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.

March 3, 2000

The Hockey News March 3, 2000

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01501/7049222-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>The Mississauga IceDogs lost their third head coach when Geoff Ward quit the second-year team afterjust nine games.Ward, hired Jan. 20 to replace the fired Jim Hulton, left the clubjust hours before a Feb. 16 Ontario League game against the Guelph Storm. He was replaced behind the bench by director of hockey operations Dick Cherry and assistant coach Steve Cherry, the brother and nephew of high-profile owner Don Cherry.Strangely enough, the 6-45-1-1 IceDogs responded with an 8-4 victory to break a clubrecord 20-game losing streak. Center Lou Dickenson set a team record with four goals.Ward was reportedly upset with interference from Don and Dick Cherry, but said he wasn&rsquo;t willing to discuss the matter right now.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t talked to (Ward) in two weeks,&rdquo; Don Cherry told the Toronto Sun. &ldquo;Maybe I should have. I left him alone.&rdquo;The IceDogs have been in disarray since joining the OHL as an expansion team in 1998-99. They had a Canadian Hockey League-worst 4-61-3 record last season. Coach Peter Sturgeon was fired in November, 1998.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s another bump in the road, which is the way it has been since we got this club,&rdquo; Don Cherry said. Three of Mississauga&rsquo;s best players, including top midget draft pick Jason Spezza, were out of action with injuries in the emotional win over Guelph.HIGHLIGHT PACKAGE: If Peterborough Petes&rsquo; center Jason Williams doesn&rsquo;t make it as a hockey player, he should consider a career as a Hollywood film editor.His skills with film editing landed him an invitation last fall to the San Jose Sharks&rsquo; training camp. Williams, 19, is one of those late bloomers looking for work next season.For the second straight season, he&rsquo;s leading his team and was 18th in the OHL with 30 goals and 63 points in 54 games. Last season he - had 26 goals and 74 points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03451/7048864-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="674" height="230"></div>Williams was drafted by the Petes in the second round, 29th overall, in 1996. He was rated in the 10th round after playing with Mt. Brydges (near London) of the Ontario Association Junior Development League. That&rsquo;s the highest a player from that league has been drafted.Williams said people make fun of the league, calling it the &lsquo;junior dumb league&rsquo; and &lsquo;jungle D,&rsquo; &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s still a good league to develop a young guy in. It&rsquo;s a chance to get out there with older guys and develop your skills.&rdquo;Williams was passed over in two NHL drafts, but with the help of his older brother Darren, he obtained film of games involving the Petes last season. They put together a Jason Williams&rsquo; highlight video and sent it to all 28 NHL teams.Williams had no agent at the time, but received a phone call one morning from the Sharks. A day later, the Colorado Avalanche phoned, but he was committed to San Jose.&ldquo;If I don&rsquo;t get drafted this year, hopefully I can get a walk-on again,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m doing it the hard way, but a lot of work goes into that and when you do it that way, you feel pretty good about yourself.&rdquo;JURY IS OUT: The league was investigating a line brawl involving the Petes and London Knights after the final buzzer Feb. 11 in London.The Knights had won 6-2 when the Petes&rsquo; Bob Crummer slammed goalie Gene Chiarello into the end boards. Three players from each team were ejected and Crummer received a match penalty for attempt to injure.Knights&rsquo; coach-GM Gary Agnew said it was premeditated. Crummer didn&rsquo;t apologize for running Chiarello.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t appreciate people taking liberties with our underagers,&rdquo; said Crummer, referring to a fight between Knights&rsquo; veteran Brett Angel and Petes&rsquo; rookie Jon Howse.&ldquo;It was at the point we thought liberties were being taken and with the score what it was, I didn&rsquo;t feel there was any reason for it. It will get around the league that we&rsquo;re not going to stand for that. I&rsquo;m not afraid to take a suspension. It will probably be one or two games.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Coach Ward bolts team before game, but IceDogs win to end losing streak

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02557/7048540-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="325" height="428"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Ricci</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01871/7048547-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="150" height="146"></div>When the San Jose Sharks acquired center Mike Ricci from the Colorado Avalanche early in the 1997-98 season, he arrived with a history of injuries that cast doubt on the viability of the deal.Ricci hadn&rsquo;t missed a game since, although a nasty bout with the flu Feb. 15 threatened the NHL&rsquo;s third-longest current consecutive games streak.Even as coach Darryl Sutter conducted San Jose&rsquo;s pre-game meeting at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., Ricci lay in an adjacent trainers room with an I.V. pumping fluid into his stricken body.&ldquo;I asked him, &lsquo;Can you hear what I&rsquo;m saying in there, Reech?&rsquo; &rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;He hollered back, &lsquo;Yeah,&rsquo; so I knew he probably was going to play. Poor kid.&rdquo;Ricci not only played, but didn&rsquo;t miss a shift. He skated nearly 17 minutes and made a sweet pass to set up the game&rsquo;s first goal, by defenseman Mike Rathje, in a 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders.&ldquo;It tells you something about (Ricci),&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;It tells you about heart.&rdquo;No one has ever questioned the fortitude of Ricci, whose consecutive-games streak had reached 208. He trailed only Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; defenseman Teppo Numminen (357) and Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; right winger Tony Amonte (223) among current NHL ironmen.&ldquo;I feel better now that we got the two points,&rdquo; said Ricci, who fell ill Feb. 14 during a team bus ride from New Jersey to Long Island, after the Islanders&rsquo; game. &ldquo;I figured I would be able to play. I felt better than I thought I would. Youjust go out and give it all you&rsquo;ve got.&rdquo;A key performer during Colorado&rsquo;s drive to the 1996 Stanley Cup, Ricci provides the Sharks with a tremendous amount of leadership by example. He had also been very productive in his third line role, with 15 goals and 28 points through 61 games. With a plus-9 mark, Ricci also merited consideration for the Seike Trophy.&ldquo;Why is Mike Ricci, night in and night out, one of our best players?&rdquo; Sutter asked. &ldquo;There are 10 guys, easy, with more skill. There&rsquo;s something there you can&rsquo;t measure, because you&rsquo;d have to cut him open. There&rsquo;s not enough of that type of player in the game, with that junkyard mentality. You wish you could have one team with all those kind of guys.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Rookie defenseman Brad Stuart recorded his first career two-goal game in a 4-1 road victory over the New York Islanders Feb. 15. Left winger Jeff Friesen, meanwhile, picked up two assists, pushing his franchise-record career point total to 301&hellip;The Sharks improved to 3-0-1 in their last four visits to Long Island&hellip;Center Vincent Damphousse&rsquo;s goal-scoring drought reached 23 games through Feb. 15. He had 11 goals this season and was third on the team with 46 points, but hadn&rsquo;t scored since Dec. 22&hellip;Defenseman Jeff Norton received a four-game suspension for a stick swinging incident against New Jersey winger Claude Lemieux during a 3-1 Devils&rsquo; victory Feb. 13. Norton, also nursing a sore back, went on the injured-reserve list&hellip;Goaltender Steve Shields recorded his third shutout this season and second in three games with a 24-save effort in a 3-0 triumph at Atlanta Feb. 11&hellip;Defenseman Bryan Marchment, who had missed 14 games because of a sprained ankle, returned to the lineup against the Thrashers. Marchment, though, aggravated the injury two games later against the Islanders. &#9632;

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NHL TEAMS

Ironman Ricci keeps streak alive despite bout with flu

<div class="byline">By Paul Harris</div><h2>CCHA</h2>When Shawn Horcoff showed up in East Lansing as a Michigan State freshman four years ago, he thought he was in good shape. But after sizing up the competition, he realized how far he had to go.So he put in extra effort on and off the ice and it has paid off. MSU coach Ron Mason said his senior captain was in &ldquo;world-class condition and I&rsquo;ve had only two or three players at that level.&rdquo;Horcoff, Michigan State&rsquo;s No. 1 center, was tied for second among Division I scorers with 10 goals and 46 points in 31 games this season. A native of Castlegar, B.C., he was selected 99th overall by Edmonton in 1998.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a threat every time he&rsquo;s on the ice,&rdquo; said Mason of the 6-foot-l, 191-pounder. &ldquo;He can carry it, he can pass it and he can score.&rdquo;A fierce competitor, Horcoff leads with his work ethic and intensity. He said he learned that by watching the Spartans&rsquo; previous two captains-Mike York and Tyler Harlton.&ldquo;Mike and Tyler were guys that if you weren&rsquo;t working as hard as they were,&rdquo; Horcoff said, &ldquo;they would make you look stupid in practice.&rdquo;HorcofFs efforts helped the Spartans to a 15-7-1 conference record-good for second in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association-and to a 20-9-2 overall mark.He would have even better stats if he had better luck around the net this season.&ldquo;I really have been snakebitten, I don&rsquo;t know what it&rsquo;s been,&rdquo; Horcoff said.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel nervous with the puck around the net or anything. I don&rsquo;t look at myself as a goal-scorer; I&rsquo;m more of a playmaker. But I&rsquo;d like to have more goals.&rdquo;ON A STREAK: Michigan freshman left winger Andy Hilbert was on an 11-game point streak through Feb. 18.The native of Howell, Mich., had 11 goals and 18 points in that span, the longest point streak by a Wolverine since Bill Muckalt had an 11-game stretch during the 1997-98 season. Hilbert had 14 goals and 22 points in 23 conference games this season.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t really thought about it too much,&rdquo; Hilbert said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not very hard to get a few points when you have guys like (right winger Jed Ortmeyer and center Mike Comrie) playing on your line. I just give them the puck and let them wheel around (everybody) and find the back of the net.&rdquo;RECORD WIN: Bowling Green&rsquo;s 5-1 home victory over Miami Feb. 11 was the 400th CCHA win for the Falcons.And after defeating the RedHawks 5-2 Feb. 12 in the finale of the home-and-home series, Bowling Green had won six of its last eight games. The Falcons were 10-12-0 in the conference, good for ninth place, and 13-15-0 overall this season. &#9632;

Conditioning and intensity spur MSU captain Horcoff

<h2>Ottawa remains home to Senators</h2>1. Sens-ational save Fans answer owner Rod Bryden&rsquo;s challenge to keep team in Ottawa by snapping up season tickets.2. Milestones Ray Bourque gets 1,500th point; Ed Belfour nets 300th win; and Luc Robitaille passes Rocket Richard in goals.3. No Flash in pan Anaheim&rsquo;s Teemu Selanne registers 700th point, increases point streak to 12 games.4. Hi, remember me? Montreal&rsquo;s Jesse Belanger gets two goals, two assists in first NHL game in four years.5. Letter perfect Toledo&rsquo;s Andrew Williamson nets PPG, SHG, ENG and GWG in one East Coast League game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021269/7047171-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="312" height="490"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Belfour</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03949/7047164-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="313" height="493"><figcaption class="caption-body">Matthew Barnaby</figcaption></div><h2>Suspensions for kids in the hall</h2>1. Hall brawl Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Matthew Barnaby (five games), Islanders&rsquo; Eric Cairns (four) suspended for hallway scrap.2. Mess-issauga Don Cherry&rsquo;s Ontario League Ice Puppies drop 20 in a row, coach Geoff Ward quits.3. Oops! Philadelphia Flyer Daymond Langkow scores empty net goal-too bad it was into his team&rsquo;s net.4. No Damn-phousse goals San Jose&rsquo;s Vincent Damphousse stumbling along on 23-game goalless drought.5. Eric Vail come home&hellip;please Expansion Atlanta Thrashers lose 11 in a row, winless in 15 games. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-In-Chief</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021370/7047209-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="311" height="433"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011712/7047202-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="2795" height="3514"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Andy Marlin/BBS)</figcaption></div>A new challenger has entered the MVP race, maintaining Canadian content in a competition dominated by Europeans the past three seasons.Czech mates Jaromir Jagr and Dominik Hasek have combined to win the Hart sons. Jagr and Russian Rocket Pavel Bure are top contenders this year. A joint entry of Curtis Joseph and Paul Kariya rounds out the top three.Joseph has been considered F the NHL&rsquo;s best goalie throughout most of 1999-2000, but an ever-lengthening slump in the new year has compromised his candidacy. Kariya, meanwhile, has picked up where Joseph left off.After a slow start-he scored in just 14 of40 games (35 per cent)-Kariya had goals in 13 of his next 18 games (72 per cent) to position himself for a run at the Rocket Richard Tro-phy with 35 goals. Bure led the way at 41 and points leader Jagr had 37. Owen Nolan also had 35 goals.Kariya was the new millennium&rsquo;s No. 2 scorer as of Feb. collecting 18 goals and 31 points in 20 games since Jan. 1. That placed him one point behind Patrik Elias (16-16-32). Kariya put an exclamation mark on his resurgence with a goal and four assists against the Calgary Flames Feb. 16. &ldquo;He was unbelievable,&rdquo; says Calgary&rsquo;s Jason Wiemer. &ldquo;When those guys get into a groove they make things happen and he&rsquo;s definitely in a groove.&rdquo; The five-point outburst lifted Kariya to 69 points in 58 games, propelling him to second in the scoring race.Not that Kariya would know any of this. Ask him if he knows how many goals he has and Kariya says, "No.&rdquo; Ask him if he knows how many assists he has and he says, &ldquo;No.&rdquo; Ask him if he thinks he&rsquo;s averaging a point a game and he guesses, &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m averaging more than that. I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;Surprisingly, as late as 45 games into the season, Kariya was averaging less than one point per game, definitely less than you would expect from one of the league&rsquo;s most gifted players. &ldquo;He has been good all year,&rdquo; says Anaheim coach Craig Hartsburg. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just that in the last month or so he has taken his game to another level. Right now he&rsquo;s on a mission to get us into the playoffs.&rdquo;Several factors have combined to change Kariya&rsquo;s scoring output: One, he is fully recovered from a quadriceps injury suffered during training camp. Two, Teemu Selanne, Kariya&rsquo;s principal compadre, has emerged from a scoring funk and is providing dynamic leadership. Three, Hartsburg summoned the Kariya-Steve Rucchin-Selanne line and told them to feel free to assert themselves offensively at the expense of some defensive duties. Four, Anaheim&rsquo;s power play, the NHL&rsquo;s best last season and one of the worst much of this season, is working again. Five, Kariya is back to averaging about five shots a game after dipping below that mark.And six? Well, Paul Kariya is discovering life away from the rink and working to more thoroughly separate his personal and professional lives. Since Kariya arrived in the NHL six years ago, he has earned a reputation for maniacal commitment to on-and off-ice preparation, throwing himself fully and completely into his career. But the 25-year-old Duck is learning to round out his existence and concentrate on spending quality time at the rink rather than quantity time.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s so much happier and so much looser,&rdquo; says superstar pal Selanne.&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m much more relaxed than even a year ago,&rdquo; Kariya acknowledges. &ldquo;But I think a lot of that just comes from experience and realizing there is only so much you can do. In years past, I would take the game home. Basically, it was 24 hours a day of thinking about hockey and it just tires you. Now I try to work smarter. Believe me, every time I step on the ice, every time I&rsquo;m in the weight room. I&rsquo;m 100 per-cent focused on what I&rsquo;m doing, but at the same time, now it&rsquo;s much easier to leave it at the rink.&rdquo;The result is a player at the top of his game. Hartsburg says his captain brings a unique skill set to the NHL.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s not a player that you can compare him to because of his size, his speed, his hockey sense, his grit,&rdquo; says Hartsburg of the 5-foot-10 dynamo."This is a tough little guy. He&rsquo;ll take a beating and he&rsquo;ll go into traffic, he&rsquo;ll block shots. He&rsquo;s fearless out there&hellip;1 don&rsquo;t know that there has been another player who has played that you really can compare what he does. There are big guys that do what Paul does. But I don&rsquo;t know if there has ever been a small guy who has had the success offensively and done as many good team things as he does.&rdquo; &#9632;

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FEATURES

He’s BACK on TRACK

Up until now, the voice of the hockey fan has been loud, but not very influential. But for the first time ever, fans will have a say-albeit a small one-in who wins a major award.A fan vote has been added to the selection process in determining the Hobey Baker Award, given to the top U.S. college player. A composite fan voice will form the 61st vote on a panel that includes 60 Division I college coaches in round one of balloting.Fans can vote on the Internet (<a href="http://www.hobeybaker.com">www.hobeybaker.com</a>) in two rounds: From Feb. 9 to March 6 to establish 10 finalists and March 17-30 to determine the winner.In the second round of voting, the composite fan vote joins a 20-mernber selection committee and will represent one per cent of the total vote.&ldquo;We know the college fan is an intelligent, dedicated and loyal follower of the game,&rdquo; said Hobey Baker Award committee executive director John Karr. &ldquo;We feel they should have a vote in deciding college hockey&rsquo;s top individual award.&rdquo; &#9632;

Fans get say in who wins top U.S. college award

Martin Brodeur was all jokes after scoring the seventh goal by a goaltender in NHL history.&ldquo;If I&rsquo;m going to score, it might as well be a game-winner,&rdquo; said the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; netminder who did just that in a 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers Feb. 15.&ldquo;Well, now I have my regular season goal,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;This should help me at arbitration.&rdquo;Brodeur also scored the fifth NHL goal by a goalie April 17, 1997, when he shot the puck the length of the ice into an empty net during a playoff game against the Montreal Canadiens.His second goal was credited to him because he was the last Devil to touch the puck before the Flyers manhandled it into their own vacated goal.A delayed penalty was to be called on New Jersey defenseman Scott Stevens, so Flyers&rsquo; goalie Brian Boucher headed to the bench. Brodeur was the last Devil to play the puck before the Flyers regained possession and tried to regroup in their zone. Daymond Langkow had the puck when Devils' left winger Sergei Brylin chopped at his stick. That jarred the puck loose and it trickled 50 feet into the empty Philadelphia net with 10:17 remaining.Brodeur&rsquo;s goal made it 3-1 for the Devils and it stood up as the first winning goal by a goalie.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really remember what I did for me to be the last one to touch the puck,&rdquo; Brodeur said. &ldquo;I was kind of surprised. I was getting ready for the power play and next thing you know, they&rsquo;re announcing your name for scoring a goal. Your head gets out of the game a little bit.&rdquo;Brodeur had another chance to score in the dying seconds. With Boucher pulled for the extra attacker, Brodeur fired a shot at the empty net, but a leaping Flyer swatted the attempt away before it had any chance of going in.&ldquo;I had to get it up high because a lot of people were there,&rdquo; Brodeur said. &ldquo;Might as well try to go for two goals in a game.&rdquo;<h2>GREAT GOAL, TENDERS</h2>Goalies have scored 13 times in the NHL and the top minor leagues (American and International). Eight have come in the past five seasons. Ron Hextail&rsquo;s second goal and Martin Brodeur&rsquo;s first occurred in playoff games. Asterisks indicate the goalie shot the puck. Goalies were given credit for the other goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011652/7047288-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="723" height="412"></div> &#9632;

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Brodeur first goalie to score winner

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN</div><h2>PUCK BRIEFS</h2>The NHL is the first major pro sports league to take its Internet business in house.The NHL agreed to buy out its Internet partner, IBM, for about $10 million (U.S.), according to the Wall Street Journal. The purpose is to tap into the expanding potential of the Internet and make it a significant part of the league&rsquo;s business.North America&rsquo;s other three major pro sports leagues license their Internet rights to an outside operator. The business newspaper' reported the NHL&rsquo;s Internet business isn&rsquo;t making money compared to the other leagues, which earn as much as $3 million a season.The NHL wants to add chat rooms and trivia contests to its <a href="http://NHL.com">nhl.com</a> website and may include live video and data feeds in anticipation of someday broadcasting games over the Internet.The NHL said a recent survey showed 70.3 per cent of NHL fans own at least one computer and 78.2 per cent have access to the Internet.HOCKEY 101: NHL Rules! is returning to ESPN when the Dallas Stars host the Detroit Red Wings Sunday, March 5.ESPN2 was pleased with reaction to its initial telecast Jan. 9 featuring strategy analysis and rule explanation rather than standard play-by-play.The two-analyst format includes Bill Clement and Darren Pang and the referees are miked so penalty calls can be heard by viewers.FAN VOTE: Jaromir Jagr. Steve Yzerman and Fred Brathwaite have been recognized by the fans.The NHL Fans&rsquo; Association polled its members and declared Jagr as MVP, Yzerman as best role model and Brathwaite as best bang for the buck. The NHLFA has 13,000 members, of which 1,730 voted.NO DECISION: International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel said a decision on NHL participation at the 2002 Olympics will be made by mid-May. Fasel met withNHL commissioner Gary Bettman Feb. 18 and, while they found common ground, didn&rsquo;t come to an agreement.CORRECTION: It was reported in the Feb. 25 issue of THN the Tampa Bay Lightning was averaging less than 11,000 in home attendance. Tampa, which has given away more than 100,000 tickets this season, is actually drawing about 13,500 per game.<h2>KAZMAIER AWARD</h2>The Patty Kazmaier Award is given to the most outstanding player in U.S. women&rsquo;s college hockey. Brown&rsquo;s Alison Brewer was a finalist for last year&rsquo;s award won by Harvard&rsquo;s A.J. Mleczko. Below are the 10 candidates. Three finalists will be announced March 13 and a winner named March 23 in Boston. Player info includes position, year, team and key statistic.Player, pos., year, teamJennifer Botterill, F, Soph., Harvard 21st in nation with 37 pointsAlison Brewer, G, Sr.. Brown 3rd in nation with .934 save percentageWinny Brodt. D, Jr., Minnesota 2nd-highest scorer among defensemenSara DeCosta. G, Jr., Providence .952 save percentage best in countryTara Mounsey, D. Jr., Brown Leads team with 24 pointsMaria Booth, F, Fresh., Minn.-Duluth Rookie&rsquo;s five SH goals tops in nationAngela Ruggiero, D, Soph., Harvard 3rd-highest scoring bluelinerJenny Schmidgall. F, Soph.. Minn.-Duluth Leads nation with 75 pointsHilary Witt, F, Sr., Northeastern Sniper second with nine PP goalsCarisa Zaban, F, Sr., New Hampshire 3rd in nation with 60 points &#9632;

NHL makes Internet play

<div class="byline">By Mike Gibb Staff Writer</div>The New Jersey Devils are top dogs in the Eastern Conference, but as far as Taylor Railton is concerned, their hot dogs are the worst.Railton is the 67-year-old hockey fan who has driven from one NHL outpost to the next in his quest to see each of the league&rsquo;s 28 teams play a home game.He has had the time of his life on the ultimate NHL fan&rsquo;s odyssey.Bom in Montreal, Railton was scheduled to complete the eight-week, 18,000-mile trek Feb. 24 in Philadelphia. The game, which pits the Flyers against the Pittsburgh Penguins, has sentimental meaning for the Philadelphia summer resident. During his cross-country puck pursuit, Railton carried with him a ticket stub from the first Flyers&rsquo; home game, Oct. 19, 1967, against the Penguins.Retired from the insurance business since 1993, Railton had discussed plans to visit every NHL city in one season for years.&ldquo;Finally, my kids told me to do it or to stop talking about it,&rdquo; said Railton, who watched the Toronto Maple Leafs tie the Boston Bruins 3-3 at Air Canada Centre Feb. 16.After two weeks and trying more than 50 different scenarios, Railton started his $6,000-trip in his 1995 Ford Taurus Jan. 1 in Philadelphia. He has been through three oil changes, or &ldquo;visits to the hospital,&rdquo; as he calls them. When he gets stressed out on the road, he pops in one of his Celine Dion tapes. He also makes sure to call his wife of 42 years, Dottie, every day.Railton. who sampled a hot dog in each arena, said Montreal had the best and New Jersey the worst. &ldquo;The bun was cold when I got it,&rdquo; he said.The trip exceeded all his expectations, Railton said. He has gotten to meet many hockey legends-including Phil Esposito, Denis Potvin and Bryan Trottier-and has been profiled on television and in newspapers.&ldquo;I got to tell Potvin and Trottier how much I used to hate them (as a Flyers&rsquo; fan),&rdquo; Railton said. &ldquo;And Esposito talked to me like he met me five years ago and was seeing me again. Like we were old friends.&rdquo;With four stops remaining, Railton&rsquo;s record was one game over .500 for the home teams. &#9632;

