The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.

April 16, 1982

The Hockey News April 16, 1982

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011467/6578291-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"></div>HERE&rsquo;S HOW&hellip;.Every month, The Hockey News will offer a selection of sports books for your choice. First, there will be a selection of the month, chosen by our staff from among the newest titles offered. Next, there will be several current favourites from which to choose. Then you can pick from a list of oldies but goodies, famous books, often hard to find in stores, offered at substantial discounts. There&rsquo;s nothing to join&mdash;no minimum purchases. Just order what you want, when you want it. Your name will not be rented out to direct mail solicitors. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Bookshelf

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyLAVAL&mdash;Although the Voisins&rsquo; bubble finally burst last week, there are still many hours remaining before the clock strikes midnight for this Cinderella team.After seven consecutive wins in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League&rsquo;s double round-robin quarter-final, the Voisins finally lost, 5-3 to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens at Chicoutimi, but rebounded with two more wins by week&rsquo;s end&mdash;6-4 over the Shawinigan Cataracts and 8-4 over the Granby Bisons. The Voisins began the week by outscoring the Hull Olympics 9-6.With one week and four games remaining in the series, the Voisins were sitting pretty with a 9-1 record and 18 points, four ahead of the Sags. The top four teams advance to the semifinals and the Voisins have assured themselves of at least a tie for fourth.But with two home games remaining against the anemic Montreal Juniors and the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs, Laval should have no trouble advancing, if not placing first. The Voisins have yet to lose in five home games.Yves Courteau led the Voisins against Hull with three goals and two assists. Michel Lacasse added two goals and four assists. Daniel Roy, Bruno Troini, Mario Lemieux and Claude Vilgrain added singles. Benoit Doucet and Daniel Naud, with two goals each, and Maurice Roy and Paul Adey replied for the Olympics.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01794/6579157-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="600" height="837"><figcaption class="caption-body">Yves Courteau scored six goals in three games for the high-flying Voisins&rsquo; attack.</figcaption></div>Courteau added another pair against the Sags along with Doug Baran&rsquo;s single, but it wasn&rsquo;t enough. Five players shared in Chicoutimi&rsquo;s scoring&mdash;Eric Bernier, Andre Villeneuve, Roberto Lavoie, Denis Dore and Paul Gagne.Against the Cats, Laval rebounded from a 2-0 second period deficit, scoring five times in the third.Steve Fulton led the Voisins with two goals and two assists, with Courteau, Vilgrain, Lemieux, and JeanMarc Lanthier adding singles. Guy Fournier had two goals for Shawinigan. Pierre Rioux and Richard Bourque completed the scoring.Laval had a picnic against the pitiful Bisons, peppering Mario Belanger and Claude Kirouac with 56 shots. Troini scored three goals, Courteau added a pair, with Vilgrain, Michel Larose and Baran adding singles. Patrick Dunn scored two for Granby, with singles from Serge Tessier and Robert Lessard.Completing the standings behind Laval and Chicoutimi are Sherbrooke, 12 points; Hull and Trois-Rivieres, 10 each, Shawinigan and Montreal, eight each; and Granby, which doesn&rsquo;t deserve to be in the playoffs, is winless in 10 games.Here&rsquo;s a recap of the other games:Sherbrooke 7 Granby 5&mdash;Gerrard Gallant and Mario Dore, with two goals each, along with Michel Petit, Dave Kasper and Luc Bachand tallied for the Beavers. Paul Boutilier had three assists. Rene Labbe had two for Granby, with singles from Jacques Sylvestre, Sylvain Roy and Pierre Champigny.Chicoutimi 7 Montreal 2&mdash;Gagne led the winners with three goals, while Luc Girard and Alain Heroux respectively added two goals and four assists and two goals. Stephane Lessard and Benoit Lafleur scored for Montreal.Shawinigan 5 Trois-Rivieres 2&mdash;Jean Houde, Alain Lavigne, Andre Desy, Alain Richard and Frank Pajonkowsky scored for the Cats. Pierre Sevigny and Christian Tanguay replied for the losers.Montreal 5 Hull 4&mdash;Lessard scored the winning goal with one minute remaining in the game while the Juniors enjoyed a two-man advantage after Sylvain Turgeon was caught playing with an illegal stick. Tony Fiore, Lefort, Bill Campbell and Jean-Maurice Cool added singles. Adey, Turgeon, Tim Cranston and Jean Gauthier scored for Hull.Sherbrooke 9 Trois-Rivieres 4&mdash;Daniel Campbell and Gallant led the winners with two goals each. Bachand, Michel Lanouette, Guy Pigeon, Sean McKenna and Mike Fafard added singles. Patrice Masse, Remi Gagne, Sevigny and Michel Fortin scored for the Draveurs.Shawinigan 8 Granby 3&mdash;Bourque had two goals and two assists and Marcel Giguere and Richard added a pair also. Rioux and Daniel Poudrier completed the scoring. Sylvestre, Marc Brisebois and Alain Robichaud scored for Granby.Montreal 4 Sherbrooke 3&mdash;Two third period scores by Lessard gave the Juniors their win. Fiore and Jali Wahlstein added singles. Bachand, Petit and Campeau replied for Sherbrooke.Trois-Rivieres 3 Hull 0&mdash;Tanguay, Gagne and Claude Gosselin each scored in the second period. Michel Dufour blocked 44 shots for his second shutout of the series.Chicoutimi 7 Granby 6 (overtime)&mdash;Luc Dufour&rsquo;s fourth goal of the game, at 8:34 of overtime, gave the Sags the win. Dore, Lavoie, and Heroux added singles. Sylvestre, Jocelyn Gauvreau, Claude Gauthier, Sylvain Roy, Champigny and Daniel Lamirande scored for Granby.Hull 5 Sherbrooke 1&mdash;After Lanouette staked the Beavers to a 1-0 first period, Hull responded with five unanswered goals over the final two periods. Gauthier had a pair, with singles from Turgeon, Adey and Roy.Trois-Rivieres 6 Montreal 3&mdash;League scoring champion Claude Verret led the Draveurs with two goals. Gosselin, Sylvain Landry, Tanguay and Patrick Emond added singles. Lessard, Fiore and Kari Kanervo replied for Montreal, which has only scored 30 goals in 10 games&mdash;lowest among the competing teams.Shawinigan 7 Chicoutimi 2&mdash;Seven players shared in the scoring for the Cats&mdash;Rioux, Joe Mercuri, Fournier, Lavigne, Bourque, Sylvain Charland and Richard. Bernier and Dufour scored for Chicoutimi.AROUND THE LEAGUE &ndash; Although the final decision won&rsquo;t be rendered until April 30 when teams wishing to compete in the league next year post a $10,000 bond, it appears certain the Quebec Remparts will cease operations. That would leave the QMJHL with 10 teams.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02519/6579150-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="603" height="927"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Paul Gagne had a hat trick plus a single in the Sags&rsquo; win over Laval.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Cinderella Laval’s Advance Assured; Chicoutimi, Sherbrooke Also Strong

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-10" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10193/6579647-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg"></div><h2>WHO GRETZKY&rsquo;S SCORED AGAINST</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-11180/6579640-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="1134" height="282"></div><h2>NHL SEASON OUTLOOK</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-12174/6579633-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="724" height="57"></div><h2>NHL CAREER AS OF 3/1/82</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-13153/6579626-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="526" height="137"></div> &#9632;

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Gretzky’s Scoring Statistics

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011547/6577738-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="301" height="360"></div><h2>Mentors Unlimited</h2>THERE&rsquo;S A BUSINESS opportunity available for someone willing to take a modest gambel. Why not open an employment office for hockey coaches. Call it Mentors Unlimited! Do it right and you can make a fortune. (Can&rsquo;t you see the Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres instantly putting the outfit on retainer.)Consider the job possibilities and those who will be leaving:SURE-THINGS: The Red Wings (Billy Dea), Sabres (Scotty Bowman), Black Hawks (Bob Pulford) and Blues (Emile Francis) are definitely in the mentor market.NEAR-THINGS: Toronto (Mike Nykoluk), Calgary (Al MacNeil), Colorado (Marshall Johnston), Hartford (Larry Pleau) and Philadelphia (Bob MaCammon) are clubs potentially in need of replacements for an assortment of reasons.LONG-SHOTS: If the Washington Caps are sold, as anticipated, the new owner could conceivably want a fresh face behind the bench. (Personally, I like Bryan Murray). If the Oilers win the Stanley Cup, all-purpose Glen Sather should feel secure enough to settle for the titles of general manager-president. Thus, another opening. Should Jerry Buss get restless, he might want to gas Don Perry (which, by the way, I wouldn&rsquo;t do).LONGEST-SHOTS: Although Eddie Johnson of Pittsburgh and Michel Bergeron of Quebec are highly-rated in their precincts an untimely playoff exit could produce front office panic in those burghs, and you know what that means.That leaves Coaches Unlimited! with an absolute minimum of four jobs available and a maximum possibility of 14 openings.Ah, now for the potential candidates. In nearly every case the coach-hungry club will need a charismatic personality capable of filling the buildings as well as winning games.It would seem that they would want a coach who is (a) experienced; (b) entertaining; (c) energized and (d) empathetic.Fine. There are a bizillion candidates for the jobs. I. hear talk of a professorial type named Dave King at the University of Saskatchewan. And my ouija board invariably comes up with Fred Shero (Better it should pick Phil Watson, Toe Blake or Milt Schmidt). And no doubt Red Berenson, Pat Quinn, and Gary Green are in the running.That figures. But, let&rsquo;s face it, there is one and only one man for the job and this chap fulfills all of the qualifications. His name is Don Cherry.If an NHL team doesn&rsquo;t hire him this year, then the world isn&rsquo;t round; it is square!&hellip;and so is the NHL.NOTES: Mike Liut pinpoints the Blues&rsquo; major problem as absence of a &ldquo;leader at the blueline.&rdquo;&hellip;Another dilemma is the invisibility of 1981 hero Mike Zuke&hellip;Glen Sather&rsquo;s most significant gain this year was the settling down of Mark Messier&hellip;When are Boston fans going to wise up and stop booing Mike Milbury, who is merely the most important defenseman on the Bruins?&hellip;Now that Harry Sinden has given up on Jim Criag it would be nice if someone gave the Olympian one last shot at an NHL berth just so that it can be determined once and for all whether the kid has it or not&hellip;. Jake Milford will remain aboard the Canucks&rsquo; ship after relinquishing his managership. &ldquo;Consultant&rdquo; will be the new monicker&hellip;The Kings would prefer having their top farm team in the West rather than on the Atlantic coast, which could mean that San Diego will join the Central League. George Maguire-knockers overlook some of his positive moves. He&rsquo;s done well acquiring Bernie Nicholls, Doug Smith and Steve Bozek&hellip;One of the Penguins&rsquo; off-season projects should be to develop a better rapport with the Pittsburgh media so that hockey gets a better shake in the local papers&hellip;Wayne Gretzky ought to teach Grant Fuhr how to wear a tie&hellip;For more than a year readers wondered who wrote the entertaining &ldquo;Nose&rdquo; column in the N.Y. Daily News. The column has been yanked but the author, Eric Compton, is now on the hockey beat&hellip;. Ken Dryden&rsquo;s book is being handled by Times Books&hellip; Rejean Tremblay of Montreal La Presse notes that when NHL scouts assess junior prospects of equal ability the English-speaking player invariably will be chosen. Language is the handicap&hellip;Not surprisingly, The Toronto Star&rsquo;s Rex MacLeod has written a beauty on Punch Imlach who is alive and well and looking for NHL work. Here&rsquo;s Imlach&rsquo;s reaction to the Leafs&rsquo; skipping practice, playing handball and going to a banquet after a loss: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not trying to tell anybody how to run a team but doesn&rsquo;t that strike you as strange? I would have had them doing two practices a day until they decided to play.&rdquo;&hellip;Fischler&rsquo;s choices for awards: Lady Byng&mdash;Rick Middleton; Calder&mdash;Dale Hawerchuk; Norris&mdash;Rod Langway; Top coach&mdash;Gerry Cheevers; Top executive&mdash;John Ferguson.<h2>Americans&rsquo; Anniversary</h2>HAIL THE AMERICANS: Would you believe that one of the most interesting anniversaries in NHL history is about to take place. It is now exactly 40 years since the New York Americans died. And imagine, the most important man involved with the Amerks, Red Dutton, is still with us.Whom, you say, is Red Dutton? Merely a Hall-Of-Famer super defenseman, former NHL president, and the man who was to the Amerks what Harold Ballard is to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Dutton, now 85 and living in Borrego Springs, CA., remembers the &ldquo;other&rdquo; Manhattan team well. The Americans were the zaniest club in hockey history and Red orchestrated them for more than a decade. In the spring of 1942 the Americans folded and, suddenly, a lot of laughter stopped in the big-league shinny.This is how funny the Americans were. For starters, they were created by a bootlegger, &ldquo;Big&rdquo; Bill Dwyer. No other team could make that statement. When they finally folded, their name had been changed to the Brooklyn Americans yet they never set foot or skate in the land of the Dodgers.&ldquo;Most of our fans came from Brooklyn,&rsquo; explains Dutton. &ldquo;They were the rowdiest around. They&rsquo;d give Manhattanites a battle every time.&rdquo;In between they were prone to a brand of craziness that predated &ldquo;Animal House&rdquo; and the Three Stooges.It didn&rsquo;t hurt that Dwyer&rsquo;s bootleg hooch was never very far from the dressing room, and sometimes very much inside the lockers. &ldquo;Bullet&rdquo; Joe Simpson could tell you all about that.Bullet Joe was one of the original Americans and the occasional victim of Dwyer&rsquo;s hooch.One night, at the very end of the 1925-26 season, the Americans finished their last game and returned to the dressing room. As it happened the Ringling Brothers Circus was moving into the arena for the usual spring run.Even while the hockey game was on, the circus officials were transporting their animals into the Garden menagerie. In this instance the floating zoo was located about a hundred feet across from the team&rsquo;s dressing room, toward the rear of the arena.As the players clomped off of the ice and into the dressing room they were greeted with a large case of Dwyer&rsquo;s illicit whisky. A speakeasy couldn&rsquo;t have been more hospitable.Simpson poured himself a nip or two, liked it so much that he did an encore and then another. Even Bullet Joe knew he had had enough by the, so he bade his buddies au revoir and headed for Broadway, or so he thought.The booze had dulled Simpson&rsquo;s senses a trifle and he made a wrong turn upon leaving the dressing room. Instead of taking the normal exit he walked straight into the menagerie where he was greeted by trumpeting elephants and several boisterous lions.Suspecting that he was somewhat to the left of Wonderland, Simpson wheeled in his tracks and fled back to the dressing room where he collared Percy Ryan, the Americans&rsquo; trainer.&ldquo;Where in hell did that bad hooch come from? Joe demanded. &ldquo;Christ, I could swear I saw a herd of wild elephants out there! &ldquo;The Americans saw a lot of wild elephants in their day, but never a Stanley Cup. Dwyer didn&rsquo;t seem to mind. Big Bill was one of the richest men in town and as long as prohibition was in vogue, his hooch was hot.&ldquo;Maybe Dwyer didn&rsquo;t pay as much attention as he should have. But we did have other interests,&rdquo; explains Dutton.When the Americans won a regular game it was like Stanley Cup victory night. &ldquo;Every time we won,&rdquo; said goalie Roy [Shrimp] Worters, &ldquo;Dwyer would throw us a big party. The word around the league was &lsquo;Join the Americans and laugh yourself to death.&rsquo; &ldquo;The Toronto Sun&rsquo;s Trent Frayne once described them as the &ldquo;roistering Americans.&rdquo; He added that their quaint training methods were assisting them into the cellar, both in the standings and in the speakeasies.&rdquo;In spite of their deplorable habits, the Amerks were an instant hit on Broadway; so much so that their landlord, Madison Square Garden, decided to go into the hockey business as well. A year later (1926) the Rangers were organized by the Garden and instantly, a nifty rivalry simmered.The Rangers were considered the patricians and the Amerks&mdash;mostly because of Dwyer&mdash;were regarded as the Keystone Kops of hockey. The Rangers won big and the Americans struggled. Nevertheless, the Amerks managed to become the fans&rsquo; favorite playing the underdog role. Inevitably, the Rangers brass looked down their noses at the Amerks.Now I ask you, wouldn&rsquo;t it be just something if a new team moved into the Meadowlands, once and for all, and they became the New Jersey Americans! &#9632;

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ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01938/6580271-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photos by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>PETER STASTNY OF THE QUEBEC NORDIQUESMARK NAPIER OFTHE MONTREAL CANADIENSHEAD TO HEAD:THE BATTLEFOR QUEBEC &#9632;

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The Hockey News $1.25 64522 THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY APRIL 16, 1982 Vol. 35, No. 28

<div class="byline">FRANK ORR&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011455/6577573-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="320" height="366"></div><h2>The Great Hockey Quiz</h2>BY POPULAR DEMAND (would you believe one letter from a seven-year old in Poughkeepsie, NY?), it&rsquo;s time for that eagerly awaited feature. The Great Hockey Quiz.All entries must be accompanied by a donation to the charity of my choice and this year, the winners will choose from a superb list of prizes&mdash;tickets to a Colorado Rockies&rsquo; playoff game, a picture of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s board of governors or a cassette recording titled Great Dialogues Between John Ziegler and Alan Eagleson On Players&rsquo; Per Diem Meal Allowance.Now, the questions.1. In the 1982 world championship in Finland, Team Canada will have a roster selected from the five teams that didn&rsquo;t make the playoffs and losers in the first round and approximately five minutes to prepare. Against the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, the team&rsquo;s best chance to make a respectable showing is (a) guns; (b) prayer; (c) a flue epidemic and forfeit.2. Write a long essay discussing Harold Ballard&rsquo;s philosophy for building a championship hockey team. Oh? A short essay. Oh? One sentence, then.3. You are at the world championship in Finland and Sergei Makarov, Vladislav Tretiak, Viacheslav Fetisov, Alexei Kasatanov and Igor Larionov of the USSR team come to your hotel room, say they have defected and want you to be their advisor. What should you do? (a) Immediately tell the Soviet officials to take them back; (b) Find Alan Eagleson and turn them over to him to be their agent; (c) Hide them away, hold an auction of their services among NHL teams and contemplate retirement.4. You are looking for a job that offers security and the chance for a long career. Which one would you choose? (a) President of Italy; (b) Being Elizabeth Taylor&rsquo;s husband; (c) Coaching an NHL team.5. Wayne Gretzky is armed with a custard pie and he doesn&rsquo;t know it&rsquo;s frozen under the whipped cream. He has his choice of three chaps to hit in the face with it. Which one would he choose? (a) Steve Kasper; (b) The writer who said the NHL would be too much for him; (c) Dick Beddoes.<h2>A Few More Toughies</h2>6. WHICH WOULD RATE as the most unusual happening in the NHL? (a) A defensive defenseman on the All Star team; (b) A 1-0 game; (c) An NHL coach saying that a referee called a terrific game.7. Sometime in the future, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings will play a game that&rsquo;s important. Which do you think will happen first, that event or (a) no Sutters playing in the NHL; (b) Wayne Gretzky and two of his brothers on a forward line with the Edmonton Oilers; (c) a Washington Capital-Colorado Rockie Stanley Cup final.8. Summer hockey schools offer a wide variety of programs these days. Your 10-year-old son has checked the list carefully and narrowed his choice down to three offering special instruction. Which lecture would you want him to hear? (a) Shopping Center Operation, by Wayne Gretzky; (b) Relationships With Hockey Fans, by Harry Neale; (c) Making A Commercial And Other Cures For Depression, by Darryl Sittler.9. Now that Dave Schultz&rsquo;s book Hammer is a bestseller, book companies are eager to publish hockey confessions. Which new title would you rush out to buy most quickly? (a) I&rsquo;m A Closet Born-Again Christian, by Harold Ballard; (b) I Love Denver, by Peter Gilbert; (c) I&rsquo;m Dancing As Fast As I Can, by Paul Mulvey as told to Don Perry; (d) I Wouldn&rsquo;t Mind Being Prime Minister Of Canada As Long As I&rsquo;m Paid in U.S. Funds, by Alan Eagleson; (e) There&rsquo;s Nothing Wrong With Winnipeg And Hartford That A Nuclear Explosion Wouldn&rsquo;t Cure, by Paul Mooney.<h2>A Batch Of 10-Pointers</h2>10. WHAT SHOULD the NHL Players&rsquo; Association regard as priorities in its new collective bargaining agreement with the NHL board of governors? (a) No schedule layovers in Edmonton in January; (b) Crescent Street in Montreal should be ruled off limits the night before games against the Canadiens; (c) No shadowing assignment of Wayne Gretzky without the player&rsquo;s consent; (d) total free agency.11. Which team is the leading candidate for location in the new Meadowlands arena in New Jersey? (a) New York Rangers; (b) Colorado Rockies; (c) An expansion team; (d) Don&rsquo;t hold your breath.12. Fighting is necessary in hockey to (a) provide a safety valve, an outlet for the players&rsquo; emotions; (b) add to the entertainment for those who like only good skating, passing and offensive plays; (c) you don&rsquo;t know either. &#9632;

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HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011604/6577611-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Engblom says the rivalry between the Canadiens and the Nordiques is so. tense, there isn&rsquo;t room for both the teams in the province. (Photo By Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>To be truthful, the Canadiens don&rsquo;t like the Quebec Nordiques very much. Matter of fact, they don&rsquo;t like them at all.And the rivalry between the two Quebec cities goes much further than just the two hockey teams which will battle in the Stanley Cup divisional semifinal series.Montreal and Quebec hockey teams have been going at it for years, in the old Quebec Senior Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.With the arrival of the Nordiques into the National Hockey League three seasons ago, the hate relationship between the two towns has heightened.&ldquo;Our team and the Nordiques, it&rsquo;s like there is not room for both teams in the province,&rdquo; chuckled Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman Brian Engblom, a Winnipeg native who has been recruited by the Canadien red white and blue for this battle of Quebec.&ldquo;The fans are either for us or against us. There is no one in between. Anywhere you go, they either like the Nordiques or they like the Canadiens.&rdquo;There are Nordiques fans in Montreal just as there are Canadiens&rsquo; fans in Quebec. Some families are split right down the middle. One side takes a shining to the younger, upstart Nordiques with the free-skating Czechoslovakian Stastny brothers and colorful coach Michel Bergeron. The other side still hold Guy Lafleur in reverence as well as Bob Gainey, Larry Robinson and the other members of the Canadiens&rsquo; cast.If you need any proof that there is some on-ice animosity between the two, look no further than the last regularseason meeting between them in Montreal on March 27.It was obvious from the outset there was going to be some difficulty. The Nordiques were intent on running anything in a white jersey. The Canadiens were not going to back down.At 5:50 of the first period, all hell broke loose, featuring Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman Rod Langway in a loveless tangle with Quebec defenseman Dave Pichette and well-known Montreal pugilist Chris Nilan tangling with Normand Rochefort. Meanwhile, Gaston Gingras and Quebec&rsquo;s Wally Weir wrestled while Alan Cote took a decision over non-fighter Craig Laughlin, in the only fight the Nordiques won.Just a few seconds later, Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman Robert Picard, who could have been a Nordique in Quebec&rsquo;s WHA days, cross body blocked Wilfrid Paiement out of commission. The Nordiques&rsquo; right winger, a former teammate of Picard&rsquo;s in Toronto, popped the Montreal defenseman with his glove and drew a penalty which wiped out &agrave; Quebec goal. Later, after being told he&rsquo;d be out for the rest of the year with strained knee ligaments, Paiement accused Picard of a cheap hit, which Picard denied.&ldquo;Everybody has a special feeling because there has always been a rivalry with Montreal and Quebec,&rdquo; Picard explained. &ldquo;I played junior in Montreal and there was always a little extra intensity when we played Quebec. I think there will be some bitter feeling in this series.&rdquo;The Canadiens proved to Quebec that they were not about to be run out of the rink when the Nordiques tried to rough it up. What was lost in the scuffling was the fact Montreal played a sound, disciplined game. Quebec had just 15 shots on goal compared with 39 for the Canadiens.&ldquo;What we have to do is approach them like any other team,&rdquo; said Gaston Gingras. &ldquo;Some of our players get too uptight because it&rsquo;s Quebec. Reggie [Rejean Houle] used to play there and he gets so uptight. We have to go out and play our style&hellip;the thing that has won for us all year.&rdquo;The Canadiens&rsquo; public relations image, which has suffered since the Nordiques have arrived on the scene, needs a boost and a decisive triumph over Quebec in the series is the needed tonic.Because they are the conservative, old-time, established franchise, the Canadiens are the favorites. They have Robinson, Engblom, Rod Langway, Picard and Gingras on defense. They have Lafleur, Gainey, Mark Napier, Pierre Mondou. All established players with good track records.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a series where you get on the ice and you won&rsquo;t be able to hear yourself think,&rdquo; said Langway, an American import, who like Picard could have played for the WHA&rsquo;s Nordiques. Instead, Langway chose to come to Montreal in 1978 and takes pride in his organization, just as most players wearing Montreal colors do.That pride is going to be a BIG factor in the series. Without it, the Canadiens would lose for sure. Having it may carry them through.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021287/6577604-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1002" height="1399"><figcaption class="caption-body">The player who may hold the key to the Nordiques&rsquo; upset plans is goalie Dan Bouchard, who must be as good in the playoffs as he was during the season. (Photo By Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Habs Represent Establishment In Provincial War

<div class="byline">BY BOB DONNELLY</div>With the Nordiques facing Montreal in the opening round of the playoffs, the battle is on for the beer markets and hearts of the many hockey fans in the province of Quebec. The upstart Nordiques are taking on the Montreal dynasty which included so many Stanley Cup championships.Bob Berry and Michel Bergeron, the respective coaches, have been watching endless hours of video tapes and travelling to see the enemy play at every possible opportunity. Each coach has been studying the opposition&rsquo;s specialty teams and preparing the strategy he hopes will bring victory. Berry will take his players to a Laurentian retreat, north of Montreal for the playoffs, hoping to keep his team from being distracted by the media coverage. Bergeron will let his players stay at home because he feels it is a good way to relax and prepare for the important games to come.The Nordiques have never won in Montreal in eight attempts over the last three years, and this will not make the task any easier for them in the playoffs. In the final meeting between the teams this season, Montreal won 4-2 and outshot Quebec 39-15. Both coaches have told their players to refrain from making any controversial statements, as neither coach wants to add fuel to the fire and help motivate the opposition.Quebec leader Peter Stastny is not discouraged about his team&rsquo;s chances in the series. &ldquo;We expect to do well,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Games between Montreal and Quebec are always something special. We gained experience last year in the playoffs with our five-game series against Philadelphia. That will help us this time. We have played very well against Montreal this season and we hope we can continue to do so in the playoffs.&rdquo;The teams split the regular season games as they battled to a 3-3-2 record in eight games. &ldquo;When we lost to Montreal during the year, once we had just finished a long road trip, and in the last game we were not ready and they outskated us,&rdquo; said Stastny. &ldquo;We can do better than that. There will be no extra pressure on me just because it is Montreal. We play a similar type of game as they do with a lot of skating. I hope we can win one of the first two games in Montreal, because then we will play twice in front of our fans and the atmosphere in the Colis&eacute;e will give us a big lift. If we win one in Montreal we just might be able to end the series in four games.&rdquo;The Nordiques are hurting, and this is always more significant with a team which lacks depth to start. Defenseman Mario Marois (broken thumb), Jacques Richard (broken foot) and Wilf Paiement (knee ligaments) were hurt late in the season. Paiement has a very slight chance of making it back this year while Marois surprised everyone by playing in the final weekend. Richard David (51 goals in the AHL) and veteran defenseman Jean Hamel have been called up from the Fredericton Express.The keys to the series will be the play of Dan Bouchard in goal and how well the Quebec defensemen hold up under pressure.Motivation will certainly not be a problem. The Nordiques would dearly love to upset the Canadiens, and the fact that it will be a five-game series will perhaps work to their advantage. But Bouchard can&rsquo;t do it all alone; his forwards will have to backcheck consistently, and his defensemen will have to adjust to the tight checking they can expect from an experienced Montreal team. In the last few games of regular season play, the Nordiques have certainly not looked like a team ready to fly in the playoffs. But with Montreal, anything is possible, and everyone knows it, mainly due to the great rivalry already built up between the two teams.Bergeron talked about motivation: &ldquo;It won&rsquo;t be a problem because against Montreal it comes automatically. Our players are in shape and we have had a few weeks to prepare because we knew exactly who we were to meet first in the playoffs. If Wilf Paiement is not able to play it will certainly hurt us, but we still dearly want to win.&rdquo; &#9632;

