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 26, 2001

The Hockey News April 26, 2001

<div class="byline">-Matt McHale</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03501/7809539-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="222" height="256"></div>Adam Deadmarsh is with the Los Angeles Kings now, but he always seems to be playing the Detroit Red Wings in the playoffs.Four of the previous five seasons, Deadmarsh faced the Red Wings as a member of the Colorado Avalanche. In three of those years, the winner went on to take the Stanley Cup.Deadmarsh not only was nearly a point-a-game player during those series against the Red Wings, he provided the playoff grit that made him so attractive to the Kings when they acquired him in the Rob Blake trade in late February.&ldquo;I always thought he was their best player,&rdquo; said Detroit&rsquo;s Kris Draper. &ldquo;Those series were real battles every night and he was a big reason. The guy just never gave up out there. I know Colorado got Rob Blake, but they really gave up a lot.&rdquo;ANALYSIS Although they showed great focus during their three-week run for the playoffs, the Kings played without effort or intensity in their playoff opener against Detroit. The Red Wings lost stars Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan, but still ran roughshod over the Kings.DEFENSE After missing the final nine games of the regular season with a badly sprained left wrist, Aaron Miller returned to the lineup in Game 1 against Detroit.Miller was still in a lot of pain, but his grittiness and playoff experience are major reasons the Kings wanted him as part of the Rob Blake deal with Colorado. Although he did not have a shot on goal in the game, Miller&rsquo;s third period slap shot broke the left foot of Detroit&rsquo;s Brendan Shanahan, who had three points in the first game of the series.NOTEBOOK The Kings are hoping to avoid a replay of last year&rsquo;s performance on the power play. In the sweep by the Red Wings, the Kings went 0-for-23 with the man advantage&hellip;Stephane Fiset was picked over Jamie Storr as their backup goalie to Felix Potvin in the opening round. Fiset was Patrick Roy&rsquo;s backup with the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 1996&hellip;Jared Aulin, the junior center acquired in the deal for defenseman Rob Blake, traveled with the team during the playoffs after his Western League season with Kamloops was completed. &#9632;

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NHL TEAM REPORTS

Deadmarsh knows all about Red Wings

<div class="byline">-Tom Wheatley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03527/7809632-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="226" height="254"></div>If the St. Louis Blues had gotten their way, Pierre Turgeon and Roman Turek would be employed elsewhere at playoff time.The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Philadelphia rejected a straight-up offer of Turgeon for Eric Lindros at the trade deadline, and a knee injury to Mike Richter a month earlier killed a deal to bring him from the New York Rangers for Turek.Turgeon and Turek were the first players coach Joel Quenneville singled out-by word and playing time-when the Blues hit tough times this season.But the beleaguered pair went from scapegoats to heroes when the playoffs opened. Turgeon scored a goal and two assists while Turek stopped 21 of 22 shots as the Blues beat San Jose 3-1 in the opener of their playoff sequel.&ldquo;He is definitely a key,&rdquo; Young said of Turgeon, who set up the majority of his career-high 40 goals. &ldquo;If we have him playing up to his capabilities, dogging the puck the way he can, coming up with pucks behind the net, it will be big for us.&rdquo;ANALYSIS San Jose won Round 1 last year by running the meeker Blues out of the rink. That prompted Blues&rsquo; GM Larry Pleau to add some muscle. In Game 1, the Blues out-hit the Sharks 34-31. Holdover winger Jamal Mayers led the crunch-o-meter with five hits, including three rousing collisions with Owen Nolan, Teemu Selanne and Bryan Marchment.OFFENSE The Blues pried Keith Tkachuk out of Phoenix to fill a huge void at power forward, but Pavol Demitra was impressed with the ruffian&rsquo;s skating.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a strong skater,&rdquo; said Demitra, who spent much of the last three regular season games alongside Tkachuk. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s unbelievable.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK Defenseman Al Maclnnis missed two months after being accidentally high-sticked in the eye by Scott Hannan of San Jose. In Game 1 of the playoffs against the Sharks some players tried to rub their gloves under MacInnis&rsquo;s visor. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s part of the game,&rdquo; Maclnnis said. &#9632;

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Turek, Turgeon contribute to playoff-opening win

<div class="byline">-Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-011025/7809477-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="224" height="264"></div>After missing the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons because of poor team performance, Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; center Andrew Cassels figured this would be his year.However, he didn&rsquo;t figure on having the Canucks make it while he missed out again, this time due to injury.Cassels, 31, sprained his left ankle with six games remaining in the regular season. He felt he would be ready to open the playoffs against Colorado, but that optimism was shattered when he tested the ankle and found he couldn&rsquo;t go.&ldquo;Obviously it&rsquo;s a setback,&rdquo; said a disappointed Cassels. &ldquo;I was hoping and planning to start the series. I had the ankle taped pretty heavily, but it wouldn&rsquo;t hold up in turns. It just wasn&rsquo;t strong enough to go.&rdquo;Doctors, who had removed a cast from Cassels&rsquo; ankle for the test run, immediately put the cast back on and told him to wait another week. But even if the ankle was improved, it&rsquo;s extremely doubtful Cassels would be ready to play immediately after three weeks in a cast. In other words, he is likely out for the first round.ANALYSIS Canucks&rsquo; coach Marc Crawford opted to start playoff rookie Dan Cloutier against Colorado rather than veteran Bob Essensa. Cloutier, 24, had never appeared in an NHL post-season game while Essensa had not started one since 1994 in a short-lived stint with the Detroit Red Wings. Neither goalie was hot entering the playoffs. Cloutier was winless in five (0-2-3) and Essensa had one win in five (1-4-0).OFFENSE Despite missing the final 10 games of the regular season, injured captain Markus Naslund led the Canucks in five offensive categories. Naslund led in goals (41), points (75), power-play goals (18), game-winning goals (five) and shots on goal (277). Cassels led in assists (44) while Peter Schaefer was tops in shorthanded goals with four. Stay-at-home defenseman Jason Strudwick was the surprising leader in plus-minus with a plus-16.NOTEBOOK The Canucks recorded the NHL&rsquo;s largest increase in paid attendance during the regular season-going from an average of 14,642 to 17,026-for an improvement of 16.3 per cent. Capacity at GM Place is 18,422. The Canucks had 17 sellouts in 2000-2001 compared to just three the year before. &#9632;

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Cassels misses opening of playoffs

<h2>NOTE</h2>Unofficial game summaries provided by National Hockey League: (shots on goal/plus-minus) SA-shots against: GA-goals against; ENG-empty net goals: Dec-decision, charges to goaltenders of record when winning goal is scored.<h2>FRIDAY, APR. 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01533/7811030-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="509" height="3146"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02358/7811023-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="506" height="3518"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04210/7811016-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="502" height="1212"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03293/7811009-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="1542" height="1386"><figcaption class="caption-body">Los Angeles goaltender Felix Potvin returns to the playoffs for the first time since 1996.</figcaption></div><h2>SATURDAY, APR. 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-05180/7811002-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="503" height="800"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-06148/7810995-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="505" height="2065"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-07132/7810988-1-eng-US/f0043-072.jpg" title="f0043-07" width="508" height="2066"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-08113/7810981-1-eng-US/f0043-082.jpg" title="f0043-08" width="514" height="3524"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01421/7810974-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="519" height="1690"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02233/7810967-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="502" height="1696"></div><h2>SUNDAY, APR. 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-03175/7810960-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="504" height="1618"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-04137/7810953-1-eng-US/f0044-042.jpg" title="f0044-04" width="503" height="1692"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-05117/7810946-1-eng-US/f0044-052.jpg" title="f0044-05" width="506" height="1695"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-06105/7810939-1-eng-US/f0044-062.jpg" title="f0044-06" width="512" height="1696"></div> &#9632;

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HOCKEY’S BEST STATS

NHL REGULAR SEASON GAME SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011865/7808215-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(All Photos BBS)</figcaption></div>Philadelphia&rsquo;s leading scorer Mark Recchi can&rsquo;t find the net behind Buffalo&rsquo;s Dominik Hasek during this Game 1 penalty shot. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Dominated

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021493/7808246-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="297" height="344"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Dryden Editor-In-Chief (COVER: All photos BBS)</figcaption></div>The most revealing stat in hockey is not recorded when the red light goes on. Rather it goes into the electronic books every time a player steps on and off the ice.Ice time is the purest measure of player worth and at no time is it a more accurate indicator of contribution than during the playoffs. That&rsquo;s when coaches dole out ice time in increments of seconds with the precision of a diamond cutter. Short of strapping on the pads and leading their teams to the Stanley Cup as the legendary Lester Patrick did in 1928, coaches can have no greater impact on the outcome of a game than by expertly managing their manpower.One game into the playoffs, the first signs of trends were evident-trends you need to know to understand team assets and strategies. Here are five things to think about when checking out ice time stats in The Hockey News or at <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a>:1. Watch for coaches who roll over four lines&hellip; Democratic coaches, or those who can afford to be, want their forwards to get at least 10 minutes of ice time. Only three of 14 teams had all their forwards above that mark on opening night-Dallas, Detroit and Vancouver.2. Watch for coaches who don&rsquo;t&hellip;Colorado&rsquo;s Bob Hartley and Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Ivan Hlinkavied for the early leadership role in advocating three-line hockey; Hartley had three forwards below six minutes; Hlinka crushed him with three below six seconds.3. Watch for players who get superstar treatment&hellip;Although Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock is a big believer in four-line hockey, he&rsquo;s an even bigger believer in Mike Modano. The Stars&rsquo; center played a league-high 24:17 (for a forward); that was 7:10 more than the next Dallas forward.4. Watch for increased responsibilities given defensive forwards&hellip;Washington&rsquo;s Jeff Halpern had the assignment of covering Mario Lemieux and played three-plus minutes more (19:55) than usual in Game 1. But linemate Ulf Dahlen had nearly five minutes more (19:35) than his average ice time and Edmonton&rsquo;s Todd Marchant was matched up with Modano, which meant he played about four minutes more than usual (22:02).5. Watch for intriguing (and revealing) gaps in how ice time is allocated&hellip;Defenseman Calle Johansson, passed over as an original pick for the 2002 Swedish Olympic team, played almost twice as much as fellow Washington blueliner Sergei Gonchar, an all-star candidate this season. Their minutes in Game 1: 27:36 to 14:54. &#9632;

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Five things to be aware of as you digest ice time stats

<h2>Thrashers are Bashers</h2>Atlanta leads league in fighting majorsCall them the Atlanta Bashers.Georgia&rsquo;s second-year NHL team led the league in fighting this season, earn ing 72 majors to finish marginally ahead of Philadelphia&rsquo;s reborn Broad Street Bullies, who had 69. Rounding out the top five were Pittsburgh (68), Calgary (65) and Florida (64).Atlanta collected three times as many fighting majors as the team with the lowest total. Washington earned just 24, none by former frequent fighter Chris Simon.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011803/7808291-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="285" height="354"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andrei Nazarov</figcaption></div>Overall, there was slightly more fighting in 2000-01 than in 1999-2000. Referees called 1,353 fighting majors in 1,230 games, an average of 1.1 fighting majors per game. Considering it takes two to tangle, that means there was an average of just over half a fight per game-.550-compared to .493 last year.Leading the league in fights was Boston&rsquo;s Andrei Nazarov with 27. Completing the top 10 were St. Louis&rsquo; Reed Low (23), Tampa Bay&rsquo;s Matthew Barnaby (22), Atlanta&rsquo;s Jeff Odgers (20),&rsquo; Los Angeles&rsquo; Stu Grimson (19), Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Krzysztof Oliwa (19), Florida&rsquo;s Peter Worrell (19), Toronto&rsquo;s Tie Domi (18), Rangers&rsquo; Dale Purinton (18) and Ottawa&rsquo;s Andre Roy (17).Fight fans will be going through their annual withdrawal pains during the playoffs, when fighting traditionally falls off dramatically. In 1999-2000, the rate of fighting during the playoffs was one-third that of the regular season; the previous season, the rate was less than one-tenth as many fights.Six teams had fewer than 30 fights this past season; three had fewer than Nazarov had all by himself-Carolina (26), Detroit (26) and Washington (24).<h2>No more mystery goals!</h2>Puck entered goal through side of netThe NHL does not want a repeat of last year&rsquo;s playoff fiasco when Philadelphia&rsquo;s John LeClair scored on a shot that went through the side of the net against Buffalo.Director of officiating Andy Van Hellemond said play will not continue following disputed goals this season until it has been verified the puck entered the net properly.That issue was one of many discussed when the league gathered all 20 referees scheduled to work the first round of playoffs in Toronto at the conclusion of the regular season.Among other topics discussed was the need to maintain the standard for slashing established at the start of this season. The crackdown resulted in 1,449 slashing penalties compared to 872 in 1999-2000 and 768 in 1998-99.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re basically in charge of protecting the players from the players,&rdquo; said director of hockey operations Colin Campbell.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021272/7808284-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="290" height="356"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Koharski</figcaption></div>The 20 refs chosen to work the first round are Blaine Angus, Paul Devorski, Mark Faucette, Kerry Fraser, Terry Gregson, Dave Jackson, Don Koharski, Dennis LaRue, Mike Leggo, Dan Marouelli, Bill McCreary, Mick McGeough, Dan O&rsquo;Halloran, Kevin Pollock, Rob Shick, Paul Stewart, Don Van Massenhoven, Stephen Walkom, Dean Warren and Brad Watson. It will be the first playoffs for Angus, Leggo, Pollock and Warren. Two experienced referees, Lance Roberts and Richard Trottier, failed to make the cut. The NHL will use 14 referees in the second round, 10 in the third and five in the Stanley Cup final.<h2>THN ONE-TIMERS</h2>Playoff milestone one more mark of Bourque&rsquo;s enduring brillianceRay Bourque will add another honor to one of the most decorated careers ever fashioned by a defenseman when he appears in the playoffs this season. A back injury made the date of his 2001 post-season debut uncertain, but when he does play, it will mark his 21st NHL playoff season-breaking a three-way tie with Gordie Howe and Larry Robinson for most spring flings. Bourque is the all-time regular season leader in defenseman goals (410), assists (1,169), points (1,579) and all-star team berths (18). Only Gordie Howe, with 21 berths on the first or second team, exceeds Bourque&rsquo;s 18. The possibility exists this will be more than the Colorado great&rsquo;s 21st playoff appearance, it could also be his last&hellip;Meanwhile, another aging defenseman, Larry Murphy, continues his assault on NHL games played records. The Detroit blueliner, who is second to Howe in all-time regular season games (1,767 to 1,615), could pass all-time playoff leader Mark Messier in games if he and the Red Wings to play four seven-game series this season. OK. so that&rsquo;s not going to happen, but one game into the playoffs Murphy was at 210 games-only 26 shy of Messier&rsquo;s 236.SPEZZA STOPPED BY WRITER Windsor Star columnist and THN contributor Bob Duff scored a victory for the old school in a charity promotion at a Windsor Spitfires&rsquo; Ontario League game. The 39-year-old Duff, who had a cup of coffee as a goaltender with Toronto&rsquo;s Jr. B Wexford Raiders in the late 1970s, beat Spits&rsquo; sensation Jason Spezza 3-2 in a penalty shot competition. Spezza is a strong contender to be selected first overall in the 2001 NHL entry draft. An amazed Duff colleague at the Star said, &ldquo;I was absolutely sure that he would go 5-0.&rdquo; Duff replied, &ldquo;So was I, but somehow Spezza managed to get a couple by me.&rdquo;ZEBRA DESERVES PRAISE It boggles the mind how linesman Kevin Collins can be consistently flogged by those in the media for being so quick to break up fights. Isn&rsquo;t that his job? It was Collins who jumped into the penalty box to break up the fan versus Tie Domi altercation. Would people have preferred Collins stand idly by while, in this case, a bad situation potentially became a crisis? Kudos to Collins!&hellip;It&rsquo;s time the NHL Official Guide & Record Book included the save percentage statistic in the goaltender register. It&rsquo;s the most telling stat for a goalie&hellip;The junior team Kevin Constantine is establishing in Pittsburgh will play in the North American League, not the United States League as previously reported. Constantine&rsquo;s league affiliation could change, however, if he returns to the NHL as a coach.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03815/7808277-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="1163" height="2912"><figcaption class="caption-body">PUT &rsquo;EM UP Reed Low of St. Louis was second in the NHL in fighting with 23 majors.(Bruce Bennett/BBS; Nazarov & Koharski by BBS)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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POWER PLAY

<div class="byline">-Denis Gibbons</div>It was the proudest moment of Wayne Connelly&rsquo;s career. The Rouyn, Que., native had just bagged a hat trick for the expansion Minnesota North Stars in a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.&ldquo;My father-in-law, J.J. Gagnon, walked into the Canadiens&rsquo; dressing room, introduced himself to Jean Beliveau and all the guys and said, &lsquo;That was my son-in-law who scored those three goals,&rsquo;&rdquo; Connelly recalled.Connelly, now 61, also played NHL hockey for Montreal, Boston, Detroit, St. Louis and Vancouver between 1960 and 1972. He led the North Stars with 35 goals and 56 points in their first season, 1967-68, and topped all NHLers with eight playoff goals that year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012009/7808322-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="246" height="283"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Connelly (THN Archives)</figcaption></div>As captain of the OHA Jr. A Peterborough Petes, the 5-foot-10,170-pound sharpshooter scored 10 goals in a seven-game Eastern Canada final series against Hull-Ottawa in 1959. Late in his career, he netted all five Minnesota Fighting Saints&rsquo; goals in a 5-3 WHA win over Cincinnati.Following his hockey days, Connelly worked for a magazine distributor in Northern Ontario. He retired from that business in 1999 and now lives near Kenogami, Ont. &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

