upon his return. Worried his big shot wouldn&rsquo;t be the same after suffering the injury, Salo showed he was OK when he fired a bullet that Montreal goalie Jose Theodore was able to get his glove on.&ldquo;I feel good,&rdquo; said Salo. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t feel any pain in the wrist at all. My timing is off. It just seemed like I either did things too early or too late.&rdquo;Salo&rsquo;s return was important. The club was down to its 10th defenseman Dec. 13 in Toronto when it recalled David Van Drunen from the International League&rsquo;s Grand Rapids Griffins.But with Salo back, there&rsquo;s a glut on the blueline. Veteran Grant Ledyard and minor-leaguer John Gruden were healthy scratches against the Habs. And once Chris Phillips returns from ankle surgery in February, the club will have nine NHL-calibre blueliners and that could mean one will be dealt before the deadline in March.Still, the Senators are going to be careful. Less than four weeks ago, Ottawa GM Marshall Johnston was trying desperately to bring in help for the blueline because of the injuries.The club had signed Bob Dollas, but lost him on waivers to the Calgary Flames. Ottawa then settled on Ledyard, who has done a good job. For now, the Sens are going to be patient.&ldquo;You can never have enough defensemen,&rdquo; said Ottawa coach Jacques Martin. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen anything like what we&rsquo;ve gone through this year. It just seems like one guy would get hurt and another guy would go down. Hopefully, we can stay healthy.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Struggling left winger Rob Zamuner was a healthy scratch Dec. 18 against Edmonton and then suffered a knee injury Dec. 23 against Carolina. He will be out until early February. The rest might do Zamuner some good and the club is hoping when he does return, he'll be refreshed for the playoffs&hellip;The Senators were trying to move center Vaclav Prospal. but hadn&rsquo;t had any takers. Prospal was a healthy scratch in three games on a recent Western road swing, but then returned to score six points in three games, including three assists Dec. 27 against Montreal in a 4-4 tie at the Corel Centre. "It&rsquo;s Christmas, it&rsquo;s fun and it&rsquo;s a great feeling,&rdquo; Prospal said. "Maybe 1 can prove to them 1 was right and they were wrong.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0022-04

Sens’ defense bolstered by Salo’s return

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06200/6939974-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="334" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05250/6939981-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="156" height="157"></div>After missing 35 games with a broken left foot, Rod Brind&rsquo; Amour expressed only one fear about his return-making a mistake that would hurt his team.As fate would have it, that&rsquo;s exactly what happened Dec. 22 against the New Jersey Devils. The Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; veteran center took a critical penalty leading to the Devils&rsquo; winning goal in a 3-2 decision.Brind&rsquo;Amour didn&rsquo;t dwell on the mishap and a night later scored his first goal of the season in a 4-4 tie with the Atlanta Thrashers.Brind&rsquo;Amour said he felt rusty, but actually looked pretty sharp for having missed three months. After a six-year, 484-game ironman streak, this is new territory for him.&ldquo;He works so hard off the ice, he comes back after a long time off and he&rsquo;s right back into things,&rdquo; said defenseman Eric Desjardins. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s Roddy. It&rsquo;s amazing to see.&rdquo;Added coach Roger Neilson, &ldquo;He played two really good games for a guy who hadn&rsquo;t played all year. He doesn&rsquo;t seem to be missing a beat at all.&rdquo;Brind&rsquo;Amour, skating at left wing on the second line with rookie center Simon Gagne and right winger Mark Recchi, said there was no time for a casual-paced comeback.This was like coming into camp and playing my first game,&rdquo; said Brind&rsquo;Amour after the New Jersey game. &ldquo;And it usually takes me quite a while. I don&rsquo;t have that luxury now. All of these games count.&rdquo;The chance to finally play with Recchi helped fuel Brind&rsquo;Amour&rsquo;s desire to return. &ldquo;I figured that was going to be a great opportunity for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I really do think it&rsquo;s going to be exciting. But (fully recovering) is going to take a little bit of time.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Eric Lindros disclosed he is playing with a chip fracture in his left hand. He suffered the injury Dec. 11 at Toronto, missed two games and then returned to action. He said there&rsquo;s discomfort and early on, his shots were sailing wide right. &ldquo;1&rsquo;11 just have to play (through) it,&rdquo; Lindros said&hellip;Coach Roger Neilson completed his first phase of chemotherapy treatment for bone marrow cancer Dec. 23 and made it home to Peterborough, Ont., in time for Christmas&hellip;Right winger Mikael Renberg was a healthy scratch for the first time this season in the Dec. 22 game at New Jersey. He responded with a goal and assist a night later in a 4-4 tie with Atlanta. It was his first goal and first multi-point game since Nov. 24. &#9632;

f0022-06

Brind’Amour trying to adapt after lengthy injury layoff

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-07173/6940012-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="158" height="158"></div>Greg Adams has always had a nose for the puck. But now his nose needs a tuneup. Actually, more like a complete overhaul. And because of it, the No. 2 left winger for the Phoenix Coyotes will be sidelined for at least a month.A sinus problem that has bothered him all season finally caught up to Adams just before Christmas. An infection developed, didn&rsquo;t respond to antibiotics and the 36-year-old was faced with no other option but nasal surgery.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s disappointing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It always seems when things are going well for me, something like this happens. But it will be a relief to get over it. I&rsquo;ve been dealing with it all year and I forget what it feels like to feel good.&rdquo;During the past few seasons, the 16-year NHL veteran has battled an assortment of injuries, including problems to his neck and back that made him contemplate retirement. He put it off and signed a two-year deal with the Coyotes at the start of last season and for the most part, has been injury-free.Phoenix recalled David Oliver from the International League&rsquo;s Houston Aeros to fill in. Oliver twice recorded 20-goal seasons with the Edmonton Oilers before signing with the Coyotes this past summer as a free agent.&ldquo;Oliver&rsquo;s a guy we think can get it done,&rdquo; said Coyotes&rsquo; GM Bobby Smith. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to get a chance. He&rsquo;s probably the best top-six forward possibility we&rsquo;ve got (in the minors) and he&rsquo;s a left winger, too.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Keith Tkachuk suffered back spasms during warmups in Los Angeles Dec. 26 and missed that game and the Coyotes&rsquo; next game against the Rangers&hellip;Defenseman Todd Gill missed two games to be in Ottawa, where his sister-in-law was battling cancer&hellip;Goalie Bob Essensa became the franchise&rsquo;s all-time leader in wins (127) with an 8-2 romp over Anaheim Dec. 22. Essensa, who spent parts of six seasons in Winnipeg, passed Nikolai Khabibulin. who set the mark last season&hellip;GM Bobby Smith said negotiations with Khabibulin are off until the summer&hellip;Center Jeremy Roenick scored his team-leading 18th goal&ndash;and NHL-best seventh game-winner-against Los Angeles Dec. 26. &#9632;

f0022-07

Sinus infection sniffs out luckless veteran Adams

<div class="byline">By Joe Starkey</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01959/6940043-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="158" height="158"></div>Call it the Miracle Off Ice.The Pittsburgh Penguins-a franchise that lost roughly $80 million the past four seasons and filed for bankruptcy 15 months ago-stands a chance to break even or possibly make a small profit this season.A profit?&ldquo;There&rsquo;s always a chance,&rdquo; said Penguins&rsquo; owner Mario Lemieux. &ldquo;Pretty much everybody&rsquo;s on budget as far as the players and the sponsorships.&rdquo;An improved lease at Mellon Arena (the Civic Arena was renamed Dec. 20 after a naming rights deal with Mellon Bank) and a lucrative local television contract are two of the biggest reasons for the team&rsquo;s economic turnaround.But Lemieux, whose player payroll is roughly $31 million, is understandably reluctant to paint too rosy a picture. He knows in order to finish in the black, his team must have a decent playoff run. And he knows attendance must improve. Through 16 home games it was up more than 12 per cent over last season to 14,405 and the season-ticket base had increased by more than 1,000 to 9,400.Lemieux believes the team&rsquo;s new, wide-open style under coach Herb Brooks, who replaced Kevin Constantine Dec. 9, will translate into better ticket sales.&ldquo;The more exciting the game is for the fans and for the players, the better it&rsquo;s going to be for all of us involved in the game of hockey,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re trying to do here: Create some excitement with the organization and the players on the ice. We have a lot of talent, a lot of young guys who can do a lot of things with the puck, and we have to take advantage of that.&rdquo;Penguins&rsquo; captain Jaromir Jagr said the team&rsquo;s new style of play is &ldquo;like going from Siberia to Florida.&rdquo; The Penguins were one of the highest-scoring teams in the NHL under Constantine-they finished fourth in the NHL in goals last season-but their trapping style didn&rsquo;t suit many observers, including Lemieux.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Dennis Bonvie was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American League for a game Dec, 26 at Chicago. Bonvie fought right winger Ryan Vandenbussche 20 seconds into his first shift. He helped set up a goal by drawing a penalty in the third period. Bonvie led Wilkes-Barre with 205 penalty minutes in 29 games. He also was tied for the team lead in scoring with 23 points (two goals)&hellip;Owner Mario Lemieux believes his team is capable of winning a championship. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got the nucleus to go all the way,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We have three good lines that can compete out there. We have the best player in the world and every time you have the best player in the world, you can accomplish a lot.&rdquo; &hellip;After going 39 regular season games without a goal, defenseman Darius Kasparaitis scored twice in three games, including the winner on a deflection Dec. 23 against Tampa Bay. Kasparaitis finished with a goal, an assist, seven hits and a team-best seven shots. &#9632;

f0024-01

Pens stand chance of finishing in black under owner Lemieux

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02646/6940074-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="157" height="157"></div>Mike Eastwood may have a spotlight shining in his eyes, but he&rsquo;s not being blinded by his sudden offensive success.The St. Louis Blues&rsquo; 32-year-old center is on pace to shatter career bests for goals and points, but he hasn&rsquo;t kidded himself into believing his role with the team should change.&ldquo;I know what I have to do to stay in the league.&rdquo; Eastwood said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m certainly not going to forget those things-playing sound defensively, winning faceoffs and helping kill penalties. That&rsquo;s what got me into the league and that&rsquo;s what will keep me in the league. It&rsquo;s fun to score. Everybody wants to score, but that&rsquo;s a bonus.&rdquo;Eastwood had 12 goals and 20 points in 34 games. If he scores at the same rate the rest of the season, he&rsquo;ll finish with 28 goals and 47 points. His previous career highs were 14 goals (with the Winnipeg Jets in 1995-96) and 30 points (last season with the Blues).So how about a 30-goal season?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t even want to think about that,&rdquo; said Eastwood, who recorded his first career hat trick Dec. 21 in a 6-0 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a long year and I know what it&rsquo;s like not to score in a lot of games in a row. I just want to play as well as I can for as long as I can.&ldquo;The main thing is we&rsquo;re winning and it&rsquo;s a lot of fun. When you win. success rubs off on everybody. That&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s happening this year.&rdquo;Through Dec. 29, the Blues were tied for fourth overall with 46 points in 36 games. Eastwood has played a key, but quiet, role in the club&rsquo;s success.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t expect him to score at this rate,&rdquo; said coach Joel Quenneville. &ldquo;Eastie is having one of those years where he&rsquo;s doing a lot of things right and the puck is going in for him.&rdquo;Eastwood was a scorer in college, getting 52 goals and 113 points in 82 games during his last two seasons at Western Michigan. It took him nine seasons to surpass those figures in the NHL.&ldquo;To get into this league, you have to score in other leagues,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s different to be a scorer in this league.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Pierre Turgeon set a team record by collecting at least one assist in 11 consecutive games. The old mark of 10 was shared by Bernie Federko and Craig Janney. Turgeon also had a 12-game point-scoring streak through Dec. 29. Turgeon had four goals and 18 points in that span&hellip;The Blues ended a 21-month goal-scoring drought in Colorado Dec. 27, but their winless streak in the Mile High City reached three years with a 5-1 loss. The Blues are 0-6-1 in Colorado since a 4-3 victory Dec. 6, 1996. Defenseman Chris Pronger&rsquo;s goal ended the Blues&rsquo; scoreless streak at 272 minutes, 23 seconds&hellip;Back-to-back losses to Nashville and Colorado after the holiday break marked only the third time the Blues had lost back-to-back games this season&hellip;Right winger Pavol Demitra, who led the team with 16 goals, suffered a strained triceps muscle in his left arm during the Blues&rsquo; loss to Nashville Dec. 26 and missed the Colorado game. He was out on a day-to-day basis. &#9632;