Upstart Quebec Feels Confident They Can Win

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div>PHILADELPHIA &ndash; All the Finns in the National Hockey League could almost fit in one sauna. You just can&rsquo;t find them, let alone spell them, and to discover one among the macho men of Philadelphia is startling.Ilkka Sinisalo. What the hell kind of name is that for a Flyer? His nickname? It would be OK if he was a pig, rat, moose, horse or snake.But &ldquo;He?&rdquo; C&rsquo;mon, what&rsquo;s an He?Who is this guy, anyway? And what does he want? If it&rsquo;s taken 80 games to ask these pertinent questions, our excuse is that it took 74 just to find him.Now that the Flyers are in one of their triannual &ldquo;let&rsquo;s find out how good we are&rdquo; stages, Sinisalo is one of the guys under their microscope. The picture of a fast left wing who can shoot, make plays and didn&rsquo;t bail out looked clear enough to us all year, but through-a variety of circumstances Ilkka was often getting only a few shifts a game.Some of Pat Quinn&rsquo;s reasons were valid. Ilkka didn&rsquo;t check much and too often wandered out of position on the Flyers&rsquo; breakout plays. And with a lot of other things breaking down, one more rookie with nary a clue was the last thing Pat needed. He spoke a couple of times about using Ilkka on a fourth line with Ken Linseman and T.J. Gorence, but because of injuries Quinn was having so much trouble putting just three units together that Sinisalo was stored away for future reference.Considering other Flyers continued to make the same mistakes and stayed in the lineup, a double-standard, whether unintentional or not, was set up. There was one February game against Los Angeles that 1 scored a second-period goal on a feed from Darryl Sittler and then wasn&rsquo;t given another shift the rest of the game.&ldquo;I was angry,&rdquo; said He. &ldquo;Pat Quinn never said anything to me about why I wasn&rsquo;t playing. I wondered why they wanted me if they weren&rsquo;t going to let me play.&rdquo;But he was never mad enough to consider packing up and going home. The Flyers lost Swedish defenseman Thomas Eriksson partly because he wasn&rsquo;t prepared to serve an apprenticeship, but their other two Europeans, Pelle Lindbergh and Sinisalo, are determined to stick it out and make it big here. Judging from their raw talent, both appear to have a reasonable shot.Whereas Eriksson was the quiet, reserved type. Pelle&rsquo;s personality is bubbly. Ilkka is more like the friendly family dog. You almost want to pet him.He smiles a lot, takes a normal share of the clubhouse kidding, generally speaks only when spoken to, and has had no problem fitting in. Homesick? The thought hasn&rsquo;t occurred to him.&ldquo;Matti Hagman [of Edmonton] played on the same team with me in Finland,&rdquo; said Sinisalo, &ldquo;so he told me what it was like to play here. Everything is bigger, but the hardest part, like Matti said, has been the travel.&ldquo;In Finland we took two plane trips a year. It took about half-an-hour. Here we fly all the time.&rdquo;But he&rsquo;s not complaining. His fiance, Carina, has been sharing his New Jersey apartment all season. That&rsquo;s helped. English is required in the Finnish school system, so the only language problems involved picking up the idioms&hellip;&rdquo; The only thing I miss,&rdquo; said He, &ldquo;is sauna. I&rsquo;ve gone over to Reggie Leach&rsquo;s place [his wife owns a South Jersey spa] a couple times and used the one there. But it&rsquo;s not really a sauna. It&rsquo;s just a hot room.&rdquo;Sinisalo was first spotted three years ago by the St. Louis Blues, but his Finnish team, IFK (in his hometown, Helsinki), would not allow him out of his contract to attend the Blues&rsquo; camp. Ilkka was only 20 then and still owed his motherland a year in its Army. He was serving it while continuing to play hockey in 1980 when the Flyers, who send a scout to Europe at least once a year, spotted him. MarcelPelletier, topped off by the bird dogs the club employs in Europe, filed the first official report. Marcel saw some things he liked, but didn&rsquo;t judge Sinisalo as an NHL talent. But last January Eric Coville saw a player a year older, no longer burdened by 5 a.m. Army duties, and a lot more aggressive. Egad, the Finn actually liked to hit.Eric had some company on his mission. The story, as told by Bob McCammon, was that Bill Dineen, a Hartford scout, called the Whalers, asked for $10,000 for the up-front signing bonus and was turned down. Dineen found this curious, since the scouting trip alone had cost almost $5,000.Coville checked in a day or two later, noted Sinsalo, the competiton, and suspected other teams were interested. He asked the Flyers to act fast. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how many teams,&rdquo; said Sinisalo, &ldquo;but it wasn&rsquo;t my agent&rsquo;s [the Canadian-based Bill Watters] idea to sign with Philadelphia. I knew it was a good team. 1 wanted to come here.&rdquo;&ldquo;For all I know we may have outbid some other teams,&rdquo; said GM Keith Allen.Exactly why they had gone to the time and expense was a question asked by more people in the organization than Ilkka when he rarely found himself on the ice this season. Especially since he was using his sporadic opportunities to score points. All things considered, Sinisalo&rsquo;s 14 goals and 21 assists are impressive, and McCammon&rsquo;s current use of the Finn with Bobby Clarke and Bill Barber promises many more.The Scandinavian stereotype doesn&rsquo;t fit. Except for Paul Holmgren, Sinisalo may have more hits than any other Flyer. In a recent game he plowed into a mountain named Barry Beck and didn&rsquo;t ski off.&ldquo;My team played more aggressively than the other teams in the league,&rdquo; said He. &ldquo;I always enjoyed body checking, anyway.&rdquo;Clearly there is a lot of potential here when it is completely harnessed. Or should we say, Finnished. &ldquo;He has some things to learn defensively,&rdquo; said McCammon. &ldquo;But he makes up for some of his mistakes with his speed. He&rsquo;s got to be one of the fastest guys in the league.&rdquo;ICEBERGS &ndash; The Flyers played their best game in more than two months in defeating the Rangers, their first-round playoff opponent, 3-1 in the last regular season meeting between the two teams. &#9632;

Sinisalo Unveils Talent With Strong ‘Finnish’

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO &ndash; As far as statistics go, 1981-82 has not been one of Gil Perreault&rsquo;s better hockey seasons. But it is one, you can bet, that the only remaining original Buffalo Sabre will not forget.The end of the regular season certainly was much better for Perreault than the beginning, and the big center-left winger had a lot to do with the Sabres forcing the fight for second place in the Adams Division right up to the final night.It looked as though the second-place battle between the Sabres and the Boston Bruins was all over with six minutes remaining in Buffalo&rsquo;s game in Montreal.Boston, which had gone into the night&rsquo;s activity one point ahead of Buffalo, already had beaten Quebec, 5-4. The Sabres were trailing the Canadiens, 4-3.But, with 5:30 remaining, Brent Peterson tied the score by deflecting a long shot by John Van Boxmeer past Montreal goalie Rick Wamsley.Then, in the closing minutes, Perreault began one of his rushes that for more than a decade have been feared throughout the league.He skated the puck into the Montreal end, drew most of the defenders to him and sent a pass to Andre Savard, who drove a slap shot into the Montreal net with 20 seconds of play remaining. Buffalo won, 5-4.That kept the Sabres&rsquo; chances for second place&mdash;ever so faint after they lost in Boston March 16&mdash;alive until the final night of the season.That assist gave Perreault 1,000 points in National Hockey League play, something only 15 other players have accomplished. He is, of course, the only Sabre ever to accumulate that many.He scored the first goal of the game against the Canadiens and he assisted on another, by J.F. Sauve, to put Buffalo ahead, 2-1, in the second period.The game before, when the Sabres stayed in the battle by beating the Nordiques in Quebec City, 6-4, Perreault scored the first goal of the game and the last one. The latter took the pressure off after the Nordiques scored three straight goals to turn a 5-1 Buffalo lead into a 5-4 cliff-hanger.In the first game of the week, the one that started to turn things around for the Sabres, Perreault had two assists as Buffalo bombed Boston, 9-5, in Memorial Auditorium.Perreault, nearly always a center through his 11 previous seasons with Buffalo, was switched to left wing on Team Canada in the Canada Cup series last September.He was the tournament&rsquo;s outstanding forward until suffering a broken leg in the second last game of the round robin.Gil missed the Sabres&rsquo; training camp and the first 18 games of the season.He started as a left wing, then returned to center, when Scotty Bowman, who began the campaign as coach, turned the bench job over to associate coach Jim Roberts. Since then he has played both positions.When Bowman traded Danny Gare, along with three other veteran players, to Detroit in the Big Trade of last December, Perreault became captain, succeeding Gare.Being captain is not something that comes natural to Perreault and made what already was a difficult season more difficult. He preferred to do his leading through his play on the ice and that&rsquo;s the way he did most of it.There was another switch of coaches, Bowman taking back the job from Roberts, and that didn&rsquo;t make it any easier on the team captain.Perreault nevertheless managed to hit the 30-goal mark for the seventh time in his 12 Sabre seasons and averaged better than a point a game. The only years he didn&rsquo;t score 30 goals were years when he missed a good portion of the season because of injury. &#9632;

Perreault’s Unusal Year Capped By 1,000th Point

THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded in 1947 by Kenneth W. McKenzieDONALD R. WALL Chairman and PublisherTOM MURRAY Editor in ChiefAdvertising and Editorial Offices 214 King Street West - Suite 314 Toronto. Ontario. Canada M5H 1K4 (416)598-1753Executive Office 850 Third Ave New York, New York. 10022 (212)593-2100EDITORIAL STAFFCharlie Halpin Editorial DirectorMike Dennis. Assistant EditorContributing Editors Stan Fischler. Frank OrrTOM WORSLEY&nbsp;Business ManagerADVERTISING SALES OFFICESToronto:Randy Green 214 King Street West - Suite 314 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5H 1K4 (416)598-1753Quebec City:Gaston Dube Gaston Dube & Associates. 75D St Ursule St, Quebec City. Que, G1R 4E7 (418)692-5130New York:Bob Bassinette Bob Bassinette Co 8 Jackson Ave. Syosset. NY 11791 (516) 921-0508Minneapolis-St. Paul:Chuck Grillo & Herb Brooks 12890 Dory Ave., Apple Valley, MN 55124 (612) 423-2447Esthei SumkaAdvertising Service Manager (416) 598-1753THE HOCKEY NEWS. (ISSN 0018-3016). Is published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd. 214 King Street West &ndash; Suite 314. Toronto. Ontario M5H 1K4 (416) 598 1753. In U.S. c/o W.C.C. Publishing Corp, 850 Third Ave. New York. N.Y. 10022YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $16.95 in the U.S.A. $16.95 in Canada $20.95 in Foreign Countries Send all Canadian and Foreign subscription orders to THE HOCKEY NEWS. P.O. Box 13035. Postal Station A. Toronto. Ont M5W 1V7 U.S. subscription requests should be mailed to Box 904. Buffalo. N.Y. 14240 Please allow 4-6 weeks for processingSEND ADDRESSCHANGES TO THE HOCKEY NEWS. 214 King St W. Suite 314. Toronto. Ont M5H 1K4 Second Class mail Registration No 1327 All inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should be addressed to Subscription Dept. The Hockey News. 214 King St W. Suite 314, Toronto. Ont M5H 1K4. Canada.IN THE UNITED STATES. Second class postage paid at New York. N.Y. and at additional mailing officesU.S. POSTMASTER send address changes to The Hockey News. 214 King St W Suite 314. Toronto. Ont M5H 1K4ABC&nbsp;Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations &#9632;

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>EDMONTON &ndash; The Oilers - the NHL&rsquo;s earliest divisional pennant clinching side&mdash;were involved in somewhat of a dog days slump as they awaited commencement of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Losers of a seasonalhigh four straight games early in March, they won but twice over a nine-game haul. And, during all of those non-victories, they were held under their seasonal average of five (actually 5.18) goals for per game as opponents began to tighten up defensively.&ldquo;Any of the past two or three games have been close to ending up 9-2,&rdquo; assistant coach Billy Harris was saying after Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; goalie Mario Lessard turned in a standout 34-save performance in a 3-3 tie March 15. It was quite a turnabout for the Kings, who in previous Edmonton Coliseum appearances were shellacked 11-4 and 10-3.&ldquo;You start to worry when the chances aren&rsquo;t there, but believe me we&rsquo;ve been getting our chances. We&rsquo;ve been running into bad luck, hot goaltending, goalposts, the works&hellip;but it&rsquo;s been so close. In fact, if we went up 2-0 in the first period against L.A., it could have been 9-2.&rdquo;Well, as it turned out, the Oilers did in fact put some skate, shoot, score back into the Coliseum next time out. They roared to a 3-0 first-period lead and went on to thump Pittsburgh 10-4 on St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day, prompting Penguins&rsquo; defenseman Pat Price, an ex-Oiler and an Irishman by heritage, to frown: &ldquo;There&rsquo;s absolutely no respect for the Irish in this building.&rdquo;&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; added Pittsburgh coach Eddie Johnston, also an Irishman, &ldquo;what&rsquo;s that kid&rsquo;s name? O&rsquo;Gretzky?&rdquo;Wayne Gretzky, who had snapped out of a six-game goal less slump with two goals two minutes apart vs. Los Angeles, scuttled the Penguins with three goals and two assists, marking the 21-year-old&rsquo;s 14th seasonal performance of five points or more.Along the way, he also re-wrote three single-season NHL records&mdash;most assists, 110; most hat tricks, 10; and most goals, including playoffs, 87.With Gretzky having re-discovered the location of the opposition&rsquo;s net and the Oilers hitting double figures for the fifth time in 1981-82, they were back on track then, right? False.Two nights later the Calgary Flames, fresh from a 9-4 thumping in Los Angeles, dropped into town and turned in a sound-checking performance that netted them a 3-1 lead with just over seven minutes remaining. But, within 23 seconds, the frustrated Oilers came to life as Gretzky sprung Mark Messier for the big left-winger&rsquo;s 44th goal on a breakaway and then tipped home Glenn Anderson&rsquo;s goalmouth pass for his 88th. Presto! A 3-3 tie by the skin of their teeth.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a five-day break now and we intend to take full advantage of the situation. We&rsquo;ll take a couple of days off and then get back to tough practising, working on things we&rsquo;ve been getting away from. There&rsquo;ll be no excuses,&rdquo; said Sather of a somewhat ludicrous schedule his team had gone through. Forced to play nine straight games at home in February (7-1-1), they then hit the road for eight games over 20 days. They opened with a flurry, winning the first four and locking up the Smythe Division pennant Feb. 27 in Pittsburgh before hitting the skids following a highly-emotional 3-3 tie in Montreal March 2.&ldquo;After the Montreal game we should have come home,&rdquo; spat Sather of the fact Oilers were to spend another nine days on the road. when they finally did come home March 11, they were right back at it the following night, launching a five-game, eight-day homestand.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing you can do when you don&rsquo;t own your own building,&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;You have to fit your dates in and you don&rsquo;t have any choice, even though you are the No. 1 tenant. At one time we were locked out for five weeks straight until we raised enough strife that they [Edmonton Exhibition Association] allowed us back in for a few days.&rdquo; &#9632;

Oilers Glad Rugged Schedule’s Behind Them

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1982 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF PREVIEW

The International Hockey Weekly Founded in 1947Published by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd. 214 King St. West, Suite 314, Toronto. Ont. M5H 1K4 &#9632;

SOME EVENING JUST BEFORE the end of May, a tired hockey player with a grin on his face and a &ldquo;C&rdquo; on his sweater will triumphantly carry the Stanley Cup around a large arena. Then, hockey&rsquo;s wonderful second season will have come to its dramatic close.As this is written it would appear that fans all over North America, in the arenas and glued to the tube, are in for one of the best Stanley Cup series within memory.When that final moment comes it will also mark the end of a short but highly significant period in the history of THE HOCKEY NEWS.Tom Murray, the former Boston College goaltender turned editor, will be leaving THE HOCKEY NEWS after serving as its Editor-In-Chief for the past two years.Few sports journals have ever undergone as dynamic a series of changes as has THE HOCKEY NEWS in this period of time.With skill, urgency, and discipline Tom has managed to keep all of the old HOCKEY NEWS encyclopedic qualities while at the same time adding timeliness, significance, newsworthiness, and controversy. He has molded the paper to reflect today&rsquo;s changed game with the result that more than ever before THE HOCKEY NEWS represents the very pulse of hockey as a sport and as a business.Tom is going back to New York, his home, to spread his wings and go on to new adventures (possibly with this company).We wish him great fortune and good health, and we part with a sense of gratitude, and fond recollections of these happy and exciting days. But especially we&rsquo;ll remember the warmth and friendship that his presence on this paper have engendered with all of us on the staff.We&rsquo;ll do our best to find a new Editor and he will in time do his own thing. That is as it should be, but for all of us here at THE HOCKEY NEWS there will always be a special twinkle in the eye of our memories for our pal who has done so much to bring this newspaper to its present standards of quality.&mdash;Don Wall Publisher &#9632;

A Word From The Publisher

SINCE EVERYONE ELSE IS taking a crack at predicting who they think will win the various matchups in the Stanley Cup playoffs, our editorial staff overwhelming agreed (two yea votes were a majority) that we shouldn&rsquo;t exclude ourselves from all the fun and, instead, have our choices documented so that two months from now when it&rsquo;s all over, we can take our knocks&mdash;or praise&mdash;along with everyone else.So, here you have it, the official HOCKEY NEWS predictions for the Stanley Cup playoffs:In the preliminary round, we pick Montreal over Quebec, Boston over Buffalo, Minnesota over Chicago, Winnipeg over St. Louis, the Islanders over Pittsburgh, the Rangers over Philadelphia, Edmonton over Los Angeles and Calgary over Vancouver&mdash;although we strongly suspect that the Canucks may surprise Calgary in that matchup and thus win their first ever playoff series.In the next round, the Division finals, we pick Montreal over Boston, Minnesota over Winnipeg, the Islanders over the Rangers (although there is the slight smell of an upset lurking around this series) and Edmonton over Calgary.In the Conference finals, we see the Islanders eliminating the Canadiens and the Edmonton Oilers winning out over Minnesota, thus setting up the dream final everyone&rsquo;s been yapping about for months: Islanders vs. Edmonton.And in that one, we are compelled to predict that the Islanders will prevail, thus winning their third consecutive Stanley Cup.No matter who wins, one thing is for sure: The playoffs this year promise to be more exciting than ever. So enjoy them&mdash;and whatever you do, don&rsquo;t bet on our choices! If we&rsquo;re wrong, we don&rsquo;t want anyone to be mad at us over the summer. &#9632;

Our Fearless Forecast

<div class="byline">BY AL STRACHAN</div>National Hockey League president John Ziegler has often come under fire by critics during his tenure as boss of the NHL, but Al Strachan, of the Toronto Globe and Mail says that the league is in better shape now than when Ziegler took over, an opinion expressed in his column of March 30.When John Ziegler ascended to the presidency of the National Hockey League in 1977, he made no secret of his priorities.The most important matter on the agenda, Ziegler said, was to return financial stability to the league&rsquo;s clubs. Concern about quality of the product would come later.Nearly five years later, with Ziegler under attack from some of the league&rsquo;s governors, most notably Boston Bruins&rsquo; Paul Mooney, an examination of the state of the NHL shows that Ziegler has done a good job. In fact, Ziegler has done a considerably better job of presiding over the NHL than Mooney has done of presiding over the Bruins.It must be remembered that hockey was in a state of near-collapse when Ziegler took over. A devastatingly expensive war with the World Hockey Association had both leagues on the verge of bankruptcy; NHL players were threatening increased militancy and, outside of Canada, television revenue was infinitesimal.Ziegler&rsquo;s predecessor, Clarence Campbell, had done a fine job over the years, but, as hockey grew and Campbell aged, the job became too much for one man.When Ziegler became president, he was quick to realize that the days of a major sport being ruled by an omnipotent czar were over. Ziegler increased the NHL staff substantially, delegated authority and stuck by the decisions of those he had appointed.Campbell had ridiculed the WHA and said it would never get off the ground. During the years, he steadfastly refused to react to its existence. But Ziegler saved the NHL by effecting a merger with the WHA.Astronomical expenses, both for players&rsquo; salaries and for court battles with the WHA, threatened the NHL&rsquo;s existence. Certainly, had the war gone on much longer, a few clubs would have had to declare bankruptcy.There are those who might say that this would have been a good thing. But that&rsquo;s a short-sighted view.Indeed, a shrunken NHL would have temporarily provided a better product. But it would have cost the league so much in credibility that it would have hurt the game in the long run. The NHL badly needed an infusion of capital for ailing teams. Even if some were to go bankrupt, there were others that could be saved. How could the league expect to attract new investors if it had a record of standing idly by, while previous investors went bankrupt?Even if the NHL is still lacking in a number of areas, it is at least a relatively stable entity today. It has a solid base and, under Ziegler&rsquo;s tenure, it has gradually improved. That stable base could never have come about without a merger because clubs would have been forever folding, dying or merging. If there is no stability in a league, fans lose interest because meaningful rivalries are too rare.Following a similar line of reasoning, Ziegler was the prime mover behind an unbalanced schedule and geographical realignment of teams. Even though the first year of that structure has yet to be completed, its wisdom is already evident.Regional rivalries have built up in Western Canada, in Quebec and on the east coast of the United States. For the third consecutive year, the NHL will establish an attendance record.Ziegler also gave up on the fruitless and embarrassing attempts to get the NHL a national television contract in the United States. Instead, realizing that the game&rsquo;s support is to be found in certain geographical pockets and not in others, he concentrated on localized TV exposure&mdash;cable and pay television.The result is that a number of U.S.-based NHL clubs have been able to overcome their financial problems, thanks to TV money, even though the NHL does not have&mdash;and probably never will have&mdash;national TV exposure in the United States.Granted, the NHL is far from perfect. There is still not enough talent to go around, either on the ice or in the front offices, and there are frequent occurrences that bring the game into disrepute.But it&rsquo;s still in much better shape than it was when Ziegler first became president.One of Mooney&rsquo;s primary complaints is the existence of certain teams &ldquo;in market areas that can&rsquo;t support them.&rdquo; He named Hartford, Winnipeg, Pittsburgh, Colorado and Washington.But Mooney has never been enamored of Winnipeg. During the merger negotiations, Mooney asked of Winnipeg, &ldquo;What do we want a one-horse, whistle-stop cow town like that in the league for?&rdquo; There is nothing wrong with the Winnipeg franchise. Indeed, it gives every indication that it will soon be an NHL powerhouse.In Hartford and Washington, the problem is not with the market area, but with poor management during the years. Probably the same is true of Pittsburgh. It may even be true of Colorado, but let&rsquo;s give Mooney the benefit of the doubt and say it isn&rsquo;t. The franchise doesn&rsquo;t need to be terminated as he suggests. There are other market areas that could support that club, especially if Harold Ballard can be persuaded to allow another team in the Toronto area.Mooney wants Ziegler axed. But Ziegler, sources say, has recently let it be known to the governors that he wants his contract extended beyond 1984 when it is scheduled to end.Looking at the Bruins&rsquo; playoff performance in recent years and considering the deterioration of fan support in what was once a hockey hotbed, it would seem that Ziegler&rsquo;s performance has far outshone that of Mooney during the past few years.The NHL has tough negotiations with the players coming up this summer. It won&rsquo;t help Ziegler at all if the players see him as the head of a divided house. Mooney would do the league a much greater service if he simply concerned himself with the running of his own franchise and left the league operations to Ziegler. &#9632;

Ziegler Doing Well Handling NHL Priorities

At the beginning of the 1981-82 season, the consensus was that Brian Bellows of the Kitchener Rangers would undoubtedly be the first player chosen in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft. But rumors have been emanating from Boston that the Bruins, who hold first pick, won&rsquo;t take Bellows, but will opt instead for Portland defenseman Gary Nylund. Bruins&rsquo; general manager Harry Sinden made the following remarks about the Bellows situation in a recent interview with Jim Proudfoot in the Toronto Star:Bellows has the edge. He&rsquo;s the better player [than Nylund], But you have to figure out what your requirements are.I don&rsquo;t disagree with the general assessment of the Bellows kid. Maybe I don&rsquo;t buy it as wholeheartedly as some. Gil Perreault was the franchise in Buffalo, they said, but they didn&rsquo;t win too many championships. We&rsquo;re trying to build a team here. That&rsquo;s our priority, the overall program we&rsquo;ve got going.I&rsquo;m not concerned about the fact Bellows has been hurt a lot in Kitchener this year. That doesn&rsquo;t bother me. He&rsquo;s played well, when he&rsquo;s been in. Nobody&rsquo;s saying he&rsquo;s injury-prone or anything like that.I see Bellows as a player who would do tremendous things for a good club. You watch him and you know he&rsquo;s doing exactly what his coach told him to do. He&rsquo;s not improvising. He&rsquo;s fitting in&mdash;beautifully.A good club, I said. And I don&rsquo;t know until after the playoffs whether we are about to be good. I think so but only at this time of year do you really find out what you lack, when there&rsquo;s some pressure on and the chips are down.It boils down to one or the other [Bellows or Nylund], though, there&rsquo;s no doubt about that. &#9632;

Bruins May Not Draft Brian Bellows

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD FRIEDMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011546/6578112-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Rogers became the first Ranger since the 1971-72 season to hit the 100-point mark when he helped the Rangers clinch second with a goal in a 4-1 win over Chicago. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;It was a season that the Rangers could recall with pride&mdash;no matter what the outcome of the first-round matchup against the Flyers in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Herb Brooks finished with the best record of a first-year Rangers coach (a .575 record), the Rangers were the only team in the NHL to pick up more points on the road than at home, and they survived a series of injuries that were unprecedented in their number, their frequency, and their impact on what had been the backbone of the team because others&mdash;the Mark Pavelich&rsquo;s and Andre Dore&rsquo;s&mdash;stepped in to carry the toad.The confrontation with the Flyers was the best endorsement the NHL&rsquo;s unbalanced schedule could have received, a meeting between two evenly-matched squads that an obviously psyched Bill Barber predicted would be &ldquo;a close series&mdash;a matter of survival.&rdquo;Few would have argued with the Flyers&rsquo; left wing&rsquo;s prognosis. As Islanders&rsquo; broadcaster Jean Potvin, a veteran observer of both clubs, pointed out, &ldquo;The Flyers must play fundamental hockey, or Herb Brooks and the Rangers will blow them out&mdash;maybe in three games.&rdquo; The gameplan crafted by Bob McCammon, the new Flyers&rsquo; coach, called for them to shut down the Rangers in their own zone and close off center-ice, a task easier said than done against a team that virtually thrived on adversity since September.The Rangers finished the season with one win in their last five games, questioning their own motivation and their inclination, or lack of it, to play 60 minutes of hockey on a given night. But a let-down was to be expected after they clinched second place in the Patrick Division with a 4-1 victory in Chicago. Rangers goalscorers that night were Eddie Johnstone, with two, and Pavelich and Mike Rogers, whose 37th goal was also his hundredth point this season. For Rogers, who arrived here from Hartford last fall, it was his third consecutive hundred-point-plus season, but for the Rangers he was the first hundred-point scorer since 1971-72.Preceding that game were one-sided road victories in Pittsburgh and Buffalo, and a loss in the Spectrum that was a classic example of just how the Flyers can defeat the Rangers with vigorous forechecking. Licking their wounds from that one, the Rangers returned the next night to the Garden, where Bob Nystrom scored two goals in 48 seconds in the second period enroute to a 7-3 Islanders victory.Steve Weeks looked fatigued in the Rangers nets, as he had for his past several starts (he gave up 23 goals in his last four starts), but, as Brooks pointed out, &ldquo;anytime the goaltender makes mistakes, there must be mistakes in front of him.&rdquo; Ed Mio was expected to start the series against the Flyers, and John Davidson was expected to rejoin the Rangers with Springfield out of the AHL playoff picture. But the play of team captain Barry Beck was inspirational&mdash;if not that night, it was the kind of performance that could sow the seeds of future efforts. In one stretch in the second period, Beck decked Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier and Clark Gillies, none of them lightweights. &ldquo;&ldquo;We need more out of our key players,&rdquo; said Beck later that night as he thought about the team-meeting that would take place when the team arrived in Chicago. &ldquo;Me, Duguay, Rogers, the two Finns. We&rsquo;ve had some let-downs in the past few weeks.&rdquo;Nystrom admitted that a possible quarterfinal confrontation between the two New York neighbors was a factor in the physical contest. &ldquo;We have a feeling we&rsquo;ll be playing them,&rdquo; said the Islanders&rsquo; right wing. &ldquo;We wanted to deliver the message that we can play tough.&rdquo;Nystrom was not the only one thinking of a Rangers-Islanders playoff reunion. The Rangers beat the Black Hawks in Chicago two days after bowing to the Islanders, then returned to New York for their last home-game of the season, a 7-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. On the bulletin-board in the Rangers&rsquo; dressing-room that night was a handwritten memorandum from their coach on yellow, lined legal-pad paper, the object of which was to look far beyond the season-ending game the next night in Hartford.&ldquo;For five straight months, you have reached or exceeded your goals,&rdquo; the note began. &ldquo;For April: (1) finish in top five NHL teams; (2) Still be in the playoffs. Aspire and you will be elevated!&rdquo;If the Rangers aspire to play hockey into May, the Stanley Cup champion Islanders must be beaten. But first, the Rangers would have to overcome whatever it was in them that allowed them to lose, for the first time all season, a game in which they led entering the third period. Against the Penguins, a 5-4 third-period lead became a 7-5 defeat, and the next night in Hartford the Whalers forged a 3-3 tie in a listless game on former Ranger Warren Miller&rsquo;s goal at 12:29 of the third period.&ldquo;The things that were emphasized in our meeting today were, you don&rsquo;t want to go into the playoffs with a loose approach to your play without the puck,&rdquo; said an annoyed Brooks after the toss to the Penguins. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t do that and then all of a sudden say &lsquo;Hey, now it&rsquo;s the playoffs. We&rsquo;ve got to tighten up.&rsquo;&rdquo;It was clear that the time was at hand for the Rangers to transcend the regression of the past few weeks, one that could instill desire in a properly-motivated team. But motivation is Brooks&rsquo; strong suit, and this Rangers team has shown that it is capable of putting behind it a week in which its players came to work mentally unprepared.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the team that&rsquo;s ready, the team that wants it,&rdquo; said Johnstone, and that is why the Rangers&rsquo; less-than-inspiring finish could have as little direct impact on their struggle against the Flyers as their disastrous September. The opening round was a brand new season, and the Rangers intended to be ready for it. &#9632;

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Rangers Vow To Transcend Late Regression