Connelly had habit of scoring goals in bunches

<div class="byline">By Alan Adams</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011821/7808377-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Barber stood tall behind the Flyers&rsquo; bench after replacing Craig Ramsay. (BBS)</figcaption></div>The easy way out for those picking the winner of the Jack Adams Award for the NHL&rsquo;s top coach is to go with the sure thing, skippers such as New Jersey&rsquo;s Larry Robinson and Colorado&rsquo;s Bob Hartley.They&rsquo;re obvious candidates and nobody will argue with their success this season.But this is an unusual year for the Adams Award because there are several intriguing storylines that might affect voting by members of the NHL Broadcasters&rsquo; Association.Consider the success Bill Barber had with the Philadelphia Flyers. Look at how Craig MacTavish guided the Edmonton Oilers-and how Andy Murray handled the Los Angeles Kings after the Rob Bake trade. Then there&rsquo;s the bang-up job Marc Crawford did in Vancouver without a No. 1 goalie and his top two offensive players late in the season.The Hockey News is of the opinion we shouldn&rsquo;t even be picking an Adams winner at the end of the regular season which is when voting is conducted for all the major awards. THN believes team performance is what it&rsquo;s all about for coaches and there is no better indicator of team performance than playoff success.We think the Adams Award should be voted on after the playoffs are finished. Not so the Stanley Cup-winning coach can be the automatic choice, but so playoff accomplishments can be taken into account.But if we were forced to pick an Adams winner on the basis of regular season play, The Hockey News would select&hellip;Bill Barber.Imagine what it would be like taking over a team missing its two best players (Eric Lindros and John LeClair) and with an unproven NHL goalie (Roman Cechmanek). Imagine picking up the pieces and not having the benefit of a training camp. That&rsquo;s what Barber faced, and if the barometer for a superb coaching job is squeezing the most from your players, he&rsquo;s a worthy winner.The Flyers were a sinking ship, 12-12-4 and sitting in eighth place in the Eastern Conference when assistant coach Barber was promoted to head coach in mid-December, replacing Craig Ramsay They responded with an eight-game unbeaten streak and finished with a 31-13-7-3 record under Barber. The Flyers finished fourth overall in the East and accumulated the third-highest points total, 100.The Flyers&rsquo; .667 point percentage with Barber in control was the fifth-highest in the NHL from Dec. 10 through the end of the season. Teams with more success were New Jersey, Detroit, Colorado and Ottawa-all of whom, undeniably, had better lineups.Flyers&rsquo; GM Bob Clarke says, &ldquo;Billy just brought in the style that (said), &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s go get the puck and when we get the puck, let&rsquo;s try and do something with it. I think the players bought into it right away It allowed a big guy like (Keith) Primeau to stay in motion a little more.&ldquo;Even our defense-it is the most goals (45) we got out of our defense ever. Bill&rsquo;s style allowed them to get into the play and to take some chances to try and get a goal. It was just a different philosophy that Billy brought in. And he has no fear of players. I think a lot of coaches are afraid of players, to sit down and confront them and if they are not playing the way that the team needs them to play, he will tell them. He is not negative about it, but the players know where they stand and they know if they play good they will play a lot.&rdquo;Toronto coach Pat Quinn, a two-time Adams winner, adds, &ldquo;Bill has a good understanding of the game and was really talented himself and sometimes the talented guys don&rsquo;t learn the basics, but he was one guy that did.&rdquo;Barber, 48, took the long way to the back of the Flyers&rsquo; bench. After a Hall of Fame career in Philadelphia, he developed his coaching skills in the minors, including the last four seasons as head coach of the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms. He also had a couple of stints as an assistant coach of the Flyers, along with serving as the team&rsquo;s director of pro scouting from 1988-89 to 1995-96.Should Barber win, there will be an outcry in some circles. After all, Hartley&rsquo;s Avalanche won the President&rsquo;s Trophy with an excellent season from start to season-despite serious injury problems. But Hartley&rsquo;s lineup was still peppered with players of superior talent.Robinson is a worthy candidate because the Devils, the defending Stanley Cup champions, were never complacent this season. But his players know the problems associated with being smug about winning. The Devils won the Cup in 1995 and missed the playoffs the next season. &#9632;

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FEATURES

…But if we have to pick

Best of the Hockey WorldSEVENTH HEAVEN Jennifer Botterill scores the winning goal as Canada downs the United States 3-2 to win its seventh straight World Championship.LONG TIME COMING The Boston College Eagles defeat North Dakota 3-2 in overtime to claim their first NCAA championship since 1949.WITH AN ASSIST TO MARIO Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Jaromir Jagr scores 52 goals and 121 points to capture his fourth straight NHL scoring title.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021208/7808415-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="366" height="618"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jaromir Jagr</figcaption></div>Worst of the Hockey WorldSIEVES, NOT SAVES Seven goalies, including Guy Hebert, tended goal for the Rangers, who still finished dead-last with a 3.50 goals-against average.THE HOCKEY GODS How else do you explain the Detroit Red Wings losing both Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman on the opening night of playoffs?SAD ENDING The Chicago Blackhawks cap a disappointing non-playoff season by going winless in their final 11 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03739/7808408-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="366" height="616"><figcaption class="caption-body">Guy Hebert</figcaption></div>For Mike Brophy&rsquo;s daily Cheers & Jeers visit <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> &#9632;

f0007-02

PLUS MINUS

As a long-suffering Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; fan, I hope the team&rsquo;s management does the right thing and hires a real coach and not some recycled ex-Hawk.I am sick and tired of former players or inexperienced coaches leading this team to nowhere. Unfortunately owner Bill Wirtz calls the shots and thus, I can see them hiring Denis Savard as their next coach. That would be a huge mistake. I have nothing against Savard, the player, but he has never been a head coach at any level.I hope GM Mike Smith hires former coach of the year and the currently blackballed Ted Nolan. Signing unrestricted free agent Jeremy Roenick in the off-season wouldn&rsquo;t be bad, either.Claudio Alviani, Toronto<h2>Valk sees the light</h2>Bravo to Garry Valk on his decision to wear a visor upon his return from an eye injury.Valk said graduating juniors and collegians should continue wearing them when they turn pro. He&rsquo;s right. Bones and ligaments can be repaired, but a severe eye injury will change your career and your life. All Valk had to do was ask retired teammate Bryan Berard.Shawn Fulford,&nbsp; St. John&rsquo;s, Nfld.<h2>Flyer fans still bad for game</h2>This is to the nutty fans of the Philadelphia Flyers: You should be ashamed of yourselves.You have to be crazy to get into the penalty box with Tie Domi. That&rsquo;s almost as bad as when you booed Santa Claus in the early 1970s. I&rsquo;m a Habs&rsquo; fan and we&rsquo;re hard on our team, but we&rsquo;d never attack a player&hellip;or boo Santa.Nick Hebert,&nbsp; Ile des Chenes, Man.<h2>What about Wings?</h2>It puzzles me how you can write the Pittsburgh Penguins were the last team to &ldquo;successfully defend the Cup,&rdquo; particularly when the Detroit Red Wings are listed in the accompanying chart. We all know the Wings won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1997 and 1998.Mike Knapp Jr.,&nbsp; Grand Rapids, Mich. &#9632;

Bring Nolan to Chicago

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011898/7808470-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0008-01

ELSTON

As deserving of the Hart Trophy as Joe Sakic may be, Flyer goalie Roman Cechmanek should win it. Sakic is but one of the Avs&rsquo; many resources. Cechmanek&rsquo;s play held his team together and made the Flyers competitive.Jim White,&nbsp; Baxley, Ga.The Hart goes to the player deemed &ldquo;most valuable to his team,&rdquo; yet no one mentions Markus Naslund. Without him the Canucks can&rsquo;t score more than a goal a game. He&rsquo;s the real NHL MVP.Bruce Euverman,&nbsp; Houston, B.C.Dominik Hasek suffers from Wayne Gretzky syndrome-he&rsquo;s so good, he gets judged unfairly Hasek&rsquo;s 2000-01 season is easily worthy of Hart honors.Frank Campbell,&nbsp; Syracuse, N. Y.I don&rsquo;t understood why Jaromir Jagr is being included in the Hart race with Joe Sakic. He wasn&rsquo;t doing anything until Mario Lemieux came back. The Hart should go to Sakic or Lemieux.Colin McDonald,&nbsp; London, Ont.Why do so many people put Brian Leetch among the NHL&rsquo;s best defensemen? He scores points, but his defensive play is shameful. It&rsquo;s time Nicklas Lidstrom gets the Norris Trophy.Tom pfaff,&nbsp; Bryan, Tex.<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;

Cechmanek most valuable to team

It&rsquo;s clear there are more cities hungry for an NHL team. Why not add two more franchises, including Winnipeg, to the Western Conference, shift the Detroit Red Wings to the East and then introduce an even more unbalanced schedule?This would add more excitement to the regular season. Detroit and Toronto would rekindle their rivalry, the Islanders would play the Rangers more often, the Kings would play the Mighty Ducks more and so on. Every rivalry in hockey would be intensified. People in the east won&rsquo;t care if they miss out on Paul Kariya, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Ziggy Palffy. They can watch them on TV.Jason Zimmerman,&nbsp; Kings Park, N.Y.<h2>Ratings speak volumes</h2>NHL hockey has become so boring that its TV ratings are way down there with the XFL.The main reason is the lack of flow to NHL games. There are too many TV timeouts, too many times when the linesmen delay in dropping the puck and all the interference that occurs in the neutral zone that is rarely called.The NHL needs to forget about marketing its product in other countries and worry first about speeding up the game.Michael Curry,&nbsp; St. Louis<h2>Watch out for Capitals</h2>A lot of people are picking the same four teams to make it to the final: Detroit, Colorado, Dallas and New Jersey. I&rsquo;m an Avs&rsquo; fan, but there&rsquo;s a team in the East that impresses me: the Washington Capitals. Olaf Kolzig is as good a goalie as you&rsquo;ll find and they have a stellar defense.The Capitals have no injuries to speak of and they pulled off one of the best deals at the trade deadline getting Trevor Linden and Dainius Zubrus from Montreal. Peter Bondra and Adam Oates are also enjoying excellent seasons.The Capitals will meet the Penguins in the first round, but I believe they have the scoring, defense and goaltending to handle Pittsburgh and advance deeper into the playoffs.Nelson Smith,&nbsp; Drumheller, Alta.Got something to say?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;

Winnipeg should return

<h2>Winners killed</h2>The $20,000 grand prize in an Internet hockey pool is expected to go to the estate and orphaned son of a Windsor couple killed in a Feb. 28 car accident. Rob and Tara Deveney were contenders in a The Sports Network fantasy pool at the time of the accident. Official results won&rsquo;t be available until late May, but unofficial results have the couple&rsquo;s team winning by seven points. The couple left behind two-year-old son Tristan.<h2>Attendance high</h2>The NHL set a per-game attendance record diming the season with an average of 16,564 fans, exceeding the record of 16,548 set in 1996-97. The addition of expansion teams Columbus and Minnesota also lifted total attendance to an all-time high of 20,373,379 in 1,230 games, topping the 18,800,139 mark set last season. Overall NHL attendance has increased 60 per cent the past decade and per-game averages have increased each of the past four seasons.<h2>Shoot for cure</h2>The NHL Players&rsquo; Association and eBay Canada signed a deal that will see hockey memorabilia sold through ebayca to raise funds for Shoot For A Cure, an educational program concerning spinal cord injuries in hockey. Players donated items for the online sale including game-used and autographed jerseys and sticks. Also for sale are experiences such as golfing trips or having phone conversations with players. The sale continues through the playoffs.<h2>Anzalone back</h2>Lake Superior State University hired Frank Anzalone to replace fired coach Scott Borek. Anzalone coached the Lakers from 1982 to 1990, winning the NCAA title in 1988. He&rsquo;s the winningest coach in school history. Anzalone left LSSU in 1990 after a run-in with then-athletic director Jim Fallis. He has since coached in the East Coast and American Leagues. He will retain assistant coach Paul Jarrod, who played for Anzalone at LSSU.<h2>Support added</h2>The Professional Hockey Players&rsquo; Association and American League have added their support to Bob Gainey and his Boston Marathon Run charity initiative in support of Hockey Fights Cancer. The PHPA and AHL will pledge $200 for each completed mile Gainey runs. The Dallas Stars&rsquo; GM, whose wife died of cancer, is competing with the goal of bringing awareness to the Hockey Fights Cancer program and raising funds to find a cure. &#9632;

INSIDE HOCKEY

<div class="byline">By THN staff</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011771/7808573-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nashville center David Legwand is one of 16 players named to the U.S. national team. (BBS)</figcaption></div>With just a 14.2 per-cent chance of winning, the Atlanta Thrashers bucked the odds and captured the first overall pick in the NHL entry draft.The draft drawing was held April 10 and involved the 14 non-playoff teams. The team with the lowest regular season points had the greatest chance of winning and the odds decreased in reverse order of the standings. The team winning the draw could move up just four positions.The last-place New York Islanders had a 48.2 per-cent chance of securing the No. 1 overall pick and the odds fell all the way to Phoenix, with a 0.5 per-cent chance.Atlanta&rsquo;s win means it will get to choose between high-scoring 18-year-olds Jason Spezza and Ilya Kovalchuk, the top two prospects in the draft. (See pg. 26 for more on Atlanta&rsquo;s options with first pick.)The NHL board of governors added a new twist to the entry draft by slotting the Stanley Cup winner in the No. 30 position preceded by regular season division winners in order of points.That means if, say, Buffalo won the Cup, it would drop from 22nd pick in each round to 30th, preceded by division winners Colorado (118 points), Detroit (111, 49 wins), New Jersey (111, 48 wins), Ottawa (109), Dallas (106) and Washington (96).The remaining selections would be in accordance to previous procedures, the order of regular season points.PLAYERS ADDED Sixteen players were named to the U.S. national team for the World Championship in Germany April 28 through May 13. The list include goalies Rick DiPietro (Islanders), Robert Esche (Phoenix) and Ryan Miller (Michigan State); defensemen Mark Eaton (Nashville), Hal Gill and Eric Weinrich (Boston), Bret Hedican (Florida), Phil Housley (Calgary) and Deron Quint (Columbus); and forwards Jim Campbell (Montreal), Tim Connolly and Mark Parrish (Islanders), Matt Cullen (Anaheim), Darby Hendrickson (Minnesota), David Legwand (Nashville) and Landon Wilson (Phoenix).Atlanta coach Curt Fraser and Rangers&rsquo; assistant coach Walt Kyle were named assistants to coach Lou Vairo.Canada&rsquo;s roster as of April 10 included goalies Fred Brathwaite (Calgary) and Roberto Luongo (Florida); defensemen Kyle McLaren (Boston), Derek Morris (Calgary), Stephane Robidas (Montreal); and forwards Jeff Friesen (Anaheim), Brad Isbister (Islanders), Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards (Tampa Bay), Michael Peca (Buffalo), Steve Sullivan (Chicago), Joe Thornton (Boston), Scott Walker (Nashville) and Wes Walz (Minnesota).SHUTOUT RECORD An NHL-record 184 shutouts were registered in 2000-01, up from 128 last season and the previous high of 160 in 1998-99. Goal-scoring stayed the same as last season, 5.5 goals per game, even though the number of 30-goal scorers more than doubled from 18 to 41.<h2>2001 NHL ENTRY DRAFT ORDER OF SELECTION</h2>Atlanta won the draft drawing and has first pick in the opening round. The order in each round will not be set until after the playoffs, when the Cup winner slips into the No. 30 slot preceded by division winners (denoted with an asterisk) with the most regular season points. First pick in each round after the first reverts back to the Islanders (1), followed by Tampa Bay (2) and Atlanta (3).1. Atlanta (3)2. Islanders (1)3. Tampa (2)4. Florida5. Anaheim6. Minnesota7. Montreal8. Columbus9. Chicago10. Rangers11. Calgary12. Nashville13. Boston14. Phoenix15. Carolina16. Vancouver17. Toronto18. Los Angeles19. Edmonton20. San Jose21. Pittsburgh22. Buffalo23. Philadelphia24. St. Louis25. Washington*26. Dallas*27. Ottawa*28. New Jersey*29. Detroit*30. Colorado* &#9632;

f0009-01

Thrashers win entry draft lottery

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011866/7808611-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="339" height="371"><figcaption class="caption-body">Eric Duhatschek&nbsp;Columnist</figcaption></div>Everybody loved the St. Louis Blues as the NHL went into its mid-year Christmas break and why not?With only four losses in 28 games, first overall in the league, they were well on their way to proving that last year&rsquo;s Presidents&rsquo; Trophy victory was not a fluke; that they were capable of putting their playoff disappointments aside and rebounding to challenge again.So what hap pened? Soon afterwards, they began to get injuries, serious injuries to serious players-Al Maclnnis and Chris Pronger and Pavol Demitra-and all of a sudden, they became ordinary. The same thing would have happened to just about any team that lost three of its top players for extended periods, so the challenge, for GM Larry Pleau, was not to press the panic button.Through their struggles and question marks surrounding goalie Roman Turek, the one thing Pleau did was keep his eye on the big picture. The Blues had one particular failing against San Jose last season-no one to do for them up what Owen Nolan was doing for the Sharks.The Sharks&rsquo; kamikaze forechecking style made life miserable for the Norris Trophy twins. Pronger lost a couple of teeth on a high stick from Tony Granato that went unpenalized and Maclnnis was, pure and simple, beat up.In the end, they lost a series they were heavily favored to win and Pleau was determined that before the playoffs began, he would do something to bulk up their collection of forwards.Which he did. So as the 2001 playoffs began, the Blues were a fourth seed; not a first. They were THN&rsquo;s pick to win it all last spring. This year, only one correspondent out of 30, yours truly, picked them to emerge from the Western Conference.That is not to say the task will be easily accomplished. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a more challenging road to the finals than the one St. Louis faces-against a tough Sharks team, with the winner advancing, in all likelihood, to a meeting with the Colorado; and the winner there potentially meeting a Dallas-Detrpit series winner.Still, the Blues are a better team this spring than last, starting with the overlooked presence of Demitra, who was the NHL&rsquo;s 15th-leading scorer last season but missed all of the playoffs because of a concussion.Demitra&rsquo;s poor luck continued through this season. An eye injury after Christmas, then a hamstring injury that wouldn&rsquo;t heal limited him to 44 games.Demitra did get back for the final few games and coach Joel Quenneville had him on a line with Tkachuk which, presumably, will take some of the scoring pressure off of Pierre Turgeon and Scott Young. Moreover, Tkachuk gives them a Nolan-like presence, a power forward who can make life miserable for Marcus Ragnarsson and Mike Rathje in the same way Nolan kept bouncing his body off MacInnis and Pronger.One game does not a series make, but in their opener, the Blues&rsquo; newcomers clearly set out to make a point about their team toughness. Scott Mellanby crashed the Sharks&rsquo; Gary Suter with a heavy bodycheck. Tkachuk and Dallas Drake took up residence in front of Evgeni Nabokov. Even Cory Stillman got into the act, with a neat open-ice hit.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021359/7808604-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="305" height="368"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith Tkachuk (BBS)</figcaption></div>A team that initiates contact as opposed to one that retaliates tends to set the tone physically and unlike a year ago, that&rsquo;s how the Blues won the opener.The fact Turek remains a question mark is an issue, but then, except for a handful of teams, who doesn&rsquo;t have a goal-tending question mark going into post-season play? Turek was ineffective last year; now he has a chance for redemption and he has it in a different forum too, with lower expectations than a year ago, playing behind a much better team.Something Al MacInnis said the last time we spoke stuck in my mind, as the Blues opened with a win.Talking about how quickly they slipped from the ranks of the favorites to just one more team with an outside chance, MacInnis noted: &ldquo;A lot of people picked Colorado and Detroit and Dallas and rightly so, because they&rsquo;ve gone a long way before. It&rsquo;s like people think we&rsquo;ve lost out in the first round, like, 10 years in a row. We never had a team to challenge for a Stanley Cup until the last two years.&ldquo;The thing is, most nights, we&rsquo;re going to give ourselves a pretty good chance to win and that&rsquo;s all you can ask.&rdquo; So true.In the end, my Stanley Cup choice was the same as just about everybody else&rsquo;s-New Jersey-but in the case of the Western Conference, my philosophy isn&rsquo;t going to change. I picked St. Louis, again, for the third year in a row.Maybe one of these years, I&rsquo;ll even get it right. &#9632;

