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.

December 15, 2008

The Hockey News - Dec-15-08

<p><b>MATT DUCHENE WOULD</b> be happy with one Big Brother watching over him. But the Brampton Battalion center has two.</p><p>The first entity keeping a close eye on Duchene is NHL scouts, because he&rsquo;s expected to go very high in next June&rsquo;s NHL draft.</p><p>The second is Cody Hodgson, a teammate and Vancouver Canucks first-rounder in 2008.</p><p>Duchene and Hodgson have been best friends since they were kids growing up together in Haliburton. Hodgson&rsquo;s family eventually moved to the big city of Toronto, but still has a place in Ontario&rsquo;s cottage country, where the boys are inseparable during the summer.</p><p>And the fact they&rsquo;re teammates, well, that&rsquo;s a huge bonus, especially since Hodgson has already gone through the draft experience.</p><p>&ldquo;I saw him go through the whole thing and I was even picking his brain last year, then over this past summer we talked about stuff,&rdquo; said Duchene, who has begun to feel the spotlight. &ldquo;At the beginning of the season I was a little inconsistent because I was thinking about the draft year. I&rsquo;d have one good game and then I&rsquo;d be so mentally exhausted that I&rsquo;d be gassed for the next game.</p><p>&ldquo;Cody told me to keep an even keel and since then I&rsquo;ve put together a pretty long string of good games.&rdquo;</p><p>That also reflected on the success of the team, which has been a league power this year, although Brampton did have to play without Duchene for a spell after he separated his shoulder in late November.</p><p>Hodgson started the season in the NHL, but was sent back to junior after eight games.</p><p>&ldquo;He was disappointed with coming back, but he&rsquo;s been awesome,&rdquo; Duchene said.</p><p>Battalion coach-GM Stan Butler has produced many first-rounders during his career. He&rsquo;s also seen the pressure eat up some players.</p><p>&ldquo;Matt&rsquo;s had the opportunity to watch his best friend go through everything before he experiences it and I think that gives him a huge advantage,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;You have to be careful. The whole year can weigh on you because it&rsquo;s a performance-based  business and there&rsquo;s so much stuff being written and said, and if you pay attention to that instead of what you have to do on the ice, it can affect you and not in a positive way.</p><p>&ldquo;A lot of it depends on the character of the kid. Matt&rsquo;s a pretty mature kid and he brings it every game.&rdquo;</p><p>&ndash; JIM CRESSMAN</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01675/9196676-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="698" height="926"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02418/9196669-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="354" height="191"></div><p><b>Matt Duchene</b></p><p>Brampton Battalion</p><p>Ht. 5-11</p><p>Wt. 190</p><p>Pos. C</p><p>Age 17</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-03337/9196662-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="360" height="73"></div><h2><b>Draft Status</b></h2><p>Ranked No. 4 by ISS for the 2009 NHL draft.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-04291/9196655-1-eng-US/f0041-042.jpg" title="f0041-04" width="196" height="103"></div><p><b>AND COUNTING</b> 1.4</p><p>Duchene has averaged a productive 1.4 points per game this season</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-05262/9196648-1-eng-US/f0041-052.jpg" title="f0041-05" width="276" height="155"></div><h2><b>Tyson punches record book</b></h2><p>Contrary to basic mathematics, zeroes can add up to produce an impressive total. Case in point: Tyson Sexsmith &mdash; the Western League&rsquo;s career leader in shutouts. The Vancouver Giants goaltender set the record with gooseegg No. 22 on Nov, 8. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s pretty cool,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Sexsmith, 19, who broke the mark shared by Leland Irving (Everett) and Bryan Bridges (Seattle, Kootenay). &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something that a lot of people shoot for, but not many get to break the record. Even though I get credit for it, it&rsquo;s definitely a team award.&rsquo;&rsquo; Sexsmith has been keeping the pucks from all his shutouts and the collection has been supplemented of late by lineup sheets given to him by Giants coach Don Hay.</p><p>&ndash; ROB VANSTONE</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-06233/9196641-1-eng-US/f0041-062.jpg" title="f0041-06" width="332" height="103"></div><h2><b>Coach Gilmour no gimmick</b></h2><p>It&rsquo;s not on a lark that Doug Gilmour took over as coach of the Kingston Frontenacs. He&rsquo;s serious and hopes it will springboard him to the NHL. Gilmour and the Frontenacs spoke in the summer, but at the time he was with a group trying to buy the Oshawa Generals. That bid failed, so Gilmour jumped at the second chance to coach Kingston when it was offered by his old friend Larry Mavety, the team&rsquo;s GM. Gilmour played Tier 2 (now Jr. A) for Mavety in 1979 and credits him as a big reason he played 21 NHL seasons. Gilmour, 45, began this year as an assistant coach with the AHL Toronto Marlies. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a challenge, but I feel I&rsquo;m ready,&rdquo; he said of his first stint as a coach.</p><p>&ndash; JIM CRESSMAN</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-07204/9196634-1-eng-US/f0041-072.jpg" title="f0041-07" width="262" height="155"></div><h2><b>Dupont jumps to Gatineau</b></h2><p>Jerome Dupont gave a quick response when asked what he wants to be known for after taking over the re-building Gatineau Olympiques: &ldquo;Development, getting the most out of players and winning. You don&rsquo;t get player development without winning.&rdquo; Dupont, 46, took over the struggling Olympiques in early November. He played 214 NHL games for Chicago and Toronto and has 15 seasons coaching experience, including a national Jr. A title with the Aurora Tigers in 2007. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to leave Aurora, but it&rsquo;s the right decision in terms of furthering my coaching career,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Gatineau is a storied organization hell bent on excellence and that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m about.&rdquo;</p><p>&ndash; NEIL HODGE<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Prospects Unlimited

Battalion brothers

<div class="byline">PHOTO: ANDY DEVLIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-012091/9195169-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021596/9195176-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="66" height="66"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p>Check out <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> to see photos of the week.</p><h2><b>Time out</b></h2><p>Edmonton Oilers coach Craig MacTavish breaks down the X&rsquo;s and O&rsquo;s during an in-game strategy session.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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IN THIS ISSUE

The Big Picture

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In Every Issue

NHL Team Reports

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MIKE WYMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012122/9195742-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BEP: BRUCE BENNETT STUDIOS/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021658/9195735-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="1034" height="436"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he battle between Montreal hard-rock defenseman Mike Komisarek and blossoming Boston banger Milan Lucic escalated in the first round of the playoffs last year and carried over into this season, when Komisarek was knocked out of the lineup due to a shoulder injury sustained in a fight with Lucic.</p><h2><b>Youngest NHLer ever</b></h2><p><b>ON</b>&nbsp;<b>NOV. 12, 1942</b>, 27 days before his 17th birthday, Armand &lsquo;Bep&rsquo; Guidolin appeared in his first NHL game, suiting up for a Boston Bruins squad severely depleted by World War II player enlistments. In so doing, he became the youngest person ever to play an NHL game.</p><p>A scrappy speedster who met challenges headon, the 5-foot-8, 175-pound Guidolin, who died Nov. 24 at the age of 82, spent nine of the next 10 seasons in the NHL, accumulating 107 goals, 278 points and 616 penalty minutes while playing 519 games for Boston, Detroit and Chicago.</p><p>Guidolin added coaching to his resume when he joined the Belleville (Ont.) McFarlands, winning the Allan Cup in 1958 and guiding them to the World Championship a year later. He coached the Oshawa Generals to the Memorial Cup final in 1966 and returned to the pro game in 1971-72 with Boston&rsquo;s AHL affiliate.</p><p>In February of 1973, Guidolin succeeded Tom Johnson behind the bench of the struggling Stanley Cup-champion Bruins. He held the post until the end of the following season, when he became the first coach of the Kansas City Scouts.</p><p>Guidolin is survived by his wife of 62 years, Eleanor, and their four children.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-031069/9195728-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="765" height="1284"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(RIVALS: ELSA/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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Arch Rivals

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-012089/9195214-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="765" height="643"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MARK WILSON)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>U</span>NLESS YOU&rsquo;RE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE</b> who cheered for the shark in <i>Jaws</i>, you&rsquo;ll likely feel at least a twinge of the fuzzies when you read this issue&rsquo;s cover story on Tim Thomas.</p><p>The Bruins netminder has emerged as a star, persevering through long odds and longer bus rides. He&rsquo;s a true &rsquo;dog &ndash; in bears&rsquo; clothing.</p><p>But he&rsquo;s not <i>that</i> unique. Or more aptly put, his longshot-goalie-makes-good storyline, while extreme, isn&rsquo;t uncommon. As important as the position is, it&rsquo;s also a highly treacherous one to project.</p><p>History buffs will point to Bill Durnan, the Canadiens legend who entered the NHL as a 27-year-old and proceeded to win six Vezinas in seven years. Or to Johnny Bower, who played in the minors for nearly 14 years until he struck gold in Toronto. Ken Dryden emerged from relative obscurity to own the position for most of the &rsquo;70s. Ed Belfour was never drafted. Ditto for Curtis Joseph. Heck, Patrick Roy wasn&rsquo;t taken until the 51st slot of the &rsquo;84 entry draft. That&rsquo;s just a sampling of dark horse success stories.</p><p>Scouting may have improved over the years, but netminders remain the biggest of crapshoots. Of this season&rsquo;s 30 No. 1 goalies, just seven are first-rounders still with the franchise that picked them. Eighteen were either drafted beyond the first round or went undrafted. For every Carey Price (fifth overall) and Marc-Andre Fleury (first overall), there&rsquo;s a Henrik Lundqvist (205th overall) and Evgeni Nabokov (209th overall) who defied the odds to climb to the pinnacle. Or there&rsquo;s a Manny Legace, J-S Giguere or Miikka Kiprusoff &ndash; guys who were given up on before they&rsquo;d matured.</p><p>The flip side are the high first round goalies who never panned out&hellip;or haven&rsquo;t yet. The list includes, but isn&rsquo;t limited to, Brian Finley (sixth overall by Nashville), Jamie Storr (seventh overall by Los Angeles), Al Montoya (eighth overall by the Rangers) and Brent Krahn (ninth overall by Calgary).</p><p>The point is, nobody has yet discovered a reliable method for identifying and developing ace goalies. To get one, an organization has to be relatively lucky or flush with assets it is prepared to surrender.</p><p><b>CAMPBELL&rsquo;S SCOOP</b> Canadian national team hero Cassie Campbell joins The Hockey News family this issue with the first of her regular installments on the women&rsquo;s game (pg. 43). Campbell promises to tackle a variety of issues and personalities as she covers the CWHL, WWHL and the international game. We&rsquo;re excited to welcome her aboard.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021767/9195207-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="524" height="280"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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Goalie spotting oh, so, perilous

<div class="byline">ALEX KERNITSKY, COLTSNECK, N.J.</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-012083/9195293-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p>Free Swag!</p><p>Each issue, we&rsquo;ll give a cool THN hat to the top letter.</p> <span class="photo-credit">(PHILLIP MACCALLUM/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>I am reaching the point where I can&rsquo;t take anymore.</p><p>I have vented ad nauseum to anyone who will listen to me, but my audience is dwindling. I am referring to the NHL&rsquo;s Animal Farm points system: All games are equal, but some games are more equal than others.</p><p>This nonsense of having overtime games being worth three points is the most absurd thing in sports. The NHL uses two artificial means to determine a winner &ndash; some 4-on-4 play and a skills competition &ndash; when neither team is able to win the game the old fashioned way.</p><p>You can&rsquo;t tell me a team winning a game in a shootout deserves the same two points that a team earning a 5-1 regulation stomping does.</p><p>Either get rid of the loser point, award a team earning a regulation win three points, or better yet, go back to how it used to be with ties.</p><p>Enough of the Animal Farm system. I can&rsquo;t take it anymore.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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OLD MAJOR PROBLEM

<blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>Why do people think an exciting hockey game must be high scoring?</b></blockquote><h2><b>CLAWLESS CATS</b></h2><p>I want to thank David J. Neal for his piece addressing the problems with the Panthers (Dec. 1).</p><p>My father and I are diehard hockey fans and we have had season tickets for the Panthers since their inception. Neal places the blame where it belongs, at the owner&rsquo;s feet.</p><p>It&rsquo;s not the fans. Put a team capable of making the playoffs on the ice and they will come back. There are still loyal fans in this market and I appreciate Neal calling the owners and management out as the ones responsible for not allowing the Cats to rise above mediocre.</p><p>Show a commitment to win and the fans will come.</p><p>Jeffrey A. Adelman, Coral Springs, Fla.</p><h2><b>PICK YOUR BATTLES</b></h2><p>I continuously listen to discussions from hockey analysts on ways to get viewers in the United States more interested in hockey.</p><p>Get over it. It is ridiculous to compare hockey to the other major sports in this country. Baseball, football and basketball are played at every high school in the nation. That means even a casual observer of these sports has a grasp on how the games are played.</p><p>It takes time to learn and appreciate the many nuances hockey possesses.</p><p>Quit trying so hard to lure new viewers and embrace the ones you have. The dedicated hockey fans of this world are some of the most passionate fans I have ever seen.</p><p>Ron Erickson, Port Byron, Ill.</p><h2><b>PUNISHING CHECKS</b></h2><p>During the course of the season it has become apparent Colin Campbell has been inconsistent in doling out suspensions for hits to the head.</p><p>While taking it on a &ldquo;case-by case basis&rdquo; seems fair, the referees and Mr. Campbell have to look closer at what the game situation is and how contact is made with the head.</p><p>The case I am focusing on is the cowardly hit by Mike Mottau of the Devils on Frans Nielsen of the Islanders. Mottau clearly lifted his elbow and hit Nielsen in the head, causing him to wipe out and injure his leg. The Islanders will now be without this developing center for eight to 12 weeks.</p><p>What did Mottau get? He was suspended for only two games. Meanwhile, Thomas Pock of the Islanders was given five games for a hit to the head.</p><p>There have to be guidelines for issuing suspensions. As a suggestion the suspended player&rsquo;s sentence should last as long as the injured player is on the IR.</p><p>A severe penalty may reduce or eliminate hits to the head.</p><p>Norm Misrok, South Bellmore, N.Y.</p><h2><b>HANDS OFF</b></h2><p>Why are so many people still talking about making more changes to the NHL? They just don&rsquo;t get it. The league hasn&rsquo;t been more exciting to watch since players like Gretzky, Lemieux and Messier were in their prime.</p><p>One ridiculous change the NHL is thinking of is installing bigger nets and giving the goalies smaller pads so there will be more scoring. Why do people think an exciting hockey game must be high scoring? Personally, I love it when I see a goalie barely make a save in the last two minutes of overtime.</p><p>Gary Bettman, if you can&rsquo;t resist changing something about the game, remove the instigator rule. That is something the NHL can live without.</p><p>Robbie Praeg, Hampton, N.B.</p><h2><b>VOTING ABOMINATION</b></h2><p>Can the All-Star Game be any more of a joke?</p><p>In an ideal world each fan would get one vote. As the NHL sees fit to have voting on the Internet, obvious problems are starting to arise &ndash; aside from the fact they didn&rsquo;t even put all the deserving players on the ballot.</p><p>The fact all six starters in the East would currently be from Montreal &ndash; because of auto-voting from hometown fans and certainly not because they are the most deserving players &ndash; goes to show how laughable the All-Star Game is going to be this year.</p><p>Montreal fans (and others) engaging in auto-voting should have votes discounted and should be ashamed of their actions. Their desire to see hometown players start the game is a sham, not to mention a slight to the players who actually deserve spots in the starting lineups.</p><p>Steve Ballard, Ogallala, Neb.</p><h2><b>GM FOR HIRE</b></h2><p>I&rsquo;m not a Windsor Spitfires fan, but I have to commend GM Warren Rychel for the team he has assembled.</p><p>Young stars Taylor Hall and Ryan Ellis are studs, while Brandon Maxwell and Cam Fowler sound like supreme talents if they can get them to join the team from the U.S. national team development program.</p><p>NHL teams should consider Rychel for any GM job vacancy.</p><p>Pat Moules, Kitchener, Ont.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Crowd Shots