f0024-02

Eastwood surprise scoring star, but knows defense still his role

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01854/6940105-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="155" height="157"></div>The San Jose Sharks have cast veterans Bob Rouse and Murray Craven overboard.Sharks&rsquo; GM Dean Lombardi informed Rouse and Craven Dec. 26 that their services were no longer required, placing them on waivers.Given Rouse&rsquo;s $2.5 million and Craven&rsquo;s $1.4 million salaries this season, it was unlikely another NHL club would claim either.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not really motivated by financial considerations,&rdquo; Lombardi said. &ldquo;We just had to get down in our numbers.&ldquo;They were very good players for us at a time when we needed to get our respect back.&rdquo;With the deletion of Rouse and Craven, the Sharks activated winger Dave Lowry, who had been on injured reserve since sustaining a separated shoulder Nov. 27.If Rouse and Craven, both 35, clear waivers, San Jose would have the option of assigning them to the minor leagues or negotiating a buyout of their contracts.This was Rouse&rsquo;s second season with the Sharks since signing as a free agent. After playing in 70 games last season, the veteran blueliner appeared in 26 games this year, recording one assist and 19 penalty minutes.Craven, a Shark since a 1997 trade with the Chicago Blackhawks, had struggled through injuries over the past two seasons. On injured reserve since Nov. 28, the winger had played in 19 games this year, picking up two assists.NOTEBOOK: Center Mike Ricci enjoyed his longest scoring streak as a Shark with a five-game run (Dec. 8-20), then recorded his second two-goal game of the season Dec. 27 in a 3-1 victory at Dallas&hellip; A 1-0 shutout loss to Anaheim Dec. 26 marked the first time San Jose had been blanked since a 2-0 loss to Los Angeles April 16, 1999&hellip;Right winger Owen Nolan recorded multi-point efforts five times in a span of six games from Dec. 6-20&hellip;Sharks GM Dean Lombardi escaped NHL sanctions after blasting the work of referees Richard Trottier and Kevin Maguire during a 4-3 loss to Detroit Dec. 20&hellip;San Jose was 15-0 when leading after two periods before blowing a 2-1 third period lead in a 4-3 loss at Phoenix Dec. 19. &#9632;

f0025-01

Sharks cut veterans loose; Rouse, Craven on way out

<div class="byline">By Tom Jones</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03351/6940136-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="335" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Ludzik</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02543/6940143-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="157" height="158"></div>Sooner or later, the skates were going to come off on this Tampa Bay Lightning season. After all, no team as bad as the Lightning was the past two seasons can suddenly become the toast of the league.Instead of being the toast of the league, the Lightning is being toasted. December became a forgettable month for the Lightning as it ended 1999 with a six-game losing streak&ndash;the longest of the season.Rock bottom came Dec. 26 and 27, when the Lightning were blown out by the expansion Atlanta Thrashers 6-3, then embarrassed at home by the cross-state rival Florida Panthers 6-1. The Florida debacle resulted in a one-hour players-only meeting, which started as fans were still booing the home team.&ldquo;The gist of the meeting was this is unacceptable, we cannot play like this,&rdquo; said center Vincent Lecavalier.Added right winger Dan Kesa: &ldquo;We can forget about this season if we keep playing the stupid hockey we&rsquo;ve been playing.&rdquo;Coach Steve Ludzik has tried various things to snap the losing ways. He has switched goalies. He has scratched regulars Todd Warriner and Andrei Zyuzin for a game. He has benched sniper Stephane Richer for long stretches in games. He has juggled lines. He has given the team days off, and also skated them into the ground.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been through anything like this,&rdquo; said Ludzik, who spent the previous three seasons with the International League&rsquo;s Detroit Vipers. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s up to me to do something about it. I either have to send a message now or it will be hell or high water. Guys are going to sit. I&rsquo;m not going to beg guys to play hockey.&rdquo;Said left winger Reid Simpson: &ldquo;Guys are going to realize pretty soon they&rsquo;re going to lose their jobs.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Sergey Gusev tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee Dec. 19 and is likely lost for the season&hellip;Left winger Darcy Tucker picked up 49 penalty minutes against Horida Dec. 26 to set a franchise record for PIMs in a game. He received two minors, a five-minute major for elbowing, two fighting majors, two 10-minute misconducts and a game misconduct. He was also suspended two games for spearing Panther defenseman Todd Simpson&hellip;Tampa is 0-3-1 against Atlanta and needed to climb back from a three-goal, third period deficit to earn the tie. Left winger Fredrik Modin insisted it's not a case of over-confidence. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like we come in and think we&rsquo;re going to get two points and put it in our pocket,&rdquo; Modin said. &#9632;

f0025-03

No December to remember for floundering Lightning

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-04217/6940174-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="158" height="156"></div>When it comes to playing at home, the Toronto Maple Leafs were fine in &rsquo;99. But much of their success the rest of this season hinges upon whether they can avoid the Y2K bug away from the Air Canada Centre.The Leafs accomplished more than they had hoped for in the 1999 portion of 1999-2000.They joined the Detroit Red Wings as the only teams in the league to hit 50 points, became a surprising defensive juggernaut led by Vezina Trophy candidate Curtis Joseph and maintained a level of excellence amid a host of changes in a tightly knit dressing room.The Maple Leafs were on pace for 111 points, which would put them firmly ahead of their previous-best-99 recorded in 1992-93.But most of their accomplishments were achieved within the comfortable confines of home. Unlike most teams that have failed to find the winning formula in these new, opulent arenas, victories have not been a problem for the Leafs since they moved into the ACC last February. Overall, they were 24-8-5 since moving into their new building, including a league-best home record of 17-4-2 this season.But on the road, where the Leafs were scheduled to play 27 of their final 45 games, the Leafs had struggled to a 5-7-2-2 mark&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had such a weird schedule,&rdquo; said GM-coach Pat Quinn. &ldquo;It has predominantly been a home schedule. We&rsquo;ve never gone more than a night or two away. You can&rsquo;t get that road feeling going so the players can get used to it.&rdquo;No matter where they play the games, Quinn wants to see the Leafs continue the excellence they displayed in 1999.&ldquo;At this point we don&rsquo;t want to see them slide backwards,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the things we talked about in training camp&hellip;setting a standard and seeing if we can do better.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Coach-GM Pat Quinn had not dismissed the possibility of bringing 33-year-old left winger Wendel Clark back for a third tour of duty with the Maple Leafs. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s outlandish, no it&rsquo;s not,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve talked about it because it has been presented to us by a number of sources.&rdquo; &hellip;Toronto resisted the temptation to send center Nik Antropov to the Kazakhstan team for the World Junior Championship and it paid immediate dividends. Antropov recorded his first career hat trick in a 6-4 win over Florida Dec. 20&hellip;Going into this season, the Maple Leafs had gone more than five years without a four-game winning streak, but recorded two five-gamers this season. &#9632;

f0025-04

Leafs must become road warriors

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-06136/6940205-1-eng-US/f0025-062.jpg" title="f0025-06" width="335" height="444"><figcaption class="caption-body">Felix Potvin</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-05164/6940212-1-eng-US/f0025-052.jpg" title="f0025-05" width="155" height="157"></div>After talking about goal-tender Felix Potvin for a year and a half, Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; GM Brian Burke finally acquired The Cat in a multi-player swap with the New York Islanders.The deal came down Dec. 19, just hours before the holiday roster freeze, and saw Potvin plus a second and third-round draft pick in 2000 join Vancouver in exchange for right winger Bill Muckalt, center Dave Scatchard and goalie Kevin Weekes.Burke felt Weekes and veteran Garth Snow weren&rsquo;t providing the type of goaltending Vancouver needed and pulled the trigger on Potvin. He admitted holding on-again, off-again discussions for the 28-year-old puckstopper.&ldquo;From the time I took this job I felt goaltending was our Achilles&rsquo; heel and I think I&rsquo;ve been borne out on this,&rdquo; said Burke. &ldquo;I have been trying to upgrade at this position for some time. I think Felix Potvin is one of the better goaltenders in the NHL and that his play has suffered from the situation in which he was placed. We are confident he can return to form.&rdquo;The Cat, who is on a one-year contract for $2.7 million understands the job facing him in Vancouver.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been to the playoffs the last three seasons so I&rsquo;m looking forward to getting a chance to get back there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It feels great to be with an organization that wants to win. Pressure? You wouldn&rsquo;t be a goalie if you didn&rsquo;t want that pressure.&rdquo;Potvin went 1-1-0 in his first two games as a Canuck beating the Washington Capitals 6-3 before losing 2-0 to the Calgary Flames.Snow, who appeared in 65 games last season, was stoic about his demotion to backup.&ldquo;Whatever my role is on the team, I accept,&rdquo; Snow said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to sit here and complain.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: After losing 2-0 to Calgary Dec. 26, the Canucks saw their record against Northwest Division opponents fall to a horrendous l-7-2-2&hellip;Left winger Steve Kariya broke a 13-game goal drought on his 22nd birthday when he scored twice against Washington Dec. 22&hellip;Coach Marc Crawford abandoned his experiment with Todd Bertuzzi as a third line center and inserted him at left wing on the top line with Mark Messier and Markus Naslund. Bertuzzi responded with two assists in his first game, but none in his second&hellip; Defenseman Mattias Ohlund. who suffered a severe eye injury Sept. 21, resumed practicing with the team Dec. 21 and expects to be playing again by early to mid-January. &#9632;

