UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE (05/04/97)

UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE

by Ihor Stelmach

Super Dave reaches 500

Dave Andreychuk's 500th career National Hockey League goal was scored in the same fashion as many of the 499 that preceded it: on a rebound during a power play.

The New Jersey Devils' Ukrainian left winger, who hit that milestone in a March 15 game against the Washington Capitals, has made a very good living by parking himself in front of the opponent's net and using his soft hands and extra long reach to his advantage.

"I know I scored my first goal in my first game, and it was a rebound in front of the net," said Andreychuk, who had 212 career power play goals over a 15-year career that began in 1982 with the Buffalo Sabres. "There haven't been too many pretty goals in the 500. There weren't too many that were the plays of the week."

This one, however, was one to truly remember as he became the 26th player in NHL history to score 500. His teammates had begun feeding him in an effort to end the tension, but the only goal he had scored in the previous four games was an empty-netter in Buffalo on March 9 for No. 499.

"Every time I stepped onto the ice I was thinking about it," he readily admitted.

As it turns out, he's not going to stop thinking about it now that he has joined a most elite group.

"I'm going to enjoy this for the rest of my life," he said. "When my career is over, I'll be able to take it to the bank. It's pretty impressive, I guess. You look at the list and it's hard to believe my name is on that list. There are some great players there."

Add this special Ukrainian to that list.

A footnote to Andreychuk's memorial evening of March 15: Unbeknownst to him, among the fans most excited about his 500th goal was a Ukrainian group of nearly 70 persons - youngsters and adults - from St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School in Newark, N.J., who had come to the game for an outing organized by the Fathers' Club. If the cheers for Andreychuk seemed loudest in the arena's Section 207 that was the reason.

Leschyshyn gets on roll

Curtis Leschyshyn used to be something of an anomaly. He had played eight-plus seasons in the NHL, all with the Quebec Nordiques-Colorado Avalanche, and he'd never been traded. All of that changed - twice - in a whirlwind seven days. Leschyshyn was traded to the Washington Capitals in a multi-player deal last November 2. One week later, as he left his hotel for USAir Arena, Leschyshyn's wife, Laura, said, "Say hi to your new (Capitals) teammates and say bye to your new teammates."

"It was just a little running joke we had going," Leschyshyn said. "She had a feeling we wouldn't be around long. And she was right. I was traded that morning."

Leschyshyn, 27, was flipped to the Hartford Whalers for fellow Ukrainian center/left winger Andrei Nikolishin last November 9. He shuttled to Hartford to play against the Buffalo Sabres and wound up scoring the game-winning goal with five seconds remaining in overtime.

"In terms of career highlights, it was right up there," said Leschyshyn, who was a member of the 1996 Stanley Cup-winning Avalanche team. "I don't think I've ever scored a game-winner in overtime."

That was Leschyshyn's first shot as a Whaler. His second shot was also a goal in a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks. In his third game, Leschyshyn picked up an assist in a 2-1 win over the Phoenix Coyotes.

"Since I've gotten to Hartford, I've felt real good," he said. "This is a team that wanted me."

Leschyshyn started out on quite a roll in Hartford.

Daneyko remains loyal Devil

The ultimate stay-at-home defenseman wanted to stay in his New Jersey home. Kenny Daneyko, who could have tested the open market as a free agent after this season, bypassed that potential golden opportunity when he signed a three-year contract with the Devils worth more than $4 million during the off-season.

The deal pays the 32-year-old veteran $1.295 million for 1996-1997, $1.275 million next season and $1.257 million in 1998-1999. Additional deferred money puts the contract's total value at just over $4.2 million.

"It would be real important for me to play my entire career with this organization," said the loyal Ukrainian blueliner, second to John MacLean on the Devils' all-time games played list at 807. "Loyalty means a lot to me. It's not there in pro sports anymore. Fans don't have that identity with players."

The Devils' second choice (18th over all) in the 1982 entry draft, Daneyko has built his career on physical play in front of his own goal. He is the only Devils' player to record more than 2,000 minutes in penalties.

"I look at guys like (Rangers') defenseman Jeff Beukeboom and he gets all that money ($1.8 million this season). I have to be honest, I think I'm as good as Jeff Beukeboom," Daneyko said.

"You look at all the guys who have rocked the boat here and they are making millions ... but it's not all about getting as much as I can. I'm the type of person who is happy where I am and with what I've got."

Chyzowski emerges as power forward

Dave Chyzowski is the unhappy answer to an NHL draft trivia question. He is the only player chosen in the first round of the 1989 entry draft to play (on at least a semi-regular basis) in the NHL that season. Taken second over all by the New York Islanders, Chyzowski played 34 games as an 18-year-old after being selected.

The only other 1989 first-rounders who got into an NHL game that year were defenseman Kevin Haller of the Buffalo Sabres and goaltender Olaf Kolzig of the Washington Capitals, each of whom played two games.

Now Chyzowski insists the reason he has spent most of the last five years playing minor pro hockey is because he was thrust into the NHL too early.

"One more year in junior would have changed my entire career," said Chyzowski, a key performer this season for the Indianapolis Ice. "If I went back to junior, I'm assuming I would have had a good year and would have been so much more ready.

"Mike Modano (the first choice over all in 1988) did that instead of going to Minnesota, and he dominated junior and was ready for what it took to be in the NHL."

The 25-year-old Chyzowski has showed some of the promise scouts saw years ago. He scored 44 goals for the Adirondack Red Wings of the American Hockey League last season and convinced coach Newell Brown that he wasn't far from being ready for another crack at the NHL.

When Brown became an assistant with the Chicago Blackhawks, he recommended they sign Chyzowski. They did and Chyzowski has been one of the IHL's top power forwards, scoring a team-high 34 goals and 74 points in 73 games along with 249 penalty minutes.

"I saw a guy who needed to play and who spent his formative years sitting and watching," Brown said. "He spent the lockout year (1994-1995) in the NHL on recall and really didn't play a lot of hockey for a lot of years in a row.

"He needed to learn the finer points of the game, how to get the puck out along the boards, how to position himself defensively, how to play well away from the puck. He always had a great shot, but he never learned to skate off the puck and to hit holes and make himself available. Those are the things he's learning now."

Although he remains in Chicago's plans, Chyzowski is not considered one of the Blackhawks' top prospects. This still-young hard-working puckster deserves one last shot in the NHL. From here, it looks like he'll get it.

UKRAINIAN UTTERINGS: Mighty Ducks' right- winger Brian Bellows scored his 450th NHL goal on January 1 ... Calgary's left winger Todd Hlushko, who missed eight games recovering from a concussion, was finally given medical clearance to play. Hlushko traced his problems to a February 26 collision with right winger Dallas Drake of Phoenix, but didn't come out of the line-up for another 10 days. "The feeling I had in my head was like the little buzz you get off alcohol if you've had one or two or three beers," Hlushko said. "I had that feeling for two weeks straight. It was a 24-hour, constant thing. It was such a weird feeling. I finally told the trainers, 'There's something wrong, I need some time off.'" So Hlushko consulted a neurologist and had an MRI done. All the tests came back completely normal. Now, he's in a recovery phase ... Coyotes' defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky collected three assists in a recent game against Pittsburgh to move him back into third place in scoring among NHL defensemen. Tverdovsky also ended a 33-game goal-less drought by notching his 10th against Tampa Bay ... Phoenix traded minor league defenseman Steve Cheredaryk to Montreal for the rights to veteran goalie Pat Jablonski ...

(Quotes courtesy of Rich Chere and Mike Arace, beat writers for the New Jersey Devils and the Hartford Whalers, and The Hockey News.)

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