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.

April 5, 2001

The Hockey News April 5, 2001

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02677/7437553-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="285" height="331"></div><h2>NOTEBOOK</h2>Goalie John Grahame&rsquo;s season started with a disaster and it&rsquo;s not getting much better.Grahame, who missed the first three months after breaking his ankle in a stumble away from the rink, was given a two-game suspension by the American League for tossing half of his broken stick into the stands.Upset after the Syracuse Crunch scored a power play goal to cut the Providence Bruins&rsquo; lead to 3-2 March 18, Grahame smashed his stick over the crossbar and threw the shaft over the glass. Brian Sawyer, the father of an eight-year-old boy in the stands, said his son had to duck or he would have been hit in the head.Grahame was given a 10-minute misconduct. He later apologized for the incident through a statement issued by the team.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to tolerate that kind of behavior,&rdquo; said Mike O&rsquo;Connell, GM of the parent Boston Bruins, who recently assigned Grahame to Providence.HUNGRY RAT Albany River Rats&rsquo; center Mike Jefferson received a match penalty after he bit down on the gloved left thumb of Hershey left winger Nick Bootland in a March 18 game. The incident took place during a second period scrum.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never encountered anything like that,&rdquo; said a stunned Bootland.LEADER OF THE PACK Hartford Wolf Pack coach John Paddock calls Derek Armstrong the best two-way forward in the AHL.The eight-year veteran put together a 13-game scoring streak, with nine goals and 25 points. The streak vaulted him into the league scoring lead with 29 goals and 89 points, two more than Springfield left winger Jean-Guy Trudel.AHL TIDBITS Mika Noronen is the first Rochester goalie in 10 years to post back-to-back 20-win seasons. David Littman was the last&hellip;Kentucky center Ryan Kraft overtook Wilkes-Barre/Scranton&rsquo;s Toby Petersen for the scoring lead among AHL rookies with 28 goals and 70 points&hellip;One reason Saint John had a 10-point lead in the Canadian Division: The Flames were a perfect 12-0-0 against cellardwelling Hamilton.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03476/7437546-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="1351" height="1785"><figcaption class="caption-body">Norfolk right winger Nathan Perrott is at his best when he&rsquo;s causing havoc in front of the net, which in this case belongs to the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Goalie’s stick toss earns suspension

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0048-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-01221/7438418-1-eng-US/f0048-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-06277/7436488-1-eng-US/f0019-062.jpg"></div>SEEDING DETERMINED BY ORDER OF FINISH IN 2000 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPPOOL A1st Overall Seed Canada 4th Seed Sweden 5th Seed Russia 8th Seed KazakstanPOOL B2nd Overall Seed USA 3rd Seed Finland 6th Seed China 7th Seed GermanyFORMATThree-game intra-pool records determine playoff seedings. Top two teams in each pool advance to cross-over matchups; the winners play for gold and the losers for bronze. The bottom two teams in each pool play for fifth through eighth. &#9632;

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2001 Women’s World Championship

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0049-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-01194/7438449-1-eng-US/f0049-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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HOCKEY’S BEST STATS

ONTARIO LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011805/7435473-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky (2,857 points), Gordie Howe (1,850) and Mark Messier (1,773 and counting) rank 1-2-3 in all-time NHL scoring after Messier passed Marcel Dionne (1,771) March 19.(Greztky & Messier by Bruce Bennett/BBS; Howe by HHOF)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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The Holy Trinity of points

<div class="byline">Editor&#x2019;s Notebook Steve Dryden Editor-In-Chief</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04525/7435504-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="287" height="336"></div>Look out below, Gordie Howe-Mark Messier is creeping up on you.The magnificent Messier, who passed Marcel Dionne to reach No. 3 in career NHL points, is now within striking distance of Mr. Hockey Howe has 1,850 career points, only 77 more than Messier&rsquo;s 1,773. And that&rsquo;s not all within Messier&rsquo;s grasp. Howe holds the record for most games-1,767. Messier stood at 1,552, just 215 shy of that mark.That&rsquo;s three more seasons and that&rsquo;s doable, according to Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe, a longtime Messier teammate. &ldquo;If he wanted to get his minutes down,&rdquo; Lowe said, &ldquo;and maybe take a night off here and there, he could easily play for five or seven years&hellip;If he wanted to clearly break Gordie&rsquo;s records he could do it.&rdquo;Just how long Messier intends to play is unknown, but the Rangers&rsquo; captain told the National Post, &ldquo;I could never go out without competing for the Cup again.&rdquo; That won&rsquo;t happen anytime soon in New York, where Messier returned this season and guaranteed a playoff rebirth. It didn&rsquo;t happen, so Messier can&rsquo;t add to numbers even more important than his regular season stats. Messier is a six-time 100-point scorer, two-time league MVP and five-time all-star, but his reputation as one of sport&rsquo;s tremendous leaders rests more on playoff accomplishments than regular season achievements.Messier has won six Stanley Cups, including two after splitting up with Wayne Gretzky One was in Edmonton two years after No. 99&rsquo;s departure and the other was in New York, ending a 54year drought for the Rangers. But if you want to focus on individual numbers-and we do-there is nothing more important than Messier&rsquo;s one Conn Smythe Trophy and his standing as the second-most productive goal-scorer (109), playmaker (186 assists) and point-producer (295) in NHL history He stands behind Gretzky in all three. Those are the true marks of Messier&rsquo;s greatness.It was Messier who earned MVP honors when Edmonton ended the Islanders&rsquo; dynasty and began one of its own in 1984. When asked what enduring single image he holds of Messier, Lowe was quick to answer: &ldquo;The Conn Smythe Trophy and the emotion he showed after winning the Cup-how much it meant. If you&rsquo;ve ever seen the films of him throwing his gloves and his stick into the stands and sobbing&hellip;his emotions were on his sleeve that night and that&rsquo;s the way he played the game.&rdquo;Who would have thought that some 17 years later Mark Messier would be the last of the great Oilers still standing? &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

Captain Messier not finished making mark in history book

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011743/7435535-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Andy Marlin/BBS)</figcaption></div><h2>Captain Mario charged with leading Canada</h2>TORONTO Mario Lemieux is captain, but the most important player on the 2002 Canadian Olympic Team remains a mystery.That man is the goalie of record and Canadian GM Wayne Gretzky was true to his word March 23 when he didn&rsquo;t name a netminder among the first eight selections and opened the door to a young goalie apprenticing at the Salt Lake Games next February. Absent from the great eight was anyone from what Gretzky called &ldquo;the big four&rdquo;-Eddie Belfour, Martin Brodeur, Curtis Joseph and Patrick Roy.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a secret that the big four are pretty much the guys that we&rsquo;ve been concentrating on,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;All four are tremendous goaltenders. All four are very capable. Unfortunately we can only take three of those four; basically only two of those three will get an opportunity to actually play.&rdquo;Gretzky said management&rsquo;s No. 3 goalie will be given the choice of accepting what will likely be a nonplaying position or turn down the invitation. &ldquo;If he chooses not to, then we&rsquo;ll go in the direction of a young guy (for whom) it will be a great experience and maybe (he&rsquo;ll) be ready for the next Olympics.&rdquo;Canada&rsquo;s best young NHL goalies are Florida&rsquo;s Roberto Luongo, 21, Buffalo&rsquo;s Martin Biron, 23, Anaheim&rsquo;s Jean-Sebastien Giguere, 23 and Montreal&rsquo;s Jose Theodore, 24.Leading the team on the ice will be Pittsburgh&rsquo;s unparalleled Lemieux, who was named captain. Gretzky and Lemieux have been linked throughout their careers and combined on one of the most important goals in Canadian international hockey history when No. 99 fed No. 66 for the Canada Cup-winning goal in 1987. Lemieux recently passed Gretzky in goals from the starts of their careers: Lemieux had 644 goals in 779 NHL regular season games (through 36 games this season); Gretzky had 640 goals over the first 779 games of his career.Goal-scoring ability has been repeatedly identified as Canada&rsquo;s only serious shortcoming at the 1998 Games, where the proud hockey country finished fourth. Injuries to Joe Sakic and Paul Kariya were blamed. Both snipers were among the first eight, along with sharpshooter Owen Nolan, two-way force Steve Yzerman and defensemen Rob Blake, Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger.Al MacInnis&rsquo; omission was a mild surprise and Gretzky admitted the staff was tormented by the decision to leave off the all-star defenseman. Most assume MacInnis&rsquo; place was taken by Nolan. Gretzky pointed out it&rsquo;s more important to be one of the final 23 selections than one of the first eight selections.Sidelined superstar Eric Lindros, the multi-concussed restricted free agent, was not among the eight named. Gretzky spoke glowingly of Lindros and said he will be a natural choice when additions are made-provided Lindros is playing in the NHL. Gretzky said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure come October if Eric is playing-and I&rsquo;m sure Eric is going to be playing very well-then Eric will be part of this team.&rdquo;Teams must name their full squads by Dec. 22. (See pg. 9 for Official Picks, Top Candidates and Other Candidates for the seven top Olympic teams.)<h2>THN ONE-TIMERS</h2>Peca wants to be part of club; Lindros&rsquo; position unclearEric Lindros&rsquo; status for the upcoming World Championship in Germany (April 28 to May 14) remains uncertain, but Buffalo restricted free agent Michael Peca has signed on. Other top candidates for Canada from non-playoff contending teams are goalies Roberto Luongo and Jose Theodore; defensemen Derek Morris and Yannick Tremblay; and forwards Eric Daze, Jeff Friesen, Jarome Iginla, Brad Isbister, Vincent Lecavalier, Petr Nedved, Brad Richards, Cliff Ronning, Geoff Sanderson, Brian Savage and Steve Sullivan. A foot injury will prevent Paul Kariya from participating&hellip;Top American candidates are goalies Rick DiPietro, Mike Dunham and Damian Rhodes; defensemen Mark Eaton, Bret Hedican, Phil Housley and Chris Tamer; and forwards Kevyn Adams, Tim Connolly, Craig Conroy, Matt Cullen, Darby Hendrickson, Brian Holzinger, David Legwand, Marty McInnis, Mark Parrish and Mike York.MVP BELONGS TO AV Joe Sakic is Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s choice for the Hart Trophy: &ldquo;If he does not win it, the only guy who should get votes is Mario (Lemieux). But Sakic has been phenomenal this year and he has taken his game to another level. Just what he has done this year is something really special. In my mind, Joe is the MVP.&rdquo; Gretzky won the Hart Trophy a record nine times.RECORD PACE FOR SHUTOUTS There have been more shutouts this season, 162 through 1,007 games, than in any year in league history. The previous high was 160 in 1997-98 (1,066 games) and 1998-99 (1,107 games). The NHL was on pace for 198 shutouts this season&hellip;There was a time when Washington&rsquo;s Chris Simon was considered a wild man with a temper as short as his hair was long. But 2000-01 has seen a role reversal for Simon, who shaved his head last summer-and now fights less than Gandhi. Simon had no fighting majors in 57 games this season and the Capitals had an NHL-low 16. Meanwhile, St. Louis rookie Reed Low had 22 fighting majors and Atlanta was the team leader with 64.SHARK FANS&rsquo; PICK The NHL Fans&rsquo; Association has voted San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov the year&rsquo;s biggest bargain. The 25-year-old wins the NHLFA&rsquo;s &lsquo;Best Bang for the Buck&rsquo; award for 2000-01. He is earning $475,000 this season, about one-third of the average league salary ($1.41 million).<h2>World-beater?</h2>Steve Sullivan is a leading candidate to represent at the 2001 World Championship. &#9632;

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POWER PLAY

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Denis Gibbons</div>There are no Hart Trophies on Murray Murdoch&rsquo;s resume. But at age 96, surely he deserves a heart trophy for living so long. He&rsquo;s believed to be the oldest living former NHL player.A native of Lucknow, Ont., the 5-foot-10,180-pound left winger won Stanley Cups with the Rangers in 1928 (their first) and 1933. He played in the famous 1928 Cup final game in which the Rangers&rsquo; manager, Lester Patrick, then 44, played goal and beat the Montreal Maroons. In 1932-33, Murdoch led all NHLers in playoff assists.&ldquo;The players on those teams were very loyal to each other,&rdquo; he said.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011734/7435566-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="240" height="258"><figcaption class="caption-body">Murray Murdoch</figcaption></div>In 11 seasons with the Rangers from 1926-27 through &lsquo;36-37, he scored 84 goals and 192 points in 508 games.Following his retirement as a player, Murdoch coached at Yale University for 27 years. He guided the Bulldogs to a third-place finish in the 1952 NCAA championship.In 1974, he was named a recipient of the Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to hockey in the U.S.Murdoch resided in Hamden, Conn., until last November, when he moved to Pawleys Island, S.C., to live with his daughter. &#9632;

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Murdoch helped Rangers win first Cup in 1928

Bryan Marchment&rsquo;s nickname is &lsquo;Mush.&rsquo; It&rsquo;s a handle with many applications.It could detail the state of some victims of his knee-on-knee hits. It could denote what some opponents want to see him pounded into. And it also describes what Marchment thinks of his critics&rsquo; logic.&ldquo;If I wanted to sing the blues like everyone else,&rdquo; says the San Jose defenseman, &ldquo;I could cry about one hit, too. I can give you at least 50 checks where guys could get suspended. I&rsquo;ve been in the league for 12 years and I&rsquo;m sick of guys complaining. It has gotten to me after this one. I&rsquo;m tired of it. I think I got screwed on this one.&rdquo;Marchment&rsquo;s latest run-in with NHL discipline came March 12, when his Sharks played Montreal. The defenseman&rsquo;s knee intersected with Martin Rucinsky&rsquo;s thigh. Rucinsky was sidelined with a severe charley-horse and at one point it was thought his season was over.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011933/7435642-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="262" height="356"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bryan Marchment</figcaption></div>Marchment received a five-minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct. NHL vice-president Colin Campbell suspended him for three games without pay, worth $89,268 of his $2.5-million salary.Rucinsky thought the suspension was too short, calling it &ldquo;embarrassing.&rdquo; Marchment thought any suspension was too long, calling it &ldquo;reputation&rdquo; punishment.Marchment, 31, is unofficially the game&rsquo;s top cheap shot artist. He would change unofficially to unfairly.&ldquo;Why do guys hate me so much? It&rsquo;s reputation,&rdquo; he says, blaming the media. &ldquo;You guys have built it up so much, it&rsquo;s disgusting. Basically, I&rsquo;ve just sat back and said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m a bad guy. I&rsquo;m a bad guy. I&rsquo;m a bad guy&rsquo; Well, I&rsquo;m not a bad guy&rdquo;ESPN analyst Tony Twist, who retired last season, disagrees.&ldquo;I believe in intimidation in the context of fair play,&rdquo; Twist says. &ldquo;What I do not believe in is stealing the bread from another man and his family. That hit on Rucinsky is stealing bread off his table and potentially ending his career. And it&rsquo;s consistent with this guy Is there a year when he hasn&rsquo;t done that?&rdquo;Yes, but not many According to the Elias Sports Bureau and NHL, the 6-foot-1, 195-pound defenseman has been suspended 11 times for 32 games since 1992-93. (See accompanying table for more.)<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021302/7435635-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="1053" height="1452"><figcaption class="caption-body">This knee-on-knee hit against Mike Modano earned Bryan Marchment a three-game suspension in 1997-98.</figcaption></div>In the &ldquo;kneed to know&rdquo; category, Marchment sat out five games for kneeing Jason Simon in a 1995, three for disabling Mike Modano with a knee in 1997 and eight for dropping Kevin Dineen with a knee in 1998. Marchment has also kayoed players with hits that have been deemed legal, such as Greg Adams in 1997-98 and Joe Nieuwendyk in the 1998 playoffs. Some hits, like his shot on Doug Weight earlier this year, produce brawls, if not injuries or suspensions.Marchment&rsquo;s reaction? &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a man&rsquo;s game. Not everybody&rsquo;s a saint.&rdquo;That said, Marchment insists he doesn&rsquo;t sin to win. In his analysis, opponents who try to avoid a hit often are putting themselves at risk.&ldquo;My assessment of the (Rucinsky) check is, if he stays on his track, it&rsquo;s a good hit,&rdquo; he says.&ldquo;Throwing out the knee against Kevin Dineen, no, I&rsquo;m not proud of that.-This one here, I didn&rsquo;t move my feet. If guys took the hit, then they wouldn&rsquo;t have to worry about it.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03765/7435628-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="423" height="352"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Wheatley Columnist</figcaption></div>The blame-the-victim defense comes from a literal reading of the NHL rule book. Rule 71 says, &ldquo;Kneeing is the act of a player making a distinct movement of his knee.&rdquo; Marchment, in fact, delivers most of his checks with his legs already spread wide. If his knees are locked and making no distinct movement, he believes the hit is legal. Couldn&rsquo;t Marchment end this controversy by hitting with his skates more underneath him instead of spread wide? His refusal is a matter of balance.&ldquo;If my feet were closer together, with guys at 215,220 (pounds), I&rsquo;d go flying when I hit them,&rdquo; he says.Which causes Twist to say, &ldquo;You know what? He doesn&rsquo;t care.&rdquo;Or doesn&rsquo;t understand the rule. Andy van Hellemond, the NHL director of officiating, says Marchment&rsquo;s reading of Rule 71 is wrong.&ldquo;What we&rsquo;re saying-and what he&rsquo;s not hearing or listening to-is you can&rsquo;t lead with your leg,&rdquo; van Hellemond says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s coming at the guy with the legs apart like a tripod and he believes he&rsquo;s not kicking his leg out. Guess what? He&rsquo;s still wrong. He&rsquo;s hitting leg to leg and that&rsquo;s what causes the damage. He&rsquo;s blaming the guy for moving, but that has nothing to do with it.&ldquo;You can check body to body and hip to hip, but you cannot check leg to leg.&rdquo;One solution? Remove the &ldquo;distinct movement&rdquo; clause from Rule 71 and follow the lead of Rule 53, which defines elbowing as &ldquo;the use of an extended elbow in a manner that may or may not cause injury&rdquo;Failing a rule amendment, some feel the best remedy is to urge Marchment&rsquo;s team-mates to lobby for change by making them counter-targets.&ldquo;You want to police him?&rdquo; Twist asks. &ldquo;You make an example out of Owen Nolan. Or Vincent Damphousse. Now we&rsquo;ve established a balance of power. There has to be accountability in his own dressing room. If I was on his team and I saw that hit on Rucinsky, I&rsquo;d be in the dressing room saying, &lsquo;What&rsquo;s that? That&rsquo;s terrible.&rsquo;&rdquo;Marchment begs to differ.&ldquo;My GM (Dean Lombardi), my coach (Darryl Sutter), my teammates, they want me to play this way,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And I want to play this way. The last thing my GM says to me when we come out of the meeting (with Campbell) is, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t change a thing, Mush. Do the things you&rsquo;ve done and stay within the rules.&rsquo;&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t apologize for the way I play. I&rsquo;m not a stupid man. Hey, if Bryan Marchment&rsquo;s not aggressive, I might be in the league, but does Bryan Marchment make the money he&rsquo;s making?&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not out there trying to kill everybody on the other team. But I definitely want them to know that I&rsquo;m out there.&rdquo;Mission accomplished. Opponents everywhere are well aware of Marchment&rsquo;s presence-some have the scars to prove it. &#9633;<h2>The Rap Sheet</h2>Bryan Marchment has been suspended 11 times in his NHL career for a total of 32 games. Not included is a six-game suspension incurred in the AHL in 1990.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04466/7435621-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="589" height="542"></div> &#9632;

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COLUMN

Marchment: Legal or evil?

