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.

December 3, 1982

The Hockey News December 3, 1982

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02870/4662048-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="629" height="604"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011142/4662055-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="177" height="160"></div><h2>GOALTENDING STATISTICS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03722/4662041-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="573" height="2400"></div><h2>NHL LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04635/4662034-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="547" height="494"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

WINNIPEG JETS

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>CALGARY&mdash;On the day the Calgary Flames closed the book on one first-round draft choice, they opened it on another.The Flames traded Denis Cyr, their top choice in the 1980 draft, to the Chicago Black Hawks for Carey Wilson, ending Cyr&rsquo;s disappointing two-year stay in the organization. Later, they called up Allan Maclnnis, their first-round choice in the 1981 draft, from the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League.General Manager Cliff Fletcher, who hasn&rsquo;t been happy with Macln-nis&rsquo;s progress to date, is hoping the 19-year-old defenseman will fit into the organization better than Cyr did.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll look at him for the next six games and make a decision then,&rdquo; said Fletcher. &ldquo;We thought we&rsquo;d have a good look at him. If the defensive aspect of his game has improved enough, he could be here until the end of the year.&rdquo;Maclnnis was sent down at the end of training camp with instructions to improve his defense. Assistant GM Al MacNeil scouted him for a few games and apparently saw some changes he liked.&ldquo;As far as my defense goes, I think a lot of times I get caught out of position when I don&rsquo;t have the puck, especially in our own end,&rdquo; said Maclnnis. &ldquo;In junior hockey, it&rsquo;s a lot different. I can carry the puck a lot longer than here. You can learn a lot of bad habits in junior, things you can&rsquo;t get away with in the NHL.&rdquo;The departure of Cyr highlights one of the organization&rsquo;s greatest shortcomings&mdash;an inability to select bluechip pros in the first round of the entry draft&mdash;in its 11 years in the National Hockey League. Cyr was just one in a series of first-round draft choices who did not pan out for the Flames. With the exceptions of Paul Reinhart and Tom Lysiak, the Flames have had little success in the first round, choosing Jacques Richard, Richard Mulhern, David Shand, Harold Phillipoff and Brad Marsh in place of literally dozens of quality National Hockey Leaguers that were available.&ldquo;It bothers me tremendously that we&rsquo;ve drafted so badly in the first round,&rdquo; said Fletcher. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how you have to build your hockey club. That&rsquo;s why, two years ago, we changed our scouting department. We&rsquo;ve hired &rsquo; seven new scouts in the last two years.&ldquo;On the surface, I&rsquo;m happy with the way our draft has gone in those two years. Hopefully, that drafting will bear fruit in the future.&rdquo;Fletcher said Cyr was headed to the minors when negotiations with the Black Hawks reached a stalemate. Only when the Hawks introduced Wilson&rsquo;s name into the talks did Fletcher&rsquo;s interest perk up again. It took 48 hours, but the deal was made. Cyr, a first-round choice in 1980, for Wilson, a fourth-round choice in 1980. Considering the success the Flames have had in the fourth round (Kent Nilsson, Jim Peplinski) this deal may work out.Cyr said his problems with the Flames were the result of not getting a chance to play regularly.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a confidence problem, it was a problem of ice time,&rdquo; said Cyr. &ldquo;Every time I got lots of ice, I played pretty well. Last year, when they brought me up, I scored eight goals in 12 games playing with Mel Bridgman. Then they made some trades and I had a problem with my shoulder and that was it.&ldquo;I need lots of ice. I have to at least play regularly to do something.&rdquo;Wilson played for Canada on the team that won the gold medal at last year&rsquo;s world junior championships. In Finland, he is playing for IFK Helsinki, the same team as Pekka Rauta-kallio, the former Flames&rsquo; defenseman and Matti Hagman, the former Edmonton Oiler center.The Black Hawks drafted Wilson out of Dartmouth. As a 16-year-old, Wilson and his twin brother Geoff, played for the now-defunct Calgary Chinooks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.&ldquo;I saw him play three games in person and one on TV during the world junior tournament,&rdquo; said Fletcher. &ldquo;I liked him very much. I think he&rsquo;s a prospect that will play for us.&rdquo;Wilson, contacted in Finland by the Calgary Herald, said he did not know where he would be playing hockey next year: with the Flames, the Canadian Olympic team or back in Helsinki. There&rsquo;s also the possibility that Wilson may forego a pro career to go to medical school.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011181/4662117-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="573" height="894"><figcaption class="caption-body">Flames&rsquo; GM Cliff Fletcher is hoping Allan Maclnnis works out better than Denis Cyr.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t really thought about what I&rsquo;m going to do,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;I must say I was surprised by the trade. It&rsquo;s strange to get traded before you&rsquo;ve even played a game in the NHL.&rdquo;IN BRIEF&mdash;The Flames called up left winger Carl Mokosak from the Colorado Flames for a six-game trial. To make room on the roster for Mokosak, Calgary sent down Finnish rookie Kari Jalonen. &#9632;

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Cyr’s End Signals Maclnnis’ Beginning

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>QUEBEC&mdash;Seven Quebec Major Junior Hockey League players have been nominated to attend a two-day training camp in Toronto to play on the Canadian junior team.The national squad, defending world champions, will compete in the world championships, Dec. 26-Jan. 4 in Leningrad. Thirty-two players representing each of Canada&rsquo;s three major junior leagues will attend the Dec. 18-19 training camp.Players invited from the QMJHL are: Mario Gosselin, 19, goaltender, Shawinigan Cataracts; defenseman Paul Boutilier, 19, St.-Jean Beavers; Andre Villeneuve, 19, Chicoutimi Sagueneens; Michel Petit, 18, St. Jean; Jean-Jacques Daigneault, 17, Longueuil Chevaliers; and centers Mario Lemieux, 17, Laval Voisins; and Sylvain Turgeon, 19, Hull Olympics.The players were selected by a committee comprised of Jim Gregory of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Central Scouting System; Sherry Bassin and Dave King, general manager and coach, respectively, of the team, and associates&rsquo;Michel Morin (Quebec) and Doug Sauter (West).Morin was fired as coach of the Saugueneens one month ago and replaced by Germain Munger, the team&rsquo;s first coach when it joined the league six years ago. Munger has had success coaching junior B in Jon-quiere, Que., and is a physical education professor.QMJHL executive director Paul Dumont said any teams losing players to the Canadian juniorswould not be able to postpone games that conflict with the tournament.AROUND THE LEAGUE-Wray Quigley of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Gerard Gallant of the St. Jean Beavers have been suspended for five games and one game, respectively, following incidents in a Nov. 14 game. Quigley left the players&rsquo; bench to participate in a fight, while Gallant struck an official&hellip; Trois-Rivieres Draveurs&rsquo; coach Mario Bazinet was given an additional one-game suspension last week for his part in a game against Hull on Nov. 7. Bazinet repeatedly chastized the reserve referee who handled the game. Forward Claude Lemieux, who had missed one game before the hearing with QMJHL president Jean Rougeau, was not given an additional suspension&hellip; The Draveurs and Quebec Remparts have been fined $500 and $250, respectively, by Rougeau after their recent five-player trade. Rougeau was incensed that the Draveurs traded student Claude Gosselin without his permission. Under league rules a player attending school can be traded once per season&mdash;but only if the player requests the transaction&hellip; Dumont said he would like to have a Quebec hockey man appointed commissioner of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, to be renamed the Canadian National Development Hockey League. Ed Chynoweth, president of the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League&mdash;one of the CAHA&rsquo;s highest bodies&mdash;also is the commissioner of the Western Hockey League. While Dumont has no qualms with Chynoweth&rsquo;s work, he said two portfolios is too much for one man. &#9632;

Seven Selected For National Camp

<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>BUFFALO&mdash; Dave Andreychuk, C, returned to Oshawa of OHL. Dave Fenyves, D, recalled from Rochester of AHL. Jere Gillis, LW, sent to Rochester.CALGARY&mdash; Carl Mokosak, LW, and Jim Ralph, G, recalled from Colorado of CHL. Keri Jolonen, C, assigned to Colorado. Allan Macln-nis, D, recalled from Kitchener of OHL.DETROIT&mdash;;Randy Ladouceur, D, recalled from Adirondack of AHL. Gilles Gilbert, G, assigned to Adirondack for 10 days to play himself into condition after recovering from skin rash that inactivated him.EDMONTON&mdash; Glenn Anderson, RW, out of action with injury.HARTFORD&mdash; Paul MacDermid, RW, recalled from Windsor of OHL.LOS ANGELES&mdash; Bernie Nicholls,C, sidelined for month with knee injury. Warren Holmes, C, recalled from New Haven of AHL. Dean Hopkins, RW, sent to New Haven as replacement.MINNESOTA&mdash;;Gary Sargent, D, out of action for 4 weeks after undergoing knee surgery.NEW JERSEY&mdash; Shawn MacKen-zie, G, recalled from Wichita of CHL. Lindsay Middlebrook, G, sent to Wichita as replacement. Murray Brumwell, D, also recalled from Wichita. Jukka Porvari, RW, sent to Wichita.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;;Darcy Regier, D, and Gord Dineen, D, recalled from Indianapolis of CHL. Dan Revell, RW, recalled from Indianapolis and reassigned to Toledo of IHL.NY RANGERS&mdash; Jim Malone, C, recalled from Moncton of AHL and reassigned to Tulsa of CHL. Bob Bales, LW, and Steve Ulseth, LW, recalled from Tulsa for reassignment. Bales sent to Peoria of IHL.PHILADELPHIA&mdash; Ilka Sinisalo, LW, reactivated and placed on roster. Dave Michayluk, LW, returned to Maine of AHL after being recalled.PITTSBURGH&mdash; Roberto Romano, G, and Doug Lecuyer, LW, assigned to Baltimore of AHL.QUEBEC&mdash; Terry Johnson, D, recalled from Fredericton of AHL and later returned. Brian Ford, G, recalled from Carolina of ACHL and reassigned to Fredericton.ST. LOUIS&mdash; Rik Wilson, D, recalled from Salt Lake of CHL.TORONTO&mdash; Walt Poddubny, C, sidelined again with leg injury. Rod Willard, LW, recalled from St. Catharines of AHL. Dave Logan, D, recalled from St. Catharines and assigned to Birmingham of CHL on loan.VANCOUVER&mdash; Harold Snepsts, D, sidelined for two weeks with eye injury. Richard Brodeur, G, out of action with knee injury.WASHINGTON&mdash; Paul MacKinnon, D, recalled from Hershey of AHL. Torrie Robertson, LW, sent to Hershey.AMERICAN LEAGUEBINGHAMTON&mdash; Dave McDonald, LW, recalled from Saginaw of IHL.HERSHEY&mdash; Vic Morin, D, secured from Washington.MAINE&mdash;;Bill Provencher, G, recalled from Toledo of IHL and signed to pro contract.NEW HAVEN&mdash; Paul Pageau, G, assigned to Saginaw of IHL. &#9632;

PLAYER TRANSACTIONS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01758/4663331-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Denis Brodeur)</figcaption></div>$1.25 64522 THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY DECEMBER 3, 1982 Vol. 36, No.9<h2>LES CANADENS HAVE CLASS A SPECIAL 12-PAGE SECTION &#9632;</h2>

Cover-01

The Hockey News

NHLBoston&hellip;&hellip; 26Buffalo&hellip;&hellip; 9Calgary&hellip;&hellip; 14Chicago&hellip;&hellip; 26Detroit&hellip;&hellip; 3Edmonton&hellip;&hellip; 3Hartford&hellip;&hellip; 10Los Angeles&hellip;&hellip; 7Minnesota&hellip;&hellip; 14Montreal&hellip;&hellip; 20New Jersey&hellip;&hellip; 37Islanders&hellip;&hellip; 39Rangers&hellip;&hellip; 21Philadelphia&hellip;&hellip; 38Pittsburgh&hellip;&hellip; 4Quebec&hellip;&hellip; 3St. Louis&hellip;&hellip; 4Toronto&hellip;&hellip; 13Vancouver&hellip;&hellip; 6Washington&hellip;&hellip; 10Winnipeg&hellip;&hellip; 5The MinorsAHL&hellip;&hellip; 27CHL&hellip;&hellip; 28IHL&hellip;&hellip; 29ACHL&hellip;&hellip; 29The AmateursOHL&hellip;&hellip; 32QHL&hellip;&hellip; 33WHL&hellip;&hellip; 33The CollegesEC AC&hellip;&hellip; 30WCHA&hellip;&hellip; 30CCHA&hellip;&hellip; 31Scoreboard&hellip;&hellip; 30ColumnistsFrank Orr&hellip;&hellip; 2Stan Fischler&hellip;&hellip; 5Joe Falls&hellip;&hellip; 10Dick Beddoes&hellip;&hellip; 14Bill Fleischman&hellip;&hellip; 16George Gross&hellip;&hellip; 39DepartmentsBluelines&hellip;&hellip; 9NHL Scoring&hellip;&hellip; 12Les Canadiens&hellip;&hellip; 15NHL Summaries&hellip;&hellip; 34NHL Rosters&hellip;&hellip; 35Classified&hellip;&hellip; 37<h2>Coming Next Issue</h2>In next week&rsquo;s issue, an old feud will be revived. Boston Bruin defenseman Mike Milbury unloads on National Hockey League Players Association chief Alan Eagleson. And Eagleson has a few points of his own to make. This isn&rsquo;t the first time these two have locked horns and it doesn&rsquo;t look to be last.Also, our cover story will profile Boston Bruins&rsquo; leading scorer Tom Fergus, a sophomore pro who is a perfect example of the Bruins&rsquo; expertise when it comes to identifying and acquiring young talent.Columnist Steve Simmons takes a close look at the revitalized Marcel Dionne, who appears to be more contented and happy than ever before in his starry but at times controversial career. &#9632;

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011166/4661235-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Oilers are counting on defenseman Paul Coffey to resume the pace he set in the first half of the 1981-82 campaign, when he had 22 goals and 51 assists and was a Campbell Conference all-star. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>EDMONTON&mdash;What is the count at now?The third or fourth renewal of the second coming of Paul Coffey? It couldn&rsquo;t be the fifth? Say it isn&rsquo;t the sixth? Seventh?&ldquo;I just think, I certainly hope that it&rsquo;s the last,&rdquo; says the Edmonton Oiler defenseman, who has been known to go about his chores in two distinctly contrasting fashions.When it comes to the name of this particular athletic pursuit&mdash;which primarily is skate&mdash;Coffey knows but two styles: A. Fluid and graceful as he skims effortlessly across National Hockey League ponds like a cross between Toller Cranston and Guy Lafleur, now that the celebrated Flower has reverted to his old form. Or B. As if the ice has suddenly melted and he&rsquo;s stranded ankle-deep in mud.Considering the NHL has embarked upon its second month of the 1982-83 season and Coffey&rsquo;s stock has shot skyward, about the same time as a grisly facial foliage was being razored down the drain, it can be assumed that the 21-year-old&rsquo;s rhythm has been toetapping to a positive note. But that assumption is tempered by the fact that Coffey&rsquo;s past performances have been far too erratic to draw any longterm conclusions.Only time will tell. But in the meantime, the brass is in Coffey&rsquo;s comer.&ldquo;Everybody has ups and downs. For a guy to play well for five games, even 10, doesn&rsquo;t mean he&rsquo;s going to keep it up for 80 games.&rdquo; said GM-coach Glen Sather, who highly commended Coffey for his performances during Edmonton&rsquo;s last two home games before departure on a six-game road swing. &ldquo;The only thing I ask of my players is that they consistently work hard. As far as mistakes go, everybody&rsquo;s going to make them.&rdquo;Nobody&rsquo;s perfect, right?For the benefit of those unfamiliar with the trials and tribulations of Paul Coffey, perhaps a briefing is in order:The 6-foot, 203-pounder was instrumental when the Oilers captured the imagination of Stanley Cup playoff followers in 1980-81. As an underage rookie, no less. He carried this style into August, 1981 and gained recognition as the training camp surprise of the Canada Cup, although ultimately losing a berth to the Calgary Flames&rsquo; Paul Reinhart in the final cutdown.If anything, the Canada Cup setback brought out the best in the Toronto native. He scored 22 goals and 51 points during 1981-82&rsquo;s first half, was chosen as a starter on the Campbell Conference all-star team and, in the minds of certain premature thinkers, was being publicized as a sure bet for the Norris Trophy.Then the wheels fell off.Instead of scoring goals&mdash;two in his last 21 games and none over the final 11 as he sat stymied at 29&mdash;Coffey began committing costly giveaways at an alarming rate. A vital cog in the playoffs a year before, his play deteriorated in such a manner that Sather became afraid to dispatch the nervous defender into the fray during criticial situations. And, considering the fruitless preliminary-round series against the Los Angeles Kings was touch and go, well&hellip;Sprinkled in were intermittent flirtations of a reversal to form&mdash;even promises&mdash;but they were customarily dispensed, even before the conclusion of a shift. After seven games this season, Coffey&rsquo;s efficiency rating was minus five and it wasn&rsquo;t entirely by accident. A victim of circumstances, he was not.&ldquo;I was so worried about getting a goal scored against that I would go out there and it would happen,&rdquo; he said, describing the power of negative thinking.He then took to heeding the advice of assistant coach Ted Green, who urged him to transport the puck from his own end without gift wrapping it for opposition use. With a new $105,000 one-year (plus option) contract that was settled by arbitration, Coffey figured he had better start earning his keep. There was only one way.&ldquo;Skating and shooting, that&rsquo;s when I&rsquo;m most effective, when I get results,&rdquo; he said of the fact his rating steadily rose to plus seven over an eight-game haul.&ldquo;With his speed,&rdquo; said Sather, &ldquo;Paul&rsquo;s a very dangerous player.&rdquo; &#9632;

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The Trials And Tribulations Of Oilers’ Rearguard Coffey

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;The euphoria of three Red Wing victories was short-circuited by three straight losses, two of them lopsided.The most disheartening defeat suffered by coach Nick Polano&rsquo;s hockey club this season came in the first match-up against Toronto, the team the Wings expect to battle to the wire in the Norris Division.Based on first impressions, however, it won&rsquo;t be much of a battle.The Maple Leafs bulldozed Detroit 8-2 in Toronto in a game the Wings were looking forward to.It was supposed to be a game that would set boundaries&mdash;this is my turf, no trespassing.Well, the Maple Leafs delivered the message clearly enough. The Red Wings must catch Toronto for fourth place and the final playoff spot, not the other way around as Detroit had hoped.Three nights earlier, the Wings were trampled in Boston 7-0.The day after that shutout, veteran goaltender Jimmy Rutherford, veteran right winger Dennis Polonich and center Mark Kirton were sent to the minors and goaltender Corrado Micalef, a second-year pro, and left winger Joe Paterson were summoned to fill out the roster.Rutherford was in goal for the Boston game, his first appearance of the season.Rookie Greg Stefan, the Wings&rsquo; outstanding player so far this season, went back in goal against Toronto but it didn&rsquo;t do much good.Detroit spotted Toronto a 2-0 lead before Paul Woods and Danny Gare scored in a 50-second span to knot it. Then it was all Toronto.&ldquo;I know there&rsquo;s more character out there than what we saw tonight,&rdquo; general manager Jimmy Devellano said afterward.&ldquo;What we need is for a few players to take charge, to close the lockerroom door to the coaches and staff, and to get after each other and see just what the matter is.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve tried taking the players aside individually and as groups. Now I think we&rsquo;re to the point where it&rsquo;s got to come from the players themselves.&rdquo;The Wings, this year and in the past, have shown no inclination for that sort of thing. Most of them just ride the currents and wind up wherever it takes them. Generally, that&rsquo;s near the bottom of the standings.The Red Wings returned home for a game against Chicago two nights later and the result, although much more respectable, was still another loss&mdash;3-2.That left Detroit with a record of 3-12-3, four points behind Toronto, and a western swing coming up.The Wings made the five-player shuffle with Adirondack of the American Hockey League for obvious reasons: They sent down older players and replaced them with younger.Paterson and Micalef are the Wings of the future and Polano wanted them to get big-league ice time.Paterson, 22, who&rsquo;s seen limited action in the NHL in each of the last two seasons, had five goals and five assists in 11 games with Adirondack.Micalef, 21, became the No. 2 goalie behind Stefan. Micalef (6-5 at Adirondack) got his first action late in the Toronto game after the Leafs KO&rsquo;d Stefan.Later, the Wings also sent veteran Gilles Gilbert, their No. 1 goalie going into the season, as he has been for the last two season, to Adirondack to play himself back into shape.Gilbert had been sidelined since Oct. 17 by a serious case of the rash. He said the ailment caused him great concern about his future and his health. The rash caused such discomfort that he found even the most simple things, like sleeping, difficult.WING WIRE-The Wings called up defenseman Randy Ladouceur as a replacement for Colin Campbell who had a rib injury&hellip; The demotion of Polonich, 29, probably marks the end of his career in Detroit. He played hard but the talent just wasn&rsquo;t there to be an NHL regular. But in the AHL last season, he scored 30 goals and 26 assists&hellip; Detroit&rsquo;s home attendance at Joe Louis Arena is 89,503 through eight dates, down nearly 6,000 from last year. The largest crowd was the 17,000-plus for the opener against St. Louis. Some big crowds are due soon&mdash;Edmonton and Montreal will be in town. &#9632;

Losing Streak Stops Wings’ Euphoria

<div class="byline">BY BOB DONNELLY</div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;For rookie goalie Clint Malarchuk, his current stint with the Quebec Nordiques has been both enjoyable and disappointing. After winning his first two games after being called up from Fredericton, he sustained his first loss.Malarchuk was a little disappointed by that 7-4 loss at home to the Boston Bruins, but he certainly was not depressed. &ldquo;I feel a little badly, both for myself and for the team&rdquo; said Malarchuk, &ldquo;but on the other hand, I think that was certainly my worst performance of the year, either in the AHL or the NHL. I guess I was just due to have a bad game and that was it. 1 know that if I can keep the opposition under three goals, we will usually win because we can score a lot.&rdquo;Malarchuk will impress you with his attitude and style in goal. In his first start of the year, he beat Boston 3-2 on the road after trailing 2-0 in the opening minutes of the game. Two days later, he helped the Nordiques to a 7-2 triumph over the struggling New Jersey Devils.Malarchuk led the AHL with a 1.98 goals-against average when the Nordiques called him up from Fredericton to replace Dan Bouchard. Bouchard was sidelined with a hairline fracture of the index finger on his right hand, and Malarchuk soon established himself as the No. 1 netminder with the Nordiques, despite the efforts of veteran John Garrett.Malarchuk has only words of praise for Garrett and he certainly appreciated the help Garrett has given him in his adjustment to NHL play;For a young goaltender, Malarchuk has a mature outlook on the game of hockey. &ldquo;No one should blame themselves for a loss because hockey is a team game&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I was not as consistent in the loss to Boston as I wanted to be. I didn&rsquo;t challenge the shooters like I wanted to. I had a lot of shots, but I won&rsquo;t blame my defense. They make mistakes out there, and so do I. My job is to be ready when the opposition has a good shot on goal. Hockey is a game of mistakes and every goal is the result of an error by someone on the ice. Everyone has to be well prepared.&rdquo;The Nordiques have been giving up far too many goals this year and they will need more than Malarchuk&rsquo;s cool attitude to stay near the top of the NHL&rsquo;s overall standings. Coach Michel Bergeron talked about some of his team&rsquo;s-weaknesses recently as the Nordiques prepared for a western swing.&ldquo;We have been letting the oposition take control in the opening moments of the game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We are not even being checked that hard and we are still giving up the puck. Also, we are not hitting enough and we&rsquo;re not aggressive when we should be. It is as if we are thrown off our game when the opposition is one of those teams that hits a lot, or holds a lot or interferes constantly.&rdquo;The Stastny brothers&mdash;Marian, Peter and Anton&mdash;are not the most physical line in the NHL, but you won&rsquo;t hear Bergeron complain about their play so far this year.&ldquo;The Stastnys may not hand out that many bodychecks, but they take more than their share in a game,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re checked tightly and closely because they&rsquo;re always on the puck. We keep track of how many takeouts each player handles in each game and we know who is doing his job and who isn&rsquo;t. Those players who are not fancy stickhandlers or puck carriers have to play the body more. That&rsquo;s what we want to see.&rdquo;Who are the checkers for Quebec? Names like Dale Hunter, Alain Cote and Mario Marois come to mind. Others such as Wilf Paiement should, but they don&rsquo;t.Marian Stastny has really come into his own this season and he is scoring with regularity. He seems to have completely adjusted to the style of play in the NHL. That makes his goal scoring all the more impressive. Bergeron has separated the Stastny brothers on occasion, but never for long.&ldquo;They are our best offensive line and there was never any doubt about that,&rdquo; said the Quebec coach. &ldquo;They are the best offensive line in the NHL, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean that I won&rsquo;t try different line combinations at times if I feel it will help the team.&rdquo;Malarchuk talked a little about consistency in goal following his first loss this year. Bergeron has often expressed the same desire in relation to the play of his team as a whole.The Nordiques remain one of the most inconsistent teams in the NHL, capable of beating the best on a given night, but also guilty of turning in a mediocre performance the next game. &#9632;

Losing First Game Doesn’t Depress Malarchuk

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011211/4661314-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="571" height="1108"><figcaption class="caption-body">Getting demoted to the minors was the toughest point in Peter Lee&rsquo;s pro career.</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;The beat goes on.The Penguins continued their revolving door of player moves, recalling right winger Peter Lee from Baltimore of the American Hockey League, obtaining left winger Stan Jonathan from Boston and buying out the contract of veteran forward Rick MacLeish.The 26-year-old Lee had been vanquished to the minor leagues after being passed over by the other 20 National Hockey League teams in October&rsquo;s waiver draft. Lee was the Skipjack&rsquo;s leading scorer with 11 goals and six assists in 14 games and was chosen AHL Player of the Week after tallying five goals arid two assists before being recalled.&ldquo;When I did get sent down I knew it was a tough point in my career,&rdquo; said Lee, who scored a goal and played an excellent all-around game upon his return to the NHL. &ldquo;But I thought I&rsquo;d go down and work hard and see what I could do. I knew that if I&rsquo;d play good down there, after 15 games I&rsquo;d get a shot here or somewhere else.&rdquo;Lee played five sessions in Pittsburgh after being obtained in November, 1977, from Montreal, where he was a first-round draft choice the previous year. He admits being sent to the minors was a blow.&ldquo;When something like that happens, it shakes you up,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It happens so quick. I had to regain my ground a bit and think things over.&ldquo;When I went through waivers, every team in the league thought they would win the Stanley Cup in the beginning of the year. I figured 15, 20 games into the season people would start wondering, &lsquo;What happened to these guys that were supposed to bring us the Stanley Cup?&rsquo; I thought if I played well, I&rsquo;d get a chance to come back up.&rdquo;<h2>Pittsburgh obtained Jonathan from the Bruins for future considerations that will be determined at the end of this season.</h2>Pittsburgh obtained Jonathan from the Bruins for future considerations, which will be determined at the end of the season. It is believed the Penguins will give Boston a 1983 draft choice if he remains in Pittsburgh after this season. Otherwise, the Penguins would return Jonathan to the Bruins and pay his salary this year.The 27-year-old Jonathan scored four goals and four assists while playing on a line with Lee in Baltimore, which also is a Boston farm club, prior to coming to Pittsburgh. The rugged Jonathan had been sought by Penguin coach Eddie Johnston for some time after playing six seasons with the Bruins.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the type of player I always wanted,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s strong, and he takes the body.&rdquo;The buying out of MacLeish&rsquo;s contract, which had this season and an option year remaining, is another step in the club&rsquo;s announced committment to youth. The 32-year-old center-left winger came to the Penguins last season from Hartford for defenseman Russ Anderson.MacLeish, who had 339 career goals, had five assists in six games for Pittsburgh this season. He hadn&rsquo;t played in about three weeks at the time of his release.The Penguins previously had traded 30-year-old forward George Ferguson to Minnesota and bought out the remainder of 33-year-old center Gregg Sheppard&rsquo;s contract.In another roster move, the Penguins sent left winger Doug Lecuyer to Baltimore. Lecuyer, who scored one goal and four assists in 12 games, came to Pittsburgh in the Waiver Draft in October from Winnipeg.Stay tuned next week for another chapter of &ldquo;The Beat Goes On,&rdquo; starring the Pittsburgh Penguins.PENGUIN TRACKS-Goaltender Denis Herron missed a few games after suffering a concussion against the New York Islanders. Rookie Roberto Romano was recalled from Baltimore to take Herron&rsquo;s place on the roster. Rookies Dave Hannan and Rod Buskas scored their first NHL goals, Hannan against the New York Rangers and Buskas against Edmonton. Pat Boutette was selected Penguin Player of the Month for October. &#9632;

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Shuffle To The Pens’ Beat

<div class="byline">BY GARY MUELLER</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Jorgen Pettersson was just about ready to start talking to himself, wondering what price he had to pay for playing well.Pettersson was playing so well recently that he seemed to be the only member of the St. Louis Blues getting any scoring chances.But when three of those chances came in the third period of close games and he failed to score on all three, Pettersson couldn&rsquo;t help but mumble a bit.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s every game now, it seems,&rdquo; said the personable Swede, &ldquo;but one of these times it&rsquo;s going to go in for me. It&rsquo;s disappointing not to score, but it&rsquo;s not as though I&rsquo;ve missed empty nets. The goalies keep making good plays.&rdquo;The frustrating sequence began with 12 seconds to play and the score tied, 3-3, against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Set up from a faceoff won by linemate Blake Dunlop, Pettersson was in on top of Toronto goalie Mike Palmateer, but Palmateer made the save.&ldquo;I just shot, instead of making a move,.and didn&rsquo;t get good wood on the shot,&rdquo; said Pettersson. &ldquo;Normally in that situation, I&rsquo;d try to make a move and go up high with the shot, but when the faceoff comes with only 12 seconds to play, you know you don&rsquo;t have much time, so I thought I better shoot instead of taking a chance on running out of time.&rdquo;Three nights later, with the score tied, 1-1, against the New York Islanders, Pettersson again was set up neatly by Dunlop, this time with about 15 minutes left in the game.Islanders goalie Roland Melanson barely got the tip of his stick on Pet-tersson&rsquo;s shot and the Blues not only did not go ahead, but less than a minute later fell behind when Bob Nystrom scored for the Islanders, opening the door to what turned out to be a 4-1 St. Louis defeat.&ldquo;I had him beat, but as I pulled the puck, it rolled off the blade of my stick,&rdquo; said Pettersson. &ldquo;I thought I shot it wide, but I guess he got a little piece of it. We were that close to winning the game.&rdquo;The Blues kept coming close the next night when they suffered a 5-4 loss to the New York Rangers in a game that went down to the last seconds, with Steve Weeks stopping Pettersson, again after being set up by Dunlop from a faceoff with 47 seconds left to play.&ldquo;He moved out and I didn&rsquo;t have much of an angle,&rdquo; said Pettersson. &ldquo;I made the play I wanted to make, but he made a good save. That&rsquo;s what the game is all about. I don&rsquo;t get down about not scoring, because just getting chances like that is encouraging.&rdquo;Despite those three misses, Pettersson still found time to pop in three goals and add three assists in those three games as he was playing inspired hockey&mdash;one of the few bright spots for a struggling Blues team.&ldquo;I am playing much more relaxed this season than before,&rdquo; said Pettersson, who scored 37 and 38 goals&rsquo;in his first two seasons in the NHL, &ldquo;because this summer I signed a new contract.&ldquo;That really helped me, because it showed me that Mr. Francis had confidence in me.&rdquo;The vote of confidence was necessary because last season Blues GM-coach Emile Francis had benched Pettersson during the playoffs.&ldquo;I knew Jorgen had the talent to play in this league,&rdquo; said Francis. &ldquo;He could be a 50-goal scorer. But I&rsquo;ve seen goal scorers have trouble in the playoffs before, because they have to resist the temptation to force their chances in the tighter checking of the playoffs. He&rsquo;ll learn. Rod Gilbert had trouble his first couple years in the playoffs and so did Mike Bossy.&rdquo;Aside from picking up a few pointers in his third season in the NHL, Pettersson attributed his fast start this season to being used as a penalty killer for the first time in the NHL.&ldquo;In Sweden, everyone kills penalties,&rdquo; said Pettersson. &ldquo;We do not have specialists like they do over here, so when Larry Patey was hurt, I got to kill penalties and it helped me get into the games more.&rdquo;BLUENOTES: After goalie Glen Hanlon had played spectacularly in four straight starting assignments, workhorse Mike Liut was back in goal for the Blues&rsquo; 5-4 loss to the Rangers, with his goals-against average soaring to 4.01&hellip; Pettersson&rsquo;s goal in the 4-1 loss to the Islanders marked a teamrecord 97th straight game in which the Blues had scored at least one goal&mdash;dating back to a 5-0 loss to the Minnesota North Stars and Gilles Meloche on April 4, 1981. &#9632;