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div>UNIONDALE &ndash; It&rsquo;s spring again and the Stanley Cup playoffs are upon us and Butch Goring wants to redeem himself. The winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the 1981 playoffs suffered through a dismal year. Productionwise, it was his worst since he broke into the NHL in 1969.The Islanders&rsquo; center had only eight goals and 17 points at mid-season. He was benched for several games. Finally, Goring was called before the team&rsquo;s high command&mdash;general manager Bill Torrey and coach Al Arbour.&ldquo;You&rsquo;d have to be a blind man not to see the way things were going and I figured it was just a matter of time before Al or Bill said something,&rdquo; Goring disclosed. &ldquo;We chatted one day and they suggested it was time to get serious. They told me to get my act together and start working. It was obvious to them that I was trying, but things weren&rsquo;t happening.&rdquo;Arbour recalled the tete-a-tete with a thin grin. &ldquo;Yeah, we had a conversation with Butch,&rdquo; the coach said. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t push him during the first half [of the season] because he had started skating in August with Team Canada and that was a strain on him. He&rsquo;s not a big guy, eh? But later on we told him. &lsquo;Okay, Butch, now is the time to get rolling.&rsquo; And he did. He&rsquo;s got that old jump back in his game.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021096/6578143-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="591" height="810"><figcaption class="caption-body">Butch Goring wants to redeem himself in the playoffs after a rather lackluster regular season.</figcaption></div>Goring failed to score 20 goals for the first&rsquo; time in his career, but he appeared to have lots of zip in the final week of the regular season. In the Islanders&rsquo; runaway 7-3 victory over the Rangers, Goring set up a pair of goals by Bobby Nystrom in a span of 48 seconds.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s coming together for me now,&rdquo; Goring said before the Islanders bussed to Philadelphia and the Flyers. &ldquo;Now the guys are scoring when I give them a pass. It makes you play with more confidence and makes the game easier. It&rsquo;s also more tolerable to wake up every morning and feel things are starting to break your way.&ldquo;At the start of the season I thought I&rsquo;d have a really good year. I came to camp with a good attitude and in good shape. I was disappointed in the way it went for me. The Canada Cup was the main reason why I got off to a bad start. I had a terrible time getting into the [regular season] games after that. There wasn&rsquo;t as much intensity and I was very dull, on and off the ice.&ldquo;Fortunately I&rsquo;m in a position to come back and salvage what&rsquo;s left of the season. If I have a great playoff and we win the cup again, people might forget what happened during the regular season. They&rsquo;ll only remember what happened in the playoffs.&rdquo;Goring is the oldest Islander in years (32) and point of service (13 NHL seasons). He accepted the added duties of an assistant coach this season and could wind up as a head coach in the NHL one day. Meanwhile, he is caught up in the excitement of another playoff.&ldquo;The playoffs have never been a drag for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I get excited. 1 really do. You realize it could be over in a hurry, especially if you run into a hot goaltender, and there&rsquo;s something about that feeling of suddenness. That&rsquo;s what gets most of us going.&rdquo;Goring never had a problem getting &ldquo;up&rdquo; for the playoffs. &ldquo;My preparation is a lot different than during the regular season. I watch game films and really get involved. I don&rsquo;t have to worry about getting psyched in five minutes because I&rsquo;ve been working on it for 12 or 15 hours.&rdquo;The Islanders entered the playoffs as strong favorites to go all the way for the third straight year. Goring was as optimistic as the oddsmakers. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt in my mind that we are the best team and if everything goes according to plan, we should win again. I don&rsquo;t foresee us not winning the cup again. We have more talent, in my mind, than anybody else. That seems to be the consensus throughout the league&mdash;unless they&rsquo;re trying to bushwhack us.&ldquo;But 1 don&rsquo;t think this team will get overconfident. Everybody knows what he has to do. That&rsquo;s the good thing about the Islanders. We know what we have to do and we&rsquo;re willing to sacrifice to do it. You can&rsquo;t fool anybody on this team. We play only as hard as we have to in order to win a lot of times. You saw that in our [5-4] win over Hartford late in the season. We didn&rsquo;t play that well and still managed to win. That&rsquo;s the sign of a good hockey team.&rdquo;ON THE ISLE &ndash; Bryan Trottier waited until the Isles&rsquo; next to last regular game of the season, a 6-3 victory over the Flyers, to score his 50th goal. He had been shutout in his 10 previous games. The Islanders extended their unbeaten streak in Nassau Coliseum to 21-0-2, tying the club record and they finished their home schedule 16-0-0 against Patrick Division teams. &#9632;

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Goring Got Going When Playoff Time Approached Again

<div class="byline">BY GEORGE GROSS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011604/6578174-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="324" height="371"></div><h2>SOVIET UNION</h2>In recent years it has never been a question whether the Moscow Red Army team would win the championships honors, but by how many points.Such, however, is not the case this year.In fact, the army men have stumbled a few times and needed a three-game win streak to remain tied for the lead with the ambitious Moscow Spartak team.A couple of weeks ago the soldiers seemed to have been firing blanks in their 3-2 and 5-4 defeats at home to Leningrad and Moscow Spartak, respectively.In the two defeats, the biggest disappointments for the management of the army men were the performances of national team forwards Sergei Makarov, Vladimir Krutov and Sergei Chomutov, who played as individuals rather than as team players, something that&rsquo;s taboo in the Soviet system&hellip;If the army brass was disappointed, Boris Mikhailov was elated. The former captain of the army squad and of the national team is now coaching the upstart Leningrad team and is keeping them in the middle of the standings.An obvious tongue-lashing by the army bosses seemed to have put new life into the military outfit and they won the next three encounters to share first place with Moscow Spartak, each team with 70 points in 40 games. Moscow Dynamos follow with 68.Makarov leads the scoring parade with 29 goals and 37 assists for 66 points, followed by Alexander Koshevnikov (39 and 24 for 63), Vladimir Krutov (33 and 24 for 57) and Viktor Shalimov (22 and 26 for 48).<h2>CZECHOSLOVAKIA</h2>Slovan Bratislava, the team that was relegated to the second division of the Czechoslovak National League following the defections of the three Stastny brothers - Peter, Marian and Anton &ndash; fought its way back to the premier league by ousting Prerov 7-1 in a qualifying game.Bratislava will replace another Slovak team, Trencin, which finished in last place of the first division.Championship honors went to Dukla Jihlava with 74 points in 44 games, 12 more than runner-up Kladno, Litvinov (50), Vitkovice (48), Pardubice, Motor, Sparta Prague and Kosice (each 40), Gottwaldov, Brno and Pizen (each 34) and Trencin (32) followed in that order.It was Dukla&rsquo;s eighth title, but the first in the last eight years. Most of the credit for the accomplishment goes to coach Jaroslav Pitner for using four lines all season and to goalie Jiri Kralik, who finished the season with a 1.97 goals-against average. Pitner coached Dukla to all eight titles and served also as coach of the national team from 1967 to 1973 when Czechoslovakia won one world and two European championships.<h2>FINLAND</h2>Tappara Tampere edged TPS Turku 3-2 in the fourth game of their best-of-five playoff finals and won the Finnish championships three games to one.Turku&rsquo;s only victory came at home, a narrow 5-4 decision.Tampere, incidentally, will host half of the 1982 world championships, with Helsinki the site for the other half, including the semifinals and the final.<h2>SWEDEN</h2>IAK Stockholm won a key game away from home to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five Swedish playoff finals against Bjorkloven.In a closely fought game, the Stockholmers beat Bjorkloven 4-3 to go with their previous 3-2 victory at home.<h2>WEST GERMANY</h2>Two goals each by Hoefner and Meitinger as well as a single by Bernander gave West Germany an easy 5-1 triumph over the Italian national squad at Landshut.Grant Goegan of Belleville scored Italy&rsquo;s home marker. It was the Italian team&rsquo;s last international warm-up before coach Dave Chambers makes the final cuts for the world championships in Finland.Rosenheim, a team that virtually rose from the ashes after bankruptcy in 1978, won the 1982 West German playoff cup by defeating Mannheim 6-2 and 4-0 in a home and home series.<h2>SWITZERLAND</h2>Controversial Dave Smith, former coach of the University of Calgary, signed a two-year contract with Langnau of the Swiss first division.By signing the document, Smith, who was on a year&rsquo;s leave of absence from the university, lost his position at the school.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m aware of it,&rdquo; Smith told Swiss newsmen. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very flexible. I was a firefighter for five years before I took a phys ed course. Now I&rsquo;m a fulltime hockey coach. In two years, if I don&rsquo;t like it, I might get into something completely different.&rdquo;Swiss teams, which generally depend a lot on foreign coaches, have added two more for 1982-83. Bern signed former U.S. Olympian Craig Sarner, while Davos Hockey Club, where Sarner worked this past season, replaced him with Swedish coach, Dan Hobyr.<h2>UNITED STATES</h2>One of the most dedicated hockey officials in the United States, Thayer Tutt of Colorado Springs, celebrated his 70th birthday on March 2.Tutt, who is president of the United States Amateur Hockey Association, has been a member of the council of the International Ice Hockey Federation for many years. &#9632;

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THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div>CHICAGO &ndash; Troy Murray, the North Dakota sophomore center described by Winnipeg general manager John Ferguson as &ldquo;one of the four best players in Chicago if he wasn&rsquo;t in college,&rdquo; has become a Black Hawk.Represented by agent Bill Watters, Murray signed a three-year contract for an undisclosed sum five days after helping North Dakota win the NCAA championship game against Wisconsin.However, Bob Pulford, the Hawks&rsquo; general manager and coach, doesn&rsquo;t envision Murray immediately playing a major part in the playoffs the way Neal Broten did last year when he dropped out of the University of Minnesota and helped the North Stars to the Stanley Cup finals.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to play it by ear,&rdquo; said Pulford. &ldquo;The players who are here now will have something to say about how much ice time he gets. If they play up to what I think their capabilities are I don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;ll see a lot of him.&ldquo;But really I can&rsquo;t answer any question on what his role will be until I see him playing for us. Definitely, I think he&rsquo;s ready now and I also think he can become an outstanding National Hockey League player. He&rsquo;s here now to get a little experience. Just watching will help him prepare for next year and if somebody gets hurt we have him.&rdquo;Murray (no relation to veteran Hawk defenseman Bob Murray) was a third round selection in the 1980 draft after playing Tier II hockey for Saint Albert in Alberta.In late December and early January, Murray interrupted his studies and college hockey to represent Canada in the World Junior Championships. He was the captain of the team and it won the championship in an upset, trouncing the Soviet Union along the way.&ldquo;Troy was one of the most outstanding players in the tournament,&rdquo; said his Team Canada coach, Dave King. I think he&rsquo;s ready to step right in and help the Black Hawks.&ldquo;He was one of two college players on a [Team Canada] roster that was made up almost exclusively of Junior players. Yet, after we finished our four days of practice, the players chose him&mdash;an outsider&mdash;to be their captain. That&rsquo;s indicative of the respect he commands as a player and his qualities as a leader.&ldquo;I look back now at the key games&mdash;particularly the first two against Sweden and Finland&mdash;and I realize he was the one who turned them around so that we were able to win. He&rsquo;s a throwback to the old days when there were all those good, clean bodycheckers.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s also a good skater and shooter and a constructive type play-maker. His intelligence shows in the way he plays the game. When he&rsquo;s out there he&rsquo;s the one who somehow winds up with the puck in clutch situations.&rdquo;&ldquo;All year I thought I would play this year [in college] and then see what happened,&rdquo; said Murray, a 19-year-old who stands 6-1 and weighs 190 pounds.&ldquo;Before I made this decision I talked everything over with my college coach, Gino Gasparini. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a fair man&mdash;he told me the benefits of both options, playing college hockey until I got my degree or signing now with the Black Hawks.&ldquo;If we hadn&rsquo;t won the NCAA championship I don&rsquo;t know what I would have decided because of the loyalty I feel for coach Gasparini and the school. I still want to get my degree in business; before leaving I talked to my professors and made arrangements to complete this semester. As soon as the playoffs are finished I&rsquo;ll go back to school to make up my work to complete the semester.&ldquo;I originally chose college over Junior hockey in Lethbridge because I knew you can&rsquo;t go wrong when you get an education. I work hard in school. I found I could either forget my schoolwork and just play hockey and have a good social life. Or I could forget the social life and concentrate solely on my studies and hockey&mdash;which is the route I went.&rdquo;&ldquo;All year we dressed from 11 to 14 freshmen and sophomores so we have a very strong nucleus coming back but you can&rsquo;t replace a talent like Troy Murray,&rdquo; said Don Boyd, assistant to Gasparini at North Dakota.&ldquo;However, he has made his decision and we&rsquo;re happy for him&mdash;I guess that&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s all about. Wherever he goes, he&rsquo;s going to do well. For us, it&rsquo;s better for him to decide now than in August so we can start making plans to get along without him.&rdquo;HAWK TALK &ndash; The Hawks closed the disappointing regular season in smashing style, scoring a 7-4 Saturday night victory in St. Louis and then defeating Minnesota 4-3 in the Sunday afternoon final in Chicago Stadium. The game-winning goal was scored by former North Star Glen Sharpley with 6:02 to play and it was his second of the game. Defenseman Doug Wilson also had two goals, giving him 39 for the season. &#9632;

Collegian Murray’s Black Hawk Role Unsettled

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011562/6578229-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="608" height="636"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Martin turned in a 25-goal campaign for the Leafs and was the team&rsquo;s Masterton nominee.</figcaption></div>TORONTO &ndash; Tying up a few of the many loose ends that have made up the 1981-82 season for the Maple Leafs, a season in which they have managed to lose more games than at any time in their 60-plus years in the National Hockey League&hellip;THE YOUTH MOVEMENT - Ah yes, the much-Harolded(sic) switch to the fuzzy-cheeked youngsters to form the foundation of the Leafs&rsquo; rebuilding project reached its zenith in the Leafs&rsquo; final home game of the season, a 6-4 loss to the Washington Capitals which left the Leafs with a home record of 12-20-8. Combined with Colorado&rsquo;s victory over Calgary on the same evening, the Leafs&rsquo; home record was the 21st best in the league.The Leafs&rsquo; defense corps which finished the game looked like this: Jim Korn, age 24, Bob McGill, 19, Craig Muni, 19 and Jim Benning, 18. That was it&mdash;four kids, three of them teenagers.Actually, greybeard Bob Manno, 25, also started the game but he was thrown out for being the third man in on a disagreement. Manno was really the fourth, following Washington&rsquo;s Mike Gartner, but referee Greg Madill obviously wanted to speed up the educational experience for the remaining Leaf defenseman.Three members of the Leafs&rsquo; defense&mdash;Fred Boimistruck, ankle, Barry Melrose, cheek, and Trevor Johansen, knee, were unavailable to play because of injuries and Borje Salming sat out with the flu.So how did the foursome handle themselves? Not that badly. The final goal was into an empty net and goalie Vince Tremblay was less than sterling on a couple of shots, particularly Dennis Maruk&rsquo;s 35-foot shot for his 60th goal of the season.&ldquo;Muni moves the puck pretty well and he doesn&rsquo;t panic,&rdquo; said Leafs&rsquo; coach Mike Nykoluk of the 6-2, 210-pounder who was playing his third NHL game after his Windsor team was eliminated from the junior playoffs. &ldquo;I thought he looked pretty good. It was pretty tough for these kids, they were under a lot of pressure with only four of them left in the game. I thought they held up pretty well.&rdquo;THE MIKE AND GERRY SHOW &ndash; Owner Harold Ballard publicly announced that coach Mike Nykoluk and acting general manager Gerry McNamara would return next season to continue the team&rsquo;s game plan of building from the bottom up with young, ambitious players.&ldquo;To rebuild you have to build with draft picks,&rdquo; Nykoluk said. &ldquo;There are a few kids who can help our team in the draft and we&rsquo;re looking for ones that want to play for this team. You can&rsquo;t make wholesale changes all the time. The successful teams have changed a few players from year to year and build their team up from the draft. That&rsquo;s what we intend to do. We had a plan to stick with youth this year and we did it.&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll [success] come because now I like a lot of the kids that I have on this team.&rdquo;MASTERTON NOMINATION &ndash; Perseverance, dedication and sportsmanship are the qualities personified by the nominees for the Bill Masterton Trophy and an accurate reflection of the make-up of Leafs&rsquo; winger Terry Martin.Even Martin&rsquo;s dedication was suspended for the final weekend of the regular season when he took a puck in the mouth during the Leafs&rsquo; final practice and suffered four loosened teeth. He was excused from play against Washington and in Philadelphia to give the teeth a chance to heal naturally since the games were meaningless in terms of a chance to move up in the standings.Martin was also the Leafs&rsquo; nominee for the Masterton last year after sitting idle for the first half of the year and then coming on under Nykoluk, who took over the club at the halfway mark, to score 22 goals in the second half of the season.This year Martin, one of the hardest hitters on the team, although he packs just 175 pounds on a 5-11 frame, started out as the left winger for Darryl Sittler and Wilf Paiement and eventually wound up with Norm Aubin and Mirko Frycer when his former linemates departed. Nonetheless Martin still finished with 25 goals and 24 assists this year and he&rsquo;s one of the club&rsquo;s best checkers as well.A six-year veteran of the NHL at the age of 26, Martin has the speed and the savvy to join with players like Salming and Billy Harris, plus Rick Vaive, Bill Derlago and John Anderson as the leaders of the Leafs&rsquo; battle for respectability in the years ahead. &#9632;

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Lackluster Leafs Limp To Finish

<div class="byline">BILL FLEISCHMAN&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021262/6578260-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="310" height="360"></div><h2>The Laughter Stops</h2>REMEMBER WHEN the NHL welcomed the WHA Four to the league? When it was Winnipeg&rsquo;s turn to stroll through the pearly gates, the NHL greeter said something like, &ldquo;Nice to have you here. Now, give us all your good players.&rdquo;Suddenly, Terry Ruskowski and Rich Preston were wearing Black Hawks on their uniforms instead of &ldquo;Jets.&rdquo; &ldquo;Raped&rdquo; is the general term applied the Jets&rsquo; welcome. In Winnipeg&rsquo;s inaugural NHL season somehow it won 20 games, then, last season, it went downhill faster than you could say whatever happened to Bob Woytowich and his Polish Army? Last season the Winnipeg Jets were the biggest joke in sports when they stumbled through 30 games without winning. Thirty games! Didn&rsquo;t they play the Rockies at least once during that stretch?Many people who laughed at John Ferguson&rsquo;s Approach with the New York Rangers were doubled over again as they watched Fergy&rsquo;s act in Winnipeg. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s he trying to do out there?&rdquo; the disbelievers would ask. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t win with all kids.&rdquo; Fergy&rsquo;s response? He&rsquo;d just sink his teeth into one of his baseball-bat sized cigars, focus that glare that weakened the knees of many NHL playing opponents and say, &ldquo;Give us time, you might be surprised.&rdquo;It is now Stanley Cup time 1982 and guess who was right? Take a bow, John Ferguson, and Tom Watt, and all you Jets&rsquo; faithful. All Winnipeg did was finish second in the Norris Division with a better record than such old standbys as St. Louis, Chicago, Toronto and Detroit. The Jets also had a better record than Calgary, a Stanley Cup semifinalist last year, Vancouver and Los Angeles.How have they achieved the greatest form reversal in points in NHL history? Having a superior skating club has been a major reason. Dependable goaltending is another. Ferguson&rsquo;s success in beckoning Serge Savard out of retirement is one more reason. Add excellent coaching by Watt and you have a solid hockey club.<h2>Draft Is The Key</h2>HOWEVER, THE KEY to Winnipeg&rsquo;s turnaround has been the amateur draft. Unlike some more established clubs who panicked and traded away their No. 1 picks, Ferguson resisted all temptation and clutched the Jets&rsquo; No. 1&rsquo;s to his heart. Two results of Ferguson&rsquo;s wisdom are named Dale Hawerchuk and Dave Babych, two players, it&rsquo;s safe to say, every team in the NHL would be happy to employ.In his rookie season Hawerchuk, the latest of the teenage talents flooding the NHL market, surpassed the 100-point level. &ldquo;I never thought he&rsquo;d do that, at his age,&rdquo; said Ferguson, &ldquo;but he&rsquo;s a real talent. He comes up with something new every game.&rdquo;Predictably, no one has benefitted from Savard&rsquo;s presence more than fellow defenseman Babych. &ldquo;When Serge came,&rdquo; Babych said, &ldquo;it was unbelievable the difference he made. Before, I thought of [playing] the man, then the puck. Now, I&rsquo;m doing both things at once. He&rsquo;s so cool. Ninety percent of what he tries is successful.&rdquo; You don&rsquo;t play on all those great Montreal teams without learning something, son.&ldquo;He [Savard] has just been outstanding for us,&rdquo; said Ferguson. &ldquo;He adds so much in the dressing room with these young fellas. He&rsquo;ll never get old, because he&rsquo;s young at heart.&rdquo;Sounds just like the general manager. Anyone who stocks his team with so many young players will also stay young at heart. While Hawerchuk and Babych are products of the Canadian junior leagues, the Jets, perhaps more than any other NHL team, have been scooping up United States college players. Dave Christian (North Dakota) was Winnipeg&rsquo;s leading scorer last season and defenseman Tim Watters played at Michigan Tech. Murray Eaves (Michigan) had a good season for Winnipeg&rsquo;s Tulsa farm club.And there should be more on the way. Ferguson likes Vermont center Kirk McCaskill, goaltenders Marc Behrend (Wisconsin) and Bob O&rsquo;Connor (Boston College) and defenseman Dan McFaul (Michigan State). They are all 1981 draft choices. Two previous draft selections&mdash;winger Sandy Beadle (Northeastern) and defenseman Bill Whelton (Boston U.)&mdash;played at Tulsa this season while Brian Mullen had a productive season for Wisconsin&rsquo;s NCAA finalists.<h2>Comfortable Coach</h2>THOSE WHO ARE promoted to the Jets will have the pleasure of playing for Tom Watt, who, after winning nine Canadian collegiate championships as the University of Toronto&rsquo;s coach, is perfectly comfortable around college players. Whereas Tommy McVie, Watt&rsquo;s predecessor, was a drillsergeant type, Watt effectively combines discipline with teaching.Ferguson, for one, wonders why some people find the&rsquo;first-year NHL success of Watt and Herb Brooks surprising.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re both qualified coaches&mdash;they&rsquo;ve spent their lives coaching hockey,&rdquo; said Ferguson. &ldquo;Tom is very articulate with our players and, what I really like about him is, he knows when to turn it on and off. He can really grind them when they&rsquo;re playing bad.&rdquo;Earlier this season Watt could have grinded away after the Jets were mauled, 15-2, by Minnesota. After such a humiliating loss, some teams would have hoisted the white flag for the season. But not Winnipeg.&ldquo;We had a meeting the next day,&rdquo; Watt said. &ldquo;We said that game was just two points in the standings, that the next game was the most important of the season for us.&rdquo;&ldquo;The day after that fiasco in Minnesota,&rdquo; recalled goalie Ed Staniowski, &ldquo;this team showed a lot of class and character. We didn&rsquo;t put our heads down or look for excuses.&rdquo;In the next game, the Jets rallied from an 0-2 deficit to beat the Kings in Los Angeles, 3-2. Now we know what Staniowski meant by class and character.In this first season after their world-record 30-game winless streak, the Winnipeg Jets could wind up playing Edmonton for the Campbell Conference pennant. The winner plays in the Stanley Cup finals. As Dizzy Dean would say, who would have thunk it&hellip;. &#9632;

f0012-02

HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">BY GARY MUELLER</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Bernie Federko was a three-year-old toddler back in Foam Lake, Sask., when it happened. But 23 years later, he saw to it that history didn&rsquo;t repeat itself.The year was 1959. The New York Rangers, with two weeks remaining in the National Hockey League season, were a comfortable seven points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the race for the final Stanley Cup playoff spot.&ldquo;We automatically thought we were in,&rdquo; recalled Gump Worsley, who was the Rangers&rsquo; goaltender in 1959. &ldquo;Even after we had lost a couple games and Toronto had won a couple, we&rsquo;d look down in the papers at the standings and say, &lsquo;No problem, we&rsquo;re in.&rsquo; But we weren&rsquo;t.&rdquo;Toronto won its last five games of the season, the Rangers lost six of their last seven and the Leafs claimed the final playoff spot, 65 points to 64.The story of the 1959 Rangers was recalled when it appeared history was about to repeat itself as the Blues couldn&rsquo;t nail down the final Norris Division playoff spot this season.Once again, the Leafs were the team trying to pull off the impossible and a miracle seemed possible when Toronto stayed alive by pulling goalie Michel Larocque and getting a goal from Miroslav Frycer with 12 seconds to play for a 4-3 victory over the Blues in a game in which just a tie would have clinched a playoff spot for the Blues and eliminated the Leafs.&ldquo;I know they [the Blues] think they&rsquo;re in,&rdquo; said Worsley, &ldquo;but as long as they still need one more point, they aren&rsquo;t in.&rdquo;Federko took care of that two nights later when his third goal of the night, with 3:52 left to play, gave the Blues a 4-4 tie at Winnipeg and the one point the Blues needed to nail down their 12th playoff spot in the 15-year history of the franchise.&ldquo;We just kept coming back and coming back,&rdquo; said Federko, as the Blues twice came from behind in the third period. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re ready for Winnipeg in the playoffs&hellip;or whoever we play.&rdquo;Federko&rsquo;s inspired play since Emile Francis replaced Red Berenson as coach of the Blues is one of the reasons St. Louis feels optimistic going into the playoffs, despite a disastrous regular season that saw them finish with nearly 40 fewer points than they had amassed one year ago.In the first eight games after Francis went behind the bench, Federko scored six goals and added seven assists. That was a pace that would have mustered Federko 130 points over an entire season. But the Blues&rsquo; outstanding playmaker was hesitant to point to the coaching change as the reason for his sudden scoring spree.&ldquo;I was scoring pretty well right before the change was made,&rdquo; said Federko, &ldquo;although now I seem to be getting a little more ice time. Mr. Francis goes with three lines most of the time and we were using four lines before.&rdquo;With one week remaining in the regular season, Francis engaged in some line juggling, prompted in part by injuries to center Larry Patey and right winger Wayne Babych. Francis moved left winger Perry Turnbull to center, recalled left winger Perry Anderson from Salt Lake, and put the two &ldquo;Perrys&rdquo; on a line with right winger Mark Reeds, who had been called up from Salt Lake two weeks earlier.Joey Mullen, meanwhile, was shifted into Babych&rsquo;s spot on a line with Federko and Brian Sutter in time to assist on two of Federko&rsquo;s three goals in the playoff-clinching tie at Winnipeg.Earlier, Mullen had been playing on a line with Blake Dunlop and Jorgen Pettersson and that trio had been playing well, as Mullen seemed to be the catalyst in igniting whichever line he was on.BLUENOTES &ndash; Guy Lapointe was beginning to make his presence felt on the St. Louis defense. Not only did the veteran defenseman pick up assists in five of the first seven games in which he played, but he also was helping the Blues cut down on their goals-against, especially on the road. Prior to the arrival of Lapointe, the Blues had yielded seven or more goals in nine of their last 12 road games, but then surrendered four or less goals in four of the first five road games in which Lapointe appeared&hellip;Mike Liut&rsquo;s bid to become the first goalie in NHL history to win 30 or more games in each of his first three seasons in the NHL ended when he had only 25 victories with just four games remaining in the regular season. &#9632;

