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.

October 22, 1982

The Hockey News October 22, 1982

On the back cover the THE HOCKEY NEWS 1983 Yearbook, the subscription ad states, &ldquo;Save over $38.00 off the newstand price.&rdquo; This is an error. In fact, by subscribing to THE HOCKEY NEWS, you save $27.30 off the newstand price. THE HOCKEY NEWS regrets this error and any inconvenience it may have caused. &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

CORRECTION

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-12" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1290/4749645-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0035-12

NHL TEAM ROSTERS

(Standings on Tue. Oct. 12)<h2>CAMPBELL CONFERENCE</h2><h3>NORRIS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1858/4749590-1-eng-US/f0034-182.jpg" title="f0034-18" width="529" height="164"></div><h3>SMYTHE DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1955/4749583-1-eng-US/f0034-192.jpg" title="f0034-19" width="528" height="164"></div><h2>WALES CONFERENCE</h2><h3>PATRICK DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2048/4749576-1-eng-US/f0034-202.jpg" title="f0034-20" width="527" height="191"></div><h3>ADAMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2140/4749569-1-eng-US/f0034-212.jpg" title="f0034-21" width="531" height="163"></div><h2>POINTS RACE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2236/4749562-1-eng-US/f0034-222.jpg" title="f0034-22" width="521" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2334/4749555-1-eng-US/f0034-232.jpg" title="f0034-23" width="538" height="626"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Oct. 5Calgary 5 at Edmonton 7Pittsburgh 3 at New Jersey 3NY Islanders 1 at Vancouver 2Wed. Oct. 6Quebec 6 at Buffalo 4Toronto 3 at Chicago 3St. Louis 2 at Detroit 1Vancouver 3 at Los Angeles 3Hartford 1 at Montreal 2Washington 5 at NY Rangers 4Minnesota 5 at Winnipeg 4Thu. Oct. 7Montreal 5 at Boston 1NY Islanders 5 at Calgary 4Quebec 5 at Philadelphia 9Toronto 2 at St. Louis 3Frl. Oct. 8NY Islanders 6 at Edmonton 4Detroit 3 at Minnesota 3NY Rangers 2 at New Jersey 3Sat. Oct. 9Winnipeg 8 at Detroit 0Boston 5 at Hartford 4Calgary 1 at Los Angeles 3Chicago 8 at Montreal 7Rangers 5 at Pittsburgh 3Buffalo 4 at Quebec 6Minnesota 6 at St. Louis 3New Jersey 5 at Toronto 5Edmonton 6 at Vancouver 3Philadelphia 3 at Washington 2Sun. Oct. 10Pittsburgh 3 at Boston 4Hartford 4 at Buffalo 4Winnipeg 5 at Chicago 3Washington 4 at Philadelphia 6Mon. Oct. 11Montreal 4 at Quebec 3NY Islanders 4 at NY Rangers 3 &#9632;

f0034-18

NHL SCOREBOARD

<h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Oct. 12)<h3>EMMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01372/4749843-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="543" height="244"></div><h3>LEYDEN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02261/4749836-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="529" height="217"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Sep. 24Kingston 5 at S.S. Marie 2Peterborough 10 at Sudbury 5Guelph 1 at Kitchener 12Cornwall 7 at Ottawa 3Windsor 3 at London 5Toronto 2 at Oshawa 3Sat. Sep. 25Ottawa 3 at Belleville 2Sun. Sep. 26Kingston 8 at Sudbury 6Peterborough 3 at S.S. Marie 6Toronto 2 at Cornwall 2Ottawa 6 at Oshawa 5Belleville 4 at North Bay 6Brantford 4 at Kitchener 3London 6 at Guelph 7Thu. Sep. 30Belleville 6 at Windsor 1S.S. Marie 2 at Brantford 1Toronto 5 at Peterborough 4North Bay 4 at Cornwall 3Fri. Oct. 1Belleville 4 at London 6S.S. Marie 3 at Kitchener 11Sudbury 2 at Ottawa 7North Bay 3 at Kingston 2Oshawa 3 at Guelph 7Sat. Oct. 2Sudbury 2 at Peterborough 3Sun. Oct. 3S.S. Marie 7 at Guelph 3Sudbury 3 at Oshawa 8Belleville 2 at Kitchener 5Ottawa 6 at North Bay 4Peterborough 5 at Cornwall 6Windsor 2 at Brantford 6London 4 at Kingston 5Tue. Oct. 5Toronto 5 at Windsor 4Sudbury 4 at S.S. Marie 7Wed. Oct. 6Brantford 5 at Belleville 4Thu. Oct. 7Kitchener 5 at North Bay 6Ottawa 7 at Windsor 3Brantford 2 at Cornwall 6Guelph 3 at Peterborough 11Fri. Oct. 8Kitchener 6 at Sudbury 3Windsor 4 at S.S. Marie 5Brantford 1 at Kingston 7Peterborough 9 at Guelph 8Ottawa 8 at London 7Sat. Oct. 9Windsor 5 at Sudbury 6Oshawa 5 at Belleville 6Sun. Oct. 10Kitchener 2 at S.S. Marie 5Windsor 5 at North Bay 10Ottawa 5 at Brantford 3Belleville 1 at Oshawa 7London 10 at Guelph 4Toronto 4 at Kingston 7<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03195/4749829-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="526" height="304"></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Oct. 12)<h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04158/4749822-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="523" height="191"></div><h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05135/4749815-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="529" height="245"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thu. Sep. 30Medicine Hat 5 at Winnipeg 4Seattle 2 at Portland 8Fri. Oct. 1Regina 2 at Saskatoon 5Medicine Hat 5 at Brandon 4Victoria 3 at Kelowna 2Lethbridge 2 at Calgary 5Sat. Oct. 2Portland 5 at Seattle 4Prince Albert 4 at Winnipeg 7Sun. Oct. 3Regina 5 at Calgary 6Victoria 4 at Kamloops 6Prince Albert 5 at Brandon 7Portland 5 at Kelowna 3Tue. Oct. 5Calgary 4 at Medicine Hat 2Seattle 3 at Victoria 13Wed. Oct. 6Kelowna 5 at Kamloops 9Nanaimo 4 at Prince Albert 3Thu. Oct. 7Nanaimo 6 at Saskatoon 9Fri. Oct. 8Prince Albert 3 at Regina 8Medicine Hat 3 at Lethbridge 2Nanaimo 4 at Brandon 6Seattle 3 at Kamloops 6Sat. Oct. 9Lethbridge 4 at Medicine Hat 7Seattle 5 at Kelowna 3Saskatoon 6 at Winnipeg 5Kamloops 10 at Victoria 4Sun. Oct. 10Nanaimo 6 at Regina 9Kamloops 5 at Portland 7Medicine Hat 7 at Calgary 5Saskatoon 5 at Brandon 3Mon. Oct. 11Regina 2 at Prince Albert 5Nanaimo 1 at Winnipeg 2Calgary 3 at Lethbridge 2<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06112/4749808-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="542" height="248"></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Oct. 12)<h3>LEBEL DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0794/4749801-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="544" height="196"></div><h3>DILIO DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0885/4749794-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="530" height="166"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Sep. 27Drummondville 3 at Laval 7Tue. Sep. 28Shawinigan 5 at Longueuil 6Wed. Sep. 29Verdun 10 at Granby 4Longueuil 7 at Hull 6St. Jean 3 at Laval 13Quebec 5 at T-Rivleres 3Fri. Oct. 1Laval 4 at Chicoutimi 3T-Rivieres 10 at Drummondville 2Shawinigan 3 at Granby 7Verdun 5 at Quebec 6Hull 4 at St. Jean 7Sun. Oct. 3Verdun 5 at Drummondville 2St. Jean 8 at Granby 6Chicoutimi 6 at Hull 17Quebec 5 at Laval 9Longueuil 5 at Shawinigan 6Mon. Oct. 4Chicoutimi 3 at Laval 7Tue. Oct. 5Granby 3 at Longueuil 5Quebec 2 at St. Jean 3Wed. Oct. 6Verdun 7 at Hull 6Drummondville 3 at T-Rivieres 10Fri. Oct. 8Longueuil 6 at Chicoutimi 13Granby 3 at Drummondville 8T-Rivieres 1 at Quebec 3Verdun 4 at Shawinigan 7Laval 8 at St. Jean 2Sun. Oct. 10Laval 8 at Granby 3Shawinigan 4 at Hull 5Chicoutimi 4 at St. Jean 7Longueuil 2 at T-Rivieres 4Quebec 4 at Verdun 10Mon. Oct. 11Hull 2 at Laval 11<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0973/4749787-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="532" height="276"></div><h2>MAJOR JUNIORS TOP 10</h2>(Including Tue. Oct. 12)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1067/4749780-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="530" height="304"></div><h2>ONTARIO JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Oct. 12)<h3>RUDDOCK DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1154/4749773-1-eng-US/f0037-112.jpg" title="f0037-11" width="532" height="138"></div><h3>KENNEDY DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1246/4749766-1-eng-US/f0037-122.jpg" title="f0037-12" width="535" height="161"></div><h2>CENTRAL JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Oct. 12)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1340/4749759-1-eng-US/f0037-132.jpg" title="f0037-13" width="526" height="190"></div> &#9632;

f0037-01

AMATEUR SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01775/4750060-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>New York&rsquo;s Nick Fotiu &#9632;

Cover-01

BORN TO BE A RANGER

Next week, we&rsquo;ll have a special section devoted to the National Hockey League&rsquo;s newest team, the New Jersey Devils. After years of a nomadic existence&mdash;moving from Kansas City to Colorado with limited or no success&mdash;the franchise appears to have found a home in the Meadowlands complex of East Rutherford, NJ. We&rsquo;ll have profiles of team owner John McMullen, the players, management, the facilities and even a bit of New Jersey folklore.Also, columnist Steve Simmons writes a poignant story of the derailing of Eric (The Train) Vail, a former NHL rookie of the year who is destined to finish his career in the minors. Plus, we&rsquo;ll have all our regular features. Don&rsquo;t miss it. &#9632;

Coming Next Issue

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011168/4747514-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="322" height="370"></div><h2>How About A Raise?</h2>I APPROACHED my boss with an interesting proposition (I thought it was, anyway) the other day.&ldquo;The Canadian tax laws, especially the ones in the last budgets cutting down on forward averaging annuities, are killing me,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t give me a new deal, I&rsquo;m going to go write in Japan.&rdquo;He said that sounded like a brilliant idea and warned about getting water-logged in the bath houses.Undaunted, I was back the next day with a different approach.&ldquo;I was a naive kid, just off the farm, when you offered me my first deal here and gave me an hour to think about it,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t understand all the big city talk and it was take the deal or go back to the farm. I&rsquo;ve been behind in pay ever since.&rdquo;The boss calmly suggested that I could go back to the farm anytime I felt like it and, once again, deal with some legitimate horse manure.Never give up! I tried another approach. I suggested that I receive a percentage of the money the paper earned for grocery ads, a big source of income.The boss laughed and said he might be able to get me a percentage of the buggy-whip ads.Absurd? Of course! But lately the papers have been full of stories of hockey players and other athletes making similar demands on their employers.Guy Lafleur Threatens To Play in Japan, the headline screamed when The Flower was trying to renegotiate his contract with the Montreal Canadiens. He said that he might just take defenseman Larry Robinson along when he migrated to the Orient.Big Larry didn&rsquo;t say anything, obviously thinking about his feet sticking out the bottom of a short bed in Japan.Eventually, the Canadiens gave Guy and Larry new deals to keep them happy.<h2>They Didn&rsquo;t Understand</h2>NEXT, THE BROTHERS Stastny, Peter, Anton and Marian, stayed home from the training camp of the Quebec Nordiques for a couple of weeks. They wanted their long-term contracts renegotiated, especially those of Marian and Anton.Anton feels that when they signed with the Nords in 1980 after their defection, they really didn&rsquo;t understand the NHL salary situation and the Nordiques took advantage of their naivete.Then the National Football League players went on strike when they couldn&rsquo;t work out a new collective bargaining agreement with the owners. First, the players wanted a percentage of the teams&rsquo; gross income. Then they decided a chunk of the TV loot would be suitable.The owners said &ldquo;no way&rdquo; and the players hit the bricks.Rebuffed at using the same approaches myself, I concocted a brilliant scheme which I&rsquo;ll suggest to the powers-that-be at my paper.I figure that in the last ten years of covering the NHL, I&rsquo;ve talked to more owners, agents, lawyers, tax consultants, financial experts and ten per centers and covered more labor meetings, contract negotiations, mergers and bankruptcies than anyone in the financial department and it&rsquo;s about time the business and sports writers traded places.I&rsquo;m convinced that covering the Toronto sports teams&mdash;a job for which the main qualification is knowing 65 synonyms for defeat&mdash;has me abundantly prepared to cover, say, the Toronto Stock Exchange.<h2>Switch To Business</h2>IMAGINE THE FIRST stories by a sports writer making the switch to writing on business.&ldquo;Training camp opened yesterday for the new season on the Toronto Stock Exchange and six rookies were battered badly in the first season.&rdquo;&ldquo;The highly rated Bay Street team of Crum, Crud and Avarice, investment counsellors, announced today that its top young prospect, Dun Bradstreet, would be farmed out for additional seasoning to the Estevan Grain Pool.&rdquo;&ldquo;The stickhandling on the floor of the stock exchange was hectic today as the latest Liberal budget turned loose a power play against the investment team.&rdquo;&ldquo;Hector Wiggins, the boy wonder of Bay Street last season, can&rsquo;t explain the slow start he&rsquo;s made in his second term. &lsquo;Must be the sophomore jinx,&rsquo; Wiggins said.&rdquo;Or how about these dandies by a financial writer on his first days in the sports department?&ldquo;Trading action on the NHL market was slow this week even though the wins outnumbered the losses by a considerable amount. The troubled times in the league discouraged those with potential for investment, who retained what they have in low-return portfolios.&rdquo;&ldquo;The Toronto Maple Leafs continued their long slump on the NHL market, a puzzle to the Carlton Street seers because the team seemed to have all the resources for a successful performance.&rdquo;Might be fun! &#9632;

f0002-01

FRANK ORR’S HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="byline">By Tom Murray</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011185/4747566-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="640" height="1815"><figcaption class="caption-body">Even with the Whalers, Fotiu continued his puck-throwing ritual.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02987/4747559-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1148" height="1819"><figcaption class="caption-body">This banner at Madison Square Garden testifies to Fotiu&rsquo;s immense popularity in The Big Apple&mdash;even after his exile to Hartford.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03657/4747552-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="1106" height="1809"><figcaption class="caption-body">This is the way it is supposed to be. Nick Fotiu as a Ranger, all alone on the ice surface and sharing a special moment with &ldquo;the people.&rsquo;&rsquo; (Photos by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>The Ritual takes place at about 7:15 p.m. every night the New York Rangers play one of their 40 home games at Madison Square Garden. As the players from both teams leave the ice following the pregame warmup and the Zamboni creeps on to lay down a fresh surface for the game, one player for the Rangers&mdash;a big guy with No. 22 on his back, a smile on his face and muscles seemingly bulging from everywhere on his 6-2, 212-pound frame&mdash;glides to the net at the Rangers&rsquo; end of the arena and retrieves every puck used during the warmup session. His teammates and opponents are at their respective stalls by now, thinking about the game to be played and his only companions on the ice are two rink attendants and the Zamboni driver.Slowly, meticulously, he piles the pucks into his left hand and forearm, cradling them close to his body as he would an infant. Then, as hundreds of fans hanging over the glass at rinkside scream his name, he skates around the rink, flipping the prized treasures into the crowd, sometimes winking to one kid, waving to another, pointing to still another before delicately lofting the disc over the glass and into the hands of its intended recipient.His work finished in the orange and most expensive seats, No. 22 tosses a few more pucks into the level just above, the yellows, and then, just before he leaves the ice&mdash;by this time the Zamboni has already made one revolution&mdash;he looks way up to the rafters of the Garden, the blue seats, the nosebleed section, where the long suffering and most faithful Ranger fans reside, where the player himself used to sit and watch Ranger games as a kid and tell his friends, who could only respond by laughing hysterically, that one day his dream would come true and he&rsquo;d be down there, on the ice, playing for the New York Rangers. The people up there scream and wave for a puck and the player obliges them, firing a half dozen a good 150 feet into the upper reaches of the Garden. Then, with a final wave of his hand, No. 22, Nick Fotiu, the first native New Yorker ever to play for the Rangers, disappears into the bowels of the arena, heading for the locker room he used to dream about as a kid sitting in those same blue seats 14 years ago.Until he was about 16 years old, Nicky Fotiu, now 30, didn&rsquo;t know an awful lot about the New York Rangers. In fact, he didn&rsquo;t know a lot about the game of hockey, for that matter. Like a lot of New York kids, Fotiu who grew up on Staten Island, one of the city&rsquo;s five boroughs, played a lot of football, soccer and basketball. &ldquo;I played basketball,&rdquo; he says today, &ldquo;before I even knew what a hockey puck was.&rdquo; Then one day he happened to look out the window of his school and noticed a bunch of kids batting and kicking a tin can around. He went over to them, found out they had what was called a roller hockey team and started playing with them. He enjoyed the game, which is played on roller skates, but he wasn&rsquo;t really hooked on the idea until he went to his first Ranger game at Madison Square Garden with his buddies. Let Fotiu tell the rest of that story.&ldquo;I walked into that place,&rdquo; Nicky recalls, sounding like a small town priest describing his first visit to the Vatican &ldquo;and that was it. I looked at the players, way down there on the ice, heard all the fans screaming and yelling and it was like God was telling me, &lsquo;this is what you&rsquo;re going to do.&rsquo; I used to sit there and hear the fans yell &lsquo;Eddie, Eddie, Eddie&rsquo; for [former Ranger goaltender] Eddie Giacomin and I&rsquo;d tell my friends that someday they&rsquo;d be yelling for me like that. They told me I was nuts. I told my godfather about my dream and he&rsquo;d just laugh and tell me he used to dream about playing football for the Giants and look where it got him. They all thought I was crazy.&rdquo;But that didn&rsquo;t bother Fotiu. From that day on, his whole life was hockey and his life&rsquo;s goal was to play for the Rangers. He spent his late teen years&mdash;remember, he&rsquo;d never skated before his 16th birthday&mdash;riding the subways of New York in search of ice time, at all hours, when even the most brazen armed cop wouldn&rsquo;t dream of the idea.&ldquo;There were times I wanted to sleep on the train,&rdquo; Nicky says today, laughing, &ldquo;but I knew I couldn&rsquo;t because it just wasn&rsquo;t safe. I used to carry a hatchet in my hockey bag. I had to use it a couple of times too. Some guys would try and hassle me and I&rsquo;d just pull it out and say, &lsquo;Maybe I&rsquo;m going, but you guys are going too.&rsquo; They&rsquo;d back off. I knew there was a lot of nuts out there but they didn&rsquo;t know that I was one of the nuts too.&rdquo;Nutty or not, Fotiu&rsquo;s perserverance ultimately paid dividends. After Lou Vairo, who will coach the 1984 U.S. Olympic hockey team, cut Fotiu from his Brooklyn Stars team, an undaunted Nicky simply jumped on the nearest subway, hatchet and hockey bag in hand, and headed for Long Island, where he made the New Hyde Park Arrows of New York&rsquo;s Metropolitan Junior Hockey Association. From there, his reputation as an unpolished skater and stickhandler who lost all clumsiness when he dropped his gloves got him a job with the 1973-74 Cape Cod Cubs in the now-defunct North American League. He signed his first pro contract with the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association the following year and stayed with them for two years.One of the highlights of Nick&rsquo;s career with the Whalers occurred when he first signed with the team and was being introduced around to all of his new teammates. When he got to Teddy Green&rsquo;s stall, Nicky grinned, extended his hand to the rough, tough defenseman who had caused the Rangers so much grief in his prime as a player with the Boston Bruins, and said, &ldquo;Hiya Teddy, ya know what? I&rsquo;ve always wanted to kick the s-t out of you.&rdquo;Nicky never did do it, however. As a matter of fact, he and Green became instant friends and remain so to this day, long after Nicky left the Whalers for the first time in July of 1976 and realized his dream, signing a contract with the Rangers.Although Nicky was ecstatic to be in New York and the fans were even more ecstatic to have him, his first career with the Rangers came to an end in June, 1979, when the team failed to protect him in that year&rsquo;s Expansion Draft and Fotiu was reclaimed by the Whalers, on the verge of joining the NHL along with three other WHA teams. Fotiu, understandably was crushed &ldquo;When you&rsquo;re a kid growing up in New York,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;and your whole life has revolved around being a Ranger fan and you sleep outside the Garden to wait in line for tickets and you know you want to play for them one day and finally you do play for them and then get let go, it&rsquo;s like the roof comes down and you feel totally lost.&rdquo;Still, as he does with most things in life, Nicky was able to look at the bright side of things.&ldquo;I knew I was coming back,&rdquo; he says today. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how, it was something inside of me.&rdquo;Something like that feeling he got about playing for the Rangers when he first set foot in Madison Square Garden?&ldquo;Yeah,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;like that. I left too quick, you know? There was no reason for me to leave. I hadn&rsquo;t done all I wanted to do&hellip;We had gone all the way to the finals against Montreal that year, we&rsquo;d come so close to the Stanley Cup&hellip;and I was still popular with the fans.&rdquo;Was he ever. The &ldquo;people,&rdquo; as Nicky fondly calls the thousands of fans who scream his name every time he does anything on the ice, from coming within 20 feet of the puck to glaring at an opponent, were outraged that their favorite son had been allowed to go while other players hung on. Since Sonny Werblin, the man who runs the Rangers for the Gulf and Western conglomerate, didn&rsquo;t get to where he is today by being stupid and since he thought an awful lot of Nicky anyway&hellip;it was not a great surprise when, in a trade with Hartford in January, 1981, Nicky Fotiu came home&hellip;this time, he hopes, forever.It&rsquo;s opening night, 1982-83, at Madison Square Garden and the Rangers will be facing the Washington Capitals, who are already skating around in their end of the rink, waiting for the Rangers to appear. A roar goes up as the sellout crowd sees the team making its way down the gangway, towards the ice. Each player is introduced individually and cheered lustily by the fans, but their loudest cheers are reserved for Fotiu, who charges out onto the ice before the announcer can even get to his name and sprints over to the lineup at full speed, sending up a spray of ice chips as he comes to a stop.During the game that night, which the Rangers will lose 5-4, the fans yell encouragement to Nicky when he&rsquo;s on the ice, shout with glee when he gets anywhere near the puck, roar when he throws a body check and scream for coach Herb Brooks to put him on the ice when Nicky&rsquo;s on the bench. Nicky is so charged up by the fans&rsquo; enthusiasm that at one point he tries to stickhandle in his own end of the rink&mdash;stickhandling is not one of the stronger points of Nick&rsquo;s much improved game&mdash;and he loses the puck to a Capital, who converts it into a goal. The whole Garden seems to moan in unison as Nicky, after slamming the ice with his stick, skates slowly over to the bench, his head down. But moments later Brooks, wanting to restore Fotiu&rsquo;s confidence as quickly as possible, sends him out once again. This time, Nicky floors Capital Mike Gartner with a check, takes a quick look up-ice and, instead of skating with the puck, which he has room to do, hits teammate Mike Allison with a perfect pass that Allison nearly parlays into a goal. Nick&rsquo;s heads-up play delights the crowd and his gaffe of moments before is quickly forgiven and forgotten.&lsquo;I had to carry a hatchet in my hockey bag. I had to use it a couple of times too. Some guys would try and hassle me and I&rsquo;d just pull it out and say, &lsquo;Maybe I&rsquo;m going but you guys are going too.&rsquo;&rsquo;To be perfectly realistic, Fotiu would have to do something really horrendous&mdash;like skate out to centr ice during the National Anthem, drop his pants and moon the Garden&mdash;to turn the fans against him. Quite simply, they love the guy and Nicky loves them back just as hard.&ldquo;Look,&rdquo; he says, relaxing one recent night in the Manhattan apartment of his attorney, Larry Rauch, where Nicky is staying until he and his wife Leslie can find a house to rent for the season. &ldquo;I care about the fans and they care about me and when you get people caring about each other everything goes a little bit smoother. I do things for the fans because I like to do it. I feel good about myself. I give a puck to a kid, go out of my way a little bit and he smiles; that makes me feel good. I can&rsquo;t do everything but I can do what I can&mdash;not because I want to be recognized but because I enjoy it and they enjoy it too. I do it because I love it. I love the Garden. There&rsquo;s nights in the summer where I&rsquo;ll pass by it in my car, pull up and walk in. There&rsquo;ll be nobody in the place and I&rsquo;ll just sit down, look around and say, hey, is this a dream or what? I just imagine myself up there when I was a kid. That&rsquo;s why when I&rsquo;m on the ice or in a fight at the Garden I don&rsquo;t ever want to lose. I&rsquo;m really hyper because I remember when I was a kid, up there, looking down. Well, now I&rsquo;m down there, looking up. But some day I&rsquo;ll be looking down again, so I want to make sure I remember the people I met on my way to the top.&rdquo;Nicky pauses, stretching his massive arms above his head and then shaking his head. &ldquo;Some day all this has to come to an end, you know?&rdquo; he says softly. &ldquo;It could happen tomorrow, a freak accident, whatever. I hope it never happens, but it could. So why be a jerk? Without the people you wouldn&rsquo;t have hockey. Without the people you wouldn&rsquo;t have sports. They&rsquo;re just as much a part of the game as the players are. They want to help us; they&rsquo;d get on the ice with us and help us if they could. I know, I was one of them.&rdquo;While Nicky would undoubtedly look upon the Garden fans as a positive factor in his performance at home, coach Brooks, whom Nicky likes and respects tremendously, has another theory. &ldquo;The fans make Nicky wild,&rdquo; says Brooks, &ldquo;and that&rsquo;s not necessarily bad as long as he doesn&rsquo;t forget what he&rsquo;s supposed to do out there. But sometimes, like that mistake against Washington, he gets a little riled up and loses his composure. Which is why he can be more effective for us on the road than he is at home.&rdquo;But don&rsquo;t take that the wrong way. All in all, Brooks is extremely pleased with the progress and improvement Nicky has shown in his game and while Brooks would never take credit for it, Nicky is quick to give credit where it is due.&ldquo;Herbie and I talk a lot, you know?&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very knowledgable, not only about hockey, but about life. So I try to grasp everything he tells me. Just the other day he said to me, &lsquo;Listen, Nicky, your game is hitting, skating and shooting. You have a tremendous shot.&rsquo; And then the next night, in an exhibition game against Philadelphia, I was coming down the wing and all I kept hearing in my head was his voice saying &lsquo;shoot, shoot, shoot.&rsquo; He tells me things and then he works with me. Like in the defensive zone I know that I have to cover the slot of the point, either one. When we get control of the puck I can do whatever I want. He&rsquo;s a brilliant man, Herbie is; I never met a man who spends so much time at a hockey rink, besides myself, just thinking of how to beat the other team. It&rsquo;s unbelievable, he has so many plays, and we&rsquo;re just learning them. If you believe in somebody the way we believe in him, I think we&rsquo;ll go a long way.&rdquo;If Nicky means &ldquo;going a long way&rdquo; is a Stanley Cup for the championship-starved fans of the Rangers&mdash;the last cup in New York was in 1940&mdash;he&rsquo;s not making any predictions. He&rsquo;d rather take this season step by step, and first see if he can improve on the 18 points he&rsquo;s managed to score in each of his last three NHL seasons. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;I have to know my limitations. I&rsquo;m no goal scorer. I&rsquo;v gotten 18 points three years in a row. If I get more than that, it&rsquo;s a bonus. I&rsquo;m a checker and that&rsquo;s it.&rdquo;Well, not quite it. While it&rsquo;s true that Nicky&rsquo;s stats in the NHL guide aren&rsquo;t that impressive, he does things for his team that don&rsquo;t manifest themselves on the stats pages&mdash;such as protecting any of the smaller guys who aren&rsquo;t as physical as he is and providing incredible inspiration in the locker room during tense moments and relief at the practice rink when the players are ready to drop during Brooks&rsquo; brutal drills.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s really rah-rah,&rdquo; says goalie John Davidson. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not just going through the motions. It&rsquo;s really infactious.&rdquo;&ldquo;Every team,&rdquo; says Don Duguay, &ldquo;would love to have a guy like Nicky. In order to be a successful team, you have to have a little bit of everything. Nicky gives us a lot of spirit and enthusiasm.&rdquo;And while Nicky won&rsquo;t come right out and make any bold predictions about this season, he does assess the Rangers&rsquo; prospects for 1982-83 this way:&ldquo;You&rsquo;re only as good as you want to be,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way I see it. And if you want it bad enough you have to go out and get it. You gotta sacrifice a lot&mdash;especially against the Islanders. They&rsquo;ve won the Cup three years in a row and they have a chance to win again. But we have a chance to stop &rsquo;em this year. It&rsquo;s like a big horse race, like the Kentucky Derby. Sixteen horses all start at the same time and the first one over the line wins the Stanley Cup. Everyone has a chance. And you know what?&hellip;&rdquo; Nicky says, looking for all the world like the cat who&rsquo;s just swallowed the canary, &ldquo;we have as good a chance as anyone.&rdquo;As long as Nicky Fotiu sticks around, those chances may be better than even he or any of his teammates know.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01477/4747545-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="1859" height="1300"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sonny Werblin, who runs the Rangers for Gulf and Western, is not a stupid man so he paid heed to the stickers that called for him to &lsquo;Bring Back Nick.&rsquo; And Nick is glad he did.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0003-01

BIG NICK

THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded in 1947 by Kenneth W. McKenzieDONALD R. WALLChairman and PublisherBOB MCKENZIEEditor in ChiefAdvertising and Editorial Offices214 King Street West-Suite 314Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5H 1K4(416) 598-1753Executive Office850 Third Ave.New York, New York, 10022EDITORIAL STAFFCharlie Halpin Editorial DirectorMike Dennis, Assistant EditorTom Murray, Editorial ConsultantContributing EditorsStan Fischler, Frank OrrTOM WORSLEY&nbsp;Business ManagerPaula Heard, Subscription Services ManagerElaine Watkinson, Special Projects ManagerADVERTISING SALES OFFICESRANDY GREEN&nbsp;District ManagerEsther Sumka,Advertising Service Manager (416) 598-1753214 King Street West-Suite 314Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5H 1K4New York:Bob Bassinette Bob Bassinette Co. 8 Jackson Ave.Syosset, NY 11791 (516)921-0508Minneapolis-St. Paul:Chuck Grillo & Herb Brooks 12890 Dory Ave., Apple Valley. MN 55124 (612) 423-2447THE HOCKEY NEWS. (ISSN 0018-3016). is published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd., 214 King Street West-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 &lsquo;A&rsquo;, 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 CHANGES TO THE HOCKEY NEWS. 214 King St W., Suite 314, Toronto. Ont. M5H 1K4 Second Class mail Registration No. 1327. All inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should be addressed to Subscription Dept., The Hockey News, 214 King St. W., Suite 314, Toronto, Ont. M5H 1K4, Canada.IN THE UNITED STATES: Second class postage paid at New York, N.Y. and at additional mailing offices U.S. POSTMASTER send address changes to: The Hockey News, 214 King St. W., Suite 314, Toronto. Ont. M5H 1K4.Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations &#9632;

