Rock

Then it's going to one hell of a ride for hockey fans! Great Hockey!!!!!!!! B)

end in a tie 1-1

B)

It's a good paced game.

I've been watching both games, and the one thing I'm noticing is that a lot of up and down skating and really no down time. Hopefully the refs can keep this up all season and playoffs.

Fleury suspended indefinitely http://www.tsn.ca/columnists/bob_mckenzie.asp Bob McKenzie 10/8/2002 Few of us can possibly understand where Theo Fleury is at right now in terms of his personal life. What we do know, however, is where he's at in terms of the joint NHL - NHL Players' Association substance abuse and behavioural health program. Sources have told TSN that Fleury, who was suspended indefinitely without pay on Tuesday, remains in stage two of the three-level program. Stage one is when a player first experiences a problem. If a player in stage one is required to miss any game time, he continues to be paid. Should the after-care program of stage one be violated in any way, the player enters stage two, which can result in being suspended without pay. That's what happened to Fleury in February of 2001, when he was a member of the New York Rangers. As part of stage two, a player like Fleury is subject to random drug testing and must sign an after-care contract, which spells out clearly what he may or may not do. Sources have confirmed Fleury recently violated at least one of the conditions of his after-care contract. The physicians who administer the program could have, at their discretion, put the player into stage three, which calls for an automatic minimum six-month suspension without pay. Finnish defenceman Jere Karalahti was recently put into stage three, but he chose to return home to Finland rather than participate in the program. Fleury will be away from the game as long as his physicians feel it is necessary. In time, when the doctors decide, Fleury can return to the game. Or if he should fail to adhere to the program or the after-care contract, he could be placed in stage three and receive the automatic six-month suspension. In any event, Fleury won't be coming back until the doctors feel he's ready.

The Ottawa game is on MSG, the home opener is on Metro! That's all I found so far.

I've been thinking it's been going too long also. Well I CAN do something about it.

Burning with a passion to succeed http://www.bergenrecord.com/page.php?level...32&page=5244354 Wednesday, October 09, 2002 By TOM GULITTI Staff Writer WEST ORANGE - At first glance, some of Pat Burns' friends and family planning to attend the Devils' regular-season opener in Ottawa on Thursday night might not recognize the visiting team's head coach. Cleanly shaven for the first time in 27 years and a bit trimmer than he was the last time he was behind an NHL bench two years ago with Boston, Burns, who spent his early years on the police force in Ottawa, looks like a different man. Still, the 50-year-old St. Henri, Quebec native's demeanor throughout training camp and the preseason has lived up to his reputation as a demanding disciplinarian, a reputation he built in Montreal, Toronto, and Boston. If the players hadn't seen it before, they certainly did after listless performances in their final two exhibition games last week. Burns had originally planned to give them Sunday off, but after Saturday's 3-1 loss to the Islanders, he decided they needed a reminder of how hard he expects them to work every game. So, they hit the ice Sunday afternoon for about an hour of hard skating and a little speech from the head coach about their work ethic.

Since I got Center Ice this year, as many games or parts of games as I can!

Stan Fischler Bluelines: Blackburn emerging quickly http://www.msgnetwork.com/fans/personality...nav_key=nhl_nyr October 8, 2002 Kevin Lowe's wife, Karen, will run in the New York City Marathon on Nov. 3, 2002. As luck would have it, hubby will be visiting Manhattan with the Oilers on Nov. 5. Martin Brodeur and his dad, Denis Brodeur

Marty wasn't signed until the fall, I believe Stevens was too. So with the arbitration in July, then the time frame would be correct.

This whole thread is pointless any way. If Hatcher wants 9 million the Rangers will give him 10.

Now this trade WILL IMPROVE the Devils right now! Salommonnson and Albelin to Atlanta for Kovalchuk and Heatley!

Gee why do you want to improve the Devils so much? (Or is it an improvement? I'm not so sure Hatcher isn't on the downward spiral in his career.) Why don't we combine your last posted trade proposal with this one? Why don't the Devils trade Brodeur for Hatcher?

