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.

May 21, 1982

The Hockey News May 21, 1982

As we told you in last week&rsquo;s edition of THE HOCKEY NEWS, this is our final weekly issue for the 1981-82 season. We&rsquo;ll wait until the end of the Stanley Cup final between Vancouver and the New York Islanders before we come out with our June issue, the first of four summer editions.In that issue, we&rsquo;ll have a complete wrapup of not only the Stanley Cup playoffs, but also the Memorial Cup, which this year features a three-way battle between the Kitchener Rangers, Sherbrooke Beavers and Portland Winter Hawks.And, of course, we&rsquo;ll also have a look ahead at this year&rsquo;s Entry Draft, in which the NHL teams will be picking all of the top junior and college players. Brian Bellows is being touted as a shoo-in to be the No. 1 pick in the draft, but he&rsquo;ll be getting some stiff competition from players like Portland&rsquo;s Gary Nylund and Ken Yaremchuk and Gord Kluzak of the Billings Bighorns. There could be some last-minute maneuvering by some NHL teams to acquire the choices they want; if there is, we&rsquo;ll bring you up to date in that issue.Don&rsquo;t miss us! Remember, we&rsquo;ll be on the stands or in your mailbox just as soon as the playoffs are over! &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

Coming Next Month

The International Hockey Weekly Founded in 1947Published by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd.214 King St. West, Suite 314. Toronto, Ont. M5H 1K4<h2>A Landmark Decision</h2>AS THIS ISSUE WENT TO press in early May, most everyone around the National Hockey League had their attention focused on the final series between the New York Islanders and the Vancouver Canucks, the most dramatic and important series of the year.But away from the ice, in a courtroom thousands of miles away from the Nassau Coliseum, where the Vancouver-Islanders series started, an equally dramatic and important verdict was reached in a trial which could have a significant affect on professional sports in North America in general and, more specifically, on the NHL.Just one day before the Islanders defeated the Canucks 6-5 in overtime in Game One of the finals, a six-woman jury in Los Angeles, CA., took five and a half hours to decide that the National Football League had indeed violated the Sherman Antitrust Act in its attempt to block the Oakland Raiders from moving their franchise to Los Angeles. While the NFL indicated that they would appeal the decision&mdash;a process that could take as long as five years and, if they were to lose, cost them close to $100 million&mdash;the verdict meant that the Raiders could, if they chose, immediately move the team to Los Angeles and set up shop for the 1982 season.It may be quite some time before the enormity of this decision is realized by the rest of the sports world, but suffice it to say that it came at a time when the NFL had firmly established itself as the most powerful sports league in North America. If the NFL can be brought to its knees, one Can only wonder what might happen as a result to less powerful and wealthy leagues&mdash;one of which most certainly is the NHL.For instance, if Davis has been granted the right by a court to move his franchise&mdash;even if three-quarters of his fellow owners opposed the move&mdash;where does that leave Peter Gilbert, the owner of the Colorado Rockies who is desperately trying to move that near comatose franchise from Denver to the Meadowlands in New Jersey? Like Davis, he too is running into resistance from some of his fellow owners, particularly those who have teams in the vicinity of the Meadowlands&mdash;Philadelphia and the New York Rangers and Islanders.John Ziegler, the president of the NHL, has confidently stated that the Raiders&rsquo; verdict would not apply to Colorado&rsquo;s attempt to move to New Jersey: &ldquo;We already have a decision that upheld us,&rdquo; Ziegler said. &ldquo;In the late 1960&rsquo;s the California Seals attempted to move to Vancouver. We were against it. We were upheld.&rdquo;Like Ziegler, Peter Gilbert is confident too; confident that his proposed move to the Meadowlands will be approved by the NHL Board of Governors when it convenes in New York in mid-May. At that time, according to NHL bylaws, Gilbert will need a unanimous vote to make the move. If he doesn&rsquo;t get it, or if the league attempts to handle the Rockie situation in another way&mdash;among the options Ziegler is said to be exploring is one which would disband the present team and sell the contracts to a new owner who would then put an expansion team in the Meadowlands&mdash;what&rsquo;s to stop Peter Gilbert from going to court and using the recent Raiders&rsquo; decision as a precedent for his case? After all, if Al Davis can successfully tell his lodge brothers to shove it, who&rsquo;s to say that Gilbert can&rsquo;t too? And be just as successful?John Ziegler would undoubtedly have answers to those and other questions. And the possibility exists that he may have to present them, in court, before the fate of the Colorado Rockies can be decided.<h2>Some Thoughtful Remarks</h2>IF YOU TURN TO PAGE FOUR in this issue, you&rsquo;ll find some very provocative and interesting remarks by the Boston Bruins&rsquo; Terry O&rsquo;Reilly on the NHL&rsquo;s curious way of dealing with the issue of crime and punishment, a subject that has been mentioned in this space before.One can only wonder, after reading O&rsquo;Reilly&rsquo;S comments, how much longer the powers that be at the league have to hear statements like &ldquo;they don&rsquo;t have a system for doling out suspensions&rdquo; or &ldquo;their priorities are mixed up&rdquo; before they change the ludicrous manner in which they handle this very important aspect of their business. &#9632;

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div>Officiating is a controversial topic in any sport, but especially so in hockey&mdash;particularly when the playoffs roll around each year. Randy Smith, the sports editor of the Manchester (CT.) Journal Inquirer and the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; correspondent for THE HOCKEY NEWS, expresses his views on the topic of hockey officiating in the following article, which initially appeared in the Journal Inquirer.If you think that your son possesses the potential to become a professional hockey player, here&rsquo;s a sure-fire test that&rsquo;s guaranteed to enlighten both of you.Ask your son to define hooking or cross-checking or interference or any of the other infractions which French-Canadians refer to as punitions.If your son offers a clinical response, defining word-for-word the book rule concerning any penalty, show him where the scissors are kept. He&rsquo;ll have better luck with paper dolls than he&rsquo;ll have with slapshots.If he pauses and asks, &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the score?&rdquo;, or &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s the game being played?,&rdquo; or &ldquo;How much time is left?,&rdquo; or &ldquo;What is at stake?,&rdquo; pat him on the head and dig a little deeper into those pockets for the extra cash required to purchase major league equipment.That kid has a chance.Penalties are the story of, not the glory of, hockey, the only team sport which still employs just one official. The referee, by rule, is granted virtually unlimited power to decide on penalties, and the truth is, he allows his decisions to be swayed by time, score and situation.Hence, while the infractions do not change&mdash;a hooking penalty at Madison Square Garden is no different than a hooking penalty at the Bolton Ice Palace&mdash;the penalties that are meted out do.If that sounds nonsensical or illogical or unfair, there&rsquo;s a reason: The system stinks.In no other sport do the rules change as dramatically as they do in hockey. Perhaps the job of officiating has grown too big for one man, blit considering that the NHL has had only 65 years to make an adjustment, there&rsquo; isn&rsquo;t much chance of the league suddenly deciding that two officials would be better than one. The power of that one man to dictate the outcome of a game is enormous, so enormous, in fact, that he often goes out of his way&mdash;and away from the rules he had to learn to become a referee&mdash;to avoid it.The saddest part is, the players know it. Thinking that the referee won&rsquo;t calf a penalty, the players take incredible liberties, and lo and behold, almost always, no penalty is called.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s part of the game,&rdquo; said Mark Howe, who was involved in a deliberate penalty which gave the Hartford Whalers one more point than they would have earned had he played by the rules.Blaine Stoughton, who scored the last-second goal which gave the Whalers a tie against the Edmonton Oilers in Hartford during the regular season, remembers.&ldquo;He [the referee] had just called a penalty on us with less than two minutes to go, so we had to play the rest of the game shorthanded,&rdquo; Stoughton said. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t care if we lost, 5-3, or 4-3. We were going for the tie. I was out at the red line alone and Mark saw me. He hooked the guy, figuring, hey, the ref&rsquo;s never going to call another penalty. Mark got the puck and hit me for a breakaway. I scored and we got a 4-4 tie.&rdquo;&ldquo;At that point in the game, you do whatever it takes,&rdquo; Howe said.Even if it&rsquo;s a deliberate penalty?&ldquo;Whatever it takes,&rdquo; Howe said.The mentality actually is staggering. Players play by the rules until winning or losing becomes the issue. Then, anything goes. How can coaches or fathers or anyone, for that matter, relay that message to, say, a 13-year-old rosy-cheeked youngster, without a misgiving or two? Don&rsquo;t cheat, son, until the game&rsquo;s on the line.So much for building character.The macho element, no question, is part of hockey&rsquo;s appeal. It is a brutally physical sport, but it must be officiated properly, that is, consistently, at all levels. If officials would just be consistent at the NHL level, that would be a start, but officials bend the rules constantly.Don Maloney of the New York Rangers, for. example, streaks through center ice, dekes a forward, and zooms into the New York Islanders&rsquo; zone. No, wait a minute. At the Islanders&rsquo; blueline, Maloney is tackled by Ken Morrow, an Islanders&rsquo; defenseman, and tackled is putting it mildly. Morrow actually leaves his feet to get at Maloney, who is almost in free. Morrow&rsquo;s left arm catches Maloney on the side of the head, the pair spin and fall, sticks fly this way and that, and referee Bruce Hood is left with a decision.Purists realize, without a doubt, that Morrow has committed a penalty (it is conceivable that Morrow committed six penalties on that one play), but what purists do not realize is that there are 10 minutes left in a tie game in a quarterfinal series of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Hood&rsquo;s call? You guessed it, a no call.Play on.On the same night in Quebec City, Terry O&rsquo;Reilly of the Boston Bruins pulls a temper tantrum that would keep a 10-year-old in his room for a week. O&rsquo;Reilly, particularly nasty with his stick and gloves throughout, charges out of the penalty box to get at referee Ron Wicks, and would have, had he not been met by teammates Wayne Cashman, Ray Bourque and Don Marcotte, who have seen O&rsquo;Reilly pull this sort of thing before. Wicks could have given O&rsquo;Reilly any penalty in the book, including some sort of suspension, but heaven forbid, these are the playoffs and O&rsquo;Reilly is a good player. Hence, a game misconduct for O&rsquo;Reilly in a game that the Bruins already had lost.If given the choice, which, of course, they are, referees would choose to have no bearing on the outcome of a game. Penalties or no penalties, referees are conditioned to mete out an equal number to both teams and not to call one in the final minutes of a tight game. If they do that, they believe, they have done their job.The whole philosophy is hogwash, if for no other reason that a father cannot tell his son what is a penalty and what isn&rsquo;t.And, if the son realizes what is legal and what isn&rsquo;t, and abides by the rules, he has no chance to become a professional player.That doesn&rsquo;t even sound right&mdash;and with good reason.It isn&rsquo;t. &#9632;

In The NHL, No Call Is A Good Call

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05325/4606075-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL Playoff Picture

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01749/4607741-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>$1.25 64522 THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY MAY 21, 1982 Vol. 35, No. 33BRYAN TROTTIER AND THE ISLANDERS: EYEING A THIRD STRAIGHT STANLEY CUP &#9632;

Cover-01

<div class="byline">FRANK ORR&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011137/4605744-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="317" height="370"></div><h2>Breath Of Fresh Air</h2>SPRING IN QUEBEC was slow off the mark this year but the town had a breath of fresh, warm air to combat the chill winds. Michel Bergeron, who coaches the Quebec Nordiques, provided it.In fact, the whole Nordique organization, one of the classiest in the National Hockey League, made a large number of friends in April. On the ice, they did it by eliminating two high caliber teams, the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins, with some entertaining play before encountering the New York Islanders.Off the ice, they did it by running a first-class show. From president Marcel Aubut to general manager Maurice Filion to Bergeron, the Nordiques have the people who should bring hockey success to that city on a long-running basis.The Nordiques&rsquo; big coup, of course, was the acquisition of the Stastny brothers, Peter, Anton and Marian, who defected from Czechoslovakia, a project that required a great deal of effort and money.They played a large role in the Nordiques&rsquo; success. The team entered the NHL in the 1979 merger with the World Hockey Association and although the Nords had some talent (Real Cloutier, Marc Tardif) and drafted well (Michel Goulet, Dave Pichette, Norm Rochefort, Dale Hunter), to drop three world-class players like the Stastny boys onto the club moved everything forward quickly.Good deals added Dan Bouchard, Mario Marois and Wilf Paiement, solid veterans of the type who help a team immediately.The mercurial, engaging Bergeron and scholarly assistant Charles Tiffault are a first-rate coaching tandem. They inspired a somewhat effete, attack-based team to play disciplined defensive hockey in the playoffs.The Nordiques&rsquo; problem was that they encountered a club, the Islanders, which had been through it all before a few times. No club gets there without some painful growing experiences&mdash;the Edmonton Oilers found that out&mdash;and Bergeron saw the loss to the Isles as part of his club&rsquo;s growing up.<h2>A Few More Workers</h2>BERGERON DIDN&rsquo;T come right out and state it flatly but he left no doubt as to the type of players his club needs to take the next difficult step towards the throne room.When he said that the loss to the Islanders had been an important learning experience for his team, he was asked to be more specific.&ldquo;We found out that the more workers a team has, the better it&rsquo;s chances of winning are,&rdquo; he said.The teams&rsquo; front-line stars aren&rsquo;t that far apart in caliber but the Islanders&rsquo; foot soldiers&mdash;the Bob Nystrom, John Tonelli, Wayne Merrick, Billy Carroll, Dave Langevin and Gordie Lane group&mdash;are stronger than anyone else&rsquo;s group and that&rsquo;s why the Isles are heading for their third consecutive Stanley Cup.&ldquo;Really, it&rsquo;s a matter of depth in players who can do the job in tough situations,&rdquo; Bergeron said. &ldquo;Sometimes, that&rsquo;s the toughest part of a team to get into place.&rdquo;Of course, the next step for a team in the Nordiques position is the big one and several clubs over the years have failed to execute it. The Nords seem to have the right blend to make it.<h2>Kids On Defense</h2>THE NORDIQUES have a good bit of experience up front, players in the peak years of their careers. The big reason for optimism is the Nords&rsquo; young defensemen.Rochefort, 21, and Pichette, 22, are sound kids on their way to front rank status. Pierre Lacroix, 23, missed a large part of the playoffs but shows signs of developing into a solid NHL worker. Gaston Therrien, 21, was pressed into heavy playoff duty because of injuries and conducted himself well.In addition, the club&rsquo;s first-round draft pick in &lsquo;81, Randy Moller, 18, made his NHL debut against the Islanders after spending the season in junior hockey and conducted himself admirably.&ldquo;When I took over as head coach [six games into the &lsquo;80-81 season], I made it clear that 1 wanted to go with the young defensemen,&rdquo; Bergeron said. &ldquo;There have been times when it was a little rough but I think it&rsquo;s paid off.&ldquo;Their development is going to be a big part of our future.&rdquo; &#9632;

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HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div>It was a year ago&mdash;after the Islanders had won their second straight Stanley Cup and after the victory parade on Hempstead Turnpike&mdash;that Bill Torrey faced his biggest task as the team&rsquo;s president and general manager. Waiting for him with their palms outstretched were seven unsigned players.How could Torrey possibly satisfy all seven? How could he meet all their demands and still maintain harmony? After all, despite the Islanders&rsquo; success on the ice, the team was not completely solvent, though it had reduced its debts from $20 million to $6 million in three years.John 0. Pickett, then the club&rsquo;s managing general partner and now its sole owner, sized up the situation in an optimistic fashion. &ldquo;Our players deserve to be compensated&hellip; and we will compensate them,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But we will not be foolish. We have some good hard bargaining ahead of us.&rdquo;The bargaining was left in the hands of Bill Torrey, who has handled all the firing and the hiring since the Islanders were formed 10 years ago. Torrey did a remarkable job. First he signed Anders Kallur, then Mike McEwen, then Dave Langevin, then Bobby Nystrom, then John Tonelli, then Bob Bourne and finally Mike Bossy.The Islanders, with their roster intact, went on to win the NHL&rsquo;s regular season championship for the second straight year and the third time in four years. And now they are bidding for their third straight Stanley Cup championship.Take a bow, Bill Torrey.Looking back now on those long contract negotiations, Torrey admits &ldquo;it wasn&rsquo;t easy.&rdquo; Then he chuckles and adds, &ldquo;Nothing is easy today, eh?&rdquo;But how was it all accomplished? &ldquo;Obviously there was a lot of hard work and time involved,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;An endless amount of time. Also, there is the feeling that the players like the organization and the way we run our team here, which also takes time and patience.&rdquo;Torrey has no set pattern in dealing with the players and/or their agents. &ldquo;You have to take each individual and figure out how to approach him,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t say, Hey, this is the way we&rsquo;re going to do it,&rsquo; and put everybody in the same box. They don&rsquo;t fit in the same box.&rdquo;The negotiations with Bossy dragged through the summer and into the start of the season. &ldquo;In Mike&rsquo;s case, being involved with Team Canada as I was, worked to my advantage because I spent most of the summer in Montreal and his agent was there. One thing about Mike, too, is he attended all the [contract] meetings. And he had a lot of input. He&rsquo;s a very mature fellow.&rdquo;It wasn&rsquo;t too long ago that one Islander player confided, &ldquo;We have the best record in the league and one of the smallest payrolls.&rdquo; That no longer is true. The Islanders now have a hefty player payroll, topped by Bossy&rsquo;s $500,000-a-year contract.In order to meet the team&rsquo;s payroll, ticket prices at Nassau Coliseum were increased this season. The top ticket for the playoffs cost $29, a league record.&ldquo;Eventually it&rsquo;s the fan who pays,&rdquo; Torrey said. &ldquo;When the team performs up to its expectations, the fans will pay it. I think, though, with the price of tickets going up, the fans tend to become impatient quicker. But it&rsquo;s no different than a guy who goes into a restaurant today and pays $18 for a steak. If you don&rsquo;t get a good steak, you send it back. When you were paying four or five bucks for a steak and it wasn&rsquo;t good, you&rsquo;d eat it anyway and not say anything. That&rsquo;s the way fans are.&rdquo;Torrey was the first man hired by Roy Boe, the former president of the Islanders, when the team was granted an expansion franchise in 1972. Torrey had spent two years as an executive vice president of the old Oakland Seals, but quit shortly after Charley Finley took over the team in 1970 and proceeded to run it into the ground.Alan Eagleson, executive director of the NHL Players Association, greeted Torrey&rsquo;s appointment as the Islanders&rsquo; general manager with a wise crack. &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; Eagleson said, &ldquo;Bill Torrey knows how to print in fed ink.&rdquo;Torrey, though, soon acquired a solid reputation as a builder, an excellent judge of talent and an able administrator. &ldquo;The Islanders are a great organization because of Bill Torrey,&rdquo; said Arthur Kaminsky, a player agent who represents several Islanders. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s created a good organization.&rdquo;The front office spirit installed by Torrey has rubbed off on the players. &ldquo;People here feel more than just part of the team,&rdquo; Denis Potvin said. &ldquo;They feel we&rsquo;re part of the family. Hey, many of us were here when we didn&rsquo;t have two sets of underwear. We&rsquo;ve grown up with this baby. Ask anyone who&rsquo;s been traded from here and it&rsquo;s like they left a part of themselves behind.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011152/4605782-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="998" height="1268"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Doug Halward came to the Canucks in a little publicized deal from the Los Angeles Kings. By playoff time he had developed into a mainstay of the blueline. (Photos by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-05215/4605775-1-eng-US/f0003-052.jpg" title="f0003-05" width="995" height="1234"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hours of individual attention given by Bill Torrey and the Islanders&rsquo; organization allowed them to retain their key player personnel in difficult negotiations.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Torrey’s Best Feat: Keeping Islanders One Happy Family

<h2>REGULAR SEASON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02968/4605827-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="934" height="119"></div><h2>AGAINST EACH OTHER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03647/4605820-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="933" height="117"></div><h2>SCORES OF GAMES</h2>Oct. 15 Vancouver 1 at Islanders 4Dec. 9 Islanders 3 at Vancouver 4Jan. 4. Vancouver 1 at Islanders 4<h2>PLAYOFF RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04378/4605813-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="936" height="116"></div> &#9632;

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How Teams Compare

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;Ron Smith, the soft-spoken, enormously approachable assistant coach of the Canucks, may have described his team best when he said they were like a foreign film. &ldquo;When you see us the first time you don&rsquo;t see all the things we are doing. It takes a second and third viewing to realize our strengths,&rdquo; Smith said.Indeed Smith has hit on the vital sign, the chemistry that has brought this team from the depths of despair to a belief that they could actually challenge the New York Islanders for the Stanley Cup.They have come this far by checking in a man-to-man system in which each player knows his own responsibility. It&rsquo;s based on the fact they have an outstanding goaltender in Richard Brodeur. They give up the first shot and try and minimize the rebounds&mdash;a system that has worked to perfection in the playoffs.The Canucks have lost only once on the road in that playoff span prior to the final so that no matter who they had been playing their record has been exceptional.Harold Snepsts, one of the great leaders on the team, admits in quiet moments that two or three months ago he didn&rsquo;t think the Canucks could accomplish what they have, but a lot of things have happened in that short time, not the least of which was the suspension to Harry Neale which resulted in Roger Neilson taking over as head coach a little earlier than he had expected.There was Brodeur, who has been exceptional all year. In fact his excellence led to general manager Jake Milford being able to trade goaltender Glen Hanlon to St. Louis for Tony Currie, Rick Heinz and most importantly, as it turned out, Jim Nill. Nill was a man not playing much with the Blues but in Vancouver he suits Neilson&rsquo;s approach to a T. He&rsquo;s abrasive and scores the occasional big goal like the one he potted in double overtime in Game One of the Chicago series. Then there is rookie Neil Bel-land, playing like an established veteran, taking the man despite the usual knock on this defenseman, his size (only 175 pounds). The confident young guy goes on with Snepsts most often and the pair is a delight to watch.Lars Lindgren, vastly underrated ever since he stepped into this league and Colin Campbell, who is playing the best hockey of his life, are another outstanding pair of indispensables on the Canucks&rsquo; blueline. Anders Eldebrink stepped out of mothballs after his shoulder separation in February and joined the club in the L.A. series. He&rsquo;s scarcely made a mistake since he&rsquo;s been back and Doug Halward is having his zenith playoff. He&rsquo;s carried the puck, scored big goals and played tough, staring Chicago&rsquo;s Al Secord in the eye and throwing a few blows in the process. It&rsquo;s a No-Name defense to most observers but within the framework of Neilson&rsquo;s system and help from the forwards, the workingman&rsquo;s team simply doesn&rsquo;t give up goals.Up front there are the genuine articles like Thomas Gradin and Stan Smyl. Even people in the east have heard of these bona fide stars. And while the Canucks did finish 18th overall in goals-for during the year, their goal production hasn&rsquo;t been too shabby in the playoffs, the direction of the offense based on the counterattack. They try to frustrate the attacking team, particularly on the road. They try to lull a defenseman into making the pinch he shouldn&rsquo;t, taking the gamble he&rsquo;ll regret. When he does, the counter-attack is strong, 2-on-1s and 3-on-2s handled with precision.The two Ivans, Boldirev and Hlinka, are playing with tremendous enthusiasm and with their enormous offensive talents they&rsquo;ve been making the power play sing. It hit only four notes all season, but the two have been musicians throughout the playoffs, Vancouver&rsquo;s power play bettering all three opponents on their way to their dream appearance.Everyone else does a job. Dave Williams, a man who tenaciously stuck to his job without despair despite a miserable season, checked the likes of Lanny McDonald and Dave Taylor to oblivion. Lars Molin, the Swedish star who has played everywhere up front, was magnificent on Marcel Dionne along with Gradin, who often is used to shadow the centers with speed. Gerry Minor, another mothballs man, having recovered first from a fractured skull in training camp and then a broken ankle in January, kept Denis Savard at bay in the Chicago series.And all this has emerged through a cloud of injuries which the Canucks kept ignoring. They got past them. When Kevin McCarthy injured his ankle two days before the playoffs started, there was an audible groan in Vancouver. But the players fought off despair and Belland, Campbell, Snepsts and Lindgren played the first two games of the Calgary series alone on defense&mdash;only rookie Andy Schliebener watched on the bench. When Halward came back in Game Three from his seven-game suspension (for going into the stands in Quebec City) he accelerated his play to a point where it was hard to believe he was a free agent just three years ago.Injuries, in a sense, have been a blessing. They helped to discover Bel-land and they have taught this bunch to ignore them and carry on regardless.Whatever this team has done has turned on Vancouver. Hockey is king again, the fans never having been quite so caught up, complete with waving towels and singing the Na Na Na Na Hey Hey song. And they have given Jake Milford a present to end his hockey career.&ldquo;This is the happiest moment of my hockey life,&rdquo; he said that night in Chicago when Smyl and Snepsts hoisted the Campbell Trophy. It was in fact, the best part of the foreign film. &#9632;

Canuck Chemistry Hard To Decipher, But It’s Potent

<div class="byline">BY BOB DONNELLY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011196/4605882-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wally Weir, who actually spent more time as a forward than on defense, was the only healthy blueliner Quebec had left for the Isles. (Photo by Bruce Benned)</figcaption></div>QUEBEC&mdash;&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t deserve to lose in four straight and we didn&rsquo;t have much luck overall in the series.&rdquo; This was the refrain heard over and over again in the Nordiques&rsquo; dressing room following elimination from the semifinals at the hands of the New York Islanders.&ldquo;We learned a lot and we are proud of our efforts in the playoffs, but all that anyone will remember next season is that we lost in four games,&rdquo; said Peter Stastny &ldquo;We still have to prove ourselves in the regular season as well.&rdquo;After the Nordiques eliminated both Boston and Montreal, there was even some talk on radio open-line shows of a Stanley Cup parade in Quebec City. But the Islanders ended all those dreams with solid hockey and consistency, and with a much stronger defense than Quebec, partly because of injuries to Quebec players, but also due to lack of experience.Dan Bouchard can play goal as well as Billy Smith and he did in the playoffs; the Nordiques have enough scoring punch to match any team in the NHL, although they lack the balance that New York has. But the Islanders&rsquo; defense was superior to that of Quebec in the playoffs and this was the difference in the long run.The Nordiques kept the first two games close to start the series in New York, that is until the Islanders took control in the third period each time. In Game Three, New York needed an overtime score by Wayne Merrick to win. In the final game Duane Sutter scored into an empty net with two seconds remaining in regulation time for a 4-2 win to clinch the series.Isles&rsquo; coach Al Arbour asked if he really expected to sweep the Nordiques in four straight: &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see into any crystal ball and see what the future holds, but we were worried,&rdquo; Arbour said. &ldquo;We knew Quebec skated well and that we would have to take the ice and the lanes away from them. You have to check well against the Nordiques because they move the puck quickly.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;It was a big disappointment to go out in four,&rdquo; said Rochefort. &ldquo;The turning point was the overtime goal by Merrick&hellip;&rdquo;</blockquote>While the Islanders were healthy on defense for the series, the Nordiques were struck with a rash of injuries. Wally Weir was the only Quebec defenseman not coming back from an injury or playing with one, and he had only seen spot duty at this position throughout the regular season. Jean Hamel and Pierre Lacroix didn&rsquo;t play against New York. Mario Marois (wrist and knee), Andre Dupont (back and knee), Dale Hoganson (back problems), Normand Rochefort (injured shoulder in Game Three), and Dave Pichette all gave it their best. But the Islanders are a fine-tuned scoring machine, and Quebec mis-takes often resulted in a goal or good scoring chance on Bouchard.&ldquo;We showed discipline but it was a big disappointment to go out in four straight,&rdquo; said Rochefort. &ldquo;The turning point in the series was the overtime goal by Merrick in Game Three. We were tired and hurting against New York, and Smith always made the key saves when he had to. The experience will certainly help us in the future and we learned a lot on defense.&rdquo;Other Quebec players talked of the depth of the Islanders and were already looking forward to next year: &ldquo;We waited for the breaks, but New York played too well,&rdquo; said Dupont. &ldquo;They are a well-balanced team and they never panic,&rdquo; added Pichette. &ldquo;It is never easy to come back against such a solid team&rdquo; concluded leftwinger Alain Cote&rsquo;.&ldquo;The series made it clear that the Islanders were stronger in veterans and experience,&rdquo; analyzed Bouchard. &ldquo;The discipline we played with in the playoffs will help us next year,&rdquo; said Cote, looking towards 82-83. &ldquo;Everyone worked hard and we proved we have some character&rdquo; concluded newcomer Wilf Paiement. &ldquo;I am glad to be in Quebec because this team has a good future.&rdquo;The last word went to coach Michel Bergeron: &ldquo;Even if we had been healthy, it would have been very difficult to beat the Islanders. But we now know that we have a solid team that we can build around and get the right combination of your players and veterans who want to work. We have come together as a team. When we got that great ovation from our fans at the end of the fourth game, we knew that we had the respect and admiration of our public.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0004-01

