Hockey: NHL

Oilers & Flames highlights of NHL season

 Canada's NHL stars against the world -- it doesn't get any better than this for hockey fans, many of whom will have to devise ways to escape work in time to relocate in front of television sets to take in the country's opener against Sweden at 4 p.m. EST, Friday, Feb. 15, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 It'll by anybody's guess what the NHL playoff picture will look like when the league takes its Olympic schedule break.

 The Toronto Maple Leafs are showing they are good enough to take a serious run at the Stanley Cup, the Montreal Canadiens are vastly improved, and the Ottawa Senators are solid once again.

 In the west, the Vancouver Canucks struggle to play .500 hockey, while the success of the Edmonton Oilers and the resurgence of the Calgary Flames will make this a winter to remember for Albertans.

 As 2001 slips away, let's look back at some of hockey's biggest happenings during the year.

 Internationally, our women's team won a seventh consecutive world title in Minneapolis and improved its overall record to an astounding 35-0.

 Our juniors finished third in Moscow, making Canada the only country to earn medals in each of the last three tournaments. Raffi Torres scored in overtime in a 2-1 victory over Sweden in the bronze-medal game of a tournament won by the Czech Republic. Jarret Stoll of Melville, Sask., is captain of the squad that is in the Czech Republic now seeking gold.

 Canada's under-18 team won gold in the Czech Republic last August. At the senior worlds in Hannover, Germany, a Darby Hendrickson goal gave the United States a 4-3 victory and knocked Canada out of medal contention.

 While campaigns to maintain the sanity of those involved in minor hockey were largely successful, disappointing incidents continued to occur. Last Feb. 1, charges against a hockey dad were dropped in London, Ont., after he apologized for threatening to shoot the referee at his son's minor-hockey game.

 In the NHL, Montreal goalie Jose Theodore got the year off to a bang on Jan. 2 by becoming the sixth goalie in league history to score a goal. Theodore got the puck near his crease and lifted a backhander that landed at centre ice and slid into the middle of a vacated Islanders net with nine seconds remaining in a 3-0 Canadiens victory in Uniondale, N.Y.

 Mario Lemieux's comeback season gained momentum, although a hip injury has kept him sidelined most of December.

 There was a wild and wacky NHL all-star game Feb. 4 in Denver, where Boston forward Bill Guerin was named MVP of a 51st showcase game won 14-12 by North America over the World team. This season's game is to be played in Los Angeles on Feb. 2.

 Marty McSorley was back in the news. In his first pro game since being suspended by the NHL for one year for slashing Donald Brashear's head with his stick, McSorley was ejected for fighting while playing for the IHL's Grand Rapids Griffins last February. McSorley was last seen with a stick in his hands in Britain.

 The Wayne Gretzky era with the Phoenix Coyotes began when the Hockey Hall of Famer and developer Steve Ellman completed an $88-million US deal to buy the team.

 In the first huge trade of the year, Colorado gave up Adam Deadmarsh and Aaron Miller to get Rob Blake from Los Angeles to enhance their championship hopes. San Jose followed by relinquishing Jeff Friesen to get Teemu Selanne in a multiplayer deal with Anaheim.

 Theo Fleury left the New York Rangers after voluntarily entering the league's substance abuse and behavioural health program. Fleury reappeared at Canada's Olympic camp the first week of September, and now he's having a productive season with the Rangers.

 Near the trade deadline, St. Louis acquired Keith Tkachuk from Phoenix for three players and a draft pick.

 At the end of March, an accident led to one of the strangest incidents of the NHL season -- Tie Domi wrestling with 36-year-old concrete worker Chris Falcone in the penalty box in Philadelphia during a Leafs-Flyers game. Falcone fell into the box when a glass panel buckled after Domi squirted him twice with a water bottle in reacting to heckling.

 The end of the regular season saw Colorado finish first overall with 118 points. Jaromir Jagr won his fourth straight scoring title with 121 points including 52 goals. Pavel Bure scored the most goals, 59.

 In the playoffs, the notorious Domi again was in the news when he was suspended for an elbow to Niedermayer's head late in a Toronto-New Jersey playoff game. The Leafs enforcer missed three playoff games and first eight games of 2001-2002 season.

 The Canadiens, who had missed the playoffs for the third year in a row, on May 5 became the property of Colorado businessman George Gillett Jr.