<h2>Best of the Hockey World</h2>PLAYOFF HOPES STILL ALIVE Boston goalie Byron Dafoe returns from injury in time to lead the Bruins on a critical four-game unbeaten streak (2-0-2-0).NICE TIME TO GET HOT The New Jersey Devils establish a team record with 12 consecutive victories, led by Patrik Elias&rsquo; 10 goals and 22 points in that span.UNITED THEY STAND The United League&rsquo;s Quad City Mallards establish a new pro record by recording 50 or more wins in five straight seasons.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05368/7435680-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="372" height="631"><figcaption class="caption-body">Byron Dafoe</figcaption></div><h2>Worst of the Hockey World</h2>JOHNNY ON THE SPOT Providence goalie John Grahame is suspended two games for tossing a broken stick into the crowd in a fit of anger.DIRTY DOZEN Baton Rouge Kingfish center Mike Barrie is suspended 12 East Coast League games for his third high-sticking incident in as many outings.PLAYING LIKE DOGS A six-game winless skid in which they&rsquo;re outscored 22-11 threatens the Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; post-season aspirations.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06260/7435673-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg" title="f0006-06" width="385" height="636"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Grahame (All BBS except top by Canapress)</figcaption></div>For Mike Brophy&rsquo;s daily Cheers & Jeers visit <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

<h2>McSorley delay</h2>Enforcer Marty McSorley was cleared to play in Europe by the International Ice Hockey Federation, but the British Superleague stepped in and blocked a possible return. The league won&rsquo;t allow McSorley to join the London Knights, who are coached by his brother Chris, until next season. McSorley, 37, played 14 games in the International League this year in the hopes of catching on with an NHL team. His one-year suspension expired Feb. 21.<h2>Slap Shot 2</h2>Filming for a sequel to Slap Shot, the best movie ever made about hockey, is taking place in Vancouver and the Hanson brothers are back. Dave Hanson will again be joined by Jeff and Steve Carlson, who played his fictional brothers Jeff and Steve Hanson in the 1977 original that also featured Paul Newman. In the movie, the brothers terrorized opponents with thuggery. Gary Busey and Stephen Baldwin will star in the sequel.<h2>Goon song out</h2>A new hockey tune-Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)- sung by Warren Zevon and glorifies fighting, is getting the cold shoulder from some NHL teams. With lyrics written by Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom, the song tells the story of Canadian goon, Buddy, who&rsquo;s lured to the big leagues as a fighter. It&rsquo;s due to be released in April, but teams such as Minnesota say it doesn&rsquo;t fit their mandate for providing family entertainment.<h2>Women&rsquo;s final</h2>Dartmouth, Harvard, Minnesota-Duluth and St. Lawrence were the four schools vying for the NCAA women&rsquo;s championship March 23-24 in Minneapolis. Dartmouth was the top seed, having been ranked No. 1 in the U.S. all season. Harvard won the 1999 title and has two of three finalists for player of the year. Minnesota-Duluth is coached by former Canadian Olympic team coach Shannon Miller. St. Lawrence was considered the underdog.<h2>All-Canadians</h2>The CIAU announced its award winners. All-Canadian forwards are Alberta&rsquo;s Russ Hewson (also MVP), UQTR&rsquo;s Alex Tremblay (top rookie), York&rsquo;s Mike Williams, St. Francis Xavier&rsquo;s Yanick Evola, Manitoba&rsquo;s Marc Gaudet and St. Thomas&rsquo; Jason Sands. Defensemen include Steve Gallace (St. Mary&rsquo;s), Rob Maric (Waterloo) and Mike Garrow and Ryan Marsh (Alberta). Goalies are Luc Belanger (UQTR) and Clayton Pool (Alberta). &#9632;

INSIDE REPORT

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div>What is it about expansion teams that keeps David Poile coming back?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s neat,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;You start brand new and it&rsquo;s unique. Everything you do has your handprint on it. That&rsquo;s a real challenge and it&rsquo;s something I really wanted to do.&rdquo;.The Nashville Predators&rsquo; GM joined NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; coach Scotty Bowman as co-recipients of the Lester Patrick Award for outstanding service to hockey in the United States. They were honored at a March 23 luncheon in Manhattan.Poile, 52, had a role in bringing the NHL to three new U.S. markets-Atlanta, Washington and Nashville. As GM, his Capital teams made the playoffs in 14 of 15 seasons and went to the 1990 Stanley Cup final.Poile&rsquo;s father Bud, a GM with two expansion franchises, the Philadelphia Flyers and Vancouver Canucks, got the Patrick Award in 1989. The Poiles are one of a handful of fatherson combinations to be honored, including Bill and Arthur Wirtz; James D. and James Norris Sr.; Bruce A. and James Norris Sr.; and Weston and Charles Adams.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m indebted to my dad (who accompanied him to New York) for leading me into this game,&rdquo; Poile said, &ldquo;because it has been a great career, a great life, for me and my family.&rdquo;In his eight years as the league&rsquo;s head honcho, Bettman, 48, has presided over its expansion from 24 teams to 30. The NHL now reaches 24 American markets, eight more than it did when he took over in February, 1993.Bettman also negotiated the league&rsquo;s first U.S. national TV contract in two decades, a $600-million, five-year deal with ABC and ESPN, in 1998.Asked what he is most proud of, Bettman said he feels the NHL has &ldquo;better exposure&rdquo; than it did when he arrived, but he views his work as incomplete. He said his goal is to &ldquo;make sure our product is the best it can be and that our players work very hard on and off the ice (to make that happen).&rdquo;Bowman, 67, coaching in his 29th season and eighth with the Red Wings, has been associated with nine Cup-winning teams-he has coached eight Cup winners-and is the all-time leader in coaching wins (1,188) and playoff wins (205).Bowman, who has been an American citizen since 1991, said his reaction when told he had received the Patrick Award was, &ldquo;Not bad for a Canadian.&rdquo;He said his career has touched a lot of good American players, naming Bill Nyrop and Rod Langway from his Montreal days and Mike Ramsey, Phil Housley and Tom Barrasso from his Buffalo stint. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always had a special attachment to U.S. hockey,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

Bettman, Bowman, Poile cited with Patrick Award

<div class="byline">By THN staff</div>Thirty NHL players, including two of the greatest goal-scorers in league history, are nominees for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.Dallas Stars&rsquo; blaster Brett Hull and Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; sniper Luc Robitaille are among candidates for the award given to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. The award is named after the Minnesota North Star who is the only player to die in an on-ice incident when he hit his head on the ice in 1967.Each of the 30 chapters of the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association nominates one player from each team and a winner will be announced during the NHL awards in June.Other team nominees are Dan Bylsma, Anaheim; Ray Ferraro, Atlanta; Jason Allison, Boston; Stu Barnes, Buffalo; Dave Lowry, Calgary; Glen Wesley, Carolina; Bob Probert, Chicago; Shjon Podein, Colorado; Kevin Dineen, Columbus; Manny Legace, Detroit; Frantisek Musil, Edmonton; Serge Payer, Florida; Wes Walz, Minnesota; Stephane Robidas, Montreal; Bill Houlder, Nashville; Sergei Brylin, New Jersey; John Vanbiesbrouck, Islanders; Adam Graves, Rangers; Patrick Lalime, Ottawa; Mark Recchi, Philadelphia; Joel Bouchard, Phoenix; Ian Moran, Pittsburgh; Scott Young, St. Louis; Gary Suter, San Jose; Jassen Cullimore, Tampa Bay; Yanic Perreault, Toronto; Bob Essensa, Vancouver; and Ulf Dahlen, Washington.DRUG-TESTING AGREEMENT The NHL, NHL Players&rsquo; Association and the United States Olympic Committee reached an agreement by which all U.S. NHL players eligible for participation in the 2002 Olympics will be subject to &ldquo;no advance notice&rdquo; drug-testing protocols. The testing will be carried out by the World AntiDoping Agency for all players and will begin this summer. The testing will be aimed at detecting performance-enhancing drugs and masking agents.WOMEN BANNED Two players from the National Women&rsquo;s League have been barred from playing in the Ontario high school championship because they play at a level that skews the competition for their high school rivals.But of more importance to Gillian Apps and Heather Logan is whether playing in the National Women&rsquo;s Hockey League might damage their eligibility of playing for a U.S. college team. Ontario high school officials initially barred the two saying they played in a pro league, then later recanted saying they played in a league the equivalent of major junior.The NCAA has not yet determined whether it considers the NWHL a pro league. The NWHL does not consider itself to be professional, although players are given an allowance to cover expenses. &#9632;

Snipers Hull, Robitaille nominated for Masterton

When Vancouver captain Markus Naslund broke his leg in a game versus Buffalo, it put an end to his spectacular season. Many fans thought it also put an end to the Canucks&rsquo; playoff hopes, but that&rsquo;s not true.Naslund is their leader and best player, but they can still win without him. Vancouver isn&rsquo;t a one-man team and has other fine players such as Andrew Cassels, Todd Bertuzzi, Ed Jovanovski and the Sedins. They&rsquo;ll make the playoffs and can win a round or two.So don&rsquo;t be surprised when the Canucks keep winning, even without their MVP.Luc Villeneuve,&nbsp; Aylmer, Que.<h2>Fewer playoff teams</h2>I&rsquo;m a big hockey fan, but six months of regular season followed by nearly three months of playoffs is a little much, isn&rsquo;t it?Yes, two-thirds of the NHL&rsquo;s teams qualified for the playoffs back in the Original Six days or when there were 21 teams, but that&rsquo;s irrelevant. The season is too long and adding more playoff teams would only make it longer. (THN, March 23)If anything, I&rsquo;d suggest cutting the number of playoff teams to four per conference. The regular season would mean something, teams would play with more desperation and, come June, fans wouldn&rsquo;t be bored stiff.Wes Loroff,&nbsp; Thunder Bay, Ont.<h2>Nil-nil games can be exciting</h2>Hockey has become little more than soccer on ice due to the hooking and holding tactics that are part of the neutral-zone trap.Soccer is boring because goalies are seldom involved in the play When hockey goalies only see 1215 shots in a game, that means the game&rsquo;s flow is at a standstill.Goals are exciting, of course, but so are great saves. That&rsquo;s why frequent penalties are good for today&rsquo;s game. Make the defensemen get in position instead of using their sticks. Make skaters hustle back instead of hooking.Hockey doesn&rsquo;t need a lot of goals to be exciting; just make sure the goalies are kept busy.Frank Newman, Grapevine, Tex. &#9632;

Canucks can still go far

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011825/7435807-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div>I was puzzled when I didn&rsquo;t see Tommy Salo&rsquo;s name under the Vezina Trophy category (THN, March 23) The candidates listed are great, but Salo has been great with Edmonton and is a strong contender for the Vezina.Jared Ford, Lethbridge, Alta.If Sean Burke wins the Hart, the world must be ending. There&rsquo;s no way a goalie on a 16th-place team should win that award. He has a high save percentage? Who cares? He&rsquo;ll never lead Phoenix past the first round of the playoffs. Ever.Chris Veronica, Darien, III.Washington&rsquo;s Sergei Gonchar deserves the Norris Trophy for the great season he&rsquo;s having and playing in all situations. Give the man some credit for once.Daniel Reuben Jr., Boulder, Colo.Thank you, THN. In the March 16 statistics, Ray Bourque was listed as playing for Boston in the defenseman scoring leaders. It reminded me of the years he graced a Bruins&rsquo; jersey. I hope the Avs win the Stanley Cup this year so Bourque can retire with the ring he so richly deserves.Jason Lajoie, Plainstow, N.H.Minnesota&rsquo;s north star? Marian Gaborik. Only 19, he leads his expansion team in goals, points and his plus/minus is nearly. even. The Calder&rsquo;s going Wild!Glenn Fergus, Minneapolis<h2>READERS&rsquo; ONE-TIMERS</h2>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. &#9632;

f0008-01

Save Vezina Trophy for Oilers’ Salo

I can&rsquo;t believe only one NewJersey Devils&rsquo; player was nominated in &ldquo;Hardware Hopefuls&rdquo;-and it was John Madden for the Selke Trophy (THN, March 16).First, Martin Brodeur is easily one of the best goalies in the NHL and deserves Vezina Trophy consideration. He&rsquo;ll win around 40 games and be among the leaders in shutouts and goals-against average once again this season.And what about coach Larry Robinson for the Jack Adams Trophy? He&rsquo;s incredible and commands the players&rsquo; respect.On defense, did Scott Stevens&rsquo; name ever come up for the Norris Trophy or will he be overlooked, as usual? And rookie blueliner Colin White has been a rock, but he doesn&rsquo;t rate a mention for the Calder Trophy.It&rsquo;s time the Stanley Cup-champion Devils get the respect they deserve.Phyliss Patti-Goldberg, Ringwood, N.J.<h2>Explosive GAS line</h2>In response to the cover story &lsquo;Top of the Line,&rsquo; on the NHL&rsquo;s best lines, I can&rsquo;t believe Boston&rsquo;s &lsquo;GAS line&rsquo; of Bill Guerin, Jason Allison and Sergei Samsonov wasn&rsquo;t in the top five. (THN, March 23)All three players were in the All-Star Game this year and only two lines have more points. Any line with Mario Lemieux on it automatically gains my respect and Joe Sakic&rsquo;s line is simply awesome, but I must question some of the others.All I&rsquo;m saying is, when it comes to a blend of size, speed, talent, toughness and work ethic, these guys belong in the top five.Michael Johnson, Middleboro, Mass.<h2>Forget Detroit&hellip;until June</h2>Attention all hockey fans: Please keep ignoring the Red Wings.Continue thinking Detroit is too old and their defense is too slow and mistake-prone. Keep bashing Chris Osgood. Keep thinking that GM Ken Holland is crazy for not making a trade and that coach Scotty Bowman doesn&rsquo;t have another Stanley Cup in him.Don&rsquo;t respect them. At least not until early June, when Steve Yzerman is placing the Cup on Vlad Konstantinov&rsquo;s lap&hellip;again.Elizabeth Barbuto, Portage, Mich.<h2>Got something to say?</h2>MAIL: U.S.A.: Letters, THN, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y, 14240-9947.Canada: Letters, THN, 25 Sheppard Ave. W, Suite 100, Toronto, Ont., M2N 6S7E-MAIL: <a href="mailto:mccaigs@transcontinental.ca">mccaigs@transcontinental.ca</a> or visit <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a>. Include name, hometown, province/state and phone number. Submissions will be edited. &#9632;

Where’s Devils’ due?

As the Toronto Maple Leafs stumbled toward the end of the regular season, captain Mats Sundin&rsquo;s thoughts of a Stanley Cup didn&rsquo;t turn to dust. More like gold dust, as in Olympic gold.Sundin was one of 10 players named to Sweden&rsquo;s 2002 Olympic team for Salt Lake City. The Swedes picked eight NHLers, plus Mikael Renberg and Jorgen Jonsson, both of whom have NHL experience.&ldquo;It is great because many of us thought we gave up the dream to play in the Olympics when we turned pro,&rdquo; Sundin said.Sweden last won the gold medal at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, when Peter Forsberg scored the winning goal in a shootout against Canada.&ldquo;We shall make the large ice surface and the fact we play without the red line work to our advantage,&rdquo; said Swedish GM Anders Hedberg.Sweden&rsquo;s first game in the Olympic tournament will be Feb. 13, 2002, against Canada.This is the second Olympics in which there will be full participation of NHL players. The Czech Republic, led by Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; goalie Dominik Hasek, won gold in 1998 in Nagano, Japan, and could repeat if Hasek is on his game.<h2>THNS OLYMPIC HOCKEY GUIDE</h2>The six teams guaranteed spots in the medal round of the 2002 Olympic Games were required to name at least eight players by March 25. Only the U.S. hadn&rsquo;t as of March 23. Listed are official choices named, our projected picks for the U.S., plus Top Candidates and Others for all teams.<h2>CANADA</h2><h3>OFFICIAL PICKS</h3>D Rob BlakeD S. NiedermayerD Chris ProngerF Paul KariyaF Mario LemieuxF Owen NolanF Joe SakicF Steve Yzerman<h3>TOP CANDIDATES</h3>G Ed BelfourG Martin BrodeurG Curtis JosephG Patrick RoyD Eric DesjardinsD Adam Foote<h3>TOP CANDIDATES</h3>D Ed JovanovskiD Al MaclnnisD Scott StevensF Jason AllisonF Jason ArnottF Theoren FleuryF Simon GagneF Eric LindrosF John MaddenF Jeff O&rsquo;NeillF Mike PecaF Keith PrimeauF Mark RecchF Joe ThorntonF Pierre Turgeon<h3>OTHERS</h3>G Roberto LuongoD Ray BourqueD Dan McGillisD Derek MorrisD Wade ReddenF Todd BertuzziF V. DamphousseF Jeff FriesenF Jarome IginlaF V. LecavalierF Joe NieuwendykF B. ShanahanF Ryan SmythF Steve SullivanF Alex Tanguay<h2>UNITED STATES</h2><h3>THN PICKS</h3>D Brian LeetchF Tony AmonteF Chris DruryF Bill GuerinF Brett HullFJohn LeClairF Mike ModanoF Jeremy RoenickF Keith TkachukF Doug Weight<h3>TOP CANDIDATES</h3>G Rick DiPietroG Mike DunhamG Brent JohnsonG Mike Richter<h3>TOP CANDIDATES</h3>D Chris CheliosD Derian HatcherD Brett HedicanD Phil HousleyD Tom PotiD Brian RafalskiD M. SchneiderD Eric WeinrichF Adam DeadmarshF Scott GomezF Todd MarchantF S. McEachernF Bryan SmolinskiF Mike YorkF Scott Young<h3>OTHERS</h3>G Damian RhodesG J. VanbiesbrouckD Keith CarneyD Aaron MillerD Gary SuterF Tim ConnollyF Mike GrierF Steve HeinzeF S. KonowalchukF J. LangenbrunnerF Marty McInnisF Shjon PodeinF Brian Rolston<h2>SWEDEN</h2><h3>OFFICIAL PICKS</h3>G Tommy SaloD Niklas LidstromD Mattias OhlundD M. Norstrom FD. AlfredssonF Peter ForsbergF Jorgen JonssonF Markus NaslundF Mikael RenbergF Mats Sundin<h3>TOP CANDIDATES</h3>G Mikael TellqvistG Johan HolmqvistD Calle JohanssonD Kim Johnsson<h3>TOP CANDIDATES</h3>D Kenny JonssonD M. RagnarssonF M. ArvedssonF Ulf DahlenF Kristian HuseliusF Fredrik ModinF Michael NylanderF Daniel SedinF Henrik SedinF Niklas Sundstrom<h3>OTHERS</h3>G Johan HedbergD Tommy AlbelinD Anders ErikssonD Niclas Havelid<h3>OTHERS</h3>D Hans JonssonD Fredrik OlaussonD Peter PopovicF RJ. AxelssonF Andreas DackellF Jonas HoglundF T. HolmstromF Mikael JohanssonF Andreas KarlssonF Patrie KjellbergF Henrik Zetterberg<h2>THN&rsquo;S SEVENTH TEAM: SLOVAKIA</h2>Six teams are guaranteed berths in the Final Round-Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden and the U.S. Eight other nationsled by Slovakia and Switzerland-play in a Preliminary Round to earn one of two spots in the Final Round. Listed are our picks for Slovakia&rsquo;s top eight players, plus Top Candidates and Others.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011719/7435883-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="761" height="656"><figcaption class="caption-body">Martin Straka, Czech Republic</figcaption></div><h2>CZECH REPUBLIC</h2><h3>OFFICIAL PICKS</h3>G Dominik HasekD Petr SvobodaF Radek BonkF Patrik EliasF Milan HejdukF Jaromir JagrF Martin RucinskyF Martin StrakaF Petr Sykora<h3>TOP CANDIDATES</h3>G R. CechmanekG Roman TurekD Roman HamrlikD Frantisek KaberieD Tomas Kaberie<h3>TOP CANDIDATES</h3>D Pavel KubinaD Martin SkoulaD Jiri SlegrD Richard SmehlikD Jarsolav SpacekF Jiri DopitaF Radek DvorakF Martin HavlatF Jan HlavacF Bobby HolikF Jan HrdinaF Robert Lang<h3>OTHERS</h3>G Milan HnilickaG Tomas Vokoun<h3>OTHERS</h3>D Ladislav BenysekD Filip KubaD Frantisek KuceraD Marek MalikD Jaroslav ModtyD Michal SykoraF Josef BeranekF Michal BrosF Pavel PateraF Robert RetchelF Vaclav VaradaF Josef VasicekF Tomas VlasakF David Vybomy<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021189/7435876-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="758" height="652"><figcaption class="caption-body">Saku Koivu, Finland</figcaption></div><h2>FINLAND</h2><h3>OFFICIAL PICKS</h3>D Janne NiinimaaD Teppo NumminenD Kimmo TimmonenF Sami KapanenF Saku KoivuFJere LehtinenF Teemu SelanneF Juha Ylonen<h3>TOP CANDIDATES</h3>G Jani HurmeG Miikka KiprusoffG Mika NoronenG Pasi NurminenD Janne LaukkanenD Jyrki Lumme<h3>TOP CANDIDATES</h3>D Sami SaloD Ossi VaananenF Mika AlataloF Mikko ElorantaF Jukka HentunenF Tomi KallioF Antti LaaksonenF Ville NieminenF Kimmo Rintanen<h3>OTHERS</h3>G Ari SulanderG Vesa ToskalaD Aki BergD Sami HeleniusD Jere Karalahti<h3>OTHERS</h3>D Jarno KultanenD Toni LydmanD Antti-Jussi NiemiD Petteri NummelinF Antti AaltoF Raimo HelminenF Olli JokinenF Niko KapanenF Juha LindF Ville PeltonenF Jarkko RuuttuF Marfo TuomainenF Tony Virta<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03725/7435869-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg" title="f0009-03" width="758" height="651"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nikolai Khabibulin, Russia</figcaption></div><h2>RUSSIA</h2><h3>OFFICIAL PICKS</h3>G N. KhabibulinD Sergei GoncharD D. KasparaitisD. TushkevichD Oleg TverdovskyF Pavel BureF Alexei KovalevF Alexei Yashin<h3>TOP CANDIDATES</h3>G Vadim TarasovD Dmitri KalininD Alex KarpovtsevD V. MalakhovD Igor UlanovD Alexei Zhitnik<h3>TOP CANDIDATES</h3>D Sergei ZubovF Maxim AfinogenovF Valeri BureF Sergei BrylinF Sergei BerezinF Sergei FedorovF Valeri KamenskyF Dmitri KhristichF Igor KorolevF Slava KozlovF Igor LarionovF Alexander MogjlnyF Andrei NikolishinF Sergei SamsonovF Alexei Zhamnov<h3>OTHERS</h3>G Ilia BryzgalovG Egor PodomatskiD A. KhavanovD Igor KravchukD Andrei MarkovD Danny MarkovD Boris MironovD Vitaly VishnevskiF Andrei KovalenkoF Viktor KozlovF Oleg Petrov<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-04559/7435862-1-eng-US/f0009-042.jpg" title="f0009-04" width="760" height="654"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marian Hossa, Slovakia</figcaption></div><h2>SLOVAKIA</h2><h3>THN PICKS</h3>D Zdeno CharaD Lubomir MsnovskyF Peter BondraF Pavol DemitraF Michal HandzusF Marian HossaFZigmund PalffyF Miroslav SatanF Jozef Stumpel<h3>TOP CANDIDATES</h3>G Jan LasakG Pavol RybarG Rastislav StanaD Richard LintnerD Branislav Mezei<h3>TOP CANDIDATES</h3>D Lubomir SekerasD Radoslav SuchyD Robert SvehlaF Lubos BarteckoF Zdeno CigerF Marian CisarF Marian GaborikF Ladislav NagyF Richard Zednik<h3>OTHERS</h3>G Robert FileD Jaroslav ObsutD Ivan DroppaD Kristian KudrocD Peter Smrek<h3>OTHERS</h3>F Peter BartosF Ronald PetrovichF Peter PodhradskF Robert TomikF Juraj KolnikF Jan PardavyF Vlast PlavuchaF Peter Pucher &#9632;