f0010-01

COLUMN

Dark horse Blues better than ever

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021438/7808684-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Sakic (Norman Lomo/BBS)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011820/7808691-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="196" height="373"></div>When Joe Sakic acted up as a kid in Burnaby, B.C., his father Mario sent him not to his room, but to the basement. There little Joe would dutifully pick up his hockey stick, cradle a puck on the blade and begin stickhandling on the smooth floor, back and forth, back and forth. Minutes passed. His arms began to ache. He kept going.Mario, an immigrant from Croatia, would sit upstairs and listen for his son&rsquo;s gentle stick-puck caresses below. For a half-hour or more, the rhythm rising from the floorboards had to be smooth and sure. The old man wouldn&rsquo;t tolerate anything else.&ldquo;You couldn&rsquo;t chop at it,&rdquo; Sakic recalled. &ldquo;Your forearms would be tired. In the end it has benefited, I guess.&rdquo;For NHL goalies, it&rsquo;s the punishment that keeps on punishing. Sakic&rsquo;s shifty puck skills and wickedly quick release have never been better than they were this season and no NHLer was better than Sakic. He opened Colorado&rsquo;s post-season April 12 with a howitzer wrister to the top corner against Vancouver, the first of his two goals in Game 1.After a slow start, Colorado&rsquo;s captain turned on the jets when his team needed him most. An injury-plagued November ravaged the Avs&rsquo; top two lines and defense pairings. All Sakic did was average nearly two points a game while leading Colorado to an 8-31-0 run in the midst of the carnage and carry on his magic throughout the Avs&rsquo; league-best 118-point season.It&rsquo;s pure coincidence Sakic also finished with 118 points-the second-best output of his 13-year career at age 31-but entirely appropriate given his worth. As goes Sakic, so go the mighty Avs. His 12 game-winners led the NHL as did his plus-45 rating, tied with New Jersey&rsquo;s Patrick Elias. He finished second in points to Jaromir Jagr&rsquo;s 121 and second in goals with 54-a career high-to Pavel Bure&rsquo;s 59.&ldquo;When you look at what he did, it&rsquo;s pretty amazing,&rdquo; said Michel Goulet, the Avs&rsquo; vice-president of player personnel. &ldquo;He really showed he is the heart of the team. He&rsquo;s the guy that really led the team in every department.&rdquo;True to his modest form, Sakic passes much of the credit for the November surge to goalie Patrick Roy. His overall success comes from playing with talented teammates and staying healthy for all 82 games. It&rsquo;s true Colorado has more offensive weaponry than the entire Southeast Division, but Sakic won&rsquo;t take a bow unless cross-checked in the back. That should change on NHL awards night in June. If justice prevails, he won&rsquo;t have a choice.Though Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s comeback is the story of the season and Jagr had an outstanding second half, no less an authority than Phoenix part-owner Wayne Gretzky believes Sakic should win the Hart Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s most valuable player.&ldquo;If he does not win it, the only guy who should get votes is Mario,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;Sakic has been phenomenal this year and he has taken his game to another level. Just what he has done is something special. In my mind, Joe is the MVP.&rdquo; We concur. So does any coach you care to ask in the Western Conference, including Colorado&rsquo;s Bob Hartley: &ldquo;If Sakic doesn&rsquo;t win the Hart,&rdquo; Hartley said, &ldquo;they should call the police.&rdquo;Some in the East might pick Jagr or Lemieux, but Sakic did it all season. Only once did he go three games without a point. A disinterested Jagr went pointless seven times in eight games in the weeks before Lemieux resurrected Jagr&rsquo;s season. For the first half of the year it was Alexei Kovalev, not Jagr, who was the Pens&rsquo; MVP. As for Lemieux, unimaginably triumphant as his return has been, he played just 43 games. The award is for MVP of 200001, not MVP of the last three-and-a-half months. And the truth is, he didn&rsquo;t have a significant impact on the standings. The Pens were seventh in the East when Lemieux came back Dec. 27. By the end of the year they had moved up one position.Sakic has had the advantage this year of playing on a stable line for the first time since 199596. He, left winger Alex Tanguay and right winger Milan Hejduk formed the NHL&rsquo;s most dangerous line off the rush, capable of intimidating defenses with a knee-knocking combination of speed, quickness, puck control and shooting ability. &ldquo;As good as (Sakic) is,&rdquo; said Phoenix forward Claude Lemieux, &ldquo;they make each other better.&rdquo;The best part about it all? Because of Sakic&rsquo;s unblemished track record and work habits, no one begrudges what he has done heading into an off-season of unrestricted free agency. New Jersey&rsquo;s Alexander Mogilny, five months younger, can&rsquo;t walk a city block without hearing the snickers: Duh., of course he&rsquo;s filling up the net. It&rsquo;s contract time. Can you imagine anyone saying that about Sakic?&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy for him,&rdquo; said one Western Conference GM whose team often has been burned by Sakic. The GM said Sakic is hockey&rsquo;s Larry Bird: slick to watch, impossible to stop and unlike Jagr, no baggage.It may prove to be an irresistible combination this summer for a team like the New York Rangers, with gaping holes in their lineup, not their wallet. Sakic could fill the former and take, oh, $10 or $12 million per season out of the latter.As fun as it is to see Sakic play, the GM said, it&rsquo;d be ever better to see him just twice a season. Better to have him somewhere in the East, where he could inflict Mario Sakic&rsquo;s punishment on somebody else.<h2>HART TROPHY: MOST VALUBLE PLAYER</h2>NOW AND THENHart Trophy chosen by Professional Hockey Writers Association2000-01 Honorable Mention: Roman Cechmanek, Phi.1999-2000 Top Three: 1. CHRIS PRONGER, ST. L.; 2. Jaromir Jagr. Pit.: 3. Pavel Bure, Fla.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03931/7808677-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="344" height="566"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Sakic</figcaption></div>Team: ColoradoAge: 31NHL Season: 13thPos: CStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04548/7808670-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="460" height="257"></div>Skinny: Was a force when Avs needed him most because of injuries to team&rsquo;s top stars.Salary: $7.9 million (U.S.)Contract status: Eligible to become an unrestricted free agent July 1.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05394/7808663-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="344" height="570"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jaromir Jagr</figcaption></div>Team: PittsburghAge: 29NHL Season: 11thPos.: RWStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-06320/7808656-1-eng-US/f0012-062.jpg" title="f0012-06" width="474" height="253"></div>Skinny: Came to life upon Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s return to capture fourth straight scoring title.Salary: $9.5 million (U.S.)Contract status: Two years remaining at $10 million and $10.7 million.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-07273/7808649-1-eng-US/f0012-072.jpg" title="f0012-07" width="342" height="568"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mario Lemieux</figcaption></div>Team: PittsburghAge: 35NHL Season: 13thPos.: CStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-08230/7808642-1-eng-US/f0012-082.jpg" title="f0012-08" width="460" height="250"></div>Skinny: Superstar&rsquo;s surprising comeback exceeded expectations and renewed interest in NHL.Salary: $1.41 million (U.S.)Contract status: Owner Mario has to work out new deal with Player Mario. &#9632;

f0012-02

Sakic a Hart-stopper

<div class="byline">-Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021161/7808764-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="744" height="724"><figcaption class="caption-body">Roman Cechmanek</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011667/7808771-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="227" height="432"></div>He reads before the start of games, listens to music between periods and occasionally stops shots with his head.Does this personality fit the profile of a Vezina Trophy winner? In the case of Roman Cechmanek, yes.Outside of Olympic and World Championship fanatics, few had heard of the 30-year-old Czech import before this season.But the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; sixth round draft pick in 2000 quickly became a secret weapon.He stepped out of the shadow of his more famous countryman, Dominik Hasek, not only by posting better numbers, but by defeating him in all four face-to-face regular season battles.While Hasek toiled behind a lineup that allowed the fewest goals this year, Cechmanek held the fort for an Eric Lindros-less team hamstrung by injuries almost from Day 1.Without his brilliant play, the Eastern Conference&rsquo;s fourth-seeded Flyers might not have even made the playoffs.&ldquo;Imagine where we would be without Roman,&rdquo; said teammate Rick Tocchet. &ldquo;In my book, he&rsquo;s the league MVP.&rdquo;When these comments are brought to Cechmanek&rsquo;s attention, he just laughs.&ldquo;For me, Dominik is still the best goalie in the NHL,&rdquo; he said.The numbers may say otherwise. Cechmanek had a slightly lower goals-against average (2.01 to 2.11) and a significantly better record. The two had identical save percentages (.921) and Hasek edged Cechmanek in shutouts 11-10.But when measuring Cechmanek&rsquo;s value, consider the inflated numbers of his backup, Brian Boucher-3.27 GAA, .867 save percentage.Theories vary as to why Cechmanek has been so effective his first year.Observers point out that, at 30, he&rsquo;s no rookie. He has played in five Czech League championships, three worlds and backed up Hasek for the 1998 Olympic gold medal.He&rsquo;s big (6-foot-3,180 pounds), acrobatic (besides his head, he occasionally uses a patented lie-on-back, legs-in-the-air move) and covers up rebounds very well. But his biggest asset might be the ability to keep cool. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t get nervous,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have big confidence.&rdquo; Still, that doesn&rsquo;t prevent the Flyer family from marveling at his ability to block out the pressure.&ldquo;Roman has had as much pressure elsewhere,&rdquo; said coach Bill Barber. &ldquo;He deals with it very well. I don&rsquo;t think at any one time did I ever see this player get rattled.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-05565/7808757-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg" title="f0013-05" width="343" height="358"><figcaption class="caption-body">R. Cechmanek</figcaption></div>Team: PhiladelphiaAge: 30NHL Season: 1stCatches: LStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-06470/7808750-1-eng-US/f0013-062.jpg" title="f0013-06" width="442" height="250"></div>Skinny: Sixth round draft pick in 2000 was Flyers&rsquo; MVP in each quarter this season.Salary: $1 million (U.S.)Contract status: Flyers have a $l-million option for next season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-07429/7808743-1-eng-US/f0013-072.jpg" title="f0013-07" width="341" height="357"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dominik Hasek</figcaption></div>Team: BuffaloAge: 36NHL Season: 10thCatches: LStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-08398/7808736-1-eng-US/f0013-082.jpg" title="f0013-08" width="447" height="252"></div>Skinny: &lsquo;Dominator&rsquo; rebounded from injury-plagued season to challenge for sixth Vezina.Salary: $7.5 million (U.S.)Contract status: Sabres have a $9-million option for 2000-01.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-09370/7808729-1-eng-US/f0013-092.jpg" title="f0013-09" width="337" height="357"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sean Burke</figcaption></div>Team: PhoenixAge: 34NHL Season: 13thCatches: LStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-10347/7808722-1-eng-US/f0013-102.jpg" title="f0013-10" width="443" height="249"></div>Skinny: Burke, playing for his fifth team in four seasons, was league&rsquo;s MVP in first half.Salary: $1.3 million (U.S.)Contract status: Two years remaining at an average of $3 million per season.NOW AND THENVezina Trophy chosen by NHL GMs2000-01 Honorable Mention: Martin Brodeur, NJ.; Curtis Joseph, Tor.; Evgeni Nabokov, SJ.1999-2000 Top Three: 1. OLAF KOLZIG, WAS.; 2. Roman Turek. St. L; 3. Curtis Joseph, Tor. &#9632;

f0013-02

VEZINA TROPHY: BEST GOALIE

<div class="byline">-Bob Duff</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04711/7808844-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="678" height="901"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nicklas Lidstrom</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03852/7808851-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="199" height="376"></div>The daily media notes distributed by the Detroit Red Wings scream, &ldquo;Give him the Norris already, will you!&rdquo;Yes, NHL teams often lobby the press to gain recognition for their players at this time of the year. But the Wings have been touting Nicklas Lidstrom for the Norris Trophy since the first puck dropped last October.As the regular season closed and votes were cast to determine the best defenseman, it was difficult to look anywhere else.&ldquo;It would be a travesty if he didn&rsquo;t win,&rdquo; said Detroit defenseman Todd Gill. Lidstrom has been the Norris runner-up three straight seasons-to Rob Blake in 1997-98, Al MacInnis in &rsquo;98-99 and Chris Pronger last year.The prevailing wisdom that Lidstrom&rsquo;s time has arrived is based more on sense than sentiment.He accomplished a personal best with 56 assists this season and his 71 points were second in scoring on the Wings and among NHL defensemen. Only Brian Leetch of the New York Rangers (79 points) topped Lidstrom offensively, but Lidstrom&rsquo;s plus-9 rating was significantly better than Leetch&rsquo;s minus-18.Leetch will get some consideration, as will New Jersey&rsquo;s Scott Stevens, third in the NHL with a plus-40 rating.&ldquo;It should go to the guy who is the best combination of offense and defense,&rdquo; Gill said. &ldquo;This year, that&rsquo;s Nick.&rdquo;One other defenseman scored a natural hat trick of second-place Norris finishes. That was Brad Park, the Rangers&rsquo; rear-guard with the misfortune to enter the league the same time as Bobby Orr, finishing behind Orr in the voting from 1970-72.There&rsquo;s no Orr in this era, just plenty of excellent defenders, a group in which Lidstrom has resided for several seasons.&ldquo;We look at the Norris voting every year and think, &lsquo;Why hasn&rsquo;t he won it?&rsquo;&rdquo; said Brendan Shanahan. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what else they&rsquo;re looking for. The guy does it all-plays the power play, kills penalties, is always out against the other team&rsquo;s best players and puts up numbers.&rdquo;Detroit captain Steve Yzerman takes the superlatives a step further, describing Lidstrom as &ldquo;the best player I&rsquo;ve ever played with.&rdquo; If anything holds Lidstrom back, it&rsquo;s his quiet nature and quietly effective game. And he&rsquo;s modest-some players might gripe at always being a bridesmaid. Lidstrom appreciates it.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an honor to be a finalist,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The guys who&rsquo;ve won the Norris the last three years all had outstanding seasons.&rdquo;This year, the guy is Lidstrom. So give it to him, already.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-11317/7808837-1-eng-US/f0013-112.jpg" title="f0013-11" width="341" height="353"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nicklas Lidstrom</figcaption></div>Team: DetroitAge: 30NHL Season: 10thPos.: DStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-12279/7808830-1-eng-US/f0013-122.jpg" title="f0013-12" width="443" height="247"></div>Skinny: Recovered from slow start to finish second to Brian Leetch in defenseman scoring.Salary: $7.25 million (U.S.)Contract status: One year remaining at $8.5 million.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-13239/7808823-1-eng-US/f0013-132.jpg" title="f0013-13" width="335" height="358"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Leetch</figcaption></div>Team: RangersAge: 33NHL Season: 14thPos.: DStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-14206/7808816-1-eng-US/f0013-142.jpg" title="f0013-14" width="446" height="251"></div>Skinny: Led Rangers in scoring, but play in own zone a cause for concern.Salary: $7.68 million (U.S.)Contract status: Two years remaining at an average of $9.18 million per season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-15171/7808809-1-eng-US/f0013-152.jpg" title="f0013-15" width="336" height="353"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scott Stevens</figcaption></div>Team: New JerseyAge: 37NHL Season: 19thPos.: DStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-16129/7808802-1-eng-US/f0013-162.jpg" title="f0013-16" width="446" height="251"></div>Skinny: Warhorse still a tower of strength in own zone and occasional offensive contributor.Salary: $4.2 million (U.S.)Contract status: One year remaining at $4.2 million.Vezina Trophy chosen by NHL GMsNOW AND THEN2000-01 Honorable Mention: Rob Blake, L.A./Col.; Sergei Gonchar, Was.; Al Maclnnis, St. L1999-2000 Top Three: 1. CHRIS PRONGER, ST. L; 2. Nicklas Lidstrom, Det.; 3. Rob Blake, L.A. &#9632;

f0013-04

NORRIS TROPHY: BEST DEFENSEMAN

<div class="byline">-Ross McKeon</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021364/7808924-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="947" height="848"><figcaption class="caption-body">Evgeni Nabokov</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011810/7808931-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="209" height="395"></div>When Evgeni Nabokov returned from the NHL AllStar Game, he noticed teams had changed their tactics against him.Out of respect-and perhaps frustration-opponents decided it was time to camp out in Nabokov&rsquo;s crease. &ldquo;It was like the coaches said, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t let him out of his crease,&rsquo;&rdquo; Nabokov said. &ldquo;It was a lot different than the first part of the season.&rdquo;But the 25-year-old native of Kazakstan-a jewel of a ninth round draft pick in 1994-adjusted just fine. Because of his outstanding start and solid play throughout 2000-01, Nabokov has positioned himself as the favorite to become just the 12th goalie to be named the NHL&rsquo;s best rookie since the Calder Trophy was introduced in 1934.Nabokov has emerged from a promising group, including forwards Marian Gaborik of Minnesota, Martin Havlat of Ottawa, Brad Richards of Tampa Bay, Daniel Sedin of Vancouver, defensemen Colin White of New Jersey and Lubomir Visnovsky of Los Angeles and goalie Roberto Luongo of Florida. Richards led all first-year scorers with 21 goals and 62 points.Taking advantage of the ankle injury Steve Shields suffered in the second game of the season, Nabokov embraced the No. 1 role in San Jose and never let go. He was honored as the league&rsquo;s top rookie in each of the first two months.&ldquo;You can be good, but you still have to show it to the coaches and players on an everyday basis,&rdquo; said coach Darryl Sutter. &ldquo;He did a long time ago.&rdquo;Nabokov set team records for wins (32) and shutouts (6), boasted a 2.19 goals-against average, .915 save percentage, anchored the league&rsquo;s third-stingiest defense and earned a V $140,000 bonus for eclipsing 65 games played. In 66 games he surrendered two or fewer goals 43 times.&ldquo;To me, his best strength is (his steadiness),&rdquo; said Sutter, who started Nabokov in 18 straight games at the end of the season to help secure the team&rsquo;s highest-ever finish, fifth in the West.Nabokov impressed Sutter with his willingness to work out on his own during training camp while contract details were being ironed out. In great shape, he quickly displayed his strong technical skills.&ldquo;He has worked hard ever since he got here and I always knew he was a good goalie,&rdquo; said Sharks&rsquo; goaltending coach Warren Strelow. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have any doubts he could be a starter at this level.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-05435/7808917-1-eng-US/f0014-052.jpg" title="f0014-05" width="343" height="357"><figcaption class="caption-body">Evgeni Nabokov</figcaption></div>Team: San JoseAge: 251999-00: Cie. (IHL)Pos.: GStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-06344/7808910-1-eng-US/f0014-062.jpg" title="f0014-06" width="444" height="253"></div>Skinny: Technically sound Russian made Steve Shields expendable with red-hot first half this season.Salary: $475,000 (U.S.)Contract status: One year remaining at $600,000.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-07272/7808903-1-eng-US/f0014-072.jpg" title="f0014-07" width="337" height="354"><figcaption class="caption-body">Roberto Luongo</figcaption></div>Team: FloridaAge: 221999-00: Low. (AHL)Pos.: GStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-08224/7808896-1-eng-US/f0014-082.jpg" title="f0014-08" width="443" height="253"></div>Skinny: Former two-time top prospect in Future Watch matured in second half and stole No. 1 job from Trevor Kidd.Salary: $925,000 (U.S.)Contract status: Restricted free agent.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-09198/7808889-1-eng-US/f0014-092.jpg" title="f0014-09" width="340" height="356"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brad Richards</figcaption></div>Team: Tampa BayAge: 201999-00: Rim. (QMJHL)Pos.: RWStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-10177/7808882-1-eng-US/f0014-102.jpg" title="f0014-10" width="445" height="253"></div>Skinny: Major junior player of the year in 1999-2000 led Lightning and all NHL rookies in scoring.Salary: $975,000 (U.S.)Contract status: Two years left at $975,000 per season.NOW AND THENCalder Trophy chosen by Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association2000-01 Honorable Mention: M. Gaborik, Min.; M. Havlat, Ott.; D. Sedin, Van,; C. White, NJ.1999-2000 Top Three: 1. SCOTT GOMEZ, NJ.; 2. Brad Stuart, SJ.; 3. Michael York, NYR. &#9632;

