The Web Hockey League News

The Web Hockey League News Volume 10 03-11-2001

Table of Contents

1) Contributing Writers
2) Players of the Week
3) Team News
4) Special Articles
5) Spotlight
6) Classified Ads

All items should be sent to:
mailto:magazine@platinumcomputing.com

Contributing Writers

Mike Hebert
Magnus Nilsson
Chris Kubinec
Chris Kordyback
Marc Hebert
Lee McEwen

Players of the Week

Player of the week for week #12 is Teemu Selanne of the New England Dropkicks.
(Record setting 8 goals in one game. Surprisingly had 8 goals in 5 games too.)

Goaltender of the week goes to Corey Schwab of the Toronto Stallions.

               Player               GP   G   A PTS +/- PP SH GW GT    S PIM   PCT
Dropkicks:     Teemu Selanne         5   8   1    9   9   0   1   0 0   42    4 19.0
Corinthians:   Oleg Petrov           6   2   8   10   7   0   0   0 0   22    5   9.1
Stallions:     Eric Lindros          5   5   4    9   0   4   1   0 0   23   20 21.7
Sparrows:      Pierre Turgeon        6   2   4    6   1   1   0   0 1   21    7   9.5
               Sebastien Bordeleau   6   1   5    6   0   0   0   0 0   33    9   3.0
Bulls:         Shane Doan            5   0   6    6   5   0   0   0 0    7    7   0.0
Juggernaughts: Sami Kapanen          5   2   2    4 -4   0   0   1 0   15    0 13.3

               Goalie                GP   MIN   AVG W   L   T EN SO GA   SA PCT
Stallions:     Corey Schwab           4   245 1.96 3   0   1   0   0   8 121 .934
Sparrows:      Marc Denis             6   365 2.79 3   2   1   0   0 17 173 .902

Team News

Toronto's Unbeaten Streak Reaches Season High

Toronto, Ontario (AP)- During the past week, Toronto stretched their unbeaten streak to 8 games. It was a good week for coach Darryl Sittlers team as they go 4-0-1 with wins over Pittsburgh, Waterloo, Mississauga and Montreal and a tie against Chicago. What is the secret to their success? We asked them just that;
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Sittler: "It isn't hard to explain, we had three decent players join us recently and they have blended in well. Brian (Leetch) had six assists last week, Steve (Duchesne) had four and Ken (Jonsson) had two goals including a game-winner. Not to mention our big line is scoring as well."

Joe Sakic: "It's a team effort every night. Noone slacks off, if they do they hear about it between periods."

Eric Lindros: "This is a solid team. Usually there are a couple of guys who aren't happy with ice-time, or would rather be used on some other line and they can distract the room. But it's not like that here. Joe (Sakic) is a great leader, and between him and Darryl (Sittler) everyone knows and accepts their rolls on the team."

Brian Howe: "I think bringing in those guys last week makes a huge difference. I mean, the powerplay was 3-23 two weeks ago; and last week it improved to 7-25. While the penalty-killing remained strong."
---------------------------
Toronto is in for a real test next week as they have to face the Voodoo in Vancouver to start. They then come home to face their arch-rivals the Hamilton Steelcats, before a three game road trip takes them into Miami to face the lackluster Oceanics. Finally they do a Quebec swing facing the Montreal Juggernaughts and conference nemesis the Quebec City Corinthians. This will be Toronto's first visit to the Corinthians new home in Quebec City since they moved, the two played earlier this year in Toronto with the Stallions pulling out a 4-1 win.

Bulls Dealing Days Are Done

Oakville, Ontario (AP)- With all of the trades happening one would think that the Bulls would be right in the middle of things. Well, this is simply not true. Oakville management had a meeting last week and during that meeting they discussed plans to slow down the trade frenzy within the organization. With this agreed to the Bulls will no longer make the "two deals a week" that had occurred before. However, the Bulls are not dropping out of site, they are now trying to select specific players that they wish to acquire before the deadline. It is no secret that Bulls coach Jacques Martin has expressed interest in acquiring another winger and defenseman for the play-off run, but GM Kubinec is still trying to find the right deal without changing the teams chemistry too much. You can count on a minimum of at least one more notable deal that involves the Bulls before the trade deadline.

