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.

January 30, 2007

The Hockey News - Jan-30-07

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MURRAY PAM</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04614/8948700-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="435" height="266"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-031130/8948707-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="105" height="115"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>WHEN YOU THINK of the hockey legends who have worn the No. 9, the first names that come to mind are likely Gordie Howe, Maurice Richard and Bobby Hull. Not for fans of the Boston Bruins, though.No. 9 in their program, but No. 1 in their hearts is Johnny Bucyk.As part of our 60th anniversary, The Hockey News is reflecting on memorable people and stories in the hockey world.Bucyk patrolled left wing in the NHL for an astounding 23 seasons &ndash; from 1955 to 1978 &ndash; including 21 with Boston. An Edmonton native, he played junior with the hometown Oil Kings and made his NHL debut in 1955 with Detroit. It&rsquo;s a testament to his potential that, after his second season, he was traded for Hall of Fame goalie Terry Sawchuk.One of Bucyk&rsquo;s greatest accomplishments was a consecutive game streak of 418 between 1969 and 1975. &ldquo;I played with injuries,&rdquo; says Bucyk, now 72. &ldquo;I wore a brace on my back. A lot of people didn&rsquo;t realize how heavy it was, but I didn&rsquo;t let it bother me.&rdquo;Bucyk retired with 1,540 games played, which ranks ninth all-time. The early 1960s were rough for the B&rsquo;s, as they missed the playoffs eight straight years. But in 1970, after 15 NHL seasons, Bucyk got to kiss the Stanley Cup. Two seasons later, the Bruins won it again.Bucyk remains the oldest player to score 50 goals in a season, with 51 in 1970-71 at age 35. The Bruins retired his jersey in 1980 and Bucyk &ndash; known as &lsquo;The Chief&rsquo; &ndash; continues to work as the team&rsquo;s road services coordinator, amassing 50 years with the club.&ldquo;I love the people,&rdquo; Bucyk said. &ldquo;I love the new coaches and I have a lot of fun with the kids.&rdquo;Growing up, Bucyk says The Hockey News was a great source of information for the players.&ldquo;I still read it,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I like to learn information about the teams that we&rsquo;re playing against.&rdquo;The Bruins will honoring Bucyk&rsquo;s 50th NHL season on Feb. 13 with a special night dubbed &lsquo;Hail To The Chief.&rsquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-012149/8948693-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="1346" height="1352"><figcaption class="caption-body">Johnny Bucyk (BUCYK:MELCHIOR DIGIACOMO/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

Bucyk a Bruin for 50 years

THIS WEEK WE ASKED OURSELVESWho were this year&rsquo;s all-star snubs?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-04660/8948845-1-eng-US/f0010-042.jpg" title="f0010-04" width="623" height="797"><figcaption class="caption-body">(FROLOV: SHELLY CASTELLANO)</figcaption></div>10&nbsp;Alexander Frolov Not a lot to like about L.A. this year, Frolov is an exception.&nbsp;09 Marc Savard Averaging nearly an assist per game on a low-scoring Bruins team.08 Dan Boyle Coach Tortorella is screaming mad the Bolts&rsquo; blueliner didn&rsquo;t get a nod.07 Daymond Langkow Flames needed a partner for Iginla, Langkow delivered.06 Ray Whitney Two Canes forwards made the cut. Their leading scorer didn&rsquo;t.05 Chris Mason &lsquo;Backup?&rsquo; Mason&rsquo;s won 18 games with a .930 save percentage.04 Maxim Afi nogenov Sabres well represented, but c&rsquo;mon &ndash; skills competition.03 Dominik Hasek Injury &lsquo;if&rsquo; hasn&rsquo;t happened. A goals-against under two has.02 Paul Kariya Best team in the league only sends one player (Kimmo Timonen)?.01 Ilya Kovalchuk No defense in All-Star Game. He&rsquo;d be a natural there. &#9632;

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COUNTDOWN

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02782/8949160-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="811" height="613"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Burns (BURNS: RICHARD WOLOWICZ/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>BREAKING BOUNDARIES</h2>Yutaka Fuku-fuji becomes the first Japanese-born-and-trained player to play in the NHL, tending goal for the Los Angeles Kings.<h2>FANS GET THEIR FILL</h2>The St. Louis Blues feed their fans with a steady diet of wins to go with free food, including 47,000 hot dogs, from the arena concessions.<h2>GOOD TO BE BACK HOME</h2>Former Jack Adams Trophy winner Pat Burns, who has battled cancer, was back behind the bench at the CHL prospects game.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03514/8949153-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="1085" height="821"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nikolai Khabibulin (KHABIBULIN: JONATHAN DANIEL/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>T0UGH SELL, IN PHOENIX</h2>The Coyotes win seven in a row, including five straight on the road, but draw only 14,386 in their first game back home against Detroit.<h2>SUDDENLY LOSIN&rsquo;</h2>The Chicago Black-hawks, who made such a great run after Denis Savard took over behind the bench, return to their losing ways.<h2>SPEARING SIN</h2>What&rsquo;s worse, Jason Blake of the Islanders spearing Sidney Crosby or both refs missing the call? At last, the league fined Blake $1,000. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

PLUS/MINUS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011545/8949070-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"></div>SEE PG. 32 FOR INJURIES | TOP TWO PLAYERS ON PP UNIT PLAY THE POINTS &#9632;

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NHL Depth Charts

ONE MORNING LAST summer, Graham Snyder woke up with an idea. He and his wife LuAnn would drive across North America and visit all 30 NHL arenas. The tour would be about giving something back to a hockey community that has supported them since the tragic death of their son, Dan, in September, 2003. They would raise awareness and funds for Dan&rsquo;s foundation and a hockey rink in Elmira, Ont.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-012033/8948462-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="826" height="827"></div>And, as it has unfolded, it would be about healing.That becomes apparent listening to Graham Snyder&rsquo;s voice, even through a horrible cell phone connection. He and LuAnn are driving to the Rangers practice facility in Tarrytown, N.Y., the 19th stop on their journey.&ldquo;Part of healing is just starting to enjoy again the good memories,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t always hurt as much when you think about them.&rdquo;But healing is hard work, and most of us can only imagine what it would take to move forward after the death of a child. The Snyders have forged ahead, by trying to find positives, by meeting others who&rsquo;ve faced similar circumstances, by turning to their faith and loved ones, and by leaning on each other.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s difficult,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Somebody told me very shortly after Dan died that about 80 per cent of couples that lose children don&rsquo;t stay together. I can believe that. You go through things at such different times. There are such powerful emotions.&rdquo;So the Snyders are literally moving forward, chewing up thousands of miles &ndash; first in a 37-foot RV, and now in a car. Graham says the trip has been tiring, but very rewarding. They&rsquo;ve met people who have faced similar tragedies, a group Graham calls &ldquo;an exclusive club.&rdquo; They&rsquo;ve done community work and public speaking. And they&rsquo;ve chewed the fat with some of hockey&rsquo;s top personalities.&ldquo;I was sitting in the stands in Edmonton, talking to Kevin Lowe,&rdquo; Graham says, &ldquo;and Scotty Bowman came over. And I&rsquo;m thinking, &lsquo;Geez, here I am sitting talking with &ndash; I don&rsquo;t know how many Stanley Cups, probably at least 15 &ndash; and just getting a chance to talk about hockey. For me, that was a thrill.&rdquo;The tour&rsquo;s final stop will be in Atlanta in early April. After that, Graham says he&rsquo;ll set his focus on getting the Dan Snyder Memorial Arena built in Elmira for September, 2008. The healing continues.For more information, visit: <a href="http://37risingstars.com">37risingstars.com</a>.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031405/8948455-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="812" height="434"></div> &#9632;

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The journey and its reward

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021714/8948493-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s an annual tradition. With the announcement of the NHL All-Star Game participants comes the inevitable list of players who got snubbed. The selectors are in a no-win situation; there will always be players, team personnel and fans in cities across North America who believe one of their own got shafted. From our perspective, this year&rsquo;s posterboy is Dominik Hasek. The Detroit Red Wings netminder has outstanding credentials: second overall in goals-against average and shutouts; third among goalies in wins. He&rsquo;s clearly having a renaissance campaign. At the same time, the All-Star Game is supposed to be about recognizing and honoring the game&rsquo;s great players and paying homage to legacies. This may be Hasek&rsquo;s final NHL season and he is arguably the best stopper of all-time; at the very least he&rsquo;s among the top three. Finally, Hasek is a showman, a player with a unique, unorthodox style who wants to stop every puck directed his way, whether it&rsquo;s in practice or the seventh game of the Stanley Cup final. He&rsquo;s the kind of player who can inject life into a ho-hum affair and give some flair to the skills competition. His absence is an opportunity missed. &#9632;

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HASEK ALL-STAR WORTHY

PUBLISHER Gerald McGroartyEDITOR Jason Kay<h2>EDITORIAL</h2>SENIOR SPECIAL&nbsp;SECTIONS EDITORBrian CostelloSENIOR WRITERSMike Brophy, Ken CampbellSENIOR COPY EDITORSam McCaigCOPY EDITORSRyan Kennedy, Ryan Dixon<h2>ART</h2>ART DIRECTORJamie HodgsonDESIGNERMatt Filion<h2>WEB</h2>WEB EDITOREdward FraserWEB COLUMNISTAdam ProteauINTERNS Gurdeep Ahluwalia, Steven Leithwood, Adam Trinh, Rui Gomes, Les BroszkowskiMarketing/Media Relations&nbsp;Zita McKenna - <a href="mailto:Zita.McKenna@transcontinental.ca">Zita.McKenna@transcontinental.ca</a>Contributors Alan Adams, Jay GreenbergPhotographer Getty ImagesContributing Photographers&nbsp;Steve & Brian Babineau/Sports Action, IHADirector, Online Publishing Yves DaoustManager, Shared Production Center Maria MendesProduction Co-ordinator Marilyn SchmitzAdvertising Director Peter SimpsonSales Manager Randy GreenNational Account Managers Rosemary Bubanovich, Dave Burgess, Jason Hill, Tim McEachern, Krista CainClassified Sales Dave BurgessSales Co-ordinator Sharlane ValleauSales Promotion Manager Andrew WaiserGeneral Operations Manager Lise Paul-HusBusiness Manager Nancy BakerAssistant Business Manager Angel PalaciosNewsstand Director Pat StrangisCirculation Manager Jason PattersonAttn: John RebmannTRANSCONTINENTAL MEDIA G.P.President Natalie Larivi&egrave;reSr. Vice-President, Consumer Pub. Francine TremblaySr. Vice-President, Advertising Sales T.J. FlynnVice-President & Group Publisher Jacqueline Howe &#9632;

Masthed

The Hockey News

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-012035/8948548-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Thornton (THORNTON: DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>Thinking of Big Joe</h2>It has been a year and two months since the Joe Thornton trade, one of the worst in the history of the Boston Bruins. Every time I see him skating in a San Jose Sharks&rsquo; uniform, I feel like somebody else is sleeping with my wife.CODY PYTLAK, WELLAND, ONT.<h2>Anze the great</h2>Would everyone please pull their collective noses out of the east for a moment and take a look at another rookie, Anze Kopitar, a player who has a lot more finesse and sense of the game than Evgeni Malkin does?Kopitar does not have Sid the Kid feeding him the puck every game either. He has done a lot of this on his own. I understand L.A. isn&rsquo;t considered a hot spot for hockey, but give credit where credit is due. Kopitar has done far more with a lot less than Malkin.ERICA WEINSTOCK, LOS ANGELES<h2>Arch enemy</h2>I must take offense at Ken Campbell&rsquo;s comments regarding Blues attendance (Dec. 19).Before the lockout (that none of the fans wanted), attendance was consistently close to sell-outs. After-wards, instead of trying to connect with the fans, Bill Laurie stripped the team of its talent, handcuffed the front office and treated the fans like dirt. And to heap on the insults, one of the first moves by our new owner, Dave Checketts, was to raise ticket prices.Fans have no other say in the sport except by buying tickets. Empty seats embarrass the players for their lazy attitude, the management for their abuse of the fans and the league for allowing Bill Laurie to destroy a beloved franchise.Give the fans a decent product and they&rsquo;ll return.MICHELLE DE VERA, ST. LOUIS<h2>Limp Leafs</h2>I just read your People of Power issue (Jan. 9). I noticed there were no players, coaches or brass from my beloved Maple Leafs. This must be a mistake.The NHL&rsquo;s No. 1 franchise (according to it&rsquo;s owners) and most valuable (according to Forbes magazine) and there is no one worth listing? Then again, maybe it&rsquo;s not a mistake.TIM O&rsquo;CONOR-FENTON, SARNIA, ONT.<h2>True stars</h2>A note regarding three-stars selections (Dec. 19): In San Jose, the three stars of the night (if they&rsquo;re Sharks) not only skate out onto the ice, but they also each deliver a miniature autographed stick to a lucky young person of their choice. A very nice, classy thing to do.SALLY PENA, SANTA CLARA, CALIF.<h2>Due South</h2>Can you please tell me how the Nashville Predators, one of the best teams in the NHL, have only one player going to the NHL All-Star Game?Paul Kariya and Steve Sullivan are certainly more deserving than some of the players going. Just look at their stats. I believe this is just another case of the Preds being snubbed.ROB PRUETT, NASHVILLE<h2>Go big with stars</h2>If the NHL is working so hard to improve how the game is marketed, then why is the first All-Star Game since the lockout, and the first one for Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Dion Phaneuf being broadcast mid-week on Versus?I would think the league would want a key prime-time spot on NBC, as what better opportunity does the NHL have to market its new wave of stars in one game on one broadcast?AARON KERZNER, WEST HAVEN, CONN.<h2>New Jersey rocks</h2>I have an addition to your Dynamic Duo list (Dec. 19). How about Tenacious D, John Madden and Jay Pandolfo of the Devils? Madden is the Jack Black of the pair, award-winning and more well known, while Jay Pandolfo is the perfect Kyle Gass, lesser known, but just as brilliant at what he does.MORGAN DONINGER, BROOKLYN, N.Y. &#9632;

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Got something to say?