f0025-06

Potvin lands in Vancouver, GM Burke gets his goalie

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-07124/6940243-1-eng-US/f0025-072.jpg" title="f0025-07" width="152" height="158"></div>The Washington Capitals, who hit a team-record 511 man-games lost to injury just a season ago, are as healthy as they&rsquo;ve been in more than four years. That said, the wait now begins to see if the club can put together the type of play that can get it into solid playoff contention.When the Caps played the Chicago Blackhawks Dec. 27, coach Ron Wilson had the luxury of designating two healthy scratches, something that hasn&rsquo;t been necessary for quite some time.There is only one player on injured reserve, left winger Trevor Halverson, who sustained a concussion during the exhibition season and had yet to play this year.How long had it been since the Caps had nobody sitting around the trainer&rsquo;s room while everybody else practiced? Not since late in the 1994-95 season, before anybody started charting what has been a mystifying string of injuries. The Caps had lost 98 man-games to injury this season; at the same point a year ago that figure was 191.One of the key changes the club has made this season is the procedure a player goes through before getting back on the ice after suffering an injury.His word that he has recovered is no longer good enough for a pass back into games; he has to be cleared by the medical staff first before he takes a step on the ice, an effort to prevent the same injury from popping back up time and time again.NOTEBOOK: Washington&rsquo;s inability to win away from the MCI Center is preventing them from making a run for a playoff spot. So far this season, the Caps had waddled to a 5-12-1-0 road record&hellip;Center Adam Oates became the 145th player in NHL history to play 1,000 games when he took the ice Dec. 22 in Vancouver. The team presented him with a solid silver stick and an oil portrait while the league gave him a piece of Tiffany crystal&hellip;The first meeting between Washington and Chicago since the exhibition dust-up between GM George McPhee and Chicago coach Lorne Molleken. went off without a hitch Dec. 27. In fact, unlike the Sept. 25 fight, the game ended in a draw. McPhee blackened Molleken&rsquo;s eye in the pre-season scrap. &#9632;

f0025-07

Injuries not hurting Caps for first time since ’94-95

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>It&rsquo;s time to set the record straight. The B.J. in Cincinnati Mighty Ducks&rsquo; right winger BJ. Young&rsquo;s name doesn&rsquo;t stand for &ldquo;big jerk.&rdquo;The &lsquo;J&rsquo; stands for Jerry, but the &lsquo;B&rsquo; stands for nothing.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just something my grandma started calling me and it stuck,&rdquo; Young said.Not that &ldquo;big jerk&rdquo; isn&rsquo;t an appropriate nickname. The oft-antagonizing right winger ran up 191 penalty minutes as a rookie with the Adirondack Red Wings in 1997-98 and followed with 150 last season.He was in the face of opponents, he was hacking, he was yapping.&ldquo;You have to play with an edge,&rdquo; Young explained. Guys are hitting me, you have to go back at them. You have to get respect, you have to fight for position.&rdquo;This season, Young has found a new way to rile opponents&ndash;by scoring goals. His 14 goals, 23 points and 41 penalty minutes made him the top Duck in each category.After two years of little offensive output (15 goals as a rookie, 13 last season), Young has regained the scoring touch he displayed in his final two junior seasons with the Western League&rsquo;s Red Deer Rebels. In 1995-96, he scored 49 goals and 94 points and followed it up with a 58-goal, 114-points performance before heading to Adirondack.&ldquo;He played his first two years and I don&rsquo;t think he knew what his identity was,&rdquo; said Ducks&rsquo; coach Moe Mantha. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s carving out his identity now.&rdquo;Mantha has used Young on the No. 1 power play unit, killing penalties and Young is also an alternate captain.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s giving me confidence by having confidence in me,&rdquo; said Young, a sixth round pick (157th overall) in 1997 by the Detroit Red Wings. &ldquo;I expect to be a 30- or 40-goal scorer, that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve always been since I was a kid. I have to prove I can play.&rdquo;Mantha knew little of Young, other than what he had seen during the four annual meetings between Adirondack and Cincinnati the past two seasons.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01892/6940274-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="438" height="447"></div>&ldquo;What I have seen is a guy who has been fully committed to playing the game of hockey,&rdquo; Mantha said. &ldquo;And he&rsquo;s not taking bad retaliation penalties anymore. He&rsquo;s found out he&rsquo;s more valuable on the ice than in the penalty box.&rdquo;HEY, I CAN PLAY: Sean Gauthier is making the most of his second chance.Despite posting a respectable 18-15-6 record with the Kentucky Thoroughblades last season, the netminder was set free when Kentucky and its parent team, the San Jose Sharks, had a number of goalies needing ice time. And there were no offers from any NHL or AHL teams.San Jose had rookies Miika Kiprusoff and Johan Hedberg turning pro, and John Nabokov also was still under contract.So Gauthier, a nine-year pro, went to the East Coast League and waited. He didn&rsquo;t have to wait too long. When Florida Panthers&rsquo; goalie Trevor Kidd went down for two months with a shoulder injury, the Panthers recalled Rich Shulmistra. which meant the Louisville Panthers needed a goalie.Enter Gauthier, who was riding an 11-game unbeaten streak (9-0-2) with the Louisiana IceGators. He signed an AHL tryout contract in mid-December and became Louisville&rsquo;s No. 1 goalie.Gauthier was 2-0-2 with a 1.68 GAA in his first four starts with Louisville. That included a 40-save, 4-0 shutout of Kentucky Dec. 26.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always nice to go back against your old team and do well,&rdquo; said Gauthier, who hadn&rsquo;t lost since Nov. 14.AHL TIDBITS: Worcester IceCats&rsquo; center Marty Reasoner scored eight goals and 18 points in a 12-game stretch to climb to fifth in AHL scoring, the first time a member of the IceCats has ever been in the top 10 this late in the season. Reasoner, a second-year forward, also was a plus-14 in that span&hellip;After falling nine games under .500 for the first time in franchise history (9-18-3), the Albany River Rats overcame a 3-0 first period deficit for a 5-3 win at Philadelphia Dec. 26, chasing Phantoms&rsquo; starting goalie Jean-Marc Pelletier&hellip;Tim Peel will be the referee in the All-Star Game Jan. 17 in Rochester. Dan Murphy and Harry Ammian will be the linesmen. &#9632;

f0027-01

Young back to goal-den form while still being super-pest

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>Since Dennis Desrosiers took over as coach of Birmingham during the 1996-97 season, the Bulls consistently have been among the league&rsquo;s best. And that&rsquo;s no different this year.The Bulls were sitting atop the Southwest Division, but only eight points separated the top six teams in the division.Under Desrosiers, Birmingham has finished second and third in the Southwest.&ldquo;This is a good group in the respect they&rsquo;re very dedicated and very committed to the game,&rdquo; Desrosiers said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had some characters in the past that maybe were a little bit selfish. But this group works well together. They play well together. They seem to have fun together.&ldquo;You never know where it&rsquo;s going to take you. One or two moves with your key guys could really throw a wrench into your situation.The Bulls lost their top scorer, center Jamey Hicks, when he was loaned to the American League&rsquo;s Worcester IceCats, but Birmingham kept winning, racking up an 18-8-4 record.Hicks and center Hugo Belanger&nbsp;were the team&rsquo;s leading scorers with 35 points each and defenseman Kelly Perrault was leading the league in plus-minus at plus-35.Blessed with good overall speed, Birmingham was one of the highest-scoring teams in the league, averaging better than four goals a game.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to execute a little more team speed than we have in the past,&rdquo; Desrosiers said. &ldquo;What that does is lend a little bit to the offense and really helps the defense. Another big addition is our grinder Une (Rick Smith, Scott Wray and Michael Ford).&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03368/6940305-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="350" height="368"></div>FAST TRACK: Two more East Coast League players have made it to the NHL and both made the jump in the same season-a first in ECHL history.Goalie Scott Fankhouser, 24, went from the Greenville Grrrowl to the Atlanta Thrashers in 26 days, while defenseman Dave Van Drunen, 23, needed 28 days to go from the Mobile Mysticks to the Ottawa Senators.Fankhouser relieved Atlanta goalie Norm Maracle early in the first period Dec. 23 and stopped 36 shots to help the Thrashers earn a 4-4 tie with the Philadelphia Flyers.Van Drunen debuted against Toronto Dec. 13.FOUR-GOAL GAME: Center Ryan Kraft of the Richmond Renegades became the fourth ECHL player to score four goals in a game this season when he accomplished the feat in a 7-5 victory over the Hampton Roads Admirals Dec. 26. The eighth round draft pick of the San Jose Sharks in 1995 was on a roll, scoring eight goals and 19 points in five games.PAYNE&rsquo;S GAIN: The Baton Rouge Kingfish named Haynes Payne GM Dec. 14. Team president Ron Hansis had held the position. Payne will oversee day-to-day business operations, while Hansis will continue as president and managing partner. Payne was formerly assistant GM and director of marketing for the Pee Dee Pride. &#9632;

f0027-03

Desrosiers excelling as head matador in Birmingham

<div class="byline">By Brendan Savage</div>With losses already totaling more than $200,000 this season, the Saginaw Gears were facing an additional $400,000 setback had they not moved to suburban Canton, Ohio, according to United League commissioner Richard Brosal.The club had lost $2 million in the the last four seasons, so the Gears&rsquo; ownership group decided enough was enough and pulled the plug on Saginaw Dec. 21. The group, headed by Ohio physician Bernard Bubanic, moved the club to a small arena located six miles from Massillon, Ohio, a suburb of Canton.The Gears will finish the season in the 1,200-seat practice arena before moving into a new 5,000-seat building in Massillon scheduled to open by Nov.&ldquo;The bottom line is, if they were going to lose another $100,000 to stay in Saginaw, they would have finished it out,&rdquo; Brosal said. &ldquo;The easiest thing would have been to stay. But they easily would have lost another $300,000 to $400,000 on top of that.&rdquo;The UHL board of governors unanimously approved the move, but not before ensuring that all 321 season ticket holders, as well as advertisers and sponsors, would be repaid by Bubanic&rsquo;s group.Saginaw, which had an International League team in the 1970s and '80s, has struggled to support pro hockey since it returned to the city when Chatham relocated to Wendler Arena before the 1994-95 season.NOTEBOOK: Rockford IceHogs&rsquo; center Jason Firth, the UHL&rsquo;s two-time reigning MVP, notched his 900th career point with the first of three goals against Saginaw Dec. 18. In 511 UHL and American League games, Firth has 299 goals and 906 points&hellip;Right winger Kevin Kerr had 11 goals and 22 points in a 10-game stretch, helping Quad City win eight straight games through Dec. 21. &#9632;

Saginaw cuts losses, shifts franchise to Canton

<div class="byline">By David Henry</div>The Western Pro League&rsquo;s All-Star Game will have an NHL flavor.In addition to a scheduled appearance by legend Gordie Howe, ex-NHLers Alan May and Brian Curran will coach Team Texas and Team World, respectively. The game is scheduled for Jan. 14 in Amarillo.May played eight years in the NHL and now coaches the Lubbock Cotton Kings. Curran was a second round pick of the Boston Bruins in 1982 and is now at the helm of the Monroe Moccasins. They earned the honor when their clubs had the highest winning percentages in their divisions at the Dec. 23 deadline.Team Texas will be made up of players from Texas-based teams and Team World will be made up of players from teams in other states.NO JOKE: Russ Rivas, a standup comedian who &ldquo;subbed&rdquo; for Mark Ciaccio, an assistant coach with the New Mexico Scorpions, was banned by the league Dec. 16.Rivas heckled opposing players for two games from the Scorpion bench while Ciaccio was out of town.The Lubbock Cotton Kings and the El Paso Buzzards filed complaints with the WPHL. The league fined the Scorpions an undisclosed amount and banned any appearances by Rivas.RUSSIA-BOUND: The Fort Worth Brahmas lost the winningest goalie in franchise history Dec. 16. Steve Plouffe decided to leave the Brahmas to play in Russia. Plouffe owns franchise records for games (71), wins (39) and saves (2,025). &#9632;

