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.

October 23, 2007

The Hockey News - Oct-23-07

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-021186/9112168-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="358" height="1705"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

BREATHING ROOM

<div class="byline">BY THN CORRESPONDENTS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-021090/9112213-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ISLE BE GOOD Bryan Berard is on the comeback trail thanks to a solid tryout with the Islanders. (BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011492/9112220-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="105" height="115"></div>&rarr; Berard makes immediate impact&rarr; Ovechkin gets a mouthful&rarr; Columbus prepares for big bangDefenseman Freddy Meyer was claimed on waivers Oct. 8 by Phoenix, opening a roster spot for the Isles to sign free agent defenseman Bryan Be-rard. Berard, who spent last season with Columbus, signed a one-year deal worth $725,000 and scored the winner in his first game, a 2-1 victory over the Rangers.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>NORTHEAST DIVISION</h2>BOSTON Milan Lucic, 19, had his first fight &ndash; against Dallas&rsquo; Brad Winchester &ndash; in his first NHL game Oct. 5. The B&rsquo;s are giving Lucic a look before deciding if he&rsquo;ll be better off returning to Vancouver (WHL)&hellip;Center Marc Savard played 82 games in both post-lockout seasons before a groin strain sidelined him Oct. 10 at Anaheim.BUFFALO The Sabres are returning to a monthly rotation of the captaincy. They did it in 2003-04 before deciding on Chris Drury and Daniel Briere. Jochen Hecht will wear the &lsquo;C&rsquo; in October.MONTREAL Rookie goalie Carey Price won his NHL debut Oct. 10 at Pittsburgh, 3-2, making 26 saves.OTTAWA Martin Gerber&nbsp;is the first goalie in club history to start a season with four straight wins.TORONTO Winger Jason Blake vows to have a &ldquo;normal&rdquo; life and career despite being diagnosed with a rare, but highly treatable form of cancer called chronic myelogenous leukemia. Blake will take a pill called Gleevec once a day as treatment.<h2>ATLANTIC DIVISION</h2>NEW JERSEY Colin White&rsquo;s vision has improved in his right eye, which was struck by a deflected shot in a Sept. 19 practice, but doctors still aren&rsquo;t sure if there was significant damage.NY ISLANDERS The Isles locked up two important role players that were headed for unrestricted free agency next summer, signing defenseman Radek Martinek to a three-year, $4.5-million contract extension and penalty-killing winger Richard Park to a two-year, $1.5-million deal.NY RANGERS Ottawa&rsquo;s Chris Neil may or may not have been trying to knock the chip off Sean Avery&rsquo;s shoulder when he nailed him with a high hit Oct. 6, but the Sens enforcer did give the Rangers&rsquo; agitator a Grade 2 left shoulder separation that&rsquo;s expected to sideline Avery until mid-November.PHILADELPHIA Surprise player of the pre-season, winger Denis Tolpeko, opened the season on a line with Mike Richards and Jof-frey Lupul. Tolpeko was a depth player with the AHL&rsquo;s Phantoms last year, but took part in a strenuous off-season conditioning program to get in top shape&hellip;Lupul played in the first two games at Calgary and Edmonton despite a chip fracture in his left wrist. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve waited for these games since the end of last year,&rdquo; he said.PITTSBURGH Sidney Crosby sustained a bruised left foot after a hard shot from Anaheim defenseman Francois Beauchemin rico-cheted off his skate in the home opener. Crosby broke his right foot last season.<h2>SOUTHEAST DIVISION</h2>ATLANTA Bobby Holik&nbsp;was named captain in place of retired Scott Mellanby.CAROLINA The Canes brought back defenseman David Tanabe on a two-year deal&hellip;Cory Still-man missed Carolina&rsquo;s first three games after sustaining a torso injury in a car accident the day before Carolina&rsquo;s opener.FLORIDA For all their struggles in recent seasons, the Panthers&rsquo; 0-2-0 start was their worst in six years&hellip;Coach-GM Jacques Martin was quick to criticize goalie Tomas Vokoun after a 4-1 loss to New Jersey in the home opener. Vokoun allowed nine goals in the first two games.TAMPA BAY The Lightning is $2 million over it&rsquo;s self-imposed $44-million salary cap because of injuries and personnel decisions.WASHINGTON A stick to the mouth in the season opener at Atlanta cost Alex Ovechkin&nbsp;an incisor, producing a gap-toothed grin. &ldquo;Girls like it,&rdquo; Ovechkin said. &ldquo;Look like tough guy.&rdquo;&hellip;The Capitals passed defenseman Ben Clymer through re-entry waivers, but no team was willing to snag him. Any team that does would be required pay half his $2.1-million salary through next year.<h2>CENTRAL DIVISION</h2>COLUMBUS A Civil War-era cannon has been mounted in Nationwide Arena. It&rsquo;ll be fired when the Jackets take the ice, score a goal or win a game.DETROIT Johan Franzen, for the second straight season, will miss a few weeks due to an MCL sprain. Last year it was his left knee, this year, it&rsquo;s the right&hellip; Nicklas Lidstrom moved past Peter Forsberg into second place on the NHL&rsquo;s all-time scoring list for Swedish-born players with 873 points. He trails only Mats Sundin (1,250)&hellip;Chris Chelios scored his first goal in 77 games, dating back to April 8, 2006, in a 4-2 win over Edmonton Oct. 8. It was Chelios&rsquo; 1,550th game, moving him past Alex Delvecchio&nbsp;into eighth place on the NHL&rsquo;s all-time list.CHICAGO In a surprising turn of events, Rocky Wirtz&nbsp;was appointed chairman of the Blackhawks to replace his late father, Bill Wirtz. Younger son Peter Wirtz resigned as vice-president to run his own business. In a letter to employees, Peter Wirtz said he believed the Blackhawks needed a fresh approach&hellip;The Hawks lost right winger Martin Havlat until at least mid-November with a right shoulder injury. Havlat, whom the Hawks are counting on for offense, was hurt during a scrum in the first game of the regular season at Minnesota. It&rsquo;s the same shoulder Havlat has had operated on twice in the past three years.NASHVILLE Center David Legwand recorded the second hat trick of his career when the Predators beat Dallas 5-1 Oct. 6.ST. LOUIS Rookie defenseman Erik Johnson, the No. 1 overall pick in 2006, scored his first NHL goal Oct. 6 at Los Angeles&hellip;Defenseman &nbsp;Eric Brewer sustained a shoulder injury Oct. 4 in Phoenix in a fight with Nick Boynton. Brewer is out until late October&hellip;Coach Andy Murray and his son, Kings winger Brady Murray, became the fifth father-son duo in NHL history to face each other as coach and player Oct. 6.<h2>NORTHWEST DIVISION</h2>CALGARY Curtis McElhinney, the rookie backup goalie, injured his knee in warm-up prior to Game 2 of the season and is out until late October. Calgary lost potential backup Brent Krahn due to a knee injury in training camp. Matt Keetley&nbsp;was recalled from Quad City (AHL) to back up Miikka Kiprusoff.COLORADO Joe Sakic&rsquo;s&nbsp;goal and assist in a victory over San Jose Oct. 7 gave him 1,591 points, moving him into eighth place on the NHL&rsquo;s all-time scoring list&hellip;Rookie goalie Tyler Weiman stopped all 10 shots he faced in his first NHL game, a mop-up job at Nashville Oct. 4&hellip;The Avalanche failed to sell out its home opener for the first time in team history. A crowd of 17,487 showed up in the 18,007-seat Pepsi Center against Dallas.EDMONTON Former Michigan Wolverine Andrew Cogliano&rsquo;s first NHL goal was one to remember. &ldquo;First goal against Dominik Hasek, that&rsquo;s pretty cool,&rdquo; he said.MINNESOTA After Eric Belanger set up the winner in a 1-0 season-opening win, coach Jacques Lemaire predicted a team-record 80 points for the new Wild center: &ldquo;We won&rsquo;t win 1-0 every night.&rdquo;VANCOUVER After scoring only four power play goals in 12 playoff games last spring, the Canucks tallied four times with the man advantage in their second game of the season against Calgary.<h2>PACIFIC DIVISION</h2>ANAHEIM Rookie right winger Bobby Ryan, the second overall draft pick in 2005, scored one goal in four games before being assigned to Portland (AHL) Oct. 6&hellip;The Ducks received their 2006-07 Stanley Cup championship rings Oct. 7 during a private party at the beachfront home of team owners Henry and Susan Samueli.DALLAS The Stars expected to have one rookie defenseman on the roster this season, but not two. Still, it appears Niklas Grossman, 22, and Matt Niskanen, 20, both will stay with the team. &ldquo;You just have to make sure they get enough work,&rdquo; said coach Dave Tippett.LOS ANGELES The Kings remain in goaltending limbo, unsure as to whether they should keep rookie Jonathan Bernier or return him to junior. Bernier started two of the Kings&rsquo; first three games, but if the defense proves to be shaky, Los Angeles might send Bernier down to avoid hurting his confidence.PHOENIX In the final practice before the season, defenseman Zbynek Michalek broke his left hand. He&rsquo;s out until mid-November&hellip;While fielding questions about appearing in Nickelback&rsquo;s &ldquo;Rockstar&rdquo; video, coach Wayne Gretzky was asked if he considered himself a rock star. He laughed and replied, &ldquo;No, I&rsquo;m just a legend in my own mind.&rdquo;SAN JOSE Center Torrey Mitchell earned his first NHL point by assisting on one of Jeremy Roenick&rsquo;s two goals Oct. 5. Roenick pulled to within three of 500 goals for his career&hellip;Goalie Dimiti Patzold&nbsp;made his NHL debut with an 11-minute relief stint for starter Evgeni Nabokov during a blowout loss in Denver Oct. 7.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-011218/9112206-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="962" height="1138"><figcaption class="caption-body">(KANE: BILL SMITH/GETTY IMAGES; LITTLE: SCOTT AUDETTE/GETTY IMAGES; STASTNY: JOHN RUSSELL/GETTY IMAGES; BOULERICE: JEFF VINNICK/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>Quick Hits</h2><h3>SPACEK ODYSSEY</h3>Sabres defenseman Jaroslav Spacek scored in the first two games of the season; he didn&rsquo;t score after the midway point last year.<h3>BEAT YOUR IDOL</h3>Chicago&rsquo;s Patrick Kane, the third overall pick in last June&rsquo;s draft, scored the deciding goal in a shootout win over Detroit in his second game. Kane beat Dominik Hasek, who he grew up idolizing in Buffalo.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02797/9112199-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="480" height="480"></div><h3>LITTLE&rsquo;S BIG GOAL</h3>Rookie Bryan Little became the first Thrasher to score in his NHL debut with a goal against Washington Oct. 5. &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

Lowdown

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011322/9113015-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="264" height="365"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02900/9113008-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="178" height="182"></div>Martin Kariya was tearing up Finland and had signed a lucrative contract to play the 2007-08 season in Switzerland.&ldquo;To be honest, I didn&rsquo;t want to come back (to North America),&rdquo; Kariya said, &ldquo;unless I knew the situation with the coach.&rdquo;Enter fate.After leading the Finnish League in scoring with the Espoo Blues, the 5-foot-10, 175-pound Kariya was invited to bring his blazing speed to Team Canada&rsquo;s camp before the 2007 World Championship. While he played just one exhibition game and never dressed for the tournament, Kariya knew he&rsquo;d someday want to play for coach Andy Murray. So even though the St. Louis Blues offered him a two-way contract, meaning his salary in the AHL would be significantly lower than what he&rsquo;d earn in Switzerland, he didn&rsquo;t hesitate to sign.&ldquo;I was more than willing to risk that at this point,&rdquo; the 26-year-old right winger said. &ldquo;I really want to play for Andy.&rdquo;One of the last cuts at Blues camp, Kariya started the year in Peoria (under another coach he&rsquo;s previously played for, Dave Baseggio) with three goals in his first two games. He&rsquo;s hoping his European experience helps him join older brother Paul in St. Louis soon.&ldquo;I feel the Finnish League is very, very close (to the NHL),&rdquo; Kariya said. &#9632;

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Kariya starts well

<div class="byline">bycharlieteljeur</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0045-07" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-07161/9113500-1-eng-US/f0045-072.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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hockey sock puppet theatre

SEVERAL WEEKS AGO IN THIS SPACE, I indicated The Hockey News would be more vigilant about finding and telling the good news stories from our world. The following anecdote fulfills 50 percent of that mandate; it&rsquo;s a happy-ending tale, but we did little to uncover it. In fact, it played out before us. As the hipsters say, here&rsquo;s the 411:This past summer, a longtime reader of THN, Tom Letourneau, asked us for help. He&rsquo;d purchased a jersey Wayne Gretzky had used in the outdoor game in 2003. Letourneau, who hails from Rhode Island, had altruistic intentions for the sweater &ndash; he wanted to find a way to get Gretzky to sign it and Letourneau would then hold an auction to resell it. All proceeds would go to the family of Stephen Unsworth, a 7-year-old local boy battling cancer.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-012068/9111622-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="537" height="537"></div>Letourneau packaged the No. 99 shirt with a letter and documentation and sent it to the Coyotes, but it went astray. After a few failed attempts to locate it, Letourneau wrote The Hockey News, asking if we could play middle man and contact the Coyotes. He was at the point where he&rsquo;d given up hope of getting the jersey signed &ndash; it was, after all, something of a long shot &ndash; and said he&rsquo;d be happy just having it returned. We obliged his request for assistance and relayed the details to the Phoenix PR department.A few weeks passed with no news. Letourneau was starting to surrender hope when, on Oct. 1, he sent us this email:&ldquo;I had to stop back by the house this morning and there was a package waiting for me from the Coyotes! Inside was my Oilers jersey, and it was signed by Mr. Gretzky!!!! No note, or anything else, but the jersey was there with all the supporting documentation I sent along with it!&rdquo;As you&rsquo;d expect, Gretzky is inundated with requests. The Coyotes PR department says they are countless, and come via the team, his charitable foundation and business interests. The man is aware of his importance to the community and takes the responsibility very seriously. His charity golf tournament has raised more than $300,000 the past three years and he lends his time and name to a handful of other causes. It&rsquo;s refreshing to know the greatest player/play-maker in the history of the game still knows how to execute the perfect assist.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021492/9111615-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="496" height="780"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stephen Unsworth</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03961/9111608-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="447" height="239"></div> &#9632;

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Nice assist for Gretzky

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04604/9111653-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="917" height="1027"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Wirtz & Stan Mikita</figcaption></div>The passing of Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz and the subsequent &ldquo;tribute&rdquo; at Chicago&rsquo;s United Center was a fascinating study of human behavior and the depth of passion we invest in our sports franchises. In case you missed it, GM Dale Tallon was given the task of honoring the late Wirtz prior to a Hawks game and the near-sellout crowd booed relentlessly throughout the speech. The jeering wasn&rsquo;t unexpected, at least not at The Hockey News offices &ndash; copy editor/writer Ryan Kennedy predicted as much. Reaction to the catcalls and heckling ranged from curious to outrage, from empathy to endorsement. We&rsquo;ll hold our opinion on the morality of the behavior for another time. But the incident re-inforced how zealous we&rsquo;ve become about our games, how easy and accepted it is to slip into rage towards the people operating our favorite teams. Now, more than ever, it&rsquo;s personal. And that&rsquo;s something the Hawks organization either failed to understand or was too stubborn to acknowledge. &#9632;

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RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012289/9111715-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dany Heatley (ANDRE RINGUETTE/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>Heating up in Ottawa</h2>It&rsquo;s great in this day and age that some loyalty still exists.Dany Heatley going long term with Ottawa is great. We have the most prolific goal-scorer of the past two seasons locked up for six more years. Spezza is next and the circle, as they say, will be complete.Fisher, Volchenkov, Phillips, Alfredsson, Emery and now Heater&hellip;we&rsquo;ll gladly sacrifice Redden&rsquo;s big dollars to Spezza so that he and Heatley can continue crushing away as the best 1-2 punch in the league.RICK RAYMOND, OTTAWA<h2>We hope so, too</h2>You know, THN should get a pat on the back for recruiting new fans.Too many times letters bash THN for every single mistake they make or opinion they give and instead of tearing you guys apart, I just want to say, thanks.Coming from a &ldquo;football family&rdquo; here in the states, getting into hockey wasn&rsquo;t easy and it took this publication to get me talking the language and keeping me informed so I can make my own opinions.I can honestly say The Hockey News is the reason I got into hockey instead of baseball; the information was just easier to get. So thanks, THN. And I hope you don&rsquo;t get slammed too much this season.JASON BROWNELL, ROCHESTER, N.Y.<h2>Code red</h2>The Detroit Red Wings have been a model for the NHL &ndash; and all sports &ndash; since the early 1990s. We have been blessed with the best owner in sports (Mike Illitch) and the best management in the NHL (led by Ken Holland).We have the longest current streak of playoff berths in all of sports. We have won three Stanley Cups since 1997. And yet, the Joe Louis Arena was several thousand fans short of capacity on opening night.Why? Aside from the lousy Michigan economy you can lay the blame right at the doorstep of the NHL (scoring, capinduced parity and yes, fighting).They have stubbornly kept the Red Wings in the Western Conference when our natural rivals are nearly all in the East and even worse, force eight games each season against division rivals such as Columbus.And yet, talk of expansion persists. If hockey is faltering in Hockeytown, how long can this game survive?RAYMOND RAHI, GROSSE POINTE SHORES, MICH.<h2>Dolan&rsquo;s gambit</h2>Well it looks like Jimmy Boy found a way to help pay for his MSG screwups.Cablevision and the NHL have no deal in place to bring the Center Ice Package back this season. So I suppose Rangers owner Jim Dolan is trying to force us into watching more Ranger games? Then maybe we would want to pay for overpriced tickets and merchandise?Not a chance. I will watch Versus&rsquo; terrible hockey programming first. Thanks for nothing, Jim.DAVID LIEBMAN, TEANECK, N.J.<h2>Devilishly fast</h2>I know this will severely disappoint all you Devil-haters out there, but the &ldquo;take-no-chances/thrill-no-fans&rdquo; Devils you so love to bash on are no more.This year&rsquo;s Devils are aggressive and relent-less in their forecheck. Watch a Devils game on TV, I dare you. If you still feel compelled to pick on the Devils, go ahead, but you&rsquo;ll have nothing to base it on.PETER STERN, MARLBORO, N.J.<h2>Wade can play</h2>Why does Wade Redden take so much abuse in Ottawa? What more do you need in a defenseman?He can skate, shoot, pass and he&rsquo;s tough. Two fights in his first game of the season? He&rsquo;s tougher than Pronger, smoother than Niedermeyer, and better looking than Matt Dillon. Thumbs up, Wade.CAMERON LAJOIE, ALEXANDRIA, ONT.<a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a><h2>POLL RESULTS</h2>WHO WILL WIN THE STANLEY CUP?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021526/9111708-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="346" height="698"></div>Ottawa 20%San Jose 12%Detroit 11%Rangers 10%Pittsburgh 9%Anaheim 5%Calgary 4%Other 28% &#9632;

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Got something to say?