Federko Made Certain History Didn’t Repeat

<div class="byline">BY DICK BEDDOES</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011552/6578346-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="316" height="328"></div><h2>Master Of Defense</h2>AGE ALONE DOESN&rsquo;T make a man a seer or a sage. We often regard the elderly as calculating and smart because we mistake caution for wisdom.But the years aren&rsquo;t educators, not always. In sports they are vandals who grab from an athlete the nimble strength of his youth.Some of us who walk slower, dreading the truth of time, have a tendency to persecute the young because we envy their gleeful defiance.Serge Savard, though&mdash;rangy and rising 37 and old by the standards of the 1982 NHL&mdash;hasn&rsquo;t allowed the seasons to steal his style.It was gratifying to see him on the Winnipeg defense this past winter because all men are aliens in a community of youth when they are beyond their prime in hockey. Ah, there, Dave Keon.Savard was the hub of the Winnipeg rearguard, on the far slope of a distinguished career played entirely with the Montreal Canadiens until this season. He was a big-leaguer before any of the Jets and now he is going.Dale Hawerchuk is the splashy young rookie of the Jets; Morris Lukowich is the team&rsquo;s dependable veteran. Hawerchuk was five years old when Savard played on his first Stanley Cup team, in 1968. Lukowich was a little leaguer out of Speers, Sask.Savard&rsquo;s contemporaries were the all-conquering Canadiens of Henri Richard, Yvan Cournoyer, Guy Lapointe, Dick Duff, John Bowie Ferguson, and the highly underrated Jacques Lemaire.So here was Savard, who came to the Jets from another time to remind them how defense used to be played in the NHL.Here he was, making passes quick and accurate and soft enough to handle.Here he was, skating in stately fashion, moving as Rex MacLeod of the Toronto Star once described Allan Stanley, &ldquo;snowshoeing in from the point.&rdquo;From the distance of the stands, it seems that Savard is unscarred by the years. Yet he was hampered by broken bones in three of his first six seasons as a Canadien.<h2>Played Both Sides</h2>TO SEE HIM on a night not long ago in Toronto was to realize that at least one defenseman in the NHL knows more than how to merely spell d-e-f-e-n-s-e.Toronto&rsquo;s John Anderson would come riding down left wing and there&rsquo;d be Savard to ride him off, impeding him with a stick across the torso just long enough to throw Anderson off stride and escape the referee&rsquo;s attention.Or Bill Derlago would throw a pass to Rick Vaive on right wing that wasn&rsquo;t a completed pass because Savard got there first to knock the puck away with a long poke check.Savard was breaking up plays on the right and left sides because, depending who his Winnipeg partner was, he played right and left defense.A Toronto attacker would try to escape along the boards and, frequently, Savard scrubbed him along the fence, steering him out of the play.Chances are Savard isn&rsquo;t as effective against the few respectable NHL teams as he was against the Leafs. Toronto has rarely had less talented mercenaries during a peacetime NHL tournament.You realize that when you remember the guys the young Savard played with and against. The NHL has simply come back to a lot of the modems, and chaps such as Rocky Saganiuk are big-leaguers by default.<h2>His Mark Remains</h2>FROM THE PRESSBOX heights you can&rsquo;t see the seams in Savard&rsquo;s expression or the bend in his nose, which he might have got from an impious fist.You can&rsquo;t count the pucks he&rsquo;s intercepted or the flashy forwards he&rsquo;s ridden off. You can remember the big sweeping manner he rushed the puck, or, in the act of shooting, the way he spun around on one leg for his &ldquo;spinnerama shot.&rdquo;He has left much of himself in such places as the Forum in Montreal and Luzhniki Arena in Moscow, under gleaming lights on nights of intense pressure, a constant winner on teams going for the Stanley Cup or the championship of the planet.What he&rsquo;s been has gone slowly, not as a hockey stick breaks, but as many nights, such as the impending Stanley Cup playoffs, gash the ice of hockey rinks.Savard is still prepared to squander himself in these playoffs, a stranger in the playpen. The ebullient Jets may not be good enough to beat Minnesota for the title in the Norris Division. But they are something above the ordinary, anyway, as long as they have Serge. &#9632;

f0014-01

BEDCLOTHES

<div class="byline">BY GORDON EDES</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Obviously, this was not Don Perry&rsquo;s idea of getting ready for the playoffs.The Kings ended the regular season in full retreat, losing seven of their last eight games, including the last five in a row.They finished the season with 63 points (24-41-15), 36 points fewer than they had last season and the fewest since the 1971-72 season, when they finished 20-49-9.In a season filled with stinkers, they saved what was perhaps their worst performance for the final game at home, in what had been billed as Fan Appreciation Day but turned into basically an insult for the 11,524 fans who showed up at the Forum.You might have thought the Kings would have shown up. A few did. Some, like Charlie Simmer, were given the day off by Perry. The rest took it off on their own.The result? A 6-0 shutout loss to the Vancouver Canucks, who clinched home-ice advantage in the playoffs with the win but also became the first team to shut out the Kings in L.A. in 196 regular-season games dating back to Jan. 18, 1978, when the Rangers won, 3-0.&ldquo;Embarrassed?&rdquo; said Marcel Dionne, who was used sparingly by Perry, who also employed Dave Taylor only in spot duty. &ldquo;Are you kidding?&ldquo;I feel bad for Don. He can&rsquo;t put the skates on.&rdquo;Not that the fans weren&rsquo;t wise to what was going on. After the first period, when the score was already 3-0, there was an on-ice ceremony honoring Kings players for season performances. When team broadcaster Bob Miller announced the award for outstanding defenseman, the fans booed&mdash;even before he named the winner.And why not? all six of the Canucks&rsquo; goals&mdash;two by Darcy Rota&mdash;were scored from between the circles. Three were scored on breakaways.When you couple that with the disappearance of the offense, you can understand why Perry was tempted to hold his own ceremony of sorts.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good thing there&rsquo;s only one game left in the season because otherwise they&rsquo;d be out there skating now,&rdquo; Perry said after the Kings&rsquo; first loss to Vancouver in two seasons. &ldquo;And a few guys would have been taking off their uniforms and helmets during the game.&rdquo;&ldquo;This team isn&rsquo;t good enough to beat anyone playing half-heartedly, and if we don&rsquo;t turn it around emotionally, we don&rsquo;t stand a chance against Edmonton.&rdquo;That point was underscored by both Dave Lewis, the Kings&rsquo; captain who sat out the last three games with a strained ligament in his right knee, and Taylor.&ldquo;If we play like this against Edmonton,&rdquo; Lewis said, &ldquo;we&rsquo;ll lose the first round in two and a half games.&rdquo;Said Taylor: &ldquo;If we play like this against Edmonton, it&rsquo;s going to be a long summer.&rdquo;Of course, that would be nothing new for the Kings, who have been eliminated from the first round in each of the last four seasons.KINGS THINGS&mdash; Defenseman Al Sims was recalled from New Haven in the last week of the season after injuries to Jerry Korab (thumb), Lewis (knee) and Mark Hardy (elbow&rsquo;). All were expected back for the playoffs. Awards presented to the Kings at final home game, as voted upon by the players: Unsung hero&mdash;J.P. Kelly; Outstanding defenseman&mdash;Larry Murphy; Outstanding rookie&mdash;Steve Bozek; Most inspirational&mdash;Dave Taylor. Fans voted Taylor most popular player; writers elected Marcel Dionne and Taylor co-winners of the team MVP award. Dionne also received awards for being leading scorer and for being star of the game most times&hellip;Paul Mulvey, sent to the minors after the now-celebrated incident in which he refused to leave the bench and fight, broke a bone in his right hand in a fight with Pat Daley in a game against Fredericton. &#9632;

Kings Retreating At Season’s Close

<div class="byline">BY JACQUES JUSTICE</div>A white hot feud involving a pair of prominent hockey attorneys threatens to spill beyond their own personal affairs and affect sensitive NHL business&hellip;When the Lite Beer people were eyeing tough guys for a TV commercial they had Hall of Famer Ted Lindsay in mind for an audition but he was bumped by Reg Fleming&hellip;Gary Green is supposedly destined for the Canucks&rsquo; assistant coaching job. Green, now doing TV commentary, is playing coy on the matter&hellip;Despite all the anti-Dave Williams talk out of British Columbia, The Tiger is expected back with the Canucks next season. Club officials believe a pre-season injury hampered Williams, who has a high pain threshhold&hellip;If the Canucks survive the first round of the playoffs Harry Neale may refuse to return as coach for round two on the assumption that Roger Neilson is doing too good a job to be disturbed&hellip;Reports of Steve Jensen&rsquo;s unhappiness were overheard in the Kings&rsquo; dressing room. One whisper had Jensen taking &ldquo;some action&rdquo; against the club after his demotion to New Haven&hellip;The buzz along St. Catherine Street is that Guy Lafleur is no longer a Canadiens untouchable&hellip;NHL has no plans for a U.S. network TV playoff deal, but a last-minute arrangement could be made&hellip;One source says an Oilers-Islanders or an Oilers-Rangers series would virtually guarantee a spot on either CBS, NBC or ABC&hellip;USA network will handle conference champion playoffs and the finals if one of the Big Three don&rsquo;t intervene&hellip;ESPN and USA networks are bidding for the 30-game NHL TV package next year. A decision is expected before the end of the month.Referee Kerry Fraser&rsquo;s officious manner has offended some players. One Patrick Division veteran snaps: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s arrogant. If he wants to put on a show for the fans, he should go out a half-hour before the game and do his thing then!&rdquo;&hellip;So many Watergatetype leaks have emanated from the Calgary Flames&rsquo; dressing room that Al MacNeil considered banning the dressing room to newsmen. GM Cliff Fletcher reportedly talked him out of it. MacNeil has finally taken a light view of the leaks. &ldquo;So much stuff comes out of our room,&rdquo; MacNeil said. &ldquo;It seems like we have 50 players on the roster.&rdquo; If the Flames make the finals Calgary fans will have to pay $35 per ticket&hellip;. Don Luce is looking for a job as an assistant coach&hellip;Some Flyers insiders indicate that Bobby Clarke may hang up his skates for good this spring&hellip;If Whalers players have their way, Mark Howe will not be traded. But Gordie&rsquo;s son had told GM Larry Pleau which clubs he approves if a potential deal is cultivated. They are Flyers, Bruins, Rangers, Islanders. Marty Howe does not figure in the Whalers&rsquo; future&hellip;The solid performance of Binghamton Whalers coach Larry Kish has a few NHL clubs looking&hellip;Toronto promoter Gerry Patterson was so successful with his Original Six (Oldtimers) exhibition series&mdash;which also was televised&mdash;that he&rsquo;s arranging another one in late August&hellip;. Several players are angry that Al Eagleson has done little in the way of finding a successor. Others do not like the idea that he is insisting that, if he chooses an heir, the new union boss be a Canadian. Denis Potvin recommended former Ladies Professional Golf Association commish Ray Volpe as the next head of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association. A former NHL exec, Volpe is involved in several projects in New York.Oilers have cracked down on magazine and book authors seeking to do Wayne Gretzky-oriented articles. As a result the NHL lost what might have been a highly-useful article in TV Guide. All the Oilers had to do was set up a phone interview with a player&mdash;not Gretzky. The journalist was told all phone questioning was off-limits&hellip;Commentating for ESPN, Don Cherry noted about Merlin Malinowski: &ldquo;They call him &lsquo;Merlin The Magician.&rsquo; He must be a magician to have lasted four years in the NHL.&rdquo;&hellip;At least one GM now rates Mike Liut just an average goalie&hellip;Construction delays have postponed opening of Calgary&rsquo;s new arena until the start of the 1983-84 season&hellip;General playoff strategy for all teams facing Gretzky in the playoffs is to frustrate him and relentlessly wear him down. Glen Sather, played Gretzky an average of 29 minutes per game through the homestretch&hellip;Bill MacMillan, it&rsquo;s said, is unhappy with some of his scouts&hellip;Although some Nordiques veterans may not adore Michel Bergeron, the Quebec coach is expected to return next season&hellip;Bergeron lost a friend and confidante when Robbie Ftorek was dealt to the Rangers. Manhattan media regard Ftorek as the fastest dresser and sprinter out of the Madison Square Garden dressing room&hellip;A room clerk at New York&rsquo;s Statler-Hilton Hotel is in hot water with Herb Brooks. The man failed to provide the Rangers coach with a wake-up call. Brooks was late for the team picture and caused boss Sonny Werblin to miss a few appointments&hellip;When a coach tells off Scotty Morrison after his refs, Scotty replies: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way you saw it&rdquo;&hellip;Ron Duguay receives $2,000 for a two-hour appearance&hellip;Ron will be featured next month in an ABC-TV special on New York&rsquo;s most eligible bachelors. Pat Quinn&rsquo;s friends say he is ready to write papers in preparation for a pursuit of a law school degree&hellip;Even if the Rangers remain in Manhattan&mdash;as expected&mdash;Madison Square Garden may be doomed. Blueprints are on the table for a new MSG adjacent to the now-being-built convention center near the present Garden. &#9632;

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div>BOSTON&mdash;It was a move bom in desperation and it worked&mdash;which of course elevated Bruins&rsquo; coach Gerry Cheevers to the brevet rank of genius.Get the picture:Boston had a one-point lead on Buffalo for second place in the Adams Division and home ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. Each had two games left to play.But the Bruins had lost their last three games, allowing a total of 23 goals in the process. Count &lsquo;em! Twenty three! That&rsquo;s an average of 7.67 per game!The last game may have been the worst that the Bruins had played all season, an 8-5 loss in which the Quebec Nordiques scored six goals in the first period&mdash;in 15:46 of the first period, as a matter of dismaying fact.The NHL record is nine but that was against the 1980-81 Toronto Maple Leafs, not against a team with the fourth best record in the league.Starting goalie Marco Baron was beaten three times in six shots in the first 11:40 before he was lifted for Rogie Vachon, who permitted a hat trick by Alain Cote in a minute and 17 seconds.Cheevers, with his team only two games away from the playoffs, was visibly shaken by its performance. It was a long time before the Bruins&rsquo; dressing room was opened after the game. The coach apologized.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry you couldn&rsquo;t get in quicker&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I really wasn&rsquo;t interested in seeing you, to tell you the truth.&rdquo;&ldquo;We got trounced,&rdquo; he explained to a roomful of writers who had a stronger word in mind. &ldquo;Everything fell flat on its face tonight. It was brutal. I&rsquo;m stumped. I really don&rsquo;t have an explanation.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t pull Marco for the last goal, that&rsquo;s for sure. I just saw the way he was playing. I didn&rsquo;t think he played well. I just didn&rsquo;t know it was any good to leave him in there.&ldquo;But when you get bombed the way we did tonight it&rsquo;s not only the goaltending. Our defense wasn&rsquo;t great by any means. But it starts up front. We let them come out too easy. We let them have 3-on-2s and they cashed in on them.&rdquo;What, he was asked, are your goaltending plans for the playoffs?&ldquo;1 have none whatsoever right now,&rdquo; he said, adding, &ldquo;Things like this have a snowballing effect. We have to break that snowball right now, explode it, and get back to nitty gritties.&rdquo;As it turned out, the &ldquo;nitty gritties&rdquo; included a brand new goalie named Mike Moffat.The 20-year-old Moffat, the Bruins&rsquo; eighth round draft choice in 1980, was so new that he had never played in an NHL game before. His last appearance on the ice was 15 days before when the Peterborough Petes eliminated his Kingston Canadians in the fourth game of their Ontario Hockey League playoffs.&ldquo;Sometimes a team will rally behind a rookie goalie and tighten up,&rdquo; explained Cheevers. &ldquo;It was a decision we made that we hoped would shake up the team.&rdquo;It certainly did.Moffat gave up a goal to Pierre Aubry&mdash;actually a pass out that went in off the goalie&rsquo;s skate&mdash;at 6:24 of the first period in a rematch with the Nordiques.Then the Bruins, ever mindful of the nervous rookie goalie behind them, checked as if their lives depended on it and the 8-5 defeat in Boston on Thursday night turned into a 5-4 victory in Quebec on Saturday.&ldquo;Once again checking is our game,&rdquo; said a satisfied Cheevers. &ldquo;We checked extremely well and that made the difference.&rdquo;&ldquo;My legs were like spaghetti,&rdquo; said Moffat. &ldquo;I was very nervous.&rdquo;Strangely enough, Moffat was given a good chance to make the big team at training camp but it was decided that he was much too nervous and the Bruins sent him back to Kingston to use up his final year of junior eligibility.The Bruins came right back with Moffat in the final game and came away with a 7-2 victory over Hartford to wrap up second place.WHAT&rsquo;S BRUIN &ndash; Bruins held their annual awards night just before the Quebec debacle.The Dufresne Trophy, which has been awarded since 1936 to the player who has been most outstanding in home games, went to Rick Middleton for the second straight year and the third in the last four years.The Gallery Gods award, presented by the denizens of the highest balcony, was split with Barry Pederson getting one for offense, Mike O&rsquo;Connell for defense, and Brad Park a special award.The Three-Star Trophy went to Middleton with Pederson runnerup and Ray Bourque third.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011439/6578425-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="602" height="1212"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rookie goaltender Mike Moffat led the Bruins to two weekend triumphs to clinch second place.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-01

Cheevers’ Bold Experiment Nets Bruins Home Ice Edge

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011336/6578463-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-11142/6578456-1-eng-US/f0017-112.jpg" title="f0017-11" width="3097" height="2536"></div> &#9632;

f0016-01

FINAL NATIONAL LEAGUE SCORING

<h2>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02898/6578557-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="551" height="607"></div><h2>LEADING ROOKIE SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03652/6578550-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="549" height="606"></div><h2>MOST GOALS SCORED</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04476/6578543-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="551" height="599"></div><h2>MOST ASSISTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-05350/6578536-1-eng-US/f0017-052.jpg" title="f0017-05" width="544" height="419"></div><h2>MOST PENALTY MINUTES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-06275/6578529-1-eng-US/f0017-062.jpg" title="f0017-06" width="539" height="170"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-07232/6578522-1-eng-US/f0017-072.jpg" title="f0017-07" width="540" height="222"></div><h2>MOST POWER PLAY GOALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-08196/6578515-1-eng-US/f0017-082.jpg" title="f0017-08" width="539" height="333"></div><h2>MOST GAME WINNERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-09174/6578508-1-eng-US/f0017-092.jpg" title="f0017-09" width="548" height="406"></div><h2>MOST SHORTHANDED GOALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-10161/6578501-1-eng-US/f0017-102.jpg" title="f0017-10" width="548" height="251"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011191/6578494-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="1214" height="1397"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky of Edmonton won his second straight NHL scoring title with a record 212 points.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Top NHL Performers

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville Hockey<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011230/6578588-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="606" height="1280"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darcy Rota jumped back into the lineup after an ankle injury with a five-goal spurt.</figcaption></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;If ever a person came under the description of the perfect prescription, Darcy Rota was that man for the Canucks.Having sprained his ankle seven weeks earlier, the flying Prince George, B.C. winger played his first three games since that injury, and he probably wishes all his games were like those.All three were on the road and all garnered points for his club, as the Canucks went unbeaten on the tour of Washington, Montreal and Quebec and Rota ended up with five goals in the process.Rota, never one to take the slightest credit, said he was glad to be back, the seven weeks of frustration and watching his mates having taken its toll. When he was ready, coach Harry Neale, feeling that he still wasn&rsquo;t 100 percent yet, cautioned that he might not play that much. But on his opening shift he scored a goal, then set up right winger Ron Delorme for another goal and he was back with a bang.Then Neale said he would like to try the quickest winger on the club with Thomas Gradin and Stan Smyl, a break no left winger on the Canucks is apt to turn down.&ldquo;Both of them are such great hockey players,&rdquo; said Rota. &ldquo;Thomas sets up so much with his skating, and Stan goes up and down his wing making things happen everywhere. It was fun.&rdquo;It was also successful, and the experiment is likely to continue, at least until Curt Fraser gets back his form playing with another line. For Rota, with his linemates&rsquo; help, waltzed into Montreal and bagged his second career hat trick in that city to help Vancouver to a 4-2 victory, then got the fifth goal of the trip in Quebec to help the club gain a 3-3 tie in the melee-filled contest.&ldquo;The Lord looked after me pretty good on that road trip, I must say,&rdquo; said Rota. &ldquo;My ankle is not completely right. It&rsquo;s strong, but it&rsquo;s still sore and the doctors say it&rsquo;s going to be that way until the middle of the summer. It hurts still when I make a sharp turn, even though I can do everything I want.Rota, really has no explanation for the sudden surge coming off such an injury, and he doesn&rsquo;t really expect it to continue indefinitely.&lsquo;I&rsquo;m just doing the things I always do, but for some reason the puck was just going in,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I only ended up with six shots on goal for the trip, so it&rsquo;s not as if I&rsquo;m getting a lot more chances.&rdquo;Rota had only played 48 games this year due to two injuries, but his 18 goals put him on a pretty healthy pace for the season, all things considered.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s pretty tough to say where I would be in goals if I&rsquo;d played all the games,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But at least I&rsquo;m going to be ready for the playoffs, and that&rsquo;s what counts right now.Rota was hurt just when he had something very strong going with center Ivan Hlinka and right winger Blair MacDonald. But when his ankle was sprained, it also seemed to slow the other two veterans, as their production dropped, MacDonald&rsquo;s due to lack of ice-time. So in the playoffs, it may not be too surprising if Rota ends up back on a line with Hlinka again.Meanwhile the Canucks lost coach Neale for 10 games and defenseman Doug Halward for seven games as a result of disciplinary actions taken by the league for their off-ice activities in Quebec, where the fans decided to become part of the show.The melee started when Dave Williams and Peter Stastny were pushing each other near the boards and a fan came down to take a poke at Williams. Neale decided to go. after the fan, and soon Halward, Marc Crawford, and Curt Fraser (who were fined $500 the same as team captain Kevin McCarthy who was suspended for a game) were also in the act.The fan layed a complaint with the Quebec police about Neale&rsquo;s actions, but the police department did not press charges against the Vancouver coach. Roger Neilson stepped behind the bench for Neale&rsquo;s absense which will include up to five playoff games.On the same trip, Canucks lost the services of right winger Ron Delorme, who was hurt in a fight. He has a bad finger and could be out the rest of the season. &#9632;

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Canucks’ Rota Returns To Launch Hot Streak

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>CALGARY&mdash;With eight games left in the regular season, Ed Beers joined the Flames with the understanding that there was an outside chance he would play a game or two.To Beers, that was fine. One or two games this year would make the transition to the National Hockey League that much easier next year. Or so it was thought.That&rsquo;s not the way it worked out, however. When injuries temporarily sidelined Jim Peplinski, Phil Russell and Paul Reinhart in the late going, it was Beers, the rookie left winger, that coach Al MacNeil turned to, not the more experienced Dan Labraaten.Beers became an immediate hit. He scored a goal on his first NHL shift and fit in right away on a line with Lanny McDonald and Mel Bridgman.After the 22-year-old rookie&rsquo;s first game, assistant coach Pierre Page put Beers&rsquo; play&mdash;and at the same time his struggling team&rsquo;s play&mdash;into perspective. Said Page: &ldquo;For him to look that good makes an awful lot of guys who&rsquo;ve been here all year look pretty bad.&rdquo;Beers played the final games of the regular season on an amateur try-out. Now, with the playoffs about to start, the Flames must make a decision: Do they register his contract (set to begin in 1982-83) with the league right away or do they send him to the press box for the remainder of the season. Should they activate Beers, he would lose one year&rsquo;s exemption in the waiver draft.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good NHL prospect,&rdquo; said coach Al MacNeil. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s too early to give a full evaluation, but he has done everything we&rsquo;ve wanted him to do so far.&rdquo;Beers joined the team after completing a four-year career at Denver University. In his final year, he scored 50 goals for Denver, only the second player in the school&rsquo;s history to accomplish that feat. For his achievements, he was nominated for the Hobey Baker Award, given for leadership and excellence in college hockey.Beers, who played for the Merritt Centennials in the British Columbia Junior League before jumping to U.S. college ranks, said that the caliber of the hockey there is on par, if not better than Major Junior Hockey in Canada.The success of players like Minnesota&rsquo;s Neal Broten and Steve Bozek of L.A., two Rookie of the Year candidates in the league helped his confidence, said Beers, because he played against them in college hockey.Beers had an opportunity to sign with the Colorado Rockies and stay in Denver, but he decided not to because he wanted to play in Canada.&ldquo;A hockey environment is important to me,&rdquo; said Beers. &ldquo;I liked Calgary right away not only because it had a competitive team and looked like a positive place, but because it&rsquo;s close to home.&rdquo;In Beers&rsquo; draft year, 1977-78, he spent half the season in Tier II in Canada and half the year at Denver. As a result, he did not have impressive totals in either place and in the year of the six-round draft, he was passed over.&ldquo;I was disappointed when I didn&rsquo;t get drafted, but actually it turned out to be the best for me. Although I felt bad at the time, when I look back now I realize it helped my confidence and made me feel a lot more positive about playing professionally.&rdquo;Ironically, Beers almost quit hockey at the age of 17 to become a referee.&ldquo;All through minor hockey I was never good enough to play on the &lsquo;A&rsquo; teams,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I played goal one year, defense for a couple of more years and finally left wing. I was a plugger. Skating didn&rsquo;t come easy for me.&ldquo;I had decided to quit and become a referee, something I was pretty good at, until my team [Merritt] changed coaches. That&rsquo;s when I decided to give it one more shot.&rdquo;IN BRIEF&mdash; It took until the eve of the playoffs, but the Flames eventually did get everyone healthy for their first-round series with Vancouver. Jim Peplinski and Phil Russell both recovered sufficiently from back troubles to play the final four games of the regular season. It took Paul Reinhart somewhat longer to recover from a groin injury, but he too is ready to go.Throughout most of the season, MacNeil has rotated his goaltenders&mdash;Pat Riggin and Rejean Lemelin&mdash;according to who had the hot hand. MacNeil would normally play one or the other until he lost, then switch. However, for the playoffs, he indicated his strategy could be different. &bull; &#9632;

Flames Liked Beers So Much He’s Played More Than One

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011142/6578643-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"></div>Subscribe to GOAL and experience all the excitement of the NHL!You&rsquo;ll hit the ice for some of the most spectacular moments in sports! And face off with the superstars of the &lsquo;80s as they compete for hockey&rsquo;s greatest prize, the Stanley Cup.GOAL gives you penetrating looks at the players and coaches who are revolutionizing the game, dramatic color photography and in-depth profiles of your favorite players, great monthly features like the Celebrity In GOAL, the GOAL. Gallery and the NHL Schedule-at-a-Glance. And a giant color poster of an NHL star every issue.No other magazine shows you the game like GOAL because it is part of the NHL. GOAL is all hockey, covering the entire league and every phase of the game in-depth. It&rsquo;s the official publication of the NHL.Score with a FREE NHL Guide!A $10.95 retail value. Yours FREE when you subscribe to GOAL. With nearly 900 pages of statistics, records and information. Including a Who&rsquo;s Who in Hockey, NHL record book section and much, much more! Quantities are limited, so subscribe now! The NHL reserves the right to substitute a gift of equal value if supply is exhausted.With your subscription to GOAL you are automatically entered in our contest! With a prize of a FREE trip for two to a game of the Stanley Cup Finals. Including transportation, game tickets and hotel room.All GOAL subscribers as of 5/7/82 are eligible with the winner determined in a live drawing during a televised NHL network game. &#9632;

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WIN A FREE TRIP TO THE STANLEY CUP FINALS!

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02678/6578705-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>The Boston Bruins knew they had a top prospect on their hands when they drafted Barry Pederson No. 1 in 1980. In one short year, the talented rookie has made the Bruins look like prophets.The 21-year-old center turned in a fantastic first season with Boston, breaking several team records and finishing the year with 44 goals and 48 assists for 92 points, third best among the rookies in the NHL.Pederson set a Bruins&rsquo; record for most points in a game when he scored a hat trick and assisted on four others in Boston&rsquo;s 7-2 windup rout of Hartford to raise his weekly points production to 10 and win the nod from THE HOCKEY NEWS as the NHL Player of the Week.Pederson, who is in the running for the Calder Trophy rookie award along with Dale Hawerchuk, Neal Broten, Marian Stastny and Grant Fuhr, earlier this season broke a 41-year-old Boston record for most goals by a rookie. &#9632;

f0020-02

Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div>BLOOMINGTON &mdash; Inspiration. That&rsquo;s something the North Stars did not display during the final week of regular-season play. And it&rsquo;s also something general manager Lou Nanne tried to inject into his players before the start of the playoffs.So Nanne took the entire team out, by suprise, to see the movie Chariots of Fire the day after the season ended. The movie is a prize-winner for inspiration, and Nanne, who is confident of his team&rsquo;s chances in the run for the playoffs, wanted to take no chances when it comes to complete mental preparation.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011021/6578674-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="598" height="923"><figcaption class="caption-body">Neal Broten accounted for four goals and was a plus-four despite the Stars&rsquo; 7-5 loss to Winnipeg.</figcaption></div>Nanne himself went through some mental gymnastics on the final Sunday of regular-season play. The North Stars, having been clipped 7-5 by Winnipeg in their final home, game, despite a supreme two-goal, two-assist performance (plus four) by Neal Broten&mdash;who again dazzled Dale Hawerchuk (1-2-3, but a minus three) in a meeting of NHL Rookie of the Year candidates&mdash;went back to Winnipeg to gain 5-2 revenge.Then it was on to Chicago. Now, the chances were good the Stars would meet Chicago in the first playoff series, although the Black Hawks were deadlocked with St. Louis for third and fourth in the Norris Division. Nanne, whose mind never rests, was thinking ahead to the amateur draft, and the two lowest teams in the Norris.Detroit stood sixth and last, but with a victory could bypass fifth-place Toronto. Detroit played at St. Louis that last night, after the MinnesotaChicago afternoon game. If Detroit beat St. Louis, finishing ahead of Toronto, Nanne, who has Detroit&rsquo;s first draft pick in trade, would pick third overall instead of second.If Detroit had beaten St. Louis, St. Louis would have also dropped to fourth and been Minnesota&rsquo;s first-round foe, but that was the least of Nanne&rsquo;s worries because both Chicago and St. Louis had been tough on the Stars, St. Louis with skating and Mike Liut&rsquo;s goaltending; Chicago with muscle and aggressive play.So the North Stars jumped off to a 3-0 lead in Chicago in that Sunday matinee. But they they collapsed and Chicago rumbled to a 4-3 victory. It was the kind of collapse that, under different circumstances, might have sent Nanne raging into the dressing room, or at least into the referee&rsquo;s room.After all, Al Secord, who had been thrashed by part-time rookie Dave Richter, (the blows were recorded on the Richter scale) a 6-5 collegian who has returned to Michigan to finish his studies for the spring, earlier in the game, punched Fred Barrett as he passed out front in the waning moments of the game. Glen Sharpley, dealt by Nanne to Chicago, cuffed it in for his second goal of the game and a triumph over his old team.But Nanne, under the circumstances, breathed a sigh of relief. By winning, Chicago had put extra incentive on the Blues, who needed it all to outlast Detroit 3-2. That may have meant the Black Hawks would roar into the first-round playoff with great confidence against Minnesota, but it also meant that Detroit lost, assuring the North Stars of the second pick overall.So the Stars entered the playoffs with some superficial illusions. They finished with 94 points, fifth behind the Islanders, Montreal, Edmonton and Boston overall. That mark, of course, must be tempered because the Stars play in the Norris, which did not have one other team over .500.The Stars played 35 of their 80 games against Norris teams, which should have bolstered their record in any event. But the Stars wound up 3-3-1 against runner-up Winnipeg, third place St. Louis and fourth place Chicago. Hardly dominant.The Smythe Division, dominated by Edmonton, also did not have a second team over .500, and that division winner plays the Norris playoff winner for one berth in the Stanley Cup finals, amazingly enough.The Adams Division, meanwhile, had its top four teams over .500 even though Montreal, Boston, Buffalo and Quebec had to play each other eight times for survival in the process. And the Patrick had its top three over .500&mdash;well over, in fact&mdash;although the Islanders, Rangers and Flyers had to battle each other eight times, too.The Stars also continued to be saddled with casualties. Adding illness to injury, the Stars had Tim Young andCraig Hartsburg fighting the flu, while Jack Carlson, Brad Maxwell and Bill Nyrop remained sidelined with injuries, and Mike Eaves and Gary Sargent were definitely ruled out of the playoffs.In the past two years, the North Stars have worn the NHL&rsquo;s version of Cinderella&rsquo;s glass slipper, reaching the semifinals by eliminating Montreal two years ago, and marching through Boston, Buffalo and Calgary to gain the finals last spring.But this spring, facing an unexpected grind from Norris rivals who played them even all year, the Stars are favorites instead of Cinderellas. And they are planning their annual playoff surge to prove that while they may not wear a glass slipper, they also don&rsquo;t have a glass jaw. &#9632;

