Bad breaks sticky situation

The defenseman trying to make a clearing pass is left helpless when his stick blade goes farther than the puck. A forward’s golden scoring chance is thwarted when his shaft snaps in half on an attempted wrist shot. When a stick gives way on a faceoff or slapshot, the player looks doubly a fool. Teams preach the value of sticking together in the playoffs, but far too often their one-piece sticks can’t. On some nights this composite sketch looks like a comedy routine. “There are some shifts where it’s like going around pylons, you have to go around broken sticks all over the place,” said Philadelphia coach Ken Hitchcock to the Toronto Star. “Somebody is going to lose a series on a blown-up stick.” Stick manufacturers will go into overtime arguing the new…

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UHL NOTEBOOK

Fort Wayne’s Greg Puhalski was named the United League’s coach of the year in voting by GMs and coaches, one season after nearly losing his job when the Komets missed the playoffs. Puhalski, in his third season as Fort Wayne’s coach, led the team to its first regular season championship in 16 years. “We knew Greg was a good coach and we wanted to stick with him,” said GM David Franke to the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette. It was the first such award in nine seasons for Puhalski, who has also coached Port Huron and East Coast League Toledo.…

Maclnnis injury, flu snuff out Blues

The Blues had a commanding 3-1 lead on Vancouver in their best-of-7 first round series. St. Louis controlled 5-on-5 play, dodged some ill-timed penalties and received sturdy, even game-winning goaltending from Chris Osgood. Then the flu struck. And Al Maclnnis went down with a separated shoulder. And the whole thing went kaput. For the first time in franchise history the Blues lost a playoff series after leading 3-1. Vancouver won the series by outscoring St. Louis 9-1 in the second period of the final three games. So much for a Blues team so many players felt was special. “We had big plans and so do a lot of other teams,” said Maclnnis, who returned for Game 7 despite tremendous pain in his shoulder. “It’s tough to take. Expectations are high.” The consequences may…