<div class="byline">&#x2013; DANIEL TOLENSKY</div>KEVIN LOWE&rsquo;S offer sheet to Dustin Penner may have upset some GMs around the NHL, but overpaying for young talent actually makes some sense.The majority of unrestricted free agents who have switch teams in recent years haven&rsquo;t lived up to expectations. While stars in their 30s have hit the financial jackpot, their performance then declined drastically. The average star&rsquo;s stats, in fact, drop drastically after age 29.Consider the fate of the NHL&rsquo;s top 100 all-time scorers:&bull; 86 percent of their 40-goal seasons occurred when the players were under 30.&bull; Only 24 percent of the time did these players reach 80 points in a season after the age of 30.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021394/9111760-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="307" height="348"></div>&bull; 61 percent of the point leaders and 52 percent of the goal leaders had set their career high in points or goals by the age of 25.Meantime, the majority of players at the top of the NHL scoring list are in their 20s. Over the past 20 years, 85 percent of players in the top 10 were 30 or under &ndash; and only six times has a player over 34 finished in the top 10.Due to market factors, though, these facts have not been reflected in players&rsquo; paychecks. Coming out of the lockout, the average age of the top 10 highest-paid players was 33. The trend began to change, beginning with contracts given to young stars such as Brad Richards and Vincent Lecavalier. This season, the average age of the top 10 highest-paid players is 30, with just two players on the list older than 32.Thanks to younger unrestricted free agency and lower compensation for restricted free agents, players are now cashing in while in their mid-20s. They are starting to be paid based upon short-term success and potential &ndash; rather than past performance. Older players can certainly bring leadership and experience to the table, but expecting players to replicate past production can be a costly mistake in the salary cap era.With the UFA age dropping to 27, teams can sign players who are still in their prime, although six-and seven-year deals likely will mean disappointment in the back end of some contracts. As time passes, there will surely be more GMs who decide to pursue restricted free agents instead of UFAs. No doubt, few teams would be able to resist the allure of names such as Ryan Getzlaf, Dion Phaneuf, Shea Weber and Alex Ovechkin, all of whom could become RFAs next summer and are not arbitration-eligible.More than ever, teams need their highest-paid players to be their best players. This means the young players will get richer and offer sheets will become more common.Lowe knows the 25-year-old Penner is a great bet to outscore 30-something wingers over the next five seasons &ndash; and when you look at it that way, he&rsquo;s not the one who deserved the harshest criticism for his off-season moves.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03885/9111753-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="1590" height="3216"><figcaption class="caption-body">Vincent Lecavalier, age 27 (SCOTT AUDETTE/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>YOUNG MAN&rsquo;S GAME</h2>Age demographics for every top-10 scorer in each of the past 20 NHL campaigns, from 1985-86 through &lsquo;06-07.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-012060/9111746-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="714" height="391"></div>3 Marquee St. Louis defensemen injured by Game 3 of 2007-08 season35 Number of players who made their NHL debut in the season&rsquo;s first week0 Losses by Ottawa in seven pre-season games and first five &lsquo;real&rsquo; games &#9632;

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Put your money on the kids

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021650/9111791-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="835" height="651"><figcaption class="caption-body">ACCIDENT SCENE Ex-NHLer Keith Magnuson was killed in this crash with Rob Ramage behind the wheel.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-012189/9111798-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="105" height="115"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>RAMAGE PAYING THE PRICE</h2>Former NHLer Rob Ramage faces a lengthy jail term and may lose his U.S. residency status after being found guilty of charges in the 2003 car crash that killed his travelling companion, ex-Chicago Blackhawk Keith Magnuson. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tragedy for all involved, including my family,&rdquo; Ramage said outside court in Newmarket, Ont. Magnuson, 56, died instantly Dec. 15, 2003, when a rental car driven by Ramage, 48, slammed head-on into another vehicle in Woodbridge, Ont. The first overall pick in the 1979 draft, Ramage won two Stanley Cups during 15 seasons in the NHL with eight teams. He retired in 1994 and was working and living in St. Louis. Ramage was in the Toronto area for a funeral reception for NHL alumni president Keith McCreary at the time of the accident. Ramage was charged with impaired and dangerous driving and having a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit. No breath tests were administered after the accident because Ramage was given morphine at hospital and he couldn&rsquo;t understand police. Several police officers testified in court they smelled alcohol on Ramage&rsquo;s breath, but the first emergency room nurse to treat him didn&rsquo;t think he was drunk, even though his blood contained &ldquo;toxic levels&rdquo; of alcohol when a lab technician tested it several hours later. The defense argued the smell of alcohol at the accident scene was from unopened beer cans that exploded upon impact. Prosecutor Paul Tait said scientific evidence showed Ramage had up to four times the legal blood-alcohol limit in his system at the time of the crash. Ramage will be sentenced Jan. 17. He must return to Canada Dec. 18 for sentencing submissions.<h2>HALL OF FAME TREATMENT</h2>Three retired NHLers and a college hockey builder were recognized by the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. Aaron Broten, Bobby Carpenter, John Vanbiesb-rouck and John MacInnes (posthumously) were feted Oct. 12 in Grand Forks, N.D. &#9632;

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HOCKEY WORLD IN BRIEF

<div class="byline">&#x2013; SCOOP MALINOWSKI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-031159/9111829-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">FAN OF GAME Heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko loves to play and watch hockey, especially the fighting.</figcaption></div>IT IS IMPROBABLE that heavyweight champs Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Rocky Marciano or Lennox Lewis had much affinity for the game of hockey. But today&rsquo;s king of the ring, Wladimir Klitschko, most certainly is attracted to the ice.&ldquo;I became a fan for the first time, at the age of four,&rdquo; said the IBF heavyweight champion, who is of Ukrainian descent. &ldquo;We were living in Kazakhstan where winter is very cold and very snowy. My brother (Vitali) and I got a gift from Santa Claus &ndash; two hockey sticks. So we start to play hockey. I also remember playing as a teen at the school backyard in the wintertime.&rdquo;While the 6-foot-6, 245-pounder might have had a shot as a power forward, it was boxing that became his calling. Klitschko followed his brother into the Sweet Science at age 14 and devoted himself completely. By 20, he was the Olympic champion, winning gold for Ukraine as a super heavyweight in Atlanta in 1996. Today, the 31-year-old Klitschko has a record of 49-3 (44 KOs).A part-time resident of New York City, Klitschko went to his first NHL game last year at Madison Square Garden.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t describe it,&rdquo; the champ said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s great, so much fast action, so much skill required, you have to go and watch it to understand what I mean. It&rsquo;s a tough sport, you have teammates, there&rsquo;s a lot of spirit.&rdquo;The last time he laced up his skates? &ldquo;Three years ago in Switzerland, with my, believe it or not, musician friends. We rented an arena one night and just played hockey for hours. I was too big and slow to play at the front, so I played defense.&rdquo;Favorite players? Favorite team? &ldquo;I like the Rangers. Favorite player&hellip;I would say Viacheslav Fetisov. I used to like him because he was one of the first Russians to play in the NHL and now we are friends. We met in Moscow for the first time four years ago. He is a humble and smart gentleman with a good sense of humor.&rdquo;And finally, what&rsquo;s the champ&rsquo;s take on NHL fighting? With a smile, Klitschko says: &ldquo;Everybody loves it, I couldn&rsquo;t imagine to watch the game and not waiting for it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-03

Heavyweight hockey fan

THIS WEEK WE ASKED OURSELVESWho is already hating the 2007-08 season?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04638/9111860-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="757" height="916"><figcaption class="caption-body">(CRASH: CP IMAGE; KLITSCHKO: CHRISTOF KOEPSEL/BONGARTS/GETTY IMAGES; TOSKALA: PHILLIP MACCALLUM/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>10 Martin&nbsp;Havlat Another year, another injury for the Chicago star.09 Bob Hartley After a playoff sweep and a slow start to this year, it&rsquo;s hot in Atlanta.08 Shea Weber Breakout season kicks off with a breakout kneecap.07 Ray Emery May have already lost starting job to man he took it from (Gerber).06 Darcy Regier He can pay Vanek $10 million, but won&rsquo;t pay ailing Numminen.05 Tomas Vokoun Preds loving Mason as Vokoun struggles in Florida.04 Dan Boyle When skates are falling on you, it&rsquo;s a bad omen.03 Kris Letang Unless Wilkes-Barre is particularly nice this time of year.02 Steve Downie You never get a second chance to make a first impression.01 Vesa Toskala Welcome to Toronto, hope you don&rsquo;t need defense. &#9632;

f0008-04

COUNTDOWN

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011969/9111891-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(MATTHEW MANOR/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021366/9111898-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="105" height="115"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>HOCKEY FANS WHO SERIOUSLY NEED their fix by the time the calendar turns to October are going to have to wait another week for the start of the season in 2008.As first reported on <a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a>, the NHL has decided to begin next season one week later, with opening night either Oct. 9 or 10, compared to Oct. 3 this season.There was actually significant pressure on the league from some of its American owners to push the start of the season back even further, but teams could not provide the league with enough available dates early in the season.Much of the reason for the later start is that U.S. owners find games in October an extremely difficult sell with Major League Baseball in the midst of its playoffs.All of this could have a bearing on early-season injuries, however. That&rsquo;s because the league will not extend the season to accommodate the later start. Instead, it will compress the schedule during the first weeks of the season, a time that has traditionally been light, particularly in American cities.For example, there was one game the night of Oct. 7, three Oct. 8 and one Oct. 9, followed by consecutive nights of 12, 11 and 13 games on the schedule.Under the new scenario, those light evenings will be filled in with more games, but it could come at a cost to the players and teams. This is particularly true considering the league will almost certainly abandon its unbalanced schedule next season, which will mean more inter-division play and travel for all teams.The NHL Players&rsquo; Association agreed to the change, provided the league doesn&rsquo;t compress the schedule any more than it is in the November to April portion of the season.Nobody knows how this move will impact the 2009-10 season, when the schedule will already be further compacted to accommodate the NHL&rsquo;s participation in the Winter Olympics.Sources have indicated the league is waiting to see how things work out with the new schedule before deciding what to do in two seasons. &#9632;

f0009-01

Hunt for games in October

<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03836/9111929-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg" title="f0009-03" width="105" height="115"></div>&#9632; When is your first NHL goal not your first NHL goal? When you are Chicago rookie Patrick Kane and you score it during the shootout. Kane scored the winner against Detroit Oct. 6, but because it came in the shootout, it does not register as a goal statistic.&#9632; Carey Price is in good company. The Montreal rookie goalie joins ex-Habs stoppers Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy in defeating Pittsburgh in their NHL debut. NHL rookie goalie every time they Perhaps the Habs should play an face the Pens.&#9632; The NHL tries to do better in promoting itself. So why would the league allow the Minnesota Wild to put eight faceless players, hidden in a shadow, on the cover of their one player in the organization 2007-08 team guide? Is there not worthy of being showcased on the cover? Then again, this is a team that rotates captains. Sad.&#9632; Any day now we&rsquo;ll be hearing NHL boss Gary Bettman say he&rsquo;s not concerned about sluggish attendance figures because that&rsquo;s traditionally the case in October. &#9632;</div>

f0009-03

SNAPSHOTS FROM AROUND THE NHL

<div class="byline">BY STEVE MACFARLANE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012158/9111974-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(DALE MACMILLAN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>A changing of the guard is approaching in the NHL. The rearguard, specifically.Detroit&rsquo;s Nicklas Lidstrom has won the Norris Trophy in five of the past six years but, at 37, he may just be looking for one more crack at the chalice before calling it quits.The man who interrupted Lid-strom&rsquo;s streak in 2002, Scott Niedermayer, is in pseudo-retirement after winning his fourth Cup last June. And Niedermayer&rsquo;s team-mate in Anaheim, Chris Pronger &ndash; the only player not named Lidstrom or Niedermayer to win the Norris since 1999 &ndash; turns 33 this season and has logged enough tough minutes to last a lifetime.With many of NHL&rsquo;s elite defensemen nearing the dusk of their careers, the hockey world is looking for the next great blueliner.St. Louis is building around Erik Johnson, while L.A. is counting on Jack Johnson to anchor its blueline for years to come. Meanwhile, Nashville has a stud in Shea Weber. But Calgary&rsquo;s Dion Phaneuf is the guy many people believe will take reins.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be a guy in there for the Norris, one of the top defensemen for a long, long time,&rdquo; said teammate Craig Conroy. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the few real young great defensemen out there.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">He&rsquo;s going to be in there for the Norris, one of the top defenseman for a long, long time. Craig Conroy</blockquote>Phaneuf admits a Norris is on his wish list, along with winning the Cup, but feels he has a long way to go before he can put himself in the same category as Pronger, Lidstrom and Niedermayer.&ldquo;As you get older in the league, you have to keep improving, keep moving up into those guys&rsquo; shoes,&rdquo; said Phaneuf, 22. &ldquo;There are a lot of great defensemen in the league, not only those few guys. It&rsquo;s definitely a goal of mine, to be a top defenseman in the NHL.&rdquo;Confident but always striving to improve, Phaneuf brushes aside the thought he&rsquo;s already well on his way to becoming the NHL&rsquo;s next great blueliner.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s definitely nice to have that kind of stuff said about you,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;(but) I have a lot of work to get to that next level.&rdquo;Flames coach Mike Keenan, who is credited with getting Pronger on the right path when they both were in St. Louis in the mid-1990s, has faith in Phaneuf.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had some great young players in my career and he would be, certainly, one of them,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;You can see there&rsquo;s a real upside to his game and if he gains confidence, maturity, experience, he&rsquo;ll be that much better.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s progressed nicely&hellip;That&rsquo;s something you look for in a player that was drafted as high (ninth overall in 2003) as he was. He has great potential.&rdquo;You certainly can&rsquo;t argue with the way Phaneuf kicked off his pro career. With 37 goals in his first two NHL seasons (and two assists through three games this year), he&rsquo;s already in elite company in terms of offensive production by a defenseman.Only Ray Bourque (44), Phil Housley (40), Denis Potvin (38), Larry Murphy (38) and Paul Coffey (38) shot out of the gates faster. And Phaneuf is well ahead of Niedermayer (21), Lidstrom (18) and Pronger (10).But Phaneuf is far from one-dimensional. His booming one-timer has been put to good use on the power play and the breathtaking hits fans can watch over and over again on YouTube have propelled him to early stardom.The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder was just five games into his rookie season when he dropped the gloves with Bill Guerin in front of a sellout Saddledome crowd and announced his brand of fearless, old-school hockey to the world. The Flames lost in overtime, but all anyone could talk about after-ward was the shiner the rookie gave Guerin.Despite his early success, Phaneuf said progressing in the big show is definitely a challenge.&ldquo;The second year, (people) expect a lot more out of you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The first year you&rsquo;re sneaking under the radar and feeling everything out. The second year, it&rsquo;s no secret anymore. Guys are definitely trying to take your shot away and playing you a lot higher.&rdquo;Calgary GM Darryl Sutter doesn&rsquo;t think Phaneuf suffered the sophomore jinx, but he does expect a lot more from his young prodigy.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011867/9111967-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="1870" height="1422"><figcaption class="caption-body">LOOK OUT BELOW Dion Phaneuf has made a name for himself by flattening opponents.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a step up or a step back,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;He just stayed steady in it. Talking about second-year problems that players have, Dion didn&rsquo;t have that problem. I think the league got to know him better, so they knew tendencies, how to play against him more. He did go through some ups and downs.&rdquo;Phaneuf remains lethal on the power play; he had 29 man-advantage goals in his first two seasons. More prominent on the minds of his opponents, though, was the potential for a heavy hit any time Phaneuf hopped over the boards.Conroy remembers one of those blows absorbed by then-Kings teammate Jeff Cowan and said the guys in the L.A. dressing room discussed keeping their heads up.&ldquo;Make sure, Phaneuf&rsquo;s gonna be coming,&rdquo; Conroy recalled. &ldquo;When he&rsquo;s on the ice, you&rsquo;ve got to know it. That&rsquo;s good playing with him. Not so much fun playing against him, but great playing with him.&rdquo;Prodded about what gives him a bigger rush, laying out an opponent or scoring a goal, Phaneuf can&rsquo;t choose. He does admit the hitting aspect of his game has always been there, like an instinct.&ldquo;Growing up, as soon as I started hitting, I always liked to make big hits,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s just the way I&rsquo;ve always played the game.&rdquo;Despite growing up an Oilers fan in Edmonton, Phaneuf loved the way Scott Stevens performed.&ldquo;As I got older and closer to playing junior, I&rsquo;d always watch him,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He played the game so hard for so many years and he was winning. He&rsquo;s definitely a guy I patterned my game around.&rdquo;Conroy has a slightly different take on Phaneuf&rsquo;s playing style.&ldquo;He could be a Scott Stevens, but I think he&rsquo;s got way more offensive skill,&rdquo; Conroy said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s like a combination of Stevens and Al MacInnis. Al wasn&rsquo;t known for his big hits or anything, but moving the puck, making smart decisions, things like that&hellip;That&rsquo;s what makes Dion special, he&rsquo;s got so many dimensions.&rdquo;Stevens&rsquo; famous glare is another thing Phaneuf has mastered. Or perhaps, like the hits, something else that just comes naturally.&ldquo;You have to have it,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;I think everyone has it, but some guys show it in a different ways.&ldquo;Some guys are looser on game days, some guys are a little bit more uptight. Guys have different ways of getting ready and that&rsquo;s my way of doing it.&rdquo;Surrounded by a sound defense in Calgary, Sutter said they have sheltered Phaneuf a little. He hasn&rsquo;t regularly been sent out against top lines and rarely kills penalties. He&rsquo;ll play more on the left side this season and Sutter said those are things the kid has to do before he can be heralded as elite.That time will come before long if Phaneuf continues on his current path.&ldquo;The best thing about Dion, he is real focused on one thing and that&rsquo;s winning a championship and being the best he can be,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter what year you&rsquo;re in when you think like that. You know you&rsquo;re on a path.&rdquo;Sutter avoids the word Norris &ndash; &ldquo;Every defenseman is a potential Norris winner&rdquo; &ndash; but the word elite does come out of his mouth.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s still a lot of maturity in terms of mental and physical skills that come with being an elite player in this league,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Once they all come into place, then he has the ability to be an elite player.&rdquo;<h2>BIG HITTERS</h2>When asked to name five of the NHL&rsquo;s most underrated body-checkers, Phaneuf selected:JORDIN TOOTOO, NASHVILLEALEX OVECHKIN, WASHINGTONROBYN REGEHR, CALGARYRAFFI TORRES, EDMONTONSHEA WEBER, NASHVILLE<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021353/9111960-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="1209" height="1945"><figcaption class="caption-body">(PHANUEF: PHILLIP MACCALLUM/GETTY IMAGES; TOOTOO: BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-01

