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.

February 9, 2001

The Hockey News February 9, 2001

<h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01577/7561693-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="496" height="1279"></div><h2><b>CHICAGO WOLVES (Independent)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02361/7561686-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="481" height="258"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03261/7561679-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="493" height="394"></div><h2><b>CINCINNATI CYCLONES (Carolina)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-04207/7561672-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="505" height="547"></div><h2><b>CLEVELAND LUMBERJACKS (Minnesota)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-05180/7561665-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="490" height="585"></div><h2><b>DETROIT VIPERS (Tampa Bay)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-06160/7561658-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="496" height="610"></div><h2><b>GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS (Ottawa)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-07146/7561651-1-eng-US/f0040-072.jpg" title="f0040-07" width="490" height="535"></div><h2><b>HOUSTON AEROS (Independent)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-08132/7561644-1-eng-US/f0040-082.jpg" title="f0040-08" width="487" height="264"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-09106/7561637-1-eng-US/f0040-092.jpg" title="f0040-09" width="493" height="394"></div><h2><b>KANSAS CITY BLADES (Vancouver)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1098/7561630-1-eng-US/f0040-102.jpg" title="f0040-10" width="484" height="646"></div><h2><b>MANITOBA MOOSE (Independent)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1188/7561623-1-eng-US/f0040-112.jpg" title="f0040-11" width="493" height="495"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1283/7561616-1-eng-US/f0040-122.jpg" title="f0040-12" width="487" height="160"></div><h2><b>MILWAUKEE ADMIRALS (Nashville)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1379/7561609-1-eng-US/f0040-132.jpg" title="f0040-13" width="484" height="556"></div><h2><b>ORLANDO SOLAR BEARS (Atlanta)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1467/7561602-1-eng-US/f0040-142.jpg" title="f0040-14" width="478" height="589"></div><h2><b>UTAH GRIZZLIES (Independent)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1565/7561595-1-eng-US/f0040-152.jpg" title="f0040-15" width="484" height="171"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1659/7561588-1-eng-US/f0040-162.jpg" title="f0040-16" width="502" height="1734"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0040-01

HOCKEY’S BEST STATS

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Ken Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01955/7559827-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="212" height="248"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>F</span>or two-plus seasons, the Toronto Maple Leafs were one of the most feared offensive teams in the NHL. But as the calendar turned on the New Year, they were having trouble keeping up with Mario Lemieux.</p><p>In a five-game stretch in late January, the Leafs accounted for just seven goals and hadn&rsquo;t scored more than two in any of the games. How bad were things? Well, the Leafs needed overtime Jan. 25 to score just two goals against an Atlanta team that had nine regulars out of the lineup. Aside from a 4-4 tie against New Jersey, the Leafs had not scored three goals in a game in 11 tries after Jan. 1.</p><p>The lack of production and offensive confidence was puzzling to coach-GM Pat Quinn.</p><p>&ldquo;We just haven&rsquo;t been executing it,&rdquo; Quinn said.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Nowhere were the offensive struggles more evident than on the power play, particularly at home. After scoring a power play goal Dec. 16 against Calgary, the Leafs went 0-for-41 in their next eight home games. They had gone 6-for-38 on the road since that game to give them an overall mark of 5-for-76.</p><p>Jonas Hoglund was pulled off the power play unit and replaced with Gary Roberts, who worked with Mats Sundin and Steve Thomas. Roberts scored against Atlanta because he got himself in front of the Thrashers&rsquo; net.</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> The Leafs have been staying close in games more because of goaltending than sound defensive play.</p><p>In a 2-1 loss to Boston Jan. 24, the Leafs were guilty of 21 turnovers and relied on the spectacular play of goalie Curtis Joseph to keep them close. However, the Leafs had outshot their opponent in eight of 10 games.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Right winger Tie Domi won the fastest skating event at the Leafs&rsquo; skills competition Jan. 21, but his time of 13.899 seconds was disqualified because of a gliding start. Left winger Sergei Berezin won at 14.085 seconds. Defenseman Danny Markov had a 98.7 miles-per-hour blast, while center Yanic Perreault won the accuracy shooting&hellip;Eric Lindros made official what many had speculated when Gord Kirke, the lawyer for the restricted free agent, told a Philadelphia reporter Lindros will sit out this season unless a deal can be worked out with the Maple Leafs.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0025-01

NHL TEAM REPORTS

Power outage baffles coach-GM

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011821/7558635-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="669" height="289"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(Henri DiRocco/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span> year from now, when the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City get underway, the NHL will have its best opportunity ever to introduce the sport to legions of spectators around the world.</p><p>The chance to win new audiences is the primary reason why the league is doing backflips in order to participate in the Olympics after the 1998 experiment in Nagano which, while an artistic success, flopped as a public relations exercise.</p><p>With all this in mind, U.S. Olympic coach and &lsquo;Miracle on Ice&rsquo; icon Herb Brooks wonders: Why is the league giving the competing teams so little time to properly prepare for the tournament?</p><p>Teams are scheduled to have less than two days to prepare for Olympic competition. NHL games will be played Feb. 13, players travel to Salt Lake City Feb. 14 and final round action begins Feb. 15. The gold medal game is Feb. 24 and the NHL schedule resumes Feb. 26. The NHL is scheduled to suspend play for 12 days. For Brooks, there just isn&rsquo;t enough turnaround time for the Olympians.</p><p>&ldquo;The Olympics transcends hockey,&rdquo; Brooks says. &ldquo;Two to three billion people around the world will be watching. Now, to find out there&rsquo;s no preparation time is discouraging. One day - which might be eaten up by travel. That absolutely lacks vision or common sense. By design, they&rsquo;re shooting themselves in the foot and eliminating the thing they&rsquo;re trying to accomplish.</p><p>&ldquo;The North American teams, Canada and the U.S., need some type of orientation. The Europeans are obviously more familiar with the big sheets (of ice). Plus, who knows what they&rsquo;re going to do in the summer anyway? In the week before training camp, when the players are on the ice anyway, we need an orientation session. I&rsquo;ve discussed this with (Canadian executive director) Wayne Gretzky and (assistant) Kevin Lowe and they totally agree that we need this. Otherwise, we would be at a distinct disadvantage on the bigger ice as opposed to the great Europeans.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021324/7558628-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="1692" height="2879"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PROJECTED OLYMPIC ROSTERS</b></figcaption></div><p>The NHL ice surface is 200 feet by 85 feet compared to the international size of 200 feet by 100 feet.</p><p>The agreement for Olympic participation between the International Ice</p><p>Hockey Federation, NHL Players&rsquo; Association and NHL precludes practices or meetings of any kind in advance of the event.</p><p>The NHLPA says it does not foresee any changes to the agreement. In a prepared statement, spokesman Jonathan Weatherdon outlined the NHLPA position: &ldquo;There is a written agreement among the IIHF, its member federations, the NHL and the NHLPA which governs participation in the Olympics in 2002, the World Hockey Championships and the 2004 World Cup. If any issues arise concerning these competitions, they will be dealt with according to this agreement.&rdquo; Translation: The NHLPA is not prepared to reopen the agree-because it could become a logistical nightmare. In order for that to change, there would have to be some heavy pressure applied. In Gretzky&rsquo;s mind, that pressure would have to come from the players themselves.</p><p>Gretzky has communicated his thoughts on the matter to NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow.</p><p>&ldquo;The concern I raised with Bob was, we just don&rsquo;t want to be on uneven ground,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;I was told that some of the European teams in 1998 got together informally in the summer for some sort of a camp. My only thing to (Goodenow) was: If those guys are going to do something, then we&rsquo;d like to be able to do something.</p><p>&ldquo;If the players want to do this and have some sort of camp, they&rsquo;re going to have to be the ones to come forward and say, &lsquo;Yes, we&rsquo;d love to do some sort of orientation - four, five, six, seven days.&rsquo; If they want to do some sort of camp, then they need to express that interest to Bob. As Herb says, it&rsquo;s crazy that we&rsquo;re going to go there on the 13th, have a light skate on the 14th and say, &lsquo;OK, we&rsquo;re a team.&rsquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Swedish Olympic team manager Anders Hedberg would be fully supportive if the Brooks-Gretzky lobby could effect a rule change. He says he would &ldquo;encourage&rdquo; a mini-camp for all teams, &ldquo;for the pure reason of giving the athletes, the management and the coaches a chance to perform to some kind of expectations.&rdquo;</p><p>Hedberg added: &ldquo;It would be unfair to be suspicious of one nation ahead of any other (in terms of holding unofficial training sessions), but this is not about money, it is about pure athletics &mdash; and the foundation of all athletics is it has to be equal for everybody&rdquo;</p><p>As for the Olympic competition, six teams advance to the final round of the tournament directly - Canada, the U.S, Russia, Sweden, Finland plus the defending champions, the Czech Republic. Two others advance from the preliminary round. Teams are then placed into two four-team groups and play a round of &pound; three games in order to determine seedings for the playoffs. In theory, a team can go 0-3 in the first round and still win the gold medal by winning three in a row. Accordingly, teams can use those games as preparation time for medal play.</p><h2><b>Gretzky hopes Olympians will ask for summer camp</b></h2><p>The major difference between 1998 and 2002 is that four years ago the NHL wrapped up its regular season Feb. 7. The teams travelled to Japan the next day, but didn&rsquo;t play an Olympic tournament game until the 13th, in part to adjust to the 15-hour time difference.</p><p>This time around, the NHL&rsquo;s plan is to play a full schedule of games Feb. 13, involving all 30 teams, with as many as possible in the Pacific or Mountain time zones. Players will travel to Salt Lake City following their games or the next morning, assemble for a practice on the afternoon of the 14th and play their first tournament games on the 15th.</p><p>To accommodate the Olympics, NHL training camps will be reduced by six days this fall, just as they were in 1997-98. That year, the teams held an orientation session at the All-Star Game in Vancouver. If the Olympic teams cannot get a summer training camp, the next best option is to get together at the 2002 All-Star Game in Los Angeles.</p><p>Essentially, Gretzky&rsquo;s hope is that the players will lobby their association to hold an open vote on the subject of whether there can be a pre-season training camp.</p><p>Gretzky says he understands that adding a short orientation session prior to the start of regular training camps represents a sacrifice for players. However, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like it&rsquo;s a six-week thing like the Canada Cup,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re talking about four or five days. Players in this day and age, they work out all summer anyway. It&rsquo;s not like anybody has to give up the summer. I&rsquo;m talking about late August. We would love to have a training camp of some sort in late August in Calgary, if we were going to do something. It&rsquo;s the headquarters for Canadian Hockey.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a win-win situation for everybody. But if all the players vote against it, I can understand their point of view also&hellip;Even though it&rsquo;s only five days, you&rsquo;re giving up a little bit of your summertime. But it seems like it&rsquo;s for a great cause and it&rsquo;s something that would be beneficial for hockey. Right now, it&rsquo;s in the players&rsquo; laps. It depends on what they decide on.&rdquo;</p><p>From a player&rsquo;s perspective, the concern, as Gretzky sees it, is that teams don&rsquo;t have to name their final Olympic rosters until December. Accordingly, players could attend an orientation camp in August and still be passed over in the final selection process.</p><p>&ldquo;The big thing for the players is, nobody wants to look like they were cut from a team,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the big issue that everybody seems to be stumbling over - that you could have two or three big-name guys from each country not making the team and people are surmising they got cut and didn&rsquo;t make the team.&rdquo; &#9633;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-01

COVER STORY

Let the Guessing GAMES Begin

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Chuck Carlton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03900/7559241-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="233" height="253"></div><p>The Dallas Stars insist there is no goaltending controversy brewing.</p><p>Ed Belfour had not been benched, but was being rested.</p><p>He&rsquo;ll still be the goaltender come playoff time, a guarantee issued by coach Ken Hitchcock.</p><p>For all of Marty Turco&rsquo;s numbers, including a 2.12 goals-against average and .916 save percentage, the rookie remains the understudy. Remember when Hitchcock decided to sit Belfour before a game in Boston, which led to the goalie&rsquo;s walkout and suspension in early January? Well, the coach thought Belfour needed rest then and a couple weeks later, Belfour confirmed the opinion in a meeting.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not going to affect the long-term stuff, but this is about winning,&rdquo; said Hitchcock in the midst of starting Turco in back-to-back games. &ldquo;Come playoff time, we&rsquo;ll go with Eddie to the bitter end.&rdquo;</p><p>Belfour, 35, was experiencing his longest slump since coming to Dallas in 1997. He was 5-6-0 over an 11-game stretch with a 3.96 GAA.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> The Stars face a test aftdr losing defenseman Richard Matvichuk to a broken jaw and checking line winger Mike Keane to a hairline fracture of his ankle. Short-term injuries to defenseman Gerald Diduck and forward Benoit Hogue complicated the situation and forced Hitchcock to juggle lines and pairings.</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> Even before Matvichuk&rsquo;s injury, the Stars were having trouble in their own end. Although they ranked fourth in the conference in goals allowed, they were guilty of breakdowns early in games. In their two meetings with New Jersey this year, Dallas yielded a total of eight goals in the first periods.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Center Mike Modano said hooking, holding and assorted other offenses had crept back into the NHL after an early crackdown this season. &lsquo;There seems to be a lot of obstruction and holding going around now and you just try to get away with as much as you can,&rdquo; Modano said&hellip; Right winger Brett Hull was unable to convert a penalty shot against Vancouver and is 0-for-4 lifetime in those situations. &ldquo;Too much thinking,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Ken Hitchcock passed Glen Sonmor for most games coached in franchise history with No. 418 Jan. 21 in Phoenix.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-03

Belfour rests now to be spring fresh

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Denis Gibbons</div><p class="dropcap"><span>G</span>arry Unger once played a game with one eye completely closed, after being cut for 17 stitches. And another time in the mid-1970s with St. Louis, he kept his incredible ironman streak alive by taking four-a-day treatments for a bad back and wearing a hot pack every minute of the day, except on the ice.</p><p>But it was a coach&rsquo;s decision that ended the streak at 914 games Dec. 21, 1979. Unger dressed, but saw no action, with Atlanta in his return to St. Louis. Although Blues&rsquo; fans chanted his name and teammates offered to let him take their shifts, coach Al MacNeil kept Unger on the bench, reportedly because he thought the streak was getting bigger than the fate of the struggling Flames.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011761/7558283-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="235" height="280"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Garry Unger</b> <span class="photo-credit">(THN Archives)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;Whenever I was sick, I started to feel better just by going to the rink and playing,&rdquo; said Unger, who finished his NHL career with 413 goals and 804 points in 1,105 games with six teams.</p><p>Following his NHL career, the Calgary native averaged 4.7 points per game playing in Scotland and England.</p><p>Unger, 53, resides in Tulsa, Okla., and works as director of hockey development for the Central League&rsquo;s Oilers.</p><p>Doug Jarvis now holds the ironman record of 964 games.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0004-01

DEPARTMENTS

Unger’s games played streak died on the pines

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011758/7558338-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>TIRELESS</b>&nbsp;<i>Chicago&rsquo;s Tony Amonte is the NHL&rsquo;s reigning ironman, having played in 294 straight games &mdash; 34 more than runnerup Oleg Tverdovsky of Anaheim.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Claus Andersen/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Good to the last pick</b></h2><h3><i>Bruins&rsquo;Henderson beats long odds</i></h3><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>ell after most of his Boston teammates have departed Toronto&rsquo;s Air Canada Centre, <b>Jay Henderson</b> sits in his stall, his skates still laced up. He&rsquo;s in no hurry to leave. That&rsquo;s because when he walks out of an NHL dressing room, he never knows if he&rsquo;ll be back again. Henderson, 22, represents the longest of longshots to make the NHL. He was the last player chosen, 246th overall, in 1997, the same year the Bruins selected <b>Joe Thornton</b> No. 1.</p><p>&ldquo;We were supposed to pick second-last, but we made a trade with Colorado to get the last pick so we could open and close the draft,&rdquo; says Boston scout <b>Bob Tindall</b>.</p><p>Henderson, a small left winger who played with Red Deer of the Western League, watched the first couple of rounds of the draft on TV in 1997 and when he didn&rsquo;t hear from a team by 7 p.m., he figured he was out of luck. &ldquo;It was like, &lsquo;Oh well, time to find myself a new career,&rsquo;&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I wondered what I was going to do with the rest of my life.&rdquo; What he has done is work hard, help Providence win an American League championship in 1999 and earn spot duty with Boston. &ldquo;When I talk to our prospects, I always use Jay as an example of how hard work pays off,&rdquo; Tindall says.</p><p>Henderson had zero points and 15 penalty minutes in six NHL games this season.</p><h2><b>Glass under microscope</b></h2><h3><i>Injury committee taking close look</i></h3><p>The NHL Injury Committee may not pass on official recommendations to the league until the GMs&rsquo; meetings in March. An eight-person executive committee is scheduled to meet at the All-Star Game in Denver, but the information-gathering process continues.</p><p>One of the most important issues is seamless glass, which players say is too hard, has no give and is responsible for a rash of concussions the past few seasons.</p><p>Seems logical, but not all seamless glass is created equal. There are different types of clips that hold the glass in place, panels of varying sizes, thicknesses and weights and differing grooves into which the glass is set into the boards. All rinks that use seamless glass are supposed to have flexible dasher boards that allow the boards to flex on impact. To complicate matters, many arenas have been retrofitted several times to include the latest technology, so it takes a while to get accurate injury statistics, says committee chair <b>Dave Dryden</b>. One thing to watch for when the data-gathering is complete: A list of NHL arenas home to the most injuries.</p><h2><b>THN ONE-TIMERS</b></h2><h3><i>Gang offour officials fail to earn NHL reinstatement</i></h3><p>He was hoping for Swede revenge; it didn&rsquo;t happen. But ex-NHL linesman <b>Swede Knox</b> says he&rsquo;s not giving up his fight to be reinstated. The 52-year-old Edmonton resident, who was an NHL linesman for 29 years, has lost a bid to get his job back after being fired last summer. He won&rsquo;t comment on his next move, but did say the fight is not over. Knox was one of six officials fired by the league. Two were reinstated (<b>Rob Martell</b> and <b>Don Henderson</b>), but not the other four (Knox, <b>Joe Ernst, Baron Parker</b> and <b>Francois Gagnon</b>). All six filed grievances with the league. Arbitrator <b>William Kaplan</b> of Ottawa ruled the officials were not informed properly of their dismissal &mdash; they were told a day later than stipulated in the NHL-Officials agreement &mdash; but he did not recommend they be reinstated. Kaplan did suggest the cases be re-addressed by the league. NHL vice-president <b>Colin Campbell</b> met with the gang of four individually, but chose not to rehire any of them.</p><p><b>CANDIDATES FOR TOP HONOR</b> The leading candidates for the 2001 <b>Patty Kazmaier</b> Memorial Award, which goes to the outstanding player in U.S. women&rsquo;s collegiate hockey, are forwards <b>Jennifer Botterill</b> (Harvard), <b>Meghan Hunter</b> (Wisconsin), <b>Nadine Muzerall</b> (Minnesota), <b>Maria Rooth</b> (Minnesota-Duluth), <b>Tammy Shewchuk</b> (Harvard) and <b>Jessica Tabb</b> (Providence); defenseman <b>Courtney Kennedy</b> (Minnesota); and goalie <b>Erika Silva</b> (Northeastern)&hellip;NHL goalies are overwhelming the shooters in penalty shot showdowns this season. Goalies had stopped 16 of 18 of penalty shots (89 per cent) compared to 24 of 40 last season (60 per cent). Columbus&rsquo; <b>David Vyborny</b> beat Chicago&rsquo;s <b>Rob Talias</b> and Nashville&rsquo;s <b>David Legwand</b> outduelled the Rangers&rsquo; <b>Kirk McLean</b> in overtime &mdash; a first &mdash; in the only two successful conversions this season. Shifty Penguin <b>Martin Straka</b> has been denied twice&hellip;Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; owner-in-waiting and Canadian Olympic team GM <b>Wayne Gretzky</b> turned 40 Jan. 26. He was named the NHL&rsquo;s No. 1 player of all-time by The Hockey News in 1997.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0005-01