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;The case of Kevin McCarthy has more than a few fans of the Vancouver Canucks shaking their heads. McCarthy, it might be recalled, is a right side defenseman for the Canucks and up until training camp he was the captain of the club.Indeed he was captain last year until just before the first game of the playoffs when he fell in practice and broke his ankle. With the injury, McCarthy was replaced by Stan Smyl and the rest is history. The Canucks went on to an 11-2 record to get to the Stanely Cup final while McCarthy languished and Smyl flourished as captain.At training camp this year, Roger Neilson, the new coach of the Canucks, decided he wanted a new captain, or at least the one who was so successful for him during the playoffs. He told McCarthy he was making the move and the former Philadelphia Flyer hit the roof. He said immediately he wasn&rsquo;t too happy with the situation and that he wanted to be traded as quickly as possible.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel I can face the guys in the dressing room anymore,&rdquo; said McCarthy after the decision was made. &ldquo;I feel as though the club doesn&rsquo;t want me anymore. I like to think I had something to do with the way the club came on at the end of the season and I don&rsquo;t think I should lose the captaincy just because I broke my ankle.McCarthy had a point. He had been unfortunate and he had pieced together a pretty good year, particularly in the last five weeks of the season when he raised his plus-minus rating 16 goals. But Smyl is also a tremendous leader and had been successful in an earlier stint when McCarthy had injured his shoulder at Christmas.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031006/4747659-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="583" height="768"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kevin McCarthy is happy playing in Vancouver and doesn&rsquo;t want to leave.</figcaption></div>General Manager Harry Neale said at the time he thought McCarthy was overreacting to the decision and said he would wait for a month to see if McCarthy would change his mind.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to rush in and trade a player who really cares about his profession just because he&rsquo;s a little miffed. I suppose if I was in his situation I might feel the same way. But I&rsquo;m going to wait for a while.&rdquo;Now, three weeks later, it turns out that most everyone who thought McCarthy was overreacting to having the C taken from his jersey was right. And he also wants to restate his case.&ldquo;I guess it&rsquo;s the old story of time healing any wound,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I guess I felt that way at the time, but the guys haven&rsquo;t treated me any different now that I&rsquo;m not the captain and I don&rsquo;t want to leave Vancouver. Now, I don&rsquo;t want to leave the guys.&rdquo;Neale, it turns out, had received several inquiries about McCarthy, but asked the moon just to make sure he couldn&rsquo;t make a deal.&ldquo;I had a meeting with Roger, and he explained to me why he made the change and that made sense to me,&rdquo; said McCarthy. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a good team and we should have a lot of fun playing this year. So I want to stay. 1 hope they don&rsquo;t trade me away now.&rdquo;McCarthy, completely recovered from his broken ankle by the look of his play, says he thinks the Canucks are capable of somewhere between 90 and 95 points, which would be a leap up from 77 the previous season. And while others are not so optimistic about the exact number of points or indeed the club&rsquo;s standing in the Smythe Division, they are to a man predicting considerable improvement.The two players who showed the most improvement over last season were Ivan Hlinka and Marc CrawfordMeanwhile, as the Canucks finished their most successful pre-season in six years, the two players who show the most improvement over last season were Ivan Hlinka and Marc Crawford.Hlinka, the second-year North American pro, has obviously been gaining confidence and led the team with 13 points in eight games. Crawford led the club in goals with eight and appeared to be a strong contender to stick with the team as the fourth left winger behind Dave Williams, Curt Fraser and Darcy Rota. He&rsquo;ll be battling rookie Mae Lemay for that spot. &#9632;

f0004-03

Former Captain McCarthy Discovers Time Is A Healer

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD FRIEDMAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011228/4747604-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="580" height="1312"><figcaption class="caption-body">Herb Brooks and Craig Patrick have differing views why Dave Silk was loaned to Binghamton.</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;&ldquo;Professional athletes are unique people,&rdquo; said Ranger Coach Herb Brooks. &ldquo;They have a way of getting over shocks.&rdquo;Brooks said those words just moments after the Rangers had lost to the New Jersey Devils, 3-2, before a capacity crowd of 19,203 at the Byrne Meadowlands Arena. It was the largest crowd ever to witness a Patrick Division game and what they saw was the Devils&rsquo; first victory and the Rangers second straight loss in the young season. For the Devils, it was a night to convert countless fans to their cause, and for the Rangers, it was a night to look ahead, not back, after a week of turmoil that included the following events:&bull; On the Friday preceding the NHL&rsquo;s equalization draft, the Rangers traded Ed Hospodar, a tough, well-liked defenseman, to the Hartford Whalers for Kent-Erik Andersson, a Swedish forward whom Hartford had obtained that morning from the Minnesota North Stars.&bull; When the Rangers took defenseman Bill Baker, a former Olympian, from the St. Louis Blues in the equalization draft, they gave up defenseman Tim Bothwell.&bull; In that day&rsquo;s shocker, the Rangers lost 37-year-old Carol Vadnais, who joined the team with Phil Esposito in the blockbuster trade of 1975, to the Devils. Vadnais had passed through the waivers a year ago, and the Rangers did not expect to lose him, despite rumblings to the contrary from East Rutherford. &ldquo;He was well-liked and it was a shock,&rdquo; said Anders Hedberg. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think any of us expected it.&rdquo;&bull; Still shaken by the loss of Vadnais, the Rangers&rsquo; &ldquo;family,&rdquo; as Brooks refers to his charges, was dealt yet another blow on the morning after their opening-night 5-4 loss to the Washington Capitals. This one came seemingly out of nowhere when the St. Louis Blues claimed Vaclav Nedomansky, the 38-year-old Czech who had walked into training camp as a free agent after the Detroit Red Wings had released him at the beginning of the summer.Nedomansky had provided one of the few hopeful moments in the opening-night loss to the Capitals, scoring a power-play goal in the closing minutes of a first period that the Rangers had dominated. The power-play has been notoriously weak in Brooks&rsquo; regime here, and one reason for Nedomansky&rsquo;s presence on the roster was his projected role as a power-play specialist.After the game, his shot from the point still on the Garden spectators&rsquo; minds despite a second period in which the Rangers gave up a two-goal lead and were outmuscled by the Capitals, Nedomansky said the Rangers were the only team he considered playing with after Detroit because Brooks&rsquo; style was consistent with his own.He did not count on Emile (The Cat) Francis who had coveted Nedomansky when Francis was the Rangers&rsquo; general manager almost twenty years ago and Nedomansky still was playing in his native Czechoslovakia. Plans to help Nedomansky defect went awry, and then when he finally did come West he signed with the WHA.&ldquo;Say hello to Mr. Francis,&rdquo; Nedomansky told the New York Times&rsquo; Geral Eskenazi in a story that appeared on the very day the Blues picked him from the Rangers&rsquo; roster. &ldquo;I never had a chance to meet him.&rdquo;The NHL rule that caused the Rangers to lose Nedomansky is designed to prevent general managers from sneaking a player through the waiver draft. Since the Rangers signed Nedomansky after the draft, they had to expose him&mdash;or another player from their protected list&mdash;to 72-hour irrevocable waivers. They took what G.M. Craig Patrick described as a &ldquo;calculated risk&rdquo;&mdash;and, to their sorrow and to the Cat&rsquo;s delight, they lost.Meanwhile, Vadnais, shaken by losing his chance to play with a Stanley Cup contender, did not agree to join Rangers the Devils until the end of the week, announcing that he and the team had come to an agreement on alterations in his contract an hour before the Rangers&rsquo; game against the Devils at the Meadowlands. He did not play that night.By then, the Rangers were trying to look ahead. &ldquo;With all due respect to Vad, he is the furthest thing from anybody&rsquo;s mind now. We&rsquo;re planning ahead and we can&rsquo;t look back,&rdquo; said Brooks after the loss to the Capitals, a game in which he described the Rangers&rsquo; rushes as &ldquo;to idealistic&mdash;we didn&rsquo;t pull the trigger.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t like to blow a two-goal lead in our building but they&rsquo;re the hardest to protect,&rdquo; he added.In Vadnais, Bothwell and Hospodar, the Rangers gave up three defensemen in three days, getting in return Baker, who had failed to work his way into the lineup with three previous NHL clubs&mdash;the Canadiens, Rockies and Blues&mdash;and, from New Jersey, a tough young defenseman in Graeme Nicolson as compensation for Vadnais.Nicolson was sent to the Rangers&rsquo; Tulsa Oilers&rsquo; farm club. Beyond their six starting defensemen&mdash;Barry Beck, Tom Laidlaw, Dave Maloney, Baker, Andre Dore, and Reijo Ruotsalainen&mdash;the Rangers have no reserves with NHL experience. Ron Greschner, still sidelined with persistent back problems, is not expected back until New Years at the earliest.&ldquo;It tells us a little bit about our depth,&rdquo; said Patrick, &ldquo;to lose a player like Vad. We didn&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;d lose him.&rdquo; Now Vadnais is gone and so is that depth.It had also been announced that former Olympian Dave Silk has been sent, on loan, to the Whalers&rsquo; minor-league club in Binghamton, fueling rumors of yet another trade with Hartford. Brooks and Patrick had two different versions of why Silk had been sent there, rather than to Tulsa. Brooks said that several NHL teams had expressed an interest in Silk and stopped just short of saying that Silk was being showcased. Patrick said that putting Silk in Binghamton keeps him closer to New York in case of injury on the varsity squad.Many observers had expected the Devils, supposedly building with youth, to select Silk rather than Vadnais in the draft.&ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t sure about him,&rdquo; explained Devils&rsquo; VicePresident of Hockey Operations, Max McNab. &ldquo;We thought Silk is a good hockey player, but there is the possibility he is a one-system player.&rdquo;The Devils&rsquo; up-and-down-the-wing system does not resemble Brooks&rsquo; swirling modified European approach, and the Devils opted for a veteran defenseman in Vadnais, who could help their younger players and also help them move the puck out of their zone.Against the Devils, the Rangers&rsquo; power-play was as weak as the Devils&rsquo; penalty killing was strong, and in Glenn Resch, the Rangers faced an inspired goaltender who, like his mates, is happy to be playing in front of fans again.&ldquo;Chico stiffed us, which he&rsquo;s done to many teams in the past and will do to many in the future,&rdquo; said Brooks. &ldquo;We had enough chances to win the ball game and we didn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;As I&rsquo;ve said time and time again New Jersey is going to have a fine season. They&rsquo;re a tremendously underrated team. The environment will do wonders for them and a crowd of 19,000 speaks well for the whole area.&rdquo;As a subdued Ranger squad prepared to move on to Pittsburgh for the following night&rsquo;s game against the Penguins, captain Barry Beck stood in the hallway outside the Rangers&rsquo; dressing room. &ldquo;We have a lot of poise and character,&rdquo; said Beck. &ldquo;Things will come together but we can&rsquo;t push it.&rdquo;The next night things did come together as the Rangers hung on for a 5-3 victory in Pittsburgh. Rob McClanahan scored twice, working more and more effectively with Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson. It was Nilsson who scored the game-winner and Mikko Leinonen scored the insurance goal after the Penguins had cut the Rangers&rsquo; lead from 4-1 to 4-3 with two power-play goals in the third period.After training camp had ended with the loss of several popular players and unforeseen emotional turmoil, the Rangers had their first victory of the season.After the Devils&rsquo; game, Beck was asked what remaining impact the roster changes had. &ldquo;Nothing at all,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;For Bothwell and Hospodar, the trades were better for them than anything. They weren&rsquo;t going to play here.&rdquo;Beck added that &ldquo;the guys we have on defense are as good or better&rdquo; than those who left, including Vadnais. But he did acknowledge the impact of the loss of two veterans who were expected to give the Rangers stability this year.&ldquo;Vad and Ned were different, they were two losses we didn&rsquo;t anticipate,&rdquo; said Beck, &ldquo;and they were assets to us. But what are you gonna do but keep going?&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021161/4747597-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="580" height="1272"><figcaption class="caption-body">St. Louis Blues&rsquo; coach and GM Emile Francis waited a long time to get Czech expatriate Vaclav Nedomansky.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

Rangers Adjusting After Sudden Family Crisis

<div class="byline">BY GARY MUELLER</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;At 5-9 and 190 pounds, Gerry Hart really isn&rsquo;t big enough to be contemplating a second career in the Canadian Football League.Nonetheless, during the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; training camp in Regina, Saskatchewan, Hart spent almost as much time in the training room of the Saskatchewan Roughriders football team as he did on the ice with his Blues team mates.Hart played in only 35 of the Blues&rsquo; 80 games last season because of chronic problems with his left knee. But after undergoing arthroscopic surgery in January, he was outstanding in the Blues&rsquo; first-round playoff upset victory over the Winnipeg Jets.Despite that playoff success, there was some doubt whether Hart, the Blues&rsquo; oldest player at age 34, would return for another season.&ldquo;I went to Mr. Francis (Blues&rsquo; general manager and coach Emile Francis) and told him that I wasn&rsquo;t sure how much I&rsquo;d be able to play this season and that if they didn&rsquo;t want me to give it a try, I&rsquo;d understand and there would be no obligation for them to honor the last year of my contract,&rdquo; said Hart. &ldquo;But he said they wanted me to play for the Blues.&rdquo;So there he was, on the ice of the Regina Agridome for the first day of training camp. But after going through a two-a-day workouts for the first week of camp, the knee began swelling and taking on fluid.Hart&rsquo;s training camp routine then consisted of skating with his teammates in the morning, but then adjourning to the Roughriders&rsquo; training room for heat treatments in the afternoon.&ldquo;I think what happened was that they didn&rsquo;t get it all when they performed the surgery,&rdquo; said Hart. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something that is going to be with me all season. We&rsquo;re going to have to evaluate it on a month-to-month basis. I really don&rsquo;t know what to expect, but 1 can&rsquo;t imagine it&rsquo;ll be any more frustrating than last season was.&ldquo;The fact that I was able to come back and make a contribution in the playoffs made it all worthwhile. I wouldn&rsquo;t be here unless I wanted to be here and unless I felt I could make a contribution, even if it&rsquo;s only helping work with some of the young defensemen.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011087/4747697-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="571" height="1297"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bernie Federko led the Blues in pre-season scoring.</figcaption></div>With two rookies&mdash;Rik Wilson and Jim Pavese&mdash;ticketed for lots of playing time on the St. Louis defense, Hart&rsquo;s experience could be put to good use.He was held out of all but one of the Blues&rsquo; ten exhibition games. Fittingly, the only game in which he was played was in Winnipeg and the Jets&rsquo; fans, remembering his playoff performance of last spring, booed him heartily.&ldquo;They made me feel welcome, didn&rsquo;t they?&rdquo; said a laughing Hart.After the Jets had defeated the Blues 4-1 in that game (Hart was on the ice for a goal on his first shift on the ice), Reyn Davis, in the Winnipeg Free Press, referred to Hart as looking &ldquo;old, tired and worn.&rdquo;&ldquo;Yea, I guess that&rsquo;s a pretty good description,&rdquo; said Hart, maintaining his ability to laugh at himself. &ldquo;Just so long as management doesn&rsquo;t agree with it. Actually, considering it was my first game and those young kids were all playing in their fifth or sixth games, I thought it was a pretty good start. I did just enough to convince myself that I could still do it.&rdquo;But whatever Hart can contribute to the Blues this season, it will mark the end of an NHL career that began with the Detroit Red Wings in the 1968-69 season.&ldquo;This definitely will be the last year,&rdquo; said Hart. &ldquo;I was married over the summer and my wife, Maria, and I are looking forward to raising a family. She has brought a whole other dimension to my life. It&rsquo;s time to move on to some other things; to take advantage of some business opportunities that are open to me now. But I&rsquo;d like to go out with a good year.&rdquo;BLUENOTES: The Blues, after winning their first two exhibition games, then failed to win in their next eight outings and finished with a 2-4-4 exhibition record&hellip;Glen Hanlon, expected to serve as backup goalie to Mike Liut, had an impressive camp, highlighted by a stellar performance in a 2-2 tie against Chicago in a game dominated by the Hawks. Hanlon finished with a 3.47 exhibition goals-against average, compared to a 4.04 mark for Liut&hellip;Bernie Federko (who else?) led the Blues in scoring in the exhibition games, picking up nine points in nine games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02805/4747690-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="572" height="812"><figcaption class="caption-body">If he can&rsquo;t play regularly, Gerry Hart hopes he can help the Blues&rsquo; inexperienced defensemen improve their game.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Problems Can’t Keep Hart From Blues

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011267/4747728-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Capitals&rsquo; fans are going to need programs to tell who the players are. Only four of the 18 players who played in last season&rsquo;s opener were still with the team when it broke training camp this fall. Mike Gartner is one of the few returnees.</figcaption></div>LANDOVER&mdash;It is normal for an unsuccessful team to experience a turnover in personnel. In the Washington Capitals&rsquo; case, it would appear that a Mixmaster provided the turning.Only four of the 18 players who performed in last season&rsquo;s opener at Buffalo were still with the Capitals when they broke training camp this fall. The oldtimers were forwards Dennis Maruk, Mike Gartner, Bengt Gustafsson and Bob Carpenter.Dave Parro, the back-up goalie in the 1981 opener, was still around, but temporarily inactive after suffering a bone chip in his left shoulder when he was struck in practice by a shot fired by rookie Ed Kastelic.Obviously, the big change is on defense, where not one of those who dressed in Buffalo remains a Capital.Nominated to begin the season in Washington were Rod Langway and Brian Engblom, the solid ones from Montreal; Darren Veitch, who began last season in a Hershey uniform; Scott Stevens, the club&rsquo;s No. 1 draft pick; Timo Blomqvist, who was nursing a broken jaw in 1981 and Randy Holt, who came from Calgary in November.An eighth defender, Lee Norwood, acquired from Quebec in February, was skating with the Capitals, although he was forbidden to participate in contact work because of a broken jaw suffered during an assault in Washington this summer.The defensemen for last year&rsquo;s opener were Rick Green, since traded to Montreal; Terry Murray, currently an assistant coach; Pat Ribble, waived to Calgary in November, and Paul MacKinnon, Jim McTaggart and Greg Theberge, all of whom are presently with Hershey.Coach Bryan Murray emphasized his intention to keep Langway and Engblom separated, except for vital situations such as the last minute of a close game. Langway was paired with Veitch, Engblom with Stevens. That left Holt sharing left-side duties on a third unit with Blomqvist.&ldquo;By breaking them up, they are going to make Darren and Scott better hockey players,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;And it will make Langway and Engblom better hockey players, too, because it will make them much more important in their own minds.&ldquo;In Montreal, they always knew they were second and third in the pecking order because Larry Robinson was around. Here they know how important they are to this hockey club.&ldquo;Stevens is going to become a pretty good hockey player. He&rsquo;s willing to learn and he really wants to play. He&rsquo;s thrown some of the best checks I&rsquo;ve seen.&ldquo;Veitch is quicker and more intense. He&rsquo;s stronger, too. He&rsquo;s been standing up well at the blue line.&rdquo;&ldquo;Holt has played well and he plays a role for us. He intimidates, and when he or even Langway&mdash;look at his size&mdash;is out there, the other team tends to leave our smaller guys alone. Maybe this year, our guys with skills will be able to use them, without looking out for sticks and elbows.&rdquo;The major decision for Murray and General Manager David Poile was choosing between Blomqvist and The berge for the third spot on the right side. The berge spent the entire season in Washington a year ago and at times he was the only defenseman capable of bringing the puck out of the Capitals&rsquo; end. Blomqvist, meanwhile, spent more time driving on Interstate 83 between Hershey and Washington than he did playing in either city.&ldquo;I like Greg and I like a lot of things he does offensively,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;But he gets in trouble defensively, from the strength aspect in front of the net as well as position wise.&ldquo;Timo is stronger and he&rsquo;s shown a little more defensively. He&rsquo;s a big, strong, young guy and we want to see what he can do. He didn&rsquo;t get that chance a year ago.&rdquo; &#9632;

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New Faces Provide Capitals With Optimism

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011133/4747759-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="289" height="360"></div><h2>The First War</h2>NOW, AT LAST, just what we&rsquo;ve been waiting for&mdash;the first war of the new season.Peering out of the one trench, rifle in hand, is none other than the-almost-but-not-quite-star Mark Howe, one-time Aero, one-time Whaler (some will argue he&rsquo;s still a Wailer) and this-time Flyer.On the other side of No Man&rsquo;s Land, ducking verbal bullets almost as often as he inhales, is Hartford GM Larry Pleau.Now for the war. Howe delivered the first salvo after being traded by Pleau to Philadelphia as part of the Ken Linseman deal. (One Philly writer described it as a &ldquo;million-dollar blunder.&rdquo;)Not only did he wound Pleau in the Philadelphia dailies, but he even had the temerity to deliver a broadside in the last issue of your favorite hockey paper.The assaults have taken on a number of variations. Gordie&rsquo;s son accused Pleau of juggling two many players; of cultivating a feeling among fringe Whalers that they&rsquo;d rather get back to the minors than play in Hartford; and that if the Whalers finished last (as they did) the reason was because Mark Howe didn&rsquo;t score a key goal.Mark has offered the distinct impression that on a brilliance scale of one to ten, he rates Pleau somewhere near minus-the-radical-50.Wounded though he may be, Pleau has counterattacked. For one thing, he doesn&rsquo;t buy the business about Mark always having to score the big goal.&ldquo;A lot of that pressure,&rdquo; says Pleau, &ldquo;was brought on by Mark, himself. We never put any pressure on him to score 100 points (as Howe suggested). Granted, a lot of the pressure was created when the Howes came to Hartford. They did much to create hockey interest here and Mark was a part of it. But a lot of the pressure was carried on in his own mind.&rdquo;Pleau reiterated that Mark is a &ldquo;fine person&rdquo; and a &ldquo;good team player&rdquo; but that at the end of last season, the two conferred and Howe expressed some displeasure with Pleau&rsquo;s running of the team.&ldquo;I told him,&rdquo; adds Pleau, &ldquo;that if he didn&rsquo;t like some of the things I did, that&rsquo;s fine. Whatever I said, or did, to him I did to him as an athlete in order to try to improve him as an athlete. I wouldn&rsquo;t take back anything I told him.&rdquo;Pleau shrugged off Howe&rsquo;s inference that he (Pleau) does not rank among the league&rsquo;s Einsteins. As for the many changes Pleau made last year, he wondered what Mark expected from a rebuilding team.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re no different from any organization that&rsquo;s changing things over. But if you look at the players who went up-and-down during the season you won&rsquo;t find many who were up for a week and went right back (as Howe charged).&ldquo;There was nobody on our club who didn&rsquo;t get a fair shake. The thing is I&rsquo;m not here to make players happy. If players were unhappy, I&rsquo;m not going to dispute that.&rdquo;Then, a pause. &ldquo;You have to know athletes; they have to blame someone.&rdquo;Just when it appeared that the dust of battle had cleared, Whaler boss Howard Baldwin led another frontal assault. Bear in mind that it is Howard&rsquo;s team which still signs paychecks for Mark&rsquo;s father, Gordie, and it was Baldwin who paid Mark handsomely when he played in Hartford.Evaluating Mark&rsquo;s scattergun routine in relation to his contribution to the Whalers, Baldwin pops: &ldquo;I wish that one of these days, these guys would look in the mirror and say, &lsquo;geez, I didn&rsquo;t do what I was meant to do.&rsquo;&rdquo;(NEXT WEEK: IS WAYNE GRETZKY BAD FOR THE NHL?)NOTES: Asked about his all-time teams, Black Hawk coach Rudy Pilous comes up with some interesting names. Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Glenn Hall and Pierre Pilote were no surprises. But he adds Brian Cullen, who starred at center for him in St: Catharines but couldn&rsquo;t cut it as well in the NHL with the Maple Leafs and Rangers. &ldquo;If Brian only could skate,&rdquo; said Pilous. Other goaltenders mentioned were Mary and Roy Edwards&hellip;Ex-NHLer Ron Harris, who recently signed on with NHL Central Scouting, nearly shortened Phil Esposito&rsquo;s career by eight years in 1973. Harris, one of the last of the great bodycheckers, smashed Espo&rsquo;s right knee during the 1973 Rangers-Bruins playoff&hellip;Although Herb Brooks should feel secure with an extension of his contract through 1985, he refers to it as &ldquo;a multi-day contract.&rdquo;&hellip;NHL office says it has not received a complaint from the Oilers about misspelling of Wayne Gretzky&mdash;it came Gretzy&mdash;in the new NHL Guide. &ldquo;It was a typographical error,&rdquo; says P.R. Director Rodger Gottleib, &ldquo;and not something to commit suicide over.&rdquo;&hellip;If Gord Kluzak continues to impress on the Bruins&rsquo; blueline as he has so far, the Bs will have clearly won the deal with Minnesota in which the North Stars gave up Brad Palmer to get Brian Bellows&hellip;You want to know who&rsquo;s the most overpaid NHLer? Borje Salming at $350,000 per year.<h2>Rootin&rsquo; For Rudy</h2>LOOK OUT NHL. Rudy Pilous is breathing down your neck, again.Pilous, in case you haven&rsquo;t heard, is one of these marvelous characters who keeps coming back like a song. To certain types, he is a haunting refrain. Mostly haunting.Rudy, like Don Cherry, is a man who belongs in the bigs but isn&rsquo;t. He&rsquo;s smart, insightful and funny-not in order of importance. Maybe that&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s not part of the inner circle, although he&rsquo;s getting close.Pilous, megaphone in hand, has made a three-point landing in St. Catharines, Ont., where he is running the local American League farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs. That means Rudy is just one rung away from the place where he belongs, on top.Why he isn&rsquo;t there is a good question. The last time Pilous was in the NHL he coached the Chicago Black Hawks to The Stanley Cup. That was in 1961 and the Windy City boys haven&rsquo;t tasted champagne since.&ldquo;The thing about that,&rdquo; says Pilous, who is 67 going on 30, &ldquo;was we beat the Canadiens in the semi-finals. They have five straight Cups and we were 2-2 in games and they thought they&rsquo;d make it six Cups running.&rdquo;Even though Rudy had Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Pierre Pilute and Glenn Hall, nobody expected him to win the marbles because the Black Hawks had not won it for more than three decades.&ldquo;We fooled them,&rdquo; Pilous enthuses. &ldquo;Took the next two games and then beat Detroit in the finals. The last game was April 16 at the old Olympia. When we got outside there was a blizzard.&rdquo;Rudy twice took the Black Hawks to the finals and seemed as permanent a fixture in Chicago was Wrigley Field. He brought them in to second place in 1962-63 with a better record than the previous season but got sacked after the playoffs. He figures GM Tommy Ivan never liked him.Pilous&rsquo; replacement, Billy Reay, sought him out at the NHL&rsquo;s annual meeting. &ldquo;Rudy,&rdquo; he asked, &ldquo;what do I have to do to keep my job in Chicago?&rdquo;&ldquo;Finish first!&rdquo; snapped Pilous.That Rudy got the gate wasn&rsquo;t the most amazing event of the century. It was no secret that he and Ivan didn&rsquo;t have a love affair going. But what many of us couldn&rsquo;t figure was why a man with his smarts wasn&rsquo;t hired by another NHL genius. Behind-the-scenes politics must have played a part.The closest he came was in 1967 when the NHL multiplied from six to 12 teams. A delight named Barend van Gerbig decided that Oakland was the ideal place for a major league team and hired Rudy as coach. Before the season started Rudy was fired over what van Gerbig called &ldquo;operational conflicts.&rdquo; Rudy launched a $105,000 lawsuit for the remainder of his four-year contract and won.He&rsquo;s still winning. Last summer, he handled the Chicago sextet in Gerry Patterson&rsquo;s &ldquo;Original Six&rdquo; tournament of NHL oldtimers and, guess what, he won again.Some Pilous-watchers&mdash;Rudy included&mdash;figure he&rsquo;ll never be in the NHL because he once said &ldquo;I never kiss&mdash;-s, the players&rsquo; or management&rsquo;s.&rdquo; Same thing with Don Cherry. And, like Cherry, Pilous is funny. And, for some Martian reason, humor is not desirable in the ethereal world of big-league hockey.<h2>The Third Dimension</h2>&ldquo;When they talk about me,&rdquo; muses Pilous, &ldquo;the first thing they mention is my humor. Then, somebody&rsquo;ll say that I&rsquo;m a pretty good hockey guy. I sometimes wonder if I&rsquo;m being blacklisted because I have a third dimension.&rdquo;The night Pilous dethroned the Canadiens in 1971 his opposite was Toe Blake, to this day mentioned as the greatest coach in NHL history. What few realize is that Pilous was responsible for Toe&rsquo;s break as a bench czar.&ldquo;I was workin&rsquo; for Art Chapman in Buffalo. In those days, you didn&rsquo;t just coach; you sold popcorn, parked cars; did whatever the boss told you to do. Well, we had a farm team in Houston the Huskies&mdash;playing in the old U.S. League and the fella we had down there walked out. I went down to run the club and just about then Toe broke his leg. He was finished as a player so Frank Selke (Canadiens G.M.) sent him down and I had him coach the club.&rdquo;Blake made it to the bigs faster than Rudy. Toe took over the Habs in 1955. A couple of years later Tommy Ivan, reportedly pushed by owner Jim Norris, offered Pilous the Black Hawks job at $29,000 a year. Rudy didn&rsquo;t know whether to laugh or cry.&ldquo;In those days,&rdquo; he chortles, &ldquo;a guy would go through broken glass to get an NHL coaching job. But I was making more money than Ivan offered just coaching the St. Catharines juniors.&ldquo;I figured something was wrong so I phoned my old buddy, Toe, and asked him what was a fair salary for coaching in the NHL. It was nowhere near what Ivan was talking about so I turned him down. Next thing I know Norris phones. He wanted to know why I wasn&rsquo;t coming with the Black Hawks so I told him and he came up with an offer I wasn&rsquo;t going to refuse.&rdquo;Norris knew that Pilous had ripened future Hall of Famers Hull, Pilote and Mikita down on the St. Catharines farm. This summer, Harold Ballard also remembered that Pilous is more revered in St. Catharines than the Queen Mother and that&rsquo;s why Harold had the good sense to put Pilous where he belongs, at the helm of the Leafs&rsquo; farm team.&ldquo;Harold and I are both a pair of bloody rogues,&rdquo; laughs Rudy, &ldquo;but we&rsquo;re also dedicated hockey people.&rdquo;With Rudy so close to the bigs, it is not inconceivable that some NHL owner&mdash;perhaps even Ballard&mdash;will forget about Pilous&rsquo; punch lines and invite him back.So far, the power of suggestion is working in St. Catharines. The town has been flipping its lid over the Saints, not to mention the laugh machine Pilous. In reflective moments, though, Rudy recalls that none of the 46 years of joy he&rsquo;d had in hockey would have been possible if a dime he once flipped had turned tails instead of heads.The was in the summer of 1936. Rudy was sitting atop a telephone pole stringing wire in British Columbia bush country. He was a so-so hockey player who was making a good buck fixing phones. A dispatcher came by and said there was a message for Pilous from England; something about a job playing hockey in Great Britain.Rudy wasn&rsquo;t so sure he wanted to give up steady work for hockey. &ldquo;Hey,&rdquo; Pilous shouted down to his partner, &ldquo;toss me a coin.&rdquo;&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t buy anything up there,&rdquo; the other shot back.&ldquo;I know,&rdquo; said Pilous, &ldquo;but I got a helluva decision to make.&rdquo;The dime came flying up. Rudy took it in hand. &ldquo;Heads I go to England, tails I stay up on this pole.&rdquo;Fortunately for hockey, it landed heads. &#9632;

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ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;This is a critical year for the Sabres. There is pressure a plenty in the Buffalo hockey organization.Seymour and Northrup Knox, who run the club, have had to court potential customers for the first time. Ads for season tickets&mdash;&ldquo;good tickets&rdquo;&mdash;ran in local newspapers the first time in the Sabres&rsquo; 12-year history.Scotty Bowman, general manager and director of hockey, is back behind the bench as coach, attempting to produce a team that will lure fans back to Memorial Auditorium.Teen-aged rookies, expected to move right into the lineup, are trying to demonstrate that expectations weren&rsquo;t too great.Veterans are working to keep youngsters from taking their jobs.The man on the spot, however, is Bob Sauve. For the 27-year-old goaltender from Ste. Genevieve, Que., the pressure is most intense.Sauve has been trying to become the Sabres&rsquo; No. 1 goaltender since he was the club&rsquo;s first draft choice in 1975. Now he is replacing a two-time NHL all-star, Don Edwards, in hockey&rsquo;s pressure position.Through no fault of Sauve&rsquo;s he was always behind Edwards. Now, Sauve has finally made it, by an unusual route at that.He got himself traded last season to the Detroit Red Wings when he refused to sign a Buffalo contract during his option year. Then he played through the season with Detroit, failed to sign with the Red Wings and agreed to come back to Buffalo&mdash;when Bowman traded Edwards to Calgary.Now it&rsquo;s up to Sauve to do the all important job in a pivotal year for the Sabres.Fans are wondering: Can Sauve do the job now that Edwards isn&rsquo;t around? Did playing for a losing club, Detroit, dull Sauve&rsquo;s skills? Or did playing behind the weak defense sharpen them?Sauve says it will be easier, in one way, playing for Buffalo.&ldquo;Behind the Buffalo defense,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you don&rsquo;t have as much work as behind Detroit&rsquo;s. You don&rsquo;t have as many scoring chances against you.&rdquo;As to the pressure on his return to the Sabres, he said, &ldquo;I always put pressure on myself, so it doesn&rsquo;t really matter who I&rsquo;m playing for. You want to win anywhere, no matter how good or bad the team is.&ldquo;For a goaltender, there&rsquo;s always pressure. No matter what team you play for, Buffalo or Detroit or the New York Islanders or anyone else, you give up a bad goal, it&rsquo;s a bad goal.&rdquo;Last season in 14 games for Buffalo. Sauve gave up only 35 goals for a 2.76 goals-against average, and had a 6-1-5 record.With Detroit, he gave up 165 goals in 41 games for a 4.19 average and an 11-25-4 record.There is one person who can relieve the pressure on Sauve and he looks as though he will be capable. That&rsquo;s Jac-ques Cloutier, the new backup.Cloutier was Buffalo&rsquo;s fourth pick in the 1979 draft. He spent the 1980-81 season with Rochester in the American Hockey League, playing in 61 games and compiling a 3.61 average.Last winter, the Noranda, Que., native started the season in Rochester&mdash;a 2.81 average in 23 games&mdash;then was called up by the Sabres in December when Sauve was traded to Detroit in the widely-publicized seven-man deal that also saw Jim Schoenfeld, Danny Gare and Derek Smith go to the Red Wings.Cloutier watched Edwards play goal for a while. Then, when Cloutier began to play and play well, he suffered a broken collarbone while stopping shots after practice. In seven NHL games, he gave up only 13 goals and had a 2.51 average.So far this season, Cloutier has looked as though he belongs in the NHL. In one pre-season game, he limited the Boston Bruins, figured to be one of the league&rsquo;s best, to a single goal in a 1-1 tie. &#9632;

