The National Strat-O-Matic Hockey League Newsletter League established May 1, 1997 Volume #6, Issue #2 - September 19, 2001 ************************************************************************** Current League Officers: Commissioner: Doug Norris (303-492-3493) Vice-Commissioner: Dean Engemoen Email List Administator: Steve Kramer Email the whole league: mailto:nshl@buser.net NSHL Chat List: mailto:nshlchat@buser.net Web Page Administrator: Patrick Shea League Web Site: http://www.geocities.com/nshlweb/ ************************************************************************** NEWSLETTER CHOCK FULL OF THE GOOD STUFF Excellent work on the newsletter, guys! I've always wanted this to have more of a "The Hockey News" feel to it, with reports from around the league. In fact, this newsletter will probably be the largest ever, clocking in at just over 40k; I'm going to try and force it through the list (which has a maximum of 40k per post), so we'll see. My apologies that I haven't said much about the WTC attack of last week; I've been a little shaken up by it. If you didn't get a chance to see David Letterman's monologue from Monday, head over to cbs.com and listen. He says it better than I ever could. God bless everyone out there, and may we persevere. ************************************************************************** JAGR TRADE JOLTS LEAGUE ORDER In a move that caught a number of prospective suitors off-guard, the Seattle Rainiers dealt right wing Jaromir Jagr, their only link to the franchise's inception, to the Buffalo Bulldogs. Jagr, the NSHL's all-time leading scorer with 318 goals, 284 assists and 602 points in five seasons wearing Seattle blue and white, heads cross-country to the Bulldogs, who now feature three future Hall of Famers (Jagr, Pavel Bure, Brett Hull) on the starboard side of centre. Whether Buffalo will attempt to move one of these three to the left side remains to be seen. Back in Seattle, the Rainiers receive defenseman Ed Jovanovski, goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, and a first-round selection in next year's draft. "We'll miss JJ, and we'll always think of him as a Rainier," said Seattle general manager Doug Norris. "However, we've run into some playoff problems the past two seasons that we had to address. Obviously, we're not better right now - you don't trade the best player in the game and improve yourself. We are definitely younger, and I like where we'll be in a year or two." ************************************************************************** NEW E-MAIL FOR MANAYUNK Folks, Lee Yelshin has a new e-mail address. Take note of it, and use it for all future correspondence with Manayunk: leebert@cablespeed.com ************************************************************************** SECOND ANNUAL LONE STAR TOURNAMENT A MONTH AWAY by Eric Goodman, Houston owner The owners and management of the Houston Outlaws are happy to announce that the Second Annual Lone Star Pre-Season Tournament will be held from October 18th to the 21st at the Compaq Arena in Houston, Texas. Tournament organizers are hoping to have at least eight -- but no more than twelve -- teams participate. Each participating team will be required to send in a single FaceOff strategy file to be used for all games in the tournament. In a new twist for this year, head-to-head play will be used whenever possible using either the (hopefully) built-in head-to-head capabilities of FaceOff 2001 or with NetMeeting. Teams interested in participating should contact tournament organizers at the email address listed below. Lone Star Tournament 'Fact' Sheet * A fun and exciting way for NSHL owners to get used to the FaceOff 2001 game interface! * Faceoff games settings for the tournament will be determined once FO2001 is released. The current assumptions are that injuries will be turned off and that NHL playoff-style sudden death 5-on-5 overtime will be used to determine a winner for each game. * Participating teams will be split into two pools, which will play each other team in their pool at least once during round robin play on Days 1 and 2. * Standings from Days 1 and 2 will determine seeding for Day 3 single-elimination qualifying, with teams from each pool playing to determine the pool's championship representative. * Day 4 will feature a best-of-three series between the pool champions to determine who takes home the Lone Star Trophy. * Tournament web site: http://www.mindspring.com/~elgato/lone_star.html * Tournament organizer e-mail address: elgato@mindspring.com * More information will be made available over the next month! ************************************************************************** THE "HIGHLY COVETED" 2001 DRAFT REVIEW by "Diamond" Dean Engemoen, Vancouver owner Here it is, ladies and gents, Dean's review of the 2001 NSHL Entry Draft. BROOKLYN GULAG 76. Radim Bicanek 79. Andreas Lilja 84. Jason Chimera 110. Billy Tibbets 118. Craig Adams 130. Ken Klee 131. J.P. Vigier 150. Mika Alatalo Tough to have a good draft when you don't pick until #76. Bicanek is