f0009-01

FEATURES

Olympic dream alive for Sundin

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy Senior Writer</div>Paul Coffey has discovered the same thing most players do after being away from the game for a while-life at home isn&rsquo;t so bad.&ldquo;Being in the NHL is the greatest job,&rdquo; said the 40-year-old future Hall of Famer. &ldquo;Having said that, there&rsquo;s nothing better than spending time with your kids, your family.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s what Coffey has been doing since being released Dec. 7 by the Boston Bruins, his ninth NHL team. Coffey, his wife Stephanie, daughter Savannah, 5, and son Blake, 3, remain in the Boston area, though they are making plans to return home to Toronto. If Coffey had his way, it would be to join the Maple Leafs for a playoff run (assuming the stumbling Leafs make the playoffs). But that&rsquo;s highly unlikely.Coffey has resigned himself to not playing again this season, but hasn&rsquo;t yet committed to hanging up the blades. He said he had inquiries from a few teams after parting with the Bruins, but the lure of spending time with his kids was a determining factor in his remaining on the sidelines.If Coffey has played his last NHL game-and that appears to be the case-he leaves the sport with apologies owed to nobody. He&rsquo;s No. 2 in all-time defensemen scoring behind Colorado&rsquo;s Ray Bourque and ninth overall in points with 1,531; No. 2 among defensemen and third overall in assists with 1,135; and No. 2 among defensemen and 64th all-time in goals with 396.At 6-feet and 200 pounds, Coffey&rsquo;s game was never about size and intimidation. His defensive play never approached his offensive dominance. But he was one of the most beautiful skaters the league has ever seen and will forever be remembered for his effortless end-to-end dashes and masterful control on the power play point.Coffey won the Norris Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s best defenseman three times. He was a first-team all-star four times and a second-teamer four times.You could go on and on about Coffey&rsquo;s accomplishments-it&rsquo;s hard to imagine a defenseman ever breaking his record of 48 goals in a season, set in 1985-86-but perhaps his biggest achievement was being a member of four Stanley Cup championship teams, three with Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s Edmonton Oilers and one with Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s Pittsburgh Penguins.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011795/7435921-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="996" height="1873"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Coffey</figcaption></div>Coffey also helped Canada win three Canada Cups.Coffey&rsquo;s best offensive seasons were in Edmonton and Pittsburgh, as he topped the 100-point plateau five times in his first 10 seasons. He maintained a point-per-game average during a year in Los Angeles and three-and-a-half seasons in Detroit before seeing his production wane in 1996-97 at age 35 with Hartford. Coffey also had stints in Philadelphia and Chicago before an impressive 1999-2000 in Carolina.He scored 11 goals-just two fewer than in the three previous seasons-and 40 points last year. His play was so inspired that when he became a free agent, the Bruins came calling. &ldquo;Paul Coffey was great for our team,&rdquo; said Carolina coach Paul Maurice. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if he gets credit for this because he has played with so many amazing players, but he&rsquo;s a great pro. He was always one of the first guys at the rink and never wanted to take a day off. I look at David Tanabe, who is having a great year, and think about what a great influence Paul was on him.&rdquo;Coffey&rsquo;s tenure in Boston-which amounted to little more than an audition-was a failure. In 18 games he had just four points, all assists. The Bruins had pretty much decided to buy out Coffey when they fired coach Pat Burns and replaced him with Mike Keenan.Since Coffey had played under Keenan in Canada Cup competition, the Bruins held on to him a little longer to see if the change in coaches would inspire a better effort. Ultimately, he was released.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to make excuses,&rdquo; Coffey said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t get it going. I&rsquo;m traditionally a slow starter-it&rsquo;s something (ex-Oilers&rsquo; GM) Glen (Sather) used to get on me about all the time.&rdquo;As comfortable as he has grown staying at home with his family, there is still a huge part of him that longs to return.&ldquo;In today&rsquo;s NHL, you never know,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s still a possibility. A team gets into injury trouble and Paul could be back in the league.&rdquo;Said Coffey: &ldquo;I still feel I can help a team. Hockey will always be in my blood. At some point I&rsquo;d like to give something back to the game that has been so good to me.&rdquo; &#9633;<h2>Blueline Offensive</h2>Paul Coffey is second only to Bobby Orr in points-per-game productivity by defensemen in NHL history. The two are the only blueliners from the eight who have more than 900 points to average more than a point per game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021306/7435914-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="617" height="393"></div> &#9632;

f0010-01

A Coffey break, or time to retire?

<div class="byline">By Murray Townsend</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011615/7436120-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">CHASING THE DREAM For Ottawa and Buffalo, success this season means advancing deep into the playoffs.</figcaption></div><h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021145/7436113-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="1133" height="436"></div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03762/7436106-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="1147" height="432"></div><h2>CAROLINA HURRICANES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-04588/7436099-1-eng-US/f0011-042.jpg" title="f0011-04" width="1155" height="435"></div>It didn&rsquo;t take a genius to invent the system we use for playoff hockey pool projections. I should know because I devised it.It&rsquo;s so simple, I&rsquo;m kind of embarrassed I didn&rsquo;t come up with something more complicated. The problem is it works, so there&rsquo;s not much point in making it more difficult to understand.The system is explained on pg. 12, but it basically involves multiplying a player&rsquo;s points per game by the number of playoff games he&rsquo;s expected to play. Doing that gives you an automatic list, so if you pick the right teams to win in the post-season, you can&rsquo;t lose.But, there are adjustments to be made and strategies to consider.The key for your playoff pool is to pick teams, before you even think about players. There&rsquo;s not much use getting a good scorer for four or five games, unless maybe it&rsquo;s Mario Lemieux or Jaromir Jagr.When trying to determine the series&rsquo; winners, there are a number of supposed indicators that we&rsquo;ve learned are false.<h2>COLORADO AVALANCHE</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-05469/7436092-1-eng-US/f0011-052.jpg" title="f0011-05" width="1161" height="435"></div><h2>DALLAS STARS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-06404/7436085-1-eng-US/f0011-062.jpg" title="f0011-06" width="1157" height="432"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-07363/7436078-1-eng-US/f0011-072.jpg" title="f0011-07" width="1152" height="434"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011745/7436071-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="1130" height="444"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021386/7436064-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="1140" height="436"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03896/7436057-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="1132" height="438"></div><h2>OTTAWA SENATORS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05374/7436050-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="1141" height="439"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-06303/7436043-1-eng-US/f0012-062.jpg" title="f0012-06" width="831" height="1262"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Forsberg, a premier playoff performer, leads an all-star cast in Colorado.</figcaption></div>Season series, for example, means nothing. You learn more from losing than winning and some teams are better suited for the playoffs than others.Home-ice advantage is minimal. One thing that boggles the mind is that when a team loses at home, analysts report they have lost their &ldquo;home-ice advantage.&rdquo; This is a terrible thing, apparently, losing something they never had. Since they just lost at home, where exactly was the advantage?Late-season momentum has also proved to be of no value. The playoffs, after all, are a whole new season.One good strategy for picking series winners is to look for hungry teams, good teams that were disappointed in the playoffs the previous season and have something to prove.Last year, for example, New Jersey won the Stanley Cup after losing in the first round the previous season. When Colorado won in 1996, they, too, had been knocked out in the first round the playoffs before. Keeping this in mind, look out for St. Louis and Washington, both of which had surprise early exits last season.One proven strategy is putting all your pucks in two baskets. What will happen at your draft is the good players from the top teams will go early.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-07260/7436036-1-eng-US/f0012-072.jpg" title="f0012-07" width="1327" height="1520"><figcaption class="caption-body">Edmonton&rsquo;s rugged Ryan Smyth knows where he scores most of his goals.</figcaption></div>If, however, you pick secondary teams, one from each conference, that you think have a chance, then you&rsquo;re going to get more of their top players. If the teams you choose win, you&rsquo;re going to win your pool because you&rsquo;re going to have the best players from those teams. If they lose, you&rsquo;re done, but having your picks spread around different teams isn&rsquo;t going to win your pool either, because it&rsquo;s the person at the end who has the most players remaining who usually wins.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-08221/7436029-1-eng-US/f0012-082.jpg" title="f0012-08" width="833" height="1270"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Devils&rsquo; Brian Rafalski and the B&rsquo;s Jason Allison may see a lot of each other in the first round.</figcaption></div>And if you&rsquo;re determmed to pick defensemen-a little risky due to the defense-first philosophy that abounds in the playoffs-make sure they&rsquo;re on the power play, preferably the first unit.Statistics in our player lists include points this year, points per game this year an career playoff games and points. New this year are comments on each player. There are 12 players listed per team and they appear in projected order of playoff scoring.Depth charts and power plays are extremely important for your playoff pool. Make sure to look for our special 16-page playoff preview next week to get all the data you need to be successful in your pool. And, remember, be careful out there. &#9633;<h2>How to use our tables</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-09180/7436022-1-eng-US/f0012-092.jpg" title="f0012-09" width="216" height="204"></div>Former Pittsburgh coach Gene Ubriaco once said coaching Mario Lemieux and Paul Coffey was like trying to teach table manners to a shark. Well, if you want to be a shark in your pool, you&rsquo;d be well-advised to learn our table etiquette. Here it is:1. After the playoff matchups are set, predict how many series you think each team will play and multiply that by six (average number of games per series).2. Multiply that total by each player&rsquo;s points-per-game average.3. Make adjustments for such things as power play time and playoff scoring history.<h2>Get pool help at</h2><a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a>Want to score in your pool? Try going to the Net. In particular, visit <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a>, where, in the days prior to the start of the playoffs, we&rsquo;ll provide an Excel spreadsheet that will facilitate your list-making.On the spreadsheet, we&rsquo;ll provide the names of players headed to the playoffs and their points per game this season. Once the matchups are set, you simply have to plug in the number of games you expect each team to play do a sort and you&rsquo;ll have an automatic list in about five minutes.<h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011738/7436015-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="1157" height="435"></div><h2>PHOENIX COYOTES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021305/7436008-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="1159" height="438"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03895/7436001-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="1152" height="435"></div><h2>SAN JOSE SHARKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04610/7435994-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="1092" height="442"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-05408/7435987-1-eng-US/f0014-052.jpg" title="f0014-05" width="642" height="1000"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Maple Leafs hope Gary Roberts&rsquo; gritty style is rewarded in the playoffs.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-06323/7435980-1-eng-US/f0014-062.jpg" title="f0014-06" width="648" height="976"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pierre Turgeon&rsquo;s Blues are one of several stacked teams in the west.</figcaption></div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-07262/7435973-1-eng-US/f0014-072.jpg" title="f0014-07" width="1158" height="437"></div><h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-08217/7435966-1-eng-US/f0014-082.jpg" title="f0014-08" width="1149" height="442"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-09193/7435959-1-eng-US/f0014-092.jpg" title="f0014-09" width="1133" height="437"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-10174/7435952-1-eng-US/f0014-102.jpg" title="f0014-10" width="1143" height="439"></div> &#9632;

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COVER STORY

Pool’s gold: How to win

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Subscribe & get more than the highlights

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-18166/7436196-1-eng-US/f0016-182.jpg" title="f0016-18" width="298" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter McNab as a Bruin</figcaption></div>He doesn&rsquo;t grow a beard. He changes his undershirt. There&rsquo;s no such thing as a lucky tie.It doesn&rsquo;t make a difference if he drives the same way to the rink each night or eats the same pre-game meal. He won&rsquo;t stay at a hotel during home games to avoid the distractions from family and friends. Frankly, we&rsquo;d wonder about him if he did, because Peter McNab retired from the NHL 14 years ago.But McNab, the long-time Boston center who played in back-to-back Stanley Cup finals in 1978 and 1979, has developed one playoff ritual in his reincarnation as TV analyst for the Colorado Avalanche. No matter how prepared a playoff novice thinks he is, McNab says, the speedy unrelenting go-for-broke, shot-blocking, smash-mouth intensity of the post-season has to be experienced to be believed.&ldquo;My favorite thing-and it&rsquo;s almost unfair because I know they&rsquo;re going to be ambushed,&rdquo; McNab says, &ldquo;is to go to the rookie kids after the first or second playoff game and just say, &lsquo;Geez, uh, how&rsquo;s it going?&rsquo; It&rsquo;s unbelievable.&rdquo;They might shake their heads in amazement. Maybe they look up and give a grin or a guilty nod as if to say, &lsquo;I expected things to be different, but no way did I think it would be like this.&rsquo;No great surprise there. The snow is melting before most rookies feel they&rsquo;ve got a handle on the NHL grind, the pressure, the demand for consistency. And then the playoffs roll around and a 33 rpm season suddenly shifts into 45.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll come in with what they think is an elevated attitude,&rdquo; McNab says, &ldquo;and they&rsquo;ll walk in and right from morning skate to before the first game they realize, &lsquo;Oh my god, I&rsquo;m not where the rest of these guys are.&rsquo;&rdquo;McNab has been there. In his first two playoff seasons, 1975 and 1976 with Buffalo and Boston respectively, he had two goals and eight points in 25 games. Over the next six seasons he averaged better than a point a game in the postseason to finish with 66 points in 68 games. His personal high point came in 1978, when his 19 playoff points for Boston were fourth in the league behind Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson and his Bruins&rsquo; teammate Brad Park.That was the second year of three consecutive playoff losses to the stacked Canadiens. The series scores were 4-0 in 1977 and 4-2 in &lsquo;78-both in the finals&mdash;and 4-3 in the famous &ldquo;too many men&rdquo; semifinal in 1979. McNab still fumbles for words trying to describe how the Bruins felt after that one.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I will ever have a three-year experience in my life that taught me so much, taught me about respect and honor and working hard and doing all those things,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But then on the other side, the devastation. I didn&rsquo;t realize losing could hurt so much. It was overwhelming.&rdquo;Overwhelming because ot all that goes into it. The playoffs are Randy McKay making space for himself in the corner with the cold stare of an assassin. The playoffs are Mike Ricci&rsquo;s face, proof enough to any border guard he has been through a war zone. It&rsquo;s the heart inside Mike Keane, a smallish grinder who can&rsquo;t do anything exceptional except win. It&rsquo;s the brain of Claude Lemieux. Yes, the brain. He believes the playoffs are more important than the regular season and his body has another level to give. It always does.&ldquo;I think you have to approach it differently,&rdquo; Lemieux says. &ldquo;You have to put yourself in a position before every game like you&rsquo;re going to play where it&rsquo;s do or die. It&rsquo;s impossible to put yourself through that for 82 games a season.&rdquo;Peter&rsquo;s Perfect Playoff Player doesn&rsquo;t include a body part from Forsberg or. Modano or Yzerman or any other superstar. The bright lights get plenty of recognition elsewhere.Notice, too, this is a frosh-free zone. We&rsquo;re not just talking no first-year players; we mean no first-year playoff players.&ldquo;You may go two games and only get one scoring chance,&rdquo; McNab says, &ldquo;and if you fall asleep when you&rsquo;re one chance comes, you may blow the game.&rdquo;If you make good on the chance, it can send a career skyrocketing. That&rsquo;s what happened to Milan Hejduk during his rookie season in the spring of 1999. The Avs&rsquo; right winger scored two overtime goals against San Jose, one in Game 7, and started to believe he could play in the league. His goal total the next season jumped from 14 to 36.&ldquo;And those are the kind of things that make it so tough when your team doesn&rsquo;t make the playoffs and you get these young kids that aren&rsquo;t getting that kind of experience,&rdquo; McNab says.For some it won&rsquo;t matter. Some guys are destined to be regular season players. That&rsquo;s just the way it is.Early in McNab&rsquo;s day, the top eight playoff teams received a first-round bye. Later all teams played a best-of-three preliminary round of one versus 16, two versus 15 and so on. Either way, the first round wasn&rsquo;t much of a battle for top teams. Now a team like Colorado can win the conference and still face a team eight or nine games over.500 in Round 1.And that&rsquo;s just the start. A guy could fly to Nepal, scale Everest, write a book and hit the best-seller list in less time than it takes to win the Cup.&ldquo;Every other day for two months, that&rsquo;s the part that kills me,&rdquo; McNab says. &ldquo;How do you do that? And some players are just magnificent in their ability to have something every night. Guys in the playoffs, their personalities change. They cannot let down. They can&rsquo;t let their bodies think that they&rsquo;re hurt, they can&rsquo;t let their minds think that they&rsquo;re tired.&rdquo;So it&rsquo;s not just about having the body parts to use. You&rsquo;ve got to make them come alive. You have to bring them every night and leave them at the rink empty like a wasted shell. Then sleep. Breathe some. Eat. Come back two days later and do it again. Two months.Then maybe you get to take Stanley home for a night. &#9633;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011526/7436315-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="197" height="304"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lemieux HEAD</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021178/7436308-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="191" height="310"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ricci FACE</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03885/7436301-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="191" height="308"><figcaption class="caption-body">McKay EYES</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04663/7436294-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="197" height="312"><figcaption class="caption-body">Holmstrom NOSE</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05477/7436287-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="191" height="310"><figcaption class="caption-body">Richardson BEARD</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06401/7436280-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="193" height="314"><figcaption class="caption-body">Thomas THROAT</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07364/7436273-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="191" height="312"><figcaption class="caption-body">Witt SHOULDERS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08323/7436266-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="190" height="316"><figcaption class="caption-body">Holik CHEST</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09285/7436259-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="194" height="318"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keane HEART</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-10261/7436252-1-eng-US/f0016-102.jpg" title="f0016-10" width="190" height="313"><figcaption class="caption-body">DiMaio ELBOWS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-11245/7436245-1-eng-US/f0016-112.jpg" title="f0016-11" width="186" height="315"><figcaption class="caption-body">Young WRISTS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-12226/7436238-1-eng-US/f0016-122.jpg" title="f0016-12" width="196" height="309"><figcaption class="caption-body">Barnes HANDS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-13210/7436231-1-eng-US/f0016-132.jpg" title="f0016-13" width="186" height="313"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kasparaitis HIPS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-14200/7436224-1-eng-US/f0016-142.jpg" title="f0016-14" width="196" height="309"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marchant LEGS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-15187/7436217-1-eng-US/f0016-152.jpg" title="f0016-15" width="188" height="301"><figcaption class="caption-body">Baron SHINS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-16182/7436210-1-eng-US/f0016-162.jpg" title="f0016-16" width="194" height="311"><figcaption class="caption-body">McEachern FEET</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-17173/7436203-1-eng-US/f0016-172.jpg" title="f0016-17" width="184" height="308"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ulanov STITCHES</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011369/7436189-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="3151" height="3602"><figcaption class="caption-body">HEAD: Claude Lemieux Coyote&rsquo;s brain hard-wired to increase sensory perception from mid-April to mid-June.FACE: Mike Ricci Rugged Shark&rsquo;s mug the reason good mothers everywhere won&rsquo;t let their sons take up the game.BEARD: Luke Richardson Veteran Flyer defenseman grows post-season facial hair as hard as he clears the front of the net.SHOULDERS: Brendan Witt Thunderous upper-body impacts with Capital defenseman have sent hundreds into orbit.CHEST: Bobby Holik The big Devils&rsquo; logo is often the last thing opponents see before they get steamrolled by the Jersey center.ELBOWS: Rob DiMaio The Hurricanes&rsquo; winger will have his elbows up in somebody&rsquo;s face if that&rsquo;s what it takes.LEGS: Todd Marchant Awesome power source for Oiler, one of the league&rsquo;s fastest, pictureperfect skaters.SHINS: Murray Baron Plastic inside Canuck&rsquo;s hockey socks blocks more shots than some goal-tenders&rsquo; pads.FEET: Shawn McEachern Senators&rsquo; winger packs one-two punch of dangerous speed and sturdiness on the puck.EYES: Randy McKay Devils&rsquo; winger has look that growls, &ldquo;Get your own damn puck, this one is mine.&rdquo;NOSE: Tomas Holmstrom Red Wings&rsquo; modern day Dino Ciccarelli follows scent to opposition&rsquo;s net.THROAT: Steve Thomas Gritty Maple I^eafs&rsquo; leader has 12 goals in past two playoff years, proving he doesn&rsquo;t choke.STITCHES: Igor Ulanov Who else but the Oiler to hold it all together? He has seen more sewing needles than a seamstress.HEART: Mike Keane What keeps the Stars winning when their play says they should be golfing.WRISTS: Scott Young Where the wicked wrist, snap and slapshots are born for the St. Louis winger.HIPS: Darius Kasparaitis Penguin&rsquo;s squat, powerful, low-to-the-ground posterior classic example of &ldquo;hockey ass.&rdquo;HANDS: Stu Barnes Supple stick control allows shifty Sabre center to have fantastic puck skills.(All photos BBS; digital montage by Matthew Blackett/THN)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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PETER’S perfect playoff PLAYERS