Road-weary hockey fanatic nears end of ultimate trip

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011836/7047367-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div>The story &lsquo;Toronto: Hockey Central&rsquo; was ajoke (THN, Feb. 11)!Don&rsquo;t you know the first official game of hockey was played in Montreal in 1875? Surely, you&rsquo;re aware the NHL was founded in Montreal and that clubs representing Montreal have won 41 Stanley Cups since 1893. Toronto is (a distant) second with 16, but the Maple Leafs have been a laughingstock-barring three or four good seasons-for more than 30 years.Maple Leaf Gardens&rsquo; legacy does not compare to that of the Forum, which provided the backdrop for history-making events such as Howie Morenz&rsquo;s funeral and the Richard riot.And despite the growing number of empty seats at the Molson Centre, the Canadiens still average nearly 1,000 more fans than the Leafs.Toronto may be an intense hockey city, but in Montreal, hockey is truly a religion.Stephane Pichette,&nbsp;Timmins, Ont.<h2>Sympathy to Graves</h2>I was deeply saddened after hearing that Jaxon, one of Adams Graves&rsquo; premature twins, had died. My condolences to Graves and his family.I also want to thank Graves for all he has done for the Rangers. When he took over as captain after Brian Leetch got injured, he served as an emotional leader on a team that desperately needed passion.If Graves gives the same effort to his family that he gives to his team, then he must be a great father and husband. To the best &lsquo;good guy&rsquo; in the game: Thank you, Adam.Brian Klimas,&nbsp;Geneseo, N.Y.<h2>Set Islanders free</h2>As a proud participant in the New York Islander Fan Protest Rally on Feb. 12, I want to thank my fellow fans for their enthusiasm and concern over the plight of the franchise.We believe Spectacor Management Group (SMG), which holds the arena lease, and Nassau County Executive Tom Gulotta and Al D&rsquo;Amato, the former New York Senator who is SMG&rsquo;s lawyer, are responsible for holding up the sale of the team to a group headed by Bob Gutkowski and Charles Koppelman. The Islanders and their fans deserve owners who care about hockey, not just real estate, and unless SMG is willing to negotiate, the team will fall deeper into despair.It&rsquo;s time for SMG to &lsquo;Set Us Free&rsquo; and allow the Islanders to enter a new era. It&rsquo;s time for Gulotta to do what&rsquo;s best for Long Island. And it&rsquo;s time for D&rsquo;Amato to find his priorities and do the right thing for the people who have supported him in the past.Kelly Kelley,&nbsp;Rockaway Beach, N. Y.<h2>Wings&rsquo; grinders key</h2>The Detroit Red Wings must improve in three areas if they hope to contend for the Stanley Cup.First, their checkers and nasty guys-Martin Lapointe, Kirk Maltby, Chris Chelios, Brendan Shanahan, Pat Verbeek, Aaron Ward-must live up to their role. Second, the Wings need to stop running around in their own end and learn to clear the puck. Finally, goalie Chris Osgood is only as good as the team around him-he doesn&rsquo;t steal games like, say, Nikolai Khabibulin might (hint, hint).To quote Kris Draper after Detroit won the Cup in 1997: &ldquo;We got a little less pretty and a lot more gritty.&rdquo;Robert Loewen,&nbsp;Windsor, Ont.<h2>Mess, Jersey great fit</h2>The only piece of the Stanley Cup puzzle that New Jersey is missing is Mark Messier.Messier is the greatest team leader hockey has ever seen. He&rsquo;s responsible for the Rangers&rsquo; 1994 Cup-first in 54 years-and maybe Edmonton&rsquo;s in 1990.Just think of the positive influence he would have on young Devils such as Scott Gomez. The only thing New Jersey lacks is confidence in the playoffs and Messier automatically brings that to any team he plays for.Charlie Bellero,&nbsp;Edison, N.J.<h2>Slagging Sather</h2>As a long-time Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; fan, it baffles me that Glen Sather is considered one of the best GMs in the NHL.Look at the All-Star Game, where four Sather giveaways suited up: Mariusz Czerkawski, Martin Rucinsky, Miroslav Satan and Ray Whitney.And for once, Sather can&rsquo;t say he couldn&rsquo;t afford them-combined, the four earn about as much as Bill Guerin and Doug Weight (both noticeably absent in the All-Star Game). That&rsquo;s some shrewd dealing, Slats!Seth Brown,&nbsp;Lennoxville, Que.<h2>Stay out of Salt Lake</h2>It seems commissioner Gary Bettman and the league aren&rsquo;t sure if NHL players will participate in the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002.The decision is easy: Don&rsquo;t go! Leave the Olympics to the amateurs; give college players a chance to fulfill their dreams.Ernie Eldridge,&nbsp;Gulfport, Mass.<h2>Female goon for hire</h2>I&rsquo;m tired of NHL coaches and GMs complaining about the abuse their stars are taking this season.They have a point, but shouldn&rsquo;t they be providing protection for their best players in the meantime? And why do coaches bench their enforcers? I know, we hear constantly, &ldquo;The role of the enforcer is not as important as it used to be!&rdquo; But how many times must we, the fans, collectively gasp when our favorite players get attacked? I&rsquo;m not talking an eye for an eye, but an on-ice deterrent would be nice!Therefore, I am offering my services, free of charge, to play the role of NHL thug.Granted, I&rsquo;m a 5-foot-5 female and am not an efficient skater, but my redheaded temper-along with the shame of hitting a girl-might be enough to discourage would-be goons from taking out the players that make hockey worthwhile.What the heck, if no one else is going to do it&hellip;Heather States-Platts,&nbsp;Twin Falls, Idaho<h2>Coyote a howl</h2>I attended a San Jose-Phoenix game the other night in San Jose. During a stoppage in play, the overhead scoreboard searched the crowd for people who looked like &lsquo;Flash Gordon&rsquo; movie characters. &lsquo;Ming the Merciless&rsquo; came up on the screen and then the look-a-like appeared-none other than Coyote center Jeremy Roenick.Of course, the Sharks&rsquo; fans roared their approval. To his credit, Roenick smiled and acknowledged the jeering. For this, I tip my hat to J.R. In an age of pouty and snobby athletes-which Roenick himself has been labeled from time to time-he maintained his dignity by choosing to laugh at himself. Too bad a lot of other athletes can&rsquo;t follow his example.Brian Boguhn,&nbsp;San Jose<h2>Refs will get worse</h2>If you think NHL officiating has been poor this year, wait until six or seven more rookie referees are promoted next season because all games will need two zebras.I&rsquo;ve seen the soon-to-be rookies in action in the American League this season and it hasn&rsquo;t been pretty. NHL expansion is diluting the talent pool, while requiring two refs per game is doing the same to the officiating pool.Steve Oelheim,&nbsp;Rochester, N. Y.Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 340-2786&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;Letters, THN, 777 Bay St-Suite 2700, Box 148, Toronto, Ont, M5G 2N8&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, THN, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y-14240-9947.&nbsp;E-mail us at mccaigs@transcontinentaLca Include hometown as well as home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

f0006-01

Hockey the way of life in puck-mad Montreal

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy Senior Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011672/7047398-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">He&rsquo;s Mr. Everything: Defenseman Eric Desjardins is a key cog on the Flyers&rsquo; NHL-best power play. (JimMclsaac/BBS)</figcaption></div>Eric Desjardins doesn&rsquo;t shoot the puck as hard as Al Maclnnis. He doesn&rsquo;t log the ice time or have the defensive reputation of Chris Pronger&hellip;or hit as hard as Rob Blake&hellip; or rush the puck like Sandis Ozolinsh&hellip; or clear the front of the net with the same authority as Derian Hatcher.But Desjardins has an above-average shot, plays a boatload of minutes, dishes out punishing hits, rushes the puck confidently and effectively clears the traffic in front of his goaltender. So when you add up all the good things he does, a case can be made for calling him the most complete defenseman in the game.And make no mistake, for the Flyers to take a run at the Stanley Cup, Desjardins must be a key ingredient.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a quiet leader on the team,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of those guys who doesn&rsquo;t say much in the room, but when he does talk, the others listen.&ldquo;On the ice he&rsquo;s not flashy; he just gets the job done. Some games you don&rsquo;t even notice him out there, yet he makes all the good plays.&rdquo;If you are noticing Desjardins, it&rsquo;s likely on the power play. The Flyers are the best team in the league with the man advantage, operating at a 23.7-per-cent success rate after 55 games. And Desjardins, along with left winger Mark Recchi, is a big reason why. They&rsquo;re on the points on the Flyers&rsquo; top man-advantage unit and Recchi led the NHL with 25 assists and 32 points on the power play, while Desjardins had 18 points.&ldquo;What we try to do is set up point shots,&rdquo; Desjardins said. &ldquo;(Recchi&rsquo;s) really good at wristing the puck to the net so if he&rsquo;s up high in the middle of the ice, I try to make sure he gets (the puck). If the puck is on his side of the ice, then I try to get in position for the shot and he feeds me.&rdquo;Desjardins, 30, said he and his power play point partner are always looking to pull a card out of their sleeve.&ldquo;Teams are catching on to what we&rsquo;re doing so if they start coming out to check us, then we work the puck down low and make our plays from there.&rdquo;Desjardins came to the Flyers from the Montreal Cana-diens in a much-celebrated trade in 1995. Flyers&rsquo; GM Bob Clarke wanted to strengthen his blueline, so he traded Recchi to Montreal for a package that included Desjardins.What made the trade a steal for the Flyers was that they also got left winger John LeClair. Since arriving in Philadelphia, LeClair has scored 50 goals three times and has blossomed into one of the league&rsquo;s best power forwards.Desjardins, meanwhile, has been everything the Flyers expected. But to fully appreciate Desjardins&rsquo; impact, you have to pay close attention.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s so good at getting the blade of his stick close to you,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; captain Eric Lindros. &ldquo;And that makes it hard for you to feather a pass to a teammate. A lot of guys will come at you intending to play the body and you know they&rsquo;re going for the hit. He makes it nearly impossible to make the pass.&rdquo;Lindros said Desjardins is also adept at knocking pucks out of the air.&ldquo;Teams like to flip the puck in the air now, almost like an onside kick,&rdquo; Lindros said. &ldquo;The Ducks are like that. (Teemu) Selanne will flip it in for (Paul) Kariya to grab. But Eric picks those off. He uses a big blade&hellip; the biggest blade they allow (12-1/2 inches long).&rdquo;Desjardins won a Stanley Cup in 1993 with Montreal. He played for Canada in the 1992 Canada Cup, the 1996 World Cup and in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano. He has been in three NHL All-Star Games (including this year&rsquo;s in Toronto) and is on pace to smash his single-season highs for goals (13) and points (47). Through Feb. 17, he had 12 goals and 42 points in 54 games, tied for first with three others blueliners.Yet he does not carry as high a profile as most of the other Norris contenders. And he remains underrated.&ldquo;That doesn&rsquo;t matter to me at all,&rdquo; said Desjardins without a trace of false modesty.&ldquo;The most important thing to me is what my teammates and coaching staff think. If my teammates like the way I play and want to play with me, then that&rsquo;s all that&rsquo;s important. And if the coaching staff puts me out in important situations, then they must be happy with me.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0007-01

Flyers’ other Eric an all-around gem

<div class="byline">By Mike Gibb Staff Writer</div>Mattias Ohlund&rsquo;s brush with partial blindness left him with a two-inch scar below his right eye. Other than that-and the fact he now wears a visor-the Vancouver Canuck looks much like the player who was blossoming into an elite defenseman.But appearances can be deceiving.Ohlund is playing with only 60-per-cent vision in his right eye after deflecting a from Janne Laukkanen of the Ottawa Senators during a Sept. 21 pre-season game. He underwent surgery in late October and didn&rsquo;t see regular season action until Jan. 7.But even more bothersome for Ohlund than his blurry vision is his shrinking stature-he&rsquo;s playing with 12 fewer pounds of muscle on his 6-foot-2 frame. Ohlund, 23, likes to compete at about 220 pounds, but the injury prohibited him from weightlifting or significant exercise.&ldquo;My vision doesn&rsquo;t bother me playing,&rdquo; Ohlund said. &ldquo;(Not being in) game shape does. I still need to improve on a lot of things out there. I&rsquo;m not where I want to be. It has been a lot harder than I thought it would be.&rdquo;Playing as much as he does, Ohlund won&rsquo;t get a chance to put the weight back on after the season is over. He led the Canucks at 27:05 minutes per game through Feb. 18, proving that, even with limited vision, he&rsquo;s still essential to the Canucks&rsquo; success.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not fair that he&rsquo;s playing the most minutes out of everybody already,&rdquo; said Canucks&rsquo; left winger Markus Naslund. &ldquo;I think you can see sometimes he loses the puck. (But) you can&rsquo;t be too hard on him. It&rsquo;s easy to be tough on a defenseman if he coughs the puck up, but if you can&rsquo;t see&hellip;he&rsquo;s still one of our top defenseman, even if he has limited vision.&rdquo;To go with the abundance of ice time, Ohlund had scored two goals and 11 points in 17 games. His points-per-game average (.65) was one of the best among NHL defensemen.While it has been the most difficult season three-year NHL career, the young the ice. He and wife Linda celebrated the Swede has had some memorable times off birth of their first child, Viktor, Nov. 3. That provided Ohlund with a distraction and gave him some perspective.&ldquo;I love the game and everything about the game, but it&rsquo;s not the end of the world if I can&rsquo;t play,&rdquo; Ohlund said.&ldquo;(The baby) helped me get my mood up and helped me realize that it wasn&rsquo;t the end of the world. I wanted to come back. I missed the game. But I was never really down, because Ihad so much going for me off the ice.&rdquo;Naturally, the thought of only having one good eye scared Ohlund. He was worried future because of his family history-both his parents have poor eyesight.&ldquo;I was concerned about 40 or 50 years from now,&rdquo; Ohlund said. &ldquo;What would happen if I had one good eye and it got worse? That was my biggest concern."Doctors believe Ohlund&rsquo;s eyesight will approach 100 per cent in time. A second surgery this summer should help. Whether or not the blurred vision goes away will go a long way in determining the success of Ohlund&rsquo;s career.&ldquo;I still believe he can be a top defenseman on any team,&rdquo; said Canucks&rsquo; coach Marc Crawford. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not nearly where he&rsquo;ll be when he levels off. He&rsquo;s not quite as good a skater as (Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; defenseman Nicklas) Lidstrom, but he&rsquo;s a good puck movement guy, has a real good physical edge.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the read, how much it improves. When to get in the attack, when to pinch. How much he reads when to put a stick on someone, that&rsquo;s the biggest factor in whether he&rsquo;ll be a No. 1 defenseman or a complementary No. 2 defenseman.&rdquo;The injury would likely have been prevented had Ohlund been wearing a visor, which is now permanently attached to his helmet. He regrets not wearing it, saying peer pressure was the main reason he discarded facial protection after turning pro. He likes the idea of promoting visor use, but believes the decision should be left to the individual. A survey conducted by The Hockey News last season found only 14.4 per cent of NHLers wear visors.The Canucks have a handful of visor-wearers, but no one switched after Ohlund&rsquo;s injury.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t protect yourself from everything,&rdquo; Ohlund said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tough sport.&ldquo;You come here and you see 95 per cent of the guys not wearing it. But I can&rsquo;t afford to have any more damage to my eyes.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011729/7047429-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="957" height="1869"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mattias Ohlund is a visor convert since his injury.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0008-01

Ohlund resumes star trek

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021325/7047467-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="365" height="484"></div>Ron Wilson noticed something odd about the way his Washington Capitals opened the season.Odd as in the number of odd-man rushes they were allowing. So, with his team offto a dismal 2-6-2-0 start and in possession of one of the worst goals-against averages in the NHL, the coach altered the way the Capitals forechecked. They had been using combinations of the left-wing lock and neutral-zone trap to no avail.Wilson instructed his centers to stay high in the other team&rsquo;s zone to help the defensemen, who were getting left hung out to dry far too often. It worked almost immediately as the Caps reduced the number of 2-on-ls, 3-on-2s and breakaways against. And just as quickly, they went from being fodder for the league&rsquo;s good teams to being one themselves.&ldquo;The biggest benefit is our defensemen can commit to hitting knowing there&rsquo;s a forward there to back him up,&rdquo; Wilson said.Wilson said he&rsquo;s not concerned having his centers hang back will impede their creativity.&ldquo;When we have the puck they&rsquo;re free to go,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Besides, I haven&rsquo;t seen too many centers be creative when they don&rsquo;t have the puck.&rdquo;The Capitals have been the NHL&rsquo;s hottest team in the new millennium. From Dec. 27 through Feb. 18, the Caps were 16-3-4-0 and closing in on Florida for the Central Division crown. Overall, they&rsquo;re 28-19-9-1. The change in defensive strategy is just one of the factors in their return to form after missing the playoffs last year, one season removed from reaching the Stanley Cup final, where they were swept by the Detroit Red Wings. There are other reasons, among them:&#9633; Simon says score The monster (6-foot-4,235-pound) left winger was leading the team in goals with 18 in 49 games and there&rsquo;s a couple of reasons why. First, he&rsquo;s healthy. After playingjust 93 games in the past three seasons combined, Simon&rsquo;s commitment to off-season conditioning is paying dividends. Also, he&rsquo;s on a line with gifted playmaker Adam Oates. Simon&rsquo;s job is to get to the slot and wait for Oates to feed him.&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t know how good he is yet,&rdquo; said Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; goalie Curtis Joseph. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s so big it&rsquo;s almost impossible for the &lsquo;D&rsquo; to cover him and he can shoot the puck as hard as anybody in the league.&rdquo;&#9633; A productive fourth line Washington got a grand total of four goals from the fourth line (Craig Berube, Dale Hunter and Kevin Miller) last season.This year, rookie Jeff Halpern, Joe Sacco and James Black have accounted for 20. Halpern, a local kid, had eight goals and was a minus just once in a 31-game stretch since Dec. 5.&#9633; Penalty killing The Capitals were an easy touch for a power play goal in the first half of the season. But after the likes of Halpern, Sacco and Black-newcomers to the penalty-killing unit-got used to the chore and after Wilson instructed them to be more aggressive in their puck pursuit, their kill percentage increased. They stand fifth at 89 per cent.&ldquo;It has become a point of pride,&rdquo; Wilson said.&ldquo;Even if we lost, we could say, &lsquo;Well at least we were strong on the penalty kill.&rsquo; &rdquo;&#9633; Godzilla lives Goalie Olaf Kolzig was the NHL&rsquo;s player of the month for January when he was 11-1-2 with a 1.68 goals-against average, .936 save percentage and had two shutouts. Overall, Kolzig was 25-15-8 with a 2.29 GAA and .911 save percentage.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03962/7047460-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="363" height="489"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chris Simon (J.Russell/BBS)</figcaption></div>Wilson thinks Koizig&rsquo;s forte is quality saves, not necessarily the quantity of stops he makes.&ldquo;We outshoot the opposition most nights,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;What Olie has been able to do is make the big save at the right time. Our skaters can take a few more chances with the puck because of that.&rdquo;&#9633; Goals from Gonchar Right winger Peter Bondra found an old stick of Gonchar&rsquo;s that had been kicking around his house. He noticed the curve was slightly different from the sticks Gonchar was using this season. It came as a shock to Gonchar, who switched back and fired a hat trick against Montreal Jan. 4 in his first game using the old blade. And he scored 12 goals and 26 points in a 20-game span.Wilson is quick to note there&rsquo;s still room for improvement. He said the power play &ldquo;stinks&rdquo; (20th overall at 15.2 per cent) and Bondra, who has led the league in goals twice, has been in and out of the lineup with knee problems and had just 15 goals in 40 games. But Wilson isn&rsquo;t worried. He only wants his team to keep working hard.&ldquo;The second we think we can just put our skates on and win, we&rsquo;re in trouble,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;We have to work.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-02

COLUMNS

Capitals rediscover winning formula

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy Senior Writer</div>Byron Dafoe is the first to admit numbers don&rsquo;t always paint an accurate picture.&ldquo;But in my case this season, they do,&rdquo; said the beleaguered Boston Bruins&rsquo; goaltender. &ldquo;I really haven&rsquo;t played that well and my numbers indicate that.&rdquo;But Dafoe is quick to caution: &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t played well as a team, either. And it&rsquo;s a two-way street; when I play well the team plays well and when the team is playing well, my numbers are going to be better. When the team isn&rsquo;t playing well, my numbers are going to suffer a bit.&rdquo;After 58 games, Dafoe had a 13-16-10 record, a 2.92 goals-against average (36th in the NHL), .891 save percentage (35th) and three shutouts. Last season, Dafoe&rsquo;s 1.99 GAA was third-best in the league, his .926 save percentage second-best and he led the NHL with 10 shutouts.Dafoe has allowed two or fewer goals in 18 of his 34 complete games this season, but there have been too many nights when either he was off his game, or the team was and he paid the price. After allowing a total of 10 goals in back-to-back games, Dafoe&rsquo;s streak of 14 straight starts was snapped when backup Rob Talias got the start against Toronto Feb. 16.&ldquo;Obviously, we have not played at the level this season that we played at a year ago,&rdquo; Dafoe said. &ldquo;We had a great November, but then we slipped again. We&rsquo;ll win a game here and there, but we can't put a streak together. It sounds weird to say this, but with about 25 games left, we still have time to gel. But time is running out; we&rsquo;d better do it soon.&rdquo;The Bruins were 11th in the Eastern Conference with an 18-24-16-4 record as of Feb. 17.Things got off to a lousy start this season for the 28-year-old Dafoe. He missed training camp and the first month of the season as an unsigned restricted free agent. It was a nasty negotiation that ultimately resulted in Dafoe dropping his agent, Ron Salcer, and cutting his own deal-after Bruins&rsquo; captain Ray Bourque got the team and the goalie together-for three years and $9.3 million.Coach Pat Bums said it should surprise nobody that Dafoe has struggled.&ldquo;When he wasn&rsquo;t at camp, I smelled trouble,&rdquo; Bums said. &ldquo;He came in on a sour note. It was a messy ordeal&hellip; a real ugly thing.&rdquo;Dafoe insists he sat down with GM-president Harry Sinden upon signing his contract and made sure the slate was clean. However, the war of words and long negotiation had a lasting effect.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011636/7047498-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="817" height="1377"><figcaption class="caption-body">Byron Dafoe says his contract dispute took a toll.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I made sure when my contract expires, I&rsquo;ll be an unrestricted free agent,&rdquo; said Dafoe, who will be 31 after the 2001-02 season. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no way in hell I&rsquo;m going through that again. October was the most horrible month I&rsquo;ve ever been through. Talk about depression setting in. It was awful.&rdquo;Without Dafoe, the Bruins started horribly, going winless in their first nine games with five losses and four ties. The one bright light was rookie goalie John Grahame. After opening 0-3-2, Grahame improved to 3-3-2 just after Dafoe re-signed. On top of that, the youngster had the NHL&rsquo;s best goals-against average (1.72) and save percentage (.939) when he was sent to Providence of the American League and the Bruins&rsquo; crease was handed back to Dafoe.For a short while, it didn&rsquo;t appear Dafoe&rsquo;s time off would have too negative an affect on him or the team. Dating back to a week before Dafoe signed, the Bruins went on an 11-3-2 tear.But a season-ending injury to star center Jason Allison and the loss of key penalty killers Dmitri Khristich (traded to Toronto after Boston walked away from his arbitration judgement) and Tim Taylor (unrestricted free agent signed by the New York Rangers) have declawed the Bruins. Boston led the NHL in penalty killing last season with an 89.2-per-cent success rate, but were last this year at 77.9.Bums, who took heat from ownership for the team&rsquo;s poor penalty-killing even though it was management&rsquo;s decision to let Khristich and Taylor go, said he feels badly for his goalie. Dafoe was working as hard as ever, Bums said, yet not enjoying the same results.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have the scoring this year,&rdquo; Bums said. &ldquo;If we get two or three goals behind, we&rsquo;re done.&rdquo;Dafoe was the 35th pick in the 1989 entry draft by the Washington Capitals, but didn&rsquo;t begin to make his mark in the NHL until joining the Los Angeles Kings in the summer of 1996. Over the next two seasons, he played 87 games and compiled a 27-41-13 record. He was traded to the Bruins, along with Khristich, for forwards Jozef Stumpel, Sandy Moger and a fourth round draft pick in August, 1997, and has been the Bruins&rsquo; No. 1 goalie ever since. With a 62-58-20 record and a goals-against of about 2.00 during his first two seasons in Beantown, he was deserving of the honor.But with his team sitting four points out of a playoff spot with 24 games remaining, things don&rsquo;t look good for the Bruins this season. And they certainly don&rsquo;t look good from where Dafoe stands.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m facing much more difficult scoring opportunities this year than the past couple of seasons,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But as a goalie, you have to be able to pick your game up when that happens. And so far, I haven&rsquo;t done that. I haven&rsquo;t been very happy with my game.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-01

What’s the cure for Dafoe’s woes?

