December IL 1992
Lightning takes N.H.L. by storm
Doug Brumley
Sports Editor
Expansion teams are not sup
posed to jump into a league and
win right away. It takes years to
cultivate and acquire the talent that
will make an expansion team a
winner. Right?
Well, of the two new expansion
teams in the National Hockey
League this year, the Ottawa Sena
tors got that message loud and clear,
but the Tampa Bay Lightning have
turned a deaf ear to such talk.
The Lightning, who made head
lines by giving female goaltender
Manon Rheaume a tryout, have
stayed in the headlines by holding
their own against the. more estab
lished teams in the league. Tampa
Bay won nine of its first 20 games,
putting them on a pace that would
give them the most wins of any
first year team in the N.H.L.'s his
tory. Among those struck by the
Lightning were the New York
Rangers and the Detroit Red
Wings, two of the league's top
teams. Leading the attack for the
Lightning is left winger Chris
Kontos. Kontos was a nobody in
the league when he was signed as
a free agent by Tampa Bay, but he
is now one of the top goal scorers
in the league. Through 23 games,
Kontos had recorded 19 goals, ty
ing him for third on the list of goal
scorers.
Recently, however, the Light
ning have fallen like a bolt from
high in the clouds, striking back
down to earth. The squad has
slumped, losing nine of their past
ten contests.
This sounds more like the play
of the Ottawa Senators who have
skated off with a victory only three
times this season. After 21 games,
the team had a .071 winning per
centage, and the team was on pace
to become not only the worst ex
pansion team in the N.H.L.'s his
tory, but the second worst team in
modern North America team sports
history—behind the 1976 Tampa
Bay Buccaneers of the National
Football League, who went 0-14.
You might ask yourself "How
can two expansion teams that en
tered the league in the same year,
and even chose players from the
same expansion draft pool, be at
totally opposite ends of the spec
trum?"
The answer lies in the location
of the teams. Tampa Bay, being in
Florida, is rather foreign to ice
hockey, which has always been
considered a northern sport. In or
der for the team to attract interest
and sell tickets, the team had to
win and win early. Ottawa, on the
other hand, had the interest needed
to fuel the franchise since there
had already been a professional
hockey team in the area before.
Because of Ottawa's interest in the
team, the managers and owners
gambled on the fact that the fans
might have a little more patience
with the squad during the first few
years.
Knowing this information, the
owners and general managers
chose their players accordingly.
Tampa Bay selected players who
had a lot of experience in ice
hockey, players that had won be
fore and could bring veteran lead
ership to the team. The plan of the
team' s administration to pick play
ers for the team's immediate suc
cess, with less emphasis on the
distant future, has worked so far.
The organization has gained plenty
of media attention for its success
and the fans are loving it.
The Senators organization, on
the other hand, was looking further
down the road, and selected
younger, less experienced players.
Ottawa is hoping to build a solid
foundation with these prospects,
with the idea of adding on over the
next five to ten years in order to
createacompetitiveclub thatcould
eventually challenge for the Stanley
Cup.
So while the teams are at expan
sion extremes right now, it will be
very interesting to see how they
are doing several years down the
road. The roles could very well be
reversed.
In other hockey news:
Often a very successful or popu
lar line—three players consisting
of a center, right wing, and left
wing—will be given a nickname
by sportswriters and the public. If
the name is really good, it will
stick. There are three such lines in
the league this year.
In Boston, the first scoring line
of Joey Juneau, Adam Oates, and
Dmitri Kvartalnov has been dubbed
the Bonanza line, based on the
popular television series, J uneau is
"Little Joe", Oates is "Adam", and
Kvartalnov is "Hoss." The three
players are the top three Boston
point scorers and have kept the
Bruins within reach of the Montreal
Canadiens in the Adams Division.
In Philadelphia, the crazy-eights
line has been impressive. The com
bination of #BB Eric Lindros, #8
Mark Recchi, and #lB Brent Fedyk,
combined for a total of 35 points —
goals plus assists —in four games.
In one game, the trio picked up 13
points, and followed that perfor
mance with a 12 point output. Cur
rently, the line is missing two very
big eights, rookie Eric Lindros,
who is out of the line-up with a
knee injury.
In Los Angeles, the first line has
been tagged The "Wow" Line—
the "Wow" standing for "without
Sports
Wayne." "The Great One," Wayne
Gretzky, is out of the line-up with
a back injury, but you wouldn't
know it by the King's success so
far this year. The "Wow" line con
sisting of Jari Kurri, Luc Robitaille,
and Tomas Sandstrom has lead the
Kings to the top of the Smythe
Division, and has kept the squad
on the heels of the league-leading
Pittsburgh Penguins. Incidentally,
the rumor is that Gretzky will start
skating again in March and should
be ready for the playoffs in April
and May. It will be interesting to
see whether the "Wow" line will
be broken up to accomodate
hockey's greatest player.