Defense The Difference In Nordiques’ Defeat

THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded in 1947 by Kenneth W. McKenzieDONALD R. WALLChairman and PublisherTOM MURRAYEditor in ChiefAdvertising and Editorial Offices214 King Street West&mdash;Suite 314Toronto. Ontario. Canada M5H 1K4(416)598-1753Executive Office850 Third Ave.New Yofk New Vock. 10022(212) 593 2100EDITORIAL STAFF Charlie Halpin Editorial DirectorMike Dennis. Assistant EditorContributing Editors Stan Fischler. Frank OrrTOM WORSLEY&nbsp;Business Manager<h2>ADVERTISING SALES OFFICES</h2>Toronto:Randy Green214 King Street West&mdash;Suite 314Totonto Ontario. Canada M5H 1K4(416)598 1753Quebec City:Gaston DubeGaston Dube & Associates.750 St Ursuie StQuebec City, Que G1R 4E7(418) 692 5130New York:Bob BassinetteBob Bassinette Co.8 Jackson Ave.Syosset. NY 11791(516) 921-0508Minneapolis St. Paul:Chuck Grillo & Herb Brooks12890 Dory Ave.Apple Valley. MN 55124(612) 423-2447Esther Sumka.Advertising Sei vice Manager 1416) 598-1753THE HOCKEY MEWS. (ISSN 0018-3016). is published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd., 214 King Street West&mdash;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. 10022.YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $18.95 in the U.S.A. $18.95 in Canada. $24.95 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 processing.SEND ADDRESS CHAN6ES TO THE HOCKEY NEWS. 214 King St W&bdquo; 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 offices U.S. POSTMASTER send address changes to The Hockey News. 214 King St W, Suite 314, Toronto. Ont. M5H 1K4.Member ol the Audit Bureau of Circulations &#9632;

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02375/4605937-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry O&rsquo;Reilly chose not to attend his hearing in Montreal following his swipe at referee Andy van Hellemond in the final seconds of the Bruins&rsquo; last game.</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;Two seconds before the hockey season ended for the Boston Bruins, Terry O&rsquo;Reilly decided to even a few scores with Dale Hunter of the Quebec Nordiques before it was too late.Referee Andy van Hellemond intervened, whereupon O&rsquo;Reilly did the unthinkable. He hit the referee in full view of 14,698 live spectators and a few million TV viewers across New England and Canada.O&rsquo;Reilly was summoned to defend his actions at a hearing in Montreal May 7 and again he did the unthinkable. He didn&rsquo;t go. A confession of guilt? Not really. A silent protest of the system? Now you&rsquo;re getting warm.A few days before the scheduled hearing before NHL Executive Vice President Brian O&rsquo;Neill, O&rsquo;Reilly unloaded his frustrations to Dick Trust, the hockey writer for the suburban Patriot Ledger.&ldquo;They don&rsquo;t have a system for doling out suspensions,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Reilly, who is no stranger to suspensions, having served three games for bumping referee Denis Morel and eight games for leading the Bruins into the stands after harrassing fans in New York.&ldquo;They pass judgement in each individual case. The whole hockey world guesses: What&rsquo;s he going to get, seven games? Ten games? Twenty games? Nobody knows.&ldquo;I think their priorities are all mixed up. The most serious penalties are handed out for going into the stands and showing disrespect for the referees by hitting them or pushing them. They give you a good suspension for that.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Reilly noted the cases of Behn Wilson of Philadelphia vs. Reijo Ruotsalainen of the Rangers, Jimmy Mann of Winnipeg and Paul Gardner of Pittsburgh, and Paul Holmgren of Philadelphia and the same Andy van Hellemond.&ldquo;Wilson carves up Ruotsalainen,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Reilly. &ldquo;He cut his cheek open and almost took an eye out. And he gets five games. That&rsquo;s a joke. Mann breaks Gardner&rsquo;s jaw in two places and gets 10 games&hellip; Holmgren gets six games for hitting van Hellemond.&ldquo;What makes a referee more important than a player? If you lose your temper against a referee and it&rsquo;s not an assault with intent to injure, it&rsquo;s a gesture of disrespect, a glove or a slap that in no way is meant to harm him. The face of the officials is seen as more important than intent to injure.&ldquo;I was going after Hunter and van Hellemond grabbed me by the neck of the sweater, which is one of the worst places. Instant sweater burn and I go down head first. He threw me down like it was an old fashioned wrestling match.&ldquo;The refereee is supposed to stand back and let the linesmen take one player each in any confrontation. Van Hellemond had better stop grabbing and flinging. I don&rsquo;t see how they can expect to be treated like royalty. They&rsquo;re just officials. They shouldn&rsquo;t even be noticed out there.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s decision in the O&rsquo;Reilly case was not available as this was being written but the betting is that it will be a stiff suspension, perhaps as much as 20 games to start the 1982-83 season. O&rsquo;Reilly doesn&rsquo;t think that would be justified.&ldquo;If it was an intentional punch to knock the referee down, that&rsquo;s one thing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Mine was a slap on the side of the head, like &lsquo;get out of my way.&rsquo; In no way was I going to hurt him. There were two seconds left. I just wasn&rsquo;t thinking at the time.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what will happen. Maybe four or five games. But if I do get 10 or 12 games, it will be because it was televised across Canada and so many people saw it.&ldquo;If that&rsquo;s the way they think, I feel sorry for them. They&rsquo;re sick puppies. I&rsquo;d like to think there&rsquo;s some kind of logic. You do it on what was the justification, what was provoking him. They consider how many people saw this.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very pessimistic about the people in charge.&rdquo;WHAT&rsquo;S BRUIN&mdash;Don Marcotte, the 35-year-old left wing who played his first game as a Bruin 16 years ago, has played out his contract and is a free agent and the Bruins appear to be less than excited about signing him.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been a longtime Bruin and an excellent Bruin,&rdquo; said general manager Harry Sinden. &ldquo;He never caused any problems on the club.&ldquo;But at the moment we&rsquo;re not certain what we can do next year with Don Marcotte. We&rsquo;re not prepared to offer him a contract in May. I&rsquo;m not saying we wouldn&rsquo;t be prepared to do it in August. Don knows that.&rdquo;Two other veteran Bruins, Wayne Cashman, soon to be 37, and Brad Park, 33, with 50-year-old knees, also are uncertain for next year.&ldquo;Cash has a very serious shoulder problem,&rdquo; said Sinden. &ldquo;If that needs surgery, Cash&rsquo;s future as a hockey player is in doubt.&ldquo;Personally, I&rsquo;d like to see Brad Park play one more year. We need him. If it&rsquo;s not going to dp any harm to his knees or cause him any future problems, I&rsquo;d do my best to persuade him to play.&rdquo;Look for Dorn Campedelli, a 6-1, 190-pound defenseman from Cohasset High School, to be the first youngster from Massachusetts to be taken in the NHL&rsquo;s June 9 entry draft.He&rsquo;s a good skater, good passer, but observers are impressed most of all by his shot, which one scout calls major league in every respect. He&rsquo;s bound for Boston College.Other possible East Mass draftees include:Bob Sweeney, 6-3, 190-pound centerman from Acton-Roxboro Regional High School, two-time eastern state tournament finalists. He&rsquo;s also carded for Boston College.John Carter, 5-10, 160-pound left wing and center, from Woburn High School, who scored 52 goals in 20 games. He&rsquo;s going to RPI.Scott Harlow, 5-9, 170-pound left wing, who plays for the South Shore Braves in the New England Junior League because his hometown, East Bridgewater, does not have a high school hockey team. He&rsquo;s another BC signee.Kevin Houle, right wing, Acton-Roxboro Regional High. &#9632;

f0023-02

O’Reilly Protests System Of Deciding Suspensions

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011053/4605968-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="302" height="368"></div><h2>Symbolic Champions</h2>THE WINNERS WILL be appropriately dealt with elsewhere. It is time now to acknowledge the men who have lost but who, nevertheless, depart the 1981-82 season with at least a symbolic mantle of champions.To these worthies, who came off on the short end of the scoreboard, I propose a toast and now will tell you why:&bull; MICHEL DION: When the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; goaltender originally was named to the All Star Team I had the mistaken notion that a few members of the newspaper fraternity owed him a favor.No way. This is a goalie. In the five-game opening round playoff which the Penguins nearly stole from the Islanders, Dion emerged like a beacon as the hero of heroes. As far as I can tell, he betrays not a single netminding weakness. And if you don&rsquo;t believe it, ask the Islanders. The Penguins lost, to be sure, but Dion won.&bull; BRAD PARK: A man could cry watching the ever-wounded Bruins&rsquo; defenseman trying to make it into fifth gear when he knows he now owns only two forward speeds. Yet, Brad compensated behind the Boston blueline, employing the most masterful set of stickhandling and passing maneuvers since the Doug Harvey-era. He helped orchestrate the Bruins&rsquo;through the triumph over Buffalo and into the seven-game classic with Les Nordiques.Valiant in defeat, Park must confront the dismal fact that he has played 14 NHL seasons and has neither a Stanley Cup nor a Norris Trophy to show for it. No matter. He is a champion without champagne. The Sabres and Nordiques will confirm.&bull; DON PERRY: Overly-crucified for his candor in the Paul Mulvey episode, the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; coach nevertheless displayed more class in the playoffs than the entire Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; hockey club.Even Wayne Gretzky will remember Perry&rsquo;s deathless quote on the eve of the Kings-Oilers series when the Edmonton sextet prematurely buried their foe: &ldquo;If we can win that first one, it might shake them up a little, give them some cause for grief.&rdquo; Right now if you walked out onto any street in Edmonton, you could still cut that grief with a knife and do so throughout the summer.&bull; ED MIO: Blatantly bulldozed by Paul Holmgren in the fifth (and final) game of the Flyers-Rangers series, Mio had good cause to request a sabbatical in the following war with the Islanders. Instead, he returned to the fray, pulled up lame, but came back again and again, valiant and efficient until a Dave Langevin bullet cut him and the Rangers down in the quarterfinals.Defeated, but unbowed, Mio proved several things: (a) He is a gutsy and good goalie; (b) he&rsquo;s better than Grant Fuhr on the best day Fuhr ever had; (c.) The Oilers blew it when they let Mio go.&bull; BOBBY CLARKE: A few years ago Philadelphia writers mistakenly suggested that Ken Linseman would be &ldquo;the next Bobby Clarke.&rdquo; That was like saying Donny Osmond would be the next Frank Sinatra. We know that will never be.The Flyers&rsquo; center returned from his late-season injury to demonstrate beyond any doubt that there is one and only one Philly skater who can lead by example&mdash;and it isn&rsquo;t Bill Barber. The spectacle of Bobby skating himself into abject exhaustion during the Flyers&rsquo; finale against the Rangers should provide some solace for Broad Street ticket-holders, but none for Linseman.&bull; WAYNE GRETZKY: The Oilers traumatic defeat in the opening Stanley Cup round tended to tarnish (in the eyes of some critics) the otherwise improbable Gretzky season. (It also demonstrated that some members of the Edmonton media own more than one face.) One should bear in mind that never, during his record-breaking run, did Gretzky ever take the night off, literally or figuratively.The Kid&rsquo;s relentless pursuit of 200 points and 100 goals did more for the NHL than anything since the 1970s Bobby Orr road show. Perhaps Gretzky exhausted himself by playoff time; perhaps not. Whatever the case, his grand effort is not to be besmirched by the Oilers&rsquo; defeat. Gretzky rates the penultimate kudos.These chaps were defeated this spring, to be sure, but name me a team that wouldn&rsquo;t want these &ldquo;losers&rdquo; on their roster.<h2>Secord Didn&rsquo;t Change</h2>NOTES: A year ago Al Secord was a forgotten Bruin and now he is a heroic Black Hawk. &ldquo;One day the Bruins would say I wasn&rsquo;t aggressive enough,&rdquo; Secord was telling a friend. &ldquo;Then, I&rsquo;d go out and be aggressive and get a penalty, so I&rsquo;d be benched for taking a dumb penalty.&rdquo; When Secord was feeling his lowest, his ex-coach Don Cherry grabbed him by the lapels and delivered the line that Secord never forgot: &ldquo;DON&rsquo;T CHANGE!&rdquo;. He didn&rsquo;t&hellip; Rangers will lose an asset if Mikko Leinonen, who starred in the playoff win over the Flyers, decides to stay in Finland next season&hellip; The good news for Calgary Flames&rsquo; coach Al MacNeil is that his nemesis, Steve Simmons, is off the hockey beat. The bad news is that Steve has been promoted to sports editor of the Calgary Sun&hellip; I have never seen a kid goalie play so well under excrutiatingly tense playoff conditions as Mike Moffat did for the Bruins against Les Nordiques. Thus, it appears, ends the Rogie Vachon era in Boston&hellip; The feeling I get is that, despite his impressive season, Ron Duguay is not a personality Herb Brooks would like to retain on his roster if he could get equivalent value in a non-playboy&hellip; Biggest joke of the playoffs is home ice advantage. Ask the Rangers who lost three straight to the Isles in the quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden&hellip; Mark this down: The most improved defenseman in the NHL next year will be Paul Baxter of the Penguins. Who&rsquo;s the best Swede in the NHL? Vancouver Canucks Harry Neale says it&rsquo;s Thomas Gradin. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t take Kent Nilsson and a guarantee of 80 goals in exchange,&rdquo; says Neale&hellip; Are goalies crazy? No, says, Washington Caps&rsquo; goalie Dave Parro. &ldquo;I consider myself a pretty sane person. Sure, I&rsquo;ve met goaltenders who were crazy. Maybe it&rsquo;s a show some goalies put on, but overall, I don&rsquo;t think there are any more crazy people in goal than anywhere else.&rdquo;&hellip; Chicago Black Hawks&rsquo; Norris Trophy candidate Doug Wilson says the two toughest forwards to stop are Marcel Dionne and Gil Perreault. Take that, Wayne Gretzky!&hellip; The Hartford Whalers&rsquo; Doug Sulliman remains surprised at the treatment accorded him by the Rangers. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t handle me like a team normally handles a first-round pick. When you draft someone in the first round, you should believe he could play in the league. They never had confidence in me&hellip; The Toronto Star&rsquo;s veteran ace Rex MacLeod has a chip off the old block writing for the opposition. His son, Robert, covers junior hockey for the Globe and Mail&hellip; What Nordiques&rsquo; goalie Dan Bouchard needs is a good p.r. man. Nobody gets a worse&mdash;nor undeserved rap&mdash;in the business.The temptation, from this end of the telescope, is always to side with Terry O&rsquo;Reilly. While he may not be the original hard-trier he is right up there with the alltime energy-expenders. Beyond that, he is essentially a warm, sensitive man who collects and refurbishes antiques and owns an intellect that would be the envy of a Ph.D.So, how come Terry O&rsquo;Reilly belted referee Andy van Hellemond right in the kisser in the seventh game of the Quebec-Boston playoff?The superficial reasons are all there: The ref had called a debatable penalty against O&rsquo;Reilly in the third period. Quebec scored on the ensuing power play and won the game&mdash;and the series&mdash;on the goal with O&rsquo;Reilly stewing in the sinbin. Furthermore, Dale Hunter (the fellow O&rsquo;Reilly had dumped in the first place) had been a nettle in the Bruins&rsquo; side throughout the game and was tilting with Boston&rsquo;s Wayne Cashman at the time O&rsquo;Reilly got into his fateful row.There were two seconds remaining in regulation time when O&rsquo;Reilly circled in an attempt to get a hunk of Hunter. Van Hellemond, obviously trying to avert a riot, attempted to block O&rsquo;Reilly&rsquo;s path and put his hands in front of the livid Bruin.In retrospect, the referee would have been better off taking the typical stance away from the action where he could evaluate the brouhaha, rather than participating in it as he did.That, however, is less relevant than the fact that there is no room for ref-punching whether it be instigated by Paul Holmgren or Terry O&rsquo;Reilly. If &ldquo;accepted&rdquo; by anything less than the stiffest possible suspension (forget the fines), then van Hellemond ought to get the message and retire post haste.But now for the less apparent cause of the dilemma, and that is the chaotic state of officiating in the NHL. There is something wrong with the refereeing business when van Hellemond, generally acknowledged as the best of his profession, suffers the indignity of two punches in the snout in one season.&ldquo;It is,&rdquo; says a Boston writer who is friendly with O&rsquo;Reilly, &ldquo;indefensible.&rdquo;Yet, indefensible is the term which also must be invoked to describe a refereeing system which sanctions (1) a different code of calling a game in periods one and two as opposed to period three; (2) referees who curse or otherwise insult players, as charged by some stickhandlers; (3) a general level of inconsistency from referee to referee, not to mention from the same referee from period to period.There is something wrong with the refereeing system, and the sooner the NHL accepts this fact of life and treats the problem, the better everyone will be.And if the league is looking for a quick solution, I suggest that NHL president John Ziegler summon Hall of Famer John Ashley, the best, calmest and most consistent whistle-blower I ever saw, to give the current crop a course in how to officiate a game.It may not help but it certainly can&rsquo;t hurt.As for Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, my heart says give him a break but my head says that if Terry was in Ziegler&rsquo;s boots, he&rsquo;d slap Terry with a 15-game suspension&mdash;minimum. The alternative is anarchy. The hope is that, somehow, refereeing will improve to the point where none of this nonsense will happen again.NEXT COLUMN: INSIDE THE WAR BETWEEN THE PLAYERS AND THE WRITERS. &#9632;

f0005-01

ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="byline">BY FRED PIETILA</div>DENVER&mdash;Monday, May 3, was supposed to be D-Day for the Colorado Rockies&rsquo; National Hockey League franchise. But on May 4, the wake hadn&rsquo;t officially started&mdash;and for that matter, wasn&rsquo;t expected to for at least another week.A one-week postponement of a scheduled May 3 Board of Governors meeting in Chicago delayed a decision on the fate of the six-year-old NHL team and the ambition of its owner, Peter Gilbert, to shift the franchise to the Meadowlands in New Jersey.So, the week that was supposed to be proceeded pretty much routinely&mdash;at McNichols Sports Arena&mdash;for the remaining members of the Rockies&rsquo; front-office staff. Eleven employees were granted furlough effective April 30, but the remaining people went about business as usual.,Ticket manager Larry McVey reported that 2,100 season tickets had been sold for next year despite an early April 30 deadline and the ominous nature of the situation.Meanwhile, general manager Billy MacMillan maintained his active scouting approach with the anticipation the Rockies will be operating in some locale next season. &ldquo;Oh yes, we&rsquo;re covering the junior playoffs and the minor pros. We haven&rsquo;t slackened in that area. Nothing in the hockey area has slackened. We&rsquo;re going full steam ahead. We&rsquo;ve got to, regardless of where we&rsquo;re going to be playing next year,&rdquo; MacMillan said.But while the Rockies were covering all scouting angles in hopes of establishing a base for the future&mdash;which they haven&rsquo;t enjoyed in the past&mdash;MacMillan admitted the club was hamstrung by the situation and was not working in terms of signing free agents or returning players to new contracts.MacMillan, though, maintains confidence&mdash;figuring that drafted juniors Jeff Larmer, Joe Cirella, Rich Chernomaz and Shawn McKenzie eventually figure in plans&mdash;along with brothers Bobby and Paul Miller, who finished the year with Fort Worth of the Central Hockey League.And there were at least three other players who didn&rsquo;t see much action this season for the Rockies who MacMillan feels could help&mdash;another drafted junior in Joe Ward and veterans Randy Pierce and Yvon Vautour, both of whom were injured much of last year.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s consistency we need,&rdquo; MacMillan said as he recalled that five of the Rockies&rsquo; 18 season wins came against three of the four Stanley Cup semifinalists. &ldquo;We need confidence and experience and you don&rsquo;t get that immediately. But there&rsquo;s no question we will be looking for tough wingers who can play in the draft.&ldquo;But the biggest thing of all is, we need a dominating center to come through for us and take charge,&rdquo; MacMillan said. &ldquo;And there&rsquo;s no question we need the other teams&rsquo; players to be put on the seats of their pants from time to time and we weren&rsquo;t able to do that this year.&rdquo; &#9632;

Rockies’ D-Day Postponed: Business As Usual

High-scoring Mike Bossy turned out to be the scoring hero with a hat trick as the New York Islanders grabbed the first game of the best-of-seven Stanley Cup finals from the pesky Vancouver Canucks as we went to press.The Islanders won the game 6-5 in sudden-death overtime to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven playoff finals.Following is a capsule report of the first game of the finals.<h2>VANCOUVER vs ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011235/4606044-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="589" height="198"></div>Game One: Mike Bossy&rsquo;s uncanny sense of anticipation turned the Islanders into winners in the start of their best-of-seven Stanley Cup final against the Vancouver Canucks.Bossy scored the game-winning goal at 19:58 of the overtime period as the Islanders edged the Canucks 6-5 in the hard-hitting beginning to a series that will determine whether the Islanders wear the NHL&rsquo;s playoff crown for a third straight year or whether it will pass on to the upstart Canucks, who have become the &lsquo;Cinderella&rsquo; team of the 1982 playoffs.Bossy, who registered his third goal of the game and 13th of the overall playoffs, was johnny-on-the-spot to intercept a pass from Vancouver defenseman Harold Snepsts that was intended for Gerry Minor floating up the center of the ice. But Bossy, wheeling in the Vancouver end, snapped it up and blasted a high comer shot off the goalpost past Canuck goalie Richard Brodeur for the game winner.It was a rugged game, one which produced plenty of heavy bumping on the part of the Canucks, who set out to slow the high-flying Islanders down with solid body and board checks. The Canucks did a good job of it, too, and for a while actually had the New Yorkers &lsquo;scared&rsquo; when they roared back from a 4-2 deficit and went ahead 5-4 on a late third-period goal by Jim Nill. The Islanders stormed back for the equalizer and in their patented gamefinishing drive, Bossy connected at 15:14 to force the game into overtime.It appeared the rugged battle in the Nassau County Coliseum would go on into the late hours when Bossy fired the winning goal with two seconds left on the clock to end the four and a half hour game.<h2>Sat. May 8 VANCOUVER 5, ISLANDERS 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02923/4606037-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="549" height="1095"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03604/4606030-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="1237" height="1692"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goaltender Billy Smith recorded his 12th playoff victory in the start of the cup finals as the Islanders beat Vancouver.</figcaption></div>The contest produced no less than five power play goals and plenty of miscues in both ends of the rink. &ldquo;It was a tough played hockey game where we capitalized on one of their mistakes and they capitalized on a lot of ours,&rdquo; said Islander coach Al Arbour. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a great deal of improvement to do to win this series,&rdquo; he added.Arbour, normally a placid person who minds his business behind the bench, blasted referee Wally Harris&rsquo; handling of the game. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m kind of annoyed at some of the things that went on. The clutching, the grabbing and the tackling. It looked like Irish football for a while,&rdquo; declared Arbour. &ldquo;The rules have to be applied, the guy [Harris] is standing right there looking at it,&rdquo; said Arbour.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04399/4606023-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="1240" height="1690"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bryan Trottier picked up three assists in the first game of the finals to give him a new playoff record of 20. (Photos by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>The overtime win was the seventh in the last eight overtime playoff games for the Islanders including last year and it was their 19th overtime win overall in 24 playoff starts.Bryan Trottier, the playoff pointscoring leader, picked up three assists to bring his total to 20 as he broke Bobby Orr&rsquo;s record of 19 set in 1972. &#9632;

f0006-01

Bossy OT Hero But Pesky Canucks Are ‘Scary’

As predicted in practically all hockey circles, the New York Islanders reached the Stanley Cup finals for the third straight season and they did it with a minimum of fuss.The Islanders swept their best-of-seven Wales Conference final over the Quebec Nordiques to earn the right to defend their twice-won Stanley Cup in the 1982 finals against the Campbell Conference winner, the Vancouver Canucks. The Islanders carried an imposing 11-4 playoff record into the showdown cup series.Following is a capsule report of the Islanders&rsquo; series winning game over the Nordiques.<h2>QUEBEC vs ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011099/4606127-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="579" height="186"></div>Game Four: Taking full control of the game for all but one brief minute of the third period, the New York Islanders eliminated the Quebec Nordiques with a 4-2 series-clinching victory that enabled the defending cup champs to pull off a four-game sweep of their best-of-seven Wales Conference final series.If any one game of the series illustrated the difference between the teams it was the last one, as the Islanders outplayed, outskated, outhustled, outshot and hung the Nordiques out to dry for the summer with a superior checking game. It wasn&rsquo;t the most spectacular style of hockey but nonetheless it was effective as the Islanders were in command throughout.Goals by Bob Bourne, John Tonelli and Clark Gillies to open the scoring in each of the three periods was all the margin the Islanders needed to bury the Nordiques for the year. A brief 37 second flurry by Quebec at the 16minute mark of the third period brought the Nordiques to within one goal of New York. Dave Pichette and Michel Goulet scored quickly at 16:09 and 16:46 to cut the Islanders&rsquo; margin to 3-2 but Duane Sutter settled the verdict with an empty-net goal at 19:58 while the Nordiques were pressing for the equalizer.Quebec coach Michel Bergeron was naturally dejected at losing but he was philosophical, too. &ldquo;The big difference between the Islanders and the Nordiques is experience,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;They know the way to win. I hope we learned that in this series and next year we will be ready.&rdquo;Bergeron admitted the New York team gave his players a lesson in hard work. Unlike the Islanders, the Nordiques didn&rsquo;t get top efforts from all hands throughout the series. The long season and the islanders&rsquo; close checking tactics appeared to wear the three Stastny brothers down in the windup game.<h2>Tue. May 4 ISLANDERS 4, QUEBEC 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02820/4606120-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="534" height="627"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03573/4606113-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="1222" height="1158"><figcaption class="caption-body">Duane Sutter scored into the empty net in the final seconds to eliminate the Nordiaues as the Islanders swept their conference final.</figcaption></div>Bergeron summed up the series by saying, &ldquo;I know now that if you go with the workers, your chance to win is better,&rdquo; he said.Most of the Islanders welcomed the four-game sweep. It gave them at least some rest before beginning defense of their cup in the final series. Many, like Bob Nystrom and Denis Potvin, said they were exhausted from both the series and the long season.Top playoff point scorer Bryan Trottier of the Islanders praised the way the Islanders finished off the Nordiques. &ldquo;I liked the way we played tonight,&rdquo; said Trottier. &ldquo;We controlled the play throughout and played the way we had to at our blueline.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-04405/4606106-1-eng-US/f0007-042.jpg" title="f0007-04" width="1232" height="1684"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goalie Richard Brodeur came up big in the Campbell Conference final just as he had been throughout the playoffs and as a result the Vancouver Canucks are in their first Stanley Cup final in the team&rsquo;s history.</figcaption></div>Trottier earned two assists to raise his playoff total to 22 points in 15 playoff games. The win was the 11th of the playoffs for New York in 15 games and goaltender Billy Smith picked up his 11th victory of the post-season round. &#9632;

f0007-01

Islanders Sweep Nordiques Out To Reach Final

If any one person spearheaded the Vancouver Canucks into their first ever Stanley Cup final it had to be hot goaltender Richard Brodeur.The Canucks finished off the Chicago Black Hawks 4-1 in their best-of-seven Campbell Conference final to win the right to advance to the cup finals against New York Islanders, and much of the credit belonged to their 29-year-old netminder.Brodeur, who broke the Hawks&rsquo; backs in the series with his brilliant goaltending, has been one of the out-standing figures of the 1982 playoffs. In beating Chicago four times, he raised his post-season record to 11-2 before taking on the Islanders in the showdown for the cup.Following are the capsule reports of the final two games of the Vancouver-Chicago conference final series.<h2>CHICAGO vs VANCOUVER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-05287/4606179-1-eng-US/f0007-052.jpg" title="f0007-05" width="578" height="195"></div>Game Four: Former Black Hawks Darcy Rota and Ivan Boldirev combined for the first three goals of the game to get the Canucks started on their way to a 5-3 triumph in Game Four and a three-games-to-one lead in the Campbell Conference finals.Rota had the only goal of the first period, his fifth of the playoffs, just 1:06 into the game, with assists from Neil Belland and Ivan Hlinka. Boldirev, who scored 140 goals in five seasons for the Black Hawks, collected a pair in the second period at 4:16 and 14:08. Chicago&rsquo;s Glen Sharpley broke up Richard Brodeur&rsquo;s shutout with his sixth playoff goal late in the second period.In the third period, Chicago climbed back into the game briefly as Denis Savard, the playoff&rsquo;s leading goalscorer with 11, scored unassisted at 2:33. But the Canucks, urged on by a capacity crowd of 16,413, struck back for a pair of goals 63 seconds apart. Doug Halward scored at 4:48 and Thomas Gradin, the Canucks&rsquo; second leading playoff scorer behind Stan Smyl, scored at 5:51 with assists from Curt Fraser and Smyl.<h2>Tue. May 4 CHICAGO 3, VANCOUVER 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-06216/4606172-1-eng-US/f0007-062.jpg" title="f0007-06" width="539" height="763"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-07164/4606165-1-eng-US/f0007-072.jpg" title="f0007-07" width="531" height="118"></div>Game Five: Three-goal outbursts in the first and third&rsquo; periods and the strong goaltending of Richard Brodeur spelled the end for the Black Hawks and the advancement of the Canucks to the Stanley Cup finals as they rode a 6-2 triumph in the fifth game to a 4-1 series conquest of the Black Hawks.The Canucks silenced an overflow crowd of 19,758 Chicago Stadium fans by scoring a power play goal as Jim Nilf deflected a Neil Belland shot past Murray Bannerman at 2:40 of the first period, just 16 seconds after Chicago&rsquo;s Dave Hutchison was penalized for slashing. Just prior to the penalty, Canucks&rsquo; goalie Brodeur turned away a breakaway attempt by Denis Savard.Chicago had barely recovered from the first goal when Stan Smyl beat Bannerman with a shot from just inside the blueline, making it 2-0 at 3:49. The teams split the remaining two goals of the period, with Tom Lysiak getting Chicago on the board and Lars Molin regaining Vancouver&rsquo;s two-goal-lead, but the period was marred by a series of wrestling matches on the ice.A total of 164 minutes in penalties were handed out in the first period (180 were called for the game) and the final 1:34 of the period had to be tacked onto the start of the second period when referee Ron Wicks had to send both teams to their dressing rooms to cool off after Chicago&rsquo;s Grant Mulvey decked Lars Lindgren during a stoppage in play and the ensuing hostilities resulted in 100 minutes of penalties.The teams stuck to hockey the rest of the way, but Chicago was continually frustrated by Brodeur and the Canucks&rsquo; clinging, tight-checking defense.<h2>Thu. May 6 VANCOUVER 6, CHICAGO 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-08132/4606158-1-eng-US/f0007-082.jpg" title="f0007-08" width="546" height="1014"></div> &#9632;

f0007-05

Hot Goaltending Lands Vancouver In First Cup Final

<div class="byline">BY GEORGE GROSS</div>As George Gross sees it, National Hockey League president John Ziegler has a rough couple of months ahead of him. In this column, which initially appeared in the May 10 edition of the Toronto Sun, where Gross is the sports editor, he enumerates some of those problems.National Hockey League officials had better hurry up and buy into one of the firms making headache pills&mdash;while the stock market is still low.By doing so, they&rsquo;ll be able to buy at cost; a definite saving considering the headaches John Ziegler and his staff will suffer between now and next fall and for some time to come.Headache No. 1 is the situation in Denver, where owner Peter Gilbert has an acute case of the shorts and wants to move the franchise to The Meadowlands, an arena which promises more supporters than are to be found in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains.Trouble&rsquo;s brewing because of the reluctance of some NHL owners to let him move to The Meadowlands without compensation. They include not only the owners of the New York Rangers, New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers&mdash;all are incumbents so to speak&mdash;but also owners whose territorial rights are as far removed from the Meadowlands as their knowledge of hockey.If they can&rsquo;t hurdle past Denver&mdash;and Lord only knows how Gilbert can continue to operate without help soon&mdash;the owners will take a look at headache No. 2, the Washington Capitals.Here again the problems are financial. Owner Abe Pollin&mdash;who also spends a lot of his time and money on the National Basketball Association&rsquo;s Washington Bullets&mdash;is seriously thinking of moving the Capitals to th Meadowlands.In this endeavor he has the support of some governors although needless to say, the aforementioned Peter Gil bert is not among them.Problem No. 3&mdash;and we&rsquo;ll ignore negotiations with the NHL Players Association and Alan Eagleson&mdash;is Bruce Norris and the Detroit Red Wings. Norris actually is no the problem, but the inept management of the Red Wings is. So, the kindly old owner decided to dump the toy that has been in family hands for half a century.Several groups have shown interest in the purchase of the once successful and popular franchise, including the Gladieux Corporation, a food-service company owned by Virgil Gladieux, which offered Norris in excess of $2 million.If Norris accepts this or another offer, the NHL would rid itself at least of one headache. They could then con centrate on Colorado and Washington.And signing a contract with the players&rsquo; association.But they still need to seal a deal with a pill manufac turer. &#9632;

