New York, New York. Highlanders newcomer Daniel Alfredsson made a historic climb by assisting on Daniel Briere's third period insurance goal in New York's 9-3 win against division rival New England. The assist, one of three points in the game for Alfredsson, moved him into a tie for 24th in HBMHL scoring history, tied with the legendary Steve Yzerman.
"Honestly, it's just nice to get unblocked," said 'Alfie', as he's know to his teammates, who has struggled to put up points since his trade to New York. "It's an honor to be up there with a guy like Yzerman. He is a role model, and was a great help to me personally when I was traded to Boston mid-way through my second HBMHL season."
For the game against New England, Highlanders' coach Kirk Muller moved Alfredsson onto a line with Pavol Demitra and Daniel Briere, who joined the Highlanders in the same deal that saw Alfredsson come to New York. Demitra, who is only six points ahead of Alfredsson in HBMHL history, welcomed the friendly competition.
"I kept trying to pass the puck to anyone other than Alfie," joked Demitra. "Hopefully if we're on the same line, I can keep pace with him."
Keeping pace with Sheldon Souray, on the other hand, might be more of a challenge. The defenseman scored three goals during a ten minute span starting toward the end of the first period after picking up an assist on New York's first goal of the game. During those ten minutes, Souray also got involved in a fight with Brad Boyes, giving him a hat trick and a 'Gordie Howe hat trick', a rare feat for a defenseman, who will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
"I'm not focused on my contract situation, I'm just concerned with winning games. Teams like New England are winning a lot of games, and so we need to do our best to keep up and get home-ice in the playoffs. The outcome of this game could have been very different if their starting goalie played."
Unconfirmed rumors suggest that Niklas Backstrom, New England's star goalie, who is widely considered a front-runner for the Jacques Plante Trophy for best goalie, and Syl Apps Trophy for outstanding rookie, has checked himself into a drug & alcohol rehabilitation program and will be unavailable to the Sharks for at least another week.
The Highlanders play their next game tomorrow night in New York against the Portland Winterhawks.
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