<div class="byline">By Wayne Karl</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011703/7047529-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Playing it safe: The NHL is trying to soften the blow of flying elbows.</figcaption></div>Hard cap or soft cap? That&rsquo;s the burning question.No, we&rsquo;re not talking about a salary cap, but elbow pads, the double-edged sword of protective gear.Hard-cap elbow pads are viewed as concussion-causers and are illegal in the NHL. Manufacturers no longer provide them to big-leaguers and team trainers say they&rsquo;re educating the players, but&hellip;&ldquo;We&rsquo;re finding when we go into the dressing rooms that a lot of the players are still wearing (them),&rdquo; said Dave Dryden, equipment consultant-to the league.The former NHL goalie and brother of Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; president Ken Dryden, Dave Dryden mostly oversees goalie equipment issues, but has been asked to investigate elbow pads and report back to NHL vice-president Colin Campbell.&ldquo;Up until now, we have been very concerned with protecting the individual players,&rdquo; Dryden said. &ldquo;Now it&rsquo;s a matter of, &lsquo;Okay, what about the opponent?&rsquo; &rdquo;The official league position is clear: Hard-cap elbow pads are considered dangerous equipment and are illegal.Players, however, have become so accustomed to the high level of protection they don&rsquo;t want to give up equipment that may not precisely conform to the rules.&ldquo;Today, you&rsquo;ve got guys out there who are 225 pounds skating at a very high speed and sometimes you have collisions,&rdquo; said Mighty Ducks of Anaheim star Paul Kariya. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s really nothing more you can do. You can&rsquo;t take away protection that you&rsquo;ve already given players.&rdquo;Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; center Mats Sundin agrees you can&rsquo;t go backwards as far as protection is concerned.&ldquo;Taking some of the protection out of the game isn&rsquo;t going to make it less violent or less physical,&rdquo; Sundin said. &lsquo;It&rsquo;s always going to be there and with players getting bigger, there might be more injuries. I don&rsquo;t know if cutting down on the protection is the right answer.&rdquo;So what is? Kariya said enforcing the existing rules is a step in the right direction.&ldquo;The game has to be called a little more consistently on a game by game basis,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a difficult game to referee, but a lot of times you see certain plays called one night, but not the next. Guys don&rsquo;t really know what they can get away with and what they can&rsquo;t.&rdquo;For their part, equipment manufacturers are responding to the issue.Jofa elbow pads are the choice of some 85 per cent of NHLers. The Hockey Company of Montreal, the outfit that makes Jofa, has phased out production of hard-cap elbow pads in its pro model Center Ice line. Its 2000 model line features caps that are covered by foam and synthetic leather and if any player requests the old version, &ldquo;We simply don&rsquo;t supply them,&rdquo; said Mike Chiasson, global brand manager for Jofa.The new model is every bit as protective as the former version, Chiasson insists, and is safer for players on the receiving end.Most manufacturers now produce models with soft-covered caps, said Ed Georgica, head equipment trainer for the Ottawa Senators.&ldquo;But there&rsquo;s a few European models that don&rsquo;t comply, because they don&rsquo;t have the same rule (there) as in North America,&rdquo; he said.Georgica was equipment manager for the World Team at the All-Star Game in Toronto Feb. 6.&ldquo;When Europeans come over, trainers often have to change their elbow pads to conform to the North American standard, which some of the European guys don&rsquo;t like because it&rsquo;s a different fit. So as equipment managers, we have a hard time trying to tell the guys.&rdquo;Other manufacturers are experimenting with new materials to address safety issues, without sacrificing player comfort.Mission Hockey recently became the first supplier to market elbow and shin pads made partly with expanded polypropylene (EPP), a lightweight styrofoam-like material that is now used by most manufacturers in their top-of-the-line helmets.&ldquo;We figured if (EPP is) good enough for the head, it has to be good enough for the shins and the elbows,&rdquo; said Wilson Minnaar, protective development manager at Mission.The NHL&rsquo;s mission now is to get its players on-side and elbow out dangerous equipment.Wayne Karl is editor of Hockey Business News, a publication of The Hockey News. &#9632;

f0010-01

Illegal elbow pads on league’s hit list

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021250/7047560-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="364" height="487"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Rocky Widner)</figcaption></div>Once over lightly, but not politely:&#9633; When it comes to the wounded New York Islanders, the smoking gun can be found at the NHL head office. The demise of a once-great club began when the league&rsquo;s board of governors approved phony owner John Spano and the NHL did a two-bit fact check.&#9633; The campaign to get Mark Howe into the Hall of Fame begins here. Gordie&rsquo;s kid was a latter-day Brad Park. If Mark Howe doesn&rsquo;t belong, neither does Paul Coffey, Harry Howell, Marcel Pronovost or Bill Gadsby.&#9633; Once Ivan Hlinka gets good and comfortable behind the Penguins&rsquo; bench, Jaromir Jagr will become hockey&rsquo;s highest-paid player-coach.&#9633; With one exception, there isn&rsquo;t a more efficient GM than Larry Pleau of the St. Louis Blues. The exception? New Jersey&rsquo;s Lou Lamoriello.&#9633; I&rsquo;m sick and tired of hearing about all the &ldquo;abuse&rdquo; Peter Forsberg absorbs; as if he&rsquo;s the only starever targeted for checking.&#9633; Ray Sheppard is the best reclamation project since Ray Whitney. Pat Falloon is the worst since Pat Price.&#9633; Which is a better cure for insomnia, listening to Dominik Hasek explain why he is un-retiring or Scotty Bowman explaining why he will coach yet another season?&#9633; Hold those coach-of-the-year nominations: If Ron Wilson survives Joe Murphy without a nervous breakdown, the only entries should be him, Butch Goring (for enduring the Islanders&rsquo; circus) and John Muckier (for trying to recreate Alexandre Daigle from his long running Broadway role as The Invisible Man.)&#9633; If you had to do it all over again, who would you have drafted in 1995, Bryan Berard or Wade Redden?&#9633; Referee Bill McCreary&rsquo;s experiment with a goatee was farmore successful than that collection of look-alike straw Don Cherry has been passing off as a beard.&#9633; The Rangers have a gem in center Mike York. The (close to) perfect rookie was tied with Petr Nedved for the team lead with 18 goals.&#9633; Since Mark Messier absolutely refuses to retire, his most logical next port of call is Toronto, even though the Leafs already have a GM.&#9633; Nikolai Khabibulin&rsquo;s decision to play for the Long Beach IceDogs instead of the Phoenix Coyotes makes about as much sense as opening an aquarium in Oceania.&#9633; Something tells me that Alexei Yashin will be in a Senators&rsquo; uniform by March 14. That &ldquo;something&rdquo; is often defined as cash.&#9633; Guaranteed, Mike Smith will have renovated the Blackhawks&rsquo; basement digs by September. It won&rsquo;t look like a penthouse, but I&rsquo;ll put my money on Chicago for a playoff berth next year.&#9633; You can praise Adam Oates, Peter Bondra, Sergei Gonchar, Olie Kolzig and Ron Wilson for the Washington Capitals&rsquo; revival til the cows come home. But the bottom line is the turnabout began when defenseman Joe Reekie returned to good health.&#9633; This is scary. I&rsquo;m starting to like referees Lance Roberts, Dennis LaRue, Blaine Angus and Bernard DeGrace. Sorry, Kevin Maguire will have to wait another year.&#9633; Ten Bad Guys Who Are Really Nice Guys Off The Ice Department. 1. Matt Barnaby; 2. Gino Odjick; 3. Peter Worrell; 4. Donald Brashear; 5. Darren Langdon; 6. Jim McKenzie; 7. Lyle Odelein; 8. Chris Simon; 9. Krysztof Oliwa; 10. Denny Lambert. &#9632;

f0010-02

NHL to blame for mess on Long Island

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011533/7047605-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="305" height="424"></div>Bob Hartley chose to take the high road. We at The Hockey News did not.It&rsquo;s all about the &ldquo;loser&rdquo; points the NHL awards teams that play even for 60 regulation minutes only to be beaten in 4-on-4 overtime. The league calls them RTs (Regulation Ties), that annoying fourth column in the standings after wins, losses and ties. Funny, we see them as losses.We were morally and philosophically opposed to the concept of rewarding defeat when the NHL decided last summer to revamp overtime. Nothing has changed, except we feel stronger about it now than we did before.On the morning of Feb. 16, the Colorado Avalanche awoke to find themselves as the seventh seed in the Western Conference. They had been the third seed, by virtue of their first place standing in the Pacific Division.But a Colorado loss to the Washington Capitals Feb. 15, the same night division rival Edmonton beat the Nashville Predators, flip flopped the Avalanche and Oilers.At face value, there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with that. Edmonton won, Colorado lost. The Oilers were rewarded by moving up in the standings, which is as it should be.But consider this: Edmonton&rsquo;s record on Feb. 16 was 21-22-15-7. Colorado&rsquo;s mark was 27-23-8-1.The only reason Edmonton was ahead of Colorado was because the Oilers have a better knack for tying a game in regulation time, but losing it in overtime. The Oilers had lost seven games and come away with a point. The Avs had done that only once. The swing is six points. Six &ldquo;loser&rdquo; points that dramatically impact playoff positioning, especially when the bonus for winning your division is finishing no worse than third in the conference.&ldquo;It can be upsetting to think about it like that,&rdquo; said Hartley, coach of the Avalanche. &ldquo;But the rule was put in when we all had zero points. It&rsquo;s the same for everybody. I guess it&rsquo;s up to us to generate more wins or at least tie more games after 60 minutes.&ldquo;You have to understand that this was put in as an entertainment rule. That&rsquo;s the purpose ofit and it&rsquo;s working. Four-on-four overtime is unreal, it&rsquo;s very exciting. It may be one of the best rules we&rsquo;ve ever put into the game.&rdquo;Take that, THN.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021093/7047598-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="934" height="1417"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Grier&rsquo;s Edmonton Oilers are masters of the regulation tie.</figcaption></div>We remain undaunted. Call us old fashioned, but we favor the integrity of the game&rsquo;s outcome over the excitement of 4-on-4 overtime. A loss is a loss. A loser shouldn&rsquo;t receive a point for losing.To our way of thinking, Edmonton&rsquo;s record on Feb. 16 should have read 21-29-8 (50 points). The Avalanche should have been 27-24-7 (61 points).NHL commissioner Gary Bettman finds our objections to be wholly objectionable.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no inequity, it&rsquo;s absolutely fair in every way,&rdquo; Bettman told THN. &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t like the fact we award a point for teams tied after 60 minutes, then you don&rsquo;t like 4-on-4 overtime because the 4-on-4 overtime wouldn&rsquo;t be as exciting and popular as it is if we didn&rsquo;t award that point to both teams at the end of regulation time.&rdquo;Bettman said nothing has changed, that even before 4-on-4 OT and &ldquo;loser&rsquo;&rsquo; points, an NHL team could play an entire season without a win and still make the playoffs.&ldquo;A team could go 0-0-82 and have 82 points,&rdquo; Bettman said. &ldquo;That can still happen. Nothing has changed.&rdquo;Well, not quite. The difference now is a team that gets 82 points in ties could have also lost all 82 games in overtime, but never be credited with a loss. That team could finish ahead of another team that has, say, 40 victories, but no ties or overtime losses.Hartley can live with that.And the fans seem to be buying what the NHL is selling.But don&rsquo;t count us in.The three-point play is basketball&rsquo;s property. It shouldn&rsquo;t be how many points are available to two teams in an NHL regular season game.But it looks as though it&rsquo;s here to stay.NHL executive vice-president Colin Campbell was putting together the agenda for the GM meetings in La Quinta, Calif., from Feb. 28 through March 2. RTs won&rsquo;t be an issue and even if they were, what good would it do? Bettman and the governors bypassed the GMs on the 4-on~4 OT in the first place.The mood entering this year&rsquo;s meetings will be one of &ldquo;anti-change.&rdquo; We have no problem with that. Wejust wish that had been the case when giving losers a point was on the table.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03739/7047591-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="279" height="237"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrick Roy&rsquo;s Avs would be well ahead of Edmonton under the old system.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0011-01

Let’s abolish ‘loser’ points

<div class="byline">By Mike Gibb</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011661/7047678-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="276" height="372"></div><h2>Los Angeles defenseman Rob Blake NHL&rsquo;s King of Ding</h2>When asked what makes Rob Blake the game&rsquo;s most dangerous hitter, Brendan Shanahan gets right to the bottom of it.&ldquo;Robbie Blake&rsquo;s a great open ice hitter because he has a really high bum,&rdquo; said the cheeky Detroit Red Wing. &ldquo;And he hits with his bum. His bum hits you in the chest somehow. I don&rsquo;t know how it happens.&rdquo;Blake replied that his bum isn&rsquo;t in the wrong spot; he just has long legs which give him leverage and allow him to &lsquo;butt&rsquo; into the stomach of most players.Good timing, solid footwork and balance, excellent anticipation and a desire to wreak havoc are the key factors to being a great hitter.The NHL keeps track of hits, but the definition may vary depending on where the game is. It&rsquo;s subjective-a hit in Tampa Bay may not be a hit in Boston. And unlike scoring, the most frequent hitter isn&rsquo;t necessarily the best, explaining why 5-foot-10, 184-pound Boston Bruin Don Sweeney is leading the league in hits, but is nowhere near the top of the most-feared category. (See pg. 13 for more on Sweeney.)Blake, who ranked 28th in quantity with 140 hits in 54 games, was the consensus among players as the best pure hitter. Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; Darius Kasparaitis also got some nods as the top hitting defenseman. Up front, Erie Lindros of the Philadelphia Hyers, Jeremy Roenick of the Phoenix Coyotes and Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; Mike Peca are regarded as hipped and dangerous.&ldquo;Rob Blake gives you those dangerous hits on the open ice,&rdquo; said St. Louis Blues&rsquo; coach Joel Quenneville. &ldquo;He tries to hit hard. He doesn&rsquo;t let up when it&rsquo;s time to make contact. Some guys hit to hurt, he&rsquo;s one of them.&rdquo;Mattias Norstrom, Blake&rsquo;s defense partner, ranked ninth in hits with 182 in 56 games, but it&rsquo;s the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Blake who delivers the big hurts. A lot of that is due to the on-ice relationship between Norstrom and Blake. Norstrom positions himself so the approaching skater has two options-be sandwiched against the boards by the 6-foot-1 Norstrom or venture across the middle of the ice into Blake&rsquo;s house and pray the crushing King isn&rsquo;t home. Blake, of course, is waiting there to welcome his guests.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021323/7047671-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="1797" height="2316"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rob Blake combines good skating, technique and the element of surprise to deliver his punishing checks. (W.Roberts / BBS)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Matty knows when and where I like to come across the ice,&rdquo; Blake said. &ldquo;So he knows how and when to feed me.&rdquo;The Kings usually play a three defensemen setup on the back check, with the high forward dropping back. This gives Blake the freedom to roam and inflict punishment.&ldquo;You have to put someone in position where they&rsquo;re not going to beat you wide and they&rsquo;re not going to come back on you,&rdquo; Lindros said. &ldquo;All they can do is stop or slow down and spin. If you think about it coming across, you&rsquo;re going to get it.&rdquo;Size helps, but skating ability is crucial. You have to be a good-to-great skater if you want to be a good-to-great body checker.&ldquo;A good skater can get on you right away,&rdquo; said Calgary Flame Phil Housley. &ldquo;You put your head down for a second and they&rsquo;re breathing right down your neck.&rdquo;Said Blake: &ldquo;You have to be a good skater, that&rsquo;s where you get all your power from. The good hitters are the ones who don't stop. They come at you and hit right through you. The good skaters surprise players.&rdquo;But good skating would be wasted without the instinct to know when and how to use all that speed and power.&ldquo;Technique keeps you on your feet,&rdquo; said Flyer John LeClair, &ldquo;but instinct definitely gives you more chances.&rdquo;Added Lindros: &ldquo;You can be real tall, but if you don&rsquo;t load your legs and get ready for it&hellip; if you don&rsquo;t look forward to doing it, you&rsquo;re not going to do it all that strongly.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s also the matter of reading the play and recognizing whether going for the hit will put a player out of position.<h2>&lsquo;Some guys hit to hurt-(Blake) is one of them&rsquo;</h2>The best hitters know they can&rsquo;t flatten everyone, so they choose just the right moment to strike.The Flames have one of the hardest hitters in the NHL in defenseman Denis Gauthier. But Gauthier&rsquo;s love affair with the thrill of the hit sometimes overrides his better judgment.&ldquo;All he does is want to break people in two,&rdquo; said Flames&rsquo; director or personnel Nick Polano. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re just trying to teach him when to do it&rdquo;Said New Jersey Devils&rsquo; bruising defenseman Scott Stevens: &ldquo;For me, giving a big hit is as much fun as scoring. But you have to do it at the right time. There are some guys who don&rsquo;t even care about the puck, they just go for the body when they could probably prevent a goal by playing the puck.&rdquo;Blake is a seasoned veteran, a Norris Trophy winner as the NHL&rsquo;s top defenseman; he knows when to play the puck and when to play the man.&ldquo;The best hitters concentrate on the player and where he&rsquo;s moving and where&rsquo;s he going to be when they get to them,&rdquo; said Hall of Fame defenseman Brad Park.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going to play the puck, think about the puck. If you play the man, think about the man. (When I was playing) if you had your head down, I wasn&rsquo;t going to play the puck.&rdquo;And a great body check can change attitudes faster than a Pavel Bure lap around the rink.Blake said his best hit came in the first game of last season, the year he won the Norris. It was in Edmonton and Oiler Andrei Kovalenko was gliding across the middle of the ice with his head down early in he first period. Just as &lsquo;The Tank&rsquo; looked up, Blake ran him over.Hits like that can energize a team. By the time the punishee picks himself up, the game&rsquo;s balance of power may have shifted. &ldquo;The bigger the hit, the more the momentum can be changed,&rdquo; Blake said.Open-ice hitters provide one of the most spontaneous plays in hockey. And when it comes to collisions, some NHLers will always be the bug, some will be the windshield.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011549/7047664-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="1781" height="2440"><figcaption class="caption-body">Eric Lindros&rsquo; awesome ability to steamroll opponents makes him the most feared forward in the game.</figcaption></div><h2>B&rsquo;s McLaren and Sweeney check mates</h2>If a player rushing into the Boston Bruins&rsquo; zone thinks he can avoid a hit by steering away from 6-foot-4, 220-pound Kyle McLaren and challenging 5-foot-10, 185-pound Don Sweeney instead, he&rsquo;d better think again. Or else get a rude awakening.Sweeney, a 12-year veteran, led the NHL in hits with 243 in 57 games, an average of 4.3 per game. McLaren was second with 235 in 51 games, or 4.6 per game.Together they form the NHL&rsquo;s answer to the Bash Brothers. They don&rsquo;t hit &rsquo;em out of the park, but they put a lot of foes on their butts.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s part of our job,&rdquo; McLaren said. &ldquo;We play tough and our games complement each other. I use the hip check a little more because of my size. (Sweeney) can stand guys up like nobody else. I&rsquo;m amazed at the way he hits for a guy his size.&rdquo;Sweeney, however, is nonchalant about his skill. Asked for his checking account, Sweeney shrugged and said: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s what I do; it&rsquo;s really no big deal.&rdquo;Bruins&rsquo; coach Pat Bums cautioned a high number of hits does not necessarily indicate the player is wreaking havoc.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a difference between defensive zone hits by defensemen and offensive zone hits by forwards,&rdquo; Bums said. &ldquo;Defensive zone hits are easy hits. You&rsquo;re backing in and the guy is coming at you. A defensive zone hit is good, but it doesn&rsquo;t have the same effect on the game as when a forward hits a defenseman and knocks him off the puck causing a turnover. Take a guy like Carolina&rsquo;s Gary Roberts. Last year, at one point he was leading the league in hits and you can bet on a lot of them he caused a turnover.&rdquo;-Mike Brophy<h2>How the NHL&rsquo;s heavy hitters deliver bone-crushing blows</h2><h3>Skating</h3>The most underrated of the necessary attributes. Being a good skater allows smaller players, such as Buffalo&rsquo;s Michael Peca, to be lethal in the open ice. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not about size, but how strong you are on your skates,&rdquo; says Anaheim&rsquo;s Paul Kariya.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021088/7047657-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="303" height="460"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michael Peca</figcaption></div><h3>Timing</h3>What separates the bugs from the windshields? &ldquo;You have to be able to read the play if you&rsquo;re going to get a big hit,&rdquo; says Rob Blake. &ldquo;Anticipation is huge.&rdquo; Arriving too early or too late to the check shifts the advantage to the opponent.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03808/7047650-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="291" height="463"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rob Blake</figcaption></div><h3>Eagerness</h3>&ldquo;Timing and anticipation are important,&rdquo; says Tiger Williams, &ldquo;but you have to I have the fortitude to abuse I your body game in and game out.&rdquo; Players like Denis Gauthier are always on the lookout for their next kill.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04684/7047643-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="303" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Denis Gauthier</figcaption></div><h3>Technique</h3>Anyone can run into someone else. But proper technique (see Darius Kasparaitis) provides the foundation for coming out on top. &ldquo;You line yourself up, body with body and stick with stick,&rdquo; says Hall-of-Famer Brad Park. &ldquo;That way, you&rsquo;re always in front.'<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-05545/7047636-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg" title="f0013-05" width="288" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darius Kasparaitis (All photos Bruce Bennett Studios)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0012-01