Dr. John Has Got Headaches

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011174/4606289-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Bossy capped a three-goal performance in the opening game of the Stanley Cup finals with a score with two seconds left in the first overtime period. (Photo By Ian MacAlpine)</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;Mike Bossy took the hint.On the eve of game No. 1 between the Islanders and the Canucks in the title round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, most experts conceded that the race for the Conn Smythe Trophy was a wide open affair. The Islanders had seven solid candidates.Then Bossy scored three goals in the series opener&mdash;the third coming at 19:58 of overtime to earn the Islanders a 6-5 victory. Bossy&rsquo;s splurge made him a strong favorite for the Smythe as the playoffs&rsquo; Most Valuable Player. He was leading all playoff goal-scorers with 13 in 16 games and had 22 points, three fewer than linemate Bryan Trottier.Trottier, who won the Smythe two years ago, remained in the running for this year&rsquo;s award with his brilliant playmaking. He was credited with three, assists in the series opener against the Canucks, raising his playoff total to a record 20. The old record of 19 assists in a single playoff year was established by Bobby Orr in 1972.Bossy made a great play in scoring the goal that beat the Canucks with two seconds remaining in overtime. He intercepted an attempted clearing pass by Harold Sneptsts and fired a shot from the slot that clanged off a post and beat Richard Brodeur on the goalie&rsquo;s glove side.Said Bossy: &ldquo;I anticipated it. I moved into the slot and the puck was there.&rdquo;Said Brodeur: &lsquo;&lsquo;Bossy is always there.&rdquo;Bossy and Trottier were not the only candidates for the Smythe. There were other Islanders in the running. They include:Wayne Merrick: From bench warming to stardom. He scored his first overtime goal in Game Three against the Nordiques in the semifinals. He scored points in six consecutive games.John Tonelli: The lifesaver. Helped the Isles avoid elimination in the opening round against the Penguins when he scored twice in the climactic fifth game. His first goal tied the score and his second won the game in overtime.Bill Smith: Old reliable. He entered the final round with an 11-3 record and a 2.66 goals-allowed average. Started his 12th consecutive game in the opener against the Canucks and picked up another victory.Bob Bourne: He had eight goals in eight consecutive playoff games. Also spearheaded the penalty-killing unit.Denis Potvin: Failed to score a point in the Isles&rsquo; first six playoff games, then ran off 15 points in 10 games, including a pair of goals in game No. 1 of the final series.Ask Al Arbour to pick the Isles&rsquo; most valuable player and he smiles and says, &ldquo;All of &lsquo;em.&rdquo; Let&rsquo;s face it: the coach is a diplomat. Ask assistant coach Lome Henning for his choice and he ducks, too. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t want to make a pick right now,&rdquo; he said.Bourne did not hurt his MVP chances in the Islanders&rsquo; climactic 4-2 victory over the Nordiques in game No. 4. Neither did Trottier nor Smith nor Tonelli.The game was only 121 seconds old when Bourne scored. He took a pass from Trottier in the right faceoff circle, faked a pass to Ken Morrow, then darted toward goalie Dan Bouchard. Nobody was there to stop Bourne.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02922/4606282-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="1229" height="1182"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Tonelli has been a lifesaver for the Islanders with a clutch overtime goal against Pittsburgh and his determined play throughout the playoffs. (Photo By Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Everyone had slid toward Kenny,&rdquo; Bourne said. &ldquo;I had the whole lane open, right to the net.&rdquo;Bourne followed that open lane until he got within six feet of Bouchard, then uncorked a shot that beat the goalie on his glove side. Tonelli scored in the second period, converting a pass from Bob Nystrom, to give the Islanders a 2-0 lead.Trottier displayed typical courage in the final period. He hurt his right shoulder when Peter Stastny bounced him off the sideboards with 6:13 left to play. While Stastny was serving a minor penalty for interference, Trottier set up a goal by Clark Gillies. It gave the Islanders a 3-0 lead and turned out to be the winner when Dave Pichette and Michel Goulet beat Smith in a span of 37 seconds.ON THE ISLE: Bossy was playing with a sore left knee, which he wrenched in the Islanders&rsquo; final regular season game against the Penguins&hellip; The Isles have won four straight overtime games, seven of their last eight, and are 19-5 overall for a percentage of.795. Of the seven other teams in the league who have won 10 or more overtime games, the next highest winning percentage belongs to the Flyers (.560 for a 14-11 record)&hellip; Bossy on being shadowed by Tiger Williams: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s just been trying to aggravate me. That&rsquo;s his job.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-01

Bossy Leading Candidate For Smythe Trophy

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011210/4606320-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lou Nanne has made it no secret that the North Stars would like to get their hands on Philadelphia&rsquo;s Paul Holmgren, a rugged Minnesotan. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;While the North Stars players were well-into vacation, general manager Lou Nanne whirled around the world like a barn stormer.He watched the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, after catching some playoff games in the Stanley Cup race before it.Then he went to Toronto to meet with Central Scouting, and see if the universal list of prospects compares with the way Nanne&rsquo;s scouts size up the available amateurs.After that, it was off to Hull for the Memorial Cup playoffs.With Kitchener, Sherbrooke and Portland in the Memorial Cup, there is considerable interest among scouts who want to get one last look at the likes of Brian Bellows.Nanne, as always, is looking for a deal.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to make a trade or two,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to get a forward like Paul Holmgren, from Philly. He&rsquo;s from this area, and he&rsquo;s had a history of injuries. But we think he&rsquo;d be popular in his home state and he would be just what our team needs.&rdquo;To get someone like that, however, Nanne would either have to part with some top-flight regulars or maybe even juggle draft choices.Nanne currently owns the No. 2 overall pick, where, if Boston takes Bellows, Nanne will take Billings defenseman Gord Kluzak.Nanne has dangled an offer of four regulars to at least one NHL team for its first-round pick.<blockquote class="pullQuote">North Stars&rsquo; GM Lou Nanne reportedly has dangled an offer of four regulars to at least one NHL team</blockquote>If Nanne could round up a choice in about the middle of the first round, he could take home-state prospect Phil Housley, the south St. Paul High School flash.Housley was with the U.S. team in the World Championships, the youngest player in the tournament, and he played well, both at defense and center. While the U.S. had a disastrous record, Housley handled himself well, particularly against the Soviet Union, and he scored a goal against Canada, where he was paired at center against Wayne Gretzky several times.At one time, Nanne may have had faint hopes that Housley would get overlooked until the second round. But he was scouted heavily late in the high school season, and his play in Helsinki served notice of his potential.Nanne figures there is no way Housley will go lower than Calgary&rsquo;s 13th pick in the first round. Buffalo general manager Scotty Bowman is also high on Housley, and if he doesn&rsquo;t spend his sixth overall choice on someone like Scott Stevens, Kitchener&rsquo;s defenseman, then he might take a chance on Housley.Along with all his trouble, Nanne also spent some time reviewing the films of his team&rsquo;s 3-1 elimination in the preliminary round by Chicago.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t as bad as people think,&rdquo; said Nanne. &ldquo;I was looking for certain things. A couple of little things here or there and we could have won that series.&rdquo;Potentially. Of course, potentially the North Stars could still be playing, in the Stanley Cup final. But the bottom line is performance, not potential. The Stars must still differentiate between the two. &#9632;

f0010-01

Nanne Kept Moving In Search To Brighten Stars

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;In fairness to him, Tom Watt rarely takes exception to articles written about him or his team.But he feels he was wronged in a recent HOCKEY NEWS story&mdash;written by yours truly&mdash;in which he was cast as having had somewhat of a pampered upbringing in comparison to his general manager, John Ferguson.The impression was left in a recent story announcing the selection of Watt as Coach of the Year and Ferguson as Executive of the Year, a sweep that swelled the pride of the Winnipeg Jets.&ldquo;I admit Fergie and I took vastly different routes to get where we are,&rdquo; said Watt. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t change a thing and I&rsquo;m sure he wouldn&rsquo;t either. But I wouldn&rsquo;t want anyone to get the notion that my way was any easier.&rdquo; &lsquo;It was stated that Watt, who spent 14 years at the University of Toronto, was raised by an academic family.&ldquo;My father was a printer and my mother did menial jobs while she was raising us,&rdquo; said Watt. &ldquo;I was raised in a neighborhood of Toronto that was damn rough. I had more than my share of scrapes.&rdquo;He became the first member of his family to graduate from university with a degree, then later received his Master&rsquo;s in education.&ldquo;My wife is a school teacher, and I have taught, but I certainly didn&rsquo;t come from a family of school teachers,&rdquo; he said.Although he is well educated and justifiably proud of his degrees, Watt hates to be called an academic.His practical knowledge in coaching was gained through long, arduous hours working with gymnasts, football players and hockey players.Perhaps his greatest attribute as a coach is his ability to convey a bonding effect among his players into a body of one. In pleasing terms he calls his team &ldquo;my gang&rdquo;.One who has worked with young people for most of his life, he is comfortable working with players less than half his age. He appreciates their intelligence, pressures and priorities in an ever-changing society.&ldquo;Really, the differences are not that great,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Twenty years ago, if a coach asked a player to do something, he just did it. Today, young players question coaches a lot more. But I think that&rsquo;s healthy.&ldquo;They weren&rsquo;t all crew-cut, rosy-cheeked, fresh-faced young Canadians back then either.&rdquo;Watt had his first opportunity to coach in the NHL in 1979. He actually agreed verbally to coach the Minnesota North Stars. Four hours later, he changed his mind.The story said the reason why he changed his mind was because Herb Brooks had been rated ahead of him, a version spread by Minnesota sources.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s simply not true,&rdquo; said Watt. &ldquo;I did agree to take the job but on the flight home to Toronto, I started putting figures down on paper and decided that I had to refuse.&ldquo;It was no deep, dark secret that Herb Brooks had been offered the job before me. But I had been offered the job of coaching the Canadian Olympic team and that, to me, represented a far greater challenge.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never regretted the decisign to drop the Minnesota offer and go with the Olympic team. I would have done the same today.&rdquo;He did not appreciate the widespread knowledge that he was discussing the Minnesota job.&ldquo;I would have preferred less fanfare,&rdquo; he said.Watt insisted that he had harbored no ill feelings toward Brooks, the coach of the gold-medal winning U.S. team.&ldquo;I had hardly met the man,&rdquo; said Watt. &ldquo;I respected the job he did.&rdquo;Watt was also sensitive to the line that said he has written a book &ldquo;pompously&rdquo; titled How To Play Hockey.&ldquo;The line insinuated that I had chosen the title for the book,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Well, I didn&rsquo;t. It was titled by someone else. Frankly, I didn&rsquo;t like it either.&rdquo;Presumably, the record has been set straight.BENCH BITS&mdash; General manager John Ferguson has discounted any notion that he&rsquo;s prepared to trade his first-round draft choice for a strong, experienced winger. Someone like Willi Plett of the Calgary Flames. A Plett-style winger is their greatest need. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re satisfied we&rsquo;ll be able to draft someone who can play, if not next year, certainly the year after,&rdquo; said Ferguson. The Jets will have the 12th choice&hellip; Tom Watt&rsquo;s horse, Comeongethappy, won its second start at Assiniboia Downs, driving out of a crowd to win the four-furlong race. The horse is trained by Ferguson&rsquo;s daughter, Chris&hellip; The Jets&rsquo; have signed a formal agreement with the City of Sherbrooke for the use of the local arena for the next five years with an option on five more. The Sherbrooke Jets hope to be admitted to the American Hockey League at its annual meeting in Boston in mid-May&hellip; The Jets signed Cornell goalie Brian Hayward.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02952/4606351-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="583" height="968"><figcaption class="caption-body">Although Watt is proud of his education, he doesn&rsquo;t like being branded &ldquo;an academic&rdquo;.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-02

Jets’ Watt Sets The Record Straight

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;He didn&rsquo;t say no and he didn&rsquo;t say yes, but then one must remember that during his time in Philadelphia, Thomas Eriksson didn&rsquo;t say much at all. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s going to come back,&rdquo; said Bobby Clarke, after talking to the Flyers&rsquo; erstwhile defenseman during the World Championships in Finland last month. &ldquo;He has three months of army duty this summer, but he left the impression he&rsquo;s seriously considering it.&rdquo;Eriksson&rsquo;s only stated reason for quitting the Flyers in October was an unhappiness with the North American lifestyle. Players on the team, however, thought it had at least something to do with his absence of ice time. Pat Quinn said his plan was to bring the 22-year-old Swede along slowly, so as not to be overwhelmed by the adjustment to the NHL, but if it was a good plan, some may have gotten lost in translation to Thomas.Perhaps Clarke passed along the news that Bob McCammon replaced Quinn in March, perhaps he noted that Ilkka Sinisalo, another little-used European under Pat, was taking a regular shift down the stretch and in the playoffs. Perhaps a season back with his Djurgardens team in Sweden simply got Thomas to thinking that he wanted to make it in the NHL afterall.And if he does come back, maybe one more piece in the needed overhaul of the Flyers&rsquo; defense will be available. Eriksson was the rawest of rookies, but it would be damning him with faint praise to say that he moved the puck better than any defenseman the Flyers use. He has a beautiful touch, and at times showed a willingness to use his body, too.And if Toronto chooses Portland center Ken Yaremchuk over his teammate defenseman Gary Nylund, leaving the Flyers to claim Nylund with the fourth pick in the entry draft, two more excellent young talents could be in place along the Philadelphia blueline this fall. And, as inadequate as that defense looked at times last season, there are still some entirely usable parts returning.Behn Wilson, an enigma through his first four Flyer seasons, appeared to respond to Bob McCammon&rsquo;s prod, and may live happily ever after in Philadelphia afterall. It would make little sense to move a defenseman of Wilson&rsquo;s obvious talent a year or two before he reached maturity unless the Flyers get a defenseman back in a deal.Rookie Fred Arthur sailed off after an impressive first three months, but has the head and the hands to develop into one of the NHL&rsquo;s better defensive&rsquo; defensemen. Brad Marsh had his ups and downs after coming to the Flyers in the November Mel Bridgman deal, but it&rsquo;s impossible to believe the game has changed so much that a Marsh can no longer be a contributor. At the top of his game, he can negate any speed disadvantage with his superior shotblocking ability. Certainly if the Islanders can use a Gordie Lane and win two Stanley Cups, the Flyers can win with a Brad Marsh.Bob Hoffmeyer and Frank Bathe were probably the Flyers&rsquo; steadiest defensemen last year, which may tell you why they finished third and went out in the first round. But, in supplementary roles, both could still fit into the scheme. The Flyers will also take training camp looks at Mark Botell and Steve Smith, both of whom had trials last season. Bosell, a ninth-round draft choice in 1980, was a revelation for a month, but lost his confidence and finished poorly at Maine. But he does have the size and mobility to play in the NHL. Smith, a No. 1 pick in 1981, was voted the best defensive defenseman in the Ontario Hockey League last year.ICEBERGS&mdash;While the Flyers&rsquo; management did nothing to discourage reports that Ken Linseman he&rsquo;s matured yet. I&rsquo;d hate to see them move him too soon.&rdquo; Clarke also filed a character reference for Linseman, who has been charged with being a disruptive locker-room influence. &ldquo;If anything,&rdquo; said Bobby, &ldquo;Kenny&rsquo;s the opposite. He keeps very much to himself and rarely says anything.&rdquo;&hellip; Among the Flyers&rsquo; off-season priorities is to find a new coach for Maine. Since McCammon, who had agreed to coach the team another year, will eventually settle into his assistant general manager job, whoever the Flyers chose to develop the Mariners may be groomed to take over the parent club in a few years&hellip; Clarke, who in recent years has said he wouldn&rsquo;t want to coach upon his retirement, may, however, be undergoing a change of heart. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like getting married,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Maybe you have to try it to find out whether you like it or not.&rdquo;&hellip; Bob Dailey underwent surgery to remove a pin and two screws in his ankle and will begin a rehabilitation this summer. His return remains a longshot. He can play up to 20 games next year without forfeiting his disability payment. &#9632;

Flyers’ Eriksson May Have A Change Of Heart

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>MONTREAL&mdash;The final marks are in. A little earlier than they probably should be, but it&rsquo;s getting to be a habit to grade the Canadiens performances in early spring.No gifts this year, although generally the individual performances were better.<h2>Goaltenders</h2>1. Rick Wamsley&mdash; Won the No. 1 job in training camp, lost it and regained it again in January. A hard worker who is serious about the game. Grade: B+32. Denis Herron&mdash;May like to be No.1, but for now is the best No. 2 goaltender in the NHL. Despite his good performance, there is no guarantee he will be with this group next year. There is some question as to whether he wants to be. Grade: B33. Richard Sevigny&mdash; A victim of circumstance. When he played, he did a better than adequate job. Appearances were limited. Grade: C<h2>Defensemen</h2>3. Brian Engblom&mdash; Nothing fancy should be the order of his game. When he does start carrying the puck too much, he gets into trouble. Finished second in league&rsquo;s overall plus-minus thanks to excellent first half, good second half. Grade: B+17. Rod Langway&mdash; Knee injury suffered in All Star game hampered second-half performance. Still finished fifth in the plus-minus in league and second on team once again. Again, gets into difficulty when starts getting too fancy. Grade: B19. Larry Robinson&mdash; Beset by injuries and rookie partner. Grade: B24. Robert Picard&mdash; Came on with good second-half effort after hardly playing in first half. Still not as strong defensively as he should be. Grade: C27. Gilbert Delorme&mdash; Works hard. Skates slow. Not as good as management would like everyone to believe. Grade: C2. Gaston Gingras&mdash; Split from the group at mid-terms because of lack of activity. Came back and performance was good until it counted in the playoffs when he seemed to panic. May not be back in 1982-83. Grade: C-<h2>Forwards</h2>6. Pierre Mondou&mdash; The most consistent forward during the regular season. Had a better-than-average playoff. Grade: A+8. Doug Risebrough&mdash; Gave heart and soul to team all season and was solid during playoffs despite gimpy knee. Generally, his efforts go unappreciated by a certain element of the media. Grade: B10 Guy Lafleur&mdash; Aside from a spurt in late February and early March, did little to justify superstar status he still enjoys with some. Spent too much time complaining about the performance of others, including coach and managing director. If he had channeled more of his energies into scoring goals, might have had a better year. Usually did off-ice yapping when he wasn&rsquo;t doing on-ice work. Grade: C12 Keith Acton&mdash; Went through some difficult periods, some due to above student&rsquo;s yapping. Overall effort sound. Grade: B14. Mario Tremblay&mdash; Enjoyed best season ever and continued performance during the majority of the playoff games. Good thing he was around. Grade: B+15. Rejean Houle&mdash; Gave whatever he had to club. An intelligent leader who spoke when something needed to be said. Grade: B-18. Jeff Brubaker&mdash; Not around long enough to give an evaluation. Grade: Inc.20. Mark Hunter&mdash; A solid part of group&rsquo;s future. Did more this year than originally expected. Grade: C21. Doug Jarvis&mdash; Gained some recognition of his effort when he won team fourth star award. Never leaves the rink without having drained himself on the ice. Grade: A22. Steve Shutt&mdash; Injuries damaged what could have been an excellent season. Grade: C+23. Bob Gainey&mdash; Simply THE BEST player on the team. Grade: A +25. Doug Wickenheiser&mdash; All right. Anyone out there have an explanation on why he didn&rsquo;t play in the playoffs? Still can be a good asset to this group and even showed flashes of brilliance when given a chance to exhibit talents. Grade: C26. Craig Laughlin&mdash; Diligent worker. Enjoyed good success when first arrived but tailed off at end, mainly due to Wee injury. Grade: C30. Chris Nilan&mdash; Made some important contributions during season. Grade: C-31. Mark Napier&mdash; While he led the team in goals during the regular season, showed little in the playoffs. In fact, was a disappointment in postseason play for third consecutive year. Grade: B-<h2>Coach</h2>Bob Berry&mdash; Took a while to get to know people he was working with and who he could and could not count on. Had team prepared during season. There was some grumbling he was a little too distant from his boys, but that was heard before when his group was winning championships. Record in post-season activity continues to be a mystery. Grade: B<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011142/4606406-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="595" height="1247"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pierre Mondou, above, along with Bob Gainey, enjoyed perhaps the best season of the Habs.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Canadiens Find Some Solace In Report Cards

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02900/4606437-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lars Lindgren, above, sent Darcy Rota away with a pass to set up the goal which clinched the Canucks&rsquo; victory over Chicago. (Photo By Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;In the end, the Canucks cuffed aside the Chicago Black Hawks. Those expecting a close, long series were disappointed. The Canucks were just better than the Hawks, particularly in goal where Richard Brodeur established himself as a candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy with five more games in a long series of dazzling excellence.The Hawks tried everything to get things going offensively. But in the final game, a 6-2 Vancouver win on Chicago ice, the winners were easily capitalizing on the gambling Chicago defense which pinched more than a tight girdle.But Vancouver essentially won the series in Vancouver with a 4-3 victory in Game Three and a 5-3 decision in Game Four, games in which the Hawks weren&rsquo;t really up to scratch.That put Vancouver into the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in the 12-year history of the club. But that&rsquo;s just one of a long line of records the team has set. They had never won a playoff series until this year.Brodeur set the trend in the game that finished off Chicago on the first shift. Defenseman Doug Halward tried to beat Denis Savard at the Vancouver blueline and had the puck stolen, giving the Hawks&rsquo; superstar a clean-cut breakaway. He was thwarted by Brodeur.&ldquo;I remember what he did on me in the game in which he had a penalty shot on me,&rdquo; said Brodeur, referring to a Chicago meeting in the regular season. &ldquo;He did the same thing and so did I.&rdquo;&ldquo;After that save the whole game seemed to swing our way,&rdquo; said Ivan Boldirev who scored a goal in the last game and was instrumental in winning Game Four with two goals, one with Chicago two men short and the other with a delayed penalty coming up. &ldquo;This is a great feeling for us. It&rsquo;s just great to get this far. Now we&rsquo;ll be giving it our best shot even though we know the Islanders are a great team.&rdquo;After Brodeur made that big save, Jim Nill and Stan Smyl, with the first of his two goals on the night, put Vancouver into a two-goal lead, really putting pressure on Chicago to get going offensively. Tom Lysiak narrowed the gap by a goal but before the first period ended, Lars Molin had restored Vancouver&rsquo;s two-goal lead with another 2-on-1 break and after that it seemed to be nothing but 2-on-1s the rest of the evening.There was another key jucture in the game, that in the third period when Grant Mulvey scored on a perfect shot off the post from a bad angle. But when the Hawks tried to press for the tieing goal Darcy Rota, a former Hawk who had a big goal in Game Four, sealed Chicago&rsquo;s fate.&ldquo;Lars [Lindgren] got the puck up to me and then joined me on a 2-on-1,&rdquo; said Rota. &ldquo;I tried to pass to him but the puck hit either [Keith] Brown&rsquo;s stick or Tony&rsquo;s [Esposito] and came right back to me. I shot it from a bad angle and I just watched it go in. I was really excited about that one. I was jumping for about five minutes after that.&rdquo;The goal seemed to take the heart out of the Hawks and Smyl, with his second, from long-range and Boldirev completed the scoring.&ldquo;I expected a long, tough series and 1 expected it to go seven,&rdquo; said head coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;I think our goalkeeper actually shortened it for us.&rdquo;Indeed Brodeur stopped 36 of 38 shots in that final game and was spectacular in Games Three and Four won by the Canucks to advance their playoff record to 11 wins and two losses, a better record than the Islanders.&ldquo;I thought they completely changed their style tonight,&rdquo; said defenseman Harold Snepsts, who had been a tower of strength on the Vancouver blueline. &ldquo;They were pinching all night and when you do it that much it&rsquo;s only a matter of time before you get burned. Richard [Brodeur] kept us in it all the way. He&rsquo;s got something to prove yet he stays so cool all the time. All the guys look up to him, even guys like me who&rsquo;ve been around the league for a few years. He&rsquo;s the same guy we started the season with, his head isn&rsquo;t any bigger through all this. He&rsquo;s the same level-headed fellow.&rdquo;The Canucks even tried to goon Vancouver in the last game when Mulvey gave Lindgren a vicious crosscheck when the players were changing and the play was stopped.The blow felled the veteran Swedish defenseman and Ron Delorme jumped to his defense landing a few righthands in a donnybrook that resulted in 100 minutes in penalties. In fact the series broke the 1976 record for most penalty minutes in a series set by Toronto and Philadelphia, the old mark of 525, now 560, despite the fact the series went only five games.The Canucks were pressed immediately into the final having the play less than 48 hours after finishing the Hawks, with the Islanders well rested, waiting in confidence. &#9632;