IN THIS ISSUE

POWER PLAY

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011959/7558369-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Keith Primeau&rsquo;s improved skating has boosted his confidence &mdash; and number of scoring chances.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(John Giamundo/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>Y</span></b>ou&rsquo;re an NHL GM with half a dozen prospects who need help with their skating. What do you do? Send them off to power skating school for a few weeks in the summer. Maybe hire a skating guru to attend a rookie camp for a month and teach them how to use their edges and improve their deep knee bend and center of gravity.</p><p>Boy, are they flying now.</p><p>And then the season starts, the pressure is on to perform, the kids revert back to old ways and by mid-November everything they once practiced is gone and forgotten like a preseason scrimmage.</p><p>And the veterans? No time or need to worry about them. They&rsquo;ve been playing in the NHL for years, they don&rsquo;t need any help.</p><p>For the vast majority of NHL clubs this is the puzzling status quo. To Philadelphia GM Bobby Clarke&rsquo;s credit, he thought about the whole process a couple seasons ago and concluded it didn&rsquo;t make a lot of sense.</p><p>Teams employ power play and penalty-killing coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, coaches who work only with the defensemen or goalies, nutritionists and psychologists. Yet hockey&rsquo;s most basic skill - skating - is virtually ignored.</p><p>Enter David Roy, a former Canadian junior and U.S. college player who has been running his own skating school since he was a 19-year-old playing varsity for Minnesota-Duluth. Last season Roy, 51, joined the Flyers and became the NHL&rsquo;s first full-time skating coach. Tampa Bay, where GM Rick Dudley brought in &ldquo;special skills coach&rdquo; Paul Vincent also in 1999-2000, is believed to be the only other team to employ a skating expert full-time.</p><p>Not surprisingly, the Flyers&rsquo; players didn&rsquo;t flock to put in extra time with Roy when he arrived last season, video camera, laptop and high-tech computer analysis in hand. But now things have progressed to the point where Roy will use an isolation camera to get game footage on a player, download the clips and use the playback as a 1-on-l teaching tool.</p><p>&ldquo;I think the thinking last year was the guy can&rsquo;t be a very good skater if I have to work with him,&rdquo; Roy said. &ldquo;Now they realize it&rsquo;s just helping them get better.&rdquo;</p><p>From on high, Clarke says the main improvement has come in team strength on the puck rather than flat-out speed.</p><p>&ldquo;For me, it&rsquo;s the balance they have, so that when they run into somebody or somebody runs into them they don&rsquo;t always get knocked on their rear end,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Some of our bigger players are now much more agile and stronger on their feet along the boards. They seem to be a lot harder to push around when they&rsquo;re battling for the puck and when they get their stick on it their balance is better so they don&rsquo;t get taken off so easily.&rdquo;</p><p>Exhibit No. 1 is Keith Primeau. This season the 6-foot-5,230-pound center has been working with Roy on getting a proper weight shift on his skates when turning. Young hockey players are taught to lean into turns, but according to Roy that should come with an asterisk. They should lean in from the waist down, but from waist up their weight has to stay over their skates; if they lean too far they&rsquo;ll be off-balance.</p><p>This used to happen to Primeau when he tried to cut to the net on his backhand commg off the right boards. If a defender pushed on his lower body, he&rsquo;d lose his edge because his upper body was leaning too far into the turn.</p><p>After working with Roy, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m able to plant better with my left leg and get my body back over top of my right side,&rdquo; Primeau said. He hasn&rsquo;t scored off the move yet this season, but has created better scoring chances and has more confidence going to the net.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>&ldquo;</b>&nbsp;<i>The thinking last year was the guy can&rsquo;t be a very good skater if I work with him. Now they realize it&rsquo;s just helping them get better.</i><br><b>Flyers&rsquo; skating coach David Roy</b></blockquote><p>Roy has also worked closely with John LeClair, Chris McAllister and Rich Tocchet. When Tocchet was out recently with a hand injury, he spent time with Roy improving his quickness coming out of tight turns by keeping his weight more over his skates.</p><p>Roy keeps in top shape and always demonstrates the proper way to do things; that, more than his technical knowledge, is the one thing he believes lets him earn the players&rsquo; respect.</p><p>As Primeau says, it&rsquo;s the little things that win games - little things like being able to cut out of the corner and not fall down.</p><p>&ldquo;Why not use this little thing to your advantage?&rdquo; he asked.</p><p>Other teams might be asking themselves the same question. &#9633;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0006-01

FEATURES

Waiting to teach skating

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05372/7558400-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="357" height="621"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Larry Murphy</b></figcaption></div><p><i>Best of the Hockey World</i></p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021313/7558421-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="92" height="35"></div><p><b>WING DING</b> Detroit&rsquo;s veteran defenseman Larry Murphy becomes just the second player in NHL history to play 1,600 games.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03773/7558414-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="92" height="35"></div><p><b>TOP DOG</b> Phoenix rookie Daniel Briere gets called up and quickly puts together the longest goal streak of the season, finding the net in six straight games.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04471/7558407-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="92" height="35"></div><p><b>IRON MAN</b> Carolina goaltender Arturs Irbe does his part to get his team in the playoffs by starting 35 games in a row (and counting).</p></div><div style="clear: both;"><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></div>

f0006-05

PLUS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0966/7558452-1-eng-US/f0006-092.jpg" title="f0006-09" width="373" height="621"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Damian Rhodes</b> <span class="photo-credit">(BBS)</span></figcaption></div><p><i>Worst of the Hockey World</i></p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06263/7558473-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg" title="f0006-06" width="93" height="36"></div><p><b>DAMIAN&rsquo;S DRY SPELL</b> Damian Rhodes, Atlanta&rsquo;s No. 1 goalie struggles along with his team, going winless in eight starts (0-5-3).</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-07150/7558466-1-eng-US/f0006-072.jpg" title="f0006-07" width="93" height="36"></div><p><b>WHAT A GRUMP</b> Toronto coach Pat Quinn blames the media&hellip;the schedule&hellip;the officials&hellip;everything but himself for his team&rsquo;s poor play.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0892/7558459-1-eng-US/f0006-082.jpg" title="f0006-08" width="93" height="36"></div><p><b>STRUCK BY LIGHTNING</b> Tampa Bay&rsquo;s Wayne Primeau is suspended two games for attacking Ottawa defenseman Wade Redden.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></div>

f0006-09

MINUS

<h2><b>St. Louis all-stars left out</b></h2><p>I think The Hockey News was right on in recognizing several St. Louis Blues in the Mid-Season Report issue (THN, Jan. 26).</p><p>For his consistent and stellar play at both ends, Al Maclnnis is the perfect choice for the mid-season Norris Trophy Also, the recognition given to rookie backup goalie Brent Johnson and valuable forwards Pierre Turgeon and Craig Conroy is well deserved. Their outstanding play is rarely trumpeted in a league that is focused on Mario Lemieux and the Colorado Avalanche.</p><p>Turgeon was 10th on THN&rsquo;s mid-season Hart Trophy list and that makes me wonder about the NHL&rsquo;s All-Star Game selections. How can the league possibly justify the exclusion of Turgeon from the North American team?</p><p>The Blues have the second-best record in the league, but after Chris Pronger&rsquo;s injury, have only one representative, Maclnnis, in the All-Star Game. What a shame!</p><p><i>Tammy Herbert,</i></p><p><i>O&rsquo;Fallon, III.</i></p><h3><b>What about desire, discipline?</b></h3><p>Are you kidding, putting Brian Leetch (No. 2) and Rob Blake (No. 4) among the NHL&rsquo;s best blueliners in the first half of the season?</p><p>They&rsquo;re both defensive liabilities &mdash; with negative plus-minus ratings &mdash; and neither of their teams were even in a playoff position. Put them in the All-Star Game, sure, but only because fans won&rsquo;t see them in the post-season.</p><p>THN&rsquo;s mid-season rankings were an injustice to <i>real</i> defensemen, such as Scott Stevens, Derian Hatcher and Derek Morris, who win with their desire, hard work and discipline.</p><p><i>Ray Galis,</i></p><p><i>Hoboken, N.J.</i></p><h3><b>Burke NHL&rsquo;s top dog</b></h3><p>I just finished watching Detroit and Phoenix battle to a 2-2 tie. What did I notice? Coyote goalie Sean Burke making save after save after save.</p><p>Burke was a fine choice as mid-season MVP. He&rsquo;s the hottest goalie in the NHL and keeps Phoenix competitive. He should be signed to a long contract and Nik Khabibulin should be traded.</p><p><i>Brian Laroche,</i></p><p><i>Marathon, Ont.</i></p><h2><b>Courtly Cane deserves place in Hall</b></h2><p>A toast to Eric Duhatschek for his column on Carolina&rsquo;s classy veteran, Ron Francis (THN, Jan. 19). It&rsquo;s refreshing to see an athlete be recognized for the good he has done on and off the ice. Francis&rsquo; character, like his career, is worthy of the Hall of Fame.</p><p><i>Robert Deane,</i></p><p><i>New Britain, Ct.</i></p><p>I&rsquo;ve always thought Mario Lemieux was a better all-around player than Wayne Gretzky, but I don&rsquo;t believe he should be playing in the All-Star Game after missing most of the season.</p><p><i>Julie Chapman,</i></p><p><i>Methuen, Mass.</i></p><p>The format for the All-Star Game, North America vs. the World, is out of date. Given recent history, the Czech Republic vs. the World is more appropriate.</p><p><i>Philip Jonides,</i></p><p><i>Bellport, N. Y.</i></p><p>I&rsquo;m sick of hearing about how Eric Lindros only wants to go to Toronto. He should be happy playing for the millions he&rsquo;s going to make wherever GM Bobby Clarke trades him.</p><p><i>Matt Bailie,</i></p><p><i>Windsor, Ont.</i></p><p>The Islanders supposedly made a fair offer for Eric Lindros. Wouldn&rsquo;t it be ironic if Lindros abandoned his insistence on playing in Toronto and ended up on the Island? It seems neither party has learned from what happened to Eric&rsquo;s brother, Brett.</p><p><i>Chris Smith,</i></p><p><i>Winnipeg</i></p><h2><b>READERS&rsquo; ONE-TIMERS</b></h2><p>This is your place for quick comments on current hockey events. Reader&rsquo;s One-Timers accepts opinions of 60 words or less, so please be concise.</p><h2><b>Check No. 66 or pay price</b></h2><p>Like everyone, I&rsquo;m thrilled the best hockey player to ever take to the ice, Mario Lemieux, is back.</p><p>But if you watch closely, you&rsquo;ll see everyone on the ice is just as amazed by his array of skills as everyone in the crowd. There have been a couple of exceptions - Islanders&rsquo; Zdeno Chara and Boston&rsquo;s Hal Gill - but so far, it seems opponents are reluctant to hit him, even with clean bodychecks. Lemieux has hardly been touched.</p><p>And it&rsquo;s a good thing there are power plays because so far, that&rsquo;s the only time No. 66 has really created any offense.</p><p>Once Lemieux gets back his legs and timing, other teams better start laying the body on the big guy because if they don&rsquo;t, he, Jaromir Jagr and the Penguins will be unstoppable.</p><p><i>Eric Demers,</i></p><p><i>Hawkesbury, Ont.</i></p><h3><b>Go for Cup, Toronto</b></h3><p>For a team that is one of the richest in the NHL, I can&rsquo;t understand why the Toronto Maple Leafs are hesitant to give up potential future stars to get current ones.</p><p>Please, GM Pat Quinn: Go out and get Eric Lindros, go out and get Keith Tkachuk and go out and get Rob Blake. The fans will be much less likely to complain about the yearly tradition of raising ticket prices if we see the franchise putting our hard-earned dollars toward the goal of bringing back the Stanley Cup.</p><p><i>Jim Georgiadis,</i></p><p><i>Toronto</i></p><h3><b>End-to-end action where it&rsquo;s at</b></h3><p>The best games I&rsquo;ve seen this season have been between Pittsburgh and Phoenix and Pittsburgh and Dallas. They were the epitome of what hockey should be all about.</p><p>The back-and-forth rushes and the skating, hitting and playmaking kept me on the edge of my seat until the final buzzer. I hope the suits at NHL head office were watching. And, oh yeah, there was no sign of the neutral zone trap in either game.</p><p>For the good of the game, trounce the trap!</p><p><i>Sam Juliano,</i></p><p><i>Bergenfield, N.J</i></p><p><b>Got something to say?</b></p><p><b>MAIL: U.S.A.</b>: Letters, THN, RO. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947.</p><p><b>Canada</b>: Letters, THN, 25 Sheppard Ave. W, Suite 100, Toronto, Ont., M2N 6S7</p><p><b>E-MAIL</b>: <i><a href="mailto:mccaigs@transcontinental.ca">mccaigs@transcontinental.ca</a></i> or visit <i><a href="http://www.thehockeynews.com">www.thehockeynews.com</a></i>. Include name, hometown, province/state and phone number. Submissions will be edited.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

LETTER OF THE WEEK

f0007-01

Elston

<div class="byline">Jay Greenberg&nbsp;THN columnist</div><p class="dropcap"><span>R</span>oman Cechmanek is a competitor, says coach Bill Barber &ldquo;no ifs, ands or buts about it.&rdquo; Although a ringing endorsement, this is not entirely accurate.</p><p><i>IF</i> Cechmanek weren&rsquo;t one of the best stories of the first half of the season, the Philadelphia Flyers wouldn&rsquo;t be challenging for first place in the Atlantic Division <i>AND</i> you wouldn&rsquo;t be wondering how they are doing it. Minus John LeClair for 36 games, no way they would be, otherwise. All that said, Cechmanek still wouldn&rsquo;t be as fascinating if he didn&rsquo;t <i>BUTT</i> the puck out of trouble.</p><p>Holy Diego Maradona! This goalie heads it like a soccer ball!</p><p>&ldquo;Either he wants to hot dog it or can&rsquo;t catch a puck up high,&rdquo; smiles Reggie Lemelin, Philadelphia&rsquo;s goalie coach. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s quite funny. We never would have done that with the masks we wore.&rdquo;</p><p>Of course, it is possible Lemelin played too long without one, eminently qualifying him for a job tutoring a goalie whose art is the face save. The first time Cechmanek made one, the Flyers turned to each other on the bench and said &ldquo;Did you just see that?&rdquo; It could have been mass hysteria, but that explanation didn&rsquo;t wash in a place where they can and will see just about everything, except probably Eric Lindros in black and orange ever again.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011851/7558566-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="284" height="373"></div><p>Suspicion is, their new 29-year-old goalie has a fiberglass brain. &ldquo;Mask is good,&rdquo; Cechmanek explains, &ldquo;No hurt.&rdquo;</p><p>As he struggles with the language, you can get only about as much info out of him as the shooters are getting pucks by him. &ldquo;Nobody knows much about the guy, but he might be the MVP of the league,&rdquo; said Flyers winger Rick Tocchet of Cechmanek, who was named to the World team for the All-Star Game.</p><p>Cechmanek&rsquo;s 9-0-3 streak ended with an overtime loss to the Rangers in mid-January, but he shrugged it off. Either that or the guy was practising his twitch, which can put the puck in a corner on a dime.</p><p>If there doesn&rsquo;t seem much of a future in trying to make shooters hit your forehead, the Flyers, up to here in young goalies, were thinking only about the present when they drafted Cechmanek in the sixth round (but with only their third pick) last June.</p><p>A brilliant rookie season by Brian Boucher had gotten the team to Game 7 of the conference final. But with 1999 first round pick Maxime Ouellet still a few years away and John Vanbiesbrouck refusing a pay cut to stay on as Boucher&rsquo;s backup, the Flyers shopped for immediate help.</p><p>&ldquo;Our Czech scout (Vaclav Slansky) said this was a good goalie who would at least be a good backup,&rdquo; said GM Bob Clarke. &ldquo;Why didn&rsquo;t anyone else ever take him? Why didn&rsquo;t we?&rdquo;</p><p>Okay, so they were more lucky than smart, the converse of Cechmanek&rsquo;s style, perhaps best described as part Dominik Hasek, part house. &ldquo;Roman&rsquo;s so big (6-foot-3), reads the play so well, he has the whole package,&rdquo; Lemelin said.</p><p>&ldquo;His shoulders are always forward. He never falls back. Heputs the paddle down, does subtle stickwork. Sometimes he does the stack on the desperate stuff, which is OK. A nice high shot to beat him is not easy to make.&rdquo;</p><p>Neither is conversing with Cechmanek, who, when translator/defenseman Michal Sykora has been around to help, has said he wishes he had come to North American earlier. Still, it is questionable how much opportunity he had to do so. Despite backstopping Vsetin to five Czech Elite League titles, plus his country to three world championships while Hasek&rsquo;s springs were tied up in Buffalo, some salesmanship apparently was required.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021395/7558559-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="289" height="403"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Cechmanek</b> <span class="photo-credit">(Bruce Bennett/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;We went after him last year (for representation), then went to some teams,&rdquo; says his Edmonton-based agent, Paul Kraus, who represents six Czech players. &ldquo;It was hard to get him drafted.&rdquo;</p><p>And hard to understand why, unless it was his age, the additional expense of bringing in, European players and the NHL goalie glut. But Philly was a good fit that became downright snug after Boucher and the team helped each other to bad starts.</p><p>&ldquo;I like Cechmanek&rsquo;s composure,&rdquo; says Barber. &ldquo;I like the way he practices. It&rsquo;s an all-out effort to stop the puck every time.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to go with the hot hand. The games have been spaced out so I could stay with him. I&rsquo;ve also wanted to play him back-to-back to know now what kind of workload he can handle.&rdquo;</p><p>In other words, Cechmanek is being auditioned to carry Philadelphia through the NHL&rsquo;s stretch drive. That doesn&rsquo;t mean Boucher is out the door or the Flyers are just trying to put a good face on his struggles, only that, undistracted by the pending fate of Lindros, injuries and an early-season coaching change, they roll along behind a goalie who is not loath to put his face in front of anything.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-01

Flyers get ahead with Cechmanek

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy, Senior Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011739/7558597-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Scott Walker fought tooth and nail to make the NHL; he&rsquo;ll do likewise to stick around.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Dale MacMillan/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><p>Though it happened some 13 years ago, Scott Walker can still feel the sting of getting cut from the AAA minor bantam team.</p><p>Walker and his family had moved from Cambridge, Ont., to nearby Kitchener specifically so he could play at a higher level. But instead of getting an accelerated hockey education, he got a healthy helping of heartache.</p><p>&ldquo;I truly thought my career was over,&rdquo; said Nashville&rsquo;s rugged right winger. &ldquo;I was a kid (14)&hellip;I was depressed. It was like, &lsquo;OK, put your dreams on hold, time to start thinking about doing something new&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>Shock and disappointment soon gave way to motivation. Walker joined the local AA team, started climbing the ladder and is now an established NHLer. Listed generously at 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds, he is a dynamo who fought his way into the league, but has remained because he developed into more than a brawler. Still, the 27-year-old said it&rsquo;s rare for a day to go by that he doesn&rsquo;t think about being cut those many years ago.</p><p>And the guy who cut him?</p><p>&ldquo;I remember Scott,&rdquo; said Bernie Karnupis. &ldquo;He was a small kid who (was playing defense). At the time, I felt he had trouble holding his position in the corners and in front of the net. I suggested he work on getting stronger.&rdquo;</p><p>All&rsquo;s well that ends well.</p><p>Walker&rsquo;s rise to prominence is one of the better success stories in today&rsquo;s NHL. He wasn&rsquo;t drafted into junior hockey the first year he was eligible, but made it as an 18-year-old with the Ontario League&rsquo;s Owen Sound Platers. He was a successful junior, scoring 23 goals and 91 points as a defenseman in his second year, but there was little interest from NHL teams. Vancouver, the only team to even contact him prior to the 1993 draft, picked him 124th overall and signed him, but sent him to the minors.</p><p>Walker has had to prove himself over and over again. That&rsquo;s what happens to undersized defensemen. And he did it the best way he knew how - with his fists. Walker took on all comers, accumulating 606 penalty minutes in his first two seasons in the American League with Hamilton and Syracuse. His efforts didn&rsquo;t go unnoticed by the Canucks, who gave him 11 games in 1994-95.</p><p>The Canucks, though, didn&rsquo;t feel Walker stood a chance of existing in the NHL as a defenseman. So they moved him up front. For Walker, it was a welcome change. He&rsquo;d do anything to get to the show.</p><p>&ldquo;I really felt like I was fitting in,&rdquo; Walker said. &ldquo;It was like that at every level. I always felt I could make the jump and then after a few games, I got my confidence. But then the team made changes&hellip; When (Mike) Keenan came in, I found myself back being a healthy scratch.&rdquo;</p><p>Expansion rescued Walker from the press box and got his career back on track. The Predators selected him, hoping his grit would mix well with some of the skill they had added. Nashville coach Barry Trotz had crossed paths with Walker in an AHL All-Star Game and felt the player had an upside that had gone untapped.</p><p>&ldquo;He was a pretty highly skilled player in junior,&rdquo; Trotz said. &ldquo;He obviously had some skill.</p><p>&ldquo;When he first went to Syracuse, he began to play a pretty nasty style. They moved him up front because he&rsquo;s a good skater and had good hands. It was a matter of evolution. When he got with us he started on the fourth line and worked his way up.&rdquo;</p><p>Walker enjoyed a breakthrough year in 1998-99, scoring 15 goals and 40 points (with 103 penalty minutes) in 71 games, but slipped to seven goals and 28 points in 69 games last year. Walker said he didn&rsquo;t do anything differently than the year before, but the expectation level was higher.</p><p>That said, Walker decided to raise the level of his off-season conditioning. He hired a personal trainer and came to camp in top shape. It&rsquo;s paying off. Walker has been one of the Predators&rsquo; best players this season, leading the club with 16 goals and 36 points after 48 games, before getting knocked out of the lineup on a day-to-day basis with an injured left shoulder.</p><p>Though he&rsquo;s now a bona fide NHLer, Walker said there&rsquo;s no time to relax and there&rsquo;s absolutely no chance he&rsquo;ll hit a comfort zone.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve worked hard to get here and I want to stay here,&rdquo; Walker said.</p><p>&ldquo;And not just for a few years. I want to stay in this league until they take my stick and skates away from me and tell me to go home.&rdquo; &#9633;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0009-01

