Colorado Forward Surprises Coach With His Offense
(from the Colorado Springs Gazette)
By Jake Schaller
The Gazette
April 14, 2006 - CALGARY, Alberta - When the Colorado Avalanche signed veteran forward Ian Laperriere this past summer, the team envisioned him playing "that feisty role," according to coach Joel Quenneville's preseason assessment.
Laperriere has done just that, leading the team with 114 penalty minutes. Much to the surprise of Quenneville and the Avalanche, Laperriere also has been an offensive threat.
Laperriere has 21 goals and 23 assists, both career highs and the most he's had since his rookie year of 1994-95 when he had 13 goals and 14 assists.
"The offensive production was a bonus," Quenneville said. "I envisioned maybe about half the production we got out of Lappy this year."
Laperriere is the first Colorado player to score 20 goals and compile 100 penalty minutes in a season since Claude Lemieux and Peter Forsberg did it in the 1998-99 campaign.
JUST HAPPY TO BE HERE
As the trade deadline approached, Jim Dowd, then a member of the Chicago Blackhawks, had resigned himself to the possibility of finishing the season with a team that was out of playoff contention.
"I was all mentally ready, if I didn't get traded, to play out the season in Chicago," Dowd said Tuesday. "Do the best we could there with that team."
But just before the deadline passed, Colorado acquired Dowd in exchange for a fourth-round selection in the 2006 Entry Draft.
Suddenly, Dowd was on a team in the midst of an intense playoff run.
"It's been great," said Dowd, who has played about 12 minutes a night since joining Colorado. "This is what you play for."
Colorado forward Brad McLean, who played for Chicago the year before the lockout, agreed. "In Chicago, we would have been out of the race two months ago," he said.
ETC.
Avalanche forward Brad May missed his fourth straight game with a groin injury. Quenneville said is considered day-to-day.