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021461/8948579-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="523" height="839"><figcaption class="caption-body">(REGEHR: SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption></div>Calgary 43%Vancouver 30%Minnesota 11%Edmonton 11%Colorado 5% &#9632;

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WHO WILL WIN THE ULTRA-TIGHT NORTHWEST DIVISION?

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KEN CAMPBELL</div>THE NASHVILLE PREDATORS have done almost everything right in the process of becoming a Stanley Cup contender, but unless the good folks in Music City &ndash; specifically those with bulging expense accounts &ndash; begin to take notice, that heady status won&rsquo;t last long.At least those are the kinds of alarm bells being sounded these days by the Predators, a team that is growing increasingly frustrated with its inability to fill the Gaylord Entertainment Center on a regular basis.And this is getting serious. In mid-January, Preds owner Craig Leipold announced he is seeking a minority partner for the team and is willing to sell up to 40 per cent. And while the lack of attendance hasn&rsquo;t hurt the franchise in terms of revenue sharing, it will in the future.Certainly, the long-term viability of the franchise has to be in question.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you that without some significant contribution from the business community,&rdquo; says Preds vice-president of business affairs Steve Violetta, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s going to be very diffi cult on the business side to get levels of revenues that are needed to have a competitive team here.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021491/8948617-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="315" height="348"></div>Aside from a deep playoff run, which is quite possible this season, the Predators have done their part. In fact, it could be argued they are the best-run franchise in the league.But that hasn&rsquo;t helped one bit in terms of attendance. The Predators posted their sixth straight win &ndash; a victory that gave them the league lead with 32 &ndash; in front of just 12,011 fans Jan. 15. When the Anaheim Ducks came in for a game in early January, the crowd of 11,821 was the lowest of the season.The Predators were 23rd in attendance at 14,682 per game, but that number drops to just over 13,000 when the 1,500 free tickets are taken into account. The Preds made $10 million in revenue sharing last season, but if they don&rsquo;t average 13,200 paid next season, their revenue-sharing money will be cut by 25 per cent. And that cut goes to 50 per cent in 2008-09 if they don&rsquo;t get to 14,000 paid.The Predators have an enthusiastic fan base, but have watched their corporate ticket base dwindle to embarrassing levels. When the team began in 1998, there were 4,000 business accounts; that number has dropped to 1,800 this season. Overall, the Predators have 8,600 season tickets, about 2,000 below the league average.Violetta says the Predators have built their business, &ldquo;on the backs of the Jack and Jill plans,&rdquo; which are made up largely of 13-game packages, but desperately need more business accounts. It&rsquo;s not a question of economics. The economy in Nashville is quite good and Nissan recently moved its North American headquarters there from California.The most alarming problem for the Predators is they have the second-lowest average ticket prices in the league and even with a 12 per-cent increase across the board this season, are still about $12 under the league average. The Predators have tried everything to attract business accounts from direct mail to star power to 1-on-1 meetings with little success.&ldquo;What we&rsquo;d like is to get our foot in the door and give us 30 minutes to tell you why Predators&rsquo; season tickets can be a business asset,&rdquo; Violetta says. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;re not even getting the chance to make our case.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012252/8948610-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="1205" height="2075"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Kariya (DON SMITH/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>3 Home wins for the Flyers in their first 20 games in Philadelphia this year7 Consecutive wins by Colorado over Phoenix; Avs are 10-0-3 in past 1320 Players, of 42, who were named to their first All-Star Game this season &#9632;

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The best team nobody watches

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-012031/8948655-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="776" height="515"><figcaption class="caption-body">BIG BUST? Larger nets may not be a cure-all for getting more goals in a game. (DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03865/8948662-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="105" height="115"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>IF BRENDAN SHANAHAN ever needs advice on what tips to give the NHL&rsquo;s competition committee when it comes to the prospect of bigger nets, he need only talk to his big brother.Brian Shanahan, a former player in the National Lacrosse League and now a TV analyst for the NLL, will tell him to suggest to the league not to bother.Six years ago the NLL increased the width of its nets from 4-feet, 6 inches to 4-feet, 9 inches. After a brief spike in goal scoring, goals per game have actually dropped below what they were when the nets were smaller.&ldquo;I honestly don&rsquo;t think it has made a bit of difference,&rdquo; Brian Shanahan said, &ldquo;and that&rsquo;s probably one of the reasons nobody complains. You don&rsquo;t hear the goalies ever griping.&rdquo;After 2000-01, in which teams combined for 26 goals per game, the NLL increased the size of its nets to boost offense. The next season, scoring increased six per cent to 27.6 per game, but the league also increased in size from nine to 13 teams. The next season, scoring topped out at 27.7 per game in a 12-team league, but has been on a steady decline since then, with teams scoring just 22.5 goals per game last season in an 11-team league.As far as Brian Shanahan is concerned, the NHL&rsquo;s attempt to create offense with bigger nets will fail for the same reason it did in lacrosse.&ldquo;I think the biggest reason for less offense is parity,&rdquo; Shanahan said. &ldquo;There are no terrible teams in the league right now. A few years ago, there were always a couple of teams well below .500 and teams would pile up goals against them. You don&rsquo;t see that happening now.&rdquo;And like the NHL, the NLL put stringent restrictions on the size of the goaltending equipment. Goalies who don&rsquo;t comply with the measurements are fined $250, a huge amount for players who are forced to have day jobs.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an adjustment for the goalies coming out of the Canadian junior leagues into the NLL, but they seem to adapt to it pretty quickly,&rdquo; Shanahan said. &ldquo;I remember the year they first changed it, I thought guys would have more room to shoot at in the corners and would score more. I think close in it might make a little more of a difference, but on the outside shots, it doesn&rsquo;t make a difference at all.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021368/8948648-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="1544" height="2036"></div> &#9632;

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More twine, goal decline

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021613/8948738-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="724" height="566"><figcaption class="caption-body">(PERREAULT: JEFF GROSS/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-05431/8948745-1-eng-US/f0008-052.jpg" title="f0008-05" width="133" height="146"></div>&#9632; If Florida fails to make the playoffs, it might be because the Panthers have gone 0-for-6 in the shootout and 0-for-4 in overtime.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>&#9632; If Phoenix makes the playoffs this season, Yanic Perreault deserves consideration for the Hart Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s most valuable player. Seriously. The Coyotes were on the path to Nowhereville until they signed the veteran center, who has been both typically strong in the faceoff circle (winning an NHL-high 62.3 per cent after 34 games) and a consistent offensive force with 15 goals (four game-winners) and 28 points.&#9632; Talk about no respect. Senators defenseman Tom&nbsp;Preissing went to an Ottawa shopping mall with a TV crew to see if anyone would recognize him. It took more than a dozen so-called Sens fans before one finally identified him, even after he mentioned the fact he led the NHL in plus-minus, gave his first and last initials and half pronounced his surname. (See pg. 36 for more.)&#9632; Cam Janssen was recently demoted by New Jersey, after setting a record by failing to register a point in 75 NHL games. He passed Detroit&rsquo;s Gord Strate (61 games n the late &lsquo;50s) earlier in the season. Former Carolina defenseman Steven Halko holds the mark for most NHL games without a goal &ndash; 155. &#9632;

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SNAPSHOT FROM AROUND THE NHL

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021530/8948776-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">RUSSIAN UP THE CHARTS Alexei Cherepanov (far left) has seen his stock soar since the world juniors. (CHEREPANOV: CP IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012117/8948783-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="105" height="115"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>CHEREPANOV GETS TOP DRAFT BILLING</h2>Russian right winger Alexei Cherepanov is on top of the world after a spectacular performance at the World Junior Championship in Sweden. Cherepanov, who turned 18 on Jan. 15, was named top forward at the event, traditionally dominated by 19-year-olds. He had five goals and eight points in six games helping Russia win the silver medal. The scouting fraternity noticed as well. International Scouting Services moved him from No. 22 on its December ranking of 2007 draft prospects to No. 1 in its January report.<h2>LAST LEAF CHAMPIONS TO GATHER</h2>Members of the Maple Leafs&rsquo; 1967 Stanley Cup winning team will get together March 22 in Toronto for the 40-year anniversary of the city&rsquo;s last NHL title. Proceeds from the charity dinner go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. More than 20 members &ndash; most of them senior citizens now &ndash; from the &lsquo;67 team will attend. Tickets are available through 1967 <a href="http://leafsdinner.com">leafsdinner.com</a>.<h2>CANADA TO DEFEND TITLE</h2>The Canadian national deaf hockey team will be defending its championship title at this year&rsquo;s 16th Winter Deaflympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. The U.S. hockey team finished third in the 2003 games in Sundsvall, Swe., and has 12 returnees. The Deaflympics brings together top deaf athletes from around the globe. The event, founded in 1924, established its first winter games in 1949. The 10-day competition begins Feb. 1 and features more than 400 athletes from 22 countries competing in a variety of events. &#9632;

f0010-02

HOCKEY WORLD IN BRIEF

<div class="byline">- RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03956/8948814-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">WARD OF GOD Canes netminder Cam Ward credits attending travelling chapel servicaes with helping him stay calm in goal. (WARD: PHILLIP MACCALLUM/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>WHAT&rsquo;S THAT OLD joke hockey players tell, &lsquo;Jesus saves, but Esposito scores on the rebound?&rsquo; For a good number of NHLers, the issue of faith is no laughing matter.As part of the NHL&rsquo;s all-star week in Dallas, as many as 500 people were scheduled to attend the Hockey Ministries International all-star breakfast, a who&rsquo;s who of Christian NHLers and definitely not the place to make a &lsquo;crosschecking&rsquo; pun.Hockey Ministries International was founded in 1977 by Don Liesemer, Sr., who played under Scotty Bowman with the Jr. Canadiens. That year, along with Habs center Doug Jarvis and Boston&rsquo;s winger Dave Forbes, Liesemer held the group&rsquo;s first hockey camp. A chapel service for NHLers came shortly after.Those services now extend more than 21 leagues, including the WHL, OHL and USHL. One of the more prominent attendees is Carolina goalie and Conn Smythe winner Cam Ward, who got the word from teammate Glen Wesley.&ldquo;It keeps me calm and I believe it helps my demeanor,&rdquo; said Ward of the travelling services. &ldquo;It gives us a chance to step back and reflect. I wear the cross on the back of my helmet and I&rsquo;m very proud of it. Faith is No. 1 in my life.&rdquo;Ottawa&rsquo;s Mike Fisher is another player who takes his faith seriously. Born into a church-going family, Fisher admits struggling with his faith as a teen, but committing in his 20s.&ldquo;I really wanted to live under the principles of the Bible,&rdquo; he said. But surely opposing agitators use that against him, right? &ldquo;The Christian players don&rsquo;t play soft,&rdquo; Fisher countered. &ldquo;Look at Stu (&lsquo;Grim Reaper&rsquo;) Grimson. I try to play tough as well.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-03

Sticking with faith

<div class="byline">Al Strachan</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021334/8948883-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Saku Koivu (BRIAN BABINEAU/SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011848/8948890-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="221" height="241"></div>Montreal has all the components to snag yet another Stanley Cup this year.Even at the best of times, it&rsquo;s never easy to predict a Stanley Cup winner. But discussions of this nature are the very essence of sport, and if you want to spark a lively debate, you make your prediction at the all-star break, not in June.That prediction? The Montreal Canadiens.The popular selections at the moment are the Buffalo Sabres and Anaheim Ducks, both very good teams whose performance warrants their elevated status.But as every hockey fan knows all too well, a strong performance in the regular season doesn&rsquo;t always translate into playoff success. Ask the fans of last year&rsquo;s top four finishers in the Western Conference. They all went out in the first round.The simple fact is this: While there is no infallible formula, there are a few identifiable factors that play a major role in post-season success year after year.When it comes to determining the eventual Stanley Cup winner, the most important factor is invariably goaltending. Right behind that comes penalty killing. Soon to follow is the power play.Let&rsquo;s start with goaltending. Even though the save percentage stats change from day to day, Cristobal Huet is consistently among the top three in the league. He proved last year that playoff tension doesn&rsquo;t bother him in the least, and the oft-expressed fears of Montreal fans that he would turn out to be a flash in the pan (they haven&rsquo;t forgotten Steve Penney in those parts) have proven to be ill-founded.If anything, Huet has been better than he was last year. Not only that, he seems to be improving as the year goes on.So it seems safe to assume, then, that in the single most important aspect of determining a Stanley Cup winner, the Canadians rank right up among the elite.But what about the next two categories, penalty killing and power play?At the time of this writing, the Canadiens ranked among league leaders in both categories. San Jose and Anaheim (barely) had a better power play, while Vancouver, New Jersey and Edmonton are (slightly) better penalty-killers.While the Sharks&rsquo; power play is really clicking, they&rsquo;re well down in the PK ranking. And the Canucks, Devils and Oilers&rsquo; power play is no-where near as potent as Montreal&rsquo;s.<h2>EXCELLENT TRADITION1</h2>It&rsquo;s only logical that Montreal&rsquo;s PK is good. In GM Bob Gainey, coach Guy Carbonneau and assistant coach Doug Jarvis, they have not only three guys who excelled at that aspect, they were among the best in NHL history.And it stands to reason they would be able to coach a top-notch power play as well. Who would know better how to make life miserable for penalty-killers than the guys who raised penalty-killing to an art form?The wild card in all this is the injury factor. If Sheldon Souray goes down, for instance, the power play will suffer. If Alex Kovalev, always a strong playoff performer, is unavailable, then that, too, will have a negative effect.But any team can have its play-off hopes dashed by injury. There is no way to predict such things.And secondly, if injuries do occur, it brings into play another factor which, over the years, has been shown to have an impact on Cup success. That&rsquo;s the matter of team depth. There, too, the Habs are strong.<h2>TROOP RESERVE</h2>Because Mark Streit can play up or back, Montreal can count on having the services of eight NHL defensemen. In David Aebischer they have a capable backup, and their third goalie, Jaroslav Halak, is the AHL&rsquo;s best at the moment.Forward Maxim Lapierre, who has made some appearances with the big team this year and hasn&rsquo;t looked out of place, is another attribute of team depth.When it comes to Stanley Cup winners, there are never any guarantees. Just to get to the big dance, the Habs have to get out of the East, and the Sabres should have something to say about that. But in head-to-head battles between the two teams, the Canadiens match up well and would certainly not be seen as prohibitive underdogs.It&rsquo;s also widely assumed the NHL&rsquo;s strength is in the Western Conference. But because of that, the Western wars may take such a toll on the eventual survivor that it has little left for the Stanley Cup final.In theory, there are about 20 teams that have a realistic chance to win the Cup. But in fact, very few possess all the attributes that are usually found in a Stanley Cup winner.The Montreal Canadiens do.<h2>SPECIAL TEAM</h2>Montreal is second in the NHL when combining power play (PP) and penalty-killing (PK) percentages. The NHL average is 100.0<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03891/8948876-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="395" height="710"></div> &#9632;

