WHL WEEKLY VOLUME 2, number 9 Yet another issue of the best-selling WHL: Weekly Magazine. The races are tightening in many divisions and the trading deadline is approaching fast. Not many deals this week, but I'm quite sure we can expect some in the next few weeks. CONTENTS: 1- Overall team stats 2- Rookie Report 3- Player of the week 4- Goaltender of the week 5- Weekly trades 6- Brother Love interview, by brother Jason 7- Brother Love quotes, by brother Jason 8- League Notes, by Michael Hebert 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- LUNATICS 48 31 15 2 202 159 64 .667 1 2- SPARROWS 47 28 14 5 166 134 61 .649 2 3- KRUSHERS 38 22 14 2 159 123 46 .605 4 4- DOMINATRS 48 27 17 4 197 166 58 .604 3 5- FREEZE 48 28 19 1 173 144 57 .594 5 6- WARRIORS 48 25 19 4 198 173 54 .563 13 7- FURY 48 25 19 4 166 144 54 .563 8 8- MONARCHS 41 22 17 2 157 156 46 .561 6 9- VIKINGS 43 22 17 4 160 155 48 .558 9 10- CORINTHS 48 25 20 3 201 171 53 .552 15 11- STEELCATS 48 25 21 2 166 164 52 .542 12 12- QUAKERS 48 22 18 8 166 162 52 .542 7 13- NORSEMEN 46 22 19 5 183 176 49 .533 16 14- GRUNTS 43 19 18 6 154 132 44 .512 10 15- RAPIDS 48 24 23 1 180 184 49 .510 14 16- VOODOO 43 19 20 4 152 147 42 .488 11 17- HUSKIES 44 19 21 4 143 168 42 .477 18 18- MALLRATS 38 16 18 4 144 139 36 .474 17 19- BREAKERS 42 15 22 5 141 169 35 .417 19 20- STALLIONS 43 14 25 4 129 157 32 .372 21 21- WOLVES 44 14 27 3 146 169 31 .352 20 22- CLOWNS 46 11 30 5 128 187 27 .293 22 23- AGENTS 48 11 32 5 146 224 27 .281 23 24- FLAM FISH 42 9 30 3 114 170 21 .250 24 2- ROOKIE REPORT: No changes in the top 2 spots. Saku Koivu is now in the third one, jumping from the 11th place, with a tremendous week of 16 points. As for the tenders, no changes there for the 2 first spots. Philippe DeRouville is still number 1, followed by Jamie Storr. PLAYERS: 1- Brian McCabe 48 12 37 49 17 0 0 0 0 83 36 14.5 2- Brian Berard 47 9 38 47 20 2 0 2 0 115 148 7.8 3- Saku Koivu 45 26 19 45 5 11 0 5 0 191 32 13.6 4- Sergei Samsonov 48 17 28 45 -14 1 0 2 0 133 28 12.8 5- Alexei Morozov 48 23 19 42 10 4 0 2 0 162 100 14.2 6- Stephane Yelle 48 21 20 41 29 0 0 4 0 140 22 15.0 7- Jason Botterill 48 12 26 38 9 3 0 1 0 98 110 12.2 8- Radek Dvorak 43 11 27 38 6 3 0 1 0 147 40 7.5 9- Todd Warriner 46 19 18 37 13 7 1 4 0 131 39 14.5 10- Dale Craigwell 43 14 23 37 7 4 0 2 0 95 14 14.7 11- Jan Vopat 48 7 30 37 -6 1 1 0 0 33 52 21.2 12- Andrew Brunette 41 18 17 35 2 6 0 4 0 133 73 13.5 13- Miikka Elomo 42 15 19 34 7 5 0 2 1 122 125 12.3 14- Teemu Riihijarvi 48 15 18 33 16 5 0 2 0 114 83 13.2 15- Vitali Prokhorov 46 16 16 32 5 4 1 1 0 129 8 12.4 16- Stephane Morin 48 12 19 31 1 1 1 0 0 104 40 11.5 17- Craig Fisher 48 11 20 31 16 0 0 2 0 86 102 12.8 18- David Ling 48 18 12 30 21 0 0 3 0 98 98 18.4 19- Daymond Langkow 40 15 15 30 11 6 0 7 0 122 104 12.3 20- Jamie Langenbrunner 46 15 15 30 -3 3 0 3 0 101 116 14.9 21- Marcus Ragnarsson 43 10 20 30 20 1 0 2 0 57 72 17.5 22- Ed Javanovski 48 6 24 30 2 2 0 1 0 100 115 6.0 23- Christer Olsson 38 9 20 29 -1 1 0 2 0 82 35 11.0 24- Patrice Lefebvre 46 12 15 27 3 1 0 0 0 98 84 12.2 25- Todd Bertuzzi 48 9 17 26 -10 2 0 1 0 82 88 11.0 26- Pavel Kriz 46 7 19 26 15 0 0 0 0 97 72 7.2 27- Deron Quint 48 10 15 25 -33 3 2 0 2 70 78 14.3 28- Darcy Tucker 45 13 11 24 6 7 0 1 1 100 124 13.0 29- Wade Redden 45 7 17 24 -6 3 0 1 0 66 76 10.6 30- Daniel Briere 46 18 4 22 -18 10 1 3 2 157 119 11.5 31- Roman Vopat 47 13 9 22 10 0 2 1 0 99 83 13.1 32- Zdenek Nedved 39 10 12 22 2 5 0 4 0 112 28 8.9 GOALTENDERS: 1- Phil DeRouville 26 1565 3.14 17 8 1 0 0 82 767 .893 2- Jamie Storr 31 1870 3.53 18 11 2 0 1 110 941 .896 3- Tim Cheveldae 11 660 3.55 6 5 0 0 1 39 329 .881 4- Pat Jablonski 22 1325 3.62 13 8 1 0 1 80 643 .876 5- Jason Muzzatti 4 240 3.75 2 2 0 0 0 15 117 .872 6- Jose Theodore 33 1995 3.82 15 15 3 0 0 127 