Originally published on EuroReport.com in 1999 By Lucas Aykroyd Janne Laukkanen on ollut yksi Ottawa Senatorsin parhaista puolustajista tänä vuonna, vaikka hanellä on vain yksi syöttöpiste. 183-senttinen, 88-kiloinen kolminkertainen olympiaedujusta on pelannut vankkaa puolustuspeliä Ottawassa vuodesta 1996, jolloin joukkue hankki hänet Coloradosta. Lucas Aykroyd EuroReportista puhui Laukkasen kanssa Senatorsien lyötyä Vancouverin 2-1 GM Placessä 16 […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 1999 By Lucas Aykroyd Finnish country music is nothing to write home about. So it’s just as well Kimmo Timonen came to Nashville to play hockey instead of wailing ditties about the cheatin’ hearts and lil’ dogies of Helsinki. The 24-year-old native of Kuopio appears to be coming into his […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 1999 By Lucas Aykroyd Sitting high above the ice and taking in an NHL game is many people’s idea of a good time. But when you’re an 18-year-old phenom from Moscow, Russia who’s being paid over $1 million U.S. per year to score goals for the Calgary Flames, the view […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 1999 By Lucas Aykroyd Igor Larionov is used to playing on teams with red-and-white uniforms that win all the time. This season, those wins haven’t come so easily for his Detroit Red Wings. But don’t blame Larionov. The former star of Moscow’s Central Red Army and the Soviet national team […]

Originally published on IIHF.com in 2002 By Lucas Aykroyd Ukraine is not exactly a team of big names. Aside from Dmitri Khristich, few of its forwards have had any impact in the NHL. Ukrainian-born defensemen like Alexei Zhitnik and Oleg Tverdovsky have represented Russia in the past and are unavailable for these Games. So Ukraine […]

Originally published on IIHF.com in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd Once upon a time, Sweden won gold medals in international hockey. Bengt-Ake Gustafsson, the coach of Tre Kronor’s 2006 Olympic entry, was a member of two memorable championship squads at the 1987 and 1991 IIHF World Championships. But lately, there haven’t been many fairy tale endings […]

Originally published on IIHF.com in 2002 By Lucas Aykroyd “Man can be defeated but not destroyed. Man can be destroyed but not defeated.” This was one of author Ernest Hemingway’s favorite sayings, and it would come as no surprise if Ryan Smyth of the Edmonton Oilers had it painted on his wall. The gritty left […]

Originally published on IIHF.com in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd Alexei Kovalev earned his pilot’s licence in 1998, but the Togliatti native has also experienced the pain of having his Olympic gold medal hopes shot down twice since that year. A knee injury forced the 6-2, 210-pound right winger to opt out of Nagano 1998, and […]

Originally published on IIHF.com in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd At the 2002 Olympic hockey tournament, a guy named Salo gained the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Swedish goalie Tommy Salo was beaten by a long shot from Belarusian defenseman Vladimir Kopat late in the quarter-finals, enabling Belarus to pull off an enormous upset. In […]

Originally published on IIHF.com in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd Just how good is Chris Drury as a clutch goal-scorer? Wayne Gretzky’s record for career NHL playoff game-winners is 24, while the 29-year-old Buffalo Sabres captain has 11. Gretzky accomplished his feat in 208 games (0.11 GWG per playoff game), while Drury has achieved his mark […]