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012311/9195331-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="561" height="698"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BOYES: GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>NICK GROENEWEGEN FROM GREENSVILLE, ONT. ASKS <b>What do you recommend a 14-year-old should do for summer training?</b></p><p>When I was 14, I played summer hockey. I didn&rsquo;t get serious about training until I was 16. My advice is to play and enjoy yourself. You can&rsquo;t get your teen years back.</p><p>MATTHEW ZAIK FROM SPRUCE GROVE, ALTA., ASKS <b>How do you get into scoring position against a bigger player?</b></p><p>I find you have to out-think guys. There is so much repetition in hockey, so watch the defense-man and think about where he&rsquo;s not going to be. There are &ldquo;quiet areas&rdquo; you have to find.</p><p>BRAD CRAVEN FROM MOORE-FIELD, ONT., ASKS <b>What was it like being a Canadian kid playing junior in the U.S.?</b></p><p>It was pretty good, not too different from Canada. The one thing you realize is that hockey&rsquo;s not the No. 1 sport there and high school football and baseball are big.</p><p>BRENDAN KELLER FROM HALI-FAX, N.S., ASKS <b>What do your friends think of you being an NHL superstar?</b></p><p>It&rsquo;s fun that they get to see someone they know on TV, but I&rsquo;ve known them all since high school or before, so it&rsquo;s no different when we hang out in the summer.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021546/9195324-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="66" height="66"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p>Visit <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> to ask your questions of NHL stars!<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Fan Shootout WITH BRAD BOYES

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04562/9195362-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="764" height="645"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(TOEWS: RONALD MARTINEZ/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03903/9195369-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="148" height="148"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p>Hey Adam,</p><p>While I don&rsquo;t agree with you on most non-hockey subjects (for example, the notion that Radiohead is the greatest rock band ever), I do value and respect your opinion on all things hockey.</p><p>As a die-hard Blackhawks fan, Jonathan Toews&rsquo; lack of production so far this season troubles me. Is this a case of too much responsibility too soon? Is he playing hurt? Or has he been very unlucky so far?</p><p>I know he has gotten his fair share of assists and does a lot of other things for the team, but I was hoping he would improve on his 24-goal rookie campaign. Your thoughts? Thanks.</p><p><i>Gord White, Aurora, Ont.</i></p><p>Gord,</p><p>While I&rsquo;m sorry you can&rsquo;t see the genius of Radio-head, at least you appreciate Toews&rsquo; talents. Personally, I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s much cause for concern; yes, he was on pace in late November to post just eight goals this season, but he&rsquo;s also on pace to put up more than 50 assists this year.</p><p>That tells me a couple things: firstly, that Toews is playing on a team with more talented scorers; and also, that he doesn&rsquo;t mind acting as a playmaker in the name of winning. Both of these revelations should make Hawks fans happy with the progress of both the player and the team.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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ASK Adam

<p><b>Martin Brodeur, NJ 71%</b></p><p>Roberto Luongo, Van 29%</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-08112/9195414-1-eng-US/f0006-082.jpg" title="f0006-08" width="621" height="836"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BRODEUR: NORMAN Y. LONO/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>SPIT IT OUT!</b></h2><p>GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST</p><p><i>SEND US AN E-MAIL</i></p><p><a href="mailto:letters@thehockeynews.com">letters@thehockeynews.com</a></p><p><i>OR LOG ON</i></p><p><a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a></p><p><i>SEND US SNAIL MAIL</i></p><p>Letters, The Hockey News 25 Sheppard Ave. W., Suite 100 Toronto, ON., M2N 6S7, Canada</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-07187/9195407-1-eng-US/f0006-072.jpg" title="f0006-07" width="66" height="66"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>BONUS!</b></h2><p>All subscribers get exclusive access on <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> to digital magazine archives!</p><h2><b>SUBMIT YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS AT <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a></b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05437/9195400-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="66" height="66"></div><p>Need more of your questions answered? Read Proteau&rsquo;s &lsquo;Ask Adam&rsquo; column every Friday at <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

f0006-08

POLL RESULTS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-012210/9195445-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JOE SARGENT/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021671/9195452-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="225" height="225"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>H</span>OCKEY FANS HOPING</b> to beat traffic by leaving the game early have been in for some surprising headlines in the morning newspaper the next day.</p><p>At the quarter point of the 2008-09 season, comebacks in the NHL are up at a staggering rate, with teams roaring back from deficits much more frequently than in recent years. Approaching the end of November, three NHL clubs (Pittsburgh, San Jose and Montreal) had winning percentages of .500 or better in games in which they trailed after one period. The Penguins, in fact, even had a winning record in games in which they trailed after <i>two</i> periods (.636), highlighted by an incredible 7-6 overtime win over the Stanley Cup-champion Detroit Red Wings on Nov. 11 in the Motor City, no less. And in late November, the Pens turned a 3-0 deficit in the final minute of the second period into a 5-3 win over the Islanders.</p><p>While teams can&rsquo;t all bank on a <b>Jordan</b>&nbsp;<b>Staal</b> natural hat trick in the final 20 minutes every game &ndash; as was the case in the contest against Detroit, when the Pens trailed 5-2 in the third period &ndash; more than ever, clubs are pulling the rug out from their opponents.</p><p>Last season, no NHL team had a winning record when trailing after the first or second periods. At the top was Anaheim, which had a .407 winning percentage when falling behind after one period, and Detroit, a paltry .273 when trying to come from behind after 40 minutes. The stats were better in 2005-06, but nowhere near this year&rsquo;s achievements.</p><p>At the quarter pole, only four teams had yet to record a third-period comeback this season. And two of those teams &ndash; Boston and Minnesota &ndash; didn&rsquo;t really need much come-from-behind magic given the way they were playing. Meanwhile, the Pens are one win away from tying last year&rsquo;s league-best eight comebacks, set by New Jersey and Colorado through 82 games.</p><p>The reasons for this season&rsquo;s breakout are myriad; a perfect storm that favors goal-scorers and doesn&rsquo;t allow teams to sit on a lead the way many did in previous campaigns.</p><p>Offensively, the rule change placing the initial faceoff after a penalty call in the offending team&rsquo;s defensive zone has been a boon.</p><p>&ldquo;Our power play has been huge,&rdquo; said St. Louis Blues sniper Brad Boyes, whose team boasted the second-best man-advantage unit in the league going into December.</p><p>&ldquo;I think that has been one great change. It gives you so many opportunities to get scoring chances.&rdquo;</p><p>As if that wasn&rsquo;t enough, goalies are adjusting to the new regulations on equipment. Whether the smaller pads have given shooters extra space to shoot at, or the mere notion has put a psychological hex on netminders remains to be seen, but scoring is up this year. Through Nov. 27, an average of 5.71 goals had been scored per game, up from 5.50 in &rsquo;07-08. Could goalie equipment restrictions play a role in that?</p><p>&ldquo;Without a doubt,&rdquo; said veteran Atlanta defenseman Mathieu Schneider. &ldquo;I still think equipment can get even smaller. If (scoring) is up, it&rsquo;s going to be across the board.&rdquo;</p><p>One final trend that may explain the lack of defensive stands this year is the result of last season&rsquo;s Stanley Cup final.</p><p>&ldquo;You had two of the best puck-moving  teams in the final,&rdquo; said Schneider of Pittsburgh and Detroit. &ldquo;Typically, teams model themselves after the Stanley Cup champion.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote">Best winning pct. in the NHL when trailing after two periods</blockquote><p><b>08-09 Pittsburgh</b> (through 21 games) <b>.636</b></p><p><b>07-08 Detroit</b> (82 games) <b>.273</b></p><p>That means fewer squads trying their hand at the neutral-zone trap and more clubs playing puck-possession hockey, which results in more offensive opportunities.</p><p>For Schneider, who has played firewagon hockey as well as in the dead puck era, lead changes are a welcome addition.</p><p>&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s great,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s fun to play and the fans love the back and forth.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-01

It ain’t over till it’s over

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011988/9195490-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="562" height="627"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(CLEMMENSEN: AL BELLO/GETTY IMAGES: TKACHUK: DOUG PENSINGER/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>CLEMMER TIME</b> No Marty? No problem. <b>Scott Clemmensen</b> has been solid in goal for New Jersey in Brodeur&rsquo;s absence.</p><p><b>OVIE, OH YEAH</b> Great to see No. 8 put his slow start behind him and begin playing like the real, dazzling, dynamic Alex Ovechkin again.</p><p><b>SHARKS SCOUTS</b> Amazing how many homegrown Sharks are thriving this year.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021383/9195483-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="562" height="631"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BRIND&rsquo;AMOUR: DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>TOUGH GIG</b> Top-flight goalies Brodeur, Luongo, Nabokov and, of course, DiPietro all battling injuries this season.</p><p><b>WHAT GIVES? Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour</b> is still a whiz on faceoffs, but the Canes captain is at the bottom of NHL plus/minus rankings.</p><p><b>SINKING STARS</b> Some thought Dallas would be a Cup contender; the Stars have looked like anything but so far.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0009-01

+Plus Minus–

<h2><b>FIVE</b></h2><p>It&rsquo;s a tall order being a short NHL defenseman, but the 5-foot-8 <b>Francis Bouillon</b> does the job.</p><h2><b>FOUR</b></h2><p>Off to a slow start this season in Carolina, 5-foot-8 <b>Sergei Samsonov</b> needs to pick it up.</p><h2><b>THREE</b></h2><p>Right winger <b>Chris Conner,</b> a recent call-up by Stars, is 5-foot-8 with 48 goals in 171 pro games.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03850/9195521-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg" title="f0009-03" width="562" height="773"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BOURQUE: JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>TWO</b></h2><p>Rookie <b>Chris Bourque</b> is 5-foot-7, but has a big genetic advantage thanks to Hall of Fame father, Ray.</p><h2><b>ONE</b></h2><p>Poster boy <b>Brian Gionta</b> is a 5-foot-7 sniper; he tallied 48 goals and 89 points in 2005-06.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0009-03

Starting from 5

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ADAM PROTEAU</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012179/9195552-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rookie coach John Anderson said the NHL spotlight is intense. <span class="photo-credit">(OYSTRICK: BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>F YOU THINK BEING A ROOKIE</b>&nbsp;player in the NHL is tough, imagine being a rookie coach. Regardless of the situation, the pressure is always within spitting distance.</p><p>Either you&rsquo;re tasked with bringing home a Stanley Cup as the leader of an elite group of players, as Todd McLellan is being asked to do in San Jose this season; or you&rsquo;re hired to raise expectations on mid-to-lower-tier teams, as is the case with the league&rsquo;s other three rookie bench bosses &ndash; John Anderson in Atlanta, Peter DeBoer in Florida and the Islanders&rsquo; Scott Gordon. (A fourth first-year bench boss, Rick Tocchet, took over Tampa Bay on an interim basis after Barry Melrose was fired in mid-November.)</p><p>Anderson was victorious in his first NHL game, but the Thrashers won just once in their next 10 outings. Atlanta went on to win six of nine games after an ice-cold October, but was still jostling with Ottawa and Florida at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.</p><p>&ldquo;The first game (a 7-4 win over Washington on Oct. 10) was really good,&rdquo; Anderson said. &ldquo;But with so many new players, a whole new coaching staff and a whole new philosophy, it&rsquo;s going to take time to jell together. As long as we give ourselves a chance to win and then pull some games out at the end, we&rsquo;ll be all right.&rdquo;</p><p>Like the Thrashers, DeBoer&rsquo;s Panthers lurched through the early going, putting up only a pair of two-game win streaks in the first two months of the season. And in the last week of November, Gordon&rsquo;s Isles were only two points better than Atlanta and Florida in the East.</p><p>All in all, it&rsquo;s not the best beginning to the trio&rsquo;s coaching careers. But the biggest adjustment between coaching in the AHL and the NHL, at least for Anderson, is not dealing with a wobbly squad, it&rsquo;s the grander stage.</p><p>&ldquo;More than anything, the biggest difference is in dealing with the media because there&rsquo;s a little bit more scrutiny here,&rdquo; Anderson said. &ldquo;Other than that, you want to win so badly, and you never know how many kicks at the can you&rsquo;ll get as a coach in the National Hockey League, you just want to make a good impression right away.</p><p>&ldquo;Of course, I&rsquo;m a little disappointed in how we started, but I understand why. And I think it&rsquo;s a good thing I spent so much time (coaching) in the minors because it&rsquo;s there that you learn these type of starts can happen.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-01

Bench debuts

<div class="byline">by The Hockey News staff $19.95 CDN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021579/9195583-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="401" height="553"></div><p class="dropcap"><i><span>T</span>he</i>&nbsp;<i>Ultimate Book of Hockey Lists</i> is a THN project that ranks all things hockey &ndash; from the serious to the silly to the sublime, from bodycheckers to bench bosses to buildings. The 101 top-10 lists all feature anecdotes and fresh perspectives on the various rankings. Want to know the NHL&rsquo;s most colorful personalities ever? We rank them. Who had the best backhand? We tell you. Biggest flashes in the pan? They&rsquo;re in here. Perfect for hockey nuts everywhere, <i>The Ultimate Book</i> is sure to stir up debate while offering nuggets of knowledge, too.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-02

