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.

November 30, 2004

The Hockey News November 30, 2004

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-031047/8282737-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARIAN GABORIK</figcaption></div>TRENCIN, SLOVAKIAMinnesota right winger Marian Gaborik has a wild idea. He&rsquo;s building a stadium in the central Slovak town in which he grew up.The 22-year-old is paying for the stadium out of his own pocket. It is expected to cost about 30 million crowns ($1 million U.S.). Gaborik&rsquo;s contract with the Wild would have paid him $2.9 million this season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an idea my family and I came up with together,&rdquo; Gaborik said. &lsquo;There&rsquo;ll be a rink, a fitness center and a small hotel.&rdquo;The stadium will seat just 250 and be used mainly as practice space for youth teams. It&rsquo;s being built around the corner from Trencin&rsquo;s 5,000-seat main arena, where Gaborik is playing during the NHL lockout.Trencin&rsquo;s youth teams now share that stadium with Extraleague team Oukla Trencin. Dukla gets preference for ice time, which means youth teams have to practice as early as five in the morning, according to locals.Slovakia is one of Europe&rsquo;s poorest countries and unemployment in Trencin (pop. 57,000) is around 20 per cent. Despite this, the town has produced NHLers Miroslav Satan, Marian Hossa and Pavol Demitra.&ldquo;I wanted to do something for the community,&rdquo; Gaborik said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good publicity. And someday. I&rsquo;d like to hold camps there.&rdquo;Gaborik plans to recoup at least some of the costs of the new practice facility, which is set to be finished in April of 2005, by renting ice time. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Gaborik funding new Trencin arena

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011176/8285038-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-011084/8285031-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="3174" height="2922"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011158/8285024-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="3065" height="2878"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-011045/8285017-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="3138" height="2916"></div> &#9632;

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AMERICAN LEAGUE STANDINGS AND STATISTICS

<div class="byline">&#x2013;MIKE BROPHY</div>Just like the player reps before them, NHL player agents emerged from a pep rally arm-in-arm doing the Bob Goodenow Boogie.The agents, 62 strong, huddled with the NHLPA&rsquo;s executive director for five hours in Chicago Nov. 17 and were brought up to speed on the union&rsquo;s presentation and philosophy in dealing with trying to end the lockout. Goodenow offered a detailed presentation of what life would be like with and without a salary cap.The NHLPA contends it has made a decent offer that would save owners more than $100 million, but the NHL refuses to budge off its demand for a link between revenues and player salaries.&ldquo;I just don&rsquo;t think the league has made a case for the kind of changes they are seeking,&rdquo; said Winnipeg-based player agent Don Baizley. &ldquo;There has to be some other alternatives.&rdquo;Some agents appeared frustrated by the absence of negotiations. The two sides have not met since Sept. 9.&ldquo;Where are the owners?&rdquo; wondered Edmonton-based agent Ritch Winter. &ldquo;They need to wake up. From what I&rsquo;ve seen in the (NHLPA&rsquo;s) presentation, the framework is there and I predict it will ultimately be the framework to get a deal done. I guarantee this will be what they sign.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011896/8282461-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="688" height="622"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Meehan is among the agents who back Bob Goodenow in his fight with the NHL.</figcaption></div>So let&rsquo;s see, the players are unified, the agents have banded together and the owners&hellip;well, who knows what the heck the owners are thinking. They are not allowed to express themselves for fear of a $1 million fine. One agent wondered exactly what is going on in the minds of the owners.&ldquo;When you look at this business, do the owners really want a season lost?&rdquo; said Calgary-based agent J.P. Barry. &ldquo;I hope both sides realize that to jump off a cliff would do serious damage.&rdquo;TSN&rsquo;s Bob McKenzie reported an amendment has been proposed that would prohibit agents from negotiating contracts with leagues that have not collectively bargained with a players association. That would mean agents would not be able to negotiate on behalf of replacement players should the NHL declare an impasse and open its doors for business.Naturally, that would hinder an agent&rsquo;s ability to do his job and make a living - if there&rsquo;s no NHL. One agent said there is likely nothing that can be done to stop it.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a combination the players and Bob and Ian Pulver and Ted Saskin shoving it down our throats,&rdquo; said an agent. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s lots of things that get shoved down our throats all the time. There are things that are in play in terms of agent-NHLPA relationship that were not negotiated. It&rsquo;s basically, &lsquo;If you want to be certified, here&rsquo;s what the rules are.&rsquo; There are issues in the context of how we all carry on our business that we all have that just never get addressed.&rdquo; &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

Agents on board with P.A.

<h2>NO REPLACEMENTS, PLEASE</h2>I heartily agree with Mike Peca&rsquo;s suggestion that an NHL with replacement players &ldquo;wouldn&rsquo;t be the real NHL&rdquo; because &ldquo;it wouldn&rsquo;t feature the best players.&rdquo;Ultimately, all fans prefer to watch NHL players at lower salaries. Remember, we&rsquo;re trying to promote the game, not finish it off.I love hockey as much as anyone, but the NHL must take its time and get a proper CBA in place so this is solved once and for all.Dallas Zurkan, Kenora, Ont.<h2>BRING ON THE REPLACEMENTS</h2>I&rsquo;m all for replacement players in the NHL.Not only should they replace the spoiled brats, but the league also should implement the rule changes discussed earlier this year. That way, everybody will be on board for the changes and the referees could call the game the way it&rsquo;s supposed to be called.It might be a bit shaky at first, but I think it&rsquo;d clean the game up in the long run. Half of the NHLPA would come crawling back anyway.Jeremy Bulmer, Halifax, N.S.<h2>LETTER OF THE WEEK</h2>An open letter to all NHLers from a deployed U.S. soldier:I am a National Guardsman currently serving in Iraq. For security reasons, I can&rsquo;t submit my full name.I&rsquo;m making tremendous personal sacrifices for my job. I make about as much money in one year for putting my life on the line as most NHL players make in a few games.I do what I do because I love being able to represent my country. I don&rsquo;t care about the pay. It pays enough. In my opinion, I think NHLers do quite alright, too. Therefore, it is obvious they don&rsquo;t play for the love of the game any longer.I&rsquo;ve always identified with hockey players because they must be tough to play the game. But unfortunately, my opinion has changed greatly because they&rsquo;re a bunch of spoiled little babies. I have no respect for them or their stance. Let&rsquo;s play - and let&rsquo;s do it for the Love of the game!Brent, Iraq<h2>LIFE, HOCKEY, THN GOES ON</h2>If there&rsquo;s one good thing to come out of the lockout, it is proof hockey is still a great sport without the NHL.The Hockey News demonstrates this by continuing to publish an interesting magazine without its usual source of stories.It&rsquo;s a shame the NHL and NHLPA fail to recognize that life and exciting hockey goes on without them.Jeff Chatterton, Chatham, N.J.<h2>GUERIN DOESN&rsquo;T GET IT</h2>I shook my head in amazement at Bill Guerin&rsquo;s quote in a recent Stars team report: &ldquo;If the season is lost, would we get the money back? I don&rsquo;t know, probably not.&rdquo; (THN, Nov. 9)I can give him a more definitive answer if he&rsquo;d like. If his false hope is indicative of the union&rsquo;s rank and file, they might as well cancel the season right now. I guess Guerin just doesn&rsquo;t get what this situation is all about. Maybe someone in the NHLPA can explain it to him.If they already have, God help us all.Ken Lagowski, New Castle, Del.<h2>DISCARD PECA&rsquo;S WARNING</h2>So Michael Peca thinks anyone who would dress as a replacement player would suffer consequences down the road, does he?I&rsquo;d welcome the sight of seeing Peca challenge a guy like Rob Ray, a former teammate who protected Peca for many years. There are many players who would be &ldquo;replacements&rdquo; if it meant having the opportunity to. play in the NHL just once; having to deal with Peca wouldn&rsquo;t stop any of them from chasing their dream.Will Carson, Whitby, Ont.<h2>NHL FANS ARE EVERYWHERE</h2>I am an 18-year-old diehard hockey fan. I also live in Nashville - and it seems to me people are forgetting or overlooking the fact there are hockey fans out there who don&rsquo;t live in the north.I&rsquo;m sick of people saying they need to shrink the NHL and take hockey away from &ldquo;non-traditional markets&rdquo;.Those markets may not have as many fans, but the fans they do have love hockey just as much as fans in the Original Six cities.Alison Grant, Nashville<h2>Got something to say?</h2>U.S.A.: Letters, The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947.Canada: Letters, The Hockey News, 25 Sheppard Ave. W., Suite 100, Toronto, Ont., M2N 6S7E-mail: <a href="mailto:aproteau@thehockeynews.com">aproteau@thehockeynews.com</a> or visit <a href="http://www.thehockeynews.com">www.thehockeynews.com</a> Include name, hometown, province/state and phone number.Submissions will be edited. &#9632;

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011943/8282340-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">A BOLT&rsquo;S BEST FRIEND&nbsp;Tampa&rsquo;s Stanley Cup ring has 138 diamonds - one lor each of the team&rsquo;s 106 regular season points and two for each of their 16 playoff wins.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Opening Faceoff

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011893/8282392-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="291" height="324"><figcaption class="caption-body">EDITOR&rsquo;S NOTEBOOK Jason Kay Editor</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021590/8282385-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="2548" height="3116"><figcaption class="caption-body">STAR HUNT&nbsp;The new WHA says it is targeting players like Mike Modano.</figcaption></div>Like a horror film creature that refuses to die no matter how many times its head has been severed, the World Hockey Association is back. And this time they mean it.That&rsquo;s the message from businessman Ricky Smith, a British Columbia native who has purchased the rights to the dormant loop from the last group of entrepreneurs that saw its dreams terminated.Smith, 47, says his team - which includes a consortium of New York investment bankers - will in late November unveil plans for an abbreviated season to commence in the &ldquo;third or fourth week of January.&rdquo; The highlights of the new WHA&rsquo;s vision include:&bull; The return of Bobby Hull as a &ldquo;hands-on&rdquo; executive, the retention of Peter Young as director of hockey operations and the involvement of three yet-unnamed Hall of Famers in meaningful capacities;&bull; a 42- to 46-game season;&bull; eight to 12 teams in major North American markets;&bull; rule changes that will open up the game and generate more excitement;&bull; one marquee and two &ldquo;sub-marquee&rdquo; players per team; the remainder of the roster would be filled with NHL journeymen and AHLers;&bull; cheaper tickets than the NHL;&bull; a European conference beginning in Year 2.Grand plans, to be sure. Smith understands and expects cynicism, but is confident he&rsquo;ll be able to succeed where others before him failed because, simply put, they have the funds this time around. He says he and his partners are putting their money on the line, fronting capital for arena lease deals they are negotiating. They will subsequently sublease the facilities to the franchises.He&rsquo;s also involving Hull to a greater extent. He believes his predecessors tried to take advantage of the Golden Jet&rsquo;s name, but didn&rsquo;t capitalize on his experience.&ldquo;I probably wouldn&rsquo;t have gone ahead with the deal if I didn&rsquo;t have Bobby Hull with me,&rdquo; Smith says. &ldquo;I respect him so much&hellip;For the past 50 days, I&rsquo;ve been meeting with Bobby or speaking with him on the telephone.&rdquo;Smith says the majority of the franchises will be located in Central and Eastern Canada and the Northeast U. S. - locales such as New Jersey, Toronto/Hamilton and Quebec - but he didn&rsquo;t rule out a western division in Year 1. He says TV deals also are in the works.As for the urgency to launch the league this season, he says it&rsquo;s not about filling the NHL void, but rather views it as a happy coincidence.&ldquo;The intent wasn&rsquo;t to try to take advantage of (the lockout),&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Obviously, it&rsquo;s a great chance for us to play, but if it wasn&rsquo;t meant to happen (this year), it wasn&rsquo;t meant to happen.&rdquo;League officials, according to Smith, have been in contact with player agents about securing their clients&rsquo; services. He says another draft will be held and believes there will be a sufficient number of high-caliber players available to stock the teams.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re in contact with marquee players all the time, players who would bring some immediate recognition to the league,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to open up the WHA and have ECHL players stock it and call it WHA. Fans are smart enough to see through that. Our intent is that the caliber will be somewhat similar to the &lsquo;72-79 (WHA).&rdquo;Hull, meantime, is passionate about putting an exciting product on the ice, one that addresses many of the complaints lobbed towards the NHL brand.&ldquo;We have to groom our game to the type of people we&rsquo;d like to play in it,&rdquo; Hull says. &ldquo;The kind of player who can play all over the ice and entertain the people royally. I&rsquo;m talking about players like Brett Hull, Mike Modano, Chris Chelios and Jeremy Roenick.&rdquo;Specifically, Hull mentioned the introduction of no-touch icing, tag-up offsides, penalty shots for certain major fouls, shootouts and smaller goalie equipment.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s put the same equipment on (today&rsquo;s goalies) as Glenn Hall and Terry Sawchuk and Tony Esposito and Gerry Cheevers and Johnny Bower had and let&rsquo;s see if they can stop the puck,&rdquo; he says.<h2>PITCH FOR CROSBY?</h2>If Smith has his way, one of the players who will see more net is phenom Sidney Crosby. Smith says the new WHA will make another pitch for the junior sensation, who declined an invitation from the former league ownership.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d be crazy not to (pursue Crosby),&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;His agent and his family would see we&rsquo;re extremely serious. It would be a very similar situation to when Wayne Gretzky was signed by the Indianapolis Racers (in 1978).&rdquo;If the NHL season is canceled, a new WHA would be in a good position to establish roots in a hockey-starved marketplace. But as others have discovered, it&rsquo;s a daunting challenge.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have a new secret book in my desk that says this is how to succeed in the WHA or any league,&rdquo; Smith says.&ldquo;(But) the amount of seriousness we&rsquo;ve put into this is at an extremely high level&hellip;and time and money. And it&rsquo;s not just because the NHL is where it is today. The intention of this league was to work parallel with the NHL. We&rsquo;re going through with our plans.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-041049/8282378-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="400" height="209"></div><h2>THE LAST TIME</h2>Semi chibs [flayed in the WHA&rsquo;s final seasan 1978-79}.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031293/8282371-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="384" height="572"></div> &#9632;

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The WHA: Back again?