All-Star game has NHL twist

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Mark Hunter abruptly left the Sarnia Sting as coach-GM Dec. 27.Both sides said the decision was for personal reasons, but the London Free Press reported Hunter was pushed out.There appeared to be a rift between Hunter and co-owner Dino Ciccarelli over the team&rsquo;s play and the Ciccarelli family was also concerned Hunter might be linked to his brother Dale's attempt to bring an Ontario League team to Chatham-Kent, 50 miles south of Sarnia.Mark Hunter always said he wasn&rsquo;t involved with his brother&rsquo;s group, but did say two weeks before his resignation that each time a story appeared about Dale&rsquo;s bid, he came under &ldquo;a lot of heat&rdquo; from the Ciccarelli&rsquo;s.&ldquo;People will speculate,&rdquo; said Hunter, whose contract ran through next season. &ldquo;There are reasons and they&rsquo;ll come up. I do not want to be called a quitter. There&rsquo;s other stuff to the story.&rdquo;Sting co-owner Robert Ciccarelli said both sides were under a gag order. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve signed an agreement and we&rsquo;re not going to violate that. I&rsquo;m not going to comment on any speculation as to why Mark resigned.&rdquo;Robert Ciccarelli wouldn&rsquo;t discuss the Chatham-Kent bid, but did refute a clash between Dino, who retired from the NHL after last season, and Hunter. The Sting were 15-15-5-0, fourth in the West Division.&ldquo;Absolutely, 100 per cent not, that&rsquo;s total nonsense,&rdquo; Robert Ciccarelli said. &ldquo;I thought they got along pretty good. If you want a reason, call (Hunter). We were happy with Mark&rsquo;s record.&rdquo;Sting captain Mike Van Ryn said the players were surprised.&ldquo;I had no clue this was coming,&rdquo; Van Ryn said. &ldquo;Mark said it was for personal reasons, but he said he didn&rsquo;t like to use the word resigned&hellip;I thought he was a real good coach.&rdquo;Hunter, 37, returned to the Sting in 1997 after a season with the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs. He left the American League to continue raising his family near his hometown of Petrolia.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01823/6940415-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="664" height="236"></div>Hunter, who played 12 years in the NHL, originally joined the Sting 30 games into 1994-95. He had a regular season record of 140-103-30 and the Sting never finished worse than third in the division under him. Associate coach-associate GM Rich Brown was promoted to coach. Director of operations Ron Carroll assumed the GM role.D-DAY: Mike Van Ryn&rsquo;s stay in Sarnia might be cut short.When he joined the Sting Sept. 15 after two years at the University of Michigan, the Ciccarelli&rsquo;s said he could request a trade at the Jan. 10 deadline if the team wasn&rsquo;t in contention.Van Ryn, an overage defenseman, is also looking for a contract with New Jersey. He was the Devils&rsquo; 1998 first round draft pick (26th overall).&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t really been thinking about a trade right now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Our team isn&rsquo;t doing as well as we&rsquo;d like, but we still have the makings to be a fairly good team here.&ldquo;Really, I&rsquo;m all messed up right now with what I want to do.&rdquo;The Barrie Colts were said to be the team most interested in Van Ryn.NO DECISION: The new 4-on-4 format had settled only 29 per cent (24 of 82) of games that have gone into overtime this season. Last year, under the old 5-on-5 format, 42 per cent of the OHL&rsquo;s overtime games produced a winner.&ldquo;I think what&rsquo;s happening is teams are still playing for a tie, especially on the road,&rdquo; said Brampton Battalion coach-GM Stan Butler, whose team had five ties through 32 games.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been on my guys about it. I&rsquo;ve been playing three forwards and one defenseman to try to get the message across to try to score.&rdquo;FREQUENT STARTER: Kingston Frontenacs&rsquo; goalie Andrew Raycroft had appeared in 31 of his team&rsquo;s 32 games and was leading the league with a .930 save percentage. &#9632;

f0029-01

Hunter’s sudden departure linked to brother’s bid

<div class="byline">By Gordie Sutherland</div>Acadie-Bathurst Titan owner Leo-Guy Morrissette said he&rsquo;s prepared to take the Quebec League to court.The flamboyant Morrissette made the declaration Dec. 20, just three days after league president Gilles Courteau announced Bathurst was guilty of completing an illegal trade with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens last season.Morrissette, also the Titan&rsquo;s GM, contends he wasn&rsquo;t given a fair hearing.&ldquo;After consulting with our attorneys, we have been advised the procedure followed by the league appears to be irregular, illegal and absolutely null,&rdquo; Morrissette said in a release. &ldquo;In fact, the league and the president have imposed very serious sanctions without having given us the right to be heard, to a full defense, and without even providing us with the information and proof underlying the decision.&rdquo;Courteau ruled the Titan and Sagueneens violated article 2.16.81, which prohibits the use of money in trades. The teams were each fined $100,000 and stripped of their first round picks in 2000 and 2001.Courteau, who hasn&rsquo;t divulged his findings, and Morrissette have done their talking through statements. Both refuse to answer questions.&ldquo;We wish to state we categorically deny the allegations of president Courteau and the league against the Titan and against myself personally,&rdquo; Morrissette said.The controversial and seemingly lopsided deal began last Dec. 29 when the Titan acquired the Sagueneens&rsquo; entire first line of Marc Bouchard, Ramzi Abid and Mathieu Benoit. The trade, which was finished at June&rsquo;s league draft, propelled Bathurst to the league title.Courteau opened the investigation Nov. 2 of this season.Chicoutimi president Marc Tremblay said the Sagueneens are also prepared to launch a civil suit by Jan. 10. Morrissette plans to start legal proceedings by Jan. 7.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02530/6940446-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="522" height="485"></div>&ldquo;The league and president Courteau have directly attacked the reputation of the Titan of Acadie-Bathurst and that of the Morrissette family in implying that the Titan and I have not respected league rules,&rdquo; Morrissette said in his statement.GIRARD RETURNING?: The new year could bring a return to junior for slick Bathurst defenseman Jonathan Girard. The 19-year-old was to stay the season in the NHL, but the Boston Bruins reconsidered after signing free agent Marty McSorley in early December.The Boston Globe reported Dec. 23 the Halifax Mooseheads had already struck a deal for Girard&rsquo;s junior rights. The smooth-skating and offensively gifted Girard would certainly fill Halifax&rsquo;s need for a power play quarterback.&ldquo;Of course there are negotiations for Girard, but we&rsquo;re not even sure if he&rsquo;s coming back to junior,&rdquo; said Halifax coach and GM Bob Mongrain. Titan owner Leo-Guy Morrissette also denied anything had been done.MONCTON GOES WILD: The Moncton Wildcats have turned themselves into a legitimate contender.In a deal that took almost two months to complete, the Wildcats acquired sniper Mathieu Benoit and defenseman Francois Beauchemin from the Bathurst Titan Dec. 27.Benoit, the league&rsquo;s playoff MVP last season, and Beauchemin were the top two scorers with the Titan. Beauchemin had 47 points in 38 games while Benoit collected 29 goals and 10 assists in 20 games. Moncton also received forward Martin Lavergne.In return, the Titan acquired rugged winger Tyson Maloney, defenseman Daniel MacLeod, a third round pick in 2000 and future considerations.As many as four more players could go to Bathurst in the off-season. &#9632;

f0029-02

Titan owner Morrissette may sue league over fine

<div class="byline">By Bob Vanstone</div>Tri-City Americans' owner Ron Toigo is hoping to establish a Western League expansion franchise in Vancouver.If Toigo&rsquo;s proposal is approved by WHL governors, he will sell the Americans and base a new team out of Pacific Coliseum&ndash;the former home of the NHL&rsquo;s Vancouver Canucks.The WHL&rsquo;s board of governors is to discuss the feasibility of expansion during the all-star break, Jan. 18-19 in Kelowna. Toigo is expected to be among several bidders if expansion is approved in principle.&ldquo;Ron is looking at Vancouver,&rdquo; said Dev Dley, commissioner of the 18-team league. &ldquo;Before that can happen, there are some things that have to be determined.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a three-step process. The first step is deciding if we want to expand. If the answer is yes, then where? Thirdly, what is the process?&rdquo;Dley said the league has received proposals from &ldquo;numerous groups&rdquo; in Winnipeg, Victoria and the lower mainland of B.C.&ldquo;The sense I&rsquo;m getting is there are probably sufficient players in the player pool to sustain another club,&rdquo; Dley said. &ldquo;That really is a key element to answering the first question.&rdquo;The WHL has not expanded since 1995, when then-WHL president Ed Chynoweth founded the Edmonton (now Kootenay) Ice. That team began play in the fall of 1996 and moved to Cranbrook, B.C., after two seasons.A franchise in Vancouver would be the first in that area since the New Westminster Bruins moved to the Tri-Cities area of Washington State (Kennewick, Pasco and Richland) in 1988. Ron Dixon owned the franchise at the time of its transfer. Toigo purchased the Americans in 1991.Toigo, who could not be reached for comment, is making arrangements to sell the Americans to interests in the Tri-Cities if he receives the go-ahead to form an expansion team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03342/6940477-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="375" height="373"></div>The expansion fee has been set at $750,000, although Dley said increasing it is &ldquo;clearly something that has to be addressed.&rdquo;NET EFFECT: Kevin Swanson&rsquo;s first extended rest period of the season came during the holiday break. Swanson, 19, had started all but one of the Rockets&rsquo; first 35 games.Rookie Vaughn Watson got the nod for Kelowna&rsquo;s sixth game of the season.&lsquo;It&rsquo;s fun to be able to play every night and contribute to the team,&rdquo; Swanson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a little easier to prepare when you know you&rsquo;re going to play.&rdquo;According to Swanson, fatigue is not a factor.&ldquo;I want to play as much as I can,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I&rsquo;m tired, I&rsquo;ll talk to the coaches. I&rsquo;m not tired yet. I&rsquo;m still pretty young.&rdquo;And pretty effective.After 34 starts, Swanson boasted a 2.57 goals-against average, a .903 save percentage and a league-high six shutouts.At mid-season, he had already shattered the previous franchise single-season record of three shutouts, set by Todd MacDonald in 1994-95.The league&rsquo;s single-season shutout record-10, by Chris Worthy of the 1967-68 Flin Flon Bombers-is within Swanson&rsquo;s reach.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll try to take a run at it, but I&rsquo;m not worried about getting records,&rdquo; Swanson said. &ldquo;If it happens, great. It would be a feather in my cap and the team&rsquo;s cap.&rdquo;NOTES: Red Deer Rebels&rsquo; center Justin Mapletoft carried a 13-game point-scoring streak into the second half of the season&hellip;Right winger Pavel Brendl, the Calgary Hitmen&rsquo;s sophomore sniper, had 104 goals and 198 points after his first 100 regular season games in the WHL. Brendl entered the holiday break with 13 goals and 23 points during a nine-game point-scoring streak&hellip;Left winger Karel Mosovsky will likely be out of the Regina Pats&rsquo; lineup until mid-February. Mosovsky, who had 18 goals and 36 points in 35 games, suffered a dislocated right shoulder Dec. 17. &#9632;

