Despite online popularity, All-Star hopes remain on ice
GLENDALE, Arizona: If a fan campaign to vote Vancouver Canucks' Rory Fitzpatrick into the NHL All-Star game is successful, Western conference coach Randy Carlyle suggested on Monday that the defenseman would get only limited ice time.
With the NHL allowing fans to select the starting line-ups for both the Western and Eastern Conference teams, the unheralded Fitzpatrick has been the focus of an internet campaign to vote him into the All-Star contest later this month.
A hard-working journeyman with nine-years NHL experience and who has just one assist in 28 games this season, Fitzpatrick finds himself on the brink of joining the league's elite in Dallas on January 24. The NHL will announce the starting line-ups for both teams on Tuesday.
Voting was completed on January 2 and the last numbers released by the NHL on December 27 had Anaheim Ducks Norris trophy winner Scott Niedermayer leading the ballot with 540,380 votes.
Another multi-Norris trophy winner Detroit Red Wings' Nicklas Lidstrom had 522,345 and Fitzpatrick 486,842.
Not everyone is pleased with the idea of seeing the journeyman on the ice with the NHL's top players.
Carlyle, the Ducks coach who will be behind the bench for the Western Conference, said he was a hockey traditionalist but added he would welcome Fitzpatrick as part of the team even in a diminished role.
"I'm a traditionalist, I have a plan I don't think I'd like to commit to...but if Rory Fitzpatrick would be voted in we would have to make a decision as a coaching staff on how much he would play," said Carlyle on Monday.
'Rory-mania' began in early November when a Fitzpatrick fan set up a website called voteforrory.com.
Hockey fans across Canada and United States embraced the cause, turning Fitzpatrick, who has just nine goals and 28 points in 238 career games, into the NHL's most celebrated underdog.
"Obviously it's a tough situation for Rory to be in," said Eastern Conference coach Lindy Ruff. "Overall I think he's handled the situation very well.
"Rory is a great guy, a great competitor but the All-Star voting wasn't meant to go that way and I guess if he (Carlyle) was in as a coach he would limit his ice time in favor of the guys it was meant to be for."
Agencies
(China Daily 01/10/2007 page23)
