WHL WEEKLY MAGAZINE VOLUME 2, Number 12 CONTENTS: 1- Overall team stats 2- Rookie Report 3- Player of the week 4- Defenseman of the week 5- Goaltender of the week 6- Weekly trades 7- League Notes -By Michael Hebert 8- Future report -By Darren Kinnaird 9- Teams' Tidbits - Anyone has a better heading, let me know! 1- OVERALL TEAM STATS: The teams are ranked primarily by the percentage, and then, in case of a tie, by the number of wins, and finally, in case of another tie, by the difference between the GF and GA. OVERALL STANDINGS GP W L T GF GA PTS PCT LAST WEEK 1- CORINTHS 70 43 22 5 333 249 91 .650 2 2- NORSEMEN 68 41 22 5 307 242 87 .640 7 3- SPARROWS 68 38 21 9 254 201 85 .625 1 4- WARRIORS 69 40 25 4 292 244 84 .609 6 5- VIKINGS 62 34 24 4 251 220 72 .581 9 6- LUNATICS 70 37 26 7 289 207 81 .579 8 7- DOMINATRS 70 37 26 7 295 269 81 .579 3 8- KRUSHERS 54 28 20 6 213 175 62 .574 5 9- FREEZE 70 37 27 6 262 217 80 .571 4 10- MALLRATS 57 28 23 6 227 200 62 .544 14 11- STEELCATS 70 36 30 4 259 245 76 .543 11 12- FURY 70 35 30 5 237 223 75 .536 10 13- GRUNTS 64 30 27 7 242 216 67 .523 16 14- QUAKERS 70 29 27 14 246 236 72 .514 13 15- RAPIDS 69 34 33 2 256 257 70 .507 12 16- HUSKIES 65 30 30 5 214 240 65 .500 15 17- MONARCHS 62 26 34 2 222 259 54 .435 17 18- STALLIONS 65 29 31 5 223 220 63 .485 19 19- VOODOO 64 25 34 5 219 266 55 .430 18 20- WOLVES 65 22 38 5 228 255 49 .377 21 21- BREAKERS 63 18 38 7 213 287 43 .341 20 22- FLAM FISH 63 16 40 7 173 238 39 .310 22 23- EAGLES 67 16 45 6 200 314 38 .284 23 24- AGENTS 69 13 49 7 205 330 33 .239 24 2- ROOKIE REPORT: Saku Koivu is still leading the rookie scorers, followed by Bryan McCabe. Sergei Samsonov is now third, with Elomo and Dvorak closing the top 5. Bryan Berard isn't in the top 5 anymore, he who was there since the beginning of the season. PLAYERS: GP G A PTS +/- PP SH GW GT S PIM PCT 1- Saku Koivu 66 48 39 87 25 13 0 6 0 298 39 16.1 2- Bryan McCabe 69 15 62 77 25 0 0 0 0 125 70 12.0 3- Sergei Samsonov 68 27 39 66 -2 3 0 3 0 182 42 14.8 4- Miikka Elomo 64 30 32 62 22 9 0 3 1 208 176 14.4 5- Radek Dvorak 61 22 40 62 26 4 0 2 0 220 53 10.0 6- Bryan Berard 67 12 48 60 21 2 0 2 0 149 197 8.1 7- Todd Warriner 68 28 29 57 29 8 2 6 0 208 67 13.5 8- Jan Vopat 68 11 44 55 4 1 1 2 0 57 88 19.3 9- Jason Botterill 69 21 33 54 8 3 0 1 0 161 163 13.0 10- Dale Craigwell 63 18 34 52 -2 8 0 2 0 144 27 12.5 11- Stephane Yelle 69 23 28 51 35 0 0 4 0 190 26 12.1 12- Alexei Morozov 67 26 24 50 12 5 0 3 0 215 157 12.1 13- Darcy Tucker 65 22 26 48 24 12 0 3 1 177 205 12.4 14- Ed Jovanovski 69 8 40 48 -9 3 1 2 0 143 169 5.6 15- Teemu Riihijarvi 68 21 26 47 16 9 0 2 0 157 124 13.4 16- David Ling 69 24 20 44 30 1 0 5 0 145 133 16.6 17- Marcus Ragnarsson 63 15 29 44 29 1 0 2 0 87 117 17.2 18- Dimitri Nabokov 68 19 24 43 -2 6 0 1 0 155 60 12.3 19- Stephane Morin 69 17 25 42 6 1 1 1 0 156 46 10.9 20- Andrew Brunette 60 21 20 41 -14 6 0 4 0 182 108 11.5 21- Daymond Langkow 59 19 22 41 13 6 0 9 0 176 160 10.8 22- Pavel Kriz 67 12 29 41 26 0 0 1 0 120 132 10.0 23- Jamie Langenbrunner 66 19 21 40 -16 4 0 3 0 142 142 13.4 24- Christer Olsson 56 13 27 40 4 1 0 3 0 116 49 11.2 25- Barry Richter 62 8 31 39 -7 2 0 0 0 95 97 8.4 26- Craig Fisher 61 14 24 38 26 0 0 3 0 118 127 11.9 27- Daniel Alfredsson 69 24 13 37 -2 3 4 4 0 189 42 12.7 28- Patrice Lefebvre 60 15 20 35 11 2 0 1 0 126 98 11.9 29- Wade Redden 66 9 26 35 0 3 0 1 0 86 92 10.5 30- Deron Quint 68 12 22 34 -4 4 2 0 2 93 87 12.9 Just a word about Jeff Reese, Mike Dunham, Robb Stauber and Mark Fitzpatrick. Poor guys, quite a hard way to graduate isn't it? I wish them luck for next season. GOALTENDERS: 1- Ken Wregget 1 65 2.77 0 0 1 0 0 3 26 .885 2- Manny Fernandez 7 420 2.86 5 2 0 0 0 20 210 .905 3- Marc Denis 5 305 3.15 3 1 1 0 0 16 149 .893 4- Phil DeRouville 47 2835 3.29 34 10 3 0 1 155 1415 .890 5- Patrick Lalime 23 1385 3.34 17 5 1 0 0 77 720 .893 6- Jamie Storr 42 2530 3.53 25 15 2 0 1 149 1253 .881 7- Jeff Hackett 7 425 3.67 4 2 1 0 0 26 210 .876 8- Tim Cheveldae 13 780 3.69 7 6 0 0 1 48 386 .876 9- Jose Theodore 40 2415 3.73 21 16 3 0 0 150 1238 .879 10- Eric Fichaud 54 3260 3.85 21 29 