COLUMN

Preds’ Walker hits stride

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011633/7558869-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="246" height="139"></div><h2><b>CANADA</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021159/7558862-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="625" height="1620"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03768/7558855-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="817" height="475"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Theo Fleury</b></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><i><span>S</span>ix countries have qualified for the Final Round of competition.</i></b> They are, in order of finish at the 1998 Winter Games: Czech Republic (gold), Russia (silver), Finland (bronze), Canada (4th), USA and Sweden.</p><p><b><i>Two countries - Slovakia and Switzerland - have qualified for the Preliminary Round,</i></b> They will be joined by six of eight teams - Austria, Belarus, Denmark, France, Germany, Latvia, Norway and Ukraine. The top two teams in the Preliminary Round advance to the Final Round.</p><p><b><i>Slovakia is the best of all these countries, but will not have its full complement of NHLers for the Preliminary Round because the NHL season will still be under way at that time.</i></b> That&rsquo;s the reason Slovakia didn&rsquo;t qualify for the Final Round in the 1998 Games.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-04593/7558848-1-eng-US/f0011-042.jpg" title="f0011-04" width="821" height="485"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Brett Hull</b></figcaption></div><p><i><b>Olympic Timeline</b> March 25,2001</i> Date by which national teams must name at least eight players.</p><p><i>Dec. 22, 2001</i> Date by which remainder of teams must be named.</p><p><i>Feb. 9-14,</i> 2002 Preliminary Round of Olympic competition at Salt Lake City</p><p><i>Feb. 14,</i> 2002 NHL suspends play for 12 days.</p><p><i>Feb. 15-24, 2002</i> Final Round of Olympic competition at Salt Lake City</p><p><i>Feb. 26, 2002</i> NHL resumes schedule.</p><p><b><i>A word of warning: eligibility issues will arise.</i></b> The International Ice Hockey Federation says San Jose goalie John Nabakov isn&rsquo;t eligible to play for Russia because he represented Kazakstan at the 1994 World Junior Championship. Another example: Latvian Sandis Ozolinsh isn&rsquo;t eligible for the Russian club.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-08334/7558841-1-eng-US/f0011-082.jpg" title="f0011-08" width="241" height="135"></div><h2><b>USA</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-09318/7558834-1-eng-US/f0011-092.jpg" title="f0011-09" width="649" height="1623"></div><h2><b>CZECH RER.</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011772/7558827-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="238" height="148"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021402/7558820-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="634" height="1503"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03908/7558813-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="361" height="664"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Dominik Hasek</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04532/7558806-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="356" height="708"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Petr Sykora</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>RUSSIA</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05381/7558799-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="241" height="158"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-06309/7558792-1-eng-US/f0012-062.jpg" title="f0012-06" width="646" height="1522"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-07265/7558785-1-eng-US/f0012-072.jpg" title="f0012-07" width="355" height="661"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Alexei Yashin</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-08225/7558778-1-eng-US/f0012-082.jpg" title="f0012-08" width="355" height="706"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Dmitry Yushkevich</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-09183/7558771-1-eng-US/f0012-092.jpg" title="f0012-09" width="991" height="1716"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Detroit&rsquo;s Sergei Fedorov will lead the Russian attack.</i></figcaption></div><h2><b>SLOVAKIA</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-10165/7558764-1-eng-US/f0012-102.jpg" title="f0012-10" width="232" height="151"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-11153/7558757-1-eng-US/f0012-112.jpg" title="f0012-11" width="637" height="1510"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-12132/7558750-1-eng-US/f0012-122.jpg" title="f0012-12" width="350" height="667"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Pavel Demitra</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-13120/7558743-1-eng-US/f0012-132.jpg" title="f0012-13" width="354" height="718"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Marlon Hossa</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>FINLAND</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-14111/7558736-1-eng-US/f0012-142.jpg" title="f0012-14" width="237" height="149"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-15103/7558729-1-eng-US/f0012-152.jpg" title="f0012-15" width="646" height="1503"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1693/7558722-1-eng-US/f0012-162.jpg" title="f0012-16" width="358" height="667"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Sami Kapanen</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1777/7558715-1-eng-US/f0012-172.jpg" title="f0012-17" width="355" height="705"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Jere Lehtinen</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>SWEDEN</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1866/7558708-1-eng-US/f0012-182.jpg" title="f0012-18" width="235" height="154"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1958/7558701-1-eng-US/f0012-192.jpg" title="f0012-19" width="643" height="1507"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-2054/7558694-1-eng-US/f0012-202.jpg" title="f0012-20" width="351" height="664"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Fredrik Modin</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-2140/7558687-1-eng-US/f0012-212.jpg" title="f0012-21" width="355" height="705"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Kenny Jonsson</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>THN&rsquo;s Selection Process</b></h2><p>Projected Olympic lineups for the world&rsquo;s seven major hockey powers have been assembled by Editor-in-Chief Steve Dryden and San Jose Sharks&rsquo; TV color analyst Drew Remenda, who served as a Sharks&rsquo; assistant coach for four years.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-05473/7558680-1-eng-US/f0011-052.jpg" title="f0011-05" width="157" height="238"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Steve Dryden</b></figcaption></div><p>Each team has three goalies, seven defensemen and 13 forwards, comprising a 23-man roster. Players have been chosen on the basis of 2000-01 play and projected 2001-02 reality. Eric Lindros, for example, is on the Canadian roster - although he hasn&rsquo;t played this season. If Lindros is healthy and playing in the NHL next season, he will be on the Canadian team. Also listed under the category Other Leading Candidates are five or 10 players (Canada and the U.S.) who are certain to be considered for their national teams next season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-06407/7558673-1-eng-US/f0011-062.jpg" title="f0011-06" width="166" height="248"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Drew Remenda</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>The Hockey News&rsquo; Canadian Choices</b></h2><p>Listed for each country are projected players, 2000-01 teams, ages as of mid-February (2001) and whether they participated in the 1998 Olympic Games.</p><h2><b>The Hockey News&rsquo; American Choices</b></h2><p>Listed in bold type are TON&rsquo;S choices for eight players Canada should name by March 25.</p><h3><b>GOALTENDERS</b></h3><p><i>Brodeur:</i> Two-time Stanley Cup winner <i>Joseph:</i> Coach Pat Quinn&rsquo;s Leaf ace <i>Roy:</i> Still superb after all these years</p><h3><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></h3><p><b><i>Blake:</i></b> Ultimate two-way threat</p><p><i>Foote:</i> Mean, dastardly defender</p><p><i>Jovanovski:</i> Wants to make big plays <i>Maclnnis:</i> Experienced, effective</p><p><b><i>Niedermayer:</i></b> Built for international game</p><p><b><i>Pronger:</i></b> Hockey&rsquo;s five-star general</p><p><i>Redden:</i> Textbook defender</p><h3><b>FORWARDS</b></h3><p><i>Allison:</i> No wheels, but sublime vision</p><p><i>Arnott:</i> Big, strong clutch performer</p><p><i>Fleury:</i> Goal-scorer craves spotlight</p><p><i>Gagne:</i> Fast feet, fast hands</p><p><i>Iginla:</i> Power forward with skill</p><p><b><i>Kariya:</i></b> Slump-ridden speedster all skill</p><p><b><i>Lemieux:</i></b> How good will he be by then?</p><p><i>Lindros:</i> He will be back, he will be great</p><p><b><i>Nolan:</i></b> Toughness, talent of highest level</p><p><b><i>Sakic:</i></b> Will be a cornerstone on offense</p><p><i>Smyth:</i> Contributes youth, energy, goals</p><p><i>Turgeon:</i> Too good to leave off team</p><p><b><i>Yzerman:</i></b> Excellent at all aspects of game</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-07365/7558666-1-eng-US/f0011-072.jpg" title="f0011-07" width="231" height="273"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>H. Brooks U.S. coach</b></figcaption></div><p><i>THN is projecting Canada to name eight players and the U.S., 10 players, by March</i> 25. Wb&rsquo;re not <i>projecting either team to name any goalies.</i></p><p>Listed in bold type are TON&rsquo;S choices for 10 players the U.S. should name by March 25.</p><h3><b>GOALTENDERS</b></h3><p><i>Dunham:</i> Has ability to be No. 1 goalie</p><p><i>Johnson:</i> Blues&rsquo; revelation this season</p><p><i>Richter:</i> Backbone of World Cup triumph</p><h3><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></h3><p><i>Carney:</i> Big strong defender</p><p><b><i>Hatcher:</i></b> See Foote on Canadian team</p><p><b><i>Leetch:</i></b> One of most skilled Amerks ever</p><p><i>Poti:</i> Fast, explosive, but not physical</p><p><i>Rafalski:</i> Can clear zone with speed, guile</p><p><i>Schneider:</i> Lower case Chris Chelios</p><p><i>Weinrich:</i> Underrated over-achiever</p><h3><b>FORWARDS</b></h3><p><b><i>Amonte:</i></b> Goal-scorer pure and simple</p><p><i>Drury:</i> Most versatile forward on team</p><p><b><i>Guerin:</i></b> Great skater, great goal-scorer</p><p><b><i>Hull:</i></b> One of best goal-getters in history</p><p><i>Langenbrunner:</i> Can play it anyway you want</p><p><b><i>LeClair:</i></b> Injured back only question mark</p><p><b><i>Modano:</i></b> American game-breaker</p><p><b><i>Roenick:</i></b> Will be motivated on home ice</p><p><i>Smolinski:</i> Great on faceoffs</p><p><b><i>Tkachuk:</i></b> Casts large shadow</p><p><b><i>Weight:</i></b> Unstoppable pure playmaker</p><p><i>York:</i> Does it all and does it well</p><p><i>Young:</i> Sniper can play all-around game<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0011-01

Need to Know About 2002 Games

<h2><b>Avs train abroad</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Colorado Avalanche will travel to Stockholm, Sweden, and Helsinki, Finland, in September for the NHL Challenge Series. The weeklong series begins Sept. 11 and features a four-day Avalanche training camp and three preseason games against some top European pro teams. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll expose more fans around the world to NHL action,&rdquo; said NHL executive vice-president and chief legal officer Bill Daly.</p><h2><b>Charity auction</b></h2><p>More than 100 hockey items are available in the Hockey Fights Cancer online charity auction. It coincides with All-Star Game festivities and concludes Feb. 5. Items include game-worn equipment. Also featured is the Visions of Hockey collection, 12 original pieces of hockey-themed artwork. Last year&rsquo;s auction raised more than $400,000 for cancer societies. Fans can view auction items on <a href="http://www.hockeyfightscancerauction.com">www.hockeyfightscancerauction.com</a>.</p><h2><b>Ottawa Dreams</b></h2><p>Youth players in the Ottawa area are the recipients of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association Goals & Dreams program. One hundred complete sets of equipment were donated by the NHLPA initiative to the Ottawa Police Youth Centre and the Christie Lake Community Centre. They will be used for grass roots programs. Goals & Dreams has donated more than 1,600 sets of equipment in hockey nations worldwide.</p><h2><b>Harder, faster</b></h2><p>All 30 NHL teams have completed their SuperSkills competitions and Dallas&rsquo; Mike Modano has the hardest shot (103.4 mph) and San Jose&rsquo;s Patrick Marleau is the fastest skater (one lap in 13.604 seconds). Runners-up are Tampa Bay&rsquo;s Fredrik Modin (102.1 mph) and Minnesota&rsquo;s Wes Walz (13.672 seconds). Six players were 4-for-4 in accuracy shooting. The Dodge/NHL SuperSkills final is Feb. 3 at all-star weekend in Denver.</p><h2><b>Joined forces</b></h2><p>There&rsquo;s talk of a merger in the secondary minor pro leagues. Western Pro League founder Rick Kozuback and Brad Lund, who runs the Oklahoma City Blazers of the Central League, are in preliminary talks regarding a possible merger of the two leagues. Lund announced a possible reformation of the two leagues into a 22-team loop divided into two tiers according to market size, economics and geographic compatibility.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

INSIDE REPORT

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div><p class="dropcap"><span>S</span>peculation of a merger between the American League and International League gained momentum in recent months prior to a three-way meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.</p><p>After the first-ever meeting between Bettman, AHL president Dave Andrews and IHL president Doug Moss Jan. 12 in New York, both minor league sides were throwing cold water on the rumors.</p><p>The cold water, however, was being dished out in different ways.</p><p>Andrews, during his league&rsquo;s all-star break three days later, denied any such talk was going on.</p><p>&ldquo;It is absolutely business as usual for the AHL,&rdquo; Andrews said. &ldquo;There is no plan in place for any other structure to be formed or anything of that nature. We have been clear on that from the beginning. We have not discussed a merger, we are not discussing a merger and we are not interested in a merger.&rdquo;</p><p>Andrews, however, stopped short of painting himself into a corner for the future by hinting at something positive from the meeting.</p><p>&ldquo;If there are initiatives or changes to the way the game is designed or relationships between the leagues that would be a win-win-win situation, I guess the door has now been opened to discussing some of those things,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>While Andrews continues to paint his relationship with Moss and the IHL as &ldquo;adversarial,&rdquo; Moss prefers to say he simply wishes to open up better channels of communication.</p><p>The IHL president admits the league&rsquo;s previous relationship with the AHL under commissioner Bob Ufer was not a positive one. Moss also said merger talks were not the point of the meeting in New York.</p><p>&ldquo;How could it be?&rdquo; Moss said during his league&rsquo;s all-star break. &ldquo;Sometimes you&rsquo;ve got to walk before you can run.&rdquo;</p><p>Instead of saying he wasn&rsquo;t interested, Moss said communication was the point.</p><p>&ldquo;Understanding people&rsquo;s problems and having them understand mine, that was the point,&rdquo; Moss said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re all trying to look for solutions and who knows where conversations can go? But on (rumors of a merger), I wouldn&rsquo;t know where to start.&rdquo;</p><p>Among the 21 AHL and 11 IHL franchises are several money-losers, which has prompted discussion that all NHL development clubs would be better off as a united top level of minor pro hockey.</p><p>That has evolved under different names, but is often referred to as 30-30, meaning 30 NHL teams and 30 top minor affiliates.</p><p>It&rsquo;s an idea being strongly pushed by IHL vice-chairman Mark Chipman of the Manitoba Moose and recently the concept received a public endorsement from former AHL board chairman Bill Watters of the Toronto (St. John&rsquo;s) Maple Leafs.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Merger between AHL, IHL not in the cards just yet

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011765/7558948-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="213" height="247"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>ith the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim destined to finish with perhaps the worst record in their eight-year history, speculation is rampant that GM Pierre Gauthier will make a dramatic move to try to rebuild the team.</p><p>But superstar wingers Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne say they do not want to be involved.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to bail out because things aren&rsquo;t going well,&rdquo; Kariya said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not the way I was taught to play and to live my life. I want to bring this team to where it should be, where we&rsquo;re competing for a Stanley Cup.&rdquo;</p><p>Kariya&rsquo;s $l0-million salary this season is tied with Colorado&rsquo;s Peter Forsberg for highest in the NHL.</p><p>Selanne also denied a desire to go elsewhere.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never asked to be traded,&rdquo; said Selanne, owner of an $8-million salary &ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t even a normal season, with all the injuries we&rsquo;ve had. If you take all those key players out of any team&rsquo;s lineup, they&rsquo;re going to have trouble, too.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Already missing Kariya (broken foot), center Steve Rucchin (dizziness), left winger Mike Leclerc (arthroscopic knee surgery), rookie center Andy McDonald (concussion) and defenseman Niclas Havelid (torn knee ligaments), Anaheim lost defenseman Ruslan Salei and left winger Marty McInnis before and during a 4-2 loss to visiting Colorado Jan. 21.</p><p>A migraine headache shelved Salei, who cracked his head on the ice and took a high stick in the forehead in the previous two games. McInnis left in the third period with a strained groin muscle.</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> Through Jan. 24, the Ducks had allowed 160 goals, the most among Western Conference teams. Too often, goaltenders Guy Hebert and Jean-Sebastien Giguere faced opposing shooters 1-on-l from close range.</p><p>&ldquo;To have success, we have to be totally committed defensively,&rdquo; said coach Guy Charron.&rsquo;</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Left winger <b>Marty McInnis</b> had four goals and seven points during a four-game scoring streak before being forced out of the lineup&hellip;The Ducks recalled left winger <b>Bob Wren</b> and defenseman <b>Antti-Jussi Niemi</b> from Cincinnati (AHL).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-01

Kariya, Selanne not seeking trade

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Jeff Schultz</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021324/7558993-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Detroit&rsquo;s Martin Lapointe takes preventative measures with Doug Weight of Edmonton as the western rivals battle in the faceoff circle.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Dale MacMillan/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03905/7558986-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="217" height="247"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>hrashers&rsquo; GM Don Waddell said he wasn&rsquo;t in the market for a goalie, despite the troubles of Damian Rhodes and Milan Hnilicka that contributed to a lengthy winless skid.</p><p>&ldquo;Not at all - not even a thought of it,&rdquo; Waddell said. &ldquo;These guys proved early in the year they can take the ball and run with it. We&rsquo;re going to stick with (them).&rdquo;</p><p>Of particular concern was Rhodes, the club&rsquo;s No. 1 goalie. He was 0-5-3 during the Thrashers&rsquo; 13-game winless streak (0-9-3-1) and hadn&rsquo;t won since Dec. 28.</p><p>Rhodes&rsquo; two seasons in Atlanta have been punctuated by injuries and inconsistency. He still has another two years left on his contract at $2.55 million and $2.75 million. Waddell is hoping Rhodes can return to early-season form, but it&rsquo;s logical to assume the GM will make changes in the off-season if there aren&rsquo;t some signs of stability.</p><p>&ldquo;We need to be better,&rdquo; Waddell said. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t continue the way we&rsquo;re going.&rdquo;</p><p>Overall, Rhodes was 4-10-7 with a 3.23 goals-against average and .902 save percentage.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> The club&rsquo;s January losing streak, coupled with the return of Mario Lemieux in Pittsburgh and strong play by Boston and Carolina, has made the Thrashers a playoff longshot. Through Jan. 25, Atlanta was 11th in the East, 10 points out of the eighth playoff position.</p><p><b>OFFENSE</b> Coach Curt Fraser has had thoughts of breaking up the line of Ray Ferraro, Donald Audette and Andrew Brunette. The undersized trio has been taking a physical beating and the club is looking for more balanced scoring. &ldquo;For team success, we have to find a way to get more offensive production,&rdquo; Fraser said.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Left winger <b>Andrew Brunette,</b> who missed four games with a concussion, was annoyed Washington&rsquo;s <b>Brendan Witt</b> wasn&rsquo;t suspended for slugging him in the head. &ldquo;We got a big memo at the start of the year that blows to the head won&rsquo;t be allowed,&rdquo; Brunette said. &ldquo;But he doesn&rsquo;t get suspended and he doesn&rsquo;t even get a penalty Why give us memos?&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04619/7558979-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="664" height="847"></div><p><b>BUMPY RHODES</b> Damian Rhodes was still looking for his first win of 2001.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-02

GM stands behind struggling goalies

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Nancy Marrapese-Burrell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-05415/7559024-1-eng-US/f0014-052.jpg" title="f0014-05" width="211" height="246"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(Lisa Meyer/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><p>January had been a cruel month for Boston center Jason Allison.</p><p>He went 14 games without a goal from Dec. 23 through Jan. 22, a span in which he produced just seven assists, three in one game.</p><p>Heading into a Jan. 24 contest in Toronto, Allison had been held scoreless in three straight games and 10 of the 14.</p><p>But Allison snapped out of his skid in a big way, breaking a 1-1 deadlock and scoring the winning goal at 6:53 of the third period to give Boston a 2-1 win.</p><p>&ldquo;It usually just takes one to return your confidence and get back on track,&rdquo; Allison said. &ldquo;When I&rsquo;m playing well and when I&rsquo;m getting my goals, there&rsquo;s a flow.</p><p>&ldquo;When (Toronto defenseman Cory) Cross came to me, I just reacted and went around him. All of a sudden, you find yourself in a familiar flow. I wasn&rsquo;t thinking, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ve got to get this in,&rsquo; or &lsquo;I&rsquo;ve got to get to the net.&rsquo; As soon as I made a move, I knew I had a little time and that&rsquo;s my kind of goal, coming across and shooting high. I have to score goals like that to be effective.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> The Bruins&rsquo; power play has been more of a power outage during the last month-and-a-half. Against Toronto, the Bruins were 0-for-3, extending their futility streak to 0-for-18.</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> The Bruins&rsquo; team defense after the first few games of the season was absolutely dreadful. But in the last few weeks, the club had shored up its own end. In four straight games from Jan. 18-24, Boston&rsquo;s opponents had failed to take more than 22 shots.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Center Joe <b>Thornton</b> was trying to get back in the groove after a two-game suspension. Through Jan. 24, he was pointless in four games&hellip;Right winger <b>Andrei Kovalenko,</b> who missed a game with back spasms, and defenseman <b>Jarno Kultanen,</b> who missed nine I games with an ankle sprain, I returned against Toronto&hellip; Right winger <b>Bill Guerin&rsquo;s</b> scoring pace had slowed, with lust six goals in 19 games.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-05

Allison ends slump in winning fashion

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Bucky Gleason</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-06328/7559055-1-eng-US/f0014-062.jpg" title="f0014-06" width="221" height="230"></div><p>The Buffalo Sabres waited three months for Dominik Hasek to regain the form that made him the best goalie in hockey</p><p>Then when it appeared Hasek&rsquo;s star had returned, the Sabres&rsquo; scoring disappeared.</p><p>Coach Lindy Ruff made an impassioned plea for better work around the net, but Buffalo&rsquo;s response a day later was a 2-1 loss to the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets. The Sabres had just two goals in three games, stealing a 1-0 win when rookie Denis Hamel scored with eight seconds left against Florida.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a lot of guys pressing,&rdquo; Ruff said. &ldquo;You can see it on their faces, when they&rsquo;re breaking sticks when they get back to the bench and they&rsquo;re rolling their eyes.&rdquo;</p><p>Buffalo had a 16-10-2-1 record in its first 29 games and the power play was humming along at 20.2 per cent. But the Sabres went 8-7-3-0 over their next 18 games with a man-advantage unit that converted just five of 78 opportunities (6.5 per cent), including an 0-for-31 drought.</p><p><b>COACH&rsquo;S MOVES</b> Ruff jug gled his lines in an effort to get more offense from centers Doug Gilmour and Curtis Brown, who had combined for just six goals in the first 47 games. It meant breaking up the scoring line of J.P Dumont, Stu Barnes and Miroslav Satan. Gilmour, Brown and Satan were the Sabres&rsquo; best unit down the stretch last season.</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> Buffalo had allowed the fewest goals (107) in the Eastern Conference through the first 47 games by virtually building a fortress around Hasek. But the Sabres&rsquo; defenders were doing little at the other end of the rink. Ruff benched offensive defenseman Jason Woolley for the sixth time and asked his blueliners to become more active offensively</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Right winger <b>Rob Ray</b> instigated a fight Jan. 20 with Toronto right winger <b>Darcy Tucker,</b> who went into a rage over an apparent insult hurled by ray toward <b>Shayne Corson,</b> Tucker&rsquo;s linemate and brother-in law&hellip; Goalie <b>Dominik Hasek</b> has hinted he may play for the Czech Republic at the 2002 Olympics. &ldquo;It (the Games) is going to be something special,&rdquo; Hasek said. &ldquo;I never said I wouldn&rsquo;t play there. It is a possibility.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-06