f0029-03

Americans’ owner eyes new team for Vancouver

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div>The standard rule with freshmen in college hockey is to keep expectations to a minimum and let them develop at a reasonable rate. No coach in his right mind would open the season expecting to lean on a rookie.But five teams in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association got above-average mileage out of first-year players during the opening half of the season. In particular, first place Wisconsin and second place North Dakota have benefited from early recruiting returns.The Badgers feature right winger Dany Heatley, who led the league with 15 goals and was tied with teammate and linemate Steve Reinprecht for second in the overall scoring race with 23 points. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a special talent,&rdquo; said UW coach Jeff Sauer of Heatley, projected as a possible top-five NHL draft pick in June.Wisconsin also has gotten a boost from center Brad Winchester, another potential NHL first-rounder, who had six goals and 10 points in the first 18 games, and defenseman Brian Fahey, who has provided needed depth and skill to the blueline corps.With the loss of seven of his top nine scorers, North Dakota coach Dean Blais was expecting to have to downshift his offense when the season began. But rookie forwards Ryan Hale (3-7-10) and Ryan Bayda (8-2-10) and defenseman Travis Roche (4-6-10) have filled the void.St. Cloud, meanwhile, has gotten huge contributions from a trio of talented freshman forwards in Ryan Malone (4-14-18), Chris Purslow (7-4-11) and Joe Motzkow (4-6-10).There&rsquo;s more. Colorado College carved out a place in the first division thanks in part to newcomers Noah Clarke, a winger who produced six goals and 16 points in 17 games, and defenseman Tom Preissing (2-8-10). And Alaska-Anchorage, projected by some to finish last because it lost all-WCHA goaltender Gregg Naumenko to the pros, has counted on freshmen Cory McEachran (5-4-0, 2.56 goals-against average, .888 save percentage) and Corey Strachan (3-4-0,2.59, .894) to fill the void.RECORD FOR PATEMAN: Earlier this season, Minnesota State-Mankato sophomore Eric Pateman established a school record with his fifth career shutout. He put another entry into the record book Dec. 11 with his fourth career assist during a 3-2 victory over Colorado College. Pateman also tops MSU lists for career save percentage (.914) and goals against average (2.84).SLIPPING AWAY: Minnesota led or was tied in 73 per cent of game time through the first 18 games, but only had a 6-10-2 record to show for it. The Gophers have worked with a very small margin for error as evidenced by the fact 10 of its games were decided by two goals or less.WCHA &#9632;

Freshman power leading Wisconsin, North Dakota

<div class="byline">By Paul Harris</div>Before the season began, Bowling Green coach Buddy Powers couldn&rsquo;t have imagined the disappointing performance of the Falcons&rsquo; seniors.As the team sat tied for ninth in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association with a 5-8-0 conference mark (5-10-0 overall), Bowling Green had only one senior-right winger Adam Edinger-in its top seven scorers.&ldquo;I just think they (the team&rsquo;s seniors) put too much pressure on themselves,&rdquo; Powers said. &ldquo;And they didn&rsquo;t get the production they thought they were going to get.&rdquo;And even though Edinger was the Falcons&rsquo; third-leading scorer, he only had three goals and 10 points. That was well below expectations for arguably the conference&rsquo;s top returning power forward, who was a seventh round draft choice of the New York Islanders in 1997.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s harder for him,&rdquo; said Powers of his 6-foot-2,210-pound center. &ldquo;He feels worse about it than anybody. It hasn&rsquo;t been for lack of effort; things just haven&rsquo;t broken for him. He&rsquo;s too good a player to be held down all year.&rdquo;Powers is just as optimistic about the overall fortunes of his team.&ldquo;I still think we&rsquo;re going to have a pretty good team,&rdquo; Powers said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a lot of rough games. We&rsquo;ve playing some pretty tough teams.&rdquo;One of the things Powers could look forward to was more games at home. Ten of the Falcons&rsquo; first 15 games had been on the road.GOING PRO: The Falcons lost a player Dec. 18 when junior forward Chris Bonvie signed with the Peoria Rivermen of the East Coast League. He had one goal in five games with Bowling Green this season and completed his college career with 24 goals and 54 points in 76 games. Bonvie collected an assist in his first professional game.BRIEFLY: Two CCHA players were selected to leadership positions for Team USA&rsquo;s World Junior Championship entry. Michigan State sophomore right winger Adam Hall was picked as the team&rsquo;s captain and Michigan sophomore defenseman Jeff Jillson was chosen as an alternate captain&hellip;Ten of the conference&rsquo;s 12 teams were scheduled to participate in tournaments from Christmas to New Year&rsquo;s Day. Michigan, Michigan State and Lake Superior State were set for the Great Lakes Invitational in Detroit Dec. 29-30; Miami and Nebraska-Omaha were to skate in the Bank One Badger Showdown in Madison, Wise., Dec. 27-28; Northern Michigan was to play in the Mariucci Classic in Minneapolis Dec. 29-30; Bowling Green was to participate in the Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday Toumey in Troy, N.Y., Dec. 29-30; Ohio State was set to play in the Sheraton/USAir Classic in Burlington, Vermont Dec. 29-30; and Notre Dame was scheduled to play in the Norwest Denver Cup in Denver Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.CCHA &#9632;

Sorry senior showings hurt struggling Falcons

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggle</div>Princeton senior Benoit Morin is finally starting to get the message.After being one of the most penalized players in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference during his first two seasons at Princeton, Morin is cutting down on his penalty minutes and becoming the offensive force Tigers&rsquo; coach Don &lsquo;Toot&rsquo; Cahoon felt he could be.&ldquo;I think some of what has happened in the past has been his own fault,&rdquo; said Cahoon of Morin, a right winger from Montreal. &ldquo;(He) has always gotten in the mix as far as penalties are concerned. He plays very aggressively and he will retaliate.&ldquo;This year, he&rsquo;s working hard not to get caught up in that. We&rsquo;ve talked to him about it a lot and he&rsquo;s more under control. Now, he can take a hit and walk away, but people still remember him.&rdquo;Morin, a 5-foot-10, 190-pounder who had to sit out his first year at Princeton because he played three major junior exhibition games with the Quebec League&rsquo;s Shawinigan Cataractes in 1994, led the Tigers with 105 penalty minutes as a sophomore, and had another 90 last season.On a team that featured Jeff Halpern, Scott Bertoli and Syl Apps, Morin didn&rsquo;t have to be the offensive leader. He was consistent, scoring 25 points (11 goals) as a freshman and 21 (10 goals) as a sophomore.But Morin is also Princeton&rsquo;s best playmaker this year. In a 5-1 victory over Colgate Dec. 4, a game that gave the Tigers a weekend sweep of Cornell and Colgate, Morin set up four goals, a personal high. At the Christmas break, Morin had three goals and 14 points for the 5-6-3 Tigers.&ldquo;Benoit is clearly a weapon,&rdquo; Cahoon said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very unselfish with the puck and he&rsquo;s the quarterback of our power play. He&rsquo;s a very effective leader. No one I&rsquo;ve had is as toe-to-toe tough as Benoit. He plays in your face the whole game.&rdquo;HE STANDS ALONE: Harvard freshman forward Brett Nowak was the ECAC&rsquo;s lone representative on the U.S. team at the World Junior Championship in Sweden. Nowak, a native of New Haven, Conn., is Harvard&rsquo;s second-leading scorer, with four goals and 10 points in 10 games.HOT STUFF: The ECAC had a number of players near the top of national categories at the holiday break. RPI junior right winger Brad Tapper was leading the nation in goals scored with 18 while his teammate, senior goalie Joel Laing, was tied with St. Lawrence freshman Derek Gustafson for the lead in save percentage at .951. Gustafson also had the third best goals-against average (1.57), in the country.Yale senior goalie Trevor Hanger was fourth in the nation in goals-against average with a 1.65 mark.ECAC &#9632;

Morin turns other cheek, becomes top playmaker

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div>Based on the current trend, if you go to a Hockey East game you are going to see a close, low-scoring contest.During the 1999 portion of the Hockey East schedule, 28 of 39 games were decided by two goals or less. Ten games were decided by two goals; 13 by one goal and there were five ties.In conjunction with that, there was an average of 5.5 goals per game. Last season at this time, teams scored an average 6.6 goals per game.&ldquo;The league is very strong from top to bottom,&rdquo; said UMass-Lowell coach Tim Whitehead. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very competitive.&rdquo;UMass-Amherst coach Joe Mallen said all the teams play good defensive hockey, &ldquo;even the explosive offensive teams. So you have a lot of low-scoring games.&ldquo;The other factor is you have rivalries that are really intense. So those games are gritty and tight-checking,&rdquo; added Mallen whose last-place Minutemen, 0-6-1 in league play entering the new year, had dropped 2-1 decisions to frontrunners New Hampshire and Boston University.Mallen also said the league has a lot of &ldquo;great goaltenders.&rdquo;BU led the league in goals per game at 3.67 and Merrimack had allowed the most goals at 3.2 per game.Ed Saunders, director of media relations for the league, said, &ldquo;You have to show up to play at both ends of the ice every night or you&rsquo;re going to wind up in trouble.&rdquo;LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN: Through the first 63 non-league games, Hockey East teams were 41-21-1 for a winning percentage of .659. They had winning records against each of the other three major conferences&ndash;the WCHA, CCHA and ECAC.The league also sent nine players to the U.S. team at the World Junior Championship, which was the most of any college or junior league. And three different Hockey East teams, Boston College, Maine and New Hampshire, had been voted No. 1 in the country in the two major college polls.LAST HURRAH: Hard-working Northeastern University winger Billy Newson will be the answer to a trivia question some day: Who was the last player to be named Hockey East player of the week in the 1900s? Newson had two goals in a 6-5 overtime loss to Harvard Dec. 19.ON TV: Fox Sports Net will begin televising a Hockey East game of the week Jan. 9 when arch-rivals Boston University and Boston College square off. The network will televise nine regular season games before doing the playoffs.&ldquo;This is the last year of our three-year contract and we&rsquo;re hoping to continue on with Fox,&rdquo; Ed Saunders said. &ldquo;The ratings have steadily improved and we anticipate that they will continue to improve.&rdquo;HOCKEY EAST &#9632;

