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November pain Ice-cold Flames need Iggy to start lighting the lampPosted: Friday November 15, 2002 9:15 AM
Jarome Iginla continues to show a great deal of heart, even if he's not looking Hart-worthy. At this time last year, Iggy could do no wrong. And while he's still been a valuable part of the Flames, a recent team goal slump extends well beyond the stick of Calgary's top player. "When you're winning, you can say that you are saving them for the tougher games," Iginla said after Monday's 2-1 loss to Atlanta. "But it's tough when you lose by a goal or tie a game and you know that if you could just contribute more it would make a big difference. But I've been through it before and the way I look at it is I'm on my way out of it." Iginla scored against the Rangers on Thursday for his first goal since Oct. 31 and just his second in 3 1/2 weeks. But while Iginla ended his personal slump, the Flames as a whole are having a heck of a time lighting the lamp. Calgary has just two goals in the past 261:39 and its four-game losing streak has dropped the Flames to 5-6-3-3. "We have to find ways to score more than one goal," Iginla said Thursday. "Jamie McLennan is playing well for us right now and we've just got to battle through this and find ways to score more goals." Iginla said Monday that he's probably missed more breakaways already this season than he did all of last year. And wouldn't you know it, that trend continued with a blown one-on-one with Dan Blackburn on Thursday. But the affable star isn't worried. He and the Flames just need the biscuit to bounce their way again soon. "He's just got to get some bounces," head coach Greg Gilbert said. "He needs to keep doing what he does best, and that's playing hard and shooting the puck." With four goals and 10 assists in 17 games, Iggy is well off his pace from last season when he had 14 goals and 15 assists in the same span. Teams started to wratchet up their checking on Iginla and linemates Craig Conroy and Dean McAmmond about halfway through last season after they realized his torrid start wasn't a fluke. And the increased attention has continued this season for Martin Gelinas and Chris Drury, who are taking turns playing with Iggy and Conroy. Iginla's goals are down, but his effort and attitude remain decidedly up. He has been skating with his usual fervor, forechecking with passion and creating plays for his teammates when scoring chances aren't there for him. But that's the funny thing -- he is getting plenty of good looks at the net for himself. With 64 shots on goal, Iginla trails only Jaromir Jagr, Marian Gaborik, Alexei Koavlev, Bill Guerin, Ray Whitney and Sergei Fedorov. His 6.3 shooting percentage is the worst among any of the top snipers. "I talked to Jarome last week in New York ... and reminded him of Joe Sakic last year," Flames GM Craig Button told the Edmonton Journal. "I think he went 11 or 12 games in a row without a goal, but he never changed his style, and he got out of it. "Jarome isn't where he wants to be but I'm not concerned. Jarome is determined and a very smart individual. He hasn't changed his game. He'll overcome the obstacles and get to the bar he's set, and he'll get over it. He'll start burying his chances." The Flames need him to do that to end their four-game skid. A late November swoon last year spoiled their 13-2-2-2 start and left Iggy's breakout season as the team's lone bright spot. Despite a tough start on the scoresheet, Iginla has remained upbeat and knows better days are ahead. "I believe that we are going to see some more start going in." Vancouver getting tainted image from a few fansWhat exactly is in the water in Vancouver? Something is making for interesting antics during public gatherings in what many consider to be North America's most beautiful city. If only its fans' behavior looked as good to outsiders as the postcard vistas around town. During the Canucks' 6-3 win over the Blues on Tuesday, a 20-year-old man tried to climb up the protective netting behind the Vancouver goal. And the home bench was alerted to it in an interesting manner. "I was laughing at Brent Sopel because he was carrying the puck and yelling 'Look at that guy!' to the referee at the same time because the referee hadn't noticed," head coach Marc Crawford told the Vancouver Sun. GM Place was also the scene of a riot last Friday when Guns N' Roses canceled a concert at the last minute when lead singer Axl Rose didn't show up after having airplane problems in California. A group of fans rammed a bicycle through the glass doors outside the arena and one man told a television crew, "Axl is going to pay." But the trump card of fans turning into fanatics at GM Place was a pair of incidents during Vancouver's 5-1 loss to Colorado on Halloween. Two men decided to compare their Gino Odjick impersonations in the lower level. Why? Some knucklehead was spilling beer on them from the upper-level seats, and the dense duo began arguing about who was receiving the brunt of the barley shower. And later in that game, a pumpkin (which had been given away in an arena promotion) splattered to the ice and the culprit was pelted by beer, cups and other debris as he raced up the stairs in an unsuccessful attempt to evade security. Certainly these acts are partially attributed to liquid courage, but ultimately fans are responsible for their own actions. In the end, shame will overtake the 10 seconds of fame they might get by pulling such a stunt. Just ask Naked Guy who scaled the glass in Calgary last month and tumbled onto the ice unconscious with his arse hanging out for all to see. "I'm not concerned they're going to come on the ice and jump one of us," Canucks goalie Dan Cloutier told the Vancouver Sun. "There are a lot of players on the ice and we're really well protected." Protection isn't what is at issue here. Your average 5-foot-10 man with six brewskis fueling his mind isn't going to inflect too much damage on a 6-foot-2, well padded hockey player. But if these wacky incidents keep happening in