Scoring Drought Doesn’t Frustrate Blues’ Pettersson

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011068/4661393-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="290" height="343"></div><h2>My New Hero</h2>BRAD MARSH IS my new hero, my favorite among favorites for 1982-83.Marsh, the lumbering, non-helmeted Philadelphia Flyer defenseman, stunned me the other day and after five centuries in this business, I don&rsquo;t stun very easily.Better yet, Marsh did not do it in a quiet one-on-one, where it&rsquo;s easy to say things you might not want others to hear. He said what he had to say before a lot of people and on television.It all happened because of the recently-completed football strike. I had just read a story about the poor, out-of-work NFL players; how they were suffering all those weeks out of work.&ldquo;You must have felt bad for all those football players,&rdquo; I said.Marsh shook his head. He wouldn&rsquo;t lie just to make himself sound good, the way a lot of athletes do. He wouldn&rsquo;t fake it.&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t feel sorry for those guys,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t quite understand what they were doing. But I&rsquo;ll tell you this: if they had asked me if I wanted to go on strike against the NHL last September when hockey fans were worried about us going out on the picket line, you know what I would have told them, &lsquo;No way Brad Marsh is going on strike.&rsquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you something else. I&rsquo;ve got a nice big home and I got it all because of hard work. I believe in the union. Our players&rsquo; association is fine. We&rsquo;ve got good benefits, medical and all that, but I&rsquo;ve got no beef at all with management.&rdquo;Brad Marsh is my hero because he&rsquo;s not stupid the way those football players were in September, October and November. He knows it&rsquo;s a helluva lot more fun to play his favorite game a few nights a week and get something like 80 grand a year for doing it than it is to tend bar or walk a picket line the way the NFLers did. The NFL lost 57 days of football. The NHL lost 0 days in 1982. To that, I say amen!Brad Marsh likes to work. So do I. If Brad Marsh had voted strike and all the NHL players had agreed with him, I would have had to go out and work for a living for the first time in my life instead of writing&mdash;and talking&mdash;about hockey. Who needs thatWhich brings me to Al Eagelson and John Ziegler. As union bosses go, Eagleson has his faults, but he also has an especially good feel for the sport. He regards hockey the way Tiffany treats diamonds.Eagleson hammered out a deal that the league and most of the union members could live with. Now, thankfully, we all are enjoying Gretzky, Clarke, Trottier, Secord, Beck and Gainey without suffering withdrawal symptoms, the way football people did for two months.As for Ziegler, the NHL president could have pulled a Pete Rozelle holier-than-thou act. Rozelle, like Bowie Kuhn, believed he was too supernatural to get directly involved in head-to-head negotiations. Rozelle stayed out of it and let some stormtrooper do the yelling for him.By contrast, Ziegler went issue-to-issue with Eagleson. They respect each other, almost like second cousins. The bottom line is that they talked turkey and, like it or not, they made a deal.So what does it prove? That when it comes to money, the I.Q. (Idiot Quotient) in football is very high. In hockey, it is nil.(NEXT WEEK: MIKE MILBURY CAGES THE EAGLE)<h2>All-Dirty Team</h2>NOTES&mdash;THE MONTREAL Canadiens picked their &ldquo;All-Dirty&rdquo; opponents team with Paul Baxter, Ken Lin-seman, et al featured. Foes say that if the list had included Montreal players, Keith Acton would be at or near the top&hellip; Eddie Johnston is doing for Greg Hotham exactly what he did for Randy Carlyle three years ago&hellip; Hall of Fame referee Red Storey has the antidote for stickswinging: &ldquo;For starters, scratch the helmets and masks. The trouble with hockey today is that everybody in it is equipped to go to war. The more protective gear you put on a guy, the bolder he gets.&rdquo; Right on, Red&hellip; Sign at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena: &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s the UTTER SUTTER BRUTTER.&rdquo; The banner-hanger was referring to the Pens&rsquo; No. 1 pick Rich Sutter, who was returned to junior hockey&hellip; If they gave a Pulitzer Prize for hockey writing, Kevin Dupont of the Boston Herald-American (which is in danger of folding its tent) would rate it for his tender, high-class coverage of the Normand Leveille tragedy&hellip; Whalers&rsquo; alternate goalie Mike Veisor has an interesting view of his role. He refuses to be called &ldquo;backup&rdquo; to Greg Millen. Mike prefers to be dubbed No. 2. &ldquo;How can you call Goose Gossage a &ldquo;backup&rsquo; just because he comes out of the bullpen?&rdquo; reasons Veisor&hellip; If, as threatened, the Rangers trade Ron (Mr. Manhattan) Duguay, can you imagine how he&rsquo;d adjust to playing for Winnipeg or Calgary? No way, Jose!&hellip; Former NHLer Sean Shanahan is flourishing as an account executive with Bache, Halsey, Stuart Canada Ltd., in Toronto&hellip; Chico Resch doesn&rsquo;t like playing in Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Civic Arena because of the acoustics. &ldquo;Even when it&rsquo;s filled,&rdquo; says Resch, &ldquo;all the noise floats up to that domed roof. There&rsquo;s no atmosphere.&rdquo; No fans either.TRIVIA CORNER: Name the feisty player who told the even feistier Montreal Canadien coach Dick Irvin: &ldquo;If I were you, coach, I&rsquo;d throw this whole lousy team out the window.&rdquo; (Answer below.)GET OFF BAXTER&rsquo;S BACK: Reader Dave Emmerling, one of the wiser Penguin-watchers, writes that Paul Baxter gets a bum rap from the media, referees and opposing goons. Coach Eddie Johnston agrees.&ldquo;Charges have been made against Paul,&rdquo; says Johnston, &ldquo;that have no justification when the facts are considered. One player accused Paul with starting a ruckus and the videotape showed that Paul wasn&rsquo;t even on the ice when it happened!&ldquo;Granted, Paul is no angel but he doesn&rsquo;t deserve half of the things that are written and said about him.&rdquo;Johnston is right. Too many people have been unjustifiably dumping on Baxter. He&rsquo;s a solid defenseman who finished last season with 43 points, second only to Randy Carlyle among Pittsburgh defensemen. He&rsquo;s also a class guy-<h2>Born-Again Baxter</h2>30-SECOND THIRD DEGREE: Paul Baxter.Q. Paul, it has been said that you have become a born-again Christian; that you have become a religious Christian recently.BAXTER: First of all, I&rsquo;m not religious. Being religious is making yourself the type of person who has a lot of &ldquo;dos&rdquo; and &ldquo;don&rsquo;ts&rdquo; and tries to work himself up to where God is. I just took the simple free grace of Jesus Christ and that&rsquo;s how come I&rsquo;m a Christian. Not because of what I do or don&rsquo;t do.Q: What has it done for you personally?P.B.: Instead of relying on circumstances for my happiness and joy, now I&rsquo;ve got a sustained, permanent joy through Jesus Christ.Q: How has it affected your career?P.B.: I work a lot harder at what I&rsquo;m doing on the ice. I put a lot more effort into what I do. Ironically, hockey was No. 1 in my life before I became a Christian and now that it&rsquo;s moved down a couple of places, I put more into hockey because of it.Q: Do you think there&rsquo;s a place for Christianity in hockey?P.B.: Yeah, definitely. I feel that the effeminate qualities of Christianity have been well spelled out in the past, as far as the patience and the tenderness and the gentleness. But there&rsquo;s also another side to it and that is the whole-heartedness, the search for excellence and you know I&rsquo;m lacking in some areas, but I&rsquo;m learning every day.Q: How, if at all, do you justify your aggressiveness? It seems to conflict with your beliefs?P.B.: No, it doesn&rsquo;t. Aggressiveness doesn&rsquo;t conflict at all with being a Christian. You know, as a matter of fact, I think it&rsquo;s a distinct part of it, playing aggressively. It&rsquo;s the self-control and the discretion that I have to be more aware of and that&rsquo;s where I haven&rsquo;t been in the past.Q: Do you feel that the game is in God&rsquo;s hands?P.B.: No, I feel that he&rsquo;s given me talent and it&rsquo;s up to me do as much with it as I can. Whether there&rsquo;s control by God, that&rsquo;s a difficult question and I&rsquo;d rather not answer it.FERGUSON, GRUNDMAN AND HEADLINES: Every day in every way, Irv Grundman is looking less like the dolt a lot of hockey men made him out to be when he unloaded Rod Langway, Brian Engblom, et al, to Washington last September.In point of fact, Grundman may be the most underrated&mdash;Sam Pollock was the most overrated&mdash;general manager in the business (we&rsquo;ll get into that another time). What matters is that some gross misinterpretation has taken place regarding the deal.One French-Canadian daily attempted to portray Ferguson as putting down the Habs for the deal way beyond what Fergie meant. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mean anything like the headline that was written in the French paper,&rdquo; says Ferguson. &ldquo;Whoever wrote that headline grossly misunderstood what I said.&rdquo;So what is Fergie&rsquo;s opinion of the deal?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good trade for Washington. They got four players who are playing for them. Anytime you can make a deal where you have four players playing for you, it&rsquo;s a good trade. Montreal has Ryan Walter, who&rsquo;s a very good hockey player.&rdquo;TRIVIA ANSWER: Erwin Groves (Murph) Chamber-lain, who played for the Canadiens, Bruins and Maple Leafs in the late 1930s and 1940s, knew that Irvin had a soft spot for him and could get away with such behavior. The only time Irvin would have liked to actually throw a team out the window was when he coached the Black Hawks in 1955-56 and they finished dead last with a 19-39-12 record. Once, Irvin had a whole goal net brought into the Chicago dressing room. &ldquo;Here&rsquo;s how you play the game,&rdquo; snapped Irvin. He then took a puck out of his pocket, tossed it into the net and walked out of the room. &#9632;

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ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;Those who knock his captain incur the wrath of Tom Watt, coach of the Winnipeg Jets.Dave Christian has been hounded by fans and media alike, but the 23-year-old center is stoutly defended by the one man who counts&mdash;Watt.&ldquo;I wish people would get off his back,&rdquo; said Watt, minutes after Christian&rsquo;s finest game of the year. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m perfectly happy with Dave. He&rsquo;s done everything I could ask. This talk of a trade hurts me and it hurts him. I&rsquo;ve had enough.&rdquo;Scoring one goal and assisting on another, Christian led the Jets to a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks in the opening game of a back-to-back sweep.It was his finest game of the season and, for a change, they were reaching for new adjectives to describe his play.What have they been saying?Fans grew upset watching him stick check opponents he should be knocking over or, at least, hitting; falling limp like a sack of potatoes when he&rsquo;s pinned along the boards; botching three-on-twos with ill-timed passes; and losing control of the puck on a rush during a power play.It would be different if his offensive output overcame his other shortcomings. But his line is continually outscored in evenhanded situations, though Watt insists it is only because his line is usually assigned the task of checking the opposing teams highest scorers.Christian had the worst plus-minus (-42) figure on the Jets last season and one of the poorest in the league, and he has started off on the minus side again this campaign.&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t care less,&rdquo; said Watt. &ldquo;He has the most unenviable task on the club. As far as I&rsquo;m concerned, he does a good job. I&rsquo;m more than satisfied with his play.&rdquo;Watt considers Christian one of the most unique players in the league.&ldquo;Not only does he check the big lines, but he drops back and plays the point on the power play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If we&rsquo;re behind and we need to catch up late in a game, I always move him back to defense. I ask you, &ldquo;how many players in the league have that kind of versatility?&rdquo;Watt has compared him to Red Kelly and Jim Roberts of days gone by.And what does Christian have to say about the flak he receives?&ldquo;Our line thinks defense first when we go out there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If we thought about scoring, then maybe we&rsquo;d score more, but then we really wouldn&rsquo;t be doing our job. I know I&rsquo;m criticized, but I won&rsquo;t let it bother me.&rdquo;Players playing specialty roles on other teams in the the league have experienced the same knocks.&ldquo;Roger Neilson told me that people have been saying the same things about Thomas Gradin in Vancouver,&rdquo; Watt stud. &ldquo;Gradin got his sixth goal in 19 games the other night and it&rsquo;s because he&rsquo;s such a good defensive player that he&rsquo;s been put in the same situation as David. &#9632;

Fans’ Criticism Of Christian Unjust, Watt Says

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>Stan Smyl is off to a pretty good start this year, but the same can&rsquo;t be said about his team, the Vancouver Canucks.While Canucks have played 13 of their first 19 games on the road, they&rsquo;ve only taken seven points. And no matter how well you do at home, there is no way you can get much above.500, a mark the Canucks are shooting for.&ldquo;It seems like we&rsquo;ve been away ever since training camp,&rdquo; moaned Smyl after the team&rsquo;s most recent loss&mdash;by one goal, naturally&mdash;6-5 to the Winnipeg Jets. &ldquo;Now we go back for a grand total of one game at home and out again. It really is ridiculous.&rdquo;Smyl had just scored his 10th and 11th goals as coach Roger Neilson finally put him alongside Thomas Gradin and Curt Fraser for more than two consecutive shifts and they had a pretty good evening. But the goals were no consolation to a man who was not just road weary, but fed up with losing away from home as their record of three wins, nine losses and a tie would indicate.<h2>The team that misses the playoffs could be.500 or better, though that&rsquo;s unlikely if Edmonton pulls away.</h2>&ldquo;Now we&rsquo;ve got to use our homestand to get back to.500 rather than maybe getting a little ahead,&rdquo; says Neilson of the club&rsquo;s upcoming sevengame homestand at the Pacific Coliseum, the first time they&rsquo;ve been in Vancouver for more than six days since training camp began in midSeptember.&ldquo;The way it&rsquo;s looking, the team that misses the playoffs could be.500 or over, though that is unlikely if Edmonton begins to pull away. But it&rsquo;s possible.&rdquo;The Canucks problems are coming because they cannot seem to do the things they did well last year. They cannot score goals at even strength, possibly because Neilson has a different line combination on the ice every other shift.Vancouver has the best penalty killing in the league and in fact haven&rsquo;t allowed a power-play goal at home yet in the six games they&rsquo;ve played. They are presently killing off their penalties at an 85.6 clip, and have done some of that without one of their best defensemen, Harold Snepsts, who missed three games at the beginning of the season with a pulled hamstring and now will miss two weeks with a fractured orbit bone at the bottom of the socket of his right eye. But the likes of forwards Smyl, Gradin, Jim Nill, Lars Molin and Gerry Minor&mdash;and defensemen Kevin McCarthy, Snepsts, Lars Lindgren and occasionally Garth Butcher have all done exeptional work with Vancouver shorthanded, something which it did not excel in last year.The Canucks are second overall on the power play so far with a mark over 30 per cent. This is the complete opposite of last season when they finished 19th overall on the power play and never got a goal when it was important. Now they can&rsquo;t score at even strength. Forty-one per cent of their goals-for have come on the power play.&ldquo;When you outscore a team 4-1 on the specialty teams like we did tonight (in Winnipeg), there is no way you should lose the game,&rdquo; said Neilson. &ldquo;Tonight we were outplayed in our own end, usually one of the strengths. Normally, Winnipeg beats you on the rush, but we had guys open in our end all night.&rdquo;The weekend doubleheader in Winnipeg, which Jets&rsquo; coach Tom Watt said he loathed because one team may have a crucial injury at the time, also cost Vancouver some injuries.Snepsts nearly lost his right eye when the skate of Paul MacLean came up and cut him, fracturing the bones around his socket and cutting him for a total of 16 stitches. Then Patrik Sundstrom was nailed and suffered a first degree shoulder separation and will probably be out for 10 days.&ldquo;I saw the skate coming at the last minute and I thought I&rsquo;d lost the eye for a second,&rdquo; said Snepsts. &ldquo;But I tried to look out of it right away and I could see something, so I thought I&rsquo;d be okay eventually. It&rsquo;s certainly the closest I&rsquo;ve ever come to anything like that.&rdquo;Meanwhile, Richard Brodeur continues to play every game for the Canucks, appearing in all 19 games. Ken Ellacott has played only two periods as his backup. So far, Brodeur insists the workload is fine.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011249/4661448-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="583" height="664"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Smyl is off to a good start, but the Canucks are nowhere near the .500 mark.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Canucks Feeling Homesick On Long Road Trip

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011150/4661204-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="280" height="338"><figcaption class="caption-body">FRANK ORR&rsquo;S</figcaption></div><h2>It&rsquo;s Hee-Haw In Print</h2>THE FACT ISN&rsquo;T widely known but the highlight, for me, anyway, of every publishing year happens around Oct. 1. After all, humorous writing is a very difficult job but Canada is blessed because one annual publication carries it to great heights.No, it&rsquo;s not the new book by a noted humorist such as Woody Allen, Steve Martin, Stan Fischler or Mel Brooks.No sirree! It&rsquo;s pure Canadian. After all, you just can&rsquo;t be any more Canadian than the Toronto Maple Leafs, an important hockey club for a long time. Not much lately but big over the years. In fact, the Leafs themselves have supplied a bit of comedy a couple of times in the past decade.The funny work is the Maple Leaf fact book. That publication is produced to supply information on the team to the news media and fans who want to buy it at the souvenir stands.In addition to all the statistics on the Maple Leafs, the book contains a few guffaws. It&rsquo;s sort of a Hee-Haw in print.Think not? Well, here are a few examples from the short biographies in the book on Maple Leaf personnel.Or how about this little gem in the introduction. &ldquo;The Maple Leaf Forever, by Alexander Muir, was almost a national anthem, but the Maple Leafs are a national pre-occupation in Canada.&rdquo; And here you figured Canadians were pre-occupied by trying to stay warm.&bull; On assisant coach Dan Maloney: &ldquo;Maloney is constantly improving. He came into the game as a tough guy but he left it as an elder statesman.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s great because it would have been unfortunate if Maloney had exited from the game as an old tough guy.&bull; On young center Norm Aubin: &ldquo;No one has denied his scoring ability but some say he doesn&rsquo;t skate as well as he should. But when you score a goal, all the unnecessary skating is not necessary.&rdquo;Good point! Only the goal is really necessary, even if you wear mukluks and carry ski poles to get there.<h2>The Thrill Of It All</h2>&bull; ON DEFENSEMAN Jim Benning: &ldquo;It was a thrill for him to wear sweater number 15, once worn by Nick and Don Metz and Howie Meeker.&rdquo;The thrill obviously was too great for Benning because he&rsquo;s wearing No. 3 this season.&bull; On defenseman Fred Boimistruck, who&rsquo;s in his second season as a Leaf: &ldquo;With some of the young players it takes about a year to get over the awestruckness of Maple Leaf Gardens.&rdquo;That old awestruckness of MLG is worse than the ticket prices.&bull; On defenseman Dave Farrish: &ldquo;After a couple of years in the Toronto system, he now has the confidence to move as one of the Leafs and not feel an outsider. This is a great thing for team solidarity.&rdquo;Not so hot for Farrish, though, who spent 1981-82 in the minors, where he is again this season.&bull; On Czech winger Miroslav Frycer: &ldquo;The Czechoslovakian speaks three or four languages.&rdquo;Obviously, he doesn&rsquo;t count too well in any of them.&bull; On winger Stewart Gavin: &ldquo;Gavin is single, so he has been going to a hockey school, furthering his skating ability and he has been taking courses at York University.&rdquo;Good thing for Stew he&rsquo;s not married because no wife would want her husband hanging around a skating school or university.<h2>What&rsquo;s a Fort Pelly?</h2>&bull; ON DEFENSEMAN Barry Melrose: &ldquo;His farm is near Kelvington, which with Pelly has now taken on more of a significance as we approach the 100th anniversary of Louis Riel&rsquo;s death. Fort Pelly used to be the old capital of Saskatchewan.&rdquo;If there&rsquo;s anyone out there in Saskatchewan who has the slighest idea what that&rsquo;s all about, they&rsquo;ll likely move to Manitoba immediately.&bull; On goalie Bob Parent: &ldquo;The Parents of Windsor have been in that area for a long time, so their name is now pronounced in the English fashion, as the Windsor-Detroit area is a melting pot region.&rdquo;So that&rsquo;s what happened to the Red Wings. They&rsquo;ve melted every season.&bull; On rookie defenseman Gary Nylund: &ldquo;When Nylund came to the Leaf signing in August he brought his father along (who is an RCMP sergeant) and a picture of himself at six years of age. He is wearing a Leaf uniform in the picture. What the picture shows is that Nylund always wanted to be a Leaf.Who&rsquo;s going to argue that with an RCMP sergeant?&bull; On forward Ron Zanussi: &ldquo;Zanussi is only 26 years of age and he makes the Leafs&rsquo; manual of over 400 names stretch from A to Z.&rdquo;And you think you accomplished big things in 26 years.Geez! I can hardly wait for next year. &#9632;

f0002-01

HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011113/4661479-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The metal plate and pins, which were inserted in Charlie Simmer&rsquo;s right leg after he broke it two years ago, have been removed and he&rsquo;s playing like his old self. (Photo By Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;The goal itself was rather meaningless. After all, the Kings were already leading by three when Jim Fox deflected Mark Hardy&rsquo;s bullet from the point past Pittsburgh goaltender Michel Dion with less than four minutes remaining.The play that had helped set it up, though, was very significant. It proved once and for all that Charlie Simmer has indeed totally recovered after shattering his right leg so severely in Toronto two years ago.It was Simmer who had gone behind Dion&rsquo;s net, bumped Pat Boutette off the puck, and then passed it out to Larry Murphy at the right point. Murphy slid the puck across to Hardy and moments later, the red light was lit.Simmer wasn&rsquo;t credited with an assist, but his dirty work had made the play. This was Simmer at his best, something he used to do so well on the Triple Crown Line with Marcel Dionne and Dave Taylor, the same kind of work that has helped make new linemates Fox and Bernie Nicholls the Kings&rsquo; top two scorers through the early going.Don&rsquo;t think these kind of efforts have gone unappreciated.&ldquo;Charlie uses his body so well it makes it easier for all of us,&rdquo; said Fox, who had scored earlier in the game following a typical behind-the-net, through-the-crease feed from Simmer.&ldquo;The thing that I like so much,&rdquo; coach Don Perry said, &ldquo;is that he&rsquo;s been working so hard and in every game. I suppose we all had our doubts about Charlie going into camp. Thank God things turned out the way they have.&rdquo;Taylor, out with a fractured wrist, remembered how it was two-years ago when, playing alongside the 6-3, 210-pound left winger, the Triple Crown Line accounted for a club record 161 goals.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing now the way he was then,&rdquo; Taylor said. &ldquo;In the comers, behind the net, along the boards, in front of the net.&ldquo;Lots of times the other team would have to put two people on him because he&rsquo;s so strong one guy wouldn&rsquo;t be able to handle him. So that always left either Marcel or myself open. And now Bemie and Foxy are picking up a lot of loose pucks and getting opportunities to score.&rdquo;Indeed they are. Through the Kings&rsquo; first 16 games, Fox had 10 goals and 13 assists, Nicholls 15 and seven.&ldquo;Look at all the goals Bernie&rsquo;s scored already,&rdquo; Taylor said. &ldquo;And how many of them have been on rebounds? That&rsquo;s because Charlie alwlays ties up a defenseman and the goaltender in front.&ldquo;Last year, I think Charlie was a little timid, but now he&rsquo;s making all the plays he used to.&rdquo;Simmer, a 56-goal scorer for two straight seasons before plummeting to only 15 in 50 games a year ago, already has collected seven to go along with 11 assists. Projected over the 80-game schedule, he could finish with between 35 and 40 goals. Maybe more.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a lot stronger on the puck than I was last year,&rdquo; Simmer said, &ldquo;and that makes a 100 per cent difference. The way I feel now, nobody can push me off the puck.&rdquo;The metal plate and pins that Simmer had carried all of last year were surgically removed immediately following the playoffs, and Simmer says he could tell right away that things would be better.&ldquo;There wasn&rsquo;t any pain. My right leg felt just like my other one,&rdquo; he said.As for the line switch&mdash;Swedish rookie Ulf Isaksson took over his spot on the Dionne line&mdash;Simmer says &ldquo;there isn&rsquo;t as much speed and not as much glamor. But Bemie and Foxy have a way of getting open, so my job remains about the same, getting the puck to them. So far, it&rsquo;s worked out rather well.&rdquo;Probably a lot better than even the most optimistic of folks could, have hoped.KING NOTEBOOK: Right winger Dean Hopkins, a No. 2 draft pick in 1979, cleared waivers and was optioned to New Haven on Nov. 10. The Kings didn&rsquo;t feel the 6-1, 215-pound bruiser had been physical enough&hellip;Rookie goaltender Gary Laskoski finally suffered his first loss after going 5-0-2, the best start by a King goalie since Rogie Vachon began the 1974-75 season 7-0-4&hellip; Kings averaged 10,730 through their first eight home dates, a 1,932 increase over last year. &#9632;

f0007-01

Simmer Plays Like Old Self As Leg Injury Fully Healed

The International Hockey WeeklyFounded in 1947Published by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd.214 King St. West, Suite 314, Toronto, Ont. M5H 1K4<h2>Nothing&rsquo;s Impossible</h2>THE TORONTO ARGONAUTS are in the Grey Cup.Now, if you are a hockey fan south of the 49th parallel, yoti are probably not only wondering who the Toronto Argonauts are, but what the heck is the Grey Cup? Once you&rsquo;ve been informed that the Argonauts are a team in the Canadian Football League and the Grey Cup is the Canadian equivalent of the Super Bowl, you may well ask what does it all have to do with the game of hockey?In a word, actually two, eternal hope.The Argos, you see, are the New York Mets, Colorado Rockies, New Orleans Saints and Cleveland Cavaliers all rolled into one. On and off, mostly on, for the past 30 years, the Argos have been the consummate losers. Without any exaggeration whatsoever, the Argos have fully explored every possible way to lose a football game. This is the team that invented the phrase &ldquo;snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory.&rdquo; As a result, the Argos&rsquo; reputation of failure and feebleness is entrenched coast to coast in Canada.But now, buoyed by the iron hand of a new, disciplined management, the Argos are in the national final and have a chance to become champs instead of the proverbial chumps. They are in the process of laying to rest the ghosts of the past.Which brings us, finally, to the Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils, who are about as close as any two hockey teams can be to the Argonauts. With one exception, of-course. Neither the Wings nor the Devils are even remotely close to the championship of anything. In fact, the only way they will see the Stanley Cup in the next few seasons is to buy a ticket, subscribe to cable television or visit the Hockey Hall of Fame.And all that seems to have Red Wing general manager Jimmy Devellano and his New Jersey counterpart, Billy MacMillan, down in the dumps these days. On a recent television interview after his Wings were thrashed by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Jimmy D. seemed to have lost a little of the spark, the vigor he started the season with. Perhaps a 3-14-5 break from the gate is responsible.The unsettling quality of the interview was that Devellano sounded so frustrated, causing one to wonder if he might be hedging just a bit on his celebrated off-season vow of never trading a draft pick as long as he is general manager in Detroit. That vow came before the losses started piling up as fast as the grumbling of &ldquo;same old Red Wings.&rdquo; Saying you will have patience is one thing. Going through a losing hell and sticking to your guns is another. Just ask John Ferguson, who suffered with the Winnipeg Jets before finally attaining respectability.MacMillan is in the same boat. His Devils have gone 16 games without tasting victory. What makes that even more unbearable is that they got off to such a respectable start and figured things were looking up. But they aren&rsquo;t and if ever there was a guy who realizes there are no shortcuts, no immediate solutions, it&rsquo;s MacMillan, the author of the ill-fated Dwight Foster deal.Don&rsquo;t take this wrong. Neither Devellano or MacMillan have made any move to hit the panic button, at least not yet. But given their situations&mdash;daily doses of gloom&mdash;they are ripe for temptation.So, consider this a little encouragement. Those two guys have to remember that no one expected them to do very well this year. They have to remember they started the season with some sort of master plan. They must remember that the road to the Stanley Cup is paved with the carcasses of general managers who succumbed to the temptation and traded away their team&rsquo;s future for a modicum of immediate help. So, the point is clear, for Devellano and MacMillan. If Bill Torrey, Lou Nanne, Keith Allen, Irving Grundman or John Ferguson come calling, don&rsquo;t answer. Don&rsquo;t return their phone calls.Instead, they should think about the Toronto Argonauts. Devellano was born in Toronto and MacMillan played with the Leafs, so they are both well acquainted with the Argo syndrome and what consummate losers they were.Now, the Argos are contending for a national championship. Which only goes to show that anything is possible.Yes, even the Wings and Devils may be champs one day&mdash;if the fingers are kept off the panic buttons now. &#9632;

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011210/4661541-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="283" height="339"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB VERDI&rsquo;S</figcaption></div>Having thought Bobby Orr to a pretty good egg, I was distressed to discover that he has become vicious, paranoid, insufferable, a recluse, an outcast, a failure, a jerk and, rather suddenly, a rotten egg, after all.I learned of this transformation from Quest Magazine, a monthly of limited circulation and limited standards that appears in Canada&rsquo;s major markets. The cover story for the October issue of Quest&mdash;which bills itself as an &ldquo;urban publication&rdquo; (not to be confused with urbane)&mdash;is &ldquo;Poor Bobby,&rdquo; a portrait of the former hockey star by Mr. Earl McRae.By the time Mr. McRae was finished, he wrote that Orr has everything but bad breath. Probably, that&rsquo;s because Orr didn&rsquo;t let McRae come close enough to form any jaundiced opinions about Orr&rsquo;s hygiene, too. In fact, after reading this expose, I can discern only three crimes Orr committed:A. He didn&rsquo;t feel like talking at length with Mr. McRae.B. He didn&rsquo;t feel like patting Mr. McRae on the gluteus maximus.C. He didn&rsquo;t apologize profusely for failing to do either A or B.Long before Mr. McRae pointed his acid bayonet at Orr&rsquo;s head, Voltaire quoth, &ldquo;I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.&rdquo; Because Mr. McRae and I are roughly in the same vocation, I say amen to that. I also say &ldquo;roughly,&rdquo; because when it comes to journalism, &ldquo;Poor Bobby&rdquo; is more like assault and battery.This is not one of my favorite pasttimes&mdash;writing about fellow writers. But Mr. McRae has had his inning, and as the perceptive John Robertson of The Toronto Sun remarked, &ldquo;every once in a while, we have to come down on one of our own, and now is the time.&rdquo;I&rsquo;ll agree with Mr. McRae on one point. The professional sports world is idyllic, with a fair amount of fawning. As perhaps the best hockey player ever, Orr certainly was placed on a pedestal.But for Mr. McRae to hint that Bobby&rsquo;s unrealistic existence is Orr&rsquo;s fault when it occurs to virtually every athlete, and for Mr. McRae to make this his raison d&rsquo;etre to attack, is, to, put it politely, extremism. To put it not so politely, I wonder if it&rsquo;s the author, not the subject, who is paranoid. The raging imbalance of &ldquo;Poor Bobby&rsquo; suggests as much.Mr. McRae&rsquo;s contention is that Orr is a mess without hockey, that his transition from the sports deity to the business world has been nigh impossible. Pardon me, Mr. McRae, but I didn&rsquo;t realize that any 30-year-old man whose first career was halted prematurely is supposed to wake up the next morning with the rest of his life solved. I thought that&rsquo;s why we all wake up every morning. To see what&rsquo;s next.Orr, then, is doomed after the first paragraph in &ldquo;Poor Bobby.&rdquo; He is, alas, imperfect&mdash;a mortal sin, apparently, in Mr. McRae&rsquo;s thesaurus.Having covered sports for 15 years, I&rsquo;ve encountered hundreds of athletes who had difficulties making the transition after they can&rsquo;t skate, hit a baseball, or catch a football anymore. Some of them are years removed from the liniment and still can&rsquo;t hack it. Most of them retired because of age, not an unfortunate injury. And 99 per cent of them didn&rsquo;t have one-tenth Orr&rsquo;s talent to go unused.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021061/4661534-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="849" height="1130"></div>Despite this bleak backdrop, Orr has succeeded very nicely, thank you. His knee said no in the prime of his hockey life, but at last check, Orr still has a lovely family, a burgeoning career with Nabisco Brands and what&rsquo;s best, the same hiss and vinegar that made No. 4 a hallowed jersey number. This is a bad transition, Mr. McRae? On the contrary. It&rsquo;s a marvelous transition.Consider what Orr was (the world&rsquo;s best player) and what he is now (involuntarily retired) and he&rsquo;s accomplished much. The skids were greased for him. He just didn&rsquo;t skid.Orr should have stayed in Boston, should have shunned coaching, should have done a lot of things. But he admits to his mistakes. Would only that Mr. McRae admit to his indescretions. The author might have given Orr a pass if Bobby had settled into post-hockey pablum of slapping backs. Many ex-jocks do.But because Orr doesn&rsquo;t want to be a guest celebrity at pro-am golf tournaments from now until death, should he be vilified for. having a healthy restlessness? Or should he be praised for pursuing excellence off the ice as he did on the ice? The latter, Mr. McRae, may be the hard way, but it&rsquo;s the best way.What I&rsquo;m saying is, we should all make such a smooth transition as Bobby Orr did. And what I&rsquo;d like to ask Mr. McRae is, why did you write this thing? I hope it wasn&rsquo;t your idea, and I have reason to believe it wasn&rsquo;t.Poor Earl.Guest Shot is a bi-weekly feature that allows three regular guest columnists&mdash;Bob Verdi, Dave Hodge and Tom Murray&mdash;to express their opinions. Those opinions are their own and not necessarily those of THE HOCKEY NEWS. &#9632;

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GUEST SHOT

<div class="byline">BY HOWARD BALDWIN</div>Recently, there have been some reports that the Hartford Whalers are experiencing serious financial difficulties that could have an effect on the team&rsquo;s operation in that city. But the Whalers&rsquo; Managing General Partner, Howard Baldwin, says it is not a crisis situation and, below, explains his view of it.Contrary to previously published reports, the Hartford Whalers are in no way in any financial crisis.The Whalers, like many other sports franchise, have had considerable losses and these losses have been funded annually by the partners. From an operational standpoint, losses for fiscal year-end June 1983 are projected to be 40 per cent less than the amount incurred in fiscal 1982. The combined net assets of the partners of the Hartford Whalers exceed several hundred billion dollars, and any one of these partners have the financial wherewithal to fund our operating requirements.In the case of this year&rsquo;s cash call, some partners either have not responded or have responded negatively to the current call. However, each partner has made it clear to me that they have a sustained interest in the Whalers and have not ruled out any future cash calls and in fact have reiterated their commitment to keep the Whalers in Hartford.As in the past, any partner has the option of not responding to a cash call. However, the total cash call has already been ^ovided for by the balance of the partnership.The Hartford Whalers are as financially viable as any team in any sport in any league. Their commitment has been proven time and time again as evidenced in the past, having endured a devastating roof collapse and having endured the costly expansion into the National Hockey League.The goal of the Hartford Whalers remains the same&mdash;to become a financially viable entity on its own and to bring a championship to the city of Hartford and the state of Connecticut. &#9632;