HIT PARADE

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div>QUEBEC CITY, Que.-There are some days, Mark Schremp admits, when he worries for his 13-year-old son, Rob..Day 6 of the 41st annual Quebec International Peewee Toumament-the day Schremp&rsquo;s Rochester Americans were eliminated after a 4-2 loss to the Michigan IceDogs-was one of them.&ldquo;I think there&rsquo;s too much attention sometimes,&rdquo; Mark Schremp said. &ldquo;There has been TV cameras and (publicity) for him here all week. I think he has been feeling the pressure. He didn&rsquo;t look like he was having fun (today).&rdquo;Such is the lot for any teenage player deemed exceptional. And there&rsquo;s no doubt Rob Schremp has attained that designation.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the best 13-year-old I&rsquo;ve seen,&rdquo; Rochester coach Glenn Collins told THN.Is that a blessing or a curse? It would be irresponsible for anyone to suggest Schremp, who doesn&rsquo;t turn 14 until July 1, is destined to play in the NHL. But let&rsquo;s not be so naive to think a 13-year-old can do what the 5-. foot-11, 170-pound Schremp has done and remain anonymous.Not that Rob Schremp does anything remotely to blend. It doesn&rsquo;t take long into a pre-game warmup to see that.&ldquo;If there were Harlem Globetrotters for hockey,&rdquo; Collins said, &ldquo;Rob would be one of them. He has all the moves. He isn&rsquo;t afraid to try things that will call attention to himself.&rdquo;Some would go so far as to say he&rsquo;s a hot dog. In warmups, the puck went from his stick to between his legs, back to his stick, up in the air, bounced off the blade before he served it up and whacked it, baseball style, into the net. The next time around, he included a little kick off the outside of his skate boot. All of this was done to a series of exaggerated striding and weight transfers and sudden bursts of acceleration.And on this day, he drew even more attention to himself. He was wearing two different colored socks. &ldquo;That wasn&rsquo;t intentional,&rdquo; Schremp said. &ldquo;I was missing one. But, yeah, I guess you could say I like to have fun out there.&rdquo;Schremp stands out in other ways. He&rsquo;s a good head higher than most kids his age. He&rsquo;s much stronger. He skates like a man, not a boy.In fact, he only plays with the Rochester 1986-bom team on special occasions-the Quebec tournament, for example, or when they&rsquo;re playing one of the Toronto peewee powerhouses. His usual team is the Syracuse major bantams (for 1984-bom players).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011649/7047709-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="797" height="1129"><figcaption class="caption-body">Superior size and skill make Rob Schremp a standout at age 13.</figcaption></div>Schremp lives with his parents and siblings (one brother, two sisters) in Fulton, N.Y., a small (population 5,000) industrial town closer to Syracuse than Rochester. But his address may soon change. Everyone is telling him it&rsquo;s time to move on and the plan is for him to go to Detroit in the fall and play for the Compuware Tier II team. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind,&rdquo; Schremp said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s for hockey.&rdquo;And as much as his father may worry, the elder Schremp talks about his son leaving home with a sense of inevitability. &ldquo;It looks like he&rsquo;s going,&rdquo; Mark Schremp said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s the best thing for him. He needs to play with and against better players.&rdquo;One may debate the merit of a 14-year-old leaving home for hockey, but there&rsquo;s no value in him playing with peewees either, not if the Rochester-Michigan game was a barometer. Schremp was on the ice more than he was off it. Some of his shifts lasted upwards of five minutes, sometimes on defense, sometimes at center (his natural position). He was, at times, dominant, controlling play, creating more chances for others than himself.But for much of the game, he was stifled. His frustration was apparent. Too good for many of his teammates; not good enough to overwhelm a solid Michigan team. He had one assist. What he was playing wasn&rsquo;t hockey, not in the conventional sense, anyway.Touted as the best player in the famed Quebec tournament, he wasn&rsquo;t, on this day, the best player on the ice. That honor belonged to Kevin Foster, the captain of the IceDogs. Yet when the game ended, it was Schremp who was stopped for autographs on the way to the dressing room.&ldquo;Rob really is a good kid,&rdquo; Collins said. &ldquo;He has been hyped up so much in our area that he can&rsquo;t help but be affected by that, but he&rsquo;s not spoiled or difficult He&rsquo;s committed to being a player.&rdquo;Though he&rsquo;s only 13, Schremp figures to have a handle on what Ues ahead. He is good friends with New York Islander rookie Tim Connolly, a Syracuse-area native. Schremp has travelled with Connolly to the West Coast, met Wayne Gretzky and agent Mike Barnett. Schremp doesn&rsquo;t consider himself to have an agent, but concedes Barnett&rsquo;s partner Eddie Mio of Detroit can &ldquo;help out&rdquo; with any questions he might have.In the meantime, Mark Schremp will have days when he worries for his boy. But, he added, not too many of them. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s a talented kid with an unbelievable work ethic who wants to pursue his dream,&rdquo; the father said. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;ll be just fine. But whatever is meant to be is meant to be.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-01

Peewee prodigy in spotlight

<div class="byline">By Chuck Carlton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021241/7047747-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="370" height="477"></div>In just a few minutes, American TV viewers who were paying attention noticed the difference in their hockey coverage.Here was a hockey trinity-Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe and Mario Lemieux-walking through the woods, talking about their careers en route to a chance meeting with the NHL&rsquo;s Next Generation and a heart-tugging climax.With ABC and parent company Disney setting the tone, the film wasn&rsquo;t as much a commercial as a short-subject film, Norman Rockwell meets Cyclone Taylor for shinny on Frozen Pond. As an all star lead-in to ABC&rsquo;s regime, it struck more right chords than Jeff Beck touring with Eric Clapton.Had this been Fox, the trio would have probably encountered stick-wielding transformers or maybe the world&rsquo;s craziest Zamboni drivers.If only the rest of ABC&rsquo;s five years as the NHL&rsquo;s commercial network face in the United States can follow the opening act. The ratings for the All-Star Game showed a 23-per-cent increase from Fox&rsquo;s farewell and that was with NBA competition on NBC. At the same time, that&rsquo;s only back to the level of the 1998 All-Star Game.The problem remains getting the average fan to tune away from Shaq and Tiger and even the Rock to Pavel and Jaromir. If you&rsquo;re reading this, if you watch the ESPN national games and if you wonder why Vincent Damphousse is killing your hockey pool, you&rsquo;re not part of the target audience. ABC needs converts, not true believers, at this stage.&ldquo;I think in working very closely with ABC and ESPN, we have an opportunity to succeed,&rdquo; said ABC Sports president Howard Katz. &ldquo;I think the key to this is being patient&hellip; to try to watch as the NHL expands its footprint to intelligently try to reach out to audiences in those new markets.&rdquo;Katz and the NHL toss around terms such as &ldquo;cross-promotion&rdquo; and &ldquo;integrated marketing plan&rdquo; like they were selling detergent orhamburgers. In some ways, there&rsquo;s little difference. At $600 million over five years-the price paid by ABC and ESPN for U.S. TV rights-the stakes are high. ABC even found room to plug the game and the Pro Bowl repeatedly during the Super Bowl.While that fits with Katz&rsquo;s vision of ESPN&rsquo;s involvement and using both networks to sell hockey, the concept remains fuzzy.Fox tried hard. As much as Rupert Murdoch&rsquo;s crew was maligned north of the border as barbarians who wanted to turn a century of tradition into a live-action video game, Fox gave the NHL its best effort. For all the goofiness, the network produced new and inventive camera angles. Mike Emrick and John Davidson-the latter now in studio with ABC-were simply hockey&rsquo;s best broadcasting pair. The reporting, from people such as Joe Micheletti, was first-rate.At the end, executives were left grousing about NHL fuddy-duddies, stick-in-the-mud GMs and fickle audiences that cared only about their team, which left Detroit and Birmingham, Ala., on an equal ratings footing once the Red Wings were eliminated last season.The sad fact is the NHL&rsquo;s American profile still suffers for selling its soul to Sports Channel and its three-household viewing audience. Despite the best efforts of David'Mystery, Alaska&rsquo; Kelley and the worst efforts of Emilio 'Mighty Ducks' Estevez, hockey remains a pop culture pariah.Average Americans know Wayne Gretzky is special, even if they don&rsquo;t know why. They know a bunch of college kids beat the Russkies in 1980, even if they can&rsquo;t name a player from that team. They know about that Paul Newman movie from three decades ago with the fights and funny cursing. And the kids love the game down at the new rink that just opened.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03852/7047740-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="369" height="492"><figcaption class="caption-body">Howard Katz (Shremp by Alexandre Dufresne)</figcaption></div>That&rsquo;s hockey in America, Y2K.That&rsquo;s a problem.Maybe high definition television can finally do justice to the action, as an All-Star Game demonstration proved.Maybe ESPN&rsquo;s selling job in the regular season can make up for ABC&rsquo;s decision to only broadcast four regular season games. Maybe late-season excitement can boost ESPN&rsquo;s sagging numbers and produce an audience bigger than the highwater 2.1 rating Fox posted in 1995-96, less than a fifth of an average NFL audience.&ldquo;As I said, it&rsquo;s not an automatic formula for success, but I think it gives us a better advantage than Fox previously had,&rdquo; Katz said.Hopefiilly, five years from now, another network won&rsquo;t be using the same arguments in explaining how the NHL will succeed on U.S. TV. &#9632;

f0014-02

Network knows job not as easy as ABC

<div class="byline">By Bill Plunkett</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011518/7047778-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="153" height="145"></div>He may still be a baby Duck, but Vitaly Vishnevski is growing up in a hurry.The 19-year-old Mighty Ducks of Anaheim rookie defenseman was winning a lot of praise 11 games into his NHL career.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be a real good defenseman in this league,&rdquo; said Ducks&rsquo; coach Craig Hartsburg. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re only seeing the start of it.&rdquo;Vishnevski, the Ducks&rsquo; first round pick (fifth overall) in 1998, spent the first 35 games of this season with Cincinnati of the American League before being recalled Jan. 18.He had one goal and two points in his 11 games, but it&rsquo;s not his offense that is earning him plaudits. It&rsquo;s his poise and willingness to to take on all comers. Peter Forsberg, Brett Hull and Jaromir Jagr were all Vishnevski targets in the rookie&rsquo;s first NHL games.&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t pick names or numbers. Whoever is in the other jersey is going to get run into,&rdquo; Hartsburg said.Vishnevski led the Ducks in hits in eight of his first 11 games, totalling 47 in that time. Hartsburg was beginning to use him more often and had inserted him onto the penalty killing unit. Vishnevski&rsquo;s usual defense partners were veterans Kevin Haller or Ruslan Salei.&ldquo;His poise and composure have been outstanding,&rdquo; Hartsburg said. &ldquo;The things we like about him he does naturally. His composure and poise&hellip;that&rsquo;s him. You don&rsquo;t have to prod that out of him. That&rsquo;s what he is as a player.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: GM Pierre Gauthier denied reports he was considering trading right winger Teemu Selanne. &ldquo;There is no chance we are going to trade Paul (Kariya) or Teemu,&rdquo; Gauthier said. &ldquo;They are so much a part of our team, of our foundation, ofour community. They are like treasures. When you have a treasure you keep it&rdquo;&hellip;Selanne had at least one point in 12 straight games through Feb. 16 (seven goals, 14 assists). He reached 700 career points with an assist in a 6-5 win over Calgary Feb. 16&hellip;The victory over the Flames marked the second time in franchise history the Ducks had won a game in which they&rsquo;d allowed five goals or more. The other was Dec. 20, 1993 (7-5 over Winnipeg). In between, they were 0-81-5 in games they allowed five goals or more. &#9632;

f0015-01

Ducks like what they see in cool rookie Vishnevski

<div class="byline">By Jeff Schultz</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03757/7047809-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="313" height="432"><figcaption class="caption-body">Damian Rhodes</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021063/7047816-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="149" height="145"></div>Amid their nightmarish season that included an 11-game losing streak and 15-game winless skid, the Atlanta Thrashers were ready to embrace any morsel of positive news. That may have finally arrived in the form of shock wave therapy.Thrashers&rsquo; goalie Damian Rhodes, who has been out since Nov. 17 with a high right ankle sprain, skated relatively pain-free Feb. 17, following the second of three treatments of low-voltage shock wave therapy in Vancouver.The alternative treatment is not available in the U.S.It was the first time Rhodes had skated in about seven weeks. Rhodes, who wore a specially designed brace that fit into his right skate, did not wear leg pads, but simulated goalie movements in his crease.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to push it too hard, but I didn&rsquo;t feel any (pain), so that&rsquo;s progress,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a positive sign.&rdquo;Rhodes, 30, plans to increase his on-ice workouts and, barring setbacks, could return in early March. The treatment emits shock waves to two spots around the ankle for 15 minutes each.Rhodes described the first 15 or 20 seconds of each treatment as causing &ldquo;excruciating pain.&rdquo;</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>He added, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a pounding on your (ankle). The positive sign is I was at Levels 2 and 3 last week and this week I was up to Levels 4 and 5.&rdquo;The procedure also has been used by Jimmy Jackson of the NBA&rsquo;s Atlanta Hawks, as well as center Mark Messier and defenseman Mattias Ohlund of the Vancouver Canucks.Rhodes, alluding to the two Canucks, said, &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t heard any feedback, but they&rsquo;re playing.&rdquo; Rhodes was 3-7-2, with a 3.29 goals-against average and .882 save percentage before getting hurt.NOTEBOOK: Coach Curt Fraser&rsquo;s father, Barry Beatty, died Feb. 12. Beatty, 63, had diabetes and had been hooked up to a dialysis machine. He was a former minor league player for the Cincinnati Mohawks (International League), but had to quit at age 22 when he crashed head first into a goal post, requiring brain surgery&hellip;GM Don Waddell on left winger Jason Botter-ill, who was traded to Calgary Feb. 11: &ldquo;We thought he would contribute more offensively. We found out he&rsquo;ll be a third or fourth line player. We have the third and fourth line covered.&rdquo;&hellip; Center Ray Ferraro on the team&rsquo;s struggles: &ldquo;None of us expected to win 50 games. But to a man, we all thought we&rsquo;d have a lot more than 11 wins (through 57 games).&rdquo; &#9632;

f0015-03

Rhodes hopes treatment jolts him to good health

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04555/7047847-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="153" height="145"></div>His statistics might have suggested Shawn Bates would be the last player asked to center a checking line, especially in an important game against a powerful team such as the Toronto Maple Leafs.The big picture revealed more to coach Pat Bums, though. He ignored Bates&rsquo; minus-14 (the worst of any Bruin forward), surrounded him with wingers P-J Axelsson and Rob DiMaio, backed him with the Ray Bourque-Hal Gill defense pair and let Bates take a crack at Mats Sundin&rsquo;s line Feb. 16.The result: Sundin and linemates Jonas Hoglund and Steve Thomas were shut out and Bates scored the third goal of his injury-interrupted year in a 3-3 tie.&ldquo;Pat had said at our pre-game meal there&rsquo;d be changes that night,&rdquo; Bates said. &ldquo;When he told me later I&rsquo;d be playing with P-J and Robbie, I guess I was a little shocked.&rdquo;Bums hesitated to say the move was permanent, but had reason to hope Bates could keep the job.Using Bates on the checking line allowed Joe Thornton, who had played well in his most recent assignment between Axelsson and DiMaio, to move to a more offense-oriented line. That, in turn, let Anson Carter shift back to right wing from center-a move the Bruins hoped would remove some stress from Carter&rsquo;s aching left wrist by taking him out of the faceoff circle.Whether as a checker or in another role, Bums hoped to find a way to get more from Bates than the third year center had been able to give through the first two-thirds of the season. Bates missed 29 of Boston&rsquo;s first 53 games with injuries, the most serious a wrist sprain that kept him out from Dec. 9 through Eeb. 3.&ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t played for two months,&rdquo; Bums said. &ldquo;We have an opportunity now to play him a little more and we&rsquo;re going to do it. Let&rsquo;s see what he can do.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goalie Rob Talias left a 3-3 tie Feb. 16 at Toronto after breaking the ring finger on his catching hand while making an overtime save, but said he thought he could play with the finger in a cast. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve done it before,&rdquo; said Talias, who was making his first start since Jan. 11. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a matter of protecting it.&rdquo; A day after he got hurt, Talias said he may have been mistaken when he initially blamed the injury-the second to that finger this season-on smaller glove sizes mandated by the NHL&hellip; Captain Ray Bourque joined the 1,500-point club with his 393rd career goal Feb. 12 against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Carolina&rsquo;s Paul Coffey is the only other defenseman to have reached 1,500points. &#9632;

f0015-04

Bates checks in with good performance

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021106/7047878-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="573" height="898"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dominik Hasek has decided not to retire after this season.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011434/7047885-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="144" height="142"></div>Dominik Hasek made history&hellip; again.To the best of anyone&rsquo;s knowledge The Dominator became the first player in NHL history to complete his comeback before he ever left the game.On Feb. 14, Hasek renounced his decision to retire at the end of the 1999-2000 season. He said the decision to play again in 2000-01 was made because he didn&rsquo;t want his career to end as a player on the sidelines, with the lasting image of him being helped off the Marine Midland Arena ice.That was Oct. 29 in the closing seconds of a game against the Florida Panthers. Hasek was still on the bench with his teammates when he started thinking about his future.&ldquo;I started to think about it (right then) because I knew the injury was going to be bad,&rdquo; said the two-time Hart and five-time Vezina Trophy winner. &ldquo;I knew right away it was bad. I said &lsquo;Oh it&rsquo;s going to be tough (to retire).&rsquo; &rdquo;Still the decision was not an easy one. Hasek had numerous conversations with his wife, Alena, particularly about their son Michael. Hasek had said Michael losing touch with the Czech culture was a primary reason for his wanting to end his career after this season. He wanted to return to his native Czech Republic and raise his family there.Hasek, who had been under some pressure from the media and, presumably, the Sabres&rsquo; front office, to make a final decision, said he decided to continue playing after a series of talks with GM Darcy Regier, talks that culminated in Nashville while the Sabres were in the middle of a road trip.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>&ldquo;It was a tough decision,&rdquo; Hasek said. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t so much about my hockey career next season. My son was the issue. We decided we can handle it. We can help him, so when we go back to Czech he can adjust to life in the other country.&rdquo;The Sabres promised Hasek he would not be traded this season and indicated they would like to see him back in Buffalo next season as well.That will create a protection problem for Buffalo in the upcoming expansion draft If the Sabres want to keep both Hasek and heir apparent Martin Biron they would have to protect both. Also, Hasek is slated to earn $7.5 million next season. Regier said it was his wish to have Hasek finish his career in Buffalo.&ldquo;We have no intention of trading Dominik Hasek right now,&rdquo; Regier said. &ldquo;He will not be traded this season. I think that&rsquo;s important. No one can predict the future, but there is no intention to trade Dominik Hasek.&rdquo;Regier didn&rsquo;t rule out the possibility Hasek might ask to be traded, especially if the Sabres don&rsquo;t make the playoffs this season and don&rsquo;t show a commitment to getting the offensive help necessary to make the team a Stanley Cup contender. But neither he nor Hasek would be lured down that speculative path. Should the Sabres protect both Hasek and Biron, they could only protect seven forwards and three defenseman (as opposed to nine and five with one goalie protected) in the draft that stocks Columbus and Minnesota.Hasek was 3-4-4 this season and had not been beaten since his return to the lineup just prior to the all-star break. He recorded a 2-2 tie against Anaheim in his first game back and then had a 2-0 shutout win at Colorado, 2-1 win at Nashville and 1-1 tie at Pittsburgh.His goals-against average for the season was 2.26 and his save percentage .922.NOTEBOOK: With a 2-1 loss to Vancouver at the Marine Midland Arena Feb. 17, the Sabres failed to score three or more goals in 12 of 13 outings. The stagnant offense prevented the team from making a run at the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot despite the fact Boston and the New York Rangers continued to leave the door wide open&hellip;Left winger Michal Grosek suffered the embarrassment of dressing, yet not playing a single shift, in a 2-2 tie with Edmonton. Ruff, citing uninspired play, pinned Grosek to the bench. The two exchanged barbs in the media after the game, but Grosek, the team&rsquo;s fourth leading scorer with 11 goals and 31 points in 56 games, was reinstated for games with Pittsburgh and Vancouver. &#9632;

f0016-02

Hasek postpones retirement, says he’ll play one more year

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04609/7047916-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="324" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darryl Shannon</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03826/7047923-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="153" height="154"></div>They brought in the two players, one for today, the other for tomorrow.The Calgary Flames, slipping out of the Western Conference playoff race, added defenseman Darryl Shannon and left winger Jason Botterill from the Atlanta Thrashers for left wingers Hnat Domenichelli and Dmitri Vlasenkov Feb. 11 to help stop the bleeding. On the day they arrived, five regulars on defense were out with injuries.Botterill, 23, is considered a long-term project. The Flames had been after Botterill since he was drafted by the Dallas Stars in 1994. His father, Cal, is a consulting psychologist who works for the team; his sister, Jennifer, one of Canada&rsquo;s leading women&rsquo;s hockey players.&ldquo;He comes from good stock,&rdquo; assessed GM Al Coates. &ldquo;What happens is, we have a tendency to forget sometimes how young these guys are. In Dallas, with all the veterans they had, they weren&rsquo;t going to experiment with a young guy like that. With an expansion team, you can get caught up with the difficulties a first-year team can go through. This is all brand new to him. Obviously, he&rsquo;s got a lot of learn. Our job is to bring that out in him.&rdquo;Botterill acknowledged he&rsquo;d heard the rumors the Flames were interested in him for years, but thought the move to Atlanta had quelled the talks for good. In his first game for Calgary, Botterill played on the No. 1 line beside Jeff Shantz and Valeri Bure, the team&rsquo;s top scorer.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an opportunity,&rdquo; Botterill said, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;m going to try to make the most of it.&rdquo;As for Shannon, Coates acknowledged he and his pro scout, Nick Polano, scouted the former Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; playerlast season when the Flames were shopping Theo Fleury.&ldquo;Our issue was we needed a defenseman badly,&rdquo; said Coates. &ldquo;He stood out whenever we watched Buffalo. He&rsquo;s a steady, solid defensive defenseman, who skates well and gives you a little offense.&rdquo;The move to Calgary caught the 31-year-old Shannon by surprise, but he&rsquo; said it wasn&rsquo;t a bad thing overall.&ldquo;Calgary&rsquo;s contending for a playoff spot and that&rsquo;s your goal, to get into the playoffs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;With Atlanta, playoffs were pretty much out of the picture.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: After winning an astonishing 10 of their first 11 overtime decisions, which resulted in a THN cover story, the Flames promptly lost four OT games in a row. That included three on a five-game post all-star break road trip that dropped them to 10th place in the Western Conference standings. Of their 21 overtime games, the Flames had decisions in 15, or more than 70 per cent. In a 4-3 loss to Los Angeles, a shot by Kings&rsquo; defenseman Sean O&rsquo;Donnell, on which he broke his stick, was going wide until it caromed off Calgary center Clarke Wllm&rsquo;s skate and eluded goalie Fred Brathwaite. The team&rsquo;s 10-game winless streak (0-8-2-3) was one shy of the franchise record established in the 1985-86 season. &#9632;