Rising Flame taking the torch

<div class="byline">Ken Campbell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012101/9112005-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">NEW BUSINESS MODEL Radek Bonk is among the players Nashville brought in during its &ldquo;restructuring.&rdquo; (JOHN RUSSELL/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021640/9112012-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="221" height="240"></div>All right, let&rsquo;s review the most recent history of the Nashville Predators, shall we?Longtime owner Craig Leipold, who was held up as Exhibit A in the league&rsquo;s zealous pursuit of cost certainty, realizes two years after getting a collective bargaining agreement almost tailor-made for him that he cannot make a go of it anymore in Nashville and announces he&rsquo;s cashing out and selling the franchise.In comes a billionaire who is passionate about hockey and willing to pay far more than market value for the team, thereby allowing Leipold to recoup his losses and drive up the value of the 29 other franchises in the league. The prospective owner, Jim Balsillie, basically tells the fans of Nashville &ndash; albeit in an incredibly ham-handed manner: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m buying this team and I&rsquo;m going to keep putting money into it to keep it competitive. But if I come to the conclusion this is not a hockey market, I&rsquo;m moving it to a place where people actually like hockey.&rdquo;Then the NHL and Leipold get all indignant and Leipold provides some drama by saying, &ldquo;Keep your damn hands off my team.&rdquo; He then goes about slashing the payroll by having GM David Poile trade Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen to Philadelphia for the first round pick they had previously surrendered to get Peter Forsberg. Poile then trades Vokoun to Florida for picks and allows Paul Kariya and Forsberg to walk as unrestricted free agents, thereby tearing apart a roster Balsillie at the very least would have kept together.(By the way, the Predators should thank their lucky stars they have Poile as their GM. He should be getting used to this, though. Five years ago, Leipold actually hugged Poile after the GM managed to deal Mike Dunham to the Rangers and get Dunham&rsquo;s $2.8-million salary off the books.)Then in comes a well-intentioned group of local investors to save the franchise from being moved. But wait, the group then basically tells the city of Nashville that unless it gets about $7 million in taxpayer-funded improvements and another $4.6 million in sales tax revenues, it won&rsquo;t be interested in purchasing the team.That, of course, would pave the way for one of these investors, William Del Biaggio, to purchase the team &ndash; he has never made a secret of the fact he wants to be a majority owner of an NHL team &ndash; and move it to the Sprint Center in Kansas City. Funny how almost everyone questioned Balsillie&rsquo;s intentions yet few people seem to be making much of the fact Del Biaggio is preparing to pounce on the Predators.<h2>TAXPAYER MONEY</h2>Yup, this all makes a lot of sense. And all the while, the league still has a billionaire who loves hockey and wants to make it work on the outside looking in, in favor of a group so tenuous it needs millions of dollars from taxpayers to even have a chance to survive. So now the city of Nashville is faced with the unpleasant prospect of either letting the Predators go and losing the revenues they would provide to help service the debt load on the arena, or propping them up with millions of dollars, which would otherwise be used in the city budget for, say, education.The kicker here is this group, even if it gets the help it wants, still won&rsquo;t guarantee the Predators will stay. One of the group&rsquo;s demands states the team can leave Nashville if average paid attendance falls below the league&rsquo;s minimum of 14,000 for revenue sharing and the group loses $20 million during its tenure. Given that Leipold has reportedly lost $27 million in the two seasons since the lockout, it isn&rsquo;t a stretch to suggest these guys will lose close to that much just as quickly.<blockquote class="pullQuote">The team has been dismantled and there&rsquo;s a good chance it will move</blockquote>So, to recap: Ballsilie would have kept the team together and possibly moved it. Now, the team has been dismantled and there&rsquo;s a good chance it will move either by next season or in the near future.All this to keep the NHL out of Hamilton. The NHL remains the only pro sports league in North America that has only one team in its most fertile market. And if you think this isn&rsquo;t about appeasing the Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres, think again. The Maple Leafs are so obsessed with their monopoly, they wouldn&rsquo;t allow a local cable television station to broadcast a pre-season game in London, Ont., between the Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators because London falls into the Leafs&rsquo; TV territory.<h2>NO COMPETITION</h2>You can&rsquo;t blame the Leafs for wanting to protect their territory. Without anything resembling local competition, the team can continue to make millions of dollars from every revenue stream imaginable, all the while not giving hockey fans an alternative to a franchise that hasn&rsquo;t even been in the Stanley Cup final for the past 40 years and showing no signs of making it there anytime in the near future.Sooner or later, the league is going to realize the corporate and fan support in Nashville is not enough to sustain a hockey team and it will move to Kansas City. Let&rsquo;s just hope that after the novelty wears off, the Kansas City Predators don&rsquo;t befall the same fate their predecessors did. &#9632;

f0012-01

NHL fails Math 101 in deal with Preds

<div class="byline">Tim Graham</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03969/9112043-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">SEARCH FOR STANLEYTeppo Numminen&rsquo;s NHL journey without a Stanley Cup is third most among active NHLers. (JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011880/9112050-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="220" height="232"></div>By suspending Teppo Numminen, the Sabres have sunk to a rare level.The thought seems so remarkably preposterous. Teppo Numminen &ndash; he of the wry smile and dry wit, one of hockey&rsquo;s all-time nice guys &ndash; has been trained to kill people.Thankfully, the lessons Numminen received during his time in the Finnish Air Force never displaced his calm disposition.Otherwise, he might let Buffalo&rsquo;s front office have it with both barrels.At Numminen&rsquo;s annual cardiac checkup, specialists determined the 39-year-old defenseman needed open-heart surgery. On the day the Sabres announced his precarious condition at a news conference, they quietly filed the paperwork to suspend their alternate captain &ndash; without pay.&ldquo;I was surprised and disappointed,&rdquo; said Numminen, carefully measuring each syllable. &ldquo;Those two words are all I want to say. I don&rsquo;t want to talk about (the suspension) any more than that.&rdquo;By Numminen&rsquo;s standards, that was unloading.The NHL&rsquo;s record-holder for most games by a European-trained player re-signed with the Sabres in July for one year at $2.6 million. Since his contract was uninsured and he has no intention of retiring &ndash; doctors should clear him by December &ndash; the only way the Sabres could slither out was to suspend him.Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn and GM Darcy Regier have publicly insisted Numminen was OK with the move. Numminen&rsquo;s smoldering bitterness contradicts those claims. What makes the Sabres&rsquo; decision so objectionable is they were well aware of Numminen&rsquo;s heart issues when they first signed him three years ago. They have since re-signed him twice.After missing time with Dallas late in 2003-04, he underwent a relatively minor procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat. The problem returned in the 2006 playoffs, sidelining him briefly. He underwent a repeat procedure that didn&rsquo;t deter the Sabres from re-signing him that summer.Numminen&rsquo;s Sept. 20 open-heart surgery was to correct a more significant condition than the previous two procedures. Although the operation wasn&rsquo;t expected to occur so soon in life, doctors have known he would need it for years.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s been good days, bad days&hellip;It&rsquo;s been emotional,&rdquo; said Numminen a few days after being discharged from care. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough physically and mentally as well. You go through something like this, you go through everything. You think about the worst thing that can happen, good things and everything in between.&rdquo;At what might have been Numminen&rsquo;s spiritual nadir, the Sabres suspended him without pay, dropped him from the website roster and gave the four-time Olympian&rsquo;s dressing room stall away to a second-year pro who didn&rsquo;t make the team out of camp.Perhaps the suspension would make more sense if the Sabres needed salary cap space. They don&rsquo;t. With Numminen off the books, they&rsquo;re about $6.7 million under. Plus, they could&rsquo;ve placed him on long-term injured reserve once the season began.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a clause explicitly in the contract that states the player must pass the physical and be fit to play,&rdquo; said Sabres GM Darcy Regier. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s in the collective bargaining agreement, and in no way is it personal.&rdquo;Funny how the Sabres pouted and vowed revenge on Oilers GM Kevin Lowe for the seven-year, $50-million offer sheet that winger Thomas Vanek signed. After all, offer sheets are in the CBA, too.Other teams with similarly sick players have handled them tactfully.The Canadiens paid captain Saku Koivu his $3.4-million salary when he was diagnosed with cancer four days before camp in 2001.When winger Steve Konow-alchuk learned last year during his pre-season physical he had a rare heart condition that forced his retirement, the Avalanche announced it would honor his $1.9-million salary anyway.The Oilers are less than $2 million under the cap, but they&rsquo;re still paying Fernando Pisani his $2.5 million and wishfully keeping his stall ready although he&rsquo;s suffering from ulcerative colitis, a potentially debilitating intestinal disorder that has caused him to lose 30 pounds since it was detected Sept. 4.One more possible excuse for the Sabres: Maybe they simply can&rsquo;t afford to be classy like other teams. After all, Buffalo&rsquo;s a small market that can&rsquo;t offer the revenue streams like New York or Toronto.The Sabres, guaranteed to sell out this season &ndash; increasing their streak to 100 games, counting playoffs &ndash; are owned by B. Thomas Golisano. Forbes magazine estimates his worth at $1.7 billion.Numminen has been a good soldier in dodging questions about his suspension.But you don&rsquo;t have to be an interrogator to know how he really feels about the situation. &#9632;