From THN’s Bookshelf

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03998/9195621-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="517" height="730"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ANDERSON: STEVE BABINEAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-05506/9195628-1-eng-US/f0010-052.jpg" title="f0010-05" width="130" height="130"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-04694/9195614-1-eng-US/f0010-042.jpg" title="f0010-04" width="342" height="182"></div><h2><b>NATHAN OYSTRICK</b></h2><p><b>Atlanta Thrashers, D</b></p><p><b>DEBUT</b> Oct. 11, 2008 <b>vs.</b> Minnesota (4-2 loss)</p><p><b>ICE TIME</b> 12:29, 19 shifts</p><p><b>MY</b>&nbsp;<b>FIRST GAME</b> came at home against Minnesota. I found out I would be playing the night before and that was when I was most nervous. That&rsquo;s when the butterflies came and my mind started going a mile a minute.</p><p>On game day, I mostly kept to myself. It was a pretty quiet day and I had my headphones on, just listening to music before-hand.</p><p>My defense partner was veteran Mathieu Schneider and he told me to play my game and be patient. After all, it&rsquo;s still hockey. He also told me I&rsquo;d have a lot more time with the puck than I would think and if I don&rsquo;t have a play, to just toss the puck safely up the ice.</p><p>I had a couple shaky moments and one play I would like to have back was when I jumped up on a puck, only to have it go past me for a breakaway that Minnesota scored on.</p><p>Overall, though, it was a great experience to be around NHL veterans such as Schneider, Viktor Kozlov and Ilya Kovalchuk. I finally made it.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-03

Fresh Legs

<div class="byline">&#x2013; NATHAN WHITE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011884/9195659-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paperless guides could show greats like Gerry Cheevers in action.<span class="photo-credit">(CHEEVERS: DENIS BRODEUR/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES ROY: RICHARD WOLOWICZ/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE NHL MAY TRAIL THE OTHER</b>&nbsp;major pro sports in U.S. TV ratings, but it is a leader in reducing its impact on the environment and cutting waste.</p><p>Media outlets didn&rsquo;t receive the &ldquo;black box&rdquo; of team media guides this year. The bulky package, which consisted of 30 glossy publications &ndash; in the neighborhood of 8,000 total pages &ndash; has been replaced by a slim DVD package as the league moves toward electronic-only guides within two seasons. Some teams, such as the Buffalo Sabres, have already eliminated their paper guides, saving about 1.5 million pieces of glossy paper.</p><p>Multiply that by 30 franchises and the impact is significant.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re saving hundreds of thousands of trees and just advancing to where the next level of information delivery is going ahead anyway,&rdquo; said Frank Brown, the NHL&rsquo;s vice-president of media relations.</p><p>Brown said the league sees a &ldquo;very less paperinfused&rdquo; future. It&rsquo;s good for the environment and allows media guides to add photos, video and historic documents. Eventually, the NHL Official Guide & Record Book should be available on store shelves as a DVD.</p><p>&ldquo;Why wouldn&rsquo;t the Boston Bruins press guide want to include scenes of what Bobby Orr, Johnny Bucyk, Gerry Cheevers and Phil Esposito accomplished?&rdquo; Brown said.</p><p>They might also want to boast about defenseman Andrew Ference&rsquo;s efforts to promote the NHL Players&rsquo; Association&rsquo;s carbon-neutral challenge. The players, in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation (named after the renowned Canadian environmentalist), can offset their air travel emissions. Last season, 523 players signed up and Ference hopes for even more this year. He&rsquo;d like to see even larger-scale partnerships that include team owners.</p><p>&ldquo;We have to do our part, everybody knows that,&rdquo; Ference said.</p><p>Teams are also cutting back on game-day notes and encouraging the use of mass transit. Green policies have even made their way to the concession stands, with the Phoenix Coyotes trying out biodegradable containers.</p><p>&ldquo;Buying carbon credits is one thing, but if you can change how arenas serve food and beer to 18,000 people a night, that&rsquo;s big,&rdquo; Ference said.</p><p>The other major sports all have green initiatives, from renewable power at baseball&rsquo;s all-star game to the NFL planting trees at the Super Bowl to the NBA declaring a &lsquo;Green Week&rsquo; next April.</p><p>Ference believes hockey is &ldquo;light years ahead&rdquo; of the other pro sports.</p><p>&ldquo;In hockey we talk about respect for opponents, teammates, or life in general,&rdquo; Ference said. &ldquo;Taking care of your environment is really about respect.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0011-01

NHL leans green

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03916/9195690-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="834" height="1031"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ROY: RICHARD WOLOWICZ/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021366/9195697-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="128" height="145"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>HEN</b>&nbsp;<b>PATRICK ROY</b> is your dad, you&rsquo;re bound to inherit some competitive juices. But the Roy boys, both of whom play for the Quebec Remparts team coached by their father, need to do a better job of harnessing that fire. Goalie <b>Jonathan Roy</b>, who&rsquo;s playing well this year, is still facing criminal charges stemming from an attack on another QMJHL goalie last spring. Now Frederick Roy, in his first full season of major junior, earned himself a 15-game suspension for cross-checking another player in the face. Patrick, either in the role of dad or coach, needs to settle these kids down.</p><p><b>SPEAKING OF KEEPING</b> your competitive nature under wraps, what is Claude Lemieux hoping to prove with a comeback at age 43? Lemieux&rsquo;s legacy as one of the game&rsquo;s best clutch performers is already tarnished by the awful hit from behind he laid on Kris Draper in 1996. Now he wants to further sully it by showing the world exactly how slow he has become?</p><p><b>BARREN ICE SURFACES</b> following a three-goal performance might be just one more indicator of tough economic times. Is it just us, or are there fewer and fewer people willing to part with their hats following the completion of a hat trick these days? The trend seems especially stark in Canadian rinks. Maybe, until the economy bounces back, we should come up with a more feasible tribute. How does a &lsquo;sock showing&rsquo; sound?<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0011-03

Snapshots

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021575/9195773-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-012099/9195780-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="206" height="244"></div><p><b>THE</b>&nbsp;<b>MID-NOVEMBER DEAL</b> that sent Alex Steen and Carlo Colaiacovo from Toronto to St. Louis for Lee Stempniak was not a blockbuster.</p><p>What it represented, though, was far more telling. The dealing of two first round picks from Toronto for a fifth-rounder from the Blues was another glaring indictment of the Maple Leafs and provided a clear illustration why they have spent the better part of the past 40 years spinning their wheels. It also showed just how much work Brian Burke has ahead of him.</p><p>The Leafs have not won the Stanley Cup for more than 40 years for a number of reasons, among them greedy and incompetent ownership and bumbling management. But it has been the team&rsquo;s complete inability to judge personnel both inside and outside the NHL that has been its undoing and Burke&rsquo;s first order of business will be to get that situation repaired.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>The Leafs have only five picks in next June&rsquo;s draft &ndash; and only five in 2010, too</b></blockquote><p>Over the years, the Leafs seriously underestimated the impact of expansion and the World Hockey Association and pretty much missed the boat on European talent with the exception of Borje Salming. More recently, they&rsquo;ve displayed an incredible acumen for picking bad players, dealing away draft picks and doing a terrible job of developing those they do select.</p><p>In 1991, they missed out on drafting Scott Niedermayer because they needed Tom Kurvers and six years later they made a deal to re-acquire an aging <b>Wendel Clark,</b> which cost them a chance to draft Roberto Luongo.</p><p>And in the seven drafts from 1999 through 2005 they picked five players with first round choices, traded two of the picks away and all they have to show for it is Stempniak. Brad Boyes and a first-rounder (and Alyn Mc-Cauley) for Owen Nolan; a first-and second-rounder (and prospect Jarkko Immonen) for Brian Leetch; and, Tuukka Rask for Andrew Raycroft. These deals were all made based on faulty player evaluation. Not trading Steen and Tomas Kaberle to get Chris Pronger a few years ago was a trade that <i>wasn&rsquo;t</i> made based on faulty player evaluation.</p><p>Between 1999 and 2005, the Maple Leafs drafted a total of 60 players. Only two of them &ndash; Matt Stajan and Ian White &ndash; are regulars on the current roster. That&rsquo;s nothing short of a complete failure when it comes to scouting and developing young players.</p><p>To make matters worse, Cliff Fletcher was brought in on an interim basis to safeguard the future and has frittered away draft picks to the point where the Leafs have only five picks in next June&rsquo;s draft and another five in 2010.</p><p>Clearly Burke has some real work to do. He realizes as much as anyone that identifying players, both in terms of future players and those currently in the league, is the most glaring problem the Leafs have. How he deals with it when he takes office will go a long way toward whether or not his tenure will be a success.</p><p>In reality, GMs probably get a little too much credit for the draft picks that turn out and too much blame for the duds. Usually they don&rsquo;t have time to take in more than a handful of major junior and U.S. college games each year and they maybe take one trip to Europe. In fact, the good ones almost always defer to their chief scouts and directors of player personnel when it comes to which player the team selects.</p><p>But the GM does hire the people who make those decisions, which makes him accountable in that department. He also sets the tone for player personnel decisions and, while he leaves the amateur scouting to others, he has to have an intimate knowledge of all levels of pro hockey and have people he trusts in key positions. His ability to identify talent and evaluate players is the difference between a good or bad trade and free agent signings that end up either contributing to the franchise or costing it valuable cap space.</p><p>So what does that mean for people such as director of player personnel Al Coates, assistant to the GM Joe Nieuwendyk and director of amateur scouting Dave Morrison? None of them has had a real chance to show what he&rsquo;s capable of doing and you can probably count on Burke to allow them to do that before he makes any decisions. That has been his track record.</p><p>In Anaheim, he inherited David McNab, a respected evaluator of talent who became Burke&rsquo;s most trusted lieutenant. He didn&rsquo;t hire Steve Tambellini in Vancouver, but kept him as his director of player personnel for his entire Canuck tenure.</p><p>Burke has had mixed results over the years, but he has made more good decisions than bad ones.</p><p>From trading up to get the Sedin twins, trading for Pronger or signing Niedermayer, Burke has never been shy to make bold moves at the draft table, in trades or free agency. He must show the same qualities in Toronto, but more than that, he must bring to the hockey operations department a sense of competence and decisiveness that has been sorely lacking over the years.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-02

Big job ahead

<div class="byline">Jeff Gordon</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021329/9195811-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">After a rocky start, Chris Mason stepped up in his role as the Blues&rsquo; backup. <span class="photo-credit">(JOHN RUSSELL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011869/9195818-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="206" height="245"></div><p><b>JOHN DAVIDSON HAS DONE</b> a fabulous job running the St. Louis Blues.</p><p>Really, he has.</p><p>His perseverance has been tested at every turn. For instance, the Blues lost cornerstone defenseman Erik Johnson before this season even started.</p><p>Johnson, the first overall pick in the 2006 draft, blew out his knee during a golf cart mishap. Horseplay at a team-bonding event punched a huge hole in the team&rsquo;s blueline.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to sit there and feel sorry for ourselves,&rdquo; said Davidson after the incident. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t make any sense. If you feel sorry for yourselves, where do you get yourselves? We&rsquo;re not going to do that. We&rsquo;re going to go forward.&rdquo;</p><p>And forward the team has gone, despite one setback after another. The Blues management team has stayed its course under trying circumstances.</p><p>Some day, the hockey gods willing, this regime will become a case study in how to turn around a team.</p><p>SCP Worldwide, led by former Madison Square Garden president David Checketts, bought the Blues in 2006. Former MSG executive Mike McCarthy assumed control of the franchise and Davidson became president of hockey operations.</p><p>Davidson left the broadcast booth for an all-consuming task. Besides the usual business challenges facing mid-market NHL teams, the Blues had some unique problems.</p><p>The NHL lockout eroded the fan base. Then owners Bill and Nancy Laurie put the team up for sale and allowed the product to deteriorate.</p><p>The resulting last-place finish in 2005-06 chased away additional fans.</p><p>Davidson inherited a mess. So did his counterpart on the business side of the operation, St. Louis Blues Enterprises CEO Peter McLoughlin.</p><p>The new owners took on $120 million in debt as part of the purchase and got a business posting eight-digit annual losses.</p><p>Their rebuilding strategy was simple. The team would retool for the long haul by hoarding draft picks and selecting and developing players. To woo back fans, the franchise&rsquo;s marketing side would thrust Blues players and alumni into the community to re-engage the fans.</p><p>On the ice, the Blues responded to new coach Andy Murray, hired during the 2006-07 season, and made a healthy 24-point jump in the standings. Progress stalled last year, when the team lost 23 of its final 33 games, but an influx of exciting youngsters energized the club coming into training camp.</p><p>Davidson strengthened his management team by hiring Doug Armstrong to assist GM Larry Pleau. The Blues&rsquo; parent company purchased its AHL affiliate, the Peoria Rivermen.</p><p>Off the ice, the franchise made headway with fans. Attendance jumped 41 percent last season and rose again during the first quarter of this season, with the help various promotional events and seat packages.</p><p>The season ticket base has grown from 5,600 when SCP bought the team to 9,500 this season.</p><p>With a bit of luck, even more progress would have been evident on and off the ice. But the Blues have been one of the least fortunate franchises in all of sports.</p><p>Highway construction hurt Blues attendance. The major east-west thoroughfare leading to the downtown arena, Interstate 64, was shut down for reconstruction.</p><p>The corporate climate also changed for the worse. One headquarters after another left town and the auto industry bled jobs. A Belgium-based brewer purchased Anheuser-Busch, eliminating managers and diminishing the company&rsquo;s longrange support of sports.</p><p>In this environment, the Blues earn the fifth-least amount of revenue in the NHL, according to estimates by <a href="http://Forbes.com">Forbes.com</a>.</p><p>Injuries derailed the team after its encouraging 6-1-0 start this year. Goalie Manny Legace sustained a hip-flexor in an odd pratfall; he slipped on the rug used for a pre-game ceremony involving vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.</p><p>More recently, the team had center Andy Mc-Donald (broken leg) and Patrik Berglund (groin) sidelined at the same time as wingers T.J. Oshie (ankle sprain) and Paul Kariya (hip injury) were out.</p><p>Earning a playoff spot this coming spring is a longshot, but next year will bring the return of Johnson and the arrival of prospects Alex Pietrangelo, Lars Eller and Ben Bishop. Collegiate standouts Aaron Palushaj and Ian Cole could also move within range.</p><p>Second-year winger David Perron can become an impact forward, as can rookies Oshie and Berglund. For the first time since drafting Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour back in 1988, the Blues have landed real offensive weapons through the draft.</p><p>And for the first time since Scotty Bowman ran the show back in the &rsquo;60s, the franchise has a good plan and coherent management.</p><div class="sidebar"><p>Number of times St. Louis missed the playoffs in <b>first 37 NHL seasons</b> (1967-2004)</p><p>Number of times St. Louis missed the playoffs in <b>past 3 seasons</b> (2005-08)<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

