Month: December 2008

OTTAWA – Three practices and three games is all Pat Quinn gets in order to decide who plays for Canada’s junior hockey team.
Quinn had never met some of the 38 players who arrived Thursday for selection camp.

PITTSBURGH – Petr Sykora finally scored his first career hat trick, leading the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 9-2 rout of the New York Islanders on Thursday night.

PHILADELPHIA – Scott Hartnell had a hat trick and the Philadelphia Flyers staged their biggest comeback in 20 years, erasing a four-goal deficit in the third period and beating the Carolina Hurricanes 6-5 in a shootout victory Thursday night.

HAMILTON, Ont. – Josh Soares scored the game winner early in the second period as the Peoria Rivermen downed the Hamilton Bulldogs 2-1 in American Hockey League action Thursday night.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Jake Voracek is learning as he goes through his rookie season.Voracek watched what was happening in the shootout and applied that knowledge to help the Columbus Blue Jackets and goaltender Steve Mason beat the Nashville Predators 2-1 on Thursday night.

MONTREAL – It couldn’t have been a better night for Montreal natives Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier – or their beleaguered coach Rick Tocchet.

DALLAS – The Stars placed defenceman Sergei Zubov on the injured list and recalled Dan Jancevski from Hamilton of the AHL on Thursday.The 38-year-old Zubov has missed Dallas’ last five games after injuring his hip last month.

In an era when it seems we can’t get enough news about athletes, when every bar brawl, strip-club visit and parking-lot scrape merits a headline, the best story of the NHL season somehow managed to fly below the radar for nearly three weeks.

VANCOUVER, B.C. – There still is no word on when Vancouver Canuck goaltender Roberto Luongo may return to NHL action.Luongo, out since Nov. 22 with a groin injury, had been practising with the Canucks and there was speculation he could play in Saturday’s game against the Oilers in Edmonton.

Marian Hossa turned down long-term money for a chance to win the Stanley Cup and isn’t about to second guess his decision just because the economy is falling apart.

Vancouver Canucks star goaltender Roberto Luongo could potentially be out longer than initially expected.

The Vancouver Sun is reporting Luongo left practice after only 20 minutes Wednesday and was not made available to the media after a daily update on his groin pain was briefed.

ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Blues goaltender Manny Legace is listed as day-to-day after getting kneed in the head.Legace was hurt in the first period of Wednesday’s 4-2 loss at Anaheim.

Scoring summaries from Wednesday’s games:Flames 3 at Red Wings 4 (OT)First Period1. Calgary, Conroy 4 (Cammalleri, Phaneuf) 15:032. Calgary, Langkow 7 (Bertuzzi, Moss) 19:09Penalties – Lebda Det (hooking) 4:07, Aucoin Cal (delay of game) 16:07.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – With about three minutes remaining against St. Louis, the Ducks’ Brendan Morrison was frustrated that he had an open shot but no puck.

Movements in the world of hockey Wednesday:National Hockey LeagueCAROLINA HURRICANES-Activated D Dennis Seidenberg from injured reserve. Placed D Anton Babchuk on injured reserve.

DALLAS – Martin Hanzal helped the Phoenix Coyotes rebound from their most lopsided loss of the season.Hanzal scored twice, including the third-period tiebreaking goal off a fortunate bounce, and the Coyotes beat Dallas 5-3 on Wednesday night just a few hours after Stars officials met to discuss what to do with suspended forward Sean Avery.

CHICAGO – Cristobal Huet found himself watching more than playing early in the season because the Chicago Blackhawks’ other goaltender, Nikolai Khabibulin, was performing so well.

NEWARK, N.J. – Scott Clemmensen, a minor leaguer for most of his career, wondered if his NHL chance would ever come.Finally given an opportunity, Clemmensen seized it after New Jersey No.

ATLANTA – Scott Gomez scored 15 seconds into overtime and the New York Rangers snapped a two-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the struggling Atlanta Thrashers on Wednesday night.