f0013-03

Sabres hide behind CBA

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-012077/9112137-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BILL WIPPERT/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>BUFFALODear valued reader: When you digest the following story, please do so realizing it comes from a wildly distorted, incredibly skewed and sublime perspective. Everything that is said and written in this piece is done so from the basis of NHL reality &ndash; something most of us will never begin to grasp or appreciate, ever, no matter how hard we try. This is a league where the lowest-paid, least-skilled worker still makes $475,000 for a little more than seven months work. It&rsquo;s also a line of work that attracts the best people in the world at what they do, and people who create wealth for others and those who have made physical and emotional sacrifices that many others couldn&rsquo;t contemplate.Thomas Vanek is one of those players. He will make $10 million this season and $50 million over the next seven years. But he also left a comfortable life in Austria to play midget AA hockey in Lacombe, Alta., when he was 14 years old. When his parents defected to Austria from the former Czechoslovakia in 1982, they did so with nothing but a desire to build a better life for their children.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like I went out partying until I was 18, and then got drafted and now I&rsquo;m playing in the NHL,&rdquo; Vanek said. &ldquo;I gave up a lot. I left home at 14 to achieve this. What people might forget is that I&rsquo;ve worked hard for this. I know how hard I have worked.&rdquo;<h2>Big Money Men</h2>Here are the NHL&rsquo;s top 20 wage-earners this season. Figures are actual remuneration, not salary cap hit.Daniel BRIERE, PHI $10,000,000Scott GOMEZ, NYR $10,000,000Thomas VANEK, BUF $10,000,000Jaromir JAGR, NYR $8,360,000Kimmo TIMONEN, PHI $8,000,000Brad RICHARDS, TB $7,800,000Nicklas LIDSTROM, DET $7,600,000Zdeno CHARA, BOS $7,500,000Patrik ELIAS, NJ $7,500,000Ryan SMYTH, COL $7,500,000Vincent LECAVALIER, TB $7,166,667Bryan MCCABE, TOR $7,150,000Chris DRURY, NYR $7,100,000Marian HOSSA, ATL $7,000,000Jarome IGINLA, CGY $7,000,000Ed JOVANOVSKI, PHO $7,000,000Nikolai KHABIBULIN, CHI $6,750,000Joe SAKIC, COL $6,750,000Pavel DATSYUK, DET $6,700,000Joe THORNTON, SJ $6,670,000<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011852/9112130-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="1298" height="1784"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021323/9112123-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="743" height="556"></div>The afternoon of July 6, Mike Ryan had just completed his workout, peeled off his sneakers &ndash; or &ldquo;sneakahs,&rdquo; as he calls them &ndash; and plopped down to watch some television. That&rsquo;s when he learned that his roommate from the Rochester Americans had just become the NHL&rsquo;s newest $50-million man.&ldquo;I almost fell off the couch,&rdquo; Ryan recalled.Meanwhile, some 1,400 miles away, Thomas Vanek was sitting in the Chipotle Mexican Grill in Minneapolis quietly contemplating his new reality. Yes, the first thing he bought after he agreed to his offer sheet was a burrito lunch. New cars, a new home and a new baby would soon follow, but at that moment, Vanek didn&rsquo;t think about the money as much as he did the enormity of it all.All of this came after Edmonton Oilers GM Kevin Lowe stunned the hockey world by signing Vanek to a seven-year, $50-million offer sheet after being spurned by a number of big-name free agents. The Sabres, who lost two big UFAs of their own in Daniel Briere and Chris Drury, knew it would have been a disaster to lose their best young player along with their best veteran players and had no choice but to match the offer. Everything happened so quickly and Vanek was left in a daze.&ldquo;The first thing I thought was, &lsquo;Man, seven years. That&rsquo;s a long time,&rsquo; &rdquo; Vanek said. &ldquo;I woke up the next day and I didn&rsquo;t feel any different and I still don&rsquo;t feel any different. The money is good and everything, but my dream wasn&rsquo;t to come here and sign a $50-million contract. My dream was to play in the National Hockey League and I reached that. My dream now is to win a Stanley Cup.&rdquo;Interesting contrast, these two players. Vanek is part of a very select group of NHLers &ndash; that includes only himself, Scott Gomez and Daniel Briere &ndash; who are pulling down a league-high $10 million this season. (Vanek&rsquo;s actual salary cap hit is $7.14 million.) Ryan is part of a much larger group of players &ndash; 24 in all &ndash; who are making the league&rsquo;s minimum salary of $475,000 in 2008-09.Vanek and Ryan represent the extreme ends of the spectrum. But it was only three years ago, during the wiped-out NHL season that led to the collective bargaining agreement that was supposed to be so bad for the players, that the two of them would sometimes sit in their hotel room and dream about playing in the NHL.<blockquote class="pullQuote">What people might forget is that I&rsquo;ve worked hard for this. I know how hard I have worked.</blockquote>&ldquo;We had a lot of American League dinners together then, places like Montana&rsquo;s,&rdquo; Ryan said. &ldquo;I think I have to hit him up for a few NHL dinners now. I&rsquo;m thinking maybe Morton&rsquo;s.&rdquo;Almost directly across from Vanek in the Sabres dressing room is Andrew Peters, who makes 1/20th the salary of Vanek and will likely be punched in the face a couple hundred more times than the Austrian this season.&ldquo;And there isn&rsquo;t even much of a difference in our skill set, is there?&rdquo; Peters joked. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m waiting for a Ferrari or something to show up in my driveway. I&rsquo;m hoping he&rsquo;ll tip out the little guys at the end of the year, you know, a couple thousand here or there.&rdquo;Don&rsquo;t put it past Vanek, said his agent, Stephen Bartlett, the man who is paid to worry about Vanek&rsquo;s finances so he can earn his paycheck without distractions. As is the case with many of his other clients, Bartlett worries Vanek might be a little too giving with his money. Bartlett describes himself as the &ldquo;gatekeeper&rdquo; for the 23-year-old&rsquo;s fortune, a source of sober second thought when Vanek considers what to do with more money than he&rsquo;ll ever need in a lifetime. Already Bartlett has had to deal with a number of people who want Vanek&rsquo;s dough.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011637/9112116-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="1743" height="2468"><figcaption class="caption-body">HIGH TIMES At $10 million this year, Thomas Vanek will earn more than 10 times what he did last season. (BILL WIPPERT/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>And there&rsquo;s quite a bit of it to go around. His contract called for a $5-million signing bonus to be deposited into his account Sept. 1 and when he received his first paycheck Oct. 15, it was for $290,374.33 before taxes and after $30,481.28 was deducted in escrow payments that he may or may not get back around this time next season. All of it, Vanek said, goes into a direct deposit account where Bartlett allocates money for investments, expenses and discretionary spending.&ldquo;This way, Thomas can just say, &lsquo;Everything has to go through Steve,&rsquo; and it&rsquo;s a lot easier because I&rsquo;m the one who can say yes to some and no to others,&rdquo; Bartlett said. &ldquo;Thomas makes friends easily and wants to help his friends, but sometimes he might want to get a little carried away. He&rsquo;s quite generous. That&rsquo;s when I have to step in to say, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s all right to step up and be generous. Let&rsquo;s just not be stupid generous.&rsquo; &rdquo;Besides, pointed out Bartlett, it&rsquo;s not as though Vanek is making paper airplanes out of $100 bills these days. After all, being a multi-millionaire also carries with it a few expenses. On the NHLPA website, Bartlett is listed as being a registered investment advisor, an enrolled agent with the U.S. Treasury, a member of the Association of Enrolled Agents and a member of the National Association of Tax Preparers. We don&rsquo;t know what all that means, but we&rsquo;re pretty sure he&rsquo;s not exactly working for Vanek pro bono.&ldquo;A few weeks ago, relatively speaking, he didn&rsquo;t have any money in the bank,&rdquo; Bartlett said. &ldquo;Then he gets $5 million and half of that goes to the government and he bought a new house, so it&rsquo;s not like he&rsquo;s sitting on millions of dollars right now.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011731/9112109-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="1444" height="1861"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Vanek used much of his signing bonus to buy a new house in the northeast Buffalo suburb of Clarence, where he shares a neighborhood with teammates Toni Lydman, Henrik Tallinder, Jaroslav Spacek, Teppo Numminen and Jocelyn Thibault. Just so you know, it&rsquo;s also home to Neil Haskell, who was a top-four finalist on So You Think You Can Dance.Bartlett describes Vanek as a conservative investor, which makes a fair bit of sense when you think about it. Why on earth would someone run into enough money to last several lifetimes, then pour it into high-risk investments?&ldquo;And that doesn&rsquo;t mean buying swampland in Florida,&rdquo; Bartlett said. &ldquo;And when you make this kind of money, it&rsquo;s almost like you get a target put on your chest and every Tom, Dick and Harry comes out of the woodwork trying to get you to invest your money here or there. What I&rsquo;m trying to do is take that diversion away from him because when this contract ends, we want people to say, &lsquo;That was a great signing,&rsquo; and not, &lsquo;Whatever happened to that lucky bastard?&rsquo; &rdquo;By all accounts, Vanek is handling his newfound wealth very well. His teammates don&rsquo;t notice any difference in him at all, nor does Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, who incidentally made $1.25 million during his 12-year NHL career. That&rsquo;s total, by the way. In Ruff&rsquo;s best year, his salary was $210,000, but he was bought out of that contract, so he received two-thirds of that amount ($140,000) over two years. Ruff recalls joking to Gilbert Perreault, who made $350,000, that they were coming with a wheelbarrow that had Perreault&rsquo;s paycheck in it. Now he&rsquo;s dealing with a player who makes that much on one paycheck.&ldquo;Early on, I think (Vanek) struggled with the internal feeling that, you know, &lsquo;I have to be a little more special,&rsquo; &rdquo; Ruff said. &ldquo;In training camp, he tried some plays that were out of character for him. You need a strong rapport because I feel an obligation to help him deal with this because I don&rsquo;t want him to be something he&rsquo;s not. He&rsquo;s not the kind of guy who would come in the next day with a $200,000 car and a diamond earring. I think it would be pretty easy for a young guy to get lost in that and we&rsquo;ve had that discussion.&rdquo;After a recent practice, Vanek was clad in the standard NHL off-day dress consisting of a Reebok cap, Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirt, blue jeans and sandals. Aside from the new house, which was an upgrade on the two-bedroom townhouse Vanek had during his first two years in Buffalo, he purchased a Range Rover and gave his Cadillac Escalade to his fiancee&rsquo;s parents.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a little upgrade and it worked out nice for everyone,&rdquo; Vanek said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m fortunate that my family is set and I can buy my mom and dad a car. All those things make me happier than spending money on myself.&rdquo;If anything, Vanek&rsquo;s life-altering experience was the birth of his son, Blake Thomas Vanek, on Aug. 16. Vanek and his fiancee, Ashley Kramer, intend to wed next July in Minneapolis, where Vanek starred with the University of Minnesota before being drafted fifth overall by the Sabres in 2003. The couple owns a house in Minnesota, which is where Vanek will likely settle after his career.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011566/9112102-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="733" height="943"><figcaption class="caption-body">GOLDEN GOPHER Vanek helped lead the University of Minnesota to an NCAA championship in 2003. (ELSA/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Ironically, Vanek spent two years at college studying sports management. The NHL beckoned and he left school early, partly because he had led the Golden Gophers to a national championship and he was ready for a bigger challenge. He talks about one day going back to finish his degree, in part to set an example for his children and in part to make his parents proud. And, of course, to have a fallback position if this hockey thing doesn&rsquo;t work out.&ldquo;Exact&hellip;,&rdquo; Vanek started to say before realizing the joke.Zdenek and Jarmila Vanek fled the former Czechoslovakia for Austria in 1982. Zdenek forged a career playing hockey in the Austrian League and Jarmila worked in hospital administration. His father still does some coaching and his mother teaches part-time at a hotel management school and both Vanek&rsquo;s grandmothers live in Hradec Kralove in the Czech Republic.Vanek thinks about all of them often and the sacrifices they made. One grandmother is due to watch him play in the NHL for the first time when she visits in late October.Now comes the part where Vanek must live up to the contract. Early in the season, the Sabres were 0-2-0 and Vanek was feeling the pressure. Ryan said Vanek is almost in the same situation as Alex Rodriguez &ndash; someone who could be named the most valuable player and still not be able to live up to his salary.&ldquo;I knew right away there would be a lot of pressure with it, but I&rsquo;m the one who signed it and I&rsquo;m ready for it,&rdquo; Vanek said. &ldquo;When things go badly, people are going to point fingers and they&rsquo;re probably going to start with me, which is fine. I&rsquo;m not a guy to shy away from that. If I play bad, I&rsquo;m going to say I played bad. If I played well, I won&rsquo;t say much.&rdquo;<h2>Team payrolls keep climbing</h2>LET&rsquo;S GET THIS STRAIGHT. The NHL shuts down for an entire season in order to get salaries under control &ndash; and two years later, teams are spending more than they were prior to the lockout. This season, teams will spend more than ever before, roughly a total of $1.383 billion on player salaries, about $140 million more than last season and slightly more than the $1.316 billion in the season prior to the lockout. With the players receiving 55 percent of revenues, the league will have to generate roughly $2.52 billion for the players to avoid paying escrow this season. For full salary information, visit <a href="http://thn.com/salaries">thn.com/salaries</a>.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011855/9112095-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="3201" height="1360"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-021269/9112088-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="3175" height="1312"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021319/9112081-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="3207" height="1348"></div>For complete salary and team payroll information, visit <a href="http://thn.com/salaries">thn.com/salaries</a> &#9632;

f0014-01

Just your average $50-million man

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03521/9112258-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Stastny</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-05280/9112265-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="122" height="137"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>SLICK SOPHOMORE</h2>Colorado&rsquo;s Paul Stastny proves last year&rsquo;s great rookie campaign was no fluke by scoring four goals and eight points in his first three games.<h2>PERFECT BEGINNING</h2>Blue Jackets goalie Pascal Leclaire goes hard after the starter&rsquo;s job in Columbus, recording back-to-back shutouts in his first two games.<h2>HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES!</h2>Chicago Blackhawks rookie Jonathan Toews returns from a broken finger and scores his first NHL goal on his first shot.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04400/9112251-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="1153" height="869"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jesse Boulerice</figcaption></div><h2>FLOPPING FLAMES</h2>After a lousy pre-season, the enigmatic Calgary Flames fail to register a victory in their first three games of the real season.<h2>THIS REALLY HAS TO STOP</h2>In the wake of Steve Downie&rsquo;s 20-game suspension, team-mate Jesse Boulerice is in hot water after cross-checking Ryan Kessler in the head.<h2>IT&rsquo;S EARLY, BUT&hellip;</h2>With big new contracts, the Leafs&rsquo; Darcy Tucker (5-0-0-0, minus-5) and Rangers&rsquo; Scott Gomez (3-0-0-0) were off to rather slow starts. &#9632;

f0021-03

Plus/Minus

f0022-02

Valuable players and penny savers

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011340/9112565-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

NHL Depth Charts

<div class="byline">BY AARON PORTZLINE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-011276/9112610-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="555" height="339"></div>Babe Ruth taking a final bow at Yankee Stadium. Muhammad Ali screaming over a felled Sonny Liston. Dwight Clark&rsquo;s catch in the back of the end zone. These moments, captured in still frame, are etched forever in sports fans&rsquo; minds.And there&rsquo;s a hockey snapshot that ranks above all the rest.Close your eyes. You can still see Bobby Orr flying through the air in 1970 after scoring the Stanley Cup-winning goal for the Boston Bruins, his arms extended like Superman.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny,&rdquo; said Orr in 2000. &ldquo;I never thought about it then, how this picture would have this incredible life of its own.&ldquo;But when you think about it, it&rsquo;s an unusual shot, and it has everything. It&rsquo;s the last goal of the series, it&rsquo;s overtime, you see the puck defenseman) Noel Picard lifting me going in, you see (St. Louis Blues up, you see the celebration.&rdquo;Ray Lussier&rsquo;s photograph &ndash; one of the greatest action shots ever taken &ndash; was printed in the Boston Record American newspaper the next morning and quickly became one of the most enduring images in all of sport. (The photo on this snapped by another photographer a page is not Lussier&rsquo;s shot, but was millisecond before Lussier.)And it signaled a change in the sport of hockey, on at least two levels. First, it was tangible proof of Orr&rsquo;s remarkable skill, a freeze-frame look at his offensive chops that forever changed the NHL&rsquo;s blueline. At 22 years old, Orr delivered Boston&rsquo;s first Stanley Cup in 29 years.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02895/9112603-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="1858" height="1595"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BRUCE BENNETT STUDIOS/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Second, the picture was so alarming, so worth studying at length and sharing with friends and family, that it found its way into U.S. newspapers &ndash; even weeks later &ndash; that would never run hockey pictures, much less scores and standings.As Orr noted, it&rsquo;s all right there in black and white.It was hot in Boston for Game 4, almost 90 degrees on May 10. So, the Boston Garden was steamy, the ice soft and air heavy. Against that backdrop, the magic is captured.In the background, Bruins fans are coming to their feet, many of them with their arms up in the air, just beginning to comprehend what happened.Picard looks right toward Orr in disbelief and dejection. Goaltender Glenn Hall is falling awkwardly into the goal, while the puck has caromed back out into the crease.&ldquo;That was certainly a defining moment,&rdquo; said Harry Sinden, the Bruins coach at the time.&ldquo;For me, it was defining because we hadn&rsquo;t won a Stanley Cup in 29 years. And when there are only six teams in the league, that&rsquo;s a long wait. I remember it like it was yesterday.&rdquo;Remarkably, Lussier was one of three photographers from his newspaper in Boston Garden that day, but he had to talk his way into the building after showing up with no credential and, thus, no seat.So, he set up shop in the corner of the rink. Legend in Boston has it that another photographer left his spot against the glass to fetch a beer at the end of regulation.Lussier scooted forward, put his lens to the glass and waited. Only 40 seconds into overtime, with a push of his right index finger, one of the greatest goals in NHL history was captured as one of the greatest photographs in all of sport.&ldquo;Obviously, when you have something like that happen in your lifetime it never really goes away,&rdquo; Sinden said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s even better than good wine. I can close my eyes and taste the best wines I&rsquo;ve had. I can still see Bobby, flying through the air.&rdquo;<h2>NEWSFLASH</h2>May 10, 1970BOSTON &ndash; Superstar defenseman Bobby Orr delivered the Bruins their first Stanley Cup in 29 years in spectacular fashion, with his memorable goal 40 seconds into overtime of Game 4 of the final against the St. Louis Blues. After pinching in from the blueline and taking a pass from winger Derek Sanderson, Orr knocked the puck past St. Louis netminder Glenn Hall to seal the 4-3 victory and the sweep. As the puck was going in, Orr was tripped by defenseman Noel Picard and photographer Ray Lussier froze the moment with Orr celebrating mid-air.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03653/9112596-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="504" height="666"></div><h2>SIXTY MOMENTS THAT CHANGED THE GAME</h2>Check out a newsstand near you &ndash; or visit <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> &ndash; for a new magazine entitled Sixty Moments That Changed The Game, published in celebration of the 60th anniversary of The Hockey News. The magazine chronicles the people, places, innovations and events that have shaped hockey. It&rsquo;s available Oct. 22. &#9632;

f0027-01

He shoots, he soars!

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011327/9112669-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ryan Duncan (JOSH HOMLBERG)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02936/9112676-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="201" height="201"></div>Picking a Hobey Baker Award winner is heavy stuff. Literally.The trophy given to the best male college hockey player at season&rsquo;s end stands just over a foot tall, but weighs a hefty 41 pounds.The WCHA has flexed its muscle by producing the past six Hobey Baker winners.Here&rsquo;s a look at the top candidates from each of the four major college conferences.<h2>NATHAN GERBE, LW, BOSTON COLLEGE</h2>Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy compares the diminutive and tenacious Gerbe to Martin St-Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s so dynamic,&rdquo; Dennehy said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very tough to contain and he&rsquo;s not afraid.&rdquo;The 5-foot-6, 165-pound Gerbe had 25 goals and 47 points in 41 games last season as BC reached the NCAA title game. He had nine power play goals, six game-winners and four shorthanded tallies.And the Buffalo Sabres fifth-rounder has stepped up his game according to BC coach Jerry York.&ldquo;Last year, he was one of the better players in the country and he&rsquo;s stronger this year,&rdquo; York said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s in terrific shape. He has an outstanding work ethic.&rdquo;Gerbe, a junior, has high aspirations: &ldquo;I want to be more explosive. I want to be faster and stronger on my skates.&rdquo;<h2>NATHAN DAVIS, C, MIAMI</h2>In three seasons at Miami, Davis has averaged a point a game, been named an all-America, made two CCHA all-league teams and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker.But after falling a game short of the Frozen Four last season, the senior center returns to the Red-Hawks with unfinished business.&ldquo;Individual awards are OK and winning the league (in 2006) was great for the program,&rdquo; said Davis, one of two collegians who made the 2007 U.S. World Championship team. &ldquo;But there are other goals &ndash; a playoff title and a national championship &ndash; still to be won.&rdquo;While he benefits greatly from playing with physical senior captain Ryan Jones, Davis is the complete package: A speedy, skilled and dynamic playmaker who can finish, is responsible defensively and is a dangerous penalty-killer.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s worked hard and committed himself to becoming a big-time player,&rdquo; said Miami coach Enrico Blasi of the Blackhawks draft pick. &ldquo;He deserves all of his success.&rdquo;<h2>RYAN DUNCAN, LW, NORTH DAKOTA</h2>A year ago, most knowledgeable college hockey fans felt the Hobey Baker Award winner would play for North Dakota. If it wasn&rsquo;t one NHL first-rounder &ndash; center Jonathan Toews &ndash; it was another, right winger T.J. Oshie.The fans were close: Duncan, an undrafted, undersized left winger, wound up with the Hobey.Now the 22-year-old Calgary product is back looking to do the unprecedented: Win the Hobey again.Listed at 5-foot-6 and 159 pounds, Duncan accounted for 31 goals and 57 points in 43 games as a sophomore all-America and WCHA player of the year last season.Since the first award was given out in 1981, the only previous Hobey winner to return for another crack was Colorado College center Marty Sertich in 2005. Denver defenseman Matt Carle won the Hobey in 2006.&ldquo;The best compliment I can give (Duncan) is he has a history of making players around him better,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Fighting Sioux coach Dave Hakstol.<h2>STEVE ZALEWSKI, C, CLARK-SON</h2>On a team with seven NHL draft picks and more balance than a high-wire act in the circus, Zalewski is the best bet to bring home the Hobey Baker.Numbers don&rsquo;t tell the whole story of Zalewski&rsquo;s talent because his team shares the scoring wealth so much. The 5-foot-11, 192-pound senior center, picked by San Jose in 2004, is probably the best natural goal-scorer on a team loaded with lamp-lighters.Last year, he broke out with a 34-point season, including a career-high 16 goals, and led the team with four game-winners.&ldquo;Steve probably could have signed last year if he wanted to come out,&rdquo; said Clarkson coach George Roll. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m glad he didn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;Steve is more of a natural goal-scorer than (senior center Nick Dodge). A lot of Nick&rsquo;s goals come from tenacity and hard work, but Steve is just a natural. He&rsquo;s got a great release, one of the best I&rsquo;ve seen since I&rsquo;ve been coaching.&ldquo;Points are only part of why Steve is so important to us. It&rsquo;s in the locker room, in the classroom, in the community.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03707/9112662-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="233" height="241"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andy Baggot</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04512/9112655-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="233" height="240"><figcaption class="caption-body">Philip Colvin</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05403/9112648-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="233" height="241"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Boggie</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-06352/9112641-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="233" height="240"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Mahoney</figcaption></div>The Hockey News top-10 ranking of NCAA Frozen Four contenders was selected by our four U.S. college correspondents: Andy Baggot (WCHA), Tom Boggie (ECAC), Philip Colvin (CCHA) and Larry Mahoney (Hockey East).<h3>TOP 10</h3>1. North Dakota WCHA2. Miami CCHA3. Clarkson ECAC4. New Hampshire HE5. Michigan State CCHA6. Boston College HE7. Denver WCHA8. Notre Dame CCHA9. Boston University HE10. Quinnipiac ECAC &#9632;

