UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE (04/21/02)

UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE

by Ihor Stelmach

A most durable Duck

There are times when Oleg Tverdovsky is feeling way too sore to play hockey. Yet he plays anyway. There are times when illness forces him to miss practices. But he never misses any games.

There are times when the training staff suggested he take a night off to rest an injury, but the 25-year-old defenseman for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim talks them out of it.

"My junior coach told us the only time you don't play is when you're dead," said Tverdovsky, who played in 363 consecutive games (see more below) as of the end of March - the second-longest streak among active players behind Chicago's Tony Amonte. "I know he was only kidding, but he made the point that if you can play, you should play. If you play and you are so hurt or so sick that you hurt your team, then you should take the night off. But that hasn't happened to me (yet)."

As an 18-year-old rookie with Anaheim, he missed five games in his first year because of injury or illness. Since that time (through late March), he has not been out of the line-up for anything other than an extended contract dispute in 1997-1998. Because he is one of two notable weapons the opposition must stop to defeat the Ducks - Paul Kariya is No. 1 - Tverdovsky is often the target of some nasty rough stuff.

In the season opener against Boston, Tverdovsky delivered a clearing pass out of his own zone only to be nailed with a late hip check by the Bruins' Martin Lapointe. In the next game, against Pittsburgh he was decked to the ice by a Darius Kasparaitus elbow. Both times he had to be helped from the ice and both times he returned to take his next shift. He also hurt his knee in the Pittsburgh game and, though it meant limping through the airport later that night, he still didn't take any time off.

"He's a tough kid," Kariya said. "Mentally tough. He wants to be out there playing, no matter what."

Tverdovsky said there were a few times last season when the streak nearly ended. Early in the year his knee was hurting so badly he could hardly walk, but, of course, he played nonetheless. And then there was a two-week period when he was stricken with the flu so he couldn't practice, but he still laced them up and skated.

"You have to be smart about it," Tverdovsky said. "If you have a sore hand, but can skate, then you probably still play."

The second overall selection of the 1994 entry draft, Tverdovsky has risen to prominence as a dependable offensive contributor - with 245 points in 492 NHL games, he entered 2001-2002 as the highest scoring defenseman 25 years or younger - and he's working hard at rounding out his overall game.

If the expectation level heading into the current 2001-2002 campaign for the Ducks, who have made the playoffs in only two of eight seasons and have been on the sidelines the past two years, was to reach the post-season, Tverdovsky must take his game to the next level. That is not news to him.

"I think I have to play the way I have always played, that is thinking about defense first, but I have to be more aware of when it is time to jump into the play or fill a hole," Tverdovsky said.

Tverdovsky, who was traded to Phoenix in the Teemu Selanne deal in 1996 and then back to Anaheim two years ago, was seventh in scoring among defenders last season with 14 goals and 39 assists for 53 points. In an effort to take pressure off him, the Ducks signed defense-minded Jason York from Ottawa and Keith Carney from Phoenix. Carney, 31, who happened to be fourth among players in consecutive game streaks, should let Tverdovsky get involved in the offense without repeating last season's minus-11. Then again, if Duck forwards don't show more grit than they did when getting smoked way too many times this season, it won't and doesn't matter with whom he partners on the blueline.

The 6-foot-1, 204-pound Tverdovsky has above-average speed, slick passing skills and a hammer of a shot. He is one of five defensemen - Rob Blake, Nicklas Lidstrom, Sergei Gonchar and the retired Ray Bourque are the others - to hit 50 points in each of the past two years. But there's plenty of room to grow.

"He has to learn that by doing less he can accomplish more," Duck's capitain Kariya said. "The best defensemen often have their sticks on the puck for a second before it's moved up to an open man."

Anaheim Coach Bryan Murray agreed, saying, "He's a very good skater and has great hands. But he does things that he doesn't have to do with the puck. Maybe it's just a matter of maturing as a player."

In the meantime, as always, Tverdovsky will play every game he can. That much is known for sure.

Fan reaction and appreciation for the Duck defender who plays through pain? Why, Tverdovsky sometimes cannot believe his ears! Fans cheer for him. When No. 10 is introduced over the public address system at Arrowhead Pond, most if not all of the 11,000+ in attendance applaud Tverdovsky as if the clock had been turned back to 1994, when he was that highly touted first-round draft pick.

And when he scored one of his infrequent goals on a blazing slap shot, The Pond fans cheered some more.

"Absolutely, it's nice to hear different sounds than years before," said Tverdovsky with a grin.

For the past several seasons, Tverdovsky was booed every time he touched the puck at The Pond. The fan animosity stemmed from some comments he made during the 1997 playoffs as a member of the Phoenix Coyotes, that he "hated Anaheim" and wanted to "kick their butts."

Anaheim General Manager Pierre Gauthier said he had no worries Ducks' fans would forgive Tverdovsky: "Most of the people in the stands recognize his talent and know he's a good kid. I think it was just the competitive juices. Oleg said some things and the fans reacted. That's sports. Now he's part of the same family again."

Ironman forced to sidelines

For the first time since he rejoined the organization in the 1999 draft day trade with Phoenix, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim iced a line-up that did not include defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky.

After having played in 363 consecutive games, including a franchise-record 237 since returning to Anaheim, Tverdovsky missed a 4-2 loss to the visiting Coyotes on March 27 because of a strained groin muscle. Tverdovsky, who also sat out a 2-1 overtime victory at Phoenix the next night, owned the second-longest active run in the NHL, behind Chicago right-winger Tony Amonte, who was at 401 and counting in late March.

"I didn't really think about it," Tverdovsky said. "I was just trying to take it one game at a time and play whenever I could. Of course, I was proud of it. But at the same time, I wasn't going to go out there if my body couldn't function good enough."

Bothered by what he called an aching groin much of the season, Tverdovsky missed much of the third period of a 3-2 loss at St. Louis on March 22 after aggravating the injured area. He played 20 minutes two days later in a 2-1 victory at Dallas, but simply couldn't make it any longer.

Tverdovsky hadn't missed action since December 26, 1997, when a pulled ribcage muscle kept him out of the line-up for Phoenix in a game at San Jose.

(Thanks to The Hockey News' Mike Brophy, Cammy Clark and Dan Wood for quotes from Oleg Tverdovsky.)

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