expected to finally stick in the NHL and he should be pretty good. The rest are longshot prospects or borderline NHLers. Nothing much here. GRADE: C- BUFFALO BULLDOGS 1. Mario Lemieux 61. Kyle Calder 63. Jani Hurme 67. Tomas Kloucek 81. Stanislav Neckar 91. Mike Ribiero I find this to be a tough draft to grade...sure Lemieux is a superstar, but you would have had to be even dumber than Tommy to not pick him #1. Kloucek will be a great pickup if he can recover from his serious knee surgery. Hurme could be a solid NHL backup. The rest are wasted picks. GRADE: C+ CABBAGETOWN RED ROCKETS 12. Marcus Nilson 32. Stephane Robidas 50. Maxime Oulette 52. Ladislav Benysek 70. Yuri Butsayev 92. Rick Berry 112. Steve Dubinsky Solid if unspectacular. Defense was the order of the day for the Rockets, as nobody selected really has much offensive upside. Nilson spent most of the year on a line with Pavel Bure and only had 36 points, so you know he isn't going to be setting any scoring records. Still, he's excellent defensively and that is something the Rockets sorely lacked. Robidas is also offensively-challenged but CRR has enough offense. Every single player picked should make an impact of some kind in the NSHL. GRADE: A- CAPITAL CITY COUGARS 7. Marian Gaborik 11. Filip Kuba 27. Ruslan Fedotenko 74. Serge Aubin 127. Shane Hnidy 147. Roman Simicek 167. Mark Smith 187. Mike Vernon Wow, this draft started off with a bang and quickly headed straight for Hell. The first three picks are all solid young players who will be NSHL regulars for many years...the last five picks might as well have been passed on. Still, three solid players and one potential star (Gaborik) is a pretty good draft. GRADE: B CORNER CREEK GREEN CALVES 8. Daniel Sedin 28. Lubomir Sekeras 48. Andrei Markov 68. Alexander Kharitonov 88. Petteri Nummelin 108. Petr Tenkrat Sedin is a natural sniper, but he needs to work on his positional play before he'll make a huge impact in the NHL. Sekeras is one of the best defensemen to help out right away, and Markov should be useful. The others are longshots but Kharitonov is an interesting prospect. GRADE: B+ DRAYTON VALLEY DRILLERS 6. Brad Richards 34. Johan Hedberg 49. Jarno Kultanen 66. Jarko Ruuttu 106. Darren Van Impe 126. Sylvain Cote 146. Steve Poapst 166. Milan Hnilicka 186. Adam Mair 202. Adam Burt Well they certainly have the quantity, if not the quality, in this draft. Richards is one of the most useful players for this year but his upside isn't quite as high as others like Havlat or Gaborik. Still, can't argue with his numbers. Ruuttu has the potential to be a Tikkanen-esque annoyance, and Hnilicka (possibly a starter in Atlanta) is a nice pickup at 166. Hedberg could be a great pick or a complete bust, I suspect it will be somewhere in between. Five of the last six picks are throwaways. GRADE: C+ FLORIDA HELLCATS 13. Marty Turco 33. Ossi Vaananen 53. Mathieu Garon Well this was an easy one to document. Two solid young goaltenders and a defenseman who I'm not a big fan of. The acquisitions of Turco and Garon give Florida some serious bargaining power in goal. Still, it's tough to give a real good grade to a three-pick draft. GRADE: C+ FORT ROUGE REDSHIRTS 3. Rostislav Klesla 14. Mika Noronen 23. Denis Shvidki 41. Steve McCarthy 43. Willie Mitchell 83. Lee Goren 103. Brad Ference Defense, defense, defense. Mo certainly knew what he needed and he got it. He got the best defense prospect to come along in years (Klesla), and three other good young defensemen (McCarthy, Mitchell, Ference) who all seem to have jobs to lose in the NHL this year. Noronen should make an impact with Buffalo this year and Shvidki and Goren both could contribute. Nice draft. GRADE: A HOUSTON OUTLAWS 54. Josef Vasicek 78. Chris Nielsen 86. Eric Belanger 87. Jakub Cutta 119. Matt Pettinger 139. Jeff Farkas 159. Toby Peterson The defending champs had no early picks, but they made the most of what they had. There isn't much in Vasicek's game not to like, and Nielsen should stick and contribute in Columbus this year. Everyone but Peterson is likely to play significant roles in the NSHL in the future. GRADE: B+ LONG ISLAND BERZERKERS 19. Brent Johnson 20. Taylor Pyatt 21. Shane Willis 25. Branislav Mezei 60. Mark Bell 80. Brian Boucher 95. Ivan Novoseltsev 101. Mike Van Ryn 120. Sasha Goc 121. Petr Svoboda Surprisingly, not one of Patrick's better drafts. Johnson could conceivably end up backing up Brathwaite in St. Louis and Willis' upside is marginal. Bell looks like a bust. The draft actually got better as it went along, as the late round picks are more solid than the early ones (Pyatt is the exception). Boucher is a great gamble at #80, as is Novoseltsev at #95. Still, Patrick's worst draft is better than some people's best. GRADE: B- LYNDONVILLE BLADES 39. Bryce Salvador 51. Kris Beech 58. Kristian Kudroc 71. Petr Shastlivy 72. Andrew Raycroft 111. Sheldon Keefe A few guys here that might be mid-level NHLers but no impact guys at all. Beech has the most upside but even he is tenuous. Shastlivy is a natural scorer but he has