That Big D in Devils Still Stands for Defense http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/08/sports/h...key/08DEVI.html By LYNN ZINSER It is easy to look at the Devils and concentrate on what has changed, by comparing them unfavorably with the Devils team that won a Stanley Cup two years ago and by considering the off-season purge prompted by the disappointing end to last season. Now the Devils are no longer an elite team. Past their top line, they don't roll out an impressive set of scorers. They have many players trying to prove themselves in the wake of past disappointments. They have a new coach who has spent the past two years out of the game. Heading into their opener Thursday at Ottawa, they prompt a lot of raised eyebrows around a league that doesn't know what to make of them. But the Devils figure they will succeed by reminding everyone what hasn't changed. That is, namely, their fearsome defense and their belief it can carry them to another strong run at the Cup. "It's nice to look around and see all the guys we have on defense," said defenseman Scott Stevens, the team's captain. "I think we are going to do some good things." Even last season, when the Devils slumped to third in the Atlantic Division and were seeded sixth in the Eastern Conference playoffs, they still tied for third in fewest goals allowed in the N.H.L., giving up only 187, their best total since allowing 166 in 1997-98. To that defense they have added Oleg Tverdovsky, one of the league's more talented offensive defensemen, although he needs to prove himself after a disappointing run in Anaheim. What the Devils now have on defense is a top six who may be the envy of the N.H.L., under the direction of a coach, Pat Burns, known for his stifling defenses. The defense is led by the aging but still fear-inspiring Stevens and the Devils lifer Ken Daneyko, who have a combined 37 seasons of experience. Colin White has been among their most improved players over the past few seasons while Scott Niedermayer and Brian Rafalski add the same kind of offensive element that Tverdovsky brings to the lineup. They are backed up by one of the best goalies in the league, Martin Brodeur. The strength of the Devils' defense keeps Brodeur from getting full credit for his impressive statistics. Each of the Devils' backline pairings contains a defense-first player (Stevens, Daneyko and White) and a scoring threat (Niedermayer, Rafalski and Tverdovsky). "You like a guy to say, `O.K., you go; I'll stay back,' " Burns said. Referring to Chris Chelios and Craig Ludwig, two players Burns coached in Montreal, he added: "The greatest duo I've probably ever had was Chelios and Ludwig. When Chelios won his first Norris Trophy, he bought Ludwig a gold Rolex. On the back it said, `Thanks for staying home.' You like to see pairs like that. I think backing up each other is very important." So Stevens will stay with last year's partner, Rafalski. Daneyko will pair with Tverdovsky and White will back up Niedermayer's rushes. The first bench guy in the mix is Andrei Zyuzin, whom Burns does not seem hesitant to play at all. "Potentially, this could be our best group ever," Stevens said. This is the Devils' answer to questions about their scoring woes: if they don't give up much, they don't have to score much. That formula won them the Stanley Cup in 1995, when they were exclusively a counterpunching offensive team. After 1995, the Devils amassed some offensive help and won the 2000 Cup with an offense led by forwards Patrik Elias, Jason Arnott, Petr Sykora, Bobby Holik and the then-rookie Scott Gomez. But after last season's swoon to a franchise-low 205 goals, Arnott, Sykora and Holik departed in trades and via free agency. Gomez stayed, but he has not come close to the impact he had his first season. Elias remains the anchor; he signed a contract extension. Who replaces that scoring is an open question. If it comes from the defense, all the better. Last season, Niedermayer and Rafalski combined for 18 goals and 80 points, an average year for them. If Tverdovsky adds his average scoring output, that's another 14 goals and 53 points. This is familiar territory for Burns, known for his defensive style and for running his version of the neutral zone trap. Burns's reputation isn't likely to be altered by these Devils, who will rely heavily on one line for offense. The Devils' top line of Elias, Joe Nieuwendyk and Jamie Langenbrunner has the potential to be excellent, but teams can also load up against it because the second line is centered by Gomez, his fellow underachiever Jeff Friesen and the tiny Brian Gionta, who has played in 33 N.H.L games. It looks like a season of defense first. The Devils will tell you they like it just fine.