SOME OTHER VIEWS

<div class="byline">COMPILED BY STAN FISCHLER AND THN STAFF</div>Ken (Rat) Linseman has earned his nickname as far as a few broadcasters are concerned&hellip; According to sources connected with the USA (TV) Network, Linseman was unnecessarily curt (deliberate one-word answers) and testy during a between-periods interview with Al Trautwig at Nassau Coliseum. Linseman&rsquo;s behavior enraged some NHL officials who were there and inspired play-by-play man Dan Kelly to suggest the league fine players for similar behavior as detrimental to the league image. Linseman&rsquo;s attorney, Art Kaminsky, met with the broadcasters (accidentally) and was informed of their displeasure. Kaminsky promised to check out the tapes. A few moments later Oilers&rsquo; boss Glen Sather entered the scene, was told about the episode and reportedly apologized to Trautwig&hellip; Meanwhile, another broadcaster laments that Linseman was no better in a post-game interview at Edmonton after being chosen one of the stars of the game. &ldquo;Normally,&rdquo; the announcer relates, &ldquo;in a one minute interview, one or two questions are enough but, this time, Linseman said so little he must have been asked about eight questions.&rdquo;&hellip; NHL TV boss Joel Nixon took a quick Look at the tapes and told BLUELINES: &ldquo;I thought Linseman handled himself quite well&mdash;but I haven&rsquo;t heard the background yet.&rdquo;Ranger boss Jack Krumpe can expect to hear from at least one beat writer over the obnoxious habit Blueshirts have of hiding from the media after games, win or lose. Coach Herb Brooks claims he can do nothing-to-little about it&hellip; With no fuss or fanfare, Canadien GM Irv Grundman invited defenseman Adam Glickman of the Verdun Juniors to his house for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. Grundman had learned that Glickman, from Skokie, IL was alone in Montreal for the holiday&hellip; An NHL coach, who insisted on anonymity, is critical of Glen Sather using Gretzky in the late stages of a game against his team with Edmonton leading by lots of goals. The coach says Sather is inviting injury for Gretzky and, furthermore, doesn&rsquo;t have to rub in the score&hellip; Twenty NHL clubs are $200,000 wealthier thanks to checks from the Devils for the move from Denver to East Rutherford&hellip; All Canadian-based NHL teams have&mdash;or will receive&mdash;lectures from Cpl. Mike Pelletier of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Pelletier heads the RCMP&rsquo;s drug education programs&hellip; Rumors out of Hartford have it that defenseman Risto Siltanen may return to Finland&mdash;and stay there&mdash;next summer&hellip; Red Wings are interested in Ron Scott, goalie for top-ranked Michigan State&hellip; Phil Esposito was roasted by N.Y. Post sports-TV columnist Phil Mushnick for suggesting on the air that, as a last-ditch effort to stop Gretzky on a breakaway, a Ranger defenseman should have given Gretzky &ldquo;a two-hander.&rdquo;A Louis Harris poll indicates that hockey made no significant gains during the pro football strike. Of those polled, 18 per cent said they followed hockey. The number for baseball was 62 per cent and for soccer 15 per cent. Baseball topped the list for favorite sports with 23 per cent. Hockey and soccer brought up the rear with two per cent each. Harry Sinden&rsquo;s rebuttal to GM&rsquo;s who claim they wanted goalie Jim Craig: &ldquo;&hellip; we had Craig on waivers for two years. I didn&rsquo;t take an airplane out and drag a sign.Penguin railbirds tout Mitch Lamoreaux as the next to join Eddie Johnston&rsquo;s youth movement&hellip; Blues-watchers are questioning Mike Liut&rsquo;s lengthy letdown more and more. Fingerpointing inevitably rests with the fat pact Liut signed a year ago and suggestions of fat-catedness&hellip; A Calgary source says Flames reject Denis Cyr will blossom alongside old-buddy Denis Savard in Chicago&hellip; Flyers boss Ed Snider sees no problem for the Devils co-existing with the Rangers and Islanders on a sound financial plane. &ldquo;The big question,&rdquo; Snider tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;is whether they have enough ability to maximize ancillary income, expecially pay TV.&rdquo;&hellip; Kalamazoo Wings are the first International League club to wear long pants. They&rsquo;re going with Cooperalls.Mike Bossy says he has no recollection of ever scoring 100 goals in a peewee game as mentioned in US magazine&hellip; Freelancer Sharon Kopitnikoff has nothing but kind words for the Penguins&rsquo; Paul Baxter. The defenseman granted her an interview following a particularly rough game after which most players would have begged off&hellip; Ex-Ranger and Maple Leaf defenseman Bill Juzda took a regular turn for the Manitoba Jets Oldtimers in a game against Andy Bathgate&rsquo;s NHL Oldtimers at Winnipeg. The 62-year-old Juzda won coach John Ferguson&rsquo;s praise. When Juzda played for the Rangers, he was a locomotive engineer in the off-season&hellip; The Caps&rsquo; Timo Blomqvist momentarily shocked a newsman who saw the defenseman stick a syringe in his mouth. Timo was using the plastic to jam some chewing tobacco into his cheek&hellip; When Ken Houston found his shoe laces cut and shaving cream doused over his skates he surmised that his ex-mates on the Calgary Flames had invaded the Caps&rsquo; dressing room at their practice rink&mdash;and he was right&hellip; Oiler vet Garry Lariviere says the NHL is erring in taking in so many 18-year-olds&hellip; Others, who wish to remain anonymous, says Brian Bellows could have used at least another year or two in junior hockey or the minors&hellip; Some of Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s off-hours in New York were spent viewing soap operas&hellip; Even partisans in Glens Falls, NY have written off Don Murdoch as a potential NHLer. &#9632;

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011188/4661620-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lindy Ruff has earned the praise of GM-coach Scotty Bowman. &ldquo;He has really been productive. We can&rsquo;t ask for any more than that.&rdquo; (Photo By Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;Lindy Ruff is a good man to have around a hockey team. Not too many 6-2, 200-pounders, can play both forward and defense in the National Hockey League.Lindy Ruff does, and does both well. He has been changing back and forth ever since he played his first game for the Buffalo Sabres at the age of 19 in October, 1979.Ruff broke into the regular lineup as a 1979 second-round draft choice and the only underage to make the Buffalo club that training camp. He&rsquo;s been a big help to the club ever since.Right now, he&rsquo;s playing left wing on a heavyweight line that includes Tony McKegney at center and Steve Patrick at right wing. All are taller than six feet and weigh more than 200 pounds.They are, as coach Scotty Bowman mentioned after a recent game when the line scored three goals, &ldquo;Always a factor in the game. They&rsquo;re a big and grinding line.&rdquo; Then he added, &ldquo;Ruff has been really productive. We can&rsquo;t ask for any more than that.&rdquo;That game was a 6-6 tie with Pittsburgh. It was the second game in two nights in which it looked as though Ruff would be a hero, only to have something happen minutes later to take the gloss off a feat he accomplished.In the Pittsburgh game, Ruff scored a goal midway through the final period, the only goal after the Penguins had tied in the final minute of the second period.It looked, for about seven minutes, as though Ruff&rsquo;s goal would win the game. But, with 2:08 left, the Sabres had trouble clearing the puck from around the net and Doug Shedden scored for the Penguins. The game ended in a 6-6 tie.The night before, in Boston, the Sabres gave up two goals in the first four minutes and worked the rest of the game to draw even. Finally they did, on a goal by Ruff at the 14:47 mark of the third period.But, less than three minutes later, Mike Milbury scored for Boston and the Bruins won, 3-2.Those two goals gave Ruff four goals in the six games he has been playing on the line with McKegney and Patrick. Each of the other twd also scored a goal in the Pittsburgh game.&ldquo;We work hard and keep good pressure on them (the opposition) in their end, force them to lose the puck and then come up with the loose puck ourselves,&rdquo; said Ruff after the tie with the Penguins.When this season started, it looked as though Ruff would strictly be a defenseman this year. The Sabres appeared to have a surplus of good wingers.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m prepared for anything,&rdquo; said Ruff, at the start of training camp. &ldquo;Whatever Scotty Bowman wants me to do, I&rsquo;m ready to do it. Just give me a number and a place in the starting lineup.&rdquo;He started the season as a defenseman, especially needed because Bill Hajt was hurt. Whe Hajt came back, seven games into the season, Ruff began alternating between left wing and? defense.Then, with McKegney shifted from left wing to center and underage draft choice Paul Cyr sent back to junior hockey, Ruff began to play mostly up front.The game before the Boston game, however, a 7-2 Buffalo win over Philadelphia, rookie defenseman Hannu Virta hurt his shoulder.Ruff went back to defense to start the Boston game. By the third period. Bowman figured he better put his heavyweights together and get them out on the ice to see what they could do.They did pretty well, tied the game, but&mdash;unfortuned&hellip;y for Ruff and the Sabres&mdash;the tie didn&rsquo;t last.ICE CHIPS&mdash; The loss to the Bruins was Buffalo&rsquo;s eighth straight in Boston Garden&hellip; The tie against the Penguins stretched a Pittsburgh winless streak in Buffalo&rsquo;s Memorial Auditorium to six games&hellip; Two losses to Boston were Buffalo&rsquo;s only defeats in a ten-game streak. &#9632;

f0009-01

Ruff Does Yeoman’s Work Playing Forward, Defense

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>LANDOVER&mdash;Washington Capital coach Bryan Murray has revised his opinion of goaltender Al Jensen. A year ago, when asked why he continually favored Dave Parro over Jensen, despite Jensen&rsquo;s superior statistics, Murray candidly replied that he did not consider Jensen a major-league goalie.In early October, despite the fact that Jensen had been Washington&rsquo;s best netminder in training camp, he was assigned to Hershey by GM David Poile. After some unimpressive performances by Parro and Pat Riggin, Jensen was called back with remarkable results.In his first appearance, Jensen beat Hartford, 6-2, with the first less-than-three yield of any Washington goalie. It was also the Capitals&rsquo; first home victory of the season, after four defeats and a tie.In his second start, Jensen was even better. He stopped 19 shots to shut out New Jersey, 3-0, for the Capitals&rsquo; first whitewash job since Parro blanked Hartford a year ago. The Capital Centre crowd, watching the Capitals&rsquo; first shutout at home since Parro beat Los Angeles in January 1981, chanted &ldquo;Jensen, Jensen&rdquo; throughout the third period.If that was gratifying for Jensen to hear, so were Murray&rsquo;s comments after each of his winning efforts.&ldquo;Apparently, I was wrong in my evaluation of Al Jensen,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He has looked very sharp, very quick in comparison to the way he looked before. But I think the big difference in him is his confidence. He&rsquo;s challenging the shooters, cutting down the angles and taking control out there.&ldquo;I was not impressed with Al last season. But when I talked to (Hershey president) Frank Mathers, he said the guy was really playing well, and I respect Frank&rsquo;s opinion. Al does not have David&rsquo;s quickness, but he has better mobility. All I ask is that he stop the puck, no matter how he does it.&rdquo;Jensen, characteristically, praised his teammates instead of himself and accepted with brief thanks rare back-to-back dressing room apppearances and congratulatory handshakes by owner Abe Pollin.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad to be here, that&rsquo;s for sure,&rdquo; Jensen said. &ldquo;I know I can do the job. I&rsquo;m trying to be aggressive and trying to be quick. I do have confidence. When the defense plays like that in front of you, it has to give you confidence.&rdquo;Jensen spent two years in the Detroit organization. Although he ledAdirondack to the Calder Cup, he played only one game with the Red Wings, yielding seven goals in Montreal and dooming himself to oblivion.Traded to Washington for Mark Lofthouse in the summer of 1981, Jensen found himself the No. 5 goalie behind Mike Palmateer, Wayne Stephenson, Parro and Rollie Boutin.By November, he was the No. 2 man and he finished last season with an 8-8-4 record and 3.81 goals-against average, by far the best on the team. Looking forward to a big season this time, Jensen learned in June that the Capitals had acquired Riggin from Calgary.&ldquo;When they got Pat, I figured that&rsquo;s who they&rsquo;d go with,&rdquo; Jensen said. &ldquo;I told myself to do my best, work hard and see what happens.&rdquo;What happened was that Jensen, assigned to Hershey, shut out Rochester in the opening game. In his second start, he blanked New Haven until the Nighthawks scored a power-play goal with 1:27 left. Meanwhile, Parro and Riggin were struggling.&ldquo;You always have the hope that if you play well, you&rsquo;ll be called up,&rdquo; Jensen said. &ldquo;But I didn&rsquo;t want to start thinking about it. It might mess me up.&rdquo;What almost messed him up was a game in Springfield, where he was yanked in the first period after yielding three goals within a span of 1:43. In his next outing, at home against Moncton, Jensen was informed by teammates that Poile was in the buid-ling.Jensen blanked the Alpines in the third period, stopping 14 shots to preserve a 4-2 victory. Poile stopped by the dressing room for a chat and the next day Jensen was told to pack his gear and return to Washintgon, where he&rsquo;s been turning in majorleague performances. &#9632;

Caps’ Jensen Gives Major-League Performance

<div class="byline">BY JOE FALLS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011226/4661675-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="287" height="340"></div><h2>Didn&rsquo;t Speak To Him</h2>WHEN I WAS a kid, I saw 125 New York Ranger games in a row, and when my brother chose to get married on the night of game No. 126, breaking the streak, I was so mad that I didn&rsquo;t speak to him at the wedding or the reception. That&rsquo;s a fan. That was a thousand years ago.Today, I like hockey better than I like hockey teams. No longer do I root for the Rangers or have any feeling for them at all. I like to see the Red Wings do well because I live in Detroit, but it&rsquo;s no great deal to me if they lose. If anything, I like the out-of-town teams better than the hometown teams and that&rsquo;s because I enjoy excellence at any level.For this reason, I have always had an affinity for the Montreal Canadiens. The same with the Green Bay Packers, Boston Celtics, Joe Louis, Jack Nicklaus, A.J. Foyt, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Gordie Howe.It is not just their greatness that impressed me. It&rsquo;s the fact that they were the best at what they did and it&rsquo;s hard to be the best. Anybody can lose. We&rsquo;ve got losers everywhere. It takes a special talent to win&mdash;and a special understanding to keep on winning.That&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m so worried.The Russians are coming.<h2>In Big Trouble</h2>I GOT INTO big trouble for even suggesting such a thing three years ago. I&rsquo;m talking about the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. I had never seen anything like the Russian hockey team and the day of The Great Game against the United States, I wrote a column for my newspaper that started out:LAKE PLACID, N.Y.&mdash;Is it possible to admire the Russians?Yes.Is it possible to root for them?Well&hellip;I knew what was happening&mdash;what the game meant. It was capitalism versus communism. Our way against their way. The good guys against the bad guys. &bull;I knew the mobs would be out and the flags would be waving. I knew they would be cheering and applauding and crying out: &ldquo;Yeah, Yeah, U.S.A. Nyet, nyet, Soviet&rdquo;Only I didn&rsquo;t look at it that way. As a newsman, my nationalism didn&rsquo;t mean much at that moment&mdash;I just marvelled at this mighty hockey team from the Soviet Union because I had never seen anything like it in my life.They played a brand of hockey that I had never seen before&mdash;not even in the Montreal Forum. They were swift, they were sure, they were strong. They were daring. They were poised. They were confident and they were clean.That last item really impressed me.<h2>Commie, Pinko, Traitor</h2>AS AGGRESSIVE as they were&mdash;and they would just smother the opposition&mdash;I did not see them resorting to anything that even remotely resembled hooliganism. They were too disciplined to let their emotions get out of control.Roughousing was not part of their tactics. Their plan was to win, and they knew that the way you win was to score goals.Was I supposed to root against them just because they were Russian and I was an American?That was the question I tossed out at my readers and, hoo, boy, did I catch it. Once the Americans pulled off their shocking upset, the letters started pouring into my office by the bagful.I was called everything.Commie.Pinko.Traitor.Turncoat.I tried to tell them that, hey, was I supposed to root against Paderewski or Beethoven or Hayds or Picasso merely because they were not Americans?I tried to tell them that I viewed the Russians as artists&mdash;craftsmen of their trade. That only produced more mail. It was an argument I could not win.I even tried to tell them that I wouldn&rsquo;t trade my way of life for anyone&rsquo;s in Russia. But I also told them that I might find room on my hockey team for the one they call Balderis and the one they call Maltsev and the one they call Mikhailov.More letters.So, excuse me if I privately admire them as they make another tour of NHL cities. Just make out like you never read this. &#9632;

f0010-01

HOCKEY CORNER

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div>HARTFORD&mdash;In the past, the soft-spoken good guy that is Ray Neufeld off the ice hasn&rsquo;t been a whole lot different from the Ray Neufeld on the ice.Like a couple of hundred others who have flirted with success in the National Hockey League, Neufeld is one type of player when he hits and another uneffective type when he doesn&rsquo;t.At 6-2 and 215 pounds, Neufeld can be a strong up-and-down winger when he asserts his physical presence. Doing that, night after night for the full 80 games, can be difficult, as any player who has done it will surely attest. Neufeld, in spots, has proven that he can do it, but to ensure a happy ending to his career, he must do it again and again.At 23 and in his fourth professional season, Neufeld hasn&rsquo;t exactly run out of chances, but the walls are closing in. In essence, a once unlimited future has become limited.So, when the bell rang this year, Neufeld answered it, and he&rsquo;s been answering it night after night ever since.Asked for a surprise this season, the Whalers&rsquo; first-year coach Larry Kish didn&rsquo;t hesitate.&ldquo;Neufeld,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been banging and grinding and working his tail off. It&rsquo;s obvious that he cares. He wants very badly to be successful in the NHL. He&rsquo;s shown that by his play.&rdquo;Neufeld was the Whalers&rsquo; fourth-round pick in the team&rsquo;s first NHL draft in 1979, the 81st overall selection. Although he led his junior team, the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League, in scoring with 102 points, Neufeld waited while 80 other juniors were tabbed before him.He&rsquo;s a black man, and never let it be said that that might explain his fourth-round selection.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got great size and talent.&rdquo; the now-retired Dave Keon said at Neufeld&rsquo;s first training camp. &ldquo;A fourth-rounder, you don&rsquo;t think that the NHL is prejudiced now, do you?&rdquo;For three seasons, Neufeld struggled. He played eight games with the Whalers his first year and 52 the next, scoring but five goals and 15 points. Last year, he was with Hartford for 19 games, and then was sent to Binghamton where he ran into Kish.&ldquo;Larry Kish gave me confidence and let me play.&rdquo; Neufeld said. &ldquo;I learned a lot from him.&rdquo;Neufeld was a linemate of Bob Sullivan&rsquo;s, a key ingredient in Sullivan&rsquo;s 28-game point streak, an AHL record. In his first seven games of the 1982 Calder Cup playoffs, Neufeld scored 14 points, including eight goals.He was ready this year. Marriage helped to speed up a maturity that already had begun to surface. He would be a different player this time around.And he has been.Through 16 games, Neufeld had six goals and 14 points. Aligned with Mark Johnson and Mike McDougal of late, Neufeld has given the Whalers an honest checking game and has contributed offensively as well.If one incident can reflect the change in Neufeld, it was a fight&mdash;a losing fight&mdash;with Washington Capital defenseman Rod Langway. Neufeld&rsquo;s eye was badly swollen and it was feared that he may have suffered a broken cheekbone. X-rays, fortunately, were negative.In the Whalers&rsquo; next game, a 7-5 win over Quebec in Hartford, Neufeld scored two goals.&ldquo;I wanted to show that I wouldn&rsquo;t fold the tents,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had to prove that something like that couldn&rsquo;t get the better of me.&rdquo;Asked if he had learned anything in the fight with Langway, Neufeld smiled.&ldquo;Yeah,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Next time, I&rsquo;ll throw the first punch.&rdquo; &#9632;

Hartford’s Neufeld Playing Physically

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021020/4661996-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="705" height="606"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011199/4662003-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="163" height="150"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOSTON BRUINS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03707/4661989-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="154" height="144"><figcaption class="caption-body">BUFFALO SABRES</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04448/4661982-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="713" height="592"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05326/4661975-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="173" height="157"><figcaption class="caption-body">CALGARY gU&rsquo; FLAMES</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-06270/4661968-1-eng-US/f0012-062.jpg" title="f0012-06" width="703" height="611"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-07234/4661961-1-eng-US/f0012-072.jpg" title="f0012-07" width="181" height="160"><figcaption class="caption-body">CHICAGO BLACK HAWKS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-08206/4661954-1-eng-US/f0012-082.jpg" title="f0012-08" width="702" height="617"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-09170/4661947-1-eng-US/f0012-092.jpg" title="f0012-09" width="173" height="155"><figcaption class="caption-body">COLORADO ROCKIES</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-10154/4661940-1-eng-US/f0012-102.jpg" title="f0012-10" width="702" height="559"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-11142/4661933-1-eng-US/f0012-112.jpg" title="f0012-11" width="193" height="135"><figcaption class="caption-body">DETROIT RED WINGS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-12122/4661926-1-eng-US/f0012-122.jpg" title="f0012-12" width="695" height="530"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-13110/4661919-1-eng-US/f0012-132.jpg" title="f0012-13" width="169" height="145"><figcaption class="caption-body">EDMONTON OILERS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-14103/4661912-1-eng-US/f0012-142.jpg" title="f0012-14" width="699" height="580"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1596/4661905-1-eng-US/f0012-152.jpg" title="f0012-15" width="171" height="153"><figcaption class="caption-body">HARTFORD WHALERS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1686/4661898-1-eng-US/f0012-162.jpg" title="f0012-16" width="708" height="629"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1772/4661891-1-eng-US/f0012-172.jpg" title="f0012-17" width="238" height="157"><figcaption class="caption-body">LOS ANGELES KINGS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1861/4661884-1-eng-US/f0012-182.jpg" title="f0012-18" width="703" height="637"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-1954/4661877-1-eng-US/f0012-192.jpg" title="f0012-19" width="163" height="145"><figcaption class="caption-body">MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-2050/4661870-1-eng-US/f0012-202.jpg" title="f0012-20" width="715" height="656"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-2138/4661863-1-eng-US/f0012-212.jpg" title="f0012-21" width="163" height="114"><figcaption class="caption-body">MONTREAL CANADIENS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-2225/4661856-1-eng-US/f0012-222.jpg" title="f0012-22" width="712" height="650"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-2320/4661849-1-eng-US/f0012-232.jpg" title="f0012-23" width="185" height="161"><figcaption class="caption-body">NEW YORK ISLANDERS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-2415/4661842-1-eng-US/f0012-242.jpg" title="f0012-24" width="696" height="625"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-2514/4661835-1-eng-US/f0012-252.jpg" title="f0012-25" width="162" height="156"><figcaption class="caption-body">NEW YORK RANGERS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-2613/4661828-1-eng-US/f0012-262.jpg" title="f0012-26" width="706" height="604"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-2713/4661821-1-eng-US/f0012-272.jpg" title="f0012-27" width="178" height="133"><figcaption class="caption-body">PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-2812/4661814-1-eng-US/f0012-282.jpg" title="f0012-28" width="718" height="568"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-2911/4661807-1-eng-US/f0012-292.jpg" title="f0012-29" width="175" height="157"><figcaption class="caption-body">PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-3011/4661800-1-eng-US/f0012-302.jpg" title="f0012-30" width="714" height="561"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-3111/4661793-1-eng-US/f0012-312.jpg" title="f0012-31" width="172" height="154"><figcaption class="caption-body">QUEBEC NORDIQUES</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-3211/4661786-1-eng-US/f0012-322.jpg" title="f0012-32" width="715" height="634"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-3311/4661779-1-eng-US/f0012-332.jpg" title="f0012-33" width="159" height="150"><figcaption class="caption-body">ST. LOUIS BLUES</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-3410/4661772-1-eng-US/f0012-342.jpg" title="f0012-34" width="697" height="632"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-3510/4661765-1-eng-US/f0012-352.jpg" title="f0012-35" width="181" height="176"><figcaption class="caption-body">TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-368/4661758-1-eng-US/f0012-362.jpg" title="f0012-36" width="695" height="576"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-378/4661751-1-eng-US/f0012-372.jpg" title="f0012-37" width="142" height="124"><figcaption class="caption-body">VANCOUVER CANUCKS</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-388/4661744-1-eng-US/f0012-382.jpg" title="f0012-38" width="705" height="606"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-396/4661737-1-eng-US/f0012-392.jpg" title="f0012-39" width="213" height="129"><figcaption class="caption-body">WASHINGTON CAPITALS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-406/4661730-1-eng-US/f0012-402.jpg" title="f0012-40" width="693" height="636"></div> &#9632;

f0012-02

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-05518/4662086-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Maple Leaf netminder Bunny Larocque wanted more work and he got his wish when his teammates left him defenseless against the New York Rangers in Madison Square Gardens.</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;Many of the friends of Michel (Bunny) Larocque figured the goaltender needed some extra work. Some work. Some friends.While most of his teammates played spectators at Madison Square Garden, Larocque was left virtually defenseless as he faced 49 Ranger shots, many of them gilt-edged scoring opportunities. Not surprisingly, the Leafs, who managed 20 shots at the opposite end of the rink, were thoroughly dominated 6-1 on the scoreboard. Larocque, though, was selected as the game&rsquo;s third star for his efforts.The loss extended the Leafs&rsquo; winless streak on the road to 20 games dating back to last January. They&rsquo;ve managed but two ties in eight road attempts this year as the calendar pushes towards December and more often than not, Larocque has been the goaltender who&rsquo;s been saddled with the team&rsquo;s listless road performances. Mike Palmateer has worked only in home games (seven decisions, 3-2-2) since his return to the Leafs.&ldquo;You have to work hard to win on the road,&rdquo; Larocque said. &ldquo;You have to play 60 minutes. We just haven&rsquo;t been prepared in the first period. The other team comes out flying, gets a goal or two and we open things up and try to score.&rdquo;Against the free-flowing Rangers, the Leaf defensemen seemed to vacate their own zone too quickly and when the puck changed hands they were often a little late getting back to cover the speedy Ranger forwards. Larocque had to withstand wave after wave of Ranger attack and at one point, drew a rousing ovation from the Rangers fans after stopping several point-blank shots in a matter of seconds.Yet in their previous game on home ice, the Leafs seemed to play the exact opposite, even with Larocque making a rare home appearance. He replaced Palmateer for the final two periods of a game against the Minnesota North Stars with the score tied, 2-2. The North Stars entered the third per-iod with a 3-2 edge but the Leafs dominated the period by taking 20 shots at Minnesota&rsquo;s Gilles Meloche and came away with a 4-3 victory, giving Larocque his first win of the season after five losses and a pair of ties.&ldquo;In that game, we were only down a goal,&rdquo; Larocque recalled, &ldquo;and we kept it tight going into the third period and really went after them in the last 20 minutes.&ldquo;On the road when we get down by a couple of goals, we stop playing our type of game. It looks like we&rsquo;re panicking; we&rsquo;re not, but we change our style and we haven&rsquo;t been successful playing that way.&rdquo;While the Leafs were attempting to discover what makes them play so badly on the road while displaying their best home-ice performance in years (a recent six-game&mdash;4-0-2&mdash;unbeaten string), the team was also trying to keep both of their goalies prepared.Larocque had played only two games in a month when Palmateer pulled a rib ligament in the Minnesota match sending Bunny over the boards as a replacement. Palmateer also has a gimpy knee, although he makes clear that there&rsquo;s been absolutely no problem with it at all this season.&ldquo;You have to be ready at all times,&rdquo; said Larocque, &ldquo;and you really can&rsquo;t get sharp in practices; it has to come in game situations. Sure, I&rsquo;d like to see action regularly, but I don&rsquo;t want to say anything about that at all. That&rsquo;s up to the coach and how he wants to use us.&rdquo;After the road loss to the Rangers, the Leafs went to Palmateer at home against the Rangers, but the Leafs lost 6-3.Larocque sees playing with discipline as the most important lesson the Leafs have to learn. &ldquo;Our best games at home have been the ones where we have played disciplined hockey,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re starting to get better interaction between the goalies and the defense and the forwards. It&rsquo;s better than last year, but we still have a long way to go.&rdquo;LOOSE LEAFS&mdash; Jiri Crha, goaltender in limbo for the Leafs, was suspended by the club for not reporting to Moncton for an American League game. When Vince Tremblay, who&rsquo;s splitting duties with Bob Parent for the Leafs&rsquo; St. Catharines farm club, was struck in the throat by a shot in a game earlier in the week, the Leafs asked Crha, who has been a fillin practice goalie in Toronto on the days Palmateer can&rsquo;t skate (the days after a game he plays) to go to a road game in Moncton to serve as Parent&rsquo;s back-up. When Crha refused to go he was suspended by general manager Gerry McNamara&hellip; There has also been a disagreement between Crha and McNamara about whether or not the club has offered to buy out his contract for one-third of its value, believed to be in the 100,000 range. Crha is reportedly being paid a minor league salary by the Leafs this year&hellip; A four-game suspension was handed to Leafs&rsquo; right winger Paul Higgins for using his stick to break the nose of Chicago&rsquo;s Darryl Sutter. NHL VP Brian O&rsquo;Neill said that although the incident appeared accidental, Higgins was punished for the &ldquo;irresponsible and extremely dangerous&rdquo; use of his stick. &#9632;

f0013-05

Larocque Yearns For Additional Work

<div class="byline">BY DICK BEDDOES</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02954/4662148-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="286" height="339"></div><h2>In The Year 1990</h2>JAMES DEVELLANO IS not, to my certain knowledge, a worm. But he gave all worms something to think about in Toronto one recent night. He turned.Mr. Devellano, as general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, got on television with Dave Hodge and y&rsquo;r ob&rsquo;t servant and boldly spoke about Detroit&rsquo;s hockey future.&ldquo;The way the Wings look now,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;you aren&rsquo;t going to be a contender until 1987.&rdquo; The way the Wings looked this night was, in a word, brutal. They were beaten 8-2 by a Toronto team that never slathers anybody else by such a lopsided score.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re wrong,&rdquo; Devellano said bravely. &ldquo;We won&rsquo;t be a contender until 1990.&rdquo;That is worm-turning as applied to NHL general managers. Most of them, stuck with a team that is in dreadful shape on a permanent basis, would blithely say, &ldquo;Oh, we&rsquo;ll turn it around in a year or two.&rdquo;Not James Devellano, who was foaled 38 years ago in Toronto.He said, &ldquo;Look, I&rsquo;m out of the New York Islanders&rsquo; organization. It took us eight years to be bona fide Stanley Cup contenders.&rdquo;&ldquo;So?&rdquo; Dave Hodge said.&ldquo;So what I&rsquo;m saying is that the Wings, when I came to them, were in a situation worse than the expansion team that the Islanders were when they entered the NHL.&rdquo;<h2>Starting All Over</h2>DEVELLANO CAME TO the Wings last summer, after distinguished service as chief scout of the Islanders. He supervised the Isles&rsquo; Indianapolis farm club in the Central League with such efficiency that, in 1979-80, THE HOCKEY NEWS chose him as its minor-league executive of the year.Now, he was saying, &ldquo;We are starting over in Detroit. We will move anybody if we can make the right deal. We have only two untouchables.&rdquo;&ldquo;Two, eh? Who are they?&rdquo;.&ldquo;Nick Polano and me.&rdquo;He meant that he and coach Nick Polano are untouchable for the moment. He has a contract for four years, Polano for two. The only absolute untouchable in the Detroit organization is Mike Ilitch, the big pizza king who added the Wings to his pasta empire last June 3.Hodge asked Devellano, &ldquo;What you&rsquo;re saying is that no player on the present Detroit roster is indispensable&rdquo;.&ldquo;That is what I&rsquo;m saying. That includes people who should be our best&mdash;Gare, Huber and Larson.&rdquo;Daniel Mirl Gare is the Detroit captain, but his name has popped up in trade talks this fall. He was mentioned in a trade still unmade with the Vancouver Canucks.Curious, the case of Gare. In 1975-76, as a Buffalo sophomore, he scored 50 goals in 79 games. He scored 56 in 1979-80 and was elected the second best right winger in the NHL after Guy Lafleur of the Montreal Canadiens.Gare counted 46 goals in 1980-81, but from there it has been drastically downhill. Last season, split between Buffalo and Detroit, he scored 20.<h2>He&rsquo;s Lost It</h2>GARE DID SCORE a goal in the Toronto game, only his third at a time when contemporary shooter&rsquo;s such as Mike Bossy and Lanny McDonald had 15.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t explain why Gare seems to have lost it,&rdquo; Devellano said. &ldquo;All I know is that if he could get it back, it would be heck of a help.&rdquo;Not that Gare should be pinpointed as what is wrong with the Wings. Willie Huber and Reed Larson were similarly inconspicuous in Detroit&rsquo;s first infestation of Maple Leaf Gardens this season.Chances are that rival general managers would look at other Wings whom they&rsquo;d like to relieve Devellano of, chaps named Mike Blaisdell and John Ogrodnick. They appear to be energetic forwards who would enhance most NHL teams.Mr. Illitch, the new owner, is going to learn one word in the prolonged refurbishing of a frowzy franchise. That word is patience.He is picking up the remnants of a hockey business that became more dilapidated than downtown Detroit used to be. For that, blame former owner Bruce Norris, who proved how ruinous an absentee ownership can be.It is fashionable to write that the Wings declined after they last won the Stanley Cup, in 1954-55. The notion here is that Detroit&rsquo;s deterioration began several years after that.Sid Abel, after all, supervised the Wings to three Stanley Cup finals in the &rsquo;60s. Abel&rsquo;s team lost the Cup in five games to Toronto in 1962-63, then forced the Leafs to seven games in 1963-64.In the spring of 1966, Abel&rsquo;s Wings beat Montreal in the first two games of the Cup final before subsiding in six to a vintage Canadien side.After 1967, it is best to draw a veil across the fandagoes committed in the name of NHL hockey in Detroit. Managerial miscues became blots on the glory that was Terry and the grandeur that was Gordie.So Jim Devellano looks to 1990 to restore the Wings to the the 1950s&rsquo; eminence of Sawchuk and Howe and the rest of an all-conquering cast. It is easy to wish him well, but hard to foresee the wish coming true. &#9632;

f0014-02

BEDCLOTHES

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;It was one of those games &rsquo;where the Minnesota North Stars were struggling. They were trailing Buffalo 1-0 at the Met Center in the third period, and a lot of fans were cheering for Phil Housley, the South St. Paul rookie who was playing for the first time in his home state as a pro, at center for the visiting Sabres.It was time for &ldquo;Dr. D&rdquo; to come up with the proper antidote, a prescription only he could fill. The Stars pressed on attack, the Sabre defensemen covered every available attacker, but the puck popped free on a rebound. And there was Dr. D.Dino Ciccarelli, flying, sprawling and crashing over sticks and bodies, with one thing constant&mdash;his stick was in perfect control. On the puck. He snapped it in for a 1-1 tie, and a few minutes later Neal Broten scored and Minnesota had snatched a 2-1 victory from what looked like a disappointing defeat.It&rsquo;s enough to drive a coach batty. Glen Sonmor listened while his Minnesota North Stars repeatedly stated their objective for this season&mdash;show consistency during the regular season, and don&rsquo;t depend on turning on the power at playoff time. He was concerned about the difference between talking about that objective and being intense enough to realize it.So far, the season has borne out Sonmor&rsquo;s concern. The Stars never play worse than after a big victory or two; they never play better than after losing a couple. They opened the season by going undefeated in their first six games, then they fell into a November pattern where they lost five out of six games.Their biggest victory of the year, they consider, was a 2-0 shutout of the Islanders, but they followed that up with third-period collapses at Toronto and Chicago.That was when things looked bleakest. In fact, the Broten line, with Cic-carelli and Tom McCarthy, was benched in the Chicago game.But the Stars went to Los Angeles and exploded. The Broten line came alive, and so did eveyone else on the club for an 8-3 victory. The next game was the Buffalo turnaround at home, and the Stars followed it up by beating Jersey 5-1. Just like that, the Stars had bounced from blowing two games in the third period to winning three in a row.Broten had four goals in the three games, McCarthy was tramping again, setting up his linemates and lending strong support, and Ciccarelli had a couple of key goals while moving into the lead among forwards on the club in plus-minus with a plus 7. Dr. D also led the team in accuracy with a 20.5 percent shooting mark.The picture of consistency, meanwhile, was Gilles Meloche, who led the NHL in wins with an 11-3-1 record. He also had a save percentage of.911, which was second best in the league, and his goals-against average of 2.83 was third best in the league. He played both the Buffalo and Jersey games, yielding one apiece in those tilts.Gordie Roberts continued to pace the club&rsquo;s over-all plus-plus 10, while Curt Giles was plus 9.Rookie Brian Bellows scored a goal in the 5-1 Jersey game, the first goal the heralded rookie had scored at equal-strength this season. His first five goals were all on power plays. Bellows, finding the switch to the NH1 a tough one at age 18, had improved from a minus 9 to minus 7 during the week, and looked impressive after being shifted to a line with Bobby Smith and Steve Payne. &#9632;