<h2>Best of the Hockey World</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021346/8282506-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="256" height="400"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHN PADDOCK</figcaption></div>ATTENTION NHL Binghamton&rsquo;s John Paddock becomes just the third coach to register 1500 American League victories.OH CANADA Canada holds Team USA&rsquo;s power play to 1-for-15 in beating America 2-1 in the final of the women&rsquo;s Four Nations Cup.WILD GESTURE Minnesota&rsquo;s Marian Gaborik pledges $1 million toward a new rink in his hometown, Trencin, in Slovakia.<h2>Worst of the Hockey World</h2>HATCHET MAN Memphis defenseman Ted Crowley is suspended 25 Central League games for two stick-swinging incidents.ANOTHER WEEK, NO TALKS The silence is deafening as the NHLPA gains momentum, but no CBA talks take place.RINGS HOLLOW Tampa Bay&rsquo;s presentation of their Stanley Cup rings is limited to a tiny in-house ceremony because of the lockout.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03870/8282499-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="257" height="398"><figcaption class="caption-body">TEO CROWLEY</figcaption></div>NO DEAL Here&rsquo;s the unofficial number of NHLproven VFAs and RFAs. The total (190 free agents) represents approximately one-quarter of the NHL&rsquo;s players.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04546/8282492-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="902" height="633"></div> &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-06212/8282537-1-eng-US/f0005-062.jpg" title="f0005-06" width="285" height="446"><figcaption class="caption-body">MAREK MALIK</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-05343/8282544-1-eng-US/f0005-052.jpg" title="f0005-05" width="170" height="140"></div>&bull; Stanley Cup rings presented informally at the rink with half the team not present. Wow what a thrill. What&rsquo;s next in Tampa Bay, raising the championship banner with just the Zamboni driver in attendance? The Lightning&rsquo;s well-earned celebration is just another CBA casualty. Too bad.&bull; One of the biggest questions yet to be answered is: if the NHL and NHLPA could peacefully agree on how to split the pie from the World Cup, how come they can&rsquo;t agree on how to split the pie from a regular season? Bob? Gary?&bull; When Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes said hockey needs bigger nets, he raised some eyebrows&hellip;and not just his own.&bull; The five-hole in Forbes? hockey knowledge was exposed in their much-publicized story on NHL team losses. As a sidebar to the story, the magazine&rsquo;s website ran a poll asking fans which NHL players they missed most. Names included superstars Joe Sakic, Ilya Kovalchuk, Martin Brodeur and&hellip;Marek Malik. Seems Forbes simply used league leaders from 2003-04; Malik led the NHL in plusminus (plus-35), but is only a household name in the Malik household. In addition, Forbes reported that Nashville advanced to the second round of playoffs, which will come as a surprise to Detroit fans.&bull; Jeremy Roenick is USA&rsquo;s Don Cherry-in-training. &#9632;

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SNAPSHOTS From around the NHL

The Hockey News FROM THE EDITORSThe Hockey News&rsquo;s People of Power and Influence issue is one of the most impactful we publish every year. Player agents, radio hosts and other industry power brokers gripe and snipe over omissions or perceived slights, so you can imagine how we expect our ears to burn after our decision to whittle the list down from 100 to just 10 in this lockout-plagued season.Last year, we also heard from hockey fans, many of whom were plenty perturbed by their No. 100 ranking. Unfortunately, they didn&rsquo;t make the top 10 this year, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean fans are devoid of muscles to flex in the faces of Gary Bettman and Bob Goodenow.Quite the opposite, as a matter of fact. We believe fans are among the most influential folks around - and yes, we toyed with putting them in the top 10 - but they haven&rsquo;t been given any say in the standoff that&rsquo;s increasingly likely to end in ugly legal proceedings.However, although fan power can&rsquo;t be wielded in any practical sense during the lockout, its true strength will become apparent once games resume.We&rsquo;re not alone in understanding the power the public holds. The NHL has poured untold thousands - probably millions - into public relations, including a website and a touring caravan for league brass to explain why their fiscal medicine is going down fans&rsquo; throats so sourly.Why? Because they know what the NHL&rsquo;s foundation is built on: non-empty seats at their games. And you can&rsquo;t count on that if you abandon your customers. Why? Because they&rsquo;ll eventually become somebody else&rsquo;s customers, that&rsquo;s why.Ultimately, fans have the power to change the game more than any other group. Agents can negotiate contracts until they run out of loopholes; players can obstruct one another until they&rsquo;re blue in the face; and, owners can inflate ticket prices until they burst. But none of it matters in the slightest unless fans pay to see it.Fans are the ones who buy the league&rsquo;s endless array of merchandise, the ones who travel hours to attend games, the ones who wolf down nutritionally bereft hot dogs and sodas. They&rsquo;re the ones suffering the slings and arrows of players&rsquo; and owners&rsquo; outrageous fortunes. They&rsquo;re paying for autograph signings, intra-squad workouts and pre-season games.Once fans are unwilling to do that any more, teams will fold, interest will further wane and TV ratings will disintegrate as if they were Michael Jackson&rsquo;s nose. And once they&rsquo;re gone, there won&rsquo;t be enough cost-certainty or free markets on earth to bring them back.So fret not, NHL fans. You may not get the ink that other hockey bigwigs are afforded, but deep down, those bigwigs know who rules the roost. Take a look in the mirror, and you&rsquo;ll see one of those roost-rulers looking back at you. Then ask yourself the following question: if a sports league returns to action and nobody gives a rat&rsquo;s behind, does it really return to action at all?The answer: not a chance.And there&rsquo;s nothing more powerful nor influential than that.&ldquo;Fans are the ones suffering the slings and arrows of players&rsquo; and owners&rsquo; outrageous fortunes. &#9632;

Fans in class of their own when it conies to power

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012109/8282599-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011910/8282668-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="293" height="377"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Brender Senior Writer</figcaption></div>The Forbes magazine folks have settled it. That $173-million difference between what Forbes estimates as league losses and what the Levitt Report came up with a year ago illustrates once and for all the futility of trying to get the players and the league to agree on revenue numbers. So many revenue streams - suites, club seats, television, radio, concessions, parking, those goofy styrofoam hands with the big &ldquo;No. 1&rdquo; finger - and so many hungry columns in the accounting software, it just can&rsquo;t be done.Well, except for that World Cup thing a few months ago. They did it there.Come to think of it, the NHL Players&rsquo; Association even accepted a 50 percent share of the World Cup take. Hmmm. Sounds like it could be the basis for a deal.Except for one thing. The players refuse to take a percentage of the NHL revenue.And why is that again? Because NHL teams and those cagey related-party arena companies and broadcast divisions conspire to undervalue or overvalue or misallocate revenue, or whatever it is they&rsquo;re doing.Right, almost forgot.Pet the ponies on the merry-go-round, the merry-go-round&hellip;Are we having fun yet, boys and girls?<h2>REVENUE BOGEYMAN</h2>With all the hubbub over the Forbes report, it&rsquo;s worth mentioning again (and again and again and again) that the &ldquo;lack of trust&rsquo;Vunre-ported revenue bogeyman is an excuse and nothing but an excuse.It&rsquo;s an excuse for Bob Goodenow and the players to not have to get in negotiations over how to define revenue.If they don&rsquo;t want to talk about the link between revenues and player costs, fine. The players may have other reasons and they&rsquo;re entitled to take them to their graves, which is where some of them will be before they play another NHL game.But please, let&rsquo;s put to bed once and for all the crock that it&rsquo;s too complicated a business. Defining things such as third-party revenue and allocating a fair share of that revenue toward the business that generated it is what lawyers and accountants are paid to do. It&rsquo;s what &ldquo;negotiations&rdquo; are for.In other words, if you believe that Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz is misallocating suite revenue as Forbes insists he is - and if it&rsquo;s part of your agenda to properly define revenue in order to get a fair piece of the pie - all you have to do is put the accountants on the case. They can write the terms so it won&rsquo;t happen again.But it&rsquo;s not part of the NHLPA&rsquo;s agenda, so forget we mentioned it.It&rsquo;s the same with the debate over guaranteed contracts and the $31-million salary cap. If guaranteed contracts are sacrosanct for the union (as they should be), that could be something to make clear in negotiations. Similarly, if the $31-million figure is too low (as it clearly is), raising it toward a more reasonable and fairer level could be the union&rsquo;s No. 1 priority.Instead, the NHLPA leadership continues to use the revenue shell game and guaranteed contracts and the $31-million figure not only as reasons to avoid discussions, but also to harden its membership against the idea of linking revenues and player costs altogether. Those NBA guys don&rsquo;t know how bad they have it.NHL ALSO GUILTY Such tactics, unfortunately, aren&rsquo;t restricted to the union. What Gary Bettman is doing on the issue of the luxury tax is no different.Bettman recently told <a href="http://ESPN.com">ESPN.com</a> a luxury tax wouldn&rsquo;t work for three reasons: it&rsquo;s unpredictable; it, doesn&rsquo;t eliminate payroll disparities; and, it doesn&rsquo;t deal with the ripple effect of big-dollar signings on comparable players.All three are, to put it mildly, highly debatable - provided the tax is sufficiently tive. If a luxury tax included a $4 penalty for every dollar spent over, say, $40 million, we suspect salary escalation would cease to be an issue. (The NHLPA has said it would oppose a luxury tax that acts like a cap in any case, but that&rsquo;s beside the point here.)The real reason Bettman won&rsquo;t consider a luxury tax solution? As soon as he opens that door, he&rsquo;s forced to negotiate over the numbers. It&rsquo;s the same reason Goodenow doesn&rsquo;t want his accountants to examine the NHL&rsquo;s books. Once they come up with a revenue number, whatever it is, the question of how much the players want is unavoidable.Nice strategy, boys. Your public rationalizations of your bargaining positions are intended to prevent any negotiations from happening.Which is why even if Forbes had access to all the proper data, the discrepancy between Forbes and Levitt still wouldn&rsquo;t matter a lick.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021267/8282661-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="3198" height="2345"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIGHTY LEAFS&nbsp;Forbes says Gary Roberts&rsquo; Leafs are profit leaders.</figcaption></div><h2>FORBES FACTS</h2>Below is Forbes magazine&rsquo;s estimates NHl club franchise values, ranked by operating profit in the 2003-04 season. See pg. IS for more on the Forbes survey.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03784/8282654-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="748" height="1405"></div> &#9632;

f0007-01

Negotiations nobody wants

<div class="byline">BY MATTHEW REYNOLDS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021492/8282706-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">SLOVAK STARS? Marian Hossa (left) and Ziggy Palffy began this season playing in Slovakia, but have since departed for other European leagues.</figcaption></div>TRENCIN, SLOVAKIANHLers spending the lockout in the Slovak Extraleague have had a chillier homecoming than expected.Ticket sales are not, as predicted, much higher than last year. Some teams report lower attendance. Extraleague regulars grumble about losing jobs and ice time and preferential treatment for NHLers. Teams with no NHLers might be at a disadvantage skill-wise, but some observers believe the style of play is better without them.&ldquo;We never get a chance to see them in person, so it&rsquo;s nice to watch what they can do,&rdquo; said fan Jozef Letko. &ldquo;But as a whole, it&rsquo;s prettier when they&rsquo;re on the bench. It&rsquo;s more of a team attack, with better cutting and passing. When they&rsquo;re on the ice, everything revolves around them.&rdquo;Letko follows Trencin, where Marian Gaborik (Minnesota) and Pavol Demitra (St. Louis) are playing. Demitra, he complained, floats by the red line and loafs on defense.<h2>TEAM PLAY NOT AS PREVALENT</h2>&ldquo;Last year, Trencin won the league without any stars,&rdquo; Letko said. &ldquo;In a way, that was nicer, because there was such a great atmosphere. They had a nice style of team play. Everyone was so unselfish.&rdquo;Slovak hockey is less physical and the ice is wider than in the NHL. Fans are more impressed by a nifty pass than by a hard check, which may be why the returned NHLers aren&rsquo;t drawing huge crowds.Across the 10-team Extraleague, where 12 NHLers are playing, attendance is flat or only slightly up. Marian Hossa (Ottawa) recently left Trencin for Mora in Sweden. He was reportedly disappointed he and other NHLers hadn&rsquo;t excited local fans. But he may be back for the Extraleague playoffs.<h2>LOCAL PLAYERS CUT OR DEMOTED</h2>It&rsquo;s also a problem that NHLers are spread unevenly throughout the league. &ldquo;One team has three, another team has none,&rdquo; said one club executive. &ldquo;Does that sound fair to you?&rdquo;The people who are most unhappy with the NHLers may be local players who have never played abroad. Each season, they compete for jobs in the Extraleague, where they typically earn $1,000 to $5,000 a month.To make room for NHLers, some of the local players were cut or demoted. Others saw their ice time decreased. Star players last season have been dropped to the second or third lines. Young players have fewer opportunities to show what they can do.&ldquo;Room has been made for the NHLers,&rdquo; said the executive. &ldquo;And the young players, especially, have suffered.&rdquo;Many players are unhappy. Veteran Slovak hockey reporter Iveta Weiszova said the buzz in Slovak dressing rooms is, &ldquo;If there&rsquo;s going to be an NHL lockout, let them actually stay locked out, not come here and take our jobs.&rdquo;There is resentment that NHLers get special treatment, such as hitting the showers after the second period of blowouts and choosing when and if they want to practice.NHL star forward Ziggy Palffy skated in his hometown of Skalica for six weeks before signing with Slavia Prague.Unfortunately, Palffy did little to endear himself in Skalica by staying for only 10 minutes when he came to practice, according to Weiszova.&ldquo;The rest of the players watched him leave and said, &lsquo;Why should we have to practice if Ziggy doesn&rsquo;t?&rdquo; Weiszova said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very hard for the coach to have to explain, &lsquo;Because you are no Palffy.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011996/8282699-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="700" height="426"><figcaption class="caption-body">AT HOME&nbsp;Of the European NHLers skating in Europe, here is the percentage that returned to their home country to play. For example, the top bar shows that 40 Russian NHLers are playing in Europe - and all 40 are playing in Russia. Meanwhile, only 12 out of25 (48%) Slovak NHLers who are playing in Europe are playing in Slovakia.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0008-02

Go back to NHL!