4 1 2 209 1741 .880 11- Pat Jablonski 35 2120 3.85 18 13 4 0 1 136 1072 .873 12- Jason Muzzatti 5 300 4.20 2 3 0 0 0 21 151 .861 13- Andy Moog 16 970 4.45 4 10 2 0 0 72 453 .841 14- Chris Rogles 2 120 4.50 0 2 0 0 0 9 56 .839 15- Tommy Soderstrom 1 60 5.00 0 1 0 0 0 5 28 .821 16- Mark Fitzpatrick 16 970 5.07 3 11 2 0 0 82 735 .888 17- Les Kuntar 4 240 5.75 0 4 0 0 0 23 176 .869 18- Dominic Roussel 1 60 6.00 0 1 0 0 0 6 34 .824 19- Robb Stauber 10 605 6.84 2 7 1 0 0 69 414 .833 20- Mike Dunham 2 120 7.00 0 2 0 0 0 14 90 .844 21- Jeff Reese 3 185 7.14 0 2 1 0 0 22 141 .844 3- PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARD: Our player of the week is Robert Reichel, from the Grunts. In 11 games, Reichel scored 15 goals, and added 7 assists, for a total of 22 points. Runners up were Ronnie Stern and Peter Bondra from the Norsemen, and Saku Koivu and Mats Sundin from the Corinthians. GP G A PTS +/- SH PIM PCT Robert Reichel GRUNTS 11 15 7 22 10 56 6 26.8 Ronnie Stern NORSEMEN 11 9 11 20 2 62 32 14.5 Peter Bondra NORSEMEN 11 11 8 19 9 66 8 16.7 Saku Koivu CORINTHS 11 10 8 19 3 51 5 19.6 Mats Sundin CORINTHS 11 6 13 19 4 53 26 11.3 4- DEFENSEMAN OF THE WEEK AWARD: Once again, for the third consecutive week, our defenseman of the week is Steve Smith of the Norsemen. Last week, Smith scored 5 goals, adding 18 assists for a total of 23 points. Runners up were Mathieu Schneider of the Grunts and Al MacInnis of the Lunatics. GP G A PTS +/- SH PIM PCT Steve Smith NORSEMEN 11 5 18 23 33 53 35 9.4 Mathieu Schneider GRUNTS 11 5 14 19 16 16 14 31.3 Al MacInnis LUNATICS 11 4 14 18 0 17 8 23.5 5- GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK AWARD: For the second consecutive week, our goaltender of the week is Patrick Lalime of the Norsemen. Last week, Lalime kept an excellent 3.09 GAA, and a .906 save percentage. The runner up was Felix Potvin. GOALTENDER GP MIN AVG W L T GA SA PCT Patrick Lalime NORSEMEN 11 660 3.09 10 1 0 34 363 .906 Felix Potvin SPARROWS 8 495 2.55 3 2 3 21 230 .909 6- WEEKLY TRADES: Lots of trades in the last period. Even some teams that hadn't done any trading all year joined the party: Fury, Krushers, Freeze, Mallrats. In total 17 of the 24 teams made a trade, with the Eagles and the Steelcats being involved in the most trades, respectively with 8 and 7 trades. Trade #085 February 21, 1997 -------------------------------------------------------------- To the Agents: Kenny Jonsson To the Lunatics: Jeff Beukeboom Trade #086 February 21, 1997 -------------------------------------------------------------- To the Steelcats: Alexei Zhitnik To the Flaming Fish: Adam Bennett Kevin Brown Trade #087 February 21, 1997 -------------------------------------------------------------- To the Corinthians: Brian Curran Stefan Ustorf To the Flaming Fish: Brent Gilchrist Matt Martin Trade #088 February 27, 1997 -------------------------------------------------------------- To the Warriors: Trevor Linden Alexei Zhitnik Tomas Sandstrom To the Steelcats: Teemu Selanne Jason Doig Jose Theodore 1st round draft pick Trade #089 February 27, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------- To the Steelcats: 4th round draft pick (from the Grunts) To the Flaming Fish: Valeri Zelepukin Trade #090 February 28, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------- To the Norsemen: Alexander Kharlamov Alex Karpovtsev 6th round draft pick To the Steelcats: Pavel Kriz Christian Laflamme Trade #091 February 28, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------- (completion of trade #072) To the Steelcats: Mariusz Czerkawski To the Stallions: Todd Warriner Trade #092 February 28, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------- To the Lunatics: Larry Murphy To the Wolves: Garry Galley 2nd round draft pick Trade #093 March 2, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------- To the Lunatics: Paul Coffey To the Grunts: Mathieu Schneider 2nd round draft pick (from the Steelcats) Trade #094 March 2, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------- To the Wolves: Dan Kesa 1st round draft pick To the Dominators: Brett Hull Trade #095 March 5, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------- To the Steelcats: Daniel Briere To the Clowns: Jason Wiemer Christian Laflamme Brandon Convery Jason York Trade #096 March 6, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------- To the Steelcats: Janne Laukkanen 5th round draft pick To the Sparrows: Matt Johnson 6th round draft pick (from the Flaming Fish) Trade #097 March 6, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------- To the Dominators: Alexei Lojkin Stefan Ustorf 3rd round draft pick To the Corinthians: Jason Dawe Trade #098 March 7, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------- To the Eagles: Steve Rucchin Brian Savage Patrick Labrecque To the Lunatics: Patrick Roy Trade #099 March 7, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------- To the Eagles: Jason Allison Scott Pellerin 3th round draft pick To the Corinthians: Frantisek Kucera Trade #100 March 7, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------- To the Sparrows: Jesse Belanger Lance Pitlick To the Eagles: Ian Laperriere 4th round draft pick Trade #101 March 8, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------- To the Warriors: Steve Yzerman John MacLean Frantisek Musil Blaine Lacher To the Eagles: Jeff Reese Alexei Zhitnik Bill Lindsay Darren McCarty Rhett Warriner 2nd round draft pick Trade #102 March 8, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ To the Flaming Fish: Joe Sacco Mike Ricci To the Eagles: Aaron Gavey 1st round draft pick, from the Grunts Trade #103 March 9, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ To the Warriors: Lance Pitlick Future Considerations (Mike McKee, March 11, 1997) To the Sparrows: Jimmy Carson Trade #104 March 11, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ To the Krushers: Dominik Hasek Luke Richardson Bryan Smolinski Russ Courtnall To the Fury: Paul Kariya Zigmund Palffy 1st round draft pick Trade #105 March 11, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ To the Flaming Fish: Jimmy Carson To the Sparrows: Ken Wregget Trade #106 March 11, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ To the Eagles: Dwayne Norris Warren Rychel 4th round draft pick (from the Flaming Fish) To the Stallions: Rusty Fitzgerald Trade #107 March 11, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ To the Norsemen: Rory Fitzpatrick 2nd round draft pick To the Mallrats: Ray Sheppard 1st round draft pick Trade #108 March 12, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ To the Eagles: Chris Ferraro 4th round draft pick To the Freeze: Jocelyn Lemieux Trade #109 March 12, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ To the Mallrats: Jeff Shevalier Jim Dowd Gino Odjick 4th round draft pick To the Lunatics: Cliff Ronning Doug Weight Mike Peluso 7- LEAGUE NOTES: -Compilation of Player of the Week Award, WHL2 Forward Alexei Zhamnov, Edmonton Vikings Alexei Zhamnov, Edmonton Vikings Pat Lafontaine, Waterloo Lunatics Pat Lafontaine, Waterloo Lunatics Pat Lafontaine, Waterloo Lunatics Mike Modano, Des Moines Dominators Saku Koivu, Kingston Corinthians Saku Koivu, Kingston Corinthians Eric Lindros, Albany Mallrats Robert Reichel, St. John's Grunts Defenseman Steve Smith, Struer Norsemen Steve Smith, Struer Norsemen Steve Smith, Struer Norsemen Goaltender Daren Puppa, Bridgeland Huskies Guy Hebert, Des Moines Dominators Curtis Joseph, Vancouver Voodoo Curtis Joseph, Vancouver Voodoo Ron Hextall, Struer Norsemen Philippe DeRouville, Kingston Corinthians Felix Potvin, Chicoutimi Sparrows Ed Belfour, Bridgeland Huskies Patrick Lalime, Struer Norsemen Patrick Lalime, Struer Norsemen -The WHL3 Rulebook's release has been reported again. There are still some minor details that have to be worked out and written clearly. League's Spokesperson and Commissioner Michael Hebert said that he's sorry about the delay and that it will be out as soon as possible. 