Red Wings G Dominik Hasek retires

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After 18 seasons in the NHL, 2 MVP awards and 6 Vezina Trophies, “The Dominator” Dominik Hasek has announced his retirement.

“Physically, I’m felling great—as well as ever,” Hasek said Monday as he announced his retirement. “I just don’t feel that I’m ready to compete on the highest level.“I need motivation. Right now, I don’t feel it’s there and I don’t want to disappoint anyone.”
- Yahoo! Sports

Hasek was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks and spent his rookie years as backup to Ed Belfour.  In his career he spent 2 seasons with Chicago, 9 seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, 4 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings and a short 1 season stint with the Ottawa Senators.

During his career, Hasek has won:

• Hart Memorial Trophy for MVP twice (nominated 5 times)
• Lester B. Pearson Award twice (nominated 3 times)
• Vezina Trophy 6 times
• William M Jennings Trophy 3 times
• Stanley Cup in 2002 with the Detroit Red Wings
• The 2002 gold medal at the Nagano Olympic Games for the Czech Republic

Hasek has named on:

• NHL first All-Star Team 5 times
• NHL All-Rookie Team in the ‘91 and ‘92 season
• NHL All-Star Game 5 times (although did not play in 2000 due to injury)

In his NHL Career, Hasek played a total of 735 games, totaling 42836 minutes of ice time.  He collected 389 wins, 223 losses, 82 ties and 13 overtime losses with 81 shutouts.  His career GAA and SV% stand at 2.10 & .922 respectively. 

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Ribeiro Shines as Stars Losing Streak Ends

Losing 8 of the last 9 games is never a good thing, especially in the month of March.  That’s exactly the position the Dallas Stars were in going into todays battle with division rivals, the Los Angeles Kings. Fresh in the minds of the Stars was the devastating and embarrassing 4-2 loss to the Kings last week.  In that game, the Stars led 2-1 right up to the last minutes, and then went on to give up 3 quick goals. Also fresh in their minds was the knowledge that with just 5 games left in the season, more losses could easily mean not making the playoffs.

After a few minutes and a goal by Dallman to put the Kings up 1-0 it looked as those this game could end up like other recent ones.  That, fortunately for the Stars was not the case, and this was the closest the Kings ever got to competing with the Stars.  At the 13th minute point, Stars defenseman Stephan Robidas tied the game, taking the 1-1 score to the first break.

During the second and third periods the Stars shone bright.  The second period saw 4 goals by the Stars, including goals by Stu Barnes, Brenden Morrow and a duo by Loui Eriksson.  The third perid blasted away with Jere Lehtinen, and then Niklas Hagman net a goal each.  Kings forward Michael Cammalleri slipped one past Turco in the closing minutes, but the damage was already done.

“This is something to build on, and we need more of the same. We’re in a lockdown mode,” goaltender Marty Turco said. “The beauty of the whole game was not the score, but how the game went down—just the relentlessness of every period and every facet of the game. It’s great to see. But that’s what we expect, really. Today was a great example of what we need to do every shift from now on.”
- Yahoo! Sports

The Stars ended the game with a very convincing 7-2 victory, with 3 points games from Mike Ribeiro (3A) and Stephan Robidas (1G 2A) and go into tomorrows game against division rivals the Anaheim Ducks brimming with confidence.

* Photo courtesy of Dallas Stars 

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Ducks Perry to miss 6 weeks

Anaheim Ducks have lost their top scorer for up to 6 weeks.  Corey Perry, who has 29 Goals & 25 Assists this season is out due to a lacerated tendon in his left knee.

The injury occured during the third period of the Ducks 0-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche.

“Corey is doing very well this morning, thanks to both clubs’ medical staffs,” Ducks general manager Brian Burke said Friday. “His injury is not career-threatening and we expect him back 100 percent in approximately six weeks.”
-Yahoo! Sports

The Anaheim Ducks, who have begun to gain momentum with the return of Selanne and Neidermayer will no doubt miss Perry’s scoring prowess, and will need to work hard to maintain the pace they have been on.

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West Heating Up

Going into the All Star break this year many people you could have been forgiven for assuming the Red Wings were guaranteed to take out the conference at the end of the regular season.

Who would have thought that the Red Wings, who dominated the season to that point in the competition would come out of the break looking like another, far less impressive team.

At the point of the All Star break, the Red Wings had a 17 point lead over the closest competitor. After todays loss to the Dallas Stars, their 6th loss in a row, that lead has been cut to just 8 points.

If the Red Wings are not scared yet, they should be. The Dallas Stars are on a roll and have their sights set on that top spot. 6 points behind Dallas are the defending champions, the Anaheim Ducks, who have yet to see the success they expected after the return of Scott Neidermayer and Teemu Selanne.

The west is a hot spot, and in the battle for the top 8 spots, there are in fact 12 teams still battling it out with realistic chances of making the top 8.

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