not made the most of the chances he's been given thus far. Raycroft is destined for a long career in the minors. GRADE: C MANAYUNK BULLIES 4. Roman Cechmanek 24. Dimitri Kalinen 44. Tomi Kallio 59. Chris Herperger 64. Michal Sykora 104. Jeff Cowan 124. Jim Campbell 144. Sami Helenius 164. Dominic Pittis This is a team in serious rebuilding mode, which makes the picks of Cechmanek, Sykora and Herperger seem very curious. Then, you have the excellent picks of Kallio and Kalinen. Cowan could be a third line checking type in Calgary, but all the picks after him are useless. GRADE: C- MONTREAL WANDERERS 17. Steven Reinprecht 42. Wes Walz 47. David Aebischer 57. Daniel Tkaczuk 77. Dan Boyle 97. Pierre Dagenais 117. Philippe Boucher Reinprecht does everything pretty well but nothing spectacularly. Same could be said for Walz, who resurrected a career with a superb performance last year. Aebisher and Tkaczuk should both be long term contributors. Dagenais has been a scorer at every level but his awful skating keeps him from realizing his potential. He could replace Mogilny in Jersey this year. Boyle and Boucher are busts. GRADE: B- QUEBEC CITY PATRIOTES 2. Martin Havlat 22. Henrik Sedin 62. Denis Hamel 82. Jamie Allison 99. Marian Cisar 102. Chris Clark 122. J.L. Grand-Pierre 142. Richard Lintner 162. Jeff Daniels 182. Daniel Briere 201. Tyler Bouck 203. Eric Landry Some outstanding picks (Havlat, GrandPierre, Lintner, Bouck) and some not so good (Allison, Cisar, Briere, Hamel). Of course, some that could also go either way (Sedin, Clark). This is a tough one to rate, but Havlat's presence prevents it from being a total disaster. GRADE: B- ST. MICHAEL'S PRIVATEERS 5. Alexander Khavanov 40. Justin Williams 45. Niclas Wallin 65. Trent Whitfield 85. Serge Payer Well it's not that these are terrible picks, just that the upside isn't there. Khavanov, a 30-ish rookie defenseman, is never going to be any better than he was last season. Same could probably be said for Whitfield, a checking forward. Williams and Wallin have some upside, at least, but a team this bad needed guys that could make more of an impact. Granted, Andy had minutes to prepare for the draft, so he did pretty good under the circumstances. GRADE: D+ SEATTLE RAINIERS 15. Oleg Saprykin 35. Bryan Allen 73. Nick Boynton 93. Rico Fata 115. Dimitri Afanasenkov 135. Sami Pahlsson 155. Evgeny Konstantinov Very little "now" and a whole lot of potential here. Saprykin seems to be a sure thing, and the only thing holding Allen back until now has been a series of injuries. Fata could become, at best, a checker, but Pahlsson and Afanasenkov both have tons of upside. Boynton should be a top-4 defenseman in the near future. Solid. GRADE: A- SEATTLE SASQUATCH 16. Espen Knutsen 36. Miika Kiprusoff 38. David Vyborny 55. Ladislav Nagy 116. Andy Berenzweig 136. Travis Roche Started off poor with Knutsen, one of those guys who will never get any better, but picked up with three solid picks in a row. Even Berenzweig and Roche have some chance to make an impact. GRADE: B- TOPEKA SCARECROWS 94. Kevin Stevens 107. Petr Smrek 114. Joey Teterenko 129. Ricard Persson 134. Kirk Muller 149. Todd Fedoruk ICK. Stevens is the only one here who will ever likely play an NSHL game, and he's not going to make much of an impact either. Disasterous draft. GRADE: F TORONTO ARENAS 9. Rick Dipietro 29. Milan Kraft 30. Mike Comrie 69. Mike Mottau 75. Eric Chouinard 89. Shawn Horcoff Tons of potential here to have this draft make a huge impact on the future of the franchise. All six of these guys could become high level NHLers, and all should make at least some kind of an impact in the NSHL. Expect to see at least four of these guys in Arenas uniforms by 2002. GRADE: A- VANCOUVER SCOUTS 10. Karel Rachunek 18. Scott Hartnell 26. Lubomir Visnovsky 31. Toni Lydman 37. Ville Nieminen 46. Daniel Corso 56. Juraj Kolnik 90. Denis Arkhipov 98. Ronald Petrovicky 100. Mike Commodore I'm very VERY pleased with this draft. Stunned to see the best defenseman in the draft slip to #10, and Hartnell is another first round gem who does everything. Once he gets a bit more mature, he'll learn to score too. Visnovsky is a future Paul Coffey type with excellent skill. Lydman was a huge find for the Flames last year, and Nieminen should pick up some of the slack left over by Forsberg's absence. Petrovicky is really the only pick here without the upside to be much more than he is now. GRADE: A ************************************************************************** SHARPENED BLADES RETOOL FOR FARLEY CUP RUN by Mark McNeil, Lyndonville Blades Owner Leave it to the Blades to drop a bomb right before training camp starts. Just one day before the rookies were to report division rival Buffalo came calling looking for their goalie of the future. The Blades had rebuffed many previous offers for JS Giguere as he was the planned goalie to succeed Mike Dunham in Lyndonville and rumor has it GM Mark McNeil turned down the Bulldogs original offer as well. When Buffalo appeared willing to up the offer the Blades