f0028-01

Four forwards hunt for Hobey

<div class="byline">BY TOM BOGGIE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-011176/9112714-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="284" height="105"></div>Is Quinnipiac for real? The numbers say yes.The Bobcats came out of Atlantic Hockey two years ago to replace Vermont in the ECAC and during that time have become a force to be reckoned with. A team that was little more than an afterthought two years ago played for the league championship in its sophomore campaign and there&rsquo;s every reason to believe it will be back there again.Last year, the Bobcats were ranked in the national top 20 in the final 17 weeks of the season and posted their ninth-straight winning season at the Division I level. Only Michigan, Michigan State, New Hampshire and Maine can make that same claim.And with 22 returning players, including 14 of its top 15 scorers, expectations are even higher.&ldquo;Having an experienced and talented team is only part of the equation for success,&rdquo; said Bobcats coach Rand Pecknold. &ldquo;Elite teams compete for 60 minutes night in and night out and effectively execute once the game begins.&rdquo;Here&rsquo;s a look at the projected order of finish in the ECAC.1. CLARKSON GOLDEN KNIGHTS Clarkson coach George Roll is a lot like the Wizard of Oz. He has created the image that Potsdam, N.Y., is paradise.After the Knights won the ECAC tournament title last year, the major question was, how many of Clarkson&rsquo;s nine drafted players would leave for the pros? But instead of having a mass exodus that would have decimated the team, only Shawn Weller (Ottawa) left, making the Knights an overwhelming favorite to become the first team to win back-to-back tournament titles since St. Lawrence in 2000-01.There&rsquo;s talent at every position, beginning with all-America center Nick Dodge and center Steve Zalewski up front, to Grant Clitsome, Phil Paquet and Adam Bellows on the blueline, to senior David Leggio in goal. All Leggio did last year was set school records for saves (1,037) and save percentage (.930).2. QUINNIPIAC BOBCATS Are the Bobcats Cinderella, or the new bully in town?In just their second year in the league, the Bobcats advanced to the ECAC tournament championship game and even though all-everything defenseman Reid Cashman has graduated, Pecknold has another solid contender.The real reason for optimism in Hamden, Ct., is that the entire forward unit returns virtually intact. That includes co-rookie of the year Brandon Wong, who led the league in goals (27) and points (44) last year. And Wong didn&rsquo;t even play on Quinnipiac&rsquo;s top line, which is made up of seniors Jamie Bates and Ben Nelson, and junior Bryan Leitch. That group has combined to score more than 100 points for two straight seasons.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02810/9112707-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="1229" height="1835"><figcaption class="caption-body">Topher Scott (CORNELL ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS)</figcaption></div>3. CORNELL BIG RED It&rsquo;s hard to say a fourth-place team had a down year, but in Ithaca, N.Y., the expectations are much higher than that.Senior Raymond Sawada, a 205-pound winger who delivers some of the hardest bodychecks in the league, and sophomore Colin Greening each scored 10 goals a year ago and their offensive production will be crucial, as will be that of 5-foot-6, 160-pound senior Topher Scott, who led the team in scoring last year with four goals and 25 points over 31 games.The addition of freshman Riley Nash, a first round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers (21st overall), will be the answer to the power play woes experienced last year.The Big Red defense was incredibly young last season, but senior Doug Krantz now anchors a veteran unit in front of junior goalie Troy Davenport.4. COLGATE RAIDERS Even though the Raiders relied on one line for most of its scoring during a disappointing campaign last year, no one could stop Tyler Burton or Jesse Winchester.Both return for their senior years and the 5-foot-9, 180-pound Burton, a Hobey Baker candidate, already has more than 100 points in his college career.Senior stopper Mark Dekanich attended the Nashville Predators conditioning camp over the summer and finished first out of 28 prospects in overall fitness. That will be important this year because he&rsquo;s started 72 of a possible 79 games the past two seasons.5. UNION SKATING DUTCHMEN&nbsp;Balanced scoring makes Union the sleeper of the year.6. HARVARD CRIMSON The hunt is on for more offensive spark.7. ST. LAWRENCE SAINTS&nbsp;They&rsquo;re a year away from challenging for conference title.8. RPI ENGINEERS There&rsquo;s pressure on goalie tandem of Jordan Alford and Mathias Lange.9. YALE BULLDOGS They&rsquo;re a season away from contending.10. DARTMOUTH BIG GREEN It has to overcome major losses at both ends of the ice.11. PRINCETON TIGERS Another slow start will spell doom.12. BROWN BEARS Special teams need vast improvement if the Bears are to rise.<h2>FABULOUS FRESHMEN</h2>The top incoming ECAC rookies are listed with their position, age and school.1. Riley Nash, C, 18, Cornell. Picked 21st overall by Edmonton.2. Bryan Rufenach, D, 18, Clarkson. Picked 208th overall by Wings.3. Joe Stejskal, D, 19, Dartmouth. Drafted 133rd overall by Montreal.4. Luke Cain, LW, 21, Union. Great size and a rocket of a shot.5. Matt McCollem, LW, 19, Harvard. Chosen 154th overall by St. Louis.6. Brian Day, RW, 19, Colgate. Picked 171st overall by the Isles. &#9632;

f0029-01

Knights, Cats setting the tone

<div class="byline">BY ANDY BAGGOT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02906/9112752-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="353" height="78"></div>After producing the NCAA champion five straight seasons from 2002 to &rsquo;06, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association whiffed in 2007 in part because its members made life so difficult for one another.For the first time since the league expanded to 10 teams in 1999-2000 with the addition of Minnesota State-Mankato, every team in the conference won at least 10 games. That sense of parity should be just as profound in 2007-08.&ldquo;The top five is up for grabs,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Alaska-Anchorage coach Dave Shyiak.A year after 10 points separated the top five schools, the tipping point figures to be goaltending. New ones are being broken in Colorado College, Minnesota, St. Cloud State and Wisconsin, all challengers for the upper tier.North Dakota, which has qualified for the past three NCAA Frozen Fours, and Denver, which is the host school for the 2008 Frozen Four, have been installed as favorites in part because they have veteran goaltenders.Here&rsquo;s a look at the projected order of finish in the WCHA.1. NORTH DAKOTA FIGHTING&nbsp;SIOUX Left winger Ryan Duncan, center T.J. Oshie, and defensemen Taylor Chorney and Joe Finley made an informal pact they would eschew professional opportunities to return to school for another crack at an NCAA title.That nucleus &ndash; Duncan is the reigning Hobey Baker Award winner; Oshie (St. Louis) and Finley (Washington) were first-round NHL draft picks; Chorney (Edmonton) was a second-rounder &ndash; is why the Fighting Sioux are the pre-season favorite for the MacNaughton Cup.It helps, too, that North Dakota has steady veteran Philippe Lamoureux in goal and a confident mindset built around the fact it has qualified for nine of the past 10 NCAA tournaments.2. DENVER PIONEERS The Pioneers have depth issues, especially on defense, but their front-liners match up with anyone.Senior goaltender Peter Mannino was the most outstanding player of the 2005 NCAA Frozen Four. Wingers Brock Trotter and Rhett Rakhshani and center Tyler Ruegsegger are coming off 30-point rookie seasons. Junior defenseman Chris Butler is a major offensive threat and Andrew Thomas is a lock-down defender.Denver will surely be motivated by the fact the NCAA Frozen Four will be held at the Pepsi Center (April 10 and 12, 2008).3. MINNESOTA GOLDEN GO-PHERS No school has access to more homegrown talent than the Gophers, who have produced eight NHL first-rounders since 2000. Three &ndash; wingers Kyle Okposo (Islanders) and Blake Wheeler (Phoenix) and defenseman Dave Fischer (Montreal) &ndash; will be central figures this season for various reasons.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011333/9112745-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="1229" height="1835"><figcaption class="caption-body">Blake Wheeler (SCOTT A. SCHNEIDER/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Okposo and Wheeler will headline a robust offense, while Fischer will be asked to log major ice time for a defense that sustained three major losses: Erik Johnson and Alex Goligoski turned pro with St. Louis and Pittsburgh, respectively, while Mike Vannelli completed his eligibility.In goal, junior Jeff Frazee will look to curb his erratic nature, lest he lose his job to freshman Alex Kangas.4. MICHIGAN TECH HUSKIES&nbsp;The Huskies return almost every important element from a club that had its first winning season since 1992-93.The offense won&rsquo;t scare anyone &ndash; at least not until highly regarded recruit Casey Pierro-Zabotel, a center with Merritt of the British Columbia Jr. A League, arrives at the semester break due to academic issues &ndash; but the defense is rugged and no team in the league has a better goaltending tandem than juniors Michael-Lee Teslak and Rob Nolan.Tech has the most veteran team in the WCHA &ndash; 20 players 21 or older &ndash; and that experience will pay dividends.5. ST. CLOUD STATE HUSKIES&nbsp;Expect lots of goals in these games. The Huskies will be able to score with anyone, but they need a goaltender and a makeover on defense.6. COLORADO COLLEGE TIGERS&nbsp;There are some intriguing pieces in place, especially at forward, but who will stop the puck?7. WISCONSIN BADGERS Sixth-year coach Mike Eaves brought in three NHL first-rounders &ndash; center Kyle Turris (Phoenix) and defensemen Ryan McDonagh (Montreal) and Brendan Smith (Detroit) &ndash; but being the youngest team in the league will have its challenges.8. MINNESOTA-DULUTH BULL-DOGS If the Bulldogs get solid goaltending from sophomore Alex Stalock, they will surprise.9. MINNESOTA STATE-MANKATO MAVERICKS Goaltending is a major strength, but the offense is in a state of flux.10. ALASKA-ANCHORAGE&nbsp;SEAWOLVES A lot of new faces and uncertainty in goal will make the climb steep for Alaska-Anchorage.<h2>FABULOUS FRESHMEN</h2>The top incoming WCHA rookies are listed with their position, age and school.1. Kyle Turris, C, 18, Wisconsin. Chosen third overall by Phoenix.2. Ryan McDonagh, D, 18, Wisconsin. Taken 12th by Montreal.3. Brendan Smith, D, 18, Wisconsin. Picked 27th overall by Detroit.4. Casey Pierro-Zabotel, C, 19, Mich. Tech. Delayed by academics.5. Luca Cunti, LW, 18, St. Cloud State. Great wheels, skills, ego.6. Evan Trupp, LW, 19, North Dakota. A heady two-way player. &#9632;

f0030-02

Fighting Sioux looking North

<div class="byline">BY LARRY MAHONEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-011227/9112790-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="296" height="132"></div>The University of Massachusetts Lowell is one of the charter members of Hockey East, dating back to 1984-85.And coach Blaise MacDonald is ecstatic the River Hawks will remain in Hockey East after the UMass board of trustees voted unanimously June 21 to keep the River Hawks in the league.Financial concerns led a task force to recommend UMass Lowell drop the program or leave Hockey East.But the university was able to renegotiate its Tsongas Arena contract with the city and that has allowed UML to remain in Hockey East.The new lease wiped out an annual $50,000 payment for the use of the facility and gave the school 100 percent of the concession revenues and 50 percent of the advertising revenues on the marquee outside the arena.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve received a very strong commitment from the chancellor (Marty Meehan) and from some key business people in the community,&rdquo; said MacDonald, who added that an aggressive marketing and promotions campaign has resulted in the sale of 900 luxury club seats and 2,000 season tickets.Those represent huge increases over last year. On the ice, the River Hawks are sure to struggle again in the always-competitive Hockey East. Here&rsquo;s the predicted order of finish this season.1. NEW HAMPSHIRE WILDCATS&nbsp;Last year&rsquo;s regular season champs look poised for a repeat.The Wildcats return five of their top nine scorers, five of their six regular defensemen and senior goalie Kevin Regan, who enters the season with a career record of 47-21-9 to go with a 2.30 goals-against average and .927 save percentage.Matt Fornataro, Mike Radja and Jerry Pollastrone are the top returning forwards with plenty of others anxious to increase their roles.Brad Flaishans and Craig Switzer anchor the seasoned defense. An exceptional freshman class, led by power forward and second overall draft pick James van Riemsdyk (Philadelphia) will help light the goal lamp.2. BOSTON COLLEGE EAGLES The Eagles have plenty of fire-power and seven experienced defensemen that will help them challenge for first place.But replacing all-America goalie Cory Schneider (Vancouver Canucks organization) is the big question mark. Freshman John Muse is the heir apparent.Nathan Gerbe, Benn Ferriero and Brock Bradford were three of the top six scorers in Hockey East a year ago and will create all kinds of problems for opposing defensemen, as will gritty two-way point-producer Dan Bertram.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02819/9112783-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="1229" height="1835"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nathan Gerbe (SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption></div>Brett Motherwell is one of the league&rsquo;s top offensive defensemen and a talented supporting cast along the blueline includes Mike Brennan and Tim Filangieri.3. BOSTON UNIVERSITY TERRI-ERS The Terriers were held to two goals or less 20 times last year, but BU has 10 veteran forwards and they will be much better offensively.Peter MacArthur, Chris Higgins, Bryan Ewing and Jason Lawrence are quality forwards and Brandon Yip, the Hockey East rookie of the year two seasons ago, will provide a big lift after playing in just 18 games due to injury in 2006-07.Three defensemen have graduated, but Matt Gilroy is back and first round draft choice Kevin Shattenkirk (Colorado Avalanche) and second round pick Colby Cohen (Colorado) will help out immensely.4. UMASS-AMHERST MINUTE-MEN The unheralded Minutemen made their first NCAA tournament appearance a year ago and return two of their top three point-scorers in Cory Quirk and P.J. Fenton along with six experienced defensemen led by Mike Kostka and David Leaderer.However, stalwart goalie Jon Quick, a second team all-Hockey East pick last year, decided to leave after his sophomore season. That leaves the goaltending to untested sophomore Dan Meyers and freshman Paul Dainton.A large freshman class has a lot of promise with James Marcou and Chase Langeraap headlining the list of forwards.5. MAINE BLACK BEARS&nbsp;Regrettably, the Black Bears lost 67.7 percent of their goals due to graduation, but goalie Ben Bishop and a good defense corps will keep them in contention.6. VERMONT CATAMOUNTS&nbsp;Vermont has standout goalie Joe Fallon, but needs more balanced goal production.7. PROVIDENCE FRIARS&nbsp;Providence will be significantly improved in all areas, but will struggle to maintain a .500 record.8. NORTHEASTERN HUSKIES&nbsp;Northeastern is noticeably better everywhere, but still overmatched.9. UMASS-LOWELL RIVER&nbsp;HAWKS UMass Lowell will be exciting, but needs to score goals.10. MERRIMACK WARRIORS&nbsp;Merrimack will regain 2005-06 scoring leader Rob Ricci.<h2>FABULOUS FRESHMEN</h2>The top incoming Hockey East rookies are listed with their position, age and school.1. James van Riemsdyk, LW, 18, UNH. Power forward a Philly draft pick.2. Kevin Shattenkirk, 18, D, Boston U. Taken 14th overall by Colorado.3. Nick Petrecki, 18, D, Boston C. Punisher taken 28th by San Jose.4. Colby Cohen, 18, D, Boston U. Highly skilled defenseman.5. Colin Wilson, LW, 18, Boston U. Son of ex-NHLer Carey Wilson.6. Phil DeSimone, LW, 20, UNH. Caps pick was USHL player of year. &#9632;

