Everyone thought he was done. The show was over, and the curtains were closed. But apparently, that was just the epilogue. In the last month Jose Theodore has stepped out from behind the curtain, into the spotlight, and yet again become a young phenom.
The latest show has been based out of Fredericton, New Brunswick. Theodore, after winning player of the week awards, goaltender of the month, and praise from many of his critics, seems to have nestled back into the idea of being a starting goalie. His numbers in Montreal as a backup weren’t good at all: only 3 wins, 12 losses, a GAA over 3.50, and numerous other less-than-satisfactory statistics. But the truth has come out: Theodore is a future starter.
Just this past week, after losing two straight and going back to Fredericton for game five of the AHL quarter finals, Theodore led his Canadiens, with a 32 save performance, and seized victory in a 3-2 win, and a 3-2 series win, pitting the Canadiens against the Saint John Flames in round two.
Can he keep it up? He said this week that he loves the pressure, and the outlook is that, yes, he can keep it up. Only time will tell, but it is likely that Theodore will be challenging Domenichelli, Sorochan, and Saint John, and maybe even upsetting the early favourites.
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Born: January 23, 1979
Hometown: Golitsino, Russia
Position: Right Wing
Number: 25
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 200 lbs
Shoots: Left
The other day, a thought came to my mind. It must be tough for a junior aged player to come to North America from other countries to play hockey. Let’s think about it for a second. They have to learn a new language, adapt to a rougher style of play and adapt to a smaller ice surface.
Well, Ivan Novoseltsev of the Sarnia Sting has adjusted to the North American style of play quite nicely. He has great speed and has size that makes him look more like a Canadian player than a Russian player. During the past two seasons I have been very impressed with his play.
Usually European players need a season or two to adapt to the new style of play before they start to realize their true potential. Novoseltsev proved everybody wrong in his rookie season. He had a very impressive year. During the 1997-98 season Novoseltsev dazzled everybody with his skills. His totals were pretty high. He scored 26 goals and 48 points in just 53 games. During that first season he played alongside a great group of players. He played alongside players like Darren Mortier, Jeff Heerema, Jon Sim and Chad Cavanagh.
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Height: 5’11
Weight: 175
Position: Goalie
Catches: Left
Born: 8/13/75
Birthplace: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
STATS-
GP G.A.A. W L SOL GA Save %
1998-99 54 2.61 24 17 10 136 .920%
Marty’s rookie season was a great one. The Dallas Stars’ goalie of the future quickly won the starting job in Michigan, where he was nominated for the league MVP and top goaltender awards. Turco also lead the Wings past the experienced Fort Wayne Komets in the first round of the playoffs by posting a 2-0 record in the opening round. With the assumption in Dallas of Roman Turek being lost in the expansion draft, Turco has a good shot at backing up Belfour next season. In his college career, he was an all-star and won the MVP award in the 1998 NCAA tournament after being drafted by the Stars in 1994.
PLAYOFF RECAP
Round 2
Detroit VS Indianapolis
Game 1: April 27: IND 1 @ DET 0 (2 OT)
HIGHLITES- The battle of the goaltenders lasted 5 periods before the Ice’s Craig Mills put one past Detroit goalie Andrei Trefilov. Indy goaltender Marc Lamothe continued his shutout streak, which he has not allowed a goal in the 3 playoff games he’s played.
Orlando VS Michigan
Game 1: April 27: MIC 1 @ ORL 5
HIGHLITES- Solar Bears’ goalie Tyler Moss was strong in goal, while Orlando welcomed goals from Todd Krygier (2), Pat Neaton, Dave Mackey, and Pierre Sevigny.
Houston VS Long Beach
Game 1: April 28: LB 4 @ HOU 1
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April 27th, 1999
The playoffs are starting to wind down for most of the Penguins prospects, and most are done for the season. The NCAA tournaments are complete and the Syracuse Crunch finished with one of the worst records ever in AHL history. Canadian Major Junior hockey is in the finals of each league’s playoffs and only one Pittsburgh draftee has survived to that point, Joel Scherban of the London Knights. In the IHL, the Conference Semi-Finals are about to begin and only Robert Dome of the Houston Aeros is still playing.
In the OHL, the London Knights have surprised everyone by knocking off top-ranked Plymouth in the second round, then pulling off another upset of Owen Sound in the Conference Finals. Joel Scherban, a seventh round pick of the Penguins, is finishing off his second OHL season strong. After being injured for all but a handful of games in his draft year, he ended this season with 54 points in 68 games and is continuing to do well in the playoffs. He scored two goals in the last game of the Owen Sound series and has five goals and ten assists total.
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If re-building is what the Thunder Bay Flyers did this season by making the play-offs with a 19-30-7 record. Then the 1999-2000 season the Flyers must be re-tooling for better things to come. The biggest change has already taken place. As Gary Wenzel was fired as head coach and general manager after only one season behind the bench. His replacement is Thunder Bay native Todd Jones who spent the last three years as assistant coach and assistant general manager of the Sioux City Musketeers. Both the Flyers and Musketeers are owned by Superland Sports business tycoon Ted Carlson.
The Flyers have 11 players returning to the Lakehead. The veterans will be led by Pat Sharp with 19 goals, 24 assits for 43 points in his rookie season. Other returning forwards are Derrick McIver 43 points last year, Chris Sharp 32 points, Murray MaGill, Clayton Carson, Aaron Grynol, Jeff Miles, Chris Shaffer 40 points. The defence looks to be a question mark with only two d-man suiting up from Wenzel’s squad. Rookie defenceman Jesse Baraniuck had a strong play-offs and Tyler Williamson returns for his third season on the blueline.