Sabres’ power play runs out of gas

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011621/7559086-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="261" height="273"></div><p>How to explain Marc Savard&rsquo;s breakout year for the Calgary Flames?</p><p>Even after missing all of training camp and the first week, Savard has been their most consistent offensive forward.</p><p>Savard always had scoring skills, but coach Don Hay believes he is doing a better job defensively this season. A smallish forward, he is fearless and yappy, tending to get under the skin of other players.</p><p>To say he has matured may be overstating matters, but he is a bit more consistent than he was when he arrived a season ago, less prone to disappearing on nights when things didn&rsquo;t go his way early on.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing with confidence in both ends,&rdquo; said right winger Jarome Iginla. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting chances on the rush. He&rsquo;s breaking it out for us. He&rsquo;s going both ways now.&rdquo;</p><p>Savard, discussing his turnaround, said: &ldquo;For sure, I&rsquo;m more confident with the puck and I&rsquo;m doing things better defensively. I&rsquo;ve been chipping in every night offensively because I&rsquo;ve been doing a decent job defensively. Things are going to happen at the other end if we work hard in our end.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> After an 8-2-2-0 surge, the Flames fell into a win one, lose one pattern and have lost ground again in the Western Conference playoff race.</p><p>Splitting games would be OK if they&rsquo;d had a good start, but that 6-13-6-4 beginning is hard to overcome. After getting within four points of a playoff spot at one point, the gap was suddenly seven again nearing the end of January. Eventually, they&rsquo;re going to run out of games.</p><p><b>OFFENSE</b> The line of Savard, Iginla and Cory Stillman had been producing virtually all of Calgary&rsquo;s scoring for the past two months. Since a Dec. 7 game against Nashville, Savard had at least a point in all but two games, giving him 23 in 17 games played. Iginla contributed 19 points and Stillman 17, for 63 points in that period.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Center Daniel Tkaczuk and right winger Dwayne Hay both suffered concussions in a 4-2 loss to the Coyotes Jan. 24. They became the ninth and 10th players on the roster to suffer concussions in the past two months&hellip;Of goalie Fred Brathwaite&rsquo;s first seven wins this season, four were by shutouts.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0015-01

Consistent Savard shows improvement

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Bob Sutton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021139/7559117-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="241" height="243"></div><p>Sandis Ozolinsh&rsquo;s return after missing 10 games created more pain for the Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; defenseman.</p><p>Ozolinsh, who failed to meet expectations during the first half of the season, wanted to make a big impact after recovering from a knee injury.</p><p>Instead, he became the focus because of glaring errors on defense. This came after the Hurricanes had been stingy on defense for an extended stretch.</p><p>&ldquo;Each mistake is crucial,&rdquo; Ozolinsh said, admitting to feeling the pressure. &ldquo;The whole hype of signing (a large contract) and coming over here caught up to me.&rdquo;</p><p>The Hurricanes have counted on Ozolinsh to give the offense a boost, but his production has been limited (four goals, 22 points in 37 games), while his plus-minus (minus-18) is the lowest on the team.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Injuries forced the unification of David Tanabe and Glen Wesley as a defense pair earlier this season, but the move has proved to be a good one. Tanabe, 20, has become a solid playmaker and has cut down on his defensive mistakes. Wesley, 32, is strong in his own end and supplies some offense. As a result, Wesley (plus-one) and Tanabe (even) were the only players who didn&rsquo;t sport minus ratings.</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> Goalie Arturs Irbe was expected to get the call for every game through January, according to a plan from coach Paul Maurice. That would mean he would have played in 47 of 50 games. Maurice said there hadn&rsquo;t been a reason to take Irbe out of the lineup because of a favorable schedule. Irbe, who set the team record for consecutive starts (35), was thrilled with the workload. Maurice has targeted a cluster of games in February as a time when Irbe will be given a game or two off. The backups are Tyler Moss (seven games) and Jean-Marc Pelletier (no games).</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> When defensemen Niclas Wallin and David Tanabe scored Jan. 24 against the Rangers, it was only the second time this season more than one Carolina defenseman scored in the same game. The goals came 29 seconds apart&hellip;A nine-game unbeaten string (7-0-2-0) ended with a 6-3 loss Jan. 20 to Los Angeles. That was one short of a franchise record. The Hurricanes set a franchise mark for home winning streak at nine games (8-0-1-0), a string that also folded against the Kings.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0015-02

Ozolinsh on hot seat for defensive gaffes

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03797/7559148-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="221" height="247"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>lex Zhamnov was lucky. The NHL came close to a repeat of the Trent McCleary incident when Zhamnov was struck in the throat by a deflected shot from Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Ian Moran.</p><p>The Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; center suffered a fractured larynx and bruised vocal cord Jan. 21.</p><p>But unlike McCleary, who nearly died, Zhamnov&rsquo;s injury wasn&rsquo;t life-threatening. He continued to play, then left the game after experiencing some breathing problems and spent two nights in the hospital. He is expected to be out of the lineup at least six weeks.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a serious injury, but it could have been very serious,&rdquo; said Hawks&rsquo; trainer Mike Gapski. &ldquo;If the fracture had been displaced or more significant, it could have been another Trent McCleary&rdquo;</p><p>The injury couldn&rsquo;t have come at a worse time for the Hawks, who were mounting a charge back into the playoff race in the Western Conference.</p><p>Not only did the Hawks lose Zhamnov, but defensemen Boris Mironov and Jaroslav Spacek are out until March with wrist and shoulder injuries.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Coach Alpo Suhonen was trying to balance his forward lines in the wake of Alex Zhamnov&rsquo;s injury.</p><p>Chris Herperger was to be promoted to the first line to center for Amonte and Eric Daze, but he was feeling the effects of a concussion sustained in a collision with Bob Probert during a morning skate Jan. 21.</p><p>Steve Sullivan was moved from right wing to center the first line, at least temporarily.</p><p><b>OFFENSE</b> Chicago&rsquo;s power play has slipped to 29th in the league. It&rsquo;s 11.2 per cent efficiency rating is ahead of only Minnesota (nine per cent).</p><p>Suhonen and assistant Denis Savard say the team isn&rsquo;t taking enough shots. Too many times the Hawks were passing up point shots while looking to make better plays or having them blocked.</p><p>&ldquo;Until we establish shots and have people in front, we won&rsquo;t be successful,&rdquo; Savard said.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Goalie Jocelyn Thibault has been a workhorse since early December, starting 14 straight games and 29 of 32&hellip;The Hawks started their second eight-game road trip of the season Jan. 26 at Colorado. Only one other team (Anaheim) was scheduled to make an eight-game trip and the Ducks were to do it just once.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0015-03

Puck in the throat sidelines Zhamnov

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Jim Benton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011552/7559179-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="220" height="240"></div><p>Alex Tanguay is determined to be a major contributor for the Colorado Avalanche in this season&rsquo;s playoffs.</p><p>Tanguay, 21, had a stellar rookie season in 1999-2000, but his playing time dwindled in the playoffs. He was demoted to the fourth line during the Western Conference final against Dallas.</p><p>The sophomore left winger is enjoying a fine 2000-01 campaign with 19 goals and 50 points in 49 games and a plus/minus rating of plus-29. Last year, he finished with 17 goals and 51 points and was plus-6 in 76 games.</p><p>Playing on the Avs&rsquo; super-productive line with Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk, Tanguay was named the NHL player of the week for Jan. 15-21.</p><p>&ldquo;Alex has a gift, the sixth sense of any good scorer,&rdquo; said coach Bob Hartley.</p><p>&ldquo;He finds that open space in front of the net or loose pucks. He has breakaway speed and fools a lot of defensemen because people don&rsquo;t realize how quick he is.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Colorado players and coaches claim the team has plenty of room for improvement. Still, the Avs have shown an ability to pick up points on nights when it hasn&rsquo;t played well and that is a big reason why the team is leading the chase for the President&rsquo;s Trophy.</p><p>Colorado picked up 22 of a possible 26 points in a 13-game span starting Dec. 27 by going 9-0-3-1.</p><p><b>OFFENSE</b> Sakic, Tanguay and Hejduk just keep on scoring, combining for 17 goals and 40 points in a 10-game stretch that began Jan. 1. Hejduk missed one of those games with a minor back injury.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Veteran defenseman Ray Bourque is doing some campaigning for center Joe Sakic as a leading candidate for the Hart Trophy. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t seen anybody play better this year,&rdquo; Bourque said. &ldquo;He has really been a catalyst for this club with the rash of injuries we&rsquo;ve had. He has carried the load.&rdquo; Sakic is leading the league in scoring, but scoffs at the notion he could become the NHL&rsquo;s MVP.</p><p>&ldquo;(Jaromir) Jagr&rsquo;s going to be up ahead of everybody in about a month anyway,&rdquo; Sakic said&hellip;Colorado acquired defenseman Bryan Muir from Tampa Bay for an eighth round pick in this summer&rsquo;s draft. Muir was assigned to Hershey (AHL).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-01

Tanguay aiming for strong playoff

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Aaron Portzline</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021202/7559210-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="216" height="233"></div><p>Blue Jackets&rsquo; GM-president Doug MacLean has ruled out the possibility of trading goalie Ron Tugnutt to a playoff-bound team.</p><p>&ldquo;I have no intention of trading him,&rdquo; MacLean stated. &ldquo;I never did.&rdquo;</p><p>Rumors were swirling when Vancouver GM Brian Burke - said to be looking high and low for a goalie to replace Felix Potvin - stopped by Nationwide Arena to watch the Blue Jackets play Minnesota Jan. 17.</p><p>The Pittsburgh Penguins also were said to be clamoring for Tugnutt, who finished last season with them and was brilliant in the playoffs.</p><p>&ldquo;When Brian Burke came to town, he never mentioned Tugnutt&rsquo;s name to me and I never mentioned it to him, either,&rdquo; MacLean said. &ldquo;Nobody has called me to talk about Ron Tugnutt, either, so there&rsquo;s nothing to this.&rdquo;</p><p>Tugnutt, who is making $2.2 million this season, was signed by Columbus to help mentor 23-year-old Marc Denis, considered the Jackets&rsquo; goalie of the future.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Right winger Alex Selivanov&rsquo;s play had improved, giving Columbus hope it could put together three scoring lines.</p><p>Selivanov got off to a slow start after signing Nov. 23 and was relegated to the Blue Jackets&rsquo; third line. But upon being promoted to the second unit with center Tyler Wright and left winger Steve Heinze, the streaky Russian helped the trio see the scoresheet. During a five-game stretch, the line chipped in with three goals, seven points and a plus-4 rating.</p><p>&ldquo;Selivanov&rsquo;s progress has really given us a sense of our depth,&rdquo; said coach Dave King.</p><p><b>OFFENSE</b> Suddenly, rookie center Serge Aubin, 25, has become a darkhorse in the Calder Trophy race.</p><p>Aubin&rsquo;s two-goal performance against the Buffalo Sabres Jan. 23 gave him 12 goals and 24 points, placing him fourth in scoring among rookies. Only Tampa Bay&rsquo;s Brad Richards (14) had more goals.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Between Dec. 6 and Jan. 24, the Blue Jackets posted a record of 9-8-3-2, very good for an expansion team. As well, the expansion club was an impressive 7-5-3-0 against Eastern Conference opponents&hellip;Left winger Geoff Sanderson&rsquo;s 20 goals and 38 points are his highest totals since 1996-97, when he had 36 goals and 67 points for the Hartford Whalers.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-02

Tugnutt will stay with Blue Jackets

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Nicholas J. Cotsonika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011393/7559272-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="215" height="223"></div><p>As far as Chris Osgood was concerned, his slump was over. Had been for a while.</p><p>Osgood allowed 14 goals and went 5-1-1 in seven starts through late January and had perhaps his best game of the season in that stretch, a 37-save, 3-2 victory at San Jose. He looked like a different goalie than the one who allowed 38 goals and went 2-8-0 in 10 starts prior to the good spell.</p><p>&ldquo;I never doubted myself,&rdquo; Osgood said. &ldquo;I knew I could play I know that I can be one of the better goalies in the league when at my best. I just had to get back to doing what I used to do. The bottom line is, I lost my confidence. That was it. When you lose your confidence as a goalie, it&rsquo;s almost your whole game.&rdquo;</p><p>Coach Scotty Bowman started Osgood in eight of nine games, giving Osgood the ice time he said he needed to snap out of the slump.</p><p>&ldquo;I really enjoy playing right now; it&rsquo;s fun,&rdquo; Osgood said. &ldquo;When you play with confidence, everything&rsquo;s a lot easier.&rdquo;</p><p>During the hot stretch, Osgood raised his record to 13-14-1 and his save percentage to .896, while his goals-against averaged dropped to 2.83.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> The Wings&rsquo; strong play on special teams has covered for their sub-par performance at even strength. Through 51 games, Detroit was outscored 8782 during 5-on-5 situations. Overall, the Wings were plus-16 in goal differential. The credit goes to the league&rsquo;s fourth-best power play (21.8 per cent), while the penalty killing ranked third (88.0 per cent).</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> The Wings were practising 3-on-3 drills in their own zone in an attempt to improve their coverage down low. In games, they were more assertive up ice with their left-wing lock system.</p><p>&ldquo;Our defensive game&rsquo;s much better,&rdquo; said Bowman. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t fall behind in games, which we did in the beginning. We fell behind all the time and then we played wide-open trying to catch up. You come back some nights, but most nights you don&rsquo;t and the other team scores three or four.&rdquo;</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Against Nashville Jan. 24, two Wings reached milestones. Defenseman Larry Murphy became the second player ever to reach 1,600 NHL games (Wings&rsquo; great Gordie Howe was the first). Meanwhile, center Steve Yzerman had two assists and tied Phil Esposito for sixth on the all-time scoring list with 1,590 points. Afterward, each downplayed his own accomplishment while praising the other&rsquo;s. Yzerman on Murphy: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s phenomenal. It&rsquo;s even more phenomenal how few games he has missed.&rdquo; Murphy on Yzerman: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s just going to keep moving up the ladder. He&rsquo;s one of the greats of the game. When it&rsquo;s all said and done, it&rsquo;ll be interesting to see what place he ends up in.&rdquo;&hellip;With just one regular (defenseman Chris Chelios) on the sidelines due to injury, 10 different Wings were healthy scratches in the first three weeks of January.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-01

Osgood rediscovers confidence, plays way out of extended funk

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Robert Tychkowski</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03765/7559303-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="736" height="1074"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BBS)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-021072/7559310-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="215" height="238"></div><p>Last year, Sergei Zholtok could score in his sleep for Montreal. Now the only time he can find the net is in his dreams.</p><p>After potting a career-high 26 goals for the Habs last year, Zholtok had just one in his first 46 games this season, way back on Nov. 25. He put up goose eggs in his first 14 games with the Oilers after coming over in a trade for Chad Kilger and wound up in the press box for a spell.</p><p>&ldquo;I was looking at videos and I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s a big difference in what I&rsquo;m doing,&rdquo; said the 28-year-old Latvian. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s mostly confidence. Last year, I didn&rsquo;t go more than four games without a goal. It was a really good feeling. This year is different.&rdquo;</p><p>Different as in awful.</p><p>&ldquo;Whatever it is, something has to click and get him back,&rdquo; said coach Craig MacTavish. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve talked to him many times about it. It&rsquo;s a difficult situation and he&rsquo;s frustrated by it.&rdquo;</p><p>Zholtok is keeping a stiff upper lip and filling the net with pucks after practice.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to stay positive,&rdquo; Zholtok said. &ldquo;Hopefully, I&rsquo;ll get some bounces and be scoring like I used to.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> The Oilers have been two vastly different teams this season - they&rsquo;re dynamite at home and they blow up on the road.</p><p>Edmonton was 15-6-5-0 at Skyreach Centre, which was the fourth-best home record in the NHL: But they were 8-15-2-1 on the road for the eighth-worst road record. Through Jan. 25, they hadn&rsquo;t won a road game against a team with a winning record since Nov. 23 (in Ottawa).</p><p><b>OFFENSE</b> Several young forwards stepped up after center Todd Marchant went down with a shoulder injury Domenic Pittis had three goals in six games, Dan Cleary had four assists in six games and Shawn Horcoff impressed with his play at both ends.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Defenseman Igor Ulanov needed 22 stitches in his face to close a cut caused by an Owen Nolan dump-in Jan. 24 against San Jose. That raised Ulanov&rsquo;s season total to 49 stitches in the mug. Earlier this year in New York, he needed 27 stitches to close a gash on his upper lip, the result of a slapshot. &ldquo;He deserves a purple heart,&rdquo; said coach Craig MacTavish.</p><p><b>DAN THE MAN</b> Edmonton&rsquo;s Dan Cleary had four assists in six games after getting five helpers in the previous 45 games.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-03

Zholtok trying to remain positive in midst of mind-boggling drought

<div class="byline">&#x2014; David J. Neal</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04560/7559341-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="215" height="246"></div><p>Panthers&rsquo; president and acting GM Bill Torrey insisted he wasn&rsquo;t on wacky tobaccy or snooty snow.</p><p>He knew Florida faced a double-digit deficit in the playoff race and the chances of overcoming that were slim and none &mdash; and slim&rsquo;s getting a new passport photo.</p><p>But the trade for center Vaclav Prospal from Ottawa was done as a hopeful maneuver for this season, not seasons hence, Torrey said. Prospal, pursued by the Panthers at various times over the past couple years, was acquired from Ottawa for either a fourth round pick this June or a third round pick in 2002.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a playmaker, a puckhandler and he&rsquo;s 25 years old,&rdquo; Torrey said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s someone we&rsquo;ve wanted for a long time. Obviously, it gives (Florida coach) Duane</p><p>(Sutter) more options.&rdquo;</p><p>But doesn&rsquo;t it also give management more options if the scavengers set in at the trade deadline?</p><p>&ldquo;Yes, it does,&rdquo; Torrey said. &ldquo;We have a lot of games left, a lot of games left in our conference,&rdquo; Torrey said. &ldquo;I think the team, overall, the last little bit, has shown more grit, played more good periods, but not good games. I see signs.</p><p>&ldquo;When that point comes, you&rsquo;ll know it, I&rsquo;ll know it and we&rsquo;ll move on from there. But that point has not been reached.&rdquo;</p><p>Prospal struggled in Ottawa this season, recording just one goal and 12 points in 40 games after getting 22 goals and 55 points in 79 games last season. He scored in his first game as a Panther.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> The chemistry that flowed between center Viktor Kozlov and right winger Pavel Bure last year now looks more like a chemical spill. Even when they&rsquo;re together on a line, Kozlov doesn&rsquo;t take advantage of the space created by Bure drawing attention elsewhere nor does he seem as inclined to give the puck to Bure on a rush. Bure, meanwhile, hasn&rsquo;t used the room Kozlov&rsquo;s stickhandling can create.</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> Starting with a shutout of Dallas in January, Roberto Luongo gave up 10 goals in five 1 starts, including five in a loss at Chicago. Yet <i>f</i> Luongo was only 2-3-0 in those starts because the Panthers scored a paltry six goals. Luongo was in goal each of the first five times the \ Panthers were shut out this season.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> A group being put together by Ralph Mellanby, former <i>Hockey Night in Canada</i> executive producer and father of Panthers&rsquo; captain Scott Mellanby, is in the early stages of looking into buying the Panthers. No offer is imminent, however&hellip;The Panthers have repeatedly shown an inability to respond to adversity this season, which is tough considering they give up a number of momentum-sapping goals. Not counting empty net goals, the Panthers have been outscored 37-13 in the first two minutes and last two minutes of periods in their losses this season.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-04

Torrey says trade for Prospal made primarily for present

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Matt McHale</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011431/7559372-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="215" height="243"></div><p>The Los Angeles Kings hope an eight-game homestand will get them back into the playoff picture.</p><p>But it began Jan. 25 with a 3-0 shutout by Calgary &mdash; the Kings second consecutive shutout defeat - that reaffirmed Staples Center has yet to give the team any advantage since it left the Forum two years ago. The homestand ends Feb. 12.</p><p>Although the Kings had a favorable list of opponents during the stretch that sandwiches around the all-star break, they faced a loud chorus of boos from the small weeknight crowd of 13,616.</p><p>The poor reception came after the Kings won three of four on a road trip. They still had a winning record at home, but were just barely over .500.</p><p>&ldquo;Playing at Staples Center hasn&rsquo;t been the advantage we&rsquo;d like it to be,&rdquo; said coach Andy Murray. &ldquo;Then again, we need to play more inspired hockey than we have been in the last few games.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> While most in the organization feel winning will help resolve the Rob Blake contract impasse, the Kings have spoken to the Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils about making a trade for their captain and former Norris Trophy winner. The Kings, out of the playoff picture for a month, would like Scott Gomez, last season&rsquo;s NHL rookie of the year, included in a package of young players.</p><p>The Devils are only expected to keep Blake - a pending free agent - through the end of the season because his $9 million asking price is too high.</p><p><b>OFFENSE</b> The Kings were leading the league in scoring before running into back-to-back shutouts by Philadelphia and Calgary. The last time the Kings played the Flames they won 5-0 behind goaltender Jamie Storr. Goaltending has been the biggest problem this season, but now the Kings can&rsquo;t put the puck in the net. Before the slump, Bryan Smolinski had been the team&rsquo;s top offensive player with nine goals and 19 points from mid-December to mid-January.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Defenseman Rob Blake was named to start for the North American squad at the NHL All-Star Game after league MVP Chris Pronger of St. Louis was sidelined with knee surgery. Blake, playing in his fourth all-star game, was a starter last season&hellip;Due to improving play by defenseman Aki Berg, fellow Fin Jere Karalahti was a healthy scratch for four consecutive games. Berg, who asked to be traded earlier this season, still could be part of a deal at the trade deadline. Berg had four assists in 35 games; Karalahti a goal and five points in 34 games.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-01