f0016-04

Deal meets needs for now and then

<div class="byline">By Cecil Harris</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011284/7047954-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="149" height="143"></div>After not scoring in his first eight games with the Carolina Hurricanes, Rod Brind&rsquo; Amour was determined to show his team that it had acquired a strong offensive player in the Keith Primeau trade.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been doing enough of the little things,&rdquo; Brind&rsquo; Amour said. &ldquo;But I need to start doing some big things. A meaningful goal would be nice.&rdquo;Ignoring a groin injury, Brind&rsquo; Amour scored a meaningful and spectacular goal Feb. 14 in Carolina&rsquo;s 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.&ldquo;I wanted to start contributing some goals,&rdquo; said the center, whose goal was his first in 12 games. He last scored against Carolina Jan. 11, for his old team, the Philadelphia Flyers.Brind&rsquo; Amour&rsquo;s goal against the Leafs was a pretty one.He streaked down the left wing, undressed defensemen Alexander Kar-povtsev and Danny Markov with deft puckhandling and faked out goalie Curtis Joseph before scoring.Canes&rsquo; coach Paul Maurice heaped praise on Brind&rsquo; Amour.&ldquo;That play was indicative of what we knew we were going to get when we acquired him.&rdquo; Maurice said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the guy we traded for. He was hurt, but he wouldn&rsquo;t tell you how much it hurt. He wouldn&rsquo;t go near a trainer.&rdquo;Brind&rsquo; Amour was ready to contribute to a Carolina team fighting for a playoff spot-they were 11th in the Eastern Conference, but just four points behind the eighth-place New York Rangers. He said he liked playing for a team that couldn&rsquo;t take regular season wins for granted.With the Flyers, where he had spent the past nine seasons, the pressure to succeed in the playoffs is huge.&ldquo;In the situation there, they have to win,&rdquo; Brind&rsquo; Amour said. &ldquo;When they don&rsquo;t win, they make moves like crazy. In Philadelphia, they rely more on a few guys to pull the team through.&ldquo;Here, I like this a lot better. Everybody is important and everyone feels a part of it. To me, that&rsquo;s what a good team is.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Ron Francis had his first two-goal game this season Feb. 14 against Toronto, which gave him 81 points in 49 games against the Leafs&hellip;A 3-0 loss to Montreal Feb. 17 was coach Paul Maurice&rsquo;s 375th game behind the bench, surpassing Jack Evans for the most games coached in franchise history&hellip;In his first start with Carolina, goalie Mark Fitzpatrick was bombarded. After being recalled from Cincinnati (International League) Feb. 11, Fitzpatrick faced 45 Ottawa shots in a 5-1 Senators&rsquo; win Feb. 15&hellip;Left winger Gary Roberts suffered a groin injury Feb. 12 at Tampa Bay. He was expected back by late February &#9632;</div>

f0017-01

Brind’ Amour breaks out of slump with first goal as Hurricane

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02977/7047985-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="153" height="151"></div>Doug Gilmour&rsquo;s days with the Chicago Blackhawks appeared to be numbered.Manager of hockey operations Mike Smith met with the veteran center Feb. 16 to prepare him to be dealt before the March 14 trade deadline.Gilmour, who has one year remaining on the three-year, $18-million contract he signed in 1998, maintained he wanted to stay in Chicago and retire as a Hawk after next season. However, a big part of Smith&rsquo;s plan to rebuild the Hawks hinged on moving Gilmour and freeing up his $6 million salary for next year.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed, but this is not written in stone either,&rdquo; Gilmour said. &ldquo;Who knows what will happen, but obviously I have to prepare for it. A trade might happen, but don&rsquo;t be shocked if it doesn&rsquo;t. I understand it because of my age (36) and contract, but it&rsquo;s still tough when the reality of it hits you.&rdquo;Smith claimed he wasn&rsquo;t actively shopping Gilmour, but didn&rsquo;t deny he was ready to listen to offers.&ldquo;All I did was meet with Doug and tell him 1 thought this was going to turn into a big story before the deadline,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not trying to trade him, but we&rsquo;re going to listen to people.&rdquo;Gilmour, second on the Hawks in scoring with 19 goals and 46 points in 56 games, thought three of the teams Smith had held discussions with were the Toronto Maple Leafs, Dallas Stars and New York Rangers.&ldquo;Teams are contacting us to see if we&rsquo;d be interested if they came (for Gilmour),&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;I said, yeah, we&rsquo;d address it. But we still have to wait and see if teams come with concrete offers. I think they will.&rdquo;Getting traded is nothing new to Gilmour, who had been dealt three other times. He thought he had found a place to end his playing days, but his stay in Chicago has been nothing like he expected.The Hawks missed the playoffs last season and have an even worse team now, sitting last in the Western Conference with 47 points.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying I wasted these two years because everything is a learning experience,&rdquo; Gilmour said. &ldquo;Unfortunately, the last part of my career has been a learning experience. It hasn&rsquo;t been a lot of fun here. .1 think 1&rsquo;11 look back on this as a tough time (when his career over). But that&rsquo;s part of hockey.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Tony Amonte took the news that center Doug Gilmour was to be traded as an indication that management had conceded the playoffs were out of reach. &ldquo;You hear stuff like that and it kind of sounds like maybe we&rsquo;re giving up on the season and maybe it&rsquo;s time for changes,&rdquo; Amonte said. Chicago was last in the Western Conference, 17 points out of a playoff spot&hellip;Coming out of the all-star break with 29 games to play, associate coach Lorne Molleken figured the Hawks needed to win two out of every three games in order to have a shot at the playoffs. Chicago lost two of three games after the break&hellip;Defenseman Kevin Dean scored a goal in his first game as a Hawks Feb. 12 at Atlanta after being acquired from Dallas. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t get used to it,&rdquo; said Dean, who scored for just the sixth time in 236 career NHL games &#9632;

f0017-02

Gilmour deal rumors swirling in Windy City; days numbered

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03703/7048016-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="147" height="148"></div>Just call him Doctor Bob.Colorado Avalanche coach Bob Hartley has sounded more like a physician than a coach this season, seemingly quoting more from Gray&rsquo;s Anatomy than his own playbook.The overriding theme of the 1999-2000 Avs&rsquo; season was their health, and the lack of it. Only once this year (Jan. 21 against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim) has Hartley&rsquo;s team started and finished a game with a full, healthy roster.What has really killed the Avs is that most of the serious injuries had been to their star players, such as Peter Forsberg (30 games missed), Joe Sakic (22) and Adam Foote (18). The Avs had lost 173 man-games to injury this season.&ldquo;It seems that this year, I change my lines more than I change my boxers,&rdquo; Hartley said.As soon as Forsberg came back Feb. 17 from his latest injury-a concussion which shelved him for five games-somebody else went down. The Avs lost first line right winger Adam Deadmarsh until mid-March with a pulled abdominal muscle he suffered against the New Jersey Devils Feb. 17.Forsberg had played in only 29 of the Avs&rsquo; 59 games this season, but was still fifth in team scoring with 12goals and 38 points.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been hit pretty hard with injuries, but hopefully we can go into the playoffs healthy,&rdquo; Forsberg said.That&rsquo;s if they make the playoffs. After a 2-1 road loss to the Washington Capitals Feb. 15, Colorado slipped to second place in the Northwest Division behind the Edmonton Oilers and eighth place overall in the Western Conference-just four points up on the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for the final playoff spot. That marked the latest in any of the five seasons the Avs had been in Denver they weren&rsquo;t in first place in their division.Normally in February, the Avs are wondering which lower-seeded team they&rsquo;ll be facing in the first round. But the injuries and some lackadaisical play when they were relatively healthy has Avs&rsquo; fans worried about the playoffs.After the loss to the Capitals, Hartley sounded the alarm to his team.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re now in a position where it&rsquo;s a 23-game season,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Our goal is still to win our division and try and get as high in the conference standings as we can. We&rsquo;re going to have to work very hard and take every game very seriously.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Adam Foote was still bothered by a groin injury, suffered in a victory over Calgary Feb. 10. He hoped to return to the lineup Feb. 19 against the Rangers&hellip;Left winger Peter Forsberg scored two goals and added an assist in a 5-5 tie at New Jersey Feb. 17, after a five-game absence due to a concussion. Colorado blew a 5-3 third-period lead-the second time in a row it failed to win a game when leading after two periods&hellip; Colorado recalled rookie center Dan Hinote from Hershey (American League) Feb. 16 to fill right winger Adam Deadmarsh&rsquo;s roster spot when Deadmarsh went down with a pulled abdominal muscle&hellip;Goalie Patrick Roy was bothered by a sore neck and didn&rsquo;t dress for the Devils&rsquo; game, forcing a recall of veteran Rick Tabaracci from Orlando (International League). The injury was not considered serious. &#9632;</div>

f0017-03

Making playoffs no sure thing for first time in five seasons

<div class="byline">By Mike Helka</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011317/7048047-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="157" height="153"></div>Since his first NHL game April 1, 1995, Manny Fernandez&rsquo;s biggest obstacle has been his own mind.Beset by nerves, worried about making even the slightest mistake, Fernandez established a trend of starring at the International League level only to get a case of the jitters in the NHL.So over a span of four years, while tearing it up in the &lsquo;I&rsquo;, Fernandez had a career NHL record of 1-3-1 with a bloated 3.57 goals-against average before this season.&ldquo;It was difficult for me to understand, because I had seen him play so well down there,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock, one of Fernandez&rsquo;s biggest supporters. &ldquo;He has battled a lot in the past and making the step up has been hard at times for him. But I think that&rsquo;s all in the past now.&rdquo;In fact, Fernandez might be on the way to becoming the next Roman Turek. As backup to the Stars this season, Fernandez has fashioned an 8-5-1 record, a 1.74 GAA and a .935 save percentage. Turek was the Stars&rsquo; backup last season, but was traded to the St. Louis Blues and is their No. 1 goalie this year.&ldquo;I still knock wood every day, I don&rsquo;t want to get overconfident,&rdquo; Fernandez said. &ldquo;I believe in my ability, but I&rsquo;m taking this one day at a time. This is all new to me, sitting for so long between games. But I feel better each time I go out there.&rdquo;Fernandez recorded his first NHL shutout Feb. 16, defeating the Nashville Predators 3-0.The 25-year-old, who helped Houston win the IHL championship last season, stopped 250 of 263 shots in a 10-game span, good for a .950 save percentage.While Fernandez isn&rsquo;t sure if he&rsquo;ll be picked up in the expansion draft or traded in the off-season, he has developed enough maturity to handle either.&ldquo;He just has a lot of confidence,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; No. 1 goalie Ed Belfour. &ldquo;This has been a long time coming for him and he&rsquo;s worked really hard for it.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Jere Lehtinen saw New York-based foot specialist Bill Hamilton Feb. 14 and recommended surgery for Lehtinen&rsquo;s fractured right ankle. Lehtinen had surgery to place more pins in his foot Feb. 17 and is expected to be out until April 2. That would give him five games to prepare for the playoffs&hellip;Center Joe Nieuwendyk (separated shoulder) is schedule to return in early March and center Brian Skrudland (chest contusion) could be back in. late February&hellip;Defenseman Shawn Chambers isn&rsquo;t ruling out a return from knee surgery before the end of the season. He said his right knee is slowly making progress&hellip;The Stars penalty killing unit had extinguished 190 of 207 power plays through 57 games for a league-leading 91.8 per-cent success rate. No team in league history has finished the season at 90 per cent or better&hellip;Over a four-game span, center Mike Modano and left winger Brendan Morrow combined for seven goals and seven assists. &#9632;

f0018-01

Fernandez finds peace in NHL after turbulent start to career

<div class="byline">By Chuck Carlton</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02981/7048078-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="148" height="143"></div>Brent Gilchrist&rsquo;s return to the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; lineup was only a step on the journey, not the destination.Some might have been thrilled with just playing again-after three hernia procedures and missing 153 of 158 regular season games dating back to March 5, 1998, and all the ensuing heartbreak.Not Gilchrist. He finally made his first appearance this season, logging six minutes Feb. 14 against the Phoenix Coyotes and followed with his first goal against the Vancouver Canucks Feb. 16.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re on the outside, you might think, &lsquo;That&rsquo;s it, he&rsquo;s back, he&rsquo;s playing,&rsquo; &rdquo; Gilchrist said. &ldquo;I feel I&rsquo;m close to 100 per cent in terms of health. Now I have to get my game back to 100 per cent. It&rsquo;s going to take a lot of work, but as long as you&rsquo;re healthy, you can really concentrate on the rest.&rdquo;For so long, Gilchrist was the Red Wings&rsquo; version of the prophet Job, fate&rsquo;s whipping boy, the guy with the personal black cloud. Every time he would come back from yet another lower-abdominal pull, something else would go wrong in his midsection before he could play. Charlie Brown kept missing the football.&ldquo;You deserved that,&rdquo; teammate Darren McCarty told him when he scored against Vancouver.This return carries more significance than the five-game cameo late last season when Gilchrist was never 100 per cent.&ldquo;It was more emotional than last year,&rdquo; Gilchrist said. &ldquo;I believe it this time, I really do. I feel good about it.&rdquo;Unlike past times, the lingering discomfort was gone. Gilchrist could accelerate and take hits while playing effectively as Detroit&rsquo;s fourth line center.&ldquo;The more people that doubt you,&rdquo; Gilchrist said, &ldquo;it just makes you work harder to believe you can do it and prove them wrong.&rdquo;The return of Gilchrist and McCarty gave the Red Wings some much-needed forward depth.&ldquo;We missed those guys,&rdquo; said Brendan Shanahan. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re a big element to this team.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Faced with three straight losses, 15 goals allowed and a five-point deficit to St. Louis in the Central Division standings, Detroit reacted. The left wing lock was modified to a defense-first, puck-pursuit style. The result: four consecutive wins-including three on the road against St. Louis, Colorado and Phoenix-and just six goals allowed&hellip;Disregard the trade rumors. Chris Osgood will remain Detroit&rsquo;s No. 1 goaltender through the playoffs. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see us doing anything in (that) department between now and the trade deadline,&rdquo; said GM Ken Holland. Osgood was only 8-8-2 since returning Jan. 2 from a broken right hand, but had won his last three starts&hellip;Rookie center Darryl Lapiante suffered a freak injury when struck by a puck at the morning skate Feb. 14. A non-displaced fracture of his left orbital bone will sideline him until late March&hellip;Defenseman Aaron Ward underwent surgery on his right shoulder Feb. 17; the team hopes he could return by the conference final round of the playoffs. &#9632;</div>

f0018-02

Gilchrist back in Detroit lineup, getting into shape next objective

<div class="byline">By Helene Elliott</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02889/7048109-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="327" height="428"><figcaption class="caption-body">Luc Robitaille</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011221/7048116-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="150" height="146"></div>He was the longest of long shots, a left winger not blessed with outstanding speed, agility or quickness.He was all but ignored in the 1984 entry draft, watching as 170 other players were claimed by NHL teams until the Los Angeles Kings made him their ninth choice. The odds he would ever actually make it to LA seemed improbably small.Luc Robitaille beat those odds, parlaying his quick hands, goal-scoring instincts and eagemess to learn into a superb and productive big league career.And Feb. 14, he made his dreams come true when he passed the legendary Maurice Richard&rsquo;s career total of 544 goals and moved into 18th place on the NHL&rsquo;s all-time goal-scoring list.The Kings&rsquo; 4-3 overtime victory over the Calgary Flames had an added dimension for Robitaille, who also recorded an assist and tied Mike Bossy for 35th place on the all-time point list, with 1,126. But to Robitaille, who grew up in Montreal hearing tales of the fiery Richard&rsquo;s exploits for the Canadiens, passing Richard was perhaps the most significant milestone ofa career that is going to land him in the Hall of Fame one day.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s pretty special; he&rsquo;s a pretty big name in Quebec,&rdquo; said Robitaille, who was bom in 1966-six years after Richard retired. &ldquo;He meant everything to the people of Quebec. To be up there mentioned with him is a privilege.&rdquo;Robitaille is enjoying another fine season and appears on his way to passing his 39-goal performance last year. Although he missed 10 games early in the season because of a fractured foot, he led the Kings in goals with 29 through 56 games, including a power play goal in their 4-1 victory over the Blackhawks at Chicago Feb. 16.Robitaille was second in team scoring to Ziggy Palffy, with 51 points, and was combining with Palffy and center Jozef Stumpel to give the Kings the offensive threat they needed as they battled for a playoff spot in the competitive Western Conference.Palffy assisted on the goals that enabled Robitaille to tie and pass Richard, as well as on Robitaille&rsquo;s goal at Chicago two days later. Stumpel, meanwhile, had a hand in the goal that pulled Robitaille even with Richard.&ldquo;We really move the puck well,&rdquo; Robitaille said. &ldquo;Getting Stumpy healthy (following a hernia and a knee injury) has really been a big help.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Kings requested and got from the NHL a bid sheet outlining the requirements for hosting the 2002 All-Star Game. They were looking over the paperwork and considering whether to make a formal bid for the game and it&rsquo;s likely they will do so. The All Star Game hasn&rsquo;t been in Los Angeles since 1981, when it was held at the Forum&hellip;Left winger Craig Johnson suffered an unusual injury Feb. 16 at Chicago, when he attempted to open the window of his hotel room, but the window slipped and gashed the tip of the middle finger on his left hand. A hand specialist helped stitch him up, and he was listed day to day&hellip;Right winger Donald Audette. who missed 15 games because of a sprained left ankle, returned Feb. 16 and recorded an assist in the 4-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks&hellip;Defenseman Aki Berg was a healthy scratch at Chicago, the third time this season he was left out of the lineup. On the previous two occasions, being sat out seemed to jolt him and he played better when he returned to the lineup. Coach Andy Murray undoubtedly was hoping to see it happen again. &#9632;

f0019-02

Robitaille rockets past Richard on all-time goal list

<div class="byline">By Robert Tychkowski</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03593/7048147-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="154" height="150"></div>This year&rsquo;s Edmonton Oilers has accomplished something no other team in franchise history could. And it&rsquo;s a record the team can actually be proud of.The current Oilers are the first in franchise history to finish a road trip of at least five games undefeated.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s pretty amazing for us to do something that (no one has) ever done,&rdquo; said captain Doug Weight.The Oilers, who went 3-0-2-0 Feb. 7-15, had gone on the road for five games or more on 46 previous occasions since joining the league from the World Hockey Association in 1979, but had never returned home without a loss.They came close a few times. In 1983, the Oilers started out 4-0-0 on a trip before losing to the Chicago Blackhawks.They went 3-0-1 in 1985, but dropped the final game of the trip to the Philadelphia Flyers. They started 4-0-0 again in 1992, but lost the last game, this time to the Los Angeles Kings.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice because we did something all those great Oiler teams didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Bill Guerin, after a 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators Feb. 15. &ldquo;But we don&rsquo;t want to get ahead of ourselves. There&rsquo;s too much hockey left to feel comfortable.&rdquo;The victory over Nashville locked up the road trip, extended Edmonton&rsquo;s overall unbeaten streak to six games and lifted them past the Colorado Avalanche to the top of the Northwest Division.An unblemished lengthy road trip seemed improbable at the start of the season, when the Oilers won just one of their first 15 road games. But through Feb. 18, Edmontpn was 6-2-3-0 in its past 11 road games.&ldquo;We have a good thing going here,&rdquo; said defenseman Janne Niinimaa. &ldquo;We know going into every game that if we put our best effort it&rsquo;s going to be enough.&ldquo;Right now we&rsquo;re riding the wave, but at the same time I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re forgetting that this team can&rsquo;t just go out there and go through the motions. We know what it takes.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Coach Kevin Lowe punted slumping right winger Alex Selivanov to the press box during Edmonton&rsquo;s road trip, replacing him with Hamilton (American League) call-up Dan Cleary. Selivanov, the talk of the league when he started the season with 18 goals in 24 games, was in the worst drought of his career with one goal in 34 games&hellip;Center Todd Marchant, known more for his penalty killing and defensive prowess, put up 17 points in a 20-game span through Feb. 15, which included an eight-game point streak&hellip;Netminder Tommy Salo had been a workhorse as well as an all-star. He started 19 of Edmonton&rsquo;s first 21 games in the new millennium. &#9632;

f0019-03

Oilers pick up piece of history

<div class="byline">By David J. Neal</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04457/7048178-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="147" height="147"></div>A high school football coach switching from a local power to a mediocre program. A fishing tournament. An advance article for a road game by the University of Miami men&rsquo;s basketball team.These South Florida sports stories have all received more attention from the local press than the Florida Panthers.And with the team&rsquo;s average home attendance down to about 15,600 from 18,345 in 1998-99, many wonder what role the media&rsquo;s dismissal has played.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s any correlation between the amount of attention an event gets and attendance,&rdquo; said team president Bill Torrey. &ldquo;(But) no question, when the media gets excited, in most cases, the public does (too).&rdquo;There are other factors. One is the prohibitive cost of going to a game. And two non-playoff seasons have infuriated some fans spoiled by the franchise&rsquo;s overachieving first four campaigns.It&rsquo;s hard for the Panthers to be any sexier: A mysterious, thrilling superstar keying an explosive offense and a haphazard defense backed by strong goaltending. Plus, they&rsquo;ve held onto first place in the Southeast Division.It hasn&rsquo;t been just the annual trials of the NFL&rsquo;s Miami Dolphins that has caused the Panthers to be overlooked. Most U.S. local electronic media take their NHL cues from the local print media. And in South Florida, that print media has shunted the Panthers aside.When Pavel Bure broke the franchise&rsquo;s scoring record while getting his 300th NHL goal-and 33rd of the season-on an overtime winner in front of the year&rsquo;s biggest home crowd back in January, it was buried in the middle of the Miami Herald&rsquo;s sports section. So the high school football coach was on the section front.&ldquo;We seem to create more excitement everywhere else than in our own market,&rdquo; Torrey said. &ldquo;As I said to the staff, &lsquo;If we can do it everywhere else, we can do it here, too.&rsquo; &rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Peter Worrell received a game misconduct Feb. 14 against Montreal, but it was rescinded by the NHL. It was the third time this season that a Panthers&rsquo; game misconduct had been rescinded by the league&hellip;The National Car Rental Center was reportedly a contender to host the 2001 NHL entry draft. The league might view it as a dry run for the All-Star Game in either 2002 or 2003&hellip;Right winger Pavel Bure&rsquo;s league-leading 41 goals included 21 that put the Panthers ahead; 15 when Florida was leading, but the game was still in doubt; and five when the Panthers were far ahead. Bure had not scored while the Panthers were trailing. &#9632;</div>

f0019-04

Media chilly to Panthers’ progress

<div class="byline">By Jett Legwold</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011107/7048209-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="147" height="147"></div>The Nashville Predators limped out of the all-star break minus an offense for the stretch run.The Predators scored just four goals in as many games after the break and were shut out by the Dallas Stars Feb. 16.And that, according to GM David Poile, could take the team &ldquo;in another direction&rdquo; as the March 14 trade deadline closes in.Poile said he would be inclined to play for the present if the team were in the playoff race as February drew to a close, but if the Predators remain in the funk they have been in since the break, then deals are imminent.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll just have to see how we play,&rdquo; Poile said.The only trade the team made before the deadline last season was to send forward Blair Atcheynum to the St. Louis Blues for a late round draft pick.But defenseman Bob Boughner, who some teams inquired about just before the deadline last year, could draw some interest again. He had a broken finger, but returned to the lineup and was taking a regular shift.Right winger Sergei Krivokrasov, one of many Predators in a slump with no goals in nine games since Jan. 24, could also be moved. Krivokrasov enjoyed a breakthrough year last season scoring 25 goals in 70 games after managing just 42 in his previous 228 with the Chicago Blackhawks. He had nine goals in 55 games this season.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Jan Vopat, who has battled a recurring and painful skin rash over the last two seasons, returned to his native Czech Republic to see if a change of scenery will cure him. The rash has baffled both the 26-year-old Vopat and his doctors. It surfaced late last, as blotchy patches on his lower legs. The rash, which covers portions of his body, returned in training camp and was exacerbated when he sweated during workouts. Vopat had new lining sewn into his equipment to no avail. His contract, for $425,000 (U.S.), expires after this season. He had no points in six games before leaving&hellip;Rookie center David Legwand, who had missed 11 games with a fracture bone in his left foot, returned Feb. 12. &#9632;</div>

f0020-01

Trades could be in works if lack of offense persists

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03512/7048240-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="333" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">Vladimir Malakhov</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02752/7048247-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="145" height="143"></div>There are soap operas on television far less intriguing than the tale Vladimir Malakhov has woven this season.The Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; enigmatic defenseman suffered a tom knee ligament in the pre-season and he still hadn&rsquo;t returned by the All-Star Game. That wouldn&rsquo;t be a big deal, except Malakhov spent the break skiing with his family.When the team learned of the transgression, they suspended him without pay, retroactive to Feb. 5. With a $2.75-million (U.S.) salary, Malakhov lost about $15,000 for each day he was suspended. Coach Alain Vigneault said the suspension was in effect until Malakhov decided to play, since he had been cleared by doctors.Malakhov made his season debut Feb. 12 against Ottawa. One day earlier, Malakhov denied doing anything to endanger his health. He reportedly was skiing on a beginner&rsquo;s hill.&ldquo;There are other players who were skiing or scuba diving and taking bigger risks,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t doing anything dangerous. I&rsquo;m not stupid. But 1 got caught, so I&rsquo;m the biggest ass.&rdquo;Malakhov was booed each time he touched the puck against the Senators and failed to register a point in the 5-4 win, but logged 22:45 of ice time. In a 4-1 victory over Florida two nights later, Malakhov played 26:35-more than any other Hab-and was on the ice for two even strength Canadiens&rsquo; goals. But he didn&rsquo;t accompany the team on an ensuing two-game road trip due to a swollen knee. He was listed as indefinite.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Malakhov is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent this summer and will likely seek $4 million per season. But questions about his health and his willingness to play hurt will be weighed against his enormous talent. If the Habs don&rsquo;t believe they can re-sign him, or if they fall out of playoff contention, they will try to trade him.NOTEBOOK: At least three teams had expressed interest in defenseman Vladimir Malakhov. The most serious was Carolina. The Hurricanes offered left winger Martin Gelinas, but Montreal&rsquo;s management didn&rsquo;t want him, as he is scheduled to earn $2 million (U.S.) next season&hellip;Journeyman forward Jesse Belanger, signed by the Habs as a free agent last summer, was recalled from Quebec (American League) Feb. 14 for a game against Florida. Belanger, a former Panther, scored twice and added two helpers in a 4-1 win. &ldquo;It was nice to come back and get four points against my old team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just want to stay here as long as I can and see what happens. I&rsquo;m only 30 and there are two more expansion teams coming.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0020-03