f0014-02

CALDER TROPHY: BEST ROOKIE

<div class="byline">-Mark Brender</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03937/7809011-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="255" height="343"></div>Steve Konowalchuk won&rsquo;t win the Selke Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s top defensive forward. He might not even finish in the top five. Too bad. It&rsquo;s about time a guy this deserving and this unknown got some ink.You can bet if Selke voting were done by NHL scouts instead of hockey writers, the recognition for the best player ever to come out of Salt Lake City, Utah heck, the only player-would be overflowing.&ldquo;Every time we&rsquo;ve looked at a player to fill a (checking) role, he&rsquo;s the one we&rsquo;ve (wanted)-and we tried, but couldn&rsquo;t get him,&rdquo; said one scout.In our books, Konowalchuk beats out Edmonton&rsquo;s Todd Marchant and New Jersey&rsquo;s John Madden for the Selke nod.Konowalchuk&rsquo;s anonymity has little to do with his tenacious play and everything to do with the nature of the team he plays for and the Selke itself. Unless you can score like Peter Bondra or stop &rsquo;em like Olaf Kolzig, it&rsquo;s tough to get noticed in Washington-just ask the man who tied for the NHL lead in assists this season. Great year, Adam Oates. Anyone see it?The Selke also defies simple analysis. Defensive excellence doesn&rsquo;t translate into stats. Furthermore, angles and backchecking and positional play aren&rsquo;t what anyone writes about, really-unless the player doing it happens to be a superstar having undergone a career transformation, a la Steve Yzerman or Mike Modano.So guys like Konowalchuk, no offensive slouch himself with career highs of 24 goals and 47 points this season, often get left out. The Caps, though, can&rsquo;t imagine where they&rsquo;d be without him and his linemates, Jeff Halpern and Ulf Dahlen, to match up against top lines.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one thing you can control, being a good defensive player,&rdquo; said Konowalchuk, who was plus-8. &ldquo;We all take pride in defense first.&rdquo; They do it primarily by cycling the puck low in the offensive zone and eating time off the clock. When the play turns the other way, Konowalchuk tries to keep attackers to the outside and not take himself out of position looking for big hits.The defense-first mantra is nothing new for him. Konowalchuk has a hockey card from his junior days in Portland which described him as &ldquo;a Dave Poulin type player.&rdquo; When he broke in with the Caps in 1992-93, Poulin was his roommate and finished runner-up in Selke voting.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04644/7809004-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="839" height="1016"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Konowalchuk</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-11156/7808997-1-eng-US/f0014-112.jpg" title="f0014-11" width="343" height="357"><figcaption class="caption-body">S. Konowalchuk</figcaption></div>Team: WashingtonAge: 28NHL Season: 9thPos.: LWStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-12143/7808990-1-eng-US/f0014-122.jpg" title="f0014-12" width="450" height="250"></div>Skinny: Big, strong, physical defensive ace part of league&rsquo;s top checking line and can also contribute offensively.Salary: $850,000 (U.S.)Contract status: Restricted free agent.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-13122/7808983-1-eng-US/f0014-132.jpg" title="f0014-13" width="343" height="357"><figcaption class="caption-body">Todd Marchant</figcaption></div>Team: EdmontonAge: 27NHL Season: 7thPos.: CStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-14101/7808976-1-eng-US/f0014-142.jpg" title="f0014-14" width="449" height="249"></div>Skinny: He&rsquo;s among the fastest skaters in the NHL and his dogged checking keeps him on the ice.Salary: $1.3 million (U.S.)Contract status: One year left at $1.4 million.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-1591/7808969-1-eng-US/f0014-152.jpg" title="f0014-15" width="342" height="357"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Madden</figcaption></div>Team: New JerseyAge: 25NHL Season: 2ndPos.: LWStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-1678/7808962-1-eng-US/f0014-162.jpg" title="f0014-16" width="452" height="250"></div>Skinny: Scored 23 goals despite never seeing any power play time.Salary: $550,000 (U.S.)Contract status: Three years remaining at an average of $1.67 million.NOW AND THEN2000-01 Honorable Mention: Mike Ricci, SJ.1999-2000 Top Three: 1. STEVE YZERMAN, DET.; 2. Michal Handzus, St. L.; 3. Mike Ricci, SJ.Selbe Trophy chosen by Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association &#9632;

f0014-03

SELKE TROPHY: BEST DEFENSIVE FORWARD

<div class="byline">-Bob Duff</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021240/7809077-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="681" height="1116"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nicklas Lidstrom</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011600/7809084-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="177" height="350"></div>It will be a major victory if Nicklas Lidstrom wins the Lady Byng Trophy. And an act of misconduct on behalf of the voters if he doesn&rsquo;t.Playing all 82 games this season, Lidstrom was ordered to sit in the penalty box nine times, all for minor infractions. Eighteen minutes. That&rsquo;s a good period&rsquo;s work for Darcy Tucker.The Lady Byng is awarded &ldquo;to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct, combined with a high standard of playing ability.&rdquo;Lidstrom qualifies on every count. He has for many, many years.He set a career high with 56 assists, finished second in team scoring with 71 points and also topped Detroit with 43 power play points.&ldquo;This has to be his year,&rdquo; said Detroit coach Scotty Bowman of Lidstrom, runner-up for the Byng to Pavol Demitra of St. Louis last season and Wayne Gretzky of the Rangers in 1998-99.The Hockey News thinks the three leading candidates for the Lady Byng are Lidstrom, Lidstrom and Lidstrom. Sentiment suggests the quiet, modest Swede will finally be acknowledged for the excellence he has turned in on the ice since joining the Red Wings in 1991.Bowman is astonished that Lidstrom garnered only 18 penalty minutes this season and just 50 minutes over the past three campaigns. With just 200 penalty minutes in 10 full seasons, that&rsquo;s an average of one minor penalty about every eight games.&ldquo;While playing defense,&rdquo; Bowman noted, &ldquo;and playing 28 minutes a game. That&rsquo;s pretty impressive.&rdquo; Impressive enough to end a 46-year drought. Only two defensemen have been awarded the Lady Byng and both were Red Wings-Bill Quackenbush in 1948-49 and Red Kelly in 1950-51, &rsquo;52-53 and &rsquo;53-54. The last 46 winners were all forwards; in fact, Lidstrom is the only defender to even be a finalist for the award in that span. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t tell me about his penalty minutes,&rdquo; said Kelly in defense of of Lidstrom.&ldquo;Tell me how many goals are scored against the team when he&rsquo;s on the ice.&rdquo; OK, Red. Lidstrom finished plus-9 this season while logging 28:27 of ice time per game. And he was plus-15 in Detroit&rsquo;s last 27 games.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what matters,&rdquo; Kelly said. &ldquo;That he doesn&rsquo;t get penalties and still gets the job done.&rdquo;<h2>LADY BYNG TROPHY: MOST GENTLEMANLY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03932/7809070-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="325" height="359"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nicklas Lidstrom</figcaption></div>Team: DetroitAge: 30NHL Season: 10thPos.: DStatistics by quarter<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04703/7809063-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="454" height="256"></div>Skinny: Two-way defender has just 200 penalty minutes in 10 seasons. That&rsquo;s one minor every eight games.Salary: $7.25 million (U.S.)Contract status: One year left at $8.5 million.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05508/7809056-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="342" height="356"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nicklas Lidstrom</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06427/7809049-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="322" height="359"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nicklas Lidstrom</figcaption></div>Nick, and nothing but&nbsp;Advocacy journalism found a home at The Hockey News many years ago and we have advocated few issues more-ahem-frequently than this one: It&rsquo;s long overdue for a defenseman to win the Lady Byng Trophy. This year we are abandoning all pretense of balance on the issue. Nicklas Lidstrom is our first, second and third choice for the Lady Byng.NOW AND THENLady Byng Trophy chosen by Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association 2000-01 Honorable Mention: Adam Oates, Was.: Joe Sakic, Col: Sergei Samsonov, Bos.1999-2000 Top Three: 1. PAVOL DEMITRA, ST. L.: 2.Nicklas Lidstrom, Det.; 3. Teemu Selanne, Ana.<h2>JACK ADAMS AWARD: BEST COACH</h2>The Hockey News names the season&rsquo;s best coach at the completion of the NHL playoffs because we believe coaches should be judged on overall performance and there&rsquo;s no better indicator of team success than a strong showing in the playoffs. However, if we were picking the best coach of the regular season we would choose&hellip;WELL, YOU&rsquo;LL JUST HAVE TO TURN TO PG. 7 TO FIND OUT.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07381/7809042-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="158" height="252"></div> &#9632;

f0016-02

Peaceful, productive defenseman worthy of Byng

<div class="byline">By Donna Spencer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-08" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-08170/7809122-1-eng-US/f0018-082.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Coach Danielle Sauvageau flashes seven fingers signifying Canada&rsquo;s seventh world title in seven attempts.</figcaption></div>MINNEAPOLIS&mdash;Team Canada spent much of the Women&rsquo;s World Championship watching motivational videos from their previous six world titles.They added another tape to their video library April 8 in Minneapolis, defeating the United States 3-2 in the final to win their seventh straight championship and extend their winning streak at the worlds to 35 games.Russia won their first bronze medal by upsetting perennial third-place finisher Finland 2-1. (See pg. 37 for tournament stats.)Goalie Kim St-Pierre of Chateauguay, Que., was the star of the final as Canada was outshot 35-18, forcing St-Pierre to make 33 saves in front of 5,000 fans at Mariucci Arena. During an American power play in the second period, she spun like a top while turning away a flurry of five shots in 10 seconds.St-Pierre got her first start in a world final after watching from the bench the last two years. She was named player of the game and top goalie of the tournament.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s my third worlds and first time I played in the final so I wanted to prove I could do the job,&rdquo; St-Pierre said. &ldquo;A good goalie plays well under pressure.&rdquo;Winnipeg&rsquo;s Jennifer Botterill had a magnificent week and earned the triple crown: tournament MVP, top forward and leading goal-scorer with eight in five games. The Harvard forward was honored in March with the Patty Kazmaier Award as the top female player in the NCAA.Botterill scored the winner with less than four minutes remaining in regulation to give Canada a 3-1 lead. She redirected a Therese Brisson shot past U.S. goalie Sarah Tueting.But the U.S. would not give up easily.Canada&rsquo;s Correne Bredin was slapped with a holding penalty and A. J. Mleczko converted on the power play with 1:19 remaining.And then it was up to Canada to hold off the U.S.&rsquo;s frantic attempts to send the game into overtime. In all, the Canadians played smart positional hockey, made the big defensive plays when it counted and took advantage of their scoring chances.&ldquo;It was passion. I really think we wanted it more that game,&rdquo; said captain Therese Brisson.Dana Antal and Tammy Lee Shewchuk also scored for Canada, while Carisa Zaban had the other American goal.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-09144/7809115-1-eng-US/f0018-092.jpg" title="f0018-09" width="1425" height="970"><figcaption class="caption-body">Canada&rsquo;s Kim St-Pierre was player of the game in the championship win over the U.S. (Both photos IHA)</figcaption></div>Canada&rsquo;s depth was a factor in the win. Forward Hayley Wickenheiser, widely considered the top player in the world, missed the tournament due to a knee injury. Botterill, Danielle Goyette, Bechard and Nancy Drolet, among others, stepped up to fill the void.Canada also had five players competing in their first worlds-forwards Antal and Gina Kingsbury and defensemen Bredin, Colleen Sostorics and Isabelle Chartrand. Antal had an especially strong tournament, proving she&rsquo;s one of Canada&rsquo;s rising stars. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what we have to continue to do, work with our young players to bring them to the national team,&rdquo; said coach Danielle Sauvageau.Even though they were outshot during the game, the Canadians stayed loose and stuck to their game plan.&ldquo;It was a belief and a trust in each other,&rdquo; Botterill said. &ldquo;When Kim makes saves like she does, you just feel confident in everyone else on the ice.&rdquo;Canada and the U.S have clashed in all seven finals since the first in 1990. Canadian defenseman Geraldine Heaney has played in all seven.The two teams are so far ahead of the rest of the world that they are each other&rsquo;s best competition and they have developed an intense rivalry.After spending seven months living and training together in Lake Placid, N.Y., the Americans wanted to win their first world title on home soil and send the message they would defend their Olympic gold medal in Salt Lake City next year.Canada, meanwhile, relied on the players preparing themselves individually with their club teams. The players were invited to camps, tours and tournaments throughout the winter to be evaluated and to learn the systems designed by Sauvageau and assistants Mel Davidson and Wally Kozak.The players were then thrown together with only a week to prepare before the tournament began. &ldquo;It just showed every-body it&rsquo;s not how long you get together, it&rsquo;s the effort you put in,&rdquo; St-Pierre said.That approach will change next season. Team Canada candidates will arrive in Calgary in September and train and play together in preparation for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.1990CANADA 5USA 21992CANADA 8USA 01994CANADA 6USA 31997CANADA 4USA 31999CANADA 3USA 12000CANADA 3USA 22001CANADA 3USA 2 &#9632;

f0018-08

SUPER SEVEN

<div class="byline">By Brett Prettyman</div>MINNEAPOLIS&mdash;Seven months of intensive training by the U.S. national women&rsquo;s team was not enough to overcome the confidence of six consecutive World Championships and more than 100 years of hockey tradition in Canada.Despite spending nearly three times what Canada did on its national women&rsquo;s program since last year&rsquo;s tournament in Mississauga, Ont., the U.S. women came up short again in their effort to knock their northern neighbors off the gold medal podium with a 32 loss in the final game of the 2001 World Championship.Instead of heading to Salt Lake City as the defending Olympic and world champions, the U.S. women will enter the 2002 Winter Games as underdogs.&ldquo;It was one of our classic battles. I don&rsquo;t think we left anything on the ice,&rdquo; said U.S. coach Ben Smith. &ldquo;We have to dig down, pull up our socks and try to catch them.&rdquo;The only time Team USA has beaten Canada in a gold medal game was during the 1998 Olympics in Nagano.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011363/7809153-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="944" height="1225"><figcaption class="caption-body">United States defenseman Karen Bye is all too familiar with that second-place feeling. (IHA)</figcaption></div>USA Hockey officials were hoping the women could duplicate their Olympic feat at the worlds, after losing 3-2 to the Canadians in overtime last year. A residency program was initiated for the players at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center in New York.Oozing with confidence from a 39-game schedule in which they outscored their college and National Women&rsquo;s League foes 272-35 and posted 17 shutouts, the American women entered the tournament with every expectation of claiming the gold for the first time.But playing Canada is not the same as skating against the Clearnet Lightning or the Sainte Julie Panthers.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big feeling of emptiness to come away without something you worked so hard for,&rdquo; said captain Cammi Granato.Granato, 30, may have been competing in her last worlds. With the Olympics in Salt Lake next year, there won&rsquo;t be another world tournament until 2003.This season marked the first time the U.S. has put forth such effort and poured so much money-between $1.2 and $1.5 million-into the women&rsquo;s program.Some say the Americans were trying to buy their first gold medal in World Championship play. Others argue they were just making an investment, trying to catch up to Canada.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to be there in February of 2002 with a silver medal saying if we had run a full-time program we wouldn&rsquo;t have finished second,&rdquo; said Art Berglund, senior director of international administration at USA Hockey. &ldquo;We want to be able to say we did everything possible to keep the gold.&rdquo;The governing body of hockey in the U.S. was hoping to recoup its investment by marketing the world and Olympic champion women&rsquo;s team. But it will take more time for the U.S. women to break their silver medal streak, which now stands at seven.Team USA will break until August, when it returns to Lake Placid for a tryout camp. A national team will be selected from the camp and head to China for several exhibition games. The team heads to Salt Lake to kick off its pre-Olympic tour Oct. 20 at the E Center, the same facility where they will likely meet Canada in the gold medal game of the 2002 Olympics.The last major tournament before the 2002 Games is the Four Nation&rsquo;s Cup in November in Finland. &#9632;

f0019-01

Americans bridesmaids again

<div class="byline">-Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02889/7809184-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="446" height="627"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROLE REVERSAL Randy McKay didn&rsquo;t score in last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup run, but his 12 power play goals this season tied for the New Jersey team lead.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011256/7809191-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="219" height="246"></div>The longer doctors failed to diagnose what was wrong with his aching right shoulder last season, the closer New Jersey Devils right winger Randy McKay came to ending his hockey career.McKay said he was in such agony during the 2000 Stanley Cup playoffs he considered retiring after the season.&ldquo;I had to come back and honor my contract and I wasn&rsquo;t 35,1 was 33,&rdquo; McKay said. &ldquo;But if I had gone through (the final year of his deal) the way I went through last year, for sure I wouldn&rsquo;t have thought about trying to get another year or two out of my body.&rdquo; McKay injured his shoulder in a fight with Toronto&rsquo;s Tie Domi Dec. 23,1999, and played the remainder of the season in pain. Team doctors knew something was wrong, but an MRI failed to show a damaged rotator cuff.ANALYSIS If there was one player who seemed capable of replacing the grit lost when Claude Lemieux signed with Phoenix, it is center Bobby Holik. Holik scored two goals as the Devils opened defense of the Cup with a 5-1 win over Carolina April 12.DEFENSE John Vanbiesbrouck, who joined the Devils just before the trade deadline, said Scott Stevens was one of the few defensemen who could change the momentum of a game with his big hits rather than scoring goals. &ldquo;Last year Scott&rsquo;s hit on Eric (Lindros), if that wasn&rsquo;t a momentum-changer, I don&rsquo;t know what was.,&rdquo; Vanbiesbrouck said.NOTEBOOK Left winger Patrik Elias finished the season with six goals and three assists in four games to break Kirk Muller&rsquo;s 1987-88 Devils&rsquo; record of 93 points in a season. Elias ended with 96 points. &#9632;

f0020-02

McKay came close to retiring after last year

<div class="byline">-Luke DeCock</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03627/7809222-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="215" height="226"></div>By playing in the Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; final game of the season, workhorse goalie Arturs Irbe made his franchise-record 77th appearance, tying him for second all-time.Only Grant Fuhr, who played 79 games for the St. Louis Blues in 199596, has played more in one season.&ldquo;Every time I put on all these things, I feel like I did when I was just starting to play hockey,&rdquo; Irbe said. &ldquo;When I have to take it off, I have to go back to reality.&rdquo;This isn&rsquo;t the first time the 5-foot-8 Irbe has taken the workload on his low-to-the-ground, but wide shoulders.Irbe has played in 152 games over the past two seasons and played in 74 contests with the San Jose Sharks in 199394.ANALYSIS Coach Paul Maurice said he wouldn&rsquo;t bother trying to match lines with the New Jersey Devils in the opening round of playoffs. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re more concerned about keeping our shift lengths short,&rdquo; Maurice said.OFFENSE Jeff O&rsquo;Neill knows the pressure is on to prove he can score in the playoffs as well as the regular season. He could not have been hotter heading into the post-season.O&rsquo;Neill had 10 points in the Hurricanes, final six regular-season games to finish with 41 goals. He was also the only player in the NHL to finish in the top 10 in goals and hits.NOTEBOOK GM Jim Rutherford said coach Paul Maurice would be back for another season as coach. Maurice had said he expected to be fired if the team missed the playoffs&hellip;The Hurricanes have boosted their season-ticket base to 7,404. The NHL has promised the franchise an All-Star Game if it can get to 12,000. &#9632;

