An Atlanta Thrashers Media Release contributed to this article.

ATLANTA, Ga. – The Atlanta Thrashers have signed unrestricted free agent defenseman Chris Chelios, according to Executive Vice President and General Manager Don Waddell. 

Chelios, 48, has appeared in 44 games with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League this season, recording 21 points (five goals, 16 assists) while ranking second in the league with a plus-35 rating.

The Chicago, Ill., native has registered 948 points (185 goals, 763 assists) and 2,891 penalty minutes in 1,644 career NHL games with the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens. In a NHL-record 266 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, Chelios has collected 144 points (31 goals, 113 assists) while capturing the Stanley Cup three times, once with Montreal (1986) and twice with Detroit (2002 and 2008).

In his 25-year NHL career, Chelios ranks fourth in games played, eighth in all-time assists by a defenseman, and ranks 10th among defensemen in points.

Among American-born players, he ranks first in games played, second in plus/minus (plus-352) , and third in points by a defenseman.

The 6-0, 190-pound defenseman has earned the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman three times (1989, 1993, 1996), has been named to the NHL’s First All-Star Team five times (1989, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2002), and has participated in 11 NHL All-Star Games.

Chelios has represented the United States in international competition 12 times, and served as team captain at the 1998, 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics and led the U.S. to a Silver Medal at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City and Gold at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

Note: Chelios was originally drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the second round, 40th overall, of the 1981 NHL Entry Draft.

Now that Ilya Kovalchuk is donning a New Jersey Devil sweater and ‘goaltender of the future’ Kari Lehtonen has traded in his Thrashers blue for a Dallas star, it may be time to switch our speculation from ‘what team will win the Kovalchuk sweepstakes’ to ‘what city will the Thrashers be moving to’.

Don Waddell who was an assistant GM of the Detroit Red Wings and won a Stanley Cup with the team in 1998, has all but bombed since taking the helm for the Atlanta Thrashers and his journey has ‘Matt Millen’ written all over it.

Not to be outdone by Millen, in the same week he dumped Kovalchuk, he also traded another first-round pick Lehtonen. Add those two players to the other stars like Dany Heatley and Marian Hossa who have also left the building.

Know as Teflon Don for his ability to survive ‘sticky situations’ and somehow hang onto his job as his team remains near the cellar of his league for much of his 10 years as GM, he has set up the Atlanta Thrashers for failure by allowing his star players (again) to leave the building.

Many expect these latest moves to bury the franchise. With an arena that on many nights is blanketed with empty seats, this move may prove to be the team’s demise. In a recent column, Hockey News columnist Ryan Kennedy opines, “The future is bleak.”

Former GM and Hockey Night in Canada analyst Mike Milbury was highly critical of the Thrashers’ GM, and doesn’t believe Waddell got fair value in return for his star. “I think he misplayed his hand, and I think he badly misplayed his hand,” Milbury said. He went on to say that Waddell has a history of making bad trades.

In a more recent published piece in The Hockey News Rory Boylen explains, “In trading away Kari Lehtonen to the Dallas Stars Tuesday night, the Thrashers have now disconnected themselves from all but one of their six first round draft picks from the first five drafts of the team’s existence.”

That should sound familiar to Detroit Lions fans as they witnessed a similar situation under Matt Millen. Of the first round draft picks for the Lions between 2002-2006, only one player remains on the team and like the Thrashers many of those were high first-rounders.

Waddell jumped into a sort of ‘save face’ mode with a press release last week explaining in detail to the fans and media the millions that were offered and turned down by Kovy and his agent Jay Grossman but that dog and pony show may not go far with the fans here in Atlanta. The bottom line is Teflon Don let the face of his franchise go and could not convince the player to sign on the dotted line.

It has to be embarrassing to the franchise when a player refuses to accept $100 million to play NHL hockey in Atlanta. Shunning an offer of this magnitude speaks volumes and may represent what lack of faith Kovy may have in Waddell’s ability to build a winner.

Normally in sports negotiations, real estate transactions and corporate buyouts when lucrative offers like Kovy’s are put on the table they end up signed and done as long as the people at the top have the ability to close it.

After the trade Waddell had the audacity to say “I don’t think it sets us back at all. I think it moves us forward.”

