|
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ The Nashville Predators aren't going
anywhere.
Owner Craig Leipold signed a letter of intent Wednesday to sell
the team to a local group of investors trying to keep the NHL
franchise from leaving town.
The group of eight partners plan to pay US$193 million, according
to Leipold. One of the partners, David Freeman, chief executive
officer of 36 Venture Capital LLC, has put down a $10-million
deposit to make sure the deal is ...
|
|
|
|
ANAHEIM, Calif. (CP) _ The car slowly gained speed along the
country road and Chris Neil pumped his legs as hard as he could in
trying to keep up.
His mom was driving. He was just a boy. Now he's in the Stanley
Cup final, and the memories of how he got here will inspire him to
be the best he can.
``I don't think I'd be where I am today if it wasn't for her,''
says ...
|
|
|
|
BOSTON (CP) _ Star defenceman Brian Leetch officially retired
Thursday, ending an 18-year career that featured two Norris Trophy
wins and 10 all-star selections.
The 39-year-old sat out the entire out 2006-07 season after
spending 2005-06 with the Boston Bruins, when he recorded five goals
and 27 assists in 61 games.
``I have been fortunate to be an NHL player since 1988,'' Leetch
said in a statement. ``I missed being in the NHL this past season,
but believe ...
|
|
|
|
DETROIT (AP) _ The Detroit Red Wings signed forward Tomas Kopecky to a two-year contract on Monday.
The 24-year-old from Slovakia appeared in 26 games this season before breaking his clavicle Dec. 14 at Chicago. He lost his footing and hit the boards as he approached the Chicago blue-line, and Blackhawks defenceman Jim Vandermeer fell on top of him.
Kopecky, who had one goal this season, would have been an ...
|
|
|
|
In the battle between the top two teams in the NHL, a little-known forward made the difference for the Detroit Red Wings.
Jiri Hudler scored twice Wednesday, including the go-ahead goal, as the Red Wings surged past the Nashville Predators in both the NHL and Central Division standings with a 4-2 win.
Hudler's heroics came a night after his goal was the winner in Detroit's 5-2 win in Nashville.
``I ...
|
|
|
|
The St. Louis Blues, last overall in the NHL despite a change in ownership and several player upgrades, fired coach Mike Kitchen on Monday night and replaced him with former Los Angeles Kings coach Andy Murray.
Blues president John Davidson said Murray received a long-term contract after negotiations in New York on Sunday. Murray was fired by the Kings last March.
``We realize we're a team that's got a long ...
|
|
|
|
Longtime NHL forward John LeClair was assigned to the minors by the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday for the second time this month.
LeClair was placed on waivers last week but was not claimed by another team. The Penguins then assigned him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL before putting him on re-entry waivers, which would have required any club claiming him to pay half of the remaining share of his US$1.5 ...
|
|
|
|
Darcy Tucker slammed Carlo Colaiacovo into the boards, yelled some four-letter words at nobody in particular on his way back to his practice drill position, and slashed at a water bottle when he got there.
The Toronto Maple Leafs' leading scorer was testy during practice Wednesday, and might as well have been wearing a ``Beware Of Dog'' sign on his chest as he stripped off his pads afterwards.
A team ...
|
|
|
|
The Calgary Flames are retiring the number of goaltender Mike Vernon, who led the Flames to their Stanley Cup win of 1989.
Vernon, a Calgary native, spent 13 of his 20 NHL seasons with the Flames.
He had three shutouts and 16 wins for the Flames in the 1989 post-season.
Vernon also played for San Jose, Florida and Detroit, where he won another Stanley Cup in 1997. He was also ...
|
|
|
|
Marc-Andre Bergeron won the speed drill, Petr Sykora was the most accurate shooter and Joffrey Lupul was best in the shootout during the Edmonton Oilers' skills contests Sunday.
More than 15,000 _ a record for the annual event _ streamed into Rexall Place to watch.
Bergeron blazed around the ice surface in 14.392 seconds. He also won the hardest shot competition with a 103.5 miles-an-hour rocket.
Sykora picked apart four ...
|
|
|
|
Barrie Colts centre Bryan Little and Antoine Lafleur of the P.E.I. Rocket are the Canadian Hockey League's player and goaltender of the week.