Rough start to Kings’ long homestand not exactly what they were hoping for

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Tom Jones</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021076/7559403-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="219" height="237"></div><p>Sean O&rsquo;Donnell knows the rumors are out there.</p><p>The Wild defenseman is an unrestricted free agent after the season and the trade deadline is only two months away. If he doesn&rsquo;t sign a new deal, there&rsquo;s a chance the club will trade him rather than risk losing him over the summer.</p><p>&ldquo;I told my friends that if they see rumors in the Canadian newspapers, then don&rsquo;t tell me,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Donnell, a native of Ottawa. &ldquo;I heard some rumors a couple of months ago and it might have affected me a bit. But I try not to think about it anymore.&rdquo;</p><p>Part of the reason for the rumors has to do with O&rsquo;Donnell&rsquo;s personal life. He is set to be married this summer to actress Alison Dunbar, leading to speculation he&rsquo;ll end up in either the New York area or California. While he knows moving on is a possibility, he doesn&rsquo;t change his mindset when he plays against a New York-based club.</p><p>&lsquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m auditioning or anything like that,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Donnell said. &ldquo;If something happens down the line and something happens to work out with New Jersey, then that happens and it will be fine. And if something works out here, then that will be fine. Right now, it&rsquo;s not something I&rsquo;m thinking about.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Coach Jacques Lemaire loosened the reins on his players during a recent road trip. On an off day in California, he took the team golfing instead of to practice. The outing was followed by a team meal and curfew was lifted that night.</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> Rookie Filip Kuba slowly is becoming a steady defenseman for the Wild. He had six goals and 15 points in his first 41 games and has become the quarterback on the power play. But perhaps even more impressive is the confidence Lemaire has shown in him. Playing in all situations, Kuba leads NHL rookies in ice time, playing slightly more than 23 minutes a game.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Goalie Manny Fernandez won his 15th game Jan. 24, moving him to within six games of the expansion record set by Florida&rsquo;s John Vanbiesbrouck in 1993-94&hellip;After playing against his old team for the first time, coach Jacques Lemaire said he thinks New Jersey is one of about six teams with a legitimate chance to win the Stanley Cup. &ldquo;They are the best team we&rsquo;ve played so far,&rdquo; said Lemaire after the Devils beat the Wild 4-2 Jan. 21&hellip;Center Wes Walz became the first Wild player to reach double digits in goals when he scored his 10th of the season Jan. 24 at Anaheim. The Wild was the last team to have a player reach double digits in goals.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-02

O’Donnell’s Minnesota future uncertain, but veteran tries to block out rumors

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011327/7559434-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="217" height="235"></div><p>Of the many injuries suffered this season by the Canadiens, this might be the most devastating.</p><p>Left winger Brian Savage was expected to be out until at least late March with a broken right thumb. The injury occurred Jan. 20 against the New York Rangers, when Savage was checked into the boards from behind by defenseman Rich Pilon. Savage&rsquo;s thumb absorbed much of the impact. No penalty was assessed.</p><p>&ldquo;I understand (Pilon&rsquo;s) a guy who stays in the league by being aggressive, but I was three, four feet from the boards and I wasn&rsquo;t playing the puck,&rdquo; said Savage, who led the Canadiens in scoring with 19 goals and 33 points through 48 games. &ldquo;I thought this was my breakthrough season.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Forward Jim Campbell, a healthy scratch in three of four games, cleared waivers. &ldquo;I figured something was happening, but I was a bit surprised,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think I played OK with the amount of ice time I was getting. I had a couple of stretches where I put points together.&rdquo; Overall, Campbell had six goals and 10 points in 31 games. He has been criticized for soft play and taking bad penalties.</p><p><b>OFFENSE</b> Rookie center Eric Chouinard didn&rsquo;t look out of place after being recalled from Quebec of the American League Jan. 16. Chouinard, Montreal&rsquo;s first choice (16th overall) in 1998, recorded an assist in each of his first two games. Promoted to the team&rsquo;s first line due to injuries, he scored his first NHL goal Jan. 24 at Pittsburgh.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just giving it my best, progressing every day and we&rsquo;ll see what happens,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Of course it&rsquo;s only five games, but I&rsquo;m learning every day, going out and gaining confidence.&rdquo;</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> The Canadiens&rsquo; new management team doesn&rsquo;t have the comfort of long-term contracts, but severance provisions are in place in case the team changes owners. GM Andre Savard, coach Michel Therrien, assistant coach Guy Carbonneau and scout Martin Madden, all of whom have contracts through the 2001-02 season, negotiated severance packages to compensate them if they aren&rsquo;t retained when the team is sold. Savard and Therrien replaced the fired Rejean Houle and Alain Vigneault on Nov. 20.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-01

Savage attack big blow for Habs

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Jeff Legwold</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03660/7559465-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="790" height="691"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BBS)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02982/7559472-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="237" height="228"></div><p>The Predators have decided to go with three of a kind.</p><p>Coach Barry Trotz united rookies Scott Hartnell, Denis Arkhipov and Marian Cisar on a line, forming perhaps the youngest unit in the NHL.</p><p>In their first 10 games together, Cisar (22), Arkhipov (21) and Hartnell (18) accounted for seven goals and 19 points. While those numbers aren&rsquo;t earth-shattering, they are promising.</p><p>&ldquo;I think it gives us a lot of hope for the future,&rdquo; said veteran center Cliff Ronning. &ldquo;They work hard, play with a lot of energy and they&rsquo;re making good plays.&rdquo;</p><p>Hartnell, a right winger, gives the line a physical corner man. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Arkhipov, the line&rsquo;s center, is powerful and skilled, while Cisar, a left winger, is a finisher. Cisar led the unit with five goals and nine points in the 10-game span.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> In the search for more of an edge up front, the Predators were using call-up Alexandre Boikov on the wing. Boikov, a 25-year-old who was signed as a defenseman, plays with a nasty streak.</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> Richard Lintner and Mark Eaton were battling for the No. 6 defenseman spot. The Predators like Eaton&rsquo;s progress and Trotz has called him a &ldquo;calculating player&rdquo; who knows when to get involved in the offense. Lintner is bigger and has better puck skills, but isn&rsquo;t as savvy. Trotz has alternated inserting them into the lineup and both have played well when given the chance. They&rsquo;re usually paired with vet Bill Houlder.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> The Predators signed goalie Tomas Vokoun to a three-year extension. The 24-year-old, who is making $600,000 this season, will get $900,000 next season, $900,000 in 2002-03 and $1.2 million in 2003-04&hellip;Center Randy Robitaille, who had 102 points with Providence (AHL) in 1998-99, was assigned to Milwaukee (IHL) after clearing waivers. He never found his scoring touch, even early in the season, when he was playing with the team&rsquo;s top offensive threats.</p><p><b>TEEN SPIRIT</b> Eighteen-year-old Scott Hartnell is part of an all-rookie line.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-03

Kid line gives Freds reason for hope

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04504/7559503-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="213" height="246"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>M</span>artin Brodeur promised he would not hold the Devils hostage when it comes to his next contract, but the star goalie said he must know what the team&rsquo;s intentions are beyond next season.</p><p>Consequently, the most important contract discussions in the franchise&rsquo;s history will take place this summer before Brodeur enters the final season on his current deal.</p><p>&ldquo;Before next season starts, I&rsquo;ll know what to expect. That&rsquo;s the only way I can go out and play,&rdquo; said Brodeur, who is signed on for 2001-02 at $4.58 million. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m two years away from unrestricted free agency. As a professional athlete, that&rsquo;s what everybody is looking for. I want to stay here, but it&rsquo;s all up to the team. Do they want me here? Do they want me for another five or six years?&rdquo;</p><p>The Devils are expected to try to sign Brodeur to an extension, but won&rsquo;t discuss their gameplan. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s something I won&rsquo;t even get into,&rdquo; said GM Lou Lamoriello.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Saying it didn&rsquo;t seem Jason Arnott was enjoying himself, coach Larry Robinson moved the center off the top line in a game against Atlanta. The next day, Arnott was back with Patrik Elias and Petr Sykora. &ldquo;I assumed it would be temporary,&rdquo; Arnott said. &ldquo;I had a talk with Larry the next day in Minnesota and told him right off the bat I understand.&rdquo; Arnott was averaging a point per game, but his production tailed off in January.</p><p><b>OFFENSE</b> With 20 goals in 20 games dating back to Dec. 11, right winger Alexander Mogilny was on pace for a 46-goal season. That would equal the franchise record set by Pat Verbeek in 1987-88.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Defenseman Scott Niedermayer, who missed one game because of a cartilage problem in his right knee, said he did not expect surgery to be necessary after the season&hellip;In his first game back at Reunion Arena in Dallas since being knocked out by a Derian Hatcher hit, Petr Sykora was shaken up on a hit to the forehead from Brenden Morrow. A slow-rising Sykora remained in the Jan. 24 game and recorded a goal and an assist.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-04

Brodeur looking to discuss future

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Peter Botte</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011217/7559534-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="215" height="243"></div><p>New York Islanders&rsquo; legend Bryan Trottier was a lastminute scratch from a ceremony honoring former GM Bill Torrey, citing back problems.</p><p>While the Colorado assistant coach instead taped a video message, his absence was the final straw in the team&rsquo;s attempts to retire his No. 19 jersey. The number surely will never be issued to another</p><p>Islanders&rsquo; player, but plans to officially retire the sweater have been put off indefinitely.</p><p>Trottier, who endured contractual problems with the team late in his career and suffered financial woes after it, for years has declined the team&rsquo;s overtures for a banner-raising ceremony The team&rsquo;s owners were said to have offered him a hefty appearance fee, but the Hall of Famer still declined.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand why someone wouldn&rsquo;t want then-jersey retired,&rdquo; said former teammate Bob Nystrom, whose No. 23 has been honored. &ldquo;For me, it was the greatest privilege I ever received. And I was half the player he was.&rdquo;</p><p>Five of Trottier&rsquo;s teammates from the team that won four straight Stanley Cups - Denis Potvin, Clark Gillies, Mike Bossy, Nystrom and Billy Smith - have been so honored.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Goalie John Vanbiesbrouck shot down an unattributed report in the New York <i>Post</i> that he is seeking a trade to a contending team.</p><p>He pulled the author of the story into the dressing room after the Jan. 23 morning skate and questioned the reporter&rsquo;s sources in front of several teammates. Vanbiesbrouck, 37, insisted to his teammates that he hadn&rsquo;t requested a trade.</p><p><b>OFFENSE</b> Disappointing second-year center Tim Connolly finally began to put up good offensive numbers in January. Held to one goal in 42 games, Connolly notched four goals and 10 points over a sevengame point streak, including a career-high four assists in a 6-5 win over Pittsburgh Jan. 13.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Team owner Sanjay Kumar all but said that GM Mike Milbury won&rsquo;t be fired before the season is over. &ldquo;Knee-jerk reactions are the last thing this team needs. I&rsquo;m telling you we&rsquo;re not going to do that,&rdquo; Kumar said&hellip;Milbury raised eyebrows when he inquired about Philadelphia center Eric Lindros. With Lindros maintaining he only wants to play in Toronto, the Isles likely would only serve as the third party in any deal.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-01

Catch 19 situation: Isles left frustrated

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02853/7559565-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="226" height="245"></div><p>New York Rangers&rsquo; GM-president Glen Sather used Phoenix as the site to help his team to rise from the ashes.</p><p>Following an embarrassing, effortless loss on New Year&rsquo;s Eve in Dallas, Sather flew from his home in California to have a talk with the club.</p><p>Coach Ron Low skated them into the ice at a Scottsdale practice facility for almost an hour without pucks.</p><p>In the nine games after that practice and Sather&rsquo;s speech, the Rangers were happy with eight. They had well-played, disciplined losses to Phoenix and Dallas, a tie against the Devils, a horrid loss in Boston and then a 4-0-1-0 streak.</p><p>&ldquo;Ever since Phoenix&hellip;we talked about a lot of things,&rdquo; Theo Fleury said. &ldquo;The team started to come closer together.&rdquo;</p><p>The Boston loss may have been another turning point, as it stopped the good-try winless streak and ran the team&rsquo;s futility skid to nine games.</p><p>&ldquo;We felt bad about it, but we just had to hang onto the rope,&rdquo; Mark Messier said. &ldquo;We couldn&rsquo;t give in to the situation. We felt we could slowly turn things around.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Messier was on a 14-game goalless streak during which time he had just two assists and had struggled defensively</p><p>His slump, along with those of linemates Adam Graves and Valeri Kamensky, were a big reason why the power play was in a 2-for-69 freefall. Perhaps Messier, who turned 40 Jan. 18, had burned out from overuse early in the season.</p><p>Coach Ron Low said he won&rsquo;t ask Messier to skip games in order to recharge his overmileaged body and Messier has no intention of sitting out.</p><p><b>OFFENSE</b> The last time defenseman Rich Pilon scored - as an Islander in February, 1997 - Messier was in his first incarnation as a Ranger.</p><p>Pilon finally lit the lamp again in a 3-2 loss to Carolina Jan. 24, sending a wrist shot past Arturs Irbe for his first goal in 246 games - three full seasons. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good to get that gorilla off my back,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was getting heavier every game.&rdquo;</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> For the third time this season, winger Valeri Kamensky was sidelined with a bruised kidney. Kamensky missed three games in November and two in December&hellip;Left winger Theo Fleury set a team record with his league-leading sixth shorthanded goal Jan. 22 in Carolina.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-02

Sather’s speech sparks Rangers

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Bruce Garrioch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03596/7559596-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="222" height="241"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>s the Ottawa Senators passed the midway point of the season, one player was setting the stage for what could be a big finish: Alexei Yashin.</p><p>The Senators&rsquo; center, who held out last season in a contract dispute, was riding an eightgame point streak (11 goals, 15 points) which tied him for the team&rsquo;s scoring lead with Marian Hossa at 49 points.</p><p>Yashin, 27, is a restricted free agent after the season who is making $3.6 million (U.S.) in the final year of the contract he was forced to honor. He wasn&rsquo;t named to the All-Star Game, but has shown fine form.</p><p>&ldquo;Alexei Yashin has really elevated his game,&rdquo; said coach Jacques Martin.</p><p>When Yashin is scoring, he makes everybody around him better.</p><p>While he played most of the season between captain Daniel Alfredsson and Shawn McEachern, Andreas Dackell was back on the line.</p><p>&ldquo;Everybody wants to go to the All-Star Game because you want to be with all of the best players in the game,&rdquo; Yashin said. &ldquo;But if you look at guys like (Radek) Bonk and (Marian) Hossa, they&rsquo;ve been great players for us. They both deserve to be part of that team.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Coach Jacques Martin was considering mixing up his lines in an attempt to get more offense out of Bonk and Hossa.</p><p>The loss of winger Magnus Arvedson, who plays with Bonk and Hossa, has hurt their production. In fact, at one point in December, Yashin trailed Hossa by 15 points for the team lead, but had no problem closing the gap.</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> The decision to trade disgruntled center Vaclav Prospal to the Florida Panthers for a draft pick meant the club had to continue its search for a blueliner.</p><p>GM Marshall Johnston, who has been looking at Minnesota&rsquo;s Sean O&rsquo;Donnell, Detroit&rsquo;s Steve Duchesne and Chicago&rsquo;s Jamie Allison, may flip the pick for defensive depth.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Left winger Magnus Arvedson will be out until after the all-star break with a strained right knee. He sustained the injury Jan. 10 against Vancouver&hellip;Coach Jacques Martin celebrated his five-year anniversary behind the bench Jan. 25 in Tampa. He&rsquo;s the fourth-longest serving coach in the NHL and had reason to smile. &ldquo;No grey hair,&rdquo; Martin said.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-03

Yashin starting to stretch his legs

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01976/7559627-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="214" height="227"></div><p>The staph infection in John LeClair&rsquo;s back might do more damage than keeping him out of the lineup until late March.</p><p>Talks aimed at producing one last serious try at a multi-year contract for the 31-year-old left winger also appear to have been scratched.</p><p>The two-month absence takes the Flyers past the March 13 trade deadline and would make it more difficult to put together a swap, thus setting up LeClair for unrestricted free agency July 1.</p><p>&ldquo;It has never been our intention to trade John, we want to sign him,&rdquo; said GM Bob Clarke. Still, a start date for new negotiations hasn&rsquo;t been set.</p><p>On Jan. 20, doctors announced LeClair was suffering from a &ldquo;disc space infection&rdquo; and he would have to go eight weeks of intravenous antibiotic treatment, followed by an oral regimen.</p><p>During this period, LeClair will be restricted from physical activity So after the antibiotic phase has been completed, he would need additional time for conditioning. By then, the regular season would be just about over.</p><p>&ldquo;Mentally, it&rsquo;s tough,&rdquo; LeClair said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve missed most of the season already and the prognosis is it&rsquo;s going to be a little bit longer now. That&rsquo;s frustrating.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Coach Bill Barber promoted left winger Simon Gagne to the first power play unit and the moved paid off with six power play goals in three games. With Gagne on the left side, the Flyers look much sharper with their puck movement. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re all on the same page, we&rsquo;re organized,&rdquo; said center Keith Primeau.</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> There&rsquo;s good news and bad news on the blueline. The good news is they&rsquo;re contributing more goals - 25 through Jan. 25, compared to only 29 all of last season. Dan McGillis has been the surprise contributor, firing nine goals, just one off his career high. Some of that has to do with the fact Mark Recchi was moved back to a forward spot on the power play and McGillis is seeing more ice time on the point.</p><p>The bad news is there are still nights when the defense looks unsure of itself. The Flyers have had to split their traditional top pairing of Eric Desjardins and Chris Therien because they need Desjardins to play as a strong partner to either Michal Sykora or Chris McAllister. Look for the Flyers to go after a puckcarrying defenseman before or at the trade deadline to help Desjardins (nursing a hamstring injury) with some of the load.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Goalie Brian Boucher made his first start since Dec. 28 in the Flyers&rsquo; 5-1 win at Chicago Jan. 25. Boucher, who looked sharp against the Hawks, had not won a game since Dec. 6&hellip;Center Keith Primeau put together a stretch of eight goals in eight games, a first for his career, and also recorded a four-point game (two goals, two assists) in a 5-3 win over Florida Jan. 20 to match a career high&hellip;Right winger Rick Tocchet is considering keeping an eyeshield on permanently. He donned the visor after suffering a broken cheekbone.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0021-01

LeClair contract talks shelved as winger gets over infection

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02590/7559658-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="215" height="247"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>C</span>oyotes&rsquo; Bobby Francis was kicking back in his office remarking about all the injuries that have hit Western Conference teams at about the same time.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve gone through our share of tough times and distractions,&rdquo; he said, referring to the team&rsquo;s ongoing ownership transition and never-ending rumors regarding trades and the future of the NHL in Phoenix. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s see how these teams respond to a little adversity.&rdquo;</p><p>But it wasn&rsquo;t long before injuries started wreaking havoc to his own club.</p><p>Already playing without defenseman Jyrki Lumme, out indefinitely with back trouble, the Coyotes also lost the services of right winger Shane Doan and versatile center Mike Sullivan.</p><p>Doan, who had 36 points through 47 games, suffered strained abdominal muscles in a game Jan. 24 in Vancouver and there were concerns he could be shelved for several weeks if surgery was needed. Sullivan suffered a concussion the night before in Calgary after taking two hits from the Flames&rsquo; Denis Gauthier and wasn&rsquo;t expected back until at least after the all-star break.</p><p>&ldquo;I suppose you&rsquo;d rather have it happen now than later, obviously,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;It gets back to what we suggested when we wanted to get out of the rut we were in. If we want to become a team, we have to rely on everyone to pull their weight. This will give an opportunity for someone else to assume some responsibility.&rdquo; <b>ANALYSIS</b> Captain Keith Tkachuk appeared resigned to the fact his days were numbered in Phoenix, despite comments from incoming owner Steve Ellman to the contrary. Regardless, a year-and-a-half of trade rumors have clearly taken their toll on the left winger and although it hadn&rsquo;t affected his play, his mindset was nowhere near where it needs to be. &ldquo;Where there&rsquo;s smoke, there&rsquo;s usually fire,&rdquo; said Tkachuk, who was leading the NHL with 14 power play goals. &ldquo;And I smell a lot of smoke right now.&rdquo;</p><p><b>OFFENSE</b> After going 2-5-3-0 and scoring just 18 goals during a 10-game stretch, the Coyotes rediscovered their touch. They responded with 21 goals during a season-high five-game winning streak which put them back into contention with Dallas and San Jose for the Pacific Division lead. &ldquo;I hope guys realize it doesn&rsquo;t matter who you are on this hockey club,&rdquo; said Jeremy Roenick, whose ice time was slashed by Francis during a game against St. Louis to make a point. &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t have it going and you&rsquo;re not doing your job, you&rsquo;re not going to play the game.&rdquo;</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Center Daniel Briere had a six-game goal-scoring streak snapped Jan. 23. It was the longest in the NHL this season and the longest by a Phoenix player since the Coyotes relocated from Winnipeg five years ago&hellip;Center Jeremy Roenick was optimistic he would re-sign with the Coyotes before the March 13 trading deadline. If not, he is set to become an unrestricted free agent.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0021-02

Coyotes get helping of turmoil as Doan, Sullivan, Lumme go down

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Joe Starkey</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04255/7559689-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="625" height="1026"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BBS)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03354/7559696-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="212" height="247"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>ll-Star Games are nothing new for Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, who face each other as members of the North American and World All-Star teams in this year&rsquo;s clash Feb. 4.</p><p>But for winger Alexei Kovalev, an all-star nomination was entirely new and long awaited. The multi-talented Kovalev, 27, was named to the World team.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been trying to do this for a long time,&rdquo; said Kovalev, a native of Togliatti, Rus. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have that chance in New York (with the Rangers), but as soon as I got here, I was looking forward to getting in there. It&rsquo;s a big thing for me. It&rsquo;s not anything about money or my contract or anything. It&rsquo;s personal for me.&rdquo;</p><p>Kovalev was second on the Penguins in scoring through 49 games with 55 points, including 26 goals, which tied his career best for goals in a season.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Newly acquired left winger Kevin Stevens immediately joined old teammates Lemieux and Jagr on the first line and had four assists in five games. Stevens, who still moves well even if his hands aren&rsquo;t what they used to be, opens up room for the two super-stars with his hitting and skating. He replaced Jan Hrdina, who was bumped to the third line. That allowed Lemieux to move from left wing to his natural position of center. &ldquo;The chemistry between me and Kevin Stevens is like I never left,&rdquo; Lemieux said.</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> Garth Snow bristled at his critics, who say the Penguins cannot win a Stanley Cup with him (or Jean-Sebastien Aubin) in goal. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t give a (hoot) what other people think,&rdquo; Snow said. &ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m the goalie who can take this team to the next level in the playoffs. If people outside the team don&rsquo;t think that, so be it.&rdquo;</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Center Mario Lemieux recorded his 40th career hat trick Jan. 24 against Montreal. It moved him into second place all-time in hat tricks, one ahead of former Islander great Mike Bossy.</p><p>Wayne Gretzky has the most, with 50&hellip;Lemieux&rsquo;s contract reportedly contains up to $1.3 million in I bonuses &mdash; almost twice his base salary &mdash; for this season. GM Craig Patrick did not confirm the figure, but said Lemieux has several team&mdash;and individual-related bonuses. Lemieux signed a contract for the league average salary of $1.41 million, prorated from Dec. 27. That means his base salary is $789,300.</p><p><b>PEN IS MIGHTIER</b> First-time All-Star Game participant Alexei Kovalev has already matched his career high with 26 goals this season for Pittsburgh.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0021-04

