UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE (04/09/06)

UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE

by Ihor Stelmach

Ed Olczyk fired, Therrien takes on Pens

New Pittsburgh Penguins coach Michel Therrien's task is really quite simple. Take the best young player in the game, add an enigmatic blend of youth and newcomers, subtract a Hall of Fame superstar who is still his boss and coach them into the playoffs.

Therrien became the Penguins' sixth coach in the last six seasons in mid-December when he replaced Ukrainian Eddie Olczyk, who was fired after a disastrous 8-17-6 start. Olczyk, 39, had been hired directly out of the broadcast booth to replace Rick Kehoe prior to the 2003-2004 campaign, even though Olczyk had no coaching experience at any level.

The new coach's management style contrasts sharply with Olczyk's. The 42-year-old Therrien was promoted from the Penguins' club in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where he had led his team to a franchise-record 21-1-2-1 start. Prior to the Wilkes-Barre gig, Therrien had notched a 77-77-13-13 won-lost record as coach of the Montreal Canadiens in 2000-2003.

With the AHL's Baby Pens, Therrien was known for publicly criticizing his players and demanding they strictly adhere to his system. Those players who did not heed his demands saw a drastic reduction in ice time. His rigid approach and the Penguins' notoriously loose culture predicted a turbulent transition and some potentially interesting chemistry, to say the least.

"He's a no-nonsense guy, and it's either his way or you don't play," said GM Craig Patrick in a conversation with The Pittsburgh Tribune Review's Joe Starkey.

Olczyk spoke on a Pittsburgh radio station shortly after getting sacked and said, "I always took full responsibility for everything related to our play. I'm proud to say I never threw anyone under the bus. That's not me."

The pressure to show immediate results increased when the Penguins won the draft lottery and, therefore, the right to select Sidney Crosby, billed by many as the next "Great One." Then the club went out and spent millions of dollars to sign stars like Sergei Gonchar, John LeClair, Mark Recchi and Ziggy Palffy.

"Edzo's been a very good friend of mine for a long, long time," Penguins owner and now retired center Mario Lemieux told Mr. Starkey. "It was tough to make the decision."

Cleaning house in Carolina

Apparently the Carolina Hurricanes' brain thrust didn't love them enough, so they set them all free.

Over this past summer, the Hurricanes cut loose six fairly significant players in their minor league system, half of whom were of Ukrainian descent. Tomas Kurka, Brad DeFauw, Patrick DesRochers, Brett Lysak, Joey Tetarenko and Damian Surma were all permitted to leave as free agents after playing a combined 311 American Hockey League games in the prior season of 2003-2004.

That, added to the departure of popular players such as Ron Francis, Jeff O'Neill and Sean Hill, meant lots of new faces and a new direction in this year's new NHL.

The Hurricanes came into 2005-2006 with the hope that a core of young forwards who successfully graduated the major juniors and minor league circuits could generate enough offense to get the 'Canes off the bottom of the standings. This list of forwards included youngsters Erik Cole, Justin Williams and Eric Staal.

Carolina rebuilt its defense in the off-season with an eye to the new rules. Incumbent defenders Glen Wesley, Bret Hedican and Frantisek Kaberle were thought to be the nucleus of the defense corps.

In need of a puck-carrying defenseman, the team brought back Ukrainian Oleg Tverdovsky from a lucrative two-year exile in Russia. It was hoped he would add increased mobility on the blueline, especially to assist a woeful power play.

Flashing forward to the second half of the current season, Tverdovsky has helped out the power play as expected and has been quite excellent offensively. He has also been quite erratic in his own zone. All of that was expected when the Hurricanes brought him back from Russia as a free agent.

And the house-cleaning Hurricanes in 2005-2006? Arguably the surprise team of the entire NHL, duking it out with Detroit for top team overall.

Meanwhile, Ukes Lysak, Tetarenko and Surma were fortunate to be picked up by other organizations and can still be found plying their trade on American Hockey League rinks.

This joke's on you-ke!

Found on the pages of The Hockey News' special edition periodical "The Lighter Side of Hockey" Ukrainian-wise:

November 28, 1953: During the 1952-1953 season, Chicago fans were screaming for defenseman Fred Hucul's return. "We Want Hucul" read the only banner during a game at the old Chicago stadium. So, Blackhawks management brought Hucul back from the Calgary Stampeders of the Western Hockey League. The biggest banner hanging the night of Hucul's first game back in Chicago? It read, "Go Home Hucul."
October 13, 1989: As a younger brother of Wayne Gretzky, Brent Gretzky learned to deal with abuse from opponents. Sometimes he could give as good as he got. A rookie for the Belleville Bulls of the Ontario Hockey League, Gretzky found himself lined up against Peterborough star Mike Ricci.

"We're mouthing off to each other like crazy," Gretzky said. "Then he says to me, 'Your name's not going to get you anywhere in this league.' So I asked him if it was his boyfriend who knocked out that front tooth."
November 6, 1998: Five games into the 1998-1999 season, care to guess who was leading the NHL in scoring? Try Dallas defenseman Darryl Sydor - or Syd-Orr, as he was starting to be called. Sydor, for his part, managed to keep an even keel.

"I don't think he has anything to worry about," Sydor deadpanned, referring to Orr's legendary offensive records.

"This is the same thing that happened in Los Angeles, where people got caught up in point scoring and that's when I started to have problems. I learned my lesson then."

Fedoruk suspended for three games

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim forward Todd Fedoruk was suspended for three games, without pay, as a result of being assessed a match penalty during a game against the Phoenix Coyotes in late November.

Under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement and based on his average annual salary, Fedoruk forfeited $6,887.76 in pay. The money went to the Players Emergency Assistance Fund.

Fedoruk was assessed a match penalty at 5:21 of the third period for a hit on the Coyotes' Petr Nedved. Fedoruk missed a game at Dallas and home tilts against Detroit and Chicago. He returned on November 30 in a rematch with Phoenix.

Speaking of the Ducks, early season injuries forced Anaheim to repeatedly juggle forward line combinations. One of the more productive results in the constant maneuvering included a top line of center Andy McDonald between sniper Teemu Selanne and the aforementioned Fedoruk. With Fedoruk providing a necessary physical presence, McDonald and Selanne have been able to utilize their considerable offensive skills.

More woes for Gretzky

A most difficult month of January 2006 continued for Wayne Gretzky on the 7th with news of the death of his grandmother, Betty Hockin, just 19 days after his mother, Phyllis Gretzky, passed away. "It's a sad day, a sad week, a sad month for the family," he was quoted as saying in a brief chat with Jerry Brown of the Mesa Tribune.

A couple of days prior, the Great One's 2002 Lincoln Navigator became not so great anymore. Gretzky was the victim of a robbery at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. According to police, a thief walked into Gretzky's unlocked home on January 3, grabbed the car keys and drove off in a black Lincoln. A digital camera and a cellphone also were taken.

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