f0015-02

Blues ending

<div class="byline">By David Pollak</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011875/9195863-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DON SMITH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-021278/9195870-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="185" height="223"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>fter all, this franchise has a pattern of regular season success followed by playoff frustration. Didn&rsquo;t they finish with 108 points a year ago, only to be bounced out of the playoffs in the second round? Again?</p><p>But top to bottom, those in the organization said what happened in the past has no bearing on the present.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the first time this group has been together,&rdquo; said GM Doug Wilson, who has long contended that even minor tinkering with a roster can significantly change a team&rsquo;s makeup.</p><p>And the tinkering this summer was anything but minor.</p><p>Veteran coach Ron Wilson was replaced by rookie bench boss Todd McLellan and his shoot-shoot-shoot approach. Gone from the blueline are Brian Campbell, Craig Rivet and Matt Carle. In their place are Rob Blake, Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich.</p><p>And what emerged in the first two months of the season is a team that bought into whatever McLellan was selling.</p><p>&ldquo;The biggest thing,&rdquo; McLellan said, &ldquo;is the guys have been receptive.&rdquo;</p><p>It&rsquo;s still early in the season. The team expects rough spots along the way. But there are reasons to think these Sharks may finally be the real deal.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011654/9195856-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="2136" height="1807"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dan Boyle has returned to form in San Jose after an injury-plagued &rsquo;07-08. <span class="photo-credit">(JOHN RUSSELL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>1. Coach confidence</b></h2><p>For now, forget the X&rsquo;s and O&rsquo;s.</p><p>One reason many of the Sharks are performing so well this season &ndash; &ldquo;internal growth,&rdquo; Wilson calls it &ndash; is the fact McLellan and his staff recognize hockey is a game of mistakes. And each one doesn&rsquo;t need to be pointed out on the spot or have serious consequences.</p><p>Defenseman Douglas Murray, for example, coughed up the puck on Oct. 28 to Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Evgeni Malkin in front of the San Jose net. Luckily for the Sharks, Malkin&rsquo;s shot went wide.</p><p>&ldquo;It was an absolutely bonehead play and I came back to the bench and didn&rsquo;t get yelled at,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;I think in the past they would have made a much bigger deal of it.&rdquo;</p><p>Sophomore right winger Devin Setoguchi &ndash; who is having a breakout year on a line with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau &ndash; said team confidence is up because players are less afraid to make mistakes.</p><p>Which is part of McLellan&rsquo;s plan.</p><p>&ldquo;I want the players to have the courage to make plays on the ice,&rdquo; McLellan said. &ldquo;When it&rsquo;s a real obvious mistake, I don&rsquo;t know if we have to be in their ear. They know they&rsquo;ve made it.</p><p>&ldquo;And,&rdquo; the coach added, &ldquo;we have to make mistakes to get better.&rdquo;</p><p>But don&rsquo;t think that means less accountability,</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s more of a level of seriousness from the coaches this year,&rdquo; said center Jeremy Roenick. &ldquo;Even if we&rsquo;re winning, we still get some heated meetings&hellip;They don&rsquo;t let anything slide.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>2. Set the strategy</b></h2><p>Now for the X&rsquo;s and O&rsquo;s.</p><p>From the day he left Detroit as an assistant coach to take over behind the San Jose bench, McLellan has been talking about a foundation of principles.</p><p>That&rsquo;s coach-speak for saying he had a style of hockey &ndash; one similar to that of the Red Wings &ndash; he wanted to impose on the Sharks. He hoped they would welcome the change, and they have.</p><p>It sounds relatively simple: fly up the middle, shoot the puck, crash the net, activate the defense, park a big body in front of the goalie &ndash; especially on the power play.</p><p>Repeat.</p><p>Is that it?</p><p>&ldquo;Pretty much,&rdquo; said captain Patrick Marleau, who has thrived under McLellan and may well double his paltry point total of 48 from a year ago. &ldquo;After you shoot, there are certain spots where the puck is going to go and we&rsquo;ve got to have guys in position to retrieve those. It&rsquo;s a fun way to play.&rdquo;</p><p>Outsiders call it a puck-possession game, but McLellan doesn&rsquo;t like that label for either Detroit or San Jose.</p><p>&ldquo;Detroit gives up the puck,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about getting it back.&rdquo;</p><p>The Sharks adapted immediately. They were leading the NHL in shots per game and set a franchise record with 57 against Nashville on Nov. 11. They had more than 40 shots in nine of their first 20 games.</p><p>Five of the team&rsquo;s top six forwards are well ahead of their scoring pace of last season. And the sixth &ndash; Joe Thornton &ndash; is cruising along at more than a point-per-game clip.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011752/9195849-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="1868" height="1444"><figcaption class="caption-body">The addition of Rob Blake has helped to stabilize the blueline. <span class="photo-credit">(DON SMITH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>3. Offense from defense</b></h2><p>Since that franchise-changing trade with Boston in November of 2005, opposing teams have had one game plan: Stop Thornton, stop the Sharks.</p><p>Now, the challenge is more complicated.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like you say, &lsquo;OK, let&rsquo;s shut down Thornton,&rsquo; because then you&rsquo;ve got Setoguchi&hellip; and you&rsquo;ve got Boyle and (Christian) Ehrhoff,&rdquo; said Washington coach Bruce Boudreau before the Sharks shellacked the Capitals 7-2 in late November. &ldquo;All of these guys can put the puck in.&rdquo;</p><p>San Jose is getting balanced scoring from its top two lines with forwards Ryane Clowe, Joe Pavelski and Milan Michalek chipping in key goals.</p><p>But the Sharks also have the NHL&rsquo;s most offensively prolific defensemen. In late November, Boyle, Blake and Ehrhoff were three of the league&rsquo;s top five scoring blueliners.</p><p>Boyle, fully recovered from his injury-plagued final season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, uses the full 200 feet of ice. Blake has seen his productivity rebound after two mediocre years in Los Angeles. And Ehrhoff has become a bigger threat with an adjusted shot and a high-tech stick.</p><p>Balanced scoring with defensemen playing a big role follows the McLellan blueprint. In theory, if shots from the blueline reach the goalmouth, forwards are right there to create screens and scoop up rebounds for easy goals. The plan is working.</p><p>&ldquo;That traffic is so key,&rdquo; Blake said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not easy to go to the net. It&rsquo;s hard work. But there are rewards and when you start benefiting from that, you start doing it more and more.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>4. Ghosts of playoffs past?</b></h2><p>You might think three consecutive second round playoff exits would haunt a team with Stanley Cup aspirations. Not the case, say the Sharks.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel any ghosts at all,&rdquo; Roenick said, &ldquo;but if there were ghosts, the start of the year kind of shooed them away &ndash; the Anaheim ghost, the Dallas ghost, the Detroit ghost.&rdquo;</p><p>The Sharks had early-season victories over each of those conference rivals. Roenick&rsquo;s point, of course, was the current team is capable of defeating opponents who have been major obstacles in the past.</p><p>Roenick can only compare the current Sharks with last year&rsquo;s crew. But he sees a difference beyond personnel and style of play.</p><p>&ldquo;This is a very tight-knit group,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re more focused now.&rdquo;</p><p>McLellan has said from the start that his goal is to get the Sharks playing a style of hockey that will enable them to win the Stanley Cup. To that end, the process &ndash; for now, at least &ndash; matters more than the results, no matter how much success the team has had. Losing to Nashville while unleashing 57 shots, for example, is less trouble-some than a sloppy win over Chicago.</p><p>At some point, the Sharks will have to confront their post-season demons more directly. Still, everyone knows what&rsquo;s on the line.</p><p>&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t think about what are we going to do in the playoffs,&rdquo; said goalie Evgeni Nabokov. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s way too early. We just cannot approach the process that way. When the time comes, we&rsquo;re just going to have to answer the bell. Otherwise, it&rsquo;s going to be the same story.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-01

Spotlights

No more Shark tanks

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04633/9195922-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JAMIE SABAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Q Should the NHL automatically penalize ANY hit to the head?</p><p><b>No 66.7%</b></p><p>Yes 33.3%</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011578/9195915-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="171" height="170"></div><p><b>FOR A NUMBER OF</b>&nbsp;reasons, Jason Blake is a poster boy for the NHL&rsquo;s debate on head shots. First of all, the Toronto Maple Leafs winger sustained what many believed to be a concussion after a hit from the Atlanta Thrashers&rsquo; Colby Armstrong in late November.</p><p>Secondly, players with Blake&rsquo;s small stature &ndash; he&rsquo;s listed at 5-foot-10 &ndash; are often cited as the reason why it&rsquo;s physically impossible to eradicate head shots from the game without discouraging quality bodychecks.</p><p>More than one player among the 90 polled by The Hockey News (three per team) used size discrepancies among skaters as the reason why there should not be automatic penalties for head shots. In all, 60 players (66.7 percent) voted against automatic penalties for head shots.</p><p>Blake, answering prior to the Armstrong hit, was one of 30 players (33.3 percent) who said there should be automatic consequences for hits to the head, regardless of intent.</p><p>&ldquo;If you are trying to eliminate that, the only way to do it is to suspend guys and make it known to the players the league is not going to tolerate that stuff,&rdquo; Blake said. &ldquo;I think our game is starting to come around as far as trying to straighten out hits to the head and trying to make it a fun game to watch and play. When a guy gets hit in the head, it is dangerous.&rdquo;</p><p>But ask a Blake with a bigger body and the response changes.</p><p>&ldquo;A shoulder to the head can be a good, clean hit,&rdquo; said 6-foot-4 San Jose Sharks defenseman Rob Blake. &ldquo;There are size differences in guys. I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s as cut-and-dry as making it automatic. We want to get rid of hits to the head, but just to say any hit to the head is a penalty, I don&rsquo;t agree with that one bit.&rdquo;</p><p>Neither does Pittsburgh blueliner Brooks Orpik, who believes players would be better off if left to police themselves.</p><p>&ldquo;You take the instigator penalty out, I can guarantee you half the hits to the head would be taken out at the same time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If you have Zdeno Chara going to hit Brian Gionta, who&rsquo;s 5-foot-6, and his ribs hit him in the head, what do you do then? I don&rsquo;t know how they can possibly try to establish a rule like that.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-021194/9195908-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="334" height="398"></div><p><b>DAYMOND LANGKOW, CALGARY</b></p><blockquote class="pullQuote">If it&rsquo;s clean, it&rsquo;s clean. Guys have to keep their heads up. I&rsquo;ve been hit a couple of times when I&rsquo;ve had my head down and don&rsquo;t blame anybody but myself.</blockquote><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03827/9195901-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="334" height="390"></div><p><b>KEITH BALLARD, FLORIDA</b></p><blockquote class="pullQuote">Something needs to happen and everyone talks about the players policing themselves, but it isn&rsquo;t working. There are going to be instances where a guy gets hit and it wasn&rsquo;t intentional. It&rsquo;s a fine line.</blockquote><p>*This week we surveyed 90 NHLers</p><p><i>For background purposes, when we posed the question, some players were given the example of the OHL, which penalizes any hit to the head regardless of intent. The referees have discretion over calling a minor, a major and a misconduct, or even a match penalty for deliberate attempt to injure.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-04