That statement reminds me of when Millen, who is regarded as one of the most incompetent GMs in NFL history, was asked by the Detroit Free Press about his 0-2 Lions start and their record-setting string of losses under his management, he responded, “What we are doing is the right thing to do . . . stay the course.”

If Waddell truly believes that removing a superstar like Ilya Kovalchuk from the team and replacing him with a rookie who hasn’t scored in 13 games, a draft pick and a few other unproven players, then like Millen it may be time for him to move on. Millen also believed and he said it himself, “My initial thought was this: If you can’t get it done in five years, get out.”Problem in Detroit was, Millen said those words but did not live by them and years later he had to be pried from his seat.

Atlanta fans are experiencing a similar situation where a GM has been granted more than an adequate amount of time to produce a winner and has not.

Waddel made a few more comments that may have the fans shaking their heads. “We’re struggling with our attendance as it is,” said Waddell, whose team is tied 11th in the Eastern Conference standings, just a few points out of playoff spot. “The only way we’re going to bring fans back is by winning hockey games.”

So do you do that by trading away your leading scorer and one of the greatest players in the world?

It’s common for GMs to deal away players for a lot less value if they believe they will not get a deal done in the off-season but this is a case where the team could have kept Kovy and at least tried to make the playoffs then possibly coax him to accept one of the deals that was offered. This would have certainly put more fans in the seats for the remainder of this year, especially if they could have gotten hot like early in the season and gone on even a short playoff run.

Now that Waddell was once again unable to retain a star player, will the ownership have the guts to make the move that many fans in Atlanta (like Detroit with Millen) have been begging for, for years? Millen never willingly agreed to resign and the same is expected of Waddell.

Over the past several years it has been more than challenging for Waddell to get players to sign here even with Kovy on the team. UFA Brian Campbell turned down a reported $60 million contract that Waddell was said to have offered and opted to go to a team located in a snow belt who hadn’t made the playoffs in years.

Last year, that trend looked like it may possibly be changing when having Kovy in a Thrashers’ uniform convinced players like Nik Antropov and Pavel Kubina to lace them up in the south. Now that Kovy is in New Jersey, many people expect these players to move on elsewhere when the opportunity arrives.

Also with Kovalchuk gone there is a strong possibility of losing two other players of the Thrashers Russian trio as well. The Thrashers obtained Maxim Afinogenov for $800,000and after a comeback season that has produced (17g-27a-44pts) ranking him first on the team in scoring, expect him to test the free agent market.

Ex-Red Wing player Slava Kozlov is the other of the trio we should expect to move on and possibly try to follow Kovy. Owning some of the league’s best shootout stats, Kozlov would help whatever team picks him up.

During this roller-coaster week of trade talks and negotiations, Kovalchuk spoke to the media. “You don’t want to be a distraction. We are in a playoff race and we are only one point from the playoffs, said the star winger. “Hopefully, we are going to figure something out.”

Waddell believed Kovy sincerely wanted to stay and said this after trading away the franchise’s best hope, “I think, Kovy right to the last day, wanted to be a Thrasher. But it’s a business decision.”

Yes it was Teflon Don, and a really bad one.

More Thrashers:

Waddell Releases Statement to the Media

Kovalchuk Showing Great Leadership in Atlanta

Copyright © 2010 – Sports Climax

Below is a statement just released by Atlanta Thrashers GM Don Waddell concerning signing Ilya Kovalchuk:

Our goal from the start of this negotiating process was to sign Ilya Kovalchuk to a long-term contract. During the process, Kovy affirmed his desire to be a Thrasher for life. We’ve spent several months exploring scenarios with Kovy and his agent to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, and offered many lucrative packages in an attempt to meet his financial objectives. Unfortunately, we’ve reached an impasse and at this point he has declined all of our proposals and we can’t reasonably go any higher.

Ultimately, we offered Kovy more than $101 million over 12 years, which would have been the highest contract signed by an impending unrestricted free agent in the history of the league. If accepted, this contract would have been the second highest offer ever to any NHL player. We also met his desire to be the highest paid player based on average annual salary with a separate offer of 7 years at $10M per year ($70M). This offer is $0.5M higher per year than any other player.

If we went beyond these offers, we would not be able to retain the young players on our roster when it came time to sign them, or invest in other top tier players needed to assemble a truly competitive team. Therefore, we are aggressively exploring all of our options as we move forward.

