Re: Daniel Alfredsson Appreciation thread

[Guest]

Alfi can make these funny.

[Cap'n Clutch]

Alfie can cut something in half and actually end up with the bigger half.

[Cap'n Clutch]

Alfi can make these funny.

Alfie can make N4L laugh even at is crabbiest.

[SeawaySensFan]

Alfie knows the answer to "does this make me look fat"

Is that a "re-run"?

No. But this is:

[Cap'n Clutch]

Alfie can land on boardwalk with a hotel on it and still win.

[TheAvatar]

Alfi can make these funny.

Be fair now, A few of them were funny; now, we're just beginning to stretch a it little thin ...

[Cap'n Clutch]

Alfi can make these funny.

Be fair now, A few of them were funny; now, we're just beginning to stretch a it little thin ...

Thank you. I needed a good laugh.

[Cap'n Clutch]

[SpezDispenser]

Wow, that was incredible. They should have put his Conference clinching OT goal in there, but otherwise that was an awesome promo.

[SensGirl11]

I thought I'd post this Alfie story here. As he approaches his 1,000th game, Alfredsson opens up about his life and career as a Senator.

Enjoy the read!

Daniel Alfredsson is feeling a mixture of anxiousness and awkwardness as the Ottawa Senators prepare to toast him next Saturday at Scotiabank Place.

In one sense, Alfredsson can hardly wait for the celebration of playing 1,000 games with the franchise, knowing 15 years of memories will come flooding back.

He was there for the team’s first playoff appearance, the first post-season victory and the ride to the Stanley Cup finals. He also suffered through one of the worst seasons in National Hockey League history and has survived six general managers, seven head coaches and four playoff losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Yet even though he’s “the face of the franchise,” in the words of teammate Chris Phillips, the Senators captain has never been comfortable opening up about himself or talking about his statistics.

He’s also not that keen to reflect because he’s not ready to say goodbye. He could have one, two, maybe even three seasons left, providing that his 37-year-old hips and groin can hold up to the grind of the schedule and he can stand the travel away from his three boys, Hugo, Loui and Fenix.

And while the Senators best chance to win the Stanley Cup appeared to have flown out the window a few years back, he’s still in search of that crowning achievement.

“It is all very hard to talk about,” Alfredsson says, sitting in a coffee shop, conducting one of countless interviews in recent weeks on the subject of himself. “I don’t try to think about all of that. I never have.”

When he’s pressed for highlights, there’s no mention of winning the Calder Trophy as rookie-of-the year in 1995-96. Nor is it about scoring 43 goals and 103 points in 2005-06, being named to five All-Star teams, or his four-goal game and seven-point night.

The first playoff appearance in 1997 and first post-season victory over New Jersey in 1998 stick with him. Scoring the series-winning overtime goal against Buffalo in Game 5 to win the Eastern Conference title in 2007 was big at the time, but was balanced out weeks later by the crushing loss to the Anaheim Ducks in the finals.

So, what, then, is he most proud of?

“What I’m thinking about is not any one thing, it’s more about effort,” he says. “We play so many games, it’s easy to just go through the motions sometimes. What I think is that when I do retire, I will know that every time I went on the ice, I tried to give it everything I had.

"And that has been something I had to learn to manage as well, because that can work against you. You want to do so much. Where is that line? That’s something with experience, you’re able to learn and handle better.”

Of course, Alfredsson has his critics. There was a backlash in 2006 when Buffalo’s Jason Pominville skated around him and scored a series-clinching overtime goal to defeat the most talented Senators roster ever. A few months later, there were loud cries for him to be traded away when the club stumbled early.

He was guilty of trying to do the jobs of others early in his career. He’s deemed too quiet a leader for some tastes, an approach which leans more towards Steve Yzerman’s leading-by-example style than Mark Messier’s bold and bullish talk.

Alfredsson says he's always learning, “but you can’t change who you are. I don’t look at myself and say ‘I have to do this or that.’ If I do or say something, it’s because it’s the right thing to do.”

He says he learned by watching Randy Cunneyworth, his first NHL captain. He bit his tongue during the me-first captaincy of Alexei Yashin. Since taking over as captain in 1999, he has chosen diplomacy over controversy, at least publicly, in dealing with dressing room issues.

Trainers marvel at his quick recovery from minor and major injuries and he has become a mentor for every young player who arrives in the dressing room. That includes rookie defenceman Erik Karlsson, a fellow Swede and future star who lived with Alfredsson in the first months of the season.

Respect comes from opponents, as well. Philadelphia Flyers centre Daniel Briere, who grew up in Gatineau, says Alfredsson was “always a guy I looked up to” because of his competitiveness and perseverence.

“He’s not a guy who came in with superstar power. He has really hard to to work his way to the top and to become the player that he has been. I love the way he plays. When I think about the Ottawa Senators, he’s the first thing that comes to mind. It’s his team. He has done so much for the organization.”

Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff calls Alfredsson a “difference-maker on both sides of the puck, which is a special, special gift. If you look at all of the players in the East that I’ve coached against, I would probably have him right at the top.”

Senators general manager Bryan Murray says Alfredsson’s leadership skills were always evident. As the former GM of the Florida Panthers, Murray didn’t like playing against him.

“I hated him. He tried too hard, played too hard. When he plays for you, you admire everything he does. When he’s against you, you don’t like him very much because he’s one of those people that beat you in a variety of ways.”