Player Poll

<div class="byline">WORDS KEN CAMPBELL </div><div class="byline">PHOTO + ART BRIAN BABINEAU</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011512/9195981-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>S</span>O YOU&rsquo;RE A 27-YEAR-OLD GOALIE and you&rsquo;re sitting up in a tree in northern Manitoba in May, a time of year when the black flies are only about as big as your head. Deep down, you know you&rsquo;re just as good as a lot of those guys who are playing for the Stanley Cup; you&rsquo;ve always known it. But here you are &ndash; up in a tree in the middle of nowhere in pitch-black darkness with nothing but a bow and arrow and a knife.</b></p><p><b>On the ground below is a 500-pound black bear with Todd Bertuzzi&rsquo;s disposition. It&rsquo;s circling your tree and popping its jowls so loudly you can hear its teeth knocking together.</b></p><p><b>And in case you were wondering, yes, bears are capable of climbing trees. Perhaps the thought you&rsquo;ve been screwed over in hockey isn&rsquo;t quite the uppermost in your mind at the moment.</b></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011399/9195974-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="3501" height="2285"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tim Thomas has a chance to become one of the oldest first-time Vezina winners ever. <span class="photo-credit">(BRIAN BABINEAU/SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-021035/9195967-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="755" height="735"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>&ldquo;FOR THE FIRST TIME</b> since I was nine years old, I was afraid for my life a little bit,&rdquo; said Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas. &ldquo;I was pointing down the tree with my bow and arrow and a knife in my teeth and if I heard what I thought was the bear coming up the tree, I was going to take a shot and then grab the knife and get ready to stab him. For an hour my face was getting eaten by mosquitoes, but there was no way I was taking my hand off the bow to scratch or swat at them.&rdquo;</p><p>The guide finally came along at about two in the morning &ndash; he must have had other commitments &ndash; and Thomas was able to get down from the tree without either him being mauled or the bear becoming summer sausage and a rug for the family room, the way another bear did on a hunt the year before. Almost a decade later, Thomas tells the story with remarkable matter-of-factness &ndash; partly because his bear hunting exploits have become legendary and partly because he really doesn&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s any big deal.</p><p>The story has legs because people have become fascinated with Tim Thomas lately, something having to do with the fact he has emerged as perhaps the best goalie in the NHL and odds-on favorite for the Vezina Trophy through the first quarter of this season. Thomas has not only been the Bruins&rsquo; backbone in goal, he has also allowed a team that many thought would make the 1995 New Jersey Devils look like offensive juggernauts to actually play with some flair. While Thomas sat atop most of the goaltending categories through the quarter pole, it was no coincidence the Bruins were sixth in goals scored and were both taking and giving up 31 shots a game. Teams can play that way when they know they have a goalie capable of making the big save.</p><p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t play a less cautious game,&rdquo; said Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli, &ldquo;but you have more confidence. When the goalie is going and he&rsquo;s making the stop, you get into a different position defensively because you know the stop is going to be made.&rdquo;</p><p>And it&rsquo;s not as though Thomas hasn&rsquo;t been doing this for a while. This is his fourth year as a full-time player in the league and, since he arrived in the NHL in 2005-06, he has recorded a .916 career save percentage. That&rsquo;s better than Miikka Kiprusoff, Ryan Miller, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Evgeni Nabokov and Marty Turco, and only slightly less brilliant than Tomas Vokoun (.919), Roberto Luongo (.918), Henrik Lundqvist (.918) and Martin Brodeur (.917).</p><p>Thomas has arrived, people. Deal with it. And with the prospect of unrestricted free agency this summer, he&rsquo;s finally about to be paid like it. Think somewhere around three years and $15 million. He doesn&rsquo;t look like everyone else all the time, but like Reggie Dunlop in <i>Slap Shot</i>, he&rsquo;s workin&rsquo; on it.</p><p>So little space, so much to tell when it comes to the Tim Thomas Story. That he rose to stardom by taking the scenic route to the NHL is nothing particularly unique for an NHL goalie. Hey, there&rsquo;s only 30 starting jobs and there are parts of Canada where if you shake a tree, good goalies actually fall out. But few, if any, of them have quite come from the humble background Thomas can claim. And fewer of them would have done it without developing a good-sized chip on their shoulders.</p><p>People in the hockey industry seem stunned at Thomas&rsquo; &ldquo;overnight&rdquo; success in his 30s, just don&rsquo;t count Thomas among them. He has played for Team USA in five world championships; was a two-time All-American at the University of Vermont; won the Ken Dryden Award as the top goalie in the ECAC; and, had an outstanding career in Europe before sticking in the NHL full-time at the age of 31.</p><p>Thomas maintains if you&rsquo;d have talked to any hockey fan in Finland six or seven years ago, they&rsquo;d have been able to tell you who Tim Thomas was. Of course, Toto is real big in Sweden and David Hasselhoff can&rsquo;t walk the streets in Germany and neither of them could get arrested over here. Sure, Thomas&rsquo; act played really well in Karpat Oulu, but as far as the NHL was concerned, well, he might as well have been hiding in the dark in a tree with a bow and arrow and a knife.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel like I&rsquo;ve come out of nowhere,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been hiding as much as people think. Hiding in plain sight, I guess.&rdquo;</p><p>Bill Zito is the NHL&rsquo;s Official Agent For The Downtrodden, so it&rsquo;s no surprise he represents Thomas. At different times during his career, Zito has represented Glen Metropolit and John Madden, two inner-city kids who grew up in housing projects in Toronto and were never drafted. He had Brian Rafalski and believed in Kimmo Timonen when he was a 10th round pick the Los Angeles Kings gave to Nashville for future considerations. Sami Salo was the third-last player taken in the 1996 draft, but Zito saw great things.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>I don&rsquo;t feel like I&rsquo;ve come out of nowhere</b></blockquote><p>And he was steadfast in his support of Thomas in the face of GMs who never gave the goalie a chance. When you&rsquo;re getting ditched by the ECHL&rsquo;s Mobile Mysticks after four days, it can sometimes be difficult to keep the spirits up. But Zito always told Thomas that not only could he be an NHL goalie, he could be one of the better ones.</p><p>&ldquo;For years, people would laugh at me about Tim,&rdquo; Zito said. &ldquo;I had lots of hockey people tell me he would never play. And I would always say, &lsquo;What the hell am I supposed to tell this kid?&rsquo; He has a .946 save percentage and people are saying he can&rsquo;t play. All he ever did was stop the puck. A few years ago when I was younger, I used to get flabbergasted and frustrated.&rdquo;</p><p>In the NHL, respect is slow in coming, but it is coming. On this year&rsquo;s ballot for the All-Star Game there are 10 goalies listed for the Eastern Conference, but Thomas isn&rsquo;t one of them. Anyone who has asked the NHL how it can find room on the ballot for Kari Lehtonen and Vesa Toskala but not Thomas has received a lot of &ldquo;Hummanah, hummanah,&rdquo; but that didn&rsquo;t stop Thomas from being fourth in balloting through late November with more than 47,000 votes. That was just a shade behind the front-runner, Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens, who had in excess of 384,000 as a result of an online ballot-box stuffing campaign not seen since the Rory Fitzpatrick debacle.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s pretty clear what happened,&rdquo; Zito said. &ldquo;They screwed up.&rdquo;</p><p>It&rsquo;s not the first time the hockey establishment has underestimated Thomas. He only ended up at Vermont &ndash; on a team that turned out to be a powerhouse with future NHLers Martin St-Louis and Eric Perrin &ndash; because nobody else recruited him out of high school. Zito had to cajole Jarmo Kekalainen, then the GM of IFK Helsinki in Finland, to sign him in 1997.</p><p>&ldquo;We had a pretty good team going that year and we thought that if we had a pretty good goaltender we&rsquo;d have a chance to win it,&rdquo; said Kekalainen, who is now an assistant GM with the St. Louis Blues. &ldquo;We went out and got Tim Thomas from the East Coast League and he ended up playing unbelievable for us and we won the championship. We got him back for the next year and we probably would have won the European League if we had gotten him earlier. But I&rsquo;d be lying if I said I saw this coming, the way he&rsquo;s playing now. I just had an argument with a GM the other day. We were talking about Boston and how well they&rsquo;re doing and he said, &lsquo;Oh, I&rsquo;m not so sure they&rsquo;ll be able to go far with that goalie.&rsquo; And I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;What do you mean? He&rsquo;s got the best stats in the league.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>Much of the lack of recognition and respect has to do with the fact Thomas doesn&rsquo;t look like everyone else. People in hockey see him as more of an acrobat than a goaltender. Some see him as a guesser who has been lucky enough to be right more often than not over the past couple of years. Others see him as a flopper. But the same people who subscribe to conventional wisdom when it comes to the game know very well that if all Thomas were relying on was athleticism and acrobatics, he would have been driven out of the league faster than Jim Carey. The same way he marvels at people who find his story intriguing, Thomas doesn&rsquo;t see a desperate lunger when he watches himself play.</p><p>In fact, he&rsquo;s a lot like Curtis Joseph was in his prime, a goalie who never gives up on a puck and isn&rsquo;t particularly concerned that he sometimes looks as though he has been wound up too tightly. The fact is, he has worked on his fundamentals over the past couple of seasons, but won&rsquo;t apologize for how he looks going post-to-post.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t watch that much of myself, but I do watch chances with the goalie coach and I don&rsquo;t think I look as different as other people think I do,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;If I do look different, it&rsquo;s usually on the second or third opportunity and that&rsquo;s OK because I&rsquo;d rather look ugly making a save than look pretty being scored on. Sometimes you look really bad getting scored on, too. It&rsquo;s a trade-off, but it&rsquo;s one I&rsquo;m willing to make.&rdquo;</p><p>Thomas remembers his very first NHL training camp in 1997, three years after being taken 217th overall by the Quebec Nordiques. The team had moved to Colorado by then and had already traded for Patrick Roy and had Jacques Cloutier as the goaltending coach. Thomas had no technique and here he was, working after practice with perhaps the most technical butterfly goalie in the history of the game.</p><p>&ldquo;I remember at the main camp in Colorado, (Roy) would stay out and work with the goalies through some drills and I think he got a little frustrated with me,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;&lsquo;No, no, no, you cannot do dis dat way.&rsquo; I was making the save, but I wasn&rsquo;t making the save the way they thought it needed to be made. In some cases they were right, but in a few cases I still do it my way.&rdquo;</p><p>Thomas has worked with goaltending instructors and has also toiled very hard to slim down what was once by his own admission a rather frumpy-looking body. But that still doesn&rsquo;t stop him from having a Burger King cheeseburger the day before every game, except of course when the Bruins play back-to-back.</p><p>And the results have been there. Earlier this season, Thomas became just the second goalie in NHL history to record back-to-back 1-0 shutouts and had a shutout streak of 154:43 going.</p><p>&ldquo;He seemed pretty much in control tonight compared to some of the nights we&rsquo;ve seen him,&rdquo; said Bruins coach Claude Julien after the second 1-0 win, Oct. 28 over the Vancouver Canucks.</p><p>Thomas is willing to go along with all of this technical stuff, but underneath still lurks a guy who gets his kicks diving across the crease for a puck that looks impossible to stop. Perhaps that&rsquo;s because doing it his way has served Thomas so well all his life. To truly determine what makes Thomas the person he is now, you have to go back to the suburbs of Flint, Mich., and the late 1980s.</p><p>Thomas was a teenager at the time General Motors closed several of its plants in Michigan, throwing 30,000 people out of work. The plight of the locals was so bad it spawned Michael Moore&rsquo;s first big documentary, <i>Roger & Me</i>. At one time, it was speculated the rat population in Flint outnumbered the humans.</p><p>It was against this backdrop that Thomas played his youth hockey. Times were difficult, so much so that his parents, Tim Sr. and Kathy, hocked their wedding rings in order to pay for him to attend a hockey school in Michigan. (True story.)</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011348/9195960-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="1057" height="1881"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(BRIAN BABINEAU/SPORTS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY)</span></figcaption></div><p>Tim Sr. would help make ends meet by selling apples door to door in the fall. Tim Jr. would help out at first, then took over the practice started by both his grandfathers years before.</p><p>You can tell this is getting good, can&rsquo;t you? But Thomas sees nothing unusual about it. He sees nothing terribly unique about waking up early in the morning and going to buy bushels of apples at a nearby orchard, then going to junior college for the morning and selling apples in the afternoon, then going through a Jr. A hockey practice before finishing the night by delivering pizzas for Domino&rsquo;s.</p><p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s intriguing to other people just seems normal to me,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;I just don&rsquo;t understand.&rdquo;</p><p>Thomas can talk about apples the way his teammate Andrew Ference can go on about political conspiracies and the environment. Early in the fall, he&rsquo;d sell McIntosh and Golden Delicious. Later, he&rsquo;d show up with Northern Spies, good cooking apples that kept their crunch a lot longer. He&rsquo;d walk up to the door and impress people by breaking the apple in half with his bare hands and giving them a bite.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011358/9195953-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="2000" height="997"><figcaption class="caption-body">Thomas has worked on his fundamentals, but athleticism remains his calling card. <span class="photo-credit">(DAVE SANDFORD/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;You go up to the door with the apples and say, &lsquo;Hello there. Just delivering some of my apples from the farm again this year and I was just wondering if you&rsquo;d like any while I was passing through,&rsquo;&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;My grandfather had been working the same neighborhood since the early &rsquo;70s and a lot of people were like, &lsquo;Oh yeah, the apple guy. I want some of those.&rsquo; If you got somebody to take a bite, then they were almost always sold because they were better than anything you could get in the store. People would usually be pretty impressed when you&rsquo;d break it in half with your hands.&rdquo;</p><p>The temptation for Thomas now is to go to everyone who doubted him and say, &ldquo;How do you like them apples?&rdquo; (Sorry, couldn&rsquo;t resist.) But that is so unlike him. It&rsquo;s the same way he doesn&rsquo;t seem to be caught up in his contract situation, one that is delicate for both him and the Bruins.</p><p>You see, Thomas will be 35 years old next season and because multi-year deals to players 35 and older stay on the books and can&rsquo;t be wiggled out of in any way, there is a certain amount of peril associated with signing hockey&rsquo;s senior citizens to long-term deals. On the other hand, Thomas has proved he is one of the best goalies in the game today and should be right there with Ryan Miller vying for the starting spot on the 2010 U.S. Olympic team. Dominik Hasek, Martin Brodeur, Curtis Joseph and Ed Belfour all had productive years well into their late 30s. And if the Bruins are unwilling to step up with a good long-term offer, other teams will surely be more than happy to do so.</p><p>That would put the well-travelled Thomas on the move once again. Not that he would mind, except he has finally found a home in the NHL and recently moved his parents to Boston. His parents sell everything from NASCAR merchandise to dishes to used clothing on eBay, so it&rsquo;s not as though they needed to be in Michigan anyway. His mother, who until recently was being treated for breast cancer, has been getting some of the best medical care in the world in Boston.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s expensive, but it&rsquo;s probably the best in the world,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;You never know with cancer, but a month ago they said, &lsquo;See you in a year.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>To be sure, Thomas has matured through his journey to NHL stardom. He still bolts from his net like the second coming of Eric Heiden when he is scored upon in overtime or a shootout, something he said he has become conscious of and tries to do less now.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s probably because I just want to win so badly,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely not me being mad at my team or anything. I&rsquo;ve tried to stop that, I don&rsquo;t know if I have or not, because I&rsquo;ve realized it might send the wrong message to my team.&rdquo;</p><p>Thomas has learned to be more patient, perhaps from those days of sitting for 12 hours a day in a tree waiting for a bear to come along. He also relies on his spiritualism to help him. His younger brother, Jacob, is a youth minister with the Church of Christ in Texas and while he does embrace spirituality, he&rsquo;s a little reticent to talk about it.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been shy about it, it&rsquo;s terrible,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;First of all, I don&rsquo;t like to have the attention, period. I just want to play hockey. Maybe I don&rsquo;t feel as though I&rsquo;m a good enough example. I probably am, but I still swear way too much, especially out on the ice.&rdquo;</p><p>Well, if goaltenders wandering through the hockey wilderness are looking for a patron saint, they&rsquo;ve found one in Thomas, a plucky guy who would become the fourth-oldest first-time Vezina winner in league history if he wins it this season. (Gump Worsley, Johnny Bower and Lorne Chabot were older than 35 when they won their first Vezina.)</p><p>&ldquo;Most of the motivation is just proving it to myself,&rdquo; Thomas said.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-01

Cover Story

The Rainmaker

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04504/9196033-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="752" height="1463"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-011242/9196026-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="118" height="106"></div><p>University of Vermont (NCAA) 1993-97</p><p><b>Birmingham Bulls (ECHL) 1997-98</b></p><p>Houston Aeros (AHL) 1997-98</p><p><b>HIFK Helsinki (Fin.) 1997-99</b></p><p>Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) 1998-99</p><p><b>Detroit Vipers (IHL) 1999-00</b></p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02900/9196019-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="86" height="106"></div><p>AIK Solna (Swe.) 2000-01</p><p><b>Karpat Oulu (Fin.) 2001-02</b></p><p>Providence Bruins (AHL) 2002-04, &rsquo;05-06</p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03678/9196012-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="115" height="107"></div><p>Jokerit Helsinki (Fin.) 2004-05</p><p><b>BOSTON BRUINS (NHL) 2005-08</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

f0023-04

The Long AND Winding Road TO THE NHL

<p>Number of players drafted <b>286</b></p><p>Number of goalies drafted <b>30</b></p><p>Number of goalies who played at least one NHL game <b>13</b></p><p>Number of goalies who played at least 100 NHL games <b>8</b></p><p>Number of goalies drafted in first round <b>4</b></p><p>Number of goalies drafted in first round who are playing in NHL <b>0</b></p><p>Number of goalies drafted 200th or later who are playing in NHL <b>5</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