<div class="byline">By Alan Adams</div>There are two paintings Sami Jo Small is dying to do, but she&rsquo;s not about to jinx herself or her teammates by doing them.Small, 26, has a degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, but rather than get bogged down in industrial design, she loves to get lost in her art. Small paints acrylics of hockey scenes (friends and teammates) and there&rsquo;s nothing more she&rsquo;d like to have than her own one-goalie show.She has dreamed of two paintings that would serve as the focal point of the exhibit. One is of Small and her teammates on Canada&rsquo;s national women&rsquo;s team successfully defending their world title in Minneapolis in April. The other is Canada mining gold at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake CityBut Small, who along with Kim St-Pierre form Canada&rsquo;s goaltending tandem going into the world tournament, hasn&rsquo;t started to etch her ideas. There are no works in progress here because she knows how easy i would be for Canada to lose one-or both-of the two major events in women&rsquo;s international hockey.&ldquo;It would have to be reality before I can paint it,&rdquo; Small said.And if Canada is going to have any success-with gold bein the only color that counts-on the world stage, Small will play a big part. Goaltending has historically been one of Canada&rsquo;s strong suits and it&rsquo;s no different heading into the world champ onship. Coach Danielle Sauvageau knows Small and St-Pierre are Nos. 1 and 1A on any given day, which means both will see action in the eight-country event.And that suits the bubbly Small just fine.When she began playing hockey while growing up in Winnipeg, Small never dreamed she&rsquo;d be preparing for her second world championship, all the while keeping an eye on the 2002 Olympics.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011407/7436374-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="997" height="1117"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sami Jo Small dreams of sweeping worlds, Olympics. (S. Watcher?BBS)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It is all a dream and everybody I talk to who has gone on to be successful engineers and doctors, they are jealous of the fact that I am living out a dream,&rdquo; Small said. &ldquo;I never will have any regrets. If I die tomorrow, I know I have lived each day to its fullest and that is what hockey has created for me.&rdquo;Small got her start in hockey by following her brother to the neighborhood rink. One day, his team was short of players and she accepted the invitation to play-&rsquo; and ended up finishing the season. A few years later, she slipped on her first pair of goalie pads and was hooked. &ldquo;I just loved the equipment and I loved dressing up in the equipment,&rdquo; she said.Small attended Stanford University on a track and field scholarship and tended goal for the men&rsquo;s hockey club for four years. The team competes in the Pac-10 Conference against teams from UCLA, USC and Oregon, but is not on the same level as NCAA powers such as Maine, Michigan and Boston College.Small was the alternate goalie on Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team which won silver at the 1998 Winter Games. Last year, her rise through the ranks was completed when she backstopped Canada to the world championship gold medal.&ldquo;She is big and she is strong and she is not afraid of playing,&rdquo; Sauvageau said.Added teammate Therese Brisson: &ldquo;The thing about Sami is she&rsquo;s a gamer. She always shows up for those big games and she is able to make the big stops with a smile on her face.&rdquo;Having fun is an important part of Small&rsquo;s life. There used to be a time when she&rsquo;d take the game home with her and agonize over it. But it&rsquo;s hard to paint when the creative juices are stymied by frustration. &ldquo;And I love to paint,&rdquo; she said. &#9633;<h2>CANADA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021054/7436367-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="650" height="377"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03742/7436360-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="312" height="447"><figcaption class="caption-body">Therese Brisson</figcaption></div><h3>LEGEND</h3>&bull; 2000 Players who took part in the 2000 World Championship are denoted with&bull; Club 2000-01 team&bull; Stats 2000-01 statistics with club team<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04478/7436353-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="320" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cassie Campbell (Gerry Thomas)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05314/7436346-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="1845" height="1243"></div> &#9632;

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Big opportunity for Small

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Alan Adams</div>Canada, the U.S. and Finland.There you have it, the medalists in the 2001 International Ice Hockey Federation Women&rsquo;s World Championship in Minn-eapolis/St. Paul from April 2-8.This prediction is based on one simple fact. Canada is the sixtime defending champion, while the USA has wound up second six straight times and Finland has half-a-dozen bronzes.And there&rsquo;s no reason to think any of the other five countries-Sweden, Russia, Germany, Kazakstan and China-will bump the top three from the podium.The Canadians and Americans are the top two teams and the margin between them is paper-thin. What will likely end up determining the winner are special teams and goaltending. The U.S. probably has the best power play in the world, but the Canadian goalies are solid and stingy.The world championship is the final event on the women&rsquo;s calendar prior to the Winter Games in Salt Lake City. The 2000 worlds in Mississauga, Ont., last April served as the qualification and seeding for the Olympics.Here&rsquo;s a glimpse at the eight teams in the tournament:CANADA Hayley Wickenheiser, one of the best female players in the world, is doubtfill after hurting her right knee at the Canadian championships in March.UNITED STATES Tara Mounsey is out with a knee injury; leading scorer Krissy Wendell is recovering from mononucleosis; and Jenny Schmidgall had a baby in January and is out indefinitely.FINLAND The Finns are rebuilding, but have depth and won&rsquo;t drop in the pecking order. Missing is Kirsi Hanninen, one of the best defenders in the world.SWEDEN They&rsquo;re the most improved team and have a gem in 15-year-old goalie Kim Martin.CHINA The Chinese are part of the second tier and will be looking to improve on their sixthplace finish of a year ago.GERMANY Their best performance at four worlds is seventh and there&rsquo;s no reason to think they&rsquo;re about to move up.RUSSIA Women&rsquo;s hockey isn&rsquo;t a priority in Russia and national team members are still learning the team game and systems.KAZAKSTAN Not much is known about the newcomers to the &lsquo;A&rsquo; pool (they replaced Japan) and even less is expected. &#9632;

Canadian women seek gold No. 7

<div class="byline">By Alan Adams</div>Angela Ruggiero has always been the muscle on her hockey team.Growing up in California, she was the only girl on a boy&rsquo;s team and was an easy target. Guys would go out of their way to run her in a corner, but being a bruising blueliner, she&rsquo;d make a mental note of their number and repay the favor on the next shift.&ldquo;And lucky for me, I grew faster than the guys so when checking was introduced I was pretty much the enforcer on the team,&rdquo; said Ruggiero, a 21-year-old standout defender for Team USA. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t the resident goon, but I could hit.&rdquo;And although there&rsquo;s a no-hitting rule in women&rsquo;s hockey (body checking gets you two minutes in the penalty box), Ruggiero still likes to play the body if she can. She likes lining up the opposition-especially if they are Canadian-but she&rsquo;s no Bryan Marchment. She plays fair and hard.&ldquo;I do not like to run people over; I am just an aggressive player and I never go out of my way to hit someone,&rdquo; said Ruggiero, who at 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds can dominate a blueline. &ldquo;It is part of my game and especially being a defensive player and with the aggressive forwards on Canada, I tend to get in a little more body contact in those games.&ldquo;But I would not define my game by it. I am one of the biggest players on the U.S. team and with that I have to be aggressive.&rdquo;Team USA coach Ben Smith has come to appreciate Ruggiero&rsquo;s presence on the blueline. While she can play a physical game, she also has an arsenal of offensive skills that can dazzle.&ldquo;She has size and strength, which is practically an understatement,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;But her grace, her balance, her agility, her hands, her co-ordination, all the things that go into being a good athlete, she has. She has to hold back in this sport (because of the no-hitting rule) so that takes a lot of balance and grace. She is a big kid and covers a lot of area and is around the puck a lot so she has to be careful.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011301/7436457-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="994" height="1114"><figcaption class="caption-body">Angelo Ruggiero is one of the best athletes on Team USA. (Gerry Thomas)</figcaption></div>Her father, Bill, played recreational hockey in Connecticut before he moved to California as a teen. He introduced the sport to his children and Angela was on the ice by the age of seven.Eight years later, she was picked to play on the U.S. national team. When Ruggiero was 18, she won a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.After Nagano, Ruggiero finished high school and headed east to Boston, where she was enrolled at Harvard University.But last summer, she put her college education on hold to pursue a world title, which would be a first for Team USA, along with defending her Olympic crown.&ldquo;I was supposed to be a junior (at Harvard) this year and when I return in two years, all my friends and everyone I know will be gone and it will be a completely new school,&rdquo; she said.&ldquo;Harvard was hard to give up and it was a tough decision last summer. But I am glad I decided to train with the U.S. team. We want to win a gold at the Olympics and everyone on the team has had to sacrifice something, be it relationships, school, a job. Everyone has had to risk something and we all hope it turns out.&rdquo;Ruggiero has developed into a player Smith wants on the ice in the last minute of a game.&ldquo;When you see her athleticism, you can see that women&rsquo;s hockey is lucky somebody gave her a pair of skates, because if it wasn&rsquo;t a pair of skates, it would be something else. She was going to be a world-class athlete one way or another.&rdquo; &#9633;<h2>USA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02957/7436450-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="643" height="376"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03641/7436443-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="313" height="447"><figcaption class="caption-body">Krissy Wendell</figcaption></div><h2>NOTABLE</h2>USA Hockey had yet to name its roster of 18 skaters and two goalies for the 2000 World Championship; the full 26-player American roster is listed.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04490/7436436-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="310" height="447"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cammi Granato (S. Watcher/BBS)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05368/7436429-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="1829" height="1228"></div> &#9632;

f0019-01

Putting the rugged in Ruggiero

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01953/7436519-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="217" height="246"></div>A marked defensive improvement since the allstar break gave the Mighty Ducks reason to think they might salvage something tangible from the final third of the regular season.After giving up an average of 3.09 goals per game through their first 55 outings, which produced a miserable 16-29-6-4 record, the Ducks limited opponents to just 2.32 goals per game over a stretch of 19 contests.That sequence ended abruptly, however, in an 8-0 blowout loss at Dallas March 21.Still, Anaheim had strung together an 8-8-2-1 record before that fiasco.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve made big strides as a team,&rdquo; said coach Guy Charron &ldquo;Now, when we go into any game, I&rsquo;m more confident because I believe the players have bought into how they have to play. The key to anything you try to integrate as a team, what makes them believers, is success.&rdquo;At the same time, Anaheim improved its offense slightly, from 2.31 goals per game before the break to 2.42 in the next 19 games.ANALYSIS After finishing last in the NHL with a 79.1 per cent penalty-killing success rate a year ago, Anaheim was a mere 80.3 per cent through 55 games this season.But the Ducks foiled opposition power plays at an 88.4 percent clip over the next 19 games, a figure that would have led the league if maintained for the whole season.GOALTENDING With the acquisition of Steve Shields and the mostly stellar play of Jean-Sebastien Giguere since he assumed the leading role in February, the Ducks appear set for a healthy and potentially rewarding goaltending competition next season.Until being scorched for six goals by the Stars, Giguere was among the league leaders in victories (eight), goals-against average (2.09), save percentage (.929) and shutouts (four) since the break.NOTEBOOK Newly acquired goaltender Steve Shields expected to be fully recovered within three to four months after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder March 14&hellip;A 4-1 loss at Ottawa on March 16 officially eliminated the Ducks from Stanley Cup playoff contention. &#9632;

f0021-01

NHL TEAM REPORTS

Ducks’ ‘D’ stingy until hitting Big-D

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Jeff Schultz</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02567/7436550-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stu Barnes has been a heart and soul player for Buffalo this year.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03338/7436557-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="221" height="258"></div>The Thrashers took a huge step back when right winger Donald Audette was dealt to Buffalo just before the trading deadline and it showed in the results.Atlanta lost its first four games after the trade and dropped to 07-2 in games without Audette this season (including five previous matches when he either was suspended or injured).Nobody was feeling the loss more than Audette&rsquo;s former linemates, center Ray Ferraro and left winger Andrew Brunette. Each was goal-less with just two assists in the four games after the deal.Coach Curt Fraser put winger Hnat Domenichelli on the top line for two games, then switched to rookie Herbert Vasiljevs, who was recalled from Orlando (IHL).ANALYSIS Goaltending and replacing Audette&rsquo;s scoring will be the top two priorities this summer, whether in free agency or a trade.Norm Maracle started 11 straight games, after being recalled from the minors, and played well enough to revive his NHL future. But he has not given any indication he can stabilize the team&rsquo;s goaltending situation.The Thrashers clearly are running No. 5 in goaltending in the Southeast Division, after Washington (Olaf Kolzig), Tampa Bay (Nikolai Khabibulin, Kevin Weekes), Florida (Roberto Luongo, Trevor Kidd) and Carolina (Arturs Irbe).The Thrashers have had problems with Maracle, the oft-injured Damian Rhodes and Milan Hnilicka.OFFENSE Fraser found an effective line, switching Patrik Stefan from center to left wing and putting him with checking center Per Svartvadet and rookie right winger Tomi Kallio.Stefan has been going to the net and shooting more since being relieved of the responsibilities that go with playing center. Presumably, he&rsquo;ll be moved back to center at some point, but it&rsquo;s no certainty. For now, he&rsquo;s enjoying his new assignment. &ldquo;At wing, you just try to stay on the boards, go to the net hard and try to get open,&rdquo; he said.NOTEBOOK The Thrashers still have 13 players on the current roster without contracts for next season&hellip;If Wisconsin got knocked out of the NCAA tournament early, Atlanta was set to sign left winger Dany Heatley, its top choice in the 2000 draft, and bring him in for the last few games of the season. &#9632;

f0021-02

Thrashers’ top line missing Audette

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Nancy Marrapese-Burrell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04245/7436588-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="218" height="249"></div>In their race for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins&rsquo; best chance for success came when goaltender Byron Dafoe returned to the lineup from a hamstring injury in mid-March.In his first four games back, the Bruins were unbeaten with two victories and two ties.Dafoe gave up only two goals in each of the contests. He was especially gratified by the win over the Canadiens in overtime March 22. The goals he gave up both came on the power play.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a huge two points,&rdquo; Dafoe said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve gotten a few ties lately and we were not gaining ground (on Carolina), we were losing ground. So this was a must-win. It took us more than 60 minutes to get it, but I think we were pretty happy with the effort.&rdquo;Dafoe reported he was pain-free after missing 13 games with the hamstring ailment.ANALYSIS If the Bruins have been lacking in one area down the stretch, it has been in intensity Coach Mike Keenan said it hasn&rsquo;t been there for entire games, but the players said they were trying to improve. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to keep guys off the scoreboard every single night,&rdquo; said defenseman Kyle McLaren.DEFENSE GM Mike O&rsquo;Connell, who rarely addresses his team, did so in Montreal in an effort to help them shore up the defensive end of things. Defenseman McLaren, for one, thought O&rsquo;Connell&rsquo;s input was very help ful. &ldquo;We were skating better and getting the puck up to our forwards and our forwards were skating more,&rdquo; McLaren said.NOTEBOOK Center Jason Allison had one goal and two assists against Montreal March 22, reaching a career high for points (84) and assists (54)&hellip;Right winger Bill Guerin won the Seventh Player Award as the player who has most exceeded expectations. &#9632;

f0021-04

Return of Dafoe lifts playoff hopes

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Bucky Gleason</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-06133/7436619-1-eng-US/f0021-062.jpg" title="f0021-06" width="685" height="922"><figcaption class="caption-body">(All BBS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-05172/7436626-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="217" height="251"></div>Steve Heinze isn&rsquo;t sure how long he&rsquo;ll be in Buffalo, but he&rsquo;s already become a perfect fit for the Sabres, who started playing their best hockey immediately after he arrived in a March 13 trade.Heinze helped carry the Sabres to four straight victories, scoring five goals, including a hat trick, and eight points in his first four games. He&rsquo;ll become an unrestricted free agent after the season.&ldquo;My season down in Columbus would have been over April 8,&rdquo; Heinze said. &ldquo;All of a sudden, now I&rsquo;m in the playoff hunt and I have a chance to get my name on the (Stanley) Cup. That&rsquo;s what we all play for.&rdquo;ANALYSIS The Sabres have become so deep with the addition of Heinze and right winger Donald Audette that coach Lindy Ruff had problems finding room for veteran winger Dave Andreychuk and gifted sophomore Maxim Afmogenov.Andreychuk was a healthy scratch for two games, despite scoring 17 goals this season. Afinogenov found a seat in the press box after going 12 games without scoring. It makes for four crowded lines, but the new faces give Ruff many more options.DEFENSE The Sabres were without Jay McKee and Richard Smehlik, two of their top four defensemen, but still allowed only 16 shots in their shutout of the Leafs. Buffalo is in the hunt for the honor of allowing the fewest goals this season.NOTEBOOK Goaltender Dominik Hasek joined Hall of Famers Bernie Parent and Ed Giacomin in 15th place alltime in the NHL when he recorded his 54th career shutout&hellip;Unsigned captain Michael Peca will play for Canada at the World Championships in Germany April 28-May 14&hellip;Defenseman Brian Campbell has returned after a brief stint in Rochester. He gives the Sabres another good puckhandler on the back end.<h2>CONFIDENCE MAN</h2>Byron Dafoe gives the Bruins a lift when he&rsquo;s 100 per cent, something that hasn&rsquo;t been a given this season. &#9632;

f0021-06

Sabres score big with winger Heinze

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Mike Board</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011074/7436657-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="217" height="249"></div>This has been one weird season for Flames&rsquo; right winger Val Bure.After having a break-out year with 35 goals last season, Bure started the 2000-01 campaign with a 10-game scoring drought.By the 29th game he had only three goals, all on the power play. Then he was benched for two games by coach Don Hay about the same time trade rumors surrounding the small, speedy forward began to circulate.Following the benching, Bure caught fire and, at the 72-game mark, was up to 24 goals.&ldquo;My name was in the front line,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had a couple of tough weeks. I just wanted to get it over with.&rdquo;Bure was rumored to be part of a deal with Florida-the Flames trying to pry center Rob Niedermayer away from Florida and the Panthers mildly interested in teaming Val up with superstar brother Pavel.The talk now has shifted to Val&rsquo;s future with the team. He makes $1,175 million (U.S.) and becomes a restricted free agent this summer.Early in the season Bure struggled to adapt to the Flames&rsquo; new system under Hay, after having a green light to play offense last season under Brian Sutter.&ldquo;I was really frustrated,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t playing my game. Once I get the puck, I&rsquo;ve got to make some moves, skate, go wide.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been satisfied with myself after I was benched,&rdquo; he added.ANALYSIS Despite having little talent to work with and being fired at an odd time-just hours before a game in Columbus and after overseeing the morning skate-Hay took the high road when he met with media two days after his firing.&ldquo;At first, you&rsquo;re angry and disappointed that you probably didn&rsquo;t get enough time to prove yourself,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You always like more time to prove yourself and carry out the plan, but I had enough time. I had 68 games. I had an opportunity to coach at this level and the results weren&rsquo;t there.&rdquo;Hay had a 23-28-13-4 record when he was fired.OFFENSE With center Cory Stillman now in St. Louis, Bure was moved to the top line March 18, playing with Jarome Iginla and Marc Savard. But two games later, against the Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils, the top line was benched for much of the third period by interim head coach Greg Gilbert.NOTEBOOK Checking center Craig Conroy, acquired from St. Louis, knows it&rsquo;s going to take some time for him to win over the fans in Calgary After all, the Flames traded away a proven 25-goal scorer in center Cory Stillman to get him. On top of that, Stillman returned to Calgary on March 17, just four days after the trade, and scored the Blues&rsquo; second goal in a 2-2 tie. Conroy played for current coach Greg Gilbert while Gilbert was a coach in the Blues&rsquo; farm system. &#9632;

f0022-01

Benching, trade rumors do trick as Bure returns to form as sniper

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Bob Sutton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04375/7436688-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="666" height="1057"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02759/7436695-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="218" height="223"></div>The Carolina Hurricanes have been most productive offensively on the right side this season. When Sami Kapanen was switched there from left wing, he quickly picked up the scoring pace.Kapanen, headed toward his least productive season since 1996-97 when he played in only 45 games, needed something to get him going.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a more natural side for me,&rdquo; he said.Kapanen joined a line with center Ron Francis and left winger Bates Battaglia.It&rsquo;s a unit that worked well at times last year, but didn&rsquo;t click earlier this season.Of Kapanen&rsquo;s first 14 goals, only eight came in evenstrength scenarios. But his 15th and 16th came at evenstrength, within a three-game span, after moving to right wing. Before that, he had gone nine games without a goal.ANALYSIS The Hurricanes have been solid in their own zone, though at times that has meant sacrificing a better offensive flow.Defenseman Kevin Hatcher has been doing a lot of the dirty work, setting aside his tendency for offensive play. It&rsquo;s a tradeoff the team is willing to accept, especially with Glen Wesley out with a broken jaw. Blueliner Sandis Ozolinsh also has made an effort to play more physically on defense.OFFENSE The Hurricanes received a jolt of offense early in the season from a couple of rookies, but might not be able to count on that down the stretch. Right winger Shane Willis has tailed off and center Josef Vasicek has been moved from the third to fourth line, so his ice time has dropped drastically. Vasicek supplied only one point during a 28-game stretch that began in midJanuary.NOTEBOOK Goalie Arturs Irbe says he can handle another stretch of nearly non-stop playing time. He could lead NHL goalies in games played for the second year in a row&hellip;Left winger Darren Langdon has become a regular scratch as the team tries to find more offensive sources on the third and fourth lines.<h2>RIGHT MOVE</h2>Carolina winger Sami Kapanen is happier on the right side. &#9632;