decided they needed a top line goalie to replace Giguere and let the Bulldogs management know this. Buffalo came back again, but still the Blades were leery and turned down a pretty solid offer involving Patrick Lalime. But the Blades decided to see how far it could go and rumors are Ed Jovanovski was asked for in the counter. Buffalo in turn turned this deal down, but rumor has it that the Bulldogs had no choice as he was part of another set of talks they had going on. The Blades finally asked for Rhett Warrener, a player long known to be a favorite of GM McNeil's. It was pretty common knowledge the Blades had been after an upgrade on defense and when Buffalo showed so much interest in Giguere this appeared to be a fit for both sides. After one final request from the Blades of a draft pick in the deal the trade was finalized with Lyndonville not only filling their hole but upgrading their goaltending at the same time: To Buffalo Bulldogs: JS Giguere, Kevin Weekes, Paul Mara and Bill Houlder To Lyndonville Blades: Patrick Lalime, Rhett Warrener and BUF #3 '02 This gives the Blades a pretty solid team at every position (LW is a little weak, but not a detriment). The RW is where the team is really loaded. Kovalev, Satan and Afinegenov offer a ton off offensive potential and Eric Rasmussen is a solid 4th line checker and injury insurance. Center is a strength with Sundin, Handzus, Gratton and Brown up the middle to provide both offense and defense. LW is a bit weaker, but only when compared to the other positions with Sanderson, Bertuzzi, Friesen (very off year) and Moreau making a good defensive compliment. Then you have Juha Ylonen and Shean Donovan waiting in the wings should anyone go down or if the penalty kill needs a boost. The team has some youth waiting in the wings as well with Chubarov, Keefe, Beech, Schastlivy and Bartecko (coming off a very down year). The defense is solid, the top pairing of McCabe and Zhitnik offering a great blend of offense and defense. Warrener will now join Carney on the 2nd pairing giving a good defensive line to help shut down opposing teams top lines. Pilon and Kubina make up the 3rd pairing with Kubina also getting some extra shits on the PP. Salvador will step in whenever injuries may occur and Mark Eaton and Kristian Kudroc give the team a young pair of backliners to bring along and spot in where necessary. Not many can beat the goaltending tandem of Dunham and Lalime that the Blades now have. Chances are one of them will move on after this season due to the expansion draft, but right now they will give the Blades a chance to win every single time they take the ice. This is the best team that Lyndonville has ever seen and the first true contender since before the team was moved out of Delaware. Optimism is high that this team can give the boys from the Island and their neighbors on Lake Erie a true run for the division title this year and should be assured of a solid playoff position in the worst case. It's unlikely that any major moves will be made before the season begins as the team has just one roster spot left to free up, but the way things work out here in the boonies you just never know! ************************************************************************** IMRPOVISE, ADAPT, OVERCOME (or How to Survive the NSHL Draft on 20 Minutes Notice) by Andy Bartalone, St. Michael's Privateers Owner On draft day, I got up around 6am, loaded up my bike, picked up a friend and headed off to get a good ride in before showing up to the draft, purely as a wiseass (re: observer). We hit the trail at about 730, 4 hours, 54 miles, 4 litres of water, 2 apples and 2 power bars later, I was dropping off my friend in DC, and had just gotten to her house as my cellphone rang; It was Smoke (Brooklyn owner Jeff Tsuoruoka), asking me if would like a team. My simple response was; Hell yes. The fact that it was my old team just made it better. I was about 20 minutes from home. And because of traffic, I got online right after Jeff had made my first pick for me. I was entirely unprepared. I hadnt looked at hockey stats since draft day a year ago, when just 2 weeks later I gave up my team due to time constraints. I scrambled. Mark McNeil sent me his draft list. Doug Norris sent me the draft order. Lee Yelshin sent me the symbols list....I still wasnt sure what it meant, but I had it. Smoke was a sounding board throughout. And Doug Norris doesnt know it yet but I am sending him a bottle of the good stuff just for putting up with me and my barrage of questions during the draft. And for this I thank them all. My next pick was fast approaching and Patrick made me an offer that was mucic to my ears....he wanted my pick. And offered me his pick later in the round and his #2 next year. It gave me more time to catch up. I took his offer. This is where I realized that my one year interloper, had not only left the league high and dry, he had done the same to me. He hadnt cut anyone. This left me with 3 open slots on my roster and one of them full already. I mentioned this to Doug and he