1994 NHL Draft

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02946/9196095-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHILLIP MACCALLUM/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011341/9196102-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="205" height="244"></div><p><b>INITIAL</b>&nbsp;<b>IMPRESSIONS MATTER</b> to Trevor Timmins, a rising young star on professional hockey&rsquo;s scouting and management scene.</p><p>And on the first task he had on his first day as an employee of an NHL team, Timmins left a first impression that doubled as a harbinger of his future as a producer of elite-level on-ice talent.</p><p>&ldquo;My first day with the Senators, I got thrown a T-shirt and I was handed a list of names,&rdquo; Timmins said. &ldquo;The names were of (prospects) I was supposed to pick up at the airport. So that&rsquo;s what I did.&rdquo;</p><p>Since that day, in a variety of capacities, Timmins has helped deliver NHLers in a much more meaningful way.</p><p>Although he never held an official title when the Sens hired him in the fall of 1992, he&rsquo;s got one now as the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; director of player recruitment and development, a title envied by many in the hockey world.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>&lsquo;The first time you see a player, that&rsquo;s really your true read on him&rsquo;</b></blockquote><p>So how does a man without a job title or NHL pedigree (the highest level Timmins played at was the Jr. B level in Arnprior, Ont.) go from expansion team walk-on to Original Six franchise power player many years before the 40th birthday Timmins celebrated in January?</p><p>With focus, resolve and tenacity &ndash; the same methods by which Timmins has become perhaps the most physically fit scout in the history of hockey.</p><p>And before those familiar with scouting stereotypes break into fits of convulsive laughter, that is far less dubious a distinction than it may seem.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;d always tease him, (saying), &lsquo;What day is it today? Is this your back day, or your calves day? Is it your chest day today?&rsquo;&rdquo; said Pittsburgh Penguins assistant coach Andre Savard, one of the many savvy hockey men Timmins tutored under while both were with the Senators. &ldquo;Some scouts, they know where the bars are; Trevor, he knows where all the gyms are.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a driven guy, that&rsquo;s for sure,&rdquo; added Savard, who as Canadiens GM in 2002 brought Timmins to Montreal. &ldquo;Scouting is a lot of work and a lot of times people don&rsquo;t understand that. Trevor accepted it and worked hard at it. And he enjoys it. He&rsquo;s got the passion for the job and you need that.&rdquo;</p><p>Part of the reason Timmins rapidly rose through Ottawa&rsquo;s management ranks in the decade he spent with the franchise was his ability to be an information sponge, gleaning whatever he could from the battle-wisened hockey men he worked for.</p><p>&ldquo;When I left Ottawa, he fell under the guidance of Marshall Johnston,&rdquo; said former Senators and Ducks GM Pierre Gauthier, now Montreal&rsquo;s assistant GM and director of pro scouting. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s where Trevor gained a lot of knowledge about scouting and how to look at players. He learned that with Marshall Johnston.</p><p>&ldquo;Trevor and Marshall&hellip;share very strong values. They&rsquo;re just great people. Now, Trevor didn&rsquo;t learn that from Marshall. He&rsquo;s like Marshall. They relate to each other very well.</p><p>&ldquo;And I&rsquo;d say that&rsquo;s Trevor&rsquo;s strongest quality. He&rsquo;s a great character person. His principles and values are very strong and so is his work ethic. He&rsquo;s a quiet guy who&rsquo;s not political. He&rsquo;s just going to do his job.&rdquo;</p><p>When Timmins left the Senators in 2002, he already had served under six GMs, giving him a wide variety of leadership styles from which to learn while he proved himself with a different organization. But equally important to his post-Sens future was the many different roles he had filled in Ottawa.</p><p>&ldquo;I grew up through the Senators organization, and I&rsquo;ve worked through every level with every type of person,&rdquo; said Timmins, who holds Masters degrees in Business Administration and Sports Administration. &ldquo;So I know what makes a hockey club work and I know what people will think at all the different levels, including the players&rsquo; level.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s helped me develop. In scouting, it helps me look at players from different perspectives; I know how a coach would look at a player, I know how a strength coach would look at a player, I know how a trainer would look at a player and how a GM would look at a player.&rdquo;</p><p>Timmins&rsquo; efforts have manifested in masterful draft crops, including current Canadiens goalies <b>Carey Price</b> (at the time, a controversial fifth-overall pick in 2005) and Jaroslav Halak (271st overall in 2003); left winger Sergei Kostitsyn (200th overall in 2005); and former Habs Mark Streit (262nd overall in 2004) and Mikhail Grabovski (150th overall in 2004).</p><p>When he examines his drafting success, Timmins sees great lessons in the aforementioned value of first impressions.</p><p>&ldquo;The first time you see a player, that&rsquo;s really your true read on him,&rdquo; Timmins said. &ldquo;The first impression, I think, is the biggest and the best indicator. When I look back at the players we&rsquo;ve drafted who have gone on to become NHL players, I always remember the first time I saw him and could see he had the ability. (Canadiens prospect) Max Pacioretty was the most recent; the first shift I saw him, I knew.&rdquo;</p><p>After cutting his managerial teeth with such great hockey men (including Penguins GM Ray Shero, John Muckler and Rick Dudley), it is only natural Timmins would one day like to become a GM himself.</p><p>&ldquo;Anybody in hockey, their ultimate goal is to become a GM at some point and of course that&rsquo;s my goal, too,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But there&rsquo;s no rush, no hurry. I really love my position; I love the team that I work for and the people I work with, and especially (Canadiens GM) Mr. (Bob) Gainey and the Gillett family. It all starts from the top down, and I think we&rsquo;ve got a great leader in Mr. Gainey. To learn from him is a privilege.&rdquo;</p><p>As many current Canadiens will tell you, getting the Trevor Timmins stamp of approval is turning into quite the privilege itself.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-011189/9196088-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="1530" height="1423"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sergei Kostitsyn is one of Trevor Timmins&rsquo; late-round draft gems. <span class="photo-credit">(ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0028-02

Strong scouting

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-011233/9196395-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"></div><h2><b>WESTERN CONFERENCE</b></h2><h2><b>EASTERN CONFERENCE</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-011100/9196388-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="2242" height="2916"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0036-01

NHL Depth Charts

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN OKLOBZIJA </div><div class="byline">&#x2013; KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-011189/9196468-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="889" height="1092"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02805/9196461-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="214" height="214"></div><p><b>Shawn Matthias</b></p><p>Rochester Americans</p><p>Ht. 6-3</p><p>Wt. 211</p><p>Pos. C</p><p>Age 20</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03648/9196454-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="235" height="142"></div><p><b>AND COUNTING</b> 4</p><p>Matthias&rsquo; point total through 18 games of his first full pro year.</p><p><b>SHAWN MATTHIAS KNEW</b> he wouldn&rsquo;t just jump from the Ontario League into pro hockey without some growing pains.</p><p>For one, living on his own means meals can be as challenging as a clogged neutral zone.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m struggling with it,&rdquo; the 6-foot-3, 211-pound Rochester Americans center admits. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like junior where you&rsquo;d wake up at 2:15 p.m. (from the pre-game nap) to a meal that your billets made.&rdquo;</p><p>Indeed, when the alarm goes off there&rsquo;s no penne pasta and chicken strips ready for him to enjoy. He&rsquo;s responsible for cooking them himself.</p><p>Life on the ice hasn&rsquo;t been too easy for Matthias, either.</p><p>He was expected to challenge for an NHL roster spot with the Florida Panthers, especially after scoring two goals in four NHL games during last season&rsquo;s emergency recall from junior. Instead, he was assigned to the Amerks and through 18 games had just three goals and four points.</p><p>There is no doubt Matthias has the tools, but he hasn&rsquo;t been able to power through defenders and create free space in the offensive zone.</p><p>&ldquo;To me he&rsquo;s a young player who just needs time to get there,&rdquo; said Amerks coach Benoit Groulx. &ldquo;You look at his first year of junior (with the Belleville Bulls). He scored one goal and one assist in 37 games. His second year he scored only 13 goals (in 67 games).</p><p>&ldquo;Some guys adjust right away, some guys need a year, some guys take longer.&rdquo;</p><p>Matthias certainly appears to be on at least the one-year plan while another rookie forward, Michael Frolik, earned a roster spot at Panthers camp. Matthias was ranked No. 12 in THN&rsquo;s Future Watch &rsquo;08 and Frolik was No. 29.</p><p>&ldquo;You see those lists, but you don&rsquo;t worry about them,&rdquo; Matthias said. &ldquo;Me and him, we get a long really well. I&rsquo;m happy he&rsquo;s getting an opportunity.</p><p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t get me wrong, I want to be a Florida Panther, I want that more than anything in the world. But I&rsquo;m not naive. Not a lot of 20-year-olds make the NHL.&rdquo;</p><p>They do often make an impact in the AHL, though.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s adversity for him right now, but he&rsquo;ll be better because of it,&rdquo; Groulx said. &ldquo;You look at (Jason) Pominville, (Derek) Roy, the Kostitsyn brothers (Andrei and Sergei), they struggled their first year. He wanted to show everyone he was ready to play in the NHL, but he just needs time to get there.&rdquo;</p><h3><b>NOTES FROM THE WEST</b></h3><h2><b>No blues for Beleksey</b></h2><p>Off-season shoulder surgery forced Iowa Chops rookie left winger Matt Beleskey to miss all of training camp and the first four weeks of the season, but he didn&rsquo;t need much time to start contributing once he returned to health.</p><p>Beleskey, the 112th pick in 2006 by the Anaheim Ducks, is known for his hard work and gutsy play, but Iowa coach Gord Dineen says there are other attributes to like.</p><p>&ldquo;He skates well enough and he has a real knack around the net,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;He seems to sniff out the puck and he&rsquo;s not afraid to go to tough areas.&rdquo;</p><p>BUCKING ODDS At 5-foot-6, 177 pounds, Hamilton center David Desharnais didn&rsquo;t always appeal to NHL scouts.</p><p>But after dominating the ECHL a year ago &ndash; he was named player and rookie of the year &ndash; and making early contributions with the Bulldogs, Desharnais earned an NHL contract from the Montreal Canadiens.</p><p>WELCOME BACK Jim Hughes&rsquo; stint as coach of Minsk Dynamo in the KHL barely lasted two months, but he wasn&rsquo;t unemployed long.</p><p>He returned to his old job as a Toronto Marlies assistant when Doug Gilmour left to coach in the Ontario League.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04521/9196447-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="175" height="175"></div><h2><b>Hey Matt D&rsquo;Agostini,</b>&nbsp;<b>EXPECT THE CALL</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06355/9196440-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="197" height="103"></div><p>The third-year right winger was Hamilton&rsquo;s leading scorer after 20 games and is on pace to shatter his career highs of 23 goals and 53 points. Don&rsquo;t turn your ringer off, Matt; the Canadiens might be trying to get through.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05418/9196433-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="202" height="281"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ANDY MARLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-07309/9196426-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="297" height="72"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0038-01

Not quite feasting

<div class="byline">BY PHIL JANACK </div><div class="byline">&#x2013; PHIL JANACK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-011095/9196527-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="921" height="1132"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(SOUTHERN MAINE DIGITAL IMAGING)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02711/9196520-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="214" height="214"></div><p><b>Tim Kennedy</b></p><p>Portland Pirates</p><p>Ht. 5-10</p><p>Wt. 176</p><p>Pos. C</p><p>Age 22</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03553/9196513-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="235" height="140"></div><p><b>AND COUNTING</b> 2</p><p>Kennedy was No. 2 in rookie scoring with 21 points in 16 games.</p><p><b>GROWING UP IN SOUTH BUFFALO</b>, Tim Kennedy dreamed of playing hockey for the hometown Sabres.</p><p>A product of the city&rsquo;s youth leagues as well as Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School, Kennedy became part of the organization on a quiet draftday trade three years ago, shortly after he was taken 181st overall by the Washington Capitals.</p><p>Listed at 5-foot-10 and 176 pounds, Kennedy played two years of junior hockey in Sioux City, Iowa before landing at Michigan State. He starred for three seasons with the Spartans, leading them to the 2007 NCAA title.</p><p>Kennedy decided to forego his senior season to turn pro, signing a two-year deal in June reportedly worth as much as $1.7 million.</p><p>Buffalo moved its prospects from Rochester to Portland in the off-season and Kennedy is one of the guys leading the farm team&rsquo;s resurgence. While much of the buzz has surrounded teammate Nathan Gerbe, Kennedy is quietly having a similarly sensational debut.</p><p>&ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t on a lot of people&rsquo;s radar and he certainly is now,&rdquo; said Pirates coach Kevin Dineen. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s just playing some extremely good hockey. His attitude is right. He&rsquo;s a very thoughtful young man who comes to the rink every day to get better.&rdquo;</p><p>Kennedy led all AHL rookies with 16 assists through 16 games. He was third in team scoring with 21 points, right behind Gerbe&rsquo;s 22.</p><p>Dineen moved Kennedy from left wing to center, where he has played mostly between veterans Mathieu Darche and Mark Mancari.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s never played center before and he&rsquo;s logging a lot of time in the center position,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s done an extremely good job for us.&rdquo;</p><p>Personal and team success is nothing new to Kennedy. He led Michigan State in scoring with 43 points in 42 games as both a sophomore and junior. He also scored the game-tying goal and assisted on the winner in the Spartans&rsquo; NCAA titlegame victory over Boston College.</p><p>&ldquo;He plays the game the way I like to see guys play,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;He uses his skill set very well, but in saying that, he also uses his teammates very well, also.&rdquo;</p><p>A similarly-sized former U.S. college player who played 1,188 NHL games, Dineen envisions a bright future for Kennedy.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got a lot more skill than I ever had,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;A lot closer comparison would be a skilled center like a (Marc) Savard in Boston or a (Denis) Savard in Chicago back in the day.&rdquo;</p><h3><b>NOTES FROM THE EAST</b></h3><h2><b>Berkhoel can&rsquo;t top Bower</b></h2><p>Untouched for more than a half-century, Johnny Bower&rsquo;s record streak of consecutive shutout minutes survived another threat.</p><p>Journeyman Adam Berkhoel of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, who entered the season with one shutout in 49 AHL games, threw up three straight goose eggs.</p><p>Berkhoel, 27, blanked Lowell, Binghamton and Syracuse in succession, making 86 straight saves.</p><p>From an Oct. 24 loss at Manchester to a Nov. 21 win in Grand Rapids, Berkhoel&rsquo;s shutout streak reached 202:43. It was finally snapped on a goal by Griffins center Darren Helm.</p><p>Playing for the original Cleveland Barons, Bower&rsquo;s record streak of 249:51 lasted from Nov. 27 to Dec. 7, 1957.</p><p>&ldquo;Right now, I&rsquo;ve got luck on my side,&rdquo; Berkhoel said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what I did to deserve it.&rdquo;</p><p>Though Berkhoel has bounced around the minors since turning pro five years ago, Wilkes-Barre center Connor James isn&rsquo;t surprised at the goalie&rsquo;s recent success.</p><p>&ldquo;I kind of knew what type of goalie he was,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;I think people are really starting to notice how good he is.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04460/9196506-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="200" height="279"></div><h2><b>PENALTY MINUTES</b></h2><h3><b>Francis Lessard</b></h3><p>San Antonio Rampage</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05383/9196499-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="223" height="133"></div><p>105 &rarr; <b>PIMS</b></p><p>Jon Mirasty, Syr 96</p><p>Matt Clackson, Phi 85</p><p>Michael Duco, Roc 83</p><p>Adam Keefe, SA 83</p><p>Radek Smolenak, Nor 82</p><p>Brennan Evans, Iowa 81</p><p><b>ON</b>&nbsp;<b>TOP</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0039-01