Vancouver, loyal Canucks fans are going to get a bad reputation around the league. Dopita has been a bust in North AmericaWhile no official award is doled out, each year some European player is proclaimed as "The Best Player In The World Not In The NHL." Recent TBPITWNITN graduate Henrik Zetterberg is doing justice to the mythical title this season, but 2001 import Jiri Dopita hasn't lived up to his advance billing. The Oilers placed the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Czech center on waivers on Nov. 9, but the 34-year-old went unclaimed. Dopita scored 11 goals and had 16 assists in 52 games with the Flyers last season, but general manager Bob Clarke grew tired of Dopita's griping for increased minutes on a team that has two centers (Jeremy Roenick and Keith Primeau) with better two-way ability. While a .52 points-per-game average wasn't a disaster, his rookie campaign would've been more pedestrian if not for a five-point game against the lowly Atlanta Thrashers on Jan. 8. Dopita had just three assists and was a minus-5 in 13 games this season before Edmonton placed him in the injured list on Nov. 13 with a sore right knee. He missed the final four games of the 2001-02 regular season and Philadelphia's playoff series with Ottawa after having arthroscopic knee surgery in April. It's not as if the guy can't play. After all, he scored 315 points in 285 games with Vsetin of the Czech Extraleauge from 1995-2001. It's just that his best hockey is behind him. Dopita had one goal and two assists in helping the Czech Republic win the gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. If nothing else, it makes us all appreciate that Zetterberg made the jump to the NHL before he hits his prime. Rumor millThe Red Wings are in desperate need on a defensemen now that Jiri Fischer is out for up to six months. Players that general manager Ken Holland could turn to include unsigned veterans Steve Duchesne, Patrick Boileau and Cory Cross. But don't be surprised to see the Motowners do something more aggressive, like lure solid veteran Gary Suter out of retirement or pull a trade for Bruins holdout Kyle McLaren. If Detroit can come up with an attractive trade package, McLaren would give the Wings' blueliners a huge lift. Not to mention he and Fischer could pair as a mean duo for years to come once Fischer comes back from his injury. Alexei Zhitnik of the Sabres and Dmitry Yushkevich of the Panthers are other options if the price to snag McLaren proves to be too high. ... The Coyotes could look to Sens center Radek Bonk for help as their No. 1 center. ... Sabres general manager Darcy Regier said this week that no one on his roster in untouchable, something he made evident by placing popular veteran defenseman Jason Woolley on waivers. Worth notingAs if Patrick Roy doesn't already own enough records, he will likely break Terry Sawchuk's mark for most minutes played by a goalie Friday night in Dallas. He needs 50 minutes to pass Sawchuk's total of 57,194. ... Sergei Samsonov's wrist injury isn't healing as fast as he had hoped, and he won't return to action this weekend. Samsonov had two goals and four assists when he was injury on Oct. 17. ... Todd Marchant's knee may have done more damage to Mike Richter than first realized. Richter was scheduled to have his concussion symptoms looked at in Montreal on Thursday by Dr. Karen Johnston, who has worked with Eric Lindros in the past. ... Saku Koivu started his own foundation Wednesday in an effort to raise $8 million for a special diagnostic and treatment scanner. Montreal General Hospital didn't a high-tech PET/CAT Scan machine so Koivu had to travel nearly 100 miles to have test done in Sherbrooke, location of one of just two PET scan machines in Quebec. ... Think you had a fun summer job? Lightning defenseman Brad Lukowich went on tour with Nickelback as a roadie. "Testing, one, two, civilence, civilence ... " ... Former Oilers first-round pick (and legendary NHL draft bust) Jason Bonsignore has resurfaced with the Springfield Falcons in the AHL after two years out of hockey. After scoring just 16 points in 79 NHL games with Edmonton and Tampa Bay, Bonsignore bounced around the IHL and AHL before his hiatus. As for his comeback? So far, so good, as Bonsignore has two goals and two assists in five games. ... A player shooting up the charts for the 2003 NHL Entry Draft is North Dakota freshman Zach Parise, the son of ex-NHLer J.P. Parise. Zach has nine goals and 13 assists in his first eight college games to lead the NCAA with 2.75 points per game. Overall, his 22 points place him second, behind Jon DiSalvatore of Providence. Parise may be the most impressive freshman in 10 years, since a kid named Paul Kariya put up 25 goals and 75 assists as a Maine frosh in 1992-93. Shameless plugDon't like how SportsCenter edits the highlights of your favorite hockey team? Then make your own. The NHL is offering "The NHL Highlight Machine" as a new subscription feature on NHL.com this season. For a season fee of $29.95 or a monthly rate of $4.95, users get access to an enormous video database of game highlights. One of the features of the Highlight Machine is that you can make your own play list and then watch see the highlights as if you had edited the game highlights yourself. Another cool feature is the ability to statistically compare players against goalies to see how they have fared against certain netminders in the past. Other searchable options are comparisons of players vs. teams, goalies vs. teams and teams vs. other teams. But the coup d'grace of the service may be the archive of old games, accessible on a pay-per-view basis for $1.95 for subscribers or $2.95 for everyone else. "It's been selling very well," NHL Interactive CyberEnterprises president Keith Ritter told The Associated Press. Ritter and league spokesman Brian Walker expect many sales will be made to what they described as a tech-savvy fan base. Jon A. Dolezar covers the NHL for CNNSI.com. Got a comment, question or scoop for Jon? Click here. |
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