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender & Alan Adams</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011743/8282768-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"></div>A panel of writers is doing public readings of its work. The floor is opened up for questions. One reader steps up to the microphone and asks her favorite suspense novelist, in gushing tones, how he decides what his characters are going to do next.The novelist turns to his peers, gives a wink and a grin. He turns back to the crowd.I don&rsquo;t decide at all, the writer smiles. Once the characters are off the leash, they do it all on their own.And so it goes with The Hockey News&rsquo;s sixth annual &ldquo;People of Power & Influence&rdquo; list. It may look like we&rsquo;ve made some changes to the format given this year&rsquo;s unusual circumstances, but in truth, Gary Bettman (aka Bett-Man) and Bob Goodenow (aka Dr. Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil) chose this comic book theme themselves. They&rsquo;re the ones who have gone more than two months without negotiating. They&rsquo;re the ones who have put the season in serious jeopardy and have entered the land of the unbelievable.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never talk cost-certainty with you, Bett-Man!&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see who has the last laugh a year from now, Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil, hahahaha!&rdquo;Can&rsquo;t you just see it? It&rsquo;s not even true to say it&rsquo;d be funny if it all weren&rsquo;t so sad. Yes, it&rsquo;s sad the game has been reduced to this and that people have lost their jobs while Bett-Man and Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil plot their next moves. But it&rsquo;s also funny as hell.The other major change to our list is that 90 names have been slashed from the bottom. All previous &ldquo;People of Power&rdquo; editions included 100 names. This year, because of the CBA shmozzle, there are 10. We realize hockey&rsquo;s appeal extends far beyond the NHL&rsquo;s borders, but losing an entire NHL season would have such broad ramifications for the sport on a number of levels that at this point, little else matters.Bett-Man and Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil must take the overwhelming share of the responsibility for being where we are; they are the ones who brushed aside the possibility of mediators, after all. The eight others have not played as large a role in getting to this point, but they may help shape or affect what happens next. Or maybe even solve it.Bett-Man tops the list because he framed the &ldquo;cost-certainty&rdquo; debate, he called the lockout and he has the power to cancel the season and potentially use replacement players. Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil is not far behind because of his amazing ability to command the continued allegiance of some 750 NHL players.The depictions that follow are not an endorsement of anyone&rsquo;s superhero status. The characters will decide how this plays out and nobody knows yet who will play the hero and who&rsquo;ll be the villains. Bett-Man may yet have a secret plan behind his cape and there&rsquo;s no telling what&rsquo;s hidden under Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil&rsquo;s rubber gloves. But surely they understand their comic caper will degenerate into farce if the hockey world order isn&rsquo;t restored soon.Until then, boys, if you won&rsquo;t take your game seriously, neither will we.So Bett-Man and Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil, solve this mess or we promise you&rsquo;ll never get a meal in this town again!<h2>TOP 10 POWER PLAYERS</h2>The sixth annual People of Power & influence list profiles 10 hockey heavyweights instead of the usual 100 due to the CBA uncertainty. The Hockey News&rsquo;s top 100 list will be published this year if the 2004-05 NHL. season is saved, stay tuned-see pgs-12&mdash;16 for profiles of the top 10.<h2>POWER LIST</h2>Who has the pow-ah?Sett-Man and Dr. Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil top the charts on our ultra-exclusive 2004 People of Power list. The full cast of characters appears below, with the rank in last year&rsquo;s list in parentheses1. Gary Bettman (I) Bett-man2. Bob qoodenow (2) Dr. Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil3. Wayne Gretzky (3) Wonder Soy4. Sill-Daly (4) Mr. payfreeze5. Trevor Linden (13) The Voice6. LOU Lamoriello (6) Iceman7. Ted saskin (9) Number28. Ton Meehan (20) The octopus9. Robert J. Battista (NR) X-Factor10. Rene Fasel (23) International Man-o-Mystery &#9632;

f0011-01

CLASH OF THE TITANS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011919/8282806-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">TIMES SQUARE, NyC Bett-Man scans for signs of Dr. Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil and prepares for a final showdown</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03981/8282813-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="94" height="90"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021508/8282799-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="293" height="300"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY BETTMAN NHL COMMISSIONER</figcaption></div>Those who have worked with Bett-Man invariably say he is among the most intelligent people they&rsquo;ve met. Twelve years into his tenure as NHL commissioner, he has converted cunning and backroom charm into awesome power. From a league standpoint, everything that has led up to this lockout and all that will follow - until he is fired, resigns or oversees NHL players back on the ice - is the Bett-Man&rsquo;s doing. While the owners are the ones losing money, it is Bett-Man who prescribed the special tonic and sold them on the idea that the game will be healthy only when &ldquo;cost-certainty&rdquo; medicine is down the players&rsquo; throats. It&rsquo;s a testimony to Bett-Man&rsquo;s control over the process that no one has a good read on the strength of owner unity behind closed doors. Whatever it is, Bett-Man&rsquo;s ability to close ranks publicly (with the help of a $250,000 doublesecret gag order, authorized by the NHL board of directors) shows the extent to which owners have allowed him to run the show. The same goes for Bett-Man&rsquo;s super-majority voting power: if he recommends against a CBA deal, he only needs eight of 30 owners with him to carry the day. The result of such control is a negotiating climate in which almost no one believes Bett-Man will do a Bett-cave on cost-certainty. If no deal is reached soon, Bett-Man&rsquo;s recommendation to the board whether to use replacement players next season will impact the NHL for the next decade. Before then, however, from his 47th-floor Gotham, er, Manhattan office in the world&rsquo;s most influential city, Bett-Man will likely preside over the first season-long pro sports league labor dispute shutdown on earth in four-and-a-half billion years&hellip;and maybe even live to tell the tale. &#9632;

f0012-01

BETT MAN

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04584/8282851-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="291" height="298"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB GOODENOW NHLPA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05418/8282844-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="1695" height="1601"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOWNTOWN TORONTO DR. good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil makes a vave appearance outside NHLPA headquarters to flex his muscle</figcaption></div>Owners lash out at him, fans loathe him, media members ridicule him and Bett-Man hammers away at foolhardy &ldquo;union leadership&rdquo; until his face turns red. None of it matters to Dr. Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil. Name-calling is no more relevant to Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil&rsquo;s bottom line than a Light drizzle off his bulging biceps. In Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil&rsquo;s world, all that counts is the support of his players. He still has it because in the 14 years he has been in charge of the union since taking over from Dr. Evil&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil (aka Alan Eagleson), Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil has never done the players wrong. The 1992 strike worked out for the players. The result of the 1994 lockout - a CBA that resulted in a 250 percent salary escalation in nine years - definitely worked out for the players. And now Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil preaches to his constituents - some 750 members of the Players&rsquo; Association - that the fight against Bett-Man&rsquo;s dastardly salary cap demands will work out to their favor as well. They stand to lose $1 billion this season, yet continue to march in solidarity (nearly half of them marching in Europe, mind you). Not one high-profile player has broken ranks and those with the most money to lose appear willing to lose it. They do so because Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil has told them there is a greater evil waiting if they give in. Or perhaps he has told them that if they call Bett-Man&rsquo;s bluff, they won&rsquo;t have to give in at all. Either way, only a mighty leader can convince his troops to carry on in a battle the outside world insists is not worth fighting. &#9632;

f0012-04

Dr. Good’n’Evil

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021224/8282889-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="287" height="299"><figcaption class="caption-body">WAYNE GRETZKY PHOENIX COYOTES PART-OWNER</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011747/8282882-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="1693" height="1543"><figcaption class="caption-body">THE ARIXONA DESERT Far removed from the Front lines, Wonder Boy soaks up the son</figcaption></div>He is a lord, a Legend, a universally respected icon who knows no predators and whose word can move mountains. For more than two decades he skated among giants twice his size and came away towering above all, superhero genius unmatched and undisputed. So many times he saved the day or came to the rescue - in Edmonton, in L.A., briefly in St. Louis and New York, all the world over wearing a Canadian maple leaf on his chest. With the world he helped create on the verge of implosion, Wonder Boy now wields his influence from the executive suite in Phoenix. His geographical home makes little difference to the players who would be playing, or to the legions of scribblers who would be writing about it, or especially to the commoner on the street. His voice is gospel. So why won&rsquo;t he use it? Use it, oh Wonder Boy, use it! He says it&rsquo;s not his place to get in the middle of the Bett-Man-vs.-Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil death stare. If they ask him for advice, he will accommodate, but solving this feud is beyond even his powers. Really? No one is buying it. Wonder Boy. Are you being hindered by Kryptonite? Give us a signal. His fans clamor for his magic again. Wonder Boy is acting behind the scenes, they pray. He must be. Surely he&rsquo;s operating with a sleight of hand, out of sight from the public eye, bringing the lesser gods together and knocking their stubborn donkey heads together to shake them from their stupor. Of course he is. He has to be. Nobody else has the power to move mountains. &#9632;

f0013-02

WONDER BOY

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03896/8282927-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="289" height="298"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL DALY NHL EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s mid-November and the buzz is Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil&rsquo;s boys will soon make a new CBA offer that includes a prohibitive luxury tax. Back at the NHL&rsquo;s Hall of Justice, Mr. Payfreeze is quoted on the league&rsquo;s CBA website saying luxury tax systems don&rsquo;t work and the NHL isn&rsquo;t interested in one. That Payfreeze is everywhere! As the NHL&rsquo;s top legal eagle, politics alone dictate his place in the pecking order, but the likeable, straight-shooting Payfreeze is also a master at the P.R. game. That&rsquo;s why Bett-Man can stay in the background during the lockout and let his second-in-command stretch his armor and butt heads with the enemy. The strategy has worked well. The NHL has hung its fiscal hat on the Levitt report, which claims the league lost $273 million in 2002-03. When Forbes sliced the losses in half, it was Payfreeze who sang the NHL&rsquo;s message of rebuttal, going so far as to call the report &ldquo;irresponsible journalism.&rdquo; Underneath his shiny bullet-proof helmet. Payfreeze lives and breathes the financial figures in his role as the league&rsquo;s chief negotiator and has proven to be a shrewd litigator who understands the game. A Rangers fan growing up, he has Canadian roots - his mother is from Winnipeg and his family owns land near Sackville, N.B. Payfreeze also has a wicked sense of humor that comes in handy as an antidote to the straight-faced sleep-inducing spells cast by Dr. Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil and Number2.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04740/8282920-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="1753" height="1602"><figcaption class="caption-body">OUT SIPE NHL-VAUL-T, LOCATION UNKNOWN Mr payfreeze keeps close watch on the $300&mdash;million war chest</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0013-03

Mr. PAYFREEZE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021441/8282965-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="293" height="296"><figcaption class="caption-body">TREVOR LINDEN NHLPA PRESIDENT</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011896/8282958-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="1744" height="1555"><figcaption class="caption-body">ST ANUSY PARK, VANCOUVER Desperately seeking guidance, The Voice turns to totems in his time of need</figcaption></div>As the veteran leader of the Vancouver Canucks, The Voice listens to what two dozen players are saying about management (and each other) and finds a way to keep an even keel in the dressing room. The same applies for his role as president of the NHLPA - except his teammates number 700-plus comrades-in-arms. So don&rsquo;t for a second diminish the role of The Voice in all this. Technically, The Voice is Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil&rsquo;s boss, even if Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil is the one calling the shots. The Voice&rsquo;s main job is to keep a pulse on the membership and relay major concerns to Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil. The Voice must quietly micro-manage players beefs while keeping an eye focused on the big picture. Suffice it to say the two don&rsquo;t always mesh, but short of a few brushfires, The Voice has kept the boys sticking on their &ldquo;no cap&rdquo; message. As a player, The Voice has never shied away from going into the corners or hanging in front of the net looking for a goal. It&rsquo;s punishing work. In his role with the NHLPA, he has been roughed up by the public and the media for the players&rsquo; stance. He is often portrayed as Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil&rsquo;s puppet. He also has been ripped for defending the decision by 300 of his peers to play in Europe and take jobs away from other players. The pressure on him is bound to increase from the public and players alike as the deadline for no season gets closer. If The Voice has ever had doubts about Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil&rsquo;s strategy or his ability to keep the players in line, though, he&rsquo;s keeping it behind closed doors. &#9632;

f0014-02

THE VOICE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-031002/8283003-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="293" height="294"><figcaption class="caption-body">LOU LAMORIELLO NEW JERSEY DEVILS GM</figcaption></div>There&rsquo;s a reason the Iceman is the only GM on the board of governors executive committee and it&rsquo;s not because of his ruggedly handsome good looks. After two decades coaching and in the administration office at Providence College and nearly two decades with the New Jersey Devils, Iceman knows the business of hockey. &ldquo;If you want anybody to give it to you straight and not bull-&mdash;you, he&rsquo;s the guy,&rdquo; says one admirer. With Iceman, what you see is what you get. He&rsquo;s respected among GMs, the league and Bett-Man&rsquo;s foot soldiers, if not for the Devils&rsquo; stifling style then for their successes - three Stanley Cups in a decade. With ice crystals in his veins. Iceman needs not hide behind a microfiber wardrobe of pomp and poetry in his sub-arctic habitat. He can&rsquo;t be bullied, can&rsquo;t be intimidated and doesn&rsquo;t have time for games not played on the ice. He has plenty of agendas and none of them are hidden; for that reason his opinion is highly sought and valued right up to Payfreeze and Bett-Man. Where others blow hot air, if Iceman doesn&rsquo;t know something, he&rsquo;ll say so. Sure he takes a beating on the P.R. front, much of it deserved. His is the only NHL club whose employees don&rsquo;t have voice mail. Iceman is the kind of old-school superhero who would impose a mandatory employee shirt-and-tie policy at a Vegas strip club, no exceptions, not even for the dancers. But if the League asked Iceman if he could work within a certain CBA model and the answer came back affirmative, no further questions would be asked. Iceman&rsquo;s blood never curdles.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04694/8282996-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="1699" height="1553"><figcaption class="caption-body">THE ICE CAVE, BENEATH THS JERSEY SWAMP Iceman grimaces as he sees the dollars on the latest Ranger signing</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0014-03