Don’t look to Hockey East for goals, blowout games

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01884/6940670-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div>Get more than the highlightsby subscribing NOW!SAVE 65% off the newsstand priceSubscribe today and get 42 issues of The Hockey News including our Yearbook, the #1 Selling Hockey Annual in North America.subscribe now for only $49.95&nbsp;(+applicable taxes)JUST $1.19 AN ISSUETo Subscribe NOW mail to:IN CANADA:THE HOCKEY NEWS777 BAY STREET, SUITE 2700TORONTO, ONTARIOM5G 2N1IN THE UNITED STATES:THE HOCKEY NEWSBOX 901BUFFALO, NY14240-9554OR CALL 1-888-361-9768 TODAY!OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT:<a href="http://www.thehockeynews.com">www.thehockeynews.com</a>The Hockey News gives you the inside scoop on hockey like no other publication in the world!&diams; Get Inside The Game With:&diams; Interviews&diams; Photos&diams; Stats & Predictions&diams; Get Current Reports From The Best Hockey Writers In All 28 NHL Cities&diams; Get Complete Coverage Of Minor Pro. College And Junior Leagues Across North America&diams; Delivered Directly To Your Door! &#9632;

f0035-01

The Hockey News

<div class="image-hero"><img title="S0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0002-0129/6940701-1-eng-US/s0002-012.jpg"></div>FOUNDED:The International Hockey league was established on Dec. 5.1945 In a three-hour meeting at the Norton Palmer Hotel in Windsor. Ont. The IHL was to provide opportunities for Detroit Windsor hockey players returning home from World War II. Four teams were formed: Detroit Auto Club and Detroit Bright&rsquo;s Goodyears would play their home games at Olympia Stadium in Detroit, while the Windsor Spitfires and the Windsor Gotfredsons would play their home games In the Windsor Arena. The IHL has operated successfully since its inception and is conducting its 55th consecutive season of operation in 1999-2000GROWTH:The IHL started with just four teams in 1945-46. but it grew to 11 teams by 1950. The league never had that many again until the 1993-94 season when 13 clubs participated. The IHL has been one of North America's most popular professional sports leagues - it has led all minor professional hockey leagues in average attendance the last 10 years. Today, 13 clubs play in the "I". The IHL is the only professional hockey league other than the NHL that plays in the Eastern. Central. Mountain and Pacific time zones.OWNERSHIP:Several prominent individuals are involved in ownership of IHL franchises including: William Davidson - Detroit Vipers (also owner of NBA Detroit Pistons and NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning): Rich DeVos - Orlando Solar Bears (co-founder of Amway Corporation and owner of NBA Orlando Magic); and Barry Kemp - Long Beach Ice Dogs (creator of hit TV series Coach and Newhart and producer of the hit movie Patch Adams).ARENAS:The league plays it&rsquo;s games in many of North America&rsquo;s finest facilities, including industry leaders such as The Bradley Center in Milwaukee. The Palace of Auburn Hills. Gund Arena in Cleveland and the Orlando Arena. The Grand Rapids Griffins play in Van Andel Arena, which recently celebrated Its fourth birthday and is a boon to the city&rsquo;s downtown area, and The Utah Grizzlies begin their third season at the West Valley Events Center ("E" Center), which is preparing to play a prominent role in the 2002 Winter Olympics, The Cincinnati Cyclones play at the former Riverfront Coliseum, renovated prior to the &lsquo;97-98 season and now named "Firstar Center".FAN SUPPORTMore than four and a half million fans attended IHL games during the 1998 99 regular season, tops among minor professional leagues. More than 16 million spectators have watched IHL games over the last three seasons.PLAYOFFSThe regular season is followed by a four-round playoff system in which 10 teams qualify. The first-round (tentatively scheduled for April 18) Is a best-of-three format between the lowest seeds in each conference; the conference semifinals (second round tentatively scheduled to begin April 25) are best-of seven, as are the remaining Iwo rounds (conference finals to begin approx. May 9 & Turner Cup Final to begin approx May 24).CHAMPIONSHIPIHL teams play for the Turner Cup. symbolic of the league&rsquo;s playoff champion It Is named after Joseph Turner, a promising goaltender from Windsor who was killed during World War II. The Houston Aeros are the defending Turner Cup champions.AFFORDABILITYOne of the keys to the IHL's continuing growth is its appeal to fans of all income levels. With a league-wide average ticket price of approximately $11 (U.S.), the IHL is able to offer high quality pro hockey and family entertainment at affordable prices. A provision in the league&rsquo;s collective bargaining agreement states that at least 50 per cent of all seats (or a minimum of 5.000 seats) in IHL arenas be priced at $10 or less.<h2>&ldquo;IHL Partners&rdquo; &#9632;</h2>

S0002-01

A STRONG TEAM HAS MANY “I”MPORTANT PIECES

<div class="byline">By AMY ROSEWATER </div><div class="byline">CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0003-0121/6940739-1-eng-US/s0003-012.jpg" title="S0003-01" width="89" height="644"></div>It was not that long ago that when someone mentioned the International Hockey League virtually anyone affiliated with the NHL would run the other way.By the time the IHL celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1994, it had expanded into traditional NHL markets like Detroit and Chicago and was marketing itself not as a minor league but as an alternative league. In fact, It had the NHL brass genuinely concerned about a reincarnation of the World Hockey Association.Now, six years later, the NHL and IHL are actually working together, and both parties are finding their new working relationship mutually beneficial. The turnaround can be credited to the fact the IHL stopped looking at ways to compete with the NHL and started looking at ways to work with it.&ldquo;We stated what we were trying to do and what we wanted to be," said Doug Moss, who became the IHL&rsquo;s President and CEO in June of 1998. "And we've done what we've said we wanted to do."As a result, more and more NHL teams are starting to look at the IHL as a viable place to develop their prospects.This season the IHL has divided itself into an Eastern Conference and a Western Conference. All seven Eastern Conference teams are affiliated with NHL teams and two of the six Western Conference teams - Chicago and Long Beach - have working agreements with the New York Islanders and Los Angeles Kings respectively. Compare that to the 1997-98 season, when just four of the league's 18 teams had full affiliations and one other had a working agreement with an NHL team.Four teams that previously had been independently operated partnered with NHL clubs this season: The Cincinnati Cyclones teamed with the Carolina Hurricanes; the Grand Rapids Griffins signed a deal with the Ottawa Senators; the Detroit Vipers became the farm team for the Tampa Bay Lightning; and the Orlando Solar Bears became the home for the expansion Atlanta Thrashers' prospects.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;They're moving in the right direction. The hockey has really impressed me.&rdquo; Doug Risebrough (Minnesota Wild)</blockquote>"We're having numerous conversations right now about other teams getting affiliations," Moss said. "I guess some people had to have some experience with it first before others would come aboard."The Cleveland Lumberjacks, which signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Blackhawks, are looking for a new parent club for next season. Recently, they have been courting the expansion Minnesota Wild.Wild General Manager Doug Risebrough recently visited Cleveland and was impressed with the operation.I'm not really that hung up on having an affiliation in either the IHL or the American Hockey League," said Risebrough after his visit to Cleveland. "The IHL really has made big strides in the last few years and made attempts to get younger and improve the speed of the game. They're moving in the right direction. The hockey has really impressed me."The more NHL affiliations there are, the more young prospects teams will have - and more youth brings enthusiastic play. In previous years, there were many veteran players who either couldn&rsquo;t or wouldn't play hard shift in and shift out. But with the IHL losing three teams this past summer (Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and Las Vegas), and with more teams affiliating with the NHL, there were fewer jobs available for older, independently signed players.Obviously, the talented veterans managed to keep their jobs and provide examples for the younger talent in the league this year. But the league seems to be several steps quicker now, and the country club atmosphere is long gone.Said Moss: "I've talked to GMs and owners in our league and in the NHL about the caliber of play in the league this year and everyone sees how much improvement we've made and that people can play in this league."I've even talked with the scouts, and they're the ones who seem to know it the best, and they all say the caliber of talent is up there. We just have to keep it going."<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0003-0212/6940732-1-eng-US/s0003-022.jpg" title="S0003-02" width="97" height="637"></div> &#9632;</div>

S0003-01

GROWING NHL AFFILIATIONS

With the relationship between the IHL and the NHL growing stronger each day, the IHL is positioning itself as a premier developmental league. On opening day 1999, there were 215 players on NHL rosters with IHL experience. That number represented almost one-third of the NHL talent (215 of 664, 32.4%). But the IHL talent in the NHL doesn't stop there, as eight former IHL All-Star coaches are now part of the NHL ranks. These include:&bull; JOHN TORCHETTI, Fort Wayne Komets (IHL)/ Assistant Coach, Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL) &bull; STEVE LUDZIK, Detroit Vipers (IHL)/ Head Coach, Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL) &bull; DAVE TIPPETT, Houston Aeros (IHL)/ Assistant Coach, Los Angeles Kings (NHL) &bull; BUTCH GORING, Las Vegas Thunder, Denver Grizzlies (IHL)/Head Coach, New York Islanders (NHL) &bull; CURT FRASER, Orlando Solar Bears (IHL)/ Head Coach, Atlanta Thrashers (NHL) &bull; KEN HITCHCOCK, Michigan (Kalamazoo) K-Wings (IHL)/Head Coach, Dallas Stars (NHL) &bull; RICK DUDLEY, San Diego Gulls (IHL)/General Manager, Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL) &bull; DON WADDELL San Diego Gulls (IHL)/General Manager, Atlanta Thrashers (NHL)That said, this year's IHL All-Star Roster includes 12 players under contract to NHL teams. That's a full 60% of the team. With an eye on the future, the IHL is ready to roar into the 21st century.<h2>IHL ON TV</h2>Television broadcasts will originate from all thirteen IHL arenas for the 1999-2000 season. The television schedule will consist of 120 games televised by nine of the league's 13 teams.Six major regional sports networks are involved in televising local team games. FOX Sports Net airs IHL games in four areas - Detroit (Vipers), Cleveland (Lumberjacks). Utah (Grizzlies) and Long Beach (Ice Dogs). Sunshine Network showcases toe' Orlando Solar Bears. Tire Milwaukee Admirals will benefit from their first: television package deal with Midwest Sports Channel. Additionally, three teams broadcast over local airwaves: Chicago (Wolves Cable), Grand Rapids (WWMT-C8S), and Houston (Time Warner Communications). The Utah Grizzlies also broadcast selected games on KUWB. WB30 in Salt Lake City.The All-Star Game itself will be heard on the radio throughout the Houston area. Viewers in the metropolitan Houston area can view the game live on all Time Warner affiliates. Additionally the Sunshine Network will broadcast the game on a tape-delayed basis starting at 9:30 p.m. Eastern time on January 17. All times subject to change. &#9632;