f0020-03

Irbe carries Hurricanes with record 77 starts

<div class="byline">-Bruce Garrioch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04420/7809253-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="240" height="242"></div>The Senators opened their Eastern Conference quarterfinal against the Toronto Maple Leafs without left winger Magnus Arvedson (groin), center Radek Bonk (thumb) and defenseman Chris Phillips (shoulder).While Arvedson and Bonk were both questionable for the series Phillips, who slammed into the boards in a 3-2 loss to Carolina April 1, attempted to skate in the club&rsquo;s practice before giving up hope.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re not able to give it your best then you don&rsquo;t want to be out there because you&rsquo;re not helping the team,&rdquo; Phillips said.Coach Jacques Martin was doing a lot of shuffling up front. The first unit of Shawn McEachern, Alexei Yashin and Daniel Alfredsson was virtually the only one that stayed together in practice.ANALYSIS While the Senators finished with a club record 109 points, the regular season stats won&rsquo;t mean anything if they don&rsquo;t win a playoff round. However, at least one player is tired of listening to all this stuff. &ldquo;I know there have been a lot of expectations the last two seasons, but we have been to the second round. Everybody seems to forget that.&rdquo; Yashin said.DEFENSE Goaltender Patrick Lalime went into the playoffs with a lot to prove, since he has had no post-season success. But Lalime is a strong character who always remains on an even keel. He had a standout season and wasn&rsquo;t worried about playoff pressure. &ldquo;You work all season to get into the playoffs and you should enjoy it,&rdquo; he said.NOTEBOOK Right wingers Daniel Alfredsson, Martin Havlat and Andreas Dackell have shown up with new blond dye jobs for the playoffs, along with defensemen Jamie Rivers and Karel Rachunek, because it might be a good luck charm&hellip;CBC commentator Harry Neale unleashed a wild debate when he told Sens&rsquo; fans they could take a &ldquo;big bite out of his a&mdash;&rdquo;, after he was accused of favoring the Leafs by Ottawa mayor Bob Chiarelli &#9632;

f0020-04

Martin forced to shuffle lines because of injuries

<div class="byline">-Ken Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-05241/7809284-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="217" height="244"></div>When defenseman Bryan McCabe came to the Toronto Maple Leafs from the Chicago Blackhawks early in the season, he was supremely confident he&rsquo;d finally play in his first NHL playoff game. It almost didn&rsquo;t happen. The underachieving Maple Leafs, picked by many hockey experts to seriously contend for the Stanley Cup this season, needed 81 regular season games to secure a playoff spot, good for seventh place in the Eastern Conference and a first-round date with the No. 2 seeded Ottawa SenatorsPlaying for such juggernauts as the New York Islanders, Vancouver Canucks and Blackhawks over the course of his career had much to do with the fact he had never played in the post-season, but McCabe started to take it personally.&ldquo;I thought maybe I was a little cancer,&rdquo; McCabe said.ANALYSIS After playing the regular season with every defenseman on the team, Dmitry Yushkevich was paired with Danny Markov for the playoffs. The tandem was extremely effective for the Leafs two years ago in the playoffs when they managed to shut down John LeClair in one series and Jaromir Jagr in the second round.OFFENSE With 207 goals against this season, the Leafs posted their best record in that department in three years. But the shift to a more defensive style has come at the expense of their offense.Two years ago, the Leafs had Sylvain Cote, Alexander Karpovstev and Bryan Berard on their blueline and all three were adept at moving the puck up ice quickly to the forwards. They&rsquo;ve been replaced by the likes of Bryan McCabe, Cory Cross and Dave Manson, players who are more physical and slower.NOTEBOOK There is growing speculation Pat Quinn, the only executive in the league with both the coach and GM titles, will give up the GM duties after the season. Quinn is also coach of Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team next year. &#9632;

f0020-05

McCabe finally tastes NHL post-season action

<div class="byline">-Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-011012/7809315-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="220" height="252"></div>A season ago, when Washington played Pittsburgh in the first round, Capitals&rsquo; coach Ron Wilson made several boasts, among them that his third-seeded team could get past the Penguins even if it played all seven games in the Steel City.It is a quieter, far more complimentary Wilson this time around. There are no boasts that his team will do this or that to anybody Instead, he is overflowing with compliments about the Penguins, especially Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. A combination of hard work together with that team&rsquo;s talent, Wilson said, would make Pittsburgh all but unbeatable.The Caps were dispatched in rude fashion last season and Wilson doesn&rsquo;t want that to happen again. He started playoff preparations in November, fine timing special teams, and apparently decided there would be no bulletin board ammunition from him this year.ANALYSIS While the Caps had several sellouts this season, one of the spots usually bare at the MCI Center was a ring of club seats still controlled by the former ownership. New owner Ted Leonsis wanted to make sure those seats didn&rsquo;t fall into the hands of Pittsburgh fans so he personally bought 1,000 of them and resold them locally at face value. He said he wanted to build a local fan base and he is true to his word.OFFENSE Peter Bondra finished the regular season with 45 goals, but had none in his last seven games. He said he was hoping some had been saved for the playoffs. After Game 1 against Pittsburgh, he was 100 per cent correct. He had the only goal in a 1-0 victory, his team-record 10th power play score, the goal tying Dale Hunter&rsquo;s team record for most playoff goals (25). Olie Kolzig got the shutout, his fifth in post-season and third in his last six games.NOTEBOOK Center Adam Oates and Pittsburgh right winger Jaromir Jagr finished tied for the assist lead, each with 69. At 38, Oates is the oldest player to lead the category. Oates, who finished the year with just 72 shots, led the team with 82 points&hellip;Those who enjoyed career years included: Center Jeff Halpern with goals (21), assists (21) and points (42); left winger Steve Konowalchuk with goals (24) and points (47); defenseman Sergei Gonchar with assists (38) and points (57). Goalie Olie Koizig&rsquo;s win on the final day of the season (2-1 over Tampa) was his 151st in the NHL&hellip;Before the playoff opener, right winger Trevor Linden had a smile plastered all over his face. He had been out of the playoffs for four seasons and missed &ldquo;the best part of hockey.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0021-01

Wilson changes tactics, praises Pens’ dynamic duo in hopes of better result

<div class="byline">-Joe Starkey</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02623/7809346-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="216" height="244"></div>Has the NHL scoring title taken up permanent residence in Pittsburgh? It sure seems that way.Right winger Jaromir Jagr finished the regular season with 121 points, edging Colorado&rsquo;s Joe Sakic (118 points) to become just the fifth player in NHL history to win five or more scoring titles. Wayne Gretzky (10), Mario Lemieux (six), Gordie Howe (six) and Phil Esposito (five) are the others.Either Jagr or Lemieux has won every scoring title but one (Gretzky, 1994) since 1992. Jagr is the just the fourth player to win four or more scoring titles in a row. The others are Gretzky (1981-87), Esposito (1971-74) and Howe (1951-54).Jagr and Sakic waged a back-and-forth battle for the Art Ross Trophy.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t worry about it at all, but I wanted to win it once I had the chance,&rdquo; said Jagr, who sat out the regular season finale at Carolina knowing Sakic needed six points against Minnesota to beat him (Sakic got three). &ldquo;When I got a lead, I didn&rsquo;t want to blow it.&rdquo;ANALYSIS Lemieux has always been willing to offer his advice to coaching staffs. They&rsquo;d be crazy not to take it. Now that he&rsquo;s an owner, the advice probably carries a bit more weight.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not the one making the line change, but if there&rsquo;s something I see out there that might help our team adjust in the second or third period, I&rsquo;m not shy about going into the coach&rsquo;s office and talking about it,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ve done throughout my career, and, hopefully, I bring some good things to the team to help us win.&rdquo;DEFENSE Andrew Ference, who turned 22 March 17, spent the past years mostly in the minors, but earned his spot in the lineup by playing well behind the Penguins&rsquo; top line of Lemieux, Jagr and Jan Hrdina. In 23 games after his second call-up this year, Ference had four goals, 11 points and was plus-7. Playing two of the world&rsquo;s greatest players is challenging.&ldquo;There have been a few times where it was pretty hard,&rdquo; said Ference, the Penguins&rsquo; youngest player. &ldquo;The last thing you want to do is feed them a bad pass that&rsquo;s going to get them lined up for a big hit. I&rsquo;ve gone through ups and downs more than I have playing with another line or in junior or the minors.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK Center Mario Lemieux was held without a shot in a playoff-opening, 1-0 loss at Washington. It was just the second time in 25 playoff games the Penguins were shut out&hellip;Jagr likely would not have won the title without Lemieux. He wasn&rsquo;t among the top 15 NHL scorers when Lemieux came out of retirement Dec. 27. &#9632;

f0021-02

Art Ross Trophy finds home in Pittsburgh, Jagr claims fourth straight scoring title

<div class="byline">-Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011139/7809377-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="220" height="242"></div>John LeClair wasn&rsquo;t sure whether to raise his stick in joy or roll his eyes in relief. So he did both.The Flyers&rsquo; left winger, sidelined 46 games with complications from back surgery, scored a pair of goals in the next-to-last game of the regular season, his first goals since Dec. 6.It was good news for Philadelphia. Aside from the 4-3 win over Pittsburgh, the Flyers had just five goals in three games, including a 2-1 loss to Buffalo to open the playoffs.LeClair returned to the lineup on March 26, but went six games without producing any offense. Finally, late in the Pittsburgh game on April 7, he scored the tying goal in regulation and the game-winner in overtime.Against Pittsburgh, he showed signs of the form that produced at least 40 goals in each of the last five seasons.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to start somewhere,&rdquo; LeClair said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something to build on. We need that heading into the playoffs.&rdquo;ANALYSIS The Flyers finished the regular season on a high note by grabbing fourth place, but continued to have problems scoring goals.Barber stressed going harder to the net, but 32 shots against the Sabres in Game 1 of the playoffs produced only a handful of good scoring chances. Mark Recchi went goal-less in seven games after center Keith Primeau went down with a sprained left knee.OFFENSE Simon Gagne, sidelined for a month with a partially dislocated left shoulder, failed to score in his first nine games after returning from the injury. He has to wear a shoulder harness, which limits his range of motion.Gagne was tied for second with Recchi in team goals (27) during the regular season.NOTEBOOK On April 10, center Keith Primeau skated for the first time since spraining his knee on March 26. Primeau, who was to be reevaluated by doctors on April 16, said he might try to &ldquo;shorten&rdquo; his recovery time if the Flyers fall further behind in their playoff series with Buffalo. &#9632;

f0022-01

LeClair finds mark with playoffs near

<div class="byline">-Bucky Gleason</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03602/7809408-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="753" height="930"><figcaption class="caption-body">BACK IN TIME Eligible for unrestricted free agency on July 1, Philadelphia&rsquo;s John LeClair can salvage an injury-plagued, 16-game regular-season with a productive playoff.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02819/7809415-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="219" height="252"></div>Roman Cechmanek allowed just two goals in four games against Buffalo during the regular season, but the Sabres scored twice in the first period in a 2-1 victory in Game 1 of the playoffs, dissolving the theory that Cechmanek is unbeatable.Chris Gratton made Cechmanek, the favorite for the Vezina Trophy, look human when he scored on a 20-foot wrist shot in the first four minutes. It was the first time the Sabres have led the Flyers in a game since last season.&ldquo;That first goal going in made us believe we could score on him,&rdquo; said Sabres&rsquo; coach Lindy Ruff.The Sabres put together a video outlining Cechmanek&rsquo;s tendencies for a team meeting the night before the series.ANALYSIS Buffalo bottled up Philadelphia for the final 40 minutes of Game 1 by shutting off passing lanes and quickly clearing the puck. The Sabres allowed the fewest goals in the league this season, and it doesn&rsquo;t hurt having Dominik Hasek in goal. Hasek did his part by stopping Mark Recchi on a penalty shot and making several big saves when necessary.OFFENSE Veteran Doug Gilmour was rejuvenated by the playoffs, and it showed in Game 1 when he scored the winning goal and helped set up the first one. Gilmour had just seven goals and 31 points in the regular season, his worst statistically He&rsquo;s planning to retire after the season and wants to win another Stanley Cup before he calls it quits.NOTEBOOK The Sabres had a brief scare in the playoff opener when goaltender Dominik Hasek banged his head on the ice during a scrum. He was motionless on his beck for a while before getting up&hellip;With two days off between the first and second game, the Sabres elected to fly home and sleep in their own beds, rather than stay in a hotel. &#9632;

f0022-03

Sabres send early message to Philly

<div class="byline">-Jim Benton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04422/7809446-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="220" height="237"></div>All season, the Colorado Avalanche has been focused on winning the Stanley Cup.The Avalanche, which lost on the road to Dallas in Game 7 of the Western Conference final the past two years, won the Presidents&rsquo; Trophy to secure home ice advantage throughout the postseason.Colorado made a blockbuster deal in February to get defenseman Rob Blake from Los Angeles to bolster its odds.It may be now or never for the Avalanche especially considering the pending free agency of captain and leading scorer Joe Sakic, goalie Patrick Roy, Blake and the uncertain future of 40-year-old defenseman Ray Bourque.Coach Bob Hartley sidestepped the question of whether or not the time is now for the Avalanche.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way we approach every year,&rdquo; Hartley said. &ldquo;Ask Ray Bourque if it is now or never. It&rsquo;s twenty years that he listens to the same song. Winning the Stanley Cup is not like taking a walk in the park.&rdquo;Roy knows what is at stake for the team in this year&rsquo;s playoffs.&ldquo;We all realize the importance of this year for the future,&rdquo; Roy said. &ldquo;There are a lot of guys who will be free agents and it&rsquo;s clear to us the playoffs are important to this organization.&rdquo;ANALYSIS Chris Drury added his to growing reputation as a clutch performer in Game 1 against Vancouver by scoring the game-winner on a breakaway with 1:07 left in the third period as the Avalanche downed the Canucks 5-4 April 12 at the Pepsi Center. It was his seventh career game-winning goal in 37 playoff games.OFFENSE Sakic opened the playoffs like he finished the regular season-red hot. The Avs&rsquo; captain, who finished second in the league scoring race with 118 points, had 17 goals in the final 16 games. He had two goals and an assist in Game 1 against the Cancuks.NOTEBOOK Defenseman Ray Bourque missed the first game of the playoffs because of a sprained back. The injury delayed his 21st post-season appearance, which will surpass Larry Robinson and Gordie Howe for most years in the playoffs&hellip;Defenseman Rob Blake had a goal and three assists in Game 1, a career playoff best. It was Blake&rsquo;s first playoff goal since 1993. &#9632;

f0022-04

Avs feel pressure to win this season

<div class="byline">-Nicholas J. Cotsonika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02699/7809508-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="224" height="246"></div>Acupuncture, Chinese herbs-Red Wings&rsquo; right winger Darren McCarty will try anything that will help him play in the playoffs.Last year, McCarty sat out Detroit&rsquo;s final 17 regular season games with a groin injury, but returned for the playoff opener against Los Angeles, in part because of acupuncture treatments.This year, he sat out the Wings&rsquo; final eight games with an ankle injury, but returned for the post-season lidlifter-a 5-3 victory over the same Kings, in part because of Chinese herbs.McCarty wasn&rsquo;t specific about the herbs, but said they come in some sort of ointment, and that&rsquo;s good enough for him.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy with the way the ankle&rsquo;s responded,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve pushed it pretty hard, but it&rsquo;s at a point where it&rsquo;s not going to affect me.&rdquo;ANALYSIS When captain Steve Yzerman went down with an ankle injury in the playoff opener, coach Scotty Bowman did something he doesn&rsquo;t normally do, putting left winger Brendan Shanahan on the same line with center Sergei Fedorov. The result: Shanahan had two goals and an assist, Fedorov a goal and two assists.That partnership was shortlived, however. The feisty Shanahan broke his foot blocking a shot and could be gone for the remainder of the postseason.DEFENSE Bowman left everyone in suspense about his starting goaltender in the playoff opener. But as expected, he stuck with Chris Osgood.Osgood made 27 saves, one of them spectacular. He put his paddle across the goal line and stopped a shot by Ziggy Palffy, then got a piece of a rebound drive by Bryan Smolinski with his left pad. Right after that, Igor Larionov scored to put the Wings ahead by two.NOTEBOOK Coach Scotty Bowman scratched grizzled, veteran, right winger Pat Verbeek in the first game against Los Angeles. Verbeek, 36, has appeared in 112 playoff games in his 17 previous NHL seasons. Defenseman Jiri Fischer, 20, played in his first post-season game&hellip;The Red Wings finished the regular season with 111 points, the second highest total in the franchise&rsquo;s storied 75 seasons. Only the 1995-96 Wings had more points-131- the second-most in NHL history. &#9632;

f0023-02

Acupunture, herbs have McCarty ready

<div class="byline">-Chuck Carlton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011100/7809570-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="244" height="246"></div>They are committed and cohesive, winning and reveling. For the Dallas Stars, their season started Jan. 30, the day they lost to the Los Angeles Kings 8-0 and found themselves five points out of the Pacific Division lead.The Stars had reached their lowest point, the Dead Sea of the season with their worst loss in nearly nine years.&ldquo;We ended up with coaches mad at players, players mad at coaches, players mad at players, poor chemistry, cynicism and zero synergy,&rdquo; Hitchcock said.The Stars built from the ground up, winning the next game in San Jose. They lost six games the rest of the year. Counting Game 1 of their playoff series against Edmonton, a 2-1 overtime win, they were unbeaten in 14 games. They also learned a lesson while trying to be the first team since the Edmonton Oilers (1983 through 1985) to reach three consecutive Stanley Cup finals.&ldquo;(We know) we can get through anything, survive and still be kicking,&rdquo; said center Mike Modano. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve gone through a lot of changes and still found a way to get through it, the ups and downs, things that happen away from the rink. And we still find a way to get stronger from it.&rdquo;ANALYSIS Since he joined the Stars in 1997, Ed Belfour has a 41-23 post-season record and sparkling 1.75 goals-against average. For all his quirks-he&rsquo;s buzzed off all but a small amount of hair to honor the NCAA hockey finalist Fighting Sioux of North Dakota-Belfour is the perfect fit for the Stars. His routine has stayed the same, be it training camp in September or a Game 7. &ldquo;I like doing things the same way,&rdquo; Belfour said. &ldquo;I want to win every game I play That&rsquo;s just how I&rsquo;ve always been.&rdquo;OFFENSE The Stars developed a checking line with veterans Mike Keane, Kirk Muller and John MacLean just before the start of the playoffs. Jamie Langenbrunner, who delivered a gamewinning goal in the 2-1 overtime victory over Edmonton in Game 1, moved to a feisty third line while playing with Shaun Van Allen and Ted Donato.NOTEBOOK Playoff beards are passe. The Stars have gone for more dramatic statements. Left winger Brenden Morrow dyed his hair yellowish-blond, just like he did for the Memorial Cup when he played for Portland (WHL). Defenseman Darryl Sydor added green highlights to his dark locks. &ldquo;Guys are telling me I played too many years in LA,&rdquo; Sydor said. &#9632;

f0024-01

After hitting rock bottom, Stars turn season around

<div class="byline">-Rob Tychkowski</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02770/7809601-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="222" height="254"></div>The Edmonton Oilers learned some painful lessons in the late 1980s about letting players venture into unrestricted free agency.They lost Curtis Joseph and Luke Richardson for nothing and swore it would never happen again.But the Oilers simply couldn&rsquo;t pull the trigger on an Igor Ulanov deal, even though he&rsquo;ll be unrestricted this summer, because they needed their defensive mainstay for the stretch drive and playoffs.It&rsquo;s a positive move for today, but it could cost them tomorrow. The tough, durable and dependable Russian will certainly fetch some decent offers.In his season and a half with the Oilers he&rsquo;s transformed from a press box regular to a 25-minute a game pillar of the point.&ldquo;This organization has given a lot to me,&rdquo; Ulanov said. &ldquo;They gave me a lot of confidence and ice time, they believed in me and trusted me and gave me another chance.&ldquo;Craig Mactavish and all the coaches, we got pretty close this season. We, 11 see what happens but I would love to stay here. I love it here. I&rsquo;ve never had this much fun in my career. My first choice is always going to be Edmonton.&rdquo;ANALYSIS There&rsquo;s always some concern when rookies are exposed to the intense and stifling pressure of the playoffs, but youngsters Mike Comrie, Eric Brewer and Shawn Horcoff had strong debuts for Edmonton.Comrie wasn&rsquo;t on the ice for a goal against in 10:24 of ice time and was in the mix all night.Brewer played 27 shifts of strong hockey and Horcoff, although sparingly used, didn&rsquo;t wilt either.OFFENSE Left winger Ryan Smyth was shifted back to the first line with Doug Weight and Dan Cleary for Edmonton&rsquo;s first round playoff series with the Stars. Smyth adds more of a first line presence while Sergei Zholtok, who had been playing on the line, moved back to the second unit with Anson Carter and Mike Comrie.NOTEBOOK Oiler equipment manager Lyle (Sparky) Kulchisky began a tradition of bringing small bottles of melted ice from Skyreach Centre and using it to baptize opposition rinks in the playoffs. He stopped after the Oilers went 2-12 in their last three series with Dallas. &ldquo;I brought it for the last three years and it didn&rsquo;t do one bit of good,&rdquo; Kulchisky said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no holy water this time.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-02