A dream come true

<div class="byline">- DENIS GIBBONS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01786/9196565-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Magnitogorsk is a top team in the KHL, which is the best league in Europe. <span class="photo-credit">(KHL: ANDREY SEREBRYAKOV/BONGARTS/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>GAME SCORES FROM RUSSIA</b> are of little interest to fans in North America. What they really want to know is how KHL play compares to the NHL.</p><p>Although the league clearly hasn&rsquo;t reached NHL standards, it is by far the best circuit in Europe. Salavat Yulaev Ufa and <b>Metallurg Magnitogorsk</b> are both undefeated in Champions League play and have qualified for the semifinals.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02476/9196558-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="251" height="274"></div><p>In a recent interview, former Soviet national team and Red Army coach Viktor Tikhonov said Russian clubs still need international competition to improve.</p><p>&ldquo;It is only possible to be put to the test against opponents of different schools of hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t think the KHL will dominate in Europe over the long run.&rdquo;</p><p>Canadian Sean Simpson, who coaches the Zurich Lions in Switzerland, agreed: &ldquo;European hockey has been missing a league like (the Champions League).&rdquo;</p><p>The winner, which will be decided in January, will take home prize money totaling about $1.75 million, the largest purse offered in European hockey history.</p><p>Most NHL scouts compare the level of play in the KHL to that of the American League.</p><p>Magnitogorsk had a 3-0 lead over the New York Rangers during the Victoria Cup challenge in early October, but wilted in the third period and eventually lost 4-3 in overtime.</p><p>While the Russian club had been training since July and playing regular season games for a month, the Rangers were still in pre-season mode and not quite in game shape.</p><p>The KHL&rsquo;s top scorer is Sergei Mozyakin, a ninth round pick of Columbus in 2002. He was selected to play for Russia at the 2008 World Championship, but was a healthy scratch for the gold medal game versus Canada.</p><p>Mozyakin plays for the league-leading Atlant club in the city of Mytischi, near Moscow. Vitaly Kolesnik &ndash; who lasted just one year in the NHL with Colorado &ndash; and Ray Emery share the goaltending chores. And the club&rsquo;s best defenseman is Swede Magnus Johansson, who has represented his country in six of the last seven World Championships, but was regularly a healthy scratch in the NHL with Chicago and Florida last season.</p><p>The cellar-dwelling club in the 24-team loop, Vityaz Chekhov, has five North Americans with NHL experience, but three of them &ndash; Chris Simon, Darcy Verot and Nathan Perrott &ndash; make their living mainly by fighting.</p><p>The Spengler Cup, held annually in Davos, Switzerland, between Christmas and New Year&rsquo;s, will be a further test of strength for the KHL. The league will be represented by Moscow Dynamo, but a team consisting of Canadians playing in Europe has won seven titles since 1995, while only one title has gone to a Russian team.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0040-01

Taking inventory

<div class="byline">- RISTO PAKARINEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03366/9196603-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="560" height="550"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-04297/9196596-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="291" height="203"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Finnish SM-Liiga&rsquo;s board of directors recently ruled not to impose restrictions on the number of EU players on team rosters as of 2009-10.</p><p>Those considered &ldquo;EU players&rdquo; are citizens of countries that have signed European Union agreements governing the free movement of labor.</p><p>The number of other imports - such as American and Canadian players &ndash; teams can ice per game will be restricted to three, but with no restrictions on the EU players, there is less competition on that front.</p><p>The board of directors also decided to reduce the number of skaters teams can dress per game from 20 to 18.</p><p>Both decisions were based on finances, the board announced. The EU player decision was made to create a more competitive player market, giving teams more alternatives when filling roster spots and driving player salaries down.</p><p>The roster cut means players and coaches will have to adjust to using four forward lines and three defensemen, as opposed to the Finnish norm of 13 forwards and seven blueliners.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that a smaller roster will have a big effect on the clubs&rsquo; finances,&rdquo; said Jarmo Saarela, head of the Finnish Hockey Players&rsquo; Association. &ldquo;What may happen is that the first-and second-liners get even bigger salaries and the rest have contracts where the compensation is tied to making the roster.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0040-03

Cutting costs

<p><b>IT IS IRONIC</b> a player named Generous plays for one of the stingiest defenses in the ECAC.</p><p>Senior blueliner Matt Generous has been a mainstay at St. Lawrence for four years and has used an old auto-racing adage to prepare for the jump to the next level.</p><p>Drivers commonly say: &ldquo;Sometimes, you have to slow down to go fast.&rdquo; And that&rsquo;s what the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Generous, the 208th pick in 2005 by the Buffalo Sabres, has done at St. Lawrence.</p><p>&ldquo;Matt has improved tremendously, as far as defensive positioning,&rdquo; said Saints coach Joe Marsh. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s using his reach better and he&rsquo;s more under control in front of the net. He used to be a lot more rambunctious in there and had the tendency to get spun off the puck.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m a much smarter player now,&rdquo; said Generous, a native of Cheshire, Conn. &ldquo;In junior, you ran around a lot more. But now, I let the game come to me.&rdquo;</p><p>After graduating from Cheshire High School, Generous had a tough decision to make. As an all-state lacrosse player, he had scholarship offers from some of the top programs in the East. But he chose hockey and went on to play in the New England Junior League before going to St. Lawrence.</p><p>&ldquo;I figured there was no career in lacrosse after college, so I went with hockey,&rdquo; Generous said. &ldquo;Every day, I go past the lacrosse field (at St. Lawrence) on my way to the rink and there are times I still miss it.&rdquo;</p><p>The combination of lacrosse and hockey skills has made Generous an excellent puckhandler with a knack for scoring goals. Marsh even wonders if Generous wouldn&rsquo;t make a better forward than a defenseman.</p><p>&ldquo;Matt is a thoroughbred and you really want to let him go,&rdquo; Marsh said. &ldquo;At the next level, he might be one of those guys they move to a forward because he&rsquo;s so aggressive and so good with the puck.&rdquo;</p><p>But Marsh won&rsquo;t be the coach who makes that move.</p><p>&ldquo;We need him back there on defense,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s too valuable to us. But believe me, we don&rsquo;t put the reins on him, either.&rdquo;</p><p>Regardless of what position he plays, Generous keeps working on the offensive aspects of his game to prepare for the next level.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m always working on things like getting shots through from the point,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When you put shots on net, good things can happen.&rdquo;</p><p>&ndash; TOM BOGGIE</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01708/9196756-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="765" height="1009"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(COURTESY OF TARA FREEMAN/SLU)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02437/9196749-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="282" height="282"></div><p><b>Matt Generous</b></p><p>St. Lawrence Saints</p><p>Ht. 6-3</p><p>Wt. 200</p><p>Pos. D</p><p>Age 23</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-03340/9196742-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="360" height="73"></div><h2><b>Draft Status</b></h2><p>Selected 208th overall by Buffalo in 2005</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-04272/9196735-1-eng-US/f0042-042.jpg" title="f0042-04" width="195" height="101"></div><p><b>AND COUNTING</b> 42</p><p>Career points for Generous in 113 games with St. Lawrence.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-05237/9196728-1-eng-US/f0042-052.jpg" title="f0042-05" width="288" height="107"></div><h2><b>Few goals, many losses</b></h2><p>An early-season power outage has put Michigan State in unfamiliar territory. The Spartans are next-to-last in the country in scoring (1.4 goals a game) and endured their first six-game losing streak since 1981. Top returning scorers Tim Crowder and Matt Schepke have struggled and a rash of injuries has compounded matters. &ldquo;There is no room for error right now,&rdquo; said senior goalie Jeff Lerg. &ldquo;If I don&rsquo;t let in a goal we either tie or win, that&rsquo;s been my mentality. You can&rsquo;t go into panic mode. The offense will come and we still have a lot of time left.&rdquo;</p><p>&ndash; PHILIP COLVIN</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-06214/9196721-1-eng-US/f0042-062.jpg" title="f0042-06" width="318" height="143"></div><h2><b>Quick hands helping Kory</b></h2><p>Kory Falite grew up watching UMass Lowell at the Tully Forum in his hometown of Billerica, Mass. The team now plays at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell, but Falite is more on the scene than ever. The undrafted junior left winger had eight goals and 11 points through 11 games. &ldquo;He has all the requirements to be a goal-scorer: he&rsquo;s quick, strong on his feet, he has strong hands and he keeps his eyes up,&rdquo; said Falite&rsquo;s coach, Blaise Mac-Donald. &ldquo;He has worked very, very hard on his shot and he knows how to get it off without getting it blocked.&rdquo;</p><p>&ndash; LARRY MAHONEY</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-07182/9196714-1-eng-US/f0042-072.jpg" title="f0042-07" width="324" height="101"></div><h2><b>Stingy Scrivens sets new mark</b></h2><p>Cornell&rsquo;s Ben Scrivens has blown by some elite goalies. The undrafted junior began the year with two straight shutouts and didn&rsquo;t allow a goal until the third period of a 2-2 tie with Colgate on Nov. 13. Dating back to the final game of 2007-08, Scrivens&rsquo; shutout streak reached 206:44. That shattered the old mark of 189:48, set by Brian Cropper in 1969-70. When reminded former Cornell goalies such as Ken Dryden and David McKee hadn&rsquo;t been able to match Cropper&rsquo;s streak, Scrivens said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to compare myself to guys like them.&rdquo;</p><p>&ndash; TOM BOGGIE</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-08149/9196707-1-eng-US/f0042-082.jpg" title="f0042-08" width="389" height="85"></div><h2><b>Expansion talk moving forward</b></h2><p>Talk of expansion continues to heat up in the WCHA, where league officials will vote to decide if a moratorium on adding new membership will be lifted. Should the 10-school conference endorse expansion &ndash; members have been generally split on the topic &ndash; it will not solicit applications. Rather, it will be through invitation only, with reportedly just one school on the list: Bemidji (Minn.) State. The Beavers are looking for a new home because their current league, College Hockey America, has contracted and is in danger of folding.</p><p>&ndash; ANDY BAGGOT<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0042-01

Hitting the brakes

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03389/9196822-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="296" height="148"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01699/9196836-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="218" height="155"></div><h3><b>ECHL</b></h3><h2><b>Patience pays for Mayotte</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>G</span>oaltender Kris Mayotte waited nearly three weeks for his first start with the Johnstown Chiefs. He made up for lost time by winning seven of his next eight starts and leading the team to the top of the North Division. &ldquo;At the beginning of the year, we had three goaltenders here,&rdquo; said Johnstown coach Ian Herbers of Mayotte and prospects Ian Keserich and Sebastian Dahm. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t sure about the amount of ice time Kris would get. I told him to be patient. He&rsquo;s had a great attitude and it&rsquo;s paying off for him.&rdquo; Mayotte was among the leaders in wins, goals-against average and save percentage.</p><p>&ndash; MIKE MASTOVICH</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02470/9196829-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="234" height="155"></div><h3><b>NORTH AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h3><h2><b>Like father, like son</b></h2><p>George Saad emigrated from Syria to the United States in hopes of finding a better life. He did. And now he&rsquo;s hoping his son will make a better life for himself. To date, 16-year-old Brandon Saad is doing all that and more. A rookie with the Mahoning Valley Phantoms, the Pittsburgh-area native led the club with nine goals and 13 points through 18 games. Saginaw&rsquo;s first round pick &ndash; 10th overall &ndash; at the 2008 Ontario League draft, Saad&rsquo;s talent is exceeded only by his will. &ldquo;Yes I&rsquo;ve become a good player, but I can&rsquo;t stop,&rdquo; Saad said. &ldquo;My dad once told me, &lsquo;the minute you relax, someone will pass you.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>&ndash; PAUL SHAHEEN</p><h3><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h3><h2><b>Relationship heads South</b></h2><p>After starting 4-6-1, the Flint Generals hired their former player and coach Bobby Reynolds to be a co-coach, along with Peter South. The arrangement lasted three games before South left the team, claiming the Generals voided his contract by giving Reynolds final say on all decisions. South maintains he did not quit, while the Generals say he wasn&rsquo;t fired. Generals co-owner Bob Perani said Reynolds was brought in to motivate the players, something ownership didn&rsquo;t think South was doing. South was unsure if he would take legal action to collect money he feels he&rsquo;s owed from his one-year contract.</p><p>&ndash; BRENDAN SAVAGE</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04289/9196815-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="265" height="155"></div><h3><b>CENTRAL LEAGUE</b></h3><h2><b>Staying healthy key to record</b></h2><p>Becoming the career games-played leader was not a big deal for Travis Clayton. The 32-year-old Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs center laced up for his 709th game in November, breaking former Oklahoma City Blazer Joe Burton&rsquo;s mark. &ldquo;I guess you could say it is luck in a way,&rdquo; Clayton told the Shreveport (La.) <i>Times</i>. &ldquo;The only reason I&rsquo;ve been able to break the record is just being healthy.&rdquo; Clayton&rsquo;s only serious injury during his 11 years in the league was a concussion that sidelined him for a month in 2005. Clayton, a six-time all-star, ranks in the top three all-time in goals, assists and points.</p><p>&ndash; DAVID HENRY</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-05248/9196808-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="255" height="155"></div><h3><b>SOUTHERN PRO LEAGUE</b></h3><h2><b>New Ice Bear causing havoc</b></h2><p>Frank Furdero, 26, is doing his best Kevin Swider imitation for the Knoxville Ice Bears. The Livonia, Mich., native &ndash; who hails from the same hometown as Swider, the two-time MVP and four-time league scoring champ &ndash; had four goals and nine points in his first four games since being acquired from the Huntsville Havoc. &ldquo;I guess he has rubbed off on me,&rdquo; said the 5-foot-8 forward of Swider. Furdero has been on the Ice Bears&rsquo; radar since leading the Jacksonville Barracudas in playoff scoring last season.&rdquo; I knew he&rsquo;d be a good fit,&rdquo; Swider said.&rdquo;He&rsquo;s a real smart player. He works hard and gets the job done.&rdquo;</p><p>&ndash; NICK GATES</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-06205/9196801-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="240" height="155"></div><h3><b>CANADIAN JR. A</b></h3><h2><b>Defender&rsquo;s folks make right call</b></h2><p>Looking back, Wes McLeod is glad he accepted his parents&rsquo; decision. McLeod, 18, wanted to play major-midget hockey in B.C., but was enlisted with the Kamloops midget triple-A Lions. Now he&rsquo;s a top defenseman with the Jr. A Prince George Spruce Kings, has a scholarship to the University of Alaska-Anchorage and a spot on Central Scouting&rsquo;s Watch List for the 2009 draft. &ldquo;I always thought if you weren&rsquo;t on the best team in your city, you weren&rsquo;t going to go anywhere, but I guess I proved that wrong,&rdquo; McLeod said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot to take in because it&rsquo;s all so new to me, but I&rsquo;m liking how it&rsquo;s going.&rdquo;</p><p>&ndash; TIM SWITZER</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-07175/9196794-1-eng-US/f0043-072.jpg" title="f0043-07" width="252" height="155"></div><h3><b>CANADIAN UNIVERSITY</b></h3><h2><b>Waterloo&rsquo;s road Warrior</b></h2><p>Waterloo Warriors sniper Sean Roche spends his days studying Canada&rsquo;s roads and highways and his weekends finding shooting lanes. The fourth-year engineering student, who is currently interning with McCormick Rankin Corporation, was named the CIS athlete of the week after recording a hat trick against the Brock Badgers in an overtime victory and scoring two goals &ndash; including the game-winner &ndash; 24 hours later in a win over the Guelph Gryphons. &ldquo;Coming to Waterloo, I knew that I was going to receive a great education and it was an added bonus that I could continue to play a sport that I love,&rdquo; Roche said.</p><p>&ndash; JEFF RENAUD</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-08141/9196787-1-eng-US/f0043-082.jpg" title="f0043-08" width="252" height="151"></div><h3><b>THE WOMEN&rsquo;S GAME</b></h3><h2><b>Remembering the glory days</b></h2><p>The 1998 gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic team had its first official reunion at the 4 Nations Cup, including a USA Hockey banquet and an on-ice presentation prior to the gold medal game. Colleen Coyne and Tricia Dunn presented the current team, including 1998 holdovers Angela Ruggiero and Jenny Potter, with the mixed-music tape played in the dressing room 10 years ago. &ldquo;It meant a lot to have everyone in one spot and to have a chance to reflect on the program and what we all did for women&rsquo;s hockey,&rdquo; said Ruggiero, Team USA&rsquo;s youngest player in 1998 and now its all-time leader in games played.</p><p>&ndash; CASSIE CAMPBELL<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0043-03