f0022-04

Slumping Kapanen boosts output playing right wing on Francis line

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03547/7436726-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="216" height="241"></div>With the Chicago Blackhawks headed for a fourth straight playoff miss, GM Mike Smith was turning his attention to the off-season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be active in the free-agent market,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;Now, are we going to give all the money to one player? I don&rsquo;t think so. I think to make our team better next year we need to get three, possibly four, significantly better players than we have on our present day roster.&rdquo;While Smith won&rsquo;t stray, from his long-term goal of rebuilding the Hawks through the draft, he realizes something must be done immediately to address what has become a dire situation in the Windy City. Fan and media apathy is at an all-time high and owner Bill Wirtz is said to be upset with the situation on many levels.&ldquo;We have to do something to make our team better for next year and we have to do something this summer to get the fans excited,&rdquo; Smith said.One unrestricted free agent Wirtz and senior vicepresident Bob Pulford are believed to have the most interest in is center Jeremy Roenick, whom they traded five years ago to Phoenix. The Hawks haven&rsquo;t been the same since he left.&ldquo;Sure, I&rsquo;d welcome him back,&rdquo; said captain Tony Amonte. &ldquo;He was definitely a fan favorite here, and if there&rsquo;s one guy who could put fans back in the seats, it&rsquo;s him.&rdquo;ANALYSIS With only nine games left, the Hawks had a total of just 17 goals from the defense. Boris Mironov, the supposed offensive leader on the blueline, had only five, one behind Jaroslav Spacek.Coach Alpo Suhonen thinks the defense has the necessary skill to score more goals, and his system definitely encourages participation from the blueline. But with the exception of Spacek, and at times rookie Steve McCarthy, none have shown a willingness to join the attack with any regularity.OFFENSE Whatever playoff hopes the Hawks had entering March died with the offense. Except for left winger Eric Daze, the top two lines stopped scoring. Right winger Tony Amonte had just five goals in a 23-game span, while right winger Steve Sullivan scored only three in a 15-game stretch.As a team, the Hawks have five players with 30 points or more, so the results are predictable whenever Amonte and Sullivan aren&rsquo;t scoring.&ldquo;We need to go out and get some other players who can score 40 to 50 points,&rdquo; Smith said.NOTEBOOK Goalie Jocelyn Thibault&rsquo;s 27 wins represent a new career high&hellip;Coach Alpo Suhonen tried both rookie Kyle Calder and veteran Jean-Yves Leroux at left wing on the second line with right Steve Sullivan and center Michael Nylander, with mixed results, following the trade of left winger Dean Mc-Ammond&hellip;GM Mike Smith said he hopes to re-sign left winger Bob Probert for at least one more season. &#9632;

f0022-03

With fan support declining rapidly Hawks’ GM vows to improve team

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Jim Benton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01970/7436757-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="221" height="238"></div>One game after wrapping up yet another division title, Colorado suffered a blow that could leave it limping into the playoffs.A foregone conclusion for months, the Avalanche clinched its seventh consecutive division championship March 18 with a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild. Colorado&rsquo;s streak of seven straight division championships is one off the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; record, set from 1974-75 through 1981-82. The Detroit Red Wings also won seven in a row from 1948-49 through 1954-55.But in a 4-1 triumph over San Jose when Colorado matched a franchise record with 107 points March 30, all-star defenseman Rob Blake sustained what the Avalanche says is a strained right knee ligament. None of the team&rsquo;s medical personnel would speculate on a timetable for Blake&rsquo;s return and his availability for the start of the playoffs is in doubt.Blake, who sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the sixth game of the 199596 season and missed the remainder of the campaign, was hurt when he skated into Sharks&rsquo; forward Bill Lindsay.&ldquo;I hit Lindsay coming across the middle,&rdquo; Blake said. &ldquo;He was off balance when he shot and his body hit the side of my leg. I sprained the interior ligament in the knee.&ldquo;I knew I was hurt. You can tell. I don&rsquo;t know how long I&rsquo;ll be out.&rdquo;Blake, acquired Feb. 21 in a deal with Los Angeles, is the third player the Avalanche has picked up in a late-season trade to be injured. Two years ago Theo Fleury, who was picked up from Calgary, missed time during the regular season with a knee injury and Ray Bourque was sidelined four playoff games with a knee injury after last season&rsquo;s blockbuster trade with Boston.The Avalanche said Blake&rsquo;s injury is similar to the one sustained by Bourque.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s hope we can hold the fort until he (Blake) heals,&rdquo; Bourque said.ANALYSIS Captain Joe Sakic continues to play like a Hart Trophy favorite. In addition to leading the NHL in scoring with 106 points in 74 games, he also was first overall in game-winning goals (10) and plus-minus (plus-42).OFFENSE Colorado scored two or more goals in 18 of 19 games, averaging nearly four goals per game during that stretch. Sakic and Peter Forsberg were the key guns. Sakic had 14 goals and 33 points in the 19 games while Forsberg contributed 10 goals and 35 points in the hot stretch.NOTEBOOK Defenseman Jon Klemm collected the winning goal against San Jose March 30. It was his second winner of the season and fourth of his career&hellip;With two games remaining at the Pepsi Center, Colorado had already set a franchise record with 27 home victories. &#9632;

f0023-01

Division and subtraction for Avs as club wins title, loses Blake

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Aaron Portzline</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02644/7436788-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="217" height="242"></div>Goalie Ron Tugnutt has ridden his impressive season with the Blue Jackets all the way to the record books.With back-to-back shutouts March 14 (Calgary) and March 16 (Atlanta), Tugnutt and Columbus became the first expansion goalie and team to post back-to-back shutouts since Cesare Maniago and the Minnesota North Stars in 1967-68.&ldquo;What can you say about Tugger that hasn&rsquo;t been said already?&rdquo; said coach Dave King. &ldquo;The guy has been there for us all season-so steady, so dependable. He has really carried us at times this year.&rdquo;Tugnutt, who had four shutouts through March 22, had his streak end at 153 minutes, 58 seconds and 72 shots on goal March 19 against Nashville. The four shutouts, meanwhile, match a career high for Tugnutt, who also posted four for Ottawa last season. Overall in his career, the 33-year-old netminder has posted 19 shutouts.For his efforts, he was named NHL player of the week.ANALYSIS The Blue Jackets figure to play classic expansion-style hockey until their top weapons-left wings Geoff Sanderson and Ray Whitney-return from injuries. In other words, it won&rsquo;t be pretty.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have anybody in the lineup that you&rsquo;d expect 25 or 30 goals from,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;But we have a bunch of guys who can score two or three in the final 10 games of the season for us. That&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;ll take.&rdquo;Sanderson is out with a strained knee ligament. Whitney has been hampered all season by a strained back. Both are hopeful they can return before season&rsquo;s end.DEFENSE Early this season, defenseman Deron Quint bounced between the Blue Jackets and the minors. Now he&rsquo;s Columbus&rsquo; most relied-upon player.In a span of 31 games, Quint led Columbus in ice time 26 times, including a season-high 29:38 March 21 against Vancouver.&ldquo;His recovery is so good and he&rsquo;s in great, great shape,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure if it&rsquo;s a matter of genetics or the summer program he puts himself through, but he&rsquo;s a very durable young man, somebody we&rsquo;ve really come to put a lot of trust in.&rdquo;Quint, who turned 25 March 12, was acquired from New Jersey in a summertime trade.NOTEBOOK Right winger David Vyborny&rsquo;s successful penalty shot March 19 against Nashville made him the only NHL player in history to score two such goals in his rookie season&hellip;The Blue Jackets expect to end the season with 15 straight sellouts, giving them 25 capacity crowds of 18,136 in their inaugural season&hellip;Center Chris Nielsen was doing his best imitation of a yo-yo in mid-March. In a span of four days, he was recalled from Syracuse, assigned back the AHL club, then recalled again. &#9632;

f0023-02

Catch and carry: Stopper Tugnutt shoulders load for Blue Jackets

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Chuck Carlton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03451/7436819-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="236" height="235"></div>It was hard to tell how Brett Hull fell into a slump. It was obvious to everyone when the drought ended.The Dallas Stars&rsquo; right winger had just three goals in 23 games sandwiched around the all-star break. The frustration factor was rising, especially since Hull had 27 goals in his first 45 games.&ldquo;I lose it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I pull my hair every second of every day. What is going on? I don&rsquo;t even consider myself even a player when I&rsquo;m not scoring. It kills me.&rdquo;Now Hull is making opponents lose it. In a three-game span, he recorded seven goals and nine points and was tied in eighth in NHL goal-scoring with 37 in 71 games. He had his first three-goal game as a Star against Ottawa March 18 and a game later, collected four goals against Anaheim, giving him 30 hat tricks. &ldquo;He has an amazing shot and an amazing release and it&rsquo;s a thrill to play with a guy like that,&rdquo; said linemate Mike Modano. &ldquo;After a while, you&rsquo;re at a loss for words.&rdquo;ANALYSIS In a conference dominated by Colorado and-to some extent-Detroit, the Stars are shedding their mantle as stealth contenders. After splitting a home-and-home with Colorado, the Stars were unbeaten in five and had outscored opponents 20-3. They were also thriving on respect, or a lack thereof. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve gone around this season basically getting kicked pretty hard from everywhere and I think our team is kicking back,&rdquo; said coach Ken Hitchcock. &ldquo;I think our team wants to get up there with the big boys.&rdquo;DEFENSE He&rsquo;s best known for his offense. But a strong case can be made that Mike Modano deserves the Selke Trophy, given that Modano leads all Stars forwards in plus-minus (plus-24) while facing the challenge of the other team&rsquo;s top offensive lines every night. In some ways, Modano mirrors the Stars&rsquo; commitment much like last season&rsquo;s winner, Steve Yzerman, does in Detroit. &ldquo;There have been many defensive players who deserve to be there,&rdquo; said Stars winger Jere Lehtinen, a two-time Selke winner &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been one of the best defensive teams over the last couple years. Mike has played great both ways. Why not? He should be there.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK When goaltender Ed Belfour beat Ottawa 5-1 March 18, he reached 30 wins for the fourth consecutive season and seventh time overall. Only five other goaltenders have as many as seven 30-win seasons&hellip;Center Joe Nieuwendyk, who had missed 10 consecutive games with a groin pull, plans to play the final three regular season games and be ready for the playoffs&hellip;The Stars&rsquo; power play, 19th in the league last season, climbed to ninth this year with 23 goals in 23 games&hellip;As a team goal, the Stars are making a push for the Jennings Trophy, presented to the team for fewest goals against. Dallas had surrendered three more goals than Buffalo through March 22, but had played one more game. &#9632;

f0023-03

Floodgates open for Stars’ Hull following prolonged goal dryspell

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Nicholas J. Cotsonika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011046/7436850-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="218" height="242"></div>An optimist would say Chris Chelios will be well-rested for the playoffs. And looking at the bright side is about the best the veteran Detroit defenseman can do these days.Chelios, 39, underwent surgery on a broken left thumb in midMarch, casting a longer shadow on an already injury-plagued season. Due to two knee surgeries and the broken thumb, Chelios has appeared in just 24 games for Detroit, the lowest total of his 17-year career. The Wings do, however, expect to have Chelios-their second best defenseman behind Nicklas Lidstrom-back for the post-season.Detroit is also hoping right winger Darren McCarty will be healed in time for the first round. McCarty, who had been playing well on the Grind Line with Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby, suffered a high right ankle sprain.ANALYSIS Versatile Mathieu Dandenault has been at it again this season, flipping between forward and defense when called upon by coach Scotty Bowman. Though the adjustment can be tough, he&rsquo;s not complaining. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t sure about it at first,&rdquo; Dandenault said. But he&rsquo;s sure about it now. &ldquo;The coaches are happy the way things are going and they keep pushing me,&rdquo; Dandenault said.OFFENSE Left winger Brendan Shanahan picked up the pace with six goals and 10 points in six games. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing the same way I&rsquo;ve played all year, just getting a little bit more luck around the net,&rdquo; said Shanahan, who had 28 goals in 75 games. &ldquo;My shooting percentage has been down all year (10 per cent). When you&rsquo;re a goal-scorer, you just tell yourself that it always catches up and it always evens out.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK After center Kris Draper scored twice against Minnesota March 11, someone asked him when he last scored twice. &ldquo;Probably Toronto,&rdquo; he said. He was right. The date was March 18,1998. The place was Maple Leaf Gardens, a shrine like no other to Toronto natives like Draper. &ldquo;When you don&rsquo;t score that many, you remember things like that,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

f0024-01

Another bad break for veteran Chelios

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Rob Tychkowski</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03484/7436881-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="543" height="1090"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Dale MacMillan/BBS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02721/7436888-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="222" height="246"></div>Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; management expected Mike Comrie to make an impact when they signed him to a three-year deal worth $10 million if bonuses kick in.They just didn&rsquo;t expect it so soon. They didn&rsquo;t expect the 20-year-old rookie to make waves until at least next season.Well, 33 games later he&rsquo;s giving a sneak preview of his enormous potential. After a slow start, the local boy had five goals and 11 points in 10 games down the stretch and moved up to fourth on the team in plus-minus (plus-13).&ldquo;I&rsquo;m starting to play with more confidence,&rdquo; said Comrie, who had 79 points in 37 games with Kootenay of the Western League before signing in December. &ldquo;But I have to give credit to (linemates) Anson Carter and Ryan Smyth. They create chances.&rdquo;ANALYSIS Dan Cleary and Sergei Zholtok have gone from the doghouse to the first line. After suffering through marathon scoring slumps earlier this year-Zholtok went 81-days without a goal and Dan Cleary had a 22-game slump-the duo is paying dividends. They&rsquo;re now flanking Doug Weight on the first line and cruising at nearly a point a game clip. Their emergence has given the Oilers a credible second scoring line.DEFENSE Sean Brown was a healthy scratch for a handful of games in March, but the Oilers need the tough, 24-year-old to be their sixth defenseman in the playoffs. Brown was wrestling with mistakes and confidence problems when the Oilers took him out. Spare defensemen are Scott Ferguson and newly acquired Sven Butenschon.NOTEBOOK The Oilers set a team record with nine consecutive wins from Feb. 20 through March 14. It ended with a 2-2 tie in Florida&hellip;A March 17 game with New Jersey marked only the seventh time in NHL history two teams with undefeated streaks of nine games or longer faced each other. The Devils, who had won nine in a row, rallied to win 65 in overtime.<h2>LOCAL HERO</h2>Edmonton native Mike Comrie is clicking for the Oilers. &#9632;

f0024-03

Comrie starting to pay dividends

<div class="byline">&#x2013;David J. Neal</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04315/7436919-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="222" height="250"></div>Nobody would blame Florida Panthers&rsquo; right winger Pavel Bure if he suddenly broke into a version of Madeline Kahn&rsquo;s &lsquo;I&rsquo;m Tired&rsquo; from Blazing Saddles.Not that he&rsquo;s likely to have seen the come dy movie from the 1970s, but a verse goes like &ldquo;tired of playing the game, tired of carrying this team that&rsquo;s a shame&hellip;&rdquo;Over the 15 games from Feb. 21 through March 21, Bure was averaging 32:54 of ice time. For the season, he was at 26:32.Bure said these days, instead of running errands on off days, he lets assistants do it while he crashes at his South Beach home and pops half a sleeping pill to get seven hours of sleep a night.The results of his workload have been huge. With 56 goals in 75 games, Bure had scored 30.4 per cent of the Panthers&rsquo; goals. That would be a modern-day NHL record. In addition, if he wins the Rocket Richard Trophy, it will mark the seventh time since the 1966-67 expansion that a player on a non-playoff team has led the NHL in goals, assists or points.ANALYSIS Good sense dictates center Viktor Kozlov and Bure be left together for the start of 2001-02. The left wing spot seems to have been earned by Marcus Nilson, who had seven goals and 18 points in 22 games once put on that line. Nilson fits because he&rsquo;s a tenacious forechecker with enough skill to be a scoring threat.OFFENSE The Panthers have been all Bure, all the time. In a 10-game scoring streak, Bure had 13 goals and seven assists among the Panthers 32&rsquo; goals. In one stretch, Bure scored or assisted on 14 of 16 Panthers&rsquo; goals, including a run of eight straight. Bure denied this was an onerous load. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not pressure,&rdquo; Bure said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re a team and that includes management and coaches. If we win, all of us win. If we lose, all of us lose.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK Former NHL executive Marc Cloutier said the group he and former Hockey Night in Canada executive producer Ralph Mellanby are getting together to purchase the Panthers would still be interested if the buying time frame was six months to a year. Panthers&rsquo; president Bill Torrey said the team would be sold by then&hellip;It took 35 home games for the Panthers to get a sellout. Actually, it took one Mario Lemieux coming March 16 to pack the 19,250-seat National Car Rental Center. &#9632;

f0024-04

Bure is on ice more than off it

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Matt McHale</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01939/7436950-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="217" height="247"></div>The Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; late-season push to qualify for the playoffs no longer goes through Edmonton-luckily for the Kings.After a 9-1-2 run made them one of the league&rsquo;s best comeback stories, the Kings were crushed 7-0 by the Oilers in the final week of March. That stretch of success began after the Kings were beaten 5-0 in Edmonton two days before the club traded Rob Blake.It was the Kings first loss at home since mid-February when the Oilers embarrassed them 6-3.&ldquo;Not only are they good, they are hot,&rdquo; said Kings&rsquo; Andy Murray of the Oilers. &ldquo;We have been playing well, but they have been very rough on us this year.&rdquo;In the final game against the Oilers, Kings goaltender Felix Potvin allowed three goals in the first six shots. He came in with a.922 save percentage since the Feb. 16 trade with Vancouver.Oilers captain Doug Weight was particularly tough on the Kings with five goals in four games. At the time, he had 16 against the rest of the league.ANALYSIS Top center Jozef Stumpel returned to the lineup after missing almost three weeks with a broken rib. The Kings have to decide their future with Stumpel, who also has been sidelined this season with a strained hamstring and broken toe on his right foot. The team likes his size and playmaking skill, but his unwillingness to play hurt has frustrated the coaching staff. Team doctors cleared Stumpel to play 10 days before he finally returned. The club said acquiring a top line center will be an off-season priority.DEFENSE One of the keys to the Kings&rsquo; success in March was limiting the shots allowed in front of Potvin. The Kings were giving up just 19 per game during the run, even though the San Jose Sharks took 40 in an overtime loss at Staples Center. Mattias Norstrom, selected to his second Swedish Olympic team, has been paired with newcomer Aaron Miller since the Blake trade, with impressive results. The Kings also have gotten a strong effort from journeyman Philippe Boucher, who missed all but one game last year due to foot surgery.NOTEBOOK During the Kings&rsquo; 9-1-2-0 run, coach Andy Murray wore the same olive green suit in 10 of the 11 games. The only time Murray wore another suit, the Kings lost 4-0 to Anaheim&hellip;The Kings were perplexed as to why right winger Ziggy Palffy wasn&rsquo;t scoring more during their streak. He did not have a goal in eight consecutive games, one short of his career-high nine-game slump&hellip;Right winger Marko Tuomainen has been shuttled between the Kings and the minors seven times this season&hellip;As part of the compensation for defenseman Rob Blake, the Kings selected junior center Jared Aulin from a pool of prospects offered by Colorado. Aulin was the Avs second pick in the June 2000 draft and is playing in Kamloops of the Western League. &#9632;

f0025-01

Kings produce winning formula, except in games against Oilers

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Tom Jones</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02611/7436981-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="227" height="231"></div>Don&rsquo;t expect Minnesota Wild coach Jacques Lemaire and NHL referee Brad Meier to go on any fishing trips together this summer.The two aren&rsquo;t seeing eye-to-eye these days and Lemaire has been fined $5,000 by the NHL for comments he made about Meier.Lemaire said Meier told him that he was going to &ldquo;get back at me&rdquo; for complaining about calls during the March 4 game. Lemaire made his accusation a week later after the Wild lost to Detroit because of, according to Lemaire, a bad call by Meier. Lemaire implied Meier made good on his comment to get back at him.The NHL isn&rsquo;t taking sides on the matter, but it felt Lemaire&rsquo;s comments couldn&rsquo;t go unpunished.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that we don&rsquo;t believe Jacques or our guy,&rdquo; said Colin Campbell, the NHL&rsquo;s executive vice-president and director of hockey operations. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a young referee, yes, but we haven&rsquo;t had an incident with him before. We have to stand by our guy&hellip;(Lemaire) was fined for what he said publicly-for comments that became inappropriate.&rdquo;Lemaire seemed amused that he was fined. Amused, but not all surprised.&ldquo;The league had to take a side and they took the side of their employee,&rdquo; Lemaire said. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;m not an employee.&rdquo;ANALYSIS The trade of top scorer Scott Pellerin gave rookie Marian Gaborik a bigger role with the Wild. His numbers haven&rsquo;t improved dramatically, but his play has. Gaborik has become an impact player and the Wild is convinced the 18-year-old will became a franchisetype player in the upcoming years. Gaborik had 18 goals and 35 points in 68 games.OFFENSE What offense? That has been the theme for the Wild most of the season. Minnesota stood dead last in goals scored with 156 in 75 games (2.08 average). Gaborik was the high goal-scorer (18 goals) and the club had been shut out a league-high 13 times.And what about the luck of goalie Jamie McLennan? He had two shutouts, but both came in 0-0 ties.NOTEBOOK After missing 18 games and more than six weeks with a shoulder injury, right winger Jeff Nielsen finally returned to the lineup March 18. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to go into the summer wondering about it,&rdquo; Nielsen said. &ldquo;I wanted to play even if it was three or four games just so I knew that I didn&rsquo;t have to think about whether I needed surgery in the off-season, which would have put me behind schedule for next season. Now I know that I&rsquo;ll be fine when next season starts.&rdquo;&hellip;Goaltender Manny Fernandez is out with a sprained left ankle, putting his pursuit of an expansion record in jeopardy. Fernandez is chasing the record for most victories by a goalie for an expansion team. Florida&rsquo;s John Vanbiesbrouck (1993-94) and Minnesota&rsquo;s Cesare Maniago (1967-68) share the record with 21 victories. Fernandez had 19. &#9632;