UFA Ulanov may leave, but Oil wouldn’t trade him

<div class="byline">-Ross McKeon</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04351/7809663-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="636" height="1264"><figcaption class="caption-body">TWO-PRONGED ATTACK Entering the 2001 post-season, rugged blueliner Chris Pronger sat third among St. Louis defensemen in career playoff scoring with 30 points in 49 games. (BBS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-05237/7809670-1-eng-US/f0024-052.jpg" title="f0024-05" width="218" height="254"></div>The injury bug that plagued the San Jose Sharks through the second half of the season continued into the playoffs when veteran defenseman Gary Suter sustained a concussion just 16 seconds into his first shift of Game 1 against St. Louis.The Sharks had previously lost Vincent Damphousse, Todd Harvey, Scott Thornton, Marcus Ragnarsson, and Teemu Selanne to second-half injuries. Nevertheless, San Jose finished the year as only the fifth team in NHL history to improve on their previous season&rsquo;s point total for a fifth consecutive year. With 95 points, San Jose joins the Rangers (1966-71), Detroit (1946-51), Boston (1925-30) and the Islanders (197379) as the only five teams to do so.What coach Darryl Sutter likes most about the accomplishment is the fact the Sharks earned their 40th win on the final day of the season. He plans to use it as motivation for next season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot easier to show now we need to move to 45 wins and 100 points if we want to win the division,&rdquo; Sutter said.The club has improved 48 points in all since Dean Lombardi took over as GM in 1996.ANALYSIS No longer mired in the middle of the pack, the Sharks can focus more intently on the areas they&rsquo;d like to improve for next year. The addition of Selanne should certainly help a sub-par power play. Goaltending and depth up front is fine. On defense, however, San Jose is thin and vulnerable to injury.DEFENSE Thanks to Evgeni Nabokov&rsquo;s outstanding rookie year, the Sharks finished third in fewest goals allowed (192), important considering Sutter&rsquo;s system is based on defense and the team having success from the goal out. Nabokov posted franchise records for wins (32), shutouts (6) and goals-against average (2.15).NOTEBOOK The Sharks were fifth best in penalty killing, and their 86.2-percent figure bettered the previous franchise-high of 85.2 percent in 1997-98. San Jose was short-handed 411 times, third most the league. &#9632;

f0024-04

Sharks increase points for fifth straight year

<div class="byline">-Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011105/7809701-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="220" height="250"></div>Even after announcing Guy Charron will not be back as coach next season, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim GM Pierre Gauthier acknowledged Charron was a &ldquo;victim of circumstances.&rdquo;Just one day after Anaheim completed a 2541-11-5 campaign that left the club in last place in the NHL&rsquo;s Western Conference, Gauthier began a search for &ldquo;the best coach to keep this team going and make us a playoff team next year.&rdquo;Charron, who stepped up from an assistant&rsquo;s role to succeed the fired Craig Hartsburg Dec. 14, guided the injury-ravaged Ducks to a 14-26-7-2 record the rest of the way.&ldquo;Guy did a very respectable job, under very difficult circumstances,&rdquo; Gauthier said. &ldquo;With all the injuries, he never had a full team. Our decision is not a reflection of his ability to coach, or his competence as a hockey man. It&rsquo;s just a need for this franchise to get a fresh start.&rdquo;Charron, 52, and Terry Simpson, hired as assistants under Hartsburg last summer, will have the final year of their contracts honored, Gauthier said.&ldquo;As I expressed to Pierre, I think I need time to think it out,&rdquo; Charron said. &ldquo;Obviously, I believe I could have done the job, and done it well. I&rsquo;m disappointed that I didn&rsquo;t get a chance to follow it up with a full season.&rdquo;SEASON WRAP-UP First-line forwards Steve Rucchin and Paul Kariya, second-liners Mike Leclerc and Marty McInnis, top defensemen Niclas Havelid and Ruslan Salei and newly acquired goaltender Steve Shields accounted for 198 of Anaheim&rsquo;s 257 man games lost to injuries.&ldquo;There is no reason to think all those players won&rsquo;t be healthy the first day of training camp,&rdquo; Gauthier said.NOTEBOOK At least six Ducks planned to participate for their respective national teams in the April 28-May 13 World Championships in Germany. Left winger Jeff Friesen will play for Canada, center Matt Cullen for the United States, defensemen Oleg Tverdovsky and Vitaly Vishnevski for Russia, defenseman Ruslan Salei for Belarus and defenseman Antti-Jussi Niemi for Finland. &#9632;

f0026-01

Coach Charron released, Ducks want ‘best coach’

<div class="byline">-Jeff Schultz</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02767/7809732-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="220" height="260"></div>Luck enabled the Atlanta Thrashers to win the draft lottery for the first time in three years. Now the question is whether or not to keep the pick.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the biggest thing to happen to this franchise,&rdquo; said GM Don Waddell. &ldquo;We feel we control the draft, and it&rsquo;s a nice position to be in.&rdquo; The Thrashers, seeded third in the lottery, jumped to first when they held the winning combination of ping pong balls. Waddell was not in attendance in New York. After losing lotteries the first two years, he held a contest to locate the &ldquo;luckiest&rdquo; person on his office staff, asking each to e-mail him why they feel they were lucky enough to get an all-expenses paid trip to New York.The winner was Cameron Brent of community relations department. She wrote a poem that was partly inspired by her job and partly by Dr. Seuss.Asked her &ldquo;strategy,&rdquo; Brent said, &ldquo;I crossed my fingers and wore my lucky charm bracelet.&rdquo; That apparently carried more powers than the rabbit&rsquo;s foot Waddell had in his pocket two years ago.Waddell said if the team makes a trade to slide down or out of the first round, &ldquo;You would be correct to assume there would have to be a goaltender involved.&rdquo;SEASON WRAP-UP The Thrashers made progress in their second season, increasing totals in wins (14 to 23) and points (39 to 60) and decreasing losses (61 to 45). Their total goal differential went from minus-143 to minus-78.They raised expectations for a playoff spot with a 10-win month in December, then fell apart because of injuries and poor goaltending. After surpassing the .500 mark for the first time in franchise history (15-14-6-1), the Thrashers went 831-6-1 to finish 23-45-12-2.NOTEBOOK The season was not without its casualties. While the Thrashers will talk with coach Curt Fraser about a contract extension (he has one year remaining on his deal), assistants Jay Leach and George Kingston were let go. The staff will be restructured, with the team set to hire a full-time goaltending coach for one job and a defense/special teams coach for the other&hellip;The Thrashers finished second in the league with 449 man-games lost to injury. &#9632;

f0026-02

Winning NHL draft lottery easy as reading Dr. Seuss

<div class="byline">-Mike Loftus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03616/7809763-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="220" height="248"></div>Mike Keenan didn&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;d been given enough time. Boston Bruins&rsquo; GM Mike O&rsquo;Connell, whose opinion carried more weight, disagreed.So Keenan&rsquo;s time as coach was up in Boston, after 74 games and a 33-26-7-8 record that fell one point short of getting the Bruins to the playoffs.The highlight of Keenan&rsquo;s tenure-an 8-22-1 run over the season&rsquo;s final 13 games-in which only Stanley Cup finals favorites Colorado and New Jersey defeated Boston in regulation-proved, in a way, to be part of his downfall.&ldquo;I saw a team play with desperation for the last 10,15 games,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Connell said, &ldquo;but I didn&rsquo;t see it for the whole time.&rdquo;The only way for O&rsquo;Connell to find out was to exercise the club&rsquo;s two-year option on Keenan&rsquo;s services, a clause built into the contract Keenan signed when he replaced Pat Burns (fired Oct. 25 with the Bruins at 3-4-1-0). Keenan was reported to have received a $500,000 (U.S.) severance when Boston decided not to exercise the option.Keenan felt O&rsquo;Connell, who took over the full-time GM duties from Harry Sinden a week after the coaching change, jumped the gun.&ldquo;I think Mike probably doesn&rsquo;t have a full realization of what it takes to turn a team around, what kind of patience you need,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;To turn the attitude of a group of people around-to change human behavior-is very difficult. I think, over his tenure as manager, he&rsquo;ll learn more about that.&rdquo;SEASON WRAP-UP How did the Bruins fall a point short of nosing out Carolina for the final Eastern Conference playoff slot? Many pointed to the club&rsquo;s terrible record against inferior teams (0-4 against Atlanta, 1-3 against Florida) and failure to beat the Hurricanes more consistently (1-3-0), but injuries were also a factor. Particularly damaging was the loss of No. 1 goalie Byron Dafoe, who missed 36 games with three different injuries.NOTEBOOK Dafoe was seeking outside opinions and planned to have what he expected to be minor surgery to relieve discomfort in his troublesome left knee, which was repaired last March and August. &#9632;

f0026-03

Bruins cut Keenan free after missing playoffs

<div class="byline">-Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04436/7809794-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="222" height="246"></div>Greg Gilbert created a stir of sorts on the day of the Calgary Flames&rsquo; break-up party, announcing to reporters that he has not yet decided if he wants to return to coach the team next season.Describing himself as the &ldquo;quote-unquote interim head coach,&rdquo; Gilbert said he wanted assurances from upper management that everybody was on the same page philosophically.Gilbert took over from Don Hay with 14 games remaining in the season and posted a 4-8-2 record as the Flames finished with 73 points, four fewer than they did a year ago when Brian Sutter was the coach.&ldquo;I just want to make sure we&rsquo;re all going in the same direction,&rdquo; Gilbert said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to be stuck in a situation where there isn&rsquo;t going to be the changes made that we feel are necessary for this team to move on and succeed.&rdquo;As a player, Gilbert eventually evolved into a defensive specialist, someone who looked to go to the attack only after taking care of his own end first. As a coach, it is a primary element of his philosophy.&ldquo;The players that don&rsquo;t have that commitment may have to be moved,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You want to cut out the weak links in the chain and get stronger.&rdquo;SEASON WRAP-UP In examining why the Flames missed the playoffs, you need only go back to their mediocre start, six wins in their first 29 games, which left them so far out of contention even a midseason surge didn&rsquo;t help.Part of the reason can be attributed to the adjustment in coaching approaches, from Sutter to Hay. A handful of players who thrived under Sutter, most notably, Valeri Bure, Phil Housley, Jeff Shantz and Jason Wiemer, all had more difficulties this time around.NOTEBOOK In something of a surprising move, the Flames lost useful journeyman left winger Benoit Gratton on waivers to Montreal once the season ended. Calgary put Gratton on waivers to send him to Saint John (AHL), so he could suit up for the AHL playoffs. Instead, the Habs grabbed the Montreal native, who played 14 games for Calgary and recorded four points, mostly as an injury fill-in. &#9632;

f0026-04

Gilbert not sure if he’ll return to coach Flames

<div class="byline">-Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-011054/7809825-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="221" height="241"></div>The Chicago Blackhawks don&rsquo;t need just cosmetic changes for next season. They need a complete makeover.GM Mike Smith called it &ldquo;disturbing&rdquo; that the Hawks finished on an 11-game winless streak. Chicago lost 45 games, including overtime defeats, and finished with only 71 points, seven fewer than in 19992000.&ldquo;I would suggest we&rsquo;ll turn a third of our roster over,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;I would be optimistic about changing six to eight players.&rdquo;This year&rsquo;s horrendous finish has confirmed certain things in Smith&rsquo;s eyes.&ldquo;It eliminates any space for rationalization in terms of, &lsquo;Well, we&rsquo;re better than that,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The time has come to cut bait here.&rdquo;Hiring a coach to succeed Alpo Suhon-en is Smith&rsquo;s first order of business. While he refused to discuss whether as-sistants Denis Savard and Al MacAdam are candidates, it&rsquo;s believed Savard has a legitimate shot at the job, especially because of his close relationship with owner Bill Wirtz.SEASON WRAP-UP Basically, the Hawks&rsquo; season was doomed after another poor start. They were 2-7-0-1 after 10 games and only reached the .500 mark for a short time in January.The closest Chicago got to a playoff spot was five points in the midst of their 10-2-2-0 run that started in mid-December. But any playoff hopes were dashed by a 2-7-1-1 tailspin into February.NOTEBOOK The Hawks have four key restricted free agents in left winger Eric Daze, center Alex Zhamnov, goaltender Jocelyn Thibault and defenseman Jaroslav Spacek, plus two unrestricted free agents in left winger Bob Probert and center Steve Dubinsky. GM Mike Smith said he expects to re-sign Probert, who turns 36 in June&hellip;For the first time in four seasons, captain Tony Amonte wasn&rsquo;t the Hawks&rsquo; leading scorer. Right winger Steve Sullivan, who was claimed on waivers from Toronto in October of 1999, led the team in points with 75. Amonte had only 64 and was a, minus-22. &#9632;

f0027-01

Thorough housecleaning scheduled in Windy City

<div class="byline">-Aaron Portzline</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03474/7809856-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="676" height="770"><figcaption class="caption-body">ONE TOUGH-NUTT Ron Tugnutt set an expansion team goalies&rsquo; record with 22 victories. (BBS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02692/7809863-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="222" height="250"></div>Columbus Blue Jackets president-GM Doug MacLean threw $10 million on the table to bring goalie Ron Tugnutt to Columbus last summer. Even MacLean didn&rsquo;t expect so much in return, though.Tugnutt made 29 saves in the Blue Jackets&rsquo; 4-3 overtime win over Chicago April 8, upping his record to 22-25-4 for the expansion team.No other goalie for a first-year team has ever won as many games. Cesare Maniago (Minnesota North Stars, 1967-68) and John Vanbiesbrouck (1993-94) shared the record previously with 21.&ldquo;Ron Tugnutt getting the record is certainly justified,&rdquo; MacLean said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been our MVP, no question about it. He&rsquo;s given us a chance to win almost every night.&rdquo;Tugnutt&rsquo;s .917 save percentage was ninth-best in the NHL, and his 2.44 goals-against average was far below his career average of 3.22.&ldquo;There may be relocation, but there might not be expansion ever again,&rdquo; Tugnutt said. &ldquo;I owe my teammates a lot of gratitude for the way they&rsquo;ve played in front of me and (fellow goalie Marc Denis) this season.&rdquo;SEASON WRAP-UP The Blue Jackets were elated to finish with 28 wins and 71 points, both lofty numbers for an expansion franchise.&ldquo;I think we can be proud of ourselves,&rdquo; Tugnutt said. &ldquo;We could&rsquo;ve been going home and heard, &lsquo;Oh, my God, what a nightmare of a season that was.&rsquo; Instead, we&rsquo;re going home and it&rsquo;s, &lsquo;You guys aren&rsquo;t bad. You guys had a pretty good year.&rsquo;&rdquo;NOTEBOOK Right winger Kevin Dineen, 37, tore a knee ligament April 5 in St. Louis. &#9632;

f0027-03

Tugnutt sets new mark for expansion victories

<div class="byline">-David J. Neal</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04321/7809894-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="224" height="248"></div>Florida Panthers president and acting GM Bill Torrey said he&rsquo;s told all ownership groups he&rsquo;s willing to stay on as president, if they wish.The leading group appears to be the one led by drug company executive Alan Cohen, telemarketing executive David Epstein and includes former NFL quarterback Bernie Kosar.The GM position is still open, as is the head coach position. Interim coach Duane Sutter wants the job permanently. Contracts for assistants Slava Lener and Billy Smith expired this year.Whomever the coach is will have to choose the third captain in Panthers history. Sutter said defenseman Paul Laus, the other original Panther remaining besides center Rob Niedermayer, was a contender for the &lsquo;C&rsquo;, although Laus seemed ambivalent when asked about it after the season finale. Niedermayer and forward Len Barrie are other candidates.Barrie and 37-year-old left winger Greg Adams are both unrestricted free agents, part of a busy summer for Florida management. Other restricted free agents include Niedermayer, goalie Roberto Luongo, center-left wing Olli Jokinen and defenseman Anders Eriksson.SEASON WRAP-UP The questions at the end of the Panthers section of The Hockey News 2000-01 Yearbook asked if they hadn&rsquo;t lost too much character in the off-season, if defenseman Mike Wilson and forward Olli JOkinen had improved enough to be upgrades and if Terry Murray would get tuned out in his third year.The answers were, in order, yes, no and yes. And all are reasons the Panthers went from a 98-point team to being out of the playoff chase by the end of February.NOTEBOOK Right winger Pavel Bure gave his endorsement for Duane Sutter to return as Panthers&rsquo; coach: &ldquo;I would like to see him back,&rdquo; Bure said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s using the strong sides of each player. He&rsquo;s a great motivator and knows hockey. I like him a lot.&rdquo;&hellip;In the Panthers&rsquo; season finale against the Rangers, Bure didn&rsquo;t get his 60th goal; however, defenseman Paul Laus scored his first goal of the season, 10th of his career. &#9632;