f0011-02

Fear the Habs come springtime

<div class="byline">Story Mike Brophy </div><div class="byline">Photography Brian Babineau</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012062/8948963-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div>AT FIRST, PHIL KESSEL really didn&rsquo;t think too much about it.He knew he wasn&rsquo;t feeling great and damn, he was having an awful time shaking a cold.Turns out the lingering cold was the least of his worries.&ldquo;Boston was on a road trip, in Montreal, and Phil called and said he thought he felt a lump,&rdquo; says Phil Kessel Sr.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-012038/8948956-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="2211" height="1679"><figcaption class="caption-body">BIG PICTURE Hockey (and everything else) took a backseat as Kessel dealt with his cancer diagnosis.</figcaption></div>Those are not exactly the words a father expects to hear from his son when he politely asks, &ldquo;How ya feelin&rsquo;?&rdquo;&ldquo;I told him this was nothing to play around with and to get in to see the team&rsquo;s medical staff right away,&rdquo; Phil Sr. says.That&rsquo;s exactly what the 19-year-old rookie did and it immediately sent his life moving in a most unexpected direction. Kessel, who has been in the hockey spotlight since he was a young teenager, is one of the brightest American-born prospects to burst onto the scene in a long, long time. In fact, there was a time when he rivaled Sidney Crosby in terms of potential and was considered a frontrunner to be the top pick in the 2006 NHL draft.But suddenly, none of that mattered.After a series of tests, it was confirmed he had testicular cancer. Statistics suggest is one of the most curable forms of cancer. Try telling that to a 19-year-old, though.&ldquo;I went for an ultrasound (test) and they told me they could tell something was there,&rdquo; Kessel recalls. &ldquo;I was a little shaken after that. I was upset, I&rsquo;m not going to lie about that. I&rsquo;m 19 years old and I certainly didn&rsquo;t expect anything like this. When it happens to you, it&rsquo;s really tough to handle.&rdquo;Kessel was operated on Dec. 11 and doctors have assured him the operation was a success and the cancer had not spread beyond the testicle. According to the National Cancer Institute in the United States, those who seek early treatment, as Kessel did, have a five-year relative survival rate of 99 per cent. After five years, those who have not had a re-occurrence are considered to be cancer-free.Although Kessel still has a tough time talking about the experience, he says it made him stop and take stock of life. He admits he was pretty scared when he first learned he had cancer.&ldquo;A lot of things go through your mind,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s going to happen to me? Will I be able to play again? I had a feeling I&rsquo;d be able to play again, but you just don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going to happen to you. You don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s going to spread or how bad it&rsquo;s going to end up being.&rdquo;To have this thrown at you at such an early age is horrifying. Kessel, though, says he never thought about the disease beating him.&ldquo;I never thought about dying,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I tried to stay positive, though it&rsquo;s pretty tough to take.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021541/8948949-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="749" height="463"></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">l'M 19 YEARS OLD AND I CERTAINLY DIDN'T EXPECT ANYTHING LIKE THIS. -PHIL KESSEL.</blockquote>&ldquo;It does go through your mind, a little bit, but it wasn&rsquo;t the biggest thing. I didn&rsquo;t dwell on that. You have to stay positive, even though it&rsquo;s hard. You have to try. If you are miserable all the time and down, it&rsquo;s not going to do you any good.&rdquo;Adds Phil Sr.: &ldquo;I think he handled things extremely well. The uncertainty of it was hard for him to handle and like anybody else, he was upset. But I was impressed with the strength he showed.&rdquo;Raised Catholic, Kessel says he put his faith in God.&ldquo;Everyone in my family was praying for me and hopefully God did something,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Hopefully all the prayers that were said for me had something to do with it.&rdquo;Phil Sr. feels the fact his son was in the NHL and with the Bruins is a true blessing.&ldquo;If he were still in college, he may have tended to put it on the backburner and not looked after it right away,&rdquo; Phil Sr. says. &ldquo;He would have been focused on the World Junior Championship and may have thought getting medical attention could wait. You know how kids are.&rdquo;And that&rsquo;s what Phil Kessel is at this point&hellip;a kid.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very young 19 years old,&rdquo; says veteran teammate Glen Murray. &ldquo;Some guys come into the league at the same age, a guy like Patrice Bergeron for instance, and they just seem a lot older.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011832/8948942-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="978" height="1457"></div>Nevertheless, Kessel made the Bruins this season, although watching him, you get the feeling the team has rushed him a bit. He has great offensive instincts, but appears to lack the physical maturity to successfully compete against men. The player who scored 41 goals and 73 points in just 31 games two years ago with the American under-18 squad (part of USA Hockey&rsquo;s national team development program) had seven goals and 11 points in 32 NHL games.The Bruins love the kid&rsquo;s upside.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a dynamic skater with a great shot,&rdquo; says GM Peter Chiarelli, whose team selected Kessel with the fifth overall draft pick last June. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no reason to think he can&rsquo;t be a top-line player and top scorer in the NHL. And with the way we have seen him handle this adversity, we think he can be a leader on the hockey team, too.&rdquo;Adversity, indeed. You are never prepared for the news you have cancer. Montreal Canadiens star Saku Koivu was 27 in 2001 when he was informed he had abdominal cancer. The Habs captain thinks he has a good idea of what Kessel is going through.&ldquo;Cancer is something you obviously know about and you know it affects a lot of people, but you just never think it&rsquo;s going to happen to you,&rdquo; Koivu says.&ldquo;When you find out you have it, it really takes a while for it all to sink in. When I heard (Kessel) had cancer, it instantly brings back a lot of bad memories. You don&rsquo;t walk around thinking about it every day, but when you hear about somebody getting it, the memories come flooding back. You just pray they will be OK.&rdquo;In mid-January, Koivu was a week away from going for his checkup that will make him cancer-free for five years.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking forward to that one,&rdquo; he says.Kessel, meanwhile, is concentrating now on getting his career back on track. He played two AHL games with Providence before returning to the NHL against Ottawa Jan. 9, less than a month after his operation. He says some members of the Senators welcomed him back while skating past him in warmups and even wished him the best. But when the puck dropped, it was all business. He skated 17 shifts, 10 minutes and four seconds of playing time, and was belted to the ice by Joe Corvo in the first period and again by Mike Comrie in the second.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing you can do about it&hellip;that&rsquo;s hockey,&rdquo; Kessel says. &ldquo;When stuff like that happens, it&rsquo;s just part of the game.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s called live and learn, something Kessel knows more about now than he did a few months ago.&ldquo;Phil is a great kid with lots of natural talent, but I think it&rsquo;s going to take a while before he adjusts,&rdquo; Murray says. &ldquo;He has amazing speed and a great first stride, but sometimes you see him trying to do things he probably got away with in college and they don&rsquo;t work in the NHL because the game is just so fast. When that happens, you get knocked down by Mike Comrie.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011816/8948935-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="778" height="932"></div>(On the list of the NHL&rsquo;s biggest hitters, Comrie comes in about 700th.)Like many who have been afflicted with cancer, Kessel says his outlook on life has changed.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to live each day to the fullest,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Anything can happen to you and it can happen very quickly. You learn not to take things so seriously&hellip;I mean, obviously you need to take your career seriously, but you have to stay positive and be relaxed.&rdquo;Kessel will be checked regularly by doctors and have his blood work done every couple of months to make sure he remains healthy. He credits friends and family with helping him through his troubled time. He would like to do the same for others, particularly young men who may suspect there is a problem with their body, but might not act on it quickly enough. He has a message for them:&ldquo;If your body is not feeling good, always make sure you get checked out because you never know what is wrong with you,&rdquo; Kessel says. &ldquo;Anything can be wrong. The big thing is to not be afraid. A lot of people feel symptoms, but they&rsquo;re afraid to be checked out. That is wrong. Stuff happens and you have to tell people if you&rsquo;re not feeling well. Don&rsquo;t think, &lsquo;Oh, I&rsquo;m all right.&rsquo; If your body is not feeling good, you know it. You have to make sure you take care of yourself.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021411/8948928-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="1433" height="1792"><figcaption class="caption-body">THE RETURN Kessel had his first two-goal game in the NHL eight days after he rejoined the Bruins.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-031056/8948921-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="778" height="963"></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">PHIL IS A GREAT KID WITH LOTS Of NATURAL TALENT, BUT I THINK IT&rsquo;S GOING TO TAKE A WHILE BEFORE HE ADJUSTS. -GLENN MURRAY</blockquote>Sounds like good advice for everyone, regardless of age. &#9632;

f0012-01

COVER STORY

A LOT ON HIS MIND

<div class="byline">Ken Campbell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011613/8948994-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">LEFT BEHIND R.J. Umberger and the Flyers are having a record-breaking year for futility. (AL BELLO/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-021253/8949001-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="221" height="241"></div>About the only misfortune left to befall the Philadelphia Flyers this season would be to lose a draft lottery that will be stacked overwhelmingly in their favor.Yes, this is sadly what it has come to for the once-proud organization. It&rsquo;s no longer a matter of whether the Flyers will finish dead last in the NHL, but how many futility records they will establish along the way.They look like they already have one of them in the bag. Through mid-January, the Flyers were on pace for 48 points this season, a jaw-dropping decline of 53 points from the team that was one win away from winning the Atlantic Division in 2005-06. That would shatter the mark for the biggest decline in points from one season to the next, easily surpassing the 40 points that Detroit fell (95 to 55) from 1969-70 to 1970-71.How bad are things in Philadelphia? Well, the Flyers lost 30 games in regulation in the first half of the season, which is four more than they lost all of last season. Through 45 games, their 2.42 goals per game represented the weakest output in the NHL and their 3.87 goals-against per game was the most bloated. After starting the season 1-6-1 and having GM Bob Clarke resign and coach Ken Hitchcock fired, the Flyers haven&rsquo;t improved one iota, playing at a .311 winning percentage after the moves.But all is not lost in Philadelphia. The NHL is now more cyclical than ever with the league intent on enforcing competitive balance for all 30 teams. There&rsquo;s no reason to believe that restoring the team to competitiveness has to necessarily be a five-year plan either, provided the Flyers make the right moves.Here are a couple of them:&bull; Hire a forceful, successful hockey man to be the GM of the team and tell Bob Clarke to go away once and for all.Clarke managed to stay away from the team for the first couple of weeks after he resigned in October, but soon was back hanging around the practice facility on a daily basis. Unfortunately, current GM Paul Holmgren is too closely aligned with Clarke to ever be able to escape his shadow and that is why he cannot be the one to guide this team into the future.Nobody is going to tell a legend such as Bob Clarke to take a hike; least likely owner Ed Snider, whose relationship with Clarke is rich and deep. So the Flyers should bring in someone who has no previous loyalty to the organization and has a strong enough sense of self to make Clarke go away.&bull; Coach John Stevens must go. This in not an indictment of Stevens&rsquo; ability. He remains a very good young coach who may someday be a successful bench boss in the NHL. But that won&rsquo;t happen with the Flyers because they set him up for failure this season after firing Hitchcock and installing Stevens, then giving him a contract extension. Instead of bringing in a strong technical and experienced assistant, they allowed him to promote Craig Berube, who has zero NHL coaching experience, from the Flyers&rsquo; farm team.Suffice it to say the Flyers would still be bad if Hitchcock was coaching them, but they wouldn&rsquo;t be this bad. One thing that can be coached to even the worst teams is defensive positioning and sometimes the Flyers play as though they don&rsquo;t have a clue what to do defensively.Peter Forsberg must go.The Flyers don&rsquo;t have as much say in this one as they would like because of Forsberg&rsquo;s no-trade clause. But if they can convince Forsberg to go to another team by the Feb. 27 trade deadline and can at least get a prospect or serviceable young player in return, they should do it. It&rsquo;s clear that years of battling through the old NHL have taken their toll and even in the new NHL, Forsberg isn&rsquo;t close to the player he once was.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Nobody is going to tell a legend such as Bobby Clarke to take a hike</blockquote>&bull; Regardless of what they do with Forsberg, the Flyers will have a ton of money to spend in the off-season. And they should use it to poach Daniel Briere or Chris Drury (or both) from the Buffalo Sabres and Kimmo Timonen from the Nashville Predators, all of whom will be unrestricted free agents. That would be a great place to start a rebuilding project.And while buying out defenseman Derian Hatcher would save the Flyers $2.3 million on the salary cap next season, all indications are that they want him to stay.&bull; They must find a way to get more out of their young players, specifically Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, R.J. Umberger, Joni Pitkanen and Antero Niittymaki.Perhaps the Flyers&rsquo; biggest mistake was believing their young players would build on the promise they showed last year, but all five have gone south in a serious way. The injury-plagued Niittymaki gets a free pass, but the others must be held responsible. If the Flyers do hire a new coach, they must get someone with a proven track record of working with young players.The Flyers can go one way or the other depending on what they do over the next six months. One thing is certain, though. This is not the Atlanta Thrashers or Florida Panthers. This is an established franchise in one of the few American cities where the NHL has a tangible presence.That&rsquo;s why the league needs the Flyers to return to the NHL&rsquo;s elite every bit as much as Snider does. &#9632;

