Spurs Nip Moon

- The Humidor - Havana, Cuba

The Spurs squeaked by the Moon 2-1, disappointing Fidel immensely. Marian Hossa (46) and Keith Tkachuk (36) scored for the Spurs with Sakic assisting on both tallies. Tkachuk's was on the power play and the game winner. Lighting the lamp for the Moon was Eric Staal (27). The Spurs had the SOG advantage in the contest 45-24 in giving Moon netminder DiPietro a workout.
Dasher Notes
Next up for the Spurs are the defending CCHL Champion Dayton Musicmen on Wednesday night at the Soundstage in Dayton. A 'must win' for both clubs.

Spurs Win one, Lose one

(AP) Denver, CO

The last two games have seen the Spurs defeat the Division rival Lawmasters and then lose 1-0 on the road to the Niagara Falls Thunder. Nikolai Khabibulin, "The Bulin Wall", literally stood on his head and lived up to his nickname in turning aside 51 Spurs' shots, making many spectacular saves in the process.
Dasher Notes
The Wisborg Donuts have pulled into a lead in the quest for the President's Trophy and what's more, the Hawaii Sandblasters have pulled into a tie for the Jazz Conference lead with Denver. Denver does have a game in hand on the 'blasters.
Next up for the Spurs are the Havana Moon in Havana on Monday night. Maybe Selanne can get the Spurs going again and put the Spurs on the right road the remainder of the season starting with leading them to a win versus his former team.

Lecavalier Nets 50th, Spurs Clinch Playoff Spot!!

- The Court House - Lahr, Germany

Vinny Lecavalier netted his 50th goal of the season at the 1:01 mark of the first period. In doing so he became the second player in the history of the Denver Spurs/Yellowknife Diamonds franchise to score 50 goals in a season!
Todd Bertuzzi lit the lamp 57 times for the '03'04 Yellowknife Diamonds. Of course, these numbers pale in comparison to some of the stats put up in the past by members of the defending CCHL Champion Dayton Musicmen.
Marian Hossa led the Spurs in the 5-2 road victory in potting 2 goals (44 & 45) including the game winner. Lighting the lamp for the 'justiz were Brad Richards (20) and Antropov (6). SOG in the contest were equal with the Spurs launching 35 at former Spur Tim Thomas and the 'justiz launching 34 at Marty Brodeur.
Dasher Notes
With this win the Spurs clinched a playoff spot.
During the contest blueliner Brett Clark was an astounding +4 with only 9 minutes of ice time! You don't see that often...eh
The win coupled with the Donuts' loss has again pulled Denver and Wisborg into a tie for most points in the CCHL this season. Wisborg has one more win than the Spurs. The Spurs pulled 4 points ahead of the Hawaii Sandblasters in the race for the Jazz Conference crown.
The next game is Thursday night at division rival Beverly Hills. The Spurs can't wait to get to the plush clubhouse that the Master Lawmaster Derek Chaiken provides.

Sakic Reaches 100

- Denver Coliseum - Denver, Colorado

Captain Joe Sakic reached the century mark tonight in the Spurs 8-0 shellacking of the visiting River City Renegades. Captain Joe assisted on the last two goals of the game in the 3rd period by Smyth & Selanne to give him 100 points on the season. Leading the Spurs in the win were Smyth, Hossa and Selanne, with each garnering 3 points in the contest. Netminder Martin Brodeur stopped 20 'gades shots in finally notching his 3rd shutout of the season.
Dasher Notes
The Spurs now have 4 players who have reached the century mark in points this season. Hossa (132), Lecavalier (113), Tkachuk (105) and now the aforementioned Sakic with 100. Also closing in on the century mark is portsider Ryan Smyth, who currently has 93 points.
Tonight the Spurs are winging it to Europe for a game versus the Lahr Lynchjustiz tomorrow night at the Court House.