All-Star Game nod genuine thrill for freshman participant Kovalev

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011065/7559727-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="216" height="245"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he St. Louis Blues will be without their captain, Chris Pronger, until at least late February as he recovers from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be a tough stretch without Prongs,&rdquo; coach Joel Quenneville said.</p><p>Along with defenseman Al Maclnnis, Pronger carries a heavy load on the Blues&rsquo; blueline. He logs a team-high average icetime of 28:21, playing in key situations at the end of the periods, on the power play and penalty killing.</p><p>Pronger was having his best offensive season. At the time of his surgery, he had 41 points, including six goals, in 45 games. His plus-minus rating wasn&rsquo;t at it&rsquo;s usual lofty level, but at plus-18, it wasn&rsquo;t too shabby.</p><p>&ldquo;Obviously, there&rsquo;s a big gap there,&rdquo; Quenneville said. &ldquo;We had the luxury of having to coach around Chris. He&rsquo;s one of the staples and he&rsquo;s a factor in controlling the outcome of the games.&rdquo;</p><p>Pronger initially hurt his knee in a game Jan. 4 against Nashville. He played nine games before the operation Jan. 23.</p><p>&ldquo;The scary part of it is that he has played like it doesn&rsquo;t need anything done,&rdquo; Maclnnis marveled.</p><p>Pronger said the injury didn&rsquo;t affect his play.</p><p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t feel good, but you never feel good,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I could play a game when I felt good, it&rsquo;d be nice. It&rsquo;s something we need to take care of now before it becomes a problem. It&rsquo;s one of the things you can play with, but as the wear and tear of the season goes on, you don&rsquo;t want it to become a problem in the playoffs when everything counts.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> With Pronger out, his playing time was being divided among a number of players. Drawing the bulk of it was defenseman Alexander Khavanov, the 28-year-old Russian rookie who started the season with a flourish as Pronger&rsquo;s partner before falling out of favor and then out of the lineup. Khavanov returned to play 23:01 in Pronger&rsquo;s first game out and 25:29 in the second. He had a goal and an assist in the two games.</p><p><b>OFFENSE</b> Injuries have created opportunities on offense as well as defense for the Blues. Rookies Ladislav Nagy and Daniel Corso, recalled from Worcester of the American League because of injuries to Pavol Demitra and Michal Handzus, have combined with Jochen Hecht to form an effective second scoring line. The trio accounted for three goals and five points in a 5-2 victory for the Blues over Montreal on Jan. 23. Hecht, meanwhile, had scored three goals in a four-game span.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> After failing to score a point in four consecutive games, center Marty Reasoner was sent back to Worcester&hellip;Center Pierre Turgeon&rsquo;s goal against Montreal Jan. 23 extended his streak of consecutive seasons with 20 or more goals to 13. Through Jan. 26, he had 22 goals&hellip;Right winger Jamal Mayers ended a 14-game scoring drought with a goal against New Jersey Jan. 25.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-01

Pronger gives in to knee injury, goes under knife to have it fixed

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Ross McKeon</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02738/7559758-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="216" height="255"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>S</span>an Jose managed a win, two ties and a loss in the first four games following the season-ending shoulder injury to No. 1 center Vincent Damphousse.</p><p>As to be expected, coach Darryl Sutter was doing a lotof line juggling.</p><p>The combination of wingers Owen Nolan and Jeff Friesen with versatile center Mike Ricci produced two goals and seven points during a 6-1 victory over Edmonton Jan. 24, the team&rsquo;s first win in the post-Vinnie era.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be an ongoing process,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re really going to have to be flexible depending on who the opponent is.&rdquo;</p><p>The Sharks would like to see Patrick Marleau grab the extra available ice time and responsibility, but the fourth-year forward has been inconsistent following a fast start. Marco Strum is seeing time at center in addition to recent minor league recalls Jim Montgomery and Mark Smith. Sutter even hinted Friesen, a center during his junior days, might see action in the middle.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll play any position they tell me to play,&rdquo; the seventh-year pro said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an adjustment, but it&rsquo;s something I and the team will have to battle through.&rdquo;</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> Almost lost in the despair of losing Damphousse was the strong response by the team&rsquo;s defense following his departure. The Sharks allowed two goals twice and one goal once in three of the first form games following Damphousse&rsquo;s injury. Diming the Jan. 24 win over Edmonton, the Sharks&rsquo; smothering defense held the visiting Oilers without a shot for a 25:03 span between the first and second periods.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> While GM Dean Lombardi will certainly entertain proposals, don&rsquo;t expect him to break up his corps of young veterans or deal shining prospects for a quick fix. Lombardi said any deal he makes would be one that doesn&rsquo;t get the team off track and one that won&rsquo;t cost an arm and a leg. Although this is the right approach, Lombardi must balance&rdquo; the fact he owes the players in the dressing room as much respect as he can muster and that translates into help in the short term.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Defenseman <b>Brad Stuart</b> snapped a 44-game goalless drought Jan. 22 and then scored again two nights later&hellip;Left winger <b>Jeff Friesen</b> was denied by Edmonton goalie <b>Dominic Roussel</b> as he attempted the 10th regular season penalty shot in club history Jan 24. Roussel got a glove on Friesen&rsquo;s forehand and deflected the puck over the glass. San Jose has converted four of penalty shots all-time&hellip;Defeneman <b>Bryan Marchment</b> following his brief fight Jan. 22 against Edmonton&rsquo;s Georges Laraque: &ldquo;My older brother Wayne is 10 times tougher than any guy in this league and I used to scrap him every day. I never ran away from a fight in my life.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-02

Injury to top center Damphousse leaves Sharks shaking up lines

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Damian Cristodero</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04327/7559789-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="853" height="1188"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BBS)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03499/7559796-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="217" height="245"></div><p>Tampa Bay is worried about injured defenseman Petr Svoboda.</p><p>Assistant GM Jay Feaster said it was &ldquo;premature&rdquo; to say if Svoboda would sit out the rest of the season. On the other hand, he couldn&rsquo;t say if Svoboda would return from a severe concussion. He did say Svoboda had not improved as much as hoped.</p><p>&ldquo;We wish there had been a more immediate and dramatic improvement,&rdquo; Feaster said. &ldquo;That is cause for concern.&rdquo; More cause: Svoboda, 34, was experiencing headaches, dizziness and still was n&rsquo;t allowed to drive, six weeks after the injury occurred Dec. 14 at Phoenix. Svoboda was checked cleanly by Shane Doan. Svoboda&rsquo;s stick somehow was pushed into his face, breaking his nose and causing the concussion.</p><p>Head medical trainer Dave Boyer said Svoboda missed a Jan. 22 doctor&rsquo;s appointment and was having trouble acclimating to the injury.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s struggling with it,&rdquo; Boyer said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s used to doing what he&rsquo;s used to doing&hellip;I don&rsquo;t want to say it&rsquo;s real acceptance because he has not accepted what he has and then moved forward. He&rsquo;s kind of ignoring it.&rdquo;</p><p>Said Feaster: &ldquo;We want Petr Svoboda back as the Petr Svoboda that was with us prior to this happening. We want the same person. These are things that affect everything about daily life. We want Petr back with his wife and his kids as the same father and husband as before this happened. It&rsquo;s not something we take lightly&rdquo;</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Tampa Bay had lost 11 of 12 games including eight in a row. Goal-scoring, or lack of it, was the main problem. In those eight games, the team scored just eight goals and was shut out three times. GM Rick Dudley said it was time to make some moves to shake things up. It appeared goalie Dan Cloutier was Tampa&rsquo;s main trade bait.</p><p><b>OFFENSE</b> The Lightning&rsquo;s eight-game losing streak coincided with center Vincent Lecavalier&rsquo;s broken foot. Prior to losing their young captain, the Bolts had averaged 2.8 goals per game, though Lecavalier was struggling before he was hurt with one goal in 16 games.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Center Wayne Primeau was suspended two games for his attack Jan. 20 on Ottawa defenseman Wade Redden. The two collided in the third period. Primeau thought it was a cheap shot so he slashed and fought Redden. &ldquo;All I know is I didn&rsquo;t have the puck when he ran into me,&rdquo; Primeau said.</p><p><b>STAR STRUCK</b> Veteran Tampa Bay defenseman Petr Svoboda is struggling to accept the severity and consequences of his head Injury.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-04

Concussion might keep Svoboda out of lineup for rest of season

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02626/7559858-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="213" height="249"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Canucks, through the first half, dodged the injury bullet that had nailed so many teams. Their man-games lost total was second lowest, behind New Jersey.</p><p>But their luck ran out in St. Louis when Blues&rsquo; master blaster Al Maclnnis claimed No. 1 center Andrew Cassels.</p><p>A Maclnnis slapshot broke the big toe on Cassels&rsquo; right foot in three places Jan. 20.</p><p>Cassels was told to take a seat for four to six weeks. The Canucks have little experience behind Cassels at center. Brendan Morrison becomes the No. 1 pivot and is followed by second-year pro Harold Druken, rookie Henrik Sedin and third-year pro Josh Holden.</p><p>Cassels also played on special teams. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just bad timing. It&rsquo;s just bad luck,&rdquo; said a dismayed Cassels.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> With Andrew Cassels injured, coach Marc Crawford pulled a surprising lineup move when he scratched defenseman Adrian Aucoin against Phoenix Jan. 24.</p><p>Aucoin seemed the natural replacement for Cassels as a point man on the first power play. Two seasons ago, he scored 18 power-play goals, tying Denis Potvin&rsquo;s NHL record for defensemen.</p><p>The press box assignment was the first sign Aucoin may not be long for the team. Earlier this year, his name surfaced in trade rumors involving Toronto.</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> The Canucks&rsquo; crisis in the crease took another turn when Felix Potvin turned in two solid games after being hooked in his previous start and watching Bob Essensa play three straight and four of five.</p><p>Essensa, however, lost two in a row himself and surrendered a couple of questionable goals. GM Brian Burke insisted he has not given up on the erratic Potvin and that, so far, he isn&rsquo;t seeking another goalie.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Defenseman Ed Jovanovski was delighted to be added to the North American team for the All-Star Game. He replaces the injured Chris Pronger from St. Louis. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s unfortunate for Pronger,&rdquo; Jovanovski said, &ldquo;but I guess it was good timing for myself.&rdquo; In his next game, Jovanovski assisted twice to set a career high in points with 28&hellip;Left winger Donald Brashear established a career high in points with 19 Jan. 24. The big enforcer had twice hit 18&hellip;Right winger Trent Klatt ended a 21-game goal drought Jan. 24.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0025-02

Shot on the toe sidelines Cassels

<div class="byline">&#x2014; Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03408/7559889-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="241" height="274"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>M</span>ike Gartner&rsquo;s status as the Washington Capitals&rsquo; leader in four career offensive categories will boil down to summer contract talks involving left winger Peter Bondra.</p><p>The soon-to-be unrestricted free agent is etching his name into the record book.</p><p>&ldquo;I look once in a while at the stats,&rdquo; Bondra said, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m not really trying to finish my career here anytime soon so I don&rsquo;t worry about this. I will worry about them when I play my last game.&rdquo;</p><p>Last summer, Bondra asked management to see if it could trade him. Management said it would look into it and asked that he play as well as he could in the meantime. He has.</p><p>In back-to-back wins over Tampa and Florida Jan. 23-24, Bondra moved into the No. 1 spot in team history for winning goals, netting both for his 55th and 56th, relegating Gartner to second place.</p><p>Bondra leads Washington in career shorthanded goals (27), but trails Gartner in three other categories: points (789 vs. 622), goals (397 vs. 363) and power play goals (98 vs 89).</p><p>Bondra is second to Rod Langway in career plus-minus (117 vs. 96) and seventh in games played (712).</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> The Capitals hit a mild rut, going 3-6-1-0 during a January stretch and the timing might be beneficial.</p><p>Last season, the club was on fire from Christmas to mid-March when it suddenly slumped. That downturn carried into post-season and proved to be fatal.</p><p>The timing of this skid could mean what kinks there are can be found and fixed while there still is time.</p><p><b>DEFENSE</b> A rash of injuries on the Caps&rsquo; defense has breathed new life into the waning career of Sylvain Cote.</p><p>With Sergei Gonchar and and Dmitri Mironov sidelined with shoulder and back injuries, Cote is back in the lineup and prospering.</p><p>The 35-year-old Cote was a huge disappointment in the first half and slipped into parttime duty</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> The Caps were 7-02-1 this season when goalie Olie Kolzig made 30 or more saves&hellip;Center Andrei Nikolishin had 26 points in 49 games; he had just 25 all last season&hellip;Center Adam Oates assisted on a Peter Bondra goal Jan. 24, his 200th Cap helper. It was his 1,239th career point.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0025-03

Bondra takes aim on Gartner records

<p>Projected defense pairs and lines, including restricted free agents (**)</p><h2><b>Anaheim Mighty Ducks</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011060/7560123-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="599" height="515"></div><h2><b>Carolina Hurricanes</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02723/7560116-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="603" height="477"></div><h2><b>Detroit Red Wings</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03575/7560109-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="621" height="513"></div><h2><b>Montreal Canadiens</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04406/7560102-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="613" height="523"></div><h2><b>Ottawa Senators</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05298/7560095-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="617" height="507"></div><h2><b>San Jose Sharks</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-06243/7560088-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="613" height="509"></div><h2><b>Atlanta Thrashers</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-07213/7560081-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="597" height="517"></div><h2><b>Chicago Blackhawks</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-08178/7560074-1-eng-US/f0026-082.jpg" title="f0026-08" width="603" height="527"></div><h2><b>Edmonton Oilers</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-09157/7560067-1-eng-US/f0026-092.jpg" title="f0026-09" width="609" height="519"></div><h2><b>Nashville Predators</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-10149/7560060-1-eng-US/f0026-102.jpg" title="f0026-10" width="599" height="503"></div><h2><b>Philadelphia Flyers</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-11143/7560053-1-eng-US/f0026-112.jpg" title="f0026-11" width="601" height="493"></div><h2><b>Tampa Bay Lightning</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-12131/7560046-1-eng-US/f0026-122.jpg" title="f0026-12" width="607" height="519"></div><h2><b>Boston Bruins</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-13127/7560039-1-eng-US/f0026-132.jpg" title="f0026-13" width="597" height="523"></div><h2><b>Colorado Avalanche</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-14116/7560032-1-eng-US/f0026-142.jpg" title="f0026-14" width="607" height="487"></div><h2><b>Florida Panthers</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-15108/7560025-1-eng-US/f0026-152.jpg" title="f0026-15" width="587" height="513"></div><h2><b>New Jersey Devils</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1698/7560018-1-eng-US/f0026-162.jpg" title="f0026-16" width="597" height="473"></div><h2><b>Phoenix Coyotes</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1785/7560011-1-eng-US/f0026-172.jpg" title="f0026-17" width="603" height="509"></div><h2><b>Toronto Maple Leafs</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1868/7560004-1-eng-US/f0026-182.jpg" title="f0026-18" width="599" height="475"></div><h2><b>Buffalo Sabres</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1956/7559997-1-eng-US/f0026-192.jpg" title="f0026-19" width="607" height="515"></div><h2><b>Columbus Blue Jackets</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2044/7559990-1-eng-US/f0026-202.jpg" title="f0026-20" width="595" height="485"></div><h2><b>Los Angeles Kings</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2135/7559983-1-eng-US/f0026-212.jpg" title="f0026-21" width="609" height="505"></div><h2><b>New York Islanders</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2231/7559976-1-eng-US/f0026-222.jpg" title="f0026-22" width="595" height="537"></div><h2><b>Pittsburgh Penguins</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2328/7559969-1-eng-US/f0026-232.jpg" title="f0026-23" width="609" height="485"></div><h2><b>Vancouver Canucks</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2425/7559962-1-eng-US/f0026-242.jpg" title="f0026-24" width="597" height="485"></div><h2><b>Calgary Flames</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2522/7559955-1-eng-US/f0026-252.jpg" title="f0026-25" width="613" height="525"></div><h2><b>Dallas Stars</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2618/7559948-1-eng-US/f0026-262.jpg" title="f0026-26" width="605" height="511"></div><h2><b>Minnesota Wild</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2715/7559941-1-eng-US/f0026-272.jpg" title="f0026-27" width="597" height="491"></div><h2><b>New York Rangers</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-2811/7559934-1-eng-US/f0026-282.jpg" title="f0026-28" width="603" height="517"></div><h2><b>St. Louis Blues</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-299/7559927-1-eng-US/f0026-292.jpg" title="f0026-29" width="599" height="517"></div><h2><b>Washington Capitals</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-309/7559920-1-eng-US/f0026-302.jpg" title="f0026-30" width="603" height="508"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0026-01

NHL DEPTH CHARTS

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div><p>The NHL is a great place to be, unless you&rsquo;re not playing.</p><p>That&rsquo;s why Milan Kraft wasn&rsquo;t upset when the Pittsburgh Penguins assigned him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Jan. 14.</p><p>After riding the bench for all but six or seven minutes a game during December, the 21-year-old rookie relished the chance to play a dominant role with the farm team.</p><p>The club was happy to have him, too.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-011011/7560154-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="259" height="328"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Milan Kraft</b></figcaption></div><p>Kraft scored four goals and seven points in three games, earning player of the week honors as the baby Pens battled Rochester for first in the Mid-Atlantic Division.</p><p>Now just imagine what the rookie center will do when he becomes accustomed to playing the starring role again.</p><p>&ldquo;When we get him in top condition, we&rsquo;ll see what kind of fun we can Overall, Kraft scored seven goals and 14 have,&rdquo; said coach Glenn Patrick. &ldquo;He wants points in 42 games and was a minus-6.</p><p>&ldquo;The last few games I played four to five minutes a game and that&rsquo;s no fun; I just want to play hockey,&rdquo; Kraft said.</p><p>Patrick used the 6-foot-l, 206-pounder at even strength, on the power play and as a penalty killer in his first game. He responded with two goals and an assist.</p><p>&ldquo;I was nervous before my first (AHL) game because I didn&rsquo;t know what to expect,&rdquo;&rsquo;Kraft said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s maybe more physical. They don&rsquo;t always worry about the puck, they go for the body.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0027-01

Kraft starting to cook in Wilkes-Barre

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div><h2><b><u>NOTE BOOK</u></b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02656/7560206-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="252" height="246"></div><p><b>Bruce Landon</b> almost sounded like a politician chanting &ldquo;four more years.&rdquo;</p><p>Instead, that was his guarantee of how long the Springfield Falcons will be playing in the western Massachusetts city, but it certainly doesn&rsquo;t have to be the limit.</p><p>Landon, the Falcons&rsquo; GM-president, did the unusual when he scheduled an open forum with fans and the media before a Jan. 19 game to dispel rumors of the team&rsquo;s demise.</p><p>He said the Falcons will play out the four remaining years on their lease and affiliation deal with the Phoenix Coyotes, then look to extend the franchise&rsquo;s days in what by then should be a renovated Civic Center.</p><p>&ldquo;I usually don&rsquo;t pay any attention to rumors, but they just got to be too much, they were starting to bother everyone,&rdquo; Landon said. &ldquo;A, the team was being sold. B, the team was moving to the United League. C, we&rsquo;d be playing in the Mullen Center at UMass-Amherst. I invited the fans to come and ask questions so we could let everyone know what was really happening.&rdquo;</p><p>The Falcons were averaging 3,948 fans through 23 home dates. They need more to be profitable and have averaged more than 5,000 the past three years.</p><p><b>BUM HIP</b> John Slaney&rsquo;s ailing hip didn&rsquo;t prevent him from earning MVP honors at the American League All-Star Game, but it will keep him out of the Philadelphia Phantoms&rsquo; lineup until mid-February Slaney sustained a hip flexor injury Jan. 13 while playing with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Traded to the Philadelphia Flyers the next day, he was able to participate in the skills competition and even had a goal and two assists in Canada&rsquo;s 11-10 win over Planet USA.</p><p><b>AHL TIDBITS</b> Worcester center Eric Boguniecki scored the winning goal in back-to-back games Jan. 19-20, giving him a league-high eight winners&hellip; Albany ended a mind-boggling scoreless streak in Rochester after a second period breakaway goal by defenseman Willie Mitchell Jan. 21. The streak - 365 minutes, 30 seconds - included two shutouts this season and three in the playoffs last spring, all by goalie Mika Noronen.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03443/7560199-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="1312" height="1740"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Richmond defenseman Brian Goudie sticks to Greensboro right winger Sal Manganaro in a game between the ECHL Northeast Division rivals.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Bill Vaughan)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b><u>AHL SCOUTING REPORT</u></b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-05198/7560192-1-eng-US/f0027-052.jpg" title="f0027-05" width="325" height="436"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Alexei Tezikov</b></figcaption></div><p><b>VITAL STATISTICS</b></p><p>Hometown: Togliatti, Rus.</p><p>Age: 22</p><p>Size: 6-1, 208</p><p><b>LAST AMATEUR CLUB</b></p><p>Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL)</p><p><b>POSITION</b> Defense</p><p><b>2000-01 SEASON</b></p><p>Portland Pirates</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-06147/7560185-1-eng-US/f0027-062.jpg" title="f0027-06" width="363" height="79"></div><p><b>NHL AFFILIATION</b></p><p>Washington Capitals</p><p><b>NOTEWORTHY</b></p><p>Buffalo&rsquo;s fifth round pick (117th overall) in 1996 was traded to Washington for Joe Juneau in 1999. He turned pro after 1-1/2 seasons in the Quebec League. His first NHL goal was against Dominik Hasek.</p><p><b>BOTTOM UNE</b></p><p>Tezikov has it all. He&rsquo;s big, strong and has superior skills. So why is he still in the AHL? A reputation for being lazy hasn&rsquo;t helped.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0027-02