North Stars Strive For Consistency

<div class="byline">BY TIM BURKE</div>Early in the 1967-68 season, the first year of expansion, the Canadiens visited the Oakland Coliseum for the first time ever&mdash;and lost 1-0 to the California Golden Seals.It was a superbly-played game&mdash;the Golden Seals way beyond their limited selves&mdash;but the Candiens&rsquo; coach Toe Blake was livid about the loss. And when the flight from Oakland to Los Angeles after the game turned out to be the most turbulent the Canadiens had ever experienced, all Toe would say was: &ldquo;The way we played tonight, the plane should&rsquo;ve crashed.This do-or-die dedication to the game is what has made the Canadiens one of the most hallowed names in all of sport.Only the New York Yankees in baseball have won more professional championships on this continent. In hockey, no other club comes close to the Canadiens&rsquo; 22 Stanley Cups since their inception in 1917.But it is since 1950 that they have, until recently, dominated their sport, winning 16 Stanley Cups between 1953 and 1979. During that period, they won five straight (1956 to 1960) and four straight (1976 to 1979), the only team ever to achieve either.Since 1979, the Canadiens have returned to the level of mere mortals while the New York Islanders have launched a dynasty of their own with three consecutive Stanley Cups. The Habs have remained a power during the regular season in their &ldquo;descen-dancy,&rdquo; but they&rsquo;ve been eliminated three straight times from the playoffs&mdash;in the first round.The result has been the first major shake-up in the club in years, a major trade in which defensemen Rod Langway, Brian Engblom, center Doug Jarvis and winger Craig Laughlin, as well as center DOug Risebrough (in a separate swap) were dealt away, and Washington forward Ryan Walter and defenseman Rick Green were acquired.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011123/4662217-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="973" height="1458"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Canadiens began a new dynasty when Scotty Bowman took over as coach in 1973 and before it ended, he had directed the Flying Frenchmen to five Cups.</figcaption></div>The Canadiens&rsquo; management has always winced at the term &ldquo;shakeups,&rdquo; but they were forced into one by the realization that the awesome firepower of their most recent dynasty had petered out. Besides, Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s phenomenal success had ushered in a new era of net-filling: To win, you need more than a converted touchdown.Early this season, the style for the Canadiens has changed markedly from recent seasons, much to the delight of the fans. The firewagon style for which they have so long been celebrated is back and they&rsquo;re filling the net again. But their defense and goaltending remain suspect.And while the fare may be more exciting, nobody is expecting an immediate return to the days of glory. The Islanders still have much more depth and balance to be dislodged in the hear future.Steve Shutt, a holdover from the dynasty in the &lsquo;70s, recently observed that when you play for the Canadiens, &ldquo;you not only have to beat the opposition, you have to compete with the ghosts of the past, always being compared to a team from another era.Legends such as Morenz, Joliat, Vezina, Lach, Blake, Durnan, The Richards, Bouchard, Reardon, Beliveau, Geoffrion, Harvey, Moore, Plante, Coumoyer, Ferguson, Lemaire, the Mahovlich brothers, Savard&hellip; Pollock, Irvin, Blake, Bowman&hellip;The club that won five straight between &lsquo;55 and &lsquo;60 is still acclaimed by most experts as the greatest team ever.Offensively, it was so lethal that the power-play rule had to be changed, so that the team penalized for two minutes would be restored to full strength after a goal was scored against it. The rule was changed after Jean Beliveau scored three goals during a single power play against the Bruins in Boston.That unforgettble power play was composed of Bert Olmstead at left wing, Beliveau at center, Maurice Richard at right wing, and Doug Harvey and Bemie Geoffrion at the points.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll notice in old photographs, said Doug Harvey, &ldquo;that after we had scored, a lot of guys on the other team were down on the ice. When we turned the heat on, we actually drove them back into the net.&rdquo;Harvey, considered by many to be the best defenseman ever, turned ordinary partners into stars and made the Canadiens&rsquo; blueline the most difficult of its time to penetrate. Jacques Plante, the matchless innovator&mdash;donning the mask and straying from his crease&mdash;was one of the top 10 goalies ever.The Canadiens almost certainly would not have reached the plateau of excellence were it not for the benevolent tyranny of Toe Blake, for whom they won eight Stanley Cups. Toe had the undivided respect of all his players because though they feared him, they knew he was unswervingly loyal to them.Once, on a train trip during a tough playoff series, Toe overheard three players talking about their golf game. &ldquo;How in hell can you talk about golf when the playoffs are still on? he thundered. Years later, one of the players, still shuddering, smiled and said: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think any of us have talked about golf since.&rdquo;No man ever set the standards of performance higher than Blake. To this day, he&rsquo;ll tell you: &ldquo;There were only two great hockey players, Howie Morenz and Bobby Orr.&rdquo;How about all the immortals he coached and played with and against, including Howe, Lindsay, Apps, Kelly, Frank Mahovlich, Schmidt, Hull, the Bentleys, et al?&ldquo;They were good,&rdquo; he says.Such has been the ferocity of the Canadiens&rsquo; pride that on &ldquo;off-seasons,&rdquo; they have beaten teams of superior talent, and sometimes despite raging discord in their own ranks.In 1969, they upset a powerful Bruins team that submitted after John Ferguson drubbed tough Ted Green in a classic fist fight in the opening game of the series.In 1971, they won the championship, even after Henri Richard&rsquo;s scathing public remarks about Al MacNeil&rsquo;s coaching, and a simmering vendetta between MacNeil and Ferguson. The player who scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal against Chicago? Henri Richard, of course.Scotty Bowman, who replaced MacNeil, restored the Canadiens almost to the zenith they had reached in the late &lsquo;50s, combining a brilliant hockey intellect and an abrasive, Lombardi-like personality that goaded star&rsquo;s and &ldquo;plumbers&rdquo; alike beyond their limitations.Bowman&rsquo;s achievements may have been more remarkable than Blake&rsquo;s because they happened in an era in which authoritarian rule had been undermined by rampant expansion, excessive and long-term salaries, union power and the age of permissiveness.Bowman&rsquo;s Canadiens won their first Stanley Cup in &lsquo;73, but really didn&rsquo;t get into full throttle until New Year&rsquo;s Eve, 1975, when they put it all together in the Forum to give the Central Red Army team an exquisite lesson in all facets of the game. They had to settle for a 3-3 tie&mdash;thanks to the great Soviet goalie, Vladamir Tretiak, but that one game generated the momentum that won them the next four Stanley Cups.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02837/4662210-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="970" height="1182"><figcaption class="caption-body">Coach Toe Blake, right, ruled with an iron hand but he had the respect of great players such as Maurice Richard, left, in winning eight Stanley Cups.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03645/4662203-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="973" height="1431"><figcaption class="caption-body">While Blake rode the crest of his Cup years, he relied heavily on the leadership of center and team captain, Jean Beliveau, shown at right.</figcaption></div>Again, this time under coach Bob Berry, they are attempting to assemble the components of another dynasty.Only six players&mdash;Larry Robinson, Guy Lafleur, Bob Gainey, Mario Tremblay, Steve Shutt and Rejean Houle&mdash;remain from their last dynasty but at the outset of this season, all indicated they had the stuff and the desire to give it one more blast for the laurels.And on this New Year&rsquo;s Eve, they&rsquo;ll play the Central Red Army in the Forum again. Who knows? Perhaps that game could be the catalyst that again launches them into a new dynasty. &#9632;

f0015-01

Tradition-Rich Habs Seeking A Return To The Glory Years

<div class="byline">BY CAMIL DESROCHES</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01984/4662248-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Montreal Forum, which was dramatically overhauled in 1968, has played host to a wide variety of sporting, business, religious, community and entertainment events, but it is best known as the home of the Montreal Canadiens.</figcaption></div>The Montreal Forum is the most celebrated hockey rink in the world and one of the most famous sports and entertainment centers in America.Home of the celebrated Montreal Canadiens, the first Forum was built at a cost of $1,500,000. and opened its doors on November 29, 1924. Its initial capacity was 9,000 seats but this was raised to 12,500 in 1949. In 1968, a magnificent new Forum, modern, fully air-conditioned and equipped with 16,500 seats was completed in five-and-a-half months at a cost of $10,000,000. It was inaugurated with a Gala Premiere on Saturday, November 2 of that year.During the 58 wonderful years of the Forum&rsquo;s existence, more than 80 million enthusiastic fans have watched their beloved Canadiens win the Stanley Cup no fewer than 20 times&mdash;Les Canadiens won two Stanley Cups before making the Forum their permanent home in 1926&mdash;finish in first place 27 times and in second place 12 times. The Montreal Maroons (two Stanley Cups), the Senior Royals (1947 Allan Cup), the Junior Royals (1949 Memorial Cup) and the Junior Canadiens (Memorial Cup in 1950, 1969 and 1970) have also been a great credit to the Forum.Wrestling, boxing and tennis were also very popular throughout the more than half century while in the entertainment world, audiences have acclaimed the most famous artists from the four corners of the earth during ice revues, musical comedies, concerts, opera performances, rodeos, circuses and exhibitions not to mention numerous rallies and conventions.If hockey fans have been spoiled by the consistently brilliant performances of the Canadiens since 1924, Montrealers have been royally served by the wide variety of shows which the famous sports arena has hosted during its 58 years of existence.The spectators include professional tennis with the world&rsquo;s leading aces Fred Perry, Bill Tilden, Jack Kramer, Don Budge, Ken Rosewall, Rod Laver and more recently Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and many others from 1935 until today; the &ldquo;Skating Vanities,&rdquo; the Ice Capades and Ice Follies with all the skating greats, Dick Button, Don Jackson, Richard Dwyer, Barbara Ann Scott, Karen Magnussen, Jo Jo Starbuck, Otto and Maria Jelinek, Dorothy Hamill and dozens of other celebrated Olympic and World champions who have been applauded by more than 10 million people since 1938; the &ldquo;Dancing Waters&rdquo;; the Bolshoi and Moiseyev Ballets; the &ldquo;Aqua Parade&rdquo; extravaganza with Tarzan himself, the more than likeable Buster Crabbe; the &ldquo;Harlem Globetrotters&rdquo; who have been visiting us yearly since 1952 with such athletes as ace players and irrepressible comedians, &ldquo;Geese&rdquo; Aus-bie, Meadowlark Lemon and &ldquo;Curly&rdquo; Neal; the Moscow and Shriners Circuses; Bob Dylan (36,500 persons in two evenings, January &rsquo;74); Gene Autry (17,000 spectators in &rsquo;51); Lawrence Welk (16,500 August &rsquo;74) and the magnificent Lipizzan Stallions of Vienna (55,000 persons during four shows in 1964).It would take an entire book to list the titles of all the shows and their stars whose names have appeared on the program of the old and the new Forum.Some of the improvements or additions brought to the Forum by the 1968 renovation:Ground level entrances and exits for the building were increased from 44 to 102, with modem glazed doors. The exits have magnetic locking devices which open automatically in cases of emergency and are operated by master controls at the end of the games.Stairways were rearranged to provide more direct and convenient access to seating areas.Seven new reversing escalators were installed. Each escalator is capable of handling 10,000 passengers an hour and enables the building to be emptied in 15 minutes. Approximately 2,400 additional seats were added to bring the total seating capacity of the Forum to more than 16,500. Of these seats, 1,450 are located in two new balconies suspended over the white seats at the North and South ends; the remainder are located chiefly in the four corners of the building, which have been increased to height from two to four stories.To countless Montrealers, young and old alike, the Forum is something very special.A younster&rsquo;s first trip to the Forum is an experience never to be forgotten.Thousands of students who received their diplomas at convocations held inside the Forum will always remember the occasion.The sight of hockey greats in action, men like Howie Morenz, Aurel Joliat, spectacular Rocket Richard, peerless Jean Beliveau and the spectacular Guy Lafleur are memories to last a lifetime.Equally memorable to thousands are the religious congresses, revivals, convocations held frequently throughout the Forum&rsquo;s history.Rocky Graziano demolishing local favourite Johnny Greco, or Archie Moore dramatically snatching last-minute victory from Yvon Durelle, are just two of the great memories that fight fans associate with the Forum.Whatever a Montrealer&rsquo;s walk of life it seems safe to say that in some manner, the Forum occupies a special place in his memory.With the &rsquo;80s, the exciting Montreal Forum enters another era in which it will become &ldquo;something special&rdquo; to a whole new audience of sporting, industrial, business and entertainment communities. &#9632;

f0016-01

Forum Is A Fixture For Most Montrealers

Two men, who have been invited into living rooms throughout Quebec and the rest of Canada on many a Saturday night, stood proudly side-by-side at center ice in a building they have known so well.For 30 years, Danny Gallivan and Rene Lecavalier have followed every move that people such as Rocket Richard, Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore, Yvan Cournoyer, Guy Lafleur and Doug Wickenheiser have made in a Canadiens&rsquo; uniform.Gallivan and Lecavalier are the main television voices on the Hockey Night in Canada/La Soiree du Hockey presentations that have eminated from the Forum for 30 years.Lecavalier was the first to broadcast a televised game from the booth on the east side of the building. On Oct. 11, 1952, the veteran Radio Canada commentator was behind the mike for the first presentation on CBFT-TV, channel 2. Since then, he has done countless presentations, from one coast of Canada to the other on Radio Canada, the French-language arm of the CBC. Lecavalier replaced Michel Normandin as the main commentator on La Soiree du Hockey and while he does not travel as much as he used to, many a home across Quebec hangs on his every word.Former Canadien left winger Gilles Tremblay is the analyst on the French telecasts with veteran Radio Canada announcers Richard Garneau and Lionel Duval handling intermissions and some play-by-play duties. Tremblay works mainly with Claude Quen-neville of the French-language radio broadcasts on the Radio Canada national network.Gallivan, who arrived in Montreal from Sydney, N.S., 30 years ago to replace the late Doug Smith, handles the majority of the Canadiens&rsquo; play-by-play on the Saturday night telecasts. Dick Irvin is the colorman and host with a variety of analysts, including ex-NHLers Mickey Redmond and Bobby Hull, assigned by the HN1C producers.Irvin, son of the former Canadiens&rsquo; coach, is sports director of CFCF-TV and is the play-by-play man on CFCF Radio&rsquo;s coverage of the Canadiens. For the first time ever, all 80 Canadiens games are being carried on CFCF.Joining Irvin on mid-week home games is veteran Ron Reusch, who does the Saturday night play-by-play chores. Glenn Cole, the Montreal correspondent for THE HOCKEY NEWS and sportscaster at CFCF, joins Irvin or Reusch on the majority of road games and also handles home intermissions and the post-game dressing room show. Ex-NHLer Robin Burns is also a part of the crew on Saturday nights while CFCF Sports Director Jeff Rimer is the host of an open-line Sportsphone show before and after games played during the week.Mid-week telecasts, absent from Montreal since the mid 70s, have returned in French only on the private TVA network. This season, TVA is carrying 19 games, mainly on Thursday nights, including 13 road contests.Jacques Moreau of CFTM-TV is the play-by-play man with Bertrand Raymond, executive sports editor of the Journal de Montreal, as his analyst. Pierre Trudel of CKAC Radio and Claude Mailhot round out the TVA crew. &#9632;

Gallivan, Lecavalier Long-Time Voices Of Habs

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01888/4662334-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="579" height="704"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL FLEISCHMAN&rsquo;S</figcaption></div><h2>Remarkable Patience</h2>WAYNE GRETZKY is sitting in a Pittsburgh hotel lobby at mid-morning. The lobby is under renovation (aren&rsquo;t all the hotels under renovation when you&rsquo;re staying there?) and guests and workers walk past Gretzky without a second glance.This anonymity may tell you all you need to know about Pittsburgh&rsquo;s hockey awareness, but Gretzky wasn&rsquo;t complaining. Hockey&rsquo;s best player usually attracts crowds wherever he goes, so this was a chance for him to relax and exchange small-talk with teammates.One night later, after a game before a sellout audience at the Meadowlands, Gretzky would dress and then sit in a lockerroom corner surrounded by the media. If you were more than two-deep in the group encircling Gretzky, you couldn&rsquo;t hear a word he said. If Gretzky could show remarkable patience handling all these questions in city after city, an eavesdropper figured then he would also be patient.As usual, Gretzky was asked every question from playing under pressure, to the state of his Edmonton Oilers, to the state of hockey. Somehow no one included a question about how Leonid Brezhnev&rsquo;s death would affect relations with the United States, or what Gretzky thought could be done to improve Canada&rsquo;s economy.Finally, someone asked about hockey&rsquo;s transition from older players to youth, and the wait was worth it.&ldquo;Some older players complain that teams are going to younger players because of (cheaper) contracts,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;A lot of times, that&rsquo;s the case. But a lot of clubs have lost a lot of games with the older players. They might as well try the kids. Teams that have been in the basement too long better get going before their franchises fold.&rdquo;Gretzky&rsquo;s comment wasn&rsquo;t made with flip, I-know-it-all attitude. This young man, who is his country&rsquo;s most popular athlete and, perhaps, its most popular person, was sincere, revealing a genuine affection for the game he plays with such incomparable skill. Sounds like he would make an excellent general manager, but it&rsquo;s more likely he&rsquo;ll wind up as an owner. That is, unless the NHL lets him drift away from the game, as other stars such as Bobby Orr and Stan Mikita have done.<h2>An Interesting Group</h2>ANYWAY, AS ANYONE close to the Oilers can tell you, this is an interesting group. Glen Sather, the club&rsquo;s president-general manager-coach, says Gretzky is just one piece of the puzzle that makes up the Oilers. But even Sather will admit that Gretzky is the most important piece.Ken Linseman is one of the newest pieces for the orange-and-blue puzzle. For a fortnight, Sather was denying that he was trying to trade Linseman for a quality defenseman. Sather may change his mind later, after another couple of months of wondering when Paul Coffey will start playing like a second-team all-star. But for now, Sather is insisting that Linseman has fit in smoothly with the Oilers.Sather and Linseman should go together like George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin or Earl Weaver and Jim Palmer. The Oilers&rsquo; pair are bright, shrewd and self-confident to the point of being cocky. Arrogant is also a word that slips into conversations about Sather with hockey people, but, when you&rsquo;re successful, you can act any way you wish. However, if Edmonton doesn&rsquo;t win the Stanley Cup in the next few years, Sather&rsquo;s attitude&mdash;especially toward fellow NHL general managers&mdash;will have to change.On the day I sat down with Sather, I found him interesting and co-operative. A few samples:&mdash;On holding three titles: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s lots of work, but, what does the president of a hockey team do? It (the title) doesn&rsquo;t mean anything to me. Ted Green and John Muckier do as much coaching as I do&mdash;I just change the lines and make the final decisions. Bruce MacGregor does a great job for me back in the office. You have to surround yourself with good people.&rdquo;<h2>Hits Like A Truck</h2>&mdash;ABOUT DAVE SEMENKO: &ldquo;He hits like a truck.&rdquo; Pausing, Sather&rsquo;s thoughts momentarily returned to his playing days when he was a scrappy, daring grinder who frequently challenged bigger players. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad he (Semenko) wasn&rsquo;t around when I was playing because I probably would have been dumb enough to try him.&rdquo;&mdash;About using his dedication to hard work as a player to motivate some of the Oilers: &ldquo;I always found that approach boring. Guys are too intelligent to believe that line. That&rsquo;s like a guy saying &lsquo;I came from the Montreal Canadiens and we did it this way.&rsquo;&rdquo;The Oilers do it Sather&rsquo;s way, which means their attitude frequently irritates opponents. Having Linseman on board will only shove the burr deeper on those nights when the former Philadelphia center can&rsquo;t resist temptation. Linseman has attempted to abandon his annoying, after-the-whistle antics, but, on a recent night at the Spectrum, Linseman lured Darryl Sittier into a third-period fight. &ldquo;He put his hand in my mouth,&rdquo; Linseman said while adjusting his halo. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;ll probably say I bit him.&rdquo;If Linseman plays up to his capability, he will continue centering one of the most explosive lines in hockey with Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson on the wings. Edmonton&rsquo;s biggest problem, it says here, is playing enough defense to consistently win the 4-3 games. Sather thinks they can do it. If the Oilers don&rsquo;t do it, a comment Gretzky made earlier this season will haunt them.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not against my principles to play defense, but if people think we&rsquo;re going to win the Stanley Cup on defense, that&rsquo;s not going to happen.&rdquo;Not strictly on defense, Wayne&mdash;those days are over. But an occasional splash of it won&rsquo;t hurt. &#9632;

f0018-01

HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">BY REJEAN TREMBLAY</div>The rivalry between the Montreal Canadiens and the Quebec Nordiques has taken on the appearances of a Holy war.Much is made of the other natural rivalries in the NHL such as those between the Islanders, Rangers and now the New Jersey Devils in the New York Metropolitan area, or the Edmonton-Calgary feud in Alberta. But the Battle for Quebec between the Nordiques and the Canadiens is 1,000 times more important, because of economic, historic, sociological and even political reasons.It must be understood that the Canadiens are one of the grand institutions in Quebec, that Montreal is the metropolis of the province. Quebec City has fewer people living there and is the political capital. Montreal is multicultural while Quebec is purely Francophone. The Canadiens enjoy great exposure thanks to the television of their games across the province on the CBC&rsquo;s French-language network. They only time the Nordiques are seen across Quebec is when they play Montreal, otherwise they are seen on a local station.The real war started even before the admission of the Nordiques into the NHL. After the plan to admit four former World Hockey Association teams was rejected in Key Largo, FL in late 1978, there was a nasty reaction by Quebec beer drinkers.Quebec City fans found out that the Canadiens, who are owned by Mol-son&rsquo;s Breweries, had voted against the admission of the former WHA teams. There were threats of boycotting Molson&rsquo;s product in Quebec and employees of the brewery were subjected to some abuse. Fifteen days later, Morgan McCammon, then the Canadiens&rsquo; representative on the board of governors, changed his vote, helping Quebec, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Hartford to get in.The big day finally arrived and no one can forget the extravaganza of the first meeting of the Canadiens and Nordiques, Oct. 13, 1979. The French newspapers, who look upon a Quebec-Montreal clash as piece de resistance, devoted up to 14 pages to the game. Every player, every aspect of the game was dissected and analyzed.Since then, the war has been heating up.On the ice, last season&rsquo;s preliminary round playoff series between the Canadiens and the Nordiques, brought things to a peak. The Nordiques prevailed in that one.This season, it&rsquo;s more of the same, although it&rsquo;s taking on an even nastier tone. The Canadiens have won all three games so far, but they have been rough encounters with a great deal of stickwork.As usual, feisty Quebec center Dale Hunter has been in the midst of much of it. On the other side, Canadien defenseman Gilbert Delorme has drawn the wrath of the Nords, particularly coach Michel Bergeron.Intense is the only way to describe the on-ice battles.And there is a fair bit of battling going on off the ice, too.First, there is the fight for the television rights. Molson&rsquo;s, which now owns the Canadiens, holds the national TV rights. O&rsquo;Keefe, owner of the Nordiques, has to settle for regional coverage. Marcel Aubut, president of the Nordiques, is stilly trying to have something done about the 50-mile limit imposed on the Nordiques as a result of the NHL-WHA merger agreement. For the first five years, former WHA teams do not have the right to share television revenues.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02690/4662303-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="290" height="337"><figcaption class="caption-body">Habs&rsquo; defenseman Gilbert Delorme has drawn the wrath of the Nordiques.</figcaption></div>However, it should be noted that the Nordiques are finding their way into the minds of provincial hockey fans.In some quarters, the Canadiens are seen as the product of the English establishment of Quebec while the Nordiques are perceived as a French team. The Nordiques have the fleur-de-lys on their sweaters, have adopted the provincial blue and white for their colors and the announcements at the Colisee are unilingually French.The marketing plan is to leave the Canadiens as the team for the West Island of Montreal as well as the Eastern Townships and make the Nordiques the team in the rest of the province.Ginette Reno is one of the most popular singing stars in Quebec. The Nordiques have recruited her on several nights to sing the national anthems at the Colisee. The idea behind the plan: Identify the Nordiques with the popular idols in Quebec to show how close the Nordiques are to their fans.&ldquo;The long term plan is to enlarge our market,&rdquo; explains Jean-D. Legault, the Nordiques&rsquo; vice-president in charge of marketing. &ldquo;Quebec and its suburbs has a population of about a half million. It&rsquo;s insufficient. We have to enlarge our territory, go after half of the six million Quebecois available. The Canadiens have had the market to themselves. Now, we have to get a piece of it.&rdquo;The Canadiens and Molson&rsquo;s are fighting back.During the summer, Montreal hired Francois-Xavier Seigneur as the club&rsquo;s director of marketing.More recently, the Canadiens hired Ronald Corey away from O&rsquo;Keefe. Corey, who had been on the Nordiques administrative council, now is the president of the Forum and the Canadiens. Corey, a one-time producer of the popular La Soiree du Hockey, is a marketing specialist.So, it is clear the Canadiens are not about to give up their fans without a fight.It will be a bitter battle, with the heavyweight breweries standing to be the biggest winners&hellip; or losers. &#9632;

f0018-02

Battle Between Habs And Nords Heating Up

<div class="byline">BY STEVE MacLEOD</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01844/4662365-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">A host of some of the finest NHL players honed their skills with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs. But few others before or after him have thrilled the Vees&rsquo; fans like Mario Tremblay. (hoto By Ian Mac Alpine)</figcaption></div>The Forum is largely empty now, its thin veneer of fresh paint masking the memories.Its primary occupant is long since, removed to a beautiful 10,000-seat arena downtown. Now, the former home of the Nova Scotia Voyageurs is a faded monument to a time that once was, the stillness broken only by the occasional junior or recreational league game.But, oh, what days passed under that roof.Visions of a fresh-faced Larry Robinson, his youthful exuberance held barely in check by a body too big, too awkward to accomplish the things it did.The sidebumed and ducktailed Yvon Lambert, an Elvis Presley lookalike with an unerring eye for the net.An 18-year-old Mario Tremblay who, during his brief stay, thrilled fans like few others before or since him.And a score of others. Dryden, Lefley, Arnason, Sullivan, Shutt, Gainey, Risebrough, Engblom, Langway, Plasse, Chartraw and Mondou.The Vees. The No. 1 farm team of the Montreal Canadiens and a franchise once dubbed The Factory by envious National Hockey League scouts. &rsquo;In the first three seasons in this Atlantic seaport city, the Vees put no fewer than 24 players in the big league. Of the more than 400 who toil in the NHL today, 33 of those had, at one time or another, worn a Voyageur sweater. That&rsquo;s almost two full teams out of a league of 21.&ldquo;So many good players have come out of the Vees&rsquo; and Canadiens&rsquo; system,&rdquo; said former Voyageur coach Al MacNeil, now director of player personnel for the Calgary Flames. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a comment on their entire scouting setup.&rdquo;The Montreal Voyageurs arrived in Halifax in 1970, the subject of a 16-game trial to test Maritime hockey waters. Encouraged by initial fan response, the decision to move in permanently was announced on June 10, 1971.The Nova Scotia Voyageurs were bom.Over the next six years, under the guidance of the Sydney-born MacNeil, the Vees went on to win three Calder Cups while producing some of the best hockey talent of their day.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to be objective about those teams because I was around them on a day-to-day basis,&rdquo; MacNeil said. &ldquo;But the key thing about all those teams was the heart and tremendous hustle they showed.&rdquo;The first year in Halifax was a winning one as a defense anchored by Noel Price, Bob Murdoch, Bob Murray and Robinson and forward units led by Murray Wilson, Randy Rota, Ray Comeau, Chuck Lefley and Chuck Arnason gave Canada its first-ever American League championship.&ldquo;That was the biggest thrill for me,&rdquo; said MacNeil, who the previous year had taken Montreal to the Stanley Cup championship.The 1972-73 season is the one most Voyageur fans remember&mdash;the year the Vees lost just three games at home, taking 66 of a possible 76 points. But despite their 43-18-15 record, they failed to defend their Calder Cup championship.It was also the year of Lambert, Tony Featherstone and Moe Stefaniw, the most celebrated line in Voyageur history and the only AHL trio to each exceed 100 points in a season. They finished first, second and third, respectively, among league scorers. Lambert&rsquo;s 52 goals still stand as a team record as do Stefaniw&rsquo;s 71 assists.In 1975-76, they won their second Calder Cup with the lineup dotted by names such as Mondou, Engblom, Chartraw, Price, Ron Andruf, Guy Chouinard, Dave Elenbaas, Ed Walsh and Gilles Lupien.And the next year, they defended it with a team many feel was the best Voyageur squad ever. They compiled a 52-22-6 mark, good enough for 110 points, the second highest total ever established in the AHL.But that championship signalled an end to an era.The next season, MacNeil left for the parent Canadiens, where he took over as director of player personnel. And the aging Halifax Forum, long a thorn in the side of Voyageur attendance, gave way to the Metro Centre, a sparkling, first-class facility that opened on February 19,1978.Since then, the Vees have yet to repeat their early history success. But from a standpoint of player production, they&rsquo;ve continued to be prolific. Players such as the Canadiens&rsquo; Keith Acton, Gaston Gingras, Rick Wamsley, Richard Sevigny, Chris Nilan, Guy Carbonneau and Dan Daoust all played for the Voyageurs.So did a host of others throughout the NHL. Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; Normand Dupont and Craig Levie, Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; Pat Hughes and Dave Lumley, New York Rangers&rsquo; Bill Baker, Washington Capitals&rsquo; Craig Laughlin and Ken Houston, New Jersey Devils&rsquo; Rick Meagher, Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; Michel Larocque, Chicago Black Hawks&rsquo; Greg Fox, Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; Peter Lee and Rod Schutt and Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; John Van Boxmeer.The list goes on, right up to the current crop of Voyageur prospects, who one month into the current AHL season, were in their once familiar post at the top.John Goodwin, Yvan Joly, John Chabot, Dave Orleski, John Newberry and Greg Paslawski.The Factory. &#9632;

f0019-01

Voyageurs Just Keep On Churning Out Talent

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>MONTREAL&mdash;The season did not begin the way Guy Carbonneau had envisioned.The Canadiens&rsquo; rookie center found himself as one of the odd men out in coach Bob Berry&rsquo;s scheme of things as the Canadiens defeated Hartford, won in Boston and then lost at home to the Chicago Black Hawks.It was after that 8-7 defeat to the Black Hawks that Berry made his first major lineup changes of the season. One was to insert Carbonneau into the lineup in the place of Dan Daoust, a fellow first-year NHLer. Carbonneau has been in the lineup since and Daoust is still looking for a chance to get back into action.&ldquo;I was worried a little bit,&rdquo; Carbonneau admitted. &ldquo;I thought I had played well in pre-season games. After I sat out, maybe I worked harder in the practices and I was more ready after that. It was difficult for me because I had never sat out before.&rdquo;For the most part, Carbonneau, who spent two seasons with the Voyageurs, travelling the American Hockey League circuit, has been used alongside left winger Steve Shutt and, at times, right winger Mark Napier.In addition, Carbonneau has been used as one of the four main penalty killers and done an effective job working alongside team captain Bob Gainey.There were some eyebrows raised last summer when Carbonneau signed a two-year deal with the Canadiens and was more or less guaranteed that he would play with the parent club this season. But with the trading of centers Doug Risebrough to Calgary and Doug Jarvis to Washington, there was a spot to be earned.So, Carbonneau joined Swedish left winger Mats Naslund, Daoust, American defenseman Craig Ludwig and defenseman Ric Nattress as players eligible for the Calder Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL&rsquo;s best rookie.Had the Canadiens followed the NHL central scouting ratings, Carbonneau might never have become a member of the organization. The 22-year-old native of Sept-Iles, Que., was ranked 210th or last for the 10-round draft following the 1979-80 season. However, the Canadiens thought much more of the former Chicoutimi star and chose him 44th overall.By the middle of November, Carbonneau had four goals and 12 assists for Montreal. While those figures are not in the same neighborhood as those compiled by the center who wears No. 99 for Edmonton, consider this: Carbonneau is the fourth-line center and a penalty killer. In other words, his role is primarily a defensive one.&ldquo;I did a lot of penalty killing with the Voyageurs,&rdquo; Carbonneau said. &ldquo;I did a lot of work on that when I was there. I don&rsquo;t mind it at all.&rdquo;Carbonneau has quietly fit into the NHL role well. He and Gainey chat a lot about their penalty-killing role and Carbonneau and linemates Shutt and Napier have clicked as well.All of this has helped the Canadiens to 27 points of a possible 38 although Montreal was 2-2-0 on its longest road trip of the season, winning 3-2 in Minnesota before losing in Chicago (6-3) and Los Angeles (3-1). The Canadiens finished the nine-day excursion with a 7-1 triumph in Hartford.There was some question as to whether Carbonneau would be able to play in that contest because of a bout with the flu. He didn&rsquo;t miss a shift.Carbonneau is well aware what happened to Daoust when he was taken out of the lineup. He wasn&rsquo;t about to have a little bout with the flu keep him out of action.IN PASSING&mdash; Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s bad luck continues. Lafleur broke the little toe on his right foot when he collided with Steve Payne in the victory at Minnesota. Lafleur missed the rest of the road trip and home games against Quebec and Philadelphia&hellip; Mark Hunter received a scare on the visit to L.A. Hunter pulled a tendon in his right knee, a day after celebrating his 20th birthday. The original diagnosis was a cracked kneecap, but the crack that showed on the x-ray was from an injury suffered 10 years ago&hellip; Defenseman Craig Ludwig was a little worried when he was hit on the side of the neck by a shot in Minnesota. Ludwig, who had several friends and relatives from Eagle River, WI on hand for the game, wasn&rsquo;t able to talk to them after the contest&hellip; Chris Nilan scored his first goal of the season in the rout of the Whalers, the same night Rejean Houle made his first appearance in the lineup since Oct. 9&hellip; Larry Robinson is still experiencing some pain with his rotator cuff problem. He had difficulty getting to sleep on the last road trip on account of the pain. &#9632;