While neither Yzerman or Alfredsson are screamers, Murray says, “they lead because they care and they work hard and people feed off them.”

His personality fits the city like a glove. Most fans feel some sort of connection with the captain, which is rare in a salary cap system with its constant turnover of players. For Alfredsson, it’s a two-way relationship. There’s an appreciation for the people who pay to watch, something which couldn’t always be said about Yashin, Dany Heatley and others.

“I don’t think (Yashin) was able to establish a connection with the fans because of the choices he made in his contract situation,” Alfredsson says. “He didn’t honour that. We make a lot of money. That would have been fine in Russia maybe, but this is a different culture.

"Sometimes, you’ve got to relate to the people. If you do that and you play great, everything is forgiven. Once you start struggling, fans remember and they’re not on your side.”

He offers a similar view about Heatley and the sniper's demand for a trade last summer.

“The fans here feel that they did a lot for him,” he says. “They gave him a new team, a chance to start over from what happened in Atlanta and then he decides he doesn’t want to be here, without explaining himself. He can do what he wants, but fans are going to get frustrated.”

Throughout his career, playing with a cast of players including Yashin, Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, Jason Spezza, Heatley and Alex Kovalev, Alfredsson has rarely been the most naturally gifted player on the team. A late bloomer, he didn’t make Sweden’s world junior team as a teenager. He was so content playing in the Swedish Elite League and on the national team that he wasn’t aware he had been chosen by the Senators in the 1994 entry draft until the following day, when he was called by an agent.

He had been selected 133rd overall, several hours after the fuss made over top five selections: Ed Jovanovski, Oleg Tverdovsky, Bonk, Jason Bonsignore and Jeff O’Neill. Alfredsson has since played more games, scored more goals and registered more points than anyone chosen in his draft.

He came to North America after the 1995 world championships, which included his overtime winning goal to eliminate Canada in the semifinals.

His plans were modest. So was his salary. Alfredsson, then 22, was guaranteed a $70,000 payday for each of two seasons — a $40,000 signing bonus per year and a minor league salary of $30,000. If he made the NHL, his salary would be $285,000 for each season.

“I thought when I came over I would play a few years and then I would go back to Sweden. No question,” Alfredsson says. “That’s where I grew up, that’s where all my friends were, that’s where my whole life was.”

Funny how life works out. Alfredsson arrived to a Senators team in disarray. Money was tight. Yashin was starting his first contract holdout. Bryan Berard, the club’s first overall draft selection that June, walked out of rookie camp in pursuit of a contract.

Alfredsson, meanwhile, was handed the No. 63 sweater for training camp. Nice number for an offensive lineman, not for a first-line NHL right winger.

The original plan called for Alfredsson to start in the American Hockey League with the P.E.I. Senators, but he turned heads immediately. Original Senators coach Rick Bowness says Alfredsson’s maturity was evident from the start, reminding him of former Winnipeg Jets star Thomas Steen.

“The kid could skate and was fearless,” recalls Bowness. "You go into a training camp thinking, ‘He’s a guy coming from Europe, maybe he needs a little experience.' But once we saw him play, we knew he had to stay.”

After he made the team, Alfredsson was given a choice of sweater numbers. Well, sort of. It wasn’t based on any number he wore as a child.

“I had 5 growing up, I had 55 for one year in Division I and then 24,” he says, with a laugh. “The equipment guy, Ed Georgica, asked me, ‘11 or 22?’. He let me pick before (fellow rookie) Antti Tormanen. He got 22 because I took 11.”

That'll be a story worth remembering when the Senators eventually hang his sweater from the rafters at Scotiabank Place.

Remember this one, too: Alfredsson almost went home for good following his tumultuous inaugural season which included Dave Allison’s two-win stint as coach.

“After Christmas, I remember talking to my Dad and saying, ‘I don’t know if I can keep doing this,’” Alfredsson says. “It wasn’t fun at all. (Allison) wasn’t an NHL coach. I couldn’t understand his reasoning ... his philosophy and everything just didn’t make sense to me at all.”

Alfredsson’s mood brightened with the arrival of Jacques Martin as coach in early 1996. Martin brought structure and the team actually won once in awhile. Against all odds, the Senators made the playoffs for the first time in 1996-97. They won their first playoff series the following year, defeating Martin’s model franchise, the New Jersey Devils, an emotional series because the Senators defeated the Devils at their own game.

In many ways, Alfredsson says, it was a sign of things to come in the NHL.

“Now, all four lines play structured,” he says. “Everybody plays the system. It used to be the third and fourth lines had to follow the system and the other two lines, it was sort of, ‘Just score more goals than the other team.' New Jersey started that, we copied that. He (Martin) understood that for us to be successful, we weren’t the most skilled team, we had to play more as a team.”

Eventually, the Senators reaped the rewards of good drafting and the team was soon ripe with talent. That skill, however, could never get past the Maple Leafs when it mattered, losing all four playoff series.

It has been six years since the last defeat, but fans of the blue-and-white won’t let Alfredsson forget. When the Maple Leafs arrive at Scotiabank Place, the Senators captain is booed as much as cheered because of the loud Toronto fans in the crowd.

“I respect that,” Alfredsson says. “If you get booed for being a bad player, it’s no fun. But when you are playing a team that you desperately want to win against and they boo you, I don’t see that as a bad thing at all. They just want ... me to get crushed every game.

