An 81st minute penalty converted by captain Thierry Henry finally broke the brave resistance of 10-man Newcastle United at Highbury today. And Robin van Persie added a superbly-crafted team goal to deliver a first-day 2-0 win to Arsene Wenger’s side. A key incident was the controversial 32nd-minute sending-off of Jermaine Jenas who lunged at Gilberto Silva from behind to win the ball, catching the Brazilian on the calf as he did so. The straight red card seemed a little harsh on Jenas, who has been linked with a possible move to Highbury. Depleted Newcastle then withstood near-incessant Arsenal attacking and seemed set to hold on for an unlikely point before the Gunners broke the deadlock as the game entered its last 10 minutes. There were few chances in the first-half, Alan Shearer dragging a shot across the face of goal and Shay Given saving well from Kolo Toure. Given was in excellent form, denying Toure again and saving well from Freddie Ljungberg as Newcastle came under siege in the second-half. But substitute Charles N’Zogbia rashly felled Ljungberg in the area as the Swede set himself to shoot, and Henry fired the resultant penalty into the bottom corner . Given almost got to that too, but Arsenal were at last in front and as the tension around Highbury eased, the Gunners glided into a more fluent stride. A typically fast and incisive break from the beak ended with Ljungberg pulling the ball back from the by-line for substitute Robin van Persie to net from an acute angle with three minutes remaining.

The New York Islanders signed Mike York and Trent Hunter to one-year deals on Saturday, avoiding arbitration with both forwards. York, acquired from Edmonton last week in the trade that sent captain Michael Peca to the Oilers, will earn $2.05 million. Hunter, New York's co-leader in scoring during his rookie season of 2003-04, will receive $1 million. Hunter was an NHL rookie of the year finalist after tying for the Islanders' lead with 25 goals and 51 points. He was the league's only rookie to be first on his team in both goals and points. The 27-year-old York started his NHL career with the Rangers during the 1999-00 season. He played in all 82 games and had 26 goals and 50 points. In 374 NHL games with the Rangers and Oilers, York has 98 goals and 235 points. The Islanders still face two arbitration hearings as they have yet to reach deals with center Justin Papineau and Brent Sopel, a defenseman who also came to New York last week in a deal with Vancouver.

Free agent left winger Niklas Hagman accepted his qualifying offer for next season and re-signed with the Florida Panthers on Friday. Hagman had 10 goals and 13 assists in 75 games with the Panthers during the 2003-04 season, his third with the Panthers. He has 28 goals and 46 assists in his NHL career, spent entirely with Florida. The former third-round pick spent last season with Davos in the Swiss League. A native of Finland, Hagman had 18 goals and 22 assists and finished third on the club with 40 points last season during the NHL lockout. The Panthers also announced late Friday the signing of center Chris Gratton to a one-year contract. Gratton, 30, played in 81 games with Buffalo and Phoenix in 2003-04, recording 32 points and 111 penalty minutes. Gratton has played 851 NHL games with Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Phoenix and Colorado.

Calgary Flames General Manager and Head Coach Darryl Sutter announced today the signing of goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff to a multi-year deal. As per club policy, terms and conditions of the agreement were not disclosed. According to Sutter, getting back into the groove of things and picking up where they (the Calgary Flames) left off last season, was on the top of his to-do list. "We're trying to win a championship right now," Sutter said during a Friday morning press conference at the Pengrowth Saddledome. And signing Kiprusoff would help lead them in that direction, but Sutter's not done yet. "I still want to upgrade our team; like I said I'm still trying to win a championship and at the same time, make it fit long term, and that's exactly what we're doing (with the signing of players like Kiprusoff and captain Jarome Iginla)," said Sutter. "We're (the team) exactly where we want to be, and we're not done."

Jay Bouwmeester #4 FLORIDA PANTHERS Defense Shoots: Left Height: 6'4" Weight: 218 Born: September 27, 1983 in Edmonton, Alberta How Acquired: Florida's first choice (third overall) in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. Personal: Jay is single…His parents, Dan and Gena, reside in Edmonton where Dan, is a math teacher…He has one older sister, Jill, 23, who is a representative for a pharmaceutical company…In his spare time, Jay enjoys playing golf and spending time with friends…During the season, he resides in Fort Lauderdale. He spends his summers in Edmonton.

It wasn't all that long after Gena Bouwmeester gave birth to her strapping baby boy in Edmonton, on September 27, 1983, that young Jay was indeed skating. He had barely taken his first steps when mom came downstairs one day to discover the toddler had somehow managed to lace on his older sister's white, four-wheel roller skates and was taking a solo spin around the basement. "It came very naturally to him," recalls Dan Bouwmeester, who had his son on real ice skates on a backyard rink in the south Edmonton suburb of Mill Woods before Jay reached his second birthday. Natural is an appropriate word to describe Jay Bouwmeester, a six-foot-four, 210-pounder who became a solid contributor on the Panthers' blue line as an 18-year-old rookie. That's a rare accomplishment for a teen National Hockey League defenceman — a position that usually takes years for a young puck professional to master. In interviews, where his voice barely registers on the tape recorders of reporters over the dressing room din, and even with some teammates, the lanky, blue-eyed Bouwmeester comes across as almost shy. But underneath is a quiet calm that belies a rock-solid confidence in his own abilities. Bouwmeester has certainly appeared at ease ever since he was chosen No. 3 overall in the National Hockey League entry draft by the Panthers in June of 2002. Right from the start, coach Mike Keenan told reporters that Bouwmeester would probably be able to contribute immediately. By mid-season, the youngster was averaging more than 17 minutes a game — huge playing time for a rookie on the blue line — and seeing action in every situation. Moreover, his play had helped the surprising Panthers remain in the running for a playoff spot.

Others were confident, too. Player agents began phoning the family home in Edmonton when Jay was barely 14. Bouwmeester was the No. 1 selection in the Western Hockey League's 1998 bantam draft by the Medicine Hat Tigers. His father had taken him to Edmonton Ice games as a young teen and Jay had made playing in the WHL an early goal. There was never any thought about the U.S. college route. "A kid with his size and talent — the WHL was the way to go," Dan says now. What the WHL route meant for the Bouwmeesters, however, was saying goodbye to their son at the tender age of 16. In fact, Jay was just 15 and in his final season of bantam when he joined the Tigers for a few games. The next season, as a 16-year-old, he moved to Medicine Hat — nearly five hours southwest of Edmonton by car — full-time. Easing the transition a great deal was the hospitality of Jack and Marie Reeves, who would billet Bouwmeester for all of his three years with the Tigers and provide Jay with a comfortable home away from home. Injuries have plagued the Edmontonian but his skills make up for the occasional abcense from the ice.





Song for the day - "Waiting" - MAREN ORD