Other Thrashers Articles:

Kovalchuk Showing Great Leadership in Atlanta

Atlanta Goalie Allows 180-foot Shot to Score in Loss

Copyright © 2010 – Sports Climax

ATLANTA – Riding the wave of a four-game win streak and dramatic last-second victory Monday night against division rival Florida Panthers, the Atlanta Thrashers will be taking a great deal of momentum into their game Thursday night against the New York Islanders at Philips Arena.

The Thrashers under the great leadership of Captain Kovalchuk appear to be adapting to Coach John Anderson’s offensive scheme as the team leads the NHL in goals per game with an impressive 3.46 mark. To put that in perspective, the dominating Detroit Red Wings led the NHL last season with a 3.52.

One of the reasons for the Thrashers hot start is the contribution of several players who were not on the roster at the start of last season.

Three of the top four names found on the team’s current stats sheet are Rich Peverley (10g-16a-26pts), Maxim Afinogenov (11g, 14a, 25pts) and Nik Antropov (2g, 21a, 23pts). Afinogenov scored the game winner with 5 seconds remaining in regulation time in that dramatic win against the Panthers.

Another factor is the impressive play of their youngsters. Nineteen-year-old Zach Bogosian leads the NHL in goals by a defensemen with 8 while eighteen-year-old rookie Evander Kane, another first-round pick, has contributed as well, adding (8g, 5a, 13pts), creating a rookie-of-the-year buzz around the city of Atlanta.

Goaltending is another area the team has improved and they’ve done it without Kari Lehtonen, their starting goaltender over the past few seasons. While Lehtonen continues to recover from an injury that required surgery, back-up goaltenders Johan ‘Moose’ Hedberg and Ondrej Pavelec have been sharing the crease duties.

After registering two shutouts (one each) over the past four games, the Thrashers find themselves in the upper half of the league in goals against average, a vast improvement over the past few years when they hovered near the basement in that category.

Pavelec, who earlier this season allowed a 180-ft shot to score, shut out the Red Wings 2-0 in Detroit while Moose put up a 1-0 goose egg at home against the pesky Philadelphia Flyers. Moose’s win snapped a 14-game winless streak against the Flyers.

Currently the Thrashers own one of the best road records in the NHL at 8-2-1 and find themselves in the 5th position in their conference with several games in hand on the leaders.

To put that in mathematical perspective, if the Thrashers win all four of the games they have in hand on the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins, the Thrashers would find themselves one point ahead of Sid The Kid in the standings; but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.

More NHL:

Thrashers’ Goalie Pavelec Allows 180-ft Shot to Score (video) – Sports Climax

Captain Kovalchuk Returns Early & Shows Great Leadership –  Sports Climax  

Yahoo!Sports – Puck Daddy

Bill ‘Iceman’ Tiller – Atlanta-Journal-Constitution

Copyright © 2009 – Sports Climax

ATLANTA – Atlanta Thrashers forward Ilya Kovalchuk is having the kind of season that assures him a place among the NHL’s most respected leaders, and I’m not just referring to his sizzling eight-game start.

Kovalchuk, who started the season with a NHL league-leading 9 goals in his first 8 games, took a puck in the foot that broke a bone.

The injury occurred on October 24th and was expected to sideline the high-flying winger for four-to-six weeks projecting his return in late-November or early December.

This past Tuesday way ahead of schedule, Kovalchuk laced up the skates and joined his teammates for practice.

After testing the foot with a full practice, it was first reported he would join his team for a trip to New York for a game Thursday night against the Rangers. That news changed when the stress of the skate caused a flare-up and signified it was best to let him remain at home in Atlanta for more rest.

Atlanta has been a city that is measuring its rain in feet this year and this week was no exception. The skies again opened up compliments of Hurricane Ida causing delays to the Thrashers’ charter flight.

The delayed take-off gave Kovalchuk a little extra time to reassess his injury. He contacted the team, packed up and raced to Atlanta-Hartsfield to take the flight to New York in hopes of playing at MSG.

Kovalchuk is a superstar who clearly has nothing more to prove to the Thrashers organization or any other team in the league. He is one of the most talented players in the world and if he becomes a free agent, teams will be aggressively bidding on his services like a treasured piece at an auction.