* * *
Do not be surprised if you see
the Quebec Nordiques, long known
for their residence in the basement
of the Adams division, make a
Home sweet
renovated home
Doug Brumley :
Sports Editor
I. : You've got to wonder if any of
the Greensboro Monarchs have,
over the course of the last two
months, clicked their skates to
gether and uttered the phrase,
'There's no place tike home."
Well, if they did, it didn't
work...until now.
. ; This Saturday night the Mon
archs finally return home from
the game road trip that began ;
this 1992-93 season. When the
Monarchs pull into Greensboro,
the team bus will have logged
roughly 17,000 miles,
The extended road trip, which
was necessary to allow the
completion of renovations made j
to the Monarch's home facility,
the Greensboro Coliseum, has
taken its toll on the team. The trip
started well* as the Mpnarehs lit
op the East Coast Hockey league j
by winning their first games!
Then came the Halloween night
game.
: The m was tewse-'in Raleigh
that night as the Monarchs battled
Quote of the week
"You can't compare preseason to regular season. Pre
season is just a way to screw fans out of money."
—Charles Barkley, Phoenix Suns star
move for the penthouse. The
Nordiques have flourished after
acquiring center Mike Ricci,
goaltender Ron Hextall, and of
fensive defensemen Kerry
Huffman and Steve Duchesne from
Philadelphia in the Eric Lindros
deal. Hextall has lost only 6 deci
sions in goal and is finally playing
like he did during his rookie year—
exceptional. All-star Joe Sakic has
been his usual amazing self, lead
ing the team with 18 goals and 20
assists in 22 games. And finally the
first round pick in the 1988 entry
draft, right wing-moved-to-center
Mats Sundin, has moved toward
reaching his true potential as a
power forward in the league. In
this, his third season, Sundin has a
point in each game—that's at least
one goal or assist in each of 29
games.
the Ice Caps. And battle them they 1
did. Two players were suspended
and the Monarchs were placed on .;
year-long probation as a result of
the brawl- that occurred that
evening* The episode left the Mon- (
archs with their first loss and a seat
in the East Coast Hockey League's
doghouse. -
That loss was the first of a seven
game tail-spin that hit bottom when
two players quit the team. The los
ing streak was broken at seven; but
since then the Monarchs have con
tinued topiay less than impressive
hockey. Their record of 7'wins and
11 losses has piit them in the bot
tom of the E.CJHUL's East Divi
sion, in seventh place. Arid the
losses have'not been pretty. The
Monarchs have scored a total of 64
goals against opponents, while
those same opponents have netted
96 against the
*l.Needle# $o sa£ : the JVfonarchs
are ready to come home. And this
of.; i
§12,000 fens are exp&feb'give ;
them a warm welcome. According
to Melissa Wallace, public rela
tions director for the Monarchs,
approximately 7,000 tickets had
fcfre &uiUorftan
The Nordiques are currently in
third place in the Adams division,
trailing Montreal and Boston. How
ever, the schedule is extremely kind
to the Nordiques this season, who
will play the hapless expansion
Ottawa Senators nine times, and
the almost-as-bad Hartford Whal
ers seven times, thus making their
ascent to the division's top spot
that much easier.
So the Nordiques, who were the
laughing stock of the league in the
not-too-distant past, have finally
received the talent necessary to
make them a contender for the
Stanley Cup.
* * *
St. Louis Blues' right wing
Brett Hull leads all-star balloting
with just over 149,000 votes.
Boston defenseman Ray Bourque
is currently second.
been sold by Wednesday afternoon.
Remember: that. Halloween
game? Well, thfeMonarchs do, and
Saturday night's opponent will be
those same Raleigh Ice Caps, And
the Monarchy and their fans, will
be ready, •••
First one must understand that
there arc predominately two styles
of hockey; the fast-skating, quick
passing style, and the rough-and
tumble, take-yoor-bead-off style.
Raleigh subscribes to the former,
Greensboro to the latter. So on
Halloween night, when the Mon
arch* got rough, the Ice Caps tried
to fight back—by crying to the
media. The Ice Caps dubbed the
Monarchs as "bruisers," and the
Monarchs retaliated with the
"crybaby" label for the ice Caps,
In honor of the Ice Caps, 6,000
cloth diapers will be handed out at
the door before Saturday night's
game, according to Wallace. The
"crybaby" diapers will serve as
rally towels for the Monarchs dur
ing the game. liSllf
111 Ticfcetprices for ifce game are $4
foit students with their ID,*: $6.50
ands7,so r 'fj
Welcome hote> guys. ■
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