The Power Play
Satruday 9 - 10 AM
Check out this page throughout the year as Mike Corcoran keeps you up to date on the Latest Lightning news.
1-6-06: Lightning re-assign Wishart, Mihalik to Norfolk
From the press release:
TAMPA
BAY –
The Tampa Bay Lightning have reassigned defensemen Ty Wishart and Vladmir Mihalik to Norfolk of the American Hockey League, Executive Vice President and General Manager Brian Lawton announced. Both players were on emergency recall.
Wishart, 6-foot-4, 205-pounds, made his NHL debut Saturday, January 3 versus Carolina. He logged 7:53 of ice time and blocked two shots. Wishart has played in 31 games with the Admirals this season, recording one goal and three points with a plus-2 rating. His plus-2 rating is tied for the team lead among defensemen. Wishart scored his first professional goal and was named the third star on December 19 against Albany.
Wishart, 20, was acquired by the Lightning from San Jose on July 4, 2008. He was drafted by the Sharks in the first round, 16th overall, in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.
Mihalik, 6-7, 222, recorded his first NHL assist last night against the Atlanta Thrashers. He has played in three games since being recalled on January 1. Mihalik has played in five games with TampaBay this season, recording one assist and averaging 11:43 in ice time.
The native of Presov, Slovakia has recorded two goals and eight points in 29 games for the Admirals this season. He has also recorded one power-play goal.
The 22-year-old was drafted by the Lightning in the first round, 30th overall, at the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.
1-3-09: Pre game skate
The pre-game skate was optional this morning, and most of the team took the option to not skate, and rather have a team meeting. Defensemen Lukas Krajicek and Paul Ranger both skated, and it is most likely that they will sit out tonight’s game. Also, defensemen Ty Wishart has arrived in town and talked a lot about keeping his game simple tonight. Coach Tocchet also talked about how Wishart’s last 3 or 4 games have been really strong for Norfolk. Tocchet then went on to talk about how Andrej Meszaros and Marek Malik will have to “eat minutes and play against the Staals of the world.”
Also of note, Lightning owner Oren Koules was on the ice this morning, taking shots against Olie Kolzig and Kari Ramo.
The Officials for tonights game are as follows:
Referees:
Dave Jackson
Steve Kozari
Linesmen:
Mark Pare
Mike Cvik
Carolina also has an optional skate this morning, and they have just a handful of players out on the ice.
1-2-09: Practice notes/Heward returns/potential call up.
MIKE CORCORAN, ESPN 1040.
The team held an early afternoon practice today after returning from Washington late last night. As for the injured players, Gary Roberts skated before practice and left the ice before practice began, but did not participate. Also, David Koci practiced and looked like he was not too far off from a possible return. Defensemen Paul Ranger and Lukas Krajicek were also out skating early before practice but both sat out and their status is still day to day. Also, Mark Recchi sat out practice for Body maintenance. The Lines were as follows:
Prospal-Lecavalier-St Louis.
Artyuhkin-Malone-Halpern
Szczechura-Stamkos-Jokinin
Hall-Craig-Pettinger
Mike Smith will also get the start tomorrow night.
Jamie Heward is back in Tampa and spoke to the media after the incident last night. He said that once he realized who hit him, he knew that there was no intent to injure. He also said that he still has a nasty headache and that it will take time to get past this. Rick Tocchet spoke again today about how tough of a call it is to make in that situation although he really would have liked to have heard referee Marc Joanntte’s take on the incident after seeing the replays.
With Heward’s injury, there is a strong possibility that the Lightning will be recalling a defensemen from Norfolk. If they do recall a Mike Lundin, it will be tricky however, since he will have to clear re-entry waivers.
1-2-02: Should Alex Ovechkin face supplemental discipline for his hit on Heward?
By MIKE CORCORAN
ESPN1040
If you missed the game last night, you missed controversy in the hit that Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin put on Lightning defender Jamie Heward. The hit left Heward on the ice for minutes, silenced the Verizon Center crowd, and sent the Lightning defender to the Hospital. The hit was clearly from behind, and Ovechkin got his elbow up. If the NHL is serious about eliminating this sort of hit from the game, then they will send a clear message that this type of hit will not be tolerated. The problem is the players involved. There is no way that the NHL will put their foot down against a player like Alexander Ovechkin, but let me ask you this…if this were Evgeni Artyukhin or Steve Downie making a hit like this on an Alexander Ovechkin, what would the response be? I can tell you that there would be outrage, there would be calls for suspensions, and it would be the lead story on just about every national sports show out there. It is now posted in every NHL locker room around the league about how they will no longer tolerate hits to the head. The league has a real opportunity here, sadly I don’t think they will take advantage of it. You will have a player that is sitting in a hospital bed wondering if he has taken his last check, and the NHL will do nothing about it. And that is the real shame of this.
Something else that really was bothersome about all of this.. after the hit, Ryan Malone said something to Ovechkin. That was the only response this team had to any of what happened as their team mate lay motionless on the ice. Does anyone else have a problem with that? The Lightning missed a real opportunity here, not to take runs at another player, that is not what I am going for here. You can challenge a player to a fight because they are running around throwing big hits. But they had the chance to show the world that they are a cohesive team and that the locker room has come together. And by not standing up for a fallen team mate, they missed that opportunity.
mike@espnflorida.com
1-1-09-Tampa Bay Lightning Recall Mihalik
The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled defenseman Vladmir Mihalik on an emergancy basis. Per the press release:
TAMPABAY – TheTampa Bay Lightning have recalled defenseman Vladmir Mihalik from Norfolk of the American Hockey League on an emergency basis, Executive Vice President and General Manager Brian Lawton announced.
A 6-foot-7, 222-pound native of Presov , Slovakia , Mihalik has recorded two goals and eight points in 29 games for the Admirals this season. He has also recorded one power-play goal.
Mihalik is in his second professional season and played in two games with Tampa Bay to start the season, recording two penalty minutes and one shot on goal.
The 22-year-old was drafted by the Lightning in the first round, 30th overall, at the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.