f0017-01

Time to clean house in Philadelphia

<div class="byline">BY ROBIN SHORT</div>TIRED OF HOCKEY&rsquo;S competitive grind and anxious to try his hand at other sports, Brett Callighen packed away his skates at age 16, prepared to call a premature end to a promising career.&ldquo;I just got tired of all the b.s.,&rdquo; said Callighen of his retreat. For four years Callighen happily played an assortment of other sports. It wasn&rsquo;t until his freshman year at Toronto&rsquo;s Centennial College that he was lured back to hockey. One year later, Callighen was playing pro hockey in Edmonton on a line with a slim 17-year-old named Wayne Gretzky.In 1978-79, the final year of the World Hockey Association, Callighen and Blair MacDonald patrolled the wing for a young Gretzky, whom the Edmonton Oilers had acquired in a trade with the Indianapolis Racers.&ldquo;When we played against him early in the year, we didn&rsquo;t see much,&rdquo; Callighen said. &ldquo;Then he came to us and &lsquo;Slats&rsquo; (coach Glen Sather) moved Stan Weir from our line for Gretz. Once you practised with him every day and played with him every day, you knew what all the hype was about.&rdquo;The Oilers, along with the Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets and Hartford Whalers, joined the NHL the next season. Callighen became a part of Edmonton hockey history when he drew an assist, along with Gretzky, on Kevin Lowe&rsquo;s tally against Chicago&rsquo;s Tony Esposito for the Oilers&rsquo; first NHL goal.Over two NHL seasons skating on a line that was dubbed the &lsquo;GMC Line&rsquo; (for Gretzky, Mac-Donald and Callighen), Callighen scored 48 goals in 114 games. He was a key member of a team on the cusp of greatness.And then disaster struck.On February 24, 1980, Callighen was accidentally clipped in the left eye by the stick of Boston&rsquo;s Brad McCrimmon. His career effectively ended that night in Edmonton.He underwent surgery and missed the rest of the season, but did return to training camp the next year.&ldquo;Gretz and the guys would say, &lsquo;Geez, you missed that pass that was right on the tape,&rsquo; &rdquo; Callighen said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d say, &lsquo;No it wasn&rsquo;t. It was off the ice.&rsquo; As time went on, the result of the injury was apparent and I knew I couldn&rsquo;t play.&rdquo;But Callighen, who is still involved with hockey as a player agent, has no regrets about missing out on the Oilers&rsquo; dynasty years.&ldquo;Playing professionally was a great honor and obviously playing with Gretz would be the big highlight,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But regardless if it was with Wayne or whoever, it was a great honor playing a game which very few people can play.&rdquo;POSITION LWWEIGHT 182BORN May 15, 1953SIGNED Oct. 1976, by New England (WHA)SHOOTS LeftHEIGHT 5-11<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021304/8949039-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="737" height="175"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011697/8949032-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="1094" height="1830"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BBS/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-02

Riding shotgun

<div class="byline">BY THN CORRESPONDENTS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011461/8949115-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ABOUT A BOYLE Despite having a great offensive year, Dan Boyle didn&rsquo;t get an invite to Dallas. (LEN REDKOLES/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-021069/8949122-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="122" height="137"></div>Coach John Tortorella said it was &ldquo;a joke&rdquo; Tampa Bay defenseman Dan Boyle was left off the Eastern Conference all-star team: &ldquo;Dan Boyle is not only one of the best players in the Eastern Conference, he&rsquo;s one of the best players in the NHL. This team goes nowhere without Danny Boyle.&rdquo; The Bolt was tied for fifth in NHL scoring by defensemen through 48 games.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>NORTHEAST DIVISION</h2>BOSTON Goalie Tim Thomas, who was 2-8 in his first 10 career shootouts, stopped all three shots to beat Buffalo for his fourth win in a row Jan. 15&hellip;Center Yan Stastny, with a goal and six points in 38 games as a Bruin was traded to St. Louis Jan. 16 for a 2007 fifth round pick.BUFFALO The return of concussed center Tim Connolly is in doubt despite a cutting-edge treatment that consists of steady, light exercise to build tolerance. He still has headaches from Peter Schaefer&rsquo;s open-ice, knockout (and clean) bodycheck in Round 2 of the 2006 playoffs.MONTREAL The Canadiens, who had lost nine of 13 games, made left winger Sergei Samsonov and defenseman Craig Rivet healthy scratches against Vancouver Jan. 16. Rivet, upon learning of the move, stormed out of the Bell Centre only to eventually return. Coach Guy Carbonneau said Rivet&rsquo;s play was &ldquo;deteriorating&rdquo; over that span&hellip;Montreal suffered consecutive shutout losses against Detroit and the Canucks.OTTAWA Newly acquired center Mike Comrie&nbsp;had seven points in seven games and added some much-needed depth. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s fit in well and the guys seem to like him&hellip;We were concerned about the center position, but he&rsquo;s come and he&rsquo;s helped,&rdquo; said coach Bryan Murray.TORONTO Goalie Andrew Raycroft had his best performance as a Leaf Jan. 16 in a 4-2 win over Tampa Bay, three nights after one of his worst, a 6-1 loss to Vancouver. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure he needed it,&rdquo; said coach Paul Maurice. &ldquo;He might come across as a little casual, but he feels (the pressure).&rdquo;&hellip;Right winger Nik Antropov had a goal and an assist against Tampa after missing 17 games with a sprained ankle.<h2>ATLANTIC DIVISION</h2>NEW JERSEY Martin Brodeur tied Patrick Roy&rsquo;s record of 44 career overtime wins with a 2-1 victory over the Islanders Jan. 13&hellip; Backup goalie Scott Clemmensen made only three appearances (two starts) through 47 games&hellip; Defenseman &nbsp;Andy Greene became the fifth Devil to make his NHL debut this season, joining Travis Zajac, Johnny Oduya, Alex Brooks and Mark Fraser.NY ISLANDERS Winger Richard Park scored a rare 3-on-5 goal Jan. 16 against Pittsburgh, the Islanders&rsquo; first since Benoit Hogue did it in 1993 and the first ever surrendered by the Penguins in 39 years.NY RANGERS New Jersey&rsquo;s Martin Brodeur&nbsp;on Rangers stopper Henrik Lundqvist: &ldquo;I see someone who has the chance to be a star in this league, and I think that&rsquo;s great. I mean, it&rsquo;s only his second year in the league and he already has that nickname (&lsquo;The King&rsquo;). That&rsquo;s exciting. I&rsquo;m all about players in this league having success. We need young stars in big markets to take the NHL to the level we want it to grow to.&rdquo;PHILADELPHIA GM Paul Holmgren said he wants to sit down with Peter Forsberg&nbsp;during the all-star break to discuss a contract extension. Forsberg, whose contract runs out July 1, said he wants to remain in Philadelphia&hellip;Joni Pitkanen ended a 43-game goal drought when he scored against Montreal Jan. 11.PITTSBURGH Coach Michel Therrien on Jason Blake&rsquo;s late-game, unpenalized spear of Sidney Crosby: &ldquo;It was a cheap shot and we&rsquo;re not going to accept those things.&rdquo;<h2>SOUTHEAST DIVISION</h2>ATLANTA The Thrashers lost some of their offensive depth when the Rangers claimed center Jason Krog on waivers. Krog was the AHL&rsquo;s leading scorer at the time.CAROLINA Leading scorer Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour passed on a spot in the All-Star Game to rest an injured foot&hellip;After going 8-2 in shootouts last season, the Canes are 0-3 this season. Carolina&rsquo;s shooters are 1-for-11.FLORIDA Ruslan Salei&nbsp;has been named an alternate captain, replacing Joe Nieuwendyk, who retired in November&hellip;The Panthers played the 1,000th game in franchise history Jan. 16. They lost 3-2 in overtime to Carolina.TAMPA BAY Right winger Martin St-Louis&nbsp;is the only NHLer with two double-digit point streaks this season, one for 11 games, the other 12 and active as of Jan. 17.WASHINGTON Goalie Brent Johnson signed a two-year extension Jan. 12. The deal runs through 2008-09 and buys prospects Michal Neuvirth and Simeon Varlamov&nbsp;more development time&hellip;Winger Alexander Semin&rsquo;s career-best five-game goal streak was snapped Jan. 16 in a loss at Ottawa as the Caps failed to score a power play goal after a six-game binge.<h2>CENTRAL DIVISION</h2>CHICAGO The Hawks formally asked the NHL to review its goal judging and goal review process after they had what appeared to be a goal wiped out in a shootout against Minnesota Jan. 14. A shot by Denis Arkhipovwas ruled to be across the goal line by referee Dave Jackson, but the call was overturned by the league office in Toronto. The ruling ended the game with Minnesota winning.COLUMBUS In the span of two days, Jan. 7-8, the Jackets lost their top two forwards, center Sergei Fedorov (elbow) and left winger Rick Nash (back), and their top two defensemen, Adam Foote (back) and Duvie Westcott (concussion). They then lost four in a row, their longest skid since Ken Hitchcock took over as coach.DETROIT Chris Chelios&nbsp;played his 1,515th game Jan. 15, moving past former Wings captain Steve Yzerman into 10th place on the NHL&rsquo;s all-time list.NASHVILLE Goalie Tomas Vokoun went 3-1-0 in four starts following his return from thumb surgery, but had yet to regain top form. He was pulled after allowing two soft goals in a 5-3 loss to Detroit Jan. 17. His post-injury save percentage was .893.ST. LOUIS After beating New Jersey Jan. 10, the Blues are 4-0-0 against the East.<h2>NORTHWEST DIVISION</h2>COLORADO Defenseman Jordan Leopold, who has missed all but five games this season with hernia and groin injuries, was expected to be back after the all-star break.CALGARY With Miikka Kiprus-off and Dion Phaneuf&nbsp;chosen for the All-Star Game, it&rsquo;s the first time since 2000 the Flames had two players at the showcase (Valeri Bure, Phil Housley). Had the injured Jarome Iginla been able to go, it would&rsquo;ve been three for the first time since 1992.EDMONTON Ryan Smyth&nbsp;was named to the West&rsquo;s all-star team, the first time in his career he&rsquo;s been invited.MINNESOTA In a 10-minute stretch against Edmonton Jan. 16, the Wild lost forwards Todd White (&ldquo;lower body&rdquo;) and Mark Parrish (face) and defensemen Kurtis Foster&nbsp;(&ldquo;lower body&rdquo;) and Keith Carney (back spasms). &ldquo;It was like they were cutting down trees,&rdquo; said center Wes Walz.VANCOUVER The Canucks sold out for the 150th consecutive time when they completed a homestand against Minnesota Jan. 11&hellip;The Canucks beat Montreal 4-0 Jan. 16 to extend their undefeated streak over the Habs to 9-0-1. Montreal&rsquo;s last win came Nov. 30, 2000.<h2>PACIFIC DIVISION</h2>ANAHEIM Left winger Bjorn Melin scored in his NHL debut Jan. 7 in a 4-2 win over visiting Detroit. Six days later, left winger Curtis Glencross scored in his debut, a 3-2 shootout loss to Colorado&hellip;Right winger Teemu Selanne recorded his 19th career hat trick &ndash; and first in nearly six years &ndash; and center Andy McDonald had a career-high four assists Jan. 11 in a 5-1 win at Dallas.DALLAS The Stars&rsquo; injury situation went from ridiculous to comical when Jeff Halpern tweaked a groin in the warmup and Philippe Boucher was hit in the face in the first period against L.A. Jan. 15. Other injuries included Mike Modano (hip/groin), Sergei Zubov (elbow), and Brenden Morrow (wrist) The Stars won the next two games with eight players out&hellip; Center Joel Lundqvist scored his first NHL goal Jan. 17.LOS ANGELES Yutaka Fukufuji became the first native of Japan to appear in an NHL game when he played the third period of the Kings&rsquo; 6-5 loss to St. Louis on Jan. 13. Fukufuji, 24, allowed one goal in his debut. Dan Cloutier (hip/knee) and Mathieu Garon (finger) are hurt and the Kings would likely lose Jason LaBarbera to waivers if they tried to recall him from the AHL.PHOENIX Center Yanic Perreault and goalie Mikael Tellqvist, two keys to the Coyotes&rsquo; mid-season revival, were offered contract extensions.SAN JOSE Center Joe Thornton hit 400 career assists and 600 points in his 635th game on the same goal when he fed Ryane Clowe Jan. 12 vs. Phoenix.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04393/8949108-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="788" height="1038"><figcaption class="caption-body">(EHROFF: DON SMITH/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>Quick Hits</h2><h3>QUICK IMPACT</h3>Phoenix center Yanic Perreault, who didn&rsquo;t sign with the team until Oct. 29, was selected to play in the All-Star Game for the first time in his 13-year career.<h3>NUMBER &lsquo;NIEN&rsquo;</h3>Defenseman Christian Ehrhoff became the first European-born Shark to collect a &lsquo;Gordie Howe hat trick&rsquo; with a goal, assist and fight (vs. Ole-Kristian Tollefsen) against Columbus Jan. 6.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-011190/8949101-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="658" height="656"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BRODEUR: ANDY MARLIN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h3>SHUT THE DOOR</h3>New Jersey&rsquo;s Martin Brodeur tied Patrick Roy&rsquo;s record of 44 career overtime wins with a 2-1 victory over the Islanders Jan. 13. &#9632;