Elias takes future forward http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/hockey/s...99p-23850c.html By SHERRY ROSS DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER Patrik Elias Every Devil had to adjust when training camp opened. Patrik Elias just had to make more changes than anyone else. He already had lost linemate Jason Arnott in a March 19 trade to Dallas. In July, his remaining linemate and best friend Petr Sykora was traded to Anaheim, and another player Elias counted as a friend, Bobby Holik, signed as a free agent with the rival Rangers. The biggest move, though, was signaled when Elias, a restricted free agent, signed a new contract with the Devils on July 15. General manager Lou Lamoriello, in a break from his hardball negotiations of the past, took care of his most valuable forward before things could get too ugly. Not only is Elias among the top left wings in the game, but his attitude and prominence on and off the ice signifies a shifting of the leadership of the two-time Stanley Cup champions to the next generation. And Elias wants to be the leader of a winner, wants to regain the feeling of the last championship. "It was unbelievable, it was so much fun," Elias said of the 2000 Cup run. "That's the goal we have to shoot for. We have to get that feeling we had two years ago. We have some new guys here, some young guys, and the excitement is a lot bigger than it was last year." The Devils should have enough talent to win the Eastern Conference almost by default, but that alone would fall short of what new coach Pat Burns and Elias plan for this season, which opens tomorrow night in Ottawa for the Devils. Goaltending Martin Brodeur is the best goalie in the East, and his status alone is enough to count the Devils among the top contenders on this coast. Corey Schwab is an able backup. Signed as a free agent during the offseason, Schwab (who started his career in the New Jersey organization) was 12-10-5 with a 2.73 GAA for Toronto last season. Defensemen The Devils' top six make up the top defense corps in the NHL, and maybe the best ever assembled by Lamoriello. The group is a versatile mix of physical stalwarts (Scott Stevens, Ken Daneyko and Colin White) and flashy "offensemen" (Brian Rafalski, Scott Niedermayer and newcomer Oleg Tverdovksy) who can be combined into three units. Captain Stevens, 38, has been slowed by nagging injuries throughout training camp, which may be a warning sign that this warrior will have to pace himself a little better and take a few more nights off (he has missed only five of the team's last 246 regular-season games). Forwards Elias figures to play on a line with Joe Nieuwendyk and Jamie Langenbrunner, the two former Dallas Stars acquired last March. The second unit is more problematic. Scott Gomez, the No.2 center, has had trouble establishing chemistry with anyone other than Brian Gionta, but the duo's lack of size could mean trouble against bigger teams, and newcomer Jeff Friesen didn't look like a good fit in preseason. When Sergei Brylin plays with the pair, though, it's a trio of mites and men. John Madden, the 2001 Selke Trophy winner, is the Devils' top checking center. Jay Pandolfo is his regular linemate, with a revolving cast in the other wing spot. Turner Stevenson, who missed most of last season with knee surgery, and Jim McKenzie add toughness to the fourth line. Special teams Tverdovsky should have the most impact on the power play (ninth last season at 16.9%). And wait until the Devils get to see what Nieuwendyk can do on tip-ins and rebounds over the course of a full season. Penalty-killing was a starting weakness for the Devils last season (83.8%, tied for 18th in the league). The personnel hasn't changed much. The effort and results will have to. Coaching The Devils have gone through three coaches in 28 months. Burns will be a little tougher to take down. He seems ideally suited to coach a team that will need to rely on defense, and he is capable of playing the "good cop, bad cop" role all by himself, appropriate for a former police officer. * * * Three Devils questions 1. Who can do the best Bobby Holik impersonation?: Holik, who signed as a free agent with the Rangers, is a unique talent and personality. The Devils won't find another one like him, and will especially miss him come playoff time. 2. Score-O, or Oh No?: Patrik Elias has led the team in both regular-season and playoff scoring for three consecutive seasons. The goals will have to come from somewhere else as well, because opposing teams will be keying on Elias, especially with linemate Petr Sykora now an exile on Disneyland's Main Street. 3. Should new coach Pat Burns buy or rent?: Robbie Ftorek, Larry Robinson and Kevin Constantine were recent victims of power struggles. Odds are that Burns wins the next one.