f0025-02

Coach Lemaire’s dispute with ref leads to $5,000 fine from league

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03397/7437012-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="224" height="232"></div>The Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; playoff hopes realistically came to an end sometime in the dead of winter-likely during the month of December, when the team won only one of 13 games, putting it in a deep abyss.The Canadiens were officially eliminated March 22 in their 74th game of the season. A 3-2 loss in overtime at Boston left them 17 points behind the eighth place Carolina Hurricanes with only eight games remaining. Last season, Montreal carried its playoff hopes into the season&rsquo;s final game.It will be remembered as a season in which the Canadiens set several marks in futility.They missed the playoffs for the third straight year, something that hasn&rsquo;t occurred since 1922.And, with 43 losses, the Canadiens have established a franchise record for most defeats in one season, surpassing the 40 games they lost in 1983-84. But Montreal made the playoffs that season, advancing to the conference championship before losing in six games to the New York Islanders.ANALYSIS As the curtain comes down on a frustrating season, coach Michel Therrien was experimenting with his lines. One that he threw together had immediate results. Craig Darby, Benoit Brunet and Jim Campbell accounted for two of the Canadiens&rsquo; three goals in a Molson Centre tie against Boston March 20.The trio accounted for seven scoring points. Campbell had a goal and two assists; Darby a goal and assist and Brunet two assists.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always felt I could contribute if I had the chance to play,&rdquo; said Campbell, who logged 15:28 of ice time against the Bruins.OFFENSE Saku Koivu was healthy and playing like a No. 1 center. Koivu was the Canadiens&rsquo; hottest player, with points in nine of 12 games (seven goals and 15 points). He had 15 goals and 38 points in 46 games after having missed 28 games earlier this season following knee surgery.If Koivu ever remains healthy, he might finally live up to the potential he displayed early in his career. In only his second NHL season, Koivu was leading the league in points before sustaining a knee injury during a December 1996 game.NOTEBOOK Russian rookie defenseman Andrei Markov returned to Montreal following an 11-game stint in the American League with Quebec. &lsquo;I was disappointed, but I understood why I was sent down,&rdquo; Markov said. &ldquo;I think it was good for me. There are still many things I have to learn.&rdquo;&hellip;Center Jim Campbell, with nine goals and 17 points in 49 games, becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1 unless the Canadiens offer him a 10 percent raise on his $525,000 U.S. salary, which appears unlikely. &ldquo;If they don&rsquo;t make an offer, I&rsquo;ll have to look for another team,&rdquo; said Campbell, who lost an ally last November, when coach Alain Vigneault was fired. &#9632;

f0025-03

Numbers add up, Canadiens out with record number of defeats

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Jeff Legwold</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011040/7437043-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="239" height="222"></div>There was a time before this season began when Nashville Predators&rsquo; officials wondered if they would be doing the right thing by keeping 18-year-old Scott Hartnell with the team.Well, with just a handful of games remaining in his rookie season, Hartnell has answered the questions.&ldquo;You go into every city now and talk to the players and coaches after games, and one thing that is becoming fairly constant since the all-star break is they go, &lsquo;Geez, that 18-year-old kid you&rsquo;ve got, he&rsquo;s a player,&rsquo;&rdquo; said coach Barry Trotz. &ldquo;People don&rsquo;t want to play against him and that is the biggest compliment you can get from your peers and opposition.&rdquo;While the points haven&rsquo;t come as quickly as he had wanted-Hartnell had two goals and 15 points in 65 games-he has played with energy and savvy to be deployed on Trotz&rsquo;s checking line.Hartnell, who was the Predators&rsquo; first pick (sixth overall) in the 2000 entry draft and won&rsquo;t be 19 until April 18, has spent much of the time since the all-star break on a line with Greg Johnson and Tom Fitzgerald.&ldquo;The best thing we ever did was keep him here,&rdquo; Trotz said. &ldquo;He is learning to be a pro and he is going to be a good player for a long, long time.&ldquo;I think early on it was an adrenaline rush for him. Now he has taken it to the next level. He is a junkyard dog, whatever you want to call him and he is going to have success in this league.&rdquo;ANALYSIS Tomas Vokoun is going to get more work down the stretch. The Predators&rsquo; No. 2 goalie had spent the better part of two months watching Mike Dunham carry the load. Dunham had streaks of nine and six consecutive starts following the all-star break as the Predators tried to ride his play into the playoff mix. But with the post-season having slipped away, Vokoun will get plenty of playing time down the stretch.DEFENSE Left winger Jeremy Stevenson has opened some eyes with his work as a rugged competitor. The Predators have been auditioning for a player to fill that role for three years and Stevenson is making his case. In a March 21 0-0 tie in Minnesota, he had just four minutes of ice time, but 24 minutes of penalties after he fought with Matt Johnson. Stevenson was lauded by Trotz after the game for protecting his teammates.NOTEBOOK Right winger Rob Valicevic is playing with a flak jacket to protect sore ribs. It has been a tough month for the 29-year-old, who also missed several games with a concussion&hellip;Predators&rsquo; officials are considering bringing goalie Brian Finley to the Milwaukee Admirals (IHL) if his season in major junior ends before the Admirals&rsquo; season. With Jan Lasak and Chris Mason already there, however, Finley wouldn&rsquo;t play much, but they&rsquo;d like him to practise with the team&hellip;Defenseman Pavel Skrbek, the team&rsquo;s No. 5 prospect in Future Watch, sustained a concussion against Phoenix March 17 and was day-to-day. &#9632;

f0026-01

Hartnell not lighting up league, but playing beyond his 18 years

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02703/7437074-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="218" height="246"></div>Soon after his team established a new franchise record of nine straight victories, New Jersey Devils&rsquo; coach Larry Robinson was reminded of some history.Winning streaks, he was told, often take their toll on a hockey club. Of the five longest winning streaks in NHL history, only one team went on to win the Stanley Cup-the 1981-82 Islanders, who won 15 in a row.That was why Robinson was more concerned how the Devils were playing than he was in keeping the streak alive.&ldquo;It might be coincidence. It depends on how big a price you pay,&rdquo; Robinson said. &ldquo;Look at St. Louis last year and what a great season they had. Yet they were gone early. You don&rsquo;t get anything for a streak. You get something for winning the Cup.&rdquo;The 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins, who recorded the longest winning streak in history-17 games-did not win the Cup that season. Nor did the 1929-30 Boston Bruins (14 straight), 1970-71 Bruins (13) or 1985-86 Philadelphia Flyers (13).Breaking their old franchise record of eight consecutive wins (Nov. 5-20,1997) seemed more important to the Devils than pursuing Pittsburgh&rsquo;s all-time mark.&ldquo;I know we&rsquo;re a good enough team to do it, but that&rsquo;s a big accomplishment,&rdquo; said captain Scott Stevens. &ldquo;We won a lot of games on the road against good teams.&rdquo;The streak hit 12 games, longest in the league, when the Devils shut out the Rangers 4-0 March 21.ANALYSIS Excessive travel is not part of the Devils&rsquo; routine in the Eastern Conference, so management took extra steps to give the players some rest during a five-game, 12-day road trip. Players felt the plan aided in their trip while allowing them to keep their winning streak alive. After starting the trip in Philadelphia, the Devils flew to Phoenix and remained at a resort for five full days. During that period, they flew into Denver for a game and back to Phoenix immediately afterwards. &ldquo;A lot of times you come into Denver and feel the altitude the second day,&rdquo; Scott Stevens said. &ldquo;Claude Lemieux says this is the best way to do it.&rdquo; Finally, they bypassed their usual practice of flying home after the March 19 game in Calgary and chose to stay overnight.DEFENSE In back-to-back victories over the Flames and Rangers, the Devils held their opponents to just two shots in an entire period. However, they did not play the kind of conservative defense that once drew severe criticism. With 259 goals in 73 games, the Devils claimed the league&rsquo;s top offense.&rdquo;This is a pretty good team, a real good team,&rdquo; Stevens said. &ldquo;We score a lot of goals and we still play good defense.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK Acting New Jersey Gov. Donald DiFrancesco said he would act quickly to wrap up a deal to build a new $325-million arena in Newark, N.J. for the Devils and NBA Nets. The earliest the Devils would be able to play there would be 2004-2005&hellip;Right winger Alexander Mogilny stuck to his claim that he has no interest in playing for Russia in the 2002 Olympics. &#9632;

f0026-02

Devils fully aware winning streak shouldn’t become an obsession

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Peter Botte</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03558/7437105-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="217" height="239"></div>An impressive sampling from the NHL&rsquo;s coaching carousel has expressed interest in replacing the fired Butch Goring as the next coach of the New York Islanders.While GM Mike Milbury has an experienced list of potential candidates to choose from, he plans to be methodical in the interviewing process while interim coach Lorne Henning babysits the team for the remainder of this season.Milbury has stated this decision likely will be his last with the Isles if he fails to choose the right coach. It will be the sixth (including himself twice) coach in his six-year tenure as GM, all without a post-season appearance.Milbury already has interviewed former New Jersey coach Robbie Ftorek, who was fired late last season before the Devils went on to win the Stanley Cup under Larry Robinson.Fired Florida GM Bryan Murray-who compiled a 484-368-123 record over 13 coaching seasons with Washington, Detroit and Florida-and banished former Buffalo coach Ted Nolan also remain on the short list.Three-time Jack Adams Award winner Pat Burns and former San Jose and Pittsburgh coach Kevin Constantine also have said they&rsquo;d be interested in discussing the position with Milbury.ANALYSIS After four years out of the NHL, Nolan is the most compelling candidate, albeit not the leading one. Clearly, the 1996-97 Jack Adams Award winner had his reputation damaged by the perception he backstabbed then-Buffalo GM John Muckier by asking team brass to fire him. Without discussing Nolan directly, Milbury has said repeatedly that he wants someone who is &ldquo;current&rdquo; with the happenings of the league. He could turn to Murray, Constantine or Ftorek in that regard. Milbury also might wait to see if any big-name coaches get fired following the season since he has said he&rsquo;d like to have his coach hired by the June draft.DEFENSE Defenseman Kenny Jonsson, who had struggled the past two seasons with injuries and the pressures of the captaincy, has recently started to revert to his all-star form of 1997-99. &ldquo;The way he&rsquo;s playing right now, he&rsquo;s among the top 10 defensemen in the league,&rdquo; Henning said. Jonsson, who rescinded his captaincy earlier this season, has logged nearly 30 minutes per game since returning from a knee injury Jan. 19.NOTEBOOK The eliminated Islanders opened a sevengame March road trip by securing five points in their first four games, including victories at Pittsburgh and St. Louis and a tie in Columbus. They were 3-4-1-0 in Henning&rsquo;s first eight games after Goring&rsquo;s firing&hellip;Isles&rsquo; center prospect Justin Mapletoft won the Western League scoring crown with 120 points (43 goals and 77 assists) for the Red Deer Rebels. The Isles&rsquo; fifth round pick in 1999 also led the WHL in assists and winning goals (11). The Isles must sign the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder before June 1 or allow Mapletoft to re-enter the draft. &#9632;

f0026-03

Milbury targets experienced coach as list of candidates keeps growing

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01988/7437136-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="220" height="242"></div>When one thinks of MarkMessier, all of his special qualities and the style of power game he has played for most of his career, the last thing one realizes is the points he has amassed.The New York Rangers&rsquo; captain became the third-highest scorer in NHL history with a shorthanded goal March 19, passing Marcel Dionne (1,771 points) and moving into the upper stratosphere, joining Wayne Gretzky (2,857) and Gordie Howe (1,850). &ldquo;It&rsquo;s surprising to me, coming into the league scoring one goal my first year in the WHA,&rdquo; Messier said. &ldquo;I never really considered myself a pure goalscorer or pure point-getter. But obviously it&rsquo;s the longevity that has enabled me to be in this position and a lot of great people around me. But, when I look at it myself, I&rsquo;m still trying to figure out how and why I&rsquo;m sitting (at No. 3 all-time).&rdquo;ANALYSIS Coach Ron Low has opted for a youth movement, inserting Manny Malhotra onto Messier&rsquo;s line and adding rookie defensemen Peter Smrek and Mike Mottau to a blueline that already included rookies Tomas Kloucek and Dale Purinton. The result is the Rangers are not only markedly younger, but also faster in terms of foot speed and moving the puck.DEFENSE Low said he thinks the Rangers&rsquo; defense for years to come will look like the group he was using down the stretch. &ldquo;I would say definitely,&rdquo; Low said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re looking at three young guys (Kloucek, Mottau and Smrek) that can move the puck.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK A bunch of streaks were extended March 21 when the Rangers were beaten 4-0 by the Devils in New Jersey. The Rangers&rsquo; winless streak against their rivals reached 23 regular season games (0-15-8). The loss also clinched the Rangers&rsquo; fourth consecutive losing season-and the ninth in a row for GM Glen Sather, who had eight straight before leaving Edmonton-and the sixth in six seasons as an NHL coach for Ron Low&hellip;Goalie Guy Hebert was battling a strained groin, the result of his lengthy stretch of inactivity. &#9632;

f0027-01

Messier now third in all-time points

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Bruce Garrioch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02636/7437167-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="226" height="246"></div>Ottawa Senators&rsquo; GM Marshall Johnston is going to have a busy summer, but he&rsquo;s determined to keep all of his free agents-including center Alexei Yashin.With 11 players set to have their contracts expire July 1-including unrestricted free agents Rob Zamuner, Jason York, Mike Sillinger and Curtis Leschyshyn-Johnston won&rsquo;t begin work on deals until after the season. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to try to sign all of our players,&rdquo; Johnston said.While the Senators face the daunting task of signing captain Daniel Alfredsson, goalie Patrick Lalime, forwards Magnus Arvedson and Marian Hossa and defensemen Chris Phillips and Wade Redden, the focus will be on Yashin.Making $3.6 million (U.S.) in the final year of a contract he refused to honor last season, Yashin likely will be seeking upwards of $10 million next year, but that shouldn&rsquo;t completely rule him out of the Senators&rsquo; picture.ANALYSIS With nine defensemen on the roster going into the playoffs, coach Jacques Martin should have the flexibility to make moves for as long as the club lasts in the post-season. He started early-Martin scratched Phillips against Phoenix March 21 after the coach was upset with Phillips&rsquo; performance in 5-1 loss to Dallas two nights earlier.OFFENSE After missing 10 games with a sprained right knee, Arvedson has struggled to find his scoring touch since returning to the lineup Feb. 6. But he had two goals in a 5-2 win over the Coyotes and was starting to get his legs back.NOTEBOOK With a day off in Phoenix, the players elected to go golfing. But they only had a good day until they were notified they shouldn&rsquo;t go looking in the bushes for their golf balls. &ldquo;We were told it was snake season and we had to be careful-especially with the rattlers,&rdquo; said defensemanJason York. No injuries were reported. &#9632;

f0027-02

Senators want everybody back

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Wayne Fish</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04289/7437198-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Bruve Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03424/7437205-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="216" height="231"></div>Back-to-back starts for Brian Boucher? Was Roman Cechmanek sick or something?Yes and no, actually.Cechmanek did take ill for the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; game at Edmonton March 19, so Boucher was pressed into service. But Cechmanek felt much better three nights later when Boucher was given a second straight start for the first time since Dec. 6-8, just days before Bill Barber took over as coach.Boucher came through with a strong effort in a 4-2 win over the Oilers, his first victory since Jan. 25. He also looked sharp in the second game, a 3-1 loss at Calgary.It has been a tough year for Boucher. After winning the NHL goals-against average title as a rookie (1.91) and signing a big off-season contract, he lost the No. 1 job to Cechmanek.&ldquo;It feels good to help out,&rdquo; said Boucher, whose record was 8-12-5 with a 3.27 goals-against average and.876 save percentage. &ldquo;The role I&rsquo;ve been relegated to has been different from what I was used to last year. There has been some adjusting to do.&rdquo;ANALYSIS With John LeClair (back) and Simon Gagne (dislocated shoulder) on the verge of returning to the lineup, Barber was faced with the prospect of finding room for about 15 forwards. Gagne or possibly Dean McAmmond could wind up playing some center while Daymond Langkow recovers from fractures in both feet.OFFENSE Look for Barber to keep a close eye on both LeClair and Gagne to determine which of the two left wingers will be paired with Keith Primeau and Mark Recchi on the first line in the playoffs. Gagne spent a good portion of the season at that spot, but LeClair has posted five straight 40-or-more goal seasonsNOTEBOOK Center Keith Primeau registered his 73rd point of the season at Edmonton, tying a career high&hellip;Right winger Mark Recchi had an 11-game point streak snapped in the 3-1 loss at Calgary March 22&hellip;The Flyers recorded their 40th win of the season, marking the 18th time in their 34-year history they have reached that level.<h2>SPLIT PERSONALITY</h2>Philadelphia netminder Brian Boucher is trying to get his game back. &#9632;

f0027-04

Boucher pleased with extra work

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011025/7437236-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="217" height="263"></div>Bobby Smith was removed as GM. Left winger Keith Tkachuk and goalie Nikolai Khabibulin were traded. And more changes will be made this summer.But if the Phoenix Coyotes failed to make the playoffs for the first time in six years, is second-year coach Bob Francis&rsquo;s job in jeopardy?&ldquo;That question gets asked all the time when a team is struggling like we&rsquo;re struggling,&rdquo; said new GM Cliff Fletcher. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s the same coach who was here in October when the club was winning. The situation we&rsquo;re going through right now is not a coaching staff issue. It&rsquo;s a player issue.&rdquo;So is that the dreaded vote of confidence?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s exactly what I said it is,&rdquo; Fletcher said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a playoff spot locked up and we&rsquo;re trying very hard to give it away. It&rsquo;s up to the players to turn it around.&rdquo;Francis said he&rsquo;s more than willing to shoulder some of the heat for the late-season spiral, which included a six-game winless streak and a 2-8-3 slide that dropped them to ninth in the Western Conference.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a cop out. I have to take responsibility as well,&rdquo; Francis said, responding to Fletcher putting the onus on the players. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m responsible for the players and making sure they&rsquo;re prepared.&rdquo;ANALYSIS Francis rarely got a consistent, 60-minute effort from his players during the 2-8-3 slump. The blueprint for success was a 1-1 draw in Dallas, in which the Coyotes clamped down defensively&ldquo;We have to find an identity and find it quick,&rdquo; said center Jeremy Roenick. &ldquo;We have to take responsibility and work hard. We have to be a lunch-pail bunch.&rdquo;OFFENSE Center Michal Handzus, acquired from St. Louis in the Tkachuk trade, made his Phoenix debut March 19 after missing half the season following surgery to repair a torn abdominal muscle. He&rsquo;s centering the second line, alongside Ladislav Nagy.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s time to play,&rdquo; Handzus said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m going to be 100 per cent until sometime this summer.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK Right winger Claude Lemieux, who was expected to miss the rest of the regular season with a badly sprained right ankle, has resumed skating and could play the team&rsquo;s final four games&hellip;Though center Jeremy Roenick was targeted to be named the new captain following Keith Tkachuk&rsquo;s departure, the team may go with three assistants until next season. Roenick is due to become an unrestricted free agent&hellip;Part-owner Wayne Gretzky and wife Janet catered a party for the team at the couple&rsquo;s home in Thousand Oaks, Calif., before a game in Los Angeles. &#9632;

f0028-01

Fletcher says players, not coach, responsible for recent nosedive

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Joe Starkey</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02692/7437267-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="218" height="238"></div>Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr love playing together, but they love winning even more, which is why they decided to split.Coach Ivan Hlinka approved, and the Penguins suddenly had a brand new lineup.Wayne Primeau joined Lemieux and Kevin Stevens on the first line. Jagr joined Jan Hrdina and Aleksey Morozov on an entirely new &ldquo;third line.&rdquo; The second line of Alexei Kovalev, Robert Lang and Martin Straka stayed intact.The moves gave the Penguins more balance and made them more difficult to match up against. &ldquo;Look at all the teams out there playing very well-New Jersey, Colorado-they have three lines that can score,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re just trying to be one of them.&rdquo; The Penguins were ripe for a shakeup. They were 4-42-0 in their previous 10 games and the third line had produced one goal in that span.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good time to try anything right now,&rdquo; Stevens said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going on all cylinders.&rdquo;ANALYSIS The Penguins&rsquo; goaltending situation has been unsettled since September. The only difference now is three players are in the mix, not two. Garth Snow, Johan Hedberg and Jean-Sebastien Aubin all were vying to become the team&rsquo;s go-to guy at playoff time. The feeling inside the dressing room was that Snow, if healthy, would be the man. It makes sense, considering he is the only one of the three with playoff experience. The big risk is Snow had been out since Feb. 7 because of a strained groin and was no guarantee to stay healthy for the playoffs. Hedberg made three starts in place of Aubin and his aggressiveness left a good impression on his teammates. Aubin, however, led the team in victories (20-13-1).DEFENSE Veteran Marc Bergevin criticized the team for playing &ldquo;pond hockey.&rdquo; The Penguins went nearly a month without allowing fewer than three goals. Bergevin delivered a scathing review of his team&rsquo;s loose play after a 5-1 loss at Tampa Bay. He also said the Penguins were playing without a sense of urgency or of personal responsibility. &ldquo;We have one of the best players, the best leader in the game here in Mario,&rdquo; Bergevin said. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t just sit behind him. We can&rsquo;t just be passengers.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK Defenseman Darius Kasparaitis on the Penguins&rsquo; goaltending dilemma:&rdquo;I think they should put all three of them together. That&rsquo;d be an easy decision for the coaches: Just tape them together, put them in there and see what happens.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0028-02