Springfield boss guns down rumors

<div class="byline">By Rob Mueller</div><h2><b>NOTE BOOK</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04302/7560237-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="232" height="229"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>D</span>espite franchises on shaky financial ground and declining attendance across the board, East Coast League president and CEO <b>Rick Adams</b> said the league still is on solid footing at the midpoint of its 13th season.</p><p>But Adams also admitted there are issues to address and urged franchises to take a proactive approach to ending the league-wide slump at the turnstiles.</p><p>&ldquo;Clearly we have teams under-performing at the gate,&rdquo; Adams said. &ldquo;It falls on all of us to cultivate new interest.&rdquo;</p><p>Overall, ECHL attendance is down 13 per cent. The Birmingham Bulls have suffered the biggest hit, with a 39 per-cent drop from last season. The Roanoke Express is down 34 per cent and New Orleans Brass&rsquo; attendance is off 30 per cent.</p><p>Only two of 25 teams &mdash; the Florida Everblades and Tallahassee Tiger Sharks &mdash; reported an increase in attendance, but Tallahassee still is on the brink of folding or relocating.</p><p>Adams blames waning fan support on the proliferation of sports on the Internet and television.</p><p>&ldquo;The disposable sports dollar can only be spread so thin,&rdquo; Adams said. &ldquo;We have to do a better job looking at long-term viability in markets before we place teams.&rdquo;</p><p>Next season, the league will add an expansion team in Columbia, S.C., and relocate two franchises &mdash; the former Hampton Roads Admirals begin play in Atlantic City, N.J., and the former Columbus (Ohio) Chill will resurface in Reading, Pa. In 2002, the Miami franchise, which suspended operations after 1998-99, will start up again in Beaumont, Tex.</p><p><b>STAR POWER</b> The Trenton Titans had three players &mdash; goalie <b>Scott Stirling</b>, and forwards <b>Cail MacLean</b> and <b>Scott Bertoli</b> &mdash; named as starters for the Northern Conference in the ECHL All-Star Game Feb. 13 in North Little Rock, Ark.</p><p>Charlotte forward <b>Kevin Hilton,</b> and defensemen <b>Calvin Elfring</b> (Roanoke) and <b>Tom Nemeth</b> (Dayton), are the other North starters.</p><p>The Southern Conference squad is headlined by Louisiana defenseman <b>Chris Valicevic,</b> the ECHL career assists leader. Joining Valicevic as South starters are defenseman Trevor Demmans and center <b>Dany Bousquet</b> from Pee Dee, Florida forward <b>Matt Demarski,</b> Tallahassee forward <b>Brent Cullaton</b> and South Carolina goalie <b>Kirk Daubenspeck.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0027-04

Sagging attendance concerns CEO Adams

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div><p>Derek King would like to have played for more winners in his career, but he&rsquo;s aiming to go out with a bang.</p><p>The Hamilton-born left winger, who turns 34 Feb. 11, has become a driving force for the International League-leading Grand Rapids Griffins, the clear-cut favorites for the Turner Cup this season.</p><p>&ldquo;Winning makes it easier, but harder, too, in some ways,&rdquo; said King, who had 39 points in 38 games and was the Griffins&rsquo; top scorer. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m mean, it&rsquo;s tougher to want to pack it in when we keep winning games. I was fortunate enough to play a few years (13, actually) in the NHL, but I was unfortunate enough not to win anything.</p><p>&ldquo;If we were losing here, I&rsquo;d probably have gotten real negative about the game.&rdquo;</p><p>So much so, King said, that he probably would have retired. King&rsquo;s frustration reached an all-time high midway through last season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011046/7560268-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="262" height="337"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Derek King</b></figcaption></div><p>He had 24 goals for Toronto in 1998-99, but was dealt to St. Louis early last season. Without much success and dwindling ice time, he wound up in Grand Rapids before mid-season.</p><p>Finishing out the campaign with the Griffins, who went all the way to So much so, King said, that he probably the Turner Cup final, King then signed with the Ottawa Senators over the summer and returned to Grand Rapids.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just a good pro,&rdquo; said assistant coach Danton Cole. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s something he brings to our room, a presence. When it&rsquo;s time to work, you work, but he&rsquo;s having fun and he&rsquo;s fun to watch.&rdquo;</p><p>King&rsquo;s hockey sense and passing ability are not only a good fit for the Griffins, they were key in his club-record 17-game point streak from Dec. 7 to Jan. 13, a league best this season.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0028-01

King enjoys winning feeling as Griffin

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div><h2><b><u>NOTE BOOK</u></b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02709/7560320-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="451" height="220"></div><p>Last season&rsquo;s International League comeback player of the year is coming back to the site of his success.</p><p>The Chicago Wolves traded <b>Neil Brady</b> to the Utah Grizzlies for <b>Eric Houde</b> in early January.</p><p>Brady, who signed with the defending champion Wolves in the off-season, had only one goal and two points in 24 games before being dealt to Utah, where he was a key player last season.</p><p>&ldquo;Of the eight years I&rsquo;ve played in this league &mdash; on four different teams &mdash; I&rsquo;ve never had a problem fitting in, except for Chicago,&rdquo; Brady said. &ldquo;Why? I don&rsquo;t know. No clue.&rdquo;</p><p>The young Grizzlies were looking to add a faceoff expert arid leadership to their dressing room, coach Bob Bourne said.</p><p>&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t had much going for us in the dressing room,&rdquo; Bourne said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a real quiet room, which is fine, that&rsquo;s the way it is and you can&rsquo;t change anyone&rsquo;s personality. To me, (Brady) can bring up the level of intensity in our room.&rdquo;</p><p><b>HOUSTON HAS A PROBLEM</b> First-year coach-GM Dave Barr of the Houston Aeros was working on sparking one fire and putting out another.</p><p>After losing at home to Utah Jan. 21 to fall to 17-20-6, Aeros&rsquo; president Richard Adler lashed out at the players.</p><p>&ldquo;The players need to care,&rdquo; Adler told the Houston <i>Chronicle.</i> &ldquo;It&rsquo;s embarrassing. They&rsquo;re embarrassing themselves and the organization. (Team owner) Chuck (Watson) cares more than they do and that&rsquo;s the problem. They need to look in the mirror and not point fingers.&rdquo;</p><p>Barr also admitted his team was in rough straits, but wasn&rsquo;t about to panic..</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re watching the standings and there are a lot of games left,&rdquo; he said.</p><p><b>DOTTING THE &lsquo;I&rsquo;</b> Grand Rapids, in first place overall, was 22-0-3 against teams from the Eastern Conference, but only 9-7-1 against teams from the West&hellip;The Milwaukee Admirals were 5-2-1 since Jan. 1 and received an added boost Jan. 20 when Nashville sent down center <b>Randy Robitaille</b>. Robitaille had an assist in a pair of back-to-back shootout wins over Chicago and Grand Rapids&hellip; Manitoba and Grand Rapids played the second scoreless tie of the season Jan. 17, before the Griffins won the shootout. Detroit and Cleveland played an earlier goalless game.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03508/7560313-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="1285" height="1866"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>John Purves and the IHL All-Stars were held scoreless by Brian Noonan and the Chicago Wolves 4-0 in the annual classic Jan. 15.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Ross Dettman)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>IHL SCOUTING REPORT</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04345/7560306-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="325" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Petr Sachi</b></figcaption></div><p><b>VITAL STATISTICS</b></p><p>Hometown: Jindrichuv Hradec, Czech Republic Age: 23</p><p>Size: 6-2, 205</p><p><b>LAST AMATEUR CLUB</b> Budejovice</p><p>(Czech Republic)</p><p><b>POSITION</b> Left winger</p><p><b>2000-01 SEASON</b></p><p>Milwaukee Admirals</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05264/7560299-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="367" height="81"></div><p><b>NHL AFFILIATION</b></p><p>Nashville Predators</p><p><b>NOTEWORTHY</b></p><p>A fifth round pick (128th overall) by the Islanders in 1996, Sachi has taken the arduous road through the West Coast and United Leagues. Nashville traded for his rights last season.</p><p><b>BOTTOM LINE</b></p><p>He&rsquo;s strong, can skate and stickhandle, but rarely all at the same time. The weakest part of his game is playing in traffic and generating scoring chances.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0028-02

Brady not welcome with Chicago bunch

<div class="byline">- Brendan Savage</div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Flint Generals have brought Kevin Kerr back to the United League, where he is the all-time leader in goals with 389. Kerr spent five seasons in Flint and two in Quad City before beginning this season in Germany. He was unhappy there and signed with Phoenix of the West Coast League. Kerr, 33, has always wanted to return to Flint as that&rsquo;s where he had his greatest success. He cleared waivers in the WCHL Jan. 11 and Flint gave the Quad City Mallards $2,500 as compensation. Kerr returned Jan. 25.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

UNITED LEAGUE

<div class="byline">- David Henry</div><p class="dropcap"><span>N</span>ot only can the Lake Charles Ice Pirates not win at home, they can&rsquo;t even finish the game. An emergency 911 call reporting a bomb at the Lake Charles Civic Center Jan. 13 resulted in the suspension of a game against the Odessa Jackalopes. The teams left the ice at the start of the second period with the game tied 1-1. The arena was vacated as local law enforcement officials conducted a search. The call was deemed a hoax when no bomb device was located. The game will be rescheduled, but the date and time have not been determined.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

WESTERN PRO LEAGUE

<div class="byline">- Don Ruiz</div><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span> moment of silence was observed before a recent Idaho home game against Anchorage to honor Christian Friberg, a former Steelheads&rsquo; player who was killed in a house fire in Stockholm. Friberg, 24, was asleep at a friend&rsquo;s house after a New Year&rsquo;s Eve party when the fire started, according to Andreas Sjolund, Friberg&rsquo;s roommate from 1998-99 when they played in Boise. &ldquo;I believe he could have tried to arrange a rescue and got caught up in it,&rdquo; Sjolund said. &ldquo;He was the type of guy who would do something like that.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

WEST COAST LEAGUE

<div class="byline">- Bob Stratton</div><p class="dropcap"><span>Q</span>uiet the first half of the season, the Wichita Thunder made some noise by winning six of its first seven games in 2001. Wichita&rsquo;s success has pulled them into a race with Tulsa and Topeka for third in the West. The top four qualify for the playoffs. &ldquo;It took longer than we had hoped, but we&rsquo;ve come together as a team,&rdquo; said Thunder defenseman Sean O&rsquo;Reilly. Six players had 30 or more points through 40 games. The Thunder also got a boost with the return of goalie Stan &lsquo;Smokey&rsquo; Reddick, who left at Christmas to play in Slovenia.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

CENTRAL LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01928/7560447-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="385" height="264"></div><p>One of <b>Layne Ulmer&rsquo;s</b> primary goals entering this season was to <i>score</i> goals.</p><p>So the Swift Current Broncos&rsquo; center wasn&rsquo;t too sin-prised after connecting 47 times in his first 43 games of the 2000-01 Western League campaign.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve exceeded my expectations,&rdquo; Ulmer said. &ldquo;I expect a lot out of myself. But I&rsquo;ve got a lot to accomplish yet. One of my goals is to help the team get first place and go far in the playoffs. That&rsquo;s the main thing.&rdquo;</p><p>The Broncos, who carried a 29-13-5-0 record into the last week of January, have led the East Division for most of the season. Much of their success is due to Ulmer, who had league-high totals of seven hat tricks and 10 game-winners with 25 regular season games remaining.</p><p>Ulmer&rsquo;s scoring prowess isn&rsquo;t anything new. He had 50 goals last winter after sniping 40 in 1998-99.</p><p>Even so, the Ottawa Senators have yet to sign the 6-foot, 190-pounder, whom they selected in the seventh round (209th overall) of the 1999 NHL draft.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really sure what&rsquo;s going to happen,&rdquo; said Ulmer, 20. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s up to them until June 1 (if still unsigned, Ulmer would become a free agent). They haven&rsquo;t really said a whole lot.</p><p>&ldquo;I just want to focus on having a good year. If they want to deal with it, great. If not, we&rsquo;ll see what happens. All I&rsquo;m concentrating on is having a good season and trying to help the team go far.&rdquo;</p><p>With 47 goals and 84 points, Ulmer led the WHL in both categories.</p><p>The mid-season departure of Kootenay Ice center Mike Comrie to the Edmonton Oilers opened the door for Ulmer to be the WHL&rsquo;s offensive kingpin. Comrie had 39 goals and 79 points in 37 games with Kootenay.</p><p>&ldquo;I was a little disappointed that he left,&rdquo; Ulmer said. &ldquo;It was getting to be a good race.&rdquo;</p><p><b>CUP COMING UP</b> Three years ago, a trade deprived Blake Evans of an opportunity to play in the Memorial Cup. But he will get that chance this spring.</p><p>The Tri-City Americans dealt the 20-year-old center to the Regina Pats in early January As the host team for the 2001 Memorial Cup championship, Regina is guaranteed a berth in the tournament.</p><p>Evans began the 1997-98 campaign with the Spokane Chiefs, who ^aged the Cup at the end of that season. However, he was traded to Tri-City after 16 games.</p><p>&ldquo;At the time, I was really disappointed that I was traded to Tri-City because they were in last place,&rdquo; Evans recalled. &ldquo;But I went there with an open mind and it turned out to be great.</p><p>&ldquo;The opportunity to come to Regina was the best experience I&rsquo;ve had so far. I can&rsquo;t wait for the rest of the ride.&rdquo;</p><p>Evans had 33 goals after 46 games this season, including six in his first six games with the Pats.</p><p><b>EIGHT ISN&rsquo;T ENOUGH</b> The Prince Albert Raiders were outshot 40-8 while losing 7-0 to the host Red Deer Rebels Jan. 21.</p><p>Prince Albert was outshot 15-3,12-3 and 13-2 by periods in its 10th straight loss. In the third period, Red Deer had more goals - (three) than Prince Albert had shots.</p><p>After 48 games, Red Deer had allowed the fewest goals in the league (113). Prince Albert, on the other hand, was last in goals scored (130).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0029-01

Broncos Cup threat with Ulmer in saddle

<div class="byline">By Willy Palov</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02608/7560478-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="382" height="275"></div><p><b>Marc-Andre Bergeron</b> has come a long way since being an 11th round midget draft pick.</p><p>The 5-foot-9,185-pounder leads Quebec League defensemen in scoring and is on pace to break Derrick Walser&rsquo;s singleseason record for goals by a blueliner. A wicked shooter who&rsquo;s not afraid to let the puck fly from any angle, the Shawinigan Cataractes&rsquo; power play quarterback had 29 goals in 49 games, just 12 shy of Walser&rsquo;s mark of 41 set in 1997-98 with the Rimouski Oceanic.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really think about it a lot,&rdquo;</p><p>said Bergeron, selected 151st overall by the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in 1997. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re having a really good season and our only goal is to win. If guys start playing for themselves, we won&rsquo;t win anything.&rdquo;</p><p>With 75 points, the 20-year-old had already bettered his previous career best of 74 set last season, and was hoping a strong major junior swan song would attract a pro offer. He&rsquo;s undrafted and breaking Walser&rsquo;s record might be the padding his resume needs.</p><p>&ldquo;I suppose it wouldn&rsquo;t hurt, but I also have to show that scoring isn&rsquo;t my only quality,&rdquo; said Bergeron, whose plus-36 mark was fifth-best in the league. &ldquo;I have to make sure people see I&rsquo;m a complete player because if you&rsquo;re no good defensively, you won&rsquo;t get anywhere.&rdquo;</p><p>Despite Bergeron&rsquo;s impressive points-per-game average (1.53), he has little chance of challenging Pierre Lacroix&rsquo;s record of 137 points by a defenseman in a season, set in 1977-78.</p><p><b>TITAN LOSES LANTHIER</b> Michael Lanthier&rsquo;s future in hockey is in doubt after he left the Acadie-Bathurst Titan for personal reasons.</p><p>Acquired from the Montreal Rocket Dec. 15 as part of a package deal, the 19-year-old defenseman returned to his home in Montreal to attend to what the team is calling &ldquo;important family issues.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;We want to keep the specifics of Michael&rsquo;s situation private, but this wasn&rsquo;t something he decided on a whim,&rdquo; said Titan coach Real Paiement.</p><p>&ldquo;He has had some family things to live through in the last month and sometimes when we face personal adversity, we rethink the way we live and that&rsquo;s what he&rsquo;s doing right now.&rdquo;</p><p>Paiement said the door was open for Lanthier to return, but the team wouldn&rsquo;t place any pressure on him.</p><p>&ldquo;Michael&rsquo;s a big part of our team, but his priority should be to deal with those things and not worry about us,&rdquo; Paiement said.</p><p><b>REAL ACHIEVEMENT</b> Real Paiement reached a personal. milestone Jan. 21 when his Titan defeated the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 6-3.</p><p>The 10-year QMJHL bench boss won his 300th career game to place him seventh on the all-time list.</p><p>&ldquo;You have to average a lot of wins every year and I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to be part of organizations that have stressed development and winning as their priorities,&rdquo; said Paiment. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve also been blessed with some great players over the years.&rdquo;</p><p>Paiement coached in Granby, Chicoutimi and Moncton before joining the Titan Nov. 3. Quebec&rsquo;s Guy Chouinard is the career wins leader with 477 and counting.</p><h2><b>Mobile blueliner</b></h2><p>Shon Jones-Parry isn&rsquo;t exactly a stay-at-home defenseman.</p><p>Jones-Parry joined his fourth Western League team of the season - the Kamloops Blazers - following a Jan. 7 trade by the Regina Pats.</p><p>&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve had close to 100 teammates this year,&rdquo; Jones-Parry marvelled. &ldquo;This has to be some kind of record.&rdquo;</p><p>Jones-Parry began the 2000-01 campaign with the Prince George Cougars, but was deemed expendable the day before the season opened.</p><p>He was snapped up by Seattle, only to be released in October when the Thunderbirds had too many 20-year-olds. Then Regina beckoned.</p><p>&ldquo;I figured out one day on the bus that I own 12 track suits, so this (Blazers outfit) will be the 13th,&rdquo; said the easygoing Jones-Parry. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how many team jackets I have.&rdquo;</p><p><b><i>&mdash; Rob Vanstone</i></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0029-02

Undrafted Bergeron shoots for pro offer

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03404/7560509-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="378" height="200"></div><p>The Ontario League is sticking with its site selection process for the 2002 Memorial Cup, with one small tweak.</p><p>Governors decided the top four teams in each of the two conferences after 30 games may bid for the tournament. Previously, the top two teams in each of the four divisions bid after 40 games.</p><p>This new format will give the successful city an extra three weeks to plan for the week-long event in May. The governors resisted the temptation of turning the Memorial Cup into a cash cow, rejecting any notion they revert to the disaster that almost befell the league in 1990.</p><p>The tournament had been awarded to the highest bidder, the Dukes of Hamilton, but they had the worst record in the Canadian Hockey League. Amid growing pressure in the weeks leading up to the event, the Dukes withdrew. The OHL-champion Oshawa Generals, led by Eric Lindros, defeated the designated host Kitchener Rangers in the final before 16,500 fans at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton.</p><p>The Western and Quebec Leagues award the Memorial Cup tourney to the highest bidder, usually a year in advance. OHL commissioner David Branch said recent Western and Quebec League host teams &ldquo;have had to mortgage their future somewhat to ensure their franchise was competitive.&rdquo; Guelph Storm president Jim Rooney, chairman of the board of governors, said the OHL&rsquo;s process works.</p><p>&ldquo;In each of the last three Memorial Cups (hosted by the OHL), the host city has been in the final (Ottawa, 1999; Peterborough, 1996; and Sault Ste. Marie, 1993),&rdquo; he said.</p><p><b>TO THE RESCUE</b> Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment Ltd., owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the NBAs Toronto Raptors and the Air Canada Centre, might help to keep the St. Michael&rsquo;s Majors in Toronto.</p><p>An offer to buy the team was accepted by the Majors&rsquo; board of directors. It&rsquo;s for $2.1 million and is headed by Ken Cook of Guelph. The 10 shareholders have until the end of February to match the offer and it&rsquo;s believed they&rsquo;ll go to MLSEL for help.</p><p>Cook tried to buy the then-Owen Sound Platers last year and move them to Cornwall.</p><p>Buffalo and Hamilton are other rumors destinations.</p><p><b>WELCOME MAT</b> The OHL wants to maintain two European imports per major junior team and will notify the QMJHL and WHL.</p><p>In mid-January, Canadian Hockey Association president Bob Nicholson called for the major junior leagues to ban Europeans in favor of developing Canadian players, on the heels of Canada&rsquo;s bronze medal showing at the World Junior Championship.</p><p>Commissioner David Branch said the OHL would keep an open mind on whatever else Nicholson had to say.</p><p><b>TAPED REACTION</b> David Branch was upset that CTV Sportsnet showed the first two games in the CHL All-Star Series on tape delay in Ontario so it could broadcast a Toronto Raptors&rsquo; game. The Jan. 17 game in Montreal and Jan. 24 game in Guelph were seen live in the rest of the country, while Ontario viewers had to wait until 11 p.m. &ldquo;These are things we&rsquo;ve got to work through,&rdquo; Branch said, &ldquo;and as this property grows, our presence will become stronger for those people who make the decisions on behalf of the network.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0029-03