Malakhov saga continues; he’s off skis, but hurt again

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04326/7048278-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="154" height="150"></div>As long as John McMullen owned the New Jersey Devils, defenseman Ken Daneyko was reasonably certain he was not going to be traded. Theirs has been a relationship that transcends that of owner and player.But now that McMullen will almost certainly sell the team at the conclusion of the season to the Yankee-Nets, a group that includes George Steinbrenner. Daneyko&rsquo;s future with the Devils is not so definite.With two years remaining on his contract, Daneyko, 35, wonders what the future might hold. The final year is a club option at $2 million which may be exercised ahead of time.&ldquo;My heart is in New Jersey no matter what happens with the team,&rdquo; said Daneyko, who has been with the organization since 1983-84. &ldquo;But, obviously, (the sale) could change a few things. It&rsquo;s going to change the organization drastically, but that&rsquo;s part of the business. Things change.&rdquo;The question, of course, is whether Daneyko will play his final two seasons in New Jersey. And then, there is always the temptation of a final season to make it an even 20.Teammate Claude Lemieux is hopeful, like Daneyko himself, that the veteran will retire a Devil.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see him going anywhere,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;Just like at this point 1 can&rsquo;t see (Boston Bruin) Ray Bourque going anywhere. I&rsquo;m not comparing them as players, but these are two guys who are committed.&ldquo;There is so little player-management loyalty left in the game. Whatever is left, you should try to keep it.&rdquo;Certainly his uniform No. 3 will be retired by the Devils when his playing career is over.&ldquo;If anyone deserves it, he does,&rdquo; McMullen said. &ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t only been a great hockey player, he has been a builder of this team. He thinks more of the team than he does of himself.&rdquo;Daneyko said coaching and a job as a TV analyst are both possibilities after his playing career is over.NOTEBOOK: Rookie center John Madden scored his NHL-leading fifth shorthanded goal of the season Feb. 17 to tie the team record set by Brian Rolston last season&hellip; A Stanley Cup victory would reportedly increase the sale price of the Devils to the Yankee Nets by $15 million to $190 million. It is believed GM Lou Lamoriello. who has an ownership share of the team now of approximately 11 per cent, will not have a piece of the team under the new ownership&hellip;Kurt Overhardt, the agent for Brendan Morrison, met with Lamoriello to reiterate the center&rsquo;s desire to be traded&hellip;With 52 points in 31 games, the Devils were on pace for their best home points total ever. They had 60 points in 1993-94and 1997-98. &#9632;

f0020-04

Will Daneyko end career in New Jersey?

<div class="byline">By Bruce Garrloch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-06140/7048309-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="329" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rod Bryden</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-05177/7048316-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="156" height="156"></div>The For Sale sign on the Ottawa Senators has been stored in Rod Bryden&rsquo;s garage-hopefully for good.After holding an aggressive campaign for season tickets and corporate support, the Senators&rsquo; owner announced he has been overwhelmed with the community&rsquo;s response and won&rsquo;t attempt to sell the team to American interests.Speaking at a packed news conference Feb. 18 in Ottawa, Bryden made the decision three days before his deadline to have 90 per cent renewels on season tickets along with 1,500 new season ticket packages sold at the 18,500-seat Corel Centre in Kanata. Bryden said 87.3 per cent of season trickets were renewed and 1,476 new season tickets were sold.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m absolutely delighted to say the Ottawa Senators hockey club will be staying in Ottawa and I&rsquo;m hopeful we&rsquo;ll be staying here for a very long time,&rdquo; Bryden said.Bryden said a year ago if he didn&rsquo;t receive tax fairness from all three levels of government he would be forced to unload the team to U.S. interests. The regional and provincial governments came through with support by lowering some of the tax burden on the Corel Centre, but the federal government balked.Federal Minister John Manley pledged his support and-after a public outcry-pulled it off the table 72 hours later. Bryden then gave the community 21 days to indicate if it wanted to save the team.Club president Roy Mlakar said, &ldquo;The outpouring from the community, you wouldn&rsquo;t see in some of the other places I&rsquo;ve been in this league.Seemingly, the whole city got involved in saving the team. Corporations agreed to a one-time 10 per-cent service charge and the players bought $100,000 worth of season tickets for charity.NOTEBOOK: The NHL is seeking $7 million (U.S.) in damages on behalf of the Senators from holdout center Alexei Yashin. In papers filed with an independent arbitrator who will decide if Yashin will become a Group II restricted free agent after this season, the Senators seek damages for lost revenues. &ldquo;They can use the court and arbitration system anyway they want,&rdquo; said Mark Gandler. Yashin&rsquo;s New Jersey based agent&hellip;&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t change anything.&rdquo; A source said the arbitration hearing has been set for May 24-25 in Toronto&hellip;Senators&rsquo; tough guy Andre Roy, a left winger, was suspended three games for shoving linesman Gerard Gauthier Feb. 12 in Montreal. &ldquo;I apologized after the game,&rdquo; Roy said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mean to do it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0020-06

Bryden won’t sell Senators to American-based interests

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-07124/7048347-1-eng-US/f0020-072.jpg" title="f0020-07" width="153" height="152"></div>It has been a lost season for Manny Malhotra, the New York Rangers&rsquo; 19-year-old center who has been a victim of the numbers game and rules regarding junior-eligible players.Malhotra saw limited ice time as a rookie last season, but he barely plays as a sophomore and had no goals and no assists to show for 27 appearances.Part of the reason is eligibility. Malhotra, who would likely benefit from a season with American League affiliate Hartford, can&rsquo;t go there because he has junior eligibility remaining. The rule is designed to keep junior-aged players in major junior rather than have NHL clubs stuff their minor league rosters with teenagers, which would be a major blow to junior hockey.With Wayne Gretzky retired. Malhotra expected more responsibility this season, perhaps even a chance to win the No. 2 center spot behind Petr Nedved. It was a chance he never got and an opportunity that would have disappeared anyway because of the impressive play of rookie Mike York.Instead, he became a pawn in a disagreement between coach John Muckier and many around the organization, including GM Neil Smith. Muckier, on the second day of camp labeled Malhotra a career &ldquo;third fine center.&rdquo;Malhotra, who played for the Canadian national junior team at Christmas, remains patient. &lsquo;1 understand that I just have to be ready to play when I&rsquo;m given the opportunity,&rdquo; he said.NOTEBOOK: Brian Leetch broke Ron Greschner&rsquo;s team record for goals by a defenseman with No. 180 at Tampa Bay Feb. 13&hellip;Rookie left winger Jan Hlavac scored his first hat trick Feb. 11, a night on which hats were given out at Madison Square Garden. Thus. Hlavac&rsquo;s third goal touched off an avalanche. The next day, his first child, daughter Allison, was bom&hellip;In 20 games, the &lsquo;Czechmate Line&rsquo; of Hlavac. center Petr Nedved and right winger Radek Dvorak combined for 27 goals and 61 points&hellip; After left winger Adam Graves was moved to center, Alexandre Daigle was again a spare part. Daigle had played 38 games, two shy of collecting the last of four $100,000-bonuses that would make his total 1999-2000 salary $1 million. &#9632;

f0020-07

Manny remains odd man out for second straight season

<div class="byline">By Peter Bette</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01874/7048378-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="149" height="146"></div>Disgruntled fans of the New York Islanders are rarely seen these days, although a small group of them mobilized and were heard in an impassioned protest rally during a game at Nassau Coliseum.Outraged the team&rsquo;s potential sale has been jeopardized by SMG. the company that manages the 27-year-old Coliseum, approximately 200 fans held signs and voiced chants during a 5-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins Feb. 12.&ldquo;When there&rsquo;s an empty building, people think we don&rsquo;t care,&rdquo; said Steve Ellers, a leader of the Save The Islanders Coalition (STIC). &ldquo;But there&rsquo;s a reason we don&rsquo;t come to games anymore.&rdquo;Organizers of the protest said their goal was to educate other fans and local taxpayers &ldquo;how SMG and Nassau County Executive Thomas Gulotta were conspiring to keep the team from being sold&rdquo; to a group led by former Madison Square Garden president Bob Gutkowski and former record industry mogul Charles Koppelman.SMG refuses to negotiate with the potential owners a buyout of the suffocating management lease it controls through 2015. SMG presently receives all of the revenue from concessions and parking and a portion of ticket revenue.SMG officials want the Koppelman group to buy the team first and negotiate with them second.During the protest, fans chanted and held banners, including one referring to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, which read, &ldquo;Bettman + Gulotta + SMG = Death To A Franchise.&rdquo;The Islanders co-operated with the protesters, declining to play music during some stoppages of play early in the game. At other stoppages, songs such as Sting&rsquo;s &ldquo;If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free,&rdquo; and Twisted Sister&rsquo;s &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not Gonna Take It&rdquo; blared over the arena&rsquo;s sound system.&ldquo;At least for one night, they weren&rsquo;t chanting my name,&rdquo; said GM Mike Milbury.The gutted Islanders, operating with one of the NHL&rsquo;s lowest payrolls (around $18 million), also have averaged the lowest attendance in the NHL this season, at about 9,500 fans per game.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Gino Odjick was the latest veteran expunged mostly for salary reasons when he was traded to Philadelphia Feb. 15 for left winger Mikael Andersson and a fifth round pick in 2000. While their 1999-2000 salaries are similar. Odjick ($800,000 per season) has one year plus an option remaining on his contract, while Andersson ($700,000) will be an unrestricted free agent this summer&hellip;GM Mike Milbury said the club will either sign or move veteran center Claude Lapointe by the March 14 trade deadline. The pending unrestricted free agent has been unable to come to terms with the Isles on a contract extension&hellip;Center Jorgen Jonsson was named NHL player of week for the period ending Feb. 13 with nine points (one goal, eight assists) and a plus-9 rating in four games. Goaltender Kevin Weekes, meanwhile, was The Hockey News&rsquo; player of the week for period ending Feb. 17. Weekes was 2-0-1 with a 1.62 goals-against average and .953 save percentage (see pg. 32). &#9632;</div>

f0021-01

Angry fans say Coliseum execs ‘conspiring’ to block Isles’ sale

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02498/7048409-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="145" height="150"></div>The Philadelphia Flyers didn&rsquo;t need any more size or toughness and seemed to have faith in their depth defensemen.So why did GM Bob Clarke trade for another guy with an XXL T-shirt, Gino Odjick, and sign free agent blueliner Zarley Zalapski?Clarke already had enforcers Sandy McCarthy and Craig Berube on his roster, while Zalapski was toiling for the International League&rsquo;s Utah Grizzlies and hadn&rsquo;t played in the NHL since 1997-98.It turns out the Flyers figure Odjick can give them a little more skill while maintaining an enforcer role. To emphasize that point, coach Roger Neilson put Odjick on the Eric Lindros-John LeClair line in Odjick&rsquo;s second game with the team.Meanwhile, the Flyers have been skating with the bare minimum six defensemen all season. But Ulf Samuelsson learned he has a small tear in the rotator cuff tendon of his right shoulder-an injury which was sustained Dec. 8-and might miss several weeks. So the Zalapski move was more than just about insurance and depth.Odjick, 29, was secured from the New York Islanders Feb. 15 for left winger Mikael Andersson and a fifth round pick in 2000.&ldquo;To add a 6-foot-3, 227-pound winger who has some aggression and nastiness about him favors our club,&rdquo; Clarke said. &ldquo;If you are going to war, you have to have some weapons.&rdquo;Said Odjick: &ldquo;I was caught a little off-guard by it (the trade). But any time you come to a contending team, it&rsquo;s exciting.&rdquo;Zalapski, 31, last played in the NHL for the Montreal Canadiens. He underwent knee surgery in 1997-98, then played 11 games in Switzerland in 1998-99. He impressed Flyers&rsquo; scouts with his steady play in Utah this year.&ldquo;For nine, 10 years, he was one of the more talented defensemen, but was inconsistent in his play,&rdquo; Clarke said. &ldquo;Our scouts watched him and said he was consistent with his effort and skill.&rdquo;Zalapski and Odjick made their Flyer debuts in a 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils Feb. 15.NOTEBOOK: Coach Roger Neilson, battling multiple myeloma, was scheduled to go to hospital for his first round of heavy chemotherapy Feb. 21. His last scheduled game behind the bench was Feb. 26 against the Islanders. Soon after, Neilson will undergo a stem cell transplant operation and is expected to be out of action until at least the second round of playoffs&hellip; The Flyers Wives&rsquo; Fight for Lives Carnival Feb. 13 raised a record $1.36 million. The annual Carnival benefits the Barry Ashbee Leukemia Fund&hellip; Center Keith Primeau suffered a fractured rib in a 3-2 win over Buffalo Feb. 12. He was out indefinitely&hellip; The Flyers scored into their own net in a 4-2 lass at New Jersey Feb. 15 when center Daymond Langkow&rsquo;s stick was hit by the Devils&rsquo; Sergei Brylin and the puck slid about 50 feet into the unguarded cage. It was the first time that had happened to the Flyers since Dec. 18, 1993, when Garry Galley shot a puck into his own net in a 2-2 tie with Chicago. The Devils&rsquo; goal was credited to goalie Martin Brodeur. &#9632;</div>

f0021-02

Flyers add nastiness, savvy with veterans Odjick, Zalapski

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02660/7048440-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="324" height="425"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith Tkachuk</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01974/7048447-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="155" height="153"></div>Bobby Smith knows his phone is going to ring off the hook the closer it gets to the NHL&rsquo;s trading deadline. But even though the Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; GM says he won&rsquo;t make a deal, he can&rsquo;t say he won&rsquo;t listen to offers.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll listen,&rdquo; Smith said, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t foresee us doing anything significant.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s significant in itself with trade rumors swirling that captain Keith Tkachuk is on the block and will be dealt by the March 14 deadline.Tkachuk (and the $8.3 million salary he is scheduled to make next season) was almost dealt twice already. First, he was on his way to the Carolina Hurricanes for Keith Primeau, two draft picks and prospect Jeff Heerema. Hurricanes&rsquo; owner Peter Karmanos squashed the deal at the last minute. Then Tkachuk was part of a three-way deal that would have sent Primeau to the Coyotes, via the New York Rangers, along with Radek Dvorak, with Tkachuk ending up in New York. Karmanos snuffed that deal, too.So has Smith now spiked any deal involving Tkachuk by saying he doesn&rsquo;t expect the Coyotes to make sweeping changes? It appears so, but that could just be posturing. Asked if the power forward will finish the season in Phoenix, Smith hedged.&ldquo;All the speculation will be gone March 14 at 3 o&rsquo;clock eastern time.&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;That gives everybody a month to sleep well and play well.&rdquo;Sources in the organization believe the Coyotes will hang on to the left winger at least through the summer-unless Smith receives a deadline offer he just can&rsquo;t refuse. There aren&rsquo;t many teams able to take on Tkachuk&rsquo;s lucrative contract.There&rsquo;s a chance Tkachuk won&rsquo;t go anywhere. Owner Richard Burke may or may not sell the Coyotes. If he does and brings in enough clout and frees himself of mounting annual losses nearing $10-15 million, the new boss may want Tkachuk.Tkachuk could also help his own cause by approaching management to discuss restructuring his deal and backloading the salary to make it more palatable.If Tkachuk wants to stay in Phoenix as badly as he claims-he&rsquo;s building his dream house there-then he&rsquo;d be foolish not to consider such a scenario.Tkachuk isn&rsquo;t the only Coyote affected by rumors. Forwards Rick Tocchet, Dallas Drake, Greg Adams and restricted free agents Nikolai Khabibulm and Robert Reichel are available, too.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Keith Tkachuk resprained his left ankle twice in mid-February and was expected to be out of the lineup as late as March 9. Tkachuk, who first rolled his ankle Jan 31 against Detroit, hurt it most recently when center Jeremy Roenick slid into him at the end of a shift. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no use aggravating it every day,&rdquo; Tkachuk said. &ldquo;The best thing to do is give it a rest. It has been taking away from my game.&rdquo;&hellip;Defenseman Deron Quint was a healthy scratch in four consecutive games in mid-February. That made it 12 games total that he hadn&rsquo;t dressed. Part of the reason, according to coach Bob Francis, has been the improved play of Czech defensemen Stan Neckar and rookie Radoslav Suchy. The Coyotes were 2-10-0-0 with Quint out of the lineup&hellip;To compensate for the absence of Tkachuk, the Coyotes will experiment with newly acquired Benoit Hogue at left wing on the No. 1 line with Roenick and right winger Dallas Drake&hellip;After setting career highs in goals (17) and points (30) this season, right winger Shane Doan was pointless in 10 straight games. &#9632;

f0024-02

Coyotes not shopping Tkachuk, but they’ll listen

<div class="byline">By Joe Starkey</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03432/7048478-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="148" height="147"></div>When Tom Barrasso was granted an indefinite leave of absence in order to spend time with his gravely ill father, the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; No. 1 goaltending job fell to rookie Jean-Sebastien Aubin.Many thought Aubin should have been given the job before that. At the time of Barrasso&rsquo;s leave (Feb. 16), Aubin was 15-13-0 with a 2.57 goalsagainst average and .913 save percentage. Barrasso was 5-7-2 with a 3.17 GAA and .881 save percentage.Yet, Barrasso remained the team&rsquo;s No. 1 netminder-and from the sounds of it, he&rsquo;ll have rights to the job when he returns.&lsquo;Tom has some off-ice problems that have to be addressed,&rdquo; said coach Herb Brooks. &ldquo;It has always been (GM) Craig Patrick&rsquo;s position to be very sympathetic and understanding to those situations. With that said, this organization is expecting a great year from Tom Barrasso. It&rsquo;s an extremely important position and Tom is a very capable individual to lead us. Without him, it hurts.&rdquo;With the Penguins in a close race for the playoffs, Brooks would like to see his veteran between the pipes no matter what his numbers are.&ldquo;Down the stretch, when you&rsquo;re asking a rookie or a second-or third-year pro to carry the load, that&rsquo;s asking a lot,&rdquo; Brooks said. &ldquo;Aubin has given us quality minutes and so has (Peter) Skudra, but at this stage of their careers, to expect them to carry this thing might be asking a little bit too much. But you never know.&rdquo;For his part, the the 22-year-old Aubin won&rsquo;t criticize the organization&rsquo;s refusal to christen him No. 1.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m young,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just trying to take things day by day right now. That&rsquo;s all I can do.&rdquo;Not much seems to rattle Aubin. After giving up five goals to the New York Islanders Feb. 12, he stopped 72 of 73 shots in games against the Vancouver Canucks (3-0 win) and Buffalo Sabres (1-1 tie). He seemed to enjoy the workload. &ldquo;It keeps you in the game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You get a good, clear focus.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Matthew Barnaby was suspended five games and docked $60,976 for his altercation with Islander defenseman Eric Cairns in a Nassau Coliseum corridor Feb. 12. The two scuffled after leaving the ice with 32.7 seconds left in the second period in the wake of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties&hellip;Left winger Martin Straka scored goals seven seconds apart Feb. 11 against Edmonton (2-2 tie) to tie a team record set by Wally Boyer March 5, 1970&hellip;Coach-in-waiting Ivan Hlinka had trouble securing his work papers and was delayed on arriving from Prague to Pittsburgh. He was expected to join the club as associate head coach during a four-game road trip that began Feb. 19. &#9632;</div>