Sauve Ready For The Pressure In Sabres Return

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 Good Sign</h2>ON A RECENT open-line radio sports show, a caller voiced concern about the future of the National Hockey League, In fact, this caller predicted that by the year 2000, the NHL would be nothing more than a mere memory.The logic of his argument escaped us then and does now, so there is little point in replaying it here. However, it is interesting to ponder the future of the NHL and to do that, a quick look at the present gives us some degree of optimism that things are not all that bad.Specifically, the situation regarding so-called &ldquo;underage&rdquo; players may be improving and none other than the New Jersey Devils may be responsible for advancing that cause.First, a few observations. The underage draft that sees 18-year-olds, many of whom are a single season out of midget hockey, selected by NHL clubs is an inescapable reality. Second, there are always going to be players such as Wayne Gretzky, Dale Hawerchuk, David Babych, Denis Savard and Grant Fuhr, to name a few, who are talented and mature enough to make the jump from junior to pro, years before many of their colleagues are.Third, there are too many instances where NHL teams (a) keep an underage player who clearly isn&rsquo;t ready to play pro (b) send him back to junior with a headful of hollow promises about being called back up or (c) call a player out of junior because it&rsquo;s easier and less expensive than going down to the farm in the American or Central Leagues.Now, the New Jersey Devils aren&rsquo;t going to win the Stanley Cup this season&mdash;anything better than 21st place will be considered a successful campaign&mdash;but they do deserve some accolades for moves made just before this season began.What they did was to send defenseman Ken Daneyko and forward Pat Verbeek back to their junior clubs, Seattle Breakers and Sudbury Wolves repectively. That in itself isn&rsquo;t a major story&mdash;more and more NHL teams are sending underage players back&mdash;but when you consider the Devils&rsquo; situation, it is quite remarkable. Daneyko, the 18th player selected last June, and Verbeek, the 43rd, both had excellent training camps and it&rsquo;s a good bet that they could have helped add some depth to the Devils&rsquo; roster.But the fact is, the presence of Daneyko and Verbeek would neither make nor break New Jersey&rsquo;s season. General Manager and coach Billy MacMillan apparently realized these two good, young prospects could only get better by going back to junior, where they will gain confidence and perfect their craft. As he said upon sending them back to junior, &ldquo;they could be good pros this season but if we send them back, they are going to become great pros.&rdquo;Now, if some of the other NHL teams would follow that lead, the development system would work all that much better. With more good juniors such as Daneyko and Verbeek back in junior, the competition is better. With better competition, the players&rsquo; skills are honed to a finer edge and that all adds up to a more complete player entering the pro ranks.The action of the Devils only go to show that pro hockey isn&rsquo;t necessarily going to hell after all.<h2>Wanna Bet?</h2>SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE must have a little Toronto Maple Leaf doll and being sticking pins in it.To be sure, the Maple Leafs, who have labored the past decade to carve a niche for themselves in the NHL&rsquo;s lower tier, have often been the author of their own misfortune, their own misfortune.But one couldn&rsquo;t help but conjure up a bit of pity when the Leafs&rsquo; No. 1 draft pick, Gary Nylund, suffered a knee injury that will sideline him for at least three months. During training camp, Nylund showed a lot of promise, aggressiveness and enthusiasm&mdash;three qualities the Leafs have been lacking for several years. But weep not for the Maple Leafs, says their owner, the irrepressible Harold Ballard. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll make the playoffs this season,&rdquo; chimes Pal Hal, disagreeing with the many pre-season predictions, that put the new-look Detroit Red Wings ahead of the Leafs. &ldquo;And if anyone doesn&rsquo;t believe that, then why don&rsquo;t they lay down a little money.&rdquo; For those interested, Harold even offers his phone number: (416) 977-1641.Wanna bet Pal Hal get a few phone calls? &#9632;

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011223/4747838-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="306" height="362"></div>Are NHL owners ready to become governors in the political sense? Have they solved so many of hockey&rsquo;s problems that they now feel equipped to tackle inflation? Do they hold seminars in which they instruct their baseball and football counterparts on the proper way to draw up a schedule and actually play it without interruption?A few bouquets are in order, to be sure. The new collective bargaining agreement was an awfully good advertisement for common sense. The Colorado Rockies were able to move to New Jersey without applying to Al Davis for help. The Capitals fixed things in Washington and then applied to Montreal for help. Toronto got help from Winnipeg when the Jets switched divisions. Detroit made so many good changes it&rsquo;ll be hard to recognize the Wings (off the ice, anyway), and a lot easier to applaud them.The officials got some much-needed protection, in the form of a 20-game suspension for any player who hits them. Henceforth, that player will think once before he clouts a ref.The league even did something to help its friends in the media. The slimmed-down version of the NHL Guide now fits into a briefcase, and page 97 doesn&rsquo;t go missing by Christmas.Will this list ever end? Rather abruptly, I&rsquo;m afraid, just like a tie game ends after 60 minutes.Overtime would have made a nice ribbon for an improved package, and would have been a clear message that the fans&rsquo; wishes are important, too. But for a bunch of hollow reasons, overtime wound up on the committee-room floor, like an unwanted memory of the World Hockey Association.The silliest excuse to turn thumbs down on overtime was something called &ldquo;competitive unfairness.&rdquo; Somebody decided that road teams on extended trips would be too tired to stand up to a well-rested home team in an extra period. But many of the same NHL governors adopted the principle of overtime two years ago when the balanced schedule was in effect and when travel was worse than it is now. Let the owners explain that and spell consistency at the same time.While they&rsquo;re at it, they might try to help me understand some other decisions that quarrel with logic.A year ago, coins were flipped to decide home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup semi-finals and the final. As far as I can determine, nobody lined up to see the Patrick Division defeat the Adams Division, or the Prince of Wales Conference nip the Clarence Campbell Conference by a &ldquo;head.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s also true that nobody paid any attention to the overall standings, which, in the absence of a coin flip, would have been a meaningful and potentially exciting way to declare home teams for the two climactic playoff rounds. Supposedly, the coin flip evens things out every two years, but the league is so worried about what might be unfair (as in overtime) that it concocts a system designed to make late-season games unimportant. Who&rsquo;s to blame the New York Islanders if they clinch the Patrick Division early this year and send Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy on holidays, knowing that nothing else they accomplish can help them in the playoffs? The Edmonton Oilers were in that position last season, and might wish they&rsquo;d found a beach for Wayne Gretzky in the month of March.The next time you hear an NHL owner, or a New York writer, complain about last year&rsquo;s Islander-Canuck final, take another look at the playoff format.It encourages an East-West final with rigorous travel, but, more to the point, it discourages, nay, eliminates, too many other attractive possibilities.The NHL has had four Stanley Cup winners in the past 15 years&mdash;Islanders, Montreal, Philadelphia and Boston. Unless the playoff setup is changed, so that regular-season points can determine the semi-final pairings, there can never be a Stanley Cup final between two of those teams. It&rsquo;s one thing to bow to the divisional structure and rule out another Islander-Philly or Montreal-Boston final, but why is it so important to bind those teams to their conference as well?It all comes under the heading of rewarding the league points leader with home ice in every playoff series, and with a supposedly easier time in the semi-finals, if the team should make it that far, of course.The same theories apply to the first two playoff rounds, but then give way to coin flips and conferences about which no one cares.But we can&rsquo;t expect everything. Tie games and funny playoffs do beat a strike. &#9632;

f0008-01

DAVE HODGE’S GUEST SHOT

<h2>EXPANSION IGNORANCE</h2>I find it incredible that Portland, Seattle, Ottawa and Hamilton have been ignored since 1967 as potential NHL cities. Not only do these areas have an enthusiastic base of fans, but they have been linked to professional hockey since 1920-21 at the very least.Since the expansion, the NHL has seen franchises fold, transfer or simply collapse in Oakland, Kansas City, Colorado, Atlanta and Cleveland. If it&rsquo;s not careful, Los Angeles, Washington, New Jersey and Pittsburgh will fall. It&rsquo;s time that the NHL consolidates its franchises and places teams in cites where the sport will flourish&mdash;Seattle, Portland, Hamilton and Ottawa.Bill Le Grand London, Ont.<h2>BRING BACK CHERRY</h2>Now that the Colorado Rockies have been sold and again start the rebuilding process, it is apparant that the firing of Don Cherry was a monumental mistake. The interest in the Rockies was at an all-time high during his tenure and, although the team didn&rsquo;t improve greatly during his single season, it traded Barry Beck and needed to wait for this and many trades made that year to &ldquo;pay off&rdquo;.To have an articulate, controversial, and progressive coach at the helm was the club&rsquo;s greatest asset and it chose to throw away a chance at becoming a viable franchise.Although Boston came within a penalty of winning a Stanley Cup, their management, which has yet to capture a Stanley Cup or the finals since they fired Don Cherry, has been searching for the right goaltending and player combination since he departed.It&rsquo;s not difficult to see that a magic formula isn&rsquo;t needed for a franchise to attain viability or to win a Stanley Cup but knowledgeable coaching and direction are.It would be a definite plus for New Jersey to have Don Cherry as GM and coach of its new franchise. It would be fun and eventually make the hockey club a winning and playoff team.Stephen Mlodzienski Bloomfield, N.J.<h2>WHERE IS MANITOBA?</h2>I am a hockey fan and have been a Kings&rsquo; season ticket holder for 12 years.I think the recent addition of Winnipeg to the Smythe Division is ridiculous. It would have made more sense to put either Chicago or St. Louis into the Smythe Division, as Minnesota and Winnipeg have a natural geographical rivalry. Los Angeles is now the only American team in the Division.People in Los Angeles already have a hard enough time identifying with Edmonton, Vancouver or Calgary. But now Winnipeg? Who cares about Winnipeg; and where is Manitoba?Fortunately, I am from Canada and know the answers, but people that I have talked to that have recently be-come hockey fans just don&rsquo;t care.We need another American team in our division. A good solution would be an NHL team in Seattle.Brian Harrie&nbsp; Glendora, CA.<h2>HAWERCHUK VS. BROTEN</h2>I honestly do not understand how Dale Hawerchuk was selected over Neil Broten for the Calder Trophy by such an astronomical margin (258-85). Let&rsquo;s check the stats: Hawerchuk had 45 goals; 58 assists for a total of 108 points in 80 games. Broten had 38 goals, 60 assists for a total of 98 points in 73 games. However, Hawerchuk took an incredible 339 shots to Broten&rsquo;s 188, and Hawerchuk didn&rsquo;t even make it into the top 20 rookies in scoring pct. vs. shots taken.Granted, it is not safe to assume Broten would have scored 75 goals to Hawerchuk&rsquo;s 45 had he taken as many shots as the Calder winner, but then, too, are we to ignore Hawerchuk&rsquo;s-4 plus/minus rating to Broten&rsquo;s + 14? Perhaps consideration was given to Hawerchuk&rsquo;s age and lack of experience vs. Broten&rsquo;s. However, I always assumed the Calder trophy was given to the rookie of the year&mdash;not just the top rookie scorer. I guess I was mistaken.John Maginnis Bigfork, Montana<h2>POLONICH VS. PAIEMENT</h2>I have but one word to say about your condemnation of the Polonich vs. Paiement decision in the September issue (Where&rsquo;s the Justice?): BRAVO!!!Ken DeSieghardt Overland Park, KA. &#9632;

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;About all that was missing from the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; opener was a storybook ending.&ldquo;We wanted so badly to win. We&rsquo;ve been building up to this game for so long,&rdquo; said Jimmy Devellano, the new general manager. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t play a pre-season game here so this would be the big one. But there&rsquo;s no reason to get down. That would be foolish. There are 79 games left.&rdquo;The new-look Red Wings attracted an opening game record 17,343 for their 1982-83 National Hockey League debut at the Joe Louis Arena. It was a gala affair, except that the St. Louis Blues spoiled the party with a 2-1 victory. Larry Patey and Wayne Babych scored the goals while Mike Liut turned aside 28 Detroit shots.Newcomer Tom Rowe scored the first goal, unassisted, of the new era for the Wings.&ldquo;We actually controlled the game territorially for a while,&rdquo; Devellano said. &ldquo;We had a tough time scoring but we knew that going in. When it was 1-0, I&rsquo;m sitting there praying for another to make it 2-0 because then they need three to win.&rdquo;New owner Mike Hitch has demonstrated in a short time that he knows only one way to go about things&mdash;and that&rsquo;s with a touch of class. The long-suffering Red Wing fans, who appreciate his approach and finally see some evidence that better things aren&rsquo;t far off, greeted Hitch with a pre-game standing ovation. Imagine an owner getting an ovation. It was that kind of night.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen an owner cheered before,&rdquo; said Reggie Leach, the former Philadelphia Flyer goal-scoring star who joined the Wings as a free agent. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen plenty booed, though.&rdquo;Dennis Polonich added, &ldquo;The man deserved to be cheered. Look what he&rsquo;s done&mdash;new facilities, new players, respect for the fans, a whole new attitude. We might have been pressing a little because we want to win so bad for this guy. And I think we&rsquo;re going to do it.&rdquo;Among other things, the loss marred coach Nick Polano&rsquo;s debut as a head coach in the NHL.&ldquo;I hate to lose probably as much as anybody, but I&rsquo;m not down on any of our guys at all,&rdquo; Polano said.In the last five seasons, there have been several milestone hockey games in Detroit, replete with hoopla&mdash;Rogie Vachon&rsquo;s Red Wing debut at Olympia in 1978, the first game ever at the Joe Louis in 1979 and last night&rsquo;s beginning of the new era under Hitch.On each occasion, the Blues were the visitors&mdash;and on each occasion they won.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen more visiting teams win on those occasions,&rdquo; said Emile Francis, president and coach of the Blues. &ldquo;Whenever a guy gets an award or there&rsquo;s something like tonight, it always happens. I remember when I was presented a wristwatch before a game years ago. The first shot on goal, the puck gets past me. You think I didn&rsquo;t hear it from the fans?&ldquo;The Wings had everything going tonight. New owner, new coach, new players, new fans, new cars (a promotional giveaway). You knew they would work their behinds off.&rdquo;But Liut, the Blues&rsquo; outstanding goaltender, is a well-known party crasher.&ldquo;When I was in the World Hockey Association (with Cincinnati), we played in Edmonton the night the Oilers gave a birthday party for Wayne Gretzky at center ice,&rdquo; Liut said. &ldquo;And we beat &rsquo;em.&ldquo;The home team gets caught up in that carnival atmosphere. For the 15 minutes they&rsquo;re out there soaking it up, we&rsquo;re in here (the dressing room) concentrating, thinking about the game. I&rsquo;d much rather be the visitor in that situation.&rdquo;But it wasn&rsquo;t the ceremonies which did in the Wings. It was a lack of scoring punch.&ldquo;There was a little more pressure, maybe, but pressure should bring out the best in you,&rdquo; said Polonich, who played a strong game for Detroit. &ldquo;I like pressure and I thought we played with a lot of emotion. I mean, we worked hard.&rdquo;&ldquo;It was just the mistakes that gave them the goals,&rdquo; Leach said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not much, really, but when you&rsquo;re not getting the puck in there, it&rsquo;s too much.&rdquo;WING WIRE&mdash;For the record, here&rsquo;s the roster the Wings opened the season with: Goal&mdash;Gilbert, Greg Stefan; Defense&mdash;Reed Larson, Willie Huber, Jim Schoenfeld, Colin Campbell, John Barrett, Larry Trader, (Greg Smith on the injured list); Forwards&mdash;Polonich, Claude Loiselle, Leach, Rowe, Walt McKechnie, Stan Weir, Paul Woods, Danny Gare, Mike Blaisdell, Mark Osborne, Derek Smith, John Ogrodnick, Mark Kirton and Brad Smith&hellip;the final two sat out the opener as spares&hellip;No. 1 draft pick Murray Craven was signed to a contract and returned to junior hockey. Club officials are very high on the young center&hellip;The Wings will give away an American-built automobile at each of the 40 home games this season&hellip;.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011204/4747893-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="580" height="867"><figcaption class="caption-body">Reggie Leach couldn&rsquo;t believe it when the fans cheered new Wings&rsquo; owner, Mike Hitch.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0009-01

Red Wings’ Story Ends On Blue Note

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Mario Lessard was surprised. So was Mike Blake. Gary Laskoski? He was in a state of shock.&ldquo;I almost couldn&rsquo;t believe it,&rdquo; Laskoski said after being informed by coach Don Perry that he&rsquo;d be starting in goal for the Kings when they opened the regular season here against the Vancouver Canucks.Lessard, No. 1 the past four seasons and a second team all-star two years ago, didn&rsquo;t even suit up. Blake, a 26-year-old Ohio State graduate, was the backup.&ldquo;I thought for sure Mario would be playing,&rdquo; Laskoski said. &ldquo;I mean, I really didn&rsquo;t even expect to make the team. It was pretty unbelievable. Exciting, but unbelievable.&rdquo;Had an amateur goaltender ever started on opening night before? That&rsquo;s what Laskoski is. A 23-year-old native of Ottawa who was playing for St. Lawrence (NY) University a year ago, the 6-foot-l, 175-pounder was signed on a tryout basis this past summer and he still hasn&rsquo;t been offered a professional contract.The Kings have until Oct. 21 to do that, one of the factors in Perry&rsquo;s decision to take a chance on the youngster.&ldquo;Really, there were two reasons for going with him,&rdquo; Perry said. &ldquo;The two kids both had a slight edge in exhibition play. And I don&rsquo;t want to carry three goaltenders. So we&rsquo;ve got to find out if both of them can play when the real action starts.&rdquo;One has to wonder where this leaves Lessard, who suffered through a 13-28-8 season with a 4.36 goals-against average in 1981-82. He had come to camp in good shape and in high spirits, hoping to put last year&rsquo;s disappointment behind him.Laskoski, a standup goalie like Blake, played in three pre-season games, a total of 108 minutes, and allowed three goals for a 3.03 average. In five games totalling 178 minutes, Blake allowed nine goals, also a 3.03 average. He went the distance against St. Louis on Sept. 28 and turned back 30 shots in a 4-0 victory.Lessard allowed 11 goals in five games totalling 182 minutes in the pre-season for a 3.63 mark. He went the route in the exhibition finale, a 6-4 loss to Calgary in what had figured to be a final tuneup for the opener.&ldquo;I was very surprised,&rdquo; Lessard said. &ldquo;I know it was a tough decision for the coach. I think he wants to decide between the two of them, to take a good look at Gary and Mike.&ldquo;The only thing I can do now is stay in shape and work hard in practice. I came to camp with the attitude this is a brand new season, to forget the past and do the best I can.&rdquo;Lessard added he didn&rsquo;t believe Perry&rsquo;s decision was a reflection on his work.&ldquo;I played four years in the minors and I did pretty well,&rdquo; the 28-year-old said. &ldquo;Then in my fifth year, my first year here, I played well again. My second year was so-so and my third (an all-star season), well, when the guys in front of you play well that makes a big difference.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a big family. Everybody has to do well. If they&rsquo;re so-so, then you&rsquo;re so-so. If the forwards back-check it makes it easier for the defensemen and the goalie.Perry indicated that one of the goaltenders would be gone by the time the Kings returned from their four-game trip to Winnipeg, Quebec and New York, which ends on Oct. 17.Is it possible Lessard could be the odd man out when the final decision is made?&ldquo;All I can say is that we&rsquo;re going to go with the people we think are best,&rdquo; Perry said. &ldquo;If the two kids prove they&rsquo;re better than Mario, well, then that&rsquo;s who we&rsquo;re going to go with.&rdquo;Perry has promised to go with his best, regardless of past performances, since replacing Parker MacDonald last January and he hasn&rsquo;t wavered from this position. He said even before camp began that no one had a lock on a job. Obviously, he meant it.&ldquo;Don Perry is pretty serious when he says things like that,&rdquo; Laskoski acknowledged. &ldquo;When he told me that I&rsquo;d be starting, he said he didn&rsquo;t base his decisions on personal friendships or on how long someone has been here. He said the only thing that counted was how well you played.&rdquo;Perry said, &ldquo;I just believe the kid deserved it. Why bother having training camp if all you do is say Mario&rsquo;s it and close your eyes? I believe we had to give him the chance and that&rsquo;s what we did.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anybody thought he&rsquo;d make the team. I don&rsquo;t even know if anything like this has happened before. He kind of came out of nowhere.&rdquo;Here&rsquo;s how Lessard sees it.&ldquo;When he told me I wasn&rsquo;t playing I said, &lsquo;Okay. That&rsquo;s okay with me. I&rsquo;ll stay in shape.&rsquo; I think Don and (assistant Brad Selwood) are very good coaches. Some guys don&rsquo;t like them but I do. They are fair, and that&rsquo;s all I can ask.&rdquo;Perry, beginning his first full season with the Kings, realized he was leaving himself wide open for the second guess.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not afraid,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know that if it doesn&rsquo;t work out I&rsquo;ll be criticized. I can take it. It goes with the job.&ldquo;Look, I think we can be right there in this division providing the goaltending is good. Well, that&rsquo;s a big question mark right now so we may as well go right at it and find out.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011245/4747924-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="583" height="822"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mario Lessard was surprised he didn&rsquo;t start in season opener.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-01

Perry Gives Kings’ Goalies A Large Surprise

<div class="byline">BY JOE FALLS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02979/4747955-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="284" height="368"></div><h2>The Gretzky Game</h2>DID I EVER tell you about The Gretzky Game?It&rsquo;s not the same as The Initials Game. But it&rsquo;s just as much fun.I&rsquo;ve been playing it for a couple of years now and can&rsquo;t wait to start playing it again.If you&rsquo;ve ever taken a hockey stick and practiced shooting a tennis ball at the garage door, you know how much fun it is to score goals. You can slap the ball, lift it, backhand it&mdash;all with great power and noise. Just don&rsquo;t do it when the folks are home.Later, when they see those small marks on the garage door, you can say: &ldquo;Geez, I don&rsquo;t know how they got there&hellip;I was in the house studying.&rdquo;In other words, everybody loves to score&mdash;even with a tennis ball off a garage door, which is how I grew up. I was Lynn Patrick, Bill Cowley, Syl Apps (shoulders and all), the Bentley Brothers, but never Milt Schmidt, for some reason. I&rsquo;ve gotten to know this man, and he is a beautiful man, but I was never the center of the Kraut Line as a kid. Woddy Dumart, once in a while, and occasionally, Bobby Bauer. But never Schmidt, and if he ever asks me why, I don&rsquo;t know what I&rsquo;ll tell him. I guess it&rsquo;s because he didn&rsquo;t have a big shot.Anyway.You play The Gretzky Game once a week, when they run the top ten scorers in your local newspaper. You check to see how quickly he is getting his goals. I am from the era when 20 was the magic number, both for hockey players and pitchers. It is still this way for pitchers but now&mdash;incredibly&mdash;the new number for hockey players seems to be 50.<h2>You Must Get 50</h2>YOU GET 50 and people pay attention to you. You get 32, 41 or 47&mdash;not bad, but not superstar stuff, either.So, in The Gretzky Game, you see if:1. He can score 20 goals by Halloween.2. 30 by Thanksgiving.3. 50 by New Year&rsquo;s Eve.After that, you win. Everything else is just gravy&mdash;one goal more mind-boggling than the other. I can&rsquo;t believe anyone can run them up the way he does&mdash;first, he&rsquo;s got two, then seven, then 15. Poor Bryan Hextall. He had to work all season long, with that sweat running down his forehead and that lock of hair falling over his eyes, and if his linemates, Lynn Patrick and Phil Watson, were really clicking, &ldquo;Hex&rdquo; might make into the charmed 20-goal circle by the end of the campaign.All of which brings us around to my All-Time Power Play Team.How does this sound? Wayne Gretzky at center?He doesn&rsquo;t make it.How about Gordie Howe on the right side and Bobby Hull on the left side?They don&rsquo;t make it, either.Nope, on my All-Time Power Play Team a line of Gretzky-Howe-Hull would have to watch from the bench while my regulars were out there ripping up the place.My center is&mdash;who else but the one, the only, the original master of the arts, the man who lived and died for his goals, the dark-eye dramatist who would cry to the heavens with joy when the light would go on and look up in mortal anguish when his shot from the slot flew wide by inches: Phil Esposito.<h2>A Nose For The Net</h2>HE IS THE ultimate power player in the history of hockey&mdash;a man with a nose for the net, if he&rsquo;ll forgive that expression. He&rsquo;s the heart of my All-Time Power Play Team.Maurice Richard goes on the right side because he was so nasty. He took it personally when you got in his way. He wouldn&rsquo;t stop until it was in. He&rsquo;d probably even knock down the garage door.Now&mdash;a little manipulating. Guy Lafleur goes on the left side simply because I&rsquo;m in love with him, even with the lights starting to fade. Combining his shooting and skating skills, he could do more with the puck than Howe or Hull&mdash;move it and shoot it with greater speed.That&rsquo;s my front line&hellip;and back there, on the points, I would put Bobby Orr, the master of the turn-around deke, and Bernie (Boom Boom) Geof-frion, who would strike fear into their hearts with that cannon-like slap shot (and, yes, that&rsquo;s Espo loitering in front with his broom and pan, looking for the garbage.)So, I&rsquo;ve got Esposito, Richard and Lafleur up front, with Orr and Geoffrion back, and you&rsquo;ve got Gretzky, Howe and Hull up front with Doug Harvey and Denis Potvin back.Tough choice, eh? But wouldn&rsquo;t they knock the fuzz off the tennis ball? &#9632;

f0010-02

HOCKEY CORNER

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011164/4747986-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0011-01

Bookshelf

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011218/4748017-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cashman didn&rsquo;t play the first two weeks of the pre-season because he needed additional time to recover from shoulder surgery in the offseason.</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;Wayne Cashman was miffed.&ldquo;The story was a farce,&rdquo; he said, peeling off his shoulder pads for the umpteenth time in his 15-year National Hockey League career. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t playing so someone decided to cause some problems and write that. It&rsquo;s ridiculous.&rdquo;The story that raised the hackles on the back of Cashman&rsquo;s 37-year-old neck was one that speculated that the last of the Boston Bruins 1970 and 1972 Stanley Cup team members was about the call it quits, retire, hang up the skates, possibly in the next day or two.&ldquo;Look,&rdquo; said Cashman, &ldquo;at the end of last season I sat down with Harry Sinden and I told him I really wasn&rsquo;t sure that I was going to play again or not. I was faced with a serious shoulder operation. The team had a lot of kids coming into the organization.&ldquo;I said I would get myself in shape and come to camp and if there was a position for me then I&rsquo;d like to play. But if there were kids to fill the spot, then it was time to do it, retire.&ldquo;The idea of me not playing for the first two weeks of the pre-season was something that was agreed on by myself the Bruins&rsquo; management, the coaches and the medical staff. They thought the extra two weeks off, just skating, shooting and hard practice, would benefit me more than getting into a game.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been something we planned all along and we did it.&rdquo;Cashman, who is the captain and the old man of the Bruins, didn&rsquo;t play much in the pre-season. He saw three periods of action against Buffalo, the day his premature retirement was announcement, one period against Hartford and then he came down with the flu. But in between he signed a new one-year contract.&ldquo;I think school&rsquo;s out yet on just what role he&rsquo;ll play,&rdquo; said General Manager Harry Sinden. &ldquo;He could be a regular member of the team. He could be a part-time member. It depends a lot on the youngsters we have and Wayne himself understands this.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s coming off major surgery. But he&rsquo;s our captain. He&rsquo;s such a respected person on the club that he&rsquo;ll play somewhere. He has the versatility to play either right or left wing and we have many questions to be answered in the first half dozen or 10 games at both right and left wing.&rdquo;Cashman&rsquo;s off-season surgery involved a tom rotator cuff in his right shoulder.&ldquo;It was serious enough so that I knew I couldn&rsquo;t possibly play again with what I went through last winter,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Physically and mentally I couldn&rsquo;t take the type of pain for another year. I just couldn&rsquo;t do what I felt I had to do to help the team.&ldquo;I had the operation as soon as 1 could after the season. The first month and a half was very slow. I was very inactive. Then the first thing was getting movement back in the shoulder. I did a tremendous amount of swimming and exercises, stretching and weight-lifting.&ldquo;It feels good now. I think the extra two weeks benefited me greatly.&rdquo;Cashman, who has scored more career goals (273) than any other Bruins with the exception of Johnny Bucyk (545), Phil Esposito (459) and Ken Hodge (289), says he is ready to fill any role that Coach Gerry Cheevers has in mind for him.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to fit into some spots where Gerry Cheevers thinks he needs me or where I can fit in right now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If they need me for a permanent role I&rsquo;ll be there.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t like to be a spot player but there is a lot of young talent here that has to play and, if that&rsquo;s the role Gerry Cheevers feels that I can play to help this hockey club, then I&rsquo;m willing to do it.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m going to be working my best to be a regular.&rdquo;Cashman says he is well aware that retirement may be just around the corner&mdash;and if anyone knows about corners it&rsquo;s Cashman.&ldquo;I know it can&rsquo;t go on forever,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a different type of game now. The game has changed so much to a skating game and with 80 games and four games a week and traveling every day, it&rsquo;s a young man&rsquo;s game.&ldquo;I think that Wayne Cashman should know himself when it&rsquo;s time to retire but if a friend comes to me and tells me that I&rsquo;m a step behind or 1 just can&rsquo;t do it, I&rsquo;ll accept the fact. I just hope that I&rsquo;m the one who realizes it&rsquo;s time.&rdquo;Cashman, his wife, Lyn, and their son and daughter, have a horse farm, a 35-acre spread called &ldquo;Our Goal Farm,&rdquo; in Middleboro, a semi-rural town about 40 miles south of Boston.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very quiet here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good for my family. When I finish hockey this will be part of what I&rsquo;ll do.&ldquo;But as long as I&rsquo;m playing I&rsquo;m going to feel that there&rsquo;s that one more Stanley Cup there for me. That&rsquo;s what drives me to go on playing.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