f0020-01

Tortorella livid at Boyle snub

f0022-02

NHL’s lesser lights get moment in sun

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05429/8949467-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROOKIE KNIGHT David Van der Gulik, drafted 206th by Calgary in 2002, is among Omaha&rsquo;s scoring leaders. (MICHELLE BISHOP/OMAHA AK-SAR-BEN KNIGHTS)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02939/8949474-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="92" height="94"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>David Van der Gulik is proving he didn&rsquo;t forget how to score. The Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights right winger was projected to be a third line, defenseminded forward when he finished a four-year career at Boston University.But his offensive production has been a pleasant surprise for the Knights. At the midway point of the season, Van der Gulik was third on the team in goals (11) and fourth in points (24). He hadn&rsquo;t abandoned defense, either. His plus-13 rating was third-best among rookies.&ldquo;In college, he was known for his defensive play and leadership,&rdquo; said Omaha coach Ryan&nbsp;McGill. &ldquo;He probably didn&rsquo;t have a reputation as a guy with good offensive instincts, but you look at his numbers before he went to college and he was a highly touted offensive player.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-06357/8949460-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="268" height="268"><figcaption class="caption-body">West</figcaption></div>Indeed, Van der Gulik piled up the points in the B.C. Jr. A League, averaging 38 goals and 87 points in three seasons for Chilliwack. But preventing goals will still be the future role for Van der Gulik, drafted 206th overall by Calgary in 2002.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing against the top line every night,&rdquo; McGill said. &ldquo;He has been an important fixture on the penalty kill (four shorthanded goals). He has good anticipation, good strength and (skates well).&rdquo;TRAVEL ADVENTURES Unlike NHL teams which charter flights, AHL squads are at the mercy of commercial travel; which means when ice storms hit, as happened in mid-January, chaos ensues.The Milwaukee Admirals played in San Antonio Jan. 12 and were flying to St. Louis the next morning for a game in Peoria. When weather bombarded the midwest with ice, the Admirals hopped on a flight to Chicago instead.They arrived around 2:30 p.m. Their bags didn&rsquo;t show up for almost two more hours, meaning the Admirals got to Peoria 15 minutes before faceoff.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how you lose 50 pieces that weigh about 50,000 pounds, but they did,&rdquo; Milwaukee coach Claude Noel told the Journal-Sentinal of Milwaukee.K.C. POSSIBLE If their bid for NHL hockey fails, Kansas City officials may seek an AHL franchise to be the prime tenant at the $275-million Sprint Center, which is slated to open in October.The NHL is Kansas City&rsquo;s priority, but an AHL team could serve as a temporary tenant, re-introducing hockey to the city. The NHL&rsquo;s Scouts lasted two years in Kansas City (1974-75 and &rsquo;75-76) before moving to Denver. The IHL&rsquo;s Blades folded after the 2000-01 season.RINNE FINE Goalie Pekka Rinne returned to the Milwaukee lineup in mid-January. He has been out all season because of shoulder surgery, which was necessary after he was jumped by two men on a street in his native Finland.LESSONS LEARNED The Iowa Stars led the Toronto Marlies 4-2 with 90 seconds to play during a Jan. 13 game, but extra-attacker goals by Jay Harrisonand Tyson Nash forced overtime. Then, John Mitchell won it for Toronto 3:29 into overtime. &#9632;

f0026-05

Finding the net once again

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03758/8949512-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="264" height="373"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04565/8949505-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="141" height="147"></div>When Mikhail Grabovski picks up the puck with a full head of steam, Hamilton Bulldogs coach Don Lever knows he&rsquo;ll soon be left shaking his head. He just doesn&rsquo;t know if it will be from amazement or angst.Grabovski&rsquo;s combination of speed, flair and puck trickery make him one of the most entertaining players in the American League. But the rookie is still learning not every rush must result in a goal.&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t always understand that when you&rsquo;re 1-on-4, it&rsquo;s OK to chip it in,&rdquo; said Lever of Grabovski, who left Belarus to join the Montreal organization over the summer. &ldquo;As a coach, you get frustrated and you get wowed, too. He has so much skill and he has a second gear that&rsquo;s unbelievable. But too many times he wants to try the high-risk play.&rdquo;The 5-foot-11, 185-pound center/right winger has NHL skills, but must learn the North American game. Which is why he is playing in Hamilton. Grabovski had 11 goals and 32 points through 38 AHL games. He was pointless in a three-game look with the Canadiens.&ldquo;Down here, he can go into the middle one against three and get away with it,&rdquo; Lever said. &ldquo;Up there, you&rsquo;ll be sitting in the 14th row if you try that.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s learning, that&rsquo;s the big thing. He&rsquo;s fun to watch, he&rsquo;s something our game needs.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0026-03

Grab and go just his style

As of Jan. 18, 2007<h2>AHL TOP 10</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-07305/8949578-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="352" height="437"></div><h2>SHELDON BROOKBANK</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-08243/8949571-1-eng-US/f0026-082.jpg" title="f0026-08" width="265" height="372"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-09205/8949564-1-eng-US/f0026-092.jpg" title="f0026-09" width="139" height="136"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h3>TOP DEFENSEMEN</h3>PLAYER POINTSSheldon Brookbank, Mil 28Lawrence Nycholat, Her 28Nathan Oystrick, Chi 26Brandon Smith, Roc 25Curtis Murphy, Hou 24Dustin Byfuglien, Nor 23Dan McGillis, Low 23Filip Novak, Syr 23Mathieu Biron, Ham 22Jonathan Ericsson, GR 22<h2>SPRINGFIELD FALCONS</h2>13th Season in AHL Best Season42-22-11-5 in 1995-96ArenaMassMutual CenterGM Bruce LandonCoachSteve StirlingCareer Leaders(GP-G-A-Points)<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-10181/8949557-1-eng-US/f0026-102.jpg" title="f0026-10" width="141" height="146"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-11165/8949550-1-eng-US/f0026-112.jpg" title="f0026-11" width="193" height="274"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-13139/8949543-1-eng-US/f0026-132.jpg" title="f0026-13" width="241" height="189"></div> &#9632;

f0026-07

POWER RANKINGS

<div class="byline">BY PHIL JANACK</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04462/8949616-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GRACIOUS PACK Darius Kasparaitis brought the Rangers&rsquo; traditional fan salute to Hartford. (CHRIS RUTSCH)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-011252/8949623-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="209" height="95"></div>After many years, Eddie Shore will finally have some company up in the rafters in Springfield.Providence Bruins assistant coach Rob Murray&nbsp;will join the late Hockey Hall of Famer as one of only two players to have their sweater numbers retired in the city that is also home to the AHL&rsquo;s headquarters.Murray&rsquo;s No. 23 will be hung from the Mass-Mutual Center rafters alongside Shore&rsquo;s No. 2 in a pre-game ceremony when the Falcons host the Hartford Wolf Pack Feb. 10, an open date on Providence&rsquo;s schedule.&ldquo;Rob has always been known as &lsquo;Mr. Falcon&rsquo; and we are very excited to host such a special night for an individual who really deserves this moment,&rdquo; said Springfield GM-president Bruce Landon. &ldquo;Rob was a true leader on the ice. He was with us during our inception and he was instrumental in guiding his teammates to five straight years in the playoffs.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-05317/8949609-1-eng-US/f0027-052.jpg" title="f0027-05" width="268" height="268"><figcaption class="caption-body">East</figcaption></div>Named co-captain on the inaugural Falcons team in 1994-95, Murray, 39, played 501 of his 1,018 AHL games for Springfield from 1994-95 to 2002-03, retiring as the franchise leader in games played, assists (157) and penalty minutes (1,531). He is second in team history with 218 points and fifth with 61 goals. In all, Murray played 1,205 pro games in 16 seasons for 10 teams in three leagues, including 107 NHL games for Washington, Winnipeg and Phoenix.NICE GESTURE Though Darius Kasparaitis has been back in New York for two months, his presence created a lasting impression in Hartford.During his two-week stay with the Rangers farm team in November, Kasparaitis brought with him a tradition from the NHL squad: recognizing its biggest supporters.After each home victory, Wolf Pack players gather on the ice and salute the fans by raising their sticks to the Civic Center crowd. After opening with just two wins in its first 10 home games, Hartford went on a 7-3-2-0 streak since Nov. 25.KEEPING ON Washington will continue to provide players to Hershey for the foreseeable future.The Capitals and Bears have reached an affiliation agreement that will last through the 2007-08 season.In their first year together, Hershey won 56 regular season and playoff games and captured a league record-tying ninth Calder Cup championship.RECORDS BROKEN Manchester&rsquo;s Jason LaBarbera and Binghamton&rsquo;s Kelly Guard used the same night to set team goaltending records, though in different games.LaBarbara made 59 saves in a 3-2 overtime win at Hartford, Jan. 5, the most in an AHL game since Jean-Sebastien Aubin&nbsp;of St. John&rsquo;s had 63 in a Dec. 30, 2004 win over Syracuse. Guard stopped 54 shots in a 4-3 home shootout loss to Toronto, breaking the team mark of 46 he shared with Ray Emery.BRONZE MOMENT Scott Robinson, a volunteer massage therapist for Binghamton, took home a bronze medal for his work with Team USA during the World Junior Championship. &#9632;

f0027-04

‘Mr. Falcon’ gets new perch

<div class="byline">&#x2013; PHIL JANACK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02873/8949661-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="264" height="373"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03634/8949654-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="178" height="170"></div>Jeff Tambellini has been known strictly as a goal-scorer, but he entered this season ready to change his image.So far, so good.While continuing to put up points for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the 2003 first-rounder is also turning himself into a dependable two-way player.&ldquo;I was hoping to add a different dimension to my game,&rdquo; said Tambellini, son of former Islander forward and current Canucks assistant GM-vice-president Steve Tambellini. &ldquo;Coming here, I&rsquo;ve been able to play a lot of minutes, especially on the penalty kill.&rdquo;In addition to leading Bridge-port with 17 goals and 33 points in 27 games, the 5-foot-11, 192-pound left winger was also a plus-7, the only positive rating among Sound Tigers regulars.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been grittier and I think he&rsquo;s one of the best offensive players in the league,&rdquo; said coach Dan Marshall. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s so much stronger on the boards and in front of the net. That&rsquo;s a big thing.&rdquo;Tambellini, 22, has played 26 NHL games, 21 of those for the Islanders after being acquired from L.A. last spring.&ldquo;Most young guys don&rsquo;t start on one of the top two lines in the NHL,&rdquo; Marshall said, &ldquo;so you have to learn to be dependable and work your way onto the third or fourth line and, as time goes by, work up to the top.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0027-02

