NHL All-Star Game Notebook for Friday, January 31
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By Daren Smith SportsTicker Hockey Editor SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) - Offensive-minded defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh just isn't meant to represent the home team at the All-Star Game.
Ozolinsh was traded late Thursday from the Florida Panthers with defenseman-left wing Lance Ward to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for defenseman Pavel Trnka, center Matt Cullen and a draft pick.
The 30-year-old Latvian was a member of the Colorado Avalanche for five years. But he was traded in June 2000, eight months before the Avalanche hosted the All-Star Game. He returned to the Pepsi Center as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes and played for the World All-Stars.
Ozolinsh started his career with the San Jose Sharks and was an All-Star in 1997, the year the team hosted the midseason gala.
But the Sharks traded him the previous season to Colorado.
Thursday's trade will not affect the rosters for Sunday's All-Star Game, with the NHL announcing that Ozolinsh will remain on the Eastern Conference squad.
There is precedent for the decision. In 1990, center Bernie Nicholls was named to the Campbell Conference All-Stars. But he was traded from the Los Angeles Kings to the New York Rangers the day before the All-Star Game.
While the Rangers played in the Prince of Wales Conference, Nicholls remained with the Campbell Conference team.
The trade of Ozolinsh leaves center Olli Jokinen as the Panthers' lone All-Star representative. The 23-year-old Finn was added to the Eastern Conference team as a replacement for Montreal Canadiens captain Saku Koivu. ...
The Stanley Cup has been found. Well, not that Stanley Cup.
One of two replicas of hockey's famed trophy built by LEGO Systems Inc. was found Thursday, a week after it apparently was stolen from a trade show in Las Vegas.
LEGO spokeswoman Melinda Siemionko told SportsTicker the full-scale replica was turned in to police in Tucson, Arizona by a man who said he purchased it in Las Vegas for $50. As a reward, the unidentified man received two tickets to a Phoenix Coyotes' game of his choice and an assortment of LEGO hockey products as soon as they are released.
The replica Stanley Cups, made from 6,000 LEGO blocks and weighing the same as the real trophy, were built to promote the company's new line of NHL-licensed hockey sets. One was presented to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and the other was to tour the country, with Las Vegas its first stop.
Once the theft was reported, Bettman provided the league's LEGO Stanley Cup for display at NHL Block Party, which continues through Sunday's 53rd All-Star Game.
"It's mysterious that with the mystique the real Cup has, ours was the one that was stolen," Siemionko said.
On Friday, LEGO unveiled an agreement with the NHL Players Association which will enable the Connecticut-based company to use the likenesses of NHL players in packaging and promotional materials.
Dallas Stars All-Star goaltender Marty Turco was on hand for the announcement. ...
Carolina Hurricanes left wing Erik Cole will miss the second annual YoungStars Game on Saturday after suffering a broken bone in his left leg in Thursday night's 3-1 loss at Tampa Bay.
The injury is expected to keep 24-year-old New York native sidelined for two months.
The NHL has yet to make an announcement on a possible replacement for the Eastern Conference team, which would be down to eight forwards.
In a related development, the Calgary Flames took care of a key housekeeping matter Friday, recalling rookie defenseman Jordan Leopold from Saint John of the American Hockey League.
Leopold is one of five defensemen selected to play for the Western Conference in the YoungStars Game. ...
The All-Star Game will feature four first-time officials as the NHL selected referees Dennis LaRue and Dan O'Halloran and linesmen Jean Morin and Tim Nowak to work Sunday's matinee.
LaRue, 43, has officiated the 1986 World Junior Championships, the 1987 World Championships, the 1991 Canada Cup and the 1988 and 2002 Winter Olympics.
O'Halloran, 38, worked All-Star Games in the International and American Hockey Leagues before joining the NHL in 1992.
Morin, 39, is coming off a busy 2001-02 season in which he worked both the Salt Lake City Olympics and the Stanley Cup Finals.
Nowak, a 35-year-old Buffalo native, joined the NHL in 1993 after stints in the AHL and the East Coast Hockey League.