f0024-03

Job will be waiting for Barrasso

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04277/7048509-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="147" height="149"></div>This has been a back-to-the-future kind of season for St. Louis Blues&rsquo; backup goalie Jamie McLennan.After faltering last season in his quest to be the Blues&rsquo; No. 1 goalie, McLennan is back in his familiar No. 2 role, recapturing the form that made him a rising star two years ago.Playing every couple of weeks behind Roman Turek, McLennan was 7-3-1, with a 1.85 goals-against average and .911 save percentage. His 682 minutes played were 98 short of qualifying for the league goalie rankings; otherwise, he would be first overall in GAA.McLennan&rsquo;s performance and demeanor has been the perfect complement to Turek, who was 29-12-5, with a 2.04 GAA and .909 save percentage. He performs his role as understudy without fanfare or complaint, working hard between starts to remain ready.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always thought that whatever comes my way, I take, and that&rsquo;s that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You always want to play more, but that&rsquo;s just the nature of the game. Accepting your role is as important as playing.&rdquo;Two years ago, it didn&rsquo;t look like McLennan, 29, would have many gaps between starts. Spelling the injured Grant Fuhr, he was 16-8-2, with a 2.17 GAA and .903 save percentage and he won the NHL&rsquo;s Masterton Trophy.The Blues viewed him as Fuhr&rsquo;s heir apparent, but he struggled last season, posting a record of 13-14-5, with a 2.38 GAA and .891 save percentage. McLennan lost any claim on the No. 1 job when the Blues acquired Turek from the Dallas Stars last June, but rather than sulking, McLennan came into training camp with a positive out-look. His attitude won him high marks from management, which recently rewarded him with a two-year extension worth $1.8 million.&ldquo;I thought he did a good job of being in the right frame of mind," said coach Joel Quenneville. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not easy playing every five to 10 games.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Pavol Demitra scored the first hat trick of his career in a 6-3 come-from-behind victory over Anaheim Feb. 12. He added a goal and an assist in a 4-1 victory over Atlanta Feb. 15 and moved into a tie with injured center Pierre Turgeon for the team lead with 58 points&hellip;Center Michal Handzus scored two shorthanded goals in the win over Atlanta. That gave him four on the season, one fewer than New Jersey forward John Madden&rsquo;s league-leading five&hellip;The Blues had won six consecutive road games, tying the team record set last season. The Blues&rsquo; road record of 18-8-2-0 was the best in the NHL through Feb. 17. &#9632;</div>

f0024-04

McLennan excels as understudy

<div class="byline">By Tom Jones</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03360/7048578-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="150" height="148"></div>There was a time, not too long ago, when nobody wanted to be like the Ottawa Senators. Now, that&rsquo;s the Tampa Bay Lightning&rsquo;s goal-to resemble the team with which they entered the NHL in 1992-93.&ldquo;They are,&rdquo; said Lightning coach Steve Ludzik, &ldquo;what we want to become.&rdquo;The Sens were once the NHL&rsquo;s laughingstocks, but are now an elite team. The Lightning had more success early in their existence, but have been bottom feeders the past few seasons. This year, Ottawa had 67 points in 57 games, while the Lightning had 37 in 56 games.&ldquo;They are where this organization was three or four years ago,&rdquo; said Lightning-tumed-Senator Rob Zamuner. &ldquo;But Ottawa did it right and built through the draft and through youth. They were patient and that&rsquo;s what the Lightning has to be right now. They are very young and it&rsquo;s going to be a painful growth. You can&rsquo;t turn it around overnight.&rdquo;The man in charge of turning it around, GM Rick Dudley, could be enjoying the fruits of Ottawa&rsquo;s labors. He left the Senators over the summer to take over the Lightning.&ldquo;I know,&rdquo; Dudley admitted, &ldquo;people are going to think I&rsquo;m nuts.&rdquo;His plan is to rebuild the Lightning in the Senators&rsquo; mold. But to get better, the Senators first had to be awful. They finished last overall their first four seasons and got the No. 1 overall draft pick three times, the second overall pick once and the third overall pick once. They dismantled, made trades, scarified the waiver wires, made more trades and held on to their top prospects.The Lightning selected in the top three just twice in its first five seasons (Roman Hamrlik, first overall in 1992 and Chris Gratton third in 1993) and have finished last overall the past two seasons.&ldquo;I knew when I came here that we were going to have a lot to clean up,&rdquo; Dudley said. &ldquo;I feel better about our team right now than I did at the start of the season. I like our team.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Lightning sent goalie Kevin Hodson to Detroit (International League) and, in all likelihood, cut ties with him for good. He is expected to be made available in this summer&rsquo;s expansion draft. Rich Parent took over the backup goaltender&rsquo;s job to Dan Cloutier&hellip;When nigged right winger Gordie Dwyer learned he was going to make his NHL debut with the Lightning Feb. 19, the first thing he did was call his dad in Dalhousie, N.B. &ldquo;He was so excited, he got a little verklempt&rdquo; Dwyer joked. &ldquo;After I told him, he didn&rsquo;t say anything for 10 seconds, and I said, &lsquo;Dad, you still there?&rsquo; He said, &lsquo;Call me back in a few minutes.&rsquo; He was ready to break down.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0025-03

Lightning wants to emulate Sens

<div class="byline">By Paul Hunter</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-04223/7048609-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="150" height="148"></div>For the first time since arriving in Toronto as the Maple Leafs&rsquo; savior two summers ago, Curtis Joseph wasn&rsquo;t making the saves.The star goaltender was in a slump. And his team was stumbling with him.In their first 20 games of 2000, the Leafs were 7-10-3-0 and a 3-3 tie with the Boston Bruins Feb. 16 pushed their winless streak to five games (0-4-1-0).Joseph&rsquo;s numbers were even more telling. Before starting in an 8-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres Jan. 1, Joseph topped the league with a 1.98 goalsagainst average. Since a Y2K glitch entered his game, the 32-year-old had a 6-7-2 record and had allowed four goals or more seven times. Joseph&rsquo;s GAA climbed to 2.50. But what was really killing the Leafs was his penchant for allowing soft goals.&ldquo;The goals are going in, obviously,&rdquo; Joseph said. &ldquo;Whether they&rsquo;re going off sticks or not, the fact is they&rsquo;re going in.&rdquo;To be sure, Joseph hasn&rsquo;t been Toronto&rsquo;s only problem. Tentative and sloppy play had eroded the team&rsquo;s confidence, But because Joseph had been so good since arriving as a free agent, the dip in the netminder&rsquo;s performance was glaring. His woes have likely taken him out of the running for the Hart Trophy.While there has been speculation he may be hiding an injury or has become rundown after appearing in 46 of Toronto&rsquo;s 58 games, Joseph insisted neither theory is accurate.A bruised ego was the only hurt he&rsquo;d admit to and as for being tired, he pointed to the fact he has played in at least 67 games in each of the past three seasons.&ldquo;I feel really good,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;1 don&rsquo;t think any goals are going in because of fatigue. It&rsquo;s just unfortunate.&rdquo;Despite the club&rsquo;s slide, Joseph said he remains confident in himself and the team. &ldquo;Losing creates bad habits and doubts if you let it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We have to come together and have faith in ourselves.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Kevyn Adams signed a two-year contract extension Feb. 15. He&rsquo;ll earn $487,000 next season and $785,000 in 2001-02&hellip;Center Dmitri Khristich lost eight teeth and required seven root canals after he was hit in the mouth by a puck fired by right winger Igor Korolev in a Feb. 12 game against Vancouver. The hard-luck forward returned two games later and recorded a goal and an assist against Boston before leaving that game with a groin injury&hellip;In the 3-3 tie with the Bruins Feb. 16, center Yame Perreault scored his first goal since Nov. 29. Perreault missed 23 games earlier this season with a broken forearm. &#9632;

f0025-04

Joseph bitten by millennium bug

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01960/7048640-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="146" height="148"></div>Although they won&rsquo;t be asked to take a vote, Vancouver Canuck players seem united in their belief management should do everything in its power to keep Mark Messier.The 39-year-old team captain is in the final guaranteed year of his contract and speculation is growing Messier will waive his no-trade clause if GM Brian Burke receives an offer he can&rsquo;t refuse.Messier has stated he is &ldquo;comfortable&rdquo; playing in Vancouver, where the Canucks are destined to miss the playoffs for a fourth straight season, but that he would do what was best for the franchise. The team holds an option on his services at $6 million (U.S.).&ldquo;Everyone should be sad to see Mess leave,&rdquo; said left winger Todd Bertuzzi. &ldquo;Mess is Mess. He&rsquo;s a good man and tremendous player and to play with him is an honor.&ldquo;You look around this dressing room and there&rsquo;s not too many guys who have gone to the playoffs. Everything he says, everything he does, is from experience. It would be very tough to fill that hole.&rdquo;Defenseman Adrian Aucoin echoed Bertuzzi&rsquo;s sentiments.&ldquo;Mess doesn&rsquo;t get enough credit because the team has done poorly,&rdquo; Aucoin said. &ldquo;Everything he says, everything that comes out of his mouth, is true and meaningful. He has been unbelievable with the young guys and the Sedin twins are coming next season. He knows what to say. It&rsquo;s like he answers questions when you don&rsquo;t even ask them.&rdquo;Aucoin said the Canucks had a fractured dressing room when Messier arrived as an unrestricted free agent in 1997 and now, even though they are still losing, they are at least a united group. &ldquo;When Mess first came, we had 10 different teams within a team,&rdquo; Aucoin explained. &ldquo;Now we&rsquo;re one team. I&rsquo;m sure there are other good leaders in the game, but I&rsquo;ve never played with one as good as him.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Canuck majority owner John McCaw, who recently sold his NBA Vancouver Grizzlies for a reported $160 million (U.S.), said he is not looking to unload the Canucks. &ldquo;The Canucks continue to remain status quo,&rdquo; McCaw said. &ldquo;We remain committed to trying to build the team."&hellip;The Canucks extended their futility streak against the Penguins in Pittsburgh to 11 years (0-9-1) when they lost 3-0 Feb. 14&hellip;GM Brian Burke will begin unloading some veterans once he concedes his team is in a no-hope position for the playoffs. Candidates to be moved are: goalie Garth Snow, defensemen Greg Hawgood and Chris Joseph and forwards Trent Klatt. Brad May and Darby Hendrickson. &#9632;</div>

f0026-01

Players sing Messier’s praises

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03510/7048671-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Adam Oates has lined up in between 15 different wingers this season. (Bruce Bennett Studios)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02641/7048678-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="149" height="146"></div>The Washington Capitals turned their season around after a dismal start when coach Ron Wilson reconfigured the defensive assignments for forwards, shutting a gaping hole down the middle.It turned out Wilson had another motive other than wins. He wanted to see if he could keep Adam Oates alive past Christmas. Under the old system which produced a 2-6-2-0 October, the 38-year-old center would have died from exhaustion.&ldquo;We were playing run-and-gun hockey and just getting blown out of the water,&rdquo; Wilson said. &lsquo;We were trying to find the best way to play so Oates could survive until Christmas. We had to take the forechecking responsibilities away from our centers. I couldn&rsquo;t see relying on Adam to play on the power play, kill penalties, take a regular shift, do the job in our end and then forecheck-at 38 years of age.&rdquo;Oates made it through Christmas, New Year&rsquo;s and even Valentine&rsquo;s Day and is very thankful, as are the Caps. He turned his minus-8 rating in October into a plus-4 and after a first month that produced only three assists, he cranked out three straight months of 12 points apiece and was en route to his 10th 50-assist season.This did not come easily. Oates had played with seven different left wingers and eight different right wingers this season. Two of the left wingers were rookies; some of his right wingers were lefthanded and vice versa.&ldquo;All he says is, &lsquo;Be ready to shoot any time you&rsquo;re on the ice because I&rsquo;m going to get the puck to you,&rsquo; &rdquo; said Steve Konowalchuk, one of his wingers this season. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m convinced he has eyes in the back of his head.&rdquo;</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Said Chris Simon, enjoying the season of his career now that he playing alongside Oates, &ldquo;You have a responsibility to try to score whenever you&rsquo;re on the ice, but when you&rsquo;re with Adam, it becomes more than a responsibility because he is so gifted. He&rsquo;s the best center in the league, I know that.&rdquo;Oates had a goal and an assist in a 2-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche Feb. 15, the helper moving him into a tie for 14th on the all-time assist with Phil Esposito, both at 873. The two points shuffled him past Bobby Hull into 30th place all-time with 1,171.NOTEBOOK: The Caps&rsquo; 2-1 win over Colorado Feb. 15 was their ninth straight at the old record. It was loss (10-0-2-0) at the MCI Center, one shy of the franchise record, set in 1992-93&hellip;Washington scored three times vs. Dallas in two games this season, all by right winger Richard Zednik&hellip;Left winger Chris Simon, whose goal vs. Colorado, his old team, was his 11th since Christmas, moved into the team lead with 18. His previous season high was 16 with Colorado in 1995-96. With 30 points in 49 games, Simon was closing in on his high for points (34) and games played (64). Against the Avs, Simon had a goal, assist and a critical blocked shot near the end of the game. &#9632;

f0026-03

Oates enjoying big turnaround, prospering under new system

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzlja</div>He was bypassed twice in the entry draft and couldn&rsquo;t get an invitation to an NHL training camp, so Eric Landry had realistic goals.&ldquo;I was always aware of my schooling and I wanted to go into architecture,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was playing (with St-Hyacinthe of the Quebec League) because I loved it, but I never thought hockey would be something I could make a living at. I planned to be an architect.&rdquo;Landry&rsquo;s now carrying out that dream. Except he&rsquo;s not designing plans for houses or skyscrapers, he&rsquo;s working on the blueprint for an extended hockey career.The fifth-year pro center is having a breakthrough season with the American League s Kentucky Thorough blades. He had 28 goals and 54 points in 55 games and was ninth in AHL scoring through Feb. 16.&ldquo;It just seems like everything I touch turns into a goal,&rdquo; he said.Landry, 25, is playing for his third organization. He started with an AHL contract with the Edmonton Oilers in 1995-96 after opening the season in the QMJHL as an overager. He signed as a free agent with the Calgary Flames before 1997-98 (and played 15 NHL games over two seasons), then was traded to the San Jose Sharks in July for defenseman Fredrik Oduya.&ldquo;It was a heck of a trade,&rdquo; said Thorough-blades&rsquo; coach Roy Sommer. &ldquo;When we played Saint John last year, he was the one guy that stood out because of his work ethic.&ldquo;I really think he can play. He has NHL speed and he backs guys off. They see him coming with the puck and he has 10 feet.&rdquo;With his offensive charge, Landry has become Kentucky&rsquo;s replacement for the departed Steve Guolla. And like Guolla, who needed three superb AHL seasons to prove he could play in the NHL (Tampa Bay Lightning), Landry may finally be showing what he can do.&ldquo;It has been a long road and I definitely took the back doors to get here,&rdquo; he said.Along the way, he learned that at 5-foot-l1 and 185 pounds, he had better play feisty or no one will want him. For the fifth straight year, he has topped 100 penalty minutes (111).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01912/7048709-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="441" height="437"></div>&ldquo;He hits guys, he gives the stick back, he&rsquo;ll go to the net to make a play,&rdquo; Sommer said.Said Landry: &lsquo;I&rsquo;m a smaller guy, I have to create room for myself. That&rsquo;s all a part of my game, ever since I played my first pro game.&rdquo;The one thing he hasn&rsquo;t done this year is swim with the Sharks. He played three NHL games for Calgary last season and 12 the year before, scoring a goal on New Year&rsquo;s Eve against Montreal.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been healthy up top so that&rsquo;s the only reason he hasn&rsquo;t been up,&rdquo; Sommer said.Landry can survive the wait. He&rsquo;s well aware that every building project takes time.WAITE NOT OVER: Jimmy Waite continues to be the saving grace for the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs, whose .327 winning percentage was second-worst in the AHL.It may have been a notch worse if not for Waite&rsquo;s marvelous performance in a 2-0 victory over Kentucky Feb. 11. Waite made 54 saves to shut out the Mid-Atlantic Division leaders.&ldquo;That has to rank right up there &pound; with the best goaltending I&rsquo;ve seen in ^this league,&rdquo; said Kentucky coach Roy Sommer.Waite, a 12-year veteran, is 11-27-2 and has a 3.15 goals-against average and .907 save percentage, but leads the AHL in shutouts (five).AHL TIDBITS: Saint John Flames&rsquo; goalie Sean Matile stopped 42 shots to shut out Hartford 3-0 Feb. 12, ending the Wolf Pack&rsquo;s seven-game unbeaten streak&hellip; Portland Pirates&rsquo; goalie Martin Brochu was smokin&rsquo; hot, going 21-4-5 in a 30-game stretch. He was also 11-0-4 against New England Division foes, which explained why the Pirates had opened an eight-point lead on Hartford&hellip;Rochester Americans&rsquo; right winger Matt Davidson ended a 22-game goal-less drought by scoring a hat trick in a 4-2 win at Providence Feb. 13&hellip;The Syracuse Crunch set a franchise record by winning seven consecutive games; five on the road. Rookie left winger Jarkko Ruutu was a big contributor, with eight goals and 18 points in a 12-game stretch that put him second among AHL rookies in scoring (20 goals, 42 points)&hellip; Worcester Ice-Cats&rsquo; goalie Brent Johnson missed two games to return to Michigan for the funeral of his grandfather, Hall-of-Famer Sid Abel. &#9632;

f0027-01

Landry laying foundation for personal NHL project

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>Too many goalies is as bad as too many chefs if you&rsquo;re trying to cook up a championship.The Orlando Solar Bears, however, are proving to be the exception this season, holding down first place in the Eastern Conference despite dressing eight goaltenders in 53 games.Injuries, call-ups to affiliate Atlanta Thrashers and trades by the parent club with the Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks have dealt Orlando coach Peter Horachek a nightmare scenario. Many days this season, Horachek not only didn&rsquo;t know who his starting goalie would be for the next game, he wasn&rsquo;t sure who&rsquo;d even be on the ice for practice.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t want the team to start pushing any panic buttons or start worrying about it,&rdquo; Horachek said. &ldquo;You just want them to play j and concentrate on playing J well. If we can get three goals, our defensive system should allow us to t/Jii win.&rdquo;The Solar Bears have used Scott Fankhouser (now in Atlanta), Scott Langkow. Corey Schwab, Dieter Kochan, Rick Tabaracci (with the Cleveland Lumberjacks after being traded to Colorado), Judd Lambert (in East Coast League) and David Littman (retired). Maxime Gingras, though he hasn&rsquo;t played, has dressed as the backup.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t had a lot of control over it because of the guys being called up,&rdquo; Horachek said.&ldquo;We were fortunate enough that all the goalies we&rsquo;ve had have been quality guys. We play a pretty good system in front of them. We allow few shots on net and I think we don&rsquo;t give a lot of scoring chances.&rdquo;Kochan, a 25-year-old native of Saskatoon, Sask., who grew up in Madison, Wise., was the latest story in Orlando.Summoned from the Broome County (Binghamton, N.Y.) Icemen of the United League in late January, he was the only goalie the Bears had Feb. 2, so he played that night and shut out the Houston Aeros 2-0.Kochan remained hot and won his first four starts-surrendering only four goals-before Langkow and Schwab both returned from the NHL. He said he took a chance on Orlando&rsquo;s unstable situation, giving up the opportunity to play in the UHL&rsquo;s All-Star Game. He was 18-8-3 with B.C. before his time in the Orlando sun.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03379/7048740-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="681" height="274"></div>&ldquo;Hopefully, this might be my break,&rdquo; Kochan said. &ldquo;I had gotten a few calls from teams that needed a body to sit on the bench. I had played a lot in (the UHL) and I wasn&rsquo;t interested in going up tojust fill a spot on the bench.&ldquo;Hopefully playing these games will show some teams I can play and lead to other opportunities.&rdquo;ITS MILLER TIME: Kelly Miller was already helping the Grand Rapids Griffins as an assistant coach. But after a rash of injuries, Miller returned to pro hockey Feb. 14 by signing a 25-game contract with the Griffs.Miller&rsquo;s brother Kevin also plays for Grand Rapids.Kelly Miller is a veteran of 1,057 NHL games with the r New York Rangers and Washington Capitals, but played his first-ever minor league game Feb. 15 against the Milwaukee Admirals.The 36-year-old native of Lansing, Mich., becomes the third Miller brother to play for the Griffins. Brother Kip was with the team during the early part of the 1998-99 campaign before signing with the Pittsburgh Penguins.DOTTING THE &lsquo;I&rsquo;: Cleveland center Jock Callander was one point shy of tying Len Thomson&rsquo;s 31-year-old IHL all-time scoring record of 1,382 points after the Lumbeijacks were shut out in back-to-back games Feb. 11 against Long Beach and Feb. 12 against Utah. The Jacks scored twice in a 5-2 loss to Chicago Feb. 16, but Callander was pointless&hellip; Cincinnati had three shorthanded goals, two from lan Mac-Neil and one from Greg Koehler, within a span of 8:35 during the second period in a 5-4 win over Kansas City Feb. 11&hellip; A silent auction for a replica Kansas City Scouts&rsquo; jerseys raised $8,000 for the Derrick Thomas Third-and-Long Foundation after the Blades&rsquo; game against Cincinnati Feb. 11. The Blades wore the jerseys and later put them on the bidding block to help the charity established by the late Kansas City Chiefs&rsquo; star to fight illiteracy among inner-city children. &#9632;

f0027-03

Solar Bears still winning, despite revolving crease

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>Call them the nomads of the East Coast League.The Jackson Bandits are in the midst of a 21-game road trip, which was believed to be the longest in the history of professional hockey. The previous record was held by the old Greensboro Monarchs of the ECHL, who were forced to play their first 19 games away from home in 1992-93 because of renovations to the Greensboro Coliseum.The trip was off to a forgettable start. After a 6-5 shootout loss to the Huntington Blizzard Feb. 15, the Bandits were 1-8-1 as they approached the midway point of the trip.The Bandits were pushed out of the Mississippi Coliseum because of a month-long horse show and rodeo, followed by the Mississippi State High School basketball tournament. Jackson&rsquo;s last home game was Jan. 15 and the Bandits don&rsquo;t return to home ice until March 17.&ldquo;Two months on the road,&rdquo; said coach Derek Clancey. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an ordeal you&rsquo;ve got to get through. There&rsquo;s nothing we can do about it.&rdquo;The Bandits won&rsquo;t actually be away from home for the whole two months. Most of the games are against teams within driving dis-tance of Jackson. The longest stretch was an 11-day swing that car-tied them as far north as Toledo, Ohio.&ldquo;We leave a day early most of the time,&rdquo; Clancey said. &ldquo;Get guys in early and rest. Stay in better hotels than most teams in the league. Do the little things to make guys comfortable. That keeps them happy and content. If they&rsquo;re happy and content, they come to play.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02577/7048771-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="353" height="364"></div>FOUR-GOAL UPRISING: For the second time this season, Toledo Storm right winger Andrew Williamson scored four goals against the Wheeling Nailers.On Williamson ran the gamut against the Nailers, scoring on the power play, at even strength, while shorthanded and into the empty net in a 7-5 win.Williamson also had four goals against Wheeling Nov. 13 and led the ECHL with 48 in 43 games.EXPANDING SCHEDULE: The ECHL&rsquo;s board of governors voted Feb. 9 to increase the number of games next season from 70 to 72.Each team will add one more home and road game to their schedules. It marks the first time since 1994-95 the schedule will be increased. The same 26-week window from mid-October through early April will be used for the expanded slate.COAST LINES: Johnstown Chiefs&rsquo; officials said about $18 million has been approved by local and state governments for an arena project. However, politicians were still arguing over whether to use the money to renovate the aging Cambria County War Memorial or for a new building. If it&rsquo;s renovation, the Chiefs said they don&rsquo;t want more than 1,000 new seats added to the current 4,039-seat capacity&hellip; Mississippi Sea Wolves&rsquo; defenseman Bob Woods celebrated his 700th professional game Feb. 3 by scoring a pair of goals, including the winner, in a 6-3 victory over the Arkansas Riverblades. &#9632;