A few weeks ago, during one of the talk shows on Atlanta’s 680 The Fan, the hosts were kicking around rumors the Thrashers had offered Kovalchuk a $100 million contract.

True or not, Kovalchuk is guaranteed one of the highest-paid contracts in the league before the puck drops in October 2010, that is certain, yet he took it upon himself to scramble at the last minute and join the team in New York.

How many star players in the NHL and many of the other professional leagues would have taken the week off with pay?

In an earlier interview with the AJC Thrashers beat writer Chris Vivlamore, Kovalchuk said, “It’s tough to watch from upstairs. It’s tough because you can’t help.”

Kovalchuk has a strong desire to win. He has spoken about it many times over the years but when you witness what we have this season, his performance, his expedited rehab of the injury, his actions speak volumes.

Kovalchuk craves to contribute on the ice, there’s clearly a fire lit and along with the talent comes additional great leadership qualities.

People cringe when Kovalchuk drops his gloves to come to the defense of a teammate; that is not his place on the team. Enforcer Eric Boulton and Chris Thorburn normally oblige to opportunities like that; but that is what great captains and leaders sometimes do.

I remember attending a game in Detroit in 1987 when Red Wing captain Steve Yzerman dropped his gloves to come to the aid of his goaltender after Buffalo tough-guy Kevin Maguire leveled the Red Wings goalie. Red Wings enforcer Bob Probert was on the ice but was held off by the linesmen so Yzerman made his way over to Maguire, threw ‘em down and went a few rounds.

I do not condone players like Kovalchuk and Yzerman risking injury fighting; their place is on the scoring sheet, but again, great leaders step up at unscripted times throughout their careers.

Here’s that Yzerman incident:

The Thrashers have a great leader in Kovalchuk. He’s a man with a vision and his leading by example can only benefit this young team.

Whether Kovalchuk skates tonight or not, for unselfish reasons he has shown a burning desire to get back on the ice and lead his team to the next level and bring the NHL Playoffs back to Philips Arena come April 2010. That in itself should be a motivation for the Thrashers in New York tonight.

Editor’s Note: Kovalchuk did play in New York and tallied 1 goal and 2 assists in a 5-3 win for the Thrashers.

Related Articles:

Iceman’s Thrashers’ Blog AJC 

NHL Enforcer Eric Boulton Talks Fight Rule Changes

Thrashers Goalie Allows 180-foot Shot to Score

Exclusive Interview With Scotty Bowman – Fight Rules

Copyright © 2009 – Sports Climax

ATLANTA – The Atlanta Thrashers kicked off their NHL season with a 6-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday night at Philips Arena in front of 18,545 fans.

Starting the scoring for the Thrashers was Lightning defenseman Paul Ranger who jumped on a rebound from an Illya Kovalchuk shot and fired it behind stunned teammate goaltender Mike Smith, turning on the red light, erupting the crowd and sparking a collection of quotes from his bench in language so colorful it cannot be put in print.

Never hurts to get spotted a goal in the low-scoring NHL and the Thrashers took advantage of it, scoring the game’s next three goals to take a 4-0 lead; a lead they never salvaged.

Thrashers forward Rich Peverley, one of last year’s bright spots, started the season where he left off netting two goals and an assist. Not to be outdone, Thrashers Captain Illya Kovalchuk matched the effort netting three points of his own (2g, 1a).

All eyes were on 18-year-old rookie Evander Kane, No. 4 overall pick by Atlanta in this year’s NHL Draft. Kane made his debut compiling 11:09 of ice time and picking up his first NHL point when he assisted on Peverley’s first goal at 12:42 of the second period.

The ice did tilt with a shift in momentum late in the second period when Lightning speedster Martin St. Louis scored two goals in the final six minutes making it 4-2 at second intermission.

Rejuvenated by St. Louis’ efforts, the Lightning came out flying in the third scoring early at 2:11 to narrow the gap to 4-3 but the Thrashers refused to send their fans home without a win and scored the final two goals for the win.

The game also featured a few fights. Thrashers enforcer Eric Boulton dropped Lightning player Todd Fedoruk with a solid right in one match and Chris Thornburn went toe-to-toe with Zenon Konopka for nearly a minute in another brawl. (see video here)

Winning goaltender, rookie 22-year-old Ondrej Pavelec had great looking stats on paper; stopping 36 of the 39 shots he faced and being named third star of the game but looked shaky during much of the contest.