ICEMAN

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021240/8283041-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="290" height="297"><figcaption class="caption-body">TED SASKIN NHLPA SENIOR DIRECTOR</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011730/8283034-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="1663" height="1557"><figcaption class="caption-body">NHUPA CONTRACT FILING ROOM, TORONTOFollowing what appears to be a Watergate-style break&mdash;in, Number2 surveys the damage</figcaption></div>Batman had Robin and the Green Hornet had Kato. Every superhero needs a winger on his flank, but Number2 does much more for Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil than Robin and Kato did for their bosses. Number2 has Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil&rsquo;s confidence and is far more than a subordinate chirping the union line. The Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil/Number2 relationship dates back to the early 1990s, when Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil made Number2 one of his first hires after arguing a successful player-likeness licensing case for the union. Since then, Number2 has added more to his plate as Good&rsquo;N&rsquo;Evil has grown more comfortable with his abilities. Bookish in nature, Number2 can morph into a superhero in the snap of a file folder. He has a pulse on everything the NHLPA does and has become its most visible and articulate spokesman. Don&rsquo;t be fooled by Number2&rsquo;s easy-going appearance. That&rsquo;s part of the disguise. He is cool and clever and never gets ruffled in the heat of battle. He may have a good relationship with adversary Payfreeze, but he&rsquo;s not afraid to vilify him if he feels Payfreeze is spreading his Irish blarney. He and Payfreeze enjoy a close working relationship on issues such as joint licensing deals and international hockey, but when it comes to the CBA, these opposites don&rsquo;t attract. Number2 is at his strongest when he rails against the NHL&rsquo;s refusal to open up team finances for public scrutiny. He could have gloated when Forbes supported the NHLPA&rsquo;s claims that the numbers can&rsquo;t be trusted, but a calm, subtly bitinq commentary is more the Number2 style. Don&rsquo;t underestimate him. &#9632;

f0015-02

NUMBER 2

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03871/8283079-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="289" height="294"><figcaption class="caption-body">DON MEEHAN NEWPORT SPORTS MANAGEMENT AGENT</figcaption></div>In times like this, player agents work in the shadows, much like covert operators did in times of global conflict. Agents haven&rsquo;t imposed themselves directly on the negotiations because they know that voicing concerns publicly would only weaken the NHLPA&rsquo;s cause. In the case of The Octopus, you know he&rsquo;d like to be involved - agents are deal-makers after all, and The Octopus is the biggest deal-maker in all known galaxies - but he&rsquo;ll stay subdued for now. His Mississauga, Ont.-based firm, Newport Sports Management, represents 125 players and is the largest player rep firm in the NHL. His clients include Nicklas Lidstrom, Markus Naslund, Jarome Iginla and Curtis Joseph, among many others, and he counts among his friends numerous GMs and executives. The Octopus has not been asked for his input from either battling side, though he would be happy to weave his deceptive eight-armed magic if it were requested. For now, he&rsquo;s willing to let Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil and the players&rsquo; executive roll with its mandate. It&rsquo;s also safe to say players are not always comfortable talking with agents about the CBA, since all agents have a vested interest in having hockey return so they can get paid. Still, The Octopus is on record saying it doesn&rsquo;t make sense for two sides not to be talking. If there ever comes a point where he decides to make his CBA opinions known to his players, his views could have an Octopus-like reach.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04640/8283072-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="1727" height="1499"><figcaption class="caption-body">OUTSXPE AIR CANADA CENTRE, TORONTOWithout a game to watch, The octopus Juggles his calls near his second home</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-03

the OCTOPUS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021321/8283117-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="295" height="296"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROBERT J. BATTISTA NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD CHAIR</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011691/8283110-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="1750" height="1549"><figcaption class="caption-body">NLRB OFFICES, WASHINGTON The Five members the nurb put oa a brave face For&hellip;hockey reporters?</figcaption></div>NHL and NHLPA, come meet your X-Factor. The National Labor Relations Board is a five-person quasi-judicial body that rules on unfair labor practices in the U.S. The members are Dennis P. Walsh, Wilma B. Liebman, Peter C. Schaumber, Ronald E. Meisburg and chairman Robert J. Battista and they&rsquo;re more imposing than they look. There are two reasons to believe this entity should be respected. One, it is appointed by the U.S. president. Two, note the prominent use of middle initials. Everyone knows only very important powers use middle initials. Like a bulging pectoral muscle, it bulks up the name to provide a visage of intimidation. In as little as four months from now, after the likely cancellation of the season, the future shape of the NHL could rest in their unpredictable hands. Imagine: 1) The NHL puts together a detailed CBA proposal. (It would be the league&rsquo;s first.) 2) The players balk at the hard salary cap therein. 3) Bett-Man puts his joker on the table, declares a negotiating impasse and implements terms of the salary cap offer. Replacement players, welcome aboard. 4) Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil accuses his arch-rival of playing dirty and accuses Bett-Man of not negotiating in good faith. 5) The NLRB (along with Canadian provincial regulators) swoops in to declare a winner. If the NLRB decides Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil is right, it would force the parties back to the negotiating table and slap hefty fines on the league. If it says Bett-Man is right, the NHLPA is faced with an immediate strike vote and the possible break-up of the union while the NHL revels in its new cost-certainty world. This five-headed trumping beast should be feared. &#9632;

f0016-02

XFACTOR

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03999/8283155-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="292" height="294"><figcaption class="caption-body">RENE FASEL IIHF PRESIDENT</figcaption></div>The International Man-o-Mystery knows not to mess with a good thing. A decade ago, he tried to stop locked-out NHL players from going to Europe and he: a) lost the battle; and, b) was ridiculed for being in Bett-Man&rsquo;s pocket. Because everyone knew this lockout was coming, the Man-o-Mystery met long ago with representatives from European leagues and they agreed the NHL lockout was a win-win situation for them. That&rsquo;s why he has evolved into a man with real, not virtual, power. Fans across Europe finally get to see their homegrown heroes in prime time, not on early-morning TV in an NHL sweater. NHLers have flocked to teams in Russia, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. So far, the Man-o-Mystery&rsquo;s willingness to go along with European clubs and accept NHLers with open arms has been a boon to European hockey. His power will increase if the NHL season is lost and Bett-Man tries to go with replacement players next season; that would drive the games top stars back to Europe in droves. The Man-o-Mystery knows better than to get between Bett-Man and Good&rsquo;n&rsquo;Evil in the CBA dispute, but he was right to question why the NHL, after a lockout, would not play on the greatest international stage - the 2006 Winter Olympics - to promote the sport. Everybody watches the Olympics, which is more than can be said about NHL games. The Man-o-Mystery&rsquo;s supreme diplomacy skills will be tested when he negotiates a new transfer agreement between Europe and the NHL. His success or failure in coaxing Russia to be part of any new deal will have a major impact on the future of Russian NHLers.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04756/8283148-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="1698" height="1589"><figcaption class="caption-body">THE SWISS ALPSHis continent overrun by NHLers, International Man&ndash;o&ndash;Mystery takes to the hills</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0016-03

International Man-o-Mystery

<div class="byline">BY BRIAN COSTELLO</div>Rimouski&rsquo;s Sidney Crosby is so far ahead of the pack in the race for first overall draft pick in 2005, he can turn around, skate backwards and watch the battle unfold himself.Vancouver center Gilbert Brule was running second early in the season, but he has been passed by rugged defenseman Jack Johnson, from the U.S. national team development program, according to International Scouting Services.&ldquo;Jack was really fantastic at the Four Nations tournament,&rdquo; said Dennis Maclnnis, director of scouting at ISS. &ldquo;We moved him up from No. 6 (in - November) to No. 2 in our December report. He&rsquo;s the real deal. He plays a two-way Scott Stevens-type of game. He hits hard and he&rsquo;s one of the best skaters available in the draft.&rdquo;Of course, it&rsquo;s a foregone conclusion crafty center Crosby will be selected first in the next draft, but he and close friend Johnson have a pact to go 1-2. (See pg. 29 for more on Johnson.)The NHL Central Scouting Service also released its preliminary ranking of players for the draft in mid-November, but its first list rates players broken down into skaters and goalies from various leagues and nations.Tops among major junior players on the CSS list are Crosby from the Quebec League, Brule from the Western League (No. 3 on ISS) and Sudbury left winger Benoit Pouliot from the Ontario League (No. 9 on ISS).Boston College winger Dan Bertram is first among NCAA players on the CSS list. He ranks 20th on the ISS list.Central Scouting did not have a category for players on the U.S. national team development program so Johnson did not receive a rating. (See pg. 33 for complete Central Scouting ranking.)Rounding out the ISS&rsquo;s top 10 for December are Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Marek Zagrapan at No 4, Erie&rsquo;s Ryan O&rsquo;Marra at No. 5, Drummondville&rsquo;s Guillaume Latendresse at No. 6, Sweden&rsquo;s Nicklas Bergfors at No. 7, Kitchener&rsquo;s Jakub Kindl at No. 8 and Lewiston&rsquo;s Alex Bourret at No. 10.&ldquo;This is an exceptional draft for the QMJHL,&rdquo; Maclnnis said. &ldquo;For 30 years, the &lsquo;Q&rsquo; has always ranked third at the draft behind the WHL and OHL. That will change this year.&rdquo; &#9632;

Eye opener on draft ranking

<div class="byline">BY THN STAFF</div>They&rsquo;re running out of names for all the new leagues that are starting up. Welcome aboard, the Exhibition Hockey League.The EHL announced plans to launch a 5-on-5 league in December. According to its mission statement on the league website, &ldquo;the EHL was formed by the fans, for the fans, as an interim exhibition league to keep hockey alive while labor negotiations continue in the NHL.&rdquo;The EHL is the latest in a long line of league or tours proposed as a result of the NHL lockout. The World Hockey Association was relaunched last year, never got off the ground due to dubious financing, then was revived by a B.C. businessman in mid-November. (See pg. 4 for more.)With more than one-third of all NHLers playing in Europe, sports agency International Management Group announced plans to sponsor a European charity tour similar to Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s idea during the 1994 lockout.The Primus Worldstars Tour will run Dec. 7-23 with 10 games in seven European countries, according to TSN. ca. Some of the players expected to sign on include Martin Brodeur, Dominik Hasek, Mats Sundin, Sergei Fedorov, Joe Thornton and Rick Nash.The Original Stars League was a 4-on-4 barnstorming league made up of locked-out NHLers. It flopped in brief tours of Ontario and Atlantic Canada and players quit after not getting paid.The Federal League was a Canadian venture proposed in the fall of 2003, but it skidded to a halt before even establishing franchises.Meanwhile, as the lockout entered its third month, Philadelphia star Jeremy Roenick expressed his frustration at the lack of negotiation between the NHL and the players&rsquo; association.&ldquo;Gary Bettman, you should be banging on Bob Goodenow&rsquo;s door, demanding to negotiate now,&rdquo; Roenick told Fox Sports. &ldquo;Get into a room, lock the door and don&rsquo;t come out until there&rsquo;s a deal.&ldquo;(The players) are mad because of the lack of negotiations. They&rsquo;re mad at Gary Bettman because Gary Bettman is really putting on a hardball stance and he&rsquo;s being tough and you don&rsquo;t act tough like that to hockey players.&rdquo; &#9632;

Leagues, tours in competition

<h2>CANADIAN WOMEN WIN AGAIN</h2>Dana Antal scored early in the third period to give Canada a 2-1 win over rival USA in the final of Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y. Jayna Hefford also scored for Canada while Natalie Darwitz replied for the Americans. The teams tied 1-1 earlier in the tournament. USA&rsquo;s Krissy Wendell led the tournament with five goals and six points. Hefford led Canada with two goals and five points. Canadian goalie Charline Labonte led the tournament with a 1.00 goals-against average and. 972 save percentage. Canada has won seven Four Nation Cup titles in nine tournaments. Sweden beat Finland 4-2 for third.<h2>AMERICANS TAKE GERMANY</h2>Rick DiPietro made 31 saves and Ryan Malone, Mark Eaton, Richard Park and Mike York scored goals as the U.S. men&rsquo;s national select team defended the Deutschland Cup with a 4-0 victory over Slovakia. Although the U.S. and Canada both ended the tournament in Germany with 3-1-0 records, Team USA won the tiebreaker with a better goal differential.<h2>&lsquo;RAGS&rsquo; DEAD AT 63</h2>Soviet great Aleksander Ragulin, who won 10 World Championships and three Olympic golds, died at 63 in Moscow. Nicknamed &lsquo;Rags&rsquo; by Canadian rivals, he was a rock-solid defenseman on dominant Soviet teams of the 1960s and &lsquo;70s. His Olympic golds came in 1964, 1968 and 1972. His 13 international titles is equalled only by Vladislav Tretiak. Ragulin also played in the historic 1972 Summit Series between the Soviet Union and Canada.<h2>FROST BANNED FROM CJHL ARENAS</h2>Embattled player agent David Frost is considering legal action after being banned from all Central Junior League games in Ontario. Frost confronted a referee in an off-limits area after a Nov. 13 game, even though he has no function with the league. Frost was the intended target in the botched murder-for-hire scheme concocted by his NHL client Mike Danton, who is serving 7-1/2 years in prison.<h2>FORBES DISPUTES NHL LOSSES</h2>Forbes magazine has released its annual list of franchise values and claims the NHL&rsquo;s losses weren&rsquo;t nearly as bad as the league claims. The prominent U.S. business publication estimates the NHL&rsquo;s two-year losses at $219 million in its Nov. 29 issue. The league claims to have lost about $500 million in that span. (See pg. 7 for more.)<h2>NOT GETTING ANY YOUNGER!</h2>NHLers who have gotten older&mdash;technically during the lockout:Nov. 25J-M Liles, Col, 24M. Arvedson, UFA, 33Nov. 26Keith Ballard, Fho, 22Chris Osgood, UFA, 32Nov. 27Chad Kilger, Tor, 28Nov. 28M-A Fleury, Pit, 20Nov. 29Brad May, Van, 33Pavol Demitra, UFA, 30 &#9632;