Tambellini tinkering

<div class="byline">BY MIKE MASTOVICH</div>His role with the Las Vegas Wranglers has changed, but veteran goalie Marc Magliarditi still knows how to put on an impressive performance.The 10th-year pro made 33 saves, many of the highlight film variety, in only his third start of the season, a 3-2 win over Long Beach Jan. 13. Appropriately, it was Marc Magliarditi bobblehead night at Orleans Arena.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-06235/8949692-1-eng-US/f0027-062.jpg" title="f0027-06" width="181" height="174"></div>&ldquo;I had a lot of energy and obviously it was a big night with figurines of myself and all that,&rdquo; said Magliarditi, 30, who is 3-0-0 with a 2.56 goals-against average. &ldquo;I had a lot of people in the stands and it gave me a little bit more of a boost.&rdquo;Last year, Magliarditi had 34 wins, giving him 83 victories in four seasons with the Wranglers. But with the emergence of goalie Mike McKenna, named a starter on the National Conference all-star team, and nagging injuries that landed him on the 30-day injured reserve, Magliarditi has stood out in a supporting role.CATCHING THE ROADRUNNERS Phoenix attracted a record crowd of 7,096 to US Airways Center for a 7-5 win over Idaho Jan. 13. With 19 wins, the RoadRunners were one shy of their 2005-06 total.SHINING STARS Seven players from the 2003 ECHL All-Star Game advanced to the NHL. Zenon Konopka (Anaheim), Mike Smith (Dallas), Kevin Colley (Islanders), Mike Glumac (St. Louis), Adam Houser (Los Angeles), Matt Underhill (Chicago) and Mike Bishai (Edmonton) all made it to the big show for stints of various lengths. &#9632;

f0027-06

Magliarditi still has it

<div class="byline">BY JEFF RENAUD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02910/8949765-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="817" height="1560"><figcaption class="caption-body">RE-WARD Former UPEI Panther Joel Ward got a six-game look with the Minnesota Wild. (DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>JOEL WARD RECEIVED the best Christmas gift of his life in 2006.The former University of Prince Edward Island Panther skated in six games with the Minnesota Wild, making his NHL debut in Vancouver Dec. 16 and registering an assist in his hometown of Toronto against the Leafs along the way.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011296/8949772-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="165" height="111"></div>&ldquo;I started the game in Vancouver, which was an unbelievable feeling because it was on Hockey Night in Canada,&rdquo; Ward said.After recording 76 goals and 152 points in four OHL seasons with Owen Sound, Ward &ndash; who was undrafted &ndash; scored himself a camp invite with Detroit in 2001.&ldquo;The tryout didn&rsquo;t really work out so I decided to come home and see what options I wanted to pursue and going to school was the best thing for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;UPEI seemed like a good fit, so I ended up going there for four years and was fortunate to get my degree in sociology.&rdquo;In 2003, Ward earned an invite to the Wild&rsquo;s camp.&ldquo;I was still in school and they wanted me to sign with (AHL affiliate) Houston, but I had already completed two years of school and I wasn&rsquo;t prepared to give that up,&rdquo; Ward said.After graduation, the Wild had Ward try out with Houston and the right winger dressed for 66 games in 2005-06 before signing an NHL contract last fall.Ward, 26, was sent back to the Aeros Jan 2, leaving former Western Mustang Steve Rucchin of Atlanta and ex-Dalhousie Tiger Jody Shelley of Columbus as the only two active NHL players with Canadian university experience.&ldquo;The CIS is a great league,&rdquo; Ward said. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t hear much about it, but there are a lot of great players who do want to continue playing at a higher level. It&rsquo;s unfortunate it doesn&rsquo;t get the attention it should.&rdquo;<h3>Eye on Europe</h3><h2>Russians dominate European Cup</h2>AK Bars Kazan won the European Champions Cup in St. Petersburg, beating the reigning Finnish champion, HPK, Hameenlinna 6-0 in the final. Former NHL stopper Mika Noronen, who played for Hameenlinna during the lockout, got the shutout for Kazan. The tournament was the third of its kind since the International Ice Hockey Federation relaunched its European Cup competition in 2005. All three tournaments have seen the Finnish and Russian champions battle for the top prize of 220,000 Euro and every time the money has gone to Russia. AK Bars Kazan was undeniably the best squad as its players grabbed all six spots on the tournament all-star team&hellip;In Switzerland, SC Bern and Langau played in front of the largest European crowd to ever watch a hockey game (more than 30,000) at Stade de Suisse soccer stadium. SC Bern, which has the highest attendance in Europe for five years, won 5-2.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03685/8949758-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="190" height="115"></div>&ndash; RISTO PAKARINEN<h3>United League</h3><h2>Wings honor Parfet with low-key tribute</h2>There&rsquo;s a good reason the Kalamazoo Wings haven&rsquo;t done anything elaborate to remember former owner Ray &lsquo;Ted&rsquo; Parfet after his death. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s exactly what Ted Parfet wouldn&rsquo;t want,&rdquo; said Wings GM Paul Pickard. &ldquo;He was a very down-to-earth individual, somebody who was very approachable.&rdquo; So when Parfet died Nov. 27 (&ldquo;exactly six months to the day after I presented him with the Colonial Cup,&rdquo; Pickard said) the team showed a video tribute of Parfet at Wings Stadium and black patches bearing the letters RTP were stitched on the team&rsquo;s jerseys. &ldquo;We kept it very simple and brief,&rdquo; Pickard said. Parfet was a beloved figure in Kalamazoo, founding the Wings and building their facility in the mid &rsquo;70s.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04494/8949751-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="187" height="83"></div>&ndash; BRENDAN SAVAGE<h3>Central League</h3><h2>Eagles keep soaring, streak is a record</h2>Not even the No. 13 is unlucky for the Colorado Eagles. The Eagles set the league mark with 13 consecutive wins and then extended their record romp to 15 straight victories, setting the record for &lsquo;AA&rsquo; level pro hockey. &ldquo;At times, you need the hockey Gods smiling down on you,&rdquo; Colorado coach Chris Stewart told the Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald. &ldquo;We do have a team that works exceptionally hard, that creates wins, but at times the right bounce too.&rdquo; The Eagles broke an ECHL record of 14 straight wins (set by the Louisiana Ice Gators in 2001 and Knoxville Cherokees in 1993) and the UHL mark of 13 in a row (held by the Motor City Mechanics). Colorado&rsquo;s streak began following a 7-0 loss to Odessa, the worst setback in franchise history.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05386/8949744-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="176" height="125"></div>&ndash; DAVID HENRY<h3>Southern Pro League</h3><h2>League hits the Net with three-year deal</h2>It&rsquo;s not the NHL&rsquo;s Center Ice package, but the SPHL entered into a three-year contract with Penn Atlantic to have games broadcast on the Internet at <a href="http://www.sphl.tv.com">www.sphl.tv.com</a>. The league hopes it will become a revenue-generating stream. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what we are hoping will happen eventually,&rdquo; said Keith Jeffries, Huntsville Havoc president and chairman of the board of governors. Cost is $7 per game or $75 per individual team for the remainder of the regular season. A league pass is $125 and provides access to every team except Richmond, which hopes to be on board next year&hellip;The SPHL standings will be based on percentage, not points, because it is mathematically impossible for all teams to play 56 games since Florida ceased operations.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-06335/8949737-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="170" height="133"></div>&ndash; NICK GATES<h3>North American League</h3><h2>Columbus sniper Ohio State bound</h2>The Ohio State Buckeyes have picked up their share of quality recruits, but one who might surprise is local Columbus product Todd Rudasill. The 6-foot, 205-pound forward skates for the Alpena Ice-Diggers and, through 38 games, led the league with 20 goals and 62 points. Rudasill was passed over in the 2006 NHL draft and was not ranked by International Scouting Services for this year&rsquo;s draft. &ldquo;Todd has great hands, he sees the ice very well,&rdquo; said Alpena coach-GM Kenny Miller. &ldquo;He is the most gifted player I&rsquo;ve coached during my time with the IceDiggers. He has good hockey sense and a scoring touch I&rsquo;d expect to carry over at the college level.&rdquo; Rudasill had just 25 points in 55 games last season as a 17-year-old.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-07284/8949730-1-eng-US/f0028-072.jpg" title="f0028-07" width="150" height="115"></div>&ndash; PAUL SHAHEEN<h3>The Women&rsquo;s Game</h3><h2>European vacation fruitful for Canada</h2>Canadian youngsters ushered in the New Year in winning style. Canada&rsquo;s under-22 team was undefeated at the six-team European Air Canada Cup, held Jan. 3 to 7 in Ravensburg, Germany. A sellout crowd of 3,500 watched Canada easily outpace the German team 6-1 in the final. Forward Ashley Riggs scored two goals in the clincher and Rebecca Johnston notched a goal and two assists. Canada, which won the event for the fifth time in as many years, rolled over the Swiss team, 11-0, in the semifinal following lopsided round robin wins over Germany and Japan. Canadian Annie Guay was named top defenseman at the event, while Riggs joined blueliners Tessa Bonhomme and Bobbi Jo Slusar on the tournament all-star team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-08240/8949723-1-eng-US/f0028-082.jpg" title="f0028-08" width="175" height="135"></div>&ndash; ELIZABETH ETUE &#9632;

f0028-02

University grad gets NHL shot

<div class="byline">BY ROB VANSTONE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-011149/8949831-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="826" height="1136"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BRETT GUNDLOCK/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>IF RYAN WHITE ends up scoring a trademark goal for the Montreal Canadiens, the French description may require a slight alteration to from &lsquo;C&rsquo;est le but!&rsquo; to &lsquo;C&rsquo;est le butt!&rsquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02785/8949838-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="153" height="116"></div>The second &lsquo;t&rsquo; is needed to describe an unlikely goal the Calgary Hitmen center celebrated last season.&ldquo;I took one off the pants,&rdquo; chuckled White, a Habs third-rounder in 2006. &ldquo;I was getting cross-checked and our defenseman took a shot. I was on the way down and I took one off the ass and it went in.&rdquo;That goal is indicative of White&rsquo;s approach to the game. If he must absorb punishment to score near the crease, it shall be done.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a few nice ones,&rdquo; said the 18-year-old of his goals, &ldquo;but most of them are pretty dirty.&rdquo;The Canadiens appreciate the subtleties in White&rsquo;s game.&ldquo;We think he&rsquo;s a throw-back to the old-time NHL player where he uses his body positioning and hockey sense to be effective both offensively and defensively,&rdquo; said Trevor Timmins, Montreal&rsquo;s director of player recruitment and development.&ldquo;You have to watch him closely to get an appreciation for his game and what he does well because he does all the little things right.&rdquo;It all adds up to big numbers. At mid-season, White was among the Western League&rsquo;s premier point producers with 21 goals and 58 points in 45 games.He had 20 goals and 53 points all of last season. The 6-foot, 200-pound Brandon, Man., native&rsquo;s elevated totals are partially attributable to an increased emphasis on conditioning.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s sure working at it as of late,&rdquo; said Hitmen coach-GM Kelly Kisio. &ldquo;Even in the middle of last year, I don&rsquo;t think he realized he would get drafted or might have a chance at playing this game for a living. Scouts started commenting and watching him real close. I think he finally realized he might be able to do this.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s getting there. By no means is he at his peak as far as conditioning. He&rsquo;s still got a long ways to go, but he&rsquo;s trying.&rdquo;Timmins noted the prospect&rsquo;s skating stride has been lengthened in recent months.&ldquo;We think he&rsquo;s got a good chance to play at the NHL level some day,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We like the sense he has for the game. He&rsquo;s a responsible, two-way player who makes the players around him better.&rdquo;<h2>Spotlight</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03555/8949824-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="966" height="231"></div><h3>Western League</h3><h2>Bruin was to become Dog, but Rabbit now a Giant</h2>BY ROB VANSTONEWacey Rabbit hopped on a plane, only to eventually discover his final destination would change.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04409/8949817-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="153" height="116"></div>Rabbit ended up on the west coast, as intended, but with the Western League&rsquo;s Vancouver Giants.Initially, the 20-year-old Rabbit had been loaned to the ECHL&rsquo;s Long Beach Ice Dogs by the American League&rsquo;s Providence Bruins. But Providence&rsquo;s parent team &ndash; the Boston Bruins &ndash; then agreed to return Rabbit to the WHL because Vancouver is guaranteed a 2007 Memorial Cup berth as the host team.One problem: Rabbit&rsquo;s rights were held by the Saskatoon Blades, with whom he had spent four seasons, so Vancouver quickly completed a deal for the speedy center. Some of the negotiations occurred while Rabbit was airborne.&ldquo;That 48 hours was just a melee,&rdquo; Rabbit said. &ldquo;Obviously, I&rsquo;m coming back to win. I&rsquo;ve signed a pro contract. There&rsquo;s really nothing else for me to prove, but to win a championship.&rdquo;NOTES Seattle captain Aaron Gagnon is out indefinitely with a severely separated shoulder. At the time of the injury, the 20-year-old center had a league-high 54 points in 40 games. His 26 goals also put him among the league leaders.<h3>Ontario League</h3><h2>League champs tear it down, deal stars in blockbusters</h2>BY JIM CRESSMANThe defending league-champion Peterborough Petes are rebuilding after two blockbuster trades at the deadline. Center<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-05338/8949810-1-eng-US/f0029-052.jpg" title="f0029-05" width="190" height="64"></div>Steve Downie was the first to go, heading to the Kitchener Rangers for 17-year-old left winger Yves Bastien and three second round OHL picks. Then center Dan Ryder was dealt to the Plymouth Whalers for 17-year-old center John Armstrong and second, third and sixth round picks.With the Petes near the bottom of their division, GM Jeff Twohey began shopping both fourth-year players in late November.&ldquo;The big thing that impacted us was losing Jordan Staal (to Pittsburgh) and the overagers we counted on coming back signed NHL contracts,&rdquo; Twohey said. &ldquo;To win down the road we had to make some hard decisions now. I&rsquo;m satisfied these were the best deals we could have made.&rdquo;NOTES The London Knights will attempt what no OHL team has done; host consecutive Memorial Cups. The Knights, who won the 2005 event as hosts, are bidding for 2008, the next time the OHL is eligible to host the derby. Since the CHL went to the tournament format, only the Portland Winter Hawks, in 1983 and 1986, have staged successive Cups.<h3>Quebec League</h3><h2>Volts will get huge spark when star Brassard returns</h2>BY NEIL HODGEDrummondville is anxiously awaiting the return of star center Derick Brassard, who has missed the entire season due to a separated shoulder sustained in training camp.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-06280/8949803-1-eng-US/f0029-062.jpg" title="f0029-06" width="148" height="136"></div>The Voltigeurs, viewed as contenders before the season, hope to have him back in the lineup for the final month.&ldquo;Derick will be evaluated Feb. 7 and we should know then the exact date for his return,&rdquo; said Voltigeurs GM Dominic Ricard, whose team is 21-21-0-3. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re a .500 team now so it&rsquo;s going to be a big boost to get him back.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s clear that he&rsquo;s one of the top four or five players in the league. It&rsquo;s going to feel like we made a big trade once he&rsquo;s back in the lineup.&rdquo;Brassard was a first team all-star last season and finished seventh in the scoring race with 44 goals and 116 points in 58 games. Brassard, 19, also won the Mike Bossy Trophy last year as the Quebec League&rsquo;s top professional prospect and was selected sixth overall by Columbus in 2006.NOTES Quebec Remparts right winger Brent Aubin is having a stellar season after signing as a free agent with Toronto last summer. The 20-year-old was fourth in scoring in mid-January with 81 points, including 43 goals, in 48 games. &#9632;</div>