Habs’ Rookie Doesn’t Mind Defensive Role

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01682/4662420-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"></div>The New York Rangers snapped out of their lethargy last week and came back to play .500 hockey with the help of little Mike Rogers.The bearded Ranger pivot turned in a 10-point week to maintain his team individual scoring lead as the New Yorkers mowed down the Toronto Maple Leafs twice and humiliated the Islanders 7-3. Rogers scored four times in the three games, collected a hat trick against the Leafs and scored two game-winning goals to be selected by THE HOCKEY NEWS as NHL Player of the Week.With 29 points in 21 games, Rogers is turning into a valuable performer with the Rangers. &#9632;

f0020-01

Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD FRIEDMAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;It was sometime around Christmas of 1980 that Mark Pavelich went to see Herb Brooks. Both were in a kind of exile in Switzerland, quite an anticlimax to the gold-medal victory of their U.S. Olympic team the previous winter at Lake Placid. Brooks was coaching in Davos and Pavelich was playing in Lugano&mdash;country where hockey is an avocation for native players&mdash;but it was a situation that suited the temperament of neither man.At the time, it was no secret that Brooks was eventually bound for New York. Meanwhile, Pavelich had been passed over in the National Hockey League draft that followed the Olympics, the consensus being that at 5-foot-8, 170 pounds he was too small for NHL play, but he yearned to return to the States.&ldquo;Pav asked me to keep him in mind,&rdquo; Brooks recalled after the Rangers beat the Islanders, 7-3 at Madison Square Garden as Pavelich, fittingly, scored the first hat trick of his NHL career.It was fitting that it was Pavelich, whose signing was one of Brooks&rsquo; first acts when he was hired as coach here, who provided the goals that brought to a close the Rangers&rsquo; most satisfying week in a season that saw them get off to a surprisingly slow start. The victory over the Islanders was the Rangers&rsquo; third straight in five days, the others being a 6-1 victory at home over the Maple Leafs and a 6-3 win three nights later in Toronto.Brooks was asked about Pavelich&rsquo;s size for about the 100th time, and in his reply he ranked Pavelich with the best of them.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say he&rsquo;s about the same size as Coumoyer; he&rsquo;s 165 pounds but he&rsquo;s got a 140-pound heart,&rdquo; said Brooks, who in the same breath recalled two other medium-sized NHL stars, Maurice and Henri Richard.Pavelich&rsquo;s first goal gave the Rangers a 5-2 lead at 11:12 of the second period and at that point Islanders&rsquo; goalie Billy Smith was replaced by Roland Melanson.Pavelich also had the next two goals of the game, giving him a &ldquo;pure&rdquo; hat trick. His second goal came at 5:05 of the third period on a give-and-go with Anders Hedberg. His final goal came at 11:56 when he batted in a rebound after Mike Rogers&rsquo; breakway for the Rangers&rsquo; second power-play goal of the night, yet another hopeful sign after the Rangers&rsquo; lengthy power-play drought.On the Rangers&rsquo; bench, a tiny smile played at Pavelich&rsquo;s lips as hats sailed down to the ice from the Garden stands, one of them, appropriately, a Pac-Man cap for the self-effacing man called &ldquo;Pav-Man.&rdquo;&ldquo;He was excited,&rdquo; said Hedberg, &ldquo;but he shows his emotion in his particular way.&rdquo;On a team of flashy dressers, Pavelich favors flannel shirts and corduroy jeans and his off-season passion is fishing.Ron Duguay, who showed signs of emerging from his season-long slump by scoring his fourth goal of the season against the Islanders, said: &ldquo;Pav is real laid-back. He didn&rsquo;t understand all the excitement. He was a little stunned.&rdquo;It was Pavelich&rsquo;s 100th NHL game, and the three goals gave him the lead on the Rangers with 14&mdash;10 of them in his last 12 games.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to have smiled, but I kind of held it back,&rdquo; said Pavelich to a throng of reporters. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to keep control of yourself, you know. Of course, I liked it.&rdquo;Mike Rogers&rsquo; three assists against the Islanders gave him four goals and six assists in the Rangers&rsquo; three-game winning streak, including a hat trick in Toronto. The Rangers scored 19 goals in those three games, comparable to the number of goals they had been giving up recently. Brooks was as reserved in his praise of goalie Eddie Mio, who played both home games (Steve Weeks was in goal in Toronto) as he was for the team as a whole. He refused to categorize the week as a turning-point.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always said, when a goalkeeper is struggling, that there are five guys in front of him,&rdquo; Brooks maintained, &ldquo;and when he is playing well, you must credit five guys in front&hellip; they must share some of the blame and receive some of the credit.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played well in three games but I&rsquo;m not about to think we&rsquo;re better than we are. I have to stay with what I&rsquo;ve said before. When things were not going well I said I should not overreact, and I should not over-react to the last three games. They should not be viewed as a springboard, but the last three games have shown some good signs.&rdquo;NOTES: Rangers are at.500 for the first time all season, a mark they did not attain until early January last season&hellip; The victory in Toronto was costly. Mike Allison suffered a strained knee and Eddie Johnstone* sliding hard into the boards, a bruised lower back and hip; both were expected to be sidelined for a week or more&hellip; Dave Silk was summoned from Tulsa at 6 a.m., the day of the Islanders game to fill in&hellip; Pat Conacheer hurt his shoulder absorbing a hard check from Bob Nystrom&hellip; Ulf Nilsson is still sidelined with a groin pull and speculation is that he&rsquo;ll be sent to Tulsa for a week or so of conditioning&hellip; Ron Greschner is due to start skating but remained a giant question-mark, the fear being that his back problems, dating back to a bruised tailbone suffered in Toronto more than a year ago, could be career-threatening&hellip; John Davidson was released from hospital and begins a rehabilitation program for his back in December. Nor surprisingly, J.D. is talking in hopeful terms of a late-winter return, but few Rangers observers expect to see him in net again this season&hellip; Rangers host North Stars and visit Islanders Thanksgiving week.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01508/4662451-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="571" height="800"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tiny man Mark Pavelich scored a pure hat trick in a 7-3 victory over the Islanders.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0021-01

’Pac-Man’ Pavelich Possesses Heart

<div class="byline">BY GHYSLAIN LUNEAU</div>Irving Grundman wears suits that are just as classy as Lou Nanne&rsquo;s and Grund-man&rsquo;s ties are more fashionable than those Bill Torrey wears.Yet, he is still living in the shadow&hellip; the shadow of Sam Pollock, the man who built the Canadiens&rsquo; hockey machine of the 1970s.Grundman is shopping around for some new parts for a refurbished machine, but four years after taking the place of the man considered to be the genius of hockey management, Grundman is still holding his own. Granted, the Canadiens have been eliminated in short order in postseason play during the last three years. But it should be remembered that over the long 80-game schedule, in all cases, the Canadiens were one of the class teams.&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t forget, we have undergone a certain period of adaptation,&rdquo; said Grundman, who reminds people that the Canadiens won a Stanley Cup in 1978-79, his first as managing director of the club.Grundman found himself in some difficult situations after the Canadiens defeated the New York Rangers in a five-game championship for a fourth consecutive title.First, Ken Dryden, the bespectacled intellectual, who made all the correct moves to stop pucks, decided to retire. Yvan Coumoyer, the Roadrunner, also had to take off the skates for the final time because his back couldn&rsquo;t withstand the rigors of National Hockey League competition. Jacques Lemaire, at the peak of his career, decided to continue his hockey in Switzerland, far from the critical Forum fans.When the 1978-79 training camp got underway, defenseman Bill Nyrop walked out on Grundman and his teammates. Nyrop didn&rsquo;t want to play in Montreal any more.Add those four retirements to the aging of the so-called Big Three defense of Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe and Larry Robinson and you see why Grundman didn&rsquo;t have an easy time in his early career as Montreal&rsquo;s managing director. Of the Big Three, only 31-year-old Larry Robinson remains. Savard is giving what he has left to the Winnipeg Jets and Lapointe is trying to stabalize the problems of the weak St. Louis Blues defense.The departure of Savard and Lapointe came at a time when Brian Engblom, who was a member of two Cup-winning teams and Rod Langway, who played on the 1978-79 squad, were coming into their own. Engblom and Langway finished one-two in the NHL&rsquo;s plus-minus statistics last season and were rated as the best defensive pair in the NHL last season. On Sept. 10, both were dispatched to the Washington Capitals in Grund-man&rsquo;s most controversial move to date. Now, there are only eight members of the last Stanley Cup championship team left&mdash;Robinson, Pierre Mondou, Guy Lafleur, Mario Tremblay, Rejean Houle, Steve Shutt, Bob Gainey and Mark Napier.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been often said: &lsquo;Win the William Jennings Trophy first and then the Stanley Cup,&rsquo;&rdquo; Grundman stated. &ldquo;We had the best defensive record in the league in two of the last three seasons and twice we were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.<h2>We evaluated our youngsters and decided we could pay to get Walter and Green from the Capitals.</h2>&ldquo;We had to do something. We evaluated our younger players and decided we could pay a price to get Ryan Walter and Rick Green from the Capitals. They are two players we have been interested in for some time.&rdquo;Aside from Langway and Engblom, Grundman also gave up seven-year veteran Doug Jarvis and sophomore Craig Laughlin to the Caps. On the same day, Doug Risebrough, who played with Jarvis on the four Cup winners in the late &rsquo;70s, was sent to Calgary in exchange for a Flames&rsquo; third-round draft pick in 1985. A week later, veteran goaltender Denis Herron was sent back to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Herron was brought to Montreal from Pittsburgh just before the 1979-80 season in exchange for Pat Hughes, another member of the last Cup-winning team.Before he cleaned house this fall, Grundman made some less-publicized deals. Two years ago, Gilles Lupien was dispatched to Pittsburgh while Normand Dupont and Daniel Geoffrion both pursued their hockey futures in Winnipeg.Michel Larocque, a member of the Canadiens&rsquo; goaltending triumvirate, went to Toronto in March 1981 for defenseman Robert Picard. A month earlier, Rick Chartraw was exiled to Los Angeles for a Kings&rsquo; second round choice in the 1983 or 1984 entry draft.Yvon Lambert was the next to go. He was left off the Canadiens&rsquo; protected list and claimed by the Buffalo Sabres prior to the start of 1981-82 season. Last December, Pierre Larouche, a two-time 50-goal man, was on his way to Hartford for a first-round draft choice in 1984. It is generally conceded that the Canadiens are looking to latch onto centre Mario Lemieux, who is playing for the Laval Voisins of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.Grundman is a diligent worker. He is a proud man, one who has fought his way to the top. Sometimes, he takes some time off to relax in Florida, knowing full well that it is better to spend a dollar on a vacation rather than two on the doctor&rsquo;s table.But, to save his skin following the elimination two years ago at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers, he decided to forget Florida and look to California to bring in Bob Berry. Berry had been insulted by a deal offered by the Kings&rsquo; owner Jerry Buss, and finally the Canadiens had a disciplinarian to replace Scotty Bowman.Grundman had lasted through 30 games with Boom-Boom Geoffrion in the 1979-80 season before Claude Ruel took over. Ruel, now back as a scout for the Canadiens, never wanted to coach and resigned after the 1980-81 playoff elimination.&ldquo;Bob Berry is an intelligent man,&rdquo; Grundman said. &ldquo;One of these days, I am confident he will take our team all the way. We are going in the right direction. We just have to keep on going forward.&rdquo;Grundman has given Berry several young hockey players with which he hopes his coach can build a championship team. Last year, right winger Mark Hunter and defenseman Gilbert Delorme were used regularly by the Montreal coach and this season, left winger Mats Naslund from Sweden, centers Guy Carbonneau and Dan Daoust and defenseman Craig Ludwig, from the University of North Dakota, have joined the club.There is also 1980 first-round draft pick Doug Wickenheiser, who is anchoring the No. 1 line.But Grundman is still shopping for the right pieces that will make the Canadiens a championship team again. &#9632;

Grundman Shopping For Second Championship

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>There is a new boss at the Montreal Forum.Ronald Corey, a former journalist and television producer, was selected president of the Forum and the Montreal Canadiens while the Canadiens were completing their longest road trip of the season.&ldquo;I am realizing a dream of many young Quebecois,&rdquo; said Corey. &ldquo;To a young Quebecois, the Candiens represent more than just a hockey team.&ldquo;The circumstances of my return to the Molson organization as president of the Canadiens can hardly be termed ordinary. You can easily imagine what the last few days have been like while I had to think about the offer that was presented me.&rdquo;Prior to rejoining the Molson family (Molson&rsquo;s owns the Canadiens), Corey had been with O&rsquo;Keefe, the brewery that Owns the arch-rival Quebec Nordiques. Corey&rsquo;s move is seen as a stroke of master genius by Molson&rsquo;s in the fight to sell beer in Quebec.While Corey&rsquo;s appointment didn&rsquo;t pull the rug from underneath Irving Grundman, it did tug it a little. Grundman, who recently won re-election as a city councillor in St. Laurent, a northwestern Montreal suburb, remains as executive vice-president and managing director of the Canadiens. No longer will Grundman oversee the whole operation, that is now Corey&rsquo;s job.&ldquo;There may be some changes in job descriptions of some of the people working at the Forum,&rdquo; Corey noted. &ldquo;Right now, we do not plan any personnel changes.&rdquo;Corey emphasized that Grundman alone will be responsible for looking after the affairs of the hockey club although the latter will have to keep his new boss informed.Morgan McCammon previously held the president&rsquo;s job with the Canadiens and represented them at the NHL board of governors sessions. But McCammon did not have an office at the Forum. Corey will.A high profile individual, Corey is a man who likes challenges. Recently he ran in the New York City marathon and did reasonably well.While with O&rsquo;Keefe, he served on the Nordiques&rsquo; administrative council and one story emerged that Corey even had the Nordiques playbook in his possession when he left to join the &ldquo;other side.&rdquo; In fact, more is being made of the fact that Corey left the brewery that owned the Nordiques to join the brewery that operates the Canadiens than anything else.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want a big thing made of that,&rdquo; Corey admitted. I would like people to believe that I was hired for this job because it was felt I was the best man for the job.&rdquo;A graduate of the University of Western Ontario, Corey, who is a Francophone, served for seven years as public relations director for Molson&rsquo;s before leaving in 1977. He also dabbled in politics as a communications advisor to former Union Nationale leader Jean-Jacques Bertrand as well as working in the automotive business.&ldquo;An organization such as the Canadiens has been able to capture the imagination and the hearts of the people by offering the best of itself,&rdquo; Corey said as he ascended to the Montreal throne. &ldquo;The long list of its successes is deeply rooted in hard work, team spirit and the never failing will to win.&ldquo;As I take my new responsibilities, I am fully aware of the standards of excellence that have been set.&rdquo;&ldquo;To the friends I leave behind, where I have worked for the past three-and-a-half years, I wish good luck and I hope that they will retain their friendship as they retain mine.&rdquo;One problem Corey will have to facealmost immediately is the desire of the Nordiques to share in some of the television exposure in the province. Under the terms of the merger agreement, the incoming Canadian WHA teams&mdash;Winnipeg, Edmonton and Quebec&mdash;did not have the rights to share in TV revenue from Hockey Night in Canada for the first five years.The Nordiques want to be seen in the Montreal and other Quebec markets.It will be Corey&rsquo;s first big battle with his old friends. &#9632;

Corey Realizing Dream As Habs’ President

<div class="byline">BY MICHAEL FARBER</div>The Montreal Canadiens finally have a No. 1 line worthy of the name.After three mix-and-match seasons following the defection of center Jacques Lemaire to Switzerland in 1979, the Canadiens apparently have found three forwards with something to prove&mdash;right winger Guy Lafleur, center Doug Wickenheiser and right winger Ryan Walter&mdash;who, if they don&rsquo;t quite click like a Swiss watch, at least run as well as one of those imported quartz jobs.All this comes with a disclaimer, however. The season still is in its adolescence, and greatness is measured only in athletic maturity. And besides, there have been so many teases in this looking out for No. 1 business that you skate gingerly before declaring any trio a Canadiens&rsquo; institution.Pierre Mondou was the first false alarm. He was Lemaire&rsquo;s heir apparent, the center who was going to slip between Lafleur and Steve Shutt and feather passes and tip-in shots and backcheck like the devil.But life seemed to get in the way. Mondou, a capable player, never was able to cope with instant immortality.Then the job was given to Pierre Larouche, arguably among the best five players in the National Hockey League for the two minutes or so a game he had the puck. Although no one ever expected a playmaker in the Lemaire mold, Larouche was going to be the third 50-goal scorer on that line.As it turned out, one puck wasn&rsquo;t enough for the three of them, and Larouche was exiled to Hartford.They all took their shot at a spot on the No. 1 line. Even Doug Wickenheiser.Wickenheiser, the first player selected in the 1980 draft was given a look at center on the No. 1 line early in his rookie season. He showed blips of brilliance, but he was too inconsistent. Although his benching wasn&rsquo;t permanent, they could have placed a plaque in his honor at his usual seat.With time, Wickenheiser became a local joke. Every time one of the players available in that 1980 draft scored a goal; every time Denis Savard, a former Montreal Junior, dipsy doodled; every time David Babych threw a check, the punchline didn&rsquo;t seem so funny.Wickenheiser scored 19 goals while playing in just 98 of a possible 160 regular season games his first two years. His employers thought so little of him that he didn&rsquo;t dress for any of the eight Canadiens&rsquo; playoff games.Before this season, most people in the Montreal organization would have been willing to send Wickenheiser to Calgary. Or Siberia.But Irving Grundman, the Canadiens&rsquo; managing director and the man ultimately responsible for drafting Wickenheiser, wanted another look. Grundman could not believe the same player who scored 89 goals at Regina in his final year in junior could turn into Doug the Slug in the NHL.&ldquo;During the off-season I met with Doug and his parents to see how we could improve things,&rdquo; Grundman said. &ldquo;It was quite a constructive meeting. He went out and worked hard during the remainder of the off-season and came to camp determined to prove to everybody he was indeed the No. 1 draft choice overall.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01552/4662537-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="574" height="720"><figcaption class="caption-body">From the time Ryan Walter arrived, it was clear he would play on the No. 1 line.</figcaption></div>After the customary line juggling during the exhibition season, coach Bob Berry inserted Wickenheiser between Lafleur and newcomer Ryan Walter for one of the late pre-season games. Lafleur and Wickenheiser, together again, both scored in a 4-4 tie against Boston.When Wickenheiser scored a hat trick against the New York Rangers to give him six goals and four assists in his first six games, it appeared the line had taken off like an avalanche.Why was Wickenheiser suddenly so good after two seasons of being so ordinary? Or worse?&ldquo;I resent those questions because I hear them so damn often,&rdquo; Wickenheiser said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no answer I can find for the change in my play. It&rsquo;s just something that happened. I just feel better out on the ice.&ldquo;I have asked myself the same questions so many times, and I haven&rsquo;t been able to come up with any answer. It&rsquo;s the sort of thing where once iii a while you sit back, especially now, and say, &lsquo;What the hell; I could have saved myself and a lot of other people a lot of hardship if I could have done this about two years ago.&rsquo;&ldquo;Did I just talk myself into being more relaxed? I don&rsquo;t think so. I mean, you can say to yourself, &lsquo;Play more confidently,&rsquo; but it just doesn&rsquo;t come about. It&rsquo;s a building up sort of thing.&rdquo;Apparently that confidence has a strong foundation, solid enough to survive a temporary benching&mdash;Berry sat him in the third period of a comeback 5-4 victory over New Jersey&mdash;and a seven-game scoring drought that ended Nov. 13 in a 2-1 defeat at Los Angeles.Wickenheiser also had been forced to play with a different right winger. Mark Napier temporarily replaced Lafleur, who broke a toe on his right foot and missed the Canadiens&rsquo; first extended road trip of the season.This was just another in the series of tough breaks for Lafleur, who has been broken or cut or scratched during the past two seasons in just about every part of the anatomy known to science. His string of bad luck has been reflected in the statistics as well as the Canadiens&rsquo; medical bills; after six consecutive 50-goal seasons, Lafleur had scored only 27 goals each of the past two years.But he came into 1982-83 lighter in girth&mdash;he had stopped drinking and lost 13 pounds&mdash;and heavier in wallet after renegotiating a three-year deal worth $500,000 annually. All of this showed on the ice, where he appeared to be approaching his former level of dominance.Lafleur&rsquo;s renewed dedication came for two primary reasons: he is a proud man who hated hearing people tell him how much he slipped, and he was moved by the death of his father-in-law, Jacques Barre, who urged him to settle down and go out of hockey in a blaze of glory.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s still a great player, Walter said. &ldquo;Some people suggested I was the reason for the good starts by Guy and Doug, but I think they&rsquo;re the reasons for my good start.&rdquo;Walter was the final component on the No. 1 line and he, too, had something to show after four seasons with the playoff-less Washington Capitals.He came to Montreal on Sept. 10 with defenseman Rick Green in exchange for Brian Engblom, Rod Langway, Doug Jarvis and Craig Laughlin in what is known locally as The Trade. Although Walter had been coveted by the Canadiens for years, public opinion was that Grundman had mortgaged the franchise to get him.From the beginning, it seemed clear Walter and Lafleur would play together. But only when Wickenheiser blossomed was Walter able to forget about center ice and move to left wing, where he displaced Shutt from the No. 1 line, Shutt had been off the line previously the past two years, often playing some extraordinary hockeywhile teamed with Mario Tremblay and Mondou. But as much as he bounced around, Shutt always ended up as a bookend with Lafleur.To many, he had become Sundance to Lafleur&rsquo;s Butch Cassidy. They were supposed to be inseparable, like ham and eggs or Minneapolis and St. Paul or Trottier and Bossy.&ldquo;I think Guy and I played together too long,&rdquo; Shutt said. &ldquo;We had stopped clicking. We played together for eight seasons and it got to where I think we relied more on things being automatic. When that happens, there&rsquo;s less thinking and you start stagnating.&ldquo;You know, I look up at the plaques in our dressing room, and I see guys like Toe Blake, The Rocket, Elmer Lach. I figure they could have played as a regular for what? Maybe five years?Five years. Montreal would be more than happy to take that from Lafleur, Wickenheiser and Walter.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02412/4662530-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="576" height="801"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Wickenheiser said there is no magic reason why he is performing so much better.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0024-01

Habs Hope New Line Will Rank With Best

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01481/4662568-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Montreal veteran left winger Rejean Houle is one of several National Hockey League players who played for the Junior Canadiens when they were part of the Ontario Hockey Association.</figcaption></div>After years of dormancy, major junior hockey in the Montreal area is once again enjoying a resurgence.The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League&rsquo;s Verdun Juniors, Laval Voisins and Longueuil Chevaliers are not only enjoying success on the ice, but also at the box office.The Juniors and Voisins are tied for first place in the Lebel Division with 38 points, while the expansion Chevaliers are third in the Lebel with 31 points.And all three are regularly surpassing the 2,000 mark in attendance on given evenings.But it wasn&rsquo;t always this rosy.The Montreal Royals and Junior Canadiens, respectively, won consecutive Memorial Cups in 1949 and 1950. The latter joined the Ontario Hockey Association for the 1961-62 season and won back-to-back Memorial Cups in 1969 and 1970.The OHA, because of its close links with the National Hockey League, was always a natural draw in Montreal. In one 1969 game at the Forum against the Oshawa Generals, 18,838 fans watched Gilbert Perreault, Richard Martin and Rejean Houle whip their adversaries 9-2.That was the Forum&rsquo;s largest crowd until 1974 when 19,040 watched a pro game between the Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers.But the juniors, whose average attendance was 12,000 in the late 1960s, saw their average dwindle to 1,000 by 1980, long after they had joined the QMJHL.The QMJHL began operating in 1969 and immediately pestered the OHA&rsquo;s Junior Canadiens to join the fledgling league. *Phil Wimmer, general manager of the junior Canadiens at the time, finally suspended operations in 1971-72 while weighing the alternatives.The following year the Canadian Arena Co., which owned the team, decided it did not want to return to the OHA and sold the. franchise to Kingston interests for $50,000.In 1972-73 as the Bleu, Blanc et Rouge, Montreal drew 93,005 fans for 32 regular-season home games, an average of 2,900 not bad by junior hockey standards, but a far cry from the 12,000 in 1969.What went wrong? Had Montreal erred in opting out of the OHA? Former players and management say yes, and figure Montreal lost some natural draws and fans with the switch.&ldquo;Playing the Marlies (Toronto Mal-boros of the OHA) was the same as the Canadiens playing the Leafs,&rdquo; said Wimmer in a 1980 interview. &lsquo;Those teams in the OHA had so many great players. What the people wanted more than anything was good competition.&rdquo;&ldquo;The OHA was such a natural draw by itself,&rdquo; said Roger Bedard, Montreal&rsquo;s coach in both the OHA and QMJHL until becoming a Canadiens&rsquo; scout in 1979. &ldquo;Maybe it was because of the two provinces. We were representing Quebec and when the Toronto Marlies or Oshawa Generals were out on the marquee outside the Forum, it made for a good draw.&rdquo;Said Canadiens&rsquo; winger Rejean Houle, a junior Canadien until 1969: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how many, but there were so many who went from the OHA into the NHL. On a team like the Kitchener Rangers alone, I can think of Walt Tkaczuk and Don Luce.&rdquo;But Montreal fans might also have been against the number of violent acts spreading throughout the QMJHL.In a 1974 game between Montreal and Hull, there was a bench-clearing brawl. Players from both teams tossed their broken sticks into the stands like spears and the fans retaliated by jumping on the ice to join in the mayhem.The followng season there were seven bench-clearing rows in a one-month span.Jacques Laperriere, former Juniors&rsquo; coach, now an assistant coach with the Canadiens, resigned early into the 1976 season after his team was involved in two blood-spilling, tumultous games inside one week.Laperriere pulled the Juniors&mdash;their nickname after a couple of seasons was the Bleu, Blanc et Rouge&mdash;off the ice in one of the games, complaining the QMJHL wasn&rsquo;t enforcing its rules regarding suspensions and fines.Late in the 1978 season, Sherbrooke and Laval were involved in two pregame brawls within three days. Amid the suspensions and fines, Sherbrooke&rsquo;s Jimmy Mann was hit with two assault charges.One year later, Verdun&rsquo;s Richard Larocque speared Cornwall&rsquo;s Mike-Klassen in the face, coming dangerously close to blinding him. Not surprisingly, Montreal&rsquo;s atten-dance had dwindled into the low hun-dreds in 1980 games in the 5,800-seat Paul Sauve Sports Centre. The team lost $50,000 that season and shifted to the Verdun Auditorium-10 minutes from downtown Montreal-this season because of rental complications.The Laval Vasins used to pack the 3,000-seat Sports Centre in 1976-77 during the height of Mike Bossy&rsquo;s years. But they saw their attendance decrease to an average of 1,000 by 1981.And the Verdun Black Hawks, after drawing 200 fans for a few games in early 1979, returned their franchise to Sorel, their home until 1977.This season&rsquo;s increase in Verdun and Laval seem to be related to the team&rsquo;s successful ways. It&rsquo;s the same with Longueuil, 20 miles from downtown Montreal, although their fans were also starved for junior hockey and the team signed former Canadien Jacques Lemaire, a high-profile personality, as its first coachr. &#9632;

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Montreal Rediscovers Joy Of Junior Hockey

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01501/4662599-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter McNab says there&rsquo;s hardly any communication between himself and the management. &ldquo;When I ask them, they just &lsquo;yes&rsquo; me to death.&rdquo; (Photo By Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div><h2>H&B LOUISVILLE HOCKEY</h2>BOSTON&mdash;Steve Kasper is lost to shoulder surgery. Peter McNab, the forgotten Bruin is discovered among the cobwebs on the end of the Boston bench. He has three goals and six assists in the last four games. The Bruins win four in a row, their best streak of the season. Horatio Alger stuff for sure.But McNab has the nagging feeling that it is all going to be in vain.&ldquo;Once Steve gets back I know I&rsquo;ll be back in the same spot,&rdquo; said the 30-year-old centerman who has averaged 38 goals a year for the past six years, yet inexplicably finds himself taking the odd shift behind four youngsters who are not yet old enought to shave daily.&ldquo;I would think that when a team is second lowest in the number of goals in the league&hellip;&rdquo;McNab is convinced the Bruins are trying to trade him. His contacts around the league confirm that. He&rsquo;s prepared for the inevitable, although he figured that his slam-bang finish last season when he scored 36 goals and his 6-8-14 playoff record might have earned him a second chance.&ldquo;I thought I played pretty well in the last 15 games last year and the playoffs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Obviously, those things didn&rsquo;t matter when it came to this season. They had their team picked and they were going with them no matter what.&ldquo;All I can say is that only once in my career have I played on a team that&rsquo;s been less than fifth in the National Hockey League in the course of a season. I&rsquo;m quite proud of that fact. I must be contributing something because we usually win and to me that&rsquo;s the bottom line.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying they&rsquo;re wrong, they&rsquo;re probably right in their assessment of talent. What I can&rsquo;t understand is why they are sort of letting me die as a hockey player. I&rsquo;ve never done anything personally to any of them. I&rsquo;ve tried my best to be a good Boston Bruin, on and off the ice.&ldquo;If they&rsquo;d just come to me and tell me what the situation is. There&rsquo;s very little communication and they don&rsquo;t seem to really want to let me know what&rsquo;s going on. When I ask them, they just &lsquo;yes&rsquo; me to death.&rdquo;McNab says he understands why the Bruins&rsquo; general manager Harry Sin-&rsquo;den may be having trouble setting up a deal for him.&ldquo;I think Harry is in a difficult spot,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He wants more than any team is offering and the other teams are saying, &lsquo;Well, the guy&rsquo;s 30 years old. He hasn&rsquo;t played regularly this year.&rsquo; Harry&rsquo;s noted for making great trades and he doesn&rsquo;t want to make a bad one.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty sure I won&rsquo;t be traded to a team in our division. I can almost guarantee that because the other team isn&rsquo;t likely to make that deal either. No one wants to trade someone who might come back and haunt them in the playoffs and you play someone in your division in the first two rounds.&rdquo;One of the most difficult things about it, McNab said, &ldquo;is giving up the little boy dreams.&rdquo;&ldquo;In the back of you&rsquo;re mind you&rsquo;ve always said, &lsquo;That&rsquo;ll never happen to &rsquo; me,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When it does, you have to try and handle it the best way you can. The first thing you check every day is the transactions in the paper.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough. You have a wife and kids and you try to keep some stability in your life. But you know that&rsquo;s the way hockey is. Teams go up and down and in and out, but when you think you can do something and you&rsquo;re not getting even a chance, that&rsquo;s what hurts. You want to prove yourself, yes or no. But there isn&rsquo;t even a choice.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a hockey player and I love to play the game. I&rsquo;d rather play in Boston than anyplace else. They talk about the money and the prestige. It&rsquo;s all totally irrelevant. You can say, &lsquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s only a game.&rsquo; But it&rsquo;s more than that. It&rsquo;s your job. It&rsquo;s the one thing that you do. You try like hell to keep it going to support your family.&ldquo;I realize I&rsquo;m no different from other guys who have reached the same age. It&rsquo;s no big deal really. But I just hope they&rsquo;re not going to try and wait until I&rsquo;m completely gone as a hockey player and then trade me hoping I won&rsquo;t make them look bad.&ldquo;That would not be fair to me.&rdquo;WHAT&rsquo;S BRUIN-Sinden has requested an NHL hearing into a Nov. 18 incident when he was struck by the stick of Islanders&rsquo; goalie Roland Melanson. He&rsquo;ll be out of the lineup three to four weeks, about 15 games. Bruins claim Melanson swung his stick at O&rsquo;Reilly, who put up his hands to protect his face. Trouble is no official saw the incident and the TV tape folks missed it, too. &#9632;

f0026-01

McNab Knows His Bruins’ Days Numbered

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div>CHICAGO&mdash;&ldquo;Tessier for mayor!&rdquo; The banner appeared late in the Black Hawks&rsquo; first meeting of the season with the Minnesota North Stars and at that juncture neither her honor, Jane Byrne, nor challenger Richie Daley would have had a chance if the 19,382 jubilant fans in Chicago Stadium had been asked to cast their ballots.Coach Orval Tessier&rsquo;s Black Hawks, who have been performing wonderous deeds throughout this young hockey season, staged what in some respects was their most remarkable performance.They rallied from a two-goal deficit in the final 11 minutes and four seconds for a 5-4 victory.If Tessier becomes the write-in mayoral candidate, look for Steve Larmer and Al Secord to win seats on the City Council.Larmer, a rookie right winger skating on a line with Denis Savard and Secord, scored three goals, including two in the final period.Secord, the highest scoring Hawk left winger since Bobby Hull, had two goals. He instigated the remarkable rally from a 3-1 deficit with a slapshot from the left point, then in the waning moments delivered what proved to be the game-winning goal off a feed from Savard.This stirring victory was achieved without one of Chicago&rsquo;s premier players, Tom Lysiak, who was hobbled by an ankle injury he suffered the night before in the first period of a game in Detroit.Lysiak finished the game against the Red Wings and scored the gamewinning goal in the closing minutes.He volunteered to have the ankle frozen with novocaine to play against Minnesota, but Tessier said &ldquo;no.&rdquo;&ldquo;I have never and never will ask one of my players to perform in a situation like that,&rdquo; Tessier explained. &ldquo;Two years ago in Kitchener, I lost Grant Martin because I wouldn&rsquo;t let the doctor freeze him so he could play and it probably cost me the Memorial Cup because he was centering for Brian Bellows and Jeff Larmer (Steve&rsquo;s brother).&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t want somebody to do it to my son and I don&rsquo;t want to do it to somebody else&rsquo;s son.&rdquo;&ldquo;I like that and I admire that,&rdquo; said Lysiak. &ldquo;It never happened before. Through the years, I played five games with injuries frozen. This is the first time any coach has ever said he didn&rsquo;t want me to do it. My personal opinion is that freezing is bad for you because afterward it takes so much longer for the injury to heal properly,&rdquo; &#9632;