HOCKEY WORLD IN BRIEF

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011441/8283258-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALES KOTALIK BUFFALO SABRES</figcaption></div><h2>POINT MEN</h2>Here is the all-time points leader for each NHL franchise. Asterisk (*) indicates the player is still with the team.Buffalo right winger Ales Kotalik is enjoying a breakout season, but thanks to the NHL lockout it&rsquo;s with Liberec of the Czech Republic, not with the Sabres. Through 11 Czech league games, Kotalik had five goals and nine points. The 25-year-old native of Jindrichuv Hradec, Czech Rep., played four seasons with Ceske Budejovice&rsquo;s junior team prior to being drafted by the Sabres in the sixth round (164th overall) in 1998. He also skated with Ceske Budejovice&rsquo;s senior team for four years before crossing the Atlantic in 2001. After spending most of 2001-02 in the AHL with Rochester, the 6-foot-1, 217-pound Kotalik played 68 games with the Sabres in 2002-03 and contributed 21 goals and 35 points. Last season, Kotalik notched 15 goals and 26 points in 62 games with Buffalo before missing the final 19 games with a shoulder injury.NHL TEAM REPORTS The team stories this week feature expanded notebooks. The Hockey News is doing this to dedicate more space for coverage of the minor pros, major junior, U.S. college and Europe.CORRECTION Jeff Halpern was listed as Washington&rsquo;s player representative in Nov. 2 issue. The Capitals don&rsquo;t have an official player rep. &#9632;

f0019-01

NHL TEAM REPORTS

<div class="byline">&#x2013;DAN WOOD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-021092/8283289-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="216" height="282"></div>The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are going to considerable lengths in an attempt to keep hockey on the minds of their fans. With American League games involving their Cincinnati affiliate scheduled for the Arrowhead Pond Nov. 24, Dec. 17 and Dec. 18, the Ducks attempted to lure ticket buyers with the promise of giving away a $5,000 diamond pendant on the final night of the three-game series. Contestants, selected each of the three nights, will be blindfolded on the ice and search through 50 boxes for the pendant during the second intermission of the Dec. 18 game against the Edmonton Road Runners&hellip;The series of AHL games includes a Dec. 17 date against Edmonton and &ldquo;18 Tons of Snow in Orange County&rdquo; Dec. 18. Truckloads of snow will be dumped in the Pond parking lot for an afternoon of sled rides, games and contests, as well as free skating in the arena&hellip;Fans donating an unwrapped toy, to benefit the &ldquo;Firefighters Spark of Love Toy Drive&rdquo; during any of the three games will receive an autographed player card and be eligible to win an autographed, game-worn Cincinnati jersey Dec. 18. &#9632;

f0019-02

Finding diamond in rough part of Ducks lockout cure

<div class="byline">&#x2013;JOHN MANASSO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04583/8283320-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="218" height="280"></div>Left winger Ilya Kovalchuk was one of the leading scorers in the Karjala tournament in Finland with three goals and five points in three games while competing for Russia. Teams from four countries&mdash;Russia, Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic - competed with Finland downing Sweden in the final. The Russians finished fourth in the tournament. After a quick start, Kovalchuk had gone 10 games without a goal while playing for Kazan in the Russian league&hellip;Coach Bob Hartley found plenty of ways to keep himself busy recently in Atlanta. He officiated local youth league games, ran clinics sponsored by the team and played in a team street hockey league. &ldquo;We owe it to the community,&rdquo; Hartley said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to go home and sit on the couch with a bag of chips and a big Diet Coke just because I&rsquo;m a hockey coach.&rdquo; In a recent game, Hartley&rsquo;s presence didn&rsquo;t help the Thrashers team, which is made up of employees from ticket sales, hockey operations, community relations and other departments. They lost 11-3, but GM Don Waddell had a goal and two points&hellip;Assistant coach Brad McCrimmon joined Canada&rsquo;s entry in the Deutschland Cup as an assistant coach. &#9632;

f0019-04

Kovalchuk goes to Finland, recaptures scoring touch

<div class="byline">&#x2013;NANCY MARRAPESE-BURRELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03758/8283351-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="208" height="271"></div>Citing a need for defensive help, the Providence Bruins (AHL) dealt right winger Carl Corazzini to Hershey in exchange for former Merrimack College blueliner Darrel Scoville. Scoville has been a steady two-way player during his seven pro years; Last season, with Syracuse, he had 10 goals and 42 points in 70 games. &ldquo;He fills two needs for us,&rdquo; said coach Scott Gordon. &ldquo;First, he is a proven offensive defenseman in the AHL and will add another dimension to our defense corps. The other need is it opens up some room for our forward lines. We had too many forwards and not enough ice time to go around.&rdquo;&hellip;The Baby Bruins released three players on tryout contracts - center Kris Vernarsky, goalie Peter Hamerlik and defenseman Steve Munn. At one time, the club had high hopes for the 22-year-old Vernarsky, who played 17 games in Boston over the last two years, but it didn&rsquo;t pan out. &ldquo;In Hamerlik and Vernarsky&rsquo;s case, it was more of a case of what they haven&rsquo;t done,&rdquo; said assistant GM Jeff Gorton. &ldquo;They were both locked-out players who were given another chance to do something and they didn&rsquo;t.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0019-03

Baby Bruins make trade to bolster blueline presence

<div class="byline">&#x2013;BUCKY GLEASON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05429/8283382-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="213" height="277"></div>Sabres left winger Taylor Pyatt joined a growing number of NHLers in Europe after signing a deal with Hammarby of the Swedish league. Pyatt needed to play somewhere, especially at this time of the year. He started fast in each of the past two seasons before quickly disappearing in December. Last year, he had six goals in his first 11 games and finished with eight. He had no goals and two assists to show for his last 27 games. In 200203, in had three goals in his first five games, but just two in his next 24. The Sabres were hoping Pyatt, acquired along with Tim Connolly for Michael Peca in 2001, would have a breakthrough year this season&hellip;Rookie left winger Thomas Vanek hoped he would start his professional career in Buffalo, but he might be better off playing in Rochester alongside veteran center Chris Taylor. Taylor was leading the Americans in scoring, is sound defensively and knows the road between the AHL and NHL better than anyone else in the organization. Vanek needs work on his defense&hellip;Sabres goaltending prospect Ryan Miller was named AHL player of the week after stopping 109 of 112 shots in three wins for Rochester. &#9632;

f0019-05

Pyatt joins list of NHLers playing for European team

<div class="byline">&#x2013;RANDY SPORTAK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011339/8283413-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="214" height="276"></div>Even though he&rsquo;s now playing in France, Steve Reinprecht is only slowly absorbing the local wine culture. Sure, the Calgary Flames center knows the basics having spent a couple of months playing for Mulhouse in the French league, but he&rsquo;ll admit his wisdom is limited. &ldquo;Bordeaux is on the other side on the country, but there are still some good reds here,&rdquo; Reinprecht said. &ldquo;This region is more famous for its whites.&rdquo; Does that mean he&rsquo;s ready to call himself an expert? &ldquo;Not at all,&rdquo; he laughed. &ldquo;I just memorize what people have told me.&rdquo; One of the first NHLers to depart for Europe, along with Flames defenseman Steve Montador, Reinprecht is content to wait out the lockout in Mulhouse, located near the axis of the French, German and Swiss borders&hellip;The Flames dormant AHL affiliate, which left Saint John after the 2002-03 season, will return to life next season, with Omaha, Neb., the likely location&hellip;Goalie Roman Turek, who brought his family to Calgary in anticipation a season would be salvaged, has decided to return home to the Czech Republic to play for his old club team, Budejovice&hellip;Shean Donovan is headed to Geneva until at least mid-December. &#9632;

f0020-01

Reinprecht’s new Red Mile involves fine French wine

<div class="byline">&#x2013;TIM SASSONE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02967/8283444-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="211" height="272"></div>During recent years, public comments from Chicago Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz have been about as rare as victories by his team. Wirtz, a staunch supporter of the lockout who has mostly kept quiet, reluctantly answered a few questions at a press conference to announce a safety awareness program sponsored by the Hawks. &ldquo;(The lockout is) the saddest thing in the world,&rdquo; Wirtz said. &ldquo;The union has their expert people and the commissioner has his. It&rsquo;s a difference of philosophies. No one wants to read the Levitt Report unless you recognize what the problem is. I know what the problem is. I have to put in the money every year. But if you want my farm, you ain&rsquo;t going to get it.&rdquo;&hellip;Center Curtis Brown signed to play for San Diego in the ECHL&hellip;Goalie prospect Corey Crawford, who plays for Moncton, was named the Quebec League&rsquo;s defensive player of the month for October after going 11-3-1 with a 2.08 goals-against average&hellip;The Hawks formed a new safety awareness program with Childhelp USA and the Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois to help protect young athletes throughout the Chicago area. &#9632;

f0020-02

Hawks’ Wirtz calls lockout ‘saddest thing in the world’

<div class="byline">&#x2013;LUKE DECOCK</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03696/8283475-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Eric Staal led Lowell with 13 points in nine AHL games before sitting to nurse a &ldquo;deep bone bruise.&rdquo;</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04480/8283482-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="215" height="233"></div>Eric Staal missed only one of 82 games as a 19-year-old rookie in the NHL last season. After talang a shot off the skate in practice with Lowell, Staal has missed two games in the first month of the American League season with what the team calls a deep bone bruise. He played with the injury one weekend, then sat out the next after the sore ankle flared up in practice. Carolina assistant GM Jason Karmanos said X-rays revealed no fracture. Staal, the second pick in 2003, led the Lock Monsters with 13 points in nine games. Linemate Colin Forbes, a summer free agent signing, was second recording 11 points in 11 games&hellip;The Hurricanes aren&rsquo;t bringing Lowell in to Raleigh to play any games, but they are sponsoring a road trip for season-ticket holders to watch the Lock Monsters play in Norfolk Dec. 11&hellip;Andrew Ladd, the fourth overall pick in 2004, recovered from a pre-season shoulder injury without missing a regular season game and has nine goals and 19 points in 22 games with Calgary of the Western League&hellip;Defenseman Danny Richmond, drafted 31st overall by Carolina in 2003, scored his first pro goal in a Lowell win over Albany, 3-1. &#9632;

f0020-03

Staal given AHL breather after taking shot off toot

<div class="byline">&#x2013;ADRIAN DATER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-05282/8283513-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="213" height="270"></div>Left winger Alex Tanguay hopefully got to see some of the Swiss Alps in his brief stay in Switzerland. Perhaps he had the chance to partake in some fine cheese fondue with hot chocolate for dessert. But if he didn&rsquo;t, it is understandable: Tanguay lasted just five games with Lugano of the Swiss league before returning home with a hip injury. Tanguay was the second Colorado player to leave a European team due to injury, with defenseman John-Michael Liles (foot) the other. Tanguay is expected to recover before the year is over&hellip;The stars will come out in Aspen Dec. 4 for the first annual Rocky Mountain Classic. Organized by Adam Foote, Dan Hinote and Liles, the round-robin charity tourney features Joe Sakic and Rob Blake, and many Hollywood stars, such as Kurt Russell, Kiefer Sutherland and (possibly) Matt Damon and Ben Affleck&hellip;Hinote and Liles both were still rehabbing injuries into late November, so they were drawing a full paycheck from the Avs&hellip;Blake was considering going to Europe for a couple of weeks - barring a lockout resolution - to play in an IMG-created all-star tour. Blake said he is folly healed from off-season shoulder surgery. &#9632;

f0020-05

Tanguay’s stint in Europe cut short due to hip injury

<div class="byline">&#x2013;AARON PORTZLINE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-06226/8283544-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="218" height="273"></div>Here&rsquo;s a perverse thought: the lockout might actually help the Columbus Blue Jackets - and we&rsquo;re not talking about finances. The Jackets, with four years behind them as an NHL franchise, are stuck in wait-and-see mode with many of their top prospects. They have finished last in the Central Division the past three seasons, despite the emergence of Rick Nash and Nikolai Zherdev. So the theory goes, if there&rsquo;s no 2004-05 season, prospects such as Dan Fritsche, Joakim Lidstrom, Alexander Svitov and others will get a year of development without being rushed to the NHL level and without the Jackets enduring another long NHL season. Columbus GM-president Doug MacLean considered it - for a moment. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d rather be playing,&rdquo; MacLean said. But all is not lost, he conceded. &ldquo;When we get back to playing, our guys might be six months or a year older, which could mean a little bigger, stronger, faster, all those things.&rdquo;&hellip;Goalie Arturs Irbe is once again in rehabilitation following knee surgery. He had a second operation on the knee one month ago in Colorado. The Jackets acquired Irbe from Carolina over the summer to serve as backup to Marc Denis. &#9632;

f0020-06

Columbus’s Maclean says lockout might help prospects

<div class="byline">&#x2013;MIKE HEIKA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-07191/8283575-1-eng-US/f0020-072.jpg" title="f0020-07" width="217" height="239"></div>It didn&rsquo;t take Marty Turco long to find a place to play. The Dallas Stars goalie will take his unconventional game to Sweden to play for Djurgarden. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really sure what the style of play is there,&rdquo; Turco said, &ldquo;but I can tell you if I change, it will only be more aggressive. There&rsquo;s a lot of ice over there to skate on.&rdquo; Turco, who played briefly in the Original Stars League, had hip surgery in the off-season and said he feels healthy and quick. He will take his family with him to Sweden. &ldquo;We discussed it and decided it would be a great learning experience,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an opportunity to do something different.&rdquo;&hellip;Left wing prospect Jussi Jokkinen had three goals for Finland in a 5-2 win over Sweden in the final game of the Karjala Cup (See pg. 28 for more on the Karjala Cup)&hellip;Right wing prospect Loui Eriksson had three goals in three games for Sweden at the Four Nations under-20 tournament&hellip;Left winger Brenden Morrow has a goal and 10 points in 10 games with Oklahoma City of the Central League&hellip;Blueliner Philippe Boucher (eye) and center Stu Barnes (shoulder) both finished their rehab and have been taken off the Stars&rsquo; payroll. &#9632;

f0020-07

Turco takes family along as goalie heads to Sweden

<div class="byline">&#x2013;NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-011081/8283606-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="216" height="260"></div>In his first season as the No. 1 goalie for the Red Wings&rsquo; American League affiliate in Grand Rapids, Joey MacDonald is off to a strong start: an 8-3-0 record with a 1.54 goals-against average and. 945 save percentage. He also had two shutouts, giving him 11 for his Grand Rapids career, a franchise record. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s grown into the job well,&rdquo; coach Danton Cole told the Grand Rapids Press. &ldquo;Marc Lamothe did a great job for us the last two years and I think we&rsquo;re seeing some of the benefits of how he helped Joey along. It&rsquo;s fun to watch him play.&rdquo;&hellip;Blueliner Jiri Fischer, who suffered a separated shoulder playing for the Czech Republic in the World Cup, reportedly is close to full strength and intends to play in his homeland&hellip;Goalie Manny Legace is reportedly looking at playing in Europe&hellip;Right winger Mark Mowers is skating in New Hampshire and reportedly may sign an AHL contract with Grand Rapids&hellip;Several current and former Wings including defenseman Chris Chelios, center Pavel Datsyuk, center Kris Draper and defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom are expected to play in former Wings center Igor Larionov&rsquo;s farewell game in Russia, Dec. 13. &#9632;

f0021-01

MacDonald’s goaltending has big Impact on Griffins

<div class="byline">&#x2013;ROB TYCHKOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02691/8283637-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="214" height="284"></div>Raffi Torres is sporting a nine-stitch cut on his throat, four stitches inside his mouth, a welt under his right eye and had to shove his front tooth back in place after it was nearly knocked out of its socket. The winger also had four goals in five games since joining the Edmonton Road Runners. Clearly, Torres is doing more than simply putting in time. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been a perimeter type player,&rdquo; Torres said. &ldquo;I like going through the middle. If I start trying to change my game it would only be hurting me. I came down here to play the way I always play.&rdquo; Like a bull in a china shop&hellip;Center Jesse Niinimaki, who&rsquo;d been playing in Finland since Edmonton drafted him 15th overall in 2002, signed an AHL deal with the Road Runners and joined the team in Hamilton for the final game of their six-game trip&hellip;The Road Runners&rsquo; travel day from Salt Lake City to Houston consisted of a four-hour flight and a five-hour bus ride that arrived at 4:30 a.m. the morning of the game. As assistant coach Kelly Buchberger tried for a comfortable sleeping position on the bus, a trainer leaned over and whispered: &ldquo;Welcome to the AHL, Bucky.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0021-02