Cashman Quashes Story He’s Considering Quitting

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021035/4748048-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="308" height="364"></div><h2>On With The Show</h2>ANOTHER OPENING, another show&hellip;in Philly, Boston or Toronto.Apologies for altering the lyrics of the show-biz ditty, but I can&rsquo;t help it&mdash;I&rsquo;m excited about another NHL season. Another season of watching all the greats&mdash;Gretzky, Bossy, Trottier, Lafleur, Harold Ballard. If, finally, we don&rsquo;t see as much fighting, then it will be a season worth remembering.Another opening, of course, means it&rsquo;s time for the annual Fleischman Fearless Forecast. &ldquo;Occasionally wrong, but never in doubt&rdquo; is our motto.There&rsquo;s no doubt the New York Islanders are hockey&rsquo;s best team, and the best team in all sports. The Islanders are clearly the favorites to extend their Stanley Cup reign to four in a row, but there are serious challengers clawing toward the summit. The Minnesota North Stars are the best bet to dethrone the Islanders, with Edmonton, Boston and the New York Rangers also closing fast. The outlook, by division:<h3>NORRIS DIVISION</h3>1. Minnesota: Inform GM Lou Nanne that the North Stars have been proclaimed the Islanders&rsquo; chief challenger and Nanne replies, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re absolutely right.&rdquo; Adding Willi Plett and Brian Bellows gives the Stars depth to go with Bobby Smith, Dino Ciccarelli, Neal Broten and friends.2. Chicago&mdash;Maybe rookie coach Orval Tessier is the man to point the Black Hawks in the right direction. Plenty of ability here, starting with Denis Savard and Doug Wilson.3. St. Louis&mdash;Rob Ramage strengthens the defense, forwards are talented enough but Mike Liut must return to &ldquo;Superman&rdquo; form for the Blues to challenge for the division pennant.4. Toronto&mdash;Captain Rick Vaive received the early honesty award for glancing around the Leafs&rsquo; locker room and saying, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see much right now.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s almost a toss-up between Toronto and Detroit for fourth. Give the edge to Maple Leafs for better young talent.5. Detroit&mdash;The Red Wings are on the proper path with Jim Devellano in the GM&rsquo;s chair. But they just don&rsquo;t have enough talent this year to scramble into the playoffs.<h3>SMYTHE DIVISION</h3>1. Edmonton&mdash;Colleague Steve Simmons calls the Smythe the NHL&rsquo;s most competitive division. He&rsquo;s right, except only one team&mdash;Edmonton&mdash;is capable of winning the Stanley Cup. If, that is, Ken Linseman finally matures.2. Calgary&mdash;Two newcomers, Don Edwards in goal and Bob Johnson behind the bench, two returnees from the injured list, Kent Nilsson and Guy Chouinard make the Flames healthy again.3. Vancouver&mdash;Reaching the finals, despite an under-.500 record, gives the Canucks new confidence. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to be better offensively,&rdquo; promises coach Roger Neilson. And, with Richard Brodeur in goal, the Canucks could be a first-place team.4. Winnipeg&mdash;A rising club led by rookie of the year Dale Hawerchuk, Morris Lukowich, Dave Babych and Serge Savard. These players, plus enthusiasm, can carry the Jets into the playoffs.5. Los Angeles&mdash;The Kings staggered Edmonton in the division semi-finals last year, but this team&rsquo;s offense, after Marcel Dionne and Dave Taylor, dips dramatically far from first-place caliber.<h3>PATRICK DIVISION</h3>1. Islanders&mdash;If, after three Cups in a row, the Islanders don&rsquo;t start to decline slightly, no one will stop them.2. Rangers&mdash;With Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson and John Davidson presumably back in form, the Rangers have the talent to make a run at the Cup.3. Philadelphia&mdash;The defense, with Mark Howe, Miroslav Dvorak and Brad McCrimmon, will be better. But Pelle Lindbergh and Rick St. Croix have to prove they can do the job in goal for the Flyers to improve.4. Washington&mdash;Rod Langway and Brian Eng-blom should make the Caps a playoff team for the first time in their dismal history.5. Pittsburgh&mdash;Good goaltending, with Michel Dion and Denis Herron, but more scoring power is needed, plus better defense.6. New Jersey&mdash;Despite the new home, Glenn &ldquo;Chico&rdquo; Resch has that lonely feeling. He&rsquo;ll be the guy waving the &ldquo;Help!&rdquo; sign.<h3>ADAMS DIVISION</h3>1. Boston&mdash;Rookie defenseman Gord Kluzak looks like quality goods, goaltending is expected to be improved, Rick Middleton&rsquo;s still flying. But the Bruins can&rsquo;t keep injury-prone Ray Bourque healthy&hellip;Tip: Do not walk next to Bourque near tall buildings where construction is underway.2. Buffalo&mdash;A full season of Mike Foligno and Dale McCourt, the return of Bob Sauve, and high hopes for youngsters such as Paul Cyr and Phil Housley have the Sabres encouraged. Also, Scott Bowman is coaching again.3. Quebec&mdash;Instant offense, but questionable defense. However, if Dan Bouchard is sharp, the Nordiques&rsquo; defense is at least as good as Montreal&rsquo;s.4. Montreal&mdash;These fans might be happy to see the Expos&rsquo; spring training begin, just to take their minds off the Canadiens. Not enough outstanding young talent yet to counter the aging of some stars.5. Hartford&mdash;Will Risto Siltanen be happy in Hartford? Does he have any idea where Hartford is? If Risto isn&rsquo;t the magician the Whalers think he is, they are doomed to a distant last-place finish. &#9632;

f0012-02

BILL FLEISCHMAN’S HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">COMPILED BY STAN FISCHLER AND THN STAFF</div>Although Whalers&rsquo; boss Howard Baldwin dismisses any breach between Gordie Howe and the Hartford&rsquo;s high command, the buzz from Connecticut indicates otherwise. A Connecticut sports editor traces the rupture to what he terms Gordie&rsquo;s dislike for Baldwin&rsquo;s hand-picked GM Larry Pleau. &ldquo;It was Pleau who broke up the (Howe) family by trading Mark to Philadelphia,&rdquo; the editor notes. He describes Gordie as &ldquo;sad and bored&rdquo; over his lack of involvement with the Whalers organization. &ldquo;He feels as if he&rsquo;s been shoved aside.&rdquo; Baldwin tells BLUELINES that Howe has five years to go on his contract. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like him to stay another five years,&rdquo; adds Baldwin. &ldquo;You never heard me complain about him.&rdquo;&hellip;Whalers&rsquo; cable outfit, New England PRISM is now into more than 15,000 homes&hellip;Ranger aide Chuck Grillo says the Blueshirts have four per cent less body fat than a year ago&hellip;Rangers, led by Nick Fotiu, were furious over the Devils&rsquo; claiming defenseman Carol Vadnais. The move immediately ignited rumors among the Manhattan press corps that Herb Brooks was upset with Craig Patrick for letting Vad go&hellip;A Flames&rsquo; official snipes that one reason the club released Pat Riggin was that he was &ldquo;immature and figures he&rsquo;s the greatest.&rdquo; The man adds: &ldquo;Sometimes Riggin goes down like a whale.&rdquo;&hellip;Bought out by the Bruins, Rogie Vachon had hoped to latch on with the Kings as part-time goalie and netminding instructor. Rogie&rsquo;s agent, Larry Rauch, says the L.A. offer was too small to even consider. Vachon will sit tight for a while, hoping that a goalie-starved NHL team will phone. He figures he can play 40-50 games&hellip;An NHL official says he&rsquo;s surprised the Devils failed to claim either Bob Hoffmeyer, Tom Gorence, Tim Bothwell or Bill Kitchen. &ldquo;If they have better defensemen than those (discounting Gorence), it&rsquo;s news to me,&rdquo; the man said.A rival NHL front office type says the Maple Leafs will go nowhere as long as Rick Vaive remains captain. One Toronto reporter is inclined to agree&hellip;According to a newsman who returned from Edmonton, Grant Fuhr has improved as an interview subject. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a little bit better&mdash;but still terrible,&rdquo; the scribe says&hellip;By contrast, Wayne Gretzky is better than ever. &ldquo;I have to be an ambassador of the game,&rdquo; Gretzky explains&hellip;Two non-Islander scouts insist that Kelly Hrudey, now with Indianapolis, will be a top NHL goalie within three years&hellip;During the NHL&rsquo;s waiver draft, Penguin GM, Baz Bastien was overheard on the Conference call as offering goalie Gary Edwards for $100. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s in American or Canadian funds,&rdquo; snapped Bastien&hellip;The Boston Herald-American&rsquo;s&nbsp;Kevin Dupont wondered in print how long Ron Sutter would last with the Flyers after &ldquo;backing away from a fight with Terry O&rsquo;Reilly.&rdquo; Not long after, Sutter was returned to juniors&hellip;Constantly the subject of trade rumors, Peter McNab vows to constantly communicate with coach Gerry Cheevers or GM Harry Sinden when he has a question about his status with the Bruins&hellip;Dennis Kucherawy, the Edmonton Journal&rsquo;s jazz maven, is angry with Frank Orr piece in the Toronto Star suggesting that put-downs of The Kid&rsquo;s vocalist-girlfriend, Vicki Moss, are &ldquo;gossip and rumors.&rdquo; Kucherawy is convinced Ms. Moss is using her link with Wayne to assist her musical career. &ldquo;Orr,&rdquo; says Kucherawy, &ldquo;has never heard Vicki sing. Kucherawy sat in on piano with Ms. Moss&rsquo; group this summer and says she&rsquo;s got a ways to go in the vocal department&hellip;Larry (Ratso) Sloman, author of the controversial &ldquo;Thin Ice&rdquo; (which angered the Rangers so much), has been chosen publisher of High Times magazine.A deal between the Penguins and Flyers&mdash;each one wants the other&rsquo;s Sutter twin&mdash;has not been ruled out in the future. They both want Rich (Pittsburgh) and Ron reunited&hellip;Nancy Owen, who ran the men&rsquo;s hockey program at Cortland (NY) State University, is now the Adirondack Red Wings&rsquo; assistant director of p.r. and marketing&hellip;The Whalers apparently were willing to pay Garry Howatt lots of bucks (more than $150,000) to stay on Hartford&rsquo;s left wing but stories out of New York for more than a month indicate that Howatt ultimately with play for the Devils&hellip;Preponderance of Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s fan mail is from females in the 4-15 age bracket&hellip;Despite appearances of an Al Eagleson-Phil Esposito feud, Espo is delighted with help the players&rsquo; union has given his Foundation. Espo&rsquo;s &ldquo;Masters of Hockey&rdquo; event will play a minimum of three games this season with at least one in Canada&hellip;Ex-Black Hawk Pat Stapleton has a program in which he teaches pro athletes how to teach&hellip;Stapleton and ex-Red Wing Gary Bergman made the best impressions on the professionals attending Toronto meeting on post-cancer planning&hellip;A non-Edmonton Smythe Division observer predicts that the Oilers&rsquo; Glenn Anderson will be a sure all-star. &ldquo;He skates as well with the puck as without it,&rdquo; says the exec&hellip;Smythe talk hints that the Jets may have goaltending problems&hellip;A rival general manager marvels at Lou Nanne&rsquo;s moves of the last month. &ldquo;He rivals Bill Torrey,&rdquo; notes the GM&hellip;Larry Pleau&rsquo;s decisions still arouse questioning. One colleague asks: &ldquo;What does he think Ed Hospodar will do for him?&rdquo;&hellip;Caps are featuring Brian Engblom and Rod Langway in their newspaper ads&hellip;Boom Boom Geoffrion still very apparent on the tube in Miller Lite Beer commercials. In this one he pretends to be an enforcer.Dave Silk was steaming over an interview on the Rangers&rsquo; own Madison Square Garden network during which the interviewer implied that Silk was a journeyman and not a scorer. Not long after, Silk was loaned by the Rangers to Binghamton&hellip;Herb Brooks has become the NHL&rsquo;s highest-paid coach at $200,000-a-year&hellip;Ex-NHLer Jack Mcllhargey wasn&rsquo;t too kind to Mark Howe in comments to Randy Smith. &ldquo;The first time that Mark gives it one of these,&rdquo; the former Flyer told Smith, rotating his shoulder, suggesting it was sore. &ldquo;Bobby Clarke or Bill Barber or Sittler or one of those guys will be all over him. He&rsquo;ll learn to play hurt with the Flyers. Everybody does, and he will, too.&rdquo;&hellip;According to the Connecticut grapevine the Whalers unloaded Jordy Douglas to Minnesota because he shied away from rough play&hellip;Fred Shero say she wants to coach in Europe next year as a learning experience&hellip;Peter Stemkowski has launched a weekly, two-hour hockey show on radio station WGBB in Freeport, Long Island&hellip;Hall of Famer Rod Gilbert appeared on the soap opera, &ldquo;One Life To Live&rdquo; (ABC) and the tossed a party in his honor at his restaurant on Manhattan&rsquo;s Upper East Side. &#9632;

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY PERRY LEFKO</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011160/4748103-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gary Nylund played aggressively in the pre-season games and was expected to be a key figure on the Leaf blueline.</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;When the Boston Bruins made Gord Kluzak the No. 1 pick in last year&rsquo;s National Hockey League entry draft, some critics second guessed the selection.And why not? Kluzak had just recovered from a knee injury he suffered in his last season in junior hockey and the question was would his knee stand up to the rigors of the NHL.When Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Gary Nylund third overall from the Portland Winter Hawks, nary a sceptic offered it a second thought. And why not? At 6-4, 220 pounds and injury-free, Nylund looked like a sure blue-chipper.A week into the regular season, there is irony in the case of both players. Kluzak has not only survived the brief time test, he&rsquo;s silencing his early critics. Nylund, conversely, is watching from the wings after a preseason spill in a game against Quebec Nordiques at Maple Leaf Gardens.Nylund, a defensive-minded defenseman, forayed into the Nordiques&rsquo; zone and, after taking a shot on goal and chasing the rebound into the corner, he jumped up and attempted to hit ex-Leaf Wilf Paiement. Nylund landed on his left leg the wrong way and, though he thought he&rsquo;d only sprained the knee, it was later diagnosed as torn knee ligaments.&ldquo;I was a little bit upset,&rdquo; Nylund said recalling the initial bad news, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s just one of those things. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad I&rsquo;m getting it fixed now. I don&rsquo;t want to have a trick knee the rest of my career. Three months isn&rsquo;t the end of the world. As long as it&rsquo;s better in three months, I&rsquo;ll be happy.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve waited 18 years to make it to the NHL, I can wait 18 years and three months.&rdquo;The early speculation was that Nylund might miss more than three months, possibly six to seven months. Doctors have told him the ligament damage isn&rsquo;t as bad as originally feared, certainly not as bad as Kluzak&rsquo;s.&ldquo;He came back and my ligaments aren&rsquo;t half as bad as his were,&rdquo; he said.The most ironic aspect of the injury is that it&rsquo;s the first serious one of Nylund&rsquo;s career.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had broken fingers and broken noses, but never anything that kept me out for more than a couple of games,&rdquo; he said.He&rsquo;s in a temporary cast and soon he&rsquo;ll be fitted with one that bends in the middle.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have flexibility in my knee, otherwise my knee would be stiff and I wouldn&rsquo;t be able to lift weights,&rdquo; he said.Leafs&rsquo; management has been supportive of Nylund, the most heralded player of this year&rsquo;s team and have told him not to worry about the injury.&ldquo;They said &lsquo;take your time and get the knee strengthened,&rsquo; I am in their plans for the future,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve invested a lot of money in me and just because I injured my knee, there&rsquo;s no way they&rsquo;re going to say, &lsquo;I guess we can&rsquo;t use you anymore.&rsquo;&rdquo;When Nylund returns to the Leafs, the injury is not going to change his robust style.&ldquo;I came here and I played the game as hard as I could; I wasn&rsquo;t afraid of getting hurt,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When you are, you&rsquo;ll get hurt.&rdquo;Aside from the physical pain, Nylund is anguishing being away from his newest buddies. He watched the Leafs&rsquo; opener in Chicago, which resulted in a 3-3 tie. Chicago led 3-0 after the first period, but a spirited effort by the entire team, particularly veterans Borje Salming and Michel (Bunny) Laroque, produced a well-earned tie.Nylund thinks the Leafs can fare well this season if a potent second line can complement the No. 1 line of Bill Derlago, Rick Vaive and Terry Martin, and &ldquo;King&rdquo; Salming has a regal season.Of course, Nylund&rsquo;s return won&rsquo;t hurt the cause either.LEAF BUDS&mdash;Vaive and Leafs&rsquo; owner, Harold Ballard both raised a few eyebrows with some candid comments. Said Vaive: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be lucky to win 30 games this year. Said Ballard:&ldquo;Anyone who thinks the Leafs are going to miss the playoffs this year can call me at 977-1641 (the Gardens) and I&rsquo;ll bet them.&rdquo;&hellip;Punch Imlach is long gone from the Leafs and the Buffalo Sabres but his days with both clubs are documented in his latest books, Heaven and Hell in the NHL. About his buddy Ballard, Imlach said: &ldquo;He likes to be front and center, the unchallenged boss, calling all the shots.&rdquo; Scott Young, who wrote Conn Smythe&rsquo;s book, You Can&rsquo;t Beat Them in the Alleys, co-authored Imlach&rsquo;s book&hellip;Ballard thinned out his wallet considerably when he purchased a $l-million plus scoreboard for the Gardens. It was time for a new one anyway. &#9632;

f0013-01

There’s A Painful Irony In Nylund’s Knee Injury

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011200/4748134-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Newcomer Ken Linseman is determined to stay out of trouble and lessen the load on the Oilers&rsquo; No. 1 center, Wayne Gretzky.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll probably keep me busy&hellip;&rdquo;&mdash;Dave Semenko on Ken Linseman.EDMONTON&mdash;Not a bad assumption.After all, past performances taken into account, the smart money would seem to emphasize the additional workload for Semenko&mdash;the Edmonton Oiler left-winger in charge of looking after the well-being of teammates in distress. Even if it means bailing an agitating little center out of turbulent situations.&ldquo;Well, I hope he doesn&rsquo;t have to,&rdquo; says Linseman, the 5-foot-ll, 175-pounder in reacting to Semenko&rsquo;s reaction to him joining the National Hockey League outfit.At the advance age of 24, Linseman, known affectionately and otherwise around the National Hockey League as The Rat, has vowed to mend his playful acts of malice. Due to the NHL&rsquo;s newly-adopted stringent policies towards anti-violence&mdash;even anti-mischief&mdash;the Oiler center maintains he&rsquo;s attempting to clean up his law-breaking image. No more mug shots on president John Ziegler&rsquo;s wall.The Oilers, on the other hand, are hoping he hasn&rsquo;t taken this reform policy too seriously to heart.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the type of player everybody loves to hate, but every one of them would love to have him on their side,&rdquo; said Oiler manager-coach Glen Sather, who acquired the antagonistic center in a complicated three-way deal involving Philadelphia Flyers and Hartford Whalers. The primary movements in the deal, which also involved minor leaguers, a junior player and a draft pick, saw Oilers send Finnish defenseman Risto Siltanen to Hartford and the Whalers dispatch Mark Howe to the Flyers.&ldquo;As popular as Risto was here. I&rsquo;d give up three Risto Siltanens to get a Linseman,&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;It was a once-in-a-lifetime deal for us&hellip;Well, the second. We also got Wayne (Gretzky) in a pretty good deal.&rdquo;The arrival of Linseman, who led the Flyers with 92 points last season, serves to remove some of the pressure from Gretzky. Aside from their qualities as playmakers, there isn&rsquo;t a great deal Gretzky and Linseman have in common when it comes to their styles of play.&ldquo;At first, I thought it might be uncomfortable,&rdquo; said Linseman, who admitted he was somewhat intimidated at the thought of playing behind the Great Gretzky. &ldquo;Then I got to thinking that hopefully he&rsquo;ll bring out the best in me.&rdquo;Linseman vows, too, he&rsquo;s serious about cleaning up his act&mdash;despite the fact he was assessed 275 minutes in penalties in 1980-81, a figure that fell just five minutes shy of his previous two-and-a-half season NHL total.&ldquo;The game has changed so much over the last two or three years that everybody seems to be in the penalty box. Referees have taken over to where it&rsquo;s difficult for a team to play aggressively. I&rsquo;ve seen situations where there hasn&rsquo;t been a punch thrown yet 10 guys end up in the penalty box,&rdquo; said Linseman in pointing to his high penalty total last season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been trying to stay out of trouble more and more. The last time I said something to a linesman&mdash;about being a crook or something&mdash;I got into trouble with Mr. Ziegler. I still plan to be aggressive, but maybe you can call it intelligently aggressive.&rdquo;While Linseman, with his $180,000 salary, felt he was secure in Philadelphia&mdash;he purchased a $400,000 mansion&mdash;he cottons to the idea of performing for the brash young Oilers.&ldquo;They seem to be loose and aggressive&mdash;the kind of attitude I like&mdash;and there doesn&rsquo;t seem to be the same kind of pressure as in Philadelphia,&rdquo; said Linseman, who Was ticketed to perform between speed demons Glenn Anderson and all-star left-winger Mark Messier. &ldquo;Plus, they&rsquo;re the same age. They get together and there&rsquo;s no generation gaps.&rdquo;Although they worked together in practice, Linseman wasn&rsquo;t inserted between Anderson and Messier until Edmonton&rsquo;s fourth exhibition game&mdash;a 7-4 triumph over Buffalo Sabres.&ldquo;I was certainly a little tentative,&rdquo; he said of the line that has been much ballyhooed in these parts since the late-August trade. &ldquo;Right now, I have to get used to what patterns they use on the ice. I don&rsquo;t want to get caught flat-footed. I&rsquo;ve never had fast wingers before and I&rsquo;m certainly excited about it.&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve never had a fast center before either,&rdquo; winked Messier.Veteran defenseman Kevin Lowe observed that the line appears to have been conceived on a drag strip and succinctly observed: &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll be awesome&hellip;once they get their flight-patterns down.&rdquo;Alberta once boasted that it was rat-free. Not any longer. &#9632;

f0014-01

Rules Curb The Rat Attack As Linseman Cleans Up Act

<div class="byline">BY DICK BEDDOES</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02966/4748165-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="308" height="326"></div><h2>Peter Perfect?</h2>PETER POCKLINGTON, by his own admission, is the chap who would be Prime Minister or King of Canada.He is accustomed to roaming about the nation making speeches about how he&rsquo;d renovate the Canadian economy with his version of Reaganomics.In other words, a trickle-up theory where the rich get richer and the poor get wretched. Peter sounds like a chip off the old American blockhead.But Pocklington watchers in the National Hockey League must wonder if there isn&rsquo;t trouble in paradise for the razzle-dazzle proprietor of Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers.ITEM: Several weeks ago, in Calgary, a land developer fitted Pocklington for a $5-million lawsuit.Harold Starke, in a claim failed at the Court of Queen&rsquo;s Bench, sought $850,000 plus interest and $4-million in general and punitive damages.Starke contends that in May of 1981 he sold 160 acres in northeast Calgary to Pocklington and Pocklington Financial Corporation. The price was $9.65-million.The statement of claim indicated that Starke received a down payment of $2.5-million with promissory notes for 10 annual payments to make up the full price.The first payment of $850,000 was to have been made on Jan. 10,1982, and followed each year with $700,000 until 1991. Starke contends he had not received the first payment of $850,000 by August, which prompted his court action.<h2>A Stem Rebuke</h2>ITEM: POCKLINGTON HAS been berated by his partners in the North American Soccer League, of which his Edmonton Drillers are impoverished members.Pocklington wondered during the season, for publication in Edmonton, if the NASL could survive into 1983.His remarks inspired a stem rebuke from Lee Stern, the owner of the Chicago Sting and chairman of the NASL&rsquo;s executive committee.Stern was quoted in the Edmonton Sun: &ldquo;Pocklington is the least informed of all the NASL owners. He never attends league meetings and has done a poor job of marketing his franchise. 1 think it is tragic that an owner would make remarks about the NASL folding.&rdquo;ITEM: The man who would reorganize Canada&rsquo;s finances asked the City of Edmonton for &ldquo;rent forgiveness&rdquo; on the civic stadium where the Drillers play their soccer matches.His baseball team, the Edmonton Trappers, has what is called a &ldquo;sweetheart deal&rdquo; in rental for another Edmonton-owned facility, Renfrew Park.In sum, the man who would be King of Canada appears to be monarch of only his hockey subjects in Edmonton. The Oilers represent a license to mint money.ITEM: The Oilers gross more money per game than any other NHL club, except the New York Rangers. Their gross gate per game exceeds $200,000, unmatched even in Toronto, where Harold Ballard plays a merry tune on his cash register.<h2>Gretzky A Leaf?</h2>BALLARD AND THE Rangers, in fact, are ready to relieve Pocklington of his major asset, Mr. Gretzky.That will not happen, of course, unless there is a violation of the alleged $20-million contract between Pocklington and Gretzky. Any violation would presumably make Gretzky a free agent.The Edmonton demigod&rsquo;s pact with Pocklington is supposed to include a shopping center, which doesn&rsquo;t figure to be a sensational success if it is built in a boondock such as Flin Flon, Man.Ballard has confided, &ldquo;Sure, I&rsquo;d like to have Gretzky. Who wouldn&rsquo;t? And he tells me he&rsquo;d like to be a Maple Leaf.&rdquo;Gretzky&rsquo;s sentiment is understandable. He grew up in the Ontario town of Brantford, a long hard slapshot from Maple Leaf Gardens.In New York, chances are, Gretzky would be the biggest hockey success since referees learned to skate on their hind legs. He has the shine necessary to star on Broadway.There was never any doubt that Edmonton would succeed as an NHL franchise, no matter who owned the franchise. It has been the best sports town in Western Canada for 60 years.But Edmonton really came up bingo when Pocklington grabbed Wayne the Wunderkind. Any time any player scores 92 goals a season, he is guaranteed to make the owner seem like a genius.If he didn&rsquo;t have Gretzky, though, would Pocklington be in demand to make speeches on how he would resurrect Canada&rsquo;s decomposed economy? The answer, 1 suggest, is a resounding NO. &#9632;

f0014-02

BEDCLOTHES

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011140/4748203-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Swede Kent Nilsson, who reported to last season&rsquo;s training camp out of shape, appeared this season in mid-season form. It resulted in a dazzling performance during pre-season games.</figcaption></div>CALGARY&mdash;Steve Christoff grew up in Richfield, led his high school team there to the state finals, then played college at the University of Minnesota. Later, he joined the Minneapolis-based U.S. Olympic team and after winning the gold, turned pro with the Minnesota North Stars.In 10 years with four teams, Christoff had the unlikely experience of playing his entire hockey career in a 25-mile radius of Minneapolis-St. Paul. That is, until a summer trade that saw him off to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Willi Plett.These days, when a hometown hero is an oddity in pro sports, one would have expected Christoff to be, if not upset, at least displeased by the trade that sent him north. As it turned out, one would have been wrong.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of nice to get away for awhile,&rdquo; said Christoff. &ldquo;I played all the time in Minnesota. I never went away. It&rsquo;s kind of nice to try something different for a change.&ldquo;I like it here. 1 can tell you this, I would rather be here than a lot of other places in the league.&rdquo;In the experimental stage of training camp, Flame coach Bob Johnson had Christoff playing left wing on a line with Kent Nilsson, the team&rsquo;s high-scoring Swede.Ironically, the two snipers had faced similar operations to correct dislocated shoulders in 1982, injuries which disrupted their play and lowered their scoring totals. In the dressing room, the identical scars made Nilsson and Christoff look almost like twins from the waist up.Both players were injured in the playoffs of 1980, Christoff in Minnesota&rsquo;s series with Buffalo Sabres, Nilsson in Calgary Flames&rsquo; series against Philadelphia.Neither had surgery that summer and both came to regret it last year. Nilsson stepped on Mark Pavelich&rsquo;s stick in the 12th game of last season, crashed into the boards and had the operation that he had been postponing for years. He did not return until the 52nd game.Christoff missed just 11 games for the North Stars, but could have been absent for 22 or 33 or more had he taken time off to let the shoulder heal.&ldquo;The thing is, they don&rsquo;t know how bad it is the first time it happens,&rdquo; said Christoff. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s going to pop out again or not. With some people, it will pop out once and never again.&ldquo;All last year, it kept popping out and they knew at the end of the year, I&rsquo;d have to have surgery. It would just pop out, but I could reach over and pop it back in myself.&rdquo;&ldquo;The first time it pops out is bad,&rdquo; chimed in Nilsson. &ldquo;But after that it&rsquo;s no problem to put it back yourself.&rdquo;The two are healthy now and, in the new scheme of things, linemates until accident or ill play do them part.&ldquo;I think I can get to open ice really good and I can see that Kent passes really well,&rdquo; said Christoff. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll take awhile, but I think we&rsquo;ll be good together.&rdquo;Christoff scored 26 goals in limited service last year, a credible total considering the state of his shoulder.&ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t affect my shot so much, but everytime I got hit hard in a game, it would be sore for a week or so. It would come to the point where it was almost normal and then it would get hit good again. Mostly, it was that I had to keep my arm by my side because if I brought it up, it would get hit and get knocked out.&ldquo;Playing with the shoulder the way it was, the biggest difference in my play wasn&rsquo;t that I didn&rsquo;t get scoring chances. I did. A lot of times, when you force the play and produce a loose puck for someone, you&rsquo;re going to get a lot more opportunities. I don&rsquo;t think I was getting on the puck as well as I usually do. Already, I feel like I can get in on the defenseman better than I could before.&rdquo;As training camp wound up, it was the play of a pair of experienced centers, Nilsson and Guy Chouinard, that ranked among the most pleasant surprises.Nilsson reported in shape, something he did not do last year, and was at his dazzling best throughout the pre-season.Chouinard, in an attempt to change the poor luck that has dogged him since the team shifted here from Atlanta, switched from his traditional No. 16 to lucky No. 7 when camp opened.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s for luck,&rdquo; said Chouinard. &ldquo;Ever since the team moved here two years ago, I&rsquo;ve been hurt each year. I thought a change would do me good.&rdquo;It is Chouinard&rsquo;s seventh NHL season and seven was his number when the Flames drafted him in 1974.Chouinard, 25, now is the club&rsquo;s senior player in terms of service. The subject of much trade speculation, Chouinard was the only member of the &ldquo;Atlanta country club&rdquo; spared in general manager Cliff Fletcher&rsquo;s offseason purge.&ldquo;No, I&rsquo;m not surprised that I&rsquo;m still here,&rdquo; said Chouinard. &ldquo;I think they still have confidence in me. I think they know what I can do to help the team.&rdquo;Chouinard was off to his fastest start ever two years ago when the first of the club&rsquo;s seemingly endless supply of shoulder injuries knocked him out of the line-up for 28 games.Last year, he missed 12 games because of a pulled groin and then, four games after returning, almost lost his eye in an incident with Ken Linseman, the former Philadelphia Flyer. That cost him another two weeks and, in fact, cost him his season.Although Chouinard produced a respectable 23 goals and 57 assists in 64 games, the majority of his points came on the power play. In even strength situations, Chouinard showed little of the form that made him the only 50-goal scorer in the history of the franchise.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m better prepared for this season than last,&rdquo; said Chouinard, candidly. &ldquo;I worked harder in the summer. I rode the bike a lot. Mentally, I&rsquo;m better prepared than in the past. I&rsquo;d like to get off to a good start.&ldquo;My goals for the season? To play 80 games. Everything else will take care of itself if I stay healthy.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02847/4748196-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="1162" height="1178"><figcaption class="caption-body">Guy Chouinard, who has been plagued by injuries in the past few seasons, is hoping changing from No. 16 to lucky No. 7 will help him get back around the 50-goal plateau.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-01

Christoff’s Happy With His New Surroundings

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011003/4748255-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div>STATISTICS DO NOT INCLUDE GAMES OF MON. OCT. 12<h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01887/4748248-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="604" height="832"></div><h2>GOALTENDING STATISTICS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02727/4748241-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="570" height="2417"></div><h2>NHL LEADERS</h2><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03564/4748234-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="528" height="306"></div> &#9632;

f0016-01

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04431/4748286-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">After seeing his team lose its opening game against Vancouver, the Islanders&rsquo; John Tonelli scored the winning goal in a game against the high-flying Calgary Flames.</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;It was a day that began on a sad note and ended in bitterness and despondency for the Islanders. In the morning, they were advised that coach Al Arbour would not be behind the bench for the season opener against the Canucks at Vancouver that night because of the death of his father, Norman, in Sudbury, Ont.Assistant coach Lorne Henning filled in for Arbour in this rematch of last spring&rsquo;s Stanley Cup finalists. And when it ended, the Islanders still were disputing a third period goal by Thomas Gradin that earned the Canucks a 2-1 victory.The Canucks were on a power play when Gradin fired a shot from low in the right faceoff circle. The puck struck the post to the right of goalie Bill Smith and bounced back across the crease where defenseman Ken Morrow swept it out of danger. At that point, referee Andy van Hellemond halted play and ruled it a goal after conferring with linesman Jim Christison.&ldquo;Jim said he definitely saw the puck enter the net,&rdquo; van Hellemond told reporters after the game.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s right,&rdquo; Christison said. &ldquo;It went bing, then in and out of the net.&rdquo;However, goal judge Cliff Paran said he did not flash the red light because &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t see it go in.&rdquo; And even Gradin admitted it was a &ldquo;suspicious&rdquo; goal. That was after he viewed a video replay that supported the Islanders&rsquo; contention that the puck did not cross the goalline.The Islanders shrugged off that loss, though, and completed their opening three-game swing of western Canada with a 6-4 victory over the Flames in Calgary and a 6-4 victory over the Oilers in Edmonton. Both wins were scored with Henning behind the bench. He was not overjoyed with the Islanders&rsquo; performance at Calgary. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re making too many mental mistakes and we&rsquo;re not concentrating in our own end,&rdquo; the assistant coach said. &ldquo;We almost gave it away.&rdquo;John Tonelli ruined the Flames&rsquo; home opener when he scored on a breakaway with 7:33 remaining to break a 4-4 tie. He took a pass from Anders Kallur, got behind the Calgary defense and moved in alone on goaltender Don Edwards. Tonelli&rsquo;s shot from the middle of the slot beat Edwards on the goalie&rsquo;s glove side.&ldquo;I saw some room upstairs just before 1 shot,&rdquo; Tonelli said. &ldquo;I guess I kinda handcuffed the goalie because I let it go quick.&rdquo;The Sutter brothers, Duane and Brent, combined to earn the Islanders their victory against Edmonton. Brent scored the game&rsquo;s first goal on a rebound off the rear boards in the first period and Duane scored the winning goal on a rebound off the rear boards with 1:49 left to play.The winning goal set up by Brent Sutter, who won a faceoff to the right of Edmonton goalie Grant Fuhr. Dave Langevin wound up with the puck and fired a shot that missed the net and struck the rear boards. &ldquo;It came off the boards the same way and in the same places when Brent scored,&rdquo; Duane said. &ldquo;Fuhr turned toward the puck and it went through some people and I was lucky I was standing there (in front). My shot just made it under the crossbar.&rdquo;Fuhr was furious that both Sutters scored on rebounds off the boards at the Northlands Coliseum, which have been reinforced this year. &ldquo;The pucks have been coming off the boards like a slingshot,&rdquo; Fuhr complained. &ldquo;Maybe they should put mesh back there.&rdquo;The Sutters performed their heroics before their parents, Grace and Louis Sutter, who travelled from their farm in Viking, Alta., for the game. &ldquo;That made me feel good&mdash;scoring the winning goal in front of Mom and Dad,&rdquo; Duane Sutter said.Henning also felt good that the Islanders followed up their opening night loss at Vancouver with two victories. &ldquo;For awhile there (in Edmonton), I was sorta hoping for a tie,&rdquo; he said.Arbour was back behind the bench when the Islanders beat the Rangers 4-3 at Madison Square Garden&hellip;The Islanders opened the season with a 21-man roster, one over the limit. Mike McEwan was the odd man out in the first three games&hellip;Mike Bossy got off to a flying start by scoring goals in each of the Isles&rsquo; first three games&hellip;Anders Kallur suffered bruised rib muscles against the Flames but shook off the injury and played the next night at Edmonton&hellip;After opening the season with four road games, the Islanders were scheduled to play five straight at home. Their opponents for the home opener were the Pittsburgh Penguins, who came close to eliminating the Isles in the opening round of last spring&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs. &#9632;

f0017-04

Isles Embittered On Opening Night

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div>H&B Louisville HockeyPHILADELPHIA&mdash;The game has no conscience. Good guys, bad guys, it shows up their bodies indiscriminently, regardless of the goals of the souls inside. It is ultimately shameless about the pain it renders.Scorned by the game he loved, Jimmy Watson had no choice last week but to walk away from it. The doctors told him the recurring stiffness and pain in his back was a usual manifestations of a surgically-fused disc. There was no particular risk to continue playing, but also no reason to expect any statement of the pain. The operation, performed in January 1981, was a success. It was the patient&rsquo;s hockey career that died.&ldquo;Even in the week since the last time I played, it already feels better,&rdquo; Watson said. Which was some consolation. Brother Joe and former defense partner Bob Dailey left the game with permanent limps; Jimmy emerged from last week&rsquo;s meeting with Keith Allen and Bob McCammon walking as straight as his character. At 30, that might be the ultimate triumph, but at 30, it was a bare comfort.He deserved better. Not from the Flyers, for whom he will scout for at least the rest of the season, but from hockey. &ldquo;Before all the injuries,&rdquo; Allen said, &ldquo;I think it was fair to put Jimmy in the top eight of all the league&rsquo;s defensemen.&rdquo;As a reward for this esteem, Watson received a spot on the 1976 Canada Cup team and a Gary Sargent slapshot in the face. It broke a cheekbone and his jawbone and, though Jimmy returned within a month, the puck&rsquo;s unalternate course that night in Montreal diminished him.Three months later, the stick of St. Louis&rsquo; Jerry Butler caught his right eye, putting a crease in the retina that would never completely heal. Still, Watson returned and played well. And would still be playing if not for the degenerating disc in his lower back. What began as an annoyance during his junior days became a monster.When spasms prevented him on some mornings from sitting up to get out of bed, the operation was no longer for the purpose of playing hockey, but to live a normal life. Jimmy will have that now, but he didn&rsquo;t want it. He wanted to play hockey.He was just as determined when he reported last month to a training camp of a team that had prepared itself to continue without him. And, though Watson said last week he was relieved the decision was behind him, he would have reversed it in a second, damn the pain, if the Flyers had said they still needed him.&ldquo;I felt I could make the team or 1 wouldn&rsquo;t have come to training camp,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And if the back wouldn&rsquo;t have acted up again, I think I probably would have considered going to another team, provided it was competitive, if it meant a chance to keep playing.&rdquo;That would have involved another operation. Not on his back, but a transplant of the heart. Joe finished up in Colorado and got nothing but a shattered leg for his trouble. Ed Van Imple wound it down in Pittsburgh and then had to go to court to get the money the Penguins owed him.It told them that their agony over having to leave the Flyers was not just human nature, but fair warning that nothing would ever be the same again. The current Flyers, save the only two&mdash;Bill Barber and Bobby Clarke&mdash;who sipped the champagne, think of Philadelphia as a good place to play, but few have stitched the Flyer logo into their hearts the way a Watson has. They can&rsquo;t. It isn&rsquo;t possible until they&rsquo;ve accomplished what the Flyers of 1974 and 1975 did.Sadly, too many of those heroes have been star-crossed. Barry Ashbee, Bernie Parent, Orest Kindrachuk, Joe and now Jimmy had to retire prematurely. Yet perspective brought all of them a champion&rsquo;s peace. So glorious was the Cup-winning that none today will curse his fate.Jimmy, the balance of the agony of withdrawal still in front of him, struggled to the same conclusion last week. &ldquo;I have no regrets.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;No one can expect to play the game their entire life. I&rsquo;ll always have lot of good memories.&ldquo;Of course the Cups. Us beating the Russians the next year. 1980, too. We didn&rsquo;t win, but we came so close and we felt we had it taken away from us. We didn&rsquo;t fall short. No, I wouldn&rsquo;t change a thing.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll miss the atmosphere around the locker room, but more I&rsquo;ll miss just playing the game. No, it wasn&rsquo;t as much fun when I was playing with pain and I guess that&rsquo;s the only reason why I&rsquo;m relieved.&ldquo;But there was just such a challenge to the game. And that feeling of coming off the ice a winner&mdash;I know I&rsquo;ll never have that again.&rdquo;He comes off for the final time not without blessings. His and Susan&rsquo;s first child will be born within a few weeks. Allen and McCammon convinced him the scouting job is not just a handout. Once the baby is born, Jimmy will sample it all, the juniors, colleges, future Flyer opponents, the possible trade acquisitions. But he&rsquo;ll also sample too many hotel rooms alone. The adjustment is not going to be easy.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see how it goes,&rdquo; Watson said, &ldquo;If I like it, it might mean a chance to stay in the game.&rdquo;Until yesterday, he had no particular past-career vocation in mind, but he has some real estate and sizeable portions of his estimated $110,000-a-year salary salted away. And his nest egg includes what money can&rsquo;t buy&mdash;the everlasting respect of anyone who ever dressed alongside, or played against him.&ldquo;He gave everything,&rdquo; Paul Holmgren said last week, &ldquo;and everything, to him, was the team. If there was ever any complaining in the locker room, he&rsquo;d be the first one to shut it up.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to use the term rah-rah, because Jimmy was more than that. He didn&rsquo;t just yell in the locker room or on the bench, he played that way, too.&ldquo;He was in a lot more pain last year than he let on. He never said a word about it, not even much to the trainers, but I could see it just by getting into a car with him. We&rsquo;d go over a bump, he&rsquo;d stiffen up.&rdquo;On the ice Jimmy Watson was effective, not colorful. Nobody ever bought a ticket for the express purpose of watching him play hockey, but once inside the Spectrum they were sure glad he was there.Lord knows and, oh yes, Susan knows, the extent of his valor the last few years. And every writer and broadcaster who ever searched a locker room for the lifetime of an approachable face after a tough Flyer loss knows Jimmy Watson&rsquo;s class.He shook his head at rudeness, never turned his back on a writer who had twice burned him, loved to talk baseball, and cared not just about the Flyers, but about the game. Good for hockey or bad for hockey was very high on Jimmy&rsquo;s list of considerations.He is the best of persons and was a damn good hockey player. The disc removed from his Flyers&rsquo; and his sport&rsquo;s backbone last week cannot be fused.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01905/4748317-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="600" height="1519"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Watson has decided to retire, not because he wants to, but because his body cannot take any more abuse.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-01

