Originally published in Eishockey News in 2008
By Lucas Aykroyd
Are the Vancouver Canucks a Stanley Cup contender? You might think so, simply due to the presence of superstar goalie Roberto Luongo. In addition, recent rumors claim Vancouver GM Dave Nonis could be looking to acquire Toronto captain Mats Sundin to ramp up his club’s secondary scoring […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2008
By Lucas Aykroyd
For years, Marian Gaborik has been the most exciting player on arguably the NHL’s most boring, defensively minded team.
It’s shocking that this speedy Minnesota Wild right wing has never earned more than 67 points in one season (2001-02). But with 25 goals and 25 assists so far, […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2008

By Lucas Aykroyd
Mike Modano is no longer the leading scorer for the Dallas Stars, and he was replaced as captain by Brenden Morrow prior to the 2006-07 season. However, the 37-year-old centre isn’t content to live off his reputation as the NHL’s all-time leading American points-getter, which he became […]

Originally published in the 2008 IIHF World Championship official program
By Lucas Aykroyd
Hockey history is full of memorable hat tricks of various types. How about Bill Mosienko’s never-equaled three goals in 21 seconds for Chicago versus the New York Rangers in 1952? Or you could point to Paul Henderson’s three consecutive game-winning tallies for Canada versus […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2008
By Lucas Aykroyd
How often does a team’s leading goal-scorer have four times as many goals as assists? It’s a bizarre statistic, but Marek Svatos of the Colorado Avalanche is pulling it off. The 25-year-old Slovak winger entered a February 9 game versus the Vancouver Canucks with 22 goals and […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2008

By Lucas Aykroyd
Chicago has hovered close to the bottom of the Western Conference standings for much of this season, but at least Patrick Sharp has blossomed into a leader. He’s posted a club-best six game-winning goals so far. Even after a 3-2 shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks at […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2008
By Lucas Aykroyd
Early in the NHL careers of Daniel and Henrik Sedin, the twin Swedish forwards were derisively dubbed the “Sedin sisters.” Despite their obvious finesse skills and chemistry together, they lacked upper body strength and footspeed. And despite the similarity between their surname and that of Mats Sundin, […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2008
By Lucas Aykroyd
After the NHL trade deadline on February 26, there was a lot of history to be found in the roster of the Colorado Avalanche.
If you wanted to go back to the franchise’s Quebec Nordiques era, you could look at Paul Stastny, the second-year center who is proudly […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2008
By Lucas Aykroyd
Peter Stastny was the NHL’s second-leading scorer in the 1980’s behind Wayne Gretzky, and the Slovak legend amassed 1,239 career points between 1980 and 1995. His oldest son, Yan Stastny, will never match those totals, but is emulating the paternal example by wearing a St. Louis Blues […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2008
By Lucas Aykroyd
Wayne Gretzky achieved his most famous international victory as a player with Team Canada by victimizing two Russian goalies, Sergei Mylnikov and Evgeni Belosheikin, in the 1987 Canada Cup final. Ironically, the “Great One” can credit much of his coaching success with Phoenix this season to the […]