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November 16, 2001

November 16, 2001

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.

NHL TEAM REPORTS

Irbe buys into two-goalie rotation, even if he doesn’t understand need for it

Arturs Irbe took five nights off all last year. Not even a month into this season, he has already sat out six games. The arrival of veteran Tom Barrasso has changed things for Irbe, one of the NHL’s busiest players the past three seasons. For the first time since Trevor Kidd left town in 1999, Irbe has legitimate competition for the No. 1 job. It’s a major adjustment for Irbe, who has built his routine around expecting to play every night. Most goalies think that way, but Irbe may be the only one who not only expects it, but has lived it. “I don’t know what to make of it,” Irbe said. “My job still remains the same - stop the puck in practice and stop the puck in a game when I…

FEATURES

USA: Parrish the thought

Mark Parrish’s hands are his NHL calling card, but New York Islanders’ coach Peter Laviolette insists it’s Parrish’s use of his head and feet that demonstrate what a multidimensional player he has become. Flash back to an Oct. 26 game against Carolina. In overtime, Islander center Alexei Yashin won an offensive-zone draw by pushing the puck sideways. “Parrish picked the ‘D’ man next to him and took his foot and redirected the puck,” Laviolette recalled. “He pushed it to Mariusz Czer-kawski who scored. Mark has a good head on his shoulders.” The endorsement by Laviolette, a two-time U.S. Olympic captain - most recently in 1994 - is important for Parrish, who presumably has joined Calgary center Craig Conroy as the two players who have done the best job so far this season of…

IN THIS ISSUE

Pens’ Patrick joins famous family in Hall

Craig Patrick had been on the job only four months when he displayed his true competitive nature. When the Penguins lost to Buffalo on the final day of the 1989-90 season to cost the team a playoff spot, Patrick revealed more about himself while answering one simple question than he had ever shown in a month of interviews. A member of the media asked him about the Penguins’ “jinx.” “There is no jinx,” Patrick said, his teeth clenched, his anger visible. Tom McMillan, now the Penguins’ vice-president of communications, was a reporter covering the team back then and remembers the competitiveness spilling out of Patrick like it was water pouring from a faucet. “That loss was just part of a long string of Penguins’ misery, and at the end of the year,” McMillan said. “That…

NHL TEAM REPORTS

Carter’s slick start helps Oilers gush

Anson Carter has an obvious explanation for his sudden, torrid goal scoring pace: It’s a matter of everything being out of proportion. The goalies seem smaller than Mini Me and the nets look “like the size of a soccer net,” said the Oilers’ leading sniper after netting his ninth goal in his first 13 games. “You want to shoot the puck as much as possible.” When everything you touch goes in, why hold back? Carter is chasing his personal best for goals in a season (24) and has made a legitimate case for a spot on Canada’s Olympic team. A trade that looked like a salary dump when the Oilers swapped him for Bill Guerin last November now looks like a saw-off. “I was able to do a lot of stuff this off-season I…