Watson Leaves Philly With A Pain In His Heart

<div class="byline">BY MARK EVERSON</div>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;If it hadn&rsquo;t happened to the Devils, it would be called a miracle.As it was, New Jersey&rsquo;s accomplishments in the first week of the NHL season were easily the most stunning in the league. They went unbeaten in three, opened the rivalry with the Rangers with a 3-2 victory before their first sellout, 19,203, and raised their collective self-respect by coming back from a four-goal deficit for a 5-5 tie in Toronto.The Devils may be the same franchise that finished last in the league as the Rockies last year, but they hardly resemble the same team. Colorado didn&rsquo;t have four points until the eighth game of the season, and stalled there through the 11th, never to recover.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like night and day from Colorado,&rdquo; defenseman Joel Quenneville said.New Jersey broke out of the gate quickly on a combination of scrambling, defense, hard-nosed scrappy play, the sweat of honest work, and the goaltending of Chico Resch.And the home fans, the ones the team must satisfy to survive, loved it. The Devils drew 13,663 for the opener against Pittsburgh (3-3 comeback tie) and then made inroads into the allegiances of many Ranger fans with their first victory. The crowd that had been enthusiastically divided at the game&rsquo;s, start, with &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s Go Rangers&rsquo; chants answered by deep boos, gave them a thunderous ovation after they held off Herb Brooks&rsquo; team throughout the third period.&ldquo;We mucked it out, fought them tooth and nail,&rdquo; said Hector Marini, who came from the Islanders to pick up five points in the first three games. &ldquo;They were probably thinking &lsquo;When are these guys going to quit?&rsquo; But we didn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been playing spirited hockey and we&rsquo;re on a high,&rdquo; Marini said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re on a roll and nobody wants to let the other guy down. Everybody&rsquo;s working their tails off and we&rsquo;re a team that has to work hard. We can&rsquo;t afford to float.&rdquo;Suddenly the Devils are hungry, a hunger born of starvation, and they&rsquo;ve already tasted how sweet playing in New Jersey can be.&ldquo;It was completely different. It felt great out there,&rdquo; Merlin Malinowski said of the team&rsquo;s first game welcome. &ldquo;When we were introduced and everyone was standing and clapping, I&rsquo;d never had a feeling like that before.&ldquo;It felt like we had a home. And we felt like playing hockey,&rdquo; Malinowski said. &ldquo;It made you feel like somebody cares. In Denver we had about 5,000 hardcore fans, and I&rsquo;d never say any thing bad about them, but they just were not enough.&rdquo;The enthusiasm ran rampant throughout the team, and for a change, the vets were more excited than the rookies. &ldquo;In 50 games last year I never saw the spirit this good,&rdquo; said winger Bob MacMillan, who along with captain Don Lever, logged extensive ice time and worked both specialty teams. &ldquo;(Dave) Hutchison just came here and he was more excited than anybody. On the bench, he was telling everybody, &lsquo;Hey, we&rsquo;re not that bad.&rsquo; And we&rsquo;re not that bad. We&rsquo;re not great, but nobody&rsquo;s going to laugh at us any more.&rdquo;DEVILS TALES&mdash;Center Dave Cameron strained his right knee against the Rangers and is expected to miss two weeks. Glenn Merkosky was called up to fill in while Aaron Broten rested a muscle pull against the Rangers, and remained when Cameron went out. Merkosky went plus-3 against the Leafs&hellip;Carol Vadnais sat out the first two games while trying to renegotiate his $175,000-a-year contract&mdash;in its final season&mdash;after coming from Rangers in the waiver draft. He reached an agreement with the team on terms for next season, if he decides to play and if the Devils want him. He made his debut with the team in Toronto, scoring the Devils&rsquo; first goal. &#9632;

Devils Are Working Their Tails Off In New Jersey

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Growing up as one of seven brothers, 18-year-old Rich Sutter has been used to competition all his life. But Pittsburgh&rsquo;s No. 1 pick in last June&rsquo;s entry draft may be in for the roughest competition of his life trying to win a starting right wing spot on the Penguin roster.&ldquo;I took a lot of pride in being drafted No. 1,&rdquo; said Sutter, who was drafted 10th overall and six positions after his twin brother, Ron, by Philadelphia.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s everybody&rsquo;s dream to go in the first round. Being the team&rsquo;s first selection, you&rsquo;ve got to take that in stride, and go out and prove them right.&ldquo;If you have a bad camp, you make the team look bad. Mainly though, you make yourself look bad, like the team drafted a bad player. It&rsquo;s just a matter of proving it to everybody.&rdquo;In addition to the twins, there are four other Sutter brothers playing in the National Hockey league&mdash;Brian with St. Louis, Daryl with Chicago and Duane and Brent with the Islanders.Rich knows the pressure of being a No. 1 draft choice and being a member of hockey&rsquo;s most famous family will weigh heavily on his 5-foot-ll, 165-pound frame.&ldquo;I can feel the pressure right now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard not to think about it. Because whether you think about it or not, everybody&rsquo;s watching you. They&rsquo;re saying, &lsquo;What&rsquo;s he going to do? What&rsquo;s he going to prove?!&ldquo;It hasn&rsquo;t been easy. It never will be easy for any of us (Sutters). We&rsquo;re not blessed with a lot of stuff that a lot of guys are. The only way we&rsquo;re going to make a hockey club is to work and work hard.&ldquo;The big thing today is you see a lot more younger players coming through and they&rsquo;re blessed with a lot of talent,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;These guys (his brothers) want to work harder. Whoever&rsquo;s going to work harder, no matter what kind of talent that guy has, is going to play. Hard work will compensate for lack of talent.&rdquo;Sutter scored 38 goals and 31 assists in 57 games last season for Lethbridge of the Western Hockey League while picking up 263 minutes in penalties. Based on advice from his brothers, he plans to play the same style of hockey for the Penguins as he did in junior.&ldquo;Those guys have told us ever since we started playing junior four years ago that you can&rsquo;t go out and do things any different than you usually do,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;They said just go out and&rsquo; play the way you usually did in junior. Don&rsquo;t go out and change your style because that can hurt you.&ldquo;Go out there and go up and down your wing and play two-way hockey. Get some breaks and capitalize on them and you&rsquo;ll play regularly.&rdquo;Penguin coach Eddie Johnston, who played with Brian and coached Daryl, said the Sutter brothers have one common ingredient&mdash;character.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got speed, he&rsquo;s good with the puck and he&rsquo;s a typical Sutter,&rdquo; said Johnston about his top draft choice. &ldquo;The No. 1 thing the family has is character, and that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re looking for in our organization.&ldquo;There are thoroughbreds and fair horses, and he&rsquo;s a thoroughbred. He told me he doesn&rsquo;t intend to go back to junior. With his family&rsquo;s track record, you don&rsquo;t doubt him.&rdquo;Rich said the one thing that may work against him in his attempt to crack the Penguin lineup is his size.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m definitely not a complete hockey player yet, but I sure want to be,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;Going both ways and checking are my assets and if I can do that I&rsquo;ll be all right.&ldquo;Maybe the only thing that&rsquo;s hurting me right now is my strength, but I think that&rsquo;ll come as I get older. If I don&rsquo;t make it, I&rsquo;ll tell you one thing: I&rsquo;ll be going back to Lethbridge with my mind on trying to get back here as soon as I can.&rdquo;PENGUIN TRACKS&mdash;General manager Bez Bastien said he was wrong when he announced that left winger Troy Loney, the club&rsquo;s No. 3 draft choice and Sutter&rsquo;s Lethbridge linemate, had signed a Pittsburgh contract. Bastien said Loney&rsquo;s agent, Bill Watters, had agreed to terms, but Loney didn&rsquo;t sign because he wanted more money. Loney refused to play in the pre-season games without a contract and the Penguins sent him back to the Broncos.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01861/4748372-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="570" height="817"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rich Sutter says it&rsquo;s tough to escape the pressure of being a member of hockey&rsquo;s most famous family.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0019-01

Sutter Battles For Spot With Pens

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02476/4748434-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>Peter Stastny of the Quebec Nordiques admits even he&rsquo;s amazed by his whirlwind start to the 1982-83 NHL season.The starry center of the Nordiques, who scored eight goals in his first three games of the new season including two hat tricks against the Buffalo Sabres, collected 11 points to grab the early NHL scoring lead. The performance won Stastny the nod as the THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; Player of the Week.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little surprised with all the goals in three games, but I also think it can happen any time during the season,&rdquo; said Stastny. &ldquo;This year it just seems to be happening at the start of the year.&rdquo;The Czech ace added, &ldquo;scoring is nice, but the main thing is that we win.&rdquo; The Nordiques were 2-2 for their first four games. &#9632;

f0020-02

Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01698/4748403-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="574" height="801"><figcaption class="caption-body">Willy Lindstrom has played for five coaches in Winnipeg and says Tom Watt is the best.</figcaption></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;This city&rsquo;s affection for cute hockey is as great as ever.It is evidenced by the popularity of the Tre Kronor Line, a combination of three Swedes, namely Willy Lindstrom, Thomas Steen and Bengt Lundholm.In motion, the line can bring opponents to a virtual standstill with a series of short passes, constant movement and blanket checking.&ldquo;I love watching them and so do the fans,&rdquo; said their coach, Tom Watt. &ldquo;They are truly something to behold. But I only wish they would shoot more. Willy does, but he&rsquo;s as North American as I am. The others don&rsquo;t. Hey, you&rsquo;ve got to put it in the twine, too.&rdquo;Lindstrom is the most senior member on the team. He joined Winnipeg Jets in 1975 upon his discharge from the Swedish Army, where he served as a truck driver. Speaking virtually no English, he came to Winnipeg at the beckoning of three other Swedes, notably Lars-Erik Sjoberg, Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson.&ldquo;I expected to stay about two years, then go back,&rdquo; said Lindstrom, nicknamed The Wisp. &ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;ve stayed for seven and I doubt I&rsquo;ll ever move. All my friends are here. This is home.&rdquo;Lindstrom has played for five coaches in Winnipeg. The first four were Bobby Kromm, Larry Hillman, Tom McVie and Mike Smith. Watt, the fifth, is the best in his opinion.&ldquo;He is one of the most talented players I&rsquo;ve ever coached,&rdquo; said Watt. &ldquo;Willy ranks among the top right wingers in the league.&rdquo;Steen, now 22, was actually Sjoberg&rsquo;s discovery, too. He is built differently than most Swedish forwards, many of whom are lean and swarthy, not unlike distance runners. Steen is a husky, 195 pounds and he uses every ounce to bull his way forward.Once locked in tight situations, he has the strength and courage to withstand a pounding while he makes his plays.Lundholm, like Steen, is entering his second professional season. He&rsquo;s older, now 27, and he&rsquo;s possibly the quickest of the three. Built angularly, he tends to be jostled but he copes thanks to his quickness and enthusiasm.A year ago, they were the Jets&rsquo; most efficient line. Steen had the highest plus (+15) on the team. Lindstrom was +7 and Lundholm +2.But, as a group, they scored only 61 goals, more than half of which were scored by Lindstrom, the line&rsquo;s elder with 32.&ldquo;Willy spoke to me and reminded me how difficult it was for a first-year player from Sweden to adjust,&rdquo; said Watt. &ldquo;Over there, they stress control, the perfect chance. Well, I can appreciate their situation. But I still feel they can shoot more. And I know they are trying.&rdquo;Watt would like to see the line account for at least 75 goals.&ldquo;Last year, Thomas had only four in his first 40 games,&rdquo; said Watt. &ldquo;I know he&rsquo;ll do better than that this year.&rdquo;If the Jets had an off-season priority, it was added size. But when training camp ended two new forwards were small by NHL standards while the third, defenseman Wade Campbell, will be the biggest player in the league.Left winger Brian Mullen, from the University of Wisconsin, and center Murray Eaves, up after two seasons in Tulsa, are both 5-10 and slightly more than 180 pounds.Campbell, on the other hand, is 6-5 and 232 pounds. Nicknamed Tiny, he is from the University of Alberta.&ldquo;We couldn&rsquo;t let him go,&rdquo; said general manager John Ferguson, discussing the massive rookie. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen a man of his size with as many skills.&rdquo;Campbell came to camp purely for the experience. He hadn&rsquo;t even skated prior to the start of training camp. He had every intention of returning to university to complete his education degree.They asked him to stay for one pre-season game in Chicago. He played so well they made arrangements for him to return the following weekend for two more.Again, he shone, showing remarkable composure, finishing his hits and moving the puck smartly. He has excellent co-ordination.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to keep him,&rdquo; Jet defenseman Serge Savard said to. Ferguson. &ldquo;He can play in this league right now.&rdquo;Within an hour, the Jets made a contract offer. Campbell liked the terms, but he had some problems.What would his coach (Clare Drake) think? What would his parents say? Would his girl friend mind? Would he ever go back to school?Drake was happy for him. &ldquo;Get the best contract you can and feel free to go,&rdquo; he said. His parents agreed. And his girl friend made arrangements to transfer to the University of Manitoba.Campbell signed for two years and an option and joined the Jets immediately. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s happened so fast, I&rsquo;m almost dizzy,&rdquo; he said.BENCH BITS: Left winger Larry Hopkins was terribly disappointed when the Jets sent him down to Sherbrooke on the last day of training camp&hellip;What bothered him most was the denial of a chance to be reunited once more with Dale Hawerchuk and Paul MacLean&hellip;Also sent down was defenseman Moe Mantha, who had asked to be traded&hellip;The Jets have sold 9,758 season tickets. &#9632;

f0020-01

Jets’ Tre Kronor Trio Looks To Score More

Time used to be when the only people who had a passion for plus-minus figures were weathermen and stockholders.But hockey coaches, particularly those at the professional level, soon developed an interest in the fluctuating figures. In fact, like vital signs to a doctor, plus minus figures help a coach make conclusions about his players.If a player is in the plus category, his team is scoring more even-strength goals than allowing them while he&rsquo;s on the ice. Conversely, if the team is surrendering more even-strength goals than producing them while he&rsquo;s on the ice, he&rsquo;s accumulating a much undesired minus figure.The figures have become such an essential ingredient in today&rsquo;s hockey stats that they&rsquo;re almost as important as goals and assists.The problem is that players with healthy plus figures rarely get rewarded. A recent announcement by Emery Worldwide, in partnership with the National Hockey League, has resolved this disparity.Emery, recognized as one of the frontrunners in air cargo transportation, announced it has made a major commitment to the NHL with, the development of the Emery Edge Awards program.Using official league statistics, Emery will recognize the overall regular season plus-minus leader and the leaders of each of the league&rsquo;s 21 teams.The overall league winner will have his name inscribed on the Edge trophy, which will be permanently exhibited alongside the other league trophies at the NHL Hall of Fame in Toronto.The team winners and the overall winner will divide $12,500 in cash awards for their favorite charities and receive sterling silver trophies.Emery, which has more than 5,000 employees in 177 offices worldwide, committed itself to the program, because leading a team is a lot like leading a company, said John C. Emery, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of the corporation.&ldquo;In both cases, the leaders provide the special edge it takes to win over the competition,&rdquo; Emery said. &ldquo;Individuals such as these, we feel, deserve recognition from those of us who benefit from the excellence of their performance. As a result, the Emery Edge Award was created to recognize those in the NHL who have the special, definable &ldquo;Edge&rdquo; over their worthy fellow NHL players.NHL president John Ziegler, Jr., said that the competition for the Award should spark interest among both NHL fans and the players.,Retired greats, Gordie Howe and Rod Gilbert, will be working throughout the season promoting the program and encouraging player competition for the awards.Last season, the wunderkind of the west, Edmonton&rsquo;s Wayne Gretzky was the overall plus minus winner&mdash;aside from the Stanley Cup was there anything he didn&rsquo;t win?&mdash;with a plus 81 mark.Ironically, the second and fifth-place finishers were the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; Brian Engblom (78) and Rod Langway (66), respectively, whom the Habs dealt to the Washington Capitals in a controversial six-player swap last month.Bryan Trottier (70) and Mike Bossy (66), both of the three-time Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders placed third and fourth, respectively.With cash and prizes on the line this year, the competition will be tough.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02311/4748472-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="566" height="762"><figcaption class="caption-body">Former New York Ranger star Rod Gilbert is helping promote the program.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01522/4748465-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="568" height="1327"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gordie Howe is no stranger when it comes to awards time.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0021-02

Edge Awards Figure To Be A Big Plus

<div class="byline">BY GEORGE GROSS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01587/4748503-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="312" height="368"></div><h2>Here And There</h2>Canadian hockey players have become a most desirable import commodity, especially in Switzerland.More than 90 per cent of the 50 international players signed by teams in the Swiss National A and B leagues have been recruited from Canada. On that list are several former National Hockey League players.Among those finding new life in the Alps are ex-Los Angeles Kings Dave Gardner and Rick Hampton, who renewed contracts with Ambri-Piotta, a team from the south of Switzerland which was promoted to the A league this season.The Arosa team features Guy Charron, the 33-year-old centre of the Washington Capitals and Richard Grenier, who started off with the New York Islanders in 1972-73, but spent most of his time in the American Hockey League. Former Maple Leaf defenceman Ron Wilson is with Davos; ex-Winnipeg Jet Peter Sullivan stars for Langnau; Chris Oddleifson of the Vancouver Canucks is with Langenthal in the B League West, while Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; Kris Manery has joined the Chur team in the B League East.Despite the influx of talent, Canada has not been the sole recruiting ground. Other foreign mercenaries include Bohuslav Ebermann and Jiri Novak&mdash;former members of the Czechoslovak national team&mdash;who signed with Lausanne in the B League West. Dick Decloe of Holland now toils for Bern of the B League West.Sullivan was the star of the game when Langnau and Ambri-Piotta clashed in the first game of the season. The little centre scored four goals in the 7-7 tie, while Ambri&rsquo;s Gardner had a pair of goals and an assist. Charron failed to score, but his three assists helped Arosa beat Lugano 8-5, while Novak and Ebermann each scored a pair for Lausanne in their 9-2 win over Ajoie.<h2>West Germany</h2>The Cologne Sharks and Mannheim resumed their bitter rivalry from last season and are tied at the top of the West German Federal League with perfect 5-0 records.Newcomer Iserlohn, 2-1 winners over Schwenningen in the fifth round, are in third place with seven points, while Landshut, the team of star center Erich Kuhnackl, is tied with Rosenheim for fourth place, each with six points. Landshut lost to the Sharks 6-4 in Cologne.Schwenningen and Kaufbeuren, each with four points, Dusseldorf (3), Riessersee (2) and Fussen without a point follow in that order.<h2>Czechoslovakia</h2>The Czechoslovak National League continued its schedule in a business-as-usual fashion despite the departure of stars such as Miroslav Dvorak (Philadelphia Flyers), Jiroslav Pouzar (Edmonton Oilers), Milan Novy (Washington Capitals) and Peter Ihnacak (Toronto Maple Leafs) to the NHL.After three rounds, though, the situation at the top of the standings is somewhat jammed. Six teams are tied for first with four points each: Jihlava, Plzen, Pardubice, Sparta Prague, Kosice and Ceske Budejovice.Gottwaldov and Vitkovice are tied for seventh with three points each, followed by Litvinov, Brno and Slovan Bratislava, each with two points. Kladno is in last place without a point.<h2>Soviet Union</h2>The Soviet national championship opened in the latter part of September with 12 teams in the top league scheduled to play 44 games each before March 18. The reason for the early conclusion of the regular season each year is to allow the coach of the national team, Victor Tikhonov, to select the best players and prepare them for the 1983&rsquo; world championships in West Germany in April.The most hectic part of the regular league schedule is between Oct. 24 and Nov. 1 when each team will play a league game every second night. In addition, members of the national team are required to play two games against Finland during the month of October without missing a regularly scheduled league contest. This is to season the players for the rigorous schedule of the world and Olympic competitions. &#9632;

f0022-01

THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div>CHICAGO&mdash;An optimist would consider the Black Hawks to be one of the four best teams in the National Hockey League last season, while a pessimist would put them down as the seventh worst.Who&rsquo;s right?It depends on the eye of the beholder. If you&rsquo;re looking at the playoffs, the Hawks were one of the four tops&mdash;they made it all the way to the Stanley Cup semi-finals before Vancouver bid them good day. But, if your vantage point is the regular season&mdash;in which the Hawks&rsquo; team picture could have been a hospital X-ray&mdash;they were the seventh worst, finishing with an overall record of 30-38-12.Now, however, the statute of limitations has run its course. A new season is underway. There&rsquo;s a new coach, Orval Tessier; and some new players, the most conspicuous of whom are rookies Troy Murray, Steve Larmer and Jack O&rsquo;Callahan.The key would appear to be the 49-year-old Tessier, who had bit parts as a National Hockey League player in the late &rsquo;50s and early &rsquo;60s.After he stopped skating, he sold beer, then got into coaching on the junior level and was very successful in Cornwall, Chicoutimi and Kitchener. But it wasn&rsquo;t until last year, when the Hawks and Toronto gave him a chance with their jointly-operated New Brunswick farm team, that he coached at the professional level.Tessier proceeded to make up for lost time. Unexpectedly, New Brunswick (which now is an Edmonton farm team) won the American League regular season championship and then went on to claim the Calder Cup in the playoffs.&ldquo;Wherever Orval has been his teams have been winners,&rdquo; said General Manager Bob Pulford, who gladly relinquished the coaching job he unwillingly assumed last February after ex-coach Keith Magnuson was unable to bring Chicago out of a traumatic tailspin.The team that Tessier has inherited seems stronger than the one Pulford took to the Stanley Cup semi-finals. But divisional rivals Minnesota and St. Louis&mdash;the teams the Hawks upset in the playoffs&mdash;also appear much improved.An assessment of the Hawks&rsquo; strengths must begin with Doug Wilson, winner of the Norris Trophy last season when he scored 39 goals. If the 25-year-old Wilson surpasses Bobby Orr&rsquo;s record of 46 goals by a defenseman this time around, it would come as no surprise.From the Hawks&rsquo; standpoint, center Denis Savard is as vital a component as Wilson. He scored a team record 119 points in his second NHL season and his derring-do with the puck and ability to unravel defenses make Denis a constant menace.Tom Lysiak, in his past nine years in the league, has never received the accolades that are being bestowed on Wilson and Savard but he&rsquo;s one of the finest two-way centers in the game.For the Hawks to improve dramatically in the regular season it probably is essential that three key players perform up to their capabilities&mdash;left wingers Daryl Sutter and Al Secord and defenseman Keith Brown.Secord scored a career-high 43 goals last year; Sutter had 23 while playing half of an injury-hexed season after getting 40 goals as a rookie; and Brown&rsquo;s season also was sliced in two because of surgery. Brown is only 22 and, in his last junior season in Portland, he had 96 points. If he emulates Wilson and suddenly puts his NHL tool-kit in order, watch out.In spite of the Hawks&rsquo; poor defensive record last year, the goaltending seems stable. Murray Bannerman was outstanding in the playoffs against Minnesota. When the Hawks needed him, 39-year-old Tony Esposito delivered in the clutch. Bannerman figures to get more ice time than last year and Esposito figures to be happier with less now that Tessier is running the show. &#9632;

Hawks Hope To Inherit Tessier’s Winning Ways

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01541/4748558-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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INFLATION FIGHTER!

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01570/4748589-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Richard Sevigny couldn&rsquo;t remember the last time he won two consecutive games. Last season, he was one of three goalies on the team and played in only 19 games.</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;It had been a long time since Richard Sevigny had started consecutive games for the Montreal Canadiens. In fact, the Canadiens&rsquo; goaltender couldn&rsquo;t even remember exactly when he played two in a row for Montreal last year.&ldquo;I guess it was sometime last December,&rdquo; Sevigny said. &ldquo;But I can&rsquo;t tell you the last time I won two games in a row.&rdquo;The 25-year-old goaltender was a victim of last season&rsquo;s three-goaltender system. Sevigny appeared in just 19 games, playing 1,027 minutes and allowed 53 goals for a 3.10 goals-against average. By appearing in so few games, he was unable to have his name inscribed on the Bill Jennings Trophy along with fellow goaltenders Rick Walmsley and Denis Herron.Things have changed around the Forum, however, with the deal which sent Herron to Pittsburgh last month for a third-round draft pick in 1985.Sevigny, who is in his third season with the Canadiens, will share the goaltending duties exclusively with Walmsley. Because of the unfortunate death of Walmsley&rsquo;s infant son, which resulted in the sophomore goaltender&rsquo;s one-week absence from training camp, Sevigny was called upon to play the majority of the early-season Canadiens&rsquo; games.He faced just 20 shots as the Canadiens&rsquo; won their 66th National Hockey League opener with a 2-1 victory over Hartford. The following night in Boston, he kicked out 33 shots and was the first star in Montreal&rsquo;s 5-1 victory over the Bruins.Sevigny showed some of the old-time form which made him a popular figure with the Montreal hockey fans. He came out and challenged and also used his quick left glove hand to keep the forwards from taking advantage of some of the defensive giveaways in the Canadiens&rsquo; end.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to change my style,&rdquo; Sevigny said. &ldquo;I find I&rsquo;m more into the game when I come out and challenge. If I stayed back in the net too much, I&rsquo;d get myself in trouble.&rdquo;While Sevigny was upset that he lost his good friend Herron in the deal to Pittsburgh he fully realized the opportunity that Managing Director Irving Grundman had given him. While he is not as close to Walmsley as he was to Herron, there doesn&rsquo;t seem to be any bitter rivalry between the two young netminders, just a spirit of friendly competition.Walmsley played in the Canadiens&rsquo; final two pre-season games against the Bruins and was put into the backup role after Voyageur goaltender Mark Holden was returned to Nova Scotia two days before the NHL season started.&ldquo;I feel in reasonably good shape,&rdquo; said Walmsley, who did not expect to start for the Canadiens before they made their one and only visit to New Jersey in the second week of the season. &ldquo;My reflexes and timing are fine, now it&rsquo;s just a case of waiting to get into the game.&rdquo;Last season, Walmsley appeared in 38 games, allowing 101 goals in 2,206 minutes for a 2.75 goals-against average. He finished second in the league behind Herron&rsquo;s 2.46 mark in the goals-against department.Walmsley appeared in all five Canadiens&rsquo; playoff games and finished with the best goals against mark (2.20) of any of the goaltending participants in post-season play.Both Sevigny and Walmsley will be on the hot seat this season because of the multi player trade with Washington that sent the Canadiens&rsquo; top defensemen, Brian Engblom and Rod Langway, to the Capitals.While the Canadiens limited Boston and Hartford to one goal apiece, it should be noted that the Whalers were without top gun Blaine Stoughton and failed to put much pressure on Montreal&rsquo;s young defense.The Bruins meanwhile, were without defenseman Raymond Bourque, out for eight weeks with an injury, and Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, who was serving a ten-game suspension.Still, Coach Bob Berry was pleased with the effort produced, particularly that of rookie Craig Ludwig of the University of North Dakota.Ludwig, who was not expected to make the Canadiens, formed an effective duo with Larry Robinson and the two were easily Montreal&rsquo;s best defensive pair.IN PASSING&mdash;Rick Green, acquired along with Ryan Walter in the Washington deal, missed the first week of the Canadiens schedule because of a sore back&hellip;Doug Wick-enheiser surprised some of his critics with his aggressive style in the early part of the season. Wickenheiser, who has been accused of being lackadaisical in his first two seasons, was bumping everything in sight during the games against the Whalers and Bruins as he performed well on a line with Walter and Guy Lafleur&hellip;Guy Carbonneau, Chris Nilan and rookie Swede Mats Naslund were the designated sitters for coach Bob Berry in the early going. &#9632;

f0024-01

Canadiens’ Sevigny Glad To Escape Three-Man Rotation

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;The annual Welcome North Stars civic luncheon that immediately precedes each Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; hockey season was filled with optimism this season. The trophies and awards for last season were all given out, and the players all said they&rsquo;d like to add the big one, the Stanley Cup, to the display for next year.Of course, the players said the same thing last year, and while they may have spent parts of the season preoccupied with the playoffs, they found out harshly that it was a lot of time worked up about nothing, when they went out in just four games of the first-round series against Chicago.There is a difference on this club, however; an attitude change that carries from management and coaches down through the players.&ldquo;For the last few years,&rdquo; said Coach Glen Sonmor, &ldquo;we&rsquo;ve been able to say that we have a lot of talent, but we could say we were also very young as an excuse. We are still quite young, but our young players have experience. We can no longer use being young as an excuse. Now it is up to us to prove we are there.&rdquo;There is a distinction, Sonmor agreed, between a team being convinced it is great and being convinced it must prove it is great.As for all the predictions from around the league that the Stars are a Cup contender, Sonmor shrugged and said, &ldquo;It goes with the territory. Obviously, we have a lot of talent, and obviously we are superior to a lot of teams we&rsquo;ll be playing.&ldquo;But what worries me is that with all the optimism, we must be careful not to get the feeling that we&rsquo;re so good we&rsquo;ll automatically win. If you have that attitude, it is easy to get caught unawares and get outworked by a team that might not be as good as we are.&ldquo;When we opened the season in Winnipeg, some guy asked me if we felt we were on the verge of a dynasty. I mean, we had two years of good playoffs, and we had a lot of points last season, but we haven&rsquo;t proved we&rsquo;re great yet. The Islanders are still wondering if they have an actual dynasty, and they&rsquo;ve won three straight cups.&rdquo;The change in attitude that is coming from the coaching staff is a significant one.&ldquo;As coaches, we&rsquo;re going to be more prepared and ready to change quickly from what we&rsquo;re doing in a game,&rdquo; Sonmor said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve usually been patient, and maybe changed some things between periods. But now we&rsquo;re going to maintain closer contact upstairs and if certqain lines or players are playing better, we&rsquo;re going to get them in there more often.&rdquo;It worked out in the first game of the season at Winnipeg. J.P. Parise, upstairs on the headphones, kept close contact with Murray Oliver on the bench. Oliver and Sonmor talked things over as play was going on, and Sonmor cut back from four lines to three and from six defensemen to four, alternating two on one side. As testimony to how well he&rsquo;s played, 6-foot-3 rookie Dan Mandich and Craig Hartsburg remained as one pair, while Curt Giles played regularly with either Gordie Roberts or Brad Maxwell.&ldquo;In that case, it wasn&rsquo;t so much that one line wasn&rsquo;t doing enough as that the Bobby Smith and Neal Broten lines were playing really well,&rdquo; Sonmor said. &ldquo;By cutting back, those lines got out there more.&rdquo;Sure enough, Dino Ciccarelli, set up by Iinemates Neal Broten and Tom McCarthy, scored twice late in the game to produce a 5-4 victory.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll make some mistakes,&rdquo; said Sonmor. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;re going to keep better communication going on who we think is either playing good or struggling on a particular night. We may not always be right, but we&rsquo;re going to make the changes on the spot.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02418/4748620-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="578" height="898"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dino Ciccarelli scored a pair of goals in the Stars&rsquo; opener against the Winnipeg Jets.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0024-02

