Slightly North

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAPLE LEAFS' ED BELFOUR NAMED NHL PLAYER OF THE WEEK

NEW YORK (Nov. 25, 2002) -- Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Ed Belfour, who posted consecutive shutouts against the division-leading Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers, has been named NHL Player of the Week for the period ending Sunday, Nov. 24.

Belfour edged Carolina Hurricanes left wing Erik Cole (four goals, three assists, +5 in three games), Pittsburgh Penguins center Mario Lemieux (two goals, eight assists in four games) and Edmonton Oilers goaltender Tommy Salo (2-0-1, 0.97 goals-against average) for the award.

Belfour posted his 60th and 61st career shutouts, tying Colorado Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy for the most among active goaltenders. Belfour made 29 saves in a 2-0 victory over the Northeast Division-leading Boston Bruins Nov. 19 and stopped 25 shots in a 6-0 victory over the Atlantic Division leaders, the Philadelphia Flyers, Nov. 23.

Appearing in 15 games, Belfour has posted a 7-6-2 record, 2.25 goals-against average, .922 save percentage and is tied for the League lead with three shutouts. The 37-year-old Carman, Manitoba native has a record of 6-3-1 in his past 10 games and has stopped 119 of 123 shots in his past four outings, a .967 save percentage, in compiling the shutout streak of 132:20 that he brings to tonight's game against Ottawa.

This marks Belfour's sixth career NHL Player of the Week award and first since December, 1997, as a member of the Dallas Stars.

MOST CAREER SHUTOUTS, ACTIVE GOALTENDERS

61...Ed Belfour, Toronto
61...Patrick Roy, Colorado
56...Martin Brodeur, New Jersey

MOST CAREER VICTORIES, ALL-TIME

..1..Patrick Roy, Colorado...522
..2..Terry Sawchuk...........447
..3..Jacques Plante..........435
..4..Tony Esposito...........423
..5..Glenn Hall..............407
..6..Grant Fuhr..............403
..7..Mike Vernon.............385
..8..John Vanbiesbrouck......374
..9..Andy Moog...............372
.10..Ed Belfour, Toronto.....371

Rumor has it that the Colorado Avalanche are looking to add some grit to the lineup. According to rumors, GM Pierre Lacroix has been working on a deal to send two 1998 first-round draft picks from his current roster -- left wing Alex Tanguay and defenseman Martin Skoula -- to Boston for holdout defenseman Kyle McLaren and left wing Martin Lapointe.

Kyle McLaren is the guy who took Canadiens' Richard Zednik out of the playoffs last year with a dirty hit that got McLaren suspended for the rest of the series against Montreal. Martin Lapointe is on Boston's injured list right now, but should be able to play in a few days.

The Avalanche have not released any information yet, but it is expected to be announced within the week if a trade is going to happen.

Lots of transactions today.

The Colorado Avalanche recalled right wings Brian Willsie and Steve Moore from Hershey of the American Hockey League. Most likely due to the fact that all of their injuries right now are wingers. Larson, Nedorost, and Parker are all out right now. Not to mention Dean McAmmond, who was aquired in the Morris/Drury trade from Calgary. McAmmond has not played a single game this year due to a back injury

Montreal assigned goaltender Eric Fichaud to Hamilton of the American Hockey League after calling him up a few days ago. Fichaud was thought to have been called up due to Jose Theodore's hip injury as a backup for Jeff Hackett. Could this mean the return of Theodore is closer then throught?

Toronto sent center Josh Holden back to St. John's of the American Hockey League. Mostly due to Alyn McCauley's probable return on Saturday. Alexander Mogilny is still out though, as is Shane Corson, Bryan McCabe, and Gary Roberts. McCabe being the worst with a foot injury. He will be out 2-4 weeks at least.

In other news, expect some personell changes to the Maple Leafs soon if they don't start winning. Head Coach and GM Pat Quinn wants to trade Corson, but Corson has a no-trade clause in his contract that says he has to agree to be traded before the end of his contract. Word has it he does not want to leave Toronto due to the fact his brother-in-law is Darcy Tucker. Don't expect Quinn to be above trading Tucker in an effort to get Corson out of there as well.

Email has now been turned off for this entire domain. I am so sick of getting 20 spam emails a day. It was getting better for a while. I had installed Cloudmark's SpamNet and it was actually catching spam, but the closer we get to christmas, the more spam I seem to get each day. And SpamNet is catching fewer and fewer.

So for now everything @slightlynorth.com is getting bounced as no user.

Those of you who know my msn account can email me there.

Maybe after a few months the spammers will remove me. Probably not though. I need to come up with a good new alias.

There are 10 different NHL games tonight. In fact, all three of the teams we like to watch are playing. It is going to be a busy night. Not to mention, at 8:00pm This Hour Has 22 Minutes is on. Is there anything better then Canadian political humor?

Hockey.

Yes it is an obsession.

Outlook 11 will, by default, no longer grab data such as images from outside servers when previewing e-mail formatted like Web pages.

It's about damn time!