f0011-02

Brodeur The Backbone As Canucks Cuff Chicago

<div class="byline">BY GARY MUELLER</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Will he or won&rsquo;t he?That&rsquo;s the question surrounding the St. Louis Blues. Will Emile [The Cat] Francis return as coach of the Blues, or won&rsquo;t he?You don&rsquo;t find too many triple-hatted executives in pro sports these days, but there seems to be growing speculation that Francis, a confirmed workaholic, will start the 1982-83 National Hockey League season wearing three hats&mdash;those of president, general manager and coach.When Francis fired Red Berenson on March 9 and took over as coach of the Blues, it generally was assumed that Francis would return to his double job of president and general manager and turn the coaching over to someone else for next season.But Francis never has come out and said that he would not return as coach. Of course, he hasn&rsquo;t said he will coach, either, but&hellip;&ldquo;Deciding on the coach isn&rsquo;t a top priority item right now,&rdquo; Francis said shortly after the Blues were ousted from the 1982 Stanley Cup playoffs. &ldquo;We have a lot of time to make that decision.&rdquo;The decision, however, well could have been made during the Blues&rsquo; short-lived stay in the playoffs, when Francis displayed the touch of old master in guiding the Blues to a 3-1 victory over the favored Winnipeg Jets in the first round and then pulled every trick in the book trying to keep the injury-riddled Blues alive against the Chicago Black Hawks.The coaching job done by Francis during the playoffs was a work of beauty. Not since Francis previously coached the Blues in 1976-77, or since Al Arbour and Scotty Bowman had coached the team a decade ago, had the Blues received such during-the-game contributions from their coach, both in the form of emotions and tactics.&ldquo;Now, when you score a goal, you feel like you&rsquo;ve done something,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; center Mike Zuke after one of Francis&rsquo; first games behind the bench. &ldquo;When you mess up, you know about it, too. It&rsquo;s positive reinforcement. And negative, too.&rdquo;In other words, the electricity and emotion within Francis was conveyed to his players.The tactics were something to behold, too, in Francis&rsquo; icy game of chess.In the opening round of the playoffs, the Blues took the home-ice advantage away from the Jets by winning the opening game in Winnipeg. Without Francis, the Blues might not have pulled off the victory, especially after falling behind 2-0 in the early going.After the Blues fell behind, Francis seemed to have lost track of his line rotations when he failed to get three of his top forwards&mdash;Jorgen Pettersson, Blake Dunlop and Wayne Babych&mdash;much ice time.&ldquo;I saw that Watt [Winnipeg coach Tom Watt] was intent on matching Dale Hawerchuk against Dunlop,&rdquo; explained Francis, &ldquo;so I just kept Dunlop&rsquo;s line on the bench. As a result, Hawerchuk didn&rsquo;t get much ice time, either.&rdquo;Having thus defused a big portion of Winnipeg&rsquo;s offense, Francis bought time for the Blues to regroup and get back into the game, which they eventually won on a late power play goal by Guy Lapointe. The importance of keeping Hawerchuk on the bench was underscored the next night when the Jets&rsquo; sensational rookie assisted on four goals as Winnipeg won the second game.But Francis&rsquo; coaching had played a key role in erasing Winnipeg&rsquo;s homeice advantage, and the Blues capitalized by winning the two games in St. Louis and wrapping up the series, three games to one.Against Chicago, the shoe was on the other foot, as the Black Hawks took away the Blues&rsquo; home-ice advantage with a first-game win in St. Louis, but Francis didn&rsquo;t go down without a fight.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011184/4606468-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="608" height="923"><figcaption class="caption-body">Blues&rsquo; president and general manager Emile Francis may continue coaching next season.</figcaption></div>In the sixth game of the series, in Chicago, the Blues were one loss away from elimination and trailed 2-0 late in the third period. Francis knew his only chance was to have his one hot line&mdash;the line of Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko and Joey Mullen&mdash;on the ice as much as possible in the closing minutes.Thus, immediately after the Federko line had completed its regular shift, Francis called for a time out, although 3:57 was left in the game.After the time out, Francis sent the Federko line back onto the ice. Then, with 2:17 to go, Francis changed goalies, sending Glen Hanlon into the game in place of Mike Liut. The Federko line caught its breath while Hanlon was allowed two minutes to warm up.All the maneuvering failed to result in any goals, and the Blues&rsquo; season had come to an end, but the wily Francis, battling to the wire, had managed to get enough rest for his top line to keep it on the ice for the last five minutes of the game.It was that type of coaching that probably made the decision as to who will coach the Blues next season. As a coach, it&rsquo;s hard to beat the emotional and tactical contributions that Emile Francis provided the Blues.As president and general manager of the Blues, Emile Francis wants to hire the best coach possible to run his team. Surely, Francis knows just where to find that coach. &#9632;

f0012-01

Stint In Playoffs Could Keep ‘Cat’ Coaching

<div class="byline">BILL LIBBY&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021010/4606499-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="317" height="364"></div><h2>How Great, Gretzky?</h2>WAYNE GRETZKY&rsquo;S dominance in the National Hockey League this season is unrivalled by that of any player in the history of the game and, it may be argued, that his influence surpasses that of any athlete to have ever played a team sport.With 92 goals and 120 assists in 80 games, he has rewritten all individual and single-season scoring records. What normally would have been considered as outstanding achievements this season&mdash;Peter Stastny&rsquo;s 139 points for example&mdash;have been pushed into the shadows.So, the question arises: Is Wayne Gretzky, at 21, the greatest player in the history of the game?Many say yes. I say no&mdash;at least not yet. There is no question that he has had the greatest regular season ever, but he still has a great deal to accomplish. Having watched hockey for more than 40 years and after having closely watched The Great Gretzky this season, 1 am amazed by him. Two years ago, I was criticized for writing that Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; center Marcel Dionne, not Gretzky, should have won the NHL&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player award. For that particular season, I maintain my belief. Last season, I agreed that Gretzky was developing into the best player but, when asked this season, I said the New York Islanders&rsquo; Bryan Trottier was better because he is a more complete player. Now, in hindsight,&mdash;that statement of mine just may have been premature.The fact that Gretzky is great is beyond dispute. He controls the puck and dominates a game even more than Bobby Orr did when he played for the Boston Bruins. He is better on offense than Eddie Shore was on defense or Terry Sawchuk was in net.Gordie Howe may be considered the greatest allround player ever. He was strong, mean and tough. He intimidated his opponents. This made him as good defensively as he was offensively. He played more seasons, more games and totalled more goals, assists and points than any other player. He was a workman, unspectacular but incredibly effective and consistent. He played at the top past the age of 50. He was unique.<h2>Difficult To Compare</h2>BUT YOU CANNOT realistically rank the immortals purely on the basis of all-round ability. Shore was mean, hard-nosed and dominated games defensively. Orr combined offense and defense beyond comparison. He was the most dominant player until Gretzky arrived. Bobby Hull Was more exciting and explosive than Howe and Howie Morenz was the most explosive player of his day.So, it is difficult to compare players of different eras. Morenz played a different game than Gretzky. So did Shore. It was slower, more physical and more defensive.Maurice Richard, Bobby Hull, Howe and Phil Esposito were remarkable scorers when the league was more defensive and competitive than it is today. There were no more great players yesterday than today, but there were greater teams and, therefore, better games. Talent was spread among six teams, not 21. The worst team 20 years ago was as good as the best today.Today, there isn&rsquo;t a single outstanding defensive-minded defenseman in the game. For all the brilliance of Bobby Orr, this is the harm he inflicted on the sport. He involuntarily converted defensemen into forwards. Orr revolutionized his sport, but not for the better. He set defensive standards back forever. And, incidentally, there isn&rsquo;t a single great goaltender in the game today.Thus, it is difficult to measure Gretzky against Morenz, Richard, Hull or Howe, because their achievements were against dramatically more difficult defenses and tougher competition.On the other hand, if I had to choose the greatest player I&rsquo;ve ever seen, it would be Rocket Richard. He will forever be damned for having his most spectacular season during the war years, when many top players were away.I am in a minority that favors Richard over Orr or Howe. In terms of being complete players, they were clearly his superior. But the essence of winning games remains and I reason that The Rocket above all other players, could get a goal when one was needed.<h2>Consummate Competitor</h2>HE WAS THE consummate competitor, so intense that he inspired passion. With his black hair flying, eyes glowing like hot coals, he flew down the ice, warding off foes with one hand, controlling the stick and puck with the other. No one else was ever so outrageously fouled, but he was undaunted by interference. Frequently, he punched down opponents, but only after his goal was scored.There was a playoff game in the late 1950s when Richard was cut down by a defenseman as he was about to shoot at Terry Sawchuk. As the great net-minder tried to smother the loose puck, The Rocket reached out, as if with a pool cue, and poked it into the net.There was another time in the early fifties when Richard was knocked down, kneed and carried unconscious from the ice. He returned, bleeding, late in the game, carried the puck to the net, crashed into goalie Sugar Jim Henry and drove the puck by him. It was instinctive. Later, he sobbed uncontrollably in the dressing room. He had suffered a concussion. He never remembered the goal.That was the goal in the seventh and deciding game of a semifinal series. He holds playoff records for most goals in one game (five); most overtime goals (six); most three-goal games (seven) and most game-winning goals (15).If Gretzky is to be considered the best ever, he must get the big goals under pressure. Richard&rsquo;s team captured five consecutive Stanley Cups.And there is one other thing Gretzky must do&mdash;sustain his superiority over many years.But he is ahead of many of the past stars in other respects. No player has reached the top of the game as quickly or as young as Gretzky.We should be grateful to be alive in an era when Gretzky is exhibiting his greatness. I am grateful for having experienced the thrill of Richard.Even more than Richard or any other player, though, Gretzky has attracted the attention of others to this somewhat neglected sport, a feat that he should be thanked for.It is difficult to determine what makes this young man excel beyond all his peers. He has neither the size nor the speed nor the experience to do what he does. But when you see films of him as a youngster, you know he always has been ahead of the field at every age.He has uncanny vision and instincts. He has extraordinary body control and agility. He controls the puck and has the patience to wait for the best play in a way that no other player has. He is, by far the best player today and, if he endures, he should one dav be known the best of any era. &#9632;

f0012-02

HOCKEY AD LIB

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011131/4606554-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0013-01

HOW THEY LINE UP

Hockey superstars, many of whom performed in the 1982 Stanley Cup playoffs, will; how the other side of their athletic rowess on June 25, 26 and 27 when the second annual Molson Slo-Pitch Classie will be staged at Niagara Falls, Ont.Some 150 National Hockey League Mayers have signified their intention to compete in the annual slo-pitch yaar which this year has attracted 14 NHL teams with the likelihood new attendance records will be established as well for the three-day tournament in the honeymoon city.The concept of the tournament is to bring together players from their respective NHL teams to play in a charity round-robin event. The three-day affair will mix some excellent softball and socializing among the players and fans alike.For the record the competing NHL teams will include Detroit, Toronto, Chicago, Winnipeg, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Washington, Edmonton, Philadelphia, Calgary, Hartford, Buffalo and the Islanders.Among the NHLers who intend to perform in the tournament are Dale Hawerchuk, Serge Savard and team GM John Ferguson of Winnipeg; Rick Vaive and Bill Derlago, Toronto; Paul Coffey and Mark Messier, Edmonton; Clark Gillies, John Tonelli and Butch Goring, the Islanders; Randy Carlyle, Gregg Sheppard and Rick Kehoe, Pittsburgh; Don Edwards, Gil Perreault, Mike Foligno and Dale McCourt, Buffalo; Denis Maruk, Bobby Carpenter and Mike Gartner, Washington; Blaine Stoughton, Bobby Francis and Pierre Larouche, Hartford; Marcel Dionne, Dave Taylor and Mario Lessard, Los Angeles; Paul Reinhart, Lanny McDonald and Willi Plett, Calgary; Willie Huber, Mark Osborne, Danny Gare and Jim Schoenfeld, Detroit; Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber and Darryl Sittier, Philadelphia; and Bob Gainey, Mark Napier and Larry Robinson of the Montreal Canadiens.Besides the 14 NHL clubs there will be two teams representing the NHL Oldtimers and NHL referees to round out a four-team four-division format.In addition to the tournament teams. Hockey Night in Canada will field a team to play two exhibition games. Their first test will come from an All Star media team representing the Niagara Peninsula and the second game will be against an NHL team made up solely of players.Other celebrities who will attend include Bobby Hull, Dave Hodge, Gary Dornhoefer and Don Cherry of Hockey Night in Canada, NHL referees Bruce Hood and Bryan Lewis, and such old-timers as Dennis Hull, Ricky Ley, Fred Stanfield and the irrepressible Eddie Shack.Tournament officials are expecting bigger crowds than last year when between 35,000 and 50,000 turned out for the event. They have also introduced some new improvements in the tourney. The event will operate on a round-robin basis with four teams in each of the four divisions; each team is guaranteed three games with a maximum of five to win the championship; and all games will last seven innings.The tournament of course is set in the majestic tourist mecca of Niagara Falls where millions flock each summer to see the world-renowned falls on both the Canadian and American sides of the border.Games will be staged in three different parks, two in Niagara Falls and one in nearby St. Catharines. Kerr Park and Oakes Park in Niagara are located in Niagara Falls while Lancaster Park is in St. Catharines.Here is the three-day schedule:Friday, June 25 at Kerr Park; NHL Referees vs Washington, 6 pm; Calgary vs Philadelphia, 7:30 pm; Islanders vs Hartford, 9 pm. At Oakes Park, HNIC will play an exhibition with an All Star media at 6 pm; Winnipeg vs Montreal 7:30 pm; NHL Old-timers vs Buffalo, 9 pm. At Lancaster Park, Chicago vs Pittsburgh 6 pm; Los Angeles vs Toronto 7:30 pm; and Detroit vs Edmonton, 9 pm.Sat. June 26 at Oakes Park: Winnipeg vs NHL Oldtimers, 10 am; Chicago vs Toronto, 11:30 am; Montreal vs Buffalo, 1 pm; Pittsburgh vs Los Angeles, 2:30 pm; Detroit vs Washington, 4 pm; Edmonton vs NHL Referees, 5:30 pm; Philadelphia vs Islanders, 7 pm; and Calgary vs Hartford, 8:30 pm. At Lancaster Park, Detroit vs NHL Referees, 10 am; Chicago vs Islanders, 11:30 am; Edmonton vs Washington, 1 pm; Philadelphia vs Hartford, 2:30 pm; Winnipeg vs Buffalo, 4 pm; Montreal vs NHL Oldtimers, 5:30 pm; Pittsburgh vs Toronto, 7 pm; and Los Angeles vs Chicago, 8:30 pm.Sun. June 27 with all games at Oakes Park. The first semifinal will be staged at 12:30 pm. The second at 2 pm followed by a game between HNIC and the NHL All Stars at 3:30 pm. The championship final will be held at 5 pm.Officials have not overlooked the social aspect of the tournament. There will be an opening luncheon reception on Friday, June 25 at noon at the Niagara Falls Arena. All competing players will be present as well as several special head table guests. There are a limited number of tables available to the general public at $15 per ticket or $120 a table that seats eight. A dance will also be held at the same site on the Saturday night with tickets costing $5 per person.Further information and advance tickets for the tournament can be secured by writing to either Blue Knight Travel, 4608 Queen St., Niagara Falls, Ont., L2E 2L6 (Phone 416 357-2570) or the Promotions Dept., City of Niagara Falls, Memorial Arena, 5145 Centre St., Niagara Falls, Ont., L2G 3P3 (Phone 416 358-3808).To salute the Molson Slo-Pitch tournament, THE HOCKEY NEWS will publish a special 12-page section in the June issue that will include feature stories on the players and teams, starting times and playing sites and all special functions going on over the three-day weekend in Niagara Falls. &#9632;

150 NHLers To Play In Slo-Pitch Tournament

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;Post-season comments by general manager Scotty Bowman indicate there should be considerable competition and, probably change, among the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; forward corps next season.The Sabres finished the 1981-82 campaign with only three 30-goal-or-better scorers&mdash;Dale McCourt, Mike Foligno and Gil Perreault. No forward scored as many as 35. Yvon Lambert was next with 25 and only two others, Tony McKegney and Ric Seiling, had more than 20.Bowman sat out several different forwards who had been playing regularly after he took over the coaching for the final regular-season games and the playoffs.Under the circumstances, Bowman was asked, wouldn&rsquo;t it be correct to say that some of his forwards are expendable?&ldquo;Yes, that&rsquo;s right,&rdquo; Bowman replied. &ldquo;We have lots of experienced forwards. Some will be expendable. We have 16 or 17 forwards we figure can play in the National Hockey League.&rdquo;Does that mean trades are in the offing?&ldquo;We probably won&rsquo;t make any decisions until training camp,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;We have some young players we figure can move in. We will give them all a good look.&rdquo;Young players not with the Sabres at the end of the season whom Bowman mentioned as possibilities for next year are Kai Suikkanen, the Finn who was one of Rochester&rsquo;s leading scorers; Steve Patrick and Randy Cunneyworth, also from the Sabres&rsquo; American Hockey League farm club; Sean McKenna and Mike Moller, from junior hockey.The GM seemed particularly high on McKenna, who played three games for Buffalo late in the season but was sent back to Sherbrooke of the Quebec Major Junior A League.&ldquo;McKenna scored 24 goals this year in his first 21 playoff games,&rdquo; Bowman pointed out.The Sabres had 14 forwards with the club during the playoffs, so some are not going to have positions next season.McKegney, Haworth, McCourt, Andre Savard, J.F. Sauve, Bob Mongrain, Gilles Hamel and Lambert all watched games from the pressbox after Bowman took back the coaching reins from Jim Roberts.They would seem to be the leading candidates for the &ldquo;expendable&rdquo; list.Counting the players from outside that Bowman mentioned, the Sabres would have seven centers, seven left wings and six right wings fighting for jobs.Perreault, McCourt, Savard, Sauve, Mongrain, Cunneyworth and Brent Peterson are the centers. On the left side are Craig Ramsay, Lambert, McKegney, Hamel, Suikkanen and Lindy Ruff, who plays both forward and defense.On the right side are Foligno, Seiling, Haworth, Patrick, McKenna and Moller.&ldquo;We probably will use Ruff at forward,&rdquo; Bowman said, &ldquo;and we might move one of our right wingers to the left side, where we need more strength.&rdquo;So, that&rsquo;s the way it looks four months before training camp. There could be a good many changes by the time the Sabres open camp. And some of those who don&rsquo;t seem to be in such good standing now, might be solid by the time next season begins.ICE CHIPS&mdash;One of the problems facing Bowman is signing Gil Perreault, the only remaining original Sabre. Perreault&rsquo;s option year is over June 1. The big center-left winger left Buffalo immediately after the Sabres were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs. Bowman says he expects to sign Perreault before the deadline.Goaltender Bob Sauve, who also is playing out his option, has his rights revert to Buffalo if he doesn&rsquo;t sign with the Detroit Red Wings by June 1. He won&rsquo;t commit himself now but there&rsquo;s a chance he could be playing for Buffalo next season.Bowman still is listed as the Sabres&rsquo; coach but he has said he will not coach next season. As to who will, Bowman said &ldquo;no decision has been made&rdquo; as yet. Roberts, who is associate coach and who handled the bench duties for three months or so in 1981-82 is the logical man but Jim is not an automatic choice for the job, the way Bowman talks. &#9632;

Sabre Forwards’ Logjam Creates Competition

<div class="byline">BILL FLEISCHMAN&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011166/4606609-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="317" height="365"></div><h2>Excellence Personified</h2>ONE HOCKEY TOPIC no cynic can argue about is&mdash;watching the Islanders is a treat. This is a team that personifies excellence in sports, a category that isn&rsquo;t overcrowded these days.Even if you&rsquo;re not an Islanders&rsquo; fan you have to admit that nobody does it better. Like the great Montreal teams that won four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1976 through &lsquo;79, these Islanders can play any way the opponent chooses. Wanna skate? The Islanders can oblige. Hit? Check? Go a few rounds? Name it, the Islanders can do it.What makes the Islanders&rsquo; story even better is, their success hasn&rsquo;t expanded their helmet sizes. Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier, Bob Nystrom, John Tonelli, Clark Gillies, Bob Bourne&hellip; they and many others on the team Manhattan wishes it could claim are good, solid people. Just like the two rocks behind the bench and in the front office. Through the Long Islanders&rsquo; early downs and their recent ups, Al Arbour and Bill Torrey have maintained strong, firm leadership. The players know these two gentlemen are in charge, a situation that doesn&rsquo;t exist with most lower-level NHL teams.While Scotty Bowman and Fred Shero were attracting attention as hockey innovaters, Arbour was quietly establishing himself as a progressive type. For instance, he has an idea about having his players moving before faceoffs.The idea is to have the Islanders &ldquo;in better position when they get the puck,&rdquo; Arbour told Newsday&rsquo;s Pat Calabria. &ldquo;Why should they be standing still?&rdquo;After reading this comment, I felt vindicated. When the late Barry Ashbee was Philadelphia assistant coach, I once diagrammed the man-in-motion play on an airline napkin, only to have Ashbee react as if I had suggested hockey be played with a white puck. To his credit, Ashbee later admitted I might have stumbled onto a bright idea. Most coaches have trouble believing that sportswriters really know anything about the games they cover.<h2>Most Efficient Effort</h2>ANYWAY, THE ISLANDERS were at their most efficient in Game Four of their semifinal sweep of Quebec. The Islanders methodically chiseled a 2-0 lead, then withstood a belated Nordiques&rsquo; rally to win and advance to the finals, which they are heavily favored to win. Earlier in the series, Bob Nystrom was reminded of a Scotty Bowman remark.&ldquo;He said we were about as exiting as watching paint dry,&rdquo; Nystrom said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe that, because we have a lot of guys with ability. But when we win the game, who the heck cares?&rdquo;&ldquo;I still don&rsquo;t think we get the credit a team that has accomplished as much as we have deserves,&rdquo; said Bob Bourne, another of the Islanders&rsquo; superb speakers. &ldquo;We may not be the best team in NHL history, but I think we rank with any of the great ones in character.&rdquo;I&rsquo;ll sip some champagne from the Stanley Cup to that, the Islanders permitting.Billy Smith, king of the centerfolds? Hard to imagine, isn&rsquo;t it, unless the controversial Islander is photographed menacingly swinging his goaltender&rsquo;s stick? No matter what you think of Smith&rsquo;s playing tactics, didn&rsquo;t his bathtub photo with the Sports Illustrated feature on him provide a chuckle or two? Maybe it&rsquo;s because the photo was out of character for Smith. Whatever, the photo is a classic that should be included in the NHL&rsquo;s marketing of the Stanley Cup champions. The league does have a plan to market the Islanders as examples of excellence, doesn&rsquo;t it?<h2>O&rsquo;Reilly Was Frustrated</h2>TERRY O&rsquo;REILLY hitting referee Andy van Hellemond troubles me because I like O&rsquo;Reilly (I also like van Hellemond and think he is an excellent referee). And I believe Harry Sinden when he says O&rsquo;Reilly is &ldquo;very distraught over what happened. &ldquo;The Bruins&rsquo; general manager also said O&rsquo;Reilly is &ldquo;kind of paranoid over the fact that, in a game where no penalties are being called, he seems to be the guy that gets called on the penalty. He&rsquo;s frustrated with the league administration and has been for a long time. He got eight games a number of years ago for going in the stands, and since then there&rsquo;s been two or three incidents and nobody [players] has been penalized like that.&rdquo;I was also troubled by Paul Holmgren using van Hellemond for target practice, because, like O&rsquo;Reilly, Holmgren is a helluva young man. Now we have Chicago&rsquo;s Denis Savard spitting in van Hellemond&rsquo;s direction and only receiving a $500 fine. What&rsquo;s going on here? What will players do to a mediocre referee? At least Alan Eagleson has spoken out against the mild reprimands and the behavior of the players.&ldquo;Young Savard should have been hammered by the league,&rdquo; said Eagleson, executive director of the NHL Players Association. &ldquo;I think a $500 fine is an insult to the referee. It shouldn&rsquo;t be tolerated.&rdquo;At least Bud Poile has the right idea. The Central League president suspended Tim Coulis for one year for punching referee Bob Hall in the back of the head. One year. That&rsquo;s the punishment that was suggested in this space after the Holmgren incident. If every player in the NHL or minor leagues realized he would risk suspension for a year if he dared touch a referee, you can bet even the biggest cementhead would think twice about such foolishness. &#9632;

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HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div>CHICAGO&mdash;&ldquo;We will name our coach by June 1,&rdquo; Black Hawk president Bill Wirts said less than a half hour after his team&rsquo;s season came to an end.&ldquo;My choice at this moment is Bob Pulford for five years, although at this moment Bob Pulford doesn&rsquo;t want to talk to me or anybody else about anything.&rdquo;Pulford was a missing person when reporters arrived at his office following the 6-2 loss to Vancouver that ended the Campbell Conference championship series with the Canucks winning four games while losing only one.And a phone call to his home the next day revealed how strongly the Hawks&rsquo; general manager and interim coach wanted to get away from it all: His number had been disconnected.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;My choice as coach,&rdquo; said Bill Wirtz, &ldquo;is Bob Pulford for five years&hellip; In my mind there&rsquo;s no better coach&rdquo;</blockquote>Had Pulford been reached, undoubtedly he would have strongly reiterated what he has been repeating for more than three months: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to coach!&rdquo;It was only with great reluctance that he succeeded Keith Magnuson in February and he is convinced that it&rsquo;s impossible for him to do justice to his job as general manager while he is coaching.But his boss is his biggest booster. &ldquo;Regardless of the outcome of this series, Bob has done a magnificent job as our coach,&rdquo; Wirtz said. &ldquo;In my mind, there&rsquo;s no better coach in the National Hockey League, and I firmly believe our players are in agreement. He&rsquo;s the man responsible for the rebirth of hockey in Chicago that we&rsquo;ve just witnessed.&rdquo;Goaltender Richard Brodeur was the man primarily responsible for putting an end to this Chicago hockey renaissance and sending Vancouver to the Stanley Cup championship series against the New York Islanders.&ldquo;To me, Tom Lysiak was the best player for Chicago in this series,&rdquo; said Brodeur. &ldquo;Every time he was on the ice, he was giving me problems in both ends. Next to him, Denis Savard gave me the most trouble.&ldquo;It seemed like Al Secord was worrying too much about fighting to play the kind of game that he&rsquo;s capable of playing.&rdquo;During the regular season. Secord had 44 goals and 31 assists but during the five-game Vancouver series, he was unable to get a point.Savard, who had 119 regular season points, was limited to three goals (two of which came in the only Chicago victory in Game Two) and one assist.&ldquo;Our films showed us that Savard would shy away from the puck in the corners and mostly he did,&rdquo; said Neil Belland, the Canucks&rsquo; rookie defenseman. &ldquo;When he was on the ice, we wanted the puck to be in the comers because when Savard has the puck and open ice he does things that nobody else but Wayne Gretzky can do.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been shadowed before, but never like that over a stretch of games,&rdquo; said Savard. &ldquo;All they gave me was the corners.&rdquo;The Canucks deferred neither to a hostile Chicago Stadium throng of 19,758 nor to the overt intimidation tactics employed by the Hawks in wrapping up the series in Game Five.Vancouver fought emotional fire with fire.The game&rsquo;s first big play came in the second minute. Dave Feamster pilfered the puck and got it to Savard, who broke in alone. But Brodeur made the big save.&ldquo;You never know which save was the key save,&rdquo; said Vancouver coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;But when he stopped Savard point-blank it might have been the turning point.&rdquo;Indeed, the Canucks swiftly mounted an offensive, getting goals from Jim Nil! at 2:40 on a powerplay and Stan Smyl at 3:48 on a delayed-penalty call, and the Hawks never recovered.With 1:34 left in the first period, a game that was becoming increasingly ugly came to a violent halt. During a line change, the Hawks&rsquo; Grant Mulvey hit Vancouver&rsquo;s Lars Lindgren on the head with his stick, knocking him to the ice.&ldquo;My instruction was to change things around if I could and that&rsquo;s why I did it,&rdquo; Mulvey said.The blow triggered a collective temper tantrum, resulting in fights involving Mulvey and Ron Delorme, Secord and Tiger Williams and Hawk captain Terry Ruskowski and Doug Halward.After linesmen Ryan Bozak and Ray Scampinello finally restored order, referee Ron Wicks prematurely called an intermission and assessed 100 minutes in penalties on the six players.When the game resumed, Pulford replaced goaltender Murray Bannerman with Tony Esposito and the violence abated but there was no stopping the Canucks.HAWK TALK - If Pulford resists the pressure by Wirtz to continue as coach and confines&rsquo; himself to his duties as general manager, the leading candidates for the job are Orval Tessier, who&rsquo;s coaching up on the farm in New Brunswick, and Pat Quinn, who was fired as Philadelphia coach late in the season. &#9632;