 Meanwhile, the Avs, as they were preparing to start the Western Conference final, lost star forward Peter Forsberg, who required surgery after his spleen was ruptured. Forsberg would be a spectator the rest of the way, and he shocked the Avs before start of the new season by staying at home in Sweden to contemplate life.

 On June 9, in a thrilling Game 7 of the NHL's championship series, Colorado defeated New Jersey 3-1, and Avs goaltender Patrick Roy was named playoff MVP for third time in his career.

 The following week, in Toronto, Sakic won the Lester B. Pearson Award as MVP in voting by NHL players, and the Hart and Lady Byng trophies in voting by hockey writers. Dominik Hasek won the Vezina Trophy a sixth time, Detroit defenceman Nicklas Lidstrom got the Norris as top defenceman, and San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov was named rookie of the year.

 The Hockey Hall of Fame named Dale Hawerchuk, Jari Kurri, Viacheslav Fetisov, Mike Gartner and Craig Patrick for induction.

 The Red Deer Rebels defeated the Val d'Or Foreurs 5-4 in OT to win Memorial Cup tournament in Regina, the Saint John Flames won the AHL's Calder Cup.

 The IHL folded, and Don Cherry took over the coaching reins of the major junior team he owns in Mississauga, Ont.

 At the NHL draft in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last June, Ilya Kovalchuk went No. 1 to Atlanta -- the first Russian to go first overall, and Brampton, Ont., product Jason Spezza went No. 2 to Ottawa in NHL entry draft.

 Ottawa traded Alexei Yashin to the Islanders to get the pick, defenceman Zdeno Chara and forward Bill Muckalt.

 Bourque announced his retirement on June 26.

 The boldest financial moves of the year were made by Avs GM Pierre Lacroix. With Sakic, Roy and Blake eligible to become unrestricted free agents July 1, Lacroix re-signed them all, guaranteeing the team would be in the title hunt again this season.

 Jeremy Roenick moved to Philadelphia from Phoenix, and the free-agent market heated up quickly. Detroit loaded up with Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille, and swung a trade with Buffalo to get Dominik Hasek. The Oilers traded Doug Weight to Blues for three players.

 On July 11, Washington acquired Jagr from Pittsburgh for three prospects.

 Nobody could remember a summer with this much player movement.

 The New York Rangers stepped forward on Aug. 21 to acquire the rights to Eric Lindros from the Philadelphia Flyers for Jan Hlavac, Kim Johnsson, Pavel Brendl and a third-round 2003 draft pick.

 The new NHL season has spawned new stars, with Jarome Iginla of the Flames shining brightest atop the scoring stats.

 Vast improvement in the Flames, Islanders, the Blackhawks and other teams have shaken up the standings, and Edmonton's ability to remain near the top of the overall standings with Ryan Smyth out with a broken ankle has been one of the most impressive accomplishments.

 Detroit has been No. 1 overall most of the way but that doesn't mean Scotty Bowman's aged warriors can go all the way.

 As was the case one year ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs were in top spot in the East as New Year's Day approached. It will be interesting to see if they can avoid the slide they took in the second half last season.

 The use by more and more players of high-technology sticks that make pucks go faster is a boost for snipers, but scores are being held down because goaltending has never been better.

 New statistics showed Canadian content in the NHL has dipped to near 50 per cent as the Europeanization of the world's top league continued.

 The deaths of Cal Gardner, Tony Leswick, Fred Glover, Billy Harris and Carl Brewer saddened us all, as did the terrorist attacks on New York City on Sept. 11 that claimed the lives of Garnet (Ace) Bailey, the former Pittsburgh Penguins forward who was director of pro scouting for the Los Angeles Kings, and team scout Mark Bavis.

 On Dec. 15, Gretzky fleshed out the men's Olympic lineup built around Lemieux, Sakic, Blake, Niedermayer, Steve Yzerman, Owen Nolan, Paul Kariya and Chris Pronger, and anticipation of the Winter Games tournament will grow by the week.

 The Americans have a knack of winning on home ice, and they have a top-notch lineup including Hull, Weight, Tkachuk, Mike Modano and Chris Chelios. The defending-champion Czechs will have Hasek in goal again, and the Russians, Swedes and Finns all will have strong teams.

 If Canada wins, it will end a 50-year Olympic championship drought. That would be something to see.