1
QUOTE
Fedorov Remains NHL's Most Exciting Player
by Josh Brewster, Western Hockey Network
While much has been written about Anaheim’s struggles as they head toward a non-playoff year after a trip to the 2003 Cup Final, their star, Sergei Fedorov, has delivered a consistently excellent effort throughout the 2003-04 campaign.
Amazingly, thousands of visiting Detroit Red Wing fans booed Sergei Fedorov in his own house, the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, early and often during the Ducks’ 8-6 victory over the Wings last Sunday. It was a bush league move by the Motown transplants and other SoCal Wing fans, a Bronx cheer for a Red Wing great being out of sorts for what’s normally a knowledgeable and classy group of hockey fans (Fedorov stands fourth on the Red Wings’ all-time scoring list, after Yzerman, Howe and Delvecchio).
In the end, though, it heightened the satisfaction that Duck fans felt later in the contest, when Sergei silenced his critics with an in-your-face performance that included two goals and one assist. They pay him to rise to the occasion, which he has all year.
Sunday’s 8-6 matchup between the Ducks and Red Wings made franchise history as the highest-scoring contest in Duck history, with a combined 14 goals. The previous mark of 12 was set three times.
Having assisted on Joffrey Lupul’s opening tally, later providing the 4-3 go-ahead goal plus the game winner at 7:01 of the third period, the Russian great silenced the boo-birds who came to roost in Fedorov’s house on Sunday. He reached 30 goals for the tenth time on Tuesday in Nashville.
After Sunday’s big match, Fedorov had every reason to gloat, but remained dignified as always, doing his talking on the ice, where it counts. He generally deflected questions regarding the “special” nature of his having throttled his ex-mates in grand style. As for the boo birds in his own building?
“No comment,” was all Fedorov offered.
“You guys can write what you want,” he rightly added when prodded on the issue. After all, the scoreboard can’t be misquoted.
Watching Fedorov visit his heir apparent, Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk, in the hallway of the Arrowhead Pond locker area underscored the respect that the Wings still have for their former star, something the boo-birds might want to think about.
It’s hard to count the number of times that Fedorov not only digs in along the boards of the offensive zone, but at key times he’s the first Duck to chase the opposition into Anaheim’s defensive zone. He doesn’t hesitate to go behind his own net when needed, and his on-ice priority is defensive first.
Never mind Fedorov’s father griping about his son’s move to defense for a few spells during the Bowman years in Detroit; the two-time Selke winner can clearly play any position, and Scotty’s move was a help, not a hindrance. Add to that the fact that he’s the swiftest skater alive with one of the hardest slap shots in the game, regularly clocking in around 95mph or above in competitions, and you’ve got the planet’s most exciting player in Fedorov.
His performance pointed up the fact that when all is said and done, Fedorov’s replacement of departed star Paul Kariya was everything the Ducks could have hoped for. The franchise is in good hands on the ice, with the Russian leading a nucleus which actually played very well this year: Petr Sykora, Joffrey Lupul, Keith Carney and Vinny Prospal (who excelled during the season’s second half). Nucleus member J.S. Giguere will look to continue his strong finish in net and rebound next season.
To the delight of Duck fans, Fedorov recently told the Orange County Register that he’s excited by the challenges that his expanded role represents, and is looking forward to his future in SoCal. report card on sergei Fedorov’s first Anaheim campaign (as of March 24, 2004:)
WHNetwork’s Grade: A
78 GP, 30 goals, 33 assists, 63 total points, 5 game-winning goals
Aside from offense, best backchecker and two-way player on team
Conditioning as good or better than any on club
257 Shots on Goal
Has appeared in 75 of 77 games
Assistant Captain
Provided no distraction throughout season
Always accountable, available to press
Played with wide variety of Duck veterans, development players and rookies
30 goals to date
15th on NHL goal scoring list; 13th on even-strength goal scoring list
Only pointless streaks were two three-game and one four-game stretches
Total team player
First of only two Russians* to ever reach 1000 NHL points (983GP, 430G, 587A, 1,017PTS. plus a whopping 3,405 shots on goal)
(Alex Mogilny is the other, with 1003 in 951GP)
by Josh Brewster, Western Hockey Network
While much has been written about Anaheim’s struggles as they head toward a non-playoff year after a trip to the 2003 Cup Final, their star, Sergei Fedorov, has delivered a consistently excellent effort throughout the 2003-04 campaign.