8- FUTURE REPORT: - By Darren Kinnaird Hello and welcome once again to Future Report. I am your host Jim Hughson. Today's guest is Andrei Zyuzin. Andrei is certain to be a first round draft pick in this year's upcoming draft, and could go first overall. At 6 foot 1, 190 pounds, Zyuzin should turn into an impact defenseman in the WHL. While he has never put up big numbers, his offensive abilities must be projected because defensemen playing in the Russian system rarely get involved in the attack. He is a man that doesn't want to get scored upon. He really cares about his end of the rink. While making tremendous strides learning english, he was also an assistant captain for Russia in the World Junior Championship. JH: Welcome Andrei! AZ: Eet iz nise to be heer. JH: So Andrei, what was it like growing up in Russia and how have the changes there affected your hockey playing opportunities? AZ: Weel eet haz been deeferent since ta breakup uv ta Comuneest gofermint. My hoakey opportueneteez has becalm greeter since awl uv ta beeg Russian stars go to WHL now. I have beeter oppotueneteez to play wit good players in Red Army. JH: Do you have a favorite team or team that you would like to go to? AZ: My favoreet teem used ta be ta Moascauw Bleezard. Now I don't have favoreet teem. As a boy, I like to watch Fetisof. I wood like to go to a team that is looking ta ween. JH: If given the opportunity, would you like to play for the Russian team in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano Japan? AZ: I wood be ownered ta haf chance to play wit ta Oleempic teem. There will be many good player dare, and it wood be da chance uv a lifetiem. JH: What would you say are your strongest abilities? AZ: I wood say I play good deefense. I haf been told I skate reel fas, and know what todo wit da puck. I try to focus on deefense first, but I told that in WHL I be mow vauble as a play maka. JH: Well that is all the time we have for this week. Our guest has been Andrei Zyuzin, and next week we hope to be welcoming Josh Holden. So until then we'll see you in the future.... 9- TEAMS' TIDBITS: The CORINTHIANS --------------- Saku Koivu was interviewed to comment on his season, the trade that brought him to Kingston, and the possibility of beating Mats Sundin's 55 goals record (for both the WHL and the team), and the rookie of the year award. "The trade that brought me to Kingston was the best thing that could happen to me. Not that the Mustangs organization wasn't a good one, not at all, but back there, I was still adapting to the North American hockey style. It was just a matter of time before things started to go better for me. Being traded for as good a player as Alexander Mogilny was good too. It made me realize how people thought I could play, and I wanted bad to show them is am as good as they think. Mats (Sundin) and Jeff (Friesen) really helped me too. I really like playing with them. They're both fast, and good shooters and good puck handlers. Playing on the right wing helped me too. I never played there before, but it is less responsibilities than playing center, so it helped. I'm really looking forward to moving back to center next season though (...) I never thought about beating any record. I have 48 goals right now, with 5 games left, so I think it's possible that I can beat this record. It would be a great honor to beat a player such as Mats (...) I never thought about the rookie of the year award either. I'm not playing for individual awards of personal glory, all I want is the Cyber Cup, as all the players of the Corinthians do, and I think we have all the elements in place to bring it back here in Kingston." One thing is for sure, the trade that brought Koivu, along with defencemen Sylvain Lefebvre and Kevin Lowe to Kingston is one of the best trade in GM Marc Hebert's career. Now, all we have to do is sit and watch if the Corinthians can make it as far as everyone seems to think. Here are the offensive stats of the 3 players acquired in the Koivu trade with the Corinthians: Saku Koivu 33 41 32 73 +40 198 25 20.7 Sylvain Lefebvre 33 12 25 37 +40 83 42 14.4 Kevin Lowe 29 0 7 7 +19 9 34 0.0 - Luc Gelinas pour Sports 30 The GRUNTS ---------- " Matt Schneider has really made the trade of Paul Coffey look good. In that deal we traded Coffey who was rated higher but slumping, for Schneider