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Stumpy shooting for Stanley Ducks' Thomas summoning past for one last run at CupPosted: Friday March 14, 2003 12:09 PM
While deals involving fellow graybeards Doug Gilmour, Phil Housley and Brad May were hyped as key moves for their playoff-bound teams, the Mighty Ducks' acquisition of Steve Thomas from the Blackhawks for a 2003 fifth-round pick barely merited a mention. It was just another fading veteran making one final stop to play out the string, right? Think again. Thomas underwent a career renaissance in the 48 hours after joining Anaheim, scoring three goals in two games, including the game-winner in each. With his overtime goal on Thursday, Thomas moved into a tie with Sergei Fedorov and Jaromir Jagr for the lead in career OT goals with 12. That also gave Thomas 22 career overtime points, tying him with Mario Lemieux for second, three behind Mark Messier's 25. The Ducks now have two of the most experienced dozen forwards in the NHL, with Thomas ranking 12th at 1,181 games and Adam Oates placing ninth with 1,267. The same duo also makes the dirty dozen for most playoff games among active NHL forwards, with Thomas' 147 games at 10th and Oates' 142 games at 12th. In my post-deadline grades column, I gave the Ducks a "B" and said: "Steve Thomas doesn't contribute much offensively anymore, but Stumpy probably will score an ugly goal or two at a crucial time for the Ducks." Oops, is it too late to change that to an "A"? At least I nailed the one or two crucial goals part. After scoring just four goals in 69 games with Chicago before the trade, Thomas was beginning to wonder how much longer he should stick around. "I always said that it would be time to call it quits when there were guys in the league now that weren't even born when I was playing," Thomas said. "It seems like my career's just flown by. I've had such a great time playing in this league and I've met so many great people. But I'm going to have to try and continue to play. Things are going good right now, and it just gives me that much more confidence and gives me the belief that I can still play in this league." The 39-year-old Thomas is now with his fifth organization in 18 NHL seasons. And only Housley and Dave Andreychuk have played more seasons without winning a Stanley Cup, so Stumpy is hoping for a nice postseason run with Anaheim. "I'm the type of player who leads by work ethic," Thomas told the Orange County Register on Wednesday. "What's going to be difficult is I don't know too many people here. Hopefully, in the next couple of days, I'll become acquainted with a lot of the guys and be able to be a leader in the locker room." Thomas has scored as many game-winning goals in two games as Paul Kariya has all season. Clutch goals are a way to endear yourself to the guys in the locker room in a hurry, so you can be sure that Stumpy has his teammates' ears from here on out. Thomas is just the latest in a long line of feel-good stories this year for the Ducks. General manager Bryan Murray has made several great moves to lift the Ducks from 69 points last year to 82 points (and counting) this season. Jean-Sebastien Giguere is one win away from tying Guy Hebert for Anaheim's single-season club record of 31 victories. Kariya has battled back since losing his father to a heart attack on Dec. 27 and is having his best season since 1999-2000. Head coach Mike Babcock has breathed new life into this long-struggling franchise with his fiery style on the bench. The organization's first playoff berth in four years -- and just the third in the team's 10-year history -- is just weeks away. And thanks to a mid-week change of scenery from the Windy City to Disneyland, Thomas is realizing that everything is just Ducky in Anaheim. Step aside, coachCliff Ronning had two assists in Minnesota's 6-4 victory over Atlanta on Sunday to give him 836 career points and pass his head coach, Jacques Lemaire, for 98th on the NHL's career scoring list. "I asked him how many years it took him," joked Lemaire, who tallied 835 points in 853 games compared to Ronning's 838 points in 1,086 games. "But he said, 'I didn't play with Guy Lafleur.'" "He came in and congratulated me," Ronning said. "It's a good feeling, especially when the team wins. I wasn't really thinking about it, but now that it's happened I sure feel good that it happened in a big win. They've been telling me that I was close, but the games have been so important that I haven't been thinking about it." The Wild are playing important games for the first time in their franchise's history, but their bench boss has seen his fair share of playoff pressure. Lemaire won eight rings in 12 NHL seasons as a player and one in nine years as a coach. Combine that with general manager Doug Risebrough's five rings and assistant coach Mario Tremblay's four, and the Wild's key leadership figures have 18 Stanley Cup rings between them. Of the nine rings to choose from, Lemaire sports his 1976 one on his left hand. "That's the year we beat the [two-time defending champion] Flyers in four," Lemaire said. "It was the first of our four in a row. Probably at that time, it was considered the best group of guys playing as a team ever. I saw some of that in New Jersey when we won the Cup in 1995, but I've always said I've never seen a real team like that 1976 team." Lemaire's leadership and