– Pulling together: The Blackhawks met with coach Mike Keenan for about a half-hour after their Thursday morning workout in Quebec. Team captain Dirk Graham squashed any speculation the meeting addressed festering dissension among the Hawk players and their growing displeasure with Keenan`s wearying methods of pushing them physically.
”Nothing like that came out,” Graham said. ”Maybe that`s what people on the outside assume. But if anything, we`re getting closer now than we were. The meeting was to stress the positives, to tell each other, `Let`s keep believing in one another.` In a funny way, what we`re going through now may be what we need to win the Stanley Cup.”
– The fighter: Left wing Dan Vincelette couldn`t play for Quebec Thursday against his former Hawk teammates. His right hand was too sore from a fight Tuesday against Edmonton`s Kelly Buchberger that Vincelette won. ”I hit with the first punch and then caught him again when he tried to get up,” he said proudly.
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Vincelette had breakfast Thursday with some Hawks and noticed they`d lost a little of the edge he saw earlier this year. ”I also saw it on the tape I watched of one of their St. Louis games last weekend,” Vincelette said.
”Something was missing. They`re not as sharp as the team I saw earlier this season. Maybe they`re tired. They`re a fraction of a second off. It`s noticeable.”
– Red hot: Quebec`s Colisee is famous for selling the best-tasting hot dogs on the NHL circuit. Defenseman Bob Murray recalled when he played in junior hockey, he and his young teammates would stuff a few hot dogs in their stomachs and then play the game. ”And they wondered why we lost,” he joked. ”Guys would have stomach aches from those hot dogs. But they sure tasted good.”
– Back home: ”French land,” Jocelyn Lemieux said with a smile. ”It`s good to be here.”
Lemieux feels comfortable in Quebec City, whose population primarily speaks French. Plus, he was happy to have his parents make a 5-hour drive to see him play against the Nordiques. They will stay over and also watch the Hawks in Montreal Saturday. ”I`m not going to try and prove anything in Montreal,” said Lemieux, who was traded to Chicago by the Canadiens Jan. 5 and has been an impact player so far. ”It`s just great to see people on this team having confidence in me despite the bad stretch we`ve been through recently.”