Refs hold the key to opening the ice http://www.bergenrecord.com/page.php?level...32&page=5231587 Tuesday, October 08, 2002 By TOM GULITTI Staff Writer At times during the NHL preseason, it appeared nothing had changed. In an exhibition game two weeks ago at Madison Square Garden, Devils left wing Patrik Elias skated over the blue line to chase after a puck that had been dumped deep into the offensive zone, but was held up along the boards by Rangers defenseman Vladimir Malakhov. Remembering what he had been told about the league's promise to crack down on obstruction, Elias tried to keep moving his legs to make it clear that he had not given up on the play and was being slowed by Malakhov. To Elias' dismay, no penalty was called. "They're not going to call everything," he said. Although there have been similar occurrences throughout the preseason, they have been less frequent than in the past, providing hope that, when the regular season gets underway Wednesday, this time the promise will be fulfilled. The objective is simple. By cutting back on the obstruction, particularly against players entering the offensive zone, there will be more open space for them to use their skills and speed. Forecheckers will be able to put more pressure on defensemen retrieving the puck, giving them less time to get rid of it or carry it out of danger. That should create more turnovers and more scoring chances in transition and, in the end, more goals. Scoring dropped more than a quarter of a goal per game last season - 5.51 to 5.24. No player scored more than 100 points last season and Jarome Iginla was the only one to hit the 50-goal mark with 52. The previous season Jaromir Jagr led the league with 121 points and three players surpassed 50 goals. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman maintains that the game was not in "crisis," but the league wanted stricter enforcement of the already existing obstruction rules "to move the dial a notch or two and make it better." "The positive response has evidenced itself in a number of ways," Bettman said. "Teams are making quicker transitions from defense to offense. Teams are attacking the offensive blue lines with more speed. They are pressuring the puck more on the forecheck and forwards are going to the net more. These are among the results we expected when we began this process of adopting a new and tighter standard about a year ago." If enforced, the new standard should benefit teams with smaller, faster players such as Ottawa, Montreal, Phoenix, Anaheim, and the Devils. Size and strength will still have its advantages, especially in the battles in the corners, but the time when a bigger, slower defenseman could halt a smaller, faster attacker (Anaheim's Paul Kariya or Montreal's Saku Koivu) by simply grabbing him could be on its way out. "Smaller guys with a lot of skill and speed are really going to have a chance to play," said TSN television analyst Pierre McGuire, the former head coach of the Hartford Whalers and a Bergen Catholic alumnus. "I think there's a reason why the Montreal Canadiens went 7-2 in the preseason. The small players and skilled players have really thrived and I really believe the league is going to stick with this." McGuire is among many in the league who believe the NHL intends to see this mandate through. The league declared similar wars against obstruction twice in the 1990s. On both occasions, however, the crackdown abated after a month or so and the clutching and grabbing resumed, slowing players to a standstill as they tried to fight their way through to the puck and to the front of the net. This time, league officials say, there will be no letup. "We really, really attacked the problem and we tried to identify the problem," said Colin Campbell, NHL executive vice president and director of hockey operations. "We found out that we were allowing more interference on the forecheck and it was a penalty that really wasn't - didn't want to be - called [by referees] in the dying stages of a tight game, in the late stages of the season when playoff positions were up for grab or obviously in the playoffs. And it's something that we have really stressed now that it's got to be called." League officials held a meeting in Toronto before the opening of training camps to emphasize this point to the coaches and general managers of all the teams. Referees also have met with the players and showed them a video that explains the new standard. So far, the enforcement has worked, though a few incidents like Elias' have slipped through the cracks. Another factor that should speed up the pace of the game is the league's new hurry-up faceoff rule, which is a variation of the Olympic faceoff rule. Previously, there was no time limit on faceoffs. The visiting team has five seconds during each play stoppage to change its players. The home team then gets eight seconds to make a change, followed by another five seconds before the puck is dropped for both sides to get set. The impact has been immediate. In the preseason, games were an average of 16 minutes faster than last season - 2:33 to 2:17. There's also been a positive side effect. "We have already noticed that the pace demanded by the changes flows right over into the actual play of the game," Campbell said. "So I think not only have we shortened the time it takes to play games, we have actually quickened up the pace of the game because of the hurry-up nature of teams getting on and off the ice."