"Obviously, because we have the rivalry with them, when I get booed on home ice, it becomes a big deal to a lot of people. And I understand that, too. It should create anger amongst our fans.”

If the defeats to the Maple Leafs marked the lowlights of the years leading up to the 2004-05 lockout, Alfredsson also can’t wonder what might have been if the Senators had answered back to the Anaheim Ducks in the Stanley Cup finals in 2007.

After losing the first two games in Anaheim, the Senators won Game 3 at Scotiabank Place and were on the verge of tying the series in Game 4 when the Ducks rallied. The Ducks eventually won Game 5 in Anaheim to win the Cup.

“We totally dominated the first period and then just play a really, really bad second period,” he recalls. “After that second period, I’ve never been as frustrated as a player. That’s when you kind of felt it slip away. If we win Game 4, it’s a best of 3 and then we’re right back in it.”

Naturally, Alfredsson wants another crack at winning it all and he’s not allowing himself to think time is running out on his career. While he has opted not to practice much since the Olympics, he says he feels good physically and mentally.

“You retire for a reason, because you don’t feel you can do the things you want to do,” he says. “It’s hard, I find, especially lately to be away from the family. The kids are on March break, I’m not home. They go on their first skate, or whatever ... you miss a lot of stuff. That could be a factor maybe, more than just how I feel physically and mentally.

“Our whole life is here. My wife has been with me the whole time and we’re coming up on 15 years. We have three kids, one in school. Ottawa has become home in a way nobody could have imagined. We’ve talked about what we would do when I retire from playing. We don’t know. But the further it goes, we’re probably going to end up staying here, in Ottawa."

As much as Alfredsson is trying to stay low key about Saturday’s celebration, he believes the impact of the occasion at Scotiabank Place will also hit home.

“When I talk about it now, it’s just a number, but I believe that night will be very special, because you share it with so many people who have seen me play for all these years,” he says. “They’ll be there to show appreciation for me and I’m sure it will be more emotional than I care to admit.”

Ken Warren - Citizen

[SpezDispenser]

You're the man Alfie, we love you!

[SensGirl11]

Love you Alfie!!! You are the greatest Senator ever! I can't wait to celebrate your 1,000th game and hopefully a Stanley Cup to follow soon.

[wprager]

That's funny about the jersey number. I'm so glad he didn't get 55.

[SensGirl11]

This is soooo cool. I haven't finished reading it yet, but it's from the archives from the Citizen. Talking about the Rookie Daniel Alfredsson.

Rookie Alfredsson a sweet surprise at Senators camp


The Ottawa Citizen

Sat Sep 16 1995

Page: G2

Section: Sports

Byline: Ken Warren

Dateline: CANTON, New York

Source: The Ottawa Citizen

CANTON, New York — In just three weeks, Daniel Alfredsson's stock has risen from genuine question mark to training camp sensation.

Alfredsson's performance here, following a standout display at a professional development camp in Arnprior, gave the Ottawa Senators reason to smile as they left for Kanata Friday afternoon.

Without having played in a single NHL game, Alfredsson has been pencilled in on one of the club's top two lines for the preseason.

That says plenty about his talent, but also shows how badly the Senators need the rookie right-winger to perform.

All management eyes will be trained on Alfredsson next week, when the Senators open their exhibition schedule. Ottawa plays host to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday at the Civic Centre.

`I really didn't know how tough it was going to be over here,'' says Alfredsson, a 23-year-old Swede. ``I was kind of nervous.''

Alfredsson spent the past two years on a team in the Swedish elite league and on the Swedish national team. He then decided the time was right to jump to the NHL.

`I've got a chance now, and I've got to take it. I would be happy to make this team. It's now or never.''

Alfredsson, a dead ringer for German tennis star Boris Becker, was not drafted by the NHL as a junior. If he cracks the Senators' lineup, it will make the club's sixth-round gamble (133rd overall) on him in the 1994 entry draft pay off.

He scored 14 goals and 18 assists in 35 games with Frolunda in Sweden last year, but was even more impressive with the national team. His tie-breaking goal eliminated Canada in the semifinals of the world championships.

`I've played with some pretty good players in Sweden. I played with (Peter) Forsberg and (Mikael) Renberg. When the NHL lockout was on, it was a very good team. I was very surprised when I made that team,'' he says.

Alfredsson, paired with Czech centre Martin Straka thoughout the early-week scrimmages with the Senators, was one of the best players on the ice.

But Senators coach Rick Bowness and general manager Randy Sexton temper their optimism.

`Some guys look great in scrimmages, but when the exhibition games start, you can't find them,'' says Bowness. ``But those two (Alfredsson and Straka) have seemed to have a natural chemistry from the start.''

Sexton is hopeful Alfredsson can raise the level of his play as the competition rises.

`That's the challenge for him,'' says Sexton. ``There are always increases in intensity. From training camp to pre-season, then from preseason to regular season. It's all about how you do against the (Doug) Gilmours, (Mats) Sundins and (Andrew) Cassels.''

Straka has no doubt Alfredsson has the necessary vision and anticipation to play in the NHL. ``Before we get the puck, both of us know what we're going to do with it,'' says Straka.

Alfredsson, 5-11 and 198 pounds, is still getting used to the smaller North American ice surface, but he isn't afraid to get his nose dirty. He has a nasty scar under his left eye as proof.

`I think I played pretty tough when I was back home. I like to hit and I can handle the play against the boards. I'm getting used to all the (stuff) you get in front of the net.''