let me cut the guys by Commisioners edict, that were never going to play again and hadnt played the year before. Ranford and Berard. He had gotten rid of a bunch of decent young talent. From what I understand by cutting them. I scrambled. I talked trade with lots of people and made 1 other deal picking up more draft picks for next year, and some younger talent. I picked up some guys that will help me immediately. And a couple of guys that should be mainstays down the road. All in all I think I had a good draft considering the circumstances. Since then I have made a bunch of smaller deals and have a couple of deals that are pending. I definitely need to do some stuff to get the right mix of players I want. But it looks alot better than it did at 12:20 on draft day. But more than anything, I am glad to be an active member of the league. Thanks Andy Bartalone Owner, St. Michaels Privateers ************************************************************************** BULLDOGS PLAN TO RIDE 'KID DY-NO-MITE' INTO THE PLAYOFFS by Tom Vinacci, Buffalo owner BUFFALO, NY (CP) -- Nicknamed after the legendary James Evans Junior of 'Good Times' fame, the Buffalo Bulldogs own prime acquisition nicknamed 'JJ' - Jaromir Jagr - will be 'charged' (Kid Dy-no-mite - get it? Get it?) with leading the cellar-dwelling franchise into the playoffs which they missed for the first time ever in 1999-2000. But he won't have to bear the burden alone. Buffalo will be stacking a trio bearing 150 NHL goals at RW this season as snipers Pavel Bure (59 NHL goals) and Brett Hull (39) will join JJ (52 goals, leading NHL scorer) in shooting from anywhere and everywhere. Does this make the Bulldogs a Cup contender? "Hell no", snorted Buffalo GM Don Cherry. "We'll be an entertaining side for sure, but we don't anticipate getting Eric or Khabibulin back from headaches and holdouts until the following season. Oh, and Blue says 'drink Molson Canadien!'" After ordering the GM another drink, 'Dogs owner Tom Vinacci elaborated. "Well, we're convinced we'll be scoring a few goals. Besides the power on the right side, first-overall selection Mario Lemieux will be expected to bulge the twine a few times, along with Saku and Sami, plus Arnott and Perreault. Everyone else is fighting for jobs in what is expected to be a championship run in the 2002-03 season, when we are expected to get the competent Strat-O-Matic referees back on the ice, rather than the scab Faceoff refs, who demonstrate their expertise by tripping over the blue line 4-5 times a game." Buffalo is not expecting to be stopping a whole lot of goals, but the theory is that a 6-5 win counts the same as a 3-2 win. Kevin Weekes will get the bulk of the starts with Jani Hurme seeing spot duty. Darius "Killer" Kasparaitis again leads the hit parade on the blueline, while emerging star Paul Mara will get significant playing time in hopes for a run in 02-03. Planning has already begun on who will be protected in the 2002 Expansion Draft. Buffalo is expected to go with the 8-4-1 option, protecting the Lemieux-Jagr combo, the Lindros-Bure pair, as well as the Arnott-Hull duo. Rounding out the protected forwards will be Sami Kapanen and Yanic Perreault, and forwards exempt from protection are Kyle Calder and Mike Ribeiro. That means fighting for their Bulldog lives will be Koivu, Scott Thornton, Greg Johnson, Sandy McCarthy, Stephane Yelle, Boyd Devereaux, Dave Reid and Scott Parker. It is believed that Reid, Parker and Devereaux could be in positions so tenuous that they may not make the team out of training camp in Niagara Falls, Ontario. In the defensive third, Tomas Kloucek and Paul Mara are exempt from protection and cannot be lost. Kasparaitis ("Bulldog For Life") is certain to be protected and Danny Markov is fairly safe, but the other two slots will go to those who's play in 2001-02 warrant being protected. That means Stevie Doosh, Bill Houlder, Charlie Manson, Sean Hill, Jeff Finley, Aaron Ward, Stan Neckar and Lance Pitlick have plenty of incentive to play hard, or risk going to the proverbial hell of Steve Kramer's expansion Walla Walla Warthogs. Between the pipes, it's a safe bet that Nikolai Khabibulin will be the man, and one of Jani Hurme, Kevin Weekes or John Grahame will be lost to the expansion demons. But ya never know, Weeksie or Jani could impress enough ... Needless to say, the 2002-03 season is a looooong ways away, and the Buffalo landscape could easily change. Super Mario, Pavel, Hull, JJ and the rights to Lindros all came Buffalo's way in the offseason, and much is expected to change throughout the season as all NSHL clubs jockey for playoff - and expansion - position. ************************************************************************** SEATTLE SASQUATCH PRESEASON CAMP REPORT by Scott Shigemi, Seattle Sasquatch owner They were the surprise team in the regular season, falling short by eight points. With Alexei Yashin reporting to the team after contract problems kept him out of last year's success, the team should be loaded to repeat and possibly exceed all