Selanne Nets Two In Loss

- Denver Coliseum - Denver, Colorado

Teemu Selanne netted his 29th & 30th goals of the season while his teammates lost to the visiting Remparts Saturday night at the Coliseum. The Spurs led 1-0 entering the 3rd when the floodgates opened and the Quebecers put 4 past Spurs' netminder Marty Brodeur.
Scoring for the Remparts were Whitney(42), Brunette(27), M.Johnson(7) and S.Walker(21).
Final score, Remparts 4 Spurs 2.
Dasher Notes
No new injuries reported for the Spurs after the game. Most likely blueliners Marc-Andre Bergeron and Steve Staios will be returning to the lineup for the next game.

Spurs Top 100 Points

- White Sands Auditorium - Las Cruces, New Mexico

The Spurs defeated the Southwest Scorpions tonight in a USA Western Division matchup. In doing so, the Spurs eclipsed the 100 point barrier garnering their 101st point on the season. The Spurs are now tied with the Wisborg Donuts for the most points in the CCHL this season. The Donuts have more wins. Ryan Smyth (41,42) and Paul Stastny (22,23) led the Spurs in the victory along with blueliner McCabe who registered 4 helpers. Teemu Selanne also added his 28th goal of the season. Lighting the lamp for the hometown Scorpions were Afanasenkov (5) and Smolinski (13). The Spurs were an impressive 50% (2 for 4) on the powerplay.
Dasher Notes
Defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron joined Ben Guite and Steve Staios on the IR. The training staff reports that it will be just a few days before both Bergeron and Staios should be ready to return to the lineup. Coach Q has indicated that newly acquired blueliner Mark Giordano may see his first action in a Spurs uni come Saturday night versus the Quebec Remparts at the Coliseum in Denver.

Express Clobber Spurs

- Sarah Hughes Arena - Long Island, New York

The Spurs came to the Island full of themselves and were easily dispatched by a determined Express squad 6-3. The inconsistent Brodeur showed his inconsistency again in allowing 5 goals on 39 shots for a paltry .872 SvPct. Hard to say what his problem is. He should be performing much better.
Leading the Express to the victory was Jason Blake with 2 goals, along with Crosby and Parise who had 3 points each. Parise continues to haunt his former team.
Dasher Notes
This loss makes it 5 losses in the last 10 for the Spurs. The wheels are coming loose and Wisborg now has the lead for the President's Trophy by 2 points. They also have 2 more wins than the Spurs in the same number of games played. The next game for the Spurs is in 3 days back home against the Portland Owls. Hopefully the Spurs have themselves strightened out by then. Blueliner Paetsch suffered a minor injury in the contest.

Lecavalier's Natural Leads Spurs

- Denver Coliseum - Denver, Colorado

Vinny Lecavalier's natural hat trick led the Spurs to a 6-2 win over the visiting Linz Blackwings tonight at the Coliseum. The first two he scored within 7 seconds during the 2nd period, simply amazing. The third came about 4 minutes later to close out the scoring in the period. Lecavalier now has 43 goals on the season. Sakic netted his 40th in the contest while Smyth potted two and now has 37 to date. Marian Hossa had a hat trick of assists in helping Vinny pot his natural and leads the league in helpers by a wide margin.
Netminder Marty Brodeur gave up his customary two goals in the victory.
Dasher Notes
Newcomer Selanne picked up 2 assists in the contest during 24 minutes of ice time.
Blueliner McCabe was an impressive +4.
The Spurs travel to Long Island for a game against the Express for their next game.