ALL-STAR COACHES IN THE NHL

<div class="byline">By AMY ROSEWATER </div><div class="byline">CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER</div>When it comes to experimentation, the International Hockey League has truly been in a league of its own.Ever since the IHL was established in a Windsor hotel in 1945, it has tested new rules, new promotions and new ways of playing the game of hockey. Some, like the overtime shootout, have proven to be quite successful with the fans. Others though, like playing games in four quarters instead of the traditional three periods, have been a bust.The IHL typically tries new rules during the preseason, although there have been occasions when a change is made in the middle of the season. The bottom line is the league isn't afraid to test something if it thinks there's a chance it will work."I'm not looking for a gimmick," said IHL President and CEO Doug Moss. "Nothing like having the players wear white skates or things of that sort. But there are some really interesting things to look at and why not try them out?"Something like removing the red line for example. I've talked to some people and they said it would definitely improve the game and others said it wouldn't do anything for the game. Maybe something like that should be tried in the exhibition season or maybe give it a full year and see how defensive specialists play against it&rdquo;Perhaps the most successful experiment has been the shootout, which came into existence in the IHL in the summer of 1985. The shootout is only used to decide regular-season games that are tied at the end of regulation. Playoff games are decided in sudden death overtime periods. This year the NHL is using 4-on-4 hockey to help break ties and the IHL is looking into that as well."The fans absolutely love the shootout," said Cleveland Lumberjacks owner and general manager Larry Gordon, who first saw the shootout when he worked in the WHA's front office. "I just don't like tie games and I don't think the fans do either."At meetings during the 1999-2000 IHL All-Star Game weekend in Houston, owners and general managers will once again discuss some new rules.The two-referee system, a la the NHL, is one idea on the docket. Other ideas floating around include making the nets larger and perhaps allowing the back linesman to call penalties in a game.There have been occasions where the IHL has worked in conjunction with the NHL to see if an idea can work. The advantage of testing something in the minors is that there is less scrutiny if the idea just doesn&rsquo;t work.One example of this was in March of 1998 when the IHL and NHL got together to stage two four-quarter games in Las Vegas. It was the first time such a format was ever tested in pro hockey. It didn't work, but little harm was done."People don't like to change themselves, but they like to see other people change," Moss said. &ldquo;And we can do that in cooperation with the NHL."Now that the IHL is trying to work closer with the NHL than it has in the past, and more IHL teams are now affiliated with NHL teams, chances are any dramatic changes won't be made without the NHL's blessing."Our league has always been amenable to acting as a guinea pig for the NHL," Gordon said. &ldquo;If there's something the NHL would like us to test, then our league will bend over backwards to try it. But we have to remember that they need us to develop their players and we can't develop their players under a whole different set of rules than theirs." &#9632;

"I" STANDS FOR INNOVATION

<div class="byline">By SCOTT KAISER </div><div class="byline">HOUSTON CHRONICLE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="S0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0004-0126/6940794-1-eng-US/s0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">COACH-GM RON LOW HAS ENERGIZED THE AEROS SINCE HIS ARRIVAL FROM EDMONTON</figcaption></div>Ron Low has no regrets. Only six months removed from being the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, the 49-year-old Low will be behind the bench on Jan. 17 when his defending Turner Cup champion Houston Aeros meet the International Hockey League's best in its All-Star game.It might seem like a giant drop in status for the former NHL coach, who led the Oilers to first-round playoff upsets of Dallas in 1997 and Colorado in '98, but the always-upbeat Low relishes his dual role as coach and general manager. "Ifs been great" said Low, an ex-goalie who played 1l years in the NHL "There are some bizarre days, but there's a lot of teamwork involved down here and I like it a lot The people I'm working with are great too."Words like "great" and "unbelievable" are peppered throughout any discussion with Low, who exudes the "live life to its fullest" philosophy."I like the attitude he brings to the rink every day," said veteran center Mark Freer, the Turner Cup Most Valuable Player last spring. "Even on days when things haven't gone well, he's still upbeat and positive. Personally, I enjoy his sarcasm on and off the bench. He gets going there and I get a laugh out of that. He's just the type of coach that you really want to play hard for.&rdquo;Low brought that same energy to the Oilers, but after a rocky 1998-99 season in which Edmonton was swept in a hard-fought first-round series by Dallas, general manager Glen Sather basically pushed his coach out the door. After 13 years with the organization, including four-plus as head coach of the Oilers (only Detroit's Scotty Bowman had been with his team longer), Low was offered a one-year deal for $450,000 (Canadian). That was the same salary he earned during the 1998-99 season, which was the lowest in the NHL, and Low deemed that unacceptable."It&rsquo;s never insulting when somebody offers you $450,000 to coach hockey," said Low at the time. "It was just the principle. I happen to think I'm a good coach. And I'm sorry, I just don't feel I should be the lowest-paid coach in the league."In the meantime, Dave Tippett resigned as head coach and general manager of the Aeros after leading them to the Turner Cup championship to become an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Kings. Aeros president Richard Adler wasted little time in contacting Low, who had been rumored to be a finalist for the head coaching position with the expansion Atlanta Thrashers."Once we heard that Curt Fraser was getting the Atlanta job, I asked Tip' to find out how to get a hold of him," Adler said. "We had interviewed two other people (with NHL experience), but when I talked to Ron, I immediately told (Aeros owner) Chuck (Watson), This is the guy.'&rdquo;When asked why, Adler said, "Just gut instinct. His personality's infectious and he has a tremendous amount of positive energy. We hit it off right off the bat and that chemistry's important."The only other job Low inquired about besides the dual role in Houston was an assistant&rsquo;s position in Ottawa."I came down here (to Houston) and visited with these people first and then went up to Ottawa. But after talking to Chuck, I was pretty much sold on what I was going to do when I left (for Ottawa)," Low said. "I thought the situation was going to be really good because he very much wants to have a good hockey club, and to me that's the biggest thing."Low and Watson signed a three-year contract on Aug. 4 and immediately Low jumped feet-first into his new role as GM."Dave (Tippett) had left us in pretty good shape and (assistant GM and coach) Dave Barr had been doing a great job on an interim basis, and that laid the groundwork for Ron," Adler said. "That side of the business was something Ron needed to learn, but he's done a good job in melding this team and finding the missing pieces that weren't here when he arrived."Agents and other general managers may have thought Low's inexperience on the business side of hockey would make him a pushover negotiating contracts and transactions, but that has proven false. In fact, Low prides himself on being a tough bargainer. "He doesn't say &lsquo;Yeah&rsquo; to the first thing presented to him," said Adler with a grin. "I love that"Although he had been in the NHL since 1989, Low wasn't completely out of touch with the talent in the 'I'. One of the men he inherited was veteran center Mark Lamb, who played for Low during the latter's first two seasons coaching, with Nova Scotia and Cape Breton of the AHL in the late '80s. Lamb was also a key player and Low an assistant coach on the Oilers' Stanley Cup winner in 1990."He hasn't changed at all, not one bit" Lamb said. "He's the same guy and coach who brings the same thing to the rink. He wants to win every game and is very enthusiastic, which comes from his competitive nature. The only thing different now is his experience and confidence. He was a young coach when I had him as a head coach, which was a time when he was by himself. You can just tell he's a lot more confident in what he does."One thing Lamb could tell his teammates is that Low would be motivated to earn a championship in his own right"Ron Low's got a Stanley Cup ring, but when you look at his record, what he doesn't have is a winning hockey club," Lamb said. 'Tm not saying that in a bad way because what he was given down in the minors, even Scotty Bowman would not have won with that hockey club. But when you're an affiliate, you take what you're given and see what you can do."Then in Edmonton, he was doing basically the same thing, only at a different level. I know a lot of the players there and there hasn't been one of them who said it was his fault. He's done his job wherever he's been and he's doing it here."On the ice, Low brought two different dimensions to the Aeros. One was shorter, harder practices that emphasize skating."It&rsquo;s not a hockey school," Freer said. "We're not here to work on the basics. If you go hard in the drills, you improve your skills or at least keep them where they're at. He works us hard, but at the same time he wants to keep us fresh.&rdquo;Low also brings more animation to practice. Whether it&rsquo;s barks of encouragement a whack of his stick on the ice, or quick words of praise or disgust Low is into what his team's doing from the opening whistle to the last"The intensity is unbelievable," left wing Greg Walters said. "He's always yelling and screaming, but in a good way that keeps you motivated in practice to bear down. You're really working hard all the time."What Low didn't do when first working with the Aeros is give them an "I've been in the NHL" attitude. "He doesn't put himself on a pedestal,&rdquo; said center Brian Wiseman, last season's IHL Most Valuable Player. "He has a great relationship with the players, probably because he was once a player."He can relate to some of the mistakes we're making, but he corrects them in a positive way. A lot of success is built on confidence and he isn't out to destroy that, but at the same time he wants to correct problems on the spot"Low carries the same attitude into games."There's no sugarcoating with him,&rdquo; said defenseman Paul Dyck. "If he thinks you need a kick in the butt, he's not afraid to tell you, and I respect that. On the other hand, if you are playing well, he's the first one to praise you. He's just a very, very approachable guy who likes to have relationships with each of his players. I feel like I can talk to him at any time.&rdquo;That trust has garnered results so far this season for the Aeros. Although they have been riddled by injuries the first three months, Low has them squarely in the hunt for the league's best record."It&rsquo;s proving to be the best thing we've ever done," said Adler of the acquisition of Low. "He's done a helluva job, especially considering the injuries." Low, in turn, has been impressed with the level of play in the T."I've been pleasantly surprised by it," Low said. "The competitiveness of the league is what's struck me the most. If you look at the games we've played, one- and two-goal games have almost been the norm."One of the things that has really impressed me is the caliber of goaltending in the league. It&rsquo;s high, really high. There's a lot of them in this league who are right on the borderline of being National Hockey League guys."Also, if you take a look around, there's an awful lot of kids who have gone to the National Hockey League this year and that tells a big story about how good the league is. Before most of the kids were coming from the American League, but now they're looking to fill some skill spots out of this one."If Low has any complaint it&rsquo;s the low turnout of fans in the early part of the season. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the one thing that&rsquo;s a little frustrating here," Low said. "I think the league is really good, but there aren't enough people at the games. It&rsquo;s a pretty good product and if you had those full houses like you have in Grand Rapids and Winnipeg all the time, it makes it more exciting for the players."I realize you're going against things like football (in the first three months) and I still believe the last three and a half months are going to be real exciting. I think the league will see its (attendance) numbers go up."Low turns pensive when asked if he misses anything else besides the full houses in the NHL"You'd be lying if you said you didn't miss it," Low said. "Its a great league. It&rsquo;s very competitive and there's an awful lot of talented players there who can do amazing things. I can&rsquo;t really pinpoint what you miss, but you miss it"Moments later though, Low&rsquo;s famous wit emerges again when he thinks of his new home. 'Tve seen a lot of bad things down here so far," said Low with his tongue firmly embedded in his cheek. "Sitting out by the pool at 9:30 (at night) is killing me. I'd rather be shoveling snow and sweating my (butt) off in 40-below weather."Turning serious, Low added, "I've got a three-year deal here. Obviously I'd like to get back to the National Hockey League because that's everybody's dream who's down here, either coaching or playing, but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. I'm really enjoying what I'm doing right now." &#9632;

S0004-01

FLYING HIGH WITH LOW

<div class="image-hero"><img title="S0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0005-0127/6940849-1-eng-US/s0005-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