expectations. The old guard: Returning veterans from last season include the team's core players, Radek Bonk, Petr Nedved, Mariusz Czerkawski, Mike Sillinger, Jay McKee, Jaroslav Spacek, Sean O'Donnell, and Colin White. They should all be ready to play. After a full season, Colin White is ready to step in a full time defenseman. The team's big guns, Nedved and Czerkawski should reach new team highs. Dominik Hasek showed what he can do when playing hurt. This year he'll be the man between the pipes. Who's gone? Leaving the team are some of the most dependable players in the franchise's short history. Stu Barnes, perhaps the heart and soul of the team departs to Brooklyn. Barnes holds several of the team's records for durability playing the longest stretch of consecutive games. He's also the highest scoring left wing in the team's history. Another notable player leaving for the golf courses due to retirement is Guy Carbonneau. While Guy was only with the team for a little over half the season, his impact was tremendous. He was the go-to guy on the penalty kill. He also managed to best his NSHL career high in goals, scoring eight with two being game winners. While not having much of an impact, Deron Quint will no longer wear the Sasquatch green. His move isn't very far, as he becomes a Rainier. Quint is the only defenseman in team history to record a hat-trick. His future potential was slow to develop and management decided to move him for a dependable right defenseman. Fresh new faces: While not new to the team, Alexei Yashin has never skated in a game for the Sasquatch. His scoring presence should be felt immediately. Making the cross country journey in the trade that involved Stu Barnes, Sergei Brylin will fill in on the left side. While he doesn't have the defensive skill to kill penalties, his two-way style should prove to help stop some of the top right wings that so rudely knocked the team out of the playoffs. To offset the penalty killing void left by the departures of Carbonneau and Barnes, the team added Andreas Dackell. Not expected to post high offensive numbers, his job will be to assist in keeping goals out of the Seattle net. Jon Klemm makes the five minute commute from the Key Arena. His defensive crease clearing will Hasek's job just that much easier. Rookie outlook: The stockpiled mid round picks, only to see them traded away in the anticipation of making the playoffs. Early round picks included a few steals, Espen Knutsen being the first. With the upcoming expansion planned for next year, the older more seasoned veteran will come in with expectations to challenge Brylin for the top left wing position. His playmaking might be just what Czerkawski and Yashin need to post higher goal totals. Miikka Kiprosoff was taken as goaltender insurance in the case of expansion woes. David Vyborny has potential to fill in on the wings. Ladislav Nagy, Andy Berenzweig, and Travis Roche are all future projects waiting for a chance to prove that they belong in the NSHL. As the line become set in stone, the Sasquatch appear to have three solid centers in Yashin, Nedved and Bonk. Scoring at the wings drops off considerably after Czerkawski. Defensively the team won't expect too much offensive production. They will keep the opposition from getting easy garbage goals. On special teams, the offense can stack up thick with Yashin's ability to play the point, the team may ice both of their high flying centers at the same time. On the penalty kill, they have several excellent killers, Dackell, Sturm, Sullivan, and Laaksonen. In goal they may have one of the best to ever lace them up. Hasek returns in excellent health. Again Jamie McLennan is firmly entrenched as the back-up. 1 Knutsen Yashin Czerkawski 2 Brylin Nedved Sillinger 3 Petrov Bonk Dackell 4 Sturm Sullivan Laaksonen 1 Spacek Klemm 2 McKee O'Donnell 3 White Hulse 1 Hasek 2 McLennan Extra Forwards: Harvey, Prospal, Nagy, Vyborny, Corbet Extra Defensemen: Salei, Dykhuis, Phillips, Wilson, Roche, Berenzweig, Trepanier Extra Goalies: Kiprusoff, Snow ************************************************************************** DRAYTON VALLEY DRILLERS SEASON PREVIEW by Jason Liddicoat, Drayton Valley owner RED DEER, ALBERTA (CP) - Talk of a legitimate shot at the NSHL playoffs this year has been constant at the Drayton Valley Drillers' training camp in Red Deer, Alberta this week. A series of key changes coupled with a good draft in the off-season have team organizers optimistic about the Drillers' chances of posting their best year ever after three respective years in the league. The long road to the playoffs always begins in net and the biggest change since the end of last season will occur between the pipes as former Vancouver Scout starter Bryon Dafoe gets to take over the goaltending duties from former Driller all-star, team and fan MVP Mike Vernon. Even though Vernon was Mr. Everything for the Drillers last year, management decided to solidify their goaltending situation at the end of the season. "It was a tough decision for us, but, it was something