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By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 25, 2001
BLAZING SADDLES: When he has time to get away, Coyotes coach Bob Francis loves to go horseback riding. Not long ago, on a lonely trail that rarely encounters modern men, Francis came across an ornery, wild mule. It wouldn't let Francis or his mount pass. It even tried to trample Francis' dog.
With few options, the 42-year-old coach relied on his street smarts, honed as a teenager who regularly rode the New York City subways.
"I hauled off and punched the darn thing," Francis said. "It was the only thing I could do."
If only things were so easy with his stubborn hockey team.
PROBLEM SOLVED: Pittsburgh defenseman Darius Kasparaitis thinks he has a solution to the Penguins goaltending problems.
"I think they should put all three of them together," Kasparaitis said of Garth Snow, Johan Hedberg and Jean-Sebastien Aubin. "That'd be an easy decision for the coaches. Just tape them together, put them in there and see what happens."
HANDICAPPED ZONE: With the Maple Leafs losing to the Panthers 3-1 with 1:17 left Wednesday at the Air Canada Centre and the crowd booing like crazy, a fan near ice level tossed one of his crutches toward Toronto goaltender Glenn Healy's crease. Everyone cheered while the man hobbled to the exit on his lone crutch, escorted by security guards, after being ejected. As he left, he turned to the crowd and gave a triumphant wave.
"Sickening," Healy said.
STILL GREAT: During one of the four times Wayne Gretzky has skated with the Coyotes, the Great One put a couple of moves on goaltender Robert Esche and tried to go top corner, but the puck hit Esche in the left shoulder. As Esche rubbed away the pain, Gretzky said, "Don't worry, kid, nine out of 10 of those go in."
CASUAL SNAKES: The Senators got the day off in Phoenix on Monday and played a round of golf at Troon North, where they were warned not to go into the bushes looking for stray balls because it was rattlesnake season.
"For the first six holes, I played well because every time I hit the ball off the fairway I went looking for it," defenseman Jason York said. "Then we were told by (the women in the refreshment cart) not to be looking for our balls in the bushes. We didn't think there would be any snakes out there, but they said four had already been spotted.
"After that, we stopped looking for our balls, and I must have lost about 10. There was no way I was getting off the cart after that."