f0027-04

Torrey willing to remain president after Cats sold

<div class="byline">-Tom Jones</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-05211/7809925-1-eng-US/f0027-052.jpg" title="f0027-05" width="230" height="238"></div>Minnesota had a Wild and exciting season. The team won more games than most thought it would. It sold out every game, set an NHL expansion attendance record, and produced stunning upsets over Stanley Cup contenders Dallas, Pittsburgh and Detroit.The question is: can the Wild do it again next season?&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think we would be this good,&rdquo; Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. &ldquo;But no doubt next year will be tougher.&rdquo;Lemaire and GM Doug Risebrough both concede the Wild could be a better team, but have a worse record.&ldquo;This year at training camp, no one was assured of a spot on the team and every one played like that,&rdquo; said Risebrough. &ldquo;Now there&rsquo;s the fear that some guys may feel that security that they&rsquo;ve now made it in the NHL, and they have a job.&rdquo;Risebrough said he doesn&rsquo;t expect much movement in the off-season. The ultimate goal is to continue getting younger while getting better.&ldquo;We may even add a veteran or two to balance the youth because maybe our young guys won&rsquo;t be ready to handle all the responsibility,&rdquo; Risebrough said.SEASON WRAP-UP Truly, the Wild had an amazing season for an expansion team. The team was 25-39-13-5 for 68 points, and would&rsquo;ve easily approached 75 or 80 points if not for a load of injuries that led to a 12-game winless streak in the final month.There were individual surprises, too. Darby Hendrickson and Wes Walz set career marks in goals (18) to tie for the team lead with rookie Marian Gaborik. Goalie Manny Fernandez established himself as the team&rsquo;s No. 1 goalie for the next several years and rookie Filip Kuba evolved into the team&rsquo;s top defenseman.NOTEBOOK Just hours after playing in the NCAA championship game, North Dakota defenseman Travis Roche signed with the Wild. He drove from Albany, N.Y. to Boston overnight, catching a 6 a.m. flight to the Twin Cities. Roche then drove to the Xcel Energy Center, signed a contract at 10:15 and played his first NHL game against regular season champion Colorado less than three hours later. &#9632;

f0027-05

Minnesota brass happy with Wild’s first season

<div class="byline">-Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011090/7809956-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="218" height="230"></div>After missing the playoffs for a third straight season, it&rsquo;s obvious the Montreal Canadiens need help-fast.But it&rsquo;s unlikely the struggling franchise will find a quick fix through this season&rsquo;s entry draft, although the Canadiens, who select seventh overall, will have their highest draft choice since 1984.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll invite whoever we draft to training camp and go from there, but the odds are against finding someone who can play for us next season,&rdquo; said GM Andre Savard.Savard, who also holds the Washington Capitals&rsquo; first round pick, said the Canadiens would go into the draft with a list of about 60 prospects. He added Montreal will select the top player available, regardless of position.That makes sense, since it appears the Canadiens require strengthening at every position except goaltender, where there&rsquo;s a logjam, with Jose Theodore, veteran Jeff Hackett and Mathieu Garon.&ldquo;We can use help everywhere except in goal,&rdquo; said defenseman Sheldon Souray. &ldquo;Jose did a good job. We didn&rsquo;t give him enough help.&rdquo;Theodore started the season poorly after missing all of training camp in a contract dispute. He appeared in 59 games, going 20-29-5. He recorded two shutouts, with a 2.57 goals-against average and 90.9 save percentage.SEASON WRAP-UP Don&rsquo;t include Brian Savage among those who believes injuries are the only reason the Canadiens keep failing to make the playoffs.&ldquo;Injuries are going to happen,&rdquo; said the veteran left-winger. &ldquo;We just need to have guys ready who can step in and play.&rdquo;Montreal lost 531 man-games to injury-five fewer than the league-record 536 the Canadiens set last season.&ldquo;There are other teams that had injuries, too,&rdquo; Savage said. &ldquo;What the Canadiens need is players. Good players. Big players. We definitely need to get some toughness to protect our skill players.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK Center Benoit Gratton was claimed by Montreal off waivers from Calgary The 24-year-old spent most of the season with Calgary&rsquo;s American League affiliate, Saint John, collecting 46 points in 53 games. Gratton was a key part of the Memorial Cup champion Granby Predateurs in 1996. Canadiens&rsquo; coach Michel Therrien coached that team. Gratton will have to stay with Montreal next season or be put back on waivers. &#9632;

f0028-01

Habs not counting on entry draft to get them back into post-season

<div class="byline">-Jeff Legwold</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02746/7809987-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="240" height="233"></div>While the Nashville Predators spend a lot of time talking about their younger players, they did make sure they will bring back one of their oldest next season.Defenseman Bill Houlder, the only defenseman on the roster who has played six full NHL seasons, signed a one-year extension for 2001-2002. In a negotiation session that Predators&rsquo; GM David Poile said took &ldquo;five minutes,&rdquo; the 34-year-old Houlder agreed to a $1 million deal.That&rsquo;s a $450,000 pay cut from this past season and he would have been an unrestricted free agent July 1. But Houlder likes Nashville, has been an alternate captain for the team and was second on the club in ice time this past season at 21:12 per game.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m ecstatic to be back, this organization has been very, very fair to me,&rdquo; Houlder said.Houlder played 81 games this season, finishing with four goals, 16 points and was minus-7.Houlder is being asked to help mold a franchise on the ice. Since being signed on waivers from Tampa Bay in the 1999-2000 season, Houlder has often been paired with the least experienced defenseman on the roster.Down the stretch he often played with Mark Eaton.&ldquo;And I stay here with the feeling we can take the next step,&rdquo; Houlder said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not thinking this team is going the wrong way; it&rsquo;s going the right way.&rdquo;SEASON WRAP-UP The Predators played good enough defense most nights to make the playoffs; they had good enough goaltending with Mike Dunham and Tomas Vokoun-both had save percentages of .910 or better-to make the playoffs. But offense?Now that&rsquo;s another matter entirely. The Predators still cannot manufacture enough pop playing 5-on-5. They were shut out 12 times this season and only outscored two other teams in the league.&ldquo;Hopefully with the maturation of some of our younger players, we&rsquo;ll be able to get our totals up there,&rdquo; said coach Barry Trotz.NOTEBOOK Coaches Barry Trotz, Paul Gardner and Brent Peterson all have one year remaining on their current deals, but GM David Poile expressed the possibility extensions could be in the works this off-season for all three of the coaches&hellip;St. Louis GM Larry Pleau, who will be the assistant manager for the U.S. Olympic team, said Predators&rsquo; goalie Mike Dunham is one of the players being considered for the team&hellip;Peterson will be an assistant coach for Team Canada at the World Championship. &#9632;

f0028-02

Houlder readily accepts pay cut to remain member of Predators

<div class="byline">-Peter Botte</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03539/7810018-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="224" height="251"></div>Talk about a seven-year itch. Short on leadership, motivation, chemistry and talent, the New York Islanders missed the playoffs for the seventh consecutive year, the longest current streak in the NHL.They finished with the fewest points among the league&rsquo;s 30 teams (52 points), six fewer than last season. Their 21-51-7-3 record also marked the franchise&rsquo;s worst since its initial season of 1972-73 (12-60-6).GM Mike Milbury, who has been assured by owner Charles Wang he will return for his seventh season at the helm of the sunken organization, has an extensive to-do list this summer in order to return the once-proud team to respectability.His first priority is to find an inspiring coach who can teach young players how to succeed. Former NHL coaches Ted Nolan, Robbie Ftorek, Kevin Constantine, Bryan Murray and Jim Schoenfeld have been interviewed for the job, but Milbury has said he hopes to speak with others, as well.Still, Milbury understands he must provide his next coach with an improved talent base for next season, particularly a frontline center. Youngsters Tim Connolly (10 goals, 41 points) and Oleg Kvasha (11 goals, 20 points) both experienced major growing pains this season and never should have been counted on to spearhead the team&rsquo;s offense.Milbury plans to make a push to sign Phoenix unrestricted free agent Jeremy Roenick and others, though he understands it will be difficult to convince big-name players to sign with the lowly Isles when legitimate Stanley Cup contenders also figure to be interested.SEASON WRAP-UP As if finishing last wasn&rsquo;t bad enough, the Islanders also didn&rsquo;t win the draft lottery Atlanta will select first, leaving the Islanders with second pick in the entry draft. That should assure them of either of the top two consensus prospects, Ontario League center Jason Spezza or Russian winger Ilya Kovalchuk. Milbury said he&rsquo;d be willing to trade the pick for immediate help.NOTEBOOK After 17 NHL seasons, 38-year-old Garry Galley may retire. The team holds a $1.1 million option on his services for next year. Galley (6 goals, 20 points) earned $850,000 this season. &ldquo;This is something I have to discuss with my family, to see if it&rsquo;s a fit or whether I should get on with the second part of my life,&rdquo; Galley said&hellip;Checking center Dave Scatchard was a rare bright spot this season, notching career-highs with 21 goals and 45 points. &#9632;

f0028-03

Playoffs a distant memory for long-suffering fans of Islanders

<div class="byline">-Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01967/7810049-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="230" height="244"></div>Glen Sather&rsquo;s first season as GM of the New York Rangers ended the same way, and perhaps even worse, than the season that got his predecessor, Neil Smith, fired.The danger now is Sather sounds like he wants to fix it immediately. That could mean the rebuilding via young players is abandoned.&ldquo;Yeah, I think there will be some significant changes,&rdquo; Sather said on the Rangers fourth consecutive breakup day without playoffs. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t think of one area where we don&rsquo;t (have a) need. We need help everywhere.&rdquo;Sather said he wants to add &ldquo;speed, size and strength.&rdquo; How original. And he added the best way to fill holes in an organization is through free agency, provided the right type of people are signed&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t give you a guarantee that any course of action is going to be the right one,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;I think one of the biggest problems that happened here is there wasn&rsquo;t the flow of young kids coming in. The young kids keep the old guys going and every year there has to be some transition of new people, new blood, new ideas. That&rsquo;s always easier said than done.&rdquo;SEASON WRAP-UP If there was a positive at season&rsquo;s end, it was that the Rangers didn&rsquo;t pack it in under coach Ron Low as they did on coach John Muckier a year before.&ldquo;I think they played hard down the stretch, which is what I wanted to see, and nobody quit,&rdquo; Low said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s definitely been some steps forward, although it might not look like it in the standings. I think there&rsquo;s a lot of young guys here who contributed down the stretch.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK Rick Curran, the agent for goalie Kirk McLean, who is to be a free agent July 1, has been told by GM Glen Sather that McLean will not be asked to return to the team&hellip;Curran, who also represents left winger Adam Graves, said he has not yet discussed Graves&rsquo; status with Sather. Last month Sather indicated he might buy Graves out. &#9632;

f0029-01

Sather hints he’ll shoot for quick fix

<div class="byline">-Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02641/7810080-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="683" height="657"><figcaption class="caption-body">SHOPPING TIME GM Glen Sather says his Rangers need more speed and size. (BBS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03432/7810087-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="221" height="271"></div>They&rsquo;ve been treading on thin ice from the time they left Winnipeg, relocated in Phoenix and changed their name.Moving into America West Arena was their only solution, but with more than 4,000 sight-obstructed seats for hockey and the NBAs Phoenix Suns controlling most of the revenue streams, the Coyotes weren&rsquo;t going to survive much longer.They reported annual losses of $20 million and were expecting to lose as much as $28 million this season, which ended without a playoff appearance for the first time in six years.But things are looking much brighter now, after the city of Glendale unanimously approved a $180 million arena deal that will keep the franchise in Arizona for 30 years. The team plans to break ground in the fall and the building should be ready for the start of the 2003-04 season.&ldquo;It solidifies our franchise,&rdquo; said managing partner Wayne Gretzky. &ldquo;It stabilizes everything.&rdquo;SEASON WRAP-UP By finishing with 90 points for a third consecutive year, the Coyotes became the team with the second-most points in NHL history not to make the playoffs. The 1969-70 Montreal Canadiens missed out with 92 points.The Coyotes enjoyed a superhot start to the season, going 91-5-0, but they had a second-half letdown, and a 6-9-5-1 fin-ish did them in. The payroll is expected to be trimmed to about $36 million next season, and Gretzky said management will build mainly through the draft and by getting younger, which they did by trading Keith Tkachuk and Nikolai Khabibulin.NOTEBOOK Despite missing the playoffs in his second season, coach Bobby Francis will be back for the final year of his contract and GM Cliff Fletcher said the two will talk about an extension this summer. Gretzky said the Coyotes probably won&rsquo;t re-sign Jeremy Roenick before he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1. That could hasten the center&rsquo;s departure. &#9632;

f0029-02

Coyotes’ arena will open for 2003-04

<div class="byline">-Damian Cristodero</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04303/7810118-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="224" height="260"></div>The Lightning fell from second to third in the draft lottery, but Tampa Bay GM Rick Dudley didn&rsquo;t seem to mind.While the conventional wisdom has two prospects-Canadian center Jason Spezza and Russian right winger Ilya Kovalchuk-head and shoulders above the rest, Dudley said there really are three top prospects.&ldquo;The one thing we were worried about was if we ended (the regular season) third and lost the lottery and fell to fourth,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be happy with what we expect to get at three. And actually, the guy who we think is third may be ahead of the other two in terms of immediate impact.&rdquo;Dudley declined to name the player but said he fits his mold of a big, fast forward, and the signs point to Russian center Alexander Svitov.The 6-foot-3,198-pound Svitov, 18, is NHL Central Scouting&rsquo;s No. 2-ranked European prospect. The other possibility is 6-2,196-pound Finnish center Tuomo Ruutu, 18. He is Central Scouting&rsquo;s No. 3 European prospect.SEASON WRAP-UP The Lightning missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season but finished with 59 points, four more than last year. And management&rsquo;s acquisition of goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, winger Matthew Barnaby, and defensemen Adrian Aucoin and Stan Necker have been widely praised.But if the team is to make it to the next level, it needs one, and preferably two players who can score off the wing, a gritty faceoff man, a more consistent defense and captain Vinny Lecavalier to shake off a disappointing season in which he had just 23 goals (two fewer than in 1999-00) and 51 points (16 fewer than last season).NOTEBOOK Tampa Bay will have seven players in the April 28-May 13 World Champion-ships: center Vincent Lecavalier and right winger Brad Richards (Canada), left wingers Fredrik Modin (Sweden) and Alexander Kharitonov (Russia), defenseman Pavel Kubina (Czech Republic), center Thomas Ziegler (Switzerland) and defenseman Kaspars Astashenko (Latvia)&hellip;The Lightning will have a third uniform next season, with red in the color scheme. The numbers and lettering on the main uniform will be changed to more easily read block type. &#9632;

f0029-04

Dudley sees three top draft choices

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011085/7810149-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"></div>Projected defense pairs and lines, including restricted free agents (**) &#9632;

f0030-01

NHL PLAYOFF DEPTH CHARTS

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>The scarceness of a particular 1909 Lincoln cent makes it one of the most valuable U.S. pennies. Just a half-million were produced by one particular mint.Imagine, then, just how valuable a championship is in Worcester, Mass.The Worcester IceCats wrapped up the MacGregor Kilpatrick Trophy as regular season American League titlists on the final weekend to become the first pro sports franchise in 92 years to bring a championship to the city. The 1909 New England Busters won the New England League baseball title.&ldquo;We told the guys to have a good time for one day and then it&rsquo;s back to work,&rdquo; said Don Granato, voted the AHL&rsquo;s coach of the year, after guiding the IceCats to a 48-20-9-3 record.Despite losing four key players to the parent St. Louis Blues-forwards Daniel Corso, Marty Reasoner, Ladislav Nagy and defenseman Peter Smrek-the IceCats have been No. 1 overall in the AHL since New Year&rsquo;s Day. Nagy and Smrek have since been traded to Phoenix and the New York Rangers, respectively.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-011004/7810180-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="278" height="344"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Granato</figcaption></div>&ldquo;This is a great accomplishment as a team,&rdquo; said first-team all-star goalie Dwayne Roloson, who led the league with a 2.17 goals-against average and six shutouts after winning just one game as backup to Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres last season. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;re not satisfied by any means.&rdquo;Nor should they be. The IceCats, up against Lowell in the first round of the playoffs, are trying to become the fourth straight team to finish first in the regular season and win the Calder Cup-the Philadelphia Phantoms did it in 1997-98, Providence in 1998-99 and Hartford last spring. &#9632;

f0031-01

IceCats’ crown boost for Worcester

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02661/7810218-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="354" height="362"></div><h2>NOTEBOOK</h2>That the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks enjoyed their best season in franchise history shouldn&rsquo;t be a big surprise.But what&rsquo;s shocking is how they did it. The Ducks (41-26-9-4, 95 points) battled with the Kentucky Thoroughblades for the American League&rsquo;s Southern Division title until the final day of the season, falling one win short.And incredibly, they came that close despite using an AHL-record 12 goalies in 2000-01. (Saint John had held the mark after going through 10 goalies last year.) Cincinnati also had two other goalies, who dressed as backups but didn&rsquo;t play.&ldquo;It has been a complete debacle,&rdquo; said Cincinnati&rsquo;s rookie coach Mike Babcock. &ldquo;We spend the entire first period introducing ourselves to the goalie. We don&rsquo;t know how he plays and he doesn&rsquo;t know how we play.&rdquo;All was fine when the season began, as the Ducks had J-S Giguere. But he was recalled by Anaheim. All was fine again when Gregg Naumenko took over, except he also ended up in Anaheim for the final two months after Guy Herbert was waived.So Scott Langkow ended the year as Cincinnati&rsquo;s No. 1, with Brian Leitza, Paxton Schafer, Shawn Timm, Tom Lawson, Judd Lambert, Brad Guzda, Ryan Hoople, Martin Engren and Aren Miller all playing in at least one game.ON THIN ICE The Kentucky Thorough-blades were granted an extension to mid-April to sell the 3,000 season tickets that will enable them to operate in Lexington&rsquo;s Rupp Arena next season. The ticket drive was at just 1,500 in early April, but the team was calling for corporate support as the public had purchased 1,140 tickets. The T-Blades can play rent-free if they reach the goal. Meanwhile, the outlook for the Louisville Panthers was bleaker. Poor attendance (an announced average of 4,865) and limited availability of prime dates at Freedom Hall had team president Tamer Afr exploring options.FANS APLENTY For the ninth straight year, the AHL broke its single-season attendance mark by drawing 4,378,109 fans, an average of 5,473 per game. Philadelphia won the title for the fifth straight year, averaging 8,571.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03488/7810211-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="1359" height="1771"><figcaption class="caption-body">Center Toby Peterson of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins scored 26 goals and 67 points in 73 games as an AHL rookie this season. (Rob Skeoch/BBS)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0031-02