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Spring is in the air, so that means that the 98-99 regular season has ended for most of the Buffalo Sabres prospects. This has been a great season to be covering the Sabre prospects, as there have been several outstanding performances by a number of the Sabre hopefuls. Indeed, the Sabres may well have more quality prospects than those of the other 26 (soon to be 27) NHL teams.
One prospect has moved on since my last update, as Alexei Tezikov was traded to Washington at the NHL trading deadline. While the Capitals will be receiving a quality prospect, this was a move the Sabres could afford to make. Buffalo has great depth amongst their prospects at the defensive position, so it made sense for the Sabres hockey department to deal from strength to try to shore up the teams’ offensive weakness (albeit on a temporary basis). In addition to receiving Joe Juneau from the Capitals, the Sabres also received the Caps ’99 3rd Round pick, which adds to their growing collection of ’99 draft picks (currently at 11 picks, with a possible 12th pick on the way from San Jose).
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POS HT WT AGE DRAFTED
Mike Ribeiro C 5-10 167 20 D-Mtl98 (2/45)
GP G A PTS +/- PIM PP SH
98-99 Stats 69 67 100 167 +52 137 24 8
98-99 Playoff 11 5 11 16 -3 12 3 0
(QMJHL)
#1 Strength- Vision and creativity.
#1 Weakness- Size.
Ribeiro is a creative playmaker with impressive vision. He can spot teammates in the offensive zone as well as any player in the Quebec League. He is a natural scorer who must improve his skating. Size remains the big question mark.
Ribeiro’s performance during the regular season was outstanding. He led the entire CHL in scoring, while averaging 2.42 PPG. He won the QMJHL’s offensive player of the week award 3 times and turned some heads among the Habs’ brain trust.
Unfortunately, Ribeiro’s playoff performance left something to be desired. His average of 1.45 PPG was a full point below his season average. He also finished the playoffs an uncharacteristically low -3.
Immediately following Rouyn-Noranda’s loss in four straight games to Hull, Ribeiro was called up to the Canadiens AHL affiliate in Fredericton. It is still unknown whether Ribeiro will dress for any of the Baby Habs’ playoff games.(end of regular season)
Projection at NHL level- Second line center.
Current Stock Status- On the rise.
POS HT WT AGE DRAFTED
Eric Chouinard C 6-4 192 18 D-Mtl98 (1/16)
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In this article, we cover the progress of some of the rookies and freshmen on the Sharks roster as we enter the playoffs. Last year, the Sharks had perhaps the best trio of rookies, in Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm, and Andrei Zyuzin. This year, the Sharks have had another group of rookies, who may not have been as touted as the above mentioned three, but have done fine jobs as well. Alex Korolyuk and Andy Sutton are the two main factors. Scott Hannan and Shawn Heins each played in five games for the Sharks, but due to limited games played, will not be included.
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The team is well on its way toward rebuilding itself to the top shelf at the NHL level, and although maybe not quite there yet, management is committed to a youth-oriented built largely through the draft. The Leafs’ prospects are certainly not near the top, but a steady rise has already begun.
1) Nikolai Antropov: C 6-5, 191 Moscow Dynamo: Has slowly, but surely raised his skill-level and has taken some good steps toward the NHL. Montreal writer, Jack Todd , saw Nikolai play 4 games this season and came away impressed with his readiness. He uses his size, strength and hockey instincts to his benefit and has progressed with his skating as well. He scored 4 goals, 3 assists in that 4 game stint. The Moscow Dynamo program is perfect for him at this point as their system teaches and emphasizes skating, passing and skillwork. Todd feels that Antropov is closer to being ready than fellow Moscow Dynamo prospect, Maxim Afinogenov, who has been drafted by the Buffalo Sabres. He is still growing into his body, as many 19 year olds will need to do. He represented Kazakhstan in the World Juniors championship and led his team in scoring with 3 goals, 5 assists for 8 pts. in 6 games. Nikolai has stated that he needs another year in Russia to develop his game. Estimated time of arrival in Toronto: Late in the 2000-2001 season.
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Another season is in the books for the Islanders, and despite having the worst record in team history since their expansion year there is hope for the Islanders. The Islanders have alot of young talented players (also adding Lindgren, Isbister, and Krog to the lineup) as well as a top five pick in the upcoming draft. Several Islander prospects had good rookie seasons and have graduated from the ranks of prospects.
During the last few months of the season Zdeno Chara emerged as one of the team’s best players. He was logging well over 20 minutes a game, saw time on special teams, and was a dominant physical force. Zdeno has made tremendous progress this year and has established that he will be a top 4 defenseman for many years.
Fellow rookie rearguard Eric Brewer also had a solid first season. He experienced some growing pains, typical of young defenseman, but was able to learn from and make up for his mistakes. His high talent level is very apparent in his play and he has shown great character and work ethic. Eric should continue to blossom in the next few seasons the same way in which Kenny Jonsson did. Brewer seems destined to be one of the top defenseman in the league.
Mike Watt also completed a solid rookie season. He played every postion and was placd in many different roles throuhgout the year. He has good size, is a shifty passer and has a surprisingly quick shot. Watt too, should continue to progress and become a reliable forward for the Islanders.
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