Now how cool is that? Wow.

[SensGirl11]

That's funny about the jersey number. I'm so glad he didn't get 55.

Seriously, it wouldn't work, nor would 22, IMO.

[Michallica]

wow...I guess we owe Jacques Martin as well

[PKC]

If you guys want anymore stories about Alfredsson dug up, just go ahead and ask.

[SensGirl11]

Imagine if he had returned to Sweden instead of staying with the Sens when things were really, really, really bad here? Where would we be right now? Seriously?

[SensGirl11]

NHL AWARDS: Alfredsson chosen top rookie


The Ottawa Citizen

Thu Jun 20 1996

Page: D1 / FRONT

Section: Sports

Byline: Ken Warren

Dateline: TORONTO

Source: The Ottawa Citizen

TORONTO — A shell-shocked but beaming Daniel Alfredsson said he's prepared to handle all the new pressure he has inherited after claiming the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie during the 1995-96 season.

Alfredsson, the Ottawa Senators' unassuming 23-year-old right-winger who piled surprise on top of surprise throughout the season, narrowly edged Chicago Blackhawks left-winger Eric Daze for the coveted honor at the league's annual awards banquet here Wednesday. In the process, Alfredsson became the first Senator to win any major award in the club's troubled four-year history. In the franchise's previous life, Frank Nighbor claimed the Lady Byng Trophy in 1926.

`Of course, I was in shock,'' said Alfredsson, who led the Senators and all NHL rookies with 26 goals and 61 points during the season. `` I don't even remember what I said in my acceptance speech (in front of a live CBC audience).''

Alfredsson's first word upon taking the stage was actually a muted `Wow.''

`I think this is just the start for the Senators.

`I think you'll see a lot of people from the Senators up here in future years and I want to be a part of that future.''

Alfredsson, who began the season as a no-name -- a sixth-round draft pick listed in small print only in the team's pre-season media guide -- quickly turned heads with his gritty, determined style, coupled with a decent set of hands.

He was the only rookie and only Senator at January's NHL all-star game, but was still believed to be the longshot among fellow rookie finalists Daze and Florida Panthers defenceman Ed Jovanovski.

In balloting by the Professional Hockey Writer's Association, Alfredsson earned 28 first-place, 18 second-place and eight third-place votes for a total of 437 points. Daze earned 416 points, based upon a 22-20-10 breakdown.

Alfredsson, who earned a $50,000 bonus to his base $300,000 salary, recognizes winning the award has changed his life.

`Yes, it's going to be different, but I'm happy to take the pressures which go with winning this award,'' said Alfredsson, who plans to spend part of his bonus on a trip to Greece this weekend.

`On a personal level, this is the highest thing which has ever happened to me.''

Alfredsson paid tribute to his Senators teammates for keeping his spirits high during the club's tumultuous season -- which included two general managers and three coaches -- who constantly told him ``to not get down, you'll never experience another year like this ever again.''

Alfredsson, who has one year remaining on his two-year contract with the Senators, was in no rush to talk contract, saying ``now is not the time to talk about money.''

But Neil Abbott, Alfredsson's agent, claims the time will come.

`It's a great thrill for him, he really came out of the pack,'' said Abbott. `I've talked to (Senators assistant GM) Ray Shero casually a few times and we're very content to go back next year and see things unfold. But I'm sure we will be talking a little more seriously by this time next year.''

Alfredsson's Calder Trophy was the big local news here, but Nepean native Steve Yzerman, who has more than 1,100 career points, again played another solid season with out picking up an award.

Yzerman lost out to teammate Sergei Fedorov in voting for the Frank Selke Award, which goes to the league's top defensive forward.

Detroit Red Wings general manager Scotty Bowman addressed rumors involving a possible trade for Ottawa Senators defenceman Stan Neckar Wednesday.

Neckar, through agent Rich Winter, is threatening to hold out if the Senators don't renegotiate the final year of his three-year contract.

But Bowman was somewhat confused about Neckar's current status with the Senators, apparently believing he was eligible to become a free agent July 1.

`I haven't talked to them (the Senators). I am going to try and talk to them. I have heard a rumor that Neckar isn't going to sign,'' said Bowman.

`He's a young defenceman, but we can't say we want this guy or that guy. I'm sure a lot of teams are looking for guys like him.''

Senators GM Pierre Gauthier insists he will neither give in to Neckar's renegotiation request nor trade the 21-year-old defenceman -- establishing a precedent that the club will not be held hostage.

[SensGirl11]

If you guys want anymore stories about Alfredsson dug up, just go ahead and ask.

By all means, hook it up!

[PKC]

If you guys want anymore stories about Alfredsson dug up, just go ahead and ask.

By all means, hook it up!

Well there are over 5,000 stories indexed in the Citizen archives with the mention of Alfredsson in it. So, if you want a more specific search, just let me know. Would make it a hell of a lot easier for me to find stuff for you guys.

[SensGirl11]

How lucky are we to have a captain like Alfredsson? These stories are really eye-opening to me. I know a lot about him, but to hear him talk as a rookie, just shows how special he is and how special he became to everyone here.

[SensGirl11]

If you guys want anymore stories about Alfredsson dug up, just go ahead and ask.

By all means, hook it up!

Well there are over 5,000 stories indexed in the Citizen archives with the mention of Alfredsson in it. So, if you want a more specific search, just let me know. Would make it a hell of a lot easier for me to find stuff for you guys.

