Hockey

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Around the NHL: High ankle sprain sidelines power forward

By: Staff Writer

28/11/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

BOSTON Bruins power forward Milan Lucic received more bad news Friday -- he'll miss the next month with a high ankle sprain.

Lucic fell awkwardly reaching for the puck in Wednesday night's game against the Minnesota Wild. Initially it was believed he had suffered a knee injury.

Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli told the Boston Globe Friday morning that the one-month absence is an estimation at this point and the 21-year-old could be back on ice earlier than that.

"'Certainly, I expected worse," said Chiarelli to the Globe. "But if you look at (the replay) really closely, he broke the fall with his hands."

This is the second time this season Lucic has been on the shelf.

Lucic missed a month with a broken finger and he only played in four games since coming back.

Sens fans staying home

WHILE Ottawa Senators players have been showing up for games more consistently this season, the same cannot be said for their fans.

The team temporarily claimed the Northeast Division lead with a 4-3 win over Washington on Monday, but there were only 16,210 fans on hand to witness the victory at Scotiabank Place. The draw was the lowest attendance figure at a Senators home game since before the 2004-05 lockout -- and that was with Alex Ovechkin on the ice.

The Senators regained first place Thursday with a 2-1 win over Columbus and 19,244 fans in the building.

Jeff Kyle, Senators vice-president of marketing, said the club will re-evaluate its ticket sales programs later next month. He attributed much of the team's early season ticket troubles to a decrease in season-ticket sales due to the economy and a front-loaded home schedule in which 16 of the club's first 23 games are at home.

Enforcer discusses bite

NEW JERSEY Devils enforcer Andrew Peters is good with his fists, but that doesn't necessarily make him quick with his lips.

Peters was asked, again, after Wednesday night's New Jersey win over Ottawa about last season's altercation with Ottawa's Jarkko Ruutu who bit him in the hand during a Jan. 6 game.

"He is what he is," Peters, who was playing for the Buffalo Sabres at the time, said to the Star-Ledger. "I've spoken to some of his teammates about him. He's liked on his team. Players around the league don't like him and there's a reason for that.

"He's good at what he does. He's an agitator. He and I have a history but it's not worth talking about. It goes back to him biting me last year. That's all in the past. He was suspended for that."

Making hockey history

NEW JERSEY Devils radio colour analyst Sherry Ross made history on Wednesday when the Devils topped the Ottawa Senators 3-1.

Ross became the first female broadcaster to provide play-by-play for an entire NHL game in English, on New York all-sports station WFAN-660 AM, reports Tom Gulitti of the Fire & Ice website.

The longtime colour voice replaced usual play-by-play man Matt Loughlin, who missed the game because of the death of his father-in-law. Ross also subbed in in the 1993-94 season for one period after Gary Thorne, the Devils' TV play-by-play announcer at the time, was late because of travel issues.

-- Canwest News Service

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 28, 2009 D8

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