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Nanne Making Sure North Stars Are Inspired

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div>HARTFORD&mdash;Most athletes are familiar with the unspoken fear of injury, but most figure, hey, it won&rsquo;t happen to me.Say hello to Jordy Douglas of the Hartford Whalers.&ldquo;The worst part is, I was never hurt, I mean, never,&rdquo; said Douglas, a 24-year-old left winger whose potential still outweighs his achievement. &ldquo;All the way along, I was never one of those guys who was forever getting hurt. I never even had a pulled muscle. I was always healthy.&rdquo;The injury bug first hit Douglas at the highest point of his four-year professional career.Douglas was signed by the New England Whalers of the WHA in June, 1978, after Douglas had been selected by Toronto in the NHL draft (fifth round, 81st overall pick). After one year of seasoning, Douglas became a primary weapon for the Whalers in their maiden NHL voyage. Douglas, in 77 games, scored 33 goals and 57 points.He was young, gifted, and surely, he would improve.Then a check by Mario Faubert of Pittsburgh, in that year&rsquo;s 77th game, put Douglas on the shelf.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01794/6578736-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="598" height="1066"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jordy Douglas has the talent to score 40 goals, but can he stay healthy to do it?</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It was scary, but it came right at the end of the year, so there was plenty of time to recover,&rdquo; Douglas said.Douglas worked hard during the off-season, running and staying in shape. He was ready when the puck was dropped at training camp, but again the injury jinx struck.This time, Douglas was hit in the foot by a puck and suffered a broken bone. He played in 55 games, but wasn&rsquo;t 100 percent. He finished with just 13 goals and had acquired a shadow: The guy&rsquo;s always hurt.&ldquo;I was determined this year,&rdquo; Douglas said. &ldquo;I like Hartford and I like what&rsquo;s going on here. The team is headed in the right direction. I want to be a part of it.&rdquo;So, this season, Douglas came blasting out of the gate with five goals in the team&rsquo;s first 12 games. He considers himself a 30-goal scorer and just may be a 40-goal scorer if all the pieces fit.Or, if the injury jinx would just go away.Another separated shoulder, in the team&rsquo;s 13th game, put Douglas on the shelf for 49 games. Since returning, he has picked up four goals. He can skate and he can score, but to do so, he must stay healthy.&ldquo;I was ready this year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I knew that I was expected to score and my confidence was just starting to come back. I know I can play. With something happening every year, though, you start to wonder.&rdquo;Douglas is not the only member of the Whalers who finds himself at a crossroads. Douglas might blossom into the big-time scorer he has always dreamed of being or he may flatten out. His future, however, belongs as much to GM-coach Larry Pleau as it does to Douglas.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had several talks with Larry and he&rsquo;s been very honest,&rdquo; Douglas said. &ldquo;He told me that several teams have shown interest in me, so there&rsquo;s a chance I&rsquo;ll be moved. I really don&rsquo;t want to go anywhere. I like the Hartford area, the fans, the whole ball of wax.&rdquo;Pleau remains pretty much noncommittal about Douglas, as well as on several other youngish players.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve spent a lot of time, looking, I mean, really, really looking at our players,&rdquo; Pleau said. &ldquo;There will be many tough decisions in the off-season and what to do with Jordy will be one of them. He&rsquo;s got all the tools. There&rsquo;s no reason why he can&rsquo;t make it. He&rsquo;s big, strong, and talented.&rdquo;Douglas might require a change of scenery to realize his potential.&ldquo;I got off so well this year that I was thinking good things,&rdquo; Douglas said. &ldquo;Then I got hurt. I had four months to think about this team and my future. That&rsquo;s a lot of time. I decided that I couldn&rsquo;t do anything about the past, but I could do something about the future.&rdquo;Should Douglas score 40 goals next season, it wouldn&rsquo;t surprise anyone. Until he does it, though, one must wonder if he ever will. &#9632;

f0021-01

Injury Bug Plagues Douglas’ Pro Hockey Life

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>LANDOVER&mdash;As the Washington Capitals surrendered to their usual fate in Year Eight - no playoff berth&mdash;owner Abe Pollin once again hid from the press.While rumors surfaced in several areas, some of April Fool nature and others more substantial, Pollin proclaimed himself too busy to return phone calls or step out to his office foyer to reply to a couple of questions.The result merely served to increase speculation that something major was about to happen with a hockey franchise that lost more than $3 million this season and has generated almost $25 million in red ink over eight unhappy years.One persistent rumor with many variations had the Capitals merging with the Colorado Rockies. Colorado owner Peter Gilbert acknowledged that such a move had been discussed, but he said a favorite spinoff, a shift to the Meadowlands, had never come up.NHL President John Ziegler said it would be a &ldquo;Herculean task&rdquo; to accomplish such a transfer. He also said it was both his feeling and the feeling around the NHL that &ldquo;Washington can be one of the star franchises in this league. It&rsquo;s a viable franchise as far as entertainment, attendance and area, but unfortunately it has never had a playoff game in the building.&rdquo;Ziegler also noted that there was &ldquo;concern&rdquo; around the league with respect to the huge losses Pollin was sustaining.&ldquo;There is a concern, certainly, when Abe Pollin has expressed himself that the burden of both the basketball and hockey is such that he is considering selling the hockey team,&rdquo; Ziegler said. &ldquo;Once you reach that position, there has to be concern.&rdquo;There was a report that Pollin had found a buyer for his entire operation&mdash;Capital Centre, Capitals and basketball Bullets.An acquaintance of Pollin called such a sale &ldquo;a possibility and a likelihood,&rdquo; considering Pollin&rsquo;s age, health and state of frustration with the Capitals and Bullets. But he also said that Pollin&rsquo;s asking price would have to be reduced considerably before that could be accomplished.Pollin, before he returned to his 1981 position of avoiding the media, had acknowledged that the current season was a financial disaster.&ldquo;From a financial standpoint, this has been a very bad season,&rdquo; Poll in said. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t know whether it&rsquo;s been any worse than the last three. I am continuing to pour money into the team. We have had considerable losses, many millions of dollars, but I just kick myself and keep going.&rdquo;Realignment and an unbalanced schedule, which were expected to help Washington at the gate, proved a disaster. Not only did the Capitals finish last in the Patrick Division, when most observers rated them among the NHL&rsquo;s top 15 clubs, but the attendance for divisional games was disappointing.Philadelphia, once a routine sellout attraction in 18,130-seat Capital Centre, drew only 12,300 a game. The New York Rangers were the best divisional gate attraction, averaging 12,948, while the Islanders lured 11,188 and Pittsburgh pulled in 9,783 a game. The only sellouts were against outsiders Edmonton and Montreal.Of course, the overall crowd figures, second-best in club history at 11,400, were diluted by freebies and discount tickets, so that the Capitals ranked 20th in great receipts, a mere $2,000 a game ahead of Colorado.The Pittsburgh game of March 10 could be a key influence on Pollin&rsquo;s future actions. He spoke on a talk show earlier that week and also called a newspaper editor, trying to drum up a sellout for what he considered &ldquo;our most important game of the year.&rdquo; But only 12,144 came, many with free tickets from the Jan. 13 Edmonton snow exchange night.&ldquo;I just don&rsquo;t understand why it wasn&rsquo;t close to a sellout,&rdquo; Pollin said.There was a similar lack of understanding for his sudden silence. &#9632;

Caps’ Owner Pollin Silent About Club’s Future

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;The least publicized of all the reasons why the Winnipeg Jets have finished where they are today is the play of Thomas Steen.Blushingly shy, the 21-year-old Swede has hardly made a noise all season, but he&rsquo;s had a great impact on the team that rose from 21st to ninth in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s overall standing.When he scores, the husky blond appears almost embarrassed. Quietly he turns away expressionless, as if he dreads the attention he will receive from his teammates and the crowd.Another Swede was like that. Ulf Nilsson, who gave the best years of his career to the Jets, almost sulked when he scored. But he would be the first to celebrate when a teammate clicked.In case no one has noticed, Steen has been the Jets&rsquo; most proficient player this season.Defensively neat, the winger-turned-center has led the team in plus-minus statistics since the middle of January.It is mind-boggling to think that a rookie could play as tidily as he has, especially under the circumstances.When he joined the Jets last fall he spoke virtually no English.He learned to cope with strange teammates living in a new city playing in a sprawling league embracing two foreign countries without the benefit of a working knowledge of the language.&ldquo;I was nervous at the start, he said. &ldquo;I was afraid to try to say too much. I didn&rsquo;t use the right words. Now, it&rsquo;s better. I understand almost everything that&rsquo;s being said. And I&rsquo;m speaking more.&rdquo;Steen has more than carried his weight in the amazing surge of the Jets. Home or away, he&rsquo;s been a conspicuous figure on the ice.However, he is not satisfied with his production. A reluctance to shoot has probably cost him 10-15 goals. He doesn&rsquo;t have to be reminded.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t played that well,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve made many mistakes in my first year. It&rsquo;s, still strange for me.&rdquo;The Jets are not worried. They see his enormous potential.&ldquo;I think at his age you cannot look at his stats and say he hasn&rsquo;t scored much,&rdquo; said Serge Savard, the leader of the Jets.&ldquo;In the future, I see him as a great center who&rsquo;ll be noted for his fine two-way play and his strong skating.&ldquo;Already, he&rsquo;s one of the best twoway centermen in the league.&rdquo;Steen has filled a void handsomely. He gives his coach, Tom Watt, a third starting center with Dale Hawerchuk and Dave Christian. As a group, they are the youngest centers in the league.Hawerchuk turned 19 on the final day of the season. Christian is the old man at 22. A fourth center, Scott Arniel, is 21.Steen thought he would become desperately homesick in his first season.&ldquo;I miss Sweden but not much,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I thought it would be much worse.&rdquo;It helps to have two fellow countrymen on the same team.Bengt Lundholm is a rookie too, though he&rsquo;s a well-travelled 26. Willy Lindstrom has been a member of the team since 1975. He goes back to the halcyon years of the World Hockey Association and he has three championship rings to prove it.Lindstrom and his wife, Britt, have done their utmost to make Steen and his fiancee, Mona, feel comfortable in Winnipeg.&ldquo;Thomas is from my hometown [Grunns], so I feel it&rsquo;s really up to me to see that he&rsquo;s okay,&rdquo; said Lindstrom, who, himself, could barely speak a word of English when he joined the Jets.Steen wonders where he would be without his fellow Swedes.&ldquo;It must be tough to be alone in your first year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are so many new things.&rdquo;The long road trips and thousands of miles of travel were an adjustment.&ldquo;The trips are hard but not too hard,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not fun to be out for 10 days. 1 knew the country was big. Some of the flights are long. It&rsquo;s like flying from Sweden to Spain. That&rsquo;s a long way at home.&rdquo;Television, reading and strolling outdoors have kept him occupied when the team is back in Winnipeg.He and Mona have made several trips to Assiniboine Park to see the animals in the zoo and watch the skaters on the duck pond.&ldquo;There are a lot of people there, even in the winter,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot of fun.&rdquo;As for hockey, he&rsquo;s adapted easily to the Canadian game.He is a most adept checker, who excels in the corners and along the boards.&ldquo;In Sweden, I was a winger and I did a lot of checking,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;1 always played defensively. Really, I&rsquo;ve never played as much center as I do now.&rdquo;The Jets have no notions of moving him back to wing. He is doing too well where he is.&rdquo;BENCH BITS &ndash; Two members of the Jets received death threats prior to a game in Vancouver recently. Dave Christian and Dave Babych admitted they felt uncomfortable after receiving the threats over the phone. The following day they joked about it&hellip;Christian said he offered to trade sweaters with anyone on the team &ldquo;providing they took my plus-minuses too&rdquo;&hellip;He was a minus-45 going into the closing days of the schedule&hellip;After being blasted 15-2 in Minnesota on Nov. 11, the Jets rebounded to beat the North Stars three times. &#9632;

Jets’ Unsung Rookie Steen Is Unbelievably Proficient

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01818/6578815-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Reed Larson reached the 20-goal mark for the third consecutive year as the Wings snapped their losing streak. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>DETROIT &ndash; It&rsquo;s over.The longest streak in Detroit Red Wing history ended at 14 games with a home-and-home sweep over Toronto on the second to last weekend of the National Hockey League season.Rookie right wing Jody Gage&rsquo;s eighth goal snapped a tie and gave Detroit a 2-1 victory over the Leafs in Toronto. The next night in Detroit, Reed Larson turned in a stunning performance in a 6-4 Red Wing victory.Larson scored his 21st goal&mdash;he&rsquo;s gone over the 20-goal mark three straight seasons&mdash;and added two assists, one of them a behind-the-back pass which Danny Gare easily converted into his 20th goal.It was a brilliant game by the 25-year-old captain of the Wings, the kind he&rsquo;s capable of and the kind people expect of him more regularly. But it&rsquo;s not easy playing for a team which is constantly losing.&ldquo;Even at this stage it feels better to win than lose,&rdquo; Larson said.&ldquo;What amazes me is that there are still some fans out there. I think that&rsquo;s great. It&rsquo;s a good sign for someone buying the club.&rdquo;The Wings announced a crowd of 10,150 for the Toronto rematch, although they seemed a bit optimistic. Still, with two home games left in the season the Wings were averaging 12,624 with the second worst team in the league.Bob Sauve was in goal for both victories&mdash;Detroit&rsquo;s first since Feb. 23 in Colorado.Gare&rsquo;s goal, the one set up perfectly by Larson, and another by Greg Joly came while the Wings were shorthanded. In addition, defenseman Greg Smith and Paul Woods each got No. 10 and goal-starved John Ogrodnick scored his 27th.Joly&rsquo;s goal, his first of the season, probably should have been credited to veteran Walk McKechnie, who needed one goal for 200 in his 15-year NHL career.&ldquo;I know I got it in [the net],&rdquo; McKechnie said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to have the puck anyway. But it doesn&rsquo;t matter. Hopefully, I&rsquo;ll play again next year.&rdquo;McKechnie&rsquo;s shot bounced along the crease behind Toronto goaltender Vince Tremblay and came out on the left side of the net where Joly was waiting to pop in the rebound. McKechnie has another year (at $107,000) on his contract with the Wings and wouldn&rsquo;t mind holding on to his current job as a playing assistant coach.&ldquo;Walt has done a helluva job for us,&rdquo; coach Billy Dea said. &ldquo;Ozzie [Mark Osborne] is our leading scorer and Walt has a lot to do with that. He&rsquo;s a knowledgeable hockey guy.&ldquo;When we got that first win I knew it would take the pressure off us.&ldquo;When we were losing all those games we played very well at times but just couldn&rsquo;t score any goals.&rdquo;Larson had a spectacular night and would have had a second goal if his blazing slap shot from inside the blueline hadn&rsquo;t hit Tremblay in the head.&ldquo;It hit him in the head [and flattened Tremblay] and then hit the cross bar and bounced along the crease,&rdquo; Said Larson.Ogrodnick skated in to shove it into the net.WING WIRE&mdash;Some odds and ends&hellip;At one points, the Wings top four goal scorers John Ogrodnick (27), Mark Osborne (24), Mike Blaisdell (22) and Reed Larson (21) had combined for 94 goals&mdash;or two more than Wayne Gretzky&hellip;Defenseman Jim Schoenfeld missed seven games (and likely the final two) with strained ligaments in his left knee&hellip;Willie Huber and Osborne led with power play goals, each with five, while Larson, Ogrodnick and Ted Nolan had two shorthanded goals&hellip;McKechnie got No. 200 in Detroit&rsquo;s 4-2 win over Winnipeg, giving the Wings their longest winning streak of the season, three games&hellip;Gilles Gilbert got the goaltending victory. &#9632;

f0023-01

Red Wings Finish Season On A More Positive Note

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div>PITTSBURGH - Gregg Sheppard&rsquo;s role with the Penguins has undergone a transformation from the time he came to Pittsburgh four seasons ago.&ldquo;I know what&rsquo;s expected of me,&rdquo; says Sheppard. &ldquo;E.J. [coach Eddie Johnston] wants me to be a defensive specialist, holding down the other team&rsquo;s top center and killing penalties.&rdquo;When the Penguins obtained Sheppard from Boston in September 1978 in a three-team trade, Pittsburgh fans thought they were getting a high-scoring center based on his three 30-goal seasons with the Bruins. However, in his four years in Pittsburgh, Sheppard&rsquo;s best statistical season was his first, during which he scored 15 goals and added 22 assists.His lack of scoring and the fact Penguin career-scoring leader Jean Pronovost was the player dealt to Atlanta in the trade, which also saw Dick Redmond go from the Flames to Boston, made Sheppard&rsquo;s first few seasons in Pittsburgh somewhat uncomfortable.&ldquo;I have to turn a deaf ear to that sort of thing,&rdquo; said Sheppard about fans who demand more goals from him. &ldquo;As long as I please E.J., I know I&rsquo;ve got a job. And I know that if he ever puts me into more of an offensive role, 1 can do that, too. When I was in Boston I played behind some big scoring centers, like Phil Esposito, and I still scored 30 goals in three successive years.&rdquo;Perhaps ironically, Sheppard is the only one of the trio involved in the trade who is still playing regularly in the National Hockey League. And like his changing role on the ice, Gregg has come to like living in Pittsburgh.&ldquo;My family and I like Pittsburgh very much,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In fact, if the right business opportunity came along, I&rsquo;d be happy to stay here after I&rsquo;m through playing.&rdquo;The 32-year-old Sheppard is in his 10th season in the NHL, and goaltender Gary Edwards is the only older Penguin player.&ldquo;I know the younger players expect me to be prepared especially well for every game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They have to have confidence in us veterans, especially on special teams&mdash;killing penalties and the power play.&ldquo;Being experienced, I find it easier to be ready for every game. It does, however, take more mental preparation to play defensively. You have to be disciplined.&ldquo;The younger players expect that when I go over the boards to kill a penalty, I&rsquo;m going to do the job. E.J. usually lets me and George Ferguson stays out as long as we can when we&rsquo;re killing a penalty. Sometimes we play the entire two minutes. Then you&rsquo;re whipped because it drains you mentally and physically.&rdquo;In addition to killing penalties, playing center and some left wing, the 5-8, 170-pounder is designated by Johnston to check the opposition&rsquo;s top centers, such as Wayne Gretzky and Marcel Dionne.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re all very similar,&rdquo; said Sheppard about the players he is called upon to shadow. &ldquo;It seems like they have four or five eyes around their head. They always seem to hit the open man.&rdquo;With the emphasis in the NHL shifting to youth, Sheppard&rsquo;s playing days may be nearing an end.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d still like to play more, but next year&rsquo;s my option year and it&rsquo;s hard to say what the situation will be,&rdquo; said Sheppard, who owns a cattle ranch in his native Saskatchewan. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve also tried to prepare myself for the day when I&rsquo;m no longer a player.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve done a lot of different things, and I&rsquo;d like to try more. I want to keep my options open. I think I&rsquo;d do well in sales or construction-related activity. And 1 wouldn&rsquo;t definitely go back to Canada. I like it here. I wouldn&rsquo;t mind staying in hockey in some capacity, either.&rdquo;A man who has adjusted to a transformation on the ice, Gregg Sheppard probably will adapt well to the future, too.PENGUIN TRACKS &ndash; Edwards&rsquo; 6-0 shutout of Colorado was the Penguins&rsquo; first whitewash in 156 games, dating back to Greg Millen&rsquo;s 3-0 win against Washington on March 30, 1980, and the first road shutout since Dec. 16, 1979, in Chicago&hellip;Penguins became the first NHL team to score 90 or more power-play goals in two seasons. They scored 92 last season. &#9632;

Sheppard Adapts To E.J’s Wishes

<div class="byline">BY PATRICK LYON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01873/6578877-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Richard David of the Express has quite a collection of pucks, 50 in all, which he has deposited into various AHL nets this year. (Photo By Doug Daley)</figcaption></div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyPORTLAND&mdash;And the new coach of the Mariners is&hellip;Jerry Melnyk.The parent Philadelphia Flyers stunned more than a few people when they called upon Maine coach Bob McCammon to replace Pat Quinn with the big club, but they also left the Mariners without a coach for awhile.After some deliberation, and a powwow between chairman Ed Snider, president Ed Anderson, general manager Keith Allen and McCammon, Melnyk, a member of the Flyers&rsquo; organization for the past 14 years, mostly as a scout, was handed the job.A player for 14 years, four of them in the NHL, Melnyk was installed because of his familiarity with the Mariners&rsquo; personnel and the Flyers&rsquo; system.The Mariners brass had appointed John Paddock as interim coach while the veteran was recuperating from a broken arm suffered in early January. Paddock filled in for two games while McCammon was recovering from the flu and guided Maine to two straight wins while directing the club behind the bench.McCammon returned to his post for one last time before taking on his duties with the Flyers and Paddock once again ran the club while team executives pondered their next move.Maine fell in consecutive road outings in Hrshey 4-3 and Binghamton 7-2 before Paddock earned his first triumph as interim coach with the Mariners, besting Nova Scotia 5-2 on home ice behind two Gordie Clark lamplighters.The Mariners showcased three of the top four scorers in the AHL in Gordie Clark, Wayne Schaab and Paul Evans. Clark had 91 points while approaching the all-time Mariner record of 95 set by Bernie Johnston while Schaab totaled 86 and Evans 84. Schaab was also nearing Johnston&rsquo;s record of 66 assists as he had passed off for 63 goals.FREDERICTON &ndash; Though they had the worst record in the AHL, the Express were not without their record setters. High scoring Richard David established a new mark when he pushed his power play goal total to 25 for the season which wiped out the old record of 22 set by Randy Wilson of Springfield a year ago.David also became the first player from an expansion team to hit the 50-goal mark when he scored a power play in the second period of a game against New Haven at the Aitken Centre in Fredericton. He is the 13th player in AHL history to reach the 50-goal plateau and the first in eight years.The Express also were nearing two team records with their 19-50-5 record. They seemed a sure bet to beat out Philadelphia&rsquo;s old record of least victories (23) in an 80-game season and needed just one more loss to tie the most defeats by one team (51).Fredericton fell in two road games to Rochester 4-1 and to the Hawks 8-4. Scott McGeown had the only goal vs. Rochester, David nailing down a pair against New Brunswick.BINGHAMTON: &ndash; A whale of a celebration was just one win away for Binghamton since one more victory or one loss by Rochester would give the Whalers their first division championship. It is the first time in the club&rsquo;s five-year history that they have had a winning record, as they have exceeded many team marks.Two more home victories ran the Whalers&rsquo; unbeaten streak at home to 15-0-2, which was the longest this season. They had not lost at home since January 8.The Whalers held their breath when goalie Ken Holland was checked to the boards and injured against Maine, but the shot blocker was expected to return after missing only a few games. Holland had won 27 games with a 2.95 goals-against average.With Michel Plasse also out with a groin injury, amateur Dean Mills was pressed into action and was outstanding with 23 saves on 25 shots in his pro debut.Glenn Merkosky showed the way in the 6-2 win over Maine with his third hat trick of the season and also had a goal and four assists in a 7-2 decision over Nova Scotia. Binghamton held the Vees to just 14 shotsROCHESTER&mdash;For the first time since the 1964-65 season the Americans had five 30-goal scorers. Chris Halyk was the latest member to join the 30-goal group which includes Bob Mongrain, Gilles Hamel, Kai Suikkanen and Mal Davis.Goalie Jacques Cloutier, making his first appearance since breaking his collarbone on February 2, helped the Americans snap a three-game winless streak in a 4-1 decision of the Express. Cloutier made 30 saves while Halyk was getting a hat trick and Gorman three assists.Maurie Eivola, a 19-year-old product of Finland recorded his first professional goal and it proved to be the same winner in a 5-4 win over the Bears. Halyk added three more points in the victory.Halyk was riding a nine-game scoring streak with 16 points and linemate Gorman was just behind in scoring in six consecutive and 11 points.NEW BRUNSWICK &ndash; For the first time in four years it appeared another AHL team was ready to lay claim to the Harry &ldquo;Hap&rdquo; Holmes Trophy. The award is given annually to the team whose goaltenders have given up the least goals and the Hawks looked to have the Trophy wrapped up at press time.Maine had claimed the special trophy for the last three years, but New Brunswick was ready to steal it away since they had yielded but 206 goals in 73 games. Binghamton was second with 241 goals against.NOVA SCOTIA &ndash; The Vees were trying to avert only their second losing season in 13 years in the AHL. Nova Scotia had three regular season games to improve on their 32-35-10 record as they had a streak of ten consecutive winning seasons on the line.Nova Scotia had only one other losing season in 1970-71 when they went 27-31-14 under Ron Caron and Floyd Curry. Though prospects for a .500 season looked dim, the Vees can still boast of the best turnaround at the box office where they have averaged over 2,200 more fans per game than a year ago.Dan Bolduc of Nova Scotia led the league with eight game-winning goals in scoring 71 points in 68 games.The Vees started off their road trip on a good note as Bolduc hit for three goals, including two power play strikes in a 3-2 road win in New Haven. Guy Carbonneau assisted on all three scores and Greg Moffet steered away 40 shots in the nets.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02571/6578870-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="611" height="915"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Janecyk&rsquo;s 2.83 goals-against average is leading New Brunswick to the Hap Holmes Trophy.</figcaption></div>It was all downhill from there with the Vees dropping consecutive road outings in Binghamton 7-2, Springfield 7-3, Adirondack 6-3 and Maine 5-2. Dwight Schofield had two in the loss in Binghamton.SPRINGFIELD&mdash;The Indians were headed for their fourth losing season in a row and were scrambling to make the playoffs as their chances were hanging by a thread with elimination just around the corner.John Davidson had given the club a big lift with his goaltending as the shot blocker won two of three starts with a 2.40 goals-against.Bob Bedier helped the Indians to their only win of the week as he hit for two goals in a 7-3 decision of Nova Scotia.Gary Bums was wielding a hot stick with nine points in six games.NEW HAVEN &ndash; The Nighthawks were eyeing two club records as they took the league&rsquo;s best road record into their final Maritime swing of the year. Owners of a 17-14-4 road mark, the Nighthawks were just one win and two points shy of bettering the totals of the 1978-79 club.New Haven showed a 16-10-4 record under coach Nick Beverley after the coaching change that sent Don Perry to Los Angeles.Bobby Sheehan remained one goal short of becoming the fifth all-time leading goal setter in Nighthawks history and Scott Gruhl&rsquo;s next assist would gain a tie with Blake Dunlop&rsquo;s rookie record of 41.Gary Bromley and Jim Rutherford continued their superior goaltending with Bromley gaining his third shutout in a 6-0 blanking of Erie. Bromley kicked out all 25 Erie shots in running his record over 11 games to 7-3-1. Rutherford was almost as sharp with a 7-2-3 mark in 12 games.Steve Jensen collected seven points in five games, including three assists against the Blades which featured six individual goal scorers.The Nighthawks also fell to Nova Scotia 3-2 at home before 4,856.ADIRONDACK &ndash; The Red Wings came on strong when they had to as they closed in on a playoff spot and a chance to defend their Calder Cup title.After a winless streak that saw them struggling at 0-8-1, the Red Wings of coach Doug McKay did a complete turn around and won six straight (a team record) and seven of eight games. Don Murdoch proved a big help in the drive and was honored as Player of the Month.The Red Wings competed in a scoring festival with Erie before winning 7-5 at home before 5,733 and also dropped Nova Scotia 6-3. Murdoch and Brian McDavid both had three points in the win over Erie as the two clubs combined for 50 goals in the last three games in Glens Falls.Scott Vanderburgh recorded a hat trick in the victory over the Vees.Mark Lofthouse became the Red Wings&rsquo; second 30-goal scorer in their three-year history as he joined Mal Davis, who had 34.Veterans Pete Mahovlich and Murdoch had played an instrumental role in the win streak with both players getting 16 points over a six-game span.HERSHEY&mdash;The Bears may be wishing they saw even more of the Maine Mariners this season. Hershey continued to be the jinx team for the Mariners as they beat them for the sixth time in seven games via a 4-3 home decision before 6,486.The Bears were the only team in the AHL to hold a winning record against the Mariners. Jean Pronovost got the same winner late in the third period and Dwayne Lowdermilk contributed three points.Wes Jarvis upped his point scoring streak to 13 straight while scoring 30 points along the way. Jarvis is a linemate of Pronovost and Lowdermilk and the trio accumulated 27 points over a four game span.ERIE&mdash;The Blades have been one of the highest scoring teams all season, but their downfall came in their goals against in which they led the circuit. Erie established an alltime record for goals against when they lost to New Haven 6-0.With four games remaining, the Blades had yielded 399 goals which beat by nine the old record held by Springfield and set in 1976-77. Erie should also become only the third team in AHL history to give up more than 400 goals in a year with the last time being over 30 years ago. &#9632;

f0026-01

Melnyk Replaces McCammon At Mariners’ Helm

CINCINNATI - Just like the South Division, the CHL North had two quick changes in the top spot. Salt Lake, which had led for 98 days, was replaced by the Cincy Tigers on Wednesday, regained the No. 1 berth on Friday, but lost it again on Sunday.Doug Carpenter&rsquo;s Tigers beat Nashville at home (8-3) and won in Oklahoma City (8-5) to run their victory string to seven. But OC won the rematch (7-2) before the Cats came home to edge Indianapolis (3-2). That left Cincy on top with 92 points, while Salt Lake had 91, Indy 85 and Nashville 82.Frank Nigro scored four goals against Nashville, two of them coming in a six-goal opening period. Four goals in the last period&mdash;by Gary Yaremchuk, Paul Marshall, Nigro and Reggie Thomas&mdash;broke open a 4-4 game Wednesday in OC. Ron Zanussi and Nigro scored less than two minutes apart for the rallying victory over Indy that brought the Tigers back into first place.NASHVILLE &ndash; Rookie Mike Sands, up from the Sudbury juniors, was proving a pleasant surprise in the nets for coach Gene Ubriaco. The South Stars dropped an 8-3 game in Cincinnati, split in Salt Lake (winning 7-3) and losing 2-5), then wound up the road trip with a 3-3 tie in Indianapolis. Daniel Poulin, who had broken all scoring records for CHL defensemen, was recalled by the Minnesota North Stars, presumably for only one game.Ron Friest had two goals in the rallying tie against Indianapolis. Rob Flockhart and Craig Homola scored twice in the win at Salt Lake. Winger Robbie Laird came back from a two-month layoff with a pulled groin.SALT LAKE &ndash; The Golden Eagles broke their eight-game losing streak by beating Nashville, 5-2, but then took to the road for a 7-1 loss in Oklahoma City that cost them their just-regained top ranking. Earlier the Birds had bowed at home to Nashville, 7-3.Bobby Crawford and John Markell each scored twice in beating Nashville, after getting one goal apiece in the loss to the South Stars. In Oklahoma City Crawford got the lone Eagle tally, spoiling Hardy Astrom&rsquo;s shutout bid at 17:07 of the second period.INDIANAPOLIS &ndash; A 6-1 romp in Fort Worth was the Checkers&rsquo; only victory. Their only home games were ties, 4-4 against Tulsa and 3-3 against Nashville, but they lost on the road in Dallas (4-2) and Cincinnati (3-2).Center Dave Simpson from the London Knights, leading scoring in the Ontario Hockey League (68 goals, 156 points), came in for a pro trial. Forward Monty Trottier missed three games with a bruised shoulder.Charlie Skjodt had two goals as the Checkers fought from a two-goal deficit to tie Tulsa. Frank Beaton scored twice in the romp at Fort Worth, but the real damage was done in the middle period. After a scoreless first, Steve Stoyanovich and Kevin Devine scored 29 seconds apart, then Mats Hallin and Lome Stamler had tallies barely a minute apart. Stoyanovich had both goals against Dallas, after the Hawks had taken charge. Two goals by Skjodt and one by Beaton, all in the second period, built up a 3-1 lead over Nashville, but the South Stars came back to tie. Skjodt and Garth MacGuigan each put the Checkers in front at Cincy, but the leads vanished. &#9632;