The Fault Of The Stars No Longer Lies In Inexperience

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01497/4748651-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Hospodar gets a sick feeling inside when he realizes he&rsquo;s no longer a member of the New York Rangers. But being reunited with ex-Rangers Warren Miller and Doug Sulliman should cure his nausea. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>HARTFORD&mdash;It was with mixed emotions that Ed Hospodar accepted his move from the New York Rangers to the Hartford Whalers, sort of like watching the schoolhouse burn down, knowing that your brand new catcher&rsquo;s mitt is in your desk.&ldquo;When I think about not being a Ranger anymore, I get a sick feeling inside,&rdquo; said Hospodar, a 23-year-old defenseman with 122 games of NHL experience. &ldquo;I learned a lot in my three years in New York. But I&rsquo;m happy to be going to a team that wants me. Let me tell you something. Hartford was talented enough to be in the playoffs last year. I want to play and I want to see the team win. The more that I can contribute, the happier I&rsquo;ll be.&rdquo;Hospodar, who is 6-2 and 210 pounds, joined Hartford along with center Mark Johnson in a three-team deal. The Whalers gave Minnesota a fifth-round draft pick in 1984 and winger Jordy Douglas for another winger, 31-year-old Kent-Erik Andersson. The Whalers dealt Andersson to the Rangers for Hospodar.The Rangers&rsquo; search for somebody to play alongside Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg, a search that seems to be taking forever, may end with Andersson. At least, that is what the club is hoping.In Hospodar, the Whalers have acquired a stand-up guy who has earned a reputation for aggress-iveness and enviable character.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very proud of that reputation,&rdquo; Hospodar said. &ldquo;1 was a team leader in Ottawa and I helped in the room in New York. I like the boys, and I think the boys like me.&rdquo;Defenseman Chris Kotsopoulos, who played with Hospodar in New York, couldn&rsquo;t stop smiling.&ldquo;Eddie&rsquo;s just what the doctor ordered,&rdquo; Kotsopoulos said. &ldquo;You should have seen the room when they told us about the trade. I&rsquo;m going to tell you something. This team is going to surprise some people. The playoffs are not out of the question.&rdquo;Hospodar will be reunited with two close friends, wingers Doug Sulliman and Warren Miller.Mike Rogers said the Whalers made a sound acquisition&ldquo;We, were a foursome in New York, really,&rdquo; Hospodar said. &ldquo;Sully, Warren, Don Maloney and me. We did a lot of things together, Sully called me when he heard about the trade. He&rsquo;ll take good care of me.&rdquo;Pressed on his enforcer background&mdash;in 122 NHL games, he shows eight goals, 31 points and 442 penalty minutes&mdash;Hospodar shrugged.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been one of the bigger guys and I don&rsquo;t mind the tough going,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If it comes down to that, I&rsquo;ll be there.&rdquo;Last year was Hospodar&rsquo;s toughest. A broken jaw, a wrist injury and whispers about being traded to Quebec haunted him. Considering that he was playing without a contract, things became doubly difficult.&ldquo;It was a tough year all around,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t recommend anybody trying to play without a contract. It was a long headache.&rdquo;Mike Rogers, once a fixture in Hartford and now a 100-point scorer for the Rangers, said that the Whalers have made a sound acquisition.&ldquo;Eddie&rsquo;s a good man in the room, a great guy for a team, and he can play, Rogers said. &ldquo;The Whalers have got themselves a player. He&rsquo;ll help them a lot.&rdquo;WHALER SCUTTLEBUTT&mdash;The Whalers began the regular season without high scorer Blaine Stoughton, who was suspended for a match penalty in the team&rsquo;s final exhibition game. Stoughton stick-checked Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Paul Baxter across the face and was ejected on the spot. Baxter luckily escaped with six stitches above the right eye&hellip;Kotsopoulos, who was involved in an earlier stick-swinging act with Baxter, also in the pre-season, is still awaiting possible suspension. It seems that the league&rsquo;s office cannot get tapes of the game and won&rsquo;t make a ruling until viewing them. The Whalers began the season without Garry Howatt, a free agent who was protected by the Whalers in the waiver draft. Chances are improving that Howatt will play with the Whalers. New Jersey, terrified of what might be lost in arbitration, has been extremely reluctant to sign Howatt&hellip;Whalers went 2-4-2 in the pre-season, setting four club preseason records: most shutout losses (3), fewest goals scored (17), fewest goals allowed (22) and most possible renowned physical type, Henderson, a right winger, has impressed brass with leadership qualities and obvious toughness. He&rsquo;ll get spot duty, at least at the start of the season. &#9632;

f0025-01

Hospodar Happy To Stand Up To Tough Reputation

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02346/4748682-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg"></div>&ldquo;Where readers get together to do business&rdquo;RINK EQUIPMENTPERSONALSFAN CLUBSOPPORTUNITIESPOSITIONS WANTEDPLAYER EQUIPMENT<h2>PERSONALS</h2>WOMEN&rsquo;S ICE HOCKEY: Newsletter covers U.S. and Canadian colleges. 15 issues a year. Send $10 (U.S. currency) to: Women&rsquo;s Hockey Newsletter, 5 Warwick Road, Belmont, MA 02178.WORK IN CANADA&rsquo;S NORTH: High pay, adventure. New directory of employers, wages, addressed, all details. Guaranteed. Send $8.00 to: Direct Publications, 105C-504 Main St., Winnipeg, Man., R3B 1B8.COLLECTORS: Enameled trading pins&mdash;pennants&mdash;buttons&mdash;pucks. Customized quality products in your team logo and colours. Other souvenirs available. Send for our brochure to PMS Box 1124, Fort Erie, Ont., L2A 5N9. (416) 894-2356 or 81 Mill St. Williamsville, NY 14221. (716) 634-8441.STICKERS, CARDS: 82/83 OPC hockey stickers $19.95, card set $10.99. Add $1.00 postage. 20th Century Sports, 2713 Quadra Street, Victoria, B.C., V8T4E5.CRESTED PUCKS: Wanted to trade or buy. James Sullivan Jr., 55 South Bay Ave., Freeport, NY 11520.WHA&mdash;NHL DEFUNCT: Complete listing of guides, yearbooks, pucks, pennants, equipment, jerseys, decals, photos, etc. For booklet send $3.00 to cover handling. Empire Sports, North York Sheridan Mall, 1700 Wilson Ave., Suite B1, Downsview, Ont., M3L 1B2.<h2>TOURNAMENTS</h2>CALLING ALL TEAMS: Pontiac National Midget Tournament, Shawville, Quebec. Largest midget tournament in Canada. Feb. 18-25,1983. Call (819) 648-2506. &#9632;

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CLASSIFIED

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03319/4748758-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="552" height="1523"></div><h2>NOVEMBER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04248/4748751-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="544" height="94"></div> &#9632;

f0026-03

AHL Games To Come

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>H&B Louisville Hockey<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01520/4748720-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="566" height="1371"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Bowness is looking forward to the challenge of coaching.</figcaption></div>SHERBROOKE&mdash;Continuing health problems have forced Ron Racette to take a leave of absence from his coaching duties with the Sherbrooke Jets.Racette, 40, will be replaced on an interim basis for at least two and a half months by left winger Rick Bowness, who will continue as a player for the American Hockey League team. Racette underwent brain surgery on July 21 to remove a mass of fat that had collected on the left side.The combination of the operation and the rigors of running a training camp apparently took its toll and Racette, on the recommendation of his doctor, stepped down after four preseason games.&ldquo;He just wasn&rsquo;t feeling well, from what I understand,&rdquo; Bowness said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if it had anything to do with his recent operation or not, but he didn&rsquo;t feel he was able to give the team 100 per cent. He said he always asked his players to give 100 per cent and when he wasn&rsquo;t able to, he decided to take a few months off so he could recoup and come back stronger than he is right now.&rdquo;For Bowness, 28, the opportunity to coach couldn&rsquo;t have come at a better time.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a challenge that I&rsquo;ve been looking forward to,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;The last couple of years I&rsquo;ve been in the minors and I&rsquo;m at the stage in my career when maybe I should start looking forward to moving on to something else.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always envisioned being a coach and now I have the opportunity to gain some experience coaching. Maybe it will only be for a couple of months, but it will be a great experience and I&rsquo;m really looking forward to it.&rdquo;He concedes that responsibility of playing and coaching will be taxing.&ldquo;It may be a little difficult at the start, playing and coaching,&rdquo; Bowness said, &ldquo;but, again, you can&rsquo;t teach experience, you have to live it. 1&rsquo;11 just have to take it game by game.&rdquo;Just prior to the Jets&rsquo; season-opener against St. Catharines, they picked up a pair of experienced players from the parent Winnipeg Jets.&ldquo;We just received Larry Hopkins (a left winger) and Moe Mantha (a defenseman), and these two guys are really going to help us,&rdquo; Bowness said. &ldquo;They both played in the National League last year. They are great hockey players and are certainly going to help us.&rdquo;Although Bowness expects some changes in his rosters, he feels the Jets are in good shape for the start of their first AHL season.&ldquo;Winnipeg still has a few extra players up there. They have to make some decisions,&rdquo; Bowness said. &ldquo;Maybe we&rsquo;ll get some players and maybe we won&rsquo;t. I&rsquo;m very pleased with the players we have here. We have a good hockey team as it stands right now, especially with Hopkins and Mantha. I&rsquo;m not too concerned about it.&rdquo;Bob O&rsquo;Connor and Brian Hayward, rookie goalies who played with American college teams last season, have won the Jets&rsquo; goaltending berths. O&rsquo;Connor played at Boston College and Hayward at Cornell. The pair displaced veterans Pierre Hamel and Yves Dechesne.ADIRONDACK&mdash;Wayne Crawford, a second-year pro from Toronto, provided the offensive firepower and goalie Corrado Micalef came up with some spectacular defense as the Wings kicked off the AHL&rsquo;s 520-game season with a 5-3 win over St. Catharines.Crawford, who was asked to double shift with right winger Brian Johnson and left wingers Eric Vail and Ted Nolan, scored three times and assisted on Nolan&rsquo;s goal. Johnson picked up three assists.Coach Bill Mahoney pared his roster to 22 players when he cut veteran goalie Larry Lozinski, forwards Brian Rorabeck, Brent Jarrett, Bob Lekun and defenseman Mike Brown. Lozinski and Rorabeck were assigned to Kalamazoo, Lekun and Brown were expected to attend the Kalamazoo camp, and Jarrett, the property of Saginaw, is expected to report to the Gears&rsquo; camp.Lozinski, Adirondack&rsquo;s top goalie last year with a 3.30 goals against average in 51 games, lost the numbers battle to Micalef, veteran Jim Rutherford and Claude Legris, who turned in a spectacular pre-season performance to earn a berth.Don Murdoch (Achilles tendon), Jody Gage (left knee) and Randy Ladouceur (back) were forced to miss the opener with injuries. Their absence prompted Mahoney to use 10 forwards and six defensemen, including Carmine Cirella, normally a left winger.NOVA SCOTIA&mdash;The Vees completed their pre-season schedule with a 4-1-1 record. Montreal sent down goalie Mark Holden and rookie center John Newberry.Newberry earned All-American status with Wisconsin last year when he helped the Badgers reach the NCAA finals against North Dakota. In 39 games as a senior, Newberry scored 38 goals and assisted on 27 others.MAINE&mdash;With the biggest and smallest players in the league, 11 rookies and six second-year men, the Mariners have completed a rather drastic transformation under new coach Tommy McVie.Once again, the Mariners will use a three-goalie system, with rookie Gil Hudon joining holdovers Bob Froese and Sam St. Laurent. Veteran Dennis Patterson, the only captain the Mariners have ever had, returns to anchor a huge defense. In fact, at 5-8 185, Patterson is the smallest of the seven defenders. Mark Botell, 6-4, 220, and Paul Mercier, 6-0, 210, are back for their second seasons. The new-combers include, Brian Tutt, 6-1, 196; Taras Zytynsky, 6-1, 205; Daryl Stanley, 6-2, 200; and Mike Stothers, 6-4, 210.Right winger Dave Brown, a 6-5, 220-pound rookie from Saskatoon, has the disctinction of being the biggest player in the league. He&rsquo;ll play on a line with pro hockey&rsquo;s smallest player, center Steve Tsujiura, a 5-5, 155-pound speedstar.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02375/4748713-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="568" height="1313"><figcaption class="caption-body">Veteran NHLer Eric Vail was demoted to Adirondack by the Detroit Red Wings.</figcaption></div>Returning forwards include, Wayne Schaab, John Paddock, Berry Tabo-bondung, Gordie Williams and Dan Held. They&rsquo;ll be joined by free agent Mel Hewitt and rookies Andy Brickley, Rob Motz, Brown, Alain Lavigne, Len Hachborn and Tsujiura.Motz, a free agent who played at Sudbury last year, was the surprise of the training camp. He led the team in scoring with four goals and seven points as the Mariners compiled a 3-1-0 record.The Mariners started the season with home and home games against Springfield with a lineup that averaged 22.2 years and 6-1, 191-pounds.FREDERICTON&mdash;The Express, the weakest offensive team in the AHL a year ago with only 275 goals, picked up sharpshooters Jacques Richard and Richard David from the parent Quebec Nordiques. Richard scored 52 goals and 103 points for the Nordiques two seasons ago.Vancouver Canuck goalie Frank Caprice joined the Express just before the start of the season and will share duties with Clint Malarchuk.MONCTON&mdash;A lack of defensemen hampered the Alpines in the preseason and they allowed 23 goals in four exhibition losses. Doug Messier&rsquo;s club did manage a 4-4 tie with the parent Edmonton Oilers. The Alpines opened the season with defensemen Lowell Loveday, Jay MacFarlane, Joe McDonnell, Jim McTaggart, Steve Harrison and Reid Bailey. The goaltending will be handled by Chris Smith and Gord Garbutt. &#9632;

f0026-01

Bowness Piloting The Jets After Poor Health Grounds Ron Racette

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div>BALTIMORE&mdash;American Hockey League coaches in October are like high school girls waiting for a date to the prom. All they can do is sit by the phone and pray.AHL coaches pray their NHL parent clubs won&rsquo;t wait until the final hour before making their last cuts. They pray they can learn the names of their new players before the opening night introductions. And, most of all, they pray for a competitive club to start the season.If you want to get down to reality, the AHL season doesn&rsquo;t really start until December. October and November are the months reserved for rookies to learn a new system and for disgruntled, demoted veterans to screw their heads back on straight and grow accustomed to the interminable bus rides.In Baltimore, Skipjack coach Lou Angotti has it twice as hard. Being the only Southern Division team with a dual affiliation, Angotti has to wait for news from both the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re like everybody else, we&rsquo;ve got twenty players,&rdquo; Angotti sighed when asked if the expansion Skipjacks were ready. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t had much time to work. We&rsquo;ve got five players coming from Boston, and they&rsquo;re meeting us in Rochester. We just got two or three the other day from Pittsburgh.&ldquo;Yeah, it&rsquo;s tough. It&rsquo;s sort of helter-skelter.&rdquo;The opening week of the season is most difficult on those players who were cut at the last minute. Angotti says he has to do all he can to help them.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a withdrawal period for them,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They just missed making the team, they&rsquo;re disappointed at coming down. I try to show some understanding. We have to create an environment that we&rsquo;ll do whatever it takes to help them play their game, to create an opportunity for them to get back to the NHL again.&ldquo;You have to put them into that frame of mind, but it&rsquo;s hard. Their clothes are in Boston, they&rsquo;re living in some hotel, and all of a sudden they have to jump on an airplane and meet us for a couple of games.&rdquo;From Boston came goalie Marco Baron, who spent a good portion of last season with the Bruins, defenseman Larry Melynk and forwards Dave Barr, Mike Gillis and Denis Poulin. Pittsburgh assigned forwards Peter Lee and Jim Hamilton.ROCHESTER&mdash;American coach Mike Keenan was one Southern Division coach who had his prayers answers. Four days prior to Rochester&rsquo;s opener at home against Baltimore, the Buffalo Sabres assigned a goal mine of talent: centers J. F. Sauve, Bob Mongrain and Randy Cunneyworth; left winger Yvon Lambert; defenseman Dave Fenyves; goalies Phil Myre and Paul Harrison.Sauve tore up the AHL two seasons ago, scoring 83 points in 56 games before the Sabres beckoned. The 5-6, 175-pound roadrunner was the second-team all-star center that year. Last season, he scored 55 points in 69 games in Buffalo before being sent down. In seven games with the Amerks, he scored 13 points.Not bad, eh? And then you&rsquo;ve got Mongrain, who scored 74 points in 56 games last season; the rugged Cunneyworth, who added a combined 133 penalty minutes in Buffalo and Rochester; and Lambert, the 10-year veteran who hasn&rsquo;t seen the AHL since he led this league with 52 goals and 104 points for Nova Scotia in 1972-73.Fenyves, a 22-year-old defensive-minded defenseman, will be starting his third year on the Amerks&rsquo; defense. He&rsquo;ll anchor that corp for Myre and Harrison, two goalies with a wealth of NHL experience.Those are seven reasons why Keenan was smiling on opening night, and why the Amerks have to be considered early favorites in the Southern Division race.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s great to be going into the first week of the season like this, but I&rsquo;m too street-wise to sit here and think we&rsquo;ll have these players all year,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;Past experience tells me there&rsquo;ll be some more changes, but it&rsquo;s a fairly healthy situation with the pool of talent in Buffalo.&rdquo;Keenan&rsquo;s not kidding. Even after Buffalo made its cuts, 25 players remained with the Sabres and all but two junior-aged players are eligible to be assigned to Rochester.NEW HAVEN&mdash;Coach Nick Beverley has a problem none of his colleagues had to worry about. &ldquo;We have too many guys,&rdquo; said the Nighthawk coach who was trying to fit 24 players into 22 spots on the roster. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m dealing with now.&rdquo;Los Angeles is still carrying an extra forward and an extra defenseman, so Beverley thinks he may get two more players.Beverley&rsquo;s roster is filled with youngsters. Bill D&rsquo;Dwyer is a forward from Boston College, Phil Sykes a forward out of North Dakota. Both are rookies. Greg Terrion, a second-round draft pick in 1980 who spent all last year with the Kings, will be on left wing and Dave Morrison, another &rsquo;80 second-rounder, is a right winger. Right winger Blair Barnes scored 62 points in Wichita (CHL) last season. Jim Brown is a rookie defenseman out of Notre Dame.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01496/4748803-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="564" height="762"><figcaption class="caption-body">Yvon Lambert is back in the minors after a 10-year sabbatical in the NHL.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02326/4748796-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="568" height="766"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marco Baron has been bumped down to Baltimore from the Boston Bruins.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03215/4748789-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="574" height="764"><figcaption class="caption-body">Greg Terrion spent all of last season with the L.A. Kings.</figcaption></div>ST. CATHARINES&mdash;The Saints are loaded with experience vets who have proved not to be the type who sulk in the minors. Defenseman Dave Farrish and center Mike Kaszycki led the New Brunswick Hawks to the Calder Cup last season. Center Bruce Boudreau and left winger Reg Thomas combined for 213 points in Cincinnati of the Central League.Add goalies Jiri Crha and Bob Parent, defensemen Dave Shand and Dave Logan, and you have a veteran cast that may jump out quickly while their divisional foes sort themselves out.One rookie to watch is center Fred Perlini, a 6-2, 175-pounder who was Toronto&rsquo;s eighth-round draft choice in 1980 out of the OHL&rsquo;s Toronto Marlboros. In seven games late last season with the Maple Leafs, Perlini had two goals and three assists.BINGHAMTON&mdash;Hartford made a flurry of moves the day before the season opened as Binghamton attempts to defend its Southern Division crown. Left winger Paul Marshall was acquired from Toronto for the AHL Whalers for future considerations. The New York Rangers loaned right winger Dave Silk, and Hartford assigned defenseman Stu Smith and Jeff Brownschidle, center Michel Galarneau and rookie left winger Dan Fridgen, a Colgate University alumnus.Team captain Randy MacGregor was suspended for one game, the season opener in Nova Scotia, after receiving a match penalty for butt-ending Gary McAdam in an exhibition contest in Rochester.HERSHEY&mdash;Center Glen Currie and defenseman Timo Blomqvist were Washington&rsquo;s latest cuts. They join a team that had an excellent 1981-82 second half and could make a run for the division.Blomqvist, Doug Hicks, Greg Theberge, Paul MacKinnon, Jay Johnston and rookie Tony Camazzola comprise a strong defense. Al Jensen and Robbie Moore are solid in goal. Forwards Tony Cassolato, Harvie Pocza and Lou Franceschetti proved last season they can score, and the offense has been padded by left wingers Gaetan Duchesne and Torrie Robertson.SPRINGFIELD&mdash;Rookie coach Orland Kurtenbach quickly learned what October is like. Just one day prior to his coaching debut at home against Maine, he was still waiting for Chicago to make its last cuts.Welcome to the AHL, Orland. &#9632;

f0027-01

Coaches’ Favorite Phone Show: The Waiting Game

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>H&B Louisville HockeyDENVER&mdash;Stilll in training camp at Calgary, coach Pierre Page of the new Colorado Flames had a roster of 29 men, but some of these were expected to be sent on to the International League without ever seeing the Mile High City.The seasoned goaltender on the Colorado squad was 24-year-old Tim Bernhardt from Sarnia, Ont., who has already seen service with three other CHL clubs&mdash;Tulsa, Birmingham (two years), and Oklahoma City (briefly last season, before finishing up with Rochester in the American League). Marc D&rsquo;Amour (Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds), Jeff Lastiwka (University of Calgary) and Dave Laurion (Notre Dame) were the rookie goalie candidates.On defense, Page had Pat Ribble, Mike Perovich and Gord Wappel from last year&rsquo;s Oklahoma City club; Howard Walker, who was with Hershey in the AHL last winter; and rookies Tony Curtale (Brantford), Tony Stiles (Michigan Tech), and Randy Turnbull (Portland Winter Hawks).Three left wingers return from last year&rsquo;s Calgary farm in Oklahoma City&mdash;Mike Dwyer, Gord Hampson, and Alex McKendry&mdash;joined by rookies Carl Mokosak (Brandon) and Ed Beers (University of Denver).Rookie centers are Bruce Eakin from the Saskatoon Blades (he broke Bobby Clarke&rsquo;s record with 128 assists there last season), and Kari Jalonen from Karpat, Finland. From last year&rsquo;s Oke City Stars are Bill Hobbins, Brad Kempthorne, Mike Prestidge and Grant Rezansoff.On the right flank are Tim Harrer, Greg Meredith and John Multan from last year&rsquo;s Oklahoma City roster; Dan Bolduc, who played for Nova Scotia in the AHL; rookies Jim Jackson and Marc Roy from Muskegon in the International League, and Pierre Rioux, from Shawinigan, who led the Calgary camp in scoring.Eric Moffitt, from Toronto, who formerly worked with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., was chosen director of public relations for the Colorado club.INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;The Checkers squad that was finally assigned from the parent New York Islanders&rsquo; training camp at Cantiague Park, NY bore a great resemblance to the squad with which coach Fred Creighton won the Adams Cup last spring.All three of Creighton&rsquo;s current goaltenders&mdash;Kelly Hrudey, Rob Holland, and Lorne Molleken&mdash;played part of last year in Indy. Returning defensemen are Darcy Regier, Tim Lockridge, Randy Johnston and Kelly Devine.Up front, the Checkers return Garth MacGuigan and Red Laurence at center; Steve Stoyanovich, Lorne Stamler, and Glen Duncan at left wing; Monty Trottier at right wing, and Mats Hallin and Kevin Devine, who can play both sides. There&rsquo;s also left winger Dave Hanson, who played for Adirondack in the AHL.Leading the rookies is center Scott Howson, the International League&rsquo;s Rookie of the Year for Toledo last winter. Others are center Dave Simpson (London) and right winger Dan Revell (Oshawa).Rookie defensemen are Mike Greeder and Peter Steblyk (both with Toledo last year), and Gord Dineen (Sault Ste. Marie).BIRMINGHAM&mdash;The South Stars had two experienced goaltenders in Markus Mattsson, formerly with Winnipeg of the NHL and Tulsa of the CHL, and Rollie Boutin, who was with Hershey in the AHL last season.Coach Gene Ubriaco was expecting 80 per cent of his Birmingham roster to be made up of men who played for him at Nashville last year. Among the new faces are center Dan McCarthy (at Springfield in the AHL last winter) and rookie defensemen Keith Hanson (Toledo), Dan Mandich (Ohio State) and Dave Richter (University of Michigan).The parent Minnesota North Stars were talking with left winger Glenn Hicks, who has been in Winnipeg, Detroit, Adirondack and Tulsa.SALT LAKE&mdash;Golden Eagles coach Jack (Tex) Evans had received no definite assignments from the parent St. Louis Blues&rsquo; training camp in Regina, but could only say the Birds would have a lot of new faces this season.WICHITA&mdash;The Wind was beginning to take shape for coach Andy Laing at the New Jersey Devils training camp in Totowa, NJ.Laing was sure of getting goalies Rick LaFerriere and Steve Janaszak, right winger Bob Jansch and center Paul Miller from his club last winter in Fort Worth. Left winger Roy Sommer and defensemen Brad Knelson and Owen Lloyd, who played for the Wind as Edmonton farmhands a year ago, had been signed by New Jersey for the Wind.Rookies assigned to Wichita included right winger Mitch Wilson from Seattle and left winger Paul Fulcher from London.TULSA&mdash;After Oiler coach Tom Webster left the New York Ranger training camp in Rye, NY, the Rangers assigned him 12 more players, bringing the Tulsa roster to 21.There were two right wingers who divided last season between the Rangers and Webster&rsquo;s farm club at Springfield&mdash;Mike Backman and Swedish import Peter Wallin. Goalie Rick Strack and left winger Gary Burns were also with Webster in Springfield last season.From the collegiate ranks came left winger George McPhee (Bowling Green), center Bob Scurfield (Western Michigan), and defenders Chris Renaud (Colgate), Steve Richmond (Michigan) and Scot Kleinendorst (Providence).Graduates of junior hockey included defenseman Grant Ledyard (Fort Garry.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01492/4748834-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="578" height="860"><figcaption class="caption-body">Former Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; goalie Markus Mattsson landed with the Birmingham Bulls.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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New Flames Load Up On NHL Cuts; Indy Team Resembles Cup Winner

<div class="byline">BY PATRICK LYON</div>HAMPTON&mdash;The Atlantic Coast Hockey League made final preparations for the coming season with a league meeting held in Hampton and several changes were made during the two-day affair.The most notable was the formation of a taxi squad for the regular season. The Board of Governors decided to retain the roster limit of 16 players, but instituted a taxi squad much like football where teams will be able to replace injured players.Under the new arrangement, each member club must submit the names of three players to serve on the special unit by Nov. 1. The special agreement will see the players used only periodically in case of injury. The ACHL is the only circuit to use this innovative type of set-up.Teams in the ACHL had no stipulation as to how many working agreements they could possess a year ago, but that has been changed with clubs being limited to three working relationships with the National Hockey League.The ACHL will also borrow the overtime format used in the International Hockey League. Any games ending in a tie will be followed by a five-minute overtime and the winning team will be awarded two points and the losing team one point.Among other news coming from the meetings was a new higher salary limit and the rule that all teams must have no more than eight assigned pro players. All clubs will play a 70-game schedule (35 home, 35 away), which is a two-week extension of last year&rsquo;s.New commissioner Dave Schultz will also take a more active role in the league and plans on making many visits to member clubs.The league has also improved its image with the announcement that all teams will be using the telex system this season.HAMPTON&mdash;The Roads Gulls dealt goalie Doug Melvin to the Mohawk Valley Stars for defenseman Mike Breen plus an undisclosed amount of cash.ERIE: The Golden Blades continued their negotiations in trying to acquire goalie Carey Walker and winger Stan Gulutzan. Salem currently owns the rights to the two with Erie trying to acquire the pair who were members of Erie&rsquo;s championship teams in the Eastern Hockey League.Goalie Tom Semenchuk, who the Blades gained the rights to in a special dispersal draft, informed club officials he will retire from hockey. Dave Herbst, also acquired in the same draft, will go to Peoria in a effort to catch on with the IHL club.For the fifth straight season all Blades home and away games will be broadcast on WLKK radio. John Leisering, who served as the Blades public address announcer for four years, will replace the popular John Paul Dellacamera behind the mike.VIRGINIA: The Raiders&rsquo; offense should prove to be potent again this year with the announcement that the club had signed Dave MacQueen.The high-scoring MacQueen played 36 games with Virginia last year and scored 43 goals and 73 points, both high-water marks in the ACHL. MacQueen also added 10 goals and 16 points in 10 playoff games.The 23-year-old native of Woodstock, Ont. made the ACHL All-Star team a year ago and also played in Wichita briefly before his return to the Raiders.WINSTON-SALEM: Coach Rick Dudley and assistant Ken Southwick greeted about 40 players when they opened camp on Oct. 10 at the Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum.Formal skating sessions got underway on Oct. 12 and the Thunderbirds pre-season schedule included two games with Virginia and one with Hampton before their regular season opener Oct. 23 in Salem against the Raiders.Dudley was hoping to get his club off to a fast start after finishing strong in the late going a year ago.MOHAWK VALLEY: The Stars don&rsquo;t figure to have any problems getting ice-time this year since they are now managing all ice facilities at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.Managing the facility was part of the lease signed between the city of Utica and the Stars.Coach Bill Horton will be welcoming back 11 players from last year&rsquo;s championship team and Horton feels he has a good nucleus to defend the Bob Payne Trophy.Though competition in the league should be much keener this time around, Horton revealed that the average age of last season&rsquo;s club was 22 and the championship spirit should carry over to the rookies on the Stars&rsquo; squad.Mohawk Valley will have Randy Ireland back in net and Horton plans to shore up his defense with the offense taking care of itself. The Stars had no trouble offensively in their championship season, but did suffer defensive lapses that Horton wants to avoid.Ed Smith, who played an integral part on the club a year ago, will take part in the tryouts for the United States Olympic team and return to the Stars just before the regular season.NASHVILLE: Coach Nelson Leclair figured to have about 23 skaters working out when the team opened its training sessions at the Ice Centennial Arena. The club will then shift to its regular home at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium.Among some of the players invited to training camp are Dave Avery, goalie Mike Vezina, Mike Hickey, Gary Noel, Dan St. Jean, Tim Bailey, Wayne Cameron and Ryan Boyd.Nashville will play four exhibition games in five nights and all will be against Hampton. The South Stars will visit Hampton on Oct. 13 and 14 and play host to the Roads Gulls on Oct. 16 and 17.Leclair&rsquo;s crew will open the season with three straight road games at Erie and two at Mohawk Valley before making its home debut on Oct. 29 against the Stars. &#9632;

