Locked-out hockey star Scott Gomez has turned down lucrative offers in Europe to play for a pittance in one of the lowest rungs of professional hockey.
The 24-year-old Gomez, who made US$1 million with the New Jersey Devils last season, has signed a US$500-a-week contract with the Alaska Aces of the minor pro ECHL.
With the National Hockey League labor dispute in its sixth week, the world's best players are being forced to look for ice time where ever they can. No new talks are scheduled.
More than 200 NHLers have skated off to Europe to play for clubs in Russia, Sweden, Germany and Finland. Others are playing with college, university and junior teams to try and stay in shape.
But Gomez is the first NHLer to join the violent and brutal ECHL which courts hockey goons and often resembles the Charlestown Chiefs in the Hollywood movie Slapshot. The homepage of the Bakersfield Condors Web site uses a Condor player in a fighting pose as a backdrop.
Gomez, who was the NHL's rookie of the year in 2000, will make his Aces debut today against the San Diego Gulls.
The Gulls have two players, Mark Pederson and Billy Tibbetts, who have played in the NHL but they didn't join the ECHL until well past their NHL prime.
Pederson, a former first-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 1986, played 168 games in the NHL, scoring 35 goals. Tibbetts played 82 NHL games, mostly with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Gomez, who attended high school in Alaska, had gone to arbitration with the Devils this summer before the lock-out and came out with a one-year deal which would have been his sixth season with the team.
"Obviously, we're thrilled to have Scott join our club from a talent standpoint, his abilities and accomplishments speak for themselves," said Anchorage head coach Davis Payne.
"But I'm also excited to bring his team-first attitude into our dressing room. He's made it clear to me that he expects to be treated as one of the guys and that his first priority is bringing his hometown a championship as long as the NHL lock-out remains an issue," Payne said.
Gomez joined the Devils a year after being drafted and promptly earned a trip to the NHL All-Star Game and won the Calder Trophy (top rookie).
Last year, Gomez led the Devils in assists en route to winning the Stanley Cup title over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.
His 306 points in five years ranks second on the Devils only to Patrick Elias.
Former Ottawa Senators GM Mel Bridgman doesn't see a lot of NHLers following Gomez lead to the ECHL.
"It is a unique situation," said Bridgman, "it will be determined on a one-on-one basis."
An “outstanding” 17-year-old Chinese badminton player died of cardiac arrest after collapsing on court during a tournament in Indonesia, officials said yesterday. Zhang Zhijie was playing a match late Sunday against Japan’s Kazuma Kawano at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The score was 11-11 in the first game when Zhang fell to the floor between points. The teenager received treatment at the venue and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, but passed away later that night after repeated efforts to resuscitate him failed. “Medical conclusions ... indicated that the victim experienced sudden cardiac arrest,” Broto Happy, spokesman for
Taiwan will have two pairs vying for the women’s doubles at the Olympic Games’ tennis event in Paris as Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and her older sister Latisha Chan (詹詠然) officially clinched their third straight Olympic berth, the Chinese Taipei Tennis Association said Thursday. According to the association, the International Tennis Federation confirmed Wednesday evening the Chan sisters’ qualification for the event, meaning they will join the duo of Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and Tsao Chia-yi (曹家宜) to compete in the quadrennial sports jamboree. There are 16 entries in each doubles event. Hsieh, ranked No. 2 in the world on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)
Taiwan’s men’s national basketball team is set to upgrade its depth in the paint after signing Brandon Gilbeck of the P.League+’s Formosa Dreamers to a naturalized player’s contract. The 27-year-old big man from the US landed in Taoyuan early on Monday, where he was welcomed by Chinese Taipei Basketball Association deputy secretary-general Chang Cheng-chung. The two signed the deal, which still has to be approved by the Sports Administration and the Ministry of the Interior. Chang said he is confident that “the proceedings would go smoothly.” If approved, Gilbeck would become the third naturalized basketball player in Taiwan, following the New Taipei Kings’ Quincy
ONE GAME LEFT: ‘We 100 percent believe that this is the team,’ Kagiso Rabada said when asked if this team could end South Africa’s long World Cup drought A long, tortuous World Cup title drought is closer than ever to ending for South Africa after a nine-wicket win over first-time semi-finalist Afghanistan at the global T20 World Cup cricket tournament on Wednesday. Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada set the foundations for the lopsided victory with destructive opening bursts of pace bowling to have Afghanistan reeling at 20-4 in the fourth over, and eventually all out for a paltry 56. The South Africans lost just one wicket in pursuit of its first semi-final win at a global men’s limited-overs tournament, with Reeza Hendricks hitting a six and a four on consecutive