Tigers, Eagles Seesaw North’s Lead

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02508/6579012-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="612" height="430"></div>In 1982, Haliburton Hockey Haven begins its 17th summer offering an outstanding hockey program phis a complete summer camp experience. Located on majestic Koshlong Lake, Haliburton, Ontario, Canada, Haliburton Hockey Haven provides all boys 7-16 with approximately 2&frac12; hours of professional on-ice instruction each day along with all the fun and excitement of summer camping.Accredited Member of ONTARIO CAMPING ASSOCIATIONJoin These Stars!*Haliburton Hockey Haven is more than just another hockey school!It will be one of the best summers of your boy&rsquo;s life!For free color brochure and application, please fill in information below and forward to Haliburton Hockey Haven, Box 214, Islington, Ontario, Canada, M9A 4X2, or phone (416) 236-2855.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03326/6579005-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="182" height="218"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04223/6578998-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="184" height="214"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dale Hawerchuk</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-05157/6578991-1-eng-US/f0027-052.jpg" title="f0027-05" width="184" height="214"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Coffey</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-06124/6578984-1-eng-US/f0027-062.jpg" title="f0027-06" width="160" height="205"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al Secord</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-07103/6578977-1-eng-US/f0027-072.jpg" title="f0027-07" width="190" height="214"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Gartner</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0890/6578970-1-eng-US/f0027-082.jpg" title="f0027-08" width="184" height="205"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Napier</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-0986/6578963-1-eng-US/f0027-092.jpg" title="f0027-09" width="560" height="420"></div>Great New Experiences at the Rink and at the CampHockey Experiences&hellip;Approximately 294 hours of ice time each day including skills training, &ldquo;skating for hockey&rdquo; and scrimmages under the personal instruction of a large, experienced professional hockey staff. Specialized instruction for our goalie campers.Water Experiences&hellip;Canoeing, rowing, windsurfing, kayaking, sailing, swimming, special regatta days and more&mdash;all fully supervised.Field Experiences&hellip;Badminton, baseball, basketball, soccer, fitness trail, volleyball, shuffleboard.Camp Experiences&hellip;Campfires, hikes, over-nights, talent nights, singTHE STARS COME OUTThe Great Gretzky, Hawerchuk, Coffey, Secord, Gartner and Napier! Each week, one of these NHL guest stars will spend a day at Camp. They&rsquo;ll participate in different camp activities during the day and in the evening, they&rsquo;ll talk hockey, answer questions and give autographs. Campers will also have their cabin group pictures taken with these super pros.It&rsquo;s only happening at Haliburton Hockey Haven! &#9632;

f0027-02

There’s No Reason Developing Hockey Skills Can’t Be Fun!

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyOKLAHOMA CITY - Stars&rsquo; owner John W. Hail filed for reorganization under the bankruptcy laws, staving off an action by creditors who had sued the hockey club and were trying to attach the gate receipts.&ldquo;It was the only way we would be able to finish out the schedule, including the playoffs,&rdquo; Hail told the press. The Stars were reportedly averaging only 2,800 in attendance at the mammoth Myriad. The petition filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court sought protection under Chapter 11 of the federal Bankruptcy Act until the owners can restructure and pay debts.&ldquo;After the season ends,&rdquo; Hail said, &ldquo;we&rsquo;ll have to make a decision where we go from there. Maybe someone else will come to the front and operate the team.David Poile, assistant general manager of the parent Calgary Flames, said if the current owners can&rsquo;t operate the Stars, then new owners will be sought, or the Flames might operate the franchise themselves.Hail bought controlling interest in the team in December, 1979. Oklahoma City has been in the Central League for fifteen seasons, but not continuously. As the Blazers, they operated for seven years (1966-72) as a farm club of the Boston Bruins. After missing a season, the Blazers rejoined the CHL for three years (1973-76), backed by the Toronto Maple Leafs, and played the 1976-77 campaign under the sponsorship of the Phoenix Roadrunners and Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association.After another season without pro hockey, Oklahoma City re-entered the league as the Stars in 1978, affiliated with the Minnesota North Stars. When Minnesota moved its farm franchise to Nashville last summer, Hail signed a working agreement with Calgary.On the ice, things weren&rsquo;t as grim as at the box office. Center Bobby Francis broke two club records, and the Stars won two out of five games for the week. They blitzed Cincinnati, 7-2, and Salt Lake, 7-1, on successive nights at home. But earlier they had bowed in Wichita, 7-4, and at home to Cincy, 8-5. The week ended with a 5-3 loss in Tulsa.That left the Stars kicked into fourth place in the division (eighth overall), assured of the last spot in the playoffs but unable to climb any higher.Francis, 22-year-old son of St. Louis Blues&rsquo; president GM Emile Francis, took over the league scoring leadership on 105 points, after garnering five goals and six assists in the five games. Cincinnati&rsquo;s Reggie Thomas and Salt Lake&rsquo;s Richie Hansen, the former league-leader, were tied at 103.Bobby&rsquo;s hat trick in the 8-1 romp over Salt Lake gave him 41 goals, breaking Greg Sheppard&rsquo;s club record of 40 in 1972-72. His 105 points topped the franchise record of 101 by Jim Lorentz in 1968-69.With a shortage of blueliners, coach Tommy McVie moved big winger Alex McKendry to defense, after moving Greg Meredith back to the blueline earlier in the season. Defenders Gord Wappel and Ralph Andreesen were lost with knee and leg problems, respectively. (Wappel had undergone surgery.) Forwards Mike Prestidge and Dave Hindmarch had shoulder injuries.Four goals in the final period&mdash;by Bill Hobbins, McKendry, Grant Rezansoff and Dave Debol, clinched the win over Cincy, after Theran Walsh, Rick Vasko and Francis had scored in the second. Francis scored twice in the first period against Salt Lake, and again in the third. Tim Harrer had two goals. Hobbins scored the first and last OC goals in the loss to Cincinnati.DALLAS&mdash;The Black Hawks broke their five-game losing streak with not one but two victories, taking Indianapolis at home, 4-2, then winning in Fort Worth, 4-2. That one snapped a string of 11 straight road losses, 13 games without a win. But Fort Worth got revenge, 5-2, the next night in the Dallas rink.A pair of juniors, goalie Frank Caprice from London and defender Andy Schliebener from Peterborough, joined the Hawks on professional tryouts.Two first-period goals by Art Rutland (along with Schliebener&rsquo;s first pro goal) featured the win over Indy. The Hawks got three in the first period at Fort Worth&mdash;from Rob Tudor, Bill Hogaboam and Jerry Butler. Caprice was in the nets for the loss to Fort Worth. Kelly Kisio got his 55th goal in that game, retaining the league lead over Tulsa&rsquo;s Kris Manery, who had 52.FORT WORTH&mdash;In spite of winning their last invasion of archrival Dallas, 5-2, the Texans lost the interstate series, 10-5-2. Earlier they had lost at home to Indianapolis (6-1) and Dallas (4-2). After the victory in Dallas, the Texans came home to be walloped by Wichita, 12-0.Forward Steve Peters had to play the last 49 seconds of that massacre in the Fort Worth nets. Rick LaFerriere started, but was replaced by Steve Janaszak at 15:14 of the third period, after Wichita&rsquo;s eighth goal of the period and made it 11-0. Janaszak became the third man into a bout between Texan Les Auge and Wichita&rsquo;s Todd Bidner at 19:11, and drew a game misconduct.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01825/6578908-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="598" height="930"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dallas&rsquo; Rick Blight led the Hawks to victory with a hat trick in a span of just 47 seconds.</figcaption></div>With LaFerriere already into street clothes, and only 49 seconds left, Texans coach Andy Laing inserted Peters as the new goalie. All the Fort Worth goalie equipment was in the dressing room, but Wichita&rsquo;s Andy Moog obligingly threw his protective equipment and stick onto the ice. Peters donned them, but quickly had to remove them, since he was not entitled to wear the goalie equipment in the net.The new goaltender faced only two shots, and stopped one of them. But Roy Sommer got his own rebound and put it into the net. It was officially classed as an empty-net goal.Coach Laing quipped, &ldquo;Steve has got to work on his rebounds.&rdquo; The loss eliminated Fort Worth from the playoffs.Bobby Miller had a hat trick in the victory at Dallas, scoring twice in the first period (his first after only 14 seconds) and an empty-net goal with 28 seconds left.TULSA&mdash;The Oilers fell out of first place when they played a 4-4 tie in Indianapolis. They regained the top spot by winning in Wichita, 5-3, but were dethroned the next night by a 6-5 loss to the same foe at home. A 5-3 Sunday home win over Oklahoma City left them a point behind the Wind.Defenseman Moe Mantha was recalled by the parent Winnipeg Jets. Defenseman Don Maclver missed nine games with a back problem, and center Doug Lecuyer four games with a severe cheek gash (an artery was exposed, but not severed).Four goals in the final period wrapped up the victory in Wichita, after Tulsa&rsquo;s Ron Wilson and the Wind&rsquo;s Blair Barnes had scored in the first. Danny Geoffrion, Ben Gosselin, Tom Gibson and Mantha scored in the third-period barrage. Murray Eaves had two goals in the home loss. Rick Bowness scored twice at Indianapolis, where the Oilers blew a 4-2 lead early in the third period. It was the Oilers&rsquo; first tie in 73 games this season.WICHITA&mdash;With their sixth straight victory, 7-4 at home over Oklahoma City, the Wind moved into first place, promptly lost it with a 5-3 loss at home to Tulsa, but regained the top rung by whipping the Oilers, 6-5, in Tulsa, then confirmed their hold on first place by clobbering Fort Worth, 12-0, in the Texans&rsquo; Will Rogers Coliseum, with Gord Garbutt registering his first pro shutout.Ken Berry and Nick Blight had hat tricks in the runaway at Fort Worth, with Blight getting his three goals on the same shift in a matter of 47 seconds. The Wind scored nine times in that wild third period, seven of the goals coming in 4:53.As a result, the Wind had 84 points in the standings to Tulsa&rsquo;s 83, with Dallas a distant third at 77. Oklahoma City had 49, and Fort Worth 39. &#9632;

f0027-01

Stars Forced To Claim Bankruptcy As Hail Tries To Reorganize Club

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>H&BLouisville HockeyH&BLouisville HockeyTOLEDO&mdash;Bill Beagan and Bill Inglis have accomplished their mission. Part of it, at any rate.A year ago at this time, Inglis can recall he had to look at the International Hockey League standings upside down to find Toledo at the top. Not this year. The Diggers completed a 180 degree turn with a perfect 3-0-0 week to nail down the regular season championship and win the Huber Trophy.Toledo fans are accustomed to their hockey team winning trophies. But not the Huber Trophy. &ldquo;The Huber what?,&rdquo; they might ask. The Turner Cup is the most popular trophy in Toledo. That goes to the IHL team which wins the playoffs. Toledo last won the league championship in 1963-64. Toledo has won three playoff crowns since.Toledo wrapped up the league title in championship style, winning against the closest competition and taking two of the three victories on the road. Toledo blanked Kalamazoo on the road, 2-0, and nipped Milwaukee, also on the road, 6-5. The trophy-clinching win was at home, where it was most appreciated. The opposition was again Kalamazoo, who fell, 5-3.&ldquo;We beat a good team to end up No. 1,&rdquo; Inglis said in an interview with the Toledo Blade. &ldquo;We beat Kalamazoo and Milwaukee on the road and then Kalamazoo here at home in our last three games. We didn&rsquo;t back in, we beat the second and third-place teams.&ldquo;This is a good bunch of guys. They proved over an 82-game schedule they&rsquo;re the best team in this league. It doesn&rsquo;t matter where you put them, or who you put them with, they all get along together and work their butts off.&rdquo;The jump from last to first was especially rewarding for six players&mdash;and Inglis. The six and Inglis were with the team when it finished last. And almost didn&rsquo;t open the season this year.The six are Rod McNair, Dirk Graham, Gordie MacFarlane, Paul Tantardini, Mike LaBianca and Dave Falkenberg. Recalling last year, Falkenberg said, &ldquo;They laughed at us. But they&rsquo;re not laughing at us any more. It&rsquo;s great to be a winner.Brian Kinsella realizes the job isn&rsquo;t finished as yet. &ldquo;We have two goals left,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;To break the IHL point record (109) and win the Turner Cup.&rdquo; Toledo, with seven games remaining on the regular season, had 101 points.The happiest guy in the Digger family is probably Beagan. If it weren&rsquo;t for him, the Toledo franchise in all probability would have followed Port Huron into escrow. But Beagan wanted to be part of a hockey team and is now one of the owners.While Toledo has the championship locked up, the final order of finish was still up for grabs as the league entered its final weeks. The six playoff teams hadn&rsquo;t been decided until the last minute with sixth place and the final playoff berth coming down to a battle between Flint and Muskegon. And it was Flint which survived to go on to post-season action.Here&rsquo;s a look at the other teams and their playoff possibilities:MILWAUKEE &ndash; The Admirals were still clinging to second place with 85 points. That&rsquo;s three above third-place Kalamazoo. Milwaukee skated .500 during the week, winning a pair and losing a pair. The two losses came at home, the 6-5 reverse to Toledo and a 7-4 decision to Fort Wayne which has given Milwaukee trouble all season. Fort Wayne also eliminated Milwaukee in the opening round of the playoffs last season.The two victories came over Flint. In a home-and-home series. The Ads won at home, 5-3, and then nipped the Generals in Flint, 5-4, on John Flesch&rsquo;s goal in the overtime period.KALAMAZOO &ndash; The K-Wings lost ground in their chase for second place, failing to win in three starts. The Wings got one point in a 3-3 tie with Saginaw. They lost at home to Toledo, 2-0, and on the road, 5-3. Kalamazoo has won just twice in its last nine games, not a healthy situation with playoffs on the near horizon.As the season wound down, Kalamazoo was skating with a 38-34-4 record.FORT WAYNE &ndash; The Komets may be reaching their peak at just the right time. Coach Ron Ullyot has suffered through a frustrating season but the Komets may have finally settled down. The Komets have won four of their last five games on the road and are certain to make the playoffs. Currently in fifth place, the Komets also split during the week, winning twice and losing twice. They won their lone home game, 8-2 over Saginaw, and went 1-2 on the road. They lost at Muskegon, 5-3, to Saginaw in a rematch, 6-5, before winning at Milwaukee, 7-4.Barry Scully, the IHL goal-scoring champion last season, had a good week with a pair of hat tricks. He now has 53 goals.SAGINAW&mdash; Saginaw stayed close to the Komets by skating 1-1-1 during the week. The one win was the 6-5 win over Fort Wayne. In addition, the Gears tied Kalamazoo on the road, 3-3, while losing the 8-2 decision in Fort Wayne.FLINT&mdash; The Generals didn&rsquo;t do their playoff chances any good during the week, losing twice. Flint was just three points in front of last-place Muskegon and was in danger of not qualifying for the post-season party Flint lost at Milwaukee, 5-3, and dropped an overtime decision to the Admirals at home, 5-4. Then they spurted taking two of three to move beyond Muskegon&rsquo;s grasp.MUSKEGON &ndash; The Mohawks had a light week, playing just once. The Mohawks beat Fort Wayne, 5-3 just before the end and then went out needing to win their remaining games. Back to back losses to Toledo and Milwaukee ended their hopes.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01866/6579043-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="597" height="791"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Tantardini is one of six Toledo players who went from last place to first.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Goaldiggers Leapfrog IHL To Capture Huber

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BROPHY</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSTORONTO&mdash;It seems that the fashionable thing to do in hockey these days is to jump on the bandwagon saying Kitchener Rangers&rsquo; scoring star Brian Bellows won&rsquo;t be the first player selected in the 1982 National Hockey League draft. Whether Bellows will or won&rsquo;t be the first player taken, he is still the most attractive property available from the Ontario Hockey League.The Boston Bruins will decide who is the top junior available when they make the first choice, via a trade with the Colorado Rockies, who finished last in the NHL this season.&ldquo;Bellows is the type of player who can be the &lsquo;franchise&rsquo; like Bobby Orr or Wayne Gretzky were,&rdquo; said one NHL scout. &ldquo;But the Bruins don&rsquo;t need a franchise, they need defense. They might just go for a defenseman.&rdquo;If Bellows doesn&rsquo;t got to the Bruins, he would certainly be picked second.Tagged as a future NHL star since he was a peewee, Bellows had been the guiding force of the Rangers during his two years with the team.As a 16-year-old, Bellows was captain of the Rangers and helped them to the Memorial Cup finals. He led the team in scoring-with 49 goals and 67 assists for 116 points. This season Bellows was injured, a shoulder separation, but still managed 45 goals and 52 assists in 47 games.He is a hard skating, ever-thinking right wing and will be a fine addition to who ever selects him.Here is a list of those some scouts feel are the top 9 players available for the draft from the OHL after Mr. Bellows.2&mdash;Rookie defenseman Scott Stevens of Kitchener has emerged as one of the best blueliners in the OHL. He has everything it takes to play professionally, standing six feet tall and weighing in at 200 pounds. He scored six goals and added 36 assists with 155 minutes in penalties.3&mdash;Dave Andreychuk of the Oshawa Generals is the most improved player in the OHL. A gangly but determined center, Andreychuk jumped from 22 goals as a rookie to 57 this season. He&rsquo;s expected to make the NHL next season as a 19-year-old.4&mdash;Ottawa 67&rsquo;s rookie Darcy Roy, 5-11, and 187 pounds, impressed many with his aggressive style both at home and on the road. He scored 22 goals and added 20 assists on a team that used one line for offense and the rest as filler. He wasn&rsquo;t on the big offensive line, which makes his rookie stats more impressive.5&mdash;Steve Seguin of the Kingston Canadians is a 6-1, 183 pound right winger who doesn&rsquo;t appear ready to make the jump to the NHL yet but has given every indication that he will be there eventually. Seguin had 23 goals and 31 assists.6&mdash;Big defenseman Jim Kyte of the Cornwall Royals (6-4, 195 pounds) gave scouts fits when he went down late in the season with a knee injury but he returned and everything is AOkay. A defenseman who is defensive minded, rare these days.7&mdash;Carmine Vani of Kingston slumped in mid-season but has the-potential to be a great pro. A hardnosed forward and good skater, Vani scored 11 goals and 16 assists along with 138 penalty minutes.8&mdash;Peterborough Petes&rsquo; big left winger Dave Reid could be the second coming of Frank Mahovlich. At 6-2, 212 pounds, Reid is very coachable. Tell him to hit, he will. Tell him to shoot more, he will. He even has filled in on occasion on defense. Reid scored 10 goals and added 32 assists on an all rookie line.9&mdash;Reid&rsquo;s linemate Brad Ramsden is a sleeper. The 6-1, 193 pound right winger shows the potential to be a great goal scorer but in his rookie season, prefered to pass, rather than shoot. Ramsden is a hard-nosed player.10&mdash;Sudbury Wolves&rsquo; Tim Hrynewich lacks only the consistency it takes to be a great hockey player. He scored 29 goals and added 41 assists and picked up 144 penalty minutes.Other players who are very attractive to be the scouts this season and could go high in the draft include Sault Ste. Marie&rsquo;s Richard Beaulne, Pat Verbeek of Sudbury, Chris Kontos of Toronto, Paul Lawless and Dan Ryder of Windsor; Mike Posavad of Peterborough; Brad Shaw and Jeff Vaive of Ottawa; Ari Vuori of Niagara Falls; Dave Gans of Oshawa; Brent Loney and Doug Gilmour of Cornwall.The playoffs continue to offer a few surprises.The Brantford Alexanders scored a 9-5 win over the Sault Greyhounds to even their eight-point Emms division semifinal series 6-6 before the Sault won out in the 7th game. Earlier, Len Hachborn&rsquo;s power play goal in the third period gave the Alexanders a 2-1 victory. Soo won game three 7-1.In the other Emms&rsquo; division series, Kitchener did as expected when they bumped the Windsor Spitfires from the playoff scene in four straight. Spits&rsquo; goalie Kevin Hamlin did his best to halt the Rangers&rsquo; attack but it wasn&rsquo;t enough.The Rangers won game two 2-0 with Wendell Young getting the shutout; took game three 7-3 and game four 9-4.The Ottawa 67&rsquo;s and Oshawa Generals both managed to advance to the Leyden division finals, by eliminating the Toronto Marlboros and Peterborough Petes respectively.The 67&rsquo;s took the big lead when they beat Toronto 6-3. Rookie Don McLaren led the way with two goals and an assist. Toronto won game three 4-3 after Ottawa took the second game 4-3.The Petes won the opening game of the series but Oshawa responded with three straight wins. In the third game of the series, there was almost a repeat of last season&rsquo;s ugly pre-game brawl when Generals&rsquo; Ali Butorac and Peterborough&rsquo;s Wayne Fortune squared off in the warmup. Butorac was suspended for two games for crossing into the Peterborough zone.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01758/6579081-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="602" height="954"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bellows&rsquo; Kitchener teammate Scott Stevens is said to possess all of the tools for the NHL.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02486/6579074-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="602" height="910"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cornwall&rsquo;s Jim Kyte scared many a scout with a knee injury but was able to bounce back.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Kitchener’s Bellows Still Tops OHL; Rated Most Attractive Pro Prospect

<div class="byline">BY GREGG DRINNAN</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyCALGARY&mdash;The stage has been set and now 10 Western Hockey League teams have started along the trail to the Memorial Cup.Of the WHL&rsquo;s 12 teams, only the Medicine Hat Tigers and Winnipeg Warriors failed to qualify for postseason play.And, the first-round matchups&mdash;all best-of-seven series&mdash;look like this!<h2>EASTERN DIVISION</h2>Lethbridge Broncos vs Billings Bighorns: The Broncos finished on top of the Eastern Division and were also first overall. And, they ended up with an 11-3 edge in games with Billings. On home-ice, the Broncos won six of seven and in Billings they took five of seven. Down the stretch, Lethbridge got some phenomenal play out of defenseman Randy Moller, while the sixth-place Bighorns are without defenseman Gord Kluzak, certain to be one of the first players taken in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s 1982 draft. He&rsquo;s sidelined with a knee injury.Regina Pats vs Brandon Wheat Kings: The Pats, who finished second, are the WHL&rsquo;s most explosive club, but have suffered between the pipes. The fifth-place Wheat Kings can score goals and, despite a horrendous defensive record, have solid goaltenders in Ron Hextall and Todd Lumbard. During the season, the Pats won nine of 12, including all six on home ice. The teams each won three times in Brandon.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01859/6579119-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="609" height="927"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Lamb had nine points in three games to assure Billings a playoff spot.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02572/6579112-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="595" height="875"><figcaption class="caption-body">While Calgary relies on its defense, Dan Bourbonnais has to key their attack.</figcaption></div>Saskatoon Blades vs Calgary Wranglers: This looks like one of those classic matchups between offense and defense. The third-place Blades stood second in offense at season&rsquo;s end, while the fourth-place Wranglers, paced by goaltender Mike Vernon, gave up 266 goals, the lowest total in the league. The teams split six regular-season outings, each winning two of three on home-ice.<h2>WESTERN DIVISION</h2>Portland Winter Hawks vs Kamloops Oilers: The Winter Hawks, the Western Division&rsquo;s top club over the regular season, took 11 of 16 games from the Oilers, but fourth-place Kamloops came on late in the season. In Portland, the Winter Hawks won seven times in eight outings, while the teams were 4-4 in Kamloops.Victoria Cougars vs Seattle Breakers: This could well be the most even series in the first round. Seattle won nine of 17 games during the 72-game regular season. The second-place Cougars, the league&rsquo;s defending champions, were hot on home-ice, winning seven of nine, while the third-place Breakers took seven of eight in Seattle.Meanwhile, here&rsquo;s a quick look at the last week of the regular season:BILLINGS: The Bighorns scored a 5-4 home-ice win over Lethbridge to move into a tie with Medicine Hat for the East&rsquo;s sixth and final playoff spot. Mark Lamb had two goals in the win, while Marcel Frere got his 20th. The Bighorns then clinched that last playoff spot, by skating to a pair of wins over Medicine Hat in Billings. Mark Lamb had a goal and two assists as the Bighorns won the opener 6-4. The next night, Jim McGeough pumped in four goals, raising his WHL-leading total to 92 (the third highest in league history) as the Bighorns won 7-3. Harry Mahood, with a goal and three assists, ran his totals to 41 goals and 101 points, while Lamb had four assists, giving him 56 helpers and 102 points. McGeough finished with 93 goals, getting one more in a 7-5 loss in Lethbridge.BRANDON: Tom McMurchy had two goals and Kelly Glowa had three assists as the Wheat Kings got past visiting Saskatoon 7-6. Glowa then banged in four goals and set up three others, while McMurchy had three goals and three assists and Jim Mollard had four helpers as the Wheat Kings dumped visiting Kamloops 10-4. Glowa got two goals and two assists, while Syd Cranston scored twice as the Wheat Kings beat visiting Winnipeg 6-3.CALGARY: The Wranglers got two goals from both Dan Bourbonnais and Ken Grant as they won 8-4 in Medicine Hat. Scott Machej had two goals, giving him 21, and three assists as the Wranglers beat visiting Medicine Hat 8-1. Barry Bracko, the Alberta Junior League&rsquo;s scoring king, got his first WHL goal and set up three others. The Wranglers finished with a total attendance of 150,973, second to Portland.LETHBRIDGE: Defenseman Randy Moller got his 20th goal in a 5-4 loss in Billings. Mike Moller scored his 39th and 40th goals as the Broncos scored a 3-1 home-ice win over Calgary to clinch first place overall. Ivan Krook had two goals and an assist, giving him 45 goals and 100 points, as the Broncos got past visiting Billings 7-5. Rick Gal added his 40th goal. That game drew 2,841 fans, pushing the Broncos&rsquo; season total to 102,288.MEDICINE HAT: Mike Lay reached the 100-point plateau in a 6-4 loss in Billings. He had two goals and an assist, giving him season totals of 46 and 54. Mark Sochatsky got three goals the next night as the Tigers lost 7-3 in Billings.REGINA: Dale Derkatch scored three goals, giving him 60, and set up two others as the Pats dumped visiting Calgary 8-4 in a game that produced 335 penalty minutes. Brent Pascal had four goals and Derkatch two goals and four assists as the Pats scored an 11-6 home-ice win over Saskatoon. The Pats wrapped up second-place overall with a 10-6 home-ice win over Kamloops. Derkatch, with three assists, set a rookie record for points in a season, with 142. Don Murdoch set the old record of 141 with the Medicine Hat Tigers in 1974-75. Derkatch also tied the rookie assists record of 80, set by Brandon&rsquo;s Brian Propp in 1976-77. Pascal reached the 100-point plateau, the fifth Pat to do so and that tied a WHL record held by three other teams. Jock Callander won the WHL scoring title with 190 points (four shy of Propp&rsquo;s 1978-79 record), on 79 goals and 111 assists.SASKATOON: Bruce Eakin picked up two assists to tie a WHL record as the Blades won 4-2 in Winnipeg. That gave him 117 helpers, tying the record set by Bobby Clarke with the 1967-68 Flin Flon Bombers. The very next night, Eakin set the record, as he set up two more goals in a 7-6 loss in Brandon. Eakin finished the season with 125 assists, as he set up four goals in a 10-5 home-ice win over Kamloops. Todd Strueby got his 60th goal in that win, while rookie defenseman Brad Duggan picked up his 20th.WINNIPEG: The Warriors were officially eliminated from the chase for a playoff spot when they dropped a 4-2 home-ice decision to Saskatoon. Dan Sylvester scored one goal and set up three others as the Warriors edged visiting Kamloops 6-5. Randy Gilhen picked up goal No. 40 in the win. The Warriors wrapped up the home portion of their schedule with a 3-1 win over Brandon.KAMLOOPS: Trav Gibson earned four assists in a 6-5 loss in Winnipeg. Gibson got goal No. 30 in a-10-4 loss in Brandon. Jan Ludvig got his 30th and 31st goals in a 10-5 loss in Saskatoon. Doug Kostynski had three goals, giving him 39, as the Oilers lost 10-6 in Regina. Dean Evason had two goals and two assists, to finish with 98 points.PORTLAND: Perry Pelensky scored twice, giving him 40 goals, and Randy Heath got his 50th as the Winter Hawks got past visiting Seattle 4-3. The Winter Hawks, who finished on top of the West and in third spot overall, led the league in attendance, as they totalled 173,651 fans, for an average of 4,824.SEATTLE: Defenseman Craig Channell scored once and set up two others in a 5-1 home-ice win over Victoria.VICTORIA: Paul Cyr scored his 50th goal and added five assists as the Cougars won 9-7 in Portland. That effort also put Cyr over the 100-point plateau, as he ran his assist total to 54. The Cougars closed out the regular season with a 5-3 win in Portland as Mark Morrison and Cyr had two goals each. &#9632;

f0030-01

Billings Moves Past Medicine Hat At The Wire

WALES CONFERENCEPATRICK DIVISIONPITTSBURGH vs ISLANDERSWed. April 7Pittsburgh at IslandersThu. April 8Pittsburgh at IslandersSat. April 10Islanders at PittsburghSun. April 11Islanders at PittsburghTue. April 13Pittsburgh at IslandersPHILADELPHIA vs RANGERSWed. April 7Philadelphia at RangersThu. April 8Philadelphia at RangersSat. April 10Rangers at PhiladelphiaSun. April 11Rangers at PhiladelphiaTue. April 13Philadelphia at RangersADAMS DIVISIONQUEBEC vs MONTREALWed. April 7Quebec at MontrealThu. April 8Quebec at MontrealSat. April 10Montreal at QuebecSun. April 11Montreal at QuebecTue. April 13Quebec at MontrealBUFFALO vs BOSTONWed. April 7Buffaloat BostonThu. April 8Buffalo at BostonSat. April 10Boston at BuffaloSun. April 11Boston at BuffaloTue. April 13Buffalo at BostonCAMPBELL CONFERENCESMYTHE DIVISIONLOS ANGELES vs EDMONTONWed. April 7Los Angeles at EdmontonThu. April 8Los Angeles at EdmontonSat. April 10Edmonton at Los AngelesSun. Spril 11Edmonton at Los AngelesTue. April 13Los Angeles at EdmontonCALGARY vs VANCOUVERWed. April 7Calgary at VancouverThu. April 8Calgary at VancouverSat. April 10Vancouver at CalgarySun. April 11Vancouver at CalgaryTue. April 13Calgary at VancouverNORRIS DIVISIONCHICAGO vs MINNESOTAWed. April 7Chicago at MinnesotaThu. April 8Chicago at MinnesotaSat. April 10Minnesota at ChicagoSun. April 11Minnesota at ChicagoTue. April 13Chicago at MinnesotaST. LOUIS vs WINNIPEGWed. April 7St. Louis at WinnipegThu. April 8St. Louis at WinnipegSat. April 10Winnipeg at St. LouisSun. April 11Winnipeg at St. LouisTue. April 13St. Louis at Winnipeg &#9632;