Deadline Day

- Office of the General Manager - Denver, Coliseum


Selanne, Giordano, Ponikarovsky, Foligno

Last night and throughout the day, GM Poelker of the Spurs had several phone calls with GM Michael Gilman of the Havana Moon, who was 'hunkered down' with Fidel in their war room. After Gilman's announcement to the league that UFAs Teemu Selanne & Brendan Shanahan were available, Poelker and the Spurs management decided to see what it would take. Realizing the Spurs could only afford one of them, and that even one was stretching the budget, it was decided to target Selanne.
In the end, about an hour before the trade deadline, GM Gilman & Fidel received the deal they ultimately asked for. Heading to Havana and the Moon are port siders Alexei Ponikarovsky and Nick Foligno for right winger Teemu Selanne and blueliner Mark Giordano. Upon being informed of the deal Selanne said, "I'm happy to be going to Denver. I hope I can help them in their quest for the Cup! I hear that I'll probably be playing with Joe Sakic and Ryan Smyth, that's going to be fun!"
GM Poelker said, "We're more than happy to bring Teemu to Denver. While we hated to part with Pony and the youngster Foligno, we couldn't pass up adding Teemu and his firepower to the Spurs lineup. Coach Q and Captain Joe were involved in evaluating all the offers. Their opinions played a major part in the decision along with the scouting staff. Teemu is correct, he will be playing on the 2nd line with Joe and Ryan. We hope to bring the CCHL Cup to Denver and the Rocky Mountain Region this year!"
Poelker added that after a few deals leading up to the trade deadline, most notably those of the defending CCHL Champion Dayton Musicmen, that a deal had to be made to stay in contention. He feels that adding Selanne definitely addresses that.
Dasher Notes
Selanne will be in the Spurs lineup for the next game on Wednesday night at the Coliseum against Linz.
CuJo (Curtis Joseph) was waived to make roster room for Giordano. Fidel wanted Giordano included so it was agreed to accept him in the deal. Have to keep 'ol Fidel happy! Poelker is also sending Fidel a box of his favorite cigars.
CuJo, if he's not claimed by another team, has been offered a new contract to stay with the oranization as a roving goalie coach to tutor the organization's younger netminders. Most notably Macdonald, Bacashihua,
Beauchemin and Ehelechner.

Spurs Smoke Chinook

- Denver Coliseum - Denver, Colorado

The Spurs won big over the visiting Chinook this afternoon with Captain Joe leading the way in registering 5 points (2g,3a). His linemates, Smyth (1g,2a) and Parrish (3a) logged 3 points while Marian Hossa potted two goals. Marty Brodeur stopped 25 of 26 shots while his counterpart Fleury allowed 7 goals on 38 shots. Fleury couldn't wait to get on the Calgary Chinook's charter after the 7-1 shellacking. Port sider Alex Tanguay scored the lone goal for the Chinook.
Dasher Notes
The Spurs picked up winger Craig Adams off the waiver wire today and he arrived in town in time for the game. The former Linz Blackwing will be utilized in a specialist role killing penalties. He saw 5 minutes of ice time in the game this afternoon and had a plus/minus of -1 being on the ice for Tanguay's goal.
In other action, the Wisborg Donuts lost to the Hawaii Sandblasters 5-2. This, coupled with the Spurs win, puts them in a tie with both clubs having 93 points on the season in the chase for the President's Trophy. The 'blasters are now 4 points behind the Spurs in the Jazz Conference.
The Spurs have a couple of days off before the Linz Blackwings come to town on Wednesday.

Spurs Edge Lawmen

- Denver Coliseum - Denver, Colorado

The Spurs managed to squeak out a win over the visiting Beverly Hills Lawmasters 4-3. In the contest the Spurs launched 52 shots at opposing netminder Kiprusoff. Enough got by Kipper for the win. Lecavalier(40), Laperriere (4), Sakic(37) and Smyth(34) scored the four goals with two coming on the power play. Former Lawmaster Marek Svatos picked up an assist on Smyth's power play tally and game winner in the 3rd period.
Finding the twine for the Lawmen were Tanabe(4), Blake(7) and Drake(1). Drake's was a shorthanded marker as was Laperriere's for the Spurs.
Dasher Notes
In the contest Spurs' winger Alexei Ponikarovsky pulled a hammy and will be shelved for a few days. At press time a replacement had not yet been announced. The Calgary Chinook come to town tomorrow for a Sunday matinee game.

