NHL Hockey

Wayne Gretzky

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario (AP) - Wayne Gretzky sidestepped questions about the gambling investigation that has engulfed him and his wife, and insisted Monday he won't distract the Canadian Olympic team despite a scandal that has shaken all of hockey.
Gretzky spoke for just 4 1/2 minutes in a news conference cut off by a Hockey Canada official when the NHL great repeatedly was asked about the integrity of the game.
"That's not for me to talk about," Gretzky said.

Gretzky's shoulders sagged at one point, and he reacted with a nervous laugh a couple of times. Hockey Canada official Andre Brin interrupted five times to say Gretzky would take only game-related questions.

"There's no story about me, that's what I keep trying to tell you. I'm not involved," Gretzky said.

This was Gretzky's final media availability before he left for Turin. The Canadian team was to fly from Toronto's Pearson International Airport after practice.

Gretzky was scheduled to fly with the team and Brin said it was his understanding that Gretzky's wife, Janet Jones, was also flying with them.

Gretzky wanted to discuss Canada's defense of its gold medal. The Phoenix coach declined to take questions about a gambling ring that authorities said was financed by Coyotes assistant coach Rick Tocchet and allegedly took bets from Jones.

"Not much really to add to what I said two days ago," Gretzky said after practice at a rink in suburban Toronto. "Nothing for me to talk about. I'm not involved. It's been a hard week for my family."

"The only focus I have right now is this hockey team getting ready for the Olympic Games," he said.

Philadelphia Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock, an assistant on the Canadian squad, said the players are so focused on a gold medal that he doesn't think they "would dare let something like this distraction get in their way."

Gretzky acknowledges the pressure on Canada to repeat as gold medalists.

"They're always under the microscope," he said. "We're a team that's always looked upon to winning gold medals. This will be no different."

New Jersey authorities announced charges last week against Tocchet, a New Jersey state trooper and another New Jersey man for running a nationwide sports gambling operation. State police said wagers - primarily on professional football - exceeded $1.7 million in the five weeks leading to the Super Bowl. Tocchet is on an indefinite leave from the Coyotes.

Jones has not been charged with any crime but is expected to be subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury investigating gambling activity, attorneys said.

Team Canada players backed Gretzky.

"He's put this team together and we're excited he's coming and that he'll be a part of that," team captain Joe Sakic said. "I know people are trying to bring up, 'What's going on with Wayne?' ... It's not an issue."

Said goaltender Martin Brodeur: "You feel for people that are getting judged for sometimes no reason. So for people to waste any energy asking us these questions, you just brush it off and move on to the next question."

Gretzky is in his first season as Phoenix's coach. The investigation is the latest burden in what has been a tough two-month stretch for him.

Gretzky's mother, Phyllis, died of lung cancer on Dec. 19. Three weeks later, his grandmother died.

Canadian national team players arrived by bus in Mississauga, an hour east of Gretzky's hometown of Brantford in the early afternoon. About 100 fans cheered the players, and one fan held a poster-sized picture of Gretzky in a Los Angeles Kings uniform.

Dominic Hasek

TURIN, Italy (AP) - Dominik Hasek's quest for another Olympic gold medal is off to a rough start.

The goalie from the Czech Republic is missing his equipment.
Hasek made the trek from Ottawa to Turin, but his gear got sidetracked along the way. And there is no guarantee he will have it in time for the tournament opener Wednesday against Germany.

"Oh, I had some problems," the 41-year-old goaltender said Monday night after practicing with borrowed gear. "I don't know where it is. It's traveling somewhere in Washington, I believe. But we don't know for sure."

Hasek helped lead the Czechs to the gold medal in 1998 - the first time the NHL sent players to the Olympics. He took a year off after his team's also-ran finish at Salt Lake City, but he is back in top form for the Ottawa Senators this season - in the top five in the league in victories and goals-against average.

He was able to get some work in with his teammates on Monday with the help of Jim Corsi, the goalie coach for the Buffalo Sabres and Team Italy. Hasek spent nine seasons in Buffalo before moving onto Detroit, where he won his only Stanley Cup title.

"I wasn't happy with it, but it was better than nothing," he said of the unfamiliar equipment.

Ottawa defeated Philadelphia at home on Saturday before the Olympic break. Hasek flew on Air Canada to Washington before switching to Alitalia for the trip to Milan and then Turin. He doesn't know where his belongings were lost.

"I don't want to blame. It's an unfortunate situation," he said. "We are smiling right now, but if it won't be here tomorrow it's not too much fun for me."