Juggernaughts Are Stuck In Dry-Dock

Montreal, Quebec - Another bad week for Montreal's pride...The fans are beginning to realize that there might be no playoff this year. With just 1 win in the last 6 games the team is now 6 points behind the Steelcats who hold the 8th spot. The problem has been the scoring (only 12 goals last 5) and that Ranford got injured so Maxime Ouellet made his debut, only to let 19 goals pass him in 4 games. With Ranford slumping Turek will probably take over the net-minding for a while. We haven't given up on reaching the playoffs yet and there are a lot of trade rumours going on in the locker room. Some points that Morrison, Shvidki and Klesla will be traded very soon. The team is still looking for a fast-paced scoring center for a new top-line with Sykora and Kapanen.

Vikings Explain The 'Owen Nolan' Deal

Edmonton, Alberta - After spending the majority of his career in an Edmonton uniform, Owen Nolan was shipped to the Vancouver Voodoo last week. The trade came as a shock to Nolan, Edmonton fans and the rest of the WHL. The truth is Lee McEwen made a deal that he thinks enriches his chances of someday sampling Cyber Cup glory. With Nolan as his premier right-winger the last two seasons the Vikings have had relatively successful regular seasons before bowing out in the first round. (Both times in game 7 on home ice.) This year the team has struggles, and while Nolan is having a good year offensively, the club was not competing with the league's giants. The defense corps is aging and for that reason the acquisition of Eric Brewer will, in all likelihood, be what this deal is remembered for in the long run. Brewer is 21 years old and has all the requisite tools a GM looks for in a defenceman. He is big, physical and he can skate and handle the puck. He will not be a quarterback for the powerplay but can complement one, and barring injury, will be a productive WHL defenceman for the next 15 years. Anson Carter is no Owen Nolan, and he'll be the first to admit it, but he is a steadily improving power forward who can skate and score. The trade might set back the Vikings playoff hopes for this year, which were relatively modest anyway, but this team has as solid a future as any in the league. And I'm talking ten years plus, not the next two. There are some concerns regarding depth at forward but with nine picks in the first two rounds of the next two entry drafts, the club belives it will be able to plug most of their holes and the future of its defence looks very bright. Roman Hamrlik and Dan McGillis both have a lot of hockey left in them, Eric Brewer and Jay McKee are just getting started and Steve McCarthy, Mike VanRyn, Andrew Ference, Zenith Komarniski and Nikos Tselios all look like potential players. Barring a miracle the Vikings are not going to win the Cyber Cup in the next two seasons, but they look like sure-fire contenders for the next eight years after that. And really, what's so bad about that?

Corinthians Coach Speaks

Quebec City, Quebec - The Corinthians went 3-2 last week. They lost 5-6 to the Voodoo in their first game of the week, and won their next tree 8-5 against the Krushers, and then 3-2, and 5-1 against the Enforcers in back to back games. The closed their week with a dissapointing loss against division rival the Bulls by a score of 2-5.

So all in all, not at all a bad week, but it could have been better. Here's what coach Kevin Lowe had to say about it:
"I can't say a .600 week is dissapointing but our power play was awful, going 1 in 24 during the week. We'll be working on that aspect of our game in practise this week. You can't hope to go too far into the playoffs with sub par special teams."

About Jean-Sébastien Giguere, who made his first 3 starts with the Corinthians this week, Lowe had those comments:
"You can tell the kid's got talent, a lot of it, but it was also clear he's not ready yet. He was just sent down to the Brewers today, so he can see a lot of rubber there. The Brewers are streaking right now, with Xavier Delisle, Éric Landry and Craig Darby are tearing up the league right now and with Gigs, I'm pretty sure the team stands a very good chance of winning the WFHL championship so it will be good for his confidence to be the #1 down there and work with veteran Marcel Cousineau who has some WHL experience and can help him."