Hawks’ Boss Backs Pulford For Coach

<div class="byline">BY JACQUES JUSTICE</div>Ron Duguay and Cheryl Tiegs are becoming more and more of an item in Manhattan gossip columns. Tiegs, the top-top model, is married to Peter Beard, the photo-grapher, but friends say their marriage is on rocky grounds. Cheryl was a spectator during the Rangers-Islanders quarterfinal and, most recently, was seen with Duguay at the I Love New York Pro-Celebrity Tennis Tournament&hellip; Nordiques&rsquo; GM Maurice Filion will have his hands full this summer negotiating contracts for Wilf Paiement, Dave Pichette, Norman Rochefort, Pierre Aubry and Pat Hickey. Neither Aubry nor Hickey are expected to be problems but Rochefort, the gifted 21-year-old defenseman, could be tough. Handled by Mike Bossy&rsquo;s agent, Pierre Lacroix, Rochefort will seek a two or three-year pact. Paiement, who adores Quebec, is not expected to be too big a stumbling block either but the very intelligent Pichette may give Filion some headaches&hellip; Ed Healy is the new editor of the NHL&rsquo;s GOAL magazine&hellip; NHL prexy John Ziegler charmed a group of critical Islanders fans by bringing them a bucket of popcorn. Whenever Ziegler returns to Nassau Coliseum he surprises the spectators with another culinary item&hellip; A couple of Campbell Conference p.r. types are at each other&rsquo;s throats. The unhappiness is rooted in inter-team difficulties which took place during the season&hellip; A Norris Division team (not the Red Wings) is up for sale. If the transaction reaches fruition, there would be a major upheaval on the club in question&hellip; The grapevine report is that Grant Fuhr&rsquo;s late-season problems have been dissected by scouts as a weakness on his upper right side&hellip; A senior NHL official urges an end to back-to-back games such as the Los Angeles-to-Edmonton trek for the final game of the Kings-Oilers series. &ldquo;There should be 48 hours between games,&rdquo; the man says.Patti Brooks, wife of the Rangers coach, has a no-TV interviews policy. Charming and articulate in personal conversation, Mrs. Brooks freezes on camera. She says she had a traumatic TV experience in Switzerland that caused her to refuse to go on camera. &ldquo;I ran nine gallons of beer down me before they started the interview,&rdquo; she recalls, &ldquo;and when the show started nothing came out,&rdquo;&hellip; One reasons for the Flyers&rsquo; objection to a new team at the New Jersey Meadowlands is their contention that thousands of Rangers fans drove to Philly during the season and the playoffs. Flyers figure they&rsquo;d lose these fans to the new Meadowlands club. The fear of a noticeable drop in attendance because of the Flyers&rsquo; failure this season and the fact that the club draws blue-collar fans at a time of blue collar unemployment also may force the Flyers to put the screws on the Jersey NHL bid&hellip; A Wales Conference exec predicts that eventually the league will realign and have strictly geographic divisions in which teams would only play within their respective divisions until playoff time. &ldquo;It will further develop rivalries,&rdquo; he explains&hellip; When Les Nordiques eliminated the Bruins an NHL colleague twitted Boston p.r. man Nate Greenberg with a phony Twix in French, congratulating the Bruins for a good series&hellip; An NHL insider commenting on the exit of Ron Andrews from the league&rsquo;s Montreal office offers that Andrews remained too closely aligned with ex-NHL president Clarence Campbell and was not on the same wavelength as Mike Griffin, who shared the Montreal office with him&hellip; Ray Bourque-for-Rod Langway deal has been mentioned in Manhattan. Bourque&rsquo;s star has done an abrupt descent in Boston&hellip; Glen Sather&rsquo;s critics say he erred in promoting Randy Gregg for defense work in the playoffs on the grounds that it hurt Oilers&rsquo; morale&hellip; Nordiques are eyeing more Czechs, including young forwards Darius Rusnak and Vladislav Svozil&hellip; The Bruins insist there is no coincidence over the fact that referee Andy van Hellemond was the target of three separate attacks over his officiating.One Boston scribe figures that Marco Baron will be traded and that Mike Moffatt and Rogie Vachon will comprise Boston&rsquo;s goaltending corps. Peter McNab does not expect to be a Bruin riext season. One Beantown source says he would be less than surprised if Wayne Cashman was named assistant coach of the Bruins&hellip; Vancouver tub-thumpers are touting Richard Brodeur&rsquo;s 1982 spring effort as the best playoff performance since Bernie Parent helped the Flyers to Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975&hellip; Canucks&rsquo; high command insists that Czech veteran ace Milan Novy is not in their future plans&hellip; Don Perry continues to twit Glen Sather and the Oilers long after the Kings&rsquo; playoff upset. &ldquo;Edmonton plays a weird kind of hockey,&rdquo; says Perry. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not logical.&rdquo; Perry cites the hanging of forwards such as Wayne Gretzky even when the Oilers&rsquo; zone is being threatened. &ldquo;When the puck is in their zone they have a forward floating out past the blueline, waiting for a quick breakout. That&rsquo;s fine if they score a lot of goals that way but they get a lot of goals scored against them, too.&rdquo;&hellip; An NHL executive says the Players&rsquo; Association deserves a spanking for allowing players to participate in pre and post-season tourneys like the Canada Cup and the World tournament&hellip; &ldquo;They [the players] take a chance on getting hurt,&rdquo; the NHL man explains, &ldquo;then they object to overtime during the regular season because the season is too long and they find other things to beef about. But they can&rsquo;t wait to get to their hockey schools and businesses when the season is over.&rdquo;&hellip;If the Quebec media had their way Marc Tardif would not be asked to return to Les Nordiques next season. &#9632;

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011113/4606688-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Capitals insisted on a two-way contract for Bobby Carpenter, but he played so well they never considered sending him to the minors. (Photo By Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>LANDOVER&mdash;Never before had a youngster moved from American high school hockey directly into the National Hockey League. A lot of people were skeptical about Bobby Carpenter&rsquo;s ability to make such a jump, despite the publicity that focused on his career at St. John&rsquo;s Prep in Danvers, MA.The Washington Capitals went to considerable trouble to draft Carpenter, via a flip-flop with Colorado, and to sign him, by offering so much money that matriculation at Providence College became impractical. Yet they were uncertain enough about the immediate prospects to insist on the contractual right to farm him out to Hershey.Carpenter himself knew the difficulty of what he was attempting. He was unsure whether he could do it, but he was certain that he wanted to try.Although the season had its difficult moments and a minus 22 rating attests to the biggest transition, defense, Carpenter proved to everyone, including himself, that he belonged. He scored 32 goals, a figure never before achieved by an American in the NHL, although Minnesota&rsquo;s Neal Broten, a product of college and Olympic wars, surpassed that with 38.During a 10-game stretch in late February and early March, when the Capitals were struggling to overhaul Pittsburgh, Carpenter netted 11 goals. He had four in one game against St. Louis and his late-season heroics whetted everyone&rsquo;s appetite, to see what he could do with a year&rsquo;s experience behind him.&ldquo;We knew Bobby was a bit of a goal scorer, but to do as well offensively with the step he&rsquo;s made&mdash;that&rsquo;s just outstanding,&rdquo; said Washington coach Bryan Murray. &ldquo;For him to top 30 goals this year is a remarkable accomplishment. He&rsquo;s also shown he&rsquo;s capable of doing a good job defensively and all of a sudden he&rsquo;s bloomed into a pretty good all-round player.&rdquo;Carpenter, self-effacing under relentless media pressure, credited linemate Bengt Gustafsson for much of his success.&ldquo;Before, when the line would start going well, Gus would get hurt,&rdquo; Carpenter said. &ldquo;The last few weeks, he held together and we were producing. The longer you play together, the better you get.&ldquo;The more ice I get, the more times I can try different things. I learned more about what the goalies were going to do. Before I&rsquo;d make a great move and the goalie would be right there and stop me and I&rsquo;d wonder what was going on. Late in the season I was trying more moves and they were working.&ldquo;It was a long season and I think that was the toughest adjustment I had to make. At times you&rsquo;d get down and you might want a day off, but you knew you had to go out and work to turn things around. Losing&rsquo;s not too good and the worst part was when the team was playing well and still losing.&rdquo;Carpenter set club rookie records for goals (32), points (67) and shots on goal (262). At season&rsquo;s end, he was invited to join the U.S. team for the World Championships, but turned it down to catch up on his classwork at the University of Maryland.On a parttime schedule, that college degree will be a long time coming. As for the NHL school of hard knocks, however, Carpenter has already graduated. &#9632;

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Caps’ Carpenter Made Jump To All-Round Professional

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02793/4606750-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo By Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>Offensive explosiveness has become the trademark of the New York Islanders and the main ingredient in their past two Stanley Cup victories. The man who directs this overpowering attack is center Bryan Trottier.When Trottier and his sharpshooting winger, Mike Bossy, are functioning, there isn&rsquo;t a better one-two punch in the NHL. Trottier has been showing his playmaking artistry in the 1982 playoffs and racked up 20 assists for a record. Bobby Orr held the old mark of 19 set in 1972.Trottier collected one goal and five assists in ousting the Quebec Nordiques and in the first game of the cup finals against Vancouver, he came up with three more for nine points in his last five games and a playoff leading 25. Quite a performance by the rugged Islander star and good enough to win him the honor as the final NHL Player of the week for this season as selected by THE HOCKEY NEWS. &#9632;

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Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01969/4606719-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">A proven winner like Dave Keon was out of place with the Hartford Whalers but he never complained or let on that it bothered him. (Photo By Graig Abel)</figcaption></div>HARTFORD&mdash;Dave Keon doesn&rsquo;t have to ask for whom the bell tolls.The man whom Harry Neale once compared to aluminum&mdash;&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t rust and he doesn&rsquo;t wear out&rdquo;&mdash;has finally reached the other side of midnight.Keon, at 42, may take his 22 professional season, 1,597 major league games, 498 goals and 1,277 points, and go home.His public posture on retirement is elusive. He will decide &ldquo;this summer,&rdquo; he says, but he may have said that just to avoid any ceremonious farewell. He will leave softly because that&rsquo;s Keon&rsquo;s style. The idea of one last bow for one last ovation doesn&rsquo;t appeal to him.If the story had turned out the way it should have, Keon would never have played for the Hartford Whalers. He&rsquo;s been good for the Whalers and the Whalers have been good to him but the last five-and-a-half years of Keon&rsquo;s career would have been better served elsewhere.Forget any deep analysis of Keon&rsquo;s considerable talents. Forget the skating and the uncanny on-ice awareness. Forget the effective body checking he squeezed out of a 5-9,167-pound frame. Forget the records and the exemplary sportsmanship. Forget any and all of the physical things as legendary as they might be.Consider Keon&rsquo;s background, his training and his obvious discipline on the ice. Consider his head and his heart, and remember only this: What he could do best was win.When Keon joined the Whalers in the middle of the 1976-77 season, the game that was being played in Hartford and other World Hockey Association cities was called survival, not winning. In succeeding years, the game changed, but the notion of winning, as in everything, never came into play.For Keon, who performed on four Stanley Cup champions and won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1967, that was difficult to swallow. He never complained or let on in any way that it bothered him, but the very thought of a proven winner playing for an also-ran had to cut deep.One of the better kept secrets in Keon&rsquo;s closet is that he almost never made it to Hartford. He was this close to signing with the New York Islanders after Minnesota&rsquo;s WHA franchise folded.Jim Devellano, assistant GM for the Isles who has been with the team since its inception in 1972-73, remembers.&ldquo;In the middle of the 1976-77 season, we were a good team, but not a Stanley Cup team,&rdquo; Devellano said. &ldquo;Al Arbour played with Keon in Toronto and we felt that he would be a good acquisition for the playoffs. The only problem was that the Maple Leafs owned his NHL rights. We offered Toronto a couple of middle-round draft picks, but they wanted something much higher. The Islanders have. never traded high draft picks, and don&rsquo;t forget, even back then, Keon was pretty old. We&rsquo;re against trading any draft picks, but we would have made an exception in Keon&rsquo;s case,&rdquo;Keon and the Islanders, it even sounds right. That&rsquo;s the way it should have turned out, but it didn&rsquo;t. Those connected with the Whalers, though, won&rsquo;t ever look back.&ldquo;David&rsquo;s the finest guy I&rsquo;ve ever&rsquo; known in hockey,&rdquo; says Joe Altott, the club&rsquo;s trainer, a 10-year employee. &ldquo;He is extremely considerate and he cares about people. I&rsquo;ve never heard him raise his voice. He&rsquo;s a super guy. The real shame is that we didn&rsquo;t have him as captain six or seven years ago.&rdquo;Ah, Keon, the captain. Somehow the two went together, first in Toronto where he played for 15 years, and later, at the end, in Hartford.Toe Blake, whose Canadiens were forever doing battle with Keon&rsquo;s Maple Leafs, won&rsquo;t forget.&ldquo;Keon was the one guy we always had to watch,&rdquo; said the man Keon himself calls &ldquo;Mr. Blake.&rdquo; &ldquo;He got a lot of important goals against us. He was a big guy for them, a wonderful all around hockey player.&rdquo;Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette covered those epic matchups.&ldquo;In terms of deriving pleasure from watching a fellow play hockey, Keon was one of the top half-dozen in the league for almost 10 years,&rdquo; Fisher said. &ldquo;All the good things that one can say about a player apply to Keon. If played, any coach would want Dave Keon on his team.&rdquo;There is so much about Keon that is priceless, a reflection of days that were and will never be again. He was part of sponsorship in the late 50s, selected by the Maple Leafs to become there was an important game to be a Maple Leaf. He attended school to become a player. He was trained to be a player. He learned the little things and willingly handled the dirty duties. He accepted and believed that they were part of winning hockey.His ego was necessarily bigger than most, but he wore humility well.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m the best taper in the league,&rdquo; he would say, going to work on that straight-bladed stick of his.Asked once why he never changed sticks, he said, &ldquo;Why should I? This one works.&rdquo;It worked long and well enough to earn Keon a place in hockey&rsquo;s Hall of Fame, but if the story had turned out the way it should have, David Michael Keon would never have played in Hartford.He should have won again because that&rsquo;s what he always did best. &#9632;

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Winning Was Something Whalers’ Keon Did Best

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>CALGARY&mdash;One could never accuse Cliff Fletcher of acting impetuously.When the Calgary Flames completed their least successful season since the expansion year, 1972-73, it would have been understandable if Fletcher, the club&rsquo;s general manager, had made some moves&mdash;any moves&mdash;to shake up his team immediately.Instead, Fletcher went to Finland to scout the World Hockey Tournament, sent assistant GM David Poile to Oklahoma City and except for refunding playoff ticket revenues, essentially shut down the operation at home.Then several weeks after Vancouver eliminated the Flames in the first round of the playoffs, Fletcher talked about changes, changes that would come from within.&ldquo;Even our severest critics would agree that the trades we made [for Mel Bridgman and Lanny McDonald] helped the hockey club,&rdquo; said Fletcher. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying we won&rsquo;t make any trades, but most of the changes we make will come from within the organization.&rdquo;In rating the players with chances of making next year&rsquo;s club, Fletcher gave some a &ldquo;good chance,&rdquo; others a &ldquo;very good chance,&rdquo; and one man&mdash;Mario Simioni, their fifth-round draft choice in the 1981 Entry Draft&mdash;&ldquo;an excellent chance.&rdquo;When the Flames selected Simioni 98th overall in the draft, he had just completed a promising but not spectacular rookie season in the Ontario Hockey League. In his first year with the Toronto Marlboros, Simioni scored just 19 goals and found himself riding the bench at certain times in the season. The Flames drafted him for different reasons, one of which was a recommendation from center Jim Peplinski, himself a Marlie graduate.In the past year, however, Simioni blossomed. He scored 58 goals, assisted on 60 more and finished seventh in the OHL in scoring. All of a sudden, the unknown 18-year-old is the top pro prospect from last season&rsquo;s draft.So far the Flames have been able to sign Allan Maclnnis, their No. 1 choice, plus Mike Vernon of the Calgary Wranglers, their No. 3 choice, Bruce Eakin, another good junior graduate, has also agreed to terms. Because of Simioni&rsquo;s good season, however, the ante for the talented right winger went up but he has been signed.Now that he is back from Finland, one of Fletcher&rsquo;s major pieces of business is to sit down with Simioni&rsquo;s agent, Bill Watters, and negotiate a contract.Had Simioni gone undrafted in 1981, he would undoubtedly be a first-round pick this summer.&ldquo;I had a lot more playing time this year than last year when I had just come out of midget,&rdquo; said Simioni, commenting on his development. &ldquo;Before the year started, I said I would score 50 goals and I did. I had a tough time early and wasn&rsquo;t scoring, but eventually things just fell into place.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s true that I had an exceptional year. My linemate Chris Kontos is probably going to go in the first round this year and I&rsquo;d probably go in the second round myself if I were in the draft. I think Calgary realizes that. I&rsquo;m sure they&rsquo;ll come up with something. That&rsquo;s where I want to play next year.&rdquo;The low point of the past season for Simioni came at the Flames&rsquo; training camp. He was here and gone, having impressed no one, especially coach Al MacNeil, who had just returned from the Canada Cup tournament.&ldquo;That was my fault,&rdquo; said Simioni. &ldquo;I thought to myself &lsquo;I&rsquo;m 18,I have no chance of making the team.&rsquo; I took it all wrong. When I came to camp, I wasn&rsquo;t in shape. When they sent me back, they told me to make sure I was in shape next year. It usually takes me awhile to get started. It&rsquo;s been that way all through the years for me.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I worry about making teams sometimes. Usually once I&rsquo;m there, I do all right.&rdquo;In many ways, Simioni&rsquo;s situation resembles that of Peplinski&rsquo;s two years ago. Both players come from the Ottawa area, both played for the Marlies and both were middle-round draft choices. Peplinski shifted from right wing to center as a pro, Simioni shifted from center to right wing in his last year of junior.IN BRIEF&mdash;Fletcher thinks that Vernon, the Western Hockey League&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player and one of three nominees for the CCM Canadian junior player of the year, could be next year&rsquo;s answer to Grant Fuhr, the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; rookie goaltending sensation. Vernon played spectacularly in his one game as a pro, a 4-3 overtime loss that eliminated Oklahoma City from the CHL playoffs. If the Flames cannot sign Pat Riggin to a new contract this summer, Vernon will get a long look at next year&rsquo;s training camp.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01858/4606781-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="597" height="832"><figcaption class="caption-body">Toronto&rsquo;s Mario Simioni is rated an excellent chance of cracking the Flames&rsquo; lineup</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Calgary To Improve From Within

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;Among the first key decisions in the area of player personnel that the new Red Wing heirarchy must make is what to do with goaltender Bob Sauve.Sauve will soon become a free agent. The Red Wings knew that when they acquired him from Buffalo last November. If the Wings sign Sauve, they must compensate the Sabres with a No. 1 draft pick in 1983. If Sauve signs with another team, that team must agree on compensation with Buffalo.Is Bob Sauve worth a No. 1 draft choice to the Wings? That&rsquo;s the question that begs to be answered.There are any number of successful National Hockey league teams today who were built on the draft. Many believe that&rsquo;s the only way it can be done effectively. The old Wings, obviously, are not one of them because they&rsquo;ve dealt away plenty of high draft choices over the years&mdash;and they&rsquo;ve suffered for it. Now they&rsquo;re faced with another similar decision.The goaltending picture is unstable.The Wings were 16th overall in goals-against. Sauve appeared in 41 games and had a 4.19 goals-against average. Gilles Gilbert, the No. 2 man, had a 4.26 GA in 27 games and first-year pro Corrado Micalef had a 4.67 GA in 18 games, most of them early in the season.If the Wings pass on Sauve, that would leave the goaltending chores in the hands of Gilbert, 33, Micalef, 21, and Greg Stefan, 21, another 1981 draftee. Gilbert has a season left on his $200,000 contract. A Sauve-Gilbert tandem would give the Wings respectable goaltending but that doesn&rsquo;t necessarily translate into winning. With a porous team, you need more than respectable goaltending to win.A Gilbert-Micalef or Gilbert-Stefan or Gilbert-Larry Lozinski combination promises a great deal of uncertainty. That&rsquo;s not to say one or both couldn&rsquo;t have big years to solidify things, just that it would by an iffy proposition. With two young goalies like Micalef and Stefan, it&rsquo;s unlikely the Wings will make much of an effort in the Entry Draft towards goalies. There are other positions to improve.DEFENSE&mdash;The Red Wing defense is a paradox.It is populated by some very talented young defensemen but still hasn&rsquo;t lived up to potential.With the addition of Jim Schoenfeld last season, club officials looked at the defense as being set. Reed Larson, 25, and Willie Huber, 24, are recognized as among the finest young blueliners in the game. Schoenfeld, a gamer, and Greg Smith, 26, provided experience and direction and a pretty decent four-man alignment. Greg Joly, 27, and John Barrett, 24, contribute ability, size, strength and respectability as the fifth and sixth men.Why then does the defense continue to struggle? Like every other facet of the Red Wing game, it fell apart late last saason. One of the reasons wait the absence of Schoenfeld, who was sidelined with an injury. He&rsquo;s the leader back there and when he&rsquo;s in the lineup, the Red Wings are a better hockey club.Larson posted 21 goals, his third straight season with 21 or more goals. He&rsquo;s scored 107 in five NHL seasons. He finished with 60 points, second in team scoring behind rookie left wing Mark Osborne&rsquo;s 67.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t understand why Larson&rsquo;s not a superstar, a first team All Star and everything else,&rdquo; said Don Cherry, the coach-turned-commentator.A lot of other people can&rsquo;t understand it, either.For a long time last season, Larson and Huber ran 1-2 in the Wing scoring race, which probably says something about the forwards. Huber finished sixth overall with 15 goals and 30 assists for 45 points.Smith also becomes a free agent June 1 if not signed by the Wings, and rest assured the club will make every effort to sign him. He had a very fine year on behalf of the Wings with 10 goals and 22 assists to go along with his usually impeccable defensive work. Day in and day out, he may just have been the best player on the club during the dismal 1981-82 season.The Wings could do a lot worse than go with the same defense corps they employed a year ago. Maybe if the rest of the team is improved, the burden won&rsquo;t be quite so heavy on the defense and a good group of NHL players will be able to prosper.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01874/4606812-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="547" height="779"><figcaption class="caption-body">Although he&rsquo;s always among the leading Detroit scorers, Reed Larson isn&rsquo;t an All Star. (Photo By Graig Abel)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Red Wings Ponder Value Of Goaltender Sauve

<div class="byline">BY DICK BEDDOES</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02682/4606843-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="316" height="329"></div><h2>Cheers For Canucks</h2>THE VANCOUVER CANUCKS were one game down in the Stanley Cup final as this perishable prose was coaxed out of its cocoon.The news, of course, wasn&rsquo;t that the Canucks were down to the New York Islanders; it was that they had fetched up at all in the final series against the Stanley Cup champions.The truth is that if the Canucks were listed on the New York, Toronto or Vancouver Stock Exchanges, the Securities Commissions would have stopped trading on them years ago.Reasons for disdain are obvious. Since being admitted to the NHL 12 years ago, the Canucks have been the hockey equivalent of worthless moose pasture. They have been an outlandish tatter demalion parade of losers.The notion here is that they should have been beaten in the first round of this spring&rsquo;s playoffs by the Calgary Flames. They would have been, except that the NHL has rarely had a team with more, talent and less will to win than the Flames. Flames, hell. They persist in making Ashes of themselves.One is glad, though, that three Vancouver operatives finally made it to a Cup final. Ah, there, David Williams, Jake Milford and Walter Pratt.Mr. Williams, known as Tiger, is a kick-ass sort of chap, absolutely uncomplicated, his chief trait a driving combativeness. When he walks through a dressing room door, apathy flys out the window.The NHL should always award Mr. Williams the Bert Olmstead Prize, if there was a Bert Olmstead prize. Olmstead was the resolute hub of four or five Stanley Cup winners in Toronto and Montreal, frequently all fuming at playmates who gave less than their entire beings to combat.Olmstead would grab an errant Maple Leaf by the collar and bite off words harder than cannonballs.&ldquo;Listen, buddy!&rdquo; Bert would bawl. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re costing us! Straighten out or take off the goddam jersey!&rdquo;Harsh, Bert Olmstead? If he&rsquo;d been the advance man for Santa Claus, some said, there wouldn&rsquo;t be any Christmas. But there&rsquo;d be some Stanley Cups.I don&rsquo;t say that the NHL should stop looking for a second Bert Olmstead, but Tiger Williams will do until the right model comes along.<h2>Milford Shows Loyalty</h2>JAKE MILFORD IS supposed to be finishing his career as general manager of the Canucks, to be replaced apparently by Harrison Neale.If that is true, then the NHL is losing one of the genuinely decent people in the league. Minora is one of those few sportsmen who always sticks with the guys what brung him, as the colloquialism goes. Loyalty is Jake&rsquo;s middle name.Walter Pratt, known as Babe, is Vancouver&rsquo;s only link with a Stanley Cup past. He was on the New York defense the last time the Rangers won the Stanley Cup, in 1940. He was on the Toronto defense in the mid-&rsquo;40s, when the Maple Leaves were the dominant hockey team on earth. Now he is Vancouver&rsquo;s good-humor man, a King Clancy West.Pratt was always vocally aware of how much he was worth, even if general managers disagreed. He won the Hart Trophy as the game&rsquo;s most valuable mercenary in 1943-44 and went to training camp seeking a raise to $7,000.Clarence (Hap) Day, then managing the Toronto team, refused Pratt&rsquo;s demand. Pratt ultimately signed, hollering protests, for $6,500.Then he informed his roommate, Thomas. (Windy) O&rsquo;Neill, &ldquo;Okay, if they want to pay me for half a season, that&rsquo;s what they&rsquo;ll get. I&rsquo;ll be the only guy in hockey history tp get $6,500 for half a year.&rdquo;<h2>Second Half Terror</h2>O&rsquo;NEILL, A TORONTO lawyer before his death, remembered: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s about how it was. Babe was nothing until Christmas, always out carousing, sometimes stiff at practice. Halfway through the season he straightened out.&rdquo;&ldquo;Okay, Windy,&rdquo; he told O&rsquo;Neill in early January. Now I start to play.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Neill insisted, &ldquo;You never saw a guy stand the league on its ear the way Babe did in the last half of 1944-45. He gave Flash Hollett a whale of a run for high-scoring defenseman and finally beat him.&rdquo;Conn Smythe, the prickly founder of the Leaf franchise, once said, &ldquo;Pratt may have been the best defenseman Toronto ever had.&rdquo;Other experts, a bit more objective, might list Pratt No. 2 among the all-time Toronto rearguards. No. 1 might have been the late Tim Horton, strong and durable, the defensive rock upon which Toronto&rsquo;s Stanley Cup team was built, in 1967.Borje Salming? No. 1 in money earned, perhaps No. 3 in hockey worth. The Swede has not come close to inspiring the Leafs to Stanley Cup contention. Too bad he couldn&rsquo;t be vaccinated with a shot of Bert Olmstead juice.As to the Canucks, a guy can wish Messrs. Williams, Milford and Pratt the best of good luck against the Islanders with the absolute certainty that the wish will not come true. The Islanders are clearly the best hockey squad this side of downtown Russia. &#9632;