f0029-01

Doing it White takes effort

<div class="byline">BY TOM BOGGIE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011304/8949904-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="653" height="896"><figcaption class="caption-body">(DSPICS.COM)</figcaption></div>THREE YEARS AGO, Brown right winger Brian Ihnacak had it all &ndash; name recognition, a rookie of the year trophy and a bright future.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02885/8949911-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="150" height="149"></div>But the road to the top isn&rsquo;t always straight.Just the name alone was enough to make Ihnacak, who was born in Toronto but played for Slovakia&rsquo;s under-18 team in 2003, an instant star at Brown. His father, Peter, played for the Toronto Maple Leafs for eight years and his uncle, Miroslav, played for both the Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings.And when Ihnacak scored 30 points as a freshman and shared ECAC rookie of the year honors with David McKee, it seemed the sky was the limit.Then things changed.&ldquo;Brian is a natural,&rdquo; said Brown coach Roger Grillo. &ldquo;Things have always come easy for him. When things got tough, I don&rsquo;t think he was ready for that.&rdquo;Ihnacak, a solid 6-foot, 195-pound winger, struggled to find chemistry with his linemates. Last year, he hit rock-bottom, appearing in just 15 games and a healthy scratch for most of the others.&ldquo;Things just took a turn for the worse,&rdquo; said Ihnacak, 21. &ldquo;It was one of those years when the team struggled and things didn&rsquo;t click for me personally. I was dealing with a lot of things, both at the rink and away from it.&rdquo;Grillo admits he didn&rsquo;t make it easy for a player he thought was going to be a leader.&ldquo;I put him through the grinder,&rdquo; Grillo said.But Ihnacak came back for his senior year with a fresh approach and the determination to prove his freshman season was no fluke. Through 15 games, he had two goals and nine points for the Bears, but he has also come to the realization he can contribute to the team when he&rsquo;s not putting up big numbers.&ldquo;I think that was the whole deal,&rdquo; Grillo said. &ldquo;That (points) was what motivated him and drove him. But the game has changed. Your best players are now your complete players. Brian was able to look in the mirror and realize he had to work hard to achieve that. That&rsquo;s the rewarding part.&rdquo;&ldquo;A lot of people jumped off my bandwagon,&rdquo; Ihnacak said. &ldquo;I have to show I&rsquo;m still the player I was in junior and my freshman year. I&rsquo;m confident I&rsquo;ll have a professional career and be around for some time.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been a person to say, what if. Everyone has a path to go down and the path isn&rsquo;t always smooth.&rdquo;<h2>Spotlight</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03646/8949897-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="966" height="231"></div><h3>Central Collegiate</h3><h2>Jakaitis sets records, builds on goalie legacy</h2>BY PHILIP COLVINWhen senior goalie Jeff Jakaitis decided to play at Lake Superior State, he had never set foot on campus, but knew the Lakers&rsquo; rich history of three national titles and top-notch goaltenders such as Blaine Lacher, Darrin Madeley and John Grahme. &ldquo;They had some great teams and some great goaltenders,&rdquo; Jakaitis said. &ldquo;I was excited to have the opportunity to play here and be part of that tradition.&rdquo; Since then, Jakaitis has racked up three Lakers MVP awards, is tops in career save percentage and set the school shutout record (10) with a 2-0 win over Northern Michigan Dec. 1. Jakaitis credits a Lakers squad that includes 12 first-year players with limiting scoring chances. &ldquo;We are better defensively this season,&rdquo; said Lake Superior State coach Jim Roque. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t had to rely on him to win games as much and that&rsquo;s helped him relax in net. He gives us a chance to win every night.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04475/8949890-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="193" height="72"></div><h3>Hockey East</h3><h2>Schaeffer shakes attack, but hard lessons learned</h2>BY LARRY MAHONEYBoston University senior defenseman Kevin Schaeffer has some altered perspectives. Early on the morning of Dec. 4, Schaeffer and Terrier teammates John Curry and Sean Sullivan were attacked by men wielding bats, billy clubs and hammers. Schaeffer suffered the most substantial injuries: a fractured orbital bone, other small fractures in the face and head and a dislocated thumb. Despite having surgery to repair the fractured orbital bone, he missed just two games. And, in the five games following his return, he had a goal and three points and was plus-4. &ldquo;I feel really good, actually,&rdquo; Schaeffer said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like I have a new feeling of energy since I&rsquo;ve been back. I get better every day.&rdquo; Schaeffer said he considers himself an extremely lucky man, adding the attack changed his outlook on a lot of things. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve always got to keep your wits about you and be ready for anything,&rdquo; he said.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05362/8949883-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="197" height="89"></div><h3>Eastern College</h3><h2>RPI&rsquo;s cancer survivor up for humanitarian honor</h2>BY TOM BOGGIELike the other four finalists for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, RPI senior forward Kirk MacDonald has done his share of charity work, volunteer work and mentoring. But what sets MacDonald apart from the other finalists for the award, presented to the player who has given the most back to the community, is what he has gone through. MacDonald, a native of Victoria, B.C., was diagnosed with testicular cancer in April, 2005. During one stretch, he spent 65 days in a Vancouver hospital and dropped 73 pounds. Since his return in January, 2006, MacDonald has been raising funds for cancer awareness. A head-shaving campaign by his teammates raised more than $11,000 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. MacDonald, second in RPI scoring this year with seven goals and 16 points in 19 games, also worked on the American Cancer Society Relay For Life, which generated $124,000 in donations.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-06296/8949876-1-eng-US/f0030-062.jpg" title="f0030-06" width="207" height="77"></div><h3>Western Collegiate</h3><h2>U.S. immigration law impacting coach&rsquo;s status</h2>BY ANDY BAGGOTAlaska-Anchorage doesn&rsquo;t need or want a new coach, so why are school officials looking for one? Second-year coach Dave Shyiak has the Seawolves moving in the right direction &ndash; they have already won more games than last season &ndash; but the native of Brandon, Man., is working in the U.S. under a temporary permit. Anchorage athletic director Steve Cobb knew that when he hired Shyiak prior to the 2005-06 season. Shyiak still has time remaining on his temporary permit, but he&rsquo;s applying for permanent residence. The school must conduct a national search for a coach as part of that process. A provision in U.S. immigration law states if a qualified American citizen applies for the job, Anchorage would have no choice but to hire that person. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a risk,&rdquo; Cobb said. &ldquo;This is the most important thing on my agenda,&rdquo; Shyiak told the Anchorage Daily News.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-07239/8949869-1-eng-US/f0030-072.jpg" title="f0030-07" width="212" height="46"></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

Ihnacak fights to regain form

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-011201/8949956-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011281/8949949-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="7090" height="3545"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011293/8949942-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="3303" height="1488"></div> &#9632;

f0031-01

2006-07 Statistics

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MINDENHALL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-011213/8950001-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div>The sleepy town of Sicamous, located almost directly between Calgary and Vancouver on the Trans Canada Highway, hails itself as the &ldquo;houseboat capital of British Columbia&rdquo; and has purported to contain the country&rsquo;s premier drinking water.These claims are indisputably legit, but it&rsquo;s the third distinguishing characteristic that locals are most proud: Sicamous turns out more NHL hockey players per capita than anywhere else in North America.Currently, that number is two &ndash; Washington&rsquo;s Kris Beech and Nashville&rsquo;s Shea Weber. Now, this is hardly spectacular at first glance, but for a town of 3,166 permanent residents it&rsquo;s at least significant considering there are currently only three NHLers from Detroit proper (a.k.a &lsquo;Hockey-town&rsquo;) which has a population of nearly one million people.Where things become some-what spectacular is when you factor in Sicamous&rsquo; past NHLers. Ron Flockhart played 453 NHL games with four teams in the 1980s. His older brother Rob played 55 games with Vancouver and Minnesota. Dale Purinton, 30, played 181 games for the Rangers, most recently in 2003-04, and has 20 games with Hartford of the AHL this season.Sicamous has its share of NHL hopefuls, too. Cody Franson, who won gold with Canada at the World Junior Championship earlier this month, is a Nashville pick. Kris Hogg is Flames property while Andrew Kizek is an Atlanta selection. Adrian Veideman is undrafted, but the University of Denver captain has already won two NCAA titles with the Pioneers.That&rsquo;s nine players that have been, are in, or could (in theory) end up in The Show. In other words, you can&rsquo;t swing a fish without hitting a hockey talent smack-dab in the keister in the town of Sicamous.So why is that, exactly?Some point to the Theory of Oneupsmanship. This theory operates under Leonardo da Vinci&rsquo;s hungry old credo, &ldquo;poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.&rdquo; It would suggest each kid who grows up in Sicamous wants to be better than the last great kid. After all, it only takes one example (the Flockharts being the original idols) to first prove defying the numbers is not only doable, but actually something to be bettered. It&rsquo;s a sort of reciprocal will-fulness and in an uber-familiar town like Sicamous, where Shea Weber&rsquo;s mom cut Kris Beech&rsquo;s hair and Beech&rsquo;s dad was virtually everybody&rsquo;s family doctor, this is a strong possibility.Others might favor the Altruism Effect. This is a particularly glaring aspect of Sicamous that cannot be understated.James Weber (sawmill worker by day, the youth system&rsquo;s &ldquo;coach of coaches&rdquo; by night), Jack Beech (doctor all day, novice coach all night) and Cal Franson (part-time bantam coach, full-time Zamboni driver at the only rink in town) all work together (with many others) to make the youth system indomitable. All have sons in or headed toward the NHL.Each teaches &lsquo;defense first&rsquo; the way William Travis preached defense at the Alamo &ndash; which is to say, tenaciously.And each more or less makes more of less.&ldquo;For Adrian (Veideman) and Shea (Weber) and all the good young kids coming out of there, we only had 10-12 players on our rosters growing up,&rdquo; says Kris Beech.Sicamous youth teams roll two lines, with two defensive pairings and the spare goalie dressed up as a forward. This leaves little room for attrition (which makes them tougher) and it means kids will be in excellent shape. Since there isn&rsquo;t a AAA team in Sicamous, kids have to eventually leave this Utopia at young ages in pursuit of their dreams. But before they do, they&rsquo;ll enter provincial AAA tournaments where, as heavy underdogs, they often come out on top &ndash; like the 11-player bantam team Veideman and Beech skated on in 1997 did.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03694/8949994-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="876" height="1877"></div>The most obvious explanation for the high volume of good players is simply the availability of ice. Growing up in Sicamous means a kid can skate whenever he wants (as opposed to Vancouver where on average 500 kids languish on a waiting list to play competitive youth hockey). He can skate during his lunch hour. He can referee beer league games to earn a extra scratch. Or, essentially, skate in the middle of the night.&ldquo;Cody (Franson&rsquo;s) dad works at the rink &ndash; so we could go over there and bum ice time off of him,&rdquo; says Weber. &ldquo;We could pay a couple of bucks here or there and pretty much get on the ice whenever we wanted. That&rsquo;s a big part of it.&rdquo;Sicamous is a lot of things to (not really) a lot of people. But proof of the law of averages, it ain&rsquo;t.&ldquo;I took it for granted,&rdquo; says Beech now. &ldquo;But every time I go back it&rsquo;s like paradise for me.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02845/8949987-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="1807" height="1233"><figcaption class="caption-body">SIC STANDARD Kris Beech, seen as a peewee far right, is one of nine current, former, or potential NHLers from Sicamous; population, 3,166.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0035-01