Homers Hammer Spurs

- Duff Garden - Springfield

The Spurs traveled to Springfield on Friday and lost to a determined Homers' squad. Marty Brodeur was re-inserted as the starting netminder for the Spurs and promptly put in one of his worst performances of the season. Koivu's 5 point game led the way for the Homers with Higgins chipping in two markers. The Spurs managed to tally a goal in each period but it wasn't enough in losing 5-3 to former Spurs' netminder Peter Budaj. As they say, Peter came back to 'haunt' his old 'mates.
Dasher Notes
It's back home tomorrow night for a Saturday Nite in the CCHL tilt versus the visiting division rival Lawmasters. Can the Spurs right the ship tomorrow night?

Hawaii Dumps Denver

- Denver Coliseum - Denver, Colorado

Another gaff and another loss. Joey MacDonald was again allowed to start, only this time resulting in a loss and making GM Poelker look like a dummy. In a 4 point game, GM Poelker fell asleep again allowing MacDonald to start. The Master 'Blasters took advantage and soundly thumped the Spurs 4-1. Marty Brodeur was jumping up and down in the pressbox screaming, "Wake that dumbass Poelker up!"
Center pivot Andy McDonald potted two goals while netminder Henrik Lundqvist stopped 38 of 39 shots in the Sandblasters victory.
Dasher Notes
It has been reported that netminder Marty Brodeur will now start ALL remaining games, regular season and playoffs, barring injury.
That should put an end to this nonsense of giving him a rest and forgetting to 'suit him up' for the next game.
The Spurs' next game is at Springfield on Friday night.

Spurs Skin Ferrets

- Denver Coliseum - Denver, Colorado

The Spurs ended their two game skid with a win over the visiting Ferrets on Saturday night. The game was the featured late night contest on Saturday Nite in the CCHL. Amazingly, Coach Q went ahead and started Joey MacDonald in goal after his dismal performance the night before. Or could it be that the lame, forgetful GM forgot to transmit Coach Q's lineup in time to the league offices? We'll never know for certain. At any rate MacDonald's confidence was given a boost when he led his teammates to a 6-2 victory over the visiting Ferrets. The surprised starter, with tutelage from CuJo on the player bench at every opportunity, turned aside 29 of 31 shots in the Spurs victory.
The hometown faithful saw blueliner Marc-Andre Bergeron (10, 11) scoring the first two goals of the game followed by Tkachuk (32), Smyth (33), Stastny (21) and Liles (19) also registering markers for the Spurs. After the first four Spurs' goals the Ferrets got on the scoreboard with Sanderson scoring his 10th while Amonte closed out the scoring in the contest at 13:09 of the 3rd period with his 4th.
Dasher Notes
Winger Mike Knuble of the Ferrets was injured during the game. The injury is undisclosed at this time pending medical testing.
The Spurs have three days off before the Jazz Conference rival Hawaii Sandblasters come to town. The master 'blasters are currently 8 points behind the Conference leading Spurs. So, it's an important contest for both clubs.

Scorpions Sting Spurs

- Denver Coliseum - Denver, Colorado

The Scorpions of the Southwest rode into town looking for a victory. They got one in OT over the reeling Spurs 5-4. Scorpions' goalie Dwayne Roloson flashed the leather time and again in stopping 56 of 60 Spurs shots! Joey MacDonald, giving Marty Brodeur a much needed rest, showed why he's no where near the caliber of a starting CCHL goaltender in allowing 5 goals on only 26 shots. Pitiful performace. Coach Q had initially penciled in CuJo for the start but CuJo, exercising his goalie coach status, convinced Coach Q to do otherwise.
Daniel Sedin registered a hat trick for the visiting Scorpions with two of the tallies coming with a man advantage. Daniel now has 34 markers on the season. Newly arrived Ryan Smyth netted his first as a Spur and his 32nd of the season.
Dasher Notes
This loss was the second in a row for the league leading Spurs. They narrowly held on to their league leading status when the Wisborg Donuts lost tonight to the Copenhagen Crusaders 2-1.
The Winnipeg Ferrets come to town tomorrow night for a Saturday Nite in the CCHL contest. Word is that star netminder Marty Brodeur will be back in the crease for the Spurs.