preaching of team play is a big reason the Wild are heading toward the playoffs in just their third year. While the 2003 Wild will never be confused with the '76 Habs, Minnesota's hard work and team play make Lemaire a near certainty to be a Jack Adams Award finalist this season. And once the second season starts, the Wild could be a candidate to upset a higher seed because of their incredible skating and tight forechecking. "Once I got here, I realized the team plays great positional hockey," Ronning said. "We have an unbelievable coach in Jacques who has a lot of knowledge. And we can beat teams that are better than us by playing the way he wants us to play. It's exciting because we have some good young players but we have some older guys that are on their last legs. We want to enjoy the playoffs." Inspirational Stewart set to ref milestone gameSaturday's Panthers-Bruins game at the FleetCenter is important for more than just the Eastern Conference playoff race. Referee Paul Stewart, a Massachusette native, will become the first U.S.-born ref to officiate 1,000 NHL games. After an eight-year pro career in which he appeared in 65 WHA games and 21 NHL games, Stewart began working as an official in the New England Junior League and was in the NHL full time by 1987. "Anybody who has had a dream or goal in their life has to face obstacles to get there and perhaps anyone who is thinking of surrendering or quitting should perhaps look at me," Stewart told the NHL Officials Assocation Web site. "If a guy from Dorchester, Mass. can end up on the ice for 28 years in pro hockey anything is possible." Stewart was diagnosed with colon cancer in February 1998, and was administered last rites after suffering hemorrhaging during a subsequent surgery in June of 1998. He made an emotional return to the ice 17 months later in New Jersey with commissionser Gary Bettman in attendance. Stewart is proud to have overcome cancer and returned to the ice, and he hopes he serves as inspiration to others fighting an uphill battle. "For everyone who has had to face a disease like cancer or some other disease it doesn't mean that your life is over," Stewart said. "You can survive. Every time I skate on the ice or do some other thing, they can look at me and say, that guy has faced it and he got through it. If that's my legacy, it's not a bad one to have." OHL coaching legend passes 1,000 winsOttawa 67's head coach Brian Kilrea earned his 1,000th career victory on Sunday with a 4-2 win over the Sudbury Wolves. The 68-year-old Kilrea joins Scotty Bowman as the only two coaches ever to record 1,000 wins in one league. Bowman won all 1,244 of his games in the NHL, while Kilrea's victories have all come in his 26-year stint with the OHL 67's. "It means I've been around a long time," Kilrea told The Canadian Press. "I'm happy it's over and I'm proud of the team." John Brophy, head coach of the ECHL Wheeling Nailers earned his 1,000th win on March 30, 2002, and is the active wins leader in professional hockey with Bowman now retired. But Brophy coached in the NAHL, SHL, AHL and NHL before joining the ECHL in 1991, so Bowman and Kilrea are the only two to win 1,000 games in one league. Kilrea will be honored with a 20-minute ceremony before Ottawa's Friday night game against the Belleville Bulls at the Ottawa Civic Centre. Worth notingAfter a 7-2-1 start under Bob Hartley, the Thrashers have gone just 4-9-3 since Feb. 8 to fall to 11-11-4 over under Hartley. ... Former Ducks head coach Ron Wilson is 5-8-0 against his old team with the Capitals and Sharks. ... The Avalanche improved to 11-0-1 against the Blue Jackets with their 5-1 victory on Thursday. ... Flames center Chris Drury switched to jersey No. 18 from No. 37 to allow Dean McAmmond to have his old number back. Drury also started off wearing No. 37 with the Avalanche before switching to 18 after Adam Deadmarsh was traded. ... The Red Wings have earned 27 points of a possible 30 since Feb. 8, and Detroit is 30-1-4-1 this season when leading after two periods. ... Fifteen-year-old Jason Crone of Owen Sound, Ontario was checked head first into the boards Saturday night and may never walk again. Crone underwent surgery at University Hospital on Sunday in London, Ontario, but his father says he can't feel anything below his chest or move his fingers. The sad story eerily recalls that of Brad Hornung, the former Regina Pats junior star who had his neck broken on a check by Troy Edwards in 1987. ... Martin Lapointe had just two goals in more than 707 minutes this season, but then scored three in 5:15 against the Devils on Thursday. ... Ducks coach Mike Babcock played newly acquired Rob Niedermayer at left wing on Wednesday and Thursday with Sykora and Oates instead of Kariya, breaking up Anaheim's top line which had combined for 27 goals and 77 points over the previous 29 games. ... NHL.com doubled its one-day traffic record Tuesday for the league's trade deadline day, recording 7.5 million page views. ... Marc-Andre Bergeron, Garnet Exelby, Darrel Scoville and Miroslav Zalesak teamed up to make history Tuesday night, by becoming the 351st, 352nd, 353rd and 354th AHL players to earn an NHL call-up this season, breaking the record of 351 from last season. Jon A. Dolezar covers the NHL for SI.com. Got a comment, question or scoop for Jon? Click here. |
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