Do you have a story about the first playoffs he played in? His first year as Captain? Anything like that?

[PKC]

Life After Yashin not so bad


The Ottawa Citizen

Fri Sep 10 1999

Page: B3

Section: Sports

Byline: Wayne Scanlan

Column: Wayne Scanlan

Source: The Ottawa Citizen

Ever grateful, Ottawa Senators players are finding
that
Alexei Yashin questions are thinning out like crowds on the golf
courses as the first week of NHL training camp winds down.
A lingering Yashin question is this: How strong a
team are the
Senators without their captain
and leading scorer, a 44-goal,
50-assist centreman last season who was in the hunt for NHL
goal-scoring honours and the Hart Trophy as the league's most
valuable player?
Here, there is more good news. With the regular
season still three
weeks away, the Senators don't have to seriously contemplate LAY
(Life After Yashin) for a long while yet.
``Most teams don't have their rosters together at
this point,''
said winger Daniel Alfredsson,
who has already earned a gold star in
camp by surviving the first four days without tearing up a knee on
an ice rut.
``It's just the way it's being going around the
league the last few
years. Two years ago, I missed the first two weeks of the season and
it was no problem coming back. But everyone is working hard in camp.
We all know the situation.''
The situation is that the Senators and Yashin are
an ocean apart --
and that's just in contract philosophy, never mind the geography
involved with a team based in Ottawa and its suspended captain
skating (and learning to yodel?) in Switzerland.
Still, at any moment Yashin is only a flight away
from rejoining
the Senators, should agent Mark Gandler bump his head and come to
his senses regarding the holdout of a player signed on to earn $3.6
million U.S. this season.
A fellow could stage a lot of National Arts Centre
events with that
kind of dough, if he were so inclined. And this contract, which
expires with Yashin poised for a monster year, is merely the
stepping stone to greater riches.
The other missing Senators forwards, Magnus
Arvedson, Radek Bonk
and Bruce Gardiner, aren't nearly so far from settling. Arvedson's
plight is particularly frustrating, with roughly $100,000 between
the club's offer and his asking price of just over $1 million. If
this drags on much longer, fans will be passing around a hat to make
up the difference.
While Arvedson's explosive two-way game will make a
welcome return,
it is the absence of Yashin and Bonk that underline the Senators'
most pressing need -- up the middle. With only Vaclav Prospal, Steve
Martins and Shaun Van Allen back from last year's group of centres,
the position has become the team's early sore point. Emphasis on the
word early.
``We need more depth down the middle, no
question,'' says
Alfredsson, one of two or
three dandy candidates to wear the ``C''
this season, if the Yashin impasse reaches that point. ``We have a
solid group here to build on, but we have to get better. We have to
replace our best player.''
Drift away from centre and the Senators are as
deep as they are
swift. Shawn McEachern, Marian Hossa, Andreas Dackell, Arvedson when
he's back, Kevin Dineen, Rob Zamuner and more provide as good a
fleet of wingers as a team could want. Sniper capacity and physical
toughness might be the only doubts.
On defence, hail, the gang's all here. And it is a
formidable gang.
Led by Wade Redden, the defence features Jason York (off his best
season), a healthy Janne Laukkanen, a fit and determined Chris
Phillips and two sophomores who surprised the entire NHL last season
with their rookie campaigns -- Slammin' Sami Salo and Patrick
Traverse. Then, in the role of resident fall guy, there's Igor
Kravchuk. Kravchuk is not as bad as some people think and would have
more of his sins forgiven were it not for his $2.5-million U.S.
contract.
Minus Lance Pitlick, York and Phillips will be
expected to deliver
the heavy hits, otherwise, if this group carted a tray of entrees,
it would be called meals on wheels. It can move.
``It's such a speed game now,'' says York, who
blossomed into a
35-point man last year. ``Transition is everything in hockey. Get
back quickly, get the puck up quickly -- and if you can pinch in and
get involved offensively, we try to do that, too.''
Goaltending will be a focal point and hopefully
not a needlepoint.
With Damian Rhodes gone, the Senators have a clear-cut No. 1 in Ron
Tugnutt for the first time since, well, since Rhodes himself arrived
here from Toronto during the 1995-96 season.
Patrick Lalime, Jani Hurme and Mike Fountain are
partaking in the
first in-camp competition for a goaltending job in a couple of
seasons.
Tugnutt will be asked to deliver something close
to the career-best
numbers he tossed up last season, only now without a 50-50 split of
the workload.
Yes, Life After Yashin might prove bearable in
Ottawa, though it is
too early to worry, yet, about either his absence or his potential
replacement.
``I know I'll sound like a coach when I say this,
but if Yash isn't
here, it's going to give opportunities to other players,'' York
says. ``This is how guys make names for themselves. Zamuner was
saying the other day, he can't believe the skill level at this camp,
compared to others he has been at.''
The mostly highly skilled not among them is a
25-year-old Russian
with no fixed Swiss address and a loose agenda.

