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.