New Cup bid format better for planning

<div class="byline">By Paul Harris</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011041/7560540-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="380" height="220"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>ith five regulars already out with injuries, the Lake Superior State Lakers received a devastating blow when second-leading scorer Jason Nightingale was ruled out for the rest of the season with an unspecified heart ailment. The sophomore forward from Cheyboygan, Mich., had nine goals and 15 points in 25 games.</p><p>The Lakers (6-13-0 in Central Collegiate Hockey Association play and 10-16-0 overall) were already without junior center Jeremy Bachusz (out for the season with Epstein-Barre virus), sophomore forward Trevor Weisgerber (concussion), senior defensemen Ryan Knox (lingering hamstring pull) and Klemen Kelgar (out for the season with a ruptured disc) and freshman defenseman Chad Dahlen (leg injury).</p><p>&ldquo;Our goals for the season remain the same and the players able to take the ice will have to carry on,&rdquo; said coach Scott Borek. &ldquo;At this point, we all pray that Jason will respond to treatment, recover fully and be able to play again next season.&rdquo;</p><p>The Lakers have lost more than 90 man-games to injury.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Usually a battle between two top-ranked teams in the CCHA means Michigan State vs. Michigan.</p><p>But upstart Western Michigan, the NCAA&rsquo;s top-scoring team this year, met Michigan under the aforementioned circumstances in a two-game series Jan. 19-20. Michigan won the first contest 4-1 in Ann Arbor before the two teams skated to a 4-4 tie in Kalamazoo.</p><p>While WMU is just as talented as UM, the difference was experience in big games. Red Berenson and his Wolverines are accustomed to high-profile matchups against other elite teams, while Jim Culhane and the Broncos are neophytes.</p><p><b>NEWS UPDATE</b> Back in early January, sophomore goalie Ryan Miller, a fifth round draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 1999, broke Michigan State&rsquo;s career record for shutouts with 13. But he didn&rsquo;t stop there. Miller posted two more against Miami Jan. 19-20 to break the modern-day NCAA record held by Michigan&rsquo;s Marty Turco (1995-1998). Miller then blanked Lake Superior State 3-0 Jan. 23 to tie Clarkson&rsquo;s Wally Easton (1927-31) for the all-time record of 16.</p><p>Miller had eight goose eggs on the season and a shutout streak of 202 minutes, 32 seconds.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Bowling Green got its first home sweep of the season Jan. 1920 with 4-0 and 4-3 victories over No. 13-ranked RPI&hellip;Michigan sophomore forward Andy Hilbert had a 13-game scoring streak in which he produced 13 goals and 27 points.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0030-01

Injury bug devastates Lakers’ roster

<div class="byline">By Larry Mahoney</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02697/7560571-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="382" height="220"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>e was an unknown before the 1999-2000 season began, but in that freshman campaign, University of Maine goalie Matt Yeats made a name for himself by winning 20 games, being selected to the Hockey East All-Tournament team and leading the Black Bears to their second consecutive Frozen Four appearance.</p><p>After a slow start this season, the 1998 ninth round draft pick (248th overall) of the Los Angeles Kings again has been a rock in net for the Bears.</p><p>During a seven-game span, Yeats allowed only 13 goals while making 150 saves and going 4-1-2. Overall, he was 95-3 with a 2.14 goals-against average and .908 save percentage.</p><p>&ldquo;At the beginning of the season, I figured I&rsquo;d just pick up where I left off last year,&rdquo; said Yeats, who wound up sharing the goaltending with Mike Morrison in the early going. &ldquo;But that didn&rsquo;t happen. Then I took a step back, started working harder and began relaxing a lot more.&rdquo;</p><p>Maine, which has nine freshmen and sophomore forwards among its top 12, had been having trouble at the other end of the ice, scoring two or fewer goals 13 times through its first 23 games (10-7-6).</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Boston College right winger Brian Gionta, a two-time Hobey Baker Award finalist, is quietly putting together another superb season. Through his first 24 games, he had 17 goals and 31 points.</p><p>And the senior was doing it against everyone. Entering a January weekend series against Providence, which was just two points behind the league-leading Eagles, Gionta notched two goals and an assist each night, including the two game-winners, to pace BC to a 4-0,4-2 sweep. He was just five goals shy of David Emma&rsquo;s all-time school record of 112.</p><p><b>SPOTLIGHT</b> Northeastern netminder Mike Gilhooly has been one of the most improved Huskies and will be a key man in their stretch run.</p><p>The sophomore keeper had a 6-7-3 record, 2.67 GAA and .907 save percentage, which were significant improvements over last year&rsquo;s 8-11-3 record, 3.14 GAA and .888 save percentage.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Merrimack&rsquo;s line of Anthony Aquino, Nick Parillo and Marco Rosa had four goals and 11 points in a 6-3 win over BC Jan. 16 and added six points in a 3-0 shutout of UMass-Amherst Jan. 19&hellip; Willie Levesque&rsquo;s power play goal in a 5-3 victory over New Hampshire Jan. 20 was Northeastern&rsquo;s first since Dec. 3&hellip;With 10 goals and 26 points, Providence senior defenseman <b>Matt Libby</b> was the third highest-scoring blueliner in the country<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0030-02

Maine goalie regains freshman form while Black Bears struggle to score

<div class="byline">By Tom Boggie</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03487/7560602-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="380" height="223"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>ith his team mired in a mid-season slump, Clarkson coach Mark Morris promoted seldom-used sophomore goalie Mike Walsh to No. 1 status and the Golden Knights responded with a four-game winning streak.</p><p>Changing goalies has become a ritual of winter in Potsdam, N.Y. In 1998, Morris benched two-time All-American Dan Murphy in favor of senior Chris Bernard, who had played just 12 minutes in his career. Bernard went on to set an NCAA record for save percentage (.964), compiling a 13-0-1 record.</p><p>Last year, Karl Mattson joined the team for the second semester and accounted for all of Clarkson&rsquo;s wins in February and March.</p><p>Walsh, a native of Downington, Pa., started by downing RPI 3-2 Jan. 12. He got his first career shutout the next night in a 27-save, 5-0 blanking of Union, then stopped 56 of 61 shots as the Knights beat Dartmouth (4-3) and Vermont (5-2).</p><p>&ldquo;Mike is a good athlete; it was just a matter of confidence,&rdquo; Morris said. &ldquo;Guys develop at different stages.&rdquo;</p><p>The sweep of Dartmouth and Vermont allowed Walsh &mdash; who played 24 games for the Waterloo Blackhawks of the United States League before going to Clarkson &mdash; to lower his goals-against average to 2.16 and help the Knights (5-2-2 in Eastern College Athletic Conference action and 106-3 overall) move into a tie for third place in the league. But it also left Mattson and junior Shawn Grant, who spearheaded Clarkson&rsquo;s ECAC championship run as a freshman, on the outside looking in.</p><p><b>PROSPECT WATCH</b> Sophomore center Dominic Moore, a third round pick (95th overall) by the Rangers last June, is on his way to ending his brother Steve&rsquo;s three-year run as Harvard&rsquo;s top scorer.</p><p>Through 17 games, Dominic had 25 points, including nine goals, and also led the ECAC with four game-winners. Steve had three goals and 18 points.</p><p><b>SPOTLIGHT</b> Defenseman Josh LeRoy, a graduate student at St. Lawrence, doubled his career goal total in the Saints&rsquo; 5-4 overtime win over Vermont Jan. 19.</p><p>LeRoy had scored just two goals in his first 123 games at St. Lawrence, but netted two more, including the overtime winner, against the Catamounts. He is completing his eligibility after redshirting as a freshman.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Dartmouth spoiled the 50th anniversary celebration of St. Lawrence&rsquo;s Appleton Arena on Jan. 20, salvaging a 2-2 tie. Dartmouth was also a participant in the first game ever played at Appleton, posting a 4-3 win over the Saints on Jan. 20,1951.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0030-03

Sophomore Walsh takes center stage in annual goalie switch at Clarkson

<div class="byline">By Andy Baggot</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04334/7560633-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="383" height="222"></div><p><b>Mike Sertich</b> knows he&rsquo;s a rarity among college hockey coaches. &ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t many guys who get a second chance,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>Eleven months after being forced to resign following consecutive losing seasons at Minnesota-Duluth, Sertich took over the program at Michigan Tech.</p><p>Eight coaches have been let go by Western Collegiate Hockey Association schools since 1990. Sertich, 54, is the second to resurface in the same capacity at another Division I school, joining Frank Serratore, the former Denver coach now running Air Force&rsquo;s program.</p><p>Sertich&rsquo;s hiring came about two months after Tech athletic director Rick Yeo had accepted the resignation of coach Tim Watters.</p><p>At first, Sertich was asked just to finish out the season, but the Huskies have played so well under him that Yeo decided to hire him full-time. As of Jan. 20, Tech was 6-16-2 overall 5-9-1 under Sertich, including a 7-3 upset of perennial powerhouse Michigan in the Great Lakes Invitational tournament.</p><p>Sertich, who won 350 games and was WCHA coach of the year a record four times during his 18 seasons at UMD, agreed to a four-year pact with an annual salary reportedly in excess of $100,000.</p><p><b>ANALYSIS</b> Seven points separated the WCHA&rsquo;s top six teams, with North Dakota leading Colorado College, Minnesota and St. Cloud State by a single point heading into games Jan. 26-27.</p><p>But Minnesota State-Mankato, with 13 wins in 20 starts, was making a charge behind fifth-place Denver, while sixth-place Wisconsin has a favorable home schedule the rest of the way.</p><p><b>NEWS UPDATE</b> The day before the North Dakota Board of Higher Education voted unanimously to retain the &ldquo;Fighting Sioux&rdquo; nickname and agreed to a controversial new logo at North Dakota Dec. 21, its president received a letter from wealthy UND alumnus Ralph Engelstad saying he would stop building an $85-million hockey arena if the nickname was dropped.</p><p>Engelstad, a former Sioux goaltender who owns casinos in Las Vegas and Biloxi, Miss., said he would absorb more than $35 million in expenses and allow the building to deteriorate.</p><p>&ldquo;Please do not consider this letter a threat in any manner,&rdquo; Engelstad wrote.</p><p><b>NOTEBOOK</b> Senior center Jeff Panzer became the fifth member of North Dakota&rsquo;s 200-point club Jan. 20 when he scored three goals in a 5-1 win over Minnesota State-Mankato&hellip;In its 16 wins, Minnesota was 33-for-91 on the power play (.362). In their seven losses, the Gophers were l-for-33 (.030).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0030-04

Huskies improve, so coach Sertich will stick around

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01960/7560776-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg"></div><h2><b>2000-01 STANDINGS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>N</span>HL Standings through games of Jan 25 (82-gams regular season). <b>GP</b>-games played; <b>W</b>-wins; <b>L</b>-losses; <b>T</b>-tios; RT-regualtion ties; <b>GF</b>-goals for; <b>GA</b>-goals against; <b>Dift</b>-difference between goals for and against; <b>P</b>- points; <b>Pct</b>.- percentage of actual points versus possible points. Below is a comparison between games played through Jan. 27/00 versus games played through Jan. 25/2001.</p><p>The top eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs. Division leaders are seeded No. 1. No. 2 and No. 3. Otherwise, seeding is determined by: 1. point total; 2. wins; 3. points obtained in games against tied teams; 4. goal differential. The regular season ends April 8.</p><h2><b>DIVISIONAL STANDINGS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02625/7560769-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="1367" height="571"></div><h2><b>OVERALL</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-07190/7560762-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="493" height="781"></div><h2><b>RESULTS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-08162/7560755-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="493" height="1419"></div><h2><b>GOALS-AGAINST AVE.</b></h2><p><b>GP</b>-games played; <b>Min</b>.-total minutes; <b>GA</b>-goals against; <b>SO</b>-shutouts; <b>GAA</b>-goals-against average; League average is average GAA of all goalies who have played a minimum of 720 minutes.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-09141/7560748-1-eng-US/f0031-092.jpg" title="f0031-09" width="610" height="1005"></div><h2><b>SAVE PERCENTAGE</b></h2><p><b>GP</b>-games played; <b>Min</b>.-total minutes; <b>SA</b>-shots faced; <b>GA</b>- goals against; <b>SP</b>-save percentage; League average is average save percentage of all goalies who have played a minimum of 720 minutes.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-10122/7560741-1-eng-US/f0031-102.jpg" title="f0031-10" width="598" height="1012"></div><h2><b>TOP SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-11101/7560734-1-eng-US/f0031-112.jpg" title="f0031-11" width="583" height="547"></div><h2><b>TOP DEFENSEMEN</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1275/7560727-1-eng-US/f0031-122.jpg" title="f0031-12" width="577" height="295"></div><h2><b>TOP ROOKIES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1362/7560720-1-eng-US/f0031-132.jpg" title="f0031-13" width="586" height="297"></div><h2><b>ATTENDANCE</b></h2><p>Listed are unofficial NHL attendance figures, including number of home games, 1999-00 average at the same number of games. 2000-01 average, difference between the two, percentage difference and percentage of capacity.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1454/7560713-1-eng-US/f0031-142.jpg" title="f0031-14" width="577" height="820"></div><h2><b>TEAM PENALTIES</b></h2><p>PIM-total penalty minutes including <b>BMI</b>.-bench penalty minutes; Avg.-average penalty minutes per game.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1549/7560706-1-eng-US/f0031-152.jpg" title="f0031-15" width="997" height="463"></div><h2><b>PENALTY KILLING</b></h2><p><b>TSH</b>-total times shorthanded; <b>PGA</b>-power-play goals allowed; <b>Pct</b>.&mdash;penalty-killing percentage.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1642/7560699-1-eng-US/f0031-162.jpg" title="f0031-16" width="1013" height="469"></div><h2><b>POWER PLAY</b></h2><p><b>Adv</b>-total advantages; <b>PPG</b>-power-play goals; <b>Pct</b>.-power-play goals divided by total advantages.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1738/7560692-1-eng-US/f0031-172.jpg" title="f0031-17" width="1021" height="464"></div><h2><b>THN THREE STARS OF THE WEEK</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03458/7560685-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="247" height="331"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Mike Dunham</b></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04336/7560678-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="81" height="76"></div><p>Keith Primeau scored three goals and eight points as the Philadelphia Flyers swept Florida, Los Angeles and Chicago to stay in the race for top spot in the Eastern Conference.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05266/7560671-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="77" height="70"></div><p>With Hart Trophy winner Chris Pronger out of the lineup, Alexander Khavanov stepped up for the St. Louis Blues with two goals and a plus-5 mark as the Blues beat Montreal and New Jersey.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06216/7560664-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="81" height="78"></div><p>Nashville&rsquo;s Mike Dunham allowed a total of just four goals and posted a .956 save percentage as the Predators beat Boston, St. Louis and Atlanta to creep closer to the .500 mark.</p><p><b>For daily news and stats visit <a href="http://www.thehockeynews.com">www.thehockeynews.com</a></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

f0031-01

2000-01 NHL STATISTICS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011024/7561038-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg"></div><h2><b>KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS AND DEFINITIONS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>S</span>tatistics provided by National Hockey League: PLAYER-listed by uniform number, position (<b>F</b>-forward; <b>D</b>-defenseman; <b>G</b>-goahe), name; <b>GP</b>-games played<b>; G</b>- goals; <b>A</b>-assists; P-points; +/- -plus/minus<b>: PIM</b>&mdash;penalties; <b>PP</b>-power-play goals; <b>SH</b>-short-handed goals; <b>GW</b>-game-winning goals; <b>GT</b>-game-tying goals; <b>S</b>-shots; <b>SP</b>-shooting percentage; <b>H</b>- hits. A hit is any legal contact by a player on an opposing player that exerts enough force as to prevent the player from controlling the puck, knocks him off the puck, or significantly impedes his progress; <b>GV</b>- giveaways. A giveaway is when a player&rsquo;s own actions result in the loss of possession to the other team; <b>TK</b>- takeaways. A takeaway occurs when pressure by a defending player results in gaining possession of the puck: <b>MIN</b>- average minutes played per game is expressed in minutes and seconds. Players indicated by an asterisk () are eligible for the Calder Trophy.</p><h2><b>ANAHEIM MIGHTY DUCKS</b></h2><h2><b>ATLANTA THRASHERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02692/7561031-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="1013" height="925"></div><h2><b>BOSTON BRUINS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03489/7561024-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="1015" height="1003"></div><h2><b>BUFFALO SABRES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04337/7561017-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="1013" height="633"></div><h2><b>CALGARY FLAMES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05255/7561010-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="1013" height="783"></div><h2><b>CAROLINA HURRICANES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06213/7561003-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="1009" height="591"></div><h2><b>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-07180/7560996-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="1003" height="745"></div><h2><b>COLORADO AVALANCHE</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-08157/7560989-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="1013" height="361"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-09130/7560982-1-eng-US/f0032-092.jpg" title="f0032-09" width="1019" height="301"></div><h2><b>COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-10114/7560975-1-eng-US/f0032-102.jpg" title="f0032-10" width="1017" height="677"></div><h2><b>DALLAS STARS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1197/7560968-1-eng-US/f0032-112.jpg" title="f0032-11" width="1013" height="671"></div><h2><b>DETROIT RED WINGS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1289/7560961-1-eng-US/f0032-122.jpg" title="f0032-12" width="1015" height="783"></div><h2><b>EDMONTON OILERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1381/7560954-1-eng-US/f0032-132.jpg" title="f0032-13" width="1017" height="771"></div><h2><b>FLORIDA PANTHERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01929/7560947-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="1009" height="832"></div><h2><b>LOS ANGELES KINGS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02626/7560940-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="1006" height="623"></div><h2><b>MINNESOTA WILD</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03472/7560933-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="1006" height="682"></div><h2><b>MONTREAL CANADIENS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04365/7560926-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="1012" height="1027"></div><h2><b>NASHVILLE PREDATORS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05305/7560919-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="1009" height="698"></div><h2><b>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06265/7560912-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="1003" height="669"></div><h2><b>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07239/7560905-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="1009" height="918"></div><h2><b>NEW YORK RANGERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-08199/7560898-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="1009" height="852"></div><h2><b>OTTAWA SENATORS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-09172/7560891-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="1018" height="630"></div><h2><b>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-10150/7560884-1-eng-US/f0033-102.jpg" title="f0033-10" width="1000" height="680"></div><h2><b>PHOENIX COYOTES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-11137/7560877-1-eng-US/f0033-112.jpg" title="f0033-11" width="997" height="609"></div><h2><b>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-12127/7560870-1-eng-US/f0033-122.jpg" title="f0033-12" width="1012" height="752"></div><h2><b>SAN JOSE SHARKS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-13105/7560863-1-eng-US/f0033-132.jpg" title="f0033-13" width="1012" height="403"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011049/7560856-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="1036" height="292"></div><h2><b>ST. LOUIS BLUES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02713/7560849-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="1015" height="787"></div><h2><b>TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03559/7560842-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="1015" height="762"></div><h2><b>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04433/7560835-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="1006" height="623"></div><h2><b>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05351/7560828-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="1003" height="727"></div><h2><b>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06310/7560821-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="1021" height="694"></div><h2><b>NHL SCHEDULE</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07284/7560814-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="1000" height="2661"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08259/7560807-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="1039" height="3534"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0032-01

Team by team

<h2><b>KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS</b></h2><p><b>KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS</b></p><p>Statistics provided by National Hockey League; Players are listed by uniform number, name, games played (<b>GP</b>), minutes played (<b>Min</b>), goals-against average (<b>GAA</b>), wins (<b>W</b>), losses (<b>L</b>), ties (<b>T</b>), empty-net goals (<b>EN</b>), shutouts (<b>SO</b>), goals against (<b>GA</b>), shots against (<b>SA</b>), save percentage (<b>SP</b>). For goalies&rsquo; individual rankings see page 31.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01986/7561090-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="735" height="837"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02692/7561083-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="751" height="1093"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03565/7561076-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="751" height="1087"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04449/7561069-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="736" height="1096"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0035-01

NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

<h2><b>NOTE</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>U</span>nofficial game summaries provided by National Hockey League; (shots on goal/plus-minus); <b>SA</b>-shots against; <b>GA</b>- goals against; <b>ENG</b>-empty net goals; Dec decision, charges to goaltenders of record when winning goal is scored.</p><h2><b>FRIDAY, JAN. 19</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05375/7561289-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="517" height="1926"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06341/7561282-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="508" height="2301"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07315/7561275-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="517" height="2313"></div><h2><b>SATURDAY, JAN. 20</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08281/7561268-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="511" height="2211"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09255/7561261-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="505" height="2307"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10222/7561254-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="526" height="2313"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01948/7561247-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="544" height="3528"></div><h2><b>SUNDAY, JAN. 21</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02625/7561240-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="523" height="3441"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03516/7561233-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="511" height="3534"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04394/7561226-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="514" height="2358"></div><h2><b>MONDAY, JAN. 22</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05329/7561219-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="538" height="1087"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06287/7561212-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="523" height="3540"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07265/7561205-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="520" height="802"></div><h2><b>TUESDAY, JAN. 23</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08241/7561198-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="517" height="2679"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01846/7561191-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="514" height="1698"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02572/7561184-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="514" height="1710"></div><h2><b>WEDNESDAY, JAN. 24</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03444/7561177-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="508" height="466"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04366/7561170-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="523" height="1158"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05324/7561163-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="508" height="1698"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06286/7561156-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="502" height="1378"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07257/7561149-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="505" height="1701"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01923/7561142-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="535" height="3543"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02633/7561135-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="505" height="631"></div><h2><b>THURSDAY, JAN. 25</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03509/7561128-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="529" height="2844"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04398/7561121-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="514" height="2775"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0035-05

NHL GAME SUMMARIES

<h2><b>TRANSACTIONS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05310/7561341-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="517" height="700"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06267/7561334-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="532" height="3552"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-07244/7561327-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="553" height="3549"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-08209/7561320-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="529" height="250"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

Search for your favorite player or team

February 9, 2001

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

Power outage baffles coach-GM

Let the Guessing GAMES Begin

Belfour rests now to be spring fresh