[PKC]

Artist a keen observer of nature


The Ottawa Citizen

Fri Feb 26 2010

Page: E5

Section: Arts & Life

Byline: Steven Mazey

Source: Citizen Special

Her husband says it was typical of the spirit of
Merrickville
wildlife and landscape artist Brenda Carter that after surgery for a
brain tumour in 2007 left her partially paralysed on her right side,
she was determined to get back to her art.
After going through months of therapy, Carter
trained herself to
draw with her left hand, and went back to doing what she loved.
Up until about four months before her death in
hospital Feb. 18 at
age 67, she was still sketching and painting on Merrickville
backroads, taking pleasure in nature and capturing on canvas what
she saw through sharp and observant eyes.
"A year or so after her surgery she was doing some
very pleasing
watercolours and some amazing sketches," says Gerard Phillips, who
married Carter in 2005. They met three years earlier while she was
sketching at a bird migration station in New York State and
Phillips, a biologist and artist himself, complimented her on her
drawings of migrating raptors.
"She wanted to go on painting as long as she
could. It defined who
she was," Phillips says.
Over a career of more than 40 years, Carter made
regular trips to
the Canadian Arctic and to other remote areas, to set up camp and
spend hours observing the wildlife around her.
Her travels took her to Africa, the Antarctic,
Australia, Britain,
the Galapagos Islands and Central and South America.
Carter received commissions from the National
Geographic Society
and Canadian Geographic Society, and her paintings were part of
exhibitions at venues that included the Royal Ontario Museum and the
Canadian Museum of Nature.
In the 1980s and '90s, she operated her own
gallery in
Merrickville. Carter started the popular Merrickville Studio tour,
in which visitors tour artists' studios and talk to them about their
work. A 1988 Citizen article said her paintings at the time sold for
between $2,000 and $10,000, her prints for up to $250.
Though she won awards for her work from Wildlife
Habitat Canada and
Ducks Unlimited, Carter told the Citizen in 1988 "there is this kind
of gnawing thing about wildlife painters being the sort of black
sheep of the art world. We have a kind of curious status with the
public because we're not really counted as artists by curators and
galleries."
Chelsea-based photographer J. David Andrews says
Carter's work was
exceptional. Andrews asked Carter to provide wildlife illustrations
for his acclaimed 1994 photography book Gatineau Park: An Intimate
Portrait. Andrews says he still receives compliments about Carter's
drawings from readers. He has several of her watercolours of birds
on his walls.
"I have a painting by Brenda of a heron that
really reveals insight
into a heron's behaviour," he says.
"It's clearly not a drawing that's been done from a
photograph.
It's a drawing by somebody who understands the ecology of a heron
and how a heron behaves. That sense comes across in her work. A lot
of wildlife paintings that I see might be a beautiful rendering of
something, but they don't have that quality that I see in Brenda's
work. She was a keen observer. Her work was beautiful and it was
genuine."
Describing her working method to the Citizen in
1988, Carter said
"What I consider a success is following an animal, sketching him and
leaving without him being aware of my presence."
She also researched her subjects extensively
before she painted,
Phillips says.
"She would know all things about them and their
anatomy. She
wouldn't try to draw something if she felt she didn't know how it
worked underneath. She knew about musculature. She knew about the
bird skeleton. In the field, she would take some video and still
photos, but the most important thing was that she had seen and
watched and sketched. She didn't allow the photographic material to
be the main influence on the piece."
Born in Calgary in 1943, Carter grew up in the
Ottawa Valley and
moved to the U.S. as a teen when her father, who was in the air
force, was posted to Washington. She studied art in Florida, and her
work focused from the beginning on her love of animals and nature.
She returned to Canada in 1963 to work for the
Canadian Museum of
Nature, where she painted diorama displays.
She developed a love of the Canadian Arctic in the
late 1960s, when
she worked for the Canadian Wildlife Service, assisting in tagging
polar bears. She painted wildlife there, and returned every year for
more than two decades.
"I immediately felt at home in the North. It
affected me on a very
deep level," she told the Citizen.
Carter, who also taught illustration on visits
there, said the area
offered "a very real privilege of going back in time to a place
where people are very tied to their land."
Before she married Phillips in 2005, Carter had
been a longtime
partner of biologist Thomas Manning, who died in 1998. They
travelled together regularly on field trips.
In 1999, Carter made headlines and an appearance
on CBC Radio's As
it Happens after she successfully met a challenge she and fellow
birdwatcher Bruce Di Labio set for themselves, to find and sketch in
the field at least 500 bird species within a year.
Feather Quest '99 took the pair across North
America. They met
their target in November, after finding their 500th species in
Yosemite Park in California. Carter created a drawing of a varied
thrush there, at an altitude of about 9,500 feet.
"We finally got there. We're really pleased. It
was a pretty rare
bird," she told the Citizen.
The pair found 14 more species before the end of
the year.
Phillips says that when he met Carter, he was
impressed "by her
beautiful spirit and her love of life. We exchanged e-mails and she
suggested we go sketching birds together."
In addition to Phillips, Carter is survived by her
mother Doris,
sister Charlotte and brothers Rand and Richard.
Her family and friends are planning a private
celebration of her
life, as Carter had requested.
For those who want to remember Carter, Phillips
said she suggested
donations to Theatre Night in Merrickville, The Merrickville
Library, The Merrickville Historical Society or the Prince Edward
County Bird Observatory.

[SpezDispenser]

Wow...we needed more than some grit and a finisher, we needed an overhaul.