ACHL Is First League To Adopt Taxi Squads

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02344/4748889-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg"></div>Following is the television schedule of NHL games that will be provided on USA Cable Network for the 1982-83 season.In addition to these games, the network will also offer coverage of the NHL All Star game on Feb. 8 in Long Island, as well as games in the Stanley Cup finals.The series will be seen primarily on Tuesdays through December, after which it will move to its regular time slot on Monday nights. &#9632;

f0028-02

USA Cable’s NHL TV Schedule

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>H&B Louisville HockeyPEORIA&mdash;Ken Wilson has made hockey a lifetime vocation. Except for a few years when he operated a quick-stop grocery store in Dayton, OH, Wilson has been involved in hockey all of his adult life.And a good portion of it has been in the International Hockey League. Wilson dates back to the Troy Bruins. His background includes coaching, general manager and owner. He&rsquo;s been involved with more IHL franchises than Reggie Jackson has baseball teams.Other IHL stops include tours of duty at Toledo, Port Huron, Muskegon, Des Moines and Dayton. Add one more, Peoria.Wilson actually set up shop in Peoria two years ago, before the 9,209-seat Civic Center was completed. He warmed up for IHL competition by organizing the Danville (Illinois) Dashers in the Continental League and built a winner.This season, Wilson will introduce the Peoria Prancers to the IHL. The Prancers, like the other seven clubs in the IHL open their season on Oct. 15.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an educational process,&rdquo; Wilson says about the challenge he faces in a new hockey city. &ldquo;Hockey is something new here. Our first job is to educate the people to the game. We aren&rsquo;t trying anything new. I&rsquo;ve done about all that can be done in the way of promotion in the past. The best thing going for us is the building,&rdquo; he added.The arena is part of a three-building complex which is called the Peoria Civic Center. The complex is designed so that patrons can go from one building to the other without going outside. In addition to the arena, the complex includes an exhibition hall and a 2,300-seat theater.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a lot of seats to fill,&rdquo; Wilson says apprehensively. &ldquo;But if we give them a good hockey club, I think we&rsquo;ll be all right.&rdquo;Wilson believes the Prancers will be competitive in their first season. &ldquo;We have excellent working agreements with three NHL clubs, Calgary, Chicago and the New York Rangers. They&rsquo;ve promised us a lot of help. If we get it, we&rsquo;ll be okay,&rdquo; Wilson said.Wilson added instant hockey tradition to the franchise when he hired his coach, Glenn Patrick. He&rsquo;s the son of Lynn Patrick and the grandson of Lester Patrick whose contributions to the NHL, especially the New York Rangers, is legendary. Lester Patrick started the Rangers and Lynn, launched the St. Louis Blues.Glenn Patrick also has an IHL background. Although it&rsquo;s one he would rather forget. &ldquo;I played for the Columbus Seals. Remember them? They lost 55 games,&rdquo; he pointed out. The Seals were owned by Charley Finley who also had the short-lived Oakland franchise in the NHL.Patrick is optimistic about the Prancers. &ldquo;We are pretty solid already on the forward line. We need help on defense and in goal. If we get that help, I know we&rsquo;ll be competitive. 1 know the league and its talent.&rdquo;Patrick has one goalie already. He&rsquo;s an American youngster, Dave Laurian. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to try out for the U.S. Olympic team,&rdquo; Patrick noted.The forward line looks solid because Patrick has four players, some of whom played in the Central League last season. They are Brad Kempthorne, Marc Roy, John Multan and Bill Hobson. Roy scored 31 goals in 75 games last season while playing with Muskegon. Kempthorne saw service in 72 games with Oklahoma City.&ldquo;I feel pretty good about our forwards. But we are concerned about defense and goal. We need help there. And we&rsquo;ve been promised some, especially by Calgary,&rdquo; Patrick concluded.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01427/4748920-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="565" height="978"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marc Roy is one of Peoria&rsquo;s new player acquisitions. He scored 31 goals in 75 games for Muskegon last season.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

The Prancers Set To March In Peoria

BOSTON&mdash;Ray Bourque, D, sidelined for six weeks after breaking a bone over his left eye when hit by a puck. Jim Craig, G, became free agent after Bruins bought out his contract. Marco Baron, G, Larry Melnyk, D, Mike Gillis, LW, Dave Barr, C, Dan Poulin, RW, Stan Jonathan, LW, and Doug Morrison, RW, all assigned to Baltimore of AHL.BUFFALO&mdash;Phil Myre, G, and Paul Harrison, G, Dave Fenyves, D, J.F. Sauve, C, Robert Mongrain, C, Randy Cunneyworth, C, and Yvon Lambert, LW, all assigned to Rochester of AHL.CALGARY&mdash;Tim Bernhardt, G, Kari Jalonen, C, and Greg Meredith, RW, all recalled from Colorado of CHL. Mark D&rsquo;Amour, G, and Dave Laurion, G, Pat Ribble, D, Mike Perovich, D, Gord Wappel, D, Howie Walker, D, Tony Curtale, D, Tony Stiles, D, Perry Turnbull, D, Bruce Eakin, C, Bill Hobbins, C, Brad Kempthorne, C, Wayne Prestidge, C, Grant Rezansoff, C, Tim Harrer, RW, Jim Jackson, RW, John Ultan, RW, Danny Bolduc, RW, Pierre Rioux, RW, Marc Roy, RW, Ed Beers, LW, Mike Dwyer, LW, Gord Hampson, RW, Alex McKendry, LW, and Carl Mokosak, LW, all assigned to Colorado of CHL. Mike Vernon, G, (Calgary), Dave Meszaros, G, (Toronto), Dale DeGray, D, (Oshawa), Lou Kiriakou, D, (Toronto), Allan Maclnnis, D, (Kitchener), Roy Mylarri, D, (Cornwall), Keith Knight, C, (Kingston), Richard Kromm, C, (Portland), Jim Uens, C, (Oshawa), Jeff Vaive, C, (Ottawa), Mario Simioni, RW, (Toronto), Todd Hooey, RW, (Windsor), and Brad Ramsden, RW, (Peterborough), all returned to junior teams.CHICAGO&mdash;Ken Yaremchuk, C, (Portland), Tom McMurchy, RW, (Brandon), Darrel Anholt, D, (Calgary), and Bob Andrea, D, (Belleville), all returned to junior teams.DETROIT&mdash;Murray Craven, C, returned to Medicine Hat of WHL.EDMONTON&mdash;Bob Hoffmeyer, D, claimed from Philadelphia in waiver draft. Don Nachbaur, LW, recalled from Sherbrooke of AHL. Dwayne Boettger, D, (Toronto), Steve Smith, D, (S.S. Marie, returned to junior teams. Andy Moog, G, recalled from Moncton of AHL.HARTFORD&mdash;Jeff Brownschidle, D, Stuart Smith, D, Dan Fridgen, LW, and Michel Galarneau, C, assigned to Binghamton of AHL. Jordy Douglas, LW, sent to Minnesota to complete earlier trade for Mark Johnson. Phil Marshall, LW, purchased from Toronto and assigned to Binghamton.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Doug Keans, G, and Dave Ross, G, Al Sims, D, Jim Brown, D, Pierre Giroux, C, Warren Holmes, C, Victor Nechaev, C, Bill O&rsquo;Dwyer, C, Greg Terrion, C, Blair Barnes, RW, Dean Jenkins, RW, Dave Morrison, RW, Brock Tredway, RW, Scott Gruhl, LW, and Phil Sykes, LW, all assigned to New Haven of AHL. Mike Heidt, D, (Calgary), Steve Seguin, RW, (Kingston), Dave Gans, C, (Oshawa), Darcy Roy, LW, (Ottawa), Dave Chartier, D, (Saskatoon), and Allen Tuer, D, (Regina), all returned to junior teams.MINNESOTA&mdash;Keith Hanson, D, Dave Richter, D, and Jali Wahlstein, C, assigned to Birmingham of CHL. Ron Meighan, D, returned to North Bay of OHL.MONTREAL&mdash;Mark Holden, G, and John Newberry, C, assigned to Nova Scotia of AHL. Rick Green, D, sidelined with strained back.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Carol Vadnais, D, claimed from the Rangers, Dave Hutchison, D, claimed from Washington, and Murray Brumwell, D, claimed from Minnesota. Rick LaFerriere, G, and Bob Janaszak, G, Brad Knelson, D, Owen Lloyd, D, Mitch Wilson, RW, Bob Jansch, RW, Paul Miller, C, Roy Sommer, C, and Paul Fulcher, LW, assigned to Wichita of CHL. Glen Merkosky, C, recalled from Wichita. Bob Miller, C, released as free agent after Devils bought out his contract.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Paul Boutilier, D, returned to St. Jean of QMJHL.NY RANGERS&mdash;Vaclav Nedomansky, C, signed to one-year contract as free agent. Gord Smith, D, Bart Wilson, D, Gary DeGrio, LW, Mark Morrison, C, Steve Baker, C, and Dave Silk, RW, assigned to Tulsa of CHL. Graeme Nicolson, D, claimed from New Jersey in waiver draft and Bill Baker, D, claimed from St. Louis in waiver draft. Nicolson assigned to Tulsa. Chris Kontos, C, returned to Toronto of OHL.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Gary Morrison, RW, Brian Tutt, D, Taras Zytynsky, D, Justin Hanley, LW, all assigned to Maine of AHL. Jim Watson, D, announced retirement from hockey. Ron Sutter, C, returned to Lethbridge of WHL.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Peter Lee, RW, and Jim Hamilton, C, assigned to Baltimore of AHL. Tom Thornbury, D, (North Bay), Rick Sutter, RW, (Lethbridge), Troy Loney, LW, (Lethbridge), Grant Sasser, C, (Portland), and Chris McCauley, RW (London), all returned to junior teams.QUEBEC&mdash;Mike Eagles, LW, returned to Kitchener of OHL and later recalled. Jean Savard, C, released as free agent. Jacques Richard, LW, Basil McRae, LW, and Pierre Lacroix, D, sent to Fredericton of AHL. Mario Gosselin, G, returned to Shawinigan of QMJHL.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Vaclav Nedomansky, C, claimed on waivers from the Rangers. Jack Carlson, LW, claimed from Minnesota and Tim Bothwell, D, claimed from Rangers in waiver draft. Jeff Nord, G, Rick Heinz, G, Paul Skidmore, G, Gord Donnelly, D, John Smyth, D, Claude Julien, D, Alain Vigneault, D, John Taft, D, Bill Stewart, D, Bobby Crawford, RW, Curt Brackenbury, RW, Cary Eades, RW, Dan Wood, RW, Doug Robb, RW, John Markell, RW, Bert Wilson, LW, Jock Callander, C, Rob Tudor, C, and Alain Lemieux, C, all assigned to Salt Lake of CHL. Blaine Peerless, D, sent to Milwaukee of IHL. Doug Gilmour, C, (Cornwall), Mike Posovad, D, (Peterborough), Perry Ganchar, RW, (Saskatoon), Richard Zemlak, C, Mike Hickey, C, (Sudbury), Serge Trepanier, LW, Rejean Carignan, C, Scott Lecy, LW, and Michel Binette, G, all returned to junior teams or colleges.TORONTO&mdash;Mike Palmateer, G, assigned to St. Catharines of AHL on temporary basis. Gary Nylund, D, sidelined for three months after undergoing knee surgery.WASHINGTON&mdash;Al Jensen, G, Timo Blomqvist, D, and Glen Currie, C, assigned to Hershey of AHL. Dean Evason, C, (Kamloops), Ed Kastelic, RW, (London), Jon Holden, G, (Peterborough), Eric Calder, D, (Cornwall), Jim McGeough, C, (Nanaimo), all returned to junior teams. Claude Drouin, C, and Stephane Lessard, LW, sent to Fort Wayne of IHL.WINNIPEG&mdash;Mike Eaves, C, Larry Hopkins, LW, Tim Trimper, LW, and Brian Hayward, G, sent to Sherbrooke of AHL. Jerry Butler, RW, signed to contract as free agent. &#9632;

PLAYER TRANSACTIONS

<h2>BELLEVILLE</h2>Goaltenders&mdash;Ken Porteous and Darren Pang.Defensemen&mdash;Darren Gani, Marty McSorley, Scott Defoe, Noble Carlton, Rob Crocock, Bob Andrea, Marc Pharand, Randy Plumb.Centers&mdash;Dan Quinn, Scott Gardiner, Greg Royce, Dunc MacIntyre, Paul Ritchie.R. Wings&mdash;Jim Andonoff, Jack Woods, Steve Pareigis, Craig Coxe.L. Wings&mdash;Mike Clayton, Sean Hastings, Craig Kitchener, Jim Mayne.<h2>BRANTFORD</h2>Goaltenders&mdash;Kevin Bouchey and Allan Bester.Defensemen&mdash;Mike Lalor, Rob Moffat, Mike Chettleburgh, Grant Anderson, Tyler Verhaeghe, John Meulenbroeks, Rick Gosnell.Centers&mdash;Dave Gagner, Keith Gretzky, Steve Linsemen, Mike Millar.R. Wings&mdash;Todd Francis, Shaun Reagan, Tom Searle, Terry Maki.L. Wings&mdash;Mike Hoffman, Jeff Jackson, Gary Corbiere, Randy Latvanen, Rick Pickersgill, Bob Probert.<h2>CORNWALL</h2>Goaltenders&mdash;Joe Mantione, Joe Shunock and Denis Schrapp.Defensemen&mdash;Eric Calder, Jim Kyte, Roy Myllari, Kevin Skilliter, Dave Sikorski, Pierre Baril, Doug Archie, Anthony Vial.Centers&mdash;Doug Gilmour, Todd Annand, Todd Sepkowski.R. Wings&mdash;Scott Birnie, Rob Norman, Jeff Eatough, Dave Waldie.L. Wings&mdash;Brent Loney, Roy Russell, Laverne Hennesey, Steve Driscoll, Dave Shellington, Mike Tomlak.<h2>GUELPH</h2>Goaltenders&mdash;Scott Mosey, Peter Colwell and Gerry Fraser.Defensemen&mdash;Larry Shaw, Roger Carlaw, Darren Maclvor, Rick Julosky, Dan Pigeon, Todd Loveday.Centers&mdash;Kirk Muller, Todd Hoffman, Mike Webb. Paul Brydges.R. Wings&mdash;Dino Vulpitta, Mario Martini, Kevin Hopkins, Brian Gray.L. Wings&mdash;Bill Fordy, Brian Martin, Dave Nicholls, Brent Hopkins, Steve Dunn.<h2>KINGSTON</h2>Goaltenders&mdash;John Kemp, Steve Richey and Alan Andrews.Defensemen&mdash;Dennis Smith, Ben Levesque, Chris Brant, John Landry, Joel Brown, Brant Walcot.Centers&mdash;Scott MacLellan, Keith Knight, Mark Reade, Mike Linseman.R. Wings&mdash;Mike Siltala, Steve Sequin, Brian Dobbin, Mike Lafoy, Dave Simurda.L. Wings&mdash;Curtis Collin, Dan Mahon, Syl Grandmaitre, Ron Handy, Carmine Vani.<h2>KITCHENER</h2>Goaltenders&mdash;Kerry Kerch and Wendell Young.Defensemen&mdash;Jim Quinn, AllanMaclnnis, Dave Webster, Kent Paynter, Scott Biggs, Kevin Petendra, Dave Shaw, Brian Ross.Centers&mdash;Mike Stevens, Darren Wright, Brian Wilks, James Locke, John Tucker.R. Wings&mdash;Garnett McKechney, David Bruce, Dave Nicholls, Wayne Presley, Todd Steffen.L. Wings&mdash;Rob Nichols, Greg Puhalski, Tom St. James, Andy O&rsquo;Brien, Mike Hough.<h2>LONDON</h2>Goaltenders&mdash;Chris Pusey, Mike Bishop and Doug Chessell.Defensemen&mdash;Jeff LeClair, Doug Thiel, Brad Thompson, Ken Dool, Bob Nicholson, Steve Smith, Bob Haldikis.Centers&mdash;Dave Lowry, Brian Bradley, Scott Morrison.R. Wings&mdash;Glenn Oliver, Ed Kastelic, Chris McCauley.L. Wings&mdash;Peter McLeod, Jeff Smith, Roger Belanger, Bill Hill, Bob Pierson, Rich Barkovich.<h2>NORTH BAY</h2>Goaltenders&mdash;Mark Laforest, Joel Smith and Bruce McLeod.Defensemen&mdash;Bill Maguire, Ron Meighan, Allen Bishop, Kevin Vescio, Tom Thornbury, Mark Hatcher.Centers&mdash;Paul Gillis, John Capel, Rick Morocco, Rob DeGagne, Don Young.R. Wings&mdash;Craig Kales, Andrew McBain, Bob Laforest, Tim Helmer.L. Wings&mdash;Phil Drouillard, Tony Gilliard, Joe Reekie, Mike Webber, Peter Woodgate, Alain Raymond.<h2>OSHAWA</h2>Goaltenders&mdash;Peter Sidoriewicz and Jeff Hogg.Defensemen&mdash;John Hutchings, Norm Schmidt, Todd Smith, Tim Burgesss, Dan Nicholson, Todd Charlesworth, Dale DeGray.Centers&mdash;Dan Grattan, Don Biggs, Steve King.R. Wings&mdash;Dave McLean, Jeff Steffen, Scott Brydges, Dave Gans.L. Wings&mdash;Ray Flaherty, Mike Stern, John MacLean, Dean DeFazio, Guy Jacob.<h2>OTTAWA</h2>Goaltenders&mdash;Greg Coram and Dan Longe.Defensemen&mdash;Bill Dowd, Paul Loutit, Brad Shaw, Mark Patersbn, Bruce Cassidy, Alan Hepple, Brian Rome, Mike James.Centers&mdash;John Ollson, Adam Creighton, Brian McKinnon, Jeff Vaive.R. Wings&mdash;Phil Patterson, Don McLaren, Brian Small, Doug Stewart.L. Wings&mdash;Gary Roberts, Darcy Roy, Scott Hammond, Larry Power.<h2>PETERBOROUGH</h2>Goaltenders&mdash;Jon Holden and Shawn Kilroy.Defensemen&mdash;Doug Speck, Mike Posovad, Venci Sebek, Bruce Shoebottom, George Spezza, Shawn Evans, Ian Armstrong.Centers&mdash;Rick Fera, Jim Hunter, Steve Yzerman, Brad Ramsden, Ken Strong.R. Wings&mdash;Scott McLellan, Paul Bellamy, Steve Short, Scott Tottle, Steve McDonald.L. Wings&mdash;Bob Errey, Doug Evans, Dave Reid, Derrick Smith.<h2>SAULT STE. MARIE</h2>Goaltenders&mdash;John Vanbiesbrouck and Cec Gosse.Defensemen&mdash;Mike Neill, Bruce Bell, Tim Hoover, Ken Sabourin, Steve Smith, Jeff Beukeboom.Centers&mdash;Wayne Groulx, Richard Beaulne, Chuck Brimmer, lan Maclnnis.R. Wings&mdash;Rich Tocchet, Chris Felix, Tony Cella, Sam Haidy, Kevin Conway.L. Wings&mdash;Steve Graves, Dave Andreoli, Mike Lococo, Jim Aldred, Terry Tait.<h2>SUDBURY</h2>Goaltenders&mdash;Mike Labelle and Shane Beal.Defensemen&mdash;Larry Stevens, Jon Lawson, Jim Koudrys, Jeff Brown, Mark Seymour, Steve McCharles, Ali Butorac, Paul Edwards.Centers&mdash;Grant Sanders, Dan Chiasson, Ken Minello, Pat Verbeek, Jim Uens.R. Wings&mdash;Mike Deliman, Paul Hawkins, Tony Marquis, Glen Greenough, Stephane Guenette.L. Wings&mdash;Steve MacDougall, Mike Savage, Bob Langley, Larry Marchesan.<h2>TORONTO</h2>Goaltenders&mdash;Dave Meszaros and Marty Abrams.Defensemen&mdash;Jeff Triano, Greg Ware, Mike Rowe, Dwayne Boettger, Kevin Hunter, Neil Trineer, Lou Kiriakou.Centers&mdash;Peter Zezel, Chris Kontos, Glen Murphy, Jerry Peach, Luc Chabot.R. Wings&mdash;Greg Johnston, Mark Hegarty, Mario Simioni, Neal Coulter.L. Wings&mdash;Kevin Robinson, Frank Simioni, Steve Thomas, Jim Thomson, Garry Lacey.<h2>WINDSOR</h2>Goaltenders&mdash;Paul Martin and Marty Lipman.Defensemen&mdash;Mike Pagnello, James Hofford, Neil Sandilands, Todd Gill, Dan Ryder, Robert Veccia.Centers&mdash;Pat Lahey, Gus Greco, Adam Lewis.R. Wings&mdash;Graeme Bonar, Craig Morrison, Paul MacDermid, John Lyons, Jamie Jefferson.L. Wings&mdash;Todd Hooey, Paul Lawless, Jim Olsson, George Finn, Richard Adolfi. &#9632;

Ontario Hockey League Rosters

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BROPHY</div>H&B Louisville HockeyTORONTO&mdash;&ldquo;You picked a really bad time to ask me about overtime.&rdquo;The speaker: Toronto Marlboros&rsquo; coach Jim Jones.The subject: That nasty 10-minute sudden-death overtime period that is applied during the regular season but disappears in playoffs.Mr. Jones is of the opinion that overtime is great for the fans, but as far as he&rsquo;s concerned, stinks from a coaching standpoint. He echos the sentiments of many other coaches in the Ontario Hockey League.Sudden-death overtime is generally considered one of the most exciting areas of sports. It&rsquo;s a time when fans sit on the edge of their seats, praying their team will be the first to score. You know, nail-biting time.It&rsquo;s also a period when coaches come close to knowing the feeling of living in hell&mdash;especially visiting coaches who would gladly settle for a tie on the road. That&rsquo;s where Jones comes in. He&rsquo;s almost an expert.His Marlboros annually open the season with a flock of road games because Maple Leaf Gardens, their home, isn&rsquo;t available to them. This season is no exception.The Marlies play their first seven games on the road before home fans get a look at them. Trying to break rookies into the OHL is hard enough, especially when their first seven games are away from home.When the first three games on the road trip go into overtime, well, that&rsquo;s just a little more than any coach bargains for.&ldquo;From a fans&rsquo; standpoint, I think overtime is a great thing,&rdquo; said Jones, now in his second season as bench boss of the Dukes. &ldquo;As a coach, I hate it. Our first three games went into overtime and where we could have come out of it with three valuable road points, we only managed one tie. One point. We needed those other two points.&rdquo;The overtime rule was implemented three years ago, designed to put more fans in the building. It is debatable whether or not fans actually go to OHL games hoping to see overtime, but it is unlikely that many leave when a game is close.Statistics from the last two season unfortunately don&rsquo;t side with the coaches. In 65 overtime games played during the 1980-81 season, the home team won 28, the visitors won 27 and there was 10 ties. Last season the visitors won 27 games, the home side 24 and 19 ended in ties.Still, it&rsquo;s hard to explain to a coach who is trying to get his team off to a good start with so many road games, that overtime is necessary. Jones has a good point.During the playoffs, there is no overtime. In an eight-point series, such as the ones played in the OHL, a tie means an extra gate and more money.Aside from their first three games, the Marlies haven&rsquo;t done bad. After five games, Toronto was a respectable 2-2-1. Now that veterans Mario Simioni and Chris Kontos have returned to the fold, the Marlies will be a team to contend with.In goal, Dave Meszaros may be one of the two or three best netminders in the league. In the team&rsquo;s first win over the Petes in Peterborough, Meszaros made an amazing total of 53 saves to spark his team to a 5-4 victory. Peterborough&rsquo;s 53 shots overall weren&rsquo;t exactly right into his belly pad either. Many saves were on shots directed to the corners, high and low.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve always known he was a very good goalie, but now he&rsquo;s proving himself to be an excellent goaltender,&rdquo; said Jones. &ldquo;He won that game for us, there&rsquo;s no doubt about it. Our defense was a little ragged in the third period but that&rsquo;s to be expected when a team like Peterborough is all over you. Dave really came up big for us.&rdquo;Defense could be the one area of concern for Jones. Last year&rsquo;s first-round draft choice Mike Rowe rates as one of the toughest players in the league but his play behind the Toronto blueline often gives Jones heart failure. Rowe still watches the final 10 minutes of most games from the bench. He is young and should improve.Their best defenseman, Scott McKay, is out with a knee injury leaving them with Dwayne Boettger, a rapidly improving blueliner and Neil Trineer, who sometimes doubles as a forward, to lead the way.Up front, the Marlies have the potential to be explosive. Last year&rsquo;s leading scorer Simioni (58-60-118) has speed, muscle and leadership while Kontos, a late cut by the New York Rangers who had 42 goals and 62 assists for 104 points last season, should be one of the league&rsquo;s top snipers.After five games, rookie Kevin Robinson was leading the team in scoring with two goals and three assists. Veteran Gary Lacey and Jerry Peach each had two goals and two assists.OHL NOTES: The OHL has decided not to add the number of penalty minutes picked up through misconducts to a player&rsquo;s individual penalty total. Smells like a coverup, you ask? Not really, according to league commissioner David Branch.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not trying to hide anything,&rdquo; Branch insisted. &ldquo;In fact, we&rsquo;re going to report the number of misconducts there are. But to leave things the way they are would be very misleading. You can have one fight where players don&rsquo;t go to the bench and 90 minutes in penalties are issued. Fans take a took at that in the papers and think there was probably a brawl when really it was just one fight. It conjures up a bad and false impression.&ldquo;I think hockey has always been guilty of promoting itself poorly. We will still monitor the habitual offenders and they will have their heels cooled.&rdquo;&hellip;Windsor Spitfires are off to a dreadful start, losing their first five games and scoring only 11 goals in the process. They will improve now that they have some of last year&rsquo;s top players back from pro camps&hellip;Sudbury Wolves are winless after six games. One general manager (who for obvious reasons wished not to be identified) doesn&rsquo;t hold much hope that the Wolves will improve a great deal. &ldquo;The don&rsquo;t have a lot to trade so they will be stuck picking up other teams turkeys.&rdquo;&hellip;The Simioni brothers, Mario and Frank, paced the Marlies to a 5-4 win over Windsor. Rookie Frank had two goals while Mario had a goal and two assists&hellip;Kitchener&rsquo;s John Tucker scored three goals, his third hat trick in five games, to lead the Rangers to a 5-2 win over Belleville&hellip;Tucker leads the OHL with 11 goals while Peterborough&rsquo;s Bob Errey, a speedy left winger, is second with nine&hellip;London Knights have been hit with a rash of injuries and in an effort to add bodies, obtained overage winger Ken Latta and Dave Andreoli from Sault Ste. Marie for a draft choice&hellip;The Greyhounds made a significant deal by shipping defenseman-forward Bruce Bell, a potential first round pick in the 1983 NHL entry draft, to Windsor Spitfires. In exchange, the Spits sent forwards Gus Greco and Pat Lahey north. Greco, property of the Boston Bruins, is a native of the Soo.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01441/4748999-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="572" height="810"><figcaption class="caption-body">OHL Commissioner Dave Branch said he isn&rsquo;t covering up anything by not adding misconduct penalties to individual players&rsquo; records.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0031-01

Dukes’ Sophomore Bench Boss Figures OHL Overtime Rule Is Team Hazard

Losing Brian Bellows to the National Hockey League may not be the blow the Kitchener Rangers expected it to be.Young John Tucker, a second-year member of the Rangers, has come along to take up the slack for Kitchener and judging by his performance in the first two weeks of the Ontario Hockey League season, he could be the answer to filling Bellows&rsquo; shoes.The 18-year-old, six-foot, 175-pound center jumped into the league scoring lead with 15 points and 11 of them were goals winning Tucker the nod as the OHL&rsquo;S first Player of the Week for the new season.Tucker, a native of Windsor, scored three hat tricks in the Rangers&rsquo; first five games. A good shooter, the new Kitchener ace scored six times as the Rangers walloped the Sault 11-3 and Belleville 5-2. He also counted two game-winning goals in a highly productive week.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02310/4749030-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="528" height="934"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHN TUCKER Kitchener Rangers</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0031-02

OHL Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY GREGG DRINNAN</div>H&B Louisville HockeyBRANDON&mdash;A year ago, Dave McDowall went from running a Junior B team to head coach of the Central Hockey League&rsquo;s Tulsa Oilers practically overnight.Now, he&rsquo;s behind the bench with Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League.And, on the outside at least, he&rsquo;s not overly disappointed with what, for a lot of people, would be considered a step backwards.In fact, the 33-year-old McDowall says he&rsquo;s made the transition from the professional ranks to major junior &ldquo;better than I expected.&rdquo;That move became necessary when the National League&rsquo;s Winnipeg Jets transferred their top affiliate from Tulsa to Sherbrooke, Que., and decided they wanted a French-speaking coach to run their American League club.As a result, Ron Racette got the Sherbrooke job and McDowall, with one year left on his contract with Winnipeg, ended up in Brandon.It&rsquo;s a move that McDowall hasn&rsquo;t necessarily regretted.&ldquo;In Tulsa, we had one practice together before the league started,&rdquo; said McDowall. &ldquo;On top of that, when the season started I was coaching a Junior B team and then all of a sudden I was in Tulsa.&ldquo;This year, I&rsquo;ve known for three months now that I would be in Brandon. So, I was able to spend a lot of time over the summer thinking things over and getting prepared. At this stage, I&rsquo;m more in control of what I want the team to do than I was a year ago.&ldquo;I guess you could say things are better here because of the circumstances under which 1 went to Tulsa.&rdquo;While the circumstances were different, so are the players. And, McDowall said the biggest difference is in the area of dedication.&ldquo;There is the same amount of enthusiasm,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but, in the pros, everybody worked. Here, some guys don&rsquo;t work all the time. The pros partied hard, but they worked hard. They know how tough it is to get to the NHL. The kids in junior don&rsquo;t realize how far it is from here to the pros.&rdquo;In Brandon, McDowall is trying to turn things around for a club that has struggled since it appeared in the Memorial Cup final back in the spring of 1979.BRANDON: The Wheat Kings got right winger Tom McMurchy, a 59-goal man a year ago, back from Chicago Black Hawks.CALGARY: The Wranglers chose 23-year-old Pete Strople as their head scout for the Calgary area. Goaltender Mike Vernon, the WHL&rsquo;s most valuable player last season, turned aside 32 shots in a season-opening 3-0 win in Lethbridge.MEDICINE HAT: Mike Spencer scored three goals and Matt Kabayama added two as the Tigers scored a 6-4 exhibition win over Regina. The Tigers opened the season in Winnipeg, posting a 5-4 victory. Spencer led the way with two goals, while goaltender Mark Frank blocked 33 shots.PRINCE ALBERT: The expansion Raiders opened their regular season at home before a sold-out crowd of 3,400. But the home side dropped a 7-6 decision to Saskatoon. Dan Hodgson led the Raiders with a goal and two assists. Todd Bergen had two goals and two assists in a 13-11 loss to the Blades two nights later.REGINA: Defenseman Gary Leeman was returned to the Pats by Toronto Maple Leafs. Leeman banged in three goals, while center Dale Derkatch had three goals and two assists, as the Pats opened the season by dumping visiting Saskatoon 9-5.SASKATOON: Roger Kortko&rsquo;s third goal of the game, at 14:28 of the third period, gave the Blades a season-opening 7-6 win in Prince Albert. The two clubs met in Saskatoon two nights later and the Blades won a shootout, 13-11. Perry Gancher led the way with four goals, while rookie Joe Kocur added three. Kortko scored once and set up four others. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if a guy should panic or what,&rdquo; said Blades&rsquo; coach Daryl Lubiniecki after his club lost 9-5 in Regina, meaning it had surrendered 26 goals in three games. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to blame the goaltenders; almost every shot was coming from between the hash marks.&rdquo;WINNIPEG: The Warriors opened the season with a 4-3 home-ice win over Brandon. Defenseman Chris Saint-Cyr scored the winning goal at 14:08 of the final period and goaltender Jim Appleby turned in a superb 40-save effort. Defenseman Dave Korol had two goals in a 5-4 home-ice loss to Medicine Hat.NANAIMO: The Islanders, formerly Billings Bighorns, swept a sea-on-opening home-and-home series with Victoria as a total of four players recorded three-goal games. On opening night in Victoria, rookies Rob Ordman and Alfie Turcotte had three goals each and veteran center Jim McGeough had a goal and three assists in a 10-7 Nanaimo win. The next night in Nanaimo, McGeough and Harry Mahood each had three goals and one helper as the Islanders won 6-5 in overtime. Mahood tied the game at 19:21 of the third period and won it at 4:17 of overtime.KAMLOOPS: The Oilers got three goals and an assist from Dennis LeClair and a goal and three assists from Dean Evason as they opened with a 9-5 home-ice win over Kelowna.KELOWNA: Wade Waters scored the Wings&rsquo; first-ever WHL goal to give the club an early 1-0 lead in Victoria. But, the first-year Wings couldn&rsquo;t hang on and dropped a 5-1 decision to the Cougars. Doug Kyle picked up three goals and Dwaine Hutton had four assists in a 9-5 loss in Kamloops.PORTLAND: Rookie right winger Cam Neely scored twice and added two assists and first-year netminder Bruno Campese blocked 34 shots as the defending-champion Winter Hawks opened with an 8-2 win over visiting Seattle. The Winter Hawks unleashed a 57-shot onslaught before 4,313 fans. &ldquo;I thought he was slow, but he showed me speed I didn&rsquo;t think he had,&rdquo; Potland coach Ken Hodge said of the 17-year-old Neely.VICTORIA: Rookie centers Russ Courtnall and Fabian Joseph had two goals each as the Cougars scored a 5-1 home-ice win over the expansion Kelowna Wings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01456/4749061-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="582" height="884"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goalie Mike Vernon recorded a shutout for Calgary in his opening WHL game.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Brandon Coach Switches From Pro To WHL