John Grahame

TURIN, Italy (AP) - John Grahame is getting to know defenseman Jordan Leopold really well.

He has no choice — they were the only American hockey players who actually made it to the Olympics on Monday because of the weekend snow storm that socked the east coast of the United States.
The Tampa Bay goalie and Leopold of the Calgary Flames are both first-time Olympians and had never met until they walked together to a news conference.

It was there the opponents in the 2004 Stanley Cup finals found about 40 journalists waiting to pepper them with questions that ranged from the weather to Wayne Gretzky and the National Hockey League betting scandal.

Instead of sitting with three New York Islanders, three New Jersey Devils and two Philadelphia Flyers — as expected — they were all alone.

"I was actually kind of surprised but it's OK," Leopold said. "We get all of the attention."

The 21 remaining members are expected to arrive on Tuesday when the team will practice together for the first time. They will have just one day before opening the tournament against Latvia on Wednesday.

"I haven't gotten a lot of sleep in the last 24 hours, but if we were ready to play — I'd be ready," Grahame said. "When that puck drops there is something right there. You may not have as much juice as you normally would, but you'd definitely be focused and ready to go."

Grahame has no international experience to compare this to, but he is quite familiar with the 1980 U.S. team that won the gold medal in Lake Placid, New York.

"During the lockout, I must've watched "Miracle" 80 to 100 times," Grahame said. "It just always seemed to be on, and every time it was on I watched it. You never get sick of seeing it."

Now he wants to repeat it.

His journey took him from Boston, where the Lightning beat the Bruins on Saturday night, back to Tampa, on to Chicago, then to Munich for a connecting flight to Turin.

It was well worth it for Grahame, who wasn't even invited to the U.S. orientation hockey camp in September. Back then, Buffalo's Ryan Miller seemed likely to be picked along with Robert Esche of the Flyers, and Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro.

That was before Miller went down with a broken thumb. He didn't recover enough by the time the team was picked in December. Grahame got the spot and Miller is at home, waiting in the wings to be added to the roster should any of the three guys in front of him get hurt.

There weren't enough players for a pickup game Monday. The best Leopold and Grahame could hope to do was practice shootouts.

It is one of the downsides to having NHL players participate in the Olympics. The league wants the shutdown to be as short as possible, so teams were still playing games on Sunday - two days after the torch was lit in Turin.

Leopold watched some of the opening ceremony on Friday after the Flames beat the St. Louis Blues in overtime.

"It's kind of surreal at that time because you know you're going to be here but you really can't into the element and get in the zone until you're here," the 25-year-old Leopold said.

While the top four teams in the Power Rankings remained the same this week with Carolina, Ottawa, Detroit and Dallas standing their ground, there was some significant movement that took place in Week 18 to show that some of the power has shifted around the league.

The Sabres made the biggest jump in the Top 10, moving from the No. 7 slot to the No. 5 hole courtesy of the three wins they picked up last week and the five-game winning streak they are riding. Buffalo has opened some eyes around the NHL during this current stretch, as it has beaten some of the league's top squads in the Senators, Rangers and Flyers to prove that their success is no fluke. The Sabres, who are 7-2-1 in their last 10, only trail the powerful Sens by six points in the Northeast heading into Week 19.

The Lightning covered the most ground of all the clubs in the rankings last week, moving up three places from the No. 15 spot to the No. 12 post. The defending Cup champions ran off three straight wins in Week 18 to put a greater distance between them and the Atlanta Thrashers in the Southeast Division. After 55 games, Tampa was sitting comfortable in second place with 64 points in 55 games, while Atlanta was in third with 54 points. More importantly, if the playoffs were to start tomorrow, the Lightning would be the sixth seed in the East and the Thrashers wouldn't be eligible for the postseason.

On the minus side, the Flyers dropped three places in the rankings, losing all three games they played in Week 18. The three losses not only dropped them in the Power Rankings, they also affected Philly's place in the league standings, allowing the Rangers to move into first in the Atlantic with 72 points. To make matters worse, the Flyers ended their dreadful week by getting shut out 5-0 by the Canadiens on the road in Montreal on Sunday.

Another significant development in the Power Rankings was the Blues finally climbing their way out of last place. The Blues won two out of three last week to move them out of the basement and into the 29th slot. After losing four straight in Week 18 — and six overall — the Penguins are now the new cellar-dwellers in the rankings. Pittsburgh has lost 16 of its last 17 games.