[PKC]

Fisher satisfied with NHL debut for Senators


The Ottawa Citizen

Mon Oct 4 1999

Page: C3

Section: Sports

Byline: Allen Panzeri

Column: The Senators This Week

Dateline: PHILADELPHIA

Source: The Ottawa Citizen

PHILADELPHIA -- Mike Fisher's NHL career didn't get off to a textbook start on Saturday night.
As the rookie centre lined up for his first faceoff, the linesman kicked him out of the circle for being overanxious.
However, Fisher became much more comfortable as the game progressed and turned into a comfortable 3-0 Ottawa Senators win against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Not only did Fisher play a regular shift on a line with Andreas Dackell and Rob Zamuner, he was also played on the Senators' power-play and penalty-killing units.
Under NHL rules for junior-age players, Fisher, 19, could play as many as 10 games with the Senators and still be returned to the Ontario Hockey League's Sudbury Wolves without losing a year's exemption from NHL waiver and expansion drafts.
Senators head coach Jacques Martin is clearly going to give Fisher every opportunity to succeed or fail at the NHL level.
``It's not easy to play against the Flyers, because they're such a big team, but he used his speed and he handled himself well,'' Martin said.
Fisher's speed very nearly got him his first NHL goal, too. Near the end of the game, Zamuner saw Fisher speeding through the neutral zone and put a perfect pass on his stick.
Fisher was about a step ahead of Philadelphia's John LeClair, but LeClair knocked Fisher off balance with a slash for which he got a penalty, and Fisher's weak shot rolled wide of the target.
``I thought I had (Flyers goalie John Vanbiesbrouck) beat, but I just couldn't get the shot off,'' Fisher said. ``The puck just rolled off my stick.''
Not a bad effort, though, for his first game, and his play underlined one of the more difficult tasks Martin will have this
season: deciding who plays and who sits.
Forwards Steve Martins and Bruce Gardiner and defenceman Patrick Traverse sat out the first game, and though Traverse may play in tomorrow's game in New York against the Rangers because Sami Salo is nursing a bruised chest, thanks to a hit from Philadelphia's Eric Lindros, Martins and Gardiner may sit again.
Martin's only quibble with the Senators' nearly flawless performance on Saturday was a spate of offensive-zone turnovers in the second period, so there's not much reason to change the lineup for tomorrow's game.
Fisher knew the regular season would be tougher than the NHL preseason, but the reality of it only really hit when he stepped on the ice.
``It definitely was a step up from an exhibition game,'' he said.
``It was a pretty fast pace and intense. I was a little nervous at the start, but I settled in after that first shift. I thought I fit in pretty well and I thought I played hard.''
Centre Radek Bonk was Ottawa's best player on Saturday.
He and wingers Magnus Arvedson and Marian Hossa were matched up against Lindros, LeClair and Sandy McCarthy almost all game, and they kept the Flyers No. 1 trio from doing any damage.
By Martin's estimation, the Flyers had only four or five scoring chances, making the game an exceptional defensive performance for the Senators.
Though LeClair and Lindros had two of those chances, Martin said
``That was probably our best performance ever against that line.
``Even in the game we won 5-0 here last year, that line had more chances than the team had (Saturday night).''
Martin has used Bonk is similar situations in the past, against Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr, for example, and Bonk has frequently met the challenge. The Senators coach hopes Bonk will carry that same concentration into every game.
Martin will announce his goalie for tomorrow's game today, but with injured No. 1 netminder Ron Tugnutt still not ready for prime time, Patrick Lalime will likely start again.
Lalime faced only 17 shots from the Flyers, and the Senators got some good bounces, but he still made a number of key saves.
After a leisurely start to the regular season, with two days off between their first and second games, the Ottawa Senators have a busy week of three games in five nights, all against teams from the Original Six. As they head into these two games, there are two question marks. Defenceman Sami Salo has a bruised chest, after getting slammed into the boards in the 3-0 win against the Flyers, and goalie Ron Tugnutt is still working his way into game shape. Still, the Senators played so well defensively against the Flyers, helping Patrick Lalime earn a shutout, that it seems it almost
doesn't matter who is the net.

[SpezDispenser]

Getting closer....!>.>>>!>>...

[Hoags]

We're so lucky to have a captain like Daniel Alfredsson.

The Sens are SOL when he retires

You just don't replace players like that.

Here's hoping we can win the Cup before #11 skates off for the last time ....

[hemlock]

This is soooo cool. I haven't finished reading it yet, but it's from the archives from the Citizen. Talking about the Rookie Daniel Alfredsson.

Rookie Alfredsson a sweet surprise at Senators camp


The Ottawa Citizen

Sat Sep 16 1995

Page: G2

Section: Sports

Byline: Ken Warren

Dateline: CANTON, New York

Source: The Ottawa Citizen

CANTON, New York — In just three weeks, Daniel Alfredsson's stock has risen from genuine question mark to training camp sensation.

Alfredsson's performance here, following a standout display at a professional development camp in Arnprior, gave the Ottawa Senators reason to smile as they left for Kanata Friday afternoon.

Without having played in a single NHL game, Alfredsson has been pencilled in on one of the club's top two lines for the preseason.

That says plenty about his talent, but also shows how badly the Senators need the rookie right-winger to perform.

All management eyes will be trained on Alfredsson next week, when the Senators open their exhibition schedule. Ottawa plays host to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday at the Civic Centre.

`I really didn't know how tough it was going to be over here,'' says Alfredsson, a 23-year-old Swede. ``I was kind of nervous.''

Alfredsson spent the past two years on a team in the Swedish elite league and on the Swedish national team. He then decided the time was right to jump to the NHL.