Balancing act: Lemieux, Jagr split to give Pens three scoring lines

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03494/7437298-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="222" height="251"></div>Less than three weeks before the start of the playoffs, St. Louis coach Joel Quenneville declared the Blues&rsquo; goaltending job was &ldquo;wide open,&rdquo; opening the door for rookie Brent Johnson to unseat No. 1 man Roman Turek.&ldquo;We (had) told Roman that he&rsquo;s going to be our guy but I told him, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m just not going to give it to you. You have to prove you deserve it and earn it,&rsquo;&rdquo; Quenneville said after Turek allowed four goals on 20 shots in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Islanders March 20.Turek, a runner-up for the Vezina Trophy last season, was struggling with his confidence. Through March 23, he hadn&rsquo;t won in seven games and was 2-7-2 in his last 11 starts, with a 3.04 goals-against average and a.873 save percentage. Overall, he&rsquo;s 21-16-8 in 47 games, with a 2.40 GAA and a.896 save percentage.&ldquo;I feel much better than I did two or three weeks ago, but still, it&rsquo;s not like (my confidence) is 100 per cent; I don&rsquo;t know how to explain it,&rdquo; Turek said.Johnson, meantime, was 19-8-2, with a 2.10 GAA and a.901 save percentage. But in an 11-game stretch through March 23, he was 3-6-2 with a 2.95 GAA and a.886 save percentage.ANALYSIS With the influx of new players in recent weeks-Keith Tkachuk and Cory Stillman at the trade deadline and veterans Scott Mellanby and Alexei Gusarov previously-the Blues are in a major period of adjustment. Coach Joel Quenneville has been juggling lines and pairings to find the elusive combinations that will mesh in the playoffs, making it difficult for the Blues to get out of a prolonged 1-7-3-0 slump.OFFENSE Center Pierre Turgeon, who played in his 1,000th game March 22, has been struggling. The Blues leading scorer with 72 points, Turgeon had only two points in seven games through March 23. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t been pleased with his play recently,&rdquo; Quenneville said. &ldquo;I talked with him. We expect more and he expects more.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK Defenseman Al MacInnis had an assist in each of his first two games after missing 23 with an eye injury MacInnis returned March 20&hellip;Right winger Pavol Demitra is sidelined again with a pulled right hamstring, which is related to a deep skate cut he suffered Feb. 10. He initially missed 14 games and came back for one game before being sidelined again. Including the eye injury that sidelined him for 17 games, Demitra has played only five games since Jan. 1&hellip;Right winger Tyson Nash reinjured his right knee March 22 and will be lost for the rest of the season, including playoffs. Nash was playing in his second game after missing 15. &#9632;

f0028-03

Turek must battle backup Johnson for right to be playoff goaltender

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Ross McKeon</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01906/7437329-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="216" height="253"></div>Whether it&rsquo;s coincidence or otherwise, a number of prominent players have been injured in games against the San Jose Sharks this season.Colorado&rsquo;s Rob Blake and Patrick Roy were added recently to an already substantial list that includes Colorado&rsquo;s Adam Foote (shoulder surgery), St. Louis&rsquo; Chris Pronger (broken arm) and Al MacInnis (eye injury), Edmonton&rsquo;s Mike Grier (separated shoulder), Montreal&rsquo;s Martin Rucinsky (charley horse), Detroit&rsquo;s. Darren McCarty (sprained ankle) and Dallas&rsquo; Grant Marshall (concussion).Blake sprained his right knee when he collided with Bill Lindsay March 20. Blake was expected to miss the remainder of the regular season.&ldquo;He was the guy hitting me,&rdquo; Lindsay said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t see him coming. He probably just hit me awkwardly.&rdquo;Roy&rsquo;s injury had nothing to do with the Sharks. His battle with tendinitis of the right knee flared up in the third period.ANALYSIS With Jeff Friesen flying as a Duck and Teemu Selanne stumbling as a Shark, some were wondering whether the Ducks paid too much for the &lsquo;Finnish Flash.&rsquo; Selanne was without a goal, was minus-4 and had only eight shots during four games with the Sharks, all losses. This on the heels of needing arthroscopic knee surgery one day after the March 5 deal was consummated.In addition to giving up Friesen, San Jose dealt goalie Steve Shields to Anaheim. Shields is out for the season after undergoing shoulder surgery.DEFENSE Backup goalie Miikka Kiprusoff has had a bizarre beginning to his NHL career. Yet to start, Kiprusoff made his third relief appearance March 18 and was saddled with the loss because he surrendered Detroit&rsquo;s fourth goal after the Sharks rallied from a 3-0 deficit achieved when Evgeni Nabokov was in net.In addition, Kiprusoff hadn&rsquo;t even recorded a save until his stint against the Red Wings. He allowed a goal on the only shot he faced during his debut-a 14minute relief stint Oct. 24-and faced no shots during a 38-second showing at the end of the first period March 12.NOTEBOOK Right winger Teemu Selanne debuted for San Jose March 17, just 11 days following arthroscopic surgery to clean up cartilage in his right knee. Selanne started on his off-wing to play with Owen Nolan on San Jose&rsquo;s top line&hellip;After leading the league in road success much of the season, the Sharks were winless in 10 straight (0-7-1-2) through March 20&hellip;An overtime loss March 17 in Los Angeles nevertheless clinched the Sharks&rsquo; first winning season in 10 years of existence. &#9632;

f0029-01

San Jose getting dubious reputation as dangerous team to play against

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Damian Cristodero</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02587/7437360-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="215" height="246"></div>The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin to the richest contract in team history.It is worth a base salary of $14.75 million. But with incentives and an option season, it could reach $22.25 million.Khabibulin will make $250,000 for the rest of this season and also receive a $500,000 signing bonus. He will earn $3.5 million next season, $4.0 million in 2002-03 and $4.5 million in 2003-04. If the Lightning picks up the option for 2004-05, Khabibulin will make $6.5 million. If not, Tampa Bay will buy him out for $2 million.The final year&rsquo;s salary is high because it buys out the first year in which Khabibulin could become an unrestricted free agent.Khabibulin can also earn a $l-million bonus in each of the first three full contract years if the Lightning makes the playoffs.&ldquo;Sammy Sosa is getting $72 million for four years,&rdquo; said Lightning president Ron Campbell. &ldquo;(Khabibulin) will win more games for us than Sammy Sosa will for them.&rdquo;Said Khabibulin: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy I got here. I watched a lot of games of the Lightning and the team is going in the right direction.&rdquo;ANALYSIS If Khabibulin returns to his form of two seasons ago in Phoenix, the Lightning will have pulled off a major coup. At $3.5 million, Khabibulin will be a bargain for an elite goaltender. Even at $6.5 million, it&rsquo;s money well spent. As for Kevin Weekes, who has held the No. 1 spot since December, the Lightning legitimately wants to keep him. But if Weekes, whose contract is up after this season, pushes for a trade, his recent stellar play could result in a big payoff for Tampa Bay.DEFENSE The Lightning was 8-4-0-1 in 13 games through March 22, allowing 31 goals-an average of 2.38 per game-in that stretch. In its previous 60 games, the club had allowed an average of 3.62. &ldquo;The middle of the ice has been taken away,&rdquo; said coach John Tortorella. &ldquo;If you find yourself running around, come back to the middle of the ice.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK Rookie forward Sheldon Keefe was suspended without pay by the Lighting for refusing to report to Rochester (AHL) from the Detroit Vipers (IHL), the Lightning&rsquo;s farm team. Keefe said Tampa Bay misled him about his role on the team. GM Rick Dudley said Keefe played 49 games with the Lightning and is not going to tell him how to run the team. Dudley added the Lightning will keep the 21-year-old out of hockey until he&rsquo;s 31 if he doesn&rsquo;t smarten up. &#9632;

f0029-02

Khabibulin gets what he wanted all along…lots of money from desperate Lightning

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Paul Hunter</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011024/7437391-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="217" height="251"></div>At a time when playoff-bound teams are gearing up for the post-season, the Toronto Maple Leafs are stumbling in the opposite direction.Toronto turned in an abysmal performance in losing 3-0 at Buffalo March 20. The Leafs, leaden and confused in their own end, yielded 17 of the first 18 shots and were outshot 32-9 over the first two periods.Only the stellar play of goaltender Curtis Joseph kept the game from being as embarrassing on the scoreboard as it was on the ice.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s about as bad as I&rsquo;ve seen this team play in the three years I&rsquo;ve been here,&rdquo; said Leafs&rsquo; coach-GM Pat Quinn. &ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t flat, we were totally outplayed. We didn&rsquo;t skate. We didn&rsquo;t work. We didn&rsquo;t hit. We didn&rsquo;t pass. All of the basics of the game, none of it was there.&rdquo;The next night at home the Leafs served up a similar stinker, losing 3-1 to a Florida team that is already eliminated from playoff contention and is playing out the string. That ended a seven-game stretch in which Toronto won only two games (2-4-1-0).&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a critical situation,&rdquo; said defenseman Dmitry Yushkevich. &ldquo;The way we&rsquo;re playing, we won&rsquo;t be in the playoffs for long.&rdquo;ANALYSIS One of the dilemmas facing the Leafs in their final few games will be how they employ their goaltenders. Toronto would like to get No. 1 netminder Curtis Joseph some rest before the post-season, but the team is still is a desperate fight to improve its playoff seeding. With seven games remaining, the Leafs could finish anywhere from fourth in the conference to ninth and out of the playoffs.Backup Glenn Healy has struggled in his limited role and has a 4-7-3 record (and a poor.885 save percentage) despite often facing weaker opponents.OFFENSE Several Toronto forwards were mired in horrible slumps. Sergei Berezin had gone 10 games without a goal. Ditto for Shayne Corson and Igor Korolev. Jonas Hoglund had one goal in 11 games. First-liner Steve Thomas had been blanked in seven. Darcy Tucker was in the worst drought of all. He had gone 20 games without a goal and had just four goals in 46 games after scoring 10 in the first 29 games of the season.NOTEBOOK Right winger Shayne Corson was lost for at least a week when he sustained a separated shoulder March 21 against Florida&hellip;Towards the end of that 3-1 loss to the Panthers, a fan at the Air Canada Centre threw a crutch on the ice in the direction of goalie Glenn Healy. He received a hearty cheer from the disheartened fans as he hopped out of the stands escorted by security. Healy didn&rsquo;t see the humor in the symbolic gesture and called the crutch on the ice &ldquo;sickening.&rdquo;&hellip;Center Mats Sundin was one of the first 10 players named to Team Sweden for the 2002 Olympics. Defenseman Dmitry Yushkevich received the same honor when he was among the first named to Russia. &#9632;

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Maple Leafs using stretch drive to reach new low in performance

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02682/7437422-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="222" height="255"></div>The captain has gone down, leaving the ship to carry on as best it can.Left winger Markus Naslund, the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; captain, leading scorer and MVP, broke both the tibia and fibula bones in his right leg against Buffalo March 16, putting him out of action for the rest of the season.Naslund was having a career year with 41 goals and 75 points in 72 games when he became tangled up with Sabre defensemen Rhett Warrener and Jay McKee in the corner and fell awkwardly.&ldquo;I knew it was broken right away,&rdquo; said Naslund, who had a steel rod inserted in his tibia (the major weightbearing bone).&ldquo;The worst part was the disappointment. I knew the season was over. But I understand from other people who have had this that it heals completely and you don&rsquo;t have any real problems.&rdquo;Naslund has appeared in just six career playoff games in eight seasons and was desperately hoping to lead the Canucks into the post-season. But he&rsquo;ll have be satisfied with cheering on his teammates from the sidelines.ANALYSIS The Canucks opted to recall abrasive checking forward Jarkko Ruutu from their Kansas City farm team to replace Naslund, rather than promote leading minor league scorer Vadim Sharifijanov.The team felt that bumping second-year pro Harold Druken from the fourth line to the second unit and then filling a fourth line spot would be a better strategy than asking a newcomer to score regularly at the NHL level.OFFENSE Coach Marc Crawford opted to load up one line with his three best offensive players. Crawford shifted center Andrew Cassels from center to left wing on a line with pivot Brendan Morrison and right winger Todd Bertuzzi. The line had five points in a 5-3 win over Atlanta March 18.NOTEBOOK Left winger Daniel Sedin scored his 20th goal of the season March 21 and had an additional $300,000 added to his salary, as per a bonus clause&hellip;Left winger Markus Naslund had figured in more than one-third of all Vancouver goals when he was hurt (75 points on 221 goals, 33.9 per cent)&hellip;Right winger Todd Bertuzzi established a career high in points when he surpassed the 50-point mark against Atlanta&hellip;Barring a collapse, the Canucks will finish over.500 for the sixth time in the team&rsquo;s 31-year history. The last time Vancouver finished over.500 was in 1993-94 when they went to the Stanley Cup final with 85 points in an 84-game season&hellip;Despite being tied for second in the NHL with 12 shorthanded goals, the Canucks&rsquo; penalty killing continued to haunt the team. At 81.0 percent efficiency, Vancouver was 26th overall and last among playoffbound clubs. The power play, meanwhile, was 11th (18.0 percent efficiency), though Naslund&rsquo;s absence had yet to be felt. &#9632;

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MVP Naslund forced to sidelines after nasty fall breaks two bones

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03473/7437453-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="216" height="260"></div>That honeymoon cruise the Washington Capitals were on appears to have hit a reef. What remains to be seen is the extent of the damage.Washington sailed through February with the best record in team history, 9-1-1-0, which gave the club a mark of 30-15-10-1 since the end of November.Then the idea of March arrived and life around the Caps hasn&rsquo;t been the same since.The team bunched four straight losses together, its first such string since the end of the 1998-99 season. It wasn&rsquo;t just the losses, it was the way the team was losing-being humbled by clubs far below then in the standings.&ldquo;Every team goes through this kind of stretch,&rdquo; said goaltender Olie Kolzig, who was left as naked as an Eighth Avenue bellydancer when the New York Rangers rocked the Capitals 6-3 in Madison Square Garden March 19.&ldquo;We had been going through a stretch there where I wasn&rsquo;t playing my best and we were winning 5-3, 5-4,&rdquo; Kolzig said. &ldquo;Now we&rsquo;ve hit a bit of a funk, but my job is the same-stop the puck.&rdquo;A little help from his friends wouldn&rsquo;t hurt.ANALYSIS Defenseman Sergei Gonchar was named to the Russian Olympic team which will play in Salt Lake City next February.This is more than just another player agreeing to play for his country, it signifies a major step forward for Gonchar in his development. Three years ago in Nagano, Gonchar was there as an injury replacement. But this time around, Gonchar was on the list of the first group of players selected and had a right to feel proud.OFFENSE Center Adam Oates is 38, but as his 16th season draws to a close, he is showing no signs of entering that age bracket when most pro athletes are contemplating fishing or playing golf as a full-time pursuit.With fewer than 10 games remaining in the regular season, Oates was leading the league in assists (64), his reward for being one of only three Capitals to play in every game this season. And he plays each one like a Lady Byng winner.NOTEBOOK During their losing ways in March, the Capitals went nearly 135 minutes without a goal&hellip;Right winger Peter Bondra had 21 power play goals in 73 games, breaking Dennis Maruk&rsquo;s 19-year-old franchise record of 20 and tying Mike Gartner franchise-best career total of 98. With 43 goals as of March 22, Bondra had more than twice as many than any of his teammates. Gritty left winger Steve Konowalchuk was second with 20&hellip;With the playoffs nearing, Washington&rsquo;s 21-8-6-2 (.676 point percentage) mark in conference play was fourth-best in the Eastern Conference, behind Ottawa (.730), Philadelphia (.703) and Buffalo (.681). &#9632;

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March swoon has Caps reeling, but not about to lose the faith

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01941/7437484-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL DEPTH CHARTS

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>Despite all their years of playing hockey, there is just one photo in Anne Peters&rsquo; family album of sons Andrew and Geoff together, in uniform, on the ice.So when the Norfolk Admirals visited the Rochester Americans March 18, mom went searching for a photographer who could snap a picture of her sons after the American League game.But when the game was over Geoff, 23, who plays for Norfolk, was in no mood for photos. Andrew, 20, a second round pick (34th overall) of Buffalo in 1998 and a rookie with the Amerks, started a fight with his older-and very surprised-brother in the second period of Rochester&rsquo;s 3-1 win.&ldquo;I just couldn&rsquo;t believe he dropped his gloves,&rdquo; said Geoff, a gritty, third-year center who was a second round pick (46th overall) of Chicago in 1996. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s forgivable, for sure.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011004/7437515-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="275" height="352"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andrew Peters</figcaption></div>Andrew said he thought he was tangling with Norfolk toughguy winger Aaron Downey.The Peters brothers came out from behind the net together and Andrew (6-foot-4, 218 pounds) yanked Geoff (6-foot-1, 185 pounds) to the ice. Geoff got up and gave Andrew a cross-check to the left shoulder and, before mom and dad could say, &ldquo;Kids, behave,&rdquo; the gloves were off.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s embarrassing, I felt stupid,&rdquo; said Andrew, who has 114 penalty minutes to just 46 for Geoff. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s yelling at me, &lsquo;What are you doing?&rsquo; When I realized it was him, I didn&rsquo;t want to fight.&rdquo;Geoff had other ideas. He popped Andrew right in the jaw.&ldquo;I thought, &lsquo;You know what, I better hit him and let the little guy know he shouldn&rsquo;t do that to his big brother,&rsquo;&rdquo; Geoff said. &#9632;

f0032-01

Mom’s Kodak moment: Peters vs. Peters

<h2>SCOUTING REPORT</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04326/7437591-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="339" height="457"><figcaption class="caption-body">Levente Szuper (Bill Vaughan)</figcaption></div>VITAL STATISTICSHometown: Budapest, HungaryAge: 20Size: 5-11,180LAST AMATEUR CLUBOttawa 67&rsquo;s (OHL)POSITION Goaltender2000-01 SEASONSaint John (AHL)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06204/7437584-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="408" height="79"></div>NHL AFFILIATIONCalgary FlamesNOTEWORTHYThe first native Hungarian ever drafted (116th overall by the Flames in 2000), Szuper won a Memorial Cup with the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s.BOTTOM LINELike Dominik Hasek, his style is unorthodox-he does whatever it takes to stop the puck. But since he&rsquo;s not as big as Hasek, it could cost him dearly against NHL shooters. &#9632;