Teams gunning for more goals http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?ID=74...442&hubName=nhl Canadian Press 10/7/2002 Teams gunning for more goals as 86th NHL regular season set to begin Quicker, more free-flowing games are promised as the NHL gets set to begin its 86th season with new measures to reduce obstruction and speed up faceoffs. The nearly six-month regular season starts Wednesday night with the New York Rangers at Carolina, Dallas at Colorado (TSN, 8 p.m. EDT) and Phoenix at Los Angeles (TSN, 10:30 p.m. EDT). Several teams have tried to boost their attacks in anticipation of the league's promise to crack down on obstruction. That should lead to more goals for flashy skaters and shooters like Washington's Jaromir Jagr, Calgary's Jarome Iginla or Anaheim's Paul Kariya, to name a few. League officials hope the crackdown helps players enter the attacking zone with more speed. They also want to encourage more forechecking and discourage use of the dreaded neutral zone trap, the stifling defensive system that has helped make 50-goal scorers an endangered species and 100-point men all but extinct. Last year, Iginla was the only 50-goal scorer with 52. He also led with 96 points, the second time in three years no one reached the 100 mark. The crackdown looked good in the pre-season, but the real test starts Wednesday. Commissioner Gary Bettman has promised obstruction will be called through to the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Games should also be over earlier with the new hurry-up faceoffs meant to eliminate stalling by coaches seeking to get their desired line matchups after stoppages in play. The visiting team now has five seconds to get its players on the ice. The home team then gets eight seconds and then both sides have five seconds to get in position for the faceoff. Stalling can result in two-minute penalties. The result in the pre-season was ``more skating and less standing around, which is a good thing,'' said Bettman. Game times were cut by about 15 minutes. The 30 NHL rinks will also have a different look, with safety netting now required at either end of the ice to prevent a repetition on an incident last season in Columbus in which a young fan was killed by a puck that was shot into the stands. The teams also must adjust their boards and glass so they have more ``give,'' which not only helps prevent shoulder injuries and concussions but makes for a crowd-pleasing bang when players are checked into it. On the ice, some star players will be wearing new uniforms. Long-time Chicago Blackhawk Tony Amonte is now a Phoenix Coyote, Bill Guerin has gone from Boston to Dallas, Theoren Fleury is in Chicago, Bobby Holik is with the New York Rangers, Robert Lang has rejoined former Pittsburgh linemate Jagr in Washington and Curtis Joseph now tends goal in Detroit, with Ed Belfour taking his spot in Toronto. It should also be a first full season together for Eric Lindros and Pavel Bure with the Rangers and of Kariya having playmaking ace Adam Oates at his side. Also, Montreal captain Saku Koivu is back healthy to start the season after beating the abdominal cancer that kept him out for almost the entire 2001-02 season. Seven teams have new coaches, starting with the Stanley Cup champion Red Wings, who looked for continuity in promoting long-time assistant Dave Lewis to replace retired legend Scotty Bowman. Ken Hitchcock is now coach in Philadelphia and Pat Burns takes over New Jersey. First-time NHL head coaches include Bryan Trottier with the Rangers, Mike Babcock in Anaheim, Dave Tippett in Dallas and Bruce Cassidy in Washington. Several players will likely reach milestones, including veteran Dave Andreychuk of Tampa Bay, who needs three goals to become the 14th player ever to score 600. Those gunning for their 500th goal include Joe Nieuwendyk of New Jersey (six goals short), Joe Sakic of Colorado (17 short) and Jagr (30 short). Penguins' player-owner Mario Lemieux needs 53 assists and Montreal's Doug Gilmour needs 55 to reach 1,000, which has been accomplished by only nine players. On the darker side, the Buffalo Sabres start the season without an owner after the collapse of Adelphia Communications and the arrest of former owner John Rigas. Efforts are being made to find a new owner and keep the team in Buffalo. Three former players (Bernie Federko, Clark Gillies and Rod Langway) and one builder (Roger Neilson) will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Nov. 4. Also entering in the media category are Boston Globe writer Kevin Dupont and former Radio-Canada analyst and Montreal winger Gilles Tremblay. The all-star game on Feb. 2 at the Panthers home in Sunrise, Fla., reverts to the old East vs. West format after a five-year experiment pitting North American against European players was scrapped.

When Jefferson/Danton had his troubles with Lou lat year. He uttered this line "I'm not drinking anymore of his Kool Ade(Lou)!" Referring to Jim Jones and his desciples drinking poison laced Kool Ade in a mass suicide in Guyana in the '70's.

Quint Didn't the Quint trade get rid of Odelein? If so that's not a mistake in my book.

Ok there is no right answer, but I'll guess the trade that brought Odonnell to NJ. B)

Maybe this a way to see how Danton reacts when he is told he really didn't make the team!

Is this a start of a trend by Brooks this year? If anything goes wrong with the Rangers, is he going to blame training camp? I could see it now, Lindros suffers an injury in December and it'll be blamed on a long training camp. The other side of the coin, with a long camp gives players a chance to not miss that much "real" time while healing.

Fleury explains disappearance http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam021005/nhl_chi-cp.html ST. LOUIS (CP) -- Chicago Blackhawks winger Theo Fleury says he missed two practices last week because he was distraught after his father had surgery to remove a tumour. Wally Fleury, 63, had surgery in York, Sask., and Theo said it "threw me for a loop." "We found my father had a tumour in his prostate gland," Fleury told reporters before the Hawks' 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues in an exhibition game Friday. "He had surgery, and the tumour was sent away. We're waiting for the results. My father has been a big part of my hockey career." His unexplained two-day absence prompted speculation that Fleury had a relapse in his treatment for alcoholism. The Hawks didn't know where he was until late Wednesday afternoon. Coach Brian Sutter sent him home before Thursday's practice to avoid contact with reporters. "I struggle just like others who have a fatal disease," Fleury told the Chicago Sun Times. "I have to work on it on a day-to-day basis. I struggle as much as anybody in life. If you don't go through the same thing, you don't have the right to comment on my life. "From here on, I don't need to answer questions about my disease and my issues on a daily basis. Having my name printed, along with the term substance abuse, isn't fair." Fleury remained in Chicago during his father's surgery and was updated by telephone calls from his mother. "It seems when things are bad with me, they're very bad," said Fleury. "But when they're good, they're really good. ... I appreciate the support of the Blackhawks and my teammates."