f0031-01

Wildcats loaded for title repeat

<div class="byline">BY PHILIP COLVIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02873/9112828-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="296" height="110"></div>Picking a favorite in the CCHA has become an increasingly difficult task.In the past five years, four teams &ndash; Ferris State, Michigan (twice), Miami and Notre Dame &ndash; have won the CCHA regular season title.In last year&rsquo;s pre-season poll, the Fighting Irish were picked by CCHA coaches to finish sixth, but led the league wire to wire. Michigan State was voted the favorite, ended up finishing fourth, but went on to win the NCAA tournament title.&ldquo;You can take the polls and turn them sideways,&rdquo; said Michigan State coach Rick Comley. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s great for our league.&rdquo;Last year, Western Michigan took three of four games from Comley&rsquo;s Spartans, last place Bowling Green beat Michigan on the road and Lake Superior State bounced the RedHawks from the playoffs.&ldquo;Every game seems like a one-goal game and you have no idea who is going to win on a given night,&rdquo; Comley said. &ldquo;There is just no predicting and you better play well or you are going to lose.&rdquo;Here&rsquo;s a look at the projected order of finish in the CCHA.1. MIAMI REDHAWKS After a CCHA title in 2006 and trips to the NCAA tournament the past two seasons, Miami returns a deep, veteran squad built to compete at the national level.Senior forwards Nathan Davis (21 goals, 50 points) and Ryan Jones (29/48) have played together since their freshmen year and both are Hobey Baker Award candidates.A trio of defensemen &ndash; senior Mitch Ganzak and juniors Alec Martinez and Ray Eichenlaub &ndash; are battle tested. Also back is junior goalie Jeff Zatkoff.&ldquo;Our leadership is intact and this team has a good sense of the big picture and what they need to do,&rdquo; said Miami coach Enrico Blasi.2. MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS Defending national champion Michigan State has all the pieces in place for another run at the Frozen Four.Junior goaltender Jeff Lerg, outstanding during the NCAA tournament, is back for his second full season as a starter.The Spartans also return one entire line in juniors Justin Abdelkader, Tim Crowder and leading scorer Tim Kennedy, along with seniors Bryan Lerg and Chris Mueller.Seniors Daniel Vukovic and Jeff Dunne, junior Brandon Gentile and sophomore Mike Ratchuk lead an experienced blueline corps.&ldquo;The kids have a quiet confidence, but there is still a lot to prove,&rdquo; Comley said.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011310/9112821-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="1229" height="1835"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeff Lerg (ELSA/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>3. NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson wants his players to acknowledge last year&rsquo;s school-best 32 wins and first-ever CCHA regular season and playoff titles &ndash; and then put it out of their minds.&ldquo;We have a lot to be proud of,&rdquo; Jackson said. &ldquo;But this is a new year and a new team.&rdquo;Junior Jordan Pierce and freshman Brad Phillips take over in net after the graduation of all-everything goaltender David Brown.However, the Fighting Irish return their top five point-scorers, including junior Erik Condra (14/48) and sophomores Ryan Thang and Kevin Deeth. Sophomore Kyle Lawson, one of the league&rsquo;s top defensemen, anchors the blueline.4. MICHIGAN WOLVERINES With just two seniors, a highly touted 12-member freshmen class and exactly half of their offense gone after graduation and the departure of Jack Johnson (Los Angeles) and Andrew Cogliano (Edmonton) to the NHL, Michigan has some concerns.Still, the cupboard isn&rsquo;t bare. Captain Kevin Porter (24/58) and senior forward Chad Kolarik are coming off career seasons.Junior Mark Mitera and sophomores Chris Summers and Steve Kampfer will see a lot of time on the blueline in front of junior goalie Billy Sauer.&ldquo;When you lose the players we lost and our freshmen are unproven, there&rsquo;s a big question mark,&rdquo; said Michigan coach Red Berenson.5. OHIO STATE BUCKEYES&nbsp;Tom Fritsche, Jason DeSantis and Joseph Palmer are key.6. NEBRASKA-OMAHA MAV-ERICKS With prolific Scott Parse gone, scoring will have to be done by committee.7. LAKE SUPERIOR STATE&nbsp;LAKERS With just one senior, the Lakers ice a very young squad.8. WESTERN MICHIGAN BRON-COS All-rookie goalie Riley Gill will be even better.9. FERRIS STATE BULLDOGS&nbsp;Defense is solid, but finding goals will be a challenge.10. NORTHERN MICHIGAN WILD-CATS There are 15 freshmen and sophomores in the lineup.11. ALASKA NANOOOKS Chad Johnson and Wylie Rogers are a solid goalie tandem.12. BOWLING GREEN STATE&nbsp;FALCONS Two NHL-drafted goalies in Jimmy Spratt and Nick Eno will be well-tested.<h2>FABULOUS FRESHMEN</h2>The top incoming CCHA rookies are listed with their position, age and school.1. Jeff Petry, D, 19, Michigan State. Taken 45th overall by Edmonton.2. Max Pacioretty, LW, 19, Michigan. Picked 22nd overall by Habs.3. Ian Cole, D, 19, Notre Dame. Committed to Fighting Irish at 16.4. Aaron Palushaj, RW, 18, Michigan. Puck is usually on his stick.5. Ben Ryan, C, 21, Notre Dame. Good at both ends of the ice.6. John Albert, C, 18, Ohio State. Underrated scorer top line-bound. &#9632;

f0032-02

Prediction predicament

<div class="byline">BY JIM CONNELLY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-011170/9112859-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="437" height="116"></div>As the 2007-08 college hockey season gets underway, the game&rsquo;s two youngest conferences &ndash; Atlantic Hockey and College Hockey America &ndash; couldn&rsquo;t be headed in more opposite directions.For Atlantic Hockey, a league that centered mostly in the northeast corridor of the U.S., but expanded west in 2006 to include Colorado-based Air Force, things are flourishing. And in Year 1, not only did Air Force capture the league&rsquo;s post-season championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament, it also produced a Hobey Baker Award finalist in center Eric Ehn.In addition, Atlantic Hockey signed a long-term deal with Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y., to host its post-season tournament. And, for the second straight season, the NHL came calling at season&rsquo;s end, as the Washington Capitals signed free agent RIT sophomore Steve Pinizzotto.Things, though, are hardly as rosy for College Hockey America. After Air Force departed a season ago for Atlantic Hockey, the league slipped below the NCAA minimum of six teams. Though granted a moratorium to continue operating at a status quo by the NCAA, the CHA was dealt a larger blow in September when founding member Wayne State of Michigan announced it will drop its men&rsquo;s hockey program at the conclusion of 2007-08.Down to just four teams come season&rsquo;s end, it&rsquo;s hardly fathomable that the CHA can continue operating. The question, then, turns to the future of the four remaining teams &ndash; Bemidji State in Minnesota, Niagara University in Buffalo, the University of Alabama-Huntsville and Robert Morris in Pittsburgh.Niagara and Robert Morris seem perfect fits for Atlantic Hockey. Both are geographic neighbors to current members &ndash; Niagara is 24 miles away from Canisius; Robert Morris is less than an hour drive to Mercyhurst.Huntsville and Bemidji are hardly as convenient trips for a conference that sports three teams from Massachusetts, two from Connecticut and four from New York State. That will leave major question marks come season&rsquo;s end about the future of hockey at both those schools.On the ice, there&rsquo;s still plenty of talent dotting both leagues. In addition to Ehn at Air Force, watch for the talented pair of Bear Trapp and Alex Parent at Sacred Heart, Ben Cottreau at Mercyhurst and Luke Flicek at Army. There&rsquo;s also one of the nation&rsquo;s top goaltending duos in Louis Menard and Jocelyn Guimond manning the pipes at RIT, and Matt Lundin, a talented transfer from the University of Maine, is likely to be the top netminder at Mercyhurst.In the CHA, Niagara returns two 40-point scorers from a year ago in Ted Cook and Les Reaney, while Robert Morris forward Ryan Cruthers will look to have a solid senior season. Niagara returns the league&rsquo;s top goaltender in Juliano Pagliero, who will likely assume the No. 1 job for himself after splitting time last season with graduated senior Allen Barton. &#9632;

f0033-01

Atlantic rising as CHA falters

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div>To say Air Force Falcons center Eric Ehn presents an interesting case is an under-statement.First off, he&rsquo;s an undrafted 24-year-old playing outside the NCAA&rsquo;s Big Four conferences. But on the other hand, he shattered Atlantic Hockey&rsquo;s points record last year en route to becoming a Hobey Baker finalist.He has been told at every level of hockey that he was too small, too slow, or just not good enough. Now entering his senior year at The Academy in Colorado Springs, Ehn has proven the critics wrong, but he still has a major hurdle to clear before suiting up for anyone professionally.As part of his enrollment commitment to the Air Force, Ehn is technically military property for another five years.&ldquo;They have the ultimate say,&rdquo; Ehn noted, adding he doesn&rsquo;t mind the bind. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m in a win-win situation. If they let me play professionally, that&rsquo;s great. If I don&rsquo;t, I&rsquo;ve got a great job lined up.&rdquo;Ehn, a systems engineering major, could end up plying his trade on a U.S. military base, depending on whether his particular skills are needed. If not, his five-year commitment (which kicks in for all Air Force players once they start their third year of school) could be excused, much in the same way former NBA star David Robinson only served two years in the Navy before joining the San Antonio Spurs.&ldquo;When we do have that rare guy,&rdquo; noted Air Force coach Frank Serratore, &ldquo;they&rsquo;re smart enough to know these guys are going to be in a high-profile place to be role models.&rdquo;For now, though, Ehn is focused on the upcoming season. Air Force won the Atlantic Hockey tournament last season, earning the school a Frozen Four berth.&ldquo;I want to win the AHA again,&rdquo; Ehn said. &ldquo;And maybe go two games in the NCAA tournament.&rdquo;Ehn chose the Air Force because he said it matched his lifestyle. As for the possibility of being shipped off to war &ndash; which could occur, though probably not for several years &ndash; Ehn is ready for that challenge, too.&ldquo;It would be a great chance to make a difference,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know not everybody agrees with what&rsquo;s going on (in Iraq), but they always support the soldiers.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02798/9112890-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="982" height="1473"><figcaption class="caption-body">A FORCE Eric Ehn powered Air Force last year, but his hockey future isn&rsquo;t entirely up to him. (AIR FORCE ATHLETICS)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0033-02

A soldier and a scorer

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04572/9112970-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">HALAK ATTACK After impressing at the NHL level last year, Jaroslav Halak is back in the minors. (RICK DENHAM)</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03715/9112977-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="88" height="88"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>The list of accolades be-stowed upon goalie Jaroslav Halak a year ago was endless. So, too, is the journey to the NHL. Or so it seems to Halak.Despite a sensational American League campaign in 2006-07, when his play with the Hamilton Bulldogs earned him a promotion to the Montreal Canadiens in February, Halak finds himself back in Hamilton.The 22-year-old from Slovakia lost the job as Cristobal Huet&rsquo;s&nbsp;backup to rookie Carey Price. When Halak joined Slovakia for the 2007 World Championship, Price came out of junior in April and backstopped the Bulldogs to the first Calder Cup in franchise history.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05468/9112963-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="268" height="325"></div>&ldquo;I was disappointed when they sent me down,&rdquo; Halak said. &ldquo;It took a little while to get over it. I&rsquo;m not saying I should have stayed (in Montreal) but I wanted to stay. They have a different plan.&rdquo;A year ago, Halak was voted the all-rookie team goalie and starter for PlanetUSA at the All-Star Classic. He went 16-11 with an AHL-best 2.00 goals-against average and .932 save percentage. He also posted six shutouts. He was 10-6 with a 2.89 GAA and .906 save percentage as an NHL rookie.Predictably, Halak wasn&rsquo;t all smiles when he arrived from Montreal. &ldquo;I was concerned with him because his body language said he was taking it tough,&rdquo; said Bulldogs coach Don Lever. &ldquo;I just told him he can&rsquo;t get himself in a hole.&rdquo;Lever&rsquo;s advice to Halak on the eve of the season opener: &ldquo;Go watch a comedy and laugh.&rdquo;QUICK START In 47 AHL games as a rookie, Bill Thomas&nbsp;never scored two goals on the same night. But the second-year winger started his second season in style with two goals and an assist in San Antonio&rsquo;s 7-1 win over Iowa.Last season, Thomas scored 13 goals and 33 points in the AHL and eight goals and 14 points in 24 NHL games with Phoenix.NICE START Maybe with the marketing power of the NBA&rsquo;s Cleveland Cavaliers, the AHL will finally thrive in Cleveland.The Lake Erie Monsters drew 15,132 to Quicken Loans Arena for the first game in team history. The Barons, whose five-year run ended after 2005-06, sometimes didn&rsquo;t draw 15,000 in 10 home games.The Monsters, farm club of the Colorado Avalanche, are owned by Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.TRIVIA TIME For trivia buffs, the first goals in the history of the three newest franchises &ndash; Quad City, Rockford and Lake Erie &ndash; were scored in their openers.Center Dustin Boyd&nbsp;scored the first goal as the Quad City Flames beat Rockford 5-1. Chicago Black-hawks farmhand center David Bolland scored the IceHogs&rsquo; goal.Center Matt Hussey&nbsp;scored the first goal for Lake Erie.NOTEBOOK The Peoria Rivermen love playing wherever the Calgary Flames have their farm team. Peoria was 10-0 in Omaha against the Flames and won the first game in Quad City this year&hellip;This much we know about AHL rookie referee Kyle Rehman: He knows how to blow his whistle. He awarded 28 power plays (17 to Rockford, 11 to Quad City) Oct. 6.<h2>POWER RANKINGS</h2>As of Oct. 11, 2007<h3>AHL TOP 10</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06420/9112956-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="561" height="734"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07369/9112949-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="264" height="369"></div><h3>MICHAEL LEIGHTON</h3><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08327/9112942-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="120" height="112"></div>GP GAA SP1 1.00 .971TOP SAVE PERCENTAGES</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h3>PLAYER SP</h3>Michael Leighton, Alb .971Tuukka Rask, Prov .964Scott Clemmensen, Tor .962Josh Tordjman, SA .960J-P Levasseur, Por .944Devan Dubnyk, Spr .944Jimmy Howard, GR .933Joey MacDonald, Bri .933Brian Boucher, Phi .932Three others .931<h2>PROVIDENCE BRUINS</h2>16th Season in AHLBest SeasonCalder Cup in 1998-99ArenaDunkin&rsquo; Donuts CenterGM Peter ChiarelliCoachScott GordonCareer Leaders(GP-G-A-Points)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09274/9112935-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="190" height="186"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10249/9112928-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="192" height="274"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-11226/9112921-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="384" height="295"></div> &#9632;

f0034-04

Halak forced to give encore

<div class="byline">BY PHIL JANACK</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03717/9113053-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">WHAT&rsquo;S LURKING? The fog came in thick and often during a Senators/River Rats game in Binghamton. (JUST SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05492/9113060-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="203" height="90"></div>More than 30 years after the infamous Fog Game from the 1975 Stanley Cup final, the Albany River Rats and Binghamton Senators played their own version.Unseasonably warm temperatures in Binghamton&rsquo;s Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena led to hazy conditions for the Oct. 6 season opener for the Senators and Rats.Play was stopped 25 times, as players from both teams skated circles in their defensive zones to clear fog that formed on the ice. Ten of those stoppages came in the first period, the last with 11.6 seconds left, time that was tacked on to the start of the second period.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04581/9113046-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="268" height="325"></div>&ldquo;Seven years pro and I&rsquo;ve never seen anything like that,&rdquo; said Albany goalie Michael Leighton, who had 34 saves in a 3-1 win. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve skated around once or twice during a game, but not 20 times.&rdquo;There were six stoppages in the second period and another nine in the third, making the official game length two hours and 45 minutes. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen (nights like that) on TV, but I&rsquo;ve never been part of one,&rdquo; said Binghamton goalie Jeff Glass. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s pretty bad out there when the fog gets like that. It&rsquo;s no fault of anybody; it&rsquo;s warm outside and that&rsquo;s what happens.&rdquo;Rats veteran David Gove scored the winning goal 7:59 into the third period.&ldquo;I guess that will be a little extra to add to the story,&rdquo; Gove said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never forget this one.&rdquo;STEVE DOWN League president Dave Andrews&nbsp;offered insight into his decision to suspend Philadelphia Flyers prospect Steve Downie for one month after his NHL pre-season hit on Ottawa Senators forward Dean McAmmond.&ldquo;The American Hockey League has established a strict disciplinary standard over the last several seasons relative to deliberate hits to the head,&rdquo; Andrews said. &ldquo;We strongly support the National Hockey League&rsquo;s recent directives on these dangerous hits and we want to send a clear message that actions such as Mr. Downie&rsquo;s are unacceptable in our game.&rdquo;League by-laws allow Andrews to make his own ruling on any player under suspension from another league or organization who seeks to play in the AHL.IN MEMORIAM Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is wearing patches on their sweaters in honor of ex-Penguins forward Darcy Robinson, who died Sept. 27 at 26.Robinson collapsed on the ice while playing for HC Asiago. The Italian club has decided to retire his number and keep his dressing room locker intact for the duration of the season.A 6-foot-3, 239-pound defenseman, Robinson played 158 games over parts of four seasons for Wilkes-Barre, from 2001-05.OH, RATS Kevin Nastiuk beat out Justin Peters for the River Rats&rsquo; backup job behind the veteran Leighton.Nastiuk is in his third pro season, having spent all of 2006-07 with Las Vegas (ECHL). Carolina&rsquo;s second-highest rated prospect in The Hockey News 2007 Future Watch issue, Peters played his entire rookie season with the Rats last year. &#9632;

f0035-03

Unseen delays in Binghamton

<div class="byline">&#x2013; PHIL JANACK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-011240/9113098-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="264" height="364"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02870/9113091-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="199" height="201"></div>Even at 6-foot-2, Drew Miller is going to have to stretch to reach the bar he raised with his own outstanding play as a rookie last season.The forward returns as one of Portland&rsquo;s major contributors, a role he steadily grew into after leaving Michigan State following his junior year.Miller, 23, had 16 goals and 36 points in 79 games for Portland and was rewarded with a late-season recall to the parent Anaheim Ducks. He was with the team for its entire six-week run to the Cup, dressing for three playoff games.&ldquo;He had a very strong rookie season for a kid that&rsquo;s not the heaviest on our team, by far,&rdquo; said Pirates coach Kevin Dineen. &ldquo;He was basically our ironman. He missed one game and that&rsquo;s because he got called up right at the end of the season. That&rsquo;s pretty impressive for a young kid like that.&rdquo;Dineen is counting on Miller, younger brother of Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller, to take on even more responsibility. Drafted 186th overall by Anaheim in 2003, he added eight pounds of muscle, checking into camp at 178.&ldquo;His strength is his ability to think the game through and take the information and do the right things,&rdquo; Dineen said.Miller was recalled by Anaheim, but is expected to be returned to Portland. &#9632;