Stanley Cup Semifinals

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1370/6579474-1-eng-US/f0032-132.jpg" title="f0032-13" width="560" height="773"></div> &#9632;

f0032-13

Team Penalties

<h2>NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE (Final Standings)</h2><h3>CAMPBELL CONFERENCE</h3>NORRIS DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1463/6579540-1-eng-US/f0032-142.jpg" title="f0032-14" width="539" height="191"></div>SMYTHE DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1557/6579533-1-eng-US/f0032-152.jpg" title="f0032-15" width="543" height="163"></div>WALES CONFERENCE ADAMS DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1654/6579526-1-eng-US/f0032-162.jpg" title="f0032-16" width="547" height="166"></div>PATRICK DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1742/6579519-1-eng-US/f0032-172.jpg" title="f0032-17" width="539" height="223"></div>POINTS RACE<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1832/6579512-1-eng-US/f0032-182.jpg" title="f0032-18" width="547" height="608"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1928/6579505-1-eng-US/f0032-192.jpg" title="f0032-19" width="553" height="634"></div><h2>GAMESCOMPLETED</h2>Mon. March 29Islanders 7 at Rangers 3Tue. March 30Hartford 4 at Montreal 6Buffalo 6 at Quebec 4Toronto 3 at St Louis 5Winnipeg 7 at Minnesota 5Los Angeles 5 at Calgary 7Wed. March 31Montreal 5 at Hartford 1Rangers 4 at Chicago 1Washington 4 at Pittsburgh 4Winnipeg 2 at Detroit 4Los Angeles 3 at Edmonton 7Colorado 4 at Vancouver 4Thu. April 1Quebec 8 at Boston 5Islanders 3 at Philadelphia 3Colorado 0 at Calgary 11Fri. April 2Pittsburgh 7 at Rangers 5Minnesota 5 at Winnipeg 2Sat. April 3Boston 5 at Quebec 4Rangers 3 at Hartford 3Buffalo 5 at Montreal 4Philadelphia 3 at Islanders 6Washington 6 at Toronto 4Chicago 7 at SL Louis 4Calgary 1 at Colorado 3Vancouver 6 at Los Angeles 0Sun. April 4Hartford 2 at Boston 7Quebec 7 at Buffalo4Montreal 1 at Washington 3Islanders 2 at Pittsburgh 7Toronto 1 at Philadelphia 7St. Louis 3 at Debolt 2Minnesota 3 at Chicago 4Winnipeg 1 at Edmonton 2Los Angeles 4 at Vancouver 7(End of schedule) &#9632;

f0032-14

NHL SCOREBOARD

<h2>Mon. March 29 ISLANDERS 7, RANGERS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01855/6579419-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="584" height="803"></div><h2>Tue. March 30 HARTFORD 4, MONTREAL 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02587/6579412-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="578" height="850"></div><h2>BUFFALO 6, QUEBEC 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03405/6579405-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="575" height="774"></div><h2>TORONTO 3, ST. LOUIS 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04280/6579398-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="571" height="719"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 7, MINNESOTA 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05207/6579391-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="574" height="1055"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES 5, CALGARY 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06172/6579384-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="576" height="997"></div><h2>Wed. March 31 MONTREAL 5, HARTFORD 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-07145/6579377-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="602" height="1006"></div><h2>RANGERS 4, CHICAGO 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-08128/6579370-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="579" height="700"></div><h2>WASHINGTON 4, PITTSBURGH 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-09106/6579363-1-eng-US/f0032-092.jpg" title="f0032-09" width="604" height="960"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 2, DETROIT 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1096/6579356-1-eng-US/f0032-102.jpg" title="f0032-10" width="604" height="638"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES 3, EDMONTON 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1181/6579349-1-eng-US/f0032-112.jpg" title="f0032-11" width="602" height="1066"></div><h2>COLORADO 4, VANCOUVER 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1275/6579342-1-eng-US/f0032-122.jpg" title="f0032-12" width="565" height="880"></div><h2>Thu. April 1 QUEBEC 8, BOSTON 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02525/6579335-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="575" height="875"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 3, PHILADELPHIA 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03388/6579328-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="562" height="635"></div><h2>COLORADO 0, CALGARY 11</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04305/6579321-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="574" height="873"></div><h2>Fri. April 2 PITTSBURGH 7, RANGERS 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05254/6579314-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="594" height="956"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 5, WINNIPEG 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06219/6579307-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="594" height="688"></div><h2>Sat. April 3 BOSTON 5, QUEBEC 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07199/6579300-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="572" height="986"></div><h2>RANGERS 3, HARTFORD 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-08164/6579293-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="559" height="644"></div><h2>BUFFALO 5, MONTREAL 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01862/6579286-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="581" height="862"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 3, ISLANDERS 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02607/6579279-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="587" height="913"></div><h2>WASHINGTON 6, TORONTO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03476/6579272-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="589" height="961"></div><h2>CHICAGO 7, ST. LOUIS 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04367/6579265-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="587" height="1041"></div><h2>CALGARY 1, COLORADO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05296/6579258-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="593" height="522"></div><h2>VANCOUVER 6, LOS ANGELES 0</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06262/6579251-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="592" height="606"></div><h2>Sun. April 4 HARTFORD 2, BOSTON 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07240/6579244-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="569" height="723"></div><h2>QUEBEC 7, BUFFALO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08222/6579237-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="567" height="900"></div><h2>MONTREAL 1, WASHINGTON 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09199/6579230-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="569" height="659"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 2, PITTSBURGH 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01821/6579223-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="569" height="1013"></div><h2>TORONTO 1, PHILADELPHIA 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02599/6579216-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="569" height="811"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 3, DETROIT 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03485/6579209-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="582" height="526"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 3, CHICAGO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04391/6579202-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="579" height="814"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 1, EDMONTON 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05330/6579195-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="567" height="546"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES 4, VANCOUVER 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06302/6579188-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="570" height="768"></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01773/6579571-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0033-01

NHL TEAM ROSTERS

BOSTON &ndash; O&rsquo;Reilly 22. McNab 33, 34, 35, K. Crowder 23. Kasper 19, 20, Pederson 41. 42, 43. 44. O&rsquo;Connell 5, Bourque 17, 18. B. Crowder 15. 16. Middleton 51. Winning goals&mdash;McNab, Pederson.BUFFALO &ndash; Perreault 29.30,31. McKegney 22, 23. Peterson 9,10, Ramsay 16, Sauve 19, Foiigno 33. Savard 17. 18, Van Boxmeer 14, Lambert 24, 25. Winning goals&mdash;Ramsay, SavardCALGARY &ndash; Nilsson 24, 25, 26, Plett 21, Russell 4. Labraaten 9, 10, Chouinard 22. 23, McDonald 37, 38, 39. 40, Peplinski 30. Laval-lee 31. 32, McAdam 12. Hislop 16. Bridgman 33. Winning goals&mdash;Chouinard, Peplinski.CHICAGO &ndash; Wilson 37, 38, 39, Murray 8. Secord 44, Gardner 7, 8, Preston 15, Lysiak 31. 32, Sharpley 8, 9 Winning goals&mdash;Preston, Sharpley.COLORADO &ndash; Lever 30, Maxwell 6. Tambellini 29, MacMillan 22, Levo 9, Broten 15. Wensink 5. Winning goals&mdash;Broten.DETROIT &ndash; Nedomansky 12, Blaisdell 23, Osborne 26, McKechnie 18, Gage 9. Ogrodnick 28. Winning goals&mdash;Osborne.EDMONTON &ndash; FogOlin 4. Siltanen 14, 15, Messier 49, 50, Lumley 32. Hagman 21, Hunter 16. Kurri 32. Winning goals&mdash;Lumley, Kurri.HARTFORD &ndash; Francis 24. 25. Larouche 34, Stoughton 51.52. Meagher 23.24. MacDermid 1. Miller 9.10. Winning goals - noneLOS ANGELES - Sims 1. Hopkins 2, Dionne 50. Bonar 13. L. Murphy 22. Smith 16. Evans 2, Nicholls 13,14. M. Murphy 5. Winning goals - none.MINNESOTA &ndash; Broten 37, 38, Ciccarelli 54. 55. McCarthy 12, Johnson 12, Christoff 25. 26. Payne 33. Hakansson 12. MacAdam 18. Smith 43, Palmer 22 Winning goals - Hakansson.MONTREAL &ndash; Picard 2. Mondou 32, 33. 34. 35, Wickenheiser 12, Gingras 6, Acton 35, 36. Napier 38, 39.40. Engblom 4, Tremblay 32, 33, Lafleur 27. Winning goals&mdash;Wickenheiser, Napier.NY ISLANDERS &ndash; Merrick 12, Gillies 37, 38. Kallur 18. Nystrom 21, 22. McEwen 10. Potvin 24. D. Sutter 18, Bourne 25. 26, 27, Persson 5. 6, Carroll 9, Trottier 50. Bossy 64, Goring 15. Winning goals&mdash;Nystrom, Persson.NY RANGERS &ndash; Ftorek 8, 9, Beck 9, McClanahan 5. Johnstone 28. 29. 30. Rogers 37, 38, Pavelich 32, 33, Ruotsafainen 18. Duguay 40, Vadnais 5. Fotiu 8. Winning goals&mdash;Rogers.PHILADELPHIA &ndash; Linseman 23, 24, Barber 44. 45. Sittier 32, Allison 18. Clarke 17. Holmgren 9. Kerr 19, 20, 21, Sinisalo 15. Wilson 13. Winning goals&mdash;Kerr.PITTSBURGH &ndash; Schutt 7. 8. Hotham 3. 4. McClelland 1, Lee 17, 18, St. Laurent 9. 10, Gardner 35, 36, Bullard 37. Gatzos, 5. 6, Price 7. Baxter 9. MacLeish 19, Simpson 9. Winning goals&mdash;Bullard, Baxter.QUEBEC &ndash; M Stastny 34, 35. Tardif 38. 39, A. Stastny 25, 26, Goulet 41.42, P. Stastny 43, 44. 45, 46. Cote 13, 14. 15, Aubry 10, Hunter 21, 22. Cloutier 36, 37. David 1. Marois 11, Weir 2. Winning goals&mdash;Cote, M. Stastny.ST. LOUIS &ndash; Federko 29. 30. Sutter 38, 39. Turnbull 33, Pettersson 37, 38, Mullen 23, 24. 25, Brownschidle 5, Babych 19. Winning goals&mdash;Pettersson, Mullen.TORONTO &ndash; Vaive 53. 54. Saganiuk 17, Korn 2, Poddubny 3. Derlago 33. Benning 7. Winning goals&mdash;none.VANCOUVER &ndash; Lupul 10, Fraser 26, 27, 28. Hlinka 21, 22, 23. Belland 3. Boldirev 33, Gradin 37, Rota 19, 20, MacDonald 17, 18. Smyl 34, Crawford 4, Williams 17. Winning goals&mdash;Boldirev. MacDonald.WASHINGTON &ndash; Valentine 28, 29. 30. Gartner 35. Green 3. Maruk 59, 60, Gould 20, 21, Currie 7, Carpenter 31. 32. Norwood 7. Winning goals - Carpenter. ValentineWINNIPEG &ndash; Babych 19. Christian 25. Lukowich 43, Hawerchuk 45, MacLean 34,35, 36, DeBlois 25, Steen 15, Arniel 1, Dupont 12, 13. Winning goals&mdash;DeBloisHat tricks &ndash; Pederson. Boston. McDonald. Calgary. Mondou, Montreal, Kerr Philadelphia, and P. Stastny, Quebec.Milestone goals &ndash; McKechnie. Detroit, 200th of his career. - &#9632;

NHL’S SCORERS THIS WEEK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-14" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-14146/6579678-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0034-14

Final NHL Goaltending

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-07" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07278/6579709-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg"></div>RINK EQUIPMENTPERSONALSFAN CLUBSOPPORTUNITIESPOSITIONS WANTEDPLAYER EQUIPMENT<h2>OPPORTUNITIES</h2>PLAYERS WANTED: University of Alabama in Huntsville is looking for qualified players. Daily practices, average crowd at home games over 4,000. Out of state tuition waivers and special housing available. Hockey related expenses paid by school. Send hockey resume to UHA Hockey, P.O. Drawer 527, University of Alabama, Huntsville, AL 35804.HEAD COACH POSITION: At University of Alabama in Huntsville. Send resume to Dr. B. Jeanne Fisher, Vice President of Student Affairs, University of Alabama, Huntsville, AL 35899. Resumes must be received before May 1 / 82.NORTHERN EMPLOYMENT: Employers need skilled and unskilled workers. High pay, good hunting, fishing, beautiful scenery. New directory lists who&rsquo;s hiring, addresses, all details. Complete money back guarantee. Invest less than an hour&rsquo;s pay. Send $8.00 to: Northern Employment Guide, 105-504 Main St., Winnipeg, Man., R3B 1B8.<h2>PERSONALS</h2>ENJOY HOCKEY NEWS STATISTICS?: You&rsquo;ll love playing hockey-by-mail. Send S.A.S.E. to: H.B.M. 15 Austin Street, Bellport, NY 11713.DEFUNCT SPORTS PRICE LIST: 25-page WHA list of 500 items&mdash;$6.50. 10-page World Team Tennis list&mdash;$3.00. 5-page National Lacrosse list&mdash;$3.00. 3-page ABA list&mdash;$2.25. Send cheque or money order to Empire Sports, North York Sheridan Mall, 1700 Wilson Ave, Suite B1 Downsview, Ont., M3L 1B2.HOCKEY GAME: Realistic, fun hockey action game using playing cards (cards included). Send $2.25 to, Gary West, 2460 24th SE, Auburn, WA 98002.PLAYERS WANTED: If you&rsquo;re a good high school or junior hockey player you can obtain a full scholarship and also play in an excellent league. Send resume with references to Bill Enouy, Kirkland Lake Blue Devils, P.O. Box 394, Kirkland Lake, Ont.WHA ITEMS: 25-page price list of over 500 WHA items. Includes yearbooks, media guides, decals, sweaters, posters, photos, pucks, etc. Send cheque or money order for $6.50 to Empire Sports, North York Sheridan Mall, 1700 Wilson Ave, Suite B1, Downsview, Ont., M3L 1B2.PENNANTS, BUTTONS, PINS: Customized, with your team colors and logo. Support your team. Tournament mementos, ideal for fund raising. Write for information and price list, to: Promotional Marketing Services, in Canada, Box 1124, Fort Erie, Ont., L2A 5N9. In United States, 69 Winspear Ave., Buffalo, NY 14214.AUTHENTIC NHL GAME JERSEYS: We wish to thank the 227 who responded to our last ad. Now how about the rest of you? We&rsquo;ve got the best prices and a good selection of name player jerseys. Sport Jersey Clearing House, Box 214, Buffalo, NY 14221.FAN CLUB: The Bryan Trottier-Mike Bossy fan club is now accepting membership for the 1982-83 season. For more information send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: Mark Saccomagno, 132-18 Pople Ave., Flushing, NY 11355.EXCITING NEW HOCKEY GAME: Playoff action in your own home. Send stamp to TRK Games, Dept. B, Box 493, Cambridge, MN 55008 for free brochure.LICENSE PLATE FRAMES: &ldquo;Hockey is my game&rdquo; license plate frames. Let everyone know your sport. Send $3.50 each, $1.50 shipping. KLB Hockey, 714 Contra Costa, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523.CARD CONVENTION: Sport cards and collectable convention, Sunday, Apr. 4th, Bond Place Hotel, 65 Dundas Street East, Toronto, 11-5 pm. $1.00 admission. Come to our shop for sports cards. Large selection. Also coins, premiums, photos and more. Queen&rsquo;s Comics and Memorabilia, 1962 Queen Street East, Toronto, Ont., M4L 1H8. Tel: (416) 698-8757.FAN CLUB: Organizing the Bobby &ldquo;Garfield&rdquo; Francis fan club. For more information contact: Leslie, Laura or Chita at 530-10th Ave. South, Birmingham, AL 35205.SAVE YOUR VOICE!: Cowbells for games! Four sizes $6, $12, $15. (Plus COD costs). Sincoe Bells, Box 51, New Lowell, Ont., L0M 1N0.WANTED: Pennants, patches, pins, programs, decals, of WHA clubs and defunct NHL teams. Write Ron Brinnen, R.R. #1, Armstrong; B.C., V0E 1B0.BUMPER STICKERS: Hockey is my game&rdquo;, &ldquo;The Puck Stops Here&rdquo; and &ldquo;Hockey Players go for 60 minutes&rdquo;. Send $1.25 each, .250 shipping to: KLB Hockey, 714 Contra Costa, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523.HERSHEY BEARS FANS AND COLLECTORS: Personalized, authentic Hershey Bears jerseys. Sold EXCLUSIVELY by KENNY SMITH SPORTS. Ken is a former Boston Bruin-Hershey Bear player. Write, 20 East Main Street, Mount Joy, PA 17552. Phone (717) 653-5051. Also all other NHL jerseys and complete line of ice hockey equipment. Write for our discount price list. We ship UPS daily.HOCKEY T-SHIRTS: 75 exciting designs. Send .50$ for our illustrated brochure. KLB Hockey, 714 Contra Costa, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523.PLAYER AGENT: Agentbusiness manager-career advisor-financial consultant. Seeks to represent NHL veterans, rookies or prospects. Call or write: Jeffrey J. Grenell, P.O. Box 31, Vernon, NJ 07462.(201)764-4053.COLOR PHOTOS: NHL stars past and present. 8x10, $3.50. Most current players available. Send for free list. Dwayne La Bakas, 33133 Crestwell, Sterling Heights, Ml 48077.<h2>EQUIPMENT</h2>FREE WIDE VELCRO SHIN GUARD STRAPS: (Value $12.00). Enclose this ad with any order over $50.00. All name brand equipment at discounts. Send for our 1982-83 catalogue. Reliable Hockey Service Co., 73 Bloomfield Street, Springfield, MA 01108. Telephone (413) 736-6188.<h2>WHAT&rsquo;S YOUR MESSAGE?</h2>Just use the handv u ord-eounler at the ripht. and he sure to indieale the date(s) van u anl vour ad to appear. Then.Clip and mail toThe Hockey News Classified214 King St West. Suite 314Toronto. Ont M5H 1K4 &#9632;

f0035-07

CLASSIFIED

<div class="byline">BY BILL HIGDON</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyUTICA&mdash;Through 45 regular season games for the Mohawk Valley Stars, winger Dave Tracy&rsquo;s contributions were significant toward the reinstatement of this Central New York region&rsquo;s representative as a professional hockey power.But, came the playoffs and, wowie!Tracy made like a scoring champion with 10 goals in 13 pressure packed post-season games including a pair of game-winning shots as the Stars rose to the offical Atlantic Coast Hockey League championship and the three-foot high Robert A. Payne Trophy.Tracy, a rookie characterized for his never-ending hustle all season, led all the playoff skaters with his goal production (tied with Salem&rsquo;s Tom Mullen) and most points (18). This compares to Tracy&rsquo;s 22-24-46 stats in regulation where the Salem Raiders emerged with the pennant and MV finished second.The Stars&rsquo; 4-3 championship victory over the Raiders in the sixth and deciding title-round game before a sellout crowd of more than 3,000 fans in the ancient Clinton Arena provided the area with its first minor hockey crown in 12 years.Tracy scored the game-winner at 18:15 of the final period only 26 seconds after Ian Tennant pulled the visitors within one goal, 3-2.&ldquo;Tracy certainly was a key man for us in the playoffs,&rdquo; observed coach Bill Horton. &ldquo;We certainly hope he will find his way to a major league training camp next summer. He has a good future.&ldquo;Last fall in the Hartford Whalers camp, Dave was used at center, but I don&rsquo;t see him at that position. He has good size for a winger. All he lacks is a little aggressiveness, and perhaps he should pass the puck a little more,&rdquo; the coach added.Mohawk Valley was hard-pressed to attain the final round, but the Stars finally edged the Baltimore Skipjacks in the semi-finals, four games to three. Meanwhile, Pat Kelly&rsquo;s Raiders eliminated Rick Dudley&rsquo;s scrappy Winston-Salem Thunderbirds four games to one.The Stars first established themselves when they nipped the Raiders, 5-4, in Utica Memorial Auditorium last November 13 in the game that marked the return of Kelly to coach against the Mohawk Valley entry. Kelly piloted the Clinton Comets to five division titles and three successive Walker Cup playoff championships in an eight-season tenure as their skipper.Coach Bill Horton&rsquo;s Stars, on their way to a sensational 9-0-1 record at season&rsquo;s outset, let a two-goal advantage slip away and trailed, 4-3, with seconds left. But with 16 ticks before the final buzzer, the largest crowd of the regular season (3,024) watched as veteran center Ed Smith tied the game, and then as Ernie Boutin poked home the game-winner in overtime.Although they finished behind the Raiders, thus losing home ice advantage for the palyoffs, the Stars held the upper hand in their spirited rivalry with the Virginia team. The New Yorkers won the season series, seven games to four, to finish with an 11-6 advantage overall.Many observers felt Salem&rsquo;s dominance over Winston-Salem was the pennant key. The Raiders whipped the Thunderbirds 14 out of 16 tries while posting a record of 32-15. Meanwhile, the T-birds edged Horton&rsquo;s team, six games to five.POST-SEASON NOTES &ndash; Jack Timmins, the league&rsquo;s executive director, said the directors&rsquo; spring meeting in Philadelphia April 3 and first annual meeting in June should produce the revamped rolls of teams, an expansion and possibly the schedule for 1982-83&hellip;More teams are a must in the northern sector where Mohawk Valley stood alone after the Fitchburg Trappers, Schenectady Chiefs and Cape Cod Buccaneers dropped out during the campaign. Meanwhile, the southern sector of ACHL figures to grow with reports of several interested cities for an expansion&hellip;The Skipjacks are leaning toward a berth in the American Hockey League next season, but no official word yet&hellip;. Rick Dudley, who now co-owns Winston-Salem with Joan Vestal, reports a brisk sale of advertising and considerable fan interest. Despite their cellar finish, the T-birds drew 53,260 fans to 27 home games in regular season, second best attendance in the league. Baltimore topped the draw with 56,636 patrons for 22 dates. &#9632;