Pavelec looked behind his back for a red light on several occasions and was out of position, his back completely turned to the shooters on a few others. Luckily for the Thrashers, those shots didn’t find a way behind their goalie but in the NHL, sometimes you need a little luck.

Like Captain Kovy said post-game referring to the goal he got credited for that Ranger fired in his own net, “It takes a little bit of luck sometimes. I’ll take it.”

And so will the 18,545 faithful who visited Blueland Saturday night.

Copyright © 2009 – Sports Climax

ATLANTA – The talk of tweaking fight rules is nothing new to the NHL but the buzz this season has gained momentum after being fueled by two serious minor league incidents, one that resulted in death.Both of these incidents were the result of fighting and in both cases, the players lost their helmets during their altercations.

Earlier this season during an OHA game Don Sanderson, a 21-year-old rookie, went into a coma and later died after slamming his head on the ice and in an AHL contest, Garrett Klotz suffered a seizure from a head injury he received after removing his helmet to battle Kevin Westgarth.

Regardless of the intense public heat put on the leagues to implement tighter regulations or ban fighting from the sport, don’t expect fighting to completely disappear from the game. Eliminating such a popular and traditional asset of the game would create uproar from the fan base and cause economic strain on the sport.

Like it or not, some fans come out to see the fights. There’s a reason hard-nosed players like Donald Brashear, Riley Cote and Jared Boll are fan favorites. They represent what hockey is; a tough sport.

Atlanta Thrashers forward Eric Boulton is also no stranger to fisticuffs. After recording 131 points (65g 66a) and 1,374 penalty minutes in 319 minor league games, Boulton journeyed his way to the NHL where he has established himself as one of the game’s respected enforcers.

Recently, I sat down with the 7-year NHL veteran to get his feedback on the possibility of fight rule changes in the league.

“It’s unfortunate and sad what happened to that young man [Sanderson],” said Boulton. “I think there could be a few rules put in place, like not removing the helmet and maybe implementing a rule that you can’t toss a guy [to the ice] in a fight. That’s where an injury can occur with a guy banging his head on the ice.”

During a recent interview NHLPA director Paul Kelly said they may suggest some rule changes, for example, if a helmet comes off during a fight, the fight should be immediately stopped by the referees.

I asked Boulton if it is realistic to expect two players in the heat of the battle to suddenly stop throwing punches if a helmet comes off, “No absolutely not [realistic]. I don’t like that rule at all. I don’t know how you would ever enforce that,” said the Halifax, Nova Scotia native. “Keep the helmets on, make sure guys don’t take them off before the fights; but that’s the only rule change I would suggest.”

In the NHL where there is no mandatory visor rule in place, players normally keep their helmets on unless they agree to remove them for dramatic effect to entertain the crowd. With mandatory visor rules in effect in the minor leagues it is becoming common practice for enforcers to purposely remove their helmets prior to engaging in fisticuffs, like in Klotz’ seizure incident.

Boulton loses his head protection on occasion during his altercations but feels if that happens in the middle of the fight, they should let it go. “The main thing in my opinion is never [purposely] take your helmet off,” said Boulton. “Helmets have been coming off during fights for years. Guys just should never remove them intentionally.”

While many people believe a ‘code of ethics’ does not exist at the minor league levels regarding fighting, Boulton feels an unwritten “code of ethics’ does exist between most NHL fighters.

“I would say 99% of the guys are respectable of each other and their jobs,” said Boulton. “We all know it’s a hard job to do and you need to have that respect. I’ve seen a lot of that this year, if a guy goes down, not hitting him or if a jersey goes over a head, not hitting him and stuff like that.

I’ve also [occasionally] seen a few guys hitting a guy when they’re on the ice and definitely that stuff shouldn’t happen. That’s where guys get hurt.”

While many NHL players would dread taking on a 6-ft, 3-in. 234-lb. enforcer like Washington Capitals Donald Brashear, Boulton referred to his minute-long, toe-to-toe brawl with Brashear the night before like it was just ‘another day at the office’.

Boulton who is accustomed to bringing Thrashers’ fans to their feet with his rugged style, talked about the most severe injury he ever suffered in a fight.