Cincinnati crease saw a dozen Ducks

<h2>AHL FIRST ROUND</h2>(Best-of-5 series)WESTERN CONFERENCERochester 1 Philadelphia 0Syracuse 1 Wilkes-Barre 0Hershey 2 Kentucky 0Norfolk 1 Cincinnati 0EASTERN CONFERENCEQuebec 1 St. John&rsquo;s 0Worcester 1 Lowell 0Hartford 1 Providence 0Saint John 1 Portland 0<h2>THE HOCKEY NEWS TOP 5</h2>1. Game 2 of the Cincinnati Norfolk series was relocated to Norfolk because of civil unrest in Cincinnati after the shooting of an unarmed 19-year-old African-American by a white police officer.2. Goalie J.E Labbe made 56 saves as Syracuse was outshot 57-19, but won 2-1 in overtime on a goal by Chris Nielsen at Wilkes-Barre in the series opener.3. Hershey was leading Southern champion Kentucky after Ricky Berry and Steffon Walby scored overtime goals to give the Bears a pair of 3-2 road wins.4. Goalie Martin Brochu made 21 saves as Saint John shut out Portland 3-0.5. Tough guy winger Sasha Lakovic scored in overtime as Rochester downed Philadelphia 4-3. &#9632;

CALDER CUP PLAYOFFS

<div class="byline">By Rob Mueller</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04362/7810273-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="316" height="328"></div><h2>NOTEBOOK</h2>No playoffs, so no job for Jeff Brubaker.The Greensboro Generals fired Brubaker April 3, after the team missed the playoffs for the second straight season. Brubaker, a former NHL enforcer and the second-winningest coach in East Coast League history behind John Brophy, went 46-82-14 in two seasons with the Generals. He still had one year left on a three-year deal.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve dealt with a lot of adversity since I got here, but this team should have been better,&rdquo; Brubaker said. &ldquo;It just seemed like some of the guys wanted to go home rather than make the playoffs.&rdquo;The Generals also saw their attendance dip by nearly 500 fans per game. Their average attendance of 2,786 was fourth-worst in the league.From 1989 through 1995, Brubaker coached the Greensboro Monarchs to a 211-149-28 record and a Riley Cup in 1990.BEACH HOCKEY Seaside Sports announced in late March it will bring a team to South Carolina&rsquo;s Grand Strand, hopefully in time for the 2002-03 season. The group agreed to acquire the dormant Hampton Roads Admirals in a lease/purchase deal and move the franchise to Myrtle Beach.The deal is contingent upon a planned arena securing private bond financing by Sept. 1 and must be approved by the ECHL&rsquo;s board of governors.KING CROWNED One day after he was awarded the ECHL scoring title, Charlotte Checkers&rsquo; center Scott King took home league MVP honors April 5.The 25-year-old finished tied with Jackson Bandits&rsquo; center Jeff Bes at 100 points. But the Checkers sent game film to the league office that revealed King, son of Columbus Blue Jackets&rsquo; coach Dave King, wasn&rsquo;t credited for an assist in the last regular season game at Greensboro March 31. The error was corrected, giving King the title.COAST LINES Troy Ward of the Trenton Titans was named coach of the year after he led the Titans to the Brabham Cup title as regular season champions&hellip;The Mobile Mysticks, who are making then-fifth straight trip to the playoffs, rewarded coach Jeff Pyle by signing him to three one-year contracts&hellip;The Baton Rouge Kingfish are being sued for copyright infringement by boxing announcer Michael Buffer after the team used his famous phrase, &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s get ready to rumble!&rdquo; in radio commercials. &#9632;

f0031-04

Winning ways desert fired Generals’ coach

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>They still had four games remaining in the International League&rsquo;s regular season, but the Grand Rapids Griffins decided to take care of business early.A 2-1 victory over the Utah Grizzlies April 6 clinched first place overall for the Griffins and the IHL&rsquo;s Huber Trophy.&ldquo;It has been a long battle all year,&rdquo; said Griffins&rsquo; coach Bruce Cassidy.&ldquo;We had five games to get one point and it would have been easy for us to say we&rsquo;ll get it another night, but we went out and played a solid game against a team fighting for the playoffs.&rdquo;Grand Rapids then posted a franchise-record 52nd win of the season the next night at home against the Detroit Vipers.With his club&rsquo;s final four regular season games against non-playoff teams, Cassidy had the luxury of resting players for the post-season. Grand Rapids is guaranteed home-ice advantage for as long as it survives in the Turner Cup playoffs.The Griffins accepted the Huber Trophy before a sold-out crowd at Van Andel Arena April 7. Then they tempted fate by skating the trophy around their home ice, a situation not lost on team captain Ed Patterson.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011070/7810304-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="278" height="345"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Patterson</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good feeling to win the Huber Trophy, but we could have 1,000 points and it wouldn&rsquo;t be the same as winning the Turner Cup,&rdquo; Patterson said.&ldquo;After last year, that&rsquo;s the only thing that matters with these guys.&rdquo;Last season, the Griffins lost out to the Chicago Wolves in the Turner Cup final. That was a huge improvement over two years ago, when Grand Rapids was an IHL also-ran with the league&rsquo;s second-worst record. &#9632;

f0032-01

First-place Griffins focus on Turner Cup

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02722/7810342-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="438" height="317"></div><h2>NOTEBOOK</h2>The International League&rsquo;s recent history of ridiculous playoff scheduling is not expected to continue this spring.In the past, teams jockeyed with each other for playoff home dates, often concocting series into weekend-only games and stretching them out interminably. But this year, the-league has ordered first round matchups to be over by May 1.The conference finals must be over by May 15 and the Turner Cup champion will be crowned no later than May 30. All series are best-of-seven affairs.ALL OVER THE MAP Milwaukee Admirals&rsquo; left winger Bert Robertsson has taken a long road to the Turner Cup playoffs.Robertsson started the season assigned to the Houston Aeros by the NHL&rsquo;s Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus then traded him to the New York Rangers and Robertsson saw some NHL action before being assigned to the American League&rsquo;s Hartford Wolf Pack.Finally, near the trade deadline, the Rangers dealt Robertsson to Nashville, which assigned him to Milwaukee.DOWN TO THE WIRE Houston center Brett Harkins led the IHL scoring race with 80 points and two regular season games to play. Grand Rapids left winger Derek King was second with 79 points and three regular games remaining, though there was a possibility King could take a night or two off since the Griffins had clinched top spot overall.In third place was THN&rsquo;s pre-season MVP pick, center Steve Larouche of the Chicago Wolves, who trailed Harkins by only two points and had four regular season games left.DOTTING THE &lsquo;I&rsquo; The Chicago Wolves have dislodged the Detroit Vipers at the top of the IHL&rsquo;s attendance charts for 2000-OL With one home game left, Chicago was averaging 8,322 fans per game. Detroit had led in the last two years with averages of 11,566 and 9,838&hellip;Rumors persist the Vipers will suspend operations for 2001-02. President Tom Wilson is promising only to review all operations at the end of the season. The Vipers, since becoming the minor league affiliate of the NHL&rsquo;s Tampa Bay Lightning, have fallen on hard times, with only 22 wins last season and 21 this year&hellip;Reports suggest the Cleveland Indians are one of the parties interested in the Cleveland Lumberjacks, whose ownership was taken by the IHL at mid-season.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03518/7810335-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="1309" height="1889"><figcaption class="caption-body">Center Todd White has earned a call-up to Ottawa in time for the NHL playoffs, after scoring 22 goals and 54 points in 64 games with Grand Rapids. (Ross Dettman)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0032-02

League playoffs won’t see June

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04362/7810380-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="338" height="460"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mathieu Chouinard</figcaption></div><h2>VITAL STATISTICS</h2>Hometown: Laval, Que.Age: 21Size: 6-1, 211<h2>LAST AMATEUR CLUB</h2>Shawinigan (QMJHL)<h2>POSITION</h2>Goaltender<h2>2000-01 SEASON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05277/7810373-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="364" height="77"></div><h2>NHL AFFILIATION</h2>Ottawa Senators<h2>NOTEWORTHY</h2>The 15th overall pick in 1998 didn&rsquo;t sign with Senators, so he re-entered the draft and was picked 45th overall by Ottawa in 2000. He shone as a 17-year-old in the QMJHL, leading the league with 32 wins.<h2>BOTTOM LINE</h2>He has played every third game as a rookie pro while backing up Mike Fountain and his numbers pale in comparison. Still a good prospect, he&rsquo;ll need several years to develop. &#9632;

f0032-04

IHL SCOUTING REPORT

<div class="byline">-Brendan Savage</div>Quad City center Jason Ulmer capped arguably the finest freshman season in United League history by being named rookie of the year and finishing third in MVP voting behind scoring champion Hugo Belanger of Adirondack and Blair Allison of New Haven, who was the goaltender of the year. Ulmer established UHL records for assists by a&rsquo; rookie (71) and plus-minus rating (plus-68). He also made the first all-star team and was voted the UHL&rsquo;s best defensive forward. Knoxville&rsquo;s Terry Ruskowkski was named coach of the year. &#9632;

UNITED LEAGUE

<div class="byline">-David Henry</div>Trying to become the first team in Western Pro League history to three-peat as champions, the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs swept the Austin Ice Bats in the first round of the playoffs. The Mudbugs won the first three games by identical 3-2 scores in overtime, marking the first time a series has included three OT games. Meanwhile, the Lubbock Cotton Kings surrendered only four goals in a four-game sweep of the San Angelo Outlaws and the Tupelo T-Rex rebounded from a Game 1 loss to win four in a row over the Corpus Christi Ice Rays. &#9632;

WESTERN PRO LEAGUE

<div class="byline">-Don Ruiz</div>Craig Lyons of Colorado was selected West Coast League MVP after leading the league in scoring with 117 points. His 76 assists were tops in the WCHL, and his 41 goals placed him third in the league. Trevor Koenig of San Diego was named outstanding goaltender and Jeremy Mylymok of Idaho outstanding defenseman. Koenig had a league-best 349-3 record and established WCHL records with a 2.13 goals-against average and .921 save percentage. Mylymok led all WCHL defensemen with 47 assists and 62 points. &#9632;

WEST COAST LEAGUE

<div class="byline">-Bob Stratton</div>Central League attendance was down about 400 fans per game this season and efforts continue to have teams merge with others from the Western Pro League. The CHL&rsquo;s average game attendance of 4,163 was the lowest since the league began in 1992-93. The league has lost Topeka to the United States League and the Tulsa Oilers will have to battle for fans when the USHL&rsquo;s Tulsa Crude begins play next season. Still, both the 11-team CHL and 13-team WPHL have five teams that finished with an average of more than 4,000 fans. &#9632;

CENTRAL LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01973/7810514-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="394" height="212"></div>It took about 31 hours to complete the second game of the Ontario League&rsquo;s Eastern Conference semifinal between the St. Michael&rsquo;s Majors and Sudbury Wolves.Lindsay Plunkett&rsquo;s second goal, at 15:03 of overtime April 9, gave the Majors a 3-2 win and 1-1 tie in the series.The game was suspended after two periods April 8 because of a power outage at St. Michael&rsquo;s Arena. The blackout occurred with the score 2-2 when a tree limb struck a transformer during the intermission. After an 85-minute delay, OHL commissioner David Branch ruled the third period would be played the next night.&ldquo;That was a bit of a different feeling,&rdquo; Plunkett said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something we can talk about later in our lives.&rdquo;Following a conference call with coaches Dave Cameron of St. Mike&rsquo;s and Bert Templeton of Sudbury, Branch decided to have the game picked up from the point of the power failure rather than order a total replay.&ldquo;This has never happened during the playoffs,&rdquo; Branch said. &ldquo;A couple of years ago we talked about this with the board of governors, but there are so many possibilities during the playoffs we decided we&rsquo;d deal with each individual situation.&rdquo;Branch felt his decision was supported because the game was tied at the time of the power outage.OTTER HOTTER AGAINST BATTALION Erie right winger Cory Pecker equaled an OHL record with three shorthanded goals as the Otters defeated the Brampton Battalion 7-2 April 8 in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal. Pecker had scored twice in the series opener, after connecting only twice in five games against the London Knights in the first round. He had 41 goals in the regular season.Pecker said he was in the right place at the right time. On the second goal, a pass through the middle by Battalion right winger Lukas Havel struck Pecker and he was off on a breakaway. On the third, Pecker stopped a dump-out by Otters&rsquo; defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo at the Erie blueline and got another breakaway.Erie coach Dave MacQueen said it was the best he&rsquo;s seen Pecker play since he was obtained from Sault Ste. Marie in January.&ldquo;When Cory was playing against us with the Soo, he always seemed to have another gear,&rdquo; MacQueen said. &ldquo;When he got here, I didn&rsquo;t see that out of him.&ldquo;The last two games I have. If he sniffs an opportunity, he&rsquo;s gone to the races.&rdquo;Pecker shares the record with Mike Hoffman of the Brantford Alexanders (1982) and David Bruce of the Kitchener Rangers (1984).THE FIRST FALL Brampton&rsquo;s 4-3 come-from-behind win at Erie in the series opener April 7 marked the first time this season the Otters have lost at home when leading after two periods (38-0-6).<h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02663/7810507-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="987" height="327"></div>HIGHLIGHTS (April 5-12) Chad Wiseman was the scoring hero in Games 2 and 3 as Plymouth swept Windsor&hellip;Fedor Fedorov scored four goals as Sudbury routed St. Mike&rsquo;s 9-2 to take a 3-1 lead&hellip;Belleville bombed Ottawa 8-2 to get back in that series. &#9632;

f0033-01

Sunday afternoon game nets Monday night decision in Maiors-Wolves series

<div class="byline">By Willy Palov</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03506/7810552-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="390" height="292"></div>Daniel Boisclair is the first to admit he has had easier seasons.The sophomore goalie and his Cape Breton teammates struggled all year, but everything was rosy after the Screaming Eagles ousted the Chicoutimi Sagueneens 4-3 in the first round of the QMJHL playoffs. The secret to his success is a new sense of self-esteem.&ldquo;I had a good start to the season and then the whole team struggled on defense,&rdquo; Boisclair said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what happened, but no one was respecting the game plan. But suddenly everything changed during February and March. Everyone showed confidence in each other and we started playing like we should have all year.&rdquo;Ironically, it was a 7-1 blowout by the Sagueneens in Game 3 that was Boisclair&rsquo;s personal turning point. Despite being lit up as the Eagles fell behind 3-0 in the series, Boisclair came away feeling better than ever.&ldquo;In that game, I thought I played good even though we lost 7-1,&rdquo; Boisclair said. &ldquo;And (coach) Pascal (Vincent) told me the same thing. Pascal showed a lot of support and he told me right away I would start the next game, too.&rdquo;Boisclair got hot just in time to catch the scouts&rsquo; eyes for the NHL entry draft in Florida.&ldquo;I think that now that (Pascal) Leclaire is finished with the Halifax Mooseheads, the scouts are watching me more,&rdquo; said Boisclair, rated third among North American goalies by the Central Scouting Service. &ldquo;If I can show them some good things in big games like that, they may (develop) a better opinion of me.&rdquo;THE SLIPPER FITS The Rimouski Oceanic went from finishing within a hair of last place overall to playoff Cinderella.The defending Memorial Cup champions needed a tiebreaker to beat out the Moncton Wildcats for the final playoff spot, but managed to beat the Halifax Mooseheads 4-2 in Round 1.&ldquo;We had a really young team and then we had a lot of injuries to some key players,&rdquo; said center Thatcher Bell. &ldquo;But we showed a lot of character by coming back from 2-0 down against the Mooseheads and we&rsquo;re making the most of our opportunity.&rdquo;PEDDLING FIRST PICK Moncton GM Darrell Young is accepting offers for the first overall pick in the June midget draft.Just days after his team finished last, Young said he would part with the coveted selection for the right package. The carrot is consensus No. 1 pick Steve Bernier, a dominant 16-year-old right winger with the Ste-Foy Gouverneurs of the Quebec Midget AAA league.&ldquo;Everyone knows there&rsquo;s only one Bernier out there,&rdquo; Young said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m offering people a chance to get him.&rdquo;<h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04395/7810545-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="950" height="324"></div>HIGHLIGHTS (April 5-12) Rookie center Pascal Pelletier scored two game-winners to give Baie-Comeau a 3-1 series lead over Rimouski&hellip;Frederic Cloutier allowed just six goals in four games as Shawinigan swept Rouyn-Noranda. &#9632;

f0033-03

Cape Breton goaltender getting scouts’ attention after first round upset

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05331/7810590-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="394" height="268"></div>Mark Wagstaff will spend the majority of his time as a minority owner.The Tri-City Americans announced April 10 that Wagstaff had purchased 49 per cent of the Western League team. As part of the agreement, he immediately assumed full control of the team&rsquo;s day-to-day operations. Majority owner Wayne Overland remains the Americans&rsquo; governor.Overland purchased the franchise from Ron Toigo in September and the ownership situation had been unsettled in recent months. Overland had raised the possibility of moving the team if a new lease agreement could not be reached with the city of Kennewick, Wash., which operates Tri-City Coliseum.There also had been speculation Wagstaff would purchase the team and transfer it to his home base of Victoria, B.C. He has owned the B.C. Jr. A League&rsquo;s Victoria Salsa for five years.However, the Americans&rsquo; sale agreement stipulates Wagstaff must operate the franchise in the Tri-Cities area of Washington state for at least five seasons. He also must be able to reach a long-term lease agreement with the city.&ldquo;Should Victoria become available in the future, we&rsquo;ll consider it at that time,&rdquo; said WHL commissioner Ron Robison. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s focusing right now on TriCity.&rdquo;The deal includes an option for Wagstaff to assume 100 per cent ownership of the Americans, subject to approval by the WHL&rsquo;s board of governors.ROCKET REPEAT The Kelowna Rockets&rsquo; franchise has been a first round post-season casualty in all 10 of its WHL seasons. GM-owner Bruce Hamilton moved the franchise from Tacoma, Wash, to Kelowna, B.C. after the 1994-95 season.On April 9, the Seattle Thunderbirds doubled the visiting Rockets 4-2 to win the best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal in six games. Kelowna won the West&rsquo;s regular season title. Seattle claimed the division&rsquo;s sixth and final playoff spot, but the Thunderbirds (30-33-8-1) posted only seven fewer regular-season victories than Kelowna (37-23-7-5).Seattle became only the second sixth-seeded team to upset the first-place finisher in the opening round under the current playoff format, which is in its ninth season of existence.EVANS SIGNS Regina Pats&rsquo; center Blake Evans signed a three-year contract with the NHL&rsquo;s St. Louis Blues as a free agent April 7. He was selected by Washington in the ninth round of the 1998 draft, but became a free agent after the Capitals decided not to sign him. Evans, 20, had 52 goals and 102 points with Regina and Tri-City this season. Regina, the host team for the 2001 Memorial Cup, acquired Evans from TriCity Jan. 8.<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06287/7810583-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="944" height="322"></div>HIGHLIGHTS (April 5-12) Defenseman Rod Sarich scored the winner as Calgary evened its series 2-2 with Red Deer&hellip;Ben Ondrus scored in triple overtime and B.J. Boxma made 52 saves as Swift Current stayed even with Kootenay 2-2. &#9632;

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April 26, 2001

Deadmarsh knows all about Red Wings

Turek, Turgeon contribute to playoff-opening win

Cassels misses opening of playoffs

NHL REGULAR SEASON GAME SUMMARIES