Mohawk Valley Rookie Became A Playoff Hero

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE (Final Standings)</h2><h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01776/6579974-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="547" height="167"></div><h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02540/6579967-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="546" height="195"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 30Adirondack 5 at Fredericton 3New Haven 2 at Nova Scotia 4Wed. March 31Hershey 5 at Adirondack 1Springfield 5 at Maine 6Binghamton 3 at New Haven 4New Brunswick 3 at Rochester 3Fri. April 2New Brunswick 3 at Binghamton 1Hershey 6 at Erle 3Rochester 2 at New Haven 4Maine 3 at Springfield 7Sat. April 3Rochester 0 at Adirondack 3Nova Scotia 9 at Fredericton 3New Brunswick 3 at Hershey 3New Haven 2 at Maine 4Binghamton 1 at Springfield 6Sun. April 4Adirondack 6 at Binghamton 5New Brunswick 2 at Hershey 9Maine 4 at New Haven 2Fredericton 1 at Nova Scotia 4Erie 6 at Rochester 7(End of schedule)<h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03442/6579960-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="546" height="441"></div><h3>GOALTENDING RECORDS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04336/6579953-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="557" height="599"></div><h2>PLAYOFFS QUARTERFINALS</h2><h3>ADIRONDACK vs. N. BRUN</h3>Wed. April 7Adirondack at N. BrunswickFri. April 9Adirondack at N. BrunswickSat. April 10N. Brunswick at AdirondackTue. April 13N. Brunswick at AdirondackThu. April 15Adirondack at N. Brunswick<h3>NOVA SCOTIA vs MAINE</h3>Wed. April 7Nova Scotia at MaineFri. April 9Nova Scotia at MaineSun. April 11Maine at Nova ScotiaMon. April 12Maine at Nova ScotiaFri. April 16Nova Scotia at Maine<h3>HERSHEY vs BINGHAMTON</h3>Wed. April 7Hershey at BinghamtonFri. April 9Hershey at BinghamtonSat. April 10Binghamton at HersheyTue. April 13Binghamton at HersheyThu. April 15Hershey at Binghamton<h3>NEW HAVEN vs ROCHESTER</h3>Wed. April 7New Haven at RochesterThu. April 8New Haven at RochesterSat. April 10Rochester at New HavenWed. April 14Rochester at New HavenFri. April 16New Haven at Rochester(All series best-of-flve)<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<h3>NORTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05281/6579946-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="557" height="140"></div><h3>SOUTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06247/6579939-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="563" height="169"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 30Cincinnati 6 at Nashville 3Dallas 6 at Oklahoma City 8Fort Worth 1 at Tulsa 7Salt Lake 1 at Wichita 5Wed. March 31Salt Lake 6 at Dallas 5Tulsa 4 at Fort Worth 5Cincinnati 6 at Indianapolis 7Thu. April 1Indianapolis 3 at Salt Lake 4Fri. April 2Tulsa 5 at Dallas 7Nashville 6 at Fort Worth 4Wichita 7 at Oklahoma City 6Sat. April 3Nashville 5 at Fort Worth 3Tulsa 9 at Oklahoma City 4Indianapolis 0 at Salt Lake 2Dallas 3 at Wichita 9Sun. April 4Salt Lake 2 at Indianapolis 7Cincinnati 4 at Nashville 3Fort Worth 6 at Oklahoma City 5Dallas 4 at Wichita 4 (End of schedule)<h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07226/6579932-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="554" height="305"></div><h3>GOALTENDING RECORDS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08206/6579925-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="562" height="632"></div><h2>PLAYOFFS QUARTERFINALS</h2><h3>SALT LAKE vs OKLA. CITY</h3>Wed. April 7Oklahoma City at Salt LakeFri. April 9Oklahoma City at Salt LakeSun. April 11Sait Lake at Oklahoma CityTue. April 13Salt Lake at Oklahoma CityThu-Frl. Apr. 15-16Salt Lake at Oklahoma City<h3>CINCINNATI vs DALLAS</h3>Thu. April 8Dallas at CincinnatiSat April 10Dallas at CincinnatiSun. April 11Cincinnati at DallasTue. April 13Cincinnati at DallasThu. April 15Dallas at Cincinnati<h3>WICHITA vs NASHVILLE</h3>Wed. April 7Nashville at WichitaFri. April 9Nashville at WichitaSat April 10Wichita at NashvilleMon. April 12Wichita at NashvilleTue. April 13Nashville at Wichita<h3>TULSA vs INDIANAPOLIS</h3>Tue. April 6Tulsa at IndianapolisWed. April 7Tulsa at IndianapolisFri. April 9Indianapolis at TulsaSat. April 10Indianapolis at TulsaSun. April 11Indianapolis at Tulsa(All series best-of-tlve)<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-09193/6579918-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="559" height="257"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 30Kalamazoo 2 at Fort Wayne 4Saginaw 1 at Toledo 9Wed. March 31Toledo 6 at Hint 11Muskegon 4 at Saginaw 11Kalamazoo 3 at Milwaukee 5Fri. April 2Muskegon 5 at Flint 5Fort Wayne 6 at Kalamazoo 6Toledo 3 at Milwaukee 0Sat. April 3Hint 0 at Fort Wayne 5Toledo 6 at Kalamazoo 3Muskegon 1 at Milwaukee 7Sun. April 4Muskegon 1 at Fort Wayne 9Kalamazoo 7 at Flint 4Milwaukee 3 at Saginaw 10(End of Schedule)<h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-10183/6579911-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="560" height="495"></div><h3>GOALTENDING RECORDS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-11176/6579904-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="557" height="360"></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE PLAYOFFS</h2><h3>EMMS DIVISION</h3>SEMIFINALS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-12166/6579897-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="559" height="116"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. March 21Brantford 5 at S.S. Marie 5Tue. March 23S.S. Marie 4 at Brantford 2Fri. March 26Brantford 1 at S.S. Marie 7Sun. March 28S.S. Marie 1 at Brantford 2Mon. March 29Brantford 3 at S.S. Marie 3Wed. March 31S.S. Marie 5 at Brantlord 9Fri. April 2Brantford 2 at S.S. Marie 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-13158/6579890-1-eng-US/f0036-132.jpg" title="f0036-13" width="553" height="122"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 23Windsor 1 at Kitchener 4Thu. March 25Kitchener 2 at Windsor 0Fri. March 26Windsor 3 at Kitchener 7Sun. March 28Kitchener 9 at Windsor 4<h3>FINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-14148/6579883-1-eng-US/f0036-142.jpg" title="f0036-14" width="559" height="110"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. April 4S.S. Marie 2 at Kitchener 6<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. April 6S.S. Marie at KitchenerFri. April 9Kitchener at S.S. MarieSun. April 11Kitchener at S.S. MarieTue. April 13S.S. Marie at KitchenerFri. April 16Kitchener at S.S. MarieSun. April 18S.S. Marie at KitchenerWed. April 21Kitchener at S.S. Marie<h2>LEYDEN DIVISION</h2><h3>SEMIFINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-15144/6579876-1-eng-US/f0036-152.jpg" title="f0036-15" width="557" height="114"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 23Toronto 4 at Ottawa 6Fri. March 26Toronto 3 at Ottawa 4Sat. March 27Ottawa 3 at Toronto 4Tue. March 30Ottawa 6 at Toronto 3Fri. April 2Toronto 2 at Ottawa 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-16141/6579869-1-eng-US/f0036-162.jpg" title="f0036-16" width="556" height="116"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 23Peterborough 7 at Oshawa 6Thu. March 25Oshawa 8 at Peterborough 2Sun. March 28Peterborough 4 at Oshawa5 Tue. March30Oshawa 5 at Peterborough 4Thu. April 1Peterborough 2 at Oshawa 5<h3>FINALS</h3>OSHAWA vs OTTAWAFri. April 9Oshawa at OttawaSun. April 11Ottawa at OshawaTue. April 13Oshawa at OttawaThu. April 15Ottawa at OshawaFri. April 16Oshawa at OttawaSun. April 18Ottawa at OshawaTue. April 20Oshawa at OttawaWed. April 21Ottawa at Oshawa<h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>ROUND-ROBIN QUARTERFINALS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02491/6579862-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="554" height="248"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. March 29Shawinigan 4 at Laval 6Tue. March 30Montreal 4 at Sherbrooke 3Hull 0 at T-Rivleres 3Chicoutimi 7 at Granby 6Wed. March 31Sherbrooke 1 at Hull 5Montreal 3 at T-Rlvieres 6Chicoutimi 2 at Shawinigan 7Granby 4 at Laval 8Fri. April 2Shawinigan 3 at Sherbrooke 6Hull 0 at Chicoutimi 3Montreal 3 at Laval 5T-Rivieres 10 at Granby 2Sun. April 4Sherbrooke 7 at Chicoutimi 4Hull 2 at Shawinigan 4Montreal 4 at Granby 6GAMES TO COMEMon. April 5T-Rivieres at LavalTue. April 6Shawinigan at MontrealChicoutimi at T-RlvleresLaval at SherbrookeGranby at HullFri. April 9Sherbrooke at MontrealT-Rivieres at HullGranby at ChicoutimiLaval at Shawinigan(End of quarterfinals)&rsquo;<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE PLAYOFFS</h2><h3>QUARTERFINALS</h3>EASTERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03379/6579855-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="552" height="117"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. March 26Calgary 2 at Saskatoon 5Sat. March 27Calgary 7 at Saskatoon 5Sun. March 28Saskatoon 3 at Calgary 4Mon. March 29Saskatoon 3 at Calgary 6Wed. March 31Calgary 7 at Saskatoon 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04313/6579848-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="555" height="118"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. March 26Brandon 6 at Regina 13Sat. March 27Regina 9 at Brandon 5Sun. March 28Regina 10 at Brandon 3Tue. March 30Brandon 2 at Regina 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05281/6579841-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="566" height="121"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. March 26Billings 3 at Lethbridge 4Sun. March 28Billings 3 at Lethbridge 2Mon. March 29Lethbridge 6 at Billings 3Wed. March 31Lethbridge 8 at Billings 4Fri. April 2Billings 5 at Lethbridge 11<h3>SEMIFINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06246/6579834-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="548" height="114"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. April 3Calgary 2 at Regina 3Sun. April 4Calgary 3 at Regina 2<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. April 6Regina at CalgaryFri. April 9Regina at CalgarySun. April 11Calgary at Regina<h3>QUARTERFINALS</h3>WESTERN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07219/6579827-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="563" height="110"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. March 27Portland 4 at Kamloops 1Sun. March 28Portland 4 at Kamloops 2Wed. March 31Kamloops 3 at Portland 8Fri. April 2Kamloops 3 at Portland 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-08183/6579820-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="548" height="113"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. March 26Seattle 3 at Victoria 2Sat. March 27Seattle 7 at Victoria 3Tue. March 30Victoria 4 at Seattle 6Thu. April 1Victoria 1 at Seattle 3<h3>SEMIFINALS</h3>PORTLAND vs SEATTLEThu. April 8Seattle at PortlandSat. April 10Seattle at PortlandMon. April 12Portland at SeattleTue. April 13Portland at SeattleThu. April 15Seattle at PortlandSat-Sun. April 17-18Portland at SeattleTue. April 20Seattle at Portland(Best-of-seven series)<h2>MEMORIAL CUP KNOCKOUT COMPETITION</h2>Sat. May 8Ontario vs QuebecSun. May 9WHL vs OntarioMon. May 10Quebec vs WHLTue. May 11Quebec vs OntarioWed. May 12Ontario vs WHLThu. May 13WHL vs QuebecSat. May 15Championship final at 1:30 PM(All games in Hull, Que.)<h2>HARDY CUP</h2><h3>EASTERN SEMIFINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-09155/6579813-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="557" height="239"></div><h2>ONTARIO INTERMEDIATE</h2><h3>FINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-10141/6579806-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="550" height="116"></div><h2>ALLAN CUP</h2><h3>EASTERN SEMIFINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-11119/6579799-1-eng-US/f0037-112.jpg" title="f0037-11" width="549" height="113"></div><h2>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE</h2><h3>FINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-12105/6579792-1-eng-US/f0037-122.jpg" title="f0037-12" width="560" height="114"></div><h2>CENTENNIAL CUP</h2><h3>EASTERN SEMIFINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1396/6579785-1-eng-US/f0037-132.jpg" title="f0037-13" width="557" height="115"></div><h2>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</h2><h3>ROUND-ROBIN PLAYOFFS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1487/6579778-1-eng-US/f0037-142.jpg" title="f0037-14" width="549" height="241"></div><h3>FINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1577/6579771-1-eng-US/f0037-152.jpg" title="f0037-15" width="547" height="109"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sioux City 8, Des Moines 2Sioux City 7, Des Moines 4Des Moines 7, Sioux City 6<h2>NEW ENGLAND JUNIOR</h2><h3>FINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1668/6579764-1-eng-US/f0037-162.jpg" title="f0037-16" width="557" height="136"></div> &#9632;

f0036-01

MINOR SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY FRED PIETILA</div>DENVER - Billy MacMillan doesn&rsquo;t have second thoughts about his decision to leave the coaching ranks and enter the executive world in the National Hockey League.It was just under a year ago that MacMillan was officially named general manager of the Rockies after serving one year as head coach. His first year as GM has not been as fruitful as he had hoped, but if anything, MacMillan&rsquo;s traumatic season has proven valuable in terms of experience.The Rockies&rsquo; 1981-82 NHL season was supposed to be one of promise&mdash;with an almost complete overhaul of talent and optimism galore. Such has not been the case.&ldquo;No, I think last summer we had great hopes for the hockey club,&rdquo; MacMillan said as the Rockies&rsquo; sixth&mdash;and possibly last&mdash;NHL season neared conclusion.&ldquo;Our expectations were much higher than what it&rsquo;s turned out to be. Maybe we did overassess our ability some and maybe we didn&rsquo;t take the factor of newness into effect. Newness and how long it takes to wear off and for people to get to know each other,&rdquo; MacMillan said.&ldquo;And we got off to a disappointing start with three wins in two months. Looking back over the years, the teams that put points on the board early can&rsquo;t have them taken away later. We kept thinking we were going to start putting points on the board, but it&rsquo;s been a constant uphill battle.&rdquo;MacMillan cites learning experience on his behalf as the main positive asset to come out of his first season as GM.&ldquo;We have learned. I talked to Bill Torrey the other day and he said, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re getting experience you can&rsquo;t buy.&rsquo; I have found out that you can&rsquo;t leave anything to chance. Like Tapio breaking his arm. That&rsquo;s been one of the things that affected the club the most,&rdquo; MacMillan said, referring to the broken arm which kept hard-shooting defenseman Tapio Levo out for more than half the season.How has the step up from head coach to GM been different than MacMillan expected?&ldquo;The lack of fun is the biggest thing. When you&rsquo;re in this situation, there&rsquo;s not very much fun. But I have to say it&rsquo;d be different if our team was rolling and putting together a few wins. Our record the last two months is not that bad. We&rsquo;re definitely not in last place if you check that. It was that horrendous beginning that put us behind and we had to fight to try to get out of last place the rest of the year.&ldquo;But no one in the organization has given up and I feel we&rsquo;ve got a good nucleus of young players and they&rsquo;ll only get better and improve. In the draft, we&rsquo;ve got a first [Boston&rsquo;s choice as a result of the trade for Dwight Foster], two thirds and a fifth. And we may do something at the draft table the day of the draft. But the main reason we made a lot of the moves we did was that we needed help immediately. We felt our future was now. We didn&rsquo;t think we had enough players in the minors who we felt could come up and do a suitable job for us to help the hockey club. I think what we need now are a couple of big tough wingers that can play.&rdquo;&ldquo;Looking back on the season,&rdquo; MacMillan said, &ldquo;I look at the learning experience as a positive thing for me. And if the franchise situation can be straightened out, that would probably be the most important thing. But the players and staff get tired of reading comments in the paper for three months [regarding local buyers) when nothing concrete comes out of these so-called negotiations.&ldquo;Peter Gilbert, through all of this, has stood behind the team. I know it&rsquo;s hard on him because it&rsquo;s his money he&rsquo;s losing. But we&rsquo;re behind&mdash;and I&rsquo;m speaking for the players&mdash;whatever he decides to do,&rdquo; MacMillan said.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01697/6580005-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="567" height="891"><figcaption class="caption-body">Billy MacMillan&rsquo;s great hopes for the Rockies vanished when the club started poorly.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0037-01

Managing Rockies An Experience Under Fire

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01763/6580064-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="876" height="1495"></div><h2>Top Collegian</h2>George McPhee of Bowling Green State University was the 1982 recipient of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. McPhee, a native of Guelph, Ont., is the highest scorer in Bowling Green&rsquo;s history. He was also named a Titan All-American this year.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02561/6580057-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="2125" height="1575"></div><h2>A Little Coaxing Goes A Long Way</h2>The Cincinnati Tigers of the CHL staged a variety of promotions this season in their first year in the league but the event that really caught the fancy of the fans was the celebrity penguin race. Here&rsquo;s Cincinnati center Bruce Boudreau doing his utmost to coax the web-footed aquatic birds across the finish line. Boudreau was among a group of players and well-known Cincinnati celebrities, including NFL Bengals&rsquo; linebacker Jim Leclair and city mayor David Mann, who took part in the event.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03451/6580050-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="1200" height="1569"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04352/6580043-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="1196" height="1567"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05268/6580036-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="568" height="1823"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photos by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div><h2>Sabre Stars Help Wives Raise $80,000</h2>One of the highlights of the past season for members of the Buffalo Sabres was their wives&rsquo; super carnival at the Memorial Auditorium. The ladies raised more than $80,000 for the Children&rsquo;s Hospital of Buffalo and they did it with the help of their hockey-playing husbands. Here&rsquo;s defenseman Larry Playfair, at left, getting ready to hit the water in the dunk tank. In the center, Ric Seiling crouches behind a cutout of a player in the pie-throwing contest and at right goaltender Don Edwards took to the ice to block slapshots from willing youngsters. Susan Ramsay, wife of Sabres&rsquo; veteran Craig Ramsay, was the chairperson. &#9632;

f0038-01

HOCKEY PEOPLE

<h2>Team Canada Picks</h2>TORONTO&mdash;Team Canada began to take shape for the 1982 World hockey championships in Helsinki, Finland with the selection of a head coach, two assistants and the first seven players.Officials announced that goaltender Greg Millen of Hartford, defensemen Rick Green of Washington and Willie Huber of Detroit, and forwards Mark Osborne, also of Detroit, and Ryan Walter and Mike Gartner of Washington, are the first to be named from NHL teams that finished out of the playoffs. The remainder of the 23-man roster would be decided after the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs are concluded. Final date for the preliminary round is April 13. Filing date for rosters for the Helsinki tournament is April 4.Marshall Johnston of the Colorado Rockies was selected head coach along with two assistants, deposed St. Louis coach Red Berenson, and Dave King of the University of Saskatchewan, who piloted Team Canada to the recent World junior hockey championship.The global series begins April 15 in Helsinki with Canada facing Finland. The seven world powers&mdash;Canada, U.S., Finland, Russia, Czechoslovakia, West Germany and Sweden&mdash;will play a total of six games. The first four finishers will qualify for the finals and a shot at the gold, silver and bronze medals.<h2>Masterton Nominees</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;Blake Dunlop of the St. Louis Blues, the 1981 winner of the Bill Masterton Trophy, will be back to try to make it two years in a row when the selectors get around to naming this season&rsquo;s winner prior to the summer hockey meetings in Montreal June 6-10.Dunlop was nominated by the Blues for the NHL&rsquo;s sportsmanship Trophy, which the veteran won last season.Others nominated by their respective teams include Serge Savard, Winnipeg; Terry Martin, Toronto; Jim Schoenfeld, Detroit; Thomas Gradin, Vancouver; Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, Boston; Craig Ramsay, Buffalo; Jamie Hislop, Calgary; Doug Wilson, Chicago; Chico Resch, Colorado; Lee Fogolin, Edmonton; Blaine Stoughton, Hartford; Dave Taylor, Los Angeles; Fred Barrett, Minnesota; Doug Jarvis, Montreal; Bob Nystrom, Islanders; Dave Maloney, Rangers; Jim Watson, Philadelphia; Michel Dion, Pittsburgh; Alain Cote, Quebec; and Terry Murray, Washington.<h2>Holt Suspended</h2>WASHINGTON - The 1981-82 NHL season ended prematurely for defenseman Randy Holt of the Washington Caps. The NHL suspended him for the final two games, forcing him to miss the closing weekend play of the schedule.With the Washington Caps on the outside looking in at playoff time, Holt ended the season as a spectator after being set down by the league for twice pushing linesman Pat Flaherty in a March 27 game against Philadelphia. Holt was attempting to intervene in a fight when the linesman restrained him. Flaherty twice ended up flat on the ice after trying to wrestle Holt away from the combatants.<h2>Dionne Ties Mark</h2>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Marcel Dionne of the Los Angeles Kings has tied an NHL record for most 100-point seasons in a career.Dionne registered his 100th point of the season to allow him to tie Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and Guy Lafleur, all of whom have scored 100 points six times.While Dionne was attaining his newest milestone, another veteran NHLer, center Walt McKechnie of the Detroit Red Wings, joined the league&rsquo;s 200-goal scorers.Dionne also hit the 50-goal mark for the fifth time in the last six years and became the ninth 50-goal scorer of the season, surpassing last year&rsquo;s total of eight. Mark Messier of Edmonton and Bryan Trottier of the Islanders also joined the 50-goal scorers this past week. Washington&rsquo;s Dennis Maruk became the third 60-goal scorer of the season, joining Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy.<h2>Rookies Sign Up</h2>TORONTO&mdash;Player agent Bill Watters has announced that three NHL draft picks have signed contracts with NHL teams for next season.Goaltender Wendell Young, a fourth-round selection in the 1981 draft by Vancouver, has signed with the Canucks. He played with Kitchener of the Ontario Hockey League this year.Watters said right wing Todd Hooey of the Windsor Spitfires has agreed to terms with Calgary. The Flames drafted him in the sixth round in 1981. Also inked was left wing Ron Handy of the Kingston Canadians, who signed with the Islanders. They drafted him in the third round in 1981. &bull;<h2>Our Mistake</h2>In the April 9 issue, a story on New York Islanders coach Al Arbour reported that Scotty Bowman gave the hook to Arbour as coach of the St. Louis Blues in 1972-73. This was incorrect because Bowman had left the Blues to join Montreal in July of 1971. &#9632;

SLAPSHOTS

<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>BOSTON &ndash; Mike Moffat, G, 7th draft pick in 1980, recalled from Kingston of OHL. Mike Milbury, D, Ray Bourque, D, Larry Melnyk, D, and Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, RW, returned from injury list. On injury list, Tom Fergus.BUFFALO &ndash; Jacques Cloutier, G, returned from injury list and assigned to Rochester of AHL. Hannu Virta, D, 2nd draft pick in 1981, reported from Finnish Hockey League and added to roster.CALGARY &ndash; Ed Beers, LW, signed to NHL contract from Univ, of Denver.CHICAGO &ndash; Dave Feamster, D, Darryl Sutter, LW, and Glen Sharpley, C, returned from injury list. Troy Murray, C, 6th draft pick in 1980, signed to NHL contract from Univ. North Dakota. Steve L&auml;rmer, RW, returned to New Brunswick of AHL. On injury list, Reg Kerr and Keith Brown.COLORADO &ndash; Bob Miller, C, recalled from Fort Worth of CHL. On injury list, Yvon Vautour.DETROIT &ndash; Greg Stefan, G, recalled from Adirondack of AHL and later returned. Jim Schoenfeld, D, on injury list.HARTFORD &ndash; Paul MacDermid, D, 2nd draft pick in 1981, recalled from Windsor of OHL. Marty Howe, D, and Ray Neufeld, RW, returned to Binghamton of AHL. Jeff Brownschidle, D, recalled from Binghamton. On injury list&rsquo;, George Lyle.LOS ANGELES &ndash; Al Sims, D, recalled from New Haven of AHL as replacement for Mark Hardy, D, who is on injury list. Dean Hopkins, RW, returned from injury list. Mike Blake, G, recalled from Saginaw of IHL and later returned.MINNESOTA &ndash; Murray Brumwell, D, recalled from Nashville of CHL. Daniel Poulin, D, returned to Nashville. Kent-Erik Andersson, RW, returned from injury list. On injury list, Mike Eaves and Gary Sargent.MONTREAL &ndash; Jeff Brubaker, LW, recalled from Nova Scotia of AHL as replacement for Steve Shutt, LW, who is on injury list. Rick Sevigny, G, Pierre Mondou, C, Guy Lafleur, RW, Larry Robinson, D, and Doug Risebrough, C, returned from injury list. On injury list, Gilbert Delorme.NY RANGERS &ndash; Barry Beck, D, and Robbie Ftorek, C, returned from injury list. On injury list, Ron Greschner, Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson.PITTSBURGH &ndash; Randy Boyd, D, and Gregg Sheppard, C, returned from injury list. Steve Gatzos, RW, recalled from Erie of AHL. Kevin McClelland, RW, 1980 draft pick, recalled from Niagara Falls of OHL. On injury list, Mario Faubert.QUEBEC &ndash; Wilf Paiement, RW, and Mario Marois, D, both on injury list. Jean Hamel, D, and Richard David, LW, recalled from Fredericton of AHL. Andre Dupont, D, returned from injury list.ST. LOUIS &ndash; Guy Lapointe, D, placed on injury list. Perry Anderson, LW, recalled from Salt Lake of CHL.TORONTO &ndash; Craig Muni, D, 1st draft pick in 1980, recalled from Windsor of OHL. On injury list, Fred Boimistruck, Barry Melrose, Jim Benning and Trevor Johansen.VANCOUVER &ndash; Darcy Rota, LW, returned from injury list. Joe McDonnell, D, recalled from Dallas of CHL.WASHINGTON &ndash; Lou France-schetti, RW, returned to Hershey of AHL. Tom Rowe, RW, recalled from Hershey as replacement. On injury list, Mike Palmateer.WINNIPEG &ndash; Moe Mantha, D, recalled from Tulsa of CHL. Scott Amiel, LW, back from injury list.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>BINGHAMTON &ndash; Jim Stewart, G, recalled from Baltimore of ACHL.MAINE &ndash; Mike Stothers, D, 1st draft pick of Philadelphia in 1981, signed to pro tryout from Kingston of OHL. Marc-Andre Marchand, D, and Bill Provencher, G, recalled from Mohawk Valley of ACHL.NEW HAVEN &ndash; Jim Armstrong, LW, and Brian Carroll, C, recalled from Winston-Salem of ACHL.NOVA SCOTIA &ndash; Jeff Teal, C, Montreal&rsquo;s 6th draft pick in 1980, signed to pro tryout from Univ, of Minnesota.SPRINGFIELD &ndash; Peter Almasy, RW, recalled from Baltimore of ACHL. Scot Kleinen-dorst, C, Rangers&rsquo; 4th draft pick in 1980, signed to pro tryout from Providence College.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>DALLAS &ndash; Frank Caprice, G, Vancouver&rsquo;s 8th draft pick in 1981, signed to pro tryout from London of OHL. Andy Schliebener, D, Vancouver&rsquo;s 2nd draft pick in 1980, signed to pro tryout from Peterborough of OHL. Ian Tennant, D, recalled from Salem of ACHL.INDIANAPOLIS &ndash; Dave Simpson, C, Islanders&rsquo; 3rd draft pick in 1980, signed to pro tryout from London of OHL.OKLAHOMA CITY &ndash; Keith Knight, C, signed as free agent by Calgary, signed to pro tryout from Kingston of OHL. Andre Aubut, D, assigned on tryout by Calgary.SALT LAKE &ndash; Scott Carlston, LW, signed from Univ, of Minnesota-Duluth by St. Louis, assigned by the Blues on a pro tryout. Richard Zemlack, C, the 9th draft pick of St. Louis in 1981, signed to pro tryout from Medicine Hat of WHL. &#9632;

PLAYER TRANSACTIONS

MONTREAL&mdash;Throughout the last decade all people who have an interest in hockey&mdash;players, coaches and fans alike&mdash;have become aware of the European influence upon the game in North America, from the National Hockey League right down to the Atom level. And this summer, North, Americans will get a chance to find out just about everything they could ever want to know about hockey at The International Hockey Coaches Symposium in Turku, Finland, being conducted from July 2-10.Organized by the-Finnish Ice Hockey Association and held in cooperation with the Finnish Hockey League and the World Sports Friendship Exchange Program which operates out of Montreal, the symposium is being held for the benefit of hockey coaches everywhere with an international lineup of the best coaches, sports doctors and administrators from Europe and North America.Not only will those who attend the symposium in person receive a remarkable education, but a documentary film and a book outlining the content of the symposium are in the works for the benefit of all those interested in learning more about coaching hockey.The symposium intends to examine different ideas of masters of the game concerning both offensive and defensive aspects arid styles of play. Player and team motivation is another area to be covered, as well as pre-season and in-season conditioning, psychological factors involved in the game and of main concern, the combination and advantages of combining European and North American hockey methods.Who will be there? How about this lineup: Scotty Bowman, general manager and coach of the Buffalo Sabres, Glen Sather, president, GM and coach of the Edmonton Oilers, Pat Quinn, former coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, Pierre Page, assistant coach of the Calgary Flames, Viktor Tikhonov, head coach of the Soviet national team, Ludek Bukac, head coach of the Czechoslovakian national team. Representing the NHL are vice presidents Brian O&rsquo;Neill and Scotty Morrison. Players include Montreal&rsquo;s Bob Gainey and Boris Mikhailov, the former Soviet national team captain. Head coaches from Sweden, West Germany, and of course, Finland, as well as psychologists, physiotherapists, college and junior coaches will be there. In short&mdash;perhaps the most extensive array of hockey luminaries ever assembled.In addition to reaping the dividends of their expertise, there&rsquo;s the joys of vacationing in Finland and seeing other parts of Europe in easy-to-arrange travel packages. Wives and friends are invited, too, with sightseeing, shopping and &ldquo;Keep Fit in Finland&rdquo; programs established.For more information about this unique tour offer, write to: World Sports Friendship, 1117 St. Catherine Street West, Suite 521, Montreal, Quebec H3B 1H9 or telephone: 514-845-5166. &#9632;

Finland Site Of Symposium

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-01239/6580216-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg" title="C0004-01" width="354" height="324"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-02142/6580209-1-eng-US/c0004-022.jpg" title="C0004-02" width="444" height="350"></div><h2>MONTREAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0381/6580202-1-eng-US/c0004-032.jpg" title="C0004-03" width="500" height="190"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0445/6580195-1-eng-US/c0004-042.jpg" title="C0004-04" width="506" height="188"></div><h2>CALGARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0527/6580188-1-eng-US/c0004-052.jpg" title="C0004-05" width="508" height="180"></div><h2>WINNIPEG</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0625/6580181-1-eng-US/c0004-062.jpg" title="C0004-06" width="510" height="184"></div><h2>EDMONTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0720/6580174-1-eng-US/c0004-072.jpg" title="C0004-07" width="514" height="182"></div><h2>VANCOUVER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0817/6580167-1-eng-US/c0004-082.jpg" title="C0004-08" width="496" height="182"></div> &#9632;

C0004-01

FINAL STANDINGS

TORONTO &ndash; To look at the goalscoring totals in the National Hockey League, you would hardly get the impression that it was a very good year for the members of the goaltender&rsquo;s union, but in the Molson Cup competition, goalies in three of the six Canadian cities taking part in the competition came out on top and were awarded the Molson Cup.Perhaps it was because of grace and efficiency under pressure, but goaltenders Richard Brodeur in Vancouver, Pat Riggin of Calgary, and Toronto&rsquo;s Michel (Bunny) Larocque were the top pointgetters in each of their respective cities. In Montreal, Winnipeg and Edmonton, forwards Guy Lafleur, Dale Hawerchuk and Wayne Gretzky captured the award.MONTREAL &ndash; Lafleur took a 10-point victory over Bob Gainey to gain his seventh Molson Cup in the past eight years. Last season, Larry Robinson, who finished fifth in 1981-82, interrupted Lafleur&rsquo;s string of awards. Lafleur finished with 95 points, Gainey had 85, Keith Acton, 75.TORONTO &ndash; The Maple Leafs may have been last in goals-against in the NHL, but it could have been much worse, if not for some of the heroic performances of Michel Larocque, who handled most of the goaltending.Toronto captain Rick Vaive was second to Larocque with 70 points, 10 behind Bunny&rsquo;s total; Borje Salming was third with 60.WINNIPEG &ndash; Rookie Dale Hawerchuk emerged with 95 points to edge out a pair of teammates in the closest competition of all. Morris Lukowich and Ed Staniowski, another goalie, were tied for second with 90 points, with Lukowich designated the official runnerup because of more first star ratings.CALGARY &ndash; The Flames had a disappointing regular season, a fact which was represented in their relatively low point totals in the Molson Cup competition. Goalie Riggin finished first with 55 points and there was a three-way tie for second among Jim Peplinski, Kevin Lavallee and Mel Bridgman at 45 points.EDMONTON &ndash; There&rsquo;s no topping Mr. Gretzky in any departments when it comes time for awards and the Molson Cup has proven to fall into line with that theory. Gretzky amassed nearly as many points in the Molson Cup race, 175, as he did in the scoring race. He also outdistanced his nearest teammates, Grant Fuhr and Glenn Anderson by more than a century.VANCOUVER &ndash; The one city where you expect a goalie to win the Molson Cup is Vancouver and Richard Brodeur made it a matching pair of Molson Cups as he finished on top for the second straight year. Previous winners in Vancouver were Glen Hanlon, and Cesare Maniago, both goaltenders.Brodeur was second only to Gretzky in being named a star, earning 110 points, 35 more than Thomas Gradin. Stan Smyl finished in third spot. &#9632;

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April 16, 1982

Bookshelf

Cinderella Laval’s Advance Assured; Chicoutimi, Sherbrooke Also Strong

Gretzky’s Scoring Statistics

ON THE CONTRARY