`I've got a chance now, and I've got to take it. I would be happy to make this team. It's now or never.''

Alfredsson, a dead ringer for German tennis star Boris Becker, was not drafted by the NHL as a junior. If he cracks the Senators' lineup, it will make the club's sixth-round gamble (133rd overall) on him in the 1994 entry draft pay off.

He scored 14 goals and 18 assists in 35 games with Frolunda in Sweden last year, but was even more impressive with the national team. His tie-breaking goal eliminated Canada in the semifinals of the world championships.

`I've played with some pretty good players in Sweden. I played with (Peter) Forsberg and (Mikael) Renberg. When the NHL lockout was on, it was a very good team. I was very surprised when I made that team,'' he says.

Alfredsson, paired with Czech centre Martin Straka thoughout the early-week scrimmages with the Senators, was one of the best players on the ice.

But Senators coach Rick Bowness and general manager Randy Sexton temper their optimism.

`Some guys look great in scrimmages, but when the exhibition games start, you can't find them,'' says Bowness. ``But those two (Alfredsson and Straka) have seemed to have a natural chemistry from the start.''

Sexton is hopeful Alfredsson can raise the level of his play as the competition rises.

`That's the challenge for him,'' says Sexton. ``There are always increases in intensity. From training camp to pre-season, then from preseason to regular season. It's all about how you do against the (Doug) Gilmours, (Mats) Sundins and (Andrew) Cassels.''

Straka has no doubt Alfredsson has the necessary vision and anticipation to play in the NHL. ``Before we get the puck, both of us know what we're going to do with it,'' says Straka.

Alfredsson, 5-11 and 198 pounds, is still getting used to the smaller North American ice surface, but he isn't afraid to get his nose dirty. He has a nasty scar under his left eye as proof.

`I think I played pretty tough when I was back home. I like to hit and I can handle the play against the boards. I'm getting used to all the (stuff) you get in front of the net.''

Now how cool is that? Wow.

Awesome!

I wonder how this kid will pan out

[sens4win]

We're so lucky to have a captain like Daniel Alfredsson.

The Sens are SOL when he retires

You just don't replace players like that.

Here's hoping we can win the Cup before #11 skates off for the last time ....

That moment when alfie skates off the ice for the last time will be as big as Gretzky skating off but for a sens fan. Going to suck when he leaves not just the points but alfie in general and everything he brings, any one have a clue who becomes the next captain of the sens.

[wprager]

It's all about how you do against the (Doug) Gilmours, (Mats) Sundins and (Andrew) Cassels.''

Thanks for the laugh,Randy.

[wprager]

I posted this one over in the GDT, but maybe it should be here instead. A nice contrast, of sorts, to the older articles.
http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/32665-Daniel-Alfredsson-to-hit-1000game-mark-Tuesday-against-Panthers.html

[wprager]

We're so lucky to have a captain like Daniel Alfredsson.

The Sens are SOL when he retires

You just don't replace players like that.

Here's hoping we can win the Cup before #11 skates off for the last time ....

That moment when alfie skates off the ice for the last time will be as big as Gretzky skating off but for a sens fan. Going to suck when he leaves not just the points but alfie in general and everything he brings, any one have a clue who becomes the next captain of the sens.

Let's not eulogize the guy yet He's got another couple of years, at least.

[SensGirl11]

Then there was the 2007 playoffs. The year we went to the final. That whole season, from the ups and downs I went through personally and the team. Then at Christmas not even looking like we were going to be a playoff team at all ... to changing everything around, then going all the way to the final.

It was unbelievable how we just united. How we took off and gained confidence. We felt that we definitely should beat any team that we played. Obviously, we didn’t go all the way, but we had that feeling. We earned that feeling by the way we played. That season is definitely going to stand out.

The biggest thing from it was coming back to the airport, from Buffalo, after we won the conference championship. It was an afternoon game. It was still light when we got back and thousands of people were waiting for us. That’s when it really hit, that’s when it really sunk in.

That’s when I realized how much emotion there was, how much people cared about us.

We know there’s always 20,000 people at the rink watching the games, but everywhere you went in the whole city during that playoff run was just electrifying. It was kind of touching.

Man, those were the days!! Let's get back there!

[wprager]

The Citizen has an oline Alfie section. Just click on the Alfie 1,000 tab:

http://www.ottawasun.com/

[shabbs]

Alfie is GOD.

All praise Alfie.

[SensGirl11]

I wonder if he'll run for Mayor when he retires.

[Cap'n Clutch]

Alfie is so good he can play 1000 games all for one team.

[Cap'n Clutch]

Alfie knew that hitting 1000 points within 1000 games would have resulted in too much greatness intersecting at once causing a massive quantum singularity that would have swallowed up the entire solar system.

[shabbs]

Alfie knew that hitting 1000 points within 1000 games would have resulted in too much greatness intersecting at once causing a massive quantum singularity that would have swallowed up the entire solar system.

Unless he knew he'd need 11 points in the last game... since he wears #11... it will all come together tonight... he's that good.

[SensGirl11]

Anyone going to the game Saturday?

[DirtyDave]

Alfie knew that hitting 1000 points within 1000 games would have resulted in too much greatness intersecting at once causing a massive quantum singularity that would have swallowed up the entire solar system.

Unless he knew he'd need 11 points in the last game... since he wears #11... it will all come together tonight... he's that good.

what's the most he ever got? I think it was 8.. watched that game.. he was ridciulous.