NHL

Slapshots

By TOM JONES
Published November 20, 2005

FALLING LIKE DOMINOES: The new NHL is affecting more than the outcomes of games. It's affecting the diets of those in Ottawa and the profits of one company in particular.

A pizza chain in Ottawa called Pizza Pizza used to give a free slice to anyone with a ticket stub from a game in which the Senators scored five or more goals. The Senators were scoring so many that Pizza Pizza begged to have the Senators change the deal to six goals a game. In the first two games after the change, the Senators scored, you guessed it, six goals.

As soon as the Sens get within a goal, fans start chanting: Piz-za!

"They're on fire," Pat Finelli, VP of marketing for the pizza joint, told the Ottawa Citizen.

In eight home games this season, Pizza Pizza has given away slices five times. That works out to 96,910 slices. Assuming half the customers cash in their stubs, that's $133,251 worth of pizza. At the rate they're scoring, the Senators are on pace to serve up as much as $1.4-million in free pizza.

MR. FANTASY: The Coyotes held a fantasy camp last week. Campers paid $9,999 to attend the camp run by coach Wayne Gretzky. Good timing. When Coyotes backup goalie David LeNeveu was hit in the neck by a shot 10 minutes into practice, Phoenix needed someone to fill in. So Gretzky recruited 40-year-old camper Mel Woolsey of Barrie, Ontario.

How'd he do?

Gretzky said it was Woolsey's first - and last - NHL tryout.

COACH OF THE YEAR: Who's the greatest coach of all time?

Is it Scotty Bowman? Herb Brooks?

Here's a vote for the NHL coach with the guts to eliminate morning skates on game days.

"Oh, I agree!" Avs center Joe Sakic told the Denver Post. "You're playing later on, why waste energy in the morning? Save it for the game."

[Last modified November 20, 2005, 00:55:14]