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BEDCLOTHES

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD FRIEDMAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;There are two words that brings on heart palpitations in most professional athletes: &ldquo;trade&rdquo; and &ldquo;retirement.&rdquo; Especially since the first has been known to lead to the second.Former Ranger Dean Talafous elected to hang up his skates last January rather than report to the Quebec Nordiques in the Robbie Ftorek trade. Talafous soon was in the sporting-goods business back in his native Minnesota, which made more sense to him than uprooting his family and gambling on injury when he did not even have an assurance of employment for next season. As a result, Pat Hickey found himself in a Nordiques uniform late in the season when NHL president John Ziegler, Jr. ruled that Quebec must be compensated for Talafous&rsquo; retirement.When Phil Esposito retired as an active player mid-way through the season before last, the reaction among his former Rangers teammates was predictable. Many of the younger players acknowledged that they had not even given a thought to the day after their final game, but some of the veterans had been laying plans. Walter Tkaczuk already had a thriving summer hockey school operation at St. Mary&rsquo;s, Ont., which he planned to expand when he retired&mdash;and on February 2, -1981 he was hit in the eye in one of those freak accidents by a puck shot by the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; Larry Murphy, and Tkaczuk, who is now an assistant coach with the Rangers, suddenly was no longer an active player.Steve Vickers had already begun studying for his insurance brokers&rsquo; license at that time, a fact that is all the more pertinent now because at the age of 31, which is not exactly ancient, Vickers finds himself not only at the crossroads of his hockey career but at a turning point in his life.Witt; the league becoming younger and younger and NHL careers growing increasingly brief, Vickers is somewhat of an anachronism, having spent 10 seasons in the uniform of one team. In 1972-73, he was the NHL&rsquo;s Calder Trophy Winner as Rookie of the Year, scoring 30 goals and 23 assists for 53 points. His career high was 41-48-89 in 1974-75. But this past season was quite another story.In 34 games with the Rangers in 1981-82, &lsquo;.&rsquo;Sarge&rdquo; scored nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points. He survived being put on waivers, but it became clear as early as training camp that Vickers was not the type of scrambling bobbing and weaving player sought by coach Herb Brooks.Vickers accepted his temporary demotion early in the campaign to the AHL Springfield Indians with the grace and class with which he had conducted himself since he arrived, here. But by the time the playoffs rolled around, it was evident to all that Steve Vickers had played his last game as a Ranger, his experience notwithstanding. The fact that he had worn the Rangers uniform longer than any other current Ranger was not enough to get him back into the lineup for even one playoff game, nor was his seemingly constant presence just outside the opposing goaltender&rsquo;s crease, a spot from which he scored many of his goals.&ldquo;Steve&rsquo;s age is working against him,&rdquo; said Brooks then. &ldquo;We have no plans for him now or in the future. I don&rsquo;t see him fitting in.&rdquo;Carol Vadnais, the veteran defenseman, had also begun the season in Brooks&rsquo; doghouse, but had slowly worked his way back into the lineup and played steadily and well in the playoffs. Perhaps Vickers&rsquo; phlegmatic nature worked against him; his laconic demeanor is often mistaken for a lack of passion. The reasons for his exile from the Rangers&rsquo; lineup, at a time when many observers, and Vickers himself, believed he could still contribute, are for all practical purposes academic now. Vickers now awaits a meeting with general manager Craig Patrick, and if his career as a Ranger is indeed over he is determined to make a graceful exit.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say anything detrimental about anyone involved,&rdquo; said Vickers from his Westchester home a week after the Islanders had eliminated the Rangers in the Patrick Division finals. &ldquo;They had a good year despite all the injuries, showed a lot of character, but unfortunately I wasn&rsquo;t much of a part of it. They&rsquo;re looking for fleeter players and I didn&rsquo;t fill the bill.&rdquo;There were times during the playoffs that Vickers allowed his anger to show. &ldquo;They let me practice with the lepers,&rdquo; he said after one workout with the Rangers&rsquo; reserves. But he characterized himself as a &ldquo;company man&rdquo; to the end and was careful not to say anything that might have a disruptive effect on the team, or make him sound as bitter as he must have felt.&ldquo;You always have to feel mortal in professional sports,&rdquo; Vickers said last week. &ldquo;Players come and go very quickly.&rdquo;Vickers and his wife, Joanne, have for some time considered New York their permanent home, and a move via trade is something they would have to consider very carefully. They have two young sons, Brett, eight months, and Jimmy, two years old, both of whom arrived in premature births&mdash;always a potentially dangerous situation and scary at the very least&mdash;and recently purchased a home in suburban Westchester County.Vickers still would like to play, and it was no secret that he was on the trade-block last season&rsquo;, but there is not exactly an overwhelming demand for 31-year-old hockey players today.Vickers resolutely refuses to second-guess Brooks or Patrick for the personnel decisions that made him per-sonna non grata. &ldquo;Hindsight is always better than foresight,&rdquo; he acknowledges, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d always thought of myself as a pretty good playoff performer, but I didn&rsquo;t expect to get back in on a regular shift.&rdquo;He laughs, almost sardonically, at the memory of the bus-rides during his stay in Springfield, his first trip to the minors in a decade. &ldquo;The only reason I did it,&rdquo; Vickers says, &ldquo;is to hopefully be back in the NHL again. It&rsquo;s something you want to do for a couple of years when you&rsquo;re starting your career, but not when it&rsquo;s winding down.&rdquo;Still, he refrained from lamenting his fate, in part out of respect for the dozens of youngsters on the Indians whose dreams were an NHL career.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have the heart,&rdquo; he adds, &ldquo;to say anything bad.&rdquo;Now, Vickers sits and waits, wondering if September will find him in New York or in another town on the ice or in the insurance business.&rsquo;&ldquo;One bad year is not going to sour me on New York or the Rangers,&rdquo; Vickers concludes. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to say in closing that when my time came to retire, my ambition was to go out in style.&rdquo; &#9632;

Rangers’ Vickers Going With Style

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Following the most exciting game in the 14-year history of their National Hockey League franchise, the Penguins&rsquo; marketing department came up with the slogan, &ldquo;We have a hockey team!&rdquo; for the 1981-82 season. But with the generally inconsistent play of the club this year, Penguin fans often asked the question, &ldquo;We have a hockey team?&rdquo;The season began on an optimistic note. The Penguins had finished the 1980-81 season by taking the second-place St. Louis Blues to double overtime in the fifth and deciding game before being eliminated in the preliminary round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.Most observers were impressed with the 15th-place club&rsquo;s showing against the highly-favored Blues. Adding to the favorable impression was the fact that the series was played with many younger players while veterans warmed the bench or didn&rsquo;t dress.During the off-season the shift to youth continued as five players over 30 years of age&mdash;Ross Lonsberry, Errol Thompson, Nick Libett, Orest Kin-drachuk and Dave Burrows&mdash;were pared from the roster.The Penguins did lose goaltender Greg Millen, who was outstanding in the playoffs last year, as a free agent to Hartford, but were satisfied with the league-awarded compensation of forwards Pat Boutette and rookie Kevin McClelland from the Whalers. In addition, the Penguins signed a free-agent goal tender of their own in Michel Dion, who came to Pittsburgh with no compensation strings attached and would go on to become their Most Valuable Player.Pittsburgh also entered this season with the NHL&rsquo;s best defenseman, Norris Trophy winner and first-team All Star Randy Carlyle, and Lady Byng Trophy winner Rick Kehoe, a 55-goal scorer the previous year.The NHL realigned for their 1981-82 season and the Penguins switched from the more-comfortable Norris Division to the tougher Patrick Division where they would play Philadelphia, Washington and the two New York teams eight times each instead of four as in recent seasons.The Penguins started the season well and with a 7-1-2 record in November, challenged for the Patrick Division lead. That didn&rsquo;t last for long, however, as various injuries took their toll throughout the season and the club&rsquo;s lack of depth was evident.Pittsburgh operated its own American Hockey League farm club for the first time this season in Erie, PA, but supplied only about half the players (Boston sent the others) because of a lack of bodies in the organization. Coach Eddie Johnston used 11 rookies this season, but he often was criticized for playing veterans while the youngsters watched from the bench or played in Erie.The Penguins finished the regular season in 12th place in the overall NHL standings and fourth in the Patrick Division with a 31-36-13 record, one win and two points better than the two previous years.A direct influence on the outcome of a Penguin game was which team scored the first goal. Pittsburgh scored the initial goal 44 times and had a 26-9-9 record, but when the opponent scored the first goal in the other 36 games, the Penguins&rsquo; mark was a dismal 5-27-4.For the third year in-a-row the Penguins again took their preliminary-round playoff series to a fifth and final game before losing. The last two seasons they took that game into overtime, this year with the New York Islanders.To become more than just a mediocre hockey club and one of &ldquo;wait until next year&rdquo; aspirations, the Penguins must play more consistent hockey throughout the regular season and play with the same drive and determination they displayed in the playoffs the last two years.The Penguins&rsquo; marketing slogan going into this season proclaimed: &ldquo;We have a hockey team!&rdquo; and emphasized the exclamation point. With their inconsistent play during the regular season the Penguins left themselves open to criticism and questioning.Their showing in the playoffs against the Islanders made the Penguins replace the question mark with a period. It will be up to them next season to see whether their marketing slogan should end with a question mark or an exclamation point. &#9632;

Fans Still Wondering About Penguins’ Direction

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01667/4606922-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="579" height="334"></div>Do you have an opinion on hockey? Here&rsquo;s your chance to get it off your chest. Write the Fan Forum. I he Hockey News. 214 King St., West. Suite 314. Toronto. Ont. M5H 1K4. To facilitate processing, type-written letters are given preference.<h2>Neilson&rsquo;s Towel Waving Puts Fun Back In Hockey</h2>Hurray for Roger Neilson and the Vancouver Canucks for bringing a little character and fun back into the game of hockey which has been lost since the one and only Eddie Shack hung up his elbow pads. Whereas Brian O&rsquo;Neill may think the waving of the white flags in game two of the semifinals between Chicago and Vancouver is detrimental to the game, I have to disagree. I think if Red Storey were refereeing the game, he would have taken it in stride and perhaps wiped his forehead with one of Roger&rsquo;s hard-to-reach fabrics.With 21 teams in the league and who knows how many players, it is hard to associate with any one team. In the six-team league days that was never the case. Sheriff Pudding hockey coins, hockey cards, Bee Hive syrup photos and a host of other tid-bits of hockey information were available to anyone that wanted them. Today it is almost impossible to fathom the amount of information available.Let&rsquo;s put the fun back into the game, let&rsquo;s make it human once again; let the characters be, Mr. O&rsquo;Neill. Remember how they used to nickname lines and individuals? The Pocket Rocket? Rocket? Golden Jet? The Scooter Line? The Kid Line? The Pony Line? The Kraut Line? The Gas House Gang? Where are they today? Hockey is, in the final analysis, entertainment, Mr. O&rsquo;Neill. Neilson&rsquo;s antics were entertaining and brought life to the game. Harold Ballard is famous for such in the Toronto corner of the NHL as well. Good for him. I think he learned his lesson well from the late Conn Smythe, who could out-antic anyone in the league in the old days.I&rsquo;m not lamenting the 21 team league set-up. I&rsquo;m crying over the cardboard characters I see go through the motions during an 80-game schedule.Hockey is made up of people, individuals, some kinky and some looking like they&rsquo;d rather be doing something else. The stuffed shirts at the top are ruining their own game by shutting out Roger Neilson&rsquo;s sort. Hockey sorely needs some color, some characters, some laughs to break the monotony of the million dollar contracts and the no-name label brand of hockey they usually play. Come on guys! Let&rsquo;s not become another version of the USSR robots!STEVE SALMANIW, West Hill, Ont.<h2>Dallas Wants Hockey But The NHL Version</h2>When Vancouver GM Jake Milford (the same one who threatened to move his sub.500 club to Dallas) was recently quoted in a Dallas paper as saying, &ldquo;Dallas is definitely not a hockey town. We [the NHL] will never think of it as a place that will ever draw well. Hockey is dead there.&rdquo; His reference had to be what poor attendance his farm team, the infamous Dallas Black Hawks, have had here.He is making the same mistake that NBA GMs made when they said Dallas couldn&rsquo;t support an NBA team because the erstwhile Dallas Chapparels failed to hold an audience here. It is the same mistake other sports followers make when they say Dallas is just a football town. Well, let them pay for their mistakes.The NHL team which comes to Reunion Arena well-organized and ready to build through the draft will sell out after three years. 1 will be a season ticket holder. I will not, nor will any of the thousands of Northern bred hockey fan transplants, sit and watch CHL hockey. Sloppy play, excessive fighting, minor league talent, uneven roster control, and poor facilities in a bad location, prevent CHL hockey from being popular here.Jake Milford, you can&rsquo;t kid me, Dallas isn&rsquo;t dead as a hockey town, it&rsquo;s just waiting for a truly professional organization to come here.Bravo Eugene Flynn for your letter in the April 30th issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS. More Dallasites should speak up.JOHN HAMPTON,&nbsp; Dallas, TX<h2>Cup Final A Mockery Under Present Format</h2>Lord Stanley would turn over in his grave if he knew which teams would be participating in the 1982 Stanley Cup finals. At the time this letter was written would you believe the Vancouver Canucks or the Quebec Nordiques?The NHL has improved the regular season competition but it has taken a backward step as far as the playoffs are concerned. The playoffs this year were very similar to the finals of the late 60&rsquo;s between St. Louis and Montreal. Dull and one-sided.The only way to correct this situation is to change the playoff format.Here&rsquo;s my suggestion. First-place clubs in the four divisions should get a bye in the first round. The remaining 12 would match 5th vs 16th and 6th vs 15th, etc. with total points determining home ice advantage. The same process should be repeated in the second round and subsequent rounds.The first round should be a best-of-five and the others the best-of-seven. If first place finishers insist on being in the first round because of revenue, then match 1st and 16th, 2nd and 15th, 3rd and 14th, 4th and 13th, etc, but make these series best-of-seven, not five-game series. The other 12 teams would play best-of-fives.Forget about divisional playoffs because they&rsquo;re not necessary. It is one thing to play rivals in your own division eight times during the season then have to play them again in the playoffs. This is absurd. The bottom line is the NHL must change their format to insure that the best two teams meet in the cup finals.I&rsquo;m sure Lord Stanley would want it no other way.DEREK ROGERS,&nbsp; Oromocto, N.B.<h2>Nylund Better Pick Than Bellows For NHL</h2>Your cover story on Brian Bellows of the Kitchener Rangers during the past season was extremely interesting. If such battalions of NHL scouts say Bellows is the best upcoming junior draft eligible, I won&rsquo;t dispute their word because they are professionals while I myself am just a mere fan.For what it&rsquo;s worth, though, I am going to stick my two cents in for Gary Nylund of the Portland Winter Hawks. In this fabulously skilled 6-p4, 210-pound defender, I see a player of the quality of a Jean Beliveau.Nylund, whom I witnessed closely in WHL games last year before our Spokane Flyers shut down, has superb co-ordination and never appears to make a pass other than precisely on the mark. The basketball folks call them &lsquo;aircraft car-riers,&rsquo; big tall players around whom you build an offense. Nylund is an &lsquo;aircraft carrier.&rsquo;Jim Benning of Toronto last year was a teammate of Nylund&rsquo;s and the sixth guy chosen in the 1981 draft but for my money there is no realistic comparison in talent. Nylund was infinitely better. I watch a good many NHL games on cable TV and I can easily visualize Nylund stepping into that league and being its best player, just like he&rsquo;s been the best player in the WHL the last two years.RICHARD EPTON,&nbsp; Spokane, WA<h2>Islanders Have Shown They&rsquo;ve Got Class</h2>I find it hard to believe that I am actually defending Stan Fischler, but I feel that I must respond to David Rothstein&rsquo;s letter in the &ldquo;Fan Forum&rdquo; of Apr. 30.In his letter, Rothstein claims that Fischler is upset that the Flyers and not the Islanders acquired the services of Darryl Sittier. You think wrong, sir. Unlike the Flyers, the Islanders are not a floundering 3rd place team with no defense that is sinking like a rock to the bottom of the Patrick Division. And I seriously doubt that adding a player from a Maple Leaf organization with a losing attitude is going to help Philadelphia one iota.Furthermore, Rothstein is a hypocrite when you consider two other points in his letter. He condemns the Islanders for the &ldquo;shabby way they have discarded their past heroes.&rdquo; However, he only needs to witness how Reggie Leach was cut loose this past season when Reg was within a handful of goals of having his contract renewed for another season. And, of course, he was suffering from delusions when he wrote that in hockey.&rdquo;One need look no farther than their constant complaining and griping whenever a penalty is called against them. To listen to some Flyer fans, you&rsquo;d think that it was the referees that lost the Stanley Cup finals to the Islanders two years ago, and not their beloved Flyers.In order to be the best organization in hockey, you have to have class, and when you talk about class, you&rsquo;re talking about the New York Islanders.THOMAS RICH,&nbsp; Eveleth, MN<h2>Gretzky&rsquo;s NHL Record Speaks For Itself</h2>For those writers who insist that Wayne Gretzky is only setting records because he&rsquo;s playing in a weaker conference and that he scores most of his goals against teams in the lower regions of the NHL, here&rsquo;s a statistic that proves otherwise.Wayne scored 92 goals in 80 games. Of those, 30 goals were scored against teams with winning won-loss records (NYI, Philly, NYR, Mtl. Bost, Buff, Que, and Minn) and 62 were scored against teams with losing won-loss records. However, he had played in only 24 games versus those winning teams and 56 games versus the losing teams. A simple calculation shows that Gretzky scored at a 1.25 goals-per-game pace versus the winning teams and a 1.10 pace versus the losers. Case closed! Let&rsquo;s here it for the Great Gretzky!PHIL COTRONEO,&nbsp; Oakland, CA<h2>Turn Back The Clock To Prove Gretzky Great</h2>Perhaps we could get the alleged sportswriters who constantly bad mouth Wayne Gretzky to finally awaken to the fact he is the greatest by turning back the clock 75 years and reinstate seven-man hockey for one season.Let&rsquo;s face it, Gretzky is the greatest.LARRY CHASE West Bend, WI &#9632;

f0020-01

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div>TORONTO&mdash;For all of the trivia buffs out there, part two of the soon to be infamous &ldquo;What did the Maple Leafs get for Darryl Sittler&rdquo; question has now been answered. The envelope please. Drumroll&hellip; it&rsquo;s Ken Strong.The selection of the 19-year-old (as of May 9) centerman from the Peterborough Petes takes care of the second installment of the January 20th trade which sent Sittler to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for 1) Rich Costello, the Flyers&rsquo; second choice in the 1981 draft, a center who played for Providence College; 2) the choice of a player from a list of approximately 15 names of National Hockey League, minor league and junior players submitted by the Flyers&mdash;the Leafs chose Strong; and 3) the 25th player overall in the 1982 Entry Draft which Philadelphia received from Hartford in the Rick Mac-Leish-Blake Wesley-Don Gillen swap for Fred Arthur and Ray Allison.Strong, 5-11, 185 pounds, had 17 goals, 36 assists for 53 points his first year with Peterborough and this past season had 21 goals and 22 assists in 42 games for the Petes. He was the Petes&rsquo; leading playoff scorer this year with 8-11-19 figures.Leafs&rsquo; acting general manager Gerry McNamara explained the choice: &ldquo;We chose Ken because of [the players on] the list that was made available to us, we felt that here was a kid that was young, which falls into place with what we&rsquo;re trying to do and secondly, he&rsquo;s a kid with good ability.&ldquo;This past year he&rsquo;s been injured,&rdquo; McNamara said. &ldquo;We knew that and we followed him pretty closely. We just felt that he has a pretty good chance to be a hockey player.&rdquo;The list supplied by the Flyers was said to contain&mdash;according to reliable sources&mdash;the names of current Flyers Tom Gorence and Al Hill, plus Mark Taylor among a batch of Maine Mariner farmhands and some junior draft picks.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03177/4606991-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="602" height="913"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Leafs received Peterborough center Ken Strong as part of the Darryl Sittler deal.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We considered everyone that was on the list, but I&rsquo;m not prepared to say who was on the list,&rdquo; McNamara said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not fair to the other players. I wouldn&rsquo;t confirm or deny [names].&ldquo;We had a list, we checked the players out, followed them around and looked at everybody pretty closely and we felt that we&rsquo;d choose Ken Strong.&rdquo;Turning to the Leafs&rsquo; strategy for the June Entry Draft, McNamara was not tipping Toronto&rsquo;s hand. &ldquo;When they give us our turn [the Leafs, barring last-minute deals, will follow Boston and Minnesota in the first round] we&rsquo;ll take the best player available. That&rsquo;s the only comment I can make. We&rsquo;re going to take who we feel is the best player. That&rsquo;s what it boils down to. Who it will be, I couldn&rsquo;t tell you.&rdquo;The most common guestimates have it that Boston will select Kitchener&rsquo;s outstanding right winger Brian Bellows and Minnesota will likely grab Billings&rsquo; defenseman Gord Kluzak. That clears the Leafs to take probably either center Ken Yaremchuk or defenseman Gary Nylund, both from Portland, or one of the Sutter twins, center Ron or right winger Rich, from Lethbridge.In the second round, the Leafs have their regular pick, third, immediately followed by the choice they received in the Sittier swap. And again, they&rsquo;ll follow the policy of taking the best player regardless of which position he plays, right, Gerry?&ldquo;Absolutely. We&rsquo;ll always take the best players that are available,&rdquo; McNamara said. &ldquo;The ones who we feel are the best players. Now not always do you take the player somebody else thinks is the best player, but that&rsquo;s the spice of life.&rdquo;Adding a little more spice to the Leafs&rsquo; drafting table is an additional fourth-round pick from Pittsburgh (10th in the round) as a result of one of McNamara&rsquo;s first deals as the Leafs&rsquo; GM, the trade of goaltender Paul Harrison to Pittsburgh.So the second round draft choice obtained by the Leafs&rsquo; next month will close the book on the Sittler deal. Of course it&rsquo;s far too early to tell what the overall result will be. The Flyers got an obviously (based on his late-season, playoff and World Tournament play) revitalized Sittler; the Leafs have three future players, or the potential for the same, as their part of the bargain. &#9632;

f0021-03

Leafs’ Second Installment Delivered In ‘Strong’ Form

<div class="byline">BY GORDON EDES</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyLOS ANGELES&mdash;Notes, quotes and gloats as the Kings go their separate ways following their annual Hawaii vacation:&bull; Though he has not yet signed, All Star right wing Dave Taylor is on the verge of signing a contract second only to Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s in salary.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01498/4606960-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="599" height="804"><figcaption class="caption-body">Further surgery allowed Charlie Simmer more movement in his ankle than he had had in a year. (Photos By Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>Taylor, who was playing out his option, said he has reached a &ldquo;general agreement&rdquo; with owner Jerry Buss on a seven-year contract (six plus an option) that, as originally reported, would pay him &ldquo;substantially more&rdquo; than $3 million.According to a source close to the negotiations, that figure was understated. The package is actually for more than $5 million, the source said, which would exceed the nearly $4 million package signed by Mike Bossy, the Islanders, All Star right wing.Taylor&rsquo;s agent, Ron Salcer, and Buss negotiated for most of the season before coming to terms, Taylor said Buss conceded that his original offer was not in line with what players of Taylor&rsquo;s caliber are deserving.Still left to be worked out are such details as deferred payments.&bull; Taylor&rsquo;s opposite number on the Triple Crown line, left wing Charlie Simmer, did not accompany the team to Hawaii. Instead, -he underwent surgery to remove the plate and screws in his right leg, inserted when he suffered a fracture in Toronto a year ago last March. Kings&rsquo; doctor Vince Carter said Simmer&rsquo;s recovery period should last about six weeks; Simmer reported afterwards that he felt more movement in his ankle than he had in a year and was optimistic about reporting to training camp in top shape.&bull; Marcel Dionne, who did not go to Hawaii last year, partly out of the conviction following the team&rsquo;s ouster from the first round that the trip was undeserved, took the vacation this time, and most mornings could be found on the tennis courts.&bull; General Manager George Maguire went to Finland for the world championships, returned to L.A. too late for the Hawaii junket, but stayed active by signing two collegians.Maguire, who is without a No. 1 draft pick the next two years because of trades with Buffalo, signed defenseman Paul Lohnes, an NCAA Division II All-American from the University of Lowell (Mass.). He also signed Brian MacClellan, a 6-3 defenseman from Bowling Green, alma mater of the Islanders&rsquo; Ken Morrow. MacClellan also played left wing at Bowling Green and the Kings indicated they will look at him there.Those two signings of free agents follow the signing of Phil Sykes, the North Dakota winger who was MVP of the NCAA tournament. Reportedly 18 teams were interested in the services of Sykes, who narrowed his choices to the Oilers, Rangers and Kings before deciding on L.A.Sykes said the chance to play right away swayed his decision. Obviously, a four-year contract (three plus an option) and a signing bonus didn&rsquo;t hurt, either. Sykes joined the Kings during the playoffs and practiced with the club, but did not play.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02304/4606953-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="1235" height="1645"><figcaption class="caption-body">When details concerning deferred payments have been worked out, L.A. Kings&rsquo; forward Dave Taylor is expected to sign a package worth in excess of $5 million.</figcaption></div>&bull; The Kings sold out all four of their home playoff dates (no doubt because of the Gretzky factor), a better showing than their basketball counterparts, the Lakers, who as of press time had yet to sell out.&bull; Kings award winners, as voted by their teammates: Most Valuable&mdash;Dionne and Taylor; Outstanding rookie&mdash;Steve Bozek; Unsung hero&mdash;J.P. Kelly; Outstanding defenseman&mdash;Larry Murphy; Most popular (fans&rsquo; votes)&mdash;Taylor.&bull; Scott Carmichael, the Kings&rsquo; public relations director, was the only member of the Kings&rsquo; organization seen present in Long Island for the Stanley Cup finals. Carmichael was assisting the league office in handling PR duties during the finals.It has been an eventful spring for the 22-year-old Carmichael. First there was the much-publicized run-in with Edmonton Coach Glen Sather; on a happier note, he announced his engagement to Gail Peavy, A Los Angeleno he met last spring in New York during the playoffs. &#9632;

f0021-01

Taylor’s Contract Puts Him Second To Gretzky

HARRISBURG&mdash;The New Brunswick Hawks, the overall season champions of the American Hockey League, didn&rsquo;t get to the top without having the circuit&rsquo;s best performers&mdash;at least that&rsquo;s the opinion of the league coaches.The men behind the benches in the AHL made the Hawks their popular choice while selecting the 30th annual All Star teams and individual player awards for the Harrisburg, PA Sunday Patriot News as well as THE HOCKEY NEWS.The Hawks placed three players on each of the first and second teams as well as winning three of the four individual awards.The Binghamton Whalers, who are currently battling the Hawks in the AHL&rsquo;s Calder Cup championship final series, gained three All Star berths and won the rookie of the year award with Bobby Sullivan.AHL scoring champion Mike Kaszycki led the New Brunswick onslaught by being chosen as first team center along with Hawks&rsquo; goalie Bob Janecyk and defenseman Dave Farrish. Others on the first team were Norm Barnes of Binghamton on defense, Maine&rsquo;s Gordie Clark at right wing and Sullivan on left wing.On the second team, the Hawks placed both defensemen, Lowell Love-day and Jack O&rsquo;Callahan, and right wing Steve Larmer, all of whom are the property of the Chicago Black Hawks. Others on the second team included Ken Holland of Binghamton in goal, Wayne Schaab of Maine at center and Richard David of Fredericton on left wing.Kaszycki, who captured the league scoring championship with 118 points, was selected by the coaches as the Most Valuable Player of the season. Farrish was their pick as the top defenseman and Sullivan was judged the best rookie. Orval Tessier, first&mdash;year coach of the New Brunswick Hawks, won the acclaim of his peers, who chose him as the best coach in the league. &#9632;

New Brunswick Dominates All Stars, Player Awards

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02422/4607077-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0022-02