1002 .873 7- Eric Fichaud 35 2110 3.84 13 20 2 1 1 135 1071 .874 8- Marc Denis 3 185 3.89 1 1 1 0 0 12 93 .871 9- Andy Moog 16 970 4.45 4 10 2 0 0 72 453 .841 10- Chris Rogles 2 120 4.50 0 2 0 0 0 9 56 .839 11- Robb Stauber 3 180 4.67 1 2 0 0 0 14 86 .837 12- Mark Fitzpatrick 4 240 5.00 1 3 0 0 0 20 178 .888 13- Jeff Hackett 1 60 5.00 0 1 0 0 0 5 29 .828 14- Tommy Soderstrom 1 60 5.00 0 1 0 0 0 5 28 .821 15- Patrick Lalime 4 245 5.14 0 3 1 0 0 21 115 .817 16- Les Kuntar 4 240 5.75 0 4 0 0 0 23 176 .869 17- Dominic Roussel 1 60 6.00 0 1 0 0 0 6 34 .824 3- PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARD: I got 12 teams nominations this week. That a record, don't give up guys, we're getting somewhere here. Our player of the week is rookie center Saku Koivu of the Corinthians. Last week, Koivu scored 7 goals, adding 9 assists for a total of 16 points in 6 games. Runners up were Owen Nolan of the Edmonton Vikings and Jeff Friesen of the Corinthians. GP G A PTS +/- SH PIM PCT Saku Koivu CORINTHS 6 7 9 16 13 48 12 14.6 Jeff Friesen CORINTHS 6 8 6 14 12 47 2 17.0 Owen Nolan VIKINGS 5 6 7 13 8 25 0 24.0 4- GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK AWARD: Our goaltender of the week is Felix Potvin of the Chicoutimi Sparrows. Last week, Potvin played in 4 games, leading the Sparrows to a record of 3-1-0 and keeping an excellent GAA of 1.50 and a save percentage of .946. Runners up were Martin Brodeur of the Steelcats, and Philippe De Rouville of the Corinthians. Felix Potvin SPARROWS 4 240 1.50 3 1 0 6 112 .946 Martin Brodeur STEELCATS 6 360 2.33 4 2 0 14 169 .917 Phil DeRouville CORINTHS 6 360 3.00 5 1 0 18 204 .912 5- WEEKLY TRADES: Only 2 trades this week, both involving the Sparrows. Trade #073 January 27, 1997 --------------------------------------------------------------- To the Sparrows: Michael Eastwood To the Steelcats: Jason Wiemer Trade #074 January 31, 1997 --------------------------------------------------------------- To the Sparrows: Daniel Laperriere To the Grunts: Darren Rumble 6- BROTHER LOVE INTERVIEW with GM Lars Nordekvist of the Wolves - By brother Jason BROTHERS AND SISTER, BROTHER LOVE WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME BROTHER LARS TO THE BROTHER LOVE SHOW.... BROTHER LARS WELCOME, would you be so kind to answer a few questions for this weeks interviewers? 1. Currently the Wolves are in 5th place in the Adams division and are 13 points behind the Grunts with 30 games left to go. Now I know that is a lot of time, but do you think your team will be able to pull something together and will you be able to GAIN THE LOVE BACK on your team to make the playoffs this year? - Last game we took a 3-2 victory over Quakers and they are in the top 10. So hopefully we are on our way up and it's 30 games left so ...... We have also problems at our home arena we lose 2 out of 3 games and that's not acceptable. 2. Your Wolves have the 3rd best Powerplay in the league and are 12th best in the league for Penalty Killing. I am wondering if you can explain your team's success on the special teams and lack of success during the regular season? - Well if my players were as weak as the average players in the other teams and fell whenever they where in close contact with opponents we would have hade more PP and that would have changed everything. But thats not good hockey as far as I can see. PP is something we have trained a lot and if we can keep our penalties low we will win. 3. Sergei Fedorov and Larry Murphy have been carrying the load as of recently for you and rumors are sufficing that they are not happy with the way the team is going. Especially the play of rookie goalie Eric Fichaud and his bad GOA as well as the just the total team effort. They have been quoted as saying that either the team starts to turn it around and some trades are made, or they both will not be on this team come next season... Is there any truth to this and what is your position on these rumors? - Well Murphy has been playing well and is in a very good mood. Fedorov isn't too happy about the team right now but I talked to him after last game and he felt more positive than before. And Eric, he has been a real disappointment so far, we are now looking at different solutions to this problem. 