Schembechler’s loss felt in NHL

If Aaron Ward ever earns his Michigan degree, it’ll be thanks to Bo Schembechler’s prodding.

Ward, the New York Rangers defenseman, got a phone call from his wife last week after the death of the longtime Michigan football coach.

“I think the most meaningful interaction came after I was a pro,” Ward said of his many meetings with Schembechler. “Bo invited me to his golf tournament. We had just won the Stanley Cup, and it wasn’t, ‘Hey, Aaron congratulations on the Stanley Cup.’ He looked at me, plain as day, put his hand out and said, ‘When are you going to finish your degree?’ There was no congratulations.”

Ward, who won his first two Cups with Detroit and another last season with Carolina, always shuddered when Schembechler asked him each time they met about the 24 credits he needed to graduate.

Schembechler already had moved on when Ward got to Ann Arbor in 1990. Playing under longtime hockey coach Red Berenson, Ward got a taste of what it might’ve been like to be coached by Schembechler.

“Bo set a standard by which the coaches of every varsity program or the people in the athletic department held themselves to,” said Ward, who attended every Michigan football game during the NHL lockout. “You do it as a team. Team, team, team. You hold yourself to a certain level, and you do it the right way.

“Once you’ve left the university, and even though you weren’t part of the football program, you’re still a member of that university and a member of that athletic department and you have deep ties.”

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Rod Brind’Amour watched how Ron Francis led the Carolina Hurricanes during a time when few outside North Carolina paid any attention.

The face of the franchise, Francis connected the team to its Hartford Whalers roots. Francis was always a fan favorite in Connecticut, the leader of the lovable losers who played their games in a mall.

When Brind’Amour was dealt to Carolina he stayed in the background, letting Francis show the Hurricanes the way as he did back in Connecticut.

“Whether or not Ronny was here, it was definitely his team, and he had his fingerprint all over it and did a great job,” said Brind’Amour, who inherited the team captaincy last season. “I kind of just went about my business. He stepped down, and I guess I had to fill in.”

Talk about understatements, considering the Hurricanes skated off with the Stanley Cup in the first year the hard-nosed center wore the “C” on his chest.

Brind’Amour scored 31 goals, his highest total since the 1997-98 campaign, and assisted on 39 others. His leadership on the ice and his strong presence in the dressing room helped lift Carolina to the top regular-season record in the Eastern Conference.

Then he added 12 goals and six assists in the playoffs in the Hurricanes’ run to the franchise’s first championship.

“In the past, not a lot has been said about our team,” Brind’Amour said. “You play under the radar. But I think now wherever we go or whoever we play, they know they’re in for a game, so we’re definitely getting the best in every team that you play.

“That’s good. We’ve raised the bar within this organization, and that’s where we want to be.”

Again, the 36-year-old Brind’Amour is leading the way.

He earned the second star of last week after posting four goals and four assists. That boosted his totals and landed him second in the scoring race heading into the weekend.

Carolina snapped a two-game losing streak with a win at Boston on Friday and entered the weekend in a fight with Atlanta for first place in the Southeast Division.

“We’ve got to win. That’s what all we’re about,” said Brind’Amour, who reached 1,000 NHL points and 600 assists this season. “That’s the beauty of this team, and that’s all we have been about this year and last year. We don’t care how we do it, who scores whatever, that’s all we’re about.”

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Marian Hossa still peeks at the standings to see where the Ottawa Senators sit.

But make no mistake, the NHL’s third-leading scorer has cut ties with the team where he spent his first seven NHL seasons and is entrenched with the Atlanta Thrashers.

Hossa first felt at him in his new Atlanta digs last Christmas.

“It was kind of the first time to change for me, from one team to the other,” he said. “New city, new teammates, everything was new to me, so it took a while to get comfortable again.

“Soon as Christmas came, I felt pretty comfortable in Atlanta, and I started playing my hockey again and felt somewhat comfortable.”

Hossa had 39 goals and 53 assists, but the Thrashers fell short of their first postseason berth. His 16 goals and 15 assists through 23 games put him right in early contention for the NHL scoring title.

While the Thrashers have been at the top of the Southeast Division all season, the Senators are struggling to stay out of the Northeast basement.

“I wouldn’t say I’m paying too much attention, but obviously I look at the standings to see how other team is doing,” he said. “I know the Senators are kind of like a sleeping giant because they’ve got an unbelievable team.”

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Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, in their second NHL seasons after finishing 1-2 for the rookie of the year award, hold the top two spots again -- this time in Eastern Conference All-Star team voting.

Veteran defensemen Scott Niedermayer and Ducks teammate Chris Pronger are the leading vote-getters in the West.

So far, Pittsburgh’s Crosby has the edge over Ovechkin of the Capitals. Crosby garnered 83,664 votes compared to 63,921 in the first six days of the all-digital balloting.

Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller was next with 63,818 votes, followed by New Jersey netminder Martin Brodeur (59,386) and Miller’s teammate defenseman Brian Campbell (57,988).

Defensemen are clearly the most popular players in the West, taking four of the top five positions in early balloting.

Niedermayer is first with 75,340 votes, slightly ahead of Pronger, who has 70,733. Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom is third with 69,015 votes, followed by San Jose center Joe Thornton -- the reigning NHL MVP -- with 64,098, and Calgary defenseman Dion Phaneuf with 61,079.

More than 2.8 million votes have been cast in voting that will determine the starting lineups for the Jan. 24 All-Star game in Dallas.