AHL All Star Teams

<div class="byline">BY PATRICK LYON</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyMONCTON&mdash;The American League&rsquo;s Calder Cup final was a match-up of the two best regular season teams with New Brunswick and Binghamton posting impressive triumphs in semifinal playoffs. Both the Hawks and Whalers were champs in their divisions.The Hawks were in the midst of their best season as they polished off archrival Nova Scotia four games to one. Binghamton made their first appearance in the finals with the Whalers stopping Rochester&rsquo;s Americans four games to one.After Nova Scotia completed back to back championships in 1975-76 and 1976-77 and Maine duplicated the feat with Calder Cup titles in 1977-78 and 1978-79, the AHL will have witnessed four different champs with Hershey succeeding Maine in 1979-80 followed by Adirondack in 1980-81 and the eventual winner of the Whalers-Hawks series.New Brunswick has made giant strides in their first season under coach Orval Tessier and the Hawks were hoping to bring a championship to Moncton in their second trip to the finals. The four-year old franchise made it to the finals in its second year of existence, but lost a six-game series to the Hershey Bears.Tessier gave credit to his goaltenders and defense as the main ingredients in the Hawks&rsquo; victory over the Vees. &ldquo;We got excellent goaltending which can easily been seen in the fact that our goalies gave up just eight goals in five games,&rdquo; said the Hawks&rsquo; mentor. &ldquo;Bob Janecyk was exceptional. He only gave up four goals in four games and stopped two important breakaways in the third period of the last game.&rdquo;The New Brunswick coach also credited his skaters with coming up with the big plays since the Hawks claimed two overtime triumphs. &ldquo;When the Kaszcyki line was being shut down, Russ Adam&rsquo;s line took over and really kept us going.&rdquo; Center Adam teamed with right wing Bart Yachimec and left wing Rod Willard to score important goals for the Hawks.&ldquo;A lot of people thought we weren&rsquo;t going to be competitive this season and told us so. Everybody was ready to give up on us, but we&rsquo;ve surprised everybody,&rdquo; said Tessier. &ldquo;Basically this is the same club, but look at what we&rsquo;ve accomplished. The kids here are great; this is the finest group I&rsquo;ve ever been associated with.&rdquo;Tessier felt that goaltending and defense would be the deciding factors in the final series with the Whalers. New Brunswick could have an edge in the goaltending since they can boast of having the Harry &ldquo;Hap&rdquo; Holmes award winners in the nets with Janecyk and Warren Skorodenski. Sko-rodenski was slated for action after missing the latter portion of the regular season with an injury.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had some super games with Binghamton,&rdquo; noted Tessier. &ldquo;They have a lot of veterans on their club and it should be a great series.&rdquo;Here&rsquo;s how the finalists advanced:After New Brunswick scored a 3-2 overtime decision and a 3-0 shutout win in Moncton, the series shifted to Halifax for Games Three and Four.GAME THREE: New Brunswick&rsquo;s Mike Kaszycki scored two goals and one assist to pace the Hawks to a 5-1 victory before 6,924 fans at the Halifax Metro Centre.The Hawks jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first six minutes of the game with Yachimec assisting Adam at 3:50 and Jack O&rsquo;Callahan and Flo Robidoux earning assists on Kaszycki&rsquo;s goal at 5:47. Bill Kitchen chopped the lead to 2-1 with his goal at 13:06 of the period, but that was to be the lone Vees goal of the night.New Brunswick put the game on ice with a pair of shorthanded scores in the second period. Yachimec lit up the red light with a shorthanded strike at 8:33, Kaszycki following that with another of the shorthanded variety at.10:49. Bill Riley scored the game&rsquo;s final goal late in the second period.The Hawks helped make Janecyk&rsquo;s work easier in limiting the Vees to just 12 shots on net, including a scant two shots the entire third period.GAME FOUR: Two goals in a 19-second span of the third period were instrumental with the Vees scoring a 4-3 triumph and their only win of the series.Skorodenski made his first appearance in the playoffs and despite the defeat, displayed the form that made him one of the top AHL netminders this past season.Jack O&rsquo;Callahan opened the scoring at 17:16 of the first period, but Jeff Brubaker got the Vees even at 1-1 with his goal at 18:57.Dan Bolduc put Nova Scotia back on top at 17:30 of the second period, Dave Farrish tieing it at 2-2 going into the decisive third period.The Vees reached Skorodenski for a pair of goals in a 19-second stretch as Dave Orleski scored at 5:01 followed by Jeff Teal at 5:20. O&rsquo;Callahan earned his second goal of the night at 17:33, however the Hawks couldn&rsquo;t get the equalizer and the series went back to Moncton.Guy Carbonneau picked up three assists for the Vees and Greg Moffett earned the win in the nets.GAME FIVE: Lou Begin ended the Voyageurs&rsquo; season with an overtime goal that helped New Brunswick capture a thrilling 2-1 victory before 6,555 fans in Moncton.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01557/4607022-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="603" height="801"><figcaption class="caption-body">Louis Begin scored the overtime goal which sunk Nova Scotia in the semifinals.</figcaption></div>After battling through a scoreless first period the duel between goalies Bob Janecyk and Mark Holden continued into the second period before Nova Scotia finally broke through for a goal off the stick of Bill Kitchen. Kitchen&rsquo;s rebound of a Jeff Brubaker shot at 16:51 gave the Vees a lead they held until the opening minute of the third period.Bart Yachimec helped send the game into overtime when he outraced Holden to the puck behind the Vees&rsquo; cage and slipped it home just 43 seconds into the third. Begin ended the game and the series with a 15-foot shot at 2:55 of the overtime session. The Hawks had six shots in the overtime and held the Vees without a shot on Janecyk.<h2>BINGHAMTON-ROCHESTER</h2>Coach Larry Kish has taken the Whalers as far as they have ever gone in the Calder Cup playoffs. In their previous four seasons, Binghamton has made the playoffs only twice and had gotten as far as the semifinals in 1978-79 before being ousted by the New Haven Nighthawks.Kish guided his troops past Hershey in a difficult quarterfinal series which they won three games to two, eliminating the Americans.Just as they have all season, the Whalers relied on a team effort and that style of play has brought them to the brink of their first championship. Ray Neufeld led the balanced playoff scoring attack with 14 points in ten games, including two game-winning goals. Bob Sullivan scored 13 points and Mickey Volcan chipped in 11 points with a pair of game-winning goals and two shorthanded goals. Other top Whaler scorers were Randy MacGregor with 10 points, Don Gillen with nine and Marty Howe with eight assists.Goalie Ken Holland had gone the distance in 10 playoff games with the exception of a nine-minute stretch against Hershey and was 7-3 with a 3.67 goals against average.The second period has proved to be the Whalers&rsquo; strongpoint in the playoffs with the club getting 27 of their 48 goals in the second stanza.After idential 5-3 Whaler victories in Binghamton, the series shifted to Rochester for Games Three and Four.GAME THREE: Home ice advantage was very important to these two clubs during the regular season and it continued through the playoffs. After defeating the Whalers four of five games during the regular season in Rochester, the Americans continued their success with a 4-2 victory before 7,232 fans.Chris Halyk, one of Rochester&rsquo;s top scorers during the regular season, but shut down during the playoffs, finally broke his silence in recording the game winner at 13:25 of the second period on a power play.Halyk assisted Kai Suikkanen on the first goal of the game at 12:06 of the first period with the Swede beating Holland on a 20-foot wrist shot.Ross Yates countered with a backhander past Rochester netminder Tim Bernhardt for a 1-1 tie at 14:49, but Dave Gorman found the top corner of the net in the final minute of the period to put Rochester back on top again at 2-1.Sullivan and Howe assisted Paul Messier on a lamplighter at 9:05 that once again tied the contest at 2-2 at 9:05 setting the stage for Halyk&rsquo;s game winner four minutes later.Bob Hess scored an insurance goal for the Amerks at 14:47 of the final period.The Rochester defense limited the Whalers to 22 shots on Bernhardt.GAME FOUR: A three-minute power play proved the difference with the Whalers shocking the Americans 5-1 before another superb turnout of 7,025 in Rochester.Before the game Kish had instructed his players that he wanted no retaliation if the game became physical and those intructions were a deciding factor in the final outcome. Rochester&rsquo;s Ron Fischer and Binghamton&rsquo;s Ray Neufeld collided in the corner and while Fischer came up swinging Neufeld simply covered up. Fischer was given a five-minute penalty and Neufeld received only two minutes, setting up a three-minute Binghamton power play.With the score tied at 1-1 the Whalers took full advantage of the extra attacker with Don Gillen scoring two goals to build up a lead that Binghamton never relinquished.Vince Magnan, Paul Crowley and Michel Galarneau had the other Whaler goals, Randy Cunneyworth scoring the lone Amerks goal.GAME FIVE: The Whalers returned home for the fifth game and clinched the series with a 5-3 victory before 4,003 fans.Stu Smith broke a 3-3 tie as his shot deflected off a Rochester defenseman and past Rick Knickle for what proved to be the winning goal at 7:31 of the final period. Amerks&rsquo; coach Mike Keenan pulled his goalie late in the game, but Paul Crowley&rsquo;s empty net goal at 18:53 sealed the win.Peter Horachek&rsquo;s first of two goals earned the Americans a 1-0 advantage at 15:49 of the first period. Ross Yates poked home a rebound at 4:49 of the second to get Binghamton a 1-1 deadlock, but Horachek answered that with a rebound of his own at 6:41.Bob Sullivan and Randy MacGregor scored just a minute and nine seconds apart to put the Whalers on top 3-2, Ron Fischer tieing the contest at 3-3 on an unassisted goal at 14:18 of the secnd period.Mickey Volcan had three assists for Binghamton.Rochester drew 23,006 for four playoff games for an average of 5,752 per game.Horachek led the Amerks in scoring with two goals and four assists in the Whalers series. &#9632;

f0022-01

Hawks-Whalers Series Will Determine AHL’s Fourth Straight New Champion

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyINDIANAPOLIS&mdash;The Checkers tied a Central Hockey League playoff record by chalking up their eighth straight victory, 5-2, to open the Adams Cup finals in Dallas&rsquo; Fair Park Coliseum.Indianapolis took an early two-goal lead when Neil Hawryliw scored on a power play, and Mike Hordy got an unassisted goal after intercepting a Dallas clearing pass. Rob Tudor, on a power play, put the Black Hawks on the scoreboard before the first period ended.Just 18 seconds into the middle period Red Laurence scored what proved to be the winning goal for the Checkers, and Steve Stoyanovich added insurance. Joe McDonnell got another Dallas power play tally. But Charlie Skjodt, making his first playoff appearance for Indy after suffering a stomach muscle pull in the final game of the regular schedule, scored before the second period ended, and the third was scoreless.Dallas outshot the Checkers, 12-7, in the opening period, but got just five more shots in the game, while Indy was getting 15. Kelly Hrudey for the Checkers and Ken Ellacott for the Hawks were the goal tenders.Winger Mats Hallin, who had missed five playoff games, returned to the Checker lineup, along with Skjodt.Indy coach Fred Creighton was cautioning against overconfidence. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve still got a long way to go,&rdquo; he commented. &ldquo;The fact that we won in their rink means they can win in our building.&rdquo;With the Coliseum booked by other attractions, all remaining games in the best-of-seven finals were to be played in the Checkers&rsquo; State Fairgrounds Arena. Games Five and Six, if they became necessary, were to be designated as &ldquo;home games&rdquo; for Dallas.Only two teams had previously ever won eight CHL playoff games in a row&mdash;the Oklahoma City Blazers in 1965-66 and the Kansas City Blues in 1976-77. Both clubs won the Adams Cup, which Checker fans were taking as a good omen.No CHL club has ever won all its playoff games in a season. Oklahoma City lost a semifinal game to St. Louis in 1966, before taking the next four from the Braves and then sweeping four straight from the Tulsa Oilers in the Cup finals. Kansas City lost the first two games to Fort Worth before coming back to win the semifinal series from the Texans and sweeping the Cup finals against Tulsa.Indy had to settle for a share of the record when they lost at home, 5-2, to even the series.DALLAS&mdash;The Black Hawks broke their own record by making it to the Adams Cup finals for the 10th time in 15 seasons, wrapping up their semifinal series, four games to two, with a 9-4 home rout of the Salt Lake Golden Eagles. It was the 14th time in five playoff series the Hawks had won at home against Salt Lake. The Eagles have won just one playoff game in Dallas.Tim Coulis, 24-year-old Hawk left wing, was suspended for the rest of the current playoffs, and for all of the 1982-83 season for leveling referee Bob Hall with his stick in Game Five of the semifinal series in Salt Lake.Rob Tudor had the hat trick in the series clincher against, the Eagles, while Kelly Kisio and Art Rutland each scored twice. Rookie Cary Eades had two goals for Salt Lake.Two goals by Tudor and one by Kisio put Dallas in command at the start. Perry Anderson and Eades scored for Salt Lake before the first period ended.Kisio scored again in the middle period, and Jim MacRae got what proved to be the winner. Eades scored his second, but Rutland made it 6-3. In the last period Steve Harrison scored for the Birds, but the Hawks got Tudor&rsquo;s third, Rutland&rsquo;s second, and another by Greg Vaydik.The netminders were Ken Ellacott for Dallas, Paul Skidmore for Salt Lake.The Hawks already held the playoff record by making the Cup finals for the ninth time in 1978-79. Tulsa is the closest challenger in this category, with six trips to the finals. Dallas and Omaha have each won the Adams Cup four times.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01517/4607108-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="601" height="878"><figcaption class="caption-body">A power play goal by Neil Hawryliw got the Checkers started towards their eighth win.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0023-01

Checkers Equal Playoff Mark With Eighth Win

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyTOLEDO&mdash;The 1982 Goaldiggers have something in common with the 1973 Fort Wayne Komets. Or they&rsquo;d like to at any rate.The 1973 Komets did not have an All Star in the lineup, at least not according to the annual vote of league general managers and coaches. Still, the Komets roared from behind late in the season to edge the Dayton Gems for the regular season championship. And the Komets continued their hot streak in the playoffs, winning the Turner Cup in nine games, one above the minimum.Fort Wayne bounced Flint in five games, losing the only game in overtime. And then the Komets wiped out Port Huron, coached by the Detroit Red Wing-bound Ted Garvin, in four straight.Balance was the strength of that 1973 championship unit, coached by Marc Boileau.As this was written, Toledo hadn&rsquo;t Diggers were within reach. They survived the semifinal round robin despite losing their first game at home and were squaring off with the Saginaw Gears in the best-of-seven championship series.But Toledo did win the regular season championship. And it was no contest. Unlike Fort Wayne, the Diggers ran in front most of the season while accumulating a record 52 victories. An All Star performance? Certainly. But the Diggers failed to impress the voters. Defenseman Mike Greeder was the only Digger voted to the two-team unit. Coach Bill Inglis, who took Toledo from last to first in one season, was named the first-team coach.Other members of the first team were Rich Sirois of Milwaukee, goalie; Don Waddell of Saginaw, defense; Brent Jarrett of Kalamazoo, center; and John Flesch of Milwaukee and Gord Brooks of Saginaw, wingers.The second unit is comprised of Georges Gagnon, Kalamazoo, goalie; Muskegon&rsquo;s Jim Jackson and Milwaukee&rsquo;s Bruce McKay, defensemen; Fred Berry of Milwaukee, center; and Barry Scully of Fort Wayne and Doug Robb of Milwaukee, wingers.The second-team coach is J.P. LeBlanc of Kalamazoo.Inglis said he wasn&rsquo;t surprised by the selections. &ldquo;I think had there been a third All Star team, it would have been made of mostly Goaldiggers. There&rsquo;s no question Howson [rookie center Scott Howson] was the third center. And that&rsquo;s true of most of the other positions except left wing.&ldquo;I would take the third team against the first team and I could beat them. I don&rsquo;t mean to demean the first team, but a third team would be made up of my players and they&rsquo;ve played together all season. This is just an example of what our guys accomplished&mdash;no one knows where to put them.&rdquo;&ldquo;Whatever I say will sound like sour grapes,&rdquo; said Toledo general manager Bill Beagan. &ldquo;Anyway, I don&rsquo;t place much importance in those teams. The end result is what&rsquo;s most important and that&rsquo;s who takes home the hardware,&rdquo; Beagan added.Commissioner Jack Riley commented, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you can knock the center ice selections. Jarrett and Berry are awfully good players. I think what hurt the kid [Howson] is that he came on strong late in the season. I don&rsquo;t think a lot of coaches saw him at his best. He was probably the best in the legue at his position at the end of the season.&ldquo;I think what hurt [Dirk] Graham was he was out with an injury. The same was true of [Gord] MacFarlane.&ldquo;I thought Gagnon was the best goalie in the league. I thought Sirois tapered off at the end. [Lome] Molleken was very steady. He could have made it. But there are always guys who could have made it and don&rsquo;t.&ldquo;Howson, Graham, MacFarlane and Molleken are all All Star caliber,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;The voting also shows what a great job Bill Inglis did. That was an excellent choice.&rdquo;Unquestionably, Toledo fans and some players were disappointed over the All Star selections. But the Diggers can still have the last laugh by winning the Turner Cup.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01540/4607139-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="598" height="793"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Mike Greeder was the only Goaldigger chosen for the IHL All Stars.</figcaption></div>Fort Wayne did in 1973. And it was a hearty laugh. &#9632;

f0024-01

Goaldiggers, Lacking Stars, Sparkle Anyway

<div class="byline">BY BILL HIGDON</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyATLANTIC CITY&mdash;Expansion committee members seeking new Atlantic Coast Hockey League cities came out of their May 5 meeting here aglow with solid prospects.&ldquo;It looks very much as if Johnstown, Pennsylvania; Richmond, Virginia, and Niagara Falls, Ontario, will join our league for next season,&rdquo; commented Rick Dudley, co-owner and coach of the Winston-Salem Thunderbirds and a prime mover toward an expanded ACHL.&ldquo;For the last two weeks we have looked long and hard to find cities which offer an appropriate arena, plus investors with ample capital to provide stability, the ability to operate a hockey team in a thoroughly professional way and positive attitude toward the league,&rdquo; continued Dudley, who served as general manager and coach of the T-birds late in the league&rsquo;s first season, and believes in the loop&rsquo;s future.David Emerson, who popped into the league picture with his assistance to Dudley and the expansion movement, noted the ACHL also isscrutinizing other interested parties, but &ldquo;Johnstown, Niagara Falls and Richmond are imminent.&rdquo;Meanwhile, Mike Smith, who handles the public relations for the Salem Raiders, sees the impending rivalry between the Raiders and Richmond as a big plus.The Mohawk Valley Stars, who plan to defen their league championship when the new season rolls around in October, will have a companion club in the northern sector with Niagara Falls&rsquo; anticipated entry.There also is a good possibility Erie, PA., will opt for the ACHL after a rather dismal opening season in the American Hockey League where they won only 22 games, finishing last in their division.Erie was the dominant team in the Eastern Hockey League for several seasons, but hiked its stature by joining the higher minor league for 1981-82.&ldquo;The Baltimore Skipjacks,&rdquo; Emerson stated, &ldquo;have made application for the American Hockey League. Upon Baltimore&rsquo;s acceptance, it would occupy Erie&rsquo;s berth, thus leaving Erie an opportunity to join our league,&rdquo; Emerson said.Hesitancy by Baltimore to re-commit to the ACHL temporarily left the new league with three committed franchises for next season&mdash;Winston-Salem, Salem and Mohawk Valley.The Stars were obliged to move out of their offices in Utica Memorial Auditorium this month when the city closed that downtown facility in a desperation economy move. However, there is much opposition to the auditorium closing, and Bill Horton, general manager-coach of the Stars, expressed the hope that the building, will be reopened in time for the next hockey season.The Stars played a pair of ACHL games at nearby Clinton Arena and also a pair of playoff games which attracted over 3,000 fans per contest, and presumably would set up operations there if they lose their Auditorium base.The next official ACHL meeting is scheduled June 8 in Montreal where the league will hold its first annual session in conjunction with the National Hockey League meetings in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel.Meanwhile, the expansion committee hopes to lock up some new cities so the league can tackle the complex scheduling problems.Among the cities with investors studying the ACHL is Atlantic City, whose representative targeted the 1983-84 campaign as a starting point. At the moment, there is no suitable arena for an Atlantic City team to occupy. &#9632;

ACHL’s Expansion Committee Is Optimistic

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BROPHY</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyKITCHENER&mdash;Jeff Larmer can&rsquo;t remember a streak ever lasting so long or being so much fun.In 15 playoff games, Larmer&mdash;the swift, hard shooting Kitchener Rangers&rsquo; left winger&mdash;has accumulated 21 goals and 14 assists for 35 points. Opposing teams only managed to prevent Larmer from scoring at least a single goal in one playoff match.Larmer is so hot he could fry an egg in the palm of his hand.Larmer, coach and manager Joe Crozier and his Rangers&rsquo; teammates hope he can keep his hot hand during the Memorial Cup tournament. The Rangers, finalists last season, advanced to the Memorial Cup trials by defeating the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s 9-1 in their Ontario Hockey League eight-point final series.The 67&rsquo;s gave a very good account of themselves but were no match for the big, fast and determined Kitchener squad.The line of Larmer, Brian Bellows and Kevin Casey (filling in for the suspended Grant Martin at center) provided much of the offense for the Rangers while Scott Stevens and Allan MacInnis were tops on defense.&ldquo;It was nice to be able to contribute to the team&rsquo;s success,&rdquo; said Larmer, who played eight games with the Colorado Rockies earlier in the season, an experience he hopes will benefit him when he goes to their National Hockey League training camp next season. &ldquo;Things just started going my way. I wasn&rsquo;t doing anything different. You know, I could have scored 50 goals my first season with the chances I had but I ended up with 19.1 had the same kind of chances this year in playoffs but they were going in for me.&rdquo;Larmer and Casey both feel the Rangers learned important lessons in what to do and what not to do when it comes time to compete for the Memorial Cup. Both feel the Rangers are a stronger unit than last season&rsquo;s and are better prepared.&ldquo;It was all so new to us last year,&rdquo; said Larmer. &ldquo;We would walk into our hotel and there would be all kinds of scouts and reporters, we didn&rsquo;t know how to react. We were used to a couple of reporters at each game and all-of-a-sudden some guy from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan was asking us questions.&ldquo;The big thing is, you can&rsquo;t react to the pressure. You have to put everything out of your mind and go out and play your own game. We shouldn&rsquo;t come up sour because we&rsquo;ve been there before.&rdquo;Casey feels the Rangers spent too much of the early going with their heads in the clouds last season.&ldquo;You have to be ready for games one and two or you&rsquo;ll be in trouble,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Last year we weren&rsquo;t ready and got behind right off the bat with two losses. We&rsquo;ll be ready for the first two games this season.&ldquo;Another thing is, you can&rsquo;t afford to make stupid mental errors. In the final game against the Cornwall Royals last season, we were on a power play but we got caught trying to change four guys at once. Cornwall got the puck and scored a big shorthanded goal. We also took some dumb penalties in the second period which hurt.&ldquo;We have the experience of having been there before and the other two teams don&rsquo;t. We also have more offensive power this year and our defense is stronger.&rdquo;Martin, a quiet center who does everything for the Rangers&mdash;play a regular shift, kill penalties and play the power play&mdash;was suspended for spearing Ottawa scoring star Jeff Vaive. In his absence, Casey switched from his usual defensive game to play on the team&rsquo;s top offensive line.Having played junior B with Larmer in Peterborough four seasons ago, he fit in fine. In three games, Casey managed five points, including a goal and two assists in Kitchener&rsquo;s 4-1 win over the 67&rsquo;s in game five.Last season in the Memorial Cup tournament, Casey played on the Rangers&rsquo; top checking line with Mike Moher and Mike Clayton.With Martin&rsquo;s return, Casey will return to his defensive duties on a line with Moher and Dave Nicholls. The trio have been working hard in practice and expect coach Crozier to use them against the opposition&rsquo;s top scoring unit.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01469/4607201-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="592" height="788"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeff Larmer scored goals in 14 of 15 playoff games, totalling 21 goals in all.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02334/4607194-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="595" height="793"><figcaption class="caption-body">A suspension gave defensive specialist Kevin Casey a chance to play on the big line.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0025-01

Kitchener’s Larmer On Scoring Spree As Rangers Pin Hopes On Experience

HULL&mdash;Canada&rsquo;s foremost junior, hockey event&mdash;the Memorial Cup&mdash;was turned into a shootout by the three participants as the 1982 round-robin tournament began with a total of 25 goals scored in the first two games of the week-long competition.The underdog Sherbrooke Beavers, the Quebec Hockey League champions who were rated by the experts as no better than third best for the tournament, blasted the favored Kitchener Rangers 10-4 in the first game before the Rangers regained their composure the next night to wallop the Portland Winter Hawks of the Western League 9-2.The all-out offense represented the greatest number of goals scored to start a Memorial Cup tournament in many years.The Rangers, Ontario Hockey League champions and a team loaded with top stars like Brian Bellows, Grant Martin, defenseman Allan Maclnnis and goalie Wendell Young, were so red-faced after their opening game loss that Kitchener coach Joe Crozier admitted to the media, &ldquo;What can I say. We&rsquo;re embarrassed.&rdquo;The Kitchener strategy in game one was simple: Overpower the smaller Sherbrooke team and the offense would take care of the rest. Unfortunately, the Rangers went at it too hard, took all the penalties and the fastskating Quebecers mounted a 10-goal offense, catching the Rangers up the ice repeatedly on two-on-one breaks that left goalie Wendell Young helpless to stop the Beavers.The Rangers outshot the Beavers 52-33 but they couldn&rsquo;t penetrate Sherbrooke goalie Michel Morrissette, who frustrated the big guns of the Kitchener team throughout the game.While Morrissette was the game&rsquo;s first star, the big line for the Beavers, Sean McKenna, John Chabot and Gerard Gallant, combined to score five goals, three by Gallant and a pair by McKenna. Chabot had four assists. Alain Gilbert also chipped in with two goals for Sherbrooke while Jeff Larmer counted twice for the Rangers.The Kitchener team was more disciplined and concentrated wholly on hockey in their second outing against Portland and it quickly showed on the scoreboard as they ran all over the Winter Hawks 9-2. The Rangers&rsquo; production line of Bellows, Martin and Larmer did all the damage, contributing five goals, two each by Larmer and Martin and one by Bel-lows.Larmer, who is the property of the Colorado Rockies, led the early tournament scorers with four goals.Bellows, who is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft at Montreal June 9, expressed confidence but caution after beating the Hawks. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s weird, but they hadn&rsquo;t played in a week and a half and they had a bad game. The same thing happened to us,&rdquo; said Bellows, who outshone Portland&rsquo;s highly-rated defenseman, Gary Nylund, in their first confrontation. There is speculation in some circles that Nylund may go ahead of Bellows in the upcoming draft.Bellows, who was only mediocre in the first game, showed his class in the second game, scoring 11 seconds after. the opening faceoff to set a Memorial Cup record for the fastest goal from the start of a game. &#9632;

Offense Takes Over Memorial Cup Tournament

<h2>ROUND-ROBIN STANDINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03227/4607277-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="530" height="140"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. May 8Sherbrooke 10, Kitchener 4Sun. May 9Kitchener 9, Portland 2<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Mon. May 10Sherbrooke vs PortlandTue. May 11Sherbrooke vs KitchenerWed. May 12Kitchener vs PortlandThu. May 13Portland vs SherbrookeSat. May 15Championship final at 1:30 pm<h2>Sat. May 8 SHERBROOKE 10, KITCHENER 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-04161/4607270-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="538" height="700"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-05136/4607263-1-eng-US/f0025-052.jpg" title="f0025-05" width="530" height="387"></div><h2>Sun. May 9 KITCHENER 9, PORTLAND 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-06113/4607256-1-eng-US/f0025-062.jpg" title="f0025-06" width="541" height="898"></div> &#9632;