Black Hawks Stage Rallying Victory

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div><h2>H&B LOUISVILLE HOCKEY</h2>PORTLAND&mdash;Most of the usual adjectives have been rolled out and attached to his name during the last 13 years.First it was rookie, then the veteran label was inserted. Journeyman followed and, along the way, steady dependable and unselfish were used. Small always seemed to find its way into the paragraph too.As he approaches his 33rd birthday, Dennis Patterson might opt for happy to describe his situation. Long after many of his peers from the draft class of 1970 have retired to less strenuous businesses, Patterson continues to play the game he learned as a boy in Peterborough. He and teammate Wayne Schaab, 33, are Maine&rsquo;s ancient Mariners.For Patterson, the demise of the Kansas City Scouts in 1978 began a chain of events that landed him in Portland with the fledgling Mariners. He&rsquo;s been there ever since.When the Scouts became the Rockies in 1976, Patterson was informed that he was no longer needed. He split the 1976-77 season between Edmonton of the WHA and the Providence Reds of the AHL. At the age of 27, he thought his career was over.&ldquo;That summer I didn&rsquo;t know if I was going to quit and 1 talked to (agent) Billy Watters and he said they were putting a new club in Portland and that he might be able to get a tryout Tor me with Keith Allen. Obviously, there was no contract, they didn&rsquo;t know who they wanted there. I was fortunate, Billy got me a tryout, 1 went to camp and felt I had a pretty good camp. I guess they felt I had a pretty good camp, too, because Keith called me in the day the league started and I signed that year.&rdquo;Patterson was named the team&rsquo;s first captain and has worn the C on the left side of his sweater in over 370 Mariners games. He&rsquo;s the only captain the team has ever had.Ironically, the stability of the last five years is in marked contrast to the first seven years of his career, during which his wife, Bev, figures they moved 19 times. They now call Portland home and may stay there when his playing days do end.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have any idea that I&rsquo;d be playing this long, but now that I have, I&rsquo;d like to play 15 years as a pro. It would be a personal goal for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played 12 now and this is going on my 13th. I feel I can do it.&rdquo;In each of the past two seasons, an injury on March 17 has put Patterson out of action. On March 17, 1981, he was checked by Adirondack&rsquo;s Dave Hanson and suffered a cracked pelvic bone. That injury ended the season. Earlier this year on March 17, he was hit in the face by a puck. Even though he returned to the lineup and played in the playoffs, he feels he was not up to par.Despite his success in Maine, he says he&rsquo;s not quite sure why he&rsquo;s lasted so long.&ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s because (former Mariners and now Flyer coach) Bobby McCammon and I became close friends. I&rsquo;ve always worked hard when I&rsquo;ve played. I probably don&rsquo;t have as much ability as other guys. But who knows why they keep certain guys around and let others go? I really can&rsquo;t answer that.After 80 professional games, Patterson says the high points of his career are the Mariners&rsquo; first Calder Cup win and an unexpected recall to the Flyers in the 1979-80 season.&ldquo;Now, you live with that you&rsquo;re going to be here and I love it,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;I love seeing the kids come in and I want to win another Calder Cup. Part of my job now is helping the kids out, to lead by example, work hard and, hopefully, they&rsquo;ll follow. That&rsquo;s the way I like to look at it,&rdquo;If there had ever been any doubts, that fierce loyalty to the Flyers and Mariners was solidified on that March night in an emergency room of the hospital.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been year to year with contracts and Bob McCammon and I had been talking about my contract. He said, &lsquo;don&rsquo;t worry, you&rsquo;re having a great year, we&rsquo;ll sign you&rsquo; and I said, &lsquo;yeah, I&rsquo;ve heard that before.&rsquo; So I got hurt that night, it was March 17, and Bob McCammon and (Mariner president) Ed Anderson came in with the contract that night in the emergency room and signed it,&rdquo; Patterson said. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t do it as a favor, they told me they would sign me and they did. That really makes you feel good.&rdquo;ADIRONDACK&mdash; The Wings struggled a bit during their road trip, but bounced back on their return to the Civic Center with a come-from-behind 6-4 win over Maine.The annual&mdash;possibly historic&mdash;appearance of three goaltenders for Adirondack marked the win over Maine. Veteran Gilles Gilbert, sent down by Detroit to improve his conditioning after a month-long bout with a body rash, started, but was helped off the ice after suffering back spasms 12 minutes into the game.Claude Legris replaced Gilbert and played until 10:45 of the third period when he was given a game misconduct for his part in a fight. Jim Rutherford, who had started the game in the press box and had dressed after Gilbert was injured, played the final nine minutes and gained the win.Maine&rsquo;s Mel Hewitt, a 24-year-old left winger, scored three goals, one on each of the goalies, to make his mark in professional hockey history. That feat had never been done before.During the team&rsquo;s road &rsquo;trip, the Wings dropped an 8-2 decision at Fredericton and lost a 4-3 overtime game at Moncton, despite outshooting the Alpines by a 2-1 margin. The next night at Sherbrooke, the Jets and Wings filled the nets with seven goals each. Mark Lofthouse&rsquo;s goal with five seconds left in overtime gave Adirondack the win.FREDERICTON&mdash;The Express continued to roll along with a four-game unbeaten streak. That string was put in jeopardy, though, when the Express lost goalie Frank Caprice by recall to Vancouver. His departure, which followed the recall of Clint Malarchuk to Quebec, left the team without either of the goalies that have helped make it the stingiest Lim in the league.Brian Ford was summoned from Winston-Salem of the Atlantic Coast League and Michel Dufour, was promoted from Milwaukee of the International League.MONCTON&mdash; The Alpines opened their homestand with a 1-1-1 record. Al Hill&rsquo;s power-play goal at:39 of overtime carried Doug Messier&rsquo;s club past Adirondack. They followed that win with a 2-2 tie with New Haven and a 7-3 loss to Binghamton.NOVA SCOTIA&mdash; A couple of lopsided wins over St. Catharines and New Haven marked the Vees&rsquo; return from a five-game winless streak. The line of center John Goodwin and wingers Yvan Joly and Dave Orleski returned to form to lead the attack.MAINE&mdash;Injuries to Schaab, Andy Brickley and Bob Hoffmeyer continued to plague the Mariners. They snapped a three-game losing streak&mdash;with a win over Baltimore, but lost to Binghamton and Adirondack.SHERBROOKE- The Jets split four games during the week and remain in the division&rsquo;s cellar. &#9632;

Ancient Mariner Patterson Guides Youth

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div>NEW HAVEN&mdash;Despite a petition signed by 1,125 frustrated Nighthawk fans and a search by team president Roy Mlaker for open airwaves, New Haven remains the only American Hockey League team without radio play-by-play coverage.It is a problem that surfaced late last summer, when WAVZ-AM, the Nighthawks&rsquo; flagship station, was sold. The new owners did not want sports broadcasting as part of their new format so the Nighthawks were told to go elsewhere.In a last-minute arrangement, WEDI-AM agreed to provide air time for live reports from the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the end of each period, a post-game recap and a star-of-the-game show.But instead of receiving praise for providing the service, WEDI general manager Larry Getz received a petition signed by 1,125 angry fans who demanded play-by-play coverage.Getz provided a polite reply to the fans, explaining how the team was dumped by WAVZ and how its station managed to program the periodic reports as a service to the community.Mlaker admits that having no radiowill affect interest and ultimately affect atttendance. &ldquo;It will have an impact. I think it&rsquo;s embarrassing.Mlaker said there is a possibility WEDI will provide play-by-play in the playoffs. Regular-season coverage next year remains a possibility.After going 1-1-1 in the Canadian Maritimes, New Haven lost to visiting Sherbrooke, 4-1, and fell into a tie for last in the Southern Division.HERSHEY&mdash;The Bears&rsquo; tight grip on first place loosened after losses in Springfield, Rochester and St. Catharines. Only a victory over the second-place Saints at home prevented Hershey from slipping into the cellar.Then came the Rochester War Memorial. Coach Gary Inness&rsquo; club put a convincing end to a five-game road losing streak by trouncing the Amerks, 11-5.BALTIMORE&mdash;After playing 11 of their first 15 games at home, the Skipjacks (8-9-1) showed how happy they were to be back. Left winger Jim Hamilton, in only his second game since returning from the injured list, scored four goals in a 7-4 victory over St. Catharines. Goalie Marco Baro&rsquo;n was stupendous, stopping 52 shots.The Skipjacks added left wingers Doug Lecuyer, Gary Rissling (both from Pittsburgh) and Rod Schutt (from an injury). Rookie goalie Roberto Romano, who was recalled to spell injured Denis Herron, was also returned by Pittsburgh.BINGHAMTON&mdash;The 7-11-2 Whalers split four games in the Maritimes. They opened poorly by blowing a 4-1 lead and losing to Sherbrooke, 7-4. They beat Maine the next night, 4-2, but lost 5-3 to Nova Scotia. They completed the week with a convincing 7-3 victory over Moncton.Center Ross Yates continued to score. With two points against Moncton, Yates has points in eight straight games. The Whalers signed defenseman Larry Goodenough, who was bought out by the Los Angeles Kings, to a pro contract. Goodenough tallied four assists in his first two games.SPRINGFIELD&mdash;The Indians (9-9-1) won both their games last week, extended their home unbeaten streak to seven and pulled into a tie for third with Rochester. Jerome Dupont scored the game-winner in a 5-3 triumph over Hershey. The next night, in a 7-5 win over Sherbrooke, captain Bud Stefanski scored a hat trick and left winger Dave Snopek added two goals and four assists.The Indians lost left winger Mike Fidler, who was signed to an NHL contract and promoted by the Chicago Blawk Hawks.ROCHESTER&mdash;After being stymied by Baron and the Skipjacks, the Americans (8-7-3) dumped Hershey 5-1 before a sellout crowd of 7,109. Phil Myre made 32 saves for the victory, but he wasn&rsquo;t so lucky three days later when the teams met again. The Bears struck for that 11-5 victory.Geordie Robertson and J. F. Sauve extended consecutive point-scoring streaks to seven games apiece. Defenseman Dave Fenyves was recalled by Buffalo.ST. CATHARINES&mdash;After reeling off five straight wins at home, the 10-8-1 Saints lost in Hershey and Baltimore, beat Hershey at home and dropped a 9-2 decision in Nova Scotia. The parent Toronto Maple Leafs demoted center Russ Adam, right winger Frank Nigro and left winger Gary Yaremchuk to the Saints, and reassigned defenseman Dave Logan to Birmingham. &#9632;

Nighthawks Play Minus Play-By-Play

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div><h2>H&B LOUISVILLE HOCKEY</h2>BIRMINGHAM&mdash;Markus Mattsson, the 25-year-oId Finnish-born goalkeeper, turned back 70 of 73 shots to key the South Stars to a rare two-game sweep, 4-2 and 2-1, of the Salt Lake Golden Eagles in the Salt Palace.And it was another European import, Czechoslovak defector Milan Mokros, who keyed the Birmingham attack, collecting five assists in the two victories.Jim Dobson had two goals for the Stars in the first victory.The twin wins in Salt Lake were achieved without the club&rsquo;s leading scorer, Dave DeBol, who is sidelined for six weeks due to a broken wrist suffered in Indianapolis. The victories gave Gene Ubriaco&rsquo;s team a 2-2 record on its first long road trip of the season, with a two-game invasion of Colorado next on their schedule.Mattsson lowered his goals-against average to a stingy 2.27, but was still two percentage points back of Indianapolis&rsquo; Rob Holland.Mattsson, after starring for the Ilves Tampere club in Finland, was drafted by the New York Islanders in 1977, but chose to sign with Quebec of the World Hockey Association. Traded to the WHA Winnipeg Jets, he played the next two seasons for that club, before the Jets were admitted to the National League in 1979-80.The Islanders reclaimed him before the 1979 expansion draft, but the Jets reacquired him in the June draft, and he divided the last three seasons between Winnipeg and its Tulsa farm in the CHL (51 games in Winnipeg, 76 in Tulsa). The Minnesota North Stars picked him up last summer and assigned him to their new farm team in Birmingham.With the two victories in Salt Lake, the South Stars moved into third place, but were four points behind Colorado, 10 back of front-running Indianapolis. Salt Lake and Wichita were two points behind Birmingham, and Tulsa was four back of the Stars.WICHITA&mdash;The Wind&rsquo;s longest road trip of the season, a 10-game swing, was turning sour after a fine start. After an opening win in Denver, Andy Laing&rsquo;s men had suffered five straight setbacks, and looked forward to four more road games before getting back to the Kansas Coliseum.The latest mishaps came in Tulsa, a narrow 2-1 loss, followed by an 8-2 blowout the next day.The parent New Jersey Devils sent down center Dave Cameron and left winger Randy Pierce.In the first game, Tulsa&rsquo;s Peter Wallin won it with 1:01 remaining, when his long shot from the right boards bounced into the net off a Wind defender.In the second game, Murray Brumwell put the Wind in front early, but the Oilers tied it in the first period, scored three goals in the second, and four more in the third, before Mike Schurman got the second Wichita tally.INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Taking two of three games in a showdown series with Colorado, moved Fred Creighton&rsquo;s Checkers six points in front of the second-place Flames.The set opened with the Flames taking an 8-4 romp in Denver but the next night, the Checkers prevailed in overtime, 4-3. Then they opened a five-game homestand with a 7-3 rout.Rob Holland, in the nets for the overtime victory, had the league&rsquo;s stingiest yield, a 2.25 average. Kelly Hrudey worked the loss in Denver and the victory at home, the Checkers&rsquo; fourth straight triumph in the State Fairgrounds Arena.Mats Hallin picked up two goals and five assists in the three games to become the CHL&rsquo;s third leading scorer with 19 points.Monty Trottier scored in each period of the home victory for his first professional hat trick.TULSA&mdash;After dropping their first eight games of the season, including seven on home ice, Tom Webster&rsquo;s Oilers had racked up four straight victories. The latest were a 2-1 decision and an 8-2 romp over the arch rival Wind, giving Tulsa a 2-1 advantage in the 24-game season series. Steve Baker made his eighth and ninth straight starts in the Oiler nets.It took Peter Wallin&rsquo;s goal at 18:59 of the third period to keep the streak alive. Right winger Dave Silk, just arrived from the parent New York Rangers, had scored early on a power play.That was the ninth one-goal decision involving the Oilers in the young season (three wins, six losses). But the next night they did away with the suspense, sparked by Pat Conacher&rsquo;s second hat trick in four games, and two goals by Wallin.With the arrival of Silk, one of the key men on the championship U.S. Olympic team in 1980, the Oilers sent center Bob Bales and left winger Steve Ulseth to Peoria in the International League.Conacher took the league goal scoring lead with 13, three ahead of Indianapolis&rsquo; Dave Simpson.SALT LAKE&mdash; The &ldquo;commuter planes&rdquo; between the Eagles and the parent St. Louis Blues continued to run as the Blues&rsquo; injury hex held. Latest call-ups to the parent club were defenseman Alain-Vigneault and forward Pat Hickey (who had returned to Salt Lake the previous week). The Blues returned center Alain Lemieux, and defenders Bill Stewart and Rik Wilson.Back-to-back losses at home to Birmingham (4-2 and 3-1) didn&rsquo;t make Eagle mentor Jack Evans any happier. That meant only a 3-3 record at this stage of a nine-game homestand that the Eagles had hoped would move them into top contention.Stewart and Perry Anderson got late Eagles goals in the first game, after the South Stars had taken command against Rick Heinz. Rookie defenseman Gord Donnelly got the only Eagle goal in the rematch, although Salt Lake outshot the visitors, 46-25. Paul Skidmore was in net.Lemieux was the top Eagle scorer with 15 points, tied for seventh in the league race.COLORADO&mdash;Four goals in 43 seconds, a league record, sparked the Flames to an 8-4 home victory over first-place Indianapolis. But the next night, also at home, the Flames lost in overtime to the same foes, 4-3, and they dropped a Saturday contest in Indy, 7-3.Tim Bernhardt, who had previous CHL stints at Tulsa and Birmingham, came to Denver from the parent Calgary Flames, along with blueliner Charles Bourgeois. Bernhardt worked the home victory and the road loss. Marc D&rsquo;Amour was in net for the overtime loss.Colorado had seven men among the league&rsquo;s top 12 scorers. Mike Dwyer and Bobby Francis had the top two spots, with 24 and 20 points, respectively.League president Bud Poile suspended Beers for one game (reduced from an original three) for &ldquo;molesting&rdquo; an official in the Oct. 30 home game against Tulsa. Beers was struggling to get at Oiler Mike Seide. &#9632;

Europeans Key South Stars’ Two-Game Sweep

<div class="byline">BY PATRICK LYON</div>ERIE&mdash;The early stages of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League season were anything but golden for the Erie Golden Blades.After the first nine games of the season, the Blades were fighting to stay out of the basement with their 2-6-1 record.Blades&rsquo; president Doctor John Caruso was hoping to relive the &ldquo;golden&rdquo; years when Erie ran over its competition in sweeping to three straight Eastern Hockey League championships, but the first few weeks saw the new ACHL entry struggling in the front office as well as on the ice.Assistant coach and director of player personnel, Paul Sheard, resigned his post after a disagreement over his plans for the team&rsquo;s first southern road trip.Sheard was behind the bench in the club&rsquo;s first southern road swing until head coach Jim Mikol fulfilled his duties as a golf professional at Erie&rsquo;s Kahkwa Club. Mikol assumed full-time duties with the Blades on Nov. 1.Following a 14-2 lacing to the Carolina Thunderbirds, Sheard scheduled no practices, choosing to wait until the club&rsquo;s next game with Virginia two days later. The move infuriated Caruso and he immediately flew down to meet with the club in Salem. Sheard defended his position by saying there was no ice available for practices. Then he resigned his post.The Blades lost their next outing to Virginia 4-1 under stand-in playercoach Stan Gulatzan.The Blades broke a five-game losing streak with a 6-6 home tie with Virginia and then topped Nashville on the road, 6-5, with Alf Beasley netting three goals and two assists. Goalie Dave Johns made 42 saves in his first start of the year.HAMPTON&mdash;Paul O&rsquo;Neil became the first coaching casualty of the campaign when he was fired by the Gulls&rsquo; brass.After dropping 4-2 and 5-2 games to the Thunderbirds in Hampton, the Gulls rallied for a pair of wins in Nashville 9-5 and 8-4. The Gulls also split a pair of games with Mohawk Valley as they lost 3-2, but topped the Stars 9-8 before the home fans.The Gulls were leading the ACHL with an average attendance of 3,200.NASHVILLE&mdash;The switch from the CHL to the ACHL has gotten off to a slow start in the home of the Grand Old Opry.After the first nine games, the Stars had just two victories and were entrenched in the cellar.The South Stars did beat last year&rsquo;s champion, Mohawk Valley, 7-5 for their first win in front of the home fans, but then proceeded to drop four straight,MOHAWK VALLEY&mdash;Though his six-game scoring streak was finally halted, Bob O&rsquo;Brien continued to find the range with 11 goals in 12 games.Rick Suwek had a four goal game in an 8-2 victory over Virginia.The Stars split two games in Nashville, winning 9-5 and losing 7-5 and then returned home to lose to Virginia 5-1. MV also beat the Raiders 8-2 and tied Carolina 4-4. The Stars also fell in Hampton 9-8.CAROLINA&mdash;The Thunderbirds lost goalie Brian Ford to recall by the AHL&rsquo;s Fredericton Express, but then picked up Yves Deschene from Sherbrooke of the AHL.Duschene was impressive in his first game in a Carolina uniform as he stopped 31 shots and beat Mohawk Valley 7-1.Pete Dunkley earned a hat trick in a 5-2 road win over Hampton and the Thunderbirds also beat the Gulls 4-2, Erie 5-2 on the road and tied Mohawk Valley 4-4.VIRGINIA&mdash;The Raiders are starting off the season like they did a year ago&mdash;with a rash of injuries. Ed Star-key, who lost four teeth and Greg Hickey (shoulder) are the latest to join the walking wounded.After beating Erie 4-1 and Mohawk Valley 5-1, the Raiders lost to MV 8-2, tied Erie 6-6 on the road and lost in Hampton 4-3. &#9632;

Trouble Besets Blades In Early Going

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div><h2>H&B LOUISVILLE HOCKEY</h2>KALAMAZOO&mdash;The K-Wings. reached some milestones both seasonwise and career-wise during a week that saw them close in on second place in the West Division. Both. accomplishments were reached in the f same game&mdash;at Peoria.The Wings&rsquo; 4-3 overtime victory was the 300th in the team&rsquo;s nine-year history. It was also the K-Wings&rsquo; first road triumph of the young season. Steve Scherman decided the thriller at 2:55 of the five-minute, sudden-death overtime period. The Wings had taken a 2-0 lead earlier but the Prancers wiped out the margin with a three-goal blitz in eight minutes and six seconds in the second period.Wade Dawson tied the score at 3-3 late in the middle period and neither am could score until Scherman t pumped in the winner.&ldquo;The victory at Peoria was one of two the Wings posted during the week, which started with a 9-3 romp over West Division leader Milwaukee.Steve Banonis and Billy MacNaught staged quite an offensive show against the Admirals. Banonis scored four goals and MacNaught picked up five assists. MacNaught&rsquo;s five assists are a club record for most assists by a player in a game. He got four of his assists in the final period, also a club record.MacNaught added three more assists before the week was done to &ldquo;&rsquo;boost his point total for the season to 19, fourth in the league.&ldquo;&rsquo;Sandwiched in between the wins over Milwaukee and Peoria was a 6-2 loss in Muskegon. The week ended on a sour note, however. Saginaw cooled. off the Wings at home, 4-1.Kalamazoo is third in the West division with 11 points, one point behind Peoria and seven in back of leading Milwaukee.MILWAUKEE&mdash; After successive losses on the road, the Admirals returned home to bump off East Division leader Toledo in the first meeting of the IHL&rsquo;s two top teams so far this season. The victory gave the Admirals the overall lead with 18 points on a 9-4-0 record. Toledo had 16 points, as does Fort Wayne in the East but the Komets have played two more games than the Diggers.The victory over Toledo kept Milwaukee unbeaten at home. Milwaukee has won all seven of its home games.Before getting fat on Toledo, Milwaukee was hammered in Kalamazoo, 9-3, and dropped a 4-2 verdict in Fort Wayne. Milwaukee has won just two of six games on the road.PEORIA&mdash; But for a couple of goals, the Prancers would be within skating distance of first place in the West Division. The Prancers dropped a pair of one-goal decisions during the week after winning their first road game at Saginaw, 6-1. Peoria dropped a 4-3 decision at Flint after falling behind, 3-0. Kalamazoo also was a one-goal winner over the Prancers at home, 4-3 in overtime.Peoria is still on a pretty good roll. The team has lost only three times in the last 10 games and has posted a 5-7-1 record, good for second place.The win in Saginaw featured a pair of short handed goals by Grant Rezansoff and John Schmidt.MUSKEGON&mdash; The Mohawks are getting healthy, finally, and that could be unhealthy for the rest of the league.The Mohawks, who have been skating with 12 and 13 players because of injuries, enjoyed their best week of the season to date, winning one, losing one and playing to a 4-4 tie in Fort Wayne.The victory was a sparkling 6-2 performance against Kalamazoo. The Mohawks roared from behind as the Wings had a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period. Six different players scored&mdash;Dave Tracy, Ron Hansis, Jim Egerton, Gerald Peltier, Joe Ward and Alex Belcourt. Ward just joined the Hawks before the weekend games and contributed four goals. The week opened with a 5-4 loss at Toledo as the Mohawks bounced back from a 5-2 deficit and had the Diggers hanging on at the finish. Muskegon is still last in the West with a 2-7-3 record but there are signs it won&rsquo;t be a permanent position.TOLEDO&mdash; The Diggers preserved their unbeaten record at home but slipped on the road. And they managed just one victory in four starts. The slump cost Toledo sole possession of first place in the East Division. Toledo has a 7-3-2 record and 16 points, same as Fort Wayne. But the Komets have played two more games.Toledo kept its home record almost perfect with a 5-4 win over Muskegon and a 2-2 overtime tie with Fort Wayne. Toledo is a 4-0-2 at home.On the road, Toledo lost to Saginaw, 5-2, and at Milwaukee, 5-3. It was the first time Toledo and Milwaukee had met this season.FORT WAYNE&mdash; The Komets continued to keep pressure on Toledo with a 1-1-2 record for the week. The lone loss was a 9-5 shootout in Flint, the Komets only loss in the last seven games. The victory was an impressive, 4-2 decision over West leader Milwaukee.Dale Baldwin&rsquo;s deflection late in the third period set up a 2-2 tie in Toledo ^before the Komets return home and had to settle for a 5-5 tie with improving Muskegon. Rob Motz gave the Komets a 5-4 lead midway through the final period when he scored on a penalty shot. But the Mohawks tied it and neither team could score in the overtime.Fort Wayne is now 6-4-4 and tied with Toledo for the East Division lead.SAGINAW&mdash; If the Gears could play one game over it would be their &ldquo;flat&rdquo; performance against Peoria. The young Prancers whipped the Gears in their own arena and it spoiled what would have been a perfect week. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the coach&rsquo;s responsibility to get the players ready to play. Obviously I didn&rsquo;t have them ready to go. They never did get rolling,&rdquo; GM-coach Marcel Comeau said after the disappointing defeat. Comeau had the Gears ready for the next two games, though.The Gears exploded for three goals in the third period, breaking a 2-2 tie, and posted a 5-2 win over Toledo. Brent Jarrett, the IHL&rsquo;s scoring champion last season while on loan to Kalamazoo, triggered the third-period blitz. Saginaw then invaded Kalamazoo and picked up its first victory over the season with a 4-1 romp. The Gears boosted their record to 6-4-2 and moved to within a point of first place in the East.FLINT&mdash;The Generals put together back-to-back victories for the first time by whipping Fort Wayne, 9-5, and sliding past Peoria, 4-3. The nine-goal production against the Komets equalled a two-season high for goals under coach Ted Garvin. Len Fontaine had a pair of goals, including one on a penalty shot. Dan Pupillo, recently obtained from Milwaukee, scored his first two IHL goals.The Generals took a 3-0 lead over Peoria but needed a fourth from Bernie Gallant to post the one-goal victory. It was Gallant&rsquo;s ninth goal of the season and his second game-winner in two nights. His goal was the winner in the win over Fort Wayne.The modest winning streak boosted Flint&rsquo;s record to 4-8-1. &#9632;

K-Wings Reach Career, Season Milestones

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>BOSTON&mdash;At long last, the ECAC Division One season has begun. Judging by the first week&rsquo;s league activities, it&rsquo;s going to be the tightest Eastern race ever.Why? Well, just look at the scores. Nine games played, four of them went into overtime, another settled by a lone goal, two more with a final margin of two goals. Yes, we&rsquo;ll go all the way to March, before things sort themselves out.As predicted, Providence, St. Lawrence and Clarkson all appear strong and got off to quick starts. The Friars fared the best in the early-going with three straight wins. They were the best prepared of the Eastern teams for the league openers, having run up a 6-2 record in non-league play against the likes of North Dakota and U.S. International.Senior Kurt Kleinendorst, who centers the Friars&rsquo; first line, stood out in the three victories. He collected four assists in the league&rsquo;s only one-sided game, a 9-2 win over Maine at Schneider Arena. Things were pretty well in hand after two periods with PC on top 4-1, but a five goal third frame widened the score impressively. Nine different players scored.Earlier this week, Kleinendorst assisted on the game winner when PC edged Vermont 5-4 in Burlington. Mike Bolstad beat UVM goalie Mike Mundorf at 14:32, breaking a 4-4 deadlock. Sophomore Paul Guay had a pair of PC goals against the Catamounts.The previous Saturday, BC hopped out to a 5-2 third-period lead against a spunky Northeastern team, blew the lead, and had to eke out a 6-5 overtime decision. The winning goal, his third of the game, was scored by Kleinendorst. Ken Manchurek had a hat trick for the visiting Huntington Hounds, including the tying tally with 26 seconds to play and the Northeastern net vacant.The teams were tied at 2-2 after a couple of periods and it looked pretty good for PC by 14:54 when Kleinen-dorst&rsquo;s first two goals and one by Guay made it 5-2. But Manchurek tallied his second of the night at 15:51, followed by Bob Averill at 18:55, setting the stage for Manchurek&rsquo;s third. It wasn&rsquo;t a bad night for Manchurek, who&rsquo;d been scheduled for some minor surgery a day or so before, but elected to play instead.,Northeastern is the defending playoff champion and a legitimate playoff contender, too, and the Huskies proved their mettle by bouncing back in another overtime contest. This time it was a 4-3 road victory against luckless Vermont.Senior Kirk McCaskill had given UVM a 3-2 lead at 13:11 of the final period, only to see NU&rsquo;s Steward Emerson tie it up at 14:40. The overtime period was wild, as UVM enjoyed two power plays and got 10 shots on Mark Davidner. He turned them all away, however, and Glen Giovanucci made NU&rsquo;s first shot on goal in the overtime a winner, assisted by Manchurek.Vermont thought it was the game in overtime when Kevin Foster apparently scored off a jam in front, but the referee ruled that the puck had been frozen. Foster had gotten another goal disallowed earlier in the game when he steered the disc into the cage with a high stick. The Huskies also had a goal taken back.The Catamounts have played pretty well but are now in an 0-4 hole. To make matter worse; all four losses came on their home ice at Gutterson Field House. In each contest, UVM was either leading or tied in the third period.The night before the Northeastern loss, St. Lawrence hit town and escaped with a 6-5 decision, also in overtime. Trailing 5-2 in the third frame, the Catamounts rallied for three quick ones early to see the Larries&rsquo; Benoit Quesnet win it early in the extra period. McCaskill, off to an excellent start, had a pair of scores in the game.Earlier in the week, Clarkson swooped in and skated off with a 4-2 decision. The Knights, looking as potent as ever, threw 30 shots at Mundorf to the Cats&rsquo; 24 at Jamie Balle.Clarkson isn&rsquo;t going to be handed the pennant, however, as they learned on Saturday night at home against rebuilding Colgate. Sixty shots flew at Jeff Cooper in the Red Raiders&rsquo; cage. He stopped 55 of them and his teammates rallied from deficits of 3-0 and 5-3 to escape with a 5-5 tie. Colin Patterson&rsquo;s unassisted score at 2:26 of the third had given Clarkson a 5-3 cushion but Mike Houle and Peter Ens beat Don Sylvestri and tied the count by 10:10.Cooper held the buzzing Pots-damers at bay through another 19:50 and knocked the Knights temporarily out of the lead in the ECAC West.St. Lawrence and RPI share the lead with a single victory apiece. The Engineers opened their league slate a 4-2 downing of Boston University in Troy. The game was something of a shootout, as the Engineers&rsquo; Gerry Fink made 42 saves to Bob Harcid&rsquo;s 41. A pai r of goals by freshman George Servanis provided the winning margin for RPI.The best non-league action of the pre-season came in Glens Falls, NY and Durham, NH. Clarkson took the Empire tournament at Glens Falls with a 5-4 squeaker over arch rival St. Lawrence. Bruce McDonough&rsquo;s second goal of the game, coming at 14:41 of the third, was the game winner.In Durham, top ranked Minnesota-Duluth visited well-ranked New Hampshire and took a pair of games, 5-5 and 7-6. Norm Lacombe and Steve Lyons each scored three times in the series for UNV. In each game, UMO&rsquo;s Gregg Moore, Dan Fishback, Mike Valesano and Stan May scored their teams first four goals. &#9632;

