[monochameleon]

PREMIER LEAGUE HOCKEY NEWS

- SAWORSKI OUT FOR THREE WEEKS
- TRADES AROUND THE LEAGUE
- LATEST SCORES AND MATCH REPORTS

We start today with the news that Chicago's Harlan Saworski (C) will miss as many as three weeks with a strained back muscle. Saworski, 31, had initially felt that it was of little concern when he tweaked it during the game against Calgary on Thursday, but team medicos today confirmed that it was more serious than first thought.

In league transaction news, two trades were completed last night: Colorado sent right winger Adam McNeill to Charlottetown in exchange for defender Robby Cantrell. Meanwhile, the LA Sharks offloaded superfluous goaltender David Scopelleti to the New England Whalers, in exchange bolstering their blueline with Tim Andersson.

Now, the games.

New England Whalers 3 - 1 St. Paul Cardinals
The Nest, St. Paul (Att: 18,000)

The Whalers came back from their opening overtime loss to the Champions with a 3-1 trouncing of the Cardinals, who looked overwhelmed by the Whalers play. The men from Hartford outhit their opponents 23-11 and outshot them 44-36. The Whalers front line of Tyler Wheeler, Terry Lowe and Ben Suffa is shaping up as one of the most threatening this year, and tonight racked up 5 points between them. Scopelleti, fresh off the plane from LA, got his first start for the Whalers and stopped 35 shots on net - a good return on investment for New England.

Quebec Nordiques 3 - 6 New York Central
Central Park Rink, New York (Att: 14,500)

The Centrals raised their 1985 Champions banner to the ceiling at Central Park Rink today before getting down to business against the Quebec Nordiques. Once again, it was the exceptional play of Nicky Jephcott that put the Centrals on top, with a goal and a pair of helpers to ensure that his side made it over the visiting Nords. Quebec had few answers and were conclusively outshot 45-19 as they could barely get to their own end of the ice.

Los Angeles Sharks 2 - 3 Michigan Stags
Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids (Att: 15,900)

In an incredibly evenly matched showdown, the Stags-Sharks match was a duel of exceptional goalies and defenders that saw the first two periods go scoreless in spite of seven penalties between the two teams. In the third period, Eric Nielsen and Maxym Houde put the Sharks up 2-0 by the halfway point, and they seemed to be cruising to victory with only five minutes left, only to see their lead evaporate with goals to John Hamilton (16:17) and Thierry Lockett (17:38) that sent it to overtime. In the end, the momentum in the extra period was all with Michigan, and Dominik Petak put one past Matt Kavanagh off a one-timer across the face from Dylan MacCulloch.

Chicago Cougars 2 - 2 Ottawa Nationals
Nationals Arena, Ottawa (Att: 17,100)

The Cougars would be quite pleased with their effort to hold Ottawa to a 2-2 draw, but on the other hand, they could have had a win if not for a lapse of concentration that saw them go from 2-0 up at the second intermission to 2-2 at the end of it all. Rick Krause and Anthoni Labonte scored in the first and second periods respectively, only to see Wally Aldridge and Flynn Webb tie it all up at the top of the third. A brain-explosion from Terry Brightman 2 minutes into overtime saw him cop 12 minutes: 2 for hooking and 10 minutes for outrageous behaviour in the wake of the call earning him a game misconduct. But though they played the rest of overtime a man up, the Cougars couldn't break through the Nats defence and had to settle for splitting the points.

Montreal Champions 6 - 3 Toronto Aces
Toronto Entertainment Centre, Toronto (Att: 16,100)

One of the most hotly anticipated interleague showdowns, the Toronto/Montreal clash delivered with an incredibly tense first two periods followed by a blazing finish in the third. Throwing extra fuel on the fire was the rumours surrounding the game that Russel Card, starting in goal for Montreal, had demanded to be traded away from Toronto due to conflict with the front office. If that was the case, then Card had the last laugh, as the Champions were all over the Aces like a cheap suit. The score was 2-1 to Toronto going into the third period, off the back of a brace to the Aces' Emmanuel Desrochers. After the tension and difficulty of scoring in the first two periods, the third appeared to be played on a different rink, as the Champions piled on three goals in the first ten minutes - to which the Aces could only respond with one - as Aces goaltender Randy Reynolds seemingly imploded under the pressure. The ultimate embarassment was when Kevin Bowman and Noah Ness scored back to back shorthanded goals in the 16th minute to put the result beyond doubt at 6-3. Russ Card stopped 34 of 37 shots and would be well pleased with his efforts, while the Toronto powerplay went zero for four and let in two shorthanders - something for Toronto to be very concerned about.

Calgary Mustangs 3 - 1 Colorado Eagles
Whitefall Arena, Denver (Att: 16,450)

Good, solid hockey, rather than incredible heroics, were on offer today in Denver as the Mustangs saw off the Eagles. Goals to David Bodie, Samuel Annable and Emilio Desmond - one per period - kept Calgary in the lead all game, and Colorado only managed to ruin the shutout at 18:47 in the third when Thomas White scored on the powerplay.

Manitoba Vikings 4 - 3 Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Silence Arena, Allentown (Att: 14,599)

The Phantoms' home-opener ended in disappointment as they were unable to complete what had, in the second period, looked like something of a promising comeback. Down 2-1 at the end of the first, Ashton Dillard and Emil Fahlstrom scored at the top of the second to give the Valley the lead. But then the Vikings reasserted control, scoring through John Eyar and Jonathon Gagnon to put themselves up 4-3 before shutting up shop completely in the third, stopping 15 Valley shots to finish the game with a one-goal lead. Joe Logan, in the net for Lehigh Valley, might ask for better commitment from his defenders in the future.

Tomorrow's Games:
SF @ MAN; TOR @ CHT; NYC @ OTT; QUE @ COL; VAN @ SEA