f0035-01

Miller time in Portland

<div class="byline">BY MIKE MASTOVICH</div>The Ferraro family is staying in the desert.Twin forwards Peter and Chris Ferraro, 34, signed with the Las Vegas Wranglers, a transaction that had plenty to do with family. The brothers made hockey history by becoming the first identical twins to play for the same NHL team when they debuted with the Rangers 12 years ago.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06447/9113129-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="168" height="164"></div>But Peter and Chris also have a younger sister, Michelle Ferraro, who operates a modeling and talent agency in Las Vegas.&ldquo;We could&rsquo;ve gone to Europe if we focused on a more appealing financial situation, but it&rsquo;s not all about that,&rdquo; Peter told the Las Vegas Journal Review. &ldquo;Our sister lives out here and we just decided to make a commitment to the team here. They also gave us the ability to play together.&rdquo;The Ferraros have played nine of their 13 pro seasons together. They played on different AHL teams last year.&ldquo;Leadership-wise and skill-wise, we needed a boost and they&rsquo;re certainly going to help,&rdquo; said Wranglers coach Glen Gulutzan.OFFICIAL HONOR The ECHL will recognize an on-ice official with the Ryan Birmingham Memorial Award beginning this season. The award honors the former ECHL linesman who died in an automobile accident in May. The ECHL Rule Book is dedicated to the memory of Birmingham, who is featured on the back cover, and ECHL on-ice officials will be wearing a commemorative shoulder patch featuring Birmingham&rsquo;s No. 60 and his initials. &#9632;

f0035-06

Twin city takover

<div class="byline">BY JEFF RENAUD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05442/9113202-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="817" height="1560"><figcaption class="caption-body">OLD SCHOOL Most CIS players dream of making the NHL, but Jared Aulin has already been there. (DAVID MOLL)</figcaption></div>DURING THE 2002-03 NHL season, Jared Aulin scored two goals in 17 games with the Los Angeles Kings.The story goes he also scored a couple of dates with Paris Hilton while in the City of Angels, but that&rsquo;s another tale altogether.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-011216/9113209-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="165" height="111"></div>Aulin, 25, is back in the news these days because he is the first former NHLer in 20 years to skate for a Canadian university team. Only nine other players in Canadian university hockey history have made the shift.Enrolled at the University of Calgary, Aulin is his hometown Dinos&rsquo; top recruit for 2007-08. He plans to enter Calgary&rsquo;s Haskayne School of Business next fall.&ldquo;I think it is important to have an education,&rdquo; said Aulin, who was drafted 47th overall by Colorado in 2000. &ldquo;I put my brain on holidays when I was playing hockey. I took one college course, but I don&rsquo;t think people understand the effort and fatigue that takes place when you are using your brain all day.&rdquo;Aulin was traded to L.A. in 2001 before eventually being dealt to the Washington Capitals. After three AHL seasons, he was released by Springfield in November, 2006, days after aggravating a shoulder injury that ended his season.Aulin, a center, has one year of eligibility remaining (although university officials are seeking approval for a second). Professional games played before Dec. 31 of the year in which an athlete turns 21 are not charged against his eligibility, so the games Aulin played in 2002-03 are not counted. He will be eligible as of Nov. 12, one year following his final AHL game.&ldquo;The biggest goal is to win the championship,&rdquo; said Aulin, a member of Canada&rsquo;s silver medal-winning world junior team in 2002. &ldquo;I would also like to put up big numbers and prove to everybody I am still the player I was when I was drafted.&rdquo;<h3>Eye on Europe</h3><h2>From No. 1 overall to retired at age 27</h2>Less than 10 years after he was picked first overall by Atlanta, Patrik Stefan has hung up his blades for good. The 27-year-old Czech retired due to chronic problems with his hips. The last straw was an injury sustained after a bodycheck in a game against Lugano. Stefan managed to play only three games for SC Bern, having signed with the Swiss team when the Dallas Stars decided not to bring him back this season. &ldquo;Every athlete knows this moment comes sometime,&rdquo; said Stefan on the team&rsquo;s website. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think it would come now when I&rsquo;m just 27.&rdquo; Stefan was a major disappointment in the NHL, scoring just 64 goals and 124 points in 455 games for Atlanta and Dallas. He was known to have hip problems, but was cleared to play in Switzerland. Bern was supposed to be a fresh start. Instead, a teary-eyed Stefan said his career is over: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really hard to have to retire at 27.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07338/9113195-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="190" height="115"></div>&ndash; RISTO PAKARINEN<h3>International League</h3><h2>Komets align without Degagne</h2>The Fort Wayne Komets sustained their first loss before they even took to the ice as goalie Shawn Degagne re-injured the shoulder that caused him to miss most of last season. Degagne and Kevin Reiter were supposed to battle for the No. 1 job, but Degagne aggravated his shoulder injury while working out this summer. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re proceeding as if Shawn won&rsquo;t be playing this year,&rdquo; coach Al Sims told the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. The shoulder limited Degagne to four games with Elmira of the UHL last year. To replace Degagne, the Komets signed Adam Hanna, who had a 5-2-1 record while splitting last season between Shreveport of the CHL and Long Beach of the ECHL. He&rsquo;ll battle rookie Shawn Monette for the backup job.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02805/9113188-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="185" height="92"></div>&ndash; BRENDAN SAVAGE<h3>Central League</h3><h2>Eagles honored in unique fashion</h2>The Colorado Eagles have their own field of dreams. As part of a fall festival at a local farm near Wellington, Colo., a 16-acre maze was created in honor of the defending President&rsquo;s Cup champions and their fifth anniversary season. Colorado&rsquo;s Ryan Tobler, who won league best power forward honors last year, is included in the maze design, hoisting the Cup. The team&rsquo;s fifth anniversary logo, which includes an eagle, is also depicted. &ldquo;We are excited to try something new with our marketing,&rdquo; said Eagles president and GM Chris Stewart&hellip;The Laredo Bucks signed coach-GM Terry Ruskowski to a lifetime contract extension. &ldquo;(Ruskowski) can coach here forever if he wants to,&rdquo; said Bucks chairman Glenn Hart.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03663/9113181-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="176" height="125"></div>&ndash; DAVID HENRY<h3>Southern Pro League</h3><h2>Hockey sailing in Winston-Salem?</h2>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not just blowing through town&rdquo; It&rsquo;s the motto the Twin City Cyclones adopted to convince fans and corporate partners the team that arrived from Florence, S.C., after last season is in Winston-Salem, N.C., for the long haul. &ldquo;No other team that has ever been in here has done the work and put in the amount of effort we have this summer,&rdquo; said coach-GM Mark Richards, whose team is determined to sell hockey in a traditionally tough market. More than 200 season tickets were sold and more than 700 group tickets were purchased for the home opener. Art Shaver, who operated a UHL team in the city for two years, said it best: &ldquo;This is the first time in a long time there has been a buzz about hockey in this town.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04522/9113174-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="169" height="133"></div>&ndash; NICK GATES<h3>North American League</h3><h2>RoadRunners try to blaze path</h2>If at first you don&rsquo;t succeed, well, keep trying. That&rsquo;s the mantra right now in Topeka, Kan., which has seen its share of junior and minor pro hockey come and go over the years. The latest reincarnation? The NAHL&rsquo;s RoadRunners, who moved into the 10,000-seat Landon Arena this fall after three disastrous seasons in Santa Fe, where the team averaged no more than 400 fans a night. The RoadRunners hope to break with precedent and make hockey viable in Topeka. The opening weekend was positive: The team won twice, drawing 1,700 and 1,300 fans. &ldquo;The fans were happy to see a hard-working team,&rdquo; said RoadRunners coach-GM Scott Langer. &ldquo;The wins will go further for us in reaching the fans who missed the experience.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06388/9113167-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="156" height="119"></div>&ndash; PAUL SHAHEEN<h3>The Women&rsquo;s Game</h3><h2>CBC inks Campbell to two-year deal</h2>It&rsquo;s a big leap from Team Canada to Hockey Night in Canada. But Cassie Campbell has made a smooth transition, signing a two-year deal to stay with CBC&rsquo;s flagship TV show. Campbell will cover 25 to 30 games, up from 15 last year. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m an analyst who does sideline reporting, but I do a little bit of everything,&rdquo; Campbell said. Team Canada&rsquo;s former captain believes her HNIC work is good for women&rsquo;s hockey. &ldquo;(It shows) women know hockey and understand the game,&rdquo; Campbell said. When she did her first HNIC game last year, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman called the next day to congratulate her, saying: &ldquo;It was exciting for the NHL and a big plus for the game.&rdquo; Campbell believes it&rsquo;s also important the NHL get to know the women&rsquo;s game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08288/9113160-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="175" height="135"></div>&ndash; ELIZABETH ETUE &#9632;

f0036-05

Aulin move first in 20 years

<div class="byline">BY ROB VANSTONE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04506/9113268-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(MARK ROGERS)</figcaption></div>T.J. GALIARDI TRAVELLED a long way to come home.After a successful freshman season at Dartmouth College, the 19-year-old forward has joined the Calgary Hitmen.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-011087/9113275-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="153" height="116"></div>&ldquo;For any of my friends or family to see me last year was a seven-hour trip,&rdquo; Galiardi said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s about seven minutes to the rink now from my house and my parents get to watch every game at home and a lot of the ones on the road.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve pretty much got 50 fans in the crowd every time and it&rsquo;s really nice playing at the Saddledome.&rdquo;Galiardi would also like to enjoy those surroundings as an NHLer &ndash; albeit as a visitor.The Colorado Avalanche selected the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Calgarian in the second round of the 2007 NHL draft after he registered 14 goals and 31 points in 33 ECAC games with Dartmouth. He made the move despite enjoying his one season on campus in Hanover, N.H.&ldquo;A lot of things went into it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had pretty good marks when I was there, but living at home was a big thing for me. A couple of other reasons were a little more personal.&ldquo;Playing in the Western League was a big thing, too. I get to play 72 games. In the regular season, I&rsquo;ve already played a quarter of what I played last year.&rdquo;In August, Hitmen coach-GM Kelly Kisio swung a deal with the Portland Winter Hawks to obtain Galiardi&rsquo;s rights. The deal has quickly paid divi-dends. Galiardi registered five goals and 11 points over his first 10 games while playing all three forward positions.&ldquo;Anytime you get an 18-or 19-year-old player who has played at a high caliber and he&rsquo;s going to come in and be on your top two lines, obviously it&rsquo;s fairly important,&rdquo; Kisio said. &ldquo;We were very lucky to be able to make it happen.&rdquo;Kisio refers to the creative Galiardi as a &ldquo;very slippery, skilled goal-scorer.&rdquo; Although skating is hardly a deficiency, Galiardi would like it to improve. More strength will also be required for him to perform at the next levels.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got to go to some shooting areas,&rdquo; Kisio said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got one of the best shots on the team. A lot of times he wants to be the passer instead of a shooter. When somebody has the puck in a passing area, he should try to find a hole where he can get the puck and shoot. If he shoots, he&rsquo;s got a good chance to score.&rdquo;<h2>Spotlight</h2><h3>T.J. GALIARDI</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05456/9113261-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="985" height="252"></div><h3>Western League</h3><h2>Ennis the scoring menace helping Tigers stay sharp</h2>BY ROB VANSTONETyler Ennis is pulling off quite a Medicine Hat trick.Ennis exploded out of the gate, registering seven goals over his first five games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02748/9113254-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="153" height="116"></div>&ldquo;We lost a lot of big names and great players,&rdquo; said Ennis, an 18-year-old left winger. &ldquo;I thought it was an important year for me to step into a leadership role and kind of take over.&rdquo;The Tigers have kept purring despite losing goalie Matt Keetley, defenseman Kris Russell and forwards Darren Helm and Derek Dorsett to graduation.&ldquo;Most everyone probably thought it was a rebuilding year,&rdquo; said Ennis regarding external expectations. &ldquo;The guys who were here the last couple of years know what it takes. That experience and leadership really helped us. We can&rsquo;t take any steps back. We&rsquo;ve got to keep going.&rdquo;Ennis plays on one of the CHL&rsquo;s smallest lines. At 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, he skates alongside fellow speedsters Daine Todd (5-foot-10, 173) and Brennan Bosch (5-foot-8, 173).NOTES Vancouver Giants captain and 2007 Memorial Cup MVP Milan Lucic began the season in Boston. If Lucic sticks, Vancouver will again be without a key 19-year-old. Last year, Gilbert Brule played for the Columbus Blue Jackets as an underage pro.<h3>Ontario League</h3><h2>Mississauga&rsquo;s new team not a Major draw in opener</h2>BY JIM CRESSMANMississauga hockey fans didn&rsquo;t exactly beat the doors down for the debut of their new OHL franchise.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03600/9113247-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="190" height="65"></div>The transplanted Mississauga St. Michael&rsquo;s Majors drew only 2,570 to the Hershey Centre Oct. 5 as they defeated the Windsor Spitfires 5-4 in a shootout.The Majors, who had played at St. Michael&rsquo;s College School Arena in downtown Toronto, made the move to the suburbs after the Mississauga IceDogs were sold and relocated in St. Catharines to become the Niagara IceDogs.Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk had owned both teams, but sold the IceDogs so the Majors could move into a larger, more modern building.&ldquo;It was very important to me to keep the tradition of St. Michael&rsquo;s alive because it&rsquo;s a tradition of excellence and that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re trying to do here,&rdquo; said Melnyk to Sun Media of why he retained the St. Michael&rsquo;s name. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll get really involved in the community here in Mississauga. I&rsquo;m committed to be in Missis-sauga for a long, long time.&rdquo;NOTES The No. 1-ranked London Knights had an 0-5 start with forwards Patrick Kane (Chicago) and Sam Gagner (Edmonton), and goalie Steve Mason (Columbus) staying in the NHL.<h3>Quebec League</h3><h2>Paiement not impressed with his own coaching mark</h2>BY NEIL HODGEReal Paiement of the St. John&rsquo;s Fog Devils set a QMJHL record for games coached in a 7-2 loss to Lewiston. That was his 989th regular season game behind the bench, surpassing Guy Chouinard&rsquo;s 988.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06403/9113240-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="148" height="136"></div>He shares two other league coaching records with Chouinard: most seasons (16) and most playoff series (27).&ldquo;Personal records aren&rsquo;t the type of thing I pay close attention to,&rdquo; Paiement said. &ldquo;Hockey is a team sport. There&rsquo;s other individual sports I would&rsquo;ve gone into if I was looking for personal recognition.&ldquo;If I do look at this record, the thing I think about is all the players I&rsquo;ve had the opportunity to work with. Hopefully, I&rsquo;ve been able to help them not only on the ice but also in their development as young men.&rdquo;Chouinard owns the record for career wins in the regular season with 515, but that will surely fall this season. Richard Martel of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens had 486 career wins and Paiement had 480 as of Oct. 10.NOTES Cape Breton Screaming Eagles rookie goalie Olivier Roy, 16, had a shutout streak of 167 minutes and 51 seconds, the fourth longest in QMJHL history. No, he&rsquo;s not related to Patrick Roy. &#9632;</div>

f0037-04

Heading home for the best

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-011173/9113320-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-011081/9113313-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="6898" height="3162"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01658/9113306-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="2768" height="974"></div> &#9632;

