Vladimir BYCHEK
HERO OF THE WEEK
Two victories over “Nashville” for the first time this season put “Detroit” on the top line of the standings. A familiar place is the merit of an unusual hero. In each of the games with the “predators”, 22-year-old Jiri Goodler scored a winning puck and was recognized as the main star of the evening! Until last fall, on the sniper account of the Czech striker there was only a lonely goal in 16 matches. Now, after 66 championship games, Goodler already has 14 accurate shots. And all this for a very modest salary of 525 thousand dollars a year by Enhael standards. Jiri’s statistics are even more impressive if you recall that until last month he spent on the site an average of about six minutes per match.
RUSSIAN WEEKS
For the first time in a quarter century, losing nine games in a row, “Washington” still found the strength to put a bullet at the end of the nightmare series. And more precisely, the striker Alexander Semin was not angry with children. First, he put a club in three of five goals at the gate of the Toronto, which turned up under a hot hand. Then he hatred in a battle with the Tampa.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Stamping the victory, “Pittsburgh” and “Ottawa” alternately pushed each other from fourth place in the conference. “Penguins” unequivocally declared cup claims, putting the strongest clubs in the East “Buffalo” and “New Jersey” on the shoulder blades, as well as consolidating their success by triumph in the battle with “Montreal” balancing on the edge of the abyss. “Senators” dealt with the New York “Rangers”, “Islanders” and put to shame “Philadelphia”. Who is better? The answer to the rhetorical question helped to get the calendar: on Sunday, competitors met in a full-time duel. He won the “Pittsburgh” - he and the crown.
TOPIC OF THE WEEK
Forcibly sending executive director Ted Saskin on vacation , the NHL players union was breathing deeply with a premonition of a civil war. A group of revolutionaries led by Chris Chelios has long been digging a hole for the boss. However, only after accusing Saskin of illegally scanning the electronic correspondence of hockey players, the dissidents managed to win over the vast masses of overseas pros. Next, you must act with extreme caution. In other words, everything is in court! A step to the side is punishable by a counterclaim. Let's not forget that Saskin has a valid five-year contract for $ 10 million and serious ties with lawyers.
TRIUMPHATOR OF THE WEEK
When in 1999, Mario Lemieux saved the Pittsburgh from bankruptcy, he could not imagine that the promised ice palace would have to wait almost eight years. Only last Tuesday it became known that the “penguins” would not have to look for a roof on the side. Pennsylvania will build a new home for its favorites! In order to gain the favor of officials, Lemieux had to flirt with Las Vegas and Kansas City. True, from the very beginning it was clear that things would not come to a serious relationship. The cost of the Pittsburgh Arena is estimated at $ 290 million, and all that is required from the club is annual payments of 4.2 million greens over thirty years. Documents for rent are also issued for the same period.
BATTLE OF THE WEEK
Thursday, March 15th. “Los Angeles” - “Chicago”: Jamie Lundmark vs Cam Barker .
SHOCK OF THE WEEK
Montreal striker Alexei Kovalev said in an interview with The Sports Network of Canada that he could end his hockey career due to bouts of ... dizziness. The Russian told reporters: the disease, due to which he missed matches with the Islanders and Pittsburgh, is not related to the flu virus, the symptoms of which he had previously observed. Now the striker feels better, but his eyes are still getting dark in his eyes and everything around him “floats” with sharp turns of his head. Doctors suspect that discomfort is associated with inflammation of the inner ear.
UNIVERSAL OF THE WEEK
During his performance in the NHL, Sergei Fedorov twice won the title of best forward defensive plan. The head coach of “Columbus”, where the 37-year-old center found himself at the end of his career, is not averse to making a better attacker ... defender from a Russian. When injuries mowed down the back of the Sineakers, Ken Hitchcock reinforced the rear with a proven veteran. Fedorov’s game in a new hypostasis made such a lasting impression on the gray-haired master that now he intends to use Sergey in this role until the end of the season.
FIGURES OF THE WEEK
503 goals in the NHL championships were scored by Dallas striker Mike Modano. On Saturday, he beat the legendary Joe Mullen on the list of snipers and became the most successful player in the strongest league on the planet born in the United States. Phoenix striker Jeremy Renik holds the third line in the American ranking, with eight goals left to reach the five-thousandth mark. Modano is now heading for the record of another American legend, Phil Housley - 1232 points. Mike has 1217 so far, and he does not want to postpone the next coronation until next season. “We must catch up. Otherwise, we’ll have to fumble for the whole summer that I didn’t reach any four or five points,” the veteran of the “stars” shared his thoughts.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I don’t want to start a war with Samsonov. He’s not going to start a war with us. I have enough other problems. And if someone doesn’t like playing on this team, then we have 24 more hockey players who are happy to defend the colors of Montreal,” - Canadiens head coach Guy Carbonno . Sergei Samsonov didn’t qualify for the Tuesday match against the Islanders even though illnesses prevented strikers Alexei Kovalev and Radek Bonk from getting onto the ice. Straight and Matthew Dandeno.
OPINION OF THE WEEK
According to a Sports Illustrated poll, forward “Islanders” Alexey Yashin was named the most overrated NHL player. 366 league players took part in the referendum, and seven percent of the respondents indicated the Russians. After the signing in 2001 of a mega-contract with the "islanders" - for 10 years and 87.5 million dollars! - The Russian scored 280 points. For the reporting period, he is only the 53rd in the list of league scorers ...
WAITING FOR THE WEEK
The main question of the upcoming seven days: will “Colorado” be able to impose “Calgary” the struggle for a place in the playoffs? The ninth and eighth teams of the Western Conference are divided by four points, and the “avalanches”, which after settling in Denver never flew past the cup battles, have a good opportunity to reduce the distance. Over the coming week, they are expected to play two games with tortured to death and injured in ten defeats in a row, “Edmonton”. The Calgary calendar is much more complicated: presidential cup candidates Detroit and Nashville will come to visit Canadians one at a time.
CM. ALSO
Thursday, March 15th. “Boston” - “Washington”: even a fantastically executed bullet by Alexander Ovechkin did not save the metropolitan team from the bitterness of the ninth consecutive defeat.