Little, 19, scored four goals and recorded six assists for 10 points in three games over three consecutive nights last week.
The Atlanta Thrashers' first round pick in 2006 had three assists in the Colts' 5-4 win over Owen Sound on Nov 16. He then scored three ...
|
|
|
|
The Boston Bruins assigned centre Yan Stastny to Providence of the American Hockey League on Thursday.
The Bruins recalled Stastny on Wednesday, but he did not play in their 4-3 shootout win over Pittsburgh.
Stastny, 24, is in his second season with the Bruins after being acquired along with Marty Reasoner and Milan Lucic for Sergei Samsonov on March 9, 2006.
In 11 games with the Bruins this season, Stastny ...
|
|
|
|
Acadie-Bathurst Titan forward Mathieu Perreault scored twice and added an assist as the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League defeated Russia 6-2 in the opening game of the 2006 Canada-Russia challenge.
The six-game series pits the elite from Canada's junior ranks against a select team of Russian junior players.
Keven Veilleux of the Victoriaville Tigres had a goal and an assist, with P.E.I. Rocket defenceman Marc-Andre Gragnani, Shawinigan Cataractes forward Francis ...
|
|
|
|
The Columbus Blue Jackets have fired coach Gerard Gallant.
The team is expected to name his replacement on Tuesday.
Gallant was named head coach of the Jackets on June 25, 2004, after serving as interim head coach for the final 45 games of the 2003-04 season.
Columbus is 5-9-1 this season.
|
|
|
|
If there's a goalie controversy in Montreal then Cristobal Huet and David Aebischer have a funny way of showing it.
They ride to the rink together and hang out off the ice. Come on, guys, aren't you battling for the No. 1 job on one of the NHL's most storied franchises?
``We get along well, our wives get along well, they're both Swiss,'' Aebischer said Friday with a chuckle. ``I ...
|
|
|
|
The Edmonton Oilers assigned winger
Alexei Mikhnov to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American
Hockey League on Saturday.
Mikhnov, the Oilers' first choice in the 2000 draft, made his NHL
debut with Edmonton in a 5-2 win versus the Phoenix Coyotes on Oct.
23. He was scoreless over four minutes 21 seconds of ice time in his
only game to date this season.
Mikhnov joined the Oilers this season after playing the last nine
seasons in Russia. His ...
|
|
|
|
After another dismal outing in front of their home
fans, the Ottawa Senators can only hope the worst part of their
season is over.
Ray Whitney scored twice and Erik Cole had a goal and two assists
as the Carolina Hurricanes came back to earn a 3-2 win over the
slumping Senators.
The Senators held a closed-door team meeting following the loss
at Scotiabank Place where they are a disappointing 2-5-0. Ottawa
(5-7-0) is facing their second three-game ...
|
|
|
|
Former Carolina captain Ron Francis is joining the Hurricanes front office.
The team named him director of player development Friday.
Francis, the NHL's second all-time leading scorer, will work with and assess players in the club's system and report to director of pro scouting Marshall Johnston.
``Ron's knowledge of the game of hockey and his experience as a player go without mention,'' Jim Rutherford, Hurricanes president and general manager, said ...
|
|
|
|
The Pittsburgh Penguins have decided 18-year-old forward Jordan Staal deserves to be in the NHL.
The Penguins aren't going to send the young centre back to the OHL's Peterborough Petes.
Staal has recorded four goals and one assist in his first nine games this season.
His three-year NHL rookie contract will kick in once he plays in his 10th game. Pittsburgh's next game is Wednesday in Los Angeles.
Penguins general ...
|
|
|
|
With a slight grin on his face and a
chuckle after his composed words, Peter Forsberg hardly sounded like
a Flyers captain ready to raise a ruckus and rally his teammates.
Instead, his simple message for the NHL-worst Flyers was this:
Don't panic. There's still ample time to salvage a sinking season.
``It's a long way from being over. We've got 74 games left,''
Forsberg said after Wednesday's practice. ``It's early. We've just
got to make sure ...
|
|
|
|
A player with the Western Hockey League's Moose Jaw Warriors was hospitalized with serious injuries after a car and truck collided Sunday morning in the southern Saskatchewan city.