“Worst injury [from a fight] was a little crack in the face, a broken bone between my nose and my eye here,” he explained while pointing at the crooked spot on his upper bridge. “I had to put on a visor and played with it on for 6 weeks then took it off, it was nothing serious.”

Broken nose. Nothing serious. Just another ‘day at the office’.

Sports Climax NHL fight video clips here.

Copyright © 2009 – Sports Climax

ATLANTA, GA. – Last week, Myles Stoesz was going through his regular routine, laying back to refuel from an all-night bus trip from a game the night before when he got a call from Atlanta Thrashers V.P. Assistant GM Larry Simmons, a call that would change his life.”We had a late night getting back from a game in South Carolina,” said Stoesz. “I just laid down about four o’clock. I got a call, looked at my caller ID and it was Larry Simmons. He told me I was traded.

At first it didn’t sink in. I went and told my roommate, ‘Dude, I just got traded’ then it finally started to sink in. It was a shock for the first day and a half. That night I pretty much sat in my room staring at all my stuff thinking ‘How do I start packing all this stuff'”

Stoesz was part of a deal at the NHL trade deadline that also sent Thrashers defenseman Niclas Havelid to the Devils for Anssi Salmela. With the Thrashers organization overflowing with prospects, Stoesz has yet to be called up and don an NHL uniform but the 22-year-old prospect is hoping for an opportunity in the New Jersey system.

Instead of placing him on the ECHL Trenton Devils roster, the Devils assigned Stoesz to their AHL affiliate Lowell Devils team.

As a few formalities run their course, Stoesz anxiously awaits an opportunity to show what he can do on an AHL sheet of ice. “I think they want their doctors to take a look at me to clear me as far as playing so I don’t know if I’ll be playing this weekend,” said the rugged winger. “I’m happy to be here at practice with the guys and see more of the AHL. I’m taking it one day at a time and will work my butt off as far as practice goes.”

“I want to play. I’m looking forward to my first opportunity,” he added. “All I need is my one shot, one opportunity; and I definitely won’t disappoint them.”

This season, Stoesz, the Steinbach, Manitoba native suited up for 43 games with the Thrashers ECHL affiliate Gwinnett Gladiators and tallied 7 points, (4g,3a) while accumulating 158 penalty minutes.

Known for his leadership in and around the locker room, Stoesz is no stranger to fisticuffs. He recorded 449 career penalty minutes over less than two seasons in the ECHL, including a league-leading 281 minutes last season.

Although he will miss the fans in Gwinnett, being delegated to the AHL has many rewards and is one step away from the NHL.

A fan-favorite in Gwinnett, Stoesz’ appreciation for fan support never has gone unnoticed. “Gwinnett has some of the best fans in the ECHL. They support the team and they supported me tremendously,” said Stoesz. “I’m going to miss them and I want to thank them for coming out and watching while I was there, for buying my jerseys and for putting my videos on ‘YouTube’. That was nice to have.”

Copyright © 2009 – Sports Climax

ATLANTA, GA. – With just 20 games left on their regular-season schedule, the Gwinnett Gladiators occupy the final playoff spot in their division, sitting just .019 percentage points ahead of the Mississippi Sea Wolves.

Going into last Sunday’s game against the league-best Florida Everblades, Gladiators’ head coach Jeff Pyle knew it was time to light a torch under his players. “We’ve been short-handed and were a little beat up. We got in at 7:30 in the morning [Sunday]. I didn’t know if we were going to be sluggish or not but we came out hard, scored early in the game and considering the situation we played really well”.

The team did play well, in fact they dominated most of the contest to the delight of 4,835 fans who attended that game at the Arena at Gwinnett Center and saw their Glads ice a 6-3 victory.

The players were give the day off Monday to re-energize before hitting the ice for three scheduled practices while they await the Charlotte Checkers who come into town for another important game on Friday.

When asked about how the long hiatus between game days may affect his players, Pyle was quick to welcome the break. “We needed the time off to regroup”, said Pyle. “We know how important all these games are. [With the break] I expect them to come out hard on Friday against Charlotte”.

With Mississippi right on their tails, Pyle believes his team is in the middle of a playoff run, “I think we’ve been in the playoff mode for the last three weeks or so”, said Pyle. “Every win is important”.

The team will try to bring their best game to the final run of the season and ride the momentum of their recent success, “You always hope you’re going to hit that hot streak”, the coach said. “The last five games we have been pretty solid. We did a good job on the road, came back and had that big win against Florida”.