Amazingly, thousands of visiting Detroit Red Wing fans booed Sergei Fedorov in his own house, the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, early and often during the Ducks’ 8-6 victory over the Wings last Sunday. It was a bush league move by the Motown transplants and other SoCal Wing fans, a Bronx cheer for a Red Wing great being out of sorts for what’s normally a knowledgeable and classy group of hockey fans (Fedorov stands fourth on the Red Wings’ all-time scoring list, after Yzerman, Howe and Delvecchio).
In the end, though, it heightened the satisfaction that Duck fans felt later in the contest, when Sergei silenced his critics with an in-your-face performance that included two goals and one assist. They pay him to rise to the occasion, which he has all year.
Sunday’s 8-6 matchup between the Ducks and Red Wings made franchise history as the highest-scoring contest in Duck history, with a combined 14 goals. The previous mark of 12 was set three times.
Having assisted on Joffrey Lupul’s opening tally, later providing the 4-3 go-ahead goal plus the game winner at 7:01 of the third period, the Russian great silenced the boo-birds who came to roost in Fedorov’s house on Sunday. He reached 30 goals for the tenth time on Tuesday in Nashville.
After Sunday’s big match, Fedorov had every reason to gloat, but remained dignified as always, doing his talking on the ice, where it counts. He generally deflected questions regarding the “special” nature of his having throttled his ex-mates in grand style. As for the boo birds in his own building?
“No comment,” was all Fedorov offered.
“You guys can write what you want,” he rightly added when prodded on the issue. After all, the scoreboard can’t be misquoted.
Watching Fedorov visit his heir apparent, Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk, in the hallway of the Arrowhead Pond locker area underscored the respect that the Wings still have for their former star, something the boo-birds might want to think about.
It’s hard to count the number of times that Fedorov not only digs in along the boards of the offensive zone, but at key times he’s the first Duck to chase the opposition into Anaheim’s defensive zone. He doesn’t hesitate to go behind his own net when needed, and his on-ice priority is defensive first.
Never mind Fedorov’s father griping about his son’s move to defense for a few spells during the Bowman years in Detroit; the two-time Selke winner can clearly play any position, and Scotty’s move was a help, not a hindrance. Add to that the fact that he’s the swiftest skater alive with one of the hardest slap shots in the game, regularly clocking in around 95mph or above in competitions, and you’ve got the planet’s most exciting player in Fedorov.
His performance pointed up the fact that when all is said and done, Fedorov’s replacement of departed star Paul Kariya was everything the Ducks could have hoped for. The franchise is in good hands on the ice, with the Russian leading a nucleus which actually played very well this year: Petr Sykora, Joffrey Lupul, Keith Carney and Vinny Prospal (who excelled during the season’s second half). Nucleus member J.S. Giguere will look to continue his strong finish in net and rebound next season.
To the delight of Duck fans, Fedorov recently told the Orange County Register that he’s excited by the challenges that his expanded role represents, and is looking forward to his future in SoCal. report card on sergei Fedorov’s first Anaheim campaign (as of March 24, 2004:)
WHNetwork’s Grade: A
78 GP, 30 goals, 33 assists, 63 total points, 5 game-winning goals
Aside from offense, best backchecker and two-way player on team
Conditioning as good or better than any on club
257 Shots on Goal
Has appeared in 75 of 77 games
Assistant Captain
Provided no distraction throughout season
Always accountable, available to press
Played with wide variety of Duck veterans, development players and rookies
30 goals to date
15th on NHL goal scoring list; 13th on even-strength goal scoring list
Only pointless streaks were two three-game and one four-game stretches
Total team player
First of only two Russians* to ever reach 1000 NHL points (983GP, 430G, 587A, 1,017PTS. plus a whopping 3,405 shots on goal)
(Alex Mogilny is the other, with 1003 in 951GP)
Here's the link in case you want it.
In The Crease
I think we are ALL glad that Feds is on our team, but the "team" isn't getting the job done....