S0005-01

25TH IHL ALL-STAR PLAYER LINE-UP

<div class="byline">By JASON KAY </div><div class="byline">THE HOCKEY NEWS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="S0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0006-0130/6940887-1-eng-US/s0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">THE CHAMPIONS VS. ALL-STARS FORMAT WAS A FIXTURE OF THE NHL'S ORIGINAL SIX ERA</figcaption></div>The International League is hoping to take a step forward with its 2000 All-Star Game by taking a couple steps back.This year&rsquo;s exhibition, originally scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 16 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, III., has been moved to Monday, Jan. 17 at Houston&rsquo;s Compaq Center, home of the defending IHL champion Aeros.But it&rsquo;s the new/old format that&rsquo;s getting the most attention. The league is reverting to a game featuring the Turner Cup champs versus a team of IHL all-stars.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an experiment&rdquo; says IHL president Doug Moss. &ldquo;If this doesn&rsquo;t work this year, we&rsquo;ll look at doing something different again next year.&rdquo;Why the change? Moss says the reasons are twofold.&ldquo;First we&rsquo;re still a weekend league,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;When it became evident that the Monday date could not work in Chicago, we searched for an IHL market that had Martin Luther King Day available. While we were in the process of making the venue change, we felt that this revised format would also increase the competitiveness of the game.&ldquo;Everyone seems to be putting a different spin on their games. The American League has PlanetUSA versus the World, the NHL has Team North America against the rest of the world. We thought it was time to try something new.&rdquo;Of course, it&rsquo;s also something old. From 1962, when the IHL played its first All-Star Game, through 1968, the previous Turner Cup champs played a team comprised of IHL all-stars. The defending champs won five of those seven games.The league then switched to an inter-conference game until 1979. Except for matches against Team USA in 1980 and 1984, the IHL&rsquo;s mid-season classic went on hiatus until 1992, when the East versus West format was reinstalled. That set-up was used until last year&rsquo;s game in Cincinnati.This year&rsquo;s format also mimics the one used by the NHL from when it first started playing the All-Star game in 1934 until 1968. The initial game was held as a benefit for Ace Bailey of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bailey suffered a career-ending fractured skull in December of 1933 when Eddie Shore of the Boston Bruins hit him from behind and Bailey&rsquo;s head struck me ice.Moss is hoping the benefit of this year&rsquo;s game will be a more competitive contest. While the format precludes some of the league&rsquo;s best players from playing, pride will be on the line for the Aeros - and professional athletes are nothing if not proud. So it stands to reason fans can expect to see more hitting, more hustle and more grit&ldquo;Everyone likes to see the stars, and so do I,&rdquo; Moss said. &ldquo;But this is an exhibition for the fans and it might prove to be a better game. It should be more intense.&rdquo;The Aeros, meanwhile, will be out to prove themselves. They won the Turner Cup last season in an exciting seven-game series over the Orlando Solar Bears. This year, they're back in the hunt in the Western Conference, but everyone likes to knock off the champs.Aeros owner Chuck Watson is looking forward to seeing the buzz that will be created again in his home building.&ldquo;It makes perfect sense for the Turner Cup champions to host the All-Star Game,&rdquo; Watson said. &ldquo;The Compaq Center came alive during the (1999) finals. We want that type of atmosphere for the All-Star Game and we hope the new format will make the game more competitive and compelling for the fans.&rdquo;Moss said the league targeted Martin Luther King Day on the schedule because it&rsquo;s a holiday Monday, which should make it a more attractive day for fans - especially children - to attend.Also new this year is the two-day format. In the past the event was a one-day affair, with the skills competition taking place between periods of the All-Star Game. This year, festivities begin a day earlier, on Sunday, Jan. 16, with the skills competition at Compaq Center. That showcase event will also pit the Aeros against the IHL All-Stars in skills such as puck control relay, hardest shot fastest skater, rapid fire, accuracy shooting and the breakaway relay.The league all-star starters, chosen by the fans via the internet, were announced Dec. 29. Milwaukee Admirals head coach Al Sims and Utah Grizzlies head coach Bob Bourne will run the stars&rsquo; bench. They were selected because their teams had the best winning percentages In their conferences through Dec. 12.The Aeros will be guided by head coach Ron Low and assistant coach Dave Barr.<h2>IHL All-Star Game Results</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0006-0217/6940880-1-eng-US/s0006-022.jpg" title="S0006-02" width="1934" height="1210"></div> &#9632;

S0006-01

CHAMPS VS. STARS

<div class="byline">By SCOTT KAISER </div><div class="byline">HOUSTON CHRONICLE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="S0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0007-0126/6940918-1-eng-US/s0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">HOCKEY LEGEND GORDIE HOWE, ALONG WITH SONS MARK AND MARTY, WON TWO WHA CHAMPIONSHIPS IN HOUSTON</figcaption></div>Houston's hockey history is relatively short, but its rewards have been sweet.Despite being home to Canada's national sport for only 19-plus years, Houston has earned four titles in three different leagues, the latest coming last June when the International Hockey League's Houston Aeros won the Turner Cup championship.The glory days of hockey in Houston were in the 70s when the World Hockey Association's Aeros, led by the legendary Gordie Howe, won two AVCO Cup championships."The last (championship) ring I got was here, and those were four of the best years I had in 32 years of hockey," Howe said.Hockey&rsquo;s first venture into southeast Texas came in 1946 thanks to the long arms of the Montreal Canadiens. The Houston Huskies of the United States Hockey League were a Canadiens' affiliate for three seasons, sandwiching in one championship season between two mediocre campaigns.After a 14-32-14 inaugural season, the Huskies' 1947-48 season received a surprise boost when Canadiens legend Toe Blake became the team's coach after a broken leg suffered on Jan. 11,1948, vs. the New York Rangers ended his NHL playing career. The Blake-led Huskies led the league in regular-season points with 75 (36-27-3) and went on to win the USHL's championship.Blake left the next year to play for the Buffalo Bisons and the Huskies' fortunes went with him. A17-42-7 record led to the demise of hockey in Houston for 16 years.The determined Canadiens made another move into Houston in 1965 with the Apollos of the Central Hockey League. In four seasons the Apollos were 121-117-44, but never finished higher than third in the regular season and made just one trip to the CHL semifinals. Both of those accomplishments came during the '66-67 season, when defenseman Serge Savard, forward Bill McCreary and goalie Rogie Vachon wore Apollos' sweaters.Three years after the Apollos were disbanded, hockey returned in 1972 when the World Hockey Association awarded a franchise, the Aeros, to Houston. Howe then stunned the hockey world when he returned from three years of retirement at the age of 45 in 1973 to play for the Aeros with his sons, Mark and Marty.It all started when Aeros coach Bill &ldquo;The Fox&rdquo; Dineen, an old Red Wing teammate of Howe&rsquo;s, shocked both the WHA and NHL brass in the spring of 73&rsquo; when he drafted Mark Howe. At the time, Mark was a 17-year-old playing his first year of Junior-A hockey with the Toronto Marlboros.There was an unwritten rule at that time among NHL clubs that players would not be plucked from the Junior ranks too early. But Dineen argued that rules for NHL teams didn&rsquo;t apply to WHA teams, and he drafted 18-year-old Marty as well just to sweeten the deal for Mark.The move set off alarm bells at the NHL head office where the league brass were picturing WHA teams stealing all the best young players. NHL president Clarence Campbell actually called Gordie Howe to ask him to forbid Mark and Marty from signing with the Aeros.Unfortunately for Campbell, Howe had no intention of keeping his boys from fulfilling their dream of playing pro hockey, and he told his old boss as much. After dealing with Campbell, Howe called Dineen to fill him in, and by the end of their conversation, there were three Howes bound for Houston.The father and sons act was a first for professional sports and the city embraced the Howes right away. On their arrival in Houston, the family was greeted by a huge banner hanging from a downtown building that read &ldquo;Welcome to Howeston&rdquo;.The Howes were also a big hit around the league, attracting capacity crowds wherever they played.Gordie scored 508 points (174 goals and 334 assists) in 419 games with the Aeros, becoming pro hockey&rsquo;s only playing grandfather during his tenure. Mark added 504 points (208-296), Ron Grahame (102-37-3,2.99 GAA) was one of the league's best goalies, and Poul Popiel was an all-star defenseman.During the 1975 season the Aeros moved from the Sam Houston Coliseum to the Summit (now the Compaq Center), where they averaged 10,400 per game, double what the National Basketball Association&rsquo;s Rockets drew.The Aeros posted a league-best .621 winning percentage (285-170-19) in their six years of competition. They also won 10 of 14 playoff series, including sweeps of Chicago in '74 and Quebec in '75 in the AVCO Cup finals. The Aeros were swept by Bobby Hull and the Winnepeg Jets in the 1976 finals and two years later the franchise was history.Hockey was revived in the 1979-80 season when the CHL approved the Apollos' return to the league. The Apollos (32-38-10) featured young defenseman Charlie Huddy and even saw a cameo appearance by 17-year-old Mark Messier. Messier had three assists in four games before being called up by the Edmonton Oilers.Talent wasn't as much a problem for the Apollos as their home rink. They played all but three exhibition games in the dilapidated Sam Houston Coliseum, which featured a chain-link fence rather than Plexiglas around the top of the boards. The franchise eventually folded on Jan. 8, 1981, just 33 games into the season."That place was a dump," said former Apollos defenseman Don Waddell. "The team folded because of a lack of support"It was another 13 years before hockey returned to Houston in the form of the IHL's Aeros. In the past two seasons the Aeros led the league in regular-season points and capped their first five campaigns by claiming the 1999 Turner Cup championship. The team's head coach and GM, Oave Tippett, and five of its players -- Greg Hawgood, Cam Stewart, Rob Valicevic, Manny Fernandez and David Oliver -- have since moved on to the NHL. &#9632;

S0007-01

HOUSTON HOCKEY HISTORY

<div class="image-hero"><img title="S0007-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0007-0215/6940949-1-eng-US/s0007-022.jpg"></div>Compaq Center, formerly the Summit, is one of America&rsquo;s most welcoming hosts for sports and entertainment Four major teams call the arena home, as well as a number of touring family shows. In addition, Compaq Center is a regular stop on the concert circuitCentrally located in one of the nation&rsquo;s largest markets, Compaq Center is equipped with such amenities as VIP suites and a food court serving up some of Houston&rsquo;s finest fare. The facility is synonymous with quality, service and fun. With more than 220 events serving over 2 million patrons each year, Compaq Center remains one of the busiest arenas in the country.The Compaq Center has hosted many sold-out events and several championship series in the NBA, IHL and WNBA. Last season, both game six and game seven of the IHL's Turner Cup Finals saw a packed house of 15,242 fans. Game seven cumulated with the Aeros capturing their first ever Turner Cup Championship.The facility is managed by Houston-based Leisure Management International, an industry leader in facility management and project development. LMI provides exceptional flexibility in responding to the constant changes in this dynamic and growing industry.<h2>COMPAQ CENTER FACTS</h2>Home to: Aeros (IHL), Rockets (NBA), Comets (WNBA), Thunderbears (AFL)Capacity: 11,207 (hockey)Food court featuring brand-name restaurants.Video System: Telescreens at east and west ends of arena.Underground Parking Spaces: 6,5001999-2000 Events: 220+Building History: Opened in 1975 as the Summit Center. Built using $18 million dollars in taxpayer supported bonds. &#9632;

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January 14, 2000

Flyers, Leafs Cup favorites

Dunham showing he can be No. 1 Cat in Nashville

Chicago comfortable home for one-time Hawk Noonan

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