Archives for December 1, 2001

'The Nowhere Man has turned into Mr. Everything for the dynamic New York Islanders. He is their gritty captain. He is the center on their highest-scoring line. He is on the top power-play and penalty-killing units. He is on pace to obliterate his best offensive season.'

'"Guys change teams all the time nowadays – it's not a special occasion," Warrener said. "It happens, and it happens a lot. So everyone's dealt with it, and everyone has friends on other teams. I don't think it's any different with Pecs."'

'The Sabres, coming off a 5-2 victory Wednesday at Washington, have not won consecutive road games all season.'

'Asked if burying a few goals represented his dream scenario tonight, Peca replied, "No, it's just winning the hockey game." Right, and Tino Martinez truly wishes the Yankees luck in their pursuit of Jason Giambi.'

'"You play against teams that you have friends on," Peca said. "The only difference is this team seems to have a few more friends than most of them."'

'Sources have told The Post that Gratton, the 26-year-old Buffalo center whose career has all but been in a holding pattern since he left Tampa Bay the first time during the summer of 1997, has told management that he would welcome a trade.'

'Ray said the Sabres shouldn't make the same mistake in choosing their next captain as they did with their previous captain, meaning Peca. Ray felt the Sabres catered to Peca when they gave him the captaincy in 1997 following a contract dispute.'