we had to do if we ever had any thoughts on challenging for a post-season berth this year," said GM/Coach Jason Liddicoat. "We really needed to get better in net because Mikey wasn't getting any younger which made him expendable. It's a large change for the team but Bryon is our goaltender now and we're much more confident with him." Dafoe makes his return to regular action after he sat out most of the previous season because of reconstructive knee surgery which cut his season short. Drayton management is banking on Dafoe, a former runner-up to the Vezina Trophy when he was with the NHL's Boston Bruins, to be able to win more big games for the Drillers this year and eventually lead the team into the playoffs for the first time in league history. Staying with the net protectors, the future might be bright in net for a change as Swedish rookie goalie Johan Hedberg became Drayton's second pick in this year's draft. Hedberg will share time with Czech veteran backstopper Milan Hnilicka, another 2001 Drayton draft pick, as both will add a European flavour to the Driller nets. Another excellent addition to team that came way of the recent 2001 league draft will instantly help the Drillers on the power play and create a new second-line scoring threat. Newcomer and rookie right winger Brad Richards is returnees centre Andrew Cassels and left winger Ray Whitney to provide very potent second line scoring chemistry. The Drillers were pleasantly surprised when the NHL's rookie scoring leader fell to sixth spot, allowing management to fill a badly needed hole on the right side. "We really thought he (Richards) was going to be out of our reach. We projected him as high as second overall and couldn't believe it when he dropped in out lap at sixth," said Liddicoat. "Like Marian before him, Brad is one of the young elite of the league and he should be able to give us a third big scorer behind (Jason) Allison and Hossa." Scoring shouldn't be a problem for the Drillers as Allison is healthy once again, coming off a nagging hand injury and is due for a breakout year. Hossa is another year older as has proven he belongs with the NSHL's new elite while pure scorer Sergei Berezin should be able to knock in a few from his wing. Continuing with the forwards, defense and short-handed units were a major problem last year and Driller management decided it was time for a change on the third and fourth lines as team rookie award winner Dean Sylvester, Ted Donato, Stan Drulia were sent packing while veteran winger Stephane Richer hung them up for good. In their place, Darby Hendrickson, Martin Gelinas and recently acquired Sergei Zholtok should be an all-around upgrade on defense and offense for Drayton Valley. For the future, the Drillers hope they've found a defensive gem in rookie draft addition and agitator Jarko Ruuttu. Drayton picked Ruuttu up in the sixth round and look for him to slowly work his way into the line-up and possibly become a second-line defensive specialist in a year's time. The only area on the team were there wasn't any radical change was on defense as Richard Matvichuk, Brian Rafalski, Darryl Sydor, Tommy Albelin and Alexander Karpovtsev are all returning. Fellow blue-liner Mattias Timander should be able to round out the top six with a promotion to regular duty and Finnish rookie draft pick Jarno Kultanen will be groomed for the sevneth spot, while former Quebec Polar Sphinx Darren Van Impe hopes to take the eighth spot on the defensive depth chart if he can return to his earlier steady form. ************************************************************************** COUGARS EXCITED ABOUT PRESENT, FUTURE by Brian Leahy, Capital City owner (AP) BOULDER, COLORADO.....After the NSHL Entry Draft on Saturday, September 8th, Cougars GM Brian Leahy was at the Denver International Airport waiting to board his flight back to Lincoln, Nebraska. Throughout the conversation, he was all smiles. "I am very pleased with how our team made out in this years draft," Leahy said. "We've got some fine, young talent that I'm hoping we can develop to help our team for years to come." Capital City had picked up forwards Marian Gaborik, Ruslan Fedotenko, Serge Aubin, Roman Simicek, and Mark Smith, defensemen Filip Kuba and Shane Hnidy and also veteran netminder Mike Vernon in this years draft. "Certainly, we are looking to bolster our center and right wing positions, but realized that we needed to fortify our other positions with young players as well," Leahy said. Leahy also added some initial observations about their roster as the team headed into training camp. On their forwards: "I feel our strongest position is left wing, with veterans Tkachuk and Robitaille returning and leading the way. We are still looking for a 1st or 2nd line center and right wing via trade, though our acquisitions over the summer and through the draft have helped some." On their defensemen: "I've been told by a few GM's around the league during discussions that we have a very strong Top 4, with MacInnis and Schneider heading up the group." On