Torres paying heavy price for scoring AHL goals

<div class="byline">&#x2013;MICHAEL RUSSO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03441/8283668-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="215" height="284"></div>Eric Beaudoin played 30 games for the Panthers as a checker last season, but the 6-foot-5 left winger has been a victim of the lockout in San Antonio. Beaudoin, who was named to play in the AHL All-Star Game last season (but didn&rsquo;t play due to his recall with Florida), has seen his ice time slashed with NHLers like Stephen Weiss, Nathan Horton and Juraj Kolnik playing in the minors, and the emergence of players like Greg Jacina, Kamil Kreps and Rob Globke. After scoring 20 goals and 42 points in 38 games last year, Beaudoin had just two goals in 10 games and was a healthy scratch four times&hellip;Even though he&rsquo;s 19, Horton might not represent Canada at the World Junior Championship in North Dakota. Panthers GM Mike Keenan has told Team Canada that Horton could be released from San Antonio Dec. 20, but that would mean Horton would miss the Canadian evaluation camp. Team Canada doesn&rsquo;t allow players who don&rsquo;t attend the camp to play in the tournament. If Horton attended Canada&rsquo;s camp on Dec. 12 and then went to the WJC, he&rsquo;d miss 11 AHL games. By leaving Dec. 20, he would only miss seven games. &#9632;

f0021-03

Beaudoin feeling the pinch of NHLers playing in AHL

<div class="byline">&#x2013;MATT MCHALE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04329/8283699-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="197" height="269"></div>Left winger Luc Robitaille might have played his final NHL season because of the lockout, but his head is still in the game. Robitaille and Kings announcer Jim Fox spent much of October hosting a nightly cable highlight show that simulated results of NHL games. Presented by G4Tech TV, a station that caters to a 1220 male demographic in the U.S. and Canada, Robitaille and FOX gave results and analysis of highlights from simulated games using high tech graphics from the wildly popular EA Sports NHL series. &ldquo;Creating the highlights was a lot of work, but it was a great experience for everyone,&rdquo; said Kings TV producer Bob Borgen, who supervised the project. &ldquo;We all agreed it was too much fun not to do.&rdquo;&hellip;Fox and longtime broadcast partner Bob Miller represented the Kings at Hall of Fame ceremonies in early November&hellip;The Kings had a connection with two of the inductees. Paul Coffey played for the club late in his career (1991-93), while Larry Murphy broke in with Kings during the 1980-81 season and was Fox&rsquo;s roommate. He left a year later in a contract dispute and went on to a record-setting career with Pittsburgh, Toronto and Detroit. &#9632;

f0021-04

Robitaille spends lockout learning about broadcasting

<div class="byline">&#x2013;BRIAN MURPHY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-05224/8283730-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="219" height="249"></div>Center Brian Rolston has yet to skate a shift for the Wild, but the team&rsquo;s most prolific free agent acquisition has been busy building a new life for his family in Minnesota. The lockout has allowed Rolston to move his pregnant wife, Jennifer, and sons Ryder and Brody, ages one and three, from Boston to their new home outside the Twin Cities and to build a 20-by-40 foot outdoor rink. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s nothing to keep in shape with, just something to get my youngest one on skates,&rdquo; Rolston said. More than four months after signing the richest contract in team history (three years, $9.6 million), Rolston remains an enigma to Wild fans. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s disappointing because I was excited about starting with a new team,&rdquo; Rolston said. &ldquo;But it was always in the back of my mind the season wasn&rsquo;t going to start, so I&rsquo;ve been prepared for it.&rdquo;&hellip;Former Wild center Darby Hendrickson returned to Minnesota from Latvia after burying his best friend and Riga 2000 teammate, Sergei Zholtok, who collapsed and died of heart failure after a Nov. 3 game in Belarus. Hendrickson was by Zholtok&rsquo;s side as paramedics frantically tried to revive him outside their dressing room. &ldquo;As difficult as it was, I&rsquo;m glad I was there,&rdquo; Hendrickson said. &ldquo;I know he would have wanted me there. He&rsquo;s a guy I loved.&rdquo;&hellip;The Stanley Cup visited two Twin Cities elementary schools Nov. 16 for assemblies that recognized 50-plus sixth-graders who improved their grades. &#9632;

f0021-05

Rolston takes time to settle in after joining Wild as free agent

<div class="byline">&#x2013;HERB ZURKOWSKY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-07" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-07144/8283761-1-eng-US/f0021-072.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Habs captain Saku Koivu is getting paid while recovering from a wrist injury.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-06171/8283768-1-eng-US/f0021-062.jpg" title="f0021-06" width="214" height="245"></div>GM Bob Gainey is upset with NHL players going to Europe during the NHL lockout and receiving salaries. Were they sitting at home, doing nothing, they might be more committed to finding a solution to the impasse, he said. Gainey&rsquo;s Montreal Canadiens have 13 players in Europe, more than any team. The GM continues to believe the lockout will be settled this season, although he doesn&rsquo;t have any evidence to support his view. He said nothing will occur until one side believes it has reached the crisis point. &ldquo;The important thing,&rdquo; Gainey said, &ldquo;is to be ready if and when there&rsquo;s a settlement. And I think we will be.&rdquo;&hellip;Former Canadiens GM Rejean Houle said the owners were the losers in 1995, during the last NHL labor strife. Houle, who worked under the old collective bargaining agreement, said the owners were pressured into the recently expired deal to fill the number of new arenas opening at the time. &ldquo;We gave away too much,&rdquo; said Houle, who works in community relations for the Canadiens. &ldquo;Allowing players to become free agents at 31, or after they were in the league for 10 years, both contributed to the average salary going up.&rdquo;&hellip;Captain Saku Koivu remains in Montreal receiving treatment for a wrist injury suffered during the World Cup and continues to draw his $4.5-million salary. The player, team and its medical staff are setting up a deal to allow Koivu to return to Finland for his rehabilitation. &#9632;

f0021-07

Gainey critical of NHL players skating in Europe during lockout

<div class="byline">&#x2013;DAVID BOCLAIR</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011221/8283799-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="217" height="243"></div>Nashville GM David Poile has said he intends to release blueliner Ryan Suter to play for the U.S. at the 2005 World Junior Championship. The first-year pro was a critical part of last year&rsquo;s gold medal-winning effort and had yet to establish himself in Milwaukee of the American League because of a separated shoulder sustained Oct. 23. The injury was expected to keep Suter out until mid-to-late November. The Preds believe a sizable role for Suter at the tournament should help speed up his return to form&hellip;Right winger Jordin Tootoo had just one goal and no assists in eight games with Milwaukee. He also missed three games because of a strained groin. Management is hopeful he can regain some of the scoring touch he displayed with Brandon of the Western League (145 points in his final two seasons with the junior team)&hellip;Left winger Jim McKenzie and assistant GM Ray Shero are assistant coaches for the same local youth hockey team on which their sons play&hellip;Defenseman Kimmo Timonen is on his second European team, Brynas (Sweden). He played three games with Lugano of the Swiss league earlier this fall. &#9632;

f0022-01

Predators believe WJC role will help Suter in recovery

<div class="byline">&#x2013;RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03677/8283830-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="732" height="1288"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Colin White worries about how the lockout will affect hockey&rsquo;s dwindling popularity.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04489/8283837-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="193" height="274"></div>J-P Parise has been there. The former Islanders and North Stars left winger knows what it takes to make it to the NHL and then succeed. That is why Parise believes his son Zach will benefit from this season in the American League instead of what many thought would be his rookie season with the New Jersey Devils. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a good way for him to go,&rdquo; said the elder Parise. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an adjustment. He&rsquo;s working hard. Sometimes he makes mistakes that wouldn&rsquo;t be as prevalent in college. And you can&rsquo;t make those mistakes in the NHL. You always want to wish the best for your kid, such as playing in the NHL, but this gives him a chance to get stronger.&rdquo; GM Lou Lamoriello said the Devils are pleased with Parise&rsquo;s progress at Albany. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good anytime you can grow slowly and go through some ups and downs,&rdquo; Lamoriello said&hellip;Defenseman Colin White is worried about the state of the game. &ldquo;I just hope this doesn&rsquo;t hurt the game too badly,&rdquo; White said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not a strong sport. There&rsquo;s football, baseball, basketball, NASCAR, even bowling. Then we&rsquo;re down there. We were going in the right direction until this happened.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0022-03

Former NHLer Parise says AHL best route for son Zach

<div class="byline">&#x2013;PETER BOTTE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-07231/8283868-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="209" height="283"></div>Islanders legend Denis Potvin believes someone should go over the heads of Gary Bettman and Bob Goodenow and try to get Canadian prime minister Paul Martin and U.S. president George W. Bush involved to hasten a new labor deal. &ldquo;Maybe people like (that) could make a phone call to try to get (them) back to the table,&rdquo; said Potvin to the Ottawa Sun. &ldquo;I believe it happened in baseball in 1994 when Bill Clinton stepped in because baseball was their national pastime. I&rsquo;m sure Paul Martin is feeling the same way about hockey in Canada.&rdquo;&hellip;Goalie Rick DiPietro continued biding his time during the lockout by representing the U.S. at the Deutschland Cup in mid-November. But like many Bostonians, much of DiPietro&rsquo;s antsiness over the labor war was usurped for a time by his beloved Red Sox winning their first World Series title since 1918. &ldquo;I watched every gut-wrenching second of it and couldn&rsquo;t be happier,&rdquo; DiPietro said&hellip;Islanders TV analyst Joe Micheletti, a former NHLer and assistant coach, recently underwent surgery and treatment for testicular cancer. Thankfully, Micheletti said his cancer was detected early and that he is in recovery. &#9632;

f0022-07

Potvln thinks politicians should get involved in CBA

<div class="byline">&#x2013;LARRY BROOKS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02896/8283899-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="220" height="269"></div>Jamie Lundmark&rsquo;s working vacation in northern Italy ended last week, with the Ranger center deciding to return to North America to continue the lockout season with the American League&rsquo;s Hartford Wolf Pack The 23-year-old pivot had been playing with Bolzano of the Italian League, but after recording 19 points (10 goals) in 14 games, Lundmark reached the conclusion that the level of competition was not up to his standards and that his stay was not playing a constructive role in his development. Indications are that Lundmark, whose progress was interrupted last year by a major knee injury, will play for the minor league salary of $35,000 that was part of the qualifying offer he signed with the Rangers in July&hellip;While Lundmark was saying hello, defensemen Fedor Tyutin and Maxim Kondratiev were saying goodbye to Hartford, both having left to play in the Russian league. While Kondratiev was exercising a clause in his contract that allowed him to return to his native land, the Rangers granted permission to Tyutin to join his countryman. Both are subject to recall by the Rangers in the event the lockout ends this season. &#9632;

f0022-02

Hold the veal scalloplni, Lundmark’s headed home

<div class="byline">&#x2013;BRUCE GARRIOCH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05361/8283930-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="217" height="268"></div>Dominik Hasek is determined to bring a Stanley Cup to the Senators this season. He&rsquo;s just not sure he is going to get the chance. Signed as a free agent in the off-season, Hasek has been working with the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s of the Ontario League as a part-time goalie consultant during the lockout and he&rsquo;s still hopeful there will be a season. &ldquo;I just want there to be talks&hellip;that&rsquo;s the only way they&rsquo;re going to fix this,&rdquo; Hasek said. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter (who picks up the phone). They just have to get back to talking. Hopefully, that&rsquo;s going to happen soon.&rdquo;&hellip;The NHLPA gave centers Jason Spezza and Antoine Vermette, and defensemen Anton Volchenkov and Brian Pothier permission to play for Binghamton, Ottawa&rsquo;s AHL affiliate in games being played against St. John&rsquo;s Dec. 1 and Dec. 3 at Toronto&rsquo;s Air Canada Centre. &ldquo;NHL players who were assigned to the minors prior to the owners&rsquo; lockout can fulfill the commitment to the team and their teammates by participating in scheduled games,&rdquo; said union senior director Ted Saskin in a statement&hellip;Right winger Martin Havlat signed with Moscow Dynamo of the Russian league for $1.2 million this season. &#9632;

f0022-05

Hasek joins growing chorus of those wanting CBA talks

<div class="byline">&#x2013;WAYNE FISH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06282/8283961-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="219" height="250"></div>Don&rsquo;t worry about Joni Pitkanen gaining some valuable experience with the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American League. The young Flyers defenseman has added some physical edginess to his finesse repertoire. That was evident in a post-game, stickswinging incident with the Binghamton Senators&rsquo; Jason Spezza Nov. 13. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve asked (Pitkanen) to be more competitive in his own end,&rdquo; said Phantoms coach John Stevens. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s made people pay a price going in the corner with him.&rdquo; Pitkanen said: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to play a more physical game. I&rsquo;m trying to play harder defensively. When you play harder, you&rsquo;re more in the game.&rdquo;&hellip;Left winger Todd Fedoruk, who suffered a broken orbital bone in his first game with the Phantoms Nov. 3, began rehabilitation work but no return date is set&hellip;Goaltender Antero Niittymaki has been a key factor in the Phantoms&rsquo; franchise-record 11-game winning streak. Look for him to challenge Sean Burke for the backup position to Robert Esche when NHL play resumes. Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said Niittymaki is &ldquo;ready to play in the NHL now.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0022-06