Olympic Update

With the deadline of March 10th past here are the Canadian management team nominations:
                  (Ballots will be coming out within the week)

        GM Nominations:
                Marc Hebert
                Chris Kordyback
                Brian Howe
                Kris Pongratz
                Darren Kinnaird
                Lee McEwen
                Larry Berteotti
                Mike Hebert
        Coach Nominations:
                Darryl Sittler
                Jacques Martin
                Larry Berteotti
                Tom Fowler

The American nominations will be:

        GM Nominations:
                Scott Baden
                Jason Kolsrud
                Philipp Gittersberger
                Richard Lomax
        Coach Nominations:
                Scott Baden
                Jason Kolsrud
                Richard Lomax

The Swedish nominations will be:

        GM Nominations:
                Magnus Nilsson
                Filip Bily
                Patrick Stroem

        Coach Nominations:
                Magnus Nilsson
                Filip Bily

Hot and Cold

HOT

Icedogs 8-1-1 & 9 games unbeaten - Stay in the running for conference title.
Stallions 7-1-2 & 8 games unbeaten - Maintains their hold on that title!
VooDoo 7-2-1 & 7 games unbeaten - Something to be said for that Prospect system after all!!

COLD

Oceanics 0-9-1 & 12 games winless - Oceanics have finally come back to earth--HARD!
Endless 1-9-0 & 5 games losing - Making a run for the lottery pick?
Express 2-4-4 & 5 games winless - Must find the handle and turn things around soon!

Playoff Report

This will serve as a playoff picture preview for now:

                                Wales Conference

TW LW             GP   W   L   T   GF   GA   PTS    PCT LAST 10 STREAK
1   1 STALLIONS 60 39 15   6 266 187    84   .700   7-1-2   8G undefeated
2   4 CORINTHS   61 37 18   6 262 201    80   .656   7-3-0   1G winning
3   3 ICEDOGS    60 37 17   6 235 185    80   .667   8-1-1   9G undefeated
4   2 SPARROWS   61 37 21   3 255 200    77   .631   6-3-1   2G losing
5   6 BULLS      60 31 25   4 246 210    66   .550   8-1-1   2G winning
6   5 SEAGULLS   61 29 25   7 208 220    65   .533   3-5-2   4G winless
7   7 ENFORCERS 60 25 27   8 200 201    58   .483   5-5-0   1G winning
8   8 STEELCATS 60 24 28   8 185 208    56   .467   2-7-1   3G winless
         ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4 -5 VIPERS     59 24 31   4 235 240    52   .441   6-3-1   1G winning
-6 -5 J-NAUGHTS 60 23 33   4 191 228    50   .417   3-6-1   3G losing
-10 -13 HAWKS      60 18 32 10 196 238    46   .383   4-5-1   1G winning
-27 -30 LUNATICS   60 12 43   5 167 244    29   .242   3-6-1   2G winning

                                Campbell Conference

TW LW             GP   W   L   T   GF   GA   PTS    PCT LAST 10 STREAK
1   1 VOODOO     60 41 12   7 288 191    89   .742   7-2-1   7G undefeated
2   2 DROPKICKS 59 35 17   7 254 195    77   .653   7-1-2   3G winning
3   3 EXPRESS    60 30 20 10 266 209    70   .583   2-4-4   5G winless
4   4 KRUSHERS   60 27 23 10 207 184    64   .533   4-4-2   1G winning
5   5 VIKINGS    60 25 23 12 221 225    62   .517   4-4-2   1G winning
6   6 RAIDERS    60 26 30   4 191 221    56   .467   6-3-1   1G winning
7 -1 DOMINATRS 60 23 32   5 206 234    51   .425   3-5-2   4G undefeated
8   7 ISLANDERS 60 21 30   9 184 209    51   .425   4-3-3   3G winless
        ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2   8 CHIEFS     60 20 31   9 209 259    49   .408   3-7-0   2G losing
-5 -3 SAINTS     60 20 34   6 203 249    46   .383   3-7-0   2G losing
-7 -4 OCEANICS   59 19 34   6 188 253    44   .373   0-9-1   12G winless
-13 -9 ENDLESS    60 17 39   4 183 255    38   .317   1-9-0   5G losing

Classified Ads

Oakville Bulls
# Player               St Inj H Ps   Ag Qk Pw Fa In Pn Sk Pa PC Ck Sh Ttl
29 Kris Draper           0      L C    5 8 6 6 6 8 6 5 6 7 6 69
18 Jim Campbell          0      R C    5 7 6 6 7 6 7 5 6 4 7 66
23 Mike Watt             0      L LW   6 7 7 5 7 9 6 5 6 6 5 69
30 Dallas Drake          0      L LW   7 7 6 6 5 5 7 7 6 6 6 68
43 Dan Bylsma            0      L LW   7 6 7 7 5 7 6 4 4 7 3 63
42 Dan Kesa              0      R RW   6 5 7 6 5 7 6 6 5 4 8 65
7 Sergei Zubov          0      R D    5 8 6 6 6 7 8 9 9 5 7 76*
9 Jeff Buchanan         0      R D    9 6 8 7 8 3 7 7 6 7 6 74
3 Garry Galley          0      L D    8 6 7 6 7 7 6 7 6 6 6 72
5 Uwe Krupp             0      R D    5 5 8 6 5 7 5 6 5 7 6 65
6 Remi Royer            0      R D    6 6 5 5 7 3 7 6 7 4 8 64