ECAC Predicted Favorites Off To Fast Starts

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01460/4662798-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"></div>GRAND FORKS&mdash;Pierre Lamoureux hasn&rsquo;t exactly been lost in the shuffle, but the University of North Dakota senior goaltender hasn&rsquo;t achieved the honors of fellow teammate goaltenders Darren Jensen and Jon Casey, either.But for at least one blustery night in Grand Forks, Lamoureux was the man in the spotlight as defending national champion North Dakota served notice it may finally be ready to make a run at defending its crown by sweeping its biggest rival of recent years, Wisconsin.Lamoureux, from Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, turned in the best performance of his collegiate career in posting 30 saves for his first shutout as North Dakota blanked Wisconsin, 4-0 to sweep the weekend series. North Dakota won the opener, 6-2.Goalie-rich North Dakota hasn&rsquo;t called on Lamoureux often in his career. Going into this season, he had played in just 26 games, posting a 15-7 record and a 3.46 goals-against average.The spotlight on goaltending has been on Jensen and Casey.Jensen was named the all-tournament goalie in the NCAA tournament a year ago and Casey swept regular season honors, being named as the first-team goalie on the all-Westem Collegiate Hockey Association team.Lamoureux, in fact, hadn&rsquo;t played since Oct. 22 when he faced Wisconsin in the second game of the series.But if there were any doubts about UND Coach Gino Gasparini switching to Lamoureux for a key game, the goaltender dispelled them in his own mind in pre-game warmups.He was superb in the game, but he had lots of help from his forwards and defensemen. Wisconsin did manage the 30 shots at him, but few of high quality. &ldquo;Pierre played well when he had to,&rdquo; Gasparini said. &ldquo;But really, how many great scoring opportunities did we give up? Probably not more than five. But Pierre had a bead on the puck all night.&rdquo;Two goals each by senior winger Dan Brennan and sophomore winger Dave Donnelly gave North Dakota all the scoring it needed. Brennan&rsquo;s first-period goal through the pads of Wisconsin goalie Terry Kleisinger held up until Brennan made it 2-0 midway through the third period on a breakaway goal, set up by a perfect lead pass from defenseman James Patrick.Then Donnelly pounded home a rebound and scored on a breakaway with a minute left to wrap it up and give North Dakota its first league sweep of the season, keeping the Fighting Sioux in the thick of the WCHA race.In the other WCHA series played, Minnesota took convincing 8-3 and 11-7 victories over Denver, moving the Gophers to within a point of Minnesota-Duluth, which stepped outside of the league to beat a strong Eastern team, New Hampshire, by 5-3 and 7-5 scores.Freshman winger Cory Millen and sophomore defenseman Kurt Larson each scored two goals as Minnesota won the opener. The Gophers jumped on Denver early, scoring five times in the first period, four of them in a span of five minutes.In the rematch, Millen, Rick Erdall and Butsy Erickson each scored two goals for Minnesota to help the Gopher race to a 7-0 lead. Freshman standout Frank Pietrangelo started in goal, but left after five minutes with a bruised knee and three saves. His replacement, Paul Butters, had 24 stops.Two other Division One hockey schools in the West met each other and split two games. U.S. International beat Northern Arizona 5-4 in the first game with Northern Arizona rebounding for a 9-2 victory in the rematch. Both play independent schedules.<h2>COLLEGE SCOREBOARD &#9632;</h2>

f0030-01

Spotlight On Goalie Lamoureux

<div class="byline">BY JIM SCHNEIDER</div>SAULT STE. MARIE&mdash;Leagueleader Bowling Green swept Lake Superior 6-5 in overtime and 6-4 to stay on top of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association as Michigan State and Michigan Tech also gained sweeps to stay within one point.Michigan State collected a pair of 3-2 wins at Miami, while Michigan Tech won two games at Notre Dame 6-5 and 6-4.In other CCHA action, Ohio State and Michigan divided a pair of 5-4 games in Ann Arbor with the host Michigan Wolverines snapping a seven-game losing streak by winning the second game.Northern Michigan opened up its home schedule in remodeled Lakeview Arena and won the opener from Illinois-Chicago 4-1, but the Flames took the second game 5-4 behind the hot goaltending of Rich Blakey.Ferris State and Western Michigan split a home-and-home series with the host team gaining the win in each case as WMU scored three third-period goals in a 5-4 win, while FSC won the second game 7-3.Michigan freshman left winger Chris Seychel earned CCHA Player of the Week honors as he collected three goals and three assists in the series against Ohio State. Seychel moved his league-leading goal total to 14, while moving past Bowling Green All-American Brian Hills in the overall scoring race. Seychel has scored 27 points in 12 games. Seychel assisted on Brad Tippet&rsquo;s game-winning goal as the Wolverines snapped the losing streak.Bowling Green rallied from a 5-2 score at the end of two periods in the opener at Lake Superior with Hills tying the game in the final four minutes. George Roll scored the winner in overtime for coach Jerry York&rsquo;s Falcons, despite a 51-save game by Laker goalie Lawrence Dyck.Michigan State defenseman Jeff Eisley stole the puck and scored an unassisted goal after a minute of overtime in the opener at Miami, and the Spartans jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second game on goals by Lyle Phair and Mark Hamway. All-American goalie Ron Scott outdueled Miami&rsquo;s Alain Chevrier in the series, while MSU defenseman Ken Leiter had an outstanding series while collecting a pair of assists.Notre Dame&rsquo;s Kirt Bjork scored the first three goals of the opener against Michigan Tech, but the Huskies bounced back with Steve Murphy scoring two of the four goals in the second period including a penalty shot against ND goalie Bob McNamara.In the rematch, ND&rsquo;s Adam Parsons tied the score at 3-3 early in the second period, but Tech&rsquo;s Todd Scott scored back-to-back goals to provide Michigan Tech with the margin of victory.Illinois-Chicago netminder Blakey made 78 saves in the series split for the Flames, including 42 in the 5-4 win in which Ken Stevens scored the winning goal.Tom Strolow paced the NMU attach with three goals in the series with two scored 2:09 apart in the 4-1 Wildcat victory.Defenseman Glenn Johannesen scored WMU&rsquo;s third goal of the third period to cap the Bronco comeback in the 5-4 win in the opener. Jim Grillo and Lance Johnston paced the rally with early third period markers.Ferris State scored three goals in each of the first two periods in the second game and skated the rest of the way for the 7-3 win as Tom Rudrud scored two goals and added two assists.CCHA NOTES: The CCHA offered a father and son referee pairing in the Northern Michigan-Illinois-Chicago series last weekend in Marquette, MI as John Ricci (father) and Brien Ricci (son) of Hancock, MI worked the series&hellip; Michigan Tech&rsquo;s Jim Bissett has scored nine of 10 goals this season on Saturday nights&hellip; UIC&rsquo;s Joe Jackman has scored 12 points in his last four games&hellip; Michigan State boasts the top penalty-killing unit in the CCHA allowing just two goals in 49 attempts for an outstanding.041 percentage. &#9632;

Bowling Green Continues To Knock ’Em Down

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BROPHY</div><h2>H&B LOUISVILLE HOCKEY</h2>OTTAWA&mdash;Brian Kilrea admits he might have jumped the gun when he said his Ottawa 67&rsquo;s, &ldquo;were the team to beat&rdquo; in the Ontario Hockey League this season.Of course, a few things have happened to change his feelings since he made that bold statement early in the season.&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re the team to beat now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re in the top three or four but I&rsquo;d say Oshawa (Generals) is tops now. Who the hell expected them to get guys like (Tony) Tanti and (Joe) Cirella back. Then they pick up Todd Hooey and Dean Defazio in trades. I think that put them in the driver&rsquo;s seat.&rdquo;Little did Kilrea know, as he spoke, the Buffalo Sabres were in the process of furthering Oshawa&rsquo;s chances of winning the OHL crown by sending star center Dave Andreychuk back to the Generals for further seasoning. Andreychuk, a 57-goal scorer last season, had seven goals and two assists for Buffalo in 12 National Hockey League games.Still, Kilrea is pleased with the way things are going for his 67&rsquo;s, who are in first place in the Leyden Division and have improved their roster since the season started.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say we&rsquo;re in a bunch with Toronto and Peterborough for the top contenders,&rdquo; said Kilrea.The 67&rsquo;s have always been noted as a high scoring outfit but this season, the big guns have been rather silent. Jeff Vaive, who scored 56 goals and 95 assists last season, had just nine goals and 16 assists in his first 15 games this season. He has been hampered by a broken nose and misses ex-linemate Moe Lemay, now with Vancouver Canucks.In order to make up for the lack of scoring punch, Kilrea has turned to defense.His defensive corps of Bill Dowd, Paul Louttit, Brad Shaw, Mark Patterson, Allan Hepple and Bruce Cassidy rank with the best in the league.Happy with his defense but unhappy with his goaltending, Kilrea dealt winger Brian Small to Belleville for small goalie Darren Pang, an Ottawa native.&ldquo;I know Pang from way back because he played his minor hockey in this area,&rdquo; said Kilrea. &ldquo;When Belleville said he was available, 1 jumped. He&rsquo;s always played tough and he&rsquo;s always been a winner.In the race for most improved player on the team, giant center Adam Creighton and fellow forward John Ollson are neck-and-neck at the front.Creighton, being touted as one of the most attractive players in next year&rsquo;s NHL entry draft, is 6-6 and more than 200 pounds. His skating has improved drastically and he is almost impossible to move from in front of the opposition&rsquo;s net. He also has a lot of moves and takes advantage of his tremendous reach.Ollson, the team&rsquo;s leading scorer with 19 goals and 22 assists in 21 games, feels he has something to prove to NHL scouts.&ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t drafted last season and he was upset by that,&rdquo; said Kilrea. &ldquo;He could have done two things this season; sat around and pouted or work hard at improving his game and strength. He chose to work hard and it&rsquo;s paying off.&rdquo;PETERBOROUGH: The Petes have hit a cold spell, taking turns winning one and losing one in their last six games. The highlight of their week was a 10-2 win over Sudbury in which Bob Errey fired three goals and they outshot the Wolves 34-7 in the second period. The low point was a 5-3 loss in Cornwall. The Petes are 0-4-1 in Cornwall the past two seasons.OSHAWA: Easily the best team in the OHL, the Generals are riding high on a nine-game winning. They beat Toronto 6-3, Kitchener 5-2 and doubled Guelph 8-4 last week. Tony Tanti and Norm Schmidt had two goals each in the win over Toronto while John MacLean fired a pair against Guelph. The Generals out-shot Guelph 57-23.CORNWALL: The Royals have also been on the move since Bob Kilger quit as coach. Under the guidance of Gord Woods, the organization&rsquo;s director of player personnel, the Royals have won four straight.With Woods behind the bench and Doug Gilmour flying in high gear, the Royals are moving up on Peterborough and Ottawa. Gilmour shot three goals and three assists in a 12-1 win over Guelph and added two goals and two helpers in their 5-3 win over the Petes.TORONTO: Every team hits a slump sometime or another. The Marlies are in their&rsquo;s now. They were playing great until last week when they dropped three in a row, losing 6-3 to Oshawa, 6-4 and 5-3 to North Bay.BELLEVILLE: The Bulls won three straight beating Guelph 4-1 and 10-6 and Sudbury 7-1. Ten players scored in the second win over Guelph. Craig Kitchener scored two goals and an assist in the first win over Guelph.SAULT STE. MARIE: Kevin Conway had himself a fair week, scoring five goals and one assist in the Greyhounds 11-5 win over North Bay and added two goals in their 6-4 victory over Windsor. The Hounds lost four in a row two weeks ago but rebounded with four straight victories. They also edged Brantford 2-1 and topped London 6-5 in overtime with Wayne Groulx netting the winner.NORTH BAY: Bob Laforest shot three goals as the Centennials beat Toronto 6-4. They also beat the Marlies 5-3. Rick Morocco scored twice in the 11-5 loss to the Greyhounds.KITCHENER: After two straight losses, 7-6 to Cornwall and 5-2 to Oshawa, the Rangers rebounded with a 5-2 win over Windsor. Mike Eagles and Tom St. James scored in the loss to Oshawa.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01439/4662853-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="575" height="788"><figcaption class="caption-body">The addition of defenseman Joe Cirella gives the Oshawa Generals a more potent lineup.</figcaption></div>LONDON: The Knights lost 6-5 to the Soo but beat Windsor 6-3. Brian Bradley continues to lead the OHL in scoring with 14 goals and 35 assists for 49 points in 23 games.BRANTFORD: The Alexanders dropped four games last week. They lost 6-3 to Cornwall, 2-1 to the Soo, 5-3 to Peterborough and 5-3 in Ottawa.SUDBURY: The Wolves had another of those week&rsquo;s they would rather forget, losing three games and being outscored 26-6 in the process. Peterborough beat them 10-2; they lost 9-3 in Kingston and dropped a 7-1 decision to Belleville.WINDSOR: The Spitfires have now dropped 18 of 21 games. They lost 6-4 to the Soo and 6-3 to London. Paul? Lawless had two goals in the London defeat.GUELPH: The Platers are in the same boat as Windsor with just three wins. They lost four last week, 4-1 to Belleville; 10-2 to Belleville; 12-1 to Cornwall and 8-4 to Oshawa. &#9632;

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Defense Keeps Ottawa Atop Division But Generals Riding In Driver’s Seat

At 19 years of age, Doug Gilmour of the Cornwall Royals fully expects this is his final season of major junior hockey with the pros and possibly the NHL the next stop.Picked fourth by the St. Louis Blues in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft, Gilmour hopes to climax his junior career with a solid season. His play last week for the Royals, 12 points in three games, is a pretty good indication that Gilmour is on the right track. The OHL selected him as their Player of the Week for his performance.The 5-11, 165-pound Kingston native moved into 11th place in the league scoring race as he strives to surpass his 1981-82 year in which he collected 119 scoring points. After 20 games this season, Gilmour has 39 and he is a big cog in Cornwall&rsquo;s bid to succeed in their second year as members of the OHL.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02321/4662884-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="553" height="797"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUG GILMOUR Cornwall Royals</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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OHL Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY GREGG DRINNAN</div><h2>H&B LOUISVILLE HOCKEY</h2>REGINA&mdash;At 5-5 and 140 pounds, he is the most exciting player in the Western Hockey League.But only time will tell whether or not Dale Derkatch can become one of the most exciting skaters in the National Hockey League.He&rsquo;s the smallest player in the three Canadian Major Junior Hockey Leagues, but that hasn&rsquo;t stopped the 18-year-old Winnipeg native from burning up the WHL.Last season, his first with the Regina Pats, Derkatch struck for 62 goals and 140 points, all of which earned him rookie of the year honors.He then answered his critics by starting the 1982-83 season in lightning-like fashion, striking for 30 goals in his first 15 games. The fact that he scored in each of those 15 games was good enough to tie a WHL record set by Brian Propp with the 1978-79 Brandon Wheat Kings.&ldquo;If I want to prove anything, this is the year,&rdquo; Derkatch told Scott Taylor of the Winnipeg Free Press. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s my draft year and I have to work very hard.&rdquo;&ldquo;It would be an honor to be drafted in an early round. 1 think I&rsquo;ve worked hard and earned a chance.&rdquo;The last player of Derkatch&rsquo;s stature to be drafted out of the WHL was 5-6, 165-pound center Steve Tsujiura, who was taken from Medicine Hat in the 10th round of the 1980 draft by the Philadelphia Flyers. He&rsquo;s presently with Maine Mariners, the Flyers&rsquo; American League farm club.Derkatch credits quickness and anticipation for his scoring prowess in a league that is famous for its tiring schedule and long bus trips that can drain talent out of even the best of players.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have the strength of a guy like Phil Esposito, who could stand in the slot and push defensemen away,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have to keep moving and use my quickness in front of the net.&rdquo;Derkatch tied Propp&rsquo;s record with a two-goal effort in a 9-4 win over the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers. The very next night, the Pats were in The Hat, but the Tigers prevented Derkatch from setting a new mark. Still, he set up the Pats&rsquo; lone goal in a 7-1 loss.But Derkatch can do more than score. He&rsquo;s also an excellent playmaker. One night after the streak ended, the Pats were on the ice for their third game in three nights and Derkatch drew six assists in a 10-7 home-ice win over the Victoria Cougars.He then added two goals and four assists in an 8-3 win over the Warriors in Winnipeg. That lifted his totals to 32 goals and 31 assists in just 17 games.Obviously, he can do it all.BRANDON&mdash;The Wheat Kings got two goals from center Kelly Glowa and 32 saves from Ron Hextail in a 6-5 victory in Prince Albert. Brandon acquired 17-year-old defenseman Ed Palichuk, and future considerations, from Kamloops in return for center Doug Kostynski. Also joining Brandon was overage goaltender Ron Loustel. The Wheat Kings obtained his rights from Saskatoon for future considerations.CALGARY&mdash;Scott Makin and Doug Moffat each had two goals and an assist as the Wranglers won 6-1 in Lethbridge. Two nights later, goaltender Mike Vernon turned aside 32 shots to earn a 5-6 shutout over Lethbridge in Calgary. That was Vernon&rsquo;s second shutout of the season, both of them 32-save efforts against Lethbridge.LETHBRIDGE&mdash;J.C. McEwan&rsquo;s goal at 2:52 of overtime gave the Broncos a 3-2 home-ice win over Calgary.MEDICINE HAT-Center Murray Craven scored one goal and set up five others as the Tigers dropped visiting Regina 7-1. Goaltender Mark Frank kicked out 47 shots as the Tigers won 5-2 in Winnipeg. Jim Hougen had two goals and Mike Spencer got his 20th in a 6-5 win in Brandon.PRINCE ALBERT&mdash;Deric Karolat had two goals, including the winner at 1:39 of overtime, as the Raiders edged visiting Victoria 5-4. Dan Hodgson had two goals and two assists in a 6-5 home-ice loss to Brandon.SASKATOON&mdash;The Blades scored three second-period goals to beat visiting Brandon 4-2. Saskatoon exploded for an incredible six goals in less than two minutes and went on to a 13-2 home-ice win over Prince Albert. The line of Roger Kortko, Lane Lambert and Todd Strueby totalled 22 points.KAMLOOPS&mdash;Marc Habscheid&rsquo;s power-play goal at 1:12 of overtime gave the Oilers a 6-5 win over visiting Nanaimo. That win left Kamloops unbeaten in 10 home games. Doug Kostynski, a 19-year-old center who was the Oilers&rsquo; captain until he was traded to Brandon on Oct. 17, was reacquired on Nov. 8. Habscheid set up three goals as the Oilers won 6-3 in Nanaimo. Rookie Jim Camazzola had his 19th and 20th goals in a 7-5 loss in Victoria. That loss ended the Oilers&rsquo; 10-game winning streak. The Oilers&rsquo; 10-game home winning streak ended the next night when Portland won 10-8.KELOWNA&mdash;The Wings continued to flounder, but Doug Kyle was a bright spot. The 19-year-old rookie center got his 20th goal in a 9-6 loss to visiting Nanaimo. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s got to be getting to them now,&rdquo; said Wings&rsquo; coach Real Turcotte after his club lost for the 18th time in 19 starts. &ldquo;They have been enthusiastic but now, with the injuries to key players, it&rsquo;s demoralizing.&rdquo; Gregg Wilson, the club&rsquo;s acknowledged leader, was out with a broken bone in his foot, while veterans Gerry Fleming and Dave MacDonald were also sidelined with injuries.NANAIMO&mdash;Jim McGeough had two goals and two assists in a 6-5 overtime loss in Kamloops. Mitch Poulin and John Hanna scored two goals each in a9-6 win in Kelowna. McGeough got his 17th and 18th goals and Mark Lamb had a goal and three assists in a 9-2 win over the Wings in Nanaimo.PORTLAND&mdash;Randy Heath scored one goal and set up four others, while Cam Neely had three goals and an assist in an 8-3 win over visiting Seattle. The Breakers were back two nights later and the Winter Hawks emerged with a 9-1 win as Heath and Ray Ferraro had a goal and three helpers each. Curt Brandolini and Ferraro had three goals each in a 10-8 win in Kamloops.SEATTLE&mdash;Al Kerr scored two goals and added four assists and Ron Renner totalled a goal and five assists in an 11-3 win over visiting Portland. Fred Ledlin and John Bacso had two goals and two assists each as the Breakers struck for six power-play goals. Kerr picked up three goals, Ledlin set up five goals and Ken Danneyko had a goal and four helpers in an 11-3 home-ice win over Kelowna.VICTORIA&mdash;The Cougars had a rough eastern road swing, winning once in five games. That was a 7-4 win in Saskatoon, as Rich Chernomaz and Geoff Courtnail had two goals each. Stu Kalak banged in three goals in a 10-7 loss in Regina. Paul Cyr had two goals in a 7-5 win over visiting Kamloops. &#9632;

Pats’ Tiny Derkatch Possesses Burning Speeds

Pat Lafontaine of the Verdun Juniors is one of those rare individuals in Canadian major junior hockey. He&rsquo;s an American-born player.The 17-year-old center is rapidly becoming the talk of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with his early-season scoring exploits. Lafontaine, who was born and played his junior in Detroit, has taken over the league scoring lead.Lafontaine was selected as the QHL&rsquo;s Player of the Week after he counted 12 points in his last three games. He now has 31 goals, 51 assists and 82 points.With the 1982 World Junior Championships scheduled for Leningrad in the Soviet Union, Dec. 26 to Jan. 4, Lafontaine faces a big decision. As an American native, he is eligible to play for the U.S. National Junior team, who have asked him to play with them. He must give his decision in the next few weeks and he knows it won&rsquo;t be easy to leave the QMJHL for a month while he&rsquo;s the leading scorer.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02283/4662939-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="537" height="602"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAT LAFONTAINE Verdun Juniors</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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QHL Player Of The Week

The Portland Winter Hawks would like nothing better than to be back in the Memorial Cup hunt this season and if they make it, they&rsquo;ll probably be looking to rookie Ray Ferraro for a little help.The 18-year-old Ferraro is one of the many exciting new freshmen in the Western Hockey League this season and the Winter Hawks know they have a good one on their hands when the 5-10, 170-pound center takes the ice. Ferraro turned in a 10-point performance to become the WHL&rsquo;s Player of the Week and he did it all in just four games.After racking up only eight goals in his first 10 games, Ferraro came on with a rush to count six in his next four to raise his season totals to 14 goals, 14 assists and 28 points in 14 games.A product of the B.C. Junior League champion Penticton Knights where he counted 65 goals and 135 points last season, Ferraro has become a serious threat for WHL rookie of the year honors.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01399/4662970-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="522" height="645"><figcaption class="caption-body">RAY FERRARO Portland Winter Hawks</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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WHL Player Of The Week

The following is a list of the players invited to attend the Team Canada national junior team tryout camp, Dec. 18 and 19 in Toronto. Twenty-one of the 31 candidates will be selected to travel to Leningrad and defend Canada&rsquo;s world junior championship.Candidates from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League are noted in the above story.GOAL&mdash;Calgary Wrangler Mike Vernon; Sudbury Wolve Mike Sands and Toronto Marlboro Dave Meszaros.DEFENSE&mdash;Calgary Wrangler Mike Heidt; Oshawa Generals Joe Cirella and Norm Schmidt; Ottawa 67s Brad Shaw and University of North Dakota&rsquo;s James Patrick.CENTER&mdash;Regina Pat Dale Derkatch; Kamloop Oiler Marc Habscheid; Lethbridge Bronco Ron Sutter; Peterborough Pete Steve Yzer man and Oshawa&rsquo;s Dave Andreychuk.LEFT WING-Oshawa&rsquo;s Tony Tanti; Kitchener Ranger Mike Eagles and Victoria Cougar Paul Cyr.RIGHT WING-Victoria&rsquo;s Mark Morrison and Rick Chernomaz; Sudbury&rsquo;s Pat Verbeek; North Bay Centennial Andrew McBain; University of Wisconsin&rsquo;s Pat Flatley and University of North Dakota&rsquo;s Gord Sherven. &#9632;

Canada’s World Jr. Prospects

BOSTON&mdash;Middleton 8, Fergus 10, 11, 12, McNab 3, 4, 5, Milbury 4, O&rsquo;Reilly 3, K. Crowder5, 6, Palmer 4. Park 3, Cashman 2, Krushelnyski6. Winning goals&mdash;Fergus 2, O&rsquo;Reilly.BUFFALO&mdash;Patrick 4, Hamel 4, 5, McCourt 1, 2. Van Boxmeer 2, Perreault 11, 12, 13, 14, Playfair 2. McKegney 7, 8. Winning goals&mdash;McCourt, Perreault.CALGARY-Risebrough 11. Christoff 4, 5, Chouinard 2, McDonald 17, Hindmarch 4, Reinhart 4, Maclnnis 1, Nilsson 10, Mokosak 2. Winning goals&mdash;none.CHICAGO&mdash;Brown 2, Wilson 5,6. Larmer 8, 9, Ludzik 1, T. Murray 4, B. Murray 3, 4, 5, Secord 17, Crossman 2. Winning goals&mdash;Larmer, B. Murray.DETROIT&mdash;G. Smith 1, McKechhie 6, Blaisdell 5, D. Smith 2, Paterson 1, Huber 4, Ogrod-nick 9. Winning goals&mdash;none.EDMONTON&mdash;Kurri 11, Messier 10, 11, 12, Linseman 6, Pouzar 4, Gretzky 15,16,17, Huddy 5, Roulston 9. Lumley 6. Winning goals&mdash;noneHARTFORD&mdash;Stoughton 6, Francis 6, 7, 8, Sulliman 9, 10, Johnson 10, Larouche 10. Winning goals&mdash;none.LOS ANCELES-Fox 11, 12. 13, Sykes 2, Isaksson 5, M. Murphy 5, Holmes 1, Evans 4, Lewis 1. Winning goals&mdash;M. Murphy.MINNESOTA-Maxwell 2, Smith 9,10, Broten4. 5, 6, 7, Roberts 1, Bellows 5, 6, MacAdam 5, Plett 4. Ciccarelli 13. 14. 15. Winning goals&mdash;Smith, Broten, Roberts.MONTREAL&mdash;Gainey 4, Carbonneau 4. 5, Mondou 5, 6. 7, Nilan 1, 2, Acton 8, 9, 10. Naslund 7, 8, Shutt 10, 11. 12, Delorme 3, Napier 5, Tremblay 6, Picard 4, Winning goals&mdash;Carbonneau, Delorme, Picard.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Ashton 3. Marini 9, MacMillan5. 6, Lever 9, Meagher 5. Winning goals&mdash;none.NY ISLANDERS-Goring 9, 10, Boutilier 1,2. Bossy 17, 18, Trottier 13, Tonelli 9, Jonsson 5, Bourne 6, Kallur 3, Lane 1, Gillies 5. Winning goals&mdash;Goring, Bourne.NY RANGERS&mdash;Leinonen 4, Rogers 7, 8, 9, 10, Don Maloney 10, 11, 12, Allison 4, Ftorek 2, Ruotsalainen 3, Pavelich 11,12,13,14, Baker 2, Beck 4, Duguay 4, Hedberg 7. Winning goals&mdash;Rogers 2, Hedberq.PHILADELPHIA-Barber 7, 8. Carson 7. 8. Flockhart 10, 11, Allison 7, Sittier 11, Cochrane1, Propp 10. Winning goals&mdash;Flockhart, Cochrane.PITTSBURGH-Shedden 6, McClelland 2, Malone 4, Boutette 15, 16, St. Laurent 4, Lee 3, Kehoe 12. Winning goals&mdash;Boutette, Kehoe.QUEBEC-M. Stastny 14, 15, 16. 17. 18. Tardif 7, Goulet 16, Cloutier 6.7, Hunter 4, Paiement2, 3, 4, P. Stastny 18, 19, A. Stastny 7. Aubry 2. Winning goals&mdash;Aubry.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Babych 9, Pettersson 10, Sutter 10,11,12,13,14, Ramage3, Dunlop6, Mullen 4. Winning goals&mdash;SutterTORONTO&mdash;Derlago 8, Duris 2, Vaive 3, Ihnacak 8. Winning goals&mdash;none.VANCOUVER-Hlinka 7, 8, Molin 5. Gradin 7. Rota 7. 8, McCarthy 2, Smyl 12. 13, 14, Williams 2, Lemay 6. Winning goals&mdash;Rota.WASHINGTON-Maruk 9. Carpenter 6, 7. Theberge 1, Duchesne 3, Houston 8, Haworth 3, Gartner 11, Engblom 2, Gould 5, Gustafsson 2. Winning goals&mdash;Duchesne.WINNIPEG-Hawerchuk 12, Steen 3, 4, Mullen 6, DeBlois 5. Winning goals&mdash;none.Hat tricks&mdash;Gretzky, Edmonton, Rogers and Pavelich, Rangers, M. Stastny, Quebec, and Sutter, St. Louis, 1 each. &#9632;

