YOUNG PUP LEADS PACK

IF THE END of the season brings no change in the league’s top plus-minus players, the leader will owe a debt to ancient history. Chicago Wolves defenseman Arturs Kulda, just 21, was setting the league pace through early March at plus-39. The impressive number had its roots in his blueline partner, a man more than twice Kulda’s age, Chris Chelios, 48. The pairing had produced a simpler style for the 2006 seventh round pick (200th overall) by the Atlanta Thrashers. “That (plus-minus) number, that’s the whole team playing really well,” said Kulda, the second-year pro from Riga, Latvia. “Me, I try to work on one thing, not getting scored on.” With five goals and 21 points through 53 games, his own offense has been a modest factor in his plus-minus pace, but the Chelios…

Inside the Numbers

GAME TIME, AT LAST

IT WAS MARCH in New Jersey. The state high school hockey finals were coming to a close. Two squads had risen through the ranks, compiling impressive regular season records and battling through the playoffs: No. 1-ranked St. Joseph of Montvale (24-2-1) and No. 2-ranked Delbarton (24-3-2) were set to clash for the 1989 New Jersey state high school hockey championship at the Mennen Arena. The teams hadn’t met in the regular season, so this was the only chance for one or the other to establish its dominance and take its place in history. Then, with just a few days left until the game was to be played, Delbarton was hit with a rare outbreak of the measles, forcing the contest’s cancellation. ‘AS FAR AS I KNOW, NONE OF US ARE IN TERRIBLE…

CHEESED OFF BY ‘THE RAT’

WHILE THE NHL chose not to suspend Pittsburgh Penguins pest Matt Cooke for his knockout head shot to Boston’s Marc Savard, it was a surprise to few that ‘The Rat’ was the one to deliver the pain. The March 7 incident in Pittsburgh saw Savard carted off the ice on a stretcher with a Grade 2 concussion after Cooke blindsided the crafty center with a shoulder to the head. Bruins teammate Patrice Bergeron, who knows all too well the pain and frustration of concussions, could be seen lecturing Cooke on the ice while Savard was being attended to. “I told him it was a bad hit,” Bergeron said. “I didn’t need to tell him that, but I felt he had to know that. I hope seeing the replay he realizes it was…