Toronto Stallions
        Toronto is looking for another RW with a big shot. Age is not an issue.
# Player               St Inj H Ps   Ag Qk Pw Fa In Pn Sk Pa PC Ck Sh Ttl
22 Andrei Nikolishin     1-     L C    5 8 5 7 6 8 7 6 7 6 5 70
36 Mike Eagles           0      L C    7 6 7 4 6 8 6 5 5 7 3 64
14 Derek King            0      L LW   5 6 7 5 7 7 7 6 7 6 6 69
17 Wendel Clark          0      L LW   8 6 8 7 3 4 6 6 7 6 7 68
15 Stephane Richer       0      R RW   4 7 6 6 8 8 7 6 8 4 8 72
7 Johan Lindbom         1-     L RW   7 5 8 6 7 4 5 6 4 6 7 65
4 Michal Sykora         1-     L D    6 6 7 7 3 8 7 6 7 6 7 70
31 Kevin Dahl            0      R D    8 6 7 6 6 8 6 5 5 7 4 68
32 Don Sweeney           1-     L D    5 8 5 7 7 7 7 6 6 7 3 68
34 Stewart Malgunas      1-     R D    7 6 7 6 6 6 5 5 5 7 5 65
8 Corey Schwab          1+     L G    9 8 9 7 7 1 7 6 8 - - 62

Quebec City Corintians
# Player               St Inj H Ps   Ag Qk Pw Fa In Pn Sk Pa PC Ck Sh Ttl
37 Patrick Poulin        0      L C    6 7 8 5 8 8 6 4 6 6 5 69
51 Petr Sykora II        0      R C    7 8 6 6 6 7 7 6 6 6 7 72
23 Trent Whitfield       0      L C    4 5 4 4 3 7 6 4 5 5 5 52
20 Kent Manderville      0      L LW   6 5 8 6 6 6 6 4 5 6 4 62
22 Kris King             0      L LW   5 3 6 4 7 2 3 2 3 3 3 41
49 Brian Savage          1-     L RW   6 7 7 6 5 7 7 6 7 4 7 69
61 Jason Ward            1-     R RW   8 4 7 7 4 5 5 6 7 7 7 67
16 Bill Muckalt          0      R RW   7 6 6 5 4 8 7 6 6 6 5 66
39 Turner Stevenson      0      R RW   6 5 8 6 5 5 5 6 5 6 5 62
24 Kirk Maltby           0      R RW   6 6 7 6 6 6 5 3 4 6 6 61
21 Tony Granato          0      R RW   6 5 6 4 4 6 6 5 5 5 5 57
62 Steve Webb            0      R RW   9 6 7 6 6 1 5 4 5 3 4 56
98 Alexandre Volchkov    0      L RW   5 6 6 5 3 6 6 4 5 2 4 52
45 Arron Asham           0      R RW   6 4 6 4 2 4 5 4 5 3 4 47
5 Stephane Quintal      1-     R D    5 6 7 7 8 5 6 6 6 7 6 69
6 Sylvain Lefebvre      0      L D    6 5 6 6 8 6 5 5 5 9 4 65
17 Ricard Persson        0      L D    5 6 6 6 5 7 6 5 5 5 5 61
60 Ray Schultz           0      L D    8 4 8 5 5 2 4 3 3 5 3 50
56 Vladimir Chebaturkin 0      L D    7 3 5 3 1 4 4 2 2 4 2 37

New England Dropkicks
        Everybody knows that the Dropkicks make more deals than most teams in the WHL, so while
        no one is on the block so to speak, only a select few players are considered untouchable.

Vancouver Voodoo
        Wanted: one back up veteran goaltender - mid 60's ratings. Contact at mailto:voodoo1@direct.ca

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