4. On day 44, the Waterloo Warriors destroyed your team 9-3. During that game Hall of Fame defenceman Raymond Bourque tallied 3 points but after the game said that the Warriors took it easy on you. That going into the game their coach told them not to embarras you guys too much and Raymond had this to say, "I could have got more points, but the Wolves didn't have a chance. I didn't want to set another record for most points in a game against them, they are having enough problems winning on there own." What do you feel about these comments as well as others in the league that certain gm's feel that the Wolves are an easy 2 points every night? - It's good, but after the game they will regret their attitude. We will give everything to reach playoffs, so no one should be too sure. 5. With the recent marketing idea of a web page for your team, how do you feel this will help them out. Do you believe that it will help with the marketing and sales of merchandise and season tickets or do you think it will just create extra revenue for your team by advertising? - It's our first step out in cyberspace and we are not going to stop here, eventually we will send out games live on the net. - One last word to our supporters:come to our next home game and give us your support, we need you. Well BROTHER LARS, BROTHER LOVE would like to thank you for your time and he would just like to let everyone know that.... I LOVE YOU!!!! 7- QUOTES - By brother Jason Seeing how your team is currently gaining on the league leading Lunatics, BROTHER LOVE would like to know how you feel about the play of your current team and if you think you will need to do anything to make a successful run for the CYBER CUP? Well, the Sparrows are playing very well lately, especially Potvin who is leading the league in all the goaltending categories. Berard and Juneau are doing very well too, and Turgeon finally is in good shape. Tocchet slowed a bit though, but if we keep getting consistant play from every player every night, we should give the Lunatics a good fight for the first place overall. I think the Sparrows have everything to go all the way to the Cyber Cup. - Michael Hebert, GM Chicoutimi Sparrows **************************************************************************** BROTHER LOVE would like to know if BROTHER DARREN believes if his team will ever make it out of this 12 game winless skid and if so how many years before this will happen? Well Brother Love, I am quite sure this team will come out of it's 12 game winless skid. It is really just a matter of when. Right now management really is not too concerned with the wins and losses. We have many new players, mostly from free agency, and they are all having a hard time adjusting to the high calibre of hockey in the WHL. Cujo has been stellar for us and we expect him to continue to be. While the current direction of the Voodoo seems to have alienated many fans (we are averaging about 8, 000 people a game now, vs. 19, 000 before the Xmas break) we are certain they will come back in the following years as this will be younger, faster, and by far more exciting team. I would like to go on record as saying that within the next three years the people of Vancouver can look forward to a parade down Robson street in celebration of Vancouver's first ever Cyber Cup. - Darren Kinnaird, Vancouver Voodoo **************************************************************************** BROTHER LOVE would like to know how you, BROTHER SHAUN feel about being tied with the brutal Voodoo for last spot in your division? To tell you the truth I don't really care. BROTHER DARREN killed his damn team and I don't know if I should celebrate that we finally are tied with the crappiest team in the league! - Shaun Driver, Bridgeland Huskies 8- LEAGUE NOTES - The Chicoutimi Sparrows acquired last week defenseman Daniel Laperriere from the St. John's Grunts. As Laperriere joined the Sparrows farm team, he became the franchise's 11th French player, a league all-time record. The Sparrows now have Joe Juneau, Pierre Turgeon, Felix Potvin, Marc Denis, Ian Laperriere, Daniel Laperriere, Yves Sarault, Rene Corbet, Martin Lapointe, Jimmy Waite and Jean-Yves Roy. The Sparrows also count 4 Millers on their roster: Aaron, and the three brothers Kelly, Kevin and Kip. - Rumors from Chicoutimi now say that Doug Brown is the most susceptible player to be traded. Last week, left winger Dave Thomlinson was involved in most of the rumors. Brown might be heading for Toronto or Boston very soon. - League Offices reports that there seem to be an increase of violence in the league. The following numbers were released: First 35 Days : 10 suspensions Last 12 Days : 11 suspensions Here are the suspensions table for this season Name Team Susp. #Games Back ----------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Coffey Huskies Day 3 2 (fr.4)Day 7 Petr Sykora Krushers Day 4 2 Day 7 David Karpa Huskies Day 5 2 Day 8 Brian Benning Thunder Day 8 2 (fr.9)Day 12 Joe Reekie Quakers Day 9 2 Day 12 Milos Holan Grunts Day 13 2 Day 16 Janne Laukkanen Sparrows Day 16 2 Day 18(2) David Karpa Huskies Day 18 2 Day 20 Joe Reekie Quakers Day 18 2 Day 21 Trent Klatt Mallrats Day 22 2 Day 26 Ken Baumgartner Wolves Day 36 2 Day 39 Keith Primeau Corinthians Day 36 2 Day 39 Lyle Odelein Lunatics Day 39 2 Day 42 Kelly Buchberger Fury Day 40 2 Day 42 Chris Dahlquist Agents Day 41 2 Day 44 Mark Messier Huskies Day 42 2 Day 46 Sylvain Cote Vikings Day 43 2 Day 46 Greg Smyth Voodoo Day 44 2 Day 48 Dave Tomlinson Krushers Day 46 2 Day 50 Daymond Langkow Freeze Day 47 2 Day 50 Christian Ruuttu Breakers Day 47 2 Day 50 - Here are some other interesting numbers from the league offices, after Day 45: (these goalies haven't won a game this year) Unsuccessful Goalies: Sean Burke Flaming Fish 0-14-1 Les Kuntar Agents 0-4-0 Patrick Lalime Norsemen 0-3-1 Garth Snow Wolves 0-3-1 Chris Rogles Corinthians 0-2-0 Jeff Hackett Fury 0-1-0 Dominic Roussel Quakers 0-1-0 Tom. Soderstrom Rapids 0-1-0 (these players haven't got a point this year) Unsuccessful Players: Chris. Ruuttu Breakers 37 games Kris Draper Mallrats 25 games Jason Ruff Corinthians 19 games Jimmy Carson Warriors 15 games Tom Pederson Stallions 14 games Steven Finn Norsemen 13 games Scott Thornton Corinthians 13 games Mark Lamb Warriors 12 games Mikko Makela Monarchs 9 games Danton Cole Voodoo 8 games Marek Malik Voodoo 8 games Dwayne Norris Stallions 8 games Rob Niedermayer Vikings 7 games Jere Lehtinen Clowns 6 games Landon Wilson Sparrows 5 games Doug Lidster Flaming Fish 4 games Mike Peluso Mallrats 4 games Rob Ray Lunatics 4 games David Roberts Voodoo 4 games Jason Wiemer Steelcats 4 games Todd Krygier Krushers 3 games Alexander Semak Quakers 3 games Paul Stanton Clowns 3 games Stu Barnes Flaming Fish 2 games John Gruden Fury 2 games J.-F. Jomphe Corinthians 2 games Randy Ladouceur Steelcats 2 games Dave Roche Dominators 2 games Anatoli Semenov Flaming Fish 2 games Mike Hudson Norsemen 1 game Stephen Leach Corinthians 1 game Gary Leeman Freeze 1 game Oleg Petrov Clowns 1 game Warren Rychel Stallions 1 game That's 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!