their goaltending: "Going into training camp, we have Arturs Irbe listed as our #1 and will have Felix Potvin, John Vanbiesbrouck and Mike Vernon battling for backup. Archie will give us a lot of games in net, we just need to give him better support in front of him." CAPITAL CITY COUGARS TRAINING CAMP DEPTH CHART LEFT WING CENTER RIGHT WING Robitaille, Luc - LW Stumpel, Jozef - C Gaborik, Marian- RW* Tkachuk, Keith - C/LW Ronning, Cliff - C/LW Kjellberg, Patric - RW/LW Pellerin, Scott - LW Juneau, Joe - C/LW Fedotenko, Ruslan - RW/LW* May, Brad - LW Buchberger, Kelly - RW/C/LW Simicek, Roman - RW/LW* Probert, Bob - LW Smith, Mark - C/LW* Korolyuk, Alexander - RW/LW Aubin, Serge - C/LW* Kron, Robert - RW/C/LW Barnaby, Matthew - RW/LW Domi, Tie - RW LEFT DEFENSEMEN RIGHT DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS Schneider, Mathieu - LD MacInnis, Al Irbe, Arturs Hedican, Bret - LD Marchment, Bryan Potvin, Felix Gill, Todd - RD/LD Heward, Jamie (also RW) Vanbiesbrouck, John Tamer, Chris - LD Tremblay, Yannick Vernon, Mike* Kuba, Filip (also RD)* Gusarov, Alexei Hnidy, Shane* *Denotes a 2001 NSHL Draft selection COUGARS NEWS & NOTES: Training camp for the Cougars opens up on Wednesday, September 19th at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario. Luc Robitaille retains the captaincy, and Keith Tkachuk and Al MacInnis retain their being alternate captains. ************************************************************************** INCENTIVE POINTS: Buffalo: -1 IP, newsletter article Capital City: -1 IP, newsletter article Drayton Valley: -1 IP, newsletter article Houston: -1 IP, newsletter article Lyndonville: -1 IP, newsletter article St. Michael's: -1 IP, newsletter article Seattle Sasquatch: -1 IP, newsletter article ACCUMULATED IP: Brooklyn: -2 IP Buffalo: -1 IP Cabbagetown: 5 IP Capital City: -1 IP Drayton Valley: -1 IP Florida: 5 IP Houston: -1 IP Long Island: -7 IP Lyndonville: -1 IP St. Michael's: -1 IP Seattle Sasquatch: -4 IP Vancouver: -1 IP ************************************************************************** ASSOCIATE LIST: SINCE GP Lance Milligan (coachm@home.com) July 1997 6 Ted Coursen (tcoursen@home.com) June 1998 0 Thomas Manna (samanna@acsu.buffalo.edu) October 1998 0 Roy Lamphier (lamphier@ibl.org) October 1998 0 Andrew Smith (crimsonace@yahoo.com) March 1999 0 George Ruse (rawpower14@aol.com) August 1999 0 Carl (missongear@aol.com) August 1999 0 Mike Steudle (plutodong@aol.com) September 1999 0 Paul Westover (pwestover@primary.net) November 1999 0 Jean-Paul Leboeuf (jeanpaul.leboeuf@sympatico.ca) November 1999 0 Rob Ortiz (ortizr@enterprise.navy.mil) November 1999 0 Steve Beren (SBeren2000@aol.com) June 2000 0 If you're still an active associate, and aren't on this list, please get in contact with me. Thanks! Doug ************************************************************************** TRANSACTIONS: BRK - TRADE Craig Darby and BRK#4 to HOU for Craig Billington and Jere Karalahti. - TRADE Hans Jonsson to STM for Olli Jokinen and SEA#5. - TRADE Jassen Cullimore to TPK for Janne Laukkanen and a conditional draft choice. - RELEASE Peter Skudra. BUF - TRADE Patrick Lalime, Rhett Warrener and BUF#3 to LYN for Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Kevin Weekes, Paul Mara and Bill Houlder. - TRADE Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Ed Jovanovski and BUF#1 to SEA for Jaromir Jagr. - TRADE Kirk McLean to STM for STM#10. FRR - TRADE Adam Graves to TPK for Anders Eriksson. LYN - TRADE Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Kevin Weekes, Paul Mara and Bill Houlder to BUF for Patrick Lalime, Rhett Warrener and BUF#3. HOU - TRADE Craig Billington and Jere Karalahti to BRK for Craig Darby and BRK#4. - TRADE Jakub Cutta to STM for STM#4. - TRADE Michal Grosek and HOU#6 to TPK for CCC#3. STM - TRADE Mark Parrish to SEA for Matt Cooke and SEA#5. - TRADE Mike Keane to TPK for TPK#2 and TPK#6. - TRADE Olli Jokinen and SEA#5 to BRK for Hans Jonsson. - RELEASE Terry Yake, James Black. - TRADE STM#4 to HOU for Jakub Cutta. - TRADE STM#10 to BUF for Kirk McLean. SEA - TRADE Matt Cooke and SEA#5 to STM for Mark Parrish. - TRADE Jaromir Jagr to BUF for Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Ed Jovanovski, and BUF#1. TPK - TRADE TPK#2 and TPK#6 to STM for Mike Keane. - TRADE Anders Eriksson to FRR for Adam Graves. - TRADE Janne Laukkanen and a conditional draft choice to BRK for Jassen Cullimore. - RELEASE Kirk Muller, Joey Tetarenko. - TRADE CCC#3 to HOU for Michal Grosek and HOU#6. ************************************************************************** League Governing Boards Responsibilities of the following governing boards are outlined in the Constitution. Review Board Tom Vinacci, Buffalo Bulldogs Patrick Shea, Long Island Berserkers Mark McNeil, Lyndonville Blades Constitutional Council Head: Patrick Shea (isles2@idt.net) Doug Norris, Commissioner Dean Engemoen, Vice-Commissioner Andy Bartalone, associate Lance Milligan, associate **************************************************************************