BEST OF THE REST

<div class="byline">by Nicolas Chabot</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01601/9196874-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ANDREW D. BERNSTEIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>From big losers to big winners</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>N</b>&nbsp;<b>NOV. 19, 2007</b>, Washington played its 20th game of the season, a 4-3 loss to Florida that dropped the Capitals to 6-13-1. Three days later, Bruce Boudreau was hired as interim coach. The Caps never looked back. They went from last place in the standings at the quarter mark to the Southeast Division title. With Boudreau at the helm full-time this season, the Caps had a different experience. At the 20-game mark, the Caps were ninth overall (tied with Minnesota) with 25 points, 12 ahead of their 2007-08 first quarter performance and by far the best turnaround in the NHL so far this season. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Ottawa Senators are 14 points off their &rsquo;07-08 pace.</p><p>Individually, New York Islanders veteran center Doug Weight has had the biggest increase in points-per-game average. Through 20 games, the 37-year-old was averaging 0.95 points per game compared to 0.25 last year.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01514/9196867-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="4798" height="3106"></div><p>Can&rsquo;t get enough numbers? Visit our online &lsquo;Stats&rsquo; section every day at <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0044-01

Inside the Numbers

<div class="byline">by Dan hamilton</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0048-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-01344/9196954-1-eng-US/f0048-012.jpg"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HEY</b>&nbsp;<b>CALL IT THE BARN</b>. Others less charitable call it the Madhouse on MacDougall. But no one has ever called it indifferent. The Detroit Cougars, later renamed the Red Wings, called it home for the 1926-27 NHL season, while the Olympia was being built. The Windsor Arena, one of hockey&rsquo;s great passion pits, has finally had time called on it.</p><p>Since 1975, it has been home to the OHL&rsquo;s Windsor Spitfires; on Dec. 4, the Spits were set to play their final game there before moving to a new, 6,500-seat arena. With its steeply pitched stands and seat-less upper terraces, The Barn is a great place to watch a game, even if some seats have views blocked by stout girders and posts. But old-school feel aside, the move is long overdue. Tight, congested hallways, scant amenities and a lack of creature comforts make enjoying games the way fans expect nowadays awkward.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>The Barn is a great place to watch a game</b></blockquote><p>The Barn has been home to some of junior hockey&rsquo;s most vociferous and animated fans; no-nonsense types, often employed in the auto industry, who have always supported a robust brand of hockey.</p><p>They&rsquo;ve had to be a tough bunch lately. Last February, Spitfires captain and hometown hero, Mickey Renaud, 19, collapsed and died while eating breakfast in the kitchen of his family home, a tragedy almost beyond bearing. Renaud&rsquo;s father, Mark, played in the NHL and Mickey, a fifth round pick in 2007 by the Calgary Flames, looked like he might also make it as his game developed and he blossomed into a genuine leader.</p><p>The Spitfires have honored both the memory of Mickey and the great history of their long-time home by playing outstanding hockey since then. They have been the top-ranked junior team in Canada since the season began, while developing two toprated prospects in Ryan Ellis and Taylor Hall.</p><p>And the fans haven&rsquo;t disappointed either, packing The Barn all season and filling it with cheers, while taking cherished memories out the door.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-02218/9196947-1-eng-US/f0048-022.jpg" title="f0048-02" width="621" height="892"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-03156/9196940-1-eng-US/f0048-032.jpg" title="f0048-03" width="480" height="291"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-04130/9196933-1-eng-US/f0048-042.jpg" title="f0048-04" width="626" height="804"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-0596/9196926-1-eng-US/f0048-052.jpg" title="f0048-05" width="765" height="508"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-0681/9196919-1-eng-US/f0048-062.jpg" title="f0048-06" width="844" height="574"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-0769/9196912-1-eng-US/f0048-072.jpg" title="f0048-07" width="691" height="396"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-0847/9196905-1-eng-US/f0048-082.jpg" title="f0048-08" width="832" height="510"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ALL: DAN HAMILTON/VPS)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0048-01

Closing time

<div class="byline">&#x2013; Ryan Kennedy</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0049-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-02216/9196999-1-eng-US/f0049-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(By Larry Humber)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-01304/9197006-1-eng-US/f0049-012.jpg" title="f0049-01" width="155" height="155"></div><h2><b>CROSSWORD</b></h2><h3><b>ACROSS</b></h3><p>1 Superpest Sean ___</p><p>8 Colin ___ is the NHL&rsquo;s director of hockey operations</p><p>9 Held the puck against the boards, stopping play</p><p>10 He coached the Devils to the Cup in 2000</p><p>11 Goalie ___ Weekes</p><p>14 Veteran left winger ___ Moreau, pictured</p><p>15 Angela ___ was known as the &lsquo;Wayne Gretzky of women&rsquo;s hockey&rsquo;</p><p>20 He coached the Isles and Sabres</p><p>21 They hold the NHL record for wins in a season (with 62)</p><p>22 Martin ___ is between the pipes in Philly</p><p>23 Todd ___ helped Anaheim to its only Cup</p><p>24 Mental mistake</p><h3><b>DOWN</b></h3><p>2 Ottawa&rsquo;s Antoine ___</p><p>3 The Rangers&rsquo; Michal ___</p><p>4 ___ Spezza is a teammate of 2 Down</p><p>5 The playoffs begin in</p><p>6 ___ Boulerice was suspended 25 games last season</p><p>7 Hall of Famer ___ Hall</p><p>12 The 2006 Stanley Cup winner</p><p>13 Eugene Melnyk&rsquo;s team</p><p>16 Cuts</p><p>17 Idolize</p><p>18 Number of Cups won by the Rangers and Islanders combined</p><p>19 A free ___ is a player not under contract</p><p>ANSWERS AVAILABLE IN THE NEXT ISSUE AND AT <a href="http://THN.com/XWORD">THN.com/xword</a></p><p>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S CROSSWORD SOLUTION ACROSS 1. STEVE, 8. MONTREAL, 9. HITCH, 10. STAR GAME, 11. STOOP, 14. LEWIS, 15. MINUS, 20. SKILL, 21. SCALPERS, 22. DAVOS, 23. EDMONTON, 24. SHUTT DOWN 2. THIRTEEN, 3. VICTORIA, 4. GOATS, 5. STORM, 6. DELAY, 7. ALLEN, 12. RICK NASH, 13. PULLS OUT, 16. USHER, 17. WARMS, 18. SPINS, 19. ARGOS</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-05102/9196992-1-eng-US/f0049-052.jpg" title="f0049-05" width="155" height="155"></div><h2><b>JERSY Hound</b></h2><p>As the longest continuously-run franchise in the B.C. League, the Jr. A Centennials make good use of that tradition with their current uniforms.</p><p>Clearly, it&rsquo;s all about the logo with the Cents; a &lsquo;C&rsquo; and a hockey stick that, with its old-school charm, kinda looks like a record player shot from above. That logo has been around since the 1970s, but the Cents have accented it recently with the town name of Merritt arched above. Add in the Blackhawks-esque striping and it&rsquo;s a winner.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-04141/9196985-1-eng-US/f0049-042.jpg" title="f0049-04" width="815" height="744"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>MERRITT CENTENNIALS</b></p><p>2008-09</p> <span class="photo-credit">(STEVE THORNTON)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0049-02

Last Minute of Play

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0050-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01289/9197037-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MARC SEROTA/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-02198/9197044-1-eng-US/f0050-022.jpg" title="f0050-02" width="195" height="140"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>T WAS JUNE</b>, on the second day of the NHL entry draft, nearing the end of the proceedings. The Detroit Red Wings were positioned in the most revered part of the draft floor &ndash; last row, on the right-hand side &ndash; the place annually assigned to the Stanley Cup champions.</p><p>GM Ken Holland was leaning on the rail that separated the team from the press area, talking to a couple of reporters, with his back turned as they were approaching the final selection.</p><p>A few years back, with the final pick, the Red Wings plucked a good prospect, Jonathan Ericsson, and put him into their system. This is the essence of the Red Wings&rsquo; ongoing ability to win &ndash; finding players at a time when other teams are packing their bags, trying to catch the last flight out of town. When they posted their choice, I wanted to play with Holland a little, so I said: &ldquo;Without looking, tell me what you know about Player X.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>Can we keep the team? No. Can we keep the top guys? Maybe.</b></blockquote><p>Holland picked up on my meaning immediately, and started to use scout-speak: good this, great that, and then started laughing. Truth be told, he didn&rsquo;t know a thing about him.</p><p>&ldquo;With scouting,&rdquo; Holland said, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re either in or out&rdquo; &ndash; and then went on to explain why: That if he watched 10 or 12 games a year, which is the most he possibly could do in the context of his other work, he would only confuse matters for the full-time scouts on his staff. According to Holland, a limited evaluation of a player is sometimes worse than no evaluation because it gives you a distorted view of his strengths and weaknesses.</p><p>That is the sort of common-sense logic and know-how that turned Holland into one of the NHL&rsquo;s most successful GMs. He fully values the contribution of his scouting staff, because he cut his teeth as a scout himself, beating the bushes for years as the Red Wings&rsquo; Medicine Hat-based Western scout. He has not lost touch with those roots, one reason why so many NHLers want to play with the Wings. As Holland likes to say, when you&rsquo;re running Detroit, you don&rsquo;t sell the weather; you can only sell the hockey.</p><p>It&rsquo;s also why I would never bet against Holland pulling a rabbit out of his hat as he faces one of the most challenging dilemmas in his career &ndash; how to keep his collection of talent together, in a year when a trio of his stars (Henrik Zetterberg, <b>Johan Franzen</b> and Marian Hossa) are all eligible for unrestricted free agency in July (not to mention Mikael Samuelsson, too).</p><p>Given that the salary cap will remain relatively flat next season, it just doesn&rsquo;t seem possible to sign everyone. Does it?</p><p>&ldquo;First off, if I have to pay every player what they could get on the open market, there&rsquo;s no chance I&rsquo;m even going to be close,&rdquo; Holland said. &ldquo;My hope is to keep as many guys as possible. Can we keep this entire team together? No. Can we keep all the top guys together? Maybe&hellip;but it would obviously be at the expense of some secondary players.</p><p>&ldquo;But even to keep most of the top guys together, they&rsquo;re going to have to buy in to the idea that they want to be together and they like it in Detroit and there&rsquo;s more to life than money.&rdquo;</p><p>Holland has begun preliminary talks with all three, but that is as far as it has gone. Zetterberg and Franzen can sign anytime. Because Hossa arrived on a one-year, $7.45-million deal last summer, he cannot sign an extension until after Jan. 1, although talks can take place before that date.</p><p>Determining which of the three is most valuable to his team is no easy decision. Zetterberg is the reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner; Franzen has more goals since March 1, regular season and playoff, than any other NHLer (37 in 44 at one stage in mid-November); and, Hossa merely leads the current edition of the team in scoring.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s even harder than it ever was,&rdquo; Holland said. &ldquo;By November of every year, the last three years, if you called the league, you could get a sense that the cap was going up $4 or $5 million the following year. Because of the economy, we&rsquo;re negotiating &ndash; the player and the club &ndash; without knowing what&rsquo;s going to happen. The player doesn&rsquo;t want to sell himself short, but I can&rsquo;t negotiate a contract based on a $56-million cap, and then wake up two years from now and find it&rsquo;s gone down 25 percent.</p><p>&ldquo;Then I&rsquo;m like this,&rdquo; said Holland, crossing his wrists, indicating his hands would then be tied.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Wings keep humming along, vying with the San Jose Sharks for the top spot in the Western Conference, showing no signs of a Stanley Cup hangover. Franzen said contract talks have not been a distraction for him.</p><p>&ldquo;Of course, it&rsquo;s there, but it&rsquo;s nothing I worry about,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s nothing I&rsquo;m skating around there thinking about &ndash; or feeling pressure that I have to score.&rdquo;</p><p>And if staying means a hometown discount?</p><p>&ldquo;Everyone knows you&rsquo;ve got to let up a little money-wise to keep the team together, if you want to play on a good team,&rdquo; Franzen said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a choice you have to make in the end.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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December 15, 2008

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