Houseboats and hockey

<div class="byline">Adam Proteau</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-011186/8950032-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JOHN A RUSSELL/GETTY IMAGES.)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02779/8950039-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="221" height="233"></div> Read Adam&rsquo;s blog daily on <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a>AS THE NHL passes the halfway point of its season, the man who led the league in plus-minus was not who you&rsquo;d expect. In fact, if you&rsquo;d said in the summer that Ottawa blueliner Tom Preissing would be that guy, you&rsquo;d be expected to return to the short bus in shorter order.But as of mid-January, there Preissing was, sharing the lead with Detroit star Nicklas Lidstrom, at a robust plus-27. Granted, that&rsquo;s nowhere near Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s plus-98 in 1984-85 &ndash; but for Preissing, an undrafted 28-year-old brought over from San Jose in the three-team deal that made Martin Havlat a Chicago Blackhawk, the positive press isn&rsquo;t a bad thing.&ldquo;Within the past couple of weeks, people have started to notice (the stat),&rdquo; Preissing noted. &ldquo;The number isn&rsquo;t something I look at, but you certainly appreciate the fact things are going your way, at least while the team is winning.&rdquo;Still, Preissing cautions against reading too much into what many NHL types believe to be the most fickle of stats. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think plus-minus is something you want to put all your stock in,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I may get on the ice just as we&rsquo;re scoring a goal, so I get a plus without having touched the puck at all. Or I may make a mistake in our end, and Razor (Senators goalie Ray Emery) bails me out on it.&ldquo;With the right or wrong bounces, you could just as easily be having an unlucky year. Mez may be having an unlucky year.&rdquo;&lsquo;Mez&rsquo; is Sens defenseman Andrej Meszaros, a prime example of the fleeting nature of the positive plus-minus. In 2005-06, the young Slovak finished with a plus-34 rating, second in the NHL to teammate Wade Redden and Rangers defenseman Michal Rozsival (both were plus-35). This season, Meszaros is dead last among Senators at minus-11.<h2>ICE TIME, OPPONENTS A FACTOR</h2>Ottawa assistant coach John Paddock, who has worked closely with both players this year, sees the rise of Preissing and Meszaros&rsquo;s fall a little differently. And he doesn&rsquo;t think lucky bounces have much to do with either of their circumstances.&ldquo;I guess there could be some luck involved, but I think there are other factors at play,&rdquo; Paddock said. &ldquo;Last year, Meszaros was playing 14 minutes a game, against third or fourth line opponents. This year, he&rsquo;s been getting more time and playing the second and first lines.&ldquo;On the other hand, Tom is playing on the power play, he&rsquo;s averaging not as much ice time as some of our other defensemen and he doesn&rsquo;t regularly play against teams&rsquo; top players. But he has made the most of his power play time and he&rsquo;s kept his mistakes down. That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s at where he&rsquo;s at today.&rdquo;Though it&rsquo;s true Preissing&rsquo;s minutes have been relatively limited (he has averaged 14:47 a game, above just Christoph Schubert among Sens defensemen), Paddock can easily see the tools that got the 6-foot, 198-pounder included in the Havlat trade.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a real smart player,&rdquo; said Paddock of Preissing. &ldquo;You either have hockey sense or you don&rsquo;t as a player. He has it and it allows him to gain good position more often than not. He knows where he&rsquo;s supposed to be out there.&rdquo;He also has shown he can do it while learning on the fly. After starting out the year with Anton Volchenkov as his primary blueline partner, Preissing had to switch and pair up with Schubert for a spell. Now he&rsquo;s with Joe Corvo, and all things considered, he&rsquo;s held up quite well.Still, it was a bumpier adjustment to a new team and conference than Preissing imagined.&ldquo;To be honest, I thought the transition would be seamless, but it took a good 20 games to get adjusted,&rdquo; said the Rosemount, Minn., native, who spent four years at Colorado College after playing for Green Bay (USHL).&ldquo;When you switch (defensive) partners, there is some adjustment there, while you learn the nuances of the other player&rsquo;s game. All in all, I think I&rsquo;ve made a full transition and I feel comfortable here.&rdquo;<h2>EMERY HELPS, TOO</h2>Preissing is quick to credit Emery for his successes and the Sens&rsquo; turnaround to their season.&ldquo;It starts with Razor and it builds from there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s really answered the call for us. We&rsquo;ve had some bad first periods, but he&rsquo;s been fantastic when that&rsquo;s happened and he&rsquo;s given us the time to straighten our game out in the second and third periods. We owe a lot to him.&rdquo;Paddock believes Preissing&rsquo;s greatest attribute is his consistency &ndash; a consistency exemplified, at least for now, by that sparkling plus-minus rating.&ldquo;The plus-minus is great and I think it&rsquo;s something to take pride in as a player,&rdquo; Paddock said. &ldquo;But I think you have to see Tom every day, every game for him to really grow on you.&ldquo;If you looked at an isolated game, you might see him make some smart moves, or make a very smart decision on the power play. And you&rsquo;d probably come away impressed.&ldquo;But he does that regularly, game after game after game. That&rsquo;s what sets him apart.&rdquo;<h2>THE PLUS SIDE</h2>Preissing easily tops all Sens defensemen &ndash; and is vying for the NHL lead &ndash; in plus/minusJoe Corvo&ndash;8 GP 43Andrej Meszaros&ndash;6 GP 48Tom Preissing+27 GP 47Anton Volchenkov+13 GP 45Chris Phillips+12 GP 48Christoph Schubert+12 GP 47Wade Redden+6 GP 31 &#9632;

f0036-01

Special Preissing helping Senators

<h2>2 MINUTES IN THE BOX WITH&nbsp;Niclas Wallin</h2>Carolina HurricanesPosD Age32Birthplace Boden, Swe.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05439/8950105-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="265" height="374"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06387/8950098-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="187" height="113"></div><h2>START THE CLOCK</h2>What was your &lsquo;welcome to the NHL&rsquo; moment?When (then coach Paul) Maurice told me to start looking for a place. Making it to the NHL is what we all dream of.If you had your own theme song, what would it be?&ldquo;T.N.T.&rdquo; by AC/DC.What music are you listening to right now?Whatever is on Erik Cole&rsquo;s iPod.What do you like to do besides hockey?Spend time with my family.If you were showing someone around your team&rsquo;s city, where would you take them?I don&rsquo;t have much time to look around during the season, but definitely the beach.What do you do on team flights?It depends. If you win, you play cards. If you lose, you just sit there staring at the floor.Which NHLer do you admire most?Cam Ward, for the way he played in the playoffs last year. For someone his age to step in like that and shut the door, it was incredible.If you could be any TV/movie character, who would you want to be?Hulk Hogan.TIME&rsquo;S UP!&ndash; RYAN KENNEDY<h2>CROSSWORD</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1 He&rsquo;s now Leafs coach4 Drury or Pronger7 To ___ the pines is to be benched8 He was Canucks captain from 1982-9010 They hoisted their first Cup last June12 If you are in the ___, you should take the blame13 Top European leagues are called ___ Leagues14 He&rsquo;s coach of champion Carolina, pictured18 Former goalie ___ Vachon19 Linesman ___ Devorski20 Bob ___ tended net for the Caps in the 1980s21 He was coach of the year with Winnipeg in 1982<h2>DOWN</h2>1 The last full month of the regular season2 Team not expected to win3 A trailing team will pull its goalie for an ___ attacker4 A ___ team is one that goes from rags to riches almost overnight5 Runs into (or, a St. Louis team)6 He recently netted his 500th goal9 It is home of the AHL&rsquo;s Senators11 Where the 1925 Cup-winning Cougars came from12 Ken ___ was a member of Chicago&rsquo;s &lsquo;Scooter Line&rsquo;15 Unskilled16 Number retired by the Senators17 Goads, ___ onBy Larry HumberAnswers in next issue & online @thehockeynews.com<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07343/8950091-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="1025" height="1026"></div>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S CROSSWORD SOLUTION ACROSS 1. PATRICK, 4. PETES, 7. ALEX, 8. SIMULATE, 10. EDDIE SHACK, 12. PERIL, 13. FROSH, 14. UNDEFEATED, 18. FEARSOME, 19. CAIN, 20. CRAZY, 21. O&rsquo;MALLEY. DOWN 1. PLACE, 2. THEODORE, 3. KEITH, 4. PAUL COFFEY, 5. TRAP, 6. SWEDISH, 9. TED LINDSAY, 11. FOOTBALL, 12. PACIFIC, 15. ED MIO, 16. DANNY, 17. CAHA.<h2>SEPARATED AT BIRTH</h2>Have you spotted these two personalities in the same room at the same time? Submitted by Ryan Walsh of Bellmawr, N.J.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-011057/8950084-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="458" height="449"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE RUCCHIN</figcaption></div>Ex-Ranger center&rsquo;s biggest rival was the Isles of New York<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02722/8950077-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="175" height="171"><figcaption class="caption-body">MICHAEL MCDONALD</figcaption></div>Mad TV comedian&rsquo;s biggest rival is &lsquo;Live from New York&hellip;&rsquo;Submit ideas for Separated at Birth to <a href="mailto:separated@thehockeynews.com">separated@thehockeynews.com</a><h2>JERSEY HOUND</h2><h3>Minnesota (NCAA)</h3>There&rsquo;s a pride in Minnesota, a pride in being a Gopher. Sure, the animal may not be intimidating, but more often than not, the hockey team is and that&rsquo;s why the WCHA&rsquo;s Golden Gophers stride so confidently when wearing the maroon and gold.Not only is it important to have a consistent color scheme when building a legendary team (check), but the Gophers also boast an unmistakable logo.Even though it&rsquo;s just an &lsquo;M,&rsquo; it really looks like an upside-down &lsquo;W&rsquo; (more so than usual) and when opponents see it, they can expect to get a good battle on the ice.&ndash; Ryan Kennedy<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03580/8950070-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="483" height="948"><figcaption class="caption-body">(MINNESOTA: JOSH HOLMBERG)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0037-05

Last Minute of Play

<div class="byline">by charlieteljeur</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04488/8950136-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0037-04

hockeysockpuppettheatre

<div class="byline">Mike Brophy</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02764/8950167-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scott Mellanby (SCOTT CUNNINGHAM/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-011142/8950174-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="221" height="237"></div>The Atlanta Thrashers will tell you it was the captain, the grizzled veteran, providing inspiration for a bunch of snot-nosed kids.The The captain, though, suggests it is the other way around. Thrashers veteran Scott Mellanby would show up at 8 a.m. in early July at a local high school to hook up with the team&rsquo;s 17-and 18-year-old prospects who were attending a rookie camp.&ldquo;Away we go boys,&rdquo; Mellanby would say and with that, he was off and running.&ldquo;A lot of kids show up at rookie camp and they don&rsquo;t have a clue how much hard work it takes to play in the NHL and to stay in the NHL,&rdquo; says Atlanta coach Bob Hartley. &ldquo;After seeing how hard Scott works, you&rsquo;d have to be an idiot not to get it.&rdquo;It is exactly the kind of leadership those who have played with and against Mellanby have come to expect over a distinguished 21-year NHL career. The 40-year-old Montreal native just shrugs at the notion.&ldquo;For me, it was a great way to get a hard workout in the off-season,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;As you get older, it gets a little harder to push yourself to the level you need to be at. Being around the younger players motivates you.&ldquo;I think, also, it is part of my role as captain. It wasn&rsquo;t a way of me looking for any thanks or for pats on the back, but I thought it would be a good leadership thing to do. I remember when I was a rookie in Philly watching veterans like Dave Poulin, Brad Marsh, Brad McCrimmon and Dave Brown working and how that inspired me. Besides, I think that&rsquo;s one of the reasons they brought me here in the first place.&rdquo;<h2>SURVIVOR</h2>Midway through his 20th season in the NHL, Mellanby considered packing it in at the end of the year. It was the first season back after the lockout and the time off had taken a toll on him. But in his heart, he still wanted one more shot at winning the Stanley Cup, having lost in the final twice, with Philadelphia in 1986-87 and with Florida in 1995-96. He knew his Thrashers, while not necessarily a Stanley Cup favorite this season, were at least in the mix of teams with the potential to make it to the final the way Edmonton did last season and Calgary did the season before. He didn&rsquo;t want to miss the big party by a year.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Being around the younger players&nbsp;motivates you. &ndash; Scott Mellanby</blockquote>&ldquo;The lockout was tough on a lot of older players,&rdquo; Mellanby says. &ldquo;(Brett) Hull never made it back; (Dave) Andreychuk got pushed out and even Steve Yzerman suffered through injuries in the first half before having a very good second half of the season.&ldquo;I felt like I struggled in the first half, too. The first 10-15 games I wondered why I even came back. It&rsquo;s a speed game now; a young man&rsquo;s game. But if you can make plays and use your body properly to get and protect the puck, you can still play. I was pleased with my play in the second half and that drove me to come back this year.&rdquo;Expectations on the Thrashers are high this season. Goaltender Kari Lehtonen has finally begun to live up to lofty advanced notices; they have two of the game&rsquo;s most explosive forwards in Ilya Kovalchuk, who has finally bought into playing both sides of the puck, and Marian Hossa; Slava Kozlov remains an underrated offensive force and Bobby Holik knows a thing or two about winning a Cup. The team&rsquo;s defense, when healthy, is good.And, of course, there is Mellanby, the undeniable leader on a team in search of respectability.In a game against Washington that degenerated into a fight-fest Nov. 22, Mellanby watched as his teammate got jumped by Caps players. Finally he&rsquo;d had enough.&ldquo;I put J-P Vigier (a non-fighter) out because I felt we had nothing to prove and I just wanted to get the game over with,&rdquo; Hartley says. &ldquo;The next thing I know I look up and Mel is taking the faceoff. I look down and Vigier is on the bench. I say, &lsquo;Vig, what happened?&rsquo; He says, &lsquo;Mel pulled me off. He said he needed to go out.&rsquo; &rdquo;As soon as the puck dropped, so did Mellanby&rsquo;s gloves. Payback time.<h2>THE RIGHT STUFF?</h2>What remains to be seen is whether the Thrashers have what it takes to make the playoffs for the first time in their seven-year history. Through 48 games Atlanta was 26-14-8 with two five-game winning streaks and two more four-gamers, but also two five-game losing streaks and a four-gamer. (Two of the losses during each five-gamer were in overtime.)&ldquo;A lot of that has to do with how our special teams are playing,&rdquo; Mellanby says. &ldquo;If we are hot on the penalty kill and power play, we tend to do well. If we aren&rsquo;t as successful, we lose. That&rsquo;s the way it is with a lot of teams.&ldquo;The good thing is, when you take a look at the teams that have been successful recently, they seem to have a core group of three or four stars, which we have. And one of our stars is our goalie. But I don&rsquo;t want to go saying how great (Lehtonen) is, I&rsquo;d rather he go out and show everybody.&rdquo;And Mellanby wouldn&rsquo;t mind going out himself with the Stanley Cup held high over his head. &#9632;

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January 30, 2007

Bucyk a Bruin for 50 years

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