Between the large number of call-ups to the AHL and injuries, Pyle has been dealing with the challenging task of juggling his roster. “You just of have to piece it together as you go. We need all three lines going which has been the key for us lately”.

That certainly was the case during Sunday’s win over the Everblades as several role players contributed to the stat sheet.

Myles Stoesz, who is known more for his fists than scoring, opened the scoring at just 22 seconds into the game, his 4th of the year and Wisconsin-native Andy Brandt netted his 5th and 6th goals of the season, one an empty-netter, earning the game’s First-Star honors.

The Gladiators continue their playoff run, returning to the ice Friday night at 7:35 p.m. to face the Charlotte Checkers at the Arena at Gwinnett Center.

Copyright © 2009 – Sports Climax

Previously published in USA Hockey Magazine Feb. 2009 Edition

ATLANTA – When you’re only 5-foot-7, it’s easy to fly under the radar. But after an impressive college career and an award-winning rookie season in professional hockey, Brett Sterling is proving that big things can come in small packages.Now, the California native is trying to prove he deserves a regular spot with the Atlanta Thrashers.

A fifth-round pick by the Thrashers in 2003, Sterling has put together a quiet but competent professional career with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League. In his first full season in the Windy City, Sterling tallied a league-leading 55 goals, earned AHL rookie-of-the-year honors and a first team All-Star spot.

“I came in my first year and nobody knew who I was,” says Sterling, a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award during his junior season at Colorado College. “Coming in unknown was great, and I was playing with unbelievable players like Jason Krog and Darren Haydar. I had 34 goals in my first 35 games. All of a sudden teams started keying on me and the defense started to tighten up.”
Since taking the AHL by storm, Sterling has been threatening to cross the NHL threshold on a full-time basis. He spent his off-season working out and was committed to bringing himself to camp in the best possible shape.

After leading the Thrashers in scoring this preseason, the high-flying, left winger made the final cut and remained on the roster. Sterling saw action in 13 NHL games with the Thrashers last season and still hopes to build on that. “I feel a lot more comfortable this year,” says Sterling, who has played in three games so far this season with the Thrashers. “Last year I was jittery, and we had a rough start. That never helps when your team starts out 0-6 and you’re getting shifted around a lot, playing on the right wing with a variety of players.

“I’m a confidence player so the earlier you get scoring like I did my first year in the minors, the better. In the NHL, guys are bigger and stronger and they put up a better fight. It’s a challenge, and I’m ready for it. I thrive on that.”

Sterling’s journey from the sunny beaches of California to the NHL has been an interesting one. His family was first introduced to the sport by his uncle who encouraged Brett’s cousin and older brother to play hockey. He soon followed, donning his first pair of skates at 2 and playing his first season of organized hockey at age 4.

He continued playing both ice and inline hockey in California until he was 16. That’s when he received a great opportunity to play with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich. “I wanted to go so bad; I actually called my parents to make sure it was OK with them after I already said yes to Ann Arbor,” recalls Sterling. “It was a big step but a great opportunity. You really develop as a player and learn about yourself.”
His experience in Ann Arbor led Sterling to Colorado Springs, where he notched 184 points as a four-year player with the WCHA powerhouse Tigers.

Though small in stature, Sterling is a solid competitor and not timid about going into high-traffic areas to gain a scoring chance.
In a league where it’s common to find 220-pound defensemen standing well over 6-feet tall, Sterling pulls his inspiration from some past NHL stars.

“The guys like Theo Fleury, Paul Kariya, Dino Ciccarelli, I watched them very carefully when I was growing up and tried to emulate them the best I could,” he says. “The NHL game has opened up for smaller guys these days.”

Although he has spent much of the season in Chicago, Sterling is on the fast track to gain a spot on the Thrashers roster. The team continues to rebuild around its young stars under the tutelage of Head Coach John Anderson, who was behind the Wolves’ bench during Sterling’s incredible rookie year in Chicago.

“Last year [and this year] I made the team out of camp, which is awesome,” says Sterling, who hopes to follow his coach from the AHL to Atlanta.

“That team last year struggled, and I struggled along with them. I went back to the AHL but now I’m back this year. I want to prove that I belong [in Atlanta] and want to prove to people I can play here.”

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