Brendan Morrison News Clips Archive

May 2, 1998
Devils upset by 8th seed Ottawa-
EEEK! Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod. I did not see this coming. The devils were facing elimination tonight in game 6 of the first round. Again the senators outplayed New Jersey at their own defensive game. They still had a chance in the dying minutes, but Igor Kravchuk scored an empty netter to clinch the series. Obviously disappointed, Scott Stevens commented after the game, "Bottom line, they're just an average team that played great, and we're an above-average team that played poorly," he said. The devils, who were trying to create more offense, put Scott Niedermayer at forward, but obviously it didn't work. Still in shock, the devils will now head back home. Brendan played 3 play-off games, being scratched in this one, and notched an assist in game 2. He finished with a -1, and will probably join Albany, who are playing Hamilton in the western conference semi-finals. They have a 1-0 lead in the series.

April 12, 1998
Unreal-
I can not believe this guy! He is just soooo amazing *me gushing*. The devils are still hunting for the president's trophy, and they tied today against the panthers 5-5. Brendan is on a 5 game point streak, with 4 goals and 3 assists in his last 5 games. Last night he scored the winning goal against the Bruins and today he notched his 5th goal on Kirk McLean. "I got a good bounce on my stick and I was able to take advantage of my opportunity," Morrison said. "I'm in the lineup, just trying to do what I can to help the team win." With this sort of play, I'm really optimistic about Brendan making the post-season roster.

April 10, 1998
Rollin', rollin', rollin'-
Get your motors rollin. Brendan collected another goal Wednesday night in a 3-2 loss against the Islanders, not that it matters. NJ is the best NHL team right now, and are looking ready for another Stanley cup. I have been very impressed with Brendan's play so far, and the way he's adjusted to the pro schedule (in college hockey, they play like 30 games). He appears very comfortable out there on NHL ice!

April 3, 1998
Total Recall-
The devils re-called Brendan yesterday, no doubt due to his 5 goal effort on Wednesday against the whalers. He will be in the line-up for tonight's possible play-off preview against Ottawa after practicing with the team yesterday. Here's an article about it from NJ online, and be sure to watch those hi-lights!

March 28, 1998
Touching all bases-
The Rats have released their play-off schedule, and they will open at home on April 17 vs. either Syracuse, Adirondack, or Rochester. Albany is coming off an OT 4-3 win against Rochester yesterday, when Brendan picked up another assist for a season total of 48. The Hockey News future watch issue finally arrived at my door, and Brendan has gone from being ranked #15 last year to #6 this year. He is definitely the Devils best prospect, and was called up for the 3rd time to the big club last week, even though I don't think he saw any ice time. In THN there is a mini article on Brendan, where a scout said what we already know... "Brendan is an extremely creative player. The thing about Morrison is that he's so quick with his head, hands and feet that he can be dangerous from just about anywhere on the ice." They predict him to be with NJ full time next year, as Devils' GM feels Brendan is developing exactly the way they had hoped. There is also a medium-sized color pic in the issue, which is dated March 27.
*New pic added to gallery*

March 14, 1998
The Stretch run-
The River Rats clinched a play-off berth as the empire division leader on Wednesday with an overtime loss (losses in the AHL are worth 1 point) to Rochester, a game which I'm not sure existed or not... anyway, they've dropped 3 in a row, a fact that hardly bodes well with about a month remaining till the post-season, and they were shut out last night again by the Americans. Brendan remains the leading scorer on the rats and 6th league wide with 73 points.
*Added spankin' new pic to gallery*

March 5, 1998
Rookie of the month honors-
Yesh, Brendan was named rookie of the month for the second time this year! In the month of February, he collected 18 points (6-12) in 13 games and helped the River Rats extend their lead in the Empire Division to six points. Brendan scored in 9 of Albany's 13 games. (Refer to articles section for more).

March 1, 1998
Update-
I added some new stuff in the articles section of this page and a link to the Excite sports channel. Check 'em out! The Rats recently (Feb.27) had their 10 game winning streak snapped by the Adirondack redwings in a 6-4 loss where Brendan collected 2 points. They are currently neck and neck with the Phantoms to be the top AHL team. And at last check, Brendan was 5th overall in league point scoring with 26 goals and 69 points!

February 18, 1998
AHL All-star spread in THN-
I wasn't aware of this, but my Hockey News just came today. There's a centerfold section about the AHL All star game about, what else-the AHL all-star game... there's a pic too with Brendan and this article on the AHL's young guns. Just thought I'd let y'all know- it's the Feb.20 issue, you should still be able to find it!

February 13, 1998
AHL all star classic recap-
Look up the box score for this game... that alone will tell the story. 21 goals in total, and a record breaking 106 shots made it a nightmare for the AHL goalies! Typical of all star games with lots of offense, if little excitement! Brendan picked up one assist on the 3rd canadian goal of the game by Roest in the first... and saw lots of ice time too. Canadians came out on top of this one with back and forth scoring. An embarassing moment came for Brendan in the skills comp, when he went the wrong direction in the puck control relay, which he obviously lost! I guess it's trickier than it looks, eh?

January 10, 1998
What goes up must come down-
Well, ok, not always, but in this case, Brendan was just filling a roster spot till Jason Arnott found his way to New Jersey. Brendan is back in Albany with his red-hot River Rats, who are now in 2nd place in the empire division. Brendan was also named rookie of the month for the month of December. Check out the articles below for more.

January 3, 1998
Morrison AHL scoring update-
Whatever you read here before, forget it! OK, so far, and this comes from nando.net, Brendan has 16 goals 21 assists for a total of 37 points. That puts him 15th overall in league point scoring, and 3rd in rookie scoring, behind Marc Savard. (Note: Brendan was just recalled by the Devils yesterday due to the trade).

December 4, 1997
Brendan Morrison's NHL debut-
Because of John MacLean's hold out, Brendan was called up for 2 games to "the big club" to help out. He subsequently potted his first NHL goal in the 2nd period of his 1st NHL game in a 4-0 win against Pittsburgh. One would think Brendan should get the call up again before the season is over.

April 23, 1998
Sens draw first blood-
The senators stole a game from NJ yesterday, a game in which Brendan found himself watching from the press box. There is an article I added below, BTW. Anyway, the game was a tight affair as both teams are defensive-minded. It went into OT when Bruce Gardiner scored to win it for the sens 2-1. Down in Albany, the rats are looking pretty good without their regular season leading scorer. They won their series against Adirondack 3-0.

April 19, 1998
1st round match-up-
The devils failed to win the president's trophy... that went to Dallas, but they are the 2nd best team overall finishing with 107 points. They will face-off with the Ottawa Senators starting either Wednesday or Thursday. It should be an easy series for the Devils. It also looks like Brendan will stay around a little longer!

April 15, 1998
Happy Birthday!
Brendan turns 23 today... I'm sure he would like no better present than to make the post-season roster=).

Last modified May 10, 1998.

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