Pitkanen’s stint in minors adds physical edge to game

<div class="byline">&#x2013;JERRY BROWN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-08185/8283992-1-eng-US/f0022-082.jpg" title="f0022-08" width="193" height="276"></div>Since the franchise moved to Phoenix from Winnipeg in 1996, the number of former NHLers who make their winter homes in the Sonoran Desert has swelled. So when they were looking to rustle up an NHL Alumni team to - headline the &ldquo;99 Hours of Hockey&rdquo; marathon scheduled to take place Nov. 18-24 at Glendale Arena, there was no shortage of candidates. In addition to Coyotes GM Mike Barnett, coach Rick Bowness, and radio analyst Charlie Simmer, ex-NHLers Craig Janney, Paul Ranheim, Bob Essensa, Louie DeBrusk, Dave Ellett and Jamie Baker, among others, will play a team of local law enforcement and fire department personnel&hellip;Jon Sim&rsquo;s time in Utah (AHL) was short. The Grizzlies sent the left winger to Philadelphia (AHL) for center Peter White, in the hopes of helping a Utah offense that has struggled. White has three AHL scoring race titles&hellip;After 10 games, no one on Utah has more than two goals. The team has just 16 goals-for, while goalies David LeNeveu (17 in six games) and Jean-Marc Pelletier (19 in six games) have yielded 36 goals - with a leaky defense giving them no help. &#9632;

f0022-08

NHL alums living in Arizona ready for hockey marathon

<div class="byline">&#x2013;JOE STARKEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-011102/8284023-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="212" height="279"></div>Ryan Whitney still needs work on his all-around game. Whitney, drafted fifth overall in 2002, had no goals, five assists and was a team-worst minus-3 through 14 games with Wilkes-Barre in the American League. &ldquo;Offensively, he brings the same effective game every night,&rdquo; said Wilkes-Barre assistant coach Mike Yeo. &ldquo;In his own end, he&rsquo;s a little inconsistent. Sometimes, it&rsquo;s a matter of winning 1-on-1 battles and competing a little harder. No one&rsquo;s expecting him to be an enforcer, but 1-on-1 in front of net he needs to be better.&rdquo; The 6-foot-4, 202-pound Whitney led Boston University in scoring last season. &ldquo;He has great skills, so many great qualities as a player, so many things you hope for in a prospect,&rdquo; Yeo said&hellip;After leaving the Finnish league, Penguins left winger Ryan Malone made an immediate impact for Team USA at the Deutschland Cup title in Hannover, Germany. He scored the game-winner in a 4-0 win over Slovakia&hellip;Left winger Sergei Anshakov had no goals in seven games with Central Army&hellip;Defenseman Noah Welch, drafted 54th overall by the Penguins in 2001, was named Harvard&rsquo;s team captain. &#9632;

f0023-01

Penguins prospect Whitney taking tiny steps in minnrs

<div class="byline">&#x2013;DERRICK GOOLD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03565/8284054-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="735" height="1293"><figcaption class="caption-body">Blues center Pavol Demitra, an unrestricted free agent, is lighting it up in the Slovakian league.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04409/8284061-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="214" height="267"></div>During his visits to Worcester of the American League, Blues coach Mike Kitchen was struck by one column on the roster sheet: the birth dates. &ldquo;This is really a young team&hellip;in age, in experience,&rdquo; Kitchen said. The IceCats&rsquo; top nine scorers through 12 games average 23 years. The strongest cluster of them range from 20 to &lsquo;old-timer&rsquo; Mike Glumac, a 24-year-old right winger in his second AHL season. Blueliner Dennis Wideman, 21, with four goals and 13 points in 12 games, has been an early season revelation, while right winger Alexei Shkotov has been solid with three goals and seven points in 11 games&hellip;Free agent center Pavol Demitra, whom the Blues would like back, but at a lower salary than the $6.5 million he made last season, had 24 assists and 33 points in his first 22 games with Dukla Trencin in Slovakia&hellip;The Blues scheduled a charity game for Dec. 11, pitting Blues alumni vs. Norris Division alumni. The Blues media relations office noticed this fun fact about the teams: Nine of the alumni had at least 1,000 penalty minutes, totaling 16,133 PIMs between them. Legendary enforcer Joey Kocur led the way with 2,519. &#9632;

f0023-03

Young St. Louis prospects tearing it up in Worcester

<div class="byline">&#x2013;ROSS MCKEON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-07196/8284092-1-eng-US/f0023-072.jpg" title="f0023-07" width="212" height="278"></div>The Sharks spent $100,000 to put on an American League game in San Jose between its top affiliate, the Cleveland Barons, and the Edmonton Road Runners. The team mailed free tickets to approximately 11,500 Sharks season-ticket holders and sold another 4,000 for $5 each (all proceeds went to The Sharks&rsquo; Foundation, earmarked for charity). The majority of financial outlay for the game included airfare for both teams, hotel accommodations, per diem, one-game refunds to season-ticket holders in Cleveland and reimbursement of travel expenses for league officials working the game in San Jose. A crowd of 11,784 watched as the Road Runners beat the Barons, 2-0. The Sharks don&rsquo;t plan to schedule another such game for San Jose unless the NHL season is canceled&hellip;The Nov. 9 AHL game raised $20,000 for the Sharks&rsquo; Foundation and fans attending the game donated a total of 5,977 pounds of food as well as $1,500 in cash donations that will go to a local food bank&hellip;Spotted on the streets of San Francisco: left winger Scott Thornton on his way to attending a concert by punk band Social Distortion. &#9632;

f0023-07

Sharks organize AHL game to give back to community

<div class="byline">&#x2013;TOM JONES</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02769/8284123-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="218" height="277"></div>It could have been a great day. Instead, it was merely good when Lightning players received their Stanley Cup championship rings in a quiet, private ceremony and lunch in Tampa. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;ll ever forget the treatment the NHL has given our team in trying not to let this happen,&rdquo; said Lightning center Tim Taylor after the Nov. 16 ceremony. &ldquo;It was a joke. For this community not to share in this? I think it&rsquo;s a slap in the face the NHL has given our fans because they should&rsquo;ve been involved. This should have been at the Forum in front of 22,000 people as we walk up and get the rings and open it up and show the fans&hellip;I personally feel the NHL has taken some of that away from us.&rdquo; The league had concerns about Lightning ownership hosting an event for the players in the middle of an ugly lockout, but finally agreed to let the team pass out the rings&hellip;Defenseman Dan Boyle has agreed to play for Djurgarden of the Swedish league. He is the 10th Lightning player to go to Europe for the lockout&hellip;Taylor has offers to play in France and Switzerland, but believes his duties as the Lightning&rsquo;s player representative require him to stay put for now. &#9632;

f0023-02

Bolts’ Taylor furious at NHL for tarnished ring ceremony

<div class="byline">&#x2013;KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-05299/8284154-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="215" height="280"></div>With no NHL contract in place, Alexei Ponikarovsky headed to Russia facing an uncertain future. The 24-year-old Ukrainian signed with Khimik Voskresensk of the Russian league, but doesn&rsquo;t have the security of a contract when the NHL starts up again. He was the only regular Maple Leaf not signed over the summer, largely because he&rsquo;s a restricted free agent who didn&rsquo;t have arbitration rights. &ldquo;In a sense, there is a bit more of a risk involved,&rdquo; said Alex Belepolsky, Ponikarovsky&rsquo;s agent. &ldquo;But he needs to stay in game shape.&rdquo;&hellip;Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment president Richard Peddie took issue with Forbes magazine, which claimed the Maple Leafs led the league last season in operating income at $14.1 million. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t recognize that number,&rdquo; Peddie said. &ldquo;They have no access to our numbers. The only conclusion I can come to is that they&rsquo;re making it up.&rdquo; Peddie said the magazine didn&rsquo;t take into account that the corporation that owns the Leafs is carrying $360 million in debt, which costs $27 million in interest payments every year and that the organization pays $7.6 million in property taxes. &#9632;

f0023-05

Ponikarovsky inks in Russia despite lacking an NHL deal

<div class="byline">&#x2013;ELLIOTT PAP</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-06236/8284185-1-eng-US/f0023-062.jpg" title="f0023-06" width="192" height="275"></div>The lockout didn&rsquo;t stop Canucks owner John McCaw from doing a little business with local developer Francesco Aquilini. McCaw sold Aquilini 50 per cent of his interest in Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment, the company that owns the Canucks and General Motors Place. Aquilini refused to divulge how much it cost him to join the NHL&rsquo;s ownership club, but based on a figure of $250 million (Cdn.) for the entire empire, it likely cost him half that amount. Aquilini said he would be a silent partner and wouldn&rsquo;t ask for changes in the management team headed by Orca Bay CEO Stan McCammon and new GM Dave Nonis. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve committed to being investors; not managers,&rdquo; said Aquilini, a 44-year-old east Vancouver native&hellip;Defenseman Ed Jovanovski was cleared to play in mid-November and is longer receiving portions of his $4.75 million salary. Jovanovski suffered knee and rib injuries in the World Cup. There are no Canucks now being paid due to injury&hellip;Left winger Brad May&rsquo;s big fundraiser set for Dec. 12 lost two of its marquee players when Rob Blake and Glen Murray joined IMG&rsquo;s hockey tour of Europe. &#9632;

f0023-06

New ownership partner won’t meddle on moves

<div class="byline">&#x2013;DAVE FAY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-08164/8284216-1-eng-US/f0023-082.jpg" title="f0023-08" width="209" height="277"></div>Ted Leonsis, the loquacious majority owner of the Capitals, suffers from the same hockey withdrawal as other fans&mdash;only he can&rsquo;t talk about it unless he wants to fork over serious dough to the NHL in the way of fines. So the AOL executive invited a few dozen message board regulars to dinner so they could discuss anything that came up - other than the labor dispute. According to postings by the guests present, the owner was a genial host, there was much hockey talk and they were impressed, especially by the fact nobody tried to sell them anything. Leonsis&rsquo; reaction was unavailable&hellip;Defenseman Jason Doig has recovered from a wrist injury - that caused him to miss the end of last season, meaning he is no longer on the payroll. He had been the only Capital being paid for medical reasons&hellip;Swedish defenseman Josef Boumedienne, who had six goals in 13 games for Brynas in Sweden, has moved to the east a few miles, signing to play with Karpat Oulu in Finland where he will be reunited with former Capital Michael Nylander. Reportedly, the complex tax situation in Sweden had more to do with the move than anything else. &#9632;

f0023-08

Leonsis willing to talk, but not about…you know

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div>Alexander Svitov has been the proverbial fish swimming upstream this season.Here he is, a native of Russia, agreeing it was best that he skate with the American League&rsquo;s Syracuse Crunch instead of staying at home in Europe where so many locked-out NHLers are working. &ldquo;I want to play hockey, I don&rsquo;t care where right now,&rdquo; Svitov said.He also wants to play hockey in North America next season, preferably with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He&rsquo;s on the final year of his contract. So coming to Syracuse and showing the Jackets what he can do with his 6-foot-3, 198-pound frame was important.&ldquo;I must play for my next contract,&rdquo; said Svitov, drafted third overall in 2001 by Tampa Bay. &ldquo;Columbus is a young team and I have a big chance to play for them.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011175/8284247-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="219" height="346"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALEXANDER SVITOV</figcaption></div>This going-against-the-flow isn&rsquo;t new for the talented center. He has never come close to fulfilling the draft-day promise. In 103 NHL games in his first two pro seasons (74 with Tampa Bay, then 29 with Columbus last season after a Jan. 27 trade), Svitov has scored only six goals and 19 points.But Crunch coach Gary Agnew likes what he has seen from Svitov. He has worked on his defense and his skating. His 42 penalty minutes in 15 games are a testament to his feistiness.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s doing all the things he needs to do to stay in the organization,&rdquo; Agnew said. &ldquo;Defensively you couldn&rsquo;t ask for much more. He&rsquo;s backchecking his heart out.&rdquo;Offensively, the Crunch would like to see more than four goals and eight points.&ldquo;When you see the skill, the size, the reach and the shot, you&rsquo;d like more output,&rdquo; Agnew said. &ldquo;But I think that&rsquo;s something that&rsquo;s going to come. The upside on this guy is huge.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-01

No Europe for Svitov: it’s Crunch time

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03589/8284278-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="979" height="1411"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pierre-Marc Bouchard matched his goal total from last year - the locked-out Wild player had four goals in 15 games with Houston.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02835/8284285-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="237" height="229"></div><h2>AHL WEST NOTEBOOK</h2>For now, Chris Chelios will keep on living on the wild side, continuing his crash course on bobsledding - without crashing - with an eye on the 2006 Winter Olympics.But Chelios hasn&rsquo;t given up on hockey yet. The future Hall of Famer has agreed to a contract with the Chicago Wolves and has found insurance, but won&rsquo;t join the American League team until the fate of the NHL has been determined.Chelios, 42, was initially set to begin play with the Wolves on or around Nov. 24, but he wants to be fair to players and fans in Chicago.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to come in for a month as a publicity stunt, then leave if the NHL starts up,&rdquo; he told the Detroit News.FINE MEMORY Ryan Miller maintained all along he hadn&rsquo;t forgotten how to stop the puck, even after he was pulled from the season-opening start for giving up six goals in 40 minutes and even when his goals-against average hovered well over 5.00 after two weeks of play.He was certainly correct.Miller earned player-of-the-week honors Nov. 14 after allowing three goals in three games: a 1-0 shutout of Hamilton, a 2-1 shootout win over Syracuse and a 4-2 win at Syracuse. He stopped 109 shots (for a. 973 save percentage). After an 0-5-0 start, he was 7-6-0 with a. 915 save percentage and a 2.73 GAA.&ldquo;You adjust things that might have been a little off and learn from your mistakes,&rdquo; Miller said. &ldquo;You see Stanley Cup-champion goalies go through tough stretches. But teams always want goalies with experience because they&rsquo;ve handled adversity and come back from it.&rdquo;SHOOTOUT CRITIC The tiebreaker shootout has brought game-ending excitement to the AHL, but not everyone likes it.Syracuse goalie Pascal Leclaire was among the top 10 in save percentage (.934) and top 15 in GAA (2.10), but his record (4-4-3) was suffering thanks to three shootout losses.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think any goalie likes it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Fans enjoy it, but sometimes you play a tough game, especially on the road and a tie is good.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK The Cullen brothers, Joe of Edmonton and Matt of Houston, each scored a goal in the Road Runners&rsquo; 6-4 win over the Aeros Nov. 14&hellip;After an 0-5-0 start, Cleveland goaltender Nolan Schaefer won back-to-back games, including a 33-save, 3-0 shutout at Hamilton Nov. 13&hellip;Edmonton goalie Tyler Moss made 33 saves in a 2-0 win over Cleveland in a game played in San Jose Nov. 9 in front of 11,784 at the HP Pavilion. &#9632;