GM Chad Lang said Garrett Robinson, one of three players hurt in the crash, underwent surgery after being transferred to a Regina hospital.
``(The doctors) have informed us that it is critical, that he has trauma to the head and brain,'' Lang ...
|
|
|
|
It has been an ugly start for the Colorado
Avalanche.
A perennial power, the Avalanche are 1-2-2 so far this season,
already six points behind division-leading Minnesota. They look
puzzled at times on the ice and watched an NHL-record 487-game
sellout streak come to an end on Monday night after 11 years.
It's time for a road trip. The Avalanche will face Toronto,
Ottawa and Montreal in a four-day span _ something forward Ian
Laperriere is looking forward ...
|
|
|
|
The Victoriaville Tigres will retire Matthew Lombardi's jersey on Wednesday night, but the Calgary Flames centre won't be there.
With the Flames flying out after a game Tuesday night in Montreal to Boston, where they finish a four-game road trip on Thursday, it would have been ``too tough'' to make a side trip to Victoriaville, a more than two-hour drive east of Montreal.
Instead, his father Peter will stand in ...
|
|
|
|
Russian club Lokomotiv Yaroslavl has filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court against the NHL, the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers.
The lawsuit essentially claims that Andrei Taratukhin of the Flames and Alexei Mikhnov of the Oilers are under contract with Yaroslavl for the 2006-07 season and should not be allowed to play for any other club in the world. It asked the federal court for a temporary injunction ...
|
|
|
|
Carl Brewer was an oddball whose struggles to earn a living after an all-star hockey career usually flopped, but he had Susan Foster and an obsession, and many of his peers owe the two of them an everlasting debt of gratitude.
``The Power of Two'' is the story, in Foster's words and with contributions saved from writings by Brewer on scraps of paper, of the life they came to share, ...
|
|
|
|
It's early, but Sam Gagner looks like he could follow in his
dad's footsteps.
The rookie scored and added two assists as the London Knights
dominated the Plymouth Whalers 5-2 in Ontario Hockey League action
Saturday.
``I have confidence in the guys I'm playing with,'' said Gagner,
son of former NHL star Dave Gagner. ``(London head coach) Dale
(Hunter) has given me the chance to prove myself in this league and
I just want to keep it going ...
|
|
|
|
Pat Kane scored his first Ontario Hockey League hat trick as the
London Knights blasted the Windsor Spitfires 9-2 in Ontario Hockey
League action Friday.
Kane highlighted his hat trick in the game's first 26 minutes by
splitting Windsor's unsuspecting defence with a wild head fake, then
an accurate shot past backup goalie Andrew Engelage.
Elsewhere in OHL action Friday, it was: Owen Sound 3, Brampton 2;
Erie 3, Plymouth 2; Guelph 6, Kingston 2; Belleville ...
|
|
|
|
A criminal investigation hanging over their team hasn't hurt the Saginaw Spirit on the ice.
Patrick McNeill scored twice and added two assists as Saginaw rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Peterborough Petes 5-3 in Ontario Hockey League action Thursday.
Zac Torquato, one of five players suspended by the team for two games last weekend for breaking team rules, scored the winner and added an assist.
Three of ...
|
|
|
|
The Manitoba High School Athletics Association is appealing a human rights ruling that allows girls to play on boys hockey teams.
The association made the decision after a board of directors meeting Thursday.
Last month, the Manitoba Human Rights Commission ruled the association's policy banning girls from playing on boys teams if their school has a girls squad is discriminatory.
Twin sisters Amy and Jesse Pasternak had brought the case ...
|
|
|
|
It appears Bauer Nike Hockey executive Chris Zimmerman will be the next president and chief executive officer of the Vancouver Canucks.
Vancouver radio station News 1130 says the team will introduce Zimmerman at a news conference later today.
Zimmerman was named CEO of Bauer Nike Hockey in 2003 after spending four years with Nike Golf.
He played hockey at the University of Vermont and was an assistant coach at Babson ...
|
|
|
|