f0038-01

2007-08 Statistics

<div class="byline">BY DAVID JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01682/9113365-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02455/9113358-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="1137" height="734"><figcaption class="caption-body">TRACK RULES Red Fisher says what happened on the train stayed on the train.</figcaption></div>Red Fisher was looking at an old photograph of Maurice &lsquo;Rocket&rsquo; Richard. It showed Richard with his arm around a young boy, surrounded by a cluster of men in suits and fedoras. Fisher is the one with the bow tie.&ldquo;I realized every single person in that photo is dead now,&rdquo; Fisher said, &ldquo;except for me and the boy, although I gotta tell you, some mornings, I&rsquo;m not too sure about myself, either.&rdquo;Fisher is 81. He&rsquo;s the dean of NHL beat writers, in his 53rd season covering the Canadiens, the past 27 for the Montreal Gazette. A winner of two National Newspaper Awards and the 1985 Elmer Ferguson Award recipient, Fisher was telling the story about the old photo as he walked into the Canadian Railway Museum in suburban Montreal.Like other visitors, he had come to see the exhibition on Richard&rsquo;s life.Of special interest was the opportunity to take a nostalgic stroll through the Neville, the private railway car the Canadiens travelled in until the late 1950s.The very first game Fisher covered was March 17, 1955, the night of the Richard Riot. The day before, league president Clarence Campbell suspended Richard for the rest of the season, including playoffs, for his role in a stick-swinging incident. After the riot, a boycott of Campbell&rsquo;s Soup was organized in Quebec, despite there being no relation between the two.On display in the museum is an unopened can of Maurice Richard tomato soup, part of a line of Rocket soups that swept the province after the Campbell ruling.For Fisher, Richard was a classic warrior-king figure, a hero who would lead his troops every fall into Toronto and other NHL cities, then return home in the spring, bloodied and battered, but victorious and glorious, with the Stanley Cup held high in his arms.&ldquo;He was the face of French Canada,&rdquo; Fisher said.In his 1994 book, Hockey, Heroes, and Me, Fisher describes how as a rookie reporter he underwent a team initiation, with Richard himself carrying out the deed. It started with some players grabbing Fisher on a practice day out-side coach Toe Blake&rsquo;s office at the Forum, then stripping him and strapping his four limbs to a table. Ice shavings were stuffed into his winter rubbers and the boots were then slapped onto his bare feet.Then Richard entered, wearing a long white overcoat and white surgical mask. He was carrying an electric razor. &ldquo;Welcome to the family,&rdquo; Fisher recalls Richard saying. So they&hellip;?&ldquo;Well, what do you think you do with a razor?&rdquo; Fisher said.As soon as Fisher boarded the Neville in the museum, he remarked on what he said was a familiar smell, noticed the bunk beds lining either side of the aisles, then recalled how writers and rookies always slept on the top. At the front of the railway car, behind a door marked &ldquo;Drawing Room,&rdquo; was the room that served as Blake&rsquo;s old suite. Fisher used to play cards there with the coach. &ldquo;You made sure to let Toe win&hellip;Toe hated losing,&rdquo; Fisher said.In those days, according to Fisher, the Habs would leave Montreal&rsquo;s Westmount train station at midnight after a Saturday game. If they were off to Chicago, they&rsquo;d arrive at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, go to the rink, play the game, go back to the train immediately afterwards, then head back to Montreal, normally arriving Monday at 11:00 p.m., or 47 hours after originally leaving.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03375/9113351-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="421" height="643"><figcaption class="caption-body">(DAVID JOHNSTON)</figcaption></div>The best road trips, Fisher said, were the Detroit-Toronto runs that invariably saw the Canadiens&rsquo; Sunday-night dates in Detroit twinned with Wednesday-night contests in Toronto.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d arrive in Toronto from Detroit early Monday morning,&rdquo; Fisher said. &ldquo;The whole team, including the newspaper guys, would go to this saloon around the corner from the Royal York Hotel. We&rsquo;d spend six, seven hours there, then the players would go out on their dates. But not the Rocket&hellip;the Rocket was always off on his own.&rdquo;What the Rocket did &ndash; and where he did it &ndash; while the Canadiens lounged in Toronto was always a mystery to Fisher. Certainly, he never asked the Rocket.Those were different days.&ldquo;What happened on the train stayed on the train,&rdquo; said Fisher of the trips in general. &ldquo;The players trusted us. I see nothing wrong with that. Anyway, not much happens in a private railway car that you would want to write about.&rdquo;Unless, perhaps, you were a sportswriter trying to draw attention by making yourself part of the story, something Fisher says he hates about the modern form of the craft.On the way out of the museum, a man recognized Fisher and approached him and whispered in his ear.&ldquo;OK,&rdquo; Fisher said. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s your name?&rdquo;&ldquo;Jean-Pierre,&rdquo; said the man, who handed Fisher a piece of paper.Fisher autographed it.&ldquo;How&rsquo;s your health? Good?&rdquo; Jean-Pierre asked.&ldquo;Couldn&rsquo;t be better,&rdquo; Fisher responded. &ldquo;Eighty-one and still kicking.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0043-01

Red Fisher’s train of thought

<div class="byline">Adam Proteau</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01582/9113396-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02355/9113403-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="221" height="233"></div>&ldquo;BY AND LARGE, language is a tool for concealing the truth,&rdquo; said George Carlin, one of my most favorite persons ever. And nowhere is that more evident than in the pro hockey industry, whose culture dictates all involved stick to their recommended daily spouting of clich&eacute;s and mixed banalities.In my line of work, you tend to hear the same windy bluster&ndash;most of which comes in the apparent mortal fear of courting the opposition&rsquo;s dressing room bulletin board &ndash; repeated ad nauseam. However, we all have our breaking points. And I&rsquo;m within spitting distance of mine.Thus, I&rsquo;m creating the (possibly) inaugural list of words and phrases that will be banned from this column for its duration. And in honor of Carlin&rsquo;s legendary &ldquo;Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television&rdquo; routine, that&rsquo;s the number we&rsquo;ll kick off the list with.<h2>It Is What It Is /it-is-WHA-t-it-is/</h2>Straight outta the Popeye School of Philosophy, this lazy-minded bit of blabbery has been on my clich&eacute;-dar for a few years now. When it first degraded public discourse, I thought IIWII was some sort of retro jive-talking bad joke. I hoped its widespread use would be but a quick-passing phase, but some people clearly still believe a shallow, pseudo-zen affirmation that something or someone exists qualifies as worthwhile analysis. And that certainly isn&rsquo;t what it is.<h2>General Soreness /gen-er-al SORE-ness/</h2>This relatively new term, popularized by Isles coach Ted Nolan last year, pretty much reveals the near-mockery of injury reporting that goes on in the NHL these days. It actually makes me pine for the time of upper and/or lower body injuries and I never dreamed that would happen.I&rsquo;m so bummed out by it, I rebel against the term and instead think of &ldquo;soreness&rdquo; in the old-fashioned sense, when it meant &ldquo;angry.&rdquo; I get a good laugh when I think a player is in street clothes because he&rsquo;s overly upset. But I still prefer the proper medical diagnosis for debilitating fury &ndash; Tortorellaitis.<h2>Moving Forward /MOO-ving FORE-ward/</h2>Not so much a platitude exclusive to the hockey industry, this term gets tossed around mostly by hockey management types. These people must imagine us simple-minded rubes would think their plan for success includes a significant amount of idling, moving sideways &ndash; or perhaps, even back in time &ndash; if they didn&rsquo;t tell us otherwise. Moving forward, I suggest they cease and desist with that line of thought.<h2>Optionality /option-ality/</h2>I think this one has only been used once so far, when Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said of his team&rsquo;s abundance of salary cap space: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve reached that point now where we&rsquo;re a team going up with good cap management. We have &lsquo;optionality.&rsquo; We&rsquo;re very well-positioned in the new NHL.&rdquo;Nevertheless, it&rsquo;s a good idea to nip this abomination in the bud as soon as possible.And just so we&rsquo;re clear, every one of us &ndash; you, me, the knob who pays for a pack of gum with his bank card &ndash; has optionality in our lives. Simply because you&rsquo;ve got more cap room than the Panthers or Predators, Ted, doesn&rsquo;t mean Alan Cohen or Craig Leipold don&rsquo;t have more options than you.For instance, those two owners have the option to go cry alone in their offices, or sell the team to whomever they wish (with the exception of Jim Balsillie and his outlandish &ldquo;turn-a-profit-in-Canada&rdquo; schemes). And Ted, you&rsquo;ve got the heartily recommended option to never use &ldquo;optionality&rdquo; again.<h2>Anything&rsquo;s Possible /any-things poss-ible/</h2>Ah yes, the rally cry of the likely lottery-bound team. You normally hear it when players or coaches on borderline playoff contenders (or outright pretenders) are discussing their chances of winning a Stanley Cup, and it usually turns out to be bunk.The most recent example used by those who subscribe to this theory: the 2005-06 Edmonton Oilers and their run from the eighth Western Conference seed to within one win of a championship. But have a look at who made it to last spring&rsquo;s conference finals; that&rsquo;s right &ndash; the first and fourth Eastern seeds were there, as were the first and second seeds in the West. Everyone likes to talk about what&rsquo;s possible, but not as many focus on what&rsquo;s probable. That&rsquo;s because what&rsquo;s probable isn&rsquo;t all that inspirational.<h2>The North-South Game /the NOR-th south GAME/</h2>Yeah, I know I&rsquo;m supposed to hear &ldquo;North-South&rdquo; game and understand it refers to a team&rsquo;s ability to play a wide-open, end-to-end style of hockey. Unfortunately, all I wind up thinking of are confederate flags, the Emancipation Proclamation and cannonball warfare. And some seriously whacked-out moustaches. I highly doubt these are the images the NHL wishes to conjure up among its fans.<h2>Literally /liter-ally/</h2>Another general sports bromide, but one misused by hockey broadcasters and fans all across the continent. It usually comes in the form of &ldquo;their goalie literally stood on his head to get the win.&rdquo;Unless Cirque du Soleil performers are branching out into hockey and nobody informed me, there is no possible way such a thing could take place. Literally.Read Adam&rsquo;s blog daily on <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> &#9632;

f0044-01

Quite literally sick of clichés

<h2>2 MINUTES IN THE BOX WITH&nbsp;Garnet Exelby</h2>Atlanta ThrashersPos D Age 26Birthplace St. Anne, Man.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01502/9113469-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="281" height="369"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-02322/9113462-1-eng-US/f0045-022.jpg" title="f0045-02" width="188" height="158"></div><h2>START THE CLOCK</h2>What was your &lsquo;welcome to the NHL&rsquo; moment?My first NHL game was in New Jersey against Scott Stevens and I think it was his last year in the league. It was exciting not watching him on TV.Favorite album of all-time?Metallica&rsquo;s &ldquo;Black&rdquo; album.Worst hotel you&rsquo;ve ever stayed at?Cranbrook, B.C., in junior. It was one of those places where it might just be somebody&rsquo;s house, you know? I don&rsquo;t know if the doorknobs even worked and it was one of those rooms with one bed and three cots. Being a rookie in junior, you know I didn&rsquo;t get the bed.Who&rsquo;s your roommate on the road?Pascal Dupuis. He&rsquo;s a French guy and I went to French school in Manitoba, so it&rsquo;s great. We speak French to each other and I get to sharpen my skills.Favorite sport besides hockey?Track and field.Who has booed you?I don&rsquo;t know if anyone booed me personally, but the worst was last year at Madison Square Garden when the New York Rangers were about to sweep us in Game 4 of the playoffs. With about two minutes remaining, the crowd started chanting &ldquo;Na na na na, hey hey, goodbye.&rdquo; I wanted to crawl into the smallest hole I could find. It was the worst.TIME&rsquo;S UP!&ndash; RYAN KENNEDY<h2>CROSSWORD</h2><h3>ACROSS</h3>1 Paul Newman&rsquo;s team in Slap Shot4 Jabs with one&rsquo;s stick blade9 Opening through which a goalie sees10 Colorado&rsquo;s ___ Arnason, pictured11 Put in scoring position: two words12 Boston blueliner Andrew ___13 Grant ___ is a Hall of Fame netminder15 The Rangers were once led by the &lsquo;___-A-Game (or, G-A-G)&rsquo; line18 The Jets moved from Manitoba to this state21 Still in contention23 Eddie ___ is another all-time great24 Going hard to the net25 Charlie ___ had his best years in L.A.26 Newman played ___ Dunlop<h3>DOWN</h3>1 Goalie&rsquo;s area2 Unskilled3 Goalie who frequently falls to the ice5 ___ Puck was a cartoon puck6 Where Dany Heatley played previously7 Playoff ___ are best-of-seven8 Toronto&rsquo;s old arena, Maple ___ Gardens14 Detroit&rsquo;s ___ has just two colors15 300-game winner Tom ___ was once drafted by the Kings16 Directs the puck to a teammate17 The L in NHL or AHL19 Overweight20 Hall of Famer ___ Bathgate22 Sending the puck the length of the rinkBy Larry HumberAnswers in next issue & online @thehockeynews.com<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-05210/9113455-1-eng-US/f0045-052.jpg" title="f0045-05" width="1019" height="1017"></div>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S CROSSWORD SOLUTION ACROSS 1. BRIERE, 4. POCKET, 9. COLISEE, 10. VILLE, 11. LOSER, 12. ALLOWED, 13. FAME, 15. SLAP, 18. HEDBERG, 21. EAGLE, 23. SEVEN, 24. RAIDERS, 25. SINDEN, 26. CHANCY. DOWN 1. BUCKLE, 2. ISLES, 3. RESERVE, 5. ORVAL, 6. KELOWNA, 7. TRENDS, 8. PECA, 14. ANDY VAN, 15. SWEDISH, 16. CHASES, 17. JERSEY, 19. ERNIE, 20. GARY, 22. GREEN.<h2>SEPARATED AT BIRTH</h2>Have you spotted these two personalities in the same room at the same time? Submitted by The Hockey News reader Nick Sorensen.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-03268/9113448-1-eng-US/f0045-032.jpg" title="f0045-03" width="281" height="268"><figcaption class="caption-body">MATS SUNDIN</figcaption></div>Leafs captain won gold with Sweden at 2006 Olympics.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-04236/9113441-1-eng-US/f0045-042.jpg" title="f0045-04" width="280" height="267"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALEX COOMBER</figcaption></div>Won Olympic bronze in 2002 skeleton with broken wrist.Submit ideas for Separated at Birth to <a href="mailto:separated@thehockeynews.com">separated@thehockeynews.com</a><h2>JERSEY HOUND</h2>Roanoke Valley Rebels (1976)Don&rsquo;t know if this jersey was controversial at the time, but it would be nowadays.The Roanoke Valley Rebels played in the old Southern League back in the 1970s and as such, clearly decided to mix the sport&rsquo;s homeland of Canada (represented by the maple leaf) with its adopted Dixie home (the confederate flag within the leaf).The team had an earlier life in the Eastern League and later the ECHL in 1991-92, so apparently there wasn&rsquo;t much of an uproar. Of all the teams that have come and gone, it&rsquo;s hard to forget the Rebels.&ndash; Ryan Kennedy<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-06181/9113434-1-eng-US/f0045-062.jpg" title="f0045-06" width="549" height="823"></div> &#9632;

f0045-01

Last Minute of Play

<div class="byline">Mike Brophy</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="C0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-01313/9113531-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jarret Stoll (GREGORY SHAMUS/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-02199/9113538-1-eng-US/c0004-022.jpg" title="C0004-02" width="219" height="234"></div>Before we completely turn the page on last season and paint a rosy picture for the future, let us be perfectly clear the Edmonton Oilers would not have crashed and burned as they did had Ethan Moreau and Jarret Stoll been healthy down the stretch.There is no denying the team lost a substantial amount of talent when it traded Chris Pronger, at his request, but in falling from Stanley Cup finalist to playoff spectators, not enough was made about the significant loss of heart and soul when both Moreau and Stoll went down with injuries.Had they remained healthy, the Oilers would have made the playoffs. Unfortunately for Edmonton, Moreau missed 75 games with a shoulder injury and Stoll missed 29 with a concussion.When a season is spiraling out of control, having a couple of key character guys such as Moreau and Stoll can help slow down or stop the spinning altogether.&ldquo;It was extremely frustrating,&rdquo; Moreau says. &ldquo;You get over the personal setback of missing games and you accept your fate. You have your surgery and do your rehab and you get through that.&ldquo;By far the hardest part was watching how we deteriorated as a team and how the year before, we had come within 60 minutes of winning the Stanley Cup. We were such a close team with guys that really cared about each other, but we were coming to the rink feeling down and out. It really cuts your quality of life. It took its toll on everybody.&rdquo;<h2>CAPTAIN MATERIAL</h2>It says a lot about the character of a player that he misses 75 games the season before, yet is still named team captain, replacing Jason Smith, now captain of the Philadelphia Flyers. Such is the case with Moreau, starting his 11th full season in the NHL after being drafted 14th overall by Chicago in 1994.Moreau, who missed the first few games this year with a sore foot after blocking a shot in the pre-season, brings important secondary scoring to the table and is a capable defensive player and physical leader. He makes others around him accountable.<blockquote class="pullQuote">I was kinda shocked when I saw where people predicted us to finish. &ndash; Ethan Moreau</blockquote>Stoll, meanwhile, had clearly taken a giant step toward becoming a frontline player for the Oilers when he sustained his injury.In the games leading up to his concussion, the 6-foot-1, 210-pound center had become a consistently explosive hitter, particularly in the offensive zone, and was a dangerous shooter playing the point on the power play.He was closing in on his second straight 20-goal season and was looking very much like a player ready to challenge for the No. 1 center&rsquo;s job, particularly with Shawn Horcoff slumping.&ldquo;I felt that at that stage of my career, I was being more physical,&rdquo; Stoll says. &ldquo;I was moving my feet and skating well. My game is judged by how I get involved and how physical I am. It was disappointing to go out at that time.&rdquo;Stoll says nobody had to push him to play harder; it was just part of the evolution of a career on the rise.&ldquo;I think I just took it upon myself to play better and to help the team more,&rdquo; Stoll says. &ldquo;We had a lot of guys injured and it was almost like I just flipped a switch. It&rsquo;s kind of hard to do that in this league, but I just felt I needed to do more for the team. I tried to bring my best game every night.&rdquo;The Oilers have a new look this year. Newcomers Sheldon Souray and Joni Pitkanen bring offensive potential to the blueline; Dustin Penner has John LeClair-like size and presence up front; and, youngsters Sam Gagner and Andrew Cogliano made the team with inspired play at training camp.There are some questions, obviously, for a team playing in both a tough division and conference. Can Dwayne Roloson carry the load in net, or will the team need to lean more on new backup Mathieu Garon? Can Horcoff bounce back? Will Souray and Pitkanen be dependable behind their team&rsquo;s blueline? Will Ales Hemsky ever discover the relationship between shooting more and blossoming into a bona fide NHL star?<h2>EXPECT A BOUNCE</h2>&ldquo;It sucks going from almost winning the Cup to worst-case scenario,&rdquo; Moreau says. &ldquo;But now we&rsquo;ve moved on to the next year. We have a lot of guys coming into their prime and having those back-to-back experiences, I think, will help us.&ldquo;I was kinda shocked when I looked at where people predicted us to finish. To me it was, &lsquo;Why? We have so many guys that went to the final two years ago.&rsquo; I think we&rsquo;re in a good spot and we have the quiet confidence that we are better than many people think we are.&rdquo;And if Moreau and Stoll contribute as they can, the Oilers&rsquo; chances are greatly enhanced. &#9632;

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October 23, 2007

BREATHING ROOM

Lowdown

Kariya starts well

hockey sock puppet theatre