Dale Derkatch is picking up quite a reputation as a goal scorer in the Western Hockey League and he&rsquo;s managed to do it in the short span of less than two years.The Regina Pats&rsquo; ace sniper was among the WHL&rsquo;s top six goal scorers last season in his rookie year with Regina and it appears he&rsquo;s picked up where he left off with the start of the 1982-83 campaign.Derkatch produced seven goals in the Pats&rsquo; first three games to win the nod as the league&rsquo;s first Player of the Week for the new season.After a 62-goal performance last year, Derkatch has entered his draft year (18 and 19-year-olds) and if he continues to score with the regularity he&rsquo;s shown since coming to Regina last season, all the pro scouts will be camped at his doorstep.Derkatch led the WHL in goals scored after the first week of play despite the fact Regina won only one of its opening three starts.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02328/4749092-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="550" height="892"><figcaption class="caption-body">DALE DERKATCH Regina Pats</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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WHL Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>H&B Louisville HockeyMONTREAL&mdash;Quebec Major Junior Hockey League President Jean Rougeau saw the realization of an 18month dream when six players were awarded four-year scholarships totalling $4,000.The players are: Richard Vinet, defense, and Patrice Masse, right wing, Trois-Rivieres Draveurs; Sylvain Boutet, left wing, Shawinigan Cataracts; Pierre Giard, center, Quebec Remparts; Jacques Berthiaume, center, Hull Olympics; and Mario Dore, defense, Sherbrooke Beavers.The grant program, sponsored by the QMJHL, the National Hockey League and Cooperative Federee, a farm equipment company, was established so that graduating players not drafted by NHL teams could continue their post-secondary education.Any QMJHL player who competed in the league a minimum of two years, including his final (19-year-old) season, and who continued his studies&mdash;without interruption&mdash;at the same time, was allowed to apply for the scholarship to attend a CEGEP (the Ontario equivalent of Grades 12 and 13) or university&mdash;preferably Quebec-based.Each applicant&rsquo;s dossier was studied by a panel of five counsellors. The scholarships are for $1,000 per year for a maximum of four years.&ldquo;One-and-a-half years ago everyone though I was joking when I came up with the idea of scholarships,&rdquo; Rougeau beamed. &ldquo;A lot of people thought I was just tossing out the idea to look good; they never thought the money would be raised. But today it is reality.&ldquo;Education has always been very important to me,&rdquo; said Rougeau, adding that the program was the most significant move he&rsquo;s made since taking over the league&rsquo;s top post in 1981.Five additional players whose dossiers were incomplete&mdash;they lacked full academic records&mdash;will be reconsidered for the scholarships. Rougeau said he expects all five&mdash;Scott Fraser, defense, Quebec Remparts; Tim Cranston, center, Rousell Mackenzie, defense, and Jean Gauthier, left wing, all with the Hull Olympics; and Michel Doyon, defense, Montreal Juniors&mdash;to receive their scholarships.Quebec Premier Rene Levesque recently visited a local brewery to lend a hand to his old friend&mdash;Jean Rougeau, at the launching of Rougeau&rsquo;s autobiography.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a pretty extraordinary Quebecois,&rdquo; Levesque said. &ldquo;But for me, he is simply a friend.&rdquo;Along with being president of the QMJHL, Rougeau has been a professional wrestler and nightclub owner. And in 1960, he was Levesque&rsquo;s bodyguard in the Quebec election when the latter ran as a Liberal.&ldquo;I have known Jean Rougeau for 22 years,&rdquo; the premier said.A telegram from Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders was also read. Bossy played junior hockey for the Laval Nationals, Rougeau&rsquo;s former QMJHL team.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s quite an honor for me,&rdquo; Rougeau said of Levesque&rsquo;s presence at the launching. &ldquo;I seem to forget that I&rsquo;m sick. (Rougeau is suffering from cancer).&rdquo;Recalling his first meeting with Levesque in 1960 when the Premier ran in the Montreal riding of Laurier, Rougeau said he wasn&rsquo;t interested in politics then and turned down Levesque&rsquo;s offer to work for him.But later, Levesque&rsquo;s Union Natiopale opponent, accompanied by two thugs, showed up at his store and threatened to beat Rougeau, up if he associated with Levesque.Rougeau said he became angry and hit the goons, then called Levesque to offer his services. During that election campaign, ballot boxes were stolen and 42 fire arms were seized in the riding. Levesque won by a margin of 127 votes.&ldquo;I became attached to that man (Levesque),&rdquo; Rougeau wrote in his book. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a homosexual, but I can say that I fell in love with him.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s the most honest man in public life,&rdquo; Rougeau added later in an interview. &ldquo;The man is one of the greatest Canadians we have.&rdquo;Asked why he called Levesque a Canadian after the premier had called him a Quebecois, Rougeau explained: &ldquo;I still think we&rsquo;re Canadians&hellip;I&rsquo;m happy to be a Canadian, but I&rsquo;m also very proud to be a Quebecer.&rdquo;AROUND THE LEAGUE&mdash;A change at the administration level has caused St. Hubert Bar-B-Q to discontinue its grant program with the QMJHL. The company donated close to $50,000 last year to all players attending school who passed a minimum of 75 per cent of their courses&hellip;The QMJHL all-star game will be played at the Forum, Jan. 16 at 3 p.m. The game had been scheduled for Jan. 23, but would have conflicted with a midget all-star tournament in St. Leonard, a Montreal suburb&hellip;All-star defenseman Paul Boutilier, one of the New York Islanders&rsquo; last cuts, has been returned to the St. Jean Beavers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01413/4749123-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="571" height="1143"><figcaption class="caption-body">As many as 11 players could benefit from a scholarship program developed by QMJHL President Jean Rougeau.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Scholarships Are Rougeau’s Dream Come True

The Hull Olympics are not off to a pleasing start in the new Quebec Major Junior Hockey League race but it hasn&rsquo;t stopped Sylvain Turgeon from seizing the early league scoring lead.Turgeon, a second-year performer with the Olympics, collected 27 points in Hull&rsquo;s first eight games despite the fact the team only won three times. One was a 17-6 romp over Chicoutimi and allowed Turgeon and his other Hull offensive mates, like Paul Adey, Jean Gauthier and Benoit Doucet, to enhance their personal scoring records.Turgeon, who scored 33 goals and garnered 73 points for Hull last season, broke out of the starting barrier in top form. He counted eight goals and set up 19 assists, a league high, to become the QMJHL&rsquo;s first Player of the Week for the new season.As an underage junior last season, Turgeon displayed excellent poise and production but he admits the year was a bitter disappointment when the Olympics finished in second place on the regular season but couldn&rsquo;t survive the first round of the playoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02291/4749154-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="550" height="1152"><figcaption class="caption-body">SYLVAIN TURGEON Hull Olympics</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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QHL Player Of The Week

<h2>OCTOBER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1668/4749524-1-eng-US/f0034-162.jpg" title="f0034-16" width="562" height="1072"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1762/4749517-1-eng-US/f0034-172.jpg" title="f0034-17" width="548" height="1108"></div> &#9632;

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WHERE NHL TEAMS PLAY

BOSTON (10)&mdash;K. Crowder 1, Fergus 1, Pederson 1, 2, Krushelnyski 1. Dufour 1, Milbury 1, B. Crowder 1. 2. Leveille 1. Winning goals&mdash;Dufour, Leveille.BUFFALO (12)&mdash;Cyr 1. Andreychuk 1,2. 3, Virta 1. 2, Seiling 1, Playfair 1, McKegney 1,2, Foligno 1, Peterson 1. Winning goals&mdash;noneCALGARY (10)&mdash;Chouinard 1, Risebrough 1, 2, Hislop 1. McDonald 1, Hindmarch 1, 2. Nilsson 1. Russell 1, Bourgeois 1. Winning goals&mdash;noneCHICAGO (14)&mdash;Secord 1. 2. Larmer 1. Savard 1, 2. Paterson 1. 2, Preston 1, 2. Gardner 1, Wilson 1, 2. Lysiak 1, Brown 1 Winning goals&mdash;PrestonDETROIT (4)&mdash;Rowe 1. McKechnie 1. 2, Blaisdell 1 Winning goals&mdash;noneEDMONTON (17)&mdash;Pouzar 1, Anderson 1. 2. 3, Hunter 1, 2, Linseman 1, Messier 1, Roulston 1,2,3, Kurri 1. Gretzky 1,2, 3. Huddy 1. Hughes 1. Winning goals&mdash;RoulstonHARTFORD (9)&mdash;Larouche 1.2. Lyle 1,2,3, Siltanen 1. Sullivan 1, Sulliman 1, 2 Winning goals&mdash;noneLOS ANGELES (6)&mdash;Simmer 1, Isakkson 1, Dionne 1. Fox 1,2, Nicholls 1 Winning goals&mdash;Nicholls.MINNESOTA (14)&mdash;Broten 1, 2, Payne 1. Plett 1, Ciccarelli 1,2,3,4, Young 1.2, Bellows 1, MacAdam 1. Douglas 1, Sargent 1. Winning goals&mdash;Ciccarelli. Douglas.MONTREAL (18)&mdash;Lafleur 1. 2, 3, 4, 5, Walter 1. 2. Houle 1, Wickenheiser 1, 2, 3, Tremblay 1, Gainey 1,2, Mondou 1, Hunter 1, 2, Shutt 1. Winning goals&mdash;Walter 2, HunterNEW JERSEY (11)&mdash;Lever 1. Marini 1. 2. Malinowski 1, 2, 3, Tambellini 1, MacMillan 1, Vadnais 1. Merkosky 1, Lorimer 1. Winning goals&mdash;MalinowskiNY ISLANDERS (16)&mdash;Bossy 1,2,3, 4, 5. D Sutter 1.2. Trottier 1. Jonsson 1, Tonelli 1, 2. 3. Kallur 1, B. Sutter 1, Goring 1. Bourne 1. Winning goals&mdash;D Sutter, Tonelli, BossyNY RANGERS (14)&mdash;Pavelich 1. 2. 3. Nedomansky 1. Johnstone 1, 2, 3, Allison 1, Hedberg 1. McClanahan 1, 2. Nilsson 1, Leinonen 1, Rogers 1. Winning goals&mdash;Nilsson.PHILADELPHIA (18)&mdash;Barber 1, 2. 3. Michayluk 1,2. Howe 1, Evans 1, Propp 1.2,3. Allison 1,2, Carson 1. Sittier 1.2, 3. Flockhart 1, Kerr 1. Winning goals&mdash;Propp 3.PITTSBURGH (9)&mdash;Kehoe 1,2,3, Boutette 1, 2, Gatzos 1. Carlyle 1.2, Malone 1. Winning goals-none.QUEBEC (20)&mdash;Cloutier 1, P. Stastny 1,2, 3. 4, 5. 6. 7, 8, A Stastny 1, 2. Goulet 1, 2. 3. Marois 1, Hunter 1. Rochefort 1. Moller 1, Pichette 1. Paiement 1. Winning goals&mdash;Goulet, RochefortST. LOUIS (8)&mdash;Patey 1. 2. Babych 1. 2. Federko 1. 2, Dunlop 1. Lapointe 1, Sutter 1 Winning goals&mdash;Babych 2.TORONTO (10)&mdash;Poddubny 1. 2, 3. Salming 1. 2. Martin 1. 2, Anderson 1. Benning 1. Derlago 1. Winning goals&mdash;none.VANCOUVER (8)&mdash;Lindgren 1, Gradin 1.2. 3, Lemay 1. Sundstrom 1, Smyl 1, Halward 1. Winning goals&mdash;Gradin.WASHINGTON (11)&mdash;Bulley 1, Carpenter 1. Stevens 1. Novy 1.2, Gartner 1,2. Houston 1. Valentine 1 Winning goals&mdash;Gartner.WINNIPEG (17)&mdash;Lindstrom 1. 2, 3, MacLean 1. DeBlois 1, Mullen 1. 2. Steen 1, Christian 1, Levie 1,2, 3. Butler 1, Lukowich, 2. Hawerchuk 1. 2. Winning goals&mdash;Mullen. LevieHat tricks&mdash;P. Stastny. Quebec 2. Lafleur. Montreal 1. &#9632;

NHL’S SCORERS THIS WEEK

<h2>Tue. Oct. 5 CALGARY 5, EDMONTON 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01467/4749486-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="570" height="1024"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH 3, NEW JERSEY 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02380/4749479-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="576" height="764"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 1, VANCOUVER 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03285/4749472-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="568" height="366"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04197/4749465-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="556" height="402"></div><h2>Wed. Oct. 6 QUEBEC 6, BUFFALO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05152/4749458-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="556" height="614"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06126/4749451-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="566" height="242"></div><h2>TORONTO 3, CHICAGO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07116/4749444-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="566" height="732"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 2, DETROIT 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08108/4749437-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="562" height="496"></div><h2>VANCOUVER 3, LOS ANGELES 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0997/4749430-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="564" height="578"></div><h2>HARTFORD 1, MONTREAL 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1094/4749423-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="572" height="68"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1187/4749416-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="562" height="561"></div><h2>WASHINGTON 5, RANGERS 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1284/4749409-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="553" height="714"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 5, WINNIPEG 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1375/4749402-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="559" height="849"></div><h2>Thu. Oct. 7 MONTREAL 5, BOSTON 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1471/4749395-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="559" height="606"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 5, CALGARY 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1568/4749388-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="565" height="626"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01444/4749381-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="524" height="210"></div><h2>QUEBEC 5, PHILADELPHIA 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02351/4749374-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="526" height="1060"></div><h2>TORONTO 2, ST. LOUIS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03273/4749367-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="516" height="706"></div><h2>Fri. Oct. 8 ISLANDERS 6, EDMONTON 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04225/4749360-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="518" height="868"></div><h2>DETROIT 3, MINNESOTA 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05180/4749353-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="522" height="488"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06161/4749346-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="550" height="258"></div><h2>RANGERS 2, NEW JERSEY 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07151/4749339-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="556" height="234"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08132/4749332-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="564" height="594"></div><h2>Sat. Oct. 8 WINNIPEG 8, DETROIT 0</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09126/4749325-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="572" height="500"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10111/4749318-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="564" height="166"></div><h2>BOSTON 5, HARTFORD 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-11103/4749311-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="560" height="324"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06113/4749304-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="560" height="528"></div><h2>CALGARY 1, LOS ANGELES 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07106/4749297-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="562" height="636"></div><h2>CHICAGO 8, MONTREAL 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08101/4749290-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="553" height="953"></div><h2>RANGERS 5, PITTSBURGH 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0995/4749283-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="561" height="200"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1092/4749276-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="571" height="601"></div><h2>BUFFALO 4, QUEBEC 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1189/4749269-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="570" height="851"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 6, ST. LOUIS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1285/4749262-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="568" height="961"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY 5, TORONTO 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1382/4749255-1-eng-US/f0036-132.jpg" title="f0036-13" width="556" height="1124"></div><h2>EDMONTON 6, VANCOUVER 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1476/4749248-1-eng-US/f0036-142.jpg" title="f0036-14" width="552" height="848"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 3, WASH 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1576/4749241-1-eng-US/f0036-152.jpg" title="f0036-15" width="558" height="468"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1674/4749234-1-eng-US/f0036-162.jpg" title="f0036-16" width="556" height="390"></div><h2>Sun. Oct. 10 PITTSBURGH 3, BOSTON 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1768/4749227-1-eng-US/f0036-172.jpg" title="f0036-17" width="556" height="878"></div><h2>HARTFORD 4, BUFFALO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1864/4749220-1-eng-US/f0036-182.jpg" title="f0036-18" width="560" height="656"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 5, CHICAGO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1963/4749213-1-eng-US/f0036-192.jpg" title="f0036-19" width="558" height="524"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2060/4749206-1-eng-US/f0036-202.jpg" title="f0036-20" width="570" height="152"></div><h2>WASH. 4. PHILADELPHIA 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2157/4749199-1-eng-US/f0036-212.jpg" title="f0036-21" width="570" height="798"></div><h2>Mon. Oct. 11 MONTREAL 4, QUEBEC 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2256/4749192-1-eng-US/f0036-222.jpg" title="f0036-22" width="572" height="790"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 4, RANGERS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2353/4749185-1-eng-US/f0036-232.jpg" title="f0036-23" width="577" height="739"></div> &#9632;

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NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Oct. 12)<h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01422/4749704-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="537" height="194"></div><h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02316/4749697-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="532" height="395"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Oct. 6St. Catharines 3 at Adirondack 5Thu. Oct. 7Fredericton 4 at Moncton 2Binghamton 4 at Nova Scotia 8Frl. Oct. 8Baltimore 4 at Rochester 2St. Catharines 3 at Sherbrooke 6Maine 4 at Springfield 0Sat. Oct. 9New Haven 6 at Adirondack 3Rochester 0 at Hershey 6Springfield 3 at Maine 6Binghamton 1 at Moncton 4Sun. Oct. 10Binghamton 5 at Fredericton 3Springfield 1 at Nova Scotia 5New Haven 3 at Rochester 2Baltimore0 at St. Catharines 4Mon. Oct. 11Binghamton 2 at Sherbrooke 2<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03244/4749690-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="533" height="309"></div><h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Thu. Oct. 14)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04171/4749683-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="539" height="278"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Oct. 6Wichita 5 at Tulsa 4Thu. Oct. 7Salt Lake 8 at Tulsa 4Frl. Oct. 8Indianapolis 6 at Birmingham 1Wichita 2 at Colorado 10Salt Lake 4 at Tulsa 3Sat. Oct. 9Birmingham 4 at Indianapolis 2<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05133/4749676-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="535" height="253"></div> &#9632;

f0036-01

MINOR SCOREBOARD

1&mdash;Montreal2&mdash;Chicago3&mdash;Boston4&mdash;NY Rangers5&mdash;Detroit6&mdash;Toronto7&mdash;Philadelphia8&mdash;Los Angeles9&mdash;St. Louis10&mdash;Minnesota12&mdash;NY Islanders13&mdash;Vancouver14&mdash;Buffalo15&mdash;Calgary16&mdash;Washington17&mdash;New Jersey18&mdash;Edmonton19&mdash;Hartford20&mdash;Quebec21&mdash;Winnipeg<h2>OTHER AFFILIATIONS</h2>22&mdash;Pittsburgh and Boston23&mdash;Chicago, Calgary & Rangers24&mdash;Hartford, Toronto & Los Angeles25&mdash;Minnesota. Philadelphia & Islanders26&mdash;Montreal, Boston & Buffalo27&mdash;Winnipeg. Vancouver & Washington28&mdash;Quebec, St. Louis & Edmonton29&mdash;Pittsburgh & New Jersey &#9632;

Who They’re Affiliated With…

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div>Imagine, if you can, the way former National Hockey League defenseman Bob Baun feels when he watches NHL defensemen play their game today.No longer do most defensemen bounce offenders off the boards, throw hipchecks that would rattle opponents&rsquo; teeth, or employ a play-the-man type of defense.Instead, most concentrate on offense and scoring goals, something that was unheard of, for the most part, in Baun&rsquo;s playing days.Baun spent 17 seasons (1956-1973) in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Oakland Seals and Detroit Red Wings.But today, the former Lanigan, Sask., native is the Canadian Sales Manager for the Pan-American Family Insurance Company (known as American Family Life in the United States). The company specializes in cancer insurance.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been working at this job for almost five years now,&rdquo; said Baun. &ldquo;I spend quite a bit of time on the road.&ldquo;I still get to see quite a few hockey games. I still have season tickets for the Maple Leafs. In fact, I pay more for my season tickets than I made my first year as a pro.&rdquo;The 45-year-old defenseman began his hockey career as a kid in an old Church League on the East side of Toronto.From there, Baun made it with a minor midget team sponsored by the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey Association. From there, he went to the Marlies for four seasons before joining the Maple Leafs for the 1956-57 season.&ldquo;I had always wanted to play for the Leafs,&rdquo; recalled Baun, who spent thirteen and one-half seasons of his NHL career in Toronto. &ldquo;I knew Toronto was the only place to play.&rdquo;George (Punch) Imlach was Baun&rsquo;s coach for most of his career in Toronto.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1438/4749874-1-eng-US/f0037-142.jpg" title="f0037-14" width="926" height="1248"><figcaption class="caption-body">Unlike today&rsquo;s offensive-minded NHL defensemen, Bob Baun was a defensive type player during his 17 years in the league from 1956 to 1973. He could really rock you with a hipcheck off the boards.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Punch was one of the toughest coaches I ever played for,&rdquo; Baun said. &ldquo;I thought he was one of the finest general managers ever involved with the game.&ldquo;But he should have just stayed at the GM position because as far as his coaching ability went, he wasn&rsquo;t one of the best.&ldquo;With the Maple Leaf teams he coached in the early and mid-sixties, I don&rsquo;t think he ever got the most out of the teams that he should have. I think with a few changes here and there, we could have won two more Stanley Cup championships (The Leafs won four cups with Imalch as coach).&ldquo;Of course, he had his share of troubles and battles with Frank Mahovlich and Carl Brewer, among others. That didn&rsquo;t help matters any.&rdquo;When it came to battles, on ice that is, Baun had his share with former NHL superstar, Bobby Hull.&ldquo;Our battles, as they were called, went back to when we were twelve or thirteen years of age,&rdquo; remembered Baun. &ldquo;He was always playing left wing and I was on the right defense.&ldquo;It was just strength against strength. And we respected one another and our abilities.&rdquo;Although not directly involved with professional hockey today, Baun still follows the NHL, especially the Maple Leafs.&ldquo;I still feel a loyalty to the Leafs,&rdquo; remarked Baun. &ldquo;I think those players who want to leave Toronto are crazy. I still think Toronto is the only place to play.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m also very excited about the new players in the NHL today, especially Wayne Gretzky. He&rsquo;s done wonders for the game. And he&rsquo;s so young with such a great future ahead of him. I don&rsquo;t know what he can do to top what he&rsquo;s already done. Nobody has been able to find a way to stop him.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0037-14

One Of The Hardest Hitting Defensemen In The NHL?

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01434/4749926-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Bernie Moser)</figcaption></div><h2>Top NHL Publicist</h2>Joe Kadlec, left, of the Philadelphia Flyers climaxed his many years in the NHL by winning the Red Burnett Memorial Award for contributing the best press box operation in the league. Here, he receives a plaque from Don Wilno, secretary-treasurer of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. Kadlec, who is both press relations director and travelling secretary for the Flyers, has been supervisor of the Spectrum press box at all home games since Philadelphia came into the NHL in 1967-68.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02343/4749919-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="1132" height="1696"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div><h2>Young Sabre</h2>Looking more like a high school or college product in his oversized hockey sweater rather than a budding National Hockey Leaguer, rookie Phil Housley of the Buffalo Sabres has stepped into the big times at the tender age of 18 after playing high school hockey last year in Minnesota. He is one of eight new faces on the Sabres this season.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03267/4749912-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="1177" height="1369"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div><h2>Stars Of Tomorrow</h2>Two of the leading draft picks in the NHL this season were defenseman Scott Stevens, left, and right winger Brian Bellows. The two were among a raft of new players to break into the NHL this season. Stevens signed a multi-year contract and began the season with Washington Caps. He was the No. 5 draft Bellows, the No. 2 pick, inked a lucrative pact with Minnesota North Stars.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04201/4749905-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="1702" height="1303"></div><h2>Lending A Helping Hand</h2>The Ottawa 67s of the Ontario Hockey League organized a gala benefit game in the Canadian capital just before training camp to help raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation. The game matched former 67s and Ottawa area players, who made it to the NHL, and the present Ottawa team. The event enriched the foundation by $15,000. Here&rsquo;s the opening faceoff with Doug Smith, and Jeff Vaive, right, doing the honors. Ed Hospodar, now with the Hartford Whalers, helps muscular dystrophy victim Richard Lalonde to drop the first puck. Bunny Larocque, Mike Bullard, Peter Lee, Tim Higgins, Randy Boyd, Stewart Gavin, John Barrett, Doug Crossman and Randy Cunneyworth participated in the game. &#9632;

f0038-01

HOCKEY PEOPLE

<h2>Soviet Visit Set</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;The Soviet Union will play six exhibition games against National Hockey League teams in late December and early January.NHL president John Ziegler confirmed the Soviets will send an All Star team that will include 16 members of the crack Soviet National team. Among the top Soviet stars coming over for the series will be goalie ladislav Tretiak, defenseman Vlacheslav Fetisov, and forwards Sergei Makarov, Victor Krutov, Anatoli Semonov and Sergei Shepelev, the scoring sensation of the 1982 Canada Cup conquest in Montreal.The series will open Dec. 28 in Edmonton against the Oilers. Other dates include Dec. 30 at Quebec, Dec. 31 at Montreal, Jan. 2 at Calgary, Jan. 4 at Bloomington against the Minnesota North Stars, and the windup game in the Philadelphia Spectrum Jan. 6.<h2>Stoughton Banned</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;Right winger Blaine Stoughton will miss the first eight games of the 1982-83 NHL season after receiving a stiff suspension for Crosschecking Pittsburgh defenseman Paul Baxter.NHL vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill set Stoughton down for Hartford&rsquo;s first eight games after a hearing and viewing films of the Oct. 2 exhibition game between the Whalers and Penguins.Stoughton wasn&rsquo;t the only member of the Whalers to feel the league&rsquo;s brath for exhibition game outbursts. Defenseman Chris Kotsopolous was fined for his involvement in a stick swinging incident with Baxter. O&rsquo;Neill refused to reveal the amount of the line. The Hartford rearguard also received a written warning from the NHL for his actions.<h2>Devils Hot Ticket</h2>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;The New Jersey Devils got a rousing initiation to the National Hockey League when overflow crowd of 19,203 turned out the very first game in the Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands on Oct. 8.The transplanted NHL team, which was moved from Colorado during the off-season, responded to the capacity crowd by upsetting the New York Rangers 3-2 in their first game ever in the NHL.Goalie Chico Resch, whom the Jersey fans are already calling &lsquo;the franchise,&rsquo; came up with a glittering performance in goal to preserve the Devils&rsquo; first win. Resch stopped Rangers&rsquo; Anders Hedberg, on a. dangerous backhander with only 1:10 remaining in the game.<h2>No. 13 Popular</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;For years, National Hockey Leaguers shunned the infamous No. 13 on the backs of their hockey jerseys.Today, the number is growing more popular around the NHL and this season two more have decided they wanted to wear No. 13 on their major league jerseys. Center Ken Linseman of the Edmonton Oilers and right winger Dave Michayluk of the Philadelphia Flyers are the latest to show on the ice with the number on their backs.Defenseman Lars Lindgren of the Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; captain Dave Christian were already wearing No. 13, raising the number in the NHL to four.<h2>Flyers Tie Mark</h2>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;The Philadelphia Flyers tied a team record when they scored three goals in a span of 35 seconds in their NHL season opener.The Flyers walloped the Quebec Nordiques 9-5 and during the course of the game the team rifled three pucks past Quebec goalie John Garrett to tie a mark the club originally set in 1979.With the score tied at 5-5, the Flyers erupted for three quick goals. Brian Propp scored at 9.08, Bill Barber at 9.31 and Ray Allison at 9.43 to break the game wide open in the third period.<h2>Trade Winds</h2>TORONTO&mdash;There is growing speculation that the trading market will start to heat up now that the NHL season is underway.In fact, several players are reported to be on the block as NHL clubs scout around to improve their lineups. The Buffalo Sabres, who are not off to an auspicious start, may be one of the NHL clubs ready to trade for some up-front strength. Tony McKegney and Ric Seiling were two players the Sabres were reportedly ready to swap if the right deal comes along.The Edmonton Oilers apparently wouldn&rsquo;t hesitate to trade such highly rated rookies as Todd Strueby or even Marc Habscheid if they could get a front-line veteran defenseman in return. GM and coach Glen Sather is reported to have said he would include both his kid stars in a deal but the return would have to be worthwhile. Sather is adamant the Oilers need a top rearguard to make a serious run at the Stanley Cup.<h2>New Leafs&rsquo; Team</h2>TORONTO&mdash;The Toronto Maple Leafs have a new look in their radio team.Ron Hewat, now the vice president of Telemedia Broadcast Services and the man who handled the play-by-play of the Leafs&rsquo; road games last season on radio, has stepped up to a new executive role and turned the mike over to Joe Bowen, a 31-year-old announcer who handled the games of the Nova Scotia Voyageurs of the AHL last season.To assist Bowen, Hewat and TBS hired Doug McKay, the former assistant coach of the Maple Leafs, and ex-NHLer Gary Monahan to do the color commentary. The Leafs&rsquo; games will be aired on a network of 25 Ontario stations.<h2>Gilbert&rsquo;s Opening</h2>NEW YORK&mdash;Former New York Ranger star Rod Gilbert, who was recently inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, held a gala official opening on Oct. 12 for his Rod Gilbert Cafe des Sports at 1319 Third Avenue. A host of sports and entertainment personalities were on hand for the festivities.<h2>Craig Set Free</h2>BOSTON&mdash;Olympic goaltending hero Jim Craig is a free agent again.The Boston Bruins handed Craig his unconditional release at the conclusion of training camp by buying out the option year of his contract.Craig, who joined the Bruins late in training camp after being acquitted of a court charge of reckless driving in a highway accident that resulted in a death, said he wasn&rsquo;t surprised by the Bruins&rsquo; move. He saw no action during the exhibition schedule and the Bruins didn&rsquo;t even go to the trouble of listing him in their new media press guide.Craig, who had a no-cut contract, has had a stormy career with the Bruins after refusing demotion to the minors. Injuries have plagued him since his dramatic Olympic Games performance in the 1980 upset win over the Soviet Union. Ever since that day it has been all downhill for Craig. &#9632;

SLAPSHOTS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01408/4749981-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="964" height="998"></div>Larry Humber. All Rights Reserved<h2>ACROSS</h2>1. Stanley Cup winners.8. Flames&rsquo; defenseman last season.9. Hockey forwards.10. Missed puck when attempting shot.11. Beginnings.12. To manage.14. Former Penguins&rsquo; forward.17. Motto.19. A Springfield player.20. Calgary netminder.21. Oiler winger Jari22. Native-born New York Ranger.&bull; Solution in Oct. 29 issue.<h2>DOWN</h2>2. Pictured player was traded by North Stars.3. Flyers&rsquo; defenseman Fred4. Leafs&rsquo; Czech defenseman.5. Jabs opponent with stick.6. Ex-Detroit hockey Director Jim7. Former NHLer with Boston.11. Washington defenseman.13. Leafs&rsquo; great Kennedy&rsquo;s.15. Vancouver center Thomas16. NHL&rsquo;s Goaldiggers.17. Pre-game meal.18. Excuse. &#9632;

f0039-01

HOCKEY crossword

<div class="byline">BY BOB DONNELLY</div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;The Nordiques had a 6-2-1 record in pre-season play against NHL opposition but what has impressed coach Michel Bergeron most of all has been his team&rsquo;s ability to cut down on goals against.The Quebec defense seems to be coming of age now and veteran Rick Lapointe is one of the new faces expected to add a little more experience on the blueline.Lapointe is one of three new players on the roster to start the 1982-83 season. The others are left winger Richard David and rookie defenseman Randy Moller.The biggest surprise of these three is surely David, even if he scored 51 goals with the Fredericton Express of the AHL last season. One year ago, Bergeron suggested to David that he should abandon his hockey career and perhaps think of other ideas about his future. David had already played three years of a contract paying $100,000-plus per season. He was not about to throw away that kind of money and kept his hopes allive that he could one day play in the NHL.His answer to Bergeron was to score 50 goals in Fredericton.When the Nordiques&rsquo; training camp opened, everyone immediately presumed David would be one of the first cuts. But instead, he surprised those watching, especially Bergeron, with his play during the first week. He forced Quebec to keep him around, at least for a little while. During the second week, Bergeron was telling everyone that it was much too soon to say if David would stay; he wanted to take some of the extra pressure off him. By the time the regular season started, David was not only a regular, but he was also protected by the Nordiques, while veterans Andre Dupont and Jacques Richard were left off that list.&ldquo;He deserved to start the year with us and, if we had not protected him, fifteen teams would have jumped at the chance to pick him up,&rdquo; said Bergeron.&ldquo;I really worked hard and 1 was glad that I got lots of ice time,&rdquo; added David. &ldquo;I want to play in Quebec, and maybe if I have a good year, I might even get a new contract. That&rsquo;s not too bad for a guy everyone thought was finished a year ago. This is the first time they have not asked me to change my style of play. So far, things have been going well.&rdquo;Lapointe was obtained from St. Louis in a deal that sent Pat Hickey to the Blues. He earned himself a place on the team and his experience will help the Nordiques, a young team on defense, made even younger with the addition of Moller.Moller was a first-round draft pick by Quebec in 1981 and played junior hockey with the Lethbridge Broncos last year. He has impressed the Quebec management with his aggressiveness and Bergeron decided to keep him around to start the regular season.&ldquo;I was very nervous at the start, even if this was the second time around for me,&rdquo; said Moller. &ldquo;I felt myself playing with more and more confidence as the camp progressed. I was really glad when they told me they decided to keep me there. Now, I will try to make up for lost time.&rdquo;Moller, like Mike Eagles and Mario Gosselin, two players returned to Kitchener and Shawinigan respectively, still has one year of junior eligibility. He can dress for 10 games only and if he stays longer he will be considered in the first year of his professional career.NORDIC NOTES&mdash;Richard and Dupont were both surprised and shocked that they were not protected by the Nordiques, although neither was picked up. Richard scored fifty goals two years ago, but he had all kinds of problems last season. A hefty contract may have also made some teams think twice about picking him up. Richard was probably further surprised when the Nordiques dropped him down to Fredericton in their final player cuts. Tough Basil McRae and defenseman Pierre Lacroix accompanied Richard to the AHL&hellip;Eagles made a good impression in the training camp and will be expected to make the jump next year. His style is very similar to Dale Hunter and everyone knows how effective Hunter has been in the NHL&hellip;Hunter actually led the Nordiques this year in exhibition scoring, with seven goals and six assists in 10 games&hellip;Wilf Paiement was not particularly impressive in the training camp, but the Nordiques expect he will come around. &#9632;

Nordiques Open Year With Three New Faces

TORONTO&mdash;There are five new team leaders in the NHL for the 1982-83 season and with the exception of one, they all came to their current teams in trades.Stan Smyl is the new man wearing the captain&rsquo;s C for the Vancouver Canucks and he is the exception to the trade story. The others, Danny Gare in Detroit, Don Lever in New Jersey, Russ Anderson at Hartford and Washington&rsquo;s Rod Langway, were all involved in deals that ultimately put them in the uniforms of the clubs they have been chosen to lead on the ice.Gare came to Detroit last season in a multi-player swap from Buffalo. Lever began with Calgary and was traded to Colorado. He moved to New Jersey with the Rockies&rsquo; franchise. &#9632;

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October 22, 1982

CORRECTION

NHL TEAM ROSTERS

NHL SCOREBOARD

AMATEUR SCOREBOARD