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Slap shots

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 28, 2001

SHOW HIM THE MOVIE: Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. paid the Coyotes a visit after Wednesday night's game with the Canucks. His entourage included seven friends. One had a video camera.

Gooding knows Phoenix's Jeremy Roenick and Claude Lemieux. But the circus atmosphere that prevailed after the Canucks beat the Coyotes didn't please Phoenix coach Bob Francis.

"I knew some celebrity was going to stop in, but I didn't know he brought a bunch of people with him," Francis said. "What was the movie that guy was in again? Show Me the Money?"

Uh, Jerry Maguire, actually.

TIE DIED: Senators assistant coach Roger Neilson, known for flamboyant ties, forgot to pack any on a recent road trip.

"I've never done this before in my career," he said.

So there was Neilson in the Marriott hotel gift shop in Uniondale, N.Y., before Ottawa faced the Islanders, looking for some replacements. He found one, but it was so conservative, it was more appropriate for Senators coach Jacques Martin, who is about as colorful as a pane of clear glass.

"What do you expect?" Neilson said, "It's the Marriott."

ABOUT TIME: Mario Lemieux got his 40th hat trick Wednesday night against the Canadiens. It was Lemieux's first since Jan. 26, 1997, when he had four goals at Montreal.

Penguins captain Jaromir Jagr was not impressed.

"I'm surprised it took him four years," Jagr joked. "He's supposed to be the best player in the world, and it took him four years to get a hat trick."

Lemieux, who came out of a 3 1/2-year retirement Dec. 27, is 10 hat tricks behind leader Wayne Gretzky.

ROAD TRIP: Mighty Ducks general manager Pierre Gauthier scouted his second Blues game in a week Thursday night. The Blues are hot for Anaheim's Teemu Selanne and Gauthier wanted to see what is available.

"The rumors will really be starting next week when people see where I'm going," Gauthier said.

And where is he going?

"Finland," Gauthier said. "People will say I'm trading Selanne's rights back to his home country, to HFK Helsinki."

NO DIPLOMAT: The Sabres play seven of their next eight games against teams under .500, including the Lightning, Islanders, Rangers, Canadiens and Thrashers.

Buffalo goaltender Dominik Hasek didn't mince words.

"If you don't play the whole 60 minutes, even these teams can beat us," he said. "Teams like Tampa Bay, Columbus, Atlanta, we should win 90 percent of those games."

-- Compiled by Damian Cristodero.

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