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<div class="byline">By Rob Mueller</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05245/7437622-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="283" height="302"></div><h2>NOTEBOOK</h2>Super Mario saved the Pittsburgh Penguins, but he couldn&rsquo;t salvage his brother&rsquo;s job with the East Coast League&rsquo;s Wheeling Nailers.Wheeling fired coach and director of hockey operations Alain Lemieux March 14 following a horrific weekend in which the Nailers lost three times by a combined 24-4 score, dropping their leagueworst record to 19-35-7.Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; Hall of Fame center and owner Mario Lemieux said his older brother&rsquo;s firing would not affect the Penguins&rsquo; affiliation with Wheeling.&ldquo;Obviously, it&rsquo;s up to them to make the decisions,&rdquo; said Mario Lemieux. &ldquo;I guess the owners got together and decided that a change was neededThe Nailers promoted assistant coach Joe Harney, 28, on an interim basis. He lost 4-3 in his debut on the road against Dayton March 13.&ldquo;Obviously, our playoff chances are extremely slim at this point,&rdquo; said Wheeling GM Fred Traynor. &ldquo;We felt we hadto start gearing up for next season.&rdquo;STICK IT Baton Rouge Kingfish center Mike Barrie was suspended 12 games by the ECHL March 19 for his third stickswinging incident in as many games. The Kingfish waived him a day earlier, in anticipation of the harsh sentence. The 27-year-old is the younger brother of Florida Panthers&rsquo; center Len Barrie.On the same day, the league suspended Charlotte Checkers&rsquo; forward Tyler Deis seven games for a slash to the head of Trenton defenseman Shane Belter March 17 and Augusta Lynx enforcer Ken Tasker got three games for cross-checking Greensboro forward Trevor Gillies in the head during a March 16 game.LEASING A FORD The Dayton Bombers had to employ an emergency backup goalie March 16 against Johnstown when starting netminder Greg Gardner was ejected after joining what became a 6-on-6 brawl.Enter Chad Ford, a United League veteran, who stopped nine of 10 shots to help preserve a 4-2 Dayton victoryCOAST LINES Three Southern Conference teams battling for the playoffs lost their No. 1 goalies to call-ups. Arkansas&rsquo; Jeff Salajko joined Manitoba (International League), Augusta&rsquo;s Judd Lambert went to Cincinnati (American League) and Mobile&rsquo;s Maxime Gingras joined Louisville (AHL). &#9632;

f0032-05

Lemieux won’t overrule big brother’s firing

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>Any hockey marriage proposals between the NHL&rsquo;s Vancouver Canucks and International League&rsquo;s Manitoba Moose won&rsquo;t be finalized until the off-season, according to Canucks&rsquo; GM-president Brian Burke.It&rsquo;s no secret the Canucks are contemplating a move of their minor league affiliate from Kansas City to Winnipeg. In that scenario, however, the Blades would link up with the San Jose Sharks for a second time. The teams were affiliated from 1991-92 through 1995-96.Burke and Moose president Mark Chipman have been talking for nearly two years.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing to deny,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;We feel there are a lot of attractive reasons to put a team here. It&rsquo;s a great hockey city with smart hockey fans and we&rsquo;re real confident in this ownership group.&ldquo;It would also make geographic sense, both for recalling players and for coming to watch them.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01907/7437653-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="274" height="348"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Burke</figcaption></div>Political reasons, Burke said, also make Winnipeg a very attractive option.&ldquo;If we&rsquo;re going to complain that Canadian teams aren&rsquo;t getting a fair shake, then there&rsquo;s no sense in us having a team in the U.S.,&rdquo; he said.There are two reasons the Canucks and Moose didn&rsquo;t strike a deal earlier.For starters, the Moose weren&rsquo;t 100 percent sure they wanted an affiliation, though that appears to be changing. The second reason is the matter of a coach. Burke said Stan Smyl will coach the Canucks&rsquo; farm team &ldquo;until he doesn&rsquo;t want to,&rdquo; while Chipman said the same about Moose coach-GM Randy Carlyle.&ldquo;It was definitely a stumbling block in the discussions we have had prior to this season, but we&rsquo;re waiting until the end of the year to address that,&rdquo; Burke said. &#9632;

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Canucks eye Winnipeg for farm club

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02612/7437691-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="438" height="301"></div><h2>NOTEBOOK</h2>The International League&rsquo;s March 15 trade deadline produced no blockbuster moves, but saw several intriguing transactions.Among the teams that helped themselves were the surging Houston Aeros, who acquired defensive help in Terran Sandwith from the Edmonton Oilers and center Mark Janssens from the Chicago Blackhawks.The Chicago Wolves, who had previously dealt defenseman Dean Melanson, filled that blueline vacancy by getting Mike McBain from the Montreal Canadiens.But the Cleveland Lumberjacks and Manitoba Moose were left with huge holes to fill.Cleveland won&rsquo;t have center Pavel Patera, who had 52 points in 54 games. Patera will stay with the expansion Minnesota Wild. The Moose, meanwhile, lost goalie Johan Hedberg, traded by the parent San Jose Sharks to Pittsburgh, and defenseman Philippe Boucher will remain with the Los Angeles Kings.In addition, THN&rsquo;s third quarter league MVP, Randy Robitaille, wasn&rsquo;t on the Milwaukee Admirals&rsquo; playoff roster. He&rsquo;ll stay up with the Nashville Predators.STAYING YOUNG Wolves&rsquo; coach John Anderson brought veteran goalie Wendell Young, 37, off the shelf at just the right time in March. Anderson went back to Young for a second straight weekend and he recorded his third and fourth straight victories, over Kansas City on back-to-back nights.Anderson had been riding Richard Shulmistra since the all-star break and the Wolves also have Rob Tallas on loan from the Chicago Blackhawks. Tallas has played only one game.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d love to play Tallas, but I don&rsquo;t know him that well,&rdquo; said Anderson, whose team is back in the middle of the West playoff picture. &ldquo;(Assistant coach) Marty (Howe) and I have our jobs on the line.&rdquo;DOTTING THE &lsquo;I&rsquo; Charity auctions were the benefactors in Grand Rapids, Cleveland and Salt Lake City when the Griffins, Lumberjacks and Utah Grizzlies donned special green St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day jerseys for home games during the week of March 17&hellip;Detroit Vipers&rsquo; goalie Mark Fitzpatrick, who had been playing well, promptly quit March 17 after what he deemed an unacceptable contract offer from the parent Tampa Bay Lightning.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03458/7437684-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="1318" height="1903"><figcaption class="caption-body">Captain John Purves and the Utah Grizzlies are in playoff mode, battling the Chicago Wolves for the final spot in the Western Conference. (Ross Dettman)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0033-02

Subtle trade moves round out rosters

<h2>SCOUTING REPORT</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04354/7437729-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="343" height="469"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pavel Skrbek (Ross Dettman)</figcaption></div>VITAL STATISTICSHometown: Kladno, CzechRepublicAge: 22Size: 6-3, 212LAST AMATEUR CLUBPoldi Kladno juniors (Cze.)POSITION Defense2000-01 SEASONMilwaukee<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05294/7437722-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="367" height="78"></div>Milwaukee (IHL)NHL AFFILIATIONNashville PredatorsNOTEWORTHYPittsburgh&rsquo;s second round pick (28th overall) in 1996, Skrbek had his 1999-2000 season ended prematurely by a knee injury, but has rebounded nicely with Milwaukee this season.BOTTOM LINEHe&rsquo;s a big defenseman with excellent range. After a slow start in North America, he has changed his attitude and is starting to take responsibility for being a team leader.<h2>UNITED LEAGUE</h2>The United League&rsquo;s Quad City Mallards became the first team in pro hockey history to win 50 games in five straight seasons. The Mallards improved to 50-12-6 with a 5-1 victory oyer Missouri March 21. The NHL&rsquo;s Boston Bruins (1970-71 to &lsquo;73-74) and Montreal Canadiens (1975-76 to &lsquo;78-79) are the only clubs to do it four straight times. Quad City has a 258-85-20 record (.738 winning percentage) in the past five seasons. Left winger Hugo Proulx and right winger Mark McFarlane have been on all five teams.&ndash;Brendan Savage<h2>WESTERN PRO LEAGUE</h2>Following a probe by the Western Pro League, the New Mexico Scorpions were found in violation of the league salary cap. New Mexico was leading the WPHL in points and wins prior to the probe, but was banished to the Western Division cellar, four points behind Amarillo. The WPHL salary cap is $10,000 per week; players average $500 weekly. Despite the drop in the standings, New Mexico&rsquo;s record officially remained 42-19-4. The Scorpions also were fined $50,000 and coach Tony Martino was suspended indefinitely.&ndash;David Henry<h2>WEST COAST LEAGUE</h2>The mid-season demise of the Border City (Central League) and Mohawk Valley (United League) franchises resulted in four players joining the West Coast League-Trevor Matter and Jim Gattoliat to Idaho and Jean-Ian Filiatrault and Jeremy Vokes to Tacoma. WCHL president Mike McCall said minor pro hockey is adjusting after a huge growth spurt. Some leagues may merge or realign, but McCall said the WCHL is well positioned to thrive without absorbing teams or merging with another league.&ndash;Don Ruiz<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>Following a court order, the Topeka ScareCrows will be allowed to finish the season after being suspended Feb. 19 by the Central League, which said the franchise was more than $100,000 behind in dues. The CHL suspended Border City for similar reasons, but the Bandits did not fight the ruling. The ScareCrows argued other franchises are behind in payments and violate rules, but aren&rsquo;t suspended. The court also ordered Topeka owner Jonathan Fleisig to pay $25,000 to the league and an additional $5,000 if the club makes the playoffs.&ndash;Bob Stratton &#9632;

f0033-04

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>Len Nielsen was firing off one-liners after being fired by the Moose Jaw Warriors.&ldquo;Nobody likes to go through this, but I guess getting fired makes me officially a coach,&rdquo; he said.Nielsen, 34, was sacked with three games remaining in the Western League&rsquo;s season and replaced by Curtis Hunt.Moose Jaw had a 33-27-4-5 record when GM Ralph Schmidt made the switch, citing a lack of communication and chemistry between Nielsen and the players.&ldquo;It was a situation where both sides were very frustrated, which put a lot of pressure on the players and coaching staff,&rdquo; Schmidt said. &ldquo;We felt that heading into the playoffs, it was a situation that needed to be rectified or we would be average at best.&rdquo;Nielsen was in his third season as the Warriors&rsquo; coach and his eighth with the organization. He was an assistant coach under Al Tuer from the 1993-94 season through 1997-98.Under Nielsen, the 2000-01 Warriors became the fifth Moose Jaw team in 17 seasons to register a winning record. He also guided the 199899 Warriors to 80 points, the team&rsquo;s highest total in Moose Jaw. The franchise transferred from Winnipeg in 1984.&ldquo;I spent eight years here and met a lot of great people,&rdquo; Nielsen said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very grateful for a lot of the opportunities I had. I don&rsquo;t think it has been an easy time for Ralph, either. That being said, it&rsquo;s time to move on.&rdquo;Hunt, meanwhile, who was hired one day after Nielsen&rsquo;s dismissal, signed a contract which runs through the 2001-02 campaign.&ldquo;I was proud to be in the league as a player,&rdquo; said Hunt, a former Prince Albert Raiders&rsquo; defenseman. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m proud to be here as a coach. I&rsquo;d like to make this a long-standing thing.&rdquo;Prior to his hiring, Hunt, 34, was an assistant coach with the International League&rsquo;s Grand Rapids Griffins for three years. He was selected by Vancouver in the ninth round of the 1985 NHL entry draft and played in the minors from 1987-88 through 1995-96.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011026/7437760-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="393" height="266"></div>RUN AND GUN Swift Current Broncos&rsquo; center Layne Ulmer was the WHL&rsquo;s runaway leader in goals, with 63.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty excited and happy with how the regular season has gone,&rdquo; said the 20-year-old, who needed only 47 games to hit the 50-goal mark earlier this season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve put good numbers up that are pretty much what I was looking for. I can always say that I scored 50 goals in 50 games in the WHL. That&rsquo;s something I can take with me my whole life.&rdquo;The Broncos (43-20-7-2) finished first in the six-team East Division and second in the 11-team Eastern Conference, which includes the East and Central Divisions.NOTEBOOK The Red Deer Rebels&rsquo; winning streak was snapped at 12 games March 16 when the host Regina Pats beat them 4-2. Regina also ended Red Deer&rsquo;s 18-game unbeaten streak (17 wins, one tie)&hellip;The Medicine Hat Tigers (24-40-5-3) finished the regular season on a 6-0-0-1 roll, including victories in their last four games. Nonetheless, the Tigers missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season&hellip;Kelowna Rockets&rsquo; right winger Carsen Germyn carried a 16-game point streak into the final week of the regular season. &#9632;

f0034-01

Warriors whack Nielsen, hire Hunt as coach

<div class="byline">By Willy Palov</div>The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies are urging everyone to remain calm.A mini-slump down the stretch is no reason to panic, they say, it only means they have some rough edges to iron out before the Quebec League playoffs.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t mean anything,&rdquo; said defenseman Jonathan Gauthier of an uncharacteristic 5-5-0-0 run during the final weeks of the regular season. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like we were losing every game.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02696/7437791-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="393" height="291"></div>But the Huskies fell from second place overall to fourth, meaning they&rsquo;ll likely have home-ice advantage only for the first round of the playoffs.And since the team was just 36-1-0 in its last 10 road games, shouldn&rsquo;t it be concerned?&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t care where we play,&rdquo; Gauthier said. &ldquo;This team was built for the playoffs and we&rsquo;ll be ready for anything.&rdquo;The Huskies also are adjusting to their new coach, Bob Mongrain, who replaced Jean Pronovost Jan. 29.&ldquo;Sometimes it takes a little while to get used to a new coach&rsquo;s style,&rdquo; Mongrain said. &ldquo;But I am not worried about this team. I think we have all the right pieces to win in the playoffs.&rdquo;Despite their lukewarm finish, the Huskies are still a solid candidate to go all the way. With one game remaining, they were an impressive 43-23-5-2 and had the third-best defensive record in the league (3.49 goals against per game).&ldquo;We are ready for the playoffs,&rdquo; Gauthier said. &ldquo;Maybe you could say we had a little wake-up call, but we still have a lot of confidence.&rdquo;REACHING HIS GOAL(S) Shawinigan&rsquo;s Marc-Andre Bergeron set a new singleseason record for goals by a defenseman when he scored his 42nd of the year March 16 against Drummondville.Bergeron, 20, surpassed Derrick Walser&rsquo;s old mark of 41, set in 1997-98 with Rimouski. &ldquo;When I got to 41 I found that kind of (overwhelming),&rdquo; Bergeron said. &ldquo;A lot of people have been talking about the record the past couple of months.&rdquo;The 5-foot-9,185-pounder set the record in 66 games; Walser needed 70 games to score 41. The Canadian Hockey League record is 50 goals, set by Saskatoon Blades&rsquo; blueliner Larry Sacharuk in 1971-72.HAT TRICK HOPE Victoriaville&rsquo;s Danny Groulx is dreaming of a hat trick.The 19-year-old defenseman will be gunning for his third league title, all with different teams. Groulx began his QMJHL career in 1997-98 with a championship in Val-d&rsquo;Or. He followed that with a title the next year in Bathurst. Both teams went 0-3 at the Memorial Cup.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d really like a chance to go back and not only win one game, but hopefully win the whole thing.&rdquo; said Groulx, the league&rsquo;s third-highest scoring blueliner with 87 points.FOUR ENTER HALLThe QMJHL welcomed four new members to its Hall of Fame March 15.Michel Bergeron entered in the coaching category, while Guy Carbonneau, Dale Hawerchuk and Guy Rouleau made it as players.Bergeron, most famous for his years as coach of the NHL&rsquo;s Quebec Nordiques, won two league titles during his six-year run as coach of Trois Rivieres.Carbonneau (Chicoutimi), Hawerchuk (Cornwall) and Rouleau (Long-ueuil/Hull) were allstars during their QMJHL careers. &#9632;

f0034-02

Even pre-playoff slide can’t shake Huskies

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Jim Hulton is one dog who&rsquo;s glad he was let out.Hulton wasn&rsquo;t sure he&rsquo;d ever see the Ontario League again after coaching the Mississauga IceDogs, who, in 1998-99, had the worst record in the Canadian Hockey League (3-55-7-2). But with his Belleville Bulls (36-22-5-3) tied with the Toronto St. Michael&rsquo;s Majors for first overall in the Eastern Conference entering the final week of regular season play, Hulton has discovered there is life after the IceDogs.&ldquo;I might have to stay in the league until I&rsquo;m 100 years old to get back to.500,&rdquo; said Hulton of his career 8-76-3-2 record with the IceDogs.Hulton, 32, was selling photocopiers in Toronto when Bulls&rsquo; GM Brad Vaughan contacted him about replacing Lou Crawford, who had moved up to the American League&rsquo;s St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs.The Bulls&rsquo; coach still won&rsquo;t publicly bad-mouth IceDogs&rsquo; partowner Don Cherry, who&rsquo;s accused of being much too hands-on.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to see the problems there weren&rsquo;t all coach-related,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Without a doubt, this organization (Belleville) is successful because they let people do their jobs.&rdquo;The Bulls weren&rsquo;t expected to do this well. They lost four of their top scorers, but wound up with the hottest trio in the CHL. Second-year center Kyle Wellwood was tied with Windsor&rsquo;s Jason Spezza for the league lead with 114 points, including 33 goals, while over-age right winger Branko Radivojevic was third with 101 points (34 goals) and overage left winger Randy Rowe fourth with 97 points (61 goals). Forwards Radivojevic, Rowe, Nathan Robinson and Mike Renzi and defensemen Nick Policelli and Mike Jacobsen are holdovers from the 1999 OHL title team.KNIGHT JOLTED London Knights&rsquo; defenseman Brian Seljan was treated by paramedics after a March 15 game in Windsor when he received an electrical shock while adjusting a shower control. Seljan was experiencing numbness in his right arm and it wasn&rsquo;t known when he would return to the lineup.Arena officials said the shock occurred when two wires arced behind the shower wall and the current touched a water pipe.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03542/7437822-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="389" height="207"></div>NEW DIGS The City of London has broken ground on a $41.2-million, 9,000-seat arena in the downtown area and the Knights will call it home in the 2002-2003 season. Knights&rsquo; co-owner Dale Hunter said the team will honor its current building, the Ice House, late next season by bringing back former players.The arena opened in October, 1963, and London was granted a major junior franchise in 1965. Hunter and his brother Mark bought the arena and team last May for $3.8 million. They&rsquo;ve signed a 20-lease with the new building and will sell the Ice House, which is located at the south end.OUT OF GAS For the first time in 24 years, the Oshawa Generals have missed the playoffs. The Generals, 20-35-7-5, will finish below.500 for only the third time since they last missed the playoffs in 197677. Bobby Orr starred for the Generals in the 1960s and they won a Memorial Cup with Eric Lindros in 1990. A previous incarnation of the storied franchise won Memorial Cups in 1939,1940 and 1944. &#9632;

f0034-03

Bulls’ coach Hulton has sequel success

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Rob Vanstone</div>The Western League&rsquo;s longest consecutive games streak by an active player was snapped March 18.Regina Pats&rsquo; center Blake Evans had played in 274 straight games before being a healthy scratch in a 4-1 loss to Moose Jaw. Pats&rsquo; coach Lome Molleken rested 10 veterans, including Evans, because the game didn&rsquo;t influence the standings.Evans had not missed a game since being a healthy scratch as a rookie in 1997-98 with Spokane. In fact, he spent five years in the WHL without missing a regular season game due to injury &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really think much about the streak until this year,&rdquo; Evans said. &ldquo;I played through some things that maybe I shouldn&rsquo;t have, but it worked out well.&rdquo;Dwayne Newman, who was a defenseman with the Brandon Wheat Kings and Victoria Cougars, set the WHL mark of 311 games, between Feb. 2,1988, and March 17,1992. &#9632;

Iron man sits out

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01965/7437877-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div>The Michigan State Spartans and Boston College Eagles are the top two seeds in this year&rsquo;s NCAA championship tournament.But there also are serious contenders lurking in the weeds. Among them are three schools-North Dakota, Maine and Michigan-which have each won two NCAA titles in the last eight years.Notably absent is Clarkson, which captured the regular season title in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. A first round loss to Vermont in the conference playoffs cost the Golden Knights an NCAA bid.Bill Wilkinson, chair of the Division I Men&rsquo;s Hockey Committee, explained the reasoning behind placing western teams in the East Regional and vice-versa. &ldquo;Based on the seeding, it makes it truly a national tournament,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If we didn&rsquo;t, we&rsquo;d have more repeats of games that have just been played in conference tournaments than we currently do.&rdquo;The brackets and seedings (El, for example, is the East&rsquo;s No. 1 seed) are shown at the left. The East Regional is scheduled for Worcester, Mass., March 23-25 and the West Regional for Grand Rapids, Mich, the same weekend. The Frozen Four final is set for Albany, N.Y, April 5-7. &#9632;

f0035-01

Spartans, Eagles pegged as teams to beat

<div class="byline">By Paul Harris</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02674/7437908-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="392" height="235"></div>The first Ron Mason Cup ever presented went to&hellip;Ron Mason.That was assured when Michigan State blanked Michigan 2-0 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association championship game March 17 at Detroit&rsquo;s Joe Louis Arena.Michigan State had edged upstart Bowling Green 2-1 in the semifinal, while Michigan had bested Nebraska-Omaha 3-2.The Spartans (21-4-3 in conference play) also won the CCHA regular season crown.&ldquo;Everybody has been saying you better win the first one, so I was relieved that I did,&rdquo; Mason said.The conference named the trophy after the veteran coach this season. MSU, the top seed in the West Regional of the NCAA Tournament, was scheduled to play the Wisconsin-Providence winner in a quarterfinal game March 25 in Grand Rapids, Mich.Michigan, the No. 3 seed in the West Regional, was scheduled to play Mercyhurst of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference March 24. The winner would then face St. Cloud State of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association March 25.SPOTLIGHT After scoring only five goals in his first 38 games this season, Michigan State senior left winger Sean Patchell scored both goals in the Spartans&rsquo; 2-1 CCHA semifinal victory over Bowling Green, which previously had upset Miami and Northern Michigan after finishing ninth.NOTEBOOK Michigan State sophomore goaltender Ryan Miller and Michigan sophomore left winger Andy Hilbert were named Hobey Baker Award finalists. Miller, who holds the all-time NCAA record with 18 shutouts, posted a 1.31 goals-against average, .950 save percentage and 10 shutouts this season. Hilbert produced 25 goals and 61 points in 39 games. &#9632;

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April 5, 2001

Goalie’s stick toss earns suspension

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

2001 Women’s World Championship

ONTARIO LEAGUE