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By SCOTT REINARDY [email protected]
Tuesday, March 14, 2000     Page: 1B

After Robert Dome was promoted to Pittsburgh last week, leaving the local
Penguins even more offensively anemic, coach Glenn Patrick joked about the
lack of scoring power.
   
“I’m hoping that this (newly acquired goalie) Michel Larocque has a good
shot,” he said.
    In hindsight, after scoring just eight goals in three games, maybe Patrick
wasn’t joking.
   
Probably most disconcerting is that defensemen have provided 50 percent of
the scoring as the Penguins lost two of three games. Granted, Patrick has
encouraged the defensemen to jump into the offensive rush more often, but a
team won’t win many games when defensemen are the leading scorers.
   
“If the defense don’t score and (Mark) Murphy doesn’t score, who’s going
to do it?” defenseman Sven Butenschon said. “Boris (Protsenko) has been a
goal scorer his whole life and he’s not doing it. That’s frustrating. You have
a guy who you pay to score goals and he doesn’t do it. You don’t expect Casey
Harris or all those other guys, but Boris, he’s got to score. We sure could
use him.”
   
In the last 10 games, the Penguins are 3-7, and have scored 29 goals.
Defensemen have scored 10 of those goals, 34.5 percent.
   
Butenschon has been the biggest contributor, scoring five times. He has a
career-high 16 this season, fifth best on the team.
   
After scoring 24 goals last season as an AHL rookie, Protsenko has just 14
with the Penguins.
   
When asked about scoring goals, a frustrated Protsenko says: “I’m not the
right guy to ask. I don’t get the breaks this season.”
   
During the past two games, Penguins defensemen have scored four of six
goals. Butenschon and Andrew Ference have back-to-back games with goals
heading into tonight’s matchup against Saint John at First Union Arena.
   
Butenschon credits several things for his scoring surge, including new
sticks.
   
“I got a new batch of good sticks and it’s amazing. I wish every batch
would come like that.”
   
Apparently, Butenschon’s sticks are loaded with goals. Perhaps he needs to
share those sticks with the rest of his teammates.
   
ROCCO READY: Goalie Michel “Rocco” Larocque will make his second start
for the Penguins tonight against his former team.
   
Before coming to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last week, Larocque played for Saint
John. In three weeks there, he posted a 2-1-1 record, 1.98 goals-against
average and .921 save percentage.
   
Ryan Bach played Saturday and Sunday, but Larocque didn’t necessarily take
the days off.
   
Both games, Larocque was the last player to leave the ice after warmups. He
stood in the crease while opposing players attempted to fire pucks into the
goal.
   
“It’s superstition. They want to put that puck in the net. It’s something
I learned that guys like to do,” he said. “It’s little mind games.”
   
The cat-and-mouse game lasted until the Zamboni entered the ice. Meanwhile,
the opposing players were not able to get a warmup goal on the Penguins.
   
Because he is starting tonight, Larocque will not be there to protect his
goal from a sneak attack. The starting goalie does not want to expend too much
energy in warmups, so he leaves the ice earlier than most players.
   
ICE CHIPS: The Plexiglas goal judges boxes behind each goal were removed
because fans were complaining about an obstructed view. Now, unlike most AHL
arenas, the goal judge sits on a stool within arm’s reach of the fans.
Call Reinardy at 831-7342.