f0024-03

If no NHL, Wolves get Chelios

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-05275/8284316-1-eng-US/f0024-052.jpg" title="f0024-05" width="542" height="261"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04405/8284323-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="145" height="141"></div>The International Ice Hockey Federation is the world&rsquo;s governing body for hockey. In each issue this season, we profile one of 63 national association members.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>ESTONIA</h2>Member of IIHF since 1992Pop. of country 1,341,664Registered players 1,648No. of ice facilities 7Major league (five teams)National League2004 champ Panter-Hansa2003-04 top scorersDmitri Raskidajev, Valk TartuAleksei Filippov, Valk TartuSergei Morkovnikov, Valk TartuAssociation website <a href="http://www.thehockeynews.com">www.thehockeynews.com</a>Head office Tallinn2004 world ranking No. 24Best world rank No. 19 (1998) &#9632;

f0024-05

HOCKEY NATION, AT A GLANCE

<div class="byline">BY MIKE MASTOVICH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-06215/8284354-1-eng-US/f0024-062.jpg" title="f0024-06" width="218" height="207"></div><h2>NOTEBOOK</h2>Past and present Louisiana IceGators shared the ice as one of the most successful franchises in ECHL history celebrated 10 years.&ldquo;I played in a lot of cities and had good experiences pretty much everywhere, but nothing really compares to the first few years in Lafayette,&rdquo; said former goalie Bryan Schoen, who traveled from Minneapolis to attend Reunion Night at the Cajundome Nov. 12.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s something that you had to be there for. The fans there were the same as 10 years ago. It was a special place to play.&rdquo;Louisiana has the four highest regular season average attendances in ECHL history, including the all-time best 11,433 fans per game in 1996-97.Nine other former IceGators joined Schoen. Seven-time ECHL all-star and league MVP Chris Valicevic, 17-year pro Ron Handy and seven-year IceGator Ryan Shanahan all still reside in Lafayette. Joey Middlesteadt, Jason McQuat and Doug Bonner also remain in Louisiana. Rob Weingartner traveled from Wichita. Former enforcers Rob McCaig and Eric Cloutier also attended.A reunion golf tournament raised $5,000 for the Louisiana Amateur Hockey Association.TO THE DOGS The dog days of November? Seven-month-old German Shepherd Cash was set to drop the ceremonial first puck before a Nov. 20 game against Charlotte. Cash and officer Hal Harris are members of the Greenville county sheriff&rsquo;s office K-9 unit.San Diego planned a &ldquo;Pooch Party&rdquo; Nov. 17. Fans and their dogs were permitted to attend a game against Bakersfield as long as dogs remained on a leash, had updated shots and &ldquo;sat&rdquo; in a designated section of the Sports Arena.FAMILIAR FOES It wasn&rsquo;t the final, but there was a sense of familiarity when Florida visited the Idaho Steelheads for a three-game series, a rematch of the 2004 Kelly Cup final. Idaho won two games, unofficially retaining the ECHL title the Steelheads took in five games last spring. &#9632;

f0024-06

IceGators celebrate decade of popularity

<div class="byline">BY ROBIN SHORT</div>Though he made the team out of training camp as an 18-year-old, Los Angeles Kings rookie right winger Dustin Brown had a frustrating 2003-04.First there was the issue of sporadic ice time. Then there was a nagging ankle injury, which caused him to miss nearly half the season. And when he did return from the disabled list, Brown found himself a press box regular for nine straight games.So it&rsquo;s no wonder Brown is enjoying life with Manchester of the American League where he&rsquo;s regaining the touch that prompted the Kings to make him the 13th overall pick in 2003.&ldquo;It was great in L.A. last year,&rdquo; said the Monarchs&rsquo; right winger. &ldquo;Off the ice, it was a great experience to be with guys like Luc (Robitaille) and (Ian) Laperriere and all those veterans. But it was a struggle with confidence from the beginning of the year and that&rsquo;s something I need to work on. I get down on myself too easily, even when I was in junior.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-011057/8284385-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="221" height="351"><figcaption class="caption-body">DUSTIN BROWN</figcaption></div>Brown registered just one goal in 31 games last season after coming off a 34-goal, 76-point 2002-03 campaign with Guelph of the Ontario League.&ldquo;Last year was quite a step up from junior,&rdquo; Brown, 20, said, &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re not performing, you start to think you might not be able to play with these guys.&rdquo;But Brown was performing from the outset, winning AHL player of the week honors in early November with five goals in two games. He had eight goals and 17 points through 12 games to rank sixth in AHL scoring.An Ithaca, N.Y., native, Brown elected to go the major junior route rather than U.S. college.&ldquo;The OHL is almost like a mini-NHL,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;with the way they practice and play. I think it was the best thing for my development.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0025-01

Brown feeling like a king in Manchester

<div class="byline">BY ROBIN SHORT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03491/8284416-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="999" height="1446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rookie center Matt Koalska, a University of Minnesota grad, has one goal and three points in 12 games for Bridgeport this season.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02720/8284423-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="239" height="232"></div><h2>AHL EAST NOTEBOOK</h2>Nine years after its relationship with St. Louis was severed following a decade-long minor pro affiliation, Peoria, Ill., returns as the primary affiliate of the NHL&rsquo;s Blues.St. Louis sold the AHL&rsquo;s IceCats to Peoria business people Bruce Saurs and Anne Griffith for a reported $2.05 million. The new AHL team will operate as the Peoria Rivermen starting next season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been disappointed by the business community&rsquo;s support in Worcester,&rdquo; said Blues CEO Mark Sauer to the Peoria Journal Star. &ldquo;This move is going to save the Blues $1 million annually.&rdquo;From 1984-85 to 1994-95, the Peoria Rivermen were the Blues&rsquo; top minor pro affiliate in the defunct International League. The Rivermen have been in the ECHL since 1996-97 and if a buyer isn&rsquo;t found for the current Rivermen, the franchise will fold at season&rsquo;s end.Peoria gives the AHL a fifth franchise in the U.S. mid-west. The other four are Chicago, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids and Des Moines, an expansion team that will join next season.NYET TO AHL Hartford&rsquo;s blueline suffered a big hit when Fedor Tyutin and Maxim Kondratiev elected to return home to Russia to play in St. Petersburg and Lada Togliatti.Both players felt their development would be accelerated if they skated against locked out NHLers.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s an old saying that hockey players are like shark&rsquo;s teeth; when one breaks off, another pops up in its place,&rdquo; said Wolf Pack coach Ryan McGill to the Hartford Courant. &ldquo;My job is to work with whoever comes through the door.&rdquo;Tyutin and Kondratiev were replaced with rookies Jake Taylor and David Liffiton from Charlotte of the ECHL.NOTEBOOK John Paddock became the third coach in AHL history to record 500 career wins with the Binghamton&rsquo;s 4-3 shootout win over Hamilton Nov. 12. Paddock joins Fred &lsquo;Bun&rsquo; Cook (636 wins) and Frank Mathers (610)&hellip;Jamie Storr finally rid himself of the IceCats hex, stopping 40 shots as Springfield beat Worcester 4-2 in a Nov. 13 game. Prior to that game, Storr was 0-3 with a gaudy 8.87 GAA in his career against the Cats. The Falcons had lost their two previous games to Worcester this season by a combined 17-2 count&hellip;Two years after appearing in 14 NHL games with the parent Bruins, Providence released 22-year-old left winger Kris Vernarsky. &ldquo;He just didn&rsquo;t get it going for us,&rdquo; said Providence coach Scott Gordon. &#9632;

f0025-03

Blues say Peoria move saves dough

<div class="byline">&#x2013;PAVEL BARTA</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-04321/8284454-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="94" height="99"></div>Future and former NHLers are playing in Europe this season. Here are four such players with NHL rights in parentheses:&bull; Shawn Horcoff, 26, C (Edmonton). He never scored much while with the Oilers, but his eight goals and 20 points in 18 games with Mora was third highest in Swedish league.&bull; Michal Grosek, 29, LW (Boston). Grosek, who earned a career-high 102 penalty minutes in 76 games with Buffalo in 1998-99, had 80 PIMs in 18 games with Servette Geneve to lead the Swiss league.&bull; Patrick Lebeau, 34, LW (free agent). The veteran of three NHL games with Montreal and Calgary leads all German league scorers with 11 goals and 31 points in 17 games in his third year with the Frankfurt Lions.&bull; Alexander Semin, 20, LW (Washington). Semin refused to play in the AHL during lockout, preferring to be drafted by the Russian army and stay with Lada Togliatti, where he has 17 points in 18 games. &#9632;</div>

f0025-04

EYE ON EUROPE

<div class="byline">&#x2013;BRENDAN SAVAGE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-05229/8284485-1-eng-US/f0025-052.jpg" title="f0025-05" width="193" height="100"></div>A remarkable United League streak is now over. When Flint beat visiting Muskegon 5-1 Nov. 13, it marked the first time the Fury had lost a game in regulation since April 3 against Fort Wayne - a span of 27 straight games. Muskegon won its final three games last spring, went 11-0 in the playoffs, won all three of its pre-season games and then started the new season 9-0-1. &ldquo;The mind-boggling thing was the playoffs,&rdquo; said Fury coach Todd Nelson. &ldquo;Nobody expected that.&rdquo; Nelson said it&rsquo;s crucial the Fury rebounds. He didn&rsquo;t want to see a repeat of what happened when he played for Portland (AHL) in 1993-94, which started 14-0-3 after winning the Calder Cup the previous year. &ldquo;After we lost that first game we went on a deadly (losing) streak. We have to&hellip;get back into the saddle.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0025-05

NOTEBOOK

<div class="byline">&#x2013;DAVID HENRY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-06184/8284516-1-eng-US/f0025-062.jpg" title="f0025-06" width="163" height="92"></div>If nothing else, Memphis coach Mark Richards hopes his defenseman Ted Crowley has set a standard of sorts. That&rsquo;s about the only satisfaction Richards - and Crowley, for that matter - will get from the Central League. The league upheld a 25-game suspension against Crowley for a pair of &ldquo;stick infractions&rdquo; in an Oct. 27 game against the Tulsa Oilers. Crowley was hit with a 10-game suspension for using his stick &ldquo;in a deliberate attempt to injure&rdquo; Tulsa&rsquo;s Mario Joly, and was later slapped with a 15-game suspension for &ldquo;using his stick in a reckless manner, making contact with the head area&rdquo; against Tulsa&rsquo;s Devin Francon. Richards, who appealed the initial suspension to no avail, said he hopes the CHL will judge all future penalties on the same level as Crowley&rsquo;s infractions. &#9632;

f0025-06

<div class="byline">&#x2013;NICK GATES</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-07155/8284547-1-eng-US/f0025-072.jpg" title="f0025-07" width="149" height="113"></div>Longtime Asheville fans cheer Peter Cermak with good reason. The 28-year-old left winger, who was born in Slovakia, scored 31 goals in 42 games and led the Smoke into the United League playoffs in 1999-2000. &ldquo;It makes me feel,&rdquo; Cermak said, &ldquo;like I had done some good and made a good impression on the fans when you return after so many years and they remember you.&rdquo; Actually, Cermak never left. He maintained his home in the North Carolina mountains after the Smoke folded, but continued to play elsewhere. &ldquo;I like it here,&rdquo; he said. Cermak&rsquo;s nomadic career - the Aces are his 18th team in eight pro seasons - might finally have found a permanent home. He is among the Southern Pro League&rsquo;s scoring leaders with seven points in six games and the Aces are off to a 4-2 start. &#9632;</div>

f0025-07

<div class="byline">BY NEIL HODGE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011190/8284585-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="275" height="269"></div>The Quebec League has determined the criteria Saint John, N.B., and St. John&rsquo;s, Nfld., must meet in order to be awarded an expansion franchise for next season and it&rsquo;s not cheap.The expansion franchise fee was set at $3-million during a board of governors meeting in mid-November. The $6 million from two new entries would be divided into $375,000 for each of the existing 16 teams.The league&rsquo;s last expansion was in 1999 when the Montreal Rocket paid $850,000 to join. This year&rsquo;s expansion fee represents a 352 percent increase in five years. The Rocket moved to P.E.L for 2003-04.&ldquo;After an in-depth analysis,&rdquo; said league commissioner Gilles Courteau, &ldquo;the governors established the $3million price because they feel the markets of Saint John and St. John&rsquo;s are vigorous enough to cover expenses and pay off their respective investments and very rapidly.&rdquo;Included in the list of conditions, St. John&rsquo;s must cover all airline expenses for visiting teams and Saint John must pay $75,000 annually to the league&rsquo;s equity fund for an indefinite period.Three ownership groups in St. John&rsquo;s and two in Saint John are vying for a franchise. League expansion for next season must be finalized by Nov. 30.TESSIER RIGHTS TRADED Quebec was third overall in points when they acquired the rights of left winger Michael Tessier from Cape Breton. The Remparts will send their fifth round pick in the 2006 QMJHL draft if Tessier joins the team.The 20-year-old Tessier, drafted 76th overall by Buffalo in 2002, is now with Dayton of the ECHL. He had 31 goals and 66 points in 68 QMJHL games last season.&ldquo;Our chances of getting him are small, unless something goes wrong for him in Dayton,&rdquo; said GM Patrick Roy. &ldquo;His agent said we&rsquo;re a team he wouldn&rsquo;t mind coming to if things aren&rsquo;t going well for him. He would add offense to our team, but also size and toughness.&rdquo;RETURN TO MONTREAL? Minnesota businessman John Donovan and NHL stars Mario Lemieux and Luc Robitaille are interested in ownership of a QMJHL team that would play out of the Bell Centre in the vacant Montreal market.The league has said it wants to return to Montreal because a team there stimulates increased media exposure and corporate support. But there&rsquo;s caution in the air because of the city&rsquo;s history of failed major junior franchises.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02843/8284578-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="283" height="675"></div> &#9632;

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November 30, 2004

Gaborik funding new Trencin arena

AMERICAN LEAGUE STANDINGS AND STATISTICS

Agents on board with P.A.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR