Vladimir BYCHEK
HERO OF THE WEEK
At twenty-five, Ottawa striker Dany Heatley had to endure as much as the others did not fall out in a lifetime. The events of September 2003 are still fresh in my memory when the Ferrari, which was driving this speed-hitting guy (then the Atlanta striker), crashed into a stone fence and almost broke in two. In that monstrous accident, his friend and teammate Dan Snyder died ... Well, the hero himself, in addition to unhealing mental wounds, suffered a concussion, broke his jaw, injured his kidney, lung and tore three ligaments of his right knee. Now what happened seems like a nightmare, so confidently Heathley is gaining points in the form of “senators”. Moreover, this lesson was put on the conveyor in the absence of the main projectile carrier, Jason Specials, who injured his knee. Last week, Heatley put 8 (5 + 3) points into the club piggy bank and wedged himself into the top ten scorers of the championship. Especially memorable for the striker was the victory over the best team at the Buffalo Eastern Conference, during which he, having scored 4 points in the goal + pass system for the period, repeated the Ottawa record, owned by Alexei Yashin.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
The six-match Phoenix winning streak is one of the main features of national hunting in the winter. After the coyotes led by Wayne Gretzky finished October with three victories in a dozen fights, overseas analysts routinely deleted them from the list of applicants for the playoffs. Excessive haste touched the living of the Great and his pupils: November and December, “Phoenix” was held with a positive balance of victories and defeats. January did begin with four away triumphs in a row - over “Washington”, “Carolina”, “Atlanta” and “Chicago”! Moreover, in the battle with the flagship of the Southeast Division “Atlanta”, “desert wolves” burned 1: 4 at the beginning of the third period, but they turned the tide of the meeting and crushed a strong opponent in overtime. “Phoenix” settled in 11th position in the Western Conference, and the abyss to the coveted eight quietly turned into a four-point ravine.
RUSSIAN WEEKS
In the Eastern Conference, the 11th line is occupied by Washington, which is struggling to keep up with the train taking off in the cup. Through the efforts of the Russians, the mission is still quite feasible - in order to reach the last car, some step remained. Special thanks to striker Alexander Semin , who stamped assists in the victories over “Montreal” and “Atlanta”. In the scorer club roster, he is now second only to Alexander Ovechkin, who paired with 47 of 128 Capitals goals.
WIRES OF THE WEEK
On Tuesday, the NHL officially spent on a well-deserved vacation the former Detroit captain Steve Aizerman , who announced his retirement last summer. The shirt with its 19th number is forever fixed under the arches of the “Joe Louis Arena”, and a three-minute ovation of crowded stands will forever remain in the memory of the player himself. The ceremony was attended by Scotty Bowman, Dave Lewis, Barry Smith, Jacques Demer, Brett Hull, Vladimir Konstantinov, Igor Larionov, Gordy Howe, Ted Lindsay, Alex Delveccio, Doug Brown, Larry Murphy, Bob Probert, Mike Vernon and many others. The owner of the “Detroit” Mike Ilych presented to the 41-year-old “senior citizen” “Chevrolet” of the 2007 model. Ex-teammates bought together a ticket for the whole family to Austria for the final tournament of the European Football Championship 2008. The warmth of hearts and the gleam of eyes so moved the usually silent leader that he confessed his love to the fans and former colleagues for twenty (!) Minutes. In short, the evening turned out to be sincere.
BATTLE OF THE WEEK
4 January. Boston - Toronto. Even the 31-year-old Sean Donovan (No. 22) could not stand up for the honor of the completely humiliated "bears." He was knocked out by 23-year-old rookie Brendan Bell .
FIGURES OF THE WEEK
12 consecutive games the worst team of the Western Conference, “St. Louis” did not miss in the first period. This is a repeat of the NHL record set in 1974 by Los Angeles. Then the “kings" were stopped by the "bluesmen", and now they themselves have stalled a step away from an absolute achievement, unable to restrain Nashville.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“When you go out to play against Wayne Gretzky as a green boy, that’s one thing. Confronting the Gretzky coach is another. He’s trying to win every match, but he can’t put on his skates, go to the court and drag the puck from side to side on his own. Of course, he’s good at his new position, but not like before, ”said Atlas captain Scott Mellanby .
CONFUSES OF THE WEEK
Decisions of judges are sometimes as mysterious as the ways of the Lord. And the NHL is no exception. When the hosts opened the scoring in a San Jose match against Columbus on Saturday, playing four on three, law enforcement officers for some reason released from the penalty box not only the fighter of the injured team, but also Ryan Klau, defending the colors of the “sharks”. As a result, the Californians were again in the majority, and the amnestied forward personally set the scoreboard to “2: 0”. The head coach of “Columbus” Ken Hitchcock tried to appeal the judicial decision, but he was firmly told: the referees acted ... according to the new rules. After the final siren, the gray-haired master made a serious scandal, and his colleague from the “San Jose” Ron Wilson shrugged in surprise and went to re-read the set of Enhael laws.
WAITING FOR THE WEEK
On Tuesday, sticks crossed the leaders of the Central and Pacific divisions - “Nashville” and “Anaheim”, the most productive teams of the Western Conference. With no less interest, we are waiting for the classic Colorado club against Detroit, the clubs that won five of the seven Stanley Cup finals between 1996 and 2002. On Thursday, the most clogging squads of the Eastern Conference “Toronto” and “Buffalo” will face head-on, and the day after - the primates of the Atlantic and Southeast divisions “New Jersey” and “Atlanta”. January 11 is the birthday of Vancouver defender Rory Fitzpatrick (32 years old). January 12 marks the 28th birthday of Atlanta attack leader Marian Gosse. Finally, on Saturday, January 13, the New Jersey center Sergey Brylin will turn 33. When the Montreal captain Saku Koivu scores the 500th point in his career, it is not known for certain. Now - 499.
CM. ALSO
4 January. Edmonton - Dallas. Confusion of the year !? Forward guests Patrick Stefan does not score into the empty net, the hosts organize a “turn-around” and transfer the meeting to overtime with the help of another Czech Ales Khemsky. Two seconds were left before the final siren! “Dallas” still won the match in shootouts, but the head coach of “Edmonton” Craig McTavish was fascinated by the episode: “We were given a miracle. I've never seen anything like it in my life”. Have you seen?