St. Paul’s Hopes Dim Over New Franchise

St. Paul’s hopes of luring an NHL team are withering amid growing uncertainty over how to come up with more than $50 million to remodel the Civic Center, the City Council president said Wednesday.

“I think it’s lost some steam, definitely, because we’re getting the realities of who’s going to pay for it,” Dave Thune said.

The council on Wednesday backed away from a plan that would use state income taxes from a team’s payroll, among other sources, to pay off the cost of updating the 23-year-old arena. That is virtually the same plan that was snubbed by state lawmakers last year when Minneapolis proposed it in its failed attempt to get the Winnipeg Jets, who later moved to Phoenix.

On the ice

Veteran centers Dale Hawerchuk of the Philadelphia Flyers and Dale Hunter of the Washington Capitals have been added to the Eastern Conference team for the NHL All-Star Game on Jan. 18 at San Jose.

Hawerchuk and Hunter were special selections by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

Patrick Poulin’s goal with 2:44 remaining in the third period gave the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, snapping goaltender Mike Richter’s unbeaten streak at 16 games.

Rene Corbet scored on a third-period breakaway to give Colorado a 1-1 tie with the New Jersey Devils, extending the Avalanche’s unbeaten streak to eight games.

Chicago top scorer Tony Amonte scored twice in the first period in a 4-1 win over Edmonton, but hurt his left knee with 3 minutes to play in a collision with Oilers goalie Bob Essensa. X-rays revealed no fracture.