Missed in the Face-Off Circle

by Mike Heika for The Dallas Morning News, 12/21/00, excerpted

The Stars are in a downward trend as far as face-offs go. Their team percentage is down to 50.6 percent from 54.0 percent three years ago and they have slipped out of the top 10 for the first time. Part of the reason is the Guy Carbonneau's retirement. Carbonneau finished third in the NHL at 59.4 percent three seasons ago and was typically in the top 10. What's more, he was a right-handed shooter and gave the Stars a different option than the left-handed Nieuwendyk and left-handed Mike Modano.

"We view the face-offs on the penalty kill as probably the most important," Hitchcock said. "When you go for two or three years and just take for granted that you're going to win that draw because Carbo is over there, that's hard to come back from."

Modano has increased his time in the face-off circle to make up for the loss of Carbonneau, and that seems to have had a detrimental effect, as well. Modano has won 47.8 percent of his team-leading 656 draws – down 3.6 percent from last season.

The Stars are hoping that Joe Nieuwendyk's calm and his ability to teach his face-off technique will be key in filling in for the departed Carbonneau. But the young Stars say that rising to that level is no easy task. If the Stars hope to rebound, it might take a lot more work from everyone.

Photo by Brad Amodeo