who was hot and a better defensive player...plus a round 2 draft choice. Robert Reichel has been on-fire these last two weeks and remains the surprize of the season for the GRUNTS." "Also the coaching staff is being careful to try to rest key players as we near the play-offs, plus Zubov continues to slump despite playing along side 3 or 4 streaking guys....if he ever snaps out of it, this team could win games with just it's defence alone." CAPN DAVE GRUNTS WHL The SPARROWS ------------ Even though the Sparrows have been passed by 2 teams in their division, GM Michael Hebert is still satisfied with his team this season. "The Corinthians and Norsemen play so well, what can we do? Even finishing in 3rd position is great. You have to remember that the Sparrows finished 22nd last year, so we still are the team that improved the most." The VIKINGS ----------- Alexei Zhamnov broke his old club record of 49 goals in a season when he notched his 50th against the Huskies. Zhamnov has been everything the Vikings had hoped he would be when they selected him 22nd overall in the inaugural WHL draft. "It is a lot easier game when you get to play with linemates like Nolan and Dvorak. We all understand each other pretty well and know what each other is going to do. Without them I wouldn't score 20 goals let alone 50." With their hot play of late the Vikings have managed to move into the #1 playoff seed in the West with a .590 winning percentage. The current division leading Dominators are hot on their heels though with a .587 winning percentage. "It'd definetly be nice to nail down the #1 seed," said center Jason Arnott. "We have great fans here and it would definetly be alot easier to open the playoffs here. I wasn't here last season but I know it's important for alot of the guys to nail down another Smythe Division regular season title. Of course the playoffs are the most important thing and we just want to be rolling when we get there. We like to think we stand as good a chance as any." Team Owner and GM Lee McEwen was unfazed by the arrival of another WHL team to the Edmonton area. "We were here first and we've played quality hockey from day one. We already have a huge waiting list for seasons tickets so those people will at least have something to watch while our building is completely sold out. Plus it makes for some really short road trips. I wish the Eagles all the best in Edmonton and have no worries about them taking away our spotlight. Simply put we're Edmonton's team." The trade deadline passed with no player movement from the Vikings. "I'd been saying all along that we made our deadline deal with the acquisition of Shanahan. We were no longer actively pursuing any trades. All that being said though, I will say that a huge blockbuster almost fell into our lap that involved 4 teams and a truckfull of players, prospects and draft picks," McEwen said. "However I'm not going to name names because it's not fair to the players involved to know how close they came to becoming members of other teams." Speculation has it that Teemu Selanne was going to be the player going to the Vikings which would involve the Steelcats for sure. Other than that no one really knows who the Vikings players were or who the other two teams were although it is a good bet the Voodoo were also involved. Viking Press The VOODOO ---------- Mike Peca has be named as captain of the Voodoo. I wonder if he is the youngest captain in the WHL? Also the Voodoo are now under ownership of Black Magic Entertainment. Darren Kinnaird is sole owner of Black Magic Entertainment. They currently own the Vancouver Voodoo hockey team of the WHL and the Valdez Voodoo baseball team of the UIFBA. Darren Kinnaird GM Vancouver Voodoo That's all for for this week. Thanks for reading! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send comments, suggestions, NOMINATIONS... to: MARC HEBERT Official WHL newsman fj491599@er.uqam.ca CAUTION! Involvement in a fantasy hockey league can cause headaches, loss of sleep, and is very addictive. GO READ A BOOK IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BECOME AN IDIOT!