Tverdovsky Hears About His Goal

Oleg Tverdovsky, Phoenix Coyote defenseman, insists there is no animosity.

Yet, he just ached to score a goal against his former team, the Mighty Ducks.

Tverdovsky claims he never hears the boos from Duck fans, which build every time he puts his stick to the puck.

Yet, he admits, it gets him pumped up.

Such contradictions were played out Sunday in a 2-2 tie at the Pond. Tverdovsky talked afterward about burying the hatchet, but only after he buried the puck in the back of the net.

“It is always great to score against Anaheim,” said Tverdovsky, the Ducks’ No. 1 draft pick in 1994. “I always wanted to do it. This is where my career started. To score here in the Pond is really fun.”

This is a love-hate relationship--Duck fans love to hate him--but Tverdovsky wants peace.

Really.

Tverdovsky doesn’t dislike Duck fans or Anaheim. He loves the area and still lives here during the off-season.

Even when he was traded in the deal that brought Teemu Selanne to Anaheim in 1996 there was still no problem. Then the teams met in the 1997 playoffs and Tverdovsky was quoted as saying he hated the Ducks and questioned their talent beyond Selanne, Guy Hebert and Paul Kariya--comments he said were not for the public.

“What came out was not exactly what I said,” Tverdovsky said. “It was some stuff I said to my teammates and it never should have been in the newspaper. I don’t want to offend nobody.”

Still. . .

He had waited two seasons to score and the moment finally came. . . only he blew it.

A mere 41 seconds into Sunday’s game, he had the puck in front of the net. Not a Mighty Duck defender in sight, eyeball-to-eyeball with Hebert and Tverdovsky’s shot was smothered.

“I had a good chance and I thought it was in,” Tverdovsky said. “I tried to do something different and didn’t get a good shot off. You always hope to get a another chance.”

Tverdovsky had to wait all of 10 seconds. He slipped in untouched on Hebert’s left and hammered home a crossing pass from Rick Tocchet.

It was Tverdovsky’s first against the Ducks. A memory to savor, even replay.

“I just shoved that one in,” he said. “I got free from the forward and yelled to my guy. The puck was a little behind me, so I reached back and kind of shoveled it in.”

His teammates congratulated him. Duck fans booed.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Tverdovsky said. “They’re just having fun. I really don’t hear it. . . . it does excite me when they do it.”