NHL SCORERS THIS WEEK

f0034-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

BOSTONGoaltenders31&mdash;MOFFAT, Mike1&mdash;PEETERS, PeteDefensemen7&mdash;BOURQUE. Ray23&mdash;HILLIER. Randy27&mdash;HOWE, Marty6&mdash;KLUZAK, Gord26&mdash;MILBURY, Mike20&mdash;O&rsquo;CONNELL, Mike22&mdash;PARK. Brad Centers28&mdash;FERGUS. Tom11&mdash;KASPER, Steve25&mdash;KRUSHELNYSKI. M14&mdash;MacTAVISH. Craig8&mdash;McNAB, Peter10&mdash;PEDERSON. Barry R. Wings18&mdash;CROWDER. Keith16&mdash;MIDDLETON. Rick24&mdash;O&rsquo;REILLY. TerryL. Wings12&mdash;CASHMAN. W. Cpt32&mdash;CROWDER. Bruce29&mdash;DUFOUR. Luc21&mdash;PALMER. BradNHL TEAM ROSTERSBUFFALOGoaltenders1&mdash;CLOUTIER, Jacques28&mdash;SAUVE, Bob Defensemen&mdash;FENYVES, Dave24&mdash;HAJT, Bill6&mdash;HOUSLEY. Phil27&mdash;PLAYFAIR. Larry5&mdash;RAMSEY. Mike22&mdash;RUFF. Lindy4&mdash;VAN BOXMEER. John3&mdash;VIRTA, HannuCenters7&mdash;McCOURT, Dale8&mdash;McKEGNEY, Tony11&mdash;PERREAULT, Gil&mdash;Cpt.20&mdash;PETERSON, Brent12&mdash;SAVARD. Andre R. Wings17&mdash;FOLIGNO, Mike19&mdash;McKENNA. Sean14&mdash;MOLLER. Mike26&mdash;PATRICK, Steve16&mdash;SEILING. RicL. Wings9&mdash;HAMEL. Gilles10&mdash;RAMSAY. CraigCALGARYGoaltenders1&mdash;EDWARDS, Don31&mdash;LEMELIN, Rejean&mdash;RALPH, JimDefensemen6&mdash;DUNN, Richie20&mdash;ELORANTA. Kari19&mdash;HUNTER. Tim3&mdash;KONROYD, Steve22&mdash;MacINNIS, Allan23&mdash;REINHART. Paul28&mdash;RIBBLE, Pat5&mdash;RUSSELL. PhilCenters7&mdash;CHOUINARD, Guy14&mdash;NILSSON, Kent24&mdash;PEPLINSKI, Jim8&mdash;RISEBROUGH, Doug R. Wings11&mdash;CHRISTOFF, Steve17&mdash;HISLOP. Jamie9&mdash;McDONALD, Lanny25&mdash;MEREDITH. GregL. Wings&mdash;26&mdash;BRIDGMAN. Mel18&mdash;HINDMARCH. Dave15&mdash;LAVALLEE, Kevin10&mdash;MOKOSAK. CarlCHICAGOGoaltenders30&mdash;BANNERMAN. M.35&mdash;ESPOSITO. Tony Defensemen4&mdash;BROWN. Keith23&mdash;CROSSMAN. Doug3&mdash;FEAMSTER. Dave2&mdash;FOX. Greg6&mdash;MURRAY. Bob24&mdash;WILSON. DougCenters29&mdash;LUDZIK, Steve12&mdash;LYSIAK. Tom19&mdash;MURRAY. Troy26&mdash;PATERSON. Rick18&mdash;SAVARD, Denis7&mdash;YAREMCHUK. Ken R. Wings&mdash;CYR, Denis15&mdash;HIGGINS. Tim28&mdash;LARMER. Steve22&mdash;MULVEY. Grant16&mdash;PRESTON. Rich L Wings8&mdash;FIDLER. Mike14&mdash;GARDNER. Bill10&mdash;KERR, Reg17&mdash;MARSH, Peter20&mdash;SECORD. Al27&mdash;SUTTER. DarylDETROITGoaltenders1&mdash;GILBERT. Gilles31&mdash;MICALEF. Corado30&mdash;STEFAN. Greg Defensemen3&mdash;BARRETT, John4&mdash;CAMPBELL. Colin7&mdash;HUBER. Willie.&mdash;LADOUCEUR. Randy28&mdash;LARSON, Reed2&mdash;SCHOENFELD. Jim5&mdash;SMITH. Greg26&mdash;TRADER. Larry Centers10&mdash;LOISELLE. Claude11&mdash;McKECHNIE, Walt24&mdash;SMITH. Derek14&mdash;WEIR. StanR. Wings21&mdash;BLAISDELL. Mike18&mdash;GARE, Danny&mdash;Cpt.&mdash;FOSTER, Dwight27&mdash;LEACH. Reg12&mdash;ROWE. TomL. Wings25&mdash;OGRODNICK, John23&mdash;OSBORNE. Mark8&mdash;PATERSON. Joe15&mdash;WOODS. PaulEDMONTONGoaltenders1&mdash;FUHR. Grant30&mdash;LOW. Ron35&mdash;MOOG, AndyDefensemen7&mdash;COFFEY. Paul2&mdash;FOGOLIN, Lee&mdash;Cpt.21&mdash;GREGG, Randy22&mdash;HUDDY. Charlie29&mdash;JACKSON, Don6&mdash;LARIVIERE, Gary4&mdash;LOWE. Kevin Centers14&mdash;BOSCHMAN. Laurie99&mdash;GRETZKY. Wayne13&mdash;LINSEMAN, Ken77&mdash;UNGER. GarryR. Wings9&mdash;ANDERSON. Glenn16&mdash;HUGHES, Pat17&mdash;KURRI. Jari20&mdash;LUMLEY. Dave24&mdash;ROULSTON. Tom L. Wings12&mdash;HUNTER. Dave11&mdash;MESSIER. Mark10&mdash;POUZAR. Jaroslav 27&mdash;SEMENKO. DaveHARTFORDGoaltenders30&mdash;MILLEN. Greg31&mdash;VEISOR. Mike Defensemen7&mdash;ANDERSON, R.&mdash;Cpt.23&mdash;HOSPODAR, Ed24&mdash;KOTSOPOULOS. C.5&mdash;RENAUD. Mark8&mdash;SILTANEN. Risto4&mdash;VOLCAN. Mickey6&mdash;WESLEY. Blake Centers10&mdash;FRANCIS. Ron12&mdash;JOHNSON. Mark28&mdash;LAROUCHE, Pierre20&mdash;MALINOWSKI. M.R. Wings29&mdash;HENDERSON. Archie&mdash;MacDERMID, Paul27&mdash;MILLER. Warren17&mdash;NEUFELD. Ray21&mdash;STOUGHTON. Blaine22&mdash;SULLIMAN, DougL. Wings18&mdash;ADAMS. Greg16&mdash;LYLE, George32&mdash;McDOUGAL. MikeINJURED: Steve Kasper (Bos), Grant Mulvey and Reg Kerr (Chi), Jim Schoenfeld, Gilles Gilbert and Dwight Foster (Det), Glenn Anderson (Edm).LOS ANGELESGoaltenders29&mdash;LASKOSKI. Gary1&mdash;LESSARD. MarioDefensemen27&mdash;CHARTRAW. Rick20&mdash;HARDY. Mark6&mdash;KENNEDY. Dean4&mdash;KORAB, Jerry25&mdash;LEWIS. Dave&mdash;Cpt.5&mdash;MURPHY. Larry24&mdash;WELLS, Jay Centers16&mdash;DIONNE. Marcel&mdash;HOLMES. Warren9&mdash;NICHOLLS. Bernie10&mdash;RUSKOWSKI. Terry R. Wings19&mdash;FOX. Jim15&mdash;EVANS. Daryl21&mdash;MORRISON. Dave7&mdash;MURPHY, Mike18&mdash;TAYLOR. Dave L. Wings26&mdash;BOZEK, Steve&mdash;GRUHL. Scott17&mdash;KELLY. John&mdash;Paul28&mdash;ISAKSSON. Ulf11&mdash;SIMMER, Charlie14&mdash;SYKES. PhilMINNESOTAGoaltenders33&mdash;BEAUPRE, Don27&mdash;MELOCHE, GillesDefensemen3&mdash;BARRETT, Fred2&mdash;GILES, Curt4&mdash;HARTSBURG, C.&mdash;Cpt.32&mdash;MANDICH, Dan5&mdash;MAXWELL, Brad10&mdash;ROBERTS. Gord22&mdash;SARGENT, Gary Centers7&mdash;BROTEN. Neal18&mdash;EAVES, Mike15&mdash;SMITH, Bobby17&mdash;YOUNG. Tim R. Wings23&mdash;BELLOWS. Brian20&mdash;CICCARELLI, Dino21&mdash;FERGUSON, George25&mdash;MacADAM. AlL. Wings14&mdash;DOUGLAS. Jordy31&mdash;FRIEST, Ron11&mdash;McCarthy, Tom26&mdash;PAYNE. Steve24&mdash;PLETT, Willi12&mdash;SOLHEIM, KenMONTREALGoaltenders33&mdash;SEVIGNY, Richard1&mdash;WAMSLEY. RickDefensemen27&mdash;DELORME. Gilbert2&mdash;GINGRAS, Gaston5&mdash;GREEN, Rick17&mdash;LUDWIG. Craig3&mdash;NATTRESS, Ric24&mdash;PICARD. Robert19&mdash;ROBINSON. Larry Centers12&mdash;ACTON, Keith21&mdash;CARBONNEAU. Guy8&mdash;DAOUST. Dan6&mdash;MONDOU, Pierre25&mdash;WICKENHEISER. Doug R. Wings20&mdash;HUNTER. Mark10&mdash;LAFLEUR. Guy31&mdash;NAPIER. Mark26&mdash;NASLUND, Mats30&mdash;NILAN. Chris14&mdash;TREMBLAY. MarioL. Wings23&mdash;GAINEY. Bob&mdash;Cpt.15&mdash;HOULE. Rejean22&mdash;SHUTT. Steve11&mdash;WALTER, RyanNEW JERSEYGoaltenders&mdash;MacKENZIE. Shawn1&mdash;RESCH. Chico Defense25&mdash;BRUMWELL. Murray3&mdash;HUTCHISON. Dave26&mdash;KITCHEN. Mike8&mdash;LEVO. Tapio4&mdash;LORIMER, Bob22&mdash;PALMER. Rob6&mdash;QUENNEVILLE, Joel5&mdash;VADNAIS, Carol Centers24&mdash;BROTEN. Aaron7&mdash;LARMER. Jeff16&mdash;MEAGHER. Rick32&mdash;MERKOSKY. Glen14&mdash;TAMBELLINI, Steve R. Wings11&mdash;MacMILLAN, Bob20&mdash;MARINI. Hector29&mdash;LUDVIG, JanL. Wings15&mdash;ASHTON. Brent88&mdash;HOWATT. Garry9&mdash;LEVER, Don&mdash;Cpt.19&mdash;VAUTOUR, Yvon18&mdash;WENSINK, JohnNY ISLANDERSGoaltenders1&mdash;MELANSON, Rolland31&mdash;SMITH. Billy Defensemen4&mdash;BOUTILIER, Paul3&mdash;JONSSON. Tomas24&mdash;LANE, Gord26&mdash;LANGEVIN. Dave2&mdash;McEWEN. Mike6&mdash;MORROW, Ken7&mdash;PERSSON, Stefan5&mdash;POTVIN. Denis&mdash;Cpt.&mdash;REGIER, Darcy Centers25&mdash;CARROLL. Billy91&mdash;GORING, Butch11&mdash;MERRICK, Wayne21&mdash;SUTTER. Brent19&mdash;TROTTIER. Bryan R. Wings22&mdash;BOSSY. Mike28&mdash;KALLUR, Anders23&mdash;NYSTROM. Bob12&mdash;SUTTER, Duane L. Wings14&mdash;BOURNE. Bob9&mdash;GILLIES. Clark18&mdash;TONELLI, JohnNY RANGERSGoaltenders30&mdash;DAVIDSON. John41&mdash;MIO. Eddie31&mdash;WEEKS, Steve Defensemen6&mdash;BAKER. Bill3&mdash;BECK, Barry&mdash;Cpt.33&mdash;DORE. Andre4&mdash;GRESCHNER. Ron2&mdash;LAIDLAW. Tom26&mdash;MALONEY. Dave 29RUOTSALAINEN. R Centers14&mdash;ALLISON, Mike11&mdash;CONACHER. Pat8&mdash;FTOREK. Robbie19&mdash;NILSSON. Ulf40&mdash;PAVELICH. Mark27&mdash;ROGERS. Mike R. Wings24&mdash;ANDERSSON. K.E.10&mdash;DUGUAY. Ron15&mdash;HEDBERG, Anders17&mdash;JOHNSTONE, Ed L. Wings22&mdash;FOTIU, Nick28&mdash;LEINONEN. Mikko12&mdash;MALONEY. Don9&mdash;MCCLANAHAN. RobPHILADELPHIAGoaltenders31&mdash;LINDBERGH. Pelle30&mdash;ST. CROIX. Rick Defensemen5&mdash;BATHE. Frank29&mdash;COCHRANE. Glen9&mdash;DVORAK, Miroslav2&mdash;HOWE. Mark8&mdash;MARSH. Brad10&mdash;* McCRIMMON, Brad3&mdash;WILSON. Behn Centers18&mdash;CARSON. Lindsay16&mdash;CLARKE, Bobby25&mdash;EVANS. Paul11&mdash;FLOCKHART. Ron27&mdash;SUTLER, Darryl15&mdash;TAYLOR. MarkR. Wings19&mdash;ALLISON, Ray22&mdash;GORENCE. Tom17&mdash;HOLMGREN, Paul12&mdash;KERR, Tim34&mdash;WILLIAMS. Gordie L. Wings7&mdash;BARBER. Bill&mdash;Cpt.26&mdash;PROPP, Brian23&mdash;SINISALO, IlkaINJURED: Dan Bonar, Doug Smith, Dave Taylor, Bernie Nicholls and Peter Helander (LA), Gary Sargent (Mln), Guy Lafleur (Mtl), Mike McEwen (NYI), John Davidson and Ron Greschner (NYR).PITTSBURGHGoaltenders29&mdash;DION, Michel30&mdash;EDWARDS. Gary1&mdash;HERRON, DenisDefensemen4&mdash;BAXTER, Paul7&mdash;BUSKAS, Rod25&mdash;CARLYLE. R.&mdash;Cpt.16&mdash;CHORNEY, Marc33&mdash;FELTRIN, Tony6&mdash;HOTHAM. Greg2&mdash;PRICE. Tom Centers22&mdash;BULLARD. Mike20&mdash;GARDNER, Paul32&mdash;HANNAN. Dave12&mdash;MALONE, Greg34&mdash;ST. LAURENT. Andre R. Wings26&mdash;GATZOS. Steve11&mdash;HAKANSSON. Anders10&mdash;LEE, Peter17&mdash;KEHOE. Rick18&mdash;McClelland, Kevin14&mdash;SHEDDEN, Doug L. Wings15&mdash;BOUTETTE, Pat28&mdash;HRYNEWICH, Tim9&mdash;JONATHAN. StanQUEBECGoaltenders35&mdash;BOUCHARD. Dan1&mdash;GARRETT, John&mdash;MALARCHUK, Clint Defensemen28&mdash;DUPONT, A.&mdash;Cpt.4&mdash;HAMEL. Jean25&mdash;LACROIX, Pierre6&mdash;LAPOINTE, Rick22&mdash;MAROIS. Mario21&mdash;MOLLER, Randy29&mdash;PICHETTE. Dave5&mdash;ROCHEFORT. N.2&mdash;WEIR. Wally Centers14&mdash;AUBRY. Pierre12&mdash;SLEIGHER, Lou32&mdash;HUNTER. Dale26&mdash;STASTNY. PeterR. Wings9&mdash;CLOUTIER. Real27&mdash;PAIEMENT, Wilf18&mdash;STASTNY. Marian L. Wings19&mdash;COTE, Alain15&mdash;DAVID, Richard16&mdash;GOULET. Michel23&mdash;RICHARD, Jacques20&mdash;STASTNY, Anton8&mdash;TARDIF, MarcST. LOUISGoaltenders31&mdash;HANLON. Glen1&mdash;LIUT, MikeDefensemen25&mdash;BOTHWELL, Tim16&mdash;BROWNSCHIDLE, J.2&mdash;HART. Gerry17&mdash;KEA, Ed4&mdash;LAPOINTE. Guy35&mdash;PAVESE. Jim5&mdash;RAMAGE. Rob34&mdash;WILSON, RikCenters19&mdash;DUNLOP. Blake24&mdash;FEDERKO, Bernie27&mdash;NEDOMANSKY. V.6&mdash;PATEY, LarryR. Wings10&mdash;BABYCH, Wayne14&mdash;CHAPMAN. Blair26&mdash;CROMBEEN, Mike7&mdash;MULLEN, JoeL. Wings20&mdash;CARLSON, Jack28&mdash;KLASSEN. Ralph22&mdash;PETTERSSON, Jorgen11&mdash;SUTTER. Brian&mdash;Cpt.9&mdash;TURNBULL. PerryTORONTOGoaltenders1&mdash;LAROCQUE, Michel29&mdash;PALMATEER. Mike Defensemen3&mdash;BENNING, Jim11&mdash;BOIMISTRUCK. Fred23&mdash;DURIS, Slava20&mdash;KORN. Jim4&mdash;McGILL. Bob2&mdash;NYLUND, Gary21&mdash;SALMING, Borje Centers24&mdash;AUBIN, Normand12&mdash;BOISVERT. Serge19&mdash;DERLAGO, Bill18&mdash;IHNACAK, Peter8&mdash;PODDUBNY. Walt7&mdash;TERRION, Greg R. Wings14&mdash;FRYCER. Miroslav15&mdash;HARRIS. Billy17&mdash;HIGGINS, Paul22&mdash;VAIVE, Rick&mdash;Cpt.L. Wings10&mdash;ANDERSON. John9&mdash;GAVIN. Stewart25&mdash;MARTIN. Terry&mdash;WILLARD. RodVANCOUVERGoaltenders35&mdash;BRODEUR. Richard1&mdash;ELLACOTT, KenDefensemen29&mdash;BUBLA, Jiri5&mdash;BUTCHER, Garth2&mdash;HALWARD. Doug4&mdash;LANZ, Rick13&mdash;LINDGREN. Lars25&mdash;McCarthy. Kevin27&mdash;SNEPSTS, Harold Centers9&mdash;BOLDIREV, Ivan23&mdash;GRADIN, Thomas21&mdash;HLINKA, Ivan20&mdash;MINOR, Gerry17&mdash;SUNDSTROM. Patrick R. Wings&mdash;CURRIE. Tony19&mdash;DELORME, Ron10&mdash;LEMAY. Moe26&mdash;MOLIN, Lars8&mdash;NILL, Jim12&mdash;SMYL. Stan&mdash;Cpt. L. Wings24&mdash;FRASER. Curt18&mdash;ROTA, Darcy22&mdash;WILLIAMS. DaveWASHINGTONGoaltenders1&mdash;RIGGIN. Pat35&mdash;JENSEN, AlDefensemen17&mdash;BLOMQUIST. Timo9&mdash;ENGBLOM. Brian4&mdash;HOLT, Randy5&mdash;LANGWAY. Rod&mdash;Cpt.19&mdash;MacKINNON. Paul3&mdash;STEVENS. Scott20&mdash;THEBERGE, Greg6&mdash;VEITCH. Darren Centers10&mdash;CARPENTER, Bobby12&mdash;CURRIE, Glen15&mdash;HAWORTH. Alan25&mdash;JARVIS. Doug21&mdash;MARUK, Dennis66&mdash;NOVY, MilanR. Wings11&mdash;GARTNER. Mike23&mdash;GOULD. Bobby19&mdash;HOUSTON. KenL. Wings29&mdash;BULLEY, Ted14&mdash;DUCHESNE. Gaetan16&mdash;GUSTAFSSON, Bengt18&mdash;LAUGHLIN, CraigWINNIPEGGoaltenders33&mdash;SOETAERT, Doug31&mdash;STANIOWSKI, Ed Defensemen44&mdash;BABYCH, Dava21&mdash;LEVIE, Craig3&mdash;MAXWELL. Bryan18&mdash;SAVARD. Serge27&mdash;SPRING. Don7&mdash;WATTERS, Tim Centers13&mdash;CHRISTIAN. D.&mdash;Cpt.10&mdash;HAWERCHUK, Dale25&mdash;STEEN. ThomasR. Wings29&mdash;BUTLER. Jerry23&mdash;DEBLOIS. Lucien20&mdash;LINDSTROM. Willy15&mdash;MacLEAN. Paul8&mdash;MANN. JimmyL. Wings11&mdash;ARNIEL, Scott28&mdash;DUPONT, Normand12&mdash;LUKOWICH, Morris22&mdash;LUNDHOLM, Bengt19&mdash;MULLEN, Brian9&mdash;SMAIL. DougINJURED: Steve Gatzos (Pit), Gary Nylund (Tor), Jean Hamel, Dan Bouchard (Que), Gerry Hart (StL), Harold Snepsts (Van). &#9632;

NHL TEAM ROSTERS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01407/4663135-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"></div>Wed. Nov. 17Nashville atVirginiaMo.Valley at ErleFri. Nov. 19Virginia atCarolinaHampton at ErleNashville at Mo. ValleySat Nov. 20Carolina at VirginiaNashville at ErieHampton at Mo. Valley 7<h2>Who They&rsquo;re Affiliated With</h2>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 Jersey30&mdash;Philadelphia & Hartford31&mdash;Quebec, Philadelphia, L.A., & Buffalo32&mdash;Boston, Vancouver, St. Louis & T oronto33&mdash;Independent. No affiliates. &#9632;

f0036-01

MINOR SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>EAST RUTHERFORD-And now what? The New Jersey Devils have tried trades, demotions, callups, changes of strategy and even inspirational films but nothing has worked.Neither good intentions nor spirited practice seem to matter. The &ldquo;intangibles&rdquo; GM-coach Billy MacMillan was so happy to add at the start of the season have been disappointingly intangible when it comes time to total up fcie final scores.The Devils may have, indeed, added.&ldquo;character&rdquo; but it appears doubtful that they have added significant hockey talent.The punchless Devils failed to win for the 16th straight game (0-13-3) on Nov. 20 at Bloomington, MI, as the slick, quick North Stars cruised to a 5-1 triumph.&rsquo; The Devils&rsquo; loss was their sixth in a row and the 16-game skid equalled the third longest winless streak in the woeful, nine-year history of the Kansas City-Colorado-New Jersey franchise.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to do something,&rdquo; Devils&rsquo; GM-coach Billy MacMillan said glumly before the Devils boarded a plane to Los Angeles. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t keep going like this but we&rsquo;re not going to make wholesale changes just for the sake of making changes.&rdquo;MacMillan was especially disappointed with the poor performance at Minnesota because it followed two days of spirited, hard-working practices.&ldquo;The players seemed positive and ready going into the game,&rdquo; MacMillan noted, &ldquo;but we weren&rsquo;t at our best when it counted. Everyone is feeling the pressure of not being able to do what we did at the beginning of the season (a 3-1-3 start).&rdquo;Veteran center Rick Meagher returning to the Devils&rsquo; lineup after missing eight games with a slight shoulder separation, scored on a power play at Minnesota to snap the team&rsquo;s 0-for-12 drought but New Jersey finished the evening with only three in its last 32 opportunities.With the Devils trying to play tight-checking conservative hockey, the power play is especially critical.&ldquo;With our offense the way it is,&rdquo; the Devils&rsquo; goalie Chico Resch noted, &ldquo;we live and die on our power play&hellip; and, right now, we&rsquo;re dying.&rdquo;HOT STUFF&mdash; At the suggestion of owner John McMullen, the Devils viewed a film featuring Hall of Fame football coach Vince Lombardi on &ldquo;Second Effort&rdquo; during their stay in Chicago&hellip; New Jersey showed second effort that evening, fighting back from a 3-0 deficit against the Hawks but lost, 5-3&hellip;At Minnesota, the Devils tied for third place on the franchise&rsquo;s futility list, matching a 16-game winless streak by Kansas City which took place from Feb. 26 through March 30, 1975 when the Scouts were also winless in 16 games (0-13-3)&hellip;The longest winless streak in the history of the KC-Colorado-New Jersey franchise occurred from Feb. 12 through April 4,1975 when the Kansas City Scouts went 27 games (0-21-6) without success&hellip; The second longest winless streak in franchise history is 18 games&hellip;In addition to Meagher, defenseman Bob Lorimer returned to the lineup in Minnesota after missing eight games. Both Meagher and Lorimer were injured at Montreal on Nov. 2.Resch was 3-0-2 after his first five decisions but his personal winless streak grew to thirteen games (0-10-3) in Minnesota.The Devils demoted No. 2 goalie Lindsay Middlebrook to Wichita andcalled up 20-year-old Shawn MacKen-zie on Nov. 15. Middlebrook yielded five goals in a span of 6:11 during the second period of a 7-2 loss at Quebec City. The loss to the Nordiques extended Middlebrook&rsquo;s personal Winless streak to 21 games (0-15-6), dating back to January of 1980&hellip; MacKen-zie made his NHL debut in St. Louis on Nov. 16, giving up three goals in the third period of a 7-2 setback. &#9632;

New Jersey Having A Devil Of A Time Winning

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01356/4663214-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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AMATEUR SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;You comb two continents for talent and still have a cowlick. The Flyers, a year ago the Don Kings of hockey, have been to the beauty parlor and it turns out a little bear grease was what was needed.Every hair might not be in place yet, but they are no longer turning their coach gray. They&rsquo;re better, even if the record hasn&rsquo;t begun to show it, and it&rsquo;s not just because their defense has had a permanent.They found one of their answers in the clippings they left on their floor. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s been so much emphasis on speed,&rdquo; Bobby Clarke said, &ldquo;that I think we&rsquo;ve forgotten how good positioning and good comer work can nullify it.&ldquo;You throw the puck around the boards, Paul Evans is going to be there. And once he has the puck nobody is going to take it off him, either. There&rsquo;s something maybe about having played in the minor leagues for a few years, that a player learns his limitations and his strengths.&rdquo;Among the limitations that kept Evans in the minor leagues for eight years are a lack of skating speed and a shot. These are excellent reasons why organizations such as the Flyers look for something better. But, although the Flyers have left no stone unturned toward better tomorrows, there is some irony in the rediscovery of an Evans under a rock in their own backyard.He had his chance. Sort of. He beat out Blake Dunlop for a fourth center&rsquo;s job with the 1978-79 Flyers, but when Dunlop later was recalled and started scoring goals, roster numbers and a coaching change relegated Evans back to the minor leagues after 44 games.It took four years, and of course, circumstances, for Evans toget another chance. But even when Ilkka Sinisalo suffered a broken clavicle during training camp, there were younger bodies the Flyers wanted to try.Mark Taylor and Lindsay Carson responded, but then, so did Evans. The Flyers suffered their worst season in 10 a year ago for the lack of a lot of little things, and coach Bob McCammon, having seen Evans provide them when he coached at Maine, did not forget him.McCammon needed reliable penalty killers and another good cornerman to get Darryl Sittier the puck. And when Evans provided both during the exhibition season, his second chance was in front of him.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always in the back of your mind,&rdquo; Evans said. &ldquo;But after so many years you might get resigned to it. You looked at the roster before training camp and there was no way. This is a loaded team. Without the injuries, I really don&rsquo;t think it would have happened.&rdquo;At 28, he is a little older, a little wiser, and much more settled. For too long, he took his career&rsquo;s work seriously only in the 60 minutes the game clock was ticking, but marriage and fatherhood have changed him.&ldquo;I came to camp in better shape than I ever have before,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You come to the rink a little more prepared, chances are you&rsquo;ll play better.&rdquo;The Flyers noticed. And even after Evans missed five early-season games with a slight shoulder separation, a job still was there for him upon his return.Evans has made the most of it. His penalty killing has been excellent, his toil on a regular shift with Sittier noteworthy. Sinisalo is ready to play, but with Tim Kerr out, Sinisalo is likely to start his season on the right wing, not the left.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of teams who wouldn&rsquo;t even think of breaking in a 28-year-old,&rdquo; said Evans, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m lucky.&rdquo;Having gone unclaimed on countless trips through the NHL waiver wire, he had asked nothing more than for his yearly chance to continue playing in Maine.&ldquo;That was the biggest break I ever got,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Los Angeles (which had drafted him in the fifth round in 1974) had no plans for me. The Flyers had just started the Mariners and weren&rsquo;t winning and traded for me. I was the player to be named later for Steve Short.&rdquo;Though one never realized that any player had to be named later for a Steve Short, the Mariners got a good one. Evans, averaging 84 points his last three seasons for Maine, became a fixture in their success.If you can&rsquo;t be in the NHL, there&rsquo;s no better place to play than Portland. Not only is the lobster cheap, but veteran players such as Evans, Wayne Schaab, John Paddock and Dennis Patterson, have been presented opportunities in the community to build a life after hockey.Evans began preparing himself by taking computer programming courses last summer. His wife, Susan, is from Maine, and he was preparing to settle in.&ldquo;You do wonder why some NHL teams won&rsquo;t take a chance on you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But you have mixed feelings on that, too. You like Maine and you always think that maybe someday Philly will give you another shot.&rdquo;Actually, it was the expression of interest in Evans by a new Detroit management that caused the Flyers to protect him this year. The Flyers didn&rsquo;t want to let him go for free. Now they might not want to let him go at all.Pound-for-pound, there is no better player along the boards. Evans is blessed with remarkable forearm strength, and he has pylons for legs. What he lacks in speed, he can make up for in jump. When driving up the ice, his arms swing as if Evans is rowing a boat, but he is unsinkable when he eventually gets there.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t appreciate a guy like that until you play with him,&rdquo; Sittier said. &ldquo;He hangs to the puck and makes very few mistakes defensively. He knows what to do. I&rsquo;ve enjoyed playing with him.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01416/4663245-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="571" height="639"><figcaption class="caption-body">He isn&rsquo;t fast, but Paul Evans has remarkable forearm strength and legs like pylons.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Evans Making Most Of Chance With Flyers

<div class="byline">BY GEORGE GROSS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01391/4663276-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="283" height="336"></div><h2>Wine, Women And Hockey?</h2>North American shinny mercenaries seem to be finding too many distractions in Austria.It could be the scenery, the wine, women or the music that has been affecting their on-ice showing, but the fact is many of the players have been performing less than brilliantly.Villach, a team in fourth place of the Austrian league, recently dropped Doug Palazzari, an American who played three years for the St. Louis Blues, for a sub-par performance. His place, in the numbers game for foreign players on the team, was taken by Marcel Sakac, former netminder of the Czechoslovak national team.The biggest disappointment, however, has been Brett Callighen, former teammate of Wayne Gretzky in Edmonton. When the Wiener EV signed the Toronto-born forward, the club&rsquo;s president promised to ice the best Austrian team of the last decade. Instead, Wiener EV is in fifth place of the standings and much of the blame is being placed on the shoulders of Callighen.Even Alexander Yakushev, the Soviet star once regarded as the best left winger (no pun intended) in hockey, is having trouble helping Kapfenberg in its championship aspirations. Kapfenberg trails Klagenfurt and Feldkirch in the standings.<h2>Soviet Union</h2>Even the great Vladislav Tretiak, generally regarded as the best goalie in hockey, was unable to prevent the Moscow Red Army team from suffering its first defeat of the season at the hands of Torpedo Gorky.The fourth-placed Torpedo team took the lead after 13 minutes of play on a goal by Mikhail Varnakov and when the army men pulled their goalie in the last minute of play, Ivan Dobrochotov made it 2-0 into an empty net. Torpedo goalie Alexander Vorobjev was the star of the game.Despite the defeat, the soldiers retained their first-place position in the first-division standings with 26 points in 15 games, followed by the Moscow Dynamos (25), Moscow Spartak (18) and Torpedo Gorkij (16):Moscow fans expected more of the Spartak team, which at first lost 3-1 in Kiev and then dropped a 7-3 decision at the Dynamos and their star, Alexander Maltsev. The Spartak troika of Victor Shalimov-Sergei Shepelev-Sergei Kapustin, which played a prominent role in the Soviets&rsquo; winning the 1982 world championship in Finland, left a lot to be desired.<h2>West Germany</h2>Landshut, the team inspired by scoring leader Erich Kuhnhackl, hammered Kaufbeuren 7-3 to continue its slim lead at the top of the West German Federal League standings with 26 points in 15 games.Mannheim, last year&rsquo;s champions, who last week doubled the score on the Cologne Sharks 6-3, are next with 25 points, followed by Rosenheim (18) and Cologne (17).Dusseldorf and Fussen are at the bottom with 10 and seven points, respectively.<h2>Czechoslovakia</h2>Four teams are battling it out for championship honors in the Czechoslovak National League, including Pardubice, former team of Toronto Maple Leaf goaltender Jiri Crha.Pardubice is on top of the standings with 23 points in 15 games, thanks to the 7-2 trouncing of Vitkovice. Dukla Jihlava, a perennial championship contender is in second place with 22 points, followed by Vitkovice (20) and Sparta Prague (19).The fact that Slovan Bratislava and Kladno, another former championship team, are at the bottom of the table, resulted in two coaching changes. Slovan coach Jaroslav Walter was released by the club, which Kladno&rsquo;s Frantisek Pospisil, former captain and ace defenseman of the Czechoslovak national team, resigned. His place was taken by former Kladno player Jindrich Lidicky.<h2>Switzerland</h2>Canadian players are still the toast of Swiss hockey and their scoring exploits are the talk of shinny fans. Small wonder&mdash;the leading scorers in both, the A and B leagues, are Canadians.Kelly Kisio, formerly with Dallas of the Central Hockey League, leads the A League with 18 goals and 11 assists in 12 games. The star of the Davos team, Kisio last week scored four goals in his team&rsquo;s 8-1 shellacking of Lang-nau. Peter Sullivan of Langnau is second in scoring with13 goals and 11 assists in 15 games, while Ambri-Piotta&rsquo;s Dave Gardner is fifth with 11 goals and nine assists.The leader in the west division of the B League is Normand Dube, who played for Kansas City in the NHL and Quebec of the WHA. The Sierre forward has 15 goals and 13 assists in 12 games. He&rsquo;s four points ahead of Jerry Byers, who has seen brief service with the Minnesota North Stars New York Rangers before joining Grindel-wald.The east division leaders of the B League are Olten teammates Jim Koleff and Henry Taylor. Koleff, who toiled for Dallas in the Central Hockey League, is on top with 12 goals and 24 asissts, while Taylor, who played for Oklahoma City in the Central Hockey League, has 22 goals and 12 assists. &#9632;

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THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;The puck came to Paul Boutilier at the left point while the Islanders were on a power play against the Edmonton Oilers at Nassau Coliseum. The rookie defenseman skated close to the top of the left faceoff circle and fired a slap shot that zipped through the legs of goalie Grant J Fuhr. &ldquo;A great thrill.&rdquo; Boutilier said of his first National Hockey League, goal.Two nights later, the puck came to Boutilier at the left point while the Islanders were on a power play against the Boston Bruins at Nassau Coliseum. The rookie defenseman skated close to the top of the left faceoff circle and fired a slap shot that &rsquo; zipped through the legs of goalie Pete Peeters. &ldquo;A big thrill,&rdquo; Boutilier said of his second NHL goal.When he was reminded that the second looked like a replay of the first, Boutilier smiled and said, &ldquo;Yes, they were similar, but the first felt so great. I&rsquo;ll always remember that one.&rdquo;The 19-year-old native of Sydney, Nova Scotia, was called up from St.-Jean of the Quebec Junior Hockey League Nov. 10 as an emergency replacement for Michael McEwen, who suffered a separated shoulder in a game against the St. Louis Blues. The day that Boutilier reported to the Islanders, Denis Potvin awoke with muscle spasms in his neck. Three other Islander defensemen wound up in the infirmary in the next six days, providing Boutilier with ample ice time. He made the most of his opportunities.Coach Al Arbour, a former defenseman, was impressed early by Boutilier&rsquo;s skating, size and shot. &ldquo;The kid is built like a monument,&rdquo; Arbour said of the six-foot, 200-pound rookie. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s certainly not slow on his skates and he has some shot.&rdquo;Teammates also gained quick impressions of Boutilier. &ldquo;Paul has the hardest shot on the team,&rdquo; Bob Bourne said. Goalie Roland Melanson said, &ldquo;He gets his shot away so quick you don&rsquo;t have time to react.&rdquo;The most incisive evaluation, though, was provided by Ken Morrow, who has been Boutilier&rsquo;s defensive partner.&ldquo;Paul seems to have everything,&rdquo; Morrow said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s big and strong and has a great shot. He&rsquo;s also very mobile for a guy his size&hellip; And he&rsquo;s not afraid to ask questions. He wants to know about certain players and what he should do in certain situations. The only thing he lacks now is experience, but he&rsquo;s getting plenty of ice time.&rdquo;Boutilier was the Islanders&rsquo; No. 1 pick in the 1981 draft. He weighed 180 pounds then and filled out to a 200-pounder during last summer. &ldquo;I have a mini-gym in our house, so I worked out every day on weights and punched the speed bag.&rdquo; he said.Boutilier&rsquo;s father, Ernest, played one season of Junior A hockey with Ottawa, then returned home to Sydney and became president of a steel company. &ldquo;Dad was my coach from my days in Squirts,&rdquo; Boutilier said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s also my biggest critic. When I get a &lsquo;good game&rsquo; out of him, well, I figure I&rsquo;m doing okay.&rdquo;There were many Islander watchers who though Boutilier would make the team at the start of the season. He was the team&rsquo;s leading scorer in the early exhibition games, then suffered a pulled groin muscle and that hurt his chances. However, he was one of the last players cut. Now that he is back up, he&rsquo;d like to stick. &#9632;

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December 3, 1982

WINNIPEG JETS

Cyr’s End Signals Maclnnis’ Beginning

Seven Selected For National Camp

PLAYER TRANSACTIONS