f0025-03

Memorial Cup Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY GREGG DRINNAN</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyPORTLAND&mdash;For the first time in the 64-year history of the Memorial Cup, a United States-based team competed in the three-team double round robin tournament.The Portland Winter Hawks earned that right by winning the Western Hockey League championship, taking the best-of-seven final series from the Regina Pats, 4-1.As a result, Portland represented the WHL at the Memorial Cup May 8-15 at Hull, Que. Here&rsquo;s how they got there:Game Five: The Pats were missing three players&mdash;Brent Pascal, Al Tuer and Dale Derkatch&mdash;who were suspended by the WHL after a post-game brawl following the fourth game, won 5-3 by the Winter Hawks.In the fifth and deciding game, won 9-2 by Portland, the Pats came out strong and took a 1-0 lead when Jock Callander found the range behind goaltender Darrell May.Still, the Winter Hawks came out of the first period with a 3-1 lead as Rob Geale scored twice and Gary Nylund added another.Then, with 10,389 fans going wild, the Winter Hawks broke the game open with five second-period goals&mdash;two by Perry Pelensky and one each by Randy Heath, Darwin Penny and Curt Brandolini.Regina&rsquo;s Nevin Markwart scored in that second period and Portland&rsquo;s Jim Playfair finished off the scoring with the third period&rsquo;s lone goal.&ldquo;We felt pretty confident, but we didn&rsquo;t want to be overconfident,&rdquo; said Geale, who also set up two goals. &ldquo;We wanted to end it after what they did to us in the fourth game.&rdquo; Nylund, who also drew two assists, agreed.&ldquo;We wanted to end it. We didn&rsquo;t want to give them any life for a comeback,&rdquo; said Nylund. &ldquo;It was time for them to go. I think we were the better team. When you win four out of five games, there&rsquo;s no way you can be called a fluke champion.&rdquo;Referee Jerry Pateman, a National hockey League trainee, assessed 282 penalty minutes in the series finale.&ldquo;It was a rough series, but I think we proved we could handle it, and we came out the best team,&rdquo; said Nylund. &ldquo;We were the best team, we won, and that&rsquo;s all there is to it.&rdquo;Earlier, the WHL left no doubt as to which club instigated the brawl after the fourth game. President Ed Chy-noweth suspended three Pats and the Regina equipment manager for their roles in the incident. Pascal picked up a double game misconduct and Tuer was assessed a gross misconduct and both were suspended indefinitely, while Derkatch got one game for instigating the affair. Dennis Scott, the equipment manager, was fined $500 and suspended indefinitely for receiving a gross misconduct.In addition, the Pats had to post a $10,000 performance bond, which would have been forfeited in whole or in part had the club been involved in a further incident in the final game.Game Four: The Winter Hawks, trailing 3-2 after two periods, scored three unanswered goals before 9,201 fans. Brian Shaw, a nephew of the Portland general manager of the same name, scored what turned out to be the winning goal with 5:04 left to play. Grant Sasser&rsquo;s empty-net goal with 49 seconds remaining provided the final margin.Shaw&rsquo;s winner&mdash;his 18th goal of the playoffs&mdash;came on a pass from Ken Yaremchuk, who set up two of the third-period scores. &ldquo;He [Yaremchuk] made a great play, he put the puck right on my stick,&rdquo; said Shaw. &ldquo;I saw the corner and put it in.&rdquo;Portland led 1-0 after one period on Heath&rsquo;s power play goal. Regina scored three times in the second&mdash;the last coming on a Dave Michayluk power play tally with seven seconds left in the period&mdash;to take a 3-2 lead. Callander and Pascal scored the other Pats&rsquo; goals while Geale replied for Portland.&ldquo;It was an awfully good hockey game,&rdquo; Portland coach Ken Hodge said. &ldquo;We showed a lot of heart.&rdquo;The WHL&rsquo;s best-of-seven championship series opened with three games in Regina, and the Winter Hawks headed for home with a 2-1 edge in games, after losing the opener 6-4 and then winning the next two games 5-4 and 7-6.The Pats were trying to get into their second Memorial Cup in the last three years. They last won the national major junior title in 1974.Here&rsquo;s a look at the first three games:Game Three&mdash;Because the teams split the first two games, the third game was also played in Regina. And, the Winter Hawks stunned the Pats, erasing a 6-2 Regina lead en route to a 7-6 overtime victory.The Pats jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead, on goals from Jock Callander, Wally Schreiber and Lyndon Byers.Regina increased that edge to 6-2 in the second 20 minutes, getting goals from Brent Pascal, Schreiber and Dale Derkatch, while Brian Shaw scored twice for the Winter-Hawks.Then, in the third period, the Winter Hawks roared back, spearheaded by center Ken Yaremchuk.Yaremchuk scored the period&rsquo;s first goal on a powerplay at 4:58 and Randy Heath, after taking a pass from Yaremchuk, cut the deficit to 6-4 at 6:44 with the clubs skating five aside. Curt Brandolini added an unassisted goal at 9:15 and Heath, with Yaremchuk setting it up, tied the score at 16:37, forcing the suddendeath overtime session.Yaremchuk ended it with his fifth point of the night, taking a pass from Heath, and beating Regina goaltender Chris Smith with a high, hard shot from the faceoff circle.Game Two&mdash;Portland exploded for four second-period goals and then hung on for a 5-4 victory that evened the series at 1-1.The clubs played through a scoreless first period, before Portland took charge with its second-period outburst. The Winter Hawks ended the period with a 4-1 lead.The Pats attempted a third-period comeback, in which they outshot the Winter Hawks 17-9, but couldn&rsquo;t produce a tying goal after pulling within one at 9:32.&ldquo;I thought our goaltender [Darrell May] was exceptional in the third period,&rdquo; said Hodge. &ldquo;He was one of the keys to the victory. It was an important win for us. Both clubs, all through the playoffs, have shown an ability to win on the road&hellip; and we certainly established that tonight. It does make you breathe a little easier.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01488/4607308-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="608" height="1360"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rob Geale scored three goals for Portland in their final two wins against Regina.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;With the exception of the last 10 minutes, I think our club has shown a progressive improvement, period by period, this series. We played much better than the first game. 1 don&rsquo;t know what it was in that first game. It could have been our layoff, a bit of anxiety or not being familiar with Regina.&rdquo;LaForge felt his club had its chances, but just couldn&rsquo;t put the puck in the net.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t capitalize on our chances, especially in the second and third periods,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played a lot of intense games as of late and if there can be a good time for an off night, I guess tonight was. I&rsquo;m certainly not discouraged.&rdquo;Yaremchuk, Heath, Kelly Hubbard, Grant Sasser and Perry Pelensky all scored-once for Portland. Derkatch, Dave Michayluk, Pascal and Schreiber had a goal apiece for Regina.Game One&mdash;Michayluk scored twice as the Pats opened the series with a 6-4 home-ice victory.The Pats, who led 3-1 and 5-3 at the period breaks, got their other goals from Pascal, Barry Trotz, Derkatch and Jayson Meyer.Shaw, Sasser, Rob Geale and Darwin Penny all scored once for Portland.&ldquo;I thought we played an intense first period, but as the game progressed it became more of a game of mistakes,&rdquo; said LaForge.Offered Hodge: &ldquo;We usually forecheck better and our puck movement is better than it was. I wouldn&rsquo;t call it a lack of intensity by either team, but rather caution or nervousness. We also haven&rsquo;t played for a while and weren&rsquo;t as sharp as we can be.&rdquo;Off the ice, Russ Farwell was named general manager of the Medicine Hat Tigers, replacing Pat Ginnell, whose contract as general manager and coach was not renewed.Farwell started the 1981-82 season as assistant coach and assistant general manager of the Calgary Wranglers, before moving on to become coach of the Billings Bighorns.When Chicago&rsquo;s Bill Zeitlin purchased the Bighorns and moved them to Nanaimo, Farwell was released.The Tigers have yet to name a coach. &#9632;

f0026-01

WHL Champs Portland Winter Hawks First U.S. Memorial CUD Competitor

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyMONTREAL&mdash;The 1981-82 Quebec Junior Hockey season will hardly be remembered as producing a plethora of junior prospects. But, if you look hard enough, some quality beef is out there for the picking.Following consultation with scouts, coaches, reporters and witch doctors, THE HOCKEY NEWS has compiled this unofficial list of players who should be selected in the opening three or four rounds.No. 1 - Michel Petit, defense, Sherbrooke Beavers: Everyone who&rsquo;s anyone says this 6-1, 180-pound rookie will be the first player chosen from the Quebec Major junior Hockey League, and likely the only Quebec player to go in the first round.Petit, 18 last February, scored 10 goals and 39 assists in 63 games.But don&rsquo;t let those totals fool you.For starters, Petit shoots right&mdash;considered a big advantage by scouts. He&rsquo;s an intelligent offensive player who still requires grooming on defense. But scouts agree he&rsquo;s worth a high pick, saying once he matures in junior, he&rsquo;ll be a steady, effective rearguard.No. 2&mdash;Alain Heroux, left wing, Chicoutime Sagueneens: The biggest thing going for Heroux is his size&mdash;6-1,180 pounds. Only 17, Heroux didn&rsquo;t go until the 14th round of the midget draft, but impressed this season with his two-way effectiveness.He scored 29 goals and 33 assists in the regular season and would have had a more impressive playoffs were it not for the ankle injury he suffered.No. 3&mdash;Bill Campbell, defense, Montreal Juniors: Succumbed to the sophomore jinx, scoring 21 goals and 41 assists after a sensational rookie year. But he&rsquo;s still considered a good defensive and offensive player. He&rsquo;s especially good with the puck and is another defenseman who shoots right.At 6-0, 167 pounds, scouts would like him to fill out, but he&rsquo;s only 17 and will be allowed to develop in junior.No. 4&mdash;Yves Courteau, right wing, Laval Voisins: Has never quite lived up to his potential after scoring 52 goals as a rookie in midget.But he has enough size, 6-0, 185 pounds, and produced enough&mdash;30 goals and 38 assists&mdash;for the experts to believe he could make it in the pros.Courteau also led the Voisins in the playoffs and is an effective, two-way worker.No. 5 - Yves Lapointe, left wing, Shawinigan Cataracts: The kid&rsquo;s only 17 and already stands 6-3 and weighs 205. A tough, no-nonsense player who stands up to anything. Had decent stats for a rookie, scoring 23 goals and 30 assists, Teams won&rsquo;t waste much time picking him.No. 6&mdash;Rene Badeau, defense, Quebec Remparts: Another big defenseman, standing 6-0 and 179 pounds. Had 232 penalty minutes and attracted attention because of his aggressive style.While he has lots of improving to do, he&rsquo;s only a 17-year-old rookie and teams likely won&rsquo;t risk waiting until next year to select him.No. 7&mdash;Claude Verret, center, Trois Rivieres Draveurs: Only a 5-9, 161-pounder, but did lead the league in scoring with 54 goals and 108 assists.Despite his size, New York Rangers&rsquo; coach Herb Brooks travelled twice to Trois Rivieres during the league final, likely to scout Verret.Said to be an intelligent player, Verret can pass to either side and plays the point on power plays.No. 8&mdash;Daniel Campeau, center, Sherbrooke Beavers: Might only be 5-10 and 172 pounds, but reminds scouts of former Montreal junior Denis Savard&mdash;especially around the net where he produced 58 goals and 50 assists. A gentleman on the ice, Campeau had only four penalty minutes all season.No. 9&mdash;Claude Drouin, center, Trois Rivieres Draveurs: Much of what applies to Campeau remains unchanged in Drouin&rsquo;s scouting report. He&rsquo;s 5-10 and weighs 178. He scored 48 goals and 82 assists. Savard has proved little men can make it big in the NHL.No. 10&mdash;Dave Kasper, center, Sherbrooke Beavers: Here we go again. Kasper also is 5-10, but is a light 160 pounds. Younger brother of Boston&rsquo;s Steve, he is expected to grow when he returns to junior next season.A versatile man, he can also play left wing, is also good defensively and at faceoffs. He&rsquo;s also aggressive like his brother.No. 11&mdash;Claude Vilgrain, center, Laval Voisins: Has good size&mdash;6-1,195 pounds&mdash;and reasonable stats, scoring 26 goals and 29 assists.Had an excellent playoff and was one of only two Voisins&mdash;along with Michel Crispin&mdash;to come out ahead on the plus-minus ratings.An excellent defensive player who was able to overcome the color barrier tag which followed him around the league.No. 12&mdash;Mario Gosselin, goalie, Shawinigan Cataracts: Goalies, historically, don&rsquo;t get selected high. But if one gets the nod in the QMJHL, it would have to be Gosselin who had a fine 4.05 average in 60 games.While his size&mdash;5-8 and 157 pounds&mdash;could work against him, he has proved he can play the angles and displayed an excellent glove hand.AROUND THE LEAGUE&mdash;The Sherbrooke Beavers won the league championship defeating the Trois Rivieres Draveurs 8-4 in the fourth game.Sean McKenna and Paul Boutilier each scored two goals for the Beavers. Alain Gilbert, Luc Bachand, Gerard Gallant and John Chabot added singles. Christian Tanguay had two for the Draveurs. Normand Nellis and Mario Carpentier completed the scoring.Instead of depositing a $10,000 bond at the end of April as per league regulations, the financially strapped Quebec Remparts were asked for a $30,000 guarantee to display their good faith. But they were given until May 10 to produce the money. &#9632;

Quebec Players Likely Won’t Be Drafted High

<h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01471/4607384-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="535" height="655"></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02321/4607377-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="529" height="277"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03210/4607370-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="531" height="387"></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04147/4607363-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="532" height="579"></div> &#9632;

f0027-01

Top Junior Scorers

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01463/4607415-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

NHL PLAYOFF SCORING

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE PLAYOFFS</h2><h3>FINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01401/4607586-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="538" height="118"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat May 1Binghamton 4 at N. Brunswick 7Mon. May 3Binghamton 3 at N. Brunswick 2Thu. May 6N. Brunswick 5 at Binghamton 1Sat. May 8N. Brunswick 4 at Binghamton 1<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Mon. May 10Binghamton at N. BrunswickWed. May 12N. Brunswick at BinghamtonFri. May 14Binghamton at N. Brunswick<h3>SEMIFINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02290/4607579-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="535" height="122"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. April 16Rochester 3 at Binghamton 5Wed. April 21Rochester 3 at Binghamton 5Fri. April 23Binghamton 2 at Rochester 4Sun. April 25Binghamton 5 at Rochester 1Mon. April 26Rochester 3 at Binghamton 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03188/4607572-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="536" height="122"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. April 19Nova Scotia 2 at N. Brunswick 3Thu. April 22Nova Scotia 0 at N. Brunswick 3Sat. April 24N. Brunswick 5 at Nova Scotia 1Mon. April 26N. Brunswick 3 at Nova Scotia 4Wed. April 28Nova Scotia 1 at N. Brunswick 2<h3>QUARTERFINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04130/4607565-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="535" height="113"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. April 7Adirondack 3 at N. Brunswick 1Fri. April 8Adirondack 3 at N. Brunswick 4Sat. April 10N. Brunswick 3 at Adirondack 6Tue. April 13N. Brunswick 8 at Adirondack 6Thu. April 15Adirondack 3 at N. Brunswick 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-05113/4607558-1-eng-US/f0029-052.jpg" title="f0029-05" width="535" height="122"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. April 7Nova Scotia at Maine (ppd. snow)Thu. April 8Nova Scotia 7 at Maine 6Fri. April 9Nova Scotia 3 at Maine 4Mon. April 12Maine 1 at Nova Scotia 3Wed. April 14Maine 3 at Nova Scotia 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0691/4607551-1-eng-US/f0029-062.jpg" title="f0029-06" width="534" height="120"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. April 7Hershey 4 at Binghamton 6Fri. April 9Hershey 5 at Binghamton 1Sat April 10Binghamton 6 at Hershey 5Tue. April 13Binghamton 4 at Hershey 7Thu. April 15Hershey 3 at Binghamton 9<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0774/4607544-1-eng-US/f0029-072.jpg" title="f0029-07" width="539" height="123"></div><h3>LEADING PLAYOFF SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0866/4607537-1-eng-US/f0029-082.jpg" title="f0029-08" width="536" height="334"></div><h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE PLAYOFFS</h2><h3>FINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0961/4607530-1-eng-US/f0029-092.jpg" title="f0029-09" width="531" height="116"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. May 2Indianapolis 5 at Dallas 2Wed. May 5Dallas 5 at Indianapolis 2Fri. May 7Dallas 4 at Indianapolis 5Sun. May 9Dallas 2 at Indianapolis 3<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. May 12Dallas at IndianapolisFri. May 14Dallas at IndianapolisSat. May 15Dallas at Indianapolis<h3>SEMIFINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1053/4607523-1-eng-US/f0029-102.jpg" title="f0029-10" width="536" height="121"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. April 16Salt Lake 5 at Dallas 6Sat April 17Salt Lake 3 at Dallas 7Wed. April 21Dallas 3 at Salt Lake 4Fri. April 23Dallas 5 at Salt Lake 9Sat April 24Dallas 5 at Sait Lake 1Thu. April 29Salt Lake 4 at Dallas 9<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1148/4607516-1-eng-US/f0029-112.jpg" title="f0029-11" width="533" height="122"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat April 17Indianapolis 3 at Wichita 2(Game at Edmonton)Tue. April 20Indianapolis 7 at Wichita 4Thu. April 22Wichita 3 at Indianapolis 4Sat April 24Wichita 3 at Indianapolis 5<h3>QUARTERFINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1244/4607509-1-eng-US/f0029-122.jpg" title="f0029-12" width="530" height="115"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1337/4607502-1-eng-US/f0029-132.jpg" title="f0029-13" width="530" height="115"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thu. April 8Dallas 5 at Cincinnati 1Sat. April 10Dallas 3 at Cincinnati 8Sun. April 11Cincinnati 2 at Dallas 3Tue. April 13Cincinnati 2 at Dallas 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1434/4607495-1-eng-US/f0029-142.jpg" title="f0029-14" width="533" height="113"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. April 7Nashville 2 at Wichita 3Fri. April 9Nashville 2 at Wichita 4Sat. April 10Wichita 4 at Nashville 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1530/4607488-1-eng-US/f0029-152.jpg" title="f0029-15" width="534" height="123"></div><h3>LEADING PLAYOFF SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1628/4607481-1-eng-US/f0029-162.jpg" title="f0029-16" width="540" height="308"></div><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYOFFS</h2><h3>FINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1726/4607474-1-eng-US/f0029-172.jpg" title="f0029-17" width="532" height="114"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. April 28Saginaw 1 at Toledo 4Sat May 1Toledo 5 at Saginaw 4Wed. May 5Saginaw 5 at Toledo 1Fri. May 7Toledo 6 at Saginaw 1Sat May 8Saginaw 1 at Toledo 6<h3>ROUND-ROBIN SEMIFINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1826/4607467-1-eng-US/f0029-182.jpg" title="f0029-18" width="535" height="169"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. April 18Saginaw 6 at Toledo 5Tue. April 20Toledo 5 at Fort Wayne 3Wed. April 21Fort Wayne 3 at Saginaw 7Fri. April 23Fort Wayne 5 at Toledo 7Sat. April 24Saginaw 3 at Fort Wayne 4Sun. April 25Toledo 4 at Saginaw 6<h3>QUARTERFINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1921/4607460-1-eng-US/f0029-192.jpg" title="f0029-19" width="541" height="374"></div><h3>FINAL PLAYOFF LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-2018/4607453-1-eng-US/f0029-202.jpg" title="f0029-20" width="536" height="304"></div><h2>CENTENNIAL CUP</h2><h3>FINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-2118/4607446-1-eng-US/f0029-212.jpg" title="f0029-21" width="532" height="112"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Prince Albert 9, Guelph 4Prince Albert 8, Guelph 4Prince Albert 7, Guelph 3Prince Albert 6, Guelph 3 &#9632;

f0029-01

MINOR SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01451/4607638-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">A Class Guy</figcaption></div>Veteran center Bobby Clarke was honored by the Professional Hockey Writers Association, Philadelphia chapter, when they presented him with their annual Class Guy Award for 1981-82. The award is given to the player who has distinguished himself in his relationship with the media, reflecting a positive image for the team. Clarke just ended his 12th year as a Flyer. He has played in 991 games and scored 318 career goals.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02343/4607631-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="1834" height="1697"><figcaption class="caption-body">Flyer Fan Milestone Setter</figcaption></div>The Philadelphia Flyers honored their 10,000,000th fan to pass through the turnstiles at the Spectrum and the lucky fan turned out to be Liz Gallagher of Narbeth, PA. Here Miss Gallagher is shown with former Flyers&rsquo; goaltending great Bernie Parent as she received a team sweater commemorating the milestone. In addition she was presented with an all-expenses paid trip for two to San Juan, Puerto Rico, a video cassette recorder, an autographed hockey stiek from the players and a sterling silver bowl.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03238/4607624-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="1837" height="1301"><figcaption class="caption-body">Swinging Hockey Owner</figcaption></div>Joel Schiavone, left, is not your ordinary hockey team owner. Not only does he operate the New Haven Nighthawks in the American Hockey League but he also plays lead guitar in a rock band. Schiavone is shown here with other members of the rock and roll band called B.B. Hind and the Bluemooners, who perform in New Haven and area night clubs. Schiavone&rsquo;s sparetime hobby is unique. He also plays banjo and vocalizes with a second group known as the Galvanized Jazz Band. Schiavone has entertained his fellow AHL governors at various league functions and meetings. Shown with Schiavone from the left, are Noel Koletsky, Bill Duplessis, Joe Macaluso and Pat Keough.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04160/4607617-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="1177" height="1360"><figcaption class="caption-body">Little Joe Starts Early</figcaption></div>Joseph Francis Kadlec, III, believes in getting an early start in life and it appears he has already chosen his future profession&mdash;even though he&rsquo;s only 10 months old. Little Joe got a helping hand along the way with his NHL referee&rsquo;s outfit. His proud dad happens to be Joe Kadlec, director of public relations for the Philadelphia Flyers. &#9632;

f0030-01

HOCKEY PEOPLE

<h2>Chico A Winner</h2>UNIONDALE&mdash;Playing goal for the worst team in the NHL has its compensations.Veteran netminder Chico Resch of the last-place Colorado Rockies has been named the 1982 winner of the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.Resch got the nod over Philadelphia&rsquo;s Jim Watson, Craig Ramsay of Buffalo, Serge Savard of Winnipeg and the Islanders&rsquo; Bob Nystrom in the final balloting by the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association.The Masterton Trophy, originated 15 years ago to honor a member of the, Minnesota North Stars who lost his life during a game, is awarded to the NHL performer who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.Along with the trophy, Resch receives a $1,500 grant from the PHWA.<h2>Snubs Hearing</h2>BOSTON&mdash;Winger Terry O&rsquo;Reilly of the Boston Bruins expected the worst for the punch he tossed at referee Andy van Hellemond during the Stanley Cup playoffs and for that reason he decided to boycott the hearings the NHL is conducting into the incident.O&rsquo;Reilly refused to attend the preliminary hearing in Montreal with NHL vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill. Boston GM Harry Sinden represented O&rsquo;Reilly.Sinden said that the veteran Bruin player was upset by the whole affair and that his presence at the hearing would not affect the NHL decision.&ldquo;In his own mind he feels the decision already has been made,&rdquo; commented Sinden. O&rsquo;Neill said a decision will be forthcoming.O&rsquo;Reilly punched van Hellemond on the side of the head in the seventh game of the Quebec-Boston playoff series with two seconds remaining on the game clock. Van Hellemond tossed him out of the contest.<h2>New TV Pact</h2>NEW YORK&mdash;The NHL and the USA Cable Network have agreed to a new two-year television package that will give the network exclusive national cable TV rights to league games.The USA Network has been the official cable network of the NHL for the past three seasons. The announcement of the new agreement was made jointly by NHL President John Ziegler and Kay Koplovitz, president of the USA Network.Under the terms of the agreement, the USA Network will televise approximately 33 regular season games with an emphasis on Monday night telecasts. They will also cablecast the NHL All Star game and a number of playoff contests, including all games in the conference championships and Stanley Cup finals. Blackout rules have been restructured to offer the maximum possible coverage consistent with the protection of local team exclusivity.The USA Network is presently seen in over 10 million households in all 50 states. Included among its 500 events annually are major league baseball games, National Basketball Association games and NCAA basketball and football games.<h2>TV Hockey No. 1</h2>TORONTO&mdash;NHL hockey at playoff time is the most appealing of any television show in Canada, according to the latest statistics.CBC is enjoying record high ratings for their NHL telecasts. For example, four playoff games which ran on regional telecasts on Saturday, Apr. 10 together attracted 4.45 million viewers compared to 3.85 million on the same Saturday night a year earlier.On Sunday, April 11, two playoff games were seen by another 4.16 million viewers.CBC said the top five TV shows for that particular week were all NHL playoff telecasts.<h2>Hall of Famers</h2>NEW YORK&mdash;One of hockey&rsquo;s greatest players of the past, center Jean Beliveau, will be among 10 famous sports personalities who will be inducted into the Madison Square Garden Hall of Fame on May 25.Beliveau, who scored 507 goals and 712 assists during an 18-year career with the Montreal Canadiens, was always a glittering performer with the Canadiens when they played in Madison Square Garden over the years.Beliveau, who retired to become vice-president of the Canadiens, will be hockey&rsquo;s representative among the 10 Hall of Fame inductees. Others who will be honored include boxer Beau Jack, basketball trio George Mikan, Dick McGuire and Dave DeBusschere, track and field great Harrison Dillard, horse show competitor Edward &ldquo;Ned&rdquo; King, coach Frank McGuire, New York newspaper columnist Arthur Dailey and contributor Edwin H. Mosier Jr.<h2>NHL Inks Stars</h2>CALGARY&mdash;With the NHL season winding down, several teams have moved to sign up top junior and college players as free agents before the summer hockey drafts.The Calgary Flames announced the signing of four junior stars, goalie Mike Vernon of Calgary, the MVP of the Western League, center Bruce Eakin, and right wingers Mario Simioni and Todd Hooey. The last two named played in the OHL this season.The Winnipeg Jets signed AllAmerican goaltender Brian Hayward from Cornell University and the Rangers inked winger Gary DeGrio, who played with Team USA in the recent world hockey championships at Helsinki, Finland.The Philadelphia Flyers sent their fourth draft pick in 1981, center Ken Strong of Peterborough, to the Toronto Maple Leafs to complete the trade that brought Darryl Sittler to Philadelphia during the past season.<h2>Sabres Deny Deal</h2>BUFFALO&mdash;GM Scotty Bowman of the Buffalo Sabres has denied reports he has signed Czechoslovakian defector Peter Ihnacak to an NHL contract.Bowman was commenting on a story carried in the May 14 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS which stated that Bowman had personally signed Ihnacak in a Stockholm hotel.Bowman declared that the young Czech center, who walked out on the Czechoslovakian National Team during the recent world hockey championships in Finland, would be eligible for the NHL Entry Draft June 9 in Montreal and all teams would get a crack at drafting him. He said the Sabres have not ruled out the possibility they would ultimately sign Ihnacak if he were the best player available at the time their draft pick comes up. &#9632;

SLAPSHOTS

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>EDMONTON&mdash;Are you ready for something a little different?What we have here is an upset playoff loss that hasn&rsquo;t left the coach&rsquo;s job on the line. Some of the players, however, can&rsquo;t boast of similar security.Edmonton Oiler&rsquo;s Peter Pocklington, who was wounded in the left arm by a policeman&rsquo;s bullet during an 11hour hostage drama at his exclusive Edmonton home last month, issued what amounts to a vote of confidence to manager-coach Glen Sather.The often outspoken owner instead pinned Edmonton&rsquo;s first-round playoff upset at the hands of Los Angeles Kings on the young Oilers, maintaining they were not sufficiently dedicated to the cause in an all-out attempt to win the Stanley Cup.&ldquo;It may have been a gross waste on how players think about themselves and winning,&rdquo; said Pocklington, although he refused to single out individuals. &ldquo;I think they were more interested in accomplishing personal goals than winning the Stanley Cup. To go for something such as that requires complete dedication to the detriment of everything else. I don&rsquo;t know if they fully realized that.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe they understood how deep a commitment they were forced to make. You have to forget everything else&mdash;forget that extra beer, that extra hour out or that extra girl you&rsquo;re chasing. It&rsquo;s a full consignment at winning the Stanley Cup.&rdquo;While some players may feel the heat, Sather appears to have escaped the wrath of his close friend Pocklington.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t change his status,&rdquo; said Pocklington, although the Oilers finished in second place in the overall National Hockey League standings and the Kings were a lowly 17th. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll work together to try and do better next year. He&rsquo;s a good coach. I think Glen learned a lot and he&rsquo;s a helluva leader. Guys respect and work hard for him.&rdquo;Following the five-game upset at the hands of the Kings, Sather was left to wonder if he drove his players to an extreme over a Ill-point regular season.&ldquo;You get to a point where you wonder if you should accept a lesser goal during the season&mdash;you wonder if you pushed them too hard,&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;But, I can&rsquo;t do that, I want to win. Players learn from winning and should be better conditioned to play in the playoffs, but all of a sudden, judging from the upsets [three divisional pennant winners were ousted during the preliminary round], it didn&rsquo;t turn out that way.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s little doubt that the panic-stricken Edmonton playoff performance is the sort of thing that breeds changes. Eighty games were quickly overshadowed by five boorish playoff showings. Seven months of hard work went out the window in seven miserable days.&ldquo;It took a team like the Islanders a while to grow up,&rdquo; reasoned Sather, referring to the 1978 series in which the Stanley Cup champions took the pipe against&mdash;if you can imagine&mdash;the Toronto Maule Leafs. &ldquo;I think you grow into a job and I&rsquo;m not about to make wholesale changes because we got beat in the playoffs, although I do feel we can improve at every position.&rdquo;What about his future as coach?&ldquo;I have to think whether I did a good job or not. I have to wonder if someone else was coaching would we have had better results.&rdquo; replied Sather. &ldquo;But I know our team played pretty well all year and then suddenly succumbed to stress in the playoffs. I&rsquo;ll need time to think about these sort of things.&rdquo;Although Sather&rsquo;s coaching job appears secure, he may decide to unload that portfolio to concentrate solely on the GM&rsquo;s duties.If such is the case, he could wind up with two job vacancies on his hands as the possibility exits that assistant coach Billy Harris may not be back.&ldquo;I hope to be employed next year in Alberta. Whether it&rsquo;s Edmonton or Calgary, I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said Harris, who handled the Edmonton assistant coaching duties along with ex-defenseman Ted Green. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d be interested in returning here if the terms were right. My first choice would be head coach, naturally, but I&rsquo;m also happy to return as an assistant coach under the right [financial and security] terms, but who knows?&rdquo;Harris&rsquo; reference to Calgary stems from the Flames&rsquo; disappointing season that undoubtedly has left head coach Al MacNeil&rsquo;s job in jeopardy.Harris, who has had difficulty selling his house in Sudbury, Ont., has also made informal inquiries about returning to Laurentian University as head coach. &ldquo;Nothing formally, however,&rdquo; added Harris, who took a leave of absence from the Sudbury-based college two seasons ago to join the Oilers.In the meantime, as the Stanley Cup finals were about to get under way, the Edmonton questions were left unanswered as Sather and Pocklington took their wives for a vacation in Hawaii&mdash;Pocklington to recover from a gunshot wound and the traumatic experience of being held hostage for 11 hours by a lone gunman April 20.And Sather to recover from Oiler&rsquo;s hasty playoff departure. &#9632;

Players, Not Coach, Blamed For Oilers’ Ouster

NEW YORK&mdash;The New York Islanders have a special incentive for winning the Stanley Cup this season.They&rsquo;ll become the first American team to capture three straight cups in the 64-year history of the NHL&rsquo;s playoffs.Despite the presence in the NHL for nearly four decades of such renowned U.S. teams as the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks and New York Rangers, none have been able to string together three consecutive cup-winning years.The Red Wings twice won back-to-back cups, in 1936-37 and 1954-55, before the expansionist Philadelphia Flyers came along in the 70&rsquo;s to capture the cup in 1974 and 1975, only to lose out in the 1976 finals to the Montreal Canadiens in their bid to make it three in a row.The Islanders, of course, have won the cup the past two years and if they go all the way for their third they will be only the fifth team to capture the Stanley Cup three or more years in succession. The Canadiens have been the league&rsquo;s most prolific post-season franchise. The Habs won it five times consecutively from 1956 to 1960 and again four times from 1976 to 1979.Canadian teams have dominated the Stanley Cup since 1944. They&rsquo;ve won 27, compared to 11 for U.S. clubs. &#9632;

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May 21, 1982

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