UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE
by Ihor Stelmach
Bondra is Capital offense
Defense, defense, defense. That's all you see and read about in today's NHL. The goaltenders are too good. Too many teams practice the neutral zone trap, choking almost all offensive thrusts. Heck, it's gotten to the point the league is trying some radical rule changes to add desperately needed scoring to the game.
Chris Pronger of the St. Louis Blues almost won the Norris Trophy (best defenseman) for actually helping his team prevent goals. What a concept - a defenseman being honored strictly for defending, and not joining the attack. That hasn't happened in some 14 years, since Rod Langway did it in back-to-back seasons with the Washington Capitals.
But what about goals? What about goal scorers? More specifically, what about Peter Bondra? You know the name, but you wouldn't recognize the face if he showed up on your doorstep selling raffle tickets for a game-worn Yvon Labre (ex-Capital captain back in their expansion years) sweater. Admit it, you wouldn't know Peter Bondra from the next guy on the street.
Just in case you missed it, the Capitals' right-winger scored more goals in the past four years, 184 to be exact, than any other player in the National Hockey League. That would be seven more than John LeClair of the Philadelphia Flyers, eight more than last year's scoring champ, Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins and 23 more than Brett Hull of the St. Louis Blues (now with the Dallas Stars), who once popped 228 goals in a three-year span.
That Bondra maintains a low profile, coupled with the fact the Capitals traditionally don't do much to promote their players, has helped keep him one of the league's most anonymous stars.
"I wouldn't say I'm shy," Bondra said. "But I don't go up to strangers and say, 'Hi, I'm Peter Bondra' either."
He is, without question, one of the game's most electrifying individuals, right up there with the likes of Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, Pavel Bure, Ziggy Palffy and Jagr. If you were impressed with the Capitals' 40-30-12 record and third-place finish in the tough Atlantic Division, credit Bondra. He meant more to his team than any playoff-bound performer in 1997-1998 other than Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres.
And it's not like Bondra was getting a lot of help. Consider that his linemates entering last year's playoffs were center Andrei Nikolishin and left-winger Steve Konowalchuk. Both of these linemates happen to be Ukrainians. Enough said.
Among the fastest players in the NHL, Bondra remains one of the few individuals who can score off the rush. And his goals almost always count for something, too. Usually a big something. He led the NHL with 13 game-winning goals last season. When the Capitals needed a pair of wins in their final two games to gain home ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs, Bondra took matters into his own slick hands. He scored the winner in a 4-3 game over the Carolina Hurricanes, then fired both goals, one short-handed, in a 2-1 victory over the Hurricanes again.
Bondra is appreciated at home. In a column headlined: "Bondra's the man in our town," Washington Times columnist Dan Daly concluded that Bondra is the most important individual on any of the Washington major league teams. His competition included Chris Webber and Juwan Howard of the National Basketball Association's Wizards, Gus Frerrotte and Michael Westbrook of the National Football League's Redskins and, if you stretch the boundaries a bit, Robbie Alomar, Mike Mussina and Brady Anderson of baseball's Baltimore Orioles. An exclusive company of contemporary professional athletes, indeed.
"Hopefully things will change," said Bondra about his lack of recognition in the sports world. "Our team has to win a Stanley Cup. If you do that, you will get more recognition as an individual."
Bondra's 52 goals last season tied him with Selanne of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for most in the league. Too bad they weren't doling out the "Rocket" Richard Trophy for most goals last year - both of those guys (Bondra and Selanne) would have been very deserving winners of the award for the league's top sniper.
Bondra accounted for 23.7 percent of his team's goals. That's up from 21.5 the year before. Only Selanne, with 25.3 of his team's 205 goals, was better. Bure of the Vancouver Canucks was next at an even 23.0 percent. Take it all a step further, and Bondra scored 26.0 percent of his team's goals in games in which he played - second in the league to Selanne.
Capitals' coach Ron Wilson said the key to Bondra's game is his speed, which he has managed to use quite wisely and effectively.
"He's not just a guy who skates like a bat out of hell," Wilson said. "He hits holes as well as anyone in the league."
As a bonus, Wilson went on to say Bondra has become a reliable defensive player, pointing to his plus-14 ranking (second best on the Capitals) in 1997-1998 as proof.
"My message at the start of last year to him was, 'Take care of business in your own end and I'll make sure you get put into plenty of goal scoring chances,' " Wilson said.
Coach Wilson kept his word and Bondra-the-scoring-machine came through - in flying colors - Capitals' red, white and blue.
(Quotes courtesy of The Hockey News' Mike Brophy.)
Ukrainian draftee in Kasparaitis mold
Those Mighty Ducks of Anaheim got very defensive at the 1998 entry draft, using their first two selections on physical blueliners who like to punish the opposition.
The Ducks took Vitaly Vishnevsky of Ukraine with the No. 5 pick overall and Stephen Peat of the Western League's Red Deer Rebels with their second round pick at No. 32.
Ducks' General Manager Jack Ferreira described Vishnevsky as a player in the mold of Pittsburgh Penguins' defenseman Darius Kasparaitis.
"Vishnevsky plays with an edge," Ferreira said. "He'll make you keep your head up."
The 6-foot-1, 187-pound Vishnevsky is also highly skilled and can man the point on the power play. He played for the Yaroslavl juniors in the Russian League and was the youngest member of the Russian national junior team that competed in the 1998 World Junior Championship.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Peat is also physical, but less skilled. He was described as more of a stay-at-home, punishing type.
Ferreira said the Ducks would try to sign Vishnevsky and assign him to either a Canadian junior team or the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks of the American Hockey League to begin his acclimation to North America.
(Quotes thanks to Cammy Clark, who covers the Anaheim Ducks for The Hockey News.)
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM |
| Dimitri Khristich | Boston | 22 | 11 | 15 | 26 | 20 |
| Wayne Gretzky | N.Y. Rangers | 24 | 5 | 20 | 25 | 4 |
| Keith Tkachuk | Phoenix | 19 | 13 | 9 | 22 | 16 |
| Peter Bondra | Washington | 21 | 10 | 3 | 13 | 18 |
| Dave Andreychuk | New Jersey | 15 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 6 |
| Alexei Zhitnik | Buffalo | 19 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 28 |
| Mike Maneluk | Philadelphia-Chicago | 20 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 8 |
| Brian Bellows | Washington | 22 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 8 |
| Oleg Tverdovsky | Phoenix | 19 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 6 |
| Richard Matvichuk | Dallas | 20 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 10 |
| Andrei Nikolishin | Washington | 13 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 |
| Joey Kocur | Detroit | 20 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 45 |
| Tony Hrkac | Dallas | 14 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| Curtis Leschyshyn | Carolina | 24 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 32 |
| Drake Berehowsky | Edmonton-Nashville | 18 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 51 |
| Ken Daneyko | New Jersey | 22 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 23 |
| Greg Pankiewicz | Calgary | 13 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| David Nemirovsky | Florida | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Steve Konowalchuk | Washington | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ed Olczyk | Chicago | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Wade Belak | Colorado | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| Brent Fedyk | N.Y. Rangers | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Dave Babych | Philadelphia | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 10, 1999, No. 2, Vol. LXVII
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