f0027-02

Bandits stealing few wins on killer two-month trip

<div class="byline">By Brendan Savage</div>Art Shaver probably won&rsquo;t get any coach of the year votes when the United League season ends in early April.After all, he&rsquo;s the Adirondack Icehawks&rsquo; owner.But what the Icehawks did during Shaver&rsquo;s 10-game stint behind the bench is worthy of at least a footnote in the UHL&rsquo;s record book.Shaver went behind the bench in mid-January after coach Robbie Nichols was given a 10-game suspension for using an illegal player. After losing their first four games under Shaver, the Icehawks ripped off six straight wins to get back into the playoff hunt.The turnaround started Jan. 29 when Adirondack snapped a UHL-record 19-game home winless streak with an 8-5 victory over the Saginaw Gears. The Icehawks won their next five under Shaver and added two more victories under Nichols, who jokingly threatened to stay in the broadcast booth.The eight-game win streak was the third-longest in the UHL this season and was a franchise record dating back to the club&rsquo;s two seasons in Winston-Salem.The streak moved Adirondack out of the UHL basement and gave them a solid grasp on the 12th and final playoff position with the stretch drive about to begin.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a little bit of excitement building with our team and it&rsquo;s spreading,&rdquo; reigning UHL defenseman of the year Stephan Brochu told the Glens Falls Post Star. &ldquo;Everybody is getting more hungry for wins.&rdquo;The highlight of the streak were back-to-back road vic-tories against perennial UHL power Quad City Mallards, who had beaten the Icehawks 14 straight times over the past three years.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01950/7048802-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="528" height="208"></div>Before Nichols was able to find the right combination of players, the Icehawks had a revolving dressing room door-the club had used 45 players this season.The biggest additions have been winger Trevor Jobe, defenseman John Batten and goalie Chad Ford.Jobe, who has been among the UHL&rsquo;s top scorers all season, had 22 goals and 37 points in 19 games after being acquired in a trade with the Knoxville Speed. Batten supplied seven goals and 26 points in 19 games after being signed as a free agent and Ford, also a free agent signing, was 8-2-4 with a .94 goals-against average and .908 save percentage.NOTEBOOK: Port Huron, the UHL&rsquo;s toughest team, added more muscle when it signed former Boston Bruins&rsquo; winger Darren Banks Feb. 14&hellip; The Eastern Division-leading B.C. (Binghamton, N.Y.) Icemen were unbeaten in their first 15 road games against division foes Asheville, Adirondack, Knoxville and Mohawk Valley&hellip;Rockford&rsquo;s Barry McKinlay became the fourth player and first defenseman to record 400 UHL assists Feb. 12 when he set up two goals against Madison&hellip;Missouri River&rsquo;s Colin Chaulk, Trevor Sherban, Marty Standish, Jeremy Rebek and Forrest Gore were recalled to Kansas City of the International League and all of them suited up for the Blades Feb. 13&hellip;Matt Mullin of Port Huron was goaltender of the month for January and Asheville&rsquo;s Brent Gretzky, the league&rsquo;s leading scorer with 29 goals and 91 points in 52 games, was player of the month. &#9632;

f0028-01

Icehawks find inspiration with owner behind bench

<div class="byline">By Dave Henry</div>The Amarillo Rattlers made the Western Pro League record book for a dubious honor, but at least their misery had company.The Rattlers tied the defunct Waco Wizards for the distinction of 18 consecutive losses, but they avoided claiming sole possession of the record when they responded with a 3-2 win over the Lake Charles Ice Pirates Feb. 9. It was Amarillo&rsquo;s first win since Dec. 19.Goalie Des Chris-topher stopped 38 of 40 shots for Amarillo. The Rattlers picked up back-to-back wins with a 2-1 shootout victory over the Monroe Moccasins Feb. 11.BRING IN RINGER: World Wrestling Federation heavyweight champion &lsquo;Triple H&rsquo; is scheduled to sign autographs and drop the first puck at the Fort Worth Convention Center during the Brahmas&rsquo; game against the Waco Wizards Feb. 25.Brahmas&rsquo; director of marketing and promotions Rob Sine summed up the appeal of &lsquo;Triple H,&rsquo; saying, &ldquo;Fans want to be entertained from the moment they walk in the door until the time they leave.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02632/7048833-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="531" height="354"></div>So what&rsquo;s the hockey for? On a related note, only two of the WPHL&rsquo;s 17 teams had more penalty minutes than the Brahmas.NOTEBOOK: Fort Worth scored three goals in a 47-second span Feb. 12 in a 7-5 win over the Lubbock Cotton Kings, the fastest three goals in team history&hellip;Lub-bock center Mike Legg racked up four goals and 10 points in three games to earn player of the week honors&hellip;Playing for the first time since Jan. 15, Tupelo T-Rex goalie Roby Gropp stopped 72 of &rsquo;ll shots in back-to-back victories Feb. 12-13 over the division-leading Shreveport Mudbugs and New Mexico Scorpions&hellip;Lake Charles acquired defending league MVP Chris Robertson, a winger, from the Corpus Christi Icerays for defensemen Mike Vandenberghe and Alexsandr Troitsky Feb. 15. The WPHL trade deadline was Feb. 22. &#9632;

f0028-02

Amarillo ties futility record

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>Don Nachbaur became the West Division&rsquo;s latest coaching casualty when the Seattle Thunderbirds fired him Feb. 10.One week earlier, Harold Snepsts stepped down as coach of the Western League&rsquo;s Portland Winter Hawks.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04314/7048895-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="248" height="255"></div>Another member of the WHL&rsquo;s seven-team division-the Kelowna Rockets-changed coaches in November, when Garth Malarchuk was fired and replaced by Marc Habscheid.Nachbaur, 41, was sacked Seattle&rsquo;s record dropped to 22-24-4-3. The Thunderbirds began the season as the Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s third-ranked team, but have failed to live up to the advance billing.&ldquo;Don has worked very hard for the Thunderbirds over the past six years, but I regret our performance was slipping to the point that this decision was necessary,&rdquo; said Seattle GM Russ Farwell, who stepped behind the bench on an interim basis alongside assistant Rob Sumner.Seattle split its first two games under Farwell and Sumner. Nachbaur had a 202-174-34-3 record with the T-Birds. He was the WHL&rsquo;s coach of the year in 1994-95-his first season in Seattle-and guided the team to the 1996-97 league final (won by the Lethbridge Hurricanes). &#9632;

f0028-04

Nachbaur shown door

Snepsts, meanwhile, was replaced by assistant Mike Williamson when Portland&rsquo;s record dipped to 9-34-5-0. The 45-year-old Snepsts, a member of the Hawks&rsquo; ownership group, had a 32-70-18-0 slate as coach.&ldquo;The club needed a different direction,&rdquo; said Snepsts, who will serve as a scout.Williamson&rsquo;s contract, which was to expire at the end of this season, was extended through 2000-OL At 27, the former Winter Hawks&rsquo; defenseman is the league&rsquo;s youngest coach.Portland&rsquo;s losing streak swelled to a franchise-record 12 games when Williamson lost in his debut, but the Winter Hawks won three of their next four games.END OF THE ROAD: The Calgary Hitmen&rsquo;s CHL-record 18-game road winning streak was snapped Feb. 12 when the Kamloops Blazers doubled them 6-3.One night earlier, Calgary set the record by beating Kelowna 5-1. The previous mark of 17 road wins was established by the Quebec League&rsquo;s Trois Rivieres Draveurs in 1978-79.Calgary also broke the WHL record for longest road unbeaten streak. The 1978-79 Brandon Wheat Kings were undefeated in 17 straight away games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01839/7048926-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="252" height="262"></div>Kamloops also halted Calgary&rsquo;s overall winning streak at 17 games. The 1967-68 Estevan Bruins set the WHL single-season record of22 straight wins.LUNDMARK OUT: Moose Jaw Warriors&rsquo; center Jamie Lundmark was expected to miss at least six weeks-and perhaps as many as 12-after being diagnosed with a fractured scaphoid in his right wrist Feb. 10.The 18-year-old Lundmark, whom the New York Rangers picked ninth overall in the 1999 draft, had 21 goals and 48 points in 37 games.PEAT ON MEND: Calgary defenseman 1 Stephen Peat is recovering after getting stabbed in the lower abdomen and should return to the Hitmen lineup by late February.Peat was cut by a 10-centimeter knife Feb. 3 at a Calgary nightclub. According to police reports. Peat was trying to prevent an incident between teammate Kris Beech and three men attempting to goad him.Peat, 19, was taken to hospital, where he was stitched up and released the next day. The team did not immediately disclose the incident, choosing instead to announce Peat had a hip injury. It wasn&rsquo;t until the Calgary Sun discovered the incident that the Hitmen acknowledged it.Richard Ward-Pay, 20, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon. &#9632;

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Hitmen make major junior history with 18-game road winning streak

<div class="byline">By Gordie Sutherland</div>Rimouski Oceanic sniper Brad Richards is gunning to become the first Maritime player to win the Quebec League scoring title.With the regular season winding down, the native of Murray Harbour, P.E.I., had a 21-point lead over left winger Ramzi Abid of the Halifax Mooseheads.Richards, 6-feet and 183 pounds, had 53 goals and 146 points in 51 games through Feb. 15. Big nights are commonplace for the nifty 19-year-old center, who is a gifted scorer and playmaker.&ldquo;He deserves to win that championship for what he has done the last two years,&rdquo; said Doris Labonte, Rimouski&rsquo;s coach-GM. &ldquo;Last year, he was almost alone and got 131 points anyway. I would be verj proud of him. It would be the first time a player from the Maritimes won that championship.&rdquo;Richards, who skated with Canada&rsquo;s national junior team, first heard about his chance to make league history when a reporter mentioned it to him before Christmas. People have been talking about it ever since.&ldquo;I have a good lead, so it would be disappointing if I don&rsquo;t finish it off,&rdquo; said the Tampa Bay Lightning 1998 third round draft pick (64th overall). &ldquo;It would be a great honor.&rdquo;His goal-scoring has steadily improved during his three years of junior. Richards had 33 goals as a rookie, 39 last season and could surpass 60 this year.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing on a great team, with a lot of good, smart players around me,&rdquo; he said.SWEET 16: The QMJHL has cleared the way for the trading of 16-year-old players, a contentious issue in junior hockey.Drummondville Voltigeurs&rsquo; GM Michel Georges was among those who voted for the change at a Feb. 10 meeting, but he said he&rsquo;s not completely comfortable with it.&ldquo;If you talk with the parents, they&rsquo;ll say, &lsquo;Geez, my kid is only 16 and he has already been traded twice,&rsquo; &rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I still believe it&rsquo;s a bit too young.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02539/7048957-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="510" height="477"></div>But the reality is many 16-year-olds were already being included in trades as future considerations. And once the player was destined to leave, the team stopped working on his development.&ldquo;If you have to trade a 16-year-old, then you might as well let him go somewhere else and play hockey,&rdquo; said Montreal Rocket GM Serge Savard Jr. &ldquo;A lot of 16-year-olds were involved in future considerations and now they just don&rsquo;t play or they&rsquo;re being sent back to midget.&rdquo;Quebec Remparts&rsquo; coach Guy Chouinard said teams will still be hesitant to trade 16-year-olds. &ldquo;Usually when you draft your 16-year-olds, those are the guys you figure are going to be the future stars.&rdquo;The new rule stipulates 16-year-olds can only be dealt during the mid-season trading period (during December and January).ALL-STAR FLOP: The QMJHL auditioned its all-star format Feb. 9 and it was a bust.Team Quebec, consisting of players bom in that province, embar-rassed the so-called World entry 13-6.With each league team limited to just two Europeans and with only a small number of impact Maritimers available, the talent pool wasn&rsquo;t deep enough for a Team World. The problem was most obvious in goal where World was forced to use rookies Drew MacIntyre of the Sherbrooke Castors and Danny Bowie of the Moncton Wildcats after Russian Alexei Volkov of the Halifax Mooseheads sustained a hamstring injury.&ldquo;I think they talked about going with the top four goalies (in the league next year) and try that,&rdquo; said Hull Olympiques&rsquo; coach Claude Julien, who was behind the World bench.League president Gilles Courteau said the new format did create interest. About 8,200 fans took in the game at Montreal&rsquo;s Molson Centre. &ldquo;Everything went well, except that we never thought that a guy like Volkov would have been injured,&rdquo; Courteau said. &ldquo;But other than that, I thought it was a good show. There were lots of goals and that&rsquo;s exactly what people want to see.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Hot-shot Islander Richards poised to climb lofty perch

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div><h2>WCHA</h2>Worn out from nearly four decades of coaching and secure in the knowledge he has finally built Minnesota State-Mankato into a stable NCAA Division I entity, Don Brose announced he will retire at the end of the season.Brose, 59, has spent the last 30 years taking the Mavericks from a club team to NCAA Division II national champions (1979-80) to full-time members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.&ldquo;I started to add up the years I was coaching and it all adds up to 38 years,&rdquo; said Brose at a news conference Feb. 14. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s tremendous wear and tear on you and you don&rsquo;t recover as fast. I think you have to know when to say when. And you have to think about the kids. They call me a relic now.&rdquo;Brose had a career record of 531-332-72 at the time of the announcement, which placed him 11th on the all-time wins list. The Mavericks were 12-9-1 in league play this season and 16-12-2 overall.&ldquo;My personal choice would have been to wait until the end of the season to announce this decision,&rdquo; Brose said. &ldquo;After much thought, I decided it was in the best interest of the hockey program to have my successor in place by late March in time for the April scholarship signing date.&rdquo;Mankato athletic director Don Amiot plans a national search for a replacement, but Brose endorsed assistant coach Troy Jutting, who played for Brose and has served as an assistant for the past 10 years.&ldquo;Troy is one of the great young coaches in college hockey who deserves to move into a head coaching position,&rdquo; Brose said.In this, their first full season in the WCHA, the Mavericks had registered victories over three-time defending league champion North Dakota, first-place Wisconsin and traditional powers Minnesota and Colorado College.&ldquo;I turn 60 in the spring,&rdquo; Brose said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been at MSU for 35 years, been a head coach for 30 years. I want to be selfish for me and my family for a change.&rdquo;ONE FOR THE BOOKS: Wisconsin has turned out its share of great goaltenders, including current NHL all-stars Curtis Joseph and Mike Richter, but Graham Melanson stands alone in one aspect.Melanson, a junior, became the first Badger goalie to record shutouts in consecutive games, blanking Michigan Tech (3-0) Feb. 5 and St. Cloud State (3-0) Feb. 10.The win over St. Cloud was the 50th of Melanson&rsquo;s career, moving him into the top five on the school&rsquo;s all-time list.SPECTACULAR SPECIAL TEAMS: In a span of nine games from Jan. 15 to Feb. 12, Minnesota scored four shorthanded goals while allowing only five power play conversions. &#9632;

Maverick bench boss Brose moving on at season’s end

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggle</div><h2>ECAC</h2>Coaching can be a hair-raising experience. But for Princeton coach Don Cahoon, hair-losing is a more accurate description.Sticking to a promise he made to his players, Cahoon let the Tigers shave his head after they broke out of a post-holiday funk by sweeping Union (6-1) and RPI (4-3) on the road Feb. 12-13.Princeton was on a five-game losing streak prior to the road trip, so Cahoon told his team that if they had a good weekend, his head was theirs.&ldquo;I was trying to emphasize that we&rsquo;re all in this together,&rdquo; Cahoon said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think offering them my head pointed us in the right direction.&rdquo;But it worked. Junior Chris Corrinet scored twice in the win over Union and sophomore Brad Parsons came up with his first career hat trick against RPI.After the win at RPI, Cahoon emerged from the dressing room with a shaved head.The road sweep pushed the Tigers to eighth in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (5-7-3,6-13-3 overall).As for the hair, Cahoon said it will grow back.&ldquo;I wore my head like this for 22 years,&rdquo; Cahoon said. &ldquo;I had a buzz cut until my junior year in college. But I didn&rsquo;t realize my hairline was receding so much.&rdquo;TRIPLE JEOPARDY: The ECAC went to the video to hand out suspensions to Colgate and Cornell following a post-game brawl.A scrum occurred at the end of the game between the two travel partners Jan. 29. Initially, nearly everyone on the ice was given a game disqualification, meaning they would have to sit out the next contest.But when game officials reviewed the tape after the contest, they determined only Colgate goalie Shep Harder and Cornell freshman Andrew McNiven were actually fighting and should have received game disqualifications.Later in the week, ECAC staff members reviewed the tape and handed out disqualifications to Andrew McDonald and Sean Nolan of Colgate and Doug Stienstra and Denis Ladouceur of Cornell-two of the top-scoring forwards from each team.Both schools appealed, but the decision was upheld. Without McDonald and Nolan, Colgate lost 5-1 to St. Lawrence Feb. 11 in a battle for the league lead.HOME COOKING: The win over Colgate allowed St. Lawrence to become the first team to clinch home ice for the playoffs.The victory-the Saints&rsquo; eighth in a row-was the start of a great weekend for junior winger Al Fyfe. He had a hat trick and an assist against the Red Raiders and came back the next night with a goal and two assists in a 3-1 win over Cornell. &#9632;

Cahoon’s smooth skull means losing skid over

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div><h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>Boston University senior left winger Chris Heron wasn&rsquo;t sure how good the Terriers would be this season after coming off a disappointing 14-20-3 campaign in 1998-99.He expected an improvement&hellip; but just one league loss through 18 Hockey East games?&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think the improvement would be as dramatic as it has been,&rdquo; said Heron after the Terriers won their sixth straight Beanpot Tournament with a 4-1 win over Boston College Feb. 14.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a lot of young talent and depth. And our team chemistry is one of our strongest assets.&rdquo;The victory boosted BU&rsquo;s overall record to 19-6-6 and they remained perfect in the millennium (8-0-4). In league play, the Terriers were 12-1-5 and two points ahead of New Hampshire for the conference lead.The Terriers, ranked second in the nation, were 8-13-3 in Hockey East a year ago and were eliminated in the league quarterfinal.This year, BU&rsquo;s depth has been epitomized by its seven players with 20 or more points.Heron has shown dramatic improvement throughout his career. He amassed 13 goals and 34 points in his first 73 games before erupting for 18 goals and 35 points in 36 games last year.An assistant captain, Heron had 15 goals and 33 points in 31 games this season.A native of Mississauga, Ont., Heron said the most significant improvement in his game has been on the defensive side, thanks to coach Jack Parker.&ldquo;Hopefully, when I leave here, I&rsquo;ll be a good all-around player,&rdquo; Heron said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m always trying to get better.&rdquo;SUPER STOPPER: Freshman goalie Rick DiPietro, who made 31 saves against Boston College and set Beanpot tournament records for goals-against average (0.50) and save percentage (.981), was named the tourney MVP. The Terriers&rsquo; crown was their 23rd in the event&rsquo;s 48-year history.DiPietro improved his record this season to 14-2-4, his GAA to 2.22 and his save percentage to .920.WORKING OVERTIME: Merrimack College&rsquo;s 6-6 tie with UMass-Lowell Feb. 13 marked its sixth straight overtime game.&ldquo;After practice is done, I add five more minutes to it,&rdquo; said Merrimack coach Chris Serino, whose team was 1-1-4 in the stretch. &ldquo;When we lost to Providence in overtime, our kids were devastated. As long as you don&rsquo;t lose them, you aren&rsquo;t devastated.&rdquo;CENTURY MARK: Providence coach Paul Pooley picked up his 100th career win with the Friars when they rebounded from an 8-0 drubbing against Boston College Feb. 11 to upset New Hampshire 4-3 the next night. That gave him a 100-101-15 record since 1994. &#9632;

Team’s turnaround complete as Terriers nipping at No. 1

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01937/7049091-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01951/7049084-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="7221" height="4211"></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

1999-2000 REGULAR SEASON STATISTICS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01861/7049122-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02582/7049167-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="740" height="541"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01770/7049160-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="569" height="644"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01838/7049153-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="3524" height="4167"></div> &#9632;

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NHL GAME SUMMARIES

NHL ROSTERS AND TRANSACTIONS

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello Senior Editor</div>Hats off to the Odessa Jackalopes for turning the hockey hat trick.The Western Pro League team was declared winner of the secondary minor pro logo ranking for a third straight year. Our panel of judges deemed none of the 10 new logos were impressive enough to usurp the Jackalope, a mythical west Texas male jackrabbit that grows a 12-point rack of antlers for two weeks each year during mating season.Logos considered were from the 49 teams in the WPHL, United, Central and West Coast Leagues. The Jackalopes join the Chicago Wolves as 1998 and 1999 repeat winners. The Wolves&rsquo; logo was No. 1 in a field of 58 teams from the International, American and East Coast Leagues in our Feb. 25 issue.Logos were re-ranked by our panel this year using guidelines set forth by renowned Spawn comic book creator Todd McFarlane.McFarlane came up with five rules for critiquing logos. They are: 1. Characters with hockey paraphernalia are silly; 2. Primary logo should be clean and uncluttered with words; 3. Ditch cartoon characters; 4. If you have to use an animal, make it intimidating; and, 5. The logo should be big and bold.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01425/7049274-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="477" height="525"><figcaption class="caption-body">1. Odessa Jackalopes (WPHL-1)</figcaption></div>McFarlane wouldn&rsquo;t be impressed by the new crop of logos, most of which feature a cartoony creature wielding a hockey stick. Ranking highest are the Flint Generals (fourth), who changed their logo from the broodish, unkempt army brat back to their original simple &lsquo;G&rsquo; design. It&rsquo;s not going to win awards for creativity, but it&rsquo;s big, bold and bright.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s our 30-year anniversary and we decided to go back to a traditional look,&rdquo; said Generals&rsquo; executive Robert Roe. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had nothing but positive comments."The logo that best suits McFarlane&rsquo;s criteria is the WPHL&rsquo;s Corpus Christi IceRays. Its impressive use of shapes and colors is unencumbered by words. For that reason, itjumped from ninth last year to sixth this year. To give credence to previous voting panels, no logo can move up or down more than three slots from one year to the next.Falling to last place is the ridiculous logo of the Lake St. Charles Ice Pirates. We thought we had buried any reference or likeness to the Village People in a time capsule.New logos include the Fort Wayne Komets, Knoxville Speed, Madison Kodiaks, Missouri River Otters, Rockford IceHogs and Flint in the UHL; Indianapolis Ice, Tulsa Oilers and Macon Whoopee in the CHL; and, gasp, the Lubbock Cotton Kings in the WPHL.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02265/7049267-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="941" height="1425"><figcaption class="caption-body">The logo of the Missouri River Otters, modeled by Marty Standish, finished 18th in THN&rsquo;s secondary ranking. (Bill Duh / Bruce Tyson / Just Sports)</figcaption></div><h2>THE HOCKEY NEWS SECONDARY MINOR PRO LOGO RANKING</h2>(Last year's ranking in parentheses; new logos denoted as not ranked, NR)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-03205/7049260-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="621" height="1493"></div><h2>Flint Generals cream of this year&rsquo;s new crop of logos</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01442/7049253-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="3044" height="1402"></div>THE HOCKEY NEWS SECONDARY MINOR PRO LOGO RANKING (Last year&rsquo;s ranking in parentheses; new logos denoted as not ranked, NR) &#9632;

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March 3, 2000

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE SCOREBOARD

Coach Ward bolts team before game, but IceDogs win to end losing streak

Ironman Ricci keeps streak alive despite bout with flu

Conditioning and intensity spur MSU captain Horcoff